Another Dark Star

A/N: yes,miracles DO happen!! I uploaded AGAIN!! Mainly due to me being in 'the zone' and the encouraging reviews I recieved. Thank you!


Chapter 60

Harry lurched forward into Dumbledore’s Pensieve, unaware of what Snape had left him. He found himself in a playground, shockingly enough. Snape and his mother, friends? Unbelievable. Harry watched as the pitiful looking young boy confidently explained the Wizarding world to the excited redhead. More memories; friendship, Petunia getting in the way, arguments over James and Snape’ friends, the Mudblood incident and how desperately Snape had begged Lily to forgive him. Harry actually felt a little sorry for Snape, it was now clear that the young man had been so in love with her.

Things in Snape’s memories then turned darker; his betrayal, his remorse, the vow he had taken to protect Lily’s son. The shock of Dumbledore orchestrating his own death, and Harry almost smiled at Snape’s sarcastic comment. Dumbledore explaining, to Harry’s horror, what must happen in order to kill Voldemort; Harry must die. Snape defending Harry, also a shock, and his doe Patronus; the Patronus which had led him to the sword. Even after his marriage, Snape still loved Lily? Harry could barely believe what he was seeing. The accident involving George’s ear, which had really been to protect Lupin; the man’s hated enemy.

Then it seemed Snape had lost control. More memories shot past, much like Harry’s Occlumency lessons, whirling speedily past. It was almost as if Snape’s life were flashing before his eyes. ‘As he died.’ Harry thought sadly, now he was certain of Snape’s true allegiance. Now he saw what Snape had seen as he died, what his thoughts were truly dwelling upon, and after the revelations of the earlier memories, harry was again surprised.

Sadira in her uniform, Harry remembered it must have been his First Year; her Head Girl badge glinted on her lapel. She was crying and Snape was hugging her. Then she was patching him up after meeting Fluffy at Halloween, and again, in a classroom; this time not wearing robes, but her Muggle clothes. Snape and Sadira on holiday, France it looked like. Another scene of Sadira, this time in a state of undress, and Harry was glad that that one moved past quickly, blushing. Sadie and Snape were stood in a cave next, and Harry had never seen anything so intriguing. So this was what a Wizard Handfasting was like? The rush of magic was amazing, and they looked so happy. Harry again felt an intense grief when he realised that she was another widow of this war; His godfather’s daughter.

Then Hadrian being born, and laying in the crib while silent tears of joy slowly trickled down the harsh man’s face. Harry knew then, this was Snape’s happy memories. All of them. The things he had clung to as all faded to darkness. Another hospital room and Sadie lay on a bed in the background as again Snape wept over an open crib, but this time not in joy. The baby lay inside looked so small, so weak and fragile. Had the tiny child survived?

Then as suddenly as he had pitched in, Harry rose out of the Pensieve, shaking with the effort of trying to make sense of the stream of information he had been put through. Snape had loved Lily? Snape had been the one guarding over him until death? And despite his devotion to his childhood love, his dying thoughts had been of his wife and children. Underneath it all, the evil murdering Death Eater had been the bravest of them all.

Harry sat up, the enormity of what he must do weighing down upon him. He looked up at Dumbledore’s empty portrait with betrayal, then across to the empty space where Snape’s portrait was bound to be.

“Don’t worry Professor. I won’t let you down.” He whispered to the man who lay a mile away, and had deserved so much more.

Sadira was lay in bed, fitfully sleeping, when she woke with a start. Her chest was hurting, burning up and as she scrabbled desperately in her sleep addled state, she realised that the burning was her Celtic cross. Cold fear filled her as she realised what such a violent reaction from the amulet meant. There wasn’t much time. She grabbed for her wand, illuminating the room and called for Winky softly while she threw on jeans, a slightly tatty t-shirt and her socks and boots.

“Yes Mistress?” Winky greeted subserviently.

“I have to go out Winky. Guard the children well, my faithful friend. If I do not return within 24 hours, go to my family, tell them what had happened.” Sadie said resolutely. Winky wrung her large ears fearfully, but nodded mutely in agreement.

Sadie stopped in the nursery for a brief second, kissing both her babies softly before bolting down stairs and grabbing a small leather bag off the kitchen table, where it had stood next to the fruit bowl in anticipation of this dreaded moment.
Throwing on wizarding robes just in case, she turned on the spot and Apparated to where the Amulet told her that her husband needed her.

She materialised in some dark, stinking hovel, and for a moment she thought her magic had gone awry. Then she noticed the still form on the floor at her feet, oozing dark blood all over the bare floorboards and her boots. A horrifying scream left her lips, fading to a heart wrenching wail as she fell to her knees. Her beloved Severus was paler than parchment, his lifeblood pooling around him and he wasn’t moving.

‘Get it together Sadie, you have to help him.’ She told herself. She took a deep shuddering breath and cast the first spell, Evanesco. With the terrifying stain of blood gone, she could see the site of the wound; two holes in his shoulder, near his throat. The very spot in which she loved to rest her head. She lifted his thin, elegant hand to check his pulse, and sobbed again when she realised it was faint, and fading fast.

Shakily, she opened the bag and took out a few of the vials inside. First she applied Angel Tears Potion to the wounds, to help them knit, then she uncorked a bottle of Blood Replenisher, and carefully poured it down his throat, taking care not to choke him. The Angel Tears had stemmed the bleeding, but the two holes gaped horribly, sending alarm bells to Sadie’s mind.

‘Nagini!’ she thought in horror, desperately searching the medical bag for her own creation, the antidote. She had not as yet had the chance to test the draught completely, and hoped to Merlin that her calculations had been correct as she drizzled this down his throat too. She touched her ebony wand to the wounds, softly chanting the healing spell Severus had taught her years ago.

“Vulnera Sanatur, Vulnera Sanatur.” The spell had a soothing, lilting sound, almost like Muggle Gregorian chants, soothing to the soul. She checked the pulse once again, and panicked. She couldn’t find it! She tried his throat and his hands until she felt one weak beat. Time was running out. In desperation, she cast around for a way, anything to keep her soul mate with her.

“Soul mate!” she whispered incredulously, as her mournful thoughts inspired her. She had read up on her wedding vows after they had returned to Hogwarts, and remembered snippets of what she had read. Their souls were bonded. She could keep him with her, tied to her, hopefully for long enough for her healing to take. She slipped him a few drops of Strengthening Solution and placed his ebony wand in his right hand as she lifted her own and placed the tips together. Her left had she placed in his and twined their fingers together as she concentrated hard on their vows, the magical bonds tying them together, and grasping at his subconscious; willing him to stay with her.

She felt it, a pull from within. There it was, like invisible rope binding something deep within her to something of him. She felt him pulling away and the ache inside her rose. It hurt. He was dying, his soul pulling away from hers and it hurt. Closing her eyes, she focused on those ropes and pulled; tugging his essence back to the physical plane, away from anyone who dare separate them.

She reached out to his magic and was relieved when she felt an answering pull. He was there, and fighting for her. But he felt so heavy. Some great force was pulling him from her and she feared for a moment that she wouldn’t make it. With a great heave of mental and magical strength, she felt something give, and screamed as the pain ripped through her.

She opened her eyes and realised she was lay resting on Severus’ chest, twisted uncomfortably and with an aching head, as his chest rose and fell softly. She’d done it! Her body shook violently as she wept hot tears of relief. He might just make it now. Wiping at her wet face, she moved to the bag again, giving Severus a few more drops of Strengthening Solution and an Invigorating Draught before finishing the Strengthening Solution herself. Tidying away the empty bottles, she gave him a few drops of Nourishing Potion as an afterthought, just in case, then Apparated them both to the living Room at Spinners End.

Winky was alarmed and dismayed at the sight of her Master and Mistress so bedraggled and stained in blood. She levitated her Master, who was unconscious, onto the long sofa, and hovered over her Mistress, awaiting orders or instruction.

“Thank you... Winky.” Sadie gasped, tired but determined. “Are the children alright?”

“Yes Mistress, they is not been waking all this time. Can Winky be help to Mistress?” the little elf asked.

“No, thank you Winky. Just watch the children please. I will call you if I have need.” Sadie said distractedly, while she rummaged through the bag once more.

Tossing it aside, she ran through the kitchen to the pantry, and the stone staircase to the cellar. Waving a complicated pattern over the peeling wooden door, she hastily undid the wards and burst into Severus’ potions lab. There on one side was a cauldron on simmer, an experiment she had been working on. She had been reading some of her husband’s more dubious potions books, and had found a strong healing potion based on mother’s milk. Another experiment, but she felt good about this one; as if she had taken Felix Felicis. In fact, why the hell hadn’t she thought of that? One vial of that and she would have been fine. Still, no time to berate herself her choices, she had work to do.

Picking up two more bottles of Blood Replenisher and one of Strengthening Solution, she poured a small ladleful of the potion into a small white china bowl. This brew was technically finished, but for the addition of one final ingredient. She lifted her t-shirt, and unclipped one cup of her bra; gently squeezing her breast and areola until a few drops of creamy fresh milk dripped into the bowl, turning the grey-white substance iridescent pearl.

Tidying her appearance, she carefully carried the small bowl upstairs, thinking over what she had just done. He had called his soul to hers. But had she bound it within his body? Last thing she wanted was her dear Sev to be trapped in this plane as a spectre. Placing the bowl on the table by the wing chair, she Summoned the Dark tome she had been researching and with a jab of her wand, found the page she needed, keeping one eye on her husband’s status. He was still breathing, but faintly. Her theories, and the book’s suggestions, seemed sound.

Walking to the table, she made a small cut in her arm, allowing a few drops of her blood to land in the bowl with a hiss. Then, wishing she had not Vanished all his blood, she reluctantly did the same to Severus, healing both their wounds after and giving him another dose of Blood Replenisher, she stirred the experimental potion with a silver teaspoon. The brew was now a pearly pink; the sickly, little-girl kind of colour that Sev would have sneered at. Taking a deep breath, Sadira began spooning small doses past his thin white lips.


The next thing Sadira was aware of was bright piercing light in her eyes. Why did her head hurt so much? And her body too? Pushing herself up off the bed, she realised she was still in her clothes, and so was Severus. Severus! Last night’s events returned in frightening clarity. He was alive, breathing, but still deathly pale and unmoving. His frock coat was tattered at the collar, same his soft cotton shirt. How had she, they, ended up here?

She sat up, groaning as her muscles complained. She threw her stinking and stained clothes at the laundry hamper and pulled on a huge baggy nightdress, tying back her frizzy crumpled hair into a ponytail without even bothering to brush it. She just needed it off her face for a moment. Turning back to the bed, she removed his coat and shirt with magic; they could be repaired later. Now she had access to his wounds, she could see in the cold light of morning just how close her beloved had been to certain death.

“I love you so much.” she said shakily, tears threatening again as she leant to kiss his cold, unresponsive lips.

Winky hovered in the doorway, averting her eyes respectfully.

“Good Morning Mistress. The children is fed and dressed and you’s breakfast is be waiting on the table too.” She said softly.

“Winky, did you put us here?” Sadie asked.

“Yes Mistress. You be falling asleep on poor Master and I is thinking yous be more comfy in yous own bed.” She admitted with a nod. Sadie smiled for what felt like the first time in years.

“Thank you Winky, for everything, thank you.” She sighed gratefully.

As Sadira fetched her slippers and made her way to the hall, she caught a glimpse of her reflection in her dressing table mirror. At her left temple, the bushy, wiry curls were streaked with white. Wandering back to the table, she stared at the reflection, poking the hair that had suddenly changed overnight.

“What on earth have I done?” she wondered aloud.