Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all his friends (and enemies) are the brain-child of J.K. Rowling. I'm just borrowing them. Exclusive ownership belongs to JKR, Arthur A. Levine Books and Scholastic Inc. Jane Sinclair and all additional characters belong to me. You belong to yourself.
He deals the cards to find the answer
The sacred geometry of chance
The hidden law of a probable outcome
The numbers lead a dance
Shape Of My Heart, Sting
Chapter Fourteen – Questions and Answers
…where Jane and Severus look into the past and catch a glimpse of the future…
Severus was late for breakfast. Jane had already finished her toast and was lingering over tea, when he finally showed up. Remus had just leaned over and whispered something into her ear, when Severus strode into the Great Hall. The blood rushed to her head, and a loud droning noise filled her ears. She didn't hear one word her friend said. All she could think of was Severus, and the many, many things they had done last night. When Jane had left him this morning, he had still been fast asleep, tangled in the bed sheets. She had stood by the bed and watched him, this man she loved. In sleep, his face had lost much of its harshness. He had looked younger, more vulnerable, and very, very dear. But now, Jane reflected sadly, he wore his usual mask of indifference. She sighed.
He took his regular seat and lounged back. His face was unreadable, revealing nothing of the physical exertion and emotional rollercoaster he had experienced the night before. Severus did not eat, merely played with crystal goblet in front of him, while he thoughtfully watched Jane and Remus at the other end of the table. Remus noticed his stare and prodded Jane, startling her out of her reverie.
"Hm?" She still wasn't paying attention.
"What's wrong with Severus?" Remus asked her curiously.
Jane took a hasty sip of her tea. "What do you mean?" she mumbled into her tea cup.
"He isn't scowling or looking menacingly in any way."
"I don't know." Jane shrugged, not meeting his gaze.
"Somehow I think you do."
"Oh, well," she sighed. "I took your advice and talked to him."
His eyebrows shot up in disbelief. "You didn't!"
Jane nodded. "I did."
"Was that before or after he dragged you all over Hogwarts?"
"Oh." Jane shrunk back even more. "You've heard."
"The whole school has been buzzing with the most outlandish rumors. You actually disappointed many students by showing up this morning, alive and well."
Jane allowed herself a small smile. "I'm touched by their concern."
Remus chuckled. "So, what did you say to him?"
"Why?"
"Because he's looking at us, and he isn't glowering."
"Well," Jane hedged, "I simply set him straight."
"What gumption."
"Well, I just had enough, and… and I told him so."
Remus watched his friend, and the faint blush gracing her face told him that there was much more to the story than she let on. He could guess what had happened, but he wasn't going to pressure her for details – yet. Jane was a grown woman with a sensible head on her shoulders, but he didn't want to see her get hurt. He threw a speculative glance at Severus and stroked his chin. Yes, he would keep an eye on Severus – at least, until he could be sure that he was treating Jane right.
---
"You left this morning, without waking me."
Jane jumped, startled by his sudden appearance. "Severus," she exclaimed, "I wasn't expecting you."
"I know," he drawled smoothly, stepping into her office and shutting the door behind him.
"What can I do for you, Severus?" Jane asked him, disconcerted by the fiery glint in his eyes.
"You left this morning," he repeated with deceptive calmness, "without waking me"
"You were fast asleep, Severus. I didn't have the heart to wake you."
"You left." He sounded hurt and accusatory, and she recalled her promise to him.
"Surely, Severus," Jane began to rationalize, "you didn't think I'd left for good?"
He didn't answer, but his telltale flush betrayed him.
"You did!" Jane exclaimed incredulously.
"Well, what was I to think?" he snapped back. "I woke up and you were gone!"
"But I had to change and get ready for classes, Severus."
"You could have left a note," he mumbled sullenly.
"Severus," Jane sighed, "you must learn to trust me… at least, a little."
"I'm trying, Jane, but…"
She smiled. "That's a start, Severus."
He nodded quietly, not meeting her eyes. His gaze fell on the papers on her desk. "What are you working on?"
Jane looked at the note she'd been composing. He moved to stand behind her chair, leaning over her shoulder. She lifted her head and found herself staring at his throat. His masculine scent mixed with some herbal essence filled her nostrils, clouding her senses, and she longed to kiss the spot next to his Adam's apple, just above his prim collar. The images of last night assaulted her mind, and Jane had to consciously stop herself from drooling. Severus noticed her response to his presence and was oddly pleased with himself.
"So, what is all this?" he asked her again.
"Well…" Jane swallowed, quickly composing herself. "Yesterday evening, you said something about Dumbledore having his own agenda, and it triggered something in my mind. When I came to Hogwarts last autumn, McGonagall had hinted that Dumbledore believed I was vital in the fight against Voldemort. She gave me this stack of papers, his research, so I might find out what he actually had in mind. I haven't had a chance, yet, to study them more thoroughly." She handed him a piece of parchment. "I can't make any sense of what I've read so far, Severus, but one name keeps popping up. Sibyll Trelawney. Anyway, I was just writing her a note."
Severus nodded. "I don't know how much help that old bat will be. Even in her most lucid moments, she's pretty hazy."
Jane looked at him hopefully. "I don't suppose you could use Legilimency on her?"
"No." His mouth twisted in distaste. "Her mind is so muddled and vague… I would have to fear for my sanity. Besides…" He shrugged. "It wouldn't be exactly legal."
She grinned. "As if that would stop you…"
He grimaced. "I do have some integrity."
"So, you will come with me?"
"Of course."
---
"Ah," a hazy voice greeted Jane, as she entered Trelawney's tower room that evening. "Professor Sinclair…" Trelawney's eyes fell on a glowering Severus, who strode in after Jane, and she visibly started. "…and, erm, Professor Snape?"
His presence obviously disconcerted her. She began to fidget with one of the many strands of beads wrapped around her neck. "Erm, won't you two, erm… come in?"
Severus looked about him with unconcealed horror, and Jane suppressed a giggle. The saccharine feminine décor, with its frilly throws, lace doilies, flowery prints and oriental seat cushions, was rather overwhelming.
"Courage," she whispered into his ear.
He rolled his eyes with forced patience. "This better be worth it," he ground out through clenched teeth.
She pinched his arm. "I'll make it up to you."
Severus stared down at her, an eyebrow arched, interest sparking in his eyes. "Will you, now?"
Jane smirked suggestively. "You'll just have to wait and see."
She left him with that and joined Professor Trelawney at a cluttered coffee table. Severus followed her, scowling darkly when he realized that they would have to sit on the floor. Wrapping his robes about him with an impatient jerk, he folded his legs under him, and sank onto a garish cushion that looked like it came from a harem.
Professor Trelawney watched him apprehensively, her myopic eyes wider than usual. "Well, erm…" she eventually addressed Jane, her voice quavering slightly. "To what do I owe the…" She quickly glanced at Severus. "erm, pleasure?"
"Professor Trelawney," Jane began, "I don't know where to start…"
Trelawney pointed a trembling finger into the air. Her other hand flew to her forehead in an affected gesture. "No, don't tell me," she declared, closing her eyes. "I can sense it… Yes, I can see it now… A June wedding!"
Jane gave a shocked gasp and Severus scoffed disgustedly. Trelawney opened one eye and peeked at them. "Erm, that wasn't what you wanted to hear?"
"No," Severus growled menacingly.
Trelawney's hand shot to her throat, fingering her pearls. "I, erm, well, I thought… oh dear, oh dear…"
"Professor Trelawney," Jane interjected, "we are here because we think you might be able to help us with a rather baffling problem."
"A problem?" Trelawney echoed vaguely.
"Yes." Jane nodded. "Before his death, Professor Dumbledore had been looking into ways to defeat Voldemort…"
"Do not say his name, Professor!" Trelawney fanned her shocked face.
"Um, yes," Jane conceded. "Well, anyway, Dumbledore was convinced that I somehow played a key role in this madness, and I've been studying the papers he left behind. He has mentioned you several times, Professor Trelawney. That's why we're here."
The Divination professor blinked a few times. "Oh dear, oh dear," she said again.
"What do you know, Sibyll?" Severus growled.
"Well," she said, "Albus may have been referring to a vision I had, erm…"
"Yes?" Severus kept staring at her until her nose twitched like a frightened rabbit's.
"I… I think I better show you."
With a flick of her wand, she cleared the table in front of her and summoned her crystal ball.
"I don't have a Pensieve," she apologized, "but this will do the trick."
Trelawney scrunched up her face, thinking back, before she placed her wand against her temple and extracted the relevant memory. She touched the wand to the crystal ball, which began to fill with swirling silvery mist. Waving her hand over the orb, she agitated the mist until images began to form in it.
"Look inside," she invited them.
Jane and Severus leaned closer.
"So, Sibyll," Dumbledore asked pleasantly between sips of tea, "I trust you've recovered sufficiently over the summer to resume teaching?"
She looked at him, her eyes narrowing briefly. "No one ever truly recovers from such indignities as I was forced to suffer at the hands of that Umbridge woman," she declared self-righteously.
Dumbledore nodded indulgently, but didn't comment.
"Will you be able to teach?" he asked her again, once she calmed down.
"Of course, Albus," Sibyll Trelawney announced. "Just try and stop me!"
Dumbledore chuckled. "I wouldn't dare, Sibyll."
Suddenly, a movement in the crystal ball on the table next to him caught his attention. He leaned closer and peered into the swirling mist. It changed colors, shifted shapes, until it finally revealed two figures. The mist dissolved slowly and the images became clearer. A man appeared, bearing an uncanny resemblance to Severus Snape. Dumbledore frowned, fearful of what would come next. To his surprise, however, the other shape turned into a lovely young woman, who looked vaguely familiar. He searched the recesses of his mind, hoping to recall her identity. The woman turned her head, and her moss green eyes triggered his memory. He had only ever met one person with such memorable eyes. Clara Fenton. In the crystal ball, the two figures came together in a tender kiss.
"Sibyll," Dumbledore exclaimed, "did you see that?"
He turned to the woman seated across from him and started. Sibyll Trelawney was convulsing violently in her chair. Her eyes had rolled in their orbits and only the whites were visible. Her mouth hung open and she moaned hoarsely.
"The outcast will wear the hero's laurels," she announced in an unearthly voice. "Souls that were lost will find each other and do great things together. The snake and the raven…"
She gave another violent jerk and her eyes rolled back into their normal position. She blinked furiously.
"Albus," she asked shakily, "what happened?"
"You had a vision Sibyll," he told her gently.
"Really? I don't remember."
"It was strange," Dumbledore mused. "While it was happening, an image formed in the crystal ball. Sibyll, I was wondering… would you mind reading the cards for me?"
Trelawney was flattered. "Of course, Albus."
She summoned her cards and made an elaborate show of shuffling them. Dumbledore began to impatiently rap his fingers until she finally laid out the first card. It showed a man walking through the desert towards an oasis far off in the distance. However, with each step he took, the oasis moved further against the horizon. As the man approached, his face slowly took on the features of Severus Snape.
"The Hermit," she said, and Dumbledore nodded.
Trelawney laid out the second card. It depicted the entwined nude bodies of a man and a woman making love. They resembled Severus and Clara. A raven flew over them and a snake slithered across the bottom of the card.
"The Lovers," she said unnecessarily. She looked closer at the writhing couple and blushed. "He, erm, will find salvation."
Dumbledore began to tap one long finger against his lips, deep in thought.
Trelawney reluctantly pulled herself away from the lovers and placed the last card onto the table and quickly withdrew her hand, as though she'd burnt herself.
"The Reaper," she hissed, looking at the dark hooded specter floating through the night leaving mangled bodies in his wake. The hood fell to his shoulders, revealing a grinning pale face with reptilian features and evil red eyes.
Dumbledore started also and quickly turned the card over onto its face. "Voldemort," he whispered darkly.
Sibyll met his gaze, her eyes wide with horror. "I see death."
---
Jane and Severus sat silently across from each other in his sitting room. They hadn't spoken a word to each other since leaving the Divination teacher over an hour ago.
"Oh, this is ridiculous!" Jane finally broke the silence. "You are not going to die!"
He looked at her, expressionless.
"Really, Severus," she scolded him. "You can't honestly believe that?"
He frowned. "All the signs…"
"No, Severus," Jane cut him off. "We decide our own destiny. By all rights, I should be dead by now. I was thrust into the Muggle world without a real clue of what to expect. What I was taught at Hogwarts was antiquated information…"
"That is not the same," he interrupted her.
"I had no money, no talents, no work experience. I was helpless and clueless. I slept on the streets and in condemned buildings for over a year! I should not be alive. But I am the person you see before you today, because I didn't give up, Severus. I did not meekly give in to the destiny the Wizengamot had determined for me. All those signs…" She waved her arms furiously through the air. "Those signs only tell you what will happen, if you don't do anything about it, if you simply give in. So, for the last time, you are not going to die!"
"That is not what I am afraid of," he said quietly.
"What, then?" Jane looked at him in confusion. Suddenly realization hit her. She kneeled down beside him and placed her hand comfortingly on his arm. "You're worried about me, aren't you?"
He nodded curtly, unable to meet her gaze. Her fingers squeezed his arm. "Nothing is going to happen to me, Severus," she told him gently.
He grabbed her by the shoulders. "How do you know, Jane? Huh? Tell me, how do you know?"
She cupped his face between her hands. "Because I have you to protect me."
Severus stared into her trusting eyes and a pang of guilt surged through him. If his dreams and Trelawney's visions were any indication, he wouldn't survive the final battle. True, there was a small chance that Jane could be harmed, but in his heart he knew differently. They had no future together. There would be no happily ever after. And yet, it was impossible for him to let her go, now that they had shared each other. There was no turning back. All he could do was enjoy this wondrous gift he had been given and, while it lasted, take as much joy and pleasure from it as he could.
"Yes," he promised her, leaning his forehead against hers, "I'll protect you."
---
"Severus?"
"What?"
They were lying in his bed, reveling in the afterglow of their lovemaking.
Jane propped herself on an elbow. "When I came to you on Christmas Eve, you already knew you'd be going to Azkaban. Last night you said everything had been arranged…"
Severus flopped onto his back and tucked his hands under his head. He stared at the ceiling as he searched for the right words.
"I was summoned to the Dark Lord in early December. He knew that Dumbledore had been looking for you, and he… well, he wanted me to deliver you to him." He swallowed convulsively. "I couldn't let that happen."
Jane reached across his chest and snuggled against him, resting her head on his shoulder. "So you sacrificed yourself."
"Not really."
She raised her head and looked at him, her eyes brilliant with love and adoration. "You went to Azkaban, so you couldn't fulfill the Dark Lord's orders and I would be safe. You are a gentleman."
Severus scoffed. "Hardly."
"You are," she insisted, tightening her arms around him. "You did something noble. You can't deny it. You're my knight in shining armor…" Jane smiled mischievously. "Well, my knight in austere black robes, in any case."
Severus chuckled, and the low rumble in his chest was music to her ears. "I don't think I've ever heard you laugh," she told him.
He looked at her meaningfully. "I've never really had any reason to laugh, Jane. I've never truly been happy… Until now."
"I'm glad, Severus." Jane kissed his chest just over his heart. "I'm glad I could bring you some happiness."
He brought his arms around her, drawing her close. "You've made me very happy."
She continued to place butterfly kisses across his chest. Severus groaned when her lips brushed over one of his nipples. He could feel her smile against his skin, before her tongue flicked over his nipple again, teasing it. Jane licked and nipped until Severus was ready to come off the bed. She planted a trail of kisses to his other nipple and gave it her full attention.
"Jane," Severus groaned hoarsely. "You better be ready to finish what you start."
She looked up, and, grinning naughtily, climbed on top of him. Leaning forward, she kissed him passionately, lazily tracing his lips with her tongue. Another growl rumbled in his throat. Jane wriggled her bottom against his growing erection, and his hips thrust against her. She grinned again and sat back. A disappointed expression crossed his face.
"Jane?"
With her index finger, she traced lazy circles on his chest. "You haven't told me, yet, how you got out of Azkaban."
Severus stared at her incredulously. "You're not serious?" he barked impatiently. "You want to know that now?" Again, he bucked beneath her.
"I need to know, Severus. Are we in danger?"
He sighed. "Probably." His hands snuck to her hips and tried to reposition her.
"Did Voldemort arrange for your release?"
"Probably," he said again, shifting slightly. "I wouldn't put it past him."
"How did he do it? Did he put an Imperius Curse on Rathbone, making him confess, so you could go free?"
"Well…" Severus thought for a moment. "Knowing Rathbone, he didn't volunteer. But my guess is as good as yours. Now…" He shifted again, rubbing his erection against her buttocks. "Can we get back to more pleasant things?"
Jane frowned. "So, he's still after me? After us?"
"Probably. But don't worry…" Quick as lightning, Severus flipped her onto her back and hovered over her. "I won't let anything happen to you."
Jane looked up into his dear face, creased with worry for her, and she caressed his cheek. "And I won't let anything happen to you," she promised him.
"Good," he said gruffly, "now that that's settled, let's get back to the business at hand."
She slid her hand along his side, over his abdomen, and to the straining arousal between his legs. She wrapped her fingers around his warm length and squeezed gently.
"That's right," he groaned and bent down to kiss her.
Lost and Found © 2005-2006 by MMHG
