The Year of the Revolution II. The Discovery of Friendship

12. Patronus

The next day, Sev woke up tired. 'Ugh... I would have stayed in bed if I haven't to meet Beamy.'

The boy was already waiting for him in the Common Room to go up to breakfast together. "Don't you mind being seen with me?" Sev asked him.

"Not at all, there is nobody dangerous," he replied indifferently.

As they entered the Great Hall and sat down halfway from where each of them usually sat, Sev noticed Dumbledore gave them a meaningful look.

Lily, on the other hand, jumped out of bed knowing that she would almost certainly have a letter from Sev.

They came to both of them almost at the same time, while they were having breakfast. Sev's for Lily, long awaited, Lily's for Sev, completely unexpected. The owls stayed where they were waiting for an answer.

Lily finished her breakfast in a hurry to lock herself in her room to answer it, and put the owl in Puck's cage.

Sev, for his part, calmly finished his breakfast and then apologized to Beamy, "You've seen, I have to answer the letter, but I won't be long. Will you wait for me?"

"Okay, I'll be on the stairs outside."

Sev walked down the corridor toward the dungeons, opening the letter and taking in its length as he walked. 'Wow... If I start answering all this now, I'm going to spend the morning.' So he didn't read it, but so that Lily wouldn't worry when her owl didn't return, he sent her a short message that said:

I'll answer to you tonight so you can get it tomorrow. You will have answered mine today. What a mess.

He was thinking for a while. 'Let's see how we maintain a consistent correspondence.'

Nothing happens. I will answer your two letters in one. You will get them in the morning, I at night. So we will have a letter every day, but ordered.

I love you Princess.

He released Puck with the message from his bedroom window and returned to where Beamy was waiting. "Thanks, Beamy, sorry for making you wait."

"It's okay, Snape, family comes first."

"Yeah... well... Are you going to show me your secret place?"

"Buf... It's very far, we would waste a lot of time."

'A thirteen-year-old boy wandering into the Forbidden Forest alone just to practice a few spells? Luckily it's me and not a true Death Eater wannabe, who would have no qualms about getting it all out of him. In fact, I can read him if I feel like it, but I won't. What I glimpsed last night was enough for me to trust him.'

"Mine is close and it is well hidden. It's a little small, but it doesn't matter, we'll manage."

'It is a beautiful day, a bright cold winter sun is still rising near the horizon. It would have been nice to see the sunrise from the Haven. The landscape is charming, the sloping meadow, snowy, and in the background the Forest, where deciduous trees with bare twisted branches intermingle with the greenery of perennials, all covered in snow.'

They walked down the slope to the entrance next to Hagrid's hut. 'Where I said goodbye to Lily that night.'

As they started down the path, Beamy stopped. "Aren't you going to blindfold me?"

Sev stopped too and turned to him, puzzled. 'What is he saying? What is that about?'

"I don't see why I should."