Damocles
Chapter 34 of 34
Ariadne AWSHermione returns to Grimmauld Place, looking for answers. She does not expect to find Severus Snape. Best Fanon Het (Quill-to-Parchment, Round 2). Runner-up ~ Best HG/SS, 2006 OWL Awards.
A/N: As always, thanks to Luna305 for beta duty. Also thanks to Luna, Anastasia, and Tobert, for various inarticulate but fundamental reasons.
Summary: The minor fall, the major lift.
34: Damocles“No, Molly! I won’t have it!”
“We have no choice, Arthur.”
“There must be another way.”
“This is the other way, Arthur. The other is… it’s just…” her voice dropped, and she looked helplessly at him. “It’s the back-up plan.”
He stared at her, red-faced. “I’m not losing you as part of a back-up plan!” he shouted.
“Arthur!” she admonished him. The windows were open.
He lowered his voice. “If Hermione’s plan fails, Molly - ”
“It’s a brilliant plan, Arthur.”
“Logically, it holds water, I grant you. But… but Hermione is no strategist. Several dozen things can go very wrong, Molly, very wrong indeed.”
Her voice was calm. “Even if the plan fails, Arthur, I assure you that I will not. Nor will Minerva.”
“Molly - ”
“Do you want our children to live their whole lives under He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named? Wondering when their own children are going to die? No, Arthur. There’s nothing to be done. We have to give Harry a chance, no matter what it costs us. We made this decision, together, years ago.”
“Molly, let me - I’ll do it instead - ”
“Arthur,” she said gently, “it doesn’t work that way.” She waved her hand around the living room in the Burrow, with its usual chaos of the scatterings of 7 children – 9, now, including Harry and Fleur. “I’m the mother.” She looked at him fondly, sadly, their history in her eyes.
It made him smile and broke his heart. A lump in his throat threatened to choke him. He reached out and touched the strands of grey in her still-bright hair.
She reached for his hand and kissed his palm, drinking the feel of his skin in through her own.
“Molly…”
“I have to do this.”
He looked at her. Since he’d first seen her at her Sorting, he had never once felt so lost. He drew her to him, his hand on her hair.
“I - I know. I was just going to say that I’m coming with you.”
She pulled away slightly. “Oh, Arthur, no – it’s too risky.”
“I insist, Molly. I’ll not have you face this alone.”
Her hands fluttered on his chest. “Arthur, what if something does go wrong? Bill is far too young to deal with this lot on his own, and him just married…”
“My mind is made up. The children are grown.”
“Ginny…” she said, weakening.
He drew her close again. “Even Ginny is older than you think, Molly, dear, for all she’s your baby.” Fingers under her chin, coaxing her to meet his eyes. “Wasn’t it you who used to say ‘Witches mature faster than wizards’? You were about her age and trying to convince me… Hm. Yes.” He cleared his throat sharply and glanced away, not wanting to think about what Molly had convinced him to do when she was only a few months older than their youngest child.
Molly sighed as she leaned into her husband’s chest. She would not argue with him.
Not today.
“No heroics.”
Arthur said nothing.
She patted his chest firmly. “Promise me, Arthur.”
He closed his eyes and breathed in the scent of her hair. She smelled of flowers and bread, of dust-bunnies and daredevils and the children’s thousand daily rounds of did-not-did-too. She smelled like home.
“Promise me.”
“I – I promise.”
-----
In the kitchen, Ron turned to Harry and gestured with his head toward the living room, a questioning look on his face.
Harry shook his head, and mouthed, “No idea.”
The two left the house as quietly as they could, and, once they were out of earshot, they turned to each other.
“Doesn’t sound good, Ron,” Harry began, lamely.
“Not at all.” Ron ran his hands through his hair, wishing they’d gotten to the kitchen a bit faster after the yelling started.
They looked at each other.
“Sounds like Hermione knows, though,” Ron said darkly, as they sat down some distance from the house.
Harry nodded. “We could send Hedwig.”
“From here to London and back? Not enough time.”
“Floo?”
“With Mum and Dad snogging in the living room?”
Harry silently agreed.
“Apparate, then?”
“What, and bring the whole bloody Ministry down on our heads? Sorry, mate, but you can’t move without half the Order and a team of Aurors for backup.”
Harry grimaced and picked at the grass. “I hate this,” he said, finally. “Not knowing.”
Ron nodded, watching his parents through the window. Their obvious affection for each other usually made for unpleasantness in his stomach, but at the moment, he found it oddly comforting. “I swear, Harry, I’m going to go barking if something doesn’t happen soon,” he grumbled.
“Sure you haven’t already?” Harry forced a smile.
Ron rolled his eyes. “No, I’m not sure. Mum and Dad snogging, and me not being ill? I must be mental.”
“Completely,” Harry agreed.
-----
Had she but known it, Hermione would have been shocked to learn that she and Ron were feeling exactly the same way.
She had just set Severus on fire. Again.
And laughed at him.
She watched a brandy snifter float through the hallway.
“Oh, dear,” she sighed, leaning against the wall and closing her eyes.
“Don’t worry, dear. Whatever it is you’ve done, he deserved far worse,” Mrs. Black sniffed sagely.
“What has she done now?” Phineas Nigellus appeared.
“I set Severus’… erm, yes. I set him on fire.”
Hermione winced as Mrs. Black’s cackle grated against Phineas Nigellus’ loud guffaw.
“I’ve just come from Hogwarts,” Phineas Nigellus said.
“How’s Minerva?”
“Hard to say. She’s mostly sitting on her desk twitching her tail, staring at the old fool’s portrait.”
Hermione opened her eyes at that. “She’s what?”
Phineas Nigellus’ mouth twisted with amusement. “Sometimes she hisses.”
Hermione blinked.
“Seems to bother him most when she purrs, though.”
Hermione closed her eyes again, hearing an echo, “… when it all became… too much… I could transform… my feelings were less – less human, less complex when I was a dog…”
She’d not seen Sirius fall through the veil. She’d only heard, afterwards, mostly from Neville.
She realized that would like very much to see Neville.
Reaching a decision, she said, “Mrs. Black? Would you give Severus a message for me please?”
“Will you set me ablaze if I don’t?” Mrs. Black cackled.
Hermione sighed. “Of course not. Would you please tell him that I’ve gone to visit my parents, and I’ll be back in a couple of hours?”
Mrs. Black nodded, and Hermione Disapparated.
Phineas Nigellus and Mrs. Black exchanged a worried glance.
“She seem a bit off to you?” Mrs. Black asked.
Phineas Nigellus sounded uncharacteristically reflective when he answered, “A bit…”
They were quiet for a moment.
“Will she be ready?” he asked Mrs. Black.
Having heard the pop from the library, Severus came into the hall in time to hear the question.
“Ask him,” said Mrs. Black, nodding her head toward Severus. “I’m just a two-dimensional excuse for a pretext, remember?”
“She’s gone?”
“You drove her back to Mummy,” wheezed Mrs. Black. Turning to Phineas Nigellus, she said, “Pay up.”
Phineas Nigellus’ eyebrows flew up, then, grumbling, he reached into his pockets. “Didn’t think it would take this long,” he muttered.
Severus’ eyes narrowed slightly, but he refused to be distracted. “To her mother?” he repeated.
Mrs. Black’s eyes sparkled dangerously as she counted the coins Phineas Nigellus had handed her. “It’s a wonder she hasn’t gone before now,” she said, with affected disinterest. “You owe me two more Sickles, you lousy skinflint.” Turning to Severus, she continued, “Stop glowering at me, young man. You’ve worn this mantle for so long you’re forgotten its weight.”
A protest sprang to Severus’ eyes, but Mrs. Black held up her hand before he could speak.
“Wait. Think. You’re supposed to be good at both.”
Severus inspected his cuffs for several moments before he nodded curtly.
Phineas Nigellus looked at him appraisingly. “Figured it out, have you?”
“She’s saying goodbye.”
Mrs. Black snorted softly. Phineas Nigellus glanced at her. Mrs. Black pointed at Severus. “More.”
“And she wants comforting.”
Mrs. Black nodded. “It won’t be enough, of course. But every young bride tries, once, when she realizes what she’s done.”
Severus blinked. Bride? He noticed abstractly that his palms had gone clammy.
She shrugged. “She’ll be back – an hour, maybe less. Mummy can’t fix the fact that the man she loves is going to kill her.”
Snape’s eyes glittered darkly, but he crossed his arms, surreptitiously trying to dry his palms on his shirt sleeves.
Mrs. Black spared him a glance before turning to glower at Phineas Nigellus. “Love, death, what’s the difference, really?” She gestured impatiently at Phineas Nigellus. “Pay up.”
Phineas Nigellus nodded his concurrence. “Either way, life as you knew it is over. One just takes longer.” He handed two Sickles to Mrs. Black.
Severus raised a questioning eyebrow at their exchange. “One wonders what pretense you have for currency.”
Mrs. Black cackled as the coins clinked together. “None, of course. But even in death, principles must be upheld.” Mrs. Black tucked the coins in her reticule before turning to regard him, the amusement on her face wiped away completely, replaced with a grave pity. “Don’t you agree, Severus?”
He nodded once; Mrs. Black returned the nod.
Severus turned toward the kitchen, muttering “Accio coat.” He was suddenly very cold.
-----
“Harry, dear,” Molly called from the window. “Could you join us for a moment?”
Harry and Ron stood and brushed the grass off of their jeans, but Molly waved Ron back. “Just Harry, Ron, dear.” She ducked her head inside before Ron could argue.
-----
After an hour, Severus started pacing in the library.
-----
Harry stared at Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. “I – you – what? Hermione? What?”
“Sit down, dear. Here.” Molly helped him to a chair.
Arthur said nothing.
-----
After another half hour, Severus rested his hands on the mantle and leaned his forehead against the wood. I can’t warred with Where is she?
-----
Harry rubbed his hands on his jeans. “I don’t understand. He’ll do this because he owes me a life-debt?”
Molly looked at him gently. “We think so, Harry, dear.”
Harry saw Arthur glance at her sharply.
“I don’t understand how those work,” Harry said. “Life-debts, I mean.”
Arthur cleared his throat. “No one does, Harry. It’s a mystery.” His voice was steady, but his eyes were filled with desperate pleading.
Harry swallowed hard, and nodded. “Don’t worry, Mr. Weasley. I’ll make him do it.” He thought, Somehow.
Molly’s proud smile pierced his heart. “Of course you will, Harry, dear. You always have, haven’t you?”
She hugged him tightly. “Now. Not a word to Ron. We’ll be there and back before any of the others know we’re gone.”
Harry nodded, his mind still blindly groping toward some kind of alternative. If I fail... “What about the Aurors?” he asked distantly.
Arthur said, “Tonks and Kingsley will join us, naturally. I’ll speak to him now. Excuse me, Harry.” He turned away quickly, clearing his throat.
-----
The shadows were lengthening in the house as Severus swept into the hallway.
Mrs. Black was leaning her head against her frame, her eyes closed.
“Mrs. Black,” he demanded.
She opened one eye. “Not back yet, is she?”
“An hour, you said.”
“You’re slipping.” She closed her eyes, and he got no more out of her.
-----
As the last rays of the setting sun slanted through the diamond-paned windows, Minerva resumed her human form and, reaching for her quill, began to write the first of three letters.
-----
“An excellent dinner, dear. What a joy to have you all here.” Arthur set his napkin down and smiled at his family.
Harry saw that the smile didn’t match the look in Mr. Weasley’s eyes. He wondered at what pretext they’d gotten Charlie back from Romania on such short notice, until he saw Bill and Charlie exchange a glance.
They know. Harry closed his eyes.
As Fred and George began another round of tales from their joke shop, Molly couldn’t help but look at Percy’s empty chair. Her heart closed in her throat. She forced her attention back to the twins.
No one moved to clean up the dishes. Ginny wondered, briefly, why her mother hadn’t insisted, but was enjoying having all of her brothers home too much to give it more than a passing thought.
-----
Severus sat in the Transformed chair in the library, swirling the air in his empty glass, staring into the still-warm ashes of the fire.
He suddenly sat straighter. Slipping, indeed. Shifting his weight, reached into his pocket for the mirror.
His hands were shaking as he touched it. “Hermione.”
He waited.
Nothing.
Then –
“I’ll be back soon.”
Then nothing.
Where is she? was replaced again, insistently, by I can’t.
And as his mind slipped into the empty spaces where “I can” should live, he unconsciously rubbed his thumb over the smooth surface of the mirror.
-----
“Try not to stay away so long next time?” her mother said, giving Hermione a quick hug before turning back to the stack of bills on the kitchen table, her eyes already moving to check a column of figures.
“Tell Dad I - ”
“What?”
“I’m sorry I missed him.”
“It was a lovely day for tennis, dear, and you know he never sees Nigel these days.”
Hermione nodded, but her mother said no more.
“‘Bye, Mum,” she said finally.
Her mother waved.
Hermione looked away.
Once outside, her blurry gaze fell on the swing-set her parents had been meaning to remove for years. She went and sat heavily on one of the swings and wrapped her arms around the chain, leaning her cheek against the metal links that were cool in the fading dusk.
She felt Severus’ thumb on her cheek.
And in Grimmauld Place, he felt her tear.
She felt his thought, the gentlest caress. “Come home, Hermione.”
Strange, how something so tentative could be so solid.
She touched her mirror as he thought again, “Please.”
He heard her say “Yes,” and she was in his arms.
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Latest 25 Reviews for A Walking Shadow
230 Reviews | 5.53/10 Average
Such an amazing, complex story. Hate to see it unfinished, but maybe it will be someday. Faith, right? Thank you, for writing such beautiful tales..
Any chance you'll be able to finish this ? It's such a suspense story, just working up to the climax! I've enjoyed Tayet very much - you have a way with animals.
Response from Ariadne AWS (Author of A Walking Shadow)
...It was finished in '06; I've just not finished uploading it to this site; RL has utterly intervened in my time on fic archives. I think you might be able to find it if you poke around the internet. :)Thanks for reading!
Response from Ariadne AWS (Author of A Walking Shadow)
Hi,
oh this thin line between light and shadow, between earnesty and laughing about the irony, about the funny side of everything.
I am glad he still has his sense of humour.
yes, that woman is the road to hell, but she plasters it with lots of genious and wits and love and passion and fun and perfection.
one really feels how they deserver and need each other.
I like your Snape, may he be non-canon or not. He is adorable.
He was curious to learn about what the Mirror hat revealed her.
Interesting, how Molly took her death sencence.
Always worrying about her family, and now it is her she has to worry about. But it seems she doesn't, or does she?
She couldn’t deny the truth. “I still hate it,” she muttered.
“Good. Use that hatred, when the time comes,” he said. “It will keep you whole.”
I find his advice here very very good and not for nothing I am sure. He is really concerned about her staying whole. He is adorable. also to be seen when he explains about making unforgivables... It is always " am already bruised, so I will do it for you, he did it for Draco, he does it for Hermione, he is a good person indeed.
it's not done because it cannot be done."
Minerva looked at Dumbledore's portrait. "So naturally you had to try."
I love your sense of humour. makes the dark story lighter, more human more alive.
What a brilliant plan!! You are grand.
Let Pettigrew get imperioused, do the job, and 2 Horocruxes are done. great!!
I bet this works out! it sounds just soo clever.
"She seemed to scowl back"... that made me laugh!! Oh sodding Severus makes a big deal out of her trunk entering his bedroom or not. Her entering his real life or not.I can not quite follwo him here. he lives under the same roof with her. he spent a night in the hiding room with her. he shars his mind or her mind when entering there, he shares the knowledge ot her and his death and how and almost when. Where is the problem in sharing a room or a bed, porperly?I have no idea.he expains it with wait...his rigid sense of honour, his saftey net. all right o,k,. but, still, not so understanable. and then he let her choose. Why? she had already, hadn't she.Her responce : "I'd only hit you with it anyway " was rather taking the tenseness away. good idea. and much more natural than anyhting.And thank you thank you thank you for letting us peek at the soo necessary conversation between McGonagall and Dumbledore.tehe.He solved the problem of how to make her trust in Hermiones source without giving it away or giving to much information brilliantly. Trust her Arithmancy? well, if so, then you must only know, that it can only work with the correct information.Good idea of yours!!As so many others are and were.keep up the good job!!
Response from salvamea (Reviewer)
oh, and I agree with the other reviewer!! not being able to finish reading this WOULD be tragic!or anything like that.
What did he offer to put lower?
His hair?
What had happened? I must have missed quite a bit here.
But The Poenix Tears were healing or fixing someting, this much I know.
And Tayet is fully grown, this I also know.
You descirbe it all so marvellously. it is a real pleasure to read it.
Never blunt, or plump. always a little transcendent, like a little behind a veil, weaving your words in a poetical, philosophical way. very interesting.
thank you for sharing!
he let Voldy bind Wormtail to him. Sounds clever. he is glad about it, so it must be of use for him.
Hermione wanted Wormtail, now she has him.
Still am in the dark about how that would help. But it MUST! please...
Their interrupted lovescene got even more intense after the new developements, it seems to me.. phew. quite a scene.
i wonder why she wanted him in these robes. Everyone would have expected her to be absolutely turned off, but no.
Maybe a chance to dis-charm the brutal character of the deatheater uniform.
What will he do about his new task? find her and bring her to me? he will do that? and when and how? and what will happen there and then?
awful.
I am glad I still can click on to the next chapter. But soon enough I will up to date, and then I will have to wait as patiently as ... Tayet for her feathers to grow?
You mentionted it would be some 30 more?
Happy as I am to hear that, I am also eager to hear that the next 30 will not last for 2 years? got a plan? anything?
the whole chapter was soo funny.
especially McGonnagalls reaction on finding out that Dumbledore was well aware of the going ons and awake for quite a while!! her being furious. I would love to hear THAT conversation!!
hope she gives him her piece of mind!! ha!
and seeing Severus so playfull, and right in the middel of a wonderful seduction HE the bloddy VOLDY comes to summon him. Bad timing.! But what would one expect of the person who has no heart, seven souls and none of them good.
bah.
And he is soo close ..shiver...
Your Tayet is just soo adorable.
How she reads the one persons thoughts and acts in their behalf. I love these scenes. touching.
Is she really just one day old? cant belive how much had happened in this very short time.
So many revellations.
Horrible, to know that you have to die, from the hands of someone you love, and that this willl be a gift too, and that all has to be in a certain timetable or connected to some progresses. awful. unbelievable.
They found the Trapping Spell. and he has to cast it. and either he kills her then, or he will die. also horrible.
She says they bloddy well are the main charactes in this story. well, I think they are both right.
Voldy and Harry on the front line, Hermione and Severus doing the mind-work in the back. both lethal.
I also like your Mrs Black, she is quite tamed now, and her Rommy - I want to know what is going on in the library - game... just sweet.
how sweet, Arthur wants to join his Molly in death. He is soo sweet.
I do so hope that he will not have to. and that she will not have to do this.
Hermione saying farewelll to her parents. what a bitter jounrey, a what she will call her last visit. bruta. so sad.
he has no one to say goodbye to.
Minverva is writing letters.
Hagrid? well, he will say good bye to G....
Molly has her family around.
Very touching scenes.
and Severus asking her to come home, oh so sweet.
Now please be quick, and show us what happens at 2 o'clock!!
please!!
What does he mean with his appearance.
have faith!
She worked that out already!!
And how dare he say anything about their "relationship" whatever it may be.
He is so mixed in it, the planner and plotter and everything.
grr.
At least he gave Severus his blessings. sort of.
And he made away with the awful thing hanging between them about his death and guilt or not guilt.
I liked that. Him thanking Severus.
That was the best about his visit, Ifeel.
ah, so they have to take the Horocrux itemst with them through the veil. But how does she mean that they don't have to die then? er?
coming back isn't possible, I thought?
Hagrid will have to kill Nagingi, did I get this right?
Hermione has to give Severus time to run, and when all is done, and Nagini dead, and Harry seperated form his Scar then
HE will KILL HERMIONE??
WHAT IS THAT!???
Why? what for?
Did he make an unbrakable Vow?
About her in person? or about the person he would find fit for the job. And with whom did he make the vow?
urgh, that is soo ugly.
This man!!!
poor Minerva, she took it like a really powerful strong Lady.
wow.
I don't understand. The deatheaters are trying to kill all those who could free or undo the horocruxes? But if they do,then the Horocuxes will be destroyd, I thought?
So it must be the way the people die, that destroys the Horocruxes?
Still in the dark about that.
And poor Hermione had to be veeery strong here. "In what position is he?" well, very often inside her .. mind...
nice chapter again.
It’s not actually impossible to lie about love to someone who has the evidence of your broken soul emblazoned over her heart, but it really is the height of bad taste.
I can't belive it!
He took her on the floor, then, when she cried these black tears? I didn't realise. oops.
and now he wants her love to be safed, but can not provide any love of his own. Tragic.
good hit, Hermione.
I am all caught up now, having somehow lost track of this story. The complications just suck the reader in, don't they? You have to work at understanding, but only because it's richly complicated and savoury. I do hope you come back and finish it.
I love your words are like slow drops of rain....wonderful!! Your Snaape already makes me cry....Alan Rickmans face as he is portraying Severus killing Dumbledore is one of the saddest scenes ever. you have beautifully captured the afetr effects...
I love it I already LOVE it!!
Now things really begin to heat up.
I know Tayet will play a crucial role (hopefully in keeping Hermione alive and/or healing Severus' torn soul that he be able to love again) before all this is done.
Brilliant idea to drop the Horcruxes through the veil. I hope Wormtail's prosthetic hand will be able to pierce it since it is not living flesh, only animated by Voldemort's magic and Wormtail's intent. I suppose intent is the key word here.
Wonderful update, I was beginning to wonder if I would get the chance to finish reading this beautifully written story, because not to would have been a tragedy.
I am completely in love with this story. Thanks for the wonderful update, I can't wait for more.
Phoenix magic is very powerful. :)
Very good, Love the new Phoenix. Looking forward to more.
I think this chapter is key to everything that follows. It's taken a while, but I think I get it. The inclusion of Hermanubis as a healer made the formula so perfect there could not be one name as a solution...it had to be both, but not either/or...it had to be you in the plural. But, because the whole is much greater than the sum of the parts, the prediction of death went up in flames and the phoenix was born. This inverted the passion, desperation, and sacrifice of the formula and its conclusion on the parchment into the faith, hope, and love represented in the phoenix. It is so perfect the way Tayet reflects both the light and the dark of Herminone and Severus combined. Severus' despair, but at the same time rejecting it by tearing off his many-buttoned frockcoat. The spontaneous appearance of both Hermione's and Severus' patronuses. Awe, playfulness, healing, and nurturing. Hermione going back to planning and researching, taking charge, and sending Severus to collect fireflys (nurturing). This is story telling at its best.
Funny, poignant, and a phoenix.
"I'm to stay here while I research. Um...uninterrupted....orders....I have orders."
"It's an acquired taste"...."Dark, bitter, enervating." Sounds a lot like "tall, dark, and brooding."
The agony of getting the formula to work and the wait.....almost unbearable.
The wonder of the birth of a new phoenix....beautiful
Funny, poignant, and a phoenix.
"I'm to stay here while I research. Um...uninterrupted....orders....I have orders."
"It's an acquired taste"...."Dark, bitter, enervating." Sounds a lot like "tall, dark, and brooding."
The agony of getting the formula to work and the wait.....almost unbearable.
The wonder of the birth of a new phoenix....beautiful