Black Roses

Hello all, sorry for the long delay we've both been incredibly busy and it's hard perfecting a chapter that involves two authors when neither has time. As it's worked out we've both been unwell so we've finally found time to come together for proofreading purposes. Anyway, here's the first real chapter. We know it's relatively short for chapters that usually come from us, but we figured there was a lot of stuff happening in this chapter and things start getting a bit more serious in the next one so we wanted you all to enjoy the amusing parts of this one first.

Review replies will be at the bottom of the chapter, we hope you enjoy J

Kayla and Rosalie

Chapter One

Severus was slightly calmer the following morning, and feeling a little more rested and a tad readier to face the fact that he’d never have his old body back again he headed into his personal bath room to have a shower. He stripped off his clothes and studied his reflection in the full length mirror all the professors had in their bathrooms for some reason.

He had to give the potion one thing, he was definitely attractive. His face looked like something out of one of those vapid vampire novels the teenage girls all seemed to be reading, with his now silky, black hair framing it in an endearing way. His skin looked like perfect, unblemished porcelain and his body had just the right amount of muscle without being too bulky. If he’d met himself on the street he would have found the person staring back at him immensely attractive and Albus was right, wizards everywhere would kill to look like he did now.

Sadly he wasn’t one of them.

He’d always known there were things about him that other people picked on or found unattractive, but he’d never cared what they thought. His big, crooked nose, his greasy hair, his yellow teeth, all of them were part of what made him him. He’d never wanted to change the way he looked because if he did all it meant was that he was lying to himself.

He hadn’t always thought that way of course, he hadn’t always been wise enough to see the truth behind those words. When he was a teenager he would have killed to look like he did now; as opposed to the small, skinny, underfed and undernourished freak of a child he’d been. Back in those days anything he could have done to improve his looks without receiving scorn from his peers would have been welcome. Then again, back in those days he’d still clung to the hope that someone, somewhere might one day care for him and he’d perhaps have a real family of his own one day. He had no such illusions anymore.

Besides, even if he did still have those kinds of hopes he was also old enough to understand the futility of them in this situation. Even if someone did find themselves attracted to him now it wouldn’t be real; he wasn’t himself anymore and the attraction would be nothing but a lie. They wouldn’t want him for him they’d want him for the Adonis he now personified.

Shaking the thoughts away he climbed into the shower dreading the day ahead of him. As it turned out he was right to do so.

XX

Severus stormed into Dumbledore’s office. “I’m going to kill that damn Longbottom boy!” he snarled at the older man before proceeding to stomp around the office in a flurry of anger and black robes.

“What seems to be the matter, Severus?” the Headmaster asked in a calm, patient tone that made Severus want to leap across the desk and strangle the old man with his own beard.

Severus took a few deep breaths, knowing that if he snarled the answer at the Dumbledore he just wouldn’t understand what Severus was saying. When at last he felt calm enough to speak evenly he explained. “It appears that Mr Longbottom’s potion disaster had more side effects than were immediately apparent.”

“All right, what kind of side effects?” the Headmaster asked.

Severus took several minutes trying to decide how best to word his response before finally deciding to just be blunt. “Apparently the potion also had alluring and aphrodisiacal properties. Almost every student I have come across this morning has attempted to throw themselves at me after being in my general vicinity for an hour or more,” Severus explained as evenly as he could.

“Just how general a vicinity are we talking, Severus?” Dumbledore asked.

“I cannot be certain, but I spent the morning at the front of my class room and by an hour into the lesson the two front rows were vying quite violently for my attention,” Severus replied.

“Oh, that could be quite a problem,” Dumbledore replied looking deep in thought for a few moments.

Well no kidding old man.

After a few moments of silent consideration Dumbledore turned his attention back to the potions master and gave him a pitying smile. “I guess another trip to Madame Pomfrey is in order.”

XX

Pomfrey examined Severus thoroughly and determined that there were indeed extra properties to the potion. She then scolded him for leaving the previous day before she could finish her examinations and not 10 minutes later was making eyes at him accompanied by suggestive comments. Severus wanted to throw up.

“There has to be something that can be done about this,” Severus groaned as the mediwitch fawned over him and invaded his personal space.

“I’ll find a way to fix you, Sevvy dearest,” Pomfrey crooned sweetly moving forward to wrap her arms around him.

“Thank you,” Severus said jumping up from the bed and fleeing the medical wing before she managed to achieve her goal.

“Sevvy, where are you going? Come back, I just want to make you feel better,” Poppy called in a love sick puppy voice and Severus heard Dumbledore’s laughter echo through the hall way behind him as he fled.

He avoided every busy hallway he could on his way back to his office. He still managed to get several appreciative looks cast in his direction from several of the staff and students, male and female alike, before he slipped into the room and slammed the door behind him to lock everyone out. He sighed, relieved to be alone and free of all the attention, a feeling that faded immediately when his eyes fell on the pile of what appeared to be love letters sitting on his desk.

With an agitated snarl he waved his wand angrily at the pile watching with a ridiculous amount of satisfaction as they all went up in smoke. He’d managed to burn his desk a little underneath but he didn’t care, at least the damned love letters were gone. He sat down at his desk and dropped his head into his hands. There had to be a way to reverse this; there had to be something he could do to change himself back to the way he used to be. At the very least there had to be something he could do about the potions other side effects.

With a sigh he turned back toward his extensive potions library and scanned through the titles. Spotting Madam Ravenwood’s Dictionary of Potions he withdrew it from the book case and placed it on the desk in front of him. He needed to work out what exactly Longbottom had created and how to reverse it and Ravenwood’s book was the best place to start.

Opening up the book to the contents page he searched for the section containing aphrodisiac potions. As soon as he located it he began to flick through the book searching for the page number he needed. Surely there had to be something in here to help him.

XX

Several hours and even more books later Severus sat at his desk with his head resting on a pillow made of his arms. Nothing, there was absolutely no reference to a potion that brought about the effects currently plaguing him let alone anything to help him find a way to reverse it. When he reached the section in each book dealing with potions of this type there were always similar listings, but nothing that was exactly like what he was experiencing.

All in all, he was screwed!!

A knock on his door made him growl and he lifted his head just enough to snarl at whoever was there to go away.

“Professor Snape, it’s professor Trelawney. I know you’re not overly keen on company, but there’s something urgent I must give to you,” the divination teacher called through the door.

Severus pushed himself to his feet with a groan and headed over to open the door. “What?” he snapped at the other professor.

“Well I was in my office a little while ago when I suddenly blacked out. When I came to this was sitting in front of me,” the professor stated holding out a piece of parchment. “It’s in my hand writing so I must have written it but I don’t remember doing so, which usually means it’s a message from beyond,” she finished handing the parchment to Severus.

To Severus’ surprise the parchment had his name written at the top with a poem written beneath it. Confused he looked up to ask the other professor what she thought it meant, but to his shock she was gone. He stuck his head out of his room and looked around but found the corridor devoid of life. With a frown he stepped back into his room and shut the door, taking the parchment over to his desk to read it.

“Darling Severus,

I am a spirit of the night

Who comes to thee to shed some light

Your path you do not understand

So I’ll explain what we have planned

For you, the potions master great

Have had far too long to wait

For true love you have long been hoping

But with loneliness and pain you have been coping 

Through the darkness you have served the light well

And we wish to reward you with this spell

Half of your years we have returned

For we believe these you have earned

Great beauty we have also given thee

And while you may feel it false, please believe me

I have only returned what should have been yours

The damage to your outward appearance was caused

By years of abuse, and the fault is my own

You know this is true, though you’re not one to moan

Or complain of your past, you’re a strong one my child

Your life’s not been easy; it’s been crazy and wild

I know over the years you have often been burned

And through your sacrifice another chance you have earned

Now I need to explain so that you understand

Why we have chosen to play another hand

The spell to attract all those you see

Contains a hidden gift for thee

For while you will draw everyone to you

You will receive true love from only two

For one you will feel the love of family

The other, your longed for lover will be

Together they will make you whole

They will soothe and calm your damaged soul

Both lay already before your eyes

Their love for you they do disguise

The first; already a child of god to thee

The other a former enemy

Though he has cared you right from the start

He has kept those feelings locked deep in his heart

For fear of rejection, because just like you

He has known the love of very few

I know you are worried but do not fear

Those who love you are very near

Your outward appearance has no bearing

On their feelings of love and caring

What draws their affection is the real you

In time you will come to know this is true

Take heart, my dear, this is a gift not a curse

You will find no cure from a book or a nurse

True love is all that will set you free

And bring with it wonderful gifts for thee

I know this hard so I will grant you a clue

The ones out there who truly love you

Will not feel any effects of this spell

Watch closely and soon you’ll be able to tell

Who they are, be vigilant, Severus

This is your one chance at true happiness.

If you waste it there will not be another

I am with you always my darling,

Love

Your Mother

Severus read and reread the poem several times before dropping it on the table and burying his face in his hands. “Damn meddlesome woman,” he growled.

XX

Dumbledore studied the piece of parchment for several minutes before placing it down on the desk and studying Severus over his glasses.

“So, your mother wishes to make up for the suffering you’ve endured, both as a child and an adult,” he stated.

“So it would appear,” Severus replied looking down at his hands.

“Do you have any idea of whom she may be speaking?” The headmaster asked.

Severus thought about it. “Well, one would appear to be quite obvious; Draco is the only god child I am aware of and one of the very few people I’ve ever felt any affection for outside of that which one feels for a friend or colleague. It is true that I care for the boy as if he were my own, although I never thought he would return that sentiment. As for the other; I have no idea, Headmaster,” Snape replied honestly.

Dumbledore looked deep in thought for a moment before speaking. “Well, if I were to add up all the evidence, I’m afraid I would come to a conclusion you’re not going to be overly fond of, Severus,” he said.

Severus looked up at the older man with a raised eyebrow. “And that conclusion would be?” he asked.

“That perhaps the one you’re meant to spend your life with is a student currently attending Hogwarts,” Dumbledore replied.

“You are correct, I do not like it,” Severus agreed. “In spite of this, I am curious to know how you came to this conclusion.”

“The poem states that your lover is close by. The only people close to you here are students and other faculty members. I would maybe think that it is another professor at the school, except if that were the case reversing your age would have been pointless as the faculty are all of similar age to yourself, well, previously anyway,” the old wizard explained. “It is someone you are already acquainted with and who the poem clearly states has always cared for you, indicating that they have known you for some time already; ruling out most of the population of Hogsmead and it is the only town close by. With all that evidence stacked together, what other conclusion is there to draw?”

Severus felt the sense of dread currently residing in his stomach grow in intensity and he dropped his face into his hands with a defeated groan. This was even worse than he’d thought.

XXX

End of chapter one

There we go, we hope you enjoyed it. The rest of the chapters will be longer than this one but like we said, things get a bit more serious from here on out and this chapter made us giggle when we were writing it so we left it where it is. If you feel like leaving us some feedback we’d love to hear from you xxoo

Rosalie and Kayla

Review replies

DrPotterhead, amothepirate, HeartStar, delia cerrano, imsandi and Anon: Thank you so much for the reviews, we really appreciated them :D. The pairing is pretty new for us but we’re really enjoying writing the story and we hope you enjoy it. Sorry for the long wait, we’ll endeavour to get the chapters out to you quicker from now on. Thanks again for taking the time to reviewing and we hope you enjoyed the update.

Jujukitty: Who handed Neville the wrong ingredient isn’t really going to be a big deal for the story, but if you’re curious we can work it in somewhere. Thank you for reviewing, we hope you enjoyed the update.

Nature Wonder: Thanks for reviewing J. If you want to send us your email address we can let you know when we update. Hope you enjoyed the new chapter.

Snapelust: Thanks, we hope this chapter explained Severus’ issues with his change of appearance for you.

B1ackWo1f: Thank you so much!! We can’t give you an exact estimation of when we’ll be updating unfortunately, two authors makes it kind of tough. We can email you when we update though if you like just send us your address. Thanks for reviewing, we hope you enjoyed the update J