Chapter 14:  Conversations

            "So?" Azar asked expectantly, folding her arms.

            "So…what?" Harry asked, confused.

            After going through their final classes that day and an unusually silent dinner, Azar had yanked Harry outside, where they stood now.

            "So, I certainly hope you did whatever you needed to do, 'cause now you need to come clean with everything."

            "What?"

            She sighed.  "Why don't I ever know if you're playing dumb on purpose?  The prophecy, Harry legs!  Or whatever.  Just tell me what happened last night."

            His eyes went wide as the realization struck him.  With all that had happened that afternoon, he'd completely forgotten about what had happened that morning.  "I forgot!  I didn't even get to talk to Dumbledore about it!"

            "Too bad, you had a time limit," Azar said triumphantly, "Now talk."

            Harry ran a hand through his hair, giving a sigh.  "I guess there's no way out of it.  Well, to keep it short, I found you in the Forbidden Forest."

            "The Forbidden Forest?"

            "Don't do that," he said sternly, "No repeating."

            "Sorry," she said with a slight smile.

            He shook his head, far from smiling.  "You were hysterical, Azar," he said with the air of someone jumping from a plane, "I've never seen you that way.  You couldn't stop crying, and when I first came up to you…well, that's how I got the bruise.  It wasn't until you fell that you relaxed a bit more.  You fell asleep, and then Firenze came.  I'd met him my first year at Hogwarts.  He knew about you, your abilities, and he said you saw something this time that was unlike anything you'd ever seen.  That it was just…evil."

            Azar was silent, concern in her eyes.  "I…don't remember a thing."

            "That's what I like least," Harry said quietly, "It's like before."

            Azar took a deep breath then started pacing slightly.  "I don't get it.  I thought I had everything under control, but this…"  She furrowed her brow.  "Why is this different?"

            "Have you ever read anything about something like this?" Harry asked.

            "No," she sighed, "but I've never gone that far into reading about seers and all that rot.  I guess now is the time."

            Harry smiled slightly.  "Always is.  Are you sure you can't remember anything?"

            "No.  Who knows what I could remember later," she shrugged, "I guess sleeping on it would be good."

            With a sudden laugh, she shook her head, smiling.  "Some day, huh?"

            "Truer words were never spoken," he agreed.

            "Care for a walk, Mr. Potter?" she asked, tilting her head to the side.

            "Sure," he smiled.

            It wasn't until the sun had set and darkness enveloped the grounds that they finally returned to the castle.

            "Where's Ron, Seamus?" Harry asked as the boy was stacking some Exploding Snap cards.

            "In the dormitory," he replied, all his attention concentrated on the cards.

            Harry walked up the candlelit stairs to the dormitory, wondering if he should tell Ron about today.  Well, about Azar at least.  He knew he couldn't say anything about the Heirs.

            "I dunno, Perc," Harry heard Ron say as he entered.

            "You have changed a lot, little brother," Percy's voice came from behind Ron's bed curtains, presumably where Ron was also screened, "You have to learn.  I can't tell you why, but you must.  Trust me.  I would never put you in any danger.  And in any case, I can put things right if they go wrong."

            "How would you do that?!" Ron cried, a little agitated, "You can't even hold a wand!  I don't want to spend the rest of my seventh year sp-…"

            Suddenly, Ron opened the bed curtains, peering out as Percy flew out.

            "Oh, hey Harry," Ron said jovially.

            Harry stared at Ron a moment, then slowly looked over at Percy who was trying to not look guilty.  "Hey Ron.  Hi Percy," he said, unsure, "What's going on?"

            "Oh, nothing," Ron said, smiling wider than was natural.

            "O…kay," Harry said slowly.

            "If you'll excuse me, Harry," Percy said, nodding his head politely, "I'll speak with you later, Ron."

            With that, he floated through the wall.  Harry looked back at Ron, cocking his head a little.

            "Uh, so, what have you been doing all day?" Ron asked awkwardly.

            Harry laughed slightly.  "Well, according to your definition, nothing."

            Ron bobbed his head, looking at the ground, then back at Harry with a smile.  "That much, eh?"

****

            "You always did have a knack for coming in at the wrong time," Snape muttered as his little sister entered his sleeping quarters.

            "No, you always had the knack for being in the wrong position when I wanted to talk," she replied as he took off his shirt.  Underneath was a small silver chain necklace, holding two simple silver rings.

            "So, what do you want to talk about?" he asked, sitting on his bed and proceeding to take off his boots.

            "Did I say I wanted to talk?" she replied flatly.

            Snape just shook his head, removing his last boot and then going to his wardrobe and taking out a nightshirt.  Juniata watched him pensively.  It was clear by the expression on her face that she did want to talk, but to admit it was another thing.

            "You still have them," Juniata suddenly said, staring at the necklace with rings.

            Snape didn't need to ask what she was talking about.  "They've never left me," he said quietly, pulling on his nightshirt.

            "How the empty-hearted hold onto hollow promises," she scoffed.

            Snape gave her a sharp look, but didn't speak.

            "You, of all people, should have known better, Severus," Juniata said callously, as if refuting a remark he'd said, "Your great master never took kindly anyone that had anything to do with muggles, so why would Ethelindi be an exception?  You are just a fool, blinded by greed."

            "Greed?!" he snapped, "That's what runs my life then, is it?  So I suppose greed is why I teach here in a vexing, thankless job?"

            "No," she said simply, "You teach here because of your cowardice."

            Snape's eyes flashed dangerously.  He turned away from her, then spun back around.  "I hate you," he said, the words tumbling out like from a child rather than from the cold Potions teacher, "I absolutely, truly hate you."

            Though he had not really intended this to have an effect on his younger sister, it did.  The bitter façade melted away easily, revealing a shocked and hurt little girl.

            "You've made my life miserable," Snape ranted on, not noticing, or not caring, what his sister felt, "And I don't mean just now.  It was bad enough to go through school poor, but to have a squib sister…"

            "Did you never think how I felt, a squib with a wizard for a brother?" she said, trying to sound spiteful.

            "How could I help it?" he said angrily.

            "And how could I!" she fumed, "But I never hated you for being a wizard, Brother.  No, I envied you, but couldn't hate."

            "I don't hate you for being a squib!" he shouted, "I never reached that low.  You turned your back on me, right when I needed you the most!"

            "I?  You are highly mistaken, Professor.  It was you who abandoned us."

            "You could have done something to stop me!" he said heavily, his voice cracking.

            "I was seventeen, Severus!" Juniata yelled, "What was I supposed to do?!  And if Ethie couldn't stop you, how was I supposed to?!"

            "You could have tried," he said quietly, sitting on the bed.

            "And how was I supposed to know?" she hissed, "We didn't even know each other, Severus.  You were in your world, and I in mine.  How could I see the change?"

            "You knew me better than anyone, Juni.  Better than Mum and Dad, far better than even Ethie.  More than anything, I wanted someone to stop me.  That Christmas, before…everything…  I was counting on you then, praying you'd see something, know something, do something."  His voice faded slightly.  "But you didn't.  You failed me."

            She glared at him, then turned sharply, walking over and staring at the wall.  "You failed yourself."

            Snape sat there, looking at his sister but not really seeing her.  Her arms were folded, and she gripped tight to them with her hands, trying to control temper and tears.  She tried to hold back the words, but it was hard to do so with someone she'd once been so open with.  They just came out.

            "We weren't even brother and sister by that point," she said stiffly, "Not really.  We hadn't been since you ended your sixth year."

            Snape looked up, his attention fully on Juniata.  "What?"

            She gave a derisive laugh, turning slightly.  "Don't you remember?"

            He simply waited for her to explain.

            "You had just come out of Platform 9 ¾.  I was waiting happily for you."  She spoke directly to the wall now.  "I asked about the year, and you replied flatly.  Then someone called out from behind us.  'Oh look, it's little squiby!'  It was those boys, those Pirates or whatever they called themselves."

            "Marauders," he said quietly.

            "Those Marauders.  And you didn't say anything."  Her voice had gone very quiet now, but Snape caught every word.  "They mocked me again and again, and you just walked on.  And I knew you were ashamed of me.  I haven't had a brother since."

            "That's absurd!" he blurted out, "I was distracted, Juni."

            "Oh yes.  I know why, too.  It was that girl, wasn't it?" she said, turning to him.

            He scowled, looking at the floor.

            "Of course it was," she scorned, "You take it out on the boy, now; I could tell by the way he reacted to me.  Whether more because of the father or the mother, however, I cannot tell."

            "I treat him as I treat every other student," he replied in a growl.

            "I don't see how you got by so long on lies, Severus," she scoffed, "You loved her, or at least thought you did, and were crushed after that year."

            "So you see why I wasn't quite up to going against the Marauders," he said matter-of-factly.

            "You had an excuse to be distant, but you abandoned me.  You left me to the wolves, Severus."

            "I was hurting, Juni!"

            "Well I hurt, too!" she cried, turning back to the wall.

            Both were silent, lost in unspoken anger.  The steady ticking of a wall clock was the only reminder that anything lived in the room.  Then Snape looked up at the back of her head, almost apologetically.

            "I was never ashamed of you," he said hollowly.

            "That's a laugh," she replied, though her voice didn't sound anywhere near laughter.

            "I'm not lying, Juni.  You were…are my little sister.  I hated the insults, was angry, even with you sometimes, but I was never ashamed of you."

            She didn't move for a while, her back still to him, but slowly turned her head.  Their eyes met.  The pain and hopelessness in each was evident, and for the briefest of moments, brother and sister were connected by mutual suffering.  But then the moment was gone.

            "I wish I could say the same," she said quietly, voice absent of malice.

            Neither moved for a moment, then Juniata walked out without another word.

****

            "Hello, stranger."

            Sirius looked up and gave a cry of surprise, for Professor Connerly was sitting cross-legged on top of his desk.

            "Sorry to interrupt your apparently intriguing conversation with your arm, but I decided to pop in," she smiled.

            "How'd you sneak in like that?" he asked, groggily wiping his eyes.

            "I find that those who are in the depths of despair don't have good hearing."

            "I guess not," he sighed, slumping forward a bit.

            "Having some trouble with the teaching business?" she asked after a moment.

            "Understatement of the century," he said, pouting slightly.

            "Care for some tips?"

            "I guess it couldn't hurt," he consented, a little reluctantly.

            "Okay, tip number one:" she said importantly, holding up a finger, "Breathe."

            His face broke into a smile, and he gave the first real laugh he had in a long while.

            "By gum, is that Sirius Black?!" Connerly exclaimed in surprise, "I was sure he'd gone a long time ago, and that I had been speaking with The Professor."

            "I guess I haven't been myself, have I?" he asked with a smile.  She grinned knowingly.

            "I have gotten rather bad," he continued with a sigh, "Just the other day, Harry came in wanting to talk to me, and I ignored him.  I didn't really want to, but at the time I simply thought, 'Who gives a damn?'"

            "That's why you need to relax," she soothed, "The world doesn't end if your lesson plan isn't perfect.  In fact, imperfection makes perfection; the best things can come from that which wasn't planned."

            "Then all my lessons must be perfect," he said, teasing her.

            She put her hand under his chin, tilting his head up towards hers.  "You're doing quite well, actually.  You just need to clear your mind every once in a while."

            And then, much to Sirius' surprise and pleasure, she leaned forward and kissed him.  When she pulled back, he stared at her a moment, then broke into a smile.

            "Well that does nothing at all to clear my mind!"

            She smiled.  "At least I tried."

            Sliding off the desk, Connerly headed for the door.

            "You know," Sirius called after her, "you could try again any time you'd like."

            Laughing, she opened the door.  "Sure thing, Professor."

~*~*~

A/N:  *sigh*  Short?  Yes.  Good enough to make up for the shortness?  No.  *wince*  Sorry.

            I swear, I do have some good things coming up.  And I'd get to them if I would start writing instead of reading them. *shakes head*  Summer has finally come, and I'm wasting it!!!  Blah.

            But my, I was surprised at how many people jumped to the conclusion that I'm killing Harry.  I thought you had more faith in me than that. ^_^  I have just two words for you:  assume nothing.

            Well, thank you everyone who reviewed!!!

yerbroham:  ^_^  Thanks.  And yes, there is much more of the prophecy we haven't heard.  I would NEVER make it that simple.  ^-^  Yeah, I agree on Sirius.  I don't even know why I stuck that in.  Just glad to hear from you again! ^_^

Alec Kazaam:  Thanks!  lol

Jeanne:  I figured James is a special case, especially thanks to his age, and the fact that he's not quite got the relationships Harry, Azar, and Draco have.  That is a funny coincidence.  ^_^  Thanks!

summersun:  *grins*  Thanks!

abbey:  Yah for points! ^_^  Thanks!

jona:  Really?  Thanks!!!

chrestomanci:  Yah for you!!!  Thanks!

Naralina:  Wow, thank you.

Tarawen:  Thanks for the Dumbledore advice.  Thanks!

Princess:  ^_^  You'll see.  Thanks!

Illusoire:  Thanks!

Sirius Black:  Thanks!!!  I will.

Saria:  Thank you very much. *blushes with pride*

Trisana:  Thanks!

*Jay*:  Nope, not the same. ^_^  And I can't very well tell you the answer to your second question, now can I?  Thanks!

sweets:  lol  Thanks!

Liliana-Suger:  Thanks!  I think I hadn't found time to read some of your work, so that's why I hadn't emailed you back.  Now that it's summer, though, I will!

            Anybody hear the audio for the Chamber of Secrets yet?  It rocks, I'll just tell you that. ^_^  I can't wait to see it in theaters!

            Well, thank you all and be excellent to each other!

            -Ady