Destiny of Souls

Chapter 3: Pixies and Dark Marks

Waking the next morning after only a few hours sleep was difficult. She was tired, hungry and emotionally exhausted from the night before. She opened the wardrobe. "Turquoise," she said out loud. "I refuse to be his twin."

She went to breakfast and struck up a conversation with Hagrid over Orange Juice and porridge.

"Just captured me a unicorn foal. Right pretty thing. Me first years'll love it."

"I would be delighted to see it myself Hagrid, having never seen one in person," she replied.

"Come down after breakfast with me 'en. Gorgeous creature, not quite scary enough for me tastes, though," Hagrid replied.

She smiled. Snape had obviously conceded defeat in the staring game. They said nothing to each other and shared not one glance.

"I trust Severus was an acceptable guide last evening Kara?" asked Dumbledore.

"More than adequate Headmaster, thank you."

He winked at her. That was going to be annoying if it continued.

She pondered pulling Dumbledore aside and asking about Snape's involvement with Voldemort, but decided against it. It was Snape's business and she should confront him directly about it.

After breakfast, she walked to Hagrid's hut and admired his captured Unicorn. The beast, clearly frightened warmed to her presence and she chatted at lengths with Hagrid. He had quite the love of strange creatures.

Not soon after, soft footsteps announced the arrival of Professor Snape.

"A word when you are finished Professor Lynch."

His tone was casual; his eyes bore the look of a man who spent too many hours in front of his cauldron. It was a similar look she had just weeks ago.

"Absolutely Professor Snape. Hagrid, thank you very much. See you this evening."

They walked a ways away from Hagrid's hut.

"What is it Professor Snape?" she asked as they walked towards the castle.

"I did not properly explain something to you last night."

"And what was that?" She stopped, looked at him. He didn't meet her glare, but instead was looking at her chin or her nose. She had won. She inwardly smiled to herself.

"I have no intention of revealing your secret to anyone Professor, and I am hoping you will do the same for me," his voice was quiet and forced.

"While we're on this subject Professor Snape, you mentioned you knew I was not a Death Eater and you referred to Voldemort as the Dark Lord. Where I come from that means something," she paused, hoping he would straight out admit it. He simply continued to stare at a random place on her face. His gaze was blank.

"Are you one of his?" she was finally forced to ask.

He was expecting the question. He looked around to make sure no one was watching. He pulled the left sleeve of his robe up and there it was.

Kara was not shocked by this. She had seen the Mark before. She simply nodded. Inwardly she was wondering what he was doing at Hogwarts? Was he here spying for Voldemort? But surely Dumbledore knew of his past, and from everything she had heard about him, he'd never let Snape be here if he was an active Death Eater.

"Thank you Professor Snape. And yes your secrets, all of them, are safe with me."

* * *

The feast that evening was spectacular. The sorting ceremony was amusing, nothing like what Durmstrang had. Professor Snape had taken up a spot next to her, but said very little aside from commentary on the students.

"Granger, little miss know-It-all. Potter, the rule breaker always stepping out of line and strutting about the school. And then Weasley, his side kick."

"Then there is Slytherin, half who prance around like wannabe Death Eaters cursing everything in sight. Not a talented Potions student in the lot."

She gave him a sly smile. Both being Potions prodigies it was clear their standards were unusually high.

She caught Harry Potter staring at her, or Snape, or the both of them and whispering amongst his friends. Did Potter know Snape was a Death Eater? She caught Snape's attention casually, smiling like she was telling an amusing story and asked.

"Does Potter know about you and uh..."

He caught on.

"Yes. Later," he turned away.

They gorged themselves with great food. Kara had forgotten how wonderful British cuisine was compared with French. Dumbledore made a few announcements and introduced her to the school. She received polite applause. None of the students knew her after all.

When the feast was over Snape caught her elbow and whispered in her ear "My office in half hours time," She nodded.

Kara followed the students out of the main doors. She overheard numerous conversations. "Snape seemed to be almost in love with her." said a tall red-haired boy who was clearly repulsed at the thought.

"Non sense, Ron. She's probably just good at what she does," replied a girl in a taming voice.

"Well he didn't seem to hate Lynch either Hermione," said the other boy. It was Harry Potter.

She pounced. "Speculative, aren't we Potter?" she said loudly enough for them to hear. Kara stared each of them down as they turned to see who made the comment. Looks of horror soon arose on their faces.

"Don't worry. Professor Snape and I will not be getting married as disappointing as that may be," she smiled viciously at them. The looks on their faces were precious.

"Now move along." People had started to stare as they clogged the doorway.

* * *

She arrived at Snape's office a half our later to find him seated at his desk talking with a blond haired boy. She rapped on the door to announce her presence. Snape looked up, the boy looked around at her.

"Very well Mr. Malfoy, I will speak to the head of his house."

"Thank you Professor," replied Mr. Malfoy.

The boy walked out and she stepped into the office and sat down across from Snape. The door closed. He had done it, no wand, his Inner Focus.

"If there is anything I detest more than Harry Potter, it's Draco Malfoy constantly whining about him." He said as he fumbled in his desk for parchment and a quill.

"Speaking of Harry Potter, we had better start our bitter staring games again Professor Snape, apparently he thinks we're in love," she said sarcastically.

"They're just expecting me to have you assassinated," he replied cruelly without missing a beat. "They all think I want your job."

"Perhaps I should pretend to want yours then. That would make for an interesting time."

He looked up. She smiled. He didn't.

He wrote, and when he was finished he stood to make tea. He handed her a cup working all the while in silence as if having an internal debate with himself.

"Yes Potter knows about my service with the Dark Lord. After his run-in with Him last year it was unavoidable not to have him know."

"What?" Kara said in shock. "You'll have to excuse me Professor, but I am a little out of touch with the news. Voldemort back and Harry had another run-in with him?"

Snape gave her an impatient look. He clearly did not want to go through this.

"Long story short. The Dark Lord kidnapped Potter using a Portkey, used the Corpus potion to give Himself a body and managed to kill an innocent student in the process. Potter and the Dark Lord's wands share the same core enabling Potter to get away in a moment of pure luck during a duel."

She pondered in silence. The Corpus potion. "Blood of the enemy...." she muttered out loud on accident.

"Yes."

"Brilliant..."

"Yes."

"Then he's back, and will come back for Harry."

"Yes."

"And you?" she looked at him, pity on her face. His answer would tell her what she wanted to know. Had he left Voldemort forever?

"Yes." His voice wavered and he didn't return her gaze.

"Does he know of your gift?"

"No. The only people alive that know are you, Dumbledore, McGonagall, and myself."

They sat in silence for a long time. It was the sort of silence common when great thinkers come together.

"How did Harry survive the first attack?" She asked casually trying not to sound concerned or sad. She noticed Snape's face become rigid.

"Amorous Charm," he snapped.

The Amorous Charm. The sacrifice of ones self for Love. A very powerful, old charm. There was sadness in her voice, pity. It was not an emotion Dark Wizards showed often.

"Lily Potter?" She gave herself away.

"Yes."

He was showing clear anger now. He knew what she was thinking. "Poor Harry Potter, lost his whole family in an attempt to save his life."

"Don't treat him with kid gloves. It will not do him any good. Don't let him break rules that are in place for his own protection. He struts around the school like he owns it, watching people adore him. He loves the attention. Treat him like you would treat any other student." His voice was angry.

"So noted. Thank you for the tea Professor Snape."

She rose as did he. The door opened before she got to it. He had done it.

"Solved the problem of who opens the door I suppose," she said to herself.

"Goodnight," she called from the doorway.

* * *

Her first class was first year Slytherin. She was delighted at this. They would be timid and would not expect what she had planned for them. They filed into her room as she gazed down upon them. She was hovering over them in her Invisibility cloak. Looking each one in the face, she waited for them all to settle in and then locked the door.

Suddenly hundreds of conjured pixies began fluttering about the room attacking the students. She floated to the ground covered in a protective shielding spell. The pixies weren't real and she could disperse them at a moments notice. Clever students would have pulled out their wands immediately and begin Stupefying them. Instead, the students were screaming in horror as the pixies tugged at their ears, noses and clothes. It was pandemonium.

She let this continue for five minutes hoping no other Professors would come running in after hearing screaming. With a single thought of her mind, the pixies were gone. The students looked haggard but none of them were harmed. The girls had taken cover under their desks. Pretty soon the students were just looking around at each other, waiting for the pixies to return. She removed the cloak.

"How timid the mighty Slytherins are." They jumped. She glided to the front of the classroom.

"Sit."

They did, in unison. There was undeniable fear on their faces. She was enjoying this.

"Who can tell me the most effective way to rid ones self of pixies?" she barked. Had Harry Potter been there, he could have testified she was doing a perfect impression of Snape.

No one answered.

"I would have expected Slytherin students to have a better handle on dealing with issues of this nature. Stupefying pixies is the most effective way to deal with them. It is performed in this manner."

She showed them. They took notes attentively and then one by one practiced on conjured pixies.

"You will want to be careful to read each chapter as I prescribe it. Lest you come in one day to this classroom unprepared."

They took her seriously. It was a successful class.

The Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw first years were just as entertaining. Clearly none of the Houses spoke to one another to give clues as to how to defeat the menacing pixies. Kara figured this was a way of denying each other House Points. Students catch on quick, she thought to herself.

By Wednesday she had her Slytherin fifth years. McGonagall had warned her that this would be a difficult class to deal with. Many years of disrespected Defense Against the Dark Arts Professors coupled with what were undeniably Dark Arts upbringings had made many of them cruel and difficult. She pondered carefully how to address the situation. She would call them on their attitude.

After doing some research, she had six symbols that past Dark Lord's had used, much in the same way that Voldemort used his. She drew each up on the board and then drew Voldemort's Dark Mark.

She left the room and waited for her prey in the hall underneath her Invisibility cloak.

They filed in slowly and she soon heard noise that bordered on panicked voices. She entered. They were trapped with her and her mind games for an entire hour.

"Sit."

They did, obediently. She was not surprised.

"We're going to begin our class discussing some History of the Dark Arts."

"But Professor, we study History in the History of Magic class," a dark haired girl interrupted. There was a "trouble-maker" tone to her voice. The class laughed.

She walked to the girl and leaned over in her face. There was a look of fear there, but not enough. In her mind she executed a perfect breeze charm and the air around the girl was cold and breezy. Loose strands of her hair were flying madly around her face. Not entirely obvious to the other students, the girl began to shake from the cold.

"Your name?"

"Pansy Parkinson." Replied the girl in a timid tone as she gasped for air.

"Ms. Parkinson, I will let your interruption slide this time. But be forever forewarned that I do not take kindly to being told how to run my class. When I am through with you, you may be well suited to teach but at this time I believe I have the upper hand."

It was just condescending enough to shut the Slytherins up, but hopefully enough to keep them from rebelling at her cruelty.

She went through the marks on the board indicating what they meant in the past. They took notes. "And who can tell me who this one belongs to?" Kara asked her class as she pointed to Voldemort's mark. The class was silent.

"You. Who's mark does this belong to?" She pointed to a timid looking boy with mousy brown hair.

The boy stood up.

"Uh... You-Know-Who."

He sat down quickly.

"I never want to hear You-Know-Who repeated in my classroom ever again. Same with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."

She turned to face the board, her hands folded in front of her body.

"You may call him anything you like, Voldemort, the Dark Lord, Lord Voldemort, big bad guy, snake face or whatever suites you."

She turned to face the class again and Snape was standing in the back of her classroom with an evil sneer on his face.

"You may refer to him as anything else but those two names; I will take one point from Slytherin for anyone that uses them. That is a standing rule in this classroom. Do you understand?"

They all nodded, with unsure looks on their faces.

"Mr. Malfoy, whose mark does that belong to?"

"The Dark Lord."

She stared at Malfoy for a moment and then at Snape who was wearing an unreadable expression. This confirmed her suspicions. Malfoy was one of the "wannabe Death Eaters."

"Thank you. 5 points for Slytherin." She said as she looked into Snape's eyes.

Some of the students, sensing there was another person in the room turned to look at Snape who now had his arms crossed in his gargoyle position near the door. Had she been dressed in black, they would have resembled twins with their similar postures.

Snape left as she launched into her diatribe about Dark Arts and their practical uses but how it was clearly more conducive to wizard relations not to use them. The Slytherins, who had clearly not been exposed to this sort of curriculum before, were intrigued.

She soon found the rest of her classes were not as amused. The Hufflepuff students had refused to enter the classroom until she arrived. Gryffindor had erased the Dark Mark by the time she got there thinking it was a joke by Slytherin but had at least taken to saying "Voldemort" more quickly than Ravenclaw who lost twenty points in one class session.

In fact Harry Potter had been the one to answer her Dark Mark question for Gryffindor, and used Voldemort's name straight out, leaving the rest of his classmates wincing. His friend Ron prodded him and told him to say "You-Know-Who" before Kara had a chance to award points.

That Friday, Snape finally confronted her about the class he had witnessed. He strode into her office where she was just about to send a note out with Juliet.

"I was not sure it was possible Professor Lynch, but the Slytherin first years are positively afraid of you," he said with a wicked smile on his face.

"As are all the other first years, Professor Snape. They will be tough skinned when I am through with them. I had a little fun with your fifth years as well."

"As I witnessed," he said as he sat down. "It might not be wise to approach the subject so... directly. Many of them will undoubtedly tell their parents, some of them are active Death Eaters. You are not an enemy of the Dark Lord, why make yourself a target?"

"Professor Snape, I will not pussyfoot around the subject of Voldemort. He exists; it is a fact of life. I have no intent to provoke him. My class this week was hardly a prelude to full-scale war. He has a name, they will use it."

"And you think rewarding Malfoy with House points for referring to him as The Dark Lord will somehow teach him something useful?"

There was a tone of mockery in his voice. She didn't reply but continued to tie the note to Juliet.

"I cannot imagine what you have planned for next week," he said sarcastically as he rose from the chair.

"You are always welcome to observe and find out." She smiled at him as he walked out the door and down the corridor.