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Entry tags:
Ghosts (repost), Snape/OFC, 31/48
Ghosts (repost), Snape/OFC, 31/48
Rating: G – hard-R; this chapter PG-13
Author’s Notes:
If you don’t know what this is, please read this.
Despite a recent tune-up, this was written in 2001 and is not compliant with the current state of the HP universe.
Your feedback and commentary are always welcome, even for a time capsule such as this.
You can find all chapters here.
If you’re looking for slash, het, poly, Book-6 compliant Slytherin backstory please visit the recently updated Fascilis Descensus Averno a WIP written with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kalichan. It features Severus Snape, Lucius & Narcissa Malfoy, Bellatrix & Rodolphus Lestrange and Regulus Black and mostly takes place in 1979 – 1981 but has forays both significantly forward and back in time.
Disclaimer: It’s JKR’s world, I just mess about with it.
As the week wore on, Allosia watched Severus slip inexorably, and she hoped intentionally, more and more into the role he would no doubt have to play at the Malfoys' party. He was colder and haughtier, and while he seemed less frightening, he also seemed more deadly. As she watched the school's unease around him increase she had to stop herself from unleashing little digs at his demeanor. It did not seem the time to scold him for constantly drumming his fingers on the high table at breakfast, even as a number of other professors glared over the matter without result. As far as she could tell, Severus was walking through the world seeing only the machinations of his mind.
He was courteous to her, but little more. She found she preferred his sarcasm and unpleasantries. This was distancing in a way she did not enjoy, but if she looked angry, his eyes got pleading and sad. And so she accepted his iciness as something necessary to the situation and chose to refrain from interrupting his preparations as much as she could.
She kept to her rooms, her work and her flying and was quiet with everyone, so that she would not forget when to hold her tongue.
On the Friday before the event, she emerged from her last class of the day, to find him waiting outside her classroom, creating an emptiness in the hallway where her students had clearly fled with more efficiency than usual. She smiled broadly, but before her inquiries as to his presence left her mouth he grabbed her wrist far harder than she would have normally anticipated. She looked not at him first, but at his hand, its fine fingers clutching hard enough to make her own tingle. She raised her head slowly to look at him then, her eyes angry, and warning.
She expected him either to snatch his hand away or continue squeezing, but instead she watched his face fall and his fingers slacken. "I'm sorry," he mumbled.
She nodded at him by way of acceptance and to encourage him to continue.
"I," he started and paused. "I would not choose to spend time around me, right now, if I were you, but as you asked last weekend if you could be of assistance, I would be in your debt for your company this evening and tomorrow, if at all -"
She cut him off. "Of course, Severus. When would you like me to come by?"
He slipped his hand from her wrist then. "Thank you. Ten would be al right."
Allosia nodded and swallowed. "Are you all right, Severus?" she said slowly.
He nodded abruptly then, turned in a flourish of robes that almost caught her up with it, and strode away. Had her anxiety levels not been what they were, Allosia would have laughed.
His door swung open the moment she arrived at it, and closed as quickly once she stepped through. He was pacing, right arm across his stomach, the left propped upon the right. He drummed his fingers on his lips as he walked.
Allosia sighed, loudly and intentionally. "What is with you?" she asked, surprised at the relief she felt to be able to get that out.
"First," he began, sounding somewhat manic. Allosia suspected he hadn't been sleeping much, and had some sort of stimulant in his system on top of the obvious adrenaline. "This is not the sort of thing I usually have to deal with. It is, in its way, far more challenging than my usual assignments." The last word came out with obvious distaste. "I have to be sociable and cruel, and casual about it, which is quite a different thing from showing up before the Dark Lord, taking my cues and taking my leave. I have to want to be at this occasion."
"Of course," Allosia said, still waiting to hear something from him that would explain this to her better.
He turned and looked at her sharply. "Normally, I get to worry if I come back alive. And as an aside, I hope you do fully understand that I expect to die in this endeavor at some point."
She nodded, but it was very small, more businesslike than timid.
"At any rate, I'm quite sure I will attend Lucius Malfoy's party for his weasel of a son tomorrow, and that I will return to these rooms at some point in the late evening or early morning quite soundly in one piece. Other people at the event will not be able to say the same. And it would greatly surprise me, Allosia, if I did not in some way have a hand in that."
She opened her mouth to speak, but he held a hand up for her to stop.
"You should also understand that those people will not be Death Eaters or any of Lucius' other depraved compatriots. They will be muggles or mudbloods or squibs, or anyone else unfortunate enough not to be missed or not to count. Those people will die tomorrow, and there is nothing in the world I can do to stop it, without giving myself away, without giving the cause away, and without putting my life at risk, a life that matters only because of the task I was given, instead of the oblivion of Azkaban, because I was foolish enough to ask for mercy."
Allosia licked her lips and bowed her head slightly.
"I have not stopped being a murderer Allosia, I have merely been given permission. That's what this means, you know, to do this, and I'm supposed to be all right with it, since after all I am a Slytherin, by any means necessary, and all that. And if I thought I could find freedom from that in death, I would depart right now by my own hand. But I know better." His voice had returned to its usual quiet menace. "And so, if I do not yet repulse you, and I may well tomorrow when I return, I would be honored to have your somewhat soothing, if oft infuriating company." His eyes glittered.
Allosia nodded. Swallowed. "I've killed too."
"Not for sport, and from what I know of you from the Ministry, not often. You do profiles and interrogations and they keep you out of the field as much as possible because you are so in tune with the how and the why, they worry they'll break you." The condescension in his voice was palpable, but she was unsure as to whether it was directed at her or the Ministry.
She closed her eyes slowly and held herself very still.
"I hope you understand how much I admire you," he said, his voice serious, and calm.
She nodded and then took her usual seat and smiled as he visibly relaxed. "You're going to have to try harder to get rid of me, if only because I am still immature enough to like a challenge, now what in Hades are you on?" she asked, that speech having felt like more words than he usually said in a day.
The list was not attractive, but managed not to be shocking. The man had sense, certainly, and a finesse when it came to potions, if nothing else.
"I hope to Merlin you intend to get some rest tonight, yes?"
He nodded. "I was hoping you'd be a calming influence."
"There's a pick up line," Allosia responded dryly.
He shook his head and let out a short chuckle before throwing himself into the chair opposite hers.
"Lucius' party, when we were students - what haven't you told me?"
He shook his head and steepled his fingers. "If I need to tell you tomorrow, I will."
"If this is the same?"
He nodded.
"All right."
"Why are you so accepting of me?"
"Because I always have been."
He thought about this and seemed to find the answer satisfactory. "Potions then and drama now?"
"Something like that, although you were rather overwrought then as well, and not nearly so artful about it."
He made a face at her and fidgeted absently with his robes, swishing them slightly at the side of his chair.
"Now what can I do, other than sit here and ask you questions about things you've already been thinking too much about."
"Sing," he said, very softly, glancing across to her through the hair fallen into his face.
Rating: G – hard-R; this chapter PG-13
Author’s Notes:
kalichan. It features Severus Snape, Lucius & Narcissa Malfoy, Bellatrix & Rodolphus Lestrange and Regulus Black and mostly takes place in 1979 – 1981 but has forays both significantly forward and back in time. Disclaimer: It’s JKR’s world, I just mess about with it.
As the week wore on, Allosia watched Severus slip inexorably, and she hoped intentionally, more and more into the role he would no doubt have to play at the Malfoys' party. He was colder and haughtier, and while he seemed less frightening, he also seemed more deadly. As she watched the school's unease around him increase she had to stop herself from unleashing little digs at his demeanor. It did not seem the time to scold him for constantly drumming his fingers on the high table at breakfast, even as a number of other professors glared over the matter without result. As far as she could tell, Severus was walking through the world seeing only the machinations of his mind.
He was courteous to her, but little more. She found she preferred his sarcasm and unpleasantries. This was distancing in a way she did not enjoy, but if she looked angry, his eyes got pleading and sad. And so she accepted his iciness as something necessary to the situation and chose to refrain from interrupting his preparations as much as she could.
She kept to her rooms, her work and her flying and was quiet with everyone, so that she would not forget when to hold her tongue.
On the Friday before the event, she emerged from her last class of the day, to find him waiting outside her classroom, creating an emptiness in the hallway where her students had clearly fled with more efficiency than usual. She smiled broadly, but before her inquiries as to his presence left her mouth he grabbed her wrist far harder than she would have normally anticipated. She looked not at him first, but at his hand, its fine fingers clutching hard enough to make her own tingle. She raised her head slowly to look at him then, her eyes angry, and warning.
She expected him either to snatch his hand away or continue squeezing, but instead she watched his face fall and his fingers slacken. "I'm sorry," he mumbled.
She nodded at him by way of acceptance and to encourage him to continue.
"I," he started and paused. "I would not choose to spend time around me, right now, if I were you, but as you asked last weekend if you could be of assistance, I would be in your debt for your company this evening and tomorrow, if at all -"
She cut him off. "Of course, Severus. When would you like me to come by?"
He slipped his hand from her wrist then. "Thank you. Ten would be al right."
Allosia nodded and swallowed. "Are you all right, Severus?" she said slowly.
He nodded abruptly then, turned in a flourish of robes that almost caught her up with it, and strode away. Had her anxiety levels not been what they were, Allosia would have laughed.
His door swung open the moment she arrived at it, and closed as quickly once she stepped through. He was pacing, right arm across his stomach, the left propped upon the right. He drummed his fingers on his lips as he walked.
Allosia sighed, loudly and intentionally. "What is with you?" she asked, surprised at the relief she felt to be able to get that out.
"First," he began, sounding somewhat manic. Allosia suspected he hadn't been sleeping much, and had some sort of stimulant in his system on top of the obvious adrenaline. "This is not the sort of thing I usually have to deal with. It is, in its way, far more challenging than my usual assignments." The last word came out with obvious distaste. "I have to be sociable and cruel, and casual about it, which is quite a different thing from showing up before the Dark Lord, taking my cues and taking my leave. I have to want to be at this occasion."
"Of course," Allosia said, still waiting to hear something from him that would explain this to her better.
He turned and looked at her sharply. "Normally, I get to worry if I come back alive. And as an aside, I hope you do fully understand that I expect to die in this endeavor at some point."
She nodded, but it was very small, more businesslike than timid.
"At any rate, I'm quite sure I will attend Lucius Malfoy's party for his weasel of a son tomorrow, and that I will return to these rooms at some point in the late evening or early morning quite soundly in one piece. Other people at the event will not be able to say the same. And it would greatly surprise me, Allosia, if I did not in some way have a hand in that."
She opened her mouth to speak, but he held a hand up for her to stop.
"You should also understand that those people will not be Death Eaters or any of Lucius' other depraved compatriots. They will be muggles or mudbloods or squibs, or anyone else unfortunate enough not to be missed or not to count. Those people will die tomorrow, and there is nothing in the world I can do to stop it, without giving myself away, without giving the cause away, and without putting my life at risk, a life that matters only because of the task I was given, instead of the oblivion of Azkaban, because I was foolish enough to ask for mercy."
Allosia licked her lips and bowed her head slightly.
"I have not stopped being a murderer Allosia, I have merely been given permission. That's what this means, you know, to do this, and I'm supposed to be all right with it, since after all I am a Slytherin, by any means necessary, and all that. And if I thought I could find freedom from that in death, I would depart right now by my own hand. But I know better." His voice had returned to its usual quiet menace. "And so, if I do not yet repulse you, and I may well tomorrow when I return, I would be honored to have your somewhat soothing, if oft infuriating company." His eyes glittered.
Allosia nodded. Swallowed. "I've killed too."
"Not for sport, and from what I know of you from the Ministry, not often. You do profiles and interrogations and they keep you out of the field as much as possible because you are so in tune with the how and the why, they worry they'll break you." The condescension in his voice was palpable, but she was unsure as to whether it was directed at her or the Ministry.
She closed her eyes slowly and held herself very still.
"I hope you understand how much I admire you," he said, his voice serious, and calm.
She nodded and then took her usual seat and smiled as he visibly relaxed. "You're going to have to try harder to get rid of me, if only because I am still immature enough to like a challenge, now what in Hades are you on?" she asked, that speech having felt like more words than he usually said in a day.
The list was not attractive, but managed not to be shocking. The man had sense, certainly, and a finesse when it came to potions, if nothing else.
"I hope to Merlin you intend to get some rest tonight, yes?"
He nodded. "I was hoping you'd be a calming influence."
"There's a pick up line," Allosia responded dryly.
He shook his head and let out a short chuckle before throwing himself into the chair opposite hers.
"Lucius' party, when we were students - what haven't you told me?"
He shook his head and steepled his fingers. "If I need to tell you tomorrow, I will."
"If this is the same?"
He nodded.
"All right."
"Why are you so accepting of me?"
"Because I always have been."
He thought about this and seemed to find the answer satisfactory. "Potions then and drama now?"
"Something like that, although you were rather overwrought then as well, and not nearly so artful about it."
He made a face at her and fidgeted absently with his robes, swishing them slightly at the side of his chair.
"Now what can I do, other than sit here and ask you questions about things you've already been thinking too much about."
"Sing," he said, very softly, glancing across to her through the hair fallen into his face.