Harry Potter and the Emerald Raindrop

AkashaWinters

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the Harry Potter world. JK Rowling owns the Harry Potterverse anyone who doesn't know that should be exiled to Mars, I make exceptions only for poor penniless people in remote corners of third world countries, who cannot read and don't have the money to buy the overly priced one – thousand paged books. I make no money from my poor attempt at fanfiction. A necklace of raindrops was written by Joan Aiken, I do not own any of the rights etc.

AN/Looking for a BETA!If anyone would like to beta for me I'd be very grateful. I did have one, however we somehow lost in touch. Please send me a signed in review or review with an e-mail address if you are interested. Thank You!

VERY IMPORTANT WARNING! Contains mention of Paedophilia and Sexual Assault. Can't stomach? DON'T READ. You have been warned! On a gentler note, the mentions are just that, mentions. No graphic depiction or detailed explanations, nor will there be.

Chapter 20

Lauretta and Lockhart

Snape glanced at the clock hanging above his fireplace: Midnight. He pulled on his forest-green robe and made his way to the sitting room. As he walked he fell into a silent muse. He had noticed Potter had been a bit of colour when he had arrived, he had decided to use this to his advantage and had pushed Potter in the hope that he could extract information. It had all been a little too easy and he now berated himself for not realising sooner that something was really wrong with the boy. That had been when he had seen Potter's memory, the piece of information they knew he'd been hiding. But it had not been what he thought it would be. No, he thought, not the usual teenage angst over love life problem or some other pettier incident.

Albus had asked him what had happened, what was he supposed to say? No, he had worked too damn hard to get Harry to trust him, to tolerate him, he wasn't about to throw that away by being a good spy by following the manipulative git's orders and coughing up Potter's secret. No, he could not play the betrayer, not again. Or maybe, that voice suggested, you like him. You like him and want him to like you…

'So?', Severus thought fiercely. 'Harry needs someone who cares about him, no one else gives a damn!'

Hmmm….'Harry' now, is it?

'Fuck Off'

Snape was relieved to see Harry had calmed down; he was sweating less and was less pale. While he had quickly explained Harry's abrupt collapse during their Occulemency session, Harry had gone into some sort of fit. He had let out terrified scream, sobs and groans, as lived threw what appeared to be a violent nightmare. Snape had held is flailing arms still as the young man convulsed in pain. Finally, almost an hour later and after three doses of Calming Draught he had calmed down enough for Severus to let go of him. Since Harry was rejecting magic it was decided that he would remain the night in Severus's quarters. He was to be administered a Stabilising Potion every two hours and Severus was to call Poppy should the boy take a turn for the worst.

Snape took grabbed the blue potion of a nearby shelf and took his seat in the armchair pulled close to the coach Harry lay asleep on. His breathing had returned to normality and although he was still sweating slightly, he was definitely looking less like a zombie and more like a more like your average seventh year student. He smirked down at the boy lying seemingly asleep before him.

"You can open your eyes Potter, I know you're awake."

"You can open your eyes Potter, I know you're awake."

Harry groaned; he knew that voice. He cracked an eye, which confirmed his suspicions he was in Snape's quarters, lying on Snape's sofa, wrapped up in Snape's Slytherin rug, with Snape looked right at him. He groaned again for good measure, and then reluctantly opened the other eye.

"Drink this," Snape ordered thrusting a rounded glass vile into his hands. It contained a royal blue potion Harry opened it and sniffed it, several ingredients automatically registered in his head. "It contains…"

"Stabilising Potion" Harry muttered absently. Snape gave him a look of surprise. To cover up his on surprise, Harry downed the Potion, cringing at his disgusting taste and handed the vile back to his Professor.

When Harry realised Snape hadn't moved and was still sitting staring intently at him, memories of the evening started flowing back. Not of his dreams, for those were fresh in his mind, but of their Occulemency lesson before. Emotions started flooding threw him and a look of horror escaped onto his face. Snape had seen…. Oh God! He'd no doubt called Dumbledore or Poppy at the very least, had Snape told them? Would they want to 'talk' to him about it? He vaguely registered that much of the rooms furnishing were vibrating dangerously.

Suddenly a strong hand appeared on his shoulder and that low gentle voice was flowing over him like a silk blanket. "Harry," he realised it was saying. "Harry, listen to me. I want you to calm down and look at me." There was not a hint of malice of disgust as he would have imagined, instead it was urgent, but gentle call. Harry took a deep breath, and looked up. Snape removed his hand as the room's contents stopped their vibration. Harry somehow felt a loss as that hand left him, he wanted to reach out and take those long elegant fingers in his own, have that tall sexy body wrap round him and hold him, and never let go. Harry mentally shock himself, clearing his head of those ridiculous thoughts and gazed back into those onyx eyes.

"Harry, was that the only time?" Snape asked him gently, not prying, more… reassuring. Harry nodded, yes, that had been the only time it had happened, it probably would have been more, had Snape not being watching him more closely. Snape breathed out a sigh of relief. "Did you talk to anyone about it?" He asked, again the question was gently, as though trying not to pry, of push the subject. Harry shook his head this time, no, would could he talk to about it? His friends? His head-of-house? Dumbledore? All of them thought so highly of him, they would have thought he was a failure, a disgusting, worthless creature just like his relatives. As though understanding his predicament, Snape sighed, "Harry, it is not your fault. You had no control over the situation; you didn't understand what was happening. I'm sorry there was no-one there for you to talk to, but you have to understand that it was NOT your fault."

Harry's head dropped so that he was staring at his lap. "I guess. I mean… It's not a big deal, he didn't actually…" But Snape cut him off swiftly.

"It IS a big deal, Harry. What Lockhart did was WRONG. He sexually assaulted you even if he didn't finish what he started. He'll go to Azkaban for this!" Snape fumed. Harry's head shot up again, Azkaban! They were going to make him give evidence! The whole of the wizarding world were going to know that he was too weak to protect himself from the stupidest teacher Hogwarts had ever seen.

"You told Dumbledore!" He exclaimed horrified.

"No Harry. I did not discuss this with anyone and I don't plan to. It is your choice weather you tell anyone else." Snape told him quickly.

"But…Azkaban? Won't they want be to testify, won't I have to tell Dumbledore?" Harry asked, confused.

"No, you will not have to do either. For evidence I can submit my memories of our Occulemency session and the memories I retrieved from you to a pensive for the Jury and Judge to see. I can do this with or without the Headmaster's knowledge depending on your preference." Snape explained to the anxious boy.

"But then won't people find out? If there's a court case, I mean? Won't the press find out?" Harry replied, scarred of the implications for the rest f the world finding out Harry's very personal secret.

"You Wizarding Courtman can ask for an Unspeakable Case. This means that the only people in attendance will be the two Courtman, the Jury, the Judge, the Accused, Witnesses and anyone one choose to allow in. All those present must take an unspeakable vow at the beginning of the case and will not be allowed to speak of the case to anyone, except you. Any witness statement and all memories will be preserved in a top secret archive and only the Judge and yourself will be able to access the pensive." Snape paused, letting this all sink in.

"So, I wouldn't have to even be there? No-one would know?" Harry asked, beginning to sound less dubious and more hopeful.

Snape nodded. "You wouldn't be under any obligation to attend, although I would need a sighed statement to say that you agree for me to give evidence on you behalf and you would have to meet you Courtman in person the once and he would also need a sighed statement to allow him to stand for you. Does that sound agreeable?"

Harry nodded, but had one last question. "This Courtman, who would it be?"

Snape looked thoughtful, "Courtmen don't necessarily have to be qualified as such, and any Witch or Wizard who holds a played job in a service can stand as a Courtman. For example anyone in the ministry could stand, so could any of the Hogwarts professors or any Auror."

Harry nodded again, "I'll think about it."

Snape smiled the transformation was stunning, gone was the hook sour scowling Potions Master; instead Harry was introduced to the hansom, silky haired, glittery-eyed human. Harry gaped at him. Snape just smiled!

"Oh! For god's sake Potter, there's no need to look at me like that! I'm sure you've seen me smile before." Snape snapped, but his voice was teasing and his smile was still in place.

"Yes, but that's only when I've just been told I'm about to get expelled!" Harry cried, but he too was smiling now.

Snape's smile faded, "I'm afraid my actions and feelings were a necessary facade. One which will have to continue as soon as you exit these rooms" he regretfully informed him.

Harry's smile also faded, he really liked this teasing gentle side of Snape, the Severus side, as he thought of it. But, Severus was right, he was a supposed Death Eater and Harry was the Golden Boy, and friendship or even cease fire, who arouse suspicion, something which could very well get Snape killed.

A smirk appeared on Snape's elegant face, "You are of cause still welcome for Remedial Potions." Harry pulled a face, but grinned. "Well, now we've got that most pressing matter all sorted, how about you return to your common room and try and get some sleep. I've no doubt I'll be seeing you around breakfast tomorrow in the Headmaster's office to discuss your visions."

As Harry walked back to Gryffindor tower, he couldn't help but wonder how Snape had know about his visions, had Dumbledore told ALL the staff, or had he told the Order at some meeting Harry hadn't been invited to. After all, it HAD been a while since there had been any order meeting, or at least any that Harry had been told about. But soon these thoughts made way for nicer ones…long pale fingers and onyx eyes…. hmmm, maybe he should have a cold shower before he went back to sleep…then again, it was very late…

True to Snape's word, Harry woke to find a letter on his nightstand. Pulling it open it read as follows:

Mr Potter,

Would you please report to the Headmaster's office at 8am, Wednesday 18th September. You will be able to eat breakfast there, please bring your books and equipment for the day, in the event you are delayed for lessons.

Professor McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor House.

Harry glanced at the dormitory clock: 'Time to get up'. He grabbed his clothes had a quick, very cold shower and headed of for his Spanish inquest with the headmaster. After an hour or so of explained his visions to Dumbledore, his head of house and Snape, while Poppy checked him over and he ate slices of buttered toast. Dumbledore came to the obvious conclusion that Harry's sudden fever had been caused by the new trait of being able to interact with the visions (he had always been watching the scene previously, unable to interact). But as predicted, no explanation could be given for the first vision, although Dumbledore did suggest the 'weapon of the North Wind' sounded as though it might be elemental or natural magic, which of course made sense when you considered this summer's events and Harry's new ability. Again, Dumbledore did not seem overly worried and waved a dismissive hand telling him not to worry, that he'd look into it.

Harry had questioned Dumbledore about Order meetings, asking when the next one was likely to be and asking that he, Ron, Hermione and the other seventh year order members be kept informed. Dumbledore seemed a bit thrown, as did McGonagall, though Snape was giving Dumbledore a look that clearly said 'I told you so' and it was then that Harry realised he had been right Dumbledore had intentionally been keeping him and the others out of order meetings recently and had told the other members not to mention the recent meetings. Well that trick wasn't going to last any longer, Harry planned to keep in better contact with Fred, George, Bill and Remus to make sure they would know if they were left out again.

Arriving at Herbology only five minutes late, Harry quickly joined Ron, Hermione and Jacob deseeding herringpods.

"The manipulative bastard has been keeping us out of Order meeting!" Harry hissed to Ron and Hermione. Ron looked outraged; Hermione didn't look at all surprised.

"Order meetings?" Jacob asked confused.

"Special group independent of the ministry dedicated to fighting Voldemort, Dumbledore heads it." Hermione quickly supplied sending a glare in Harry's direction. "It's supposed to be a secret."

"Where were you last night?" Ron asked worried, "you didn't turn up and you weren't here this morning. We checked the infirmary and you weren't there and we ask McGonagall but she just told us 'not to worry'." Ron scowled at this last part. Just like Dumbledore, Harry thought.

"I collapsed in…remedial potions…. and passed out. I had two more visions and it was really late when I came round and got back to the Gryffindor tower so I didn't want to walk you, and I had to go talk to Dumbledore this morning." Harry explained. Hermione lent forward suddenly very interested.

"New visions? What sort? Did anything interesting happen in them?" She asked quickly, eyes glazed as the cogs in her brain started to spin. So, Harry once again found himself explaining his visions. He was very careful to use the precise wording of the conversations, as he knew it could be key in Hermione's research.

"So, the first one you interacted with?" Jacob asked, Harry nodded. "The child's voice... was it male or female?"

Harry frowned and thought about this for a moment. "I don't know, it was sort of both and neither at the same time, It's hard to explain."

"Probably not important then," Hermione dismissed this but then asked, "What about age?"

This, Harry found, was easier. "Sort of about Megan's age I guess, five or six. Definitely not older than six."

"Okay, so I guess that means this Laura person's about the same age then." Ron put in beheading his Herringpod by accident.

"So, that leaves this wind and water part. Jacob? Doesn't that sound very elemental?" Hermione asked with that know-it-all look on her face.

"Yer I guess, it's sort of like when people die. We believe that for a short while after the body is cremated a person's soul and magic mix with the living world, but do not completely dissolve into it. The purpose is to pass on knowledge and images to loved ones before their magic dissipates and the soul is passed on in reincarnation to a new living creature or substance." Jacob explained.

"That would mean that the voice that was talking to Harry is the voice of a dead child." Ron shivered at the image.

"Well, that does make sense of course when you think that in the second vision Harry had, the voice said "We have waited for a thousand years."", Hermione said in her superior tone.

"Wait, no, that wouldn't work!" Harry exclaimed. "Remember, the magic dissipates quickly after a cremation and the soul is passed on. Just like the funeral at the beginning of term. She wouldn't still be able to contact me a thousand years later."

"Unless, of course her message was too important NOT to be passed on, meaning her magic and soul were trapped in suspension." Hermione put in. Ron, Harry and Jacob stared at her confused, then Ron shook his head to clear it.

"And anyway, Laura's a bit of a modern name for someone who lived a thousand years ago isn't it." He concluded, to end the debate.

"Yes, unless of course…" Hermione trailed of a look of understanding dawning on her face. She suddenly grabbed her back and equipment and rushed out of the greenhouse, calling back over her shoulder that she'd see them at mid-morning break.

"Is she not going to tell us what she's thinking?" Jacob asked confused at the girl's sudden departure.

"You'll be lucky," Ron replied, he and Harry far too used to Hermione's antics started to clear away as the lesson ended.

"She's gone to the library." Harry replied, "Come on, or we'll be late for divination."

It wasn't until Mid-morning break had almost ended and they were heading to Transfiguration, that the Bumped into Hermione. Jacob would be thoroughly disappointed to have missed Hermione's new discovery, but as it was he did not take transfiguration and would be spending the next two hours in Muggle Studies. When Hermione reached them she was very excited and had a huge dusty old volume in her hands, thumb stuck in the appropriate page.

"I found it!" She exclaimed, "I knew I'd read something similar, it all ties in, of course it was all very critique, but then it probably did get a bit twisted after a thousand years, but it's a good thing I've read this before or I'd never have found it. You just wouldn't think to look for something like this."

As they arrived at Transfiguration ten minutes early, they pushed Hermione into a seat and waited patiently for her to realise they were wanting an explanation. "Oh, sorry. Well first of all, this" Hermione pulled out a small plastic backed book, "Is a muggle story book. It one of mine when I was very young." She flipped it to the right page and continued. "It contains myths and legends and well as completely made up stories, and this one; 'A necklace of Raindrops' by Joan Aiken is about a girl called Laura."

"I bet loads of muggle books have stories about girls called Laura!" Ron complained annoyed that Hermione's explanation was so slow and that this didn't seem to be going anywhere.

"Yes," Hermione continued patiently, "But this story mentions a 'North Wind'. The story goes that one night during a storm when Laura was still a baby her parents rescued a…" Hermione paused and read from the book. "…"Tall man with a long grey cloak, and a long grey beard, and the brightest eyes you ever saw" from where he was stuck in a Holly tree." Ron sniggered at this, but Hermione ignored him and continued. "He claims to be the 'North Wind' telling them it is his job to blow the storm away. In return for their help, the 'North Wind' becomes Laura's godfather and gives her a necklace with a single raindrop hanging from it. With this necklace came special powers and each year on her birthday the North Wind returns and adds one each year and as more are added her powers grow. Finally, when Laura is nine, just before her birthday when she is to receive her final raindrop, the story tells how the necklace is stolen from her by a girl called 'Meg'." Hermione's eyes connected with Harry's and Harry and Jacob sat up straighter.

"It then goes threw this whole long winded and unlikely story of how she gets its back and finally gets her last raindrop even threw her godfather's anger, which or course is for the most part irrelevant." Hermione put down the muggle storybook and turned to the large old volume. "The thing is, although the writer was obviously muggle, she must have had some magic ancestor's or at least come across a magic text, because in a twisted way, the base of the story is true." Hermione flicked to the right page and explained, "This is an very old magical book of folklore and this chapter tells of a very old group of mages. They lived almost two thousand years ago and were able to wield natural and elemental magic and ruled over most of the magical world, although magical and non-magical was rather more blurred in those days. It was around the time of Merlin, in fact Merlin was very likely one of them, if this folklore turns out to be true."

"The mages ruled for almost a thousand years, but they fought and had different ways of thinking and were slowly killed of from war and old age, there seemed to be few descendants. Finally, about a thousand years ago only one line of the old mages existed, the 'North Wind' as he was called was one of the air mages, he was the oldest living and though his own children had been killed, he was left with ten grandchildren. Knowing he was to die very soon, but wishing for the mages to live on and hold the magical world together, he called his ten grandchildren and granted them each a magical necklace, each one for a different type of magic, it was to be passed down to the youngest child of generation." Hermione looked up as Professor McGonagall entered the room but continued in a whisper, "The children were then sent to each corner of the each and were adopted by the highest magical leaders of that area. The children would grow up to govern the magical world."

Hermione called her name on the register. Waited for Ron and Harry to do the same and lent forward again. "The children had been away almost two months and everything had gone well until the old mage heard news that one of his female grandchildren, Lauretta, who was six and held the Soul necklace had been sold by her adopted father to a neighbouring country they had been at war with, in return for the safe keeping of his land. The 'North Wind' was said to be furious. He had people search for her for almost a year before he died, his people kept on searching for her, but Lauretta and the necklace were never found. The other governors and countries began to follow suit ignoring the pacts they had made with the last mage letting the children leave and do as they pleased, kept away from leadership and knowledge and soon the knowledge of the mages and the necklaces turned to fable and was lost."

"Mrs Granger! This is highly unlike you. That is the THIRD time I've had to tell you to stop talking. Ten points from Gryffindor!"

Chapter 21…Naming and Shaming. Harry goes to see Old Grandma Thyme who has a few tricks up her sleeves and Jacob and Harry show their differences when it comes to men. :-) Hoped you liked, I think that was the longest chapter I've written yet and hopefully the most interesting! So we've now found out who this 'Laura' person is…now we just have to find out what all this has got to do with Harry…and what about this Snape business…. ;-)

Special thanks go to:

Lady Lily3

TonksFan693

High Low

Guinn Pern – well now you know who Laura is. You'll have to keep reading to see how Harry and Snape get together!

Hittocerebattosai

Kyaku-kun

Findirector – Thank you for your gentle criticism! Suggestions for Beta's would be very welcome.

Glad you guys enjoyed!