Bring Me To Life : A Continuation
by I Got Tired of Waiting

Part II : Dearly Departed
Bid My Blood to Run

Seth abruptly woke at dawn, the lingering after-effects of a powerful sleeping spell leaving muzzy trails through his head. Sleeping Spell? He bolted from the chair, his muscles protesting the sudden movement, his head swiftly clearing with the adrenaline flowing through him as he rushed over to the other bed.

Harry was gone.

Incredulous, he looked all around the room for him, seeing only the sleeping forms of the three other couples. He concentrated, fully extending his senses. There, on the other side of the castle, he caught the faint life signs. In his rooms--he must be there.

He looked over at the fireplace and saw the spilled Floo powder on the floor. Floo, he used the Floo. Damn, this is most inconvenient. Only he and Severus can use the Floo directly into their quarters. Double damn!

For a brief moment he considered going after Harry himself but, given the wizard's strength and the possibility of grief madness mixed with fevered delirium, he wasn't foolhardy enough to try it alone. He needed help.

Resigned at the delay, he turned and faced the six drugged people in front of him. He pulled out his wand and sweeping it across the slumbering forms said, "Finis Sopophorus Sextus."

With stretching groans and mumbled incoherencies, six very sleepy people passed from dreams to reality.

"Wha-What?" Remus asked sluggishly. "What's going on?"

"Harry's gone," Seth stated flatly.

That woke them up! he thought with some satisfaction.

"When? Where?" several voices asked at once.

"How," the last from Ron. Glancing at Hermione, he added, "We saw him last night, right before he knocked us out. He was standing right where you are and whispered 'Got to go to Severus,' and then he cast the spell before we could do anything."

Not that I would have, Ron thought. Hermione caught his eye and nodded.

"The evidence points to him going by Floo. I think to his rooms," Seth replied to Ron's first enquiry. "It's locked. We'll have to go after him on foot.

"Nonsense," said Colin, "As headmaster, I have access to all parts of the Floo. Even their quarters.

"You're welcome to try, but Harry set their wards," Seth reminded him with some asperity; he was in too much of a hurry to worry about wounded pride.

"Damn!" Colin exclaimed.

My sentiments exactly, Seth thought.

"Well, that's that," Ron said, rising to leave. "Let's go."

Concentrating, Seth visualized his form and, with little fanfare, changed into his Animagi, a wolf. His grey eyes stared at them, willing them to hurry.

"Capital idea," Remus said transfiguring into a wolf as well, the she-wolf next to him impatient to be off.

"We're surrounded by dogs... lovely," Colin murmured as he rapidly changed into a black cat, yowling as the striped ginger sitting patiently next to him licked his face.

"Merlin, I hate cats," Ron said, quickly changing into a mouse, quite a feat considering his size, "except you, dear". The small puma, who was his wife, growled at him to shut-up. He quickly scrambled up her leg and onto her back, digging into her fur with a death grip.

They six ran out the door.

Down the stairway and halls they flew, scattering, like so much chaff to the wind, both students and staff, who gaped at the menagerie as it raced past them. Get the hell out of our way, the wolves growled urgently as they pelted down the halls, their words not heard, but their meaning clearly understood by the people desperately trying to do just that. Past the Fat Lady, past the Slytherin common room, where they almost bowled over the slow-moving Sinistra, past the stairs to the dungeons and Snape's old lair, clear to the other side of the castle and up another staircase, the torches flickering in their wake. Down another hall they went, never slowing their pace.

The wolves lead, their smooth gait eating the distance, their nails clicking on the floor. They were followed by the cats, their stretching bodies streaking silently across the flagged pavement. The puma and her small burden weren't too far behind, her still flowing stride slowed somewhat by age.

When they reached the door to Harry and Severus' rooms, they skidded to a halt and, almost as one, they transfigured back into their human shapes, breathing hard.

"Wow," Ron said, the only one not winded, "what a ride!" The others glared at him and he shrugged innocently.

Colin went to the door and put his hand on it, trying to feel the wards placed on it. He glanced back at them in surprise, eyebrows raised. "It's not locked!" he exclaimed.

Just as he was about the open the door, the castle rumbled. Colin staggered and righted himself against the frame. He looked at Dana, who was pale and trembling. "Hurry," she gasped.

He reached for the knob and the castle wrenched, the stones rocking beneath their feet. Bits of stone and plaster fell on them, the pieces not large enough to injure but enough to get their attention.

"COLIN!" Dana cried rushing to his side as he suddenly stiffened and collapsed, his eyes rolling back in his head. Seth barely caught him before he hit the floor.

"Goddamn you!" Dana cried to no one in particular, but very much to the castle, its presence starting to fill her head once more. She knelt beside Colin, too weak to move.

Arabella bent to help Dana and Seth stayed with Colin. They motioned the others to go on without them.

And thus it was that Harry's closest friends and confidants were the only witnesses to the flash of bright light filling the air, Harry's triumphant face, and his eternal silence as his lifeless body crumpled to the floor.

It was over and the castle rumbled in mourning.

Colin regained consciousness in slow reluctant, stages. He tried briefly to focus but was stopped by the hammering in his head. My hair hurts, he thought with some irony. He knew he was in a bed, a rather uncomfortable one, but that was all he knew for the present.

He came further out of his daze when he felt the small movement and low groan coming from a soft warm body snuggled into his side. Ignoring the pain in his aching temples, he turned his head to see who was audacious enough to be in this bed with him. His eyes found Dana. Oh that's all right, then; she's supposed to be here, he thought.

By trial and error, he found his hand and gently touched her cheek with it, the backs of his fingers caressing the soft, silky skin. She sighed gently, the sigh he knew was only for him, and leaned into his touch. Funny place to be wanting your wife, he thought as he felt his body respond to her.

He heard a low wicked chuckle off to the side. Female, by the sound of it, and turning his head, his eyes made contact with rich brown ones, staring at him knowingly. Hermione. I must be in the infirmary. The memories rushed him--the headlong run, the castle, his collapse, the scattered images in his brain before he lost consciousness. Images of... Dana!

He heard her soft breathing, the warm air stirring the hairs at his neck. His panic receded as he sensed her presence. Ah, that's new. He turned back to the eyes at the side of the bed, half-expecting the deep blue eyes sitting next to the brown ones.

"He's gone," he croaked, a statement not a question. Damn, what happened to my voice? He cleared his throat.

The brown eyes closed, a tear leaking out from behind the still lush lashes. The head attached to the eyes nodded and he saw the owner of the blue eyes wrap his arm around her shoulders and pull her close, tenderly placing his lips on her cheek, her mouth.

He looked away, uncomfortable with their intimacy. "I'm sorry he's gone... they're gone," he said hoarsely. He cleared his throat again, stronger, "It's better... than seeing him like he was. They're together... better memories that way." He turned back to his wife, hiding the tears in his eyes.

He'd known they were gone with the heavy burden of the Wards coursing with his blood. He could feel the power of the Castle in Dana. Funny thing that. I can feel her.

He struggled to sit up without looking at them, hearing Hermione's distress, sensing Ron's sorrow. He felt Dana's hand on his arm. He looked down at her haunted eyes. Responding to an unspoken demand, he bent down, gently taking her lips with his. At her response, he deepened the kiss, his hand burying into her hair. There was no one else but them in that moment; the rest of the world faded out of existence as the centre of his being focused on her two lips... their kiss.

And so the castle began to teach them.

Remus came into the room, a short piece of parchment in his hand. He sat in a huge chair next to Ron and Hermione, who were comfortably ensconced on a sofa in Seth's rooms off of the infirmary. They'd left shortly after reassuring themselves that Colin was going to be all right, assuming that his... involvement with Dana was a good sign.

That had been a surprise. Privately convinced that Colin was a stick-in-the-mud, Ron was rocked a bit when he'd witnessed the passion exchanged between Colin and Dana. Almost worthy of Draco, he thought without his customary sadness.

"Have you told him yet?" Remus asked Ron.

"No, we never got a chance; he already knew."

"Must be the castle's doing... now that everything's finally transferred over to them. Seth has some interesting theories about that. Thinks a partial transfer may be why Severus and Harry both got sick..." He stopped at actually saying "and died." He wasn't ready yet.

Seth walked into his living room and, seeing all but one of the comfortable furniture taken, sat at the chair at his writing desk. He didn't know what he wanted and was feeling rather empty. Severus, Harry, and Lenore... all gone.

He heard his mother call his name softly and, at her gesture, sat next to her on the couch, his father moving over good-naturedly. Hermione took his hand; he felt silly and a bit too old for any maternal hand-holding.

"Nonsense, one is never too old to be told they are loved," she said looking over at him with a smile.

He shook his head. After all these years, you'd think I'd remember how she reads minds.

She chuckled, "I don't read minds, love. I read hearts."

Arabella wandered in, her face drained and body slumped with exhaustion. Without speaking, she nodded at the others and replaced her husband's hand in his lap with her weary body. Holding onto his shoulders, she curled up with a heavy sigh, seemingly asleep.

A bit startled, Remus' face softened and he handed Ron the parchment before wrapping his arms around her waist, holding her firmly against him. "I guess I'm not going anywhere, soon," he said on a soft laugh.

"You could just pick her up and put her in the bed," Ron suggested.

"Nah, where would be the fun in that?"

"Have you shown them the parchment yet?" Hermione asked. There was no question as to who 'they' were.

"The door to the private room was closed. I took it as a sign that my presence would be unwelcome. It can wait a while."

"It's funny that," Hermione continued. "Harry says the information is in Hogwarts, A History, but for the life of me I couldn't remember it. So I went back and looked and there it was... plain as day... right in the front: '...The Headmaster of Hogwarts is the protector of the castle and all those within. He is ever a member of the House Slytherin and once bound with the castle, may never leave the influence of the Stone until borne upon the shoulders of his pall-bearers...' As many times as I've read that book, I've never seen it. Harry was right, the irony is just entirely too delicious."

"Maybe it wasn't there," Arabella said sleepily.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, sitting to full attention.

Arabella straightened, still in Remus' lap. Looking at the curious faces around her, she began, "I've known Severus Snape all my life; we were born in the same year, in the same neighbourhood. I grew up with him as a child and went to school with him here. One might even say we were friends." She paused and, levitating a glass of water to her, took a large swallow.

"Severus was so bright... so quick and once he read something, he never forgot it. I find it impossible to believe he would miss something that significant. Hogwarts, A History is an odd book; it adds knowledge and history as it occurs. Maybe those words weren't there before because they didn't need to be there as there'd always been an unbroken line of headmasters, each passing the necessary knowledge orally to the next-in-line."

"Think about it. Albus thought Minerva would be the new headmistress when he died. He'd given her all the wards and all the information she needed to do the job. But she walked away from it and never passed the information on to Severus, probably thinking it was unimportant because he was the one who'd reset the wards, not her. And Albus may not have had the time to pass everything on to her; his death was... unforeseen." She paused significantly.

Hermione nodded, fascinated. This explained so much and, when she thought on it, Severus had said as much himself years before.

"Not that it really mattered. Severus and Harry changed the wards and protections to fit the times; the old ones didn't exist anymore. I find it significant that the entire job wasn't passed on to one man because two shared it."

She took another sip of the water. "When Harry almost died setting the Draconus Ward, I think it wasn't because of the power involved (although that certainly had something to do with it), but because he'd found the right combination for the Stone to absorb their essence into it. And when they tried to leave, it killed them." She took in the stunned looks on the faces around her.

"I think you've the right of it, Arabella. I don't think I could have put it better." Colin said calmly from the doorway, Dana at his side. "It's what we're feeling right now... inside." He paused as five pairs of eyes swung over to him. "There are two of us, but we're regarded as one person."

He looked at the floor, almost as if embarrassed. Dana put her hand on his arm and, leading him to the last of the big empty chairs, she climbed into his lap, her arm around his shoulder. He closed his eyes and seemed to draw strength from the contact.

Opening them, he said, "We'd always thought our marriage was arranged by our parents, but Severus told us a few months ago that he'd made the pairing and contacted our parents for permission. It had something to do with bloodlines. When we were married it was done in two parts... first with a private hand-fasting, then followed with the public binding a few days later. Severus said he'd bound us with the same spells Albus had used to bind him and Harry."

He tightened his hold on Dana and continued in an angry voice, "And it went beyond our binding. He... engineered us. He needed precise bloodlines to match theirs, so for eighty years he manipulated people starting with you three and combined the houses to get the combination he required." He looked right at Hermione. "He used your bloody genetic charts to... create us.

"Then he had to bind us in that certain manner so that the Stone and Wards wouldn't reject us. We... I was so angry when I found out. I never wanted to be headmaster. I just wanted to continue my studies and be with my wife. It was Harry, with his quiet unassuming ways, who finally convinced us... me that it would be all right. Gods, I'm going to miss him."

They all looked away from his tears. After a few minutes, he got himself under control. "There was only one major stumbling block to all of his plans. We..." he hesitated, looking at Dana.

"--Can't have children," she finished for him, her voice gentle as always. "Harry found out early in our marriage when he discovered me one day out in the garden, crying. Seth had just given me the news and I was so unhappy." Her eyes glazed over for a moment with the memory. "But Harry is just like me and convinced me to take my circumstances and work with them. He is... was a Gryffindor, after all," she said with quiet pride.

"And a Slytherin, too. Harry was Slytherin..." Hermione said, looking hard at Colin, her cheeks flushed. "I think this is where I come in." They all looked at her with surprise.

"I know this is hard on you, I know you don't like it, but please don't let it colour your perceptions until you have the full truth. You're labouring under some misconceptions and I just can't stand by and let you continue them." She continued to hold Colin's gaze. Ron took her hand. "I just can't let you malign Severus. He was such a good man and everything is not as it appears."

Taking a deep breath to steady her, she continued, "Severus didn't use my charts to plan the bloodlines. I did. I planned them."

At their shocked stares, she continued. "Severus and Harry made the specifications of the heirs they required. I created the bloodlines through successive generations, sifting through hundreds of family lines tied to Hogwarts and to two specific houses, Slytherin and Gryffindor. It took five years of planning and sixty-five years of begging to make it work. Considering the losses we took during the Muggle Wars, it's a bloody miracle we succeeded."

She paused to let the words sink in. "Your births were arranged sixty years before they happened. It wasn't a careful manipulation, it was a desperate one. And you were just the stop-gap, I'm sorry to say. We couldn't get the bloodlines right until one generation after we thought Harry and Severus would be dead. Severus predicted it would happen nearly twenty years ago, and it almost did when Harry over-extended himself setting the Wards.

"So we had to create two parallel bloodlines: the heirs and the guardians. You're both blood-kin to them, the closest we could create. You, Colin, have the Slytherin bloodlines of Albus Dumbledore and Lydia Peabody nee' Snape, Severus' sister. Dana, you bear the Gryffindor bloodlines of Lily Evans, Harry's mother through the Muggle line of her nephew, Dudley Dursley, and the Slytherin bloodline of Draco Malfoy through my daughter Daisy."

"It wasn't easy. We almost botched it when we discovered by accident that Harry's great-grandfather was a strong Slytherin born on the wrong side of the blanket. It took us months to unravel and reweave the required pairings. I sacrificed my daughter's love-match on the two of you by making them take a third. It was that important we match the houses."

With a big grin on her face, her eyes glazed over with memory, she continued, "I can remember Harry making Severus curb his impatience over Ginny and Neville. It was so important to him that Ginny have a love-match. Oh the planning, the machinations, how they threw them together, the absurd situations those two old lovebirds put them through. And then, once they finally got them married, they were no longer so young..."

"Oi! The fertility Potions Severus made... and made... and made. We needed a boy and Ginny kept having girls. I can remember one time I thought Harry was going to die of convulsions when Neville innocently asked Ginny if she was certain her Animagi wasn't a rabbit."

They all laughed appreciatively.

"When Severus came to them ten years later about a match for their son--your father, Colin--it was the first time any of us had ever seen Neville truly angry. He refused. Ginny knew something was afoot and came to see me about it. I told her the truth. She told me not to worry about it and the next week she and Neville signed the marriage contract with the Parkers."

She stopped at the stunned look on their all their faces. They'd never known any of it and had not been meant to know; it was one of their greatest secrets.

"You were never meant to be anything more than the guiding hand for Altus and Althea. They are the end of the bloodlines. They've been trained to be the next Headmaster and Castle Keeper after you and their separate progeny will be able to provide all the leaders the school and Hogsmeade will ever need, in any combination. They will be free to marry whomever they choose.

"You've no idea how much Severus and Harry hated the bond, hated the way it had taken their free will away, especially in the beginning. They wanted their 'heirs' to be free of it, yet Severus was a practical Slytherin and it was with great regret he bound you the way he did twenty-five years ago... five years before they thought they'd be gone--plenty of time to prepare you.

"The bonding was vital because Altus and Althea might not have been born yet when you took over the school. I'm sorry if this offends your sensibilities, but we had to breed those who could take over the Wards before Altus and Althea. And once the chain of events started, we couldn't change it. Your place was fixed. Altus and Althea cannot take over directly from Severus and Harry; they can only take over from you."

Ron cleared his throat. "The spell did it, that bloody piece of happenstance." He lowered his voice. "Harry and Severus should never have taken over the school. Their spell bond was potent magic no one understood, not even Albus. Minerva should have taken over the school, but her grief overrode her good sense. Had she done what she was ordained to do, none of this would have been necessary," Ron finished, visibly upset. A spasm of pain, quickly erased, passed over his face and he put his hand over his stomach. Seth leaned towards him, his healing senses alerted; Ron told him with his eyes to leave be. Seth nodded, telling him 'later' with a glance.

Feeling his pain, Hermione hastily spoke, hoping to distract their friends from noticing. "As near as they could reckon, the combination of the new and ancient spells when combined with The Earth Stone fused them into one bond. They were inseparable. The hope was that with your similar bloodlines, and your similar bond, a smooth transition could be made from one generation to the next."

Her breath catching, Hermione stated quietly, "We all know how that turned out; we lost them both."

She waited a moment, holding her own sorrow at bay before saying softly, "It wasn't until later that we realised, to our horror, that Harry had accidentally imbued a little bit of their bond into every single Stone he'd warded. The possibility existed that if the Hogwarts Earth Stone fell, it would take over half of everything else with it!"

Stunned silence met her declaration. "For this reason Severus decided to retire. He had to know if the Wards would pass smoothly, had to know so if they didn't, he had time to figure out how to make it happen." She started crying silently. She said through her tears, "And he was tired. So tired. They just wanted a few years of being normal. Now... now, they've nothing at all."

She put her head in her hands. Ron reached over and took her in his arms, rocking her gently.

Raising her head, she said softly, "Do you truly know what the worst part was? They... we cared. All of you, all of the generations we mixed, you weren't just names on a sheet of paper, not just bloodlines, you were all... people to us. Every birth, every marriage, every death, every successive generation closer to our goals meant something to us. We loved you all, and you never knew."

She turned from them and buried her face in Ron's shoulder, his arms tightening around her, holding her fast.

His face thoughtful, Colin began a low chuckle. Catching his thoughts, Dana joined him a few seconds later. Hermione raised her head and stared at him as if he were mad.

"No, I'm not crazy. I was just thinking that it was such a Slytherin thing to do. Such an audacious plan, breath-taking actually in its scope, formidably daring considering the odds of success; it was worthy of Salazar himself." He continued chuckling. "I think even your Albus would have been proud. From all reports, he was a conniving old bastard." They all smiled; he was right.

"And I have to admit, if faced with the same choices, I would have, without prejudice, done the same thing, which is quite a sobering thought and puts it into its proper perspective. Thank you, Hermione. I was labouring under a misconception as you so tactfully phrased it. And..." he hesitated as sentiment wasn't easy for him, "thank you for caring." His eyes were suspiciously bright. Clearing his throat, huskily, he added, "I think I can live with it. What about you, love?"

Dana nodded and said "You know us Gryffindors. We face what we face when we face it. It's just another adventure. Besides, I think the castle likes me better."

They all laughed lightly, thinking of all the times Severus had said that to Harry.

Their healing had begun.

Colin cleared his throat again, a habit he had when he was nervous. "Now, what I would like to know is how this whole conversation started. We came in just past the beginning when Ara was talking." Spying the parchment in Ron's hand, he asked with a raised eyebrow, "I believe you've something for me?"

"Here." Ron half rose off the couch and handed the scrap to the waiting outstretched hand.

Colin took the piece of Parchment from Ron and, settling back in the chair, he and Dana began to read. He puzzled over the writing, which he privately thought looked like Harry had written while dodging Bludgers. It was very messy. Of course the smear of ink across the bottom half of the page didn't help either, but if one looked closely enough, it was legible... barely. As he neared the end, he began to chuckle, Dana joining his a beat later.

Dear Colin & Dana,

Not much time--need to get back to Severus--must warn you--bonds fucked-up--sorry--Wards are not transferred--Castle trying to keep us here --you both can never leave the Stone--you are meant to go together--look in Hogwarts, A History--it's there--Hermione will love the irony--Must go--he's started to bring me home--Love, Harry

PS--Hold onto this--proof--Hinterlands, yes--underworld, no--may be worth a few sickles at WW?

It was so Harry.

TBC