CHAPTER 24
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to JKR. All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
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Chapter 24 ~ Preparation
Now that Hermione had completed Harry’s music and located a Harper in her patron, Severus Snape, she immersed herself in the Harmonics book, and learning every aspect and nuance of repairing a broken soul.
She found that the body of the victim was to be outstretched in a protective pentacle or five pointed star drawn with a wand of willow, the head, arms and legs spread in star-like position completely inside the diagram, the head pointing north. A protective circle was to be drawn around the pentacle in a counter clock-wise direction starting from the head in one 
continuous line with a wand of willow, the line of the circle touching the tip of each point of the star. Around this circle was to be drawn another clock-wise circle with a wand of willow five feet larger in diameter than the inner circle. The section between was called the Circle of the Soul, or Soul Space. Outside of this circle was drawn “The Harper’s Circle” counter-clockwise with a wand of ironwood, which was then divided into twelve equal sections, the first section directly above the head of the victim. Here was where the Harper would stand and play the healing strains.
It was recommended that any observers also be surrounded by a protective circle drawn with willow to the south of the original pentacle, since when the Harper began to play, lurking dark influences would be seeking to penetrate and possess any available soul in a bid to claim a physical, sensate life of their own, crowding into the person and taking over the body. People possessed in this manner became slaves to sensation, lewd, lascivious, taken to drink, sexual promiscuity and all forms of debauchery.
It was also suggested that several fey, or earth spirits be asked to join in the ritual using their natural resistance to the dark influences to help protect the human participants.
“Fey? Where on earth would I find fey?” Hermione said to herself. But it was only a suggestion. The ritual could be performed without them.
Hermione leafed through the book, trying to find a description of what exactly would happen when the Harper began to play but found nothing. It was a mystery that would be revealed during the ritual and not before.
Hermione practiced creating the protective circles on the floor of her spells lab, using her expanded wand to draw glowing lines. Drawing a pentacle and circles freehand in this manner was quite difficult, and it took Hermione three days to get the technique correct, placing Eli in the center of the pentacle in place of Harry. The elf enlarged himself to Harry-sized for this, surprising the hell out of Hermione.
“You can grow bigger?” she asked astonished.
“Oh yes,” enlarged Eli said, his voice much deeper now. “When we has work that requires it. We can grow as large as trolls we can or as small as flower fairies.”
At the mention of the fairies, Hermione thought about the book’s suggestion that fey be used as an extra protective measure. She looked at the elf speculatively.
“Eli, do you know anything about the fey?” she asked the house elf. Eli looked decidedly shifty.
“Fey, Miss?” he asked her.
Hermione scowled slightly.
“Yes, fey. Earth spirits. They would be helpful with the ritual,” she said to the elf, who sat up excitedly.
“To fix Harry Potter?” Eli asked, his chest heaving. The elf shrunk back to normal size in his excitement.
“Yes,” Hermione replied, wondering why the elf was so animated.
“House elves is fey,” Eli said, “We is once called ‘kobolds’ back in the wicked times. But our true name…no man knows.”
The elf looked rather proud about this.
“That is our one freedom,” he added.
Hermione stared at the elf. She could have all the fey she wanted at the ritual, house elves were so accommodating. Harry had several elves at his home that were very loyal to him. The witch smiled.
She had her fey.
Better yet, she hadn’t had to open one book of Dark Magic to get to this point. But she still had needed Severus. If he hadn’t given her Damius’ journal, she would never have found out about the music of the soul.
And if she had never agreed to accept the snarky wizard’s patronage, she would never have had her boots knocked as good as she did.
Hermione had noticed marked changes in the wizard. He came back to her in one month, rather than three this time, and now she sometimes caught a bit of heat in his dark eyes when he looked at her, though he would scowl fiercely at her to hide it.
Hermione smirked. Severus Snape might have been a celibate when she entered into this agreement, but she suspected the wizard was developing a taste for her. She already had a large appetite for him. He was amazing and even managed to make her appreciate a slow, easy fucking…something that had always left her dissatisfied before. But to date, the slow fuckings were mere interludes between the rough-riding. It was easy to be appreciative when she knew she would get more of what she really wanted. The witch didn’t think that type of sex would fulfill her completely. She loved the ache too much.
Hermione wondered how the wizard was doing with his practicing. He had sounded perfect to her when he played, but she suspected Severus was a perfectionist when it came to his playing skills. The wizard was certainly something to behold when he took to the strings, dark, intense, sexual…radiating power as he wove his tapestry of sound, those dark eyes closed in bliss.
Severus was to perform Legilimency on Harry Friday night, and if all went well, they would spend the night and complete the ritual Saturday night with the assistance of Harry’s house elves and Eli, who begged and begged to be a part of it. To do a ritual protecting both the Miss and Master from the “nasty darkness” would be the ultimate service for the loyal elf.
Hermione had an idea that Eli knew exactly what they would be facing, but no amount of cajoling could get the elf to say anything.
“House elves has secrets too. You musts follow the book. The book says it is mystery,” the elf said sagely. “But we be there. We helps holds back the dark until the light comes.”
This only served to peak Hermione’s curiosity even more and she stubbornly pestered the house elf for the rest of the week, all the while knowing he wouldn’t reveal a thing.
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During the day, Severus went about his work as usual at Hogwarts, alternating between terrorizing and teaching his students, snarking about the corridors, snubbing fellow staff members and gleefully busting copulating students on his nightly rounds.
But during the lulls, the Potions Master could be found in his study perfecting Harry’s score, eyes closed in concentration, playing until he was soaked in perspiration. Severus had taken to tying his hair back into a ponytail, unbuttoning the first two buttons of his shirt, then removing his boots and socks so he could move more naturally, not knowing his Harper powers were beginning to manifest and he did indeed need to be in physical contact with the earth in order to keep his own soul from taking flight during his performance. The wizard had tried to find a book on Harpers, but failed to do so on his own, so hired a trusted book hunter to scour shops, libraries and private collections in the hopes of discovering something that could educate him as to what use this gift of music could be put to. Hopefully something profitable.
The wizard was glad he had something to occupy his thoughts in the evening to the exclusion of all else, including one Hermione Granger. The witch was a fucking succubus, or at least had to have some veela blood running through her veins. Something.
Severus found the witch creeping into his head while he ate, graded papers, or walked through the silent halls of Hogwarts, listening for the sounds of heavy panting. And every time he thought of Hermione, he thought of sex. Hot, dirty sex, with the witch’s legs wrapped around his waist, her voice ringing shrilly and his loins slapping wildly against her thighs as he buried himself in her juicy, tight sleeve over and over. No witch had ever given herself to him the way Hermione did. The worst part was, it seemed no matter how much he took of the witch, he wanted more.
Damn her. Damn her for worming her way into his psyche with that annoying little smile.
Severus hoped Harry had a king-sized bed in his guestroom. Otherwise they were going to be a tight fit. The witch better not even suggest they sleep in separate rooms. If he was going to delve into Harry’s head for her, he was certainly going to be delving into her body afterwards. Besides, he found that after sex with Hermione, he physically felt better. More relaxed. The Potions Master used to have frequent headaches, at least one every other day… but after his second interlude with the witch, he didn’t get one for over two weeks. And he hadn’t had a single episode since their last bout of fucking.
Hermione certainly beat headache elixirs, that much was for certain.
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Friday morning, Severus was on his way to the infirmary to deliver Poppy some wound sealer when he saw a small brown boy dressed in black robes bouncing what appeared to be a ball against the corridor wall outside the tall double doors. He paused and watched him. The child was much too young to be a student here, and much too thin as well. Everyone at Hogwarts ate well. This child looked half-starved.
The boy hopped up to catch the ball and the wizard saw that he was barefoot under his billowing robes.
“You boy! What are you doing here? Who are you?” the wizard demanded, striding toward the child who caught the ball and turned to look at the approaching wizard. He said something, but Severus couldn’t understand him.
The tall wizard stopped, looming over the child and scowling down at him.
“Who are you?” the wizard asked the boy again.
Bara looked up at him and said something else in his language, then seemed to realize what was wrong. He fished in his pocket, drawing out a bit of string and some lemon drops before pulling out a necklace. Severus watched as the boy took his time putting it on.
“I am Bara. Who are you?” he asked, craning his neck so he could see the pale wizard clearly. He was certainly unpleasant looking.
“I’ll ask the questions,” the Potions Master replied. “What are you doing here?”
“Playing,” Bara replied, bouncing the ball on the floor and catching it, completely unfazed by the Potions Master. He had seen Dementors after all, and no matter how unpleasant this extremely white-faced, hook-nosed wizard appeared, Dementors were a thousand times worse.
Bara bounced the ball again, but this time Severus snatched the ball out of the air before he could catch it.
“You’re too young to be a student at Hogwarts. What are you doing here?” the Potions Master asked again, growing exasperated. Child or no child, when the wizard wanted answers he wanted them immediately.
“I live here. Please give me back my ball,” Bara said, cupping both his hands before the wizard.
There was something about the way the small child held his hands that made the wizard place the ball in them. Bara bowed his head to the wizard politely.
“Thank you,” he said, smiling.
Severus scowled and strode past the boy without saying anything. Poppy would give him the lowdown. He pushed open the door and strode down the center aisle.
“Poppy!” he called, fishing the bottle of wound sealer out of his pocket.
“I’m here, Severus,” Poppy said, walking briskly out of her office with a smile. She took the bottle from him. “Thank you. I needed this. The Quidditch scrimmage cleaned me out of every bit of potion I had. They really went at each other. It was just terrible. Blood everywhere. I don’t understand why Albus allows them to be so brutal to each other.”
The witch shook her head disapprovingly.
“It builds character,” Severus replied.
It had been his Slytherins against Gryffindor house. There was always a bit of bloodletting when their teams came together. It was expected.
“Who is that boy out in the corridor, Poppy?” the Potions Master asked the medi-witch.
“Oh, that’s Bara,” she said matter-of-factly as if that said it all. The witch turned to walk to her stores and put the new acquired potion away, Severus stalking behind her, his face pinched with aggravation. Poppy could be quite thick at times.
“And Bara is whom?” he inquired, forcing himself to sound polite.
“Albus’ charge and Hogwarts new mascot,” she said, opening a cabinet and setting the bottle in. She turned to face the wizard. “He’s from India…”
Poppy proceeded to tell Severus how Albus had rescued the orphaned boy from his terrible plight and how Bara had been forced to make his own way in rural India. Severus found it difficult to believe the child had survived seven months on his own under such harsh conditions.
“He ate snakes to survive,” Poppy added, her eyes twinkling because a serpent was Slytherin House’s representative animal. “Among other things.”
“He’s very thin,” Severus said by way of observation, ignoring her jibe.
“He was much worse when he arrived. He’s filling out a bit. He loves my gruel,” she said brightly.
“A sure sign that he’s lived a deprived life,” the Potions Master quipped, smirking as Poppy scowled at him.
“I’ll have you know a bowl of my gruel contains all a person needs for a third of their daily requirements,” she groused.
“It is also horrible enough to make a person lose every bit of ‘daily requirement’ acquired in one heaving mass,” Severus responded, his nostrils flaring as he remembered Poppy ladling it down his throat every time he returned from the Dark Lord. It was torture on top of torture.
“Well Bara appreciates it,” she said, walking past the Professor in a snit.
Hell, considering where he came from, the boy would appreciate anything hot that filled his belly. Severus followed Poppy, drawing up alongside her.
“He doesn’t speak English. Albus needs to get rid of that translator so he’s forced to learn,” Severus said.
Poppy turned towards him, her hands on her hips.
“And what do you know about children?” she asked.
“Enough, considering I am trapped in a classroom with the little bastards a third of my day five times a week,” the wizard replied. “In every instance, a student with a language barrier learned our language quicker without a translator. Albus needs to take it away from him.”
“Then he’ll be in a strange place unable to understand anyone. Really Severus. You are too cruel for words,” the witch scolded.
Severus turned to go.
“I simply believe in children learning without shortcuts that only hinder them in the end,” he replied. “Goodbye, Poppy.”
”Goodbye Severus,” the witch called after him as he exited through the door.
Bara was still bouncing the ball when the Potions Master exited the infirmary. Severus stopped and looked down his nose at the boy.
“You’ll never learn our language if you keep using that charm,” the wizard said to him, frowning. Then he strode down the hall.
Bara looked after him, his brow furrowed, then lifted his translator and studied it before looking back at the unpleasant wizard disappearing around the bend with a billow of robes.
Slowly, Bara removed the charm and stuck it in his pocket.
He wanted to learn.
Everything.
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A/N: The preparations are made, and Friday’s coming. Severus is still out of sorts about his attraction to Hermione. Hermione on the other hand knows she’s stuck on the wizard, and knows he’s getting stuck on her despite himself. Cool that Eli and the other house elves will be participating in the ritual. Interesting meeting between Bara and Severus. Lol on Severus considering Hermione better treatment than headache potion. Please review.