Chapter Twenty Two

Caveat Intus Draconis

Harry had rented a small country house near the Burrow, and that Christmas it was bustling with people; Sirius, Remus, Ron, Ginny, Fred and George, Hermione, and Neville to name a few made appearances around the buffet table (put together by Ginny and Molly Weasley) Some were sitting on the rug, or on a chair, or the arm of a chair, filling the fireplace-lit living room.

Somehow through the commotion, Ginny managed to spot Anna as she came in, waving the back of her hand at her frantically to show off her ring. Laughing at her, Anna took her hand to take a closer look at her ring as Harry walked up to them with a smug expression.

"So you two are going to tie the knot too? I'm starting to think that weddings are contagious around here," Anna joked, admiring the gold diamond cluster ring. "It's very lovely!"

"I bought ours the same time Sirius bought yours," Harry grinned.

"Well, I haven't seen it yet," Ginny said insistently, and Anna showed her the marquis diamond engagement ring. The white gold ring was carved with curling rose vines, inlaid with tiny diamond chips. "I'm so glad you both are getting married too! Of course, you'll be married long before us. We're waiting until I'm out of Healer's School," Ginny said.

"Oh, I don't even want to think of naming a date yet," Anna admitted. She had every intention of including both her Muggle and Wizard family and friends, but she hadn't quite figured out they were going to manage that. "I haven't even told my brother yet."

"Well, you'd better not wait too long, Anna. I know he's not going to be happy now, but if you let it slide…"

"I've only kept it quiet today for Jennifer and Corey's sake. She noticed last night, I could tell by the look she gave me. But you know how Severus is. I'll tell him first thing tomorrow," Anna decided, playing with her ring thoughtfully.

"Perhaps I had better be there," Harry decided. He was quite sure no one was looking forward to that moment. "I need to talk to Severus about the owl situation anyhow."

"I have a feeling he won't be in the mood to talk about anything," Ginny warned.

Jennifer awoke the next day feeling wonderful and got up early to give some special attention to Ratfly. The lazy bat was more than happy to be pampered as he lay on Jennifer's lap and ate berries, the baby kicking and scooting away from where he was.

"Ratfly, I believe you just got snubbed," Jennifer chuckled softly, petting the bat lovingly. "If only you could tell me where you've been," she sighed. "It's not like you to go off like that. What, did you feel ignored? I suppose I have been preoccupied lately." But the bat appeared anything but neglected, stretching out contentedly now that he was full. "Maybe I'll take you to Sagittari when I go for my appointment. Perhaps he'll have some ideas," she said. Severus stepped in from their room looking at her curiously.

"Oh, is that who you are talking to? I thought Anna might have gotten up," he said.

"Anna's not here. There was a post inside the window from Hedwig saying she spent the night at Harry's. Oh, come now, Severus, don't look at me like that. She's as safe with Harry than just about anywhere. I'm just glad we actually got post for a change…that reminds me, there's a letter from Dumbledore for you on the counter," Jennifer said, getting up despite Ratfly's protests and depositing him upside down on his perch.

Severus quickly turned his attention to the letter and Jennifer sat down beside him, waiting patiently.

"Hm, apparently Dumbledore will be attending a special board meeting tonight. He and Chairman Dalance want to try and push new requirements through, including mandatory Muggle Studies. That's not going to sit well with many of the students' families," Severus grunted.

"Especially the snake-year students," Jennifer agreed, earning a dirty look from her husband.

"Must you call them that?" Severus scowled.

"Sorry," Jennifer grinned sheepishly. "But still, I know you'll end up taking most of the heat. I wonder why he's so intent on rushing this through midterm? It's not like this couldn't have waited until the end of the year itinerary meeting."

"I'm sure he has his reasons," Severus said, waving his hand dismissively. He learned a long time ago not to bother to question why Dumbledore did anything. "He also says they've had some trouble getting a hold of Rolanda. Apparently she didn't arrive at her sister's on time last week."

"What?" Jennifer said, sitting up in surprise. "That's not like her! I hope nothing's happened to her."

"Well, I think perhaps I'll head to Hogwarts for awhile and see if I can't find out anything," Severus decided, walking towards the basement. The rumbling sound of feet alerted them that they weren't the only ones awake in the cottage.

"I need to go to Hogwarts to see Sagittari," Jennifer reminded Severus, following him to the top of the basement stairs. "What am I going to do with Corey?" she asked. The bookcase opened and Corey peeked out from behind it.

"Is this a good time to ask if I can spend the night at Doug's house?" Corey asked with a grin. Just then, the front door opened and Anna and Harry walked in.

Sirius was pacing Dumbledore's study as the Headmaster quietly tried to go through his notes for the meeting.

"You know, this isn't going to work. She's going to tell him, and he's going to blow, and I'm just going to have to kill him. I know what it's coming down to, it's what it's always come down to all of these years," Sirius said, still pacing. Dumbledore's stern eyes flicked up at him, sighed, then looked back down again, shaking his head. "He's not going to listen. He's probably going to accuse me of falling for his sister just to spite him, and then he'll try casting at me and I'll just have to defend myself and in the process make Jennifer a widow, and Anna will lose her only brother. No, no, I can't do this. Maybe I should just call the whole thing off."

"Honestly, Sirius, you're not going to be able to get away from your problem that easily. But if you don't mind my saying so, I'd appreciate it if you both tried to be civil right now, because I truly don't have time for this. I have a missing professor on my hands, not to mention missing owls, and I need you both not to be at each other's throats right now," Dumbledore said firmly.

"Well he started it. Ever since the Tomb…"

"Sirius, you are behaving just like him." Sirius turned and scowled at Dumbledore.

"Nonsense, I don't act anything like him!" he snapped and began pacing again. Dumbledore sighed.

Just then, a pounding shook the door and Dumbledore removed his spectacles in resignation as he waved the door open. Severus stormed through, followed closely behind by Harry, Anna, and Jennifer. Severus pulled up short when he spotted Sirius. Everything he had been about to say to Dumbledore was completely forgotten as he walked over to Sirius. Sirius had put his hand on his belt in case he needed to get to his wand.

"Let me make this perfectly clear to you once and for all, Black. I do not approve of this relationship, I have never approved of it, and if you so much as touch my sister again, you'll regret that you ever had," Severus snarled. Sirius rolled his eyes, then walked over to Anna and kissed her. Jennifer and Harry jumped over to Severus, Harry holding his wand arm back and Jennifer standing in front of him, pleading with him to calm down.

"I told you we should have eloped," Sirius told Anna, keeping a steady eye on Severus.

"Severus, this has gone on long enough, don't you think? I love Sirius and I want to marry him, and nothing you're going to say or do is going to stop it, so why can't you just accept it? I don't want to have to lose my brother over this when it took us so long to finally see each other again, but I'm going to marry him whether you like it or not," Anna snapped, standing in front of Sirius.

"Don't you see what he's doing? He's just using you to get to me!" Severus snarled, causing Sirius to roll his eyes and give everyone his "I told you so," look. "He wants nothing more to separate us, and I'm sure it'd please him to no end knowing he got you to hate me."

"Good lord, Severus, I don't want her to hate you and I am not using her to get to you!" Sirius shouted at him. "I'd still want to marry her no matter who she was related to. In fact, at this point I wish she were related to anyone else but you! You've been nothing but a thorn in my side ever since we were kids. Grow up already!"

"ENOUGH!"

Everyone froze at the sound of Dumbledore's voice as he stood up, a furious glint in his eyes.

"I am quite tired of babysitting the both of you as I am sure Anna, Jennifer, and Harry are. I will not tolerate either of you jeopardizing the sanctity or safety of this school any longer. You shall now leave my presence. You shall not seek out or be in my presence until the two of you have resolved your differences no matter how long that may be, nor may you act on behalf of the school in any way until you have done so. Jennifer, if it they haven't worked this out before school resumes, I may need to ask you to fill in for Defense for awhile. In the meantime, I suggest the two of you go somewhere where you can cool off," Dumbledore said, raising his wand and muttering a word that no one could quite make out. Sirius and Severus disappeared, leaving the other three turning wide-eyed towards Dumbledore. The Headmaster put his glasses back on and sat down calmly again as the others exchanged glances, not knowing quite what to say.

"Now that the two of them are on ice, perhaps the three of you can help me try to track Rolanda," Dumbledore said. "Especially you, Jennifer… she left here in falcon form days ago, and that was the last time she was seen."

"Of course, Professor, I'll get right on it. And perhaps Ratfly could give us a clue to where the owls are going now that he's back. I'm taking him down to Sagittari's with me," Jennifer said.

"Professor, you don't think that whatever is effecting the owls might have effected Rolanda once she turned into aviary form, do you?" Harry asked.

"Yes, Harry, I am beginning to suspect just that, and if that's so, perhaps we should find a way to warn those who have that talent that there may be some danger in doing so," Dumbledore said.

"I'll talk to Ron about it," Harry nodded to him.

"Do you mind if I ask where Sirius and Severus went?" Anna asked.

"They're in the kitchen's ice cooler at the moment, but try not to worry about them. I promise I will keep an eye on them and make sure they don't get into any trouble. In the meantime, Anna, I have something else I would like to speak with you about since you haven't been getting post recently. I have a feeling you may not have gotten my job proposal yet." Anna blinked and looked over at Dumbledore's enigmatic smile with curiosity.

After the abrupt relocation, Severus, momentarily speechless by what had just happened, wrapped his cloak around him and sat down on a set of crates, not even looking at his fellow inmate. Sirius was hardly any more talkative, turning into his other form and sitting on some cardboard on the other side of the ice room.

"That's your solution to everything isn't it," Severus muttered after a long silence. "Everything starts to go wrong with you and you turn Fido." The dog growled at him and leapt back into his human form.

"We wouldn't even be in this mess if you hadn't come storming into Dumbledore's office in a rampage!" Sirius shouted.

"If you would have left my sister out of this, it never would have happened to begin with," Severus replied.

"Your sister was never in this battle! How many times do I have to tell you that? Why does everything that happens have to be against you personally? What's wrong? Don't you think someone might have fallen for your sister on her own merits?"

"Of course they could, just not you," Severus growled. Sirius threw up his arms, pacing the floor.

"You're really impossible, you know that? I have done everything in my power to try and get along with you and you've done nothing but fought it!"

"Spare me. You hate me as much as I hate you, and the only reason I never blasted you where you stood was Dumbledore decided that he 'needed' you," Severus said icily. "Especially after keeping me from saving Jennifer at the Tomb!"

"What?" Sirius said in surprise. "I stopped you from getting yourself killed trying to go in after her! The Tomb would have collapsed on you and Jennifer would have awoke to find you dead!"

"No! I would have gotten to them somehow! I could have saved her and Harry from what they went through!" Severus insisted, his eyes flashing furiously. "You had no right to stop me from getting to her when she needed me most!"

So that was it, Sirius thought in disbelief. All of this time, he had been angry at Sirius for keeping him from going in when Severus thought she was dead.

"Well, you have no right to try and stop me from getting to Anna when she needs me!" Sirius snapped back.

"She only thinks she needs you because you've led her to believe that. I wouldn't be surprised if some of your 'rescue' attempts weren't caused by you trying to get her to be more dependent on you!" Severus growled.

"You can't honestly believe that! You really think that the only reason I'm doing this is to get even with you? You just can't bring yourself to actually believe that your sister might be destined for someone you see as an enemy. Fine, if that's what you truly believe, then just kill me and get it over with! At least I won't have to put up with your snide comments anymore, but don't blame me if your sister never speaks to you again!" Sirius dared him, putting his wand on the floor and standing there expectantly. "Well? What are you waiting for? You want me dead that badly, do it!"

Severus stood and squinted at him for a long while with a calculating expression. Finally he frowned and leaned back, folding his hands together.

"I cannot kill you," Severus said evenly.

"What was that? Pardon?" Sirius said, gesturing exaggeratedly, "Do I hear a note of reluctance? Has the taste of revenge gotten too bitter? Or is it Jennifer's morality that holds you back? What's wrong, Severus, are you so used to milking defeat that actually achieving such a victory would sour it?"

"No," Severus said coldly, his eyes flickering with hatred. "I mean I quite literally cannot kill you. I already tried once and it nearly cost me my life as well as my soul," he snarled. "Thanks to you, I could have lost both. If it hadn't been for Dumbledore, I would have." Sirius stared at Severus with both alarm and confusion. Reluctantly Severus began to tell him a tale that he had only told to two others before him.

His mother's family had been an old wizarding family from the Balkans and Russia of high repute spanning back generations, his father was of course a Snape, whose family spanned most of Western Europe had also a distinguished line originating from the Roman age. They were a purist family of modest fortune, and it did not surprise them when their only son began to show signs of ability at an early age, as well as a brilliant mind. His mother was a cold woman with strict ideals, who had every intention of raising him the same way and teach him to be proud of his heritage. Suddenly, unexpectedly, she had gotten ill and died when he was five, leaving the boy stunned and heartbroken. It was not long before Octavius remarried, but the young boy was still reeling from his mother's death and still had idealistic memories of his mother. He was not prepared to welcome a stepmother; especially not this one. Even at his young age, he knew what a mudblood was. Not only did he hate his stepmother, but he could not see to forgive his father for marrying such a lowlife, let alone marrying anyone so soon after his mother's death. As he grew older, the feelings of resentment strengthened, although he found there was one consolation to the interminable changes his life had gone through; it that was his baby sister.

From the moment he saw her and how helpless she was, he felt a familiarity with his younger sibling that he didn't understand. If there were anything peculiar about her as a child he was unaware of it, nor was he even aware of the soft conversations held between her mother and father about the girl.

As it was, he would never truly find out the reason. It was late in his eleventh year when he was accepted at Hogwarts…his father was especially proud of the boy. Severus himself was rather cocky about the upcoming term, sure he would quickly rise to the head of the class and impress every Professor there. But things weren't as easy as he thought they would be, and although he rose to the top student in most of his classes (Amanda Elwood, a Muggleborn Gryffindor girl, had scored better in Transfiguration and Charms,) he soon found that few of his classmates wished to have anything to do with the arrogant boy.

The upper classmen only wanted to use him to further their own gain, and he often found himself doing their homework and other favors to gain more powerful friends among them. Lucius was one of them, and often listened to Severus talk about his home life. That was when Lucius introduced him to some friends of his who were curious about his thoughts on his father and stepmother as well.

Perhaps he had been too indiscreet…his parents had never said anything about anyone meaning them any harm, so he had little reason, he thought, not to exchange post addresses with his newfound friends. But it was not long after he had come home from the holidays that his stepmother suddenly came into the living room where he and Anna had been playing with a frightened look on her face, trying to usher them into the chimney. In slow motion, he could recall the hooded man with the wand that came in behind his father who looked unusually frail and pallid. They were pleading for their lives… but it was no use. From where Severus stood holding his sister, he heard the cold voice of the executioner as he called out a curse that ate away at their skin as they scream in excruciating pain as the spell slowly disintegrated them.

Fear, anger, and horror rose into Severus then at what he had just witnessed…the feelings inside them welled up and were so sharp that he felt them build, his attention all focused on the man who he had just seen murder his father and stepmother. He Wished then, with all his heart, that the man would die before he had time to turn on him and his sister. Just then, the boy felt all of his energy suddenly burst away from him and the wizard began to scream in pain. The wizard fell to his knees with his wand still pointed towards them, suddenly dropping the wand and collapsing in front of the children.

Severus and Anna stood there clutching one another in grief, the shock too great to even comprehend the magnitude of what had happened. They were still standing there when Dumbledore found them several hours later.

What happened after that was little more than a blur… his sister moving in to live with her Muggle grandparents while Dumbledore took him in as a ward, followed by the attempts to hush what had occurred that night, and what Severus had done.

But although the Ministry had hushed up the details, rumors spread that Meryl and Octavius were killed because Severus was cursed in some way, and perhaps Severus himself had killed them. Some even believed they had killed themselves upon finding out their daughter had been a squib.

Severus soon learned to turn off the rubbish. In fact, he began turning off every influence in his life, shutting everyone out. Only Dumbledore seemed to manage to get through to them, but even their bond had been strained. Severus was afraid of both himself and of anyone getting hurt because of him. Over time, the fear had turned to anger, because certain students were particularly fond of spreading rumors about him.

There was little reason to speak of it. Sirius knew as well as Severus what had happened back then and how it escalated. Sirius had already guessed how Severus finally decided to get revenge by following the lead of the "friends" he made in his first year and became a Death Eater himself. Little did he know that his first mission would be his undoing. To purify his blood, he had to kill someone. Voldemort thought perhaps it would only be fitting that Severus killed one of those that caused his turmoil. He would go and kill Sirius Black in a way that would leave no wand trace, so that he could still use Dumbledore's young ward to spy on him.

Severus didn't even know if he could do it again. Now that he was older and his magic was trained, the Wish Magic of his youth had dwindled, as it did in every trained wizard. Severus had hesitated at first, but Voldemort then suggested he kill his sister to cleanse Severus instead. The threat had been enough. Perhaps if he had been older, Severus may have realized that there would have been no way Voldemort would have found her on his own, and Severus was more naive than he would have liked to believe. Severus decided to carry out the cleansing himself and stalked Sirius as he left the mansion. Relying on his memories of what happened the night his parents had died, Severus let the anger inside him build, attempting to gather up every memory of every miserable encounter he had with Sirius to carry out the Wish. But then, something went very, very wrong.

"That night you felt you were followed… the same night that the Potter's decided that their work against the Death Eaters was getting too dangerous and chose to hide their whereabouts… was the night I was supposed to have ascended to a full Death Eater from your death. But as I felt the magic build and leave me, it suddenly backfired, and my body was racked with the energy of my own fears, hatred, and my cursed existence…" Severus said, his eyes focused on his ring, unwilling to look up. "I long regretted that that I had survived the attempt, to save me from the ordeals that happened next. For although Dumbledore somehow managed to find me and save me, my destiny was sealed. The curse I had laid upon myself was in the very fabric of my being, and I knew I had to return to Voldemort and complete what I had started, regardless of the tortures that awaited me. Strangely enough, Dumbledore knew it as well, so he gave me an option to do what I had to do for the right reasons." Severus finished, transforming a crate he had been sitting onto into a cot and lying down. "Things would have been a lot easier for me had you just died like you were supposed to. I could have done without being turned into a popsicle." Sirius, who had listening thoughtfully and somberly to the story up until that point, gave him an annoyed look.

"So now it's my fault for not dying on top of whatever crazy list you've got going against me?" Sirius asked, folding his arms. "Sorry to inconvenience you by living. You know, I'm the one who should be a bit upset here. I just found out you tried to kill me!"

"It was you or my sister. I hated you. Tell me if you can if you wouldn't have done the same," Severus scowled.

"I would have killed myself before I would have done either if it was in the name of Lord Voldemort!" Sirius snarled. Severus glared at him for a long time.

"I, however, did not have that option at that point," Severus said, pulling a blanket out of his cloak.

"Oh, and why is that?" Sirius said with irritation, folding his arms.

"That is another story," Severus said simply, turning his back to him and closing his eyes.