#7 ~ The Ghost and Lady Snape

Disclaimer: All characters belong to JKR (except Marcus Delaluci). All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
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Chapter 3 ~ Give Me Liberty


Hermione met up with Severus in the Great Hall for lunch. After greeting the other staff members, with the exception of Marcus, who was masticating a thick ham sandwich oblivious to her snub, she settled down next to her husband and informed him about what she discovered about the book, as he tucked away a hamburger with French fries and cole slaw. This was a muggle food Hermione had shared with him one day and he found he had a weakness for it. He loved pickles. Severus chewed thoughtfully as she told him about the difficulty she had with the translation spell, and her suspicion that the book had a stasis spell on it to preserve it.

“Isn’t a stasis spell difficult to perform?” Severus asked her, holding a French fry.

“It does take a great amount of skill, yes.” she replied. “it would require a great amount of time and energy. Not to mention it is pretty dangerous to remove attempt to remove an object out of the realm of time. One slip up and time itself could be disrupted,” she replied, “why?”

“I would think that given this is only a book, another method of preserving it would have been more expedient. There may be another reason for the stasis spell, other than preservation. It was in the restricted section after all. Have you tested it for the spell?” he asked.

“Not yet,” Hermione answered him, poking a forkful of salad into her mouth, “I intend to later in the week.” She had a somewhat shifty look about her that Severus caught, and didn’t like. Hermione wasn’t good at hiding things from him.

“How will you test it?” Severus said, looking at his wife.

“Oh, just a little containment spell combined with a time turner,” she said quickly. A bit too quickly for Severus’ liking.

“How far back will you go?” he asked, his eyebrow already raised disapprovingly.

“Back until the spell is first applied,” she said softly.

“Hermione. That’s over a thousand years back. You know that it’s illegal to use a time turner in that way,” Severus said, frowning at his wide-eyed wife.

“No one will know Severus,” Hermione replied in a low voice, looking around to make sure no one was paying attention to their conversation, “it will be in a containment field. There won’t be any traceable magical signatures for the Ministry to lock on to.”

“Hermione, did you ever stop to think that when the stasis spell is removed, that if there is any dark magic held in stasis, it will be released as if never bound?” he hissed at her.

“It will still be in the containment field,” she said stubbornly, spearing a cherry tomato, “I can check it for dark magic before I release it.”

“And do what with the dark magic if it’s in there?” Severus asked, disapproval all over his face.

“Suck it into another more permanent containment field,” she replied. “then dispose of it, or give it to the Ministry with some trumped up story. I can handle this Severus. I’ve been doing shady things in the name of knowledge since my first year here at Hogwarts. I can handle this.”

Severus put down his hamburger and glowered at her. She looked up at him stubbornly, completely unmoved by a look that sent entire classrooms of students scampering back to their seats, trembling with fear. Marcus happened to look up at that moment, and saw the black gaze Hermione’s husband was giving her, and her complete lack of horrified response.

“They’re married all right,” he thought, finishing off his sandwich. He’s just wasting a perfectly good glare.”

“I don’t like this Hermione. You can be dealing with forces that are beyond your control and understanding,” Severus said, “the old magic was much different than it is today. It was rawer, stronger, harder to control.”

“Severus, you are my husband, NOT my father,” Hermione said evenly, her amber eyes stormy. “I don’t interfere with you when you are making dangerous potions. I’d appreciate if you left me alone about my spellwork.”

“But my potions work is performed well within my duties here as Potions Master,” Severus argued. Hermione looked at him pointedly.

“Not all of it. You have some potions in your stores that are disillusioned and hidden away because they are illegal. Old ancient brews. I know about them, Severus,” she said, her eyes narrowed. Severus was taken aback.

“How did you know?” he asked, mortified. He had put almost impenetrable wards on his private stores. No one should have been able to discern them.

Hermione looked triumphant. “Ha! I didn’t for sure, but you just verified my suspicions!” she said, an evil little grin on her face.

Severus suddenly wished for the good old days when he could have just whisked her off to the dungeons and fucked her senseless against a wall for her impertinence. She was still a minx.

Hermione saw the dangerous, yet familiar glint in his eyes, and got a little wet. But she held her ground.

“Severus, I am going to be careful, but I am going to investigate this book, whether you like it or not,” she said with finality. At that she rose from the table and exited the Great Hall, leaving the Potions Master seething. She was such a difficult woman sometimes. Next time they made love, he’d be sure to have a little something extra for her. Severus hadn’t been completely domesticated. He still would still piledrive her through the mattress when the occasion warranted it. This wasn’t over.

Dumbledore eyed his Potions Master surreptiously from his seat at the High Table. He didn’t miss much, and was curious about the little confrontation the couple had. It seemed Miss Gran…no, Lady Snape had bested him about something he felt strongly about. He knew they were a married couple now, and were subject to having tiffs, but the black look on Severus’ face bode no good. He’d have to pay more attention to what was going on in the dungeons.

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Hermione was so pissed off at Severus’ attempt to tell her what to do, that when she got back to the lab, she warded the doors securely and immediately cleared all her morning’s work off the countertop. She retrieved the book from her desk and set it on the lab counter. The ripple rose out of the tome unnoticed, and hovered in the high right corner of the lab.

Hermione duplicated the book. It wasn’t bound in human flesh or written in blood, but contained the same information as the original. This she placed on her desk. Hermione then went to one of her many file cabinets, and took out a time turner. She returned to the lab counter with it, and placed it on top of the book.

Rolling up her sleeves, Hermione pointed her wand at the book and time turner, She concentrated, and a powerful stream of silver light flew out of the tip of her wand and surrounding the tome. Hermione’s hair and robe swirled around her, and her amber eyes glowed with power as the magic she wielded took form. The light soon coalesced into a shining, transparent globe that engulfed the book, lifting it from the table and suspending it in mid-air. Small flashes of lightening undulated and struck the walls inside the globe, causing no damage to the items within. Hermione subtly flicked her wand, and the time turner began to spin backwards, faster and faster until the speed made it seem to make the small suspended disk disappear. She held her wand steadily on the containment spell, perspiration speckling her brow as the book within went back through time and space. It seemed to take forever, and Hermione strained to hold the spell in place.

Above her, the ripple was writhing and rolling, condensing and expanding at an alarming rate as she applied power to the tome. Suddenly it turned into an amoeba-like form, tendrils expanding and retracting, still invisible but something more substantial than it was, drawing on the power Hermione was expending. It drew closer, floating directly above Hermione and the globe.

Inside the globe the lightning flashes increased in intensity, and light flashed beneath the lab door. Hermione held on, pouring forth all her formidable power to finish sending the tome back in time, but she was tiring. Just as she thought she couldn’t keep her arm up a second longer, a powerful burst of black light flared from the globe, and the book and time turner disappeared.

Above Hermione, the amoeba-like ripple, transformed, its form becoming clear and almost recognizable, though still beyond the sight of humans. It stretched forth its limbs.

Free! Free! Free!

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In the Great Hall, Marcus’ violet eyes suddenly telescoped, spasming painfully. He staggered from his chair and fell back against the wall, palms pressed tight against his eyes. The staff was on him immediately, pulling him from the wall and guiding him back to his seat. He could hear Pomfrey giving directions. He didn’t cry out but the pain in his eyes was terrible as they telescoped wildly. He saw flashes of someone floating in the dark, heard manicial laughter, and saw a small woman wrapped in dark light, as gentle hands moved his body back to a sitting position. Then all at once, the telescoping ceased and the images vanished. He let his hands drop to his lap and breathed deeply to still his pounding heart. His eyes retained some residual pain, but he could see. He blinked at the concerned staff all around him. The students were looking at him wide-eyed, and whispers filled the hall. Only one staff member remained seated, and that was Severus. But he looked at the DA teacher curiously. Severus too had felt some pulse of power at the same time Marcus had leapt from his seat. Severus had no special magical ability but was sensitive to dark magic through years of association with the Dark Lord. Voldemort’s constant perusal through Severus’ brain over the years had left a slight signature, and he could feel dark power on occasion. He thought it odd that he should feel an increase in magic at the same time Marcus had his sudden occurrence.

Madame Pomfrey was passing her blue-tipped wand over Marcus’ eyes.

“To the infirmary, Professor,” she said to him in a tone that brooked no argument, “I need to check you out for retinal damage.”

“I don’t want to go to the infirmary,” Marcus said, leaning his head back and lifting his hand to rub at his eyes. Pomfrey swatted it away.

“Don’t you touch your eyes until I can check you out!” she scolded, taking him by the arm. Flitwick tried to help, but all he could to was push the wizard’s thigh in the right direction when he rose. He tried to pull away from Pomfrey, who had an iron grip on his bicep.

“Professor Delaluci,” came Albus’ sober voice. The Headmaster was standing and looking at Marcus intently, “Madam Pomfrey is our resident medi-witch, and in situations like this, her directives are required to be followed. You will report to the infirmary, and you will be examined until she is satisfied. Do I make myself clear?” His half-moon glasses glinted warningly.

Marcus knew he had to bow to the Headmaster’s wishes.

“Fine,” he said, “I’ll go to the infirmary.”

He allowed Madam Pomfrey to lead him out of the Great Hall. Flitwick left with them. The staff returned to their seats, animatedly discussing the strange attack that Marcus had, wondering what had caused it, and if the wizard was ill. His post as DA teacher was considered cursed, and they bandied about the idea that he was being subjected to it. Severus looked thoughtful. He rose from his seat and exited the hall silently with a billowing swirl of robes.

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A/N: Wow, some interesting developments in this chapter. Now Severus knows something is going on too. If this thing affects Marcus so powerfully, it is in his own best interest to track it down. Hermione is still ignorant. She is so freaking hard-headed. Sigh. Guess she forgot about her bout with deatheater magic and Severus’ admonitions about developing wisdom. Well, please review and let me know what you think so far. Thanks.