AN: I now do remember that the title 'ancient and most noble house' is not mine. I'd like to add that to my nonexistent disclaimer. As for the potion in the basin, let's just say I've no idea about it, but for the plot's sake it's as I write it. You may have noticed I renamed the chapters by arc. This arc shall likely end in one more chapter. After that, who knows? ;)
The Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter
Tracking the device he had planted on Severus Snape earlier that day was easy. Poor sod hadn't even removed his buttonhole until he had arrived at the Potter home. Lucius stood disguised in between two Muggle dwellings as Voldemort pondered the situation.
The space was where the Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter was hidden by a Fidelius Charm or some such. It made no sense for them all to stay here, unless they were plotting. There had to be some reason why they had kidnapped the graduates; some task that they needed them to complete. Through the strings of the Imperius, Lord Voldemort went over what Lucius had seen of the mysterious teenagers.
"Not so high and mighty now, are we Potter?" Lucius sneered from where he leaned against the window. James Potter had to be the most thickheaded Pureblood to grace the halls of Hogwarts.
Suddenly, a blurred figure leapt out of nowhere and slammed him to the ground. Dazedly, he struggled to see who it had been—
"That was for my dad—" howled a red-headed, absurdly freckled boy, before disappearing with out loud, "eeek!", and a burst of light.
"That kid looked like Fabian Prewett!" shouted a sixth-year student.
"No, he had red hair— it was Arthur Weasley!" said another.
His father? Arthur Weasley ... Fabian Prewett. Weasley was engaged to Prewett's sister, he knew. He had ordered his servants at Hogwarts to deliver reports on possible Pureblood marriages as well as future Pureblood children. The Weasleys were a large lot, it was hard to mistake the boy for anyone other than a Weasley. Was this boy a possible relation, however distant?
All of the Weasleys had attended Hogwarts, however.
He was going to need someone else's memory, someone else who had been linked to that peculiar day at Hogwarts.
Ahh, yes. Peter Pettigrew. The lonesome, spineless boy who had mysteriously separated from the group known as the Marauders. He had been there, hadn't he? At the heart of the group, then.
Malfoy Disapparated once more with Dobby, this time to Pettigrew's home. Merlin, was his mother in the for the shock of her life.
Powerful, wealthy socialite, Lucius Malfoy, gracing her doorstep, asking for her poor boy? She'd faint from pride and joy.
The Horcrux Cave
Rose dropped the strange fleshy device into the potion. The set of lips sunk in to the very bottom, unmoving.
Snape stared down his overly large nose at it. "Where are the wonders or magic you promise with this ridiculous invention?"
"Hold on, she has to activate it first. Usually you activate it before you use it, but then it would have been less likely to go through the magical barrier," Albus said testily, as Rose began a series of simple wand movements.
From across the lake, James Potter held his lit wand aloft, aimed at the suspicious waters below. He could see the movements of creepy human bodies.
"You know what?" James said to Sirius, who was standing beside him.
"What?" Sirius asked, who's wand was also pointed in the same direction.
"We summoned that boat with a simple Accio!, don't you think that's a bit too easy?"
"Actually, now that I think about it—"
"You've thought about it?" Lily said skeptically, grinning. "That's a first."
"Yeah, well, anyways," Sirius went on, "If he's such a great wizard like all those sods say he is, why doesn't he have better protection on the piece of his bloody soul?"
"Overconfidence, probably," Remus guessed, eyeing the proceedings in the center of the cave as best he could.
As Rose finished the last flourish of her wand, the lips began to move. They all watched in amazement as disturbing slurping noises started sounding, echoing ominously off the walls and ceiling. The level of the basin lowered, and lowered, and lowered.
"Halfway point!" James Sirius said excitedly.
The lips stopped. Rose, Snape, and Albus swore under their breaths at the same time.
Lily Luna produced a long metal stick from her wand, and stuck it into the basin to prod at it. There was a loud shriek, and the mouth vanished.
"What was that?" Remus asked worriedly, as Al kicked the rock violently a few times.
"It's gone," Rose said in a timid tone, staring blankly at the murky potion. "Someone's going to have to drink the rest."
"B-but, that stuff's supposed to make you relive your worst memory ..." Harry said worriedly, already remembering the Dementors. The cold, terrible feeling that you would never be happy ever again. He didn't want to have to face that again; he didn't want any of his family to ever face that. Hell, he didn't even want Snape to face that.
They stood there for a good ten minutes trying to think of a solution.
"Are there painful side affects?" Snape asked suddenly. "Or is it only the mental ones?"
"So far as we know, it's only mental with possible physical side affects. There were some studies done on it, mainly by my mum. You relive your worst memory, but keep in mind, for most people it was a lot worse since their memories were linked to physical pain."
"Then I think I've got the solution," he said smugly. He'd beaten all the Potters to the punch, as well as Black and Lupin and Lily. Of course, he knew he smarter than they were, but it was nice to prove the point every so often.
"Spit it out, then," Harry said impatiently.
"We have her drink it," Snape pointed at Lily Luna, who flinched at the gesture.
"Lily? No way! You can't have a little girl—"
"—little girl?" Lily Luna glowered angrily at Hugo, who quieted.
Harry mulled it over for a few seconds. "It makes sense. I mean, how bad can her worst memory be? She hasn't experienced a whole lot."
"I think," Rose said thoughtfully, "we were so caught up in our own worst memories we had a hard time remembering that the innocent, and the young, don't have any."
"What's your worst memory, then, Lils?" Al asked his cousin.
Lily Luna pursed her lips, pleased at all the attention. "Well, iunno. Maybe that time when I saw you and James off to Hogwarts, but I couldn't go with. I sulked for a whole month."
"Can that even count as a 'worst memory'?" Sirius sulked himself, thinking of his own worst memory, which began with his insane mother and a number of very bad hexes, and ended with him living at the Potters. "It seems unfair."
Rose pinched the bridge of her nose. "She'll take a sip, one sip, and we'll see how it goes. Lils, are you sure you want to do this?"
Quietly, Lily Luna swallowed. She was a bit nervous now. "Y-yeah."
"Don't worry," Rose said soothingly, placing a calm hand on Lily Luna's shoulder. "One sip won't be anything at all."
"You should sit down." Snape conjured her a cushion to sit on.
Albus silently conjured a glass and scooped up the tiniest bit of the potion in it. It sat in there, looking very much like poison. "Here," he handed it off to Harry, who backed away a few steps.
"Me?"
"Yes you," Rose said tightly. "You're the dad."
Harry relented and took the glass, kneeling next to his future daughter, who gave him a shaky smile.
"Er, you ready for it?" Harry asked, not offering her the potion just yet.
"No, who would be?" Snape muttered, and Rose elbowed him. He scowled back at her but did not retaliate.
Hugo sat down next to Lily Luna on the floor cross-legged for moral support.
Lily Luna had tears streaming freely down her face as Harry tipped the second glass into her mouth.
Everyone who hadn't had the decency to cry after the first glass went ahead and started crying, with the exception of Snape, who remained stoic and unmoving.
"Water," Lily Luna croaked after the potion was finished.
"Sirius, James, Remus, Lily, NOW!" Rose yelled out, as she and Harry carefully brought Lily Luna over to the edge of the rock to drink the lake water.
From the shore Lily and Remus conjured large nets of flames to battle the Inferi that were now trying to come out of the water. The nets caught a few, and the smell of burning bodies filled the air.
Sirius and James began to fire off balls of flames.
Snape cast a spell that surrounded the small area in front of Lily Luna with a wall of protective fire. Rose shot spell after spell into the mass of Inferi.
Hugo and James Sirius held the boat still as the Rose, Snape and Lily Luna clambered in. The boat did not move.
"It's not moving!" James Sirius began panicking.
"Thank you, Captain Obvious!" Rose screamed as an Inferi rocked the tiny vessel. She shot fire at it and it sunk back down, but was instantly replaced by another dead, lifeless, body. Yelling in fury, Rose began her attack like a madwoman, her wand making large swooping, crashing movements as body after body fell in her wake.
Albus tried to shove the boat off from the rocky edge, but it was stuck.
James Sirius threw all the Firebombs in his stash, which were altered from the original Dungbombs, and watched in fearful awe as the Inferi lit up and incinerated.
"Yeech!" Hugo said, pinching his nose. "They reek!"
They were fighting.
They were losing.
They were dangerously close to being outnumbered.
"James Bloody Potter!" Snape shouted breathlessly, as another batch of Inferi hit the water, stumbling back from the bright flames. He and Rose were dueling their hardest to keep the hoard away from the boat, while James Sirius and Albus were protecting the two frightened children huddled in the bottom of the boat.
"OPEN THE ENTRANCE!" Snape continued.
"Are you insane—?"
"JUST DO IT!"
James Potter paused from the fight, slashed his arm with his wand, and rubbed the arm against the proper stone to open the way out.
As soon as the entrance came into view—
Levicorpus! Snape thought, and with a flick of his wand the entire boat shuddered, stilled, then flew towards the ceiling at a rapid pace.
"SUMMON THE BOAT!" Rose shrieked, catching on quickly.
Lily had the sense to do it first as the rest of the Marauders held off the new onslaught of Inferi now stalking after the flying boat.
"Duck!" Rose shrieked again as they neared the ceiling. They all dropped as low as they could, the older ones shielding Hugo and Lily Luna with their bodies. A moment of horror overtook the group, and there was a terrible noise as the boat scraped against the ceiling. Rose could feel the rocks bumping and scratching her cloak and backside as Lily Evans attempted to commandeer the boat around the more dangerously pointy rocks.
Somehow in the darkness above the lake, in the boat, Snape felt a scrambling hand grab onto his tightly.
The boat crashed into the wall above the entrance just as Remus cast the Cushioning Charm to catch it.
Rose scrambled out of the boat, lifting Lily Luna and Hugo out with her tired arms and pushing them towards safety. The two of them joined hands and ran past Remus and Sirius, who were positioned just before the entrance. Albus and James Sirius followed soon after.
They were close, so close. Rose hadn't realized just how close the Inferi had gotten— within grabbing distance. The arm that swiped at her missed, and she shot a bolt of fire at it. The arm burned, melted, and turned to some disgusting substance she'd rather not think about. However, the arm was quickly replaced by another, and another. Sweat dripped down her forehead as she tried to buy time for the others to escape.
Snape was still dueling beside her, his teeth gritted as he covered her exposed side.
Remus, Sirius, Lily, and James were covering the entrance as the Hugo and the younger Potters ran past them out of the cave.
"Come on, Rose, Snape!" James shouted, fear trickling into his voice. "Get yourselves out! We'll cover you!"
Rose locked gazes with her companion, and the two of them turned to run towards the exit.
The pursuit was quick, and Rose didn't dare look back at the moaning creatures behind them as Snape took her hand in his and they ran.
His strides were longer than hers and it was hard to catch up—
She stumbled and then—
The clammy hand of death latched onto her forearm and she shrieked—
"Sectumpsempra!"
The arm fell off the body and with a sickening sound it hit the ground, causing the Inferi to trip and fall sideways.
Rose screamed again, even as Snape grabbed her wand arm and dragged her the last few feet to the exit— to safety.
Remus and Lily fired a combined fire spell into the mass of Inferi as Rose and Snape scrambled frantically through and collapsed onto the ground.
The rock magically sealed itself up again, as if nothing had happened.
Ten teenagers slumped on the floor in silence. The smell of Inferi still lingered in the air, and Rose closed her eyes and rubbed feverishly at the skin where the Inferi's dead hand had touched her.
"You okay?" Snape muttered under his breath from where he sat a foot away from her.
"Y-yeah. Thanks. For saving me."
"That was worse than NEWTs," Sirius complained loudly. "I've never been so exhausted in my entire life!"
AN: Action action action! I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Leave a review! Even if you only want to leave a rating out of 10, that's good enough for me!
And for the next chapter, who actually wants Severus and Rose to have some kind of relationship? Leave a review with your ideas!
