Darkened Lust

Part Eight

Once the hasty meal was complete, Becca and Ami hesitated over calling Severus to the table. They didn\'t wish to disturb him, but the living room had been quite silent for the past few minutes. Before they could decide, however, he walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table. \"Never be afraid to disturb me, my dears,\" he said. \"Not you two, not in this situation.\"

Becca spoke up. \"Severus...reading the books, I never realized you could read people’s thoughts so clearly.\"

Severus looked at her and cocked an eyebrow. Damn him, she thought, Does he know how sexy that is?

\"Do these...books...include any characters that I have been as intimate with as I have been with the two of you?\"

Ami laughed and answered for both of them. \"I really don\'t think so. Though the fan-fiction...\" Becca hissed, \"Shhhh!\" though she was fighting back giggles at that point, thinking of the fanfics the two of them had written.

Severus chose to ignore their sudden bout of silliness. \"Then that explains it. Only those that I have...shared myself with...can I read so easily.\"

As they were eating; ham and potatoes with toast, and drinking the ice water Severus had insisted they needed, Becca, at a nudge or two from Ami, gathered her courage and asked, \"What really happened with Dumbledore?\"

Severus stilled at once. He fixed them both with an icy stare and replied, \"You said that you read about it. What do you think? That I murdered him in cold blood, no doubt.\" There was a touch of contempt in his voice that made their hearts sink. As their eyes fell and identical blushes stained their cheeks, he regretted his harsh words. He could sense no blame from either of them, only curiosity, which he could hardly wonder at. He sighed.

\"My pets, look at me.\" As they did, he smiled rather sadly. \"On that tower, I followed Albus\'s orders as to what I was to do in such a situation. I cast the Death Curse. On his orders. I took Draco and fled Hogwarts, and I was even able to keep from harming precious Potter.\" His lip curled as he uttered the name. \"I won\'t tell you where Draco is. You cannot be made to tell what you do not know. As for Albus Dumbledore...\" his voice shook for a moment and he drew a deep breath.

\"I myself don\'t know the effect of the curse on him. He could be dead. But if anyone would know the means of blocking that curse, it would be Albus. Now, I really cannot tell you more. It would be unwise of me to put the two of you at risk more than I already have.\"

There was silence for a few moments. Severus had lowered his eyes and looked so hurt that their hearts went out to him. Becca was unable to stand it, and one look at Ami showed that she felt the same. As one, they rose and went to him and knelt on either side of him, putting their arms around him and trying to offer comfort.

He stiffened for a moment, then put a hand on each of their backs. Becca looked up at him first, and his expression of surprise was so comic that she was startled into laughter. \"Hasn\'t anyone ever hugged you to comfort you?\" she asked. She caught Ami\'s wide eyed look, and her affectionate whisper of \"Idiot!\" and laughed harder.

Unable to resist, Severus joined her. Clasping them both close for a moment, he replied, \"Not in a very long time, pets, and rarely was it as...enjoyable...as this moment.\" The affection he was coming to feel for them was unexpected, yet he couldn\'t regret it. In that moment, they had included him in their unique friendship. It was a wonderful, unselfish gift, one he just couldn’t reject. Besides, hadn’t Albus always said that love was the strongest magic of all? Maybe the old man had a point.

He released them, and as they stood up, he took Ami’s hands. \"Now, I believe it is time for you to do your part. Gather your tools and the two of us will go outside. I will do what I can to assist you.\"

Ami smiled and went to the laundry room where she had stashed her supplies before eating. Becca watched as Severus followed her outside into the dark, one hand resting on the swell of her hip.

It had been awhile since she\'d done any spellwork, Ami knew, and her nervousness was affecting her concentration. She\'d lit the candles and had placed the mirror against a tree where it would not fall over. \"Clear your mind.\" Severus instructed from behind her where he stood observing, \"You\'re never going to get anywhere if you don\'t learn how to focus...\"

\"I\'m trying...\" Ami said, through gritted teeth, and took another deep breath, struggling, once more, to rid her mind of the constant prattle and fotsum and jetsam that swam through it on a daily basis. \"It\'s hard...\"

\"Of course it\'s hard,\" he hissed at her, \"Spell casting is hardly easy. You should all ready know this...here...\" Ami felt him placing his hands upon her shoulders. She felt the strength of those fingers and then the power ebbing from himself to her, \"I shall aide you in this... but you must practice more at controlling your thoughts and emotions... don\'t allow them to get in the way of your work.\"

\"Now,\" Severus said in a hushed tone, once he\'d felt she\'d come as far as she could in such a short time, \"Concentrate... you know how... I shouldn\'t have to instruct you...\" Everything came back to her as though she\'d been doing this for a million years. Breathe, focus, concentrate, feel the negative floating out and away, bring forth the positive... envision it wrapped about those she wished to protect... wrapped about Severus, her friend Becca, this house, herself.

\"Good...good...\" Severus murmured, squeezing her shoulders, as the scent from the incense wafted upwards and around them. She could see her face in the shadowed mirror, her eyes seemed brighter than normal, \"Do not lose your focus!\" he snapped and she closed her eyes, wrapping herself, once more, about the spell and feeling it\'s power, her own and the wizard behind her, lending her his strength and wisdom, enveloping her.

Becca had wandered outside and had stood watching for a few moments. not wanting to intrude on their work she found herself seated upon the porch, looking outwards at the stars, resting her arm upon her knee, her hand upon her chin. She thought of everything they\'d been through in the past few hours and what it all means. She thought of what Severus has told them and the moment they\'d all shared.

A moment she\'d never forget. She wondered about their parts, her\'s and Ami\'s, in this strange little play they\'d found themselves cast in. As she blinked at the night sky and listened to the sound of Severus and Ami whispering together about the spell they\'d just cast, mingling muggle and wizardering magic, somewhere in the nearby darkness of the forest, she hoped desperately that neither of them would forget their lines or their cues.

Severus, leaving Ami to finish up, brought his foot downwards upon a twig, breaking it and startling Becca out of her reverie. He caught the flutter of something vanishing amidst the brush and Becca turned towards him. \"I was watching the deer...\" she said, and went on, before he could ask, \"Will it work? The spell I mean...?\"

\"That remains to be seen, Becca,\" he said, not taking a seat, but standing near. Becca knew he\'d snapped that twig on purpose. He hadn\'t wished to sneak up on her, she realized, and forced her face to remain passive while he spoke, his eyes watching the flickering of candlelight in the forest where Ami was still at work, \"This must be repeated for two more nights, you recall...\"

There was a note of doubt lingering after his words had faded and Becca turned to look at him, \"Do you think she\'s up to it?\"

\"She hasn\'t done this in a very long time,\" he replied, \"If I am correct, I would say it\'s been years... she\'s out of practice, so to speak...\" he paused and added, almost to himself, \"Though she doesn\'t realize how strong she is...even for a muggle...Don\'t worry, pet, everything is under control...\"

Snape sat down on the steps beside Becca. Absently, he put an arm around her and drew her close, his hand slipping beneath her shirt and caressing her waist. Ami finally emerged from the darkness, her task obviously complete.

As she reached them, Snape drew her into his lap just as absently. As they relaxed against him, he began to speak, seemingly almost to himself. \"Somehow I don\'t feel comfortable anymore calling the two of you \'muggles\'. It doesn\'t feel right.\"

\"We\'re surely not wizards,\" Becca replied.

\"No.\" he agreed. \"But, you two are not of my world. Somehow I don\'t think that the lines are as strictly drawn here--wizard verus muggle...or squib. The two of you certainly possess something, some kind of magic. Though it\'s not of any kind I am familiar with.\"

He was silent, musing, and they were satisfied to relax against his strong body. \"The powers you have are not focused.\" he continued. \"Especially yours, Becca. You\'re almost totally ignorant of \'magick\', whereas Ami, you are learned in the subject, yet lack control. How the two of you managed to open a doorway to find me is incredible.\"

The two squirmed at the disapproval in his tone, and he gave them an impatient squeeze. \"I am going to have to teach you how to focus your minds, teach you to concentrate and direct your powers...\"

\"How to brew fame and bottle glory...\" Becca said in teasing amusement and was rewarded by a painful little pinch on her hip. \"Ow,\" she protested, pouting, looking up into his expressionless face.

\"And possibly how to stopper your wayward lips,\" he told her in a silky threatening voice...the threat was ruined, however, by Ami\'s stifled giggle, and he sighed in exasperation. Releasing Becca, he uncerimoniously pushed Ami off his lap and stood up.

As he headed for the back door, they could hear him muttering in irritation, something about grown women acting like silly schoolgirls, but Becca\'s amusement along with Ami\'s relief at completing the first part of the spell successfully had combined to make them helpless to control their laughter. They were convulsed with giggles for a few moments.

As they began to recover and looked at him to apologize, the sight of him glaring at them with folded arms set them off again for some reason, and they had tears streaming down their faces before they could stop.

Even Severus\'s lips were twitching, though he tried to remain stern. He could sense they were not laughing at his expense, and the experience was new to him, and rather flattering. He could not berate them for it, but rather tried to come back at them in the same vein.

\"If the two of you were my students...\" he began.

In unison, the two of them interuppted. \"DETENTION?\" they squealed eagerly, with wide eyes and exaggerated lustfulness.

He snorted. \"I wouldn\'t give you the satisfaction of it.\" With that, he went into the house, leaving them still giggling behind him, and happily surprised at his joining in their little joke.