Warning; Not everything that happened to Jade and Lydia before the orphanage was pretty either
Chapter 29: Nobody ever said Krait was Totally Nice
Krait celebrated her seventeenth birthday quietly with her friends, using some of Lucius' allowance to buy some goodies for a small party. She held it in Myrtle's loo so Myrtle could be present.
"It is nice of you" said Myrtle dolefully "I only wish I could join in properly"
Krait thoughtfully regarded a bun. She concentrated on it hard and thought about insubstantiality as she had with her arm to hug Myrtle. She pushed hard against the barrier and passed it to Myrtle. Myrtle squealed with delight.
Harry stared.
"I didn't know that was possible"
"It isn't" said Hermione "But when has that ever stopped Krait?"
Krait grinned.
"'Smazing what you can do for love" she said. "Myrtle's my friend."
"Myrtle's really nice" said David Fraser.
They had a hilarious time with Draco displaying an unrevealed talent for comedy and mimicry; his impression of Ludo Bagman had everyone in stitches. And Hermione had a beetle to display.
"So all that remains is to tickle Snapelings!" said Ron wriggling his fingers at Jade and Lydia.
They shrieked in obvious terror and fled to hide behind Severus.
"I only…" said Ron
"Okay, Ron, you meant no harm…." Said Krait.
"Nobody blames you" said Severus. "Jadie, what is it?"
"HE had men in…we had to take our clothes off…they tickled us, you know you can't help but laugh when you're tickled even when other things feel bad and scary and nasty?" she clung to Severus. "And they took photos of us with them touching and tickling us and laughing…." She buried her head with a sob.
Sirius growled.
Severus' eyes were like flint.
"I will find so many ways to cause him hurt" said Krait.
"Seconded" said Draco.
"Yeah" said Harry.
"I don't understand" said Ron.
Krait explained, succinctly and pointedly. Ron was shocked, and his freckles stood out against his white face. Neville was crying at her explanation. Hermione was just angry.
"How are we going to kill this creep?" Ron asked angrily.
"I'm going to bite him" said Krait in a thin, distant almost abstracted voice. Harry shuddered; there were almost overtones of Voldemort's voice in it. "I'm going to produce a venom that has no counter that will kill him after as long as I can manage of agony. How DARE he do that to my babes?"
Severus had one child on each knee, rocking them, shushing them, clutched close; and Sirius came up and dropped his muzzle lightly onto one of his knees.
"Some things go well past ancient history, don't they?" said Severus quizzically. "We do see eye to eye about some things then, Padfoot."
David Fraser watched thoughtfully.
"He's not a real dog, is he?" he blurted. "He's someone in disguise."
Everybody stared at him. David quailed a little.
"Well he doesn't always act like a dog…..he understands every word people say" he said defensively.
"IS he someone in disguise?" asked Lydia.
"Daddy, do you know about it?" asked Jade urgently.
"Yes, love, I know…so much for not revealing it to the children to save frightening them" said Severus. "They already know real frightening…you might as well come out Sirius."
Sirius stretched his way into his normal form.
"Th-That's Sirius Black!" said Neville.
"Congratulations, Neville" said Severus. "And do you think I'd be party to hiding him if I supposed him guilty? The man he's supposed to have murdered is currently serving the dark lord as doormat in chief with subsidiary duties as chief arse licker and part time lickspittle. Sirius has to keep up his disguise in public, you younger ones and his life is in your hands. He's here for your protection as well as Harry's. I trust you will not betray the faith we put in you to keep his secret."
Jade and Lydia shook their heads vehemently.
"We do love Wolf" said Jade. "We won't betray him as Uncle Sirius. We're good at keeping secrets; HE made us keep quiet about the tickling, it's only because you're our proper daddy I could tell…and we never told the nuns lots of things."
"It is an environment that encourages deviousness" said Krait. "They won't talk…and nobody will even consider asking them…. Most adults assume small children are blind, deaf, daft and gormless."
"Quite" said Severus "Instead of which those unfortunate conditions usually start to come upon a child at eleven years old and progress rapidly over the next three or four."
Krait hit him with one of the cushions she had brought for them to sit on.
Her friends wondered how she dared! They also thought it a very good answer to Snape's insults.
-/-
David Fraser went up to Sirius.
"Will I be able to learn to do that one day?" he asked.
Sirius looked down at him, his nose twitching.
"I don't know…if you work hard at transfiguration, I don't see why not – if you really want to. That's the key to it, really wanting it and having a clear idea of what form you want."
"Oh I know that" said David. "I want to be a big black shaggy hound that's almost a wolf."
Sirius shot him a quick look.
"Well!" he said, thoughtfully.
-/-
Severus used apparating to take Krait near to the prison where Jonathon Malfoy was being held.
The two prisoners in the cell were horrified to see the huge ivory snake slithering through the bars; and shocked when it shimmered into the form of a beautiful woman.
Which was which was easy; Malfoy's cell mate was black.
"Dorme et cum oblivium" murmured Krait; and the other man sank down in a stupor. Malfoy gaped, then grinned.
"WELL now, pretty!" he said, reaching for Krait. She eluded him easily.
"Petrificandum totalum" she said contemptuously, freezing him where he stood, with a flip of her wand, now she was over age and had no wand trace. "Jonathon Malfoy, you are going to die. Not for murdering your wife; maybe she deserved it, though probably not. This I cannot know. You are going to die because of what you subjected Jade and Lydia to. You will have gathered I have abnormal powers; it runs in the family, and I will do all I have to in order to protect my little cousins. You will NEVER have the opportunity to hurt them or any other children again. I wanted you to know why you are going to die. You can't tell me if you understand, but I'm sure you must have got my meaning. I hope you burn you bastard!"
Before his horrified gaze she shimmered once more into the ivory serpent; and rose delicately to fix her fangs into his flesh. The last thing she did was to heal the wounds of her fangs, all but the last vestiges of one which she left seeming several hours old as some means poison could have been introduced but exonerating the unfortunate cell mate as having been the killer.
The poison hit just as the spell wore off; and Krait slithered from the window to the sound of his agonised screams.
Severus put his arms around her as she returned to her own form beside him and clung to him, shaking.
"I can feel no compassion for him at all" she said. "I looked into his soul…..all was greed and the desire to use. He used magic all unknowing to fascinate girls and use them….I think there are other children out there, but at least they are all safe now from him. Take me home; I feel sick."
-/-
Severus kept watch in the muggle papers for notice of a memorial service for David Fraser as well as the emerging scandal of the orphanage; and took Krait to see the police inspector in charge of the case at her suggestion.
"My ward made a complaint to a social worker before I took her out of the orphanage…they told the nuns and she was punished for it. I think you may wish to have your police surgeon take photographs of her back to add to your case" he said.
Krait was only too happy to make a statement to add to the evidence.
-/-
Once it was open, nobody was bothering David's grandmother any more, of course; and Severus went to see her.
"I did not want to risk bringing David" said Severus without preamble when she opened the door to him.
"You're the Professor with the amazing owl who claims to be a magician" she said. Severus winced.
"Please…Magicians do tricks on stage for entertainment. I am a wizard, as will young David be when he has completed his education at Hogwarts School for wizards and witches. I suppose you need some graphic demonstration."
She shrugged.
"Not really….either you can take me to him or you're an evil man who confused him into doing something stupid….and my nose doesn't think you're evil. I'm telling everyone I can't bear to live here any more, I've packed everything that's important, I can find somewhere to live near him I'm sure if you can put me up for a few nights."
"David said his Gran was amazing" said Severus. "Will you accept board and lodging in exchange for helping with my two adoptive daughters? They've had it tough, they need love…..I can't afford to pay you proper wages."
"Board and lodging is all I need….I have my pension for any little extras. I'd love to take care of your poor little mites. How old are they?"
"Jade is six, Lydia five…they're from the same orphanage and that's not the worst that happened to them."
"I see" she said grimly. "I'll do all I can to help. These are my bags, and I would like to take my rocking chair. Is that all right?"
"Perfectly" said Severus. "I'll borrow a house elf to help you move….you could take a little more if you wanted."
"Then my mattress would be nice….at my age a comfy mattress makes all the difference."
"I'll take you back first with an overnight bag….the rest can follow."
-/-
Soon David's Gran was ensconced in Severus' office having a tearful reunion with her grandson while Severus sorted out more accommodation next to the girls' playroom and directing Hogwarts house elves to bring her belongings.
It only took a few days before she became 'Gran' to everyone else including Krait; and even Severus caught himself addressing her as 'Gran' when he was talking to her!
-/-/-/-
The days seemed idyllic to Krait, with her beloved Severus and the children, now cared for properly during the day, even though they still insisted on sleeping in the dormitory with her. Pansy Parkinson had been less than enthusiastic about having 'brats' in the dormitory until Krait suggested sweetly that she should tell Professor Snape how she felt about his children. As Draco was clearly delighted to play with the children and Pansy was trying to worm her way back into his good graces she kept her mouth shut. She did make pointed comments about people who would want to learn more about muggles enough to get up early for it; and Krait laughed at her.
Into this happy little world reality intruded its ugly head. Severus was sitting marking books on the settee with Krait sprawled with her head in his lap when he convulsed and clutched his left arm.
He was pale and shaking.
"A summons from the Dark Lord…." He said.
"Will he want me too?"
Severus shrugged.
"I won't know until I get there if it was a general summons or just me…you'd better come along."
Krait nodded and they pulled on cloaks.
-/-
The mansion in Little Hangleton looked as uninviting as before; but now there was a board up in the garden declaring the property to be sub judice.
They went up to the room upstairs.
"Come in Severus….my daughter". Voldemort's voice was satisfied.
The pair went in.
"Master" said Severus in a tone of profound respect.
"My father" Krait echoed the tone. "In what way can we serve you?"
"You have had good ideas already….I have been moving to control the Riddle fortune to the howls of anguish of the muggle government who had taken possession as my dear father died intestate…my mother was married to him under muggle law and I had the certificate as well as my birth certificate showing I was born in wedlock…those people who had carved off slices of MY estates will weep blood before I am done with them, stealing my inheritance and paying peanuts for it because of nepotism and crookery…."
"Crikey! I should say, the mean little weasels!" said Krait with feeling. "Like it's always someone's brother in law gets the lucrative contracts….you've got a lovely lawsuit to play with if they've developed any of your land!"
Voldemort smiled nastily.
"I have solicitors queuing up to act for me" he said. "Severus, what is happening at Hogwarts?"
"Nothing significant" said Severus. "Potter is doing well in the Triwizard; I think he could win even without Crouch's guiding hand. There have been some adverse articles in Witch Weekly and Daily Prophet about Dumbledore's running of the school, but that sort of thing comes up again regularly….Karkaroff has taken off at the run which didn't surprise me."
"And you didn't make any effort to stop him?"
Severus shrugged.
"Why should I shorten the agony of his sweating terror? I never did like him, and he did try to rat me up…as well as splitting on Rookwood and removing your agent in the Department of Mysteries. Do you want me to seek him down and kill him?" he asked indifferently.
"No….I have others to undertake that kind of task. How does my daughter's planning progress?"
Krait grinned.
"I had a great idea…that required little trouble for me and will cause infinite trouble and embarrassment for my erstwhile tormentors. I have them in a muggle jail…and I can visit them whenever I want to cause them more pain and nobody will believe them."
"Good…how did you manage that?"
"One of their orphans escaped….an insignificant boy called David Fraser. Under the Imperious curse he wrote a suicide note and hurled himself off Tower Bridge. It was an interesting exercise in manipulation." Said Krait. "He did not take much persuasion…I think he had suicide in mind anyway. I left it to the muggles from there. Their police are slow, but methodical. Did I do it well father? I can play them for years if I wish!"
Voldemort nodded.
"Not the way I would have chosen….but you know your victims best…I like the idea of trolls but of course, as you say, you can play them for years…how are you getting on with Potter?"
"Pretty well…I've established myself in his circle of friends, I gave him some help over the second task…..having another girl around suits his mudblood friend Granger, because she's nearly as clever as I am and she likes to have someone who understands her….she's very much the one he listens to so getting influence over her is good….I also have the attentions of Draco Malfoy, his father has told him to try to get me as a girlfriend, he wants to tie himself to you by marriage as well as blood I expect."
"Ah, what else would I expect from my slippery friend Lucius" said Voldemort cynically. "So you have quite the little court?"
Krait nodded.
"It has its amusing side….they're pretty annoying but I can pretend to enjoy their company. I can also use Draco to awaken jealousy in Harry….he's not fully through puberty I don't think…..but that will give me time to read some books on what to do to make babies."
Voldemort was startled.
"Don't you know?"
"CATHOLIC orphanage…equating ignorance with innocence….some things I've figured out but…." She blushed "I still have gaps in my education."
Voldemort raised an eyebrow.
"Should I order Severus to educate you?" he asked, lifting her chin with one long fishbelly-coloured finger and gazing into her eyes. Krait let herself be filled with the panic of the comprehensive-school boy's assault on her and Voldemort laughed.
"Not so worldly wise as you pretend…..but soon, my daughter, someone will have to educate you if you want to steal Harry Potter's heritance. Wormtail is not immune to your charms…would you prefer him to educate you?"
"I'd sooner drink erumpent urine through a straw" said Krait emphatically. "If I need to be shown what to do I'd sooner learn from Leprechauns or garden gnomes….but I guess other teenagers manage to work it out as they go along, and I guess I can too."
"We shall see….Severus would like to educate you….perhaps school you too….wouldn't you Severus?"
"I will do as my Master commands" said Severus. Voldemort laughed again
"But some duties are more enjoyable than others…..you have served me well, Severus…I will consider deeply whether to give her to you or not."
"Thank you master" Severus bowed deeply. He let his eyes rest on Krait with a yearning he did not have to feign.
"And to the main reason for summoning you" said the dark lord. "I have a gift for you, Severus."
"Thank you, Master!" said Severus again.
"It is a globe of communication….safer than the floo network by far…..this globe is tied to another in my possession and when it glows I will be waiting to talk to you."
"My lord….thank you for your trust in me!" said Severus fawningly. "To be so close to you is a great honour!"
Voldemort smiled a thin lipless smile.
"Indeed it is…Wormtail resents me giving you this honour…he tried sulking about it. He is recovering from his sulks now."
Krait managed not to shudder. It was more likely that Wormtail was recovering from protracted torture.
"We appreciate it father" she said.
"A father must keep an eye on his only daughter" he said smiling humourlessly.
Krait curtsied prettily.
-/-
They laid the globe down in Severus' office and withdrew to the potions dungeon to discuss it.
"We must put it somewhere that seems convenient…but where it will reveal nothing" said Severus "In case it is more scrying devise than communication….if I fit up a cupboard as a special place I can tell him that I mean to conceal it from others….with a spell to make a small light if it should be glowing."
Krait nodded.
"I can't think of anything better….with a spell to stop sound either way? It would be a sensible precaution."
Severus nodded.
"Easy enough…and as you say, a reasonable precaution. I'll remind him that Moody is around, that ought to convince him any paranoia is reasonable."
They worked hard to make a communications booth; now they would have to be even more careful.
Petrificus Totalis is the form usually used but Krait occasionally uses more grammatical Latin or a slightly different construction to that in the spell forms generally employed; petrificandum totalum means 'that which must be utterly frozen like stone' because it's a gerundive
