snape and skull

50

Trouble at the Platform
I

t was now late August and just about time for Harry, Severus, and Dante to go to Hogwarts. Severus had spent the last week getting his classroom and the dungeons ready for the students, along with his office and the Slytherin dormitories. Though the house elves at the school helped him getting the rooms cleaned and freshened up, a lot of the work of getting his potions restocked and ready for the next year fell on him. Many of his ingredients had expired, and he had to purchase new ones from the apothecary. He was currently waiting on a large order of dragon scales and grindylow skin.
B

ut at least he had all of the boys' books, robes, and other supplies ready to go. And then Skull was contacted by Ghost, walking the astral. "Good news, Skullduggery! Shriek says your eggs have hatched. You're a father, old son! To five new chicks. There's three boys and two girls. Shriek's waiting for you to come!"
Skull was ecstatic over the news. "They're the first offspring of a Greater Tower raven and a spirit helper to be born anywhere! I can't wait to see them!"
"Congratulations, my friend. I wish I could go with you, but I can't. I have no time off. Maybe in a few weeks, when the term has begun." Severus said regretfully.
Harry pouted. "Aww, but Dad! We don't have to go for a week, just a few days."
"No, Harry. You can wait to see them. In fact, it'll be better if you do, then you'll have something to look forward to, right now all they look like are bald balls of skin with beaks, like any newborns."
"Hey, don't malign my offspring, Sev!" Skull squawked.
"I'm not maligning. Just stating facts. No need to peck at me, Skullduggery."
"Humph!" the raven hissed, fluffing up his feathers like he was insulted. "See if I ask you to be godfather."
Harry half-giggled. "Skull, can I be godfather to one?"
"We'll see, bran-boy. Got to discuss it with the missus first. Shriek will peck my feathers off if I make a decision like that without consulting her. Well, I'm off to see the little ones! I'll see you in a few weeks, Sev, Harry, and Dante!"
"A few weeks?" Dante said, rather dismayed. "Why so long?"
"I'll need to help Shriek feed them. Baby ravens require an obscene amount of food. So . . . sayonara, my friends!" Skull flapped upwards then he shifted into the astral and disappeared soundlessly.
Dante bit his lip. Skull was the one thing he felt comfortable talking with in the house and now he was gone. He slumped in his chair and tried to read the comic he'd brought from home, but right then even the X-Men held little interest for him.
Harry sighed mournfully. "Things won't be the same around here without Skull."
"Stop moping," Severus ordered briskly. "If you're bored, I'll find things for you to do. Like cleaning out the cupboards in the basement and re-labeling ingredients for me."
Harry paled. "Bored? Who said I was bored? Right, Dante?"
"No, we're not bored at all!" Dante hastened to reassure his professor cousin. The last thing he needed was doing work for Severus. "In fact, I have to go study." He got up and hurried up to his room.
"Me too! I need to re-read over my new Transfiguration book," Harry said, and followed him.
Severus smirked to himself. That was one way to get rid of the long faces and still have peace and quiet. He opened up his new potions periodical and sat back in his recliner to read a little before supper.

Page~*~*~*~*~Break
T

wo days before September 1st, Severus got an emergency Floo call from Dumbledore. He needed the potions professor to return to Hogwarts early and assist Madam Pomfrey with brewing some drafts for the infirmary, she'd gotten behind and required someone else to help her. So he'd volunteered Severus.
Severus was not happy, but there was little he could do. He knew how important having ready-made drafts at hand was for Poppy, and since he respected the mediwitch, he wouldn't refuse her in her hour of need. Of course, that left him in a quandary about what to do with Harry and Dante, whom he didn't want underfoot in the castle until term started.
He found a solution with Molly Weasley, who agreed to take both boys to the Burrow for a night and then help them get onto Platform 93/4's the morning school started. Severus was grateful, and after admonishing both boys to be on their best behavior or else, he left for Hogwarts.