~ Lukewarm Rain ~

- Chapter 9: More Of Fire Than Blood -

"Why do we need to speak to the goddess, anyway? Wouldn't it be easier to just test if the water works for what you want to do with it?"

Everyone else in the room stared at Petunia like she was crazy.

"What?" she snapped, irritated more by the fact that the wizards (and witch) all seemed to know something that she did not than by the way they were all staring slack-jawed at her.

"Experimenting with an unfamiliar magical substance is... not a good idea, to say the very least," Remus explained, putting it more tactfully than either Severus or Sirius would have.

"How does one go about attempting to contact a goddess, anyway?" Petunia inquired.

This time the magical folk didn't have such a ready answer.

"Yeah, how did 'the Dark Lord himself' deliver the water to the Order, anyway? And did he say how he managed to get to the river in the first place?" Nymphadora put forth.

"Most of the dark forces are in deep hiding, but the Malfoys are just going on as if they know nothing about it and weren't involved in anything... he sent the water to them somehow - he could have just shown up at their house and handed it to them, for all we know - and it was passed on to the Order through Draco. So trying to ask him directly is a dead end," said Sirius.

"So," Nymphadora said, "we're back to the whole thing where Snape needs to use his weird pony powers to talk to the memory goddess and find out what other things we could possibly do with this water."

Severus made an inarticulate sound in the back of his throat when the metamorph referred to his extra magic as pony powers. Petunia patted him on the shoulder sympathetically, as Sirius gleefully corrected his cousin, "The horse is Sleipnir, which is what Harry is the avatar of. Snape has the powers from the underworld goddess Hel." He turned to Severus and concluded, "Which is why it makes more sense for you to venture into the underworld than Harry, anyway."

"Yeah, that does make sense, now that I think about it," Nymphadora agreed. "So, Snape, use your goddess powers to find out the information for us!"

Severus made a further few choking noises while he attempted to reign in his anger at how he was being treated.

"It's settled, then!" Sirius declared. "Snape is going to the underworld. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go and, uhh, do... a thing. Yeah."

He made a quick exit.

"And I'll help him!" Harry said, hurrying after his godfather.

"There's something I need to take care of, as well," Remus said, beginning to edge toward the door.

"Hey, don't call me a thing!" his wife protested playfully as she got up to follow him.

Once those two were gone, Severus turned to Petunia and said, scowling, "Don't you have somewhere to run off to, as well?"

Petunia emitted a decidedly unladylike snort.

"Why? So you can sit here and pout in privacy?"

"I don't pout," Severus snapped.

"You do. You're doing it right now."

"I am not!"

She gave him a pointed look and said, "Shall I have the elf fetch a mirror so you can see for yourself?"

"He won't take orders from you."

It was true; Sirius had told Kreacher to obey the guests' orders, but the stubborn old elf would rather punish himself for disobeying a direct order from his master than listen to a muggle.

Severus knew he was over the line the moment he said it, as with those words - and all that they implied - he was poking an old wound which had never healed properly. He would most likely regret it later, but right now he was too irritated to care.

~to be continued~

A/N: Reviews are always appreciated.