Chapter 10 conversations
Legal disclaimer: Harry Potter and his friends belong to J. and none other.
Severus and Albus Dumbledore walked into Dumbledore's quarters and seated themselves at the desk. Albus looked at Severus with a solemn look "would you care for some tea Severus? This might take a while". Severus nodded "If you would please, for once I don't mind, it's been a long day and an even longer night".
They waited in silence for the tea to arrive and once the house elf had come and gone Albus poured out the steaming peppermint tea and turned to Severus. "I take it that it all came to a head last evening; tell me about it Severus'.
Severus Snape nodded and started his account of the evening's events leaving nothing out. When it came to the part where Severus talked about how Lucius Malfoy came in, Dumbledore became unusually grim. "So,Lucius Malfoy is out of Azkaban" he observed and assumed a thoughtful look.
"Yes he is' Severus replied 'and what's worse is that he is not even himself Albus. He is completely under the Dark Lord's control and mindless enough to do whatever he asks. The whole time that Draco was tortured he just stood idly by doing nothing' he spat disdain clear in his voice.
"Severus how did that come about? What happened to put Draco in such a condition"Dumbledore asked his eyes dull and weary and for once looking his age.
Severus in answer launched into the details of how Draco had been forced to rape the muggleborn girl and how he had refused to do so. In doing so he could not stop the note of pride that entered his voice. "All my doubts about Draco's resilience and allegiance disappeared then Albus. At that moment, his humane side came to the fore and he stood tall before the dark lord. But unfortunately he paid for it dearly Albus. Narcissa Malfoy stepped in to save her son and lost her life in the process. Voldemort killed her in cold blood" he said in a sombre voice.
Dumbledore looked at Severus sharply "She put herself in the line of fire to save her son you say. Yes a mother's love is most wonderful" he said thoughtfully. Severus wondered at the look on Dumbledore's face but put it aside for a later time.
Instead he took up the sordid tale once more "Draco was first in shock but he was consumed by rage when his mother's death registered in his mind and he actually fought the dark lord. Actually fought him Albus,! I never imagined I would see the day when Draco Malfoy would boldly stand up to his father and the dark lord but he did. He tried fighting his way out of there but the numbers were too many and he was overpowered".
"Losing a loved one gives us hidden strengths Severus as you very well know…Narcissa's death has given Draco the strength of mind that he did not have earlier. No doubt he has gone through a harrowing time but I believe that this may help in the long run. But then again Narcissa's death is clearly not the only traumatic thing he experienced tonight"…he said inviting Severus to continue the gory tale.
Severus sighed 'You are right. He was then tortured for his reluctance and refusal to sully a muggleborn girl. He was seen as a traitor and branded as such. But there was one interesting thing that happened which I cannot understand and sincerely hope you will be able to shed some light upon…there was a point in time when the Dark Lord transfigured the muggleborn to look like Hermione Granger stating that it would be greater incentive to take Potter's "mudblood". Where did Hermione Granger come into all this?" He wondered aloud looking at Albus Dumbledore for answers.
He was not disappointed as for the first time since he started the narration, a faint smile graced Dumbledore's features and his eyes took on a glassy far sighted look. Severus patiently waited for the answer but instead of answering Dumbledore asked a question of his own "What was Draco's reaction to this Severus?".Severus Snape was confused but knew better than to ask when Dumbledore was in one of his riddles mood.
"If at all Draco was more horrified and more determined not to do as the dark lord commanded…come to think of it, it is rather curious isn't it? he asked. 'Yes it is indeed very curious' "Dumbledore replied still with a mysterious look on his face. "Well Old man, are you going to tell me what is going on in that head of yours?" snapped Severus irritated with Dumbledore's answers. He was tired and had had a rough night and he was simply not in the mood to listen to Dumbledore's riddles.
"All in good time Severus, all in good time. Please bear with me for a little while more and I promise that I will share with you my thoughts on all this .But for now please continue and tell me what else happened." Severus reluctantly took up the tale once more and talked of how while Draco was tied down his father was ordered to rape the muggleborn girl and how Lucius had mindlessly followed the dark lord's orders without a care about his son and his now dead wife.
"My heart was in shards Albus, No one should have to see their own father in that position and especially not Draco who had idolized his father for so long. But you know what really, really hurt Albus? The fact that I was right there and could not help in any way."
"There was not one damn thing I could do, not one single thing and it killed me" he ranted in a tortured voice. "I just stood there helpless watching my godson scream in agony and desperately wishing that I could just spirit him away from there" he said in a voice heavy with self recrimination.
"Do not blame yourself Severus", Dumbledore comforted "you know as well as I do that the situation demanded your silence. Had you lost your patience perhaps we could not have saved Draco's life. You put yourself at risk, it was a brave and an admirable thing that you did. I have no doubts that it must have been incredibly painful for you to see your godson in so much pain then but your patience has paid off and Draco is with us safe".
"True" Severus admitted trying to calm himself and continued putting forth how he was called upon to revive Draco and how he had taken the opportunity to activate the portkey. "Albus you should also know that your charms over the pendant held. The magic of the portkey was masked and the dark lord was fooled into thinking that it was an ordinary pendant. Needless to say he was enraged about it but that is of no consequence right now. The rest of course you already know."
"Thank you for telling me what transpired Severus as well as for saving Draco Malfoy. Yes I agree that he is your godson and therefore you do what you do but he is also my student and for that I thank you. Moreover I now believe that the possibility of the prophecy coming to pass is greater than ever".
"What do you mean "asked Severus with a startled look. "What has this got to do with the prophecy?"."I will be in a better position to explain that once I talk to Harry which is only some hours away" replied Dumbledore. "Perhaps we should consider getting some rest before going to see Harry, assuming that you want to accompany me of course".
Severus turned to walk away but Dumbledore's voice stopped him "Severus, Draco has been through a horrifying time both physically as well as mentally. You will have to be his anchor and bring him out of this devastation. I anticipate that you will have some unexpected help in that quarter", he held up his hand at Severus's puzzled look "but you need to be patient or you might lose Draco in the bargain" he said cryptically.
"Of course' Severus replied smoothly realizing that there was no chance of getting anything out of Dumbledore now.
"Albus before I go there is one another thing I need to know…the dark lord has ordered me to find out if Draco Malfoy is here. What do I tell him? And he also hinted that there might be an attack on the Hogwarts express in a bid to capture Harry Potter" he said his voice curling with displeasure as he spat out Harry's name.
Dumbledore however let this go and said "Yes he will want to know that. It will not do to deny it completely. Tell him that the portkey took him here and that I have made Draco my ward and placed him under protective blood wards" .Looking up at Severus's expression he further elaborated "you do realize that he is almost an orphan and this would have to be done for his safety except that you would be doing it at some point in my place. I also assume you have no objections to the idea?"
"Of course not" replied Severus before rising from his seat indicating his departure. "And what about Potter? he enquired in a caustic voice.
"Does he still take the Hogwarts Express knowing that there might be an attack?" Dumbledore looked at Severus with a deep knowing look. "Anything else will jeopardize your position with Voldemort so we just have to take enough precaution and take the chance" he said heavily.
"I presume that I should be thankful for this consideration as seeing that it is the golden boy himself who is in jeopardy " sneered Severus sarcastically to which Dumbledore shook his head sadly. "Someday Severus you will understand and for the sake of everyone I hope it's soon. Go rest now. God knows you have little time before we go to the Burrow".
"So do I meet you here after breakfast?" Severus called out as he let himself out to which Dumbledore acquiesced with a wave of his hand, his mind already contemplating the events of the past night.
At the Burrow
Harry trudged up the stairs into the room that he and Ron shared. He knew that Ron and Hermione would want an explanation and he was not disappointed to find the both of them waiting for him expectantly. He settled himself on the bed and sighed "I suppose you want to know what I saw?". "We don't want to force you mate but yes we were wondering" Ron said with ill disguised curiosity.
Harry looked at his friends; Hermione was bursting with curiosity and struggling to hold it in. He decided right then that they deserved to know what happened. 'Well as you know I had a vision' he said and started narrating the night's events. Hermione gasped when Harry mentioned that Lucius Malfoy was out of Azkaban and Ron burst out saying "what? What good are these dementors if prisoners can break out of them so easily" he ranted. 'Oh My god! Was Draco also there Harry?"Asked Hermione."
Harry opened his mouth to answer but Ron beat him to it 'Of course he was Hermione, he is a bloody death eater isn't he, they all stick together, they do" declared Ron pompously before Harry could answer.
Harry nodded "Yes he was, but he was as shocked as I to see his father there. 'No Ron' he added before Ron could start ranting again "I am not mistaken, he was shell shocked and he also looked like he didn't want to be there at all.'
He paused to look at his friends expecting Ron to take off again but they remained silent and seeing the encouragement on their faces he continued. When he described how the muggleborn girl was dragged in Hermione started looking very upset and Harry wondered for a moment if she could handle what was to come.
He continued bravely and blushed bright red when he got to the part when Draco was asked to take the girl. "What the heck? That is soo sick' burst out Hermione "Oh Merlin! poor Draco" she exclaimed. Ron swiveled around and looked at her like she had gone mad…"Poor Draco!?How do you figure that…he was not the one who was going to be raped was he…Hermione he probably jumped at the chance for all you know. Right mate?" he asked turning to Harry for confirmation.
Harry shook his head and said quietly "No he didn't Ron he didn't want to and refused point blank'. Ron looked confused "what?' he refused?" he repeated blithely while Hermione had tears in her eyes. 'How awful' she whispered 'to be asked to do something so horrible…that man is sick …so so sick and what on earth was Lucius doing? Didn't he help? she asked turning to Harry.
'It was so awful Hermione" Harry replied "Lucius didn't do a thing to help, he simply ordered Draco to do as Voldemort asked but somehow Draco didn't cave in.'
"Oh god! Wasn't anyone there to help" she asked wringing her hands…Harry shook his head "he had tears in his eyes Hermione I could see it so clearly…come to think of it you know what's so funny with this vision though? he asked 'normally what I see are flashes of the events but with this one It was almost like I was there, so real and so near'.
"How do you know that this is real then Harry?" Questioned Ron. "what if it was a planted vision? Harry slowly shook his head "I don't know Ron, it just felt different. It could be, I don't deny that possibility but I guess we would know for sure when Dumbledore comes in the morning" 'Anyhow to answer your question his mother stood up for him Hermione but she was killed for it by Voldemort."
'What? Hermione screamed while even Ron started looking disturbed at this piece of news. "No one deserves this Harry not even Draco Malfoy" said Hermione with tears in her eyes.
"You are right Mione…I can see it so clearly even now. He was shell shocked for some time but he snapped out of it and started fighting his way out of there'. By now Ron and Hermione were completely trapped in the story and Hermione weakly whispered "he fought against his own father?" Harry nodded not saying anything "did he make it out of there? please harry…I don't think it can get any worse." "But it does Mione, it does" Harry said sadly.
"What can possibly be worse than this Harry?' Ron asked in a small voice unable to imagine his mother being murdered right in front of him. His reservations had been steadily coming down in the last hour as he heard more and more of the gory details.
He almost did not want to hear what came next. "He didn't make it out Ron, they overpowered him and tied him up with metal bands on a table" Harry's stomach squirmed as he thought about what came next."They then made him watch his father rape the muggleborn girl.'
On hearing this Hermione burst into tears as Ron made a retching noise "what a bastard. Harry how could you stand watching this?" Hermione and Ron exclaimed almost identically. It would have been funny to know that both of them agreed on something, at any other time thought Harry wryly. He shrugged "it's not like I could wake up, somehow I just could not come out of this vision. You know how much Ron tried to".
"I don't know if I want to even hear anymore"said Hermione and Ron nodded in assent. "This was becoming funnier" thought Harry in a small part of his mind; this was the second time they had agreed on something. But he shook himself out of that as Ron asked "is this why you woke up screaming his name?
"No Ron there is more" he said looking at his friend's disturbed countenance. "What more could there be" asked Ron. "They deemed him a traitor for going against their orders and tortured him Ron. I could hear him screaming in agony and could not do a damn thing. At one point he lost consciousness but Voldemort wanted to revive him and asked Severus Snape to do it. I don't know what happened next but Snape did something to Draco and Draco disappeared at which point I was released from the vision" he said as the words came out in a rush.
"Why didn't Snape do something if he was there…Malfoy is his favourite student after all" asked Hermione ever the voice of reason. 'I don't; think the opportunity ever came up Mione,' answered Harry 'if he had tried he would have been captured too. You forget who you are dealing with. Voldemort has no mercy, no qualms, none at all. Surely you know that.'
"What if all this is true? is Draco Malfoy even alive? What did they do to him Harry? mused Hermione and 'what if it was all false? What do we do then".?
"I don't have the answer to that Mione. I believed Dumbledore would know better and that is why I was desperate to reach him. Going by Dumbledore's patronus message he seemed to already know what I was going to say and that is scarier than you can imagine. It only means that at least some of it has happened but it's not going to get us anywhere to speculate. We would know for sure only when Dumbledore comes in the morning."
Ron and Hermione did not have anything more to say as they sat in silence thinking about all that Harry had said. After what seemed an eon of silence Harry said "there's no use in thinking about it anymore guys, let's just go to bed and decide what to do after hearing what Dumbleore has to say'.
Hermione nodded "you are right Harry though I doubt that I will be able to sleep knowing what I do now. But as you say there's no use thinking about it. Good night guys, see you in the morning not that there's much of the night left". She got up and made her way to the room she shared with Ginny.
Ron turned to his own bed and sliding into it remarked "You know Harry this almost makes the git human. I didn't want to feel sorry for the jerk but if this is true even I feel bad for him".
Harry smiled in the darkness "good night Ron' he called out thinking idly about the one piece of information that he had omitted and wondered how Hermione would react if she knew.
Author NotesI thank all of you out there who are following my story. You keep me going and reviews make my day. So do review with your thoughts and suggestions. I would love to hear them. Take care.