Chapter Three

Riley didn't intend to go to sleep, but a knocking outside the cage woke him, or at least made him sluggishly aware. He was warm, and curled on himself; he couldn't imagine doing anything other than sleeping for the next year or so. Even the curled panic in his brain couldn't penetrate his lethargy.

"Mr. Malfoy," Snape said in a bored voice.

"Professor Snape."

Riley uncurled a little; this voice didn't seem either terrified or angry, like the two children from last night, and yet it was clearly a boy's voice.

"May I come in?" the boy asked. There was a long silence, and Riley jerked as the cloth was ripped from the top of his cage. Snape stood there looking in on him, and Riley suddenly felt like a rat in a laboratory. He'd never liked the idea of Maggie Walsh locking up hostiles and experimenting; he would rather simply kill them. However, now, with this man looking in at him, Riley suddenly despised the idea of locking up sentient creatures in cages, no matter what the excuse. Snape turned away and now Riley could see a boy with yellow, slicked back hair standing in the middle of the old-fashioned room.

"What can I do for you Mr. Malfoy?" Snape asked before he turned and went to a table at the far end of the room. He tapped the table with his wand and a breakfast for one appeared. Riley felt bad for the blond boy left standing awkwardly in the middle of the room.

"I received an owl from my father this morning," he said as he took a step close to Snape. Funny, Riley would have been more concerned with backing away.

"Yes?" Snape asked as he picked up his teacup. "I am busy, so is there a point to this visit?"

The boy hesitated, but Snape looked up with an expression that clearly ordered him to either speak or get out. Malfoy straightened his back. "My father… and others would like to know why there was moon magic here last night."

Snape graced the boy with an expression so cold that Riley felt himself slide back away from it.

"I would expect willful blindness from Gryffindors. From you, Mr. Malfoy, I expect more. If you would wish to help mold this new world that approaches, you must use your mind. What are the two rules we have discussed before?" Snape put his teacup down and leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Think through the benefits and dangers of every decision," Malfoy quickly stated.

"Yes, and…"

"Observe everything. Information is power." Malfoy said the words as though they were a mantra, and Snape pursed his lips.

"Adequate," he nodded. "So apply these principles to your surroundings, Mr. Malfoy. You must learn to not just say the words but apply the ideas behind them."

Malfoy nodded and started looking around the room. Riley watched as the boy's gaze slid over books and old-fashioned furniture and finally rested on Riley himself.

"The snake. You didn't have it before," Malfoy offered.

"Excellent, Draco. Now, what do you know of moon magic, and do not try to convince me you are unaware of its potential. If you failed to look up that simple piece of information after receiving your father's owl, you are truly unworthy of being Slytherin."

Now that the boy was facing the cage, Riley could see the hard eyes and the blush that now made the pale face turn pink. "Moon magic makes a request without specifying the parameters of the outcome."

"An idiotic spell. Notta Bellaificus had dangerously muggle views on spell-casting, and her quaint belief in faith made her entire theory inappropriate and dangerous. The Ministry should cast an Incendio spell on the remaining copies." Snape looked like he had just bitten something particularly sour, but it wasn't as though Riley had seen a particularly pleasant expression on the man yet.

"So who cast it?" Malfoy asked. He turned to Snape who simply raised one eyebrow. That must have been answer enough because Malfoy turned back toward Riley with an equally sour expression. When Snape stood and started walking to the cage, Riley braced himself. Whatever was going on here, he was a pawn caught in the middle.

Snape opened the cage and pulled Riley out, setting him on the floor before tapping his wand and issuing a curt, "Finite Incantatem."

Immediately, Riley found himself crouched, knife in hand and muscles tensed for an attack. But with Snape standing, wand pointed ominously, Riley quickly changed his earlier plans. Leaving the knife on the floor, he slowly stood, showing his empty hands before he went to parade rest. Snape's wand didn't waver.

"Who are you?" Malfoy asked. For just a second, Riley considered giving name, rank, and serial number, but this was a child and whatever the situation was, he wasn't Riley's captor.

"Riley Finn, United States Army."

"A muggle?" Malfoy made the word sound disgusting.

"He's from another reality. I'm not sure if muggle is the correct term, but he certainly doesn't appear to have any magical qualities," Snape answered as he stepped closer. Riley held position, looking steadily at Snape. He had the feeling that he wouldn't get far running, and he'd be damned if he'd give Snape the pleasure of seeing that Riley was terrified.

"Do you have any magical powers?" Malfoy asked from behind Snape. Riley let his eyes drift to the boy.

"No." he answered truthfully.

"Whatever help Miss Granger hoped to find, she clearly failed," Snape turned his back on Riley. Even though Riley had an overwhelming urge to do something, anything, he stood with his hands clasped behind his back waiting for an opportunity that would actually benefit him.

"I suppose I must feed you, and Dumbledore would no doubt consider a live mouse tossed in your cage torture," Snape said with exaggerated weariness as he walked to the table and tapped it again. Eggs and waffles appeared. Riley hesitated just a second before he walked to the table and carefully sat across from the man who had turned him into a snake. A snake. Riley was still struggling with that. Picking up his knife and fork, he started eating. His stomach churned, but he wasn't turning down the offer of food, especially since he had no doubt that Snape had seriously considered putting a mouse in his cage.

"Are all muggles that stupid?" Malfoy asked. Riley glanced over and decided that child or not, this one went into the dislike-with-prejudice pile. "He could have poisoned that, you know." Malfoy looked down at the food.

Riley finished chewing before answering. "At this point, he could poison me without putting it in the food. So, I don't put myself at any more risk by eating. However, if I don't eat, I'm not going to last very long, am I?" he asked calmly. He didn't feel calm, but years of covert training had taught him to put on that disguise as easily as a shoe.

Malfoy narrowed his eyes and glared at him, but Riley returned to eating. When he did, he couldn't help noticing the almost amused expression on Snape's face.

"What are you going to do?" Malfoy asked. Riley ignored the question, assuming it was intended for Snape.

"Dumbledore has asked me to reverse the spell in two weeks when the moon is in proper alignment. Since keeping Mr. Finn here serves no purpose in or of itself, I shall do as the Headmaster asks." Snape looked at Malfoy, and Riley could feel the truths and manipulations sliding through the air like oil slipping into the water.

"I'll tell my father."

"Yes, do," Snape said in a bored voice. The boy turned to leave, but Riley concentrated on his food, and his body's conflicting desires to eat and to throw up. In silence, he finished first the waffles and then the eggs before drinking a glass of juice. He'd thought it was reconstituted orange juice with an odd color, but it turned out to be pumpkin. Disliking the flavor, he still forced himself to drink it all.

"It seems I shall have a guest for a while then," Snape offered between small bites of his own breakfast, which Riley couldn't even identify. It might have been hashed… something. He didn't answer as he waited for Snape to say something that would require an answer. The man hadn't even taken the weapons he had left, two grenades, a second knife, and a Colt handgun. Somehow, being armed made him feel even more helpless since the weapons obviously weren't a threat.

"What happened to my rifle?" Riley asked, despite firmly ordering himself to remain silent whenever possible.

Snape looked up. "There are charms in some rooms which will remove a dangerous object the moment someone attempts to use it. Sadly, many dangerous items are protected by countercharms. Your weapons clearly are not."

Ah. So he was as good as disarmed. Riley felt a sophomoric urge to pull a pin and throw a grenade just to see if it would work.

"I have talentless cretins to teach, so back in your cage with you." Before Riley could even stand, Snape pointed with his wand and without even an 'abracadabra,' Riley found himself curled on the chair, staring at the suddenly enormous table through eyes that refused to blink. Being carried back to his cage, Riley could only wonder at the political games he'd witnessed and hope that Snape wasn't sadistic enough to toss him back through the portal still in snake form. Right now, Riley just wasn't sure. With a tap, the green fabric was back and Riley was alone in the dim, green light that filtered in through the cloth.