The Shattering of Souls

ok....so the story goes that there were these three nuns....... oh, sorry. wrong story. ahem ~clears throat~ hear ye! hear ye! i am the town crier, here to announce that the following slip into fan fiction is pulled completely from the wonderful imagination of j.k. rowling. only izzy and bri are not of her doing. they belong solely to me, and i\'m sorry, but i\'m keeping them. i will put ms. rowling\'s creations back when i\'m through with them. i promise. they might be a little worse for the wear, but they\'ll get back where they belong....... maybe.....

please be advised that some of the content contained with in this fic is likely to be offensive or upsetting to some. either deal with it, or don\'t read. simple as that. i\'m not going to be responsible for any kind of problems anyone has..... not after i gave a clear warning.

i would appreciate it if those of you who enjoy this would drop me a line and let me know. give me some ideas and suggestions, some helpful criticism. no flames, as i will use them to roast your ass with. then the dragon gets involved, and things get messy.... i\'m not cleaning it up.

Chapter Six: Vacant Spirit
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Severus watched as both Izzy and Harry \'bloody irritating\' Potter tumbled out of thin air into the cleared floor space in Albus\' office. Both took a moment to become oriented with their positions, then they looked to Dumbledore expectantly. He sat behind his desk, his hands steepled together in a posture of deep thought. He watched the two of them, waiting for them to adjust after portkeying before telling them the reason he\'d sent for them.

\'Please, take a seat. Both of you. We have much to discuss,\' the Headmaster instructed, gesturing to the two chairs set before his desk. He watched as the two of them settled onto the cushions, watching him intently. \'Professor, if you would please.\'

Severus stepped from the shadows, melting out of the darkness as if he were merely a shade with more color than the rest. Both of the seated young people jumped when he appeared from out of nowhere. He stalked from the corner he\'d been hiding in to stand over them as if he were a great bird of prey descending upon his victim. They looked up at him apprehensively, then gave a singular, audible sigh when he stepped away. With a flourish of robes, he swirled to face them. His typical scowl was firmly affixed to his face.

After several moments of silence, he spoke to them, his tone lacking any discernable emotion. \'Well, Mr. Potter. It appears your luck has held out once again. I\'ve found your body guard for you.\'

\'You found Bri?\' he asked, spilling from his chair in his excitement. His eyes had gone wide, lit with the inner fire that had carried him through his battles with Voldemort over the years. The joy was hovering on his face, ready to boil over into the room. Severus managed a faint smile at the thought that he would soon be crushing that joy. \'Where is she? When can I see her? What?....\'

\'Calm down, Potter. I have something else to tell you,\' Snape told him, his tone all silk and danger. The boy immediately quieted, his gaze locked onto his hated ex-Potions Master. Izzy remained silent, staring at him with what he recognized as dismay. It appeared that at least one of them had some sense in their heads. \'Miss Wallace is here at Hogwarts. She is currently under the competent care of Madam Pomfrey.\'

\'What\'s happened to her, Professor Snape?\' Izzy asked silently, her voice strained with the apprehension she felt.

\' I think the question you should ask is what hasn\'t happened to her,\' he returned, his face and tone giving nothing away. The two of them stared up at him expectantly. \' I will take you both to see her, but I would like to let you know what you\'re in for now. She has been abused in what I would imagine is every way imaginable. She\'s been unconscious, with help, since I liberated her from the prison cell she was in. As it stands now, we have no idea what they did to her mind. We only know what they\'ve done to her body.\'

\'And what did they do to her body?\' Potter asked him, staring as if he didn\'t believe whatever he was about to hear. Snape folded his arms over his chest, pinning Potter with his black gaze.

\'She\'s covered with a veritable palette of multi-colored bruises from head to foot. There are burn marks and razor cuts decorating much of her body. Most noticable is the Dark Mark, carved into her back as if she were nothing more than a tree being subjected to a pair of lovers\' idiotic need to proclaim their devotion for one another,\' he announced as he stepped nearer the young man. \'And, last but not least, you can be assured that Malfoy took malicious delight in raping her whenever he had the opportunity. Anything else would be secondary and not worth mentioning.\'

\' I want to go see her,\' Harry demanded. He sounded like a petulant child who couldn\'t have his way. Severus looked down at him, then heaved a sigh and gestured to the door with his head. Izzy stood and moved toward her charge.

\'We shall take you to her, Harry,\' Albus stood from his chair. He moved toward the couple, then turned to look at the dark man behind them. Snape bit back a groan and stomped over to them, then followed the trio out of the office. He had seen all he needed to see of Bri Wallace. He wanted nothing more to do with the obnoxious little Witch. He\'d done his duty, gone and found her like Potter had demanded of him. He didn\'t need to go back to the Hospital Wing with them.

He did not want to see what Lucius Malfoy had, with great delight, done to Bri Wallace because he did not want to remember how it had felt to be the one to do such things to another human soul. Some memories were best left undisturbed.

~*~*~*~*~

\'Merlin,\' was the first thing Potter said as he stared down at the thin figure on the cot. Shock was slowly creeping over his face as what he was looking at registered with his brain. He glanced at the others around the bed, standing behind him. Izzy\'s face was blank, whatever emotion she felt locked tightly away behind a mask he was sure she\'d learned to cultivate and protect while working for the Service. Dumbledore was looking down at the woman with a profound amount of sadness in his eyes, the grooved lines in his face looking deeper than ever. Snape stood to the back of the group, his face devoid of any emotion at all.

Poppy had cleared away the dirt that had covered Bri from head to toe. Each bruise and burn mark was plainly visible after that. The group could see how horribly she had been abused, how pale she was after two months without exposure to sunlight. It was obvious how thin she was, even with the bulky blankets spread over her. Harry knew he was sickened by what he saw. He couldn\'t even begin to guess what the others felt. If anything at all.

Harry had moved to one side of the bed, Izzy following after him. Dumbledore had brought up the rear, putting the three of them on Bri\'s left. Snape had taken his place on her right side, away from the others. He was in his most used pose, arms crossed over his chest while his face bore the blank expression he wore only too well. He was keeping himself from them, as he always did. He was ever the antisocial git. Harry had to wonder why he never wished to be counted as a member of some group, why he always stalked the fringes like a predator at the edge of the shadows. As if he were looking for some weakness. An opening that would lead, ultimatey, to the death of some unsuspecting soul.

Madam Pomfrey moved into view of the quartet, looking to Albus and Severus expectantly. The grayed head of the old Wizard nodded slowly, almost as if he really didn\'t want to perform that simple movement. She glanced at Harry and Izzy a moment, then heaved a sigh and brought out her wand. \'You\'re sure you want to do this, Albus? The girl has been through so much. She really does need her rest.\'

\' I do not want to disturb her any more than you, Poppy. It doesn\'t alter the fact that she could, perhaps, give us some information on the whereabouts of the remaining Death Eaters,\' Dumbledore shook his head at the notion. He and Severus had discussed it, and they both knew that Malfoy would have more than likely moved his renegade group\'s hideout after finding Bri missing from her cell. Especially when the real torturer had showed up and asked to see the prisoner.

Severus had told the Headmaster how he\'d snuck in disguised as the torturer and swept the young lady out the door with a few simple tricks. Albus would have dearly loved to see the look on Lucius Malfoy\'s face when he discovered that his prize prisoner was gone. He did not, however, want to think about what this would mean when Bri happened upon Lucius once again. Malfoy would most assuredly kill the girl then, should he get the chance.

\'Very well, then,\' Poppy nodded. She waved her wand over the slumbering figure, softly uttering the spell that would lift the magically induced sleep from her patient. The near translucent eyelids fluttered, then slowly lifted. A pair of bluer than blue eyes stared at the gathered group. They each one stared back expectantly, waiting to see what would happen.

~*~*~*~*~

She had to be near death. It would explain why she no longer felt cold and why her back no longer felt as if it were on fire. It had been so long since she\'d been warm and without pain. She was afraid it was a dream. Or that it was some sick new torture they had come up with to make her talk. She didn\'t want to wake, if it were a dream. It seemed a wonderful place to stay. She didn\'t care if it were real or fantasy. All she knew was, at the moment, she felt safe. That thought, more than anything, was what brought her eyes open in a hurry.

The room was lit with the dim light of candles, yet it was too much after the darkened interior of the cell. She was blind for a moment or two as her pupils dialated and adjusted to the faint glow of luminesence. The room had high ceilings of stone, and she found that the walls were of the same material when she looked around her.

When her gaze landed on four faces staring at her anxiously, she froze. It was a shock to find people staring down at her. She couldn\'t recall ever seeing them before, and that made her nervous. Lately, the people she met were only out to do one thing to her. Hurt her as badly as they could. She must have dreamed the man with black hair and eyes who had said she was safe. She didn\'t feel safe. Granted, the faces she looked upon were not those of her captors, but they were strange ones, all the same.

One of them gazed at her with a faint hint of madness burning in his green eyes. That was frightening. She knew first hand what a person who was cracked could do to her. A whimper escaped before she could help it, and she shrank beneath the covers of the bed. The warm bed clothes and the mattress under her didn\'t register. All that registered was the small gathering to one side of her bed.

\'Thank Merlin you\'re alive, Bri!\' the green-eyed one said, his hand reaching for her. She reacted on instinct, scooting to the opposite edge of the bed. Away from the four people who stared at her. They seemed to be waiting for something, as none of them seemed inclined to make any other moves toward her. Yet. She wasn\'t going to let them get the chance. If she could see where she was going, she would find some way to escape.

She felt the hard rim that marked the edge of the bed and slipped her foot out from under the covers. It touched cold stone, sending her toes curling in an effort to get away from the icy floor and the memories associated with it. She kept a careful eye on the people watching her. She was waiting. She was certain someone would try to stop her. If she couldn\'t get away, the gods only knew what they\'d do to her this time.

A second hand reached for her, the hand of the younger woman. She panicked. She didn\'t want to be caught. She turned her head, blinded for a moment by the mass of hair that flew into her face. She searched with her hands, finding the metal frame of the bed she lay on. Using all the strength she could muster, she threw herself from the bed. There was a shout behind her, sending her legs into action. They quaked when she tried to use them, but she forced herself to move.

Numbing fear took over when she stumbled into some object in her way. She felt hands on her shoulders, steadying her. She tried to tear away, but the hands held firm. She brought her own up, trying to claw at the face she knew had to be there somewhere. It was impossible to see through the mass of black locks thrown over her face. She shook her head, sending the curtain of hair tumbling back into mussed place. When she looked up, she sighed.

It was him. Black eyes stared down at her, some faint expression in them that she could not name. She didn\'t care what he was thinking. She only knew that he would keep her safe. She sank to her knees, throwing her arms around his waist, sobbing silently into the crisp black material of his trousers. His hands remained on her shoulders, sitting there impassively.

Severus stared down at the girl as she hugged his legs tightly. He barely heard the whispered \'thank you\' she gave him, as she spoke it into his hip. He was at a loss as to what his next move should be. He knew she had reacted to his presence in the manner she had because she saw him as her hero. She felt he would keep her safe. She had no clue who she was dealing with. Her reactions, now that he had an opportunity to think on them, were odd. She should be throwing herself into Izzy or Dumbledore\'s arms. Not running from them. She should be yelling at her charge, not throwing herself upon him as if he had mercy to give. A curious thing, to be sure.

Snape was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn\'t notice the way Izzy was currently staring at him. As if he were the lowest kind of filth in the known world. Her eyes were narrowed onto the spot where Bri was pressed against him. As if she were some poor slave begging mercy from her master. She knew that Bri hated Severus Snape as much as she did, if not more so. This type of behavior from her best friend was completely out of character. It made Izzy wonder what had happened when Snape had rescued her. Thoughts whirled out of control as she found herself thinking one concept repeatedly. Things were not what they seemed with Severus Snape.

\'Miss Wallace.... Bri....\' Dumbledore\'s soft voice cut into the thick silence. The head pressed against the black garb of the Potions Master did not move. He stepped forward, his blue eyes locked on the young woman prostrating herself before the man in black. \'Please, Miss Wallace. Calm yourself. No one will hurt you here. We are all friends.\'

The head moved a fraction of an inch, but she did not let go of Severus. Albus brought his gaze up to meet the black one of the man she saw as safety. Severus stared back a few moments, then sighed and reached down to clasp the woman\'s chin with one long fingered hand. He tipped her head up, giving her a very tiny uplifting of his lips. She smiled back at him, telling him it had worked as intended. He felt some of the tenseness in her muscles give. \'You\'re perfectly safe here, Bri. You\'re among friends. Please, get up off the floor.\'

\'They won\'t hurt me?\' she whispered. He shook his head, wondering why she placed all her trust in him. She stood slowly, inching closer to him even as she turned to face the rest of the little gathering. She let her gaze move from one to the next, staring at them blankly. The four of them stared back.

\'None of us will hurt you, Bri,\' Albus confirmed, still using the soft voice that would soothe a rampaging dragon. He took another step forward. The woman pressed back against Severus, her eyes going wide. The Headmaster stopped in his tracks.

She let her gaze roam from one face to the next. All of them seemed to be staring at her with the same expression. As if they were expecting something of her. She couldn\'t understand why they hadn\'t moved in to crowd her yet. She could swear she could feel the need to touch her vibrating off at least two of them. So what did they want of her? She didn\'t know. Just as she didn\'t know who they were. She turned her head, looking up at the man beside her. \'Who are they?\' she whispered to him.

Severus heard the softly spoken words and turned to look at her. She was staring at him with such earnest need in her eyes that he found no cause to disbelieve the insane notion that she had no clue who she was talking to. He didn\'t bother leaning down to whisper his reply back, merely gave the answer to the entire room. \'Professor Dumbledore, Madam Pomfrey, Izzy, and Harry Potter.\'

It was obvious to Severus that she had no idea what he was talking about. It was there to see, plain as day in her eyes. Eyes that held intriguing flecks of silver against a blue so dark, it looked as if he were staring at stars in the night sky. She had no memory of these people. It could only mean one thing. Malfoy and Bella had found some way to snap her mind.

He heaved a sigh, then slowly moved her toward the bed. As he set her on the edge, he brought his wand out of his robes. She stared at it with deep mistrust a moment, leading him to believe that some of the damage inflicted had been through magic. He pointed the black wood at her, then whispered the sleeping spell. She fell back against the bed as slumber overtook her once more. He stepped back and allowed Poppy to arrange her under the covers.

Dumbledore motioned to the Medi Witch and Snape, drawing them to the other side of the room with him. Izzy and Harry stayed by Bri\'s side, staring down at her peaceful face. They remained silent, each lost in their own thoughts. Izzy couldn\'t say what Harry was thinking, but she was trying very hard not to let the ideas in her head break her control.

Something was wrong with Bri. It was that simple. They had, some time ago, arranged a set of signals between themselves. Things to do and say, should anything be wrong. Or right, for that matter. Bri hadn\'t said them, hadn\'t even looked at Izzy as if she knew what was happening. The way she had gone up on tip toe to whisper in Snape\'s ear had been a sure sign that he\'d done something when he\'d found her. Almost as if she were asking his permission to speak or think.

His answer had confused Izzy. Why would he be telling Bri who everyone in the room was? She knew them all. The odd behavior lead her to believe one thing. If she was right, there would be hell to pay. And Izzy would be the one extracting payment.

~*~*~*~*~

Izzy put her hand on Harry\'s holding him back as Dumbledore and Snape walked out of the Hospital Wing. The young man looked at her questioningly. She merely shook her head and held him in his spot. She waited until the two older Wizards had disappeared around the corner before she spoke in a low whisper. \' Is there someplace we can go and speak? In private?\' Harry thought a moment or two, then nodded and motioned for her to follow him.

It was nearly five minutes later that they came to a halt in one of the green houses used for Madam Sprout\'s Herbology classes. The plants surrounding them were lush and full, providing plenty of cover from prying eyes. Particularly from above, as the green branches and boughs were pressing against the glass roof. Harry looked at Izzy expectantly.

\'There\'s something fishy going on here, Potter,\' she announced without preamble.

\'What do you mean, Izzy?\' he asked, staring at her.

\'There\'s something wrong with Bri. She shouldn\'t have acted that way,\' the woman told him. He could hear the anger in her tone, fighting for dominance with some other emotion. It took him some time to place it. Hate. She was burning with anger and hatred. Harry was almost certain he knew who she hated. He remained silent, allowing her to continue. \'She should have said something to me that would have told me if she were alright or not. We have a code worked out. She never mentioned it. Instead, she leaned on that bastard Snape as if he were the only anchor in her world.\'

\'And you think this means there is something wrong because...?\' Harry asked, not certain what she was getting at.

\'Bri hates Snape with a bloody passion. And here she is, leaning on him like he owned her or something. The way she whispered to him, as if she were his bloody slave. I don\'t think now that it was such a good idea to have him go find her,\' Izzy admitted, her brow furrowing as she frowned.

\'Why not? He was the only one not doing anything. He was the only one we could spare,\' Harry told her, repeating what Dumbledore had said two months ago when he\'d given Izzy his reasons for not allowing her to accompany Snape in fetching Bri back when he found her.

\' I\'m starting to think that Snape\'s brainwashed her, Potter. She\'d never behave as she did other wise. He had to have done something to her before bringing her back to Hogwarts.\'

\'But why?\' Harry asked, confused. She brought her eyes to his, her gaze boring into him in an almost fanatical manner.

\'To get back at her for \'killing him.\' She\'s the one who took him out of action. He wanted revenge. What better way than to make her his slave or something,\' Izzy told him, then shook her head and went on. Her tone warmed to the subject as she spoke. \'No! I have it. I think he\'s still a Death Eater. I think he\'s been feeding Dumbledore a load of shite for some time now. I think maybe Bri found it out when he got her out of Malfoy\'s prison. I think he had to do it to keep her from telling Dumbledore what she\'d found out.\'

Harry opened his mouth to defend Snape, to say the Izzy had to be mistaken. But he closed it when his brain kicked in, rolling down the list of reasons he\'s compiled mentally for some time. A list containing all those things Snape had done over the years that were just evil enough to prove Izzy\'s words true to him. Things that, now that Harry looked back on them, condemned the man. A scowl spread over the young Wizard\'s face, his anger beginning to boil up.

\'You see what I mean, don\'t you? He\'s a bastard, and he cares for no one but himself. In fact, I\'ll bet it took him so long to find her because he thought she would die. I\'ll bet he dragged his feet for as long as he could. When it looked as if she wouldn\'t die, then he went and got her. I\'m sure Malfoy keeps in contact with him. The git has to have some way to get secret messages out of the castle without being discovered.\'

\'We need to get her away from him,\' Harry said silently. He remembered what she\'d been like just two short months ago, so full of life and in control. The woman he\'d seen leaning against Snape was not the woman he knew. He had to find some way to bring Bri back. \'We need to go to Dumbledore and take her away from here. And him.\'

\'You\'re right,\' Izzy nodded. \'Let\'s go.\'

~*~*~*~*~

Severus was deep in conversation with Albus when the door to the Headmaster\'s office slammed open, allowing Izzy and Harry to enter. Snape scowled at the two of them, his arms immediately crossing over his chest. He knew that he used it more often than not as a defensive position, but most people didn\'t know that. They believed he stood that way to intimidate them. It bloody well worked, too.

\'Professor Dumbledore, we insist that you allow us to take Bri away from here. To take her to a safe place,\' Izzy demanded. \'She\'s not herself. I want to take her somewhere that I can correct that.\'

\'I told you she would be better off left to die,\' Snape put in quietly. His black gaze moved from one face to the other, noting the anger that simmered in each one\'s eyes. Potter turned to look at him, then a frown settled over his features.

\'This is all your bloody fault!\' the boy spat at him, riding the wave of anger that had boiled up at the words.

\'My fault? And just how is this all my fault?\' Severus demanded, one eyebrow hitching up to emphasize his disbelief at the statement.

\'If you had gone after her right away, when I first asked you, none of this would have happened. Bri would be fine! But you had to sit back on your arse and argue with me about it!\' Harry practically shouted. The madness was plain to see in his green eyes, easily identified. Snape ignored it, his scowl becoming one of his more fearsome ones. Potter didn\'t notice, merely went on with his tirade. \' It\'s all your fault that she\'s been abused as she has. Because of you....\'

\'Oh yes! It\'s all my fault! I\'m the one who gave her to Malfoy. I\'m the one who.....\' he began. The boy interrupted him, shouting at him that it was his fault. Before either of them could manage any more, Albus\' stern voice cut into their tirade.

\'Enough!\' he ordered, bringing both bickering parties to silence. They turned to look at Dumbledore as he seated himself once more behind his desk. He leveled his gaze at everyone of them, giving them the sternest one he could muster before picking up a lemon sherbert and popping it into his mouth. \'Severus and I have been talking. We are of the opinion that Bri has suffered some trauma that has wiped her memory.\'

\' I think we\'d already gathered that, Professor,\' Izzy snapped, her gaze going to Snape and pinning him with an accusatory stare. He merely gave her a bland look back, ignoring the insinuation in her eyes.

\' I also think that hiding her until she can regain her memory is a good idea. Malfoy will most assuredly look for her, when he decides he needs the information she carries. We need to hide her away somewhere he\'ll never think to look for her,\' Dumbledore went on, letting her outburst go without comment. \' I have the perfect place in mind.\'

\'Good. Potter and I will take her,\' Izzy nodded, glad to know that she was going to get her way. She turned to leave, to go prepare all that she would need to take with.

\'You will take Professor Snape with you,\' the soft voice halted her progress to the door. Her head swung back around to stare at the old Wizard in disbelief. Before she could open her mouth to protest, he went on. \'She repsonds to him when she fears all others. You will need him to gain her trust before you will be able to gain access to her memories. I will have no arguments in this. If you do not like it, you will not go. Now, prepare what you need. You will be leaving in the morning. Tonight, you and Harry will sleep in Gryffindor Tower.\'

Izzy and Harry stared at Dumbledore for a few moments, not ready to accept that they had been defeated before even launching their attack. The look in his eyes was enough to convince them, though. He was serious, and he would not change his mind, no matter how long or loud they argued against it. In the end, the two of them headed for Gryffindor Tower with one thought coursing through their minds. They had to find some way to get Bri away from Snape.

Then again, there was that old Muggle sayng. Keep your friends close. And your enemies closer. Perhaps that was just what they needed to do......

end chapter six.
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my many thanks to madam shark, my wonderful beta and suggestion giver. she helps more than she knows, even if i don\'t tell her.

and to my regulars...... they make me smile. i hope you all enjoy this effort. i\'m trying to make it not so dark as before..... without lightening it too much. there will be smut..... eventually.

and, if you like, please leave me a little review. but i\'m not going to beg. i swear it.

please..........