Magical Splendor

Magical Splendor
Violetuk13
Harry/Severus, Lucius/Severus
I do not own Harry Potter J.K. Rowling does so I do not make any money from writing about it.
NOTE: for the purpose of overcoming child pornography laws I am changing the ages of the children to 18 but still keeping them in the same year at Hogwarts.
****************************************************************

Chapter 1 Magical splendor

Harry rolled out of bed one particularly dark Monday morning and dressed for school like he always did. He followed the same routine every morning and it was beginning to get to him. He scolded himself silently as he found himself wishing that something bad would happen so he could get some excitement.

He met Ron and Hermione in the common room realizing that his sluggish movements had made them late to breakfast again. Harry winced as he heard the heavy clicking of professor Snape’s heals coming from behind them. Every morning Snape would catch them sneaking into breakfast late and yell at them as he walked quickly down the hallway in that frightening way only Voldemort could match. As they turned to meet the ferocious look they were sure to receive, what greeted them was even more terrifying. Snape had not even acknowledged their presence at all as he moved past them slowly with his eyes downcast. Ron gasped in utter shock and it brought professor Snape out of his trance. He looked over at them slowly.

Harry thought the frigid emptiness he saw in those usually intense black eyes would freeze him on the spot. Before he could look anymore Snape walked soundlessly into the dinning hall, staying close to the walls so no one would notice him entering.

“Did you see that?” Harry asked quietly. “His eyes...”

“What about them Harry?” Ron inquired.

“They were so empty.”

“I think Hermione and I were too busy looking at the rest of his face.” Harry had been so completely engulfed in Snape’s gaze that he hadn’t even seen anything else.

“You didn’t see it Harry? His left cheek was bruised and his bottom lip looked like it was swollen or cut or something.”

“What happened to him?” Harry asked aloud.

“Who cares at least he didn’t yell at us.” Ron replied.

“Ron.” Hermione scolded, “There is something horribly wrong with him and regardless of how mean he is it has to be something really serious to get him like that.”

“What, you like Snape all of a sudden?”

“No, but I still want to know what happened to him.” Hermione said sternly.

“I think we’ve been a bad influence on her Harry.”

“Well, we’re not going to find anything out standing in the hallway.” Harry said. They followed Snape into the dinning hall and took the first empty seats they saw at the head of the Griffindor table. Here, they were closer to the teachers and they could watch Snape more intently. The dark professor kept his head low, obviously trying to avoid the gazes of his colleagues as well.

“Lucius Malfoy is here at Hogwarts for a while because of some business affair I heard. I don’t like that man at all.” A boy sitting across from them was saying to the rather attractive girl next to him.

“Me either, he scares me.”

“I heard Snape was fighting with Mr. Malfoy in his office last night.” Another girl added, joining into their conversation.

“Really?”

“Yeah, it seemed like a bad argument to me, lots of raised voices and stuff.” She stated.

“Those two are bad news don’t you think? They’ve always given me the creeps.”

“Did you hear that?” Harry asked turning to Hermione and Ron. They both nodded.

“Do you think Lucius Malfoy could have.....” He trailed off.

“Well, it does seem like he’d be a lot stronger than Snape physically, but don’t you think they’d resort to magic instead of a fist fight?” Ron offered.

“And Lucius has yet to make an appearance. I doubt he’s still here if he ever was in the first place, you know he doesn’t like Dumbledore I don’t think he’d stay in the castle for long. Notice everyone is saying that they heard Mr. Malfoy was in the castle yesterday no one actually saw him.” After Hermione’s statement they all frowned before turning to look at Snape again, only this time he was looking back at them. Hastily they turned away and began eating their breakfast, feeling his eyes on them all the while.

Harry saw Dumbledore lean over Snape from behind and whisper in his ear, saw the brief moment of panic it caused in the dark haired professor. They got up from the table and walked into the back room and Harry found himself wishing that he had his invisibility cloak so he could follow them, that’s when he remembered. He had left the invisibility cloak out on his bed; anyone would be able to find it.

“I’ll be back.” He said rather nervously dashing out of the dinning hall and up the stairs to the common room. Luckily it was right where he left it and he picked it up with a sigh but at that moment the door to the common room opened. Harry folded up the cloak and hid it in his satchel which was thankfully still hanging off his right shoulder and left the room. On his way back down the hallway he saw Snape and Dumbledore walking towards him and he stepped into the shadows. They stopped before one of the faculty store rooms.

“Is this really necessary Albus?” Snape said rather shortly, trying really hard not to be rude, but obviously not wanting to talk about what ever it was Dumbledore was inquiring about. The head master opened the door and motioned for Snape to step inside, which was when Harry made up his mind. He pulled out the invisibility cloak and threw it over himself, slipping into the room before the door slid closed.

Once inside the room he stayed in the furthest corner he could find to watch and listen hopefully without alerting them to his presence. Dumbledore reached out an old wrinkled hand and gently brushed the hair away from the left side of Snape’s neck. The dark professor stood there quietly with defiant posture even though he made no move to stop Dumbledore. Harry couldn’t see what he was looking at because the old wizards hand was in the way, moving before Harry could find a better angel.

“What you did was very dangerous Severus. You’re lucky you got away with these few marks.” Dumbledore said. Snape’s face was impassive but his voice sounded weak.

“I had no choice it attacked me.”

“Is it still here on the grounds?” The old wizard asked.

“I’m afraid so.”

Dumbledore sighed. “If that is the case we will have to call in the Dementors they are the only ones the creature can’t lay a finger on. It’s our only choice the prefects can’t handle a magical beast of that power and there aren’t enough teachers to be everywhere at once. We will have to enforce strict rules for the students to follow and a curfew.” He said quietly.

“Yes that would be wise.”

“And you might want to tend to this and take care of yourself.” Dumbledore stated, looking at Snape’s neck again. The younger man went to turn his head away, but lowered his eyes instead. He did not have the strength presently to challenge Dumbledore, and part of him still refused to believe that the older man actually cared.

“If he was trying to reach you again or harm you in anyway, you would tell me wouldn’t you.” He was giving Snape that all knowing, piercing look that Harry had been on the receiving end of more than once.

“Yes.” there was hesitation in his voice, something Harry wasn’t accustomed to hearing from him.

“You know what place you held then and why he would want revenge.” Snape seemed to be reflecting upon something of some great significance because he got an almost solemn expression on his face at Dumbledore’s words.

They turned and left then and Harry stayed behind to do some thinking. Who was the he Dumbledore had spoken of and what did Snape do to him? Had Snape held some kind of prestigious rank at some point? This was all too confusing for him to solve on his own he was going to need Hermione and Ron’s brains as well. He walked out into the hallway once again and made sure no one was looking before pulling the cloak off and stuffing it into his bag so he could rejoin his friends in the dinning hall.

“Where the hell did you run off to like that?” Ron inquired. Hermione stared angrily.

“I had to go get my fathers cloak cause I left it on my bed but I ended up having to bring it with me.” He sat down and looked at his food but his appetite was gone. “When I was coming down the stairs I saw Professor Dumbledore and Snape talking and I kind of used the cape to listen to what they were saying.”

“You were spying on them!? Harry the chances you are taking are leading me to believe you really are mad.” Hermione said, “I think even Ron will agree on this one.”

“So what were they saying Harry?”

“You two are unbelievable.” She made a face but continued listening.

“Apparently there is some kind of magical creature lose on the grounds that even the prefects can’t handle together. Dumbledore seemed very upset about it.”

“Do you know what it is?” Ron asked. Harry shook his head.

“Well what are they going to do about it?” Hermione was concerned now.

“Dumbledore said that they were going to call in the Dementors.” Just as Harry finished talking Dumbledore stood up and called for everyone’s attention.

“Last night a powerful creature appeared near the grounds of this school. It is cause for immediate concern and because of it I am going to have to invoke some serious rules to ensure that each and every student remains safe.” The dinning hall erupted into a furry of panicked voices and questions about what the creature was. Dumbledore called for silence again.

“The creature is a vampire, the ministry advised me not to tell you but I believe you should know what is going on here. Perhaps with this knowledge you will think twice about trying to break the rules I put down for you. Should you feel compelled to see the vampire for yourself let me inform you that you will be caught not only by a teacher but by a dementor as well.” The students were looking around frantically and whispering nervously to each other. “We are going to enforce a curfew and a few other rules so for now I want the prefects to take their houses back to their common rooms to wait. After I speak with the teachers I will have them returned to their assigned houses and to explain the rules.”

The prefects snapped to attention and began herding the panicking underclassmen in the directions of their common rooms. Once they were away from the teachers the students began talking about the vampire and asking each other questions which no one knew the answers to, no one except Harry.

They inched away from the crowd and off into the most secluded spot they could find. Allowing the others to know what they were talking about would be disastrous, and it would probably end Harry in a lot of trouble.

“There was something on Snape’s neck, a wound of some sort that he was really worried about and I know how it got there. The vampire attacked him and.....”

“That’s what he gets for being creepy and walking around the castle late at night.” Ron said. Hermione smacked him and then looked at Harry expectantly.

“Continue Harry.”

“Well he said something about a man who would want to hurt Snape because of something Snape did to him in the past. Apparently Snape held some sort of really important position under this man.” Hermione and Ron looked at each other in disbelief.

“I don’t know how we’re going to figure out all that but at least we can figure out what is on Snape’s neck when we’re in his class today.” Ron said.

Professor McGonagall entered the room slowly and everything fell quiet. She gave everyone a forced smile and then folded her hands in front of her and at that point Harry knew the news wasn’t going to be good. Just as Dumbledore had said the rules were very strict but not unreasonable. No one was supposed to walk the halls alone and the smallest amount of students allowed in a group was three. Classes were shortened so that everyone could be in their common rooms by eight p.m. After eight there was to be no one out in the halls for any reason and punishment would be severe if the rules were disobeyed.

Once dismissed, the students walked quietly to their classes. All outside classes that could not be moved inside were canceled until further notice; needless to say none of the students protested this. Harry found that he couldn’t seem to pay attention during his classes all he could think about was professor Snape.

When it finally came time for Snape’s class Harry stood outside for a few seconds trying to calm the butterflies that had started rampaging in his stomach. He sat right in front as he always did and fiddled with his wand. Snape seemed to be back in his aggressive mood and the only thing that remained unusual about him was his lack of energy. Instead of gliding up and down the rows scaring the pants off students like he normally did, Snape paced slowly in front of his desk.

The dark professor seemed to notice Harry watching his every move like a hawk and stopped right in front of him. He then proceeded to lean over and place his hands on Harry’s desk, a gesture which was meant to shake him up and did so marvelously.

“And that is why most potions do not work on Vampires.” He finished as he walked away.

The rest of the class was listening intently to what was being said but Harry couldn’t seem to focus on anything but Snape himself. All of Harry’s watching eventually paid off as the older man leaned over to inspect his filing cabinet his hair, which Harry noticed had gotten longer, slid away from his neck. Harry stared in disbelief at the two large puncture wounds in the horribly bruised flesh. When he looked away and back up at Snape he realized that the black eyes were focused only on him. Snape’s expression was grim and he couldn’t help feeling that somehow Snape was aware that he knew too much. Harry swallowed the lump in his throat and looked away before Snape could read anything in his eyes.

Snape walked back towards his own desk and turned around to face the class but before he could speak there was a loud noise on the ceiling. The potion master’s dark eyes darted from corner to corner, not exactly sure what had made the noise. The student’s were looking up as well but they couldn’t see anything.

“Severus nosotros domeno.” A voice hissed. Snape didn’t want to frighten the children so he kept his face blank even though he desperately wanted to know if they had heard it too.

“Feel me.” Suddenly Snape got the chills and the bite on his neck began to send pulses of intense pain all throughout his body. He could feel himself getting weaker and a soft moan escaped his lips. He almost collapsed but luckily his desk was there for him to grab onto. Slowly Snape raised a hand to his forehead and tried to massage the feeling out of his temples but it did no good. By now the students were watching him and it was obvious that they knew something was going on.

“That will be all for today class report to your common rooms and do something productive with the remainder of your time.” He said weakly. No one could believe what they were hearing and several students stared open mouthed.

“Now!” Snape shouted when people weren’t moving as fast as he would have liked for them to.

Harry looked back at Snape as he left the classroom noticing that the potion master’s eyes appeared blacker than usual and he was sweating. They made eye contact for a second before Harry lost his nerve and looked away, walking off after Hermione and Ron.