Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Harry Potter. My stories are purely for entertainment value. I do not make profit out of them in any way.
The Counter Curse
Severus hung his cape on the hook beside the door and looked around the room. A table with two chairs, a couch and a bed. It wasn't much, but it was his for the time being. He put down the bag Muse had given him. He was sure it would contain everything he'd need for a comfortable night. The four of them, Muse, the Minister, Rex and himself, had been talking for hours without reaching any conclusion. He had been sure he would be able to open the cursing ball, as it had done in the past, but nothing had happened when he'd touched it.
Muse had thought of everything though, giving him a good cover that would not be suspicious. His lips curled. To teach again!
He sat down at the table and opened the bottle of wine that had waited for his arrival. He leaned back, taking a sip. Ah, this felt good!
He could get used to this again. He could forget all about his mission, the Animus Reprehendo and especially the girl up in the south tower. It would be so easy. He wondered if they'd find him if he'd disappear. It could happen, the spell might have gone wrong. The real question was, could he do it. Could he live with himself, knowing someone out there was using the Dark Magic he created?
But that was beside the point. Did he really value his own stolen life above that of a teenage girl? Did he deserve it more?
Well of course he did! He was, after all, Severus Snape! He pulled the rest of his drink in one draw and put it on the table with a loud bang.
As he poured himself another drink, he wondered where he should start his research. Who had known about the purple ball? He crossed of the list in his mind. Rosencrantz – dead. Limestone – imperio. Coldwater – imperio. Stonehenge – dead. Voldemort, well quite obviously, dead. And then there had been himself. How could there have been a leak? Had someone had access to the files without him knowing? Even so, there could not have been a way of taking anything from the lab. He put up dozens of protective spells.
Severus sighed. He would start his research first thing in the morning after he'd slept, really slept, for the first time in almost half a century.
#
Jasona stretched out her arms and yawned. She had slept in the hay and it had been surprisingly comfortable. She wondered what she would do today. Probably just laze around, since there was not much else to do. She could try counting the blades of grass, but she decided against it. She'd better save it for the day when she would be so bored she wished she had a book, she thought with a smile.
Closing her eyes again, she wondered what he was doing. Probably reading. She pictured him, studying a pile of books, before she fell into a slumber.
#
Days turned into weeks. Severus had not gotten any closer to solving the mystery. It frustrated him. He had gone up the tower a couple of times, just to watch Jasona from the shadows, but she was never there. He kept hoping for a glimpse, then he might show himself and they could talk. He really needed someone to talk too. Muse was al right, and he had some interesting discussions with Rex, but they didn't make him feel the way he had felt when he was with her. In the end he decided it took too much energy to lurk around. He should focus on fixing her problem, that would also solve his own.
But maybe he was looking at the problem from the wrong perspective. Maybe he should turn it all around and start with the end. Jasona had picked up the ball by the road, hadn't she? Someone had put it there .. Had someone put it there for her to be found? Someone who knew she would pick it up and take it with her?
Of course!
No one who knew what they had, would leave the Animus Reprehendo without having a purpose! A buzz of excitement hit him. He felt he was getting closer to the truth. All he had to do now, was question everyone she knew. Starting at Hogwarts might prove to be a challenge. Until the opportunity rose, he would have to start with her family.
The next morning he was standing outside the Muggle apartment building where Jasona's mother lived in. He checked his Muggle clothes. It was a cold December day so he had decided to put on a lined leather jacket over his sweater. It had cost him some time to get dressed, but in the end he was satisfied with the result. He looked like a real Muggle.
He rang the bell which was immediately answered by a lofty woman's voice.
"Yes?"
Severus answered. "I'm Professor Snape, ma'am. I have some questions concerning your daughter." There was a long silence before he heard the buzzer. On the first floor, the door was opened by an attractive forty something woman with blond hair – obviously not her own colour. She looked him up and down, ignoring the hand he held out. A short nod invited him into her house.
#
".. and then she, like, vanished! That's what I heard!"
Severus could not believe his luck. He was having breakfast at the Hufflepuff table, surrounded by other second year girls. Other, because as for now, he was one of them. Deborah, a short twirly girl, had been the first person on leave who he could impersonate. Her grandfather had died that morning and she had not been able to tell anyone about it yet. Muse had shown him some strings of her hair laying on the ground of his office, and the Polyjuice potion had done the rest.
So now, here he was. He had ten hours before he would run out of the potion, ten hours to get all the information he needed. He hoped he could get rid of that annoying girl sitting next to him though. She worked on his nerves but he was pretty sure he impersonated someone who wouldn't hex a friend.
Two hours later though, Severus Snape was prepared to give up his left arm if 'Hannah' would just let him breathe for five minutes!
She wasn't useful to him in any way, for she never associated with Jasona. All she said was hear-say. And the missing girl was not interesting any more, according to her. "It has almost been a month, right, so she is probably dead."
Severus could not suppress a jolt of surprise when Hannah said this. A month! He had been so busy, time had flown by. He had to admit though, that the reason he'd worked this hard, was to keep his mind off of her. An immense guilt ran through his veins, making his heart heavy. She must be so lonely!
But he didn't have time to feel guilty – or allow himself to think about the girl who's kiss he relived in his dreams every single night. He had to break free from Hannah's company and start moving in Jasona's circles. It was pointless sitting through another lesson when he could be closing in on the missing link right now!
"Miss Bottlewood?" Severus didn't realize right away he was being addressed. He looked back at Professor Neville Longbottom, who was staring at him with a raised eyebrow. "Where do you think you're going?" All faces were turned towards him and he felt his face colour. His mouth went dry to be exposed to the sudden attention. He hated himself for this. He was an adult now, what did he care what they thought!
"Well?" Longbottom seemed to have practised this tone of voice. Severus had to suppress a smile when he recognized the tone he frequently used himself. "Bathroom Professor .. really need to go." He turned around and left the greenhouse.
It would be easy to approach boys as a girl, he knew.
He found a group of third year Ravenclaw boys standing outside. He caught their eye. Then he tried to stride passed them, eyes cast down. They noticed him, or rather, they noticed Deborah. One of them, a tall, darkish fellow, punched his friends. "Nice walk, Huffie!" he called at her. Severus looked back at them and did his best to sound flirty. "Thank you for noticing.." Then he winked, hoping the boy would follow him, which thank Merlin, he did. Hormones! One of the other boys yelled "Go for it, Thesis!"
"The Owlery?" He looked at Severus in a way that left no question to what his intentions were. A slight fear crept up to him, but he swallowed it away. He was fairly sure that if necessary, he could outrun the boy.
After a nod, they started walking towards the Owlery in silence. Severus knew, this was the time to talk because men (and boys were no exception to the rule) didn't usually like to chat after a rejection.
"Do you think they will ever find that girl? You know, the one that disappeared?" Thesis shrugged. "Probably not. She would've come back by now, wouldn't she?" He took a string of Deborah's hair and let it glide through his fingers. "Don't you worry though, nothing bad is going to happen to you." He send Severus a meaningful look.
Severus looked away, feeling extremely embarrassed. "Did you know her?" he asked. Thesis frowned. "Who?" "That girl!" "Oh," he smiled as they reached the staircase to the Owlery.
"Everybody knew Jasona.." He winked at Severus. "She kind of .. went around!"
Something inside of him went cold at these words. He let the boy take his hand and lead him up the stairs. "That is, until she pulled that trick on Blair. Poor man!"
Severus stopped dead in his tracks, suddenly realizing who he should be looking for. "
Where can I find Blair!" His voice sounded commanding. Thesis looked back in wonder. "What do you need him for? I'm the best kisser you've ever met!" Severus took a step back, repelled by the idea of kissing another man. Thesis could see he was losing the girls' interest and got greedy. He took back her hand and dragged her further up the staircase. "Besides, he's not even in Hogwarts any more!" Severus struggled to break free and ran down the stairs as the angry boy roared behind him: "You stupid tease! You're going to regret this!"
He had tuned out, thinking of ways to track down Blair, so it took him a while before he noticed the whispers and finger pointing during dinner. Hannah sat beside him with a disapproving look upon her face. "So that's why you left Herbology? To make out with that creep? Severus looked back at her in surprise. "How do you ..?" She snorted. "Everyone knows! What's the matter with you! I didn't even know you knew those guys! You never tell me anything."
He just couldn't help himself. "Maybe that's because you're the one talking all the time!" he hissed. Even though he felt bad for messing up Deborah's reputation, this was not the time to deal with it. When he got up to leave the Great Hall, he could feel the sneering behind his back. It felt terrible.
#
Jasona lay on her back, pretending to be dead. It was a game she'd become pretty good at in the past few weeks. Actually it was the only game she'd played for a couple of days now. There really was nothing else to do.
What she did was, she lay down, closed her eyes and listened to the muffled and unclear sounds coming from the castle below. She imagined herself laying in a coffin, relaxing her muscles and bringing down her breathing to the minimum.
It passed the day. Sometimes she thought she had always been there, alone in this painting. All her memories were merely dreams. Even the dark man must have been a figment of her imagination. There was only this .. nothing. She tried to limit her thoughts of Severus Snape while she was playing her dead game, for the memory of him always made her heart beat faster, which of course was ruining the game!
And why would she think of someone who had clearly forgotten her!
The door in the tower opened and Jasona got up quickly. She hurried towards the barn before the person entering could notice her. It had been weeks since the last time somebody came up here, and she had let down her guards. Softly panting, she stood behind the barn door, listening. A familiar voice called her name. She shook her head in disbelieve. No. This couldn't be, she must be imagining it. But there it was again, that low, silky voice. "Jasona. Please come out. I need to talk to you."
Confused she opened the door. And there he was, standing outside the painting, the man whose voice she thought she had just heard. Still, she could not believe her eyes! Slowly she walked up to him. Surely this could not be him. Maybe his son. Or his grandson? The thought of someone like him in her own world made her heart leap. "Who are you?" she asked apprehensive.
"I'm sure your remember me." He sounded hurried, like he didn't really want to be there in the first place. She stared at him. She didn't understand how he had become .. real! She felt cheated somehow, like he had taken something from her and used it for his own gain. If there was a way out, then why hadn't he told her! She felt extremely calm when she asked him. "When did you get out?"
"Right after we said goodbye. But listen.."
She lost control. "No! You listen!" She started screaming at him. "You left me here! Not a word, you just thought it was OK to disappear on me! How can you just stand there and act like you've got the right to be there! You're dead! You don't deserve to live!"
She looked around, desperately needing something to throw at him. But as she well knew, there was nothing, only grass. She threw her fists towards him, repeatedly banging them to the front of the painting. He waited impatiently for her to finish, which made her even angrier. All this time she had been comforted by the idea that she wasn't alone, that at any time he could come and talk to her, hold her. And she had been wrong. He had been enjoying himself doing – Merlin knew what – while she had almost died for a little attention!
"What are you doing here anyway? Gloating at me? Taking my painting down to burn it? As if I never existed? You filthy, low.."
He interrupted her. "Where can I find Blair?" She was dumbstruck for a moment. Then she looked at him suspiciously. "Why?" He answered her as if he were explaining an easy task to a slow child. "Because I have to find him."
She tried to get past her anger. "Leon. Leon Blair."
"Yes."
She searched his closed face. "And you're not going to explain yourself." A twisting muscle, but he didn't change his expression. "No."
Why did he want to find Leon? What was so important about him? She wasn't going to get an answer on these questions she sensed, but if she could just stretch her answer, she could at least have his company for a little while. For it was clear he would leave her as soon as he got what he came for. As much as she hated him right now, she could not face the thought of the loneliness ahead of her. For all she knew, this could be the last time she saw another face – ever!
#
"Well?" Severus raised and eyebrow for the effect and realised he was using his signature tone, the one that Neville Longbottom had adopted. He cursed himself for putting her through this, he saw in how much distress she was. He had better left her by herself until he had tracked down this Blair kid, but he just couldn't resist seeing her any longer.
He could just as well have asked Muse, or put a trace on the boy, something he was planning to do anyway. But he couldn't tell her a thing about his research or about the purple ball she had found. For one, he didn't know half the story himself, but secondly, she would probably hate him for having been involved in such a project. Hate him more then she did right now.
#
Why had she liked this cold, heartless man? What about him had attracted her, had made her fantasize! She must have been out of her mind! Or maybe she'd suffered some weird symptoms of the Stockholm Syndrome. She took a deep breath. "Why should I tell you? What are you going to do, hunt him down and put him in a painting? What are you getting out of it!"
There was a short silence before he answered. "So many questions. But if you like your new life, you could choose not to tell me anything of course." A new rush of anger came over her. "Like it?" Her fist came down again. "Oh yes, I love it! It's the best thing that ever happened to me!"
He turned away from her and she panicked. "Don't leave!" she begged. Her exclamation hung in the air. He answered softly, almost friendly. "I won't."
She relaxed a little. Maybe he was trying to help her. Maybe she jumped to conclusions. She knew she had a tendency to do that. "Will you come back .. visit me?"
His voice had a strange undertone she could not place. "Every day." She hesitated once more. If she was wrong, if he was not trustworthy but the greatest actor ever, she risked a lot. She gambled on his good nature.
"I don't know where he is. I haven't seen him since he graduated." Severus slowly turned back to her. She looked away. "We didn't really part as .. good friend."
"I know. Maybe you have some information though. Do you know where he lives?" She shrugged. "We didn't talk that much." She looked back up and saw his face turning back cold again. "I have reason to believe he put the Ani .. ball there for you to be found. So if you know anything, you would be helping yourself a great deal, miss."
She almost laughed at the idea of dim-witted Leon Blair coming up with such a complicated plan. "What reason might that be?" He squeezed his eyes. "Revenge." She let out a short, unimpressed snort. "Revenge. No. He would never do that. He learned his lesson." The dark man in front of her persisted though. He leaned towards her. "You took away his dignity. No man gets over that without a payback."
Jasona looked at him. So smug, he thought he'd figured it all out. He learned one detail and cut all the pieces to fit the puzzle. But he was wrong, so wrong.
She knew the look in his eyes. It was the same one she had seen in so many others only a year ago. It was a mixture of sole disappointment, accusation and curiosity which cut through her soul. She preferred the gossip and the sudden silences whenever she entered a room. Her House, she could understand. But him, what gave him the right to make her feel more insignificant then an insect?
How could he judge her on gossip alone!
He deserved to fail, she wanted to see the sorry look on his face when he came back to tell her how wrong he had been. The prospect made her glow inside. Smiling, she gave him what he had asked for. "He loved Quidditch. He never missed a 'Feverish Boggart' game."
#
Severus was standing in the shadow near the entrance of the stadium. He would not miss Blair getting in. For some reason he had not been able to find the wretched boy before, but his luck was about to change.
As promised a week earlier, he had spent his evenings in the tower with Jasona. He liked their evenings together. They started with him telling her a few of the matters of that particular day. Sometimes it leaded to her sharing some of her stories. Occasionally they ended up in a discussion. Even though they both had the tendency to fiercely defend their positions, it never got ugly. He usually took homework with him that needed to be corrected. She didn't mind, she said. He shared his opinions about some papers. Obviously the level of intelligence hadn't raised with the years, he found on a regular base.
Sometimes, during the daytime, he found himself longing for her reaction to something that had just happened. He had to suppress the urge to run up those stairs to tell her right away. But he was good at suppressing urges, it was his second nature.
He noticed Blair from afar. The young man was travelling in a pack of cheering friends. As they passed him, he moved in and positioned himself behind Blair. He pushed his wand in the boy's back and hissed: "Don't make a sound. Step aside."
The eighteen year old looked back at him with scared eyes as he followed the instructions. His friends moved on, not missing him in the crowd.
Severus led the boy into the lavatory and locked it with a couple of spells. He did not want to be interrupted by unwelcome visitors. He had only turned away for a fraction of a second, but it had been enough for Blair to put his wand out. Severus cursed. He should know better then underestimating an enemy. The young man tried to steady his hand. "What do you want!" he squealed. Severus swiftly disarmed him with an unimpressed smile. As he came closer, Blair moved back against one of the sinks. His eyes grew larger when he recognized the former Headmaster of Hogwarts.
"You're.. you're that bloke! From the war!" He could simply not grasp what he saw in front of him. Severus put his face so close, their noses almost touched. "Now that we 've established that, I don't have to show you what I'm capable off doing, do I? That saves us a lot of time."
Blair looked almost like fainting. "But you're dead, man! What are you, a ghost?" Severus put his wand up to the young man's throat, stressing his words. "Tell me what you know about the Animus Reprehendo."
Blair swallowed and obviously tried to buy himself time. "The what?" His question was rewarded with the wand pressing deeper into his flesh.
"Okay, okay!" Sweat ran down his face. Severus took a step back to let the boy put some water on his face. Opening the tab, Blair avoided looking into the mirror. He tried to calm down his flushed skin by dipping it with water.
"I'm not a patient man."
Blair looked up and their eyes met. Severus could not imagine Jasona being attracted to this lump of meat. The boy was obviously on the verge of pissing his own pants which, according to Severus, definitely represented a lack of character. Blair tried to smile but it looked more like a nervous twitch. "What do you want to know?"
Severus sighed. He could tell this was going to take a long time and he had better things to do with his time. Other places to be. Other people to see. He shook his thoughts off. He put his wand up again.
"Legilimens!"
At once he saw flashes of Blair's memories. Stealing the ball from a locked drawer. Then a slender man, probably Blair's father, aiming the Animus Reprehendo at a child resembling young Blair in front of him. The child cried but his father was unforgiving. Blair was transported into a vacant painting in the family room, his face showing that this was not his first trip.
Severus lowered his wand and turned Blair around. He violently grabbed his collar. "How did you get out of the painting!" he demanded to know. The young man shivered with fear. "It just happens .. after an hour, doesn't it?" Tears welled in his eyes. "This is because of Jasona, isn't it? I .. I don't know what happened to her! I only wanted to scare the hell out of her for an hour, but she just disappeared!"
He stared at the young man in disbelief. "So you always came back after an hour?" Blair nodded, wiping his nose and making a disgusting sound. "Well, sometimes my mother released me sooner when my dad went out for a drink."
A fresh sense of hurry came over him. He wanted to go back, to make sure she was save. This nitwit could end his suffering .. her suffering, he reminded himself.
"Say it."
Blair opened and closed his mouth again, like a goldfish.
"Say it!" Severus knew hope had leaked from his voice and he could see the idea of controlling the encounter entered Blair's head. "Let go, you're hurting me." He said with a shrill voice. Severus released him on the spot. He took a step back and waited for the spell. "So?"
Blair sighed dramatically. "I'll give it a go then. But if she's dead and a corpse turns up somewhere, don't go blaming me!" Severus impatiently gestured him to get on with it. Blair picked his wand up from the bathroom floor and waved it in a deadly way. "Solvo Animus!"
They both waited but of course nothing happened. There was an uncomfortable silence. Severus thought out loud. "What happened to you when you left the painting?" Blair shrugged. "Nothing, I got on with my life."
"No!" he reminded himself to stay calm. "When you went to another painting." The young man frowned. "Leave? You can't leave! It's a bit of a trap!" Severus squeezed his eyes. "But what if she did." Blair's eyes widened. "Dude! You think that's what happened? But that's brilliant! I need to know how she did that!"
Severus pushed him up the wall. "Where did your father get if?" In his anguish, he had been too rough. Tears of pain ran down his opponents face. His breath was short. The fear had returned in his eyes. "I .. I don't know!" Before Severus could put up his wand to force the memory out of him, he was pushed away with what seemed to be all the strength the young man possessed. Severus tripped over his cape and fell down hard. He lost grip of his wand and saw it rolling into one of the cubicles.
Blair looked down at him, almost in a hysterical way. He pointed his wand at the sink and uttered:
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
Severus saw the sink break from the wall. It levitated towards him, pausing right above his head. He realised what Blair was about to do and summoned his wand. He was not going to be defeated by an idiot! He felt a heavy mass hitting his head.
Pain.
Dark.
Black.
Nothing.
#
