For the next few
weeks, Snape avoided contact with every human being he could reasonably stay
away from, save his students, whom he glared at stonily. Cassandra had often
tried to speak with him, putting her hand on his arm comfortingly or leaving
him a box of Chocolate Frogs at the door of his room. But he always shook her
off. He had too much to think about right now. And after he had figured it all
out, perhaps things would go back to normal. That was what he hoped.
As for Sylvia, he
didn't need to try to avoid her. She didn't seek him out, because she had a
distraction arrive a week before school ended for holiday. It came in the form
of Remus Lupin, whom Snape saw walking down the hallway in patched plaid robes,
carrying a large bouquet of flowers. For some reason, this sight made him want
to vomit.
Finally, mercifully,
the last day of school came, and Snape thought joyously how he could spend the
entire holiday—alone, in his room, with no students to glare at and time to
think it all through. Unfortunately, after his last class, Albus Dumbledore
suddenly appeared in his room, looking concerned.
"Severus, may I talk
with you?" he asked.
Snape sighed. He
didn't want to talk about Sylvia, and he knew that that was what the headmaster
had come for. Yet how could he refuse him?
"Please, come into
my office," he said courteously, leading the older man to the cold and drab
room.
Dumbledore settled
down into a highly uncomfortable chair, looking completely at ease. "Professor
Snape, you have seemed quite preoccupied lately. Is something troubling you?"
Snape was tempted to
answer, "Yes, everything", but said instead, "Headmaster, a few weeks ago I saw
Dr. Oliver's Pensieve."
Dumbledore leaned
forward with interest. "And did you look inside it?" he wondered.
"Yes, I did," Snape
said heavily. "It explained a lot of things to me, but I'm afraid it also left
me with more questions than answers."
"Do you think you
could share with me what you saw?" Dumbledore asked.
Snape sighed.
"Certainly," he replied, and suddenly he was telling the headmaster everything.
The words just wouldn't stop coming. "I saw Slytherin perform a spell on
Sylvia…the Natalis spell, very dark and ancient magic. I remember
researching it during my days…my days of previous employment. It links a person
to his or her heirs. It hasn't been used for years and years; it was devised,
obviously, a long time ago when mistaken heirs might come to claim a throne.
But it's painful, very painful for the recipient of the spell if the heir is in
pain or needs their help…" A thought suddenly occurred to him. "Albus, what if
Voldemort is still alive?"
Dumbledore looked
troubled. "Yes, I've thought of that myself, many times. Sylvia could lead us
to him, potentially. I've never asked her about it, but I imagine that she is
in pain, almost constantly. I believe he's out there, biding his time, but she
knows for sure. What else did you see, Severus?"
"I saw Tom Riddle
with Sylvia, and I saw her promise to help him." A question he had been burning
to ask suddenly spilled out. "Why would she do that, Headmaster, why?"
The headmaster shook
his head, looking weary. "It is something I do not understand. As the eldest of
The Three, Severus, Sylvia senses an unbalance in Nature most keenly. And if
she finds evil in overabundance, she tries to counterbalance it with good. What
she did for Tom she did not because it was him, but because it was what seemed
to her the good thing to do."
Snape nodded his
head slowly, then thought of the first memory that had come to him from the
Pensieve—Albus Dumbledore, young and obviously in love. "Headmaster, the only
other memory of Sylvia's that I saw…was between you and her." He could have
sworn that Dumbledore's eyes brightened.
"Is that so?" he
said, smiling a bit. "I've always been told I was a handsome rogue when I was
younger. What do you think, Severus?"
"Did you love her?"
Snape asked point-blank, hoping to catch the man off balance. "Did you think
that you were the One?" This question had been tormenting him for days.
Dumbledore then
looked down, something close to defeat in his countenance. "Who wouldn't? Do
you know how many men have loved that woman, Severus? How many, from centuries
ago until now, thought that they must be her One and her true love? And when
she tells you that you are not…it is not something easily lived with. You know,
I believe that Salazar Slytherin and Tom Riddle were perhaps the only two who
didn't harbor that secret delusion. They both knew they were wrong for her, but
they wanted her anyway, because of the power that she held, and that she could
use against them."
Snape then asked,
tentatively, the question that was most important to him. "Who is the One?"
Dumbledore stared at him
for a moment, something unreadable in his face, then stood heavily and
answered, "That's between Sylvia and the One. Forgive me, Severus. I must go."
With that, he left Snape's office, weariness showing in each of his steps.
***
By now, he had
practically made a profession out of avoiding Lupin and Sylvia, and he had come
up with what he thought were excuses of high caliber. After all, the weather was too cold for them to jog, and certainly
too cold for her to work on her archeological site. He didn't have to see
Grayson in class and he assumed that the boy had gone home for the holidays to
see Ulysses. Still, he had to admit
that he missed his philosophical discussions with Socrates' daughter.
But most importantly,
Sylvia and Lupin were gone for a week, into Muggle London, to spend a few days
"living as Muggles" for the fun of it. He found this out from the pretty,
blonde-haired Sophie, the youngest of the Three, whom he ran into one afternoon
in the hallway.
"Good afternoon,
Professor," she said cheerfully.
He had mistaken her at
first for one of his students. "Ah, yes…" he said quizzically, looking her over
and trying to remember who she was.
"It's Sophia St. Paul,"
she said promptly, shaking his hand. "I am one of Dr. Oliver's associates." His
face must have darkened visibly, for she then added, "Is something troubling
you about Dr. Oliver, Professor Snape?"
"Everything," he
admitted.
"Let's talk for a
moment," she said, gesturing to an empty classroom. "I know it must be hard for
you, Professor Snape. After all, we have all had our little flings. Rosamund is
the exception—she says she wants to remain chaste for her One, but I think it
was because of…well, I suppose I shouldn't tell you."
"Please, continue," he
said politely, his ears pricked for gossip.
She sighed, and sat down
in one of the desks. "Rosamund is different. She's confused. After being
rejected by a man, she grew to hate them. I think she told Sylvia about it,
expecting to find commiseration and…and companionship. Sylvia says that
Rosamund tried to—how do you say?—make a move on her."
"Really," he said,
whistling. Cassandra (he thought of her with a sharp pang) had been right;
there was enough dirt here to fill books upon books.
"But that wasn't what I
wanted to speak to you about. I know it's hard for you to look at Sylvia and
not see all the other men who have been with her. But what you have to
understand is—"
"Miss St. James, I
appreciate your concern," he said crisply, turning as if to leave. "But I have
to inquire as to why you're telling me this. Certainly you don't think that I
am romantically interested in Dr. Oliver."
Sophie's jaw dropped.
"You mean you didn't…she didn't…great Zeus! Please, Professor, don't mention to
her that we talked. I didn't know that you…I'm sorry…please just—"
"I won't mention anything
to her," he snapped. "I'm not inclined to want to talk to her ever again."
Sophie's eyes widened.
"Really? But surely Professor…"
"She has been deceitful
towards me, Miss St. James, and I cannot tolerate that. I will not tolerate
that," he repeated as he stalked out of the room, ruing ever having gotten into
this strange conversation with the youngest of the Three. He personally found
Rosamund the most appealing at this moment, no matter what the other two
thought of her. She was the loner, and he could sympathize with that.
***
Slowly, Snape was coming
to terms with it all. It may have been a long road, but he thought he was
certainly ready to see Cassandra again, and he might even bring himself to
speak with Sylvia, if Lupin wasn't lurking around her like the overprotective
werewolf that he was.
With a deep breath, he
proceeded towards the Divination tower, and felt his heartbeat picking up. He
hoped Cassandra would forgive him for his weeks of silence, and he was sure she
would. She was an understanding person, after all. He now even wondered how he
had been able to survive all these weeks without her, and was overcome with
desire.
He knocked on her door a
bit nervously, and was relieved to hear her yell, "Come on in! It's open."
But when he walked in, a
very un-relieving sight met his eyes. Almost all of Cassandra's things had been
packed up, and it looked as if she was moving out of the room.
"Are you going home for
the holidays?" he asked. It was a stupid question. She wouldn't have uprooted
her entire room if she were planning on coming back.
"I'm leaving, Severus,
and I won't be back," she said calmly, her green eyes unruffled.
"But why? And what about
Divination class?" he asked, staring at her in what he knew must be a rather
idiotic manner.
"Sibyll will be coming
back to teach it," she replied, folding up some clothes and placing them in a
trunk.
"I thought it was a bad
year for her," Snape said before he could stop himself. He still remembered
when Cassandra had told the faculty why she had come to Hogwarts. It was a day
he had thought he would never forget, and that he could perhaps have told his
grandchildren about—the day when the two of them met.
"That…was a lie,
Severus," Cassandra answered honestly, although it seemed hard for her to say
it. "I went to Sibyll and asked her to take the year off. I wanted to come to
Hogwarts for reasons not limited to Divination."
"Please don't tell me this
has anything to do with Sylvia," he moaned. Just when he thought he had it all
neatly categorized, yet another reference to Dr. Oliver was not what he needed.
And why did everything have to be connected to her? Was she really the center
of the universe? Was she that super-human that Nietzsche had spoken of? And,
most importantly, what would Friedrich have said if he had met her? Would he
have been as shocked as Snape had when he heard the story of the eldest of the
Three?
"Severus," Cassandra
said, bringing him back from his philosophical musings, and he looked up at
her, a little embarrassed to have been so swept away. "I came here to gather
information for my book on Andromache."
"So it is about her," he
confirmed, trying to control a sudden surge of anger. "And now you've gathered
all the information you need, and you were just going to leave without a second
thought of me?" He didn't know he could be so angry. In days that now seemed
long ago, he remembered frequent outbursts like this, and he also remembered
the ways that he would vent his anger. Many an innocent had been punished for
the anger of Severus Snape, and he idly wondered what would happen this time.
Cassandra looked
distinctly uncomfortable. "I haven't finished my book," she admitted. "Andromache
knew about it, but she…she didn't approve of my methods of obtaining
knowledge."
"What did you do?" Snape
asked with horror, wondering what could be so awful.
She turned away from him.
"I can't tell you, Severus. If you're so intent on knowing, you should ask her.
But it's time for me to go. Please, leave me."
"Cassandra!" he said
desperately. "What about us? I thought you loved me. I thought…I thought I
loved you." He said the end quietly, feeling defeated. Everyone that he had
ever loved had turned away from him. He was beginning to think that he must
have some sort of disease.
"I'm sorry, Severus" was
all she said, and she shut the door in his face, leaving the Potions Master
alone with his thoughts and his disease.
***
Geez, Snape just got
totally shut down. Sorry for any of you hopeless Cassandra/Sevy romantics. Oh,
I am also posting "Shivered Glass", my new Lupin/Sylvia fic that explains how
they met…kind of. Please read and review! I would like to thank all my normal
reviewers (please refer to Chapter Eleven if you don't know who you are) and I
would also like to thank my new reviewers: Anna, Magdalen, Ginger Donahue, Kissaki,
Firebrand, and Bunny! Oh, and a special thanks to kateydidnt,
whom I forgot last chapter. I love you all! J
