Twin Link

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters — they belong to JKR.

-TWIN LINK

By Bree McGregor

CHAPTER 2

Severus was waiting in his room, when his brother came back. Sachiel knew that look. Severus was in a killing mood, and it was Sachiel who was the prey. He sat down and looked at his brother from across the desk. Neither one said a word; they just sat there, looking at each other.

\"This is pathetic. Are you going to say something, brother, or are we just going to keep staring at each other?\" Sachiel said, agitated. Severus just kept looking at him with his intense eyes. It was finally getting to Sachiel; he knew what his brother was thinking. Did he find the girl? Did he finish what he had started? Oh, this was going to be fun!

\"She called your name,\" Sachiel told him.

\"What?\" Severus said, disbelieving his brother.

\"She called your name. She looked at me with such passion and desire.\" Sachiel gave his brother a sly grin. \"She\'s a little hellcat! I get hard just thinking about her.\"

\"YOU WILL LEAVE HER ALONE!\" Severus stood up so fast that it knocked over his chair. He leaned forward, almost crawling over the desk toward his brother, and in a silky deadly voice told him, \"If I even get the hint that you have come near her, I will personally make sure you will not live to see tomorrow.\"

\"Brother, do you really think you can kill me? You are so fond of always saying we are linked. We know what the other is doing. For you to kill me would kill a very deep part of yourself.\" Sachiel stood up and went to the door. \"Goodnight, brother. Oh, by the way, I\'ll be sleeping in your bed tonight. Do try to find somewhere for yourself to sleep. You look like you need it.\" With that he closed the bedroom door noisily.

Severus went to the fireplace, threw in some floo powder, and called out Dumbledore’s name. The face of the Headmaster appeared through the green flame.

\"Ah, Severus, what can I do for you?\" the elderly Headmaster asked kindly.

\"It\'s my brother, sir. He is out of line, and he hasn\'t even been back for two hours.\"

\"I take it he has come back?\" asked Dumbledore.

\"Yes, sir,\" he growled.

\"Hmm, yes, well, I think it will be best to lock him up in your chambers, until we can find out what to do with him. We do not need him making any more trouble for you.\"

\"He excels at that, sir,\" replied Severus.

\"Come to my office after dinner tomorrow; that is the soonest I can see you. I wish I could make it earlier, but there are things I must see to in London,\" said the Headmaster sadly.

\"I will be there. Thank you, Headmaster.\"

Dumbledore’s face left, and the fire went back to normal. All night, Severus was placing the strongest wards he knew to keep his brother prisoner in his chambers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, Sachiel was furious when he found out he was not allowed to leave. Not only that, but Severus had found and taken his wand, so Sachiel couldn\'t try to break the wards.

\"Serves you right,” Severus said as he smiled evilly at his brother\'s anger. “Going off and doing hell knows what, with whomever you wish! That cannot and will not be tolerated here! Now I will make sure you are fed. But you are not to leave. Since I have a meeting with Dumbledore after dinner, I will not be seeing you for the rest of the day. And do NOT break anything or try to destroy my rooms, for I put a hex on everything; so if you do anything with the wrong intent, the result would be most painful.\" He sneered at his twin. \"Painful for you, anyway.\" With that he turned to leave.

\"Before you go, there is one thing I would like you to do for me,\" Sachiel said.

Severus turned around so fast that Sachiel thought he might have hurt himself.

\"I need an owl. I promised some people that I would write them to say I\'m alive.\"

Severus only glared at him.

\"Some people do care about me, you know.\"

\"No accounting for taste in friends. Very well, I\'ll send you an owl. But that is it!\" Severus slammed the door on his way out, not seeing the wicked grin on his brother\'s face.

Sachiel started to put his plan in motion. If he couldn\'t get out now, someone could come in. Since the owl needed to get through, that left a break in the wards, but the owl played two parts of his plan. First, he needed to see if he could get into his brother\'s office.

\"DAMN!\" yelled Sachiel when he found out that his brother had blocked that entrance as well. So he started to rummage around the room. He knew his brother too well! Severus had to have a backup — he always kept a backup!

* * * * * * *

Severus walked into the Great Hall for breakfast, in a sour rare mood. He finally got one up on Sachiel. ‘Let\'s see him get out of those wards I put up, without a wand.’ As he walked pass a group of professors, he felt his arse being pinched. He looked back to see Professor Sinistra wink at him.

In shock, Snape sat down at the table. ‘Why the hell did she just do that?’ Then it hit him — that\'s the woman Sachiel must have had last night! Then he didn\'t have Hermione like he led on. Severus scanned the Great Hall to find his apprentice sitting with her Gryffindor friends but not involved in their conversation. She looked down at her food without eating it.

He really needed to talk to her and tell her what was going on, so she wouldn’t feel so ashamed. He shook his head. Why should he care what she felt? It wasn\'t his problem... but it was his problem. What his brother did and had almost done to her was his fault. Severus knew when he met up with him in London that his brother would be showing up at Hogwarts. It was inevitable.

* * * * * * *

After classes and lunch, Hermione was heading back to the Gryffindor common room, alone in deep thought. She only wanted to be alone now. She couldn\'t tell anyone what had happened to her last night, what she almost did with the other Snape. The thought was too much for her. Did someone make some Polyjuice Potion and disguise themselves as Snape?

She was passing the staff room; the door was cracked open so that she overheard Professor McGonagall talking. \"What do you mean, Severus\'s twin is back?\" she said in disgust. \"You expelled him before his first year was out!\"

\"Yes, yes, this I know, Minerva,\" said the voice of Dumbledore, \"and it seems he\'s up to his old tricks, this time posing AS his brother.\"

\"No good will come out of his being here, Albus! Why doesn\'t Severus just send him on his way?\" Professor McGonagall was beyond angry.

Hermione had never heard such distaste. She heard the movement of feet closer to the door. It was time for her to go before she was caught eavesdropping.

She ran up to the Gryffindor common room and was thankful that it was empty. She needed to think. Severus Snape had a twin brother, and he was here! Now! That would explain what happened. But with this knowledge came a fresh wave of embarrassment. How was she going to face Professor Snape now? He had seen her with his twin, and she had called Severus’ name to his brother. She had finally did it; she had truly messed up everything now.

Her thoughts were disrupted by a sound at the window. An owl was scratching at the window to be let in; she got up to open the window. The bird entered and flew around the room twice before landing, so she could retrieve the letter. A double SS on green wax sealed it. She knew whom it was from immediately.


Miss Granger,

If you have any desire to hear the explanation, come to my chambers after dinner.

-SS-


At dinner, Hermione kept looking up at the High Table at Professor Snape. He looked tired and more moody then normal. She wasn\'t looking forward to talking to him after dinner, but she knew she had to, for she needed to apprentice now to get the position that was being offered to her by Slug & Jiggers Apothecary. They were even going to help with her college tuition. This was something she couldn\'t mess up.

Dinner was finally over, and she watched as Professor Snape walked away, talking in earnest with Dumbledore. She knew this would give her time to slowly walk down to the dungeon and figure out what she was going to say to him, to defuse the situation.

* * * * * * *

Severus was walking away with Dumbledore, talking about the problem at hand.

\"He not only tried to seduce a student, but I found out whom he did seduce last night, when I found him missing.\"

\"Oh, and whom may that have been?\" asked Albus with a twinkle in his eye.

\"Professor Sinistra,\" replied Severus angrily. He really hated when the Headmaster played these games.

\"Oh really, how do you know that?\" Albus asked with a smile

Severus swallowed hard. \"Because she pinched my arse and winked at me before breakfast. Who knows how many others he got, too.\"

Albus broke out in laughter, and Snape growled deep in his thought. \"Did you ever think, my boy, the reason why your brother is having so much luck with the women here, is that they find something attractive in you?\"

\"NO, Headmaster, I did not.\" They kept walking together, one in silent laughter, the other in silent rage.

* * * * * * *

Hermione knocked at the door to Professor Snape’s chambers. She heard his familiar voice call, \"Enter.\"

She opened the door and walked in. She didn\'t feel right. It was like walking through sticky film. She rubbed her arms, to try and get over the strange feeling.

Professor Snape was there, looking at her with a closed expression that she had come to know after seven years in his classes. \"Sit,\" was all he said.

So she sat down and looked at her hands.

\"I take it you wish to know what happened here yesterday.\"

Hermione looked up at him. \"Yes, sir, I...\"

Snape held up his hand before she could say another word. \"I am quite aware of the awkwardness of this situation,\" he said strongly. Then he added smoothly, \"Now there are some questions I need to ask you.\"

Hermione swallowed hard. She knew this was coming, and she wasn\'t sure what to say. She looked around at everything but him for a moment. That\'s when she saw the dinner plate. It looked as if he wasn\'t quite finished with his dinner yet. That didn\'t make sense. She had seen him down at the Great Hall eating and talking to Dumbledore; he even left with Dumbledore. Then it hit her — this wasn\'t Professor Snape, this was his twin brother! But she still had to be sure.

\"Yes, sir, you may ask anything you want.\" She kept her head down so he would not see her face. She knew she couldn\'t hide what she was thinking. She wasn\'t a Slytherin, after all!

Snape — whichever Snape it was — got up out of his chair and walked in front of her. By towering above her, he made her look at him. She did her best to try and hide what she was thinking, so she put on a look of fear.

\"Now, now child.\" He smiled at her. She thought this was very odd seeing Professor Snape smile, even though she knew it wasn\'t him. But just the thought of him smiling was quite strange, and it did something to her inside. ‘THIS IS NOT SEVERUS! THIS IS HIS HORRID TWIN!’ Hermione yelled at herself in her head.

He put his fingers under her chin, and she stood up at his gentle insistence. \"Is it true?\" he whispered.

\"Is what true, Professor?\" She swallowed hard, trying to keep her game face on.

\"That you called my name?\" He leaned closer to her ear, and she could feel his breath as he spoke. She took a sharp intake of air, and heard him chuckle. \"I always knew you had a thing for me, Hermione. I watch you, do you know that?\"

Hermione shook her head — partly to say no to him, and also to clear her head. ‘This IS NOT SNAPE! Or at least not Professor Snape.’ She didn\'t know how it happened, but she was now pinned against the desk. His body was pressed against hers. Neither knew that hateful eyes were watching them.

Severus watched from the darkness. He had come into his chambers through the secret passage that led from his office. He saw Hermione start to fall into his brother’s trap again! Stupid girl! Could she not see this was not him? But before he could intervene, she spoke.

\"Why do you do this?\" she asked.

\"Because I want you, Hermione. I always have,\" he replied, leaning down to kiss her.

But she put up her fingers to his lips to still him. \"You can have me, only if you can answer me this,\" she told him.

\"Anything... for you, anything.\"

\"Tell me what happened on the Halloween of my first year here,\" she said seductively. \"I know you can’t forget it, but I just want to hear you say It.\" She leaned closer to his lips. \"Please tell me.\"

‘The cunning little vixen!’ Severus thought. She was playing his brother, and very expertly, too. He watched her as she slipped away from Sachiel and started to move away. Sachiel made a grab for her, but she dodged him. Severus couldn\'t stop a smile from reaching his lips.

\"Why are you playing this game? We both know what happened that Halloween. Don\'t play coy with me. I know you want me, and so I\'m here to give you what you desperately want.\"

\"I don\'t think so,\" she said as she moved forward and pushed him into the chair she was originally sitting in. He looked up at her in shock.

\"Oh, I got your number, MR. SNAPE! You see, you\'re not our Professor, now are you? No, there are too many differences, even though you do have his looks. You are too soft in the eyes. You smile too much. You have a scar on your upper left eyebrow that our Professor Snape doesn\'t have.\"

Severus was growing more proud of his student the more she spoke.

\"Not to mention I saw Professor Snape at dinner, and what do you know, there\'s a half-eaten dinner sitting here on the side table. Well, Professor Snape is far too thin to eat two dinners. But to top it off, it felt like walking though sticky film when I came in here; I know a ward when I run into one. I take it that this ward is not to keep people out, but to keep you in!\"

Sachiel looked at her in surprise. He never knew that this child was so damned intelligent. Then he turned his head when he heard slow clapping from the far side of the room.

\"Very good, Miss Granger,\" said Severus as he came out of the shadows. \"I will always wonder why you were never put in Slytherin. That was true cunning any Slytherin would be proud of.\" He walked up to her, as his voice grew cold. \"Just one question. Why are you here?\"

She handed him the letter with the broken green wax on the back. He pulled out the letter and looked at his brother. \"Thank you, Miss Granger. I will take care of this from here on out. And if I need to speak with you, I shall ask you in person now that you have so demonstrated that you can tell us apart. Now leave.\"

Hermione didn\'t need to be told twice. She left as fast as she could, thankful that Professor Snape put down the wards when he came in.

~*~*~*~*~*~

A/N: Again just editing... thanks sooo much to June!!!