Chapter Twenty-Three: Devour Us From Within

            She knelt next to the fallen man, placing a hand on his cold chest, calling out to him. 

            "Professor?"

            She gently felt for a pulse near his throat, and at feeling a faint one, breathed a sigh of relief.  Getting up again, she opened the door, calling out to the woman sitting on the chair.

            "Please, I need your help.  The Professor, he is…" she opened the door wider, gesturing to Snape's body, "He is hurt.  Please, we must get him to the infirmary."

            The faerie looked calmly at her, slipping a slice of apple between her teeth and breaking it off with the slightest movement of her jaw.  She smiled at Natalia, swallowing slowly.

            "Do you know who I am?"

            Natalia's eyes flashed with brief impatience.

            "Please, we do not have any time for pleasantries.  Professor Snape is in a very critical condition and need help.  If you will not be civil enough to assist me, please at least let me through."

            The apple woman kept on smiling at her, chewing her fruit with precise care. 

            "You may cure the symptoms, but never the disease."  She swallowed.  "At least not for a thousand years…" she added under her breath.

            Natalia strode forward, prepairing to remove the woman by force, but found herself thrown back by an invisible barrier.

            "What have you done?" she cried.

            The woman rocked slowly on two legs of her chair.

            "My only purpose as of now is to prevent anyone from aiding that man.  I have let you through so you can feed your dragon only.  However, if you choose to leave for help, you will find that you cannot." she said pleasantly, flicking her hand and slamming the door shut.

            The Slytherin banged on the door in disbelief.  She attempted opening it, even knocking it down, but to no avail.  Now she knew why the professor had completely disappeared for the entire day on Sunday.  She wondered how long he had been left here. 

Looking around the room, she searched intently for a rag.  His immaculate office contained not a single piece of spare cloth for they were all in the classroom.  She went to the shelf and took down a Disinfecting Potion, knelt next to him again, and tore off a piece of his cloak.  Dipping the fabric in the potion, she cleaned off the cuts on his face, taking extra care not to apply pressure on his skin.  The blood from his internal wound did not cease bleeding, and trickled diligently out of his mouth in a neat stream.  She looked up anxiously at Amicus for help. 

            "He is still bleeding."  She looked around desperately.  "What am I going to do?  He has already lost too much blood."

            The dragon flew over to the cabinets, grasped a bottle in his claws, and brought it to Natalia.  She looked inside and saw a thick silvery liquid, pure as moonlight.  Her frown faded away as she recognized the fluid.

            "Thank you, Amicus.  I had completely forgotten about Unicorn's Blood."  She looked up at the dragon worriedly.  "How if he got it from the animal before it died?  Then this would do him more harm than good."

            The dragon nudged the bottle impatiently as if to say the professor would never have the heart to do such a thing.  She gently lifted the man's head and cradled it in her lap. 

            "Professor," she whispered softly in his ear, "Professor, please, you have to be conscious while I give this to you."

            Snape's eyes slowly flickered open, showing a pair of unclear, glazed over eyes.  He cried out softly in pain.  Natalia sighed in relief.

            "This is going to hurt," she said, interlacing her fingers in his, "Squeeze my hand if you need to."

            She gently tipped the bottle onto his lips, allowing the liquid to slowly ooze into his mouth.  It took a great effort for him to swallow the thick blood.  As it ran down his throat, some of it sputtered back out as he screamed in agony, the liquid burning his wound like vinegar.  Natalia bit back a cry of pain as she felt her little finger break under his crushing grip.  She placed the cloth in his mouth to prevent him from biting his tongue as his body went into convulsions.  Feeling his pulse under her fingers, she sensed his heart rate quicken as cold sweat gathered on his brow.

            "Please don't have a heart attack," she muttered over and over again as she held his spastic body firmly in her slender arms.  His muscles finally gave out and the professor's body slumped once again, lying limply in Natalia's arms.  The blood had stopped flowing and began to cake around his lips.  She wiped the blood from his face and sat in dismay, lost in thought over what could have caused the Potions Master's injuries. 

            Mab sat with her apple slices, delighting in the Death Eater's cries of pain as she ate her first breakfast in centuries.  She savored the sweet tang of the fruit's juice as the screams rang in her ears like a wondrous choir.  Even sirens cannot sing so beautifully, she thought, smiling to herself.  Her face quickly turned into a frown as she heard voices come from down the hall.  She quickly cast a soundproof charm on the office and an invisibility spell on herself.  Still sitting in the chair with her apple, she saw two boys enter the classroom.  She sensed great power in the one with dark hair, while the red haired boy was rather ordinary. 

            "I wonder what the old git is going to have us do today." said the one with freckles.

            The green-eyed boy frowned, looking around as if searching for a person.

            "Something doesn't seem right.  It feels…unusually cold down here."

            The redhead screwed his face up.

            "What're you talking about, Harry?  It's always cold down here.  I'd almost think old Snape keeps dead bodies here."

            Harry turned to his friend.

            "You don't feel that…prickly feeling?  It almost seems like I'm going to get frostbite."

            The other boy shrugged and took a seat in the middle of the classroom. 

            More students filed in after the two Gryffindors.  They were all talking amongst themselves when a brown haired girl ran in.

            "Good thing Snape isn't here yet, I thought I was going to get detention for being late."

            She sat down on the right side of the classroom and immediately began visiting with her friends.  Mab smiled amusedly at herself.  She wondered what kind of tribal rivalry caused the red robed students to sit apart from the green robed ones.  Many minutes passed before the students began wondering where their professor was.  The child named Harry got up and went toward Snape's office.  Upon coming within five feet of the door, he was suddenly flung back, landing on a table halfway across the room.  Every student fell silent, startled by the disturbance.  Harry picked up his glasses and turned to his friend.

            "Ron, let's go get Dumbledore.  I'm afraid something might have happened to Snape."

            The faerie smiled to herself.  This was going to be more fun than she expected.

            About five minutes later, an old man with rich robes and flowing silver-white hair came into the classroom.  Dumbledore immediately saw the outline of the invisible woman.  He turned to the class.

            "All students, please proceed out of the dungeons and head to the Great Hall."  He turned to Harry.  "Gather everyone out of their classes and bring them to the Great Hall.  I shall be there shortly."

            After the last student had left, he sealed off the entrance to the dungeons so that no soul could enter or leave.  He came back into the classroom, this time looking directly at the woman. 

            "What is your business at Hogwarts?" he asked in a cautious tone. 

            The faerie made herself visible again, at which the old wizard recognized her immediately.

            "Mab…"

            She smiled like a cat, walking up to the wizard.

            "You know, if I did not know better, I would have mistaken you for a certain wizard.  Too bad he did not live long enough to see the day that I would break out of his wretched curse."

            She stabbed the knife into a nearby table, burying the blade up to its hilt.  Her eyes glowed a sickly orange fire while two pinpoints of darkness appeared in the center of her palms.  Wind swept through the room as she levitated the desks, sending them crashing towards Dumbledore.  The wizard put his hand up, stopping them midair, and then set them down again on the floor.  The faerie smiled, delighted in the game they were playing.  She closed her eyes and concentrated on drawing power from the one behind the door.  When she finally opened her eyes again, they had turned completely golden, the pinpoints in her hands expanding to two dark abysses.  Just as she shot her hands forward, Dumbledore ducked, missing the hurling power by an inch.  The black fireballs ate up the wall behind him, threatening to burn all life around it.  The wizard swiftly dodged another fireball, and as the two collided, they imploded on each other, leaving half the classroom eaten away.  Dumbledore turned around and quickly cast a stunning spell on the cackling faerie, sending her flying across the room.  Breaking the barrier that she had made, he hastily picked up Snape's unconscious body and headed for the stairs with Natalia following behind.  Natalia levitated the professor's body from Dumbledore to head for the infirmary as the old wizard unsealed the barrier, allowing the girl to pass through.  Just then, flames leaked from the ceiling, causing a rain of fire to fill the dungeons.  The faerie ran after the Potions Master's body, hoping to slip past the opened barrier.  Dumbledore turned around with fury in his eyes. 

            "You are not welcome here."

            Mab sneered at him.

            "I will get what belongs to me or I shall never leave this place."

            "Depart now or suffer my wrath!" he roared, causing the cloudless skies to thunder.  Light emerged from within his soul and flooded through the dungeons, turning Hogwarts into a beacon of light for miles and miles.  His power tore through the faerie as she screamed in anger and frustration.  A black fire spread from her center, eating at her body with its deadly flames until she disappeared into thin air.  Everything ended as soon as it had started.  The light faded, and the fierce warrior in the wizard gave way once again to the wizened old man, his eyes twinkling as they always had.