The Serpent's Thirst

The Serpent's Thirst.

Chapter 6:

The Dog And The Hag.

Harry felt his consciousness return through the swirling darkness which obscured his eyesight. Even though the whispers that punctured the void were soft, the noise was rather too loud for him to bear. He did not realise that people were talking as he drifted in and out of sleep. His body trying desperately to relax and return to its dreamy state. Harry was nice and comfortable, as if he was gently floating on a cloud with the sun softly spreading its warm rays over his body.

Harry registered the fact that his body felt refreshed and cleansed, like he'd had a bath without knowing, and that he was dry and safe. He gently moved an arm under his bed sheets, and his eyelashes fluttered slightly.

Every now again he felt his head rise up, supported by someone's arm, while cool liquid was poured down his throat. For a moment he thought he was still at St Mungo's hospital, recovering from the events at the Cottage. Then the memory of his Quidditch match trickled back into his mind, and both joy and terror flooded back into his chest.

At last Harry opened his tired, crusty eyes. Realising that he lay in the hospital wing, he tried to raise himself up. Someone placed their hand on his chest and gently pushed him down onto the bed again.

"Did we win," Harry blurted out, his throat sore and dry.

There was a pause around him; a distinct silence met Harry's ears. Then someone tisked, muttering indistinctly. Harry squinted, recognising the voice as belonging to Madam Pomfrey. Someone else snorted and tried to hide their laughter, while another person, somewhere by his side, sighed at the very same time.

"Yes Harry, Gryffindor won," Sirius said quietly, while Harry rubbed his eyes in an effort to see the room a little more clearly. Blinking, Harry noticed a white mist circling the blurry figures. His godfather placed Harry's round spectacles over his eyes, and Harry could finally see all the faces expressing relief that he had woken up.

Hermione squeezed his unbandaged hand lightly, her teeth tugging at her lip, her eyes red from crying. She edged a little closer in her seat, wanting to kiss Harry on his cheek, but she was hesitant to do so with Ron in the room. Harry watched her, her next move. He would have done almost anything to feel her lips on his at that moment.

"How are you feeling?" Sirius asked. Harry turned to his godfather. Hermione breathed in deeply, glad that Sirius' question had focused Harry's attention somewhere other than on herself.

Harry lay still so he could adequately judge how he felt. "Um, tired. Although I'm happy we won."

Sirius smiled a little more brightly and relaxed. He glanced at Madam Pomfrey, who had gone off with her arms flailing in indignation. "It should be banned," she yelled in fury, presumably referring to the game of Quidditch, before she disappeared into her office.

Ron sat down next to Sirius when he was sure that the matron would not barge out again. "That had to be the best catch I've seen you make, Harry. Brilliant!" he said. Ginny and Dean nodded behind him.

"If we knew that storm was going to be that dangerous, the match would've been postponed. That was worse than the Dementors making you fall back in third year, Harry." Hermione shook her head, eyeing him in worry. She would never forget that game. When Harry had been struck by the lightning bolt, she had screamed and her nails dug into her palms in shock, thinking he had been taken from her.

"So ... I got hit by lightning then?" Harry said, looking at his bandaged hand, snapping Hermione out of her thoughts. He spread his fingers slightly, feeling no pain. But Harry smelt the lingering, pungent odour of burned flesh.

"So did Malfoy, but he got released from the wing already," Ron spat. "I caught you before you fell. Too bad Malfoy didn't hit the ground."

"Ron!" Hermione said as she continued patting Harry's hand lovingly. Sirius didn't say anything, but his eyes examined the ceiling, pretending he hadn't heard the conversation.

"What?" Ron said.

"Oh for goodness sakes, how can you be so thick?" Hermione was exasperated, giving Ron a belligerent look. Ron waved his hands in irritation, still wondering what he had said wrong.

The sound of the hospital wing doors opening drew their attention away from the match. Footsteps echoed faintly, and Sirius looked up. "Professor Dumbledore," said Sirius, getting up from his seat.

"Ahh, good morning to you all. Good to see you're finally awake, Harry ... again," Professor Dumbledore greeted, bowing his head a little.

Harry smiled, suppressing a laugh. "Nice to see you too, sir."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, and Harry saw the corners of his mouth twitch before he tapped his long fingers together. He turned toward Sirius. "I need to speak to you, Professor."

"Of course, Headmaster." Sirius scratched his head, and winked at Harry. "I'll come back soon. Get some rest."

The two members of the Order of the Phoenix retreated, walking close together. A whisper of speech drifted in the air as the doors closed behind them.

After Dean had left, Harry rested his head on his fluffy pillow, blinking. He knew that everyone was observing him quietly.

"Do you think Dumbledore is talking to Sirius about--" Hermione spoke, then stopped when Madam Pomfrey trotted past to attend a student who had come in with a bite from a Venomous Tentaculus. "Talking about something to do about ... Voldemort?"

"Probably," Harry breathed. He was too tired to think about the Dark Lord, and changed the subject. "Ahh, how long have I been here?"

"Four days," Ginny said with a sigh, twirling a lock of red hair around her fingers. "Mum had a fit when she found out. She sent a Howler to Sirius, yelling about you being in too much danger already to be allowed to play Quidditch as it is." Harry snorted.

After an hour, Sirius returned, and their talk about Quidditch deteriorated. His godfather's face looked ashen, Harry thought, and all sorts of questions sprang into Harry's mind. Sirius grinned awkwardly when he saw the calculating look on Harry's face. Harry's green eyes bored into Sirius' black ones, trying to figure out what was wrong.

"What happened?" Harry questioned very slowly, an intense feeling of foreboding closing around his heart.

"Nothing which concerns you," Sirius stated, but without looking into his godson's eyes. Harry knew better. "Rest your head, Harry, otherwise Pomfrey will chuck us out-"

"--Does it have something to do with Voldemort?" Harry was determined to find out.

Sirius said nothing for awhile, his mind searching for the right words to tell his godson what was happening. Harry was nearing adulthood, after all, and he had the right to know the situation.

"Voldemort's minions killed a dozen Muggles and Muggle-born wizards last night. In the past couple of days, a wizard vanished and his pregnant wife was attacked by a Death Eater. We are in full-scale war now ... Dark Marks are appearing everywhere."

Harry gulped and Hermione whimpered, a small cry escaping from her throat; she had read the articles in the Daily Prophet. The Dementors had resumed their old alliance with Voldemort and had begun attacking people indiscriminately. Because Muggles could not see Dementors, they had become prey. Muggle doctors were mystified at the number of victims turning up in hospitals in a catatonic state. They had no way of knowing that their patients had fallen victim to the Dementors' Kiss. Their patients would never recover. Their souls had been sucked out of them, leaving them empty of everything that made them who they were.

When his friends left the hospital wing, Harry continued to think about the events Sirius had described. A fresh wave of nightmares plagued him during the next few nights. He couldn't seem to get rid of the nightmares. He wished he could still dream about Hermione and that child, and finally seeing the coin fall in the well. Nevertheless, that dream never came back.

On Tuesday morning, Harry was finally released from the hospital wing a clean bill of health. He discovered that, as an extra precaution, the Ministry had placed Aurors around Hogwarts and Hogsmeade to protect the school and town. Harry found Kingsley Shacklebolt and Tonks talking briskly to Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall outside the Great Oak doors that afternoon on his way to Herbology.

"Things are getting scarier, aren't they?" Neville sniffled. "My Gran says it's just the same as when You-Know-Who first rose to power. She remembers it well. " He shook his head as Harry and Ron made their way to class, passing the Aurors and teachers.

Tonks waved hurriedly to Harry, and he grinned back. This occasion, he saw that Tonks had morphed her hair purple, that she had made it tightly curly so that it frizzed out enormously.

"Yeah. What the ...?" said Harry all of a sudden.

Ron abruptly pulled Harry behind a greenhouse, while Neville continued walking to class still talking, thinking that Harry and Ron were behind him.

Ron hastily poked his red head out to view the grounds, first checking to make certain that he was out of sight, as if someone dangerous had been following them. Harry looked out as well, and saw only Parvati giggling with Lavender, rather than the Death Eater he'd half-expected to see.

"Why ... ?"

"Quick, let's take another path to class. The way she stares at me -- it's freaking me out," Ron whispered, through gritted teeth, in Harry's ear.

"Who?"

"Parvati," Ron stressed. Harry looked out again, and saw Parvati shrug at Ron's disappearance. Pulling Harry back out of sight, Ron walked into the shadows and Harry reluctantly followed.

There was a tight path between two gloomy Greenhouses, choked with undergrowth. Harry thought that you'd have to be mad to want to go through it. Harry fell in the eerie dark more than once, tripping over several different stray roots. He had to duck when a fairy flew out in front of him, waving two minute fists because of the disturbance. Twigs and strange plants snagged their clothes with strange movable limbs as they passed through the jungle to get to class. Then, halfway through the gloom, several vines quickly wrapped themselves around Harry's legs making him fall and shattering his glasses.

"Occulus Reparo!" Harry muttered. "You know ... If I were you, Ron, I would rather face Parvati than ever come through here again!"

They managed to arrive just in time to see Professor Sprout open the door to Greenhouse Six. She was holding a rather peculiar plant with bright blue leaves, which had somehow managed to cover her mouth with its thick multicoloured tentacles.

Hermione shook her head at Harry and Ron, wondering where they had been. Her eyes trailed over a scratched and bloody Harry, while Ron seemed to have suffered no injury on their detour to class.

"Where have you been? Don't tell me you two went into the Forbidden Forrest?" Harry hunched over, walked to the very back of the classroom, ignoring Hermione's questions.

Ron sat down and buried his face in a book indifferently. He only wanted to hide from Parvati's stare.

Hermione gazed at the girls while she pulled on her thick dragon hide gloves. "Maybe she likes you," she replied trying not to smile.

"Likes -- likes me?" Ron said hysterically, shaking his head while his ears glowed red. He gave a little grunt of disbelief. "She hates me! They're probably making fun of me or something like that," Ron suggested desperately. He felt something bubbling up inside him, something that resembled an impulse to turn his head and look at Parvati. But he refused to even glance at her, and pulled on his gloves instead.

"Er, whatever you say. Hermione and I think otherwise, Ron," Harry retorted, catching Hermione's eye. Harry turned his attention to the very front of the room, where Professor Sprout had finally set the hostile plant down at a safe distance and was straightening out her dirtied robes.

Harry and Hermione thought differently. They had noticed for a month that Parvati had taking an unusual amount of interest in Ron. She would occasionally ask him to help her carry her books, or ask Ron if he needed any help with his homework. Parvati had even developed an interest in the Chudley Cannons in order to find out more about him. Ron happily told her about Quidditch, but everything else she was doing, saying or asking, had begun to annoy him.

"Class, I want all of you to listen up carefully," Professor Sprout said loudly. In her palm, she held up a found poisonous blue ball for the class to see. "This here is not a friendly mushroom. Does anyone know what it is?"

Hermione now had to compete with Neville to get called upon in Herbology. This time Neville won, to her disappointment, and her arm limply fell onto her desk.

"Ahhh, um, it's called the Voro Infensus Fungi, and it's very deadly if you come in contact with the spores," Neville said.

"Five points to Gryffindor -- stepping on this seemingly innocent mushroom can mark your death within minutes as many wizards have found out in the past. It grows all over Britain's forests and grass lands where there is plenty of magic present."

Ron gulped, wary of even looking at the mushroom as Professor Sprout walked about the room, with it held high in her hand. Harry could see some of the students recoiling from their tables just in case Professor Sprout dropped the mushroom', or something similar. The professor moved around the room with ease. If she was at all disturbed to be carrying around such a dangerous plant, it didn't show. She seemed to be the only person in the room who was unbothered that the slightest bit of pressure on the mushroom, the smallest accident, would make the fungus burst open and cover them all in a shower of fine, deadly mist.

"What happens if the spores touch you?" Hannah Abbott asked behind Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Hermione sighed, rolling her eyes impatiently.

Professor Sprout smiled. "Once the spores have come in contact with your skin--or lungs, if you happen to unfortunately breathe it in -- a deadly reaction takes place. The spores act like an acid, and eats its way through you --"

"Ugh!" Harry heard Ron say, with a horrified look on his face.

Harry snorted at Ron's reaction, but recoiled when Professor Sprout waved the fungus in his face.

* * *

Sirius was glad that his Defence class with the sixth year Slytherins and Ravenclaws had ended. If Draco Malfoy asked another stupid, mocking question, he was going to strangle that boy.

Sirius snarled when he passed a couple of seventh year Ravenclaw girls, startling them, but he took no notice of them. He was frantic to have a good cup of tea--or something stronger-- in the staff room, and he pushed his way into the room.

Sirius had the afternoon free. However, he wasn't the only one. Snape apparently did, too. To Sirius' great aggravation, he saw that Morganna Snape was talking quietly into the fire in an otherwise empty room.

Sirius stepped forward as silently as possible, just in time to hear Snape laugh elegantly as she sat, stroking her hair. If only she was that happy all the time, Sirius thought, he might have believed that she was human. However, he did take the time to admire the way she relaxed in her chair, her chin resting on the palm of her hand. Sirius stretched his neck a little more and caught sight of the fireplace, where he saw a head poking out of the green flames. A man was talking there, and Snape was listening enthusiastically. Sirius thought that, with another step forward, he would be able to recognise the man in the fire.

"Merlin's beard!" he whispered to himself. Sirius didn't want to believe that he had correctly identified the person to whom she was speaking.

"Snape?" Sirius said loudly, making the woman and her companion jump. The man in the fire quickly vanished from view, his look of fear, clearly visible from behind the thin licks of green flames.

"Who were you talking to?" Sirius gasped.

Morganna stood up, her hair spilling back over her shoulders. She spun around to face Sirius, shaking her head.

"I would've at least thought that a man like you, having grown up in a Pureblood family, would have enough manners to knock before walking in on other people's conversations. Then again, you have always been such an uncivilised mongrel that I shouldn't be surprised." She waved her hands in agitation, upset that her privacy had been interrupted.

"Well, if you were warm blooded, I would've thought the same of you, too," Sirius bitterly spat. He slammed the staff room door shut and slowly strode to where a teapot hovered above another fire.

"The past is why I hate you," she began, getting angrier and angrier. "It was why Severus hated you. You were the most cynical human being I had ever met, along with Potter -- that arrogant prat! I heard you two galloped around as though you owned the place, making jokes at other people's expense," Snape shouted, her hands in fists.

"HOW THE HELL WOULD YOU KNOW? You were never at Hogwarts," Sirius bellowed.

"MY BROTHER TOLD ME! You hurt people because they thought differently than you did, and you humiliated them in front of others just to see how far you could go before they broke."

Morganna stopped, her chest heaving, and cringed, shaking her head at what she had said. She had tried to remain composed; she had tried to keep her anger and feelings about Sirius to herself. She had thought that she had unbottled her fury with the slap she gave him back at the start of term, but now it was all coming back up again.

Sirius was taken aback for a moment, and he moved back a step. Shock overwhelmed him before he could regain his poise. His wrath intensified as he pushed aside his disbelief.

He shook his finger at Morganna, words forming in his mind. "Fine, I made mistakes in the past which I now regret. I admit that, Snape.

"But you! Just like your brother -- over twenty years later, he was still sulking about it, blinded because of the past. Every time he looked at Harry, he saw James ... he saw James, who had hurt him, in Harry. He never saw - never realised -- that Harry isn't like his father that way. That kid has suffered as much as your brother did. There may have been differences, but Harry could relate to many things your brother experienced. He knows what it feels like to be bullied, and left out like a little oddball -- and I daresay abused -- Severus saw all of that during their Occlumency lessons, yet he continued hating Harry--"

"SEVERUS DIDN'T JUST HATE HARRY BECAUSE OF JAMES! It was also because of LILY!" Morganna screamed. Sirius dropped his hand, his mouth wide opened.

"What the hell does Lily have to do with Severus?" he gasped. "She tried to help him, and your brother responded by calling her a Mudblood."

"Think about it ... or don't words penetrate that thick skull of yours? Black, he loved her, but she didn't love him back, she was more interested in Potter. Potter had everything that my brother ever wanted and needed, and it made him bitter."

Sirius gaped at her, struggling and failing to find words to respond to her revelation. Morganna calmed down and sat down staring, into the fireplace without blinking.

Sirius stood still, but snapped out of his trance when he heard Morganna sigh. She slowly rose, walking over to him. "This conversation ends here!" She left the staff room, leaving Sirius standing in the dark.

Sirius' mind churned with a surreal buzz. When he could think straight, he realised that Snape hadn't answered his question about the man she had been talking to in the fire. He ran out of the staff room, his robes rippling like waves. He looked left and right, spotted her pacing silently at the end of the corridor, and bolted after her.

The Potions Mistress turned her eyes toward Sirius, wondering why he was following her, then flicked her black hair over her shoulder again. She placed her hands behind her back and held her chin high, walking with a straight back. She held her pride and honour well.

"Who were you speaking to, Snape?" Sirius asked again with more determination in his voice. Even when Morganna didn't answer for the second time, he was determined not to let his resolve waver.

For several minutes they strolled in silently side by side. They observed the ancient corridors of Hogwarts, heard teachers as they taught and heard students performing Magic.

"Let's talk in my dungeon," she said finally, and closed her eyes, her cheeks blushing still. The colour drained little as she began to relax, her anger ebbing away. She no longer felt like putting a curse on Black.

Sirius nodded, and she led the way.

Snape closed the door of her office and stood behind her desk, waiting for the man her brother despised to sit.

Sirius ignored the grotesque objects which lined her dark room and sat down, trying to keep his focus on the woman in front of him.

"Tea, coffee ... or some Salazar Brandy?" Snape politely offered.

"You're not going to poison me are you?" Sirius grimaced, shifting in his seat while he checked to see if his wand was still with him.

Morganna impatiently closed her eyes, sucking in a deep breath. "How stupid do you think I am?"

"Surprise me!" Sirius snarled.

Snape flicked her wand, gritting her teeth. Across the room her cabinet flew open. She silently pushed away the layer of potion bottles which hid the liquor and poured the contents of a short clear bottle into two glasses. Once the two glasses of clear alcohol were filled. Two brilliant green flames suddenly burst into life from within the glasses.

Morganna sat serenely after giving Sirius his glass and played with the flame, which was cool to the touch. She waved her long, pale finger over the top of the glass, knowing that from across the desk, Sirius was still staring at her with a deadly gaze. Morganna blew softly across the top of the glass, and the flame burning inside it wavered and burnt out. Satisfied, she slowly returned her attention to Sirius as she drank the brandy.

Sirius drummed his fingers on her desk, his thoughts running wild. Her eyes pierced his own. He looked away and blew out the flame in his own brandy. "So who was that you were talking to?" he questioned again.

Snape circled the rim of her glass with her finger absent-mindedly, smiling. She stood up, apparently never hearing his question. She turned her back, pouring some more of the drink.

Sirius hated it when she ignored him like that. The woman frustrated him -- which was exactly what she wanted. The witch wanted him she wanted to twist him around her little finger. Did she think he was that easy? Oh no. If she was playing little mind games with him, then he would do the same.

He sighed, his eyes trailing up to the dark Gothic ceiling, where hideous torture devices hung. His eyes widened in horror.

"Ahh, I see that you've kept possessions from your Death Eater brother's past. How touching!" Sirius said scathingly, pointing up to the objects.

The Potion Mistress looked up. "Gruesome aren't they? After a session with any of those devices, you'd be left begging to die ..." she replied gazing up. "Pity they have never been used on you. You would have benefited from the experience."

"Azkaban was enough, dear," Sirius snarled.

Morganna leered, turning around slowly, her eyes darkening almost hungrily.

"I daresay if young Potter is caught again, he may find out how they work and feel--"

"DON'T you dare speak about Harry like that," Sirius shouted threateningly, pointing a shaking finger at the Potions Mistress. "You're just as bad as your brother was. How dare you?"

Morganna raised her eyebrows and smiled viciously, glad she had gotten the reaction she had hoped for. "Like you keep reminding me, Black. But really, am I like Severus? Tell me, are you like Regulus?" She tilted her head and sat back down. "We both had Death Eaters for siblings, but we've never ventured forth into Voldemort's pact ourselves."

Sirius bared his teeth, then skulled down his glass of brandy. He banged the little glass down hard enough to make it crack. "Are you sure you haven't?" he hissed.

Morganna raised her eyebrows a tad higher, exposing real surprise for the first time.

"What makes you say that, Black?"

"Who were you talking to?"

Morganna stared attentively, deciding on her next course of action. "That, Black, was a friend of mine. Who, unlike you, is the perfect gentleman." She quietly wondered why Sirius was asking all these questions. She was aware that he was attracted to her, of course. She knew that Sirius didn't honestly think that she was a Death Eater, and didn't understand why he suddenly wanted so much information from her. Though it took her a moment to solve the puzzle, she was enormously satisfied to realise that Sirius Black, her enemy, was jealous.

Sirius narrowed his eyes, his feelings beginning to confuse him. "Because if I recognised him correctly, than that man, is a high ranking Death Eater by the name of Horatio Talden."

Morganna was straight-faced, her eyes hiding any emotion. Then she half smiled at Sirius' answer. "Well, he may be, he may not be ... and what's it to you who I speak with, or what my love life involves? I thought Hogwarts had some regulations about a professor's private life being left private," she said softly.

"Well if your private life conflicts with the interests of this school and certain pupils and teachers, it will be everyone's' business, Snape."

"Oh come off it, Black. Many of the students have private lives which deeply concern the affairs of Hogwarts, and you don't interrogate them, do you?"

Morganna looked at her brandy glass, delicately placing a finger first into the warm liquid then into her mouth, just to annoy the hell out of him. It gave her a buzz every time she made Sirius shift uncomfortably. She could feel his uncontrolled magic wishing to explode at her out of spite.

"Sirius ... I may be many things in your eyes, but I draw the line at risking people's lives and spying for Dark Lords. Horatio has never asked me anything which links to Dumbledore, Harry Potter ... or any secret organisation," she added.

Morganna didn't know for sure if some sort of Order did exist; when she had mentioned it to her brother he had never spoken about it. Instead, he had changed the subject so delicately, that you wouldn't have noticed he was avoiding the question unless you'd known him as well as she had. In retrospect, she was glad. She didn't want to know about it. The less she knew about it, the better-- especially with a friend like Talden. "I would die before I said anything."

Sirius scoffed, but relaxed slightly, rubbing his forehead. He felt as though he was getting a migraine from all of the stress.

"Now, since it has been brought to your attention, I will stop having conversations with Talden. That is, of course, if you want me to?" she asked politely, her eyelashes drooping down as she waited for an answer.

What kind of a question was that? Sirius thought. It took him a moment to decide what she was truly asking him: whether he wanted her to stop speaking to Talden, a known Death Eater, or whether he wanted her to stop speaking to Talden, her possible love. Looking at her closely, he had no doubt that she really meant the latter.

Damn! She knew the way he ticked!

Lips trembling, Sirius looked up. "Yes, I want you to stop speaking to him."

Morganna smiled, thinking it was about time she stopped looking for vengeance with Black. He was like her in many ways: sometimes reckless and pig-headed, insensitive at times.

"Then it's settled. Talden is out of my life. However, he may be ... shall we say, a little more reluctant to let me go," she stated slowly. "What will you do about it?"

"Well, let's just say," Sirius leaned in closer, whispering, "that whatever torture I put your brother through in our days together at school will be nothing compared what I can do now."

Morganna held her chin up, surveying Sirius, a malevolent smile forming on her lips. "Oh, really now, Sirius? I knew you had an alter ego, but that's just over the top. If you're really half that Dark ... then I'm utterly surprised that mother of yours disowned you."

Sirius growled, but he had to admit she was sexy when she talked nasty.