Fire and Purpose(Severus Snape love story & alt ending)Mature Audiences (18+)

Knockturn Alley

Snape didn't talk on the walk back to Ollivanders. He actually walked a few steps in front of her, occasionally looking back to make sure she was still there. He was walking so fast that it was hard to keep up. She was exhausted emotionally and physically. A night without sleep and then the Snape mood rollercoaster didn't help. It made her sad to see him and perhaps that is why her footsteps slowed until she didn't see him any longer. To make matters worse she wasn't sure how long she had been walking separate from him. Her mind had been in other places.

It was late, the sky dark and a night with no stars. Well that seemed appropriate she thought. Looking around she didn't recognize anything. She considered trying to retrace her steps but wasn't sure which way to go to even start. She considered waiting where she was to see if Snape eventually found her when she heard it. Soft whispers crowded her mind. Some words she could make out, others she could not.

"Come." "Find us." "Look." "See us."

It sounded like a symphony of voices and it made her head hurt as well as a sense of Deja Vu. Without thought she began following the voices, leading her to a sign pointing down a twisted narrow street "Knockturn Alley."

The alley was dark and dreary. Mist settled around the place and made the night air colder. Oil lamps lit in several places were muffled by the fog. It didn't matter to her, she needed to find out where the voices were coming from.

The voices were loudest when she came to a dimly lit shop, Borgin and Burkes. She entered the shop looking around to see where the voices were coming from. It seemed to be an antique store of some kind with macabre things like bones and shrunken heads. Masks with evil grins hung from the walls. There was jewelry and other small things locked in glass cabinets. It was disheveled and dusty, even more so than Ollivanders which had a lighter happier feel. No this place was dark and it sold dark things of that she had no doubt.

A stooped man with greasy hair stepped behind the counter as she was looking through the store for the source of the voices. She needed to make them stop so she could focus.

"Can I help you? I am Mr. Borgin owner of this shop." His voice was as greasy as his hair but if he could help her she didn't care.

"I'm looking for something? Something that whispers."

He rubbed the stubble of chin. "Lot's of things can whisper, although I do not hear anything at the moment. Perhaps you could be a little more specific."

"Here. Here. Here.Here." She looked around pained. Even the dim light from the shop hurt her eyes. She closed them trying to ease the pain. "Here.Here.Here.Here." She moved around the shop with her eyes closed a game of hot cold until she bumped into a shelf. Something fell down and landed by her feet. A long thin box covered in layered dust and cobwebs, the like of which she had seen at Ollivanders. It was a wand box.

As soon as she picked up the box, the voices did a collective sigh and quieted. Not waiting for the curator to help her, she tentatively opened it. The wand was remarkable. It lay in an unlined wooden box. Pale in color not gray but not ivory and about 12 inches in length, it had a handle that was carved with multiple tiny little skulls, the eye sockets appeared to sparkle when she moved the box back and forth. She was fascinated to the point that she didn't even hear the man as he reached for the box and took it from her hand.

Immediately the voices started again. "Return us. Return us. Return us." Borgin seemed startled so the voices must have been vocal to him as well as her.

He put the lid on the box and this time the voices screamed. The pitch was high enough that he dropped the box and covered his ears. The wand rolled to her feet and she picked it up. Translucent orbs flowed from the wand and wrapped around her before disappearing.