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Harry Potter and the Rising Phoenix	By : TallyHo Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Snape Views: 2266 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

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* Chapter Three ~
A Duel of Sorts *

Gale managed to
loose the twins in the crowd of students getting off the train, but they
weren�t exactly looking to keep him close by.�
The first years were all called over to the front of the train where
Hagrid and a red-haired wizard stood waving everyone over.� Gale allowed the flow of the horde to send
him in that direction but he was the last to arrive and ended up standing some
few feet back from his mingling year mates.�
He couldn�t hear what the red-head was saying, but he heard Hagrid�s gruff rumble well enough.

�An� I�m Professor
Hagrid.� We�ll be teachin�
ye all �bout the creatures we�re usin� in the war.� An� don� go gettin�
all hot n� bothered when they show ya what yer goin� ter do to get in a
house.� S�not
as hard�s it looks.�
Charlie�s jus� tryin� ter
scare ya.�

He was trying to be comforting, but he
was only frightening the students more.�
Gale felt an unwanted smile tugging at his lips and firmly kept his face
expressionless.� Hagrid hadn�t changed
drastically since last the last time they�d been together.� He was glad to see that.

The red-haired man
spoke again and the crowd began to move.�
They were heading to the lake, and Gale could see the familiar boats
awaiting them on the bank.� Two nervous
blond witches fell back and walked near him, whispering to themselves
as if they didn�t realize he was there.

�Did you hear what
Professor Weasley said?� About getting
sorted into a house?�

�Yes.� Oh, how horrible!� My mum said you used to just sit under a hat
and you�d be put where you belonged.� But
duels!� I just got my wand only
yesterday!�

�They can�t expect
us to know much magic, can they?� I mean,
my sister taught me a charm, and I�m sure now that I�ve got a wand I can do it�
but it won�t do me any good in a duel!�
It�s just tangle-remover magic.�

Gale frowned
before he could stop himself.� Was that
what the red-haired wizard � apparently Charlie Weasley; he�d changed so much
Gale didn�t recognize him at all � had been talking about?� To be sorted, the students were now expected
to duel?

His brow knitted
as he situated himself in a boat and was joined by the two whispering
girls.� He�d have to be quick and quiet
about retrieving his wand, so he went to work on whipping up a believable lie
about becoming lost in the passages of Hogwarts before finally making it to the
Great Hall.

It hadn�t taken
much to separate from his group.� Hagrid
and Charlie left them at the entryway after making sure everyone was accounted
for and closing the doors firmly then disappearing up some side stairs.� Gale simply slipped away after them,
unnoticed by the milling first years.

He was now jogging
softly down the corridors until a familiar gargoyle loomed up ahead of
him.� He slowed and stopped in front of
it.� Grumpy yellow eyes opened as he
coughed loudly to get its attention.

�What do you want?� it demanded irritably.� Gale exhaled a sigh and shook his head.

�Cursum perficio,� he said, placing his hand on the
gargoyle�s chest and looking it straight in the eye.� It blinked then pulled back its lips in what
resembled a smile but was more likely a snarl.

�What did you say?� it asked, as if it took
great pleasure in being ornery.� Gale got
an irritated look on his face before pulling it back to disinterest.

�The password,� he answered mordantly.� The creature champed it�s
stone jaws but did not answer.� Instead it�s platform swiveled out of the way and a dusty staircase
opened up to him.

He trotted up the familiar stones and entered
Dumbledore�s office without preamble.� It
was in pristine condition, preserved by magic no doubt.� He smiled gently then walked to the center of
the room.

The portraits of past headmasters and mistresses
were all empty, which was no surprise to him.�
There were certainly more interesting places to be than in an abandoned
and locked room.� All the odd silver
mechanisms were silent and dead on their roosts.� There were only two living things left to
greet him and Gale looked at them with no little amount of fondness.

Fawks had his head
tucked beneath one bright red wing but his neck was arched and he blinked at
the intruder behind gingery feathers.�
The Sorting Hat�s ripped seam that worked as a mouth was less shy about
greeting the stranger.

�It�s about
time!� You know how dreary it is, being
locked up in here?� The portraits
abandoned us ages ago, and the Phoenix
isn�t much of a conversationalist.� I�ve
got twelve songs ready to go!� Let�s get
to the Great Hall!�

Gale couldn�t help
but grin and Fawks finally pulled his head out to watch him with blossoming
recognition.

A trill of welcome
warmed an old heart even more than seeing Hogwarts had.

�Hello, you two.�

He walked over and
around Dumbledore�s desk, grabbing the wand that rested in the middle of
it.� Gold and red sparks showered down on
the floor as he grasped the handle and he could swear that it hummed low and
gentle in his hand.

Slipping it into
his holster, he offered his arm to Fawks, who took it gracefully, and grabbed
the Sorting Hat off its self.� He shut
the door quietly behind him.

Snape was in a
foul mood.� The Welcoming Ceremony always
put him in a snit and the sorry gaggle of snot-nosed youngsters shuffling nervously
before the four Heads of Houses were doing a fine job of making sure he stayed
in that disposition.

McGonagall looked at him expectantly and his mood spiraled
even more quickly downward.

�Pair off,� he
snapped.� �Have your wands at the ready.�

The rest of the
school was watching the proceedings interestedly.� His Slytherins, as little of them as there
were, sat at their table silently while the idiotic swarm of Gryffindors
cheered for smaller siblings or simply the bravest of the bunch as they quickly
went about finding partners.

McGonagall was raising her wand and about to sound the
chime that signaled the beginning of the �duels� when a sound from outside the
Great Hall had everyone freezing.

The Professors all
looked at each other grimly, then pulled and readied their wands.� The alarms that warned of the breach of ward
around the castle hadn�t been set off but there were ways around them.� The instructors were ready for whatever the Forbidden
Forest and the Dark Lord could
throw at them when the Hall doors opened and a single figure with burdened arms
entered the room.

Several of the
more light-headed teachers fainted.� All
of them had some type of reaction, ranging from bewilderment to shock to
downright speechlessness.

Snape was one of
the latter.

Fawks chirped at
them on the shoulder of the diminutive boy, the Sorting Hat grinned from the
grasp of the other hand.� These two
impossibilities were enough to send any heart into an early grave, but it was
not that which weakened Snape�s legs and almost made him drop his wand while he
tried desperately not to gape in some stupid Gryffindor fashion.

It was the dark,
unruly hair.� The
angular, stubborn face.� The green
eyes, slightly muted but probably from the distance
between them.� The sleek, thin build of a
body that haunted every dream, thought, and action Snape had made since� since
so long ago.

�Duels?!� the
high-pitched and offended voice of the Sorting Hat broke through everyone�s
silence.� �You replaced me with duels?!�

It shattered the
spell that had been upon Snape�s body and sent him out the back door of the
room before he even knew he was moving.�
He dashed to his rooms and was leaning against his desk, breathing hard,
when he finally allowed himself to do what he�d forced himself
not to for eleven years.

He slipped down
the firm oak, covered his face in his arms, and sobbed like an inconsolable
parent over their child�s grave.
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Harry Potter and the Rising Phoenix