Chapter Thirty-Three

Present Perfected

It wasn't until Jennifer stumbled into Severus' office that she allowed the tears to fall, touching the walls and books with her fingers and petting Rasputin despite the fact that she was trembling. She offered him a mouse, not even wincing when he began to crunch it and then stood back up and stared at the appointment book on the desk. It took nearly all her strength to close it. Then she sat down, gazing at his room with an empty heart, her eyes falling up upon her portrait. The portrait of Snape, whose frame was right now underwater, had taken refuge there, and the two of them stood facing her but with their arms wrapped around each other.

"I can't believe how much I miss you already," Jennifer murmured, having trouble mouthing the words through her tears and tightening throat. "I can't really even believe you're gone. How can I learn to manage without you? How can the school learn to manage without you? I know it may be hard to believe, but even if I can learn the first, I don't think the school will ever be able to manage the second. And what am I going to tell the children?" she asked, leaning her head against the desk.

Just then there was a knock, and Jennifer looked up to see Aurelius walk in, closing it quietly behind him.

"I hope you don't mind," Aurelius said, sounding a bit shaky. "I know how you must feel, but you really oughtn't to be alone right now."

"You know, don't you?" Jennifer said quietly. Aurelius nodded.

"None of the others do at the moment, of course. They're too elated about Dumbledore being all right. Professor Weasley said it was all right if I came to check on you…"

"Dumbledore is all right?" Jennifer said with surprise.

"That's right, you left before he came in, didn't you?" Aurelius remembered, sitting down. "He says the singing woke him up. I think he must have used the sound of our voices to guide himself back to his body. Brilliant idea, that."

"I was only doing it so that Severus knew we supported him," Jennifer said, feeling herself tear up again.

"I know," Aurelius said. "And, I guess what's more important, Father knew." Jennifer nodded gently. "This really is the way he wanted it." But Jennifer frowned then, shaking her head and looking at the picture.

"He wanted us to live, yes… he knew he would be able to always save us somehow," Jennifer murmured, watching them. "But he wanted to live too…for himself…very much so," she said, her voice wavering a bit. "I know he did."

"Yes, but he didn't think twice about giving that up for us, and as much as it hurts right now, we have to respect that," Aurelius said gently. "Somehow, we'll live on, and we'll get along all right. Tell her, Father," he said, talking to the painting. "Tell her we'll get on okay, she'll listen to you." But Aurelius paused, baffled when the painting merely nodded in agreement.

"Now, Aurelius, you know that those paintings don't talk," Jennifer sighed at him.

"Wait a minute. Something's not right," Aurelius said. "Mute Oil only works as long as the person in the portrait is alive. Didn't Father tell you that? Why is he still mute?"

"He did tell me that," Jennifer realized with alarm, standing up to stare at it. But the painting of Snape appeared to be staring at something else outside the frame, looking down. Then he took the portrait of Jennifer's hand and held up her left hand.

"What do you suppose he's doing?" Aurelius asked. But Jennifer's eyes flicked directly to her ring and then raised up her own hand to look at it. Then her eyes widened in sheer surprise and disbelief, her heart leaping in her chest as she watched the cracks that had appeared upon the diamond suddenly began to get smaller and smaller until they disappeared altogether.

"What does this mean?" Jennifer asked, so terrified of believing that she was seeing that her tone frightened Aurelius. "How could it possibly be?" Diving for her cloak, Jennifer pulled out her watch, completely soaked with water. "Please work, please work, oh please, please work," she said over and over again.

"I don't think it was waterproofed…"

"Even if the clock itself stopped, the hands work until the person dies, and if that's so, it should be stuck on 'Mortal Peril,'" Jennifer explained quickly, clearing off the glass of the watch in attempt to see that hands. "It's on Elsewhere! Great stars, it's on Elsewhere!" Jennifer shrieked. Suddenly the two of them looked up as the appointment book suddenly fell open and a quill put in another entry. The two of them ran over, staring at the new entry; Attempted Rescue by Wife. "He is still alive! I don't know how, but he is!" Jennifer said, and then turned to run out of the room. Just as she was coming out of the room, she nearly ran quite literally into Albus Dumbledore who gazed at her with raised eyebrows. "I'm so sorry! But he's alive! Severus is alive!"

"Well, I should hope so," Albus said calmly. "I would hate to think of what this school would do without him."

"I have to go find him right away!" Jennifer said and ran out of the room, Aurelius staring in the direction she went in stunned silence.

"Well! It doesn't take long for things to bounce back around here, does it?" Albus said casually.

It all began at precisely ten minutes before the death of Severus Snape…at least…one of the other Severus Snapes. The third one…or actually now the first one, Severus mused as he looked at his watch, picked up the Time-Turner that the second Snape had tossed down before the battle and put it back around his neck and under his collar… because this time around… the second time around… he was not going to use it. Yes, there had been all of three Snapes under that hill for most of it; sometimes there was only two; but never, since he stepped foot in the area, was there only just one. The third ran a bit of interference to make sure the other two could act independently, and ultimately, prove or disprove a paradox theory…that the Present was not dependent on the unchangeable Past and the changeable future. The proof of that theory was yet unknown to him. He only knew that his other self…one of two later selves he had brought into being by going back into a time he knew another Snape would be present…was even now getting ready to battle the most powerful force he had ever faced. And as one of the other Snape's job was to use the Time-Turner to make sure this version of himself existed, this version then had, in some ways, the most perilous job of all; to wait past the time when the one fighting Ciardoth was first created by the Time-Turner, and to wait past his death…to see if he would live, die, or perhaps even lose the entire battle if the Severus fighting her disappeared.

The brush parted on that side of the hill giving him a good view, so he sat down on the rock, wondering what he was doing, wondering if the other Severus was going to follow the plan, wondering if he was going to survive at all. Suddenly he heard something behind him, and at first he thought it was another version of himself, for who else would be out there at that very moment. But Severus' eyes fixed in the darkness to see a man with a beard and knew it wasn't even close to being himself at all.

"What are you doing here, Merlin?"

"Taking a walk," he said casually. "You?"

"I'm waiting to see if I'm going to die," Severus said curtly, turning back around.

"Ah! Merlin said brightly. "Mind if I join you, then? It sounds quite exciting, and this is a perfect spot. I do love front row seats in this sort of event, don't you know," he explained, earning a very sour look from Severus. "Besides, one doesn't want to be alone when one dies, after all. Nice to have a friend or relative around, even one you don't particularly care for that much."

Severus immediately forgave him his brashness after that, as he watched the sky fill up with ball lightning, his jaw dropping at the thought of what his other self must be going through. Merlin, for his part, sat quiet and extremely somber, watching the battle with a very critical eye, shaking his head every now and again, sometimes at something Ciardoth done, and sometimes at Severus.

But Severus himself was having a very wrenching moment…his forehead covered with sweat as he witnessed the severe scarring and damage Ciardoth did to him as the battle went on, and a chill went through him every single time that Severus attempted to fight back. How could he do this? How could he even hope to survive this? Severus panicked, knowing for certain now that the version of himself on the hill was in trouble. But at a critical point in the battle, Merlin put his hand on Severus' shoulder as if bracing them both for the worst as the Severus on the hill fell to the ground… and an instant later, they both watched as Ciardoth was torn apart, leaving nothing… nothing at all… in her wake.

Severus sat and stared at where he imagined his corpse fell, wondering if it was even there…or if it even mattered. Beside him, Merlin merely let out a deep heartfelt sigh as the two of them continued to stare out at the hill until long after the time streams had reversed themselves and the rain slowed to a stop.

"So, it would appear that you are still here then," Merlin commented.

"Yes," Severus said thoughtfully.

"And it would appear that Ciara is still destroyed," he went on in the same tone.

"So it would appear," Severus agreed.

"Then I suppose you must have won," Merlin said somberly, gazing up at the soft snowflakes floating down.

"And you have lost a daughter," Severus said quietly. Merlin didn't answer at first, still staring up at the sky.

"So you figured that out, then, did you?" Merlin said at last.

"Viviane is nearly as tall as she is and has very similar features…and there was the curse of Time as well," Severus said in a low voice. "I had long suspected, but seeing the three of you on the island when you helped me save Anna…"

"Of course," Merlin said softly. "I suppose in this world there are hundreds of stories about star-crossed lovers and original sin... but when the world was young and I was even younger but still a powerful Enchanter in my own right, I allowed myself to be seduced by a young woman who simply did so to persuade me to teach her my powers, not knowing at the time that every woman I touched became…well, let's just say I have a lot of offspring. It is something we should have never done and we knew from the beginning it would not bode well. I must confess that I wanted to be rid of her before she was born and I tried to persuade Viviane to give her up, but she would have none of it and hid her in the Otherworld to keep me from interfering. It was a mistake… a mistake nearly as horrible as the one that happened when Lorcan opened that gate. Sensing her mother's presence, Ciardoth, already on the road to insanity, became curious and slipped into this world. I didn't find out it had occurred until much later."

"And that is why you came back as Toby," Severus said.

"I knew your universe would be in trouble and consequently so would ours… too much of the Ancient Magic necessary to put her in her place had been forgotten, I knew that from my first visit. I couldn't allow your world to face this alone… but neither could I bring myself, no matter the crime, to kill my own daughter."

"And so you intentionally led me along to help me do it for you," Severus said, biting back sudden anger.

"Would you have been able to do it, Severus? Could you kill one of your daughters gone astray?" Merlin asked quietly. Severus thought about it for a long time before his shoulders slumped.

"Probably not," he admitted, Merlin nodding solemnly.

"And now, because of my mistake, I, as well as both of our worlds, truly owe you a great debt."

"I don't want anyone to owe me, Merlin," Severus sighed. "I simply want to know if this truly is over and that I'm not going to disappear or otherwise die on my way back to the school."

"Well! I suppose you don't know when you're going to die, now, do you?" Merlin said almost cheerfully, patting his shoulder once before standing up. "Sounds like a blessing in disguise after what you've just gone through, dear boy."

"You're right," Severus realized once he thought about it. "So it is."

Just then, Severus heard a frantic voice calling out his name from somewhere to his left, and he felt a sudden elation when he realized it was Jennifer's voice.

"Quick, man! Don't just sit there!" Merlin hissed. "By my Lady, find that girl before she sees your corpse! Go distract her, I'll clean things up here."

"Wait… now that it's over, will you be leaving?" Severus asked with a sudden twinge of regret.

"Never mind that! You'll see me again, never fear, but go now, for heaven's sake, go!" Merlin ordered, pushing him forward.

"Jennifer!" Severus called out and ran out of the brush, looking around to see she had already started up the hill. "Jennifer!" he called out again making her pause and look around.

"Severus?" she said unsurely, then spotted him walking around the base of the hill and took of in a run. "Severus!" she said, half crying half laughing as she reached him and hugged him so tight he could barely breathe.

"Worried, were you?" he said in a low voice, kissing her gently.

"Worried! You have no idea what you just put me through," she said, still crying despite the fact he kept attempting to brush her tears away. "The Diamond broke! I thought you were lost to me forever, and yet here you are without a single scratch on you!" she said, her surprised tone turning almost scolding.

"Yes, I know, I'm still marveling that fact myself," Severus mused, putting an arm around her and walking her away from the hill. "Come, Jennifer, let's get you out of this cold night air. I didn't go through all of this just so you can catch your death of cold."

"So it is over then? Ciardoth is gone?" Jennifer asked quietly.

"Oh, yes, it's over," Severus said, and then mused. "Now, what am I going to get involved in next, I wonder?"

"Oh, Severus, honestly!" Jennifer protested as they walked back towards Hogwarts, still arm in arm.