Chapter 25: Lunar Lament
Thanks so much to my reviewers! I got quite a few reviews on this chapter and I was very excited so I tried to get this chapter done as soon as I possibly could. Thanks to my continued reviewers amy.lee.rox and tibys!! LadyFoxy it is not wrong for you to hope Celia and Voldemort to end up together, originally when I started the story they were supposed to end up together, but things kind of changed as I started writing. I'm still not sure where things are going yet lol. Thanks also to my new readers Angel of Doom and chelle20 for your encouraging comments! I do not own Harry Potter, its plot or characters; those are works of J.K. herself. I do own Celia, five dollars worth of quarters, and quite possibly the more uncomfortable futon in the world.
The attack on the Potters took a lot longer than Voldemort expected. Voldemort even agreed to Snape' s wishes to spy on the Order of the Phoenix. Severus would first get a job at Hogwarts, any job would do. Then he would get on Dumbledore's good side and trick him into somehow letting Severus into the Phoenix, and that's all Voldemort would need to destroy before he could have complete control. He even had Celia being corrupted. It really was a good run for Voldemort. He was ready to find the missing link to destroying the Potters. Little did he know that they betrayal would be easier than he thought.
He stumbled upon Peter Pettigrew out of sheer luck. No one suspected someone as clumsy and as unreliable as Peter to be the Potter's secret keeper. Voldemort had been planning to find out more about the closest friend to the Potter's, Sirius Black. Voldemort had even gone as far as to recruit Sirius's older brother Regulus. Regulus, being afraid for his life, and only growing up in darkness, didn't understand the consequence of getting mixed up with the death eaters. Voldemort was pissed to find out that Regulus hadn't heard from his brother in several years.
So unable to find Sirius, Voldemort went to find Peter Pettigrew. Regulus knew that Sirius had three friends, Sirius his brother, Remus who was not easily tracked down, and Peter Pettigrew the coward. This information pleased Voldemort. He found Peter Pettigrew and was surprised to find that he had more information about the Potter's in fact he was their secret keeper.
The attack was planned for Halloween. Voldemort needed to ready himself in case of a fight, not that there would be much of one, but he would be going this one alone. He also wanted to plan for his take over after that point, better to have a plan than go in blindly and then not know what to do with the power you achieve. Everything was falling into place for him. He was winning Celia over to the dark side though she didn't realize it yet, he was going to have the boy dead on Halloween and take over the Wizarding World with his queen by his side the very next day. He would have everything, even a long ruling life ahead of him. Yes, everything was falling right into place for Voldemort.
Meanwhile Severus was away. He had gotten an interview with Dumbledore that summer. The day went as such..
Severus walked onto the grounds nervously. He wasn't sure that Dumbledore would even trust him. He walked through the giant double doors and up to the gargoyle statue, which would grant him access to Dumbledore's office.
He said the password that he had been given through a letter and he walked up the spiral stairs to the office. Dumbledore was sitting at his desk looking amused to see Severus in his office.
"Severus, I didn't get the whole story through your letter, but I know you are working for Voldemort," Dumbledore said cautiously.
"I don't want to work for Voldemort anymore, I'm planning to, with some help, overthrow him in time," Severus said.
Dumbledore nodded. "I knew it was a mistake to let you get so far caught up in dark magic. You were the best student I have ever seen in wielding defense spells."
"Is there an opening in the Defense Against the Dark Arts?" Severus asked. "It would be great to teach something like that."
"No, I'm afraid it has already been filled. It's going to be hard to trust you around the dark arts for a while Severus. I have a feeling your intentions are true, but for a while this will be a testing period." Dumbledore said. "I'm aware that you are quite gifted in occlumency?" Dumbledore questioned.
"Yes, I suppose that comes with the territory though," Severus said. "Of being a spy."
"Yes, I suppose it would. I do have a job for you Severus, I just want to know why you decided to come back to us," Dumbledore said.
"He's plans on killing the Potters," Severus said. "He is currently looking for Sirius Black," Severus added.
"Oh, that could be a dilemma, well don't worry Severus we are going to protect the Potters. I am going to inform them that their secret keeper is being hunted down for information. I don't know what they will do in the situation, but I am sure that they will be happy that the information was passed along." Dumbledore said.
"I want to keep Lily safe," Severus said hanging his head.
"I know Severus, you love her don't you?" Dumbledore said sympathetically.
"She is a friend," Severus said snapping his head up.
"Well, nevertheless we do have a job opening in Potions," Dumbledore said changing the subject. "Would you be interested?" Dumbledore asked.
"I would be interested in any job, and yes I'll take the job, when should I come in next?" Severus asked.
"Late August, just to get things ready," Dumbledore said. "By the way Severus was Lily what changed your mind or is there more I'm missing?" Dumbledore asked. He knew Severus well and knew that he wouldn't do all this just to save someone he considered a friend, especially since she had married his enemy.
"I've got someone counting on me," Severus said.
"Well, best not let them or the wizarding world down," Dumbledore said cheerfully.
"Yeah, well I better be going, I can feel him calling me back," Severus said holding his arm with a pained look on his face.
"Goodbye Severus," Dumbledore said as Severus exited from the office.
Severus apparated once he got to Hogsmeade. He got to the castle easily.
"Ah Snape, did you get a job?" Voldemort asked sweetly.
"Yes my lord, Potions Master," Severus said quietly.
"I suppose that means you'll be leaving us in September?" Voldemort said again.
"Late August," Severus said.
"Well, from time to time I will be calling for you so I can check up on our progress, try not to let me down like some of the other," he turned his head to Crabbe and Goyle, death eaters have," Voldemort said.
"I won't let you down my lord," Severus said bowing to Voldemort before he left the room.
It was August now, a month before Voldemort found Peter Pettigrew. Celia was in the music room. It was Severus's last week at the castle.
"I'm really going to miss you," Celia said hugging him.
"Gods I know I'm going to miss you," he said holding her close, smelling her hair.
She kissed him for the first time since he had admitted he loved her. He began to lose control of himself and he felt himself melting into her kiss, but also craving more. He began to move his hands down to her hips, pulling her in closer. He felt some tension from her side and let her go. "I'm sorry," he said. "I guess I got carried away."
"I'm not made of glass Severus," Celia said. "It's all right I won't break," she said reassuring him with a very long, very passionate kiss.
"Are you sure you want this," Severus said hastily feeling himself get hotter by the moment.
"Yes, I want this more than you can know," Celia breathed in his ear. That was all Severus needed to hear to get him to the hottest point he had ever been. He kissed her more passionately and moved his hands down toward her butt. She held her hands on his hips as well feeling him through his pants. She winked at Severus and he knew that she was ready for him. He undid her dress and let it fall to the ground leaving her in undergarments only. She took off his cloak and then his shirt. She touched his chest gently feeling a few scars. Then she saw the dark mark on his arm and shrunk back in fear her eyes going over the scars and going over his mark.
"Oh, Sev," she said pulling her hand back afraid that she was hurting him.
Severus hung his head she would never see past his scars or that mark enough to ever be this intimate with him.
"It's alright Celia," he said trying to find his shirt.
"No, it's not that Severus," Celia said. "I guess I just never realized how badly you had it," Celia said reassuring him.
"Look, I don't want your pity," Severus said grabbing his shirt off the floor.
"It's not like that Sev," Celia said.
"Save it," Severus said he said pointing at the mark. "I'm branded Celia, this just isn't going to work." Severus said.
"But, I love you," Celia said her eyes filling with tears. She couldn't stand to lose another person she had fallen in love with.
"Celia," he said nervously. "No, oh, don't cry," he said again. "Please don't cry."
"I'm sorry," she said trying to wipe the tears off and hiding behind her hair as if it were a curtain between them.
He parted her hair and held her face. "I do love you, but now is not the right time for this, its too soon I think," he said looking straight into her eyes.
She nodded and Severus helped her put her dress back on. She gave him a big hug and a peck on the cheek.
"Just come back for me ok," Celia said in a joking tone. "Don't find some other pretty girl to replace me once you get there."
"No one could ever replace you," Severus said giving her one last kiss before he went to see Voldemort to be seen off for his spying mission.
Celia watched him leave and felt a storm moving in. She knew the worst was yet to come and with no one talk to she was going to eventually go as crazy as she had before. At least she had hope now, however, that she hadn't had before. She could believe that Severus was going to come back for her.
Halloween arrived. Voldemort was going to take this one on himself. Celia readied herself for the day. She knew that there was no way she could stop him, but she was very determined to try.
Celia approached Voldemort. She knew he was getting ready. She was determined to stop him she wasn't even sure how she was supposed to do that. "Perhaps I should have thought through this," Celia thought to herself. She was ready to turn around and walk out when Voldemort turned around to see her.
"Coming to wish me luck?" Voldemort asked her seductively.
She gave him the dirtiest look her face could make.
"You'll come around, just wait," Voldemort said to her as she had turned around to walk away. Something in her snapped.
"Don't you understand, I will NEVER come around!" she shouted at him.
Voldemort laughed at her. "So fiery, I do like that about you," Voldemort said grabbing her face and giving her a fierce kiss. "I won't be distracted by that, however, I have important things to attend to today."
She was so angry at his condescending words not to mention what he had planned that she did something that surprised both of them. She punched him square in the face.
The noise echoed in the room. Voldemort was so shocked, but not only was he shocked he was angry. He went to grab her and she knocked his wand out of his hand.
"Stand still Celia, for that you have something coming," Voldemort said readying himself for a shagging.
Celia didn't freeze however her body flooded with emotions. She sunk her nails into his face and she punched, kicked, clawed, and bit him as if this could destroy him. Her system was completely flooded with emotions. The anger filled her, her eyes flashed yellow green and fur began to sprout out of her skin. She felt herself succumbing to the animal. Her cat form was vicious. She literally shredded Voldemort's skin at that point.
She came off that anger high very quickly. Her eyes blackened for a moment and then turned back to their dark green normalcy. The fur shrank back and she grew back into the human form that Voldemort was used to.
Celia was still shaking. Voldemort looked at his arms, she had caused him quite a bit of blood loss. Anger radiated through him. He wasn't going to let this go. He was too angry to acknowledge the fact that he had missed something when he was evaluating her. She had a lot of power, even under his control. Voldemort reached for his wand and pointed it at her.
"You need to be taught where your place is bitch," he said kicking her. With that said he performed the Cruciatus Curse on Celia. She instantly writhed her body racked with pain. She had never felt anything so horrible in her life. All of the rapings, emotional pain, were all brought out in one curse all at the same time. She felt like a million knives were stabbing every inch of her body. She flailed and just wanted it to be over. She had wanted to die for a while now, but this was the last straw. He was going to make her beg, and she knew it. She would never beg for that.
He realized he wasn't going to have any fun hearing her beg for him to kill her so he stopped.
"Perhaps you will learn to do," he said raising his foot up. "AS YOU ARE TOLD!" he said kicking her hard in the gut causing her to spit up blood.
She lay on the floor not moving an inch. The Cruciatus curse had been taken off of her minutes before and she could still feel the pain flowing throughout her body like a poison. She had lost. A child was going to die and all she could say is that she too a few chunks of his skin to fight it.
Celia walked to the windows in the entrance hall of the castle. She walked through the doors. She saw him leaving. She used the strength she could muster to break into a run.
"You don't have to do this!" Celia screamed at him.
Voldemort turned around. The sun was setting and his window of opportunity was getting closer. He saw the sun bouncing off her brown hair catching the red hidden in it. Her eyes begged him back. He stood very still for a moment pondering. Did he really need the child? He had Celia; he had been doing well with just that. He felt his feet step towards her.
He got closer. He saw the blood on her skin, drying now but still almost glistening under the deep red of the sunset. He then realized what she was doing. She wasn't ever really his. She had a mind of her own; he had never been able to break her of it. He had maybe been able to once, but something had changed in her. She had the body of the young woman she had been in Hogwarts and Godric's Hollow, but she had gained power over herself since then. She had grown and matured. He had to go through with this, not only to get her under his control and show her who was boss, but also to complete the prophesy. Right now he had zero fulfilled and two to fulfill.
He winked at her and turned to walk away from her only saying, "You'll be a queen."
Celia ran after him, "I don't want any of it, I just want everything back to the way it was before all of this. I just want my life back. I want my children back." She yelled at him before he got ready to aparate.
"I want Tom back," she shouted as he aparated away.
Tom landed in Godric's Hollow. The night was crisp. He found the exact house he was looking for. He laughed to himself. This was EXACTLY where Celia's house had been. "They must have built over the wreckage," Voldemort thought to himself.
Voldemort didn't have any trouble getting in the house. James Potter caused him a little trouble, but he sped past him and charged up the stairs. He laughed to himself again. This house wasn't exactly like the one he had destroyed, but it seemed eerily similar and the situation similar as well.
He heard someone hurrying to get things together in the room at the end of the hall. The light was on and the door was cracked. He burst into the room. The woman instinctively blocked the crib.
"Move woman, you don't have to die here," he told her remembering Severus's request. It wasn't so much that he wanted to please Severus as he wanted to see this woman go crazy when he killed her child.
"No," she refused moving closer to the child.
"Die with your husband then," he said. "Avada Kedavra!" he shouted.
The red-haired woman fell to the floor. He had remembered Celia's brown hairs red bits shining in the setting sun. He had to get a better control over these thoughts of his otherwise anyone could break into his mind.
He approached the child. There was really no turning back now and he was shaking with glee. He wanted so much to gain his power, but in his mind something else was flashing through. He blocked out his indecision and brought his wand up to his face.
"Avada Kedavra!" he shouted at the baby.
It was as if the baby was a mirror. He felt pain radiate through him. He was dying; he was losing a part of himself. He felt his body slip away in a painful yank and then he felt as if he were floating.
"Am I dead?" he wondered to himself realizing that as he opened his mouth nothing came out of it.
He saw his body wither away as he floated above it. "Am I a ghost?" he wondered. He hadn't read much about what happened when the original body died. Wasn't the horcrux supposed to bring him back? He cursed to himself. "How could I have failed!" his mind shouted.
Celia couldn't sleep that night. She had completely lost him. She had said that many times before, but he had never done something this bad in a while she guessed. He was responsible for his chidlrens' death, but somewhere in her mind she liked to believe he repented for that. He had obviously kept one of them alive. She wasn't sure if he had even survived, she had guessed he probably hadn't. She couldn't really know she was knocked unconscious right after giving birth to the second child. She would have to ask him someday maybe. She knew she would die with him most likely, she didn't know much about the curse, but she doubted Voldemort would be too willing to let her go to someone else even herself for suicide purposes. No, he had to have complete control. She would surely be killed before him, or the curse would cause her to die without him alive.
She sighed and crunched herself into a ball. Obviously he was out celebrating and wasn't going to come home. She looked out the small window and saw the stars in the sky twinkling. Then she gasped as she saw one shoot across the sky and soon more stars shot across the sky. She hadn't seen a meteor shower in so long. She took a look at the sky and decided that it must be crying for her, since the tears she thought would be streaming down her face were so hard to find now.