Haunted

By Be Boring

Chapter 15: Feeding the Animals

The last few days had seemed very long to Severus. He had tried contacting Lucius many times to find out just who had actually made the Channeling Solution, but Lucius was currently under such heavy security at Azkaban that there was no chance of getting to talk to him.

He also hadn't seen Necia even once since the day that Kreacher arrived at Hogwarts. She wasn't at meals, and naturally she didn't show up for their most recent lesson, which didn't surprise him. From eavesdropping on his coworkers' conversations in the staff room, he learned that she was still attending other lessons, but it seemed that outside the regular school day, she disappeared. That made it completely impossible for him to see if the potion was having any lasting effects. If the potion hadn't been made properly, either Cassandra would still be in complete control, which he doubted from what little he'd seen of Necia the day after they had slept together, or Cassandra would still be present in Necia's mind, but the two minds would be in a constant battle for control. If Necia knew enough to attend her other classes, then it would seem that she at least had more control than her mother, but that didn't mean that Cassandra wasn't still in there somewhere, waiting to come out.

It took him a long time to work up the courage to do what he had to do. Four days after Necia had taken the potion, he found himself riding the moving staircase up to Dumbledore's office, only feeling some relief when he discovered the headmaster sitting alone behind his desk. He would have hated for anyone else to even know he had come here.

"Is something wrong, Severus?" Dumbledore asked gently, his piercing blue eyes taking in the other man's tense appearance.

"There is something I should have told you quite some time ago," Severus began uncomfortably. Although keeping things from other people was just part of life for him, keeping secrets from Dumbledore always made him feel like some naughty little kid, and this was something that Dumbledore would have wanted to know about as soon as it had happened. Now the headmaster, as though sensing that what he was about to hear would be very important, observed Severus quietly from over his folded fingers. Closing his eyes for a moment to gather himself, Severus spat out quickly, "Lucius gave something to Necia Malfoy when she was with him in Hogsmeade."

"What was it?" Dumbledore asked gravely.

"One dose of Channeling Solution, designed to replicate her mother's mind."

At this, Dumbledore looked genuinely surprised. It wasn't very often that someone managed to catch him off guard, but this was something he couldn't have expected. "And what happened?"

"I'm sure he didn't tell Ms. Malfoy what it was, although I'm not sure what he told her that convinced her to take it, but unless she knew precisely what she was looking for, she never would have been able to find that potion in a book. It's only in one that I know of, and that's in the Restricted Section. What she should have done was give the potion to a friend, which would give her the chance to talk to Cassandra, but instead she took it herself, and I have reason to believe there will be side effects."

"What would make you think that?"

"Because I didn't make the potion, I've never brewed it in my life, and if Lucius was going after Necia to make potions for him, then that indicates he didn't have a qualified potion-maker at his disposal. With the time he had on his hands, I'd say he probably made it himself, and in that case, the potion was undoubtedly made incorrectly."

Dumbledore stared at the glossy surface of his desk as he said, "Remind me again what can happen when a Channeling Solution goes wrong?"

"Either the replicated mind stays in control, or the two minds continue to exist in the same body, often resulting in insanity because the minds are unable to coexist peacefully."

"Which do you believe is happening?"

"If anything is wrong at all, it will be the second side effect, because she at least knows enough to go to her classes."

If he had thought he could make this sound like a very recent event, he was wrong. "Exactly when did Necia take the potion?" Dumbledore asked shrewdly, now looking very pointedly at Severus.

Pausing slightly, he finally replied, "Four days ago."

It would almost have been better if Dumbledore had yelled at him, jinxed him, or even threw a punch, because the disappointment in his eyes was more painful than any of those options. "And why didn't you tell me then?"

"Because at first I wasn't certain what she had taken, and I also wanted to observe her to see if there was anything wrong."

"And what have you found from your observations?"

"Nothing, because I haven't seen her since the Quidditch match on Saturday. She skipped my lesson last night, and she hasn't been at meals. That's when I decided I needed to get outside help." He didn't like lying to Dumbledore, but he just couldn't let him know that he had had sex with a student. Although it hadn't really been his fault, Dumbledore would certainly want to know why he hadn't been able to tell the difference between Cassandra and Necia, and then he would have to tell him about the Confusion Draught. That was something he had always kept to himself, because Dumbledore highly disapproved of anyone being under the influence of any potion, drug, or alcohol while on school property. If the headmaster discovered that he occasionally took a Confusion Draught to take his mind off things, there would most definitely be repercussions.

"And what made you decide to come see me now?"

"Because if I cannot observe her, other teachers will have to, and this is something we'll want to keep a close eye on. If something is wrong and we catch it early enough, there's a chance of getting rid of the traces of Cassandra without Necia receiving any damage. The longer they are together, though, the more lasting effects this could have."

"Is there still a chance that the potion was perfectly made?"

"A slight chance, but knowing Lucius, I wouldn't rely on it."

Dumbledore nodded, seeming to come to a decision very quickly. "I agree with you that we should find out everything as soon as possible, but in this case I prefer the direct approach. I'm going to speak to Necia myself, tell her exactly what she took, and ask how she's been feeling. If I feel she's not being completely truthful, then we'll include the other teachers, but I'm hoping she'll be honest. Is there anything else you would like to tell me?"

It was as though he knew precisely what had happened that night. Still, Severus had no intention of telling him, and he was quite sure Necia wouldn't share it either. "No, sir, that was all." Despite his self-assurance that keeping that night to himself was in his best interests, he still felt the familiar twinge of guilt in his stomach that always followed lying to Dumbledore.


Necia had had a few very difficult days indeed. She didn't know how, but Kreacher managed to find her in the Room of Requirement, and since then she hadn't been able to get rid of him. At least he served one purpose: she could send him for food from the kitchens. She had the distinct impression that it gave him no pleasure to serve her, yet he followed her instructions well enough. The biggest problem was getting him to shut up when he thought she couldn't hear him. She very quickly learned that he hadn't approved of Sirius at all and had placed her under his category of disgraces to the family. In the end, she told him to go down and help the other house-elves in the kitchen at night so that she could get some sleep.

She had only returned to Gryffindor Tower once since Saturday, and that was merely to grab her schoolbooks and any personal effects from her dormitory. She left enough things lying around so it didn't look as though she had completely disappeared, but she took everything that was important. She preferred sleeping in her own room, although it wasn't really her room, to sleeping in a room full of girls who very clearly wanted nothing to do with her. She sensed that Hermione would be more open to the idea of talking to her if it weren't for the fact that she wasn't exactly being inviting. By now her pride was flaring up, and if they hadn't wanted anything to do with her when they first found out who she really was, then they could just stay away now as well.

As she slipped down into the entrance hall on Wednesday morning to head out to Care of Magical Creatures while the other students were finishing breakfast, her stomach dropped as she realized that Harry, Ron, and Hermione also had had the same idea of getting to class early and were walking a mere fifteen feet in front of her. She dropped back immediately, only to feel an arm wrap itself casually around her shoulders. Glancing sideways, she scowled in distaste as she recognized her second cousin's swaggering walk.

"Why do I get the feeling you've been avoiding things lately?" he asked in a would-be concerned tone, if it weren't for the constant smirk on his face.

"Don't I always avoid you?" she snapped impatiently. She was hardly in the mood to talk to him today. It didn't help that she noticed the trio ahead of them very clearly eavesdropping on them.

"Oh, but I think you're avoiding more than just me, dear cousin," he commented lightly. "We don't sit at the same table, and yet I've noticed you're not eating with the rest of the school. I suppose you're too good for us? Now that you've got your own house-elf here, I suppose you're sending him around to get food for you."

She didn't want to tell him that that was exactly what she'd been doing, but her face said enough. Before he could go farther, she shrugged his arm off and sped up, drawing closer to the trio. "If you've got something to say, say it, otherwise I think I'll go back to avoiding you." With that, she finally caught up with the trio, passed them, and ended up beating everyone to Hagrid's hut.

As everyone gathered around, Hagrid came out of his hut carrying a large tub of what appeared to be dead scorpions. Once he had set it down on a broad wooden table, he disappeared behind his hut, returning with an armload of creatures that could only be described as fuzzy balls of silvery fur, each about the size of a beach ball. When he set them down on the table, they stretched out, changing from their original roundness into large, flat, furry pancakes. It appeared they had no bones in their bodies.

"Zurrufs," he announced brightly, as though this were something extremely exciting. "I know they're not much to look a', but they're very useful, and they take a lotta lookin' after." As he launched into an explanation of just what zurrufs were good for, Necia found her attention wandering. Her eyes settled instead on the Forbidden Forest, where the tops of the trees were stirring in the light breeze. As her mind drifted away, she was suddenly called back by Hagrid's voice saying her name. She looked at him blankly, wishing she had paid more attention. "What?" she asked politely, trying to look as though she had been hanging on his words just as determinedly as Hermione.

Hagrid was holding a scroll which had apparently come from an owl she now noticed winging back towards the Owlery. "Could ya feed the animals? This'll on'y take a minute." He must have been asking because she was standing closest to the table, but as he stepped back and unrolled the parchment, his words echoed in her head. "Necia, would you mind feeding the animals? We'll be done in a minute." Those words, although so close to what Hagrid had said, came to her in her mother's voice. Very quickly, she stepped forward and picked up one of the dead scorpions, staring down at the nearest zurruf dubiously. Where was its mouth? Had Hagrid mentioned that while she'd been daydreaming? Before she had time to poke the blob of silver fur to see if it might snap at her and reveal its hidden mouth, or anything that resembled something a living creature might have, Hagrid repeated her name.

"Necia, yer supposed ta go ta Dumbledore's office," he said, gesturing toward the parchment in his hand. A hushed "ooooh" rose from the crowd behind her. With a sigh, she dropped the scorpion back into the tub and grabbed her bag to start off for the castle, then paused. She didn't remember where Dumbledore's office was. She had been there only once, when he had sorted her, but that was before she knew her way around the castle. She hadn't been near it since. As though realizing what was wrong, Hagrid added, "Harry, why don' you go with her? You know where his office is."

Necia knew perfectly well what Hagrid was doing. He had no problem with either of them and he wanted them to solve their problems, but forcing them together was definitely not the way to do it. She slowed down to give Harry the chance to catch up to her and they took off across the grounds, not looking at each other at all.

As they reached the front steps, it seemed that Harry was reminded of Saturday, because he finally spoke to her for the first time in weeks. "How closely related are you to Sirius?"

She stepped through the front door he was holding open for her. She assumed he was being this polite because he wanted to hear her answer. "Well, if Draco can be believed, Sirius was my father."

A very deep silence hung in the air after these words, and it took Necia a few seconds to realize that Harry had stopped walking and was staring at her very intently, searching her face for signs of lying, but she also suspected he was looking for similarities to his deceased godfather. "Sirius would have told me something like that," he said finally, looking as though the longer he thought it over, the less he believed her.

"I don't think he knew," she said quietly. "My mother never even told me who my father was, so I get the feeling they weren't on good terms."

"Then why did they, er, have you in the first place?" he asked, for once sounding as though he wasn't accusing her of something.

She shrugged. "Mum had a Pensieve, and one time I overheard an old argument between her and her mother, and it sounded like I came from a one-night stand." It felt very strange to tell Harry something that personal, but one of the parties involved was his godfather, after all. "I really don't know why, but I'm assuming that must have been with him."

Recovering himself, Harry started walking again, and suddenly Necia sensed some of his hostility drain away. As he led her up a hidden staircase, he asked, "So, what happened when, you know, you were with Lucius?" It sounded as though it pained him to ask, but it was the first time Necia had felt anything even approaching happiness since Kreacher's arrival. If he was asking, then he must doubt that she was involved with Lucius.

"Nothing like the papers were saying," she replied hurriedly. "He was trying to convince me to work with him, but Snape turned up before anything really happened." Snape's name had popped out of her mouth so easily, but she could feel the color draining from her face as she said it. Luckily, Harry wasn't watching her face.

"I suppose they sent him there because Lucius would let him in," Harry commented, almost to himself.

"What do you mean?"

It looked as though he was unsure about whether he should tell her, but he spit it out anyway. "Well, Snape was a Death Eater who turned spy for Dumbledore. The other Death Eaters never knew, so Lucius probably trusted Snape enough to let him in."

Snape had been a Death Eater? The disgust that had been sitting in her stomach ever since waking up in his room early Saturday morning seemed to swell until it filled her abdomen. She had done her best to avoid thinking about him the last few days, convincing herself that it wasn't her fault, it was because of that potion that she had done anything with him. It just didn't help that she remembered being only too willing to give him full access to her body, even gently calling him "Sev" in her moments of deeper pleasure. Her skin crawled as she once again felt his mouth traveling over her, renewing her strong sense of being filthy, as though she hadn't showered in weeks.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked as they came to a stop in front of a large stone gargoyle. The slight concern in his voice nearly made her eyes well up with tears. He was finally shoving aside his hard feelings, and she didn't deserve it. Not after Friday night.

"I'm fine, I just can't believe Snape was a Death Eater," she explained quickly. Her eyes turned to the gargoyle. She recognized it now, but she also remembered Dumbledore saying something to cause it to step aside and reveal a moving staircase.

"Er, do you know the password?" she asked, studying the gargoyle as she tried to remember.

"No, but it's usually some kind of candy."

'That's it.' "Shrinking Sugarplum," she said triumphantly, and the gargoyle moved aside, exposing the staircase behind it. "I remembered it from last time," she explained, noticing the look on his face.

"Well, I guess I'll go back to class then. Good luck," he said uncomfortably, heading back down the passageway. Feeling considerably more light-hearted than she had for a long time, Necia stepped onto the moving staircase and rode it to the door of Dumbledore's office, flushing slightly as Dumbledore opened the door for her. He must have been waiting for her.

"Welcome, Ms. Malfoy," he said, smiling gently down at her. If her lies about her identity had upset him, he certainly wasn't showing it. "Have a seat," he said, motioning toward a chair in front of his desk. As soon as they were both sitting, he wasted no time getting to the point. "I was wondering if you've been feeling a bit strange lately?" he inquired lightly, although she had the distinct feeling that he already knew a fair bit about her situation.

"Well, it hasn't exactly been a great time lately," she began, but he shook his head and waved a hand slightly.

"I don't mean emotionally, although I know it's been difficult for you lately. I'm talking about anything strange happening, something out of the ordinary."

Should she tell him that she'd been seeing things? Since returning to classes, now she had seen McGonogall, Flitwick, and Sprout all magically grow younger before her eyes, only to be perfectly normal the next time she looked. Something had also happened during her last Divination class. When she had first entered the room, the round tables surrounded by poufs and cushions had faded into a nearly empty room that clearly hadn't been used for a long time, containing only a few pieces of furniture covered in white sheets. When she blinked, it had returned to normal.

Dumbledore obviously already knew something was wrong, otherwise he wouldn't be asking. Besides, if he had answers, she would be only too willing to hear them. "Actually, I've been having some hallucinations, if that's the right name for them." When he didn't comment, she continued determinedly, "Every now and then, people change a little. A lot of the teachers seem to get younger, and the Divination room changed when I looked at it. It doesn't last for very long, though."

"Anything else?"

Her mind drifted back to the Quidditch match. "Well, at the match on Saturday, I looked up at Harry and I could have sworn for a second that he changed into his father, but they look so much alike that that may have been a trick of the light."

Leaning back in his seat, Dumbledore looked directly into her eyes and said, "What you are experiencing is a side effect from the potion you took last Friday."

"How—?"

"Professor Snape discovered what Lucius gave to you at his house. It was a Channeling Solution. Have you ever heard of it?"

Trying to ignore the mention of Snape's name, not to mention the fact that he knew she had taken a potion, she thought over the potions that she had learned about. "I think I've heard about it before, but I'm not quite sure what it does."

"Well, it's improperly named, because it doesn't really channel another person's mind, it makes a copy of it. It more or less turns the drinker into another person, not physically like the Polyjuice Potion, but mentally. Professor Snape had never heard of it being used for a deceased person before, but apparently it can be done, because when you drank that potion, you became your mother for a night."

This revelation took a very long time to sink in for Necia. She had become her mother? Well, Lucius had told her that it would give Cassandra the chance to say her last good-byes. She just wished she had known precisely what that meant. Suddenly, Snape came flying back into her mind. She had taken a potion that made her become her mother, then she went and had sex with him. What did that mean? "Did…did you know my mother? I mean, you'd be about the same age, so you must have at least seen her in school. You weren't in the same House, but all the same…" The look on his face had been hard to read at the time, she had thought he was just surprised, but now that she thought about it, he had looked cornered. Had there been something between her mother and Snape? That would explain why she remembered being so eager to accept his advances. She didn't even want to consider it, but it was the only thing that made sense.

Then her mind turned to everything she'd been seeing the past few days. "So, what exactly is happening to me now? You said it's a side effect."

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, the potion was apparently not made properly, which means that the copy of your mother's mind that it created is still inside of you. When things seem to change, it's because you're seeing people as your mother remembered them. You saw James instead of Harry because Cassandra knew James at school. Teachers look younger because obviously they were younger when she last saw them. The Divination classroom was a storage room during her days at school. So far it appears that you are still in control for the most part, but Professor Snape has warned me that the situation will not go away on its own. He is currently trying to work out a way to remove Cassandra from your mind, which is for the best. Cassandra will not be aware that she is in your body, as far as she is concerned it is her body and something else is invading it. If things get any worse, I want you to speak with either Professor Snape or me immediately."

As she listened to him talk, something very strange was happening. The flashes of her younger teachers came rushing back to her, and when he mentioned Snape's name, a deep rush of affection rose in her chest. Even the part of her mind that wasn't being affected by her mother's emotions felt some gratitude for the fact that he was working on setting everything straight.

Something else flashed before her eyes, and for a moment she remembered saying something to him, but she was standing in his bedroom, and he was sprawled on the bed, his eyes somewhat glazed over. She couldn't recall what she had said to him, but she remembered his eyes turning in her direction, and as dazed as they were, she could see the confusion in them, mixed with affection. 'My hair was blonde because of that candy Ginny and I ate. Did he even realize it wasn't me?' The thought completely startled her, but it made sense as well. He hadn't looked like he was in his right mind in that memory, and with how similar she was to her mother, she could see him getting confused. She still didn't know how he had found out about the potion, but he evidently knew now who he had really slept with. It was somewhat of a relief to know that she hadn't been taken advantage of, although it didn't take away the disgust of what she had done.

"Is that all for now?" she asked after they had sat in silence for a couple minutes, Dumbledore giving her a chance to absorb everything she had just learned, although he couldn't have possibly known just what was going through her mind.

"Unless there's anything else you wish to speak with me about," he replied with a smile. When she shook her head, he stood up and held the door for her. "Then you may return to class."


Severus watched out of his classroom window as Necia crossed the lawn to return to Care of Magical Creatures. He had been stalking around the room, observing the potions his sixth years were making. Well, at any rate Dumbledore should now know whether she was experiencing any side effects. He supposed the headmaster would find a way to let him know during lunch. Trying to get himself back into the flow of his class, he hovered over Ginny Weasley's cauldron, snapping at her, "You're taking too long to add the ingredients, this mess is beyond help by now." And with a wave of his wand, he cleared away her potion. With a particularly satisfied feeling in his chest as her brown eyes burned into his back, he moved on to inspect Colin Creevey's potion, feeling at least slightly back to normal.


Still not comfortable enough to join the Gryffindors for lunch, Necia headed for the Room of Requirement, sidestepping Kreacher as he stood mumbling in the middle of the kitchen. At least he had brought more than enough food for her. As she sat down at the table with her lunch, she felt a shudder beneath her feet and the room gave a groan.

One of the best features about the Room of Requirement was that if one person was in it, it still made itself available to others while leaving the first occupant in their version of the room. It simply shifted to make room for the newcomer. Unless someone was looking for her, they wouldn't be able to find her here. By now she was used to the room groaning and moving, it just meant that someone else had come to use it. She could still leave out the same door, so it didn't affect her at all.

As she ate, words began to echo in her head. Strangely enough, it wasn't anything that involved what she had learned in Dumbledore's office, but the words she had heard before she was sent there. "Necia, would you mind feeding the animals? We'll be done in a minute." When had her mother said that? As suddenly as though someone had plunged her head into a Pensieve, she found herself standing next to the table where she had been eating moments before, looking at herself in the doorway, while standing next to a man whose sleek, white-blonde hair and pale, pointed face made him immediately recognizable. She was standing next to Lucius Malfoy.

"Necia, would you mind feeding the animals? We'll be done in a minute," she felt herself say briskly, as though she was looking for an excuse to get the other version of herself out of the room. As she watched herself walk out of the room with a very curious expression on her face, she turned to face Lucius. "What do you want? You haven't so much as written a letter since the last time we saw each other."

He smiled condescendingly at her. "Let me remind you that you haven't written either. It's a two-way street. I'm here now because I'm looking for a little help from my favorite cousin."

Necia felt the traditional Malfoy smirk cross her face. "I was far from being your favorite cousin, Lucius, and I have no reason to help you. You've never done anything for me, and in any case, I'm not interested in helping the Death Eaters. If Severus won't make potions for you, that's your problem, not mine."

His eyes seemed to burn into her. "How did you know this involved Severus?"

"Because he's the only Death Eater who knew how to make a potion. I'm assuming that if you're coming to me, it means he's not helping you anymore."

Lucius took a step closer to her, a very threatening gleam in his eyes. "But you've certainly been fighting him every time he has made a potion, haven't you? It's your fault that every assassination Severus was meant to carry out went wrong. I would think you'd welcome the opportunity to make up this injustice to me."

She snorted derisively. "It wasn't an injustice to you, it was an injustice to the Dark Lord, and I was never interested in helping him in the first place. In fact, I'm not interested in helping you either. As a matter of fact, I should send an owl to the Ministry right now to tell them where you are. Then at least you would be justified in feeling that I've done something to wrong you."

His hand flew into his robes as he growled, "I'm afraid I can't let you do that."

Necia's eyes snapped open at the table as her own scream sounded in her ears. Horrified, she stared down at her plate, the look on Lucius's face still so clear in her mind. That had been entirely new to her, which was strange because she had been there. Why didn't she remember Lucius being at her house? And what she had just remembered hadn't even been from her point of view, it was from her mother's. She had heard herself scream, and the shock of it had jolted her out of the memory before it had quite finished, but she didn't need to see the rest of it to know what had happened. She had never seen such fury in someone's face, and for the first time she realized just how her mother had died. She had been killed at the hands of her own cousin for refusing to assist the Death Eaters.

Shaking, she pushed herself away from the table, standing up only to sink to her knees as a wave of sounds invaded her head. Her own screams, mingled with Lucius's shouts of "Shut up, you foolish girl!" shortly followed by the cry of "Obliviate!" Those weren't her mother's memories, those were her own, but they were followed very quickly by a blinding pain ripping through her head. Her stomach lurched and she threw herself forward on all fours, preparing to vomit everything she had just eaten, but the pain faded as quickly as it had started. She sat back, trembling from head to toe, and as she dragged herself back to her feet she vaguely realized that Kreacher had left the Room of Requirement, perhaps to get her more food.

She had no sooner realized this than the door burst open and someone much taller than Kreacher swept in.


When Severus arrived for lunch, he quickly noticed that Necia was still not at the Gryffindor table. The next thing he realized was that he was the first teacher besides Dumbledore to arrive for lunch, and seizing his chance, he strode forward and took the seat beside the headmaster.

"So what happened?" he asked without preamble.

Dumbledore's eyes flickered in his direction, strangely void of his ever-constant amusement as he replied, "She admitted having some symptoms, so we'll need to take care of that as soon as possible. At least she seems to be herself. Cassandra only interrupts very occasionally, and even then Necia doesn't lose control. Do you have any idea how to separate the two minds?"

"I'm working on an antidote to the Channeling Solution as we speak. It's currently simmering in my office."

As they began to eat, an owl soared in and dropped a letter right on top of Dumbledore's toast. He opened it immediately, nodding in some satisfaction as he announced quietly, "Lucius was tried this morning and the sentence was just announced. He will be spending the rest of his life in Azkaban."

Although he was very happy at the news, Severus's eyes once again darted across the students. Draco Malfoy also hadn't turned up for lunch. He was distracted from this by Professor Lupin, who sat down on Dumbledore's other side.

"Kreacher looks very out of place here," he commented dully as he selected a sandwich from the plates in front of him.

Dumbledore turned to him. "What do you mean?"

"Well, it catches me by surprise every time I see him. After all, it's been a few years." His voice faded for a moment, then he added, "He was talking to the Malfoy boy in the Charms corridor. What do you suppose that was about?"

Neither Dumbledore nor Severus could offer much insight, not that Severus really wanted to, but as he continued his lunch, he couldn't help but think that Draco talking to Kreacher was a very bad thing indeed.