Owl Eyes

Owl Eyes

Chapter Seven

A Secret Revealed

Words flow like water

Over pebbles,

Singing in whispers

Like laughter.

Secrets slip from silence

Where they were once stored

And come to rest here,

In the depths of sensitive ears.

Thoughts swirl about,

Butterflies in the breeze.

Then landing

In clusters, on branches,

They rest quietly.

Realization comes forth,

A flame against the night sky.

I was standing beside Harry's bed when the door opened. Footsteps entered.

"Has he woken up yet?" Hermione asked.

"Briefly," I replied.

I began to wonder what Harry had seen. He seemed shaken up. Not just because he had had a vision but because whatever he had seen was not a good sight. I shook my numb arm gently. Although I was worried about its health and current state of not feeling, I was more worried about Professor Snape. Perhaps I would have an opportunity to inform him of the incident that had occurred in the charm's classroom, but at the present time Harry's well being took priority.

"Harry?" Dumbledore said.

There was a movement from the bed and the faintest of moans. Just then the door burst open again.

"Professor Snape wasn't in the dungeons so I couldn't get any of the potions we need." Ron was breathing heavily.

"Go to Madam Pomfrey," Dumbledore said. "Or perhaps we ought to simply bring Harry to her."

"No," was spoken in a rough whisper from the bed.

"Very well then," Dumbledore sighed. "Accio Pain Reliever potion...Accio Pepper Up potion..." The wizard continued to summon vials until he had what he thought he'd need.

I transfigured a slip of paper from my pocket into a goblet and passed it to Dumbledore who seemed grateful. I realized too late that I had not used my wand to perform the spell and hadn't even spoken a word.

"That was incredible!" Ron shrieked. "Did you see that Hermione?"

"See what?"

"Lucinda, she...she just-"

"Yes, Miss Lee is quite talented. I suggest that you grow accustomed to the way she does things," Dumbledore said.

"But I've never-" Ron started, but was cut off by Hermione.

"Ron, this is not the time," she lectured in her strictest sounding whisper.

Dumbledore began feeding Harry the potions telling him what each was for. We all just stood by watching and waiting for a sign that Harry was recovering.

Finally Harry sat up halfway in the bed and said, "I think Snape will be needing those potions back when he returns from the Death Eater meeting."

What?! Had I heard him right? Had Harry just said that Snape was at a Death Eater meeting?

"Harry, I think you need some rest, you aren't making any sense," I said with concern, despite my shock.

"I'm fine. It was just a vision," he insisted.

"But you just said that Snape-"

"Miss Lee, it is perhaps time that we inform you of some of the happenings within these castle walls." Dumbledore conjured a chair and sat down. "Professor Snape is one of the most dedicated members of the order of the phoenix."

"But Harry just said that, well basically that he was a Death Eater! He must have seen him in his vision!"

I could not believe the foolishness of the old wizard. Was he allowing a criminal of the worst kind to live and teach at Hogwarts?

"Yes, Severus is in fact also a Death Eater." I shook with confusion and waited for Dumbledore to say more. "You see, one of my more brilliant, and so far successful, ideas was to have a spy among the Death Eaters. I needed the right person for the job."

"Professor Snape?" I asked.

"Ah yes. Severus is very resourceful, sly, and powerful. He possesses many traits that are required for an effective spy." Dumbledore leaned forward in his chair and his words came closer to my face now. "It is a very dangerous job and if he were found out the entire wizarding world could be in danger."

I got his point. He didn't need to explain any more to me.

"I understand," I said and I think he knew I really did.

****

Severus Snape had been unsure of his ability to Apparate but he had been in no state to travel via other means. He couldn't take the night bus in his Death Eater robes and he had no Muggle money. He stood outside of Voldemort's castle and Disapparated. Luckily he was successful and landed just outside the Hogwarts' grounds with a thud. He was unable to stand because he was so weak and fell to the ground without hesitation.

He lay there for some time, the whispers of night closing in around him. The forbidden forest loomed up before him, a shadow of death creeping ever closer. He had to move. How?

First he tried to pull himself to his hands and knees. His right knee was damaged, the skin broken open and blood oozing from the wound like an egg slipping from its shell. Blood that inside the body was blue and safe now spilled fourth, red, unprotected, and contaminated. He could not stop the bleeding. It would require more magic than he held within himself at the present time. So in crawling, he was unsuccessful.

He lay very still as the chill of the cold earth seeped inside him.

How had he ended up here on the ground in the dark of night?

Would anyone come for him?

What could he do to save himself? To save the world? They so desperately needed him, the spy, the union of darkness and light. He sat up, his head spun as if it were a top and completely unattached to the rest of him. Once he realized that he was still effectively sitting he was ready to fight the rest of the battle. Somehow he pulled himself to his feet. One labored foot step at a time he slithered to the castle, broken, bleeding, and full of hope.

****

I woke to the voices of my roommates chattering like a barn yard full of hens. It was later than I had intended to rise. I had over slept.

I slid out of bed, my body yawning and stretching in full protest along the way. Quickly I pulled on some clothes and got washed up. There was no time for a shower. I wasn't in the mood to take a shower. Hermione was already gone so I made my way to the Great Hall alone.

I was not very awake and it wasn't long before I rounded a corner and bumped into something solid. I staggered, trying to keep my balance.

"Miss Lee," a cold voice said.

Shit! It was Ms. Wiggins! I was in deep now. I tried to open my mouth to apologize but I wasn't fast enough.

"Ten points from Gryffindor for your rudeness. Running into other people is hardly polite."

She said nothing else and just pushed passed me. I wondered if I could take points from her for being rude. After all running people over in the halls because you're a nasty professor is hardly considered polite either.

When I stepped into the Great Hall it was with the understanding that my morning had been ruined. I made my way to my usual seat and sat down without a word. My peace was soon interrupted by my friends wanting to know what was wrong with me. I didn't feel like talking. Not even to them, but I was glad to see that Harry was doing better and had come to breakfast. I explained about my brush with Wiggins the Whooping Wombat and everyone within ear shot called her rude names which made me feel a bit better.

Ginny Weasley had heard that Snape was in the hospital wing from another girl who had seen him there. Madam Pomfrey wouldn't let the girl have a look though so no one knew what was wrong with Snape. Harry knew, almost as intimately as Snape himself did, and Hermione, Ron, Dumbledore and I had some idea of what might be wrong with Snape. I was just glad to know that he had returned alive and probably in one piece.

I decided that my time would be best spent on a trip to the hospital wing. I mentioned the troubles with my arm to my friends and Hermione, always prepared for anything and full of knowledge, fixed the arm right away. Perhaps she'd be a healer someday but for now she was a savior, freeing me from the fussing woman who paced the hospital wing.

It would probably do me good to spend more time in the library. It had done Hermione a lot of good. She was always answering the professors' questions in class and knew a whole host of other things like healing charms. I had been so relaxed about my studies already. I was a lazy student, I knew, and my parents always wanted me to remedy it. I had already gotten a satisfactory grade on my muggle studies homework. Had I tried harder I could have been scored excellent. The OWLs would be coming up at the end of the year and I had to make an effort to do well on them. They could be the difference between employment or poverty. I wondered if the Muggles had to take such important exams. If they did, the exams would probably be easier than OWLs.