Angelica's Sorrow

A/N


Deb - very pleased to oblige. ;)

jonelin - as I\'ve had to tell Deb in the past - patience, patience. (I\'ll send you the secret plans next week.)


CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE


They only had three days left before the dunderheads returned. Everything was tidy and in order for their classes. Severus helped her set up lesson plans for the first and second year students she would be teaching. He even managed to persuade Dumbledore not to put Slytherins and Gryffindors together for those two years, a feat he\'d never managed before. Minerva probably helped to change the tradition, she wouldn\'t want Hermione to have any more problems than she could handle her first time out.

The wind began to play with her hair and blew some strands onto his face, breaking his train of thought. He stretched and relaxed before turning and placing his head on his hand, elbow bent, to look down on her sleeping face. She\'d asked him to go for a picnic and he had protested, but she won. Who knew that eating outside could be so sensual. They\'d fallen asleep on the blanket after their lunch, protected from the sun by the sturdy tree near the lake. Severus decided he would scout around and find a more private location for their next picnic.

\'Far away from the eyes of students and staff. A thicker blanket would help, too.\' He frowned in thought, \'a cushioning charm, of course! That would do the trick.\' Drawing his wand, he placed one on the blanket, \'Yes, much better. That private location will have to be found very, very soon.\'

After putting his wand away, he reached over to pick a piece of clover, used it to trace her jaw, throat, lips until she stirred in her sleep and opened her eyes. He allowed her to smile at him before claiming her lips with his mouth. Couldn\'t do much more with the castle so close, Minerva still wasn\'t speaking to him except when she had to. He broke the kiss and returned her smile.

\"That was a delightful way to wake up, may I have seconds, ple-\" His mouth covered hers again.

\"We should go inside before I traumatize the giant squid with my actions,\" he murmured against her ear.

\"Who cares about the squid. I\'m sure he\'s seen much worse from the merfolk,\" she murmured back.

He started laughing as he sat up. \"I never thought of that,\" he admitted as he helped her to sit.

\"What did you do to the blanket, cushioning charm?\" she asked, testing it with her hand.

\"Yes, I was thinking of finding a much more private location for our next picnic and thought it would come in handy.\"

\"Oh!\" She tested it again and looked up with a slightly wicked grin of her own. \"Brilliant idea.\"

\"I do have my moments. Do you remember, the first night you were here, when I told you I had four questions to ask?\"

\"As if I could forget. You still haven\'t told me the other two.\"

\"I never said I was going to ask you all of them at the same time.\"

\"So, are you going to tell me now?\"

\"No.\" She hit him lightly on the arm.

\"Then why bring it up?\"

\"Because I\'m going to ask, not tell.\"

\"If I didn\'t love you so much, I\'d hex you right here and now. You know very well that\'s what I meant.\"

\"Well, I hope you won\'t be too upset, but I have a different question to ask right now.\"

\"I think I\'ll hex you anyway.\"

\"Now, now.\" He leaned closer, pushed her hair aside and whispered against her left ear lobe, sliding down to nip just a little. \"Who would make you purr if you did that?\"

\"True, ask already.\" She shuddered as she pushed him back. \"I can\'t think straight when you do that.\"

\"I know.\" Trying for the spot again and getting pushed onto his back by the full weight of her.

\"You\'d better remember, I know a few places of my own,\" she threatened, laughing over him, as her fingers found their way to his nape. \"Now ask the question.\"

\"You\'ve forced it out of me. Where do you purchase those delightful underthings you wear?\"

\"What! That\'s the question I\'ve been waiting to hear for ten minutes?\" She sat up, laughing again. \"Why is everyone so interested in my underwear?\"

\"It has not been ten minutes, more like two.\" He sat up, eyebrow raising. \"And just who else is interested in your underthings and why?\" It had been awhile since he had been in a duel, but wouldn\'t take much practice to regain his form.

\"Oh! Nothing like that,\" she gasped as a flush of anger spread over his face. \"It\'s Ginny, no one else. She tried to talk me into buying thongs the last time we went shopping.\"

\"Thongs? Aren\'t those floppy shoes muggles wear? What do they have to do with underthings?\"

\"Well, this particular type of thong is the type of underthing you seem to like very much. You know, the knickers with no backs.\"

\"Ah, Miss Weasley has excellent taste. She must have been successful in getting you to buy quite a few of them. I will have to give at least ten points to Gryffindor for that, after the term starts.\"

\"Actually, she wasn\'t. I -uh - sent for these by owl last week. I have a catalog.\"

\"Really?\" He teased leaning closer. \"And why was that?\"

\"If you haven\'t figured it out by now, I\'ll be darned if I\'m going to tell you. It didn\'t take me that long to figure out what happened to the plants Minerva put in my bathroom. OK, no more stalling, what\'s the next question?\"

\"I didn\'t say I was going to ask the other two today as well.\"

\"Severus!\"

\"Well, since I won\'t be giving those points after all, I will ask one further today. Will that satisfy you?\"

\"Well, not really, but out here in the open it\'ll have to do.\" She actually leered at him!

\"Shall we forget the questions for now and retire early?\"

\"Ask the other question and then I\'ll answer that one.\" Eyebrow rose, she was learning!

\"I want to ask if you will accompany me and meet - well, I guess she would be a friend of mine.\"

\"You mean Narcissa?\"

\"No, this is a much more recent friend, but I will need to explain a few things to you about her.\"

\"Have you had an affair with her?\"

\"Gods, no! That is physically impossible. Let me explain before you ask questions. She - lives in one of the rooms off the Chamber of Secrets. Only Albus, Poppy and I - probably Minerva as well, knows she even exists.\"

\"How - never mind I know, shut up right?\"

\"Please, it\'s a long and not altogether pleasant story. Her name is Angelica Marie Woodmont. She was married to Winston Harold Woodmont, IV. They were muggles, had four children together and were very happy for close to twenty years. Then their youngest child showed signs of being a fairly strong witch and was sent to Hogwarts.\" Now came the impossibly hard part to relay.

\"You know, being Muggle-born yourself, that representatives are sent out to explain to the parents what is so special about their children.\" She nodded, but kept silent.

\"When Hogwarts was first started, the founders themselves went out. That is when Salazar Slytherin first noticed Angelica and started to fall in love with her.\"

He placed a finger over her lips as they started to part.

\"I know this is killing you, but please, let me get through this part. It is very difficult to talk about, even yet. From what Angelica tells me, he sent an owl to her with a letter spelled as a Portkey. He told her later, he watched for the times she was the only one at home. No one stayed at the school during the summer break, so he had no difficulties taking her to the room. By altering selected memories, he tried to make her fall in love with him. How he did this, will be easier to explain after I show you the room.\"

He paused, clearing his throat, no longer able to hold her gaze.

\"He failed to make her love him and bound her \'soul\', if you will, to the room. We can\'t help her, as he didn\'t write down what methods he used. She is not a ghost, cannot move freely throughout the castle. I promised her that I would bring you to meet her and she has been patiently waiting for quite some time. She speaks to me in my mind, haven\'t figured out the spell he used to accomplish that, but so far I\'m the only one. I believe it\'s her choice. There is one other thing you need to know before you agree or decline. She is what you might call empathic, can sense the emotions of others even if they don\'t speak. Will you accompany me tonight to meet her?\"

Severus raised his head and looked in her eyes, unsurprised to see the tears tracking down her face. \'Such a tender heart, it was inevitable.\' He pulled his handkerchief and blotted them away. Her voice was very soft when she replied.

\"That\'s where you go every few days, when you disappear for a few hours?\" He nodded. \"Of course I will, she\'s someone you love.\" Hermione\'s words startled him.

\"I admire her, yes. I don\'t know that I would call it love.\"

\"I mean love like I have for Harry, or yours for Narcissa.\" He thought for a moment and ran a hand over his face.

\"Bloody hell! This will give her a decided advantage in our future arguments.\"