Disclaimer: All Harry Potter people, places, things, and ideas (all Harry Potter nouns) belong to J. K. Rowlings. All Elf-related topics, the Elvish language, references to staff magic, and any other Lord of the Rings nouns belong to J. R. R. Tolkien and the Elvish dictionary at Nevrast. The titles of the chapters were inspired by "Once Upon a December" from the cartoon movie Anastasia. Professor Heryn O'Sheen is mine.
Chapter 7: Yearning to remember.
"Woman, that's only red ink for correcting students' papers and tests. Please do not give us any more reason to worry than necessary," Severus told the Elvish woman before he muttered a cleaning spell.
Albus carried Minerva to the infirmary and was greeted by a distressed Poppy. "What happened?" she asked with worry.
"We don't exactly know. She just fainted," the Elvish woman answered.
After he had set her down on the bed, Albus was allowed to remain while Poppy cast a diagnostic spell, but Severus and the copper-haired woman were asked to wait outside. "She shouldn't have been part of the investigation to begin with. I should have taken her part myself and left you to the research. I just never thought that she would push herself so far," Severus remarked with a sigh as he stood outside the infirmary door.
The Elvish woman began wringing her hands. "You can't blame yourself. She was very good at hiding it. I only wish that I had been more observant. Merlin, she wouldn't have been so stressed if I was able to clearly remember that young man…" she trailed off when she felt a light tug at her wavy hair.
She turned slowly and found him fingering her hair. He stopped instantly upon being discovered. "I'm sorry, it was an old habit," he muttered to the floor.
"I don't mind, I was just surprised. When most people play with hair as a nervous gesture, it's usually their own hair," she said with a slight smirk.
He snorted, but dealt her a half-smile. "Yes, but my hair isn't long enough to do what yours does."
She debated her next move and decided that thinking about it much would squelch the idea. Moving toward him on an impulse, she quickly stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. He turned toward her, speechless and blinking. "I think," she paused for a moment, "it's what she would have done."
He noted her concern for him in her violet eyes. "Yes," was all he said.
In the infirmary Albus anxiously awaited Poppy's findings. "Well? What in Merlin's name is wrong with her?" he questioned.
The medwitch turned to him and placed an understanding hand on his shoulder. "She will be fine. There is nothing wrong with her that a good diet and regular sleeping habits won't cure. She just exhausted herself today, that's all," Poppy reassured him.
Albus grinned broadly when Poppy told him to gently wake Minerva. Being a light sleeper, the light touches on her shoulder and the long beard falling on her cheek woke her. "Albus, why am I in the infirmary?" she asked as she sat up.
Then she noticed Poppy. "Minerva, I warned you about your eating and sleeping habits. Albus and I will make certain that you take better care of yourself. Now, I'll leave you two alone for a moment while I find you a few more vitamin potions," the medwitch commented.
When it was just the two of them, Minerva glanced over at Albus sheepishly. "I'm sorry. It would seem that in my zealous effort to help, I got a bit carried away."
He brushed an errant strand behind her ear and his hand lingered on her shoulder. "That you did, my dear, but I'm so glad that you were not seriously ill. From now on, I'll be keeping a better eye on you."
She sighed and rolled her eyes, but smiled. "I should have known this was coming. Now you'll be watching me like a hawk, escorting me to every meal, and probably tucking me in at night too," she remarked wryly.
He nodded and sat down on the bed next to her. "Of course, my dear, I wouldn't dream of having you faint again. My life runs so much smoother when your health is intact."
"And why would that be?" she asked with a teasing grin.
"Because I love you, Tabby," he admitted quietly.
Minerva was stunned and sat staring at him for a solid minute. "You love me, in the non-platonic sense?" He nodded and she put both hands up to her mouth in a surprised gesture. Then she placed her hands in her lap. "Albus, I love you too. I was so afraid that you would not feel the same way, so I did not tell you."
Then Minerva realized how close they were to each other. She reached up and gently removed his glasses, placing them where hers had been placed on the small table. "Minerva, why have you removed my glasses?" he asked softly.
She smiled up at him and slowly placed both of her hands on his shoulders. "Don't talk, Albus," she instructed.
Their lips met in a gentle kiss that led to him placing one hand on the small of her back and cupping her face with the other, drawing her closer. The kiss became more passionate, neither wanting to break for air. When it was absolutely necessary, they broke apart and held each other. Then Albus turned Minerva's face back to meet his and did not waste any more time before kissing her ardently. He deepened the kiss and Poppy glanced up from her work, having finished the vitamin potions. She smiled, knowing that they had finally told each other the truth. Then she walked over to the door and let the other two into the infirmary.
Severus and the Elvish woman followed the direction as Poppy made a silencing gesture with one finger over her lips and pointed to the couple. Turning toward the woman on his right, he whispered, "Well, those two won't be much help for a while. We should probably go on ahead with the research."
She smirked and nodded, following him out of the room. "How should we go about this?" she inquired.
"You will proceed to the library and continue searching for ways to repel the oncoming attack while I search the House files for a description of our thief," he told her. They parted and began their tasks.
Severus cursed under his breath as he stared at the mess of papers and files blanketing his desk. I had forgotten that the last Head of Slytherin House was about as organized as Longbottom during his first year. If I find even the slightest ounce of useful information here, I'll try looking for the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow next, he thought to himself. Finally he recalled the year-sorting spell and it saved him at least two hours of work. Using the information he has learned earlier that day about the student's age, he began searching in what would have been the student's seventh year.
Knowing that it would be difficult to look for the student's picture with only a vague idea of what the student looked like, he scanned the files in that year for any incidents, such as a potion accident that would have caused the purple discoloration Minerva had mentioned. The only information he came across was a note saying that the information regarding the incident had been moved to Professor Heryn O'Sheen's file. If anyone has that file, it would be Albus. I'll just have to speak with him later about it, he reasoned, deciding to head to the library.
When he entered the library, he found her scanning another leather book with her left hand and flipping through an old Potions text with her right hand. "Is that your idea of multitasking?" he asked with a smirk.
She looked up immediately. "As a matter of fact, it is. I found some useful information about a certain potion as well as the staff," she paused and wiped a bit of perspiration from her brow. "I feel as if I've spent the last year in this library and that I may never leave. You might as well put my headstone in the corner over there. I'd have it say, 'here lies a woman too mixed up to know her own name,' because I don't know if I'd want 'Moira' or 'Heryn O'Sheen' at this point. I'm sorry for going off on that tangent."
He pulled up a chair and sat across from her. "How did you think to use 'Moira' as your name?"
She shrugged and moved a few hefty volumes to the other side of the table. "I don't really know. It just seemed like a good idea. I'm not even sure where I heard it."
"Your father's mother was named 'Moira,' but very few people know that. It would seem that you know more about yourself than you think you do," he relayed.
She watched him, slightly perplexed for a moment. "Thank you for telling me. I suppose I should return to my research. I found a potion mentioned in the leather book, one that can repel the killing curse once for the person ingesting the potion. However, the ingredients were not mentioned in the terms we would identify them by presently. This other book has a few pages in the middle that tell what the older ingredients would be now."
"But what else did you find regarding the staff?" he questioned curtly.
Raising an eyebrow, she dealt him the infamous over-the-glasses glare that he had seen Minerva use on occasion. The Elvish woman could do it without glasses though. "Only someone descended from the original wizards is able to use it, which means that though I can't use it, you might be able to."
"Going back to our thief for a moment, why would a man who has Saruman's staff be so eager to look for another one?" he questioned.
"Apparently when the people switched from staff magic to wand magic, as staffs were put in storage facilities they were all called staffs of Saruman," she explained.
Severus pondered the situation for a moment and then he looked over at her, wide-eyed, as if a light had been switched on in his mind. "Going by what you have just told me, what if it wasn't Saruman's staff he stole? What if it was some other early wizard's staff?"
The Elvish woman sat up straight in her seat. "Could Saruman's staff be here with us then?"
"If that is the case, then we may need to learn how to use it before our thief arrives and knows how to use whatever he did find," Severus recommended.
"I'm going to need a cot in the library. I honestly don't know much about actually using the wands," she admitted.
His gaze drifted off to the side for a moment, as if he were trying to organize a few file cabinets in his mind. Quickly he faced her again. "But I think I might. I should have thought of it sooner, but there are probably several books about staff magic in the collection of books I have from the family estate. But I can do that later. You and I need to see Albus about your file, actually Heryn O'Sheen's file."
"What's so special about my file?" she inquired.
"The incident that could have caused the purple discoloration on the thief's skin that we were told about has been moved to your file, according to the old Slytherin House files," he explained. She nodded and they headed toward the Headmaster's office.
Severus whispered the password and the Elvish woman followed him up the winding staircase. They quietly entered the study, but stopped in their tracks at the sight that met their eyes. Minerva was sitting atop the Headmaster's desk, kissing him soundly. Severus cleared his throat and averted his gaze. "Perhaps we should have knocked," he commented.
The other two immediately separated, blushing furiously. "Severus, we weren't expecting you. What do you need?" Minerva inquired in an attempt to muster up some of her dignity.
Smiling politely, the Elvish woman answered. "You don't need to be embarrassed about what you allowed us to see by accident. We need Heryn O'Sheen's file from when she taught here."
Albus stepped forward. "I assume this has something to do with the potion accident?"
The younger man nodded. "I was looking for the thief's student records in the Slytherin House files, and what a frightful mess that was, when I discovered a note saying that the potion incident had been transferred to Professor O'Sheen's file."
"I should have thought of that myself," Albus said as he walked over to an old filing cabinet. After fingering through a few papers, he removed a manila folder and brought it over to the Elvish woman.
She immediately began scanning it for the correct information. Severus noticed that she was attempting to skim over everything else, but he also understood why. He knew that seeing these glimpses of her past bothered her, he could sense it in the brief second that her eyes looked into his and then returned to the task at hand. Suddenly she stopped scanning and yanked out a few sheets of paper.
"Here it is!" she exclaimed before showing the papers to the others. "The young man's name is Byron Hornet. Apparently while in Potions class, he was attempting to brew something other than what had been assigned to the class and he had somehow managed to disguise what he was actually doing so the professor wasn't suspicious. A few ingredients he used caused the concoction to flare up and backfire on him, permanently scarring him in such a way that magic could not repair the damage."
"And do you remember any of that happening?" Severus interrogated.
She shook her head. "No, the name and the face aren't even familiar. I don't know why I remembered only the tattoo."
"I suggest that we send an owl to the Ministry of Magic as soon as possible, informing them about the thief's real name," Minerva advised. "Have you two learned anything more about the staff?"
"Only that we may need to learn how to use it. Even though the thief already stole a staff, it might not have been Saruman's staff. In actuality, Saruman's staff might be the one hidden here and it could be the reason that the thief is coming to the castle," Severus relayed.
"I'm afraid you won't find how to use it from books. From what I can recall on the subject, a wizard who is able to use it already knows how to harness its power. However, I do know that using a staff involves proficiency in wandless magic. That was one of the reasons why the staffs were considered dangerous. However, what you might find in a few of the old volumes is the language that the ancient wizards used," Albus told them.
Minerva cleared her throat and everyone's attention turned to her. "I hate to interrupt this line of conversation, but I want to apologize for this afternoon and the distress I caused."
"That's alright," Severus reassured her.
"Thank you. Do we have any other plans regarding the staff?" she asked.
Severus thought for a moment and glanced at the Elvish woman before turning back to Minerva. "I'm planning to test an idea later tonight," he paused and glanced at the clock over his shoulder as it read 9:30. "It would seem that not only have Her-Moira and I missed dinner, but it is also later than I thought it was. We shall see you two in the morning."
The Elvish woman followed him to the door and they left Albus and Minerva. The Headmaster and Deputy Headmistress exchanged kind smiles and he took her hands in his. "Tabby, I think Severus is right. After a day like today, we should both call it a night and turn in for the evening. May I walk you to your rooms?"
She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him lightly. "Of course," she replied. Then she dealt him a teasing grin. "And I suppose you'll want to tuck me in too in order to make certain that I go to sleep?"
He chuckled and they linked arms as they left his study. "My dear, I intend to see that you get back to your old, chipper self, even if it means having Poppy sleep on your couch."
She swatted his arm playfully as they walked along. "You wouldn't dare! With my luck, she would have me taking afternoon naps and teaching only half of my classes."
When they reached her door, they paused and he stroked her cheek with his thumb. "Goodnight, Tabby. I think I will let you tuck yourself in, this time," he told her with a smile.
"Goodnight, Albus," she added. This time when he kissed her goodnight, it was a warm, passionate kiss that she responded to by pulling herself closer. When they broke apart she smiled almost shyly.
"What is it, my dear?" he asked her softly.
"Albus, I love you, but I need to take things slowly if you don't mind," she remarked.
He held her in a comfortable embrace. "I understand, my dear, and I quite agree. I love you too," he told her before they parted company for the evening.
After Severus and the Elvish woman had left Albus' study, she looked at him questioningly. "What is your other idea regarding the staff?"
"First, you and I will have something light to eat. Then you will go to sleep and I will stay in your sitting room, assuming that you will sleepwalk again. Should you sleepwalk in search of the rest of the staff, I will follow you and retrieve the pieces," he explained frankly. She nodded in agreement.
When they reached her quarters, he conjured two salads for dinner. "You should avoid referring to yourself in the third person. The fact remains that you are Heryn O'Sheen, even if you do not remember it," he pointed out flatly as they ate.
"I wish I could remember it," she stated as she stopped eating and rubbed her temples.
"Is something bothering you?" he asked with sudden concern.
"I don't know. I've been getting headaches every once in a while since I came back to Hogwarts," she admitted.
"Then you ought to see Poppy about it in the morning," he instructed. Abruptly he recalled an important point he had brushed by earlier that day. "I shouldn't have kept drilling you about the staff. What else did you say you found in the library?"
She looked up at him. "I found a potion that will shield against the killing curse once. It might be useful in the next few days."
"Then we ought to start preparing a few batches tomorrow," he suggested. That night as she retired to her room, Severus sat on the couch, waiting to see if his theory was correct.
(my thanks to excessivelyperky, S.S.S.570, Quill of Minerva, and Leta McGotor for reviewing :D)