Black Veils

Chapter Two – The Wretched and Divine

05/02/2016

12:37 am

I am the chosen,
Wretched and Divine
I am the unspoken,
The one they left behind
Fearless, fight until we die
I am broken
The Wretched and Divine

"What exactly are the Unholy, Severus?" Remus asked warily. He was starting to get a very bad feeling about all of this.

"From what I have overheard-" Snape began to explain when he was interrupted.

"And researched on your own most likely," Remus muttered.

"As I was saying," Severus huffed at the wolf's audacity to interrupt him, "The Unholy are a class of ancient warriors that are only known to be found during great times of strife and war. They are as strong as werewolves, as fast and resilient as vampires, as beautiful as High Elves, as alluring as veela, and as deadly in battle as a demigod. They are the favored of Fate, the assassins of the Gods of Old, and the equals of the Immortals. They are the ultimate weapon, and the Dark Lord has been trying to find them."

"And you believe that Harry and his friends are becoming these Unholy?" Remus was intrigued with such an idea. It did make sense in an odd way. 'Oh, Harry, why can't anything just be normal for you?'

"No, I believe that they were born as the Unholy. This metamorphosis, as you called it, is the transition period. It would make sense with how Granger's spirit was able to return..." Severus trailed off as he tried to work out in his mind what would happen now that the girl didn't have a body. It would take much more thought than he cared to give it at this time.

"Oh, no!" Remus gasped suddenly. "If Hermione has no body to return to, what will happen to her?"

Severus sighed deeply and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He didn't want to think on that, yet. He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he reopened them it was to see the werewolf staring at him intensely. "Would you please stop staring at me as if I am some kind of dessert."

Remus blushed and quickly looked away. He hadn't meant to stare. He just couldn't help it. His mate was in distress, and Moony was demanding that he fix it. "I am sorry, Severus."

"Humph," Snape huffed as he turned at the sound of a door closing behind him.

"If you two are done now, I think it is time for you to leave." Madame Pomfrey had gone into her office while the two men had been discussing things. She'd been looking through several medical books to see if she could find anything to make things easier on the children while they went through their metamorphosis.

"Of course, Madame," Severus nodded curtly to the hospital matron and made to leave the infirmary. He didn't get very far before a strong arm wrapped tightly around his waist and pulled him into a hard body.

"Not so fast, Mate," Lupin growled lowly in Severus' ear causing the darker man to tremble. "I will have what is mine someday." With those rasping words, Severus found himself suddenly released.

Remus gasped as he let go of Severus. He had lost control of Moony. The damn wolf had somehow fought its way to control. The full moon was still two weeks away. Remus was stunned at how easily Moony had wrested control away from him. He just stood there, staring at Severus in shock.

"Lupin..." Severus trailed off as he saw the shock settle on Lupin's face. It appeared that the wolf had somehow taken control of the man. Severus himself was a bit surprised, but apparently not as much as Lupin.

"S-sev-" Remus gasped before his eyes rolled up into the back of his head and he dropped like a rock to the floor.

"Oh, for fuck's sake!" Severus grumbled, "Pomfrey!"

"Yes, Severus?" Madame Pomfrey bustled back out of her office again to find Remus on the floor in a dead faint. "Are you serious?" She shook her while mumbling something about never being rid of certain children always being injured.

Severus couldn't help himself and said flatly, "No, I'm Severus." He was sure the wolf would have laughed had he heard.

Madame Pomfrey just chuckled softly as she levitated the werewolf to a bed near Potter. "I suppose that you may as well remain here, Severus."

"I think not. I have things to do." Severus began walking toward the infirmary doors when he heard the locks click shut. He turned his head to stare incredulously at the mediwitch. "May I ask exactly why you have decided to entrap me in this disease ridden infestation of a room?" He glared hotly at the healer, knowing deep down that it was pointless to argue.

"You have been exposed to Mr. Potter's wild magic. I can not allow you to leave. If by some chance this, infestation, as you call it, is contagious by second-hand contact, you must remain here in quarantine until such time as I decide you may leave." Poppy was rather happy to make the man stay. He'd always been one of her worse patients, much like Remus and Harry, always trying to escape her clutches before she released them.

"I will do no such thing!" Severus snapped and raised his wand at the door.

"Severus Tobias Snape, if you so much as attempt to leave this room, I will inform the entire school of your penchant for muggle fizzy drinks and M&M's. Now, you will put down your wand and take a seat somewhere. You will be here for awhile, I'm sure." Poppy had found out in Severus' fourth year that the boy had a love for muggle candies and what they called soda pop. She'd never mentioned it before so as not to embarrass the dark wizard. For that information to be known would cause a major dent in his reputation of evil bat that he'd been cultivating for the last decade.

"You-how-what?" Severus had never told anyone about his strange liking for muggle candies. Now, he thought back to all of those Christmases and birthdays that he'd wake up to a bottle of Pepsi and a bag of peanut M&M's on his bedside table. His eyes widened in realization as he stared at Pomfrey. "I-it was you!" He exclaimed in shock. He'd always thought it was the house-elves. The little buggers had a way of knowing a person's deepest likes and dislikes. The thought that someone had actually cared enough about him froze him solid. He felt a tingle pass through his body before slumping gracefully to the floor.

"Well, for the love of Merlin!" Pomfrey threw her hands up and huffed in exasperation. If she'd known the man would be so shocked, she would have kept her mouth shut. Now, here she was, four unconscious men in her infirmary. Two were barely holding on as their magic was slowly drained away by some unseen force. The other two weren't far behind. After running several scans on Remus and Severus, Poppy decided that it must be because of their age that their bodies were shutting down so much faster. She'd levitated Severus to the bed next to Remus and left the room after her scans.

***BV***

Darkness. Silence. It was all around him in a comforting cocoon of warmth and belonging. He felt as if he were finally able to stretch his cramped muscles after being forced into a too small space for too long. But, it wasn't muscles he was stretching. It was his magic. It was swirling and consuming the air around him like the way fire consumes oxygen to live. He felt it caressing his soul and coaxing it to come out of its tiny little shell of his human body. It promised hope, and fearlessness, and Power. . Promises echoed continuously through the Dark. Power, Freedom. Whispering in his ear. Curling around his body. He felt safe for the first time in his relatively very short life.

Seductive tendrils of deep green flashed through the Dark, anchoring themselves in his soul. Suddenly gripping it tight and pulling it to freedom. And he let go.

***BV***

A shrill beeping alerted Madame Pomfrey that something wasn't right with her patients. She rushed through the magical barrier to find Ronald Weasley sitting up in his bed gasping. She performed her scan quickly before casting an anti-inflammation charm on the child's lungs. Instantly, the boy began gulping down great lungfuls of air.

"Mr. Weasley?" Poppy asked softly. She was surprised to see the boy sitting up at all. Performing more scans to ascertain his health she gasped in surprise when they revealed the boy to have no pulse. His heart was not beating. Blood was not running through his veins, which would explain the difficulty in breathing at first. But, how was he still alive? When the boy looked up at her query, that was when she saw it. The sheer amount of magic and power swirling in that child's eyes was enough to power the entirety of Hogwarts alone. She gasped before falling to her knees in awe.

"Ma-Madame Pomfrey?" Ron croaked through his dry throat. "What happened?" He glanced around the room and saw Harry lying in the bed next to his own, and then he panicked. "NO! HARRY!" Ron shouted as he jumped from his bed and rushed over to his best mate. He grabbed the other boy by the shoulders and began shaking him roughly. "No, Harry! You can't leave me!" Ron sobbed loudly, pulling Harry against his chest. "I've already lost 'Mione. I can't lose you too!"

Madame Pomfrey had managed to gather her composure and gently removed Harry from Ron's grasp. "Mr. Weasley, there is something you should know."

"What? What happened to him? To us?" Ron sobbed as he slumped back down to his own bed.

"I believe we must wait for them to wake before we'll get those answers. Can you tell me anything about while you were unconscious?" The healer had automatically returned to her professional nature, figuring it would be best to find out as much as she could at this time.

"There's nothing," Ron whispered. "Nothing at all. No sound. No lights. It was so quiet. So peaceful. I almost wanted to stay there, but then there was this pulling feeling. Like something had its hooks deep in some part of me. I don't know..."

"Hmm," Poppy hummed under her breath. That wasn't helpful at all.

"Wait!" Ron shouted, his hands flailing around. "There was a voice. It called me one of the Wretched and Divine."

"One of the what?" a voice asked from the doorway.

A/N: Someone please review... I'm wondering if anyone is even liking this at all? Song at beginning of chapter is "Wretched and Divine"- Black Veil Brides