Brendan stopped suddenly as he approached Severus’ rooms. Huddled on the floor, diced carrots covering the front of her robes, sat Hermione Granger. ‘What the hell is she doing here’? A quick look at Pepper showed an equally startled face. Hermione should have been unconscious till at least tomorrow, dammit.
Hermione looked up at the sound of someone approaching; the sight did nothing to settle her fractured nerves. Striding towards her was Professor Severus Snape, cloak billowing behind him. He stopped as he reached her and scowled down at her. “What are we going to do with you, Miss Granger?” he sighed in her general direction.
Brendan ran his hand through his hair in a manner frighteningly like Professor Snape; still wearing his friend’s form, and still in character; this was not surprising. The girl just stared up at him, somewhat like the proverbial deer in the headlights. She suddenly gained control of herself and flicked her eyes to the master bedroom. Realizing what was probably going through her head, Brendan wished, not for the first time, that there was a potion to counter-act Polyjuice. Unfortunately such a potion didn’t exist, yet, and the effect on Muggle physiology meant was such that he would remain in Severus’ form for quite a while yet, despite the fact that he had just thrown up his entrails not so long ago. No one-hour time limit there. The side effects were a little hard to take, as Pepper had just witnessed.
“I’m sorry, Miss Granger,” he said, forcing his voice out of Severus’ pattern. “I know this looks strange, but we honestly didn’t expect you to wake today.”
Hermione stared at the Professor Snape in front of her. Her voice cracked, revealing a sharp-edged hysteria that was threatening to overwhelm her. “Strange,” she squeaked. She asked the first thing that came into her head, whilst she tried to gather her scattered nerves. “Why, then, was breakfast laid out?”
“Probably because Jaidy arranged it that way. I suspect it was charmed to remain fresh until you woke; that way she would be able to concentrate solely on Severus,” Brendan replied calmly. “By the way, I’m Brendan,” he said holding his hand out to her in the standard Muggle greeting.
After staring owlishly at the hand offered to her, Hermione finally moved her concentrated gaze to the face that belonged to the hand. The body was Professor Snape, down to the greasy hair, nose and cheekbones; she even noticed the small frown lines that she had always wanted to soothe. “Polyjuice?” she enquired to the not-Snape.
Brendan saw the cogs grinding in her mind and the lights go on, so to speak. He would definitely have to eat his words the next time he spoke with Severus. The girl really could dissect you with her gaze. Severus had been known to comment more than once on the propensity of Hermione Granger to study a thing to death. ‘A brilliantly focused mind, if only she could dissemble’, he’d once said, lamenting her place in Gryffindor.
Hermione, on the other hand, had no idea what to make of the individual in front of her. She’d actually thought it was Snape marching up the corridor, the mannerism were so correct, so very much Professor Snape, bastard incarnate; she’d quietly studied the man often enough. So who in Merlin’s name was the man? The moment she had found out that Snape was a Death Eater, even if he was supposed to be on the side of light, she had researched everything she could find about the man. From what she knew, he had no living relatives closer than 3rd cousins. The estates, of which there were quite a few, were all supposedly closed up. The name Jaidy had rung a bell, but only because she was rumoured to be the last in a line of house-elves that had served the Snape family for generations. She was also supposed to be dead. But none of her sources ever mentioned someone named Brendan in connection with the Snape name.
“Miss Granger?” Strange to hear such gentleness issue from Snape’s lips. “Can I get Pepper to get you some clean robes? I need to go in and help Jaidy,” Brendan continued, eyeing off the mess down the front of her robe.
Before Hermione could answer, Jaidy’s voice snapped through the air. “Brendan!”
Startled, Brendan turned and saw her struggling with a now writhing Severus. “Bugger,” He exclaimed as he ignored Hermione startled glance and strode straight in to help Jaidy with Severus.
Tears were leaking from Severus’ eyes and he was trying to clutch at his left arm. “Leave him alone, you bastard,” Brendan snarled, eyeing the dark mark. Brendan didn’t even notice Hermione step up beside him. “Jaidy?”
“House magics not strong enough. He fighting the dark mark and with the deaths,” Jaidy said by way of explanation. She continued, sounding guilty, “should have been locking boys down earlier, not given them any of the red, he holding them, luckily not all.”
“So they’re…” Brendan started to ask, before Jaidy interrupted him.
“Held under charms. Held sleeping, not suffering. Needs to be worrying about the master. Going to need to invokes stronger magics, but he’s not going to be liking it.”
“He can be not liking all he likes, so long as he’s alive to not like it, Jaidy,” Brendan stated firmly. Between them they had the authority to do what ever was necessary; Severus had seen to that years ago. “What do you need me to do?”
Jaidy didn’t answer him immediately; instead she turned her attention to the girl hovering behind him. Loathe as she was to admit it, her presence might be useful. Jaidy would need all the senior of the house elves for this to work and probably most of the junior as well. Given that most of the juniors didn’t have enough experience with humans, the girl might as well help; the problem was to convince her, quickly. “Do you thinks you can be dosing the master with healing potions every minute?”
“Of course I can,” Hermione said rather sharply, “what exactly is going on?” she asked as she watched Jaidy wipe a tear from Professor Snape’s eyes. She could feel magic flowing in the room, but the memories of torture under this man’s hand came flooding back, and inwardly she cringed. But she reminded herself she was a Gryffindor, and all the qualities that entailed gradually seeped through.
Brendan shared a look with Jaidy, the house elf nodded, and Brendan began to speak.
“Currently everyone at Hogwarts believes you are dead, Miss Granger, most likely at Severus’ hand. The fact is, you would be dead if not for the game Severus is playing. You are not the first, and unfortunately not likely to be the last, child that Severus will have to rescue out from Voldemort’s clutches.”
Hermione flinched at the venom in Brendan’s voice when he mentioned Voldemort. She wondered at the personal venom that infused the previous statement, but she had no idea that Brendan had, in fact, been one of those children.
Brendan, as had the other Muggle children, had been adopted out, put through school, university, if that was their dream, and trust funds established for them in the Muggle world. Brendan, his mind stronger than many of the other children, had resisted the obliviate, and on completing a degree in accounting and management, had tracked Severus down. He’d expected a fight, but Severus was no fool, Voldemort was not gone and he would be back. He took Brendan in, and was surprised to find a deep friendship bloom. Now Brendan looked after the estates and trust funds that protected Severus’ unofficial family, and rejoiced and mourned every child that could be saved, and every one that could not. Unlikely as it was, Brendan was a younger brother to Severus, in very sense of the word, Severus had seen to that.
Still, how to convey that to a pattern-card Gryffindor. Luckily for Brendan, said Gryffindor was intelligent; she had managed to put together a reasonable picture in her mind. A lot of holes existed, and she intended to get them filled, but for now. “It seems I owe my life to Professor Snape. You can tell me the rest later.”
Both Brendan and Jaidy sighed at her quick acquiescence. This would now be a lot easier. “Brendan you be needing to cover Severus again. I have to be getting ritual component, and I mays be seen, and worse, recognised,” Jaidy started to explain. “Miss Granger, you needs to be feeding Severus three drops of this potion every sixty seconds, precisely.” She waved her hand and a small vial appeared. The bite in the house-elf’s voice, so reminiscent of Professor Snape, brought a smile to both Brendan and Hermione’s faces.
Calling the all the house elves together, Jaidy outlined her plan. Shocked at the idea of a blood ritual, something she thought of as inherently dark, Hermione was surprised to learn that not all rituals requiring blood were either dark, or needed death. Still thinking on the probable effect of her apparent death, she made a contribution to the plan that would in the end save it. She hadn’t enquired as to the target, something Jaidy was glad of, but Hermione brought up the subject of the Marauder’s Map. With Black, Lupin, Harry and Ron still at Hogwarts, it was guaranteed someone would think of it.
Jaidy looked at Brendan. Brendan returned the look. “Damn, that will make things difficult,” Brendan said after a few moments.
“Why?” Hermione asked, “after all, all you need to do is summon the map and pass it here,” she said reasonably. She had concluded that for some unknown reason the estate was protected from detection.
“Summon it?” Brendan went white at the thought. “Jaidy, can the house elves do summoning?”
“Things belong to the house, yes, things not, no.”
“Miss Granger, I presume you know the summoning spell?” Brendan turned and asked her.
“Of course.” Her tone of voice suggested, ‘need you ask’.
“It seems, Miss Granger, we be needing you to casting summoning spell. Map will be causing troubles,” Jaidy said uncomfortably.
“Why do you need me to cast a summoning spell?” Hermione asked reasonably, looking pointedly at Brendan.
“Because I’m not a wizard, Miss Granger.”
“But…” stammered Hermione, staring at Brendan.
“Not all children taken by Lord Voldemort are wizards. In point of fact, Miss Granger, you are amongst the first he has managed to acquire.” Brendan’s voice again was laced with venom.
“But Snape hates Muggle and Muggle born.”
“That is quite enough, Miss Granger,” Brendan spoke in icy, clipped tones. “You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Just accept for the moment that we need you to cast that spell and then return here immediately, or accept that we will take our chances without your help, or hindrance.” Hermione was tempted to laugh, here was a Muggle threatening her, that was, until she realised he wasn’t joking. Brendan smiled his ‘best’ Severus smile, the one that normally had even the bravest Gryffindor running for cover. “Yes Miss Granger, I may ‘only’ be a Muggle, but, between us, I think Jaidy and I can keep you somnambulant until you die.”
Now, are you going to help, or sleep?” Brendan asked, after giving Hermione a moment to digest the threat. Muggle he may be, but Jaidy as the embodiment of the house had gifted Brendan with house magics, not the greater, as that was not possible, but he could still access the house to protect Severus.
As life defining moments go, Hermione would look back on this in years to come and say that this was a doozy. Muggle-born and bred, but now drawn so far into the wizarding world that she had begun to think, subconsciously, as Muggle being equated to lesser. Brendan, standing there looking so like Professor Snape, but yet not, reminded her that wizarding ability was not the only thing that made a person dangerous. “I’ll summon the map,” she said quietly. After a moments reflection she added, “Umm, actually, I can’t summon it.” Brendan raised an eyebrow in query at her. “Draco broke my wand,” she said “Is that all that’s stopping you?” Brendan asked, wanting to be sure.
“Yes, so unless you just happen to have a stockpile of wands just lying around…” she commented tartly, almost as snarkily as one would have expected from Severus.
Jaidy just shrugged her shoulders at Brendan. “Take her to the Repository, there should be something there she can use.”
“Pepper you’s go with Brendan, takes Miss Granger,” Jaidy instructed. “How much longer you wearing master’s form?” She directed that last comment to Brendan.
“We’ve got another three hours before it wears off, but remember I’ll be useless after that. Hell, I’m on my last legs now, as Pepper will attest.”
“Then you’s better be going quickly.”
The Repository was on the same floor as the Master bedroom. It was here that Severus stored those items he managed to collect after various revels, and other such gatherings. Some he intended to pass on to the relevant heirs when it was safe to do so, others he kept because they helped remind him of crimes committed. In a cabinet, the drawers lined with velvet and silk, lay the collected wands of now dead wizards. The sheer number startled Hermione, over 200 wands lay in the cabinet. “The wand chooses the wizard,” Ollivander had said when she had bought her first wand. The choosing had taken ages, something she was certain they didn’t have this time. But in this case, the wand truly chose the wizard for one wand glowed Gryffindor gold as her hand passed over it.
Brendan, who knew the history of each wand, was surprised to say the least. This particular wand had not been rescued as most of the others had, but had held in the Snape Family for generations, it was a ‘female’ wand, and its brother lay hidden in a cloak sleeve in the room next door. ‘What is going on here’? His mind raced at the possibilities as he explained some of what he knew about the glowing wand. “Ebony wood, that’s a white onyx set in its base, and at the core I believe is two unicorn hairs, one black, one white.”
Looking at Brendan, Hermione was surprised to hear him recite the wand’s properties. “Do you know whose wand it was?” she asked having worked out herself where most of the wands had to have come from. ‘The thought of using another wand is uncomfortable enough without knowing that the other person had been killed by Dark Magics’.
“That is a very old wand, Miss Granger, over 400 years old I believe. You’ll have to ask Severus about it, he knows its full history,” Brendan replied thinking that would be an interesting discussion to be able to listen in on, a very interesting discussion, indeed.
Brendan led the now armed Hermione down to Severus’ laboratory. “Understand that Voldemort is a vicious, sadistic bastard who doesn’t like to be crossed,” Brendan said as the walked. “At the moment he believes you are dead, and at Severus’ hand; he also believes a lot of other children are dead at Severus’ hand.” He watched her face to see if she was following him. She was.
“Yes, Miss Granger, if Lord Voldemort finds out you are alive, not only will he kill Severus, but he’ll try to find out about every other child that Severus killed; so let your friends know, and you can carry the blame for the reign of death Voldemort will unleash, that is until I kill you. Understood?”
One look at the implacable expression on Brendan’s face and her already too intimate knowledge of Voldemort was all she needed. “I understand,” she answered quietly.
Pepper opened the portal for Hermione. She watched in fascination as the door to Severus’ private chambers at Hogwarts opened. ‘Seven impossible things before breakfast… wait, I’ve already had breakfast’, she thought inanely. She was finding it more and more difficult to hold onto the shreds of sanity that she clung to. ‘I’m definitely not in Kansas anymore, Toto’. Apparently Hogwarts was not the impenetrable fortress she had always believed. She and two of her fellow Gryffindors had been kidnapped from within the halls, but that required inside help. Here was proof that there were more ways in and out than she believed. Worse, she was certain this exit had never appeared on the Marauder’s Map. She’d check that when she had it in hand.
Brendan waved her through. He was not about to go jumping back and forth unless absolutely necessary, he had two more trips today, and that was two too many. ‘I’ll look real threatening puking my guts up… again’, he thought sardonically.
Hermione stepped across the threshold and felt Hogwarts enfold her, strengthen her, and remind her of the ages past. She summoned the Marauders Map; surprisingly it was still in Professor Snape’s office. At least Lupin and Black hadn’t thought of it yet. Turning to the portal, she activated the map. There she stood, but, as expected, no portal was shown. She wondered at the sheer power that allowed this absurdity as she had one last good look at Severus’ quarters. She knew instinctively that it was to be last look at any parts of Hogwarts she would get for a long time. A shudder ran up and down her abused body as she ‘saw’ herself here once more, with the sense that a long, long time had passed. ‘I always wanted a chance to see this room’, she mused, ‘just not this way’. She noted with no surprise that there were no portraits in this room as she stepped back across the portal.
Brendan and Pepper were waiting for her. What she couldn’t fathom was the look of jealously Brendan directed her way. “Jaidy’s waiting for you.” Without waiting to see if she acknowledged the comment, Brendan stepped back to Hogwarts, with Pepper closing the portal immediately after he’d crossed.
“Coming Miss, running out time is,” Pepper said as he started back towards the master’s rooms.
Jaidy had used the short time Hermione and Pepper were gone to advantage. The bed had been moved to the centre of the room; this would allow Jaidy to cast the necessary circles, for circles she would need, without needing to move Severus. Another of the elves had laid the foundation for the circles. Salt had been used to draw one circle, though it had yet to be closed. A second circle inside the first and similarly unclosed at the moment had been drawn in chalk, green and silver entwined. Within the circles all of the Senior House elves were present in Severus’ bedroom when the two returned. Arrayed behind the Seniors was every other elf that had call to answer to the Snape houses; it was an impressive sight.
Beside the bed, near the opening in the circles, Hermione spied a gently burning brazier, and a table set up for ritual magic. Three candles, black, grey and white sat arranged around an earthenware bowl. Three very large black opals and a blade that looked as though it could cut the very earth in half were laid beside the bowl. Piles of herbs were set about the table’s edge; apple blossoms, cinnamon, feverfew, lavender, tansy, valerian and willow: all herbs, spices and flowers associated with healing, love and protection.
Jaidy, herself, was still seated with Severus’ head on her lap. He had lost even more colour in the short time they had been gone, if that was possible. “Miss Granger, you be needing to placing 3 drops of this,” Jaidy held up a small violet-coloured vial, “on master’s lips every sixty seconds, precisely.” With care, Jaidy extracted herself from beneath Severus’ head and held it gently, indicating that Hermione was to enter the circles through the opening and take her place.
The idea of sitting on Professor Snape’s bed made Hermione’s skin crawl. To do so, with him there was almost enough to make her turn and run. Worse, she realised that the position Jaidy had been in was probably the best if she needed to administer the draught in a precise manner.
As Jaidy slipped out through the ‘gate’ in the circles, the House elves present joined hands closing what was the final circle. As Hermione took Jaidy’s place, she felt a blanket of magic wrap itself around her; the house elves had begun to sing. The magic, for magic it was, felt very different to her own wizarding magic; it had a similar feel to Hogwarts as it had enfolded her moments before. She found herself crying for no apparent reason; one of her tears landing on Severus’ lips. She was surprised as he relaxed down into her lap, licking his lips. Jaidy standing at the door looked back as the tears fell, crystal shards to wash Severus’ face. The elderly House-elf finally smiled at her, before disappearing.
It was Saturday, normally later year students could be relied upon to be in Hogsmeade; today Jaidy didn’t even bother to look there, Albus would have locked the school down tight until he found out how its security had been breached. The lock-down would, of course, make her job all the harder. She quickly checked that Brendan had finished turning himself inside out, before she ventured into the elvenways of Hogwarts.
Three junior elves spotted her as soon as she crossed into the elven halls; one look was all that was needed to silence them. Jaidy had sufficient rank that until one of the senior Hogwarts elves said otherwise, she would be left in peace, even with the goings on of yesterday. Elf rank held, though the youngest elf did immediately scurry off to inform his superior.
Dancing in and out of elf doors, Jaidy searched the Gryffindor tower, for once exceedingly grateful to the fact that most wizards never really looked at the house elves; one elf looks like another after all. Her luck held, she didn’t run into Dobby. That she feared the most; still if need be, he could be silenced. Even amongst the casteless society of elves, Jaidy was near the top. Harry Potter was not to be found anywhere in the Tower. She tried to Quidditch field, hoping he was in fact not to be found there, it would be very hard to acquire the final spell component if he was on broomstick. Luck still holding, she headed for the Headmaster’s rooms.
Jaidy peeked into the main office. Harry Potter was sitting on a large, leather chair staring at someone out of her view. “What do you mean Moody couldn’t find anything?” he was asking.
“Just that, Harry. Voldemort is wizard enough to wipe clean an area, and no doubt, he had Lucius’ help. Wouldn’t do to leave obvious evidence of Dark Magic, that would get the Ministry off its collective butts,” Sirius Black growled. The Order had taken to staying with Harry, as much to stave off inopportune actions. Still, leaving Harry and Sirius alone was not the best combination. Both were currently imagining just what they’d like to do to Professor Severus Snape; if Voldemort could listen in he would have gained a new appreciation of both, and maybe even a few pointers; they had very nasty imaginations.
On hearing Sirius Black, Jaidy’s only thought was, ‘luck would be giving out now, wouldn’t it’. Still, as she could see Professor Dumbledore walking up the corridor, probably to check that Harry and Sirius were still there, she had no choice but to move, and quickly. Opening an Elf door in the floor immediately behind Harry, she crept into the room. Holding a vial in one hand, and a heavy cosh in the other, she prepared to attack.
Jumping up onto the seat behind Harry she swung both arms forward in a parody of a hug. The cosh struck Harry fair on the nose, and with sufficient force to actually break it, blood started rushing out. Her other hand brought the vial in under his nose catching the precious drops. In short, she snotted him one.
Harry, completely stunned by the attack, failed to defend himself at all. Sirius, almost as stunned, launched himself at Harry’s attacker. “Jaidy,” he snarled. He remembered her from this time at Hogwarts, always following Severus around.
Jaidy nimbly evaded Sirius, leaving him flat-footed, and ran full pelt *through* the front door of Dumbledore’s office. She flashed by Dumbledore, who reaching for the fast-moving elf, only succeeded in grabbing the floor. He fired off an ‘immobilius’ that only managed to hit the door that Jaidy dived through. The very same door that wasn’t there an instant before. Sirius flew out of the office, almost trampling the prone Headmaster. “Which way?” he snarled. A surprised Dumbledore just pointed. Sirius barrelled into the door, which was two sizes too small for him. He frantically searched the gloom, and saw the silhouette of Jaidy backlit by another door, which promptly vanished. Sirius felt the door his head was poking through begin to collapse; he barely had time to get out before it winked out existence.
“She must be heading for Snape’s rooms,” he bellowed, as he barrelled back past Dumbledore heading for the hidden stair. Sirius, thanks to his time with the Marauders, knew more about the backways of Hogwarts than most, far more than Dumbledore in fact. He quickly calculated the shortest route to the little fink’s destination. He flew down the stairs and corridors until he reached a long hallway spotting Jaidy in the distance. “Gotcha,” he smirked to himself. Putting on a burst of speed, he closed in on his prey. Suddenly the corridor he was racing down turned sharply to the right, a bend that he knew wasn’t there. “That’s how it’s going to be, huh,” he muttered, as he calculated the permutations and combinations of pathways towards the Dungeons. “Accio Marauders Map,” he yelled as he continued after Jaidy; he was very surprised when the map failed to appear.
Without the map he was slightly handicapped, still he knew enough. Swinging around, he took off through one the secret passages that led to the kitchens; from there he knew a back way that would get him to the dungeons. For a supposedly secret passage, it was surprising well utilized; house elves popped in and out of doors along its length; the major elvenways formed most of the secret passages present at Hogwarts; the residents just didn’t realise it. Still this many elves, that was unusual. After tripping over yet another elf Sirius began to have suspicions. His suspicions were confirmed when as he rounded a corner he saw Jaidy talking with another elderly elf, she looked up and pointed in his general direction, the acoustics of the passage let him hear, “block it.” He barely got out of the passage before it collapsed on his head.
Cursing Houses and House elves Black finally made it to the Dungeons, Jaidy nowhere to be seen. Not giving up, Sirius raced down the main corridor of the Dungeons, only to run straight into the wards that Dumbledore had placed around Severus’ quarters the night before. After dusting himself, off he ducked into the Potions Classroom, grabbing a handful of floo power he called to Dumbledore, “Get down here and pull those bloody wards down.”
Brendan looked up as she entered the room. “Black is coming,” she said.
“Terrific.” Brendan rolled his eyes, and then quickly settled ‘Severus’ around him. “You were seen, I take it?”
“Was, but got what we needing.”
“Don’t worry, Jaidy, just get Severus back on his feet. I’ll keep Black amused.”
Jaidy, happy now that Brendan was warned, activated the portal. “Pepper be opening again in an hour,” she said as she stepped through and closed it behind her.
Brendan remained listening for the pounding on the door that would come. ‘Let’s have some fun’, he grinned to himself. ‘Maybe I can cheer Severus up with tails of the dog’.
Jaidy, meanwhile, raced towards the Master’s rooms. Whilst she knew that the Granger girl was capable and would have followed the instruction to the letter, she wanted to make sure that Severus was in fact still breathing. He was, but it was touch and go.
“Miss Granger is needing to be leaving the circle now,” Jaidy said as she returned, a vial of blood in hand. “Please gently be placing Master’s head on the pillow.”
The house elves whispered quiet words that Hermione was not quite able to hear, but the effect was felt. The blanket of magic that had cloaked her lifted slightly. Two of the elves stepped apart creating an opening in the elven circle allowing Hermione to step out.
Once Hermione had cleared the area Jaidy closed the out circles with salt and chalks. “You may be watching Miss Granger,” Jaidy said as she stepped up to the brazier, “but silence having must we have.”
Hermione, having realised the extent of Professor Snape’s injuries, and therefore the likely level of magic that would be needed to heal him, was pleased that the elderly house-elf would allow her to stay. Serious ritual magics were not covered until 7th year; and then only invited students could participate in that course. The chance to see this level of magic was not something she would pass up if she could avoid doing so.
As the circles had closed behind Jaidy, Hermione saw the images of tall, graceful, elven-eared, reminiscent of the Muggle drawings of Tolkien, elves standing behind each of the elves now stationed equidistant around the drawn circles; the elf behind Jaidy was raven-haired and raven-eyed, upswept eyes of the darkest ebony, and Hermione would have sworn that she saw the galaxies in those eyes. Instead of the lilting, half stilted speech of the normally associated with house elves, Jaidy’s voice was melodious, sweet and laced with power.
“The lines are calling, the circle drawn,” Jaidy intoned as she lit the candles, first, the white, followed by the black and then the grey. The scent of lemon filled the air. She took a pinch of each of the herbs, placing them in the earthenware bowl. Dropping a coal from the brazier into the bowl, she waved the knife through the smoke from the burning herbs. “Blood calls to Blood,” she dipped the blade into the vial containing Harry’s blood, “The lines are one,” the bloodied knife touched Severus’ forehead, leaving a shallow cut. “From history, down though time.” She placed one of the opals over the cut, “I draw on the line,” another drop of blood, this time the incision over the heart, “the line answers,” and another opal. “I bleed the line; the line answers,” a last drop of blood, an incision above the groin. “I heal the line; the line answers,” the last opal.
As Jaidy spoke, Severus was bathed in crystal green light. Each point where the knife had touched flaring silver. Coiling around the circle appeared a rope, DNA twisted, red paired to gold, green paired to silver. As the rope closed Jaidy and the elves as one intoned, “The line is one.”