TITLE: Blood and Potions - Section One: Of Snakes and Night Skies
ABBREVIATED TITLE: BaP:S1
Part: 7/? ("… Holiday Spirit")
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), (9/25/02) Draco/OC, 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: Ah, the Yule Ball... Uee-hee-hee-hee! Most fun... Most fun indeed....

Story Last Updated: September 18, 2002

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Blood and Potions - Section One: Of Snakes and Night Skies
PART SEVEN -
"… Holiday spirit"

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The air was full of excitement. The Yule Ball was about to begin! The only people not really happy were Harry Potter and Ron Weasley; they were with the Patil Twins, and neither of them wanted to be with either girl. Harry wanted to be with Cho Chang, and Ron was still aching over Fleur Delacour's cold shoulder. He was also rather angry at Hermione for agreeing to go with Viktor Krum, the Champion for Brumstang.

Lilium Beryl sat up at the staff's dining table, watching the students enter. She smiled at Harry as he headed to his seat, and he smiled back, albeit nervously. As the dining began, she ordered a small salad from the menu, feeling odd speaking to her plate. She wasn't very hungry today, and spent most of dinner picking at her food, watching the students.

It amused her greatly to see that Nii Nah Maxwell had agreed to come to the ball with Nevile Longbottom. She smiled at the pair when Nii Nah waved. But Lilium stared in shock when Draco Malfoy entered her line of sight, Liam Crescent on his arm.

~I knew he was interested in her,~ Lilium thought bemusedly, ~But I had no idea Liam was actually interested in him enough to actually come to Ball with him. That's a very strange twist on tonight's festivities....~

Lilium stole a glance out of the corner of her eye at Professor Snape. He was dressed in his usual black, the hints of white at the collar and cuff visible. ~Just no Holiday spirit,~ she thought. Her attention was averted when Professor Lupin began speaking to her.

}i{

Professor Snape ate silently, glowering at the festivities. He found Yule Ball rather boring. The decorations - ice sculptures, faerie lights, and the like - were beautiful, and the atmosphere friendly, but Snape wasn't interested in it at all. Professor Karkaroff, Headmaster of Durmstrang, kept throwing him agitated looks, appearing to be waiting for dinner to be over.

~He's probably going to bother me while I go about ground duty,~ Snape thought in annoyance. ~I don't know why he keeps bothering me - I feel the burn on my arm just as much as he, and I still don't know what to do about it.. I can't help him...~

He was distracted from his thoughts as dancing began. He stood, and began to walk to the door and head for the grounds, but paused a moment, eyes on the dance floor.

The second song had begun, and Professor Lupin had asked Madam Beryl to dance. They waltzed gracefully across the dance floor together, carefully avoiding students and the rather large couple made by the huge Hagrid, and the equally large Madame Maxime, Headmistress of Beauxbatons Academy.

Snape caught the sound of Lilium's tinkling laughter. Lupin and Lilium were both grinning, apparently having fun. Snape glowered at Lupin's back as he turned it toward the Potions Master, and for the briefest of moments, as Lilium spun away from Lupin, Severus caught a glimpse of the woman in entirety.

Lilium was wearing floor-length dress robes buttoned on the top and open at the bottom to allow movement and to show the full skirt. The robes were crimson, trimmed with silver, faint patterns of snowflakes sewn into the fabric in silver thread. Under the robes she wore a plain green velvet skirt, hemmed in black, visible as the open bottom of her robes flared around her. Half of her hair was pulled back into a clasp made of silver snowflakes encrusted with rubies, the rest allowed to flow freely, forming tighter waves than usual.

Her ruby lips were smiling, her violet eyes lightened to amethyst. Her joy shone in their expressive depths.

Lilium paused, and held her hand back out to Lupin, who took it, and they began to waltz once more. Snape felt a pang of annoyance, and he felt as if Lupin had no right to dance with Lilium and be happy. Just as he began to turn his head away, Lilium caught his eyes in hers, held them for the briefest of moments before spinning away.

As he walked out onto the grounds, Snape pondered on that glance. There was no malice in her eyes. She looked as if she wanted to call out to him, greet him, for a moment.... But no, he had read her expression wrong. That was rare, but Snape did misread people... occasionally. Rarely. Almost never. But it was possible.. wasn't it?

}i{

Moments previous...

Lilium spun, feeling her spirits soar as she danced. Her every movement was fluid and graceful, matched surprisingly well by Lupin, who was an amazingly good dancer. As she finished twirling, and rejoined Lupin in their waltz, she looked over his shoulder.

Professor Snape was standing there, watching the floor - watching them - silently. His eyes met hers briefly, and she caught the look of resentment in his eyes. She had the feeling it was because everyone else was able to enjoy themselves, and he was so incapable of doing so himself.

Feeling badly and not knowing why, she opened her mouth to call out, but was swept away by Lupin, and the moment was gone. She was still puzzled as to what she had seen in Professor Snape's dark eyes.

"You dance exquisitely," Lupin said in her ear. She grinned up at him.

"So do you! I would never have guessed." He laughed merrily, and spun her yet again.

"This is more fun than I had thought it would be," Lupin commented. "It makes me glad I decided to stay."

"The feeling's mutual. Hard to believe I almost didn't take this job!" Lilium replied, curtsying as the song ended. Lupin grinned at her, his sandy hair a disheveled from the dance. He still looked tired and drawn from the last full moon, but his eyes were bright, and his face glowed.

She felt a pang of fondness for the man. He really was a lot like her; many people were unhappy that either of them had jobs at Hogwarts, and it was really very hard to socialize when people knew you weren't technically human. Even socializing with Muggles was preferable to most witches and wizards over socializing with Dhampir and Werefolk.

Lupin excused himself, and went to ask Professor McGonagall to dance. As Lilium was about to retreat from the dance floor, she felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning, she smiled.

"Professor," she acknowledged. Professor Dumbledore smiled at her, his blue eyes twinkling.

"Would you care to dance, Madam Beryl, or are you tired after that amazing display with Professor Lupin?" Professor Dumbledore said, eyes smiling from behind his half-moon spectacles. Lilium grinned.

"Me, tired? Never! I'd be honored to dance with you, Headmaster!"

}i{

"You came with him?" Nii Nah's shock was so complete, she didn't bother to pull Liam aside, and pointed outright at Draco, who still had the Lamia on his arm. Draco's gray eyes narrowed angrily, and Liam's grip on his forearm tightened. She half-smiled at Nii Nah.

"Yes. Is that a problem?"

"..." Nii Nah looked from Liam to Draco and back again, then sighed and threw up her arms. "Ara!" She then turned to her own date, and latched onto his arm. "Let's get something to drink."

With a single backward glance at Liam, Nii Nah dragged Neville off toward the tables with the bottles of butterbeer.

"Why exactly did you agree to come to the dance with me?" Draco asked, glancing at Liam. "I'm not exactly fond of any of your friends, and you've called me immature plenty of times." Liam smiled enigmatically.

"True, you don't get along well with Nii Nah, or any of her fellow Gryffindors." Liam began drifting toward the dance floor, pulling Draco with her. Her silvery blue dress robes swished at her feet. "Why don't I just say that I came with you because everyone else was too afraid to ask me?"

"But they weren't," Draco protested. "Both Weasley twins asked you, three Slytherin boys asked you, and I heard Cedric Diggory was going to ask you, but your nekohito friend told him you already had a date, which you didn't at the time."

"I wasn't planning on coming."

"Then why are you here with me?" Draco said, annoyed at her refusal to answer his question. He stopped her, and turned her to face him. Her black hair shone in rainbows from the nearby faerie lights.

Electric-green eyes met gray with amusement.

"Because I wanted to."

}i{

"Donna toki datte, tada hitori de, ume wasurete, ikitekitanoni..." Nii Nah sang as she danced around a bush cut to resemble a unicorn rampant. When she got near enough to it, it looked down at her with interest.

"What are you saying?" Neville asked, puzzled. "I don't know that language."

"Anata wa Nihon-go ga wakarimasu ka?" Nii Nah replied, sing-song. Neville just looked at her blankly. She tossed her head, her blue hair bouncing. "The first was a song, the second was 'Do you understand Japanese?', which you don't." Nii Nah walked back over to Neville. "You know, you don't have to be so uncomfortable around me. You asked me to the dance, and I came with you because I think you're a cutie. So don't be so edgy!"

Neville shook his head. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be all edgy... It's just that - EEP!"

Nii Nah had snatched him by the collar and hauled him behind a bush. She clamped one hand firmly over his mouth.

"Shhhh!" Nii Nah hissed in Neville's ear. "Someone's coming. It's Snape."

Nii Nah released Neville's mouth after saying that. Judging from class and the way the poor boy was shaking now, he'd be too scared to make any noise.

~I wonder, I wonder, do you know what I wonder?~ Nii Nah thought to herself. ~I wonder who that is talking with Mr. Potions-Master-Man...~

It was Karkaroff. The Headmaster for Durmstrang.

Nii Nah hissed quietly. She didn't like that goateed man. She wrinkled her nose as he neared.

They were talking about something... something that was hurting Karkaroff. Something on his forearm. Nii Nah's forehead wrinkled in concentration as she strained her ears to hear them. Neville was squirming now and she had to clamp her arms around him to make him stop. Neville kicked out a bit, rustling the bushes.

Nii Nah and Neville, realizing his mistake, both froze. Nii Nah looked out from the hole and saw Professor Snape's head as he froze, glanced toward the bush. Snape watched it for a moment as Karkaroff prattled on, waiting for it to move again.

When he was satisfied that there was no one there, Snape moved on, blowing the next set of bushes apart with his wand. A boy and a girl squealed and dashed back toward the castle, Snape reducing their houses' points by ten each.

When Snape and Karkaroff were out of sight, Nii Nah relaxed her grip on Neville. They both crawled carefully out of the bushes.

"Nyaaaaaah... Wonder what that was all about," Nii Nah mewed. She checked about them and removed all of the leaves and twigs from her robes and Neville's, then dragged the boy back toward the castle.

"Nii Nah, why did you make us hide behind the bush?"

"I don't like Karkaroff. And do YOU want twenty points taken from Gryffindor?"

}i{

Festivities ended around midnight, and students were sent back to their bedchambers.

Lilium Beryl walked the darkened Slytherin halls, her robes in her hand, the skirt of her dress swishing softly against her ankles. Her eyes were on the stone floor, and she walked slowly, thinking. Reflecting.

Suddenly feeling a presence, Lilium looked up. She paused, as did the other in the corridor.

Severus and Lilium looked at each other in silence, both too tired to bother a snide remark or witty comment. After a long moment of silence, tilted her head to him.

"… Merry Christmas, Severus."

"… Merry Christmas…."

Lilium continued down the corridor, and to the stairs that lead to her room.

Severus went on his own way to take one last inventory of his stocks to make sure nothing had been stolen from his office.