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 9: Once upon a December.
It was a special pensieve that was charmed to allow the viewer to watch the memories in third person. The first scene in the pensieve was of Severus reading a letter at his graduation while he waited to receive his diploma. "Severus, though you are no longer a student, don't ever stop learning and wondering. It is by learning that we find ways to improvise and grow," the letter ended. The Elvish woman knew that it was from her as she continued roaming through the pensieve.
Her ears picked up a few lines of Mozart as she saw herself playing the piano. Instinctively she knew that roughly seven or eight years had passed. She stopped upon hearing someone at her door and stood to open it to Severus. "You're early, it shows good initiative as an apprentice," she remarked.
He nodded and looked past her to the piano. "Professor, was that you playing the piano?"
She gestured for him to follow her and showed him the piece. "Yes it was. Tell me, do you read music?"
"I've never really had much of an ear for music, but I do like it," he replied. She raised an eyebrow, noticing that his brow furrowed.
"Something worries you," she observed.
"Professor, though I'm grateful for what you are doing, I need to know something. Why on earth would you take me as an apprentice, especially after what I've done and what I've been?" he questioned brusquely.
Smiling, she invited him to sit down at the bench. "You have so much potential for great things, my Severus. I want you to try a few things for me. I have a hunch that you could be better at this than you thought."
She picked out a short key exercise and told him to mimic what she did. He followed her example and soon they managed an easy duet. "You were right, I'm never done learning, am I?" he stated wryly.
"No. There is always something more to be learned, even when it comes from those we know best," she relayed.
The Elvish woman watched as the room changed again. She saw both of them in the Potions classroom, herself as Potions Mistress and noticed that another few years had passed. As he handed her what she had asked for, his arm wrapped around her waist, as if in slow motion. She closed her eyes for a moment as he began to kiss her neck. After a moment she turned and their lips met for the first time. Her arms encircled his neck as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer. Passion seemed to flow freely as the kisses intensified. Finally they broke apart to breath and rested their foreheads together.
Suddenly she squirmed out of his embrace and took two steps back, as if shocked at what had just occurred. Wringing her hands, she looked at the floor as she spoke. "Severus, I am terribly sorry that I allowed such a thing to occur. It was extremely irresponsible of me, seeing as you are my apprentice. You may want to leave now."
He was certain that he had not misread her responsiveness to him. He realized that she was giving him a way out when he did not want one, nor did he need one. She had also forgotten that along with Occlumency, he was also experienced in Legillimens. "I'm not going anywhere," he told her in a quiet, passionate tone.
"Then I am," she stated primly. However, she did not get very far. He caught her by the wrist as she tried to leave and pulled her to him.
"You misunderstand," was all he said before kissing her ardently.
They sank to the floor as the snogging began. Later they cuddled together, propped up against a few cabinets. "In all my years, no one has ever kissed me like that. I would like to know what possessed you to do that, if you would care to enlighten a befuddled Elf," she remarked.
He lovingly kissed her lips and grinned wryly. "I have never felt for anyone what I feel for you. You knew what I was and you still believed in me. Why did you let me kiss you again?"
A crimson blush began to cover her face. "I am incredibly embarrassed to admit it, but I have developed feelings for you, my Severus. This whole thing is shameful, I know, but no one has ever been this close to me."
They shared a sound kiss. "It is not shameful to be in love."
"But Severus, I was your teacher," she protested.
He shook his head and smiled at her. "First of all, I haven't been your student in eleven years. Secondly, you forget that I happen to be twenty-eight and teaching four classes of Elementary Potions. Lastly," he paused and looked directly into her eyes, "you have no idea how long I've wanted to kiss you like that," he told her breathlessly.
"But we must consider what the staff will say. I am already older than you, and will undoubtedly outlive you because of my heritage," she added.
"And I'm not only cynical and unsociable, but I have the worst past anyone could ask for. Yet here we are, sitting on the floor. I shall leave the decision with you, Heryn," he told her.
He had expected her to leave the room or tell him to leave. When she stood, she pulled him up and seemed to hesitate, as if putting a foot in the pool to test the water. Then with a speed he had not expected, she grabbed him by his collar and kissed him with conviction. He wrapped his arms around her again and deepened the kiss.
"But I am older than you," she attempted to argue when the kiss had ended. She knew in her heart though that she was fighting a loosing battle.
"You said yourself that you would most likely outlive me, so I fail to see why age matters," he replied rationally.
The room transformed from the Potions classroom to the staffroom. Garland and Christmas decorations were strewn about the walls. The Potions Mistress and Severus entered the room and noticed the mistletoe above their heads. They kissed tenderly as flying instructor Rolanda Hooch snapped a photograph.
Now she was outside on the grounds, watching herself strolling by the lake on a sunny spring day. She and Severus had decided to visit the giant squid and she handed him her camera, wanting a picture of herself with the creature.
Circling the lake and making a few splashes in the water with her foot, she attempted to coax the creature out of hiding. To her dismay, it did not feel like making an appearance that day. She sighed and turned back to Severus.
"I can't get him to come out. He must have other plans for today," she stated.
"That's fine. Actually I would rather just take a picture of you anyway," Severus replied. She smiled magnificently because he was taking the picture.
As the click of the camera button was heard, the scene shifted to an autumn picnic for the staff as coloured leaves of red, gold, and orange swirled around them. She had set down a picnic basket when Minerva stepped over a moderate pile of leaves to talk with her.
"Heryn, I absolutely loved your applesauce. I was wondering what cooking spell you used," the older woman inquired.
She smiled with an heir of pride. "Thank you, Minerva, but I used a muggle recipe. When I cook, I prefer to use recipes that require ingredients to be dealt with instead of just stuck together. It makes me feel as though I have accomplished something."
"I suppose that's why you are Potions Mistress. Making a potion requires similar skills. And I want to congratulate you on doing such a fine job these last sixteen years," Minerva commented.
"I have always enjoyed it. Severus has also taken to the craft easily and I think someday he will make an excellent Potions Master. I would even-" she suddenly stopped in mid-sentence when someone walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, causing her to jump. "Severus, didn't Albus tell you to rake a few leaves out of the way?"
He chuckled and whispered in her ear. "I'd much rather catch you than those infernal leaves that won't even stay where I put them with magic." She laughed and they smiled warmly at each other, not realizing that Minerva also had a muggle camera and had decided to use it on them.
The Elvish woman suddenly found herself in her quarters, glancing at a calendar that told her it was now December of the same year. The younger version of herself and Severus sat together on her sofa and he fastened a necklace around her neck. "Do you know what this is?" he asked, holding up the item at the end of the necklace.
She smiled warmly. "Of course I know what it is, my father was Irish. That is a claddagh. The question is whether you realize the significance of what you have just given me."
Apprehension that was not normally present registered on his face. "I have no right to ask you, nor am I ready to commit to a formal… an engagement, but-"
She placed her hand gently over his mouth. "I understand. And I wouldn't ask you to."
He reached out to touch her face and caressed her cheek. "You deserve better."
She scoffed and leaned closer to him. "Haven't you learned by now that if I do not want to do or be a part of something, I do as I please? That if I do not wish to associate myself with someone, I stay away? I love you, my Severus."
"And I love you, Heryn," he said before they kissed. He pulled back slowly, wanting to say more. "What about a promise, to stand together, perhaps even in the instance of death?"
Smiling, she brushed her lips with his. "That sounds almost like a proposition to me. To be together until death part us, though it sounds suspicious, I say yes to your idea."
He pulled her to him and kissed her, softly but passionately, rubbing small circles on her back. She leaned into his kiss and deepened it. They exchanged heated kisses for several minutes, being slow and fluidic instead of intense and harsh. The next time they broke away, he moved over to her side and picked her up. She was not surprised like he expected, but appeared pleased with a wry smile. He suddenly stopped at her bedroom door.
"Are you waiting for the Headmaster's permission?" she teased with a smirk.
He looked deep into her violet eyes. "No, just yours."
"Then you have it," she whispered. They shared another searing kiss before he pushed open the door to her bedroom.
As the seen changed to the infirmary, the Elvish woman felt slightly uncomfortable about realizing what her former self had been capable of, along with the depth of the relationship she had once shared with the Potions Master. Poppy and Minerva were bringing in wounded people as Severus rushed into the room. "The battle's over, but we have a field with more bodies than I'd like to think about. I didn't get a good look an anything except that those I could see had definitely stopped moving."
Poppy sighed with exasperation. "This is an absolute mess! I am amazed that we won with so many of us getting hurt. Would you go down and brew more healing potions?"
He nodded. "Of course, Heryn and I will head down to the dungeons and make twice as much."
"Severus wait!" Minerva called just before he reached the door. Her eyes held a look of apprehension. "Heryn isn't here. I haven't seen her since the beginning of the battle."
His face went whiter than snow as he stared at her. In an instant he rushed back out to the fields, plunging into the smoke to look for Heryn.
"I know that what I have told you is a bit much to take in all at once, but I hope it has helped you to better understand some of my actions," he expressed. Though he seemed outwardly composed, he was nervous and edgy on the inside, worrying about her reaction.
Minerva also worried about the Elvish woman's reaction to the news she would receive. She was correcting a stack of essays when Albus returned. After greeting him with a kiss, she asked him about any news he might have. "Tabby, I've owled Fudge and it seems that they lost track of the thief. He seems to have disappeared again and the only consistent piece of information they had for us was that he was headed here."
She sighed and pinned her hair again. "What are we to do now?"
"I suppose we wait to see what Severus and our former professor have come up with," he responded.
Pausing to think for a moment, she paced from one end of the room to the other. Stopping at the center of the room, she faced him again. "Why don't we give them a hand by finding a few books in the library that might be of use to them?"
He smiled and nodded. "I think that is a good idea and a good use of our time."
At the library, they immediately headed for the same area in the forbidden books section in which the Elvish woman and Severus had been conducting their research. They talked as they perused through yellowed text and leather-bound volumes in search of anything that the other two may not have come across yet.
"It looks as though they have read through most of these in order to give us the information that they have," Minerva commented with a sigh.
Albus nodded. "You could be right, Tabby. I don't think you told me where they are."
She placed a few books on the table. "They were working on an important potion, I think, before Moira came to visit me. She was asking about her previous relationship to Severus."
He pulled a book off the shelf and flipped through it. "How much did you tell her?"
"Not much, I only told her enough let her know that they indeed had a relationship. When she came by, she told me that he was planning to tell her about it," Minerva relayed as she placed a few books back on the shelf.
"I do believe that when he was with her, it was the only time that I ever saw him happy," Albus mentioned.
Minerva nodded. "I agree. He also did not hide his feelings for her much. Do you recall her last picnic with us?" she paused as he nodded. "He sneaked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. Something tells me that they would have married had she stayed."
Albus lifted another book from the shelf. "You are probably correct, my dear. We can only hope that this time things will work out differently for them. I believe I have found something of use here."
The book contained ancient words unfamiliar to her and she looked at him with a questioning gaze. "Albus, what is this?"
"It's a book of wizards' incantations from the times of Middle Earth. It may help Severus as he assembles and learns to use the staff," the old wizard relayed.
"Why don't I take it to him now?" she suggested.
"I think that would be a suitable idea. I shall see you at dinner and then for chess," he commented as they parted ways, kissing tenderly. As Minerva sauntered toward the dungeons, she felt apprehensive for the Elvish woman's situation.
The woman's hands were shaking as she placed them in her lap. "There is something that you should know, something I've tried to push from my mind since it happened," she paused and reached into the handbag she had brought to remove a small pensieve of her own. Then she looked directly into his dark eyes. "I've been carrying the pensieve with me. I had to be certain that you were the one before I showed this to you. While I was at the muggle hospital, I overheard part of a conversation that I was not supposed to."
She lay there on the bed, feeling exhausted and disoriented. As she slowly opened her eyes, she noticed two nurses talking in low voices. Obviously they were unaware of their patient's good hearing. "Do you think we should tell her?" the taller nurse asked.
The shorter nurse shook her head adamantly. "No, it would only do more harm than good. When we first woke her, she had no idea who she was or where she came from. Therefore she probably doesn't remember people in her life either."
"I still think she has a right to know," the other nurse argued.
"To know what? She was barely three weeks along and probably did not know herself. Why cause her undue stress? She is still able to have children. You will tell her nothing of that," the shorter nurse ordered.
For once in his life he was completely speechless as their eyes met again. She looked away from him and stood. He was surprised to see tears in her beautiful violet eyes. "I'm so sorry. This must be so dreadful for you, having me here looking like 'Heryn,' but not remembering myself as 'Heryn.' I've failed you so badly that I'm astonished you even took the time to clarify the past for me. I spent eight years trying to find myself in Elvish lore when I should have come here for the answers. I must disgust you with the fact that I… I can't even say it," she ended in anguish.
Suddenly she darted out of the door. He followed her, reflecting on what had just happened. Of all the things to tell me, she had to tell me that. I think I would have been better off not knowing. None of this would have happened if it weren't for that infernal bloody battle! The whole mess is my own blasted fault for not looking hard enough. I just hope that she doesn't try something foolish and injure herself.
To his surprise, she only returned to her rooms. He paused after she had entered and then passed through the door himself. His acute hearing immediately picked up something he had not expected to hear again. He found her playing Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata on the piano without sheet music, tears streaming down her face, passed her half-closed eyes.
"I thought you didn't recall how to do that," he commented quietly, barely interrupting her concentration.
(my thanks to Lady Jolly and Leta McGotor for reviewing :D)