Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

The Prize	By : Kvarta Category: HP Canon Characters paired with Original Characters > Het - Male/Female Views: 3468 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction. Harry Potter is owned by J.K. Rowling. This story is purely for entertainment purposes, no money is being made from it.

Chapter List
- 11
- 12
- 13
N/A: Today I received nagging from friend who challenged me - her claim is that I am not posting often enough. Given that my RL is in a mess, and that I write as means to shake my thoughts from all that is happening - she is right. So as a result of my fighting with her, yes I lost, I'll post every other day or so new chapter, until I catch up with where I am now.
Once again - sincere apology for my bad English.
IN YOUR HEAD
His head was spinning. Unconsciously clenching his fists, starring through the window of his room. Snape forced himself to remain calm, at least by appearance. The magic he felt, sheer, raw strength of it, coursing through him was intoxicating; he never felt quite so…potent, might be correct word to describe it. He could still feel the tingles of it in his limbs.
Staring at the window, he realized that he should be questioning her motives, looking for hidden signs of treachery and deception. Sudden realization struck him like a bludger to a solar plexus. He knew, for days now, somehow, he knew that she is no danger to the wizarding world. She was telling the truth all this time and he knew it, doubting, checking and re-checking but he knew the answer. No, she was here for him. Moreover, he was withholding that fact not only from Minister and Wizengamot but from himself as well.
True, there were still things he had to learn about her, about her skills, but those were just details, facts that will help Minister to issue some restrictions before he releases her. He did not want her to be free – yet. He wanted the answers, answers that concerned only him.
No, he was not grateful to her for saving his life, if nothing he resented her for that. Bringing oneself to let go of life, the first time was pure hell, to do it all over again, in these conditions, would be even harder. In all honesty, he was tired of life. Before, his life had some purpose, as much as living was endless torture he had a purpose, a reason to breathe. Now, he had no purpose, no goal, and no oath to tie him to this mortal coil. There was no reason for his existence.
He could call Minister now, tell him what he knew and be over with, be free from constant presence of others. Even so, he still wanted answers. It was not in his nature not to know. For someone who had no control over most of his life, lack of control terrified him. Why did she save him? Was there still a reason for his existence? He could not think of one, but her reasons were cloudy, hidden from him.
“I will find out what she wants from me and then tell Kingsley to let her go.”
Deciding, he nodded, staring in his hands. Still feeling the tingling, marveling the memory of sensation when flames licked his skin, sensation of power drawn from his core. Another memory forced itself in to his unwilling mind – her touch. Her hands pressed to his skin, gently caressing his temples. Her skin was rough, dry, and warm. He always shied away from human contact, diminishing it to a bare minimum. Nevertheless, her touch…, he was still reeling from surge of magic when she tickled her fingertips across his face, and it took all that he had just to stay still, not to lean in to the touch.
“Lily!” screamed his mind
Entire Snapes body recoiled; he fell to the bed, hugging himself tightly. His Lily, even though she was never his, that did not matter – he was hers. Hers to the grave. His grave, in which he should be lying right now. Lily was reason for all his actions, good and bad alike, for as long as he could remember. Lily was his sole reason for existence. There was the boy, but even if boy was Lily’s son, he was just a reminder – like a bad memory that hunted him. He did his duty and he saved the boy.
Curling in to a ball, pressing his forehead to the knees, moaned inwardly. She had no right to mention Lily’s name, to defile it by asking him about her. Yet, that was not the worst. His reactions, his…betrayal…was worse. When he heard Lily’s name, he felt sharp sting of sizzling dagger twisting his guts. He welcomed that feeling; it was his old, trusted, friend. That pain kept him going, keeping him sane, and engulfing him like old security blanket. However, today…, today the empty hollow beneath his chest devoured that pain. He felt it but just for a second and then it was gone. Sharp sting then nothing. It was her fault! She did something to him. She robbed him of himself, of Lily.
Springing to the feet he started pacing, rage blackened his sight. She was a prisoner; he was entitled to answers, not answering her questions. He had no desire to spend more time in her presence, to play these little games. This afternoon it will all be over; he will tear out all the answers he wants from her mind. Bearing his teeth in a cruel grin at the thought of ripping answers one by one from her head. She deserved that headache.
Soft knock on the door made him whirl, growling at terrified face of Auror
- What? –
- I…I…the…cigarettes, Sir. And…ahem…change. – stumbled Polkins, placing a pile of coins and five packs of cigarettes on the cabinet, hastily withdrawing behind the safety of closed door.
He glared at things left for him, narrowed his eyes and sat on the chair, picking up the lighter and flicking up to flames.
“She asked so many times about my Death Eater days. Today, Miss. Katya will have the opportunity to meet a Death Eater, up close and personal.” cruel smile danced on his lips as he started to work on the mental walls in his mind.
Hour later he glided to her room, she leaned her head to the side, Snape could tell that she noticed the change in him. To the most, this change would drove them to the other end of fear, he knew how he looked, and if nothing, he had no illusions. Is only regret being that he did not had his robes, no matter how much he detested them, now he would welcome their weight and cold metal of the mask.
Tossing packs of cigarettes and coins on the table, he watched the coins rolled. She approached the table, casual in her posture. In a blink of an eye, he grabbed her by the throat and thrown her to the bed. Towering over her, he was kneeling, nearly sitting on her chest, pinning her down. His left hand still clenching her throat, pressing the tip of the wad to her temple with his other hand. She was lying beneath him eyes open wide and unblinking
- Legilimency. –
He was in her mind, confused he paused. There was nothing. No memories, no walls, no barriers. Her mind was open. Open and blank, empty. Not in shambles as if she was obliviated, no partial snippets of memories. Just waste emptiness. He dug through that emptiness in hope to find anything, but to avail. Her mind was just a clear, blank sheet. Incoherent gagging forced him to pull back, none too gently.
She was gagging, turning red in face and he loosened his grip. His hand looked huge against her neck. The heel of his palm was digging in to her larynx, thumb pressing on her carotid artery.
- If this is your idea of foreplay, I must inform you, not all girls like it rough. - she coughed, her voice hoarse and he glared at her like she lost her mind – You should ask the bloody question you idiot. And if you wanted to check my memories all you had to do is ask, no need for tackle. Now… -
- Show me. – he hissed at her
- Get the fuck off me. -
It caught him by surprise to see her eyes sparkling with anger. Suddenly, he was flying, crushing on the opposite wall. Almost instantly, she was standing above him.
- Now, if you don’t want to be reacquainted with my barrier, I suggest you keep your hands off me. Also, if you don’t want my sharing mood to come to a screeching halt, I advise you sit down and listen what I have to say, while I’m still in the mood. –
- You said that you are not the Occulumens. –
- I’m not, or at least if I am, then every magic user in my place is. Our training is different! – she snorted at him – Now sit on the blasting chair and listen. –
He watched her pacing to the nook, taking a pack passing by the table, and taking cigarette from it. She sat in the nook and lit a cigarette on the candle. He raised from the ground and stand in front of her, arms folded on his chest, growled
- Talk. –
- You wanted to know about The Prize. – he nodded and she continued – Firstly, magic is discovered before 20 years or so. Ok, 30 but…What they discovered is gene that is dormant. Around 10% of our population has it. Dormant gene, generally don’t means a squat but we were threatened with very nasty bug. 30 years ago, they started to work on medicine and first trial cases exhibited signs of magic user’s abilities, they are now known as Council of Magical Arts Head Quarters, which is akin to your Ministry. 20 years ago, we had an outbreak of that nasty little bug and entire planet’s population was vaccinated. – she paused
- Continue. – he barked at her
- Hmmmmm. Can you see this? – she pulled her left sleeve showing him a small tattooed circle beneath the heel of her palm, he nodded – No, you don’t. From that distance, you can’t. – he paced looking at her wrist, single red line among black ink – We get this on our birth, same as those numbers. It is magnetic and holds all the information about us, if you have the equipment to read it. All with the magic gene got this line blue. Blue means, you have the gene, but it is not active. Red means the gene is active. –
She made another break, pouring a full tumbler of firewiskey, lighting another cigarette before continuing. He could tell that she chose her words carefully, but he was unsure if she just trying to keep it simple and well in the reach of his understanding or withholding information’s.
- Process of gene activation is painful, and it could kill you. Not many with blue line are willing to go through the process. And on that place, comes The Prize program. – she sighed with frown – The Prize offers you free education at The Magical Training Facility and fulfillment of one wish, magical wish that demands high price. They designed Prize to motivate people to use magic more, but it drawn mostly desperate ones. –
- What was your request? –
- Something…unusual. But, first things first. You compete in public arena. If you win, you qualify for the program and submit your request publicly. Program is transparent from start to the end, and they can’t back out of it once it is granted. And there are rules: you can’t use magical gift on none magic people, you can’t change the course of history. Once you enter The Magical Training Facility, you compete again. Only one of all candidates per year manage to claim The Prize. –
- What was your request? –
- I asked to bring back someone to life. –
- That is impossible! No magic… -
- Oh, there is a magic, it is just too high of a price for anyone to pay it. And it is deep in the domain what you call Dark Arts. It is not unheard off, and many before me asked for it. The thing is, Oracle always refused their request, and it is mostly asked request when you want free education. In my case, I wanted to save someone. My request was the only one ever approved by the Oracle. –
- What is the Oracle? –
- No one knows. – she shrugged – Anyway, when I was at the end of my training, they told me that person I wanted to save is out of magic reach. After request is granted, they closed that option, so I’m the only one that ever get it granted. They offered me to look through the other planes and find someone to save if I want to. I did, so yes – I pulled your name out of the hat. –
- I was not dead. –
- You may say to yourself whatever you want, but I know what I did. –
- I was… -
- If you don’t trust me, look. – she was furious - But first, look how we train for the … Occulumensy… is that what you call it. –
He walked to her and press the want at her temple, mumbling incantation. He was in waste of her brain again, this time distorted images oozed through the corners of her mind. They looked different from memories. Her voice echoed
“Those are thoughts, not memories. You’ll understand soon enough.”
Images formed in to moving pictures with sounds, he watched snippets of her training walking through them as if he was in Pensieve. What he saw made him cringe, cruelty of training surpassed even what Dark Lord did to his most hated enemies. He emerged from her mind, grateful for his mental walls and years of experience of hiding his thoughts and emotions
- Explain. –
- What? –
- What I just saw. –
- The training. There is not much to explain. We don’t have memories in the end of the training, we don’t build them and don’t preserve them. We have knowledge and thoughts. Combination of those two are sort of a memory to us. That’s why you must ask the bloody question. Ask it with your mind or out loud, but if you want to know and not verbalized it, I can’t help you. -
- What did you do to me? –
- Broth you back to life. –
- Show me. –
He plunged back in to her mind, looking at familiar scene from different angle. She was stepping out of the light and pushed Harry away, sending him and Ron on their way. She talked briefly with Miss. Grainger, opening his frock coat and shirt, forcing the poison out of him. Pressing her hand on his chest, singing slow incantation. Suddenly, picture get fuzzy and unclear, returning in to the focus moments later. He could see his motionless chest; she was checking his pulse but there was none. Then he watched himself, through her eyes as she leaned to hover above him, her lips close to his as she softly blown. His chest started moving, and she relaxed.
“Show me what you did with your hand.” He commanded, but picture that appeared was still fuzz and unreadable. He pressed the image, struggling with her over control.
Suddenly, they were in his mind. Her presence was light and not intrusive, like a breath of spring air. She strolled through his mind not touching his memories, just taking a walk. Reaching the barriers, he observed her feeling smug. She pressed gently at the barrier, and to his surprise, she was behind it, barrier still intact. Strong feeling of panic grabbed him and he struggled to calm down, when her voice whispered
“Relax; I’m not interested at your memories.”
She stepped out of the most guarded place in his mind, easy as she walked in. Then, she was out of his head. He starred in her angry eyes, while she was hissing
- I told you to ask questions, not to force the knowledge you are not entitled to. As you can see, I can rip your mind apart far easier than you can reach mine. –
- Then why the question? –
- Because, I have manners. I don’t want to rape your mind and leave the bleeding scars just to satisfy my desire to know. If you want to play rough, two can play that game, but choose your course carefully. You don’t know what I’m capable off, and trust me, you don’t want to find out. – her low growl could easily match his most menacing voice.
Standing up, not that he remembered even sitting, he towered over her. Two things happen in the same time. He stretched his hand to silently accio cigarettes as she continued to hiss
- You should be a good boy… -
Severus felt strong surge of magic and suddenly furniture in the room was flying towards them. She yelled, spinning around and plastering her back to him
- STOP!!! –
He could feel her back, rising and falling through her labored breathing. She suddenly run to the window and sighed loudly, before turning to him
- What did you… -
- You idiot! Do not use elements without proper training! –
- I did no such thing. – he bit back, small nagging voice in a back of his head arguing against those words
- Ooooooooooo you did and some. You could pluck all the threes outside, not to mention buried us under the rubble. If you don’t know how to control it, don’t use wandless magic. Wave with your stick. –
- You… -
- I did nothing. Test alone can’t make you using it. You just cling to it, keeping the channels open, acting like a damn antenna! I don’t know what made you so mad… -
- I am not mad. –
- What was it? – she ignored his protest – Still thinking that I’m lying? Or believing me perhaps? Me touching you or you like it? Me saying her name? That’s it, isn’t it? I said her name… L… -
- Don’t you dare! Alternatively, you will find out exactly with whom you are dealing with. – he growled
- Li…. –
Door opened and Polkins’ head poked through the crack, he cleared his throat
- Sir, Mr. Minister wants to talk with you. Right now, I’m afraid it is urgent. –
- We are not done. – whispered menacingly and swirled on his heel to follow young, frightened, Auror.
A/N: Reviews are most appreciated.
- 11
- 12
- 13
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

The Prize