1980 December.
The moon was in it's dark phase, fleeting cloud's danced across the sky and a strong wind shook the branches of every tree. An insistent tapping sounded against the glass of the window from the ancient willow tree, it grated at Severus Snape's temples, a relentless drum echoing inside his skull. He peered around the old library, it was brightly lit by hundreds of everlast candles. This was the house he should inherit from his mother's grandmother. His Great Grandmother was standing watching the wind blow the rain against the window. She looked frail, her skin almost translucent and the normal regal set of her shoulders had gone, replaced with a heaviness that almost seemed to break her.
"Why did you summon me here Lady Prince, we have nothing more to say to one another in this matter"
"Oh but we do Severus, so much more than you can know."
She turned to him and even in the dim light of the room he could tell she had changed, the stern eyes were worn and sad, she was grieving for something, the pale skin looked grey instead of the porcelain white he remembered, her one dark hair lay listless down her back streaked with white and silver, her face was thin and gaunt. He let out a gasp of disbelief.
"My Lady, what has happened to you?" He exclaimed, crossing to her, reaching out to her, almost with concern.
" Oh Severus, I am sorry." She said as he guided her to the chaise.
"I do not have much time Severus, I am dying, I wanted you here at the end. Not long after I saw you last, I started to have visions, I have seen things, Severus, terrible things.
Each time it occurs I grow weaker. Six months ago the Dark Lord heard of my seeing. He instructed one of his followers to bring me to him. They kept me there until last week. I was fed potions that increased the number of prophecies I told. A seer in her lifetime might only give five or so future predictions, they have forced dozens from me and it has slowly drained the life force from me.
But there is one thing they could not take from me, the knowledge that a seer can give one last prophecy with her dying breath, that is stronger and truer than any other. I must give this gift to you my grandson.
We were never close you and I and for that I am most sorry, your mother was my favorite you know, it broke my heart when she left us. Broke my heart even more when your grandfather refused to acknowledge her anymore and disowned her, but we are Prince's we have always followed the old ways. You look like him, your grandfather I mean, all imposing glower and inky eyes. But those eyes can be kind and loving, you have pulled away from people, I know it has hurt you, to be thought of as lesser because of your parents marriage. But you are a Prince, you were always a Prince and I have reinstated you as such. The paperwork is done and approved, when I go all this will be yours and the title as Lord Prince, Marquess of Rockingham will fall to you." she seemed to slump at that, as if she had used the last of her strength to impart this apology and conference of title and position upon him. He fell to his knees before her and took her small hand in his.
"I have never looked for any of this madam, it nothing I care to have nor indeed anything that will bring me great joy." he stopped, collected a breath and then squeezed her hand, "But I thank you, it means something more, if only that you now look upon me as your grandson, I only wish my mother might have seen you one last time before she passed."
Cassiopeia Morton Prince smiled then , "Your mother was clever my boy, she had touch of the gift too you know, she saw something before she left us all, I often think it was you she had foreseen, that there was some great part waiting for you that must play out. She never loved him, that brute she married, there was another she loved desperately, but he married another. Perhaps then, that was why she went, there was nothing to keep her here without him. But it matters not, for here you are and I have watched you Severus, I watched as you survived Slytherin, survived those who would revile you and punish you, watched as you grew stronger for it, unbowed, unbent, unbroken. Keep that steel my boy, harden it, forge it sharper than any blade and let no man tell you, you are lesser, for I believe you will be great one day. Your name will live on and your descendants will look back upon you and feel pride that they came from you." she trailed off, far off look in her eye and Severus stood as she drew herself to her feet, the Regal baring back once more.
"Grandmother?" he asked with confusion.
"It is time." she whispered, cupping his cheek in farewell.
Her body drew up and her hair swirled around her in a frenzy driven by unearthly wind. Her voice rose and cried out the last prophecy she could give.
"The light of the dark will come
As the sun breaks to its zenith
She will be born on a hallowed morn
The one with the power of dawn
A female child full of light
Made for the night to claim
His one true heart
To complete his part
To find the light within the dark
He must turn for all to burn
The light to win
And love to come
At last to fall
Forever to dwell
In the Dark lords own personal Hell
A child of light will be born
On a dark and fateful dawn
"You must stop them child or your soul will stay empty forever, she is yours to love…"
The seer collapsed in a dead faint the last of her prophecy only a whisper in the cold darkness. Severus Snape fell to her side, cradling his Grandmother in his arms, how had all this come to pass? Months ago they had argued over his decision to join the Dark Lord, the raging emptiness of his life had turned him on that path, a woman he had once thought he loved had turned from him as the darkness in his soul had overcome him. His childhood had been lonely and loveless, eventually even his mother had come to despise him. Her last letter to him from her death bed had left him in no doubt of that.
:My son, a child of true darkness and hate, born and conceived in hate, ruled by it. I curse you to a life of emptiness, may you ever walk in darkness, may your life be only night, let no sun shine on you, you will forever be consigned to an existence of pain.:
It had twisted and shaped his life and yet, as his mother had died cursing his name, his Grandmother died now saving him, giving him hope that there was a way for him to turn from his self inflicted hell. His warm tears fell on her face as her last breath left her body and her skin slowly cooled. How long he sat contemplating her last prophecy he didn't know. Eventually he rose to his feet and wiped his face he could taste the salt of his tears, bitter as his heart. He stood taking in the scene knowing that this would be his one chance to do as his Grandmother and only family had asked, his one chance to seek redemption, his last chance to be free. Something in his soul had leapt in joy, as the words of this prophecy burned into his mind, Someone that could truly free him, redeem him and love him was not yet even born, but soon she would be, he but had to wait for her, if he stayed with the dark he would forever be lost, would never find her because if he stayed by the Dark Lord she would never be born.
Hogwarts.
Albus Dumbledore watched the memory of the prophecy play out in his pensive, a feeling of hope swelling his heart. Relief that Severus had trusted him, and had made his decision to seek the prophecy instead of ignoring it gave him strength to speak again and ask something truly terrible of the young man before him.
"My boy, what you have done tonight will surely put you on a dangerous and terrible path. I am sorry that Lady Prince has left us, she was a pillar of strength and practicality a Lady who possessed a great but hidden kindness, she will be sorely missed."
"Thank you headmaster. I do not know what I should do, but I must try and find this child. Surely the dark lord will be planning to attack her parents, how can we find her, stop her from dying?"
Severus paced the length of the office; his black robes billowing out behind him like the wings of some terrifying and dangerous creature.
Dumbledore watched him, his eyes twinkling with knowledge and pride. This dark Slytherin genius had finally become a man. Gone was the ungainly schoolboy of only months ago, in his place was a graceful, predatory man. How he paced the path between the many tables filled to overflowing with spinning whirling magical devices, without faltering or bringing them crashing down about him, he didn't know.
He marveled again at the fortuitous timing of this new prophecy. Only nights before the prophecy for another child soon to be born had been made, now Albus had many decisions to make and manipulations of the worst kind. Fear, yes fear was a great motivator as was revenge and all would play their part in the events he knew would unfold in the next two decades, but tonight a better stronger motivator had been brought into play. The one thing Tom could never understand or comprehend, he would never realize just how deadly Love could truly be. And this love, in such a man as young Severus, would never be suspected or detected, he would make a brilliant spy, his true motivations never discovered.
Love in the face of danger could overcome fear, anger and sometimes-even death. Love could bring joy that soared the heart above the clouds but it could also bring you crashing down into a depthless pit of pain and sadness. Love could create life and destroy life. And it was Voldemort's one blind spot. He saw it as a weakness, love to him only made people soft and helpless. Dumbledore mused that, perhaps had Tom Riddle ever known love, he might have been even more difficult to destroy then he was now.
"Severus I believe that by coming to me you have already set in motion a chain of events which will save this young girls life. I have a very great thing to ask of you my boy. If you choose not to do so you must leave the country and never return for you will be hunted down by death eater and ministry alike. What I am about to ask of you will put you in a great deal of danger; I need a spy Severus, someone who can grown in the ranks and bring word from the inner circle. I need you to deny what you are and to carry on as though nothing had occurred. "
Severus looked at the headmaster his eyes shining with fire; a whirl of emotions crossed his face as he made his decision. If he left forever he would never find her, if he stayed and did as Dumbledore asked he might die, but he might also be able to save the other half of him, the one person who could complete him and pull him from the darkness. He nodded his head in acceptance.
"I will do as you ask, but I need one favor from you. Should you find this girl and I am no longer able to protect her I want you to promise me she will live and be happy in safety."
"You have my word Severus, she will be protected, but I feel the winds of change in the air tonight. All that would have been is lost forever and all that could be is now possible. The fates have begun weaving a pattern so complicated that to lose even one thread before it was complete would tear at the very foundations of this reality. Your life will not be lost for without you, there is no future." The headmaster's words echoed with unearthly power before he slumped in his chair.
"Take no more risks than you must Severus," Albus told him tiredly, " when the time comes you may have to go into hiding, until then bring what you can to me and watch for all innocents, protect them where you can."
"I will do everything in my power to be useful to you Albus and to hopefully one day find redemption. My Grandmother was right, I was a fool for joining the death eaters. If I had known at the time what they truly were, I should never have become involved in their plans.
Severus left the Headmaster ready to do all he could to destroy the darkness forever.
Albus sat deep in contemplation, guilt at what he had asked the young slytherin to do nagging at his conscience.
"Albus… Are you alright?" Minerva McGonagle crossed to his side and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"You heard it all then? He asked her.
"Yes… I did, that poor boy, what he shall have to suffer Albus. My prayers will be with him. Are you sure he will manage it Albus? He may very well die in the process, He- Who- Must –Not- Be- Named can see into a man's very mind"… she trailed off unsure of the criticising tone in her voice. Her poor Albus needed no more deaths on his shoulders.
"Minnie, for the first time in this war I feel certain that what we are doing is right. He is one of the brightest wizards to come out of Hogwarts in a century, he even out scored Tom in his newts. He is also the most natural born Legillmens I have ever come across. Even at eleven years old I could not enter his mind. He will be safer than most. The odds are finally in our favor Minnie, for the first time since this all began I finally feel hope." Albus stroked her hand gently and looked lovingly at his wife.
"For good or ill it cannot be changed now."