Disclaimer: See previous chapters.
A/N – Well, here we are, at it again. Here is another chapter. Chapter 10 already… interesting.
I have had a horrible day. I hope your exams go well, and that you are not locked out of your house, and that you don't develop a sinus headache that makes you forget all of the dates for your art history class. Yes, well, anyway…
Bogan – Thank you.
Sela – Yes, indeed, very interesting.
Kateri – Here you go. This should help.
litine – Cute little snakie baby. hehehe
Bleu Moon – I think lots of people are reading. My hit counts are huge. I need feedback if I'm going to improve, that's all. Yeah, I know, preaching to the choir. Definitely more Della coming right up. I believe I got the idea for the title partially from 'Primary Inversion,' the title of a wonderful hard SF novel by Catherine Asaro. Plus when a tarot card or rune stone is upside down it is considered inverted or reversed. *shrugs*
Them Girl – That is one of my favorite lines too. My Grampy was a wonderful man with a terrific sense of humor. Even when he was almost gone, his personality shone brightly through.
Corgi – Gusha is grateful that you like her writing and our sense of…something. Sanity?
Kari - *waves merrily* Hello again. I don't mind that you don't review every chapter. You are reviewing, that is enough. I'm glad you like the show…er…story, right. Shhh. Don't say that sort of thing too loud, the characters might hear you, and they don't know yet. Shhh. *winks*
*****
Harry slowed his movements as the rest of his classmates hurried to leave the year's first torturous Potions class. Ron and Hermione paused to wait for him.
"Go on to lunch." He told them. "I won't be far behind."
Ron shrugged. Hermione looked as if she wanted to say something. Then she shook her head and shepherded Ron out.
Harry packed up his things slowly. When he was the last student in the room, he approached the Potion Master's desk.
"Excuse me, sir." He began.
"What is it, Potter?" Snape looked down his long nose at the boy. "I have things to do."
Harry paused, apparently a moment too long.
"Well, have you forgotten what you were going to say?" Snape asked scathingly.
"No." Harry said. "It is just that I, well, Sirius said to ask Dumbledore. But Dumbledore told me to talk to you."
"Oh?" Snape's eyebrows rose. "About what, Potter? I haven't got all day."
"About my mother's cousin Della." Harry finally said.
Snape visibly deflated. He sank back into his chair and closed his eyes. "Della." He murmured.
Harry stood in silence, waiting for him to say more.
Snape's eyes flashed open, and he looked at Harry once more. "Well, if there is one topic I would rather avoid at all costs, that is it." The corner of his mouth twitched as if it were trying vaguely to move either up or down.
"Still," He continued. "If anyone has a right to ask me about her, it is you. Lily and Della were very close."
Snape stopped suddenly and looked around. "This is not the place for this conversation. Come with me. I will order us some lunch from the kitchen while we talk."
Harry, very surprised, returned to his desk to gather his things.
"This way, Potter." Snape swept out of the classroom, and Harry followed, trying to tuck a last quill into his bag.
To Harry's surprise, Snape did not lead him further into the dungeons. They climbed a small flight of stairs that Harry had never seen before. It ended in a blind landing. There was a single door sized painting squarely at the top of it.
It was not a portrait. In fact, it was unlike any painting Harry had ever seen in the wizarding world. It was full of moving, twisting, amorphous shapes; they undulated gracefully around a central, spiral like pillar. It was eerie, sad.
"Do you like it?" Snape asked, suddenly.
"I don't know." Harry replied, staring at it intently.
"Well, that is honesty, at least." Snape seemed amused. "Stand aside, Potter. I need to be directly in front of it."
Harry stepped back. Professor Snape stood squarely in front of the painting and stared into it. Slowly, the movement of the painting altered. A deep red circle rose to the surface of the picture plane. It took the position of a doorknob. Snape tapped it lightly with the first two fingers of his right hand. The painting swung outward and Snape led Harry inside.
"I don't suggest that you try that." Snape warned. "It is more difficult than it looks. Dumbledore knows the trick of it, but I like my privacy."
"Yes, sir." Harry agreed.
"Right, leave your things by the door and have a seat." Snape crossed to the fireplace and rang the little bell sitting there.
Harry looked around the room. If he had been asked what Professor Snape's sitting room would be like, Harry would never have described this room.
Harry entered the room slowly, trying to take it all in.
The room was bright and sunny. There was no sign of alchemical equipment anywhere. The green drapes were tied back to admit the view of a sunny courtyard. Books lined one wall. A tall cabinet dominated another.
It was a very masculine room, comfortable without clutter.
An overstuffed armchair with a matching footstool sat near the fireplace. A sofa and chairs sat in an intimate arrangement about a low table. There were no photographs displayed. On the mantle sat a row of books, propped up by bookends made of matching pieces of a large geode.
Hung above the mantle was a large abstract painting. This one was more peaceful than the one guarding the door. It had lazy, horizontal compositional lines. It was clear that the room had been decorated to complement this painting. It was mainly blues and greens, in contrast to the warmer colors of the guardian painting. It waved slightly, as if stirred by a breeze or a gentle current.
Harry sat gingerly on one of the chairs, still looking around.
A very old looking house elf appeared in answer to the summons of the little bell. Snape knelt on one knee so he was almost on eye level with the elf.
"Lunch for two, please, Humby."
"Certainly, Master Severus." The elf replied.
"How are your joints, Humby." He asked.
"Master is too kind to Humby." The elf said solemnly. "Humby is doing very well after the potion, sir. The potion is working very well."
"I am very glad to hear that, Humby." Snape said. "It will wear off in a few days. I am ordering you to tell me as soon as it does."
The elf wrinkled his nose, bowed and popped out of the room.
Snape stood and turned towards Harry, glaring.
"Try to pretend that you did not witness that, if you please. It would quite ruin my reputation if it were generally known that I am…" He grimaced, as if completely disgusted with the word he was preparing to use. "Kind to house elves, small children and dumb animals."
Harry, who was sitting with his mouth hanging open, stuttered. "Of course, sir." He swallowed. "I have only seen evidence for the first, in any case."
"Cheek, Potter, sheer cheek." Snape began pacing the room, and then seemed to change his mind. He sat abruptly in the chair opposite to Harry.
"Where to begin?" Snape fidgeted with the cuff of his sleeve. "Della was a year younger than me. A year behind me in school." Snape changed tactics suddenly. "How did you hear about her, anyway? I can't imagine Lily's sister bringing her up."
"You knew Aunt Petunia?" Harry was again startled by the revelation.
"Of course, unpleasant girl." He curled his lip in distaste. "I didn't know her well, but we met from time to time."
Harry took Della's book from his pocket and offered it for Snape's perusal. "I found this in Aunt Petunia's cellar."
Snape's jaw dropped. He blinked and stared at the book. Then he laughed, a short, harsh sound. "How the past haunts us." He murmured, not taking the book. "Let me guess, it says good luck on your N.E.W.T.s, and don't study too hard."
Harry looked at the book in his outstretched hand. "Yes, how…"
"Come now, Potter. I gave it to her. I should remember what I wrote." Snape took the book from Harry's drooping hand and opened it. He touched the words.
"Della, my flower… and she wrote her whole name here to tease me. Asphodel. How she hated that name. Her father's idea of a joke, I believe. It was a tradition along the maternal line in your family to name the daughters for flowers. Muggles of course. I only knew as far back as Della's grandmother. Jasmine Reece had two daughters, Daisy who married Herbert Evans, not a bad man for a Muggle, and Hyacinth who married Dugan Maddis, a wizard of quite good family. Daisy and Herbert had two daughters, Lily and Petunia, who you know of, I believe." Snape lifted a brow at Harry who just nodded. "Hyacinth and Dugan had a daughter, who they named Asphodel."
Harry opened his mouth as if to say something, but he closed it again and waited.
"I know, enough genealogy already." He stood suddenly and crossed to the fireplace. He plucked a book off the mantle and returned to his seat.
"I was not a cheerful sort, even as a child. I had… a difficult childhood. Especially after my mother died when I was five. Della… She could have made a stone laugh. She had a voice like an angel. In fact, she was singing the first time I met her. She was always happy. Her very presence lit up a room like a sunbeam." He shook his head. "We were opposites in many ways. For some reason, which I have never quite figured out, she decided I was worthy to be her friend. I suppose she may have felt sorry for me, at least at first."
"Master Severus?" Squeaked a voice from near the fireplace, Humby had returned. "Lunch is served, sir." The old house elf snapped his fingers and the low table between their chairs was suddenly full of food. There was hardly room for their plates. The dishes looked much fancier than the normal mid week luncheon, and Harry gawked a bit.
"Thank you, Humby," Snape said, suppressing a sigh. "You have outdone yourself again."
The elf bowed again and disappeared.
"Dig in, Potter. We are obliged to eat at least half." Snape eyed the variety. "It would not do to insult Humby. It would make him unbearable for weeks."
"Sir?" Harry asked.
"Humby is my elf. He came with me when I moved here permanently. He has known me my whole life. He has his ways." Snape began filling his plate. "Come now, Potter, don't all boys your age have a hollow leg to fill? Eat up."
Snape opened the book he had retrieved from the mantle. "This was us." He showed Harry a moving photograph.
Harry saw a dark boy in a Slytherin uniform and a girl in Ravenclaw colors. She was looking up at the boy, laughing. He wore a half smile and an attempt at a skeptical look. Harry's eyes were drawn to the girl's hair.
"It looks just like mine does now." He said, touching the top of his head. "Hers was much lighter when she was younger." Harry pulled his photograph from his pocket and handed it to Snape.
Snape stared at the motionless picture in astonishment. "Would you mind if I had this copied? If I can get it to move I will make you a copy as well."
"Sure." Harry agreed.
Snape's eyes grew distant again. "I loved Della as I have loved very few people in my life." He said. Harry seemed to be about to say something, but Snape waved him silent. "When I left school I went to work for an alchemy firm in Edinburgh. I built a life, independent of my father; which has always been important to me. A year later, Della graduated as well and we married." He smiled softly, but it faded.
"When we had been married for some time, I was drawn into the worst mistake of my life, by people I thought were my friends." He looked Harry in the eyes and added. "Do not think that I was tricked into anything. What Voldemort was promising seemed to be what I wanted at the time." He shook his head sadly.
"Della could see more clearly. She did not like what I had become. She left me within a year. I searched everywhere I could think of, but I could not find her. I started to turn to those that I thought were my friends. However, I realized quickly that I there was not one of them who I wanted in the same room as my wife." His expression showed his anguish, and Harry looked away from the intensity.
"So, I turned instead to the kindest, most trustworthy man I knew, Albus Dumbledore." Snape pushed the food around his plate more than he ate. "Dumbledore found her quickly. He told me that she had gone into hiding under a Fidelus Charm. One specifically keyed to keep her secrets against me."
Snape's jaw tensed as he clenched his teeth tightly. However, he went on. "Dumbledore informed me that she did not want to see me and that I should respect that. It was not easy for me to accept." He sat back in his chair and fell silent for a moment.
Harry kept eating.
"I became a spy for Dumbledore, deliberately placing myself in more danger than necessary on more than one occasion. I am convinced now that I succeeded for so long because I was so fearless. Not even Voldemort understood that sort of drive. He expected a spy to always be fearful of discovery. I think there were times that I would have welcomed it." His mouth twisted.
"I began writing to Della. I asked Dumbledore to deliver the letters. I do not know if she ever read them. For all I know, she burned them unread. She could be incredibly stubborn. I believe that she was living with Lily. They were always close." Snape shrugged. "Under the Fidelus Charm I could have searched their house while she stood and watched me. I never went near it."
"I heard through Dumbledore that she was expecting my child. A few months later I was told that she and the baby had both died; complications in childbirth. I threw myself even harder into my work, both in alchemy and as a spy." His mouth twisted unpleasantly.
"Then Voldemort fell. Due to you. All of the meaning in my life disappeared in an instant. I was arrested and put on trial. Dumbledore's testimony kept me from Azkaban, but I was not always grateful. The Alchemy firm would not take me back, even after I was acquitted. Something about honor and disgrace."
He paused and sipped from his glass. "I became a teacher. I do enjoy it, by the way – most of the time. Potions are my remaining passion. Without them…"
Snape looked at Harry again. "Then you came to the school. Oh how I resented even the sight of you."
"Why, sir?" Harry asked.
Snape stared intently at Harry. It was almost the malevolent glare Harry was so used to.
"You see, you lived."
*****
A/N – This line was in my head almost from the very beginning of my conceptualization of this story. I had always intended to leave it as a cliffhanger. Would that be too cruel?
Good!
Muhuhu hahaha
*I am forced to squelch Gusha's maniacal streak.*
Ooph, Gusha feels slightly deflated, and will now cry in the corner. No, she is still feeling too evil to cry!
A/N – Well, here we are, at it again. Here is another chapter. Chapter 10 already… interesting.
I have had a horrible day. I hope your exams go well, and that you are not locked out of your house, and that you don't develop a sinus headache that makes you forget all of the dates for your art history class. Yes, well, anyway…
Bogan – Thank you.
Sela – Yes, indeed, very interesting.
Kateri – Here you go. This should help.
litine – Cute little snakie baby. hehehe
Bleu Moon – I think lots of people are reading. My hit counts are huge. I need feedback if I'm going to improve, that's all. Yeah, I know, preaching to the choir. Definitely more Della coming right up. I believe I got the idea for the title partially from 'Primary Inversion,' the title of a wonderful hard SF novel by Catherine Asaro. Plus when a tarot card or rune stone is upside down it is considered inverted or reversed. *shrugs*
Them Girl – That is one of my favorite lines too. My Grampy was a wonderful man with a terrific sense of humor. Even when he was almost gone, his personality shone brightly through.
Corgi – Gusha is grateful that you like her writing and our sense of…something. Sanity?
Kari - *waves merrily* Hello again. I don't mind that you don't review every chapter. You are reviewing, that is enough. I'm glad you like the show…er…story, right. Shhh. Don't say that sort of thing too loud, the characters might hear you, and they don't know yet. Shhh. *winks*
*****
Harry slowed his movements as the rest of his classmates hurried to leave the year's first torturous Potions class. Ron and Hermione paused to wait for him.
"Go on to lunch." He told them. "I won't be far behind."
Ron shrugged. Hermione looked as if she wanted to say something. Then she shook her head and shepherded Ron out.
Harry packed up his things slowly. When he was the last student in the room, he approached the Potion Master's desk.
"Excuse me, sir." He began.
"What is it, Potter?" Snape looked down his long nose at the boy. "I have things to do."
Harry paused, apparently a moment too long.
"Well, have you forgotten what you were going to say?" Snape asked scathingly.
"No." Harry said. "It is just that I, well, Sirius said to ask Dumbledore. But Dumbledore told me to talk to you."
"Oh?" Snape's eyebrows rose. "About what, Potter? I haven't got all day."
"About my mother's cousin Della." Harry finally said.
Snape visibly deflated. He sank back into his chair and closed his eyes. "Della." He murmured.
Harry stood in silence, waiting for him to say more.
Snape's eyes flashed open, and he looked at Harry once more. "Well, if there is one topic I would rather avoid at all costs, that is it." The corner of his mouth twitched as if it were trying vaguely to move either up or down.
"Still," He continued. "If anyone has a right to ask me about her, it is you. Lily and Della were very close."
Snape stopped suddenly and looked around. "This is not the place for this conversation. Come with me. I will order us some lunch from the kitchen while we talk."
Harry, very surprised, returned to his desk to gather his things.
"This way, Potter." Snape swept out of the classroom, and Harry followed, trying to tuck a last quill into his bag.
To Harry's surprise, Snape did not lead him further into the dungeons. They climbed a small flight of stairs that Harry had never seen before. It ended in a blind landing. There was a single door sized painting squarely at the top of it.
It was not a portrait. In fact, it was unlike any painting Harry had ever seen in the wizarding world. It was full of moving, twisting, amorphous shapes; they undulated gracefully around a central, spiral like pillar. It was eerie, sad.
"Do you like it?" Snape asked, suddenly.
"I don't know." Harry replied, staring at it intently.
"Well, that is honesty, at least." Snape seemed amused. "Stand aside, Potter. I need to be directly in front of it."
Harry stepped back. Professor Snape stood squarely in front of the painting and stared into it. Slowly, the movement of the painting altered. A deep red circle rose to the surface of the picture plane. It took the position of a doorknob. Snape tapped it lightly with the first two fingers of his right hand. The painting swung outward and Snape led Harry inside.
"I don't suggest that you try that." Snape warned. "It is more difficult than it looks. Dumbledore knows the trick of it, but I like my privacy."
"Yes, sir." Harry agreed.
"Right, leave your things by the door and have a seat." Snape crossed to the fireplace and rang the little bell sitting there.
Harry looked around the room. If he had been asked what Professor Snape's sitting room would be like, Harry would never have described this room.
Harry entered the room slowly, trying to take it all in.
The room was bright and sunny. There was no sign of alchemical equipment anywhere. The green drapes were tied back to admit the view of a sunny courtyard. Books lined one wall. A tall cabinet dominated another.
It was a very masculine room, comfortable without clutter.
An overstuffed armchair with a matching footstool sat near the fireplace. A sofa and chairs sat in an intimate arrangement about a low table. There were no photographs displayed. On the mantle sat a row of books, propped up by bookends made of matching pieces of a large geode.
Hung above the mantle was a large abstract painting. This one was more peaceful than the one guarding the door. It had lazy, horizontal compositional lines. It was clear that the room had been decorated to complement this painting. It was mainly blues and greens, in contrast to the warmer colors of the guardian painting. It waved slightly, as if stirred by a breeze or a gentle current.
Harry sat gingerly on one of the chairs, still looking around.
A very old looking house elf appeared in answer to the summons of the little bell. Snape knelt on one knee so he was almost on eye level with the elf.
"Lunch for two, please, Humby."
"Certainly, Master Severus." The elf replied.
"How are your joints, Humby." He asked.
"Master is too kind to Humby." The elf said solemnly. "Humby is doing very well after the potion, sir. The potion is working very well."
"I am very glad to hear that, Humby." Snape said. "It will wear off in a few days. I am ordering you to tell me as soon as it does."
The elf wrinkled his nose, bowed and popped out of the room.
Snape stood and turned towards Harry, glaring.
"Try to pretend that you did not witness that, if you please. It would quite ruin my reputation if it were generally known that I am…" He grimaced, as if completely disgusted with the word he was preparing to use. "Kind to house elves, small children and dumb animals."
Harry, who was sitting with his mouth hanging open, stuttered. "Of course, sir." He swallowed. "I have only seen evidence for the first, in any case."
"Cheek, Potter, sheer cheek." Snape began pacing the room, and then seemed to change his mind. He sat abruptly in the chair opposite to Harry.
"Where to begin?" Snape fidgeted with the cuff of his sleeve. "Della was a year younger than me. A year behind me in school." Snape changed tactics suddenly. "How did you hear about her, anyway? I can't imagine Lily's sister bringing her up."
"You knew Aunt Petunia?" Harry was again startled by the revelation.
"Of course, unpleasant girl." He curled his lip in distaste. "I didn't know her well, but we met from time to time."
Harry took Della's book from his pocket and offered it for Snape's perusal. "I found this in Aunt Petunia's cellar."
Snape's jaw dropped. He blinked and stared at the book. Then he laughed, a short, harsh sound. "How the past haunts us." He murmured, not taking the book. "Let me guess, it says good luck on your N.E.W.T.s, and don't study too hard."
Harry looked at the book in his outstretched hand. "Yes, how…"
"Come now, Potter. I gave it to her. I should remember what I wrote." Snape took the book from Harry's drooping hand and opened it. He touched the words.
"Della, my flower… and she wrote her whole name here to tease me. Asphodel. How she hated that name. Her father's idea of a joke, I believe. It was a tradition along the maternal line in your family to name the daughters for flowers. Muggles of course. I only knew as far back as Della's grandmother. Jasmine Reece had two daughters, Daisy who married Herbert Evans, not a bad man for a Muggle, and Hyacinth who married Dugan Maddis, a wizard of quite good family. Daisy and Herbert had two daughters, Lily and Petunia, who you know of, I believe." Snape lifted a brow at Harry who just nodded. "Hyacinth and Dugan had a daughter, who they named Asphodel."
Harry opened his mouth as if to say something, but he closed it again and waited.
"I know, enough genealogy already." He stood suddenly and crossed to the fireplace. He plucked a book off the mantle and returned to his seat.
"I was not a cheerful sort, even as a child. I had… a difficult childhood. Especially after my mother died when I was five. Della… She could have made a stone laugh. She had a voice like an angel. In fact, she was singing the first time I met her. She was always happy. Her very presence lit up a room like a sunbeam." He shook his head. "We were opposites in many ways. For some reason, which I have never quite figured out, she decided I was worthy to be her friend. I suppose she may have felt sorry for me, at least at first."
"Master Severus?" Squeaked a voice from near the fireplace, Humby had returned. "Lunch is served, sir." The old house elf snapped his fingers and the low table between their chairs was suddenly full of food. There was hardly room for their plates. The dishes looked much fancier than the normal mid week luncheon, and Harry gawked a bit.
"Thank you, Humby," Snape said, suppressing a sigh. "You have outdone yourself again."
The elf bowed again and disappeared.
"Dig in, Potter. We are obliged to eat at least half." Snape eyed the variety. "It would not do to insult Humby. It would make him unbearable for weeks."
"Sir?" Harry asked.
"Humby is my elf. He came with me when I moved here permanently. He has known me my whole life. He has his ways." Snape began filling his plate. "Come now, Potter, don't all boys your age have a hollow leg to fill? Eat up."
Snape opened the book he had retrieved from the mantle. "This was us." He showed Harry a moving photograph.
Harry saw a dark boy in a Slytherin uniform and a girl in Ravenclaw colors. She was looking up at the boy, laughing. He wore a half smile and an attempt at a skeptical look. Harry's eyes were drawn to the girl's hair.
"It looks just like mine does now." He said, touching the top of his head. "Hers was much lighter when she was younger." Harry pulled his photograph from his pocket and handed it to Snape.
Snape stared at the motionless picture in astonishment. "Would you mind if I had this copied? If I can get it to move I will make you a copy as well."
"Sure." Harry agreed.
Snape's eyes grew distant again. "I loved Della as I have loved very few people in my life." He said. Harry seemed to be about to say something, but Snape waved him silent. "When I left school I went to work for an alchemy firm in Edinburgh. I built a life, independent of my father; which has always been important to me. A year later, Della graduated as well and we married." He smiled softly, but it faded.
"When we had been married for some time, I was drawn into the worst mistake of my life, by people I thought were my friends." He looked Harry in the eyes and added. "Do not think that I was tricked into anything. What Voldemort was promising seemed to be what I wanted at the time." He shook his head sadly.
"Della could see more clearly. She did not like what I had become. She left me within a year. I searched everywhere I could think of, but I could not find her. I started to turn to those that I thought were my friends. However, I realized quickly that I there was not one of them who I wanted in the same room as my wife." His expression showed his anguish, and Harry looked away from the intensity.
"So, I turned instead to the kindest, most trustworthy man I knew, Albus Dumbledore." Snape pushed the food around his plate more than he ate. "Dumbledore found her quickly. He told me that she had gone into hiding under a Fidelus Charm. One specifically keyed to keep her secrets against me."
Snape's jaw tensed as he clenched his teeth tightly. However, he went on. "Dumbledore informed me that she did not want to see me and that I should respect that. It was not easy for me to accept." He sat back in his chair and fell silent for a moment.
Harry kept eating.
"I became a spy for Dumbledore, deliberately placing myself in more danger than necessary on more than one occasion. I am convinced now that I succeeded for so long because I was so fearless. Not even Voldemort understood that sort of drive. He expected a spy to always be fearful of discovery. I think there were times that I would have welcomed it." His mouth twisted.
"I began writing to Della. I asked Dumbledore to deliver the letters. I do not know if she ever read them. For all I know, she burned them unread. She could be incredibly stubborn. I believe that she was living with Lily. They were always close." Snape shrugged. "Under the Fidelus Charm I could have searched their house while she stood and watched me. I never went near it."
"I heard through Dumbledore that she was expecting my child. A few months later I was told that she and the baby had both died; complications in childbirth. I threw myself even harder into my work, both in alchemy and as a spy." His mouth twisted unpleasantly.
"Then Voldemort fell. Due to you. All of the meaning in my life disappeared in an instant. I was arrested and put on trial. Dumbledore's testimony kept me from Azkaban, but I was not always grateful. The Alchemy firm would not take me back, even after I was acquitted. Something about honor and disgrace."
He paused and sipped from his glass. "I became a teacher. I do enjoy it, by the way – most of the time. Potions are my remaining passion. Without them…"
Snape looked at Harry again. "Then you came to the school. Oh how I resented even the sight of you."
"Why, sir?" Harry asked.
Snape stared intently at Harry. It was almost the malevolent glare Harry was so used to.
"You see, you lived."
*****
A/N – This line was in my head almost from the very beginning of my conceptualization of this story. I had always intended to leave it as a cliffhanger. Would that be too cruel?
Good!
Muhuhu hahaha
*I am forced to squelch Gusha's maniacal streak.*
Ooph, Gusha feels slightly deflated, and will now cry in the corner. No, she is still feeling too evil to cry!