Disclaimer: J. K. Rowling is the owner of all you recognize. Blanche is mine and always will be. Mwahahaha!
Chapter 10-More Memories of the Muse
Harry wandered to his cot severely wanting of Sirius's company. He looked at the keys trying to feel his presence in them. Of course, there was nothing. Sirius hadn't had the keys since before he was taken prisoner to Azkaban; it was Dumbledore who held them, as his secret keeper. Harry fell into his mattress and sank into the sheets. The exhaustion his despair had risen to, plummeted him to sleep quickly. The deep sleep tormented him to revisit the same room of doors in the Department of Mysteries. NO! He told himself. Not again!
The scene disappeared and Harry sees a woman with her blue hair pinned up in a plum hat. The woman looked at Harry from a train carriage window. Her violet eyes searched for Sirius, knowing she wouldn't find him. Harry looked through her eyes and saw she was crossing a bridge over a river and beyond a great forest. The trees tops swayed in a strange and vaguely familiar dance for Harry. It seemed the woman was sad and weary to go where she must, but she was bound to her choice. Her gaze began to cross the waters toward the place she was dreading. Harry followed, while Blanche's eyes began to creep across the water and up the hard rock shore to a road leading up the side of a mountain.
Before Harry saw Blanche's destination, purple fog blocked out the vision of the older Miss Nouveau and faded away to reveal a thin, rather handsome young man pondering the moonlight, leaning on the worn wooden railing of a of a cobble stone bridge. The full moon's purple reflection stirred in the waves of the lake in front of him. Next to him, the girl with blue hair and stunning violet eyes smiled and asked, "Severus, what are you thinking about?"
"Oh, nothing important, Hope." Hope gazed into Snape's dark eyes trying hard to discover his thoughts. It had become something of a game between them, since they had become so close and because they were both skilled in Legilimency. Hope had become very good at it. "After all," she thought, "I had a very fine tutor." Hope analyzed what she saw. His black irises were twinkling. His face shined with a rare healthy pink color in his cheeks. He looked as though he would float away if he weren't holding onto the bridge railing. Hope saw that he was feeling the same emotions she felt right at that moment, at their special place, the Old East Hogsmeade Bridge on the way back to Hogwarts. She knew in that moment she loved him.
"I love you too, Severus."
"Excuse me, dear. What did you say?"
"I love you too. Why? Wasn't that what you were thinking?" Severus realized what she meant and quickly said,
"Yes. Yes, of course."
"Severus, you're lying to me." And for once she was sent an idea for herself. She began to cry. Deeply hurt she understood but spoke lividly,
"I thought you and her were finished? You said the two of you would never be able to make up after her betrayal. You said you loathed her."
"Well . . . I . . . We have," Severus's voice squawked. "I just had a memory."
"You just had a memory! You met each other again. Earlier today! I saw it in your eyes! Severus?" She reached gently toward his face reaching to see the truth in his eyes. He looked away, not knowing what to say or think. Blanche took his silence as confirmation and goes on, furious, her eyes burnt red with anger, "You horrible rotten sneak! You awful greasy snake! How could I have ever wasted an inch of my time on your scandalous hide. To think I was finally able to trust you. I finally was ready to . . . Uh!!!!! I never want to speak to you again!" Blanche's voice echoed as she ended with a smoky spin on her words, "And you Mr. Severus Snape will NEVER be with Lily Evans! Never! She is even more Slytherin than you are!" Snape whipped around, his face wild with fury,
"Don't you threaten me Blanche. Once you do it you can never come back," Snape warned her.
"Severus you are cursed to me! I curse you to never find love again until you pay for your betrayal! The curse of a muse binds you Severus Antonis Snape! Make of it what you will!" she finished, acid dripping from her words.
"You would never . . . you just said you loved me," Severus pleaded, yet still taunted her emotions.
"And I am a fool for that. A mistake I will never duplicate! You, sinuous pureblood. Never come near me again!"
Purple fog again clouded the scene. Harry saw Blanche weeping in the library with Severus leaving. Harry's view became Snape's own view in the library, and then a flash of dark green light revealed Blanche's white face, eyes red, and blue hair barbing out at all angles in Snape's mind. Harry saw the note Sirius gave Blanche, and then the necklace underneath it. Then, to Harry's disbelief he saw an older Tom Riddle, Lord Voldemort, laughing at Blanche in a pensive. Voldemort scoffed, "Love. The passion of the weak!" His Dark Lord still laughed hysterically, Snape pointed to the orbs,
"Curse her, my lord, if she ever use her thoughts to help her nefarious beloved, Sirius Black!" After Blanche's usual signature and the flash of orange light, Harry's dreams ended and he quickly fell back into dreamless sleep.
When the sun finally rose, Harry got out of bed and dressed, much earlier than he would like, and then went around the corner to the dungeon's sitting room to wait for Ron and Hermione. Hermione came in first looking more tired than she had the night before,
"Just silly girl stuff," Hermione answered before Harry could ask why she looked so tired. She walked over to the dusty brown leather chair between Harry and the fireplace.
"It's awfully chilly for August, don't you think," Hermione shivered.
"Well, we are in a dungeon." Ron came in yawning profusely still in his nightclothes. "What are you two doing up so early?"
"Early, it's half past eight already!" Hermione teased.
"Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, I guess I'll go back to bed then. Unless we transported to Hogwarts already without me knowing it."
"No. Ron . . . I had more dreams . . . huh . . . memories last night."
"Oh, do tell," Ron said mocking a gossipy girl. "Anymore with Snappy Wappy putting out the charm on Sirius's Hope?"
"Well, actually I know why Snape and Blanche broke up."
"Why?" yawned Ron.
"My mum." Ron's yawn shut and his eyes shot open. The three of them looked at each other quiet, shocked, and nervous.
"Well, get on with it then. What about your mum?" Hermione asked just as anxious as Ron.
"Snape was in love with my mom, and my mom apparently was meeting with him secretly." Harry explained the lover's quarrel on Old East Hogsmeade Bridge, and of Blanche's pain many years later going toward a destination across a river and great forest. Then, he mentioned the idea Blanche had given Snape that day seemingly months after the break up, in the library.
"You don't think he would have done that, do you? I know Snape is mean and all, but to curse someone who actually loved him, of all people?" Ron questioned rationally.
"I don't know. She did curse him, and he didn't end up with my mom."
"Why do you think she waited this long to start giving you memories? I mean it is pretty strange. If you'd known this before Sir . . . Sorry. . . I mean you could have asked," Hermione realized.
"Well, Blanche may have thought Snape capable of such a thing. She was obviously a bit afraid of him in the library. Maybe she thought Snape did have her cursed."
"But she still let him have the idea," pointed out Ron, "I don't know Harry." Hermione empathetic to Blanche scolded Ron,
"She was startled and confused and hurt. How was she supposed to protect that thought at that moment?"
"Even so she did give him the idea, and she was attached to Sirius, and we know how well Snape and Sirius got along, don't we?"
"Yeah, right. Two peas in a pod those two," Ron said sarcastically. Ron continues with curiosity in his voice, "I wonder why the bits you're getting aren't coming in any straight forward order. It's more of a puzzle with each memory you get."
"But why am I seeing all this now? Why would someone want to drag this all up again if not to manipulate me?" Harry wondered aloud.
"Well," Hermione started, "You simply have to find her. You can't know the truth of any of it without hearing the whole story. In order."
"Yeah," Ron agreed searching for additional thoughts, "Imagine Snape being in love at all and then end up in love with your Mum. How does that work? Weren't your mum and dad going together by sixth year? Really wicked."
"Well, I don't really know anything for sure yet," Harry went on frustrated, "Anyway . . ."
"Harry, I think you might have to ask Professor Snape to help you with Occlumency again. Who knows if Voldemort is controlling the muse in order to send you these ideas or not? For all you know, none of it is true and he just wants you to find out where Professor Snape's loyalties lie. You know, now that he has started going to the Dark Lord with the rest of the Death Eaters."
"But why me? He could just get that out of Snape, couldn't he?"
"Harry . . . huh . . . you didn't exactly master the art of Occlumency last year. He may see you as his source of information on the inside even now. Professor Snape, regardless of what we may think of him, is very skilled at Occlumency and Legilimency. If he weren't, he wouldn't still be alive, and neither would the Order. And Voldemort knows your weaknesses, Harry. He thought your bravery was one and now he may be pushing your curiosity. He knows you would want to know more." Harry contemplated Hermione's words. She was right, of course, he needed to master Occlumency, but Harry knew he couldn't go back to Snape for lessons.
"You didn't see Snape's face after I saw his memory. He knew I sympathized with him. He'd seen my childhood embarrassments. He was humiliated. How could I ask him to help me again? Especially, now. He would see what I know about him."
"Well, then I guess it's up to us," said Ron looking at Hermione. "We can't have you helping Voldemort break into Hogwarts. It's the last place any of us are safe."
Chapter 10-More Memories of the Muse
Harry wandered to his cot severely wanting of Sirius's company. He looked at the keys trying to feel his presence in them. Of course, there was nothing. Sirius hadn't had the keys since before he was taken prisoner to Azkaban; it was Dumbledore who held them, as his secret keeper. Harry fell into his mattress and sank into the sheets. The exhaustion his despair had risen to, plummeted him to sleep quickly. The deep sleep tormented him to revisit the same room of doors in the Department of Mysteries. NO! He told himself. Not again!
The scene disappeared and Harry sees a woman with her blue hair pinned up in a plum hat. The woman looked at Harry from a train carriage window. Her violet eyes searched for Sirius, knowing she wouldn't find him. Harry looked through her eyes and saw she was crossing a bridge over a river and beyond a great forest. The trees tops swayed in a strange and vaguely familiar dance for Harry. It seemed the woman was sad and weary to go where she must, but she was bound to her choice. Her gaze began to cross the waters toward the place she was dreading. Harry followed, while Blanche's eyes began to creep across the water and up the hard rock shore to a road leading up the side of a mountain.
Before Harry saw Blanche's destination, purple fog blocked out the vision of the older Miss Nouveau and faded away to reveal a thin, rather handsome young man pondering the moonlight, leaning on the worn wooden railing of a of a cobble stone bridge. The full moon's purple reflection stirred in the waves of the lake in front of him. Next to him, the girl with blue hair and stunning violet eyes smiled and asked, "Severus, what are you thinking about?"
"Oh, nothing important, Hope." Hope gazed into Snape's dark eyes trying hard to discover his thoughts. It had become something of a game between them, since they had become so close and because they were both skilled in Legilimency. Hope had become very good at it. "After all," she thought, "I had a very fine tutor." Hope analyzed what she saw. His black irises were twinkling. His face shined with a rare healthy pink color in his cheeks. He looked as though he would float away if he weren't holding onto the bridge railing. Hope saw that he was feeling the same emotions she felt right at that moment, at their special place, the Old East Hogsmeade Bridge on the way back to Hogwarts. She knew in that moment she loved him.
"I love you too, Severus."
"Excuse me, dear. What did you say?"
"I love you too. Why? Wasn't that what you were thinking?" Severus realized what she meant and quickly said,
"Yes. Yes, of course."
"Severus, you're lying to me." And for once she was sent an idea for herself. She began to cry. Deeply hurt she understood but spoke lividly,
"I thought you and her were finished? You said the two of you would never be able to make up after her betrayal. You said you loathed her."
"Well . . . I . . . We have," Severus's voice squawked. "I just had a memory."
"You just had a memory! You met each other again. Earlier today! I saw it in your eyes! Severus?" She reached gently toward his face reaching to see the truth in his eyes. He looked away, not knowing what to say or think. Blanche took his silence as confirmation and goes on, furious, her eyes burnt red with anger, "You horrible rotten sneak! You awful greasy snake! How could I have ever wasted an inch of my time on your scandalous hide. To think I was finally able to trust you. I finally was ready to . . . Uh!!!!! I never want to speak to you again!" Blanche's voice echoed as she ended with a smoky spin on her words, "And you Mr. Severus Snape will NEVER be with Lily Evans! Never! She is even more Slytherin than you are!" Snape whipped around, his face wild with fury,
"Don't you threaten me Blanche. Once you do it you can never come back," Snape warned her.
"Severus you are cursed to me! I curse you to never find love again until you pay for your betrayal! The curse of a muse binds you Severus Antonis Snape! Make of it what you will!" she finished, acid dripping from her words.
"You would never . . . you just said you loved me," Severus pleaded, yet still taunted her emotions.
"And I am a fool for that. A mistake I will never duplicate! You, sinuous pureblood. Never come near me again!"
Purple fog again clouded the scene. Harry saw Blanche weeping in the library with Severus leaving. Harry's view became Snape's own view in the library, and then a flash of dark green light revealed Blanche's white face, eyes red, and blue hair barbing out at all angles in Snape's mind. Harry saw the note Sirius gave Blanche, and then the necklace underneath it. Then, to Harry's disbelief he saw an older Tom Riddle, Lord Voldemort, laughing at Blanche in a pensive. Voldemort scoffed, "Love. The passion of the weak!" His Dark Lord still laughed hysterically, Snape pointed to the orbs,
"Curse her, my lord, if she ever use her thoughts to help her nefarious beloved, Sirius Black!" After Blanche's usual signature and the flash of orange light, Harry's dreams ended and he quickly fell back into dreamless sleep.
When the sun finally rose, Harry got out of bed and dressed, much earlier than he would like, and then went around the corner to the dungeon's sitting room to wait for Ron and Hermione. Hermione came in first looking more tired than she had the night before,
"Just silly girl stuff," Hermione answered before Harry could ask why she looked so tired. She walked over to the dusty brown leather chair between Harry and the fireplace.
"It's awfully chilly for August, don't you think," Hermione shivered.
"Well, we are in a dungeon." Ron came in yawning profusely still in his nightclothes. "What are you two doing up so early?"
"Early, it's half past eight already!" Hermione teased.
"Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, I guess I'll go back to bed then. Unless we transported to Hogwarts already without me knowing it."
"No. Ron . . . I had more dreams . . . huh . . . memories last night."
"Oh, do tell," Ron said mocking a gossipy girl. "Anymore with Snappy Wappy putting out the charm on Sirius's Hope?"
"Well, actually I know why Snape and Blanche broke up."
"Why?" yawned Ron.
"My mum." Ron's yawn shut and his eyes shot open. The three of them looked at each other quiet, shocked, and nervous.
"Well, get on with it then. What about your mum?" Hermione asked just as anxious as Ron.
"Snape was in love with my mom, and my mom apparently was meeting with him secretly." Harry explained the lover's quarrel on Old East Hogsmeade Bridge, and of Blanche's pain many years later going toward a destination across a river and great forest. Then, he mentioned the idea Blanche had given Snape that day seemingly months after the break up, in the library.
"You don't think he would have done that, do you? I know Snape is mean and all, but to curse someone who actually loved him, of all people?" Ron questioned rationally.
"I don't know. She did curse him, and he didn't end up with my mom."
"Why do you think she waited this long to start giving you memories? I mean it is pretty strange. If you'd known this before Sir . . . Sorry. . . I mean you could have asked," Hermione realized.
"Well, Blanche may have thought Snape capable of such a thing. She was obviously a bit afraid of him in the library. Maybe she thought Snape did have her cursed."
"But she still let him have the idea," pointed out Ron, "I don't know Harry." Hermione empathetic to Blanche scolded Ron,
"She was startled and confused and hurt. How was she supposed to protect that thought at that moment?"
"Even so she did give him the idea, and she was attached to Sirius, and we know how well Snape and Sirius got along, don't we?"
"Yeah, right. Two peas in a pod those two," Ron said sarcastically. Ron continues with curiosity in his voice, "I wonder why the bits you're getting aren't coming in any straight forward order. It's more of a puzzle with each memory you get."
"But why am I seeing all this now? Why would someone want to drag this all up again if not to manipulate me?" Harry wondered aloud.
"Well," Hermione started, "You simply have to find her. You can't know the truth of any of it without hearing the whole story. In order."
"Yeah," Ron agreed searching for additional thoughts, "Imagine Snape being in love at all and then end up in love with your Mum. How does that work? Weren't your mum and dad going together by sixth year? Really wicked."
"Well, I don't really know anything for sure yet," Harry went on frustrated, "Anyway . . ."
"Harry, I think you might have to ask Professor Snape to help you with Occlumency again. Who knows if Voldemort is controlling the muse in order to send you these ideas or not? For all you know, none of it is true and he just wants you to find out where Professor Snape's loyalties lie. You know, now that he has started going to the Dark Lord with the rest of the Death Eaters."
"But why me? He could just get that out of Snape, couldn't he?"
"Harry . . . huh . . . you didn't exactly master the art of Occlumency last year. He may see you as his source of information on the inside even now. Professor Snape, regardless of what we may think of him, is very skilled at Occlumency and Legilimency. If he weren't, he wouldn't still be alive, and neither would the Order. And Voldemort knows your weaknesses, Harry. He thought your bravery was one and now he may be pushing your curiosity. He knows you would want to know more." Harry contemplated Hermione's words. She was right, of course, he needed to master Occlumency, but Harry knew he couldn't go back to Snape for lessons.
"You didn't see Snape's face after I saw his memory. He knew I sympathized with him. He'd seen my childhood embarrassments. He was humiliated. How could I ask him to help me again? Especially, now. He would see what I know about him."
"Well, then I guess it's up to us," said Ron looking at Hermione. "We can't have you helping Voldemort break into Hogwarts. It's the last place any of us are safe."