Disclaimer: J. K. Rowling owns Harry Potter along with Scholastic and whoever else. I only own my characters so DON'T SUE!!!
Six Feet and Fallingby Saerry Snape
Chapter 12 :: October 31, 1995 :: Hogwarts – Before/During/After Halloween Feast
"Hey, Shey."
Sheyne looked up from her Charms paper as Stephen walked across the common room to where she sat alone. She answered him without looking up or stopping her frantically scribbling quill.
"I'll be with you in a minute, little bro. This thing is due tomorrow and I really don't need to do worse in Charms than I'm already doing."
Scribble…scribble…scribble…
"There!" declared the dark-haired girl a few minutes later, leaning back and grinning at the sandy-haired boy. "All finished. So…what brings you to the marvels of the Griffin's Tower, Ste?"
"I wanted to ask you a question," replied Stephen. His pale green eyes darted about the common room, causing Sheyne to arch an eyebrow at him.
"And apparently wanting to do a Bond impersonation. What's with the secrecy?"
Stephen grabbed a chair and turned it around, sitting on it and putting his arm along the back. He softly began, "Well, I wanted to ask you about a…ah…a charm."
Sheyne leaned her elbows on the table (carefully avoiding the still wet ink on her Charms paper). "Lots of charms, little bro. Any in particular?"
"Ah…" Stephen's eyes darted about the room again. "One to tell you who someone's parents are."
"Like one of those DNA matching thingies? Well, I can't say I've come across it… I could ask Hermione…"
"NO!"
Sheyne blinked at her adopted brother.
"And why not?" she asked. Eyes narrowing slightly, she hissed, "What are you looking for, Stephen?"
"I…I can't tell you."
"Piss and sod. You want me to help you, then you've got to tell me what the hell's going on. Who are you trying to find the parents for?"
Stephen looked shifty for a moment then sighed, shoulders slumping.
"Harry."
Sheyne's eyes flew wide. "Harry? Ste, I think you've gone a little daft. Everyone knows who's Harry's parents are."
"Shey, haven't you noticed that some people don't recognize him, when they're supposed to? I mean…like that Malfoy fellow when he was grating on me. Harry walked right up to him and told him to shove off in not so few words and Malfoy didn't even recognize him. And you told me that the two of them have been rivals ever since they met."
"That's what I heard. And people can change so much that someone won't recognize them right off the bat."
"Shey, you're not listening to me!" snapped Stephen, banging his fist on the table. Sheyne was surprised. Generally she was the one to bash something, not her little brother.
"Okay, Ste," she said, "I'll listen. Won't say I'll believe, but I'll listen."
"Good," said Stephen shortly. "Now, look…where's Harry? Okay, look at him."
Sheyne looked over to where Harry and Ron were playing Wizard's Chess on the other side of the common room.
"I'm looking."
"Anything about him look familiar?"
"Looks like Harry. Ste, what are you…"
"NO! You're still not listening. Look for something that looks like someone you know. Someone who saved us."
Sheyne looked sharply at the boy sitting beside her. What was he implying?
"Do it," he insisted.
"Alright."
And Sheyne looked again. But this time she did as Stephen had said. She looked harder, she looked for something (as odd as she thought the suggestion) for something that looked like her father.
"I see a few things that remind me of Papa, but nothing serious."
Stephen sighed and shook his head. Then he asked, "Will you still look up the charm? And see what it does if you find it?"
"Ste…"
"Please, Shey. Humor me."
Sheyne sighed and gave the fourteen-year-old a sideways look.
"Alright," she said. "I'll look for it."
Stephen smiled and said, "Thanks, sis."
"Yeah, yeah… C'mon. The Halloween Feast is about to start and I want you to sit with us. Mione says the Hall's generally a treat to look at."
* * *
"Well," said Sheyne a few minutes later, "you were right, Mione."
"She generally is," said Ron, who had at long last gotten used to the girl hanging around with them but still snuck glowers at her when he thought she wasn't looking.
The five of them entered the festively decorated Great Hall, ducking as a flock of bats flew low over their heads then heading for the Gryffindor table. Quickly they were seated and eating as the Feast began.
Sheyne looked askance at Ron and Stephen as they practically inhaled their food.
"You two eat like pigs," she remarked.
"Do 'na," defended Stephen.
"Yeah," echoed Ron.
"Ron," said Harry, "you know it's a fact that you eat like the food's going to disappear any second."
"Nothin' wrong wi' tha'."
Harry sighed and Hermione shook her head, looking amused.
"Stubborn as always."
Sheyne snorted and growled, "Bloody right on that. Ste's as stubborn as an ox sometimes."
"Can'na say mu' be'er bou' you, sis."
Sheyne snorted again then leapt to her feet as there was suddenly a loud explosion and the stone's under their feet shook violently. "What the hell was that?"
"It wasn't anywhere in Hogwarts," said Hermione. "It came from outside…"
"Hogsmeade!" gasped Harry.
"The village?" said Stephen.
"It must be being attacked!"
"Death Eaters?" said Ron. Sheyne looked at Harry at that.
"Maybe…" said Hermione.
"Everyone stay calm," said Dumbledore. "Stay inside the Hall. Filius, Emily, if you would watch the students. All other teachers – follow me."
Hundreds of eyes watched as all the professors but Flitwick and Sprout left the hall. Sheyne's eyes focused on her father until he vanished. There was suddenly another explosion and Harry let out a cry of pain, bending over, his hands flying to his scar.
"Harry!" cried Hermione.
"It's his scar," whispered Ron. "It's You-Know-Who."
Maybe not, thought Sheyne. Not if what he told me was true.
"What's wrong with him?" asked someone from down the table.
"Nothing," snapped Sheyne. "Just something he ate. We should take him to the Hospital Wing. Ste, go get Professor Flitwick and see if he'll escort us."
"Right." Stephen rose and ran up the Hall as more heads craned towards the tightly clustered little group.
Harry groaned suddenly and bared his teeth, eyes closed tightly. "They're attacking…hundreds of them…" he ground out. "They're at the…Three Broomsticks…Rosemerta…AHHH!" He screamed and Sheyne grabbed his shoulders, turning to yell, "PROFESSOR!!!"
Flitwick came dashing forward as fast as his short legs would take him, eyes wide. Harry convulsed suddenly, groaning between his teeth, and Flitwick quickly ordered, "Take him to the Hospital Wing. Go. Hurry. No dawdling."
"Yes, sir," said Sheyne, struggling to hold onto the twisting Harry. "Ron, Ste, Mione, help me!"
The four of them somehow managed to get Harry down to the infirmary and onto a bed without serious injury – except for a black eye on Stephen's part. Madam Pomfrey hurried over to them, wand in hand. As she waved it over him, he suddenly screamed again, eyes flying open and his body rising off the bed in a full-body scream.
"HOLD HIM DOWN!" bellowed Madam Pomfrey.
Ron and Stephen leapt forward but had to jump back as Harry's flailing arm threatened to decapitate them. Sheyne growled deep in her throat and closed her eyes, her mind racing to find all her father had taught her of her Shifter powers.
Concentrating hard, she focused on an image of a black panther. Instead of using her innate magic to change into the creature, she used it to simply give herself the strength and speed of the panther.
Eyes flying open, she darted forward, ducking under Harry's flailing arm and shoving his body hard down onto the bed. One hand trapped his arms while the other waved at Ron and Stephen to grab his legs. They had to bodily throw themselves over them to keep them still.
Madam Pomfrey eyed Sheyne then began to cast various spells on Harry. Nothing worked. She shook her head and said, "He'll have to ride it out. I don't know what to do to help him."
Sheyne looked down at her friend and grimaced as his face twisted in pain again. Then she remembered something he'd said.
"– somehow – everything seems…I don't know…normal when your around me. Just you."
"Ron, Ste…get back."
"What?" said the two boys in surprise.
"Just do what I say."
The two looked at each other and Sheyne turned her head to send a malevolent scowl at them. "NOW!" she roared.
They stepped back just as Harry jerked again. When they tried to move forward again, Sheyne snarled – literally snarled – at them. She quickly got a hold on herself. The panther had come through just a little more than she had meant it to…
Turning back to Harry, she held him down, leaning down to whisper in his ear. Maybe it would work. Maybe…
Years seemed to pass in that room as Ron, Hermione, Stephen, and Madam Pomfrey watched Sheyne effortlessly hold Harry to the bed, whispering into his ear as she did so. Finally, Harry's exertions ceased and he sank into the mattress. Sheyne let go of the panther and pulled back from Harry, smoothing a lock of sweaty hair from his face as she did so. Her hand brushed the lightning bolt scar and a wave of such heat passed into her that she cried out, pulling away from him.
Madam Pomfrey quickly took over from there, ushering them out of the Hospital Wing and closing the door behind them. The four of them were silent as they trekked back to the Great Hall, Sheyne staring at her hand all the while. There was nothing on her pale skin but for a moment it had felt as though the skin was being sloughed off her bones, her nerves screaming with fierce pain.
Could Harry's visions, dreams, whatever they were, really hurt him? Or someone else?
Or was it simply her?
* * *
Later, after the feast, father and daughter were locked in a screaming battle.
"Papa, I want to know what happened."
"You'll learn about it soon enough. Now go to bed!"
Sheyne's eyes narrowed to burning slits of amber fire and she snarled, "I want to know!"
Severus' eyes narrowed in the same manner as he howled back, "Well, you're not going to!"
"Papa, I have to know! TELL ME!"
"GO TO BED!"
"TELL ME!" bellowed Sheyne.
"BED!"
Severus pointed one finger at the door leading out of his rooms in the dungeons and Sheyne glared at him for a long moment before turning on her heel, eyes flashing and short hair tossing. She stormed out into the hallway, throwing Draco Malfoy onto his rump as she ploughed through the crowd of Slytherins that had gathered outside their Head of House's door to listen to the battle. When Severus poked his head out the door to stare after his daughter, they scattered.
But not before most of them earning a loud berating and a few losing House points.
* * *
Sheyne stormed into Gryffindor Tower, stalking across the common room to where Ron and Hermione sat. She snarled incoherently then, still in her rage, kicked a chair across the room. Neville, Seamus, and Dean ducked so the flying object would take off their heads.
"I'm guessing you didn't find anything out," said Dean, looking at the chair then at Sheyne.
The girl scowled at him and grumbled under her breath before storming over to the fireplace and sitting on the hearthrug. She drew her cloak around her and no one – not even the Weasley twins – had the gumption to go near her or try and talk to her.
They just hoped she'd be better when Harry came back.