A Trio of Serpents

65: Deer Me!

"Right. Is... is Sid with you?"

In answer, Snape turned to the shop. Harry and Sirius followed him in.

The smell of cheese filled Harry's nose. A boy was midway through wiping it onto some bread. It was Sid. His arm was bandaged and he looked as though he had gone through hell thirty times over. Yet his eyes lit up with the strength of a thousand Lumos, and he leaped to his feet. "Harry — ow." He clutched his side, wincing.

"For Merlin's sake, Obsidian," Snape grumbled, "you need to keep still if you want to heal! Potions only do so much."

"Well, excuse me, Severus. I hadn't seen any of my friends in ages!"

Snape rolled his eyes.

Harry laughed and moved forward to embrace him, careful not to press against his injured side. "It's good to see you, Sid. How come you hadn't come to us sooner?"

"I wanted to," Sid replied with a pointed look over Harry's shoulder at Snape, "but someone insisted we find another place for me to recover."

"You needed to get your strength back," Snape pointed out.

"Well, he could've gotten it back at our place!" said Harry.

Snape looked at him, wariness flickering in his eyes. "You wanted nothing to do with me, Harry. I was a traitor to you."

"Yeah. Was. And then I found out you helped Sid escape." Harry sighed. "I shouldn't have yelled at you. Or called you Snivellus."

"I've heard worse. Do not dwell on it."

Harry nodded. "I'm not apologizing for telling you to go fuck yourself back in third year, though."

Sid burst out laughing while Snape scowled.

"Just eat your breakfast." He swept off without another word.

Harry watched as Sid carefully maneuvered to the kitchen and opened a cabinet. "What happened to your arm?"

"Bellatrix. She wanted to experiment with something other than her wand."

"Oh." Harry accepted the ham, which apparently had a Cooling Charm on them given there was no fridge, and headed back to the table. "How did Snape convince you he was on your side to get you out?"

"He didn't. He said he was moving me on the Dark Lord's orders, and I was too tired to really put up much of a fight — after I spat in his face anyway. I was pretty out of it most of the time, so I didn't realize what was going on until we got here."

Sid sat back down and took a bite of his sandwich.

"Does Riddle know? About Snape helping you?" asked Sirius, taking some bread and adding cheese and ham on it.

"Not yet. But it won't be long, I'm sure." Sid chewed for a moment, his expression darkening in concern. "How's Jay? Do you know?"

Harry shook his head. "I know he helped find and destroy a Horcrux, but other than that, no."

Sid sighed. "Figured. He must be worried sick. As am I." He glanced out the window wistfully.

"We were," said Harry. "At Grimmauld Place. Your mother's there, by the way."

Sid swung his head around. "Is she okay?"

"Aside from fretting over you, she's fine. Your dad..."

"I know. I saw him die." But there was no real emotion in his eyes beyond that of someone hearing the news of a stranger's death. "So how are you doing on the other Horcruxes?" he asked, looking away.