E Pluribus Unum

A/N - A little more drama now. Kate, thank you so much for making me laugh like a fool over the Purple Prose Challenge, my chapter is coming. Kate beta good, Ogg like Kate.

deblovesdragon - Actually I imagined the Hevaida as being sort of medeivel, did you see \"LadyHawk\"? You know the Hawk dance the woman in doing in the courtyard for the Bishop? Sort of a cross between ballet, tango and the stately dances of the court. Draco thinks of Hermione as a friend, is that clear? He\'s in love with Lillith.

Helen - Sev can be rather...persuasive can\'t he?

Droxy - Yea! I\'m original!

IrishRavenX - Hi! Welcome to the AFF.net versions of the story. If you re=read the lemony bits of Sub Rosa you will find lots of changes. I toned it down a great deal for FanFiction.net. :)

Chapter 38 – The Dreaming

Severus woke to the buzzing sound that indicated one of his Slytherins was upset. He untangled his arms and legs from a sleepily murmuring Kathryn, dragged himself from the bed and went to check the mirror.

Fauna Broomworthy was sitting up in bed, tears running down her face, her mouth open in a soundless scream. He was into his robes with a single muttered spell and down the hall to Slytherin in mere seconds. He rushed through the Common Room, charged up the stair to the girls dorms and pushed open the door so hard it banged off the wall.

Minuet, Silvia Rothschild and Fairy Bower, Fauna’s roommates, woke at the sound and made little grumbling and whimpering noises. He ignored them and grabbed the pale, still girl, her mouth still open and staring off at something only she could see.

“Fauna!” He cried, giving her a little shake, but there was no response from her, just the tears that kept leaking down her horrified face. He was at a loss. Minuet came crawling out of her bed and stood beside him staring at Fauna in dismay.

“What’s wrong with her, Uncle Severus?” He didn’t bother to correct her mode of addressing him; he was too concerned by Fauna’s rigid immobility.

“Miss Ravagienne, get Madam Pomfrey. Miss Rothschild, get one of the House Elves to bring some of my special tea as quick as you can.” He rapped out his orders and they scurried. “Miss Bower, observe and be silent.” The wispy brunette nodded up at him with huge blue eyes. He took a deep breath and cast.
“Legilimens!”


He was in a charnel house. Bodies were strewn everywhere and the smell of burning flesh permeated everything. It made him physically ill but he breathed sharply through his mouth and tried to ignore the horrors about him. Stone houses with thatched roofs and wooden beams told him it was the seventeenth century. A woman was striding through the carnage; he recognized her and ducked behind a building to avoid her gaze.

Madam Gideon was dressed in the black and white garb of a Puritan, her hair gathered tightly up into her white cap. The hem of her black gown was wet and heavy and left a trail of red as it swept along the ground. He hid until she was out of sight and then began his search for Fauna. She had to be here somewhere; the spell must have brought him close to wherever her mind had gone to.

“Fauna?” He called softly, his voice the only sound besides the wind and the crackling of flames.

“Professor Snape?” A shadow shifted and Fauna came crawling from the darkness of a nearby doorway. She was dressed in the same period costuming as Madam Gideon, her black skirts aiding her in concealing herself. He strode to the fifteen-year-old girl and opened his arms to her. She stumbled into them and clung to him as hard as she could.

“Hold on, child, I will get you out of here.” He assured her, reaching for his wand. Fauna buried her face in his jacket clutching handfuls of cloth in her fists and tears leaking down her face.

“Hurry, Severus.” He turned and saw Miss Mangle, her own black dress soaked and tattered and her face streaked with soot. “I can’t keep her occupied for much longer.” The girl’s expression was one of deep concentration; her blue eyes were almost glowing with the force of her will. She looked terribly vulnerable and young here in this place.

“Come with us!” He called to her and reached a hand out to the demon child. She looked at him with eyes filled with a deep sorrowful regret. Their eyes locked, his full of pleading and hers filled with a strange sort of despair.

“Go, Severus, please.” It was the “please” that made him pull his wand and end the Legilimens spell. His eyes never left Miss Mangle though, as he got Fauna to safety. He doubted he would ever forget the look of terrible longing on her face as he vanished.


He opened his eyes to Fauna’s clear gaze as she blinked and looked around in confusion. Hands put a cup of tea into his grasp and he sipped it automatically. He looked up to find Kathryn, wrapped in her white dressing gown, hair in a braid down her back and huge dark eyes looking worriedly at him, a teapot in one hand.

Albus stood behind her, in a scarlet nightshirt and robe with his nightcap askew and a look of deep thought on his face. Minuet, Silvia and Fairy were huddled together out of the way of the adults, hoping probably that they would be able to find out more if they were overlooked. Poppy was watching from off to one side with a look of deepest concern.

“Severus?” The tea was working its magic -- he felt as though he was thawing slowly from the inside out. He gave Kathryn the tiniest of smiles, letting her know that he was well. She poured another cup for Fauna and handed it to the girl who stared at the cup blankly.

“Drink.” He ordered and, with the habit of obedience to him ingrained by five years of classes and House inspections, she sipped. Color rushed back into her cheeks and her eyes brightened.

“Severus, what happened?” Kathryn asked with a calmer voice, but still looking rather pale.

“Miss Broomworthy, would you care to begin the tale?” Severus phrased it as a request, but they were none of them fooled -- it was most definitely an order. The girl, her blue nightgown more suited to her than the dream garments had been, looked up with a thoughtful expression.

“It was some sort of a dream, but unlike anything I had ever experienced before. It was so real, like I was really somewhere else. I was in this village, everyone was dressed in really old-fashioned clothes and it was a Muggle town. There were Muggles getting water from the well and baking bread and stuff. Then this bell started ringing and everyone dropped what they were doing and went to the center of town.

I thought I heard someone crying, so I went to look too and there were these other Muggles dragging a man and a bunch of children out of a jail and into the center of town. The man was all pale and scared looking and the children were crying, the youngest one was like five and she was screaming as they dragged them to these stakes set up. They tied the youngest child to the stake first and started burning her alive, it was horrible.” Fauna started to cry, her shoulders shaking.

“I heard this shrieking as the child started to scream and when I looked back there was a woman, the child’s mother, still in the jail, and she was crying and trying the rip out the bars. The villagers just taunted her and told her to use her evil magic to save the child. They spit on the children and screamed for blood.” Albus had gone pale and Kathryn was looking horror-stricken. Severus felt nauseated and took Fauna’s hand in his own.

“They burned them one at a time and made the others watch. Then they burned the man and he just kept praying as he burned. Finally they took the woman out and she looked at them all, she was so quiet and calm now, no more screaming, just cold and silent. She looked at the Muggles who had done all these terrible things and she started cursing them. She said ’You will all pay for what you’ve done I will find a way to make you all suffer and die.’ And she said it very quietly and it was scary what her face looked like.” Fauna looked around at the others.

“Then this strange man showed up, he looked like a priest, all in black, and he asked her what she would give to have her revenge on the village. She just looked at him and said, “I have already lost everything that means anything to me, you can have the rest.” And he nodded and she just seemed to catch on fire inside, she glowed with this light and she just started killing all the Muggles there.” Fauna took a deep breath.

“I ran and hid while she killed everyone, the scary man just watched her and this little blonde girl was dancing through the bodies and laughing. They all wandered off to make sure they had killed everyone and then Professor Snape came and saved me.” She smiled up at him in the way that only his favored Slytherins ever did, with confidence and affection. She hadn’t mentioned his conversation with Miss Mangle and he wondered if she had even heard or seen it.

“Severus?” Albus asked him for his part of the story.

“I used Legilimency to get inside her dream and retrieve her. I found her quickly and brought her back with me.” He recapped, skimming over Miss Mangle as well. Fauna’s eyes flickered and he knew she had kept silent but that she had heard. He wondered why she said nothing; was there more to the dream than she was telling them?

“We need to put additional wards up, Albus.” Kathryn rubbed her hand across her face looking exhausted.

“Yes, we do.” Albus agreed and the three teachers exchanged glances. More wards weren’t going to keep out dreams and visitations like this, but what would?