Chapter 63 - "He sings the songs that remind him of the good times . He sings the songs that remind him of the better times."
"Tell her, Dumbledore." Snape said gravely. "She needs to know."
Albus eyed up Circe from over his desk. She sat in her seat, in the Headmaster's office, with Regulus's journal poised on her lap. She'd been nervously fiddling with the corners of the book, unsure of why Severus had dragged her to Dumbledore's office. But the sage and somber look on the Headmaster's face made her stop her fidgeting. Severus too stood at her side like an ominous crow, a bad omen, and she shivered in her seat.
"Here you are, not back in this office one day, and you already have secrets to tell?" Circe said with a heavy sigh, fixing the Headmaster with a reproachful look.
"Severus, the more people we tell, the likelihood of another information leak occurring again is increased…" Albus said, looking straight past Circe to the black specter at her side.
Circe felt a little insulted; it was like she wasn't even in the room. Now, she wondered why she'd even bothered getting changed out of her pyjamas… Her days of rest had been long and boring, and having never been a big fan of staying in bed for hours on end, she had practically leapt at Severus's invite up to the Headmaster's office. Anything that got her up and kept her mind occupied was welcomed at the moment. But nevertheless, she had begrudgingly spent the last two weeks resting, as per Severus's request. When he could snatch a spare hour in the day, or sneak away from his classes with the older years, Severus would come to sit with her and read her poetry as he had done so long ago in Spinner's End. Circe didn't really listen to the words, but instead she watched Severus's face as he spoke. All those little micro movements, all those miniscule frowns and beautifully small expressions that would play across his face when he read aloud. Just watching Severus reading Keates could bring her to tears… The softness of his voice. The almost husky whisper with which he delivered his lines. The gentle ebb and flow of his rhythm. The ardent, intense stare in his eyes as he gazed upon the book, as fervent and passionate as any look he had given Circe before their lovemaking began.
"She dwells with Beauty – Beauty that must die;
And Joy, whose hand is ever at his lips
Bidding adieu; and aching Pleasure nigh,
Turning to poison while the bee-mouth sips:
Ay, in the very temple of Delight"
But one of their poetry readings, this was not. That version of Severus was reserved only for her, when they were at their most private. Before, she would have longed to have the gaze of everyone slide off her, so she could be left alone to mourn in her own way. Now, she was mildly infuriated by the Headmaster's rudeness. Circe flapped her arms exasperatedly and thought about getting up and leaving in that moment. She had to get ready for the next conclave and pull Eileen Prince's dress from out of the back of her wardrobe before the scheduled meeting of Death Eaters tomorrow night.
Plus, I can just about be arsed to get out of bed for Dolores's "leaving party". She thought with a small, triumphant grin.
"If you don't tell her about Horcruxes, I will." Severus muttered, folding his arms.
"Horcrux!" Circe exclaimed, laying a hand on Regulus's journal. "The word! That's the word!"
"Severus…" Dumbledore muttered, pushing his glasses up his crooked nose.
"What is a Horcrux?" Circe asked curiously, looking from Severus to Albus in turn. "It's obviously something bad, otherwise you wouldn't want to keep it from me."
"Regulus mentioned Horcruxes?" Dumbledore asked, leaning over his desk to take the journal from Circe's lap.
"Uh I don't think so, Albus!" Circe shot back, rising to her feet swiftly and backing away from the Headmaster. "Here's my deal: You tell me what this Horcrux word means and I'll tell you what I've translated."
Dumbledore sighed exasperatedly and sank back down into his chair. "Do you remember Tom Riddle's diary, Professor?" He asked.
"The bloody thing gave me nightmares for years after I touched it. Of course I remember it."
"A part of Voldemort's soul resided in that diary, Circe." Severus said morosely. "That is how he was able to come to know you, through the very briefest of touch. That diary was was a Horcrux. And through the creation of Horcruxes is how Voldemort was able to return after his fall. By splitting his soul and storing part of himself in a Horcrux, he has guaranteed his immortality."
"I… wh… How?" Circe asked, utterly flabbergasted. "I've never heard of this. Never ever! It must be dark, dark magic. How do you even make one of these Horcruxes?"
"Death. Murder. That is how you split your soul." Dumbledore spoke slowly.
"B-but how do you know about this?!" She asked again exasperatedly. "I've spent hours researching in the Library with not even a whiff of that word popping up."
"Oh Circe, is your biggest concern about all of this your gap in your own knowledge? It's forbidden magic, of course we would only have limited availability to that information available here, where students might learn of it! No, we've made that mistake once already…" Dumbledore said with a scoff. "But when Severus mentioned to me that you were investigating Herpo the Foul, I thought you would at least finish his entry in '1001 Witches and Wizards of Note From the Past'!"
"The copy in the Library is vandalized!" She shot back defensively. To a Ravenclaw like her, a "gap in knowledge" was an affront and the Headmaster's little dig at Circe's seeming inability to finish a book cut her to the quick.
"Vandalized? By who?"
"I don't know! But what's a snake breeder got to do with Horcruxes?"
"Herpo the Foul wasn't just a snake breeder! Here…" Dumbledore waved his wand and a book flew off his shelf and went slamming into Circe's shoulder. She exclaimed out in surprise, but Dumbledore's own copy of '1001 Witches and Wizards of Note from the Past" landed quite gently in her lap, open on Herpo the Foul's page. Circe skimmed over the information she had read before in the Library and eventually she turned the page with her thumb and forefinger, seeing the missing page nestled quite unremarkably in the book. She gasped aloud as she saw written in a dense, gothic script at the top of the section "Herpo and the Creation of the First Horcrux", the edges beautifully embellished with a thick black Norse serpent. She steadied her nerves and began to read…
"Herpo first began experimenting with Horcrux creation some time in the late 8th Century BC.
His first reported murder is attributed to his eldest son, Hathero, whom he threw into his snakepits whereupon the boy became one of the first victims of a Basilisk stare in recorded history.
Herpo soon realised that the soul needed to be "split" in order to commence the Horcrux ritual. Death, or more specifically murder, is what was required to split the soul. An act so heinous and foul, so supremely evil, that irrevocably changed a person forever. Yet, Herpo went on to build upon his discoveries with chilling efficiency.
The incantation to harness the part of the soul that has been divided has, unfortunately, been lost to time. But Herpo realised that the vessel of the soul needed to be of personal connection to the caster after a disastrous trial; The first vessel Herpo chose for his soul was a cobra from his pits. A random animal chosen on a whim. But when Herpo imbued the animal with a part of his soul, he watched the creature wither away and die as it fought against becoming the host of Herpo's soul. The creature died, and the separated part of Herpo's soul died too.
Herpo's second murder is attributed to his wife, Hermia. He fed her the poison from the venom sacks of one hundred adders and she died in agonizing pain. Herpo then took his wife's Firestones, that she would use each morning to light the hearth and warm their home. The magical stones that Hermia had been given by the God Helios to harness a little bit of the sun, to make his feasts and heat Herpo's eggs when he brought them home in the crook of his arm. He took the Firestone's and placed his soul in them.
Unlike the cobra, the stones did not die, for they were not alive, not able to resist the part of Herpo's soul that was desperate to latch on to something. Herpo would never die whilst a part of his soul resided in those Firestones.
The Cypriot Wizard Council heard of Herpo's unnatural crimes and he was forced to watch as his wife's Firestones were destroyed with the fangs of Herpo's own creature: the Basilisk."
"Fuck me…" Circe breathed. "But… but Herpo killed two people. I saw all of the people Voldemort killed in those dreams... There were dozens of them… hundreds! They could have filled the Great Hall!" She said anxiously, the memory of those clammy and claustrophobic bodies piled on top of her slowly crawling its way back into her mind.
"And that is why Dumbledore and I have suspected, for quite some time now, that there would be more… More than just the diary." Severus added, his face a mask of resigned acceptance.
"Oh my god…" Circe breathed. "But there… there could be-"
"Hundreds, you said." Severus cut in. "Each murder could equal one Horcrux, as you saw in Herpo's tale."
"Well, perhaps not." Dumbledore chimed in. "The ritual to create a Horcrux is long and complex. It requires months of preparation, and plenty of time and energy from the wizard manning the ritual. Furthermore, it must be an item with personal connection to the creator. Not just a button or a ring-pull…"
"So, you've known about this since… since the Chamber of Secrets was discovered?" Circe asked, her head spinning with thoughts.
"Since Harry told us what he saw in the Chamber, with the memory of Riddle, yes." Severus confirmed. "And he destroyed it with the Basilisk fang, which seemed to destroy Riddle. So the evidence was plain."
Circe sat in her chair, dumbstruck and numb. Severus lay his hand over hers and squeezed tightly, feeling how cold she had turned. Yet, Circe pulled away from him suddenly and he frowned, feeling a little slighted, but his expression of hurt turned to one of curiosity when Circe began fiddling with Regulus's journal, looking for a specific page.
"What is it?" Severus asked, peering over her shoulder, his eyes flicking over the numerous annotations and bookmarks she had made throughout the book.
"A personal item... You said that a Horcrux has to be a personal item." She muttered, tracing her finger over a mass of runes and pencil notes on an unremarkable-looking page.
"What have you found?" asked Dumbledore, peering curiously into her lap.
"Wait a second…. Wait a second…." she mumbled. "Aha!"
"What?" asked Severus.
"I finished translating this segment before… before I found Fred and George's little stash of sweets." Circe replied. She remembered with a bitter sting to her heart why she had stumbled across the Weasley twins stash… the nausea that had gripped her. Lurching at the armor suit for a place to vomit. Realising only now that it was an awful case of morning sickness… She cleared her throat and swallowed down the lump in her throat, all the while feeling Severus's burning and attentive gaze on her. "Listen. This is what Regulus said of his first significant interaction with Voldemort:
He has no inheritor, no child to find comfort and divulgence in. There is no heir for The Dark Lord to create his Empire for. And as he paws absent-mindedly at his bony white knuckle, he tells me he misses his grandfather's ring... "
"His grandfather's ring!" Severus exclaimed suddenly.
"He wore a ring… Long ago when he was just a boy, here at this school… He adored it." Dumbledore said quietly.
"But… but I thought Voldemort was estranged from the Gaunt part of his family." Circe asked. "That's what that Marvolo: The Truth book said. After his mother took off with that muggle man, Riddle Senior, they cut her off! They denounced her as a blood-traitor. Never spoke to any of them again, even after Merope Gaunt died and the poor kid was sent to an orphanage. How did he get a ring from his Grandfather? Why would he want his Grandfather's ring? It belonged to someone who'd rather have seen him fester in an orphanage than take him in as his half-blood grandson!"
"Because it marked him as belonging to one of the most ancient and important wizarding families in the world." Dumbledore added solemnly. "Even a family that abandoned him was better than a muggle family. It's rumoured that the Gaunts were the direct descendents of Cadmus Peverell himself. "
"The… the brother from the tale of the Hallows?" Circe asked cautiously, her knowledge of wizarding family fairy stories being a little shaky. She looked at Severus questioningly and he nodded his head.
"My mother read me that story often…" Severus murmured quietly. "The second brother, who was an arrogant man, decided that he wanted to humiliate Death still further, and asked for the power to recall others from Death." he spoke in his lyrical voice. He quoted the child's story as beautifully as any of Keates's stanzas.
"So you really think this ring is a possible contender for one of Voldemort's Horcruxes?" asked Circe.
"Yes. And it also helps our overall quest. Voldemort is a snob. So therefore his Horcruxes, however many there are, will be magically significant items probably connected to some ancient wizarding family or of historical importance, like his ring." Dumbledore added, standing from his chair and walking over to give Fawkes a loving stroke on his neck.
"I mean, maybe… the diary wasn't." Circe muttered.
"Yes, but one must assume that the diary was created when Riddle was still a young boy, following the murder of Myrtle Warren." Dumbledore spoke to Fawkes, smiling gently as he listened to the birds happy little squawkes as he tickled his ear. "And if you went through all the trouble of creating a Horcrux, Professor, would you want it to be an unremarkable item that had little significance, or an item that carried weight and meaning?"
"I would want something inconspicuous, so that it couldn't be found and destroyed. But The Dark Lord doesn't think like me…"
"Indeed not." Dumbledore added finalistically.
"So where do we even begin looking for this ring?" Circe asked.
"We?" Severus asked, raising a reproachful brow at her.
"Yes "we", Severus." she shot back, her temper growing short. "If I spend another bloody minute in bed doing nothing, I'll scream this castle down. Please, Sev. I'm alright. I feel alright. I promise…"
"I suppose I would not have pressed the issue with the Headmaster to reveal to you the "Horcrux situation" had I not thought that you were physically recovered..." Severus muttered to himself. He let out a long sigh and nodded. "Alright. Where do "we" begin looking?"
The castle ramparts were singing with the voices of hundreds of Hogwarts students. Much like that summer day at the end of the Tri-Wizard Tournament, the whole school had turned out to see Dolores Umbridge out of the castle, in disgrace. And the whole school was joining in on the football-hooligan-esque chants of goodbye. It had started off as a jolly sing along to 'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life' and 'So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye' whilst Umbridge had her possessions piled into the courtyard like Trelawney had had earlier that year. The woman would cast a sour look up to the children gathered on the ramparts with squinting eyes and pursed lips, but she was now powerless to do anything. Eventually the singing troupe were joined by dozens more, until every spare space was filled and Dolores had the whole school singing down at her.
Circe had been pulled from the quiet sanctuary of her rooms by the noise of the growing voices. But she found herself unable to turn around and leave the spectacle, especially once Seamus Finnegan spotted her…
"Lee! Lee! What was the song we used for her?" the Irish boy asked, pointing at Circe once he'd spotted her on the ramparts. He pulled at Lee Jordan's jumper and the other DA member turned to face Circe, reluctantly drawing himself away from scream-shouting the words to 'Good Riddance' down at Umbridge.
"Oh, that'd be a good one! Nice pick, Seamus!" laughed Lee.
Circe frowned, wondering what the hell they were talking about, but soon her questions were answered when the throngs of students started singing the song that Seamus and Lee led them in:
"We don't need no education
We don't need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teacher, leave them kids alone
Hey, teacher, leave them kids alone!"
Circe laughed in a way she hadn't for a very long time. So much her sides hurt, so much her throat stung. There had been times, in the days after the miscarriage, when she believed she would never laugh again. In the quiet moments when Severus was busy, or Minerva off to tend to a Gryffindor matter, when she had been left alone to stare at the ceiling with only her books or her Cantuscope for company, that's when that familiar feeling of drowning would return. The sensation that she was keeping her head only just above the water. She missed her Dad. She ached to talk to him, to let him know what had happened to her, and found her heart dying inside her whenever she thought of him; he had no clue of what his daughter had just gone through, he did not care that Circe was treading water, he may not ever know that his daughter, who had previously kept so much from him, now yearned beyond anything else she'd ever wanted, to talk to him.
The smallest wave, the tiniest thing, could send her down. It was taking all of her mental energy to keep treading water and anything that she could latch on to, to pull her head above the waves was welcome; a distraction like Harry or Remus in the days after Sirius's death, or Regulus's journal and the hunt for the Horcruxes, keeping her head focused on the next thing, or the next event, or the next target at the end of the tunnel. Like Harry, she had concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other, and she didn't feel brave enough to look up for long enough even to laugh. Until that moment.
Snape too found himself drawn to the castle's ramparts when he heard the noise from all the way down in the dungeons. He swiftly pocketed the parcel that Filch had left outside of his rooms and went to investigate the rumpus. He first came across Sprout and Hooch cracking open a bottle of champagne in the corridor outside the Staff Room, Flitwick running towards them with two handfuls of flutes.
"Severus! Severus! Come have a spot of bubbly with us!" He giggled whilst Pomona drank the liquid straight from the bottle. Severus silently took a flute from Flitwick and stared at the drink in his hands as the little man's giggles receded down the hall. Snape rolled his eyes at them all.
I think that's the first time they've ever asked to have a drink with me… He thought with a sigh.
Severus found Circe howling on the ramparts when the first choruses of 'Tubthumping' kicked in.
"I get knocked down, but I get up again
You are never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You are never gonna keep me down"
He slid to his natural place beside her as she wiped her eyes and breathed in deeply to calm herself.
"You celebrating too?" She asked, pointing at the flute of champagne in his hand.
"Of course." He replied, downing it in one. "Did I tell you she tried to suspend me?" He scoffed, putting the glass down on the floor as Circe chuckled.
Severus peered down into the courtyard just in time to see a flock of enchanted paper planes go flying at Umbridge's head.
"Well, I missed the first of Umbridge's humiliations. Glad I got to see the second." he muttered quietly. Circe's laughs stopped instantly, remembering that day of fireworks and music and blood and pain. "Oh, fuck, I'm sorry…" Severus whispered, silently cursing himself.
Circe stayed quiet for a moment that seemed to last a lifetime for Severus. He punished himself, brutalising his careless tongue and his unthinking brain. Circe closed her eyes and steadied her beating heart, swallowing down the lump in her throat.
"Circe, I-"
"If you had a Horcrux, what would you choose as the vessel?" she asked swiftly, stopping Severus's apology dead. She didn't have the mental energy to have another conversation about that day and she could feel Severus shaking like a leaf beside her, afraid he'd caused her more unintentional stress. Severus searched her face for any signs of hurt or struggle, but she kept her eyes resolutely on the courtyard below, giving away nothing.
"I… uh. I'm not sure." he answered after a second of shocked silence. "I have never really put much value in possessions. Therefore I can't say I have anything that I treasure as much as to leave my soul in it."
"And yet buying presents is one of your love languages." Circe replied with a small grin. "My guitar, the Cantuscope… you do like to spoil me, Severus."
"I suppose that's what you would choose." Snape replied in a whisper, feeling himself relax a little now he had seen Circe's smile.
"Actually, I think I'd go for my brooch." she said wistfully, chewing over the idea in her head. "Nice and small. Pretty. Important to me…"
"Oh, nothing from me then!" he scoffed with a little chuckle. He plunged his hands into his pockets with a huff, feeling the parcel he had picked up from his rooms deep within his robes.
"You haven't given me a convenient bit of jewellery!" Circe laughed. "I thought after… what happened… that you might try and slip me a bloody ring." she stated nonchalantly.
Severus felt his cheeks burn and his hand closed instinctively around the parcel in his pocket.
Is she toying with me? Does… does she know that I employed a few house elves to sort through my father's things after he died? Does she know that I asked them to send me what I asked for once they found it?
"I… I don't know what you're talking about." Severus said levelly, deciding to call her bluff.
"You know… "Make an honest woman out of me"." she said, rolling her eyes.
"You wouldn't have wanted that?" he asked a little breathlessly, feeling his hands become clammy with sweat.
"No! I'm not sure I ever really want to tie the knot, let alone be asked out of pity." she said with a sigh.
"Oh, I see…" he mumbled, releasing his grasp on the parcel in his pocket.
Inside it was the resized, cleaned up engagement ring that had once belonged to Eileen Prince.
She is right. He thought to himself. It would probably be prudent to wait a while so it doesn't feel like a proposal of "pity".
"Oh God, you weren't going to, were you?" Circe asked, stealing a look at Severus and finding him far away in thought.
"Hmm? Oh, no!" he responded, feigning the best disdainful scowl he could muster. Circe laughed and Severus let out a small sigh, confident that she had believed his quick little lie.
"Good. Because if you ever were going to, you should do it because you want to, not because you feel the need to." Circe whispered to him, her words almost lost over the hooligan chant of the students.
"He drinks a Whiskey drink, he drinks a Vodka drink
He drinks a Lager drink, he drinks a Cider drink
He sings the songs that remind him of the good times
He sings the songs that remind him of the better times."
Circe's attentions were drawn back to Seamus, hanging on to Lee Jordan by the neck as he scream-sung the next lines:
"Oh Danny Boy! Danny Boy! Danny Boy!"
Circe chuckled again, happy to see joy returning to Hogwarts once more. Someone in the crowd opposite the set of ramparts where Circe stood made a braying horse noise. Dolores looked up to the source of the noise with a wide eyed fright and the crowd broke into laughter.
"What's that about?" Circe asked, leaning in close to Severus.
"Oh, Dolores had a rather nasty run in with the centaurs in the Forbidden Forest on the night of…"
"On the night of the Battle at the Ministry?" Circe chimed in when Severus turned quiet.
"Yes, then. The Granger girl apparently led her into the Forest and she claims the creatures ambushed her. Dumbledore had to go and rescue her, being the only person the Centaurs will let near their camp now. Her poor beloved Minister couldn't even set foot in the forest. With the amount she was going on about Fudge, "the Minister will do this" and "When the Minister gets here, you'll be sorry", they thought he was some great warlord… the silly cow."
"Good." Circe said resolutely. She folded her arms across her chest and stared daggers down at the pink woman below her, wishing she could have been around to see it. "Pass me that glass"
Circe pointed at the flute on the floor and, with a frown, Severus bent to pick it up. He handed it over to her and watched as Circe withdrew her wand and transfigured the delicate glass into a sturdy wooden cup. She strode forwards to the very edge of the ramparts, pushing aside a few students to get to the front and began banging the upturned cup against the stone. A clopping noise rang out throughout the courtyard and Severus was left speechless at Circe's inventiveness.
Horse hooves. He thought as a wide smile bloomed across his face.
"God, I love you." He muttered to himself.
Dolores practically screeched with terror from down in the clock tower courtyard. The students began their choruses of laughter again. Soon, more hoofbeat noises joined Circe's cup and the whole ramparts were clopping and singing.
"I get knocked down, but I get up again
You are never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You are never gonna keep me down!"
Dolores Umbridge left Hogwarts to the sounds of music and hooves. Sniffling and squealing like a spoilt toddler as Filch carried her suitcases down to the station. It was strange blend of noise, but one that made Circe swell with triumph.
It was later that same day, in the evening, that Circe found herself monitoring the evening meal in the Great Hall. She was munching on the last remaining mouthfuls of her cottage pie with a book open on her lap, keeping an ear open for any noises of trouble from the students. She was stuck back in to 'Marvolo: The Truth', looking for any information that might be of use to the hunt for the ring. But her eyes were growing tired in the rapidly fading light and her patience with the author of the book, being a staunch pureblood supremacist, was growing thin.
She closed the book momentarily and grabbed her mug of coffee. As she sat at the Staff Table, casting her eyes over the eating students, she spied Harry amongst his friends. He had not long been back at Hogwarts following the events at the Ministry, but since then she had hardly seen him alone or on his own. He always had Ron, Hermione, Neville or Luna at his side. His brothers in arms, his people to walk with.
The students were mixed together at this evening meal. Gryffindors sitting with Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws dotted about all over the hall, even some Slytherins were seated amongst the other house tables and Circe smiled to herself as she saw the DA all sat together. It was a picture perfect moment, seeing them all together, gathered in the open, without the tyrannical rule of Umbridge forcing them into hiding. Once the main meals had melted away to nothing, a huge purple and golden box appeared on the table in front of the DA. An excited chatter rippled through the students as Luna picked up the note on the box's front. Circe smiled to herself and took a knowing sip of her wine. She knew what the note said:
"Dear Miss Lovegood,
Please share these amongst your closest and dearest friends.
They have come especially from the hip, new shop in Diagon Alley.
Bought with especial thanks from somebody whom you helped in their hour of need.
Try the red ones.
X
"
Luna finished reading the small note and lay her gentle white hands on the corners of the gold box. It was so large, she had to spread her arms wide, as if she were about to take off in flight, and lifted the lid. The watching students gasped aloud as a huge row of perfectly wrapped and displayed chocolates lay sat on the table. In the center of the box of chocolates lay a large red "W".
Oh good, Fred and George managed to fulfil my first order from Weasley Wizard Wheezes. Circe thought as Luna caught her grinning into her wine goblet.
A pregnant hush settled over the DA's table as they all looked to the box of sweets and then to Luna.
"Help yourselves." Luna said gently.
The students dived forwards and grabbed at the chocolates.
A menagerie of animal noises filled the Great Hall as students tried chocolate after chocolate, each different colour turning their voices into those of a beast. Neville made the trumpeting noise of an elephant through bursts of laughter. Hermione cautiously nibbled on a yellow sweet and soon found herself uncontrollably mewing like a cat. Ron swallowed down a whole green-wrapped sweet in one chomp and screeched like a howler monkey, so loudly the beams of the Great Hall shivered.
"Go on, Harry!" A chorus of voices encouraged, and Circe too watched eagerly as Potter unwrapped the red sweet and popped it in his mouth. A short pause followed, and a deafening roar broke the silence as the voice of a lion spilled out of Potter's mouth.
Circe closed her books and gathered her post and quietly slipped out of her seat. She tried to sneak past the DA on her way out, but as she was just passing their table, Luna called out to her.
"Would you like to try one, Professor?"
Circe stopped and glanced down at the silvery-haired girl. Her eyes were large and light, her face pale and gently rounded and her smile was kind and delicate.
Circe glanced down at the tray of chocolates.
"Oh go on then."
Guess I better try out what I actually bought from Weasley Wizard Wheezes, she thought, grabbing a rather adventurous-looking purple one. She unwrapped the sweet and popped it in her mouth, the whole hall waiting and watching her chew.
She felt the rising of something beginning in her stomach, and then travel up through her chest and into her throat. It pulled at her tongue and tried to force its way out of her mouth, and soon Circe found herself wanting to retch, but in a pleasant way. She opened her mouth and let out a loud, immodest "MOO!".
"A cow!" exclaimed Ginny as the rest of the school followed her into good-natured laughter. "They tried that one out on me, Professor. I was quite insulted."
"Lucky I have a thick skin!" Laughed Circe, once the mooing had stopped. "Not thick enough to make a leather handbag out of me, mind…" she added, causing the students to laugh at her joke. Circe looked up just in time to see Severus laughing at her from the door.
There was a whole rainbow of colours to try, and Circe quietly slipped out of the Great Hall as the students continued on in their tasting session. Severus shrank back into the shadows as Circe approached him, covering his grin with his hand.
"You better stop smiling, Professor Snape. Otherwise the students will start to think something is really wrong." Circe whispered as she brushed past him.
"Sorry. Couldn't stop myself." he whispered back, following close at her back as she walked through the corridors. He made a grab for her elbow and turned Circe around to face him, still wearing a wide and defiant smile. She too greeted him with a small smile of her own and she looked around hastily for anyone in the corridor. After finding it empty, she leant forwards into Severus's face and planted a small, lingering kiss on his lips. When she pulled away from him, Severus found himself holding all of her books in his arms.
"Am I your donkey now?!" he asked indignantly, glancing down at the tomes.
"That's your penance for laughing at me." Circe giggled, wagging a finger in his face. "And what would you rather be? A donkey or a cow?"
Severus scoffed and compliantly hoisted her books up into his arms with an eye roll. "Well unfortunately, this donkey is the one leading the pack, not the driver." he sated haughtily, walking off further into the castle. Circe scoffed and rolled her eyes, compliantly following on behind him.
"Oh, and where are we going?" she asked.
Severus opened his mouth, but stopped dead, his eyes darting to a group of Slytherin boys who had just rounded the corner at the end of the corridor. Circe followed his line of sight and sighed, waiting for the boys to walk out of their earshot again. Whilst they stood silently, impatiently waiting for the boys to be gone, Circe fixed Severus with a coy look and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. Snape's eyes almost bulged out of his head.
"You… you want to?" he asked finally, once the Slytherin boys were gone. "You want to go there?"
"Am I allowed to want that?" she asked sardonically, a little thrown off at Severus's utter surprise.
"Of course. I just… didn't want you to feel like you needed to. I am perfectly happy to wait as long as you wish." he whispered in his low, velvety voice.
The concern and kindness in his eyes made Circe's heart ache. "What I wish is for our lives to resemble something of the normality that existed before all of this… garbage happened." Circe muttered, gesturing at her stomach. "I miss you, Sev."
"I have not been anywhere."
"I miss being intimate with you." she whispered, stepping close to him and laying her hands on his chest. She felt his breaths slow and his heart rate quicken under her palms. "I told you in Dumbledore's office that I was fine. And I am. No bleeding. No pain. No temperature. None of that for a long while now. And, well… intimacy doesn't always need to involve-"
"I think I understand your meaning." Severus cut in swiftly. He tucked her books under his arm and raised a hand to Circe's face. He stroked his thumb over her cheek, gazing deeply into her eyes. "I missed you too." he whispered hoarsely. "But unfortunately, the "shag-palace" wasn't where I meant to lead you."
"So where are we going then?"
"Dumbledore wishes to see you." he grumbled, running his hand down to the nape of her neck and setting her goosebumps ablaze.
"Now?" she sighed, hooking a finger under his black doublet and pulling him closer.
"Unfortunately."
"Ugh, fine." she grumbled, rolling her eyes and turning from him. "Perhaps it's better that I see him before the end of the day. I may have a lead for where to start looking for the ring."
"You do? Where?" he asked curiously, trying to distract himself from the pulse in his groin as he watched her walk away.
"Little Hangleton. Where the Gaunts and the Riddles lived." she explained as the two of them walked on to the Headmaster's office. "Apparently there was a tiny shack where the Gaunts lived out in the woods. It's a ruin now. Falling to bits. But it might still have something there that tells us where Voldemort hid the ring."
The two of them came to a halt outside the statue of the hippogriff and Circe turned to Severus with a sweet smile, taking her books back from him.
"Ta very much." she said with a wink.
"Pleasure." he replied through gritted teeth. "Shall I wait for you in the Room?" he asked in a whisper.
Circe nodded to him. "Just as long as you know the right contraceptive spells, so we don't repeat the same bloody mistake as before…"
"I know them."
"Good. Because I didn't know contraceptive spells were actually a thing…" she muttered with a weak laugh, a blush igniting in her cheeks.
"Are you joking? How?!"
"Sex education in the wizarding world is virtually non-existent, Sev." Circe sighed, ashamed at her own ignorance.
"I hold seminars with my Slytherins…"
"You have one awkward conversation with the girls about how to use tampons correctly. And the boys get given a leaflet that was published in 1958. I've read it, it refers to anal sex as "being of the Sodom persuasion"! It's terrible!"
Severus too blushed fiercely and looked at his shoes. "Well, now we both know better."
"Quite. Learnt the hard way, mind." Circe added, turning to the statue and stating the password. "Cinder toffee."
The doorway emerged from behind the hippogriff's wings and she turned to Severus one last time before entering.
"I await you there then." Severus said to her with a curt nod. "Don't be too long."
"I'll try." she said with a wink, blowing him a kiss as the stone steps carried her upwards into the Headmaster's office.
Circe knocked politely on Dumbledore's door, entering only when she heard the Headmaster call out to her.
"Come in!"
She stepped inside the office and strode towards Albus with her books of research.
"Dumbledore, I've come across some useful information that might-"
"Professor Smith.." Dumbledore interrupted, waving his hand quickly to silence her. The gesture made Circe stop dead in her tracks. "You have a guest."
"A guest?" Circe asked, confused.
I haven't got anyone outside of Hogwarts's walls anymore… At least, no one who couldn't send me an owl. Who could possibly have come to see me?
But Circe's questions were answered when a person, someone who she previously had not been able to see, rose out of one of Dumbledore's high-backed armchairs. Tall and dressed almost entirely in black, Circe would have known them even before they turned around to face her just from their elegant stance and their smell alone. Ethereal jasmine and bergamot...
"Bonsoir, ma cherie." Odette purred as she turned to face her.
"Odette..? What are you doing at Hogwarts?" asked Circe breathlessly.
Odette looked back to Dumbledore, her large-brimmed, black hat sailing through the air. Dumbledore nodded to her and she turned back to face Circe with a composed, calm face.
"I have come to join The Order."