Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in the Harry Potter universe J.K. Rowling does. The title "Waking the Witch" is inspired by the Kate Bush song of the same name. I do not own the song either. It can be found on Kate Bush's album Hounds of Love. The name Rosaleen was inspired by the Neil Jordan film The Company of Wolves. I don't own any of the characters in that film, either! I do, however, own my Rosaleen MacDuff Jasper, who is of no relation or incarnation of Neil Jordan's character in his film.
Waking the Witch
by Leah Pensotti
Chapter Six: Rosaleen's First Dream
Two days later, Rosaleen sat in the comfort of her quarters; looking over ideas that Lupin had given her by way of lessons for her Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Her ration of blood was running low. She had enough for the next two days, however, the longer she went without feeding; the older she looked. There had still been no word from Father McCarthy. Rosaleen had not slept for three days. Severus Snape said that he would bring a sleeping potion by when it was ready.
Her thoughts rested on Snape for a few moments; something about him bothered her. However, it kept her intrigued with him.
Suddenly, a knock came upon the door and Rosaleen set her quill down, "Come in."
Hermione appeared as the door swung open. She looked at Rosaleen hopefully, like she didn't want to impose on her.
"Am I interrupting you, Professor Jasper?" Rosaleen shook her head and offered Hermione her chair.
"No Miss Granger, Please, come in. Is there something on your mind?" Rosaleen sat on her bed opposite from Hermione's chair and looked at the teenager curiously.
"Well, no. I was just coming to tell you that Professor Lupin is going away for a few days. He wanted me to tell you that he is getting ready to leave." Rosaleen smirked, Lupin had grown very weak by the moon's pull. He stayed in the chair by the study fireplace the entire dat before.
"Thank you, Miss Granger. I'll be downstairs in a moment." Rosaleen smiled at Hermione and the girl smiled in return. There was so much she wanted to ask her new professor, but she couldn't find an appropriate way to go about it. Perhaps Professor Jasper would share more once Harry arrived. Hermione crept out of the small room and caught sight of a rosewood rosary on her table.
Hermione raised her eyebrows thoughtfully, Professor Jasper was more of a mystery than any other witch or wizard that she had encountered; including Sirius Black. Rosaleen shut her books and followed Hermione down the stairs.
Once she reached the bottom, Rosaleen spied Lupin standing by the door; looking very pale and exhausted. He wore an old jacket and was carrying a small bag. Lupin saw her and smiled with great effort.
Her hair was pulled away from her face in a loose knot and she wore a dark blue, long-sleeved shirt and blue jeans. Rosaleen took him in, her eyes heavy with worry. She stepped close to him and whispered.
"It's time?" Lupin nodded solemnly and Rosaleen pleaded with him.
"Are you sure that you'll make it? Can I not accompany you to where ever you are going and then leave immediately after you are secured?" He shook his head and denied her.
"No, Rosaleen. It is better that I go alone. I plan to apparate; I'll make it in time. You stay here with the Weasleys. Harry Potter should be arriving in two days. They may need you to act as a guard, since I will be unavailable." Rosaleen nodded, she wanted to commiserate with him. She knew how alone he'd be for the next few days.
"I will be happy to help in your stead, Remus. However, I will be glad to have you return and be in better health." She smiled brightly, her fangs safely charmed away.
Lupin nodded, indeed he would be anxious to return to her. Only she knew what loneliness he had to endure. He wished to reach for her; but she reached him first. Rosaleen embraced him gently, her arms flew about his shoulders. Lupin's heart jumped in his chest as she hugged him close. Rosaleen stood on the tips of her toes and then gave him a feather-light kiss on the cheek.
"Goodbye, Remus. Be careful. I'll see you when you return." She released him and walked away slowly while Lupin recovered from her actions. Her touch doubled with the moon was enough to do him in.
"Goodbye, Rosaleen." He watched as she walked up the stairs and then stepped outside the door of Number 12. Lupin would be counting the minutes until he could return.
When the room cleared; Ron, Hermione and Ginny fell out of the closet where they had watched the entire scene. Ron scratched his head and looked dismayed.
"Blimey! Lupin fancies Jasper! Do you think she knows about, er, his condition?" Ginny shrugged and Hermione sighed.
"I don't know. There's something about Professor Jasper I can't put my finger on." Hermione looked puzzled. Ron grunted at the look on her face.
"Don't go snooping, 'Mione. Professor Jasper is here to help. My parents said she's just what the order and Hogwarts needs. She hasn't give you or anyone else any reason to be suspicious." Hermione's brows knitted and she shot back.
"I'm not suspicious, Ronald. I'm curious. She seems sad and quiet. She's so young, but at the same time she's not. I like her very much. I admire her, really. I just wonder why she seems so sad?" Ginny nodded in agreement.
"She talks to Lupin the most. Perhaps she confides in him?" Hermione nodded, knowing this was true and planned to talk to Lupin when he returned.
Later that evening, Rosaleen sat by the fire in the sitting room while Hermione read, Ginny scanned the Daily Prophet, Ron and his father played wizard's chess and Mrs. Weasleys knitted. A quiet evening; very pleasant. However, Rosaleen was suffering from cabin fever. She had been indoors for too long.
Before she slipped into boredom, Severus Snape appeared at the doorway; his scowl fixed to his face. He cleared his throat and the whole room turned their attention to him.
"I need to speak to Professor Jasper in private." Rosaleen stood and felt everyone's eyes on her as she followed him into the kitchen. Hermione and the Weasleys looked on curiously; while she, Ginny and Ron exchanged meaningful looks.
Rosaleen found herself annoyed with Snape's display and folded her arms across her chest. Snape gave her a menacing look; his dark eyes locking on her.
"Nice entrance, Professor Snape. Do you always make such a spectacle of yourself?" Rosaleen's yellow-rimmed eyes met those of the Potions Master.
"Oh, forgive me, Professor Jasper. I thought I was preforming you a service." Snape growled at her spitefully. Rosaleen sighed; he had a point.
"I've brought the sleeping potion that Remus requested for you. It's fairly powerful. Take a sip before you go to bed." Snape extended a tall, thin glass bottle to her filled with a red-yellow liquid. Rosaleen took it from him and clutched it to her chest.
"Thank you." She tried to sound as apathetic as he did.
"Dumbledore asked me to bring this to you as well. It arrived this afternoon from Boston." Snape pulled an envelope from inside his robes. Rosaleen took it and saw Father McCarthy's handwriting scrawled across the front. She nodded absently and Snape stepped very close to her.
"When you need more of the potion, I'll be waiting. Good evening, Professor." Snape hissed and she felt his breath on her cheek. Rosaleen watched as he stalked away and she suddenly felt very hungry.
Rosaleen felt her bare legs tangle with someone else; her back flat against the ground and her arms snaked around shoulders. A pair of lips smothered hers and she opened her mouth willingly to the kiss.
She could taste the blood below the skin and desire filled her. Rosaleen rolled over, placing the man beneath her. She planted kisses upward from his collarbone to his chin. Her teeth longed for the feel of his flesh. His hands moved through her hair and she moaned.
Rosaleen sat up and looked into his dark eyes, his black hair in his face. Severus Snape laid beneath her and she felt her eyes glow bright yellow. The veins in his neck pounded and tensed and Rosaleen could delay no longer. She beared her fangs and sank them into his flesh.
Rosaleen woke with a start, a small gasp escaping from her lips. Snape? Snape! She hadn't had a dream like that in a century. Why would she dream of him? Sure, she had the urge to bite him; but she did not have the urge to do the rest with him.
Or did she?
Rosaleen leaned her back against the wall of her room and sighed with confusion. The draft Lupin asked Snape to concoct was for a dreamless sleep. Sure she wasn't dreaming of her horrifying past; but it didn't make her new dream any less unsettling.
Had Snape ticked her by tampering with the potion? But why would he do that? Was it because she took his desired teaching position?
Needless to say, Rosaleen didn't sleep for the rest of the night. When the time came the following night to take the potion again; Rosaleen did so rather hesitantly.
She rested peacefully until early morning, when she found herself in a dark alley and pressed against slimy bricks in a foggy England evening. Her arms were pinned above her head by a shadowy figure. Her fangs appeared from her lips and she hissed threateningly.
"Now, there'll be none of that." Snape's voice snarled and he smothered her mouth with a kiss.
Rosaleen shot up in her bed. There was now no doubt in her mind that Snape had tampered with the potion. Anger boiled up inside her and she whispered very unladylike swears under her breath. Severus Snape would find himself on the very unforgiving end of her wand or her fangs if he wasn't careful.
She ast back in her bed and tried to put the ideas out of her mind. Instead, Rosaleen allowed her thoughts to remain on Lupin. She wondered how he felt at the moment. She knew how it felt to have to hide yourself away.
Her eyes caught sight of Father McCarthy's letter. He sent her a name of a wizard who lived someplace called Knockturn Alley. When Lupin returned, she hoped to ask him about it.
And she wanted to speak with him about Professor Severus Snape as well.
Rosaleen sank into a chair in the sitting room and felt restless; between the dreams and the lessening supply of blood, she could barely sit still. She decided that she would much rather have her nightmares of her past than her fictional encounters with Severus Snape.
Rosaleen heard the front door open and hushed voices make their way into the kitchen. She rose from her chair and went to see what was happening. She wrapped her dressing gown around her tightly and walked into the kitchen.
There she saw Tonks, Moody and a wizard that she had not yet been introduced to. Moody's eye rolled around and rested on her. He smirked and then called gruffly.
"There you are, Jasper! Go and get dressed, we need you now that Remus is indisposed." Rosaleen looked a little confused.
"But it's not dawn yet." Moody sighed, his eye rolling madly.
"That's the point. We can't show up in a muggle neighborhood in broad daylight. Although, you've become used to it, no doubt." Rosaleen looked surprised. Harry Potter lived with muggles? She pointed up the stairs to her quarters.
"I'll be dressed and ready in less than five minutes." She ran upstairs and changed into a black blouse, a pair of blue jeans and her fitted waistcoat. She charmed her teeth and twisted her hair away from her face and quickly made her way back down to the kitchen.
Tonks smiled, her pink hair peeping through the dark; "Three and a half minutes on the nose."
Rosaleen smiled in return and Moody waved them on. It was time to retrieve Harry Potter.
A/N: Next up The Advance Guard bring Harry to Number 12. Lupin returns and Rosaleen tells him about her dreams (well, not everything about them) and her suspicions of Snape. Harry, Hermione, Rosaleen and Ron question Lupin about Rosaleen.
Thanks! Keep Readin' and Reviewin'!
To Erlina Elf: Glad you like it, dear! I second your emotion about vampires. I always have been fascinated about the mythology it all started with reading Dracula when I was nine! Thanks! Please keep reading!
To Ceywen: Thanks! Here's the next chapter for you!
To Angel of Harlem: Triangle? This may be a quadrangle! Who knows what might happen when Sirius shows up! I always saw him as quite the ladies man. I'm not sure how Rosaleen will take to him, though...ever since 1692 she has been very weary of handsome men! Love ya! Thanks for the support!
To Fallen Angel of Hell: I think that Remus and Rosaleen will be lovely together! I'm glad that you approve! Here's the next chappie!