E Pluribus Unum

A/N - Just so you don\'t think that I ignore your requests - More Lady Freddy! Now, you must understand that I won\'t put in anything that will disrupt the integrity of the story, but when can work it in t serve the dual purpose of helping the plot move along and fulfilling your heart\'s desire, I am happy to do it! Thank Kate for pestering me sweetly. Check my recommended stories list for her new story!

Deblovesdragon - Remember that she is only fifteen and he\'s seventeen, constitutes statatory rand Hnd Harry is a highly moral person. Min is a manipulative little Slytherin and gets what she wanthoughough, so it should get interesting. :)

Raquel - 1. If I got paid thi this it would be copyright infringment and I don\'t wanna get sued!:( @. you are welcome 3. Thank you 4. soon, Lemons are coming, I\'m sorry. Bad writer, no donut!

ionopsis - I\'d like to see my challenge taken up as well, Kate is promising to do it and since she is so amazingly good at comedy, I am hoping she will. Thanks for reading!

Ghaeth - Worship? MAwwwAwwwwwww.


Chapter 30 – Christmas Gifts

Severus woke to sunlight streaming through the windows and speckling his bedding with geometric patterns of light. The air was cool but not cold and he turned his head to where Kathryn could usually be found. His eyes widened as he took in the person who sat there.
A tiny woman with honey-gold hair, bright blue eyes and a perfect heart-shaped face sat in her purple robes with her feet tucked beneath her. She was reading a book, delicate silver spectacles perched on her nose. Her slender fingers ed aed a page and he smiled.
“Lady Freddy.” He breathed out and she looked up at him with those ancient eyes. Laughter sparkled in them and he couldn’t help smiling at her.
“Professor Snape.” She returned with a twitch of her lips.
“When did you arrive? I am sorry to have been so poor a host.” He scooted his still shaky body up higher in the bed and straightehis his pajamas. She chuckled as he brushed his fingers through his hair trying to comb it into place. He didn’t knoy buy but he always felt as though he should be on his best behavior with Lady Freddy and not just because she could flame him to a crisp, either.
“Not in the slightest. That nice young Headmaster has been very hospitable.” It took a moment to realize that she meant Albus and he nodded. “I tried to send you your tea for Christmas and found out you were ill.” She explained her presence with a somewhat severe tone. “Why are you here, dear?”
“Eight hours of Cruciatus, apparently.” He answered with a shrug, not quite sure what she was asking.
“Yes, so I heard.” Lady Freddy stood up from the chair, so graceful and light that she seemed to float and fetched a teapot from the cupboard where Poppy kept it. She held it in her hands and her eyes seemed to glow a moment. She poured tea leaves and water into it and breathed lightly on the pot; steam rose from the spout as it came to a boil and Severus watched in fascination.
“Handy, that.” He commented with a raised eyebrow.
“You are the spitting image of your great-grandfather you know, especially when you do that thing with the eyebrow.” Severus looked at her in surprise.
“You knew Great-Grandfather?” He should have guessed of course; she was old enough to have known Plato, and Grandmother Agatha had told him stories about his Great-Grandparents.
“Rather well. I married him, dear.” Lady Freddy winked at him and he nodded as the bits fell into place.
“I still have the cottage on the Downs, you know.” He told her with a gentle smile. She returned it and poured him a cup of tea.
“How does it work? Is it like the Elves?” He asked, wondering.
“Not quite, dear. It’s a recessive gene and it doesn’t always take. There is little likelihood of you or any of your offspring growing wings or breathing fire.” She chuckled at his crestfallen expression. He shrugged; he had always gotten along fine before and this knowledge changed nothing for him.
“oes oes explain Father’s temper, though.” He muttered and Lady Freddy glowered into her teacup.
“He is a disgrace to the Snape name.” She retorted and he sipped at the tea. Strength poured into his limbs, the trembling eased and he felt better than he had in ages.
“What precisely is in this tea?” He asked with wide eyes and a slight squeak in his voice. Lady Freddy threw back her head and laughed; a joyful tone that drew a broad smile from him.
“A little tea and a little magic.” She winked at him and they turned to talk of people long dead and futures yet to come.

Severus escorted Lady Freddy to the Christmas Eve dinner and pulled out her chair for her. She settled into it with a smile at Harry, Albus, the other teachers and the few students who remained over the Christmas holidays.
The single round table sat in the middle of a fairy bower dusted with ice. Pale silver willows grew everywhere, their whitened branches interwoven to form a canopy over the table. White rabbits darted ugh ugh the dense underbrush that grew in a circle around the clearing. White birds winged across the sky and snow fell, only to vanish moments before it touched anything. Icicles hung from branches and tinkled against each other in a magical breeze. Tiny pale white fairies darted about casting a ghostly light as they passed. It was quite lovely, Severus thought; probably Minerva’s doing rather than Albus and Filius’ work.
Kathryn came in with Ryan and lit up when she saw Severus down to dinner but the game face was carefully replaced an instant later, the presence of the students causing her to close those windows to her soul. Lady Freddy reached for the baby with a smile and Kathryn dutifully passed him over. Ryan giggled and screeched at his Great-Great Grandmother and she smiled at him indulgently.
Kathryn settled into the chair beside Severus, her robes of scarlet with white fur trim standing out starkly against the monochrome background, like blood on snow. He brushed her knee with his fingertips and she gripped his hand beneath the table.
Across from them, Fauna Broomworthy sat statue-still next to Harry who kept trying to engage her in conversation, receiving only tight-lipped silence in response. Minuet had gone to Hogsmeade for Christmas with her mother and sister and her absence had ved ved all the remaining animation from Fauna’s face.
From the corner of his eyes, he watched Lady Freddy pass a cup of tea to Miss Broomworthy and give Harry a sharp look. Harry nodded back to the Dragon and coaxed Fauna to drink the steaming beverage. Warmth flooded Fauna’s features as she drank and she shook herself as though she were just waking up from a heavy sleep. She thanked Harry with some of her usuarmthrmth and Harry shot an adoring look at Lady Freddy who chuckled.
“What is in that tea?” Severus asked her under his breath, he was rewarded with her sparkling laughter and a gaze filled with merriment.
“The tea is just tea, but the fact that an angel grows the camellia bushes, harvests and dries the leaves does seem to have a certain affect.” Severus had to clamp his jaw shut to keep it from dropping open as he absorbed her words.
“An angel?” There was shock and wonderment in his voice, but he kept it very low.
“Yes, and such a darling boy, too.” She nodded. “Professor Sprout, I could not help noticing your greenhouses, so very well tended; could I trouble you for a tour later?” The bright blue eyes had zeroed in on Sprout with the target-seeking abilities of a bludger and with much the same effect. Sprout gave Lady Freddy a wide-eyed gaze and nodded.
“Certainly, your Grace.”
“Exactly what are you the duchess of?” Draco asked with a respectful air that covered the impertinence of his question.
“Her Grace, Lady Frieda Fredericka Harris, Duchess of Camelot, Baroness of Tintagel, Lady of the Far Isle and Lady Protector of All England, are the important titles, but I find it all rather tedious, don’t you?” Silence fell over the table as she plopped her head on her fist and gave Draco a toothy grin. He shivered in response and gave her a rather doubtful smile in return.
“That’s rather impressive.” Harry croaked.
“A little better than being called ‘the-boy-who-lived’, but it carries the same baggage, dear.” She shrugged at him with an expression of compassionate understanding.
“If you are protector of All England, why haven’t you stopped You-Know-Who?” Asked a rather forward young first-year Gryffindor with the unlikely name of Yuriko Dumpling. She had jet-black pigtails and an English complexion, her big green eyes had an oriental cast, and her attention was fixed on Lady Freddy.
“Miss Dumpling, wasn’t it?” Yuriko nodded. “That is an excellent question.” She settled back in her chair with a pleased expression and toyed with her Christmas lamb. “Creatures like that Riddle boy are not the sort of thing I was set to guard against.” The table sat spellbound listening to the warm thrum of her voice.
“You see, long ago there were terrible wars between my kind and the Dark creatures. Our allies were those flighty Elves, some of the more energetic angels, some of the gods, and all the other creatures of the Light -- except for the Golgothans, who try to stay out of all that.” She spoke as though everyone understood what she was talking about and they all nodded dumbly.
“When the wars were over, we had remade the planet with our cataclysmic battles and we all withdrew to lick our wounds.” Her eyes glowed sapphire as she looked back into a past none of them could comprehend. “Well, as we were picking up the bits we looked around and found these little bipeds; curious creatures who seemed to be neither of the Light nor of the Dark. Some wanted to destroy them, some wanted to recruit them, but in the end it was decided to leave them be.” She grew quiet, lost in thought, and then came back suddenly.
“The problem was that the Dark was not willing to leave them be. They began trying to draw this new race into the war and while some resisted there were some who were drawn to the Dark and the war started anew. Now, some time has passed since then and there is a sort of balance.” She paused and looked at Fauna with a thoughtful air. “The creatures that I am bound to fight are not men, bent on mad courses, but the Dark creatures that stand behind them, whispering in the night.” She then looked down at the sleeping baby in her lap. “All those born of my line are set that task.” She added with a sidelong glance at Severus.
He felt his bowels go icy as he grasped her meaning. Potter may have to destroy Voldemort, but he was the one who would have to take down the Dark Ones. Her comforting smile failed to comfort and Albus’ expression of dismay and shock only made him feel worse.