A/N: Man, you guys almost didn't have this chapter. You see, not so long ago I lost my spacebar key. Yep, it was just gone one day. I didn't know where it went, though I'm pretty sure that my brother had something to do with it. However, we did find it on the floor so I can type! YAAY!
Disclaimer: Insert standard disclaimer here.
Harry Potter and the Sacred Soul of Vietsvar
By: Handsofftheshinyshirtitsmine
Rated: PG-13
Chapter 8: Conversation of Snake and Lion
Monday came along far too quickly for Monique's liking. It marked her first potions class since the "discussion", and she was still unsure of her feelings with regards to her father. Sunday had been spent finishing homework and talking with her classmates, allowing her to temporarily forget her troubles as she had that night with Harry. Come Monday, however, it all came flooding back to her.
She stared at herself for a long while in the mirror, after she had finished braiding her dark hair down her back, noting the circles forming beneath her slim eyes.
"Life can't always be uncomplicated." Monique jumped, and turned to see Hermione looking at her, obviously concerned. She let out the breath she had taken in.
"'Mione…" She whispered, her heart still pounding.
"Monique, I know that something is wrong. Ever since your fainting spell, and especially after that blasted Hogsmeade trip, you have been rather sad and introverted." Hermione's tone was one of genuine concern, and Monique's heart rate slowed. Leave it to her to notice that something is up. You can never fool 'Mione.
"I'll be alright, 'Mione…really…" Monique looked away from the other girl, her gaze unconsciously falling on anything other than her inquiring face.
"Don't lie to me." Monique looked back her, surprised at the stern and commanding tone of her voice, and let out a sigh.
"It's nothing. Really, everything will be fine."
Hermione opened her mouth as if to say something, thought better of it, and stepped forward in order to hug her friend.
"I can only hope that you are right," she resigned with a breathy sigh, and Monique mumbled some reassurance into her fluffy hair. "What do you say to breakfast?"
The two girls met up with Harry and Ron in the common room, and Ron and Hermione noted with humor the looks that passed between the two others.
"We're going downstairs to eat," Hermione announced after their good mornings had been said. "Do you want to come?"
"Of course!" Harry agreed eagerly only seconds after Hermione had suggested it. Ron and Hermione exchanged a glance as Monique broke into a wide smile.
"Well, get your stuff, and we can meet back here in a few minutes." Monique said simply, and the others nodded, each gender heading off to their respective dormitories. Upstairs, Monique gathered her books for potions and Care of Magical Creatures, shoving them into her shoulder bag along with two quills and a bottle of ink.
"What is going on between you and Harry?" She heard Hermione ask her, coming to her bedside and sitting down. Monique fastened the buckle, cringing and the inquiry, and then short her a look.
"Full of questions today, aren't we?" She snapped. Hermione looked taken aback.
"I…all…I'm only curious!" She managed, and there was a long moment of tense silence as the two glared at one another. Finally, Hermione broke it. "Anyway, why are you so touchy about it?"
"I'm not touchy!" Monique countered, swinging her bag onto her shoulder angrily. "Harry and I are merely friends." Hermione frowned at her, disbelieving, and watched as she turned on her heel and left the room.
When Hermione reached the common room, Ron was standing alone, waiting for her.
"Harry went with Monique." He said simply, a statement that wasn't necessary, as Hermione had already assumed as much. "She seemed mad."
"I don't know what's wrong with that girl lately." Hermione responded, an edge coming to her voice. "She's been acting…like…" she fumbled for the correct word, which Ron offered.
"Like a bloody nutter?"
"Yes…" She agreed, "Like a bloody nutter."
Monique watched as Hermione and Ron took seats at the opposite end of the Gryffindor table, casting wary eyes in their direction.
"What happened between you and 'Mione?" Harry asked her, and when she looked at him, his green eyes pleaded with her for an answer. She smiled gently, and reached across the table to take his hand.
"Just a typical catfight between two stupid girls." She told him matter-of-factly, and Harry nodded.
"Hermione can be obstinate sometimes."
"Wow Harry, for you, that was quite a big word," Monique laughed with an affectionate grin, which he returned before letting go of her hand. Then she grew more serious. "But its not only 'Mione. I'm a little out-of-sorts right now…" Her voice trailed off as she became lost in her own worries, and Harry allowed her her silence. He continued to eat his breakfast and drink some juice, his eyes locked on Monique's lovely yet troubled face. Finally she snapped from her trance and blushed as she noted that Harry's gaze fell on her.
"I'm so sorry Harry…" She shoved her breakfast away, untouched, and his expression turned to one of similar concern as the one Hermione had cast her earlier.
"Are you sure you're alright?" He asked. Monique nodded.
"Yes…or at least, I soon will be." She watched as Snape made his way from the Great Hall, and stood abruptly. "Listen, why don't you go sit with 'Mione and Ron? My conflict with Hermione shouldn't cause you pain too. And anyway, there is something that I must do." She regarded Harry with somber eyes, and he agreed.
"Alright. Will you be in the dungeons in time for potions?" He questioned, worried at what a row with Snape in her current state might cause her to do.
"Yes…" She replied as she walked away. And long before…
Monique took one last look over her shoulder before she started down the stairs towards the office where she knew her father would be. She bit her lip and passed the classroom door, continuing down the dusky hallway slowly. Despite the face that she had no idea what she was going to say, she was calm and well composed. When she stopped outside of her destination, she could hear the shuffling of parchment, a warmly familiar sound in a place she had never been. She knocked lightly, timidly.
"Professor Snape?" She called, trying to peer through the crack between the door and its frame. His response came to her in the form of a short, grunt-like "enter", which she did, shutting the door behind her. She regarded the man as she sat at his enormous and ancient looking desk. "Father…" She said quietly. "May we talk?"
Her father's eyes did not move from the essay that he was scanning, he merely responded.
"Talk? About what, may I inquire?" Monique shifted her weight a bit and then gingerly took a seat in one of the chairs before the desk, uncomfortable when he would not look at her.
"About…mother…and this prophecy…I'm so confused, Father, I don't know what to think or do anymore!" She set her bag on the floor, and leaned forward to look more closely at her father, who refrained from looking up for the time being.
"What more is there to discuss with regards to this matter?" He asked tonelessly, seemingly unconcerned with the whole matter. Monique stared at him, fury beginning to blaze in her amber eyes and about her cheeks.
"I…I don't know. I just need reassurance of some kind! And now you sit before me as though you do not care! I need to be able to come to you to talk, there is no open dialogue between us!" She drew in a haggard breath, and then continued, now more quietly. "It seems as if we have grown apart, rather than together, since I transferred here."
Now, Snape shifted his eyes in her direction, and he frowned.
"You share my own character far too much, Monique, for I had been feeling that exact thing." He straightened his back and regarded her with wry amusement. "However, I have also taken the time to think of a possible solution." Monique's lips turned up at the corners as some relief flooded her.
"What might that be?" She questioned, aware that Severus Snape would only have taken the time to think of a plan of any sort when something plagued him greatly.
"It would be more than a bit suspicious for you to continue to make your way to this office or my classroom at odd hours. As it is, there are no secreted passages to either, and any leading to the dungeons themselves are far past the common room, thus requiring your passage by it to get here. That is far too risky. However, it would not prove a hindrance if you were to be venturing to my own chambers." Monique nodded, understanding his words with little thought. "Therefore, I have made the decision to give you entry to my suite at anytime. This would allow you a place to get away if you feel burdened, and a place for us to find one another if need be. I shall show you the passageway by which you absolutely must come, soon." Monique's tiny smile grew into a grin that illuminated her pale face.
"That is a marvelous idea!" She exclaimed. "Then we would be able to schedule a specific time to talk each week, so that we would not lose touch."
"Yes, and so that you would not expect to make conversation during a detention." He responded. She blushed.
"I have yet more news for you, Monique." Snape continued, noticing her embarrassment with a smile of his own. "I had intended to let you find out today in class with the rest, but I feel a certain obligation to explain more deeply to you than them." His daughter's expression grew confused and inquisitive, and he knew from previous experience that continuing to toy with her would prove a bad choice. "I will be leaving next week, for one month. Dumbledore has asked that I conduct some business for the order, and he will be taking care of my responsibilities while I am absent."
"I understand," Monique told him simply, knowing that order duties were not to be ignored. She began to say something further, but Snape lifted a hand and silence her.
"Taking care of my responsibilities includes watching over you. All I ask is that you behave properly while I am gone. I know the tendency you have for finding yourself in trouble."
Monique nodded, and then glanced at her watch.
"Father, I realize it is almost time for class, and I shall not keep you much longer. However, may I ask you but one more question?" She stood and smoothed her robes.
"I don't see how I can prevent you." He answered, vague in a way that was typical of his agreements.
"I understand that I am to birth a son who will doom the world. Yet, does the prophecy make mention of who will share this son with me?" She watched as Snape's face fell, and he shook his head.
"It does, yes. However, I am bound by the prophecy not to tell. If you change one portion of it, the prophecy will develop more unknowns of its own will. Therefore, as much as I wish to tell you, I cannot."
A/N I realize that by now most of you understand who will "share this son" with Monique, at least, I would hope. It is with a contented sigh that I finally begin to drop into my plot… at least by chapter 10, as I haven't decided what I will do with chapter 9. I think that I shall have it up by April Fools Day, if not sooner!
