Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter world.
A Forest Tale
Chapter 10
The Patronus and the Dark Mark
Snape took a small step backwards. So this was how the Dark Lord intended to protect his prison-fortress. Was he surprised? Of course, there was more to the defence system than the simple spells, passwords and a few, magically not very talented guards, aided by enchanted wasps and flying knives.
"Alohomora!" shouted Potter for about the twentieth time. "Reducto!"
Lily was eyeing him pensively, Snape, however, who began pacing anxiously up and down in the corridor, found Potter's activity expressly irritating. With a sudden idea, he left them and hurried to the office where the prison guards were awaiting their fate. Soon he was standing over the Chief, his wand pointing directly at the man's face.
But only minutes later, he was already going back to Lily and Potter, knowing that there was no way out. The guards were of no use. He had more or less known that in advance. The Ultimate Protection had started the moment that the last guard had given up defending the fortress. The Dark Lord did not build any plans on their services beyond that point.
Where did that leave them - and him personally? He shuddered. Was he prepared for what was to come, for what he was - perhaps - expected to do? But had he not wished, in this very same building once, to have a chance to rectify his mistake? Had he not promised to do anything to fight the Dark Lord?
"James, this won't solve anything," Lily was just saying. "We must try something more effective."
"I'm trying what I can," said Potter irritably. "But here is our Dark Arts specialist..." He looked at Snape as though it was Snape's fault that the door was there.
"Don't waste your energy," Snape said coldly. "You can't break the magic."
"All magic can be broken," said Potter with an air of superiority that would have made Snape grind his teeth in any other situations. "I'm not going to give up."
"Do you think," Snape asked silkily, "that you will be the one who can break it this time?"
He shrugged.
"By all means, keep yelling if that makes you feel better."
Potter glared at Snape with all the fury of his frustration, gripping a slightly smoking wand. Snape returned the stare in a similar fashion.
"Wait!" Lily stepped between them hastily. "If all three of us tried the same spell together-"
Snape lowered his wand.
"If each of us had Dumbledore's power or more and we tried to break this magic together, we still would not succeed."
"How do you know that?" Potter asked.
"There is a sign on the door," said Snape. "It has a meaning."
Potter stared at the stamp and the inscription, frowning in concentration. Lily was about to speak, when their attention was caught by a strange noise and they all spun around at the same time. Through the still open front door, a big black dog, the size of a smallish bear, ran into the building as though it was being chased by dragons.
"Padfoot!" Potter bellowed excitedly. "We are here! Hey!"
The last syllable expressed a degree of chagrin because the big black dog dashed towards one of the guards' corridors without glancing in their direction.
Lily and Potter exchanged an astonished look.
"Are you certain that it was Black, not another stray dog?" Snape asked, but before the other two could have given an answer, they heard speedy footsteps again, and this time it was Lupin who entered the building, closing the stone door behind him.
"Which way did he go?" he panted.
"That way," said Lily, hurrying to him. "But, Remus, please, stop, we need help... What's going on?"
When Lupin did not even look back, she ran after him.
"At least they are alive," Potter muttered.
Snape gazed after Lily, forgetting everything else for a moment, but then he checked himself. There was a suspicious silence behind his back, and he turned, expecting to find Potter glowering at him again - but he was wrong.
Potter's attention was fully occupied by the Dark Mark on the magical door. He was pointing his wand at the snake in the sign. No seer had ever read the omens of future troubles more accurately than Snape was able to sense what was going to happen, as he glimpsed him.
"Don't..." he groaned, but Potter was already shouting.
"Confringo!"
The spell hit the snake and Snape knew that no Shield Charm could help any more. If Potter was to be saved, something more powerful was needed immediately. He glanced around, but both Lily and Lupin had gone out of sight. He had remained alone with Potter.
The snake fired back, and the explosive sound that followed drowned Potter's yell, as it drowned Snape's furious and desperate cry. Yet, the silver doe shot out of the tip of his wand and without waiting for any instructions, sprang in front of Potter, her silver contours shining distinctly for a moment between him and the flash of green light...
The sound died away, leaving behind a ringing silence; the blinding light went out, and Snape saw Potter lying on the floor, knowing nothing about the world around him. Then Snape heard Lily's frantic screams, saw her come back running and drop on her knees by her husband.
"Rennervate!" she screamed hysterically.
Snape bent over Potter opposite Lily. Potter was moaning and convulsing as though in horrible pain, his eyes wide open and full of terror. He did not react to the cries of his wife, who was desperately trying to bring him back to consciousness.
"Allow me to try it," said Snape quietly. "He was hit by Dark Magic."
Lily silently withdrew but only a step. Snape held his wand above Potter's forehead. He could only hope that the magic he was going to use would work. Potter was extremely lucky to be alive at all, but Snape was convinced that the longer he remained in this state, the more difficult it would be to heal him eventually.
In the past months, he had found some apparently never used books in a shadowy corner of the library of Hogwarts. He had studied them carefully, and they seemed to open new perspectives of magical science to him. He had not yet discussed them with anyone, but he was quite sure that he had discovered a new approach to fighting dark spells and curses.
The books were about the methods of wizards in far-away lands, in many ways different from the spell-and-wand magic every wizard and witch in Britain knew. Snape's idea was based on the integration of some of their knowledge into an advanced version of standard Defence Against the Dark Arts theory. Apparently, these methods could be used very well in areas where no traditional spells could help, but he had not yet had a chance to try them out in practice.
His eyes were fixed on the spot where the tip of his wand was pointing, and he began to say - no, to chant, to sing what most wizards he knew would call a spell, but it was longer than a spell, and it was not to be shouted, but to be sung to a low and quiet, slightly monotonous and yet emotionally intense tune. His longing to see Lily comforted filled the song with the power of ancient magic, and his hand did not once tremble while he was holding the wand above Potter, who slowly became silent and tranquil. The convulsions and the moaning stopped, Potter's features were no longer distorted by the mad terror, and he was looking now, without a shadow of a doubt, at Lily, whose eyes smiled behind shimmering tears.
"Can you see me?" she whispered, only half-mastering her voice.
Potter nodded, his hand falteringly looking for hers.
"Let's take him to one of those rooms," said a shaky voice quite near them.
Lupin, Snape and Lily placed James Potter on a shabby sofa in one of the guards' offices. Lily was sitting by his side while Snape and Lupin were standing further away when Potter quite audibly pronounced Lily's name. Lupin muttered something about having to find Black and left. Snape did not care. From behind the sofa, he was watching Lily, who was bending close to Potter.
"You're a treasure," said a hoarse voice. "A real treasure."
Snape could be satisfied. If Potter was already able to say compliments to Lily, he would evidently survive. He turned towards the window and gazed into the barren, rocky landscape outside.
"You... saved my life," he heard Potter saying.
Snape was staring at the window as though there was something incredibly interesting in the emptiness before him. But he could have sworn that Lily was stroking Potter's hair.
"James," she said softly. "Actually, it was Severus."
Snape wheeled around as though he had been unexpectedly stung by an insect, and his eyes met Lily's, who cast a quick, grateful glance at him before continuing.
"You were unconscious but I could not do anything about it. It was Severus who managed to bring you back-"
"Deliver my thanks to him," Potter croaked. "But I meant ... before. When the door backfired, I ... would have ... died right there ... if you ... had not acted."
"I did not do anything," said Lily, sounding surprised.
Snape peered through the window again, wishing he had an Invisibility Cloak, too.
"I saw ... I recognized your... doe..." Potter panted and his speech was growing incoherent now. "Amazing magic... perfectly done ... beautiful ... so strong and so ... wonderful ... took the worst ... part ... of the curse. Saved me ... I adore you."
Potter became silent suddenly and in an odd way, and Snape glanced back over his shoulder. Lily was apparently bending even closer to Potter, her head disappearing behind the back of the sofa. Snape continued studying the empty landscape. It was raining out there.
There was something intoxicating in hearing Potter babble about his magic in those terms and with such admiration; and a part of Snape was itching to see Potter's face when he found out the truth about the origin of the magic he thought so adorable. Another part of him, however, remained sober, and was simply scared of the idea that Potter - or Lily, or anyone else (besides Dumbledore, who already knew it) - could discover what his Patronus was. No, he was quite certain that he did not want to reveal that to them... In vain had he hoped that Potter had not had the time to recognize the Patronus - and Lily would soon tell him that she had not even been near enough to do any magic in the crucial moment. Would they guess the truth?
His Patronus... Snape could feel a sudden pang of pain as he recalled the silver doe, her swiftness, her readiness to protect, her beauty... Why had he not taken a better look at her then, for what must have been the last time? He would never see her again.
Lily and Potter were still conspicuously silent, and it occurred to Snape that since they so obviously did not need his assistance any more, he might as well set out and do something useful. There was no point in delaying the inevitable. To reach the door of the office, he had to go past the sofa, but he would surely be able to do it without disturbing them.
He was just turning away from the window when he heard Lily saying his name. She hurried to him, a few tears glimmering on her eyelashes, her cheeks unusually rosy.
"He's fallen asleep," she said.
"Sleeping is good for him," Snape answered, not quite understanding what there was to cry about.
Lily nodded and smiled a little.
"Severus," she said quietly but composedly, wiping the tears out of her eyes, "I don't understand. I ... I did not cast a Patronus, I was not even there in time to do it. Yet, James says he saw my Patronus save his life. Do you think it is possible that my Patronus saved him - without my knowledge?"
Snape gaped at her. Did Lily really want him to tell her that such a thing was possible?
"Perhaps," he said, and looked away. It was difficult to lie while gazing into those bright green eyes. "I don't know."
"Well," she said, and Snape could not quite decide whether she sounded mildly disappointed or not, "I can also imagine that he only thought he saw my Patronus. You know ... it was a moment of great stress, mortal danger... Perhaps it was only his imagination ... or something similar."
"It could be," said Snape, still avoiding her eyes.
"Dumbledore says a Patronus has a lot do with where one's heart really lies," Lily continued. "I think I will ask his opinion the next time I see him. It is so ... strange."
Snape made a mental note of having to talk to Dumbledore before Lily did.
"What counts is that he is alive and well," he said finally, this time looking straight into her green eyes, which brightened at once.
"Yes, and you must take credit for his recovery! That spell was brilliant! I've never seen anything similar. You should be a healer."
"I don't have the qualifications," he said, seemingly calm, successfully hiding the pleasure he found in seeing her joyful face.
"You could easily get the qualifications, "Lily said kindly.
Except that I never had the money to pay for any further education, he thought.
And anyway... it did not matter now. He had no time for daydreams. He should be happy that he had had the chance to do a last, important service to her.
"I must go now," he said. "I must try something."
"The door!" she exclaimed. "What shall we do now? It cannot be opened."
"There is a way," said Snape languidly. "Potter was right. All magic can be broken, or, more precisely, every kind of magic has its countermagic, although it is not necessarily more powerful magic."
"I don't understand," said Lily.
"The Ultimate Protection," Snape explained, "was constructed by the Dark Lord to be able to resist the power of a hundred Dumbledores even. It is possible to invent such magic; only in that case, a price must be chosen - a price that, when paid, will break the magic. In return, the magic will resist everything else."
"So we have to find out what the price is?" Lily asked anxiously.
"No. I know what it is. The price attached to the Ultimate Protection is known by Death Eaters."
Lily's eyes grew huge.
"What is it then?"
"It is a price that the Dark Lord thinks no one ever will be willing to pay."
Lily swallowed hard.
"Someone's life?" she guessed.
"That is a plausible idea," Snape answered, "but actually the price is something else. The Dark Lord has his own sense of ... humour."
Lily shuddered.
"I'd better not guess. It must be something valuable."
"Yes, very valuable. Breaking the protection requires the sacrifice of someone's full magical power."
Lily sat down on a nearby chair.
"So someone must lose their magic - forever?"
"Exactly," said Snape.
There was a long pause. Finally, Lily spoke.
"There are only two of us here. I mean - James is injured. We can't expect any other volunteers to turn up, and time is precious. We don't know what's happening to Mary and all the people we have come to set free. I ... I will do it."
Snape scrutinized her, deep in thought.
"Would you really?"
"Yes," Lily answered, "don't look at me like this. It is either you or -" she stopped and buried her face into her hands.
"Lily," said Snape, but she was shaking her head without removing her hands. A few moments later she looked up nevertheless.
"Severus, you have just helped James, and even without that, we both owe our lives to you. I cannot let you make this sacrifice. It would be unjust."
Snape opened his mouth to speak, but Lily did not let him interrupt her.
"I am Muggleborn anyway. I know how to do things in the Muggle way. I could live like-"
"Like your sister," Snape put in somewhat mockingly. "How is she these days?"
Lily raised an eyebrow.
"She is married to a Muggle by the name of Vernon Dursley, who has more or less convinced her to break all ties with us. It can't have been very difficult anyway. But it does not matter. Not all Muggles are the same. My parents were nice people."
"I know," said Snape with a slightly apologetic look. "But you belong to us ... I mean to the magical community. You couldn't go and live among Muggles."
Now that he had said it, he was suddenly eager to hear her reply. He wanted to hear strong, persuasive arguments, which could help one make the final decision...
"Why would I?" said Lily defiantly. "I've got a magical family. You see how much James loves me. We would not be the first magical-non-magical couple."
"No," he admitted, thinking of Eileen Prince and Tobias Snape.
"In fact," said Lily quietly, "I have already got so much - a loving husband, a wonderful child, a nice home and plenty of money to spend - and friends, of course, great friends..."
Her expression gradually softened as she was speaking, and when she mentioned her friends, it seemed her gaze was caressing Snape.
"There is no reason why I could not be happy without magic," she finished, sounding almost triumphant, "especially, when I know that my sacrifice has saved so many lives."
A fire lit up in her eyes, as she managed to convince herself of the happiness her sacrifice would bring, and she was so beautiful that Snape thought merely seeing her in that moment could give meaning to a life of fight and misery.
"Severus," she said solemnly, eyes shining. "Let's hurry up. Tell me what to do."
He did not answer immediately. He wanted, for once, to delay the moment, because he wanted to watch her for a while yet before the magic was over. Forever.
The brilliance in her eyes gradually gave way to something else. She could sense that something was amiss.
"Severus? I do have your support, I hope? You will help me now - like a true friend."
"You cannot do it," he said firmly.
"Why not?" Lily snapped, angry now that her moment of inspiration was being wasted. "I know you are a very brave man, but I am no coward either! I could have died in battle like any of us - why do you think I can't make this particular sacrifice? I am as good an Order member as you are-"
"Probably better," said Snape, "and that is precisely the reason why you cannot do it."
Lily was staring at him.
"Explain," she said curtly.
"Lily," he said, "please, hear me out. If anyone could do it, the door would already be open. I would not hesitate for a moment to sacrifice the magic of one of the guards that we captured."
He could tell that the idea of forcing someone to make the sacrifice had not occurred to her. But at least she did not object.
"They used their magic to do bad things," she said in a small voice. "You're right. They would deserve it."
Something flashed in Snape's eyes.
"Good point," he said. "Besides, it could be a fair price for one of them in exchange for avoiding Azkaban. I don't think non-magical people are ever taken there... It is another question how they would escape the Dark Lord's revenge afterwards. But they cannot do it. Nor could you do it - or even Potter. I haven't told you everything yet."
"Who can do it?" Lily asked tensely.
Snape's eyes bored into hers.
"I can," he said.
"But ... why?"
"It is simple," Snape said. "The Ultimate Protection will only allow Death Eaters to pass through. If a Death Eater enters on the Dark Lord's orders - or at least with his permission - the protection will remain intact. You see, in this way, the Dark Lord could still maintain this prison by sending here Death Eaters on errands without having to come and go himself. If, however, a Death Eater enters without the Dark Lord's express permission, if any Death Eaters try to use the place protected by the Ultimate Protection for their own purposes, the Death Eater's magical power will be lost and the protection will break. That is why every Death Eater must know about this magic. The true meaning of the Ultimate Protection is that no Death Eaters are willing to sacrifice their magical power for ... for anything. Yet, the price that must be paid to break the magic is - quite precisely - the full magical power and the wand of a Death Eater."
"But the prison guards," Lily began.
"They are not Death Eaters, only lesser servants. They don't belong to the inner circle."
"But y-you," Lily stammered, "you are not a Death Eater at all. You have left them!"
"I don't think the door knows that," said Snape. "It will only check whether I have the Dark Lord's permission or not, and it will identify me as a Death Eater because ..." he went closer to the window and stood there with his back towards Lily; "...because it recognizes Death Eaters by their Dark Marks."
He turned back slowly, and he saw exactly the sort of bewilderment on Lily's face that he had expected.
"Their ... Dark Marks?" Lily whispered. "What do you mean?"
Snape gave no response but started towards the door.
"Severus!" she demanded, standing up. "I'm asking you a question!"
He stopped.
"Are you sure that you want to know the answer?"
"Yes," said Lily fiercely.
Snape glanced towards the sofa, but Potter was snoring evenly. Maybe it was just as well... Seeing Lily disgusted with what he had done might strengthen his determination. He did not have a family or a nice home to comfort him for the loss. Being reminded that he deserved it could perhaps help.
He strode back to Lily, and pulled up his left sleeve, watching her intently all the time. Lily did not scream, and she did not try to back away, she merely glared at the Mark as though she could not believe her eyes.
"Did he do this to you?" she asked with horror.
Snape covered his arm.
"It is supposed to be an honour," he said, his voice colourless.
"Severus," she said. "This is not how I wanted it, but-"
He shrugged.
"You have just said that those who used their magic to do bad things deserve this fate."
"I did not mean you, as you know very well!"
"You should not develop illusions about me," said Snape dourly. "I took this Mark voluntarily... Now it enables us to free the prisoners, including your friend Mary. Some of them will be undoubtedly alive yet."
He was not a hundred per cent certain of the latter, but he did his best to fight off the most pessimistic thoughts. He wished he could have the same enthusiasm that had been burning in Lily's eyes before. He did not have any eloquent thoughts. All he could think about was the bare fact that someone had to open that door and he was the only one who could do it, and he knew the reason why. He wanted to get it over with as soon as possible; therefore he was walking hurriedly towards the magical door, Lily following him.
"Maybe," he said to her as though he was only thinking aloud, "this was Dumbledore's intention when he asked me to participate in this mission."
This thought had been on his mind ever since he had recognized the Ultimate Protection.
"Dumbledore intended you to do this?" Lily gasped. "But how?"
"He may have guessed," said Snape "that there would be some protection requiring the magic attached only to a Dark Mark. He may have enlisted me specifically to do this job if necessary."
They were in front of the door now.
Lily grabbed the door handle, but the door stood as firmly as before.
"Stand back," said Snape.
He reached for the door handle with his left hand. He could instantly feel a stream of magic, a dark, destructive force becoming alive in his forearm, as his Dark Mark began to burn. The door swung open, revealing the dark corridor behind, and with a loud crack, Snape's wand was severed in two.