I can but apologise.
Over, and over, and over again.
I really hadn't meant to take as long as I did to update, but, between fanfiction, life happens. I'd like to say it won't happen again, but you and I know, it probably will. I'm not quite as bad as other authors though, so you won't be too harsh on me, will you?
Ernie: And. As. For. Thanks...
I'm sorry Ernie. We don't have much time for them. Listing those wonderful people that reviewed the next chapter is the best we can do. By know, I just want to get this chapter out before the death threats come rolling in! So take it away Ernie…!
Ernie: Thanks. Go. To. Winter. Blaze.
Wyatt isn't meant to be the king of the world per say, I don't think... But he is going to be the next King Arthur. King of the Magical World, sounds more like it. And he's got the opportunity to choose his knights and create his own form of Camelot. Perhaps that means reshaping the entire magical world? Anyway, that's how I see it!
Ernie: Ori
I'm pretty fond of my Dumbledore. A bit of an eccentric genius and though he may act strange, we're all constantly aware of powerful he is. Thank J. K. Rowling for creating him. I tried to keep him as close to cannon as I could. The Hermione knowing 'Halliwell' was actually a thought that occurred to me, but I got a way round that. You'll just have to wait and see. She's my favourite witch in HP too. And as for Dramione, you're talking to someone who definitely understands the lure. I'm a fan too. I doubt they'll be any Dramione in this, but I most certainly do have plans for both of them.
Ernie: Charmedchik11.
Thank you. I'm trying to keep as many aspects of the HP world as true to cannon as possible, but the great thing about J. K. Rowling's world, is that, it's open to personal interpretation, so the way I see things, may not be the same way others do. You'll just have to keep reading to find out.
Ernie: Our. Old. Friend. Chantedly.
Snape's one of my favourite HP characters (one of many!). I couldn't not include him. You see some more of him here. Enjoy!
Ernie: Anime. No. Megami.
Hey, are you new? Thanks for your kind words, keep reading please!
Ernie: And. The. One. Person. Who. Appreciates. Me. Mixer.
As you can see, Ernie's grateful, and so am I. If I was the blushing kind, I would blush reading all the praise you've given me! I love your reviews and I just hope that this chapter (and all the rest) will really be up to my "incredible standards of writing", as you so eloquently put it. And as for your Phoenix question, I haven't really decided yet, if Talia's alter ego will play a bigger part in this, but I'm looking into it.
Ernie: Mickis
All these compliments...! I almost don't know what to do with them! (Feel free to keep them coming!) Welcome back to the neighbourhood!
Ernie: Songwithoutworz
I know what you mean. I'm just about ready for September myself, but there's a few things that have to happen before that. Foreshadowing in the plot, relationships established, allies met, and all that jazz. You'll just have to be a little bit patient, I'm afraid.
Ernie: Kara.
Another new reviewer? There's a bit more of Snape in here, though perhaps not quite what you were expecting...? I think you'll enjoy it anyway!
Ernie: Charmed148.
If only magic were real! /Sigh/ We can but dream!
...And keep our minds open to the endless possibilities that are out there. It sounds cliché, I know, but I think there's magic all around us, and we're just too busy with our puny little lives to realise it. When was the last time any of us ever watched a sunset, or even better, a sunrise? I think there's magic in a good story, a beautiful painting, a kiss, a sparkle in someone's eye... Sure, it may not be as impressive as the 'real' thing, but it's there if any of us care to look. And who knows, there really might be an HP type of world out there that we, poor muggles that we are, just don't know about. J. K. R. might be a squib, or a disgraced witch, that is writing down what is simply common knowledge to her people, changing perhaps, names, dates and places. It could happen... I hold that anything could.
Ernie: LurkerjennyWho's. Graced. Us. With. Evidence. Of. Her. Cntinued. Presence. Once. Again.
Hey! It's great to hear from you again! What happened to lurking in the shadows? I assure you, I don't hate you at all. With compliments like yours, how could I? I can but try not to let you down.
Ernie: Nexos23.
There's no fooling you is there? There are people worse than me at updating, honest! But I'm really honoured by your kind words. Talia is real as a character because she really is real in my disturbed little mind. Please keep reading...
Ernie: And. Last. But. Definitely. Not. Least. The. Lady. Of. The. Lake
Most definitely not least. That was a wonderful review. And you're much more accurate on Wyatt than I could be without checking. You must be a new reviewer, right? I'm pretty sure I would've remembered you, with a name like that! I'll try to be worthy of thy patronage, milady.
Good grief! What happened to simply listing the thank-yous? I just love you guys so much, that once I start, it's difficult to stop.
Yes, the sword mentioned in the last chapter was Excalibur. Practically everyone got that though, so I guess it came as no surprise. As mentioned by the Lady Of the Lake, our resident expert on Excalibur, courtesy of her name and knowledge, the episode of Charmed called The Sword and the City in Season Six, had Piper accepting Excalibur as Lady of the Lake, so that she could give it to Wyatt, the next King Arthur, when he was old enough. In my story, when Talia started giving Wyatt sword fighting lessons to hone his fighting skills, it was only fair that Piper, reluctantly, gave him the sword. Wyatt still hasn't created his Camelot, but he is definitely being taught how to use Excalibur by Talia, who's pretty fascinated by it too. Who better to teach a man how to be king, than a princess? And that, to try and answer your question Ori probably makes her some kind of Merlin. Teacher of Arthur and all that jazz. But without the age difference. Or the beard. Or the fact that it was she that brought about Wyatt's birth (how could she, she was just a baby). My guess is, that when Wyatt comes into his birthright, he's going to want Talia by his side, like Merlin was by Arthur's.
One last thing before I let you get on with the chapter. I couldn't have done it without the honourable Mr. Nightcrawler. I praise thee to the heavens and back for your fascinating feedback, friend.
And yes, I do realise I'm talking funny, but you've no idea what kind of reading material is claiming my attention these days. On with the story!
Chapter 10: The day Snape almost smiled
"Today we will be trying out your patronuses," Professor Snape announced.
The two students' eyes widened.
"Sir," Talia started, "you can't possibly mean that we'll try them out against real dementors!"
Snape sneered at the interruption.
"Of sorts.
"You should already know what a Roarggort is. We studied them briefly last week. It is a creature that can easily be mistaken for a dementor. It has a fondness of houses where the dark arts have been practised in the past. It looks and feels like a dementor, but other than the usual barrage of unpleasant memories and emotions one associates with dementors," he said in a manner that was almost blasé, "and the occasional headache, it's hardly dangerous and completely incapable of delivering anything remotely resembling a Dementor's Kiss. I have obtained one for us. You will be trying out your patronuses on the Roarggort."
He moved to reveal a wooden box that was shaking violently with the Roarggort that was imprisoned within. Grunting noises showed the Roarggort's displeasure. That was the only apparent difference between a dementor and a Roarggort. Dementors didn't grunt.
Despite the discrete emphasis he placed on the relatively harmless nature of the Roarggort, Professor Snape was pleased to see that the two students seemed nervous at the prospect of facing it. The 'usual barrage of unpleasant memories and emotions' was a serious understatement and everyone in the classroom knew it. Neither of the two teenagers had ever faced a Dementor, or anything like it, and it was natural for them to be afraid, but it amused the snarky Professor to no end. They weren't perfect after all, he concluded with satisfaction!
"I will now release the Roarggort." he spoke curtly.
Talia and Wyatt gasped when they saw the by-now-familiar shape of a dementor. The pictures in their book, they decided, failed to do it justice. The black cloak seemed to suck the very light out of the room they were in. An icy hand of fear gripped their heart and squeezed. Cold sweat broke out on their foreheads as the overpowering presence of the 'dementor' filled the room.
It was with supreme effort that Wyatt managed to overcome the vivid images he was suddenly bombarded with. He desperately searched for a happy memory.
"Expecto Patronum," he shouted, and his gryphon burst forth from the tip of his wand and advanced growling on the 'dementor'.
Behind his customary scowl, Snape was pleased. Wyatt had done incredibly well. The Potions Master turned to check on his other student.
Talia seemed to fare a lot worse than her cousin.
Snape's eyebrow rose of its own accord.
The images the creature bombarded her with, seemed to have an incredibly dire effect on her. Her eyes widened in unmasked fear. She clutched her midsection as if she was in pain and collapsed on a heap on the floor. Talia looked like she was in agony! She curled herself in the foetal position. Her brow was drenched in sweat and, Snape noted with an almost clinical fascination, she was shivering, her eyes shut tight.
Wyatt seemed to have noticed too. He put even more effort into his patronus and the 'dementor' shrunk back. But he was distracted by his cousin and his concern for her, and couldn't keep his thoughts happy enough. His patronus faded away.
"Professor!" he shouted in sudden near panic. Wyatt rushed by Talia's side trying to help her up.
Snape did nothing but watch impassively as the 'dementor' approached the two teenagers.
"Expecto Patronum!" Wyatt yelled once again.
His patronus leapt at his command, but the gryphon was more translucent, less corporeal than before. Wyatt, in trying to defeat his own bad memories the 'dementor' was bombarding his mind with, and in his concern for Talia, hadn't managed to put his usual effort into the patronus.
"Professor, do something!"
But Snape did nothing.
Wyatt resisted the urge to punch him.
"Expecto Patronum!"
The gryphon was even fainter than before.
"Talia, come on! Get a grip! I need your help here! I can't do this on my own!"
Wyatt's voice seemed to finally penetrate Talia's subconscious and she stirred on the floor. Her eyes opened but they were unfocused, haunted, as she looked towards Wyatt's general direction.
"Come on Talia! I need you!"
Talia gritted her teeth and struggled unsurely to her feet. Wyatt helped her up, dragging her from her robe's sleeve.
Wyatt's patronus faded one last time and the dementor stopped its retreat.
"We'll do this together," he told Talia, looking at her intently.
Talia finally looked back at him, her eyes clear, a glint of determination shining in their tortured depths. She nodded and they both took a deep breath clearing their minds and focusing on their own happy thoughts.
A squeeze from Talia's hand on Wyatt's shoulder gave them their signal.
"Expecto Patronum!!" they shouted in unison at the approaching dementor.
The gryphon and the phoenix sprung forth in all their bright glory. The phoenix gave a loud screech and dove at the cloaked figure. The gryphon screeched once and did the same. The 'dementor' never stood a chance. It dissolved away. Wyatt and Talia panted as if they had just run a mile.
"Are you ok?" he whispered.
She nodded.
"What did you see?"
Talia bit her bottom lip.
"Nicholas, Valdis..."
Snape watched in fascination. Towards the end, the two had worked as one. Talia and Wyatt had obviously had practise in facing problems together.
Bullshit! It was more than that, he suddenly decided forcefully. Snape had been in plenty of battles in his life and he knew exactly what he had just seen.
It was the camaraderie of warriors-at-arms.
Of people who had fought many a battle together and who automatically watched each other's back. Who knew exactly what would bring their partner to their senses, and who communicated their plan of attack to each other without words. His conclusions only served to raise more questions about the two cousins. Questions that, no matter how much he tried, the headmaster - for all his damned wisdom - refused to answer.
But his musings did not last long.
"What the hell were you playing at?!!" demanded an angry Wyatt advancing angrily towards him. "Are you insane? You're supposed to be our teacher! Don't you know what could have happened right now? Why didn't you help?"
"Calm yourself, Halliwell," Snape cut him off icily. "Nothing would have happened. You forget that what you just faced was not a Dementor. It was a Roarggort. You were never at any real risk. The whole experience might have been rather unpleasant, but you were safe the entire time."
Wyatt seemed at a loss for words.
"But…but you didn't help us at all..."
Talia looked to be almost back to her old self by now. She didn't even deign to show any embarrassment over the incident that just happened, Snape noticed with approval. She seemed to be taking the whole thing much more calmly.
"Thank you for not helping us, Professor Snape," she said in a quiet voice, interrupting Wyatt's rumblings.
Wyatt starred at her in amazement and, though Snape hid it, he felt the same.
"Professor Snape wanted us to defeat the 'dementor' ourselves," she explained to a wide-eyed Wyatt, but her eyes were still locked on Snape. She was calm, but there was a professional air about her, and he felt that it was addressed to him. She finally turned back to her cousin. "We needed to know that we can do it. That we can overcome the dementor's effects on our own. I wouldn't have made it if it weren't for you Wyatt," she said honestly and not without some bitterness. And suddenly, those deep brown eyes focused back on him. "Professor, do you think we could do it again?"
It took the Potions Master a second or two to get past his shock, but he hid it well. Professor Snape nodded. He hated to admit it, but for once, in a very long time, he felt a growing respect for two of his students.
Damn Albus and his cryptic answers! He had gone to see him about Halliwell and Turner again and again, but his questions were simply brushed off! He tried to use his formidable spy skills to obtain any information he could about them, but even they failed to get anything out from the Headmaster other than an unusually bright twinkle. Who were these children?!
With a shared look, Talia and Wyatt once again took their positions next to each other, preparing to face the Roarggort once again. Wyatt looked at his cousin anxiously, but Talia simply looked in front of her, her face set.
"Ready when you are, Professor."
Talia twisted and turned, ducked and weaved, jumped and dodged, in a complicated dance with her invisible opponent. Sweat was running down her body in rivulets now, but she didn't care. She needed a release for all the pent up energy and frustration of the last few weeks, and she had neglected her more advanced training, for far too long.
The dementor lesson had hit her harder than she cared to admit. She wasn't used to failure, and it left a bitter taste in her mouth. She had conquered the Roarggort in the end, but it had placed a large dent in her self-confidence and that, was unacceptable. Tomorrow was the practical Bogart lesson. In all honesty, Talia had no idea what her worst fear was. There were so many of them really... Inwardly, she trembled to think of what tomorrow would bring. She set her jaw in determination. She was determined to fare much better tomorrow, than she had today.
She was conscious of a pair of eyes following her every move. They'd been there for at least fifteen minutes, but she had been trying to ignore them. It wasn't working, they were still there. Talia could feel them boring holes onto her back as she performed yet another high kick, landed on a crouching position, and then jumped back up to throw a well placed punch on her imaginary opponent's jaw. She held the position, breathing heavily, before finally straightening up.
"Enjoy the show?" she asked caustically without turning round.
Talia didn't know who it was that had been watching her and, in all honesty, she didn't care. It was probably Wyatt anyway, and he was used to her bad moods, but she didn't feel like talking to anyone at the moment, not even her mild-mannered cousin.
"Impressive."
The voice was deeper than she had expected and definitely not her cousin's. It wasn't the voice of a boy at all. It was the voice of a man.
Talia's eyes widened as she turned to face Professor Severus Snape.
"Professor?"
Snape watched her impassively for a while.
"Care for a bit of a challenge?" he finally said.
"You spar?" she asked, unable to keep the surprise out of her voice.
"A little," he said, crossing the room.
He removed his robes and placed them, meticulously folded, on the floor.
Talia watched with avid interest. Under the robes, she was surprised at how well built Severus Snape was. His muscles were not the bulging type one acquired from hours at the gym, they were the hard, ropey kind that came from physical work and hard training. His drawstring black trousers and the black t-shirt he wore underneath his robes, did him justice.
Snape turned round to catch her staring and sneered.
"Do you find something interesting, Miss Turner?"
"You are an interesting man, Professor Snape," she confessed.
He looked at her strangely.
"Shall we begin?" he drawled.
Talia faced him and bowed. He bowed in return before crouching in a fighting stance.
Talia launched herself at him. She had a lot of anger and frustration to get rid of, some for which he was responsible, and he was giving her a chance to get even. She wasn't about to waste it.
He blocked her first assault easily enough. She was surprised. She aimed a punch at him, but he ducked. She used her foot in an attempt to sweep his own feet from right under him, but he jumped out of harm's way in time.
She was very surprised. And pleased. It had been a while since she had a real challenge...
He wrapped a hand around her wrist and twisted. She went with it, knowing it would go easier that way, then in a sudden twisting jerk, she released it from his grasp. Without missing a beat, the Potions' Master aimed a well-placed jab at her side. It knocked the air out of her, but she ducked his next punch and managed to trip him with her feet on her way down. She jumped back up and threw a high kick at him as he was getting up. He barely managed to get out of the way.
Talia grinned. She was loving every second of this!
Talia had lost count of how long they had been sparing. It seemed to have lasted for more than an hour and the intense, fast paced workout was getting to both of them. Talia stretched a hand towards her opponent, but her fist clenched around fabric as he jumped safely out of the way. Snape's black t-shirt was left in her grasp. They were both drenched in sweat and panting heavily as they separated once more to the different sides of the room.
Talia looked at the black cloth in her hand, then back at her shirtless professor. She had felt the strength of his body during their fighting, but was still surprised to see the well formed, pale stomach. She couldn't help noticing the numerous scars that decorated it. And she couldn't help but think that they added to the appeal, and reinforced the idea that she was looking at a warrior's body. Talia had inherited both her parents' appreciation for beauty, and she could definitely appreciate this. Her gaze finally lifted to his face and she realised what she'd done.
Talia didn't blush, but if she was the blushing kind, she would.
For the first time since they started sparing, she seemed to come to her senses long enough to realise who she was sparing with, and she felt rather embarrassed by her actions.
"Err...I'm sorry, Professor," she managed.
He smirked.
"There's nothing to apologise for, Miss Turner. I enjoyed our sparring. Shall we call it enough for today?"
He was more out of breath than she was and it took most of his formidable will to conceal that fact. He wasn't seventeen anymore and he had neglected his combat training for too long. Since before Voldemort came back, in fact. A few more minutes and he would have suffered a rather embarrassing defeat.
Talia bowed to her professor with a new-found sense of respect for him. He bowed back. Then she walked up to him with the torn t-shirt. He reached for it, but she pulled back at the last minute, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes and a large grin plastered on her face.
"You know Professor," she drawled easily, "you really should think of showing up to classes like that." She pointed with her chin at his bare chest.
Snape was shocked enough at her teasing to actually show it. No one teased him like this. Certainly not a student. A left eyebrow buried itself in his hairline.
"I guarantee an increased interest in Potions..." she continued, and the twinkle in her eyes could suddenly rival Dumbledore's.
He smirked as he leaned in to snatch his t-shirt from her grasp.
"Why, Miss Turner, you wouldn't be ogling your Potions' professor now, would you?"
Where in Tartarus had that come from? he wondered vaguely.
She laughed. That's exactly what she had been doing!
"Don't take this the wrong way, Professor, but had I been about a decade older, there wouldn't be a corner in this castle you'd be safe in!"
Snape's eyes widened in disbelief. Had she really just said that?! To him?! Talia grinned and her smile reached from ear to ear. The Professor's mouth twitched as he fought a war with a smile; his first in quite some time.
"Miss Turner, you may be ready for Hogwarts by the end of this summer, but I'm not at all sure that Hogwarts will ever be ready for you."
She laughed again before making her way out of the room and to a badly needed shower.
"Until next time, Professor."
A/N: And as always, please review!!
You thought I'd forgotten, didn't you?