A/N: I got varied response from the first chapter, but that was to be expected…
Have finished book seven, if that's any help to those who remember the original version of this…
And now, on with the show!
From JuMiKu: Note to all those nice flamers out there: I hate your reviews! If you can't write good reviews that might encourage authors and help them to improve, then stop posting them here and criticise your friends, so authors like me, who are looking for constructive criticism, don't always end up finding reviews like yours! Do all of us, who know, what writing fanfiction is about (the fun for the reader and the author) a favour and stop reviewing! Thank you.
This flamer-note is dedicated to three flamers whose flames I once red. Those flames inspired me to write them from an author's point of view. This is what they said (down to the "Thank you") I only changed the keywords.
Ebony Riddle and the Truth About the Boy-Who-Died
Created by JuMiKu
Adopted by Shadow Crystal Mage
Chapter 1: Reactions and Rescues
Disclaimer: I don't own anything until possibly the eight chapter, where I start putting in my own material. Harry Potter is owned by J.K. Rowling– if you didn't know that, how did you learn to use the internet so fast after leaving your cave?– Ebony was created by JuMiKu. Me? I'm a foster parent. ; )
Snape– eventually– managed to pull himself together enough to get a move on. .
Pott–there was a mental twitch as Snape proceeded to edit what he was thinking– THE GIRL will have to keep herself out of trouble for now– although considering the things she got up to as Potter, my best hope is she remains unconscious for as long as possible. It's doubt Voldemort will hurt her– much. Will he try to persuade her to join him? Kill her, so she cannot turn out to be a threat to him? It would be best to get her out before he gets tired of persuasion and threats...
Snape took a moment to realize he was thinking all this on behalf of the person who'd always known as Harry Potter.
That's it, it's official. No matter what happens, never promise anything to a Gryffindor! Especially not anything you can't get out of!
Dawn was approaching as Snape arrived at Grimmauld place. The sun's golden light already bent around the horizon a promise of the day to come.
When he opened the door, he wasn't too surprised that he wasn't met with several wands. Security is slacking at this place...
Heading for the kitchen, which was the closest thing they had to a conference room, he heard raised voices arguing. News certainly travels fast, he thought dryly. Especially bad news.
He paused a moment to listen at the door, trying to discern something from the screaming coming from inside. Not able to make sense of the commotion, he gave it up as a lost cause and strode in.
The yelling stopped at once as all eyes trained on him, some in clear distrust. There was no twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes when he spoke; his voice was grave and old. "Severus, please take a seat. Do you anything to report?"
Restraining himself from making a comment about how all the concern for his well-being was touching, the spy nodded and took the only seat left. He took a moment to note Black's apparent state of mind; staring at his shaking hands, lots of twitching that didn't seem to be withdrawal symptoms… oh, he was a mess. At any other time, he would have enjoyed the reaction to the news he brought.
…
Well, actually, he was still going to enjoy the reaction, but his own discomfort was seriously going to detract from it.
Dumbledore got straight to the point. "Do you know anything about the raid of a house in Surrey that happened a few hours ago?" he asked. Everyone was now looking at him, some expectantly, others hopefully and many threateningly, daring him to lie.
Snape was equally direct: if he was going to milk any enjoyment out of this, he'd have it now. Besides, any melodramatics would just as likely to make him squirm. "They have Potter."
"WHAT?-!-?"
Snape was slightly heartened at Black's more or less predictable enraged cry, although there was certainly more to it than mere rage. That was the beauty of getting good reactions from people, the hidden art: to tug on as many heartstrings a possible with a minimum of effort.
He was slightly less heartened by the man's seemingly knee-jerk reaction of slamming him into a wall. A wand pass pressing painfully against his throat, making breathing uncomfortable, and not a little painful.
"Did you know?" Black asked coldly, pressing his childhood-foe painfully against the hard stone. "Did you know your master was going to attack my godson?-!-? Did you sell Harry to that monster?-!-?"
Snape looked him in the eyes. "I didn't need to, although I would have certainly enjoyed doing so–" there was a growling sound that sounded suspiciously like the overly-emotional and over-active Weasley woman; why they let her into these meetings, he'll never know "– after all, Potter's already dead."
Everybody in the room was stared at him in shock the information sinking in. Many who'd probably never met the boy– girl– in their lives and would know him– her– from Adam– Eve– if it weren't for that wretched scar– split in the complicated net of potions, charms, intention and love– began to cry. Severus wondered what they were weeping for.
The relative few in the room who had known him– her– were in various states of shock in denial– and in his case, a nauseus, sinking feeling not unlike the sensation of finding out a chore you thought you'd successfully gotten out of had come back more onerous and painful than before.
Sirius sank to the floor crying and Snape wished he had one of those bideyo camera things he'd heard about. Oh well, a Pensieve would be just as good.
The room was descending into a state of overly emotional expression when Dumbledore decided to take control.
"Enough," he said, looking every of his two hundred years and looking like he was about to collapse in on himself. "Please Severus, tell us what has happened to him."
For a fleeting moment, Snape wondered if this was how the Weasley twins felt before they dropped a bomb. "Perhaps you misunderstand me, Headmaster. I did not mean he died just now. I meant he has been dead for fourteen years." He took a moment to listen to the rather satisfying sound of so many heads snapping up in shock, then ploughed on before anyone could interrupt. "According to Voldemort, Potter died years ago…"
Snape wound down his report, the satisfaction of so many stunned people having dimmed considerably in the quarter hour or so he'd been speaking. His insides felt twisted now as the repercussions of his responsibility sank in again, with little pleasure at the mutt's expense to counter it. "And that is how things stand," he said, outwardly calm. "Now, what do we do?"
The headmaster's voice was calm and reasonablein the way it sounds reasonable to declare war with nuclear weapons. "As a matter of fact, there might be a very easy solution to this problem, but it could prove to be very dangerous for you, Severus ."
Is it ever notdangerous for me? Snape thought. What actually came out of his mouth was: "I will do all I can to get Ebony back home."
Everybody, but Albus shuddered, when Severus said the child's name. Some because nobody in the room had dared to speak it out-loud for fear of ultimately accepting the teenager's new identity, the others because the Dark Heiress' name was almost as feared as her father's. He wondered how that had come about, since the last time it had been spoken, she'd been about a few days old. Hardly the stuff of terror.
Their leader seemed highly amused by their reactions, however, his eyes regaining some of their twinkle and he commented in a cheerful tone: "You remember that being afraid of a thing's name increases the fear of the thing itself, don't you?"
At least some things never change, Snape thought, idly contemplating the wisdom of the concept of Mandatory Retirement Age. Our headmaster will always be missing some of his marbles.
For a moment the headmaster looked at him, silently appraising him, then he continued: "It could be as easy as giving Ebony a portkey disguised as an inconspicuous object."
Mrs. Weasley, who had calmed down somewhat, managed to undo so many precious seconds work just my hearing those words. "You can't honestly consider using a portkey so soon after what happened at the Triwizard Tournament! Harr– Ebony will be scared to death if you make her travel by portkey!"
Dumbledore tried to calm the overprotective mother-figure. "Molly, Ebony is very brave. She will be all right. I am more worried about her staying with Voldemort until Severus finds an opportunity to give her the portkey."
smiled gently and sadly.: "That is something I don't worry too much about. She has already proven that she can look after herself; After all, she has been doing so for the better part of her life."
And yet, Snape thought snidely, you were about to go up in arms about giving her a portkey!
Suddenly the Lupin snapped at Dumbledore, surprising everyone present. "And why? Because she had to look after herself, because she had to stay with people who were disgusted by her, because she would be well-protectedwith them! But do you know what? The wards around the house didn't save Ha-!" he stopped abruptly, when he stumbled across the name, which gave their leader enough time to stop the other man before he had the chance to continue his ranting.
"Remus, I am truly sorry, but I'm afraid I didn't allow for the house to be attacked by a close relative of the child. The wards protecting the house are based on blood wards. The two are father and daughter, so they share even deeper blood-ties than Ebony used to with her aunt; this was enough to fool the wards into letting him pass."
Silence reigned again.
Dumbledore continued to the matter at hand. "Severus, we will speak about the details of this plan once you have been able to gather some information, but please don't take too much time doing so, you know how easily Voldemort's patience grows thin. "
"And what if she has already joined him by then?" Black's voice filled the room. Everybody stared at Black in shock, anger or agreement."I mean come on, she is a monster's daughter, what else could she turn out to be?"
A resounding slap echoed across the room. Everybody stared open-mouthed at the Weasley matriarch, because they all knew very well that she had a healthy set of lungs, but she never, ever raised her hand against anyone.
They were a bit scared, when she didn't scream her head off in Black's face, but hissed in a low threatening tone. "Don't you dare say anything like that about her ever again! This girl loves you like a father. If you dare say something like that to her, I swear by god that absolutely no one will recognize you when I'm through with you."
The mutt blinked twice dumbly, holding the cheek she had hit.
Dumbledore took on a slightly disapproving look as he continued like nothing happened, breaking the tension, or at least stretching to enough for it to loosen. "Since there doesn't seem anything left to discuss and if nobody has anything to report..." he looked around the room questioningly, but the members all shook their heads, avoiding his gaze."...I'd like you, Arthur to..."
Severus tuned Dumbledore out as he gave everyone else their jobs, too busy considering the ramifications of this. This would divide them. There was no question about this. The only question was, how badly…
A week later, at the next meeting, nothing had calmed down neither between Lupin and Black, nor the two groups in general. The pro-Ebony-side was always fighting with the anti-Ebony-side.
Dumbledore had talked to him about his worries a few days ago. The old wizard was horrified that the Order's unity could be destroyed that easily.
The household had been in a very bad mood ever since that fateful night seven days ago and though the adults tried to act normal around the kids, they seemed to know what was going on. Fudge wouldn't be able to hush up the attack on the Boy-Who-Lived's home for very long. After all, the boy's relatives were killed, the boy missing and the Dark Mark had been hovering over the place for an hour.
"Severus?"
Actually Severus was impressed that Fudge had been able to keep the news a secret for that long. Then again Lucius probably has something to do with this...
"Severus!" Said person jumped and turned to Dumbledore surprised. A bit of the twinkle that had been absent from the man's eyes for the past few days returned, as he said amusedly: "Really, Severus... How many points did you take from that poor first year Hufflepuff for daydreaming in your class last year?"
If Severus had any less control over his emotions, he would have blushed a bright crimson or at least looked a little ashamed, but Severus was proud to be very skilled in Occlumency. As it was, he settled for a very dirty look, and not the kind that encouraged either.
Dumbledore wasn't finished with him though and continued with a voice he usually saved to discipline his students with: "Severus, you know you should be paying attention. I hope something like that won't happen again."
The tension that had been there, since the two groups had been forced to be in the same room, lifted somewhat as a few chuckles filled the air and many members smiled for the first time, since Harry Potter's 'disappearance'. I'm going to let him get away with making fun of me only this once, because it had the desired and desperately needed effect of making everyone relax a little.
Once Dumbledore had sobered again and banished the annoying twinkle from his eyes, he got down to business. "I was asking you, Severus, if you have been able to find any information about when you might be able to give Ebony– " Here the groups tensed up again. Pitiful! "–A portkey, without raising suspicion against yourself."
It's sad really. For the past week I preferred to snoop about Voldemort's hideout gathering information, to spending my time here with all these fights going on. Well at least the danger was worth something: I was successful... The rest will be more or less easy. "Yes. I now know that the room is bugged, so Voldemort always knows what's going on in there. Only two people are allowed to enter the chamber besides Lord Voldemort himself at the moment. One is a House Elf, but the other's identity is still unknown to me, but I'm sure it is human, so it is safe to assume it is some Death Eater. I think we could use this arrangement to our advantage. We could use the House Elf as an accomplice, as I overheard several conversations it had with some of its kind. It has grown very attached to her. I'm sure I can convince it to give her the Portkey." At Dumbledore's concerned and scandalised look at using the being's feelings against it and putting it in danger, Severus sneered. "It is a House Elf, Albus! Nobody would ever suspect it." Damn that man's compassion for these creatures! I swear if he begins one more stuff-meeting by saying a House Elf that had been mistreated by its owners followed him to the school, I'm going to- (The following thought was too gruesome for this fic's rating and has been censored)! The place has at least twice as many of them, since Albus became Headmaster!"
After Dumbledore contemplated this for some time, he nodded unwillingly. "What do you want to turn into a Portkey?"
"A brush."
As everybody raised their eyebrows in incredulity, he said, "She has obviously found that having long hair and the habit of not brushing it don't agree with each other. The House Elf talked to the others about her spending hours brushing her hair." Severus snorted at the irony. When the child had still been a boy, Severus was positive that he hadn't even owned a brush; if his hair was anything to go by, that is. "The elf can exchange the girl's brush for the Portkey."
Dumbledore thought for a moment before nodding. "This sounds like a reasonable plan. When do you want to go talk to the elf?"
"At once, I'm afraid her father's patience with her won't last much longer..."
"Good luck, my friend", Albus sighed. Severus tried not to hear "Your funeral" and wasn't very successful.
When Snape stood up, he noticed that the groups were still easily told apart by their attitude, while the pro-Ebonies were looking at him encouragingly, which was nice for a change, but was annoying as him well, those against her were searching for some way to prevent the enemy from being taken to their Headquarters. Elphias Doge for example was at the moment thinking of some way to explain to Dumbledore that to the girl was highly dangerous and not to be trusted. Legilimency skills definitely have their advantages when the people around you are practically broadcasting their thoughts.
After enchanting a brush, he left the house as fast as possible, because he was worried about the girl; after all he was living in a world, where vengeful souls like Lily's could come back to hunt you and if she didn't make him pay, the Pro-Ebony-fraction would be sure to make his life miserable, if something happened to the girl.
When he finally found the House Elf, he did the simplest thing to make a House Elf obey without being asked questions: treat them like dirt. He barked a "Follow!" and entered the next room. He shut the door with a few wards and then placed a few silencing charms on the room. Then he turned to the shivering mass the little creature had become, when Severus had pulled out his wand. Though they preferred muggles and muggleborns, the Death Eaters liked to practice their curses on these beings.
OK, how to convince it to help me…? went the sarcastic thought, followed by the logical conclusion. Order it to!
"Come here!" he snarled at the small thing in front of him.
It looked like it would pee the towel it was wearing any minute now.
- To be continued...
Please review, C&C welcome.
Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off.
