All disclaimers are in place. Refer to the Prologue section for details.
SUMMARY OF PART 17: Halo kills 73 Death Eaters in one blow using her Sirenic ability. Snape finds out from Draco what Halo is about to do, but gets there too late to stop her. He brings her back to Hogwarts in a half-dead state. When she wakes up, she tells him that she did it for him, and that she won't stop until every single Death Eater is dead, as she asserts that it is their fault that he is the way he is. He convinces her to let him Obliviate her memory of the event, as he has already Obliviated Draco in order to protect Halo from being sent to Azkaban as a murderer. He then administers a Dreamless Sleep.
From the end of Part 17: Halo considered that as she brought the flask to her lips, downing the contents in one swallow, already too exhausted to argue. Damn him, but he's probably right… for once…
…and perhaps now I will have the opportunity to talk her out of her plan, he finished her thought, infinitely relieved that she hadn't fought him on it, but concerned at the same time that she hadn't. He was losing her fast.
PART EIGHTEEN: ULTIMATUM"Is she asleep, Severus?"
"It has been done."
"I see."
"Headmaster… she said she did it for me."
"Ah… that makes sense."
"Does it?"
"Yes. It makes sense that she would take it upon herself to destroy those who represent who you were, those who keep you from being what she needs you to be."
"You make it sound so… acceptable."
"Of course it isn't… murder is murder, plain and simple."
"You think she should be sent there, don't you?"
"Of course not, my boy. She's still a child… still reachable. Her actions, however, were rather… unfortunate."
"Unfortunate? Unfortunate? Seventy-three, Albus! Seventy-three lives! Death Eater lives, mind you, but human lives all the same. Not that their numbers won't recover by this time next year…"
"Yes, I understand. But it won't do to dwell on them. Halo, however, requires much thought. Particularly, how to reach her…"
"I doubt she's reachable anymore."
"She is… though I never thought her capable of this."
"And neither did I. What worries me now is that she didn't think to use her subtle persuasion instead of… destruction."
"You? Worry? The student population will be shocked."
"I'm very serious, Albus. And who is to say she won't repeat the episode, now that she won't remember what she is capable of?"
"I'm being quite serious. She will be confined, for no other reason than to protect the other students. I take it you have little confidence in your ability to persuade her to direct her fury elsewhere…"
"That's putting it lightly."
"Then what would you suggest?"
"Could we have a Dementor follow her around?"
"I think that's the closest I've heard you come to making a joke in years, Severus."
"I assure you that it won't happen again."
"We'll see… with that aside, the fact remains that we have a very angry, very dangerous little girl on our hands."
"Not for long."
"In which sense?"
"I haven't decided… yet."
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Severus debated his last words as he swept out of Albus Dumbledore's office. Not for long… To let her go when it's time is one thing, she may be too far gone as it is… but to coax her fury into the open with the hope that she won't be tempted to kill anyone else… now that's downright impossible.
He stopped in the middle of the corridor.
Isn't it?
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"Halo… Halo, wake up."
"Wha…"
"Can you hear me?"
"Obviously…" her speech was slurred. She opened a groggy eye and focused on a thin, lightly tanned face peering down at her anxiously.
"Are you all right?" Oliver's voice was reassuring in her current state of confusion, while hinting at a suppressed level of concern.
She blinked to take in her surroundings. I'm in my room… she thought. How curious… I was being yelled at… again… for what? Oh yes, the Trophy Room. It needed redecorating, I just thought I'd get the process started… She giggled to herself mischievously. Then she saw her father standing in the doorway. The sleepy, drunken smile died on her lips.
Sensing the tension between the girl he loved and her father, Oliver gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. "It's all right. He just wants to make sure you're safe," he afforded a glance over his shoulder to the Potions Master, who nodded in something of encouragement. Turning back to Halo, he began the premeditated farce. "Do you remember what happened?"
"Happened… when?" she was still utterly dazed.
"Your father tells me that the two of you had a rather heated discussion, but just as he was about to leave, you had a sort of neurological episode." He glanced back to the dark wizard for reassurance.
Snape finally stepped forward. "You fell and suffered several violent convulsions," he continued. "You're fortunate to be alive." He realized after the words had left him that he should have left the last part out and cursed himself for it.
Oliver quickly covered the slip-up. "I came as soon as I heard. Madam Pomfrey wouldn't let anyone see you until an few minutes ago. So are you all right? Do you need anything."
Halo's head was swimming… something of this wasn't right. Her vision was blurred and stars danced before her eyes as she attempted to absorb the collection of words being thrown at her… neurological episode… violent convulsions… fortunate to be alive… it was like some bizarre dream, one where she woke up and wasn't sure which was the truth and which was the fantasy.
"Why…" she whispered.
"It was the 'last straw' effect… the final blow that broke the camel's back," Snape explained. "You've endured far too many reprimands and a great deal of trauma in the past few months, and in your condition you were defenseless to process it any longer." It was the nearest he could come to declaring that he had been frightened for her life.
Oliver was feeling the tension in the room like a coil of rope inching around his neck, and in addition to the bold-faced lies he was promoting, there was little hope that he'd last long before breaking down. But he had to hold back; by refusing to be Obliviated, he accepted the responsibility of helping to create an alternate account of her state over the past two days. He'd promised to hold his tongue when it came to revealing anything about the emotional state of the Potions Master, but that wasn't the hard part. He hated the fact that he'd lied to Halo, but it was to protect her… from herself.
Halo was silent for a long moment, her eyes rolling as though reacting to some mind-altering substance. "Has anyone fed my cat?" she blurted out.
How can she be thinking about that? Snape mused. "Yes, it's been taken care of."
She became silent again, this time for a longer period. Her guests simply waited for her to speak again or fall asleep, whichever happened first.
"Is there no end to the things wrong with me?" She burst into tears.
Snape went rigid, wanting to comfort her but refusing to do so in front of a student, particularly a Gryffindor student. To his relief, Oliver had the situation well in hand, holding Halo to him in a gesture of pure gentleness and affection. He spoke soothingly to her, rocking her back and forth.
That should be me, Snape told himself harshly.
"I'm so messed up…" Halo's voice sounded through the flannel of Oliver's shirt. Snape thought her heard her whisper something like "…just let me die…" and he swore his stomach fell from his belly into his shoes.
"No… no my love." Oliver's fingers combed aimlessly through her dark hair.
Suddenly Halo pulled away from him, shoving him off the bed. "Get away from me! All of you! Just leave me alone!"
Oliver was dazed, to say the least, half sitting, half lying where he'd hit the rug-covered floor with an audible thud. His eyes were wide with disbelief, his lips stunned to silence. He barely noticed Snape's hand on his arm, pulling him up.
"Get out!" she screamed, her voice shrieking to the point of rawness, throwing herself down onto the bed.
"Mister Wood, I must ask you to leave." Snape's voice was gravely serious, his black eyes piercing the young man's brown ones. He wasn't going to put up with any form of resistance. Oliver found himself in too much shock to offer any. He pulled out of the Potions Master's grasp and backed out the door, closing it behind him.
Tapestry, who had been at the foot of the bed when her mistress woke up, had fled to the bathroom at the first sign of trouble.
Halo had stilled, face-down on the bed. She knew he was still there. Why? He can't possibly want to be in here with me… what if I hurt him? Oh but I want to hurt him again… wouldn't that just make everything better? She wasn't convinced. Even better yet… why don't I hurt myself? Could he possibly understand? Could he even care?
Snape padded cautiously over to the bed after warding the room. He knew she was aware of him. "Halo…"
The flames returned to her previously metallic eyes as her face rose from the bed. "You will maintain your distance," she warned him, her voice smooth as velvet and suggesting the quality of a deity in material form.
Snape took a step back, suddenly claimed by fear. He clenched his fists to prevent his hands shaking. Quickly trying to analyze the situation, his mind rushed with any number of ways to prevent harm coming to either of them, but the blood pounding in his ears prevented any truly rational thought and froze him in the present with an overwhelming sense of vulnerability.
"Your life is in my hands, as mine was once in yours," the unfamiliar intonation articulated. "Therefore I afford you a choice: Join me in eliminating every last Death Eater in existence…" her eyes flashed redder than magically possible, "… or die."
What only could have been described as icy acid burned its way down his spinal column. The wizard fell to his knees, his head now beneath Halo's in a submissive manner as Halo sat up, raising her arms, palms facing up, giving the effect of a scale on which to weigh his own heart. She raised alternating hands slightly as she hissed the following words.
"Join… die… join… die…"Not even the Dark Lord himself had ever frightened Severus Snape this much.
The crimson eyes stared through his soul, awaiting his answer.
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A/N: The monologue "Join… die… join… die…" comes from the end of the original RPG Fallout. A very good game, I might point out. You can get it and also part 2 for around $15 at any computer store. I've posted a link to the Fallout site on my homepage, so click my name at the top of the page to get there, as it seems I can't post web addresses inside this story. I can't fathom why not.