A/N Disclaimer: Any intellectual property you might recognize, with the exception of Cerridwen Goron and her personal details, belong elsewhere. I intend to place disclaimers roughly every 3 chapters.

Also, there is a strong possibility these chapters will not be regularly posted.

-Nedj

RESEARCH AND REPERCUSSIONS

She felt a flash of ... something ... emanating from Severus, and shivered. Trying to cover her sudden discomfort, she straightened her eggplant robes into slightly more order, starting at her wrists and ending with a brisk twitch of the velvet hem covering her vastly impractical silk slippered feet. She looked up with easily discernible hesitation at his dirisive snort and felt a frisson of fear at his thunderous expression.

"Ha fucking ha. How very droll." He stalked towards her with a furious sneer. Looming over her, he placed a hand at either side of her head and fisted great hanks of curly hair, trapping her in place as she winced in pain, glowering directly into her eyes. "If you're quite done mocking me, my dear, perhaps you should know a bit more about the asp you've so ... unwisely ... twisted the tail of." His hands matched his words by twisting her hair tighter in his hands, bringing forth a whimper. "For six years, I've endured more torment than a conscionable population would ever allow. I've been mocked, ignored, beaten, hexed, jinxed, and frankly bullied by every manner of witch and wizard this ... fine institution ... has fit to bestow upon me. I've received death threats, foul insinuations, and actual attempts on my life by a batch of supercilious braggarts, bastards, and bullies. I'll not be further made a fool of by a whispy little ... fairy ... of a girl." He leaned forward to shade her face by his long, lank hair,stifling nearly all of the light in the room. Her breath stilled and stopped with a burn in her lungs as she realized ... what she thought she'd understood from the family records and Pensieves fell woefully short of fact. Terrified black eyes skittered between darkly gleaming, furious, and equally black eyes as she scrabbled for something to, hopefully, defuse some of the venom in his gaze. She found herself stammering horribly when she could finally speak.

"Severus, please ... Please! ... I'm not mocking you. It's the truth. I can't even begin to explain ... Please ..." Fat tears sprang up unbidden and slipped from the outer corners of her eyes, her head still held quite immobile in his grasping fingers.

A shaking breath escaped her slightly open mouth as she trembled. An expression of dark desire flashed over the face so close to her own, and her eyes flew wide as she was suffused with a rush of shocked arousal. "Dear gods ... what's wrong with me? What do I do?!' She whispered cautiously ... "Legilimize me, Severus, let me show you. Please. Please, believe me ..."

He nodded in satisfied approval, then leaned forward to close the last little bit of space between them, and connected his lips lightly to her own as he murmured the spell against her skin.

With the unexpected contact, vivid images and emotions began filtering through her mind. Her eyes closed with the strange, tingling intimacy of this caress of a kiss combined by his presence in her thoughts ...

Ancient papyrus with heiroglyphs that shifted from meaningless to readable script, dictating the terms and stipulations of their combined bloodlines' detailed marriage contracts and laws of inheritance, guides for countless future generations of descendants. A golden mist flashes into existence as some hidden higher being briefly caresses the document. The mist fades into a fall of golden waterdrops, touching the writing and making it glow in turn, placing an indelible Binding on the page. A new vision, coming faster ... A large Egyptian fleet. A grand Egyptian barque in the colours of royalty, decorated in jeweled Egyptian asp cobras, edges the shore of what would become known as Wales, as smaller boats approach land. Servants begin preparing the shoreline as an impressive wizard looking much like Severus gazes indolently over his new nation ... More marriage contracts are signed and witnessed by later generations of Prince and Goron descendants, all gleaming brightly as the inks stain their scrolls ... A blur of images now, all burned into their memories ... Flashes of prophesy being uttered by John Dee, another of their common ancestors ... Family trees twisting, merging ever tighter together like Devil's Snare ... The document outlining the betrothal of Lethe Prince, who they both know looked exactly like Cerridwen, and Owain Goron ... The marriage certificate of Nerys and Emyr Goron, cousins just far enough removed to be acceptable for marriage ... The sudden death of her paternal Aunt Pandora, known as Panda before her marriage and given the surname Lovegood after ... Their own betrothal parchments of fine green stationary and gilded edging, being signed by Eileen Snape, nee Prince, and Emyr Goron in their childrens' names ... Cerridwen's own wand, held by her 8-year-old hand, touching the contract as the glow flares and fades ... Cerridwen and Luna, calendar visible on the wall behind, peering over their cauldron while adding a sprinkle of lilac buds ... Lilac-scented and coloured smoke as Cerridwen shimmers and slowly disappears ... Cerridwen laying fast asleep, peaceful, just inside Hogwarts' gates and wards ... And a vision of the future - Severus, staring blindly into the distance from the Astronomy Tower, holding a bottle of Old Ogden's and looking entirely bleak ...

Soft pressure felt on her lips as they both relaxed into the kiss. Her hand fluttered up to gently touch the back of his head, eliciting a soft sigh from Severus as he began nipping at her lower lip. Quite without conscious intent, a low moan escaped her throat as she flicked the tip of her tongue against his teeth to soothe the little bite and to explore. With a shocked hiss, he pulled away gently ... Both of them touched their mouths in sudden confusion.

She swallowed with a shaky breath as she began to speak again in a quavering voice. "We need more information. We need ..." She hesitated, but was reassured the next moment as they both spoke in tandem.

"The Library ..."