Title: Volva a Scelus
Author: Katu Backwards
Author email: katubish@hotmail.com
Rating: R (ish)
Summary: When a new boy begins school at Hogwarts, everything goes splodey. Sex, Voldemort, arguments, secrets, heroism, blood, and fluffy kittens named Foofkins.
Disclaimer: Severus Snape, Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter, and so on, do not belong to me. As you might have guessed. Chaos Aberidge is mine, Jupiter is mine, so on and so forth. Use 'em if you want, just link me. By link me I mean give me the link.
The normal rule goes, if you want to know when I update, leave your e-mail in a review and tell me so. I can think of nothing to disprove this.
Constructive criticism welcome and encouraged.
Various mild ideas including but not limited to; humour style, beginning-of-chapter information, ending-of-chapter summary, and some random information (ie - Draco's middle name being Thomas, etc), borrowed from the oh-so-talented, charmingly bohemian, tragically impoverish writer Cassandra Claire.
And now we return you to your regularly scheduled fic.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wormtail woke up with a migraine. However, he generally did, so this was nothing new to him. The fact that the first thing he saw when he awoke was Crabbe's decapitated body, however, was a relatively recent development in his life. He stood shakily and then what had happened hit him. He'd lost Harry Potter. He shook with the fear of the punishment he was sure to recieve.
"How goes it, Wormtail?"
The little man gave a squeak and turned around. Standing there was Lucius Malfoy, looking more cold and imposing than ever.
"N-not well, sir."
"I can see that. What happened?"
Wormtail cringed. If he told Lucius, Lucius would know that he lost Harry Potter. "I-I-I d-don't know, sir."
"Oh," said Lucius, looking sympathetic. Then a fire lit up behind his eyes and he smiled cruelly. "But I think you do know, Wormtail."
Wormtail squealed in horror and threw himself at Lucius's feet as if he'd been struck. "Harry Potter was here, but the Vrij girl cursed me! I did not see any more! I could not help it!"
Lucius kicked Wormtail in the face, freeing his legs from the man's embrace. "Get your filthy lips off my boots." He growled.
"Thank you, sir, thank you. You are kind, you are generous, you are-"
"I am none of those. You cannot pull your sniveling on me, even though Master tolerates it." Lucius walked briskly over to Crabbe's body and inspected the wound. "An odd occurence. Master will not be pleased."
Lucius cowered inwardly. He could not escape his fate without the Potter boy, but he was so damn slippery.
"They couldn't have gone far. Wormtail!" the old man jumped at the sound of his name.
"Y-yes, Lucius?"
"You will report to master. You will tell him of Crabbe's demise, and you will tell him I am getting closer."
Wormtail nodded and scuttled off.
"Disgusting creature." Lucius said, distastefully.
***
"So, Potter, how's school?" Jupiter asked, sitting cross-legged, her chin in her hands and her elbows on her knees.
"Er...decent." Harry had never been alone with Jupiter before, really. She seemed much nicer now than she normally did. "And you?"
"The usual, accepting and rejecting applications for students in the area, choosing prefects, making sure all the first years know what they're doing, scheduling them for classes, telling the house elves the new allergies of the students, so on and so forth."
"Wow," said Harry, "And I thought Hermione did a lot."
"Yeah," Jupiter smiled, "Well, she does. She and I talk rather a lot, actually."
"Really?" It had never occured to Harry that Hermione might have friends outside of Gryffindor. He felt awfully silly admitting that to himself.
"Yeah. I'm pretty sure she's going to be Head Girl when she's older."
"How could you do that? You won't even be here when she's a seventh year."
Jupiter laughed. "No, I don't choose Head Boy and Girl, that's Dumbledore's decision. I just know. Besides, do you really think I won't come back and be Head of Student Relations forever? I've become awfully attatched to the job."
Harry was dumbfounded. He liked Hogwarts sure enough, but he didn't want to work there. He didn't think he wanted it to be a part of his life forever. "Isn't there anything else you want to do?"
"Well, I used to want to be a Death Eater when I grew up, but my plans were crushed at an early age."
"You're not as funny as you think you are, Jupiter," Harry said, annoyed.
"I'm not being funny. Though I hear it's hard to take me seriously when I'm naked," Jupiter said quietly.
Harry realized by the openness in her eyes that she wasn't lying. "Why on Earth would you-"
"I was raised to know that Death Eaters were a highly esteemed group. My father made sure I would get into Hogwarts before I was old enough to hold up my own head, knowing that I could spy on Dumbledore for him. So on and so forth."
"But...working at Hogwarts forever? Isn't there something else you'd like to be?"
"Yeah," Jupiter said wistfully. "Severus's wife."
***
Snape wasn't making much progress. He'd gotten himself thoroughly lost, and it only seemed to be getting darker. He didn't dare light his wand, lest he was found. The only thing keeping his spirits up was listening to Jupiter's voice in his head.
"Yeah. I'm pretty sure she's going to be Head Girl when she's older." Jupiter's voice was sultry and bored-sounding, but Snape knew that was her idea of being friendly.
Then Harry's voice, faint and tinny sounding, since he was far away, "How could you do that? You won't even be-"
Snape thought he spied something down the hallway, in an alcove. He crept slowly closer, in case it was a Death Eater instead of Draco. He inched along the wall and when he got close enough to the alcove, he peered around the corner at it. It was a statue of the Holy Mother. Snape sighed, and went back to listening to the voices.
"Isn't there something else you'd like be?" Harry's voice echoed softly.
"Yeah. Severus's wife."
Snape froze. He couldn't believe she'd said that. Well, she was Jupiter, he could believe it. She was always rather blunt about things. That, however, was one thing he assumed she didn't think about.
He'd thought about it, of course, fleetingly. He'd had a picture of himself and Jupiter, slightly older, and looking rather happy together. It was a hard image to get used to. He'd always been alone, always been sour and unhappy. Jupiter changed that, and Severus wasn't always sure he liked that change. He'd gotten so used to the pain that he almost couldn't stand it being away. He felt uneasy.
He leaned against the wall. He didn't know how to deal with Jupiter, he really didn't. He cared for her, yes, he enjoyed looking at her and touching her, but he was so unused to the entire love situation that he lived in constant fear of saying the wrong thing, doing the wrong thing...Getting hurt, really. That was what it all boiled down to. There was that matter of the girl in his school days, that had seriously soured him on girls. He'd been-
Without warning, Snape heard something that really shocked him.
***
Harry cringed. "Ew, him?"
"Yes, him. And don't you 'ew' me," Jupiter laughed. "He's a nice fellow, really. He's hard to get close to, though. He's got such great defences. I think he's afraid I'll make him soft."
Harry snickered.
"Harry! You pervert!" Jupiter said, looking mock offended.
"I am fifteen, you know. Hormones high and all that."
"Well I must say," said Jupiter, haughtily, "That Severus has never had any problems in THAT area!"
Harry's jaw dropped. "You haven't-You're not-He wouldn't!"
"No, I haven't. No, we're not. Yes he would." Jupiter replied firmly.
Harry looked thoroughly disgusted. "But...why?"
"Because I'm insanely attractive and I have a knack for seducing professors, that's why." Jupiter added. Harry really couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not, since she nearly always used the same tone. "And besides, you have mad butt-sex with Draco Malfoy-"
"I do not!"
"-and that's no more gross than Snape and I-"
"Stop that sentence right there!" Harry cried.
"-Shagging madly."
"Awwww," moaned Harry, "Why'd you do it?"
"Because you're cute when you're grossed out, that's why." Jupiter frowned slightly. "But really, how else do you expect he and I to have children?"
Harry's jaw dropped, and Jupiter laughed. She pointed at Harry, "That's exactly what Severus just did." She lifted her wrist to her mouth. "I do want children, you know, Severus." He didn't reply, but Jupiter could sense that he was feeling rather shocked.
"Snape?" said Harry. "Kids?"
"Yeah, Daddy Severus!" Jupiter smiled. "It'd be great. We'd have two kids, a boy and a girl. The boy would be named German and the girl would be named Maria."
"I hate the name Maria." came Severus's voice in her head. Jupiter smiled broadly and lifted her wrist.
"What would you pick, then? What would you name our daughter?"
"If I were to have female offspring in the far future-"
"Not too far, darling. You're quite old enough for children."
"In the future, I would name her Eileen."
"Why Eileen?" Jupiter asked, suddenly serious.
"Eileen was my mother's name." Snape said softly, acutely embarrassed.
"Was?"
"She died about four years ago."
"I'm sorry."
There was a long silence. "Me too."
"Is your father alive?" Jupiter asked, suddenly intrigued.
"He's old. And insane."
"Does insanity run in your family?"
"It does not."
"It runs in mine."
"Jupiter, I have a job to do."
"...Then do it. I still love you."
"I know."
"Potter's not here, Severus."
"He is. He's with you."
"He can't hear you."
Snape said nothing, and could feel Jupiter's hurt inside him. He didn't want to hurt her, but how could he bring himself to say it? He shook his head, realizing that that was not the matter at hand, and continued down the corridor.
***
Harry was beginning to get tired, and his ankle was very much beginning to be a part of his life again, in a particularly painful way. Jupiter had stopped paying attention to him, and was conducting a quiet conversation with Severus.
Harry looked up at the mention of his name.
"He can't hear you," Jupiter said reproachfully. She let her arm fall to her lap. She stared at the opposite wall for a bit. Then she turned at looked at Harry. Harry tried to think of something helpful to say, something relatively comforting, as Jupiter looked rather put out. But then she spoke.
"Harry, who's your secret keeper?"
Harry's jaw dropped. "Where the hell, what-why do you ask? What are you talking about?"
"Your secret-keeper. Someone who holds the-"
"I know what a secret keeper is. Sirius was almost one for my parents. Instead, Pettigrew was." Harry gave a small shudder.
"Well, who is it now?"
"What do you mean? I don't have one now."
"Harry," Jupiter said, "Are you daft? Don't you think Voldemort would be able to find you at the Dursleys if you weren't well-hidden?"
Harry sat for a second, taking it in. Now that he thought about it, it seemed awfully silly to think that Voldemort, the most powerful Dark wizard around, had been unable to locate him at his aunt and uncle's house, where not only would he be easy to find, he would be easy to exterminate. He wouldn't put it past the Dursleys to tie him to a rock outside their house as a virgin sacrifice for the Dark Lord. Well, not totally virgin.
"And why do you think you can't stay with the Weasleys on your summers?" Jupiter added, but Harry had a retort for that.
"But I've stayed at their house for a month before, and nothing happened!"
"Two things: Have you stayed at their house since Voldemort returned to power?" Harry looked surprised and opened his mouth. "No, right?" Jupiter said. He nodded dumbly. "Second, since you were able to stay there, you have to understand that though they may not seem like it, Arthur and Molly Weasley are pretty damn powerful wizards. You don't ever see them as anything more than the parental types, but I've been in situations where I've seen them kick some major ass."
Harry found it really hard to imagine Arthur Weasley kicking any amount of ass, much less large amounts of it. He could only picture him asking about "escapators", and being unable to punish his children. Apparently, you never can tell.
"That's why they always want to get you alone between summer at the Dursley's and school. It's the only time you don't have Dumbledore protecting you. Say, do you suppose it's Dumbledore?"
Harry was still shocked by this odd turn of thinking. "Yeah, I guess so. I mean, I don't think he'd trust anyone else."
Jupiter was just about to say something when Lucius Malfoy rounded the corner and looked straight at them.
***
Snape was walking along yet another long, dark passage, but this one had a defining feature, there was carpeting on the floor. It was thick and red and wasn't covered in dust and water stains, like the rest of the hallways. He assumed he must be getting closer to the main floor.
He came to a corner. It went to the left, and right before Severus was a door. It was deep red mahogany, the colour of the carpet. The handle was a tarnished brass. Snape reached out and touched the handle gingerly. Nothing. He turned the handle slowly, silently, and pulled softly. The door opened without creaking, and Snape peered inside. No one there. He opened the door all the way and stepped in.
The sheer size of the room would be enough to impress anyone. What was even more impressive were the staircases. Hundreds of them, twisting and turning and reaching up to the ceiling. Some of them ran all the way into blank walls, some of them led to the roof, some to other rooms, and some stopped abruptly in mid-air. Some of them failed to touch the ground. One of them seemed to lead up to a room that was in mid-air, and totally transparent. There were some chairs, an ottoman, and a coffee table suspended at the end of the staircase. It was impossible to tell which one led to where just by looking.
After he was done taking in the staircases, he noticed he was in a library of sorts. The impossibly high walls were covered in full bookshelves, and covered in thick dust. Snape had to admit that it was very hauntingly beautiful. But admiration wasn't what he'd come here for. He had to-
Jupiter. She was alarmed. He couldn't tell why, but he knew she was in trouble.
***
"I am disappointed, Wormtail." said Voldemort.
"Yes, Master." He was really in for it now.
"You will find Lucius. You will bring him to me. If he does not have the Potter boy, he will resist. You will do anything short of killing him to get him here, or you will be punished."
"Yes, Master." Wormtail gave an inward sigh. He was all right, temporarily, and that was what counted. He scurried off to find Malfoy.
***
Lucius gave Jupiter only a cursory glance before his eyes darted to the other side of the hallway. He stepped foward purposefully, and Jupiter had to throw herself backwards to keep herself from being stepped on. Lucius's next step was directly onto her hair. She lay on the floor, when suddenly she heard Severus's voice in her head.
"Jupiter! Where are you?"
She lifted her wrist to her mouth and whispered. She knew Lucius couldn't hear her, but it was hard to speak loudly when you were looking up your enemy's robes. "I'm right where you left me, in the corridor."
"How far away from where I left you?"
"The exact spot I was standing. Well, not quite. I'm looking up Lucius's skirt. He's got nice legs. He's not wearing pants. Would you like me to describe his undies to you?"
"No!"
"Well good, he's not wearing any."
"Dammit, Jupiter, this is important!"
Jupiter could sense his fear and urgency. She shut up.
"Listen, you and Potter, stay as close as possible to where I performed the charm, or else you'll be able to be seen."
Jupiter jerked her head up, and felt some hair tear out of her scalp. She cried out in pain, but it was worth it. Harry's fingertip wasn't glowing with the same fervence that the rest of him was.
"Harry!" she cried. "Your finger!"
Harry looked down at it, and seemed to understand. He jerked his arm up, and his elbow flashed out of obscurity and back in with great speed. Still, it caught Lucius's attention. He lifted one foot and leaned forward to take a step when the impossible happened.
Jupiter's hair, being round and sheer, gave way beneath his foot. Lucius toppled over onto Harry, who shrieked. Lucius cried out as well, and groped at Harry's face. He felt glasses, messy hair. Suddenly, he knew what he was lying on.
"Harry Potter," he breathed.
Author: Katu Backwards
Author email: katubish@hotmail.com
Rating: R (ish)
Summary: When a new boy begins school at Hogwarts, everything goes splodey. Sex, Voldemort, arguments, secrets, heroism, blood, and fluffy kittens named Foofkins.
Disclaimer: Severus Snape, Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter, and so on, do not belong to me. As you might have guessed. Chaos Aberidge is mine, Jupiter is mine, so on and so forth. Use 'em if you want, just link me. By link me I mean give me the link.
The normal rule goes, if you want to know when I update, leave your e-mail in a review and tell me so. I can think of nothing to disprove this.
Constructive criticism welcome and encouraged.
Various mild ideas including but not limited to; humour style, beginning-of-chapter information, ending-of-chapter summary, and some random information (ie - Draco's middle name being Thomas, etc), borrowed from the oh-so-talented, charmingly bohemian, tragically impoverish writer Cassandra Claire.
And now we return you to your regularly scheduled fic.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wormtail woke up with a migraine. However, he generally did, so this was nothing new to him. The fact that the first thing he saw when he awoke was Crabbe's decapitated body, however, was a relatively recent development in his life. He stood shakily and then what had happened hit him. He'd lost Harry Potter. He shook with the fear of the punishment he was sure to recieve.
"How goes it, Wormtail?"
The little man gave a squeak and turned around. Standing there was Lucius Malfoy, looking more cold and imposing than ever.
"N-not well, sir."
"I can see that. What happened?"
Wormtail cringed. If he told Lucius, Lucius would know that he lost Harry Potter. "I-I-I d-don't know, sir."
"Oh," said Lucius, looking sympathetic. Then a fire lit up behind his eyes and he smiled cruelly. "But I think you do know, Wormtail."
Wormtail squealed in horror and threw himself at Lucius's feet as if he'd been struck. "Harry Potter was here, but the Vrij girl cursed me! I did not see any more! I could not help it!"
Lucius kicked Wormtail in the face, freeing his legs from the man's embrace. "Get your filthy lips off my boots." He growled.
"Thank you, sir, thank you. You are kind, you are generous, you are-"
"I am none of those. You cannot pull your sniveling on me, even though Master tolerates it." Lucius walked briskly over to Crabbe's body and inspected the wound. "An odd occurence. Master will not be pleased."
Lucius cowered inwardly. He could not escape his fate without the Potter boy, but he was so damn slippery.
"They couldn't have gone far. Wormtail!" the old man jumped at the sound of his name.
"Y-yes, Lucius?"
"You will report to master. You will tell him of Crabbe's demise, and you will tell him I am getting closer."
Wormtail nodded and scuttled off.
"Disgusting creature." Lucius said, distastefully.
***
"So, Potter, how's school?" Jupiter asked, sitting cross-legged, her chin in her hands and her elbows on her knees.
"Er...decent." Harry had never been alone with Jupiter before, really. She seemed much nicer now than she normally did. "And you?"
"The usual, accepting and rejecting applications for students in the area, choosing prefects, making sure all the first years know what they're doing, scheduling them for classes, telling the house elves the new allergies of the students, so on and so forth."
"Wow," said Harry, "And I thought Hermione did a lot."
"Yeah," Jupiter smiled, "Well, she does. She and I talk rather a lot, actually."
"Really?" It had never occured to Harry that Hermione might have friends outside of Gryffindor. He felt awfully silly admitting that to himself.
"Yeah. I'm pretty sure she's going to be Head Girl when she's older."
"How could you do that? You won't even be here when she's a seventh year."
Jupiter laughed. "No, I don't choose Head Boy and Girl, that's Dumbledore's decision. I just know. Besides, do you really think I won't come back and be Head of Student Relations forever? I've become awfully attatched to the job."
Harry was dumbfounded. He liked Hogwarts sure enough, but he didn't want to work there. He didn't think he wanted it to be a part of his life forever. "Isn't there anything else you want to do?"
"Well, I used to want to be a Death Eater when I grew up, but my plans were crushed at an early age."
"You're not as funny as you think you are, Jupiter," Harry said, annoyed.
"I'm not being funny. Though I hear it's hard to take me seriously when I'm naked," Jupiter said quietly.
Harry realized by the openness in her eyes that she wasn't lying. "Why on Earth would you-"
"I was raised to know that Death Eaters were a highly esteemed group. My father made sure I would get into Hogwarts before I was old enough to hold up my own head, knowing that I could spy on Dumbledore for him. So on and so forth."
"But...working at Hogwarts forever? Isn't there something else you'd like to be?"
"Yeah," Jupiter said wistfully. "Severus's wife."
***
Snape wasn't making much progress. He'd gotten himself thoroughly lost, and it only seemed to be getting darker. He didn't dare light his wand, lest he was found. The only thing keeping his spirits up was listening to Jupiter's voice in his head.
"Yeah. I'm pretty sure she's going to be Head Girl when she's older." Jupiter's voice was sultry and bored-sounding, but Snape knew that was her idea of being friendly.
Then Harry's voice, faint and tinny sounding, since he was far away, "How could you do that? You won't even be-"
Snape thought he spied something down the hallway, in an alcove. He crept slowly closer, in case it was a Death Eater instead of Draco. He inched along the wall and when he got close enough to the alcove, he peered around the corner at it. It was a statue of the Holy Mother. Snape sighed, and went back to listening to the voices.
"Isn't there something else you'd like be?" Harry's voice echoed softly.
"Yeah. Severus's wife."
Snape froze. He couldn't believe she'd said that. Well, she was Jupiter, he could believe it. She was always rather blunt about things. That, however, was one thing he assumed she didn't think about.
He'd thought about it, of course, fleetingly. He'd had a picture of himself and Jupiter, slightly older, and looking rather happy together. It was a hard image to get used to. He'd always been alone, always been sour and unhappy. Jupiter changed that, and Severus wasn't always sure he liked that change. He'd gotten so used to the pain that he almost couldn't stand it being away. He felt uneasy.
He leaned against the wall. He didn't know how to deal with Jupiter, he really didn't. He cared for her, yes, he enjoyed looking at her and touching her, but he was so unused to the entire love situation that he lived in constant fear of saying the wrong thing, doing the wrong thing...Getting hurt, really. That was what it all boiled down to. There was that matter of the girl in his school days, that had seriously soured him on girls. He'd been-
Without warning, Snape heard something that really shocked him.
***
Harry cringed. "Ew, him?"
"Yes, him. And don't you 'ew' me," Jupiter laughed. "He's a nice fellow, really. He's hard to get close to, though. He's got such great defences. I think he's afraid I'll make him soft."
Harry snickered.
"Harry! You pervert!" Jupiter said, looking mock offended.
"I am fifteen, you know. Hormones high and all that."
"Well I must say," said Jupiter, haughtily, "That Severus has never had any problems in THAT area!"
Harry's jaw dropped. "You haven't-You're not-He wouldn't!"
"No, I haven't. No, we're not. Yes he would." Jupiter replied firmly.
Harry looked thoroughly disgusted. "But...why?"
"Because I'm insanely attractive and I have a knack for seducing professors, that's why." Jupiter added. Harry really couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not, since she nearly always used the same tone. "And besides, you have mad butt-sex with Draco Malfoy-"
"I do not!"
"-and that's no more gross than Snape and I-"
"Stop that sentence right there!" Harry cried.
"-Shagging madly."
"Awwww," moaned Harry, "Why'd you do it?"
"Because you're cute when you're grossed out, that's why." Jupiter frowned slightly. "But really, how else do you expect he and I to have children?"
Harry's jaw dropped, and Jupiter laughed. She pointed at Harry, "That's exactly what Severus just did." She lifted her wrist to her mouth. "I do want children, you know, Severus." He didn't reply, but Jupiter could sense that he was feeling rather shocked.
"Snape?" said Harry. "Kids?"
"Yeah, Daddy Severus!" Jupiter smiled. "It'd be great. We'd have two kids, a boy and a girl. The boy would be named German and the girl would be named Maria."
"I hate the name Maria." came Severus's voice in her head. Jupiter smiled broadly and lifted her wrist.
"What would you pick, then? What would you name our daughter?"
"If I were to have female offspring in the far future-"
"Not too far, darling. You're quite old enough for children."
"In the future, I would name her Eileen."
"Why Eileen?" Jupiter asked, suddenly serious.
"Eileen was my mother's name." Snape said softly, acutely embarrassed.
"Was?"
"She died about four years ago."
"I'm sorry."
There was a long silence. "Me too."
"Is your father alive?" Jupiter asked, suddenly intrigued.
"He's old. And insane."
"Does insanity run in your family?"
"It does not."
"It runs in mine."
"Jupiter, I have a job to do."
"...Then do it. I still love you."
"I know."
"Potter's not here, Severus."
"He is. He's with you."
"He can't hear you."
Snape said nothing, and could feel Jupiter's hurt inside him. He didn't want to hurt her, but how could he bring himself to say it? He shook his head, realizing that that was not the matter at hand, and continued down the corridor.
***
Harry was beginning to get tired, and his ankle was very much beginning to be a part of his life again, in a particularly painful way. Jupiter had stopped paying attention to him, and was conducting a quiet conversation with Severus.
Harry looked up at the mention of his name.
"He can't hear you," Jupiter said reproachfully. She let her arm fall to her lap. She stared at the opposite wall for a bit. Then she turned at looked at Harry. Harry tried to think of something helpful to say, something relatively comforting, as Jupiter looked rather put out. But then she spoke.
"Harry, who's your secret keeper?"
Harry's jaw dropped. "Where the hell, what-why do you ask? What are you talking about?"
"Your secret-keeper. Someone who holds the-"
"I know what a secret keeper is. Sirius was almost one for my parents. Instead, Pettigrew was." Harry gave a small shudder.
"Well, who is it now?"
"What do you mean? I don't have one now."
"Harry," Jupiter said, "Are you daft? Don't you think Voldemort would be able to find you at the Dursleys if you weren't well-hidden?"
Harry sat for a second, taking it in. Now that he thought about it, it seemed awfully silly to think that Voldemort, the most powerful Dark wizard around, had been unable to locate him at his aunt and uncle's house, where not only would he be easy to find, he would be easy to exterminate. He wouldn't put it past the Dursleys to tie him to a rock outside their house as a virgin sacrifice for the Dark Lord. Well, not totally virgin.
"And why do you think you can't stay with the Weasleys on your summers?" Jupiter added, but Harry had a retort for that.
"But I've stayed at their house for a month before, and nothing happened!"
"Two things: Have you stayed at their house since Voldemort returned to power?" Harry looked surprised and opened his mouth. "No, right?" Jupiter said. He nodded dumbly. "Second, since you were able to stay there, you have to understand that though they may not seem like it, Arthur and Molly Weasley are pretty damn powerful wizards. You don't ever see them as anything more than the parental types, but I've been in situations where I've seen them kick some major ass."
Harry found it really hard to imagine Arthur Weasley kicking any amount of ass, much less large amounts of it. He could only picture him asking about "escapators", and being unable to punish his children. Apparently, you never can tell.
"That's why they always want to get you alone between summer at the Dursley's and school. It's the only time you don't have Dumbledore protecting you. Say, do you suppose it's Dumbledore?"
Harry was still shocked by this odd turn of thinking. "Yeah, I guess so. I mean, I don't think he'd trust anyone else."
Jupiter was just about to say something when Lucius Malfoy rounded the corner and looked straight at them.
***
Snape was walking along yet another long, dark passage, but this one had a defining feature, there was carpeting on the floor. It was thick and red and wasn't covered in dust and water stains, like the rest of the hallways. He assumed he must be getting closer to the main floor.
He came to a corner. It went to the left, and right before Severus was a door. It was deep red mahogany, the colour of the carpet. The handle was a tarnished brass. Snape reached out and touched the handle gingerly. Nothing. He turned the handle slowly, silently, and pulled softly. The door opened without creaking, and Snape peered inside. No one there. He opened the door all the way and stepped in.
The sheer size of the room would be enough to impress anyone. What was even more impressive were the staircases. Hundreds of them, twisting and turning and reaching up to the ceiling. Some of them ran all the way into blank walls, some of them led to the roof, some to other rooms, and some stopped abruptly in mid-air. Some of them failed to touch the ground. One of them seemed to lead up to a room that was in mid-air, and totally transparent. There were some chairs, an ottoman, and a coffee table suspended at the end of the staircase. It was impossible to tell which one led to where just by looking.
After he was done taking in the staircases, he noticed he was in a library of sorts. The impossibly high walls were covered in full bookshelves, and covered in thick dust. Snape had to admit that it was very hauntingly beautiful. But admiration wasn't what he'd come here for. He had to-
Jupiter. She was alarmed. He couldn't tell why, but he knew she was in trouble.
***
"I am disappointed, Wormtail." said Voldemort.
"Yes, Master." He was really in for it now.
"You will find Lucius. You will bring him to me. If he does not have the Potter boy, he will resist. You will do anything short of killing him to get him here, or you will be punished."
"Yes, Master." Wormtail gave an inward sigh. He was all right, temporarily, and that was what counted. He scurried off to find Malfoy.
***
Lucius gave Jupiter only a cursory glance before his eyes darted to the other side of the hallway. He stepped foward purposefully, and Jupiter had to throw herself backwards to keep herself from being stepped on. Lucius's next step was directly onto her hair. She lay on the floor, when suddenly she heard Severus's voice in her head.
"Jupiter! Where are you?"
She lifted her wrist to her mouth and whispered. She knew Lucius couldn't hear her, but it was hard to speak loudly when you were looking up your enemy's robes. "I'm right where you left me, in the corridor."
"How far away from where I left you?"
"The exact spot I was standing. Well, not quite. I'm looking up Lucius's skirt. He's got nice legs. He's not wearing pants. Would you like me to describe his undies to you?"
"No!"
"Well good, he's not wearing any."
"Dammit, Jupiter, this is important!"
Jupiter could sense his fear and urgency. She shut up.
"Listen, you and Potter, stay as close as possible to where I performed the charm, or else you'll be able to be seen."
Jupiter jerked her head up, and felt some hair tear out of her scalp. She cried out in pain, but it was worth it. Harry's fingertip wasn't glowing with the same fervence that the rest of him was.
"Harry!" she cried. "Your finger!"
Harry looked down at it, and seemed to understand. He jerked his arm up, and his elbow flashed out of obscurity and back in with great speed. Still, it caught Lucius's attention. He lifted one foot and leaned forward to take a step when the impossible happened.
Jupiter's hair, being round and sheer, gave way beneath his foot. Lucius toppled over onto Harry, who shrieked. Lucius cried out as well, and groped at Harry's face. He felt glasses, messy hair. Suddenly, he knew what he was lying on.
"Harry Potter," he breathed.