The Bride's Charms

Disclaimer: Except for OCs, the characters here and the world they inhabit are the creation and property of JK Rowling and her assigns.

The next day, Severus did things exactly as he was accustomed. It was only after being sent from dinner that night that he remembered he had a wife. He asked if he could just sit and eat for a few minutes, but Dumbledore was quite clear.

"See if she'll tell you anything more, Severus. Come to me later, if you like."

He went to her chamber in his teaching robe. Kalinda wore clothes that were colorful and suited her figure, yet he wouldn't remember exactly what they looked like. He was led into the room and seated before the fire. Food and drink were brought to him. He would later recall eating but not exactly what.

He had learned to do as she indicated, so he ate and after a few minutes said, "What can you tell me today? Can you tell me anything about the Dark Lord?"

She cleared her throat and began. "It has come to me, lord husband, that an amazing group of people known as badgers live here. They are very patient and long-suffering, yet they always manage to get what they intend. I also hear that there is a group of snakes who constantly make war with a group of lions. The badgers watched the two fight and said amongst themselves, 'We shall outwit them, because we will wait until both are weak.'

"The snakes lured the lions below the ground and the lions lured the snakes to their den. Once there, the victims were tricked or hurt. As a result, they all became weaker. The badgers watched and nodded to themselves. They stayed away from both lions and snakes. The birds they watched carefully, but because they flew above all and concentrated on the study of magic but nothing else, such animals were no match for anyone. The badgers kept to themselves and worked hard. At the end, they won the battles arranged for all the animals."

She was telling a story about the school. As he considered it, it was true. For the past several years, fighting between Gryffindor and Slytherin had gotten so bad that both houses were often numerically eliminated from winning the House Cup before the Easter Holidays. Ravenclaw had let their Quidditch and certain other skills dwindle of late and therefore were not much match for the hard-working Hufflepuffs.

"Where did you learn this story?"

"I have heard different things."

"Is there anything you can tell me about the Dark Lord?"

"Not tonight, lord husband."

He sighed and bid her good night. Then he went up to the Headmaster's office.

They discussed the observations she had made about the character of the school and Dumbledore chuckled. "Sometimes it takes an outsider to see us as we really are."

"Does it get you what you want?"

"Oh, no. Keep at it. I'm sure that with a little effort on your part, you will find it enjoyable."

He left the Headmaster and went to the library. There were several books in the Restricted Section he wanted to look through. He thought he could handle one or two on that night. Surely there was some discussion of the sort of charm the must have been placed upon her as a child. He would have to discover what the charm was and then he could reverse it.

The winter passed as she told him anecdotes from the school. These she seasoned with tales of the Death Eater exploits. In some he recognized himself, and he wondered if she knew she was speaking of him. Most interesting were those she told of her homeland and the creatures that inhabited it. He was surprised to be spellbound by stories of brave princes, evil viziers, man-eating giants and kind kings.

She always spoke quietly, and her voice was more lyrical than those he had known before. There was almost a song-like quality to it. Some nights he stayed longer than he intended and asked questions, just to hear her speak. She never answered his questions except to open doors to new questions, especially about the stories she had surely known since childhood.

She could not speak of herself. In many ways it reminded him of a Fidelius Charm. If that was the case, it would be difficult to break without having the spell caster present. It would be difficult, not impossible. He questioned Zurie, an odd creature among odd creatures, hoping the house-elf would know the answer. She would giggle in her high-pitched voice and leave him.

As Dumbledore had foreseen, Lily's loss started to recede. There was a picture he kept near his bed. It was the first thing he looked at in the morning and the last before he doused his lights, but he was starting to forget her during the day. As the creature who was his wife smiled and told her stories, he even found himself laughing from time to time. Some nights he looked guiltily at the picture before he went to bed, but the face in the picture looked happy no matter what he did.

He became aware of the woman Kalinda was. He carefully avoided her eyes, which seemed to read his soul and concentrated on her colorful garments. That was dangerous because they encouraged him to become increasingly aware of her nubile body and other charms. He told himself not to look at the bright fabrics that accentuated the shape of her womanly curves but then found himself caught by the jingle of an ankle bracelet. Moments later he would realize that he had been contemplating the elegance of her trim ankles.

He didn't know what she did during the day. It didn't concern him, so he didn't ask. If he had ever been asked, he would have answered that he supposed she was lurking in hallways and gathering material for her stories.

On the eve of the Easter Holidays, he enjoyed her story so much that he made a request of her. "I see that I shall never get anything useful from you, so perhaps you could entertain me a different way." He handed her a copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard. "I would like to hear you tell one of these stories in your way tomorrow night. Can you read?"

"Oh, yes, lord husband. It's a lovely book. Is it very old?"

"It was my mother's and she prized it. Please take good care of it."

"Of course."

Wishing her good night had gotten a little awkward. He wanted to reach out and shake her hand or pat her arm or something, but he didn't understand such gestures. Bah, he told himself, it was a foolish urge, anyway.

He was strangely eager to hear what she would tell him the next night. He graded papers and was sure she would choose the tale of Babbity Rabbity. It was just the sort of tale of cleverness that she loved to tell him from her own childhood tales. He tested potions and thought that perhaps she would choose the one about the fountain. It was the one most of the teenaged girls and young women loved. He himself had no use for the dunderhead knight. A real man would find some ability to make his fortune.

She looked at him sadly as he came to the room. She was dressed in the golden clothes she had worn on their wedding night. Zurie served their dinner and they sat, as always, before the fire.

"Did you pick a story?" he asked.

"Yes, lord husband. Tonight, if it pleases you, I wish to tell you about a powerful wizard who had everything he could want. To protect himself, however, he had hidden his heart away by means so powerful that it had become leathery and hair-covered. The charms of no woman could penetrate it.

"He met a woman whom he came to desire. She was all that he could wish for, and he started to develop a friendship with her. She did her best, but she was unable to respond quite as he wished, for she sensed that she would never be able to truly enter his heart. He loved her as well as he could with his hairy heart, but she eventually turned her sight to another man. He tried to sway her, but she sadly told him that they were not right for each other.

"He continued his attempts to win her, turning ever to power when he should have turned to love. In an effort to gain more power and prove his love for her, he inadvertently caused her death..."

"Enough!" Snape roared. He stood and seized Kalinda by the wrists. "Is this some sort of a joke to you? Do you really think I'm cold and unfeeling? I can feel as much as the next man. I'll prove it."

He dragged her to the bed in the alcove and tossed her onto it. Clothing was ripped and beads scattered everywhere on the bed and the floor. He leaned up over her...and then looked into her eyes. It was a mistake. He had always avoided her eyes because of their similarity to those of his Patronus. If they had been tear-filled or defiant, he would have been able to finish what he had started. Instead they looked resigned. She had expected this from him. She was disappointed, but she would accept it. Because of his Patronus, it was a look of condemnation from his own conscience.

He sat up and looked away from her. "I can't do this."

"Lord husband..."

"I can't do this, yet as I sit here, I want to."

"I am your wife."

"I can't rape you."

"Then why not do what a husband does with his wife?"

"Are you willing?"

"I accepted it when we decided to marry."

"I'm not sure I can accept it... to be tied in marriage for the rest of my life. I've been looking for a counter-charm to the one that keeps you from speaking of yourself. If I can accomplish that, then we can have the marriage annulled and you can marry the man of your choice."

"I chose you, in Dumbledore's office."

"That was under duress. You need to be able to make a true choice." He looked at her eyes and they compelled him to be honest. "And I don't want to be tied down."

"You're tied to Dumbledore. I think I can offer greater compensations."

He looked at her body and then quickly away, hoping to quiet the wave of true desire that had swept through him. "I'm sure you could, but it wouldn't be fair to you."

"I have come to know you in this odd sort of courtship we have shared for quite a few moons, now. Lord husband, I am content with this choice."

Another thought crept into his mind. Perhaps the only way to unlock the charm was to become her husband physically as well as legally. It was worth a try. His last coherent thought as he reached to touch her was that perhaps it would still be possible to annul the marriage. His last incoherent thought was that her eyes were now promising a happiness he'd never received in conjunction with his Patronus.

A/N: For those who are unfamiliar with The Tales of Beedle the Bard, you've just read spoilers for the story about the hairy heart. Dumbledore's notes for the story compare the wizard with Voldemort, but since Voldemort never loved a woman, a comparison to Severus Snape seems more likely.

Thank you to beta reader Trickie Woo!