Vector's Challenge

Chapter 22

When Bulstrode and Michael Vector came into the castle, Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter were both in the hall at the same time. Malfoy said, "My God, Bulstrode, what did you do to him? Did you try to rape him and make him fight you off? The Vectors must have some sort of strange power to attract members of Slytherin House." Harry Potter was there as well, and he tried to pull Auror Vector away from Bulstrode. She waved her wand at them and said, "Eat slugs!" Millie then proceeded to haul Mike Vector to the infirmary.

Meanwhile, Dumbledore had been talking to Emmy Vector and Snape about their engagement. He was personally thrilled and professionally appalled. Snape was a field agent, and Emmy was a back-room boffin. The potential for disaster was immense. Snape was so paranoid, and Emmy had essential secrets to keep. Snape, meanwhile, was trying to impress on Dumbledore and Vector the essential need for the wedding to be held as quickly as possible. He was quite frustrated, because it seemed as though neither his future wife nor the Headmaster were taking him or the danger from Lucius Malfoy seriously.

Snape paced back and forth, his robes swirling. He shouted, "I'm telling you, Emmy, that you will not be safe if you do not marry me as quickly as possible!"

Emmy Vector glared back at him, her hands balled into fists. "And what if I do marry you? What then? Am I supposed to go to Death Eater revels with you, or swear allegiance to -to the one who put that -- Mark on your arm? Am I supposed to put myself outside the laws of God, Muggle and Wizard for you, to make myself dammed and criminal?"

Snape shook his head. "Nobody expects an Arithmancer to be of use in a war, my dear." Emmy's face went blank. He continued, "And I would never ask you to do more than attend the public functions, and to keep my secrets until the war is over."

Emmy Vector snorted. "And can you keep my secrets, Severus, or accept that I have secrets to keep?" Dumbledore frowned at her. This was getting perilously close to information that Snape absolutely could not know. She gave him a tiny nod.

Snape saw the nod, and suddenly realized why Emmy's face had gone so blank. He opened his mouth, but Emmy quickly covered it with her fingers. "Don't say it, Severus. Don't say anything."

He nodded in acknowledgement. "You may Obliviate me now, Emmy."

She looked at Dumbledore, who shook his head. "That's not necessary, Severus."

Snape went on, "You don't have to go to Death Eater revels with me. We'll have a Catholic marriage, and they'll assume that I just use you for sex and don't tell you anything of importance."

The look on her face made Snape realize that if he did not apologize, he would not have the chance to use her sexually regardless of marital status. He stepped back. She brought her arm back, and then stopped herself and spat, "Catholic marriage? Are you saying you're going to convert?"

Snape smirked. "Well, if I understand it correctly, it would mean that you couldn't get out of it." His face then froze as the realization, I couldn't either, hit him.

Emmy raised her eyebrows as her mouth hung open. The thought of Snape's first confession was not a road she wanted to travel down. Worse than the six months of the song. He'll need priests in shifts to hear it. I'd better keep him away from Uncle Jimmy and Friar Sorin until after he's confirmed. Hell, until after this bloody dammed frigging war is over, come to that. "I could get out of it by killing you," she lightly said.

Snape stared at her and did a double-take. "I don't know much about Catholic theology, but I'm reasonably sure that's a sin."

Emmy's mouth closed and twisted. "The just man sins seventy times seven a day, and my only difficulty would be in repenting afterwards."

Snape retorted, "Well, killing me to get rid of me wouldn't get you out of anything."

Emmy sneered. "It only traps me under canon law if I've got a replacement already lined up."

Albus Dumbledore sighed and stepped in between the two of them, saying, "I'm sure the two of you can resolve your differences short of homicide."

Emmy looked back at Dumbledore. "Great bodily harm? Mayhem? Malice?"

Dumbledore said, "Try to set a good example for the students."

Snape drawled, "A good example of what precisely, Headmaster?"

Justin Fitch-Fletchley pelted into the room at that point.

Snape turned and said, "What!" Snape thought, Just my luck, I finally come up with something the Headmaster can't answer, and I get interrupted.

Fitch-Fletchley was panting for breath, but he managed to get out, "Auror Michael Vector's in the infirmary with Millicent Bulstrode," he panted, "and Malfoy and Potter are spitting slugs."

Emmy Vector turned on Fitch-Fletchley. "What do you mean, my brother's in the infirmary with Bulstrode? Are they having a cup of tea together?"

Fitch-Fletchley was completely shaken by now. He gasped, "Well, she said it was all his blood."

Emmy turned white. She nodded to Snape and the Headmaster, saying, "Gentlemen, we'll continue this discussion later." She hurried out.

Snape was thoroughly furious by now. "What happened, you little cretin?" he barked.

Dumbledore said, "Severus." He gave Fitch-Fletchley a lemon drop, and said, "Now, you can tell me what happened on our way to the infirmary." The two men and the boy hurried out of the office, through the halls, and to the infirmary. Fitch-Fletchley babbled disjointedly, but Dumbledore finally managed to get the information that Millie Bulstrode and Auror Vector had been attacked by Dementors on Hogwarts grounds. Snape frowned when he heard that Malfoy was now spitting slugs. He didn't particularly care about Potter, but the situation with Lucius Malfoy was tricky enough as it was, without Slytherin House rebelling against Draco Malfoy.

At the infirmary, Snape came up to Michael Vector's bed. Millicent Bulstrode was sitting next to an unconscious Auror Vector and gripping his hand tightly. Emmy Vector was at her brother's other side. Snape asked, "Bulstrode, why are Malfoy and Potter spitting slugs?"

Millie glared back at him. "Sir, Potter tried to interfere with me getting Auror Vector to the infirmary, and Malfoy made some very rude remarks about Auror Vector, Professor Vector, and their attraction for members of Slytherin House. I didn't have time to stop and reason with Potter, and Malfoy deserved it."

Snape thought, Why didn't you get Lucius while you were at it? It wouldn't have made things any worse...He brought his hand up to his face, rubbed his temples, and sighed. "Twenty points from Slytherin and a detention, Bulstrode, for attacking fellow students."

Emmy Vector said, "Thirty points to Slytherin for helping a visitor to the school. And you will serve your detention with me, Bulstrode."

Bulstrode grinned briefly, and then folded her lower lip under her teeth and gave Michael Vector a quick glance. She still had not released Auror Vector's hand. Emmy Vector raised her eyebrows at this, and nodded her head slightly. Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. Snape glared at his fiancée. What the bloody devil is she playing at? First she picks a fight with me this afternoon, after last night and this morning, and now she's trying to snare my students away from me. Damn sneaky Ravenclaw wench. My gods, she's not promoting this unnatural relationship? Well, it would have the advantage of being even more of a scandal than her and me, but there are some things that I simply cannot be party to. Doing an injury to one more-or-less innocent human being, but I'm not certain which one it is...Or at least unleashing something new and terrible on an unsuspecting world. My gods, imagine if they bred.

"And why did my brother need to come to the infirmary, Miss Bulstrode?" Emmy asked.

Millie's plain face glowed. "He killed a Dementor with his bare hands."

Snape said, "I didn't realize they could be killed."

Dumbeldore replied, "They have a corporeal element, Severus."

Snape thought, I suppose that if there are such things as berserkers, it wouldn't surprise me that Michael Vector is one of them. Of course, that sort of inhuman rage is not a happy emotion, so there's not that much a Dementor can do to it. And since they are slightly corporeal themselves -hmm, dissection of a Dementor? There must be something useful to do with the bits...and sending Michael Vector off for them would be something useful for him to do. I had better not say that in front of Emmy or apparently, in front of Bulstrode.

Snape left the infirmary at that point. If he hadn't left, he would have said something cutting about the look of adoration on Bulstrode's face. Not that he was worried about spitting slugs, but the thought of having to deduct points from Bulstrode and having Emmy keep rewarding the girl would mean just allowing Michael Vector to ruin more of his day than that idiot already had. He would let Dumbledore worry about what the Dementors were doing there in the first place. He made his way down to the dungeons, thinking all the way.

So what is Emmy upset about? I think that I satisfied her last night and this morning, we both were freely consenting adults of the same species, and the sex was practically plain vanilla. No blood, whips, chains, summoning of supernatural horrors, or magical consequences. I'm almost certain that she didn't want any...And even on a purely mundane level, no monsters.

He sighed as he made his way down the stairs. I will never understand women. Is this some sort of weird Catholic thing? And if so, was it something I didn't do and was supposed to, or something that I did do and wasn't supposed to? And how can I get her to give me a hint? Is there anyone else here I can talk to about this? Dumbledore? No. McGonagall? He shuddered at the thought. Absolutely not, that frigid old bat. Sprout? Hah! Hootch? No. Figg? No! Pomfrey? No. Pince? Hah! Of course not. Trelawney? Not if my life depended on it. The students? NO.

Snape opened the door to the classroom, and stepped inside. He thought as he graded essays, Well, the Bloody Baron was probably Catholic, I'll go ask him for advice...Of course, what the Bloody Baron comes up with may not be terribly helpful. After all, he was murdered by his wife, and in his case, deflowering a virgin was probably involved..."Baron, I need to speak with you," he called out softly.

The Baron appeared in the middle of the room. "What concerns you, Head of Slytherin?" he asked.

Snape sighed. "Woman problems, and her family hates me."

The Baron chuckled. "I heard your joy with a woman on Hallows Eve, Snape. And you are not married to her, and her family hates you?"

Snape nodded as he looked at essays. Longbottom -very bad, do this over, Potter, your name will only get you so far, Granger, sickeningly perfect as usual, too much information to wade through...

The Baron continued, "Who are they trying to marry her off to, and how much dowry is involved?"

Snape snorted. "No one as far as I know. And we don't do dowries anymore, Baron."

"What is her status, Snape?"

Snape let out a breath through pursed lips. "She's a widow, just turned thirty, father a professor somewhere in Ireland."

The Baron laughed. "They should be paying you to take her off their hands."

Snape rolled his eyes. "She is the only surviving daughter, after all."

The Baron floated around. "That is one consideration. But her father is a mere scholar?"

Snape retorted, "What do you mean, 'mere?'"

The Baron backed off. "Let us get to the meat of the matter. Did you promise to marry her, and were you lying?"

Snape said, "Yes to the first, no to the second. She's the one who's dragging her feet."

The Baron smiled. "Then there is a pre-contract, and she cannot get out of it without much cost and ruining her reputation."

Snape frowned. "She said that canon law has changed on that, and those don't exist anymore."

The Baron sucked his teeth. "Oh, then you've got a problem. It was a sin!"

Snape set down the papers with a resounding thud. He turned to the Baron and said, "This is a woman who's killed people! Why is she so upset about a mere roll in the hay or two?"

The Baron grinned. "Did she enjoy sex with you more than she enjoyed killing?"

Snape snorted. "Well, I certainly hope so."

The Baron said, "Well then, she will naturally feel more guilty about the sin she enjoyed committing."

Snape scowled, and asked, "Naturally?"

The Baron replied, "Oh, don't try to pretend you don't know about guilt."

Snape said, "Well, I have things to feel guilty about."

The Baron sighed, and said, "There's a reason I didn't go into the Church. Why don't I get Father Sorin to explain it for you? Father Sorin, we need you."

Fr. Sorin materialized. The Baron quickly summed up the situation for him. Father Sorin said, "It's a matter of a mortal versus a venial sin."

Snape said, "What the bloody devil does that mean?"

Fr. Sorin sighed and said, "This is going to take a while. Basically, a mortal sin is a sin that kills the soul, cuts it off from God, and subjects the sinner to eternal punishment. Mortal sin destroys charity in the heart of man by a grave violation of God's law; it turns man away from God, who is his ultimate end and his beatitude, by preferring an inferior good to him."

Snape nodded his head. This was almost as bad as listening to Binns.

Father Sorin continued, "Venial sin allows charity to subsist, even though it offends and wounds it. For a sin to be mortal , three conditions must together be met: 'Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent.' Mortal sin requires full knowledge and complete consent . It presupposes knowledge of the sinful character of the act, of its opposition to God's law. It also implies a consent sufficiently deliberate to be a personal choice. Feigned ignorance and hardness of heart do not diminish, but rather increase, the voluntary character of a sin."**

Father Sorin glared at Snape. The genial look so common to the Hufflepuff Friar's face was completely absent. "Now, since she fully knew she was having sex with you outside of marriage, and completely consented to it, and knew it was wrong, she committed a mortal sin, and her conscience is troubling her."

Snape was utterly nonplussed by all this. He asked, "You mean she feels guilty about having sex with me and enjoying it?"

Fr. Sorin clapped his hands together at chest level, and then opened them. "Now you begin to understand!"

Snape warily replied, "Would she feel better if she had sex with me and didn't enjoy it?" And oh, what a thoroughly unpleasant experience that would be...

Father Sorin shook his head, "Now, my son, it doesn't quite work that way. I need to explain penance to you. When you do something wrong, you need to take action to correct it. When your soul is sick, it needs healing. Penance heals the soul and reconciles you with God and the ... community, let us say for now."*

Snape shouted, "So what do I need to do?"

Father Sorin shouted back, "Marry her, you nitwit!!"

Snape jumped up from the table, scattering essays everywhere, and shouted, "I'm trying to, dammit, and she's the one who's dragging her feet!"

Father Sorin drew himself up, and started ticking things off his fingers as he talked. "Have you told her that you loved her? Have you asked her father for her hand? Have you asked her for her hand?" Snape winced. Father Sorin threw up his hands and went on, "There's a reason we expect you to get this all sorted out before you have the roll in the hay. It gives you incentive to get to the sticking point! She's probably feeling used right now, and wondering what your incentives truly are, and how long you're going to stay with her!"

Snape said, slowly, "She's feeling used. And you want me to refuse to sleep with her until she marries me?"

Father Sorin looked up and said, "Out of the mouths of babes and little ones, and of the Head of Slytherin. The light dawns, he comprehends more fully. Yes, you should refuse to sleep with her until she marries you."

Snape sneered, "Fortunately, I'm not a Catholic yet."

Father Sorin raised his eyebrows. "Well, then you'll need a dispensation from the Pope, or else the marriage won't be valid, and she can leave at any time." Snape glared at him. Father Sorin looked at his fingernails, polished them on his rough Franciscan robe, and went on, "Or you could convert and make the matter moot."

Snape wailed, "Why do I have to enforce the religious laws, when it's not even my religion yet?"

Father Sorin gave him a savage smile. "Because she'll feel guilty every time you do it until you're married, and in fact, not just every time you do it, but every time she wants to or you want to."

Snape said, "I'm trying to make it legal!"

Father Sorin said, "Bah. I'm not interested in legal. I'm concerned about sacramental. Legal can go hang for all I care."

Snape grinned. "Finally you've said something I understand. 'Legal can go hang.' There are some possibilities here, then?"

Father Sorin's mouth twitched. "Yes, a good old-fashioned secret marriage."

Snape said, "Traditional, secret, extra-legal. I like the sound of that."

Father Sorin smiled faintly and said, "Let me check what the new rules are for how this works, my son."

Snape let out a deep breath. "I've got both Codes of Canon Law in my office, on my desk, third stack from the left, top of the pile. Baron, you can let him in."

Father Sorin gave him a genuine smile, and said, "Good lad. I knew your heart was in the right place. I'm sure we can work something out. The Church has been dealing with this type of thing for centuries." Father Sorin and the Baron disappeared. Snape waved his wand and spoke, and the papers reassembled themselves.

Snape swirled his cloak and stalked out the door with a smirk on his face. He thought, I am going to catch That Woman. And is Millicent Bulstrode going to have to go through this sort of thing with Michael Vector? Perhaps I should discuss this with Father Sorin, and ask him to talk with her. Maybe it's not too late for her to save herself. It did not occur to him to try to save himself. In his mind, the differences between Emmy and Michael were so obvious that there was no possible comparison.

End of Chapter 22