Chapter Thirty
A Tale of Burnt Gingerbread
Jennifer didn't talk to Severus long before the potions she had been given took effect and she fell asleep again. But as Sagittari had already warned her, it would not be dreamless, for her subconscious needed to adapt to the bits and pieces she had seized for herself.
She found herself wandering through the maze again as she had when she first started dreaming, knowing that around each turn was a new memory to explore. But as she began to turn corners, she realized with quite a bit of frustration that she was back to the beginning, unable to get to any of the memories lurking there, no matter how she tried, even after walking backwards and sideways to try to trick the maze into letting her pass. With little choice, Jennifer headed deeper in until she noticed a dark passage to one side. Chewing her a lip a bit she got the courage to try again, and stepped through.
She was in a memory then, she knew, but curiously enough, it didn't seem as if she had left the maze at all, although the cavern around her was much darker, and it smelled of death. The cavern also seemed unusually close, and she felt an intense pressure on her head that she tried to push away, knowing her fear would only hinder her. She was looking for something… or someone… and it was important that she move quickly. As she hurried deeper into the maze, her throat clenching any time there was a shower of debris, she realized that she was looking for Severus. He was in here somewhere, and the words, 'Mortal Peril' clung to her from somewhere; she had seen them… it was a warning that somewhere in the darkness, Severus was dying. How was she ever going to get through this maze of caverns in time to find him?
"Severus?" she shouted, and then spied something odd on the ground. It was some sort of gel, and she was sure from the texture that it was fairly fresh. It was then that she noticed more down the corridor, but as she ran to meet it, a wave of fear hit her again as she spied the body of the largest snake she had ever seen, taking up most of the corridor. Slipping past, she found herself facing an odd wall of bars. "Severus?"
"Jennifer? What the devil are you doing down here?" It was Severus, and Jennifer suddenly found herself with a phial of acid in her hand, pouring it over the gate and kicking it down, rushing to his side.
Never had she seen him quite this bad, so bloody it seemed unreal, his face unusually grey as she gave him the Healing Potion.
"Jennifer, I don't think the potion is going to be able to work fast enough to help me now," Severus whispered softly. "I've lost too much blood."
"Don't say that! You'll make it. You have to," Jennifer said. "I won't let you go, Severus. I need you." Jennifer said, working to bandage his chest. Severus coughed slightly as if trying to laugh.
"You don't need me. You never did. Always so strong willed, so independent. Always so willing to rush out and take on the world. All I could do was stand there and watch."
"You can't really believe that! Of course I need you, I've needed you since the very day we met! I'd have been dead my first year here if it hadn't been for you!" Jennifer said, tears streaking down her face.
"You wouldn't have faced death so many times at all if it weren't for me," Severus said weakly. "But we don't have the time to discuss it. I only wish that we had," he added softly. "I have been happy these last few years, something I would never have thought possible in the past, and I will rest well, knowing you and our children will live on."
"Two, two! You promised me four," Jennifer said. "I'm not going to let you die, there's got to be some way to slow your body down enough to give you time to heal," she said, patting herself down. She felt something in her cloak pocket, and a spark of hope as she realized it was the Spindle. "Promise me you won't give up. Please, if you love me, promise you'll hang on!"
Suddenly, there was a loud, constant banging noise, and Jennifer jumped around in surprise. This wasn't right, this wasn't part of the memory, she was sure. The maze began to melt into black around her, but the banging still continued. Pounding louder and louder in her head until she woke up with a start.
"What on earth…" Jennifer leapt out of bed and pop opened the door, looking around, the noise very loud now, and centered in the kitchen. Cautiously she crept closer, realizing it was coming from the oven. Surely one of the familiar's hadn't gotten trapped in there.
But as she popped open the door, she quickly learned her mistake as suddenly dozens of gingerbread heads lifted their heads from several large trays.
"Now's our chance, run!" One with bright candy soldier's buttons yelled, and before Jennifer knew it they charged out. Flailing and yelping out in surprise, Jennifer made a helpless grab, burning her fingers in the process. Just then she heard the sound of someone running up stairs and the basement door burst open, Corey looking out with surprise.
"Gad the gingerbread, I forgot! Mercy!" Corey shouted.
"Yes, beg for mercy!" The gingerbread general giggled. "Fall out!" As the army of gingerbread soldiers, beasts, wizards and witches began to fly in every direction including straight for them, Corey grabbed Jennifer's arm in one hand while letting out a freezing blast from the other, smashing several of the gingerbreads coming at them. But several others charged in response, burning his arms and hands as he frantically shook them off and led her down the basement stairs, slamming and locking the door behind them.
"What a mess! We should never have let Alicia help decorate," Corey panted. "At least the front and garden doors are locked, so they're contained to just the kitchen, bathroom and front room."
"And the bedroom, I forgot to close the door," Jennifer said ruefully. "And I think I saw the bookcase open before we got attacked."
"Wonderful. Well, at least there aren't any down here. Mercy, where are you?" Corey asked.
"Master Corey!" Mercy said. "Mercy is sorry! Mercy must have dozed off," she quivered.
"It's all right, just grab the other elves and see if you can round them up, will you?" Corey said.
"But Mercy is all alone! All others went to help Master Snape and the children with the Yule Log, sir!"
"Perfect. Well, I can't possibly send you up there alone. We'll just have to wait until they cool down, and then we can go up together." Corey said.
"That's right, they'll start to get sleepy and less active then, right?" Jennifer said.
"Right," Corey said. But as he looked back at her to nod, he thought he saw something run across the basement floor below them. Alarmed, Corey hurried down them with his hand ready to cast a spell, spying the general standing by the fireplace, giggling. "How did you get down here?"
"Ready to surrender?" the gingerbread general asked.
"Are you?" Corey asked in return. The gingerbread general raised his hand then and a squadron biscuits dressed as commandos dropped out of the fireplace. "Just great. Come on, let's get them!"
But as they charged down the steps blasting the gingerbread left and right, more and more began to come down, still obviously piping hot… in fact, many of them looked a tad burnt.
"Help! Mercy, do something!" Jennifer said when despite her freezing magic they began to gain on her. Mercy, who seemed to have her own hands full, poofed out of sight and Jennifer and Corey found themselves wearing flowery padded hats and vests with long oven mitts with the same pattern on their hands. "Lovely," Jennifer said dourly as the gingerbread launched a full-scale attack.
Ten minutes later, Jennifer found herself looking towards the ceiling, her still mitted hands tied behind her and next to Corey's, also still with mittens so he couldn't possibly twitch a finger. A roaring fire was going in the fireplace now, the gingerbread taking turns jumping in and out to get hot, and the more burned they got, the nastier their tempers seemed to become. Mercy was also caught, trapped in the gingerbread house that had been specifically made to contain them. An army of wizard gingerbread poked at the poor Elf while her hands were being soaked in hardening white icing, making it impossible for her to snap a finger even if she had wanted to. The rest of the gingerbread were dancing around Corey and Jennifer's chairs like headhunters celebrating their catch.
"This has got to be the most embarrassing moment of my life," Corey declared. "I bet the Alchemist's Society hears about this, they'll be talking behind my back for sure… more than usual. My sister Essie will laugh at me and probably deny I'm her brother. I dare imagine they might even drum me out of the Musketeers for this humiliation."
"The what?"
"Never mind, Mom," Corey sighed.
"I am sorry I got you both into this. I should have never opened the oven like that," Jennifer said sincerely.
"No, it's not your fault. I should have been upstairs instead of dabbling in the lab," Corey said. Mercy burst into tears.
"No, masters, it's is my fault alone! I should never have taken a nap like that. I promise never to sleep again, Mistress, really!" Mercy said.
"All right, so we've all been a bit silly," Jennifer sighed. "But now what do we do?"
"Are you finally ready to hear our demands?" The general asked.
"Demands?" Corey repeated warily as the general took out a small corner of baking paper. "What demands?"
"First and foremost, we demand that there be no more talk of eating! It is a nasty habit, and should not be applied to gingerbread under any circumstances! You will therefore promise never to eat again… at least not gingerbread. Secondly, you will all go back to the kitchen where you will provide a warm basket and fill it with enough gingerbread flying mounts and brooms to transport each and every one of us." The other gingerbread cheered. "Third, you shall ship us and our transport via owl to a warm climate, preferably one without wolves or crocodiles. Are you prepared to meet these demands?"
"And if we don't?" Corey challenged.
"Then we put your dear House Elf in the oven, for about twelve minutes, or when the edges begin to brown," the general said.
"What? You can't seriously mean you'd put a living being in an oven like that!" Jennifer said horrified.
"Why not? You did it to us," the general said, getting an 'ooooo' from the crowd.
But so intent were the gingerbread, so sure of their victory and the promise of escape… not to mention the fact that none of the children thought to create forward scouts… that none of the baked biscuits noticed or heard when the four other Snape children clambered out of the fireplace upstairs, just in front of Severus Snape.
"I still cannot believe you talked me into buying that thing," Severus scowled as he brushed himself off.
"Don't worry, the Elves will make it fit. They always do," Alex said, sniffing the air thoughtfully.
"Hmm smells like the gingerbread is done!" Andrew said, hurrying into the kitchen.
"Smells like the gingerbread is burnt," Aurelius said dourly.
"I hope not after all the time we spent decorating them," Alicia said worriedly, taking off her coat.
"Odd," Andrew said peering in the icebox. "There's nothing in here! And the oven's open!"
"And there are crumbs all over the floor," Aurelius added. Severus glanced in the bedroom to see it open and empty. Getting suspicious, trying the handle to the basement and frowning when he discovered it was locked.
"Wait in the living room," he ordered them, taking out his wand. "Alohamora!" he intoned, the door snapping open as he charged down the stairs to see the army still tormenting their victims. As the gingerbread looked up with surprise and the general began to scream for them to take cover, Severus pointed the wand at the curtain and violently pushed it aside, immediately casting another spell.
The gingerbread launched another attack but it was too late; Severus had called up a blizzard from the simple snowstorm outside, blasting through the room with such a cold wind that Jennifer and Corey found themselves wailing alongside of their captors, closing their eyes against the blinding snow.
Finally it ceased, and Jennifer opened her eyes and looked over to see Severus with a hand on one hip, wand still in his hand, and in so much disbelief of their predicament that he found himself just standing there staring at them. A tremble behind him gave away the presence of the children coming down to see what had happened. Aurelius risked a snigger while Alex laughed outright. Jennifer and Corey were still bound and wearing the heat padding, sitting back to back in the middle of a ring of now normal seeming gingerbread.
"I don't suppose I could borrow Mum's camera a moment?" Andrew offered.
"No!" Corey and Jennifer both barked. Mercy was busy freeing herself from the icing, breaking out of the house with a very somber look on her face that reminded Andrew of an abused puppy. Severus' lip twitched slightly as he thought about the request then took it out of his cloak, handing it to Andrew.
"Oh, come on, have some heart, Dad. If that gets out, I'll never be able to live it down. Worse, It'll probably ruin my quest to find the right girl for me. She'll probably take one look at it, laugh, and never look at me again!" Corey said horrified.
"I am not yet sure how you managed to get yourselves into this, but something tells me you deserve some lasting humiliation. You were being held hostage by our Christmas biscuits," Severus said pointedly, both of them looking away with embarrassment as the camera flashed. "One more just to make sure you get their good side, Andrew. But you can take more if they don't cooperate."
"Has he always had this sadistic side?" Jennifer asked Corey, looking over at Severus with annoyance.
"Yeah," Corey said, reluctantly letting Andrew take his picture. "I always figured that was why you fell for him in the first place." Jennifer looked over her shoulder to give Corey a dirty look.
"Very well, Alex, untie them please while I get a look at these overly aggressive gingerbread," Severus said, his voice betraying a level of his exasperation as he picked a few of them up. "And whose brilliant idea was it to dress these up like commandos?" Alex walked over to the chairs, chuckling nervously at her father who rolled his eyes at her. "And why, may I ask, did all the wizards holding Mercy hostage have black robes and hair?'
"Licorice, father," Alicia quipped, and then suddenly decided to make herself busy picking up the gingerbread.
"Well, I know whom I can blame for the gingerbread jailhouse," Severus said, Andrew avoiding his gaze. "And what about this fellow?" Severus asked holding up the general. Aurelius stared back at Severus innocently, but the look on Severus' face let him know he hadn't bought it for an instant.
"Dad, can I have that one?" Corey asked. He had taken off the mitts and was rubbing his wrists. Severus looked at him evenly for a long time before finally handing it to him. Without hesitation, Corey chomped the head off. "Thanks, I needed that."
"Held hostage by gingerbread," Severus said murmured again, shaking his head. Corey and Jennifer looked sheepishly at one another. "Mercy, please help the other Elves try and figure out some miraculous way to get that Log into the fireplace and then take a break. I think the family can manage getting the house in order before company arrives…" he glanced at his watch… "within ninety minutes. I'll be in my study," he added, clearing out of the room. The four Snapes couldn't help but laugh again, cut short once more by the icy stares of Corey and Jennifer.
After they finally got the gingerbread contained and the family room straightened, Jennifer slipped down the stairs and peered in the door to Severus' office. He was standing by the desk, taking a potion of some sort, looking up thoughtfully when she came in.
"So what's that you're taking?" Jennifer asked.
"Call it insurance," Severus said, finishing it and putting it down. "And what have you been up to besides taste-testing gingerbread the hard way?"
"Actually, that happened right as I woke up from a nap," Jennifer admitted. "I was dreaming I was in a maze full of passages I couldn't get past."
"Was Aurelius in it again?" Severus asked.
"No, well, maybe he was in a way," Jennifer murmured. "I found a dark path through the maze where all the passages weren't closed off, and then all the sudden I was in a memory of walking through a cavern that appeared half man-made and half natural or animal made, rather like the maze itself. Anyhow, there was a large dead serpent there, and you were there too, only… well, you were badly hurt."
"Near death would have been more accurate," Severus said with a nod. "There were few who could have saved me at that point."
"But I had a spindle, and unless I miss my guess, the very spindle cursed with Cosmic Sleep."
"Yes, a family heirloom of yours as I recall. It appears that Craws didn't stay out of anything."
"But then I must have known, I mean, that I could wake you, or I wouldn't have tried anything that drastic," Jennifer said insistently. Severus gazed at her for a long time. "Those odd dreams I've been having of being asleep and not waking up, it's from being asleep myself, isn't it?" Severus nodded gently.
"It was I who originally took the chance on casting that spell, that first year you came to the school and it was obvious that Voldemort was going to stop at nothing until you were dead. I was standing in his ranks that day, and considering you would have died any other way I thought it was worth the risk."
"So you knew even then?" Jennifer asked with a smile.
"Hoped would be the better word, although part of me was afraid to believe it. I did wake you up, obviously," he added.
"You know even if I hadn't remembered the spindle, I would have known you and I were soul mates," Jennifer said in a voice barely above a whisper. "I think I knew it when you first walked into the café that first day… something about you that I couldn't put my finger on. I suppose no amount of memory loss can ever change the fact we were destined to be together. Nothing can," she added, watching him a moment.
Severus merely looked at her silently with a look on his face too deep for words until at last she kissed him… a gentle loving kiss that Severus hadn't experienced since before Jacqueline came to be. He drew her into his arms, content to merely have her next to him. It could have been so much worse in so many ways… and yet here she was. He let out a long, quiet sigh.
"I wish I could remember what happened the first time I woke up," Jennifer said. Severus winced.
"You used the word again."
"But I do! I want to remember things like this… us just standing here and holding each other, or the children being born, or even our wedding day. Tell me about our wedding, Severus. Was it small and intimate, or huge and pompous?"
"Oh, I'd say it definitely tended towards the latter rather than the former," Severus said, then suddenly became thoughtful. "But perhaps I can show you rather than tell you."
"Show me?" Jennifer said, watching as Severus headed out of the office.
"Come, I have something for you," Severus said, heading up the stairs. Eagerly Jennifer followed behind him, slightly surprised when he actually took her into the main bedroom. It was, in fact, the first time he had stepped foot in there since they had arrived, balked, perhaps, by the same memoirs that had bothered her when she first entered it. Slipping on his gloves, he opened the jewelry box, drawing out a gold chain with thirteen crystal spheres. "These were a gift for you for our Pumpkin Anniversary," he explained. "They're memories… my own, actually. Careful not to touch them yet," he warned, slipping it around her neck. "Going clockwise from the clasp, there is one of every year of our marriage, the first being some of our wedding."
"Just the wedding? Not after?" Jennifer teased.
"Well, I did want it so that if the children 'accidentally' got a hold of one that they wouldn't be put into too much trauma," Severus murmured in her ear.
"How unlucky for me," Jennifer said with such a wry tone that Severus sighed. Her eyes closed as she randomly touched one, finding herself looking at herself holding newborn baby Alexandria, smiling glowingly back towards Severus with sheer elation as Minerva came into view with a book in hand. "These are wonderful!" She said after a moment, backing to the next to view their wedding. It was rather like a photo album, Jennifer realized, although quite a bit more intimate, the images appearing deeply in her head instead of in front of her. "Why, Severus, you really do know how to dance, don't you?"
"Yes, and so can you. I taught you, as a matter of fact, to save my aching feet," he added.
"Thank you for showing me these," Jennifer said, gazing at him lovingly. As he leaned over and kissed her gently, Severus heard a knock at the front door, reluctantly turning away while Jennifer paused a moment to touch the next sphere, smiling.
Essie and Doug were the first to arrive, and then Zoë and Zack charged in, followed by their parents. Last came Taylor and Danny Brittle, Danny lingering behind with Severus, while Jennifer showed Taylor downstairs.
"Minerva told me before we left that you requested to referee the two spring Gryffindor games," Danny said to him once the two of them were gone.
"I requested to referee two spring games on certain dates convenient to me, yes," Severus said casually.
"Oh, no, it was intentional, and I know why," Danny said with a sigh. "I wasn't myself last game… or maybe the problem was I was more myself than usual last game. But in either case, since I have a chance now, I wanted to apologize for how I behaved when you tried to talk to me about it that day."
"There is hardly any need," Severus said. "However, might I suggest in the future if you're going to bias someone on a team, bias the whole team. I myself find it's less obvious that way. Did you ever explain to Donovan what that was all about?"
"No," Danny said with a flash in her eyes, "And don't bother asking me to. Not even Dumbledore could do that," she said evenly. "This is not over yet."
"He's still a student," Severus pointed out thoughtfully.
"Who better to teach a lesson?" Danny said, heading downstairs. Severus sighed, making a mental note to keep an eye on her. Not that she would ever take things too far on her own, he mused, but that didn't mean the situation wasn't likely to get out of hand.
Downstairs, Alex was in the middle of telling Zoë and Zack for the third time her version of what had happened that afternoon, Corey looking quite unamused about the whole thing, especially considering the rest of his friends couldn't help but break into grins and ask for the photos to be passed around again.
"We had better put them away before they get ruined or accidentally lost," Andrew said, reaching up above the mantel to get down the album.
"Trust me, if I get a hold of them, it won't be an accident," Corey glowered.
"Rather odd place for a photo album, why do we keep it up there?" Jennifer asked.
"From what I was told, it was because you were insisting on putting photos on the mantle and Dad wanted them in the album and neither of you wanted to budge on it," Corey chuckled, looking up at Severus as he and Danny came down the stairs. "Isn't that right, Dad?"
"That's the short version, yes," Severus said. "I had the shelf made as a sort of present just before summer," he said, peering over Jennifer's shoulder as Andrew pointed out different pictures to her.
"And how come you're not in any of these?" Jennifer wanted to know as Severus stepped to the fireplace, getting out his wand.
"He's probably aware that breaking cameras in that way is not part of the warranty," Sirius joked.
"Two pictures of me in the house is more than enough," Severus said, glaring at him.
"What, there's more than one?" Alicia asked curiously. "But I thought there was just the Chocolate Frog card in the living room. Where's the other?"
"There's a sketch by Pyther in the bedroom," Jennifer said, Alicia immediately getting excited.
"Can I see it?"
"No," Severus snapped. "Now do you want me to do this, or not?"
"Oh, quit stalling and light it," Anna added as the rest of the kids started insisting.
"Very well. As you know, the tradition is to light a log at the beginning of Yule, which is of course tonight, the winter solstice, and if it burns for the twelve days of celebration it will mean good fortune for the family in the year to come. Of course, considering the size of the log that Andrew picked out this year, it'll be our luck that it'll succeed only in burning the house down," Severus said dryly, looking at Andrew who stood long enough to take a bow. "The only other thing I would like to say is that I find, in lieu of the events over the last few months, that I am grateful that the entire family could be here tonight," he said quietly, gazing over at Jennifer, "and of the support given by every one of you, regardless of how unwanted it was," he said, glancing at Sirius who gave him a knowing smile. "There, I'm done with my sentiment for the year, don't expect any more," he added, turning around and lighting the log with a flick of the wand.
Everyone cheered as the fire flickered to life, and trays of food, drink, and burnt gingerbread appeared on the coffee and end tables as Severus reached for his glass of anise wine, pulling back the curtain so that everyone could look out past the balcony at the glistening water and snow-filled air.
"Now this is my idea of a Christmas party," Doug said appreciatively. "It wants for nothing, except maybe a bit of music. Too bad I left my drums at home," he added wickedly.
"Hey, what about that guitar we gave you that one year, Corey? You ever touch it anymore?" Sirius asked, ignoring Taylor and Danny's attempts to wave him off.
"Sure, now and then. Should I go get it?" Corey asked.
"There's hardly any need, perhaps I can come up with something," Severus said, heading towards the lower stairs.
"No! No, that's okay, I can run home," Corey said quickly, getting up, the rest of the Snape children agreeing wholeheartedly, while Sirius sat snickering. But Severus ignored them, slipping in to get where his violin was waiting and right back upstairs, Taylor and Danny watching warily as Alicia and Aurelius covered their ears and winced expectantly.
It was then that a sweet note drifted by that took them all by surprise, especially Jennifer, who stared at him with amazement at the beautiful rendition of Silent Night that cascaded out of the violin, Severus not even looking in their direction as he played it with such flawlessness that all four children were gaping at him. But as the piece drew to a close, Corey chuckled knowingly.
"So, someone finally broke down and made up some Liquid Inspiration, I see," Corey challenged.
"The year's been enough of a trial without torturing all of you to listen to my normal level of playing. Let's start the year with making some lighter memories, shall we?" Severus suggested.
"I'm all for that," Jennifer agreed as Danny and Taylor danced by.
"Is it just me, or has Severus changed since I last talked to him?" Taylor asked Danny in a low voice.
"It's not just you, I think," Danny agreed, "But not necessarily in a bad way."
Corey walked over to stand before where Jennifer sat with the album, bowing low and giving his most irresistible smile, putting out his hand.
"Aren't you supposed to be out helping gather mistletoe?" Severus complained as Corey went around for his fifth dance with Jennifer.
"That's what you get for not letting me get my guitar," Corey grinned at him.
"No, no, that's not what you should have said, Corey," Alex said mischievously as she watched them from the couch.
"Alex, don't you dare say it," Jennifer said with a chuckle.
"Why not? After all, that's just the way the cookie crumbles, isn't it?" Alex grinned. Aurelius, Andrew, and Alicia all grabbed cushions off the couches and chairs and threw them at her.