#8 ~ A Rather Catty Situation

Disclaimer: All characters belong to JKR (except Odessa Divine and Marcus Delaluci). All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
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Chapter 22 ~ A Little Elfin Enlightenment

Odessa spent the day in the lower levels with the house elves who were doing an excellent job of boxing up the loose files. One thing that bothered Odessa about the elves however, was the way they all cringed whenever she got close to them. Finally, when one almost burst into tears when she suddenly entered the door and bumped him, she decided she had enough.

“All right you elves, front and center, now!” she said, her hands on her hips.

The elves all clustered together in front of her, bobbing, bowing and looking up at her furtively, before dropping their eyes.

“Why are you all acting so afraid of me? I understand deference, and being subservient, but you all shake around me like I’m an elf beater or something. Now, I want to know what’s going on, and want to know right now,” she said, frowning at them.

The elves looked at each other, then up at Odessa…not saying a word.

“Fine. I order you,” Odessa pointed at the green elf, “to tell me why you are acting so afraid of me.”

The green house elf’s face dropped. He had to obey a direct order. His ears went flat to his head.

“We is frightened because you are an animagus,” the elf said.

“How do you know that?” said Odessa, worried now. She was unregistered.

“We is house elves. We knows,” the house elf said, bobbing his head.

All right. So they knew she was an animagus. Maybe it was just a house elf thing, that they could tell. That still didn’t explain why they were acting like this.

“Professor McGonagal is an animagus. She was near a house elf the other day in the corridor. It didn’t shake or cringe in fear,” she said. “She’s a cat like me.”

“No, not like you. You is like the early ones. The first animagi. That is why we is frightened.”

“The early ones? What are you talking about?” Odessa said, frowning.

“The first shape shifters,” another elf piped in, looking very scared.

Odessa looked at the elves. She wanted to hear about this.

“All right. Asking you questions isn’t going to get it. How about one of you just tells me about the shape shifters, and anything else you know? Who will tell me?” she asked looking from one to the other. The house elves gathered in a little group, whispering, looking back at Odessa from time to time. Finally they broke the huddle. The brown elf stepped forward, his clawed hands clasped to his chest. He bowed and said, “I will tell you, Miss.”

Odessa walked over to a box of files and sat on it. She looked at the elf expectantly.

“We is an old, old people. Not always servants like now. We seen when men became magic, became powerful. They became too powerful and we had war with them. We lose, and now we serve. There were men who could change to beasts. But not just one beast. One man could change to many different beasts. Then the power was lost. Now is one man, one beast. You are like the old ones. But your other beast is not good. Your other beast seeks blood always. That is why we is afraid. You do not control that beast. It is its own master. It is stronger than you are, and comes only to kill. That is why we is afraid, Miss.”

“It won’t come for you,” Odessa said softly. “It only comes for bad men, not elves.”

The elves looked a little relieved. Odessa looked at them. They knew.

“Will you tell anyone about this? About me being like the old ones?” she asked.

“Oh no, Miss. We keeps secrets. We serves all as masters at Hogwarts. We knows many, many dark secrets. We cannot reveal them…it is part of the magic that binds us,” the elf replied, “not even the great Dumbledore can force an elf to reveal a secret given him.”

“Well, then I order you to keep my secret, and not to fear me, you are all very safe. No more trembling, okay?” Odessa said, smiling at the elves.

“Yes, Miss,” they all said in unison, clearly relieved that Odessa’s beast did not want their blood. They began their work again, and Odessa left them to it, levitating a box and taking it to the office. So, she was some kind of throwback. And her uncle’s mistreatment of her forced her other form to manifest. Well, that was an explanation at least. Hate brought it forth. It was a creature of hatred and evil. Her mind was never present in that form. It had killed her uncle. It had killed her false lover…who else did she hate?

Currently, the wife of Severus Snape. And Marcus now, particularly since he pronounced failure on her quest for the Potions Master. Would the beast kill a woman?

Odessa had never contemplated the death of anyone other than her uncle. The death of the Auror had been an accident, and his own fault for making her hate him. The wizards that raped her deserved to die. The rest of the men, they were told what not to do, and did it anyway. Their fault, not hers. Hermione? She was innocent in a way, but guilty in another. She was what stood between Severus and Odessa. As long as she was in his bed, then Odessa was at a disadvantage. The witch had to go. Maybe the beast could take her or at least maim her. Then Odessa would have Severus, and with his love, the creature would never come out again.

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Hermione worked in the Spells lab for the most of the day. She was designing a spell that would identify the best time to try to conceive a child. It was a patch, much like the contraceptive patch she developed. The patch was placed on the skin and absorbed. When the woman became fertile, the patch would appear as a light shade of green, which would deepen as the woman approached the perfect time for conception. At peak fertility, it would be a deep vibrant green. If the woman became pregnant, the patch would turn red. She liked the easy streetlight parallel for the couples. Of course, it would have to be explained. Streetlights were muggle creations. But it was a simple concept to grasp. Green for go, red for stop, not that they would.

She had initially tried the patch on rats and niflers, but they bred well anyway, so it was difficult to tell how many litters were because of the patch or just the natural result of the animals’ fertility. She then tried several pairs of crups, and met with enough success to move to human subjects. So far, the testing was going very well. Out of ten human test subjects, seven were blissfully expecting.

Her mind idly wandered a bit. So many people wanted children. She wasn’t sure if she did. Children would change her and Severus’ lives so much. He never spoke about it, probably leaving it up to her to broach the issue. She thought Severus would be a good father, if a stern one. She thought though, if he had a little girl, he’d be putty in her hands, just like he was in Hermione’s. With a boy, he would probably be more of an authoritarian. Hermione smiled a bit wistfully picturing a little black-haired boy, playing with a potions set, mixing brews just like his daddy, and a little chestnut-haired girl, chattering incessantly while playing at spells.

She pushed the thought out of her head as Severus walked into the lab. He walked over and looked at her notes, then at her, his dark eyes curiously bright.

“I see you are having success with this Conception spell, Hermione,” he said as he pulled up a stool and sat down next to her, “it will be a blessing to many childless couples.”

“Yes, it will be,” Hermione replied.

There was a bit of a silence that followed her response. She was aware that her husband was looking at her rather intensely, and suddenly, she felt oddly shy under his scrutiny. His eyes swept over her body, halting on her waist for a moment, then returning to meet her eyes.

Severus was imagining what his wife would look like pregnant. She would be beautiful, he was sure. Round, glowing and rolling about the labs, carrying his child. He pictured them in bed, he spooned around her, his arms wrapped protectively around her belly, pulling her close, feeling new life moving inside her. The culmination of their love growing inside her. If only…

“What are you thinking about, Severus?” Hermione asked him.

The Potions Master looked at her. He stood up and closed her notes.

“I was thinking it is almost time for supper, and how I would like to escort my wife to the Great Hall before I collapse from hunger,” he answered as he took her arm.

“And afterwards, we go out on the grounds?” Hermione asked him, her eyes bright with excitement,

“Yes, my love. We go out on the grounds,” he replied. She kissed him, hopping up and down on her toes like an excited little girl.

“This is going to be wonderful!” she said, as they exited the lab. “I can’t wait to see your animagus form.”

“It may be a little frightening,” Severus said as they walked through the Spells office and exited into the dungeon hall.

“No. I’ve dreamed about you as a serpent since I was a panting little virgin,” she replied, looking up at her husband rather hotly, ”I wouldn’t describe my reaction to it as ‘frightening.’”

Severus looked at the familiar glow in his wife’s eyes.

“How would you describe your reaction to it?” he asked in a low voice.

“I think it is the most sensuous, blatantly sexual animal I’ve ever seen,” she breathed, “at least in my dreams.”

“Really.” Severus said, his black eyes glittering down at his wife, “When I transform, I look exactly like the serpent in your dreams, except for the Slytherin crest.”

Hermione shuddered with pleasure. Her reaction wasn’t lost on Severus. Running about wouldn’t be all they’d be doing on the grounds of Hogwarts tonight.

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Severus and Hermione arrived in the Great Hall, greeted the other staff and took their seats. After doing his customary glare around the Hall, which resulted in several satisfying blanches, particularly at the Gryffindor table, Severus ordered a large plate of rib-eye steaks, with potatoes. It was much more than he usually ate. Hermione looked at the mass of food piled before her husband curiously.

“Why so much food, Severus?” she asked as she ordered a meal of chicken breast, baby peas and asparagus.

“Well, I discovered long ago, that when I changed into my animagus form, it was better that I do it on a full stomach, to curb my urge to hunt. The urge can be extremely strong, and I would rather concentrate on enjoying myself with you, than fighting the urge to go into the Forbidden Forest and swallow down several unfortunate animals” he replied, cutting into the first of the rib-eyes. “You might want to do the same. It will be your first night out, and your senses and urges will be quite animalistic. You might eat something or someone if you feel peckish.”

Hermione grimaced. “Ewww,” she said. Severus grinned slightly, not wanting to ruin his dour image with the student body. Hermione speared one of his steaks with her fork and placed it on her plate.

Further down the table, Marcus was chowing down on a huge turkey leg, looking more like a guest at a medieval banquet than a staff member at supper. He was dressed in a black t-shirt, black pants and black trainers. He always wore black when he walked the grounds. It made him harder to see. He liked his privacy. He planned to do some grading after supper, and then head out toward the forest. He was looking forward to some peace and quiet, maybe a little stargazing like he and Cassandra would do when he visited the island.

The staff door opened and Odessa entered. Hermione was so enthused about the night ahead of her, she didn’t bother to glare at the witch. Severus continued eating as though no one had entered the hall. Odessa was aware of being ignored, and it was just fine with her. If things went as planned, they wouldn’t be ignoring her for much longer.

She sat down next to Marcus and looked at him coldly. Marcus ripped a large piece of meat off of the turkey leg in an exaggeratedly fierce manner in response, chewing it loudly as his violet eyes met hers. She knew a dig when she saw one. Now that he knew about her beast animagus, he would be even more insufferable. Her hatred of him was growing.

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A/N: ok. Odessa is a throwback to a time when shape shifters ruled the world! What is going to happen on the grounds, I wonder? Especially if Severus and Hermione give in to their animal natures beneath the pale moonlight? And Marcus, if something goes down and he witnesses it…will he let it go…or will he help? Tune in, readers, for the next exciting chapter! Lol. This feels like a really twisted soap opera promotion. Anyway, please review. And thanks to all of you who are reviewing. It keeps me primed.:)