WOWOWOWOWOWOWOW! I feel so ashamed to have not updated in so long! *hangs head in shame* I apologize to everyone, and assure you all that my dear Sevvy will no longer disappear randomly for months at a time. (I now have him shackled in my basement, and he won't be goin' nowhere! Also makes for some kinky company ^_^)
And now to my long-neglected reviewers:
Kuroi Neko Nyo: My dear Kuroi! You really must watch what you say in your reviews! Just because you know most of what's gonna happen doesn't mean that you can spew shameless tidbits for other readers to scratch their heads about! And yes, dear, Ariel is all yours, but I advise you to learn some sign language… and quick! As for your yaoi… well, there's a little in this chappy… I expect a big hug from you!
Amy Rose: YAY! I'm glad you liked Phobos and Deimos so much. I had a little too much fun drawing pictures of them in math class and I'm gonna try to post one when I've finished scanning and digitally colouring it. And as to Sirius, well, he makes a little appearance in the next chapter. (more shameless previews… go on, spank the author…)
Chapter Eleven: The StoneI've this creeping, suspicion that things here are not as they seem.
Reassure me, oh why do I feel as if I'm in too deep.
Now I've been praying, for some way to show them I'm not what they see.
Yes I have done wrong, but what I did I thought needed be done, I swear.
Oh, unholy day, if I leave now I might get away.
Oh but this weighs on me, as heavy as stone and as blue as I go.
I was just wondering if you'd come along.
Hold up my head when my head won't hold on.
I'll do the same if the same's what you want,
If not I'll go; I will go a long...
...Long way, ah, from that fool's mistake.
And now forever pay, no run, I will run and I'll be ok.
I was just wondering if you'd come along.
Hold up my head when my head won't hold on.
I'll do the same if the same's what you want,
But if not I'll go, I will go a long...
...Long way, "to bury the" past for I don't want to pay.
Oh how I wish, this, to turn back the clock and do over again.
Now I'm just wondering if you'd come along.
Hold up my head when my head won't hold on.
I'll do the same if the same's what you want,
But if not I'll go, I'll go alone.
I need so, to stay in your arms, see you smile, hold you close.
And now it weighs on me, as heavy as stone and of bone chilling cold.
I was just wondering if you'd come along.
Tell me you will.
—The Stone by Dave Matthews Band
When Mavet next opened her eyes, she was surrounded by light. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust, pupils thinning and dilating. When the sleep had been shaken from her, she peered around, greeted by the sights and sounds, or lack thereof, of the Hogwarts hospital wing. She shifted under the standard issue white sheets, and her foot found something warm and heavy.
A low muffled groan issued from the foot of her cot and Severus shifted lazily, peering up at her with a startled expression as he pushed the raven strands off of his face.
Another sleepy sound, more reminiscent of a growl, issued from the nightstand beside Mavet's bed, where the two russet dragons, Phobos and Deimos were curled up together like a pair of kittens. They snored sleepily, refusing to wake.
"You're awake," Severus said dully, as though he might still be dreaming.
"Mmm," Mavet issued noncommittally. "It should seem so." She paused and peered at him closely. His clothes seemed quite ruffled, and there were bits of sleep at the corners of his eyes. "You didn't stay all night did you?" she said with a sad, yet disapproving frown.
"All weekend, you mean." Severus grinned sleepily, though his expression had a wicked manner to it.
Mavet said nothing. Instead, she turned to the two sleeping dragons on the table beside her and roughly poked them awake. Four startled, glowing yellow eyes stared back at her. "What are you doing here?" she asked, startling them more. "Didn't I tell you to watch the Nephilim? You have a job to do. Do it."
The two dragons shrunk beneath her imperious gaze and flitted hurriedly to the door, disappearing with a fiery 'pop', a shy 'yes mistress' on their forked tongues.
"Is everything all right?" Severus queried. But Mavet remained silent. Her eyes were glazed over and she was staring into the space just beyond the foot of her bed. "Something's wrong, isn't it?" Severus summed up glumly. It wasn't so much a question as a confirmation through Mavet's expression.
"Something always is," laughed the Angel in a cynical tone. She spoke again before Severus could even ask. "Earth is not solely my domain. Though I preside over it, and keep its inhabitants in check, it is not mine. Lucifer reigns over Hell, a king in his kingdom. To Earth, however, I am more of a regent. I'm not allowed to return to my ethereal form too often when I'm within the mortal realm," she finished, clearly referring to her sudden collapse two days prior.
Severus stared blankly. "Oh, good, I thought is was worse." His tone was dry and sarcastic as always.
"Oh, you're awake! Wonderful, I thought I heard noise." Poppy Pomfrey rushed over to Mavet's bed, now that she had come through the door, and began busily fussing over the poor professor, much to the irritation, and, admittedly, amusement, of Severus.
"I'm fine, Poppy, really. All I needed was time." Mavet stretched languidly and proceeded to rise from the bed.
"Oh, no you don't!" Pomfrey chastised forcefully. "I'd wager you need about another day's rest before you'll feel well enough to leave the wing. Trust me, I've been doing this for a very long time." At that, she added a very severe look in Severus's direction. A reminder of all the trouble he had given her as a child.
Not at all amused, the Angel leapt energetically from the bed, arcing high over the heads of the other two staff members, somersaulting in mid-air, and landing in a graceful squat before rising to her height. She threw Pomfrey a dirty look and said, "Stop gaping at me Poppy, I've had enough of it already. And it would do you well to admit your limits. Honestly, what do you know about Angel physiology?" Angry and bitter, Mavet stalked from the hospital wing, with a stoic-as-always Severus on her tail.
Mavet stormed frustrated into Severus's rooms after the winding trek from the hospital wing, and threw herself haphazardly onto the deep leather couch. Severus followed seconds after, closing the door behind him. He sunk lazily back to lean against the closed and warded door, and immediately loosed the stream of giggles he'd been capping on the unsuspecting Angel.
Mavet turned and stared at him looking thoroughly worried for his sanity, though annoyed at the same time. "What, pray tell, is so amusing?" she asked in an impersonation of the Potions Master that would warrant an Academy Award. Said Potions Master needed a moment to stifle his laughter before turning to face his accomplice.
"I will surely remember that moment in times to come; the shocked look on that obsessive witch's face. I don't think anyone's given her such a good telling off in all the years she's been here."
"Hmm." Mavet issued noncommittally, and Severus instantly snapped back to his quiet, inquisitive self. He swept over to the couch and sat opposite Mavet, fixing her with a piercing look.
Suddenly, she too launched into a fit of laughter, stifling it finally, by crawling into Severus's lap and burying her head in the crook of his neck. Severus took the opportunity to lace his fingers through her ever-silky, intoxicatingly smooth hair.
"I have a confession to make," she said softly, not meeting Severus's gaze. "I hate Heaven."
Needless to say from the Potion Master's shocked expression, this had been most unexpected.
"Why?" was all Severus could manage to say.
"I don't know," Mavet admitted. "It's too… too perfect? Not real enough, maybe." A pause. "I think I'm starting to realize why you humans suffer as you do."
"Why is that?"
"You define your entire existence through your pain and displeasure. Everything's 'too good to be true'. You can't accept that a person would do a genuinely good deed out of the goodness of their heart, because you're so completely enthralled in the realness of your suffering." She stood and gazed at him for a moment. "Look at you, Severus, you're so… "
Severus looked up expectantly. He was what?
"Bitter," she finished. She looked at him in the most intent way possible, and she smiled. It was a judgeless smile; an Angel's smile. It was devoid of all emotion except the one that mattered most. It made Severus cringe.
A small whimper left Severus's throat, completely unbidden by its master, and the wizard wrenched his gaze away from the woman before him. A deep sinking void formed in the pit of his stomach and he curled up into himself, shaking. "Don't," he pleaded in a shaky whisper. "Don't look at me like that." He opened his eyes, realizing that he'd closed them, and tasted the salty wetness of tears on his lips.
"Oh, Severus…" she pressed her lips softly to his cheek. "I have to leave for a while, but I'll be back tomorrow. I promise."
"Alright," he breathed, and she eyed his wand, which lay forgotten on the small table beside the couch, an ominous-looking thing carved from ebony.
"I may have forgotten to tell you, but you don't really need that anymore."
With a flash of smoke and a rush of raven's wings, she was gone, disappeared out of the window which Severus had only recently began to leave ajar.
Harry dreamed again that night. He flew silently through the frozen air, never reaching a specific destination, simply floating, reveling in the feeling and not the purpose. Then, suddenly, he was plunged underground, a sharp movement which sent him reeling. Harry woke from his fitful sleep covered in sweat and shaking. He vaguely remembered something dreadful, in which he was submerged in both fire and blood, a feeling that shook his entire being in dread.
He was slouched over and weary-eyed when Ron and Hermione next found him at their table in the Great Hall the next morning.
"Bloody Hell, Harry," Ron began. "Did you sleep at all last night?"
Harry grinned lazily. "No, not really. I had another nightmare," he added. It was becoming a normal occurrence.
"Maybe you should go talk to Professor Snape again." Hermione suggested. "Aren't you supposed to meet him tonight?"
"Yeah." Harry slouched again, and picked at his toast with his fork. "I'm going out to the Quidditch pitch. You guys can come or not… it really doesn't matter." Slowly, he got to his feet and traipsed down the row of tables and out the doors.
Harry wandered slowly down the dirt path that led to the pitch, broomstick in hand, feet scuffling along as if the message from his brain was sent via broken telephone. When he was nearly there, he slid onto his broom and flew the rest of the way, surfing the air, catching the currents and reveling in the wind that tousled through his hair in just the right way.
He swept twice around the stadium, idly taking in the scenery that he had seen but never really noticed countless times before. Would this be his last time perhaps? Or maybe the next? Not for the first time, did Harry come to reflect on the possibility that his days were numbered. He sped up. Winding upwards through the cold morning air, Harry pushed the broom faster, testing its limits. Then suddenly, he banked sharply, streaking downwards, as he left his stomach to catch up. Pulling up just in time, so that his sneakers brushed the tips of the grass on the field, Harry swerved low over the stands, and came to land, breathless, on one of the Gryffindor benches. Suddenly, a sound other than the moaning wind reached his ears and his head snapped over to the Slytherin stands.
Wing beats pulsed through the air, announcing the arrival of a lithe black form, which streaked towards the young wizard at an alarmingly fast speed. Nearly clipping his head, the dark shape whirled around to face him, flapped its wings slowly, angling them to kill speed, and dropped daintily onto a bench beside him. It was Professor Seraph.
She flared her wings startlingly before folding them, crating a cape of feathers, her clawed talon feet clicking ominously on the wood.
"P-Professor!" Harry stammered, from surprise as well as the cold wind. "What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the very same thing, couldn't I, Potter?"
"It's just Quidditch practice," Harry said sullenly, looking abashed.
Professor Seraph nodded. "Still, you're lucky I wasn't the Dark Lord, or one of his associates. Honestly, could someone be less aware of their surroundings. You hadn't even noticed me until you'd landed, and by then it would have been too late." A moment after her chastisement, Professor Seraph grinned haughtily. "Of course, she continued, "I must also consider the fact that there are maybe two humans alive at this moment who could possibly have detected my whereabouts accurately." She smiled again, and her expression assured Harry that she wasn't really mad at him. He gave her a sheepish look in return before grinning himself. Then he laughed.
"You sound like Professor Snape," he said, amused. "Well, at least the first part," he added after a short consideration.
"Do I?" she asked, amused, and arched an eyebrow in perfect imitation of said professor. Harry grinned again, until Professor Seraph's form grew taller, thinner, and more ominous. Moments later, a fully formed Professor Snape was towering over Harry, grinning maniacally. The only difference, was that Snape's left eye retained Professor Seraph's scar and red iris, a thoroughly creepy effect. Professor Seraph-turned-Snape raised a long, gangly arm experimentally, admiring the long, delicate fingers, the surprising dexterity. Wings flared from behind her, making Snape's form appear more striking.
"I didn't know you could do that," Harry said in awe, gaping dumbly up at his black-shrouded professor.
"There are a great many things you don't know about me, Harry." Snape's soft, menacing voice crawled shivers up Harry's spine. If he'd thought his Potions master looked intimidating before, Snape with wings was worse. But Professor Seraph's form shifted again, shrinking, and becoming shorter, until they were of a height, and Harry realized that he was staring back at himself. His mouth opened in surprise, as he stared back his winged reflection, complete with the scarred right eye. Professor Seraph reached out and lifted Harry's mouth shut with a finger, and chuckled to herself in a child's voice.
"That's really creepy," Harry commented, as he listened to his own laugh escape from his professor's lips.
She simply smiled. "Do me a favor and ask someone next time you're going out alone. I don't want a repeat of the Demon incident. What would have happened if I hadn't been there?"
"Okay," Harry agreed, and Professor Seraph nodded solemnly as she spread her wings and flew off into the morning mist.
Meanwhile, the real Severus Snape was deep in the dungeons of Hogwarts, sitting stiffly in his high-backed, winged chair in his living room quarters. He was reviewing and revising his lesson plans for the seventh years that afternoon, when he heard wing beats at his window. His head snapped up just in time to see a small winged form slip through the window frame and come tumbling into the room before him. It was a boy, skinny and black-haired, a boy he knew.
"Potter!" he hissed, and then the realization hit him. Potter didn't have thirty-foot black wings and a red scar over his left eye. "Mavet?" He blinked, astonished.
"Hello, Severus," she said as she stood and brushed off the red sweater and khakis that her form of Harry was wearing. "What are you up to this early in the morning?"
"It's not that early, Mavet, and what on earth are you doing in Potter's body?" He shifted uncomfortably as Mavet moved towards him.
"Just having some fun," she replied, as Severus got up to get a book from the floor-to-ceiling bookshelf that dominated two thirds of the room. He winced as Mavet spoke.
"You even sound like him," he said disapprovingly, and he marveled at their new difference in height. Harry wasn't short by any means, but Mavet was quite tall, and Severus even more so.
"What? You don't like this voice?" she said with mock concern. "How about this one?" She had spoken in a new voice just then, a soft, menacing voice like velvet over steel. Severus blinked and found himself staring straight into a new set of eyes, one red, one ebony, which peered out from a face as pale as parchment; his face.
"What—" he began, but another mouth had covered his own, and it was rather hard to speak while being kissed. He ran his hands down a lithe, thin form, devoid of curves, and realized that Mavet was probably feeling the same thing. When he pulled away, he was staring back into the face of Mavet, her own true face with the birdlike features, aquiline nose, delicate mouth, and startlingly bright eyes. "Well," he began uncertainly. "That was rather…" he searched for a word. "Narcissistic."
Mavet laughed. "Narcissus," she taunted as she shoved him playfully into the wall, and flung herself on the couch.
"I've never seen you as a man," Severus prompted interestedly.
Mavet peered up at him, suddenly serious. "Would you like to?"
"I think so," Severus replied after a moment's consideration.
"Very well." Mavet rose from her seat and approached Severus again. They were barely a foot apart when she began to change again. Her height remained the same, as did the colour of her eyes and hair, which had become short and jaggedly messy. Her face was slightly androgynous, but decidedly masculine with its sharp jaw and prominent cheekbones.
Mavet's now curveless body was wiry, and lightly muscled. Like his female counterpart, the male Mavet was all legs, with a lithe torso, and a military swagger. Obviously, Mavet simply didn't care for his male form, taking little consideration in the creation of the plain black muggle clothing – a tank top and loose casual pants – that adorned his sullen form.
Severus gazed at the slightly shorter man before him, and slowly leant down towards him. Before their lips could meet, however, Mavet twisted his face away from the other man, and quickly reverted back to his female form.
"What was that?" asked an insulted Severus.
Mavet leant her head against his shoulder apologetically, and mumbled, "You'll thank me later," into the hollow of his throat.
Severus was about to get angry, but thought better of it, and wrapped his arms around her in resignation. His fingers swept repeatedly through her feathers, enthralled with the feel of them.
"We're leaving in the morning tomorrow," she told him.
"To where?"
"Back to Stonehenge. It's one of the few portals we Angels use to travel between Heaven and Earth," she explained.
"You're going back to Heaven?" asked Severus, somewhat surprised.
"And I'm taking you with me. It's not for long. I just have to set a few things straight. We'll be back within the week. Maybe sooner, if things go well."
Severus simply stared at her. The expression on his face was unreadable, but apparently, Mavet was worrying about other things.
"Oh, I almost forgot," she said, suddenly irritated. She marched over to the fireplace and bent down to peer inside. "PHOBOS! DEIMOS! COME HERE!"
Instantly the two dragons were spewed out of the fireplace and landed in a heap at her feet. "Didn't I give you two a direct order yesterday?"
"Yes, Mistress, we've been following orders," protested Deimos, while Phobos sulked behind him, wiping the soot off his beaklike snout.
"Then why were you not guarding the Nephilim this morning?"
"Well, um, the female… she thought us rather cute (Phobos cringed at the word) and she sort of dragged us away…"
"I see… Well, make yourselves appear less cute the next time, or else I might just let Naga eat you the next time he sees you." She gave them a final pointed look. "Now go do your job!"
In a flash of sparks the twin dragons disappeared faster than they had arrived, and Mavet hung her head with a tired sigh. She paced the hearth rug and pinched the bridge of her nose, wondering if it was such a good idea to leave the two of them on their own for so long.
"You're having them watch Lucifer?" asked Severus from the couch. He had resumed rifling through several old leather-bound books.
"What?" Mavet turned and blinked drowsily.
"You said 'Nephilim'. It's a term used for fallen angels, is it not?"
"Oh… yes. Yes, it is." A strange, guarded expression came over her face for a moment, before she sidled over to Severus and simply stared into the flames.
"Let's leave now."
"What?" Mavet's startled gaze was wrenched away from the fire, meeting Severus's purposeful black eyes.
"You're obviously anxious about something. And I know that you aren't going to tell me what it is. If we leave now, you'll have less time to worry about whatever it is that's bothering you."
"Very well," Mavet agreed. "Back to Stonehenge, then."
I hope you've all had some slightly erotic fun with all of Mavet's gender-switching… heheh, some shameless yaoi inserted for Kuroi's amusement… LOL I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY!