Chapter 17

"Hmmhhuhmhmuuummmhh," Snape finally detached himself from Harry, allowing the very stunned and now incoherent wizards to breathe.

"Huuuuu..." Harry uttered again, too shocked to form coherent words momentarily as he just stared at Snape. Then a red blush started enveloping his cheeks before Harry rushed towards the cave entrance with a quick 'EXCUSE ME,'

The Potion Master merely raised his brow at the retreating figure before standing up himself, stretching and popping some joints from being unconscious in the same position for hours.

When Harry marched back he blurted out "YOU KISSED ME!"

"Of course I did. I did promise that as one of your rewards," Severus raised a brow.

"You kissed me!"

"I think we established that,"

"You,"

"Kissed,"

"Me..." Harry enunciated as he was still in shock. "I didn't even know you were gay!"

"For the record, I am bi," Snape corrected "And how could you not know when you have been flirting with me at certain times,"

"I have not!"

"Harry, I am not daft. Even Death has been playing your wingman for the past days," Snape pointed out.

"Oh Merlin," Harry said as his cheeks were still pink. 'Had he really been subconsciously flirting with Snape?'

"I apologize Mr. Potter if I made you uncomfortable. Know that it will not happen again," Snape said when Harry hadn't acknowledged the flirting.

"NO!" Potter quickly intervened before the other could retreat. "Look, I have had a crush on you since sixth year. I just didn't realize I was flirting with you at times. Hermoine and Ginny always mentioned that I was somewhat dense and oblivious to certain signs."

"No argument there," Snape deadpanned.

"Oye!" Harry shot back. "I just... was not expecting that..." he muttered. "I mean, I didn't even know you could do that with your tongue,"

"Oh Merlin, this is so embarrassing,"

"Perhaps, Mr. Potter you should take a bit of time to yourself to resolve your feelings," Severus suggested as he leaned in close with Harry shivering as Snape's warm breath brushed against his ear.

"Ah," Harry blushed as Snape walked past him while adding "Tomorrow will be an interesting day,"

"Wait... what do you mean tomorrow?!" Harry's head snapped towards the retreating figure. "Snape... Severus... what do you mean by tomorrow!"

Snape merely waved off the comment, leaving Harry wondering just what he had gotten himself into.

Meanwhile, that very night Tonks and Kingsley made their way into the Leaky Cauldron. They had just finished a very stressful shift, not only because of the amount of paperwork their boss had piled on them but they had been mulling over everything that had happened at the last Order meeting as well. After Tonks had voiced her opinions both had been left somewhat uneasy by the Headmaster's statements. What's more, they had received a rather cryptic message by owl that morning. The owl was a rather unpleasant fellow and actually tried to nip Kingsley's fingers when he kept his sandwich away from the bird.

"Well no worries anyone was ever going to steal that missive," Tonks had joked when the ornery bird had taken off, not waiting for a reply. Kingsley chuckled until he read that letter and passed it to Tonks. Her eyes widened as the words registered in her mind. She mouthed something to Kingsley as she stuck the letter in her coat.

"Of course, we are going," Kingsley confirmed and that is basically how the duo ended up at the Leaky Cauldron after their shifts were done.

"Anything I can get you guys?"

"No, Tom but thanks." Kingsley declined. "We're meeting a friend,"

"Well have a good night you two," Tom said as Tonks gave the barkeep a small wave as they made their way towards the stairs.

The duo stopped in front of room 9 and Tonks gave a brisk knock. When no one answered she looked at Kingsley with worry. Now Kingsley knocked and when again there was no answer he used an alohamora to open the door to the room. When he peeked in with Tonks covering his six all he saw was an empty room. The bed looked used and there was an open suitcase on the floor near the dresser.

"Something is wrong Kings. This isn't like Poppy," Tonks stated. "She wouldn't just stand us up."

"Go back down and ask Tom if he saw Room 9's resident leave and if so whether she was with someone," Kingsley ordered as he started casting several Auror grade detection charms. Tonks gave a salute before making her way back downstairs.

Kingsley frowned when his spells indicated that the last time magic had been used in the room was that morning and that was to unpack the suitcase. He opened the dresser but only found folded clothes. Clearly, Madam Pomfrey had been planning to stay here a while, 'So why was she gone now after giving them a meeting time?' he pondered.

"Kings, you got to hear this," Tonks ran back in the room. "Tom told me Pomfrey never left after checking in."

"No magic's been used since this morning," Kingsley shared his findings with his colleague.

"So what are you thinking? Portkey?" Tonks queried.

"No, the spell should have picked that up as well,"

"Say Kings do you reckon Tom does all the room cleaning himself?" Tonks asked. "Maybe we should look outside the box for a bit,"

"What are you suggesting?" Kingsley frowned but Tonks just shouted "Elf?! I need a house elf here! ELF!!!"

A pop came from in between the two Aurors as an elderly house elf appeared. "What can Murry do for Masters?"

"Stay right there for just a minute," Tonks asked the elf and then asked Kingsley to redo his spell.

"Same results," Kingsley stated and Tonks looked rather proud of herself. "Murry why can't my spell pick up your magic?"

"We house elves have different magic than Masters," Murray answered as he was twiddling his thumbs nervously. "We be quiet as a mouse we be when doing housework. Yous never know,"

"Okay, a few more questions," Tonks continued. "Do you know where this room's resident might have gone,"

"Murry doesn't know," The elf hastily said. "Mistresses elf popped her away twenty minutes ago,"

"Do you know this elf?" Tonks continued but Murry just shook his head. After dismissing the elf both Aurors looked at each other. "We're going to have to make this an official case, aren't we?"

"Indeed," Kingsley acknowledged.

Twenty minutes ago Poppy Pomfrey found herself landing on a plush green carpet after a house elf had blindsided her.

"Kreacher did as Nasty Master ordered," The old house elf stated as he addressed Sirius who was standing in front of the former Matron while a flabbergasted Dumbledore stared openmouthed at the scene. Now one could say that the Headmaster was hardly shocked by anything but what was transpiring now was concerning, to say the least.

"Very good Kreacher, just put her in one of the basement cells," Sirius stated dismissively as he produced a silver locket from his pants pocket and twirled it around. "Then you can have this back,"

"Nasty Master promises?" Kreacher asked with eyes narrowed.

"Yes, yes, you can have your piece of junk back," Sirius stated while Dumbledore finally snapped out of his shock and asked "Sirius what in Merlin's name are you doing?!" as he stood up to approach Poppy. But before he could Kreacher had snapped his fingers and Poppy was sent down to the basement.

"I'm tying up loose ends Albus. The very thing that you promised to do," Sirius stated nonchalantly as he threw the silver trinket at Kreacher. The elf caught it and popped away leaving the two men alone in the library. "Instead of worrying about your wand, you should be worried about your hide,"

"What does Poppy have to do with that?!" Albus asked, still shocked by Sirius's actions.

"She knows what really happened Albus, perhaps because you were a duck at the time you didn't catch it but she knew that I pushed Harry down those stairs!" Sirius hissed. "I had Kreacher follow her for the last few days to see what she was up to and lo and behold she was going to spill everything to Tonks and Kingsley,"

"I'm sure this situation could have been resolved without kidnapping her!" Albus argued.

"You do know that your ass is on the line as well right?!" Sirius now growled as the Headmaster still seemed to be protective of his ex-staff member. "If she talked you would be implicated as well. Remember Albus, you're the one that helped me cover up Harry's death. You even obliviated Snape who wanted to kill me in retaliation."

"It was all for the greater good..." Dumbledore continued to argue. "Perhaps if we just try to reason with Poppy,"

"Albus, if I'm going down I am taking you with me," Sirius stated. "What has your greater good gotten us so far? James is gone, probably shacking up with Snape, he's obviously not going to cooperate with you anytime soon and people are leaving! Don't think I don't know! Remus sent me a letter saying he's stepping back from the Order. Minerva is nowhere to be found and your little Auror pawns are questioning you,"

"Harry, Sirius," Albus corrected. "You called him James," but Sirius, still angry, just pushed past the Headmaster who had been holed up in the Black library searching for information on wands. "Just remember what I said Albus!" he threatened before slamming the mahogany door rather forcefully. No one noticed a few locks of Hermoine's bushy hair stuck in between the door to the linen closet under the stairs. She had hidden quickly nearby when she had heard muffled shouting coming from the library and held her breath Sirius threw the door open and barged right past where she was hiding. She didn't hear all of the heated conversation but enough words made it past the door for her to piece together approximately what was being discussed.

"Nasty mudblood shouldn't be sneaking around," Kreacher popped into the small closet and Hermoine nearly let out a shriek.

"Kreacher you should not give me a fright like that," Hermoine admonished while trying to keep her voice down.

"It's mudblood who give Kreacher a fright. Hiding in Kreacher's linen closet. Kreacher was so frightened Kreacher might have dropped a key somewhere," the old elf muttered before popping away.

"Lumos," Hermoine said after quickly taking out her wand from her jumper sleeve holder. There on the floor lay a heavy brass key.

"That elf has definitely been around Slytherins for too long," Hermoine spoke to herself as she picked up the key.