For Love

Italic are Susan’s thoughts.
*Harry’s thoughts.
^Harry’s parselmouth
«Susan’s parselmouth
~snake’s
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Albus nodded, smiled, and started to walk away, leaving behind a smiling Susan and a very curious group of Slytherins and Gryffindors.
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Susan, after seeing Albus vanish, turned to the small group gathered at her door.

“Well, it seems that you want to see me, correct?” She asked raising an eyebrow. The group nodded. “Alright then. Do come in, please,” Susan invited.

As they entered to the quarters they had seen the previous night, they found it decorated in a soothing oriental style. The next thing they took notice of were the six animals in her living room.

Harry gasped a he saw the snakes, and the wolves, “You have two snakes and two wolves in here!”

All the others were feeling the same apprehension as Harry, while they tried to watch every move from Susan’s pets.

Susan smirked, and answered, “Well, Mister Potter, let me introduce you and your friends to my beloved pets,” with a hand the indicated the birds, “The hawk is Hórus and the eagle is Zeus. They are the ones that carry my mail, and my protectors. They can deal with something that comes by air and is considered a menace. They are the last gift from my parents, and I treasure them very much,” then Susan indicated the wolves lying in the rug by the hearth “The wolves are my friends and also my protectors. I found them both almost dead in a forest, when they were just puppies. My friend Latrice helped me take care of them in their first weeks after that. Now I can’t fathom my life without them, even when they are pests,” she finished smiling. Then Susan point to the forms on her sofa curled up on the cushions, heads up warily flicking out their tongues, gauging the situation, “The last but not the least my Egyptian viper Ísis and my black python Osíris. They are a precious gift of my friend Jenn, that couldn’t resist teasing me for being a Slytherin, when she is one also. They also have a strong protection instinct about me,” Susan said smiling.

Harry could not help himself, and engaged a small conversation with both snakes, ^Hello, my name is Harry. I’m a possible friend of your master.^

~We don’t have a master, young speaker. Susan’s is our guardian as we are hers,~ it was the sibilant answer of Ísis.

Harry hissed in response, ^I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be disrespectful,^ he then looked at Susan’s smiling face, ^Is she also a speaker?^ He asked.

~Yes, it’s one of her many talents, but we also understand human languages,~ was the answer from Osíris, followed by a hissing sound that seemed to be laughter from both snakes.

Susan looked at the stunned face of Harry, and smiling she enlightened him, “I found out that many people were afraid or were negatively impressed upon hearing me hissing,” she continued after seeing the nod of understanding from Harry, “So I decided to teach them understand several human languages,” she smiled again, “Now I only speak parselmouth when alone or when I want to be left alone.” She start turning, but abruptly she stopped and said “Oh and Harry? You are not my possible friend, you are my friend.”

Harry smiled. And then he remembered to ask something, ^Do you know Severus Snape?^

~Yes,~ was the Osíris answer, ~He’s Susan’s nest brother.~

^What do you think about him?^, Harry prompted.

~He’s a caring and compassionate man,~ Ísis answered, ~He treats us kindly, but he isn’t very fond of Ares and Thanatos. He is fond of Zeus and Hórus, and treats them fine also.~

“Ares and Thanatos?” Asked Harry.

Susan smiled, “Ah yes, my wolves. Ares is the grey wolf and Thanatos the black one,” she turned herself to Harry again, “Severus just doesn’t like to be remembered of his sixth year incident with Remus, and both Ares and Thanatos are reminders of it,” she finished, seeing the understanding downing on the boy’s face.

She turned to the rest of the group and seeing their worried faces she assured them, “Do not worry, they will not harm you, since you don’t represent any immediate danger to me,” then to their amazement she turned to the animals and told them, “My friends, these children are also my friends. I will not tolerate any misdeed from you to them, are we clear?” The animals seemed to understand and they drew near the teens and started to sniff, feel and observed them.

“Don’t worry they will not hurt you,” said Susan, “They are only memorizing your smell, heat and face” she continued, “Do not show fear, because they will notice and it will be worse for you.”

The children nodded and let the animals come near them. The animals decided that they were satisfied with everything and left. The birds went to their perch, the snakes to their baskets and the wolves took up residence near the hearth, where the heat was.

“De wa, I believe that you wanted to talk with me, and probably about the same matter I wanted to chat with you,” said Susan. She smirked when she noticed their faces, “What? Slytherins can also get to the point, when needed. Besides,” she added with a humorous glint in her eyes, “the hat was somewhat undecided in what house he should put me,” she finished grinning evilly.

Hermione didn’t contain her curiosity and asked, “In what houses did he want to put you?” doing what the others were afraid to do.

Susan laughed, and then answered, “Well, one of them was Slytherin,” she saw Harry rolled his eyes at her answer, and winked at him, “The other was…”, she stopped for suspense, “The other was Gryffindor.”

The teens were gobsmacked by that revelation.

Susan laughed and continued, “I decided that I wanted to be in Slytherin like my father and my surrogate older brother,” she smiled at the curious faces of the group, “I mean Severus, as you should have already deducted,” she continued, “Or was the fact that I spoke in Japanese, the cause of all the admiration? I’m sorry but after three years in Japan I gained some habits that I can’t seem to lose,” Susan said, grinning, “but be sure that I will not always explain what I’m saying. I think that it is a Slytherin trait to leave some things unsaid,” she finished winking at the Slytherins present in the room, earning smug grins from them.

Ron, decided that it was time to go directly to the point.

“Mate, why don’t you tell Professor King why we are all here,” Ron said to Harry, rolling his eyes, “ I really wanted to grab something for dinner soon,” he finished.

That statement earned him a smack in his head from Pansy.

Susan laughed and said, “ Well, it will be at least three hours to dinner, so why don’t I offer you some tea and something to eat?”

Ron nodded eagerly, and the others also accepted.

“Here’s mochi, and chocolate chips,” said Susan, “To drink I have ocha and Earl Grey,” she continued while summoning a large tray.

The teens decided to not ask questions about what was being presented to them, because they could see that Susan was starting to become annoyed at every question about what she said in Japanese.

While munching on a chip Harry stuttered, “Professor Kings, I….Well…Humm”

Susan smiled and said, “You all can call me Susan, and Harry for Kami-sama’s sake, say what’s the matter,” she prompted impatiently.

Harry drew a deep breath and started, “Well, Susan, I…Hmm, I fell in love with…hmm…”

“You fell in love with Severus, but you don’t know how to pass the wall he built around his heart,” Susan interrupted, smiling at the stunned faces of the group. She then continued, “You are here to ask me for help, since I am like a sister to Severus,” a smug smile was in her lips as she finished, “and you brought your friends with you to help convincing me that you really love him, and to deem you good enough for Severus.”

The teens stood there, without even saying a word for sometime, until Blaise voiced what was going through their minds.

“Are you like the Headmaster?” Asked Blaise.

“Like the Headmaster?” Susan asked confused, “Hah, you mean almost omniscient and almost omnipresent?”

“ ‘hat ‘hat ‘ans?” Asked Ron with his mouth full, earning another slap on his head, this time from Draco.

Susan smiled, “Draco Malfoy!!! Leave the poor boy’s head alone! I’m starting to believe that he ‘s your punching bag. While in here, he has been hit two times,” then Susan explained what she meant to Ron, “What I meant was that Professor Dumbledore seems to always know everything, and to be everywhere, even when we do not want it,” she finished with humor.

The teens laughed at her last statement.

Then Hermione asked Susan, “So how did you know about Harry falling in love with Professor Snape and that we were where to help Harry get your cooperation to catch him?”

Susan smiled, and answered, “I‘ve been practically in all ancient magical civilizations, and that give much more magical knowledge than what I got here,” she stopped to have a bite in her mochi and sipped some ocha, “The time that I spent in Greece helped me expand my training in Occlumency and Legilimency, and take a mastery in mind magic,” Susan finished.

Hermione seemed curious about what Susan had just mentioned and voiced her curiosity, “Mind magic?”

Susan smiled, “I will explain everything to you, and to those who want to learn about it later,” she said biting in her mochi again. After swallowing the bit of cake, Susan continued, “ Mind magic helps me to meet the needs of the persons that I deem worthy of my help, and even helps me to really see if they are worth or not,” she finished eyeing Harry critically.

Harry shift uncomfortably in his seat
*Will she or will she not deem me good enough for Severus? I love him in his all, but will that be enough for her? I don’t know what I will do if she doesn’t help me. I hate feeling this needy, but…*

“Do not worry Harry,” said Susan, disrupting his train of thought, “It’s not my place to deem you good enough for anyone,” at this sentence, Harry’s face fell, “but I trust you enough to help you win the heart of your mate,” Susan finished.

Hearing Susan saying that, Harry’s face was illuminated by a smile that seemed to contain the sun. He stood and reached out to her, embracing her, mumbling his thanks and fighting tears.

Susan smiled and returned his embrace. Then she took a look at the others and laughed at the horrified face of the boys and at the bemused look of the girls.

“Now, now Harry no need of this. I hate demonstrations of gratitude, I prefer that you demonstrate those feelings by actions. I have a firm belief that actions speak louder than words,” Susan said smiling.

Harry let her go and smiled, “For me it’s really important that I’ve someone to help me with Severus,” he sighed, “He can be such a bastard, that I really don’t know what to do to win him over.”

As Harry finished his sentence, there was a knock at her door. With wave of her hand, Susan lowered her wards and opened the door, revealing Severus and Remus waiting her. Green eyes searched for black and when their eyes locked, both Harry and Severus gasped.

This is going to be an interesting end of day, thought Susan, Let’s see what I really need to do to put those two together, and maybe start to moving on myself.




A/N: Here are the meanings of some of the words.
De wa: Well then
Mochi: Sort of a rice cake
Ocha: Green tea
Kami-sama: God