Primoris Oraculum Duo (First Prophecy Two)

Chapter 50

Harry slowly forced himself to the brink of vomiting, eating everything that Pomfrey had put before him, determined to get his strength back as quickly as possible. He had tried to talk her into giving him strengthening potions, but the mediwitch was as determined as Harry that his strength would be real and solid and not artificially induced. Now, here he was eating, but not tasting, mindlessly chewing the bites so that he could swallow without choking, concentrating on keeping the food down.

Remus had been prowling the borders of the room, unable to stop the jitteriness that always came in the days before unprotected transformation. It was two days before the full moon. Draco had been trying to get the Wolfsbane Potion done correctly, but Remus could take a single sniff and know it wasn’t right. The blond Slytherin was supremely upset that Severus’s notes on the potion did not include the improvements that he had made. At best, any notations were cryptic, and Draco could see that the master had been guarding his successes with the potion. In his increasing aggressiveness, Remus was unwilling to settle for less than what Severus had given him. Even Harry had been unable to talk him into accepting what Draco brewed as better than nothing.

Jack had been lying on the end of Harry’s bed. His eyes watched the werewolf warily. One pass by the bed brought Remus closer to the bed and Jack growled in warning. Remus whipped around and growled back, eyes yellow. The little dog was instantly standing, hackles rising, teeth lengthening. Harry reached out for him, even as Remus seemed to realize his mistake. He had realized that the dog had every protective instinct fine-tuned to Harry. In spite of what would have been a very one-way confrontation with a werewolf, Jack would gladly give his all to be a shield between Harry and any perceived danger. The man looked mortified at his loss of control, and with a whispered apology, he fled the infirmary.

Harry sighed in relief as Jack reverted to his normal appearance and turned a few circles before laying back down on Harry’s feet.

Madam Pomfrey hurried in, hearing the door slamming in Remus’s wake. At her questioning look, Harry replied, “Remus isn’t doing so well. He still won’t agree to take whatever adequate version of Wolfsbane Draco makes.”

She shook her head as she straightened the sheets of Harry’s bed. As she removed the tray of empty dishes, she lamented, “He may well have to get used to inferior products. Severus was the only one to ever brew a perfect Wolfsbane, even before he had begun to make improvements.”

Harry frowned. “I could have done it. I helped Severus at the villa. If I were strong enough yet, I could be helping get it brewed.”

She clicked her tongue at him. “You know you need magic to make it turn out right. Even if you weren’t still as weak as a kitten, the lack of magic would prevent you.” She gazed down at his saddened face and added, “If you want to see the positive aspect, you have a few more days to regain your physical strength. It will take him at least two days to recover from a transformation without potion.”

Harry just nodded before scooting down in the bed to pull the blanket up over his shoulders.

As Remus stormed through the corridors, he was able to calm himself enough to finally realize that Harry was the one who might suffer the most, if he insisted on going through his transformation without aid. His recovery would take longer, and they would have to delay leaving on their search for Severus even longer. He had seen how hard Harry was working to get his strength back. He could feel the anxiety in his cub-child, the worry for Severus overshadowing everything else. With a pang of guilt, he also realized how cruel he had been to Draco, to continue to reject the young man’s attempts at brewing a sufficient Wolfsbane Potion. Truthfully, the vials that Draco had presented to him had been perfect in every way, according to textbook recipe. It was Remus’s own stupidity that he had been insisting on a version only Severus was capable of.

Severus was not here. Harry was depending on him to get them to wherever Nyx guided them. With a heavy sigh, he headed towards the dungeons, determined to make amends to the Slytherin and accept the potion that he had so carefully concocted.

OoOoOoOoOoO

The man had always been a loner, someone who was hard to get to know, someone that could never be called more than an acquaintance by anyone who knew his name. Going into the field of archeology was a natural for him. The old cultures fascinated him, giving him their secrets as he carefully and lovingly dusted away centuries, sometimes millennia, of shrouding dirt. They didn’t try to carry on conversations with him like the bumbling interns who annoyed him while attempting to be the one who discovered the best secrets. He ignored them for the most part, unless they made horrendous errors in judgment, being careless in their excitement, damaging sacred and priceless artifacts.

He was sure that was the circumstance that was currently causing him a headache. The day before, he had carefully placed the ancient vessel inside a crate, buffering it with cotton batting. He knew that he had found something of value when he had unearthed it. Daylight had been fading when he had finally freed it from the cement-like dirt that had covered it for the last two thousand years. His eyes were gritty and he was afraid that he would damage it if he tried to clean it further before he had rested and calmed himself over the discovery. He had locked it away, safe from harm, he had thought.

He had slept in his canvas tent, the crate away from the entrance so that it wouldn’t be stumbled over. He had slept as he hadn’t in a long time, deeply, and with haunting dreams. As a child he had had dreams like this, but they had stopped when he got old enough to seek out a doctor who was willing to prescribe sleeping pills. Now, as he awoke, he saw light shimmering out of the crate from between the slats. Someone had gotten in and poured water into the vessel. That’s all it could be, for it looked like the reflections one saw when light reflected off the surface of water.

Anger filled him. Which one of those idiots had dared to enter his private tent and desecrate a piece that he had obviously taken care to remove from the dig site for safe-keeping? He pulled on his shirt and pants with quick angry motions, in a hurry to storm out to the barrack tents and demand the head of the imbecile.

As he dressed, the reflected light brightened, catching his attention. Sudden realization stilled his hands; there was not a light inside the box. The lock was still in place on the hasp. No one could have put water in the vessel … and yet, light was coming from inside.

Forbidden thoughts rushed into his mind … forbidden because he had long ago pledged to search and care for artifacts, regardless of their possible value … and here he was, allowing himself to wonder if what he had found was even more special than he had ever imagined. Was it some kind of ancient magic that might only be dreamed about?

When he had been younger, he had sometimes imagined that he could do magic; he had even convinced himself sometimes that he had done magic when something unexpected happened around him. When he was older, the belief and the dreams had died quietly, and the lure of discovering the wonders of old cultures and civilizations had taken over.

Maybe this was still a dream. He was just plain old ordinary Edward McGonagall, an archeologist. Even though he might wish it, nothing remotely exciting ever happened to him.

Still, he looked at the glowing crate; what if something had finally happened? Something wonderful, or at least not as mundane as usual?

He knelt beside the crate and fished the key out of shirt pocket. Unlocking the padlock, he laid it on the camp bed. His eyes squinted as he raised the crate lid and the silvery light grew even brighter. After a few moments, he was able to look at the swirling contents of the old vessel. It wasn’t water after all, but looked more like quicksilver. It slowly rotated inside the vessel, as if an unseen hand was stirring it. Lit from within, the silvery reflection bounced around the inside of the tent.

Edward leaned closer to examine it, unwilling to touch it just yet. As he peered into the silver, some of it became transparent and he could see movement below the surface. A woman’s face smiled up at him and he recognized her from the dreaming he had done the previous night. He leaned closer. It was part of his dream then. Probably due to a fear of his discovery being stolen from him.

He reached out a finger and gently touched the surface. Slender white hands reached up from the other side and he felt himself tugged closer. He tried to jerk back in alarm, but was already falling into the crate and the vessel. Expecting to feel the crash of splintering wood and broken pottery, he closed his eyes.

He landed alright, but not how he had guessed he would. He was laying on the ground when he opened his eyes, but the tent and its contents were gone. Instead, he looked up to see the woman from his dreams. She was still smiling gently at him and he shook his head in confusion.

“Welcome, Edward McGonagall,” she said simply.

Before he could voice a question or reply a sharp voice came from behind him and he twisted around to see who it was. “McGonagall?! Is he …”

The man was dressed completely in black, something Edward would never have done, if only for the reason that he would roast in the sun while he was working. This man was tall, thin, and looked quite angry.

The woman drifted over to the irate man looking as if she sought to soothe him. “He has only a little magic, enough to see through to your realm.”

“If he is from Minerva’s family, he could be quite strong.” The man was glaring at him with black eyes.

Edward narrowed his eyes in thought. Minerva? Wasn’t that a spinster cousin that he seldom saw? Why on earth would he dream of her?

The woman drifted back to him now, and laid a hand on his arm, soothing him as she had the dark man. “You believe this to be a dream? If it frightens you, we can assure that you forget it all, once Severus is safe. You have been chosen, Edward McGonagall. You found the vessel that was once used as an oracle for the lesser gods. We are fortunate that you take such care. Not all who seek ancient treasures are as careful with them.” She smiled at him and he felt as if he would do anything for this woman, even if she was just a dream.

He looked from her to the dark man. “Perhaps you could explain where I am and why. If this is a dream, I would like to know that it will be a good one.”

The dark man stepped forward. “I am Severus Snape. If you are willing, I would use you as a conduit to return to my proper existence.”

“A conduit? Why would you need me? What will happen if I refuse?”

Severus could see the man struggling to appear unconcerned and he felt a bit of pity. “If you refuse, you will simply return to where you were before you came into the dream.”

Edward tilted his head at Severus. “And you? What will happen to you?”

“If Elpis,” he gestured at the woman, “cannot return me this time, I will eventually cease to exist.”

Edward shoved his hands into his pockets as he thought. His face wrinkled in a frown and Severus thought that he could see a familial resemblance to Minerva around that mouth.

“Your cousin purses her mouth just like that, when she is irritated with me. I would know this because she has often been irritated with me over the years.”

Edward looked at the man, searching the blank face and unable to tell if that was a lie or the truth. “I haven’t seen her in years. That branch of the family is considered a bit eccentric.”

Severus waited for a moment and then replied. “The eccentricity is magic. Minerva is quite powerful.”

Edwards eyebrows shot up at that. “There were always rumors, of course. But no one ever seemed to dig deep enough to prove anything.”

“The wizarding world keeps itself apart from those who are not. But Elpis claims that you have magic in you, as well.”

“If I do, it’s a well-kept secret. When I was a child, funny things would happen occasionally. But I grew out of it.”

“Apparently not completely, if you are here,” Severus said with a smirk.

Another thought occurred to Edward. “How am I to know that I’m not aiding a criminal? Perhaps you are here because you deserve to be.”

Elpis drifted close again. “Severus was caught in this realm when the vessel he traveled through was destroyed. There are very few such vessels. Most have been broken or lost over the eons. The vessel you unearthed was made by the first gods to walk the earth with humans. Now that it has been found, it may be used by those who have the ability to transfer their dreams into it.”

Edward looked astonished. “I put my dream into the bowl? I don’t recall that.”

“No,” she shook her head. “Severus created a dream. Once we found the vessel, I was able to put it into the vessel. But without your help, he cannot use the vessel to travel through.”

“But I can?” he questioned, trying to understand.

“For a time, the dream will remain in the vessel. But without being in the presence of strong magic, it will soon cease to exist, as will Severus.”

“Aren’t you magic, then?” He looked at Severus curiously.

“I was. My powers were taken when the Penseive, the other vessel, was destroyed. There is another wizard who will come looking for me. His powers are deadened also. Once we are reunited, both our powers should return.”

“Will that be a good thing?”

“I am told that he destroyed the most evil wizard of our time, a man who would have eventually destroyed your world as well. I would say that it would be a very good thing.”

Severus’s face was grim with his determination to hide his emotion. Underneath it all, he was wanting to grab the man by the throat and scream obscenities at him until he agreed to let Severus exit the ancient vessel he had unearthed. His desperation to get to Harry was creating a rawness in him that he did not fully understand.

Edward walked back and forth in thought, appearing to give careful consideration to all he had been told. Finally, he looked at the silent woman and the tense dark man.

“I will do what you want.” Whatever this was, whether a dream that would fade with the light of day, or whether it was real, he knew that he wanted it; even if it was a single moment of fantasy in his ordered life. If it was only that, he would always have it to think back upon whenever he needed a shot of drama to liven up things a bit. He could remember that he had been important to more than just the museums he worked for, fulfilling a need for someone, completing a wish.

Elpis smiled serenely, and said, “Severus will be disoriented and may not easily remember who or what he is, when he emerges from the vessel. He will need your care and protection for awhile, until my darkling brother finds him. He has been here too long for his mind to adjust easily to returning. Keep him safe, Edward McGonagall.”

Elpis began to fade from view as the men watched. Edward turned to look at Severus and he started to say something before he suddenly felt his body falling into nothingness.

He opened his eyes and saw that he was on the floor of the tent beside his camp bed. Beside him, curled up on his side, was the man named Severus. Edward sat up, dizziness fading as he moved slowly. Leaning over, he gave Severus a gentle shake.

Black eyes snapped open, the dark-haired man gasping as if he had been without breath for an overly long moment. Jerking himself away from Edward, he banged up against the crate. He scrabbled backwards, his face one of utter confusion.

Edward extended a hand, “Easy there, mate. You’ve had a bit of a shock, but I expect it will be alright in a bit.”

Severus stared at Edward, breathing hard. Slowly, he got the panting under control and he rubbed a wary hand over his face, and then through his hair. Wordlessly, he looked around the tent, taking in his surroundings.

Edward continued to speak gently, “None of this will look familiar to you. It’s my tent, and these are my belongings. You came from there,” he pointed to the crate behind Severus, where it still emitted a silvery glow.

Severus raised himself up to his knees and looked down into the vessel. The silver was still, and it showed him his reflection. After some minutes, he turned back to Edward. “Tell me who I am.”

Edward pushed himself up to sit on the camp bed and proceeded to tell Severus his name, and all about the dream that they had just exited.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Harry looked at all the things he had spread across the bed. The Marauders Map would be pretty useless. The Invisibility Cloak wouldn’t work for him right now, as it depended on the magic of the wearer to function as it should. Although the wand wouldn’t work, he wanted it anyway. He settled on a couple pairs of blue jeans, some shirts, and the black frock coat. Nyx had told them to head to the country of Greece, home of the old gods. Remus and Albus had both tried to tell Harry that the coat would be too heavy for the climate. Harry didn’t tell them that even if he didn’t wear it, he slept with it folded beneath his head each night. Madam Pomfrey knew, but she kept her silence, not wishing to embarrass him. She could see that it offered him security in the absence of the Potions Master. Harry had everything stuffed into a shoulder pack when Remus arrived with his own pack.

“Ready?” Remus asked with a smile.

Harry nodded. “Do you think we will be able to find him before your next change?”

“Believe me, I’d like nothing better.” He slung an arm around Harry’s shoulders and they walked down to the castle gates, Jack jumping around their heels the whole way.

Minerva and Poppy joined Albus in bidding them a safe and successful journey. The Headmaster waved his hands over Harry, casting a disguising charm so that no one would recognize him. Remus picked up Jack and hugged Harry close before he Apparated them to the Ministry. From there, they took an International Portkey to Greece.

OoOoOoOoO

Edward sat back to stretch his aching back and push the back of his gloved hand across a sweaty brow. This archeological dig site had yielded more in the month since he had known Severus than he had ever recovered from a site before. He wondered if it had anything to do with helping out the wishes of an ancient goddess.

Looking over at Severus, he watched while the lanky man continued the careful dusting away of dirt from a protruding artifact. Edward had appreciated the natural tendency for care and precision that Severus had, and he immediately pressed him into service as part of his team. In a short time, Severus had proven himself to be more worthwhile than the rest of the interns and volunteers together. He worked steadily, without complaint of the heat or grime.

Edward had waited a few days after that awakening in his tent, and then had sent a query to one of his sisters about their cousin Minerva. If there was some sort of connection, perhaps he could facilitate getting this man back with the wizard said to be looking for him. He would hate to lose him as a worker, but he had certainly gained a better friend than he had ever had. In the evenings, the two had begun enjoying their tea over a chess board. At first, Edward had been easily winning. But after awhile, it seemed that the strategy of the game was sharpening the dulled mind of the dark-haired man. He began to win more than he lost until he won every game quite easily.

They were working together on a particularly sensitive area of the site, when a messenger approached with a letter. It was from his sister. She had remembered the odd way of sending communication to their cousin and had just received a reply. In response, she had sent Minerva the approximate location of her brother Edward. His sister felt that they would be receiving visitors very soon, if indeed Edward had the person they had been looking for.

OoOoOoOoO

Harry fell back on the bed, an arm slung across his eyes in defeat and fatigue. Who knew that one country could be so vast? If he could only open the link that he and Severus used to share, they would have been able to find each other immediately. At this rate, it would never happen. The Muggle crowds, the heat, the dust, all made him irritable, beyond what he felt at the continued separation from Severus.

Remus had left Harry to rest while he took his own shower down the hall in the old inn. The heat was getting to him, too, and he felt every bit of his age and then some. He knew Harry was discouraged. He had not begun to imagine that it would be this hard. The search was draining, as they showed a Muggle-ized picture of Severus at every place of business they passed, asking if anyone had seen him. How had he ever thought that they would be able to do this before the next full moon? It would not be long before he would be forced to take Harry back to Hogwarts until after his time of change and recovery.

Jack had followed him down the hallway, and the dog stood dejectedly in the shower with Remus, as if he too, wanted to wash off the day’s dust and disappointment. They were making their way back to the room when a messenger stopped Remus and handed him a letter. Remus could barely understand the man’s excitement, but finally got that the letter had arrived being carried by an owl, and dropped on the front desk. Remus tried to look suitably surprised so that the man wouldn’t be suspicious of his acceptance of the mysteriously delivered letter.

He started to stop Harry from taking his turn in the shower, but then decided to read the letter on his own first. If it was bad news, he wanted to shield the young man from it as much as possible, maybe even keep it from him.

He toweled his hair while he opened the letter and sat on his bed to read it. All motion stopped as he took in it’s contents. With a whoop of delight, he began to leap around the small room, causing Jack to bark in excitement. Remus scooped the dog up in his arms.

“He’s here! In this town!”

He hurried through his dressing and a cursory combing out of his long, greyed hair before he ran downstairs to the front desk. The manager on duty was the one who had brought the letter to him and he haltingly gave Remus direction to the address contained in the letter.

When Remus returned to the room, Harry was back and toweling his own hair, looking out the balcony doors towards the lowering sun. Harry looked at him and saw the glint in the werewolf’s eyes.

“What is it?”

Remus decided to keep the whole truth from Harry, in case this didn’t pan out like he thought it would. “I think we should go out to dinner. The manager told me about a place that is supposed to have good food for a reasonable price.”

Harry sat down on his bed. “I’m beat, and I’m not really all that hungry. You go ahead, though.”

Remus shook his head. “No. You need a break from all this, and we both need a good meal. Get dressed. You’ll feel better afterwards, I promise.” He hoped that Harry would feel a lot better when they got to the destination in the letter.

Harry sighed and tried not to feel resentful at Remus making him leave the rooms again, instead of letting him sulk in peace. He dressed himself in clean clothes and then followed Remus out of the inn, Jack tagging along.

Remus consulted the directions that had been scribbled on the letter several times. A last turn had them facing an area of the town that had been cordoned off with rope that had little red warning flags tied to it. A great pit was open before them, parts of ancient walls showing here and there. Several other areas were roped off within the pit, where people were working on their hands and knees, wielding tiny brushes to laboriously uncover what lay beneath the earth.

Harry sighed heavily. “I think you took a wrong turn, Rem. That, or we have to unearth our own dinner from ancient remains.”

Remus ignored Harry, his hand shielding his eyes as he looked out over the dig site. Suddenly, Jack took off, barking joyfully as his feet raced down into the pit. Harry called after him, feeling that the dog would probably get them all removed from the site, if not the city, for daring to spoil a working dig site.

Beside Harry, Remus was now craning his neck, not calling to the dog as Harry would have expected, but seeming to be testing the air with his own sensitive nose as he followed the dog’s progress.

Down in the very bottom of the pit, a kneeling figure raised itself up to watch the dog racing towards him. Dressed in the sun-reflecting light cotton caftans of the native workers, the figure suddenly stood as Jack approached.

Harry moaned as the dog continued a bee-line to a particular worker. Why was Jack attacking? Surely there weren’t Death Eaters still hiding away here, of all places? When Jack leaped into the accepting arms of the man and began jumping up and licking his face, Harry gasped, unable to accept what this meant.

For a few moments, he watched, and then the man looked up at Harry and Remus, pushing back the flowing head dressing as he did so. A head of dark hair was revealed, and Harry could see the white streak in it from where he stood.

Severus locked his black eyes on Harry’s green ones. For another long moment, they simply stood looking at each other, as if not able to believe that this was real.

Then Harry was slipping and sliding down the dirt and gravel sides of the pit, as Severus began to make his own way up.

They met in a bone-crushing hug, Harry crying with relief. Severus broke the hug only to hold Harry back long enough to look into the green eyes. A flood of forgotten memories swept over him and he pulled Harry back against his chest tightly.

Remus remained at the top of the pit, watching, and seeing, as only eyes with magic could, the aura that erupted around the two men as they embraced each other. Jack was jumping up and down all around their feet and another man walked up to them slowly. Jack allowed the man to capture him and hold him up where he could reach out and nose the two whose attention he sought.

Severus finally stepped back from Harry and held out a hand to Edward. Harry shook Edward’s hand and then they all began to climb back out of the pit.

At the top, Severus eyed Remus for a long moment before he hesitantly embraced the werewolf. His arms tightened, and Remus could only stay still in astonishment as Severus whispered, “Thank you for keeping him safe. I am in debt to you.”

Remus stepped back and shook his head. “No. You are not in debt to anyone. Harry destroyed Voldemort. Everyone is indebted to him. He is my cub-child, my pack brother. If anything, I have only done what family would, to aid family.”

Severus stared at him hard before nodding. Putting his arm around a joyous Harry Potter again, the four men and a dog walked away from the ancient site and back towards the new world.

Finis

A/N: Well, it’s over at last! At this time, I do not plan a sequel to these two stories. I have plans that Search For His Soul will not be linked to these after all.

I do have another story that Miss Muse is working hard at getting me to write. It will probably be called Black Phoenix, and it will be an AU after the final battle has been fought. If you have me on author alert, you will be able to check it out and see if it’s your cup of tea!

One last humongous THANK YOU to every one of my wonderful readers and reviewers. You have kept me going this past year! Special shout out to Kim! My online rock and anchor!

Another gigantic THANK YOU to logicalquirk for her unfailing hard work and honesty throughout her beta reading of these stories, and more on the side that have not yet been posted. You’re the best, Lauren and I love you for it!

One last major disclaimer: I do not own Harry, Severus, or any of the other characters belonging to the talented JKR. I express my deepest gratitude to her for allowing me to play in the Hogwarts Playhouse for a bit and shift things around into a new AU!