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After Party	By : pittwitch Category: HP Canon Characters paired with Original Characters > General Views: 19051 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

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The day of the final task dawned, and with it a strong sense of foreboding. Natalie could not shake the sense of something dreadful about to happen. She counseled her own students for the final time before they reluctantly headed to the transformed Quidditch pitch. She stopped the Beauxbatons champion for a few private words before they left the castle.

Fleur went with the Headmistress. Natalie took her place in the stands to supervise the crowd of students. She nodded to Snape as she ascended the risers. He nodded back curtly. She seemed not to hear the noise or music around her. She focused solely on the grizzled old auror standing protectively near the spare Hogwarts champion. Her unease grew ten-fold.
She settled onto the rough, hard seat, waiting for who knew what to happen. Natalie used every ounce of training her father inflicted on her from childhood onward to not fidget or betray her unease. As the minutes ticked by relentlessly, she became more concerned, not just for her students, but the tension grew taut in the air around her. Something wicked was happening; something she could sense but not stop. Natalie�s breathing grew shallow; her muscles tensed painfully.
Snape sat stoically ignoring the raucous students chanting and cheering all around him. A flash of blue light from the center of the maze, and both he and Natalie leapt to their feet simultaneously. What was that? They thought together, unaware of their shared apprehension.
As a precaution, Natalie allowed her wand to slide down her arm until the handle rested in her palm. This is not right. Long minutes passed and no students emerged from the maze. Suddenly, she felt as if the skin and muscles from her entire back was being ripped from her body. She spasmed, forcing herself to shove her wand into her waistband, protecting it just as she had been taught to do. She didn�t see Snape and Karkaroff clutching their forearms. She only saw white lights floating in her vision just before her pain increased, throwing her backwards into the wooden riser. She slammed her head hard against the sharp edge, cracking her skull, knocking herself unconscious, slipping through the gap in the floor boards. As she fell, she struck the crossed supports, and then disappeared from sight. No one saw the short-haired witch vanish.
Chaos reigned supreme after the two Hogwarts champions returned; one dead, the other hysterical. Finally, after many hours, the castle calmed. Aurors and ministry officials left the property. Four men stood near the Beauxbatons carriage, two hidden under invisibility cloaks; two blending in with the dark shadows. As the last of the outsiders left the property, they sprinted to the main doors of the castle where Albus and Minerva met them. Nicholas spoke for the crowd.
�Is Natalie here?� He couldn�t hide the worry in his voice.
�No, my boy. Your sister is not here. Is she not with the students in the carriage?� Albus was more worried now.
�No,� Nolan interrupted, �No one has seen her since just before the last task.�
�I saw her enter the grandstands.� Snape spoke from his vantage point in the shadows, clutching his arm tightly, trying to cut off the blood flow and sensation. Nolan grimaced, eyes squinting shut in referred pain. Noah stared at his twin in concern as their father, Maurice Henri Monterichelieu glided across the flagged stones to the suffering man. He grabbed Snape by the offending arm, his touch ceasing Snape�s pain as well as his son's, momentarily. �How close was she to you?� He demanded.
�Only a few rows away.� Snape answered, completed befuddled as to why his dark mark ceased to burn and even more so why he stood by and allowed this arrogant stranger to lay hands on him. Maurice Monterichelieu felt the heat from the other�s mark enter his body. His lip curled involuntarily into a snarl, much like a dog staking his own territory against the other. Maurice closed his eyes focusing on that call, searching for his only daughter.
The stranger turned to his sons. �She must have answered the other�s call, unwittingly or unwillingly.�

Nolan gasped in sudden awareness, choking on his own words.
�Dad?� He begged for guidance, his voice cracking, fighting not to double over to get away from the phantom pain in his head. �She�s in pain.�
�She is strong. She will be fine.� His father spoke assuredly. He had no doubts as to his daughter�s abilities.
�Headmaster?� Snape broke in. �I need to go.�
�Yes, yes, Severus. The sooner the better now.� Albus� eyes grew extremely sad. �We will be anxiously awaiting your safe return.� Snape nodded curtly.
Albus pointed his own wand at the professor, transfiguring his robes into the flowing black hooded robes and white skull mask of the Deatheaters. �Monsieur Monterichelieu, I must ask you to release him.� Dumbledore brooked no argument from the visitor. Natalie�s father removed his hand. Snape�s pain returned sharply, forcing the breath from his lungs. Severus lay his wand on his forearm, dissolving into shapeless mist before speeding from the castle with an odd ear-splitting shriek.
�Please join me in the office to discuss your daughter�s disappearance?� Dumbledore graciously invited the assembled Monterichelieu to follow him.
Far away from the relative safety of Hogwarts proper, Natalie slowly gathered her wits about her. Her hand crept involuntarily to her head where most of the pounding was centered. She forced her eyelids apart, taking in her surroundings to the best of her muddled ability. Headstones, grass, voices. She began to process thoughts again. Pulling her hand gently away from her head, she was not surprised to find it covered in dark, sticky blood. Instinctively, Natalie lay still and silent. A hissing voice wafted over the heavy night air to her ears.
�SSSSnape.�
Her blood ran cold. She hardly dared to breathe. She didn�t recognize the voice, but knew all too well the sinister threat she heard in its undertone. She didn�t dare move for fear of involuntarily groaning. A small tear escaped from her eye when she heard that memorable baritone answer.
�My lord.�
Natalie�s heart ached every bit as much as her head until mercifully the blackness overtook her again. She heard no more.
A piercing scream woke her with a start. She bounced her leg off the closest headstone, biting through her lip to keep silent. Craning her head slightly, she could see that her leg was laying at an extremely awkward angle. Another scream and Natalie shuddered involuntarily. The pain that must cause that sound. Her hand crept down her body to feel for the break. She didn�t have a hard time finding it. The jagged edge of a bone stuck through her shin. Damn. Hell. Damn. Do I dare try for my wand? Yet another wail sliced through the night air. Next time the poor sap screams �
*****
�Her leg is broken. She�s bleeding.� Nolan whimpered, clutching his head. Nicholas threatened him mercilessly. �Hold steady.� He hissed, clutching his younger brother tightly by the arm. �Keep quiet.� He commanded. Albus, Minerva and Poppy stood watching the dark-haired quartet, silent with worry; perplexed at the oldest boy�s command.
*****
Her hand quickly found her wand still tucked safely in her waistband. Ever so gently she removed it, fingering it in anticipation of the next shriek. When it came, as she knew it would, she cast her spell as quietly as possible. �Resarcio.� (Latin-repair) She effectively stemmed the blood flow, realigned the jagged ends of the broken bone, and patched the skin over the break. It will have to hold. Now to get the hell out of here ...
***
�She�s managed to patch the break, stopped the bleeding. She wants to get the hell out of there.� Nolan translated for the onlookers again. �Oh Merlin�s hairy balls,� he cursed, �She can�t apparate. Someone will hear her.�
�Your sister is not an idiot.� Maurice Henri Monterichelieu berated his son sharply, struggling against the urge to cuff him, hard, and especially not in front of more genteel witnesses. He settled for rolling his eyes. �She will bide her time.�
***
The next bellowing roar of pain was not so high-pitched, much more guttural, and oddly familiar. The sound distracted Natalie from her thoughts for just a moment. Her memory of hearing Snape�s voice came flooding back to her from her previous bout with consciousness. Oh dear Merlin, Severus. Her breath came in short shallow pants now, her mental distress rapidly rising to meet her physical distress. Get us out of here. She pleaded mentally, hoping against hope that Nolan could hear her. He did. His father refused to allow him to help. Knowing then she had been abandoned by her family, Natalie stifled her urge to scream out in frustration. In self-defense, Natalie�s body began to thin and elongate in response to her desperate need to hide. Her skin darkened to a pearlescent green. Her arms and legs melded into one long body. Her eye teeth lengthened into razor sharp fangs. Golden diamonds graced her green back. Her now forked tongue flickered, tasting the heavy night air. She undulated gracefully, coiling around herself, her leg no longer hurting as much. Hissing, she tasted blood on the air. Stealthily still, she slithered from behind the headstone, blending into the dark green of the overgrown weeds and grass.
****

�I�ve lost her, she must have morphed into her snake form.� Nolan held his head in his hands, eyes damp, absolutely forlorn, fear for his sister contorting every cell in his body.

****
�Legilimens,� a disembodied voice hissed. Natalie slithered to a vantage point. She saw a similarly snake-like visage pointing a wand at Severus who lay unconscious on the ground, blood slowly leaking from his ear. She eyed the bare foot of the antagonist hungrily, �If I could just bite his foot ��

�Damn fool, someone obliviated him, and well.� The formidable tall wizard grumbled. �Damned Dumbledore.� The wizard hissed, �Crucio!� with his wand trained on the already unconscious man whose body began to writhe uncontrollably under the curse. The pale visage softened, a hint of a happy smile graced his horrifying countenance as he reveled in his power over the man on the ground. The snake-like wizard finally lowered his wand, walking to the prone form slowly bleeding out into the unkempt grass of the graveyard. Natalie watched on in helpless horror, sickening regret twisting her stomach. A plan quickly began to gel inside her serpentine mind. The angry wizard kicked at Snape, rolling him on to his back, the muscles still quivering beneath his torn robes. With a contemptuous snort, Voldemort turned, his robes swirling around him.
�Come Wormtail.�
A pudgy, dirty looking man followed the taller wizard, wringing his mismatched hands as they went. For a split second, Natalie consider chasing after the pair and biting them both, hard. Then, she changed her mind. Natalie silently slithered through the grass towards Severus� slowly dying body. She slid over Snape�s abused and broken body, trying to find her best mark. Forced to take the closest point when her keen ears heard the crack of a twig snapping, and the two voices again growing close, in utter desperation she sank her sharp fangs into his calf, then thought with more power than she thought possible, �Daddy.� The mark on her back activated, instantly pulling both her and Snape through time and space to land in a heap in the Headmaster�s office. Instantly, Natalie relinquished her grip on Severus� calf, morphing back into her human form, shrieking, �Blade, give me a blade!�
Nicholas conjured his athelme faster than either his father or brothers, slapping it handle first into Natalie�s hand. She used it to swiftly slice through the remains of Snape�s trousers, baring his leg where two viciously green and purple fang marks swelled immensely. With surgical precision, she cut through the inflamed skin between the two puncture marks, then, bent her head to suck on his leg, drawing out her own venom along with his blood. With no care for her surroundings, Natalie continued to suck out blood and venom, spitting it onto the carpet on the floor of Albus� office.

Back in the graveyard, Voldemort and Wormtail both stood staring at the spot where Snape�s body had been laying.
�How does he do that!� The Dark Lord bellowed in outrage. Wormtail quivered in fear and rightly so. His pointed nose, so appropriate on his rodent like face, quivered in sheer animalistic apprehension. �Hope Nagini isn�t hungry.� Wormtail flinched as Voldemort snatched him by the shoulder and throwing him towards the ramshackle house on the hill.

***

Meanwhile, Poppy flew to minister to Severus� other wounds, forgetting that Natalie was injured as well. She stemmed the flow of blood from his head injury, but he still did not regain consciousness. Natalie became frantic.
�It�s not working,� she sobbed nearing hysteria.
Maurice spoke, his voice calm and commanding, its edge of steel sharp, forceful. �You must claim him, Natalie.�
She shook her head violently, spraying those around her with small droplets of blood from her own head of which they took no heed.
�Noooo,� she moaned in utter moral destitution. �Noooo, not Severus. Not like this.�
�Well, if you don�t want him to live.� Her father stated calmly with a nonchalant shrug of his elegantly clothed shoulders.
�No, no, no.� Tears streaming down her face, Natalie sobbed between frantically sucking more venom and blood from the wound on his leg. Nolan approached her cautiously, laying his steadying hand on her shoulder.
�It�s okay, Natalie. Save him. Make the antidote.�
�Nolan, no,� she wailed as she continued to work on Snape�s leg.
Albus looked at Maurice with doubt and consternation. �Can�t you help?�
The elder Monterichelieu shrugged. �She is her own antidote. She is poisonous to each of us as well.� The Hogwarts staff stared at him perplexed. �Claim him Natalie.� Her father commanded. She couldn�t refuse any longer Snape�s pulse was nearly non-existent.
The hysterical tears flowing down Natalie�s cheeks stopped leaving only salty tracks. She summoned a glass from the Headmaster�s elegant sideboard, transforming it in midair into a ceremonial chalice. Still on her knees next to Snape�s body, she used Nicholas� athelme to slice a piece of flesh from her inner arm, dropping it into the cup. Next, she allowed her arm to bleed freely into the cup, chanting with her eyes screwed shut. She lifted the chalice in both hands, offering her bodily sacrifice to the gods. She swayed slightly from the strain of holding the heavy object above her head after her own devastating injuries.

Flesh of my flesh, now we become one.

Blood to blood, I claim thee as mine own.

Body and blood combined.

Heart to soul, mind to mind,

Forever shall I, thee, bind

As he became aware of the dark magic Natalie summoned, Dumbledore tried to stop her only to be blocked physically by her brothers. Nicholas shook his head at the older wizard. �Headmaster, this is the only way.� He fixed the man in place with his stare. �He will die if she does not share the antidote from her own body and blood.�
Ignoring everyone around her, Natalie continued chanting until the magic swirled around the chalice changing the foul concoction into an appropriately red honeyed mead. Tears renewed, Natalie dragged herself to cradle Severus� head on her lap, leaving a trail of blood seeping from her newly re-injured leg on the rug.

Protect this one from my venom.

This is my body, I offer thee freely.

This is my blood, partake of both dearly.

She turned sorrowful eyes to her father and Albus. Both men nodded their assent. She tipped the chalice to his lips, dripping the mixture into his mouth. The glistening red liquid shimmered on his pale lips in the torchlight of the Headmaster�s office. With tears renewed, Natalie stroked his throat, helping him to swallow unconsciously.

Whither thou goest, I shall go.

Your pain now mine, our joys doubled.

What you know, I shall know.

When she spoke the last line, magic swirled around the pair on the floor, multicolored wisps of light settling into their bodies.

What is yours I claim as mine.

Forever hence I thee bind.

Natalie bent down to kiss his lips, still coated with the mixture. When she licked away the last remnants of the antidote, the spell completed. Natalie sighed heavily, finishing the incantation with the deepest of sorrow in her voice, sealing both their futures with her final words.

Blessed be this tie that binds.

Severus� color began to return to normal. Natalie collapsed in a bloodied heap on the floor, his head still resting on her lap.
�Mother of mercies.� Nicholas swore. �She�s got a compound fracture.�
Poppy diverted her attention from the injured spy to the woman now completely unconscious underneath him. Waving her wand over Natalie�s body, the Medi-witch muttered angrily,
�Concussion, fractured skull, broken ribs, punctured lung, kidney damage, compound fracture of leg, severe blood loss.� She rattled off the list of Natalie�s injuries. �Headmaster, both of them belong in the Infirmary. NOW!�
The normally sedate witch scathingly commanded them to move the injured parties. Nolan and Noah lifted Snape between them. His dark matted head falling against Nolan�s broad chest, staining the pale grey shirt the twin wizard wore. Nicholas gently cradled his baby sister to his chest, a small tear glistening in the corner of one eye as he followed the twins out of the Headmaster�s office. He kissed her head gently, whispering,
�You did well, little sister. Welcome back.�
Snape healed quickly, but perplexed by the constant vigil kept at the bedside of the comatose Beauxbatons witch. A family member stayed her with her day and night. Oddly, Snape felt drawn to her, but shook it off as twisted gratitude after he was informed it was she who had returned him to Hogwarts half-dead and so obviously injured herself.
The visitors were leaving. Silently, Snape watched the mast of Durmstrang�s ship sink eerily into the Black Lake, chased by the elegant carriage from Beauxbatons. He turned to go back to his dungeons, but strangely, his feet carried him to the infirmary. He found himself standing outside the doors, listening to a heated argument from inside.
�You said he cared for her. Where has he been? He hasn�t come once to see her.� Maurice Monterichelieu bellowed at Nolan. Natalie lay unmoving, face down on the bed between them, her breaths very shallow and short. The very tips of the golden brown eagle�s wings peeked from beneath the short sleeves of her dressing gown.
�HE does!� Nolan roared back at his father, enraged.
�She obliviated him.� Mairead stroked her niece�s head gently. Both men stopped their shouting to stare at the small woman. �You should have seen her. She was brilliant, absolutely brilliant, everything a cooilleeneyder should be.� Mairead leaned down to kiss Natalie�s head lovingly. �She got them all, even the lycan, the auror and Malfoy.�

What the bloody hell? Snape thought in horror. Who are they talking about?

�Why would she do that?� Maurice queried quite concerned.
�To protect him from you.� Nolan acknowledged sadly, sitting on the bed opposite his Aunt.
�From me?� Maurice squeaked indignantly. �Why from me?�
Snape flattened himself against the wall behind the privacy curtain, enthralled with the strange conversation.

Doonan moaar, (blithering idiot) don�t even attempt to tell us you wouldn�t have used him against her the moment it suited your purpose.� Mairead�s fury gained strength like a coming gale. �Lus ny keeilley stiuree drogh.� (Evil controlling bastard) She stood up, advancing on the taller menace with a fierce gleam in her eyes. �You would have held him over her head for the rest of her life.� She pointed her wand directly at his heart. �Or killed him.� Her hand held steady. Her wand tip glowed faintly green. �Or tortured them both.�
Snape shoved aside the privacy curtain, compelled to go to the woman who now sat on the edge of the bed holding her arms out to him. His entrance interrupted Mairead�s tirade. All three of the others stood with their mouths hanging open, astounded at Natalie�s apparent recovery. Snape sank to his knees between hers, his hands resting on her thighs. She cradled his face between her hands, pressing her lips to his forehead. While he peered up into her pale face, Snape could not remember ever feeling so completely happy, so much like this was exactly where he belonged. A strange sad smile graced Natalie�s face. She traced the deep cut under his left eye with her index finger. His eyes beamed at her. She leaned down to press her lips to the wound. Severus closed his eyes, his soul awash with peace and a sensation that must only be joy.
�Heal what is mine.� She whispered against his cool skin.
The wound closed. The redness and scar disappeared.
�Thank you, mistress.� Snape answered reverently. Where the hell did that come from? Snape could not believe what he was doing. His body seemed to respond without his conscious effort. Try as he might, he could not stop his responses. Natalie glanced up at Nolan conveying her message with one forthright stare. She tilted Severus� chin up and kissed him soundly, claiming his lips forcefully, distracting him.
Nolan stole up behind them, pointed his wand at Snape�s head and whispered, �Obliviate.�
Natalie broke the kiss, still holding a now very bewildered Potions Master�s face in her trembling hands.
�Are you all right, Professor Snape?� She asked, sadness tingeing her voice heavily.
�I think so. Although, I do not remember coming here.� He glanced around the hospital wing in a bit of a daze.
�It�s all right. I think we may have some sort of link from our shared experience in the graveyard,� Natalie explained softly.
Hastily, Severus stood, straightening his robes around himself then settling on the bed beside her. He took her smaller hand in his. Natalie curiously allowed him this liberty.
�Yes, perhaps.� He pondered the woman carefully. A vision of her frolicking under a sliver of a silver moon in a lake flashed before his mind�s eye. He shook his head to clear the cobwebs. �I understand I owe you a debt of gratitude for those events.�
�No, Professor, you don�t.� She smiled at him benevolently. �We both needed to come back here. I apologize for having to bite you to bring you with me.�
Subconsciously, Snape rubbed the still healing wound on his calf. �I�m lucky that you were able.�
�Still, I know my bite hurts.�
Snape chuckled, a low rumbling sound that ripped through Natalie�s heart with a searing pain she had not known since the death of her mother.
�Indeed, it does.�
Natalie patted his hand with her free one.
�I do not like to see you hurt.� She murmured.
�Thank you.� Awkwardly, he released her hand, then stood. �I�ll take my leave now.� He bowed to the woman, nodding to the others assembled, and smirked at the astonishment registered on Poppy�s face.
He turned and exited the infirmary in his customary swoop and flourish. Once he was gone, Natalie collapsed back on the bed, for all intents and purposes, dead to the world once again. Maurice himself obliviated the medi-witch, leaving her tending to her comatose patient without any memory of the odd occurrence.
�We�ll make arrangements to take her home to recover, Madam Pomfrey.� Maurice Monterichelieu bowed stiffly to the witch who nodded in agreement.
�Poor child. She really should have been awake by now.� She tut-tutted her way back to her office, smoothing her apron as she went. Nolan and Mairead stared at each other over the bed.
�It would be best not to move her too far.� Maurice agreed with their unspoken statement.
�My home,� Mairead stated emphatically.
Maurice nodded his agreement. �Nolan, you will help settle your sister, then go on to Durmstrang to help your brothers and Alexei.�
Nolan bristled visibly at being ordered about and away from his sister. Maurice felt his anger. �Just do as you�re told. Now go on, both of you.� He commanded his sister-in-law and his son.
Maurice settled on the cot next to his daughter�s prone form, straightening her out, then resting his hand over her mark on her back. Reluctantly, Nolan and Mairead left to prepare a room for Natalie in Mairead�s house. Maurice stroked the short hair of his only daughter, his face twisted into a mask of concern. Maurice leaned close to his daughter�s ear.
�Why must you still fight? Accept your role.�

Note:
*Maurice - dark Henri - ruler

A huge thank you to Trickie Woo whose assistance with this chapter was invaluable.
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After Party