Chapter 12 – Ritualistic Repercussions
Snape was engrossed in a journal he had found. It was in his handwriting and was stashed down in the deepest parts of the treasure house of knowledge he had hidden under his conscious mind. It was the story of his life, of how he had been Tom Riddle's lover until Tom had betrayed him in the worst possible way. Then Snape had turned to Albus Dumbledore who had saved him and looked after him, treating him more like a son than Snape's own father had. Remarkable.
Flipping to another part of the journal, he read that he was a spy for the Light when Lord Voldemort returned, walking a deep and shadowy path between the pitfalls of Dark and Light. Remarkably, Draco had been one of his accomplices. Lucius' son? But surely… He flipped back and found an entry in the journal.
Lucius and Narcissa are lost to me, dragged down into the Dark forever, Merlin have mercy on their magic. I thought, when they invited me to dinner last night, it was to celebrate Draco's birthday, but no. Lucius began to spout some nonsense about reviving the Knights of Walpurgis and enforcing the Pure Blood Solution once and for all. Of course I said no, if we did not have our Lord, then we were doomed to failure. Spilling our blood on the ground in a futile cause was simply insane.
Narcissa almost went for my throat with a butterknife, the stupid bitch. Lucius was not much better, accusing me of doing nothing to promote the Solution, of purposefully shirking my responsibilities to breed pure blood children for the cause. Of course, that was Narcissa talking. She never liked that Lucius and I had been lovers long before she came on the scene. Unfortunately, I made a remark to that effect and Lucius went ballistic! Suffice it to say, I am banned from Malfoy Manor, and from seeing my godson.
Lucius no longer wants me in his bed but there again, not a great loss. The love we once shared has long since burned out, simply grinding on in old, worn ruts. Our friendship has become strained and jaded now that routine and habit are all that's left. I will miss talking to Abraxus' portrait more than I will miss Lucius. I hope Draco will be all right. Lucius has lost the plot in so many ways and does not care for his son as he should, bullying him and mistreating him constantly and incessantly. I have tried to protect Draco over the years, taking him on 'outings' and 'holidays' away from the hothouse atmosphere of Malfoy Manor. At least he will be at school with me next year; perhaps it will not be so bad.
So, Draco was his godson… his present from Lucius to make up for the children they could not have together. The memory came in full blown and fresh. Snape stiffened, then smiled slightly in remembered joy at the birth of his proxy son. Next he remembered what Tom had wanted him to do and how Snape had compromised that wish. Devious Slytherin! He chuckled softly as he flipped through more pages. Potter! James Potter! No, Harry James Potter. The Boy-Who… Lived? A flood of memories washed over him, enough to stagger him backwards as the accompanying emotions swamped him in the flood. What a mixed and chequered history he and the boy shared. From the heights to the depths, their pasts were intertwined and complex, too complicated to take in at one sitting, too entangled to sort out in a single moment.
Snape closed the book then felt something tugging and pulling at his consciousness. Severus and Ibrim were calling to him, desperately trying to reach him and… warn him? What about? It wasn't clear. Surging to his feet, Snape put the book aside and hurried out of the cave-like storehouse, up the stairs and out into the garden he had built to produce what he needed for his potions. Nothing seemed to be out of place, yet he was being urged to hurry to the house, as if he was under attack in some way. Entering the cottage, he hurried into the kitchen and saw Severus standing rigid and terrified by the table, his eyes only whites and rolling like a spooked horse's.
"What is it? Where's Ibrim?" Snape demanded as he hurried over.
Severus shook his head only managing a tiny tremor in his neck as he desperately tried to warn his counterpart away, but it was too late. Snape touched Severus' shoulder. The force which had Severus trapped caught the hand on his shoulder and began to gobble it up, dragging the mind into the body, hauling Snape into Severus ruthlessly and efficiently. Snape tried to fight it, tried to cast a warding but, with his wand hand already absorbed into Severus, it was impossible to accomplish. Severus shook his head, terror and apology warring in his eyes as more and more of Snape was absorbed.
"Was Ibrim forced into you?" Snape snapped hurriedly and grunted when Severus managed to nod furtively. "Ah, I see. You have to relax now; we are being forced to reunite, probably by some well-meaning idiot in the St Mungo's gallery of stupidity. Fighting it will only be harder on both of us, so I say this to you: only trust red-headed women and Albus Dumbledore! Oh, and young Malfoys, too. Remember that! REMEMBER!"
With an effort of will, Snape turned so his back was to Severus' chest even though this turning dislocated Snape's shoulder. Ignoring the agony, he leaned backwards into himself and closed his eyes, willing his consciousness to flee, and willingly letting go of his identity as a separate unit. It would be easier to re-establish himself in the future if he gave up voluntarily at this point he reasoned, as his mind floated clear and darkness descended.
oo0oo
Thornfeld repeated his line of the ritual once again and felt the mind slide into the body, not smoothly by any means but at least it was reintegrated and whole.
Integro haec terci, spiritus, intellect et corporis. Decoquo ea acc metempsychis, acc unicum corpus.
Conligare Intellect. Fingo demonst acc solidissimus sola integrates.
Thornfeld chanted then nodded to his two colleagues who nodded back. At the next repeating of the chorus, all three began an integrated chant as the Book of Rituals commanded.
Integro haec terci, spiritus, intellect et corporis. Decoquo ea acc metempsychis, acc unicum corpus.
Conligare corporis. Fingo demonst acc solidissimus sola integrates.
Conligare Spiritus. Fingo demonst acc solidissimus sola integrates.
Conligare Intellect. Fingo demonst acc solidissimus sola integrates.
Three times three they chanted on, nine repetitions before they felt able to stop and slump backwards from the wooden table that held their patient. Professor Severus Ibrim Snape looked… not peaceful and serene, but agonised and cramped.
"That's not right," Morecombe said tiredly, too drained to do more than lift a finger.
Before the other two could comment, pupil-free black eyes flew open and terror twisted the long skulled face into a mask. Clawing and whining pitifully, Severus scrambled off the table and away from the three looming figures, banging into the wall and scrabbling at the doorknob. Accidental magic disabled the wards and he fled, the hospital gown flapping behind as he sought somewhere to hide. A dark space under something caught his terrified gaze and he shot under the bed, banging his head and catching his hair in the springs without regard for pain as he sought the safety of the darkness.
"Holy shit on a stick!" Morecombe exclaimed as he managed to gather the wherewithal to follow the fleeing man. He almost caught Snape at the first bend of the corridor but the skinny bugger was fast, whipping around the corner like a prize racehorse galloping onward, long legs all knees and flapping gown mooning the passing world. It would have been highly funny if it hadn't been so traumatic, staff and visitors leaping aside as waves of wild-eyed terror almost paralysed them. The quarry went to ground under a bed in the Janus Thackery Ward, its occupants cackling madly as the eminent Medi-wizard made a grab and ended up with a banged nose for his trouble.
Thornfeld and Spencer came puffing up and all three gasped for breath as they studied the situation almost without comprehension.
"What do we do now?"
"Did it work?"
The questions were all good and pertinent but at this very moment unanswerable. Before Morecombe could even shrug, the doors flew open again and a mob stormed the usually orderly environs of the Spell Damage ward, led by a pair of Valkyrie who looked to have blood in their eyes.
"What the Hell is going on here? And you had better have a very good explanation, Thornfeld or hexing will be too damned good for you, you understand?" the right-hand one with the wild brown hair snarled, making the older man back up fearfully.
The left-hand one grabbed the edge of the bed and peered under it, pulling her head back and rubbing her eyes before shaking her head. "Now that was more than I ever wanted to see of Professor Snape," she murmured before taking a deep breath. "Hermione, Professor Snape is under the bed and it doesn't look good," she remarked angrily.
"Under the bed? You had better get him out of there, Thornfeld! And he better be in one piece if you want to stay that way yourself!" Hermione snapped dangerously, her pointed finger more threatening than a wand in the face, sparks beginning to crackle in her hair.
Everyone had heard of the Gryffindor Lioness and now Tobias knew exactly why she was called that; all that power and rage closely focussed on him. He slid down the wall and slunk over to the bed on his knees, poking his head under only to have a wave of pure magic slam into his forehead, rendering him insensate in one half-directed blow.
Ginny snorted and bent again, noticing that her professor had crunched down into an even smaller ball if that was possible. "The things we do…" she muttered as she too went to her knees and began to creep under the bed slowly, murmuring reassurance to the cowed and terrified man.
Those black-on-black eyes flicked over her, saw that her hair made a red halo around her head and dredged up some half-forgotten instruction from… someone. Trust only red-headed women. Snape tried to smile, a tooth-baring grimace but it seemed to be enough and the woman crawled a bit closer, her fingers touching his ankle, then his knee, stroking gently and soothingly as she murmured something about safety and taking care of him. He mewled as she came closer but didn't move away which Ginny took as a good sign as she moved even closer, slowly raising her hand to push a strand of lank hair off his face. It wasn't greasy, merely baby soft which clung to her fingers; then suddenly she was almost knocked over as the man launched himself at her, wrapping two arms like steel bands around her middle as he began to sob in terror.
"Oh Merlin forefend! I sincerely hope you never remember this, Professor Snape! You'd never forgive me!" she sighed as she tried balancing herself and the armful of terror she was holding.
"What's happening, Ginny?"
"I have him but he's in no condition to move at the moment. I don't know what they did to him but he's a complete wreck! Can you get a blanket over him? I think if he was warmer he'd be a bit less shocky, and a box of tissues would be nice. Who'd have thought you would be so… so snotty?" she asked into the hair pressed into her chest in black humour. "Alright now, you're safe, Sevvy, I've got you. No one will hurt you, I promise. There, there, now. Calm down, baby, just calm down and breathe. Here we go, blow. Good boy, that's it. We're going to wrap you up warm and snug now; yes, a blanket, that's right, all snugly, there." Ginny let her mouth run while turning her brain and its shrieks of horror off. This was not her Potions Master, this was a frightened child who needed soothing, was all, just another frightened child.
She repeated the silent mantra as she felt the bed above them being levitated away and realised Malfoy was directing Harry to put it aside. Hermione straightened the blankets around the professor's shoulders as Crabbe bent to gather the man's lanky length up in his arms. However, Severus wasn't letting go of his safety and Ginny was forced to try and get up too. A hand under her elbow made her nod and smile as Millicent Bulstrode heaved her smoothly and somewhat effortlessly to her feet, guiding her in the awkward position she was in to a bed in the corner. In seconds, she was on the bed, still holding Snape who was arranged neatly in her lap while cocooned in blankets. Before the curtains were drawn, Hermione and Draco took up chairs on either side of the bed, both patting Severus' back in soothing motions. Shadows on the curtains showed the solid outlines of Crabbe and Bulstrode on vigilant guard.
"Well, this is a fine bloody kettle of fish, this is," Draco finally said in a furious mutter. "I'm beginning to think the world has it in for Severus with a vengeance. Seems we can't take our eyes off him for a second without some other disaster befalling him!"
"I think we have to get him out of St Mungo's to a place of safety as soon as he's able to move," Hermione replied, coiling a tress of hair around her finger in thought. "I wish…"
Suddenly, the curtains were dashed aside and an apocalyptic figure stood there, fear and fury rolling off him in waves. Draco went for his wand while Hermione's mouth dropped open. She had never seen the Headmaster look so intimidating and terrifying in her life! Ginny felt like a butterfly on the pin of the ice blue gaze as Albus Dumbledore took in the scene before him in one all-encompassing glare. Slowly, and very deliberately, he turned and stabbed the three Medi-wizards with a shaft of Legilimency that was unstoppable, gathering their past actions, reasons and rationalisations in one fell swoop.
"I leave my son in your care for one single week and this is how I find him on my return! I am not amused!" Albus said softly, a deadly note creeping from his depths in his power belled voice. This was not a kindly grandfather or the benign icon of the Light, but a thoroughly enraged Master Wizard! "We are leaving. My child would receive more care and considerations anywhere else than here, even the lowliest of hedgerows hospices, than in this supposedly prestigious hospital! Poppy shall tend him at Hogwarts!"
With an unprecedented display of power that left all of the younger magical folk gaping and every ward the hospital owned clanging a warning, Albus Dumbledore Apparated out of St Mungo's with his adopted son cushioned in his magic.
oo0oo
AN: Okay, its not a new chapter but a revised and revamped old chapter. Sorry about that but I'll get there. I hope to be able to at least get the rest of part 1 and the whole of part 2 put up in the coming weeks. No promises though, the spirit is willing but the body is falling to bits around me. Thank you all for your kind reviews and clicked favourites tags, every little bit helps in ways I cannot name but do know it is always greatly appreciated.
Regards
Les