"Harry, are you sure you know what you're doing?" Hermione was eyeing the large cage holding Professor Snape's Christmas Present with obvious misgivings.

"Yes." Harry puffed with the exertion of carrying the cage and the owl up the path toward the school. The excited maneuverings of the cage's occupant didn't help his progress at all. Ron had been pressed into service and was carrying the parcel containing the black owl's food and treats, while Ginny carried a cage coverer in Slytherin green with silver piping. They had tried to put the cover over the cage for the walk home, but the owl had raised such a ruckus they had quickly whipped it off again.

"How are you going to hide it from him, Harry? It's not like you can keep an extra owl in your room." Ginny looked a bit bemused at the whole situation.

"I thought I might ask Dumbledore to keep him for me until Christmas Eve. The only problem is going to be getting him into the castle without my Father seeing him." Harry was so intent on the problem at hand, and so distracted by the owl, that he didn't realize that he'd referred to Snape as his father. The other noticed however, and shared a look of surprise between them.

By this time they had reached the edge of the forest. They stopped just short of the field leading up to the school to consider their options. The wide green lawn area provided no opportunity for sneaking up to the front steps. The only real option was to walk along the field, just inside the trees, and dash to the side door. From there it was a short trip through deserted hallways to Dumbledore's office, and with any luck, they wouldn't meet anyone.

They managed to reach the side door with no problem. They winced as the door creaked loudly when Hermione opened it, but were relieved to see what appeared to be an empty corridor before them. Hermione was sent ahead to scout the cross hallway, and she had just waved them forward when George and Fred slid around a hidden door in the wall and hurried toward them.

"That's some owl, Harry, is there something wrong with Hedwig?" Fred asked, looking askance at the owl that was still busily bouncing around the cage.

"Erm, no," Harry began, only to be interrupted by Hermione hissing at them and scooting back down the hallway as quickly and quietly as she could.

"Snape!" She whispered when she reached the group. "Just turned into the hallway!"

Harry groaned quietly in disgust. ~Why now?~

"Is there some reason you don't want to run into Snape right now?" George asked, looking curiously at the owl. "Other than the normal, I mean."

"We're trying to get this owl up to Dumbledore's office without anyone seeing him," Ron said, juggling the packages in his arms.

"Right, diversionary tactics are called for then." Fred exchanged a mischievous look with his twin.

"Just stay here and leave this to us, he'll never notice you're there!" George continued as he and Fred slipped up to the corner where the hallways met and peered around it. Both boys reached into their pockets.

With a blur of motion, both twins emptied their hands. George threw the powder in his hand out into the corridor to the left, and Fred dashed his forcefully on the ground behind him. A deafening "Bang" rang through the hallways and roiling clouds of blue smoke billowed toward the ceiling, creating an impenetrable curtain to hide behind. Fred and George tore out of the hallway they were hidden in as the smoke became denser.

Harry and the others heard the unmistakable voice of Severus Snape bellowing "Weasleys!" They waited quietly while the sound of pounding footsteps faded rapidly into the distance, and then waited some more while the smoke slowly spread and thinned. Ron slowly and carefully peered around the corner, and then motioned the others forward.

"Not too far now!" Harry huffed, carrying the cage and trying to hurry.

They reached the door to Dumbledore's office with no further problems, and were surprised to find the door open. They quickly climbed the stairs and passed through the opulent sitting room. When they came to the door to the Headmaster's study, Harry put the cage down, wiped his sweaty palms on his robe, and knocked.

"Ah, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, to what do I owe the honor of this visit?" Dumbledore said, peering genially over his half moon glasses.

"Well, sir," Harry paused, not really sure where to begin. At that moment, the owl screeched impatiently and fluttered around its cage in an irritated manner.

"Harry bought this owl sir." Ron began, and then paused, not sure how to continue.

"Ah, is Hedwig unwell then, Harry?" "No sir! I was thinking about what you said the other night. About finding a good gift for my fa, uh, Professor Snape. And I really couldn't think of anything. But when we walked into the owl shop, this owl just seemed the perfect thing!" Harry beamed at Headmaster, obviously pleased with his purchase.

"Bring him in; let's take a look at him!" Professor Dumbledore seemed very interested in the bird for some reason. Harry carried the cage in to the office and placed it gently on Dumbledore's desk.

If ever a bird could be said to be glaring, this one was! It was obviously not happy with its confinement, and the almost continual clacking of its beak suggested what it would like to do to its captors!

Dumbledore regarded the bird solemnly as it hopped around the cage, still clacking its beak.

"Sir, the sales witch said that this owl is a real handful, do you think Professor Snape will be offended?" Ron said dubiously.

"She said he needed someone with a strong personality who can win his trust and love, Harry corrected. Dumbledore's eyebrows shot up in surprise at Harry's statement.

"But Harry, do you really think he'll have the patience to deal with this owl? I mean, look at the way he treats Neville." Hermione said dubiously.

"Harry, I think you stumbled on the perfect gift for Professor Snape. He's needed something to care for and look after for a long time now. Ms. Granger, I think you'll find that he has all the patience needed to win this owl over.

Fawkes, standing on his perch in the corner, had been quietly eyeing the newcomer in the cage while Dumbledore and the students talked. He rose quietly in the air and drifted over to the desk, landing softly next to the cage. The owl in it turned swiftly to glare out at Fawkes. Fawkes, intrigued by the irritated interloper, tilted his head to one side and softly trilled a questioning note. The owl, losing its bad-tempered look, tilted his head and listened. He sidled over to the side of the cage and hooted an answer.

Dumbledore watched the interplay with amusement, the children with astonishment. Obviously, the owl and the phoenix were headed toward friendship. "Would you like me to keep the owl in here until Christmas, Harry?"

"I was hoping so, sir." Harry replied.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Severus Snape was deep in thought as he trudged down the side hallway. If he added some dragon bile to the compound, would that increase its potency or would it "Bang!" Startled, he focused down the hall just in time to see the matching red heads of the Weasley twins bobbing down the hallway through the dense cloud of smoke. "Weasleys!"

He could see the twins clearly as he broke through the foul smelling smoke. One of them, Fred he thought, glanced over his shoulder with a cheeky grin, and then said something to his brother. Breaking into a run, he chased after the two, skidding slightly around the corner at the far end of the corridor. Ah, he was gaining on them! Just as he was closing in on them, Sybil Trelawney wafted out of an obscure side hallway and planted herself in front of him. Luckily, he managed to stop before he ran the interfering, er, esteemed, professor, over.

"Severus, the very man I've come to see. I've SEEN something," she said, fixing him with what could only be called a "look of significance".

"Yes, well, if you'll excuse me Sybil," Snape said, trying to edge around the small witch, his eyes on the speedily disappearing backs of the Weasley twins. Faint hope he'd catch them now.

"Oh, but Severus, you must attend. I was sitting in front of my crystal ball, and it suddenly became clear that what I was seeing was."

"Sybil, I appreciate your efforts, but what I really need to do.." It was obvious that neither Severus nor Sybil was paying any attention to the other!

"Severus, it is very important that you remember that the blue aura is a sign of."

"And now they've gone that way, and I need to. What was that you said?" Severus' attention had been caught by the mention of blue. Surely not.

"Weren't you paying any attention to me? Blue Severus, blue. You must be very careful of the bright blue aura.it is all around you now."

"Sybil, the Weasley twins just set off a blue stink bomb in the hallway, that is the blue aura you thought you saw." Snape once again tried to edge his way by Professor Trelawney.

"Now Severus, of course I know that, but the true significance of it is.what are you doing?" Sybil was shocked to find herself grasped by the elbows and physically moved to the side. Severus dropped her on her feet, and turned and sped down the hallway, in pursuit of the Weasleys once again, black robes flapping briskly in the breeze of his passing. "Severus!" Sybil raised her voice to shout after him, "don't forget, take the lemon scone at tea today, not the blueberry!"

By this time, Severus had reached the end of the hallway and briskly whisked around it. Unfortunately, by the time he got there, Fred and George had made good their escape and were nowhere in sight.

He stood still, thinking for a moment of casting a locating spell. No, let them wonder, he'd catch them when they least expected it. Severus walked slowly to a narrow corridor that would lead him to the steps to the basement, and to his lab, never noticing the door that silently opened a crack, or the four brown eyes that watched his departure. Snape was beginning to wonder if the dragon bile would really make the potion explode. After all, it already had dragon toenails and lizard bile in it, but then again, dragon bile was pretty potent..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ginny leaned back with a sigh on Hermione's bed. The other 5th year girls were all down in the common room studying or reading "Witch Weekly".

"What are you wearing to the ball Saturday?" Ginny jumped slightly as Crookshanks pounced into her lap.

"Mum sent me a new dress robe! Here, I'll get it." Hermione swept the assorted scrolls and books off her trunk and threw it open. "Why don't you get yours too Ginny?"

Ginny gently lifted Crookshanks off her lap, to his great displeasure, and went up the stairs to the 3rd years rooms. It was lucky for her that she had finally outgrown that horrid affair she'd had to wear last year. Mum had managed to scrape together enough money for a really nice one! She grabbed the carefully wrapped package from her trunk and hurried back to Hermione's room.

Hermione was standing in the middle of the room, dressed in an elegant robe of lavender silk.

"Oh Hermione! That's beautiful!" Ginny felt a little bashful at showing her robe. It was by far the nicest she'd ever had, but it paled in comparison with Hermione's.

"Why don't you put yours on?" Hermione asked, moving to stand in front of a mirror.

"Very pretty indeed my dear. That color looks lovely on you," the mirror said, as Hermione began to brush her hair. She finally put her brush down in disgust; obviously she was going to have to resort to magical means to tame her hair again this year.

"Hermione," a small, timid, voice said from behind her. Hermione turned quickly, astonished to see a tall, slender, altogether elegant young lady in emerald silk standing in front of her. The green of the robe deepened the fiery red of Ginny's hair to a slightly darker red.

"Oh Ginny," was all she could say.

Ginny quickly turned red and hid her head. "It's pretty awful compared to yours, isn't it."

"Have you seen yourself in it Ginny?" Hermione couldn't believe that Ginny would think her robe in any way lacking if she had looked at it on herself.

"No, I haven't had a chance. Mum and I picked out the fabric when we were at Diagon Alley, but it wasn't finished until after we got to school. She sent it by owl, and I haven't had time to try it on."

Hermione drew Ginny over to the mirror, and stepped behind her so that she could get a good look. Ginny gave a gasp of surprise.

"Is that me?" She asked in an astonished tone of voice.

"My dear, you will break hearts in that color," the kindly mirror said admiringly.

"Ginny, you have to let me go down the stairs first next Saturday."

"But why, Hermione?"

"Because I have to see Harry's face when you walk in dressed like that!"

Ginny stared at Hermione in astonishment, turned deep red, and then started laughing!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry was sitting on his bed, re-reading a note he had received that morning from Sirius. He was still in hiding, and the last bird he'd sent had been a truly amazing combination of colors. Harry hoped he was still doing all right, and that he was in a safe place. He slowly became aware of quiet moaning coming from the bed next to his. He looked over toward Ron's bed, and could see him sitting on the edge of his bed, one shoe off, one shoe on, head in his hands. Another moan came from that direction, prompting Harry to get off his bed and sit next to Ron.

"What's wrong Mate?"

"I just looked at the calendar. Do you realize what next Saturday is?" Ron asked, lifting his head to look at Harry through intent eyes.

"Yes, it's the day of the Ball, and shockingly enough, we not only have dates, we have their gifts!" Harry was still a bit astonished at how easily that had all come about.

"No, I mean a more important date than that!"

"Ron, I don't get it."

"It's the Chudley Cannon's next game that night! If they can manage to beat the Wasps, they'll be in the semi-finals! It's the first time they've done that well in, oh, at least a hundred years!" Ron was getting enthusiastic just describing the situation.

"But Ron, it's not like you can watch them anyway!" Harry did not quite understand why Ron was so upset.

"But it'll be on the radio!" Ron exclaimed, his voice rising in frustration. "And I won't be able to hear what's going on because I'll be stuck at that ruddy, stupid, ball!"

"Ron, you don't have a radio!"

"Fred and George do though, and they'll let me listen with them!"

"Don't you think they'll be at the ball too?" Harry was beginning to be very amused at Ron's one track mind. He knew Ron was a Cannon's fan, but this seemed to be taking things a bit far.

"Yes, and that's what's so unfair about the whole thing, none of us will know what's going on!" Ron was rapidly sinking into despair. "We'll have to wait until the morning post to find out what happened!"

Harry clapped him on the back encouragingly, and went back to his bed. Maybe he should pay closer attention to these professional teams. Perhaps when he graduated there would be an opening for a seeker on one of them.