“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.” -John Muir

The immense relief and contentment, no matter how temporary, filled Harry warmly in the middle of his chest. It was a nice feeling to have. He had been slightly wary visiting his half-giant friend at first but after being received kindly by Hagrid in his hut and sharing a few hours of laughter and smiles the boy was glad he did. He was sure to express his apologies to his friend, his first acquaintance from the magical world, that he wouldn’t be taking Care of Magical Creatures for his sixth year. Thankfully, the groundskeeper had understood. Harry was also sure to apologize on Ron and Hermione’s behalf who were currently being briefed by Professor McGonagall with their prefect duties. Harry scheduled a date when the three Gryffindors could visit Hagrid’s hut together for tea within the week.

Something in his life seemed a little better now. It had been a heavy weight on his mind for a while and having Hagrid give the small statured boy a bone crushing hug was more than Harry could have hoped for.

“Be sure to send me an owl if you need any help on the weekends, Hagrid. I’m sure I’ve remembered some of your lessons about the flobberworms.” Harry grimaced internally as he knew he’d regret this later on but the smile on Hagrid’s face told him otherwise.

“Thanks, ‘Arry. I will. Oh! Here are the cakes fer ‘Ermione and Ron.”

Hagrid sent Harry on his way as it was starting to get dark while the cooler winds began to pick up. They seemed to escape from the Forbidden Forest as though the very trees were inhaling and exhaling themselves. Harry clutched his outer robe more securely around him as he was already halfway to the castle and starting up a rather steep hill just as a figure stepped out from behind a tree.

Harry turned to see who it was and instantly had to fight the urge to whip out his holly wand. Draco Malfoy. After the embarrassing and painful encounter he had to endure from the train ride earlier in the year, Harry was still seething with anger and frustration. He didn’t trust the arrogant Slytherin as far as he could throw him.

“Malfoy,” Harry greeted tersely. He only wanted to retreat back to the castle and to the Gryffindor Common Room before the other boy made him lose his temper. But turning your back on a Malfoy was a very dangerous thing to do so Harry stood his ground.

“Potter,” the blonde spat distastefully. “It seems I’ll have to report you for being out past curfew.”

Harry crossed his arms in front of his chest and quirked a brow. “I still have an hour, Malfoy. I’ll be in my Common Room way before then.” What was he up to?

Malfoy’s lip curled with a dark look in his eyes. “Who say’s you’ll be in the castle by then?”

“Listen, I don’t have time to kick your arse. I’ve got better things to do with my time right now, ferret.” Harry replied as he shoved his hands into his pocket, the smooth length of his wand at his fingertips if it was needed. Harry’s face remained impassive as though he was bored but he felt a burst of satisfaction as the other boy’s face colored red.

“How dare you?! You have some nerve…like you are one to talk! Hoping to kill some time hanging around your favorite mudblood?”

Harry fought to stay calm. ‘Don’t give into his egging. He wants a reaction out of me.’

“Or maybe flaunt yourself in front of those worshipping, blood-traitorous weasels! Saint Potter is doing charity work now too?”

‘He wants a reason to fight me.’ But Harry’s hand gripped fiercely at his wand. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll shut up, ferret!”

“Is that a threat? You’re not man enough to fight me, Potty.” Malfoy sneered. There was a toothy, feral grin in place and his eyes looked haunted. Maybe the boy had finally snapped? “Why don’t you sick that lousy mutt of yours on me? Of wait, poor widdle Potty’s puppy isn’t—”

Harry’s wand slashed through the air and he swung it to aim right in the blonde’s face as he stomped purposefully towards him. His wand trembled in his hand as his body shook with anger. “You have no right to talk about people who are more worthy of the air you breathe, scum.”

“Really?” Malfoy smirked. He didn’t seem bothered in the least that Harry’s wand was pointing a mere inch between his eyes. Then Harry noticed that he was staring past him at something behind him. Or someone.

His sight filled with white momentarily as he felt someone punch him hard between the shoulder blades and he stumbled forward allowing Malfoy to snatch his wand out of his hand. The dark haired boy fell to his knees roughly and he saw three pair of feet walking around him. Then he was lifted onto his feet clumsily by two thick arms that locked themselves painfully where his upper arm met his shoulder. Of course, where was Malfoy without his two bumbling sidekicks? Crabbe and Goyle held him tight as Harry began to struggle fiercely in their grip. They smirked cruelly as his attempts were futile.

Malfoy twirled Harry’s wand between his fingers as he stepped in front of his new captive. “Not so high and mighty now, are you?”

“How about you burn in hell, Malfoy? Or better yet, join your dad in Azakaban?” The blonde boy frowned deeply with a murderous look but then it was gone. Something had gone unhinged in the Slytherin and that couldn’t be good on Harry’s part. Harry wasn’t sure how he was going to get out of this mess. If only Hermione or Ron would notice he wasn’t in the Common Room to meet them by now. Why hadn’t he used his invisibility cloak to get to Hagrid’s?

The Slytherin didn’t bother to answer him and Harry began to worry as Malfoy motioned for his two stooges to follow him. He was being taken farther from the castle and as they got closer to the forest, Harry’s imagination began to churn. He needed to escape somehow…light was fading, time was against him. The darkness of the night began to creep around them and the ominous shadows of the Forbidden Forest curled themselves around their forms as they entered between the trees. What was lurking out there ready to harm him?

“Let me go!” Harry snarled viciously as he continued to fight against the arms that were restraining him to move forward. “Whatever you’re planning isn’t going to work. Someone from Gryffindor will notice I’m gone and they’ll come down here to find me.”

The three of them let out ugly chuckles. “They can try. But they won’t find you.” Goyle said as he pulled Harry forward as the smaller boy tried to dig the soles of his trainers into the ground.

“They won’t find you for a long while.” Crabbe chortled maliciously.

“That is, if something in here doesn’t find you first.” their ringleader smirked.

They continued forcing Harry to move forward sometimes dragging him before the blonde boy held up his hand and they halted. He studied a few choice trees and finally stood before one with a satisfied smirk. When Malfoy pointed to the tree, Harry was forced to stand against it with his back to it as Crabbe and Goyle continued their iron hold on his bruised arms. He was pushed so hard against it that he felt the bark scratch through his robes. Harry’s eyes darted from side to side analyzing his surroundings. There was nothing but trees. Unfortunately they weren’t too deep in the forest to have one of Aragog’s children snack on his current abductors.

“I was thinking, Potter…you must really miss that idiot Black.”

“Don’t you dare talk about Sirius!” Harry yelled as he tried to lunge for Malfoy in vain. The two iron grips on his arms tightened so the blood pumping into his limbs was uneven.

“It’s too bad the mutt won’t be around to see this…” Malfoy stuck Harry’s wand in a pocket of his robe and took out his own. Harry couldn’t help the perspiration that began to coat his fists. He was unarmed and unable to even flee…and had no idea what the sadistic Slytherin was up to. Whatever emotions of content he had been treasuring before were now lost to him. He knew Malfoy planned on restraining him to the tree…he couldn’t allow them to do that…he needed to buy some time.

“Stupid ferret, you’ll regret—”

“DON’T call me that!” Malfoy bellowed as he swung a fist into Harry’s abdomen, knocking the wind out of him. Harry tried to spit on Malfoy’s shoes but missed. When he lifted his head he pictured bloodying the blonde’s face into a painful pulp. “You’re mutt would have had a lot of fun memories with another freak friend.” There it was, the word ‘freak’. It almost made Harry laugh. Even in this world too, huh? He could never escape it… “I was thinking a rabbit would suffice. You’d be stuck as a rabbit for days!” Malfoy laughed at the idea, a gleam of satisfaction at the vision in his head.

“Or a groundhog!” one of his drones said…

“Or a skunk!” said the other.

Malfoy stopped his pacing from trying to envision all of their ideas. “Wait. I know. A squirrel!”

The two arms holding him loosened slightly as they began to guffaw unabashedly at Malfoy’s words. They swayed and soon their hold on him was loose enough. Harry took this advantage and stepped forward with enough force to unsettle the two laughing baboons and slipped his arms out of their grip while they fought to balance themselves. The lumbering dolts looked confused for a moment but by then Harry had made his next move.

Run.

It would have been three against one and it would’ve been difficult to get his wand from Malfoy without ending up bound to the tree and attacking the Slytherins in the form of a squirrel. Harry could certainly do without that.

Harry sprinted between the trees with difficulty as Malfoy yelled in frustration at Crabbe and Goyle. They chased after him. Although Harry was having a bit of a problem with the forest obstacles before him, he had the upper hand after all the running he did from Dudley and his gang. Compared to the Slytherins, Harry was a natural at maneuvering around the forest. Plus his muggle trainers were better suited for such a run.

But he had no wand.

“Stupefy!” A bolt of red singed past his left shoulder as he climbed over a fallen tree trunk. More curses were thrown his way. “Stop. I’ll take care of this.” Malfoy ordered the other two as they began to aim another round at the fleeing boy.

Crabbe and Goyle stopped their aim and made room for Malfoy to steady his wand. Ignoring the stitch that was beginning to throb in his side and the other bruised pains he had been inflicted with, Harry concentrated on the ground beneath his feet and the noises around him. The silence as Malfoy took careful aim on his fleeing figure continued to add to the anxious twisting in his stomach.

“BESTIA VERTO!” Malfoy yelled, a bright pale blue light firing out of the tip of his wand and flying fast towards Harry from behind. Harry spun around to see what was being hurled at him and he couldn’t help but mentally curse the evil, amused look in Malfoy’s face as the blast met Harry’s chest with full force, sending him on his back.

Harry groaned from the impact and began to panic as he felt a strange sensation erupt from where he had been hit. It then traveled, bursting from the center of his chest and spread as though covering the underside of his skin. But it did not inhibit him from regaining his footage and continuing his run. He knew the other boys would be closing in on the distance between them if he stayed on his back for too long. Harry couldn’t help but compare this to Dudley Dursley’s ‘Harry Hunting’ game.

Run. Run. Run.

He weaved between the trees and fleetingly wondered on how it seemed easier to leap over the tree trunks and how his agility had improved. The foreign sensation persisted but didn’t hinder his escape. Judging from the density of trees, he was almost out of the forest, and then he could get to Hagrid’s hut or find—

“ARRRGH!” Harry fell against a tree as the pain erupted throughout his body. The tingling that had coated his skin was now burning with such an unbearable intensity that it was making him nauseous. He forced his legs to move forward and continue towards where he would seek help but he only managed to fall against another nearby tree desperately. He began to sweat profusely as he tried to gulp in as much oxygen as possible trembling from the pain. Harry was sure he was going to sick up some time soon. The burning that was intent on leaving his insides a pile of scorched ashes made him think of strange thoughts...

He needed to run! Run and feel the wind fighting against him. He needed to conquer the wind. Race it and defeat it! No, wait…he needed to stay put or he wouldn’t be found. He needed to hide. Yes, that was it…hide!

Because…because…someone was going to find him. How dreadful it was to be alone—and with intruders around, he could smell three of them, hear the cracking and snapping of forest debris underfoot—how frightened he was…but he needed to stay put. He would be found.

Harry was no longer leaning against the tree but kneeling on his hands and knees at the base of it, the ground under his hands whispering through his touch of the intruders that he had to hide from. As Harry knelt there, the pain was gone and slowly an acceptance of what was going to happen took over his body, muscles relaxed and breathing unlabored. His body dimly glowed but he was hidden by the surrounding trees and shrubbery he knelt by. The soft blue light rippled from his chest and through his limbs all the way to the tips of his fingers and toes. He barely took notice of the reshaping of his limps and shifting muscles.

Then the glowing stopped and Harry stayed huddled on the ground, slowly tucking himself beneath a bush. Footsteps came near, three pairs of heavy feet crunching mercilessly on the small plants and insects on the ground. Harry stiffened himself and he stayed as quiet as possible, keeping his breaths even and soundless.

He chanted in his head.

They can’t smell me. They can’t see me. They can’t smell me. They can’t see me.

Man was in the forest.

The three Slytherins bickered with one another unaware of the creature that was hiding right under their noses. “We should get back to the castle, Draco. We have ten minutes till curfew.” one of the larger ones said.

“Yeah, maybe he’s already climbed a tree to make a nest!” The two drones roared with laughter.

“Shut up, you two! He needs to be driven deeper into the forest.” Malfoy hissed at them.

“But, Draco—”

“If he finds his way to the castle, someone might suspect a squirrel with green eyes, don’t you think?”

“Maybe the curse doesn’t allow him to keep his memories?”

“Yeah, he’s probably busy packing acorns for the winter right now!”

This seemed to convince the blonde Slytherin enough. He let out a chuckle. “Yeah…he’ll be out of our hair for a while now. Even if they find him, it’ll take weeks to find ingredients for the cure alone.” Malfoy continued to laugh as he started walking towards the edge of the forest and the others followed suit making up scenarios of Harry Potter the squirrel-who-lived to one another.

The little creature stayed there feeling relieved that the three had passed on and were soon out of his scent range then soon their footsteps could be heard no more. But how he wished he wasn’t alone! Dusk had long fallen and somehow the young thing knew something was amiss. He should not have been left alone after dusk. But those creatures…man…would they return? Should he start crying out? It was too risky.

So the small creature, frightened and worried, waited silently. Give it some more time, he thought to himself. He laid there watching as the night filled everything within the forest in its grasp…and hours passed by achingly slow for the young thing.

Where was his mother?

Crack.

Harry stilled once again and tucked his head low lying as flat against the ground as he could. The presence drew nearer…

Mother?

No, it was not mother. It was another one of them…a man.

“Count on that insufferable brat to get lost in here at this hour.” Severus Snape muttered irritably to himself. He held up his wand which was lit at the end and he pointed it around him to search for the sixteen year old boy. If only the foolish Gryffindor wasn’t so inept at following the simplest of rules! Following curfew was simple enough especially when such importance laid on them at a time of war. Had the brat no consideration for the precious effort and hours that they were wasting?

The dark clad figure continued to hold up his glowing stick as he walked closer to Harry’s hiding spot. Then the man was standing right next to his shrub and he had paused the lighting over the twigs. The coal black eyes fell upon the small creature that huddled silently beneath the twiggy branches.

Can’t smell me. Can’t see me. Can’t smell me…

The small creature was filled with fright as the eyes continued to stare at him. Where? Where was his mother?

Snape studied the little animal, a babe of some species that stared up at him from underdeath the bush. It held his eyes, staring back with terror. Slowly, the Potions Master stepped away from it and continued looking between trees and shrubbery in case the incompetent boy who was MIA was unconscious on the forest floor. The boy was a magnet for trouble.

No where. Snape let out a disheartened sigh at his unsuccessful search. Currently the whole staff was in search of the brat within the castle and searching its grounds. Hagrid had seen Harry Potter last and had left his hut with more than enough time to spare to get to Gryffindor tower. Snape got a migraine at imagining what kind of mess the Gryffindor could have gotten into this time.

He had wanted to find the boy himself to give him a sharp lecture that would leave the boy a shameful puddle of goop. Well, not tonight, at least. Maybe another one of the Hogwarts staff had found him. Potter could always do with two adults reprimanding him. Not that that would help the boy’s useless capacity to soak in what he was being told.

Snape now had to send a message to the headmaster to report of his findings. Or lack thereof.

Happy thoughts.

“Expecto Patronum,” Snape recited effortlessly. I await a protector.

It was always a pleasure to watch the graceful creature erupt as a wispy mist from the tip of his wand and form its shape as it landed its hooves—her hooves—on the ground. She was a magnificent creature in silver glowing with a peaceful white light around her. She bowed her head at the man and stepped forward with attentive eyes.

Harry watched from his hiding spot in a mixture of awe, confusion and a wonderful explosion of delight. She was mesmerizing, this new creature’s appearance trying to tell him something. Mother! It…it had to be her! Then he continued to watch in confusion as the creature approached the man and leaned her head to nuzzle against his offered hand. She wasn’t afraid of the man?

The man made no move to harm her, only to give her comfort. And she gave it back in return.

Snape smiled softly at the majestic form of his Patronus. The doe was his protector, his guardian. There was no other form he could have hoped to have in her place. But he continued to hide her, the doe, from others. Only Albus Dumbledore knew. Only he knew about his doe. Only he knew Severus Snape and his Lily.

“Hello again.” Snape said quietly, staring deeply into the curious eyes of his Patronus. “I have a message to be sent to Albus Dumbledore. I have searched the Forbidden Forest and Potter is not present here.” With that the doe bowed her head again and began to turn towards the castle. It was then that Harry’s insides filled with dread as he knew she was going to leave. Why would she leave him behind?

Snape turned quickly at the sudden, helpless cry. The small creature he had come across uncurled from underneath the bush quickly and attempted to stand on knobby knees. The legs were thin and Snape wondered how the small thing was able to stumble and not break a leg each time. It bleated pitifully as the form of his Patronus took flight and headed for the headmaster’s office.

‘Mother!’ Mother!’ His mother had just been here. Why would she leave him? It was dark and he couldn’t be left alone. ‘Mother? Mother, where are you?’

The little fawn quieted as the doe disappeared from sight and the emotions of terror and loneliness filled the small, young body.

Then the frightened eyes turned to face those of the surprised man.

It was strange to find any deer in the Forbidden Forest. It was a sad thing to behold, lost and from the looks of it, abandoned. The little fawn’s head barely reached the Potion Master’s knee. It looked healthy as far as Snape could tell…with a healthy shade of reddish-brown coat that was darker, almost black, on its back. It was spotted with white as well with a creamy underside from its neck to its tail. The small creature looked at Snape with large dark eyes that were wide set and a coal black nose. Velvety ears were lowered against its head in fear as it stood trembling on its gangly, thin legs.

Harry knew he was standing out in the open in plain sight of this man…this possible predator. But he was frozen to the spot. Two options had run through his head: fight or flight…but it seemed his only working option was neither: stare.

The eyes held each other for what seemed like an eternity before they were interrupted with the approaching presence of the patronuses.

The silver doe and phoenix appeared before Snape and the fawn in all their ethereal beauty and bowed before the two. The glowing phoenix landed on a branch near Snape and the headmaster’s aged yet optimistic voice was spoken as though he were with them in the forest.

“I have instructed your Patronus to find Harry by giving her a bit of my memory of the Gryffindor. If he is in the forest, Severus, she will find him.” the old man said confidently.

Snape nodded to himself and observed the glowing doe. But she made no sign that the boy was even in the forest. She stayed put, not bothering to go deeper into the forest or even indicating with her head as to a direction. The boy was not here. He couldn’t be. His doe finally turned her attention towards the fawn that was unmistakably beside itself with joy.

Snape continued to study his Patronus as she approached the tiny fawn that quivered on his unstable legs. The little thing was near bursting with joy Snape noted with mild amusement. The doe was much larger than the fawn so she lowered her head to nuzzle affectionately against the little creature who was no longer frightened of Snape’s presence, merely swept up by the attention of the Patronus. The fawn’s tail was actually wagging vigorously to such affection.

Harry was truly fit to explode with happiness. Somehow…it felt as though his mother had been kept from him for so long. But it was all right now…mother was here. The fawn took comfort in his cheek lying perfectly still against the doe’s, both looking at one another emotionally. Harry tried to ask his mother where she had run off to but she remained silent. She kept her warm, loving gaze on him…so nothing else mattered. Everything would be okay. He had been so scared before and now he was so happy.

“Tell the headmaster: the boy is not here.” Snape told the phoenix. “Just a fawn.” he added in a softer, somber tone. The phoenix bowed again and took to the air with its message.

The doe and fawn looked near perfect for one another as though truly the doe had given birth to the shivering, joyous thing on trembling legs. Snape had never heard of any signs of strong emotion being given off by a Patronus before, especially from a being created out of pure magic and the essence of happy memories towards a living, breathing creature. But he knew…

He knew he couldn’t allow them to grow more attached to one another than they already were.

Snape wasn’t sure if he’d be able to forgive himself for what he had to do next.

He lifted his ebony wand and it glowed slightly. The doe lifted her own head at his action and looked toward Snape understanding that she was being called back. The fawn began to look worried when she did this, trying to recapture her attention by trotting in front of her but to no avail. And then he tried frantically to follow in her long strides as she approached the glowing wand. Snape felt a heavy tension in his chest as he saw his Patronus turn and give the fawn one final glance before she erupted into a silver cloud.

When she disappeared in the silver mist, the fawn’s heart-breaking cries were almost enough to break Snape’s stoic mask. But he pulled himself together. No use…it had been necessary either way.

The Slytherin Head of House stared at the trembling creature again who was still bleating its distressed cries. Without the creature’s mother, the fawn would most likely starve to death if a predator didn’t find the young thing first. Snape tried to convince himself that it was natural order of things. And Snape more than anyone knew such was life, as much as he hated the truth.

‘Mother! Mother? Where are you? MOTHER? DON’T LEAVE ME!’

“I am sorry,” Snape murmured before he started back to the castle. His black robes billowed behind him.

Harry wanted so much to…to…to cry. But what was crying? A strange image of small dew drops falling from eyes dimly registered in his mind before he shook them away. That was silly. But his mother…

The fawn watched forlornly as the dark man began to make his way to the edge of the forest. What would he do now? How would he find his mother…she was here only moments ago and yet no scent to follow her by… But the man… The man had been nice to his mother and his mother had liked the man too! That…that had to mean something. Maybe…maybe she would return to the man once more! Yes, the fawn was convinced he could trust the two legged creature.

So the fawn decided to follow him.

“Twilight, a timid, fawn, went glimmering by, and Night, the dark-blue hunter, followed fast.” -George William Russell

Severus Snape continued to curse the idiotic Gryffindor that desired to be the bane of his existence. And in a twisted way, stood as a reason for his existence. Damn, he hated the brat. The Boy-Who-Lived was always causing trouble and being an inconvenience and only Snape seemed to be the right headed person to notice this. Like now, the boy thought it was a perfect opportunity to go missing when there were plenty of threats out there specifically for him! Himself excluded. If the boy wasn’t found soon, a good, thorough plan needed to be set up…the Dark Lord would take every advantage of this situation.

What he wouldn’t do for a stiff drink right now.

At the moment, the entire castle was being searched as it was near midnight and it was priority that all students be in their dorms by ten. Harry bloody Potter was the only one not accounted for. The impudent teenager was not to be found in the Gryffindor Common Room, the kitchens, the Great Hall or the Quidditch pitch. After scouring those areas thoroughly the staff then decided to search the library and the classrooms and all other places for signs of the Potter spawn.

Severus Snape had gone down to speak with Hagrid for a few ingredients the half-giant was tending to in his care when the groundskeeper then informed him of the boy’s visit an hour earlier. Snape had taken to the grounds then and noticed the footprints in the dirt and disturbed branches of the Forbidden Forest. The Potions Master groaned loudly in frustration as he followed the tracks and lit his wand with a quick ‘lumos’. The double spy was not one to panic be he couldn’t stop the agonizing knot in his chest as he noticed the other footsteps that had literally dragged their captive into the trees. But then the smaller footprints had been able to escape. They had headed back to the castle then stopped, no, vanished near a crop of trees surrounded by shrubbery.

Perhaps the thick headed boy had gotten lucky—again—and made it back to the castle. It was not unusual for the boy to miraculously jump start his quick thinking in dangerous situations that would get him through by a hair’s width. At least the boy possessed some brains and used it when needed. If only the boy wasn’t so rash into getting into these kinds of situations to begin with!

After searching for a couple of hours in the woods Snape was certain he was the only one there save the beasts that probably watched him carefully from the shadows…and the small frightened creature that hid beneath the dense bushes.

So he had sent word to the Headmaster. Snape had not found Albus’s poster boy in the Forbidden Forest…as much as he would have liked to get his hands on the boy and given him a rather large piece of his mind.

After Snape had witnessed the interaction between his patronus and the feeble fawn, the Potions Master couldn’t help but bring to mind the two individuals that seemed to determinedly take residence in his thoughts. …it was these two that gave his life purpose, sad and pathetic as other people would see it. But other people didn’t matter.

And then to tear the two apart after a brief yet intense moment of bonding, why did fate seem intent on reminding the man of his past mistakes? Was he not making atonement for them even now?

Now he was in an even worse mood as he opened the large entrance doors to Hogwarts. He hadn’t noticed the shaking, clumsy creature following behind him until he had turned to shut the door.

The little fawn awkwardly took on the challenge of the stone steps leading to the doors.

Clip. Clop. C-clip-clop. Clop. Clop. Clip. Clop. Cli-clop. Clip.

Snape stood there unable to keep his baffled expression from making itself known. The fragile animal, a babe compared to the adults of its kind had followed him all the way from the forest—up the pathway—ventured the rather steep hills—and finally up these stairs to follow him. Him.

Oh, Merlin—the fawn was still following him for its ‘supposed’ mother’s sake.

The evil, feared Potions Master that lurked in the Hogwarts dungeons could not for the life of him picture the ridiculous picture of his trip coming back from the forest, the pathetic fawn following steadfast in his wake. Snape closed his eyes with a long-suffering sigh as the embarrassing image took over his mind’s eye. This would not do at all!

Somehow, he had to get the fawn scurrying back to the forest before anyone saw him. Remembering the state the creature had been during their first encounter, Snape surmised that the creature must still hold some fear in its trembling form. There was no way the fawn would follow him into the castle.

Clip. Clop. Clip. Cli-cli-clop. Clop.

Yet the fawn continued to close the distance between them with an unwavering look of…of…hopeful expectancy on its face.

Snape sighed again as he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. Resolutely the man lowered his hand and gave his trademark glower, usually saved for Potter himself or one of his dunderheaded friends on occasion. The little fawn couldn’t have gotten over his fear of him so quickly.

He took a couple of slow menacing steps towards the fawn and he didn’t budge.

But the small thing was anything but frightened.

He wagged his tail, throwing back and forth the little tuft of cream fur that stuck out from under it that cheered like a pompom in one of those absurd muggle sports. The quaking, abandoned animal he had discovered before had somehow attached itself to him as well as his Patronus. The situation was getting out of hand.

All because of a fawn that could barely stand on its own legs! And it was Potter’s fault, as usual. Damn you, Potter!

“You are not welcome here.” Snape told the fawn with a frown. He was hoping the strange sound of a human voice would have the beguiled creature running for the hills. It still didn’t budge. AND it continued its damned tail wagging. “This is a school for wizards and witches…not deer.” What was going on? He did not just say that, did he? Even his tone had softened compared to what he had intended. “Perhaps a trail of acorns…” Snape mused out loud.

Then the small fawn took a step towards so that he had to crane his head to look up at Snape. The man was startled to be captured by those eyes…those large dark eyes. Only one, no, two other people had eyes that could unwillingly capture his attention like this. But this was just random and mad. How could this little creature just—

Then there was a flash of green as the fire of a lamp above his head flickered and danced.

“POTTER!”

Snape cursed the animal for wagging his tail more heartily at the outburst.

The man couldn’t stop his hand from aiding the blooming migraine that had started to persist since the news of Potter’s disappearance. What exactly had Potter gotten himself into? Snape didn’t want to know now. Yet here he was, Harry, the ‘fawn-who-lived’.

And looking down at the blissful creature Snape was sure the boy’s memories had left him, temporarily he hoped. The Gryffindor would be likely to die of embarrassment at the knowledge of his current predicament. Snape was close to it as well.

But…how suiting that Potter had transformed into a fawn. The boy wasn’t as grown up as the brat always thought he was. And then there was Potter Senior’s animagus form…and then Lily’s patronus as well as his own, Snape cringed to notice. How he had come to be saddled with the Potter family for all eternity was beyond him.

But of course, it was all because of his patronus…and Lily…

“Severus?” an elderly, female voice called from the nearest corner.

Snape was just as alarmed by the voice as the fawn as he dreaded the encounter of someone finding him with this tiny Potter. Snape looked down to see the fawn tremble and look wildly around himself and then finally at the Potions Master.

Then the fawn forced himself beneath Snape’s robes.

“Potter, what in Merlin’s—” Snape hissed but then his robes settled and he could feel the thin, lithe legs of the animal curled between his legs and lying on his feet. But he looked up to see the Deputy Headmistress making her way towards him.

“Severus, there you are. I was about to send you my patronus—” Snape’s eye gave a brief twitch. He had had enough Patronus for one night, thank you very much. “—to inform you that Potter has not been spotted within the castle as of yet. Oh, and do close that door, Severus, you’re letting the draft in!” Minerva McGonagall scolded her former student.

Snape was about to tell her a sharp remark—seeing as how he couldn’t move from his spot, not that she needed to know that—just as Albus Dumbledore made his way from around the same corner.

“Ah, Severus, Minerva, I do believe that we shall need to schedule an hourly night watch.” the elderly man said, his voice giving off his fatigue and age that Severus had not seen in a long while.

The Transfiguration professor nodded somberly as she shut the door herself. “I shall get started on it and inform the staff. You need some rest, Albus.”

“I shall stay up for a bit longer. Some of the Order members are to meet me within the hour. They shall help with searching the grounds for any clues to Mr. Potter’s sudden disappearance.”

Snape couldn’t help but snort.

“Severus!” McGonagall admonished her colleague. “It wouldn’t be funny if Mr. Potter was somewhere on the ground possibly injured!”

“I’m sure Potter is just playing hide and go seek to get our attention.” Snape drawled smoothly. “Potter’s penchant at landing himself into touble—” Snape froze.

He had nearly jumped out of his own skin.

All of his spying abilities had barely kept him from jumping out of his robes as well. This boy was just asking to be throttled, deer-brained or not!

Wet. Wet nose. Wet nose. Cold. Cold, wet nose.

Potter. Insufferable, annoying Potter! Idiotic, deer-brained, bloody Potter!

Snape’s face turned sour even as his two colleagues stared at him with quirked eyebrows. “Is something wrong, Severus?”

“No,” Snape answered dismissively. “As I was saying, Potter is an attention-seeking, ignorant boy who always thinks he is above the rules and sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong!” the dark haired man nearly hissed.

‘Remove your nose this instant, Potter!’ Snape fumed silently. As if hearing the man’s thoughts, Harry retracted his nose from inspecting Snape’s ankles. Snape shuddered to think of the state his socks were in.

Dumbledore and McGonagall were not sure how to reply to Snape’s strange yet unpredictable behavior. They were dealing with a Potter, after all.

“Albus, Severus,” Professor McGonagall said with a strange glance at the Potions Master. She had finally decided that things were getting a little strange. “I’ll keep an eye out for the Order when they arrive, headmaster.”

“Thank you, my dear,”

The elderly witch was out of ear shot when Dumbledore turned his twinkling periwinkle gaze on his spy.

“I believe there is something you’d like to tell me, Severus?”

Snape frowned. Best get the boy—fawn—off of his hands as soon as possible. “Yes, there is, headmaster. Potter is a—”

Dumbledore held up his hand shaking his head. “I know he’s snuck out past curfew before but Harry would never do so without a good reason. When will open your eyes, Severus? Harry is a good boy. I wish you would see that.”

“Headmaster, that’s not—”

AHH-CHHFFF!

Damn it, Potter!

"Severus, I do believe your robes have contracted a chill." the headmaster remarked with twinkling amusement. The robes had swayed from the high pitched sneeze that could have sounded anything from “a chip” to “la rip”. Then the old codger had the gall to beam as Potter, whom he was certain wished to ruin him no matter what state of mind he was in, poked his head out from beneath Snape’s robes. "Ah, what a lovely young, fairy cattle you have, my boy!"

Just great. Snape would have liked to keep some of his dignity when reporting to the headmaster of Potter’s predicament. Bullocks went that notion!

“Yes, Potter has by some ingenious train of thought decided to turn himself into a fanciful sprinter of the forest. How adequate.” Snape commented harshly. “It seems Potter has also managed to wipe out his memory as well.” He looked down to glare at the top of the fawn’s head…but it was draped by his own robes, only the creature’s nose sticking out. Harry looked warily at the headmaster, a stranger and possible threat in his mind.

“Oh, dear, I shall send for Minerva so she can assess Mr. Potter. Would you be gracious enough to take Harry to see Madam Pomphrey? I believe she has just returned from searching the third floor.”

“What? But, headmaster—”

“The others need to be informed that Mr. Potter has been found…but this situation should remain among as few as possible, don’t you think, Severus?”

“Yes, headmaster, but—”

“Mr. Potter seems very frightened by my presence so I shall take my leave. Do make sure he doesn’t go snooping in Pomona’s greenhouse. She wouldn’t like that.”

“Albus, why do I—”

“Thank you, my boy, come see me in my office for a full report…once Poppy finishes her examinations that is!” Dumbledore said in a sing-song tune as he was already retreating around the corner. Snape tried to glare a burst of flames onto the receding rainbow robes of his employer. Paychecks be damned! The old coot was trying to drive him over the edge!

As the headmaster made his retreat, Snape noticed the fawn begin to tentatively step out from beneath his robes and shakily stand beside him, again, looking up with those dreadfully hopeful, expectant eyes. The tail wagged despite its previous anxiety.

The headmaster expected him to tag along this?

Snape grumbled a few choice words that would have been inappropriate for Potter’s ears especially in his ‘young’ state. “To the hospital wing, Potter, your favorite place to skip classes.” the man muttered disdainfully. He picked up the fawn by the middle and placed him under one arm where the fawn was at ease to enjoy his trip rather than stumble on his legs.

“If you make so much as a peep, Potter, Merlin help you…” Snape hissed to the fawn as he walked briskly to the hospital wing, stopping at each corner to look both ways in case other staff members were still searching or worse…students who would be eyewitnesses to this. They’d never live it down.

Potter had the brains to keep silent. Deer brains must be larger than Potter brains, Snape concluded. But the tiny, vulnerable creature insisted on curling—actually, snuggling in the crook of his arm and against his rib cage. The man was most certainly sure he did not sign up for this. He did not agree to take on this along with the different tasks of his adulthood. Saving Potter’s skin: yes. Teaching dunderheads: attempting to. Spying: yes. Babysitting: NO!

This was completely absurd! And all thanks to Potter. As usual.

“STOP this infernal tail wagging at once, Potter!”

Seriously, he shouldn’t have to deal with the boy—fawn!—at this ungodly hour. He’d hand the sickening creature over to Pomphrey. Then he’d most likely end up under the more appropriate watch of the Gryffindor Head of House. There, that would suit this dilemma better. …if the boy (in a fawn’s body) kept looking at him with those unutterably tooth-rotting eyes, he was going to drop the fawn off a moving staircase.

Snape stopped in front of the doors to the hospital wing. …he knew for a fact that Collin Creevey was currently taking residence in one of the hospital beds. Someone had messed with his camera and before anyone knew it, the Creevey boy was sporting the eyepiece of his camera as though it were cemented onto his skin. It didn’t help that he had run into the dungeon wall (which is why Snape was so informed on the matter) and was now healing from a nasty concussion.

Snape looked down both ends of the hall…no one was likely to come into the corridor any time soon. The teachers were elsewhere and supposedly all students in their bed. Usually Snape would have had the suspicion that Potter would be out and about under his invisibility cloak…if he weren’t currently tucked under his arm.

“Things are always complicated with you, Potter.” The man murmured as he continued to observe the matron fussing with Creevey’s head bandage. Through the tiny door window, Snape could observe that the boy was barely awake. But best not take any chance of Potter’s condition getting spread like a forest fire.

The little fawn was placed unsteadily on his feet and finally found good footing after adjusting his hooves. Snape had to keep the animal steady until it had found its center of gravity frowning all the while. The man could not have been more humiliated with the situation unless spectators were present.

“Potter, you are to wait out here. Stay.” Snape ordered with a severe glare. Harry merely blinked at him. “Do. Not. Move.” That wouldn’t be too hard for Potter…he could barely put one foot in front of the other.

It had been a wonder that the fawn had followed him unassisted all the way to the castle. The thing had ambition.

‘A Slytherin trait in a fawn’s body. Terrific.’

Snape easily positioned the fawn out of the door’s way where he wouldn’t be a nuisance. Or not more so than he already was.

The Potions Master was now prepared to make a swift, billowy entrance towards Madam Pomphrey when Snape felt movement scurrying between his robes. He was forced to shut the hospital doors as he scowled at the fawn who was eagerly watching the man.

“Potter, I said no! You are to stay here.” Snape hissed as he nudged the fawn back against the wall with his knee.

When he reached for the door handle the defiant creature placed itself at his side ready to follow him once again. Snape groaned in frustration. Quickly he settled the fawn as far from the door as possible and was forced to dash for the door.

The man entered the hospital wing in a bit of disarray but as the door closed; Snape saw the little fawn frantically trying to stumble his way toward him with little progress.

Now, to get Madam Pomphrey to set up a secluded area for Potter’s ‘checkup’…

“Severus? Do you need something?” the woman asked as she laid out an extra blanket on top of the Creevey boy. “Any news on Potter?”

Snape nodded with a frown. “Unfortunately, yes,”

“Oh! He’s been found? Is he hurt?”

“We shall need a curtained off area of the wing for Mr. Potter to be assessed.”

“Is his condition that severe? Where is he now—” Scrath. Sc-Scratch. “What in Merlin’s name is that noise?”

The two adults both turned towards the hospital doors, Snape’s brow furrowing deeply.

“It’s probably that menace poltergeist,” Snape said quickly. The little creature was unrelenting! …it would not help if the fawn suffered from separation anxiety. And to be so dependant on him! It was preposterous! “Now, his condition must be kept to as few as possible. The headmaster sent for some Order memb—”

Scratch. Scratch.

Then the crying started. It was the same, sorrowful bleating Snape had heard the fawn cry in the forest.

“Severus, is there an animal out there? Surely that isn’t Argus’s cat!” Madam Pomphrey exclaimed. “Severus, what is the meaning of this?”

“Has Mr. Creevey been given a helping of dreamless sleep?”

“Yes—”

“One moment.” And then he turned swiftly on his feel and retreated back to the doors where he opened one slightly to allow someone in.

Snape glared through narrow eyes at the impossibly happy fawn that stood on wobbly legs to greet him. As soon as Snape appeared at the door, the fawn felt elation swell within him and his crying stopped.

“I only left you for five minutes!” But the fawn continued to wag his tail anyway.

Sighing, he let the fawn through the door.

“Severus Snape, my hospital wing is not a barnyard!” Pomphrey admonished as the little fawn jumped at her tone.

Snape felt the little creature throw its weight against his leg in an attempt to hide behind his black robes. The man began to worry as he could feel that the small animal’s trembling was more pronounced than he would have liked. Something was wrong with the fawn.

“This is Potter.” Snape said as if the statement was apparent enough.

The man lifted the trembling fawn into his arms where the creature stilled its quivering slightly. He was holding the blasted animal so it wouldn’t attempt to burrow in his robes again. He was not holding the animal to comfort it.

But the little fawn tried to hide his face in Snape’s arms when he noticed the finicky matron walking towards them.

Deer snot...deer snot on his sleeves...Snape swore he'd give the little cretin detention for the rest of his life!

"Oh, excellent! After all: who better to raise the Young Prince than the Great Prince himself!" -(Owl) Bambi II, Disney

Being held by the dark man…Snape (a name he recalled out of the foggy blue)…had eased his tension somewhat but as soon as the other strange human, a female in an apron and hat, had come over, his terror had started again. Back in the forest, he had been frightened of those three intruders and initially of this Snape man at first…but he had been surrounded by trees and plants that his deer instincts connected with. Here…in this strange forest of stone, Harry was frightened and unaccustomed to the sights and smells around him. Yet, there was a small part of him that told him it was okay. Because of that voice, it was the only reason he felt the courage to follow the two legged animal to this strange place. …and hopefully to find his mother again.

Yet in this room that smelled of bizarre tingling odors and crisp white linen, Harry was having a hard time staying calm. As more people began to enter the curtained area of the hospital wing, he felt his chest seize with too many emotions and his legs folded stiffly beneath him. The different faces were alien even as the small constant voice inside him told the fawn they weren’t.

But please…there were too many people now…why couldn’t they leave him alone? Where was his mother?

Snape?

The fawn turned to see the glowering wizard trying to stand as far from the crowd as possible while keeping an eye on the activities. The medi-witch had waved her wand on top of the fawn to check for any injuries or ailments. The fawn had stared at her with large eyes and had shrunk away with uncontrollable tremors. If the woman hadn’t finished quickly, Snape had feared that the fawn would have backed over the edge of the bed he stood on.

Professor McGonagall was now having her turn waving her wand over the shivering creature that unsuccessfully sought to hide himself inside a pillow cover. When the elderly witch stopped her wand waving and the medi-witch, Potter sidekicks and the werewolf got to their feet for the diagnosis, the fawn couldn’t fight the wail that he aimed in the Potion Master’s direction.

Snape was the first to react as the fawn stood for the first time in the past hour and made a leap for the man right off the bed. The wizard was fast enough to catch the dratted animal before either of them broke their necks. If he hadn’t caught the skinny thing, the fawn would have surely snapped a leg if not its spine.

Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley both took a step away from theirs spots even with a hospital bed separating them from the angry Slytherin.

“Potter! WHAT was your goal for such a reckless stunt?!” the man nearly yelled as he set the fawn firmly on the ground. Of course, Snape would get no answer out of the fawn but he couldn’t help but feel even more annoyed at the silence.

But the fawn was now a lot calmer standing closer to him than a moment ago.

Professor McGonagall cleared her throat. “Severus, he doesn’t seem to trust any of us. But he does feel comfortable around you.”

“Your point?” the wizard retorted. His nerves were wrecked—he had felt his heart stop when he saw the fawn try to jump the large chasm between the bed and his location.

“Maybe you should come over here and hold Mr. Potter for his feeding? Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley will assist you after Hagrid comes with the milk.” The Gryffindors were given a pointed look by their head of house when they visibly blanched at her words.

“We can take care of Harry ourselves, Professor!” Hermione said. “I’m sure Professor Snape is busy…”

Ron nodded next to her. “Yeah! And we have Remus here to help us!”

Remus Lupin lifted his head at the mention of his name. He had remained quiet through the ordeal speaking little since he had come to see Harry. He gave the two Gryffindors a tired smile. “Perhaps not, Ron…it seems my presence would more likely scare Harry and then give him a panic attack.”

“But you’re—”

“He can smell the wolf.” Lupin finally said. “It’s only been a few days since the full moon. I have the scent from my transformation on me…so I’m a dangerous threat to Harry’s conscious in this state.” The neutral, mild tone did not give away the man’s discourage like the tired lines around his eyes that looked something sad.

“Why is he like this?” Hermione questioned the Transfiguration professor.

The elderly woman stood straighter as she looked at the fawn that kept trying to move closer to Snape’s leg although he was already pressed against it completely.

“Mr. Potter has been hit with the Verto curse. It transforms a person into an animal in mind but is very hard to control.” she said.

“Who would want to turn Harry into a deer?” Ron asked.

“They might not have intended for Mr. Potter to become a fawn, Mr. Weasley. As you are all knowledgeable, James Potter’s animagus form was that of a stag—or buck—a male deer. Harry’s own magic must have been stronger than that of the castor so he transformed into his own animagus form—”

“…which he inherited from James.” Lupin finished with a look of awe.

The little deer tried to catch Snape’s attention when he could feel the man stiffen suddenly. ‘Don’t be angry. Are you angry with me?’ Harry tried to ask.

“Then why can’t he remember us?” the red head asked with a frown.

“The Verto curse changes the mind as well as the body. Mr. Potter’s memories are not completely lost just that his animal instincts override them for now.”

There was a tense silence as the occupants of the room (save Collin Creevey) took in this information. It was up to Snape to ask the question lingering on everyone’s mind.

“How does he transform back?”

“The quickest option is to have him take the antidote to the Bestia Serum.” Her words were directed at Snape who was deep in thought. “But it would be hard on Mr. Potter. He would have to find the will inside him to change himself into a human with the aid of the antidote.”

“The ingredients to that antidote are extremely hard to come by.” Snape said quickly. “Brewing it needs constant attention and a stasis charm could only hold it for a limited time—”

They were interrupted by the arrival of Harry’s meal.

“Evenin’, folks! Someone requeted ‘ere some Oisín milk?” Hagrid asked as he lowered his head to enter through the curtained off area. He held a large jug that sloshed with liquid inside. “Why lookie ‘ere! What’s this little scared fella doin’ in yer hospital wing, Poppy?”

“That’s Mr. Potter.”

“He’s been transformed into a fawn, Hagrid!” Hermione said as she looked at the trembling creature anxiously. She fretted with her hands with a worried look while she couldn’t do anything to comfort her friend.

The fawn shrunk further against Snape who made no move to acknowledge the little animal that looked upward wide eyed at the half-giant.

“’Arry? Great Merlin, it is ‘im! Poor thing’s terrified of us.” Hagrid untied the jug that was knotted at his belt and removed a cap to reveal a bottle with a teat. “Come ‘ere, little fella, Hagrid’s got somethin’ fer you!”

Hagrid held out the end of the bottle where a small drop of the Oisín milk had been squeezed, the creamy dot capturing the fawn’s attention. Harry looked up from the bottle at Hagrid’s smiling face and then back at the bottle.

Hagrid…the name…it was familiar…

“Thanks, ‘Arry. I will. Oh! Here are the cakes fer ‘Ermione and Ron.”

Whoa. Freeze. Where did that come from?

Harry looked up at Snape who didn’t seem apprehensive or wary of the large man…so this ‘Hagrid’ had to be safe. The fawn decided he would just inspect the bottle very carefully.

Snape felt the forceful, trembling pressure on his leg ease and he looked down to see the fawn tentatively step towards the bottle all the while looking at the groundskeeper for any sign of a threat. “That’s a good fella…here’s some warm milk to fill that belly of yers…” Hagrid chided softly.

Everyone watched with an intense silence as Harry sniffed the bottle before swiping his tongue quickly to capture the drop of milk. The tension and stiffness of the fawn’s body eased slowly and soon the young creature was suckling as much milk as he could. Without choking, that is. The fawn was famished since he expected to be fed by his mother at dusk, which was a good number of hours ago.

“’Atta boy! Come ‘ere, you two. Harry will trust ya if you hold onto the bottle like this.”

The two Gryffindors walked slowly towards Hagrid so they didn’t scare the fawn and both held onto the bottle and a smile breaking through their anxiety instantly. They looked down at the hungry fawn that gave them a glance while keeping his mouth stuck on the teat and didn’t tense or run away from them.

Snape was startled by McGonagall’s hand on his shoulder. He hadn’t noticed he was watching the fawn so intently.

He was forced to congregate on the other side of the room where Lupin, Pomphrey and Hagrid spoke with one another.

“You are familiar with this antidote, Severus?” Poppy asked.

“Of course, but I’ve only brewed it once due to the scarcity of its ingredients.” he answered smoothly.

“Sev’rus, I know of some fellas who could get you some rare stuff.”

“And I have some connections as well, Severus,”

Snape looked from Hagrid to Lupin and nodded finally. “You will contact them and have them sent to the castle through you.”

“Can they not send them through owl post?” McGonagall asked.

“The more delicate ingredients need great care during transportation. Not an ancient delivery owl dropping them into the English Channel.” Snape said as he turned a serious glare to the half-giant and werewolf once again. “Be sure these ingredients are not tampered with or else the brat will be poisoned. Check them thoroughly before accepting any of the ingredients.”

Lupin nodded firmly but looked worried. “If the antidote doesn’t work…”

“And Mr. Potter doesn’t choose to transform? He could stay like this.” McGonagall said gravely. “Merlin forbid.”

The man nodded although Snape could tell his thoughts were starting a research plan. The werewolf was always the bookish one of the Marauder cult during their school years.

Snape nodded to the adults who were wallowing in the likelihood of the permanent fawn. He pushed the curtains out of his way and he could feel himself step out of the silence barrier that had been placed on the section of the hospital wing.

The wizard caught sight of the clock hanging above the hospital doors and felt his lack of sleep catching up to him when he was rammed awake. Literally.

Wait, no, it was just the fawn—…Potter?!

The fawn had turned swiftly back to Snape and found the man gone when he had nearly finished the bottle. He looked up at the two Gryffindors who weren’t so scary anymore but he felt panic start to swell as he searched for the dark robed man.

"Drink up, Harry. You want to grow large, healthy antlers, don't you?" Hermione chided as she tried to tempt the fawn to finishing his meal. But Harry was still looking elsewhere. “What’s wrong?” Hermione asked, momentarily forgetting the boy’s lack of human speech.

“Hey! Where’re you goin’?” Ron asked in turn as the fawn jolted into a sprint, the fear settling in once again.

The fawn stumbled but it didn’t hamper his speed as he dashed away. Ron tried to settle the fawn before he could move any further but the small animal managed to trip and slide between the curtains, landing on his rump and gliding along the impossibly clean floor.

“He doesn't walk very good, does he?” Ron commented.

Then the fawn had finally managed to spot Snape, eagerly getting back on his not so nimble legs and making a blind dash for the dark robed figure. He nearly made the man fall off kilter by ramming him from behind head-on in a frightened daze. Snape turned a very sour glare at the fawn as the animal shook his head of the impact and beamed at the cross-looking man, twirling his velvety ears and wagging his tail with glowing joy. Oh, good. He had been so worried he’d loose the man too!

It had been too similar to his mother going away.

“Stay.” Snape nudged the fawn with his knee for good measure. But the fawn merely took a step back as the man tried to push him away and then took two more steps forward. Harry was sure he wouldn’t let the man out of his sight again! “Impossible little—”

“Severus!”

“Professor, Harry still has more of this milk to finish!”

“Severus, do bring him back this instant!” McGonagall sternly reprimanded the outraged man. They thought he would willingly bring Potter anywhere with him?

“It is not my fault the bloody creature won’t stop following me! Restrain Potter so I can attend to Albus’s report!”

“Severus, language!”

The man had never felt the fatigue of late hours so heavily before tonight. “Are you quite through, Minerva?”

“Severus, it is plain to see that Mr. Potter has become fond of you. Why don’t you take him with you—”

“No.”

“—to see the headmaster?” the woman finished, ignoring the younger man’s protest.

Snape had to agree with the face that the Weasley boy was making.

“He won’t be a nuisance. I’m sure you’re more than capable of delivering a report as well as looking after him. I’m sure Albus would like to see Mr. Potter as well.”

The Potions Master attempted to persuade the others in taking the fawn with them for the night but his threats of grade failures, disembowelment and torture had no effect. The two Gryffindors who offered to look after Harry were sternly sent back up to the Gryffindor tower by their head of house.

Damnation.

At the end of that fun episode, Snape found himself trying to pulverize the floor with his feet as he made his way to the headmaster’s office with the little fawn in tow.

In all honesty, Snape wasn’t looking forward to this report. But most of all he wanted to get it over with. There was a thought that had been buzzing in his head like a persistently annoying fly and he had not wanted the boy to come along. Always his reports to the headmaster were without an audience and he had wanted to keep it that way too.

Sighing he slowed his steps so the fawn could gain a little proximity with his wobbly legs. “I was almost clean of you for the night, Potter. Almost.”

The dark eyes of the fawn looked up at Snape and again the torch lights brought the emerald green ablaze.

Snape didn’t turn to look at the fawn for the rest of the way.

“Fizzy Lifting Drinks,” Snape managed to grumble at the gargoyle. The man immediately stepped through as the statue jumped back but the fawn lingered behind, wary of the moving wall and twisting stairs. “Well, Potter? We don’t have all night.” Snape irritably beckoned the animal. “You’ve already wasted the better half as it is.”

Harry awkwardly tried to place a steady hoof on one of the steps as it ascended. Then the fawn’s body was haphazardly jumbled cross three treads, sprawled clumsily but happy that he had managed to get on the stairs at all.

By the time the fawn reached the level where Snape had raised his hand to knock, the door was already pulling itself open and allowing the two entrance into the office. Soft clinking and clattering of strange instruments fizzled and whirled on shelves to one side and a grand desk with papers and inviting chairs were on the other. The old headmaster, a colorful robe donned over night clothes, sat behind the desk smiling cheerily at the scowling man and quivering fawn.

“Harry, I see you are still adjusting to the new environment. I know it is hard, my boy, but I hope you will be able to recognize the castle soon.”

“Headmaster, he can’t understand a word you said. He’s even dafter than before in this state.”

Dumbledore nodded slowly. “So Minerva and Poppy have seen to the boy?”

“Yes, it’s the Verto curse.”

“I see,”

“I have more to discuss with you, Albus…in private.”

“Severus, the boy has no understanding of the human tongue as you’ve said—” Dumbledore began with a puzzled look.

“I can’t!” Snape hissed between his teeth. It unnerved him to talk of sensitive matters even in front of the dim-witted fawn. The headmaster looked at the animal who was keeping as little distance as possible between him and Snape. Something had to be done…perhaps a talk with the man would relieve some tension from Snape and then the man would allow the fawn some slack in return. And there was still the matter of Harry’s care…

“Come, Severus, we can retire to my sitting room for a bit. Harry, be good. We’ll be back soon.”

The fawn tried to follow Snape once again but the door shut in his face and the creature was left in the office. Harry decided to wait there then…Snape man would be back…he hoped.

“I do hope Harry is house trained, Severus,” the old man casually said as they entered through the door connected to the office.

The headmaster’s rooms were spacious and richly furnished with a warm fireplace and inviting seats. The two men took the two closest to the hearth and Dumbledore tried to offer the man a glass to drink but Snape declined brusquely. He looked too tense now but he seemed to want his agitation, possibly to fuel his speech. This couldn’t be a good sign.

“What memories of the boy did you give my Patronus, Albus?”

The question startled the headmaster. He hadn’t been expecting it.

“Happy ones, Severus. I’m sure you know how positive thoughts and emotions trigger the Patronus. I must say…it took me a while to find a solid, joyous occasion concerning the boy.”

Snape continued to look at the old man, waiting for more so the headmaster pressed on.

“His sorting from his first year, his first Quidditch match as Seeker (catching the snitch ultimately), and some here and there from his infancy.”

“His infancy….”

“I visited Lily when Mr. Potter was born and afterwards when I found the time. A mother holding her child for the first time, I thought little Harry must have been very happy at that moment.” Dumbledore saw the man sitting next to him swallow thickly and nodded. “What has happened, Severus?”

“My Patronus…” Snape began tensely. “Potter in his new form has bonded with my Patronus. I believe those memories became…hers…and she saw the fawn as her own.”

“Did this disturb you greatly?” But now the old man could see it in the younger one’s face. “And because she is connected with you, he too has bonded with you. Must the thought be so upsetting, my boy?”

“Any connection with the brat makes me nauseous alone!” Snape insisted irritably. A lie. They shared someone from their pasts. “He has enough of his penchant for trouble to deal with and to add any reliance upon me would just rake up more trouble for the both of us. There are too many who would take this situation and turn it into chaos. We both have enemies with too many resources.”

“Then we wouldn’t want Mr. Potter’s condition to be scattered to the four winds…” Dumbledore murmured as he smoothed his beard in thought.

“And allow the Dark Lord to gain whiff.” There was a bitterness to the words ‘Dark Lord’. “But just watch as once again, headmaster, your golden star will find some way to ruin it (more than he already has by getting himself in this situation) and we’ll have death eaters knocking on our door.”

“Harry doesn’t bring trouble upon himself surely.”

“EVERY year, headmaster, the boy has some disaster waiting to happen up his sleeve. No disregard for anyone but his popularity and fame.”

“I’m sure Mr. Potter cares, Severus. Perhaps…if he knew there was a guardian angel watching his every move…?”

Snape gawked at being referred to as such.

“Harry is all heart, I assure you.”

“I’ll eat the Sorting Hat when Potter manages to think before he acts. And thinking with your heart doesn’t cut it. We can wait for Potter to grow some filling for his head but I doubt the outcome of that.”

“A watched cauldron never boils, Severus.”

Snape snorted loudly. It was so like the headmaster to continue fighting for the boy. Only at the end of last summer did the boy trash the very office that the fawn idly waited in at the moment. Perhaps Harry had managed to eat the Sorting Hat himself by now.

“I must say Severus, for one who cares much for his safety you would be ideal to watch him. This bond has been created and tearing it when Harry is in such a weak state…it could be bring irreversible consequences.” the headmaster said evenly. “You want no connection to the boy but as you can see, and can’t deny, that your lives are intertwined.”

“You ask too much, old man! I protect the cretin just fine from a distance.” Snape angrily retorted, eyes ablaze. “Saddle him with someone else; I will look after him as I always have.”

“Severus…”

“How can you ask this of me, Albus?”

“You are a brave man, Severus. You have overcome so much.”

Snape shook his head with a grim expression. The headmaster was trying to butter him up! The codger’s words wouldn’t seduce him again, he was no fool! Snape knew this old man’s hocus pocus tricks…the image of a man in old age veiled others but not Severus Snape. It was when the headmaster complimented him in such dire situations that he hoped to win Snape over. It was just as that Willy Shakes wrote ‘all that glitters is not gold’ and such.

“But you continue to fail me here.” Failure? Snape did not deny he had failed at many things.

“Why must you allow your hatred for James to disregard your love for Lily?”

The old man…was questioning his love for the woman he would give everything for? He was asking to be throttled in his own private rooms! “What? NO!” It peeved Snape that this man of all people would compare anything more than his dedication to Lily’s memory. He didn’t hate that arrogant toe rag more than Lily. He didn’t. He would never place that sod before Lily in anything. He couldn’t...but then again Snape had always found that the saying “old flames die hard” to be true to with him. This realization disgusted him. How could it be true?

“Then prove me wrong, Severus. Prove to me you truly loved Lily…loved her enough to care, look after and protect her son. It is what you swore to do. Protect him.” Dumbledore knew he had been playing this card for a long time. Every time he cursed himself for it. It would work this time as it always did but the old man knew that Harry needed more than protection, his infant-like state as a fawn clearly stated that, and Severus Snape needed to do more as well.

Dumbledore placed a withered, bony hand on the Slytherin’s chest. Snape surprised himself by not startling or brushing it away brusquely. “I can only beseech you, Severus, never force you, to show Harry the better man I know is in here.” The hollow beating of his heart resonated against the aged palm up to the younger man’s ears, a dismal reminder that he, Severus Snape was still alive and why. “This man is the stuff of envy.”

“Y-You can’t mean that.” Snape croaked out.

“I do, my boy, I do.” The old man gave him that smile. Snape remembered seeing it for the first time five years ago. The headmaster had given it to the Potter boy then. How jealous of the boy he had been then but now…receiving it…he felt so…
…unworthy. Snape had to shut his eyes at the sparkling pride and truth radiating from the sage man’s eyes.

“One day I hope you shall come to terms with this better man, Severus.”

“This better man can not spy on Dark Lords!” he bitterly spat, unable to hold back the acid in his tone. But it was the smallest desire to follow Dumbledore’s words that riled him up.

“He loved Lily and gave himself to spy on the monster that murdered her.”

“She never knew this ‘better man’!”

“Then show her son.” Snape felt himself fully exhausted of words by this point. “For Lily and her son, I think he deserves to know him. You.” Dumbledore could see Snape’s stoic façade slowly crumble. Snape couldn’t speak or open his mouth as he looked at the headmaster but wasn’t really seeing him. His eyes, his mind, his thoughts were searching out the meaning in the bearded man’s words. And he saw it clearing before him—reason—because it did make sense when—when—wait.

“…it’s the fact that he exists, really…”

“He doesn’t exist.” Snape finally intoned neutrally. Dumbledore watched in dismay as the dawning light of acceptance fade and then shut behind the man’s steely reserve completely. The shining, ebony eyes hardened and the old man knew he couldn’t push this matter any further for the meantime.

“He has no one right now,” the headmaster sadly noted more to himself. His fatigue from the sleepless night had begun their creeping into his bones.

“He will deal with it.”

“Sadly, you’ve seen the outcome of that statement already, my boy.” Snape could hear the silent words clearly. You’ve lived it.

The fire crackled and blazed with enthusiasm as the two sat in silence for a while, shadows jumping across walls and furniture before their eyes.

“Until spring,” Snape managed to grumble with closed eyes. “If the antidote does not work and we can not find a cure by then, he’ll have to bond with someone else.”

“Thank you, my boy. You’ve saved him once again.” the old man spoke in a soft tone, saddened tone. It made Snape’s ears burn.

The Potions Master stood to gather the fawn from within the office but stopped at the pressure of the headmaster’s hand on his arm. Snape turned towards the older man who was looking deeply into the flames; his eyes were glassy and brightly lit.

“Thank you, Severus,”

The headmaster did not stand to see the man out but it felt as though Snape was fleeing from the room himself. The little fawn stood to greet him and Snape sighed wearily, allowing the creature to follow him out of the office and back into the corridor.

Snape walked methodically down to the dungeons, tracing steps he had walked upon thousands of times in the past fifteen years. He did not feel the drop in temperature as he became surrounded by hard stone walls and dimly flickering torches. He barely registered the fawn that trotted next to him, hoping eagerly for his attention. But inside the man was anything but numb. He wished he was.

They entered his office which would have a door leading to his private rooms. Snape usually considered sleep to be wasteful hours. But now…he had never wanted to loose himself in slumber so badly, away from the world.

“Everyone respects him...he is very brave and very wise. That's why he is known as the Great Prince of the Forest.”-(Bambi’s Mother) Bambi, Disney

Almost…Severus Snape had almost managed to fall asleep.

Snape slit his eyes open a crack to see the fawn wiggling on the edge of his bed. Harry’s front legs managed to fold atop the duvet but his hind legs dangled off the floor, the little fawn trying to slowly squirm his body onto the bed completely. Sighing heavily, Snape opened his eyes and sat up, the little fawn noticing the Snape man fully awake and proceeding to wag the tail that the Potions Master longed to chop off. The fawn had stopped his wiggling at least but was still hopelessly stuck hanging off the bed.

“Potter,” Snape began in a low, menacing tone. “It is three in the morning. Couldn’t you wait two hours before getting into trouble?!” he asked roughly. “I have double potions to teach first thing tomorrow—in three hours—and there are Hufflepuffs that—POTTER!”

The fawn had dimly noted that his body was slowly sliding off the edge until it was too late and Harry began to thrash as he felt the plush down rolling quickly from under him. His panicked writhing quickened his descent that would have surely injured him against the cold stone floor.

But strong hangs caught him and carefully lifted him onto the bed, depositing him on his feet that sank into the plump down cover. He folded his legs beneath him so he could embrace the cushioned softness and warmth of the bed, Snape’s hand still lying comfortably on his back adding more warmth.

Snape cursed himself, unable to tear his eyes off the creature that basked on top of his bed. The fawn’s coat was chilled. The man could see the trembling spasms of the little creature ease as the bed’s warmth spread itself through the animal.

Idiot!

Snape had no option but to allow the fawn to sleep in his bed. Not that he liked the idea…the fawn would be discouraged from wandering in the middle of the night and getting into some danger at least—

“Potter, no!”

Harry had been pleasantly comfortable until his sensitive ears picked up the warmth coming from the middle of the bed…right next to the pillows. He quickly made his way to them and formed a niche for himself against the duvet and soft cushions and burrowed himself deeply into it.

“That is my spot.” The fawn simply blinked his tired eyes at the man in response.

There was a thick silence that would have radiated warnings to human Harry Potter but in his current form, the little creature did not budge.

When Snape attempted to push the fawn towards the foot of the bed, he didn’t budge.

“Damn it, Potter.” Snape hissed.

Now the damned creature was pressed against his side, WITH one of his tiny hooves poking at his ribcage. The man turned slightly to be rid of the irritating limb but this allowed the fawn to scoot closer, curling himself into the slight arch of his abdomen. No matter how Snape tried to make the situation better, Potter’s intentions always prevailed. How typical.

Just as the dour adult thought of the agonizingly long hours of sleepless seconds wasted, the tug of the sandman’s magic pulled both of the occupants in the bed to sleep.

.
.
.

“Harry,”

Harry looked up from the tender plant shoots he had been rifling through the fields for. His ears twitched at the melodic voice that sweetly called his attention. Turning his head to scan the barren hills, he jumped as he finally caught sight of the giant man-cave with tree-like heights and a fire’s light glowing in its knots and holes. It had appeared out of no where… And look! That lake, Harry was sure that hadn’t been there before either. Just behind him a forest sprouted behind him looking very…very…forbidden. Should he run into it and hide?

“Harry,”

Harry turned back to the lake where he saw the only other creature in sight. The mysterious forest and cave—no, it’s called a castle…a school—that popped out were scaring the young animal. The animal trotted forward slightly then stopped, the light on its coat dimming so he could clearly see who it was.

‘Mother!’

At last! Harry knew he’d be able to find her soon. The ecstatic fawn leapt full gear towards the doe crying out for her in fear she would have to leave again. But he finally reached her…and she was still there.

‘Mother! Mother!’

Only now…

‘Mother!—M-Mum! Mum!’

The woman smiled affectionately and lifted the fawn into her arms, cradling him gently. The floral smell from her red hair blanketed him, a smell he was sure he was so familiar with but had not been given for many years. This human…a woman…was holding him, a stranger, yet Harry knew she wasn’t. His heart still thumped with joy. This was his mother. She smiled down at him as he rubbed his head against her shoulder. The fact that she was a human was barely registering.

‘Please, if only I could stay like this forever!’ Harry thought desperately. “Don’t go anymore.” Harry startled himself with a voice. His voice.

He lifted his head and emerald eyes met emerald.

“I’ve never left, Harry.” The soft feminine voice twinkled like chimes, merry but with the gentle grace of a breeze. This was his mother. “Harry…how long will you keep yourself in this form?”

“I don’t know… I kind of like it.” Harry answered, biting his lip uncertainly. “I feel less troubled.”

“Trouble doesn’t disappear, my son. It will find you again. Please go back to your human body, Harry.”

“But I don’t want to… Please, don’t make me.” Harry begged in a choked voice. “I don’t ever see you in my human body…not like this.”

She held his face in her hands and kissed his forehead, both faces now shining with silent tears. “You are very vulnerable, Harry, like this. You have not yet adjusted to this form and you are weak. I can not protect you as strongly when you are hiding.”

“I’m not hiding!”

“Not so much now…Severus has found you.”

“Severus?” Harry fought to put a face to the name. “Snape man?”

The woman smiled and kissed his forehead once again. “In this form, he shall protect you, slowly you will grow stronger, my son…but it is inevitable that Voldemort will find out about your weakened state sooner or later. You must try, Harry, please, to learn to control this.”

“B-But I don’t want to change back! Ever!” Harry cried as he buried himself in her embrace.

“Harry…”

His crying turned to sobs and he clung to her in distress. “Please, Mum, please!”

“Shh…”

She smoothed his hair and hugged her son with as much love as she could give him.

"Shh. There now. It's going to be all right. You'll see." she murmured softly, her voice lulling a sweet sense of comfort that attempted to penetrate Harry’s anguished state.

He panicked, looking up at her. She was going to leave him again. No! Harry was so confused. Why did this have to happen…? "Why'd you have to go?" he asked miserably.

Something was happening…his eyelids were getting heavy again but he didn’t want to sleep, not yet… "Everything in the forest has its season.” his mother’s voice danced in the air…in his head. And she was no longer moving her lips. “Where one thing falls, another grows. Maybe not what was there before, but something new and wonderful all the same."

"But I feel so alone." Harry managed to mutter as his body started to go limp with fatigue.

"I'm always with you. Even when you can't see me, I'm here."

“Y-You are?”

“Yes, I’m here.”

Harry’s eyes finally drifted close, the image of the woman replaced with that of a glowing, silver doe whose eyes sparkled with love for her son. Him.

.

.

.

When Harry woke the next morning, he could remember a woman with radiant green eyes and the comfort of the silver doe. And not much of anything else… But there was a physical presence, someone’s warmth that protected him nearby. He opened his large emerald eyes and began to slowly uncurl his long limbs and attempt to stand on the bed. The Snape man was still asleep, the sound of his breathing passing more noisily than others through his rather large snout.

Harry stood shakily and clumsily turned around to see the Snape man more closely. When his mother had left him in the dark after dusk, the fawn had been so afraid, so full of despair. Then this man showed him the way to this large forest of stone. This human had sheltered and comforted him yesterday…given him a place to sleep and warmth through the night.

The little fawn was very happy with his temporary guardian. Snape protected him.

Feeling ever so grateful, the fawn couldn’t stop himself from moving forward.

Snape was jostled—or more appropriately, knocked—awake by a mass of lithe limbs with a cold, wet nose. The little fawn was now sprawled across his stomach with his little head turned towards him waiting expectantly for the angriest lecture in all his life.

“Potter,” Snape began lowly.

Ears twitched merrily at the almost familiar sound of his name and the warm belly squirmed as the fawn attempted to move closer to Snape’s face.

“JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?”

Silence. A wagging tail.

“Insufferable little—remove your persons from me this instant. I have a class to terrorize.”

Snape ended up having to lift the fawn off of him in order to even sit up.

The Potions Master attempted to psyche himself for the day. “Just follow your daily routine, Severus. Potter’s annoying presence will fade into the background soon enough. Hopefully.”

The little fawn followed the man into the bathroom and had to be nudged with a knee in order to wait outside. Snape couldn’t possibly relieve himself with the blasted animal watching.  But as the crying and wailing started to reach an irritating shrill pitch, Snape was forced to open the door once more so the fawn could watch him brush his teeth.

“Stand there. And don’t touch anything!” Snape warned the fawn.

Just another hour more…then he could dump the fawn at Hagrid’s hut for the day.

But the little animal continued to make Snape’s morning even more burdensome. The fawn was insisted on being as close as possible to the man even trying to dig under his robes after he was dressed. The fawn also nearly tripped the man when he went to check on his potions in stasis in the next room. No matter how the man tried to force an adequate amount of space between them (the width of a room) the animal was always tripping on its own hooves to be smothered against his leg.

Suddenly the fawn dived back under the black comforting robes as a presence pecked at Snape’s window. Usually Dumbledore used this ‘portal’ to send messages to the younger man. Indeed it was Fawkes with a small scrap of parchment.

‘Good morning, Severus! A new, delicious bottle of Oisín milk will be provided  at breakfast. A.D.’

Just. Great.

It was another half hour later when Snape turned up at the head table, taking rather small steps and looking more rigid and fuming than the staff had seen in a long time.

Dumbledore and McGonagall exchanged worried glances as the man sat stiffly into his usual seat. “Are you well, Severus?” McGonagall asked.

“…and where is Mr. Potter?” the headmaster followed in a hushed tone.

Snape lifted the table cloth slightly so they could barely make out the form of the fawn making its escape from Snape’s robes and under the shelter of the table.

“Potter refused to walk in the hallways while the early risers were up and about. I presume his bottle is here?” Snape said hurriedly, pouring a good dose of caffeine for himself.

He could tell he was going to need a lot of it for the day.

From under the table, Harry pressed his belly against the floor to peer at the many feet of students who were racing each other to their tables. Two scents he recognized from the students, a boy and a girl. The freckled boy was whispering to the bushy haired girl who looked anxiously at the head table. Were they looking for him?

When the side of his feeding bottle nudged him, he turned to greedily suck on his meal. All thoughts of the many humans were whisked away by the darkness of the table’s underside and the creamy milk swishing in its container. Professor McGonagall pocketed her wand after performing a temporary wingardium leviosa on the bottle for the fawn to enjoy. Harry noticed out of the corner of his eye, somehow sensing the magic that she had performed to help him. Maybe humans weren’t so bad.

Next to McGonagall was Snape, whose legs were casually crossed at the ankles. The fawn stared at those feet fondly, thinking of the man’s scowl and frustrated sighs with adoration. He was so lucky to have Snape as his guardian! Everyone respected Snape. Even from under the man’s robes, Harry could sense the other humans going out of their way to make a path for the man to walk through. They became silent and alert of the man’s presence. He had even left the smaller humans quivering with fear. Harry’s guardian sure was respected. The fawn was ecstatic at the idea and the Potions Master, as if he could sense the animal’s elation, pulled back the table cloth to see what was nudging against his shoes. The man gave Harry a questioning look.

“Seeing as you are done, Severus, shouldn’t you head to the dungeons and get Harry reacquainted with his Potions class?” the headmaster asked too merrily for a morning hour. Harry recognized the voice from the previous night and cautiously peered out from under the table. Somehow, the twinkling in the eyes of the older human eased the fawn’s trepidation slightly. “Harry might recognize the familiar setting and trigger him back to his human conscious.”

Snape had to admit to himself that such an idea was worth trying until he mentally envisioned it. “Headmaster, that would be a complete disaster! I thought we agreed that we would keep the state of Potter to as few people as possible?” the man quickly replied. He gave the fawn another scathing look as though the suggestion were his fault. “Potter would get in the way of the day’s lesson and is bound to be the center of attention. As usual.” Shaking his head he gave a stern glare at the headmaster. Even if it was the same glare that never phased the old wizard. “Potter is going to Hagrid’s.”

The headmaster and Transfiguration professor both ignored the tone of finality in his voice. “Severus, Harry is not ready to be left alone. Right now, he does not recognize the castle and he could easily be worked up into a serious condition. He needs you to be near him.” McGonagall said in her lecturing mode. Snape was often given that tone even as her fellow colleague and well past his student years.

“And it just so happens that Hagrid had to leave with Remus earlier this morning. Due to their trip concerning the ingredients for young Harry’s antidote, they had to be on their way as soon as possible.”

Snape stared at the headmaster for a good couple of minutes, face blank. “Just. My. Luck.” the man ground out from clenched teeth. “Potter, you better see to it that you behave yourself and keep out of the way!” he hissed at the fawn. Harry was currently trying to part the man’s feet so he could curl himself around Snape’s ankles.

The man stood quickly and it didn’t escape Dumbledore or McGonagall’s notice how Harry easily adjusted himself from beneath the robes, appearing to the unsuspecting observer that the fawn was not there at all. Harry stood, followed the pace of Snape’s long strides, and soon the two were heading back to the dungeons. Many students, who were observant enough to sense the man’s foul mood, wasted no time to head for a completely different corridor.

Again, Harry felt pride swell within him. Here he was, a little old nobody, with a great guardian to watch out for his well-being!

In this strange forest of stone, with the presence of Snape, it wasn’t bad at all. Harry felt very much that his mother would approve.