20.
Snape, busy with his duties as head of Slytherin, felt a sudden twinge of foreboding. It was not for several hours that he had time to retreat to his office and make a much-needed cup of tea. As he headed over to the desk, his foot knocked painfully against something solid. It was the marble doorstop he had received from Dumbledore a few Christmases ago, before Snape had made it clear that he didn't enjoy either giving or receiving presents.
What was it doing next to his desk? He shrugged, too tired to give the matter his full attention. It had been a long and gruelling day. He was exhausted, too tired even to feel regret for the school's imminent closure, or horror at Ginny Weasly's untimely end. All he wanted to do was to crawl into bed and sleep for at least a year. A clock chimed somewhere, and he realised that it was almost midnight.
Instead, he would have to go round Slytherin and make sure that all the students were packed ready to leave in the morning. He sighed, and sipped mournfully at his tea.
The next minute he had started up, knocking the tea over the desk, as Professor McGonagall burst in looking frantic, without even bothering to knock.
"What the hell-" he began, but Professor McGonagall interrupted him
"She's gone!" she exclaimed.
"Who?" Snape asked,
"Vivian Leroux. Her friends say they haven't seen her for hours."
Snape felt a sudden surge of fear. He bent and examined the drawer of his desk. There were faint markings on it, as if it had been smashed and then repaired.
"Oh God." He said, sinking back into his chair.
"What is it?"
"The test results." He answered brokenly. "About her curse. They came back about a week ago; they said that she had about five years to live."
Professor McGonagall seemed divided between anger and distress
"Why was I not informed? Why was Vivian not told?" She asked furiously.
"I didn't think you needed anything more to deal with."
"Did you tell Vivian?"
"Of course not! Would you have done? I wasn't going to tell anyone until…"
"Until Dumbledore returned." Professor McGonagall finished. "I understand, however little I may approve. So you think that Vivian has somehow found out what was in the results?"
Snape nodded.
"She's been highly strung recently." He said. "We must find her as soon as possible."
Professor McGonagall nodded, efficient once more.
"I will organise a search inside the school and the grounds." She said. "Where else could she have gone?"
"The wood." Snape said. "She might have gone there. I'll call on Hagrid and make a search of the forest."
Professor McGonagall nodded,
"Take care." She muttered, and hurried off.
It takes considerable time and skill to catch a unicorn, especially when you want to kill it, and had Vivian not read about the subject before hand, she would probably have stood little chance. Vivian had been flying over the forest for some time before she came upon a likely looking glade. Then she sat down, spreading the books she had brought over the grass, and opened her violin. It gleamed in the light of the torch she had brought with her as an after thought; she laid it carefully beside the books. She lit several candles, and spread them in a rough circle. Then she drew out a knife, which shone cold in the moonlight, and stroked the blade.
She sat down on the grass, and began to play.
The music, coaxing and lovely, was as potent a call to a unicorn as she could devise. It called, subtly but insistently. It was not long unanswered. She saw, out of the corner of her eye, a glimpse of silver in the light of the candles. It was a young unicorn, it had not yet entirely lost the gold colouring of a foal, and more trusting than an adult might have been. It waited on the edge of the glade, hesitant and gentle. Softly, under her breath, she began to chant a spell as she played. The unicorn, enthralled but still wary, wavered at the edge of the circle.
"Come on…" she whispered.
The violin wailed with exquisite melody.
The unicorn took a step into the circle. It was now trapped, although it did not yet realise it; according to the spell Vivian had read, after chanting the incantation, as long as the candles burned, the unicorn would be unable to pass.
Softly, she ended the music, and laid the violin on the grass. A distant image returned to her: her dream. She shook her head, as if trying to elude a moth. There was no point being superstitious.
"Come on." She repeated softly. The unicorn approached her, and with one graceful movement knelt beside her, resting its head on her lap. She felt a thrill of rapture she had never before experienced, and sat there without speaking, lost in the loveliness of the creature she had captured. The only movement was the gentle stroking of her hands on its soft mane.
Snape swore softly. He had heard the music, and tried to follow it as best he could, but now he was hopelessly lost. He cursed his stupidity in getting separated from Hagrid; the half-giant's enormous strides had made it impossible for him to keep up, and as his pride forbade him from asking Hagrid to slow down he had soon been left behind.
Suddenly he caught a flicker of light shining through the trees. Cautiously he made his way towards it, treading as softly as he could. Crouched behind a tree he squinted into the glade; the sight which met his eyes almost made him gasp aloud.
Vivian was still sitting with the unicorn's head on her lap, stroking its mane. A shaft of moonlight illuminated her pale intense face and caught the silver streaks in her dark hair. Her head was bent over the unicorn, and Snape realised with a shock that she was crying, making no effort to stem the flow. Her face was the most wretched he had ever seen. The candles which marked the magic circle still had a while to burn.
Underneath his fear and confusion, Snape felt slightly impressed. The charm Vivian had used was he knew extremely difficult. It was also illegal. He glimpsed the knife lying near where Vivian sat and realised what she was intending to do. The ruthless train of reasoning was clear. He debated inwardly what to do. If he tried to overpower her, she might be frightened into killing the unicorn before he could stop her; that would be a tragedy for the unicorn, and worse for Vivian. Besides, if he crossed the circle of light he might not be able to get out again; he was not sure how strong Vivian's magic actually was.
Vivian raised the knife tentatively. At that moment Snape felt something move behind him. He turned, half expecting to see Hagrid, and found himself staring at a huge spider. Before he could think or move it had him, its pincers digging agonisingly into his chest. Dimly he was aware of Vivian jumping up and moving towards them, although she did not cross the circle.
"Stupify!" she yelled, but the spell seemed to have no effect. "Stupify! Expeliarmus!" hit by the disarming charm, Snape flew from the spider's grip onto the forest floor several feet below. He saw the monster move towards Vivian, and, reaching for his wand, faintly cried
"Stupify!" as Vivian cast the same spell. The combination of the two spells had the desired effect: the spider crumpled and fell unconscious to the floor.
Vivian seized one of the candles which made up the circle, and made her way over to Snape. By taking one of the candles with her, she would be able to re enter the circle again.
"Are you alright?" she asked in a low voice, bending over him.
"What do you think?" Snape said, in as strong a voice as he could manage. Bandages flew out of Vivian's wand and bound themselves around his wounds. Before he could stop her she had also bound his arms and legs together.
"Don't do this." He gasped.
"Do you want me to gag you as well?" she replied, making her way back to the circle, where the unicorn was now pawing the ground restlessly. When she had sealed the circle again she said
"There's no point trying to stop me" She picked up the knife, and began soothing the unicorn. "I have to do this."
"What do you mean, you have to?"
"You wouldn't understand." She said. "You're not dying. I don't have a choice."
Snape looked at her, his dark eyes staring intently into her face.
"There's always another choice. When Voldemort was in power people did terrible things, betrayed their families and friends because they were afraid for their own lives. I know, I saw it happen. They all said they had no choice either. They lied. If you want to commit this crime then do it, but don't deceive yourself. There's always another choice."
"I can't believe you can talk to me about Voldemort!" she said hysterically, "I know what you were. You were no better than my precious mother you seem so fond of!"
There was a pause. Vivian felt a sudden stab of fear, although Snape was bound and helpless. This man could well have killed many times, had been a death eater. She knew it would not be wise to provoke him. Finally he spoke, as if restraining himself
"It's because of what I was that I'm telling you this. I know what guilt is. Don't burden yourself with it."
Vivian laughed shrilly.
"Crime doesn't pay, is that it? If you loved my mum so much you should be glad I'm turning out like her!"
She sensed suddenly that had he been free to move he would have slapped her. The unicorn stirred uneasily.
"You are nothing like Claudia. Nothing." Snape said, his voice ominously quiet. "This crime is yours, you haven't inherited it. You make your own choices. I loved her, yes, but I knew her too, and she was evil. It didn't stop me loving her, but I saw her for what she was. You aren't like her, not yet. Don't make yourself like her."
Vivian was silent. The tears were again flowing down her cheeks.
"She wouldn't have cared. She'd have done it." She said, raising the knife again. "She never cared about me."
"She did." Snape said. His voice was low, gasping, almost inaudible, he could feel himself growing faint, but he forced himself to continue. "I remember when you were born, she was beside herself, she bored the rest of us to death telling us all about you, what you looked like, how clever you were." Vivian said nothing.
"You were a perfect family." Snape continued, his voice growing weaker, his face full of past and present pain. "Your mother and father were so close it nearly destroyed me. We envied you, all of us. And they loved you, they were always so proud of you."
Vivian drew a deep shuddering breath.
"She loved me, at first." It wasn't a question. The unicorn nuzzled against her, trying to stop her tears. The glade was silent apart from Vivian's stifled sobs. For both of them it seemed as if a long hurt had finally been healed.
Silently, Vivian moved round the circle and blew out all the candles, tears running down her cheeks. The unicorn, instead of galloping away, bowed to her again.
"Thank you." Vivian whispered. Then it was gone.
She realised with surprise that it was morning.
She stood, staring after it for a few moments, before turning her attention to Snape, who seemed in a great deal of pain. She loosened the bandages holding his arms and legs together.
"Are you badly hurt?" Snape looked at her witheringly, and didn't answer. She realised suddenly that his robes were soaked with blood, and one leg was lying at an odd angle, as if it were broken.
"Can you move?" she asked. He nodded, and tried to get up. His face contorted in a spasm of pain, and he sunk back onto the ground.
"What shall I do?" she asked helplessly. Snape didn't answer, he had just passed out. Vivian marvelled that he could still sneer whilst unconscious, and wondered desperately what to do. Then, following some instinct she had not known she possessed, she loosened his robes and examined his wound. He had received a nasty gash on his shoulder which was bleeding profusely. Before she knew what she was doing she placed her hands on the wound.
She felt suddenly as if she were conducting electricity, as if some power were flowing out of her, and looking down, she saw a light flowing out of her hands onto the wound. She felt a strange joy at the knowledge of a power she hadn't even known she possessed. As the sun rose further in the sky, she saw that the wound was completely healed.
Before she could react to this she heard footsteps behind her.
It was Dumbledore.
Snape, busy with his duties as head of Slytherin, felt a sudden twinge of foreboding. It was not for several hours that he had time to retreat to his office and make a much-needed cup of tea. As he headed over to the desk, his foot knocked painfully against something solid. It was the marble doorstop he had received from Dumbledore a few Christmases ago, before Snape had made it clear that he didn't enjoy either giving or receiving presents.
What was it doing next to his desk? He shrugged, too tired to give the matter his full attention. It had been a long and gruelling day. He was exhausted, too tired even to feel regret for the school's imminent closure, or horror at Ginny Weasly's untimely end. All he wanted to do was to crawl into bed and sleep for at least a year. A clock chimed somewhere, and he realised that it was almost midnight.
Instead, he would have to go round Slytherin and make sure that all the students were packed ready to leave in the morning. He sighed, and sipped mournfully at his tea.
The next minute he had started up, knocking the tea over the desk, as Professor McGonagall burst in looking frantic, without even bothering to knock.
"What the hell-" he began, but Professor McGonagall interrupted him
"She's gone!" she exclaimed.
"Who?" Snape asked,
"Vivian Leroux. Her friends say they haven't seen her for hours."
Snape felt a sudden surge of fear. He bent and examined the drawer of his desk. There were faint markings on it, as if it had been smashed and then repaired.
"Oh God." He said, sinking back into his chair.
"What is it?"
"The test results." He answered brokenly. "About her curse. They came back about a week ago; they said that she had about five years to live."
Professor McGonagall seemed divided between anger and distress
"Why was I not informed? Why was Vivian not told?" She asked furiously.
"I didn't think you needed anything more to deal with."
"Did you tell Vivian?"
"Of course not! Would you have done? I wasn't going to tell anyone until…"
"Until Dumbledore returned." Professor McGonagall finished. "I understand, however little I may approve. So you think that Vivian has somehow found out what was in the results?"
Snape nodded.
"She's been highly strung recently." He said. "We must find her as soon as possible."
Professor McGonagall nodded, efficient once more.
"I will organise a search inside the school and the grounds." She said. "Where else could she have gone?"
"The wood." Snape said. "She might have gone there. I'll call on Hagrid and make a search of the forest."
Professor McGonagall nodded,
"Take care." She muttered, and hurried off.
It takes considerable time and skill to catch a unicorn, especially when you want to kill it, and had Vivian not read about the subject before hand, she would probably have stood little chance. Vivian had been flying over the forest for some time before she came upon a likely looking glade. Then she sat down, spreading the books she had brought over the grass, and opened her violin. It gleamed in the light of the torch she had brought with her as an after thought; she laid it carefully beside the books. She lit several candles, and spread them in a rough circle. Then she drew out a knife, which shone cold in the moonlight, and stroked the blade.
She sat down on the grass, and began to play.
The music, coaxing and lovely, was as potent a call to a unicorn as she could devise. It called, subtly but insistently. It was not long unanswered. She saw, out of the corner of her eye, a glimpse of silver in the light of the candles. It was a young unicorn, it had not yet entirely lost the gold colouring of a foal, and more trusting than an adult might have been. It waited on the edge of the glade, hesitant and gentle. Softly, under her breath, she began to chant a spell as she played. The unicorn, enthralled but still wary, wavered at the edge of the circle.
"Come on…" she whispered.
The violin wailed with exquisite melody.
The unicorn took a step into the circle. It was now trapped, although it did not yet realise it; according to the spell Vivian had read, after chanting the incantation, as long as the candles burned, the unicorn would be unable to pass.
Softly, she ended the music, and laid the violin on the grass. A distant image returned to her: her dream. She shook her head, as if trying to elude a moth. There was no point being superstitious.
"Come on." She repeated softly. The unicorn approached her, and with one graceful movement knelt beside her, resting its head on her lap. She felt a thrill of rapture she had never before experienced, and sat there without speaking, lost in the loveliness of the creature she had captured. The only movement was the gentle stroking of her hands on its soft mane.
Snape swore softly. He had heard the music, and tried to follow it as best he could, but now he was hopelessly lost. He cursed his stupidity in getting separated from Hagrid; the half-giant's enormous strides had made it impossible for him to keep up, and as his pride forbade him from asking Hagrid to slow down he had soon been left behind.
Suddenly he caught a flicker of light shining through the trees. Cautiously he made his way towards it, treading as softly as he could. Crouched behind a tree he squinted into the glade; the sight which met his eyes almost made him gasp aloud.
Vivian was still sitting with the unicorn's head on her lap, stroking its mane. A shaft of moonlight illuminated her pale intense face and caught the silver streaks in her dark hair. Her head was bent over the unicorn, and Snape realised with a shock that she was crying, making no effort to stem the flow. Her face was the most wretched he had ever seen. The candles which marked the magic circle still had a while to burn.
Underneath his fear and confusion, Snape felt slightly impressed. The charm Vivian had used was he knew extremely difficult. It was also illegal. He glimpsed the knife lying near where Vivian sat and realised what she was intending to do. The ruthless train of reasoning was clear. He debated inwardly what to do. If he tried to overpower her, she might be frightened into killing the unicorn before he could stop her; that would be a tragedy for the unicorn, and worse for Vivian. Besides, if he crossed the circle of light he might not be able to get out again; he was not sure how strong Vivian's magic actually was.
Vivian raised the knife tentatively. At that moment Snape felt something move behind him. He turned, half expecting to see Hagrid, and found himself staring at a huge spider. Before he could think or move it had him, its pincers digging agonisingly into his chest. Dimly he was aware of Vivian jumping up and moving towards them, although she did not cross the circle.
"Stupify!" she yelled, but the spell seemed to have no effect. "Stupify! Expeliarmus!" hit by the disarming charm, Snape flew from the spider's grip onto the forest floor several feet below. He saw the monster move towards Vivian, and, reaching for his wand, faintly cried
"Stupify!" as Vivian cast the same spell. The combination of the two spells had the desired effect: the spider crumpled and fell unconscious to the floor.
Vivian seized one of the candles which made up the circle, and made her way over to Snape. By taking one of the candles with her, she would be able to re enter the circle again.
"Are you alright?" she asked in a low voice, bending over him.
"What do you think?" Snape said, in as strong a voice as he could manage. Bandages flew out of Vivian's wand and bound themselves around his wounds. Before he could stop her she had also bound his arms and legs together.
"Don't do this." He gasped.
"Do you want me to gag you as well?" she replied, making her way back to the circle, where the unicorn was now pawing the ground restlessly. When she had sealed the circle again she said
"There's no point trying to stop me" She picked up the knife, and began soothing the unicorn. "I have to do this."
"What do you mean, you have to?"
"You wouldn't understand." She said. "You're not dying. I don't have a choice."
Snape looked at her, his dark eyes staring intently into her face.
"There's always another choice. When Voldemort was in power people did terrible things, betrayed their families and friends because they were afraid for their own lives. I know, I saw it happen. They all said they had no choice either. They lied. If you want to commit this crime then do it, but don't deceive yourself. There's always another choice."
"I can't believe you can talk to me about Voldemort!" she said hysterically, "I know what you were. You were no better than my precious mother you seem so fond of!"
There was a pause. Vivian felt a sudden stab of fear, although Snape was bound and helpless. This man could well have killed many times, had been a death eater. She knew it would not be wise to provoke him. Finally he spoke, as if restraining himself
"It's because of what I was that I'm telling you this. I know what guilt is. Don't burden yourself with it."
Vivian laughed shrilly.
"Crime doesn't pay, is that it? If you loved my mum so much you should be glad I'm turning out like her!"
She sensed suddenly that had he been free to move he would have slapped her. The unicorn stirred uneasily.
"You are nothing like Claudia. Nothing." Snape said, his voice ominously quiet. "This crime is yours, you haven't inherited it. You make your own choices. I loved her, yes, but I knew her too, and she was evil. It didn't stop me loving her, but I saw her for what she was. You aren't like her, not yet. Don't make yourself like her."
Vivian was silent. The tears were again flowing down her cheeks.
"She wouldn't have cared. She'd have done it." She said, raising the knife again. "She never cared about me."
"She did." Snape said. His voice was low, gasping, almost inaudible, he could feel himself growing faint, but he forced himself to continue. "I remember when you were born, she was beside herself, she bored the rest of us to death telling us all about you, what you looked like, how clever you were." Vivian said nothing.
"You were a perfect family." Snape continued, his voice growing weaker, his face full of past and present pain. "Your mother and father were so close it nearly destroyed me. We envied you, all of us. And they loved you, they were always so proud of you."
Vivian drew a deep shuddering breath.
"She loved me, at first." It wasn't a question. The unicorn nuzzled against her, trying to stop her tears. The glade was silent apart from Vivian's stifled sobs. For both of them it seemed as if a long hurt had finally been healed.
Silently, Vivian moved round the circle and blew out all the candles, tears running down her cheeks. The unicorn, instead of galloping away, bowed to her again.
"Thank you." Vivian whispered. Then it was gone.
She realised with surprise that it was morning.
She stood, staring after it for a few moments, before turning her attention to Snape, who seemed in a great deal of pain. She loosened the bandages holding his arms and legs together.
"Are you badly hurt?" Snape looked at her witheringly, and didn't answer. She realised suddenly that his robes were soaked with blood, and one leg was lying at an odd angle, as if it were broken.
"Can you move?" she asked. He nodded, and tried to get up. His face contorted in a spasm of pain, and he sunk back onto the ground.
"What shall I do?" she asked helplessly. Snape didn't answer, he had just passed out. Vivian marvelled that he could still sneer whilst unconscious, and wondered desperately what to do. Then, following some instinct she had not known she possessed, she loosened his robes and examined his wound. He had received a nasty gash on his shoulder which was bleeding profusely. Before she knew what she was doing she placed her hands on the wound.
She felt suddenly as if she were conducting electricity, as if some power were flowing out of her, and looking down, she saw a light flowing out of her hands onto the wound. She felt a strange joy at the knowledge of a power she hadn't even known she possessed. As the sun rose further in the sky, she saw that the wound was completely healed.
Before she could react to this she heard footsteps behind her.
It was Dumbledore.