Love Potion HP

Love Potion HP

by Tavalya Ra

E-mail: [email protected]

FF.net Profile: http://www.fanfiction.net/profile.php?userid=232168

Rating: PG-13

Category: Romance with both Humor and Angst

Pairing: Snape/Black

Summary: Severus Snape and Sirius Black have always shared a strong mutual hatred, but never before have they been obsessed with each other. Whether it's love or lust, they're both disgusted by it. Someone is playing cupid, but is it fate, Dumbledore, or Voldemort?

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J. K. Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. Rowling is a goddess; may she have mercy on my soul for writing this.

Notes: Thank you to Stacey of "Thin Line" for beta-reading, Anna for indulging and encouraging this insanity, and Simeone for loaning me her copy of Goblet of Fire, without which, I never would have been inspired to write this ridiculously long and thoroughly disturbing story.

* * *

Chapter Twenty: The Reconversion of Severus Snape

"It makes sense," Severus continued in a dull, toneless voice disembodied from his soul. "That's why you found Pettigrew cutting my hair. Not for Polyjuice- for this. The Aphrodilus's potion lasts only six months and a little less than six months ago was October. A little less than six months ago..." he stopped and for a moment it seemed he would not be able to continue. "...we kissed."

Sirius tried to place his hand on Severus's shoulder, but he stepped away, lost to his own dark musings. He began muttering snatches of thoughts Sirius did not understand. "That's what Lucius meant... Draco got the first ones... and they were going to break it in May... This was all Voldemort's plot to get us to kill each other!"

Suddenly, he darted forward and grabbed Sirius by the collar, shouting maniacally, "I was right from the start! It was a spell! We don't love each other at all!" He took a gasp of air that suspiciously sounded like a dry sob. "Not a single thing we feel is real!"

Sirius clenched Severus's wrist and wrenched his hand away from his neck. "Get a hold of yourself!"

"But Sirius," he whispered. "All those trysts, all those confessions, the notes, the promises ...they were nothing."

"They were not nothing!" Sirius declared furiously. "Even if what we felt was brought on by this thing, we still felt it! Even after it is destroyed, you and I-"

"There won't be a 'you and I'!" Severus cried. "Do you understand how an Aphrodilus works? If it's destroyed, or if the potion runs out, all the emotions we felt as a result of it will be reversed. We'll HATE each other again! We'll become the same Snape and Black we were six months ago and who we are now will die! And they should die!" he screamed. "THEY ARE NOT REAL!"

Severus spun around wildly and shouted into the sky, "VOLDEMORT! Come here! Come to me, you son of a-"

Sirius slapped him. "What are you doing?!" he demanded. "What would you do if the Dark Lord did-"

"Ahhhhh..."

Sirius whirled around at the cry. Harry knelt on the ground clutching his forehead. His left sleeve was still rolled up and the Mark on his arm blazed so furious a black it seemed to be made of fire. Malicious, disembodied laughter rippled through the air.

"YOU FOOL!" Sirius bellowed, enraged. "What have you-"

"Nothing more than called upon the inevitable!" Severus declared. "I will save you- myself in exchange for you."

"I'll never let you-"

"Then YOU are the fool!" he snapped. "In a few weeks, the Aphrodilus will run out and you'll be GLAD I'm dead!"

Sirius began to protest, but his voice was lost to four chilling gusts that blew into the courtyard from each of the cardinal directions. The winds met in the center, behind the eleventh Aphrodilus, and formed a column. They swirled around faster and faster, until their roar became deafening. A gray blur materialized and sharpened into a horrid, twisted parody of a man.

The figure was taller than any natural human who was not half-giant. His skin, stretched thinly over his skeletal frame, was paler than a ghost's. His fingers were spindly, as if his hands were really spiders; his nose was so flat it was virtually nonexistent. Most disturbing were his eyes, slit like a cat's and blazing the deep, passionate red of hatred.

"Oh my God," Severus whispered in horror at what he had conjured.

"I am here," Lord Voldemort rasped. "And I am amused."

He laughed- his cackle was sharp enough to crack stone. He raised his wand and, aiming at Harry, cried, "Expelliarmus!"

Harry's wand flew out of his hand and across the room to Voldemort. As the Dark Lord turned to Severus and again shouted the spell, Sirius hastily shoved his wand into his pocket. Voldemort did not seem to notice.

"Severus Snape!" Voldemort called. "Come to me!"

Severus turned and looked deep into Sirius's eyes. The full spectrum of emotion blurred in his pupils.

"I have to go," he whispered.

"Severus, no!" Sirius hissed. "You can't-"

He tried to grab his wrist, but Severus agilely slipped past him and approached the Dark Lord. He kept his face to the ground and said nothing. He looked as if shamed, but Sirius knew it was terror that averted his gaze.

"It's a been long time since we last spoke, Severus," Voldemort said. "Though I see from your treatment of Wormtail, you have not forgotten all I taught you."

Severus shivered, but said nothing.

He continued, "Your clever mind has perceived my purpose. As little Potter knows, I could not touch you while you were at Hogwarts. Your Aphrodilus was indeed devised to make you passionately obsessed with your most hated enemy, a dark obsession, which could only lead to a violent end for you both. Yet something- that damnable Dumbledore I suspect- must have interfered, because your Aphrodilus produced in you the semblance of love! Why that is," he declared, "I do not know, but it no longer matters. I have you now to dispose of personally."

Severus trembled. "Take me then," he pronounced bravely, but his voice quivered. "Do what you will with me- just let Sirius and the boy go."

"Fool!" Voldemort snarled. "Repellaria!"

Severus screamed, not from pain but panic, as his body went flying through the air. Sirius ran to catch him, but Severus instead crashed into him, knocking them both to the floor.

"Did you really think I would let Potter go!" Voldemort boomed. "Why would I destroy the revenge you have made all the more sweet? How ironic he should be the first to discover the strange effects of Polyjuice upon the Dark Mark." He aimed his wand. "Morsmordi!"

Harry's hand flew to his left arm. He gasped and bit his lip, determined not to scream.

"What a shame fate threw the boy against me as an enemy," mused Voldemort, as Severus and Sirius rose to their feet. "With proper instruction, he could have become useful to me... I do wonder, what sort of Death Eater would he make?"

As Voldemort raised his wand, Sirius realized the question had not been idle. "Imp-"

"No!" Severus screamed. He darted across the room and threw himself at Harry.

"-erio!" Voldemort shouted.

The Dark Lord's aim was true, but Harry was no longer in its path. Instead, the spell struck Severus.

* * *

The sudden pain as Harry hit the ground jolted his mind from the almost overwhelming agony of his scar and the vicious black Mark on his arm. He was keenly aware of the moment when the Imperius Curse struck Professor Snape.

"My faithless, worthless servant," said Voldemort, coolly regarding Snape's dazed and unmoving form. "Oh, but this could be fun."

The Dark Lord waved his hand and Snape's body levitated into the air. Wind rushed about him, whipping at his black robes.

"You owe Snape quite a debt, little Potter," he said. "Fifteen years, in fact."

Harry rose to his feet. "What?" he whispered.

"It was this viper," Voldemort spat, "who informed Dumbledore that I was after the Potters. It was because of him that the Fidelius Charm was performed, and although I got your parents in the end, I am certain that without prior warning, things would have turned out quite differently. I am certain that Severus Snape is at the very heart of all that I suffered and of the reason THAT YOU ARE STILL ALIVE!"

Pure shock clenched a cold fist around Harry's heart. He scarcely knew what to think. Could the reason Snape was both so hateful and yet so protective of him go beyond the debt to his father to this? He remembered Snape's words: "The only thing that really matters in this is Potter. He defeated Voldemort once and he will be the one who finishes him in the end. I do believe that!"

For how long had he believed that? What did he see in Harry- and why?

"Ennervate!" Voldemort commanded.

Snape's eyes snapped open. They were cold, glassy and dulled, as if the flame behind them had been subdued. He held up his hand and summoned, "Accio wand!"

Voldemort, who held his own wand among Snape's and Harry's, released one of the three and it floated towards him.

Wandless magic! Harry realized with a start. Snape was that powerful?

"Let us see what is stronger," Voldemort crooned. "The Aphrodilus- or my Imperius Curse. Severus Snape! Kill them both- and have fun while you're at it."

Snape made no acknowledgement, except to raise his wand and cry, "Serpensortia!"

Harry remembered the spell from his second-year, when he had witnessed Snape teach it to Draco. However, this time, the result was no mere generic black snake. Instead, a gigantic cobra shot from the end of Snape's wand.

Sirius suddenly roared. His godfather rushed forward, but Snape turned on him, cursing, "Impedimenta! Stupefy! Impedimenta! Crucio!"

Voldemort opened his mouth and spoke to the cobra in a low rasping hiss which Harry recognized as Parseltongue. "Attack," he commanded. "Kill the boy."

As the cobra uncoiled its body and began to slither towards him, he cried out in the same language, "No! Turn around! The enemy is behind you!"

The cobra hesitated. It flicked its long red tongue at Harry and slowly turned its head towards Voldemort.

Why had Snape chosen this spell? He knew Harry was a Parselmouth. He knew he could control the snake.

"I am your master!" the Dark Lord immediately snapped. "Turn on me and you have no chance. Attack the boy!"

The cobra whipped back around. Its body undulated, rising to strike.

"No!" Harry cried as forcefully as he could, but he was forced to dash aside as the cobra reared its head and struck at him.

"Stupefy!" he suddenly heard Snape cast again in Sirius's direction.

The cobra attacked again. Harry dashed across the room, almost stumbling over the remains of a shattered Aphrodilus. It followed him swiftly.

"Leave me alone!" he shouted and was ignored as Voldemort screamed back, "KILL!"

As Harry dived behind one of the urns, the reasoning behind Snape's spell became painfully clear. His ability to speak Parseltongue was a false and forlorn hope; the most he could accomplish was to scream his throat raw for he would never be able to control the cobra as well as Voldemort.

"HARRY!" he heard a sudden cry. He chanced a glance over the urn and saw Sirius raise his arm. "CATCH!" he screamed, heaving something at him.

"Crucio!" Voldemort and Snape shouted at Sirius in unison, but the distraction allowed Harry to jump for the object his godfather had thrown. As his hand closed around it, he realized it was his wand.

As the cobra bared its fangs and prepared to lunge again, Harry scrambled atop the urn. He raised Sirius's wand and shouted, "Petrificus Totalus!"

The cobra's upper body instantly straightened, then became rigid. Its head crashed against the marble floor.

Voldemort screamed in sudden rage. "Finite Incantatem!" he snapped, clenching his fingers. "Enervate!"

As Harry's mind raced to think of another curse, Snape suddenly screamed, "Morsmordi!"

Fire flared in both his left arm and already-throbbing scar. The wand slipped from Harry's grasp. His elbow and then his shoulder crashed against the marble as he toppled from the urn. The sensation did not even register with his nerves; the pain of a bone bruise was nothing to the ignited agony on his forehead.

Moaning, he opened his eyes and roughly rolled away as the cobra's fang struck dangerously close to his leg. Pushing off with his palm, he sprung to his feet.

"Morsmordi!" Snape screamed.

The volume of his cry seemed to amplify the spell. It almost brought Harry to his knees, but he knew too keenly that he could not afford to stumble, for the serpent had coiled its body in anticipation of the kill.

I've got to run. I've got to find Sirius's wand-

"Morsmordi!"

Harry almost screamed. He clamped his teeth over his bottom lip. He did not care if he chewed through his own skin; he would not give Voldemort that satisfaction.

I've got to run, got to-

"Morsmordi!"

He was going to die. There was nothing he could do. The pain could only be worse if Snape cast the Cruciatus Curse. His brain was on a fire that mirrored the agony in his forehead and arm. He dashed about the room blindly, feeling like a mouse in a cage as the cobra lunged for him again and again.

He would not cry out. Voldemort might have the triumph of his death, but he would not let him savor any scream.

Yet each time Harry thought he had reached his threshold for pain, beyond which anything would be numb, Professor Snape cried out the cursed word.

"Morsmordi! Morsmordi! MORSMORDI!"

* * *

Sirius raised slowly his head, gritting his teeth and valiantly ignoring the pain spasming through his body. How many Cruciatus Curses could a person live through?

Severus was not looking at him this time. He had suddenly forgotten Sirius's existence. All his attention was focused with hatred and spite at Harry.

No, that was wrong. Sirius knew Severus did not truly feel those things anymore. The expression on his face was merely that of determination, brought only solely by the Imperius Curse. Severus's consciousness was no longer in control and what Sirius looked upon was a mindless puppet of Voldemort's.

And yet to save Harry, to destroy that puppet, would be the end of Severus.

Does it matter? Sirius asked. I cannot do anything. My wand-

With a start, he suddenly realized that his wand lay only inches from his grasp. Some miracle had guided Harry's foot to kick it towards him after he had dropped it.

He glanced up again. Voldemort's eyes were concentrated upon the cobra and he was hissing in a foul language that Sirius knew had to be Parseltongue. Severus was following Harry with his wand, continually screaming, "Morsmordi!"

Sirius crawled forward on his belly. His fingertips tapped against his wand. He stretched his arm another inch, placing it within his grasp. Deliberately, he rose. Neither the Dark Lord nor his recently reconverted Death Eater noticed.

"I know how their minds work," Severus had said. "They'll try and put you in a position where you have to choose and if they do..."

He had never felt so torn. He knew what he had to do. He knew whom he had to save. Yet, even though it was the choice Severus had affirmed, it was no less heart wrenching.

"Choose Harry. You better choose Harry or I'll kill you."

"Morsmordi!" Severus cried, and this time, Harry screamed.

Voldemort raised his wand to the serpent. "Finite Incantatem!" he called and the cobra disappeared. "Enough games," he said. "Finish him off, Severus."

Harry was doubled over in agony. His breath was ragged from pain and Sirius realized his godson was not even aware of his impending death.

A foul curse came to Sirius's mind, one he had learned during his quest to become an Animagus. It was classified on the same level as the three Unforgivables and was irreversible: the power to force a permanent animal transformation upon another.

As Sirius raised his wand, the only animal he could think of was a serpent. With sad and bitter irony, he realized how appropriate a creature it was for Severus to become.

Forgive me, he thought fervently. He felt tears in his eyes. I have no choice. I'll take care of you, Severus, no matter what form you are. Forgive me...

"Animalus-" he began just as Severus shouted, "Avada-"

In that split-second, Sirius realized that even if his spell reached Severus, it would be too late to spare Harry. Filled with a bright, burning fury, he shifted his aim to Voldemort. "--Serpenta!"

At the same instant, Severus spun upon his heel. "-Kedavra!" he screamed at the Dark Lord.

As half-life and death both zoomed towards him, Voldemort raised his two hands and, with wand in each, crossed them, and called out, "Crucio! Crucio!"

The spells collided... and in two bursts of brilliance disappeared. Beams of golden light extended from all four wands, connecting Sirius's and Severus's to those which Voldemort held.

It was Priori Incantatem times two!