Disclaimer: As usual, everything in this story that belongs to Rowling's world of wizards, therefore is hers. The rest is mine.
*Same chapter as earlier this day, as first version was uploaded umcomplete. The best parts were missing !!! Flames to Microsoft.*
"Concentrate. Do as I told you, imagine yourself floating above the floor ! Goddamn, woman, this cannot be so difficult."
Her temper snapped. "I do concentrate, and it is difficult, because I would be floating at the ceiling by now if it wasn't. Maybe my body doesn't like being treated like a book or a cauldron and refuses to be lifted."
Chapter 5: Of Nightmares and Portraits
Again the castle was filled with screams and the noises of fights echoing through the halls. Kate's face was stained with tears, her breath was going in rasps, as she tried to find her way to get out of it. Two or three times she could just stop and jump behind a door or a statue to escape one of those dark-hooded men, that killed everybody who came in their way. Where was the entrance door ? She had been so close to it a couple of times, but whenever she tried to reach it, the floor would just take an unexpected turn and leave her in some place completely unknown to her. Again, she could see it, just across the hall, and she started to run towards it. But suddenly a ditch opened in front of her and she could hear shouting nearing the. Desperately she looked for a way around the ditch and froze as she saw the man. She didn't hear him coming. His face was hidden under a black hood. He stood still and looked at her. "Help me, please", she whispered half-expecting her death. "If you want to leave, I'll help you." the man replied, he too whispering, in a voice so low, she wasn't sure she really heard him. Than the castle reacted, the hall shook, the ditch grew wider and the stairs seemed to pull her back. "She cannot leave !" It was as the walls, pictures, even the ceiling were speaking. "She cannot leave !" "Let me go !" she moaned, sinking to her knees. The man was still there, looking at her. "It's too late now." he said in voice full of deep sorrow. Kate screamed.
She woke up, bathed in sweat. It was pitch dark. Still, she decided to get up, she was too scared to close her eyes again. The only thing that had ever helped after these nightmares was a walk. And look where it has got you. Kate shook her head. There was no way she would stay in her bed, thinking about her dream until she would be too scared to move.
So she dressed herself and walked to the door. Then she hesitated – did she really want to see the same halls she had dreamt of ? Yes, she decided, and see that they hold no threat, and then be able to sleep properly.
She opened her door and stepped out in the dungeon hallway, which was lit by a few candles in brass holders. It was even colder, than it had been during daytime. Kate took a deep breath. She still wouldn't mind some company. Her whish was granted.
"Up so late, mylady ?" The Bloody Baron was standing in front of her. "Where do you come from ? " Kate asked amazed. He pointed at the solid wall behind him. Noticing her questioning look he put an arm through the wall. Seeing the arm disappear, understanding dawned on Kate. "I'm sorry, how stupid of me." she apologized. After all, everybody knew, that ghosts were able to pass through walls.
The Bloody Baron didn't seem offended. "May I inquire about your well-being ?" he asked her instead. "It's quite unusual being up at this ghostly hour, if you don't mind me saying that." Kate wondered if she should really pour out her heart to a blood-speckled ghost. "I, well, I had a nightmare, you see and I couldn't sleep any more." she finally admitted. The ghost have her an understanding look. Apparently he knew something about nightmares. Encouraged she went on: "There was a battle going on in the castle and I tried to get out, but I couldn't. There was always something preventing me from reaching the door."
She stopped, seeing the frown on his face. "And why would you want to leave the castle ?" he asked her.
"I told you, there was a battle, people were dying everywhere." Wasn't that a very good reason to run away ? From the way he looked at her critically, it obviously wasn't. Maybe having died himself made him consider death a rather unimportant circumstance.
"You should go back to sleep." he finally said. "You need to work hard and prepare." "Prepare ?" Kate asked. "Go back to sleep. You're not the only one who is having nightmares."
"Please, can't you explain to me …"
"Not now. Sleep. Your dreams will not be haunted any more." He slowly vanished in thin air. "Mylady !" was the last thing she heard.
The Bloody Baron had been right. No more nightmares plagued her during this night and the next ones. And, grateful for that, she preferred not to think about it.
Two weeks had passed in a whirl. Kates days were filled with studying in the library, amiable conversations with Professor Binns during meal times and extensive lessons with Professor Snape. She had made the acquaintance of some of the portraits, as well, even though she still felt a bit silly, talking to them.
On one occasion, when once more she was wondering which direction to take for the library a voice had called out to her: "Turn to the right, young lady." She had looked out for the person belonging to the voice, and the fortune-teller in the huge painting – an old woman dressed in what looked like uncountable scarfs wrapped around her – had to wave at her for some time, before she understood, that the paintings here really were sort of alive, and from then on took care to give them a polite smile, when she passed them. Not all of them were righteous friendly to her, though. Especially the potions master hanging next to the door where the stairs down to the dungeon began never gave her more than a stern nod. Potions don't make for cheerful people she thought.
The classes with Snape went on in almost the same style as the first ones. After some practice she usually managed to perform the tasks he set her, even though more often than not a couple of caustic remarks from his part and some teeth-clenching from hers would precede any success. Sometimes she was close to returning a biting remark herself, but she had to give him the credit, that he probably had had different plans than a one-to-one magic for beginners class on a daily basis. And he was a good teacher.
She had her own wand now. On her third day Hagrid had expected her in the Great Hall, when she arrived for breakfast and told her, that they'd go on a shopping trip, to buy her supplies. Again she had to make a journey through a fireplace, this time ending up in a little bakery. Nobody seemed to be bothered by a giant and a young woman tumbling out of their fireplace, and so they proceeded to a bank. Kate found that she could withdraw money from her bank-account and change it into golden coins and bills with more moving pictures on them. This definitely did look like toy money, but she had long given up her resistance to this still strange world and just accepted things as they came. Especially as she had never cared much for money anyway.
She bought the books from her list, as she always preferred owning books she would use a lot. Of her own decision she added two illustrated tomes: "Magical plants and animals, in wildlife and dried form." Plants in wildlife ? Dried animals ? She hoped it would be useful, as actually she had never been very interested in fauna and flora and therefore had problems with some of her texts, especially potion, as she wasn't able to imagine something like asphodel. (It did prove to be helpful later on, even though Snape gave her one of his more impatient snarls, when she asked him, if datura was this "weedy thing with white flowers".) Then she got herself some robes, plain dark blue and black. For fun she tried on a couple of others, but she would not be seen in pink and green stripes nor covered in little flowers, even if these changed according to the season, as the assistant pointed out proudly. Meanwhile Hagrid had gone to get potion ingredients, parchments, quills and ink for her.
The last thing to purchase was her own wand. Since her first lesson she had been very curious about that. The shop-owner had her try out what seemed like a thousand different ones, but none of these had given any sign of recognizing her as its owner. "And if I just say 'Accio !' and call it to me ?" she finally ventured an idea, as she was getting tired of trying out. "This is not the usual way …" the wizard started with a disapproving glance at her, but she had already said it. And held a dark wand in her hand, that had fiddled its way out of a neighbouring room.
"I wouldn't have expected this" the shop-owner said thoughtfully. "These wands are kept for … Never mind." he interrupted himself. "This obvious is your wand, and quite an excellent one, I dare say. Dark oak and raven feather. Simple in the make, but very powerful if used the right way." Kate just nodded. It looked very much like the one she had used in her first lesson, only it really gave her a feeling of being hers. She paid and left the shop, glancing back only once to see the owner release an owl with a parchment bound to its feet from the open door. It was already late and Kate was happy to get back to Hogwarts, have a light dinner and go to sleep immediately.
Now once more she was trying hard to focus on magic task, her patience wearing thin by her own frustration and Snapes impatient commands. "Corpum autoleviosa" she said as she had over and over for the last hour, and then shook her head. "I don't know, it doesn't work."
"Concentrate. Do as I told you, imagine yourself floating above the floor ! Goddamn, woman, this cannot be so difficult."
Her temper snapped. "I do concentrate, and it is difficult, because I would be floating at the ceiling by now if it wasn't. Maybe my body doesn't like being treated like a book or a cauldron and refuses to be lifted." She folded her arms in front of her chest.
He stepped to her, his face as angry as hers. "Maybe it wouldn't mind being lifted if the floor was pulled away under him, don't you think so ?" he asked, his voice pure silk.
Danger ! Kate thought, but for once, she didn't want to keep up her forced calmness. "I'm not very likely to find out about that, am I ?" she snapped back. Honestly, getting the floor pulled from below her feet. Her nightmare flickered through her mind, but there still was a difference between dreams and magic, she was sure of that.
"Aren't you ?" he asked back and grabbed her arm. "Come with me."
Kate yelled in surprise, but he didn't seem to notice it, dragging her towards the door. "Where are we going ?" she wanted to know, trying in vain to pull her arm out of his steel-like grasp. "You'll see." was the curt reply.
Kate gave up the struggle and let herself be pulled out of the office, along the hallway and through the entrance hall, finally out of the castle. It was a warm evening, the last rays of sun shedding a peaceful light over the lanes that surrounded Hogwarts. Snape let go of her arm, and she obediently followed him. They crossed the park and finally arrived on top of a cliff, its edge looming high above a lake.
"Now, try again !" Snape commanded.
Kate sighed. "Corpum autoleviosa" she said, not really expecting anything to happen. And it didn't.
At least not, what she had wanted to happen. But instead, she found, that she was now standing much closer to the edge than before and the rock seemed to be pulling away from beneath her feet. "Snape" she yelled. "Make this stop !"
"You know what you have to say. Do it !"
Instead Kate tried to jump away from the edge, back to the safety of the rock, but it was like jumping against a wall. And the rock kept moving away, she now could hardly hold herself.
"Say it, woman, or do you want to fall down ?" No pity from her stern teacher.
Kate felt tears of panic welling up in her eyes. "Corpum autoleviosa! Corpum autoleviosa! Come on, lift, please …" she sobbed, closing her eyes expecting to fall over the edge any moment.
Then she opened them again. The rock was gone, she was floating in midair. She had done it ! It almost felt like flying, her body was supported by nothing, high up the dark lake beneath her.
A very dark lake. Very deep down. The panic returned. "No !" Kate yelled, feeling that she started to sink. Then she fell.
Severus Snape still was unsure what to make out of this woman. Teaching her wasn't as bad, as he had expected it to be. She obviously really wanted to learn things and she had a good grasp of how they should be done. Besides she didn't seem to take too much offence in the way he treated her, staying calm, even though he could sometimes see that it took her some effort.
If there hadn't been so much mystery around her arrival at Hogwarts and her sudden development of magical abilities, if she hadn't summoned his wand, in short, if there weren't so many unexpected factors in her being here, he would almost have found these lessons pleasurable. But he had learned to loathe and fear mystery, as so often it held danger and death.
Actually, he loathed close company as well, especially when it was forced on him.
And he wasn't a patient man.
And today he was exhausted after another sleepless night, trying to escape his nightmares. Not that this was a rare event. Nightmares had come to him for years, the screams of the tortured and the pleas of the dying echoing in his ears long after he woke up bathed in cold sweat. His old guilt. And the new threats, now that Voldermort was back and gaining power.
Death Eaters were roaming the halls of Hogwarts, throwing the unforgivable curses wherever they went. He watched the children dying, some of them pitifully trying to defend themselves, others screaming for their parents. He saw the teachers fighting and falling one by one. He was unable to help them, as once in his past he had been unwilling to do so. Screams, moans, pleas. And another voice: "Please, let me go !".
He desperately wanted Kate to get this last task done.
"Concentrate. Do as I told you, imagine yourself floating above the floor ! Goddamn, woman, this cannot be so difficult."
"I do concentrate, and it is difficult, because I would be floating at the ceiling by now if it wasn't. Maybe my body doesn't like being treated like a book or a cauldron and refuses to be lifted."
So, she does get angry after all. he thought. Then he had an idea. Maybe her body really needs a good reason to allow itself being lifted. I can give it one.
Pulling her to the receding cliff had been somewhat cruel, but when he saw her finally floating next to it, he almost felt proud. Then he saw her fall.
With a loud curse he jumped forward and grabbed her by her wrist. He pulled her over the edge and finally seated her safely on the unmoving part of the rock. Then he stepped back and looked at the sobbing woman.
The sobbing died down, and he saw her tense. Then she looked up, fury blazing from her eyes. "You bastard! You murderer ! Did you want to kill me ?" she screamed.
"Why did you stop that spell ? Try not to be so silly the next time." came his calm answer.
"I almost died !" Kate shouted.
"You didn't. So, try again, now. I don't want to spend all night out here, waiting until you have finished with your bouts of hysteria."
Kate swallowed. "You really want me to do it again ?" she asked unbelieving.
"Of course. Do I have to write it down for you ?" His face was unmoving, no emotion showing on it.
"And how many more times to you think you'll be able to catch me last second ?" she asked with forced calmness.
"As many times as necessary." he said.
Kate swallowed again.
"Ok." she finally said and stepped back to the edge. "Corpum autoleviosa !" she said her eyes fixed on his face.
That night sleep evaded her for hours despite her exhaustion. And when it finally came in the early hours of the morning, it found her still thinking of the look of deep pain in his eyes, when she had called him a murderer.
snapebelongstome: Cheers again ! You make me blush. Writing is so much more fun knowing that somebody out there reads (and even likes) it. So, here's another chapter for you. I hope you are not disappointed.