Disclaimer: Nothing is mine…except Elena and the plot. The rest is all J.K.'s.
Enjoy, my three, lone reviewers.
6
Severus wondered if she expected him to react to her statement. Well, if so, she was going to be sorely disappointed.
Of course, the husky way she said 'enthusiasm' had shivered down his spine and wrapped itself around his manhood, but he hadn't so much as batted an eye. Years of emotional schooling coming in handy once again.
He hadn't doubted that her professor 'returned her affections.' Now that he was able to study her up close, he found that he had actually underestimated her loveliness.
His ghost, Elena Morreton, was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen…so, of course, she had to be dead. It just figured, he thought darkly, his rotten luck was still going strong.
Looking at her, he decided that he did not doubt her relationship with her teacher. But that was about the only part of her story that he accepted as true.
Member of Hogwart's first class? Salazar Slytherin's girlfriend? She was as batty as Peeves. A beautiful, completely crazy ghost. She'd fit right in at Hogwarts.
"Well," he heard her ask from across the room, "shall I continue? Or would you prefer to continue staring?"
Severus gave her a mean smile, one that showed too many teeth to possibly be considered friendly. Just because she was pretty didn't mean she deserved to be treated politely. The girl had broken into his quarters, rifled through his belongings, and was telling lies like a Malfoy.
"By all means, Miss Morreton, do continue your fascinating tale. Perhaps you form ménage-a-trios with Merlin and Lord Slytherin next. Oh, and invent Quidditch. That would round the fairytale out quite nicely."
Her eyes narrowed dangerously, and for a moment Severus was relieved that she was incorporeal. Elena looked like she wanted to scratch his eyes out. "If you'd shut that snide mouth of yours, you might learn something, boy."
Severus' eyes bulged with incredulity at that last appellation. "Boy," he whispered dangerously. "Did you just refer to me as 'boy'?!"
"Yes. You're what…almost forty years old? Compared to me that's practically a fetus. In addition to that, you are acting like a little boy. If you would just shut up and listen to me, I could help you and your side in ways you can't fathom."
Severus immediately became wary. "My side? What do mean?"
7
Elena watched as he closed up like a snaggle-tooth lily, his features slamming shut and waves of defensiveness radiating off of him.
She sighed. She hadn't meant to bring up his guard like that, but he had pissed her off. He had no idea how difficult it was to share these, her most personal and painful experiences, with a stranger.
Not just any stranger, either, but a mean, dungeon-dwelling bastard who possessed a tongue sharp enough to draw blood.
Talking an unneeded breath, Elena calmed herself. "Yes, your side."
He was completely rigid as he sat there. He could have passed for the gargoyle in his corridor…totally still with an ugly grimace distorting his features. "And what side might that be, Miss Morreton?"
Ah, he suspected she worked for Voldemort. Well, dammit, now he was never going to listen to her. "The Order of the Phoenix," she stated bluntly. He showed no reaction. Well, she had known that convincing him wouldn't be easy.
"The order of the what?" he asked.
"Severus, I know that you're a double agent, working for Voldemort but loyal to Dumbledore. I knew what you were doing before he had his first run in with Harry Potter. I know almost everything that happens within these walls, and a great deal that occurs beyond them."
"Oh, really."
"Really."
There was a long silence before Severus stirred himself to address her again. "How do I know you aren't working for Voldemort? Have you come to test my loyalty? To get me to confide in you?"
"By telling you stories you think are utter skrewt-crap? Yes, that's my brilliant plan. Telling you crazy stories, then, just when you're on the verge of never believing me, scaring you away by getting mad and showing my agenda," Elena shot back, annoyed both with herself and Severus.
She couldn't be sure, but it looked like his lip may have quirked up in amusement at that diatribe.
Calming herself, she continued, "I'm not working for that over-glorified half-blood. I watched him grow into the thing that he is today. I seen the havoc that evil wizards have wrought before."
"I watched Saruman scorch his way across the Middle East during the Crusades. I saw the terror that was Midragolia and her legion of vampires. I saw Grindewald's rampage, the bodies he left in ditches as the muggles fought their Great War. I'm afraid, though, that Morgan LaFay is a little before my time." She added the last with a conciliatory smile.
"I fear that Voldemort may be worse than them. Of course, it would be a close race. They were all ambitious, powerful, sadistic, and, of course, absolutely insane. But, I was never pulled to help the living before. These last years…" Elena words drifted off as she searched to explain how she felt.
Finally, she began again. "This is something that I must do. I cannot explain why. I don't understand it myself. This need inside me has grown until it feels like it will rip me apart."
Her eyes lost their frightening intensity as she continued, "So I decided to make myself known to the living for the first time in a millennium."
With a soft smile, she confided, "Believe me, it was not easy to do. I haven't been visible for Merlin only knows how long. I thought I might have forgotten how to manifest."
He was still looking at Elena with skepticism, but she thought that he seemed slightly more relaxed. She was absolutely sure she had made headway.
Until he spoke.
"I don't believe a bloody word you said. Get out of my chambers before I flue Ghost Corp. and hire a coven to exorcize you." His eyes were steely as he issued his threat.
Elena was stunned for a moment, but fury trickled in and replaced that emotion within seconds. "You utter bastard. You'll choke on your words when Voldemort slaughters Dumbledore and turns your sorry ass over to Dementors. I wouldn't help you now if my unlife depended on it!"
As she shouted at Severus the temperature in the room dropped drastically and a small breeze appeared. It soon grew to a mini-whirlwind, sweeping books from his shelves and plucking up scrolls, tossing them about the room. Severus registered surprise as he quickly stood up trying to grab some of his papers as they flew past his face.
As suddenly as the chaos began, it ended. Books and scrolls, quills and ink pots lay scattered across the floor.
When Severus glanced up from the mess on his rug Elena stood only inches away from him. She had floated off the ground, so that they now stood eye to eye. Completely undisturbed by the storm she had conjured, her gaze bore into him. "You will regret this, Severus Snape," she whispered, and her voice was like death.
Gliding from the room, she passed through the door and out of his sight. As she drifted away the temperature began to rise.
Despite the return of warmth Severus continued to shiver.
**********
Thank you to those of you who reviewed. The few, the proud…
Don't worry. Severus and Elena aren't done with each other yet.
I'll post another chapter soon