Chapter Ten
The sun shined warmly, but it did nothing to brighten his spirits. Sirius Black: Handsome, confident… Heart broken. Time, he noticed, had done naught to ease the pain she had inflicted. It seemed as though he had been twisting and turning in an endless, lonely void… ever since that day when she had told him that she was leaving.
He remembered with disturbing clarity, the exact moment when his heart had broken. And still, in his dreams, that very moment was relived. He had found few releases from his misery. But his dear friend neighbour Jeremy, a young muggle, had let him try a few different mind altering drugs. And they soon became well acquainted. He had found himself spending thousands on pills and powders of all kinds. They seemed to suspend his depression, and offer him a little peace.
Sirius glanced at his watch: 2:01pm. The park hadn't changed at all. A stream stretched from one side to the other, moving lazily. Old Oaks and Elms dotted the landscape, and a strong earthy smell was pungent. His eyes grazed solemnly over the scene as treasured memories played unwilling in his minds eye.
Sirius sat on the small rise under an Elm and placed his head in his hands. This was where he first held her, when he told her he loved her, and they had become one in body, mind and spirit. When he looked up again, his eyes glassy, they fell on her.
Hermione stood before him, thinner than he remembered and her face drawn. Her long robes flapped about her ankles and wrists, threatening to blow open. His stomach lurched, and he felt his heart flutter uncontrollably under her gaze. Despite her haggard and worn appearance, he was still enraptured by her inner beauty. It radiated from her, and enveloped him in a sense of completion. His hatred ebbed away as he realized that he still loved her, he was still her adoring subject.
A familiar prick to the back of his eyes and Sirius Black, womanizer extraordinaire, was an emotional wreck.
At first, Hermione was stunned at the man before her. He was no longer the charming, confident wizard she fell in love with. He resembled a broken man, like the one who had escaped from Aszkaban years ago. In short, he looked terrible.
As his sobs subsided, she sat next to him and drew a deep breath.
"I have come here to tell you why I left you. You are not going to like it, but I really feel that it is your right to know."
And then, she began to tell him what he should have been told on that fateful Halloween night. While the words came easier than expected, the tide of emotions threatened to overcome her and push her dangerously over an edge she had avoided thus far. However, by the time she had reached the end, her eyes were glassy and she pleaded silently for forgiveness from the trembling man before her.
"Look at me," he whispered.
Reluctantly, Hermione lifted her eyes to his. Rather than the anger she expected, his face was a mask of concern for her.
"I am so sorry that you couldn't tell me my love. But now you have and we can face it together, heal together."
She swallowed hard, noticing that she had conveniently left out the name of Beth's father.
"There is something else Sirius," she began, and his mouth closed to allow her to continue. "The death eater that did it that night… was Severus."
Silence… Suddenly, the silence was deafening.
Black's hands began to quiver and his eyes became murky. She recognized this mask of fury as the same he had shown when on the battlefield. She felt a deep sense of foreboding begin to bubble beneath the surface of rational thought and it endangered the composure she had fought to uphold. All at once, he grabbed her shoulders and whispered harshly: "Justice will be done my love."
In a flash his lips were upon hers, in a hasty and bruising kiss. And then, with wand drawn and at the ready, he was gone.
It took only a few seconds for the shock of the kiss to wear off before she too had apparated to the gates of Hogwarts, fearful of the scene that would await her in the dungeons. She hoped that he didn't know where Severus's personal chambers were. But with a disappointed furrow, she remembered the marauder's map and it's creators. Taking a moment, Hermione concentrated on the bond she shared with her former potions teacher. Closing her eyes and visualizing his face, she sent a surge of energy to him, hoping it would give him enough warning before Sirius got to him. 'If he isn't there already that is.'
--
Severus Snape was preparing a batch of headache relief potion for Madam Pomfrey when he received his warning from Hermione. It came in the form of an ear-splitting scream that evidently, only he could here. He did notice however, that betwixt the noise was a face that looked very much like Sirius Black. His first instinct was that he had hurt her and he soon turned on his heel and began running to his favourite apparition spot. But by the time he had rounded the first corner, wand drawn, he ran headlong into a solid figure, stalking in the direction he had just come.
Snape was about to bring down a tirade of sarcastic insults as this was his forte, but the look in Black's eyes kept him silent. The unmasked animosity on his face was complemented by the thirst for vengeance in his eyes. Realizing then, in that instant that Hermione was warning him. He returned to a defensive stance. For he knew, that whatever Black wanted to do to him was surely deserved; however, he would not go without a fight.
As the bloodlust reached an obvious crescendo, Sirius launched himself at Severus, wand forgotten, as he knew that the Potions Master would certainly defeat him in a fair wizard's duel. A bone-crunching thump filled the corridor as Black's knuckles met Snape's jaw, and the sounds of battle cries had attracted a hoard of Hogwarts students, hoping to catch a glimpse of the action.
Snape stumbled backwards, the blow causing white lights to dance before his eyes. He gained his footing again to throw a well-aimed fist into Black's stomach, sending him reeling into a group of sixth year Slytherin boys. Taking advantage, he then jumped onto the unsuspecting mans stomach and pummeling his fists into his chest and face. Snape thought that he had won this round when Black sent a knee into the Potion Masters crotch. He fell to the ground, and as Black began to advance with a menacing gleam in his eye, a very furious yet beautiful creature moved into his path.
"Move out of the road Hermione, I am nearly finished," he whispered through a sheen of blood and broken teeth.
"You will do no such thing Sirius. I think you have done enough don't you?" At this, the students all sent their gaze back to their beaten Potions Master.
"I don't understand you Hermione!" Sirius thundered. "This man raped you, forced a child onto you and then his 'friends' were responsible for that little girls murder! He deserves to die!"
At this, many of the student onlookers gasped in horror and looked questioningly from one person to another. Hermione fumed, and before she could control her anger, her hand had whipped across Black's face, leaving an angry red imprint. Sirius stared at her, truly dumbfounded and unbelieving, as her blood boiled over. A calming hand on her shoulder startled her, but she turned to face the sad eyes of the headmaster as he sapped the last of her hatred away.
"Thank you Albus," she stuttered, emotion distorting her normal control.
As her mind began to clear, she left Dumbledore to deal with the students and went to Severus's side. Touching her hands to his battered face, she chanted what sounded like music to his ears and he began to heal.
"Thank you my love. The power in you, it grows by the day." He whispered gently.
She put her forehead to his and smiled, and then that horrid foreboding feeling returned. Before she had a chance to gather her wits, Sirius had her wrist and threw her away, his wand firmly pointed at the Potions Master. Severus didn't move, his eyes locked on Black's, lips drawn back into a sneer.
"What are you waiting for!" he spat.
"You are banished Snape, extermino exsulo!"
A crack sounded from his wand as an angry red light hurtled at Snape.
"STOP THIS!" Everything froze - including Sirius's spell, which fizzled merely inches from Snape's face – and turned their eyes to the fiery face of the Headmaster. "Have we not seen enough war? Enough death? I know I have, and as the guardian of these students, I command you both to not only grow up, but to concentrate on directing your anger to the ones who truly deserve it." At this, he looked pointedly at Sirius, and he paled beneath Albus's deadly glare.
"Sirius, you know very well that Severus had no idea that Hermione was there that night. Regardless, he acted honourably under the circumstances and even she has forgiven him." Now he turned to the Potions Master.
"Severus, you should have been big enough to stop this, not encourage it. It seems that Sirius's past mistakes are still clouding your present judgment; I expected more." Albus waved away his anger and for a moment, he was just an old man, tired from the war and tired of losing his students to the dark.
Turning to Hermione, who looked solemnly into his eyes, he took her hand, and began leading her to his office. Before leaving the corridor however, he instructed Severus and Sirius to deal with the students and they both did well to hide their disdain. Even as grown men, they both felt like children when being chastised by Dumbledore.
"Hermione, my dear," Dumbledore said as the stone gargoyle jumped to the side, revealing the stone steps. "I have some news that may startle you, but I think it is only fair that you hear it."
Opening the door to his office and gesturing Hermione ahead of him, he conjured teapot and two cups. Once they were both settled in Albus's sitting room, he began telling her about a recent Death Eater raid.
"Strangely, they did not kill or maim, they merely delivered this scroll into the hands of the Minister for Magic." He then pressed into her hands a plain scroll with a simple screen seal with a plain 'V' pressed into it, however the seal was broken. "The Ministry has already been through it and so have the Head Aurors on the case."
"Harry?" She asked.
"Yes, Harry too."
Trembling, she opened the scroll and her eyes widened at what she saw.
Hermione Granger,
I have something that belongs to you and your spy lover… Hint: Black hair, Brown eyes and serpent shaped birthmark. She grows bigger every day! She has become quite popular with my male disciples…
Assuming you want this particular thing back, I want something from you. I believe it is time for Severus to be honest with me… face-to-face.
Be sure to pass on this message and I will be sure to keep Beth from the hands of my more malicious followers.
I wait for your reply with bated breath,
VP.S. To be sure you are convinced; please find enclosed a photo of Beth and her new family
Hermione's eyes scanned the parchment again, to be sure of what she was reading. She looked to the Headmaster and she handed him a tattered wizard photograph. In it, she saw her young daughter, clad in black, crying and in the serpentine arms of Voldemort. Her eyes never strayed to him however. They stayed locked on the angry black mark on Beth's chest.
"The dark mark!" She screamed, startling Fawkes from his perch. "He marked my baby!"
"Are you sure that is Beth?" He asked, but the question hung like stale smoke in the air between them. The fury in her eyes assured him she was positive.
"Headmaster? When do we act?"