Darkened Lust

Darkened Lust
Part Twenty-Three

All previous disclaimers are still in working order, of course!

By Ami E. Bowen and Rebecca (Becca) Middleton


"Harry? Are you all right?" Hermione asked, placing a hand on her friend's arm. It was the scene with the Mirror of Erised and Harry was staring at the screen, entraced, a look of sadness upon his face.

Ami leaned forward to glance around Snape at Becca and they both shared an identical thought. Maybe they should have fast-forwarded this scene...

"Yeah, I'm fine," Harry said, as he watched his parents on the television screen, "I guess I just didn't expect them to..."

"It's all right," Hermione said, "Was your mother really that pretty?"

Before Harry could say anything, Severus spoke up, "No, Miss Granger," he said, but held up his hand at Harry's angry start, adding before the young man could say more to defend his mother, "Lily was far more beauitful than the actress playing her."

"Don't you dare talk about my mother!" Harry hissed, "You haven't the right to say her name!"

"Harry!" Hermione clamped a hand on his upper arm, "He didn't mean anything by it..."

"It's all right, mate," Ron said, "Maybe we shouldn't watch this part..."

"You may not believe this, Mr. Potter," Severus said, his voice cold and both Ami and Becca felt him stiffen with his arms still around them, "But, your mother and I were friends in school."

You're right," Harry snorted, "I don't believe you."

"As I predicted," Snape countered, "Nevertheless, I owe your mother a debt of caring. I will never speak ill of her."

Becca thought back to particular scene in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in which Harry was speaking with Professor Lupin and Remus had made mention of Harry's mother.

"She was there for me when no one else was," Lupin had said to young Harry, "Not only was she a singularly gifted witch, she was an uncommonly kind woman. She could see the beauty in others, even though when that person could not see it themselves."

She thought that it wasn't too far-fetched at all that Lily would have befriended a young Severus Snape. Not at all far-fetched. They all settled back once more to finish the movie. The strain between Harry and Snape was still thicker than the dough for Ami's grandmother's mollassas cookies.

Maybe it was too much to expect they would be able to set aside thier differences so quickly, Ami thought, and chewed her bottom lip as she watched the credits roll. "Well," Ron said, after awhile as Becca removed the DVD and put it back within it's case, "That was...really weird!"

"Well, I rather enjoyed it!" Hermione said, smiling, "The actress playing me does look rather like me, doesn't she?"

"Except for her hair," Ron said, "And her teeth..."

"Ron!"

"I'm only joking, Hermione!" Ron said, and laughed, "You're much pretty than her!"

"I don't care about that!" she huffed, sitting back and crossing her arms over her small bosom, "How shallow do you think I am?"

"If you two are finished," Severus said, leaning forward to sit on the edge of the sofa, removing his arms from about Ami and Becca.

His tone became serious, "We have important matters to discuss. Miss Granger," he looked towards the young witch and she waited, "You mentioned before that you'd be trying to find me. I assume it wasn't to wish me a happy Holiday."

"Well, no, not exactly," Hermione said, and looked down at her shoes, "You see, Harry wanted to..."

"I think I can venture a guess as to why Mr. Potter wanted to locate me," Snape sneered, but soften his voice a bit before adding, "But, there's another reason that you wanted to find me isn't there?"

"Other than to hear you defend yourself, sir," Hermione said, looking up once more, "To put it bluntly, I...we...need your help."

"I don't!" Harry said, still being stubborn. Ami wondered if he even realized how much alike he and his former potions master actually were!

"Hush, Harry!" Hermione said quickly, before going on, "Sir, please, Everything is...Since you've fled...Oh, it's just horrid! You should see Hogwart's now, sir. I was considering taking a teaching position there, but..."

As she trailed off, Snape stood and began to pace the room. A habit of his, Becca and Ami knew, when he was either extremely aggitated or deep in thought and trying to work over some problem in his head.

Finally, he spun around and regarded them all with those black black eyes of his, "It seems that Voldemort's power grows by the hour," At the sound of the dreaded name, Ron gasped, though Harry merely glared and Hermione's lips grew thin and pinched.

"Everyone within Order has done thier utmost to pause or cease his rise to full power, including myself. Yes, Potter," he said, swirling around to face Harry.

"You are so quick to judge and find fault. But, had it not been for me... But, that's the past... and what we are concerned with right now is the future. The reason we were pulled together..."

"...Maybe the wizarding world isn't enough to fight him!" Becca cried, as thought she'd been chewing on this thought for a while now and hadn't been able make it take root, "We have to..."

"Get the muggles to help?" Ron said, agast, "But, how can muggles even..."

"That would risk the exposure of the wizarding world!" Hermione cried, no less startled, "How can we even consider that?"

"You forget," Snape said, "This world, the world we are in presently is not the same as the world we all come from. The muggles here... are...different." Saying that last, he looked over at Ami and Becca, "We've discussed this before, my ladies and I, and I have ceased thinking of them as 'muggles'."

Harry said, much to everyone's suprise; "So, what you're saying is we have to try and get the people from this world to join the people from our own world to fight Voldemort?"

"More or less," Snape said, "If there was ever a time to put aside our disagreements for a common goal, this would be the time..."

"Easier said than done!" Hermoine said, "I don't know about your world, but in mine the muggles are so blind to magic they'd miss it if it landed on thier noses and bit them!"

"We'll find a way," Ami insisted and Becca nodded, adding; "The puzzle isn't complete, not yet..."

Crossing his arms over his chest, Snape replied, to all of them, "We all ready have six of those peices..."

"When will the picture be complete, then?" Hermione whispered, almost to herself, "When Voldemort's defeated, finally?"

"No," Becca said, and Ami nodded, catching her thoughts, as did Snape, "It will never be fully finished...as long as we are still alive. Yet, each peice will change it somehow...Only when were are no longer..."

"...Alive," Snape nodded, "Will it ever truly be finished. But, enough metaphors. There are several things that need to be done. Potter, as I am sure you are aware, there are things known as Horcruxes..."

After a moment Harry nodded.

“Artifacts that contain a piece of Voldemort’s soul,” Harry said.

Snape nodded, then looked at the women. “Do the two of you know about these?”

“They’re explained in Book 6,” Becca answered.

“Does it say in the book what they are? Or where?” Hermione said excitedly, and seemed to deflate when Ami shook her head.

“It won’t be that easy, Hermione. We know that one was the diary, one was the ring that Dumbledore destroyed, and there are 4 more. Two of them are very likely the locket and the cup, and one may be the snake Nagini.

As for the last one…” Ami trailed off, not wanting to say that many fans held the theory that Harry himself could be the last Horcrux. “No one knows,” she said instead.

“I hate to tell you all this, but you’ve probably already had the locket in your hands.” Becca told them.

“How?” Harry asked. “The one Dumbledore and I found was a fake.”

“I know. But in Order Of……er, Book 5, when you were helping to clean Sirius’s house, you found a locket that ‘resisted all attempts to open it.’ A lot of people think that was the locket. What did you do with it?”

Harry slapped his forehead. “I should have thought of that before! I don’t know what happened to it. I mean, Mrs. Weasley threw it away, that’s all I know.”

“But Kreacher kept stealing things from the trash and hiding them, didn’t he?” Ami asked. “There’s a chance that he took that, too. If so, it’s still in the house.” Harry looked marginally more hopeful at her words.

Ron was looking at them in amazement. “It’s just spooky how you know so much about us. About what we’ve done, how we feel…”

“We’re not the only ones, Ron. You’d be surprised how many people in this world love you, even if they don’t believe in you.” Ami said affectionately.

Harry spoke up again. “If you know so much, then tell me. Why did Snape murder Dumbledore?” He shot a glance of pure hatred at Severus, which the older wizard returned coolly. However, he did not speak, merely looked at his ladies and motioned for them to continue.

“He didn’t murder him.” Becca said flatly. “He was following Dumbledore’s orders when he cast the Avada Kadavra. We don’t know what it did to Dumbledore.”

“It killed him!” Harry yelled. “I saw his body!”

“You’re right, it probably did kill him,” Ami said sadly, seeing from the corner of her eye Severus bow his head at her words. “Even Rowling has said that Dumbledore is truly dead. But you can’t blame Severus for following Dumbledore’s orders, no matter what they were. Dumbledore wouldn’t have accepted anything less, would he? He even told you to save yourself even if it was at his expense, didn’t he? Didn’t he?” she demanded. Harry very reluctantly nodded.

“He sacrificed himself to save Draco,” Becca said. “He knew Voldemort would kill Draco otherwise.”

“Where is Draco?” Hermione asked.

“You don’t know, Miss Granger?” Snape inquired. “The Order has him in their custody. He is safer there than with his father.” He exchanged a look with Ami and Becca, remembering their “meeting” with Lucius Malfoy.

“But how do we find the other Horcruxes?” Hermione asked.

“J.K. Rowling has said that all the clues are in the books.” Becca said. “To be honest, I can’t figure out what or where they are, but then, I’ve only read them. You all have lived them, and more. You also know what’s not in the books. Would you be up to reading 6 books in just a few days, Hermione?”

Hermione smiled slyly. “If you know as much about me as you say you do, then you don’t need to ask.” Becca laughed and nodded. Hermione had always reminded her of herself a bit.

“The only one my brother has is that one,” Becca said, pointing to the one beside Hermione. “I have all of them, but they’re at my house, and I don’t know if it’s a good idea to go back there right now and get them.”

“Have you forgotten that I am a wizard, Rebecca?” Snape asked her with a smirk. “Where in your house are the books? Concentrate on where they are.” He pulled his wand out of his robes, while Becca felt his mind touch hers.

In the bedroom…in the computer desk…the shelf below the monitor… She pictured the books as she had last seen them, closing her eyes to do so. Snape flicked his wand. Becca heard Ami gasp, and opened her eyes to find her Harry Potter collection on the floor of the living room, with Hermione nearly swooping down upon them.

Ami smiled at the sight, then looked at Severus. “Impressive,” she said. “Why have you been keeping such an ability secret?” She was rewarded with a rather severe look, to which she responded by putting out her tongue at him.

He cocked an eyebrow and said, “I can think of much better uses to which to put that tongue of yours, Miss Bowen.” The faces of the three young wizards flamed at his sexual innuendo, and they very obviously avoided the eyes of Ami and Becca, who only grinned at their embarrassment.

“Is it time for bed yet?” Becca asked innocently, however the look she gave Severus was anything but, and she slipped closer to Ami to put her hand between her upper thighs. Severus gave them what she was coming to think of as his “I’ll fuck you ‘til you can’t breathe” look. The Golden Trio suddenly found the floor very interesting indeed as their faces went an even deeper shade of red.

“Do you…do you want us to sleep here?” Ron nearly whispered.

Becca tore her eyes away from Severus, suddenly remembering her manners. “Oh, yeah. Um, well there’s my brother’s room. Also the sofa you’re sitting on pulls out into a bed, and then there’s the recliner.”

She indicated the blue chair that Severus was standing beside. She rose and went to the hall closet, pulling out extra pillows and blankets, which she deposited on the love seat. “You guys…well, you’re old enough to work out your own sleeping arrangements.”

“Of course,” Hermione murmured, once again engrossed in the novels in front of her.

“Is it safe here?” Harry asked.

“I believe it is, Mr. Potter. I would not stay here if I thought it would endanger my ladies.” Snape answered him. “Now, I will bid you all goodnight.” He looked at Becca and Ami, tossing his head toward the bedroom. “Come,” he said, and the lust in the word was impossible to disguise.

The women preceded him into the hallway, and before he turned to follow them, he could not resist adding to the young people, “Oh. If you hear screams…disregard them.” He swallowed his laughter with some difficulty at the expressions on their faces.

"What do you think he meant by that?" Ron asked as soon as he heard the bedroom door close.

"Honestly, Ronald!" Hermione said in exasperation, but refused to elaborate.

To Be Continued...