I don't own Harry Potter, Hogwarts, etc, blah blah, but I do own the original characters (now isn't that funny?) Don't flame, because flaming is immature and will just make me think you're not worth listening to. Do review, because it will make me happy, and hopefully will be useful in improving the story. And yes, I really do use this blurb at the beginning of every chapter! Wow…isn't that weird?
Kiora sat huddled in the window seat of his tower residence, tears leaking out from his eyes. That was a dirty trick Professor Snape had pulled. Although it made sense given his situation. He obviously wanted to know how Kiora was able to withstand the myriad attacks Snape had unleashed. Snape couldn't have known what memories the legilimens spell would call up, Kiora realized. On the other hand, if even a fraction of that particular memory slipped past Kiora's shields, Snape would probably be catatonic for days. Served him right. Snape was wily, that was certain, but he was not an extraordinary wizard. Kiora had merely been deflecting the power from Snape's attacks to other locations, or absorbing it when possible. That fireball for instance, had boiled off a goodly amount of water from the lake- and it still had penetrated Kiora's shields enough to feel. Kiora wiped a tear from beneath his eye and flicked it to the floor, where it shattered. He hadn't felt this awful for at least a century. He wished he could forget that awful day.
But would you really want to forget?
Well…no. But it is…a painful memory.
Worse than-
Undoubtedly. Remember, I've done that. Sort of.
You should sleep you know. Class tomorrow.
I don't think so. The students can have a break. I can't teach like this.
Why not?
Well, there's the eyes, Kiora pointed to the reflection of his eyes in the windowpanes, pupils still streaked with crimson tendrils, which alone would cause the students to ask questions, and then there's the fact that anyone with even the slightest gift for empathy would know that I'm currently reliving the single worst moment of my life.
Point taken. A rippling passed across Kiora's entire body, the same as the one he had experienced near the beginning of the year.
Then there's that. Which I think I know what it is, and dearly hope doesn't get worse.
Oh my. Yes, that could be problematic.
" 'Class is cancelled today.' That's all it says!" Hermione complained. "No explanation at all!"
"You know, most people are happy when a class is cancelled." Ron commented off-handedly. Harry nodded agreement, but said nothing. He had the deep in thought or day dreaming look. He was still contemplating that Sinavre had cried tears that were definitely NOT human, since water did not shatter, unless it was frozen. The tear fragments had not yet melted, so Harry assumed that they were not ice- despite the fact that the pieces remained extremely cold. He supposed that it could be some sort of strange curse, but that seemed unlikely. He'd told neither Hermione nor Ron about the tear, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to.
"Perhaps Sinavre is simply very tired from the duel." Harry suggested.
"He didn't look like he was working very hard…." Ron replied. Harry said nothing. He knew what the legilimens spell could do to someone, and he presumed that it had brought some horrible memory to the surface of Sinavre's mind, and that that was the real reason for the cancelled class. The topic of conversation drifted, and eventually landed on Professor Snape.
"I've heard he's still unconscious." Ron gleefully proclaimed.
"Whatever Sinavre did to him when he tried legilimens must have been frightful." Hermione mused.
"Either that or what he saw." Harry's comment stopped the conversation short. Hermione and Ron considered this new idea.
"That would have to be…something….really awful…to do that to Snape…." Ron trailed off. The implications of what sort of memory could be lurking inside of their newest teacher's skull was beginning to upset them. Except for Harry, who already didn't really trust Sinavre much, if only because of his odd feelings about the man-person, since Harry wasn't so sure about Sinavre's humanity after the tear incident. The trio returned to the Griffindor commons in silence. Harry resolved to investigate Kiora's personal quarters.
Harry chose a day when he was free and Sinavre still had classes, in hopes of getting in and out of the teacher's quarters undetected. He was taking the invisibility cloak with him as well on the off chance that Sinavre got back before Harry was through. He quietly left his dorm, hoping to go without Ron following him. Not surprisingly, Ron noticed and inquired where Harry was off to. The answer was of course, not the truth and something harmless enough, but the invisibility cloak discreetly clutched under one of Harry's arm was very much give-away. Ron jumped up and followed Harry, leaving his homework scattered across his bed.
"You're up to something!" Harry opened his mouth to speak, but was not given the chance. "And I'm going with you."
"Fine." Harry responded, annoyed, and having long ago realized the futility of attempting to deny Ron's company. As they moved into continually less familiar territory of the castle, Ron's face portrayed increasing puzzlement. Eventually, Ron simply had to ask.
"Where, exactly, are we going Harry?"
"Sinavre's rooms."
"How do you know where they are?"
"I followed him."
"Oh…and he didn't notice-ah, the cloak, of course." Harry nodded and continued to lead the way up a spiral staircase. The stair soon opened out onto circular space with several doors set into the walls. Harry walked confidently towards one, and tried to pull it open. It was, not surprisingly, locked.
"Alohamora." Harry's spell seemed to have no effect. He was about to try again when he heard a faint click. Harry tried the door again, and it swung open. He peered inside cautiously, but saw no one. He stepped in, Ron on his heels.
The room they had entered seemed to be a library of sorts. There was a large window and windows seat occupying most of one wall, and cherry-wood bookshelves covered the rest, with the exception of the doors of course. Several plush chairs faced a simplistic but dazzling desk, also of cherry wood. The desk was cluttered with papers, open books and several ink wells. Some of the bookshelves housed unusual artifacts, one of which attracted Harry's eye. An enormous black claw lay on one of the shelves, easily a foot long, perhaps more. He reached out to touch it, but thought better of that action as he was a few inches from it.
"Harry, come and look at this." Ron stood by the desk, on the side where a guest would sit, staring at the text in one of the books. Harry crossed the room. The text in the book was hand-written, and assuredly not English. In fact, it wasn't even the Arabic alphabet. The character were all very different from one another, leading Harry to believe the language was like some of the eastern languages, where each symbol was a word as opposed to a part of one. As Harry rounded the desk to get a better look at the books, he saw a creature on the chair that made him gasp in surprise. It looked vaguely snake-ish, except that it was translucent and faintly luminous. It stirred, apparently awakened by Harry's gasp. What must have been an eyelid opened, and an eerie solid, glowing blue, eye stared into Harry's green for a brief second.
Then the creature shot into the air and out the door. Harry and Ron both gaped even after it was out the door.
Kiora was walking out of his last class of the day, which he had dismissed early, when he saw a streak of blue light zooming through the hall towards him. His eyebrows rose. The snake-like creature twined about his neck gently and tugged at the band holding Kiora's hair back in a utilitarian tail. He sighed, and removed the band. The creature immediately dove into the cascade of white hair, apparently pleased. Kiora, a little annoyed at his pets escape, headed back to his room with unusual speed. He wanted to know how Aya had managed to get out, and why she was so agitated.
Kiora was soon mounting the long spiral steps up to his rooms. Aya's head was near his ear, still hidden in his hair, but she could probably see out. Kiora didn't quite understand how she managed to stay in his hair even when he was walking, but he supposed it shouldn't be difficult, since she weighed nearly nothing. When he reached the landing at the top of the stairs, he found the door to his rooms closed, which would make it very difficult for Aya to escape. His pet stirred, her agitation returning. Kiora was getting vague mental images of an open door and something green and scary, but that was about it. Aya was intelligent, but only to a degree. She wasn't very good at understanding abstract concepts. Perhaps somewhere on the level of a very young child. Kiora grasped the door handle, but did not hear the click of the lock opening that should have sounded as soon as his hand touched the metal. His eyes narrowed, and he swung the door open quickly.
Harry and Ron, huddled underneath the cloak, were just about to open the door and return downstairs, when they heard footsteps. They had decided that the creature's departure might alert Sinavre to something amiss, and were about to leave, Harry having conducted enough snooping to be satisfied for the time being. The backpedaled from the door as they heard the steps stop. The door swung open and they saw Sinavre's face go from narrow eyed and suspicious to being cheerily amused. He looked directly at them, and Harry felt surprisingly akin to when Dumbledore did that….
"Take off the cloak Harry. It isn't doing you much good at the moment." Professor Sinavre closed and locked the door behind him and sat in one of the four chairs facing the desk in a rough semicircle. Ron and Harry gave each other despairing looks before shedding their last vestige of protection. "Sit." Sinavre waved at the plush chairs. Sinavre smiled at the two students' looks of trepidation. "I'm not going to bite. Really." Harry and Ron reluctantly sat down. "I figured I might find you here at some point Harry, after you followed me home once. I can see through that cloak, just to make things perfectly clear. So, why exactly, did you decide that it was necessary to explore my quarters? You could have just asked you know." The snake-thing poked her head through Sinavres's hair. When it saw Harry, it darted back. Sinavre whispered something that neither Harry nor Ron could hear, and the strange snake reappeared.
The creature slowly extended itself towards Harry, retreating rapidly all the way into Sinavre's hair if Harry made any quick movements. It eventually made it near his face, still jerking away a little if he moved too much. The closeness of the creature gave Harry new opportunity to see exactly what it was. It was generally shaped like a snake, especially its head, although it had delicate spike like things growing out and back from the back of its head. Its body was covered with hundreds, if not thousands, of tiny clear feathers, which rippled in unison to propel the creature through the air. Its eyes seemed less threatening now then they had before, perhaps because of its shy nature.
"This is Aya, my pet. She's a little shy. She likes to be scratched under her jaw." Harry reached slowly towards Aya, who drew away a little at first, before apparently deciding that Harry wasn't going to hurt her. As he scratched, Aya's lids closed over her solid blue eyes. When Harry stopped, Aya looked at him for a while, entreating him to keep scratching. When he didn't, Aya returned to Sinavre, who absentmindedly scratched and petted her as he gently questioned the two boys.
He didn't get much out of them, since they couldn't have just told him that Harry had suspicions about him. Of course, it wasn't difficult for Kiora to guess that Harry suspected him of something, whether it be being in league with Voldemort (impossible under the Covenant of Maelith'Ra) or just general not-normalness. Kiora ended up offering to let them see him in his quarters any time, assuming of course they knocked and didn't break in if he wasn't there. Hopefully that would prevent any future snooping, and the possible danger thereby entailed for Harry and Ron.
Wow. That was a long chapter. And fun! Please review, as it will make me happilicious!