Sleepbringer
The sweet, low sound of a bell alerted Snape to the fact that something was amiss in the Slytherin Common Room. That, and the incredible wave of fatigue that suddenly swept over him and almost flattened him snoring to the ground where he stood. He blinked convulsively as a huge, undignified yawn split his face.
Snape shook himself. Something was going on. The very air of the dungeons tasted suddenly of Dark Magic. Of ancient, very dark magic. Another yawn made tears leak out of the corners of his eyes. He scowled, fumbled with clumsy hands for a phial of Invigoration Draught and downed it quickly.
Then he gripped his wand and strode towards the common room of Slytherin House.
oooOooo
Once inside Snape was greeted by scene of rare peacefulness. Just before dinner, the common room was packed and normally quite a rowdy place.Tonight, however, silence reigned supreme.The lifeless bodies of students lay on the ground or slumped motionless over tables and in their chairs. Only Alina Petrel was standing in the middle of the room, her right arm raised, a tiny silver bell clasped in her hand, her dark eyes wild with fright.
Icy shock flashed through Snape. He fell to his knees next to Geilis Duncan and pressed his fingertips against her throat, held the inner side of his wrist in front of her half-opened mouth. After one of the longest moments of his life, a deep sigh of relief escaped him. He drew himself up and willed the frantic beating of his heart to slow down.
Miss Duncan was merely asleep.
A quick investigation assured him that indeed all of the students who had collapsed in the Slytherin common room had merely fallen asleep wherever they had been standing and whatever they had been doing.
With one notable exception.
‘MISS PETREL,’ Snape roared. ‘WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?’
oooOooo
‘What did you put in there?’ Severus’s voice was so hoarse that his words were barely audible when he eyed the steaming cup with obvious misgivings.
The line between his brows cut deeper than normally.
‘A pinch of slippery elm bark, some wild cherry bark, cardamom, clove and a spoon of finely chopped liquorice root. Blended with Assam. With hot milk and honey,’ Hermione explained patiently. ‘And I’m not trying to poison you. It’s one of Professor Sprout’s recipes. Neville says it’s going to help you.’
‘I am supposed to find something that Longbottom said reassuring?’
Hermione’s lips twitched. ‘This is his area of expertise, Severus. It’s a herbal tea. Not a potion.’
‘Hmpf.’ But Severus picked up his tea and took a careful sip. Then another. And another. For a long while they sat together in silence, simply drinking their tea. After a day spent in boisterous classrooms, the quiet of their quarters was very welcome indeed.
‘So what did Alina do this time?’
Severus drew up his eyebrows and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
‘It seems that the Room of Requirement has seen it fit to give Miss Petrel a present during our wedding reception,’ he rasped.
Yelling at Alina had taken a lot out of his voice. Hermione frowned worriedly. Whatever the room had give Alina must be very dangerous for Severus to be in such a state. A moment later, her suspicions were confirmed.
‘The damn Room dumped the tool of a Necromancer into the girl’s lap,’ Severus went on. ‘And instead of bringing it to me for inspection, the little idiot simply tried it out right there in the common room.’
‘Alina rang a Necromancer’s bell?’ Hermione gasped with shock.
Necromancy wasn’t taught at Hogwarts, but it was part of the Ninth Year curriculum at Durmstrang and of Auror Training in Britain.
‘Why am I not surprised that you know about necromancy?’ Snape asked wearily.
‘Err…probably because you know me too well?’ She bit down on her lower lip. ‘Harry did a course a while ago. It’s part of his Auror Training, apparently. And you know that Harry’s interested in everything to do with the Deathly Hallows, because—well, because of what happened during the battle. And now that the Elder Wand may have been stolen…’ Hermione felt her cheeks grow hot. ‘I—uh—I may have persuaded Harry to share some of his course-materials with me.’
‘Hermione, have you learned nothing at all from the last years?’ Severus held up his hand to still her hurt protest before she even opened her mouth. ‘Forgive me. I didn’t mean it like that. But you do need to promise something to me now, Hermione.
‘Promise me that you will come to me with whatever you wish to learn. I will teach you enough to satisfy your curiosity. But please, promise me that you will never touch any of the Dark Arts on your own. Promise me, Hermione. If you value the integrity of your soul, promise that to me.’
His eyes bored into her with frightening intensity. She swallowed drily.
‘I promise,’ she said at last. ‘About today…what kind of bell was it? And you could wake everyone, right?’
‘It was the bell traditionally called ‘Ranna’. The first and smallest of the seven bells that a Necromancer wields,’ Severus explained. ‘She is also called ‘somnifer’ or ‘sleepbringer’, as that is her power—to bring silence and sleep. Including eternal slumber.’
‘Oh shit,’ Hermione cursed softly.
‘Indeed.’
‘What did you do?’
‘After I screamed at Miss Petrel in a way fit to wake the dead right there and then without the help of any bells and brought the Bloody Baron breathing down my neck?’ Severus rotated tense shoulders. When he looked at Hermione again, his eyes were dark with regret.
‘I woke them,’ he said simply. ‘And then I gave Miss Petrel detention until the end of the term.’
Her heart seemed to freeze inside her. Hermione shuddered convulsively.
‘I woke them.’
Once again her whole world had changed from one second to the next.
Her husband was a necromancer.
Oh, Chartres cathedral! What a perfect destination!
I visited there in high school when on the exchange program. It was the first cathedral I ever visited, and I shall never forget the feeling of amazement!
They are working on restoring the windows at the moment. I think they will be done in 2011/2012 … can’t wait to see it again then, all bright like at the time it was built.
I loved your story… so far. But Severus Snape in a church? Oh my, quite OOC, but OK, he needed someone to talk to, so I drop the topic.
BUt this punishment for Alina is rather brutal. And for what? That a half-Keazle cat disappeared for two days? C’mooooon…. And Ginny was standing there and watching? What happened to your characters? They were sooo perfect! Especially Snape, and now this chatedral, or church, or whatever…
Ok, I’ll read on, just wanted to tell my thoughts.
Thank you for spending time with my story. Thank you even more for taking the time to leave a comment! I’m glad you enjoy it so far.
Why shouldn’t Snape visit a church? And where in canon does it say he wouldn’t? 😉
Re: Alina’s punishment – I’d be shocked if you didn’t think it harsh!
However … even at “Muggle” boarding schools traditions of hazing and punishment among students are incredibly cruel and harsh in real life. JKR chose to ignore that part of public school tradition; I decided against that. The shock and revulsion you (hopefully) feel are quite intentional.
Please feel free to offer your thoughts any time, I’m always curious about what my readers think. Even if I don’t agree with them. 😉
Oh, don’t get me wrong! Of course it is not impossible for him to go a place like a church, I just feel like it’s wierd.
And as for Alina, yes, I felt shock. That was oh, ‘harsh’ is not the right word. But the most shocking thing was that Ginny was standing there and watching, without a word.
So I was relieved when she told the whole thing to Hermione.
And that part with McGonagoll, and keep your stupid cup, LOL 😀 Loved that.
That’s fine, really. 🙂 I am trying to portray Severus as a character with unexpected depths, after all.
I have read your story on fanfiction.net a while back but I really like this version better. it gives a lot more… structure? character? feeling? to the story.. I am unable to describe the exact thing.. but still.
Good work all around..
I am thrilled that you’re enjoying the way I present my story here! And what a wonderful compliment that you came back to read it again. w00t
I love Chartres Cathedral. I wrote a paper on it for Art History class and found that the Masons built many esoteric features into it. When I actually was fortunate enough to visit it in person, it had a spiritual effect on me. I visited many other cathedrals in France that trip, and none of them made me feel the way that one did.
I’m so glad Severus took Hermione there. Still not sure why he would, but your Severus seems full of surprises. I’m sure, given time, he will grow to love her as much as she does him. He is well on his way already.
Great story.
Chartres is amazing. 🙂
Re: Severus – in canon he always struck me as a man of many (surprising) secrets. So I enjoyed giving him a few more in my story!
I have never seen the Chatres Cathedral, but I have seen other cathedrals and can imagine the feeling this one can give you. Loved the pictures.
So, Alina is a Necromancer, whatever that is. I hope I don’t need more information than you give within this story. (I don’t know the books you refer there.)
That punishment was really harsh and unusual, but I can see this within the HP universe, even if it was never described. The HP universe has a lot of really cruel customs. I remember how shocked I was at the outcome of the Triwizard tournament. I think this fits with the feeling the House of Slytherin gave me as portrayed in the books.
What is a half kneazel? You just need to know cats to know they can vanish for days without anyone finding them. The castle is big and Crookshanks had years to explore the thing. It seems the students don’t know cats very well 😉 . But I can imagine how desperate poor Alina was when she noticed the cat was missing. From there on everything just spun out of control. I just hope that this incident plus the bell incident didn’t cost Alina her Slytherin friends. She needs friends in school and not just friends in other houses or among the staff.
Necromancers (the manifestation of Sauron in Dol Guldur was called a Necromancer, too) are wizards with a special affinity for the dead, to put it simply. They can talk to the dead or control zombies … depends on the interpretation, really. I was fascinated with the world-building in the “Abhorsen” books, and in conjunction with some HP death magic (like the Veil), it seemed to me an interesting AU angle to explore.
Re: the punishment, yes, yes, yes, exactly! This is one of the scenes that usually leaves readers totally shocked. But based on what I know about “normal” hazing in Muggle British public schools, I think Slytherin must have been ten times worse. And isn’t it how those things usually go? Good intentions all around and suddenly you’re sitting in a handbasket and it’s getting awfully hot and the air smells of sulphur …
Kneazles: http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Kneazle
(I think they show that JKR doesn’t really know cats, because they are like that and do all that stuff without any magic, thank you very much. 😉 )
Beautiful. As is the rest of this novel, but this was so unexpected! Looking forward to the whole unchartered territory ahead of our newlyweds.
20 years? It’s high time I saw Chartres again, and took my son (it’s ridiculously near my usual place).
And I’ll go on minding my h’s 😉
Thank you for reading! And oh, Chartres … you’re lucky to live so close. I’ve been wanting to visit again for years … the windows are supposed to be better than ever after the restoration. But unfortunately I live really, really far away. *sigh*
I’m glad you’re enjoying the story! *hearts*