March 12, 1980 had a chilly afternoon, but the sixth year potions students at Hogwarts had no way of knowing this. These students were working hard brewing cauldron's full of Amortentia as practice for their N.E.W.T. exams that would take place during their next year at Hogwarts. The usually chilly dungeon classroom was stuffy and filled with powerful scents as the love potions steamed. One Gryffindor student was staring down at her cauldron defiantly, as if daring it to explode or gurgle or some other awful result.
Her name was Elenora Potter, younger sister of Gryffindor's best known chaser James Potter. Like her brother, Elenora had hazel eyes and messy jet black hair. Which the steamy atmosphere of the potions class didn't exactly help to tame. Unlike her brother, Nora was not reckless or mouthy. She was calculating and studious and if she was being honest, she was a bit of a perfectionist. That's why she'd been so frustrated when her first attempt at Amortentia had failed so miserably.
" A watched cauldron never boils, Miss Potter!" Professor Slughorn reminded her from across the room.
"That's exactly the point Professor!" She called good naturedly over her shoulder. The reason she'd failed at her first attempt was because she'd allowed the potion to simmer for too long. And so Elenora brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes and re-read the copy of Advanced Potion Making that rested on her knee.
"Miss Potter?" Rolling her eyes, she stopped scanning the tattered pages of the textbook, and spotted Professor Slughorn standing at his desk with Professor McGonagall. She'd been so focused on her potion, she hadn't even heard the classroom door open. "Please gather your things and go with Professor McGonagall, It appears you are wanted in the Headmaster's office."
Despite the fact that most of the 7th year students were legal adults in the Wizarding World, a series of "Ooo"s and "Ahhs" still erupted from Nora's classmates once they heard she was to go the Dumbledore's office. Sighing at their childish antics, she gathered her things and followed Professor McGonagall out of the classroom.
"Do you have any idea why Dumbledore wants to see me?" Nora asked as she walked through the halls with the Gryffindor Head of House. "Is it James and Lily? Are they all right?"
"I'm terribly sorry Miss Potter," Professor McGonagall apologized in her Scottish brogue . "But I haven't the slightest Idea what Professor Dumbledore wants to speak with you about. I only know that I am to escort you to his office."
The pair walked the rest of the way in silence, all the while Elenora was thinking of all the possible things Dumbledore could want to speak with her about. Unfortunately most of those things seemed to start and end with her brother and his wife. For reasons that weren't exactly clear to her, Lily and James had become two of the Dark Lord's number one targets shortly after finding out they were expecting a baby. One month later the youngest Potter still wasn't sure how having a baby made her brother and sister-in-law more of a threat, but she trusted Professor Dumbledore. They reached the bronze eagle that guarded the Headmaster's office. Professor McGonagall gave the password before wishing her student luck and leaving to teach her next Transfiguration lesson.
"You wanted to see me, Professor?" Nora asked, pushing open the office door.
"Miss Potter! Yes, come in." She creaked the door open and stepped into the office. She was surprised to see not only the Headmaster in his office but also one of her brother's old schoolmates, Severus Snape. "I believe you know Severus, he was in the same year as your brother."
"Yeeaahh." She let the word drag out as she tried to remember what she knew of the man. He was a Slytherin from James' year. And he used to be friends with Lily until one day he called her a Mudblood and ran off the join the Death Eaters. "I remember him." She snarled. Her hand immediately twitched towards the wand pocket of her robes.
"Do you not trust me, Elenora?" Dumbledore asked her calmly. "Do you think I'd summon you to my office, only to have you attacked?"
"Everyone's a suspect." She shrugged, off handedly repeating the propaganda posters that had been scattered around Diagon Alley during her last trip there. Snape was leering quietly by Dumbledore's desk, not speaking. The corner of his mouth twitched as Nora joked about everyone being a suspect. Little did she know that was very much true.
"Well, why don't you have a seat so we can continue our discussion over tea." With a wave of his hand Dumbledore summoned a full tea setting in an act of wandless magic. It always marveled her how the Headmaster could make magic look as casual as walking down a corridor. Magic was like an extension of his body. Still marveling at such a simple trick of summoning, she crossed the room and sat in one of the open chairs opposite of Dumbledore. He made her a proper cup of tea just the way she liked, milk no sugar. "Severus?" He placed a second cup of tea at the younger man's elbow.
"Now, there's something very important that I'd like to discuss with the pair of you. Severus, if you'll just have a seat this really won't take very long." Snape looked to at the old man and then the vacant chair, and then the young Potter girl. The old man was already asking so much of him. Why should he be forced to sit down as well? Still It would take some time to explain everything to her. Groaning internally, Severus sat down, deliberately ignoring his tea.
"As you are both very much aware, we all find ourselves in the most dire of situations these days. But none of us has been in more danger than James, Lily and their unborn child. Until today." Dumbledore frowned. " Your brother and his wife disappeared from our world little more than a month ago. In that time Voldemort has only grown stronger, hungrier. His quest to find, and ultimately, end your family's lives has been stoked by their difficulty to be found. I'm sure by now he has guessed my involvement in trying to conceal them, however I'm certain he will not come after me. The same I'm afraid cannot be said for you, Elenora."
"Me?" The seventeen year old girl repeated. "But I've no idea where they are! They wouldn't make me Secret-Keeper in a million years! James wouldn't even tell me where any of the secret entrances out of school are!"
"I'm afraid you are in the same amount of danger whether you knew where they were or not." Dumbledore explained sympathetically. "Voldemort will assume that you, being Jame's only living relative, will know where they are. And there is no changing his mind once he is certain of something." Dumbledore laced his hands together and rested his chin in his fingers. "Normally in a situation such as this, I would send you back to your dormitory and have you pack your things. Once that's done I'd arrange for your parents to pick you up and together would discuss the gravity of the situation."
"But my parents died of dragon pox." Nora recalled with a shiver. "So legal guardianship was transfer to my next of kin, my brother and his wife, who are of course in hiding. But I turned seventeen on Halloween. Legal I don't need a guardian."
"Correct." The Headmaster agreed. "And as such, you have to the legal right to refuse my suggestion that you go into protective hiding. It is my wish to protect you with a Fidelius Charm as soon as possible, but of course this decision is up to you.'"
"What does this have to do with Sniv...Sever...Snape here?" She asked jabbing a thumb in the direction of the Slytherin who'd remained quiet through the duration of the conversation.
"Severus, would you care to explain yourself?"
"Not particularly." The young man grumbled through a curtain of greasy black hair. "Should you choose to become protected by a Fidelius Charm, you would need a Secret Keeper. It is Dumbledore's wish that I perform that role."
"Right." Nora nodded, feeling as if she was the only person in the room with her head on correctly. "Sorry, I don't mean this offensively, but aren't you part of Voldemort's outfit?" She looked over at Dumbledore. "What makes you think he can be trusted?" Snape opened his mouth either to defend himself or curse the young girl out, she would never know as Dumbledore cut in.
"It's true that Severus has been a member of the Dark Lord's outfit as you say. But he has been doing so under my orders all along. I know that there is a fair amount of bad blood between he and your brother, but I had thought you will not be so...single minded as to judge a man before he has been given a chance to prove his worth."
"Look it's really nothing personal." Nora told Snape, who almost looked as if he agreed with her. "But why him specifically?" She asked. "Why not someone I'm familiar with, someone I know I trust. Remus Lupin or Sirius Black or Pete Pettigrew."
"All would be obvious choices." Dumbledore agreed. "And for that reason alone they cannot be chosen. Severus is neither close to yourself, or James. He has also been publically dismissed by Lily and for that reason that makes him the safest person to keep your secret."
"I don't trust him." She insisted.
"Then trust me." Dumbledore asked with his serene blue eyes looking at her through his half-moon glasses.