The Moon Has Spoken

It was Severus’ first sleepless night for over a month. He had even considered going through his emergency cabinet, where whe stored the most potent sleeping potions known to wizardkind, but he regarded it as a weakness and hence discarded the idea.
So there he was, his back against the pillows, eyes wide open and hair a mess, brooding.
He needed Fiddler to sleep, and that knowledge infurated him to no end. And there was still the fact that he was to meet her soon. He wasn’t sure of the date or the circumstances of her arrival, but he was certain Albus would have one of his genial plans up his sleeve. He always did.
As if reading his mind, a golden feather suddenly shone inside the hearth, and Severus sighed. Fawkes’ signal. Dumbledore was calling for him.
He got off the bed, and threw over himself the first set of robes that crossed his way. He charmed his hair back ts uss usual limp appearance and not wasting time in walking, flooed direclty to the Headmaster’s office.

“Ah, Severus!” I trust I didn’t wake you up?”

“You know you did not”, Severus stated stiffly.

“Oh, are you having trouble sleeping? That is such a pity. But Molly Weasley told me of this tea of hers and it supposedly works wonders. Maybe you should try it”.

“I shall consider it”, he said, not meaning to.

“Alas, let us get down to business. I summoned you because there has been a slight change of plans regarding Fiddler Greene”.

“Oh?”, Albus had caught his attention now.

“Yes, you see, I had planned on owling her a formal invitation to pay us a visit. I even had thought of throwing a Ball and such. But I am afraid that will not be possible”.

“Why not?”, Severus asked, trying not to smile at the Headmaster’s miffed expression.

“Well, I have received intelligence that our dear doctor might have been either stalked or attacked. I did not get that last part too clearly… My—Um… My agent was using some sort of magically improved walkie-talkie”.

This time, Severus couldn’t stifle the grin that formed on his lips.

“When will you ever learn, Albus”, he said.

“Muggles have developed most interesting artifacts, Severus”, Albus said defensively. “But that is not the point, what matters now is we must get to her before she is harmed”.

Severus found himself agreeing.

“And what do you suggest?”

“Well, I was thinking… If you would mind…?”

“Oh, I should have known”, Severus groaned. “Why me?”

“I did not think you would consider it such a burden, old friend”, Albus said, going serious. “I merely thought that your previous… involvement with her would make you the right wizard for the job. Apparently I was mistaken”.

“Meaning no disrespect, I am afraid you were”, Severus replied. “And I would hardly call it an ‘involve’.” ’.”

“Oh, wouldn’t you?”, Dumbledore said with that merry twinkle of his eyes Severus had learned to fear.
“I am sure you know better. So I guess that is a ‘no’, then, Severus? Oh, well… I will have to hask Lupin… Or even Tonks… Or perhaps the Weasley twins would be delighted to be assigned their first task…”, he mused to himself.

“Wait”, said Severus, suddenly worried about entrusting Fiddler’s safety to those goons of mischief. “I did not say I would not do it”.

“Now, that’s more like it, my boy”, Dumbledore stated genially, a full smile glowing on his wrinkled face. “Lemon drop?”

~§~§~§~

This was the waiting room of Hell, Severus was sure of it. He must have taken a wrong turn whilst trying to Apparate at the hospital Fiddler worked on, for he had landed in the middle of a large room full of shrieking people that seemed to be under cruciatus curse.
A running male on a surgery scrub bumped into Severus and nearly stabbed him with what it seemed an oversized spoon.

“Sorry”, he said, without glancing back, hurrying towards a detour in the hall.

“OOOSWALD!”, Severus heard an all too familiar voice. “WHERE THE HELL ARE THOSE KIELLANDS?”

“I’m… coming… doctor… Greene!”, Oswald panted, and Severus followed him to find himself in Hell, no doubt about it. A Muggle woman was no less than giving birth in the middle of the room, for all passersby to see. Fiddler was there, of course, wearing a shockinly orange scrub, and kneeling between the woman’s thighs.

“Here they are, doctor Greene”, Oswald said, handing her the gigantic spoons. Severus watched her gaze fall on him and pitied the poor bloke.

“Oswald”.

“Yes, doctor Greene?”

“Did you take the Kiellands out of the dressings?”

“Yes, doctor Greene. You see, I thought I’d save you some ti—”

“You ASS”. She cut in,very low, but dangerous all the same. “I shall talk to you later. Where’s the anesthesiologist?”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHH!!”, the deling wng woman gave an ear-splitting screech.

“Ma’am, kindly restrain yourself from yelling, because that helps neither us nor the baby”, Fiddler said.

“But it HURTS!”

“I am aware of that”.

“How should you? I. Don’t. See. You. Giving”, screech, “BIIIIIIIRTH!”

“Ma’am, don’t you yell again”, Fiddler admonished sternly. “You’re taking the oxygen supply from your baby and wasting energy. You’re nearly there. If you’d follow my instructions, we’ll go through it quite easily”.“I w“I want drugs, do you hear me? DRUGS!”, the woman squeezed her thighs together mindless to the fact that Fiddler was between them.

“Don’t do that again”, she said. “You’ll smash my head and your baby’s”, she then addressed to a blonde and scared female to her right. “For crying out loud, Betsy, get Jürgens’ ass down here now”.
The blonde named Betsy nodded and left for the stairs. In the meantime, Fiddler resumed her examinations and shook her head.

“Ma’am, I am going to have to use forceps to deliver your baby, and this isn’t the most adequate location to do it, so it might be a little uncomfortable”.

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“He’s faced the wrong way”, Fiddler said, “and he can’t come out like that. So I am going to scoop him out”.

“Scoop him out? He’s not bloody ice cream, you BITCH!”

“There’s no need to get lewd, is there?”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHHHHH!”

“God in heaven…”, Severus heard her mutter, “God dammit, Jürgens, where the hell are you?!”

But apparently the Jürgens fellow was nowhere to be found, for Fiddler was forced to use the enormous spoons without the benefit of Jürgens’ skills, and with a final gush of obscenities and and thunderous “I HATE YOU!”, the baby was finally delivered, and given to a girl, who, as Severus learned, was a pediatric nurse. Fiddler stayed with the new mother for a while, apparently repairing damaged tissue, and Severus watched all the process once he avoided being shooed away along with the rest of the nosies.

Finally, the woman was also taken away on a stretcher, and Fiddler took out her blood covered gloves and put them in the bin.

“Now, Oswald”, she said, as he was sneaking away. “Just so you know, you are not supposed to take things out of their sterile dressings. Not if you’re not propperly gloved, or if you plan to carry them around half the hospital. Understood?”

“Yes, doctor Greene… I am sorry”.

“You better be, because had we been at the DR, I would have had your guts for lunch. This was a contaminated delivery, so just this once, I’ll let it pass”.

“Thank you, doctor Greene”, Oswald said, and quickly banished through the door.

Fiddler stretched thoroughly in a way that made Severus think of a cat, and then she noticed his presence for the first time.

“Hi there”, she said, with her best doctory smile. “May I help you?”.

“In fact, you may”, Severus replied, taking a step forward. “I was sent for you”.

“”What?” she had taken her surgical cap off her head and that smooth waterfall of dark hair he remembered so well suddenly tumbled all the way down to her waist.

“Oh, drat the rubberband”, she swore, picking it up from the floor.

Now that he had her face to face, he took his time to examine her, in the subtle way that was his brand, noticing that she was small in height and that her build was not plain out stout, but neither was she one of those unhealthy undernourished noodles everyone seemed to find so attractive. She gave an impression of strength, right from the somewhat wide shoulders to her trainers-clad feet.
She had greenish-blue eyes behind green-rimmed spectacles, and very pale skin, that made such a contrast with the cheery orange of her scrub and her dark hair, undoubtely her best feature.

“Um, sir? You still there?”

“Yes, of course I am”, he snapped. “As I was saying, my name is Severus Snape and I was sent to summon you”.

“Well, hi, Mr. Severus Snape. I am doctor Fiddler Greene and, where, if may I ask, am I to be summoned to?”

“To Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry”.

Her face frowned in a rather funny way and she said:

“Is this a joke? Because I really don’t have the time. I--”

“I assure you, doctor Greene, I am not the jester kind”.

“No, well, you surely don’t look it”, she agreed, eyeing him thoughtfully. “So, a school of Witchcraft, is it? And Wizardry. Very interesting. Well, perhaps my workmates’ allegations finally became true. Ha, ha, ha, very funny. You can tell whoever sent you that...”

“Doctor Greene”, Severus cut in. “This isn’t really the time or the place to discuss such matters. Will you care to accompany me so I can enlighten you?”

“You know, I don’t usually accompany strangers”, she said. Merlin, was she sarcastic.

“I have properly introduced myself. My name is Severus Snape and I am a Potions Master at Hogwarts”.

“A Potions Master? Oh, really now! Who do you think I am? I… Hang on… You’re not in the same mob as that other nutter, are you?”

“What other nutter?”, Severus asked, curious against his better judgement.

“Well, a blonde bloke dressed in a lonk cloak”, Fiddler clarified. “He came here the other day claiming his master had sent him for me. He went a little berserk and I had to give him a shot”.

“WHAT?!” Severus exclaimed, all demeanor aside. Had she done what he think she’d done?

“Well, don’t get so surprised… He was nearly seizing in here… But nothing a little Haldol couldn’t take care of”, she grinned in a rather evilish way and Severus took an instinctive step backward. “So, do you know him?”

“I… Yes, one could say so.”

“And what kind of cult is yours?”

“It’s no cult, Doctor Greene”, Severus replied stiffly. “We’re both wizards. And just so you know it, so are you”.

~§~§~

“You are very lucky to be alive”, was the first thing Severus said when they reached the Hospital’s parking lot. Fiddler had lead the way in stunned silence, after his rather dramatic declaration, which had been his target all along.
She stopped next to a really battered van and tossed her backpack into the trunk. Next, she opened the passengers door for him and made a gesture for him to get in. He stared at her in regal silence.

“What?” she asked. “Have you never ridden in a car before?”

“I am afraid I haven’t”, he replied tersely.

“Oh well. It’s not that hard. You see, you simply climb up and sit there”, she pointed at the seat, “and then fasten your seatbelt. And I’ll do the driving”.

Severus nodded curtly and did as he was told. She soon joined him inside the van, and turned on the engine. They left the parking lot, and Severus found himself shamefuly clutching the sides of his seat as if afraid he’d go out through the windshield.

“I told you to fasten your seatbelt”, she said when she noticed it, and then, as she saw his puzzled expression, she added: “that black thing behind you would be it”.

Severus struggled with the blasted thing for quite a while, but damned be him if he was going to ask her for help. He finally managed to fasten it, and just in time, because the road had cleared before them and now she was speeding.

“As I said”, he begun with all the dignity he could muster, as the van ate miles at a nauseating speed. “You’re very lucky to be alive, but if you keep this up you might not be much longer”.

“Oh, loosen up”, she replied lightly. “This is hardly anything. You should see me with the Jag”.

Severus didn’t know what a Jag was or what she did with it, but he didn’t care to ask.

“So why am I so lucky?”, she asked instead. “Mind, I don’t mean to be nosy, but it’s the second time you’ve said it, so it’s obvious you want me to ask why”.
eruserus gaped at her, concealing his surprise by long practice.

“The man you mentioned is a wizard”, he said, with his usual scathing tones. “A Dark Wizard. His name is Lucius Malfoy”.

“Oh”, she said. “Nice meeting him, too”.

Severus looked at her contemptuously, a little annoyed by her sarcasm. He wasn’t used to be the target of it. But then he realised Lucius’ name meant nothing to her, so he settled down a bit and replied:

“I am still amazed at the fact that yanaganaged to… what is it… give him a shot?”

“Yeah. And why is that? I’ve had worst patients than him, believe me.”

Remembering the delivering woman, Severus was tempted to agree with her.

“That is not the point, Doctor Greene”, he said instead. “The point is that man witholds dark powers and he’s the goon to an even darker master. He must have had strict orders not to harm you, for you to get away with that soporific shot”.

“I am sure he had”, Fiddler replied with an arched brow. “So now, would this be the adequate place to discuss matters?”

There she was again, giving him more of his own chocolate, and he wasn’t liking it one bit. He was in the habit of frightening people by the mere sight of him, and here she was, this half-breed witch dressed in outrageous orange, driving that van like Potter surely rode his Quidditch broom, and not in the least intimidated by his presence. The world was to to fall off.
He waited for a while, as if he’d actually expect that to happen, and then complied. He told her in a very matter-of-factly way all that Dumbledore had told him, explaining that Lucius Malfoy was but one of those rather interesting characters that had became suddenly focused in her existence. He conveniently left aside the fact that he had dreamt of her for over a month, and then waited for her reaction. She mused to herself for a long time, without taking her eyes of the road. Severus noticed thad rad reached an isolated road that swirled up a cliff, and it looked oddly familiar.

His heart skipped a beat. Of course. The House on the Cliff.

“It has belonged to my family for centuries”, she clarified, apparently unaware to the fact that she had just read his thoughts. “Well, that would definitely explain many things”, she continued, and Severus remembered he had been waiting for her response to what he had told her.

“So let me see if I got it straight”, she continued. “From what you’ve told me I gather there is indeed a wizard community in England; in fact, even a school of magic. And you teach there. Apparently, the Headmaster of said school has sent you to… collect me, is it? No, summon me, for I am what you call a Half-Breed? Half a Banshee and half a witch? Good so far?”

Severus only nodded.

“Good. Well then. There’s a war going on, isn’t it? As usual, a great wizard went nuts and turned to the dark side and now he wants to get over the world. And of course, the good blokes are here to save the day, lead by… what was his name again? Albus Dumbledore? Nice name, by the way. But then here comes the interesting part! Said evil wizard couldn’t manage to kill a little boy eighteen years ago and he’s done everything within his malevolent wits to do so since, not succeeding. And now, I don’t know how or why, he suddenly noticed I existed on the other side of the pond, and now he wants me because apparently, I am linked to the mentioned surviving boy the bad bloke wants to kill so badly”.

Severus straightened his back and turned to look at her. No offended cries, no fit of hysterics, not even those girlish giggles that got in his nerves. Just a derisive account of what he had just declared. And that first declaration… Well, definitely that would explain many things.

“You have stated the blunt facts, I grant you. But there’s more to it than what you so mockingly proclaim… doctor Greene.”.

“Oh, I didn’t mean to offend you, Mr. Snape, and please drop the doctor Greene thing. I only make the nurses call me that.”

“Why is that?”

“They tend to override authority, if one gives them the chance. They… are easily annoyed by the fact that someone half their age is entitled to boss them around. I would be that someone, by the way”, she smiled. “So, forgive me if you found me insolent, but wouldn’t have you reacted the same way?”

“It’s not my reaction that ers”ers”, he replied severely.

She bowed her head mockinly.

“Oh, the man is cautious”, she said. “Oh, well, it was worth the try. It usually works. Anyway, you might find it odd after what I said, but I do believe you. It’s just that I usually take refuge in irony… I am sure you know what I mean”. She looked at him intently and he had to fight really hard the urge to look away.
They stared at each other for so long Severus suddenly thought they were going to hit somet, fo, for the road apparently was the last thing on Fiddler’s mind. She might have picked up on the thought for she cleared her throat awkwardly and turned her head away.

“Yes, I believe you, Profe Sna Snape. I am sure this is not of your interest but… my parents recently passed away. They didn’t told me things in so many words, but they made it perfectly clear that I wasn’t their daughter and that they had taken me in when my father… my real father, I mean, died. Apparently they decided to keep me hidden… for my own sake. Now I know why they did it”.

“When did they die?”, asked Severus, although he was sure he knew the answer.

“A month ago”.

Of course. A month ago, when he had started to dream of her. Their protection must have been strong. She remained silent for a bit and then, with a sigh, she smoothed a strand of hair away from her face and asked:

“Do you mind if I put on some music?”

“Not at all”.

“Good. Although I am sure you’re not familiar with Muggle music, are you?” she smiled, and he nodded, surprised at the easiness with what the word had fell from her lips. Almost as she’d lived with this recently acquired knowledge all her life.

“Well, I hope you won’t mind then. In fact, I don’t think there’ll be a problem. This particular group is not what you would call popular, not even among non-magic folks”.

She extended her right hand to grab a leather case from where she extracted a silvery flat disc. Not relinquishing the wheel at anytime, she managed to insert the disc in a device jam-packed of buttons and other switches, and after pressing some of them, he heard the swift notes of a piano and what appeared to be violins, that smoothly accompanied a woman’s voice:

Ever felt away with me
Just once that all I need
Entwined in finding you one day

Ever felt away without me
My love, it lies so deep
Ever dream of me?

He turned to look at her with undisguised disbelief this time. The music had changed, it had became a little noisier with the additif drf drums and some other instruments Severus couldn’t identify, but that sounded strangely metallic.
She smiled at the look in his face and said:

“You’ll understand, of course, I had to ask”.

And with that she turned up the volume and raced up the tortuous path that lead to the House on the Cliff.






A/N.

TBC, please R & R!!!!!

Thanx a lot to my kind beta Ian for his BRILLIANT thoughts!!!


Disclaimer: All characters and HP universe belong to J.K. Rowling, except for the ones you don’t recognize. The plot as well is mine and solely mine!! No profit is being made!!!!