Moon Magic
Rated Teen
Chapters One-Five
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Chapter One
Riley fell from the portal, completed a neat shoulder roll and brought his weapon to bear on the only person in the room… a person who was either a child or a very small hostile. After what Riley had seen in his time fighting hostiles, he wasn't taking any chances.
"Hands up. Who are you and where is the rest of my troop?" he asked as he carefully inched closer to the wall so that he could have something solid at his back. The child/hostile stood staring with open mouth without even trying to answer.
"I got it. We just have to try again!" a girl's voice called. Riley turned his weapon toward the open doorway when a girl with long hair appeared, a red and gold tie around her neck as though she'd been digging through her father's dresser. She looked up from a bottle of green slime. "Oh," she said softly.
"Oh? That's all you're going to say? Oh? For Merlin's sake, Hermione, fix this," the other child/hostile hissed. The boy had stunning red hair and the girl brown and they didn't look anything alike; however, they both had the same ties and the style of clothing, which certainly suggested uniform even if the girl was wearing a skirt.
"Where am I?" Riley demanded, focusing on the girl since she at least seemed to be calm enough to answer.
"Ron, where did he come from?" Hermione asked, a confused expression on her face.
"The spell. It made him." The boy… Ron… sounded ready to hyperventilate.
"That's impossible," Hermione gave a sniff as she marched over to the pot that Riley now noticed.
"Put the bottle down and show me your hands," Riley ordered. He didn't want to shoot, but he would. This situation was clearly dangerous.
"Hermione!" Ron hissed. She hesitated, the bottle still in her hand.
"He can't be real. The potion simply doesn't work that way. This could be an illusion spell, or maybe he's a spirit attracted to the magical signature. Sometimes Basilisk scales are unpredictable around spirits."
"Don't," Riley warned darkly as she raised the green bottle over the black pot. Riley brought his weapon up, sighting down the barrel at the girl.
"Miss Granger, Mr. Weasley. To what foolishness can I attribute this latest example of your flagrant disregard for rules?" a voice demanded. Riley hadn't even heard anyone coming, so he nearly fired the weapon as he swung it toward the newest visitor to the room.
"Professor Snape," Ron just about squeaked. The girl just stood frozen, her face a perfect mask of horror for just a second before she started talking.
"We were just trying a potion from Common Magical Ailments and Afflictions. I noticed that Madame Pompadora's work was referenced in the study materials for the OWL's, so we thought we should—" her voice trailed off as the tall man with the long black hair raised one eyebrow. He reminded Riley of a particularly nasty sergeant he had once trained under.
"I see, Miss Granger, so you are questioning my curriculum?"
"No!" she just about yelped. "No, I would never—"
"Ten points from Gryffindor for impertinence." He looked at the two children, but they simply stared down at the stone floor. "Another ten for wandering the halls at night." Ron nodded. Hermione bit her lip. "Each," the man finished coldly. Both kids flinched. At this point, Riley couldn't help but believe these were children, children who had just been caught doing something they shouldn't have. Considering his own brushes with magic were limited to quacks and one old man who raised zombies that Riley's men had hacked to pieces, he couldn't say he was sorry someone had intervened, but that didn't solve his immediate problem.
"Where am I and where are my men?" Riley demanded with all the calm he could muster. The tall man turned and graced him with a singularly dismissive expression before he went to the pot.
"You may leave," he snapped. Riley knew the order was for the children, but he couldn't deny feeling an urge to obey. This guy sounded military.
"But Professor Snape," Hermione tried to argue, "Don't you want to know—"
"Twenty points from Gryffindor," Professor Snape spoke clearly and coldly, "for having the impertinence to assume you could ever brew a potion I would not recognize." Hermione gave Riley a quick glance before she put the bottle down on a heavy wood shelf and nearly fled from the room. Riley understood the urge, but he focused his weapon on Professor Snape and waited for an answer. Instead the man picked up a wooden spoon to stir the pot.
"Touch it and I will fire. Now, where am I and where are my men," Riley repeated with just a little less calm this time. The professor looked up with an almost bored expression.
"Be silent before I turn you into something less offensive," the Profession calmly stated, and Riley got a shiver down his back, the kind that had warned him the one time a gox'lix demon snuck up behind him and almost ate his liver. The professor put the spoon in the pot, and Riley pulled the trigger. Instead of the sharp bark of an automatic rifle, the weapon started disintegrating in his hands.
Riley dropped the gun quickly, not even watching as it turned to vapor, before he pulled his knife and moved in on the hostile. The professor waved a stick around and muttered something and the knife fell from Riley's senseless fingers before the professor suddenly started growing impossibly large.
Attempting to retreat, Riley tripped over his own feet and ended up on the stone floor looking up as the professor loomed over him, a giant.
"That is better. Now I do not have to put up with your incessant complaints as I figure out what Miss Granger has done this time." A hand reached down, and Riley scrambled to get on his feet, only he didn't seem to have any feet to get on. As the professor lifted him, Riley could see himself draped over the professor's hand. He'd been helpless before, that he understood. This, however, was the first time he'd ever been turned into a snake. A green one. Riley felt himself hyperventilating just as Professor Snape dropped him in a deep, black pocket.
Chapter Two
"Stupid girl. I should have expected such impetuous foolishness from Gryffindor brats. Always rushing in without checking their sources. Muggle-born moron."
Riley slid from one corner of the deep pocket to the other as Professor Snape paced. The jerky motion made Riley want to throw up, but he wasn't sure he even could. The professor made another sudden turn, and Riley felt the instinctive need to reach out and catch himself, which just made his snake-body curl up behind him. Okay, this was bad. Riley had seen some seriously fucked up situations, but this… this went beyond anything he had ever imagined.
The motion suddenly changed, and from the brisk taps of shoes against stone, Riley was guessing they were striding down a hall, or Snape was striding, Riley was just sort of rolling from one side of the pocket to the other.
"Cribbages Wizarding Crackers," Snape said before he continued.
"Severus, how nice to see you," an older man's voice greeted him. Personally, Riley wouldn't ever describe seeing Professor Snape as 'nice.' The man was going to have a starring role in Riley's nightmares for a long time… at least assuming he lived a long time.
"Albus, this time they have gone too far."
"Oh dear. Lemon sherbet?"
"The Granger child invoked Moon magic."
"Yes, I had recognized the distinct signature. Was anyone hurt?" The voice that had reminded Riley of his senile great-uncle just seconds ago now took on a tone of authority.
"Had the room not been charmed rather ingeniously against violent acts, Granger, Weasley and myself might have all been gravely injured."
"I see. So, I take it that Miss Granger managed to complete the spell." This time, the voice sounded almost amused, and a long silence followed.
"Miss Granger managed to display her usual mixture of barely adequate competence and gross disregard for her actions. She chose a spell from Notta Bellaificus' Transformative Potions and Charms."
"I see."
Riley suddenly found himself caught in a giant hand, although by now he had realized that he had shrunk rather than Snape growing enormous as he'd originally suspected. He found himself dangling in front of an old man whose glasses perched on the end of his nose and who looked like Santa Clause after an Atkin's diet.
"I do see," the old man repeated. "Albus Dumbledore, at your service. This is Severus Snape, the Potion Master here at… well, we shall not bother you with such unnecessarily details."
For a second, Riley could only hang limply in shock at a man who seemed to calmly introduce himself to a snake, but then Riley struggled and managed to get a loop of his body around Severus Snape's finger.
"He appears rather uncomfortable, perhaps you should return him to his own form," Dumbledore suggested mildly before he turned to a large desk and settled himself behind it.
"So he can have another chance to try killing all of us?"
"Really, Severus, if Miss Granger's spell has removed him from his own reality, I dare say he simply acted out of fear. But, of course, it is your choice."
Snape's choice… Snape's choice whether or not to give him back his own body? Riley cursed, but even he could hear the pointless hissing that came out of his mouth.
"While I cannot claim to speak parseltongue, that did sound remarkably unhappy," Dumbledore commented. Then he turned toward Riley. "But the difficulty is that Severus truly is the only person who can perform the spell to send you home. And before you worry, I have no doubt that Severus will return you to proper form before sending you back where you belong." This time Dumbledore looked up toward Snape with an expression that made the comment into a clear order. Riley could feel Snape's fingers tighten around him, and he struggled to breathe for a second before they loosened once more.
"Of course, Headmaster. I shall return this person just as soon as the moon returns to a position that would allow me to reverse the spell." Snape's voice came out smooth. "Perhaps now we can discuss Miss Granger's foolhardy forays into magic which she clearly does not understand."
"Yes, yes," Dumbledore agreed as he calmly steepled his hands in front of his face, and Riley knew a dismissal when he saw one. Snape, however, continued to push.
"This sort of careless magic…"
"We both know the children have been under quite a lot of stress lately."
"Much of which they brought on themselves." Snape was barely withholding a growl by this point.
"Some, perhaps, but much of this is so far out of their control that you cannot possibly believe they hold any culpability." Dumbledore stared at Snape, and Riley could feel the tension, the stress from forces he didn't understand flowing through the room. He wasn't sure which made him more uncomfortable: being helpless in Snape's hand or not understanding the obviously deep and dangerous waters that flowed around them with every word. Riley felt like he was back with Maggie Walsh again, with lies and deceptions and politics at every turn.
"I think Potter makes his own choices, much like his father. But I assure you that I do understand the prophecy with which we are all burdened."
Dumbledore nodded slowly, his eyes sliding away to study the desk with an absent-minded expression. "Our visitor really would be safer with you until we can return him," Dumbledore said before he picked up a paper with an oddly moving picture on the page.
"Yes, Headmaster," Snape said tightly before he turned to leave. "One day, Potter or his friends will use up that remarkable luck of theirs. When that day comes, I hope you are prepared to clean up the mess they will undoubtedly leave."
"Unfortunately, we shall both be pressed into service on that day, Severus," Dumbledore answered softly. Without another word, Snape turned and walked back out. This time, Riley had a view of stone corridors and old-fashioned paintings that were obviously some sort of television screens because many of the images were moving. Carved stone arches rose above them, and torches were set into the walls. Eventually, they descended one set of stairs after another, in one case the staircase slid slowly to one side as Snape stood still, waiting.
The whole time, Riley tried to determine the technology and possible sources for resources and potential threats, but the simple fact was that he was in way over his head. Maybe if he was still working with Buffy and Giles he could hope for some backup or rescue, but given his current assignment with a very non-magical special forces team, Riley knew that he had limited options besides trusting these two men to send him home.
Eventually they entered a windowless chamber with heavy gold drapes and Victorian furniture in dark colors. Books and rolls of browning paper lay in neat piles against one wall and bookcases lined every available bit of wall so that Riley couldn't even see the heavy gray stones that obviously made the castle.
"We'll just have to find a home for you, won't we?" Snape asked with enough sarcasm to make Riley flinch and hiss. Snape went to a shelf and pulled off a wicker cage. "This should work."
Riley wanted to fight, to sink his hopefully considerable and preferably poisonous fangs into the man just for the principle of it. Unfortunately, he couldn't afford to with his future in the man's hands. Riley had the impression Snape was not a patient or a forgiving man. Instead of fighting, he allowed himself to be maneuvered into the small cage door before Snape closed it and slipped a latch over the end. Riley watched without blinking as Snape walked over to a huge fireplace and cleared a space on the mantle.
"Hopefully the warmth will keep you sated and quiet. I do not appreciate being bothered in my own chambers," Snape announced. Then he said some word Riley didn't know and tapped the top of the cage with what Riley now realized was his wand. A green fabric rolled down over the bars of the cage and Riley was alone.
Chapter Three
Riley didn't intend to go to sleep, but a knocking outside the cage woke him, or at least made him sluggishly aware. He was warm, and curled on himself; he couldn't imagine doing anything other than sleeping for the next year or so. Even the curled panic in his brain couldn't penetrate his lethargy.
"Mr. Malfoy," Snape said in a bored voice.
"Professor Snape."
Riley uncurled a little; this voice didn't seem either terrified or angry, like the two children from last night, and yet it was clearly a boy's voice.
"May I come in?" the boy asked. There was a long silence, and Riley jerked as the cloth was ripped from the top of his cage. Snape stood there looking in on him, and Riley suddenly felt like a rat in a laboratory. He'd never liked the idea of Maggie Walsh locking up hostiles and experimenting; he would rather simply kill them. However, now, with this man looking in at him, Riley suddenly despised the idea of locking up sentient creatures in cages, no matter what the excuse. Snape turned away and now Riley could see a boy with yellow, slicked back hair standing in the middle of the old-fashioned room.
"What can I do for you Mr. Malfoy?" Snape asked before he turned and went to a table at the far end of the room. He tapped the table with his wand and a breakfast for one appeared. Riley felt bad for the blond boy left standing awkwardly in the middle of the room.
"I received an owl from my father this morning," he said as he took a step close to Snape. Funny, Riley would have been more concerned with backing away.
"Yes?" Snape asked as he picked up his teacup. "I am busy, so is there a point to this visit?"
The boy hesitated, but Snape looked up with an expression that clearly ordered him to either speak or get out. Malfoy straightened his back. "My father… and others would like to know why there was moon magic here last night."
Snape graced the boy with an expression so cold that Riley felt himself slide back away from it.
"I would expect willful blindness from Gryffindors. From you, Mr. Malfoy, I expect more. If you would wish to help mold this new world that approaches, you must use your mind. What are the two rules we have discussed before?" Snape put his teacup down and leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Think through the benefits and dangers of every decision," Malfoy quickly stated.
"Yes, and…"
"Observe everything. Information is power." Malfoy said the words as though they were a mantra, and Snape pursed his lips.
"Adequate," he nodded. "So apply these principles to your surroundings, Mr. Malfoy. You must learn to not just say the words but apply the ideas behind them."
Malfoy nodded and started looking around the room. Riley watched as the boy's gaze slid over books and old-fashioned furniture and finally rested on Riley himself.
"The snake. You didn't have it before," Malfoy offered.
"Excellent, Draco. Now, what do you know of moon magic, and do not try to convince me you are unaware of its potential. If you failed to look up that simple piece of information after receiving your father's owl, you are truly unworthy of being Slytherin."
Now that the boy was facing the cage, Riley could see the hard eyes and the blush that now made the pale face turn pink. "Moon magic makes a request without specifying the parameters of the outcome."
"An idiotic spell. Notta Bellaificus had dangerously muggle views on spell-casting, and her quaint belief in faith made her entire theory inappropriate and dangerous. The Ministry should cast an Incendio spell on the remaining copies." Snape looked like he had just bitten something particularly sour, but it wasn't as though Riley had seen a particularly pleasant expression on the man yet.
"So who cast it?" Malfoy asked. He turned to Snape who simply raised one eyebrow. That must have been answer enough because Malfoy turned back toward Riley with an equally sour expression. When Snape stood and started walking to the cage, Riley braced himself. Whatever was going on here, he was a pawn caught in the middle.
Snape opened the cage and pulled Riley out, setting him on the floor before tapping his wand and issuing a curt, "Finite Incantatem."
Immediately, Riley found himself crouched, knife in hand and muscles tensed for an attack. But with Snape standing, wand pointed ominously, Riley quickly changed his earlier plans. Leaving the knife on the floor, he slowly stood, showing his empty hands before he went to parade rest. Snape's wand didn't waver.
"Who are you?" Malfoy asked. For just a second, Riley considered giving name, rank, and serial number, but this was a child and whatever the situation was, he wasn't Riley's captor.
"Riley Finn, United States Army."
"A muggle?" Malfoy made the word sound disgusting.
"He's from another reality. I'm not sure if muggle is the correct term, but he certainly doesn't appear to have any magical qualities," Snape answered as he stepped closer. Riley held position, looking steadily at Snape. He had the feeling that he wouldn't get far running, and he'd be damned if he'd give Snape the pleasure of seeing that Riley was terrified.
"Do you have any magical powers?" Malfoy asked from behind Snape. Riley let his eyes drift to the boy.
"No." he answered truthfully.
"Whatever help Miss Granger hoped to find, she clearly failed," Snape turned his back on Riley. Even though Riley had an overwhelming urge to do something, anything, he stood with his hands clasped behind his back waiting for an opportunity that would actually benefit him.
"I suppose I must feed you, and Dumbledore would no doubt consider a live mouse tossed in your cage torture," Snape said with exaggerated weariness as he walked to the table and tapped it again. Eggs and waffles appeared. Riley hesitated just a second before he walked to the table and carefully sat across from the man who had turned him into a snake. A snake. Riley was still struggling with that. Picking up his knife and fork, he started eating. His stomach churned, but he wasn't turning down the offer of food, especially since he had no doubt that Snape had seriously considered putting a mouse in his cage.
"Are all muggles that stupid?" Malfoy asked. Riley glanced over and decided that child or not, this one went into the dislike-with-prejudice pile. "He could have poisoned that, you know." Malfoy looked down at the food.
Riley finished chewing before answering. "At this point, he could poison me without putting it in the food. So, I don't put myself at any more risk by eating. However, if I don't eat, I'm not going to last very long, am I?" he asked calmly. He didn't feel calm, but years of covert training had taught him to put on that disguise as easily as a shoe.
Malfoy narrowed his eyes and glared at him, but Riley returned to eating. When he did, he couldn't help noticing the almost amused expression on Snape's face.
"What are you going to do?" Malfoy asked. Riley ignored the question, assuming it was intended for Snape.
"Dumbledore has asked me to reverse the spell in two weeks when the moon is in proper alignment. Since keeping Mr. Finn here serves no purpose in or of itself, I shall do as the Headmaster asks." Snape looked at Malfoy, and Riley could feel the truths and manipulations sliding through the air like oil slipping into the water.
"I'll tell my father."
"Yes, do," Snape said in a bored voice. The boy turned to leave, but Riley concentrated on his food, and his body's conflicting desires to eat and to throw up. In silence, he finished first the waffles and then the eggs before drinking a glass of juice. He'd thought it was reconstituted orange juice with an odd color, but it turned out to be pumpkin. Disliking the flavor, he still forced himself to drink it all.
"It seems I shall have a guest for a while then," Snape offered between small bites of his own breakfast, which Riley couldn't even identify. It might have been hashed… something. He didn't answer as he waited for Snape to say something that would require an answer. The man hadn't even taken the weapons he had left, two grenades, a second knife, and a Colt handgun. Somehow, being armed made him feel even more helpless since the weapons obviously weren't a threat.
"What happened to my rifle?" Riley asked, despite firmly ordering himself to remain silent whenever possible.
Snape looked up. "There are charms in some rooms which will remove a dangerous object the moment someone attempts to use it. Sadly, many dangerous items are protected by countercharms. Your weapons clearly are not."
Ah. So he was as good as disarmed. Riley felt a sophomoric urge to pull a pin and throw a grenade just to see if it would work.
"I have talentless cretins to teach, so back in your cage with you." Before Riley could even stand, Snape pointed with his wand and without even an 'abracadabra,' Riley found himself curled on the chair, staring at the suddenly enormous table through eyes that refused to blink. Being carried back to his cage, Riley could only wonder at the political games he'd witnessed and hope that Snape wasn't sadistic enough to toss him back through the portal still in snake form. Right now, Riley just wasn't sure. With a tap, the green fabric was back and Riley was alone in the dim, green light that filtered in through the cloth.
Chapter Four
"You ready?" Faith asked as she slung a worn leather bad over her shoulder and leaned against the wall of the kitchen.
"Just let me…" Willow's voice faded to nothing as she dug through an impressive pile of odd bits on the table.
"I don't have room for any more sage or pig's tongue in my bag, so you bring it, you carry it," Faith warned.
"Right. Not a problem. But we should have the ingredients for a basic protection charm just in case."
"Willow," Buffy said, her voice tight and high.
"Relax, B. We'll bring the boy home," Faith assured her. The older slayer turned to her with eyes that looked a good century older than her actual age.
"Just…. Keep yourselves safe," Buffy finally managed. She turned and walked out of the room, but Faith knew from experience she'd be back in under five minutes if Willow didn't stop sitting on her tea leaves.
"Move it, sister. We have a soldier-boy to rescue," Faith said. She needed to get this show on the road before Buffy's anxiety and depression started pulling on her.
"Moving. Right," Willow said with one last desperate look at the table with the ingredients she'd be abandoning. "Probably won't need amethyst," she muttered as she picked up a purple rock.
"Hey, the gent-in-distress isn't getting any younger. Let's move it," Faith tried again. This time Willow put down the rock resolutely and returned to the chalk runes drawn on the wood floor.
"Xander is going to be really cranky about this. I think I scratched the floor."
"He'll live. So, get with the mojo." Willow nodded and set her mouth in a resolute line.
Faith had braced herself for the light and the wave that passed through her body like the ripple from an exploding ra'malki demon. Her feet left the ground and she found herself flying backwards from the epicenter of Willow's spell. Her instincts told her to brace for the kitchen wall, but she kept flying back farther and farther until she crashed into a bookcase.
A dozen books fell down, one sharp corner catching her on the top of her head.
"Fuck!" she snarled as she grabbed a knife from her ankle strap and considered her surroundings. The place was decorated in old-lady weirdness: frilly furniture with wood trim that had fancy carvings that would make Xander start muttering about grain and chisel techniques. Faith put out a hand to push herself up and one of the books that had fallen grew teeth and snapped at her.
"Shit. We aren't in Kansas anymore, Toto," she said to no one in particular as she jerked her hand back. The book wiggled forward, snapping at her again, and Faith drove her knife into it, pinning it closed with the blade even though it still shivered disconcertingly.
"Riley, my boy, what have you gotten yourself into?" Faith asked quietly as she got up. Almost immediately she spotted the knife lying in the middle of the room near the fancy sofa. She walked over and picked up the standard issue Army knife. Okay, so Riley'd been here and someone disarmed him. "Willow?" Faith called. No one answered.
Slowly, she circled the room: books, books, more books, scrolls with the strangest ramblings she'd ever seen, an enormous fireplace, a heavy door into an equally strange bedroom with a giant four-poster bed with green drapes. Faith ended up standing in the middle of the main room looking around. Not only was there no Riley, there wasn't any Willow or door out either.
"Great," Faith complained to the universe at large as she threw herself down on the couch. One stack of scrolls lay within easy reach, so she snagged the top one and started reading some really weird shit about brewing some potion that would probably make Willow get hot and steamy underpants. Yep, this was definitely a Willow kinda place, and right now, Faith really wouldn't mind having some magical backup because this was definitely a magical place. A portrait of a horse-faced woman frowned at her. Faith stuck out her tongue and watched the portrait's eyes go wide.
Faith was bored enough to consider ripping down bookcases looking for a hidden passage before a rumbling noise drew her attention. Hiding the military knife in the back of her jeans, Faith shed her jacket and tried for the harmless look as a section of solid stone slowly opened, revealing a door on the other side.
"Oh. I…" A petite, blonde woman stood at the door, hands nervously going from her throat to her long black robes. "I didn't realize Professor Snape had company. He offered to loan me his copy of 'Accio to Wingardium Leviosa.'" Something changed then because the nervous flutters vanished under a cold look. Faith straightened a little and shrugged as if it didn't matter to her. A casual hand on one hip gave her quick access to the knife as the woman moved into the room, black robes billowing around her and hiding who the hell knew how many weapons.
"Grab away," Faith said with a casual gesture toward the bookshelves.
"Are you a relative of Professor Snape?" the woman asked, her gray eyes narrowing. Yeah, this bitch had moves, Faith could tell just by looking at her.
Faith moved forward, exaggerating the roll of her hips as she bent her head down and considered the woman through her lashes.
"The professor and I are… old friends," she settled on. The look of suspicion vanished under wide-eyed shock. Okay, so the professor wasn't normally the kind to hire a prostitute, well, Faith didn't plan on playing the normal prostitute.
She moved to the side, slinking with a sensuality that made every muscle ripple, and with her cut off top, she knew that this woman could see them all.
"The professor promised to come back just as soon as he could, so if you want to wait for him, I wouldn't mind the extra… company." Faith played the part up a little, letting the tip of her tongue appear between her slightly parted lips, the whole time slinking closer to that exit. "I'm Faith," she purred. "And you are…"
"Professor Sinistra, Astronomy." The woman started to slowly blush.
"Professor Sinistra, Astronomy. That's a lot to scream in the throes of passion," Faith gave a roll of her hips. The woman could obviously be embarrassed, so embarrassment was what she would aim for. By the time she was done, Professor Sinistra, Astronomy would be too humiliated to even mention this little meeting.
"Aurora," the blonde breathed.
"Aurora," Faith repeated with a smile as she moved closer. The nervous fluttering with the hands was back.
"I can borrow that book later. Tell Severus… tell him… I'll talk to him later." The woman turned and fled in a swirl of robes. She moved so fast that Faith was caught off guard for a precious half second. She dove for the closing door just a fraction of a section too late and the heavy door slid past her grasping fingers to settle in place with a definitive thunk.
"Well fuck," Faith cursed as she considered the seemingly blank wall. "Well, it opened once, it's gotta open again," she muttered as she started feeling around the edges of the rocks looking for some mechanism that would let her out of this room. This rescue was definitely right off the rails. Next time, she was ignoring Giles with all his logical reasons, and Buffy could just rescue her own ex-boy-toy.
Chapter Five
The moment she heard the heavy roll of stone, Faith moved into position beside the door. Enough with playing nice, she wanted out of these rooms. She had a boy-toy to rescue and a witch to find. Besides, after reading some of the titles of the books on this Professor Snape's shelf, Faith sure as hell wasn't giving anyone a chance to hex her.
As a man dressed in black strode into the room, Faith leaped forward. He made a grunt as she hit him and knocked him to the stone floor, but instead of freezing the way Faith expected, his hand went for his robe even as he squirmed to the side. Unfortunately for him, he had nothing to compare to slayer strength or speed. He got his hand inside his robe, but not before Faith had Riley's knife pressed up against his throat, the tip against the stone while the sharp edge threatened to slit Snape's throat. He froze.
"Professor Snape, I presume," Faith said in an amused voice. The body under her tensed. "Okay, tall, dark, and dreary, let's talk," she said as she put pressure on the knife so that the blade made a small indent into the skin, just enough to hurt.
"Do I know you?"
"No, but Professor Aurora Sinistra sends her love. Or, not her love exactly, but she stopped by looking for you earlier, and I think I made her uncomfortable enough to leave without the book she was looking for."
"What do you want?" he asked darkly as his hand still slowly moved under his robes. Faith put her knee into the back of his arm, pinning it to the stone floor and making him hiss in pain.
"Let's get something clear. I really don't want to hurt anyone, but if it comes down to you or me, you're going to find yourself in a pool of your own blood," Faith warned. She hated killing. Oh, the fight was great, and slaying vampires was a joy... all the adrenaline and rush without having to watch someone slowly bleed out, their eyes demanding answers that Faith didn't have. But this guy, he wasn't going to vanish into dust, so Faith preferred to keep the violence to non-lethal levels. "You do believe that I'll kill you, right?" Faith bent down to look into the professor's face, her knee painfully grinding his arm into the floor and her hair brushing against the stone as she looked into his dark eyes. She kept the knife at his throat as she stared at him. He was flat against the floor, his one cheek pressed to the stones, but he still managed to pull off a fairly intimidating glare. But Faith wasn't intimidated easily.
"Yes, I rather think you would," the professor admitted slowly.
"Good." Faith smiled. "So here's the thing. I have something you want, and I think you have something I want, so I thought we could do a little horse trading."
"What would I possibly want from you?" The man's dark eyes studied Faith, and she slowly smiled, one predator to another.
"Your head still attached to your neck for one," Faith said with amusement.
The man hesitated, and Faith could almost see the calculations running through his head. Oh yeah, she wasn't turning her back on this one. "You have a valid point," he admitted.
"Hey, we're getting along already. I'm Faith. So, here's the deal. You give me back one tall, uptight soldier by the name of Riley, kinda cute, blond hair, all about his rules and regulations, and I'll give you back your head still attached to your body."
"Mr. Finn," Snape said calmly. Faith gave him credit for having stones; not everyone would keep cool with a knife to his neck.
"I knew you were too smart to piss me off. So, where is he?"
"Why would you look for him in my chambers?"
"Because a very scary-ass witch wrote a spell to bring us right to him. So no matter what weirdness happened to separate us, I figure one of us had to land where we were supposed to... and I came here. So, you give me Riley, and I'll just walk out of your life."
"And go where, exactly?" Snape asked. Faith could feel his body relax as he looked up at her.
"Don't worry about me. I always land on my feet. Now, Riley. Before I get cranky." Faith pressed the knife a little deeper and Snape broke eye contact, glancing toward the fireplace. "And if you're thinking about going for a weapon, I will make you the sorriest man in whatever weird-ass dimension this is."
"I assure you, I am not going for a weapon. Mr. Finn is above the fireplace."
Faith looked over. The fireplace was huge, large enough for a man to walk into, and it had a heavy mantle in dark wood, carved with leaves and curlicues and shit. Yeah, the room definitely did not give off the same creepy vibe as the man who lived in it.
"Okay, all I see is a covered cage and a few candle sticks, so start explaining."
"Mr. Finn is in the cage," Snape said in the same tone of voice Wesley had once used on her when she had given the wrong answer on one of his stupid demon pop quizzes. Faith pressed the knife a little deeper and Snape closed his mouth.
"Fuck. Why the hell can't I catch a simple mission? Go in, get the boy, get out. No, you had to do some shit like shrinking him, didn't you?" More than a little annoyed, she yanked Snape to his feet. He was so damn tall that she had to shift her knife to a spot between his shoulder blades, the point aimed at his heart.
"I could kill you just as quick from here, so don't try anything dumb," Faith advised him as she marched him across the room to the fireplace.
"I have no intention of getting killed over one of Miss Granger's foolish mistakes," Snape said archly. Faith had no idea who Granger was, but Snape sounded reasonably fond of his own skin, so hopefully he'd gotten the message. Without being told, Snape reached out and pulled a green cover off the cage.
Faith had been prepared to see a tiny Riley shaking a tiny fist. She wasn't prepared to see a small green snake curled on itself, its wedge-like nose pointed at her.
"What the fuck?" Faith pressed the knife a little deeper into Snape's back.
"It is a simple transformation spell," Snape hissed as he tried to move forward, away from the tip of the knife. Faith tightened her hand around his arm to keep him still. She was so convinced that he had instinctively moved away from the pain that she only noticed his hand going for his wand a moment too late.
"Petrificus Totalus," he hissed, his wand poking through the folds of his robe toward Faith. Faith rolled, yanking Snape to the floor before she sprang back up to her feet. Normally, slayer speed would be enough for her to reverse her stance and pin Snape to the ground like a bug, but she could feel her muscles strain, something heavy sliding across her skin like oil. By the time she turned, Snape had gotten to his knees, his wand pointed at her.
"Impedimenta!" Snape barked the word, and Faith threw the knife with every bit of strength she had in her arm. Even as it left her hand, Faith knew she'd made a bad throw. Before it landed, Faith felt Snape's magic slide over her, pulling at her like quicksand sucking her under the surface.
"Fuck." She threw herself forward, hands reaching for one last counter-attack before the darkness pulled her under. One hand caught at Snape's heavy robes, and she yanked him forward.
"Salvio hexia confundo." Snape shouted the words just as Faith's fist made a satisfying crunch against the professor's large nose. And then, the darkness pulled Faith under.