Throughout the next couple of days the school ran as it always had done,
perhaps with a little more gossip and rumours floating around but normal
all the same.
Aaniki visited Severus rooms every day to assess his condition and slowly
but surely he was succumbing to the power of the spellbound curse.
She wouldn't say what she saw every time she went into the potion masters mind but every time she did she would come out more and more frightened than the previous session.
Albus wanted to know every detail she saw, but how could she tell them about the death eaters and what they did to him? How could she tell them about the punishments he received every time Voldemort summoned him?
This was the third time today she had visited the chambers in the dungeon. Something was bothering Aaniki so much that she had to find the cause of it and eradicate it.
As she entered the coldness seemed to radiate from Severus, something more than the spellbound curse was upon him and it was boosting its power. It was as if it was taking away any goodness left within him and torching his soul into a smouldering black chasm.
Previously in the day she had taken the opportunity to go into the restricted section much to the envy of a table of Slytherin onlookers. They didn't like her power she told herself often. Most Slytherins were greedy power mongers, save the odd few who had arisen through out the years of Hogwarts.
"Evening Severus." She muttered as she reached his bedside. According to her research this was akin to the muggle state of comatose and apparently the person in the coma could still hear you, it helped to talk to them. Aaniki doubted it would have any affect on Severus' condition but she was open to suggestions.
He hadn't moved from the previous day and was still in the same stiff position, a frown adorning his features and his fists clenched at his sides almost in pain.
"How are you today?" She asked trying to sound cheerful, though how could one be cheerful in a time like this? Shaking her head in defeat she sat on the small wooden stool next to his bed placing her hands on the warm mattress.
She closed her eyes preparing to clear her mind in order to take on his. This was going to be the first time she had gone in fully, to the deepest darkest dreams that were pulling at his mind. She was worried not to mention scared and - something was touching her hand.
She opened her eyes expecting to see the ruffled fur of a rodent of some sort but was faced with the soft pale flesh of Severus Snape's hand clutching her own smearing a red substance onto her flesh. Blood.
Aaniki turned her hand over and winced at the small half moon shapes of blood where he had obviously dug his nails in his palms. Then it dawned on her, he had taken her hand as if he knew she was there.
"How could that be?" She asked herself confused and fascinated at the same time. The crimson stain on her hand fell into the back of her mind and she prepared herself once again to enter this troubled psyche.
The passage to where Severus was being held was a treacherous maze of thoughts and memories betraying the secrets of his tortured soul. She had to stay focused, do not pay attention to them she told herself as his screams echoed through her mind. She closed her mind to everything until one memory almost smacked her in the face stunning her with its presence.
Estella, the girl petrified in the hospital wing stood awake before her draped over Severus like a plague. Judging on the look of him Aaniki placed the potions master to be roughly in his late 30s. Estella on the other hand looked as she did today, which severely unnerved Aaniki.
Since it was a memory, the participants could not see Aaniki as she existed in a completely different time span than they did, which comforted the witch enough to make her stay.
"Our fifteenth anniversary Severus." Estella drooled as if her voice was made from pure velvet.
No wonder Severus had been such an easy target for this mad woman, he had clutched onto a small glimmer of hope that she would be this person somewhere in that sick mind of hers and cast a truth spell upon the bitch. She had taken this opportunity to reach him through the inner power that he projected through his wand.
Severus was smiling and Aaniki watched as a small sparkle passed through his black eyes when he handed something tightly wrapped in a box to Estella.
Her eyes lit up taking the box from Severus almost greedily. The ribbon fell to the floor as she rushed to open the box at a feverish pace. Aaniki wondered if she actually did love Severus, or whether she was just playing a game. Finally the lid was removed with a low swish clattering on the floor as Estella's eyes searched out the gift from the shredded paper.
Glinting beneath the paper was a Topaz ring encrusted with diamonds. An engagement ring - something adopted from the muggle tradition. Estella beamed as Severus placed it on her finger taking her face in his hands he spoke;
"Estella will you marry me?" He asked, which shocked Aaniki so much her mouth fell open dumbstruck. This couldn't be Severus 'I never smile' Snape, the potions master who would take any chance he got to remove points from any house but his own.
"Oh." Estella apparently shared the same state as Aaniki her eyes wide and filling with tears. "I thought you'd never ask!" She yelled pulling him into a passionate kiss, which threatened to cut of his air supply by the look on his face.
Aaniki watched for a little longer until it was apparent that nothing else was going to happen. Clearing her mind she let herself dissolve back into the passage she intended to follow.
The memories called to her, begging to be seen but these were the happy memories that were pushed out of the way to make way for the haunting dreams that she hoped would soon invade her path. So far she had only touched the surface and much of what she had seen she had cast a spell on herself to forget.
This time she would remember and Dumbledor would be told.
The landscape of his mind changed bringing her upon a dead end, which hadn't been there before.
The memories became darker, this was the point she had come upon before. It encompassed the time of Severus when he was a much hated death eater. She had seen a small amount of his atrocities and they had frightened her more than anything she had seen but that was not what she intended to search for this time. Stumbling upon the memory of Snape enjoying happy times with Estella had started her thinking. If he hated the woman so much and by what Minerva had told her most definitely feared her then the reason for that must be locked within these memories.
Standing perfectly still she appareted within his mind transporting her to another memory that included Estella.
"I have no father." A past Severus muttered cruelly as she passed a memory of him talking with Dumbledor, maybe this was the time he came to Hogwarts for much needed help.
She was tempted to find out how much Severus had really told the great Albus Dumbledor. Did he really have no father? Or was it a desperate lie and a reason for salvation.
"Oh Aaniki." A voice echoed behind her almost slimy in its tone. She knew it instantly and spun around to face the intruder.
There was no one there, only another memory. Wait it wasn't just another memory; it was the one she was looking for.
Severus was sleeping in a darkened room seeming tired out, almost unconscious. As Aaniki walked further into the room the walls closed in behind her, cutting her off from her path.
Ignoring it she crept closer to Severus half expecting to see him with a slit throat or something but never the less he was breathing steadily, which was most likely due to the dreamless sleep potion half empty in a bottle beside his bed.
Suddenly a loud wail from across the room broke the silence and Severus jerked awake into a sitting position. He pushed the covers aside and looked over to where the howling originated. So did Aaniki and to her surprise there stood Estella bending over the small body of a young baby. It stared eyes wide at what you could only presume was its mother, a small grin pasted across its toothless mouth.
Could this be why their relationship had fallen apart?
Estella gazed lovingly at the small figure and then back at the smiling Severus.
"I am sorry Severus Snape."
Suddenly whipping her wand out from inside her robes she cried "Crucio!"
She watched Severus fall from the bed onto the cold floor before turning to the baby and bringing the tip of her wand to rest on its forehead.
A twisted smile caressed her features like mist as she turned towards Snape once more. He was shaking in pain from the crucio curse but still forced his eyes open to face her.
"What are you doing Ella?" He asked utterly naïve of the situation. Estella said nothing, her eyes turning a nasty shade of red as she turned the wand on Severus and once more uttering the curse so slowly that Snape could almost see the light that leapt from her wand and engulfed his body in a white hot fire.
Aaniki watched shocked as he doubled over in pain, trying desperately to reach his baby.
"To late Snape." She muttered moving the wand back to the baby. Betrayal laced the witches voice and the curse rolled naturally off of her tongue killing the baby instantly.
"Avada Kedavra!"
"NO!" Severus screamed his face contorted in terror just before he collapsed in a painful heap. His body twitched every now and then as the Crucio curse began to wear off easing his physical suffering but adding to the mental pain that attacked his psyche.
Why had she killed their baby?
She wouldn't say what she saw every time she went into the potion masters mind but every time she did she would come out more and more frightened than the previous session.
Albus wanted to know every detail she saw, but how could she tell them about the death eaters and what they did to him? How could she tell them about the punishments he received every time Voldemort summoned him?
This was the third time today she had visited the chambers in the dungeon. Something was bothering Aaniki so much that she had to find the cause of it and eradicate it.
As she entered the coldness seemed to radiate from Severus, something more than the spellbound curse was upon him and it was boosting its power. It was as if it was taking away any goodness left within him and torching his soul into a smouldering black chasm.
Previously in the day she had taken the opportunity to go into the restricted section much to the envy of a table of Slytherin onlookers. They didn't like her power she told herself often. Most Slytherins were greedy power mongers, save the odd few who had arisen through out the years of Hogwarts.
"Evening Severus." She muttered as she reached his bedside. According to her research this was akin to the muggle state of comatose and apparently the person in the coma could still hear you, it helped to talk to them. Aaniki doubted it would have any affect on Severus' condition but she was open to suggestions.
He hadn't moved from the previous day and was still in the same stiff position, a frown adorning his features and his fists clenched at his sides almost in pain.
"How are you today?" She asked trying to sound cheerful, though how could one be cheerful in a time like this? Shaking her head in defeat she sat on the small wooden stool next to his bed placing her hands on the warm mattress.
She closed her eyes preparing to clear her mind in order to take on his. This was going to be the first time she had gone in fully, to the deepest darkest dreams that were pulling at his mind. She was worried not to mention scared and - something was touching her hand.
She opened her eyes expecting to see the ruffled fur of a rodent of some sort but was faced with the soft pale flesh of Severus Snape's hand clutching her own smearing a red substance onto her flesh. Blood.
Aaniki turned her hand over and winced at the small half moon shapes of blood where he had obviously dug his nails in his palms. Then it dawned on her, he had taken her hand as if he knew she was there.
"How could that be?" She asked herself confused and fascinated at the same time. The crimson stain on her hand fell into the back of her mind and she prepared herself once again to enter this troubled psyche.
The passage to where Severus was being held was a treacherous maze of thoughts and memories betraying the secrets of his tortured soul. She had to stay focused, do not pay attention to them she told herself as his screams echoed through her mind. She closed her mind to everything until one memory almost smacked her in the face stunning her with its presence.
Estella, the girl petrified in the hospital wing stood awake before her draped over Severus like a plague. Judging on the look of him Aaniki placed the potions master to be roughly in his late 30s. Estella on the other hand looked as she did today, which severely unnerved Aaniki.
Since it was a memory, the participants could not see Aaniki as she existed in a completely different time span than they did, which comforted the witch enough to make her stay.
"Our fifteenth anniversary Severus." Estella drooled as if her voice was made from pure velvet.
No wonder Severus had been such an easy target for this mad woman, he had clutched onto a small glimmer of hope that she would be this person somewhere in that sick mind of hers and cast a truth spell upon the bitch. She had taken this opportunity to reach him through the inner power that he projected through his wand.
Severus was smiling and Aaniki watched as a small sparkle passed through his black eyes when he handed something tightly wrapped in a box to Estella.
Her eyes lit up taking the box from Severus almost greedily. The ribbon fell to the floor as she rushed to open the box at a feverish pace. Aaniki wondered if she actually did love Severus, or whether she was just playing a game. Finally the lid was removed with a low swish clattering on the floor as Estella's eyes searched out the gift from the shredded paper.
Glinting beneath the paper was a Topaz ring encrusted with diamonds. An engagement ring - something adopted from the muggle tradition. Estella beamed as Severus placed it on her finger taking her face in his hands he spoke;
"Estella will you marry me?" He asked, which shocked Aaniki so much her mouth fell open dumbstruck. This couldn't be Severus 'I never smile' Snape, the potions master who would take any chance he got to remove points from any house but his own.
"Oh." Estella apparently shared the same state as Aaniki her eyes wide and filling with tears. "I thought you'd never ask!" She yelled pulling him into a passionate kiss, which threatened to cut of his air supply by the look on his face.
Aaniki watched for a little longer until it was apparent that nothing else was going to happen. Clearing her mind she let herself dissolve back into the passage she intended to follow.
The memories called to her, begging to be seen but these were the happy memories that were pushed out of the way to make way for the haunting dreams that she hoped would soon invade her path. So far she had only touched the surface and much of what she had seen she had cast a spell on herself to forget.
This time she would remember and Dumbledor would be told.
The landscape of his mind changed bringing her upon a dead end, which hadn't been there before.
The memories became darker, this was the point she had come upon before. It encompassed the time of Severus when he was a much hated death eater. She had seen a small amount of his atrocities and they had frightened her more than anything she had seen but that was not what she intended to search for this time. Stumbling upon the memory of Snape enjoying happy times with Estella had started her thinking. If he hated the woman so much and by what Minerva had told her most definitely feared her then the reason for that must be locked within these memories.
Standing perfectly still she appareted within his mind transporting her to another memory that included Estella.
"I have no father." A past Severus muttered cruelly as she passed a memory of him talking with Dumbledor, maybe this was the time he came to Hogwarts for much needed help.
She was tempted to find out how much Severus had really told the great Albus Dumbledor. Did he really have no father? Or was it a desperate lie and a reason for salvation.
"Oh Aaniki." A voice echoed behind her almost slimy in its tone. She knew it instantly and spun around to face the intruder.
There was no one there, only another memory. Wait it wasn't just another memory; it was the one she was looking for.
Severus was sleeping in a darkened room seeming tired out, almost unconscious. As Aaniki walked further into the room the walls closed in behind her, cutting her off from her path.
Ignoring it she crept closer to Severus half expecting to see him with a slit throat or something but never the less he was breathing steadily, which was most likely due to the dreamless sleep potion half empty in a bottle beside his bed.
Suddenly a loud wail from across the room broke the silence and Severus jerked awake into a sitting position. He pushed the covers aside and looked over to where the howling originated. So did Aaniki and to her surprise there stood Estella bending over the small body of a young baby. It stared eyes wide at what you could only presume was its mother, a small grin pasted across its toothless mouth.
Could this be why their relationship had fallen apart?
Estella gazed lovingly at the small figure and then back at the smiling Severus.
"I am sorry Severus Snape."
Suddenly whipping her wand out from inside her robes she cried "Crucio!"
She watched Severus fall from the bed onto the cold floor before turning to the baby and bringing the tip of her wand to rest on its forehead.
A twisted smile caressed her features like mist as she turned towards Snape once more. He was shaking in pain from the crucio curse but still forced his eyes open to face her.
"What are you doing Ella?" He asked utterly naïve of the situation. Estella said nothing, her eyes turning a nasty shade of red as she turned the wand on Severus and once more uttering the curse so slowly that Snape could almost see the light that leapt from her wand and engulfed his body in a white hot fire.
Aaniki watched shocked as he doubled over in pain, trying desperately to reach his baby.
"To late Snape." She muttered moving the wand back to the baby. Betrayal laced the witches voice and the curse rolled naturally off of her tongue killing the baby instantly.
"Avada Kedavra!"
"NO!" Severus screamed his face contorted in terror just before he collapsed in a painful heap. His body twitched every now and then as the Crucio curse began to wear off easing his physical suffering but adding to the mental pain that attacked his psyche.
Why had she killed their baby?