WARNING: HBP SPOILERS AT THE BOTTOM! AND IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IT YET AND ARE INSTEAD READING A FANFIC... SHAME ON YOU! SAFE TIL THE 'SPOILER'
Revised 1/25/06
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Ash returns with the Veritaserum in relatively little time. The strained gaze that Professor Dumbledore has been leveling on an unconcerned Snape hasn't done much to keep me distracted from the Dark Mark on my arm itching, but I've managed to mostly ignore. I contemplate whether spitting on it would make it feel better... you know, like a mosquito bite.
Ash measures out a dose of the serum and drops it into my resignedly opened mouth. I feel my higher brain functions fuzzing out and being replaced by a pleasant haze. Ash scrutinizes me heavily before nodding, apparently satisfied that I am under.
"What is your full name?" Ash asks.
"Aimry Coke." I murmur happily.
"How old are you?" he asks.
I frown, something about that question seeming off. "I... I..." I should know this question, right? I mean, just take when you were born and subtract it from the year that it is... "I have no idea." I finally answer.
Ash frowns. "How can you not know how old you are?" he asks in disbelief.
A flare of annoyance sparks me. "Oh, and you are one to talk!" The Veritaserum wants to make me say more but I manage to keep it behind my teeth. Seeing how interested Dumbledore and how scared Ash look, that is probably a good thing. I chant in my head 'try not to mess up the universe, try not to mess up the universe' over in over until Ash gathers enough of his composure to ask me the next question.
"How did you sneak up on me?"
"I went through the wall."
"How did you go through the wall?"
"I don't know." I try to justify that semi-correct answer to the potion. Indeed, I had no idea on how I specifically went through the wall; I only had an idea of the mental state necessary for going through the wall. See? The serum grumbles. Ah, splitting split hairs...
Ash looks dubious. "Could you demonstrate the technique?"
"Maybe. Probably not so that you could understand it though."
Snape puts his cup down with a soft chink and slowly states, "I think she needs a larger dose. She can probably handle another three drops." He smirks and refills the coffee cup.
Ash raises an eyebrow. "Are you fighting the Veritaserum?"
"..No...o..." I'm not fighting it, I'm misdirecting it.
Ash smirks. "Are you capable of withholding or redirecting questions with this much Veritaserum."
"mmmm...yyess." GODDAMMIT!
Ash walks up to me and I submit to another dosing of the Truth Serum with a sigh. "How do you walk through walls?"
The serum trips something in my brain like pressing the fast rewind. "I read a lot of books and watch TV sometimes too. And sometimes I have dreams that don't relate to the books and the TVs but sometimes they do and when they do I think they are just a dream but sometimes they are not I have learned because..."
-twenty minutes later-
"...and so sometimes I find I can do things like walk though walls because nothing is real anymore and why not just break all the rules?"
"I think you gave her a little too much truth serum, War Mage." Dumbledore says, rubbing his eyes and yawning. "Give her the antidote quickly."
Ash blinks himself awake, heartily wishing he had something the reverse of QuickTime so that it wouldn't have felt like he had just lost years of his life. He hastily doses me with the antidote.
I feel my senses slowly returning to me and I yawn and attempt to stretch but frown when I cannot. "Can I get down now, please?" I ask. I get wary looks from the War Mage and an unreadable one from Dumbledore. "Look, you know I'm not making it up, or at least that I believe what I am saying... so? I won't hurt you." No one seems like they are going to step forward anytime soon and help me out The War Mage and Dumbledore huddle over in a corner in an impromptu conference and Snape is lounging in his chair with absolutely no intention of moving. I sigh. Ok, reverse play about the whole wall-walking thing. I had simply gone through it... but that had been forward. So, backwards would be like sinking... I try that but Ash has thought one step ahead and is not, as I had hoped, using the wall as the back of the bindings but has rather simply attached bindings that go all the way around my body to the wall. So plan A: failure.
So then perhaps I can transform into something? An animal might work, but the only one I can do reliably is the ginormous dog. Well, if I die from cutting myself to ribbons, I suppose I'll respawn and problem solved. I do a little mental twist and my giant doggy self is taking up most of the now too small office. One of my back feet kicks Snape accidentally and he curses. The War Mage whips around with inhuman speed that I can barely follow to bind me even more uncomfortably to the wall. And as an added annoyance, the first set of bindings have stretched. I growl in frustration. Plan B: Failure.
What else can I do? I could try doing that thing the potion and become invisible and untouchable. I recall the appropriate sensation and... nothing. The bindings still appear in this other dimension. Damn the magic. Seeing as how none of Snape's or Dumbledore's magic showed up this must be elf or dwarf or... hell, I don't know- Autobot magic or something. I return to my former (human) self, still attached to the wall. Ash and Dumbledore are looking a little pale. "Snape, a little help?" I ask. He waves in a non-committal way. I alight on Fawkes as my only likely means of escape. "Here Fawksey Fawksey Fawksey." Fawkes glares at me and I reconsider. "Magnificent Fawkes, phoenix of inestimitable strength and greatness, would you perhaps assist me?" He preens, considering it.
Snape snorts, waving a wand and releasing me. "Begging of the animals is beneath even you."
If anything Ash is even paler. "How did you do that?"
Snape raises an eyebrow. "I simply cancelled it; the threading was not overly complex."
"That was goblin magic. You shouldn't have been able to even see it." Ash rubs his hand over his forehead. I pretend not to be too interested as some makeup rubs off his forehead and the faintest outlines of a discoloring is visible.
Snape looks a bit taken aback and I resist an 'I told you so, you have magic beyond what you thought' but from the sharp look I get, I suspect some of it has bled over in our mental connection. Oops. I grin unrepentedly.
"So, with that settled, I want to get somewhere flattish and at least marginally comfortable. It is night and I was tortured to death. And the whole transporting thing took a bit out of me."
Dumbledore's eyes harden. "We cannot let you off on your own just yet. What manner of magical creature are you? I cannot endanger my students."
I glare at him and a spark of anger flashes across my vision. I see it dart up to the ceiling and grab at it quickly, flustered. I hold the little lightning bolt in my hand before smashing it back into my skull resignedly. "Look, I don't know. I'm tired. I was just a regular Muggle in the not too distant past. Almost all the time I wish I still were. So... could we please drop it? I mean, I could spend all night trying to convince you... but I just..." I sigh.
Snape clears his throat. "And if you could kindly direct me to my rooms as well."
The look on Ash's face at that moment would have cracked the coldest hearts and Snape looks a bit taken aback when he sees it. The pure pain sets up sympathy in my chest so thick it feels as though someone has left an iron bar lodged in my chest. "What... why... Professor?" At that moment he looks ever year younger than his assumed facade.
I reach out to touch him but on pure instinct but pull back at the last second as he recoils with hate and hopelessness in his eyes. "Look, I'm almost positive that my Snape, "Snape glares at me and I ignore him, "and your Snape are merely coexisting with yours sort of sleeping at the moment. As soon as we can we'll leave and then you can have him back. Really. We won't take him away." I squirm uncomfortably. Maybe I should just turn into a rock or something. Then at least things wouldn't get any worse.
Dumbledore catches my eyes and I gaze mournfully into them, trying to think of nothing but the sparklies in his eyes. I let myself be hypnotized briefly and I sigh. Dumbledore claps suddenly, startling everyone in the room, though Snape hides it much better than we other two. I croak and jump and Ash has somehow spun around to aim his wand at Dumbledore's forehead all in one motion. Ash drops his wand arm with an apologetic mumble. The sparkles increase. Is that a good sign? I wonder worriedly. "I think our guest can be trusted." We all look at him in disbelief. "This shall resolve itself in the morning I am sure, but you are quite correct in that it is far too late for such concerns now. I shall escort you both to rooms myself." Snape follows Dumbledore closely down the halls, probably to avoid the moping War Mage trailing behind.
I try again to comfort him. "Look, Ash... uh, I know what you have been going through. And I'm really sorry. I hope you realize that this was an accident and we'll try to separate the two Snapes as soon as possible. It's just that the most proven method is an Avada Kedavra..." I end in a squeak as my air is cut off from Ash's hand around my throat. "I won't try it! I promise! I don't know if your Snape is immune, that was what I was trying to say." He drops me back down and stalks on. I'm fucking it up again. I want to scream and curse like a sailor but I try to suppress that to assure the poor guy. I hurry to catch up with him.
He turns his head and hisses vehemently, "You have no idea what I have gone through!"
I look at him with sad eyes. "I do... I know your personal name, War Mage." His eyes go round as saucers. "In my reality yours is written as a book. I have a very good idea of what you are going through and what you have gone through. And what I don't I can fill in with personal experience, which has been anything but pleasant lately."
Ash, or Harry, as is his true name, turns to face forward and stalks forward angrily.
"I won't tell, and I'll address you properly. I'll try to gloss over that bit when talking to Snape in case yours can hear. I'm not out for anything, just to let you know how things stand. Hopefully we'll be gone tomorrow and then you won't have to worry about it any more. I'm sorry." I hurry ahead to catch up to Dumbledore, who had stopped and was gesturing that this would be my room. I can feel Harry Potter's eyes on my back as I run inside.
Apparently Snape is to be in a close by room, as he comes looking for me soon after I get dropped off. "Explain." He crosses his arms and waits.
I hop on the bed and stretch out, scratching my Dark Mark idly. "Ok, Mirror of Maybe in a nutshell..." avoiding any mention of Harry and/or mirrors." Ok, so Voldie has become a Soul Mage, War Mage Ash is from a Circle of Mages and is helping in the War; Harry is in this circle too. He is training." Not a lie, War Mages are always training and Ash/Harry is certainly in the circle... "soo... you are still a spy. Um... Draco is sort of turning to the 'good' side and er... I guess that's the plot in a nutshell." Minus any mention of Harry going through the mirror, living for twenty years of potential future and coming back unchanged physically but radically different mentally and re-kindling the very slashy relationship he had with one Severus Snape.
"That fails to explain Ash's reactions to me."
I wince. "You're... uh... sort of... dating."
Snape's eyes go wide and he drops his arms to his sides. "Dating!" He asks incredulously.
I hedge. "Well, you haven't really been on too many dates." Not really any, actually… or maybe that one…
"Are we dating or not?"
"Uh, well you ARE having sex."
Snape's eyes bulge out of his head and he sputters in disbelief for several seconds before he regains his voice. "I'm GAY! And dating a War Mage? What kind of story are you reading? Those Roaring books are masterworks in comparison!"
"The Mirror is a really well written story." I sit up and mumble defensively.
"And are these... encounters also very 'well written'?"
I cough. "Generally, yes." He stares at me in disbelief for several seconds before turning on his heal and walking out the door without another word. If I'd known I would have to defend my slashy readings to one of the characters I might not have read them. Ok, I'm lying. I would have certainly read LESS. I sink my head into my hands. Fantasies aren't supposed to become real and slap you in the face dammit. At least we're not in one of the mindless, plotless slashy stories. Not that I ever read any, of course.
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I awaken partially to the transition from my bed to another. I can't ever seem to just gently segue, but oh well. I snuggle into the curve of back next to my face and sigh back to sleep. I'm awakened again with a jolt with the sudden knowledge that I am not alone in bed. Was that what had awakened me in the first place? I mean, duh I'm not alone. But something is nagging me still. My eyebrows shoot up as I realize that there are THREE people in this bed. Only on of them is me. There is a mind I can feel entwining with mine almost to the point of complete mixing- that is Snape, the one just in front of me. The other I cannot feel. But I can hear them in the breathing. I try to recapture my mind from the communal pool and figure out where I am and what is going on. I freeze as an arm snakes around Snape's waist and starts to rub his back and er...
The hand is brushing me. Not as much as Snape, certainly, but nonetheless. Snape makes a sound that is suspiciously like a purr and he moves closer to the other in the bed. It comes to me in an instant that I am in bed with Severus Snape and Harry Potter. I am in no way wanting this. OK, being fair, this teeny little part of me really really wants this, but that part has been commanding me to do such crazy things as read far too much Snarry for far to long. I have sworn that little part off. But can you really blame that little bit? I doubt there would be a fangirl out there who would not want to be between those two, or on top of or under... I shake my head furiously. Keep on track! OK, so Snape will be a bit put out when he wakes up. The question becomes if I should wake him up now, or just wander off. Or do nothing. Of all three possibilities, I think all have a 100 pain chance for moi. The roving hand elicits another groan from Snape. I wonder if I could get him to do that... FOCUS! OK, ok... Best bet is probably to just sneak away and pretend that I have no knowledge of anything. But we're mentally connected. Shit. He'll know.
I debate which is likely to get me least negative points with Snape. I don't have much hope of coming out of this unscathed in any sense of the word. But I think for once it isn't my fault. I don't want to be in bed with Ash. He's not that attractive (in his disguise) for one and scary as hell for two. I hear two voices making mostly asleep mumbling happy noises now. Is he... is Snape... reciprocating? Hot damn I think he is. I mean... fuck! No, no, no fuck... ah hell. Never mind what I said about this being one of the less slashy fanfics.
I try to keep still, but the continued purrs make me crack an eye in curiosity. I wonder... I touch Snape's back cautiously. Is he... naked? I think he might be, his back anyway. I run my fingers lightly along his back, avoiding Ash's fingers that are slightly... farther south. He hums happily and arches back into my touch. I snatch my hand back as though burned. I try to back off the bed slowly and quietly. Too confused to levitate properly, I try to move the bed as little as possible. A sad sigh from Snape is all the warning I get before I am flung back onto the wall with a dagger embedded through my arm into the wall and another held at my throat.
My wide eyes are dazzled when Ash casts a Lumos in my face. "What are you doing in here?" he hisses. His chest is so close to my pathetically scrabbling arms that I can feel the fur of his life-ink tattoo bristling under my fingers. It doesn't like me apparently. Maybe I'm not a Gryffindor after all, I think inconsequently. "Answer me!" Ash growls. I feel the other mind sliding from mine and sinking out of my grip as the breath from the bed shudders into a waking rhythm and the occupant comes over toward us. Still dazed I grab at the knife but can't budge it.
"War Mage, how did that get in our room?" Asks the (in fact, completely naked) Snape from behind Ash. It is a good question, one that I do not have an answer for. Best guess: Somehow my Snape being in this world's Snape's head let this Snape have the (obnoxious) talent for bed-jumping, and I followed.
Ash's breath hitches as he asks, "Our room?" He seemingly forgets about me completely and in a show of very un-War Mage sloppiness turns all the way to face Snape and lets his arm holding the knife lower unnoticed. I note that he is completely naked too. Somehow that doesn't seem as interesting with one dwarven blade through my arm and one pointed now at my... goddamn it why am I naked?
Snape gives Ash a funny look. "You do recall that we have moved in together, do you not?" Ash completely abandons me to fling himself around the other man. I gasp now in shock more than pain. That is HIS Snape! Where did mine go? I feel the sympathy pain again, but this time it is fully my own. It is as though some sort of vacuum has opened in my chest, sucking in that iron bar along with my skewered heart. I don't have much heart to listen to Snape's confused gruffness and Ash's somewhat pathetic happiness. I jump and then drop down so the knife cuts completely through my arm and frees me.
I walk away from them as they start to passionately get reacquainted, much to the bemusement of Severus. I feel weak watching them until I realize it is probably the blood loss. I had sort of mauled my major artery and vein in my arm. I heal it slowly, thinking furiously. So if that Snape had been inside my Snape then this Snape should have mine inside. That brings up the question of whether I should leave the two of them alone or keep close for... moral support. Yeah. Now that the shock of the tearing of the other mind from mine has gone down, I can still sense Snape deep deep in my skull. I slip back into the wall and travel up until I am almost in the ceiling as well. They are getting rather more into it that um... I hope that neither of them can remember what happens when the other is dominant. Snape will have more scarring than simply hearsay if he can remember this. I decide to hang in the wall and... Take notes to I can be sure to give a good report to Snape or something. I think I'll stop making excuses now.
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I wander off during the cooing that follows the interesting bits. I float toward the Great Hall. Hopefully there will be some meal or something being served. Maybe. I have no idea what time it even is. "/time" I mutter to nothing in particular and 4:59:47 AM appears in front of me. Well, by the time that I find the Great Hall they should have food, maybe. Harry's always up this early in canon, right? Well whatever. I finally find it after getting directions from a couple snickering portraits. I float through the wall and sit down next to some students at one of the tables. I feel a lot of eyes on me and I look up in irritation from my pancakes. "What?" I ask.
Most of them snicker. One girl next to me with a bright red face whispers urgently, "You're NAKED" before fleeing. I feel myself going bright red all over before I gather enough mental ability to summon a nice, thick, Snape style robe to cover me from neck to toe tip. The fact that I didn't even notice my lack of attire makes me very disconcerted. Was it a new lack of modesty that I've developed through the past few months of hell or a symptom of the whole dream-like quality to my life now that made me completely oblivious?
"What was that on your arm?" another student asks.
"Why were you looking at her ARM?" a third asks incredulously. As the two of them bicker I start to melt a bit into the floor. They'd seen the Mark. Hopefully they won't figure out what it is before we leae this reality. I grab another couple stacks of pancakes and sink through the floor rapidly. It is a good thing I wasn't at the Slytherin tables… Gods, I need something really big and unexpected to get my mind off of this. I fall completely through the floor in my haste to get away, fervently wishing to be somewhere else, somewhere far away from the embarrassment and crap that I have just caused myself. I land on Snape's surprised head and the world fades away.
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SPOILER
I kept falling, not quiet physically present, almost through the floor. I grab a handhold on the floor just in time to keep on the correct level. I look around in disorientation. Are we on a tower? The sides of the stone room look up into the empty air. It is a confusing jump from where we were in the dungeons.
A soft "Severus" drags my attention to Dumbledore, half lying against a wall, seeming to crumple as I watch. Is his hand black? "Severus, please." Who is he talking to? I look up into Snape's face. He is almost standing right on top of me. I look up at his stern face in confusion.
Snape has his wand pointed right at Dumbledore. I open my mouth but before I can say anything Snape and says firmly "Avada Kedavra!" I follow the path of the light as it strikes Dumbledore and sends him soaring off into the nothingness beyond the tower. My mouth falls open. Dumbledore had just died? Snape had killed him! I hadn't read this in a fanfic... EVER! How did this happen? Dumbledore... felled not even by Voldemort. Dead, gone. That meddling, mushy old coot! "Snape!" I burst out, vaulting up to stand before him. "Oh my god! You killed him! You GREW A SPINE!" I crow and pump a fist in the air. "You chose the logical side, damn! Forgiveness is the nicest trait on the light side, even if you betray them you are unlikely to die, unlike with Voldie. And Harry is just useless of course… I cannae believe it! Oh... my... god!" I beam at his stunned and uncomprehending face.
"Who the hell is that?" asks a Death Eater I don't recognize.
"I... I... don't know..." stutters Draco, who I hadn't noticed until then.
"Shut up, I wasn't talking to you." I notice too late that all the adults have their wands raised.
"Oh, now, don't be haste..." three Avada Kedavras hit me, two in the chest and one in the head. I fly off the balcony the same route as Dumbledore, except that I hit the wall and rebound, the curse following the path and slingshotting back toward Snape's wide eyes. The three curses hit him and seemingly pass right through. Snape gapes before collecting himself in the aftermath of four abnormal Avada Kedavras. "Out of here, quickly." He growls, spinning around with a swirl of cloak.
My corpse hits the ground slightly before the last Death Eater drags Draco down the stairs. Harry stumbles forward from where he had been bound and races to look over the side of the tower. He staggers back after seeing Dumbledore's body on the ground. He trips over my body and falls on his ass.
A black puddle of something in the corner resolves itself into Snape trying to get up. He groans and Harry's eyes rivet to Snape's slowly standing form. "YOU! You bastard! You bloody bastard!" Harry whips out his want and screams Crucio. However, it does not hit Snape, as I have spawned atop him again and knocked him to the ground. My nose starts gushing blood as Harry breaks the curse in surprise.
"Ich! Whu da ell?" I ask no one in particular. I yank on my nose and throw the blood away and wiggle my nose to make sure the bleeding has stopped.
"Get. Off. Of. Me." comes Snape's growl from below me. I tumble off and he stands again, even slower this time.
"Who the bloody hell are you?" asks Harry belligerently.
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A/N I couldn't resist doing this chapter. A couple of parts of dialogue have been taken directly from HBP (like you couldn't tell!)
A disclaimer in this disclaimer A/N... those are in fact my true feelings about Snapes 'betrayal' which in my personal opinion wasn't really. Too easy. But then, I still think Sirius is coming back. But, I'm proud of Snape. A Dark Lord or a punk kid you can whip without even breaking a sweat? Hmm. Plus, the 'light' is notoriously forgiving. Help them out a bit and you could be the devil himself but they'd still forgive you. Voldemort? Not the mercy kind of guy. So, I approve. And am heartily excited for the next book and the next movie.