Aqua Regia

Chapter 2

There were three knocks on the door and Selene woke up with a start.

"It's nine o'clock already, Lene, dress up and come and eat breakfast!" she could hear the unhappy voice of her sister - Charlene Petersen.

Selene yawned widely and stretched her legs and arms, which were still unable to move properly, and demanding more rest. She went straight to the bathroom. After definite washing herself in the shower, she combed her long hair and made a plait.

"You look nice today," said a mirror.

"Thanks. Though I think only you seem to think like that. In my opinion I'm as awful as always. Charlie's going to say the same..."

"Come on! It's not that bad, really."

"Another attack on a pureblood family," informed Charlene her, as she showed Selene eggs on bacon." Now they're killing in daylight!"

Selene glanced at the 'Daily Prophet' and started to eat.

"So, previously, they didn't attack when it was light?" she asked, not really wanting to know .

"They acted discreetly," explained Charlie." At night, quietly, but very 'effectively': tortures, screams, abuse, death..."

She wanted to say: "... but it wasn't Severus' style - he liked bloody shows and no shouting", but she stopped herself by biting her tongue.

"All those Death Eaters..." she sighed after a while." You know what? I've got a bad feeling that something weird is going to happen, when we'll go to Diagon Alley."

Selene looked straight in Charlie's eyes.

"Don't say that. You're always right," she murmured.

"OK, I'll stop now... " said Charlie. After a moment she added (only to change the subject): "Fudge isn't aware of the fact that the Dementors will leave Azkaban, when they will hear the call of You-Know-Who! He's such a twit! You-Know-Who can offer them much more than they've got in that bloody prison."

"You think that they'll attack Hogwarts?" asked Selene suddenly. She automatically stopped eating.

"They'll try, I suppose. Although many people still believe that it's Dumbledore who You-Know-Who fears the most."

"Dumbledore's too old and probably he's not as strong as he was when he was younger."

"It's possible, but he is powerful."

They had eaten for a while in complete silence, when Selene spoke.

"Who have been murdered?"

"The Ernests. Nice people, really. Ismena Ernest was a Hufflepuff in my year. I'm pretty sure you remember her from the photos."

"I don't think so..."

"Short, graying hair, spectacles, lanky."

"Something dawns on me."

"I liked her. She was very good at Quidditch - a Beater - besides, she was always helpful with homework."

"Is she dead too?"

"Yes. In 'Daily Prophet' all the names are mentioned. They always mention the name of someone murdered by the Death Eaters or Aurors or by usual people. But they've never written down the names of the dead from our family."

Charlie looked at her empty plate and narrowed her sapphire eyes.

"They've never mentioned anyone from our family," she ended with anger.

"Easy, Charlie..." Selene tried to calm her down.

"Don't 'easy' me, because I'll go mad!... We're going out in a minute. Get your money. When you're done, call me."

Selene nodded, silently finishing her meal, after which she went obediently to her room for her savings. She'd learned through all these years to not speak to Charlie, when she was mad.

At ten o'clock they headed for London's subway. Selene sat next to Charlene in an old Cadillac. The car was Charlie's 'beauty' as she called it herself. They stopped in one of * London's narrow streets and went straight to the old building - 'The Leaky Cauldron'. Charlie had a little chat with barman Tom there, after which the sisters went through the magic wall leading to Diagon Alley. As always there were loads of people, especially students, who were attempting to buy their new books, cauldrons, potion's ingredients and many others. Selene let out a breath of relief when Charlene gave her some money, told her to do the shopping alone and went to calm herself down above Florian Fortescue's delicious ice creams. Selene had been left with a very strange thought - 'Knockturn Alley'. But, first of all, she dashed to get a place in the long queue to 'Flourish and Botts' in order to buy new books. She went out from there with a substantial package. Now - Knockturn Alley. It was highly possible she'd find some useful information about Demon's Hatchery there. She had been interested in this matter since the ghost of Professor Binns (who was teaching History of Magic) had mentioned it. This "Demon's Hatchery" had been stuck in Selene's mind for God knows how long, so she wanted to find some information about it. When she had gone to the Library and asked Mrs. Pince about this mysterious place, the woman had clapped her hand over her mouth, her eyes had been like lunch plates.

'Child, don't you ever say it again at loud! You may deserve this!'

Since hearing these words, Selene had been sneaking into the Library almost every night, but she hadn't found anything about the demons. Instead of it, she had heard from Draco Malfoy's lips (Slytherin bastard - Rien's words), who had accidentally heard Artemis' Jason's and Selene's debate about those creatures, these words: 'Speak quietly or you'll die.'

If Knockturn Alley was usually visited by strange, dark people and 'freaks of nature', then demons weren't a taboo here . Selene looked around carefully . Already from aloof she could see three people in black - they seemed very unpleasant, but... well. She had to risk. She could swear that they were looking straight at her. Sure - Selene wasn't like most witches who were coming here: wearing an undone Hogwarts' robe, beneath which she wore a casual green T-shirt, short brownish jeans and something that looked like very long dark-yellow socks, though they were ending on the half of her thighs. In the sunshine her very long dark blonde hair was shining healthily and her almond-shaped cherry-colored eyes were looking at the Knockturn Alley with no fear. Although Selene Petersen didn't regard herself as a good-looking teen, she was really pretty.

Selene walked straight to the people. They were looking at her strangely (one had his - she considered this person as a man - face under a hood, so she wasn't able to see his face), but they said nothing, until she spoke:

"Excuse me..." she started, as if she was shy.

"Yes, honey?" asked a beautiful but thin woman, who was probably around thirty, with very dark eyes.

"I wanted to ask you something..."

"Go on." It was the man with the beard, who was wearing old robes.

"It's about the Demon's Hatchery."

As she had been suspecting, everyone suddenly went stiff. She let herself smile gently. The man with the hood that covered his face buried his hand in his pocket. For a one critical moment she thought that he wanted to take out his wand, but she was wrong. * In his gloved hands he was holding a small book. A black book.

"You said - Demon's Hatchery - right, Selene?" a husky and sharp, though familiar voice rang in her ears.

"How do you know my name?!" nearly shouted Selene.

"If you'd have short hair and blue eyes, you'd be a perfect clone of Charlene Petersen."

Selene shivered, when she heard her sister's name. Why did he sound so familiar to her? His voice...

"Yyy..." she could only splurt out. The man shoved this suspiciously looking black book in her hands. It was heavy.

"Use it well," he said, lowering his husky voice.

"We have been waiting for someone to come and we saw you," it was the dark-eyed woman. "We immediately thought that you'd fit."

"Wha...?" Selene just couldn't believe that. If she would have come here a few minutes later, they'd be saying it to someone else. But now there was no turn back. She looked from *them* to this black book. There was no title written or engraved on it, only a crimson smudge could be seen. Blood... ?

The woman patted Selene's arm with her long-fingered hand.

"You're suitable. We're choosing you. You asked about the Demon's Hatchery first, so we're answering. Here's something about these creatures. I know it sounds strange to you... Do not open this book before midnight, when it's midnight it's working properly. Then you can open it every day. But only when it's midnight."

"What am I so 'suitable' for?" grimaced Selene. Why, oh why of all people in the world she'd asked them? What for?

"To know the truth," explained the hooded man. She felt his piercing glare on her body. She tried to stand still. There was no need to show them how much she was scared.

"What do you mean by 'the truth'?"

"Do you want to know everything about the Demon's Hatchery?" murmured the bearded man. "This book is about it."

"But how do you know my sister and me?"

"We know everybody."

Selene stood there, completely shocked. She glanced at the book again. What if they were cheating her? It was so easy! Too easy. And why her? Although, if it was all about the demons, then she could risk. This one time. Only once.

"Can you help us?" suddenly asked the hooded man.

"It depends. I might. Tell me what must I do." Selene took a step back.

"Generally. We're not able to open this book. They're hunting us..." The woman looked around quickly. "I'll give you the address, so you can contact us whenever you like. Use different owls, OK? Wait, I have to find it... Here you go!"

She gave Selene a yellowish parchment.

"'A.H. Wille-zero9/prev.magazine?'" Selene's head went up and she frowned, hid the address in her pocket.

"We'll explain it to you later," stated the bearded one. "Now, go to Charlie before anyone will see you."

When the Petersen sisters went home after the shopping, Selene decided to ask Charlie if she could stay the rest of the summer holidays with Rien Ricin.

"Please?" she grinned and did puppy eyes.

"Oh, all right! But don't be too mischievous." Charlie was reading a book and Selene couldn't see her expression .

"Thanks. By the way: when will you go to Hogwarts?"

"In two days, maybe."

"I bet it's all about setting some barriers around our school and some alarming systems. You-Know-Who's back and he can attack the students, anyway."

Charlene wasn't very surprised by her sister's courage. She adored her for her brave words. Though the only person who didn't fear anybody or anything (according to Charlie) was Rien Ricin. She was talking about Voldemort like he was a normal, but boring neighbor, leading his patient life and sometimes going for a walk with his dog or reading the news in the newspaper. Maybe Rien had been acting like that because she was Muggleborn, or because she was convinced that Voldemort wasn't the worst thing that happened to live in this world. Charlene raised an eyebrow, lowering the book and looking at her younger sister.

"Quite possible," she said finally.

"So... Do your best. Make a protection against the Dark Creatures: giants, demons..."

"Demons?"

Oops! This was professionally called a 'big mistake'.

"Well... And the others... Dragons," continued Selene.

"How do you know that they're going to follow You-Know-Who?"

"Umm... I don't know," hesitated Selene, glancing at the top of Charlie's head. "I always thought that the Dark Creatures were rather with You-Know-Who."

"Bullshit," cursed Charlene. "Who told you that?"

Nobody. She'd dreamed it up after the conversation with Rien.

"I heard it somewhere. Maybe in school... I don't remember."

"Many people claim just as you do. Werewolves, monsters, dragons and others have never worked for the Dark Lord. It's a fib."

Selene was silent. Charlene went on.

"They didn't see any benefits in that. Although the Dark Lord always had much to offer: power, protection, fame, respect... That's why he has got so many fans. Though only human beings were stupid enough to serve him for almost an eternity. The Dark Lord, like them, like us, is a normal man. Only a man. But a madman and a murderer. So many families were hurt. And now the nightmare is back... We have to beware," she added after a while. "They can do something terrible to us."

"What can be worse than killing innocent people?" muttered Rien the next day, after saying 'goodbye' to Charlene. They were sitting on a bench in the park. Selene had just unpacked her bag in Rien's house. The idea of living with her friend seemed to be crazy - they had been living very close to each other (they could see perfectly their bedrooms through the windows). What's more - Charlie took Selene's keys to their apartment!

"Faye without make-up?" suggested Selene lazily. Rigel, who was sitting on the pavement, burst out laughing.

"Rien and Jason?" he proposed.

"Rigel and Ginny Weasley?" said Rien, irritated. Her brother was shocked, but after a while he exploded with new ideas.

"Selene and Malfoy?" he choked.

"Rigel you git!" roared Selene. "Rigel and Eloise Midgeon?"

"Selene and Vincent Crabbe? Oh, I forgot, forgive me, he's gay!"

"Rigel and Bruce Willis?" helped * Rien her.

"Rien and Marcus Flint?"

"Yyy! Bleh! I prefer Jason!"

"Ha! You finally pleaded!" grinned Selene.

"No, I did not! You know, Lene, I think that you and Draco Malfoy..."

"Oh, come on! I've already had dinner! But..."

"But what?"

"Nothing."

The truth was that Draco Malfoy was considered as one of the most handsome guys in Hogwarts. He'd always been compared to Cedric Diggory, Roger Davies and Oliver Wood. Four hotties from four Hogwarts' Houses. Faye Valentino had absolutely adored Cedric, but when he had been dating certain Ravenclaw Seeker Cho Chang, she had been really depressed and full of anger, so she had taken her eyes off him and had started to look differently at Roger Davies, Ravenclaw's Quidditch Team Captain. But last year he had been a seventh year. So had been Wood. Cedric had died, so only one was still existing there.

"Lene, are you hiding something?" asked Rien suspiciously.

"Sod off, nothing."

"We'll wait, we'll see," said Rigel in a theatrical whisper. Selene admitted that the Ricin's kin wasn't only similar to each other when you looked at semblance, but with character too: both of them could be sometimes bloody annoying.

"If one of these three handsome guys asked you to go on a date with him, who'd you go with?" asked Rien. She wanted to change the subject, though it didn't work out.

"Three? How? There's only one." Selene was astonished. Her attention was now turned to Rigel, who was gaping at her with his big warm chocolate eyes." Rigel, go and hunt the pigeons."

"No. I want to listen."

"You little, smarmy..."
"OK, OK! I'm going for a dog... Walk, I mean... Going for a walk with a dog."

"But you haven't got a dog," reckoned Selene. Rien shrugged.

"For him it's the best way to hide behind the bushes and listen to everything we're talking about."

"Huh?"

"No, no! He went to his muggle friend. Besides, what can he do with his sister, who pays absolutely no attention to him? Only try to catch somebody else's eye."

"Or get bored. And die from starving."

"If somebody won't kill him first... Eh... You haven't answered my question."

"Because there aren't three handsome guys. There's one, and what's more - he's a Malfoy!"

"Alex Riviera?"

"Aaa!" Selene's eyes were twinkling with laughter now. This guy from Ravenclaw was as awesome as Roger, but he had a girlfriend. And he was two years younger than Selene and her friends...

"Or.."

"Don't you 'or' me, because Riviera is a little twit! Who else you've got?"

"OK, Jason, Artemis or Malfoy?"

"Are you kidding?!"

"No. It's no problem for me."

"How you... Oh, you'll of course choose Jason! You're very fond of him, aren't you?"

"No! It's just that Malfoy's with that whore - Pansy Parkinson and they're my enemies number one. Artemis is in love with Redhead."

"All handsome men are occupied!" sighed Selene grimly." Even Malfoy's got his Parkinson."

"Well... But wasn't it him, who wanted to go with you to the Yule Ball? And you obviously refused? He had a broken heart and he had to go with Parkinson."

Rien always liked to mock somebody, though this time there was no irritation in her voice. True - Malfoy had asked her, Selene, to go to the Ball with him, but Miss Petersen, who'd been very angry with him, had simply said 'no'. Next time, he'd asked her to dance, at what she had done big eyes and her mouth had dropped open. Before she could have said anything, Pansy Parkinson had grasped his arm (like he was her possession!) and looked at Selene with a glare like 'Die, bitch'. They had been gone. All had been gone... After this (for Selene) awful day, Faye and Jason had said at the same time that, first of all, Malfoy should have apologized. Well - Malfoy, and it's generally known, doesn't talk to others politely. One day he'd been fighting with Selene in the Library and he had shouted out these words: 'They should have killed you and your filthy sister!' The girl had slapped him hard on the face. Along with her dear friends she had agreed that it wouldn't do any harm to him to swallow his pride and shake hands with others, those who are from Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff too. Artemis had discovered that Malfoy was behaving as his father told him to. By the way, who knows how this Slytherin would be punished if his daddy got to know that he was making friends with Hufflepuffs or Gryffindors. Ravenclaws were not that bad. Usually Slytherins and Ravens weren't on war path, but there were people like Malfoy, Flint or Malcolm Baddock.

Yet they had only two lessons with the Slytherins - Herbology and Astronomy. But Tee had told his friends that they were sharing the Arithmancy classes with him. Generally for this reason Jason and Artemis didn't want Rien to change the subject. She could've gone for later hours, or ask Professor Vector to explain some things for her.

Our friends had another big problem in Hogwarts. It was Quidditch. Jason and Selene really wanted to get positions in Ravenclaw Quidditch Team from the first of their schooling ('If Harry Potter got to Gryffindor's Team, we can do it too!' shouted Jason, slightly irritated.). Davies promised them that they'd get in and finally, after his graduating, little Professor Flitwick, their Head of House, had sent them letters with congratulations. Selene had been made a Beater and Jason the Keeper. The only left problem was choosing the new Captain. Cho Chang had been very happy to have Selene at the Team. Now they were sure that this year the House Cup will be prepared for them.

Selene suddenly thought about this book. The book about the demons. Gosh, it would be very bad, if she opened it in Rien's house, because that would not slip her attention. She looked at the taller dark-haired girl and said:

"Let's go home, it's getting colder."

After about five minutes it started to rain.

Charlie Apparated into Hogsmeade - a village nearby Hogwarts' grounds. She quickly walked from there to the castle, her wand out. Who knew what might happen here to her? Everything was possible. At last, she breathed the fresh air on Hogwarts' grounds with a relief. Now she was safe.

She looked around with interest. Standing beside Hagrid's hut (he was a very friendly half giant and a groundskeeper here) she suddenly felt a shudder on her back, so she turned on her heel to face the Forbidden Forest behind her. What was wrong? Charlie narrowed her eyes. The trees were billowing! Like the hot air in the deserts. A protective barrier, she thought anxiously. She stretched out her hand holding the wand tightly and clearly said the first attacking charm she had on her mind:

"Impedimento!"

The charm flew to the barrier and disappeared. In the place where it had hit the protection, Charlene could see some kind of a whirl. She frowned.

"Greetings for Dumbledore and Flitwick!" she murmured under the breath. Do they think that it will stop anybody? And, besides, it's not invisible! She gritted her teeth and heard the footsteps, so she turned back to see Hagrid, who'd been hurrying to welcome her. He took her in the embrace.

"Hello, Hagrid!" she smiled, when he finally let her go. Charlie was happy to see a friendly face.

"Charlie, sweetie! How are you?" he rumbled and put her back on the ground. They started to go to the castle. "Y'were tryin' ter kill us?"

"No, only to check the barrier. It's not so bad, though everybody can see it."

"I'm sure Dumbledore'll listen ter ya," smiled Hagrid. "Glad that you're not with your sister."

"She told me to go alone herself. But, why?"

"Dumbledore'd forgotten to write it ter ya. Someone wouldn't be happy if she was there."

"Guess who... Severus?

"Yeah... He's such an insufferable git, y'know? He's not nice. And for now only one person knows how ter talk to him."

"Who?"

"You, sweetie. That's why Dumbledore sent ya the second letter with a date of your arrival. Soon we're goin' ter loose control over him. That's why yer needed."

Charlene Petersen gulped. She knew perfectly how annoying and weird Severus Snape could be in his real body, with his real character. Like a wild black panther: fast, silent killer, though fragile and amazingly intelligent. It was a very rare combination of positive streaks - beauty and intelligence in one. The whole Severus Snape. But he was a completely unbalanced man. She had been laughing at him in only one issue: he had no idea how to show a woman his feelings. Once he had come to her because finally he had met somebody whom he loved and understood. He just didn't know how to return the feelings.

She shook her head violently to get rid of these thoughts.

"How much has he changed?" she asked when they were climbing the stairs to the hospital wing where Mrs. Pomfrey was working. Charlie gasped quietly. Was Severus hurt?

"Y'mean his appearance?" Hagrid wanted to know *.

"Yes."

"Damn! I'd say he's an angel! He's handsome. And that's why ya can't ignore him, he knows how he looks like."

"Like a black widow. He can use his body against the others. Do you know who has changed him?"

"No. He doesn't know it either. But somethin' dawned on him that it was an idiot sent by You-Know-Who."

"What if it was Malfoy? He could do something awful like that."

"I don' know, sweets. I don' know."

They reached the Infirmary's door in silence. The first person Charlene looked at was Albus Dumbledore. He was standing next to one of the white beds. Charlie quickly walked straight to him.

"Good afternoon, Headmaster," she said, nodding. Her gaze stopped on a man who was laying in this bed. She shivered uncontrollably.

"Hello, Charlie," answered Dumbledore with a slight smile. "Good to see you."

"Is this..."

"Yes. This is Severus Snape, indeed."

"What the hell has happened to him?!"

She was looking, terrified, at man's closed eyes, the jet-black hair making a beautiful contrast with the snow-white pillow, at these scratches and dressings and bandages on the thin body of her friend. He seemed to be asleep. Charlene immediately thought that they had given him a Sleeping Draught. On the night-table stood a cup with tea. They might have added it to this. Charlie couldn't take her eyes off the small pieces of cotton wools - they were saturated with blood.

"What's wrong with him?" she repeated stubbornly, mad about Dumbledore that he hadn't answered her question previously.

"We really don't know. He disappeared for some time, then he came back, wounded," explained the Headmaster slowly.

"You should have been looking after him! I know and you know how childish and dangerous he can be! He runs away, tells nobody where he is, he goes somewhere, especially at night!"

"I understand, that you're angry, Charlie, but..."

"No, I do not understand! You're treating him like some tool! Just think about him sometimes. He's not only your precious spy! He has feelings!!!"

If Charlene Scila Petersen was mad, then the anger was burning inside her, ready to explode. Dumbledore wasn't able to calm her down either. He only laid his hand on her arm to comfort her and helped her to sit on the armchair next to Severus' bed.

"I've always told you that Severus is like a son for me. Sometimes I'm not able to resist the need to punch him." The Headmaster smiled brightly. 'Who is?' thought Charlie. "But being a spy is like a compensation to those he has killed or tortured before. He regrets this very much. He's afraid of it. He's afraid of his past. And his present too. I'll leave you here with him. If you need something, call the House Elves."

Charlie nodded slowly. After a moment she heard the door to the Infirmary shutting silently. That's better, much better. Hagrid had left too, taking her bag with him. Charlene gazed at the handsome face of her friend and stroked him with her hand. She felt his velvet skin. She bent over him and kissed his right cheek.

"Sleep," she whispered.

The raindrops started to drum on the windowseat. Minutes were passing and in the hospital wing was left only a black-haired man. Charlie tried to forget about his presence at the dinner. What had happened to her?