Author's Note: I've been trying to write this chapter for MONTHS...so glad it's finally done!

Don't worry, they'll be together again, soon... :)!


The Egregore

On some level, Petunia knew that this could not be Severus. She knew that there was something else staring at her through his eyes, and now inhabited his body. And where was he? There was no way to know. She understood this on some level. But like a person who has just been shocked with news of a family member's death, she was not ready to accept this. So when Severus's body sat up and looked at her with those sickening dark green, backlit eyes, she caught her breath and burst into tears.

"Oh Severus, thank god, thank god…"

The creature looked at her for a moment, then around again, taking in the room as if seeing it for the first time. Then the body of Severus stood up, awkwardly, wobbly, holding its arms out until its balance was steady. When it had achieved this, a look of mischievous satisfaction came upon its face. Petunia had also stood slowly without realizing it, watching him with every muscle in her body tensed, waiting to catch him if he fell. She stared at him uncomprehendingly, flooded with desperate relief that washed over and covered her faint sense of uneasiness.

"Are you all right?" she asked finally, when Severus's face smiled.

It looked around again and suddenly frowned, its face a mixture of confusion and panic.

"This isn't Hogwarts," it said slowly, pronouncing each word distinctly, carefully, in Severus's baritone voice.

"No," she whispered, "You're…you're at home. Spinner's End. You were on the floor, unconscious. I came and found you - " she trailed off, not really knowing why. She could not take her eyes off of him.

"Oh," it said, after a moment, and straightened up, seeming to be deciding something. At that moment it looked so like Severus that Petunia could no longer hold herself back, and threw herself on him, wrapping her arms around his neck and covering his face with fierce kisses.

"Oh…Severus…Severus…I thought you were…why did you do something so stupid? We've got to get you to hospital, to make sure you're fully recovered. Wait right here while I get our coats."

Ignoring the look of amused curiosity on Severus's face, she ran down the stairs, grabbed his long coat from the coat rack and heard, just as she turned around to go back, a familiar whooshing sound. Oh no! Her stomach felt like it had plummeted to her feet and, overcome with dread, she rushed back up the stairs to find the parlor empty. Loose papers were still fluttering to the floor in the wake of Severus's disapparation.

Petunia, unable to apparate directly into Hogwarts without his help, knew she was in a race against time although she did not know exactly what it was that so terrified her. She simply knew she had to find Severus, preferably before anyone else, so she apparated and appeared outside the gate of the silent, looming Hogwarts. It was probably about 3 in the morning. That was good…the first children returning from their holiday would not be trickling in for a few hours yet. The other teachers were probably asleep. She had a little time perhaps to find him and…and make right whatever was wrong with him, if he had indeed come to Hogwarts, and she hoped she was not wrong about this.

As Petunia walked toward the gates, trying to figure out how she would get inside, meanwhile the creature that was now Severus had appeared randomly outside of the Headmaster's office. Somehow, this location was familiar…it knew that much. But it still didn't feel quite right. This was not its space. It apparated randomly on various floors and into different rooms, and then it occurred to it that the place it was seeking was down below somewhere, not a place that would have windows, or that would have fresh air from outside circulating through and wiping away the musty scent of home.

It apparated until it found some stairs, and then began to stumble gracelessly down, grasping the banister when its feet moved a little faster than the rest of the body. The sensation of touching was very distracting; it felt the smooth, polished wood in the palms of its hands and stopped to smell it for a moment, before continuing. By the time it had gotten to the first floor of the Great Hall, it had mastered stairs. Now to find home…

The dark, ominous figure of Severus stood in the silent hall while the creature listened and smelled the air. It caught a faint scent of water, old stone, and dank air, and followed it. Soon the building itself began to feel familiar to it, as it approached the dungeon steps and went down. Now its balance was sure and steady, and it noticed that the body was breathing more easily. It must have been nervous. It did not feel good being where it did not belong. But now it would be okay. It was home! And it was corporeal! Possessing the body of a wizard whose great power thrummed through every cell, whose neural pathways were sure and practiced and disciplined. In spite of itself, it had chosen the very best candidate after all, to enter into the realm of consciousness. It could hardly wait to scan its memories and unlock all the knowledge he held.

It wandered the dungeons, caressing and smelling the walls, fascinated by the feeling of the cold stone, like someone on a very powerful hallucinogen. It got the sense of a memory; it couldn't see the memory, but it felt it, this weird familiarity, a sort of knowing. It followed the knowing, taking a path it knew the wizard had taken many times before, and found itself in the Slytherin common room, surrounded by plush couches, the warm glow of embers in the fireplace, and a green light whose source was unknown.

This was it. This was home!

The creature marveled at the room, walking around and touching every surface, picking up every object, and feeling every bit of fabric on the tapestries and upholstery, even the rich rug that covered most of the floor. It knew this place. Better yet, it was this place! This was the source of its power. It felt strong here, knew itself best here, could even grasp at vague, shadowy memories from its existence as a barely conscious entity, before it had found this wonderful body -

The sound of the door clicking into place and locking interrupted its drunken reverie, and it whirled around to find the woman, standing there looking at it with an expression it did not like at all. Not one bit! Why the woman wanted to ruin its fun it could not understand, but it instinctively knew that was why she was here. It scowled.

"What do you want?"

"You know what I want," Petunia said in a low, steely voice. She was panting slightly, as if she had been running and were just now catching her breath, but trying not to show it. She did not want to betray any sense of weakness. She knew now what this thing was that had taken over Severus's body; her mad hunt throughout the castle had given her time to think and let reason return to her. Severus was not here; if there was any chance at all that he still might be found and restored to his body, she must do it immediately. She pushed thoughts away that wondered if it were too late, if he were, in fact, dead, and the body in front of her nothing but a corpse.

"All right, you've gotten our attention," she continued, using a sort of careful, teacher-like tone. She meant to negotiate with it if she could, but she also meant it to know she would tolerate no nonsense. "Now, you need to return this body to - "

"Nope," it replied, with all the infuriating contrariness of a toddler in its "terrible 2s." it shook its head vigorously and looked away, pretending to ignore her.

Petunia felt her temper rising, and took a deep breath.

Not often, but once in a while, Dudley in his younger years had managed to test her far enough for her to respond with a sternness that frightened him into obedience. From then on, he had learned just how far he could push her, and knew that as long as he did not take it that far, as long as he read the signs, his mother would always respond in his favor, ready to please him. Petunia knew quite well for all those years how her son had manipulated her, but she hadn't cared. It was good to be needed, and he was her son, and she was going to raise him how she damn well pleased.

Now, this…thing that had taken Severus away from her was starting to piss her off, and she felt in danger of losing control. She must play this carefully. There was no one here to help her know how to deal with a egregore, let alone one that had possessed a body and now could do magic.

"This is not, I'm afraid, a debate," she said with false calm, as she carefully circled the room toward Severus. The creature immediately began to circle away from her, and they locked eyes, staring each other down like two snakes about to strike. The creature actually hissed.

"You can't make me leave. You had your chance and you didn't want me so now I've got him. And I like this one. I think I'm going to keep it for quite a while."

"No, you're not, because it's not yours. And you don't belong here," she reasoned, her panic rising now to rival her anger. "You must leave and give his body back."

"Who's going to make me? You?"

"There's an entire building full of powerful wizards above us. You can deal with me, or you can deal with them."

At that, Severus's face glowered, shadowed with fury.

"If you bring them into it, I'll hurt him." Its voice was low and threatening now, less mischievous and more genuine anger - and fear. But it had said exactly the right thing to make Petunia pause. It could be bluffing, she thought. She needed to know. She swallowed her panic again.

"If you hurt him," she said, as she continued to circle the perimeter of the room, "You'll damage the body, and then you won't be able to use it. That's not much of a winning scenario."

"Maybe," the creature said, and it moved toward the fireplace, the green backlight in its eyes now glinting like liquid poison. "Shall we see how much damage he can take and still be useful?" And with that, the creature suddenly bent and grasped a handful of hot coals, and there was a horrifying sizzle and the smell of burning flesh. Petunia screamed.

"Don't do that again," it warned, dropping the coals, "or next time, I'll use this." Now it picked up a poker next to the fireplace, and shoved it into the embers, grinning at her."

"What is it you want?" Petunia shrieked, losing her sense of calm for a moment. There was a part of her that was beginning to believe it was already too late; Severus had been gone from his body too long, and he was never coming back. But this - thing could not be allowed to get away with murder and desecration. She would see it burn if it was the last thing she ever saw.

"I told you," it said, dropping the poker as if it had been forgotten, and furrowed its brows, as if wondering why she did not understand. "I am going to stay here. I am home now. This place belongs to me. And all the lives that pass through it are mine. They're my…" it searched for a word…"...my children. My charges."

"You mean House Slytherin. Is that what you mean?"

"Yes!" it said, its face brightening with understanding, and it pointed at her, seeming to forget for a moment that they were enemies.

Petunia felt that she was losing this battle. She was going to have to put thoughts of Severus aside. She was not going to give up on him, but if she really wanted any hope of saving him, she was going to have to outsmart this thing. That's what he would do, she told herself. She took another deep breath and stopped trying to close in on the creature, now adopting a pose feigning interest.

"Yes, that's right. I belong here," it said, wonderingly, gratefully.

"Yes, you do belong here," Petunia tried now, switching tactics. "But not in this form. You're the spirit of this house. It's egregore."

"Is that what I am?" It asked, and Petunia suddenly understood something - this creature might be dangerous, but it was also innocent. It did not really know what it wanted or how to achieve it, but it would dig in its heels insisting on something, just like a child. She could work with a child. She had raised one. At least one.

"Why, yes," she said, letting a little bit of motherly warmth seep into her voice. Not too much, or it will get suspicious. "You belong to this house. And if you are in a physical body, you can't be part of the house anymore. You can be in it, but you won't be it. You'll be separated. And when the…the…body dies - she cleared her throat - then what will become of you? Or what if you're taken away for some reason?"

"Why would I be taken away? I won't let anyone take me away!" it argued, and Petunia recognized the tinge of fear it was now masking with anger and threats.

"But don't you want to be the spirit of Slytherin House?" she tried, coaxing. She was fingering her wand now in the inside pocket of her coat, wondering if there was a spell she knew that might shock the creature from Severus's body without harming him, and giving him a chance to come back. She wished the other teachers might wake up and find her here somehow. But both Severus and the creature truly belonged in Hogwarts; if there was some kind of intruder alert system, it was very possible it would not be tripped at all. She was, for now, all on her own.

"Of course," it said. "I am the spirit of Slytherin."

"But you're not," she argued. "Don't you see? As long as you're in a body, you're not a spirit of anything. I'm not sure what you are. But you're not human, and you're not a spirit. At least, not a free one. Now you're trapped. You're not meant to be confined in a human body."

The creature scowled again, clearly not liking this line of reasoning.

"I can do things," it said finally, "that I couldn't do before. I can do spells, and I can move things and go places."

"Where would you want to go? You came directly here, because this is your home. Do you want to go back to Spinner's End?"

"No," it said crossly. "I want to be here. The ones who pass through these walls…they love me, here," it said, clearly trying to figure out how to express the vague impressions and impulses of which it was now aware.

"Yes, they do. And do you know what else? They need you here," she coaxed again, sounding even more sympathetic, even kind. Again she began creeping toward the being, very carefully, very slowly, hoping to keep its focus on her words and not what she was doing. She ran through the spells she knew in her head, but not one of them yet seemed either useful or safe. They were running out of time. She had to get rid of this thing.

The creature seemed to be considering her words. Petunia tried now to approach it openly, and when it flinched she stopped and held up her hands, showing there was nothing in them.

"You have a very important role to play."

"Nice try," the creature said suddenly, and Petunia realized with bitterness it was not completely immune to condescension. "But if I go back to how I was I'll still be trapped. I can't do anything, can't talk to anyone, no one actually knows about me!"

"You're wrong," she insisted. "They do know. They can feel you. That's why they like being here. They know they also belong here."

"Before I had no powers," it insisted. "Now I am powerful."
"Yes, but at what cost? If you stay in the world as a creature, you'll be mortal. As the egregore of Slytherin, you'll never die."

A silence fell between them. Petunia could see it thinking, but knew she still hadn't won. She had not yet convinced it of anything, only delayed it. If only the other teachers would come! Even one of them! As the silence stretched, suddenly a thought occurred to Petunia.

"Why did you try to possess me, first?" She asked. "Why did you not take him before?"

"I felt you first," it answered distractedly, still considering. "Something happened and I…I woke up. And I was aware of you."

"What happened?" she asked, very curious in spite of herself. She felt she was on the verge of some great discovery, something key to everything that had happened to her this year up till now.

"I dunno," it shrugged. "I just woke up. It was like a big shake; suddenly I could see and hear things more clearly than ever. And I could feel you, but you were far away. So I tried to call you here. I yelled as loud as I could. For days and days. And then one day you were suddenly much nearer, and then you were here. And I was so excited because I had called you and you had come!"

Before Petunia could completely process this, Peeves entered the room, flying gleefully through the wall opposite the fireplace, attracted by the awareness of activity going on in the castle, and hoping to join the conflict, whatever it was. The creature that inhabited Severus looked up at him and locked eyes with Peeves.

Later, Petunia would laugh about this until her sides hurt and tears ran down her face, telling others that she could not believe a ghost could actually turn paler. With a look of pure horror, Peeves shrieked and flew screaming from the room. The castle would not not, in general, see him for several days.

Momentarily distracted by the interaction, Petunia shook herself and tried to remember what they'd been talking about. She was trying to understand all this…how this creature had "called" her. Had it given her magic, too? But she could not sort all this out now. She was beginning to despair of ever seeing Severus alive again, of feeling his arms around her, his adoring voice whispering in her ear, his mouth on her neck, the look of pure worship in his eyes. Tears pricked at her own.

Then a thought occurred to her, one insane and half-reasoned, and she spoke it before it had even been fully formed.

"What if I agree to be possessed by you?" she asked. The creature's face jerked toward hers, keenly interested. "It was me you were seeking first, was it not?"
"Yes," it said carefully, narrowing its eyes with suspicion. "I felt you first. I felt him when you wouldn't let me in," it explained. But Petunia ignored this. She didn't have time to try to understand what it all meant. This was the final hand she had to play. If the creature accepted and took her over, and Severus was alive, he would bring her back. She knew he would. And if he wasn't - it wouldn't matter, anyway. She did not want to live in that future, one without him, when she had just begun to experience happiness and imagine a life together with him.

"Then it must have been me you wanted. For some reason, you must have thought I'd be a good match. And I would be," she continued quickly, hoping to overwhelm the creature with words if not logic, "because I only just became a witch, so everything is new to me, also. And I can go willingly, which means you won't have to fight against me. We'll be together," she said crazily, emphasizing that last word but not really knowing why it would matter. She was grasping at straws.

Just when she thought it was hopeless, and she was ready to plunge herself into another cold, numbing ocean of endless grief, the creature looked up at her, and even with the green tint in its eyes, she could see its full innocence, even helplessness, as it gazed at her.

"You would really do that? No trick?"

"No trick," she said firmly. "I just want him back. Please. You can have me. We'll learn together. We'll be powerful, together." The creature looked uncertain, but its face began to brighten. She was asking it to take a huge leap of faith, to say nothing of what she was asking of herself. But the openness of its expression, the smoothing of those dark brows she loved so much on Severus, flooded her instantly with relief. She could see she had won.

"No trick," it said again.

"No trick," she repeated, and waited.

"All right," the creature said, making up its mind. "You, then."

"And you'll let him come back? No trick?"

"No trick."

"Excellent. Then we have a deal."

The creature beamed, and as it came toward her, she thought it looked at her with something of a loving expression. How strange.

"How…how do we do this?" she asked, realizing she had not the faintest idea.

"Mind-sharing," the creature said, and she realized it meant Leglimency, but did not know the word yet.

"Very well."

Knowing she was about to do the stupidest thing she had ever done in her life, Petunia cleared her mind, looked into the alien eyes of the egregore inside Severus, and opened to it.

Nothing happened for a moment.

Then it surged into her, a sudden energy, a sort of intensity of being, as if she had just experienced an electric shock and all of her nerve endings reacted at the same time. She shuddered violently, and the creature grasped her with Severus's hands, peering into her eyes with fierce concentration. She tried not to break the gaze, but no longer could tell if they were making eye contact, as her mind flooded with images she could not understand.

Then she became aware of something else…another presence. Severus?! No…not Severus….something else. Something also alien, but not as strange, more familiar, more natural…

Petunia saw in her mind's eye the image of the fiery serpent rushing out of the water in her dream, where she had been "initiated" in the fountain guarded by Medusa, where she had first felt that primal presence, a power that had bestowed some gift upon her…Mother. The word entered her mind without invitation. Then the surge of power from the creature, the one that felt sickening and too much for her nervous system, began to mellow out, and a different surge of power now engulfed it, carrying it through her, like water conducting electricity, smoothing out the jagged feeling of the invasion, healing…bestowing.

Petunia heard faintly the sound of shouts behind her, and became aware that the creature was "gone…" Severus's body had fallen to the floor, below her. She was suspended in mid air, and her eyes were filled with light…she turned the brilliant, green beams toward the door and saw Lupin, Slughorn, and McGonagall rushing in, followed by others, realized they were several feet below her.

SLYTHERIN! SLYTHERIN! SLYTHERIN! SLYTHERIN! SLYTHERIN!

The name pounded in her head, a rhythmic drum filling every bit of her consciousness, and she was aware, she was aware, she was…