Chapter 1: Midnight Run
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The night was his time, when he felt most alive, when he shed the conventions and inhibitions created by his vow long ago, and was free to simply be his true self. The self he kept hidden from everyone, the self that no one now living knew. The moon was full tonight, he could feel the shift in his blood, and he felt the old longing stir in him, the urge to run with only the moon to light his path, to put aside the controlled persona he affected and allow himself to be the wild untamed creature at his core. He looked up at the clock on the wall. Almost midnight, and long past the hour when students should be asleep.
This once, he would forsake his duty and indulge himself. Even he deserved a break now and again, especially after the events of the past year and the Triwizard Tournament. Decision made, he spun, his boots tapping rhythmically across the dungeon floor, and made his way out of the castle through a secret exit learned long ago during his schooldays. He walked past the greenhouse, past Hagrid’s hut, up to a large swath of green pasture, close to the Forbidden Forest, where sometimes the thestrals grazed. But they never bothered him, they were gentle creatures for the most part, despite their fearsome reputation. Upon reaching the grassy verge, he took three deep breaths, focusing himself.
There was a stirring of magic and suddenly the tall Potions professor became a magnificent black stallion.
The horse stood, quivering in the moonlight, which striped his coal black coat with faint silvery markings. He was pure ebony, satiny black from head to hoof, save for a single marking upon his forehead, half-covered by his long forelock. The mark of the crescent moon, an incandescent fiery imprint that told those who knew the old legends and ways that he was a devotee of the Midnight Lady, Selene, the Moon Goddess. He had been initiated into her Mysteries at thirteen, as were all the Prince line, and he had served her faithfully ever since. Selene was not a demanding goddess, she desired above all things that her followers be free to choose their own path, to guard the helpless, and to defend those in need against the rise of Shadow. Selene’s warriors were those who walked unseen, who watched and said little of what they saw, secretive and sly, but trustworthy and a vow, once given, would be kept unto death.
Like the vow he had given to Lily, to watch over and protect her only child, to nurture the boy’s fledgling magical gifts, and to love the boy in her stead should she be killed in the fight against Voldemort.
He found the first part of his vow easy enough to fulfill, as soon as the boy had set foot in Hogwarts, Severus had become his unseen protector, the watcher in the shadows, making sure the foolish brat did not kill himself with his reckless impulsiveness. It drove him to distraction, the way the child continually put himself into danger, as if he was somehow immune to death, and it didn’t help that the senile old coot in charge patted him on the head every time he did so. Did the boy not comprehend that his mother had given her very life for his, and that life ought to be cherished? Why must Potter be a glory seeker, like his bloody father?
The stallion shook his head and stamped a hoof upon the ground. Thinking about James Potter always made his insides twist up, as if he had a bout of colic. And the boy bid fair to take after his troublemaking, arrogant father, at least from what Severus had observed so far. Severus had hoped that the child would have more of his mother in him than his father, but that did not seem to be the case. And that was what made fulfilling the last part of his vow so hard. How could he love a boy who resembled his arrogant bullying father so much, who was practically James Potter’s reflection? The only thing it seemed Potter had inherited of Lily’s were her eyes.
The stallion shook his head abruptly. No, he would not think of that, not now. This was his time to relax, to allow all of his pent up frustration and irritation at dull-witted students and impulsive cheeky brats to be released. This was his time to allow the wildness in his soul free reign and to run beneath the moon.
