"Wake up. Hazama. --Hazama..."
He knew that voice. Potions, experiments, playing with wands and muggle water-guns...
"--Hazama."
("Why don't you cover your hair when you brew, at least? No wonder it always looks so ratty!")
("Shaddap, Hazama, none of your business... I do when I do serious brewing, all right? And now give me back my potions textbook")
And long fingers that stroke the words This is the property of the Half Blood Prince which wasn't his handwriting, not really, though similar, so similar...
("Mama's boy with your Mama's textbook...")
("...Ohh, you're the one to talk, Hazama Kuroo who writes to his foster-mum every single week...")
And later on, too, meeting in small dark smokey bars, muggle or not, or dockside alleys with a bottle and chips in a bag... Small variously colored bottles that clinked, costing an arm and a leg but worth it. He'd been one of the few people he had know Before he could talk too, even now, and then...
Then.
Damn him, why?
"...Hazama. Stop that and wake up. --Please."
And that was All Wrong.
Hazama Kuroo woke up with a whimper.
"Give me Wizard's Oath, now. --You are still a Wizard, whatever else you are."
The mask was off his face, now, carelessly laid face down on the threadbare sofa.
And Severus Snape still looked like a over-sized black pelican. Over whom somebody had poured hair oil on liberally.
Kuroo wondered then if Snape had actually tried to make himself somewhat presentable on the rare occasions they had actually met face to face and haggled potions and such. He hadn't looked this bad, then--had he?
"--And you think I would comply--why."
Those long fingers, stroking that idiot-looking little red goldfish hair-tye...
"Because, if you do not, I will make damn sure you wouldn't see--it--for the foreseeable future, that's why."
She is not an "It", damn you.
" --And all I am asking is for your silence. For now."
At that, Hazama Kuroo blinked. He wasn't quite sure just what he had been expecting, but this wasn't it, that was for sure...
"...You want my...professional services? There would have been perhaps better ways of procoring those, old friend..."
His "old friend" only sniffed at that.
"Just swear Silence, for what I and others would discuss about this matter. --Here. I put it in writing, just to be sure."
So there would be no wriggling out on semantics, this time, then. Hazama Kuroo looked over the parchment. It seemed aboveboard, as far as he could tell, strangely enough.
"Shall I sign in blood, then?"
"--Do not quip of blood-spells!"
Ahh. Twitchy, twitchy...
"--Give me a quill, then."
"...Hazama, do you not have your own? Not even one?"
...Come to think of it, one of his ball-points (spelled so it'll always come back to him, of course) had been a quill, once upon a time...
Hazama Kuroo blinked then, realizing just whom that particular present had been from.
"--Just sign, Hazama. Your--ward--is sitting with my Lord and Master now. We wouldn't want either of them to get too bored, would we?"
Hazama Kuroo gritted his teeth them. Fear was counter-productive...fear was...
Fear was...
Pinoco smiled in his mind, then, dancing with that idiot mutt. Twirling.
"--I make ridiculously bad Death Eater material, do you know that, Snape?"
"--Yes, Hazama. ... I do know that."
"--Are you sure of this, Severus?"
"No. At the moment, I can not be sure even of death and taxes, to quote mugglisms. ...But do you not remember Hazama Kuroo?"
"He was one of those who glowed. How could I not remember? ...But I have also heard of what he has become, Severus. And what he does. ...That...Child..."
"Is not really a child, from both my readings and I believe yours too. It is not really all that young, even mentally. Just...inexperienced, I should say. ...And I'm sure Hazama had good reason for what he did regards--that. It loves it's "chen-chei" very much, you know..."
"Stop calling--her--an "It", Severus. Where are your manners. And yes, even I, in this befuddled state, could gather that she loves him very much as family...And that that love doesn't seem to be the product of mind-tampering, either"
An tired sigh floated across the darkened room.
"Very well. Proceed, then."
"Ahh. One thing. --I do expect the "expenses" to cover my muggle property tax surcharge, however."
The answer to that was only a groan.
(Posted Wed, 07 Sep 2005 10:40)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.