Chapter Twenty-Seven

The Rites of Spring

News spread quickly throughout the school the next day, and as usual when anything exciting happened, the center of conversation seemed to boil faster around where Corey sat, so convinced were the other students that he had the inside story on everything. But this time he shook his head, glancing up at where Severus and Jennifer sat at the table. She poked at her food with disinterest while Severus spoke to her, but even her short answers, whatever they were, were vacant of her normal enthusiasm.

"I haven't been able to talk to her yet, but Doug's sister said she seemed rather listless in class today," Corey said. "And Essie said Professor Snape was in a frightful mood, and I even heard one of the seventh years say that they haven't seen him this bad in years."

"I hope he cools off before our test next week then," Gail said nervously. It was no secret that she and Katie didn't care for Snape's style of teaching at all. "Especially since it'll be our last test in his class before the dance," she said, glancing almost expectantly at Doug before looking back at her plate.

"I'm more worried about Professor Craw. I wonder what I could do to try and cheer her up," Corey sighed.

"I doubt there's anything we can do. You heard what Doctor Sagittari said this morning. A Unicorn and rider share a very rare sort of bond, it'd be like losing a hand or leg or something," Doug said. "It's going to take time, that's all."

"Time might dull the pain, but it's still there," Corey said softly.

His friends grew quiet, looking over at him somberly, knowing that he was thinking about his family and not knowing quite how to answer that. Suddenly there was such a murmur that erupted around the tables that Corey and his friends had to look around to see what was happening.

"Look! She's back!" Doug said with a grin, and Corey glanced over at the door where McGonagall came in with a slight smile as she escorted in a student to towards the Slytherin table.

"Danny!" Corey said leaping up excitedly and hopping over the table, followed closely behind by Doug. Taylor had reached her first, but Danny soon found herself in a mob of students as Casper, Lisa, Liam, and Roger joined in welcoming her back, some with hugs and others with handshakes.

"How are you doing? Are you back to stay?" several asked her at once.

"I am back to stay," Danny said happily. "So I hope you Gryffindors didn't make any plans at winning the cup this year, because am here to foil them."

"Yes, but you have some catching up to do," Taylor said, "and it so happens that Ravenclaw is tied with Gryffindor at the moment."

"Not here even an hour and already she's trying to win the cup single handed," Amadeus snorted.

"Oh, shut up, Longbottom," Casper said, shaking her hand. "At least give her a chance to settle in before you start."

"Oh, he's going to have to learn to mind his tongue more than that," Danny said with a warning smile. "I had a little chat with my cousin while I was getting settled at the Malfoy mansion. You wouldn't believe some of the things a person could learn about another in such a short period of time." Amadeus' snide look suddenly slipped off of his face, eyeing her warily. But before he could think of a response, the students made way for Professor Snape, who walked up to her, smiling thinly.

"Miss Nelson, the center of attention again, I see," he said, sounding slightly amused. "Will you be rejoining the Quidditch team?"

"Yes, sir. That is, if I haven't been replaced as yet," she added almost questioningly.

"Replace you and miss our first chance in ten years of winning the cup two years in a row?" Severus said, shaking his head with a sour expression. "Welcome back, Miss Nelson. It'll be nice to have someone in my class who actually knows how to pay attention again," he said, glowering at Corey. Corey grinned at him, then looked back over at Danny.

"It's good to be back, sir," Danny said, taking her place at the table as the others went back to their seats.

It didn't take long for Danny to catch up with the class, especially as spring blossomed after a thundering rain, bringing forth the promise of Quidditch and the dance and even of the summer to come. She did surprise quite a few people, including Corey, when she decided to drop out of Dabbler's class, although she maintained a comfortable, undisputed second in third year Potions and Herbology behind Corey. In the subjects she had to study the least in before; Transfiguration, Defense, and Charms, she excelled at even above what she had previously, feeling free at last to pursue the subjects she actually enjoyed. She was also quite surprised at how many people had tried to ask her to the dance, including Doug, Casper, and even Liam, having to tell them she had already had a date since before Christmas.

Doug went on to ask Katie, who as usual turned him down flat, and then finally Gail. But Gail had already heard from Katie that he had already tried to ask her and Danny out, and turned him down on account of having been his third choice. In desperation he asked Essie to go, who was positively delighted to have even been asked.

Before they knew it, the evening of the dance was upon them, and excited students barely even touched their plates as they rushed to eat their dinners so they could get ready. All afternoon, guests of the school had shown up to attend, for it had been decided to invite select alumni and former staff as well, making for a large event indeed.

Jennifer stood in front of the mirror for a long time, speaking softly to herself until she saw another reflection standing in the doorway behind her and blushed slightly.

"I'm not sure I like this dress. It makes me look huge," Jennifer said, frowning at the ivory lace dress.

"Rubbish, you are as beautiful as always," Severus said, coming up behind her and placing her Nightshroud on her shoulders. "I, on the other hand, am starting to show my age," he decided, glancing in the mirror. Jennifer got a better look at him and turned around, realizing he had on the robes that were made for their wedding, his hair tied back in a tail much as it was then.

"Rubbish, you look the same as the day I married you," Jennifer said, gazing at him lovingly.

"Well, it seemed a pity to leave this hanging in there never to be worn again," he said gruffly, "although, I admit I did have some doubts on whether or not you'd notice," he admitted, meeting her gaze. Taking a deep breath as realization set in at how she'd been over the last few days, Jennifer fell into Severus' arms while he hugged her tightly, breathing a soft sigh of relief, kissing her forehead gently.

"I'm sorry, it's just… I feel as if a part of me died with her," Jennifer said, struggling to keep from weeping again.

"Yes, I know," Severus said softly. "I feel as if a part of me died watching you go through it." Jennifer looked up at him then, studying his dark eyes for a long time.

"I'm sorry I shut you out like that," Jennifer said softly.

"It isn't as if I haven't done the same from time to time," Severus shrugged slightly. "Come, we should be getting down there. I'm sure Rolanda and Filius are beside themselves wondering where we are right now."

As it turned out, Rolanda had made it a point to help assist the band, while Filius was minding the doors. The Great Hall was transformed in a matter of an hour into a starlit dance floor. After helping set up the dais and speaking with a few minutes with the band, Rolanda came down to meet Jennifer and Severus, waving cheerfully.

"Well, don't we look smart tonight! Jennifer, come on, I want you to meet Donaghan. Oh, you can come too if you want, Severus."

"We've met," Severus said dryly. "But I'll go if Jennifer is going. I thought we were pegged to watch the door?"

"Come on, it'll only take a moment. Well, Jennifer, I guess he still proves you can dress them up but you still can't take them anywhere," Rolanda taunted.

"Good thing we just stayed at Hogwarts then," Jennifer chuckled, stepping up to the dais. Rolanda called out his name and a tall man with a dark complexion looked around, putting down his bass guitar and stepping forward. He had dark brown hair done up in a mass of tight curls and a trim beard, wearing a rather flashy purple coat.

"Here she is, Donaghan! Jennifer Craw, meet Donaghan Tremlett, bass guitar for the Weird Sisters."

"So this is the famous Jennifer Craw! I was hoping to meet you tonight. Why, you're even lovelier than in the pictures I've seen of you. Hello, Severus. I see sticking close to the school paid off in spades. And none of us thought you would make it."

"None of us thought you would either," Severus admitted, getting a gentle nudge from his wife. "I'm sure the students will enjoy your band's performance, since most of them like that sort of thing."

"We'll have to talk more later," Donoghan smiled at Jennifer. "I have a feeling we're about to be invaded." Jennifer and Severus looked around to see Filius valiantly guarding the door, letting in the guests while shooing back the students who were peering inside. Excusing themselves quickly, Severus and Jennifer went to the door to relieve him as the small professor cheerfully took his place at refreshments.

While Severus stared down the students, Jennifer let in the rest of the guests, welcoming old friends and complete strangers with warm smiles, meeting each guest's gaze before letting them pass. Those who had not met her before were exhaustively glad to meet her, but fortunately there were more people that she knew rather than not; the Weasleys and others from the Ministry, Thatcher Boltin and Lunette Vallid, and even Audacious Belle, who had to stop long enough to introduce Jennifer to her date.

"Jennifer, may I introduce the first man I couldn't read… never could manage to meet him straight in the eye," Audi cackled. The odd looking man beside her chuckled; unoffended and obviously rather fond of the bodacious old woman. "This is Alastor Moody, a fellow Auror, we go way… way… back together."

"The real one this time I hope," Severus smirked.

"If I'd been here, I'd have known," Audi grunted. "This is Jennifer Craw Snape, of course."

"I've heard a lot of good things about you. What? From Audi of course, don't trust the papers at all, not much truth in 'em," he said, gently shaking her hand.

"Audi, I like him already," Jennifer grinned. "And you look wonderful tonight."

"And you look radiant," she smiled, "Oh, and I have some news you might be interested in… I've decided to move back here."

"Move back? After all of these years, really?" Jennifer said with surprise.

"Well, the main reason I left to begin with was to watch you and Anna, so now that you're all grown up and back here, I don't have much interest in staying. Besides, my farm is too small and too crowded, and I need a nice quiet place to retire."

"Bite your tongue, old woman. Aurors never retire, they just go into hiding from time to time," Alastor told Audi, winking at Jennifer as they passed. Jennifer chuckled again, looking over at Severus.

"It'll be wonderful having her here. I can finally catch up with her about some things I've wanted to ask her over the last couple of years," Jennifer said.

"Yes, if she can stay out of trouble that long," Severus said in a voice that sounded as if he doubted the possibility. Just then he heard a baby cooing and looked up with surprise to see Remus, Carol, and Alex coming in, Alex immediately reaching out for her mother who took her up in her arms with a smile.

"I hope you don't mind. Dumbledore thought it might help cheer her up," Remus explained to Severus.

"You sure it wasn't just a way to convince Miss Finn to come with you?" Severus asked bluntly, getting a look of surprise from Carol.

"That too," Remus admitted cheerfully. Carol shook her head at him admonishingly, stepping off to the side.

"Now then, pay him no mind. We didn't come to be a burden, we came for visitin,'" she clucked. "Would you like me to take her, Mrs. Snape?"

"Oh, no you don't. You get her all the time, I'm not giving her up," Jennifer said, hugging the wriggling girl. "Go have fun," she insisted.

Severus shook his head, but Jennifer could tell much of his grumpiness was just for show, glad to see Jennifer in better spirits. As the last of the guests arrived, Severus finally let the students in and they filed in with excitement. Corey, who had chosen to go by himself, walked in with Doug and Essie, while Danny and Taylor lingered behind. Only Corey in the group seemed comfortable in his dress robes, stepping up to his Mom and bowing flamboyantly.

"If you'll allow me, I would like to dance with the cutest girl in the hall," Corey said. Jennifer shook her head with a smile, gesturing to the baby when he held out his hand. "No, no! I said I'd like to dance with the cutest girl in the hall, not the most beautiful witch in the hall, there's a difference," he explained, stealing Alex away with a grin and heading out onto the floor.

"Well, I like that," Jennifer huffed, folding her arms.

"Don't worry, I have my eye on them," Severus said in Jennifer's ear. "And you are the most beautiful witch in the hall."

Dumbledore and Minerva were the last to arrive, and Dumbledore paused to smile at Jennifer warmly before turning to the band with a nod. Filius tapped his wand and the enchanted band on the ceiling suddenly floated down into their instrument cases as the Twisted Sisters got warmed up and began to play their smash hit "Spellbound in Amsterdam" as the students began to clap loudly. It wasn't long into the ear-splitting tune that Jennifer decided she wasn't quite sure what to make of the modern wave, and was rather glad when Severus brought Alexander out of the crowd and back into her arms again. Severus' own pained expression matched hers, but Jennifer couldn't help but notice out on the dance floor that Anna and Sirius were enjoying themselves immensely, along with Audi and Alastor and Rolanda, who was dancing first with Alvin, and then a little later with Dumbledore, who, it appeared, was quite an expert at the Hippogriff Hop and the Sorcerer Shuffle.

Severus found them a small table in the corner farthest from the music while they watched the antics with mixed expressions. It wasn't long before Corey joined them after dancing with every witch professor that had been brave enough to get out on the floor.

"Why didn't you ever tell me wizards had their own rock style? I thought people all listened to that boring stuff you guys listen to," Corey said.

"Boring stuff?" Severus exclaimed. "At least you can call it music!"

"Well, this does have a beat to it, sort of," Jennifer admitted, "But why does it have to be so loud?"

"I like it!" Corey said. "In fact, I think maybe I'm going to try starting my own band! How hard could it be?" he asked, getting up and going back out to find his friends. Severus and Jennifer looked at each other with a shared sense of dread.

It was a long, friend-filled night, so active that Jennifer had little time to think of anything but what was going on around her and who had a hold of Alex at any particular time. Corey, who chose not to take a date, had all but made up for it by dancing with everyone else's date at one point or another, and Doug wondered if perhaps he shouldn't have taken the same route himself. But Danny, Jennifer noticed, barely left Taylor's side, often standing away from the crowd and talking as they watched others passing by. After spending a little time dancing and then sitting and chatting with Anna and Sirius, Carol came back to retrieve Alex, who got last minute hugs from her mother before finally being carried away, her worried parents checking bracelets and watches to make sure she arrived safely home again.

It was then that Jennifer and Severus finally slipped away after a practically incident free night and went back to their rooms, Jennifer opening up a few windows as they entered. Her faithful bat Ratfly went out to stretch his wings as Jennifer watched him fly away, looking out at the walls and the shadowed mountains.

"We'd better be getting some rest, what with that big Quidditch game tomorrow," Severus mused, looking at her thoughtfully as he got out his journal and made a few notes.

"Do you think we should say something to Corey?"

"You mean about the band idea? I should think so…"

"No, I mean…I think it's fairly obvious why he didn't ask anyone to the dance tonight," Jennifer said. Severus nodded soberly, finishing his entry in his journal and casting a spell to dry the ink, snapping it shut. "How can I advise him not to wait around for the 'one and only,' considering what he knows about us?"

"I'll talk to him," Severus said standing up, "But you know, in some ways he is as stubborn as we are. I doubt it's an idea he'll be willing to give up on easily."

"He is quite an idealist, that's for certain," Jennifer said.

"Yes, he's a lot like you were when we first met," Severus said. "But he'll grow out of it as well."

"I didn't grow out of it," Jennifer sighed, lying down. "That's the part of me that died with Keki." Severus, not knowing quite how to respond to that decided not to at all, dimming the lights and closing all but one of the windows.

Jennifer couldn't sleep immediately and instead lay awake for quite some time, going over the last few years in her mind. She might not have missed the naivety she had shared with Keki, but she did miss the strength that had come with it, and the power not to have to think twice before doing anything. Even after four years, wizards she'd never met would come and ask about the Dementor Revolt in awe, when all she had done… all she had thought she had done… was leap on a Unicorn's back. It seemed ironic that it wasn't until now that she realized how much more there was to it than that.

A few hours later, Jennifer woke with a start after a nightmare left her gasping for breath. She had been in the cave with the centaurs again, and the ceiling was slowly coming down on top of them, and as she struggled to climb out of the cave, she looked up to see Keki standing there in a fury, stamping on the earth above and making it fall. Seeing Jennifer come out, the Unicorn had leapt down, trying to force the witch back into the cave.

In her panic she had forced herself awake and leapt out of bed, waving her hand frantically towards the windows to open them. A loud noise split the air as they shattered and Severus sat up, instantly awake, looking at the windows then at his wife with open concern.

Jennifer read his face in the dim light as she tried to catch her breath, looking towards the windows as pieces of glass disappeared one by one underneath them. Finally she turned around and grabbed her robe and her cloak.

"What are you doing? Where in the world do you think you're going?" Severus asked with a frown.

"I can't do this anymore, Severus. I want my life back. I think I'm going to go take a walk in the castle," Jennifer said as she got dressed.

"Very well, but perhaps I should go with you…"

"No. Sorry, Severus, but, I'd just rather be alone right now," Jennifer said, heading out the door to her sitting room. Severus looked at the door for a long time, trying to decide what to do, if anything at all. At last he made up his mind, throwing up his robes and heading up the stairs, even as Jennifer made her way down the back.