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I own only the obvious, the rest belongs to JK Rowling.
Authors
Note: Sorry for the wait, people; but it's here at last. Hope you enjoy!
-Chapter
Seven-
"Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the
way!"
Severus
groaned as the noise penetrated his sleep-filled mind. He heard Potter shift on
the other couch.
"Oh what fun it is to ride in an one-horse
open sleigh!" Tiaret entered the room, annoyingly cheerful as ever. "Jingle
bells, jingle be-"
"Ms Ade," the Potion Master cut her off. "First
of all stop that inhuman screeching; and second, Christmas is still months
away!"
"JINGLE BELLS! JINGLE BELLS! JINGLE ALL THE
WAY!"
"Don't bother trying to shut her up, Sev-
Snape," Potter said sitting up. "She always began celebrating Christmas earlier
than normal people."
"Three months early?"
"OH WHAT FUN IT IS TO RIDE IN AN ONE-HORSE
OPEN SLEIGH!"
Potter
shrugged. "That's Tiaret for you."
"Your friends never cease to annoy me, Mr
Potter."
"ALL TOGETHER NOW! JINGLE BELLS! JINGLE BELLS!
JINGLE ALL THE WAY!"
-------------------------
Connor
turned out to be worse than ten Mad-Eye Moody's put together. The man would
jump up ready to fight every time someone got up from the table to go to the
kitchen or the bathroom. He kept glaring suspiciously at the two mortals and
completely ignored the Potion Master. Severus still hadn't made up his mind of
it was a good thing or a bad thing.
Ignatus had
returned right after sunset in the company of three other vampires. There was
the paranoid Connor. Kiros who came from Africa. And Valda who had arrived from
Norway. The other Ancients had spread out over the world trying to get
information about Malfoy's supporters, the younger vampires and what the
situation was in the Wizarding World right now.
Severus,
Potter, Tiaret and the four Old Vampires were currently trying to come up with
a plan to get to Dumbledore.
"So what I am saying is that even if we have
the power to 'hide' you," beautifully pale and slender Valda was saying, "our
powers can be stripped away by powerful magic. And the magic surrounding
Hogwarts castle is some of the most powerful magic in existence today."
"So we cannot go too close to the school,"
Kiros continued. "We can go to the outskirts of the village called Hogsmeade;
from there you will have to manage on your own."
"If we ever get that far." Connor mumbled as
he glared around the room.
"How would we get to the school then?" Tiaret
asked. "We can't exactly walk through the front gates."
"And brooms certainly won't work. You're easy
enough target as it is, no need to turn you into sitting ducks." Ignatus shot
in. "I say we ask the former Professor. Anything useful you can tell us about
the school, Severus?"
"Yes, we can't take a Portkey in and none of
the fireplaces are connected to the Floo Network." Severus told them. "The last
time I was there – around a year ago – the owl post was checked by Aurors first
and then handed over to their receivers."
Potter had
been extremely quiet throughout the conversation, but now he spoke up. "There's
a secret passage from the Shrieking Shack. It surfaces again right under the
Whomping Willow. From there we could take a secret passage in to the school
itself, and then just use the secret passages and rooms in the castle to avoid
the Aurors."
'So the brat has some brains up there
after all!'
"Yes, that sounds like a plan." Kiros said
after thinking over it for a while. "Now we should have a plan of what to tell
Dumbledore once you get there. You will not have the time of the world exactly
as the Aurors will with no doubt notice that something is out of the ordinary."
"How about a shortened version of the truth?"
Potter asked.
"What did you have in mind, Lencho?" Tiaret
spoke up.
"Something like this: 'Got called on a
mission, Malfoy knows something we don't, he's up to something, we're fugitives
please help us out'."
"That sounded corny."
"Thank you for that assessment Ti. But it's
the best-" Potter broke off as a beeping filled the room. He stuck his hand
into his pocked and drew out a golden ball, then tapped it with his wand.
"Yes?"
"Hi Harry!" it sounded like the
Commanders voice, but he was never acting like a hyperactive, sugar-addicted
moron. "Just wanted to call you up and tell you that everything's fine and
that I trust you and Severus to do the right thing. Have a nice day wherever
you are, don't kill each other and be happy! Bye!"
Severus and
Potter shared a look. "Something's definitely wrong."
"Why do you say that?" the female Slayer
asked while edging away from Connor who was bearing his fangs at her.
"In all the tales I've told about my work Ti,
have I ever said that the Commander acts like a… a…"
"Like Fudge?" Severus suggested.
"Yeah, like Fudge. Well, did I?"
"No, you usually complain on how stern he is
and how he should loosen up and how he never trusts you."
"Exactly."
"Oh."
"Not to worry," Valda said. "I'll send some
of my fledglings over to try and find out what's wrong, you just worry about
getting to Hogwarts in one piece."
"Perhaps we should take a break?" Ignatus
said as Tiaret yawned, Potter followed her lead seconds later.
"I second that," the Boy Who Lived yawned
once again. "I need a strong cup of coffee. Or maybe two, or three?"
"Make me one too!" Tiaret said from her
place. She was leaning her head on Ignatus' shoulder, and the Old Vampire had
his arm around her waist. She was on the brink of sleep.
"Right." Potter got up. "If I'm not back
within the next thirty minutes, don't bother to wake me up."
-------------------------
Ignatus and
Tiaret were occupying the couch, the Slayer fast asleep. Valda and Kiros had
left to talk to other vampires and human contacts they had around the city.
Connor had somehow managed to disappear – which was quite a feat in itself as
the man was almost as tall as Hagrid.
Severus was
checking out Ade's library. Most of the books there were either on
vampire-slaying or they were Muggle fantasy books. He found the whole
collection of Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings' series, even some biographies. 'The
Complete Works' of William Shakespeare was there too, though it looked
untouched. The most read books in the whole shelf – if he could judge by their
condition – was Anne Rice's 'Vampire Chronicles'.
'Don't these idiotic teenagers read
anything these days?' the Potion Master scoffed as he read the titles.
Humming
from the kitchen distracted him, and cut off his tirade about teenagers.
Severus
went to see who the hell had dared to interrupt him and stopped in the doorway
to the kitchen, frozen to the spot.
Potter was
walking around fixing something that smelled suspiciously like pancakes – what
he wouldn't give to taste them again! – grabbing flour, milk and eggs as he
needed them. The wild unruly black hair was spotted with white stripes of
flour. How the Boy Who Lived to Annoy Snape had managed to get it there was
beyond the vampire, but it looked good on him in an odd kind of way.
Potter was
wearing a white short-sleeved button-down shirt and pants that were loose enough
for fighting, yet did not conceal any of his curves.
He looked
simply delicious.
The Potion
Master shook his head, trying to get rid of those unbidden, forbidden,
disgusting and completely idiotic thoughts. His attention went to what the
Gryffindork was humming, and Severus recognised the song as 'A Thousand Years'
by Sting.
'A thousand years, a thousand more
A
thousand times, a million doors
To
eternity
A
million lived a thousand lives, a thousand times
An
endless turning stairway climbs
To a
Tower of Souls
It takes
another thousand years, a thousand wars
The
Towers rise to numberless floors
In space
Could
share another million tears, a million breaths
A
million names, but only one truth
To face
A
million wars, a million fears
A
million suns, turn a million years
Of
uncertain turns
I could
speak another million lies, a million songs
A
million rights, a million wrongs
In this
Battles of Times
But if
there was a single truth, a single light
A single
thought, a singular touch
Of grace
Following
the single point, the single flame
The
single haunted memory
Of your
face
I still
love you
I still
want you
A
thousand times, the mysteries
Will
form themselves like galaxies
In my
hand
I may be
numberless
I may be
innocent
I may
know many things
I may be
ignorant
Or I
could ride with kings
Who
conquer many lands
Or will
this world of Gods
Let it
slip my hand
I could
be cannon food
Destroyed
a thousand times
World
born a fortunes child
To judge
another's crimes
Or wear
this pilgrims cloak
Or be a
common thief
I've
kept this single fate
I have
but one belief
I still
love you
I still
want you
A
thousand times, the mysteries
Will
form themselves like galaxies
In my
hands
And on
and on, the mysteries
Will
unwind themselves
Eternities
untold
Till you love me'
Severus
just stood there, mesmerised. He had heard the song many times before, it was
one of his favourites; but the way Potter sang it so softly… there was just no
words to explain the emotions that had welled up inside him. Potter's voice
calmed him, yet drove him nuts at the same time. He felt as though he could
just stand there in all eternity and just listen to that voice. It made him
wonder what it sounded like in the throws of passion.
'Where the hell did that thought come
from?' Snape asked himself as he retreated into the shadows by the door to
the kitchen, never taking his eyes off the Boy Who Lived. The brat – boy; no man
– was making the last pancake, and the vampire could hear Tiaret moving around
in the living room.
"He's beautiful, isn't he?" the voice was so
low that not even a Slayer with their fine tuned senses, could have heard it.
It was meant for vampire-ears, and vampire-ears only.
Severus
turned quickly – but quietly – and stared right into the face of Connor.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
He replied, but against his wish his eyes were drawn back to the black-haired
man flipping a pancake onto a plate.
Connor
smiled knowingly. "Who do you insist on fighting to Bond, fledgling? You know
how it happened, and you know the consequences if it isn't fulfilled. Could it
be that you're afraid?" the Potion Master didn't answer. "You are
afraid." It was a quietly pointed-out fact; no scorn, no anger. "Of what?" the
Old Vampire asked. "You two are perfect for each other; one's a Slytherin, the
other a Gryffindor, with all the qualities that go with those two Houses and
then some. Both of you have the makings of true immortals. Sure you were
enemies, but that didn't stop Rome and Juliet, so why should it stop you?"
"Mortal and immortal."
"One of you will either turn immortal or
mortal when you join fully in body, mind and soul."
"The age difference-"
"-shouldn't and won't matter."
Severus was
growing desperate. Every argument he had Connor just blew out the window. It
wouldn't work even if this Bond between himself and Potter was real. One would
end up killing the other within the first five minutes. "The war." He pointed
out, hoping that it would make the Old Vampire lay off his case. No such luck.
"It won't last forever." Connor looked at the
fledglings expressionless face. "Think over it."
'Strange,' Severus noted when the
vampire had disappeared. 'He didn't seem like on the edge of a nervous
breakdown.'
-------------------------
There! What
do you think?
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