Serpents and Thorns: The Building Storm
By Jedi Blu, Lady at Large
Beta: Foggy Librarian, as always…wonderful!
Disclaimer: Found in previous chapters of this fic.
Notes: I just finished getting myself un-blocked in a most difficult upcoming chapter. I'm so thrilled with the way I've handled things that I'm giving y'all this update much earlier than I planned to! I think some thanks are in order! ;-)
.s.L.y.T.h.E.r.I.n.
CHAPTER FOUR: Interview with a Vampire
.s.L.y.T.h.E.r.I.n.
Fifth year double-Defense class was buzzing with talk when Rose entered quietly by the door, and she had to smile when she realized the students were too busy speculating about the guest speaker to even notice her entrance.
She walked slowly down the aisle of desks, smiling to herself as the students slowly quieted and fixated their attention on her robed back. Rose turned to face them, spinning on one heel and taking in their expectant faces. Some were excited by now, having actually studied their current subject, and others were looking paler and more afraid than she had ever seen them.
Neville Longbottom looked ready to faint, dead away.
Rose crossed her arms and leaned against the edge of her desk. "Students," she murmured. "There is one question none of you have asked that I feel I must answer. Any guesses of what that is?"
No one moved, even Hermione Granger looked faintly surprised.
"Harry Potter," she said, not looking at her nephew, "what class is this?"
He blinked, then shrugged. "Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"So why then are we studying vampires? Do they practice the Dark Arts? Are they themselves by-products of the Dark Arts?"
The students looked impatient. This was not the time for a lecture when their guest speaker could be lurking anywhere…waiting to come out and…who knew?
As usual, though, Hermione Granger raised her hand and spoke when called upon. "Nobody knows how vampires really started as a species, Professor, and even vampires don't tell anyone."
Rose nodded. "We study vampires in this class because many believe them to be dangerous, heartless, and inclined to murder innocent people, muggle and magical. But how often do they kill people? If they're so dangerous, why do we allow them to walk among us?"
The class met that with silence, except for Draco Malfoy who cleared his throat a little uneasily.
The professor smiled at them and sighed. "We are here today to meet a very noble, very important vampire called Andrew Mankiller. He is a Native American, and a very significant figure among vampires. He is a strong advocate for their kind. You will notice that it is day time, and as such it is a time when he is weak and weary. I ask you to be mindful of this and remember to be respectful to him. He's sacrificed to be here today, it will take three nights for him to recover from one morning of sunlight. After this class, fifth year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs will receive him, I ask you not to tell them, as you pass them in the halls, too much. You may take notes; maintain the attitudes of polite scholars, please."
Even as she said the last word the door to the classroom came open and the class turned, wide-eyed and as one, to see a very tall stranger in the doorway.
Andrew Mankiller was an impressive sight—over six-feet tall, with broad shoulders, and long, shining black hair which hung down his back freely. His black eyes took in the gaping students; a confident, tight-lipped smile grew upon his face as he entered the room.
Those sitting in the aisle he walked down gasped lightly and scooted away from him, staring fixedly at him.
He wore a navy business suit, a charcoal tie, and had a red handkerchief in one pocket. "Ah, my friend Rose," he said, holding out both hands to her. "It is amazing I did not get lost in this large building—Hogwarts is quite as I expected it."
Many in the room, Rose saw as she shook hands with her old friend, looked disappointed while others were relieved.
"Andrew, this is my fifth year Gryffindor and Slytherin class of students. They were a bit anxious about meeting a real vampire."
He quirked an eyebrow up at her and then turned to take in the students, as if he'd just noticed them. "Ah!" he breathed, and grinned at them—as his incisors elongated and sharpened, causing the students to freeze.
Neville swayed dangerously.
Andrew chuckled as Rose took her seat behind her desk, also appearing amused. "Children," Andrew began brightly, his incisors receding. "It is a pleasure to meet all of you. Allow me to introduce myself...I am Andrew Mankiller, representative for the American Vampire Association—or the AVA. I am in Britain because there is a very large vampire conference going on in London just now, and I was nominated by the AVA to attend on behalf of those in the United States. I understand you all have questions for me, and that some may be hesitant to ask. Who is brave enough to go first?"
For the first time anyone could remember, Hermione Granger was not the one found shooting a hand into the air—possibly because she was too busy keeping Neville from falling out of his chair...he had turned a sickly white color.
But Draco Malfoy's hand was in the air, he was wearing his usual smug expression, and when Andrew Mankiller gestured for him to speak Draco said, slowly, "Is it true you can only live by drinking human blood?"
There was a collective shudder among the students.
"That's only partially true," Mankiller remarked, leaning back against Rose's desk. "Is it true you can only live by drinking water? No, you have to eat too. Vampires, despite popular stories, do ingest other liquids and foods to keep themselves in top form. A vampire living only on blood would be equivalent to you living only on water."
Now Hermione's hand was up. "Do you," she asked, upon acknowledgment, "consider yourself dead or living?"
"All vampires consider themselves to be alive—with an odd condition or handicap. You see, if we were completely dead we would have decomposed, or be in the process of such, and our organs would not function. I have never, I can tell you, actually died."
"Then how'd you become a vampire?" asked Ron, out of turn and without raising his hand.
"Two points from Gryffindor, Weasley," Rose said softly, but nodded for Andrew to continue.
He seemed to contemplate the question and then said, with deliberate slowness, "The process is a complicated one and even vampires do not fully understand it, though we do spread numerous theories in the hopes of someday finding one to be truer than another. For me it happened strangely—it was shortly before the American Civil War. My name, at that time, was Running Wolf. As I remember it, I was caught in a trap along with my brother by a group of white men. They tortured me nearly to the point of death, it seems they took me for an Indian who had kidnapped a small child from their village. I didn't speak their tongue at the time; I only realized what their angry words to me had meant years later.
"But I was left for dead in the woods and my brother was left the same. He died from his wounds before the vampire arrived, and I was on the verge of passing through that veil myself. The vampire who came upon me happened that way by chance, and he was an Aztec Indian. You see, the theory that worked in my behalf was that my life hung by a thread when the vampire found me. He was old, and so he was powerful in the ways of our people…his blood was old. He fed me blood from his own wrist, and the 'power-surge,' you could call it, healed me with the side effect that I became one of his kind."
The majority of the students had become interested enough in his story that they had forgotten to be nervous, and hands began to shoot up at a rapid pace.
"What makes a vampire powerful?"
"How strong are you?"
"Can you turn into any animals?"
"Was there really a Count Dracula?"
"What do you think of the rights given to vampires in England?"
"Does being a Native American affect your views on your condition?"
"Have you ever killed anyone for blood?"
The class period was almost up, and the questions kept coming. Many were taking furious notes, and Hermione Granger had given up and cast a 'quick-quotes' spell on her quill. The lesson was, to Rose's relief, a hit.
The last question Andrew took was from Draco Malfoy, who asked frankly, "Do the majority of vampires favor the Dark Arts or the legal magicks?"
Andrew hesitated and then answered very carefully, "Vampires are like everyone else, all lean towards their own beliefs and opinions and are as equally divided as those of the wizarding world are. My own loyalties are pitted against the Dark Arts, in my country and in any other where they may be practiced."
Rose came to her feet, holding back a grin. "Your assignment for the week, class, is to give me twelve inches of parchment—" this was met by groans, "—on what you've learned today and your opinion on the rights of vampires. So long as the essay is coherent and shows that you took some interest and active part in today's lesson I can safely say you'll receive an E." This heartened many. "Class dismissed."
Andrew slipped through the door which adjoined the classroom to her office, and once the room had cleared Rose joined him. He was seated in the chair behind her desk—her chair—leaning back with his eyes closed and a taut expression on his face.
"That was exhausting," he said when he heard the door open. "But I'm glad I came. If I can clear up misconceptions about my people by speaking to children as open-minded as those were I can do a lot for vampires."
Rose chuckled and took the other empty chair, the one she usually had her students sit in. She did not begrudge him the more comfortable seat, and he knew she wouldn't. "I'm very glad you came, too, Andrew."
He opened one eye and grinned at her, she saw his incisors had elongated slightly. "For more reasons than one?" he suggested playfully.
She rolled her eyes. "Not in the way you mean, but it is good to see an old friend."
"Hm. I see Rose Evans and Primrose Maloy at least have the same personality," he remarked, referring to the alias she had used during her time in the Everglades. He had been a part of many of the studies conducted by the wizarding institution there—an institution actually set up by the U.S. government and the United Wizarding Order of America to experiment with potions, magic, and muggle instruments of healing and war. It was a base equivalent to Area 51, and the Salem Project which went on in the Northern states, hidden carefully beneath the swamps of the Everglades in Florida.
"Meaning what? I'm a prude?" She smiled and shrugged. "Sorry, Andrew, but I'm still not interested in pursuing a relationship with you."
"It's because I'm 'Undead,' isn't it?" he asked, teasingly. "Never figured you for a racist."
She shook her head then checked the time-piece on her desk. "The next class should be filling in soon. Are you ready?"
"I am always ready, despite the infernal sunshine outside," he replied, coming to his feet and stretching his long frame. He idly flexed his arms, then rolled his shoulders back. "But I haven't gotten my hug yet, you know. I came all this way to help you out and not even a hug...."
Rose rolled her eyes but stood and came around her desk to wrap her arms around his waist and offer him a friendly, warm embrace—
Of course, the door swung open just as the vampire began to return it.
It was Severus Snape, all ready scowling when he walked in with a parchment in his hand, but he stopped dead upon seeing the embrace Rose had locked herself into.
The witch looked over her shoulder in time to see a look of pain flash over his features before he schooled them into the impassive, grim look that he was so famous for through-out the school. It was a look that, when students saw it, sent them scuttling into corners and shadows to escape him. It was his controlled fury expression—cold and hard.
But Rose did not leap away from her old friend; she only backed slowly from Andrew's embrace and offered Severus a kind smile. She felt no need to explain herself to him, unless he sought an explanation. "Good morning again, Severus. I'd like to introduce you to Andrew Mankiller—he's an old friend from Florida."
His lip curled back in distaste. "Ah...the vampire."
Andrew crossed his muscular arms across his wide chest and cocked an eyebrow at the thin wizard, eyeing him speculatively. "This is him?" he asked. Rose, as Primrose in Florida, had once or twice mentioned the man who broke her heart to those closest to her. Andrew had been one of those to needle her—he had always wanted to know why she wouldn't pursue a serious relationship with the males of her acquaintance, including himself.
Severus gave them both a highly suspicious glare, then thrust the parchment he held towards Rose. "You may be interested in this. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a class to teach."
She took the parchment from him and nodded politely, though he had all ready turned away and was out the door before she could say another word. Rose sighed and put the parchment on her desk. She would look over it later on… she also had a class to teach.
"You were in love with that coyote?" Andrew asked, smirking. "Did you have a death wish too?"
"Oh, shut-up," she answered, feeling a headache coming on. "Everyone's always judging him before they know him. Everyone. It's getting old." She went to the door to her classroom. "Give me five minutes to prep them and then make your grand entrance."
Andrew watched her leave, then went back to her desk and opened the top drawer with a suspicious thought. Sure enough, sitting in plain sight once the drawer was open was a picture of a young Rose and a young Severus bent over a book together. "She still loves him," he muttered to himself, somewhat disbelieving. "Ai, poor little girl."
.s.L.y.T.h.E.r.I.n.
Severus Snape took points away from Slytherin—only five, but it was enough to worry those of his house that something was terribly wrong. It spread quickly through the ranks of Slytherin, and slipped quietly to the other houses through eavesdroppers, not to mess with Snape. He was in what the students were calling a 'mood.'
Dinner came, finding the great hall full of excited chatter especially from the fifth year students who had met with the vampire. The teachers were seated up at the table, in their new arrangements with Rose seated in-between Severus and Charlie Weasley. Since Severus wasn't speaking to anyone, and looked to be in a blacker mood than ever, Rose tactfully ignored him and discussed dragons with Charlie. The young wizard was always charming and a fun sort of person to be around.
Rose also understood, from numerous accounts by the students, that he was getting on very well teaching the new course, Interactions with Other Species. It was an optional class, for fourth years and up, which was actually very political and included sections on Centaurs, House Elves, Giants, and even Goblins. Charlie's plan was to invite his brother, Bill Weasley, to come in for a special lesson on interactions with Goblins. Of course, the real reason the elder Weasley son was there was to help Dumbledore keep an eye on the students and offer protection. Charlie Weasley was a quick-thinker, had made a name for himself working with dragons, and was a wonderful addition to the staff.
The other additions to the staff were doing well, though Rose knew little of them and had made no effort to get to know them. Indeed, she hadn't made an effort to get to know Charlie—he had forced his cheerful disposition on her until she learned to enjoy it.
He was telling Rose the tale of a small scar he bore across the right of his jaw when the room seemed to hush.
Rose looked up from her conversation to see what had caught the students' attention and her jaw dropped.
Scurrying up the corridor towards the main table was an enormous toad.
Wearing pink. A pink cardigan and bow.
Smiling—no, beaming, at everyone around her.
She was seated in the chair on Albus Dumbledore's left side in moments, and the uncomfortable, uneasy stares of the students rested on the Headmaster to see what he would make of this amphibious growth sitting so near him.
Only a few in the room recognized her, and Harry Potter was among those few. Rose saw that by glancing his direction—he looked angry, and white.
"That," Charlie Weasley was saying, whispering in her ear, "is Dolores Umbridge."
This was the spy Cornelius Fudge had sent to them? A harmless, pink toad with all the height of a dwarf and all the brains (it looked like) of a troll? 'Wonderful,' Rose thought, clenching her teeth again. 'And she was at Harry's trial.'
Indeed, from where she sat she could see Harry and his constant companions—Granger and Weasley—talking furiously amongst themselves as they kept glancing towards the professors' table.
Albus Dumbledore stood once Dolores Umbridge had seated herself, and indeed he looked highly pleased with the situation. "Students, many of you have heard of the Ministry's generous offer to allow us to host a member of their ranks here at the school. Madame Dolores Umbridge, I am delighted to introduce, is the first Hogwarts High Inquisitor this school has ever had the privilege to house. We look forward to her insights—" Many of the staff hardly appeared to do so. "—and to the contribution she will make to our illustrious school. I do hope you will all make Madame Umbridge feel welcome and treat her respectfully." Was it Rose's imagination or had Dumbledore looked very pointedly towards Gryffindor table? "Now, I hope you enjoy tonight's feast as much as—"
"Hem, Hem," Dolores Umbridge said. Rose, along with many others blinked at her, surprised she had interrupted the Headmaster.
Indeed, the Professors looked scandalized, and Rose was among their number. Even in her days at Hogwarts no one had ever interrupted the Headmaster. Severus, on one side, had curled his lips back in distaste while Charlie Weasley, on her other side, had his mouth hanging open in surprise.
Albus Dumbledore, always ready for what the world threw at him, only looked surprised for a flicker of an instant before sitting back down and looking at Dolores Umbridge as if there was nothing he wanted more at that moment than to listen to what she had to say. It was hard to tell the woman was standing but, Rose saw with disgust, standing she was.
Immediately Rose wondered just how ignorant and presumptuous that toady little witch was.
Her voice, as it emerged from her beaming smile, was grating on the nerves of most. It was high-pitched, breathy, and little-girlish. Rose wanted to strangle her instantly. She cleared her throat with that annoying 'hem, hem' again before speaking. "Well, it is lovely to be back at Hogwarts, I must say!" Her teeth were pointed. "And to see such happy little faces looking back at me!"
Rose felt nauseas and checked to make certain that none of the students were looking happy—they weren't, thank Merlin.
"I am very much looking forward to getting to know you all and I'm sure we'll be very good friends!" She cleared her throat as students murmured to each other, the general tone being amusement. As Umbridge continued her voice took on a more grown-up quality, and she sounded as if she were repeating the rest of her speech from memory. "The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance. The rare gifts with which you were born may come to nothing if not nurtured and honed by careful instruction. The ancient skills unique to the Wizarding community must be passed down through the generations lest we lost them forever. The treasure trove of magical knowledge amassed by our ancestors must be guarded, replenished, and polished by those who have been called to the noble profession of teaching."
She stopped to make a little bow to those professors seated around her, though none returned the gesture. Rose glanced at Charlie to see his eye twitch with annoyance, while Severus looked as if he were about to be sick—he had gone very pale and tight-lipped.
Umbridge cleared her throat with that annoying cough again. "Every headmaster and headmistress of Hogwarts has brought something new to the weighty task of governing this historic school, and that is as it should be, for without progress there will be stagnation and decay. There again, progress for progress's sake must be discouraged, for out tried and tested traditions often require no tinkering. A balance, then, between old and new, between permanence and change, between tradition and innovation, must be achieved."
Rose glanced at the students to see how they were taking this speech and wasn't at all surprised to see very little of them were paying any attention now. Umbridge could not command the attention that Albus Dumbledore alone seemed capable of. She, however, quickly turned her attention back to this very dangerous toad.
"That is why I am here, to help as changes are made and traditions are reaffirmed, because some changes will be for the better, while others will come, in the fullness of time, to be recognized as errors of judgment. Meanwhile, some old habits will be retained, and rightly so, whereas others, outmoded and outworn, must be abandoned. Let us move forward, then, into a new era of openness, effectiveness, and accountability, intent on preserving what ought to be preserved, perfecting what needs to be perfected, and pruning wherever we find practices that ought to be prohibited." She abruptly retook her seat.
Without hesitation, Dumbledore clapped for her. Reluctantly, Rose brought her hands up to follow suit, but only patted her hands together once before dropping them into her lap. A smattering of applause came from the students as well but ended quickly.
"Thank you very much, Madame Umbridge that was most illuminating." He bowed to her. "Now, on with our wonderfully prepared feast—as delicious as all the others as our kitchen staff has outdone themselves once again!"
Rose had tensed during Umbridge's speech, angrily, wondering what the froggy woman meant and having a horrible feeling she all ready knew. But the Headmaster continued to sit, smiling pleasantly as he carried on a conversation with members of the staff near enough to converse.
She was tense enough that, when a hand dropped on her shoulder from behind, she gasped and jumped slightly to look up—and up—at Andrew Mankiller. He flashed her a smile, looking normal enough, and she remembered he had been waiting until sundown to join the staff for dinner. A chair had materialized between she and Charlie Weasley, and the table had grown slightly longer without inconveniencing anyone.
Andrew took his seat, introduced himself to Charlie politely, and tapped the goblet before him. It filled with a red substance which was thick and dark—Rose didn't even want to know how the house elves had managed to get blood for the vampire.
Severus was looking up from his plate, only to glare holes into Andrew Mankiller's wide smile and muscular frame.
"Well, this is a charming set-up," Andrew was saying, glancing carefully around him. A few students had noticed his entry—fifth years would smile or wave shyly, but the rest of the school had no idea a vampire had just set down among them. The news would, of course, spread quickly once it was discovered but Rose doubted there would come any trouble from it.
Abruptly she remembered the parchment Severus had left for her—it remained unread at her desk. She determined she would retrieve it after dinner, before turning in for the night. Andrew would be leaving for London again, right after he said goodbye to her. She would miss him—he'd been a good friend to her while she was in Florida. He was, she well knew, one of the warmer vampires in the world. Which was why he was one of their political favorites—they said he was almost human and could therefore negotiate better with mortals.
Dolores Umbridge continued chatting with the staff, smiling her sickly-sweet smile and beaming at the students by turns.
Rose all ready hated her.
Severus excused himself from the table—or stormed away and out the back entrance at any rate—shortly after Andrew had shown up. The wizard still had not said a word to Rose, and she was beginning to wonder if he really was the same man, that man wishing so desperately for hope, who had kissed her but a short time before. He was so dark and withdrawn; she wondered if she even knew how to reach him anymore.
Andrew and Charlie kept her attention diverted through most of dinner, and she walked Andrew out to the castle steps to give him a hug and bid him a good journey. A carriage, pulled by thestrals, waited to take him to Hogsmeade where he could catch a train back to London without worrying about another dawn weakening him further.
Rose walked slowly through the corridors, strolling past favorite haunts with a wry smile. She walked past Peeves at one point, he seemed to be sulking. Upon seeing her he blew his nose rudely and drifted through a wall. Perhaps the Bloody Baron had caught him at something and forced him to behave for a time? Who knew with Peeves.
She drifted into her classroom with a nostalgic smile in place. She went to her desk in the dark knowing her way easily, and she had just raised her arm and wand to cast enough light, in order to look for the parchment, when a hand came from behind and covered her mouth.
An arm pinned hers to her side, hot breath against her cheek made her body grow cold and tense.
"Surprise," a voice whispered darkly.
This chapter was inspired by the work of Charlaine Harris, who is writing a fabulous series of Southern Vampiric Mysteries. Get this, the heroine of the books is a telepathic waitress with a vampire boyfriend from the Civil War era. It's a great series, and I highly recommend it!
Sneak Preview: Chapter Five is bustling along, with An Invitation, and Minerva's Counsel (title subject to change…I don't like it much). What on earth could Minerva McGonagall have to say to our lovely, dark Rose? Chapter Six is Nuisances and Decrees, and let me tell you Umbridge isn't winning any friends in that one. Chapter Seven contains a bit of frustrating romance as Severus finds himself Playing with Fire.
Author's Note: Okay, I'm really ticked off that my update didn't have the time-stamp on it that I wanted. It was 12:30 AM in my time-zone—it had been the new year for HALF AND HOUR—when I updated. Oh well. As my buddy Hoggle says, you can't be right all the time.
To My Charming, Darling, Dear, Lovely, Enchanting Reviewers (Yes, I love you guys!):
Evil Duckie of the BlackLagoon: Updating as fast as I can, Duckie! How was your New Year celebration?
Sona Camdyn: Yes, Umbridge. The woman we love to hate is back with a vengeance! As for Sirius Black, I'm very fond of him myself but I'll tell you Rose is not the girl for him. I know someone who is, though…. Yes, that is a hint that I've got an fic swirling in my brain for him. If I don't kill him off at the end of this story, that is….
Turtle: All my updates can't be long, but I do try. I actually type them in Notepad first, and then paste them into word for my beta and editing purposes. In Notepad I try to type enough to get me above 12k. This particular chapter was around 17k, so a little longer than normal. But you really didn't want to know all that, did you?
Kiss-of-Cuteness: I'm ignoring what you said about HG/SS pairings. I'd die before enjoying one of those. Blah. Just not my cup of tea. As you can probably guess, Rose and Umridge are about to clash…and what an impact it will be.
Dianatyne: Sounds like you had a happy new year. :-) Glad you're still along for the ride.
Black Sheep Alone: The clash is coming…looming upon the horizon…growing so very close…. Do please keep your new year's resolution, I'd love to hear from you each and every chapter! (My resolution was to update more often but, ssshhhhh, don't tell anyone else that!)
Maya)-sleepy: Rose hates Umbridge all ready. The plot thickens!
Loraliant Angelisa Snape: Thank you so much for enjoying the last chapter! It's good to know you care. Now, Dahling, hang on to your broom because the weather's about to get rougher.
Kerichi: I'm reading your fic! It's wonderful! Simply Irresistible is yet another of the few out there which keeps Snape in character. I haven't reviewed it yet, I'm trying to catch up to the end of what you've got so far. Awesome stuff! I totally agree with you about HG/SS pairings. There's a lot of sickos out there who like that kind of thing and then run around bashing OCs as Mary Sues. I had someone accuse me of self-inserting myself in this fic. Ha! As to having Rose 'explain' what happened in the last story…hehehe. Well, I'll drop some hints about the past here and there as a reminder but you really should just go read the first one. I know, I know. I'm being a nasty little Slytherin about it.
Heather: I'm flattered I've inspired someone to do artwork of my story! Very flattered! I do thank you for the review, and I encourage you to drop more. Reviews keep me going—it was someone's review that inspired one of the upcoming chapters to turn into the longest chapter I've written yet. So…is your artwork any good? ;-)
Illume: The ride's getting bumpier, dear. I'm glad you're sticking with me. There IS a plotline here, I promise, but if I told you what it was it would defeat the purpose of…well…I can't tell you.
Arashi7: Hiya, honey! Thank you for the great review (you did NOT review chapter two! But s'ok, I've forgiven you). Rose was a Slytherin, though one of the less hostile variety. In an original draft of this story she was actually a very good friend of Remus Lupin's and he inspired her in her chosen field (medical magic). But I lost that somewhere, it made a plot hole. Ah well.
Rae Roberts: Thank's for catching the error. Kreacher. I knew that—I did, really! Severus is, I hope, staying true to form in his actions. He'll be playing a larger roll in the upcoming chapters as will, I'm afraid to say, his arch enemy. ;-) Draco's so much fun to mess with, the little Ferret!
Nabenabe: Goodness me, you're making me blush with those very kind reviews! I thank you very much for them. I went back and read the first chapter of RAtT and I'm surprised I still have so many people reading—it wasn't at all a good chapter. Not even coherent. You know, I'm tempted to post the first draft of that story—it's very different from where it ended up. Hm. See you very soon!
Claire: YES! I've ensnared another helpless victim of Snape-fever! I do hope you enjoy the continuation of my character and our beloved Potion's Master. See you next chapter!
Jack it up Judy: I'm running over to check out your fic now! I'm very pleased I've acted as a muse for you, and even happier you're enjoying this fic. Thank you so much for reading and reviewing!
Thank you dearest readers, I beg of you to remember to review! I live off of these reviews some days!
-JB-
