The Darkest Spell
"What could be worse than this?" He made huge gestures with his hands.
"For instance, the fact that we can't tell anyone about this." "Now be quiet!" he added because Potter's mouth had opened in objection. "...And listen to me..."
He took a deep breath because he would need all the air in the room for what he was about to tell, maybe even more. The enjoyable part would be the shocked expression on Potter's face, which could be considered as the consolation prize.
"We are in big trouble!"
"Fantastic, excellent! Is that your brilliant explanation? We are in big trouble! That was very enlightening, thanks!"
"Don't interrupt me, Potter! I told you to listen to me..."
"Since when can you give me orders?" He had stood up and started walking towards the door. "I'm going to Dumbledore! This situation..."
"Nonsense!" Snape said a bit too anxiously. "You can't tell him! And he won't believe you anyway! I told that your are confused because of Confundus charm!"
James squinted his eyes and turned his head.
"Maybe you're happy to be me, Snape! Because personally, if I were in your shoes, I would be pleased with the situation! But believe me, I can expose your little lie. Dumbledore would believe me!" he continued to exit. Severus played his last card:
"Well then, go ahead! Maybe getting expelled suits your fancy! You're an adventurer, aren't you!" It worked. James Potter froze with his hand on the doorknob.
"What do you mean expelled? Why would I be expelled?"
"If you listen to me for two seconds, I'll explain! Look, this is important!" James snarled as he sat back on his bed.
"Two seconds, Snivellus, just two. Not three!"
Snape rolled his eyes.
***
While Carmen was going down the stairs from the girls' dormitory, she was thinking whether she should go to the hospital wing or not. Would Snape misunderstand? After all, she could ask him in a friendly manner how he was, expressing her concern for him in the evening. Friendly... She could even explain that Sirius's actions shouldn't affect all of Gryffindor. If she could do, she would do her best to stop Black. Just the day before, she had been invited to the ball by Snape, and just when their lips had met for a brief moment, that stupid Black had ruined everything that for good!
***
James didn't show up at all. His bed was empty! Had he been wandering outside all night then? Maybe he had turned into a stag and went to the Forbidden Forest on his own. He might not have felt like coming to the tower. But if this was the a case, shouldn't he inform them? They were friends. Besides, what could have happened to James in the evening to ruin his mood? He had gone to the ball with the girl he loved. As the gong started ringing, he had kissed her... He hadn't had to watch his one true love being kissed by Snape. Why would he be in a mood? He should be happy. At least for himself...
"OUCH..."
"Hey, watch where you're going! Oh, Carmen!! Was that you? I didn't see you, sorry!" he added with a quick shift in tone from anger to modest.
"Cypress, Black! Cypress! Only my close friends can address me by my first name!"
"We are friends though, aren't we?" He furrowed his brows. Behind him, there were Remus and Peter, and behind Carmen, there were Lily and Rachel...
"No we are not! Don't address me by my first name, Black, don't. I want to maintain a distance between us. Anyone who gets close to you has a danger to being suffocated!"
"Well, then," he said with a small voice. "If you want to maintain the distance between us..."
"He only suffocates Snivs who get too close. You don't need to be scared Carmen!" said Rachel. Lily closed her eyes hoping there won't be any more arguing, but-
"Is this... Is this true, Carmen? We are not friends because I put Sniv into his place?! Is that it?!"
"HOW DARE YOU! YOU COULD HAVE REPORTED IT TO MCGONAGALL!"
"Oh it's true then," Sirius said in an icy tone. No, he will not care. No. He would go down to the Great Hall where James awaited them with a smile! And he will not care about stupid Carmen!
"You're a scumbag! Selfish, pretentious, worthless..."
"Carmen, if you don't get out of my way right now, I'll curse you, and believe me, you don't want that!"
"Oh, don't send a curse! Suffocate me too! Besides, I'm not Carmen to you, I am not even Cypress to you. Do not address me in any way!"
"How about this? Mrs. Snivellus?"
"And what do you think of this? Mr..." She couldn't finish that sentence. Because Joe and his brother Matthew entered shouting at the top of their lungs.
"REMUS! REMUS!"
"What's wrong with you?" Remus said, finding his way between Sirius and Carmen. "Why are you shouting?"
"According to McGonagall, I mean..." Matthew looked at his brother.
"Snape and James fought in the evening. Now they're both in the hospital wing. James looks really bad apparently. We thought we'd let you know."
"Nonsense!" Remus said coldly. "We left Snape at the entrance of the hospital wing in the evening. We left a signal. His condition was bad. How could he find James and beat him up in his state, before the teachers came to the signal?! You must have heard wrong!"
"Mate, we heard right! So Snape tricked us! He didn't faint! And with that anger of his..."
"He must have done that, that scum!" Sirius exploded. He seemed ready to go to the hospital now and break Snape into a thousand pieces.
"He couldn't have done it! He was in a terrible state," Carmen said, articulating each word.
"Well, we'll find out in the hospital wing, won't we?" said Remus.
The whole building forgot about breakfast and began to move towards the hospital wing.
***
Rosier hurriedly went down the stairs and avoided colliding with Regulus, who was coming out of the fifth-year dormitory.
"Hey, Regu!"
"Hello!" Regulus replied, wrinkling his face. "I hope no one went down for breakfast..."
"Not many. Just a couple of hasty ones, as usual. Why?"
"Well, there are places to go before breakfast, right? Did you forget last night? We need to go to the hospital wing!"
"What? Are we going to send get-well wishes to Potter? No, thanks!"
"Not to Potter! I mean Snape. He was unconscious yesterday, at the entrance. Now we should visit him..."
"Why should we go visit him? Are we running to visit every time someone goes to the hospital? And what's the hurry, we can go after breakfast..."
"No! We should go right now!"
"Hey, kids! Look at what Regu is saying. He must have had nightmares about Snape last night! The whole building should go and check on him, he said, and before breakfast!"
"If he wants, he can go himself, right? But Snape will wonder about the reason for this sudden interest," said Wilkes.
"The situation is different!" He couldn't believe it! "Gryffindor has learned about Potter's condition; they've probably crowded into the hospital wing already. Are we going to leave Snape alone among them? He's one of us!"
"He can take care of himself, can't he?"
"And those Lions can't go to the wing to attack Severus!"
"Maybe they wouldn't attack. But there's something you forgot. Potter wasn't in a state to talk last night. Well, we saw Severus, and we left them side by side in that condition! What do you think the Professors are going to think?"
"What do you mean? Oh..."
"But I am hungry!"
Regulus silently rolled his eyes. Having friends like these, you might as well have a million enemies!
***
"Let the philosophy aside, why can't we just tell Dumbledore our situation?"
"Have you ever thought why we entered each other's bodies, Potter? Even for an hour of transformation, a sophisticated potion that takes months to make is required. But we became each other instantly! We switched bodies!"
"I don't know why this happened or how it happened. All I want is to get rid of it as soon as possible. But I think you genius might have an idea."
"About how we'll get rid of it? Unfortunately, not for now! But I think I understand how it happened, even if not completely." James didn't speak; his eyebrows were raised in a way that indicated his interest.
"We threw a curse at each other. And I don't know if you noticed, but when spells collide, they don't bounce off in different directions. They merge, black and white... And then they threw us. When I woke up, I felt like I had changed places, and my stomach was churning." Snape raised his eyebrow as if asking, 'Did you understand this much, you brainless idiot?'
"Yes, go on!" James said through clenched teeth.
"We switched places, yes. So, we didn't undergo transformation, Potter! We switched into each other's bodies!"
"But what's the difference? In the end, we're still each other! When I look in the mirror, I'll see you and your greasy hair. The result won't change!"
Snape sighed. How could Potter not understand? And he acted so smart!
"Look, Potter! You and I. We've done something worse than the most terrifying dark magic. How we did it, how we managed, I don't know. But I've never heard or seen anything like this before. I don't think anyone else could do it! This is a dreadful thing! We invented something that could be considered more terrifying than the most terrifying dark magic at school! And we're not even aware of it!"
"I still don't think I understand. You're sure it's dark magic, although you've never heard of it before? And you didn't explain why we can't tell Dumbledore."
"I had never heard of the spell you cast on me before. Did you invent it?" Closing his eyes, he wished it had been Potter who had invented it. Otherwise, all the blame would fall on him. And the answer he was waiting for came.
"Yes. So what?"
"The spell I cast was one of my own inventions too, Potter! So, we performed illegal magic on each other, and these two spells gave birth to another terrifying spell and made things even more terrifying. But it could have been worse than this! I don't even want to think about it!"
"Snape, look, I know this is weird, but I'm still having a hard time understanding you!" He had actually started to understand a little. But he had only sent an innocent spell. What was the big deal? There wasn't a combination terrible enough to get them expelled from school. Why did Snape's spell combine with... Oh, of course!
"What did you do to me?"
"Pardon?"
"What kind of spell did you send me? What kind of terrifying spell was it?"
"That's none of your concern!" he said coldly. "I didn't do anything different from you. Both of us are equally in trouble, Potter! Especially considering that you were the first to attack, the one itching..."
"WHAT DID YOU CAST?"
"NONE OF YOUR CONCERN!" He knew what Potter was thinking. But he was wrong. He had cast a lip-locking spell. He was sure that whatever Potter would cast was much more horrible than what he had cast. And for him, it was perfect. To prevent Potter from casting unnecessary spells again and kissing people he didn't deserve to, the lip-locking spell...
"TELL ME! WAS I GOING TO SPEND THE REST OF MY LIFE IN A GLASS JAR?"
"Potter! Don't be ridiculous, just sit down! The situation is complicated enough without your interference!" He hoped his tone was soothing. But he had never worked on improving the tone of Potter's voice before. "Look, I think our souls left our bodies. Then they entered or collided with the first object they found. Whatever stopped them or whatever felt warm to them. I don't know why they entered us."
"So you're saying our souls switched places?"
"I'm pretty sure about that. We didn't undergo a transformation. Look, I have a Gryffindor uniform on me, and you have a Slytherin uniform."
"Yeah. It smells awful."
"Understand the seriousness..."
"I'm perfectly serious. This uniform stinks!" Snape bit his tongue to avoid responding. The last thing he wanted was an argument, especially when Potter persisted in his persistent stupidity.
"Look!" he began, articulating each word. "We died for a moment! Do you understand? We died! Our souls left their places! In other words, we became lifeless! We are fortunate, yes, indeed, fortunate," he added, as Potter seemed irritated by the word 'fortunate.' It was as if Snape had meant to say 'unfortunate' but his tongue slipped. "Our souls decided to enter each others' bodies. They could have gone into McGonagall. Both of them or just one. The other could have settled into a wall. Or, at that moment, they could have entered the wands we were holding, hmm, that's a good idea; a wand with a soul would probably be very powerful." In fact, he didn't intend to let Potter hear the last additions, but they slipped out once he started talking.
"Keep your horrifying ideas to yourself, Snivellus! Wands with souls! Whose soul would you put in your wand? Carmen's, perhaps? Well, she might be the only one willingly to give it!"
"Whatever Potter! At least we're still human. Would you like to give a soul to a painting? Our bodies would be motionless, and our souls could have stayed in the Hogwarts grounds forever. Well, I don't know if we would have become immortal! Maybe one day, whatever we gave our souls to, that thing, whatever it is, would be destroyed or shattered by someone, or if we burst from boredom, maybe we would die. But if none of these happened, maybe we had discovered the secret of immortality. Of course, who would want to live as a doorknob, that's another story."
James had dropped his efforts to act disinterested, which was a significant development.
"So, what are we going to do? I mean, if we can't tell anyone and don't know how to fix it?"
"Maybe we'll find a solution, Potter. I don't know how, but forget to tell Dumbledore!"
"Well, can't we repeat the same process? I mean, take the positions, cast the spells! With our own bodies..."
"Damn it, Potter! Are you not listening to me? Or has your thick head not grasped it yet? How can you invent spells with that mindset? Repeat a spell even darker than the darkest magic?"
"I don't understand why you wouldn't want to do dark magic if it will return us to our bodies. Of course you're happy in that perfect physique of mine..."
"For the last time, I repeat! That spell killed us! We died! Do you understand?"
"So, are we dead now? How absurd? Everything's the same! Except for you! You look more handsome!" Oh, he didn't get it!
"We are not dead right now! We have a soul, you see! But my body is given life by yours, and yours is given life by mine. A tiny, tiny change! But we can't perform that curse again! Of course, if you're willing to risk turning into a pair of slippers, that's another story. But I wouldn't venture into uncertain risks! I assure you, even in this situation, we're lucky! We could have been seen as corpses and buried! Even if we weren't buried, well, we would have decayed anyway. Lifeless bodies are nothing! They're useless for anything other than becoming an Inferius, Potter! Fortunately, our bodies still have souls! But it might not have been the case! They might have thought we died in the collision and buried us. Then, we would have been forced to watch them somewhere, our souls without a body. And since we wouldn't have a mouth to use, we couldn't speak!" He opened and closed his eyes for a moment. "Merlin! We would have been the living dead! We can't take that risk! There must be another way."
"Well, yes, but..." He no longer had the energy to play around. He looked as pale as Snape. "I mean, what are we going to do then?"
"As difficult as it may be, we'll try not to give ourselves away!"
"How? Are we going to act like each other? Like, for example, I'll take your notes. I'll sleep in the Slytherin common room. I'll chat with Rodolphus. I'll be very interested in Mulciber's ideas. Like that, is that it?"
"Something like that..." he said, smiling unintentionally. Even though his situation was same, the idea of James having to act Slytherin-like sounded very pleasing. As for himself, he devilishly smiled. James Potter had a lot to do, too...
"NO FUCKING WAY!!"
"There's no other way! When Dumbledore learns about our oh-so-very harmless spells, he'll expel us from the school! Besides, I don't think he knows the solution. I told you, it's an unheard thing! He'll be looking for a way out, which we can do as well. I know it will be difficult; I can't risk leaving Hogwarts! Look, we can meet in between and think about how to get out of this state. We can invent spells, we can also unravel the spells that have been cast. Let's first compare the essences of the spells we cast. Because the composition is what got us into this state. And remember, the beam turned black and white. It means two things didn't merge; all the emotions complemented each other. Maybe it even created a soul. But where is that soul now, if that's the case?"
"What soul? Is there another soul? McGonagall seemed perfectly intact to me."
"No, I don't know. Just an idea. But creating a soul out of nothing! We probably haven't done that. I mean, no one can do that, right?"
"What? I don't understand you! What soul? What emotion? Did our spells contain emotions? Were those the feelings we had when we cast them?"
"No, of course not! Why are you on top of your foolishness today?"
"Maybe I'm feeling Snape-like?"
"What I meant was the contents of the spells we invented, Potter! In mine, for example..." But his words were cut off. Pushing and shoving through the door, students from both Slytherin and Gryffindor Houses entered! Yes, all of them! Including first years! Madam Pomfrey's objections couldn't even be heard from behind.
"I told you this wouldn't work! Five people at once!"
Having overcome Madam Pomfrey's objections, a quite crowded group from Slytherin and Gryffindor headed towards the beds. Black was in the front rows. And he was looking not at Snape but at James. Seeing that this gaze was far from being concerned, James swallowed all his hopes immediately. He turned to look at the straightened figure on the adjacent bed. He seemed surprised by his visitors. No, not the Gryffindors who came to him but the Slytherins who came to James. He turned his head and looked at James. It was starting!