Author:  Lynn McEachern  (Meatball)

Title:  A Little Faith (Can Go A Long Way)

Rating: General

Archive:  Yes, feel free.

Disclaimer:  Anything that is recognizable doesn't belong to me, unfortunately.

Summary:  In response to Sugar Quill's fan fiction challenge.  Snape and Hagrid have a conversation.

Author's Note:  Will write for feedback!  :-)  meatballmceachern@yahoo.ca

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"By the light of the moon, if it's not full, it's too soon..."  Severus Snape chanted the old teaching verse softly to himself, as he carefully...carefully...harvested luminnenberries.

"Don't take green, that's too mean.  Purple and blue, those will do..."  His breath frosted in front of him as he gently placed the delicate, vibrant berries in the special container that he had brought with him from the castle. 

"Excellent."  He smiled, satisfied, as he watched the berries glow and sparkle with the moonlight.  When picked at exactly the right phase of the moon, the berries provided the unique dye that went into the making of invisibility cloaks.  Very  beautiful, very pricey, and, unfortunately, very rare--as far as he knew, the Forbidden Forest was one of the last places on the planet where the berries grew wild.  Cultivation of them had proven time and time again to be a dismal failure.

Snape paused and stared into the gemlike depths of the clear container, captivated by the thousand flashes of indigo within.  He remembered, in his sixth year at Hogwart's, how he had come into the Forest, on a night much like tonight, with his Herbology class.  They had come to harvest the berries.  He remembered Professor Desjardin's soft voice, chanting the teaching rhyme as the students searched for the beautiful luminnenberries.  The Herbology classes didn't come out, now.  Despite conservation efforts, the small berries' population was dwindling.  Greedy and less-than-scrupulous manufacturers were harvesting the berries, secretly, before they were fully ripe.  "...don't take green, that's too mean..."  Apparently not everyone chose to abide by the ancient teachings, and the delicate luminnenberries were paying the price for it.  It was shameful, but nothing was being done in the way of protective legislation.  Money talks, thought Snape, sourly.

"Evenin', Perfessor." 

Snape looked up, swiftly, then smiled.  "Professor Hagrid," he said, politely.  "What have you there?"

"Ah, this,"  Hagrid, flushed with delight over being adressed as "Professor",  "This here's 'Pointy'."

Snape chuckled at the sight of the unicorn foal cradled securely in Hagrid's massive arms.  "Pointy?"

"Aye.  Jus' got the little feller all healed up.  Broken leg."  Hagrid sighed in disgust.  "Some kind of animal trap, he got caught in.  But he's alright now, ain't ye, Pointy?"  The unicorn closed its eyes in pleasure as Hagrid scratched it behind the ears, and wobbled only a little as the large man set it down carefully.

"Aye, now, Pointy.  Jes' you go an' find your family.  Off wit' ye." 

"Animal traps?  Here, in the Forest?"  Snape was disgusted.  "Who would set such a thing?"

Hagrid shrugged angrily.  "Eh, there's all kinds of funny sorts hereabouts.  I've bin makin' inquiries down at the tavern.  No luck yet, though."  He ground his teeth for a moment.  "Quite a market out there, for unicorn hides."  He growled.  "There oughta be a law 'gainst it."

Snape sighed.  "Indeed."  He was silent for a moment.  Then he said, sadly, "The world changes.  Even here, in our own magical world, things change."  He held up the small container of luminnenberries.  "These were all that I was able to obtain this evening.  Why, just a few short years ago, I could fill ten or more of these containers, easily."  He sighed again.  "The world changes, so quickly.  One wonders if it is even worth fighting for, sometimes."

Hagrid clapped a huge hand on Snape's shoulder.  "Look...Perfessor..."  He pointed into the Forest, where the unicorn foal was being nuzzled by a beautiful adult unicorn.  "Pointy's found 'is way home."  They watched quietly for a moment, as the magical creatures made their way through the thick trees. 

"Eh.  Come on, then, Perfessor."  Hagrid steered the younger man out of the Forest.  "Let's go to Hogsmeade, I'll buy ye a drink.  An' don't ye worry about the world none.  It's worth fightin' for.  Both the magical one, and the non-magical one.  It's worth it, alright."  He chuckled.  "We'll win some, an' we'll lose some, I reckon, but it's worth it."

"One must hope that we'll win more than we lose, Professor Hagrid."

"Aye, lad.  I hope so, too."  Hagrid looked back, trying to catch a last glimpse of the unicorns.  "Have a little faith, Perfessor.  You know what they say. 'A little faith can go a long way.'"  He smiled down at the younger man.  "Just gotta have a little faith."

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