“What do we do if…?” Serena couldn’t quite finish the question, but it was the closest that any of them had come to asking it.
Severus looked at the three of his children, who were looking back at him waiting for an answer. “We shall continue on with our lives. It will not be the same, but change is inevitable.” His tone was sharp and precise. Serena and Dierna grinned at him in response.
“Will you send me away?” Olivia asked.
“Never,” Severus held her tighter, not quite sure what had prompted the question, but not sure if now was the time to delve deeper. He knew he did not have the innate parenting skills that Morgan did. He still, after so many years, was somewhat mystified by his children. He was never quite sure what to say to them, or how to deal with them.
They sat in silence until the sun was fully up. “I believe you have classes to attend, and I have classes to teach,” he checked his pocket watch as he nudged Olivia off of his lap. “I believe you have lessons as well,” he addressed Olivia as she tried to cling to him. He nodded to the end of the hall where Draco was standing, he wasn’t sure when the younger man had arrived. But there was no mistaking the small nod of approval that Draco graced him with. He stiffened, his pride instantly rearing up. He did not need the approval of a former student! Even if that former student may have been right… had most certainly been right…
He spent so long contemplating that thought that he expected to be alone when he finally looked up. But, Dierna was still standing there.
“I have a free period now,” she explained with a shrug. It was, in fact, the free period that she had used to spend with her father. Recently… he hadn’t been around and she had used the time for other pursuits.
Severus nodded, “I had forgotten about that.”
“Would you mind if I…?”
“Of course not.”
Dierna bent to pick up her school bag, “Dad, could we just talk today?”
Severus raised an inquisitive eyebrow.
“It’s just something… something I don’t think I can talk to anyone else about,” her words were coming faster now, tripping over each other. She was so used to not talking to her father that it was difficult now, “and I have to make a decision, and I think I have, but I don’t know if it’s the right one, and I… I just need to talk to you about it.”
“Shall I have the House Elves send tea down to my office?” He answered all of Dierna’s fears that she might be pushed away again with that one question. He wanted nothing more than to sit by his wife’s side while he could, to relive the mistakes he had made that had brought her to this state. To keep torturing himself… but he wasn’t allowed that option anymore.
~~~~~~~~~~
Nimue stared around her, there was mist all around, and steep cliffs rose up on either side of her. She shivered from the cold air and hugged herself. The light wool robes she wore, while more than adequate for the Greek winter did not suffice here. She struggled to keep her tears at bay, she had no idea where ‘here’ was. She had managed to apparate herself in one piece, but she was now lost with no clue how to get herself un-lost.
At least she had her wand, which she drew from her sleeve, its light weight felt comforting in her hand. Something rustled in the bushes around her and she spun around, wand held at the ready, but not sure what she was looking for. Her breathing was loud in her otherwise still surroundings. No more sounds came from the bushes.
She closed her eyes as she tried to calm her heart and strained to listen. Finally, she caught the sound of running water. It was her only guiding point, so she went towards it.
She fought her way through the undergrowth as she walked blindly through the mist. She couldn’t even see the sun to have any idea of the time or the direction in which she was headed. As the sound of the water grew louder she was also able to hear voices. Whatever language the spoke in, she couldn’t understand, but it was two women. As she struggled through the last tangled branches she heard the sound of wings. And by the time she stood on the bank of the stream there was only one woman there, her hood pulled far over her face.
“You have come a long way on your own child,” the stranger’s voice was full and melodious.
Nimue sighed, she seemed to have little choice left, and would have to take her chances, “I am lost.” She trembled in the cold as an icy wind seemed to blow straight through her. She was vaguely away of the ravens perched above, staring down at the scene below them.
The woman nodded, the hood of her cloak falling back to reveal a stately woman with rich red hair braided and coiled on top of her head, she wore it like a crown. “What you seek lies in that direction, Nimue,” she pointed in the direction that the stream was flowing.
“How do you know who I am?” Nimue took a step backwards and jumped as a twig snapped under her foot. This felt like a dream… a strange one. She was sure that she would wake up at any moment and find herself back on her cot in the novice’s quarters.
“We all have our own gifts, and we must learn to use them to the best of our ability,” the woman answered vaguely. She smiled, “are you a witch or not? Transfigure yourself something warmer to wear, you have a long journey ahead of you, and the walk to Hogwarts is just the beginning of it.” She turned and started walking in the opposite direction, away from where she had told Nimue the school was.
“How far is it?” Nimue called after her, not really expecting an answer.
But, the woman turned back, “you will spend at least one night sleeping under the stars, no more than that if you are lucky.” She smiled again, “do not worry, they will make sure that you make it to your destination.”
“Who will?!” but there was no answer, for the woman was gone. Nimue looked around her, no one was in sight. She turned to start her trek down the river and nearly tripped over the bundle that had appeared at her feet. Her hands trembled as she picked it up, a slip of parchment with her name written on it was pinned to it. Inside the canvas bag was a warm cloak, a loaf of bread, and a bottle of butterbeer. She looked around the mist filled valley again, but could still see no one. “I guess I have no choice,” she muttered to herself. She wrapped herself in the cloak and slung the bag over her shoulder as she picked her way along the rough path by the stream.
She could not see anyone, but they were watching her as she traveled.
~~~~~~~~~~
Severus seated himself at his desk as Dierna took the chair across from him.
“I’d like you to look at these and give me your opinion on them,” she slid a stack of parchments across the desk to him.
Severus looked at the top parchment, and then flipped through the rest of them quickly, “you haven’t even taken your NEWTS yet…”
Dierna sighed, “ I know,” her face darkened, “you’ll notice that most of them start with ‘given your current grades and your father’s good standing in the potions community…’” she snorted, “I’d rather they had come after the NEWTS.”
Severus sat back to start reading, looked back up at his daughter, and realized that she was watching him intently. His realization that he still had children to look after did not erase months of mistakes and bitter silence. He found himself uncomfortable and annoyed at being under such close observation. “Do not sit there gaping at me!” he snapped, “I’m sure you have homework you could be working on. Do not think that I will allow you to squander your time just because I am doing you a favor.”
Dierna cringed slightly at his harsh tone, but realized that he meant no real harm by it. She pulled out her Transfiguration text and some notes, but didn’t really pay attention to either of them. She read the same page at least a dozen times and couldn’t recall a single word on it. When she thought she couldn’t stand it any longer her father demanded her attention.
“These are rubbish,” he tossed the majority of the apprenticeship offers into the wastebasket at the side of his desk. She noticed that most of them were the ones she had marked as being of no interest to her. They were either in a part of the world she had no desire to live in, or poorly paid positions, or ones that wanted her based only on her father’s merits. She noticed that one she had marked as a possible option had gone in the waste basket as well. “What about Master O’Teal’s offer?”
Severus’ mouth turned down in an open sneer, “he runs a very productive laboratory. What few people know is that he takes his apprentices’ research projects and tends to attach his name to them. Not at all an honest man. You will not be working with him.”
“Alright then,” Dierna looked at the two pieces of parchment that remained, “those were my first two choices anyways…”
Severus examined them again, “they’re both fools, I would never offer an apprentice a stipend of that amount, especially one who hasn’t taken their NEWTS yet. It’s far more than you deserve… however, they both tend to be fair in their dealings with apprentices, run well maintained labs, and are well respected by their peers. They are both good choices.”
“But which one should I accept?” Dierna leaned forward.
“I cannot answer that for you.”
“But…”
“You already showed good judgment in sorting out all of your offers as you did. I offered my opinion on O’Teal’s offer because you would not be familiar with the rumors concerning his less than honest dealings with students. You are seventeen Dierna, you are of legal age, it’s time to start planning your own life, I cannot and will not do it for you.” She looked so lost, and he remembered the agony of deciding where to apprentice when he was her age, that he did not turn her out as he was intending to, “but, I will listen if you feel the need to talk out your concerns.”
Dierna pulled the two offers towards her, “LeBeau has offered a slightly higher stipend, and his lab tends to specialize in healing potions, which I’m interested in. But, I’ll have more options with al-Rashid if I decide I want to pursue research in another area of study… I would be closer to home if I went with LeBeau… but…” she paused, not knowing if her next point was a valid one or not.
“You’ve idolized al-Rashid since the first time you stole one of his books out of my library.”
Dierna nodded. “Is it wrong to use that as a point in his favor?”
“Is it wrong to hold it against him?”
Dierna nodded slowly. “I think… I think I would like to apprentice with al-Rashid. I know his lab is much larger than most, so I wouldn’t be working directly with him much of the time, but… I don’t think I can refuse his offer.”
“One point of advise I will give you,” Severus had to work hard to fight down the surge of pride that threatened to fill him. Pride that one of his children shared his passion enough to pursue a career in the same field as him, “do not accept or deny any offers without visiting the lab first. They have both invited you to do so.”
Dierna smiled, “I guess that means I get to go to Rome. Can I go on a weekend?”
“I suppose that could be arranged.” Severus was personally glad that al-Rashid’s offer came for his branch in Rome. His main labs were located in Cairo and Constantinople, both places where he would rather his daughter didn’t live on her own. Rome, while not the safest of cities, he could at least approve of, if somewhat reluctantly.
He was nearly late to his own class he sat so long in his office thinking, after Dierna had left. His thoughts turned from his own children growing up to the parentless children in his own House, a House he had neglected of late. His anger with himself for leaving them alone for so long was intense enough that the unlucky group of Second Years he taught late that morning lost so many points and were so thoroughly chewed out that one would have thought that Voldemort himself must have paid the potions master a visit in the preceding hour.
~~~~~~~~~~
Nimue pulled the hood of the cloak up over her head and settled her back against a large smooth rock. She palmed her wand, wishing she could light a fire. But she didn’t dare chance it. She still wasn’t sure where she was. And she wasn’t sure what, or who, might be out there in the darkness.
She settled for setting another warming charm on the cloak. She had kept resetting it throughout the day. Her charms weren’t strong enough to last for more than a few hours at a time.
She kept playing the events of the day back to herself in her head, even as she listened carefully to her surroundings, knowing that she must stay alert. It had all been so strange… the way they had been planning her future for her, as though she were a pawn in some game… She had to wonder how much meddling the priestesses actually got away with. She was also confused as to why Svafa had stood up for her, and seemed so satisfied with the fact that she had left. She’d never even seen Svafa until a few short days ago. And then there was the strange woman she had met earlier, and whoever it was that was supposedly watching over her…
Of course Remus would know what she had done by now. She wondered what he would have to say about her course of action, he had reminded her so often of late to think before she acted! She also wondered how long it would be before her father was informed of what she had done.
She had been sent away for her own protection and for the protection of those around her. She could have put them all in danger. And she was hopelessly lost… all she knew was that she was somewhere far north of Greece. And she only knew that because of how cold it was.
She looked up at the night sky. The mist had thinned some and she could see the starts between the wispy clouds. “Please let me get home again…” she hadn’t wished on a star in years. But the stars were her only companions tonight.
She pulled the cloak tighter around her, clutching the bag with the rest of her food to her chest… it wasn’t much… and pillowed her head on her arm. As she fell asleep it silently began to snow. Soft dancing white flakes that softened the harsh winter landscape and clothed the naked black trees. The last thing she saw was the white snow against the darkness. She slept all night without seeing the eyes that watched her, eyes that shone in the moonlight, as bright as the stars.
~~~~~~~~~~
