TITLE: Blood and Potions - Section One: Of Snakes and Night Skies
ABBREVIATED TITLE: BaP:S1
Part: 6/? ("Merry Christmas")
AUTHOR: Cardinal Syn/Jamie Carlson
RATING: PG-13 for Language and Adult Themes
SPOILERS: Misc. Harry Potter spoilers
DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter and all things HP belong to JK Rowling. Not me. The characters Lilium Beryl, Liam Crescent, and Nii Nah Maxwell belong to me.
NOTES: Dhampir is one of the many spellings for a creature that is half-vampire and half-human. Also, this is a "continuation" of my first Harry Potter Fanfiction, "Searching for Acceptance", (which wasn't very good in my eyes, but I'm trying harder here!) and contains the characters Liam and Nii Nah, introduced in S4A.
WARNINGS: Language and adult themes.
PAIRINGS: Hints at Ron/Hermione, Snape/OC (original character), and a one-sided Liam/Nii Nah later on
MAIN CHARACTERS (in order of most prominent in the story): OC (original character) and Severus Snape; Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco Malfoy, Liam and Nii Nah Maxwell; Albus Dumbledore and the other teachers at Hogwarts School of Witchraft and Wizardry
FANFICTION.NET SUMMARY: Albus Dumbledore has taken it upon himself to hire a Defense Against Vampires specialist, who accepts with great hesitation - as she is a dhampir herself.
EXTENDED SUMMARY: Albus Dumbledore has decided that it is time for Hogwarts to have a fulltime Defense Against Vampires teacher, and has chosen a renowned vampire specialist. But this vampire specialist is a bit hesitant to take the offer as she, herself, is a Dhampir; half-vampire, half human. When she decides to turn down the position, something interesting happens that changes her mind, and makes her decide to stay....
A/N: Apologies for any mistakes in relevance book-wise. I still need to finish reading what books are out, and it has been almost two years since I finished reading even the first book. Feel free to correct anything in a review, or email me at vampgirl0009@yahoo.com with notes about mistakes, whether it be name-spelling or whatever. (Kindly put "Your Harry Potter fanfiction" in the subject, and copy-paste the offending line, paragraph, or word and tell me what I did wrong. The same goes for reviews!) This story, I hope, is better than Searching for Acceptance was. I rushed S4A.
On another note, I figure I might as well tell you now (though I didn't bother to in previous parts, which I apologize for - I'm an idiot, ignore me). Most of this will be through Lilium's P.O.V. (Point of View to anyone who is new to Fanfiction Jargon), until I get to a point that would be useful to be through someone else's P.O.V. Eventually and at intervals, you will get things from Snape's P.O.V. Also note that this is more of a focused third person view, as I will almost NEVER write in First-Person. It's a pain in the @$$.
Story Last Updated: September 15, 2002
Story Notes: This is probably one of the least changed parts... changed things around a little and added some stuff. Also, the part that I was working on before as Part 7 is being bumped up to Part 8, and I will be writing Part 8 as centering around Yule Ball ^_^
______________________________________________________________________________
Blood and Potions - Section One: Of Snakes and Night Skies
PART SIX -
"Merry Christmas"
______________________________________________________________________________
Christmas. One of the most beautiful times of the year, in Lilium's opinion. She stood now at one of the windows of her quarters, smiling out at the white, sparkling snow that lay over everything. Her windows gave her a lovely view of the Forbidden Forrest, and also Hagrid's little shack. She occasionally took to watching the big man cross the grounds, usually in the company of Harry, Ron, and Hermione - sometimes also with Nii Nah Maxwell and Liam Crescent.
Lilium liked Hagrid. She liked most of the teachers at Hogwarts, and took a special shining to Professor Lupin. They were a lot alike in their lack of humanity, as he was a werewolf and she a Dhampir. She also got along very well with Liam, and was able to help the girl with Lamia-related problems.
Lilium moved away from her window, and looked over her vast quarters. Her four-poster bed, dressed with a silver canopy and curtains, and black sheets and pillows trimmed with white velvet stood against the far wall. The door to her room stood on the other end of the room. She was pleased that you needed a password to enter - the portrait of a young girl hung in front of the door liked Lilium very much, and always made sure to let her know when she decided to change the password before she changed it.
Her room was decorated with various tapestries, one solid mahogany desk with matching, black-cushioned chair, and several dozen candles and various sources of soft lighting. A wardrobe containing her few but varied clothes stood near her bed, a nightstand holding an alarm clock within arm's reach of the four-poster. Most of her clothes were silk or velvet - she loved the feel of the cloths against her skin. And most of her wardrobe were simple but elegant dresses or skirts - she didn't care much for pants.
Lilium's eyes drifted over to her full-length mirror, and she walked slowly over to it. She looked almost wraith-like - in winter, she became rather pale. It caused her to look a bit more vampiric, which always bothered her.
Lilium studied her image in the mirror. Her red-brown hair was loose, the upper half pulled back into a silver clasp. Her violet eyes were bright, her pale cheeks stained slightly red by the chill air in her room coming in from her opened shutters. She was dressed in a white peasant's blouse and long gray skirt, a slit going up one side up to her knee, and her black boots. A heavy black woolen cloak trimmed with shining silver flowers on shimmering green vines. She still had her lips painted in her odd way - one black, one red.
She sighed, looking at herself a little sadly. Her love life was nonexistent. Once an interested wizard found out she was a Dhampir, he wasn't quite so interested anymore. It didn't usually bother her - she wasn't a very lonely person. But during times like Christmas, she felt alone.
Brushing the sad thoughts of loneliness out of her mind, Lilium walked over to her door, opening it and stepping out into the hall. Immediately after she had closed it and taken a few steps, the painting slid sideways from the left to cover the door. The young girl - a pretty child with golden ringlets, wearing a seventh-century style blue ball gown, with shining blue eyes - smiled at her.
"Where will you be going to now, Mademoiselle Beryl?" she asked sweetly, her voice light and tinted with a French accent.
"Probably down to the banquet hall. Lunch will be served soon, and I wanted to get a chance to speak to Professor Lupin about helping him with his next class," Lilium replied.
"Professor Lupin is very nice," the girl said. "I visit the portraits in his room sometimes, and he's always kind enough to have a chat with me. Well, I will not hold you up any longer. Please enjoy your breakdast. Oh, I have decided to change the password - it's now Mon Petite Chat."
"Thank you," Lilium said, smiling. "I'll remember that. See you later."
When Lilium reached the banquet hall, she marveled over the beautiful decorations that had been set up. She spotted Professor Snape going over to take his seat at the staff table. She grimaced a little. He'd been absent for most of the meals this past week, and hadn't been to breakfast, lunch, or dinner the previous day. Unfortunately, he had apparently decided to eat with the other teachers today.
"Merry Christmas!" came a cheerful chorus of voices from behind her. Lilium turned, and smiled.
"Merry Christmas, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Nii Nah, Liam," she replied, greeting each of the small group. Students who had stayed at Hogwarts for the Christmas break had begun to file into the Hall, and the small group had come over to greet her.
"We have something for you," Ron said excitedly. He motioned to Harry and Hermione, who were holding something behind their backs. Lilium blinked in surprise.
"For me?" she asked. This threw her off - she didn't usually receive gifts.
Harry offered her what he had behind his back. It was a small, lacquered black box with silver designs etched into it, which seemed to shift even as Lilium watched it, as if the lines were alive. Hermione produced a small golden key from behind her back.
Lilium took the box, staring at it in open wonder and delight. She looked up at the children, her eyes stinging with tears. "It's lovely," she said softly. "But it must have cost you a small fortune!"
"We went in on it together," Nii Nah said, beaming and hopping in place. Her curly blue hair bounced with her movement, and her blue eyes sparkled with merriment.
"It didn't cost too much," Hermione said. "We simply told the owner of the shop we got it from that it was for you. They like you there."
"And that's all the hint you're getting as to where we got it," Harry said with a grin.
"Open it," Liam said, her stoic voice tinted with what Lilium suspected was excitement. Always one to oblige and eager to see what was inside herself, Lilium inserted the key into the small keyhole in the front of the box, and gave it a turn.
The box's top opened slowly, and a small dancing fairy rose out of the box. Tinkling, beautiful music filled the air in the hall. A few heads turned to look curiously at the teacher and the group of students surrounding her.
The fairy began to dance about, floating a foot above the box. She was made of silver, and enchanted, Lilium guessed, to appear alive. The craftsmanship on her face and wings was very detailed, and very realistic. Her long, flowing hair whirled about her as she danced through the air, swirling, her skirt flaring about her.
A small crowd of students had gathered around Lilium, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Liam and Nii Nah, and were watching the enchanted jewelry box with amazement. The music became louder as more people turned to listen to it, and filled the room with the sweet sound of harp, flute, and violin, weaving in a hauntingly beautiful melody.
"It's a jewelry box," Hermione said quietly, as if afraid to drown out the music. "You can put anything really special to you in it."
"And no one can open it now but you, since it was given to you," Ron said. "The only person who could open it before was Harry, cause he was the one who did the actual buying."
If Lilium heard them, she made no sign of it. She was held, enraptured by the gift. By its beauty, and by the idea of having actually received something with no strings attached. Tears remained in her eyes, causing them to shine brighter than ever when she finally took her gaze from the jewelry box to look at the five children.
"Thank you."
*** }i{ ***
About five minutes previous...
Severus Snape sat in his usual seat as breakfast neared. He had been planning out the next term for the past week, and hadn't been eating with everyone else. He had finished his work and decided to attend meals today, since it was Christmas, and he had to go to the Yule Ball that night anyway.
He glanced at the doors, and saw Instructor/Madam Lilium Beryl enter. Instructor was the best title that could be given to her, in his own mind - she wasn't a Professor, nor was she a Master, nor was she really old enough to be called a Madam. He frowned at the sight of her, and his frown deepened when he saw Potter and his little gang of mischievous friends approach her, Potter and Granger's hands behind their backs.
They couldn't have been more than fourteen or fifteen meters away from him, turned so that none of them were looking at him. Still frowning, he kept an eye on the group.
Snape's eyes searched their faces, his eyes narrowed. He could see them from a profile view, and saw the black box in Harry's hands. That looks like one of the enchanted musical boxes that some shops are selling in Hogsmeade, he thought with a frown. And where did those children come up with the money to buy that little item? The sell regularly for one hundred galleons apiece...
Snape watched silently, unnoticed again, as Lilium took the box from Harry with a surprised expression on her face. He noticed that she had a very expressive face, which was also very young-looking. How old was she? Twenty-one? Twenty-two? He believed Professor McGonagall had told him it was twenty-one. Very young, for a teacher at Hogwarts.
Snape's mind was snapped out of its reverie with the sound of the tinkling music of the box. He watched as the small, glowing fairy rose up into the air, and began to dance to the music. His eyes flitted to the Defense Against Vampires instructor's face, with the intention to then look at the children's faces. But his eyes were caught, staring, at Lilium's expression.
It was rapt, pure joy and wonderment. Her eyes were shining with what Snape assumed to be tears of joy. He watched her eyes as they moved, watching the fluid movement of the fairy dancing at her eye-level, silver lights cast upon her face. Snape noticed the gathering of children around Miss Beryl, and even saw Professors Flitwick and Sprout just at the edge of his peripheral vision as they watched and listened to the music box's antics.
But still, Snape's eyes never left Lilium's face, until Ron and Hermione's voices snapped her out of her rapture. He heard her thank them, then felt his own seeming trance fade as she slowly closed the music box. The fairy disappeared in a shower of silver sparkles after taking a bow. A collective sigh of disappointment filled the air, and the students and teachers all returned to their seats.
Snape's eyes moved from Lilium to the large crowd of students who had remained at Hogwarts for the Yule Ball, intermingled with the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, and he looked among them, searching for any reason to hand out detention. He heard Lilium's soft footsteps behind him, and could feel her cloak brush his chair as she walked by, taking her assigned seat to his right, and he caught the scent of mint and vanilla. He pretended to ignore her as she settled into her seat, holding the black-and-silver box in her hands.
Stealing a brief glance out of the corner of his eye at the woman sitting next to him, Snape caught the small, touched smile, the glistening tears. For the first time since he had met her, she seemed truly happy, and truly at peace. The complete opposite of the violent and scathing woman he constantly found himself arguing with.
Snape looked away again, watching the children settle into their seats, and watching as the food began to appear on the tables. He was confused - he hadn't felt any of his customary malice toward Lilium when he had looked at her. He didn't understand why, and that annoyed him. He began to feel a tad frustrated.
When breakfast was over, he returned to his office, thinking.
*** }i{ ***
"Merry Christmas to all of you who decided to stay for the break," Dumbledore said, greeting the students. "Today's lunch feast is especially happy, as it will be Madam Beryl's first Christmas feast at Hogwarts!" Cheering from the students who had grown to like Lilium. "This school year has been going grandly! I hope that this next term will be as grand as the last! The Triwizard Tournament is going smoothly, and the Yule Ball is all set for tonight! May the feast begin!"
Cheering and laughing filled the echoing halls. The biggest meal that day would be Lunch, as the Yule Ball that night would have a little less eating and a lot more festivities. Lunch was more like dinner that day at Hogwarts, and the large number of students - more than the usual number that stayed over Christmas holidays - were having fun talking of the ball that would arrive in a few hours.
Occasionally, an owl would fly in and drop someone a late gift. Ron Weasley and Harry Potter received late sweaters from Ron's mother, and Hermione got her gift from her parents - Encyclopedia of Dangerous Creatures, which included the ones she was studying in Defense Against Vampires and Defense Against the Dark Arts (and even Care of Magical Creatures, with Rubeus Hagrid as their teacher).
To everyone's utter surprise, three owls delivered gifts to the High Table. One was to Professor Albus Dumbledore - a set of fine new robes for the Yule Ball. It turned out the teachers and students who admired Professor Dumbledore had each contributed a galleon, and they had ended up with enough to buy him a nice tailored set of robes.
The second gift was sent to Lilium. She blinked rapidly, double-checked the To address, and blushed when her fellow instructors joked to her about getting two gifts from students in one day, but it turned out it she wasn't sure if it was from another student. Lilium wasn't sure who it was from. It was a beautiful necklace - fancily wrought silver chain, from which hung a pendant. Upon it was a silver snake, beautifully detailed, set into an emerald.
"Well, either it's from someone in Slytherin," Professor McGonagall mused, "Or someone sent it to you because you're in Slytherin."
There was no return address on the package, and the address looked like it had been typed onto the paper. Murmurings swept through the students that Lilium had a secret admirer, and Lilium's face grew even brighter. She avoided looking anyone in the eye after receiving the gift.
The last was a simple package to Professor Snape, which wasn't a gift at all - it was a late-arriving box of some Potions ingredient he had ordered, or at least that was what he said.
But later on that evening, an hour before Ball, in his own room, he opened the box cautiously and confusedly. Within was a small green-and-silver wrapped package. Frowning, trying to disregard the slight tremble in his long fingers as he delicately unwrapped the package.
Laying in his palm was a small, green-and-silver box . He opened it, cautious still, and blinked in surprise.
Inside was a set of potions ingredients, and a piece of parchment. He read it.
"Vampire Poison"
This potion is fairly easy to make. If the maker drinks it,
preferably before stepping out at night, most vampires
will avoid them, smelling the potion in their blood. But if
they are fool enough to attack the drinker anyway, they
will immediately be poisoned, and break off their attack.
They will die within seven hours of drinking their victim's
blood, either by the poison killing them in their sleep, or
by it paralyzing them just before dawn.
The effects depends on the final ingredient added, as
noted in the instructions below.
This is the only working draught known to Wizard-kind
that effectively wards off and/or kills vampires.
Severus looked at the kit in his hands in bewilderment. He hadn't known this had even existed... but had heard, from Albus Dumbledore and Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic, both that it was being worked on. And by the very same woman who was working for Dumbledore as Defense Against Vampires instructor.
The only person who knew the method of making this draught... was Lilium herself.