Falling Stars, Part 6
Title: Falling Stars
Rating: PG, Angst
Summary: The war's finished, the good guys won, and it's time to live. Wouldn’t it be lovely if that were true?

Falling Stars, Part 6

“Celeste!!!” Juliette screamed startling the room as she jumped toward her daughter, grabbed the girl, and shook her fiercely.

“What have you done? Oh, what have you done? What. Did. You. Think. You. Were. Doing.” Each word punctuated a shake. Each shake punctuated her horrified sobs until her daughter finally answered with childlike simplicity.

“I killed off the Snapes, Mom. That’s all. At the manor and here. No more Snapes anywhere. Poof. They’re gone.” Something in her slurred voice sounded off to Severus as he bent over the table gasping at the pain in his stomach.

“Juliette,” he gasped realizing what the child must have done. “Help me.”

When Juliette ran to his side and helped him hold himself up, he promptly stuck his long index finger down his throat forcing himself to vomit. The fluid that returned burned as it was coming up, but he was relieved to see clear traces of the poisonous potion. Grabbing the water from a nearby table, he gulped it as quickly as he could then forced himself to vomit two more times until the fluids ran clear. He may not have gotten it entirely out of his system and the pain might not have lessened, but at least it wouldn’t get as bad as it could.

Before their daughter could resist, he whispered a spell binding her and grabbed another nearby glass of water to quickly wash his hands. Wrapping an arm around her, he pulled her tightly to him, forcing her to bend forward as he ordered his wife to pry her mouth open. Repeating the same procedure, it took six glasses of water before the returned fluids ran clear. By that time, both he and his daughter were having trouble staying on their feet.

As the manager came running out, a livid shade of red, Severus groaned: “We’ve been poisoned. Don’t let anyone touch that.”

The man stumbled to a shuddering halt, staring at Severus and Celeste in dismay.

He gave the man a ragged nod, grabbed the vial, forced himself to stand as straight as he could, pulled both women to him, and clenched for the rose that he’d brought for Juliette - triggering the portkey spell with a softly murmured trigger: “Ellory’s reading room.”

Just as he heard Juliette’s gasp of recognition, the odd hook like sensation caught Severus around the middle and tried to pull him through a straw.

When they arrived in the small sitting room of Spinner’s end, Severus was startled to see the room dimmed, the table set with candles, and warming dishes steaming down the center. Forgetting their situation for the briefest second, Juliette turned to him with amusement raising her eyebrow until she paled at the gray creeping into his skin tone.

“Potter!” Severus called with rasping irritation. “Get her to the couch, Jule. I don’t think either of us can stay standing too long… POTTER!!!”

“Hey, calm down.” A voice called through from the nearby library. I’m sorry if things didn’t go so well, but I was sure that Hermione was right and that you would be bringing her back with you. Anyway…” Potter broke off as he walked into the room and saw Severus leaning heavily on a much smaller woman.

“Professor! Gods what happened?”

“Poisoned.” Severus gasped lifting the vial. “Summon Longbottom… discreetly!”

The boy raised an eyebrow at his caution, but nodded, stepped into an open center of the room, abruptly threw back his sleeve, and grasped a thin bracelet with ivy leaves and vines as links. Whispering a sympathetic charm that would warm its twin, he waited several seconds until his warmed in response then slipped it off, set it on the floor, and cast a cushioning charm over it.

Potter had barely finished when Longbottom port-keyed to the bracelet with a soft thump, landing in a half-kneeling position reminiscent of a novice being conveyed with knighthood. As he rose to his feet, Potter’s softly exclaimed caution, “Nev, we’ve got trouble” seemed almost unnecessary as the young man quickly assessed the situation and asked Severus, “Poison, I take it. Obviously tasteless and odor-free. What was the method and length of the ingestion period?”

“Hot tea and over two hours possibly three.” Severus lifted the vial in a trembling hand.

Although he had grown accustomed to watching Longbottom’s mind at work, Severus was still surprised to see the young man’s eyes narrow as they studied the vial then flick across to his daughter. He’s made the connection that quick. Flashing a look of warning at his student, Severus tried to make clear that he wanted the girl to suffer no ill repercussions.

“Jule, help me down… by Celeste.”

Before they could take two steps, Longbottom, who was already studying the vials contents, snapped off “No”.

“Longbottom!”

“Until we identify the poison, you should remain as upright as possible. Harry, two ice cream slings, please.”

Severus had not even a second to protest as Potter focused on the ceiling for a second then raised both hands and brought them straight down, twisting his pinched fingers as if he was holding an ice cream cone as he finished. As his hands dropped, thin shimmering cords appeared anchored to the ceiling, split then interwove their parts until they narrowed as they reached the floor, looking quite like an ice cream cone – even to Severus’s dry imagination. Potter with a softly murmured mobilicorpus soon had Celeste resting, upright in on sling, and Longbottom was coming him move to the other sling.

“Sir,” Longbottom began in a soft voice that barely carried, surprising Severus with his tact as he asked, “Were you able to … purge … both of your stomachs?”

Severus could only nod as the burning feeling rose again.

Recognizing the professors soft gulping as a sign of discomfort, Longbottom asked worriedly, “Will you need a respiration charm?”

Barely containing a shudder at the memories of being put under that spell previously, Severus hesitated. Madam Pomfrey had repeatedly informed him that no one had difficulties with the respiro animas spells and that he was simply trying to be difficult (as usual – in her opinion); but no matter how he had tried to reconcile himself to the necessity every time it had been needed, Severus found the manner that the spell forced him to breath in rhythmic, deep, sustained breaths that he could not control just as panic inducing as the inability to breathe. Nevertheless, there was nothing to guarantee or even suggest that he wouldn’t need the charm to be used. In fact, if the burning in his throat and esophagus continued, he was fairly certain that his throat would eventually if not more quickly simply close in response, and he would likely suffocate without the spell.
His frustration must have been somewhat apparent – as he soon felt Longbottom’s hand close gently over his shoulder.

“That’s okay, I understand. I happen to hate that one, too, but …” the young man paused glancing over his shoulder at Potter, who nodded grimly, before he looked back and continued softly, “We have another method that we can use.”

“Harry,” Longbottom turned back to his friend and spoke in an equally soft manner that filled Severus and, from the look on her face, Julliet with concern as Longbottom spoke in an almost coaxing manner, “It would be better to do it now before we have multiple symptoms to deal with.”

The sudden pallor that came over Potter’s face disturbed Severus so greatly that he wanted to reject whatever they intended to do, but the poison’s effects were increasing to the point that he very much doubted that he would be able to breath in several minutes.

Curiously distracted, Potter surprised Severus by suddenly pulling out of his over robe, removing his tie, and taking off his outer shirt as well, leaving himself clad in only t-shirt that he wore in place of his under shirt and loose slacks. Catching what must have been a surprised look in his eyes, Potter explained cryptically, “I won’t be able to stand being in anything that feels binding at my throat… afterward.”

Despite his painfully distracting condition, Severus felt his eyebrow skeptically and winced at the pain hiding beneath Potter’s snarky reaction to the shift in his expression, “You’ll understand in a second.”

Gulping nervously, Potter came to stand beside him or rather between him and his daughter, then turned to Longbottom and firmly commented, “Let’s do them both at once, kay?”

It wasn’t quite a command, but they all heard the insistence in the question, even his daughter, who had roused enough to stare at the improperly dressed boy between them.

“Harry, you know that’s not a good idea. It takes a lot to trigger anyway, to hold that long enough to…you shou…”

“Nev. Do it. Even if it does, doing it once is infinitely easier than having to feel that way… and remember … twice.”

Severus wanted to growl his frustration. Their conversation was giving him absolutely no information whatsoever. When Potter laid a hand on his shoulder, he was frustrated enough to pull away, but the reproachful look in both young men’s eyes had him accepting the touch without further complaint.

Although he was beginning to feel as though he was drifting in and out of consciousness, Severus was alert enough to notice the discomfort in Longbottom’s eyes as he approached his friend, raising his hands. For several moments after that, Severus suspected that Longbottom had been subjected to the imperious curse as he watched the often passive man wrapped his hands around Potter’s throat and begin to tighten them in an obvious attempt to strangle his friend. Becoming unable to move under the influence of the poison, the former professor watched in dumb horror as his successor insistently pressed his thumbs into the boy’s throat – quickly and efficiently cutting off both the boy’s airway and critical blood flow. Only Juliette’s startled oath drew his eyes away.

From behind Potter, his wife was prying at Longbottom’s fingers, trying to break their hold. Despite what seemed to be desperately strong efforts on her part, Longbottom’s fingers stayed in place and his eyes studied his friend with a calculating sadness until Potter’s slumped when strength seemed to weaken and his eyes dropped shut. As though he’d been waiting for that specific event, Longbottom cried out, “Harry, do it!” and jerked his hands away.

Then, and Severus was stunned by the feeling that he would never forget the sensation of combined trepidation, fear, worry, and strangely gratitude that flowed through him as he watched it happen, Potter’s magic - in a surge akin to children’s accidental magic – poured through the boy’s hands into both his and his daughter’s body returning their breathing to a relaxed normal state that felt not a bit as if it was being forced. Testing the feeling, he tried to control his own breathing enough to take a simple swallow of air and found that the burn in his throat withdrew lightly as he did – proving to himself at least, despite his surprise, that his breathing had already been affected by the poison.

“Mr. Lo—,” Severus was forced to stop for a moment as he breathed in painfully, under his own control, at the still tight, thought infinitely less painful ache in his throat. When he felt that he had regained enough breath to continue, he did so carefully: “explain.”

“Harry?” Longbottom asked hesitantly.

A flick of the fingers was the only response Potter made to Longbottom, but it seemed to be enough because the new potions professor gave his friend an almost embarrassingly soft clap on the shoulder and sent him into the kitchen to get some tea. Before Severus could ask again, Longbottom forestalled him: “Just a minute, let me finish closing these spells off before Harry comes back with the tea, then I’ll explain.”

Longbottom’s odd wording took him a bit by surprise, but Severus could somehow only wonder about their bizarre actions and its strange result. Waiting as Longbottom worked with the slings and cast what sounded like odd stabilizing and recovery, Severus paused to study his daughter, who had also been heavily focused on Potter and who was now staring toward the kitchen door that the young man had disappeared into.

“The bastard…” Longbottom’s viciously growled curse broke through his strange distraction as the young man broke of and began again, “the - - muggle that raised Harry never gave him much of any thing. The stingy old arse, he only reluctantly gave Harry enough to eat, and didn’t give a whit at all if Harry had eaten enough to have the strength to do the ‘chores’ that he’d been given – as long as he had a reason to punish Harry for every chore he couldn’t do.”

The young professor had to break off for a moment to slow his breathing and get his anger back under control. It was rather startling for Severus to watch, even during the war, Longbottom had never seemed as ready to commit violence as he did at that moment.

“He probably didn’t figure that Harry would get anything from it, but the bastard actually ended up giving Harry a coupl’a gifts on account of it. Not that he’d of known or would have had any reason to expect it when he was thrashin’ Harry within an inch a his life that he’d make Harry’s magic act that way. Don’t really think a wizard would of much expected it either, but who knows how much of it had to do with the stuff in the prophecy. Anyway,” he paused turning back to face them with a grim joyless smile on his face, “as it turns out, his survival instinct kicked in during those punishments giving him the ability to do bursts of almost controlled accidental magic that counteract the symptoms of abuse that he’d received then, and he can share these bursts with others, too. Only problem is that he can’t call them up on his own. They have to be triggered by simulating or duplicating the abuse.”

Severus was stunned at the implications. From the rather dismal occulmency lessons, he had been well aware that the boy had been neglected and berated, but he had never seen evidence of abuse to the extent that it would cause the results that Longbottom was suggesting. Despite the urgency of their situation, Severus could not help but wonder about the extent of Potter’s ‘gifts’ and was grateful to Jule when she asked, “what else can he do?”

“I’ll show you.” Harry rasped harshly, from the doorway, before tipping back his teacup and finishing it the last dreg. He returned to the dining table and set the teacup and saucer before stepping back between Severus and Celleste. Just as Severus felt Potter’s shoulder, he noticed the almost empty vial that rattled in the saucer as it settled. Over half of the remaining poison was gone and the dregs of Potter’s tea had a suspicious glint.