(Originally published November 22, 2001)
(Originally published November 22, 2001)
Author's note, warning and apology:
Re-submitted with corrections (thanks to observation skills of JL Matthews and JOdel regarding Wandless Apparition and simple counting. Assume that Severus' Dust Dome acts as an anti-Apparation barrier. Look out for extra detail in Sirius - Severus interaction.
WARNING: This chapter is R-rated for Mindful Violence and a dash of Slash. Those of you who thought I was this tasteful, refined writer (worst crimes: snobby referencing but mistakes in Latin) are about to be disillusioned. Second warning: this scene ran off on its own very bizarre logic.
J.L. Matthews and Riley (of "Slytherin Rising" and "Pawn to Queen" respectively -- go and read them if you haven't already) are responsible for stopping me from taking this episode to its worst possible conclusion. Lilith Morgana (of "No Angel" -- go and read it) accepts responsibility for convincing me I was right to make Sirius a wanker. Sirius fans should note, though, that this is almost all his POV, and he doesn't come off that badly.
As usual, I am not as far into the 'plot' as I expected (no Salome' yet -- she WILL BE in the next Chapter, I promise) but the section seemed to come to a convenient endpoint, and I thought it better to post half an intended chapter than none.
The whole scene is based loosely on a duel in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail".
The technicalities of the idea for the Azkaban deaths is from Will Self's pair of novellas "Cock and Bull" (end of the first one).
"Strange history" is from Jacques' Ages of Man speech in "As You Like It".
There are many biblical references : "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone" (Jesus to the men about to punish the woman taken in adultery). In the Old Testament, God frequently does things 'with an outstretched arm'. There is a parable about Seed falling on Stony Ground. A prayer said on the Jewish Day of Atonement: "As the potter moldeth plastic clay. So the hands of the Lord shape me". To 'wedge' clay is to get rid of the airbubbles that would expand and make the pot explode in the kiln. It is done exactly as described.
The labyrinth in Greek mythology has Theseus defeating the minotaur and escaping via the thread he has unrolled on the way to the centre.
"Whatever makes these odds all even" -- a misquote from Act 3 scene 1 of "Measure for Measure" -- "What's yet in this that bears the name of Life? Yet Death we fear, that makes these odds all even". Severus counts on Sirius not knowing the original.