CRISIS OF CONFIDENCE PART 2
Written by Helene Koopmans
Disclaimer: With the exception of Miss Sam Moore, Miss Verena Miller, Mister Alex Luxembourg, Tim, Hazel, and Erik Gaultier[1] non of the characters are mine. The magical world of Harry Potter and all its characters belong to J.K. Rowling and her publishers, I just borrowed it for fun. Mr. Rupert Giles belongs to the wonderfully creative Mr. Joss Whendon, Mutant Enemy etc. I do not intend to earn any money with this story at all, it is just a way of practising my writing. Please do not sue.
Note: Story shifts from present to past, all so-called flashback scenes are in italics to indicate the difference between flashback and present.
September 25 2001 Dalton Ellis Hall Manchester 8 PM Erik was seething with anger, how dare these people come to his doorstep! He was about to lash out to the old man as well when miss Moore took hold of his elbow. "No! Wait, look! Don't you think there is something funny going on here?" and she pointed towards the old man. Her touch had calmed him somewhat and he could see clearly now. Slowly, his raised hand went down and he exhaled deeply " I do apologise, please come in." Snape got to his feet unsteadily, glared at Erik and pushed past them to get inside. The old man came closer, nodded, smiled and extended his hand, " Good evening, my name is Mr. 'Albus'. And you are?" "Gaultier, Erik Gaultier. Now look here, can you please explain what is going on?" "Ah, well we only wanted to have a little chat with miss Moore, her flatmates told us that we could find her here. And I must say they were slightly amused by that fact, though I would not know why. " A mischievous glint lit up in his eyes, but it past by so fast that both miss Merchant and Erik Gaultier missed it. "Furthermore, we would like to thank you for saving Mr. Snape's life early this week. He is most great-full. Aren't you Severus?" "Yes", Snape said looking as if he'd rather swallow a hot iron than thank anyone, " now could we please get on with , Al..uhm. Mr. Albus?"
10.30 PM Erik stretched his legs, and sank down deeper into his armchair. He stared at the flames in his small fire place contemplating the day. Somehow he had the nagging feeling he should not have gotten involved, but it was too late now. The past few days would definitely go down as the strangest days ever in his personal history. He had seen quite a lot, some of it wondrous, some of it horrible but never this odd. After he had allowed them in, Snape and that Mr. Albus person had narrated the most unbelievable story he had ever heard. At first they seemed to be reluctant to tell their tale with him there. It seemed they would have been much happier talking to Sam Moore alone than with him there as well, but he had refused to leave. Moreover, he had strongly advised Sam against having a conversation with these 'unsavoury' characters on her own. Amazingly, for once in her life she seemed to heed the advise given to her. When the two 'gentlemen' finally realised they could not persuade him to leave nor her to come with them on her own, they seemed happy to spill their guts. ' Mr. Albus' had begun the narrative, but soon Snape joined in. The basic gist of their story was that they were wizards and that there had been a sort of war going on between wizards who believed that they were better than people without magic abilities and wizards who believed that everyone could just life together peacefully. The wizards with an "ubermensch complex" were called Death Eaters and their leader seemed to be a very frustrated guy named Lord Voldermort, Erik chuckled at that thought, who in the world would call himself Lord Voldermort. To him it sounded as a bad rip off from Star Wars. Mr. Albus and Snape claimed to be on the good side, what ever that may be. And who knows who is on what side anyway. Good guys today bad guys tomorrow, the world was changing so rapidly nowadays. Snape said he had been a spy, spying on the Death Eaters for years, but the day miss Moore and her friend found him he was finally discovered as a spy. Erik remembered he had felt the uncontrollable urge to laugh after they concluded this part of their story, but the serious looks on both men's faces made him stop mid laugh. What they told next took away any urge he might have had to laugh at these two odd characters. They said that if Sam and her friend had not rescued Snape he would have died, now naturally this was good for Severus, but bad for miss Moore and miss Miller. Both men were absolutely certain the Death Eaters assassins would come after Sam and Verena to take revenge. These days any little excuse to kill magical-less people was used, surely to help a spy was reason enough. Snape underlined the seriousness of the situation by reminding them of the explosion which had taking away a whole room and put one of Sam's housemates in hospital. Erik then realised, that even if they were slightly delusional because they believed they could do magic they were still right about the fact that some one was indeed trying to hurt Sam Moore and Verena Miller. After all things only began to go seriously wrong after the girls had helped Severus Snape. Nevertheless at that point in conversation he still did not believe they were 'wizards' and Mr. 'Albus' somehow realised that. "Professor Gaultier I see you and the young lady still do not believe that we are indeed wizards. Let me give you a small demonstration." And he had pulled out a wand, pointed it at the unlit fireplace and said "Lumos" and the fireplace came to life. Sam seemed to be persuaded but he still had his doubts. With a sigh Snape pulled out his wand, but instead of pointing it at the fireplace or some object within the room he had pointed it straight at Erik. Mr. 'Albus stared intently at Snape warning him, " Severus, don't" but it was already too late, Snape had spoken some sort of curse while Mr. 'Albus' tried to stop him and an oddly coloured light left his wand. What had happened after that was what still puzzled Erik the most, he had lifted his right hand as if in defence and the beam or what ever it was hit his hand directly. Nevertheless, instead of hurting him hand, the spell was deflected, shot against the wall, racketed straight over the heads of Mr. Snape and Mr. 'Albus' through the window and out on the street. Mr. 'Albus' was as flabbergasted as Erik was over the whole situation. His visitors talked quietly for a moment and then suddenly got up. They excused themselves for leaving so suddenly, saying some new developments had just materialised. Erik was still staring at his hand as he closed the door behind the two men. Now he was sitting in his favourite armchair, contemplating the events. "hmm, how odd," he said out loud as he stared at his right hand again. "You can say that again," apparently Sam Moore was still in his chambers, he had completely forgotten about her. When he looked up in her direction he saw she had cleared the table and put most of the leftovers on the kitchen-sink in his small kitchenette. She said down on the sofa and asked him, "Professor, don't you think we should talk about what to do now, and we should see how Verena is doing. If she was alone with these people she probably got scared to death by them." Finally, he woke from his revellery and replied, " Yes you are quite right but first I think we should get some sleep, it is getting late and I think it would be best if you went to your own flat now. We would not want people to think anything less than honourable is going on between us. Now would we." " I don't see what's so bad about . oh wait I get it, uh, okay, but I do think we should talk about this sooner rather than later. Are you free tomorrow?" " No I have a class to give but I think I'll able to cancel it, this is more important." "Thank you sir, and good night" As she walked down the hallway he kept watching her from the doorway until she went around the corner and out of sight. He closed the door and once again could not help himself but stare at his right hand. What on earth did he do that made that strange spell, or what ever it had been, rocketing of this hand and bouncing out of the window.
DECEMBER 11 2002
Scotland 11.30 AM ".And that was when you and the Headmaster discovered Erik was a wizard of some sort." She stopped talking and looked straight at him, Snape averted his eyes and she continued, " that was a little over a year ago. " Snape got up from the couch as well, he looked at a very curious looking device which happened to be was a simple clock and said, " It's almost time for lunch, shall we go upstairs?" She gave him a smile of sorts and nodded. They made their way upstairs in silence but it was not an uncomfortable one. Half way there she took hold of his hand and squeezed it as if to say thank you. Also, she stood on tip toes and whispered in his ear, " You know you're kinda okay, I am sorry I have hurt you so much, past and present. The fortunate students who witnessed the event could have sworn he blushed. He glared at his friend and hissed, " Cut it out, you are ruining my reputation," this was followed by a shouted, " Ten Points from Gryffindor, miss Granger! And stop staring, you'll catch a fly if you don't close that mouth." Assistant professor Hermoine Granger turned beat read. Sam chuckled and stage whispered, "Really Severus, you know very well that miss Granger is no longer a student here. Do be a little nicer to your colleagues. There's a good boy." As she patted a very annoyed Snape on the shoulder she turned to assistant professor Granger and said, " he is really quite sweet you know." Miss Granger blushed again.
December 11 2002 Somewhere in the country side outside of Cardigan, Wales 5 AM
Marcus Lum woke up with one hell of a hangover, groggily he stared around him until his vision went from seeing everything multiplied by five to multiplied by two. A shadow loomed over him, " Hello mister Lum, I trust you had a pleasant night?" Marcus just looked back glazy, still trying to focus his eyes. "Ah You did, well I am glad to hear that, aren't we, Mister Giles?" A second shadow came into Lum's troubled vision, " yes indeed we are, Mister Gaultier," the other shadow said. " Well, well, well the famous 'Marcus Lum' " the first shadow, who seemed to be called Gaultier, said. " Does not he remind you of someone Mr. Giles?" The second shadow bent down to take a closer look and replied, " Yes, so he does." Mr. Giles whipped the hair on Lum's forehead aside, revealing a lightning bolt shaped scar. " Mister Potter I presume?" the first shadow spoke. Harry Potter looked panicked, grabbled for a hold on the sleeve of Mr. Giles and shout, " No! No! No! he does not exist, its just me! Leave me alone, I can not do it" he started to shiver and softly whispered, " I can't do it any more, I am just me, why won't they see? Please?" and he passed out. He did not hear Erik Gaultier's answer, " Because they can't afford it, but believe you me I know exactly how you feel lad. I am so sorry but it has to be done." ----------------------- [1] Though his personality and life is partly based on The Pretender and The Phantom of the Opera.
Written by Helene Koopmans
Disclaimer: With the exception of Miss Sam Moore, Miss Verena Miller, Mister Alex Luxembourg, Tim, Hazel, and Erik Gaultier[1] non of the characters are mine. The magical world of Harry Potter and all its characters belong to J.K. Rowling and her publishers, I just borrowed it for fun. Mr. Rupert Giles belongs to the wonderfully creative Mr. Joss Whendon, Mutant Enemy etc. I do not intend to earn any money with this story at all, it is just a way of practising my writing. Please do not sue.
Note: Story shifts from present to past, all so-called flashback scenes are in italics to indicate the difference between flashback and present.
September 25 2001 Dalton Ellis Hall Manchester 8 PM Erik was seething with anger, how dare these people come to his doorstep! He was about to lash out to the old man as well when miss Moore took hold of his elbow. "No! Wait, look! Don't you think there is something funny going on here?" and she pointed towards the old man. Her touch had calmed him somewhat and he could see clearly now. Slowly, his raised hand went down and he exhaled deeply " I do apologise, please come in." Snape got to his feet unsteadily, glared at Erik and pushed past them to get inside. The old man came closer, nodded, smiled and extended his hand, " Good evening, my name is Mr. 'Albus'. And you are?" "Gaultier, Erik Gaultier. Now look here, can you please explain what is going on?" "Ah, well we only wanted to have a little chat with miss Moore, her flatmates told us that we could find her here. And I must say they were slightly amused by that fact, though I would not know why. " A mischievous glint lit up in his eyes, but it past by so fast that both miss Merchant and Erik Gaultier missed it. "Furthermore, we would like to thank you for saving Mr. Snape's life early this week. He is most great-full. Aren't you Severus?" "Yes", Snape said looking as if he'd rather swallow a hot iron than thank anyone, " now could we please get on with , Al..uhm. Mr. Albus?"
10.30 PM Erik stretched his legs, and sank down deeper into his armchair. He stared at the flames in his small fire place contemplating the day. Somehow he had the nagging feeling he should not have gotten involved, but it was too late now. The past few days would definitely go down as the strangest days ever in his personal history. He had seen quite a lot, some of it wondrous, some of it horrible but never this odd. After he had allowed them in, Snape and that Mr. Albus person had narrated the most unbelievable story he had ever heard. At first they seemed to be reluctant to tell their tale with him there. It seemed they would have been much happier talking to Sam Moore alone than with him there as well, but he had refused to leave. Moreover, he had strongly advised Sam against having a conversation with these 'unsavoury' characters on her own. Amazingly, for once in her life she seemed to heed the advise given to her. When the two 'gentlemen' finally realised they could not persuade him to leave nor her to come with them on her own, they seemed happy to spill their guts. ' Mr. Albus' had begun the narrative, but soon Snape joined in. The basic gist of their story was that they were wizards and that there had been a sort of war going on between wizards who believed that they were better than people without magic abilities and wizards who believed that everyone could just life together peacefully. The wizards with an "ubermensch complex" were called Death Eaters and their leader seemed to be a very frustrated guy named Lord Voldermort, Erik chuckled at that thought, who in the world would call himself Lord Voldermort. To him it sounded as a bad rip off from Star Wars. Mr. Albus and Snape claimed to be on the good side, what ever that may be. And who knows who is on what side anyway. Good guys today bad guys tomorrow, the world was changing so rapidly nowadays. Snape said he had been a spy, spying on the Death Eaters for years, but the day miss Moore and her friend found him he was finally discovered as a spy. Erik remembered he had felt the uncontrollable urge to laugh after they concluded this part of their story, but the serious looks on both men's faces made him stop mid laugh. What they told next took away any urge he might have had to laugh at these two odd characters. They said that if Sam and her friend had not rescued Snape he would have died, now naturally this was good for Severus, but bad for miss Moore and miss Miller. Both men were absolutely certain the Death Eaters assassins would come after Sam and Verena to take revenge. These days any little excuse to kill magical-less people was used, surely to help a spy was reason enough. Snape underlined the seriousness of the situation by reminding them of the explosion which had taking away a whole room and put one of Sam's housemates in hospital. Erik then realised, that even if they were slightly delusional because they believed they could do magic they were still right about the fact that some one was indeed trying to hurt Sam Moore and Verena Miller. After all things only began to go seriously wrong after the girls had helped Severus Snape. Nevertheless at that point in conversation he still did not believe they were 'wizards' and Mr. 'Albus' somehow realised that. "Professor Gaultier I see you and the young lady still do not believe that we are indeed wizards. Let me give you a small demonstration." And he had pulled out a wand, pointed it at the unlit fireplace and said "Lumos" and the fireplace came to life. Sam seemed to be persuaded but he still had his doubts. With a sigh Snape pulled out his wand, but instead of pointing it at the fireplace or some object within the room he had pointed it straight at Erik. Mr. 'Albus stared intently at Snape warning him, " Severus, don't" but it was already too late, Snape had spoken some sort of curse while Mr. 'Albus' tried to stop him and an oddly coloured light left his wand. What had happened after that was what still puzzled Erik the most, he had lifted his right hand as if in defence and the beam or what ever it was hit his hand directly. Nevertheless, instead of hurting him hand, the spell was deflected, shot against the wall, racketed straight over the heads of Mr. Snape and Mr. 'Albus' through the window and out on the street. Mr. 'Albus' was as flabbergasted as Erik was over the whole situation. His visitors talked quietly for a moment and then suddenly got up. They excused themselves for leaving so suddenly, saying some new developments had just materialised. Erik was still staring at his hand as he closed the door behind the two men. Now he was sitting in his favourite armchair, contemplating the events. "hmm, how odd," he said out loud as he stared at his right hand again. "You can say that again," apparently Sam Moore was still in his chambers, he had completely forgotten about her. When he looked up in her direction he saw she had cleared the table and put most of the leftovers on the kitchen-sink in his small kitchenette. She said down on the sofa and asked him, "Professor, don't you think we should talk about what to do now, and we should see how Verena is doing. If she was alone with these people she probably got scared to death by them." Finally, he woke from his revellery and replied, " Yes you are quite right but first I think we should get some sleep, it is getting late and I think it would be best if you went to your own flat now. We would not want people to think anything less than honourable is going on between us. Now would we." " I don't see what's so bad about . oh wait I get it, uh, okay, but I do think we should talk about this sooner rather than later. Are you free tomorrow?" " No I have a class to give but I think I'll able to cancel it, this is more important." "Thank you sir, and good night" As she walked down the hallway he kept watching her from the doorway until she went around the corner and out of sight. He closed the door and once again could not help himself but stare at his right hand. What on earth did he do that made that strange spell, or what ever it had been, rocketing of this hand and bouncing out of the window.
DECEMBER 11 2002
Scotland 11.30 AM ".And that was when you and the Headmaster discovered Erik was a wizard of some sort." She stopped talking and looked straight at him, Snape averted his eyes and she continued, " that was a little over a year ago. " Snape got up from the couch as well, he looked at a very curious looking device which happened to be was a simple clock and said, " It's almost time for lunch, shall we go upstairs?" She gave him a smile of sorts and nodded. They made their way upstairs in silence but it was not an uncomfortable one. Half way there she took hold of his hand and squeezed it as if to say thank you. Also, she stood on tip toes and whispered in his ear, " You know you're kinda okay, I am sorry I have hurt you so much, past and present. The fortunate students who witnessed the event could have sworn he blushed. He glared at his friend and hissed, " Cut it out, you are ruining my reputation," this was followed by a shouted, " Ten Points from Gryffindor, miss Granger! And stop staring, you'll catch a fly if you don't close that mouth." Assistant professor Hermoine Granger turned beat read. Sam chuckled and stage whispered, "Really Severus, you know very well that miss Granger is no longer a student here. Do be a little nicer to your colleagues. There's a good boy." As she patted a very annoyed Snape on the shoulder she turned to assistant professor Granger and said, " he is really quite sweet you know." Miss Granger blushed again.
December 11 2002 Somewhere in the country side outside of Cardigan, Wales 5 AM
Marcus Lum woke up with one hell of a hangover, groggily he stared around him until his vision went from seeing everything multiplied by five to multiplied by two. A shadow loomed over him, " Hello mister Lum, I trust you had a pleasant night?" Marcus just looked back glazy, still trying to focus his eyes. "Ah You did, well I am glad to hear that, aren't we, Mister Giles?" A second shadow came into Lum's troubled vision, " yes indeed we are, Mister Gaultier," the other shadow said. " Well, well, well the famous 'Marcus Lum' " the first shadow, who seemed to be called Gaultier, said. " Does not he remind you of someone Mr. Giles?" The second shadow bent down to take a closer look and replied, " Yes, so he does." Mr. Giles whipped the hair on Lum's forehead aside, revealing a lightning bolt shaped scar. " Mister Potter I presume?" the first shadow spoke. Harry Potter looked panicked, grabbled for a hold on the sleeve of Mr. Giles and shout, " No! No! No! he does not exist, its just me! Leave me alone, I can not do it" he started to shiver and softly whispered, " I can't do it any more, I am just me, why won't they see? Please?" and he passed out. He did not hear Erik Gaultier's answer, " Because they can't afford it, but believe you me I know exactly how you feel lad. I am so sorry but it has to be done." ----------------------- [1] Though his personality and life is partly based on The Pretender and The Phantom of the Opera.