A/N : Just a quick thanks to everyone that's already jumped in and offered their reviews. I have the best time reading them. It's fun to see people speculate, and the flag waving is an absolute riot.
All of your comments always make writing this story even more fun!
Consequences of the Fall ~*~
As the first full moon of the new year approached, Remus was in worse shape than usual. It was bad enough that he had been upset over Lorien's departure, but now the migraines that plagued him were returning, and he didn't have her here to help him deal with them.
It wasn't that Poppy didn't try, but none of the headache remedies that she gave him could eliminate the pain the way the Nemorosi witch had been able to.
One good thing that had happened was that it was now standard operating procedure for Snape to prepare the wolfsbane potion, bottle it for the week before the full moon and send it to the infirmary for Madame Pomfrey to dispense. Remus was thankful that he didn't have to deal with Snape, and he was sure the potions master felt the same way about him.
The other positive thing that had happened, was that Sirius had become available to stay with him on the night he needed, and it was so much better not to be alone now that she no longer waited outside his door.
Sirius arrived shortly before the sun finished setting, and found Remus sitting alone, waiting for the moon that was about to rise.
"Moony, you look awful," he observed as he sat next to his friend.
"I think I look better than I feel," Remus croaked.
"Headaches?" asked Sirius.
"Yes, nothing helps," Remus replied with his head back and his eyes closed.
Sirius was sympathetic. "I wish there was something I could do, Remus."
"It's good that you're here, Padfoot." Lupin smiled weakly.
"It's not the same, though, is it?" Sirius asked gently.
Lupin hesitated but then answered softly. "No, even if she had to be outside the door. I really do miss her, Sirius."
He related the story of how Lorien had stayed with him through the transformation that first night, just out of reach on the other side of the door.
Sirius was touched by the story and found his heart softening slightly toward Lorien. He had been less than pleased with her for putting Lupin through this ordeal, even though he knew that she meant no malice to his best friend. But why of all people did it have to be Snape? "I wish that I could talk some sense into that woman," he said. "I just don't understand it, Moony."
"What, Sirius?" Remus asked.
"How she can possibly have that much difficulty with the whole thing. I mean, I have trouble seeing her with Snape and not you. Hell, I have trouble seeing any woman with Snape. What on earth is she thinking?"
Remus smiled thinly. "I'm not really sure. I wish I understood it myself, Padfoot."
Sirius frowned. "The whole thing just seems unfair if you ask me. I mean, how long are you supposed to wait? She can't expect you to wait forever."
"I don't know, but I have to admit things do feel a bit unfair. I just started to feel like things were really starting to pick up, you know, with teaching again, and then meeting her. I finally meet someone that decides she can handle having a werewolf in her life, and then this," Remus said. "Of all people, I'm for being open-minded, but did she have to be open-minded enough to fall for a former Death Eater too?"
Sirius looked at him with great concern evident in his eyes. "You say that as if you think she's in love with him," he said.
"I think she is," replied Remus quietly. He stared at the floor as he answered, and considered that possibility for the fiftieth time.
Sirius started to scold his friend. "Moony, don't be ridiculous. You know she's in love with you. Lorien's got to know that Snape can't possibly be interested in more than getting under her robes. I imagine it would be a sort of sick conquest for him, the slimy bastard."
Remus sighed heavily and got up to go and look out the window. "That's what I thought at first, but now I'm not so sure. He said some things the night in the hospital ward before Halloween...."
"You know you can't trust a thing that man says." Sirius growled the interruption.
Remus shrugged tiredly. "It's not just that. When he came off the roof of the Ministry his first concern was her, and when he went to her in the hospital, well, there was something there. I could see it."
"All the same, I think there's no doubt she loves you," Sirius said, trying to be supportive.
Remus nodded. "I don't doubt it at all, Sirius. I'm sure that's what makes things so difficult for her." He smiled a little to try and cheer himself up. "I'm sure that I'll see her soon."
Sirius rested a hand on Remus's shoulder. "I'd count on it. She can't stay away from you long. I mean how could she possibly resist the Lupin charm?" he teased. "Hell, even I can't," he said, laughingly, snuggling up to the werewolf.
Remus swatted at Sirius and laughed a little. "Nutcase. Get off me."
Sirius chuckled and released the joking embrace he had on his best friend, glad that he was at least able to make him laugh a bit before the moon rose.
Remus spoke again. "Sirius."
"Yes?" Sirius asked.
"It's time," he said.
Sirius got up without a word and crossed the room. He transformed, and the large black dog waited silently as the moon emerged from behind a low cloud. He couldn't watch, and it was bad enough that he had to listen to the moans and then terrible cries that followed. It was one thing to put yourself through that torture, but the thought of being involuntarily wrenched from your true form and being forced into another made him shudder. It always had.
When the cries and then whines ended, it took a moment for the large gray wolf to get to his feet. He shook himself all over and then sat on his haunches to quietly regard the even larger black dog across the room.
The black dog rose and padded softly over to stand nose to nose with the wolf for a moment, and then they went to the window together and sat side by side, watching the stars for the longest time.
At last the black dog went to be near the fireplace, and lay down with his great shaggy head on his large paws. The click of nails could be heard as the gray wolf rose and went to lie down next to the sleeping dog, and he rested his chin on the great furry neck. There the two friends stayed throughout the night until the sun rose.
Snape finished preparing the latest batch of wolfsbane potion and eyed it carefully. It was already perfect, but this time he needed to add just one thing more. One last component that would change the nature of the potion and its effects completely.
He carefully lifted the small vial of clear and odorless, but potent neurotoxic poison, and added the necessary amount. It was completely undetectable and Snape smiled with grim satisfaction as he thought of what the now lethal concoction would do to the unsuspecting werewolf.
".....all I have for today. Anything else?" Minerva's voice brought Snape out of his daydream and back to the meeting in the staff room.
There was a murmur of 'no's' through the room and the meeting was ended.
Snape was up and out the door first as was his custom, and he headed for his rooms at the end of a very long day.
As he entered his chambers he thought of the poison again and smiled. It wasn't the first fantasy he'd had about doing away with the handsome and cheerful Gryffindor. He knew he'd never go through with it, but the thought seemed to keep him amused.
Snape flung himself into his favorite chair and sat contemplating the fire over steepled fingers as he wondered what she was doing at that moment. He wondered where she was exactly, who she was with, and mostly, if she thought of him.
He frowned as he realized he was doing it again. What in Merlin's name was wrong? He'd never encountered this particular problem before, and he was at a loss as to how to make it go away.
He gave up again as he thought about the night in her rooms when she had kissed him so willingly, so temptingly, and then he had walked away. He knew that he had made the right choice, but he couldn't help musing about what might have happened had he stayed.
He shook his head to clear the thought from his mind. That was definitely not helping, and now he was frustrated at his own perceived weakness. He was not going to admit it. He couldn't. Not now while things were still in doubt. Not ever if she chose Lupin over him. Snape just couldn't bear the thought that he might have actually fallen in love.
Lorien decided that evening after dinner that she would spend a little time in Perth's peaceful garden, and try to think things through some more.
She went out the back door into the green and warm area that sat surrounded by the snow mounded at its edges, and walked among the flowers that were in bloom. It occurred to her as she stood looking at the detail in the garden that the large degree of light was from the full moon. She sincerely wished that Remus wasn't alone.
She contemplated everything she had shared with the handsome werewolf, and her thoughts were of him and of them together as she sat on the garden bench. She sat thinking of the day they had met, and laughed when she recalled Remus saying that Dumbledore had intended to play matchmaker for them. Well, until they managed to hit it off so well themselves. She smiled as she sat there in the moonlight, thinking about how much she missed him, until her gaze came to rest upon the stand of Siberian irises at the end of the garden. She frowned.
Talk about messy! Things were definitely a mess since she had come to realize her feelings for the enigmatic Slytherin, and although part of her resented the disruption of her established relationship, she knew she couldn't help the way she was drawn to Severus. She now was focused on her intriguing conversations with the potions master, and on his charming attempts at the old Nemorosi language.
Lorien laughed again. Was charming even a word you could use concerning Severus Snape? Not likely. She considered all that she'd been through with him when he'd nearly died, and what they'd gone through together at Halloween, and she found herself wishing that she might be able to sit and talk with him.
She missed them both, didn't she?
Completely frustrated, Lorien decided at that point that she would do something else to take her mind off the problem for a little while. Tomorrow she would go shopping.
It had been a long time since Lorien had been to Diagon Alley, and she was anxious to spend the day among the people and all the stores with their wondrous variety. She hadn't been there long when she caught sight of a blonde woman that she thought she knew. The other Nemorosi witch was about her age, and they had met a few times through Perth. Lorien thought it would be nice to talk to the woman again, and tried to pursue her through the crowded streets, losing her here and there among the shops. Finally she managed to duck into the same bookstore and found the woman standing near the counter.
"Glenda?" Lorien addressed the woman dressed in the same traditional green Nemorosi robes.
The other woman looked pleasantly surprised when she turned to look at Lorien. "Lorien? Oh how nice to see you. How have you been?"
"Very well, thanks. And you?" Lorien asked politely.
" Fine thanks. Are you in town long?" Glenda asked.
"Just for the day to do a little shopping," replied Lorien.
"I ran into Perth a while ago and he told me you were practicing at Hogwarts. How do you like it?" Glenda asked.
"I love it." Lorien decided not to go into a long explanation in the bookstore.
Glenda glanced at the time. "Listen, I'd love to hear all about it, but I have an appointment in a few minutes. Are you free for lunch?"
Lorien nodded. "Yes. That would be wonderful."
"Say, The Leaky Cauldron, twelve-thirty?" asked Glenda.
"Perfect." Lorien smiled at the other witch.
"I'll see you then." The other woman smiled and waved as she left the store.
Lorien had just decided that she would take a look around as long as she was in the bookstore when she heard the screams from outside in the street. There was a brief commotion from people shouting and Lorien ran to the door to see if someone had been hurt.
A small group had gathered in the street and several women were crying or whisking children away from the spot. Lorien approached a group of men that seemed to be hovering over someone laying in the street.
"Is someone hurt? I might be able to help," she offered.
When the man closest to her stood to face her, she knew that there was nothing she could do. The woman in the street was dead, and even worse it was Glenda. Lorien stared at the dead woman, horrified that she had been speaking to her a moment before and now she was gone.
As much as she was pained to look at the still figure in the street, it wasn't the thing that disturbed her most. That thing was what was on the parchment that the man in front of her had picked up off Glenda's body. It was the Dark Mark.
Lorien wasted no time in returning to the gate outside of Perth Taber's house. She had to tell him what she'd seen happen today because he knew the woman and she didn't want him to find out another way. She ran up to the house and her blood ran cold as she reached for the door. The Dark Mark was glowing on the wood in front of her.
She instantly feared for Perth as she shoved the door open and ran inside, calling his name. There was no answer, and she couldn't find him anywhere as she ran through the house, and then out into the garden. He wasn't there either. Lorien started back through the rear door when she heard him call her name frantically from the front of the house. She ran in that direction and met him as he was hurrying toward her.
"Lorien! Are you alright?" he asked, eyes wide with alarm.
"Yes, are you?" she asked.
"I saw the Mark on the door and I worried that...." he started.
"I thought the same," she said, and she went to hug him fiercely. He held her protectively for a moment and finally spoke.
"What do you make of it?" he asked.
"I think it's a warning," she said.
He knew that there was something else by the tone in her voice, and at first he was saddened by the news she gave him about what had taken place in Diagon Alley that morning. Second he was alarmed as a terrible thought occurred to him.
"Lorien, you said that Glenda went into the same store that you did before she was killed?" Perth asked.
"Yes. Why? What is it?" she asked when she saw the look on his face.
He hated to even say it. "I think whoever killed her might have thought it was you."
Lorien saw how someone that didn't know them, or that they were both in the same store could have mistaken the other blonde witch for her. It made sense. Terrible sense. The Death Eaters were retaliating.
Things got much worse over the next twenty-four hours. Word came to them at Taber's house that three more Nemorosi women had been murdered. None of them bore any resemblance to Lorien, and it now appeared that someone was systematically hunting down Nemorosi witches and killing them. The Dark Mark had been left at the scene of each slaying.
A meeting of the Elders had been set up and rapidly conducted, and now word was being sent to all the Nemorosi to warn them of the possible threat.
Despite the quick action taken by the group, another woman was dead by the next morning, and this time it was someone Lorien knew well. She and Dahlia had worked together when Lorien had first completed her medical training, and the two women had stayed in touch ever since. Lorien grieved over the loss of her friend, and fear and anger welled up inside her.
Perth came to her later that day where she sat in the garden, numb with fear and grief. "Lorien."
She looked up at him.
"You have to go," he said.
"What?" she asked.
He looked grave. "It's not safe for you here. They already know you've been here, and it won't take them long to figure out you're still alive. That is if they even mistook Glenda for you. It's possible she was just the first strike of their retaliation. Either way you're not safe here, and I would never forgive myself if I let you stay and something happened to you."
"What do you think I should do?" she asked, more frightened than before.
"I think the best place for you is at Hogwarts," he answered. "The place is like a magically guarded fortress and you'll be under Dumbledore's protection. I dare say there might be one or two other people to keep an eye on you there as well." A hint of a smile accompanied his last remark.
She frowned. "I can look after myself, Perth."
He stopped smiling. "Usually. Know when you can and when it's wise to seek help, Sylvanesti."
She sighed and nodded. "Very well, I'll go in the morning."
He looked at her sternly.
"I'll just get my things together," she said softly.
A/N: I just couldn't resist naming one witch Glenda. No poofy white dress or star-tipped wand for her though, she's a Nemorosi chick! (Oops.....was a Nemorosi chick.)
And so....the Mistress of the Healing Arts returns to Hogwarts, ready or not.
