Vector's Challenge

Chapter 29

Severus Snape woke up at five on Sunday morning. He had been having nightmares all night long. He could not exactly recall what the nightmares consisted of, but that they were nightmares he did not doubt. He decided that he would attend Mass today with That Woman. There was a slight problem insofar as he did not know where and when Mass would be, but he could figure that out. He ran through a list of all his Slytherins in his head, to recall which ones of them practiced any sort of religion. As far as he knew, none of them were Catholics. He briefly entertained the idea of rousting Seamus Finnigan out of bed to find these facts out, but rejected it. It would be a bit enjoyable to frighten the daylights out of him, but it will be much more amusing if I follow Finnigan to the location, and surprise and shock everyone. I don't think they go in Muggle clothes, as I would have noticed the presence of several persons wearing Muggle clothing and no robes on Sundays during my years of teaching. And no one can Apparate onto or off Hogwarts grounds. That matter settled, he started to dress in some of his better robes.

Snape went down to breakfast, and noted that Emmy, Finnigan, Macmillan, and Bones were in the Great Hall, fully dressed in semiformal robes. He heard them shouting, "Westminster Cathedral!" as they threw the Floo powder into the fireplace. He raised an eyebrow. Cathedral and not the Abbey? Ah well, it's London, after all, and very early. He had to admire the artistry of the selector of the place and time, six in the morning. The Muggles are probably too drunk or hungover to notice we're in our robes at this hour of the morning, and I assume that the priests know what's going on. Or are paid not to notice. And if anyone asks questions, we are a party from a school.

Snape was quite surprised when the Floo connection did not take him to Westminster Abbey, but rather into a building that looked rather early twentieth-century in appearance. At least it's from the good part of the twentieth century, though. He silently followed Andromeda and Ted Tonks up the stairs and into the foyer of the church. It was a large brick one, in a style and decoration that looked positively Byzantine. It seemed to be rather dark and half-finished in terms of the decoration, but if it was twentieth-century, he supposed that would come in time. He noticed that everyone was dipping the first two or three fingertips of their right hands into a dish of water, and then touching themselves on the forehead, the breastbone, the left shoulder, and the right shoulder. He imitated them, awkwardly. He took a deep breath and headed into the main part of the building, looking for Emmy and trying to blend in with the crowd. He nodded to various individuals who looked familiar. He saw familiar-looking faces; the Boneses, the Tonkses, the Macmillans, and the Finnigans. He would have been more surprised if he hadn't recognized the families, at the least.

Ernie Macmillan nudged Seamus Finnigan in the ribs when Severus Snape walked up the main aisle of Westminster Cathedral. "Pay up. He's not a vampire after all, Seano. If he was, he couldn't have come into a holy place. He'd have turned into a pile of ashes or something." Snape heard this, and his mouth twitched. I will have to speak to the two of them later, he thought. It was mildly gratifying, though, to be seen by somebody as the Black Bat of Slytherin, here to crash the religious ceremony and desecrate the Catholic holy place. No one else seemed particularly surprised to see him there. He had been expecting rejection, denunciation, and curses. He was almost disappointed that the roof hadn't fallen in when he set foot over the threshold of the church. He suddenly got inspired, took his wand, and worked the charm to give him the appearance of vampire fangs. He then bared his teeth at Macmillan and Finnigan, and they shuddered in horror. It took him a couple of tries before the "Finite Incantatem" worked and his teeth went back to normal.

Michael Vector and the Tonks girl, the Auror who hated her first name, noticed him and had a brief conversation, and he could have sworn he saw some money changing hands between them. He stopped at the row where Emmy was, and took the seat next to her. Emmy's eyes widened when he touched her arm. He nodded to her, and sat down next to her. He could smell her perfume again, and flat incense.

The music started, and everyone stood up. Snape was a beat behind everyone else. Part of his background reading had been a Sunday missal and the Liturgy of the Hours, but he had found them confusing due to their nonlinearity. Emmy pulled out a missal from the chair in front of her, and he peeked at the page she had turned to. The thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time. What the hell does that mean? He pulled out another missal for himself.

"In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti, Amen, " the priest, who was wearing a green flowing garment over black and white clothes, said, and everyone in the church except Snape crossed themselves. "Introibo ad altare Dei," the priest said as he stood behind the altar. Snape's Latin permitted him to follow what was going on, at least to some extent. Something about going up to the altar of God, and praising him on the harp.

Then the priest started chanting, "Confiteor Deo omnipotenti..." The congregation repeated this prayer after he was finished. Snape watched Emmy in concern as she chanted, "quia peccavi nimis cogitatione verbo, et opere: mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa." She looked so sad and remorseful as she said that she had "sinned through her thoughts, words and deeds, by her fault, by her fault, by her most grievous fault." He wanted to reach out his hand and stop her as she struck her own breast on each culpa, but this was apparently part of the ritual for everyone. I should be the one she's hitting, not herself. I was the one who carried her off to my chambers on Halloween night.

The priest said some soft prayers as he approached the altar, kissed it, and censed it. Then he stood up again, and started chanting, "Kyrie elesion." Everyone repeated it, the priest repeated it, and then the people chanted, "Christe elesion." The priest repeated that, then the people, and then the priest and people went through the "Kyrie elesion" again. Snape raised an eyebrow, thinking, They just asked God for forgiveness of their sins, and now they ask him for mercy nine times?

Then the priest chanted, "Gloria in excelsis Deo," and the people continued on, "Et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis." Snape snorted. Peace to those people of good will. And yet more requests for mercy.

Then there was yet another "Oremus," and a prayer about a Saint Sylvia, of all people. Although if "Nymphadora" was a saint's name, he supposed anything else could be, even "Severus."

Snape listened to the readings, mentally translating them out of Latin. "You have mercy upon all, because You can do all things; and You overlook the sins of men that they may repent. For You love all things that are and loathe nothing that You have made; for what you hated, You would not have fashioned. And how could a thing remain, unless You willed it; or be preserved, had it not been called forth by You? But You spare all things, because they are Yours, O Lord and lover of all souls, for Your imperishable spirit is in all things!" The priest finished with "Verbum Domini," and the congregation responded with "Deo gratias."

He looked over at Emmy as she sat next to him. Easy to see how God would love her. Merlin, even I do, and I'm a far way from being God. But how could God possibly have mercy upon me, and overlook my sins? To say nothing of God loving me.

The priest started on another reading, one about the Lord being gracious and merciful. The congregation was responding more, so this must be the psalm. The priest's last words were, "The Lord lifts up all who are falling, and raises up all who are bowed down."

There was another reading, but Snape did not bother to pay much attention to it. He was still wrestling with the first reading and the psalm. Is it possible that God would have mercy on me? Is it possible that God would lift me, of all people, up? Is it possible that God could love my filthy, blood-stained soul?

After the second "Deo gratias," everybody stood up, and Snape scrambled to follow them. The priest said, "Dominus vobiscum," the congregation responded in Latin that translated, "And with thy spirit," and then the priest said, in Latin, "A reading from the holy gospel according to Luke."

Snape raised his eyebrows in wonder at the story of Zacchaeus, the short man so desperate to see Jesus that he climbed into a tree. The priest concluded with, "The Son of Man has come to search out and save what was lost. This is the Gospel of the Lord." The congregation made another response, and then everyone sat down.

Snape sat back and looked in the missal again. The homily, where the priest explains the word of God. Wonderful. He prepared to be bored. The priest said, "Dear friends, today we heard about the grace and the mercy of God to all people. Remember, at the time of the Gospels, the tax collectors were traitors and collaborators with the Romans, and their salary came from collecting more than the tax owed. Devout Jews hated tax collectors and would have nothing to do with them, because they were filthy scum. So in this story, we have Christ inviting himself to a tax collector's house, a tax collector, moreover, who was so unmindful of his dignity that he climbed a tree like a child in order to see Jesus. And what does Zacchaeus the tax collector do when Jesus makes this audacious proclamation? He is so inspired by the willingness of Jesus to reach out to him that he publicly reforms his own life; he gives up half of his wealth and swears to pay back all those he has wronged four-fold. God is always reaching out to us, God loves all of us, God keeps on calling us."

Snape thought, So the moral of the story is, climbing trees costs you big money and a lucrative career. That's what happens when you go out of your way to catch sight of celebrities.

The priest went on, "And today is also the feast day of Saint Sylvia, the mother of St. Gregory the Great. Her life showed the maternal love of God, and her children showed God's life as well, even when they were small and making noise as they ran around. Saint Sylvia and her husband Saint Gordian taught their children well, and ..." Mike leaned over to his sister, and whispered, "Children's choir," as a baby in front of them started crying. Emmy suppressed a chuckle.

Snape frowned, and thought, I thought that the time I spent working with the students was hell, or optimistically purgatory...but the priest who's saying this, is, after all, celibate by choice and vow. He glared at a little boy and girl who were jumping up and down on the seat in front of him. He softly hissed, "Quiet, you little brats, or I'll pickle your livers." They giggled at him, and the little boy said, "Wow! Wicked cool!" Snape glared at them again, and they ducked away from him. He leaned back in his seat with a satisfied smirk, thinking, I became used to cutting up preserved dead things; I suppose I could get used to this. Maybe fatherhood starting from scratch wouldn't be such a bad thing. I would have a head start, instead of having to wait until the brats are eleven. And my children will be properly behaved. They will be true credits to Slytherin House, instead of being whining spoilt brats or thugs.

Emmy Vector was thinking, as she watched Snape with the children, I have made a grave mistake. He doesn't want to be a father, and look at how he's threatening those children! Albus was right; the only way he'll like children is roasted. She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself.

When the priest was done, everyone stood up again, and started reciting, "Credo in unum Deum..." Snape kept silent at that point. He was no Christian, to profess belief in God, the Trinity, baptism, the Catholic Church, or everlasting life.

Everyone sat down again, and the priest started reciting more prayers, and censing the altar with more incense. Snape took in a deep breath. It smelled wonderful, like Emmy's perfume. The baby in the row ahead of him started to sneeze, and the mother had to wipe its nose. Snape's mouth twitched. Everyone stood up yet again, and started reciting more lines about "lifting their hearts up to the Lord." Snape wished that they would decide on either sitting or standing. This stand up-sit down business was very annoying. Then everyone started chanting, "Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth..."

Once that prayer was done with, a tremendous sound of wood hitting the floor went up, as everyone put down their kneelers and knelt. Snape watched Emmy as she hooked her foot under the kneeler, and pulled it down from its folded-up position with an ease that spoke of long practice. He attempted to imitate her, but only tangled his foot in the kneeler, and nearly fell down. He finally got untangled and settled on his knees, his face flushed red. The priest had his back turned to the congregation, and he was making gestures over gold vessels on the altar. Emmy's face was turned toward the altar, and her face was rapt in concentration.

The priest held up a flat piece of bread and said, "Hoc est enim corpus meum." Bells rang, and Emmy bowed her head after the priest lowered the bread. Snape imitated her. A short while later, the priest lifted up a golden chalice, and said, "Hic est enim calyx sanguinis mei, novi et aeterni testamenti: mysterium fidei: qui pro vobis et pro multis effundetur in remissionem peccatorum." The bells rang again, and Emmy and Snape bowed their heads again.

After the long prayer was concluded, everyone stood up and recited the Paternoster. The priest said some more prayers, and then the choir started singing, "Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, Miserere nobis." Snape twitched at that. Agnes, like Emmy's sister. Her sisters. Her brothers. How am I going to tell her?

People started getting up from their seats and queuing up down the aisle. Snape stood up to let Emmy and her brother go by. He nearly joined the queue, but Mike and Emmy shook their heads at him. Emmy gave him a shy smile, and Mike gave him a hard look. Snape suddenly felt much more at home. Rejected and cast out, unfit to approach the altar. When they came back, Emmy knelt down and looked intently at the altar, straight ahead, not meeting Severus's eyes. The priest said more prayers as he cleaned the Communion vessels. When he was finished, everyone stood up yet again, and there were more prayers. After the "Ite, missa est," Severus was surprised to see that everyone stayed still. He thought that everyone would leave when they were sent forth. Then the priest began to recite more prayers, traced another cross in the air, and recited yet another reading. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...The light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehendeth it not...and the Word was made Flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth." Severus translated.

After the final "Deo gratias," everyone began to move. There seemed to be a routine for that as well; every person came out into the aisle, then dropped their right knees and simultaneously touched their forehead, breastbone, left shoulder, right shoulder again. Snape imitated the gesture as best he could, and then proceeded to follow Emmy and the Hogwarts students out. It took him quite a while, as everyone he knew seemed to want to greet him; Tonks and Mike Vector, Tonks's parents, and the senior Macmillans as well. Eventually, he made his way back down to the fireplace in the church basement, and Flooed back to Hogwarts.

Emmy and the three Hogwarts students were all in the Great Hall, having breakfast together at the Ravenclaw table. She nodded to Snape when he came in, and offered him a seat. The students quickly finished their breakfasts, made their excuses to the Professors, and hurried off. Snape found it difficult to believe that it was only eight in the morning.

Snape asked Emmy, "Weren't you surprised to see me?"

Emmy replied, "I thought you would show up eventually."

Snape hissed back, "It would help if you told me where and when. I have been bending over backwards to learn about your religion and your traditions, woman. The least you could do is let me in on the practice instead of just feeding me theory."

Emmy raised her eyebrows. "I was under the impression that you weren't particularly interested in following the practices."

Snape frowned. "If you showed me more of the practices, I might gain some interest. The only thing you have let me see so far is that you wear out your voice and your knees in praying in a deserted chapel. And what you have told me is that you're not supposed to use contraception."

Emmy said, "True. We Catholics like children, and not roasted and served with potatoes and onions."

Snape glared at her. "What in the world do you mean by that? And you Catholics apparently like to let them run around like wild animals, if that Mass was anything to go by."

Emmy glared back. "Better to have them alive and running around than the possible alternatives, Severus."

Snape froze, and then went on the attack. "Are you entirely insane, Emmy Vector? Do you realize what could happen if we became parents? We could wind up dead or insane and have a child like Longbottom or Potter, or our children could die before us, as your siblings did. I realize you want to reclaim your status as a good Catholic wife, and I'm prepared to cooperate with you to some extent, but this is too much! I don't even buy a yearly subscription to the Daily Prophet, and after what happened to your siblings and your first husband, you of all people should know better. You have this crazy Catholic idea that marriage and children will make everything all right. You might ask Potter and Longbottom if their parents did them any favors by bringing them into the world."

Emmy listened to Snape's tirade with wide eyes, and then said to him, "If that's the way you feel, Severus, I think we should think very hard about whether we should get married at all." And then she stormed out of the Great Hall.

Snape followed her, and yelled at the empty air in the stairs to the Great Hall, "You were the one who wanted to get married. I just wanted to have sex!" Father Sorin came drifting in, and said, "I couldn't help but overhear what you just said. Would you care to explain that remark?"

Snape retorted, "No, I would not."

Father Sorin said, "So you admit that you were just using her for the sex? So she can go ahead and leave you, and find someone better to marry?"

Snape shook his head. "She's asking far too much far too quickly, Father. I am not her squeaky-clean, cradle Catholic, Notre Dame-educated first husband."

Father Sorin frowned. "Do you honestly think that she had a perfect marriage with him, Snape?"

Snape glared. "What the devil do you mean by that?"

Father Sorin retorted, "Here she is a lovely young woman, widowed very young by modern standards, at the age of twenty-three or twenty-four. She comes back home from a foreign country, she works at a university in a male-dominated field with a lot of Muggle men, she has a brother who could introduce her to any number of Aurors, and she did not remarry in six years."

Snape frowned in thought, and muttered, "And she admitted that she's been celibate for the last six years. From him until me?"

Father Sorin sighed. "Do the mathematics, Snape."

Snape muttered, "She's thirty now, so celibate for the last six years...since she was widowed."

Father Sorin nodded. "You might want to ask her if she even dated in the past six years."

Snape said, "So she gave up on men?"

Father Sorin shrugged. "You'll have to ask her that, Snape. I can't read minds."

"Or maybe you know and won't tell me," Snape muttered. "Whose side are you on, anyway? Hers or mine?"

"I'm on God's side," Father Sorin said, and vanished.

Snape glared at the empty air. "Typical insolent ghost of a priest. Always has to have the last word, does nothing but lecture me, meddle, and interfere." More of the students were starting to come up the stairs of the Great Hall for breakfast. He nodded coldly to them, and went down to the dungeons.

End of Chapter 29