Dum Spiro, Spero-While I Breathe, I Hope

Disclaimer : I don’t own Harry Potter in any way, it all belongs to J.K. Rowling. The Draconians are my thing though. I own Phoebus, whoot!

Notes and warnings : Okay, this will be Sirius/Snape centric, but there will be a scene between Remus and Snape later. And someone asked me why I didn’t put this in chara search as Sirius and Snape or Harry and Draco and my answer is because Harry and Snape are the main characters this fic is about, and I was pressed on whether to sort it by couple or by main characters. Ands thanks much to those who signed reviews for the first chapter, I hope to not disappoint you all!

 

Dum Spiro, Spero
(While I breathe, I hope)
Part 2 : Cadit Quaestio - The Question Drops
By Reppa

 
 
 
His long graceful fingers stroked along the polished wooden surface of his desk. At the moment, Severus was in his home, in his dreary room, listening to the birds twitter outside and the rambunctious mayhem downstairs caused by his much younger siblings. He closed his beetle black eyes with a weary sigh before his gaze turned up as the door to his bedchambers was opened. A tall, strikingly thin woman wearing long tresses of black satin. She had high cheek bones and sharp features framed by her long black hair which was done up in a bizarre style. Her full lips painted black curved into what looked like an attempted smile that only passed as a smirk, she had a few letters held up in her lithe fingers, “It seems you received a message or two from friends, sweetness.”

With a curt smile gracing her lips, she slowly stepped over towards him, holding out the mail to the dark haired man. Her dark eyes were half-lidded under thick and long lashes as she crossed her arms while watching him intently.

“I wish youldnuldn’t call me that, mums.” The potions master reached out to retrieve the letters from her and he flipped through them. Three in all, one from Dumbledore, one from the Ministry, and the last was from some people called Padfoot and Moony. He frowned at the last letter, trying to discern who they were before it slowly dawned on him. He could faintly remember hearing those two call each other by those names and he snorted. Why would he want to hear from them? With a scowl he crumpled up the envelope and set it aside.

The woman, who he had referred to as mums, gave the paper a thoughtful look before she plucked it up from the table and opened it. It was a habit of hers to be rather nosy, “They say everything is fine and then they wrote something about some Potter boy’s nightmares of Voldemort. Really, sweetness, don’t you ever get any letters that aren’t war or school related? And isn’t this Potter boy-”

“Yes, mums, and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t read my letters.” Severus took the note from her grasp and glanced at it briefly. It seemed nothing, which infuriated him as he didn’t want to be bothered with meaningless drivel as what happened in Harry Potter’s dreams. The notation that the scar had hurt was not a good thing, but what else could there be to that other than that Voldemort was up to something. But as far as he’d seen, there was no Deatheater activity that suggested the Dark Lord had something up his sleeve.

The professor found his attention looking up as the woman stepped behind him and rested her hands on his shoulders, “Now, dear heart, hurry with the rest of the mail and get to packing. You and your brother will be leaving quite soon, you don’t want to have forgotten anything like the silly little dunderheads you are!” She cackled in her rich, soprano voice when he frowned before she shuffled out of the room, her mocking, but loving laughter drifting from down the hall as she went.

What a crazy woman, how ever am I related to her? Severus pondered this with a slight shake of his , th, then he stood up from the antique chair he was seated in to drag two suitcases from the closet to pack folded clothes and books into the luggage. He prayed that nothing too chaotic would ensue during this school year as it had in the past.

*

Harry shifted in his seat on the train uncomfortably. He had experienced the dream again and he was horrified about how different it was. Instead of being on the side, watching, he had been in the place of Riddle’s accomplice,dingding the dying boy in his arms. His stomach gave a painful lurch, he wanted no part of this! He tried desperately to let go, but it was as if his arms were welded there, they were unmoving, unrelenting. The boy screwed his eyes shut as the blood spattered onto his lap as Tom had his way with the boy, a cold shiver ran up his back as the dying student’s cries echoed in his ears.

With a shudder and a violent shake of his head, Harry jerked his gaze up as Ron and Hermione sat across from him in the train car. Forcing himself to relax, the dark-haired boy sighed wistfully, “Are we almost there?”

Granger smiled slightly as she folded one leg over the other, her eyes reflected her concern for her friend. He had told them of the nightmare right after he sent a letter to Sirius and in reply, Hermione had sent a vial of Dreamless Draught. Unfortunately, he’d run out of it the day before they boarded the train. “We’ll be there in about an hour. Are you still having those weird nightmares? You know, we can look up and ask around about any murders that happened at the school. Dumbledore or Hagrid would know for sure.”

He nodded, that sounded the only reasonable course of action. See Dumbledore when he had the soonest chance. Ron made a gesture of agreement, leaning back into the seat lazily. The Weasley was a little lost in this, so all he could muster doing was give his friend support and assurance. The trio started up lighthearted conversation before the door to their car opened and they were unwelcomingly graced with the presence of Draco Malfoy. Harry bit his lower lip slightly as Draco’s blue-gray eyes wandered from each of them before landing on him, “I need somewhere to sit.”

Harry could have fainted from the shock, he was sure Ron had as he heard a loud thud in the background noise and Hermione groaned. “Pardon me…” the spectacled boy began, taking a finger and trying to clean his ear, “I thought I heard you say you need to sit. And my glasses must be broken, because you’re looking to us.”

“Potter, thoughouldouldn’t know personally, your hearing must be fine as well as your glasses if you got it all the first time.” The blond frowned as Harry’s bright green eyes narrowed at him and he frowned, looking over his shoulder, “There’s a smidge of disagreement going on and everyone’s…avoiding me. As such I can’t sit anywhere. So I’ll sit here and you won’t have to pay me any mind.”

“If everyone else doesn’t want you around, what makes you think we will?” Hermione demanded, folding her arms while Ron twitched on the floor.

“Because, you’re the especially goody good Gryffindors and despite how much you dislike someone, you wouldn’t turn them out to the cold.” Draco explained, his reasoning seeming to have offended the bushy haired girl, but Harry shrugged.

“All right, all right. As long as you don’t say anything offensive, we’ll pretend you’re not even here.”

Hermione turned her gaze from the Slytherin who crossed the car to sit by the window next to Harry to have her gaze settled on her friend in a demanding for an explanation manner. But Harry shook his head and then frowned when she got up and left the car. Great, he thought to himself, she’s mad at me now….probably a real bad idea. In curiosity, he side glanced the blond who watched her go and returned to staring out the window with his pointed chin rested on his balled up fist. It seemed Draco was actually going to agree with those terms.

Which was odd. Malfoy was being civil, things outside the car must have been especially disagreeable with him to have him resort to sitting with them. The dark-haired Gryffindor sighed as he looked down at the red-head who was gingerly getting up to position himself back in his seat, looking somewhat dazed. But then their new car buddy caused Ron to jump, “What’s Malfoy doing in here?!”

Harry glanced to his side again and saw the slight glare directed at his friend from Draco, but the blond did only that, glare, and he was relieved he could relax. “He’s just going to sit here until we get to Hogwarts, he’s not going to start anything.”

“Says you.” Ron laughed before he took Hermione’s example and left as well.

The green eyed boy gawked after them, and Draco snorted. “Well, that just leaves you, Potter. Does this mean I’ll just get to have the car all to myself?” Malfoy inquired, crossing his slender arms over his thin chest and leaning back into the cushioning of the seats. Harry frowned slightly as he listened and found himself getting up and seating himself opposite of his rival.

“No,” he replied, folding his arms as well while propping one leg over the other with his gaze turned to peer out the window, “And you can be a prat all you want, it won’t make me move. I was sitting here first, so you can always leave if you want and try to find another.” His words were greeted with silence and he wondered just what his friends were up to. And then he wondered how long it would take an hour to go by.

*

Once they had arrived at the castle, the students shuffled into their seats as the first years were being filed in. Harry smiled frhe Ghe Gryffindor table at the familiar figures sitting at the table save one. He frowned when his eyes caught sight of the potions master and the look was rewarded all too quickly. His face brightened again as he glanced to Remus who sat an empty seat away from Snape. Wait, an empty seat? There was indeed an empty seat between the werewolf and potions master and Harry was sure that meant a new teacher.

Dumbledore rose at the table once the sorting ceremony had come to a finish, his arms held out in a greeting fashion, “Welcome to another year of Hogwarts. For start of term notices, our dear Sybil has retired and her replacement is…currently not here.” The elderly wizard’s gaze was settled on the chair between the two professors and a warm smile rewarded the students just as the large double doors swung open and a figure stepped in.

And Harry blanched, recognizing the man as the stranger from the bookstore. In the stronger lights, Harry could see how strikingly handsome the man was, his sharp features more evident and there was a greater deal of body and shine to his long tresses. Many of the students seemed to tense immediately, suggesting they had encountered him as well. The towering figure paused before his strange eyes swept over Harry then he proceeded to the teacher’s table, bowing to A, “M, “My sincere apologies, Head master…a large black dog was occupying me for a moment.”

The Headmaster smiled wistfully as the man seated himself between the two, his expression indifferent except when he nodded slightly to Lupin and turned to speak with Severus. It may have been his imagination, but Harry could have sworn Remus was staring at the man with rapt attentiveness. The DADA professor was staring at him even as he reached out numbly for his glass to end up knocking it over. There was a little blush on the werewolf’s cheeks while the table cleaned itself as Albus finished the start of term statements, “I would like you to all welcome Professor Phoebus Snape, who will be your new Divinations teacher. And I caution you, he is not kind when cross, so be careful lest your innermost secrets be revealed.”

Once he had finished, the tables were piled with food as usual but no student began eating as there was a chorus of gasps and many students cursed angrily. There was a loud thud at the Gryffindor followed by Hermione’s groan. Ron had fainted yet again. This all meant they had two Snapes they all had to deal with, but it looked as if the Slytherins didn’t mind a bit.

*

After a while, the Slytherins were starting to mind. Professor Phoebus was brutal in their first day in his class. He dismissed everything Trelawney taught them, assigned them weekly assignments that were six different charts to do on their partner. Every Gryffindor was paired with a Slytherin and every Ravenclaw was paired to a Hufflepuff in his classes. It would be only days before a blood bath of some kind happened but the new teacher seemed to care not, he actually counted on it. He was cold, stern and showed favoritism towards Ravenclaw. But despite the creepy air around him and his harsh attitude, he seemed quite caring and understanding.

Which was probably one of the reasons Remus felt an attraction. And then he was also a Snape, and that he was quite good looking. But after the scrutinizing words from Sirius, he kept his distance. His friend was very apprehensive, pointing out Phoebus was supposedly one of Voldemort’s more powerful men, but the werewolf blatantly refused to believe it.

At the moment, he was with Severus, Sirius, and Dumbledore in the Headmaster’s office, discussing what was to be done concerning the Dark Lord when Harry came in. The boy smiled a little until Snape glared at him, “What do you want, Potter? We happen to be in the middle of something.”

Sirius glared angrily at the potions master but Dumbeldore held up a hand to both of them, “Now, gentlemen! I believe this may be important if young Harry has come to see me so soon in the school year. Now…what is it you need, Harry?”

“Well, Headmaster…I…there’s this dream I keep having! And…and I don’t know what to do. It keeps happening and it’s really disturbing and I want to know if there’ve been any murders that happened in this school fifty years ago…besides Myrtle.” The boy sighed and relaxed slightly, his brows knit together as the four men stared at him. But the one of them he took more notice of was the blanched color of Snape’s face, the potions master looked somewhat shocked.

“There was one…” Albus murmured, looking grave, “Why do you ask, Harry?”

“Well, in the dream, Voldemort…when he was a teen, he was in it and he was…er…raping and killing this kid…I don’t know why-”

There was a loud clatter as Severus staggered to his feet, causing all of them to jump in their seats. Remus frowned worriedly as the dark-haired man stumbled away from them, clumsily trying to pick what he had knocked over from the floor. Harry blinked in befuddlement while Sirius watched him with a stern glare on his face. Snape regained his self control, “I have to get back to my quarters, there’s something I forgot to do…”

They watched him stride out before Harry slowly turned back to the Headmaster, the question to which he wanted the answer ate at him, “Do you know who Voldemort was killing, Headmaster…?”

Dumbledore shook his head with a grim frown, “I’ll have to ask you not to pursue that knowledge, who ever it was, they are long dead now…”

End of chapter 2