Twin Link

Disclaimer: I own nothing I’m just a starving college student! Anyway JKR owns this world. I’m only borrowing it for a little bit. Making no money; this is only for fun!

Twin Link

Chapter: 10

By: Bree McGregor

It was late when Hermione made it back to the Gryffindor common room. But as soon as she did, Ginny pulled her aside excitedly…

“Ohhhh Hermione, did you hear?”

“Hear what?” she asked her redheaded friend, confused. By the look on Ginny’s face, this was something BIG.

“Come on, you will never believe it from me!” she said as she pulled Hermione up the stairway into the seventh year girls’ dorm. She opened the door to find almost all the Gryffindor female population in the room.

“I found her, Lavender! Tell her, tell her!” yelled Ginny. Lavender was glowing. No one had ever seen the girl look so happy.

“Well,” said Lavender. \"The night started off really badly. Markus dumped me, and I left the party early to go cry. That’s when Sachiel found me. We started talking, and, well, one thing led to another… I mean, WOW! that man is soooo good!”

“You slept with him!” asked Hermione. stunned.

“NO!” Lavender yelled, then started laughing. “What we did was nothing NEAR sleeping!”

“Okay, let me rephrase this… you had sex with a teacher?” she tried to keep the scorn out of her voice and cover it up with amazement. Evidently it worked, because Lavender nodded excitedly.

“And that’s not all,” she said, sounding like someone who still had a big secret. She grinned, then dropped the boom on the group of girls. \"Afterwards, he said I was really great, and asked if I would go with him to the south of France over the summer, after graduation!!!”

The room went into a frenzy! All the girls were yelling excitedly, happy for their friend. After a few moments, Hermione slipped away undetected. Being Head Girl and having the right to go about after curfew, she quietly made her way to the Owlery.

~*~*~*~*~

The next morning, Severus and Sachiel Snape stood before the Headmaster. His office was filled with light, and would have been cheery if Dumbledore didn’t look so stern. He neither invited them to sit down nor did he offer them any candy.

This was bad.

Dumbledore sighed as he looked at the two men before him. He shook his head sadly, and then he placed his head in his hands with a look of despair.

This was very bad.

“If I may, Headmaster,” spoke Severus.

Dumbledore didn’t even look up at him. He just waved his hand for him to continue, even though he already knew what Severus was going to say. The news was all over school, and soon the Howlers from parents would arrive. Perhaps as punishment, he should send them all to Sachiel!

“I believe Sachiel displayed poor lack of judgment last night, posing as me again with Miss Granger. In addition, I have it on good word, not just from the rumors flying around, that he did indeed sleep with a student last night.”

“I didn’t sleep with her. We were nowhere near a bed!” Sachiel exclaimed.

If any of them realized that what he said was so close to the same words that Lavender said the night before, they may have started laughing and broken the severe mood of the room. As it was, it only grew intense and became deeper as the silence in the room stretched out.

“As I was saying, Headmaster.” Severus finally broke the silence that was quickly becoming deafening. “Since my brother cannot seem to control himself, I would suggest one of two things. One, escort him out of Hogwarts permanently.”

At this, Dumbledore looked up at Sachiel’s stricken face. “Not that, we cannot do that,” Dumbledore said slowly. He didn’t know what kind of trouble the boy was in, but Albus Dumbledore always knew what was in someone’s heart. And like many other people he had met, this one needed a second chance at life.

Severus snarled angrily. “Fine, then! I suggest house arrest until the end of the school year!”

“What?” spoke up Sachiel. “That’s eight months away! You may like to be alone with your books, brother, but I DO NOT!”

“You should learn to think before you sleep with a student!” Severus yelled back. Both men stood toe to toe, staring each other down.

“You’re just jealous because you desperately desire Miss Hermione Granger, and you can’t handle it if I get her first!” Sachiel yelled back.

“If you touch a single hair on her head…”

“OH, don’t tell me! You\'re going to kill me. You keep forgetting, brother, we\'re linked, thanks to dear old mother… rest her soul.” The last part was done as an afterthought.

“Don’t worry, Sachiel. There are worse things then death, and if you so much as even look at her crossways, you will learn each and every one of them personally.”

Dumbledore watched the two brothers with growing amazement. Yes, fate had a strange way of working.

“Oh, did I hit a nerve, Severus?”

Severus’s eyes narrowed. ‘Fine, two can play that game!’

“Why don’t I hit a few nerves of my own…” Severus hissed. “Tell us the truth: have you taken the Dark Mark yet?

Sachiel stood rock-still. His shock at his brother’s words hit him to the core!

“W-What! H-how? W-where do y-you get off!” Sachiel’s stuttering could only mean one thing: he was absolutely terrified!

“Oh, I know what you’ve been up to, brother… so did you find them, or did they find you?”

“Who them?”

Severus looked at him. Now Sachiel was skipping words out of his sentences.
‘I’ve got him on the run!’

“Severus,” Dumbledore broke in. “Do you understand the seriousness of your accusations?”

“I do indeed… you see, the first day he arrived, he had a gaping wound that Miss Granger healed for him. She said it was like that caused by a sword or a long knife, so I did some checking, whispered in the right ear, and found out you are keeping with some very interesting company, brother.”

“Look, it\'s not what you think!”

“Really?” argued Severus. “What do I think, then!”

“You are accusing me of being a Death Eater! Well, I’m not! Not to say they didn’t try to push me into it.” Sachiel ran his hand through his hair. “Why do you think I ran here? Why do you think I was hurt so bad? Did you ever think I was running for my life, brother?” He looked straight at Severus. “NO, I didn’t think so. You were always quick to judge me wrongly, never give me the benefit of the doubt!”

“You never did anything to deserve the benefit of the doubt! It’s always been ‘me, me, me’ all your life! You took any woman you wanted without thinking of the consequences.
I thought you had learned your lesson when you seduced the Duke’s wife and you were almost hung!”

“That was not my fault. She came to me!”

“Learn to say NO!”

“You don’t understand, do you, Severus? I was never loved when I was younger! Never got any attention. Well, this is my way of getting what I crave, so shoot me!”

“Well, it’s the ‘me, me, me’ thing all over again. I was not overly loved myself, if I recall. As for shooting you, I wish I could!”

“Well,” Dumbledore broke in again. “I think house arrest is the best. I will not alert the Ministry unless it’s totally impossible not to.”

“But! I will die there without a female to keep me company!”

“No females!” yelled Severus.

“Whom do you have in mind, Sachiel?” asked Dumbledore.

“Lavender Brown,” he replied calmly.

“NO! Headmaster, she’s a student! And the poor girl will get her hopes up that he will have feelings for her!” argued Severus.

“Well, I think she already does, since I asked her to come with me to the south of France when she graduates.”

“You did what!” yelled Severus. ‘This has gone too far!’ he thought.

“And why would you say something like that to her, Sachiel?” asked the Headmaster.

“I don’t know. Last night with the young woman, some of my desperation, my emptiness was filled. I want to find out how and why I felt that way. If I’m to be locked up, I want to be with her — if she allows it, of course.”

“Of course,” replied Dumbledore. “And I want it quiet; under no circumstances do
I want this out of control.”

“It’s already out of control!” yelled a very angry Potions Master.

“Now I will talk to the young woman,” Dumbledore said. “If she refuses, then I will see if Miss Marlow or Professor Sinistra will keep you company. Now go, and I\'ll see that the wards are placed on the archival room myself.”

With that Sachiel left, though he was still unhappy about the whole thing.

“Headmaster,” Severus said though clenched teeth, trying in vain to hold back his anger. “Do you know what you have done?!”

“Yes, I made it so you can also pursue a student.” Dumbledore smiled at the dumbfounded look on his Potions Master\'s face.

“What are you talking about?”

“Well, I’m talking about Miss Granger. I had a lovely little talk with her last night, and it seems she has quite a liking for you. I know you have liked her for many years now, Severus. You may have fooled everyone else, but I know why you treated her so unfairly, and her being Harry Potter’s friend wasn’t the reason. Allow yourself to love, my boy. She’s quite suited for you.”

Severus knew when he was being dismissed. Numbly he walked out of the Headmaster\'s office, not sure what to think. He had just been given permission to pursue a relationship with a student, and not just with any student, but the Head Girl from Gryffindor House!

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