Hello! How're you all doing? ^_^ I hope I didn't make you wait too long for this chapter! Just so you know: I've finished writing the 3rd chappie of my InuYasha/SailorMoon fic! I can't wait to start posting the story!
Thanks to:
Kail Ceannai MarsMoonStar Henio Imperial Saturn Lady Light Rynn
Mademoiselle Morte SilverWingPhoenix WaterAngel1 MFlower49 Maiden Genisis GothicFairyRaven Hikari Kage Shi Eternal Salior Earth Zodiac Mayla Aino Saori
SilverBunny5 Pheniox Rose(They'll find out on their own) Kairinu Erika Katplwe
The caffiene fairy Adrelliehs
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The curse of the DADA teacher
Chapter 12: Only 2 days
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"Are you sure it was Serena, Albus? I mean, I never saw her act like this before! She hardly looked human!" asked a tensed James, while Lily preferred to stay silent and lost in her thoughts.
Fudge was standing in a corner with his arms crossed and frowning, as if he wasn't part of the conversation. But he was listening attentively and paying attention to any spilt detail.
Severus growled and burst out on James; "Don't be so stupid, Potter! It was Serena and you know it! It doesn't mean that it isn't her each time she acts differently! There's a lot of her we don't know about!"
Lily startled at the sudden outburst but regained her calm exterior quickly and continued with a hand on her chin and a serious expression; "I must side with Severus on this one, James. We already knew Serena's magic was different than ours and this knowledge doesn't date from yesterday. Remember when she beat you in the 4th year DADA class?"
Severus held a hand to stop her from saying any more and grumbled. "You don't have to remind me, how embarrassing!"
This got Ron, Hermione, and Harry's attention. "What do you mean? What happened in that class?" asked Ron, and he gulped when Snape growled an 'It's none of your business, Weasley' to him.
Sirius was about to open his mouth to tell Ron the story just to bug the potions master even more when the door of Albus' office opened with a soft creak and closed silently, making all sounds in the room stop.
"Jeez, why the sudden silence? Is there something I should know?" asked Serena with a raised eyebrow, while everyone let out the breaths they'd been holding. She marched to her comrades and slumped down ungracefully in Albus' chair with a sigh, making the old man stare at her playfully. It wasn't everyday that someone sat in the headmaster's own chair, in his presence, no less.
Serena had had the time to unwind a little from her ordeal in her private teacher's bathroom and to think carefully about the news. She lifted her gaze and it fell on Harry. Seeing his very worried eyes staring straight at her, she smiled playfully and winked, which made him relax considerably.
She felt a hand on her shoulder and broke her gaze from Harry to Severus, who was looking at her lovingly. He bent down slightly, hesitation written in his eyes, and she smiled when she understood what he wanted to do. Of course, public display of affection wasn't his forte, she remembered, and the rabbit decided to help him a little in this department.
Serena lifted her arm behind her and put one hand on Severus nape, coaxing him gently to bend down a little more. Their lips met gently, but then she gasped when he suddenly asked for entrance, making him take advantage of the gasp. Their tongues dueled but Severus proved to be more dominant this time.
She guessed the last few days had been very frustrating for him. She had hardly been there for him, *with* him, and it was starting to get to her too. Oh, how she longed for a bit of peace!
When he moved back, one hand still on her shoulder and slightly gripping, the other stroking her cheek tenderly, he couldn't help but smirk at her flushed face. And he downright chuckled when she reddened even more when she noted that everyone had seen their little display of affection. Well, except Ron, Hermione and Harry, that is.
Remus had a soft rosy hue on his cheeks and had both his hand on Ron's eyes to stop him from peering. Minerva had done the same to Hermione and Lily had entered the 'mother hen' mode and shielded Harry's eyes, much to his dismay. Sirius and James were mumbling incoherent things under their breaths, but they could see it wasn't something bad because of their flushed looks. Fudge looked ready to get out and Serena inwardly smirked. 'At least Sevie is good looking, unlike him!'
Albus chuckled at everyone's reaction until he noticed a piece of paper crumpled in his DADA teacher's hand. "Did you have a reason to come here, Serena?" he asked, pointing at the hand that held the paper.
Everyone stopped what they were doing to look at her and she sighed, slumping back in the chair with gloomy eyes. She eyed the crumpled piece of paper shortly, before she became serious and put the parchment on Albus' desk for everyone to see.
"Hogwarts will be under attack in 2 days, this means war. Voldemort will be there this time and participating" she said, and finished with an afterthought; "I'm sorry I'm the one who had to announce that, Harry. Forgive me."
Total silence met her, until they registered what she had said. Harry just looked at her without really knowing how to react while Lily gasped and embraced him fearfully. "My baby!"
Before anyone had the chance to say anything else, Fudge strolled to her, sputtering madly all the while and fisted the desk. "How can you say that?! How can you be so sure of yourself!? But most importantly; how could you ever know this *before* me?!"
Serena took his vicious outburst calmly while she sensed that Severus was about to rip the minister's throat off with his bare hands. She frowned at Fudge but willed herself to remain calm and collected. "It helps to be sure of myself when I got the confirmation directly from him."
'Though I won't say which *him*. They're already so stressed out; I can't just tell them the threat is bigger than they thought! It'll be my job to fight when the time comes…' she added mentally.
Serena eyed the parchment out the corner of her eyes and Fudge, seeing the fleeting look, took the parchment roughly and read it. His face became white and he looked horror-struck, and she couldn't help but to press the matter even more.
"As to how I got this before you, maybe that's because you're doing a lousy job as a minister and he chose someone who was actually able to make the threat real without exaggerating it. He wants a war, Fudge, not a scoop in the Daily Prophet."
Nobody had ever seen Cornelius Fudge look so livid and ready to pounce in their whole lives. Serena was sure he was going to use his wand on her until Albus looked pointedly at him and at his hand in his robe pocket, where he was fingering his wand. The minister held his breath for a second before he marched right out of the office in heavy and loud steps, banging the door behind him and making Fawkes squawk indignantly at the thunderous noise.
"Well, that was interesting." Serena deadpanned.
Sirius didn't know if he had to laugh or look dead serious, but he finally opted for the latter. "Sere, are you sure about this? You can't joke with this subject."
Serena's eyebrows creased in anger, though it was directed at You-Know-Who, not at him. "I think having a parchment appear right in front of you in the bathroom with a black feather writing the message directly under your nose helps to know it wasn't a joke, Sirius-chan" she mumbled to him.
Albus looked really alarmed for a second. "How can something appear in Hogwarts?!! I've known Tom longer than anyone here and I know he doesn't possess that kind of power!"
Serena closed her eyes to sort her thoughts. "We don't always know what he's thinking, what's he's doing, Albus. Maybe he acquired new powers…" she let her phrase trail, knowing very well what was going on.
A sour look crossed her face. 'He got new powers, alright! He traded his soul for this, and he doesn't know he's been had by the evil itself. If I'm correct, I'll have my share of fighting this remnant of Chaos by the end of the war. This may not be the original Chaos, but it's still powerful nonetheless. With all the negative emotion he'll be feeding off of Voldemort, he'll be loaded and ready to go at it!'
Her trail of thoughts was broken when Severus kissed her cheek. Everyone was gone from the office and she gave him a questioning look.
He chuckled. "You spaced out again, didn't you? Well, in any case, I'm free of my duty as a spy from now on; Albus ordered me not to go to any callings anymore. Though I doubt it will make a big difference now since I missed a lot of what Riddle has done these past few months. He hasn't told anyone anything. He's been acting weird lately so I guess this promptly announced war has something to do with it."
Serena nodded. "And the others?"
Severus looked at the door and hummed. "Albus went with Remus, Sirius and James to get some much needed help and to calm whatever mayhem that idiotic Fudge will create. Lily went back to the Gryffindor dormitory with the Golden Trio and the other teachers will be on the lookout. We'll have to move fast if we only have 2 days to prepare. The only thing is; I don't get why Voldemort would ever send a warning message. It's not his style at all…" His tone of voice was one of dread but he stopped whatever he was going to say next when he felt his girlfriend's shoulders tense under his hands and her eyes glaze over in thought again.
He started to massage her shoulder to get her attention, which worked very well, to his great pleasure. She went lax in his arms and he chuckled low in his throat, bending down to her level and whispering in her ear. "I think this means we'll have some time to ourselves, isn't this great?"
She almost moaned at his tone of voice and got up, taking Severus' hand in her and tugging him out of the office. "I don't think 'great' is the proper word for it" she said with a breathy voice. She guided them to Severus' quarters since they were far away from the students. Severus was only too happy to follow her and oblige her every demands.
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Another chapter done!
There was a little more Severus/Serena in this chappie. I know I've been lacking some scenes about them in the previous ones (It *is* supposed to be a Sev/Usa after all), but with all that's been happening, they didn't find a lot of time to be together…So now I'm allowing them a break before the war, and something else…*shhh! It's for them only to know! ^_^* (saying as a mantra: PG-13 only! PG-13 only!)
I'm also starting to write the 4th chapter of 'Through your Heart'. It's tempting to write a teaser at the end of one of the chapters of Curse, but I don't know…I don't want to spoil the surprise!
That's all for now! I hope you'll REVIEW!
Love ya all!
Eternal Cosmos ^_~