His Half-Blood Princess {Severus Snape}

Babysitting Fawkes

>THIRD PERSON<
The sun creeping upon Hogwarts seemed to be more shy than usual. It hid behind a large cloud, so thick that you can barely see it through it. The weather was oddly cold. The Whomping Willow itself was shivering, and it was nearly halloween, or rather, the next day was. The wind glided inside an open window down at the dungeons, inside Professor Snape's chambers. Trailing along Scarlet's spine that woke her up.

"Weekends...." Scarlet groaned as she stretched her arms to the side of her bed. She looked around the room and thought she was still living in the Gryffindor girl dorms. She did miss the dorms. She rarely sees her friends, and would miss some fun parties they have around.

"Hi, Snidget." Scarlet greeted to her owl, as it landed next to her, and nuzzled it's head -that can turn 360 degrees with ease- into her chest affectionately. "Stressful morning?" the bird asked, as he wiped his face once with one wing. "Not really. Thanks for waking me up though." she replied, and jumped off the large enough bed.

"Morning." Scarlet said as Severus scurried past her. He stopped, and turned around. "Morning. Babysitting Albus' bloody bird?"

"Yeah."

"I wish you the greatest of luck. I did it for Albus once, and that is the reason why I used to have a large scar across my chest."

"You poor thing!" Scarlet exclaimed playfully, then walked to the bathroom to get ready.

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Breakfast for the Gryffindors -taking care of Fawkes- was quite worrying. Hazel was excited, as she hummed along, passing the egg platter to a wizard with curly hair and black eyes. But Scarlet however, kept calm.

"Why are you guys so nervous?" she asked, taking a big bite from her strip of bacon. "Not all of us are nervous. Just Xander. He's having a massive headache, unfortunately."

"Headache? How many bottles now?" Scarlet asked with disbelief.

"I only drank a bottle of it!" (Xander)

"Yeah, right. You mean a gallon in a bottle. I told you not to drink so much!" (Arabella)

"You drank a gallon of butterbeer?!" (Scarlet)

"No I didn't! But if you haven't noticed, currently, my head is pounding like a Hippogriff's hoof is stomping on my brain!" (Xander)

Scarlet rolled her eyes, and continued eating. Her gaze turned towards the staff's table, to see Professor Snape sitting down in between of Professor Felixa & McGonagall, who were both glad it was finally the weekend. She quickly looked away, so fast, when the Potions Master sensed he was being watched, to see a Scarlet Carter blushing deep velvet. "Oh, screw the bacon. I'm eating the frog." Scarlet muttered to herself, which the others heard clearly. "Chocolate. In. The. Morning?!" Xander cleared, as his voice sounded like a kid hearing his skateboard can fly. "Oh no. Not again."

"That's it! I'm copying the witch!" he exclaimed and brought out a GIANT frog of chocolate. "Oh dear lord, Xander, remember the last time you ate a single GIANT chocolate frog?"

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~A FEW MOMENTS LATER~

Anticipation was rising in Scarlet's head as they walked to the Phoenix Statue. After muttering the password, the statue turned aside to reveal the staircase, and the five students climbed it up. They saw Professor McGonagall, sitting in her desk with her hands closely cupped against each other, while Fawkes was sleeping in his  wooden perch. "Ah, ready to do the task?" she asked, as all of them looked at each other and nodded nervously. "Don't worry. He's just as trained as a royal dog. Now off you go. The thestrals are waiting." she told them, and stroke a finger gently against the phoenix's neck, waking it up.

The bird's eyes blinked open, and landed towards Scarlet's shoulder, who was trying to remember if Phoenix's had tallons similar to an eagle's.

Hazel, Xander, Lyanna, Arabella, & Scarlet left the Headmistress' office, and went to their common rooms to get ready. Unfortunately, the Gryffindors were too shocked to find such a majestic bird in their place, that all wanted to give it a pet. "Aw! He's so cute!"

"Can I pet him?"
"We have one like that at hone."
"Beautiful. Just as described."
"You wouldn't mind if I fed it chocolate would you?"

The 4 Gryffindors shouted their way towards their own dorms, and bolted out of the castle to the courtyard as fast as they can. Filch the Caretaker had to use the sensor against Fawkes, because the bird looked so much like a toy. They watched as the phoenix stretched it's gigantic wings, and flew high & low, above & under the shops of Hogsmead.

The students were running around the shops, and watched as younger witches and wizards bought muggle costumes. "Oh, cool!" Hazel exclaimed suddenly, as a long vine was stretched upon their feet. She picked it up, and placed it towards her bag. "What's that for?" Lyanna asked curiously. "Just in case."

"The weather is strange today," Scarlet told them, as she placed her freezing hands towards her pockets to keep it warm. "Oddly strange." Arabella added, "And something smells fishy. Not just the weather, or the fact that Xander didn't bath today."

"I have reasons!"

Scarlet took a look around, and her eye caught a store. She was quite suspicous as she heard bushes rattling, and could hear whispers, plus she felt they were being watched. "I'll be back." she said, and went inside the store, leaving the other four disappointed. "Where's Fawkes?" Lyanna asked tiredly, looking up. But the gray sky didn't reveal at least a tint of red.

"Maybe he landed?"

"Impossible, there should've been a sign."

"Oh, wait."

They all looked up to see the Phoenix rising up and up towards the sky, that he looked like he was a red balloon in the air. "Fawkes!" all of them shouted, but the phoenix didn't hear them and flew higher.

"Quick, grab the broom!" Xander shouted, and mounted it. They followed the large bird, and tried to grab it, but Fawkes was screeching as though something was attacking him. "Arabella, the vine!" Hazel shouted as Arabella took the vine from her bag. "Catch!" she said, as the vine flew towards Xander. "I've been waiting for this moment my entire life."

He threw the rope similar to a muggle cowboy, and the vine wrapped around the phoenix's neck.

"I didn't expect you to choke him to death!"

Xander quickly grabbed the phoenix, and untied the rope, as Fawkes calmed down.

"We almost lost him!" Lyanna exclaimed angrily, and flew back to the Hogsmead floor. Just in time as Scarlet walked out of the store. "What happened?" she asked with laughter to watch Xander, soaked. The four explained the whole story, and tilted their heads as Scarlet laughed. "You know you could've just called me." she told them, and lifted her arm. "Whaddya mean?" Lyanna asked.

"Fawkes!" Scarlet called. To their surprise, the phoenix landed on her arm swiftly. "You guys are just over reacting." she added, leaving all of them dumbstruck.

But before the 5 can even reach their destination to Zonko's, Scarlet stopped dead on her tracks.

"Go! Run! All of you, go!!!"