Apprenticed: Seven - Loss Of Control

Written by JAWorley

Just as dawn broke across the tree canopy, and they saw the woods to be empty aside from themselves, a distant hum met their ears.  Harry searched the sky and found his Firebolt sailing towards them.

“Can I let the shield down now?” Stewart asked, tired and obviously drained from the power needed to keep it up for four and a half hours.

“Yeah, do it.  And when the broom comes near, get on the back quick just in case they’re still hiding near.”

When the broom came to hover just outside the shield, they let it down and clambered on, rising slowly because of the weight.  When they were finally above the tree line, sun shining orange on the horizon, they moved off, Harry scanning the trees below, hoping not to catch a glimpse of Snape dead.  Hopefully he had made it back ok.

“How far?  I don’t think your broom can hold out the entire distance.”

“Just far enough that we know we’re out of their territory, so that we can apparate.  If we can find a paved road I bet we’ll be safe.”

They flew for almost an hour before Harry spotted a red car driving down a wooded highway, and he took them down into the forest.  They surveyed the area quickly, and when they saw no omens, they apparated, glad to find themselves inside Snape’s shop.

“Professor Snape!  Are you here?”  Harry was panicked because it looked like the shop was still closed.  “Professor!  Professor!”  Harry was just about to move into the storeroom to check when Snape ran in followed by Kinglsey Shacklebolt and Draco Malfoy.

“Potter, are you injured?”  Snape hurried over to him and looked him over quickly before turning to Stewart and doing the same.  “How did you escape?”

Harry held up the broom.  “We made a multiplied shield charm and waited through the night.  There were hundreds of omens in the trees above us and we were surrounded by Sirens.  They tried to lure us out, but I held my hands over Stewart’s ears while they screeched and held the shield up.

“I’m impressed Potter,” Kinglsey said in his deep voice, arms crossed.  “Not bad for an apothecary.”

“Yeah Potter,” Draco spat, “surprised you didn’t wet yourself.”

Kingsley jabbed a finger in Draco’s chest and said, “Cool it Malfoy.  I’ll have you put on probation again if you can’t control your temper.”

“Yes Master,” he said, averting his eyes downward, but not before shooting Harry an amused look.

“I didn’t know if you got out ok or not,” Harry said to Snape, trying to ignore Draco.  “We watched through the trees as we flew.  We were going to go to the Ministry next if you weren’t here.”

“I only just returned.  I had to walk out and had just contacted the Auror’s office when you arrived.”

“Er, is it ok if I go now?” Stewart held up his hand like a student and put it down again quickly, turning red.  “I lost my supply of Ignea Horus and I need to report back to Diagonalley.”

Harry looked at Snape, and remembered the bag full of the purple flower that still hung on his back.  “Can we give him half of what we collected?  My bag is full.”

“Give him the entire bag.  I have a full bag in the back.”

Harry handed Stewart the bag to a grateful look, and Snape said, “Tell Devon hello for me.”

Stewart nodded, and said, “I will.  Thank you,” and then he was gone, back to his own shop and master.

Draco kept shooting Harry looks of contempt and amusement as he was forced to take Harry’s statement for a report, while Kinglsey spoke to Snape, and after another half hour they were gone.

“Sit down Potter, you look exhausted.”

Harry plopped down on the brown couch in the storeroom and stared off into space for a moment, only brought out of it by the surprise of finding his professor plopping into the space next to him.  He looked over and said, “I thought maybe you’d died.”

Severus snorted.  “If only you were so lucky Potter.”

Harry gave a short laugh, and said, “Really.  They were everywhere.  They could have gotten you.”

“One followed me into the woods and we sparred.  I left her unconscious and placed a disallusionment charm on myself, before hiking for the rest of the night.”

“Oh.”  Harry ran a hand through his hair and caught a glimpse of his reflection in a glass jar across the room.  There was dried blood down one side of his face, twigs in his hair, and his shirt was torn in several places.

“Lucky I bumped into Stewart,” Harry mused then.

“Why Potter?  Or he’d be dead because you weren’t there to save him?”

“Actually I was thinking we’d both be dead.  And I didn’t want to spend the night in the woods alone trying to hold up a shield while they screeched at me.”

Severus eyed him appraisingly for a few moments, making Harry uncomfortable, and then said, “I find myself again mistaken.”

“About what?”

“You Potter.  You are not the spoiled, self-centered brat I believed you to be.”

“Yeah, well you saw what my life was like before.  How could I be?”  His eyes grew wide for a moment as he realized his tired mistake.  He hadn’t wanted Snape to know he remembered.  Severus realized too and looked over at him.

“You told me you did not remember.”

“It was easier that way.”

“Hm.”

They sat that way for another few minutes, quietly thinking, before Snape told Harry to clean his wounds and add a disinfectant, and then go to bed.  He was also told he had this and the next day off to recuperate, for which Harry was grateful.

“Glad you’re not enslaved,” Harry told him as he pushed himself up off the couch.  Snape didn’t respond and he went up to his apartment, musing that he suddenly didn’t hate the man so desperately anymore.

* * *

Five am was early, but Harry needed the two hours for exercising.  He didn’t like the fact that he had trouble running from the Sirens in the forest, huffing and puffing and light headed.  He needed to be fitter, stronger.  Jennifer’s exercise manual in hand, Harry started rising at five every morning to go for a jog around the neighborhood before there were too many people around.  After an hour, he would return to his apartment for push ups, sit ups, crunches, pull ups, jumping jacks, weight lifting, and a number of other exercises outlined in the manual, and then a quick shower before going downstairs to open the shop.

After a week of this, along with studying with Jennifer after she got done with her apprenticeship every evening, Harry felt like he wasn’t doing enough.  Hermione gave him a spell that would read his books to him in his own voice, and was listening to the Auror books during morning exercises, and his Potion’s books after Jennifer left and before bed.  But he still needed more exercise.

Snape seemed to have grown some kind of superhuman confidence in him now and had him brewing potions to be sold for at least half of the day.  During his new one hour lunch break, Harry was doing sit ups on the storeroom floor, while listening to his Potion’s texts, and had found other ways to do little exercises throughout the day.  For instance, somehow he had managed to convince Master Snape that he needed a pull-up bar installed in the Storeroom.  This way every time he walked through the room he could do one or two pull-ups, grab the ingredients or potions he needed, and leave again.  Snape was incredulous.

“You really are taking this seriously, aren’t you?”

Harry looked up at the man, standing in the doorway as he did crunches, listening to his texts.

After canceling the read-aloud spell, Harry sat up and said, “Why shouldn’t a person learn more than one subject?  Muggles do it at University.  They learn lots of things at the same time.  We do at Hogwarts too.”

“The goal of an apprenticeship is to become a master of one particular skill set.”

“Yeah, but I mean, Auror’s need potion’s too, right?  Anti-poisons and healing potions, and sometimes even strengthening potions like moon fruit.  And they have to go buy it.  But what if they could make their own?  What happens if they need something and can’t get to an apothecary?  Helps to know how to search for the ingredients in the woods and brew it yourself in a fix.”

“I see you have thought this out.”

“I can’t help what I want to be.  Even as a child before Hogwarts I loved watching the police on TV, making the world a better place.  I want to be part of that.  Someday I’m going to have kids and I want them to be able to be safe… no Voldemort or other dark wizards.  I don’t want them to go through what we did at Hogwarts.”

Harry stood up, tired of looking up at the man, and wiped the now cold sweat from his forehead.

“Be careful that you do not overstep your bounds Potter.”

“Sir?”

“I only mean to warn you because I know how you were at Hogwarts.  You are not an auror yet, and they will not take kindly to you trying to play hero if you are ever in the position.  It will not bode well for you later if should truly wish to enter the program when you are done here.”

“So, if I see somebody who needs help I can’t?”

“Not if the aurors are already involved.  Understood?”

“Yes sir.  I don’t go seeking out trouble anyway.”

“I have it on good authority that others do not see it as that way.  I spoke to Kinglsey and he said the head of the Auror department feels that you are preparing yourself to cause trouble.”

“How?  I mean, I don’t want any trouble.  Is that why Jennifer hasn’t come over the last few nights to study?  They won’t let her?”

“It is possible.  Keep this in mind.”

“Yes sir,” Harry said, a little shocked.  Snape left him to his thoughts, and he sat down on the couch.  It wasn’t like he was going to bust in on them and ruin an operation or something.  When did he even get out except to run errands for Snape, go running, or get groceries?  He had hardly even seen the Weasley’s since a few days after the Siren incident.

If only Harry could have known the trouble he’d get himself into in just a few short days time, he could have prepared for the berating he’d receive from Tonks and the other Senior Aurors.

His day had started like any other.  A good jog, exercise and study, a shower, and then off to open the shop.  Only today Snape wanted him to go to Diagonalley and get something from the apothecary there.  Harry was excited to see Stewart and see how he was doing after the whole Siren debacle a couple of weeks ago.

The Apothecary in Diagonalley was full of students picking up supplies for the fast approaching term at Hogwarts, and Stewart was too busy to chat with him.  Harry instead found his attention drawn to the redhead who had just come in the front door.  His heart skipped a beat, and he realized just how much he had missed Ginny over the summer.  He had been so engrossed in his studies that he had forgotten to long after her.  She had just spotted him when there was a small explosion outside, making everybody duck and scream.

Harry pulled his wand and wasn’t sure what was going on until a man with a scraggly looking beard ran into the apothecary with his wand out and started shouting at people.  “Get down or I’ll kill yeh!”

Apparently Ginny hadn’t moved fast enough because the next second, he had taken her with his arm around her neck and wand pointed at her head.

“No,” Harry said calmly, standing up, hand held out in a non-threatening gesture.

The man spun with Ginny to face Harry and shouted, “Get back!”

Harry froze, terror striking his heart at the sight of Ginny’s pleading face.

“I’ll kill her,” he said with conviction.  “You just stay back boy and do as I say.”

“No,” Harry told him.  “Take me instead.  Do you know who I am?”  He lifted his bangs to show his scar and the man’s eyes lit up.  “She’s not worth anything to you.  Take me.”

“Harry no,” she begged, but her captor jammed the wand into her scalp and she whimpered and bit her lip to keep quiet.

“You just gonna let me take you then?  No shenanigans?”

“Promise,” Harry said.  “I’m your ticket out of here.”

“Damn straight.  Come here boy.”  He let go of Ginny and pushed her forward and down to the ground.  As soon as she was out of the way, Harry was quick with his wand and had a stunning spell aimed at the man’s chest.  It hit him squarely, knocking him backwards, but not before a jet of flame flew out of his wand and hit the ceiling, erupting in an orange inferno.  Just then several Aurors burst in through the front door, wands spewing water to put out the fire.  People ran from the shop, leaving the unconscious man, Harry, Ginny, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Tonks, Jennifer, and Draco.

“What the hell was that Potter?” Kingsley asked, enraged.  “You could have killed them all!”

“I was just-”

“You were just nothing Harry,” Tonks said, still angry but more calm then Kingsley.  “You were butting your nose in where it doesn’t belong.  You have no training, and no right to act the hero.”

“I wasn’t, I was just-”

“Save it Potter.”  Kingsley’s voice boomed, a finality in it that was not to be overrode.

Ginny went to him then, a sorry look in her eyes and wrapped her arms around him.

“I wasn’t going to let them hurt her,” Harry said quietly, holding her tight.  “He let her go, and when she was out of the way, I stunned him.  The fire was my fault, the whole thing was my fault.  Blame all of your problems on me if you have to in your report, but the fact is, Ginny is safe, everybody is safe.  I didn’t know you were in the area, and I didn’t mean to overstep the bounds.  If I had known you were here things would have turned out different.”

Draco snorted then and said, “Yeah right Potter.  You were always this way at school, the little hero mongering for glory.”

Harry ran a hand through his hair, and Kingsley snorted and cast an angry glance at Jennifer.  She looked down at her shoes, shame crossing her eyes, and Harry suddenly felt sorry then that he had dragged her down with him apparently.

“Unless you need us, you have my statement,” Harry said quietly, and moved to walk past them and out the door with Ginny.  When he got next to Kingsley however, he paused, and said, “All Jennifer and I did was study so that I would be ready to be an auror when I’m done with my apothecary apprenticeship.  You can’t change who I am.  Don’t try to change what I want to be.”  And then he and Ginny were gone.

Before they went back to the Burrow, since Ginny was there to get school supplies alone, being almost 17, Harry took her down an empty side alley and hugged her tight.

“I didn’t know what to do.  All I knew was I couldn’t let them hurt you.”

“I know,” she said.  “They’re so mad at you now though.”

“Let them be.”  He ran a hand through her hair.

“You don’t care?”

“I do.  But I care about your safety beyond my career.”

“Harry,” she sighed.  “I wasn’t sure if you loved me.  I thought you’d go and find yourself a more sophisticated woman now that you’ve got your own place and… that Jennifer girl.  I was so sure…”

“No,” Harry said.  “She knows I’ve got eyes only for you.  And it looks now that our studying is at an end anyway.”

She giggled then and Harry attributed it to the stress of the situation they’d just escaped.  “Remember when we used to talk about marriage?”

He nodded.  “The offer still stands.”

“I’ll take it,” she said into his shoulder.  “Mum will have a fit that I’m engaged before graduation, but let her be.”

“You don’t care?” he echoed her.

“Just about you.”

Harry grinned then, and knew this was the best day of his life, even if his Auror career was over before it had even begun.

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Apprenticed: Six - Foragers

Written by JAWorley

Sunday could not come soon enough.  Jennifer showed up at the front door to the shop, where Harry met her and lead her around the side of the building to the alley, as he had promised Snape he would when he had visitors, and lead her upstairs.  She took in the state of his apartment, and asked, “You were in Gryffindor, right?”

He smiled a little sheepishly and said, “Yeah.  Colors give it away?”

She smiled warmly back at him.  “That, or maybe it’s the giant Gryffindor coat of arms painted on the ceiling.

Harry looked up and flushed.  He hadn’t seen that there, but figured now that it was Ron’s addition while Harry went to the bathroom the night before just before his friend had left.  “Guess my friend Ron did that last night when I wasn’t watching him properly.”

“It’s a nice touch.”  There was an awkward moment of silence before Harry asked her to sit down at the square kitchen table with tall chairs, and indicated a stack of Potions books he was willing to lend her.

“Here are mine, and I added the fourth one…” she told him, “I’ll need that one back next month.  We aren’t scheduled to start reading it until then, but in the mean time you can read it.”

“I’ll start with that one then.”

“Sounds good, just so that you know I can’t help you with it yet.”

“I’ll keep it in mind.”

They spent the morning going over the basics of each of the text books, both finding it a good review for themselves to lead the other through the material they already knew, and both being excited to be learning new information from the other.

“You’ll be a useful study partner when exams come around,” she told Harry as he got up and pulled a plate of Molly’s leftovers out of the fridge and brought them over to her with an empty plate and two forks.

“Yeah, reckon so.  My friend Hermione made us study all the time for exams so I guess I picked up some good habits.”

“Where is she now?”

“She got a job in a magical research firm in London… it’s run by some ex-ministry member who used to belong to the Department of Mysteries.  She’s excited about helping to create new magic, but I think she’ll be happiest when she can eventually get a job teaching at Hogwarts.”

“After seven years there she wants to go back?”

Harry shrugged.  “To each his own?  Look at us, you want to be an apothecary, a job I think would be dreadful, and I want to be an Auror, which is the job you think is dangerous.”

“Honestly, I just don’t know how this could happen to us.”

“Maybe we’re just meant to start a super hero gang of apothecary crime fighters who experiment with magic and teach others how to do it?”

She gave a short laugh accompanied by an incredulous look.  “And your friend Ron, where does he fit in?”

“Not sure yet.  He says he might try for Auror when I give it a go again.  I think he’d be happy in Magical Games and Sports but there aren’t any openings right now.”

After lunch they studied for a short while longer before Harry asked, “Is there anything practical you can teach me?  I can do the reading and exercise on my own, but what about the practice?”

“We’ve been learning multiplied shield charms.  These are useful when you’re with at least one other person in a battle situation.  Both or multiple parties pour their magical energy into a single shield in order to strengthen it.  Then once it has been made stronger, all but one party releases their magic and the one person left maintains the power that has been poured into it.”

“Sounds like fun,” Harry said, sitting forward eagerly.  “Can we try it?”

“We can try, but I’m not very good at it.  We’ve been at it for weeks and I can’t seem to get it.”

“Go over the details with me and we’ll work on it.”

For the next two hours Harry and Jennifer struggled with the spell until they finally managed to create a multiplied shield, and finally Harry was able to maintain it by himself when Jennifer released it.

“I’m exhausted,” she said, falling back onto the couch when Harry released the shield.

“Yeah, but it was good practice right?  We both got it!”

“I can do a two person shield.  Wait until you have to learn to conform and twist your magic to match three or four or more people’s.”

“If I invite Ron over, will you practice it with both of us?”

“Yes, but it will have to be on a Sunday again, because I’m too pooped after eight hours of training any other day.”

“Got it.  I’ll ask him.  And after we get it together with the three of us we can get Hermione or Ginny.”

“There’s a new name.  Who is she?”

“Ron’s younger sister.  This year will be her last year at Hogwarts.”

She eyed him curiously for a few minutes and then said, “There was something there between you, wasn’t there?”

Harry bit his lip and flushed a little, before he rubbed the back of his neck and said, “We dated my sixth and seventh year.”

“And now?”

“I’m not really sure.  We are and kind of aren’t at the same time.  I’m not sure what will happen when she goes back to Hogwarts… she might decide she likes somebody her own age.”

“Do you still like her?”

Harry turned red again and nodded.

“Oh, so you more than like her?  I bet you love her don’t you?”

“Why are you so interested?” he asked, knowing Hermione would kick him in the shins if she were there.  Did she like him too?

“Just curiosity was all.  I wanted to know more about my study partner who thinks I’m a princess and thinks exhausting shield charms are fun.”

“Oh.  What about you then?”

“There’s a boy in the program that I like a little, but I haven’t a clue if he likes me.”

“Who is he?”

“Draco Malfoy, I think he was in your year?”

Harry raised his brows a little and by the way he fidgeted Jennifer could tell she’d raised his ire as well.

“I take it you know him?”

“We were kind of on the outs at school.  He applied to be an Auror?”

“Got in with high marks from what I hear.  He does pretty well on the weekly exams.  He’s apprenticed to Kingsley Shacklebolt.”

“Huh,” was all that Harry could manage to muster.

“Is everything ok?”

“Yeah, I guess.  I just wish I was there in the auror program.  I can’t really imagine doing much else except flying maybe on a team.”

“Well, maybe someday you’ll finish here and get apprenticed to me!  I’ll be an auror by then.”

Harry grinned.  “Now that would be something wouldn’t it?”

* * *

Potter was in an inexplicably good mood Monday morning, Severus noted as the boy mopped with a bounce in his step, and smiled at each customer, taking extra care to bid them a good day.

“I take it something monumental has changed in your life Potter, or is the apartment just that wonderful?”

“Sir?”

“Your mood leaves nothing to be desired compared to your attitude four weeks ago.”

Harry shrugged.  “I learned some new spells was all.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah.  I learned a multiplied shield charm and some other stuff.”

“And from whom did you learn this?”

Harry bit his lip.  He could tell that he had peaked Snape’s interest now, and suddenly wondered if he had done something wrong by learning the tricks of another trade.

“Jennifer, that girl that got my apprenticeship… she came over Sunday and we exchanged some books.”

“Am I to understand that you loaned her your apprenticeship books, that I gave to you to learn Potter?”

“Well I read two of them sir, and it’s only for a short time.  We just wanted to look at the others books.”

“To what purpose?” Snape asked as he directed Harry to chop up some ingredients on the middle table in the lab.

“So that I can become an Auror.”  Harry would have thought that was obvious, but apparently not.

“You are studying to become an apothecary.”

“Yeah, well right now I am.  I mean when I’m done here in four years.  This way I’ll be ready for the Auror Program too and she’ll be ready for the Apothecary apprenticeship.”

“And you honestly believe that after four years of training to become an Auror she will settle for Apothecary?”

Harry shrugged.  “I don’t know.  But we’re helping each other study both apprenticeships in the mean time.  She’s tutoring me in what she’s learning so she’s reviewing in a way, and I’m doing the same for her.”

“And what happens when I ask you to brew me a class three burn salve?”

Here Severus was sure he’d caught the boy, because his potions had always turned out abysmal in class, no doubt from lack of studying, but Harry stood up straight and stopped his chopping.  “I can do it sir.”

“Then do so now.  If you fail to produce a viable potion, you will cease and desist in studying Auror books until you can pass your first exam in December.  Understood?”

“Yes sir.”  He said it with such a confidence that for a moment Severus actually believed the boy would brew the potion properly.

“With no instructions Potter.  From memory.”

“Yes sir.”

Three hours later, Harry set the tin of burn salve on the counter next to Severus as a customer left and Severus looked down on it.  It was certainly the right color, and they had none in stock, meaning that Harry couldn’t have taken some and passed it off as his own.

“Place some on your bare arm Potter.”

Harry did so and nothing happened.  After a moment Severus used a rag to wipe the salve off.  The skin was unblemished.  Any mistake in this potion would have actually burned the skin worse.

“This is acceptable.  And your study arrangement with your friend will remain so as long as your studies in Potions do not diminish from today’s performance.”

“Thank you sir,” Harry said, grinning because he had done well.

“Speaking of your performance, your assistance is needed tomorrow evening for a difficult task.”  When Severus saw that he had Harry’s full attention, he continued, “Tomorrow night is the second full moon after summer solstice.  There is a rare plant that only blooms under these conditions, and must be collected between midnight and three am.”

“Where do we go to collect it?”

“There are some mountains north of here that we will apparate to.  You are to wear clothing you do not mind getting soiled, as we will be spending most of the night on our hands and knees in the dirt.”  Snape paused and pulled a card out of his pocket, handing it to Harry.  “You are also to familiarize yourself with this plant.  The Ignea Horus species is delicate and must be handled with a certain amount of care.  The details are on the back of this card, and whilst we are out collecting the plant you are to keep it with you at all times.”

Harry scanned the card and found a fair amount of information crammed on the back.  The picture on the front displayed a small purple flower with a black stem spotted with gray flecks.

True to his word, Harry found himself on all fours the next night in some distant, dark, lonely mountains, searching for the purple flower.  It was chilly out and Harry was glad he’d had the foresight to put on a jacket, even if it was a light one.

“What are the names of these mountains again sir?” Harry asked as he plucked up one of the tiny flowers by the roots and put it in the magical sack slung over his shoulder, made to keep the flowers fresh.

“To wizards they are known as the Frems.  They are densely packed with all manner of magical herbs and ingredients.”

“These are in the Forbidden Forest too aren’t they?” Harry asked as he plucked two more up from behind a large tuft of grass jutting out behind a tree.  He sat up and smacked his head on a low hanging limb, and cursed softly, wishing they were allowed to use their wands for light instead of just having moonlight to go off of.  Unfortunately they would ruin the plant if any artificial light fell on them.

“And how would you know this?”

“We saw some the night-”  Harry paused, very aware that he and Ron weren’t supposed to be out in the Forest at all, let alone by themselves at night as students at Hogwarts.

“Yes?”

“Never mind,” Harry said, wondering if he could get into any trouble at this point for old school offenses.

“Oh no, do tell Potter.  What were you doing in the Forest at night when you were still a student?”

Harry bit his lip once and then said, “The night Ron and I followed a trail of spiders into the Forest to find Aaragog, Hagrid’s giant spider.”

“You searched out acromantula’s?”

“It was in our second year.  But Mr. Weasley’s Ford Anglia came out of nowhere and saved us.”

Severus eyed him from his knees across the clearing, and Harry was sure if there was enough light he would have seen the glare that he felt.

“Wonders never cease,” he muttered under his breath.  “The boy who lives to put himself in danger is my apprentice.”

“Who can brew pretty well,” Harry added indignantly.

“Even so.  I believe it is a good thing that you did not get placed in the Auror program, for your own safety.”

Harry blew some air up at his bangs to get them out of his eyes and was just about to retort when a not so distant howl rent the night.  They froze.

“Sir,” Harry whispered just loud enough for Severus to hear.  “There aren’t… werewolves out here are there?”  He could see Snape’s rigid form, body alert and wand out.

“Yes, but that was no werewolf.”

“What then-” Another howl cut him off, and he knew that Snape was right.  It sounded almost, human, and it was coming closer.

“Keep your wand out Potter.  Do not apparate, no matter what happens, understood?”

“Yes but-” Snape held up a hand to cut him off as he moved next to Harry and crouched down beside him.

“Did you learn about Sirens?”  At the confused look on his face he clarified, “Also known as Hags.  They are a rogue type of witch.  They live in covens and do not recognize the Ministry as in authority over them.  They are dangerous, especially to males.  If you let them, they will wrap you in their wiles and enslave you.”

“What are they doing out here?” Harry said, trying not to let panic and skepticism seep through his voice.

“Probably the same thing we are Potter.  Apothecaries, witches, Sirens, wizards… all are amongst the world tonight collecting this specimen.  If they find out we have cleared the area of them they will hunt us until we give them up.”

“And do we?”

“As a last resort.  I would rather not pay a vault full of galleons for them from another forager, but if it is necessary to spare our lives we do what we must.”

“He he he.”  There was a wheezy laugh, quiet and eery across the clearing, much to close for Harry’s comfort.

“She doesn’t need a wand Potter,” he told him in a whisper.  “And do NOT apparate.  You will end up in a cage somewhere in her coven.”

“Yes sir.”

“Little wizards, come out come out, I’ll use your entrails for stew!”  She taunted them, ending in a cackle.

“What now?” Harry’s voice was barely more than a quiet breath.  Before Snape could answer though, a flash of light blinded them and Snape was yelling, “RUN!”

Harry bolted in one direction, diving out of the way of the curse just in time, and Snape in the other.

“I’ll give ye chase then me fickle minded foe!” she shouted in a scratchy voice, flying after Harry.  Apparently she didn’t need a broom for that either, he thought as he leapt over logs and dodged trees, stumbling a few times and catching himself.  He aimed a few curses behind himself, blasting apart a tree, and heard her cackle again, but she still followed.

Panting, Harry wished dearly that he knew where Snape was, because he didn’t know if he was dead or captured, and he didn’t know how to handle a Siren by himself.  It seemed as if he had run forever, and he was hopelessly lost.  If he couldn’t apparate he didn’t know how he was going to find his way back to civilization again.  He ran through a small bog, the Hag catching up to him since she could float right over it and any other obstacle, and he gained speed again on the other side, feet squishing in his shoes.  Branches whipped past his face and tore at his skin and clothes, and then when he thought he had lost her, he bumped into something hard, heard an “oomf” and fell backwards to the ground.  He lit the tip of his wand to find another young man, possibly a few years older than himself, sprawled out on the ground before him.

Wand aimed, Harry eyed him closely, and recognized him as a Ravenclaw a few years ahead of him from Hogwarts.

“Harry Potter?” the boy queried.

“You’re not a hag?  What are you doing here?”

He shook his head.  “Stewart, from Ravenclaw. They’re chasing me too.  I’m collecting these for my apprenticeship to the apothecary on Diagonalley.”  He held out a handful of the purple flowers, which wilted immediately in the wand light.

They heard a cackle then on both sides of the small clearing they sat in and a voice said gently, “Two young men to entrails feast, come to me my loves, not a master can save you now, no you’ll not fly like doves.”

“Cast a shield,” Harry whispered, “and don’t let it down.”

Stewart did as he was told, a blue shield materializing around them, big enough for them to stand up in, and then Harry poured his own energy into the shield, doing as much of the work as he could to modulate his magic to match Stewarts since the other apprentice probably didn’t know how to.

“What is this?” he asked.  “Multiplied shield.  Stronger than one wizard’s magic alone.  Hold steady and I’ll pour my magic into it.”

Suddenly a flash of red light came straight at them, revealing the location of one Hag, ugly, with scraggly gray hair and a pitted face.  The curse fizzled out on the shield and she screeched.  Two more blasts came then, one from both sides, and both fizzled, to more sounds of discontent.

“I’m going to let my magic off now,” Harry said, “so I can fight back.  If you continue to hold the shield it will remain strong.”

“Yeah,” Stewart said.  “Go ahead.”

Harry let his wand down and the shield held up to multiple more blasts.  It seemed that more Sirens were joining the party now.

There was silence for a few moments, aside from the hags conversing in low tones through the trees, until Stewart said, “Harry?”

“Yeah?”  Harry looked over to see Stewart pointing up to the tree canopy, where hundreds of stick figures tied with twine hung from branches, some of them painted red.  He tried not to think about them being painted with blood.

“Listen,” Harry said suddenly, staring Stewart straight in the eyes.  “Don’t listen to them, no matter what.  We can’t apparate either.”

“Why?”

“We’ll end up enslaved or something like that.  They can trick you if you listen to them… if my master is ok he’ll help us.  We just have to wait.  We can send a message somehow if need be.”

“Who’s you’re master?”

“Severus Snape.”

“You got Snape?  Wow.”

“Yeah,” Harry said, feeling like rolling his eyes because Stewart seemed a little impressed.  “Is your master here?”

“No.  He sent me out alone.  I gathered these last year and nothing happened.”

“Who would have thought it could be exciting,” Harry said.

“I did encounter a dragon once, in a cave looking for yalsmouth’s fungus.”

“What did you do?”

“Ran like hell, what the bloody hell did ye think I did?”

Harry laughed a little then as a beautiful woman, perhaps the most beautiful woman he had ever seen appeared out of the darkness, bathed in a warm light.  Silky blond hair fell down her shoulders and back, and the light allowed them to see through a thin silky blue gown that trailed along the moss and dirt.

“Don’t listen,” Harry said.  “Close your eyes, don’t listen.”

Stewart did as he was told and Harry tried to concentrate on Stewart’s face, knowing he couldn’t close his eyes in case Stewart caved.

“Are you all right?” the woman asked in a heart melting voice.  “Are you hurt?  I could take you back to my father’s house and he can heal you.”

“No thanks,” Harry said firmly, eyes on Stewart’s face and nowhere else.

“Are you sure?  The Sirens are gone.  We have food and water, and medical supplies at the house.  You can send an owl to whoever is looking for you.”

“A cage more like,” Harry said, biting his lip hard to keep himself in the here and now.  He had the strange urge to get up and follow her to a warm house bathed in light where there was chocolate cake and a warm bed waiting.

“Harry?”  Stewart was licking his lips now, and Harry moved a hand to cover his eyes in case he was tempted to open them.

“It’s a trick, don’t listen.  She’s an ugly beast who will turn you into a slave.  Are you listening Hag?”  Harry asked suddenly to the woman.  “Leave us be!  You’ll never take us!  I know your powers are diminished in the light, and we’ll walk out of here at daybreak!”  He had remembered this small bit of information during his run.  Binns had told the class of a wizard who had escaped capture by hiding in a tall tree until morning, and then running for his life, never to wander into the woods again.

She screeched suddenly, and Harry covered his ears and clenched his eyes shut trying to drown out the awful noise.  One look at Stewart told him to cover the other man’s ears however since he was still trying to hold up the shield, and it was starting to falter.  It seemed as if the scream lasted forever, and Harry was sure his ears would never be the same again, but then it was over, and when Stewart inhaled a deep breath, Harry knew his ears would be fine.

“Wretched little whelp!  A formal education won’t save you!  It’s two day’s walk back to Blackpool and you can’t apparate in the daytime either so long as our omens hang from the trees!  We’ll get you one way or the other!”

Harry laughed then.  “ACCIO HARRY’S BROOM!” he shouted, pointing his wand out into the dark woods.  He knew his Firebolt was fast and hoped it would come to him, even though he was so far away.  If they could fly out, all would be well.

She screeched again, this time followed by at least a dozen others, and it was all Harry could do to cover Stewart’s ears and not pass out from the head splitting agony that overtook him.

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