Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

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
- 60
- 61
- 62
Wicked Intentions - Part 1

Sully's first birthday party is a big hit. Severus and Welkin attend the 'Death Eater party' at Malfoy Manor where Lord Voldemort and Bella both focus unwanted attention on them. Julien Bell's unexpected presence at the banquet shows he may not have given up his Death Eater ambitions after all.

Author's Note: This was getting way too long to be one chapter so I split it into two. This chapter introduces the new original character of Carmilla Malfoy.

"I do not see why Sullivan could not celebrate his natal day without the assistance of so many other people," Snape complained. "Fêting a public party seemed somewhat excessive to me, since he is only one year of age and scarcely noticed anything other than that overly large and oddly decorated cake you provided for the gluttonous delight of all those freeloaders."

"They're not freeloaders. They all brought gifts. Look at all this great stuff that Sully got!" Welkin protested as they started down the dark, narrow, spiraling stone stairway that led to the dungeons and their quarters. Both her arms and Snape's were laden with the numerous presents that Sully had scored from his party guests.

"I can't believe you didn't like the life-sized three-dimensional Goat Cake. The house-elves did a bang-up job from the photo I gave them, and it was a big hit with the other kids. It looked just like Persephone, and Sully loved it. He was practically wallowing in it—he was so excited."

Welkin smiled with pleasure at the memory of Sully laughing and struggling to get at the cake before they'd even lit the large green and silver candle on top of its head. She hoped Colin had gotten some good pictures.

"Which reminds me—I do hope that Minerva has the presence of mind to properly Scourgify the child before she puts him to bed—there was cake icing matted in his hair when we left," Snape observed grumpily, interrupting her happy reverie about Sully and his cake. "And might I also ask... where exactly are we supposed to store all of these ridiculous items he has acquired? What was Albus thinking, presenting a child with this... this... alarming whirly-gig thing?" he finally decided to call it. "It is a veritable deathtrap of sharp and pointy edges. I shall not allow Sullivan anywhere near it."

"Maybe we can Charm it somehow and make it safer. I'm glad lots of people thought enough of Sully to show up and bring him gifts. It's not like he has anybody his own age to play with around here. You should be happy too, that he had such a good time, instead of complaining about a little icing in his hair," Welkin insisted. "I think you're just a little bit jealous because all of the attention was on him."

"It is not my fault that Sullivan has no siblings to cavort himself with," Snape accused, immediately seizing the opening and ignoring her not altogether untrue charge of jealousy. "Were it up to me, he could look forward to the imminent arrival of a sister before his second natal day. I have been more than willing and diligent in performing my function in this endeavor. You are the one who has steadfastly refused to cooperate and provide the child with the playmate he so obviously needs and deserves."

Willing and diligent doesn't even begin to describe it, she thought. Welkin rolled her eyes and kept walking, resolutely resisting the sudden unkind impulse to shove the love of her life the rest of the way down the stairs and watch him fall on that smug, sanctimonious face of his.

"I'm not even going to dignify that biased attempt to saddle me with a guilt trip with a response," she told him. "Let's just drop it for now, please. We've got much more important things to worry about. We've got to get ready for the damn Death Eater party."

"It is not a Death Eater party, Welkin. Although it is true that some Death Eaters will be in attendance, many of Narcissa's guests will be mere supporters of the Dark Lord's, not fully initiated Death Eaters," Snape corrected her.

"Thanks for pointing that out. It makes me feel so much better to know I might be killed by a mere supporter rather than a bona fide Death Eater," Welkin told him.

The sound of footsteps headed upstairs in their direction silenced them both. Fifteen seconds or so later, a dark-haired female Gryffindor appeared.

"Excuse me... Professor Snape," Romilda Vane begged his pardon breathlessly as she purposely brushed against him while squeezing her way past them up the staircase. "Pardon me... Mrs. Snape," she offered to Welkin with a lot less enthusiasm, frowning at her. What does Professor Snape see in that worn-out old hag, anyway? She must be at least thirty! Romilda thought with gleeful contempt, giving Welkin an appraising sidelong glance before continuing on her way.

"Silly little chit," Snape said, even though Romilda was still in range of hearing.

"You'd better be careful around that one, Severus," Welkin advised in a lower voice. "I heard she's been bragging that she's going to snag Harry Potter with a love potion. That girl's definitely loaded for status symbol bear, and I think you might be next in her sights. Careful you don't end up as her 'bare-skin' rug. If she took advantage of you like that I'd just have to kill her," Welkin said calmly. "I don't care if she is a student."

"Neither do I. We could share a cell in Azkaban," Snape answered just as calmly.

Potter? Someone actually wished to administer a love philter to Potter? There really was no accounting for some people's perverse tastes, Snape thought with disdain.

They reached the bottom of the staircase discussing the ethics, or lack thereof, in using love philters to acquire what they both agreed should be given freely.

"We can sort out this crap later," Welkin said, once they'd made it to their quarters and tossed the birthday largesse onto the writing desk.

Snape gave a knowing smirk at her use of the derogatory word to describe what she had previously been characterizing as treasures beyond compare which Sully had received.

"Well, okay... I admit it. Some of it really is crap, but they meant well, and Sully doesn't know the difference," she insisted. "Let's just freshen up and get dressed in our costumes."

"Costumes?" Snape said warily. "I prefer not to wear a costume."

"You know it's a costume party, Severus. You told me that yourself. You want to make a good impression, don't you? How would it look to Narcissa if we show up not in costume? Voldemort might not like it either. This party was his idea, after all. We need to stay on his good side—if there is such a thing—which I doubt. So at least let's not piss him off too much if we can help it. I laid out your costume on the bed. I'm going to change in the bathroom."

Snape wandered over to the bed like a disgruntled child being forced to take part in a particularly detested school play. He looked down at what Welkin had laid out for him.

"Where are my trousers?" he demanded. "I shall not wear a costume without trousers."

"You can't wear trousers with this, Severus. You're the Greek god Momus—the god of satire, mockery, censure and criticism. The god of writers and poets. With your rapier sharp wit and talent for invective, it's perfect for you!" she enthused.

"Flattery will not induce me to appear at Malfoy Manor without trousers," Snape insisted. "I will not be made the laughingstock of this party."

Welkin fixed him with a puzzled look, not understanding why he was getting so upset about it. "Why would anyone laugh at you? Why would you automatically think..."

Welkin suddenly remembered what he had told her about his worst experience with James Potter, and she understood his fixation on having trousers.

Severus stood staring down at the costume. She went over to him and put her arms around him. "I know what you're thinking. But those days are long gone, Sevvy. Nobody's going to hang you up by the heels and laugh at you, or wash your mouth out with soap. Nobody would dare. As far as they know, you're Voldemort's right hand man. And even if you weren't, what fool would dare to laugh at Severus Snape?"

Severus quirked a smile at her through the curtain of black hair that had fallen across his face like a dark mask.

"This white tunic is just a little above knee length. It's actually a very modest length. There's this green robe that you tuck under the leather belt and wear over your left shoulder, attached at the shoulder with this silver insignia medallion. I cheated a bit on the insignia and made it both a quill and a snake—for Slytherin. Your sandals are gladiator-style, like mine, and there's a great little silver and green half-mask that goes with it," Welkin pointed out to him.

"Will you wear it? For me? Maybe you don't care about these silly things, but I want to be the envy of every other woman there when they see you. I want them all to say to themselves—hey, how did she get so damn lucky?" Welkin told him. "What about it, Professor Snape? Will you be my arm candy this evening?"

"I shall be proud to be your... arm candy," Snape agreed, quirking her another rakish smile. When she smiled back he suddenly captured her in his arms and began to kiss her so thoroughly that she thought he might never stop.

"Severus... mmmmm.... Severus," she panted at last. "We'd better stop. We have to get dressed. If we don't stop we'll miss the rendezvous at the Portkey.”

“Very well, my love,” he said, releasing her reluctantly.

“Wait until you see my costume. It’s pretty good too. Not as imaginative a character as yours, but I think you’ll like it,” she said as she bounded into the bathroom and shut the door behind her.

When she emerged half an hour later, Severus was fastening his dark-green snakeskin sandals. She struck a pose and waited for him to look up. When he did, both eyebrows arched involuntarily at the sight of her.

“Diana the Huntress—Virgin goddess of the Chaste and Pure!” Welkin smiled broadly, brandishing her silver bow at him. She was dressed in a short, one-shouldered green tunic and silver gladiator sandals with slender, crisscrossed straps. A silver quiver filled with arrows was slung across her bare shoulder and secured in place at her back and to a slender leather cord at her waist. There were strands of tiny pearls woven through her shiny auburn hair and Diana’s traditional Crescent Moon Headdress completed the arresting vision.

“Goddess of the Chased is much more likely in that costume,” Snape muttered to himself, staring at the length of leg exposed by the short garment. By Merlin’s beard, she was lovely! Too lovely and much too enticing to be on display for Voldemort and the sort of people who would be at Malfoy Manor tonight.

“That’s what I said... Goddess of the Chaste,” Welkin repeated cluelessly.

Snape hastily drew his wand and pointed it at her. “Vestis Totalum!” he shouted a bit too loudly, making her jump in alarm.

Welkin looked down at her altered costume in confusion. The skirt now extended to her ankles. “Too much leg?” she asked.

“Not anymore,” Snape growled. “Honestly, Welkin, do you want to draw the Dark Lord’s attention any more than you already have? This is not a game! I am attempting to keep us both alive! It would be appreciated if I could gain your cooperation in that effort by you at least not flaunting yourself as if this were just another social occasion!”

Welkin’s confident smile faltered. Her eyes began to fill with tears but she tried to blink them back. “I’m sorry... I guess I just didn’t think.” She bit her lip to keep it from trembling. How stupid could I be? What was I thinking? she wondered. Obviously she wasn’t thinking at all.

Her cheeks flushed bright red with embarrassment. “Maybe I don't know what the hell I'm talking about, and those people who think we shouldn't be together are right. Maybe I'm just fooling myself about how certain I am that we belong together because I want so much for it to be so, but I’m not really the right woman to be married to you,” she blurted out. "What if I'm hurting you more than I'm helping you? Maybe I'm just one more thing for you to have to cope with and it'll be one thing too many!"

“What? I never meant... No! None of that is true, Wells,” Severus backpedaled fast, the temporary hysteria leaving his voice abruptly. He reverted to a more normal, soothing tone with her. "You have said it yourself—we are stronger together than we ever would be separately."

“I’m going to get us both killed if I keep doing stupid things.” Welkin let the tears roll down her cheeks, looking up at him with a stricken expression.

God! I hate it when I'm like this. Weak! Useless! Get control of yourself! Stop whining and get on with it! He doesn't need this crap on top of everything else! Welkin berated herself harshly in her mind. Unfortunately, what actually came out of her mouth next sounded much too weak and needy to her.

“Some help I am! Albus was supposed to find you somebody who would be good for you—not somebody who would help you die faster. Well—look what the batty old cat dragged in,” she laughed grimly through her tears.

“No, Wells, please... I tell you that is not true!" He grasped both of her hands in his. "You are a great help to me—always. There is no one who Albus could ever have found who is more suited to the sometimes thankless task of dealing with me. No one I could love or need more. No one who could love me more. Please, stop crying. I cannot bear it when I make you cry.”

“Then don’t do it.” Welkin sniffed back the tears. “It’s bad for my ego.” She smiled wanly. “I know you didn’t mean to, Severus. I know you’re just stressed and that made you yell at me. But please, try not to. And I promise I’ll be more thoughtful about things when I need to be. Maybe I'm just a little stressed too. If you see me doing something stupid that might put you at jeopardy, you just tell me or signal me somehow, and I’ll change it straight away.” She looked up at him with her huge, trusting, liquid green eyes.

“And you tell me when I am being an arsehole,” he requested. “Although I have had little success to date with permanent change in that respect,” he quipped to make her smile again.

Welkin laughed a little more. “The incidents are much less frequent than they used to be, believe it or not.”

They kissed, which always helped to take the focus off of both of their deficiencies, and put it back on their joint strengths—where it belonged.

“I shall choose to believe it,” Severus replied. “But now, my love, if you will but collect yourself, I shall do the same, and we must be off to the Portkey rendezvous.”

"But we both saw him at The Three Broomsticks that day," Welkin protested.

"Minerva insists that he was serving detention with her," Snape said.

"Well, he fooled her somehow because he was here and he must have been giving that necklace to the Bell girl to bring back to Hogwarts," Welkin concluded.

She and Severus were seated at a table at the Hog's Head Inn having a drink, since they had arrived a little earlier than anticipated for the Portkey rendezvous. They were discussing the botched attempted assassination of Albus Dumbledore by use of a cursed Opal necklace, which they both knew was Draco Malfoy’s inept handiwork.

“How do you think he managed to be in two places at the same time?” Welkin asked.

“I do not know. Perhaps he made use of Lucius’s illegal connections to secure Polyjuice potion, or perhaps he is in possession of a Time-Turner. How he did it is of little consequence to me. I am more concerned that his erratic and slipshod methods in attempting to do the Dark Lord’s bidding will result in him being caught,” Snape replied.

That was definitely worrisome. Welkin frowned in agreement. Severus was bound by an Unbreakable Vow to protect Draco. If Draco was caught, the completion of his task would fall on Severus. That was something they were trying to avoid, although there didn’t seem to be any way to do that. There has to be a loophole we can exploit in the Unbreakable Vow. There’s always a loophole, Welkin thought. Damn Albus! He wasn’t even trying to help them think of a solution. He wanted Severus to kill him himself when the time came. What kind of a fucking solution was that?! Severus would lose everything and be a fugitive!

Welkin noticed a flash of color and movement from the hallway out of the corner of her eye and turned her head in that direction just as Julien Bell came down the stairway from his room upstairs, his arm cozily wrapped around a smiling Hermione Granger.

“So much for my little womanly heart-to-heart talk with Hermione,” Welkin told Snape, nodding her head in that direction to make him turn in his seat and look.

Hermione spotted them staring and, with a clearly defiant glare at them both, made a great show of throwing her arms around Julien’s neck to kiss him goodbye before unhurriedly, and rather brazenly, leaving through the front instead of the side door.

Snape turned back to Welkin and picked up his drink with no outward show of concern.

“Aren’t you going to do something? I’ve already talked to her. Maybe you could talk to Julien,” Welkin suggested.

“I have no intention of doing anything of the sort. You have given the girl the facts as we know them, and she has obviously made her decision to ignore them. As far as I am concerned, both of our obligations in that respect are at an end. I have problems enough without taking on the adolescent romantic imaginings of a willfully oblivious little goose like Miss Granger. If her starry-eyed delusions concerning the dashing figure of Mr. Julien Bell are shattered at some point, I shall consider it retribution for all of the trouble she caused us when she flung herself at me.”

Snape turned his drink up and finished it off in one gulp. “Shall we go outside? It is nearly time,” he informed her.

“Yeah... I guess,” Welkin agreed, rising from her seat to follow him. “Man, that’s a really cold attitude.” She shook her head ruefully at him. “She’s one of your best students.”

“What of it? I am employed to teach them, not to perform the functions that their parents may have failed to do and correct their idealistic assumptions about life. Would you rather I ran after her like a fool, attempting to wheedle and cajole her into changing her mind? Or confronted Bell like an outraged father and threatened him at wand-point?” Snape asked.

“Well, no. That wouldn’t work anyway,” Welkin admitted. “It just seems like we should try to do something. Hermione’s not so bad once you get to know her. She has a good heart. You know... with the elf thing and all...”

"I am not at all impressed by the... 'elf thing', as you put it," Snape said bluntly. "She has treated that Weasley boy disgracefully, abandoning him as she has in favor of disporting herself with the first handsome face to spout insincere compliments at her. Were it not for you, I should think that all females are such faithless, disloyal creatures."

"Thank you... I think," Welkin said hesitantly. "I suppose that was meant to be a compliment."

They were out the door now and making their way around towards the back of the building, where a small complement of people were gathering around a battered old wooden bucket that Aberforth apparently used when watering his goats.

“Sometimes, you are far too trusting and far too willing to see the best in people,” Snape said. “Let me be plain. I do not care what happens to Hermione Granger. She will have brought it on herself. Let us not discuss it further,” Snape said curtly.

“Okay! You don’t have to be such an asshole about it,” Welkin muttered.

“Good evening,” she smiled as they approached the others, greeting the two robed and hooded men and the woman already standing next to the Portkey. They stared at her like she was a mildly interesting insect. None of them smiled back. What a wonderful evening this is going to be, Welkin thought grimly.

Several more solemn party-goers arrived as they stood there quietly, like strangers trapped in an elevator with each other, no one talking and all looking in any direction except at each other. As they were all wearing traveling cloaks, Welkin couldn’t even pass the time by admiring anyone else’s costume. The only exception to everyone studiously avoiding eye contact was one tall, dark, swarthy-skinned man who reminded Welkin of a vampire and had been staring at her impertinently with a nasty little smirk on his face ever since she and Severus had arrived.

“It’s nearly time,” Severus said, placing her hand on the bucket along with his. The others did the same just as the last two people arrived. It was Julien Bell and a striking looking blonde woman who Welkin had never seen him with before. Her face still registering her shock, Welkin felt herself jerked away from the scene abruptly with a sickening and dizzying lurch. They were on their way to Malfoy Manor.

Welkin was sticking as closely to Snape's side as possible, as they had agreed to. She had expected Narcissa Malfoy to be less than congenial to her, but had been greeted quite graciously by her when they arrived, much to Welkin's surprise. Snape had taken it in stride, pointing out to her later that Narcissa was beholden to him by virtue of the vow he had made to protect her son. That maternal gratitude had apparently been extended to encompass Welkin as well.

Severus and Welkin both nursed their drinks as they pretended to mingle with the several dozen other guests, not wanting to dull their senses since they both needed to be alert and cognizant to possible danger to survive the evening without incident. It had been forty-five minutes since they had arrived and Voldemort had not yet made his appearance.

"Who is that woman with Julien?" Welkin asked curiously. She and Snape had finally staked their claim to a spot at the right of the massive staircase and stood huddled together there after Severus had dutifully introduced her to all the right people, as would have been expected.

"That is Carmilla Malfoy, one of Lucius's cousins," Snape said. "Apparently, Julien is much cleverer than I had thought. He appears to have charmed his way into entry to this event through her."

"Do you think he's two-timing Hermione with her?" Welkin frowned with disapproval.

Snape snorted a laugh. "I daresay he is, since the Malfoys are not particularly known for their pursuit of strictly platonic relationships."

Welkin watched Julien with Carmilla across the foyer, both of them dressed extravagantly in elaborate 18th century costumes. Julien smiled at Carmilla with the air of a well-practiced seducer and lifted his bejeweled right hand, stroking the back of it lightly down the side of her long, pale throat sensuously. He let his hand rest on her shoulder as Carmilla, in turn, stroked his arm suggestively with her folded fan.

Welkin waited until another couple had passed by them and lowered her voice. "Do you think he's just using Hermione to get information about Hogwarts and the Order?"

Snape looked a bit taken aback. "That possibility had not yet occurred to me... until now," he considered thoughtfully. "I had been thinking he might view Miss Granger merely as an amusing sexual conquest."

"What if it's something more sinister than that?" Welkin pressed, her vivid imagination going wild.

"If that is a possibility, then perhaps you were right in the beginning. Perhaps I should have a talk with the popular Mr. Bell," Snape said.

The polite murmurings of conversation in the foyer stopped abruptly. They both looked up, expecting to find that Voldemort had made his appearance at last.

Welkin's eyes swept the room and then followed everyone else's gaze to the top of the massive staircase, where a handsome, pale young man with jet-black hair stood perfectly still, one graceful hand poised on the banister, his face bathed in light reflected from the wall sconces, glowing as if he were an angel sent from God.

"Who is that?" Welkin asked Severus again, as the murmurings started up afresh and the man slowly descended with a dramatically measured tread, step by step.

Severus didn't answer. He seemed transfixed by the sight, as did Bellatrix Lestrange, who had suddenly appeared on the opposite side at the bottom of the staircase.

"It can't be!" Welkin said to herself.

The tall, thin, attractive young man, who looked to be in his twenties, was dressed in a robe that Welkin recognized from a previous meeting, and was smiling a deceptively pleasant smile at everyone. When he reached the bottom step, even though he had never once looked directly at them, he turned and walked straight to them.

"Severus," he acknowledged Snape's presence briefly before fixing his attention on Welkin.

"How delightful to see you again, my dear," Lord Voldemort said, capturing her hand and raising it to his lips as he had on the first occasion they met—when he had resembled something much less charming. His dark eyes looked into hers hungrily—as if he intended to discover every hidden secret she had to offer.
- 60
- 61
- 62
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

Welkin in the Wizarding World (COMPLETED)

Wicked Intentions - Part 1