A/N: Did anyone know that there are English-American dictionaries online? I didn't until a few days ago. Just so all know, since I've found such items on the 'net, I'll be trying to work it into the story. I may not have ever visited the country but at least I might be able to sound a little more authentic.
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Heather Hidden
Chapter Nine
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Harry was not yet accustomed to having someone curled up beside him. Especially when there was a bed involved. But he had learned to just be still.
It's me, Love.
Slowly, the teenage boy relaxed somewhat. It had started to hurt to breathe, but he felt less warm, so he was willing to just deal if it would garner him some sleep.
"No sleep yet." The girl's voice was sniffled in his ear, "Harry, I need you to listen to me for a moment, okay?"
He hoped the dull words that tumbled from his mouth were something to the affirmative.
"There have been…instances where the Adiuvo – the bond we share – has been affected. And it cannot be corrected. Bad things start to happen when that occurs."
"Um hum."
"I just want you to know that no matter what is to come, I'll always be here."
I sounded like she had begun to cry and he rolled slightly onto his side, reaching out for her as best he could despite his weakened state.
The bed dipped, a goblet lifted to the younger's mouth.
"Carefully…that's it…" A voice coaxed, a hand pulling the cup with the blessed potion away, "I'll give you more. I promise."
"Feel better."
"I know. Harry, I want you to pay all your attention to the Voice."
Oh, I love it when people call me that! So mysterious.
He smiled at her, Silly.
Love that word too. 'Specially when it's coming from you because I know you're feeling better.
The liquid returned and he drank his sip, before it was taken.
That was when he felt it. Desperately, he grasped for the groundwork that was the Adiuvo. The fifteen-year old could tell his sister was doing the same on her side, Heather?
It's alright. It's stabilized now. Drink some more.
In reality, Heather hadn't yet figured out how to fix the fraying bond, but she was not going to tell him that. And being that she was the older sibling, she could actually feel her mind being ripped apart. It hurt like hell, but he could still hear her – that had to be a good sign.
He drank more, growing more aware that Severus was the one who was holding the goblet, "Papa."
The word startled the elder man, "Harry." And he tipped a little more into the youth's mouth.
Clarity punctured into the fog clouding his mind.
The redhead screamed.
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Pain was all the nearly-nineteen year old could sense about her. From her scalp to her toes, everything radiated with a feel of being stabbed, being beaten.
When she opened her distressed eyelids, she could see Snape hovering above her.
"It's alright, Heath. It's alright." However, the despair she could read in his eyes told her all she truly needed to know.
"Harry?" It was more of a choked croak than an actual word.
"Mom has him." He hesitated, "Has the Adiuvo…"
Calmly as her shaking heart would allow, Heather reached toward the bond. To her brother, it was an enigma – he knew it was there, knew where it was, but it was invisible. To her, it was a warmth-giving, lush, misty forest with a green, red, gold, and silver ribbon flowing like water through the middle.
The ribbon was frayed. The forest dull and washed in a white, muddled glow.
It still existed.
"Love?" The Potions Master grazed a hand over her forehead.
She smiled weakly, and sighed. The pain was lessening, as though someone was dipping into her pain and taking some away. "I don't think…I'll be able to handle the…meeting tonight." Her chest hurt, making breathing hard, which caused her to break the sentence into pieces.
"Don't worry about that now."
His voice was distant almost. He was not sitting on the bed anymore. Instead, he was in his private loo, tearing through multiple potions.
Silence filled the room for a moment, then he returned and pulled her up into a sitting position, "Ow."
"Sorry, love."
"Have I mentioned…lately how much I…loathe potions?" She lamented, before chugging the liquid down.
He lifted an eyebrow, causing her to grin at the presentation he made. The concerned look had not dulled with a glare-like expression mixed in, "What?"
"Nof…hing." Exhaustion was slurring her speech.
"Sleep." It was a command, not a suggestion.
She swallowed, trying to get her throat to work with her, "My brother?"
"I told you already, love. Mom has her. We'll make sure his friends find their way down here and that he eats something."
She gave him her best 'Mom-had-better-not-pressure-him' look.
"I know. I'll hold her back as best I can."
As she slipped into slumber, she gently scolded Harry, Stop doing that.
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Meanwhile, Harry was lying on the blue sofa yet again, with Minerva shoving a piece of cookie at him.
"Would you please stop trying to force-feed him?!" Snape was tired and not at all in the mood to deal with her mothering instincts, "He can't eat anything for a few hours, unless you want to have him…what's Heather's wording…ah – paying homage to the porcelain god."
The boy managed to giggle at that.
"Think that's funny, do you?"
He nodded in reply. What had his sister done to this man to turn him into…this?
The Potion's Master simply smiled at him. He shifted slightly, pulled off his robe and then moved to sit at the youth's feet, "How is your head feeling?"
"Alright, I guess. Heather yelled at me so it hurts a little."
"She yelled at you?"
He blushed, "I figured that since I was feeling better, I could…well…take some of her pain away."
Severus blinked. There had been a theory many years before that Adiuvo could help siblings level off pain and even help with healing, but the closest of children had never managed it. 'Most other children aren't Heather and Harrison. Everyone knew they were special from the start of their lives. Wouldn't it make sense if they could do the most extraordinarily impossible things?'
McGonagall blinked at her fellow professor, before turning to Harry, "You don't have to do that. We won't allow anything to happen to you or her."
"Promise?"
She smoothed back his unruly space-black hair, "Promise." A warm smile graced her lips and he grinned in return.
"She's the best sister."
"You've only been in her presence a few days, love." Severus moaned, "So don't start telling her any thing like that. It'll inflate her ego."
He laughed at that, as an uneasy silence settled over the room and its inhabitants. The clock chimed five minutes later, "Dinner?"
"Midnight you may eat again, but I fear the mere scent of food will make you ill. Minerva, you can go the Hall if you are hungry and I can stay here."
She shook her head – she didn't need to have and Adiuvo or any other bond to know he was thinking of something dark, "Harrison."
His eyes shifted to her, "Yes?"
"Is something the matter?"
"No."
He was lying. So many years of teaching hormonal teenagers trains one to know lies.
The youth sighed, "Can I…umm…talk to…to Se…Severus?" The word 'alone' didn't need to be said.
The Transfigurations Professor rose from her seat on the coffee table before the couch, sweeping from the room in a fluid movement after placing a soft kiss to his forehead.
Snape took her place in front of the boy, settling into an antique and plush rocking chair.
The question in the younger's eyes was almost regretful. Then it voiced itself, "Can I si…nevermind." Shame colored his cheeks.
"Come here." He patted his knee and held open his arms, which Harry happily filled, "You don't have to ask. I did this for Heather. I'll do the same for you." He whispered into the tanned ear, rubbing his back and kissed the head resting beneath his chin. The face of the aforementioned boy was too busy being buried in his 'what do I call him? Father? Papa? Severus? My life is too fucking confusing!' robe, and was content to just cower closer to the elder.
And it appeared that the actions were telling what he didn't want to tell, "Don't push the memories away, Love. It won't do you any good and it will just hurt more in the end."
The chair began to shift rhythmically – back and forth, back and forth. It was more soothing than the scarred boy had thought it would be, "Feels better now."
"I'm sure it does. But in a few hours, a few days…"
"I don't want to remember." It was lisped dully, "I don't ever want to think of it again."
"You can't fight it."
He laughed a laugh full of mirth, "If I can fight Voldemort, I can fight my memories."
'This boy is so incorrigible.' Severus thought, until he felt wet heat against his chest, "Shhh. Alright, alright."
The tears didn't have a chance to slid down his cheeks, instead they were absorbed into his robes, a large splotch forming, "It hurt so much."
"I know." The elder carded his fingers through the youth's black strands.
Creaking as it moved, the rocking chair plotted against any silence that could've fallen in the room.
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When Minerva returned from a small dinner in the Great Hall, Hermione and Ron, who were obviously tired, were following her.
"Severus?"
"Shh." He held a finger to his lips as he entered the sitting room, "They're both asleep."
She nodded in reply, then turned to the two children, "Why don't you both go back to the tower for a little while?"
"Can't we stay here?" Ron's voice quivered ever so slightly and his eyes pleaded.
Snape shook his head; "I don't have anything for either of you to do."
The students tossed a look between each other, sighed, before stepping backwards to the doorway. A chuckle stopped them.
"I said I didn't have anything for you to do. I never said I couldn't come up with some thing."
Hermione smiled, "Really?"
"Of course. Follow me." He gave them a 'come-hither' gesture with one finger, then lead them through a doorway to the classroom.
The other professor took advantage of her sudden-aloneness, stepping quickly into the man's bedroom where Heather was sleeping, albeit restlessly, with Harry cuddled up close to her for the inexplicable comfort only a sibling could provide.
"I'm going to call a meeting tonight." The whisper from the teenage girl's lips surprised the elder.
"How long have you been awake?"
"A half-hour or so. Papa brought Harry into the room and hung around for a while. I would've talked to him, but I have very little desire to have potions shoved down my throat." She brought up one hand to brush through the red hair.
"Why do you want a meeting tonight?" The gray-haired woman sat down beside her daughter.
She rubbed her eyes, trying to wake up a little better, "Would you accept because we haven't had one in two months?"
"There's more."
"Yes." She unconsciously tightened her hold on her brother, "I need to make sure no one decides to go out after the people who hurt Harry."
McGonagall nodded. Many of the members of the Order loved him as they loved his sister simply because…well…because he was Harry. They knew of his childhood, as they undoubtedly knew of what had happened, and unless their leader ordered them, they would most probably go out to punish those responsible.
"I'm hungry."
"What would you like?"
"Anything." The redhead rubbed her eyes and started to extricate herself from the bed and the youth who was clutching her arm.
Her mother stood up and helped Heather to get from the bed to the wingback chair near the fireplace, which was opposite the bed. After the younger was content with a blanket wrapped around her legs and a book of Muggle fairytales, the professor slipped from the room to order a light supper, careful to add something small for Harry as well.
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*v* Cassie Jamie *v*
cj.1@cassie-jamie.com
