Disclaimer: Okay then I would just like to say that the characters and scenery don't belong to me, they belong to the wonderful JK Rowling! Only a few characters will belong to me and they always seem to have a hidden agenda sneaky sods... grrrr.
Author's Note: This chapter is highly strange. It's actually picking up now! The plot is actually working for once! I'm soooo pleased! It took me a while to get these last few chapters to fit. I think it worked. But then you'll have to tell me what you think... I like this chapter anyway... Please read on.. ^_^
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What you don't know can't hurt you until it surfaces.
The Shadows Within
"You were so easy to predict my fine young friend. You are so like your father it's uncanny, he too fell to my feet when he discovered how much power I could offer him. Now in order for you to get a slice of this power Severus there is something you must do," Voldemort hissed his serpentine tongue flickering in his mouth.
"My Lord?" Snape said calmly but wanting to be sick.
"Watch the Dark Arts teacher, there have been some incidents that I want to know more about, Mr. Brody was a very skilled young man but is now stewing in an Azkaban cell. I want to know why, you'll find out for me and fast. When you know exactly what it is come to me, I'd be intrigued to see what you think of her," Voldemort hissed, he knew that the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher was a woman, what else did he know? Snape looked at Voldemort nodded kneeled and kissed the hems of his robes before disapparating.
"So little does he know. I wonder how he will take the shock," Voldemort hissed to the other Death Eaters around him, each of them laughed coldly with high amusement.
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"My, my aren't we getting into this teaching?" Quentus whispered maliciously as he walked up to her desk. Raine looked up suddenly, she hadn't expected to see him at all, her mouth hung open in shock. "Such a nice welcome," he drawled sitting in the seat opposite.
"What are you doing here?" She said coldly before returning to her book pushing the lenses that Snape had seen her wear the other day when she was reading from an old manuscript on law up her nose. The lettering on the page was definitely not standard English and when Quentus browsed over to see what she was reading her glimpsed at her then at the page and then at the glasses.
"Cheat!" He snapped venomously.
"Excuse me?!" She said looking up at him again.
"Wearing those glasses to read that.... It's only ancient runes, its not like you can't read them!" He said spitefully.
"I can't remember everything I was taught... There is so much of it. And anyway... Why are you here? Did I invite you or is it that you've come to bludgeon me to death, if you're going to get a move on," she snapped.
"I'm not here to kill you Raine. Why would I want to kill my favourite little lady?" He said with a cruel smile and sarcastic grin creeping up his thin face.
"I'm not your little lady, just you remember that Quentus!" She could say what she liked to him in her office or at least he could reach her from over the desk.
"Oh I remember all right. I remember the way you used to look at me. The stare with those beautiful eyes of yours tearing into my soul and ripping me apart then one day you got what you wanted and it all stopped, just when I was beginning to like you."
"I never looked at you in the way you imagined and if I remember correctly I tried to get away from you but you wouldn't let me, kept insisting that I was placed under your control for my own protection, not that I can't take care of myself. You try to treat me like I'm a child but it just isn't happening. I can never escape you and I can't get away from what you forced me into without losing my life," she said fury building within her, Quentus had a way of making you think that she was stupid, he was always so believable and made her look like she knew nothing.
"Well you shouldn't make it so easy Raine. I might have more of a challenge getting you to do certain things."
"The only reason I do 'those things' is because they get me away from you," she said looking back to her book.
"I think you should really be reading that without the translating glasses," he said leaning back in the chair.
"Look if you're going to sit there and whine about how you never got to sleep with me and complain about the way I read ancient scriptures then you can sod off!" She growled.
"Well I could get you to sleep with me if that were really what I wanted, but you see Raine, I've changed and well. I like the new me better," he said looking at her lazily.
"Pity," she muttered. "I liked the old one better."
"And well, unforgivable curses are not beyond me to reach my means," he said in a low slimy voice that reminded Raine of her brother, he too had a disgustingly sickly oozing voice that dripped with sarcasm.
"That's a question for the Ministry, not me. Unforgivable curses are things that land you a sentence in Azkaban, you know that," she said looking at Quentus as he began to twiddle his wand around is fingers.
"That Raine, is where I think you're wrong, Azkaban isn't going to last much longer if the Dark Lord keeps the pressure upon the Dementors." Raine's face contorted, the Dementors were creatures she hated above all others and Quentus always referred to them like they were an ally of some kind.
"Will you stop calling him that!" Raine snapped as she cringed at Quentus' usual reference to Voldemort.
"Stop behaving like a little girl Raine, you know what's going to happen sooner or later as well as I do," he drawled. "And when it does believe me I'll be the first to laugh at you, you and your childish ways."
"Excuse me," she said curtly. "I'm not sure what you're trying to imply but be sure that you'll not get away with it Quentus, I'll not let you speak to me in such a manner."
"What choice do you have? You know that any decision you make is under my influence and any decision I make affects your life so why would you argue with me?" He said pointing his wand at her head finally after having spun it round his fingers.
"What do you think you're going to do?" She said calmly. "Force me into your arms with the impervious curse? It didn't work for you last time and it certainly isn't going to help you now. Come on Quentus you know that you're no match for the man that stopped you last time," she said coldly.
"Had he not walked in, I would have got away with it," he began to allow his eyes to wander over her as if exposing every part of her from behind the desk using his mind.
"Well you'll not get any pleasure from it, you won't have go my consent and wouldn't have won my heart so you would only be answering the call of your libido and Quentus, to be honest with you. I hate you," Raine got up and began to walk to the door.
"Hate and love are almost the same thing, thought of it like that?"
"But both are conflicting emotions. They oppose each other in every way," she snapped.
"It's that snake isn't it!" Quentus spat bitterly.
"That snake? Pardon? I don't believe you have anything to do with my life at all.... And no it isn't that snake!" She began to open the door.
"Prove it!" He said it as if challenging her very existence.
"I don't have to prove anything to you," she said heavily drawing herself away from the
door for a moment then turned back. "I thought you of all people should know that teacher pupil relationships never work out. I'm not about to get involved in one."
"Then it is the snake," Quentus said anger building in his chest. "How like you Raine, sticking to your own kind are you? Another Snake in the grass to match you is there?" Quentus got to his feet looking at Raine who stood her back to him contemplating whether to allow this verbal assaination to continue.
"I haven't another snake.... Mr. Stark!" She said through gritted teeth.
"Was bravery not enough for you, had to go for cunning and underhandedness," he continued venomously.
"You're the only underhanded one around here Mr. Stark," she said trying unsuccessfully to mask the rage in her tone.
"No Raine! You became underhanded the day you left this school, what a stupid little witch you were too. So.... how can I describe you, still a girl and willing to be taught absolutely anything by a man," he continued in a condescending tone, 'anything' had left his lips like poison, Raine was clutching the door handle so hard with snapped off on the inside and she was trapped with him.
"Absolutely anything," she whispered walking towards him in a provocative manner that he wasn't expecting. He looked down at his wand thinking he'd bewitched her.
"Raine?" He said his voice silky.
"Ummm?" She hummed getting fairly close to him but not so much that she was touching him.
"Are you ready?" He said his wand still in his hand allowing the tip to creep up her robes where the buttons closed her robes. Suddenly when it had reached her neck she lifted her knee into his groin with extreme force, he doubled over coughing before doing a back flip and knocking her feet out from under her. Raine did a dainty spin on the floor and knocked him over yet again.
"You will never, ever say anything like that about me ever again and I do not want you in that way!" She shouted as he jumped to his feet bring his wand back.
"Locomotor Mortis!" Quentus roared as Raine's legs were brought swiftly together leaving only her hands free if it were not for her perfect balance she would have toppled over there and then. Only her wand was on her desk, she was too far away and glued to the spot to reach out for it.
"Quentus!" She shouted. "Please!" Her eyes filled up. "Think about this!" Then her eyes began to burn, she wasn't going to shed a tear for him, not for him. What he was contemplating was horrific but she knew him, sadism was something he adored and it made things better for him when she was upset.
"Spirited and feisty!" He snapped before making a sound like a barking dog. "But then
you were always my idea of the perfect," his eyes looked over her figure. She was very streamlined, not too many curves but ones that drove him wild in the right places. "Student.." He hummed.
"I may have been your idea of the perfect ass. But you've never had me and you never will," she whispered spitefully as his pale eyes flashed.
"Oh yes, you'd like to think that I never will but then, you have no idea what the future might bring." He said in a husky voice stepping up to her confidently sweeping his jet black hair out of his face before planting a passionate kiss on her full lips. She'd not bothered to move until that point. She grabbed his satin black hair and yanked his head backwards making it impossible for him to move.
"That was the leg locker curse you idiot! Has nothing to do with my hands now give me your wand or I'll find some way of making any chances at fatherhood you may have disappear," she said her voice toying the menace under her control; Quentus made a gurgling sound. She released one of her hands and smoothed it over his neck before pressing her index finger onto his Adam's-apple and continued to push until he held up the hand with his wand in. She dropped him quickly and freed herself he was sprawled upon the floor and she now in control of both wands.
"There is definitely something about the snake you haven't quite let go of and working here has pushed it back into you," he said rubbing his neck and getting to his feet.
"I refuse to allow you to continue this this degrading charade," she said coldly.
"Not your choice I'm afraid Raine," he said coldly grabbing his wand from her hand and pointing it at her.
"Excuse me Professor Stark but..." The door opened and Snape walked in to see Raine being pinned to the desk by a dark stranger who had his hands all over her.
"Tell him to leave!" Quentus snapped at her keeping his head to her neck as if her was kissing it.
"Severus!" She said breathlessly trying to get Quentus off of her.
"Is this a bad time? I had hoped to get your opinion on something...... I... I can come back if you'd like..." Snape gulped as Quentus slid his hand up her thighs revealing her well-toned legs.
"That's enough!" She snapped through gritted teeth at Quentus who had now dropped his wand.
"I'll just be going now..." Snape said as he heard a sound like an animal being wounded.
"You'll regret that Raine!" Quentus snapped grabbing his wand again and pointing it into her throat.
"Severus!" She said shortly getting to her feet as Quentus leapt back. "Help?" Quentus drew a line from the nape of her neck to the top of her robes dragging the tip of the wand down her chest and all she could do was stand with her hands up.
"What's going on here?" Snape shouted finally getting the idea this fierce character wasn't a welcomed guest.
"Consider what will happen to you Quentus! Azkaban! They won't hesitate this time, just because you've got me out of there before doesn't mean I'll do the same for you!" She said her voice bordering an insane plea.
"Good day Professor Stark!" Quentus snapped and pushed Snape out of the way as he barged out of the office.
"Are you okay Raine?" Severus asked seeing the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher shaken up for the first time. He wasn't sure how to approach her.
"I'm fine!" She said in a steady voice. "Is there something I can do for you?" She said as she brushed her palms down her face and brushed her robes down like they had been infected by something. She looked down the corridor where she could see Quentus laughing cruelly with a smirk forming on his face, he began twirling his wand in his left hand. Her forehead was glistening with sweat and she brought her right hand to her face and with the back of it she rubbed her head. Then opening her eyes halfway through she spotted Quentus down the corridor pressing the point of his wand to the palm of his right hand grinning on the edge of another outburst of evil laughter. She stared shocked at him for a second before feeling a tiny shiver down her spine and a burning feeling in her palm. She glanced fretfully at Snape who seemed completely dumb struck his mouth hung open and then she heard Quentus sniggering still pressing the wand upon his palm, then he laughed hysterically and walked away.
"Severus it isn't what you think!" She said hurriedly while he backed to the wall.
"Don't try to explain it to me Raine, I should have known when I set eyes on you; you know too much about the dark arts and all that muggle kung fu!" He let out a quick harsh laugh. "How could I be so stupid? So blind?" He started to ease himself towards the door. Quentus' horrid laughter could still be heard in the background. It was a haunting laugh, enough to wake the dead. Raine spun around to her desk and quickly grabbed her wand looking completely distressed. She aimed quickly and with no hesitation.
"Avada Kedavra!" She roared furiously, sweat running down her temples. A jet of fluorescent green light shot from her wand and Snape thought that was it. Snape needn't have worried though, the curse shot straight past him to Quentus who abruptly silenced and spun round to see what it was he had heard her scream.
The corridor was a fog of flashing green light.
When the spell was over, Snape expected to see a crumpled figure lying dead and silent like a baby before them, but there was nothing. Quentus was gone.
"Shit!" Raine shouted angrily failing to stop Severus who had as soon as the danger past pelted down the corridor towards the dungeons. "Severus, please!" She whined after him. "Let me explain! I can explain!" But she'd lost him; he was already gone.
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Author's Note
I.C. Fire
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