The Curse of Swan Lake

Chapter Eight

January passed and we finished collecting our ingredients for the Animus potion. Soon, we reached the moment when it was time to prepare the brewing process. It was nothing I did not feel prepared for, but what did bother me was the fact that ever since Professor Snape and I had collected the Goosegrass together, he avoided me like the plague.

He refused to look at me, did not even stop by my cauldron in class as he usually had and in our private brewing sessions, he gave me short instructions before leaving the room.

What is wrong with him?

I tried not to think about it too much and focused on my studies instead, as well as researching my curse. Barely any books held any information on the Curse of Swan Lake, but I wasn't ready to give up. I needed to figure out what the purpose of this curse was because I was sure there was more to it.
The difficulty was that since every cursed woman in my bloodline had been a different type of swan, it was hard to figure out what the connection was supposed to be. Most of the cursed witches had been non-magical swans, I was one of the few Cygnus Cantare.

I basically had no clue what to look for and once again tried finding something new in the book, written by Rowena Ravenclaw's daughter.

I flipped through the pages, sighing as I skimmed the familiar passages.
Towards the back, my thumb suddenly got stuck. My head snapped up and I straightened up involuntarily when I realized, two pages had been stuck together.

I held my breath as I carefully pulled the pages apart, making sure not to rip any holes into the brittle paper.

Old runes covered the entire page, runes I did not recognize. I felt disappointment wash over me as my eyes flitted across the unfamiliar black symbols.
And at the bottom, there was one sentence in English.

This inscription is copied from Nimue's Revelations, the sorceress who cursed Odette to become a Singing Swan.

My mouth dropped open.
Odette had been a Cygnus Cantare as well?

I turned the page in the hopes of finding something else, but it was blank. Biting my lip, I stuck the book back under my pillow and looked around in my room.
At least I had a clue on where to look. Nimue's Revelations was an old book, of which only two copies existed. But as far as I knew, one was in the wizard's library in London, which was in the Royal Opera House. I just needed an excuse to get a portkey to London so I could copy it. That was illegal, but I couldn't take the original with me, much less keep it for several months to try to decipher the runes.

The weak sound of the ringing bell signaled the end of lunch break and I groaned quietly. I had Potions next.

Severus' P.O.V.:
As the seventh-years filed into my classroom, I crossed my arms in front of my chest and scowled slightly. Ignoring the brown-haired witch sitting beside Potter, I began with my lecture. As I talked, my mind kept wandering off. The past weeks had been strange and extremely difficult for me to understand.
Granger's scent suddenly seemed to be everywhere. In my classroom, in my private lab, in the Great Hall- I'd taken to avoid her at all costs and it still did not make a difference.

Before the incident with the Goosegrass, I had blocked out Granger's scent as I had with the ones of others. Years of practice made it simple enough. But now, it seemed for me impossible to do so. The sweet fragrant of that witch had forced its way into my brain, becoming a prominent presence in my day. As if that was not worse enough, my vampiric side would not stop longing to get a taste of her blood. I had to feed every two weeks now to control my blood thirst, otherwise- who'd know what could happen.

As I turned around to write something on the blackboard, I felt my lips curl back from my teeth in annoyance. I had always felt pride in knowing I was not like the other bloodthirsty vampires that could not control their hunger. Yet now, I was no better than them, lusting after a student's blood.