Chapter 11

All canon characters belong to JKR.

Thank you to June for betaing this for me.

Chapter 11

It was Sunday morning. Severus woke up early, although he had barely slept after last night's outing with Hermione. When they got back to the dungeons, he had walked her to her quarters. They had stood outside her door for several minutes making small talk, mainly because neither one knew what to do. Should they shake hands? Should they kiss? Should he just slap her a few times on the back and say, "See you at the office, mate?" So he had decided to take the neutral route: he kissed her on the cheek, thanked her for the lovely evening, and went back to his quarters. She in turn had detained him from returning to his quarters by placing her small hand on his chest, letting it rest there for several seconds, before saying she had never before had such a wonderful evening. As it was, it had taken him forever to get to sleep, since he kept thinking about how soft her lips had been.

He had decided to take his breakfast in his office. School would be starting a week from Monday, and he wanted to take this day to look at his and Hermione's schedule. He wanted to leave next week open, so he could just sit back and relax before the new wave of dimwits arrived to make his life a living hell. He sat quietly at his desk, taking a sip of his coffee every so often, as Osiris stood perched at the windowsill looking out into the forest.

"Severus."

"Hmm?"

"Who's the tasty bird next door?"

Severus set down the scroll he had been studying and looked up. "Her name is Hermione," he said with a slight growl to his voice. "Please refrain from using any such terminology, vulgar or otherwise, when speaking of her in the future." Severus crossed his arms and gave Osiris a scalding look.

"Ah, it's like that, is it?" Osiris flew onto Severus' desk.

"It is like nothing. She is a very bright young witch, who deserves to be respected and not likened to some overheated trollop." Severus lowered himself so he was now eye-to-eye with Osiris. "I mean it, Osiris. You will treat her with respect, or I will be eating raven instead of duck tonight for dinner."

Osiris backed away and spread his wings. "All right, all right, no need to get violent."

"I won't have you speaking of her in that manner." Severus sat back up in his chair, and picked up his scroll once more. Osiris approached him and tapped the corner of the scroll with his beak. Severus let out an exasperated sigh and put down his scroll once more. "What?"

"Did you tell her about me?"

"I had to. She is going to be living down here, and as I said before, she is quite brilliant. She would have figured you out sooner or later, so I thought it best to just tell her about you outright."

"Do you think she would mind if I visited her?"

Severus narrowed his eyes and leaned forward once more. "And just what do you want to go over there for? Osiris, I swear..."

Before Severus threatened him again, Osiris started to shake his head.

"I just want a change of scenery. Good Lord, Severus, you don't think I get bored being stuck in this castle day in and day out, with only you and that crazy old man to talk to? I swear the man must shit yellow lemon drops. And there's only so much fucking flying I can do, you know. You see all those birds out there?" Osiris pointed one of his wings towards the window. "They're stupid! I can't talk to any of them! Have you ever tried to have an intellectual conversation, with something that just regurgitated their breakfast into some little chirping twerp's mouth? You won't be enjoying much of your lunch that day, I can guarantee you that. Look at me. I'm a bird, Severus. What the hell can I possibly do to her?"

Severus hadn't seen his cousin this upset in years. He often forgot that, for Osiris, being trapped in a bird's body was probably worse than being sent to Azkaban. As a man, Osiris had never hurt a soul ... not physically, at least ... and the burden of the curse all these years had given him a certain amount of empathy towards those around him. Over the years, Osiris had served Severus as family, friend, confidant, and a great source of comfort. There had been so many times when Osiris was a sympathetic ear, especially after Severus came back from meetings with Voldemort or raids with other Death Eaters. Whether it be for his work as a spy, or his work as a teacher, Osiris was always there for him. Truth be told, Osiris was a better man now that he was a bird than he had been as an actual man!

"I tend to forget sometimes how difficult it must be for you," Severus said as he looked at the clock on the wall. It was eight o'clock. He knew Hermione was an early riser, and he also knew she would be up early putting away the ingredients they had purchased yesterday. "She may be in the classroom supply closet. I don't think she knows Legilimency, and if she does I'm not sure how skilled she may be. You'll most likely have to do some writing if you want to communicate with her."

"Thanks!" Before Severus changed his mind, Osiris Apparated away in search of a new friend.

* * * * * *

Even though he was a bird, Osiris was still a wizard. He could no longer do magic with a wand, and he was quite limited as to what he could do wandlessly, but he could still Apparate, and every now and then he could conjure up one thing or another. Before he was cursed he had been training himself in the use of wandless magic, and had been getting quite skilled at it. He thanked all the deities he could think of for giving him that much.

And Osiris did have one advantage when Apparating. Since he was smaller than a human, and quite light, he could Apparate silently. No pops for him, which often got him in trouble with Severus when they first began living together. For some time Osiris had taken to popping in on the man while he was showering, or trying to sleep. He finally stopped doing so when Severus threatened to configure his feathers into pink bunny fur, along with a bunny tail and ears.

He popped into the Potions classroom, but didn't see her. As he flew to the desk at the front of the classroom, he heard shuffling noises coming from inside the walk-in supply closet.

Hermione had hardly slept the night before. She couldn't get the kiss Severus had given her out of her mind. She had always dreamed of kissing him, and often wondered what it would be like. It was better than she had imagined. His lips were soft, and his kiss warm and sweet. She was so caught up in her musings that she didn't notice the large black bird now perched on the shelf above her. She reached up to grab some empty jars, and felt feathers instead. Looking up, she saw Osiris.

"Well, hello again," she said, walking from the supply closet into the classroom. Osiris bowed his head slightly and hopped down onto the table. "I hope you didn't think me rude yesterday, but I had no idea who you were," she added. Osiris tilted his head and looked very much as if he had shrugged his shoulders. 'Do birds have shoulders?' she wondered. She realized he still seemed to have many of the mannerisms of a human, even after so many years. It looked a bit odd coming from a bird, but strangely normal at the same time.

"My name is Hermione, but I'm guessing Severus probably told you who I was." Osiris nodded, and Hermione laughed. She turned and put a blank scroll in front of him, then a bottle of ink. Osiris dipped his beak just slightly, then hopped onto the scroll and began writing. When he finished, she looked at the scroll.

"Learn Legilimency," she read aloud. She looked down at him and smiled. "That would make things easier for us, wouldn't it? Do you think Severus would be willing to teach me?"

Osiris nodded, then stepped off the scroll and stood next to the gillyweed.

"Would you like to help me put some things away?" she asked him, and again he nodded. "Let's see, I don't want you to get intoxicated or poisoned by anything. Since you're next to the gillyweed I think I'll have you separate it into small batches." She took from a shelf several small bottles and uncorked them. "Can you fill each of these?"

He nodded once again and started to separate the gillyweed into little bunches, then stuffed the bunches into the bottles and capped each of them.

They worked silently all morning. It turned out that Osiris was a wonderful helper. He was willing to do anything she asked of him. When they were finished, she cleaned up their work area and held out her arm so that Osiris could perch himself on it. She walked out of the potions closet and closed the door behind her. Since school hadn't begun yet, there was no need to lock it or set up wards.

"Does Severus ever let you help him put the ingredients away?" Osiris shook his head. She knew from being his student that Severus could be quite meticulous about his things, and even more so with potion ingredients. "Well, you are welcome to help me anytime." Osris ruffled his feathers, which she took as a "whoopee!"

Hermione sat at the front desk and let Osiris hop down. She looked out into the rows of tables and chairs in front of her. To think, just a few years ago she was sitting behind one of those tables, and now she was going to be teaching in this very classroom. She could scarcely believe it herself. She looked into Osiris' eyes as he stared intently at her.

"Do you know what I'm thinking?"

He nodded. He should not have, but had been able to get into her head. He was too curious, and she lacked the Occlumency skills to keep him out. Severus rarely kept his mind closed to him, knowing this would be the only way they could freely and easily communicate. They had agreed from the beginning never to invade each other's head, other than to speak to one another. Osiris knew that if he were to go rummaging through his cousin's head, there would be hell to pay. Besides, there were things in Severus' head he did not want to know of. His cousin had been a Death Eater, and there were things Severus had seen and done that were best left unknown.

Osiris did not however have the same agreement with Hermione, at least not yet. He was sure Severus would make him promise not to go snooping inside her head, and if he did, he would have to promise not to. Since he was so small, his intrusion into her thoughts had gone unnoticed by her.

She leaned forward, "Can you do magic?" Osiris disappeared, and then within several seconds appeared again, but this time on the other side of the desk. "That's pretty impressive. I would imagine you are limited; is that right?" He nodded again. She noticed the clock on the wall and saw that it was almost twelve-thirty. Before she got up, she heard the classroom door open.

Severus came in and walked towards them. "Did you finish just now?" he asked her, and then looked at Osiris. "Have you been good?"

"Of course. I was helping her."

Severus arched his brow and looked at Hermione. "You let him... assist you?" asked Severus.

"Yes. He did a wonderful job with the gillyweed, and clover leaves."

"Why don't you teach her Legilimency? Then I can talk to her like a normal person."

Severus looked at him. "Normal person?" asked Severus as he looked back at Osiris.

"Who's a normal person?" asked Hermione.

Severus turned to her and smiled; he'd been doing that quite a bit lately. "Osiris wants me to teach you Legilimency, so you can talk to him like a normal person."

"I'd like that." Hermione walked to the other side of the desk and stood in front of him.

"Perhaps then, we can begin lessons tomorrow?" Severus asked. "My week is free, and we have finished our lesson plans, so we have no academic obligation to worry about. I am confident you will be quite proficient by the time classes begin. Then you and Osiris can have conversations galore." He looked at Osiris and smirked. "But don't say I didn't warn you, Hermione. He'll talk you to death if you let him. I'll make sure to leave some time on my schedule to give you Occlumency lessons as well."

"Ha, ha, ha. Keep that up and you'll have to start walking around here with an umbrella." Osiris then flew off, leaving Hermione and Severus alone in the classroom.

"Severus, that wasn't very nice. He can't be as bad as you say," Hermione said, as she lightly swatted him on the arm.

"He knows I'm teasing. But I do suggest you forbid him to enter your thoughts, unless it is to converse. It is easy for him to get inside unnoticed, and quite easy for him to find out things you would otherwise prefer left unknown," he said, as he looked down at her.

Not wanting to get poor Osiris in trouble, she decided not to tell Severus that he had already done so. "I'll make sure to ask him not to do that, then."

"Good. Have you had lunch yet?"

"No. I was thinking of going to my rooms and making myself something. Would.... would you like to join me?"

"Yes, I would like that," he said.

Hermione turned and started walking to her rooms. She had never cooked for anyone other than Harry or Ron, and hoped that the boys weren't just being nice to her all these years in telling her she was a great cook. The last thing she wanted to do was run Severus off because she had bad culinary skills.

"I thought I'd make a quiche. I know a quick recipe. Would that be all right with you?"

He nodded and placed his hand lightly on her back. "I am sure whatever you make will be quite appetizing."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

First dinner and now lunch? Sounds nice.