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Welkin in the Wizarding World (COMPLETED)	By : welkin_cooper Category: HP Canon Characters paired with Original Characters > Het - Male/Female Views: 14600 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters in it. I don't benefit financially from the production or display of this work of fanfiction in any way.

Chapter List
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Chapter 50 - The Perfect Patronus

Dumbledore is troubled when Snape conjures his Patronus and it's still a Silver Doe. Welkin thinks unkind thoughts about Lily Evans, and makes a symbolic gesture on behalf of Severus. Ron is jealous when Hermione receives gifts by Owl from an unknown admirer. Welkin berates Severus for speaking poorly of himself to her, and Albus for his poor treatment of Severus.

Albus Dumbledore was concerned. Not about Voldemort, or Harry Potter, and not even about himself, although if Snape's estimations were correct, he had less than a year to live.

Dumbledore was concerned because he had just seen Severus Snape's Patronus, and it had not been at all what he had expected to see.

He had asked Severus if he had finally begun to develop feelings of fondness for Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived, who was at the crux of their plans to defeat Voldemort, and send the Dark Lord into an oblivion from which he would never again return. In agitated denial, Snape had cast his Patronus, and confirmed in one word, to Albus's shock, that his love for Lily Potter remained as his sole motivation in their endeavor.

Alone again, Dumbledore had pondered with a troubled heart what this meant for Snape's wife, Welkin, the woman who he now viewed with such fond regard, almost like the granddaughter that he had never been destined to have.

"Is your great show of purported love for Welkin all a sham? Does Lily still claim you, and still hold sway over your heart, even after all these years moldering in her grave?" Dumbledore mumbled aloud to himself, fretting over the implications of that blasted Patronus. Severus had acquitted himself quite admirably as a spy for the Order of the Phoenix. He had become masterful at concealing his true feelings. Was he doing that with Welkin now? To what purpose?

Albus wished that he had the courage to ask Snape outright what it meant for his marriage, but he had not been able to do so before Severus fled from his presence.

Perhaps it was because Albus suddenly felt so old and tired that he found it so difficult. He was dying a slow and painful death, and was truly demoralized at the thought that he might have set something into motion that would ultimately prove false, and not a blessing for the couple which he had so diligently and fervently promoted, and brought together as a good mating.

Other than it being a debt he felt he owed to Severus, the establishment of their family would have been his own legacy. It would have been a smaller, but more significant personal victory than the battle he was currently engaged in. He would have been as proud of helping to create their happiness and their family as he would have been of his own part in defeating Voldemort.

There was even a time when Albus might have been relieved at the sight of the Silver Doe Patronus which Severus had conjured, because it would have reassured him of Snape's continued commitment to the mission. It would have been all that he sought from him at the time. But over the years, Severus had come to mean more to him than just a pawn to be played in the deadly and desperate game they were engaged in. Now, it distressed him to think that his hopes of a new love and a new life for Severus with Welkin might prove to be false. When he thought of them together, he had been gladdened and comforted. Now it only saddened and worried him.

" 'I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death'." Welkin repeated the words in a deep sonorous voice, imitating him as she quoted Severus's favorite line in his speech to first year Potions students. Welkin stoppered the fresh bottle of health powders she had just produced, and smiled with satisfaction. They really should come up with a better name for it besides 'health drink'. That was so bland. Maybe something with the word 'life' in it, since it was meant to be a life enhancement drink. She'd discuss that with Severus tonight, after she commiserated with him about having to endure another year teaching Harry Potter and his 'idiot friends'.

It certainly hadn't taken long for his pleasure at finally acquiring the Defense Against the Dark Arts post to melt away in the realization that it hadn't really changed anything for him.

Welkin had initially been happy for Severus that he had finally gotten the job that he'd wanted for so long, but now she was annoyed at how disorganized that Professor Slughorn had let things get in the Potions Lab in such a short time since he'd resumed the post as Potions instructor at Hogwarts. There was something about the man that irked her, though she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was.

At least he was gracious enough to allow her to continue to use the facilities for her projects. When Severus had told her that, she was grateful. It would have been very inconvenient for her if he hadn't consented to it. She should thank him herself, she supposed.

Welkin hefted the jar of powders into her bag and left, on her way to Slughorn's spacious new office. That irked her too. Albus had never offered Severus an office nearly as nice as the one Slughorn had now appropriated, even after all his years of faithful service to him.

Welkin knocked at the heavily carved and embellished wooden door to Slughorn's office. "Professor Slughorn? Professor?" Welkin thought she heard a noise and opened the door. She must have been mistaken. No one was here. Why was the door unlocked then? Severus would never have done such a foolish thing as leaving his door unlocked if he wasn't there.

It was then that she spotted the human Weeble that was Horace Slughorn, asleep on the sumptuously upholstered couch in the corner. This Weeble didn't wobble when he walked, but Welkin had certainly seen him threaten to fall down at The Three Broomsticks a couple of times when she and Severus were there. That was not, however, one of the things that irked her about him, since she and Severus both enjoyed their firewhisky quite a bit themselves. Was the preference for firewhisky over tamer drinks a Slytherin thing? Slytherins didn't seem to drink Butterbeer.

Slughorn was fast asleep in the middle of the day, snoring, lying on the couch in his fastidious finery, and silk stockinged feet. His immaculately polished leather shoes were beneath the couch. An open bottle of expensive brandy and a half-empty snifter stood close at hand.

Welkin shrugged. She'd come back some other time to thank him. She didn't want to interrupt his nap. He was probably dreaming about some epicurean feast of epic proportions, judging by the gargantuan girth of the man. He was nearly as broad as he was tall.

Or maybe he was dreaming about the 'lovely Lily Evans', since he seemed so overly fond of talking about her to Severus every chance that he got. Maybe that's really what irked her so much about Slughorn, Welkin thought. Severus didn't need to hear more of that crap. He'd lived with it every day of his life since Lily died. It was just another painful reminder of things he needed to try to forget, as far as she was concerned.

Severus had once told her that he thought she and Lily might have become friends if they had met. She hadn't wanted to hurt his feelings, or spoil his illusion for no reason, particularly since they were visiting Lily's grave at the time, so she had kept her private thoughts on the matter to herself, and let it pass without comment. Contrary to popular opinion, Welkin did sometimes know when it was better to keep her mouth shut. It wouldn't have been appropriate at the time, and the subject just never came up again after that, thankfully.

She thought about it again now, and she still had the same reaction. Welkin hadn't known the woman, in truth, but she doubted that she could ever have been her friend for long, just by virtue of the way she had treated Severus, discarding him as she had, whatever her excuses had been. Anyone who discounted Severus so easily could never be a real and trusted friend of Welkin's. It was as simple as that. She didn't need to rationalize it. Anyone who hurt Severus could never be her true friend.

Was she still a little jealous of Lily? She didn't think so. She had no reason to be. She was sure of Severus's love for her now. But unlike all of the negative things she constantly had to listen to about Severus, nobody ever seemed to say anything bad about Lily at all, and it annoyed the hell out of her. What was up with that? Nobody could have been that perfect, or that noble, or that kind, like everyone seemed to make her out to be. Where was her kindness when she'd slammed the door to her common room in Severus's face and severed their friendship?

Welkin had seen her type in the Muggle world. Perfect grades, Miss Popularity, Head Cheerleader, Homecoming Queen, dating the captain of the football squad; marrying well and living her upwardly mobile life, with her two perfectly groomed, privately schooled children, living in the big house on the hill, while she pursued a social activist agenda to prove to herself that there was more to her than being the wife of a rich man.

So she had died saving Harry. So what? Wouldn't any reasonably good mother do the same for her child? Welkin was not impressed. She would do the same for Sully, and that didn't make her a candidate for sainthood, so why should it make Lily Potter one? Welkin was sorry she died, particularly for Harry's sake, but when push came to shove, the perfect Lily Evans had abandoned her best friend, who happened to be the man Welkin loved, when he had needed her most.

Welkin respected Severus's feelings about Lily, and his memories of her, because they were his, and she would never denigrate them to him, but she could also never bring herself to fully respect the woman he still mourned.

No, Welkin decided. She wasn't jealous of her at all. She was pissed at her. Pissed at a dead woman. Let it go, Welkin...let it go. It doesn't matter anymore. Maybe, in time, she could undo more of the emotional damage that his great 'friendship' with Lily had done to Severus, Welkin thought. Lily had lost everything, ultimately, in a terrible and tragic way. Let the woman rest in peace.

Welkin turned to leave quietly, but something caught her eye. She slowly walked over to the arranged display of photos. They appeared to be former students of Slughorn's. Sure enough, up front and center, was the picture-perfect Lily Evans, smiling her endearing smile, enjoying her place as one of Horace's 'Slug Club' favorites.

If Lily was here, surely Severus was here too. Welkin rifled through the photos eagerly, and at last spotted his, tucked away towards the back of the arrangement. Welkin lifted it to the light, and gazed at it fondly - her once and future Half-Blood Prince. He was so cute when he was a teenager. She wished she'd had the chance to meet him at that age. Not that he probably would have noticed her then. But it would have been fun trying to get him to.

I wonder if Slughorn would miss this one? Welkin thought. No...no...she'd better not. Put it back, woman. She started to replace it in the position she'd found it, then stopped. No...it didn't belong there in the back. Severus was the best student he'd ever had, whether Slughorn recognized it or not. Nobody was ever going to relegate Severus Snape to the back of anything again, as long as Welkin was around, and could do something about it.

Welkin placed Severus's picture front and center, moving Lily's slightly to the side. She pulled her wand, and quietly performed a Sticking Charm. Maybe that would at least give the old coot enough pause to make him think about it, when he finally noticed it and tried to move it back.

Carefully opening the door, and closing it on the slumbering Potions Master, Welkin paused in the hall to straighten her bag on her shoulder, waved her hand and smiled to herself as her Muggle music came out of nowhere and filled the air. Wasn't magic wonderful? She walked away down the hallway, singing along with Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix, alarming various students in the hallways each time she shouted along with Hendrix's entreaty, 'Help me! Help me!'.

The evening meal was almost over in the Great Hall when the second Owl arrived for Hermione.

The first one had arrived bearing a box of assorted chocolates, gaily wrapped in the Gryffindor colors of scarlet and gold, and Ron Weasley and Harry Potter had pretended to believe Hermione when she said that they were from her parents.

The second Owl arrived with a bouquet of red roses, their long stems wrapped in glittering green foil and tied with a silver ribbon. When Hermione read the small silver card that was attached, the look on her face made Ron even more doubtful that those came from a family member. He leaned towards her as she hurried to scribble a note herself to send back with the unfamiliar Owl, but she caught him trying to read it, and turned her back to him, blocking his view. She finished her note and gave it to the Owl, with a few coins for the small coin carry bag attached to one of its legs.

"Like to come with us to Quidditch practice, Hermione?" Harry asked.

"No thank you, Harry. I'm meeting someone for...some studying. I'll see you both tomorrow," she said, sounding much too cheerful to Ron.

"Hmmmpppfff...red roses. Bloke must not be very intelligent," Ron huffed to Harry as Hermione left in a hurry. "Doesn't even know to send the right color. Pink roses...she likes pink," he mumbled.

Harry gave him a sympathetic look, and offered him some more Chocolate Trifle.

"No thanks, mate. I'm not very hungry," Ron said, pushing it away, and drawing surprised looks from some of their other seatmates, who had never before seen anything that would put Ron Weasley off his appetite.

Welkin had hoped that becoming Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor this year would improve Severus's outlook on teaching. Unfortunately, the deeply frustrated look on his face as his students shuffled out of his classroom that afternoon, while she waited quietly for him in the back of the room, had spoken much too plainly to her of his continued disappointment with the calling of educating young magicals.

Severus Snape still hated and despised his job, that much was plain to her. He complained to her bitterly that the new post had not resulted in him gaining more respect from either the students or his fellow faculty members. Teaching was draining him of his vitality, as surely as a vampire drained its victims of their life's blood. Welkin didn't want to see that happen to him, and she could not bear the thought of him caught in this academic spider web any longer than he had to be, if it wasn't what he truly wanted. She didn't broach the subject with him, however, until they were alone later that evening.

"Severus, after Voldemort is defeated, what do you plan to do?" she asked, in her direct way.

"Plan to...do?" Severus repeated slowly. "What do you mean, Wells?"

"I mean...once there is no more Voldemort, won't you be free to do as you please? What is it that you want to do after that? Do you want to keep teaching? Do you want to stay at Hogwarts?" Welkin regarded him with a serious expression.

"I suppose that I had not considered the future beyond that point," he admitted.

"Why? Because you didn't expect to survive?" Welkin asked even more bluntly.

Snape gave a start, and looked away quickly.

"That's it, isn't it? You never expected to come out of this alive, did you? You didn't even want to. So why make plans when there was no future to plan for?"

Welkin grasped him by the chin, and turned his angular face back to peer down into her eyes. "Well, things have changed, Severus. Death is no longer an option for you, my love. You're going to live, and you're staying here in this life with me," she said firmly. "So maybe you need to come up with some kind of a long-term plan for us living happily ever after. Do you even like teaching? Did you ever?"

"Not particularly. It was never my choice. I find the lack of mental application amongst most of the students frustrating," Snape admitted.

"Then you shouldn't do it, if it doesn't make you happy," Welkin concluded firmly.

"Things are not as simple as that, Wells. What else would I do to earn a living? What would I be allowed to do. Regardless of the outcome with Voldemort, I will always be an outcast and viewed with suspicion as only an ex-Death Eater by many people, even if they knew that I had not truly supported Voldemort. My job options, therefore, are extremely limited, and since I must provide for myself and my family, teaching appears to be something which I must resign myself to," Snape reasoned. He turned away from her again with a pained expression, before he suddenly blurted out a startling statement to her.

"I am afraid that you have made an unfortunate match, my love. I am an ugly, reviled, ex-Death Eater, with limited financial resources, and few prospects in life. I have done you a great disservice in marrying you, and creating a child with you."

Welkin quickly walked around him and stood in front of him again, grasping him firmly by his arms.

"Don't you dare talk about yourself like that to me! Don't even think things like that!" Welkin looked as if she were going to strike him. "I'm honored to be your wife! Don't you ever doubt that. Deeply honored, and...grateful that you chose me, Severus!"

Severus stared at her in amazement, momentarily stunned by her vehement emotional outburst. She, the heir to the illustrious bloodline of Morgan le Fay, was honored that he had chosen her?

"I'm the luckiest woman alive to have you! You're the most talented, brilliant, beautiful man I've ever known! You don't ever have to settle for something less than what you want, or sacrifice the rest of your life, your ambitions, and your happiness. I don't want you to, or need you to do that. There'll be a way for us to live without you having to. I can get a better paying job if I have to, and we have some money saved. We'll get by," Welkin assured him. "You're a brilliant man, and an amazingly talented wizard. Other people will see that, and reward you for it. I know that they will," Welkin told him adamantly.

But if they don't see it by themselves, I'll make damn sure that they do, Welkin promised herself with great determination.

Welkin was so trusting...so certain that he was deserving. Snape pulled her tightly into his embrace. His precious renegade - so willing to believe in him, and sacrifice herself for him. Maybe he would be able to pursue a different path, if he survived; a better, more successful path.

Independent study, and magical research and development was what he really wanted to do. There never seemed to be enough time for it, what with his teaching duties, and his delicate balancing act, spying for the Order. Maybe things really could be different, after this was over, with Welkin by his side. Severus felt the stirrings of hope and renewed ambition again, for the first time in years.

"Promise me you'll think about what you really want?" Welkin pleaded.

"I shall most certainly think about it," he assured her.

Severus looked down at the lovely and loving woman he had clasped in his arms, and his heart filled with gratitude, and swelled with emotion. She was truly what he wanted most of all, and she was already his. He was already rich in what counted. Hadn't Dumbledore always said that love was what counted most in life? He used to consider Albus a fool for believing that.

"Have you studied the assignment I set for you the last time we met, Welkin?" Dumbledore asked.

"Of course I have. But I don't see what it has to do with dueling," she said.

"A Patronus is a powerful protection, which can be most useful to you in various ways, but particularly in situations where dueling will not suffice," he advised her.

"Severus doesn't think I'm ready for the Patronus Charm yet. He thinks you're rushing me," Welkin said. "Exactly how much danger is involved in this?"

Dumbledore gazed at her over the tops of his glasses. "None whatsoever. Why would you ask that?"

"No reason, except...Severus seemed a little nervous about it when I told him about it. He wouldn't even help me study by showing me how to do one."

"Let me assure you that I have nothing but your best interest at heart," Albus said.

"No offense intended, but would that be the same 'best interest' you've had at heart for Severus all these years?" Welkin asked.

"That sounds rather...challenging, Welkin," Albus replied in a somewhat bemused tone. "Do you not think that to be true?"

"No, I don't. Not in the least. I think you'd throw Severus, or me, or even your precious Chosen One to the wolves if you thought it would defeat Voldemort," she accused. "I appreciate that you kept Severus out of Azkaban, and made a place for him here with you, but it seems to me that he's more than repaid that debt, whether he thinks so or not, and you could have released him from it, but you didn't."

"Your opinion of me seems to have taken a decided downturn," Albus said, more mildly than she would have expected.

"Not of you. I still respect a lot about you. I'm still very fond of you in many ways. But I hate the way you use Severus, like he's nothing but a servant to you. He doesn't deserve that, and you, of all people, know that best. Yet you continue to force things on him, using his guilt and his sense of honor against him. He trusts you, Albus. You're the closest thing to a father that he's had in a long time. It's killing him to do the things you ask him to do. Don't you see that? Don't you care? Please don't treat him like that anymore. How can you, if you feel anything at all for him?"

There was a brief look of pain and conflict in Dumbledore's eyes. He looked tired, and almost longing for release from the heavy burden he had taken on himself. He had elected to orchestrate the saving of the Wizarding and the Muggle worlds from Voldemort. To that end and purpose, terrible sacrifices had been asked, and would continue to be asked of many. He did not have the indulgence of allowing himself to question his own methods too deeply. The fate of two worlds depended upon his ability to be rational, and yes, sometimes even cruel, in the pursuit of that end.

Albus walked away, and turned his back to her for a moment. Welkin got the impression he was collecting his thoughts before he spoke to her again. When he turned back, his face was a mask.

"I am compelled to do certain things, which I do not always desire to do. I have tried to make amends for some of those things in the only way that I knew how. It remains to be seen whether I have succeeded. I wish to proceed with your lesson now."

Albus directed Welkin to take a stance before him with her wand. "To conjure this positive protective force, you must fill your mind with your happiest, most powerful memory. Concentrate only on it, and when it has filled you, speak the Patronus Charm and project the energy through your wand. Are you ready?"

"Yes. A moment please." Welkin knew exactly what her happiest memory was. It took her a minute to empty her mind of her anger with Albus, and he stood patiently, seeming to know that was what she was doing. When she was ready, she began to fill her mind again with thoughts of Severus on the night he had declared himself to her - the night that he had told her that the great love he had held all these years for Lily, was hers as well. Her mind flooded with the overwhelming happiness she had felt as he held her, and promised to love her always and forever.

She raised her wand a little higher, and spoke the words of the incantation with confidence: "Expecto Patronum!"

Energy in the form of a silver-white light streamed from the tip of her wand in a graceful whirling pattern, gathering itself into a large mass.

Dumbledore held his breath. There was no assurance that Welkin could produce a corporeal Patronus, in which case, there would be nothing on which to base his opinion of why Snape's Patronus had remained unchanged if his love had shifted from Lily to Welkin.

The energy mass swirled again and expanded more, producing a much larger mass that began to form into an indistinct shape. The light wavered, then grouped itself into something that Albus had never expected.

Welkin was smiling up happily at her Patronus...a very distinct and antlered Silver Stag...the ideal mate to Snape's Silver Doe.

Albus began to laugh with relief and delight, and came to stand at her side. "My dear...my dear...I congratulate you. You have just cast...the perfect Patronus!"
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Welkin in the Wizarding World (COMPLETED)

Chapter 50 - The Perfect Patronus