The Coiled Splendour

by Superwitch

ELRIN AND SEVERUS SNAPE OF SLYTHERIN. Snape/OC. A strange woman finds herself at Hogwarts, and Severus Snape is suspicious, for he has something to protect.

23. let me sing among the stars

Chapter 22

The sounds of festivities were suddenly upon them and a blazing hot light revealed the vegetation around them and a multitude of dark shapes in front, and before she knew what was going on, they were within the perimeter, house-elves moving aside so that they could enter the circle in a blaze of red and dark green and glowing white.

                       

                                  Let me sing among the stars

                                                                                                           Frank Sinatra

Chapter 23

It seemed that a vast array of students, house-elves and teachers had formed several rows deep in a huge circle with a bonfire in the middle. One half of the circle was composed of the women and the girls and the other of the men and the boys. Among them were the house-elves, who too had separated into genders, their eyes luminous, following every movement of the arrival of the couple.  On one side to the right as they entered the circle was a high dais with a stunning display of white flowers, trails of garlands and hawthorn. Wilhelmina Sprout had done them proud, and Elrin spotted her at the end of the women's component by Hagrid, standing only as high as his belt. Both had wide smiles. Those on top of the dais were not smiling however and she presumed that the two dramatic figures seated there were the young May King and Queen who had already been crowned. Draco, looking every inch the god in his bright green robes sat rather indolently on a throne, a crown of leaves hovering above his head. Elrin hardly recognized Hermione  by his side, beautiful in pure white with a high crown of flowers above her. She was very poised and gave the impression of being determined to do a good job despite her apparent irritation at being paired with the blonde Slytherin and it was she who stood up to welcome them.

'Who goes there?' she asked in her most aloof manner.

Perfect for royalty.

'The May Spirit Couple,' replied Severus, his voice booming from behind Elrin. 'Bow,' he whispered and they did so, the unicorn quiet and patient underneath them.

'Enter into the kingdom of the May King and Queen, O May Spirit Couple. May all here learn from your wisdom,' said the Gryffindor and she sat down, nodding to Dumbledore.

Word perfect of course and no hesitations. Hardly surprising though. She was not a young girl any more, and even when she was, she was bright and confident: a powerful contrast to Draco, who, though not stupid, had neither her cleverness nor her own brand of perception.

Elrin heard a little group near them stifle giggles and she could feel Severus swing his head round and it stopped immediately. She imagined his glare and their subsequent discomfort with gratification. It was a spectacle that she understood was not repeated very often and the youngsters there were extremely lucky to be a witness to this.

Hell, what was she saying:  she was lucky to witness this. What would Aunt Dorothy say…? She'd be dead of shock no doubt.

'We have a ceremony as well as a coronation feast today,' said Albus as he raised his voice, not needing the use of a sonorous spell, and walked slowly into the centre by the fire and looked around at everyone. His formal robes and high ceremonial hat made the thin old man seem physically larger than he was, or was it that he was larger? His presence seemed to fill the arena, and there was complete silence but for the snapping fire, as if the stars overhead were listening.

'To witness a ceremony of the joining of two people in marriage, and especially this couple at this particular time,' he boomed, 'is to consider yourselves extremely fortunate on this our Fire Festival Day. This is the night when we go from darkness to light; when you may realize your potentiality for Deep Magick, represented here by this fire. Take heed and remember it well. Now, I am going call on forces to cleanse this area and witness this joining. It is required that nothing of evil intent can step inside this ring during the ceremony, and I would suggest that you examine your own integrity, your own motives, your own conscience at this time in order to enjoy the sights and words that you hear spoken tonight,' and he then moved towards the periphery of the circle.

'I can see Lucius,' she whispered, almost without moving her lips.

'Yes,' he muttered into her ear, 'the bastard cannot affect the ceremony itself. Bravo Albus.'

'Examining his integrity do you think?' she giggled under her breath.

'Examining his standing with Voldemort,' he replied cynically.

'What do we do now? Do we get off?'

'No. We do nothing. We attend.'

The headmaster stood in dignity while all hushed into complete silence, then slowly raised his hand and called out in a booming voice that appeared not to be possible coming from such a frail figure, and it seemed as if he became larger still.

'On this Day of Power,' he began as he faced north, 'I call upon Deep Magick's powers of earth: all bodies that are mortal – flesh and stone and plant. All things that can be touched and damaged and mended, hear me in the name of Deep Magick. As he spoke there was a rumble above them in the night sky that altered quickly into a creeping roar that boomed into a thunder-crack, and there were not a few students who jumped and held onto someone else. The house-elves and Dumbledore were the only ones to appear totally at peace with the wrathful noise.

I call upon Deep Magick's powers of water,' he said as he faced west, 'all those who belong to the astral plane, our brothers and sisters the wood beings, all elves and ghosts. I call upon our psychic sensitivities, our loves, our hates, our daily lives, our choices, our imaginations, our abilities, our aspirations and our companions,' and as he spoke he threw up his arm and from the star-brushed sky fell snowflakes into the silence, soft and pure white like a blessing over the company. No one brushed them off and they were allowed to settle onto hair and robes for a moment, before they shrivelled and vanished. Elrin noticed Xiomara standing opposite her and smiled.

Facing the east, the wizard called out, 'I call upon Deep Magick's power of air. All the powers of inspiration and creation and wisdom within ourselves and the powers that assist all to their destiny, like the Phoenix birds, the Centaurs and the Unicorns, and where lives the powers of Dark Magic that deny it.' In that moment he made a movement with his hand and a cool breeze spun round the company into a soft whirlwind, which threw his beard wide as well as their robes and everyone's hair in the gust that whipped through them. A strange sound accompanied it, an echo of a potent world, a powerful world, a wide open secret. She shivered and it wasn't because her veil lifted up and streamed out in the air, but because of the indirect mention of Voldemort and she could see Lucius twitch and blink although he did not move from where he was standing. Draco, she could see, kept glancing at his father when he was not watching and she felt the sadness for his present and his likely future.

Finally as he faced the south, Albus then called out to Deep Magick's power of fire for 'all the strength of the unfathomable wisdom that is hidden within all our lives and is the source of the four directions, all our powers and of all that is wondrous.'

Never had Elrin heard so much come out of Dumbledore's mouth in public. Then from the bonfire, the old man drew out a skein of fire and threw it high and wide over the assembly which then transformed into something like glittering white-gold dust, for she could not name it or describe it. It fell on them in slow motion, sparkling and dazzling, intoxicating the company, the faces around glowing and child-like, even the adults. The Master Wizard, for he was that: not just the headmaster, not just Albus, not just an old man, seemed to be part of something deeply profound, something more intoxicating than she could ever have imagined: something in the nature of the fire. She even caught an expression on Lucius' face, but he was wiping it away angrily, frightened and irritated. She could almost hear him grumble something about the old man's nonsense he was so readable.

The old wizard spoke again with his arms high, 'I call on that divine mystery of Deep Magick that unites all things, where time itself is not and nothing is separate: that loves all things and creates all things, to anoint this space of safety, to cleanse this sacred spot and protect the intentions and the integrity of these two people, so that their joining is sacred to the highest principle in the universe.'

It was if she were in a dream, a rhythmic, hypnotic, sensuous dream. It was if she could feel presences within the circle and those without it. Those without were from the forest: dark glittering eyes of unhappiness and jealousy shifting from tree to tree, peering over the distance to the ceremony. Within the circle were company she could not actually see, but sense. There was an impression of scarlet and deep song, and she realized suddenly, that they reminded her of Fawkes. It would have been good to have had him there. She missed him, although those few she had opened her heart to and cared for were already here. With these presences, there was a kind of radiance in the air, a kind of compassion and an awesome feeling that encompassed them all, even those in the shadows, even those in the darkness, even Lucius with his twitching cane.

Without feeling the steady breath of Severus behind her and the gentle shifting of the weight of the unicorn under her, and the lit faces all around, she would have doubted its reality. Clutching his hands tight, he responded with pressure and she leant back into him and he took her weight.

'Are you alright?' he whispered.

'I'm fine,' she said truthfully and he half smiled.

'Come to your places,' said Albus, waving to them, 'in the presence of the May King and Queen and all assembled, both visible and invisible.'

The unicorn, needing no prompting, continued in a straight line from where they had entered the circle as if it had never stopped and reached the other side of the sacred space to the women's side. Severus then slid off and lifted her down and escorted her to stand just in front of the half circle, and attempted to arrange her train and veil. Before anyone had a chance to help, Dobby shot across from his side, which was just as well, since assistance was needed. Elrin nodded her thanks to Dobby who dashed back to his place, squashed in between 5th year boys and his own kith, Lucius' murderous eyes following him all the while.

The unicorn then departed into the night, and though she was reluctant to see it go, suddenly she was cool and clear as Severus, watched by countless eyes, completed his lone walk back across the space, automatically scanning the students for mischief and soon stood on the opposite side in front of all the males, his cloak swirling as he swung round to face her.

Albus, eyeing them both, then allowed the two in their diametrically opposed  places a moment to compose themselves. Waiting for complete silence and cessation of movement he asked loudly turning to her, 'Do you, Elrin Danse, join us here of your own free will, to acknowledge before Deep Magick, the bond that is shared between yourself and Severus Snape?'

She could see him beyond the flames, the light throwing up shadows into his face.

Elrin, you know I will do nothing to harm one tiny particle of you.'

'I do.'

'Do you, Severus Snape, join us here of your own free will, to acknowledge before Deep Magick, the bond that is shared between yourself and Elrin Danse?

His low voice growled from the other side.

 'I do.'

The old wizard then beckoned to both main participants and they paused only briefly and stepped forward slowly. It seemed an age to cross from one side to meet in front of the fire, aware as they were of every footstep, of the sweet-blossomed air, of the heat of the fire and their own breathing.  The pull between them increased as the space between them lessened, as one red figure, veil and train stretched out behind her moved towards the dark figure, his boots sounding on the turf in the quiet. As they finally stood before one another, she scanned him in all his dark ferocity and dignity gleaming in the warm firelight and opened her heart to his familiarity and his utter mystery. There was no room for doubt or questioning of their unity: he was her completeness, her adventure, her challenge, her clear heart's desire, like coming home. It was in that space, that silent moment where time stopped still completely, where worlds imploded upon her and the mystery of the world opened up as he stood there before her. Of all the times in the world that she had lived in, this was a moment which riveted itself to her brain, not because of how she was, nor how he was, but what they were, what they meant in that vast universe.

'Are you ready?' Albus said softly to them and they nodded. 'If you would now make the betrothal statements.' 

He, who was looking death in the face, took her fingers and held them to the half-ring at his collar, where his pulse was.

'You are everything I want, everything I need, everything I could hope for,' he said slowly, looking down at her. 'You have everything I have, everything I am, everything I will be.'

She then took his fingers and pressed them to the half ring at her wrist, where her own heart beat. 'You are everything I want, everything I need, everything I could hope for,' she said, stumbling only slightly. 'You have everything I have, everything I am, everything I will be.'

It was in the next second that the half rings escaped from where they had been, slipped from their bonds and with a smart clang, fused in mid air and hovered, waiting. Severus plucked it and with his eyes on her, placed it on the index of her right hand.

'This betrothal ring is complete,' declared the old man smiling. She had been told stories of rings shattering or flying apart and never bonding, and the ceremony miscarrying. Addressing the assembly, he continued, 'the bride will remove her veil and then the bride and groom will be exchanging wedding rings.'

She had practiced this with Xiomara. Manoeuvring a floor length veil up and back over her head was not the easiest thing in the world to do, but she managed it without fumbling, and the softness of the material slid down her back, the air brushing her face with the cool night air. Severus stared at her silently.

From deep within his robes, Dumbledore pulled out two rings and slipped them onto the end of his wand and held it out before them. Bending confidentially to them, Albus said quietly, 'Take now your rings and place them on each other's hand. Remembering as you do so, that they include a small portion of this circle to remind you always of the declaration of intent that is made here today.'

She picked up the larger ring and since Severus had dealt with them, she had not seen them but instantly approved his choice of two entwined snakes, a deep crimson and a dark green made out of some unidentified precious metal with ruby eyes glinting from both. For a flash of a second, as she slipped the ring onto the smoothness of his finger, he looked at it like a small boy in a kind of wonder, with a kind of pride. Then it was gone, his familiar patrician face in position as he held her hand and she was sure that there was the slightest tremor there and then he gently pushed her ring, which was the same as his, in place.

Albus then declared: 'With full awareness, know that within this circle you are not only declaring your intent to be Handfasted before your community, but you speak that intent also to your creative higher powers and Universal Deep Magick.'

'Now, if you will face each other and join with your left hand,' he said taking five coloured silk cords from out of his robes. 'I bid you look into each other's eyes.'

They had already agreed that neither hand would be dominant over the other as in tradition, and as their hands touched, familiar and comforting, a warm shiver went through her.

The old wizard then dipped his head towards his potions master.

'Severus Snape, will you cause her pain?'

He had been swallowing hard, waiting for the first question.

'Yes,' he said, and she could feel his hand grip hers tightly.

'Is that your intent?'

'No,' he said, a little more forcefully than was prescribed by ritual, but his hand relaxed a little.

'Elrin Danse, will you cause him pain?'

 'Yes,' she said softly.

'Is that your intent?'

'No,' she replied and watched his eyes glitter.

To both of them he asked, 'Will you share each other's pain and seek to ease it?'

'Yes,' they answered together.

'And so the binding is made.' He wound the first cord across their hands.

'Elrin Danse, will you share his dreams?

'Yes,' and thought of his loving hands on the ancient parchments and the slow stirring of his cauldrons.

 'Severus Snape, will you share her dreams?

What were her dreams? What could there be after today? What business had either of them to dream?

'Yes,' he said, solid in his reply.

To both he asked, 'Will you dream together?

'Yes.'

'And so the binding is made.' He wound the second cord across their hands.

'Severus Snape, will you anger her?'

There was a slight pause.

'Yes.'             

'Is that your intent?

 'No,' he said simply, and she watched his shoulders relax a little as he saw the wave of affection flow over her.

 'Elrin Danse, will you anger him?'

'Yes.' She said as she watched his mouth curve itself up into a half-smirk.

'Is this your intent?'

'No,' she said. She longed to put her arms around him.

'Will you take the heat of anger and use it to temper the strength of this union?'

'We will.'

'And so the binding is made.' Albus wound the third cord across their hands.

'Severus Snape, will you share her laughter?' Gazing at her a second or two before responding, he seemed to find it a hard one for him to answer. He had had little laughter in his life, but the one person that had opened him a crack was standing looking up at him, a wicked smile spreading across her face.

'Yes,' he said as if surprised by himself.

'Elrin Danse, will you share his laughter?'

She could feel, as a wave of thought-forms, the students rapt at the unfathomable mystery that was their potions teacher. The idea of their professor engaging in laughter at all, let alone sharing it with anyone was an inconceivable concept for their adolescent minds. He could hear them too and his eyes twitched towards the circle, but then brought them straight back to her as she replied.

'Yes.'. They had had little laughter, but some nights ago, he showed his growing trust and their intimacy had increased significantly.

'Will both of you look for the optimism in life and the beauty in each other?'

Seeing the beauty in him was easy. Optimism, however might be much harder. The puzzlement in the young audience was like a wave of disbelief. The girls in the audience decided that they would not be in her red shoes for anything in the world. The boys wondered how he had managed to obtain her.

'Yes,' the two chorused.

'And so the binding is made.' He wound the fourth cord across their hands.

'Elrin Danse, will you honour him?'

You bet I will.

'I will,' she said, still and upright, and her voice echoed in the night.

'Severus Snape, will you honour her?'

'I will,' he almost growled, almost glaring at her.

Albus paused slightly as he put the question. 'Will you seek to never give cause to break that honour?'

They were both quick to respond and as one they replied, 'We shall never do so.'

'And so the binding is made.' Albus wound the fifth cord across their hands and then lifted himself up straight and said,  'The knots of this binding are not formed by these cords but instead by your vows. Either of you may drop the cords, for as always, you hold in your own hands the making or breaking of this union. Now raise your hands together, so that all may see.'

Their ringed hands, bound with the multicoloured cords were lifted up and there was a hum of approval, mostly coming from the house-elves.

He said he could do it. The bottom line was whether she trusted his ability as a potions master. He might be the Potions Master of the century, but he was her love first and foremost.

When they had put their arms down, Albus turned to his potions master, his Head of Slytherin, his faithful younger collaborator, and said, 'Repeat after me,' 'I  Severus, take thee Elrin to my hand, my life-blood and my spirit which spans the rising and the

setting of the sun, the growth of spring to the great sleep of winter and the mighty procession of the stars. Death shall not part us, for we shall know the essential truth of each other, which are united and always have been, beyond time and space in Deep Magick.'
Severus' words rumbled out throughout the gathering, slow and dignified and secure. You could hear history in his voice, generations and generations of wizards, layers of centuries, oceans of human sorrow and hope and supplication for life. It appeared to fill the night air, almost to fill the night sky.

To the Phoenix translator, to the brave, beautiful stranger whom had earned his respect, Albus said, 'Repeat after me,' and lowered his head to her.

'I Elrin, take thee Severus to my hand, my heart and my spirit which spans the rising and the setting of the sun, the growth of spring to the great sleep of winter and the mighty procession of the stars. Death shall not part us, for we shall know the essential truth of the other, which are united and always have been, beyond time and space in Deep Magick.' Her voice, though low and clear, sounded strange in her ears as if it were someone else speaking. As if she were looking down from somewhere elevated: and as if a shower of music accompanied her, bright and high and awe-inspiring over her head. 

Albus then turned and nodded to someone in the circle and out sprang Winky, proudly carrying a silver tray with a chalice and two small cakes. Her clothes, or rather lack of them, since she still wore the grubby garments of her slavery, were at odds with the finery of the participants, but her beaming face wore the radiance of the blessed. Stopping in front of the two of them, she lifted the tray up for them and her eyes widened. Severus then took the chalice and gave it to Elrin who paused, surreptitiously glancing quickly at the sweet red wine inside and then up at him. Realizing her dilemma he shook his head infinitesimally. 'It is safe,' he whispered.

She kept her eyes on him, all the while probing his veracity.

He would be breaking his vow of honour by doctoring it.

He leaned closer, ostensibly and with the silky growl so familiar to her, 'I have not touched it.'

I can't lose my discrimination, my determination to choose, otherwise I am nothing: nothing but a puppet.

'Lucius may have done so,' she whispered.

'It is sacred: there can be nothing in it within this circle.'

She took a deep breath and drank and he watched her do so and then she handed it to him. She would have liked more. After he drank he stared hard at her, watching her lick her lips carefully. There was something in that look that made her want to sink slowly to the ground and her body flooded with its' natural reaction and wished for them to be alone. He then offered a cake to her and she ate it. Elrin then acknowledged the mutual dependency by offering him the cake that was left, which he took and ate slowly, his eyes briefly looking at the circle around them.

She bent down to thank the house-elf and kissed her cheek and Winky scuttled off blushing and vanished into the circle.

Albus then cried 'Accio Broomstick' and a large ebony broomstick zipped in from out of the darkness and jerked to a halt in front of him, a dark shimmering form in the firelight. A loud intake of breath from the circle was evident and there was some murmuring. The headmaster silenced them with a quiet hand.

'I will remind everyone here,' he said, his spectacles flashing in the light 'that this broomstick has been especially made for the occasion.' As he sent it to the bonfire, the end ignited and the students gasped and groaned. Everyone else watched calmly. The whole of it flared up, then settled to a glowing white fire as if it were made completely of light, which extended out into a halo. It then returned to the old wizard who motioned it to the ground. There was a sudden quietness that seemed to reach to the end of the world as Severus looked at her, and both gathered their trailing clothes in one hand and each other's hand in the other, glance at one another as if they were going to jump over a cliff together and then rushed at it and jumped. For them it was as if time had ceased and they were in some other reality, into something much bigger: vast and nameless. However, they were not witnesses to their own fractional transformation into white fire, and only a few people were awake enough to observe that change. The next thing they knew they had cleared it to the cheers and stamping of feet and the clapping of everyone: some more enthusiastic than others. The unpopularity of the professor seemed to have abated in the excitement of the entertainment. Albus then motioned the broomstick to sweep around and behind them as they waited.  Elrin detected Severus' attempts to conceal his feelings by scowling while it swept away traces of their past life out towards the circle and through a gap in the students that Minerva made with some impatient twitching of her hands. When it had finished, it came back into the centre and flared into a brilliant white fire, which imploded with a crunching sound and disappeared, leaving not a trace behind.

Albus then concluded his duties, the timbre of his voice having a final ring to it.

'O stars, may no danger molest, no malice disturb, but over their union, shine in peace.'

It was definitely not her imagination that he raised his voice at that.

'Elrin and Severus, you are united, nevermore to be divided. As Deep Magick is witness to this rite, I now pronounce you husband and wife,' pronounced the wizard. 'You may kiss.'

She wondered how Severus would feel doing this in front of all his students, but he did not seem to be aware of any of them.

Something in her ached at the preciousness of his face looking down at her with such a sad awareness of death showing in his face. How could he remain so apparently unconcerned with the threat of torture and certain death awaiting him in a short time? Nothing seemed to leak from him that would betray his fear.

His eyes fixed on her, he leant down as she reached up and as his body encompassed hers, she absorbed the astonishing taste of him mixed with the wine as their lips met. Neither saw the wide smile on Dumbledore's face, nor the rueful grins on their colleague's faces, or the disgusted faces made by most of the students and the long sighs from the house-elves.

Was she going to let herself be poisoned? Because now was the time.