Severus pulled the hood over the child's head so as to hide her face and, taking the girl's hand, he pulled her along the empty field behind the Riddle house. She tripped once, so Severus hoisted her in his arms and carried her while he continued running. She clasped her tiny hands together at the base of his neck and held on tight, gazing backward at the old Riddle house, her prison. The minute they reached the woods Severus spun and apparated back to Spinner's End. Things were about to get very, very ugly out there, but in here, they would both be safe.
Joanna slumped at the podium in Severus Snape's study, one hand propping up her cheek as its corresponding elbow rested painfully on the hard wooden slide stopper, and flipped through one of his manuals on transcending potions. It was a beautiful Saturday and it was absolutely inhumane that she should have to thumb through a text of this magnitude without the comfort of a beautiful June day to ease the lackadaisical humdrum feeling.
The heavy oaken door to Severus' private quarters in which his study and everything else of personal value was located opened and footsteps came down the hallway. Joanna stood straighter and tried to look intrigued in her studies, but she couldn't fool Severus for a moment. As he entered the study with an armload of jars and vials of ingredients to shelve on the rear wall, he said, "You're looking as though you will fall asleep on that reading, Joanna."
She sighed and turned from her text to face her mentor. "It's so beautiful outside, can't I just take it on the grounds with me? Maybe sit underneath a tree by the lake and read it?"
Glass clinked against glass as Severus arranged his various containers, turning them to display their labels in a uniform fashion before moving onto the next shelf. "Outdoor environments are not conducive to learning. Otherwise all schools would have their classes outside in pleasant weather."
He finished his organizing and turned around, arms crossed over his chest. Joanna mirrored him and copied the hard look he was giving her. After a moment, they both cracked smiles and Joanna covered her mouth in a delicate manner masking her giggling grin. Severus considered her; she was wearing her bright yellow robes today, with a scooped neckline, and buttons all down the equally scooped back offsetting the princess seams down the front. The capped sleeves were chiffon and fluttered about her shoulders in the most flattering way, the fabric reaching around her back and covering the otherwise exposed skin. It was a flattering color, and it always seemed to put Severus in a good mood. This was no coincidence. She was trying to appeal to his fancy. And she was winning.
"All right. You may study outside, but be back here just before lunch so I can test your knowledge orally. You can make the potion tonight after dinner."
She smiled widely and ran to hug him. Severus held her close for a moment, and when he pulled away he held the short little witch by her shoulders and added, "You know you are making your day longer by requesting the change of venue."
She grinned and responded lightly, "But it will be that much more enjoyable."
After clucking him under the chin and grabbing the text as she passed, she left Severus to his thoughts.
Surely they behaved as more than mentor and mentee. They had always been close as student and teacher, and that was because of the fact that Severus had saved her life nearly ten years ago. She went from being a Ministry secret, to being a captive, to being on the lam, to being an aristocrat's child. He had kept her undercover in his own home at Spinner's End after rescuing her for some three months. Then when things started cooling down in the world he saw fit to return her to whichever family member she had left, since her mother was dead. He had no idea she was Nicholas Flamel's daughter; his first child. It only took the man six hundred forty four years to get around to it, Severus thought bitterly. On the other hand, he added to himself, the single heir to his alchemic empire was a rather brilliant specimen of a witch. She was smart, well tempered, beautiful…the perfect child.
Sighing with a crooked smile and shaking his head, Severus returned to his own work, a study of his for St. Mungos in London. He couldn't concentrate though, and more than once admitted to himself that a day spent outside would be rather nice indeed, particularly in the company of Miss Flamel.
Severus and Joanna were on their way to dinner one evening in July. Joanna was wearing Severus' favorite color robes, the Kelly green ones made with satin. The bodice had a bateau neckline, just about to fall off her shoulders, with a princess seam in the front, absent of sleeves, and laces down the back all the way to the floor.
It shouldn't make a difference, but Severus loved that she dressed so well. It was the staple of an intern to dress as comfortably as possible considering the volume of work required, often reverting to muggle sweat suits. Severus didn't know this first hand, but he knew from the various other interns he had met at St. Mungos and other places. Joanna was different. She dressed every day, right down to the face and hair. She even always remembered to wear the necklace her father gave her when she was about eleven. He had chipped a piece of his Philosopher's Stone and put it into a necklace setting. It wasn't enough to produce anything, but it reminded her of who she was and who she was destined to be one day.
He rather enjoyed her company day in and out. Although she had no idea why they shared such a strong bond. Severus wasn't sure he would ever want to tell her. He saved her life, and that wasn't the only thing she would want to know. She would ask about his participation in Voldemort's plans. She would want to know how important he had been. She would ask him if he had anything to do with her mother's death.
The answer would not make her happy. That raid had caused Joanna to be plunged into a six-month state of captivity. If that had never happened Severus wouldn't have had to rescue her, and he never would have turned her over to the authorities, not if he had known who she was. She was turned over to a father she had never met, a wealthy aristocrat who spent his time researching and spending his fortune doting on himself. He doted on Joanna plenty but it didn't make up for the time he had lost because he hid her from the world to keep her from the life of fame that came with her father's name. Without Severus's idea of fun in his temperate times when he was living off his rage, she would have had a normal life and remained a well-guarded Ministry secret. He thrust her into the life of a well-born aristocrat and famous alchemist's daughter. It wasn't intentional, but he was the cause.
It killed him, but he had to keep this secret from her.
As they entered the Great Hall, virtually the only people who had stayed at Hogwarts for the summer besides with Minerva McGonagall who had nowhere better to be at her age, and Dumbledore who had made the school his home, though he had a lovely townhouse in London, they saw that there was an unexpected guest dining with them tonight.
A man wearing midnight blue robes with silver trim. He was a thin man, but at the age of six hundred sixty one still had his full head of gray hair. He turned and smiled toward Joanna, who broke out into a run and thrust herself into the arms of Nicholas Flamel.
Severus neared the reunion and nodded a greeting to Dumbledore who was standing with the famed alchemist on the teachers' platform. "Daddy, what are you doing here," Joanna asked when they pulled away from their embrace.
"Poor news I'm afraid, my pet," Nicholas replied in his raspy voice, the only real indication of his age. "There was an attempted robbery from the house last night."
"Not the stone," Joanna said, sounding as concerned as she looked as her eyebrows knitted together.
"That was the goal, I fear. Fortunately I was able to scare whoever it was off, but the point is we'll have to relocate it. Dumbledore old and dear friend as he is, has generously offered to let me use the school's spare safe for the time being." Nicholas took his daughter's hand and hooked it in the crook of his arm, patting her fingers lightly.
They all walked towards their seats at the table, Nicholas to Dumbledore's right, Severus on his left and Joanna at her father's right with Minerva closing the gap. During holidays, Dumbledore frequently changed the shape of the long table to a more intimate circular one with only enough places set for guests eating. He enjoyed the more personal style of dining when formalities could be overlooked.
They spent several hours talking amicably. Nicholas seldom discussed projects in company, and so was much more interested in Joanna's work with Severus over the last month or so, asked questions about the school and Severus' work. And when the hours were spent and the wine was drunk and all the exciting topics of the evening had spent Nicholas got up from the table and bade his daughter goodnight before asking Severus to walk him to his thestral drawn carriage at the end of the school's grounds. And along the way he had one more thing he was interested in discussing.
"You still haven't told her it was you."
Severus knew Nicholas knew about his good deed…and his many bad ones. But he still was not comfortable talking about it. "How do you know sir?"
"Because she does not yet look at you with the fire of a thousand suns." Nicholas smiled knowingly with a backward glance at the castle, "Tell her and she will. I suggest not saying a word."
Severus nodded. Yes, that seemed like the wisest thing to do, bury his past. "I never intended to cause so much harm. I did my best to make things right when I came around."
"I know you did, and for that I never got to thank you for taking care of my girl. Six hundred sixty one years of life and I only found time to produce one heir to my name."
"Thank you sir, and I never got the chance to apologize for what I caused to happen to Joanna's mother."
Nicholas sighed and stopped at the end of the walkway, opened the carriage door and set one foot on the step. "I loved Winifred, hence why I tried so desperately to hide her when I found out the baby was on the way and knew things were going to go to hell in a hand basket, and quickly at that. But lovers in my life have come and gone. They're born, they live, we love, and either I get tired of them and never hear a word again or they die. And I move on. Joanna is different. She is my daughter. Nothing will ever change about my love for her. Not to say I don't care about what happened, it's just…of the two, I would rather it have been Joanna who was saved, and she was. So for that reason I must forgive you." Nicholas stepped into his carriage and Severus closed the door for him.
"Goodnight Mr. Flamel."
"Goodnight professor."
Severus watched the castle lights as he walked back up to the front doors. The hall was dark now, which meant everyone was readying to retire. Too late for the test he had planned for Joanna, she was probably asleep by the fire again.
He was right. Joanna was asleep on the couch with a novel in her limp hand, about to slip from her drowsy grasp. Severus walked into their sitting room in just enough time to catch it before it made a rather loud thump on the wooden floor. After setting the book gently on the couch side table, Severus stooped to the level of the couch and lifted Joanna up off the place she was laying, and walked as smoothly as he could manage towards her bedroom opposite his down the hall.
Severus loved his space at the school. You walked in and there was a beautiful kitchen nook on the right and a bathroom on the left, followed by and large sitting room next to it, a study opposite and at the end, there were two more rooms, one his bedroom, the other hers. His room used to be a very large master bedroom, but he extended the hall and split the one room into two. It was strange to share the intimate feeling space in a platonic way with someone, but she had asked to share his quarters, even after Dumbledore offered to add another tower for her. Severus never understood why, but he expected Joanna hadn't the faintest clue either.
Severus sat on her bed and slightly cradled Joanna with her front slumped over one arm while using the other hand to untie the stays at the back of her robes. It was slow work, but he did eventually get her out of her gown and down to her corset and knickers. He knew she wouldn't have been angry to know. She frequently walked around at night wearing nothing but such, knowing there was a slight chance he was up too having a glass of wine or working late. It came with the territory of living with someone, Severus supposed, but then it was a little odd. Perhaps she was subconsciously aware of their history after all. Of all the masters she could have asked to intern with, she chose him.
Severus covered her with a quilt that was neatly folded at the end of her bed and hung her robes in the wardrobe beside her vanity. After shutting her light and closing her door, Severus walked across the hall and into his own room. After dressing in his own nighttime garb and crawling into bed he heard Joanna call from across the hall just as he was about to shut his own light, "Goodnight, Severus."
Severus shut his light pulled his covers to his chest and called back, "Goodnight, Joanna."
"Ugh, how is it they can still look at me like that?"
Joanna was looking over her wine glass on the eve of the Start of Term Feast towards some seventh year Slytherines. Joanna was effectively a good force in the universe, unlikely to cause any true hard to anyone, but being a famed alchemists' daughter she was not without her vices and curiosities. That was what the sorting hat had told Severus when he asked it why she was put in that house and not Ravenclaw or some other rubbish.
Severus, who was sitting on her left, followed her gaze. Indeed there were several boys sitting together trying to watch her in a discreet manner and making a poor job of it. Severus thought to himself that it didn't help that her choice of robes this evening was a rather flattering scarlet number made of silk, the over robes being effectively a bustier with a skirt, short in the front and long in the back, the short bodice adorned with flat metal buttons of some dark gray material he was unfamiliar with, and from her bosom could be seen from across the hall as crimson and black lace corset, the crimson color matching her underskirt made of chiffon which flowed from the hood of the short silk over robes in the front. The lace was apparent elsewhere only in the arranged flower made of the stuff pinned into her short chocolate colored hair. Severus looked at her arms, white and graceful emerging from the thick straps of the robes, with skin so perfect he wanted to stroke it every time she exposed in an inch to him these days. After three months living with her in his quarters he had not only indentified his role in her life as more than a mentor, but had identified his desired for more, though he knew it was wrong to think so.
She complained of the looks, when in fact she was dressing to be looked at.
Severus drank from his own goblet while pretending to be interested in what Quirrill was saying to him. In fact he couldn't have cared any less, Joanna beside him or no. He was the new Defense professor, and once again this meant that Severus was being denied the only thing he actually coveted in this school. He should be bitter at the headmaster, but considering how much the old man had done for him, starting with forgiveness for Severus' most treacherous mistake, and ending with his endless support, Severus found this veritable punching bag of a man a sufficient target. He could break the man with his quip of tongue alone, and that was satisfying.
Though for the moment, his eyes rested on Harry Potter. The new celebrity. Joanna had finally been replaced in popular conversation around the school at long last. The boy was chatting up the Weasley clan. So it began then. The boy would know nothing of this world beyond what he had discovered in the few days before, but that did not mean Severus didn't intend to torture him slightly in the upcoming lesson in the morning.
Joanna caught his gaze and guessed his thoughts. "You should be kind to the boy you know. He doesn't know enough about his past to accept outright cruelty from you."
Ah yes, having slipped his relationship with James Potter to Joanna a month before, she would be the one to give advice. He had only told her of the bullying he had suffered, not of his connection to Lily or how he played a part in their deaths. The former would invite a certain demon from his past into his present and Severus was sure he did not want this girl mixing with that one, should he ever be in a position to do more than just look at Joanna, and the latter would more that certainly bring up a subject he vowed he would never share with her, but all the same it became more and more likely he would have to communicate someday. She was rapidly becoming a friend to him, quite at the level Severus considered the headmaster a friend. How could they have any kind of relationship beyond the current if he could not bring himself to fess up to some truths, beneficial to Joanna's conscience or otherwise.
Severus dismissed his class and as they filed out of the classroom, Joanna stood from her place in a corner chair closing her book and stretching. "I thought that was rather interesting."
Severus made a final note in his class book and stuck his quill in the inkpot on his desk. "I hardly find introductory classes interesting unless you were referring to the boy."
"He was wrong to speak to a superior that way," she admitted, straightening the bodice on the set of flatteringly cut violet robes (the simple high necked one with the fully covering skirt for the gown's front. The real show was in the back, with the open back cutout shaped like a diamond and covered over in bronze colored lace matching the lace creating her fluttery capped sleeves and the metal hairpiece woven through a lock of hair this morning that had taken according to Severus' watch more than a half hour to "look right") She approached his bench the rested her elbows on the heightened desk, laying her chin upon the juncture of her forearms and tilting her head to one side. "But you goaded him. Personally, I do think the disturbance was perhaps the fault of the pair of you."
"Aren't you supposed to be in the library looking for a manuscript?"
It came out harsher than he meant. It didn't seem to bother Joanna outwardly; she merely shrugged and said on her way out the classroom door, "I only meant that he looks an awful lot like his father as I remember him when we met in Godric's Hollow." Her father had moved her and her mother there when things got rough; six months before Voldemort attacked the Potters, Severus had led the raid on Joanna's hidden home in the Hollow. The Potters arrived not more than a month before Winifred and Joanna disappeared. "Perhaps a mutual dislike is hardwired in him."
She slammed the door when she left. Clearly she was irritated, but not enough to pick a fight with him. Not yet. Severus recalled her father's words back in July. "Yet" had been at the end of his remark about the fact that she did not look at him as though she hated him. How true it was.
Severus burst through the door behind the teachers' table and ran for the staircase to his right, which could take him directly to the third floor. Before he could begin ascending however, he heard a familiar voice calling his name. He turned around and Joanna was catching up to him, her plain black silk robes' skirts billowing behind her until she came to a halt by his side.
"Where are you going?"
"I have no time for this." Severus began to climb but he held fast to his hand.
"Tell me."
Severus was running out of time. A decision had to be made here, but it was not an easy one. She knew as well as he did where this staircase led, and sooner or later she would be questioning him again. At least this way they could skip the part where she mistook him for a thief. "Keep your wand out and follow me, quietly."
Severus was only mildly aware that he kept hold of Joanna's hand as they climbed, and did not let go until they had reached the top and gone through the door that was there. In fact it was the absence of contact that had alerted him to the fact. When they reached the corridor in question, Severus stopped behind a statue and crouched down, pulling Joanna with him by her shoulders. She had her hands over his as he did this. "Whatever happens," he said, "stay hidden."
Severus rushed on, leaving her there, and against ever fiber in her being, Joanna obeyed. She was certain this had to do with the stone, and she trusted Severus enough to know he would not take it with the diversion of the troll, but why were they here? Was someone else trying to take it? Who? It couldn't be a student, for not student could get past Fluffy. Which meant it had to be a teacher, but the only teacher who she did not trust was one she did not know from her own time as a student-
Her answer came flying past her in a swish of violet robes and a turban. Quirrill. So he was after the stone. But why?
She decided there was time enough for that later. For now she listened. A moment went by and then there were uneven footsteps, slow and heavy coming down the hall. She waited, wand sill in hand. Could there have been someone else with Quirrill, an accomplice? Joanna waited rather than betray her position. Knowing that she was amidst some mischief involving the stone, it would be best to make no assumptions.
A figure in black robes passed and Joanna let out a sigh. She stowed her wand and stood up. From the expression on Severus' face, he was in pain. She stopped him and looked down towards his leg. It was a bloody mess. Fluffy (what a name for such a vicious animal), must have tried to tear him limb from limb. Quirrill had been close she thought. Fluffy would have done worse had he been awake when Severus got there. So close…
"We should get you cleaned up."
Severus shook his head and pointed toward the more open corridor. "He went that way?"
Joanna nodded.
"Then he'll be looking to give himself an alibi, get to the troll with the other teachers. We should do the same. The fewer who know about this the better."
As they began walking, and Severus winced with ever step he took on his torn leg, Joanna said quietly, "Even the headmaster?"
Severus nodded. "Even the headmaster."
When they reached the ground floor, it would seem the troll made its way to the girls' bathroom, so Severus sent Joanna to their quarters while he took care of the story. She waited impatiently pacing the sitting room for him to return, but made sure to sit herself calmly down on the chaise in across from the couch when she heard the door open and shut and the footsteps she was so familiar with stroll down the hall.
Severus sat himself in his armchair and sighed. Neither of them said a word for a few minutes. Joanna tried to hold her tongue, but she couldn't. She sat herself opposite Severus on the coffee table and clasped her hands together. She looked him dead in the eye and said, "Severus, tell me what is going on with Quirrill and my father's stone."
It would have been cruel to leave Severus in such pain, so as Joanna worked to fix his crushed tibia, Severus spoke:
"Quirrill is after it. I'm not certain if it is for himself or someone else, but he is adamant. I am more than certain he let the troll in to create that diversion. The golden Griffindor got it by the way."
"Hermione?"
"Think darker and with a scar on his forehead."
Joanna said nothing, as Severus' tone was letting off a peeved air. He continued. "I have a feeling the stone isn't for his direct benefit."
"Then whose?" Joanna was bandaging Severus' leg. And when she was finished she yanked down Severus' pant leg and looked up at him, still waiting for an answer.
"I think…somehow Voldemort is involved."
Severus was well aware that Joanna was another of the educated type who had not taken the bait that he was really gone. Flamel had been attentive in his fathering, right down to reminding his daughter that nothing is stone, at which point she was keen on asking about the man she perceived to have ruined her life. It wasn't all him, Severus knew, but Joanna didn't of course.
The mood was solemn, even as they got ready for bed, both their doors open. They both went to bed with the night light from the hallway spilling into their rooms. Joanna felt uncomfortable sleeping with her door open, but she was sure she would feel even more vulnerable knowing the Severus couldn't get to her in three seconds flat.
Joanna and Severus made it into the Great Hall, if a little late. Severus was still limping but could walk well enough on his own. They were late for Saturday morning breakfast, but it wasn't nearly over yet. As they walked between the tables, Joanna leaned close to Severus and said, "You should say something. Wish him luck."
Severus rolled his eyes, and as they passed the boy he said, "Good luck today Potter. Then again now that you've proven yourself against a troll, a little game of quiddich should be easy for you. Even if it is against Slytherine."
As he and Joanna continued on to the staff table, she smirked and said quietly, "That wasn't quite what I meant."
"I wished him luck."
"Right before intimidating him."
Severus pulled out Joanna's chair for her before seating himself beside her. He took some bacon and toast, scrambled eggs, and a strong coffee. Joanna, reminding Severus of exactly how young she was by comparison, took a triple stack of pancakes and plenty of syrup.
"So why are you so intent on making life so miserable for the boy. Aside from the fact that his father gave you hell in school. Something else must have happened between the two of you." She took a bite and looked his way. Severus muttered a small charm and then they were about to talk privately. It was one Joanna was familiar with; one of several spells of Severus' own he had taught her while she was a student serving detentions under false pretenses. No, they had never been just a teacher and his pupil.
"He won. His wife, Lily…I loved her for years; since before Hogwarts. I said something stupid in a fit of anger during a rather embarrassing event caused by James and it all but thrust her into his arms. I never got her back, even as a friend."
"Oh." Joanna stuffed another bite of fluffy pancake in her mouth and quieted. She was embarrassed. Clearly she had not anticipated such a personal answer.
Severus lifted the charm and they ate in silence, not speaking again until they were seated in the teachers and visitors' box at the quiddich pitch. It was cold, and Joanna had forgotten her heavier cloak in her room. Severus was about to sweep his own heavy cloak off and drape it over her shoulders, but Quirrill who had seated himself behind them took a blanket and placed it over Joanna. He rubbed her shoulders, as though trying to make her warm, but the touch seemed a little too sensual for Severus, more like a light caress than a brisk chafing. And something about it reminded him of when Joanna was captive in the Death Eaters' hide away, when she would sit at Voldemort's feet and he would rub her shoulders in just such a way…
Severus cleared his throat loudly and Quirrill let go. Severus removed the blanket and replaced it with his cloak. Joanna smiled for a second, then leaned forward and trained her eyes towards the pitch even though there was nothing going on at the moment. Just Madam Hooch making sure everything was regulatory. Severus leaned into her and whispered, "Are you all right?"
Joanna said back in a low voice, though he could tell she was shaking head to toe, "I think perhaps you were right about him and his motives."
The game began and though it was an intense event, it was not nearly as intense as the feeling in the staff box. Not only were the teachers there, but some of the board of directors had shown up for the first game of the season. The Griffindor keeper was knocked out so Slytherine had a chance to even their score. Severus was actually smiling at the fact, which made Joanna bite her bottom lip. She wanted her old house to win, but she would much rather they do it honorably, and they seldom did.
When the chase gave way to the snitch, something strange happened. Harry Potter's broom started bucking him off, as though it was trying to make him fall off. Joanna turned her head slightly not taking her eyes from Harry. "Severus, what on earth-?"
But Severus was already trying to rectify the problem. He was muttering a counter curse. Joanna scanned the Slytherine side of the arena, trying to find someone who could be causing this to happen. But then she realized that the culprit was likely sitting right behind her. Joanna sat up straighter and watched as Harry's broom bucked him over the front of the stick and Harry was left dangling from his mount.
As Joanna watched in horror she noticed an odd sensation. Her feet were getting warm, and it was a particularly strange feeling taking into account the chilly weather. She looked down and squealed a little when she saw the fire on Severus' robes. Several people in the box backed into one another trying to get away from the flames, which were growing rapidly. Quirrill actually fell backward off his seat. Severus soot up and stamped them out, during which time Harry's broom finally calmed and he was able to give chase again.
The game ended in a spectacular display, not the least of which was Harry's fantastic catch of the snitch…in his mouth. He really was a fabulous flier. And while waiting for the students to file out before the staff was free to go, Joanna could not help but wonder why Quirrill was trying to kill Harry. Aside from the obvious that he was Voldemort's old target, she knew from experience that Harry would be someone Voldemort would never trust to another person to dispatch. He would wait until he was once again formidable. He would want to kill the boy in full and menacing form. So was Quirrill acting on his own for Voldemort to gain appreciation? Probably, but his goal was useless. Voldemort would punish him if he succeeded. And if he didn't, Quirrill would remain just as useless a pawn as he was now, valuable only as the incubator he was serving as at the moment. Voldemort only cared to further his own agenda. So why bother with the boy?
Walking back to the castle, Joanna recalled something in her memory. While it was true she did not know Quirrill before he came to teach, she had seen him before at a banquet held every year by the Ministry. She had been to one once, several years ago, when she was maybe fourteen. Quirrill did not come out into society often, but on this occasion he had as it was just preceding his trip. Severus had attended as a social duty, like her father. It had been Severus who pointed Quirrill out to her while describing everyone in the room. Something about him was very different then from the man that was Quirrill now.
"Severus," she whispered. "Before his trip to the Mediterranean…do you remember Quirrill ever wearing a single thing on his head?"
Severus' eyes had flickered for a moment with realization. He reached for Joanna's hand and squeezed it in a sign of understanding, and as he went to let go, he found her clutching to his entire arm as they made their way up the steps to the castle entrance hall.
He let her hold on. She was scared. And with Joanna's history, he thought, she should be.
Joanna woke up in a corridor. She was standing up, and when the dark hallway came into focus she stamped her foot in frustration. She was sleepwalking again. It happened sometimes when Joanna was stressed about something. With a sigh she started to head back towards the dungeons, and was just about to round a corner when she saw him. She covered her mouth to stifle a gasp and threw herself back around the corner. What was he doing up?
She peered around the corner again. The corridor was empty. For a minute, Joanna didn't move, but when it became apparent no one was in the corridor she stepped out, arms crossed and thought that perhaps she had imagined Quirrill. It was nearly two in the morning, and she was drowsy. Theoretically Joanna could have hallucinated seeing the defense professor. She had almost ruled as such when someone grabbed her from behind.
The figure pressed her against his body, arms snaking around her own so she could not budge, but he did not move her from where he had caught her. He put his mouth to her ear and breathed into it, "You should get back to bed, Miss Flamel. You never know what dangers lurk in the shadows at night."
"You mean like you," she answered at full volume.
"Oh now," the figure said as one hand stroked Joanna's belly through her pale yellow nightgown. "I wouldn't jump so quickly to danger. I would say this encounter boarders on…lucky."
"Yes," said a third voice, "very lucky indeed." The figure was violently shoved from Joanna and she turned around to see Quirrill against the wall and Severus, wand out, not three feet away from him. Joanna kept her distance until Quirrill made a break for it. Severus caught him up at the end of the hallway after stowing his wand back in his pocket and, taking him by the chest of his robes with both hands, shoved the stuttering professor against the wall. Joanna was only just able to catch up, though she stood at the opposing wall, far from her assailant's grasp.
"Severus, I…I-"
"You don't want me as your enemy Quirrill."
"W-what do you m-mean?"
"You know perfectly well what I mean." Severus stopped, and looked to his right. There was nothing there, but he looked hard at the empty space as though there was someone standing right there. He let go of Quirrill's robes with one hand and reached out his hand as far as he could and grappled at something, but came up as empty handed as could be expected when one is reaching for nothing.
After examining his lack of a catch for a second, Severus turned back to Quirrill, and said, "We'll have another little chat soon, when you've had time to decide where your loyalties lie."
Severus would only abandon this opportunity to scare their suspect silly, if he had something more pressing to attend to. It could be that he just wanted to see Joanna back to their quarters, but likely it had more to do with what he thought was with the three of them in the corridor, or so Joanna thought. Though she didn't have much time to mull it over, as Argus Filch came strolling up to them all with a broken lantern.
"Professors," he said in a slightly excited tone, "I found this in the restricted section." Joanna came closer so as to hear the conversation. "It's still hot, that means there's a student out of bed."
All four of them rushed off and Joanna followed Severus, who eventually stopped in one of the small closet corridors that was always poorly lit and seldom used. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine, just…"
Severus took one of her hands in his, and announced his choice of adjective. "Shaken." Joanna broke; her brow knit together and she began to sob, not a tear falling. This was an expression of sheer terror. Severus pulled her close and held her, until the hysterics calmed. He then sighed and said, "I can let Quirrill and Filch handle the student. Chances are they're long into bed by now anyway. Come on, we're going back."
Once again, Joanna and Severus went to bed with their doors open. Joanna had to confess, she very much wished he was closer to her, not that it was highly possible Quirrill would come in here and steal her, but because she simply felt safer knowing he was nearby. He could hear her every move from his own bed she was sure, and if she should call for him he would be up in a flash, but she wanted more than that. For some reason, she just wanted more.
"How is she?"
Severus was bothering Madame Pomfrey again about Joanna's condition. The night before Quirrill had kidnapped her and brought her to the mirror, trying to get her to get the stone out of it. She would have been able to if she hadn't been threatened and cursed she could have very well gotten it. As it was she needed that stone to save her life; if she handed it over the cursing would stop and she would live. Because the mirror was operating on the feeling of wanting without motive, it didn't work. She had been knocked out, Severus guessed that was when the boy showed up, and Dumbledore brought her out along with Harry when he was able to get to the chamber. Severus had been alerted right away and showed up at the hospital wing, kicking himself for not realizing that Quirrill had come and taken Joanna in the middle of the night without Severus' knowledge thanks to a rather potent headache easing sleeping draft. But Joanna had been put into a deep sleep by then, so he had waited outside the ward all night.
Just as the night before, Poppy announced, "She's awake, she's lucid, and she is desperately asking for you." Unlike the night before she added, "The headmaster is with her."
Severus knit his brows together and looked over Poppy's shoulder. Dumbledore was indeed sitting on Joanna's bed speaking to her. After receiving instructions to remain put until they were finished, Severus observed Joanna getting up from her bed at the end of the hospital ward and walking to the window Dumbledore didn't say any more, opting for silence after whatever he had just told her. She turned around after a while, hand over her mouth and tears pooling in her eyes, and looked up to see Severus. She ran to him, and he met her in the middle of the aisle.
She buried her face in his chest and said, "The stone's gone…he's going to die." Dumbledore was strolling towards them. When he got close enough he spoke quietly. "Nicholas Flamel is asking to see you before the month is out. He has enough elixir to last until then so as to get his affairs in order. Apparently you're one of those affairs."
Dumbledore walked to the nearest bed on his right, in which Harry Potter was fast asleep. Severus helped Joanna back to her own bed, since Poppy hadn't yet discharged her. "Stupid right?" she asked slightly deadpan while letting him lead her. "Never thought I would have to deal with a dying father. Who would have thought? He's only six hundred sixty two years old."
Severus was seated beside Nicholas Flamel in an ornately decorated chair. The alchemist lay dying in his bed. Joanna had fallen asleep on the bed beside her father, and now he weakly stroked her hair as he and the potions master talked.
"I know she's not a child anymore, but she's still so young. Look after her Severus. This house and everything in it belongs to her. Everything I own. There's enough gold in my vault to keep her living well until she dies, but all the same I know nothing will content her like work." He paused and smiled sadly to himself for a moment before continuing. "I know you made some alchemic studies of your own, but not enough to teach her everything I was going to when her potions internship was up."
"I can find another master for her, sir."
"No. Anyone but me is going to make her play by the rules. She can't get ahead that way. She'll end up following everyone else's pattern of thinking instead of thinking for herself, it'll ruin her. In leaving everything solely to her, she will also inherit my personal notations. There's a whole library of the stuff. I would like her to make her own study using my philosophies. She's going to pioneer her studies the same way I did…with you guiding her."
"Me, sir?"
"Yes you. Stay on top of her and make sure she's apprenticing herself."
Severus nodded in acceptance and left to go to the kitchen and accept a meal from the house elf, who was incidentally a fantastic cook.
As he walked through the house, he could not help but notice how well Joanna was coming out of this. The walls were papered in satin and the ceiling were all either leafed or painted in immaculate fashions. Every piece of furniture was worth a small fortune and there had to be more than fifty rooms in the expanded townhouse. Technically, it was three houses belonging to the same person and built into one another. There were bedrooms, bathrooms, servants quarters for the elves, a breakfast room, the parlor, a large kitchen, a study used for a workroom and another for actual studying, a couple of dens, the attic, dressing rooms, a small menagerie containing rats, rabbits, and other rodents along with a rather large fruit bat named Arthur. And to top it all was a very large dining room, where Severus was taken by a small house elf named Marvin for a meal.
While he was finishing his roast duck, the poor thing came in sobbing, announcing the master had passed before running through the double doors to the kitchen wailing bloody murder. It took Severus almost twenty minutes to pry Joanna away and out of the bedroom.
They apparated back to the school and Severus gave Joanna a sleeping draught before putting her to bed. He poured himself a glass of wine and sat up in the sitting room beside the fire, thinking about his promise to Mr. Flamel. It seemed Joanna would be with him for a very long time. Generally an alchemic apprenticeship lasted four years, minimum. That meant she would be living with him for another four years. He smirked to himself and drowned his glass. After ten years apart, once again he became her caretaker. He wondered how Joanna's subconscious would feel about that.