From Embers and Ashes : 4 scenes

[dragonyphoenix]

These are a few scenes from a story I’ve started writing. If I've got it right, today's the free-post day.

 

Title: Working title is From Embers and Ashes

Characters: Severus Snape, Rupert Giles, Anya, Xander

Rating: Gen

Setting: BtVS Season 5 in The Magic Box, Giles’ car, and then Giles’ apartment.

Summary: Severus Snape ends up in Sunnydale. This story should end up Anya/Severus but as it’s set in BtVS season 5 it’ll be a while heading in that direction. Timelines have shifted and this is two to three years after the Battle of Hogwarts. In the scene prior to this, Severus was bitten by Glory’s snake.

Author’s Notes:

• These are early drafts of the scenes so I’d especially love to know what you think of them.

• There’s a Cabin Pressure / Iron Man crossover made up of 150 drabbles. I sort of wanted to do something like that here but pure drabbles weren’t working for what I wanted to do. But every once in a while, I do try for short chapters.

• The story starts with Nagini biting Severus and there are a number of chapters getting Severus to Sunnydale. This is as far as I’ve written. I’m currently working out the plot for the rest of the story.

 

 

Scene: Magical Muggles

The evening had been a jumble of images: snakes, a girl, and a British voice telling someone to put him into a magic box. As his head cleared, he sat still with his eyes closed, panting to relieve the ache in his shoulder. Nagini had bitten him. No, that couldn’t be right. He’d recovered and gone to America, hadn’t he? But then why had he heard a British voice? Perhaps America had been a venom-induced nightmare. Perhaps he was still lying on cold stone, dying and alone. No, while he was half-seated as if propped up by a wall, he wasn’t lying on stone. It felt like a chair and his legs were stretched out on what must be some kind of footstool although it was just as cushy as the chair. The air carried the scent of … sandalwood? Why? Even if the oil did have minor healing properties, burning would be the most inefficient way to access them. He opened his eyes gingerly, afraid even this small movement would cause the ache in his shoulder to flare up. He found himself surrounded by crystals. What idiot had moved him into Professor Trelawney’s classroom?

A woman leaned over him. He startled back in alarm and winced as the movement jostled his shoulder. She wasn’t Trelawney, thank the Gods. She was much younger and her honey-blonde hair was more wavy than frizzy. “Are you dying on me? Please say you’re not dying on me because as much as I adored a good gruesome corpse in my demon days, humans find them offensive and off-putting.”

Demon days? He ignored her nonsense. This certainly wasn’t St. Mungo’s and had far too many books to be Trelawney’s office and now that he thought on it, he had healed and gone to America. Perhaps living on the Hellmouth caused a deterioration in one’s mental state. That would certainly explain the woman as well as the sandalwood and crystals. It might also suggest why so few studies looked into the effects of Hellmouth energies on herbs.

“Well?” She leaned in closer. Did the woman have no sense of personal space?

“What?”

“Are you dying on me?”

Was he? “I don’t believe so.”

“Oh.” She sounded surprised. “Well, good.”

She turned to walk away but before she could take two steps she was addressed by an older man. He sounded slightly exasperated but the British accent warmed Severus. It reminded him of home. “Ask him if he needs anything.”

“But he’s not even a paying customer.” She sounded shocked as if not being a customer was the worst crime she could imagine. After the wizarding war, Severus found it a rather refreshing attitude.

“Nevertheless, he’s injured. It’s customary to offer assistance.” The man’s tone reminded Severus of his teaching days, of being close to losing his patience after having to explain a process over and over to the same incompetent ears.

“I don’t suppose you need anything, do you? Because I have a store to run with paying …”

“Ahn, remember when we discussed doing what Giles says ‘cause he pays you?” That came from a young man sitting with his feet on a table. He held something like a book but it was quite thin and had no real cover but only some colorful image of a man and a dog with the word Hellblazer at the top.

With a sigh she asked, “Can I get you anything?”

“Ahn? Is that your name?”

“No, my name is Anya,” she said. “Ahn is my nickname, a play on my name that indicates affection, but only Xander calls me that.” She cast a loving look at the lad who returned it with a dopey grin of his own.

Severus had been around adolescent lust far too often as a professor. He wasn’t about to put up with it now. “Do we know what type of snake that creature had been created from?”

The British man – Giles? – stared at him as if surprised by the question. “There’s a cobra missing from the zoo.”

Severus allowed his eyes to close for a moment. A cobra. Of course. “I’ve an acquired immunity to cobra venom but a set of doses of Nettlecharm’s Antidote wouldn’t be unwarranted.”

“Nettlecharm’s Antidote,” Anya repeated. “Of course. What’s that?”

Severus couldn’t imagine being so uneducated as to not recognize, much less know how to prepare, Nettlecharm’s Antidote. The American educational system must be appalling. “You can make potions, can you not?”

“Of course I can make potions. I wasn’t born yesterday you know.”

“Fine, I’ll talk you through the process. You’ll need fire seeds, graphorn powder …”

“Graphorn powder?” Her voice rose to a shriek. “Do you know how expensive that is? Do you think we have that stuff lying around where just anyone can steal it?”

“I will pay.”

“Really?” Her grin lit up her face. “Why didn’t you say so sooner?”

The British man stepped next to Anya. “You will not pay for your cure.”

“Giles!” Ah good, he had deduced it correctly. The man’s name was Giles.

“Buffy might not have stopped the snake-demon if this gentleman hadn’t stepped in to help. We are in his debt.” Giles turned to Severus. “I’m afraid we’ve been rather lax with introductions. My name is Giles or, um, Rupert. Rupert Giles that is. And these are Anya and Xander.” He pointed to the young woman and the lad respectively.

“Severus Snape.”

Neither Giles nor Anya seemed to recognize the name, but Xander spoke up from behind his odd choice of reading material. “Severus? What kind of name is Severus?”

“Five Roman Emperors were named Severus,” Anya replied. “as well as any number of bishops, generals, and an epic poet.”

“Oh, Rome.” With a wave of his hand, Xander dismissed centuries of history.

“Perhaps we could return to your potion,” Giles said. “You’ll need graphorn powder?”

“We don’t have any,” Anya interrupted. Severus allowed one eyebrow to rise. “No really. I’m not just saying that because it’s expensive. We don’t carry it.” She paused for a moment. “Might powdered horseradish work? It’s quite effective at negating magical spells. I’ve used it myself many times.”

Horseradish? Severus looked at her with interest. That actually was quite ingenious. This Anya might not know her potions, but she certainly knew ingredients. “That will be acceptable.”

She gathered the ingredients with a surprising efficiency. “Alright, what’s next?”

“Use Igniculus to create a flame just large enough to simmer the potion.”

“Igniculus?” She sounded as if she’d never heard of the spell.

“Oh, Good Lord,” Giles exclaimed. “You’re a wizard.”

At Giles’ words, Severus looked at the shop with new eyes: the books with covers that were far too glossy, the slug scented candles, the pictures that didn’t move. “You’re muggles? How do you know about the wizarding world if your muggles?”

“I’m with the Council.” Ah, that explained quite a bit.

“Ex-vengeance demon here,” Anya said, shrugging with a slight grin as if that were something to be proud of.

Xander didn’t bother to look up from his book. “I know nothing of the wizarding world.” His tone suggested he didn’t care to know either.

“I suppose I could make the potion myself.”

“No you can’t,” Anya said. “You can barely sit up.”

“This potion requires a heat source. If you can’t perform the spell …”

“I was making effective potions a thousand years before you were born, long before we had electricity. If I can brew potions over an actual cooking fire, I can make them with that little hot pot Giles has for his tea.”

“It’s a buffet range and, well, actually it’d probably be perfect for brewing a potion. It has to simmer you said?”

“I’m afraid that won’t do.” By Merlin’s Beard, these muggles were insane.

“Why not?” Anya voice rang with outrage. “Do you think I’m incompetent or something? Just because I haven’t been human for …”

“Anya!”

She stopped to glare at Giles. “What?”

“Let him speak.”

Their undivided attention felt like an itch he couldn’t reach. “In addition to heat, potions require magic. So unless you have some obscure muggle gadget that can create magic, I’ll have to forgo the potion.”

“You can provide the magic,” Anya stated.

“I … what?”

“We have heat. I can add ingredients and stir. You provide the magic.”

“That sounds …”

She must have heard his unspoken word: dangerous. “Oh, don’t be a baby. What’s the worst that can happen?”

With his luck, the building would explode.

“Now,” she said, all business. “Where do we begin?”

Midway through the potion, he had to back off on the power he was putting into it. Presumably that was an effect of the Hellmouth. Even though the potion turned the right color at the right moment, Severus was reluctant to try it. He felt a stab of guilt when a flicker of disappointment flashed across Anya’s face and downed the potion in one gulp, relieved to feel the familiar healing tingle.

“So.” Xander finally put down his book. “Can we go? The shop closed an hour ago and some of us have to work in the morning.”

“The shop would have closed only half an hour ago if someone hadn’t insisted we close early.”

“Yes, a tragedy I’m sure.” Giles turned from Anya to Severus. “Mr. Snape, I don’t know the effects of this potion, but I do hope you have someone to keep an eye on you overnight.”

The potion must have started taking effect. Instead of a haughty “I’ll be fine” Severus admitted he didn’t even have a hotel room in town yet.

“You made the potion, Anya. He should go home with you in case he needs another dose overnight.”

“But,” Xander interrupted. “She and I are gonna …”

His blush suggested their plans. Severus honestly didn’t need Anya’s “Sex. We’re planning to have plenty of sex.”

Giles pulled off his glasses and started cleaning them “I thought Xander needed to head home to sleep before work tomorrow.” 

“Yes,” Anya agreed, “but only after lots and lots of sex.” After a slight pause, she added, “Besides, he can’t take the potion again this evening. Don’t you know if you take fire seeds more than once in thirty-two hours, you’ll get a rash on your …”

“Enough,” Giles interrupted. Severus was almost certain the man didn’t know what Anya was about to say but he seemed to know her well enough to assume, correctly in this case, that it’d be somewhat unseemly. “Go.”

“Thank you.” The two bolted for the door.

“But no sex in the shop for two weeks!” After a moment’s thought, he added, “and by in the shop I mean within hearing range.”

 

Scene: Locket

Severus had never truly appreciated how much danger Potter and Weasley had been in that night they’d flown the automobile to Hogwarts. Granted Giles’ car travelled slowly compared to wizarding transportation, but barreling over roads in a non-sentient hunk of metal? It was a miracle any muggles survived.

Therefore, when Severus spoke, it was as much to distract himself as to allay his curiosity. “Was Miss Anya joking when she said she’d been a demon?”

“No no, she actually had been a demon at one time. Anyanka, the bearer of the locket or a bearer of a locket if my research is accurate. She reverted to human once her locket had been destroyed.”

“Who was fool enough to yank a demon’s locket off its neck?”

Rupert blanched. “Ah, that was me actually but, to be fair, I was more desperate than foolish.”

The muggle clever enough to brew potions had been born a demon. It seemed almost fitting that a demon-born be more human than Riddle. She’d spoken of brewing over a cooking fire. Severus wondered if her skills with potions reflected cooking skills and techniques just as Lily’s had. Wait a minute, something wasn’t quite right here. “Anya claimed to have brewed potions over cooking fires. What use do demons have for cooking?”

“You’d be surprised, but Anya became a demon when she received her locket although perhaps it would be more accurate to call it an amulet. It granted her demonic abilities and powered her vengeance spells.”

“Nothing more than an amulet powered a vengeance demon’s spells for over a millennia?”

Giles looked puzzled. “Now that you mention it, the idea does seem unlikely. I’m afraid I don’t know anything more on the subject. You’ll have to ask Anya.”

“Perhaps.”

 

Scene: Certain Difficulties

Although Severus had required assistance climbing the stairs and had collapsed onto the couch upon entering the apartment, Giles’ concern over this minor relapse was overblown. “Is there anyone I can contact for you? Back home I mean.”

“No.”

“Are you certain? Surely someone will become concerned if they don’t hear from you.”

Perhaps Giles did know who he was. The man did seem to be prying. “Are you aware of the recent wizarding war?”

“I did hear a few things through unofficial channels.”

Unofficial. Severus supposed that made sense. The government, wizard or muggle, wouldn’t want the near demise of law and order to become well known. “I was a double agent. My public persona was on the losing side of the war. This has caused certain difficulties.”

 

Scene: Stick

The room didn’t, quite, look like a muggle’s guest bedroom. The walls were a pale off-white which, granted, was a muggle affectation, but most muggles, at least as far as Severus knew, wouldn’t have a relief of the warrior goddess Sekhmet on the wall. It did support Giles’ claim to belong to the Council of Watchers. Severus understood that they favored images of warrior goddesses as a representation of the powers of their Slayer. He wasn’t sure, however, if they worshipped the images or merely expected them to enhance the Slayer’s powers. It probably didn’t matter. The Watchers must have some idea what they were doing to have created such a creature in the first place, but he doubted the warrior images had any influence on the Slayer’s powers.

The sun shining around the curtains suggested he could rise and possibly find Giles already awake. Severus wasn’t quite sure what to do with himself but he, unfortunately, shouldn’t spend the day alone. Healing potions were tricky. He’d need someone to keep an eye on him. After donning a muggle robe that Giles had left out for him, he found the man in the kitchen.

“How are you feeling?”

Severus considered the question. Not nearly as bad as the last time he’d been bitten by a cobra. “Better than I’d expect to.” Of course the last time he’d nearly died. “Weaker than I’d hoped.”

“Well, I have good news. Anya’s feeling quite excited that I’ve trusted her to open the shop on her own so we can take out time. Would you like breakfast?”

“Not particularly.”

“Are you sure? I understand why you’ve lost your appetite but you should eat something to keep your energy up.”

Giles made a good point. “I suppose I could make an effort.”

“Porridge?”

“Perfect.” The blandness might not upset his stomach.

After about half a bowl, Severus found he couldn’t eat anymore and wrapped his hands around a mug of tea. “There are more occult creatures here than I’d expected from the muggle world.”

“That would be an effect of the Hellmouth. Oh, I suppose I should explain. A Hellmouth is …”

“I have read the relevant literature.”

“Literature?” Giles lit up at the word. “As in more than one source? I found only one reference, a journal, and had to surmise the existence of the Hellmouth myself. I don’t suppose you could point me in the direction of your sources?”

“Of course.” The man had rescued him, given him a place to sleep, and watched over him as he recuperated. It was the least Severus could do. “The Hellmouth is what brought me here, to Sunnydale that is. I’ve seen hypotheses that Hellmouth energies can modify the effects and potencies of magical herbs but no actual studies.” He brushed a hand over the bandage on his shoulder. “I suppose I now know why.”

“Er, yes, sorry about that.” Giles spoke as if the attack were his fault. “But since you helped stop that beast, I’m sure Buffy will make your safety a priority.”

“Buffy?”

“You do know what a Slayer is, yes?”

‘You’re the Slayer’s Watcher?’ vied with ‘You named it Buffy?’ in his thoughts. “Some sort of protective magical construct similar to the golem created in Prague during …”

Giles choked on his tea. “Sorry,” Giles said as he mopped up tea with his napkin. “The Slayer is a girl or, well, young woman actually. When Called she’s granted certain powers but she’s entirely human. She carried you back to The Magic Box last night. Don’t you recall her at all?”

He had recalled a blonde girl carrying him but, unable to explain why they hadn’t just levitated him, he’d put it down to a dream induced by venom and pain. “She retrieved my wand.”

“Yes and I have to say I’m glad she did. If I’d known you were a wizard I’ve had searched for it myself, but …”

“She called it a stick.”

“Well, yes, but she did realize it was important.”