Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from Harry Potter. Don't want to, so don't sue me. Writing this just for fun, not making any money off of it.
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by: Laura Owen
"Have I mentioned that I think this is such a waste of time?" Josephine complained as she rolled her bag along behind her.
"Not that I can recall," Evangaline shot sarcastically, looking over her shoulder at her sister.
"Both of you just shut up. You aren't making me feel any better about this, you know." Adellis hitched her bag on her shoulder. "As a matter of fact, I've changed my mind," she turned and began to walk back the direction the three women had come.
Jo dropped her bag and grabbed Adellis by the arm. "No, your not."
Adellis cast her a sidelong glance and turned back on course with little prodding. It had been ten days since her uncle's letter had arrived. Ten very crazy days had passed in a whirl of packing, writing letters, requesting a leave of absence, and seriously reconsidering having accepted his proposal. She had even gotten half-way writing the letter telling Albus that she couldn't come before Jo had caught her and given her what for.
She had tried several times to get out of this trip since then. She had tried so many times, in fact that it had become a joke between the three sisters. Early that morning, when Evie had poked her head in the door of Adellis's room to make sure she was up, Adellis feigned dead. Evie had not been fooled.
Adellis had to admit though, that the trip would not be that bad. She had her sisters to accompany her on the flight to London and from there she would catch a red-eye train to Hogwarts alone.
That was the real reason Jo was in a foul mood. The flying. On muggle aircraft. She had pitched a royal fit when Evie had told her that would be their mode of transportation. And it was Adellis's fault, really. Adellis had not apperated in ten years and all three girls as well as Albus had agreed it would be better for her not to try a Trans-Atlantic apperation just yet.
Adellis moved through the Newark International Airport towards the gate where the plane waited. She, Evie, and Jo checked in at the desk just as boarding began. A man's voice crackled over the PA announcing that all First Class passengers and anyone needing assistance could begin boarding immideatley.
"Ah, that's us!" Evie said, herding Jo and Adellis towards the gate.
"What? Because we are so totally stupid that we need help?" Jo snapped.
"No silly," Evie began as they walked down the ramp to the plane. Evie flipped her flaxen hair over her shoulder in a gesture of one-upmanship. "We are going First Class."
Adellis's mouth hung open. Jo looked mildly surprised.
"Good call?" Evie asked.
Jo nodded approvingly, "Good call."
"Meet your approval, Adds?"
Adellis just nodded and followed them on to the plane. They were shown to their seats by an attractive young man in blue slacks and a white shirt that looked starched.
"You take the window, Adds," Jo instructed her.
"And you take the other one, Jo. I can't stand being by the window. Makes me queasy," Evie made a face and took the aisle seat next to Adellis. Jo stashed her bag and Adellis's in the overhead bin and sat down in the deat behind Adellis.
"Now I'm back here all alone on this dark, overnight flight," Jo poked her head between Evie and Adellis and half complained.
"Well, just look at it as an opportunity, Jo. Now you can kick the back on my seat and get away with it," Adellis sadi helpfully.
"Or you might get lucky and the seat next to you be taken by an adorable muggle boy," Evie was just full of sarcasm tonight.
Jo brightened at the idea of having a seatmate with potential. She practically bounced in her seat when the flight attendant came to take their drink orders.
"Jack and coke," Adellis requested.
"Sherry," was Jo's simple order.
Evie looked thoughtful for a moment, then surprised both of her sisters by saying, "Vodka, straight. No rocks."
"Evie!" Jo was astonished. "What in the hell?"
Evie whirled around in her seat and stared at Jo, "I just hate flying, okay? Better I get knocked out now than be conscious during takeoff."
"If that is the way you want it, here," Adellis reached into her pocket and pulled out a small bottle. She handed it to Evie and explained, "A cut version of Draught of the Living Death. Mix it with your vodka and we'll see you in London."
"Isn't that dangerous?" Jo asked.
"Not particularly. If Evie can survive my cough remedy, she'll pull through this okay too." Adellis said, knowledgably. "Fasten your seatbelt first, though. You'll be out in three minutes."
Evie did as she was told and received her drink when it came. She mixed the two together the way Adellis showed her and knocked it all back in one gulp. Jo watched in mixed horror and fascination as Evie drank then settled herself saying, "Three minutes?"
"Three minutes," Adellis confirmed, slipping the bottle back into her skirt pocket.
After about a minute, Evie's head was lolling to one side. After two, her eyes were closing. After three, she was dead to the world.
Adellis turned around to Jo and smiled. "Works every time."
Jo mumbled something and sat back. Adellis turned back to the front and investigated the magazine in the seat back pocket.
After about a half hour, the pilot announced that they would begon taxiing and takeoff was on schedule. Fifteen minutes later, they were in the air.
As they flew, Jo and Adellis talked while Evie slept. Jo asked Adellis if she wanted Jo to go all the way to Hogwarts with her. Adellis refused.
"I am a grown up, Jo. I'll be all right." Adellis hoped that her voice was strong enough to fool Jo.
Jo was not fooled for a second, though. "Look, I know you are worried. But things change." She got a strange look on her face just then and bit her lip.
"What?" Adellis asked, curious of Jo's behavior. Jo was always steady as a rock and never unsure of anything. Right now, she looked very uncertain about what she would say next.
Jo chewed her lip and then seemed to break. "Just remember that people change too, okay?"
"What are you talking about? Uncle Albus surely hasn't changed. And if your stories of Professor McGonagall hold any water there has been no change there. Everyone else will be new to me, right?" Adellis scanned Jo's face. The older woman was holding something abck, it was obvious in the way she twirled her short dark hair around her finger, pulling a curl out and letting it bounce back.
Jo tensed. She had said too much already. She would have to lie now. "Yeah, you're right. Everyone else will be new."
Adellis rolled her eyes at Jo then grabbed her hand. "Look, I know your worried about me. But it is just temporary, right?"
Jo tried hard to look supportive and helpful when she said, "Right," but she didn't kow if it worked.
It must have, because Adellis turned around and lay her seat back. The plane was very hot and Adellis removed her sweater. She heard Jo chuckle behind her.
"When Albus sees that he will be just thrilled," Jo said.
Adellis turned and looked as far down her back as she could. Her shirt was backless, held together with two thin ties. She surveyed the upside down image in gold, red, and black on her back.
"I don't know, I think he'll rather like it."
Jo just snorted and lay her head back, closing her eyes.
With in minutes, both women were asleep.
"Bye, Adds. I love you." Evie was tearing up as she hugged Adellis on platform nine and three-quarters. She finally let go and said, "Be careful, darling."
"Yes, mum," Adelllis managed to joke.
Jo grabbed her and hugged her fiercely. "We'll be up in a few weeks. Right before the money runs out."
Adellis huigged her sister in return. "Just don't expect me to get you home!"
Jo laughed. Evie was really misty by this point and the Express had just let off a burst of steam.
Adellis released Jo and stared for the train. "Be sure to send an owl when you get there," Evie cried over another hiss of steam.
Adellis waved her understanding as she boarded the train. The doors closed behind her and she waled down the hall to the compartment that she had procured for herself. She slid the door open and threw herself down on the cushy seat. She waved once more to her sisters on the empty platform then settled in for another long trip.
She wasted most of the train ride just staring out the window, watching the landscape wiz by. When the hills turned into mountains, she got up and stepped into the small toilet attached to the compartment. She laughed to herself as she stripped and ran the water in the compact shower until it was hot.
The students never even knew this car existed. It was outfitted espically for the Professors who chose to come before the students. There were full toilet facilities in every compartment, and every compartment was stocked with everything that a professor could want. There were cold containers of pumpkin juice, warm dishes of meats and vegetables, and a drawer full of chocolates and other sweets.
Adellis showered and toweled off. She stepped back into her compartment and rummaged through one of her trunks until she found clothes she thought would meet with the dress codes of Hogwarts. It was a hard search. She had spent the past fifteen years of her life in the southeastern United States. Everything she owned was designed for warm climates and lax administration at the school where she had taught Potions for most of that time. Now, she had to pile on a few layers to fight off the cool air. It was the end of August, and it was already 18 degrees in London. She knew that it would be several degrees colder in Scotland.
She dressed and began to rummage in the chocolate drawer. Sitting back down, she made it through a dozen chocolate frogs before the Hogsmeade station came into view. She left everything except her cloak on the train as she disembarked. She spotted her uncle immideatley. He was the only person there.
"Albus!" She said, walking toward him and streaching out her hands.
He took her hands wordlessly and pulled her into a hug. After several minutes, he held her back at arms length and studied her with his deep blue eyes. She had forgotten just how much Evie favored him. Those same blue eyes had misted up at her leaving just a few hours before.
"I am glad you came, Adellis," He said as he gazed at her intently. What he saw surprised him. Adellis was so thin, that her layers of clothes did little to disguise it. She felt as fragile at fine china. The thinness just did not look right on her.
"Was I all alone on the train?" She asked, as she gazed right back. She had seen him once or twice since she had been forced to leave Hogwarts. He never changed. Still as white haired and grizzly looking as ever.
Relaesing her, he waved an arm towards a waiting carriage. "Yes, everyone else has been here for a week."
"Better late than never, then?" She said walking towards the horseless transportation. She was feeling much better now. Not nearly as nervous as she had been before getting on the plane. Everything looked just as normal as she could imagine. The same train station, the same uncle, the same carriage. It didn't make her uneasy at all. The normalness of it all was soothing.
Albus smiled and nodded. He handed her into the carriage and when he was settled, they were off.
"So," she began, "What do I have to deal with here? Who blows up the most cauldrons?"
"Neville Longbottom is the resident cauldron distroyer," he said, a twinkle in his eye. "And he never means to do it."
"They usually don't," she said, glad that he was smiling somewhere under all thode whiskers.
Albus laughed. "You really have a rather clean slate to work off of. Your predecessor was not very patient and was rather baised." When she looked at him with curiousity, he explained, "He is the head of Slytherin. And short tempered."
"And you are letting him teach Dark Arts? You have gotten mad in your old age." She said it as a simple statement of fact.
Albus was pleased to see that she had developed a sharpness. She would need it eventually, he thought. "I suppose I have gone a bit mad. But it is rather fun sometimes." His eyes sparkled and his beard twitched.
Adellis rolled her eyes. "Jo told me that I should remember that people change. Obviously you haven't. At least not much."
Albus worried for a second that Jo had told Adellis what she was walking into, but the worry slipped away when Adellis laughed. He knew all to well that her laughter would fade in just a few minutes.
For the past week he had slept like an infant every night. It made no sense. He hadn't slept well in ten years. But in the past week, he had slept so wonderfully that when his internal clock had gone off and woken him up, he had really not wanted to get out of bed.
And today, by the time he had gotten out of bed, he was running late. The new professor was arriving today. The one that would be taking over the place that he had gratefully vacated.
Severus had showered and dressed, still a bit surprised at how his entire body was reacting to not being in a constant steam bath every day. And a good night's sleep was an amazing lifter for his spirits. He looked better and felt better than he had in an age.
Even Minerva had mentioned that the yellowish tinge was gone from his face. And no one had to tell him that his hair looked different. The steam had been the cause of it's former greasy appearance, and that gone, it had gone back to the softness that it had in his youth.
He checked the clock on his bureau and found that he had five minutes to make it up to the entrance hall to greet his replacement. He completed hooking his robes closed over his chest as he pushed through the hidden door into the dungeon hall.
He took the stairs up to the entrance two at a time. As he neared the top, he could hear voices. He was late. Damn. He rounded the corner and saw the group in the middle of the hall, talking and laughing. Professor McGonagall was blocking his view of the newest addition to the faculty. When she stepped aside, a mass of copper colored curls stopped him dead in his tracks.
He remembered only one person in the world with hair that color.
"Ah, and here is your predecessor, Adellis," Albus said gesturing behind her and taking her attention away from Professor Sprout, the entertaining Herbology instructior.
Adellis, smile firmly in place turned on her heel and Severus came into her field of vision. Her smile left her face so quickly that it was as if it had never been there and her stomach turned so violently that she was sure she would be sick right then and there.
Albus was speaking again. "I believe you already know each other."
Adellis recovered first and somehow managed to force her heart down far enough out of her throat to say, "Yes, we have met before." Where it came from, she might never know, but she walked towards him and extended her hand.
Severus was lost in a rush of screaming. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he was screaming at the top of his lungs and it was all his ears could hear. This had to be a dream. There was no way she could be back. Just no way.
He heard her speak, as though he was underwater. And he saw her walk towards him, her expression a mixture of fear, sadness, and curiosity.
The screaming ended the instant his hand touched hers. This was no dream. It was all too real. How many times had he played this scene over in his head, wishing that it would happen? A thousand? A million?
"Adellis will be the interim Potions Professor," Dumbledore was saying.
Interim. His mind wrapped around the word. Temporary. She would not be here for ever. Before he could decided what to say, he was already speaking.
"If there is anything that I can assist you with…"
"I'll be sure to let you know," she finished. Adellis just wanted to be out of his presence. She could not shake the feeling that she was about to explode, or worse yet, cry. That was when she realized that she was still holding on to his hand. She dropped it quickly and backed away from him.
Professor McGonagall rescued her then by saying, "Adellis, you must be very tired."
It was just the out she needed. Truning her back on Severus and his bottomless black eyes, she said, "Yes. I have been traveling for two days and could really use some sleep."
"Well, by all means, Minerva, show her to her room! I'll not have her falling over here," Albus sounded concerened. He had been dreading the moment that the two of the saw one another again, but it had been far better thatn he had hoped. Adellis did not walk right back out the doors and Severus didn't seem like he was angry. Well, any more so than usual.
Professor McGonagall took Adellis by the arm and led her toward the wide stone steps that led to the upper floors of the castle. She whispered to Adellis, "Come along, dear," as the two of them walked up.
Severus watched her like a man obsessed. Her movements registering in slow motion as she grabbed a small duffel bag from the floor and went with Minerva. Her midnight blue skirt brushed the floor with a gentle swishing noise. She brused her hair over her shoulder and let is carelessly fall back in her face. Her deep green sweater fitted snugly and proved her to be far too thin. Her hand had felt like nothing but bone and as he watched her mount the stairs, he saw that her ankles were just as thin as the rest of her.
Minerva turned her down the second floor hall and she disappeared from view. On inspection, Severus found that the entrance hall was now almost empty. He turned back towards the dungeon, but was stopped by Albus.
"Oh, no. You are going to come with me right now." With that, the Headmaster started towards the stair that lead to his office. Severus had no real choice but to follow.
Minerva kept one hand under Adellis's elbow as they walked down the hall and started up another flight of stairs. Adellis tried to pay attention to where she was going, but it was very hard. Her mind was reeling.
Why? How? Why hadn't Albus told her he was here? That was not something that he would overlook, like forgetting to tell her that there were boggarts in her wardrobe. Her mind grappled with the thought of him being so very close. A horrible thought struck her head on as Professor McGonagall guided her down a hall half hidden by the Library.
What if Albus had done it all on purpose? She struggled with that thought and found that it was unwilling to go away. She shook her head, trying to rattle some sense into it. He wouldn't. He wouldn't be that mean.
"He couldn't have," she whispered in the dim, silent hall.
Professor McGonagall had been carefully watching Adellis the whole time they had been walking. The girl was in shock; that much was obvious. She had been animated and full of spark when she had walked through the front doors. And all that had melted away the minute she had seen Severus.
Minerva McGonagall had been called many things in her life, but out of touch was not one of them. She knew, perhaps better than Albus Dumbledore himself, what was going on in Adellis's head. She had known, although she had not wanted to believe it, what was going on that particular Christmas morning so many year ago. She knew every time the portrait hole that guarded Gryffindor Tower opened and closed, and she knew why. Minerva knew every event that lead up to this day. A series of events set in motion by one selfish girl. A set of events that led right back to the young woman who trembled now as she tried to understand how her own uncle could have kept important information from her.
And that is where Minerva drew the line. Even Dumbledore could be wrong, and she had told him that he was wrong not to tell Adellis that Severus was here. When Minerva heard the words 'he couldn't have' slip from her lips, she tensed. There had to be something she could do!
Minerva threw back the corner of a wall hanging and hel dit open while Adellis walked in. Minerva followed her and, out of habit, scanned the room to see that everything was in order.
"Everything is a bit of a jumble, I'm afraid," she began, still carefully studying Adellis's face. The younger woman had perked up a little when they had entered the room. "None of us knew what you would like, so I suggested that we leave the decorating to you."
"Thank you Porfessor McGonagall." She looked around the room, but reall saw nothing. There was too much filing her head to take in much more. She dropped her bag by the door and walked toward a chair set in front of the fireplace. She dropped into the chair and stared at her hands.
Minerva sighed. She was really terrible at trying to comfort people, but she ahd to try. She walked over and took a seat in the chair opposite Adellis.
"I really don't know what to say to you, Adellis," she began truthfully. "Albus did not want you to know that Severus was here. And he had his reasons." Adellis looked up as she spoke, the expression on her face nearly breaking Minerva;s heart. "I will tell you that I did not agree with those reasons."
"Why?" The monosyllable came out as nothing more than a whisper, barely audiable.
Minerva looked down at the worn rug on the floor. "It's better if you hear it from him, I think. Right now, you should try to sleep. You look so tired." And so ill, Minerva thought. "DO you have anything to change into in your bag?"
Adellis nodded the affirmative. She was tired. She had only been able to catnap on the plane and she had not even closed her eyes on the Express. Her head ached, her eyes stung. Professor McGonagall had retrieved her bag from the door and handed it to her.
"The bath is right through that door there, dear. Is there anything that you need just now?" Her voice contained a restrained sort of concern.
Adellis managed a small smile and scanned the room. "It is terribly cold in here."
"I'll have one of the house elves bring you a few more blankets and light the fire."
Adellis smiled weakly. She really was tired, now that there was a bed in sight. "Thank you Professor McGonagall."
Minerva smiled at the young woman. She remembered her well. She had changed over the years, but there was still the unmistakable shadow of the happy, mischevious girl that had been a student here.
"Adellis," Minerva said, getting the girl to look at her. "You and I are on the same side of the desk now. Call me Minerva."
Adellis faught off a yawn as she smiled. Minerva tured and walked toward the door of the room.
"Yes, Professor McGaongall," she heard as the tapestry fell closed behind her.
Adellis slept until it was dark outside. She had arrived at the school very early in the morning after having not slept for two days. The only reason that she woke when she did was because someone sat down on the edge of her bed. She startedawake and sat up.
"Good evening," Albus said. "Sorry to wake you, but I think I owe you a few explinations."
Adellis remembered where she was as she scrubbed her eyes and leaned back on the carved headboard. "I would have to agree."
Albus made a motion with one hand and a small house elf brought him a tray laoded with food. "Here," he said as he took the tray from the elf. "You should eat. You are as thin as a whip."
He settled the tray over her legs and she surveyed the offerings. Picking up a fork, she speared a stalk of broccoli. "So explain," she said as she chewed.
Albus sighed and began, "First, I want you to promise me that you will not interrupt until I am done. Can you do that?"
Adellis nodded the affirmative.
"Good, because all of your questions will be answered in due time," He shifted into a more comfortable position on the edge of her bed and began.
"I am going to start with the night your parents and sister were killed. You will see why shortly. That night was hell on earth for me. It was the first and only time Voldemort dared touch any members of my family. Granted, I am as old as the hills and could probably win an award or two for the number of greats in front of the uncle title, we are still family. That night, the plan had been to just kill your father. Your mother was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I will spare you the particulars, as I am sure you have already heard them.
"But your sister. She was another story entirely. She had been feeding information directly to Voldemort for months. Even before she left school here, she had been spying for him. How she managed to get in contact with him, I will never know. That night, she was a part of the attack on your parents. In a way, she was responsible for it because she had told Voldemort when they would be home and when they would be least likely to try to resist. Coral had everything set up.
"But she failed to consider one thing. Voldemort had a new recruit to his ranks. One who joined for the sole chance to find out where she was so that he could take his revenge. You know that I am talking about Severus Snape."
Adellis felt her hand shake so violently tht she dropped her fork with a huge clatter. She didn't retrieve it, but twisted her hands up in the covers on the bed. Albus continued as gently as he could.
"He had found out not long after you left that Coral had been spying for Voldemort. He kept it to himself well enough and once he graduated, joined the ranks of the Death Eaters.
"I will not presume to know what he though he was doing, but he requested specifically to ggo to your parents house that night. After the Dark Mark had been set above the house, Coral arrived. According to Severus, that was when he saw his chance."
Adellis wrinkled her brow as if she was in pain and bit her lip.
"He took her back into your parent's house and showed her their bodies because she wanted to see them. He tells that something snapped in him. He knew that she knew where you were. He had been kept carefully unaware of that for nearly two years. I suppose it was eating away at him.
"He told Voldemort later that he tortured her because she knew where you and your sisters could be found. Something Voldemort wanted to know very badly. He told Voldemort that he killed her because she, in an effort to redeem herself had refused to tell him. No one could refute this, because he had been alone with her when he did it.
"Two days later, I received this by night owl." He handed Adellis a yellowed fragment of parchment. Adellis scanned it quickly:
Dumbledore.
I don't expect you to trust me, but Adellis is in America.
Keep her there.
It is the only place she is safe.
SS
Adellis handed the note back to Albus silently. Ture to her promise she didn't say a word althought there were several floating awound in her head.
Albus continued, "He lied to Voldemort. Coral had give him the one piece of information he really wanted. He in turn passed it on to me. It was Severus's first act of spying for our side. When he had done it once, it wasn't hard to get him to do it again. Then it became one of his better habits."
After this, Albus grew quiet. Adellis didn't speak. She was more than a little stunned at what he had revealed to her. Her hands twisted in the blankets that were getting heavy and hot on her legs as she looked up at Albus. Everything about her felt heavy.
Years of assumptions about Severus had just come to a crashing end. He had murdered Coral. But the years had somewhat dulled the pain of losing her. The two girls had never had much of a relationship and what little connection they had was ended the night that Adellis had arrived home during the Easter holiday during her fifth year at Hogwarts.
"I know you are as smart now as you ever were. You can put the pieces together for yourself. You can make the connections," Albus whispered as he reached for one of her balled hands.
"But why?" They were the only intelligible words Adellis could muster.
She completely understood what Albus had told her. Severus had probably told Coral that Voldemort wanted to know where all of her sisters were. Coral, in her usual way, had told him everything. Too late, she realized her mistake. Severus took the information on Adellis's whereabouts and passed it on to the only person who could possibly protect her from Voldemort's rage.
But what she wanted to know was, "Why did you want me back here?"
Albus gave her fist a squeeze and gently replied, "Because I am a firm believer in second chances." The old man's whiskers twitched a little and Adellis thought that she detected a smile. "And at the rate Severus is going, he has been given enough second chances to last several lifetimes." His voice became very serious, almost scolding, "But you," his blue eyes turned on her and locked with hers. "You have not made your second chance easy to come by."
Adellis narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "What are you not telling me, Albus?"
"Plenty," was his firm reply. "But I will tell you that I spoke to Severus this morning. He knows the bare bones version of what took you from here," he paused and drove his point home with the words, "And away from him."
With that Adellis bit her lip and looked away.
Albus changed the subject abruptly. "You have a lot of work to do, you know."
Adellis, thankful for the change looked back at him and asked, "Like what?"
"Well," Albus began, rising from his place on her bed and walking around to the foot. "First of all, this room needs work. It is supposed to be the quarters of the Dark Arts professor, but Severus has spent the better part of his life in that dungeon and refused to move." He looked around the moderately large room with distaste. It was dusty and bare, with worn rugs on the floor and even more worn furniture. "You have to do something with it."
Cheering at the possibility of doing something productive, Adellis sat up straight and asked, "And how am I going to do that."
"Oh, really!" Albus exclaimed. "As if you don't know. Just go nick whatever you want from the unused rooms. There are some lovely things in that room where Professor McGonagall found Jo and what's-his-name in a rather compromising position that time during her third year."
Adellis nodded her assent. She remembered the room well. Jo had taken her there one night to brag.
Albus went on. "The elves will be up to dust and air out whenever you leave to go looking for things. They will remove all of this old mess so you will have room."
"Just don't let them take the bed. It is rather nice. Reminds me of someone…" Adellis had caught a faint, familuar scent on the sheets and duvet when she had laid down earlier.
"Ah, simple enough explination for that, dear." When Adellis cocked her head to one side, Albus smiled wryly. "The last person to be in this room was three years ago. And that person was an old friend of yours." He twitched slightly, as if holding in laughter.
"Who?" Adellis said shaking her head.
"Remus Lupin," Albus said, truly shaking now as a laugh escaped his beard. "He had a rather humorus accident as he was leaving. Seems a bottle of aftershave was crushed somehow in his bag. Got all over the bed, in the mattress. It's taken us this long to get the room recovered enough that someone can sleep in it.
Adellis put her head in her hands. She sighed and shook her head. Leave it to HIM to do something like not put an unbreakable charm on a glass bottle.
Albus recovered and continued with his instructions. "You will probably also want to look over your office space and the Potions storage. All tht is located just off the Potions classroom in the dungeon. Severus gave it all up willingly, but I think he's left a few remnants of his Slytherin pride down there. Horrid green curtains."
Adellis made a face. Slytherin green had no place anywhere she would be spending much time. She absently scratched her back. "All right."
"And you will need to do whatever is necessary to get ready for classes. There are general outlines for what I want the students in each year to learn, but feel free to create variations on the themes as you see fit."
Albus turned around in a circle and let his eyes rest on Adellis's open trunk that stood in the middle of the room. "You have got to send word to your sisters to send you some more clothes."
Adellis was completely distraced by this time, her mind making plans for the changes she would make in the rooms that would be her's, for however short of time she would be here. "What's wrong with the clothes I have?"
Albus picked up one of the many strappy, backless shirts that was on top of the pile in the trunk and held it up for her to see. "Two reasons, really. The first being that we have a dress code for Professors here and you will not be exempt from it. The second being you will freeze to death in this. I'll also have Minerva send for the seamstress in town to come up and see if we can't get you some official looking black robes made. Or any other color that you chose, just so long as you look the part."
"What?" Adellis was shocked. "I don't get to wear pants at all? Nothing but drafty skirts?"
"You may wear pants as much as you like in your classes. But when you greet the students, I want them to respect you, not think you are a young pushover." Albus said this very gently.
Adellis slumped, in mock grumpiness. "Fine. I'll humor you. But you let me send the owl to Jo. JO! Not Evie. I will not be trussed up like a nun and that is what Evie likes."
Albus smiled, his whiskers twitching. "You may do as you wish beyond getting something warmer and less revealing. I don't even want to think about the reactions of a group of sixth year Gryffindors if they were to see you in some of these things."
Laughing, Adellis inquired, "And Captain, how long do I have to complete this mission?"
"Two days. Not impossible."
Adellis smiled. "I'll be starting tonight."
And start she did. Once Albus had gone, she got out of bed and dressed in a pair of ratty jeans and an equally ratty sweatshirt. She twisted her heir up and pinned it in place at the back of her head. She was wide awake now. She tried very hard not to think about the unavoidable confrontation that would come sometime between her and Severus. She had other things to think about. More interesting things that she had control over.
Adellis dashed off a quick letter to Jo begging her to come up with wearable clothes as quickly as she could. She stuffed the letter into her pocket and left. As she stepped out into the hallway, she tapped her black wand lightly against her hand. She could hear the scuttle of the house elves as they entered her room by their own way and began to tidy up the place. Hse thought for a minute, then headed off in the direction she had come earlier.
She stopped in the owlry and dispached her letter first. She then winded her way through the corridors towards the Gryffindor Tower with the thought of saying hello to the Fat Lady. She idlly wondered if the woman would remember her. As she approached the portrait hole, her wonderings came to a halt.
"Oh, my!" A very flustered Fat Lady said when she caught sight of Adellis. "Violet told me there was a buzz about a new professor, but I never thought it would be you, dear! It is so good to see you again!"
Still tappig her wand absently, Adellis smiled up at th epainting. "I am delighted to see you as well. I am so gald you haven't been moved."
"Oh, they would never move me. Not in a million years," the fat Lady said with a wave of her hand. She leaned over to get a closer look at Adellis. "You have matured well, dear. Prettier now than you were when you were a student sneaking out at night with those boys."
Adellis blushed a little. Paintings had increadible memories, Adellis knew, but no painting spoke her mind more than the Fat Lady. "Thank you," she said, looking down at her messy clothes.
"Would you like to go in? I think several things have changed since your day."
"Do you think I could? I don't have a password or anything," Adellis was not sure of the way these things worked before the regular sessions started.
"Can you remember any of the old ones?" The fat Lady said coyly as if testing Adellis.
Adellis searched her mind for several seconds, tapping her wand against her head now. "Holly garland."
"Very good! In you go!" The fat Lady swung on her hinges and the portrait hole was revealed.
Adellis stepped through and was surprised, not at how different everything was, but at how much the same it was. The same squashy armchairs and sofas were in the same places. The fireplace, although dark and cold had the same imposing feeling to it. The satirs at the back of the room were still polished to a shine.
She walked slowly around the room, memories burned into the back of her eyes. She could see Sirius and James plotting some devilment in the far corner at their table. A shadow of Remus stared at her from a spot by the mantle. Lily could be heard running down the steps to the girls dormitory and coming in to the room, waving a leter and shouting that her sister had married. Peter sat under a windowsill trying to concentrate on his homework without success.
The shadows faded and the memories were wiped away. Lily and James were dead. Sirius and Remus were as good as lost to her now; it had been so long she could not hope that they had survived two reigns of Voldemort. Peter was dead too, killed in the Voldemort's last futile stab at ruling the world.
What little she knew about that battle she had found out from her sisters. Well, from Jo. Evie was too protective to tell anything. Jo had told her that her best friend had been killed fifteen years before. Two years ago, when Voldemort rose again, Jo had told her. When Peter had been found, no more than a shell of a human being on a battlefield strewn with bodies, Jo had told her. There had been no word on her other two friends, even though they had been in the battle.
There had also been no word about Severus. Adellis had assumed that he had been with Voldemort.
She was quietly glad he had not been.
Adellis shook the thoughts of her friends, and in turn Severus from her head and walked around the dark common room. On a whim, looking over her shoulders as if she was still a student about to get caught, she waved her wand over one of the big armchairs and it disappeared. She stifled a laugh and hoped that it didn't land on a house elf when it arrived in her room.
Still smiling, she went back through the portrait hole and said good-bye to the Fat Lady. She then headed for Jo's make out room, located just above the transfiguration classroom. Whle there, she found several things that would make her room more comfortable. She sent them on with a wave of her wand. Everything from fluffy pillows to a large round table went to her room. She was getting a mental image of what it all would look like, but there was a void above the fireplace. She wanted to find a painting for that hole.
And she knew which one she wanted.
Insane and nearly painful as it might be, she had to find that painting. She searched all night, in every room she knew of, but she could not find it. She went to the room where she had last seen it, but that strech of wall was bare, the wall solid where it had been. As a last effort, she consulted the Fat Lady.
"Oh! I know her!" The Fat Lady sounded peeved at he mention of the other painting. "I do not socialize with her, but I know where she is because Violet makes the roiunds from time to time."
"Where is she, then? I would like to have her for above my fireplace," Adellis was very nervous all of a sudden.
"She has been guarding the passage between the Potion Masters quarters and the Potions office for as long as Snape had been teaching here," the Fat Lady informed.
"Oh," Adellis was crestfallen. She would not get to have the painting. She surely was not going to ask for it.
The Fat Ladt went on. "There is not much to guard now, though. Professor Snape has blocked that passage now his office is upstairs."
"I see," an idea formed in Adellis's mind. "Can you recommend any friendly paintings for my room? I don't mind if they go visiting about al day, just as long as there is occasionally someone there to talk to."
"Violet would be good, then. She sees everthing and what she doesn't see she hears bout because she moves around a lot.
"She'd be perfect," Adellis smiled. "Where can I find her?"
"Violet is in the chamber just off the Great Hall, dear."
"Will it bother her if I go down at this hour?"
"Probably not. She hardly ever sleeps," the Fat Lady yawned.
"I can tell that you do thought. Thank you so much. You've been a great help." Adellis turned and started towards the main staircase.
She found the painting of Violet easily enough. She asked the woman if she would like to move upstairs for a little while and Violet readily agreed sayin that a change of pace would be wonderful. Adellis waved her wand and Violet let out a whoop as she was whisked off to Adellis's room and the wall over the fireplace.
On the trip back upstairs, Adellis poked her head in to a few more rooms and found several more paintings that would be nice in her room. For over the bed, she found a landscape that a constant breeze stirred. A painting of a small girl and her cat would hang in the short passage between the bedroom and bathroom. She sent both off and continued to wander.
Boredom led her back to the staircase where she had saught out the painting she really wanted. She walked down the winding passages and came out right next ot the Slytherin common room. Down the hall to the right, she could hear footsteps. As Severus rounded the corner, he looked up and their eyes locked on each other.
She refused to deal with him tonight. A panicked voice in the back of her mind told her that she didn't have to talk to him now. She listened, turned, and started back up.
Severus watched her go. As much as he wanted to go after her, he could not find it within himself to move. He slumped against the wall, reliving every time he wondered about her, every unanswered question.
And there had been plenty of unanswered questions. After Adellis had left for Easter at home in her fifth year, she had not come back. Coral and Josephine had, but Coral would only look at him and smirk when he asked her. He had tried to talk to Jo but Jo had changed. She would not talk to him at all. She had quit Quidditch, costing the Ravenclaws the House Cup. She didn't speak to anyone, just went to her classes and meals and spent the rest of her time at Hogwarts in the Ravenclaw common room. She would not even look at him, let alone answer him when he had asked where Adellis was.
He had been in agony. With Adellis gone, he had felt like the light had been sucked out of his life. She had made him laugh. She had gotten him to loosen up a lot. She had made life a little easier to bear for the tall, ungainly teenager that everyone hated. When she had disappeared, everything had fallen apart. No one could make any sense of why she had gone. Adellis's friends in Gryffindor had blamed him, and considering the reasons that their relationship was such a well-kept secret he blamed himself too.
For him, the confusion had began to clear when he had seen Coral over the summer. She had been talking to an older man at the head of Knockturn Alley. This had raised Severus's curiousity and he watched as the two talked fervently. Coral scanned the street a lot and gave hushed, clipped answers to the man's questions. After several minutes, the man had extended a hand to Coral who shook it. The man's sleeve had fallen back and Severus had caufght the briefest glimpse of the Dark Mark on his arm.
Coral had been passing information to the Death Eaters. That much he was sure of. As he started his final year at Hogwarts, Severus kept that bit of information to himself. He had a feeling that somehow, Coral's relationship with the Death Eaters could be twisted and turned to figure out what had happened to Adellis. He had hoped for all that he was worth, that Adellis wasn't dead. By the time that the year was up, he was convinced that she was. Dumbledore knew nothing about where she was. Severus decided then and there that he would get his revenge. Coral would pay.
And pay she had. Severus still remembered with pleasure the way she had begged him not to kill her. She had told him she would give him whatever he wanted if he would just spare her. He had leapt at the chance to find out if Adellis was alive. She had told him willingly enough; and believed that he would not kill her. On that, she had been so very wrong. He had struck her down the minute she had told him that Adellis was well hidden in a small American wizarding school.
He remembered that she had tried to scream as the curse had cracked through the air and struck her in the chest. That sound had been strangled out of her as she crumpled to the floor. The expression of that scream was frozen on her face in death. And Severus hoped he never forgot it.
That is what had made him seem so useful to Voldemort. His lack of feeling when he killed. In reality, he was just biding his time. Severus just did the exact same thing Coral had been doing, feeding information to the enemy. Only in his case, he had been feeding it to Voldemort's enemies. He had done everything just right; he had seen everything through to the end. Quietly usurping Voldemort and undermining all of his plans all the while being as shocked and dismayed when things began to turn sour for the Death Eaters. When the time had come, he had crossed lines and joined Voldemort's enemies to fight against him.
Severus wandered absently back down the hall and in to his room. There were two days left before the distractions of classes began. If he could just find time to talk to Adellis between now and then….
But what would he say? Dumbledore had given him a basic explination as to why she had actually left. She had been ratted out by Coral who ahd been following her aroud since Christmas that year. All that it took to get Adellis sent to America was telling her father that she was still seeing Severus. That was it, and she was gone. Now, he was left with wondering just what exactally to say to her.
Severus dropped into the chair behind his desk. It was by far the most comfortable one in the room and every ounce of work he ever did was done from that spot. He sat there now and thought. What did one say to someone whose return had been so coveted? So coveted and now was at hand?
He sat in the same spot until well after the sun had come up and cold not find the words.
Adellis fell asleep right at daybreak, but forced herself to get up again after a few hours. It would do not good for her to get into the habit of sleeping all day and being awake all night. She showered and dressed for a serious cleaning, putting on one of her signature backless shirts and the same jeans she had worn the night before. She wrapped a sweater around her shoulders and set off for the dungeon.
She had every intention of giveing her dungeon office the best cleaning it had probably ever had. Any remnants that Severus had left would be tossed out and replaced with something she liked. As she walked through the school, the familuar faces of the ghosts of Hogwarts greeted her. There was a junty hello from the Fat Friar and Nearly Headless Nick would have probably hugged her if he were not dead. Peeves the Poltergiest tried very hard to be a bother.
"Got yer conk!" He yelled at her as he reached around to grab her nose.
"That is lovely Peeves," was her noncommittal reply.
Undaunted, Peeves tried again by making a suit of armor fall in the floor directly in front of her.
Without batting an eyelash, Adellis took out her wand and righted the armor with a word. "Is that the best you can do Peeves?"
With that, Peeves became angry. He hounded Adellis's steps all the way to the dungeon steps where he spotted the Bloody Baron. He quickly disappeared and Adellis smiled.
She nodded to the Baron and walked down the hall to her office. "Alohorma," she commanded and the door unlocked. She pushed through and surveyed the room from the open door.
Wooden shelves lined every wall and were filled withal sorts of bottles. By the shape and size, Adellis could tell what was in each one. She could also tell that they were alphabetically arranged on the shelves and varying concentrations were available of several. The desk was set on an angle facing the door, a pair of chairs facing the desk. It was a small room, but not uncomfortable or cluttered. The shelves were dusty, but she expected that. A set of green curtains were drawn back to show the Potions classroom with tables spaced for cauldrons and charred places on the floor from fires gone wrong.
The fire in the office grate was burning high and makig the small room hot. Adellis banked it and took off her sweater, draping it across the back of the chair behind the desk. She turned a slow circle, trying to decide what to begin with. Everything that had any fabric on it was green.
"This will never do," she said to herself and laughed at the Mary Poppins quip. She waved her sleek black wand and said, "Spectrumious." Everything green began to fade from green, to a dark blue, to violet, finally stopping when it got to red. Very entertained with herself, Adellis nodded in Mary Poppins style and giggled. This would be more fun than she though.
Believeing that there was no substitute for hand dusting the fragile bottles, Adellis tapped her wand against her leg three times and said, "Musicah." The wand began to hum and then faint sonds could be heard coming from it. The music rose when she laid the wand down on the desk and went to work. The music was upbeat rock and roll and it fit Adellis's mood. It always did.
She began to pull the paper-thin bottles off the shelves, dusting the bottles and setting them on the desk and then dusting the shelves. It was monotonos work, but it was satisfying. She found a rhythm that she locked into and stuck with it. By midday she was done with three quarters of the room.
She was wondering to herself how the muggles could have made such a fuss over Love Potion Number Nine when Number Three was far better when she was interrupted by Albus's voice saying, "Good God, child! Don't tell me that is permanent!"
Adellis started and whipped around. "Don't do that to me!" She said, still startled. She gingerly set the bottle on the desk with the others and stared at Albus.
He was holding a stack of papers in his hands and was looking back at her with a mixture of disapproval and wonder. "Please tell me that monstrous lion on your back is not permanent."
Adellis smiled winningly and said, "I could tell you that, but it would be a lie. I got it about a year ago when I was very drunk but now," she turned ackwrdly and looked over her shoulder, "I rather like it."
Albus shook his head and looked down at her desk, noticing that her wand was singing. "And what in the devil is that wand doing?"
"Pretending to be a radio," Adellis said dryly, shrugging.
"Well, I have never seen a wand do that, nor have I ever seen a lady with her house crest under her skin. I suppose you learn something new every day, even at my age." Albus was still a little shocked.
Adellis just smiled. "The radio thing is just something this wand can do. You know, weird core and all." Albus nodded, remembering that her core was of Chimera hair. "And as for the tattoo," Adellis bit her lip and looked coy, "I wager to say that you don't go around asking ladies to take their clothes off so you can see if they have their house crest somewhere."
Albus humphed into his beard and Adellis saw his cheeks go pink. He lifted the papers and waved them a bit, "Paperwork. You need to read and sign it. Or you can just sign it and teach what ever you please." He winked. "I would advise the latter course."
Adellis narrowed her eyes and grinned. "I am no worse than you, you know," she informed him, taking the papers out of her hand.
Albus's eyes twinkled in response. "Are you hungry? You've missed lunch."
Adellis looked up from the sheets and shook her head. "No, I'm fine thanks."
Albus studied her carefully before he said, "Well, here you go. If you get hungry, nibble on these." He summoned a plate of small roast beef and cheese sandwiches and a pitcher of pumpkin juice.
Adellis was rummaging in the desk drawers and came up with a quill. Signing the papers, she made a humming sound of asenction. Albus turned to leave, but turned back, remembering something.
"This arrived this morning for you," he said holding out a letter sealed in purple wax.
Adellis looked up from writieng her name, over and over, and took to letter. "Ah. Jo's reply. That was fast." She broke the wax and read the short note. "Looks like they haven't wasted any time. Jo and Evie will be here a bit later today." Adellis was surprised by this. They must have done a whirlwind shopping job and be already half-way to Hogwarts in a little less than 24 hours.
Albus just smiled. "Good. I look forward to seeing them both. Did they say when they would get here?
"No. Just sometime this afternoon."
"Then you had better get finished quickly. It's already half past one."
Adellis nodded and loked around the room. "I should be done before long. You'll call if they arrive before I am up there?"
Albus nodded and left the room, thinking that this would be an eventful evening with all three of his nieces under the castle roof.
Adellis cleaned with all her might and managed to make it up to the entry hall just as Jo and Evie were entering the castle. Hugs were exchanged in the empty hall and the trunks that the girls had brought with them were brought in.
"Cripes! What did you do? Empty the whole of London," Adellis asked as the tenth trunk was levitated through the doors.
Evie responded with a snort, "Not exactally. Jo and I just couldn't agree on what you would like or need."
"So we got some of everything," Jo said flatly.
Sixteen trunks in all were piled in the hall by the time everything was inside. Adellis blew out a gust of air and laughed. "I am so glad that we don't have to do this like muggles!" She took out her wand to send everything up to her room, but the tip got caught on the weave of her sweater and she fumbled it. Her wand fell to the floor and rolled, coming to a stop against a black-clad foot.
Severus looked from Adellis to the wand and back to Adellis. Once again, he had surprised her enough to make her silent. She was jerked back to reality as he bent over to retrieve her wand.
"NO!!" Her voice echoed off the walls and was joined by Jo and Evie's. But it was too late. A loud crack reverberated through the air and flames, white and hot shot out from Adellis's wand the instant Severus touched it.
He cursed loudly and stumbled backward, holding his hand. Pain, like none he had ever known, was racing up his arm. It felt like his hand was on fire even though there was not a mark on him. Adellis swore and raced forward. Picking her wand up off the floor, she took hold of his wrist and stretched out his arm. She didn't say a word as she ran the tip of the wand up his arm from palm to elbow. The flame ebbed and faded and Severus felt his arm relax.
"Better?" She asked, wide eyed.
Severus nodded and scowled. Why was it that all he could feel was her hand around his wrist, even though he knew that there was still pain under the surface?
"I'm sorry," Adellis apologized, letting go of him. She held up her wand. "It's a protection feature, the fire."
"Fine," Severus said as he backed away from her. "I'll remember that." Damnit. Why couldn't he think of anything intelligent to say? A bell went off in his mind that was telling him he had a perfect opening to say something- anything- that would get her closer to him. But he couldn't think of a thing. Disgusted, he turned and walked away.
Adellis was not surprised by his reaction. But she was hurt. Why had he looked at her so nasty? She'd apologized, hadn't she? She sighed and watched him go then turned back to Jo and Evie.
"Hell," Jo said, deadpanning as she leaned against a stack of trunks. "That rod up his ass must be a painful condition."
Smirking, Adellis sent the first of the trunks up. "Yeah, and a perpetual one."
Evie said nothing, just looked thoughtfully at where Severus had disappeared.
"God! That is ugly!" Adellis looked at the skirt that Jo was holding up as if it were a very nasty bug. There were clothes and trunks strown all over the room. A pile of shoes was about to topple over near the fireplace and a trunk full of interesting underware appeared to have thrown up over a sofa. The skirt in question was of a lime green taffetda that stuck straight out. "I will never wear that."
Evie looked at the skirt and frowned. "What's wrong with it? It's lovely!"
Jo and Adellis looked at one another and shook their heads. "You have had a bit too much tonight, Eves," Adellis said, taking the glass of butterbeer away from her sister. "It's affecting your judgement."
Evie looked befuddled but didn't say anything. Jo tossed the offending skirt in the general direction of the 'out' pile. It was pleasing to note that the 'out' pile was much smaller than the 'in' pile. Jo and Evie had a lengthy discussion about Adellis's tastes in clothes and had decided that they would be lucky if she accepted a weeks worth of what they had selected. But as it happened, Adellis had liked a lot of what her sisters had picked out.
Jo had remembered that Adellis needed sturdy things made out of thick material for her classes and had supplied soft leather pants, boots and vests along with a dragon hide apron for just that purpose. For other times, like meals and weekends, there were loose pants and tops in several neutral tones, as well as bright ones. Adellis even found some skirts that were comfortable enough for her. Everything was wonderful.
But Adellis had an issue with being bought underwear. She crossed the room and bent over the trunk that had exploded on the sofa. "You know, girls," she began lightly. "I'm really grateful that you went to all this trouble for me. But really." Adellis bobbed up over the edge of the trunk and held up a pair of racy panites and matching bra. "Would you tell me just exactally what I am supposed to do with these?"
Evie giggled, mildly embarrassed. Jo put her hands on her hips and said matter of factly, "You are supposed to wear those so that Severus Snape has something worth taking off of you."
Adellis twitched. "Pardon," she inquired as she dropped the naughty underpants back in the trunk.
"Well, you have to admit that he is terribly handsome," Jo said, as standoffish as ever.
Adellis's mind raced. What in the hell was Jo getting at? To assume that she still had feelings for him. It was just…
"Nonesense," Adellis said in the best offhanded manner she could muster.
Jo cocked a dark eyebrow. "What? He's not a dish?"
"I didn't say that," Adellis answered automatically. Then she wished she hadn't.
Jo crossed her arms and smirked. "So he is hot, then."
Adellis smacked her forehead and winced. She didn't want to think about Severus right now. She didn't want to think about the way his skin had felt warm and smooth in her hand. She didn't want to think about those black eyes staring into hers. And she sure didn't want to think about him seeing the contents of the trunk that was open in front of her.
Picking up a pair of thong panties, Adellis took aim and let them fly through the sir towards Jo. They missed her by a mile, but she got the picture.
"Come on, Adds. Let's put this stuff away and pack up the rest." Jo laughed as she shot the panties back at her sister. Adellis caught them and shut them back in the trunk.
Adellis would later wonder how she had ever manage to make it through the evening meal. Evie was disturbingly quiet the whole time and Jo and Albus had talked non-stop to each other, leaving her with no communication on either side.
And to cap it off, every time she so much as glanced across the table, Severus was looking at her as though he would like to rip her head off.
By the time the meal was over and she had seen her sisters on their way, sh ewas ready to burst.
"Take care, Adds," Jo had said as they hugged goodbye. "And do remember that you've got a trunk full of interesting under…"
"Thanks, Jo," Adellis cut her of before anyone could overhear in the crowded hall. Jo smiled and went on to say her farewells to the professors.
Adellis turned to Evie. Evie didn't smile as she said, "Be careful, Adellis." She gave a meaningful glance over her shoulder in the direction that Severus was walking, back towards his dungeon quarters.
Adellis smiled and said, "What's there to be careful of when he is obviously not interested?" She hugged Evie.
Evie embraced her back but warned, "I wouldn't be so sure if I were you. And you honestly don't know anything about him anymore."
Adellis cocked her mouth to one side and nodded. "I'll keep that in mind, then."
Evie gave her a long searching look before following Jo out the door of the castle.
Once they were gone, Adellis said her goodnights quickly and went upstairs to get some sleep. She climbed the steps and walked down the halls, lost in though. She mechanically gave the password and walked into her room. She shedded the layers of clothes and crawled into bed without bothering with a nightdress.
Tomorrow night the students would arrive.
Somewhere on the edge of sleep, she though to herself, 'Then he'll stop looking at me like he wants me.'
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