And Then There Were Three

Chapter 18

The party had lasted long into the night, only ending when Fred and George tricked Neville into trying one of their newest inventions. A Ton-Tongue Toffee. Mr. Weasley had quickly shrunk Neville's tongue, which had grown at least a foot, but Mrs. Weasley had exploded on her sons, sending them ahead of her through the floo.

Most everyone else began to clear out after that, leaving only Albus, Minerva, Remus, Evelyn, and Brielle.

Minerva and Evelyn were busy making plans for next Thursday's breakfast, with Evelyn assuring her that she could spare the time away from work.

Now though, it was the next afternoon and Snape was busy pouring over a potion he was perfecting for St. Mungo's. The hospital was running low on a few of their more advanced potions and had sent out requests to Snape and a couple others for help. Snape was glad to have something new to do and had been working on them all day.

But then the floo roared to life in his lab, distracting him and nearly causing him to lose count of the amount of times he'd stirred clockwise.

"Snape? Are you there."

Snape rolled his eyes. Sirius Black.

"I'm busy, Black," he said over his shoulder, not taking his eyes off of the potion that was gradually turning blue.

"This is important," Sirius said. "Can I come through?"

Snape sighed. "Very well."

Snape waved his wand at the potion, putting it in stasis before turning around to face Sirius, who stepped easily out of the fireplace.

"Where's Harry?" Sirius asked, looking around.

"He's out flying with Draco. What do you need?" Snape moved away from the table and leaned against the side of his desk, crossing his arms over his chest impatiently.

Sirius seemed nervous as he clasped his hands in front of him. Finally, he said, "Remus says that Harry's been having nightmares about his uncle."

Snape frowned. "Why would he tell you that?"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Why else? Because he's worried about him. We all are. Has he had any in the last few days?"

"Just get to your point, Black," Snape snapped.

"Several weeks ago, Remus convinced me to talk to a mind healer," Sirius said with a sigh. He moved to the work table and took a seat on the stool, facing Snape. "I was given a small supply of Dreamless Sleep which I've kept in my bag. I hadn't had a reason to use it lately because talking to the healer has been helping and I haven't been having as many nightmares. But I needed some last night and when I went to get it, I noticed that several vials were missing."

Snape didn't appreciate what Sirius seemed to be insinuating. He narrowed his eyes and asked, "And?"

"And I don't want to get Harry into trouble, especially when I don't actually have any proof, but he is the only person besides Remus who has had access to my bag recently." Sirius looked away before reaching for an empty vial on the table. He turned it onto its side and gave it a gentle spin, reminding Snape of the way that Harry was always fidgeting with things when conversations became hard for him.

"You think Harry stole them?" Snape asked.

Sirius shook his head. "I hope not. But the day that he came to hang out while you and Draco went shopping, I gave him a picture and asked him to put it into my bag while I went into the kitchen to help Remus with lunch. I don't want to think that he would steal from me, but if the nightmares are as bad as Remus said, maybe he's desperate to make them stop."