Chapter 5
The first thing Procella felt was a groggy lightheaded feeling, and numbness. Her eyes were closed and the first movement she made was smacking her hand over her face. She wiped her hands down it, and groaned. I can't remember drinking last night…
She opened her eyes slowly, and squinted to get used to the bright white colours of the curtains around her hospital bed. Wait…hospital bed…? Why am I in a hospital bed? She closed her eyes again, and pushed herself up with her hands. Once she was sat up, she rubbed her eyes and looked to the curtains again. With one hand she waved the curtains open. At first she recoiled from the beam of light that hit her face from the nearby window, and groaned again. Ah…ouch. She held her throat, and winced. It was deathly soar, like she had been crying constantly, amongst other things…
And with that, her memories of the past few days came back to her.
Getting accepted to Hogwarts as the new Non verbal magic professor.
Arriving and being chased by Filch and Hagrid.
Being saved by Albus, and sitting at the table…
…him…
She remembered the way he looked at her, with his dark brown eyes. She remembered the way she looked him over, and felt a flutter of butterflies in her stomach.
But most of all, she remembered how quickly her nervousness turned to fear at his words, and the way he then looked down at her.
With his dark brown eyes.
It was then she knew why his eyes called to her.
They were his eyes, the same ones. She saw him in his eyes, and it frightened her. She thought she had left that behind her, but he had come back and haunted her in the eyes of the Potions master.
He had been so cruel to her too, and she withdrew into herself, becoming a shivering wreck.
She wasn't always like that…there was a time she was very bold, and defiant.
But not anymore.
Procella whimpered, remembering how he had gripped her shoulder cruelly in his dungeons, and held it with the memory.
All she wanted to do was desperately get away from the man that scared her, haunted her with those eyes of her past. It was like he looked into her soul when he looked at her with those eyes.
And then he did try to look into her soul, her mind.
He almost saw…he almost…saw…Procella pulled her knees up to her chest, and sobbed into them. He almost saw what kind of a monster I truly am. And…and I panicked. I didn't know what to do! She rocked back and forth with grief, seeing Snape's cold, bleeding body before her even now. And I killed him. She pulled the curtains open, and pushed herself forward, onto her feet. Madam Pomfrey smiled to her and held another veil of sleeping draught, to calm her.
"Hello dear. I have something for you to-wait!" Procella ran straight past her, her golden hair flowing behind her with her tears. She ran right out of the infirmary.
Procella locked herself in her rooms, and crawled under the covers. She sobbed into her pillow, and refused to answer the door as anyone tried to talk to her.
Procella stayed in her room for two whole days, refusing to do anything but go to the bathroom. It was now Friday, and she hadn't cried for 8 hours now. She hadn't made any other sound either.
"Please Procella. Talk to me. Tell me what happened." Tonks tried from behind the door, tired. She had been at this for so long…she was so tired. "Talk to me Procella."
"It is no use Nymphadora." Dumbledore sighed, and placed a hand on her shoulder. "She is not listening."
"What happened…?"
"What transpired between Severus and Procella, is just that. Between Severus and Procella. But…Severus is awake."
Procella shot her head up, and scrambled off the bed. She knelt before the door, and pressed her ear against it. "And if you would accompany me, we may fond out just what did happen. As I am sure Severus will be forthcoming with information…and probably more than needed." He sighed. "In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if one of us were to be victim to his temper and outrage upon entering the infirmary. But come, we must leave. Answers must be known, for questions no doubt we are all thinking." Albus led Tonks off to the infirmary, and Procella was still.
Was that true? Was Snape alive?
No, I saw him. I killed him myself…I remember seeing him dead by my feet. It is probably just a ploy to get me to come out. She sighed, and picked herself up. Procella walked over to the bed, and curled up on it.
One thing she had managed, was to change into an ankle length negligee, and tied her hair back in a pig tail. She was too hot to wear anything else.
She was so tried. She hadn't eaten or drank anything since leaving the infirmary, and her body was weak. Crying so hard didn't help her much either, and she hugged her pillow, falling into a dreamless sleep…
Where am I? Severus looked around his surroundings. He was wearing his usual black robes, and was perfectly healthy. It was odd though, he couldn't remember where he was or how he got here.
Here, was a large glade, eerie with the glow of night, and also bitter cold. Even Snape had to wrap his arms around himself, and wished he had his wand. For some reason, he knew he didn't have it, and didn't need to look for it.
He pressed on, and waded through the lush foliage. It was like something from a paradise island, but somewhere forgotten, and untouched.
Then he heard whimpering.
He followed the noise, and pushed long willow tree leaves on their delicate branches out of his face, and walked through them. Always using the whimpering noises as a beacon.
Snape found himself finally stood in the shelter of the willow tree, which looked like it could give the Whomping willow a run for its money height wise. He heard the whimpering again, and saw a patch of yellow. Or was it blonde? He crept along the large roots of the tree, and peered into a little cavern under the roots. There, was a little girl.
She sat with her knees against her chest, and her shoulder length blonde hair kept her identity from him.
"What is your name?" she didn't answer him, and she continued to whimper and shiver. "Hello? Can you hear me?" he reached out to her, but his hand went right through her. He stared at his hand, and rolled his eyes. "Of course. This is a memory. But…whose memory?" He looked back to the little girl, and lowered to one knee. He had to lower on all fours, to look up from beneath her folded arms. And just when he was going to see her face, he heard a sound.
On instinct, he rolled to the side and snapped his head to the intruder.
It was a woman.
Well, that was pretty kind.
For this creature had long, dirty grey and white hair, grey skin and raggy clothes. Her eyes were pale white, and her nails were unkept and jiggered. The 'woman' made his toes curl, and he stepped between the girl and this 'thing'. He then remembered that this was a memory, so he couldn't affect what had already happened. Snape stepped aside, and leaned against the tree.
For some reason, he didn't want this thing to come near the little girl, but he had to allow it, as it walked forward.
"Get up, human." It spat with a hiss, and he shuck his head. He didn't recognise the accent from all his experiences, and yet he knew it very well.
"Wait…" he looked over her appearance again, and wished he would stop making these slip ups. "Another Banshee." And if this was a memory, he would hear the Banshee speaking like they would. But just who was they?
He looked down at the child.
Was it hers? "I said get up human!" a clawed hand swiped forward, and Snape flinched as the little girl was sent over the roots. She cried, and held her shoulder, which was now grazed. "Awww, does that hurt? Human?" the little girl looked up, and he saw her face as she nodded.
Big emerald eyes…blonde hair…
Oh Merlin…it's Procella. This is Procella's memories…" he couldn't fathom how he had obtained her memories, as he hadn't tried to enter her mind as they last met.
But the pain he felt, just before he passed out…was it her entering his mind? Or was she so afraid of him, that the one thing she held as her darkest secret, was imprinted upon him in her moment of distraught?
He didn't think on it further, as the little Procella was yanked up by a fist of her hair. His knuckles grew white as he clenched his fists so tight, he wanted to attack this creature.
He was fast starting to lose his appreciation for Banshees.
It was then he noticed that there was another Banshee there, and another, and another. They were all coming through the willow leaves now, and making a circle around her. Snape made sure to be in the middle, so he could see what was so bad about this memory that Procella would be afraid for anyone to see it. He then assumed, this was the one thing she didn't want him to see when he had tried to enter her mind. "It is judgement time, human." The leader dragged her by her hair whimpering, before the rest of the 'clan'. "This is an abomination to our kind! She is tainted filth, that is a disgrace to our legacy!" there were many agreeing hisses, and cackling. Snape became on edge, as two more Banshees, carrying another two people into the circle. They threw them down, and all three of them huddled together. Snape examined them, and knew who they were.
One was a tall man, with short black hair, and dark brown eyes. He was definitely human, and held the other two close to him protectively. Then there was Procella, who as he now saw, had her fangs grown in freight, and her green eyes were slowly going paler. And the smallest, must have only been three years old. Where Procella looked around twice that age, 6. The little one was also a girl, with short brown silky straight hair in a baby bob. Her eyes were brown like her father's, and she was crying loudly.
"Hush Sedo, Daddy will protect you." He kissed her forehead, and then did the same to Procella. "And you my darling Procella. I will not let you be harmed either." He held them both to his chest with one strong arm, and the other hand held a dark mahogany wand. "I will not let you harm my children!"
"You have no choice human!" he wailed, even with the translators on his ears, he still winced at their tones. "You rape one of our sister, let her die giving birth to that, and run off with it!" they all hissed, and it visibly hurt him. Procella had her hands over Sedo's ears, and hummed a soft tune trying to calm her sister desperately. "And even worse!" another said. "You then have that creature to a human woman, spitting on the memory of our fallen sister!" the hisses increased, and Snape stepped forward. This was fast getting out of control. He wanted to do something, but his hands were tied.
"I loved, and still love Procella's mother. I even named her after her mother, in her honour. And this child is the child of my arranged marriage. If I didn't consummate the marriage, my wife would have been punished by her father."
"LIES!" the leader shrieked and made the man arch his back in pain. But he never let go of his children. Snape had to admire him for that. "We have passes our judgement. Tonight, you will all die!" they started to swarm towards them, and Snape stood right next to the victims.
The man with dark brown eyes, lifted his children's faces and kissed them.
"Procella, you have to do something for Daddy ok?" Snape knelt down, he already knew what he was about to hear, and shuck his head slowly, in denial.
"She is 6 years old!" he shouted. "You can't!" but he didn't hear him.
"Remember when I told you never to speak, or to utter one word. Never, remember?" she nodded, tears falling down her face. "Well, Daddy needs you to do something."
"No!" Snape swung forward with a fist, but again it just went through him like he was a ghost. "Damn it."
"I want you to close your eyes for me. That's it." Procella wrapped her hand around her father's fingers, and her little sister clung to her. "Now, I want you to open your mouth." She did so. "Now, I want you to ignore everything you hear. I want you to ignore everything you hear, even if it's me or Sedo." She opened her eyes, confused. "Trust me honey." A tear fell down his face. "I swore to your mother you would live. I swore it. And if you don't to this, we will all die. Now…close your eyes." Procella threw her arms around her father, who hugged her, and blasted the first Banshee off them. "Don't cry my darling." He whimpered. "You were born with a gift, and you must never use it unless you need to, for the good of others. And the only way for you to help people, is to live. Now, now is the time to use that gift." He expelled another Banshee, and wracked from pain as they hissed. Enjoying kissing him slowly. "NOW PROCELLA!" He cringed in pain, already feeling his blood boiling. "YOU MUST DO IT NOW! AND REMEMBER I LOVE YOU!"
Snape dropped to his knees, and looked Procella in the face. Her eyes closed, her mouth opened, she clung to her father and sister, and her skin paled to an ivory white. Her fangs grew, and she screamed. Sonic, high pitch waves erupted from her tiny mouth, and shuck the very ground beneath them. Every Banshee buckled to the floor in pain, and clawed at their own heads.
Thud.
Procella wailed even louder as Sedo collapsed to the floor, dead. Tears burst through her eyes, and her head snapped back with grief.
One by one, the Banshees dropped down, dead and breathed no more. Only when every single one of them were dead, did Procella choke and whimper. She looked down at her twitching father with clear white eyes. Her tears fell and touched his face. Shakily, he managed to touch her cheek, and then smiled. Procella looked to his eyes, and ran her hands over his face, memorising every inch of him. She never looked away from his eyes, and pined for him. "Like…your…mother…" he smiled. "You look…like…your mother…" His face fell to one side, and Procella howled with grief.
"So you killed them." Snape was on his knees, looking at Procella for the first time in his life, with sorrow. He pitied her. "That is why you are so sensitive, and refuse to talk. You don't want to hurt anyone ever again." He watched as she cradled her broken family, like no 6 year old should have to. "You cower away from any chance of hurting anyone. You are so timid, because you are broken inside." He felt his surroundings slip away from him, and felt numb all over. "But…why do you cower from me? Why do you refuse to look…at me?" he became light headed, and slipped off to unconsciousness.
There were so many questions he still wanted, and needed to ask, and so much more he needed to know. But for know, he slept. No more did he see Procella's darkest memory, no more did he see her pained face, and felt pity for her. He felt nothing, and slept…
