A/N Second Chapter Today; don't miss What Bill Saw This Time. JCWriter.
XXIV
The True Motive
Far above, Horace Slughorn was thinking he would need a miracle as well. He stood before the large iron statue of a dragon with batlike wings, pulled tight across its face and with a strange, snakelike tail. On the floor beside him was a pile of discarded books; Slughorn was becoming a very frustrated old wizard. He knew after tapping the very first book, the Dictionary of Magic…that the Headmaster's password was more likely to be a phrase rather than a single word, but so far after going through half of his encyclopedias, the password had eluded him. He grabbed the next volume, tapping his wand to it. A rather loud and yet muttering sound rushed out of the book as it spoke out every word written at lightning speed.
"What is he doing?" Lucky whispered from where they were looking out from the stairwell.
"That's the Headmaster's Study," Bill growled, pulling out his wand. "Well, he's not getting in there on my watch."
"Wait!" Lucky hissed, but it was too late; Bill had already charged towards him. But Lucky wisely stayed put, pulling out her own wand and muttering obscenities under her breath.
"Get away from that statue!" Bill shouted at Slughorn, causing the man to pull his own wand.
"Kingfisher! What are you doing up here at this hour? And pointing a wand at a Professor? You're in big trouble, son." Slughorn said, his eyes flashing dangerously.
"You're the one in trouble!" Bill said hotly. "You're the one trying to break in the Headmaster's Study! He wouldn't even be gone if it wasn't for you!"
"I am a mere observer as you are, Mr. Kingfisher, now put down the wand," Slughorn said.
"You're a liar," Bill growled.
"Merely an opportunist," he said, waving his wand at Bill again.
"Are you?" Bill said, bending and slowly put down his wand, watching as Slughorn slightly lowered his. "Well, so am I!"
Before Slughorn could figure out what he was doing, Bill ran over to the dragon statue and began to make a tickling motion with his hands just under its wings. Suddenly, the statue stretched them out, and just as Bill ducked the dragon let out a flaming breath!
How exactly Slughorn bent himself to miss the brunt of the attack Bill couldn't quite fathom, and with a flick of the wand, Slughorn was able to minimize the burns he had gotten from the flames. Growling with anger, Slughorn targeted the youth before he had time to scramble back to his feet, and Bill suddenly took on a grey appearance and stiffened, falling back to the ground as the petrification spell hit him.
"Leave him alone!" Lucky shouted in surprise, dashing into view with her wand out.
"One more move, Miss Conejo, and I would be very worried about your friend," Slughorn warned her, his wand still pointed at Bill's frozen figure, and Lucky reluctantly stopped.
"Wand?" he prompted. With a sigh, she held it out, and he took it. "I think detention is in order for you both…somewhere quiet where it will take some time for anyone to locate you. But right now, it seems that Mr. Kingfisher gave me some insight on how to get in," he said, waving her over near Bill before turning to the statue again. "Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus!"
Slowly the statue and door slid out of the way, and Slughorn nodded with satisfaction to see the spiral staircase beyond it.
"Excellent," Slughorn said with satisfaction, then waved the wand at Lucky and over to Bill. "After you. And bring your friend with you."
Glaring at Slughorn viciously, Lucky still didn't see that she had any other choice, at least not until Bill was back to normal so they could think something up. His stiffness made the stairs problematic despite the fact he was much lighter than Lucky had suspected, but somehow she managed to drag him up the stairs and push her way into a circular room.
She dropped him then, panting from exertion as she looked around. Just then, she felt a lump in her throat and could barely breathe as she realized the room had a thousand eyes. Paintings and paintings of old wizards and witches lined the walls of the room and they all seemed to be looking directly at her, especially the one with the blinking blue eyes and long white beard, who gazed curiously at her over the rim of his spectacles.
"Flipendo!" Slughorn intoned behind her so loud it made her jump. But his wand was pointed at the walls instead of her, and Lucky watched in amazement as the paintings all flipped to their backs at once. A strange sensation went through her then as she heard several grunts and groans coming from the portraits themselves.
"That's one less distraction," Slughorn said, glancing around with his wand still out. "Stay where you are, and keep your friend there as well," he ordered, walking over to the Headmaster's desk.
"He doesn't look like he's going to go anywhere, thanks to you," Lucky said angrily, but immediately she saw that wasn't completely true. The color of his skin seemed to be improving, and she noticed his hand had moved positions. In no time, Bill was blinking. He sat up dizzily, looking around in confusion. The racket that Slughorn was making going through his desk soon got his attention, and the surprise of it helped clear Bill's head.
"What are you doing, are you crazy? Who knows what he keeps in there!" Bill protested.
"Quiet, or I'll make you a more permenant doorstop," Slughorn said, but his frustration was more over a particularly stubborn top drawer which seemed to be locked. He growled then, checking the other drawers for the key.
"If you're looking for the crystal, it's not here, you know," Bill said, Lucky hissing at him in warning.
"That's enough out of you!" Slughorn growled again, then looked at Lucky. "Here, you're a Number-turner, come get this drawer open!"
"Why should I?" Lucky said.
"Because I suspect you both want to get out of here alive," Slughorn said dangerously, but Bill grabbed her sleeve.
"We don't have to help him, Lucky. He's a dead man anyhow, and he knows it…"
"Exactly why I have nothing to lose!" he snarled, angrily banging his fist on the desk. Immediately, the door popped open and Slughorn grunted in surprise. But his surprise would grow even more when he glanced at the Marauder's Map in the top of the drawer.
Suddenly he moved much faster than what Lucky might have ever expected him capable of and was immediately on them. He grabbed onto Lucky and pulled her up, pointing his wand at her neck.
"Show yourself, Snape!" Slughorn shouted. "I know you're in here. Show yourself, or your ward will not see tomorrow. Don't be a fool! I don't want to do it!"
"No, I'm sure you don't," said a voice from above, but it wasn't the one Lucky or Bill was expecting to hear.
Sigiwalt Runestein stepped calmly down the observatory stairs with a wand in hand.
"You feel that you have been pushed to the wall, I'm sure, but the man I knew would not harm a Hogwarts' student, no matter how desperate he may be," Sigiwalt…or rather Severus Snape…said.
"So…so you've been here all along," Slughorn said in a hollow voice.
"Have you ever heard the phrase, 'when the cat's away, the mice will play?' Perhaps in this case I was curious about what a rat might do in such a scenerio," Severus said, inspecting his desk and righting a mirror sitting there. Slughorn twisted his wand in response, and Lucky let out a sound of protest. "How about the one that goes, 'never send to know for whom the bell tolls, for it tolls for thee?'"
"You know what I want then, Severus," Slughorn said starkly.
"I assume you want the Philosopher's Stone, but it was destroyed long ago," he said.
"Liar!" Slughorn said with gritted teeth. "Perhaps I onced believed it, but I know better now. I've seen for myself how many people that surround you should have died but hadn't!"
"Then why is it that the Death Avatars didn't start chasing us until recently?" Severus asked. "In fact, I have a feeling the truth of the matter is that it was you they were after…Sibyl's curse just happened to help temporarily distract them from you by diverting their attention…"
"As well as to show me the truth about the stone!" Slughorn shouted.
"Horace, Ginny was never saved by an Elixir. She was saved by Phoenix tears," Severus said calmly. "Alicia would have been too young to be given it, as you well know, being a Potions' instructor…"
"And yet Jennifer survived!" Slughorn argued.
"Despite Sibyl's best efforts, yes, thanks to Dumbledore, but who is to say the Stone had anything to do with any of it?" Severus reasoned.
"Perhaps, but as it so happens, I have in my possession the one thing I need to find out…a potential corpse," Slughorn sneered.
"What?" Bill said in horror.
"Stay down," Severus snapped at Bill as Slughorn took out a phial from his sleeve. "Fortuna, don't move!"
"That won't save her, nor will her luck," Slughorn said. "I suppose you know what this is?"
"Pox Bile, I imagine," Severus said, unconcernedly.
"Yes, Pox Bile, one of the deadliest poisons, quick to act and no known antidote…"
"Thank you, but I'm not really a student. I know what it does," Severus said evenly.
"Then you know once I give it to the girl, she really would only have one hope left," Slughorn said.
"Then there is no hope, for I have no Elixir to give her, and you will end up doing nothing but killing a student and going to Azkaban for murder," Severus said quietly.
"I wouldn't last a week in prison, Severus. Then again, if there is no hope for her, there truly is no hope for me," he said, sweat beading down his face as he tried to look past the illusion of Sigiwalt to see Severus' true self. "But I do not believe you! You are lying, and I shall prove it!" he shouted, pushing off the stopper with his thumb.
"LUMOSPIKE!"
An arrow of light suddenly shot out from the direction of the curtain and hit the phial dead center with such precision and such force that it completely disentigrated the bottle!
The shockwave gave Slughorn enough of a pause to give Lucky time to wriggle away, his eyes darting over towards the slender red-haired girl standing in a curtained doorway near the back and looking even paler than usual. But Slughorn didn't have much time to think about it, for Severus was quickly on him.
Juliette, whom Lucky immediately realized must be Jennifer, pulled the two students well behind the desk, for fighting a morph of any sort was nasty business, changing shape to dodge blows and attack in ways a normal wizard might not anticipate. But Jennifer was beginning to see now just how sick Slughorn actually was. His energy had already been spent, and his movements soon became slow, clumsy and tired. Before very long, Severus had succeeded in wearing the old man out. He collapsed to the floor, sobbing.
"It can't be…" Slughorn said shakily. "It can't be over yet!"
"You have been misled, Horace, in more ways than one," Severus said crisply. "We will no longer chase off your demons. You will face them or succumb, but I think you realize at last that in the end, all those connections of yours mean nothing when it comes to your life."
Jennifer glanced at the two standing beside her and noticed Bill trembling, so she put a comforting arm around both of them.
"Get them out of here, Jennifer, and tell your father to head on upstairs. He should be in Hermione's office," Severus said, gathering up the wands. "Conejo…" he said, handing Lucky's to her as they walked by. "Bailey…" Bill chuckled nervously at the dangerous look in Severus' eyes before taking his own wand, while Jennifer looked over at Severus in surprise. "I recognized your wand the moment I saw it in the hall that night. And Jennifer and I will also talk about that later," he said. Jennifer grimaced at him then opened the door for the students, knowing exactly what she was in for on that conversation.
"Lucky shot," Lucky commented to Jennifer in a low voice in some attempt to cheer her up.
"That wasn't luck, that was talent," Severus grunted. "Perhaps someday you'll learn to tell the difference. Besides, do you really think I would have stood there and done nothing if I hadn't been certain she wasn't going to rise to the occasion?" Jennifer's demeanor instantly changed then, smiling beatifically at him before shutting the door behind them.
Severus paused to turn around all the paintings, half of which already had fallen back to sleep. But when he glanced over at the portrait of Dumbledore, the old Headmaster winked, taking a piece of licorice out of the candy dish in his hand. Severus simply nodded to him and then strode out of the room.
