CHAPTER 9: Truth
Snape sat in his new office and stared at the vial of Laenayas blood. Why did she try to walk out the window onto the balcony? Was she going to jump? Either way, she would have walked into direct sunlight and burned to death before she ever hit the ground. The violence of this image in his mind made him want to be able to use Legilimency to question her person and most of all her motives. He wanted to make her leave at all costs and yet at the same time…
When he found her like that, he had immediately and intuitively cast a Petrificus Totalus on her and before he knew it he was throwing his cloak over her and pulling her towards the shade, which was much needed, as he could tell from the burns. There was no burn-healing paste for vampires. He closed his eyes and attempted to recall every detail.
He had begun to produce a vial and a small razor-sharp sickle which he then proceeded to cut her with, when he heard Luna Lovegoods trembling voice.
"Prof-", she managed to croak.
Snape pulled his cloak off Laenaya and ordered Luna to fetch Professor Dumbledore or Lupin. She did not react and stared in shock at her body laying on the ground. He barked the order to a nearby portrait, which happened to be of Sir Gawain the Giver, who rushed to the painting in Dumbledores office. He took his vial of blood and rushed to his office.
He had to hurry if she was to recover.
It was only when he had finished the paste and seen that there had been a few drops of blood left in the vial, and they hadn't shown any signs of drying any time soon.
Perhaps it was time to have a talk with her. She was vulnerable. He had her blood.
"Well you're the last person I expected to come see me!"
He couldn't tell if she was mocking him or being provokingly blunt.
"I believe it is time for a…quick chat." He decided to mimic her tactics and was surprised to see her smile.
"Alright. I'll start. I appreciate you taking the time to make me a paste. You saved my life, truly." She paused for effect and even went so far as to conjure up some sort of ornate pipe, and with a snap of her fingers, lit it and began to smoke it with glee. If there was any smell or effect, he could not trace it.
"I admit that other thoughts may have crossed my mind. I did, however, not have the time to indulge them, having been kept busy with the task of creating the burn-healing paste." He produced the vial from his robes and placed it on the nightstand.
"May I?" He gestured towards the pipe and she passed it to him with a chuckle. He began to smoke it and let out an inaudible cough, but he managed to composed himself quickly. Where before there was nothing, he could now detect a fruity smell and a hint of mint in the taste.
"The effects can only be sensed by the one who is holding it. It was created by a wizard who, to this day, remains known around the world."
He could not help but notice. She was enjoying sharing this with him.
"Do you know why you did it?" He asked bluntly, ignoring her enthusiasm.
She looked down at her hands and though her smile didn't fade, he could tell she was annoyed by the question.
"Come now Severus, must I sit here and tell you all the clichés? Imagine spending your entire life in darkness and all that nonsense that even the muggles know we say. All that and all this. The only thing I didn't understand was Lunas strange gift." She laughed.
He glanced at the object in order to see what she was mumbling about, but quickly began to say what he had come to say.
"Though we may have had our differences Miss Darkstrom, do not presume that I am a fool. I do understand you…Laenaya." He said this in the most sincere tone he could at that moment. Though she winced when he said her name, she quickly put her guard up.
"Is that a compliment or criticism? I can never tell with you." She rolled her eyes and laughed as she took her pipe back.
"Though not quite comparable to your situation, you forget that I have spent many years in that dungeon myself. I too longed for a time of peace, if there ever was such a thing."
She understood what he meant and found the courage to look at his face again.
"Though I must say, now that I am no longer living in the dungeons, I find myself longing for my peace and quiet from those dunderheads that, unfortunately, roam the halls around my quarters like a herd of elephants."
"I would offer to change places, but then you would have to be making burn-healing pastes all day rather than teach, and I'd have no blood left after a week!" she smiled "you could always come and stay with me!"
Severus actually laughed at this. Though his more trusted friends were privy to his laugh every once in a while, she most certainly had not been. She could not mask her embarrassment.
"I meant to visit, have a cup of tea or…something." Embarrassment had now turned to panic. "Because you said you missed the dungeons!"
"I take my tea with no sugar and contrary to popular belief, I do not appreciate Earl Grey."
He was up and out of the door before she could think of anything to reply. Not that she would have been able to even if he did stay.
Snape had actually done what he somewhat hinted at, and arrived for tea many days later. She had not been expecting him and was in the midst of finishing her store organisation, which had by now been interrupted so many times she could not count
"Would you like to see how I've done it? I haven't thrown away any of your ingredients, I've just kept them with their labels so we always know which are yours and which are mine, though you're quite welcome to take anything of mine!" She said this with such enthusiasm and sincerity that Severus couldn't help but smile as he followed her to his former store room.
The white dragon statue which Luna had given her sat on her desk and she stroked it as she walked past it. He followed her to sit on the desk and for a brief moment picked up the dragon, glancing at it and playing around with the carvings. This was when he noticed the remaining ingredients on her desk, presumably they were the ones that hadn't been sorted yet.
"Moonflower Ipomea, Night Gladiolus, Epiphyllum Oxypetalum…why am I not at all surprised?" Snape's sarcasm bit at Laenaya but after a moment she noticed that the corners of his mouth were slightly pointed upwards. Was he teasing her?
"Well, what did you expect? Sunflowers?" Laenaya chuckled.
"Perhaps." He replied with a mocking smile "after your recent venture."
Laenaya turned away from him in shame, but she noticed that although his words had sounded cruel, it was his attempt at a casual joke.
"Well I have those in abundance…but you know I also have Convallaria majalis in abundance you wouldn't even imagine! When I was a child, long ago as it may be," She chuckled "I saw them everywhere and could never resist the urge to take them!" She told him, deciding to move away from the jape as quickly as possible. "My favourite though, and found much further from home, is this beauty." Laenaya stretched out her hand and showed Snape a delicate macabre little flower.
"Ah Saussurea Obvallata. Queen of the Night." he remarked casually and stroked a petal, surprisingly delicately. It was a rare delight to see one of these. "This one is a dwarf specimen, particularly rare." He commented.
Laenaya thought she could almost see a glint of something akin to joy and interest in the way he examined the delicate little queen.
"May I ask Miss Darkstrom, how is it that they are still so fresh? I imagine these were cut a while ago. Dwarf specimens are highly rare and are said to grow only in years of great war…we have not had one for long." he asked curiously.
In normal circumstances, any competent potions master could keep their ingredients fresh for several years, and in some cases even centuries. Snape knew however, that Laenaya was a frequent traveller and had not much time to take care of her supplies as meticulously as he would do; and flowers that were as rare as the Saussurea Obvallata were especially difficult to keep.
Their namesake come from the fact that, in addition to only blooming at night, they required such devotion and attention that their owners could only be compared to minions doting on a queen. At least that's what the herbology enthusiasts liked to think, though it was only of any real use in the realm of potion making.
"There are certain advantages to being a monster like me."
Laenaya said this without any hint of bitterness, almost with pride. Snape gave her an inquisitive smirk so she lifted herself from the ground and went to retrieve something from the office next door. She lifted the little queen and placed her back in her resting place before returning with a larger, though admittedly much less fresh specimen, and a small pointy needle seating herself back down.
"Observe." She said smiling, trying to imitate his own tone to tease him. She took the delicate, almost wilting Queen of the Night and placed her in her lap. With the needle she pierced her finger enough for a tiny drop of blood to emerge from under the pierced skin and carefully raised her finger and shook it, causing the drop to fall right in the middle of the delicate flower.
Snape could not help but notice how her facial muscles cringed when she pricked herself, an action so ridiculous considering who she was, that it made him briefly twitch a smile. Intrigued by this somewhat silly display, he moved closer to the flower to see what was happening. The old, dried-up petals soaked up the vampire blood greedily, and after a moment of nothing, the flower seemed to give a shake in Laenayas hand and emitted a tiny burst of dark but visible magic.
He stared at it and at Laenaya, saying nothing and showing no facial reactions. The little flower simply sat there in Laenayas lap now, looking refreshed and yet ethereal.
"Don't worry Professor, my ingredients and my weapons are my only children. I have yet to sire any humans, if I ever do. I discovered this method during a time of great wars where one war followed another. I only use it for potions that I will take" Snape understood this to mean that she had not turned anyone into what she was. Although he could not help but wonder what she could possibly want to take a potion for.
"The flowers are so pure that, unlike some of my most treasured weapons, they absorb the energy from my blood but they do not keep or develop any vampiric - let's say negative - properties that otherwise come from the blood." She was trying to reassure him that she was not tainting the gifts that nature had given her. She knew, as a potions master, anything else would offend his profession.
"Impressive technique, Miss Darkstrom." Snape said in his best teacher voice, instead of criticising her as she would have expected.
Laenaya, once again embarrassed, said nothing and replaced the Queen in her box before returning to her previous task.
After a few minutes of a surprisingly comfortable and amicable silence, Laenaya decided it was once again time to try to apologise to him.
"Professor Snape, about everything that's hap-" Snape's sneer interrupted her; he clearly did not want to talk about it.
She tried a different approach.
"May I speak my mind? Then I swear I will not speak of it again."
Snape looked up from what he was doing and gave her a courteous and quick nod, accompanied by a sigh and a mumbled "If you must."
"I have much to learn of human ways for it has been long since I last lived amongst them. Uh - you, I mean…" he stared at her impatiently, so she cleared her throat.
"As you have so accurately observed, I have difficulties letting go of my mannerisms, to which I have become so accustomed. I have been my own mistress for long…well what I mean to say is, I'm so sorry that I have offended you… I believe Professor, that I have taken a liking to you,"
Snape raised a surprised eyebrow to this. "So, I simply wanted to apologise. I knew no other way. Sometimes your…I mean…I know I am not worthy of your trust and I shouldn't be so rude and presumptuous to assume that I should be treated as a member of the staff who has always been here…please forgive me." She paused, hoping that her words would sink in in a positive way. "I am also sorry for having touched you without permission that one time, it was merely a sign of recognition."
Snape smiled a smile that was cynical and yet understanding. "We do not touch what isn't ours Laenaya." He said somewhat bemused. "Isn't that what we tell the students?" He raised both eyebrows.
Laenaya chuckled; Snape's use of wit was venomous, yet once again the comment was intended as a playful joke.
"Even after centuries on this earth, I have much to learn." Her smile faded. "I am also sorry about what the Dark Lord did to you."
Snape looked away, Laenaya knew that this meant it was the end of this topic.
"Anyway, I really would have liked to find some hidden talent in Luna, but I believe I may have taken her empathy to be something it isn't." She decided that it was the right moment to address her concern, it was also the fastest way to change the topic of conversation.
"Why is that you would come to such a conclusion anyway?" he asked her, sincerely attempting to understand her motivations.
"Well I told you she was able to sense my dark energy…she could not do anything with it but I'm certain she felt it…Like I said, I could be mistaking it for empathy. Empaths are able to sense emotions and dark energy is based on emotion. I personally believe that we are all empaths, however some of us are more open to it than others and Luna is definitely the sort who is open to new things!" She chuckled. She had been doing that a lot since recently.
"Yes, curious indeed." He replied but not having time to think of it because of something that caught his eye. Putting his guard up instantly but trying not to raise suspicion, he grabbed her arm.
"Laenaya, do you happen to take pleasure in books?"
"Why yes of course!" She exclaimed, not noticing his sudden haste and how hard he was squeezing her arm.
"There is one I need to show you." He said in a manner so uncharacteristic for him that she began to wonder what was happening. He led her outside to the outer part of the dungeon before closing the doors of her quarters and moving back four steps.
He pulled her closer and made to say something in her ear, the closeness of their bodies made Laenaya feel vulnerable and warm inside. She had long known that his voice made her weak and that his criticism stung harder than any wound she had experienced in her long years. His constant verbal punishment was always followed by the deepest compliments, but always left ambiguous in such a way that made her feel tortured to be constantly in this emotional purgatory. Did he also find her intriguing as she did him? She had never thought this before, and did her best not to act too ridiculously in front of him, but it was not until this moment that she could no longer hide this fact from herself and if anyone had asked her to admit her infatuation and constant need for his approval then and there, she most definitely would have done so. Was he going to kiss her?
"The statue was watching us." He whispered calmly into her ear. His breath tickled her ear delightfully before she fully realised what he was actually saying.
"What do you mean?" She whispered and grabbed his arm in shock.