Potions and Snitches
Snape and Harry Gen Fanfiction Archive

Chapter 1

So, I loved this particular chapter and my vision of Harry and Giovanna riding Oppilamani that I wrote this one shot in Harry’s point of view to show how exactly those two went flying through the sky. I hope everyone enjoys this!

 

“Are we ready?” Severus asked.

               “Yes, sir,” Harry and Giovanna said at the same time. They smirked at each other in amusement.  

               Severus held the floo powder container out to them. Harry allowed Giovanna to take a handful first, then grabbed some for himself. They stepped into the fireplace together and announced Severus’s address before flooing away. Harry stepped into his living room with a smile, happy to see his home again after the crazy year so far at school. It felt so nice to have a place he could call home, somewhere that wasn’t school or the Dursleys. Somewhere that actually felt like a safe place to him, and somewhere he actually felt loved.

               “Been a little homesick, eh?” Giovanna asked, smiling as she watched Harry.

               “No,” Harry said quickly. He cleared his throat and stepped away from the fireplace as he knew Severus would be coming through any second. He looked at Giovanna’s knowing look, and he shrugged and offered her a half smile. “Maybe a little homesick.”

               “Me too,” Giovanna said. “I do love Hogwarts. I just wish we had more breaks to spend with our family, you know.”

               “Yeah,” Harry agreed, thinking about how much he would love spending more time with Severus outside of school, where they had to pretend to be nothing more than teacher and student. “That would be nice.”

               Severus stepped through the floo, and he pointed the two kids outside, and from there, they apparated to Giovanna’s farmhouse, where she ran up her long driveway to her waiting parents and hugged them both. Her father swung her around in his arms before releasing her so she could hug her mother as well.

               Severus and Harry walked up the driveway at a slower pace. Mr. Bassani met them halfway, reaching out a hand to shake Severus’s.

               “It’s great to see you and Harry again,” Mr. Bassani said. “How have you been, lad?”

               “I’ve been good Mr. Bassani,” Harry said, shaking his hand as well, knowing Severus expected it.  

               “Please, it’s Marco,” the man said, waving off Harry’s formality. Marco was a tall man, about as tall as Severus, but with a much broader and thicker build. His hands were calloused from the rough farm chores he completed daily, and he wore a black jacket, a buffalo plaid shirt and khakis.

               “Polo,” Giovanna said as she skipped back over to them. She explained to Harry, “Daddy used to get really annoyed when we’d joke about that.”

               Harry laughed, then his eyes were drawn to the white winged horse flying above the trees, flapping his wings fervently as he circled the farm a few times in his descend. Harry gasped excitedly. He couldn’t believe that Eileen had given the horse to him at all. He had first thought he was asking for too much and he really didn’t have a plan as far as caring for Oppilamani, but he was so glad it was all working out. He really did like the horse, and he felt as though they connected on the estate that summer.

The horse landed on the driveway and trotted a few feet as he brought his wings in, pausing next to Severus with a flick of his head.  

               Outis, the house elf, jumped off the horse’s back, then handed the reins to Severus.

               “Thank you for bringing him,” Severus said.

               “Outis is pleased to serve Master Snape whenever it is needed.” Outis bowed deeply before he popped away, startling Marco, who jumped back then laughed.

               “You guys must be quite used to things like that happening all the time,” he said. He eyed Oppilamani. “What a beautiful horse. Look at those wings! You’ll have to explain how the glamour works again. So, my wife and I will be able to see him as he really is, but no one else will?”

               “Yes.” Severus nodded. “It is for his and your safety really. And no one else can know that he exists, obviously. It would be too much for muggles to take in and they’d be all over him for study or who knows what else. I’ll go over his diet and schedule with you, then walk you around the wards as I put them up. Don’t worry, I’ll explain those, too. Meanwhile, perhaps Miss Bassani and Harry can take Oppilamani to the farm and get him settled in.”

               “Yes, sir,” Giovanna said, accepting the reins from Severus and leading the winged horse toward the barn. Harry smiled at his father before chasing after Giovanna and the horse.

               He walked next to Giovanna and watched how she handled Oppilamani’s lead, one end of the leather material coiled in her left hand, and she gripped the lead attached to the halter under the horse’s chin. Oppilamani walked easily at her side, not moving too quickly nor falling behind.

               “Can I try walking him?” Harry asked as they neared the barn.

               “Sure,” Giovanna said. “He’s your horse.”

               Giovanna handed Harry the coiled-up portion of the lead first, then showed him where to grab under the horse’s chin, not too close to the halter but not so far away that Oppilamani would not feel Harry’s control and not know where they were going. It was a little awkward at first, as Harry was a bit hesitant as he tugged on the lead, and Oppilamani sensed it, so he hesitated before following Harry. It took a minute for the two to walk in rhythm.

               Giovanna led them to one of the pastures first, where three horses, two large ones and a smaller, lean one, were standing nose to nose. They lifted their heads and checked out the newcomer. One of the mares squealed, eyeing Oppilamani, who merely kept his head low at Harry’s side.

               Giovanna stopped and hopped up on the wooden fence. She whistled, and all three horses started walking toward her. Harry stopped with Oppilamani, tugging back slightly on the lead when the winged horse nearly walked past him. Oppilamani jerked his head away slightly before sniffing Harry’s hair, making Harry laugh.

               Giovanna glanced back at Harry with a smile before turning back to the other horses coming up to her. She rubbed one’s forehead as he reached her first, then scratched the neck of the mare that had squealed, the other large mare pushing her way up to Giovanna for scratches. The mares were similar in color, bay with black manes and tails. One had a white star on its forehead while the other had a blaze.

               “These two girls are my dad’s,” Giovanna said. “They’re Ardennes, big working horses that help with our potato fields every year. This one is Lovely.” Giovanna tapped the nose of the horse with a star on its forehead. She then pointed at the other big mare, the one with the blaze. “And that one’s Alice. She’s the queen.”

               Alice was sniffing noses with Oppilamani, then squealed loudly, her ears falling back. Oppilamani merely stepped back and lowered his head.

               “She’s going to make sure Oppilamani knows the pecking order before he sets foot in her pasture,” Giovanna said. She watched the winged horse closely. “He’s smart. He’s not even going to challenge it.”

               “He’s a good horse,” Harry said proudly, rubbing Oppilamani’s neck.

               “That horse”—Giovanna pointed to the dun colored horse—“is my horse. Sandy. He’s a Dutch Warmblood, and my show jumper. I entered my first competition with him last year, and he’s the best.”

               Sandy pushed his way past the bigger horses to get some love pats from Giovanna.

               “Dad got him for me three years ago. We’ve been inseparable since.”

               “Cool,” Harry said, stepping up on the wood fence next to Giovanna, keeping a tight grip on Oppilamani’s lead in one hand and reaching to pet Sandy with the other. “Does your Mum have a horse?”

               “No. She’s not a big horse person. She’s more of a goat and cow lover. Dad taught me everything I know about riding. And the surprised me with Sandy.”

               Giovanna kissed Sandy’s nose before hopping down from the fence. She motioned for Harry to follow her, and Harry moved Oppilamani along with a gentle pull. They arrived at the barn, and Harry wowed at the inside. It was a huge space, with spacious stalls, and strange structured spaces that Harry didn’t know what it’s uses could be for. One area looked like it might be used for washing horses if the flooring and hose was anything to go by. Harry followed Giovanna to a stall in the far back, where fresh hay had been laid out. Just past the stall was a huge, open arena with a lot of jumping equipment set up.

               “Wow,” Harry said again. “This is so brilliant. I wish I could live on a farm like you. It looks like you have a lot of fun here.”

               “Yeah,” Giovanna agreed as she leaned against the stall. “I do. But it’s just me, you know. I was homeschooled, too, so I never really got to see anyone else unless Mum took me into town to visit the library or go shopping. Sometimes I wished my parents would have had another kid just so I could have someone else to ride with.”

               “Oh.” Harry gave Giovanna a sad look. “I’m sorry.”

               “It’s in the past.” Giovanna shrugged, turning to open the stall door. “Besides, I have some pretty awesome friends now at school.”

               Harry smiled, then looked inside the stall Oppilamani was supposed to go in, then he looked back at the arena.

               “Hey, do you think Oppilamani knows how to do any of that?” Harry asked.

               “Jumping?” Giovanna clarified. “I don’t know. I don’t know why he’d need to know. He has wings.”

               “True.” Harry stroked Oppilamani’s mane. “But he’s a High Skies champion. I looked into it and there’s a lot of obstacles they have to get around while pulling a chariot. Maybe he knows some jumping? I could try him out.”

               “And what do you know about riding horses?” Giovanna asked, resting her hands on her hips. “Especially flying ones.”

               “Well, why don’t you try him out first then. You can teach me.”

               “I don’t even know if he’s trained to accept a rider. You just said he pulls a chariot in the High Skies competition; he may not fly with people on his back.”

               “Well, how do we find that out if he will?”

               Giovanna groaned and stared up at the barn ceiling for a moment. She closed the stall door and walked into the arena, Harry following her with the horse.

               Oppilamani seemed to look around curiously at the cavalettis, jump blocks, brush boxes, gates, and walls that filled the arena, his ears alert. Harry watched Giovanna grab a mounting block and set it next to Oppilamani on his left side. She then picked up a saddle pad and walked back over to the horse, carefully stepping up the mounting block and pausing as she stared at Oppilamani.

               “Just be careful,” she said to Harry, who was still holding on to Oppilamani’s reins.

               Slowly, Giovanna draped the saddle pad over Oppilamani’s back. The winged horse glanced back at her but did not move. She watched him as she placed her hands on his back and pushed into him. He nickered softly and stared ahead, waiting patiently.

               “You don’t think his wings would get in the way?” Harry asked.

               “They seem to be attached to his shoulders, so they shouldn’t.”

               Giovanna slowly leaned over the horse, her hands pushing into his back as she slowly added more of her weight over him. Oppilamani simply waited.

               Giovanna hopped off the block and lifted her English jumping saddle off the rail it was draped over. Climbing back up the block, she slowly set the saddle down on Oppilamani, then carefully secured the strap by squatting on the block and pulling it through to her side. Once it was secured and Oppilamani seemed relatively unfazed, Giovanna leaned over the seat, draping herself over the horse and watching his reaction.

               Oppilamani pawed at the ground a couple times before flicking his mane, growing impatient with the slow mounting. Giovanna pushed off the horse, then put her left foot in the stirrup and pushed herself up and on top of the horse. She sat up tall and accepted the reins from Harry before clicking her tongue and giving a gentle kick to get Oppilamani moving.

               Oppilamani lifted his head up and began a slow walk around the arena. Giovanna quickly encouraged him to move faster, and he began to trot, keeping his wings tucked low against him. At Giovanna’s persistence, he went into a canter, and flew by Harry as he cantered through the arena, Giovanna moving with him and smiling.

               “I think he’s broken,” she joked as she passed Harry again.

               “Try jumping,” Harry encouraged her.

               Giovanna directed Oppilamani toward one of the low cavalettis first and Oppilamani danced over them with ease, and feeling confident, Giovanna urged him toward a brush box, and Oppilamani sailed over it, his wings flattening more against his side as he did so. He landed with grace and kept going, jumping over more obstacles Giovanna led him to.

               “He’s amazing!” Giovanna said.

She slowed Oppilamani as she neared Harry, stopping completely in front of him and stretched out her arm toward him.

“Come on!” she said.

Harry let her pull him up onto the large horse, and awkwardly sat behind the saddle, wondering what to do with his arms.

               “Sit closer,” Giovanna said. Harry scooted more forward, then Giovanna pulled his arms around her waist. “You’re going to want to hold on. Hug him with your knees too. I won’t jump. We’ll just ride.”

               Harry felt a little weird hugging his friend as he was, but the feeling faded when Oppilamani started trotting then cantering around the arena. Giovanna moved toward an opening in the arena and rode Oppilamani out into the attached pasture, and she encouraged Oppilamani to gallop along the fence of the pasture, following it around the large field.

The wind was a bit brisk around them, but Harry enjoyed it. It almost reminded him of flying on his broom, and he cheered as Oppilamani galloped faster with the two of them on his back.

“This is wicked!” Harry said.

“We should do this again,” Giovanna said. “I can show you the basics and you’ll be riding hm yourself in no time.”

“What about flying?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea right now. He’s new to this area and I’m not familiar with riding horses in the sky.”

“It can’t be much different than on the ground,” Harry said. “Oppilamani—up!”

“Wait, what?”

Oppilamani squealed in excitement and galloped even faster, pushing himself hard and stretching out his wings. Giovanna fumbled with the reins before gripping them tightly, leaning forward in her seat as the wind ripped around them, howling loudly. Harry tightened his hold around Giovanna, unaware of how different the speed would feel on the horse’s back than it did in a chariot.

With a few powerful flaps, Oppilamani took to the air at a pretty steep incline, and Harry felt himself slipping and worried he might fall off if the horse didn’t straighten out.

Finally, Oppilamani righted himself and the kids relaxed as they soared through the sky smoothly.

Giovanna took a deep breath, then glared back at Harry.

He shrugged and gave her a guilty smile.

               “Our dads are going to kill us,” Giovanna said. She smiled as she took in the sights of the clouds around them and the ant-sized buildings below. “But this is amazing. I see why you wanted to keep him.”

               Harry smiled; glad she wasn’t too angry at him. He held his arms out and cheered as they flew through clouds. Giovanna laughed and held her arms out as well, her cloak flapping in the wind.

               Oppilamani smiled back at the kids, then gently dove downward, and looped in a circle, earning laughs and shrieks of joy. He flapped his wings quickly and pranced on the clouds, his head held high, then he leaped forward and soared, drifting side to side as he did so. Harry and Giovanna smiled, admiring the view of the tiny world below and how insignificant it all seemed from way up in the sky.

               Suddenly, something blue flashed inches in front of Oppilamani, and the horse drew to a sharp stop with a startled neigh, rearing upward in order to keep momentum from pushing him forward, his wings flapping to keep him in place.

               However, the sudden motion threw Harry and Giovanna off.

               Giovanna had been quick to grab hold of Oppilamani’s mane with both hands when she felt her knees fall away from the horse. Harry managed to grab a hold of Giovanna’s legs, and they dangled dangerously hundreds of feet above the earth.

               “Hold on, Harry,” Giovanna cried. She let go with one hand to reach for the right rein, but she had to grab more of Oppilamani’s mane and adjust her grip, her arms burning from the effort of holding on.

               Oppilamani neighed in concern as he glanced down at the kids. Then he flapped with extra force to push himself back and away from whatever he was trying to avoid.

               Harry watched wide eyed as he saw flashes of blue appear every time a feather from Oppilamani’s wings brushed an invisible area in front of them. He did not think long about what it was, however, as he was more concerned with getting back on the horse and not falling to his death.

               Giovanna managed to let go of Oppilamani’s mane with one hand and snatch the right side of the rein and she pulled downward.

               Oppilamani resisted at first as he eyed the space between himself and the invisible area that startled him, but he must have agreed with Giovanna’s decision as a split second later, he dropped down, his wings open as he glided downward and away. As he did that, Giovanna managed to fall back in place, and she helped Harry get back on the horse appropriately.

               Oppilamani straightened out and flew a little lower in the sky. He angled his head back and nickered at the kids.

               “We’re okay, boy” Giovanna said, rubbing Oppilamani’s neck comfortingly. “You did good.”

               “What was that?” Harry asked. “Did you see it?”

               “No,” Giovanna answered in an exasperated voice. “I was kind of busy trying to save us. My dad cannot find out about this, he will never let me or you ride Oppilamani again.”

               “I think my dad will live not knowing about this,” Harry agreed. “Because if he knew, I won’t live.”

               Giovanna laughed at that before agreeing with Harry in regards to her father.  

               “I think we almost hit something,” Harry said, looking back at where they had their near-death experience. “But I have no clue what it was. Good thing Oppilamani saw it and reacted so quickly. Who knows what would have happened if we hit it?”

               “Maybe we should get down now,” Giovanna said. “Oppilamani, down.”

               Oppilamani angled his head to look bac at Giovanna and he let out a short neigh.

               “I really wish I could understand you,” Giovanna said. She looked back at Harry. “I guess getting down doesn’t work the same way as going up. Tell me you know how to land him?”

               “Well, err . . .” Harry hunched his shoulders as he looked everywhere but at Giovanna.

               Giovanna’s jaw dropped before she glared at Harry.

               “If you’re dad doesn’t kill you, I will,” she threatened. She looked down at the reins in her hand and tried to direct the horse to the right with a slight downward pull. Oppilamani obeyed and soared to the right while descending a few feet before straightening out. Oppilamani nickered softly, as if trying to tell the kids something.

               “This is going to take forever,” Giovanna said. “There has to be some kind of way to handle the reins that directs him in ascending and descending but I don’t know it. This is why we shouldn’t have flown, as cool as it was, we don’t know what we’re doing.”

               “Maybe there’s another command we could use. I heard Eileen whistle a couple times while at the manor, maybe he knows whistle commands, too?”

               “That’s great information,” Giovanna said, “if you know the whistles.”

               “Nope.”

               Giovanna sighed.

               Oppilamani suddenly paused, his ears twitching every which, his wings flapping to keep him in one place. He snorted then began descending, following something he was hearing.

               “Well, at least he’s going down,” Giovanna said. “Not sure what he’s after though.”

               “The barn, hopefully,”

               “Oh no,” Giovanna muttered. “Definietly not the barn.”

               Harry looked down and saw his father and Marco standing next to an atv and they were watching Oppilamani descend. He finally heard the whistles and understood his father was calling the horse. Severus had done a lot of reading prior to bringing Oppilamani to the Bassani’s so that he they could give the winged horse the best possible care, of course, Severus probably read up on or looked up different commands the horse knew. Harry gulped nervously, and he shared a look with Giovanna. Oppilamani seemed a bit relieved as he landed in the grass and trotted up to Severus before turning slightly, revealing Giovanna in the saddle and Harry sitting behind her.

               “Hey, Dad,” Harry greeted with a guilty smile. Please don’t kill me in front of everyone, he pleaded in his head.

               “I thought I told you to take Oppilamani to the stable and get him settled,” Severus growled, “not take off to the sky while I’m setting ward boundaries!”

               Ward boundaries, that must have been what they nearly ran into. He swallowed dryly again.

               “It’s my fault, sir,” Giovanna said as she slid off the horse, Harry following her lead. “I got on him first to see how he was trained to ride.”

               “Only because I asked you,” Harry said to her, then to his father said, “It’s my fault, it was my idea.”

               “Well, consider yourselves both in trouble,” Marco said, his hands on his hip. “Giovanna, you know the dangers of riding a new, strange horse. You are in big trouble, young lady. Put the horse in his stall and go to your room.”

               “Yes, Daddy.” Giovanna took Oppilamani’s reins and began to lead him away. She gave Harry one last small smile. “Bye, Harry.”

               Harry gave her a quick goodbye before looking up at Severus. He waited to hear his sentence, praying Severus had no plans on humiliating him in front of his friend’s father.

“You can go wait on the porch. I’ll deal with you when we get back home.”  

Harry gulped. Well, it was better than being threatened with a smacking out loud. He turned and headed for the porch, taking his time as he walked. He saw Giovanna enter the barn with the horse. He took his time walking across the fields to Giovanna’s house, hoping to see her one last time before he had to go home and face his father’s wrath. He made it to the porch and had yet to see Giovanna exit the barn. He sat down on a step and waited.

Giovanna walked out of the barn a few minutes later and paused on the steps heading up to her house.

“Is Oppilamani okay?” Harry asked.

“He’s fine,” Giovanna said. “I just gave him a quick rinse off and blow drying before setting him up in his stall. He really like the blow drying.”

“Wish I could have helped,” Harry said. “I’m sorry about today.”

“Don’t be. I had a lot of fun.” Giovanna sat next to Harry on the step. “Even with the scare we had, it was still a blast. I’ve never flown on anything but a broom during flying class, and I did not do good.”

“You’ll get better,” Harry said with a smile. “Maybe horses are just more your thing. Hey, I think I know what we almost hit. Dad said he’s setting up wards, probably to keep Oppilamani hidden and inside them, but that must have been what we nearly collided with.”

“I don’t know a lot about those, but I have heard some wards can shock you if you try to cross them.”

“Then it’s a good thing Oppilamani didn’t hit it.”

“You know,” Giovanna smirked, “all this could have been avoided if someone left the horse on the ground.”

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry.”

Giovanna laughed, then stood back up and headed for the front door.

“I’d do it again in a heartbeat,” she said. “Maybe our dads will let us ride him again before we have to go back to school. At least on the ground.”

“Your dad, maybe. Mine—hell will freeze over first.”

“Bye, Harry,” Giovanna said with a smile.

He waved goodbye to Giovanna, then went back to waiting for his father to come back and take him home. It was probably another fifteen minutes before he saw Severus and Marco walking up to the porch.

“Time to go, Harry,” Severus said once he was sure Marco wasn’t going to try and hand the money back to him.

“Bye, Marco,” Harry said politely. “And sorry about . . . flying Oppilamani.”

“You’re forgiven,” Marco said with a smile. “I can’t imagine what the temptation must have been like. You know, I’m tempted myself.”

Marco winked at Harry, who grinned at him. Yeah, Marco would let Giovanna fly that horse again in no time.  

“Stay safe, Marco,” Severus said. “And don’t do anything you wouldn’t let Giovanna do.”

“Of course, Severus.” Marco grinned.

Harry laughed while Severus rolled his eyes before grabbing Harry’s arm and pulling him close, apparating off the property and back to his own. When Severus didn’t immediately let go of his arm Harry knew just how angry his father was about the whole flying Oppilamani incident, and he resigned to his fate as he was dragged into their house, the door slamming shut being them.  

 

The End.

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