Unexpected Encounter : Chapter Seven
Disclaimer : as you know I don't own any of the character's or concepts that are in the Harry Potter books. They all belong to J. K. Rowling. No money is being made here. Just me here, writing a story.
Pop.
Sunny appeared in Severus' doorway. "Sir. Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor Lupin have arrived with Masters Black, Potter and Weasley along with Miss. Granger. They are waiting in the main sitting room." Severus was pacing across the room, a half-empty glass in his hand. He had know exactly when 'his guests' had arrived. He had developed a type of sixth sense. It seemed as though he could feel peoples' magic in the air. For each person there was a level of power that radiated away from their bodies into the space around them. 'I suppose I could refer to this as a aura.' By these waves Severus could tell how powerful the being was and approximately how far away they were from him.
Dumbledore's presence, he had picked out immediately. Remus' also because he was a werewolf, but what was most unexpected was Harry. Well considering that the Harry had managaed to live numberous encounters with Voldemore maybe it shouldn't be such a shock. Remus had been down to the dungeons to tell him that Dumbledore had brought Sirius and the trio to Hogwarts. But still he had never expected Harry's aura to have such a strong pull. Well thinking about it now he supposed he should have expected this. After all they knew that Harry was very powerful, untrained but he certainly possessed a large amount of raw magical power. Also they have been training him during those extra classes so that Harry could use the most of his potential magic.
Every witch or wizard has a certain amount of raw magical power in their blood. This raw magic is the same type of power that causes accidental magic in children. This blood factor is why wizards of pureblood think so highly of themselves. They were breed into society as wizards with high magical potential. Their parents not necessarily looking for a marriage based on love, but rather wealth and power. The magical ability of a wizard can be passed down from their parents. The amount of potential magic of an individual differs depending on species, bloodline, age and a series of other factors. Some wizards are just born with extremely high amounts of magic in their blood, or low amounts. Longbottom, even though he is a pureblooded wizard, is highly suspected of being under this category. Most wizards have generally the same amount of power though. There are of course exceptions to this rule in each generation, like Dumbledore and Grindlewald, and Harry and Voldemort.
The magical ability that a witch or wizard has is more of a matter of how well an individual can control the potential magic that they possess. When a student is at wizarding school, they learn how to repress these powers down to a level where they can be controlled. The problem here is that in the early years, the witch or wizard's magic level is lowered and by the time they leave school, they still have not realize their full potential. Generally this was all right, but in a time of war the side with the most power wins. Harry's extra lessons were to help him gain control of his untapped magic.
Severus was overwhelmed with all the information from his heightened senses. Severus quickly downed the rest of the glass. He felt a bit better. The blood took away his thirst, and that seemed to relax him a bit. But he couldn't help but feel nervous. 'What if one of them tried to be a Gryffindor hero and run a stake through his heart on an impulse? But Albus will be there. It will be okay. I feel all right. But do I feel good enough to go out there?' he questioned himself. 'If I can manage to be in the same room with both Lupin, Albus, Draco, Minerva and Sprout, I should be fine. Okay. Now what did I come in here for. Oh yes." he turned to the door and called for Sunny. "Bring that mirror out with me" the elf pointed at the mirror and it started floating behind Snape 'All right lets go.' taking a deep breath he swung open the door and strode out, the mirror and Sunny trailed out after him.
Harry had been a bit apprehensive, but looking at Draco who was now back to playing with the cat, he did not see any reason to be too worried anymore and he calmed down substantially. Hermione had also joined Draco, probably in an attempt to calm her own jitters. Dumbledore had seated himself in a rather plush looking armchair. He flicked his wand at the fireplace, and the flames sprung up amongst the logs bring the temperature of the room up to a more comfortable level.
Sunny popped into the room next to the headmaster. "Headmaster sir, would you like me to take that, sir?" Harry then noticed that Dumbledore was carrying what appeared to be a wine bottle. "Oh that's all right Sunny. I'll hold on to it for a bit longer. Want to present Professor Snape with the first one myself." As the house elf was about to leave Dumbledore added "The rest of the bottles are in the cellar."
Severus entered the room. No one had noticed him yet. 'A lovely band of Gryffindors here to greet my return to consciousness.' "How nice of you to bring a gift. Must be an attempt to keep me from hexing Black while he is here." They all turned to look over in the direction of the voice, but Severus had moved quickly to the other side of the room. All they saw was a floating mirror. Dumbledore felt that bottle being taken out of his hands, and turned smiling at Severus. "Yes, I thought that you should get a taste to see if it's to your liking."
Severus handed the bottle off to Sunny, who wrapped his long fingers around the bottle. The cork popped straight out and landed on the platter that he had balanced on his other hand. Sunny poured out a glass and held up the platter. Severus took a sip. 'Not bad, he thought. Doesn't have any detectable magical presence in it. Hmm. probably muggle then.' he thought. "It's nice to know you have such useful connections."
Looking up from his glass, Severus found that he was being stared at. Remus was talking to Sapphire in a far corner, but looked his way and smiled when he had entered the room. He was being cautious just in case Severus' will power over his vampiric tendencies overtook him. Black looked rather white, from where he stood next to the headmaster. 'Hmm, so it appears that neither Albus or Remus told them exactly what has happened yet. I wonder if they can tell from my appearance what I have become. I look relatively the same, healthier really with all the poisons purged from my body. Perhaps I should smile.'
"Oh, Severus is such a bad host. He doesn't get much company. You must forgive him." twittered Sapphire from a nearby painting. "As if you couldn't have told them to sit down and all that yourself, Sapphire." he retorted. Harry snapped out of his shocked state. 'So that was Sapphire' he thought to himself. 'And I was beginning to think it was the cat.'
"Be a good host Severus, these are your quarters not mine. Its not my place. Don't forget your manners in front of the uncultured Gryffies, except for you Headmaster. Anyway you know I can't talk to him. He doesn't listen." she said pointedly looking at Black, who had his back towards her, for an instant before going back to blatantly ignoring him. Severus noted the disappointed look on the Headmaster face along with the looks filled with sparked curiosity in the trio's eyes.
Severus felt the need to end this before one of them worked up the guts to ask what Sapphire meant. This was not what they were here to discuss though. Dumbledore had told him about Harry's vision on the same night of Lucius' unexpected visit. So he gave into Sapphire's demands and played the part of the perfect host down to the faked pleasantries. "Please sit down. No reason for you all to be standing around. There are plenty of seats. If you don't want to be too squished I can get Sunny to bring over a few armchairs from another room. Can I offer any of you something to drink." he said graciously and flashed a smile. Ron let out an yelp. Severus could have almost laughed. 'Weasley looks ready to bolt out of here right this minute. How did he ever end up in Gryffindor?'
Everyone was not seated except for Severus who was still playing the part of a gracious host. Severus was definitely overplaying his role actually. Sarcasm was just too much fun. It was a bit cramped but they all insisted that it was not necessary for Sunny to bring in extra chairs. Sunny was now serving drinks. Harry had declined, but Remus had pushed a glass of something into his hand. He had not been listening so he did not even know what it was that he was now sipping at. All he knew was that it was alcoholic because it burned down his throat. The other possibility was that Remus was trying to poison him, but that was unlikely. The stuff was helping to relax his nerves though. Harry did not think that he looked that tense, but Remus was a werewolf and he could probably smell his fear. He was glad that Professor Snape was relatively alive and well was much better than the images of a barely breathing and blood-soaked professor that his mind had conjured up as they were walking down to the dungeons. But the shock of his transformation, well lets just say that it still had not sunk into his head.
Ron was looking visibly shaken. For someone that hated the way some purebloods were prejudice against muggles, it was so ironic how Ron could be so affected by things like this. But he would get over this eventually. Remus and Ron got along fine now. It had been awkward at first but Ron had gotten more comfortable around their werewolf professor over time. Hermione had caught the black kitten and seemed to be placing all her attention on petting it as it tried to scramble out of her lap. But other than that she appeared to be calm on the outside.
Severus noted that instead of staring everyone was now avoiding eye contact with him while trying to find a place to sit down. Well everyone except for Harry. He had been so caught up staring from his seat on the couch that he hadn't noticed that everyone had positioned themselves where Snape couldn't sit beside them. The only place left was next to Harry. 'Oh well might as well sit down' Severus thought
Sliding down next to Harry, Severus motioned to Sunny to float the mirror towards him. He looked at the reflection. His mirror image was still there, but it was growing faint. It was not fuzzy, but it he was able to see through it slightly. This was most noticeable when compared with the solid image of Potter beside him.
Severus reached out to touch the corner of the mirror, the image froze. Severus flipped it around so that everyone else could see. "When I first woke up a noticed that I still had a reflection. I thought this was rather strange since one of the most common ways to determine whether or not a person is a vampire is to see if they have a reflection. As the day progressed though I noticed that the image was growing more and more distorted around the edges. As you all can see now, the reflection has now faded to the point where it is partially transparent. I figure that by the time my reflection has completely faded, my transformation will be complete." Severus sat back waiting for questions.
Severus took a deep breath. 'Such power, coming from one so young. He could almost taste the magic flowing around him. How old is he now? I do believe he would be sixteen, but using that time turning for those extra hours of training have probably set that off by a little less than a year. I can smell him. It would not be that hard to bite him right now. I wonder what that would feel like, to have something alive squirming against my hands. I know I have not been a vampire for very long, but I still have not made my first kill. The way everyone is treating me, I'll probably never have a first kill, because I'll be drinking out of a bottle. Why don't they just shove a pacifier into my mouth while they are at it.'
"What happened that night, and why did it affect Harry as well?" asked Hermione. Severus had to hand it to her, she knew how to get straight to the problem at hand. "It must have something to do with Voldemort. Was he there when you were turned, Professor Snape?" "No the only one that was in there was Lucius Malfoy." "Lucius Malfoy's a vampire too now?" blurted out an astonished Ron. "Is Voldemort going around turning everyone into vampires?"
"I don't think that Voldemort is ready to turn everyone into vampires. He certainly has some sort of plan behind having Lucius changed. Perhaps he is going to send him to recruit the vampires. Voldemort has a lot to offer, and the vampires would have much to gain if they helped him to power. Imagine an endless night and a virtually endless supply of blood following the muggle massacre. A very tempting vision for any vampire." said Severus
"Yours?" questioned Black. "Haven't you wondered yet why you are even still walking? I wouldn't doubt for a second that most of the men that betray Voldemort live to tell the tale. You look even healthier than you have in years. I'm sure a man with your skills is hard to come by. You would be a useful asset to the Dark Lord. Is he trying to call you back to him?"
katznipp
revised : December 30, 2002
edited : May 27, 2004
Disclaimer : as you know I don't own any of the character's or concepts that are in the Harry Potter books. They all belong to J. K. Rowling. No money is being made here. Just me here, writing a story.
Pop.
Sunny appeared in Severus' doorway. "Sir. Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor Lupin have arrived with Masters Black, Potter and Weasley along with Miss. Granger. They are waiting in the main sitting room." Severus was pacing across the room, a half-empty glass in his hand. He had know exactly when 'his guests' had arrived. He had developed a type of sixth sense. It seemed as though he could feel peoples' magic in the air. For each person there was a level of power that radiated away from their bodies into the space around them. 'I suppose I could refer to this as a aura.' By these waves Severus could tell how powerful the being was and approximately how far away they were from him.
Dumbledore's presence, he had picked out immediately. Remus' also because he was a werewolf, but what was most unexpected was Harry. Well considering that the Harry had managaed to live numberous encounters with Voldemore maybe it shouldn't be such a shock. Remus had been down to the dungeons to tell him that Dumbledore had brought Sirius and the trio to Hogwarts. But still he had never expected Harry's aura to have such a strong pull. Well thinking about it now he supposed he should have expected this. After all they knew that Harry was very powerful, untrained but he certainly possessed a large amount of raw magical power. Also they have been training him during those extra classes so that Harry could use the most of his potential magic.
Every witch or wizard has a certain amount of raw magical power in their blood. This raw magic is the same type of power that causes accidental magic in children. This blood factor is why wizards of pureblood think so highly of themselves. They were breed into society as wizards with high magical potential. Their parents not necessarily looking for a marriage based on love, but rather wealth and power. The magical ability of a wizard can be passed down from their parents. The amount of potential magic of an individual differs depending on species, bloodline, age and a series of other factors. Some wizards are just born with extremely high amounts of magic in their blood, or low amounts. Longbottom, even though he is a pureblooded wizard, is highly suspected of being under this category. Most wizards have generally the same amount of power though. There are of course exceptions to this rule in each generation, like Dumbledore and Grindlewald, and Harry and Voldemort.
The magical ability that a witch or wizard has is more of a matter of how well an individual can control the potential magic that they possess. When a student is at wizarding school, they learn how to repress these powers down to a level where they can be controlled. The problem here is that in the early years, the witch or wizard's magic level is lowered and by the time they leave school, they still have not realize their full potential. Generally this was all right, but in a time of war the side with the most power wins. Harry's extra lessons were to help him gain control of his untapped magic.
Severus was overwhelmed with all the information from his heightened senses. Severus quickly downed the rest of the glass. He felt a bit better. The blood took away his thirst, and that seemed to relax him a bit. But he couldn't help but feel nervous. 'What if one of them tried to be a Gryffindor hero and run a stake through his heart on an impulse? But Albus will be there. It will be okay. I feel all right. But do I feel good enough to go out there?' he questioned himself. 'If I can manage to be in the same room with both Lupin, Albus, Draco, Minerva and Sprout, I should be fine. Okay. Now what did I come in here for. Oh yes." he turned to the door and called for Sunny. "Bring that mirror out with me" the elf pointed at the mirror and it started floating behind Snape 'All right lets go.' taking a deep breath he swung open the door and strode out, the mirror and Sunny trailed out after him.
Harry had been a bit apprehensive, but looking at Draco who was now back to playing with the cat, he did not see any reason to be too worried anymore and he calmed down substantially. Hermione had also joined Draco, probably in an attempt to calm her own jitters. Dumbledore had seated himself in a rather plush looking armchair. He flicked his wand at the fireplace, and the flames sprung up amongst the logs bring the temperature of the room up to a more comfortable level.
Sunny popped into the room next to the headmaster. "Headmaster sir, would you like me to take that, sir?" Harry then noticed that Dumbledore was carrying what appeared to be a wine bottle. "Oh that's all right Sunny. I'll hold on to it for a bit longer. Want to present Professor Snape with the first one myself." As the house elf was about to leave Dumbledore added "The rest of the bottles are in the cellar."
Severus entered the room. No one had noticed him yet. 'A lovely band of Gryffindors here to greet my return to consciousness.' "How nice of you to bring a gift. Must be an attempt to keep me from hexing Black while he is here." They all turned to look over in the direction of the voice, but Severus had moved quickly to the other side of the room. All they saw was a floating mirror. Dumbledore felt that bottle being taken out of his hands, and turned smiling at Severus. "Yes, I thought that you should get a taste to see if it's to your liking."
Severus handed the bottle off to Sunny, who wrapped his long fingers around the bottle. The cork popped straight out and landed on the platter that he had balanced on his other hand. Sunny poured out a glass and held up the platter. Severus took a sip. 'Not bad, he thought. Doesn't have any detectable magical presence in it. Hmm. probably muggle then.' he thought. "It's nice to know you have such useful connections."
Looking up from his glass, Severus found that he was being stared at. Remus was talking to Sapphire in a far corner, but looked his way and smiled when he had entered the room. He was being cautious just in case Severus' will power over his vampiric tendencies overtook him. Black looked rather white, from where he stood next to the headmaster. 'Hmm, so it appears that neither Albus or Remus told them exactly what has happened yet. I wonder if they can tell from my appearance what I have become. I look relatively the same, healthier really with all the poisons purged from my body. Perhaps I should smile.'
"Oh, Severus is such a bad host. He doesn't get much company. You must forgive him." twittered Sapphire from a nearby painting. "As if you couldn't have told them to sit down and all that yourself, Sapphire." he retorted. Harry snapped out of his shocked state. 'So that was Sapphire' he thought to himself. 'And I was beginning to think it was the cat.'
"Be a good host Severus, these are your quarters not mine. Its not my place. Don't forget your manners in front of the uncultured Gryffies, except for you Headmaster. Anyway you know I can't talk to him. He doesn't listen." she said pointedly looking at Black, who had his back towards her, for an instant before going back to blatantly ignoring him. Severus noted the disappointed look on the Headmaster face along with the looks filled with sparked curiosity in the trio's eyes.
Severus felt the need to end this before one of them worked up the guts to ask what Sapphire meant. This was not what they were here to discuss though. Dumbledore had told him about Harry's vision on the same night of Lucius' unexpected visit. So he gave into Sapphire's demands and played the part of the perfect host down to the faked pleasantries. "Please sit down. No reason for you all to be standing around. There are plenty of seats. If you don't want to be too squished I can get Sunny to bring over a few armchairs from another room. Can I offer any of you something to drink." he said graciously and flashed a smile. Ron let out an yelp. Severus could have almost laughed. 'Weasley looks ready to bolt out of here right this minute. How did he ever end up in Gryffindor?'
Everyone was not seated except for Severus who was still playing the part of a gracious host. Severus was definitely overplaying his role actually. Sarcasm was just too much fun. It was a bit cramped but they all insisted that it was not necessary for Sunny to bring in extra chairs. Sunny was now serving drinks. Harry had declined, but Remus had pushed a glass of something into his hand. He had not been listening so he did not even know what it was that he was now sipping at. All he knew was that it was alcoholic because it burned down his throat. The other possibility was that Remus was trying to poison him, but that was unlikely. The stuff was helping to relax his nerves though. Harry did not think that he looked that tense, but Remus was a werewolf and he could probably smell his fear. He was glad that Professor Snape was relatively alive and well was much better than the images of a barely breathing and blood-soaked professor that his mind had conjured up as they were walking down to the dungeons. But the shock of his transformation, well lets just say that it still had not sunk into his head.
Ron was looking visibly shaken. For someone that hated the way some purebloods were prejudice against muggles, it was so ironic how Ron could be so affected by things like this. But he would get over this eventually. Remus and Ron got along fine now. It had been awkward at first but Ron had gotten more comfortable around their werewolf professor over time. Hermione had caught the black kitten and seemed to be placing all her attention on petting it as it tried to scramble out of her lap. But other than that she appeared to be calm on the outside.
Severus noted that instead of staring everyone was now avoiding eye contact with him while trying to find a place to sit down. Well everyone except for Harry. He had been so caught up staring from his seat on the couch that he hadn't noticed that everyone had positioned themselves where Snape couldn't sit beside them. The only place left was next to Harry. 'Oh well might as well sit down' Severus thought
Sliding down next to Harry, Severus motioned to Sunny to float the mirror towards him. He looked at the reflection. His mirror image was still there, but it was growing faint. It was not fuzzy, but it he was able to see through it slightly. This was most noticeable when compared with the solid image of Potter beside him.
Severus reached out to touch the corner of the mirror, the image froze. Severus flipped it around so that everyone else could see. "When I first woke up a noticed that I still had a reflection. I thought this was rather strange since one of the most common ways to determine whether or not a person is a vampire is to see if they have a reflection. As the day progressed though I noticed that the image was growing more and more distorted around the edges. As you all can see now, the reflection has now faded to the point where it is partially transparent. I figure that by the time my reflection has completely faded, my transformation will be complete." Severus sat back waiting for questions.
Severus took a deep breath. 'Such power, coming from one so young. He could almost taste the magic flowing around him. How old is he now? I do believe he would be sixteen, but using that time turning for those extra hours of training have probably set that off by a little less than a year. I can smell him. It would not be that hard to bite him right now. I wonder what that would feel like, to have something alive squirming against my hands. I know I have not been a vampire for very long, but I still have not made my first kill. The way everyone is treating me, I'll probably never have a first kill, because I'll be drinking out of a bottle. Why don't they just shove a pacifier into my mouth while they are at it.'
"What happened that night, and why did it affect Harry as well?" asked Hermione. Severus had to hand it to her, she knew how to get straight to the problem at hand. "It must have something to do with Voldemort. Was he there when you were turned, Professor Snape?" "No the only one that was in there was Lucius Malfoy." "Lucius Malfoy's a vampire too now?" blurted out an astonished Ron. "Is Voldemort going around turning everyone into vampires?"
"I don't think that Voldemort is ready to turn everyone into vampires. He certainly has some sort of plan behind having Lucius changed. Perhaps he is going to send him to recruit the vampires. Voldemort has a lot to offer, and the vampires would have much to gain if they helped him to power. Imagine an endless night and a virtually endless supply of blood following the muggle massacre. A very tempting vision for any vampire." said Severus
"Yours?" questioned Black. "Haven't you wondered yet why you are even still walking? I wouldn't doubt for a second that most of the men that betray Voldemort live to tell the tale. You look even healthier than you have in years. I'm sure a man with your skills is hard to come by. You would be a useful asset to the Dark Lord. Is he trying to call you back to him?"
katznipp
revised : December 30, 2002
edited : May 27, 2004