Disclaimer: I do not own anything Harry Potter.

Chapter eleven: Resolution

The fae on the tree branch and drummed her black stained fingers. She couldn't exactly ignore their state but she had somewhat bitterly accepted the way they now were. They were the reason she was not with Harry that summer.

She had used the enemy's power and the blood wards kept her out now rather than give her strength. It was necessary to find a different method.

The fae narrowed her eyes as her prey came into view.

A man in black stumbled into the clearing she waited at the edge of. He had long ago abandoned the basket he had filled with potion ingredients and now clutched his wand in front of him. Breathing heavily, he took slow steps backwards.

He looked sharply to the left as something moved among the trees and backed up right into her faerie circle. The fae hopped down from the tree as her enchantments caused Snape to lose consciousness and he collapsed.

She walked up to him and a large wolf trotted out of the trees and stopped next to her. She patted the creature's head absent-mindedly as she looked at the potion master's face.

"You know, he kind of reminds me of a crow I once knew." She said. The wolf perked his ears and tilted his head toward her.

"Yes. They have the same nose." She said. The wolf bent his head down and gave the man a sniff.

"It was centuries ago and this crow fell in love with a human girl. He had no problem living as a man and they had many children." The wolf sat down on its haunches and its tongue lolled out of its mouth. She smiled; wolves were such suckers for a love story.

"The only problem was when she died."

The wolf whimpered.

"He was a fae and could have moved on, kept living and forgotten her after a while... instead he went to Death and asked him if he could overlook fae immortality just that once, and let him accompany his wife into the afterlife."

The wolf gave a small bark in question.

"Of course he was allowed." The fae said ruffling the wolf's ears. "Death is really quite reasonable once you sit him down for a cup of tea. Or so I've heard."

The wolf opened his mouth in a doggy smile and licked her face.

"Oh, off you!" She said with a grin and the wolf walked back into the trees. She watched him go but her smile faded as she looked back at the man she had captured. The fae kicked his forearm where she knew his own faint was and snarled at the thought that she had trusted him.

Well, not trust.

He was a bastard to her boy and now she knew he was marked as a follower of the other bastard. She kicked him again.

Bastard.

And now he was going to be a dead bastard. She was going to steal his magic and his life force like the proper dark fae that she had become. And the strength gained from him would be used to fight his master.

The fae stretched the back of her neck. She had thought about the best way to do this and really there was only one effective method. She sighed heavily. Never mind that the process would turn her into a succubus...

She had seen those that had been changed by this. They became these long-legged things with tits big enough to suffocate a man.

But she supposed that was the point of a succubus. The fae would take the shape of the Potion Master's ideal woman and then she would take all his power.

She sighed again.

When she was born she had been the size of a dandelion seed. The smallest of the faeries and she had compromised and grown to accomplish what she had to. She had just hoped that she would not have to grow much taller than her current 4'1".

The only way she could get out of looking like a big-titted clown was if he happened to be wholly devoted to only one woman. The fae snorted at the chances of that.

She ran her hand over her face and decided to get this over with. Now, traditionally this was done while straddling the hips or chest. Most successfully the hips.

The fae stepped over him with one leg but immediately pulled it back, shaking her head.

Maybe she could sit side-ways on his chest? She lowered herself onto his chest but soon stood up in frustration. She walked around in a circle with her hands on her hips before squatting next to his head.

The fae poked his temple and scowled. Maybe if she just kept contact she could get through this. Really, all she needed was a position that mimicked some form of intimacy.

She lifted Snape's head and positioned herself until it was resting on her lap. She nodded in satisfaction as the clouds shifted and the moon appeared with its half-lidded gaze.

The fae looked up at her mother.

Look at his heart first, child.

The fae scowled more. How was she supposed to kill a man if she got to know him first? She stared at the half-moon for a while before she sighed and looked down.

Into the man's mind.

Where two more half-moons were perched on the nose of a man she recognized, whose eyes normally twinkled.

They weren't twinkling in the memory of the dark man as his younger self begged for Dumbledore to save her.

Or the memory of him weeping for the death of the woman with red hair and green eyes.

The only woman he ever devoted himself to.

The fae saw his promise to always protect her son. Even as the jealousy that the boys was not his and hers burned in his chest.

How he was reminded of that fact every time he looked at the boy's face. And how he always had and always would do what he needed to make sure the boy survived.

Always.

The fae withdrew from his mind.

The bastard.

James Potter had said that she reminded him of someone. Now she understood.

She put her hand on the side of his face.

"We might as well work together in this." She said and connected with his mind again, forming a more permanent link.

It was not the kind of magic a succubus used because his love for his lost friend would protect her from changing and him from being taken in.

That kind of love was not fooled by imitations.

This would not give her that much power either. But his magic would sustain her without putting him at a disadvantage.

The fae moved his head off her lap and laid it gently on the ground as she stood.

"Thank you, mother." She said and the half-moon went behind a cloud once more.

The fae pushed one of the stones out of her faerie circle, thus breaking the magic. Snape shifted in his sleep, but he would wake up soon. The fae lay down next to him and put her hands around his neck before becoming the faerie pendant.