Unfortunately he was so practiced at his art that his mind was still free to wander while he finely chopped daisy roots to the exact size he needed. His Morgan was dying, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. The words echoed in his mind, so thunderous that he didn’t hear the door open, and he was a man to whom details such as that were imperative. He didn’t even sense the other presence in the room until it was almost upon him.
“Its past curfew,” he growled out.
Dierna looked down at her feet, “I snuck out.” They were the first words she had spoken to him in months.
Severus continued on as though he hadn’t heard her.
“Give me something to do,” Dierna softly pleaded. She too had found herself at loose ends and with a desire to keep herself busy. With their personalities so similar she had known that her father would be in a similar position.
Severus didn’t even look at her, merely gestured at his scribbled notes lying on top of his workspace.
Dierna picked up at the next step, not much caring what she did as long as she was doing something. She desperately needed her hands to be moving, something to focus her mind on. And she couldn’t help but think that she, just like her father, was incredibly selfish and uncaring about those around her. Viviane and Kamen and Serena were all concerned about each other and Olivia. All she wanted was peace of mind for herself.
Maybe she should have been a Slytherin… but was that House truly full of self-centered egotists? Even if it wasn’t, it was how most of Hogwarts viewed them.
She had plenty of time to ponder inter-House relations and the characterizations associated with each individual House. She showed up nearly every night for weeks on end, looking for something to do. Her father was always in his lab, ready to give her work. But, except for a few short words of instruction or a necessary question, they never spoke to each other.
~~~~~~~~~~~
“I’m worried about Snape,” Mark said as he played with his quill, spinning it between his fingers. He looked at the small group of students who had gathered on the couch and floor around him. Kay looked thoroughly depressed, Sophia was staring moodily off into the distance, and the terrible trio was dealing with their frustration the best way they knew how, causing destruction.
“Maybe one of us should go check on him,” Kay finally ventured to say as she laid her head on Mark’s shoulder. “He hasn’t been here to check on us since the attack, and it’s been two weeks. He’s come to check on us at least twice a week ever since we started school, more often if we’re being disruptive.”
“Maybe we should blow something up,” Marcus offered, looking devilishly hopeful at the prospect.
“Something big,” Agrippa added.
“But not big enough to get us thrashed,” Posthumous put in seriously, “its not good to cause that much trouble when Snape is in a temper.”
“Of course he might not even notice,” Marcus finished up bitterly.
“He does have problems of his own,” Kay pointed out, trying to be reasonable. “Besides, the Baron has been checking up on us every night.” However it wasn’t the same, and they all knew it. The Slytherins all but worshiped Snape, even with all his flaws. “Perhaps one of us should go check on him, tell him that we miss him,” she suggested as she gave Mark a pointed look.
“Why do I have to do everything?” he asked irritably.
“Because you’re Head Boy,” she responded logically.
Mark sighed, “fine.” It didn’t really matter, he would have gone on his own anyways. The rest of the school could say how sorry they were and move on, but the Slytherins were much too involved to let this slip by. They wouldn’t be content until they had their House Master back. Snape had practically raised half the students in his small House, he was more of a parent to some of them than their own parents had even been. They wouldn’t let him leave them like this if they could help it. They reveled in the constant attention that they received, so different from the other Houses. They truly were a family, and he wasn’t going to let anything tear them apart.
“Should we be worried about him?” Sophia asked as Mark left.
“No,” Kay said, trying to give her a reassuring smile, “he’s always been a favorite, as much as Snape says he doesn’t have any. Although this time…” she sighed, “I don’t think it’ll do any good.”
“We can still blow something up if this doesn’t work,” Agrippa pointed out.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Kay said wryly. She figured they’d blow something up anyways. They usually did.
~~~~~~~~~~~
“How are you managing?”
“I am managing just fine,” Remus said. He had Angelos in a sling nestled against his chest and his little foundling in a basket.
“Have you named the girl yet?” Cadmus asked. He still couldn’t believe the wizard had kept her. Especially with the cold shoulders he was receiving at the temple. As far as he could figure, Kalliope, Theodora, and Nimue were the only women still on speaking terms with him. And Nimue was the only one truly comfortable being around the deformed infant.
“I have, and I took Theodora’s advice about giving her a name that would make sure no one would try anything with her.”
“Well?”
“Kleopatra.”
Cadmus couldn’t help but grin, “her father’s glory… it certainly seems fitting. And it sends a clear message. Anyone who touches her will have you to contend with. I personally wouldn’t want to take any chances with a werewolf, I’d say it’s a good choice.”
“I’m worried about her though, she’s not gaining weight,” he set the basket down at his feet as he joined Cadmus by the camp fire. “Maybe the goat’s milk isn’t enough,” he adjusted the blankets around her face before checking on Angelos, who had fallen asleep again. He swore his son slept more than any baby he had ever seen. But it was probably a blessing.
Cadmus held up his hands, “do not ask my advice on that subject, wizard. I know nothing of raising children. I only get the boys when they turn seven, I am an old hand at turning them into warriors. Ask me for advice once that one,” he gestured to Angelos, “is old enough to hold a sword and a bow. Then I shall have plenty of advice for you.”
“I suppose I will just keep trying, maybe I can get Theodora to give me a bit more help…”
“From what I understand she’s already gone against Kalliope’s orders concerning a lack of involvement where your foundling is involved,” Cadmus said slyly, his white teeth flashing in a smile against his dark beard.
Remus raised a questioning eyebrow.
“Been terrorizing any more goats lately?” Cadmus asked as innocently as possible.
Remus snorted, “my goat milking skills have developed quite rapidly. Don’t listen to any stories that she tells you.”
Cadmus laughed, “then it was as bad as she made it out to be. You are too much into women’s work my friend. Leave the goat milking and the babies to the priestesses. You are not one of them, you should come more to our camp, perhaps join us in a hunting trip…”
“I am perfectly happy caring for the children,” Remus said, smiling to himself as he looked down at his son’s peaceful face. “I never thought I would have a family, and then I was reunited with Kalliope, and now our family has doubled in size.”
“I’m not sure that Kalliope agrees with you on that point. But, for some reason she loves you, so she has let the foundling stay. That in itself is a miracle. I would have thought she would turn her out.”
“Kalliope is above all that, she knows that some traditions are just… traditions. They are useless. Who could claim that this little thing is an ill omen,” he gestured to Kleopatra, who was silently staring up at him with big eyes.
“Very true wizard. But Kalliope must maintain her image. More than one High Priestess has stumbled and her divinity questioned. Sometimes when that happens,” he shrugged and drew his finger across his throat in a violent fashion. “It is best she follow tradition, at least until she can surmise how willing her followers are to bend the rules that they live by.”
~~~~~~~~~~~
“Why do things have to change?”
“Sometimes change is good little one,” the beautiful woman stroked Olivia’s black curls, “other times it is bad. We must live with what the fates decree.”
“I create my own fate,” the man said as he tossed a smooth rock, skipping it across the lake water.
“Hush, do not speak such blasphemy,” the woman admonished him.
“I wish I could control fate,” Olivia declared, she left the woman’s embrace to join the man. “Will you show me how to skip rocks like you?” she asked.
“Of course,” he searched for another smooth flat pebble for the girl, “perhaps if you are so miserable with what fate you have been given you would like to try changing it. You could come with us…”
The woman glared at the man fiercely, “now is not the time,” she hissed.
“It could be,” he replied as he adjusted Olivia’s small hand around the rock, “flick your wrist when you throw it. Just like that… and let it go…” he watched as the rock sank with a plop, “let’s try another one…”
“We cannot take her now! She will be missed,” the woman said low enough so that Olivia would not hear.
“But we have been given an assignment…”
“And I am in charge!” The two companions glared at each other in a battle of wills. The woman finally won out. “As long as I am in charge you will not touch the girl until I order you to,” she said softly. “The time will come and we will be well rewarded for doing our job.”
“Very well,” the man agreed reluctantly. “I will do as you say, for now…”
“Would you like to come up to the castle with me?” Olivia asked as she gave up on skipping rocks. It just wasn’t working for her. “It would be fun.” Fun was something that her life was sorely missing at the moment, and she clung desperately to these friends that she had made.
“We cannot,” the woman said, although she looked regretful. Her eyes shifted to the castle. There was an acquaintance of hers up at the school, one she dearly longed to meet again…
“What are your names?” It was a question Olivia had asked many times, and one that her companions never answered. It didn’t really bother her that she didn’t know their names. She trusted them completely.
“You can call me Narmer,” the man said lazily as he trailed his fingers in the icy water of the lake. It hadn’t completely frozen over yet and he had broken the thin layer of ice near the surface. Even without a coat on he didn’t see cold, his companion was never cold either. Olivia was starting to shiver in her heavy cloak and hat.
“That’s not your name,” the woman observed.
“But it is what I wish to be called,” her companion replied, shifting his eyes towards Olivia, “she doesn’t need to know our real names, in case she should tell anyone about us…” he trailed off, his point having been made.
The woman rolled her eyes in disgust, “striking catfish indeed… where on earth did you come up with that name?”
“It doesn’t matter. Even if she tells anyone they’ll never be able to trace that name back to our people… what was that?” he noticed someone coming down the hill.
“Mr. Malfoy!” Olivia called to her tutor, “I’m down here.” When she turned back toward the lake her companions had already disappeared.
“I have been looking for you everywhere, why did you run off?” Draco asked exasperatedly. Looking after a child was much harder than he had anticipated.
“I just wanted to play,” Olivia defended herself. She left out any mention of her friends. Somehow she knew that the adults wouldn’t approve, and she didn’t want to lose the only friends she had. “I’m cold, can we have hot chocolate when we go in? And can I take some to my mum?”
“Yes you can have not chocolate and we’ll visit your mother. But I don’t think you need to bring her anything, she is still asleep,” Draco wondered when someone was going to sit down with the girl and explain to her the likely hood of Morgan ever recovering. The resentment he felt towards Severus for not doing so surprised him. He had idolized the potions master during his days as a student and since then he had been too occupied trying to stay alive to give any thought to the fact that Severus Snape was in fact human. And a very fallible one at that. It took some getting used to and was rather depressing. He wondered if this was how Potter had felt when he realized all the mistakes Dumbledore had made. He had to force his attention back to Olivia who was chattering away again.
“Can I take her some anyways? Just in case she wakes up,” Olivia pressed.
Draco sighed, “of course.” Apparently his charge was not to be deterred, but at least it was something he could readily agree to. Of course the gesture would probably send Madam Pomphrey into another fit of tears.
~~~~~~~~~~
