The Sempra Deck 06 - The Lovers
Jul. 7th, 2011 04:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
teddy_radiatorThe amazing ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mimimanderly has just released the next card of The Sempra Deck, a set of Major Arcana cards forming the Tarot. Each time Mimi posts a new card, I will post another edition of the story, so you can see how the story and the cards meshed together. Here is the next card - 06 The Lovers, and here is the next chapter of the story.
This Chapter is rated R for content and language. Happy Reading!
The Sempra Deck is dedicated to the real mystic goddess Mimi Manderly; to her beloved SeverusMuse, and to my precious Dahlra. All characters with the exception of Mimi Manderley, Peter and Dahlra belong to JK Rowling. I make no money from this publication.
Chapter Four – Dovetailing
Severus Apparated to the Dark Lord’s hiding place, composing his thoughts and disciplining his mind against the Legilimental assault that was sure to come.
As he knelt before the Dark Lord, he noticed that the Lestranges were there, along with Yaxley, Macnair, Dolohov and several others, and he prepared himself. If there was an audience, there would surely be torture, and as sure as he was a Manc boy from the wrong side of the tracks, he’d be the recipient.
“Welcome, Severus,” Voldemort hissed, smiling down at the dark head bowed before him. “I have heard the most astonishing news from our dear Bellatrix about a guest at Hogwarts.”
Severus rose, flicking a stray lock of hair from his eyes. He shot a quick glance at the female Death Eater, who was preening and giving him a look of such smug satisfaction he experienced an intense but transient urge to hex her into oblivion.
Voldemort continued, “A guest that, rumour has it, has been warming your blood as well as your bed, Severus.” He leaned forward in an eerie imitation of his familiar, Nagini. His eyes were alight with vicarious interest. “Are these things true?”
Severus answered smoothly, “Yes, my Lord. Dumbledore is hosting a visitor from the States. She appeared unexpectedly a few weeks back. She has been refreshingly… entertaining.” He took a deep breath and waited. He found that deceiving with the truth was often the best way to proceed with the Dark Lord, who could not discern truth from half truth when Leglimising him.
Sure enough, Severus felt Voldemort slither into his mind. It was a ghastly feeling, to be violated like this. He always felt as if he were being physically fondled and lewdly caressed against his will; it gave him a queer, sick feeling of arousal that shamed and emasculated him. Every time he walked away from this experience, he imagined this would be what it felt like to be a victim of pedophilia; helpless and soiled.
The Dark Lord saw Mimi, walking with him; he saw her react to his thinly veiled insults in the tower; Severus interjected the dream into his memories, showing him drawing her onto his lap, impaling her; he then moved onward to her standing with Draco and Pansy.
Then Voldemort was out of Severus’ mind with a pulling, almost sucking feeling. The Dark Lord was always reluctant to release a living mind; it reminded him all too much of how little humanity was left in his own. To Severus, it felt like coming up for air after being kissed by a corpse.
“Such a diminutive woman to be causing such a fuss, my dear Severus. I would think our Bella would find her little more than a midnight snack.”
Then you’d be biting off more than you can chew, Bella, Severus thought. “Indeed, My Lord. She is of moderate interest. I myself never bothered to mention her as such.”
Voldemort looked from Bella to Severus. “And yet, Bella’s dear nephew Draco has sent her an owl earlier today with the most fanciful tale. I summoned you here to verify it.”
“A tale, my Lord?” Severus thought frantically. Should he validate Draco, or discredit him? What would be the safest alternative for Draco, and more importantly, what would keep Mimi safe?
“Why, yes, Severus,” The Dark Lord smiled, as patient as a spider. “Aunt Bella was told today that this woman, Miss Manderly, was hexed several times at point blank range, and yet no magic affected her.
“Now, is Draco telling the truth, or has my faithful Lieutenant, Lucius Malfoy’s son, proven that, like his father, he is incapable of fulfilling his obligations to my service by giving me false and misleading information?”
Severus felt his heart rate increase. If he accused Draco of lying, his mother, his father in Azkaban, and the boy himself would be punished; their suffering would be unspeakable, the damage perhaps permanent.
He thought of Mimi, her sea-blue eyes blazing with keen intelligence, saying, “I can protect you. That’s what goddesses do!”
Without a shred of certainty that he was doing the right thing, Severus bowed his head in acquiescence. “The boy spoke the truth, my Lord. I myself witnessed it just moments before you summoned me. The woman has powers I can scarcely comprehend. Whatever she is, she is not of our world.”
“Ah! So you knew about this, Severus, and you kept it from our Lord!” Bella screeched.
“I knew about it five minutes before I arrived, Bella,” Severus drawled, in his most world-weary voice. “If you had been listening instead of scheming how to discredit me, you would have heard the explanation I have given to our Lord. He has seen it himself in my mind!”
“Children, please.” The voice was faintly chiding in a fatherly way, but both Bellatrix and Severus heard the warning tone underneath. “I want answers, not petulant bickering. Bella, if Severus did indeed find this out moments ago, then of course he would have notified me at his first opportunity.”
“I would, indeed, my Lord.” Severus bowed, frantically trying to decide what direction to take. He knew he had seconds to make up his mind.
Sadly, he was not given even that much. Voldemort said, “Severus, what say you? Who or what is she?”
Severus, swallowing, cast his fate with the Muggle at Hogwarts, patiently worrying about him and awaiting his return. “She – she told me she was a goddess, my Lord. At first, I thought it was the insane prattling of a madwoman.” He allowed a trace of fear to creep into his face. It was not hard to do. “After what I have seen, I am truly at a loss as to what or who she truly is.”
“Does Dumbledore know?”
“Again, my Lord, I cannot say. He has said nothing to me if he does. I would think, though, that if he knows Miss Manderly’s true origin, he would have mentioned it to me.”
“I agree.” Voldemort sat back in his chair, steepling his long hands together. “Do you think she is a goddess, Severus?”
Again, Severus wished for seconds to think, but had none. Carelessly promising gods he no longer believed in all manner of things, he said, “I cannot say, my Lord. I can only say what I saw.”
“And that was?”
Severus cast another glance at the Death Eaters, hanging onto his every word. In his most sonorous, mellifluous voice, he intoned, “I saw hex after hex pass through her like water. I saw her predict the future, and have it come to pass. I saw her heal wounds with only her touch.”
It was almost worth watching the assembled witch and wizards blanch at his words. He only hoped he wouldn’t have to eat them. He had a feeling they would be bitter and sharp, and taste like ash and ground glass in his mouth.
Voldemort did not react. He did not even blink. He studied Severus carefully for a few moments, then leaned forward. “If she truly is a creature from another world, I would like to meet with her, Severus.” He smiled his awful smile. “Please ask your esteemed guest if she would accompany you to a visit with me.”
With a heavy heart, Severus bowed. “I will endeavour to convince her, my Lord.”
“I am sure you will, dear Severus. Use your legendary powers of persuasion; I’m sure she will be unable to resist.” Severus looked up into the Dark Lord’s eyes and saw his pain readying to be unleashed, and he swallowed. “In the meantime, I do hope this will serve as a reminder to inform me of any change in the fabric of our daily lives, Severus. Crucio!”
Severus returned to his room, shaking, sickened. He wanted to die. He had done much in the noble cause of saving his own hide, but he had reached a new low. To send an innocent Muggle woman into the belly of the beast, to serve her up to the Dark Lord like a sweetmeat to be devoured… how could he face her? She had been kindness itself to him; she had shown compassion, and he had repaid it by sending her to her certain death.
Warring with this was the conflict of whether to not to inform Dumbledore. There was a time when he would willingly tell Dumbledore every secret, every dream, every thought he entertained. Lately, with the knowledge that he would be called upon any day to end the man’s life, and thus secure his and Draco’s allegiance with the Dark Lord for all to see, he grew continually reticent to reveal all of his secrets.
There was a shimmer to his wards, and in his mind he could see her tiny outline against his door. Severus rubbed his face with his hands. Dumbledore or not, there was one to whom he would have to confess, and she now stood on the other side of his door.
Mimi knocked again, stifling the urge to shout, “I know you’re in there!” Severus was a law unto himself within his own chambers; if he chose not to answer the door, she’d have to stand here until he was ready. For the past hour she’d paced up and down the corridor, waiting for him to return.
She had heard Mr. Filch and Mrs. Norris making the rounds, and rather than risk being asked questions she’d as soon as not answer, she had ducked into her own rooms until they’d passed. She was just emerging when she saw Severus’ unmistakable black-clad figure disappearing through his doors.
Cursing at Filch’s timing, she dashed to Severus’ door, but it was too late. He had locked and warded it - automatically, if she knew anything about him. Mimi saw him in her mind’s eye. More than once, she’d dreamed about the night in the tower, touching him, bringing him some relief, some comfort. He had a way of looking in a person’s eyes… Oh shit, Mimi thought. She was forced to admit to herself; she was infatuated with him.
She sighed. The heavy knowledge of who he was and what would happen in the next few months pressed down on her again, and she felt, not for the first time, that she was in way over her head here. After the heady moments in his study, looking into his fierce eyes as he threw spell after hex after jinx at her, his frown and confusion growing with each passing failure, Mimi was left with a shivering feeling of desire.
It had been a thrilling moment – almost an erotic one. She could sense the magic flowing from him; she could see it in his eyes, in his body language as it released itself from his being.
How thrilling it must be to feel that kind of power flowing out of you! It saddened her a little that she would never know how it felt. But to touch him, physically, as she had that night in the tower, gave her the faintest sense of what it must feel like. She could sense something, a faint thrumming beneath his skin, and it excited and stirred her more than she realized. To feel a man like that, touching her intimately, slowly lowering himself to her…
Shaking her head to dispel her less-than-pure thoughts, Mimi raised her hand to knock again when the door swung open. Severus was at the other side of the room, and when their eyes met, Mimi knew that something important had happened. He was bent over the desk, his palms flat on the surface. He looked pale and waxy in the light; and Mimi hurried to his side.
“Severus! Are you alright?” she placed a gentle hand on his arm, and he looked down at her, his eyes bleak and tired. “Have you been…Crucio’d again?”
He looked at her for a moment, then slowly nodded, that strange, blank expression on his face. Mimi put a tentative arm around his waist, and grasped his arm and flung it over her shoulder. “Come on. I’m putting you to bed.”
In spite of his flushed face, he offered no protest; instead, he allowed her to lead him through to his bed chamber, and sat heavily down on the bed, his face paling again with pain and exhaustion.
As Mimi bent low to remove his boots, he watched her unbutton the cloth at his ankles and remove his boots and socks. “Miss Manderly – “
She looked up at him with an almost-angry expression on her face. “I think we’ve already been through this once, Severus. You don’t call a woman who is undressing you by her surname unless you’re in a brothel.”
He regarded her for a shocked moment, then something like dark humour flashed in his eyes. “Are you implying that I frequent brothels, Mimi?” Something about the husky edge to his glossy voice made Mimi’s stomach flutter. She rewarded him with a cheeky little grin.
“I wouldn’t presume, Professor Snape.” She bent back to her task, and as she removed the remaining shoe, she started as a large hand lit upon her shoulder.
She looked back up at him, and to her astonishment, he looked embarrassed. “I don’t, you know. Go to brothels.” He looked away, a faint blush staining his pale face. “It doesn’t seem… appropriate. It is… demeaning.”
His hand was warm on her shoulder, and Mimi felt a sudden urge to rub her cheek against it. Instead, she patted it, and placed her own hand over it for a moment. “I don’t judge, Severus. You work in a boarding school in the middle of Scotland under more pressure than any man has a right to carry. If you need to let off some steam, who am I to say nay?”
He looked away from her again, his face suffused with embarrassment. In that moment, in that instant, Mimi knew. She knew as sure as if he’d confessed it; as sure as if he’d shouted it from the Astronomy Tower.
Severus Snape was a virgin.
mimimanderly has just released the next card of The Sempra Deck, a set of Major Arcana cards forming the Tarot. Each time Mimi posts a new card, I will post another edition of the story, so you can see how the story and the cards meshed together. Here is the next card - 06 The Lovers, and here is the next chapter of the story.
This Chapter is rated R for content and language. Happy Reading!
The Sempra Deck is dedicated to the real mystic goddess Mimi Manderly; to her beloved SeverusMuse, and to my precious Dahlra. All characters with the exception of Mimi Manderley, Peter and Dahlra belong to JK Rowling. I make no money from this publication.
Chapter Four – Dovetailing
Severus Apparated to the Dark Lord’s hiding place, composing his thoughts and disciplining his mind against the Legilimental assault that was sure to come.
As he knelt before the Dark Lord, he noticed that the Lestranges were there, along with Yaxley, Macnair, Dolohov and several others, and he prepared himself. If there was an audience, there would surely be torture, and as sure as he was a Manc boy from the wrong side of the tracks, he’d be the recipient.
“Welcome, Severus,” Voldemort hissed, smiling down at the dark head bowed before him. “I have heard the most astonishing news from our dear Bellatrix about a guest at Hogwarts.”
Severus rose, flicking a stray lock of hair from his eyes. He shot a quick glance at the female Death Eater, who was preening and giving him a look of such smug satisfaction he experienced an intense but transient urge to hex her into oblivion.
Voldemort continued, “A guest that, rumour has it, has been warming your blood as well as your bed, Severus.” He leaned forward in an eerie imitation of his familiar, Nagini. His eyes were alight with vicarious interest. “Are these things true?”
Severus answered smoothly, “Yes, my Lord. Dumbledore is hosting a visitor from the States. She appeared unexpectedly a few weeks back. She has been refreshingly… entertaining.” He took a deep breath and waited. He found that deceiving with the truth was often the best way to proceed with the Dark Lord, who could not discern truth from half truth when Leglimising him.
Sure enough, Severus felt Voldemort slither into his mind. It was a ghastly feeling, to be violated like this. He always felt as if he were being physically fondled and lewdly caressed against his will; it gave him a queer, sick feeling of arousal that shamed and emasculated him. Every time he walked away from this experience, he imagined this would be what it felt like to be a victim of pedophilia; helpless and soiled.
The Dark Lord saw Mimi, walking with him; he saw her react to his thinly veiled insults in the tower; Severus interjected the dream into his memories, showing him drawing her onto his lap, impaling her; he then moved onward to her standing with Draco and Pansy.
Then Voldemort was out of Severus’ mind with a pulling, almost sucking feeling. The Dark Lord was always reluctant to release a living mind; it reminded him all too much of how little humanity was left in his own. To Severus, it felt like coming up for air after being kissed by a corpse.
“Such a diminutive woman to be causing such a fuss, my dear Severus. I would think our Bella would find her little more than a midnight snack.”
Then you’d be biting off more than you can chew, Bella, Severus thought. “Indeed, My Lord. She is of moderate interest. I myself never bothered to mention her as such.”
Voldemort looked from Bella to Severus. “And yet, Bella’s dear nephew Draco has sent her an owl earlier today with the most fanciful tale. I summoned you here to verify it.”
“A tale, my Lord?” Severus thought frantically. Should he validate Draco, or discredit him? What would be the safest alternative for Draco, and more importantly, what would keep Mimi safe?
“Why, yes, Severus,” The Dark Lord smiled, as patient as a spider. “Aunt Bella was told today that this woman, Miss Manderly, was hexed several times at point blank range, and yet no magic affected her.
“Now, is Draco telling the truth, or has my faithful Lieutenant, Lucius Malfoy’s son, proven that, like his father, he is incapable of fulfilling his obligations to my service by giving me false and misleading information?”
Severus felt his heart rate increase. If he accused Draco of lying, his mother, his father in Azkaban, and the boy himself would be punished; their suffering would be unspeakable, the damage perhaps permanent.
He thought of Mimi, her sea-blue eyes blazing with keen intelligence, saying, “I can protect you. That’s what goddesses do!”
Without a shred of certainty that he was doing the right thing, Severus bowed his head in acquiescence. “The boy spoke the truth, my Lord. I myself witnessed it just moments before you summoned me. The woman has powers I can scarcely comprehend. Whatever she is, she is not of our world.”
“Ah! So you knew about this, Severus, and you kept it from our Lord!” Bella screeched.
“I knew about it five minutes before I arrived, Bella,” Severus drawled, in his most world-weary voice. “If you had been listening instead of scheming how to discredit me, you would have heard the explanation I have given to our Lord. He has seen it himself in my mind!”
“Children, please.” The voice was faintly chiding in a fatherly way, but both Bellatrix and Severus heard the warning tone underneath. “I want answers, not petulant bickering. Bella, if Severus did indeed find this out moments ago, then of course he would have notified me at his first opportunity.”
“I would, indeed, my Lord.” Severus bowed, frantically trying to decide what direction to take. He knew he had seconds to make up his mind.
Sadly, he was not given even that much. Voldemort said, “Severus, what say you? Who or what is she?”
Severus, swallowing, cast his fate with the Muggle at Hogwarts, patiently worrying about him and awaiting his return. “She – she told me she was a goddess, my Lord. At first, I thought it was the insane prattling of a madwoman.” He allowed a trace of fear to creep into his face. It was not hard to do. “After what I have seen, I am truly at a loss as to what or who she truly is.”
“Does Dumbledore know?”
“Again, my Lord, I cannot say. He has said nothing to me if he does. I would think, though, that if he knows Miss Manderly’s true origin, he would have mentioned it to me.”
“I agree.” Voldemort sat back in his chair, steepling his long hands together. “Do you think she is a goddess, Severus?”
Again, Severus wished for seconds to think, but had none. Carelessly promising gods he no longer believed in all manner of things, he said, “I cannot say, my Lord. I can only say what I saw.”
“And that was?”
Severus cast another glance at the Death Eaters, hanging onto his every word. In his most sonorous, mellifluous voice, he intoned, “I saw hex after hex pass through her like water. I saw her predict the future, and have it come to pass. I saw her heal wounds with only her touch.”
It was almost worth watching the assembled witch and wizards blanch at his words. He only hoped he wouldn’t have to eat them. He had a feeling they would be bitter and sharp, and taste like ash and ground glass in his mouth.
Voldemort did not react. He did not even blink. He studied Severus carefully for a few moments, then leaned forward. “If she truly is a creature from another world, I would like to meet with her, Severus.” He smiled his awful smile. “Please ask your esteemed guest if she would accompany you to a visit with me.”
With a heavy heart, Severus bowed. “I will endeavour to convince her, my Lord.”
“I am sure you will, dear Severus. Use your legendary powers of persuasion; I’m sure she will be unable to resist.” Severus looked up into the Dark Lord’s eyes and saw his pain readying to be unleashed, and he swallowed. “In the meantime, I do hope this will serve as a reminder to inform me of any change in the fabric of our daily lives, Severus. Crucio!”
Severus returned to his room, shaking, sickened. He wanted to die. He had done much in the noble cause of saving his own hide, but he had reached a new low. To send an innocent Muggle woman into the belly of the beast, to serve her up to the Dark Lord like a sweetmeat to be devoured… how could he face her? She had been kindness itself to him; she had shown compassion, and he had repaid it by sending her to her certain death.
Warring with this was the conflict of whether to not to inform Dumbledore. There was a time when he would willingly tell Dumbledore every secret, every dream, every thought he entertained. Lately, with the knowledge that he would be called upon any day to end the man’s life, and thus secure his and Draco’s allegiance with the Dark Lord for all to see, he grew continually reticent to reveal all of his secrets.
There was a shimmer to his wards, and in his mind he could see her tiny outline against his door. Severus rubbed his face with his hands. Dumbledore or not, there was one to whom he would have to confess, and she now stood on the other side of his door.
Mimi knocked again, stifling the urge to shout, “I know you’re in there!” Severus was a law unto himself within his own chambers; if he chose not to answer the door, she’d have to stand here until he was ready. For the past hour she’d paced up and down the corridor, waiting for him to return.
She had heard Mr. Filch and Mrs. Norris making the rounds, and rather than risk being asked questions she’d as soon as not answer, she had ducked into her own rooms until they’d passed. She was just emerging when she saw Severus’ unmistakable black-clad figure disappearing through his doors.
Cursing at Filch’s timing, she dashed to Severus’ door, but it was too late. He had locked and warded it - automatically, if she knew anything about him. Mimi saw him in her mind’s eye. More than once, she’d dreamed about the night in the tower, touching him, bringing him some relief, some comfort. He had a way of looking in a person’s eyes… Oh shit, Mimi thought. She was forced to admit to herself; she was infatuated with him.
She sighed. The heavy knowledge of who he was and what would happen in the next few months pressed down on her again, and she felt, not for the first time, that she was in way over her head here. After the heady moments in his study, looking into his fierce eyes as he threw spell after hex after jinx at her, his frown and confusion growing with each passing failure, Mimi was left with a shivering feeling of desire.
It had been a thrilling moment – almost an erotic one. She could sense the magic flowing from him; she could see it in his eyes, in his body language as it released itself from his being.
How thrilling it must be to feel that kind of power flowing out of you! It saddened her a little that she would never know how it felt. But to touch him, physically, as she had that night in the tower, gave her the faintest sense of what it must feel like. She could sense something, a faint thrumming beneath his skin, and it excited and stirred her more than she realized. To feel a man like that, touching her intimately, slowly lowering himself to her…
Shaking her head to dispel her less-than-pure thoughts, Mimi raised her hand to knock again when the door swung open. Severus was at the other side of the room, and when their eyes met, Mimi knew that something important had happened. He was bent over the desk, his palms flat on the surface. He looked pale and waxy in the light; and Mimi hurried to his side.
“Severus! Are you alright?” she placed a gentle hand on his arm, and he looked down at her, his eyes bleak and tired. “Have you been…Crucio’d again?”
He looked at her for a moment, then slowly nodded, that strange, blank expression on his face. Mimi put a tentative arm around his waist, and grasped his arm and flung it over her shoulder. “Come on. I’m putting you to bed.”
In spite of his flushed face, he offered no protest; instead, he allowed her to lead him through to his bed chamber, and sat heavily down on the bed, his face paling again with pain and exhaustion.
As Mimi bent low to remove his boots, he watched her unbutton the cloth at his ankles and remove his boots and socks. “Miss Manderly – “
She looked up at him with an almost-angry expression on her face. “I think we’ve already been through this once, Severus. You don’t call a woman who is undressing you by her surname unless you’re in a brothel.”
He regarded her for a shocked moment, then something like dark humour flashed in his eyes. “Are you implying that I frequent brothels, Mimi?” Something about the husky edge to his glossy voice made Mimi’s stomach flutter. She rewarded him with a cheeky little grin.
“I wouldn’t presume, Professor Snape.” She bent back to her task, and as she removed the remaining shoe, she started as a large hand lit upon her shoulder.
She looked back up at him, and to her astonishment, he looked embarrassed. “I don’t, you know. Go to brothels.” He looked away, a faint blush staining his pale face. “It doesn’t seem… appropriate. It is… demeaning.”
His hand was warm on her shoulder, and Mimi felt a sudden urge to rub her cheek against it. Instead, she patted it, and placed her own hand over it for a moment. “I don’t judge, Severus. You work in a boarding school in the middle of Scotland under more pressure than any man has a right to carry. If you need to let off some steam, who am I to say nay?”
He looked away from her again, his face suffused with embarrassment. In that moment, in that instant, Mimi knew. She knew as sure as if he’d confessed it; as sure as if he’d shouted it from the Astronomy Tower.
Severus Snape was a virgin.
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no subject
Date: 2011-07-07 09:50 pm (UTC)I literally just gasped and said "No way!" when I read this.
Oh, the things Mimi would show him...
no subject
Date: 2011-07-07 09:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-07 11:13 pm (UTC)Will they or won't they? Only Teddy knows for sure.
When are Severus and Mimi going to call on the Dark Lord? I hope she is just as immune to DL's curses as she is to the others'. Wouldn't it be wonderful if it turned out that she has powers in this time-line? Powers that she can use to torment DL? Yeah.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-08 10:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-08 10:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-08 10:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-08 11:48 pm (UTC)