Twin Link

Disclaimer: not mine… wish they were, but they’re not — they belong to JKR. Lucky dog!

Twin Link

By Bree McGregor

Chapter 11

Sachiel Snape paced in front of the fireplace for hours, ever since his horrid brother gleefully imprisoned him here. Oh, the anger he had toward Severus was at an all-time high. Just because Severus condemned himself to his cold dark dungeons, and felt he couldn’t get the woman he wanted, didn’t mean that he should take it out on him!

He looked at the clock. Where was she?

He continued to pace… He came to Hogwarts looking for help. All he got was a cold shoulder from his only living relative. Why did he come here in the first place? He could have been in the Bahamas now, soaking up the sun and watching the beautiful women walk by. NO! He just had to come back to this cold, rainy, miserable little island called “Great Britain” — and not only was he in the land of bad weather, but in Scotland… the harshest terrain that “Great Britain” had to offer.

Was she even coming?

Pacing again… It had all started innocently enough, with an owl from an old friend asking if he wanted to come for a visit. Sachiel never guessed Robert McNeil from Ravenclaw was a Death Eater. So he never suspected that the invitation was a way to recruit him into the D.E. Club. When he found out, he tried to make himself scarce as silently as possible. He heard that his brother took the Dark Mark a long time ago. He knew what it truly involved, and that was no future for him.

Why doesn’t she want him?

He stopped pacing and ran his hand through his hair for the hundredth time, making it more and more greasy-looking from the oil from his sweaty palms. The look on his face was total despair. Why did he feel this way? Why was it so important that it was LAVENDER that should come to him? Sighing heavily, he hanged his head down as he started pacing again. Looking down, he noticed he had worn a path out of the run before the fireplace. ‘Great, one more thing dear brother can yell at me about.’ Looking at the clock as it started to chime, he saw that his time was up.

She was not coming…

Lost in the shadows, a figure watched Sachiel fight with his demons and self-worth. Her heart went out to him; he looked so dejected, so deeply lost and alone. The clock chimed, and she saw him throw himself forlornly onto a nearby chair. She wondered if he really did want her. Did he really need her like this? Her answers were soon realized.

“Why am I like this? She is just a girl, like any other!” he yelled at himself.

She was hurt by this, but there was something in his voice that made her stay and hear him out. The clock chimed a third time.

“Yeah, right, old man!” he said back to himself. “Keep trying to convince yourself that she was just a one-time deal. If so, why did you ask her to go to France with you? Knowing that Dumbledore and Severus would have a fit, why did you ask for only her?” he sighed deeply. “Why indeed.”

The clock chimed again.

Sachiel put his head in his hands and tried not to think. He tried to forget the images of her as she was last night. If it was just sex, why this … this whatever it was that was tearing him up? The sixth chime.

Lavender couldn’t take it anymore. She stepped out of the shadows and slowly made her way to his side. He didn’t look up, he didn’t see her, and he didn’t feel her standing next to him — until she placed a hand on his shoulder.

He jumped out of his chair as if burnt… They stood looking at each other as the clock struck another time.

”What are you doing here!” he yelled confused.

Lavender looked at him thunderstruck. He didn’t want her — he was waiting for someone else. The clock chimed the eighth time.

“I’m sorry,” she said dimly, then drawing on the Gryffindor courage. “I thought I was wanted. I guess I was wrong. Good night.” She turned to leave the way she came in. The clock chimed again…

“Lavender?”

She stopped before reaching the door but didn’t turn around. “Goodbye, Mr. Snape.”

The clock chimed the tenth and final time.

The door locked and the wards went up. They were now trapped in there together for the next eight months.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Severus sat and watched Hermione and her friends as they talked to each other during dinner. It seemed that Hermione was badgering Ron, by the guilty look on his face, probably about not doing his homework.

He was livid at Sachiel’s behavior, but here he was watching a girl twenty years his junior. He didn’t even want to think about how Dumbledore failed to punish Sachiel, and instead he awarded the man, and with a student no less! His reasoning for this was too much. What made that old fool think he had any interest in the infernal Gryffindor know-it-all?

Dumbledore watched Severus watching Hermione, and Hermione trying very hard not to watch Severus. He smiled silently to himself. ‘This may work out all for the best at the end.’

“Albus?”

Dumbledore looked over at the witch who just spoke his name — Minerva, his one true love. He only wished she had agreed to marry him that night so many years ago; perhaps he should ask her again. He did so every five to ten years, and she always had the same answer. “Ask me again sometime,” and so he did.

“Yes, my dear,” he smiled softly at her.

She saw the look in his eyes, and changed the subject quickly. It was not that she didn’t love the man — she did with all her heart; but she knew being married to him would change their relationship as it now stood. She had seen too many friendships, even lovers, go down in flames once they were married. She couldn’t work here with him after that, and this was the only home she had.

“What is it about the Snape brothers?” she whispered, looking at Severus discreetly.

“Whatever do you mean, my dear?” He smiled again. He liked to take every opportunity to call her “my dear,” sometimes just to see her purse her lips and give him a mean glare. This time, she only graced him with a mild glare.

“I mean, they are both pining after little girls!” she hissed between her teeth. This was not the most lady-like he had ever seen her.

“Hardly little girls, my dear, but young ladies. I believe that they were just born out of their time. Perhaps the boys had to go through all this to truly appreciate two such unique women, no matter the age difference. I never thought age should be an issue.” The double meaning wasn’t lost on Minerva; she just chose to ignore it at this time.

“But Albus! They-are-their-students,” she bit off each word.

“Only for another month, at least.” With that, he went back to his dessert. Discussion closed!

Severus noticed that the Golden Trio was starting to get up to leave. He knew he had to talk to her before the Headmaster did, knowing that old fool would get to her first if he didn’t.

“Well, honestly, Ron! If you did your homework, this wouldn’t be happening now, would it.” Hermione was still chastising Ron for his lack of foresight.

“Miss Granger,” Severus spoke right behind them a smirk on his face as he saw them all jump, though he knew that Hermione was only startled that another voice was behind her. She was not afraid of the man himself, unlike her two companions.

“Your presence is requested in my office at once.” Severus turned from them, his robes billowing behind him as he left the room.

“Wow, Hermione, I can’t believe you willingly agreed to work with him,” said Ron as he stared at the door the Potions Master just walked through.

“Oh, Ron, he’s not that bad! He only does that for dramatic affect. I can’t believe you are still intimidated by him after all these years.”

Ron grinned sheepishly. “Yeah, I guess you\'re right, ‘Mione.”

“Well, I guess this should teach you to do your own homework from now on. I don’t think I will have any time to help you.”

“What!? Awww, ‘Mione!” he whined.

Hermione picked up her book bag. Without another glance, she made her way to the dungeon. ‘What on earth could he want?’

~~~~~~~~~

A/N Woohoo done editing! thank you soooo much JUNE!!! so the next chapter will be Brand New!!! cross my heart!