Chapter 9

Sarah watched his back as he strode out of the lounge and up the stairs. What was going on? One minute he's ranting and raving about owls and blaming me for involving him in the Great Rite, the next minute he's saying we need to talk! And that episode with the window slamming – was that actually me? How is that possible? she thought to herself as she pulled on her dress and began to pack her things away.

A minute later, Severus padded back into the lounge barefoot, dressed in black trousers and a white shirt that was half open. Sarah's first thought was he looked incredibly raffish and sexy, but then she remembered he was angry with her, so she dismissed such thoughts immediately. He removed the chalk circle from the wooden floor with his wand, and then giving it a little flick, rearranged the furniture to exactly how it was before. Sarah looked at him wide-eyed.

"I will explain all about my magic," he said wearily, anticipating her questions, "but first we need to be totally honest with each other. Please sit." He gestured to the sofa as he took his usual position in the armchair near the fire.

At least he's calmed down a bit, she thought with relief, sinking down into the squashy leather.

"Drink?" he asked, as with another flick of his wand he Summoned two glasses and a bottle of wine from the sideboard and sent it floating across the room, landing neatly on the coffee table. Another twirl and the bottle began to pour deep red liquid into one of the glasses. Sarah's eyes were nearly on stalks.

"How –" she began.

"Later," said Severus, with finality. "Right now I'm going to tell you what really happened today, and after that you're going to tell me what other rituals you have been performing. Maybe it will illuminate how we got into this mess and whether we are able to do anything about it." He sent a glass of wine soaring through the air to where she was sitting. Sarah plucked it from mid-air, so surprised she forgot to utter a word of thanks.

"I came across you at the summer solstice in the woods. I was heading towards the clearing to read in peace, but then I heard a voice and I'd assumed it was someone from my world performing a spell. When I saw it was you and it was a Wicca ritual, I was shocked and curious, so I hid in the bushes and watched you." Severus took a sip of the wine whilst letting her digest this information. She opened her mouth to say something, but he held up his hand to silence her and continued.

"A noise nearly alerted you to my presence, so I had to Disapparate out of sight. And then – "

"I'm sorry," she interrupted suddenly. "You had to what?"

"Disapparate. Apparate. It's a way of travelling from one point to another quickly."

"Show me."

Severus sighed; of course she was going to be fascinated with the wealth of new magic that she didn't know and would want to know more. But he was not a patient man, and if she continued to punctuate this conversation with requests for demonstrations, there was a considerable risk that he may well show her the Tongue-Tying Curse first hand! Is this what it's going to be like for the rest of the evening, he grumbled in his thoughts. I'm going to be a damned performing monkey!

"Very well, for the purposes of the story..." he replied testily. He stood, twisted on the spot and disappeared with a pop. Sarah looked on in disbelief as he stalked back into the lounge from the hallway.

"And that's Apparition," he drawled, collapsing back into his armchair.

"That's... that's... incredible!" she gasped.

If her jaw had dropped any lower, her chin would have surely hit the floor, Severus thought with a smirk.

"I can assure you, the skill is not uncommon amongst wizards. Anyway, as I was saying," he said firmly, making it clear that the subject of Apparation was now off-limits. "After seeing you at the solstice, I decided to do some research. Very little is known about Wiccan ritual, but what I had seen had prompted me to believe there may be parallels between the two worlds. Then I discovered Lughnasadh fell on the same day as the birthday of... a very important figure in my world." He inflected the words as though they left a nasty taste in his mouth. "So important in fact that a whole war had been fought over him, and so naturally that was enough motivation for me to investigate further."

Sarah sipped her wine and stayed silent, allowing him to continue.

"I decided that I would watch you on Lughnasadh, this time under the protection of invisibility. You then uttered a word that sounded like Avada Kedavra, and acting purely out of self-defence, I cast a spell which Stunned you."

Sarah's eyes widened. So that's how I became unconscious!

"You must understand how serious the Killing Curse is, and how often my own life has been threatened by it. It was an instinct to defend myself. Naturally I was horrified when I realised what I'd done. I couldn't leave you like that, so I made the decision to bring you here by Apparition."

Severus paused, looking at the light through the rich ruby-red liquid in his glass. He looked like he had more to say and that it was taking great effort to wrestle these words from his lips. Finally, he spoke.

"I apologise for spying on you. And I apologise for being careless and Stunning you. It's lucky you weren't seriously injured," he said softly.

Sarah regarded him for a moment, her face deep in concentration. "You Stunned me with a spell?" she asked carefully. "And then we – disappeared from the woods and ended up here?"

"Disapparated," he corrected, nodding.

"If that's the case," she persisted, "why didn't the owls come earlier then, if you'd already performed magic in front of me?"

Severus' already white pallor paled even further with this question. He'd not, up to that point, even considered that at all. Technically, thinking it through, he'd revealed magic in her presence four times: the first Apparition at the solstice; the Stunning spell; the second Apparition with her this evening; and lastly the Calming Draught he'd sneaked into her tea. And yet, no owl had come. Severus took a long swig of wine as he came to the uneasy conclusion of why that might be: either Sarah had dormant wizarding abilities, which had only manifested themselves this evening (unlikely giving her reaction after their little argument earlier), or the Ministry considered Wicca to be real magic.

He exhaled. "In all honesty, I do not know." He shifted in his seat before changing the subject. "You've heard the truth from me. Your turn. The truth, please, Sarah." He sat back and watched her closely, dark eyes glittering.

Sarah placed her glass down on to the coffee table and lightly cleared her throat.

"Well, the ritual you saw at the solstice was a Wiccan love ritual," she started, trying hard not to blush. "I usually perform spells for the benefit of other people, but I'd decided to see if I could do something positive for myself. I chose the solstice because, along with Beltaine, it's the most significant date in the Wiccan calendar associated with love.

After I finished the ritual, I went back to my cottage to perform another charm. This was a very ancient spell. It's said that if you bathe in the scent of the rose and place the flower of St. John's Wort under your pillow on the night of the solstice, your true love will be revealed to you in your dream." She paused, fidgeting with her hands.

"And did it work?" Severus asked through his onyx gaze.

"I saw a man," she admitted. She took a deep breath. "The dream I told you about earlier? That was the dream I dreamt of on the night of the solstice." Her bright green eyes found his.

"I see..." He rubbed his left arm absently, considering this, eyes now fixed on hers. "Is that why you asked me to perform the Great Rite with you?" he asked quietly.

Sarah held his gaze. "Yes. I asked you because of the dream, and because Wicca had never let me down before. I thought it would be the way to tell if you really were... who the dream said you were," she said tactfully. "I didn't know it would be binding and I didn't mean to trick you. I'd just hoped that... that we'd end up falling for each other," she finished lamely, heat rising in her cheeks.

"Strong emotions were invoked during the rite," he answered carefully. "I am sure you felt them too. I believe this is a demonstration of how powerful the ritual was. And there is no doubt the ritual was binding. We are bound by the magic it produced."

"How do you know for sure?" she asked timidly, not wanting to provoke his anger.

"Ropes of flame are common in many kinds of wizarding pacts, especially those that require a moral contract; for example, the Unbreakable Vow or certain types of wedding ceremonies. The cage of fire clearly showed to me that we are bound to one another." Severus raised a finger to his lip and absently ran it back and forth in thought as he stared into the middle distance. "There is, however, a tendency with bindings of this kind that they are permanent and irreversible in nature." His eyes met hers, and he saw her mouth open with shock.

Yes, my dear, it looks like you're stuck with me, he thought grimly.