Clarice had just stepped out from her bedroom wearing a baby blue summer dress and brown oxfords while braiding her hair. She plucked her glasses off from the kitchen table and stuck them on her face.
"Better?" She asked Severus who then looked up from a book he was checking out.
"Much. Now who's this person you know?" He asked her.
"His name is Amari. He has a rescue farm of magical creatures. I help him out as much as I can as he used to help me out when my mother and I would rescue an injured creature. Really nice man." She said as she pulled out her purse and threw it over her shoulder. "Ready?"
The pair apparated to a part of the country Severus had never seen before.
"Where are we?" He asked her.
"Wiltshire. Salisbury Plains," She said while taking a step up to the farmhouse and knocking on the door. A few seconds later, the door opened revealing a very large man in blue jeans, work boots, and white tees shirt.
"Clarice! My darling! It's been so long, how are you? What are you doing here?" Amiri said to his friend.
"My friend is looking to rescue a creature, this is Severus. Severus this is Amiri." She introduced the two men.
"Pleasure," Amiri said and shook Severus' hand, although he didn't say anything. "Come, come."
He lead them towards the back of his property where there were multiple fenced in areas separating some creatures from one another.
"Over here, there a few kneazles. In this one, crups. I've got mooncalves and diricawls that way. I also have Pygmy puffs, rats, and owls are back in the barn." He informed them.
"Will you show me your puffs?" Clarice asked him and then turned to Severus. "I'll be back in a minute."
Amiri and Clarice walked into the barn while leaving Severus to look at the animals outside.
"He is scary, Clarice. What are you doing with a man like that?" Amiri asked her while combing his hand through his black hair. He stopped and looked at her, his whiskey colored eyes showed genuine concern.
"He's just a coworker. He's great, really. Just quiet and keeps to himself." She told him and took a peek at the puffskeins.
"How many do you have?" She asked him.
"I think there's eight." He told her.
"Alright, I'll take them." She said nonchalantly.
"All of them?" He questioned. "Are you crazy?"
"Perhaps, but I love these little guys." She said while pulling a basket out from her enchanted purse.
"You've gone mental." He chuckled as he ushered the puffskeins into her basket. They were all brightly colored, some orange and some pink.
"So this one, right here," He pointed to a pink one. "She's pregnant. Are you sure you want all of them?"
"Positive. You know they will be taken good care of." She told him. She couldn't wait to show Hagrid for their class and she told Amiri all about it.
"You know... I have something special here that would make your class be the absolute best." He told her.
"What's that?" She questioned.
"I've got a foal. A baby Abraxan." He told her and Clarice's eyes almost popped out of her head.
"You're joking." She said.
"I'm not. Her mother passed away after giving birth. Poor thing. She's yours if you want her." He told her.
"You know I can't say no."
"That's why I told you." He chuckled.
"Is it getting too crowded here?" She joked.
"A little actually. It's hard to manage with just me sometimes." He replied.
"I'm sorry." She apologized.
"Don't be. You help me out more than anyone else has." He said as they walked back out to see Severus sitting in the grass playing with a golden crup.
"Now look at you," Clarice called out. "Make a new friend?"
"I think I may have," He said while picking the crup up in his arms and cradling it like a baby.
"That's a golden retriever crup, she's about three years old. Totally potty trained. She's been here the longest of any other crup. Just needs a little love." Amiri told Severus. Clarice couldn't help but smile at the sight before; Severus holding a golden crup.
"We're going to have our hands full going home. May I meet the Abraxan? Have you named her?" She asked Amiri.
"You know I can't name them. I get attached too easily." He replied while bring them around the back of the barn to a circular fenced in area with the baby.
"Oh how precious. Severus look at this angel." She said while going into the fenced area and sitting on the ground. She summoned an apple into her hand and tried to lure the baby towards. It knelt in front of her and she was able to reach out and pet her. She couldn't take her eyes away from it and Severus couldn't take his eyes away from her; so in love with this creature.
A few minutes had passed and they were wishing Amiri good luck on finding the rest of the creatures good homes. Clarice had put her new creatures in her suitcase and Severus was still holding onto his new crup as they apparated back to her cottage. Immediately, Clarice took her case to the backyard and used her wand to make a new sanctuary for her puffs and new foal.
Severus let the crup roam around her yard, but watched her very carefully.
"Have you thought of a name for her?" Clarice asked him.
"No, I'm quite stuck. She reminds me of you." He admitted and looked over to see the crup taking a poop in her garden.
"Yup, looks just like me." Clarice joked and they shared a laugh. "Oh she's digging up my primroses."
"Primrose would be a nice name." He said out loud.
"Prim for short?"
"I like it." He said.
"I like it too, but she's gotta stop digging them up." Clarice said and scooped up the crup her arms and took her over to meet Ricky. The two immediately clicked and were chasing one another throughout the yard.
"Have you thought of names for the er- what are they again?" He asked.
"Pygymy puffs and Puffskeins. I just call them puffs. And no, I was going to let the students name them. Like the bowtruckles." She told him.
"And the foal?" He asked.
"Flora. After my great aunt. She had an abraxan, loved it to pieces. She taught me all about them." She told Severus.
"Flora Cromwell?" Severus asked her.
"Yes, the only one in our family that didn't disown my mother." Clarice said.
"I see," He said.
"You know of her?" She asked.
"I didn't say that."
"But you were thinking it." She said.
"How do you know what I was thinking?" He asked.
"Because I just do. How do you know?" She asked him.
"I've just read her name in a book I think. She was-"
"Murdered by her father. Yes." She told him and cleared her throat to tell him she wanted to change the subject.
"I'm sorry," He said a minute later.
"Please, don't be. It happened a while ago." She told him.
"But still."
"Sev, really. It's fine, it's just hard to talk about sometimes. It really took a toll on mom. She was devastated." She told him while sitting on a bench. They were quiet for a bit.
"Clarice, there's been something I've been wanting to tell you for awhile. I- you have an owl." He went off track.
"I- oh look." She said while walking up to the snowy white owl.
"That looks like Potter's owl." Severus said and Clarice took the letter off of its leg.
Professor Bates,
You told me to write to you if things got bad or worse. I'm locked in my bedroom and only getting a can of soup for the whole day. Please get me out of here.
4 Privet Dr. Little Whinging
Harry Potter.
Clarice frowned at the letter and Severus snatched it from her hands.
"You're not going there are you?"
"I have to, this is abuse and child neglect." She said while grabbing her glasses and purse. "You can come or you can stay."
Severus decided it would be best if he left. Him and Harry didn't exactly see eye to eye. He gave Clarice a hug picked up Primrose.
"Write to me." He told her and in a blink he was gone. She apparated outside of Harry's house and went up to the door, took a breath, and knocked three times. Less than a minute, a short fat boy opened the door.
"Dad! There's a stranger at the door!" The boy yelled and ran away while leaving the door open. She didn't step in just yet, but waited for an equally short, fat man to come around the corner.
"We don't want to buy anything," He said and went to close the door, but Clarice stopped it before he could.
"So sorry, really to bother you. I work at Hogwarts, I'm a professor there. I was just coming to inform you that our school is going back earlier than usual this year, and we were concerned we didn't see Harry. Our headmaster sent me to make sure he's alright, perhaps he didn't get our letter?" She completely lied.
"Uh, Harry doesn't live here. I don't know who that is." The man lied.
"I'm sorry, but I know he lives here. I know a lot of things like what you're having for dinner; chicken sounds lovely. So if you don't mind, I can go help Harry pack his stuff and we'll be out of your way for the rest of term." She pushed past the man and never let her fake smile drop.
"Upstairs, first door on the left." He muttered. She went up the stairs and tried to open the door, but just as suspected it was locked.
"Alohomora," She said and the door swung open.
"Professor Bates! You got Hedwig!" The boy was so ecstatic he hugged Clarice tightly.
"Come on, Harry. Let's get you out of this place." She muttered while helping him pack his things in his trunk. "Have you apparated before?"
"No."
"You might get sick. Hold on tightly." She said and grabbed his hand. Harry closed his eyes and when he opened, he was in Clarice's backyard. "Feel alright?"
"I'm... okay." He said and followed her inside her cottage.
"I have a spare room for you, right this way." She showed him a decent sized room with a full size bed. There were four fluffy pillows and a maroon comforter that made the bed along with a desk and chair.
"This is perfect, Professor. Thank you, really for getting me out of there. They were starving me." He hung his head low.
"Well while you unpack, I'll make some dinner." She smiled and just before closing the door, she turned around. "Harry, you may call me Clarice for now, but that will go back to Professor when we go back to school."
She left him and went into her kitchen and began cooking dinner.
"Harry! Dinner's done!" She called and he sauntered out into the kitchen.
"Salmon? I've never had this before." He said to her.
"Prepare for your mind to be blown." She smiled and she was right.
"This is amazing. Why doesn't Hogwarts make this?" He asked.
"I don't know. Maybe I'll ask the house elves to make it."
"Hogwarts has elves?" He asked and she nodded.
"Who do you think makes all the good food?" She asked.
"I thought it was just magic," He said and she laughed.
"Making food with magic has no nutritional value." She informed him. The two of them ate the rest of their dinner and Clarice cleaned up while Harry sat on the couch.
"You should write to your friends, let them know you're doing okay." She told him while pointing to a desk with fresh parchment. She head out into her garden and fixed the Primroses that had been dug up before. She headed out and began doing her routine of night time feedings and goodnights when she heard a twig snap. Her head shot up and tried to calm down her mooncalves that were acting slightly off, like a predator was around.
"Who's out there?" She called out, no answer. But she saw it. A large black dog hiding in the thick of the brush.