The Liber Severi
Liber I - Severus Snape's True Love
Copyright (c) 2001 by Cassandra Houston
Illustrations by Gabriel (http://www.angelfire.com/art/angelgabriel/)
Author's Notes:
Most of the characters within belong to JK Rowling. Amethyst Rayne Black Snape, Lapis Meaker and some others belong to me, Cassandra Houston. I will not accept money for this book, nor any others made with the wonderful characters JK Rowling has created. I am only putting on paper my interpretation and theory of what the Rowling characters may have been like before the Harry Potter series and what they may be like after. I am not trying to insult or steal from Rowling. I am only having fun here.
If you like what you read (and I certainly hope you do), please feel free to forward a copy of this ebook along to friends, family and anyone else who may enjoy its contents.
I must take the time here to thank Gabriel. Gabriel! You are a saint and I am forever in your debt!
I now give you Severus Snape's True Love, the first in the Liber Severi series.
Cassandra Houston
Chapter Two: The Summer Holidays and the Fourth Year.
Severus flopped on his bed and regretted it instantly. It appeared his father had managed to crack another of his ribs. He winced, but made no noise. Four weeks left, he thought. Going back to Hogwarts was hardly fun and games, but anyplace was better than home.
He sighed as he lifted his shirt and felt his ribs. Yes. Cracked, if not broken. A gentle knocking at the door caused him to start.
"Master Severus?" a voice called. High and squeaky, it could only be Sissy, their House Elf.
"Come in, Sissy." He said. She was carrying a basket of strawberries. Without a word, he sat up and removed his shirt. She felt for the damaged ribs and then made little 'tisk' noises as she healed them with her special House Elf magic while he ate strawberries. She always brought him strawberries when she came to patch him up, no matter what the season. He loved them.
"He's not breaking nothing this time, Master Severus." Sissy squeaked. "You must be more careful." She warned him for the thousandth time. "You know how your father gets."
Severus knew, all right. And no matter how much he tried to stay out of his way, his father always found excuses to talk to him, then beat him.
An owl landed on the windowsill. Sissy approached it and took it's letter. The owl flew off and Sissy turned to face Severus.
"For you, Master Severus." She said, in an awed sort of voice. Severus did not receive letters. He had no friends, as far as Sissy knew. She handed him the note, bowed low and left the room.
Severus stared at the letter in his hands. He recognised the handwriting at once.
Dear Severus,
My summer holiday is going well, hope yours is also. I have to admit, though, that I am lonely for someone to talk to. Sirius spends all of his time with James and Dad just doesn't have time for me anymore. Would you like to get together for tea before we go back to school? I know you're not my tutor anymore, but I consider you a friend and I thought you might be lonely for company too. Please let me know one way or another.
Yours, Amethyst
Severus smiled for the first time since leaving the dungeons back at Hogwarts two weeks ago. Amethyst was thinking about him! His heart flopped. Did he dare? He read the note again then got up, wincing a bit and went to his desk. He took a piece of parchment and a quill and ink and wrote.
Dear Amethyst,
I doubt my summer is going quite as well as yours is. I also doubt that your brother will take kindly to my visiting your home to see you. Why don't we meet in a neutral place? I know of a wonderful place where we could have lunch. How about July 8th at noon?
Severus
He wrote directions to a place he figured was about halfway between where the two of them lived. He knew this place well. It would be about a two-mile walk for him, but he wouldn't mind. He told her to meet him in front of the old stone pillar, which was near his long ago hiding place.
"Get over here, Obsidian." He said to a huge jet-black owl. The owl landed in front of him and held out his leg while Severus attached the note. As he watched Obsidian fly away, he hoped his ribs would be healed in ten days and that he'd have no further injuries.
Amethyst stood, uncertain in front of a huge stone pillar at the edge of a wood. It had been quite a walk.
She turned and saw Severus walking towards her. She ran to him. She hadn't planed on this, but it felt right. She hadn't realised how much she missed him until she saw him. He caught her with his left arm, as he had a basket in his other hand. She noticed him wince, before he kissed her, quickly.
He looked over his shoulder. "C'mon" he said and he took her hand and led her into the forest. Five feet into it he took her in his arms again and kissed her. He broke the kiss and said, a little breathlessly, "I didn't mean that. Got carried away again."
"Severus, stop apologizing for kissing me." She said, exasperated. "If I didn't want you to kiss me do you really think you could?" she asked.
He didn't reply. She playfully hit him in the chest and he winced.
"What?"
"Nothing." He said. "Fell off my broom yesterday. No big deal. Pigeon startled me and I landed on a fence." He started walking into the forest, Amethyst at his heels. He wasn't sure she would buy his lie.
He led her deep into the forest and into a clearing. Amethyst gasped as she saw the beauty of the place. Almost a whole acre spread out before her. A little brook babbled to itself and across from there was the smallest little cabin.
"Severus." She breathed, looking around her awestruck.
"No one knows about this place." He said, taking her hand and leading her into the clearing near the brook. "Just you and me. It's protected. My mother used to bring me here when I was a little boy." He took a deep breath and sat the basket down. Out of it came a blanket, which he spread on the ground. He sat on it and patted a place next to him, where Amethyst sat.
"Tell me about your holiday so far." He said.
"Nothing to tell, really." She said, shrugging. "Sirius and James have been practicing their little pranks on me for a solid week now. Remus is out of the country. I must be getting pretty boring to them because they've spent the last week hanging out with Lily and Peter." She sighed. "Dad is just busy, I guess. So I've been entertaining myself." She smiled. "But I missed my friend. I'm glad you wrote back." She put her hand on his. "And your summer?"
Severus' first instinct was to lie. However he found himself telling her about his summer. Avoiding his father, and the two beatings he'd gotten so far, just for being there.
"So you didn't fall off a broom?" she said, looking at him closely.
"Broom fell on me, is more like it." he grunted. "I'm sorry I lied to you, Amethyst."
"Lets be honest with each other from now on, all right?" she asked. At his nod, she went on. "You talk about these beatings like I talk about my brothers practical jokes. Like they don't mean anything. But they have to bother you, don't they?"
Severus shrugged. "It has been like this for about five years now. Ever since my mother died. She used to bring me here when Father would beat one of us. Or both of us." He looked around the clearing. "I haven't been here since my mother died." He looked at Amethyst. "Whatever made me tell you, I wonder?"
Amethyst laughed. "Thanks a lot."
"No!" he said quickly, "I didn't mean anything bad by it. Just that my mother told me this was a sacred place. Protected from anyone who might harm me." He sighed and looked away. "The lies parents tell their children. Anyway, it was the first place I thought of when I considered places to meet you."
Amethyst turned his face towards her. "But I wouldn't ever hurt you, Severus." She bit her lip. "I care too much about you."
He leaned forward and kissed her again. "Thanks." He said.
They lunched on the food Sissy had prepared for Severus and chatted the day away, just enjoying each other. They met every week for the remainder of the holidays.
Their last meeting was bittersweet. They would be going back to school in a few days. Severus was insistent they not let anyone know about their relationship.
"Listen to me, Amethyst" Severus said, calmly. "Your brother, James Potter, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew all hate me. For that, they aren't exactly my first choice as friend either." Amethyst opened her mouth to protest and Severus laid a finger on them. "Shhhh." He said. He lowered his hand. "Your brother hates me. No argument. The feeling is mutual. They're sneaky. Maybe sneakier than I am, even." He grinned. "In any event, neither of us needs him to know about us. You think he hates me now, what do you think he would he say if he knew I was in lov-." He stopped in mid sentence. She looked into his eyes. She had grown over the summer, and her head was right under his chin. He put a finger under her chin, took a deep breath and said. "What would he say if he knew I was in love with his sister?"
Amethyst looked into those fathoms deep black eyes, speechless. She recovered to say. "Probably the same thing he'd say if he knew I was in love with you." She whispered.
Severus closed his eyes, relief sweeping him.
They lost their virginity to each other that afternoon.
That year was a rough one for Severus and Amethyst. They got together when they could, mostly to talk because they didn't have time for much of anything else. Amethyst was watching the animosity between her brother and her lover grow seemingly by the day. The two of them seemed to be trying everything they could think of to get each other in trouble. The detentions flew through the air like the snow in a blizzard.
Christmas came and went and somehow Amethyst and Severus managed to see each other in their hideaway every day during the holidays. Amethyst dodged questions about her whereabouts like she was a professional Quidditch player. It was much easier for Severus, who had only to keep his father in a drunken stupor. For the first time in a long time, he did not receive any beatings over the holidays.
Spring approached and was in the air. Amethyst interrupted heated kissing sessions between James Potter and Lily Evans on more than one occasion. Because she was always either on her way to or from a rendezvous with Severus, she said nothing about it.
It was at one of these meetings that Severus told her about Madame Pomfrey taking Remus Lupin out the Whomping Willow once a month. He was near obsessed with it. Amethyst knew that Remus disappeared every month, and beginning last year, he seemed to be taking her brother, James and Peter with him wherever it was they went. But Amethyst had a very bad feeling about the whole thing, so when Severus told her that Sirius had told him that there was a way to get past the Whomping Willow and that he was going to try it out she was almost in a panic. She knew how much her brother hated Severus. She strongly suspected, and hated herself for it, that her brother was setting Severus up for something that might hurt him very badly.
She almost pondered on the subject too long. The very night she knew Severus to be planning to follow Remus; she found her brother and James in the Gryffindor Common Room. Sirius seemed in exceptionally good humor this night, laughing and talking animatedly with James.
Amethyst took a deep breath and stepped up to her brother. "What is going to happen to Severus Snape when he tries to follow Remus into the Whomping Willow?" She asked quietly, so no one else would hear.
Both Sirius and James looked astonished. Sirius recovered, but he didn't tell her to mind her own business. He asked, "What do you know about Severus Snape?" At the same time, James looked at Sirius and said, "What have you done? Are you mad?"
Sirius ignored James. "I asked you a question, little sister." He hissed. Amethyst actually took a step backward and stared at her brother. James stepped in between them. "Amethyst, what is Severus planning to do?"
Amethyst looked into James blue eyes and said, her voice trembling. "Severus told me that Sirius told him that if he poked the knot in the Whomping Willow he could stop the branches and follow Remus to wherever it is that you all disappear to each month."
James let go of Amethyst and he stared at Sirius openmouthed. "Are you trying to get him killed, Sirius?" He demanded, before bounding out of the portrait hole and disappearing.
"Severus could get killed?" Amethyst said, her voice rising with barely controlled panic.
Sirius grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the portrait hole. He dragged her down the hall, hissing in her ear. "You are seeing Severus Snape, aren't you?" Amethyst didn't answer. She was too scared. "What have I told you about him. My own sister. How could you be so stupid?" He was ranting as he dragged her to a window, where they could just see James trying to drag Severus away from the Whomping Willow. Sirius saw this and cursed loudly. Amethyst was crying freely now. Through her tears she could see both James and Severus lying still under the branches. Were they dead? No. She could see them both moving a bit. She saw Professor Dumbledore and Madame Pomfrey running out, kneeling beside the boys and conjuring stretchers. They were going to the Hospital Wing.
Sirius swore loudly watching this. He took a deep breath and turned to his sister. "You are seeing Severus Snape, aren't you?"
Amethyst had stopped crying. She heard a click somewhere inside her head. She stood as tall as she could and looked her brother with all the loathing she could muster. "Yes, I am." She said, very slowly and very calmly.
Sirius recoiled as if he'd been hit. "Well, you'll stop. Immediately. Before people start talking. Do you understand me?"
Amethyst did not break her eye contact with her brother. She felt something snap again. "Get stuffed." She said and she turned to leave.
Sirius grabbed her arm. "You listen to me Ame-." But Amethyst interrupted him by pulling out her wand and hissing "Liberatio". Sirius flew down the hall and against a wall. He slid to the floor. Amethyst walked up to him and looked down at him.
"No. You listen to me." She hissed. "I have little doubt that all of this will somehow or other be glossed over and forgotten. You will get off Scott free as usual. But I won't forget, brother. I will not forget that you tried to kill Severus Snape tonight. And if you try it again, I might just kill you!"
She turned and walked away, leaving her brother lying on the floor, moaning in pain.
The Gryffindor Common Room was empty and silent when she returned to it. She sat in a chair by the fire and cried for all she was worth. She had no idea how long she sat there when the portrait hole opened and both Sirius and James walked in. James had a black eye and was walking very stiffly. Sirius glared at Amethyst a moment before he marched upstairs, apparently to bed. James approached Amethyst slowly.
"Sirius told me what happened" James said softly.
Amethyst stopped crying and held up her hand. "I don't want to hear your excuses for my brother, James." She said. James sighed. "Please. Tell me how Severus is."
James nodded. "He came out of it pretty well. A broken arm and a couple of broken ribs, which Madame Pomfrey mended in less than a minute." He said. "He's madder than a wet Hippogriff, though." He added.
Amethyst actually smiled. "I can't say I blame him." She said. "Thank you James."
James nodded and headed up to the boys dormitory. He came down again, five minutes later with a shimmering bundle. "You might need this. It's my Invisibility Cloak. You can sneak into the Hospital Wing and see Severus." He laid it beside her and returned upstairs.
Amethyst looked at her watch. It was two o'clock in the morning. She took a deep breath and stood. She put on the Invisibility Cloak and left Gryffindor Tower.
Severus Snape laid ramrod straight in a bed in the corner of the Hospital Wing. Dumbledore had left, after swearing him to secrecy. Remus Lupin was a Werewolf! But that was not what had Severus fuming. What had him fuming was all that had transpired tonight. "Prank, my eye", thought Severus, staring at the ceiling. Sirius Black had tried to kill him. James Potter had saved his life! Severus Snape owed James Potter a life debt! Severus was not handling this well.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw the hospital door slowly open and then shut again. He turned to look, but saw nothing. Maybe he really was going mad.
"Severus." Said a voice in his ear, making him jump. "It's me. Amethyst."
Severus turned his head and looked at the chair where Madame Pomfrey had been sitting an hour ago, before she had mended his broken bones and gone back to bed. He saw Amethyst's face, but that was all.
She smiled at the look on his face. "James lent me this." She whispered.
Severus would have preferred it all be a hallucination then to hear that name again tonight. It looked like he owed James a favour, too. "You heard what happened?" He whispered, half hoping she had and half hoping she hadn't.
Her head went up and down, and then dropped to his level as she sank to the floor on her knees. "I saw what happened. I went to ask Sirius what was going to happen to you if you tried to follow Remus." She whispered the entire story into his ear.
He gaped at her. "You what?" he asked in a hoarse whisper.
"I told him that if he ever pulled a stunt like that again, I would kill him." She whispered back. "And I meant it, Severus."
Severus moaned. "This is too much." He looked at Amethysts face. "Do you know what you've done, Amethyst? You have told your brother that you would choose me over him." He covered his eyes with his good hand.
Amethyst sighed. "Severus. You know my mother was a Slytherin. Did I ever tell you that my father and brother couldn't stand that she was? You see, Mother never told Father she'd been in Slytherin. He was ten years older than she was. They were never in Hogwarts together. When my father found out, he had a fit! There was yelling and screaming. They threw curses at each other like they were peanuts. I think he actually hit her once. I was only five, you see. Anyway, mother stopped speaking to him. Stopped speaking to all of us. She took to her room. She killed herself, Severus." She was crying quietly now. Severus raised his good arm from his eyes and brushed away her tears.
"Sirius never forgave her. He blamed her. He has hated people from Slytherin even before he came here and got caught up in all this house rivalry stuff. I think he must be convinced that you will hurt me as badly as my mother hurt he and my father." She took his hand and kissed it, and then she put it back on his chest.
"I'd better go." She whispered, leaning in and kissing him lightly on the lips. "Sometimes I think the Sorting Hat made a dreadful mistake, Severus. I don't feel like I am in the right house. Tonight, I felt like I am all the things Gryffindors say are wrong with Slytherins." And she covered her head with the Invisibility Cloak. "Remember, I love you." She said.
He heard her footsteps retreat and saw the hospital wing door open and close without a sound.
Exams came and went. The Sixth years took their O.W.L's. The day before the Leaving Feast, Severus was walking down a deserted corridor in the dungeons when he was grabbed and slammed against a wall. He was unsurprised to see Sirius Black holding him by the collar.
"Stay away from my sister!" Sirius hissed. He slammed Severus against the wall again and repeated himself.
Severus Snape didn't give a nasty grin, even though he was tempted. "Listen, Black. You and I don't like each other. Hell, we hate each other. But we also both love your sister." This simple statement made Sirius slam Severus' head against the wall again.
Severus sighed. "Black, killing me won't change anything. As a matter of fact, if you do, Amethyst will never forgive you for trying to get me killed."
This statement of fact caused Sirius Black to release Severus. Before Severus could straighten his robes, however, Sirius punched him in the jaw, knocking him down.
"Stay away from my sister." Sirius said very slowly and deliberately.
Liber I - Severus Snape's True Love
Copyright (c) 2001 by Cassandra Houston
Illustrations by Gabriel (http://www.angelfire.com/art/angelgabriel/)
Author's Notes:
Most of the characters within belong to JK Rowling. Amethyst Rayne Black Snape, Lapis Meaker and some others belong to me, Cassandra Houston. I will not accept money for this book, nor any others made with the wonderful characters JK Rowling has created. I am only putting on paper my interpretation and theory of what the Rowling characters may have been like before the Harry Potter series and what they may be like after. I am not trying to insult or steal from Rowling. I am only having fun here.
If you like what you read (and I certainly hope you do), please feel free to forward a copy of this ebook along to friends, family and anyone else who may enjoy its contents.
I must take the time here to thank Gabriel. Gabriel! You are a saint and I am forever in your debt!
I now give you Severus Snape's True Love, the first in the Liber Severi series.
Cassandra Houston
Chapter Two: The Summer Holidays and the Fourth Year.
Severus flopped on his bed and regretted it instantly. It appeared his father had managed to crack another of his ribs. He winced, but made no noise. Four weeks left, he thought. Going back to Hogwarts was hardly fun and games, but anyplace was better than home.
He sighed as he lifted his shirt and felt his ribs. Yes. Cracked, if not broken. A gentle knocking at the door caused him to start.
"Master Severus?" a voice called. High and squeaky, it could only be Sissy, their House Elf.
"Come in, Sissy." He said. She was carrying a basket of strawberries. Without a word, he sat up and removed his shirt. She felt for the damaged ribs and then made little 'tisk' noises as she healed them with her special House Elf magic while he ate strawberries. She always brought him strawberries when she came to patch him up, no matter what the season. He loved them.
"He's not breaking nothing this time, Master Severus." Sissy squeaked. "You must be more careful." She warned him for the thousandth time. "You know how your father gets."
Severus knew, all right. And no matter how much he tried to stay out of his way, his father always found excuses to talk to him, then beat him.
An owl landed on the windowsill. Sissy approached it and took it's letter. The owl flew off and Sissy turned to face Severus.
"For you, Master Severus." She said, in an awed sort of voice. Severus did not receive letters. He had no friends, as far as Sissy knew. She handed him the note, bowed low and left the room.
Severus stared at the letter in his hands. He recognised the handwriting at once.
Dear Severus,
My summer holiday is going well, hope yours is also. I have to admit, though, that I am lonely for someone to talk to. Sirius spends all of his time with James and Dad just doesn't have time for me anymore. Would you like to get together for tea before we go back to school? I know you're not my tutor anymore, but I consider you a friend and I thought you might be lonely for company too. Please let me know one way or another.
Yours, Amethyst
Severus smiled for the first time since leaving the dungeons back at Hogwarts two weeks ago. Amethyst was thinking about him! His heart flopped. Did he dare? He read the note again then got up, wincing a bit and went to his desk. He took a piece of parchment and a quill and ink and wrote.
Dear Amethyst,
I doubt my summer is going quite as well as yours is. I also doubt that your brother will take kindly to my visiting your home to see you. Why don't we meet in a neutral place? I know of a wonderful place where we could have lunch. How about July 8th at noon?
Severus
He wrote directions to a place he figured was about halfway between where the two of them lived. He knew this place well. It would be about a two-mile walk for him, but he wouldn't mind. He told her to meet him in front of the old stone pillar, which was near his long ago hiding place.
"Get over here, Obsidian." He said to a huge jet-black owl. The owl landed in front of him and held out his leg while Severus attached the note. As he watched Obsidian fly away, he hoped his ribs would be healed in ten days and that he'd have no further injuries.
Amethyst stood, uncertain in front of a huge stone pillar at the edge of a wood. It had been quite a walk.
She turned and saw Severus walking towards her. She ran to him. She hadn't planed on this, but it felt right. She hadn't realised how much she missed him until she saw him. He caught her with his left arm, as he had a basket in his other hand. She noticed him wince, before he kissed her, quickly.
He looked over his shoulder. "C'mon" he said and he took her hand and led her into the forest. Five feet into it he took her in his arms again and kissed her. He broke the kiss and said, a little breathlessly, "I didn't mean that. Got carried away again."
"Severus, stop apologizing for kissing me." She said, exasperated. "If I didn't want you to kiss me do you really think you could?" she asked.
He didn't reply. She playfully hit him in the chest and he winced.
"What?"
"Nothing." He said. "Fell off my broom yesterday. No big deal. Pigeon startled me and I landed on a fence." He started walking into the forest, Amethyst at his heels. He wasn't sure she would buy his lie.
He led her deep into the forest and into a clearing. Amethyst gasped as she saw the beauty of the place. Almost a whole acre spread out before her. A little brook babbled to itself and across from there was the smallest little cabin.
"Severus." She breathed, looking around her awestruck.
"No one knows about this place." He said, taking her hand and leading her into the clearing near the brook. "Just you and me. It's protected. My mother used to bring me here when I was a little boy." He took a deep breath and sat the basket down. Out of it came a blanket, which he spread on the ground. He sat on it and patted a place next to him, where Amethyst sat.
"Tell me about your holiday so far." He said.
"Nothing to tell, really." She said, shrugging. "Sirius and James have been practicing their little pranks on me for a solid week now. Remus is out of the country. I must be getting pretty boring to them because they've spent the last week hanging out with Lily and Peter." She sighed. "Dad is just busy, I guess. So I've been entertaining myself." She smiled. "But I missed my friend. I'm glad you wrote back." She put her hand on his. "And your summer?"
Severus' first instinct was to lie. However he found himself telling her about his summer. Avoiding his father, and the two beatings he'd gotten so far, just for being there.
"So you didn't fall off a broom?" she said, looking at him closely.
"Broom fell on me, is more like it." he grunted. "I'm sorry I lied to you, Amethyst."
"Lets be honest with each other from now on, all right?" she asked. At his nod, she went on. "You talk about these beatings like I talk about my brothers practical jokes. Like they don't mean anything. But they have to bother you, don't they?"
Severus shrugged. "It has been like this for about five years now. Ever since my mother died. She used to bring me here when Father would beat one of us. Or both of us." He looked around the clearing. "I haven't been here since my mother died." He looked at Amethyst. "Whatever made me tell you, I wonder?"
Amethyst laughed. "Thanks a lot."
"No!" he said quickly, "I didn't mean anything bad by it. Just that my mother told me this was a sacred place. Protected from anyone who might harm me." He sighed and looked away. "The lies parents tell their children. Anyway, it was the first place I thought of when I considered places to meet you."
Amethyst turned his face towards her. "But I wouldn't ever hurt you, Severus." She bit her lip. "I care too much about you."
He leaned forward and kissed her again. "Thanks." He said.
They lunched on the food Sissy had prepared for Severus and chatted the day away, just enjoying each other. They met every week for the remainder of the holidays.
Their last meeting was bittersweet. They would be going back to school in a few days. Severus was insistent they not let anyone know about their relationship.
"Listen to me, Amethyst" Severus said, calmly. "Your brother, James Potter, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew all hate me. For that, they aren't exactly my first choice as friend either." Amethyst opened her mouth to protest and Severus laid a finger on them. "Shhhh." He said. He lowered his hand. "Your brother hates me. No argument. The feeling is mutual. They're sneaky. Maybe sneakier than I am, even." He grinned. "In any event, neither of us needs him to know about us. You think he hates me now, what do you think he would he say if he knew I was in lov-." He stopped in mid sentence. She looked into his eyes. She had grown over the summer, and her head was right under his chin. He put a finger under her chin, took a deep breath and said. "What would he say if he knew I was in love with his sister?"
Amethyst looked into those fathoms deep black eyes, speechless. She recovered to say. "Probably the same thing he'd say if he knew I was in love with you." She whispered.
Severus closed his eyes, relief sweeping him.
They lost their virginity to each other that afternoon.
That year was a rough one for Severus and Amethyst. They got together when they could, mostly to talk because they didn't have time for much of anything else. Amethyst was watching the animosity between her brother and her lover grow seemingly by the day. The two of them seemed to be trying everything they could think of to get each other in trouble. The detentions flew through the air like the snow in a blizzard.
Christmas came and went and somehow Amethyst and Severus managed to see each other in their hideaway every day during the holidays. Amethyst dodged questions about her whereabouts like she was a professional Quidditch player. It was much easier for Severus, who had only to keep his father in a drunken stupor. For the first time in a long time, he did not receive any beatings over the holidays.
Spring approached and was in the air. Amethyst interrupted heated kissing sessions between James Potter and Lily Evans on more than one occasion. Because she was always either on her way to or from a rendezvous with Severus, she said nothing about it.
It was at one of these meetings that Severus told her about Madame Pomfrey taking Remus Lupin out the Whomping Willow once a month. He was near obsessed with it. Amethyst knew that Remus disappeared every month, and beginning last year, he seemed to be taking her brother, James and Peter with him wherever it was they went. But Amethyst had a very bad feeling about the whole thing, so when Severus told her that Sirius had told him that there was a way to get past the Whomping Willow and that he was going to try it out she was almost in a panic. She knew how much her brother hated Severus. She strongly suspected, and hated herself for it, that her brother was setting Severus up for something that might hurt him very badly.
She almost pondered on the subject too long. The very night she knew Severus to be planning to follow Remus; she found her brother and James in the Gryffindor Common Room. Sirius seemed in exceptionally good humor this night, laughing and talking animatedly with James.
Amethyst took a deep breath and stepped up to her brother. "What is going to happen to Severus Snape when he tries to follow Remus into the Whomping Willow?" She asked quietly, so no one else would hear.
Both Sirius and James looked astonished. Sirius recovered, but he didn't tell her to mind her own business. He asked, "What do you know about Severus Snape?" At the same time, James looked at Sirius and said, "What have you done? Are you mad?"
Sirius ignored James. "I asked you a question, little sister." He hissed. Amethyst actually took a step backward and stared at her brother. James stepped in between them. "Amethyst, what is Severus planning to do?"
Amethyst looked into James blue eyes and said, her voice trembling. "Severus told me that Sirius told him that if he poked the knot in the Whomping Willow he could stop the branches and follow Remus to wherever it is that you all disappear to each month."
James let go of Amethyst and he stared at Sirius openmouthed. "Are you trying to get him killed, Sirius?" He demanded, before bounding out of the portrait hole and disappearing.
"Severus could get killed?" Amethyst said, her voice rising with barely controlled panic.
Sirius grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the portrait hole. He dragged her down the hall, hissing in her ear. "You are seeing Severus Snape, aren't you?" Amethyst didn't answer. She was too scared. "What have I told you about him. My own sister. How could you be so stupid?" He was ranting as he dragged her to a window, where they could just see James trying to drag Severus away from the Whomping Willow. Sirius saw this and cursed loudly. Amethyst was crying freely now. Through her tears she could see both James and Severus lying still under the branches. Were they dead? No. She could see them both moving a bit. She saw Professor Dumbledore and Madame Pomfrey running out, kneeling beside the boys and conjuring stretchers. They were going to the Hospital Wing.
Sirius swore loudly watching this. He took a deep breath and turned to his sister. "You are seeing Severus Snape, aren't you?"
Amethyst had stopped crying. She heard a click somewhere inside her head. She stood as tall as she could and looked her brother with all the loathing she could muster. "Yes, I am." She said, very slowly and very calmly.
Sirius recoiled as if he'd been hit. "Well, you'll stop. Immediately. Before people start talking. Do you understand me?"
Amethyst did not break her eye contact with her brother. She felt something snap again. "Get stuffed." She said and she turned to leave.
Sirius grabbed her arm. "You listen to me Ame-." But Amethyst interrupted him by pulling out her wand and hissing "Liberatio". Sirius flew down the hall and against a wall. He slid to the floor. Amethyst walked up to him and looked down at him.
"No. You listen to me." She hissed. "I have little doubt that all of this will somehow or other be glossed over and forgotten. You will get off Scott free as usual. But I won't forget, brother. I will not forget that you tried to kill Severus Snape tonight. And if you try it again, I might just kill you!"
She turned and walked away, leaving her brother lying on the floor, moaning in pain.
The Gryffindor Common Room was empty and silent when she returned to it. She sat in a chair by the fire and cried for all she was worth. She had no idea how long she sat there when the portrait hole opened and both Sirius and James walked in. James had a black eye and was walking very stiffly. Sirius glared at Amethyst a moment before he marched upstairs, apparently to bed. James approached Amethyst slowly.
"Sirius told me what happened" James said softly.
Amethyst stopped crying and held up her hand. "I don't want to hear your excuses for my brother, James." She said. James sighed. "Please. Tell me how Severus is."
James nodded. "He came out of it pretty well. A broken arm and a couple of broken ribs, which Madame Pomfrey mended in less than a minute." He said. "He's madder than a wet Hippogriff, though." He added.
Amethyst actually smiled. "I can't say I blame him." She said. "Thank you James."
James nodded and headed up to the boys dormitory. He came down again, five minutes later with a shimmering bundle. "You might need this. It's my Invisibility Cloak. You can sneak into the Hospital Wing and see Severus." He laid it beside her and returned upstairs.
Amethyst looked at her watch. It was two o'clock in the morning. She took a deep breath and stood. She put on the Invisibility Cloak and left Gryffindor Tower.
Severus Snape laid ramrod straight in a bed in the corner of the Hospital Wing. Dumbledore had left, after swearing him to secrecy. Remus Lupin was a Werewolf! But that was not what had Severus fuming. What had him fuming was all that had transpired tonight. "Prank, my eye", thought Severus, staring at the ceiling. Sirius Black had tried to kill him. James Potter had saved his life! Severus Snape owed James Potter a life debt! Severus was not handling this well.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw the hospital door slowly open and then shut again. He turned to look, but saw nothing. Maybe he really was going mad.
"Severus." Said a voice in his ear, making him jump. "It's me. Amethyst."
Severus turned his head and looked at the chair where Madame Pomfrey had been sitting an hour ago, before she had mended his broken bones and gone back to bed. He saw Amethyst's face, but that was all.
She smiled at the look on his face. "James lent me this." She whispered.
Severus would have preferred it all be a hallucination then to hear that name again tonight. It looked like he owed James a favour, too. "You heard what happened?" He whispered, half hoping she had and half hoping she hadn't.
Her head went up and down, and then dropped to his level as she sank to the floor on her knees. "I saw what happened. I went to ask Sirius what was going to happen to you if you tried to follow Remus." She whispered the entire story into his ear.
He gaped at her. "You what?" he asked in a hoarse whisper.
"I told him that if he ever pulled a stunt like that again, I would kill him." She whispered back. "And I meant it, Severus."
Severus moaned. "This is too much." He looked at Amethysts face. "Do you know what you've done, Amethyst? You have told your brother that you would choose me over him." He covered his eyes with his good hand.
Amethyst sighed. "Severus. You know my mother was a Slytherin. Did I ever tell you that my father and brother couldn't stand that she was? You see, Mother never told Father she'd been in Slytherin. He was ten years older than she was. They were never in Hogwarts together. When my father found out, he had a fit! There was yelling and screaming. They threw curses at each other like they were peanuts. I think he actually hit her once. I was only five, you see. Anyway, mother stopped speaking to him. Stopped speaking to all of us. She took to her room. She killed herself, Severus." She was crying quietly now. Severus raised his good arm from his eyes and brushed away her tears.
"Sirius never forgave her. He blamed her. He has hated people from Slytherin even before he came here and got caught up in all this house rivalry stuff. I think he must be convinced that you will hurt me as badly as my mother hurt he and my father." She took his hand and kissed it, and then she put it back on his chest.
"I'd better go." She whispered, leaning in and kissing him lightly on the lips. "Sometimes I think the Sorting Hat made a dreadful mistake, Severus. I don't feel like I am in the right house. Tonight, I felt like I am all the things Gryffindors say are wrong with Slytherins." And she covered her head with the Invisibility Cloak. "Remember, I love you." She said.
He heard her footsteps retreat and saw the hospital wing door open and close without a sound.
Exams came and went. The Sixth years took their O.W.L's. The day before the Leaving Feast, Severus was walking down a deserted corridor in the dungeons when he was grabbed and slammed against a wall. He was unsurprised to see Sirius Black holding him by the collar.
"Stay away from my sister!" Sirius hissed. He slammed Severus against the wall again and repeated himself.
Severus Snape didn't give a nasty grin, even though he was tempted. "Listen, Black. You and I don't like each other. Hell, we hate each other. But we also both love your sister." This simple statement made Sirius slam Severus' head against the wall again.
Severus sighed. "Black, killing me won't change anything. As a matter of fact, if you do, Amethyst will never forgive you for trying to get me killed."
This statement of fact caused Sirius Black to release Severus. Before Severus could straighten his robes, however, Sirius punched him in the jaw, knocking him down.
"Stay away from my sister." Sirius said very slowly and deliberately.