Chapter Thirty-six

"Oh, maybe I should stay," Jenae said, worry visible in her tone as she looked down at Caoimhe. "I mean, I'm just going to the store, which isn't too far from here, but I don't want you to be home alone. Maybe I should get someone to come over here and look after you—"

"No," Caoimhe interrupted, assuring the older woman. "No, really, you don't have to. I'll be fine here… You know, watch some TV, that kind of thing."

"Oh, I'm not so sure."

"Don't worry," Caoimhe said, trying her best to put on an innocent smile. Inwardly, she was going crazy. Why did this woman have to be so stubborn? She hustled Jenae to the door and shooed her out. "I'll be fine," she promised. "Take your time!"

When she slammed the door shut, Aureus appeared in the living room.

"Is she gone?"

"Looks like it, doesn't it?" Caoimhe snapped, still in an attitude. "So when are you going to tell Potter that you're alive?" Caoimhe asked conversationally, seating herself on the couch in front of the television. "Like… now?"

"No, no," Aureus said, sitting down in a chair to Caoimhe's left. "No, I'm going take time planning my plan out. I'm not rushing this one—it has to be perfect."

"So, when?"

"I don't know for certain," Aureus said softly. "But I doubt it's going to be this year. This has to be perfect, and I still have to find the Dark Lord."

-

Harry stumbled out of his room. He wasn't himself that morning at all, since he barely got any sleep the night before. All Harry wanted to do was go back to sleep, hoping that nobody would disturb him.

You look like Death, Slyther commented. Harry hadn't even noticed that Slyther wasn't in his room when he woke up.

"Bad night," Harry mumbled with a yawn, resting his head in his hands as he sat down on the couch. "G'night."

Good night? Slyther repeated, sounding confused as he slithered away from the fire to Harry, who let his head move from his hands to rest on the armrest. It's the morning, not night! You should be saying 'good morning' instead of 'good night' you know.

Harry muttered something, which sounded a lot like, "Biscuits."

Why are you so tired? Slyther questioned. You fell asleep before I did. Why are you so tired all of a sudden? Are you sick?

There was a long pause, before Harry spoke. After a yawn. "I had a dream last night," he mumbled. "And then I had a feeling that wouldn't go away. I was up almost the whole night."

Can I ask what the dreams were about? Slyther asked, finding it frustrating since he couldn't get up on the couch beside Harry, beause Harry's whole body was sprawled out on the couch. There wasn't any way Slyther could get up there.

"I'd like to ask the same question."

Harry's eyes flew open as he saw Snape standing at the end of the couch, in front of Harry—looking at Harry—waiting for an answer.

"Uh… what? Oh, yeah, the dream. Well…" Harry cleared his throat and sat up, suddenly feeling wide awake. "I had a dream that… I lost all my teeth. And my head fell off. And my toes fell off my feet and started walking away," he lied.

Snape didn't look the least bit convinced. "And your 'feeling'?"

"Oh, yeah." Harry bit his lip, staying quiet. Hopefully Snape wouldn't realize that he was stalling.

When Harry wasn't answering, Snape gave him a look.

"Well, I had a feeling that—Oh, I can't say it!" Harry cried, throwing his arms up in the air and throwing his head back down on the armrest. "You'll think I'm so stupid."

"You won't know unless you try," Snape coaxed. "Come on, out with it, Potter."

Harry glanced up at Snape with a sigh. He wasn't kidding about this, Harry realized. He had called him 'Potter'. That wasn't good.

"All right," Harry started slowly. "I had a feeling that that would happen in real life. That my teeth will fall out—"

"Oh, don't worry they will," Snape interrupted.

Harry looked up at the Potions master in horror, slowly sitting up again.

"What?"

"Unless they haven't already, your teeth will fall out. Haven't they already?" Snape asked, still standing in front of the end of the couch.

Harry looked thoughtful. "Yes, I'm pretty sure…"

"Anyway, continue."

Harry cleared his throat. "I thought that my head would fall off, and then I thought that my toes would fall off and I'd be left toeless! Then I thought I saw my toes run out the window, but I may have been just imagining it. But that's why I couldn't go to sleep."

"So you stayed up all night worrying that your toes were going to fall off and run out the window?" Snape's eyebrows rose slightly, and he still looked as unconvinced as ever.

Harry sighed and shook his head and said "yes" before hesitantly bringing his foot up to make sure his toes were still attached. When he realized they were, he let his shoulders sag in relief, and he lay his head back down on the armrest.

"I'll just find something to preoccupy me until you wake up," Snape said, searching for a book he could read until Harry woke up. Soon he spotted another Potions book, and sat in his armchair until the boy woke up from his slumber.

-

"Where are you going?" Caoimhe demanded as she caught Aureus trying to sneak out of the house.

Aureus squared her shoulders and turned around with a sneer to find her daughter standing behind her, a scowl on her face and hands on her hips.

"I, my Caoimhe, are going to find the Dark Lord. It's not bad to have an early start, is it?" She let out a girlish laugh.

"I'm coming with you!" Caoimhe exclaimed. "I'm not stayin' here in this hellhole while you go find the Dark Lord. I wanna come with you." Caoimhe started a search for her jacket.

"Oh, I don't think so," Aureus said with a shake of her head. "No, no. What would dear Aunt Jenae say to find her niece missing?" She raised her eyebrows at Caoimhe, who stopped her search to glare at Aureus.

"I don't care what 'dear Aunt Jenae' thinks. She's still out in town! So I'm coming with you."

"Didn't you hear me the first time?" Aureus gaze turned cold, and Caoimhe actually started to feel her heart quicken its pace. "I said no, you are staying here. Don't make me repeat myself Caoimhe Aureus, because you do not want me to!"

Caoimhe gulped, telling herself that her mother didn't scare her at all. "Oh? Well, you don't have to repeat yourself, mummy. But I'm still coming with you."

Caoimhe smiled as she found her jacket that Jenae had picked up for her, and slipped it on. Then, she found her boots, which Jenae had picked up for her as well. As soon as she had her jacket and boots on, she glanced at Aureus who was turning red in the face from anger.

"You are staying here," Aureus exclaimed, clenching her teeth together and stepping forward to Caoimhe. "Take your boots off and your jacket and sit down. You are not coming anywhere with me, and that is final!"

Caoimhe smirked as she realized how angry she was making her mother. "You can't tell me what to do since you're not my guardian. I'm going."

"No, but I'm your mother!" Aureus screeched, stepping forward some more until she was just beside the table, and Caoimhe was standing not too far from her.

"Yeah, a bloody lousy one."

Aureus let out a screech, and picked up the first thing that was beside her. A glass lamp stood elegantly in the middle of the table, and that was the thing that Aureus grabbed onto; the lamp.

As soon as she had it in her grip she was close enough to her daughter to bring the lamp down on her head.

"Sorry, sweetie," she said to unconscious, bloody form of Caoimhe coldly. "Next time you should listen to your mummy."

And she fled the house.

-

Harry's eyes opened his eyes, and held his hand up to his mouth as he yawned. He noticed Snape in the armchair reading a book, and suddenly had the urge to ask the weirdest thing…

"Severus," Harry started, causing Snape to look up from his book at Harry. "Can you tell me about… Aureus?"

Snape couldn't help but look surprised. "Aureus? Topaz Aureus? Why do you want to know about her?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders truthfully. "I don't know. Before she came to Hogwarts as a teacher, did she go to Hogwarts as a student?"

Harry sat up, letting his feet dangle over the couch while his back leaned against the couch.

"Well, yes, she was a student at Hogwarts," Snape replied, setting the book down on the floor beside his chair.

"Tell me from the very first. If you know," Harry added.

Snape cleared his throat. "I met Topaz Aureus on the train to Hogwarts when we all received our letters. She hasn't changed much from when she was eleven…

"When we arrived at Hogwarts, the Sorting began. I, as you might expect, was sorted into Slytherin while Aureus was sorted into Slytherin as well—"

"Okay, that's all very, very nice," Harry started with a cough, "but can you skip to the part where she turns evil? Or something like that?"

"Well, Aureus always did have a thing for the Dark Arts. She became a Death Eater before I," Snape explained.

Harry's eyes widened as he looked at Snape in surprise. "Aureus was a Death Eater? I didn't know that!"

"That was around the same time she liked Potter—"

"Wait," Harry interrupted again, receiving a glare from Snape. "Aureus liked James Potter? My dad? I didn't know that either! What happened?"

"Aureus, as I said, liked Potter. There wasn't any doubt about it, since it was very, very palpable."

"And what? My dad didn't like her, or he liked my mum instead? And how do you know that?"

"Well—" Snape started, and gave Harry another glare as he interrupted yet again.

"Oh, don't tell me you were her friend!"

When Snape said nothing, Harry groaned. "Oh, you were, weren't you?"

"Back to the topic," Snape said, giving Harry a look, "Potter did have a thing for Evans. When didn't he? But, he asked Aureus out in order to make Evans jealous. It didn't work, so Potter of course…"

"And she turned evil then?" Harry guessed. "When my Dad broke it off with her?" Then he snapped his fingers in realization. "That's why she wants me as her"—he screwed his face up in disgust and shuddered—"son, isn't it?"

"I'm guessing so."

"But why? I'm still confused at that. I'm James and Lily Potters' son," Harry bit his lip in thought. "Is it because she wants to try to raise me as not only James's son, but hers too?"

"I'm not the most reliable person to ask," Snape said briefly, picking up his book again. "Why did you say 'wants' instead of 'wanted'? The Headmaster said she has no chance of waking up from that coma."

"Oh," Harry said with a shrug of his shoulders. "I dunno why I said that."

Why did I?

-

"I can sense that you're near," Aureus muttered to herself as she squeezed through clutters of muggles. "My Lord, where are you?"

"Hey, excuse me!" One of the Muggles—a kempt girl with short, poker straight hair and brown eyes—exclaimed, looking rather sour as Aureus banged the girl with her shoulder… hard.

"Oh, excuse yourself!" Aureus scowled at the girl, who narrowed her eyes and stalked away. "Bloody Muggles."

This time, a man bumped into Aureus. Rage engulfed her as she glared at the man.

"Hey, watch it," she said through clenched teeth. As soon as the man turned around, Aureus felt her heart quicken. "My Lord?" She breathed.

This man was definitely not the Dark Lord. He had a purple turban around his head, but his eyes had somewhat of a… malevolent look to them.

"Aureus?"

-

A/N: Thanks to everybody who reviewed.