~ Mage Kitty
A/N: And here is the next installment of my shit ass story... Have fun...
Romm: I'd strangle my mom as well... Along with other various forms of torture ^^ Thanks for reading and reviewing ^^
Leitheindel: Yes, Minerva is very mean ^^ *evil grin* You're not the only reviewer now ^^ I feel so happy ^^ My Beta Readers have already read then next, er, million chapters... I have nearly up to the Start of Term Feast (or whatever) written out on paper... So yeah. I read OotP in two days, too. Would have been done sooner, but Crimson was at my cottage the day I got the book. So I was only able to read a few hundred pages. My birthday was about ten days after OotP came out, so guess what my present was? I always skep the important parts, too ^^ You get a long reply thing for a long review ^^ Great, now I'm writing crappy sentences... I'm reading, maybe 100? Fics at the moment. Most of the HP ones never update... It's soo annoying. But I shouldn't be talking... I've got another computer set up in the house now, so I'll have more computer time = more writing time = more updates. That should keep you happy for awhile... Now I'll stop babbling... I hope...
Larthegreat: As long as you didn't forget about it completely, yeah! I'll keep it up... Just won't update more than once a week... ^^
Disclaimer: I don't own Severus and Co. I only own René and her mother. And the geese.
*~*~*~*~* Chapter 7 – Glamour *~*~*~*~*
To René, the next few days passed like a blur. Well, she was programming a Port-Key to properly work on Hogwarts Grounds. Ever since everyone recognized that Voldemort was really and truly back, Hogwart's security was enforced much harder. Port-Keys no longer work in Hogwarts, unless you have the four Heads of the Houses, the Headmaster and the Defence Against the Dark Art professor's support. Everyone in question agreed quite quickly, well, except for Severus and René. Severus did not, and still doesn't, want that 'Mad Physic' to even work at Hogwarts, let alone have special privileges. He said a lot, under his breath, about 'Stupid Canadians'. Unfortunately, René heard him and he ended up with hot pink hair. René was relatively unharmed. René didn't really want her mother to work at the same place as her, but when she realized that if her mom had that Port-Key, she wouldn't bother her a night... So she quickly agreed and offered to make the Port-Key. Not her most brilliant idea yet...
"Bloody Hell!" René grumbled when, instead of landing in her mother's office, she landed in Severus' office.
"It seems like someone has gained a liking to our swears," Severus, still with pink hair, remarked.
"More swears, more fun," René shrugged, then sat down on a chair. She glared at the small gold locket in her hands.
"It just won't work," Severus remarked.
"Yeah, maybe because someone doesn't want the Port-Key to work," René grumbled.
"Give me one reason for me to accept the Port-Key," Severus straightened a few papers on his desk.
"It will get Mom out of Hogwarts for about fourteen hours a day. I'm sure you can figure out that that is more than half a day," René explained, "Why did you think I agreed?"
"Hmmm... That's a good reason. And since Albus seems set on having your mother as the Divination's professor, we aren't going to be able to get rid of her."
"So you agree to the Port-Key thing?" René asked.
"Yes," Severus said. The locket glowed for a moment, then turned back to normal.
"Tarot Cards," René intoned, completely bored. She disappeared. Severus calmly walked out of his office and into his room. He touched a particular stone with his wand and murmured:
"Ellen Remfair's Office," the stone wall turned silvery and transparent as he stepped through it and out into the Divination's professor's office.
"IT WORKED!" René yelled and flung her arms around Severus' neck.
"I can see that," Severus said, taking her hands away from him, "All we need is your mother to walk in with you like that," he explained.
"Whoops... heh heh. Lack of sleep," René grinned and blushed, "Hey! How did you get here so quick?"
"In my room there is a wall that changes into a portal that can take me to any part of the castle."
"You've got to show me that!" René's eyes sparkled and her skin faded back to a normal colour.
"Give that Port-Key to your mother. Hopefully she will go off and use it right away," Severus said. Ellen had been following René or Severus around for the past few days with 'hint, hint, nudge, nudge' motions to either Severus or René. It was driving the two of them off the wall. Especially when they were together, which was quite often, considering that Severus is the best friend René had at Hogwarts, and René is Severus' only friend. It is quite hard to hold a decent conversation with someone trying to make you kiss, or at least take the hand, of the person you are talking to. They had resorted to locking themselves in each other's rooms because Ellen didn't know either of their passwords. Unfortunately, that also played into Ellen's' wish for them to be alone together (hint, hint, nudge, nudge).
Severus had been getting stares from various professors from spending so much time locked up in either René's or his own rooms. Of course, in his rooms, that was common. But with a young witch in them quite often... They both thought that Ellen wasn't the only one convinced that they should be together, either. Minerva was still convinced that they are already together, Severus had suspicions that Albus had hired René for many reasons, one of them being her becoming a friend to him. René thought that all of the staff member wanted/thought they were together. Either she is overly paranoid, or her suspicions were well placed, especially since every time they walked into the Staff Room or anywhere with more than one person there, they would stop talking and look guilty at them.
Severus' unusually good hearing told him that they were saying things such as 'how can she stand him?' and 'they have to be together! If they aren't already, they will be!' Can't a social reject have one friend in peace? Hell, if he was friends with a guy, the staff gossip would say that he was gay! Severus knew the answer to the first question asked and it was that, in some ways, she's a kindred spirit. They both were defencive; very few people knew what they truly thought on an important matter; both can be major asses, often; both were stubborn; both like arguing... But if they were completely the same, life wouldn't be much fun. René grew up in a loving, non-Death Eater environment, he definitely didn't. René was cheerful and, at times, an optimist. Severus was grouchy and a pessimist. They both sort of complimented each other. Well, except for the fact that they spend most of their time arguing over nothing...
"Hello? HELLO? EARTH TO SEVERUS?" René yelled, jolting Severus out of his thoughts.
"Hmm, sorry. What did you say?" Severus asked.
"Call the Daily Prophet! Professor Severus S. Snape said he was sorry!" René grinned.
"As long as it is not Skeeter you are talking about," Severus said, exercising his rarely seen wry humour, "She'll say that I said that I am sorry on a bent knee or something twice as exaggerated," René laughed.
"And... If you did do that and my mother walked in!" René laughed.
"Ah, she'll think that I'm proposing or something," Severus drawled.
"God that would be embarrassing!" René said.
"What would be embarrassing?" Ellen, ever curious, asked.
"Nothing concerning you. I'm done with the Port-Key," René tossed the locked to Ellen, "It works."
"Let's see! Tea Leaves!" Ellen said and disappeared.
"Nice command words. 'Tarot Cards' and 'Tea Leaves'," Severus remarked.
"What else would you get from a physic," René shrugged.
"Thank God that she can't read minds," Severus said.
"Yeah, that would be creepy! I wouldn't even be able to think rebellious thoughts," René said.
"Rebellious thoughts?" Severus asked.
"Most often carried out into actions," René shrugged.
"What?" Severus asked. René drew and pointed her wand at herself and said:
"Latin for finish!" René's appearance had changed slightly. On her right ear, there were five earrings, on the left, three. Her left eyebrow was also pierced. The sleeves of her robe was pushed up and Severus could see a tattoo of a snake eating it's tail circling her upper right arm. On the left arm, there were three Egyptian style wristbands nearly up to her elbow.
"And that's only half of it," René grinned.
"More tattoos?" Severus asked, completely unperturbed by her sudden revelation.
"Yup. I'll show you later. Like maybe my room," René said.
"Someplace your mother can't get in," Severus nodded. They both turned and wandered down to René's rooms. They were closer than the dungeons.
"Linkin Park Rocks," René said to her dragon. Her and Severus walked into her office. She waved her wand and she was wearing a high cut top and low cut shorts. A tattoo of a sun circled her belly button and a lion rampant rose on her left leg. On her right ankle, nearly up to her knees, were Egyptian anklets.
"You like Egypt," it was a statement, not a question.
"Egyptians are cool," René grinned.
"I must admit, I do have some glamour charms on myself as well," Severus admitted. What was the harming in showing the real him to his best friend?
"Ooo! Take them off! I wanna see!" René jumped up and down excitedly. Severus pointed his wand at himself and said:
"Finite Incantum sp!" the change in Severus' appearance was very little. His hair wasn't as greasy; it just looked like he hadn't washed it for a few days, his teeth were no longer as messed, his skin was just pale now, he had much less wrinkles. All in all, he looked much younger. He still looked too old for thirty-six, but looked much better.
Oooo, he looks good! Or maybe it's just a comparison to how he was before. Anything would look hott compared to Severus' glamour. Wait. I just associated 'hott' with Severus. No. Can't think that way. He's a colleague; office relationships are not good. No, not good at all... Can't be mooning over you best friend. I am exaggerating... I hope... René thought, then frantically hoped that she didn't say that out loud like her 'English accents' comment. Severus didn't look like her heard her say anything, but he was superb at hiding his emotions. René just stared at Severus for a few long moments. Severus couldn't help but smile a bit at her shocked and, dare I say it, slightly longing stare. Severus had seen enough smitten teenagers in his life to know whether or not someone liked another person. What he felt about René's stare was something even he could not comprehend. Severus stared back at René.
"I guess I sorta half expected you to charm your appearance for the 'evil teacher' charade," René finally said.
"Who said it was a charade?" Severus said softly. René visibly swallowed and shivered very slightly, "I don't really think you expected a change, going by the fact you stared at me for quite some time," Severus stepped closer to the witch. René blushed and stepped back, slightly unsettled by his closeness. René's eyes' narrowed and her face took on a more Slytherin-ish one.
"If you leave all of your glamour off, I leave off mine," René grinned.
"Fine. I'm not the one who is going to get murdered their mother. Mine would be happy," Severus shrugged. It was an excuse to drop that crutch anyway. She looks pretty damn good in those clothes. NO! Must not begin to like René that way... Only makes the Mad Physic happier.
"René? Are you in there?" Ellen's voice said from outside the dragon painting.
"No cheating," Severus smirked at René. René's glare had an obvious tint of fear. She then waved her wand so she was wearing the same robes as before.
"Yeah, I'm here," René opened up the painting.
"Ah, René, I just wanted to say... WHAT DID YOU DO TO YOURSELF?!?" Ellen shrieked. It was a rhetorical question.
"Got a few more earrings and some tattoos," René answered anyway with a roll of her eyes.
"HOW COULD YOU?!?" another rhetorical question.
"I've had them for ages, Mom," René said. Severus loosed a few snickers. A major lapse.
"YOU HAVE BETRAYED MY TRUST!" Ellen continued ranting.
"I'm thirty, Mother, an adult. You have no control over me or my actions, legally or otherwise," René said patiently.
"That doesn't mean anything! Oh, I'm leaving!" Ellen wailed, then left.
Severus paused, then said, "That was funny."
"I hate to say it, but I agree," René said, grinning. They both looked at each other, and René felt the beginnings of hysterical laughter coming on. Unable to control herself, she collapsed laughing into Severus' arms. A small crowd, consisting of the remaining Heads of the Houses, Albus, Hagrid, Mathew Goodman (the Muggle Studies professor) and Argus Filch, gathered around René's door staring at René laughing in Severus' arms. Severus' grin was a sight to behold. Ellen marched back.
"HOW CAN YOU FIND THAT FUNNY?!?" She cried, then turned away.
"Easily," Severus said.
"What is so funny to have Severus grinning?" Minerva asked Albus.
"I don't know. I'm sure René will tell us after she stops her hysterical laughter fit," Albus replied.
"Why am I laughing? It isn't even that funny!" René gasped.
"How would I know? I'm not you," Severus replied.
"Latin for somber!" Filius Flitwick said, his wand pointing at René. She instantly stopped laughing.
"So, what is it that is so funny?" Minerva asked.
"Mom's reaction to my appearance," René shrugged.
"It was vaguely amusing to see the Mad Physic yell 'you have betrayed my trust' to René. You would think that she had lost it years ago," Severus said blandly.
"The first time I lost her trust was when I was five, stole her wand and cursed my brother's goose," René smiled, thinking back to that moment.
"You cursed a goose when you were five?" Severus stared at her.
"Well, I didn't know that it was a curse. It was just a few words and a swish of a stick that my Uncle taught me to me. I'm sure you poisoned something when you were young," René smiled.
"Actually, now that I think about it, I did. I fed my older brother's rat a mixture of cleaning potions mixed together. I don't remember what happened to that rat," Severus smiled, "My brother didn't talk to me for weeks after that incident," René and Severus snickered to themselves as they remembered their adventures as little kids.
"I don't blame Ellen for freaking out," Minerva whispered to Albus, "She looks like some rebel teenager."
"It suits her more than her glamour. It's more... her," Albus shrugged.
"I still think she looks crazy," Minerva said, "Severus looks a little different as well."
"Ah, yes. He has finally taken of that glamour. I was beginning to wonder if he forgot that he even had it on," Albus said.
"I wonder how long he'll keep it off for," Minerva mused.
"Probably as long as René keeps hers off," Albus said, then, to the rest of the staff, "Okay everybody! The show is over. Go back to whatever you were doing before!" Filius Flitwick, Serena Sprout, Hagrid, Mathew Goodman, and Argus Filch slowly drifted away till only Minerva, Albus, Severus and René were left.
"How long do you think your mother will stay mad at you for?" Severus asked René.
"I'm running for two days," René said.
"My money is on five," Severus said.
"One week," Minerva said.
"Four days," Albus said.
*~*~*~*~*
A/N: And here is chapter... something or rather... I'm typing this on a computer that doesn't have access to the Internet, so I can't check there, and this is saved on a Floppy Disk, so I can't check my archives. Ah well, at least I have a computer to type with now...
*stretches, then silently pads out*
~ Mage Kitty =^.^=
