Audriella- Can't wait? Well that's good because you reviewed right before I posted. Heh.
SheElf- Don't worry about any delay, as I've been known to delay more than anyone! As for Remus, he might get hit on the head with a big brick of reality eventually. But now… he remains to be in denial.
frayedsoul- I'm glad you want to see more of them together! It's like I'm addicted to those two, though I feel like we should get to know some other characters too. Like Lily, heh. To answer your question about James: that's because he's a spoiled brat and he thinks he can have both. No, not just that… he feels conflicted between the feelings he has for the two of them. But he is one of those people that deny and repress their major problems in favor of temporary happiness. Perhaps you know someone like that, I know I do. So all you really see is a jumbled bit of self-dialogue when in fact he is terribly conflicted.
"Thank you very much for the tea, Mrs. Potter," says Severus
Severus?
"You're welcome dear," my mum's voice echoes against the white walls of the hall. My breath catches in my throat. What could he possibly be doing here? I don't look at all attractive… they're bags under my eyes and my hair is still so askew. I haven't taken a bath in a few days…
My mother grins at me from the bottom of the stairs.
I slowly climb down the old woodwork, my toes feeling entirely more naked that a few seconds ago. I should have really put a shirt on. There are goose bumps on my naked shoulders.
Severus has his back to me, slumped over his lap, where he is adding dollops of cream to the china teacup, legs crossed in a masculine and wide position.
"Oh, look at you!" My mother scolds, running her fingers through my hair (she has to stand on tip-toe to reach the back of my head).
Severus turns, slowly. One eyetooth pokes out of his smile. Something is so unbearably honest in his grin. What can it be? Appreciation? Respect? Relief? I haven't seen a grin so honest since… well… since I've seen him last.
"James? Is something wrong?" Mother asks me.
It is until that moment that I hadn't been smiling back at all. I was just staring, like how a critic at an art museum would study a joyous masterpiece. I grimace into a grin, the corner of my lips twitching upwards.
"Is it hot down here? Honey, your face is flushing."
And even after she says that I can stop the warmth from spreading all the way down my neck onto my chest. Severus' eyes twinkle.
"What are you doing here?" I ask hoarsely.
"Having tea," says Severus.
Thank you Captain Obvious. "I mean besides that."
"I was wondering if you could help me with something. But you don't have to now. You should stay and have breakfast first."
That's not vague at all. I bloody hope he doesn't expect to make out with me in my room or something. That would be awkward. Maybe he wants advice. Or maybe he just wants to hang around, I mean, how many other friends does he have?
"Your mother is an excellent cook," says Severus, smiling at my attempts to deduce what is going on. His grin is less honest now, more mischievous.
My mother flushes too. Now I know where I get it from, "Have another, Mr. Snape!" She nearly flings the basket of scones at him.
"Don't mind if I do," his limp wrist collects a strawberry and vanilla scone. "Oh, and you don't have to call me by my surname. Severus is fine."
Why, that's a little too informal for my tastes.
But my mother's eyes suddenly narrow. Her reasoning is reflected through her pupils. "You're the one James used to pick on at school."
I hadn't expected Mum to remember that, and by his glance at me, probably neither did Severus.
"He also saved my life," he mutters.
Halfway through biting a raspberry scone I look at him. The sound in his voice is so positively thankful.
"Oh, that was nothing, Snape. Really. It doesn't excuse me picking on you." I try to make it clear that these things are separate from the person I am now. Severus scoots in his chair.
"It's in the past."
Mum wriggles a napkin in her hands.
"Plus I know the real reason why he picked on me. He teased me because he liked me…" Severus lifts his chin impressively.
Mum is laughing, but her eyes are as wide as galleons.
Severus. You idiot. It'll only take her seconds to deduce that this is the young-man-that-looks-like-a-female that I kissed.
He has a haughty sort of grin, clearly oblivious to my mother's assumption of his sexuality.
"Sure… Sure… Snape…" I think quickly for what I can say to cover this up, "I liked you. Liked you while your nose was growing two times the side of your head. Or better yet with a purple afro."
He just grins. "Whatever you say, we both know you had a secret crush on me."
I glance at my mother, who is staring blankly and confusedly at him. Surely she's thinking, is he merely being sarcastic?
Well I don't think he's being sarcastic. And it's really a low shot to my ego.
Severus drinks the tea with terrible posture and one pinky out.
I feel like growling at him. I did not have a crush on him at Hogwarts. I mean, nearly every day I had him hanging by his feet upside-down with his pants down…
…Oh boy.
He glances at me from behind his half-eaten scone.
"Is there a reason you just happen to know where I live?" I bark.
"Looked it up in the Hogwarts Alumni registry."
Oh, really? He was that desperate to see me? Hmm… when I take him upstairs I'll let him know exactly how much I liked him during school. Heh.
"I'm sorry to just intrude," says Severus.
Is he?
"It's just that I didn't know who to turn to," he whispers.
Huh?
"If you want to go somewhere more private, I can show you what my problem is."
Somewhere more private? Snape! Why don't you just write an "I'm gay with your son" poster and stick in on your chest?
I shovel down a scone, "Kay."
I mutter a "thanks" to my mother, and shuffle up the steps to my room. When I get there I half-expect Severus to whip his jeans off.
"Sorry I had to come here," he whispers to me. "I just didn't know where to-"
"I'm not gonna give you a blow job."
"Sorry?"
"It's too awkward here, at my house, we'll have to go someplace el-"
"I don't want a blow job right now you vain jock!"
To my surprise, he lifts his pant-leg to the knee.
And what I see makes me gasp involuntarily.
A snake, decorated by black stars aligns the crook of his ankle. It sits there, as large as the palm of my hand. The coarse black hair that spots the rest of his leg is absent on this odd, quivering tattoo. The skin is red and blotchy around his ankle, as if the skin has been singed off.
Where an Eye should be, is a scabby, infected hole. I shiver. "What happened?"
I try to touch the head with a tip of my finger, and magically the snake moves away. The whole tattoo wriggles, and the head, including the wound-for-an-eye moves across his skin. I hear a hiss, and at first I think that it is coming from the snake, which is so life-like that it appears to be just below the surface of his skin, but then I realize that it's coming from Severus. I watch in awe as the wound reforms across his skin as the snake moves its eye, sending his hot blood dribbling down his foot.
"Please don't do that," he whispers.
"Shit, Severus. I'm sorry." I pull out a clean white cloth, "Does it only do that at human touch?"
"So far, yes," Snape is gritting his teeth as the snake continues to wriggle.
Quickly I run to the bathroom and run the cloth under hot water. When I return he is sitting on the bed a holding is leg out at an angle. I slowly wipe the blood off of his foot. He sighs as if it's the greatest feeling in the world.
"This is an interesting twist on the Serpastra Curse. I would never think to implant it on someone's skin… how horrible," I mutter to myself as I rub the cloth over the snake and the eye. I can feel it move underneath my fingertips. "Why have you not seen a healer?"
"They would ask questions," Severus hides his face behind locks of dark hair.
"That implies that I won't ask questions."
He frowns.
"When did it happen?"
"Last night."
"Did you attempt at healing yourself?"
"I did. I used steamed hellebore."
"That wouldn't work. It would just make the skin more irritated."
"Evidently."
I stare at him. "Why have you come to me?"
Severus' bottom lip quivers. His eyes are wide and childish. "Because you were the top of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, besides me. You would know what to do. And I trust you."
"Do you?" I stare down at his ankle, studying the celtic knots that align the stars. "Are you going to tell me why someone would do this to you?"
"I insulted Bellatrix."
That'll do it. "Why are you hanging around Sirius' deranged cousin? Pft… we won't worry about that now. Not until we get this healed, or at least to stop growing. I'm assuming it has grown since last night."
"Yeah," He lifts his eyebrows, impressed, "It was about the size of a knut."
"I'm going to need help."
He nods. "Whatever you need."
I head to the door, creating a list of texts and things that I will need, when I hear a very small voice saying, "Thank you, James."
I love the way he says my name. "Of course."
When my father bends over Severus' foot, lifting his round glasses up his nose, he lets out a cry of academic shock. "This isincredible!"
"Er… thanks?" says Snape.
"It doesn't seem to be just a Serpastra curse, though, Dad," I mutter, leaning over his wheelchair. "It seems like it's another curse added to it, too."
He rubs his beard at the corners of his lips. "Something about it seems… oriental."
Snape cricks his neck sideways.
"Oriental?" I ask.
"Yes… The Serpastra curse does not burn itself on the skin, but a few eastern curses could do that. I've seen a few ancient serpent tattoos in my Chinese texts. I tend to think that this was a very important thing in their culture. This is a clever combination of the two spells. One is a curse. The other is an aesthetic spell for tattooing. Moreover, the snake is not completely encased in the stars. So I tend to think that the person that did this has a positive attitude toward snakes, rather than your regular, negative Judeo-Christian one."
"So you're saying that the person who did this is complimenting Snape?" I ask incredulously. "By labeling him with a favored icon?" That makes no sense with the rest of Snape's story.
"No. Look at the eye!" My father points to Snape's wound, which has stopped bleeding but still is red and raw. "It's a blind snake!"
"You think that…" Severus licks his lips. "You think that this person is telling me that I could be an ally if I wasn't blinded by… by something?"
Father pauses, taking a moment to stare into the eyes of this distressed young man before him, as if seeing him properly for the first time. "I'm not sure as to the meaning of all this," says Father. "After all I can't get into the mind of a vicious person like this one." He waves at Severus' foot. "All I'm saying that we will need to combine Eastern and Western medicine in order to heal and Eastern and Western curse."
"What do you suggest?" I ask.
"Perhaps a form of acupuncture… and a Cernunnos spell might do the trick."
"I'm afraid of needles," Snape whines.
"It's not that bad," I try to reassure him. "Dad knows what he's doing, and I know the Cernunnos spell pretty well."
"There's no promise that this will work," Father mutters into his beard, "and that eye has me worried. I think the wound might have to stay. You'll have to deal with some scarring."
"Whatever works. I can deal with scarring. It makes me more attractive anyway."
Before I can stop myself I whisper, "No it doesn't."
It's a few seconds long, but I can catch my father's eyes wander from me to Snape with interest. Buggar, now Dad knows too. "Before we do anything else," he goes on, "some Veratrum Album cream should be rubbed on the inflated skin. That will reverse the effects of the hellebore and stop some of the swelling. I'll go fetch it."
"Are you sure, Father?" I ask, eyeing his bulky wheelchair hesitantly.
He waves me off with the back of his wrist.
"But you might also want to check, James, to see if the star markings are anywhere else on his body… that spell is strange. They sometimes like to… wander," His eyes twinkle mysteriously.
"Alright, Dad," I say obediently. When he's gone I order Snape, "Take your clothes off."
"James I'm really not in the mood."
"I have to check to make sure the curse hasn't spread. Do you remember how many stars there were when you first were hit by the curse?" I ask him.
Severus sighs, "I was a little distracted by the untouchable gaping hole in my ankle to notice the stars, James."
He's saying my name much more often; it's hard to keep up this professional persona.
"I respect your privacy and all that, but we need to see if there are any wandering stars on your body. Do you think you could…"
To my astonishment, Severus begins unbuttoning his black shirt down to the waist. I try my best to withhold a gasp. How did I not notice this when I saw him take off his shirt on Wednesday? That's right, I didn't have my glasses on.
Severus apparently is… a tattoo junkie.
His back is aligned with a black dragon, its wing spanning across his shoulder blade. Its fangs are completely still, but I notice that its pearly white eyes blink from time to time. A Celtic knot decorates his slim waist, right before the hipbone. He turns slowly, eyeing me as I study for anything unusual.
The bulge of muscle below his shoulder is ensnared by black, thorny vines, which crawl along his collarbone and ends in a beautiful flower on his breast. I think it might be a lily. A phrase "Momentum Mori" circles underneath his bellybutton. I reach out to touch it, and the tip of my fingers graze against the hairless flesh of his abdomen. It's so warm…
He coughs loudly, taking me out of my reverie.
I blush again. "I… don't see anything weird. But… your tattoos are…"
"You don't like them? That's ok. I take a lot of them off every month or so. Magic is really convenient, isn't it? I mean I couldn't imagine having some of these for the rest of my life. This one," he points the Latin on his belly, "I got last week."
"A reminder of death…" I whisper to myself.
"You don't like it?" He whines.
I don't answer him, but rub along the vines on his arm and chest. "I like this one."
He blushes, shifting his weight and rubbing his breast shyly, "I've had that one for a while. It's my favorite so far."
Slowly I touch the petals of the flower. His chest is as soft as I imagined the flower would be. He is completely free of hair. The petals jump up and down as he breaths, as if moved by wind. "I think it's sexy. Though I'm not sure about the dragon."
He rolls his eyes, "Yeah I wasn't sure about the dragon either. I have to pay to get that one removed, because it's with magical ink, you know."
Out of the corner of my eye, I see yet another tattoo on the inside of his forearm. It's a skull and a snake, and his veins are pulsing underneath the dark ink. The muscles in my chest constrict. I feel like somehow this one is different.
I swallow, "We're getting distracted, though. Pants off."
"James, do you mind leaving the room while I check? You don't want to look at my gross hairy legs do you?"
I pout.
"Fine," Snape growls, undressing for me and I have a full view of his skinny, pallid legs. They're as thin as a giraffe's legs, only covered in coarse black hair. Usually I would find any leg with hair on it really disgusting, but the prickly hairs only makes Snape seem more masculine.
He stands in front of me, only dressed in very short black briefs. I drink him in, staring up from his white long toes, to his thin hairy legs, to the large bulge in the black fabric…
"Don't make this curse an excuse to look at my privates," says Severus blushing.
I blush too, muttering, "Don't need an excuse."
The "Momentum Mori" tattoo and lines a very taught and firm abdomen. He's femininely thin at the torso, his body curving inward at the sides of his tummy, which matches the masculinity of his abs (smooth for someone who doesn't exercise often, but hard for someone who is healthy). Very little hair is on his chest, probably singed away from past tattoos that I can't see. The lily moves up and down over his heart.
He shifts his weight, embarrassed at my stares (really, now, I'm trying to be professional), hands rubbing his stomach awkwardly. His pale -fingered hands are too big for the rest of his body.
A long, smooth neck. Hair as dark as the night itself. His eyes glimmer, his pupils wide and dilated, as if he were trying to drink me in too.
I'm speechless, suddenly aware that I'm still not wearing a shirt either, feverishly proud of my athletic body and messy hair. Especially when he looks at me like that…
Every part of Severus' body is so completely detailed, from the knuckles on his white toes, to the tiny line of hair underneath his navel that trails below his black boxers, to the wrinkles on his cheeks that only show when he smiles… that I can't even remember being attracted to that idiotic thing called flawlessness.Why would you even bother with perfection when you can have this… this immeasurably complicated person in front of you?
I place a very chaste, soft kiss on the end of his nose, "I think you're beautiful."
He doesn't blush, just stares deep into my eyes. I try not to blink or look away. It's like a staring contest between friends; one of us has to crack eventually.
Finally, he smiles, "Isn't the correct phrase 'handsome'?"
"But you're not handsome. You're beautiful," I assure him.
He sneers, a crease forming from his right nostril to the corner of his mouth. "What? You're saying I'm pretty?"
"If you were pretty I'd say you were. You're beautiful."
He kisses me, "You're not too bad yourself."
"Boxers off."
"Pervert!"
I pull him into a hard kiss, gripping his shoulders with both calloused hands. Our teeth click together and I see stars behind my eyelids momentarily. He sucks my tongue into his mouth, circling his tight lips around it, flicking his own tongue against it. My hardness, which had been growing slightly ever since he took off his shirt, is tenting in my loose pajama pants. I blush again, the hot sensation traveling down my neck. I can feel my nipples harden as his palms rub along my chest.
"James…" Severus whispers barely against my lips.
I moan again, swallowing his mouth with renewed fervor. The way he says my name… One of my hands trails down the spine of the dragon, in a way that I hope makes him spit fire.
"James!" says Severus more urgently. My other hand dips beneath the waistband of his briefs, feeling the cool smoothness of his bottom.
Suddenly Severus' strong hands grip my shoulders and rip our lips apart. My mouth is wet and cool and naked without his.
Uh, oh. I've gone too far. Well, at least he pushed me off gently. I mean, Lils usually slaps me across the face.
He wipes his mouth with his thumb carefully. "What's wrong?" I ask him.
He pats my cheek in a way that (rest in peace) Aunt Elgred might have once. It's a "don't worry about it, kid" gesture. He smirks, that one eyetooth poking out. "You know we're still in your dad's house, right?"
I toe at the floor, like a kid caught with a quaffle through a neighbor's window. "Sorry. I guess I got a little carried away."
For once, Severus blushes too. Only his blush is a tiny patch on his cheeks. "A little…" I follow his gaze to where my erection is standing out under my thin pants, broad and bold as brass. "I find that cataloguing fruits by alphabet helps sometimes."
Apple, Banana, Cantaloupe…
"But I think I might have seen a star…" I whisper, toying with the waistband of his briefs. A full-length mirror is hanging next to my quidditch banners. I waltz with him toward it, until his back from head to toe is within my view.
Date (boy, I wish I could ask Severus out on another Date)… E-something… uh… what fruit begins with E? Skip that one… F….
Gently, I pull the edge of his underwear down with one finger, eyeing the bottom in the mirror and below me, chin resting on his shoulder. Our erections are inches away from each other. I can sense more than feel him. His heart is fluttering a million times a minute, like the wings of a hummingbird.
F is for… hrmmmumm…
Gods, Snape has a nice ass. Who knew? Snivellus Snape had a drop-dead gorgeous arse. It might be the one part of his body that really isflawless. Pale and round and muscular. Smooth and soft to the touch. And as far as my one finger could tell warm.
Severus' breathing was heavy, and he tried to hide it by panting against my neck. "Hey, this isn't fair."
Suddenly we pull apart again. "Looks good," I say, in the manner of a doctor who's just given his patient a colonoscopy.
Snape licks his lips. "I'm gonna use the bathroom for the rest if you don't mind thanks."
"I mind," I pout again.
This time Snape ignores me. He stumbles like a drunkard into my personal toilet. I grin regardless, wondering if he plans to wank into one of my towels. Heh.
I stare down at my feet, hands on hips, and try to steady my breathing, which I just notice had turned erratic and uneven. I feel like I've just run a mile. Except my muscles are not twitchy from the welcome burn. Just one part of me is.
I blush down at my fading erection, embarrassment and emotion filling my lungs. I let things get way too out of hand. A choking, hollow sensation fills my throat. I feel as self-conscious as a five-year-old that's wet his pants, and now is tottering between tears, telling the teacher, and having to appear damp-jeans and all in front of his peers. What about Lily? I swallow. I've been able to deny this foul attraction till now. But now it is staring back up at me, tenting my striped pajama bottoms.
In the back of my mind I can see myself fucking Severus Snape and even with my loose and uncreative imagination that makes my blood turn into liquid gold. My heartbeat quickens. I feel so dirty. So perverted.
I remember the first time I took off Lily's pink, frilly, wire-rimmed bra. I liked it, but the sight of her naked breasts was not as complete as seeing Severus' many decorative tattoos. I got hard, we had made love… but something about seeing Severus naked… it's not only arousal… it rocks me to the very core and tilts my vision sideways, shifting the entire world off-kilter, and now as I pace the floor of the room of my childhood I can't see anything clearly.
I'm scared of this. Of us.
"It's fine," says Severus as he returns from the bathroom, grabbing his trousers and stuffing them on. He scratches himself discreetly but I notice. He's such a boy.
"Severus?" I ask softly.
He's putting his shirt on, both arms in the sleeves. "Hmm?" he asks as he loops it over his head.
"What are we?"
He blinks. "Wizards…"
"Yes… that. And?"
"We're… Young?"
"And?"
He smoothes his shirt slowly, and then looks up at me, his black eye as wide as a kitten's and I loose patience. "Are we homosexuals?" I ask.
He snorts. "Jesus, James… what are you on about?"
"We're gay… you and me… aren't we? We're together…"
"Yeah, we're together… right now."
"Right now? What about other times?"
Severus' black eyes are clouded with bemusement and fondness. I want to kiss him and hit him at the same time.
"Are we…" I struggle to come up with the right description of what we were, "boyfriends? Or something?"
Severus sneers ever-so-slightly at the sound of that. "Boyfriends? That sounds weird."
"Yeah. Well, it does sound weird, ok? I don't know what to call it."
"Do we have to call it something?"
At first, I think "no". Not giving out a name gives our relationship such a reckless daring that makes me shiver with boyish delight. Two bachelors in love, united so secretly that the only ones who would know is ourselves. But then that lump of hollowness rises in my throat. A need has risen there, a need toknow. I don't need commitment, but… "Are you seeing anyone else?"
"Jealous, are we?"
Ooh, that devilish smile. Oh, that man. How dare he? "No," I bark.
"Oh, really?" His voice is oily with sarcasm.
I fold my arms over my still-exposed chest, heaving breaths in and out.
He kisses me sweetly. His mouth is puckering onto mine, sloppy and wet and short. "Call it what you want," he whispers, and pulls away.
Just then, the door to my bedroom opens with a bang that reverberates on the walls. My father's arthritis- swollen hand clutches at the doorknob, his eyes are wide and unblinking.
I sense something is not right off the bat. Perhaps it is the drained color of his face, or the hollowness of his wide-eyed gaze, or the way he is clenching his dentures, but my father looks suddenly ill again.
"James!" He barks out. His voice sounds so raspy and harsh. "You've got to… go outside with the other boys!" He waggles his finger in the air. His attention is drawn, not to the real James who is standing half-nude in front of him, but to an invisible ten-year-old standing not three feet away from him. "They're all out playing cricket. I know they're muggles. Don't try to do any more magic! The last time you did Ben had boils for a week. This time you have to be more careful."
I remember that, vaguely. Ben wasn't a very nice kid.
"Dad," I whisper delicately. I know that the best way to do this is slowly and cautiously, as if waking up a sleepwalker. "It's me, James…"
I chance a glance at Severus, who is clutching one hand to his mouth in shock and horror. I give him an apologetic nod, and he lowers his hand, trying to remain calm and normal.
"Got to be more careful!" He yells, pointing his finger at the ceiling.
"Dad," I just barely touch his shoulder and he shakes himself out of it.
"James, there you are…" He stares at me, the real me, but he still hasn't really come to yet. Severus shifts his weight uncomfortably.
"Mr. Potter?" Severus mumbles.
Dad turns, seeing him, but not really seeing him. "Do I know you?" he asks, lifting his round glasses up his nose.
He looks at me uncertainly. "Yes, father. This is Severus Snape. The man that needs help with the Serpastra curse."
He looks at me cluelessly.
"The one that… that we mentioned the other night."
His eye warmed suddenly with remembrance and he uttered an "Ohhhh!". Slowly he was getting his bearings again. "The serpastra curse. Right. Needs a form of acupuncture and a spell. I was looking for Vera Album, wasn't I?"
"Yes, Dad."
He looks at his left hand, holding and ivory jar. "And I found it apparently." He scans the room good-naturedly and finds Severus, who is still looking scared and uncomfortable.
"Got lost," he says, smiling.
Severus nervously tries to grin back.
"Somewhere between the basement and the second floor my mind gets lost. Memories and thoughts, begin to… ah… wander. Lose their bearings. It's just a sign of an old wizard getting senile. Never fret."
Severus nods, eagerly trying to not look worried. I can see through it though.
My father dips one finger into the Album cream, and beckons Snape to lift his pant leg. "Couldn't find any wandering stars, I trust?"
"No. We checked everywhere."
My dad, in his embarrassment for forgetting Severus' name, doesn't notice the blush that his worthy of Mum and me. I do though.
"I think I brought the needles up too," Father feels his breast pocket and pulls out a few thin lines.
Taking care to not touch the snake with his fingers, my father dabs a fresh cloth covered in the cream over Severus, who lets out a barely audible coo of appreciation. Severus sits at the corner of my bed, awkwardly lifting his pant leg and pointing his toes. "Bet that feels mightily better," my father grins at his handiwork. Snape nods but he takes no notice, lifting a needle to one of the stars. "Er… this is going to pinch a bit. Try not to tense up your leg, all right? James… is your wand ready?"
"Yes, father," I reply.
His gaze lingers on Severus's ankle as he scratches his chin. "Right then. I'm going to encase the Snake in the stars by holding them in place in a circular-type formation. You need to repeatedly hit the snake with the Cernunnos spell. Don't stop until it is completely gone. It will be gone when the stars have disappeared."
I'm not sure what he means by that, but still say, "Right."
"What should I do?"
"Mr. Snape, your job is to remain calm," my father replies. He slowly brings the needle to the first star on the left side. "Here's the first one."
I feel slightly seasick as I watch him insert the first needle into the black upside-down star.
"That's not so bad," Severus mewls, staring at the ceiling.
I grimace as I watch the black pus dribble down his foot. "James!" father barks, and it breaks me out of my revelry. I point my wand at the eye of the black snake, nervously trying not to stutter, and hiss out a series of incantations.
When the second needle is placed in the star, Snape wriggles as if slightly itching. He whispers, "That one was slightly less comfortable." I try to close my eyes and not focus on the now-steady stream of black blood rippling the surface of his foot. This time Severus emits a low gasp. I open my eyes to see my father tugging at his ankle to keep it in place while the black-haired man has a slightly more fearful look in his eyes.
"I would seem these will become increasingly more painful," says my father, stuffing his teeth full of needles for easily and quicker access. "Twry not to hense up your legs, right?"
He nods feverishly. I decide that staring at the wound is the best way to keep my attention on the counter-curse, though my heart is beating rapidly from the sight of what seems like three popped boils, black as a night sky, with Chinese-decorated needles sticking out at the center. I've never been good with blood, but this is just macabre-y and my stomach gives another lurch.
"Here's 'eh next un," Father says. Severus shivers.
I repeat the incantation over and over again, trying to defeat the feminine tears threatening my eyelids as the fourth needle is inserted. Snape lets out at low moan.
Three more to go… just three more to go…
I hadn't noticed before, but a golden line between the first blackened wound and the second, third and fourth is forming, light and thin as a spider thread. It seems as though my father is making a cage for the snake, which is squirming as if it has just noticed what we are doing.
The next needle is inserted and Severus bites down into my pillow.
I know he is not doing this for dramatics. This is causing him real pain and he is trying to hide it. "Just two more, Snape! Hang in there!"
I focus more readily on the snake, which is steadily shrinking in size. It dances and wriggles, dazed and confused. The eye moves and it spills fresh, hot blood down his toes where it mixes with the black ooze.
Father inserts the next one hastily. He's trying to get this over with and to relieve what appears to be agonizing pain for Severus. But he can't do it too quickly, he's not a professional acupuncturist, though he has studied it, and a wrongly, placed needle can hurt nearly as much and won't get rid of the star.
Pearls of sweat are now dripping down his long nose. He lets out a strangled, "Arg!" as he inserts the last needle as if it was causing him as much pain as the tortured figure in front of us.
Suddenly my dad is wearing a bemused and dreamy expression. "Dad!" I yell. He turns to the far right of me, as if watching an invisible ballet dancer. "But THAT'S NOT IT! DAD! You said to keep doing the spell until the snake is gone! The snakes still here! Where is the other star? YOU'VE GOT TO HELP ME LOOK FOR IT! CAN'T YOU TELL HE'S IN PAIN?!"
Severus shrieks in pain, doubled over, tears down his cheeks.
"Now, James," Father says to a goofy-looking phantom to my right. "That's no way to pack your trunk. Do you want me to teach you how to fold your socks? Here we are!" He waves the acupuncture needle as if it were his wand. At any other time it would have been hilarious, but my heart is pounding so hard because my love is writhing on my bloody sheets in agony.
"Severus!" I beg at the air, at the sky, at the gods to tell me what to do.
His black eyes meet mine. And instantly I know
I don't know how I know where it is. But I do. We looked there closely and I couldn't see it then, but I know it is hiding there.
In one fluid motion I grab the needle from Father's hand, rip his black shirt open and stab him in the heart.
In the center of that beautiful Lily on his breast.
A reptilian muffled scream fills the room from some spirit that has left the wound.
Our eyes stare deep into each other.
Until all I can see are the white parts. Because Severus' eyes have rolled back into his head.
And he has fainted.