A Touch of Delirium

Voldemort was in Hogwarts.

Voldemort was in Hogwarts, settled with his circle of Death Eaters in the Gryffindor Tower. He was in no haste to seek Harry Potter out: this time, he knew, Harry Potter would seek him out. And then, he knew, Harry Potter would die.

Harry Potter was in Hogwarts, too.

Harry Potter was in Hogwarts, too, but he was not seeking Voldemort out. He was in Hogwarts, because Professor Sybil Trelawney had made a third prophecy; and Harry Potter decided that he would abide by the prophecy.

Perhaps he had little choice to do otherwise: the last prophecy stated that the last Horcrux – the one Horcrux of which Harry Potter, however much he and his friends had tried, had not managed to learn the slightest bit – was, inexplicably, in Hogwarts, in the Ravenclaw Tower.

And so, Harry Potter was now in Hogwarts, and on his way to the Ravenclaw Tower. He was not alone: he had with him Ron, and Hermione, and Luna Lovegood.

Luna whispered the password which let the four of them into the Tower; then, they ascended a small staircase; and then, they opened the door of the Ravenclaw common room.

And then, they all stopped in surprise.

---

For one thing, there was the matter of the raven.

There were, as Luna later explained to Hermione, openings in the walls of the Ravenclaw common room. They were, of course, charmed, so that the room stayed warm even in the middle of a most frosty winter. Another charm served to prevent birds from flying in.

That explained all, apart from, perhaps, the small matter of the raven.

---

The raven was perched on an armchair in the middle of the room, watching impassively with its hard, black eyes one spot on the floor.

In that spot, Severus Snape half-sat, half-lay, slouching, twitching and trembling; altogether, being in a state which, to a Muggle, would instantly bring to mind an epileptic fit.

---

When the first moment of surprise passed, the time came for rage.

"Snape!" yelled out Harry Potter, reaching for his wand.

"Snape!" Ron Weasley echoed. "But what's he doing?"

"Oh, Ron," Hermione Granger sighed, "It's obvious. Don't you remember Katie Bell, last year? He's under some curse, or jinx–"

"He's finally got his due, hasn't he?" Harry smirked nastily. "Caught in a Dark Arts trap he can't slither out of. Good for him–"

"Oh, Harry, don't be stupid," Hermione sighed again, "How will he answer our questions in this state? Just look at him–"

"I don't have any questions for him, myself," Ron muttered. "Can't we leave him as he is?"

Hermione ignored him, and continued, "I mean, he's clearly in delirium. Not even an Imperius would work here–" She watched the twitching figure with cool, clinical detachment.

"Delirium?" Luna asked from behind them. No one paid her any heed; they all watched Snape.

"He's got something in his hands," Harry observed. The three all approached the former Potions Master as they spoke.

"Don't touch it, Harry," Hermione warned, "That is probably the object which caused the effect."

Ron animated. "Do you think that it might be the Horcrux?"

Hermione frowned. "Perhaps," she admitted reluctantly, "We might try and take it from him to check, I suppose."

"All right," Harry decided, "Ron, I want you to–

---

Busy as the three were with their whispered preparations, they still did not pay any attention to Luna – who, instead, appeared to be amusing herself with a conversation with a voice in her head.

"Of course you can," she said, "But I want to watch. Can I watch?"

"All right," she said a moment later.

---

The next moment, Hermione, who by chance looked in Snape's direction, saw Luna try to remove the cursed object from his tightly clutched hands.

"Luna! No!" she cried out; but it was too late. Luna was already holding the item – which turned out to be a single snow-white raven's feather – and inspecting it curiously.

"Nasty trick. Um. I think," she said. Then, she looked straight at Hermione, and added, "But I don't feel I'm a Luna. Not here."

Hermione gasped.

"What's she on about again?" Ron asked, surprised. "How come she's not Luna? She is."

"No, she isn't," Hermione replied quietly, "Look at her eyes, Ron–"

"Her eyes?" asked Harry, "What about them– Oh."

Normally, Luna's eyes were a pale blue, in accord with her light skin and hair. But now, only one eye still retained the colour; the other was a vivid emerald green, spattered with moving silver flecks–

"She's possessed," Harry whispered, "By a Slytherin– Voldemort! That's why she–"

"Almost entirely wrong, I'm afraid, Potter," Snape's amused voice sounded from behind Luna. The black figure slowly collected itself from the ground, entirely unmindful of the three wands pointed at it; the raven followed his every move in silence.

Then, to Harry's and Ron's indignant surprise, Snape bowed slightly to Luna Lovegood. "Greetings, Lady Delirium," he said.

In response, the not-Luna launched herself at Snape.

"Severus!" she shouted out, hugging him tightly. Several pink-and-orange butterflies shot out into the air. Harry hissed: the not-Luna was now squarely in his line of fire.

With a suddenly pained look on his wasted visage, Snape extracted himself carefully from the not-Luna's embrace. "Allow me to thank you for your timely intervention–" he began.

"Um. No problem. I. I–" A perplexed look crept onto the not-Luna's face.

"You have a message for me, I believe?" Snape continued casually.

(This was getting weird, Harry thought. No one paid him any heed. Neither Snape nor the not-Luna; neither Hermione nor Ron. The couple had even forgotten their wands; they were engrossed in a discussion of their own–

"So, what is this all about?"

"Oh, Ron, don't tell me that you've never read the Librum Fulvarum Paginarum–")

The not-Luna's perplexed look disappeared in another smile. "Yes. I'm to tell you– tell you–" She hesitated, and then suddenly asked, "Do you know what it is when you believe that something is real, only it isn't?"

"That's a delusion," Snape continued, in the same amiable tone, "A state of mind with which Potter here is intimately familiar, I believe."

Harry decided that it was finally the time to act.

"Snape–" he started to speak; and then, suddenly, he felt Hermione's hand on his shoulder. "Shh," she hushed him, "Listen."

In the meantime, the not-Luna perked up. "Perhaps I'll be Delusion one day," she said.

Then, her mood swung back. "Or perhaps not."

"I'll go now, won't I?" she finished hesitantly.

"Lady Delirium," Snape said, now slightly more firmly, "You were about to give me a message."

"Oh, yes. My brother is waiting for you," the not-Luna stated matter-of-factly.

This made Hermione gasp again; and, as Harry noticed with no small satisfaction, appeared to confuse even Snape slightly. "Your brother? Are you entirely sure? Not your sister? Your eldest sister?"

He looked around and appeared to notice the raven for the first time. His face remained blank and expressionless; but his black eyes, Harry noticed, narrowed for a moment.

The not-Luna shrugged, "No, not really, no. Oh, and here," she said, giving him the white raven's feather, "For you."

Seeing that Snape hesitated a bit before taking the feather, she added, "Don't worry about the thingie in it. I've taken it out and made it into something different. It's here."

She held out the palm of her other hand. Harry strained out to see what lay there.

It appeared to be, of all things, a Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Bean.

Without the slightest hesitation, Snape took it and ate it. "It tastes," he said musingly, "like tears shed at a wake in January, five years ago; and later, at a funeral, a year before."

The not-Luna shuffled her feet. "Um. That's what it is."

"I thank you again," Snape bowed his head again, "Lady Delirium. But Miss Lovegood, I'm afraid–"

"Oh. Um. All right. Bye, Luna!"

"Bye, Delirium!" Luna said.

---

Snape considered the white raven's feather for a moment; and then, suddenly, he said, "Matthew. Tell your master that, as soon as this hysteria is over, I will be ready at the Lord Dream's earliest convenience."

The raven finally moved on its perch.

"All right," it croaked, "He'll be glad to see you, y'know."

Then, just as Harry realised (erroneously, of course) that the raven was not a raven, but an Animagus, the bird spread out its wings and flew out through one of the windows.

And then, Snape looked at Harry. "Still here, Potter?" he sneered with irritation, "Don't you have a Dark Lord to destroy? The story is not over until the hero defeats the villain. That, I believe, is your part. Or is it too much to hope that you be aware even of that–"

Fin.