History: Part Two

by bowtruckle90

Part two of the story of Severus and Joanna. Read part one first. Everyone except Joanna is the property of JK Rowling. Rated M for later installments.

All together Joanna handled her father's death rather well. She even used the old house for the summer so the library was readily available. And she threw herself into her work instead of grieving. Something Severus thought he might have done at her age. He went with her of course, and spent most of his time making potions in the well lit breakfast nook. They passed a pleasant summer together, often times taking a night off and eating somewhere in Diagon Alley, which was close by. Severus never liked to be out of his robes, but he soon learned that Joanna had another sense of style when it came to muggle dress. Denim jeans and fashionable, or what he assumed must be fashionable, tops were all she wore inside her own house, and sometimes he did catch her in sweatpants during the day, though that was during a bout of the summer grippe in July. But she was always dressed to go out.

One other very important matter was attended to sometime in August. Severus felt that it would be unfair for Joanna to work with him for so long and not know a thing about his past. He told her everything that happened between him and Lily in addition to what she already knew about James. He explained how he was a Death Eater, to which she took the news rather well and was more curious than anything. He even showed her his mark, which was a rather personal moment for him. It almost seemed to dull under her touch, to a point where it was barely visible. And to Severus' relief, she did not ask about her mother. Perhaps the thought had not come to her yet, or perhaps it had and she simply could not swallow another bit of disturbing news. Or perhaps she guessed the answer but knew she could pretend it wasn't true if she never pressed the matter. Whatever the reason, he was grateful for the time he had gained in figuring out how he was going to tell her one day that he had led the raid that killed her mother and imprisoned her for half a year.

That conversation had gone so well, he even showed her another old notebook of his, filled with spells and potions and annotation from old school books of his one day when she asked what he did in his spare time as a student. She had been taught some during detentions in the past, but these were much more difficult. Severus found it impossible to lie to her. He admitted to one having gone missing in his sixth year; a potions text. But compared to the wealth of information he still retained in hard copy, it was a minute amount he lost. Joanna was repulsed by many of them, and Severus knew why; they were terrible spells, curses many people would die from. But now that she knew about his past, Joanna had found it suitable to forgive him his vices and focus on his virtues.

When it came time to pack up for the summer, Joanna spent time shrinking her father's hundreds of books so that they and the cases fit into a shoe box, and the various materials were packed in a standard potion ingredient kit to make wandering eyes pass over the case. Joanna packed her robes and a few of her other necessities, but made the most room for a music box inlaid entirely with mother of pearl and trimmed in platinum. It was a gift from her father when she had first been brought to him. Inside in the center of the entirely gold inlay was a gold cherry, the first thing the stone had ever turned to pure gold. It stood on a tiny golden pedestal and the whole effect was so immaculate…and expensive. Severus could have afforded such things if he desired them, but if he were to be honest with himself he never desired to spend money on himself, only those he cared for, and up until recently that had never been a case in point.

It was the only thing of his she took with her. The music box and of course her necklace. As they stepped off the thestral drawn carriage to the school's side entrance, Severus could see Joanna's face light up. She was back in her element, where the ghosts of her past couldn't haunt her. After setting their things down the in entrance hall to be brought to their rooms later, Severus couldn't help but to admire Joanna and the way she held herself. Maybe it was the bright blue robes, simple without any bells or whistles, fine mostly in the texture as the fabric had been ribbed slightly and wrapped in a delicate work of art, or maybe it was that she had quite grown up in the last year, but either way he saw her as much more womanly than he once did.

They made their way into the teachers' welcome feast which Dumbledore held every August when the teachers were due back, merely a week before the students' welcome feast, both Severus and Joanna stopped short at the sight of what they could only presume was the new Defense professor. He was dressed head to tow in lilac and his perfectly coifed blonde hair was overpoweringly perfect. When the man turned to see the new arrivals he flashed a smile so white it could blind a person.

Gilderoy Lockheart was the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

After exchanging slightly sickened glances at one another, Severus motioned for her to proceed, and Joanna did, counting it for once a blessing that no one lasted the job more than a year for one reason or another. The last one had died, and as she descended on the man, hand outstretched and what she hoped looked like a sincere smile on her face, Joanna found herself wondering the most wicked thing: maybe it will happen again. More likely he was going to be arrested for all the crimes he had committed, but there was always hope that he would be dashed through while teaching the seventh years about some beast beyond his capabilities to manage.

"You were seen by no less than seven muggles!" Severus was holding up a copy of the Evening Prophet and yelling at Harry and Ron, who had been caught coming into the school by Argus Filch. Apparently they took a modified car belonging to Ron's father and flew it to school. Joanna, always by Severus' side, had made sure to call on the proper people before following her mentor, Filch, and the boys down to the dungeons.

Severus threw his paper down on his desk behind which he was sitting, revealing his livid expression. "Do you have any idea how serious this is? You have risked the exposure of our world! Not to mention the damage you inflicted on a whomping willow that's been on these grounds since before you were born."

Ron, brave lad, but not the smartest, spoke up, saying, "Honestly professor Snape, I think it did more damage to us."

This did not sit well with the potions master, and even Joanna flinched a little when he barked and order of silence. Severus stood up now and Joanna began chewing her thumbnail nervously. If Severus lowered the bomb it was final. That couldn't happen.

Severus began walking around the desk in the most menacing manner. "Rest assured that where you in Slytherine and your fate rested with me, the both of you would be on the train home, tonight!"

During this speech there came a knock on the door, Joanna went to answer it and was relieved to see the headmaster and Minerva standing on the other side. Severus seemed not to notice. "As it is-"

"They are not." Dumbledore spoke in a firm tone. Joanna breathed a sigh of relief, and Harry acknowledged the professors as they came into the office. Severus, not to be embarrassed, pointed to the boys and, standing up straighter, said, "Headmaster, these boys have flouted the Decree for the Restriction of Under-aged Wizardry. As such-"

Dumbledore walked closer to Severus and cut him off at the knees. "I am well aware of our by laws Severus, having written quite a few of them myself. However as head of Griffindor House, it is for Professor McGonagall to determine the appropriate action."

Joanna could see Severus beginning to boil. She remained by the door, not wanting to get too close too soon, lest Severus really blow up. "We'll go get our stuff then," Ron said in a depressed tone.

"What are you talking about Mr. Weasley?" Minerva queried.

"You're going to expel us, aren't you?"

Minerva paused for a moment, then a small smile came to her lips as she stated, "Not today, Mr. Weasley." The boys looked ecstatic as Minerva kept talking. "But I must impress on both of you the seriousness of what you have done. I will be writing to your families tonight, and you will both receive detention."

Dumbledore, Minerva, the boys and Filch all left the office, and Joanna made to follow, but Severus beat her to the door and closed it before she could make her escape into the corridor. "Sit down," he ordered quietly.

Joanna nodded and walked slowly to the front of the room, sliding into the only comfortable chair he kept there for her so she could study during his lessons. Severus walked behind her and sat down himself on the corresponding footrest. "Why?"

"Should I have let you expel them?"

Severus pulled a face. "I wasn't going to."

"But you would have inflicted as much wrath on them as you could. Without so much as pausing to ask them why on earth they drove a car to school instead of taking the train."

Severus stood and began pacing. "Vanity," he said haughtily. To which Joanna sniffed at. "The twins are the ones to grasp for attention, not Ron, or Harry for that matter. Much as you wish he was so you could initiate even more punishment than is deserved on him, that boy is not his father. And in case you didn't notice, the other Weasley's managed just fine. Somehow those boys missed the train."

Severus stopped pacing and stood in front of Joanna, still seated, but sitting straighter and crossing her arms. "And your explanation is?"

"The conductor would not have refused them, so we must look at what comes before that. The barrier must not have let them through."

"And how does a barrier get blocked when it's never supposed to be closed?"

Joanna slumped at this. The fact was she didn't know. No wizard would have done it. They would have had to do it from the lobby, and there was no use in trying to do magic in front of muggles; that only brought trouble.

But there were other creatures capable of small tasks, like house elves. Not many Hogwarts families were so concerned with parading their snobbery under other people's noses, so much so that they would bring a magical creature onto a muggle platform. That certainly narrowed it down. Well, narrowed it down to her own house's families, anyway. And there weren't many of them who could afford the risk, monetarily, reputational or otherwise. One did come to mind.

"Didn't Arthur Weasley have a spat with Lucius Malfoy in Diagon Alley last month?"

Severus had been watching her intently, knowing she was riddling through her theory. He shrugged nonchalantly and walked toward his desk to reassemble his paper, but Joanna already knew her answer. Malfoy had his elf do the blockade, she was sure, but what was to be gained from that? Weasley would likely face an inquiry about the car but the Ministry had bigger fish to fry than a curious man in Muggle Artifacts, and Malfoy couldn't possibly have foreseen with certainty that the boys would use the car at all. That man never did anything without a guarantee.

Joanna propped her feet up and picked gently at the layers of her diamond cut chiffon skirt in cherry blossom pink. If Malfoy wasn't such a cruel person and Joanna so sure he would probably hurt the poor thing for doing so, she might have guessed that the creature performed his magic of his own accord. But that of course was a ridiculous notion, knowing who his master was.

"So what is there for Malfoy to gain on such a gamble?" she asked herself aloud. Severus looked up, finally done refolding his paper as neatly as it had come and he walked over to her with one corner of his mouth upturned in a small smirk. "You're going to hurt yourself thinking about this." He held out a hand to help her up and she took it. "What answer did you perceive?" he asked as he walked her to the door and opened it. Joanna shook her head as she walked out into the hall. "Nothing. Stupid conclusion. I know there's a reason for what they did, I just am not certain I have an idea as to what it is. Anyway, if we hurry we can still make dessert."

Everyone was running toward the commotion in the corridor. Seemed Argus was getting a little out of hand with a student. Odd for him to be accusing someone of something, Joann thought. In general he just made snide remarks about the possibilities but never did he outright accuse anyone of anything if he hadn't seen it happen with his own eyes. It wasn't until she got closer that Joanna understood the caretaker's uncharacteristic behavior.

His cat Mrs. Norris had been petrified and subsequently hung by her tail from a torch post. Joanna threw her hand over her mouth to stifle a gasp, though it didn't do much good. There were students littering the halls by now from every direction and right smack dab in the middle of the commotion, receiving a verbal lashing from Argus Filch and nearly lifted off his feet by the front of his shirt, was Harry Potter.

The headmaster and the other teachers had not been far behind Joanna (most of them were either taller or more well along sideways than her so they did not slip through the crowd as easily as she had). She felt a hand on her shoulder and was certain it was Severus. When she looked behind her, indeed it was, and his grip was insistent. His gaze was in fact set on the wall on which the cat had been hung from a torch holder, and when Joanna looked back she saw the writing she had at first missed. 'The chamber of secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir beware.' Joanna whispered over her shoulder without taking her eyes off the wall, "Severus what on earth-?"

"Shh."

Dumbledore was speaking to the crowd of students. "Everyone will proceed to their dormitories immediately. Everyone except," he pointed toward Ron, Hermione, and Harry. "You three."

The students dispersed enough for Joanna to get closer to the wall, nearly bumping into Lockheart as she did. He flashed her all thirty-two of his teeth at her, which awarded him a hard icy look from Joanna. She stepped up to the wall and ran her finger along one of the large, red letters scrawled across the stone. Severus leapt forward, "Joanna don't-" but he was too late. As he grasped her hand and drew a kerchief from a pocket to wipe her finger Joanna turned her head and shoulders against Severus' grasp toward the headmaster and said, "It's written in blood."

Severus shushed her once again. Filch looked as though he were about to cry, and Lockheart was still staring at the cat, nodding his head as though he could piece the whole incident together. Dumbledore spoke to Argus first.

"She's not dead Argus. She has been petrified."

Lockheart jumped right into the conversation. "Ah! I thought so! So unlucky I wasn't there. I know exactly the counter curse that could have spared her."

Joanna sat into one hip and touched her face in mock surprise with one hand. She might well have said something in addition to her dramatics if Severus didn't discreetly poke her in the back. Joanna would have loved to have said something just to peeve him, but she bit her tongue instead and let the headmaster continue talking.

"But how she has been petrified, I cannot say."

"Ask him," Filch said, nodding towards Harry. "It's him that's done it. You saw what he wrote on the wall."

Harry looked toward the headmaster. "It's not true sir. I swear. I never touched Mrs. Norris."

"Rubbish," Filch spat back. Joanna sighed audibly. She didn't like confrontation of this kind. She could handle out an out fighting, but when all that was passed was mere sniping, well the whole thing was a bit tiresome and raised her anxiety level. At least in a fistfight or a duel it happened and then was over. Joanna inwardly smiled fondly at the cynical attitude that had awarded her a place in Slytherine house.

Severus stepped away from Joanna. "If I might, headmaster, perhaps Potter and his friends were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time." Joanna looked hard at him, sure there was something almost sinister in his 'help'. The next thing out of his mouth just happened to be the other shoe. "However, the circumstances are suspicious. I for one don't recall seeing Potter at dinner." He drew closer to Harry, only stopping when Lockheart spoke.

"I'm afraid that's my doing Severus. You see, Harry was helping me answer my fan mail."

Severus looked from Lockheart with distaste, as Hermione piped, "That's why Ron and I went looking for him, professor. We had just found him when he said-"

She stopped short and looked towards Ron who looked towards Harry. "Yes, Miss Granger," Severus prompted. Harry put in, "When I said I wasn't hungry. We were heading back to the common room when we found Mrs. Norris." Ron was nodding vigorously, though he said nothing.

Severus looked back towards Dumbledore with a change in expression from the former to one of expectancy. Dumbledore merely stated, "Innocent until proven guilty, Severus."

Meanwhile, Filch was growing more and more unglued. "My cat has been petrified," he said shakily before yelling, "I want to see some punishment!"

"We will be able to cure her, Argus," Dumbledore said softly. "As I understand it," he gestured towards Professor Sprout who stepped forward, "Madame Sprout has a very healthy growth of mandrake. When matured a potion will be made which will revive Mrs. Norris." He paused and looked to every face in the room. "And in the meantime, I strongly recommend caution to all."

Severus walked back to Joanna. "Starting with you. Come on." He took her by the elbow and led her down to the dungeons and did not let go until they reached their rooms. When they go to the sitting room, Severus sat her down and went rummaging through the small wooden chest of antidotes he had left on the couch side table.

"Didn't your mother every tell you not to touch blood that isn't yours? Wizards have blood diseases too, you know." He pulled a vial of clear liquid from its place and a cloth from a compartment. After pouring some of the elixir onto the clean cotton swatch, he handed it to Joanna to clean her fingers with it. She did so, not forgetting to roll her eyes in the process and make sure he saw.

"What's got you so upset?" he asked as he returned the items he had taken out back to their proper places and closed the lid to the chest.

"What was with the coddling act, Severus? You've never treated me as though I were eight years old before."

"If only you knew." The words slipped form his mouth instead of staying in his head. He recovered quickly by adding to his remark, "There are certain dangers you are clearly not aware of in what occurred tonight and I promised your father while he lay dying that I would look after you."

Joanna stood as Severus sat on the chaise and made himself comfortable with his nightly paper. She tossed the cloth onto his chest saying, "Dangers like chicken blood Severus?"

"How do you know?" he asked, picking the cloth from his robes and setting it aside.

"Because Hagrid was missing one from the kitchen hen house this afternoon."

If Severus was surprised he certainly did not show it. More or less he looked as though he didn't have a care in the world in terms of what Joanna was saying. And for this, Joanna walked around the coffee table, arms swinging at her sides, and came to a halt just in front of the chaise. Severus looked up from his paper.

"I am not a child," Joanna said evenly.

Severus smirked and sat up, swinging his legs back over the side of the black velvet cushioning. "Begging pardon, my dear," he said with a hint of humor at her. "You are only nineteen years old. Hardly an adult."

Joanna raised an eyebrow and took a step back, drawing her wand from her skirt's pocket. She charmed the buttons on the outer bustier vest of her orange robes to undo themselves and slipped the vest onto the floor. "Anything childish about me?"

Severus was at a loss for words, though for some reason he could not fathom, he seemed to be nodding his head. Not that there was anything childish about the scooped neckline revealing her slight cleavage, but he just couldn't stop nodding.

Joanna raised her eyebrows again with a slight tilt to her head, and flicked her wand over her shoulder and at her back, which undid the hooks from their eyes and the satin garment slipped easily off her body, revealing a matching corset and panties, complete with garters attached to the stockings, and leaving her standing in a pool of fine linen. The whole effect when lit solely by the matching color of firelight was…well, Severus was beginning to sweat underneath his collar, t say the least.

He had seen Joanna in as much, or rather a little, as this a dozen times before, but never had she undressed herself in his full view, and with such lust in her eyes. She pulled her hair out from its conservative French twist and then tossed her wand and the hairpin on the armchair sitting next to the chaise.

She stepped forward out of her skirts and stood over Severus again, feet spread, hands on hips. "How about now?" She knelt one leg on the chaise beside Severus' hip, then crawled into Severus' lap using his shoulders for balance, nestling softly into him. Looking him in the eye she asked again. "Am I a child now?"

Severus snapped out of it. "No…no, you're not a child." Joanna nodded in satisfaction and flashed her smile. "See," she said. "That wasn't so hard."

She got up and collected her things from the floor before stalking off to her bedroom down the hall.

Severus sat for a few moments in shock. He couldn't tell if she was messing with him or if she was looking at him with true desire. Though it hardly seemed to matter; either way the image of her standing half naked before him, climbing into his lap, was not only burned on his brain but the memory was creating a rather uncomfortable tightness in his pants.

Severus walked down the hall and into the bathroom. After undressing and starting the shower he stepped under the running water and sighed at the heat. Severus found long ago that cold showers did nothing for reactions of this sort, so he had resolved to simply take care of them by other means.

He gently took hold of his stiffened member and rubbed with a slight friction. Severus groaned, though he tried to keep it to a dull murmur, seeing as the sound would be amplified by the tiles and could carry to the back of the quarters. Before long he came all over his hand and he slumped on the shower wall. In the instant his body convulsed, he had seen those eyes again. And they remained there as he sat beneath the torrent of water pounding on his head. And they were still there was he toweled himself off. And when he dressed for bed. Severus climbed into his four-poster and pulled his sheets up to his chest. He was afraid that look would never go away, and almost feared what he might see in his dreams. And at the same time he was curious, though he knew it was wrong.

Severus had noted as he passed that Joanna had left her bedroom door open tonight. The thought of all the things he could have done if he only got up and walked past that threshold sent a shiver through his body. Severus turned onto his side so that his back was facing Joanna's open door. And he did this in just enough time for his groin to get that tight, uncomfortable feeling again.

It was going to be a long night…

It had been several weeks since the first attack when the second one happened. A young first year was found petrified one evening. After that Lockheart had gone to Dumbledore and asked to start a dueling club, which he was granted, and immediately after which Dumbledore came to Severus to ask him to supervise…discreetly. Joanna was not crazy about the idea for many reasons, among which she thought it was unnecessary, and another of which she felt Severus would take horrible advantage of Lockheart's lack of skills of any kind. He had been rather nasty to his students in the weeks following her strip tease, particularly to Potter and that poor unfortunate child Neville Longbottom. The latter wasn't who Joanna worried after. A few days before the first meeting she rectified the dilemma she hoped he wouldn't have to face if Severus should take over the lesson, though she hoped it would never come that the boy would need her help. There was always the most microscopic chance that Severus would do the right thing by the boy. Remembering the quiddich match last year, Joanna did remind her self several times that he certainly did not wish to see the boy grievously harmed. Harmed yes, but not in any way approaching fatal.

Joanna should have been studying the various ores she had ordered through Ollivander which took him almost five weeks to find, purchase, and ship to her for his ten percent compensation, and which had finally arrived the morning of the first meeting of this new club, but Joanna left the box of assorted rare elemental specimens in her room, thinking to herself that if this meeting went as poorly as she expected it to, it may be the only one there ever was.

There was one of the long house tables, heightened by about two feet for the occasion, set up on the middle of one of the corners of the Great Hall, and as students filed around it, she and Severus stood well away fro the crowd. At the moment, Lockheart was getting ready not three feet from them. Joanna was watching as he tightened the stays on his dueling glove. 'Oh for heaven's sake', she mouthed to Severus. He looked behind him and looked Lockheart up and down, noting not only the glove, but the heavy red velvet cloak draped over one shoulder and tied with golden tassels. Lockheart breathed the sigh of a man waking up to the most glorious morning in a land where only he mattered and strolled with his white toothy grin towards Joanna and Severus.

"My dear," he said taking her hand starting his kissing there before moving up the ivory sleeve of her simple witch's robes (something she had taken to wearing lately, since baiting her mentor) towards her elbow. Joanna pulled away, and Lockheart straightened. "Don't I just look like the prince you've always wanted?"

"I think professor it's time to start."

Lockheart nodded once to Severus' suggestion and turned to walk most gallantly up the stairs that led to the surface of the table. He began a speech about the reason for the dueling club, as though the students weren't aware, and when he threw his cloak to the girls in the crowd, Joanna and Severus exchanged an identical look of disgust.

"I would like to introduce my assistant, Professor Snape."

Severus walked up the stairs with his most menacing posture and wand already drawn, with Joanna not far behind him. Lockheart continued on as Severus began walking out, but he barely heard more than what Joanna said to him as he ventured onward. "Humiliate him…please."

"You'll still have your potions master when I'm through with him, never fear."

It was with a great twinge of elation that Joanna watched her mentor walk to the center of the table with that lummox and bow to him. She could not help but think that Lockheart had no idea what he had gotten himself into. Severus knew more spells than many people, including his own creations, so Lockheart was well over his head. And all of them were likely beyond his knowledge. Most were truly vile things, but it came with his tortured past, so she overlooked their savage nature. And anyway, she doubted he would use any of those. They were unregistered, unrecognized, and Severus wanted to keep them that way. A hex charm was all he would need.

"One," Lockheart began counting, as he stood cockily at the opposite end of the table hand on hip and head bobbing the way it did when he tried to look as confident as everyone believed he was. "Two, three."

"Expelliarmus!" Severus shot a fantastically simple jinx at Lockheart, who went flying through the air. Joanna did her best not to laugh and to set a good example for her former house's students, but it was a losing battle. The man had simply stood there in shock and waited for the jinx to hit him; no counter charm was attempted. And this was what made most of the room snicker in delight. Well, the male portion of the room and Joanna, anyway.

Lockheart got up rather quickly, and said to Severus as he approached the potions master, "An excellent idea to show them that Professor Snape, but it you don't mind my saying, it was pretty obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you, it would have only been too easy." Joanna stepped up the last step onto the table saying very clearly for the room to hear, "Perhaps it would be prudent to first teach the students to block unfriendly spells, professor." She smiled sweetly, but it was a smile of victory, not allurement. She had guessed Lockheart was not ready to be exposed as a fool yet, but surely he knew a simple Protego charm?

Obviously not. He turned and said, "An excellent suggestion, Miss Flamel! Let's have a volunteer pair. Potter, Weasley, how about you?"

Severus regained control of the conversation. "Weasley's wand causes devastation on the simplest of spells. We'll be sending Potter to the hospital wing in a matchbox."

Joanna knew immediately what was coming next and the prospect did not excite her. "Might I suggest someone form my own house? Malfoy, perhaps?" Severus turned on his heel and thumbed for Malfoy to get up there, then after the boy passed, took a standing position beside Joanna. She tilted her head in his direction and whispered to him, "What are you trying to do?"

"Weasley can't duel," Severus whispered back, bending his head closer to her.

"You don't have to pick Malfoy, you don't even have to pick a Slytherine."

Severus smirked and withdrew from her, though saying quietly enough, "Where's your house pride?" Joanna couldn't argue with seventeen years of resentment. So she simply stood by and watched as the boys took their bows on Lockheart's mark and then walked to either end of the table.

They took their stances, and Lockheart announced, "On the count of three, cast your charms to disarm your opponent. Only disarm. We don't want any accidents here." He started to count down from three, but on two Malfoy shot a perfectly formed curse from his wand. Harry went flying. He was fine, but that was a poor display of sportsmanship to say the least. Joanna could not help but to notice the nearly perfect form in Malfoy's stance. While Harry was getting to his feet, Joanna turned her head and said quietly, "You've been teaching him."

Harry shot another curse back at Malfoy, who landed flat on his rump before Severus, who grappled up the boy by his robes and shoved him toward the duel again. Then he bent his head and shot back, "So have you."

As Lockheart was reminding the boys to disarm only, Severus added, "Why fly against your own house?"

"It's not my house, I just find your encouragements to students detestable." During this argument, Malfoy had shot a serpent from his wand, and it landed on the table with a thud before slithering along and hissing at the students. Severus said lowly, "I did not teach him that," before moving toward the snake and saying, "Don't know, Potter, I'll get rid of it for you."

Lockheart stepped onto the field. "Allow me Professor Snape! Volarte Ascendere!"

The snake jumped about ten feet into the air and smacked back down onto the table. "Yes," Joanna muttered, "let's blow the thing ten feet high and see how pissed off it is then." This was not for anyone in particular, merely her own enjoyment to stab at the man's incompetence once again, but it did earn a chuckle from a few students near her who had heard.

Harry was walking towards it, and hissing in the most peculiar manner. The snake had zeroed in on a Hufflepuff boy, but now it began listening to Harry, understanding him. Joanna was perfectly well aware of what he said, but no one else in the room would be. Harry Potter was, evidently, a Parselmouth. All anyone did was watch him for several moments. Considering the radar that boy was always under and the crisis now hitting the school involving the house of Slytherine, Joanna thought it best to cut this to the quick. "Ipera Invareska," she muttered before pointing her wand toward the creature, which burnt to a crisp and evaporated.

The Hufflepuff boy stormed out, and Harry's friends rushed him out of the hall a moment later. Other students dispersed and there was a great deal of murmuring going on as they did. Joanna pressed the wrist of her wand hand, still grasping her Lignum Vitae wand with essence of sage's sand, to her forehead. "Too late", she whispered to herself, "too fucking late."

Lockheart stood where he was, transfixed by what had occurred, but Severus made to stroll by Joanna back towards a stairwell that would take him to the dungeons. Joanna had other ideas. She caught hold of his robes and held fast. "Hold it," she said before finally removing the heel of her hand from her head. She looked at both of the professors standing before her. "What the bloody hell was that?"

"That was Parsel-" Severus attempted to explain.

"No, I mean you! Both of you! I know Parseltongue when I hear it, believe me my father made a study of the language. We all know the effect it has on innocent people who possess the gift. So why on earth did you both stand there like belligerent fools and let him speak it?" Joanna considered for a moment to calm her voice, which was rapidly nearing rage. "Lockheart, I can't blame you, because frankly you wouldn't have known how to get rid of the snake anyway, as you so greatly displayed a minute ago. Do me a favor and leave. I wish to have a few words with my mentor in private."

Lockheart nodded and silently walked off the table and towards the hall doors. Once he had disappeared, Severus asked, "You're blaming me?"

Joanna looked livid, and her eyes burned hole in his skin as she spoke. "He clearly doesn't know what this gift means for him, particularly right now with the school in the way it is, or he wouldn't have spoken it in front of all those people. He may not even realize he had done it. I'm willing to bet Miss Granger is filling him in as we speak. You should have been quicker not stood there studying him. I thought you told the headmaster you would protect that boy while he was here. You have a funny way of showing it."

Severus shrugged as Joanna pushed past him, still carrying her wand. "We were all shocked, we all hesitated. Bravo for having the shock break on you first, but if I had known-"

"I think you suspected. Knowing what you know about…him…I think you could have guessed faster than anyone, which means you were watching for sport. I'm not a teacher. I shouldn't have had to be the one to make it right. I'm the mentee, I shouldn't be disappointed by my mentor." She stopped at the door at the end of the hall and turned back with one hand resting lightly on the frame. She looked at him, and remembered how he saved Harry during the quiddich match last year. The anger in her chest subsided and her heart softened for him. After all she had learned about her dear mentor to the point, the behavior was hardly surprising, even though it had made her absolutely irate.

"You could make it up to me," she said as he approached her.

"How," he smirked.

"Well," Joanna said with a small sigh and a mischievous expression. "You've seen me in my underwear…many times in fact. I have yet to see yours."

They ran all the way back to their quarters, looking carefully around ever corner, though it was not nearly a necessity since it was well known they shared living space. The anticipation made them both stifle mischievous laughter as they went. However, when they made to their quarters and the door shut behind them, Severus' common sense returned to him. "We shouldn't," he said. It didn't seem to make a difference however, as Joanna began unbuttoning his robes. Severus tried to gently push her away, saying, "I'm your mentor."

The buttons were done, and Joanna slid off the robes to reveal his undershirt, which she expertly tugged over his head. She smiled up at him and said in a low voice, "Then teach me something."

Severus remembered the dreams he had had of her that night when she had been in his place. He wanted her so bad, and those same feelings of want returned to him now in his waking mind. Out of excuses, Severus unbuttoned his trousers, kicked off his shoes and stripped them off. He stamped his way out of the pant legs and stood in nothing but boxers and socks, waiting to be judged by a young woman.

She stepped forward and pressed her body against his, forcing him back against the door to their quarters. Severus snaked his arms around Joanna's lower back as she raked her nails lightly along his toned chest. Just as Severus was leaning down for the kiss, there was a knock on their door.

"Professor," came a voice. It was Filch.

"Not now, Argus," Severus called back.

"Sorry sir," Filch answered, "But you're due on duty in study hall. Minerva refuses to leave until you arrive and sent me to find you."

Severus sighed and rested his head on Joanna's shoulder as she giggled silently, leaning against his body, enveloped in his height. "I'll be right there Argus. Five minutes."

The caretaker's footsteps faded away and Joanna stepped backward to let Severus redress himself. After the last button was done he looked to Joanna. "To be continued?"

She nodded with a smile. "To be continued."

It wasn't. When Severus got back from his duties at four that afternoon Joanna had fallen sound asleep on one of her father's manuals. He could hear her walking about the kitchen around midnight later on, but after making tea she merely went back to bed.

"I'm concerned that this is another Voldemort occurrence. He is the heir of Slytherine," Severus said as he and Joanna sat together on her bed. When the quiddich match had been called off earlier, he had asked her to return to the dungeons with Filch escorting her and had gone to collect new news from Minerva. Seems Hermione Granger had been found petrified outside the library. Now he and Joanna were sitting together behind a closed bedroom door discussing this case and its intricacies. It wasn't up to them to crack the mystery, but as Severus knew more than anyone about that chamber…

"The chamber is a very real thing, that much I know. It's deep beneath the school somewhere."

"Is there a creature still inside? Something that could live for so long?" Joanna asked as Severus took her hands in his. "There aren't that many creatures who could live for so long. Dragons, but they don't have the power to stun."

Severus shook his head. "He never discussed the creature inside, but knowing that he kept that awful serpent of his Nagini so close, I would hazard a guess that it's a basilisk. A very old one, but a basilisk all the same. If you look at it directly, you'll die, but in an indirect manner, it petrifies. "

They talked for hours. Severus was sure it was Voldemort and sure it was a basilisk, but neither her nor Janna could fathom how the snake was getting around the school, or indeed how Voldemort could be involved at all. Joanna suggested it was using the pipes after hearing the story of the incident when Voldemort was a student. The girl had died in a bathroom after all. Severus was skeptical but could not come up with a better answer.

The real problem came when trying to imagine who else knew this information and more. Who was acting on behalf of Voldemort now?

"It has to be a student," Joanna reasoned. "If it were an adult coming in from outside the school we would have noticed a pattern, as both are uncommon occurrances."

"But who would have the bollocks to teach their children that? And whoever it is would need to speak Parseltongue to order the snake around."

Severus was now reclining on Joanna's bed and she was curled up beside him, rest her head on his chest. It was late, they knew, though how late was impossible to tell. Joanna yawned and replied, "Harry's the only one in this school who speaks it, which is why it's such a conundrum. Then again, I could get by, and I'm not fluent; I only know a few things from my father's study of it." Severus gave her a look. "I stole the books to learn, but it's not easy to learn without a natural gift for it if you don't have a teacher. Though I suppose it could be faked. All one has to do is start hissing and it will mean something in Parseltongue. Imagine there are no passwords, merely language."

"But how would an inexperienced child control the snake and command it?"

"Hm." She was musing to herself now. In a moment she snapped out of it and started speaking directly to him again. "You told me last year that Voldemort was gone from Quirrill's death, but that there were other ways he could return. You told me he had provided for death, so maybe he has found a way into the school again through other means."

Severus rubbed her back lightly. She was getting tired, and it was for the best in his opinion. All this worry was not good for someone her age, when life should be exciting and carefree. "He did. I knew that much, but how he had done it, I haven't a clue."

"How close were you to him, exactly?"

Severus swallowed hard, but answered evenly, "I made poisons and on occasion he spoke to me in confidence, but that's all."

She was silent for a moment; a sign that she was not sure if she should believe him or not, but thankfully she returned to the subject at hand after a moment. "We should do something," Joanna murmured.

"We can't. Not only are we unsure of where to look, but basilisks are dangerous in many ways, not only their gaze."

"But we have to do something."

Severus agreed, but he didn't think that going and looking for the thing right now was the best course of action. The fact was, the governors had removed Dumbledore, Hagrid was in prison and there had been another attack. Severus thought the best thing for this school would be to close it, send the students home, and when they were gone, find the chamber and get rid of the beast.

As Joanna fell asleep, Severus thought some more. How could Voldemort have guaranteed his life? Perhaps the strange things that had happened to Potter this year were connected whoever was doing those things was trying to discredit him.

Malfoy's boy was the ringleader in that department. The boy knew nothing about the chamber, Severus was sure, but his father, Lucius, another Death Eater who had refused to renounce the old ways…he might have an inkling as to what exactly was going on. His family was always held in high standing to Voldemort for their…well, their blood was well off and he was very malicious if not the most logical man in service. He might know something Severus did not.

But before they did anything else, Severus had to, as Minerva's next in command after herself as Deputy Headmistress, make his recommendations about the school to her. And he would do that first thing in the morning. He slipped from his place on Joanna's bed and went to his own room for some shut-eye. His clock said it was almost two in the morning. As he drifted off to sleep, Severus found himself thinking about his life as Voldemort's man, and all the things he had done out of hate and pain.

And he thought about Joanna. As it was, he wasn't sure how her blood was considered. Her mother, he knew, had been a muggle woman. Flamel was clearly a very gifted alchemist, but they were not always spawned from magic folk. Consequently Severus could not be certain there was an ounce of magic blood in Joanna at all. For all he knew, her magic could have been a lucky accident. After all, while Flamel had been friends with the whole of the magical community since his arrival in England in 1406. It was most likely due to his never changing age. But his carefully chosen friends were not proof he had any magical blood. Many people assumed he was a wizard. There were few who would know enough to possibly draw the same conclusions Severus was drawing now as he concentrated on the shadows being thrown on his ceiling from the fairy light in the hallway. One in particular possibly knew the answer for certain, and thinking on who, Severus suddenly got very nervous.

"As you can see the heir of Slytherine has left another message." Minerva, who was acting as the school's headmistress, and the other teachers and Joanna had gathered in the corridor where Mrs. Norris had first been found. There was more blood writing on the wall. This one read 'Her skeleton will lie in the chamber forever.'

Joanna covered her mouth with both hands and backed into Severus who took her shoulders and held her close to him. Filch was there, and looked strangely at them but said nothing.

"Our worst fear has been realized; a student has been taken by the monster into the chamber itself." Minerva clasped her hands, saying in a disparaging tone, "The students must be sent home. I'm afraid this is the end of Hogwarts."

Just at that moment, Lockheart came up to the group wearing bubblegum pink robes and a ridiculous smile, announcing, "So sorry, dozed off! What have I missed?"

Severus without missing a beat responded, "A girl has been snatched by the monster, Lockheart. You're moment has come at last."

Joanna looked up at him questioningly, but Severus squeezed her shoulders and she made a quick thing of looking back towards Lockheart with a blank expression as he stuttered, "My m-moment?"

"Weren't you saying just last night that you've known all where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is?"

Joanna knew this wasn't true; Severus rarely said two words to the man. But she also know Severus was playing a very important hand. Many of the faculty knew that he was useless and a fraud, though no one had so far as yet proven so. The way things were going, he would remain at the post another year. Severus was giving Lockheart a reason to run away from the school and his farce as a credible instructor. After all, having no teacher was certainly better than the dangerous mockery of teaching Lockheart had been displaying in the pas nine months.

Minerva took the conversation further, adding, "Well that's settled. We'll leave you to deal with the monster Gilderoy. Your skills after all are legend."

Lockheart played it off expertly, flashing his smile and cocking his head. "Very well! I'll just be in my office getting…getting ready."

They all watched as he stalked off. And when Lockheart was out of sight the other teachers started to make for their own quarters. Madame Pomfrey looked to Professor McGonagall. "Who is it the monster's taken Minerva?" she asked.

Minerva replied with a tone of pity, "Ginny Weasley," before they too left the corridor, leaving only Severus and Joanna. She stepped closer to the wall and sighed heavily. Severus stepped back towards her and snaked one arm around her waist and the other protectively around her chest. She took his higher arm with her hands and held it close to her. After kissing the top of her head, Severus said quietly, "Come on. We should pack up…make for your father's house in the morning."

"It's my house now," she murmured. Joanna then pulled away and together they made their way to the dungeons.

They had packed three of the four trunks by dawn when there was a knock on the door. Joanna was in the process of wrapping her music box in an expensive fur lined bag to protect it from scratching and other damages. Severus was organizing his quick-fix chest of antidotes. They looked up from what they were doing sharply and looked at one another, before looking at the door. They both remained quiet until another knock came. It was not insistent, or panicked. It simply was.

Severus got up from the littering of newspaper around him on the floor and walked to the door. At the third knock he drew his wand and threw it open. Joanna heard a sigh of relief from the hall way and stood up, setting the music box now safely sleeved aside, and trotted into the hallway. "Who is it?" she called.

Severus opened the door wider and standing there was the tall, bearded, bespectacled figure of Albus Dumbledore. Severus re-pocketed his wand as Joanna came forward and embraced the headmaster. After they let go, Dumbledore craned his neck and looked inside their hallway, which was littered with things to be packed. "You're leaving rather early."

"It's over then," Joanna said grinning ear to ear.

Dumbledore returned the smile and nodded. "Yes, it is. I have returned to full headmastership and the students and Mrs. Norris and Sir Nicholas are being revived as we speak."

"And the monster?" Severus asked.

"Ah," said Dumbledore softly. "Harry and Ron with Mr. Lockheart cracked the case. They went down to the chamber and Harry slayed the basilisk. My phoenix Fawkes flew them out."

"And the maestro of all this?"

"Voldemort, by way of an old journal of his. Apparently it was in Mr. Malfoy's possession, and he slipped it to Ginny Weasley, who found solace in her difficult first year by writing to his apparitional self."

Somehow it seemed to be making sense to Severus, but Joanna was wrinkling her forehead in confusion. Picking up on this, Dumbledore piped back up, "Anyway, the good news is everything is back to normal. And you should both be due at breakfast soon."

He clasped his hands over his midsection and walked back down the hall whistling a tune by the Weird Sisters. Severus closed the door and Joanna looked at him. "What was he talking about?"

There was no point in hiding it from her, as she would only keep asking. "That thing I told you Voldemort had done to make himself invulnerable to death…I know what it was."

Severus began to explain as they changed their clothes for the day, Joanna to her pale yellow ones, simply cut with half sleeves and a bateau neckline, and Severus to another set of black ones, what a Horcrux was. But Joanna stopped him as he started off, saying, "My father taught me about those the year before last. You think he made one?"

"No," Severus answered as they finished. When they both came to their doorways, he clasping his cuffs and she carrying her shoes in hand, he said softly. "I think he made a lot more than that. This journal is only one of them."

"How many?"

"Hard to say. Either three or seven. Both are highly powerful magical numbers. My money would be on seven, though I have no clue what they could be." He paused as Joanna put on her shoes using one hand on the door for support. "I think we should keep this between us."

As they walked to the door, Joanna asked one more thing. "Isn't that some very privileged information for someone who wasn't that close to him?"

He knew what she was angling for, and suspected she was only inching closer and closer to the dreaded question. She seemed suspicious of what he had told her about his place, and for good reason; Severus had completely downplayed his role as a Death Eater. Though, for the moment, he seriously doubted her lack of trust in his explanations delved any further than that. He knew he should tell her, but likely when he did he would lose her forever. Four more years, he told himself. Four more years, she'll be gone and I can tell her then. By then it won't matter if she hates me.

That was a lie. Severus had a feeling he would care if she hated him in four years or a hundred. He never wanted her to hate him at all, and that was what kept him silent.