Secret desires
~past~
Severus slowly settled down in his quarters up in the west-tower. Since these were his living-quarters as well as his classroom he seldom left the rooms. He had a feeling he wouldn't be welcomed by anyone in the village due to his striking resemblance to the town Sheriff. The curse seemed to dissipate during the following days, but he still felt uneasy and off balance somehow. Through a small window he had a view of the Sherwood Forest. He liked the woods. It reminded him of the forbidden forest back on the grounds of Hogwarts, and he wondered if he would ever see it again.
The witch showed up for her lessons, just as her son, and she also had the look of someone hiding something. He taught her in potions, answered her questions, listened to what ever she found interesting to talk about. Her mind was sharp and her intellect stilted in this backwater, still.. Her greed showed itself too easily, although she was an apt student. As the days went by the history of this land unfolded itself for him. And to his surprise he realized he had landed in the very fairytale he never believed as a child and still denied could have taken place as a grown man… It's funny how things work out sometimes…
For the witch talked about her land's history and the struggle and strain with great passion. It was perilous times. The power struggle between the Old Saxon lords and the French nobles. The witch wanted to restore the true line.. a line none other than Robin Hood himself was part of. Yes, Robin of Loxley was of the old blood and heir as true king. Severus had no difficulty seeing that the witch savored no warm feelings towards this man and he had no problem guessing she wanted her son on the throne instead of him. He had heard the legend, after all. But Robin would not fight, and rule on the throne as the old high kings did. Therefore he was the enemy, hunted by the crown as an outlaw, and hunted by his cousin the Sheriff. The Sheriff hated Robin with all of his passion. Severus could tell by the way he spat his name when mentioning him. And his eyes always got colder if Severus asked him about his cousin.
"He betrayed me!" he could cry out furiously and leave the room in anger. Twenty minutes later he would return with a sweet smile on his face, as if nothing had happened, sit down and ask Severus to continue. And Severus followed his inner voice whispering "Don't let him annoy you!" and continued the lesson where they'd left off.
*-*
With a lazy eye attached at the newcomer , while the other one remained behind a closed eyelid, the Sheriff was attending his lesson in Statesmanship. He didn't bother learning anything that wasn't particularly interesting to him, and right now there was only one thing occupying his mind.
He wondered if the stranger could read his mind and chuckled, he reckoned his teacher would loose his neutral look if he overheard his student's longing to try out how he tasted! In front of the small blackboard the black clad man continued his lesson.
He wanted to touch it. He wanted to touch it so badly, knowing the secret that was growing within that very body. A flashing image of a knife caressing that soft skin, the blood- so red against the white.. A smile slowly grew on his face and his fingers started twitching.
*-*
Severus stopped dead in the middle of a sentence, a shadow fled over his face while he stared at the man sitting by the desk in front of him. The man had a smile on his face, a smile that no matter how humiliating it was to confess, scared him. The beam in his eyes, the far away look of them, told Severus his pupil wasn't paying much attention at the moment. He was staring at him, but at the same time he was staring straight through him. The Sheriff rose from the chair, the smile still on his face, his hair partly hiding his magnetic gaze. Unaware of what he was doing Severus backed a few steps as the man approached him. He was so close now Severus could smell sweet newly sprung sweat.
"For me to continue this lesson I need you to sit down," Severus said and gestured for the empty chair. His back hit the blackboard and he was furious with himself for showing his weakness. The Sheriff didn't stop. He came closer still, the smile changing a little as he lifted his right arm. Severus had to use all of his willpower not to shove the man away. He was already invading his personal space, and Severus wasn't a man who savored physical contact with psychotics or anyone else for that matter, no matter how good looking they might be! If he did anything to enrage the Sheriff in his current condition he could very well end up dead, or at least severely hurt. And that would risk his return to the Hogwarts if he ever had one.. He HAD to be patient and he HAD to be careful. And to be careful included not offending the spoilt brat in front of him. A slender finger touched his cheek, and Severus could see the other man's nostrils take in the smell of him like it was perfume. Two lazy eyes with a burning desire in them rested on his face and the man showed no signs of retreating.
"Isn't it amazing how we can look so much alike?" A tone of amazement and awe in his voice. The finger brushed his lip on its way down Severus' cheek and continued down his throat.
"Yes… it truly is.." Severus voice sounded nothing like its usual old scorning self. He just wanted to get away from the insanity evolving in front of him. Finally the man removed his finger and stepped back, so that Severus dared to breathe again without being afraid the other would assume that for being some sort of invite. In one week's time his month was up, and hopefully he would find a way to return. He had to cling to that hope, no matter how much he doubted it.
"Now, well.. Just had to watch you up close," The Sheriff said, and with that he spun around and left the room with firm and steady footsteps. Severus had to sit down to absorb the shock of the whole unnerving scene that'd just unfolded itself in front of him. Was that man.. teasing him??!? He could still feel the trail the Sheriff's finger left down his face, like the itch of Poison Ivy. He tried to rub it away with the sleeve of his cloak, but the itchy sensation remained. He had to find a way to keep the man at arms length and at the same time not risk to have him blowing up in his face. Damn this curse, or what ever it was! He was weak and vulnerable as a child!
*-*
Later that same day Severus had a visit from the Sheriff's mother. The witch barged straight into the room without knocking or in any other way announcing her arrival. Severus who was looking forward to a night off had just dressed in his night-shirt and therefore was quite surprised when the old wrinkled woman came charging.
"I would prefer it if you'd knock," he said, not afraid to show his annoyance. She may be a witch, but she was still no match to him, no matter how dampened his skills was.
"Oh, ready for bed I see?" she grinned.
"Yes," Severus answered: "It's late and I'm tired. What do you want!" The witch clapped her hands together and took a deep breath:
"Well, it just occurred to me that your month here as we agreed on is almost up. But I feel I have so much more to learn, that there's so much more to know that I would like you to stay longer."
"How much longer." The words escaped his mouth before he had the chance to think, and an alarm bell went off in his head.
"Oh, for a year or two, or longer even" the witch replied and the foul smile on her face broadened: "You see, it's in my interest to keep you and your services here a little longer, and I know you can't leave without my help, so.." Severus took a step forward, anger burning in his eyes as he wished to strangle the miserable old being causing his anger and despair.
"I agreed to do your bidding for ONE month woman. Not two, nor three, four or five- ONE!" He kept his voice silky smooth but showed no sign of hiding the building anger inside him.
"Now, now there, Lord Snape! There's no use in getting agitated," the old woman said and shook her finger in front of his face as if he was a sulking child. Something inside him snapped. To see this.. inferior witch gloat in front of him made him loose his temper. He snapped the arm of which the waving finger belonged and squeezed it until he heard old bones creaking. A contemptuous laughter started ringing in his ears as he felt her pull away from his grip like there was nothing to it. All Severus could do was to gape his own weakness, the feel of his grip slipping was more terrifying than the old woman's laughter.
"Don't wear your self out, boy!" A little of her son's madness floated to the surface of the writhed face as she let go of Severus' helpless arm. And with these words she left him, realizing his wildest fears. He was here to stay…
The night followed without sleep. Could the curse have taken from him all of his natural skills for good? Was it a curse that had turned him into a simple muggle? No, he didn't think so. It felt more like his strength and skills were trapped, somewhere inside him. Caged, needing some sort of counter spell to get out. As weakened as he was now he couldn't even send a dream-message back to Hogwarts pleading for Albus' help. And the physical strain he experienced lately was alarming. Climbing stairs left him panting and heaving on the top, like he was an old man with a heart condition. Eight hours of teaching every day left him so drained he had problems undressing in the evening without falling asleep. And when he finally got to bed, he couldn't sleep. He would be dead tired, but he just wasn't able to rest. He considered himself lucky if he got four hours of sleep every other day. Severus' only hope now was for the headmaster getting suspicious when Severus didn't return after the agreed month, and that he would send him some sort of rescue party. Little did he know that Albus Dumbledore was well aware of the fact that Severus wouldn't return after the agreed month and that he wouldn't send a rescue party to save him.
*-*
The following days Severus calculated his chances for escaping the living-quarters that now had become his prison. Mournfully he realized the chance to be pretty slim. The entrance of his room was now heavily guarded and whenever he left the room someone followed him everywhere around. And even if he DID manage to escape, where would he go? He carried the face of a hated man and he would no doubt be hunted down and killed by anyone who recognized him walking around unguarded. So he had to wait and he had to hope, for his powers to return…
*-*
~present~
The month had come and gone since Severus' departing. And although Albus Dumbledore knew for a fact Severus wouldn't return, yet, he still stayed awake during the night Severus had told him he would return. His poor child, trapped in perilous times, stuck with a mission he probably wasn't even aware of yet. Something unexpected had happened the night of Severus' departure. The strong aura surrounding him got weaker the second he stepped through the void, Albus had felt it- the draining of his powers. Because of that he would probably not be able to call for help, or leave when he wanted to. For the longest he had hoped Severus would stay behind because he choose to, now Albus knew it was because he had no choice…
In the Sherwood Forest evil was spreading like wild fire. All villagers had now fled from the village, the only ones still remaining in the area was some muggle Archaeologists refusing to let go of their "find". They reckoned the scary things happening at night were stupid children pranks and nothing to worry about. In a couple of weeks they would finish their work inside the castle, to continue it out in the forest. Albus had daily reports coming in from spies in the area and knew that sooner or later he had to get down there to confront this evilness. And if he wanted to spare the lives of a gang of reckless old men, it had to be son. He would set together a team of his top- wizards to assist him, and together he hoped they would be able to trap the beast one more time, or better- destroy it.
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