FicWad

The next following days Harry found himself staying more to his bedroom, than roaming around the house like he had been doing before his encounter with Snape. It had taken Harry a while to get used to the almost constant silence that the house had, which was only interrupted when Herpo talked to Harry about snakes, and that only happened for an hour or two each day. The rest of the time Harry spent in silence reading.

He had easily finished the book, Guild to Basilisk, that Herpo had given him, and had asked other portraits in the room where he might find portraits that specialized in some different areas, mainly defense against the dark arts. The portraits had been more than happy to provide him with several different books on the subject, which he had worked through rather quickly, since he was not able to actually cast any spells and was only able to read about the theory behind all the spells.

That was in fact grating rather heavily upon Harry's nerves. He had come across a fair number of spells that he would like to try, but because of the restrictions on his wand, he would have to wait until the coming school year to actually try any of the spells. That is what he had thought, until one of the portraits approached him on the subject. It was a portrait of a rather nervous looking wizard in a stripped purple and yellow hat that was hung near the door to his room that piped up one day while he was eating his lunch. "Umm...Mister Potter? I was wondering if you would be interested in any instructions for potions." The portrait asked nervously.

"Oh, well I am not actually all that good at potions. I am not sure. What for"

"W-well...your wand of course, since you can't use it right now."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked confused.

"It removes any tracking charms that were put on your wand." The portrait explained.

"Really? The ministry won't know that I am using it"

"Yes. Exactly." The portrait said happily as it gained confidence.

"Um...Is it very difficult? This potion?" Harry asked nervously. If the potion was difficult he was not sure he would be able to pull it off, let alone have all the correct ingredients for it.

"Not at all. Here, have a look." The portrait swung open revealing a five different small scrolls.

"Which one?"

"The one on the far right." Harry nodded absently and reached in and took out the dust covered scroll. Harry watched the portrait swung shut once he was clear of the opening and then unrolled the light parchment. Harry was relieved to see that the potion was not at all hard, it only would take about half and hour to prepare. Unfortunately one of the ingredients was not included in the student standard potion making kit, boomslang.

Harry stared miserably at that last ingredient. He did not have a scrap of boomslang. He would have to borrow it from Snape, again. Harry was not happy about the prospect of doing that. He had luckily not run into Snape since their last encounter, since he had pretty much locked himself in his room, even going to the extent of asking Maren to bring him all his meals to his room. But this would mean that Harry would have to go to the heart of Snape's lair, his potions lab.

Harry looked back up at the portrait who had been staring at him. "Where could I get boomslang?" Harry asked, his voice slightly shaking.

"In Snape's potion lab, of course." the portrait replied quickly.

"Anywhere else?"

"Not unless you leave the house."

"Fine. Where is Snape's lab?"

"In the basement. You will have to ask some of the other portraits on how to get there exactly. I don't usually leave my frame unless I absolutely have to." The portrait said as it looked nervously at the edges of his portrait.

"Some help you are." Harry said as he walked out of his room, hoping to whatever guardian angels he had that Snape was not working in his lab right now. Harry walked quickly down the stairs and then turned to one of the portraits that hung at the bottom of the stairs. "Do you know where Snape's lab is"

"Why should I tell you?" The portrait of an old man said as he eyed Harry suspiciously.

"Because..." Harry began, pausing to think up some good excuse. "um...because I need to ask him something."

"Fine, there is door opposite the kitchen that has stairs to down to the basement, when you get to the bottom it is the first door to the right."

"Thank you," Harry said as he quickly made his way to the basement, looking around nervously and desperately hoping that Snape had gone out for the day. He didn't even notice that as soon as he turned around the portrait he had been talking to, quickly made its way towards the office Snape had on the first floor.