Categories > Books > Harry Potter > Harry Potter and The Power of The Coven
I tried to get the medical stuff (small-ish stuff, but still) as accurate as possible. Also, so far, as far as I can tell, little to no in-text comments in this story. Aren’t you proud of me? I am proud of me!
Here is another chappie…
Last Chapter…
“Now, we have to go!” She tossed the discarded robe onto one of the armchairs. They made a swift exit: down the stairs and through the bar. Ariadne called a soft thanks to Aberforth, the bartender, as they passed. He gave her a curious look, but merely smiled. The two emerged into the late evening sun. Two loud pops sounded and the street was empty.
Chapter 8 – Of Pain
The sky was darker in Privet Drive than in Hogsmeade, masking all indications of their arrival except for the small pop. Ariadne and Severus stood on the corner and looked down the street, trying to pick Number 4 out from among its identical neighbors. Snape’s keen eyes spotted the owl sitting atop a house in the middle of the block. His gate as he strode purposefully in its direction was no less impressive for the lack of billowing robes. Anger and power swirled invisibly, making the air around him pulse. Nearly as angry as the man next to her, Ariadne ground her teeth as she followed, magic crackling from her fingertips. Injustice and abuse was simply not something she would allow.
When the two made it to the doorstep, Ariadne raised a fist and slammed it hard against the wood. The resulting loud thud echoed inside. Loud noises sounding in response caused Ariadne to glance sideways at her companion. His dark brow was furrowed. He seemed equally mystified as to their origin. That is, until the door jerked open. Their eyes were assaulted by the sight of what appeared to be a whale stuffed into a suit. Ariadne wondered momentarily how he managed to find shoes into which he could shove his feet. Vernon Dursley’s face was puce and looked like it might be perpetually fixed in an angry scowl.
His beady eyes narrowed and swept over them from out of his porky face. To his minute and prejudice brain, they appeared to be going to a costume party, but it wasn’t even October yet. His fat upper lip pulled back into a sneer and he barked, “What ever you are selling, I’m certainly not interest. Now get your freaky selves off my stoop.”
Severus’ lip curled in an answering snarl, which caused the rotund man to shrink back slightly. The move caused Snape’s snarl to take on an edge of sadistic pleasure. He hissed, “We are most certainly not selling anything” He wrapped the word in dripping scorn.
Ariadne stepped up to avoid any situation that could be used against either of them, if the something went wrong. “Mr. Dursley, we are here to see your nephew. Harry Potter is to be handed into our custody immediately.”
The obese man’s eyes widened and he spluttered, “I have no idea who you are talking about! Now, get off my property!” As if to re-enforce his point, the idiot man reached out both hands and shoved Ariadne backwards. The small ring on his left pinky finger snagged at the material of her vest-shirt and popped off one of the buttons. The heel of her shoe must have caught on her skirt because a ripping sound cut through the night. He, no doubt believes I am the weaker of us two, because I am a woman. The blond straighten and stepped forward.
“Really, Mr. Dursley.” Ariadne released her fist into a claw and held the sizzling black fire close to his face. “If you do not immediately release Harry Potter to us, I will be very, very angry. Believe me when I say that you do not wish to make me angry.” The more she spoke, the quieter her voice became. At her side, Snape’s expression twisted into a cruel, sneering grin, hardening his eyes and making them glitter with ice.
Vernon stumbled back, flattening himself to the wall. His puce face was bleached a chalky white. He lifted a shaking finger and pointed up the staircase. Severus swept past and Ariadne went to follow, only stopping for a short second to hiss, “You will not leave this house. If I find that you have, I will personally track you down and inflict every single experimental and painful curse I can find upon you. Before I am done, you will beg for death and think me kind when I finally grant your request.”
She continued on up the stair and found one of the doors opened. What she saw inside made her freeze in the doorway. Snape knelt on the floor of a small sparse room, crouching over the unconscious body of a small black-haired teen. The boy was sickly white, looking as though he had not one drop of blood in his veins. Crimson liquid pooled on the floorboards beneath his head and dripped between the slats. His face was so swollen that one of his eyes was completely obscured. The skin of his face and neck should have been that same sickly white as the rest of his exposed flesh, but instead it was a dark and dusky purple-black. Ariadne winced just looking at him.
The boy’s shirt was stained bright crimson at the stomach and he was curled in on himself. His slight stature made him look like a young child. Even though Ariadne knew in her mind that he was almost 16, her heart’s maternal instinct kicked in and it bleed for him. Severus had pushed up the back of his shirt to check his ribs and the expression on his face told her that something was very, very wrong. Snape’s cold agony shook her from her immobility. She was not the boy’s parent and she was in agony for his pain. She could not begin to imagine the torment that seeing this manifestation of Lily’s love must be causing Severus, the boy’s biological father. She hurried to his side, throwing herself to her knees, to see what he saw. Blood was pooled under the skin that was pulled so tautly over the boy’s ribs and spine. It looked as if the child had been starved all summer. More dark-purple bruising was radiating out from the bleeding. The skin looked slightly swollen as well. Ariadne glanced at Snape.
“I-“ He paused as his rich voice cracked with strain. “I believe he has several cracked ribs. It appear that he is also suffering from acute renal failure due in part to blood loss and in part to blunt force trauma, perhaps a blow to the back.”
After the initial break in his calm, Snape reverted back to his usual cold, heartless self. However, he seemed unable to move. His eyes were locked on the mess of blood coating the floor. Ariadne huffed impatiently and shoved him out of the way. Casting a quick diagnostic spell, she cringed inwardly. There was no way they could get this boy the medical attention he needed in time to save him without resorting to Dark Magic. With a mere second of thought, Ariadne realized she was already so invested in this that it did not matter to her. She straightened her back, resolved to do what was needed to save this child’s life.
Ariadne palpated Harry’s skull and face, trying to tell if anything was fractured. As she pressed lightly on his bruised face, the unconscious boy let out a whimper and Severus hissed wordlessly. Ariadne drew her now bloody hands away immediately. Wiping her hair out of her eyes, she sealed the gash on the boy’s skull and the cut that bisected his abdomen to stop the bleeding. She then scorgified him, trying to determine whether there were any other lacerations or if all the blood had come from those two. It had. She sighed, relieved that that at least hadn’t been any worse. She threw an anxious glance at Severus, who was now staring at her.
“What? What is wrong with him? What else did that…that Muggle do to him?” He spoke with soft vehemence, allowing her to see some of the wild, hopeless desperation in his eyes. He was willing her to understand his pain. And she did. He had been so cruel to this boy because he had thought his love had betrayed him. He had thought this child was the representation of that betrayal. Now that he knew the truth, now that he knew what he had, that he understood what he had gained, he thought he was about to loss his only son, only connection to Lily. Without ever apologizing. He thought his son would die hating him and never knowing he still had a father.
“No, it’s just…I think that there is too much kidney damage for me to… take alone. To save him, I will need to give it to at least one…possibly two other people.” Ariadne refused to meet his gaze. Her eyes were trained on the floor, ashamed of what she was willing to do to others for someone she never even met. The spell, more of a curse really, of which she was speaking was exceedingly dark, extremely dangerous, and very painful. It was outlawed, in almost all cases, by the United Magical Nations. She could be put in Azkaban for the rest of her life for this, but if it saved this boy’s life…
Snape stared at her for a moment and then swallowed thickly. “I will take it and” He sneered vengefully. “We will give some of the damage to that muggle slob downstairs. He can feel a little of what he has done to this boy.”
Ariadne’s eye snapped up to his at the tone of his voice. She nodded once. She saw the burning gleam in the depths of his eyes and her shame disappeared in a surge of certainty that she was doing the right thing. She took his hand and, pulling out her wand, repeated the curse that would transfer some of the damage that was done to Harry Potter’s kidneys and other internal organs to her own. She repeated it, giving some of the damage to Snape and then once more, giving a larger amount to the fat muggle who was trembling with fear in the living room where Harry’s torture had first begun. When she had completed the spell the third time, a scream of pain rang up the stairs.
Gritting her teeth, Ariadne summoned a cordless telephone from the front hall. She punched in 999 and waited but a moment. “Hello, yes, please send an ambulance as soon as possible. No. Yes. Vernon Dursley is experiencing acute renal failure, most likely with complications due to morbid obesity. No. No, there is nothing I can do for him. No. Immediately to 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey. No, I do not need you to stay on the phone with me. No. Thank you, goodbye.”
She rolled her eyes and chucked the pone into the corner of the tiny bedroom. “Severus, I need you to get his things. There is one more thing I can do for him, but we need to take him back to the castle immediately.”
Snape nodded and completed his duty, as Ariadne forced a blood replenisher, which she kept with her just in case, down Harry’s throat. By the time Snape was done a few minutes later, the boy had regained a little of his color. He no longer looked like a corpse, though he still appeared on the brink of death. But of course, he was on the brink of death. The High Priestess felt a tear slip from her eye. She shook it away. He would not die. Harry Potter was, after all, The-Boy-Who-Lived!
“Fawks!!! We need you! For Dumbledore, Fawks, and for Harry! Harry needs you!” She called to the empty room. Snape was downstairs getting Potter’s trunk from under the stairs.
With a small flash of golden light, the bird appeared hovering over her head, just as Severus returned. He seemed angry again, but Ariadne took no notice of it this time. Her intense worry for the boy in front of her and desperation for him to live eclipsed every other emotion. Gesturing for Snape to return to Harry’s side, she instructed, “Put one hand under him, gently and take my wrist in your other hand.”
With a furrowed brow, he complied tensely. Ariadne also slipped a supportive hand under Harry’s body. With the other, she grasped Fawks tail and, in a quietly anguished tone, asked him to take them to the headmaster.
Another flash of golden announced their departure to the now empty room, just as the ambulance screamed to a halt outside.
Thanks for still reading.
[*I tried to get the medical stuff (small-ish stuff, but still) as accurate as possible. Also, so far, as far as I can tell, little to no in-text comments in this story. Aren
Here is another chappie…
Last Chapter…
“Now, we have to go!” She tossed the discarded robe onto one of the armchairs. They made a swift exit: down the stairs and through the bar. Ariadne called a soft thanks to Aberforth, the bartender, as they passed. He gave her a curious look, but merely smiled. The two emerged into the late evening sun. Two loud pops sounded and the street was empty.
Chapter 8 – Of Pain
The sky was darker in Privet Drive than in Hogsmeade, masking all indications of their arrival except for the small pop. Ariadne and Severus stood on the corner and looked down the street, trying to pick Number 4 out from among its identical neighbors. Snape’s keen eyes spotted the owl sitting atop a house in the middle of the block. His gate as he strode purposefully in its direction was no less impressive for the lack of billowing robes. Anger and power swirled invisibly, making the air around him pulse. Nearly as angry as the man next to her, Ariadne ground her teeth as she followed, magic crackling from her fingertips. Injustice and abuse was simply not something she would allow.
When the two made it to the doorstep, Ariadne raised a fist and slammed it hard against the wood. The resulting loud thud echoed inside. Loud noises sounding in response caused Ariadne to glance sideways at her companion. His dark brow was furrowed. He seemed equally mystified as to their origin. That is, until the door jerked open. Their eyes were assaulted by the sight of what appeared to be a whale stuffed into a suit. Ariadne wondered momentarily how he managed to find shoes into which he could shove his feet. Vernon Dursley’s face was puce and looked like it might be perpetually fixed in an angry scowl.
His beady eyes narrowed and swept over them from out of his porky face. To his minute and prejudice brain, they appeared to be going to a costume party, but it wasn’t even October yet. His fat upper lip pulled back into a sneer and he barked, “What ever you are selling, I’m certainly not interest. Now get your freaky selves off my stoop.”
Severus’ lip curled in an answering snarl, which caused the rotund man to shrink back slightly. The move caused Snape’s snarl to take on an edge of sadistic pleasure. He hissed, “We are most certainly not selling anything” He wrapped the word in dripping scorn.
Ariadne stepped up to avoid any situation that could be used against either of them, if the something went wrong. “Mr. Dursley, we are here to see your nephew. Harry Potter is to be handed into our custody immediately.”
The obese man’s eyes widened and he spluttered, “I have no idea who you are talking about! Now, get off my property!” As if to re-enforce his point, the idiot man reached out both hands and shoved Ariadne backwards. The small ring on his left pinky finger snagged at the material of her vest-shirt and popped off one of the buttons. The heel of her shoe must have caught on her skirt because a ripping sound cut through the night. He, no doubt believes I am the weaker of us two, because I am a woman. The blond straighten and stepped forward.
“Really, Mr. Dursley.” Ariadne released her fist into a claw and held the sizzling black fire close to his face. “If you do not immediately release Harry Potter to us, I will be very, very angry. Believe me when I say that you do not wish to make me angry.” The more she spoke, the quieter her voice became. At her side, Snape’s expression twisted into a cruel, sneering grin, hardening his eyes and making them glitter with ice.
Vernon stumbled back, flattening himself to the wall. His puce face was bleached a chalky white. He lifted a shaking finger and pointed up the staircase. Severus swept past and Ariadne went to follow, only stopping for a short second to hiss, “You will not leave this house. If I find that you have, I will personally track you down and inflict every single experimental and painful curse I can find upon you. Before I am done, you will beg for death and think me kind when I finally grant your request.”
She continued on up the stair and found one of the doors opened. What she saw inside made her freeze in the doorway. Snape knelt on the floor of a small sparse room, crouching over the unconscious body of a small black-haired teen. The boy was sickly white, looking as though he had not one drop of blood in his veins. Crimson liquid pooled on the floorboards beneath his head and dripped between the slats. His face was so swollen that one of his eyes was completely obscured. The skin of his face and neck should have been that same sickly white as the rest of his exposed flesh, but instead it was a dark and dusky purple-black. Ariadne winced just looking at him.
The boy’s shirt was stained bright crimson at the stomach and he was curled in on himself. His slight stature made him look like a young child. Even though Ariadne knew in her mind that he was almost 16, her heart’s maternal instinct kicked in and it bleed for him. Severus had pushed up the back of his shirt to check his ribs and the expression on his face told her that something was very, very wrong. Snape’s cold agony shook her from her immobility. She was not the boy’s parent and she was in agony for his pain. She could not begin to imagine the torment that seeing this manifestation of Lily’s love must be causing Severus, the boy’s biological father. She hurried to his side, throwing herself to her knees, to see what he saw. Blood was pooled under the skin that was pulled so tautly over the boy’s ribs and spine. It looked as if the child had been starved all summer. More dark-purple bruising was radiating out from the bleeding. The skin looked slightly swollen as well. Ariadne glanced at Snape.
“I-“ He paused as his rich voice cracked with strain. “I believe he has several cracked ribs. It appear that he is also suffering from acute renal failure due in part to blood loss and in part to blunt force trauma, perhaps a blow to the back.”
After the initial break in his calm, Snape reverted back to his usual cold, heartless self. However, he seemed unable to move. His eyes were locked on the mess of blood coating the floor. Ariadne huffed impatiently and shoved him out of the way. Casting a quick diagnostic spell, she cringed inwardly. There was no way they could get this boy the medical attention he needed in time to save him without resorting to Dark Magic. With a mere second of thought, Ariadne realized she was already so invested in this that it did not matter to her. She straightened her back, resolved to do what was needed to save this child’s life.
Ariadne palpated Harry’s skull and face, trying to tell if anything was fractured. As she pressed lightly on his bruised face, the unconscious boy let out a whimper and Severus hissed wordlessly. Ariadne drew her now bloody hands away immediately. Wiping her hair out of her eyes, she sealed the gash on the boy’s skull and the cut that bisected his abdomen to stop the bleeding. She then scorgified him, trying to determine whether there were any other lacerations or if all the blood had come from those two. It had. She sighed, relieved that that at least hadn’t been any worse. She threw an anxious glance at Severus, who was now staring at her.
“What? What is wrong with him? What else did that…that Muggle do to him?” He spoke with soft vehemence, allowing her to see some of the wild, hopeless desperation in his eyes. He was willing her to understand his pain. And she did. He had been so cruel to this boy because he had thought his love had betrayed him. He had thought this child was the representation of that betrayal. Now that he knew the truth, now that he knew what he had, that he understood what he had gained, he thought he was about to loss his only son, only connection to Lily. Without ever apologizing. He thought his son would die hating him and never knowing he still had a father.
“No, it’s just…I think that there is too much kidney damage for me to… take alone. To save him, I will need to give it to at least one…possibly two other people.” Ariadne refused to meet his gaze. Her eyes were trained on the floor, ashamed of what she was willing to do to others for someone she never even met. The spell, more of a curse really, of which she was speaking was exceedingly dark, extremely dangerous, and very painful. It was outlawed, in almost all cases, by the United Magical Nations. She could be put in Azkaban for the rest of her life for this, but if it saved this boy’s life…
Snape stared at her for a moment and then swallowed thickly. “I will take it and” He sneered vengefully. “We will give some of the damage to that muggle slob downstairs. He can feel a little of what he has done to this boy.”
Ariadne’s eye snapped up to his at the tone of his voice. She nodded once. She saw the burning gleam in the depths of his eyes and her shame disappeared in a surge of certainty that she was doing the right thing. She took his hand and, pulling out her wand, repeated the curse that would transfer some of the damage that was done to Harry Potter’s kidneys and other internal organs to her own. She repeated it, giving some of the damage to Snape and then once more, giving a larger amount to the fat muggle who was trembling with fear in the living room where Harry’s torture had first begun. When she had completed the spell the third time, a scream of pain rang up the stairs.
Gritting her teeth, Ariadne summoned a cordless telephone from the front hall. She punched in 999 and waited but a moment. “Hello, yes, please send an ambulance as soon as possible. No. Yes. Vernon Dursley is experiencing acute renal failure, most likely with complications due to morbid obesity. No. No, there is nothing I can do for him. No. Immediately to 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey. No, I do not need you to stay on the phone with me. No. Thank you, goodbye.”
She rolled her eyes and chucked the pone into the corner of the tiny bedroom. “Severus, I need you to get his things. There is one more thing I can do for him, but we need to take him back to the castle immediately.”
Snape nodded and completed his duty, as Ariadne forced a blood replenisher, which she kept with her just in case, down Harry’s throat. By the time Snape was done a few minutes later, the boy had regained a little of his color. He no longer looked like a corpse, though he still appeared on the brink of death. But of course, he was on the brink of death. The High Priestess felt a tear slip from her eye. She shook it away. He would not die. Harry Potter was, after all, The-Boy-Who-Lived!
“Fawks!!! We need you! For Dumbledore, Fawks, and for Harry! Harry needs you!” She called to the empty room. Snape was downstairs getting Potter’s trunk from under the stairs.
With a small flash of golden light, the bird appeared hovering over her head, just as Severus returned. He seemed angry again, but Ariadne took no notice of it this time. Her intense worry for the boy in front of her and desperation for him to live eclipsed every other emotion. Gesturing for Snape to return to Harry’s side, she instructed, “Put one hand under him, gently and take my wrist in your other hand.”
With a furrowed brow, he complied tensely. Ariadne also slipped a supportive hand under Harry’s body. With the other, she grasped Fawks tail and, in a quietly anguished tone, asked him to take them to the headmaster.
Another flash of golden announced their departure to the now empty room, just as the ambulance screamed to a halt outside.
Thanks for still reading.
[*I tried to get the medical stuff (small-ish stuff, but still) as accurate as possible. Also, so far, as far as I can tell, little to no in-text comments in this story. Aren
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