Fellowship & Fairydust

When the next full moon came, the potion was nowhere near ready for consumption; this meant no trial this month. On one hand it was a relief because of how sick Harry had gotten, but on the other hand, it felt like a major setback and that wasn’t sitting well with him. But it wasn’t like he was on a deadline or like anyone was actually expecting this potion to be available soon, so nobody would missing it or wonder why it wasn’t ready yet.

Severus told Harry he should be proud of himself for achieving as much as he already had, and so young.

Harry knew he had accomplished a lot since he had gotten to Hogwarts, but not entirely on his own. “I couldn’t have done it without you,” he insisted. Severus had come up with just as many of the ideas as him, and he was going to share the credit equally; it would only be fair.

The time came for Harry and Remus to leave the castle. It had been decided that the two boys could now safely stay together during their monthly transformation. Making their way to the Shrieking Shack, Remus told Harry how the Whomping Willow was added just for him so he’d have access to the shack during full moons. Upon arriving at the shack, they set their bags down and got comfortable. There was at least an hour and a half until moonrise, but Dumbledore had them leave early just to be safe.

A couple of loud pops outside the shack caught their attention, and their faces paled as two cruel-looking men stumbled into the shack. They wore long robes and masks, but Harry could see pure evil in their eyes.

“Look, a couple young Hogwarts students. Won’t our Lord be pleased!” said the first one as he grabbed Harry’s shoulder. Harry could practically hear the man’s teeth bearing together in a predatory grin.

“Yes, he will! This was almost too easy.” The second one seized Remus’ arm, eyes glowing with sick anticipation.

These must be the Death Eaters Harry had heard about, but what did they want with a couple of Hogwarts students? He didn’t get the chance to think anything else; a familiar tugging feeling took over and he knew they had just been apparated away from the shack.

* * *

Not long after Remus and Harry had left for the Shrieking Shack, the Dark Mark appeared over it. The staff at Hogwarts were beside themselves. Dumbledore went to check out the site, but found nothing but the boys’ bags and a note instructing him to “…come alone and offer me your assistance if you want to see the boys alive”. No students were to know that Remus and Harry had been taken, which is why James was struggling to remain quiet, just now in the Hospital Wing, after overhearing that his best mate was in trouble. If he were to make a sound, he’d receive detention for the rest of the year.

“What are we going to do?” Professor McGonagall cried, obviously worried about the young boys.

“Since I cannot offer any assistance to the Dark Lord, I’ll pass it on to an Order. There’s nothing we can do but wait.”

James frowned; ordinarily when things like this happened, he went to Sirius, Remus, and Peter, but he couldn’t tonight. Peter was too much of a coward to be of any help and Sirius was here in the Hospital Wing after eating a candy that caused his tongue to swell up twice its usual size. If James hadn’t decided to sneak in to see Sirius, he would have never known this was happening. He’d found Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall and Hagrid whispering in the hallway, and his invisibility cloak helped him get close enough to hear everything they were saying. James was often referred to as ‘nosey’ but in his view, he simply preferred “to be informed”.

And now, he couldn’t believe that Dumbledore’s plan was to do nothing!

Leaving, James made his way to the Great Hall, trying to think of something he could do. It was early evening and there were only a few students in the Great Hall, snacking before the food went away for the night. He found Severus Snape sitting at the Slytherin table with a couple of second-years, and decided he would tell him what had happened. Maybe he could convince Sniv-Severus to help.

As James made his way to the Slytherin table, he could hear several Gryffindors whispering, obviously confused since they’d never seen James Potter go near that table.

“Snape, mind stepping outside for a word?” James said, doing his best to state the question in a way that expressed no ill intents, but clearly the approach caused alarm, for Severus raised an eyebrow and refused to move.

James could hear the Great Hall fall into total silence as everyone stopped to watch the exchange between the two boys.

“And why should I do that?” Severus asked.

“Because I need to tell you why Harry Potter might not be coming back in the morning.” That did not come out the way James had intended, so he couldn’t blame Severus one bit for the thoughts that were undoubtedly crossing his mind right now.

“What did you do, Potter?” Severus said through clenched teeth as he stood up to look James in the eye.

James lowered his voice. “Look, I only know that Remus and Harry are missing and Death Eaters are involved; I had nothing to do with it. There was a note and Dumbledore isn’t planning on doing anything! He said he’d leave it up to an Order. What will that do?”

James all but dragged Severus out of the Great Hall, where he proceeded to repeat the Hospital Wing conversation back to him. And then, for the very first time, Severus Snape and James Potter sat together and came up with a plan.

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