Chapter 12
The months of April and May went by rather quickly.
In April, most of the kids were glad to be going through wrap up material. But if this were happening in the other timeline, Hermione would say,
"We've got final exams soon," as if to say, "I told you so."
I haven't mentioned that Hermione was still at the top of the class, but do I really need to? Harry, of course, was second only to her, with Ron being third. Hermione judging him to study was something he'd learned to not complain about.
I don't need to bore you by taking about studying, do I? Let's talk about something more interesting, shall we?
It was now near the end of the Quidditch season. Gryffindor was having even more success than ever before, with Harry on the team. After every match they'd win, Harry would get his band together and play in the Gryffindor common room. By this time, they were so popular that they felt they were missing something. It didn't take them long to realize that this whole time, they were without a name. Aside from their music, Quidditch was the thing they seemed to talk about the most, besides Fred and George's pranks. So, they each wrote down their favored positions on a piece of parchment and placed them into Harry's Lucky Lennon hat. "Seeker" was the name they drew from the hat, so they ultimately decided on The Seekers. They felt it sounded the best for their style of music, anyways.
Soon enough, it was June. Gryffindor had just won their last match and the team was on the verge of playing in the Quidditch finals, and even closer to winning the house cup.
After that last game, Fred and George hoisted Harry into the air in victory, with the help of James, Sirius, and Remus.
"I don't think I was ever this happy in the other universe," Harry told me.
"You weren't," I replied.
"No wonder I've forgotten all about that mirror," Harry said to himself.
Harry was so happy, it never occurred to him that danger was coming. He was having such a good time playing Quidditch and music that he forgot all about Dobby's warning. It was because of this that he thought maybe Lucky Lennon really was lucky.
But without his burning scar, he really could be in trouble. It wasn't until one day near the end of the school year that Harry discovered what Dobby was trying to tell him. He was walking down the corridors, when, suddenly, he was dragged into a dark corner. He was relieved to find that it was his mother who dragged him there.
"Mum, what are you..." he started.
"Shhh," Lily whispered as she clapped her hand over his mouth before he could finish.
She pulled him into a room where the mirror was located.
"This is the safest room in the castle," she explained. I've already brought your belongings here. I'll have your friends brought here, too."
"How?" he asked.
"Your little friend, here, is very... resourceful," she replied.
She stepped aside and behind her was Dobby.
Dobby hugged Harry's leg and sat him down.
"Harry Potter and his mother are in great danger," he begun. "Dobby's master, his junior, and the minister, Cornelius Fudge will strike tonight."
"But who is your master?" Harry asked.
Dobby disappeared without answering.
"Harry," Lily warned "Don't step one foot outside this room. I'll explain everything to your professors."
"Good Afternoon," a familiar voice drawled.
Snape and Dumbledore stepped into the light. Snape seemed rather wary, while Dumbledore seemed to be his pleased grandfatherly self.
"I'd heed your mother's warning, Potter, and I suggest your little friends do the same," he continued. "After all, we don't want people to think you're... up to something"
Snape winced as he walked out of the room, but the Dark Mark symbol on his arm was almost gone. Before his story begun, all those who had worked for Voldemort had these to signify their loyalty. True, Voldemort was long gone, but those who retained a cruel spirit still had traces of it left.
"Your friends will be arriving shortly, Harry," Dumbledore smiled. "Good Luck."
Dumbledore smiled as he walked out of the room. It was by this time that he realized that his role in the Wizarding World would never be over, and his life would always be blessed. I may make the laws, but there are always people to enforce them.
Hermione and Ron were brought in with their pets and belongings. Hermione sat down with her books, while Harry and Ron spent the rest of the afternoon practicing their music. By the end of the day, Hermione and Lily were relaxing on Lily's bed as the boys sang and played Peter and Gordon's A World Without Love.
They didn't notice Snape walking past the room, but he started listening very intently to the song. He heard the boys sing,
Please lock me away
And don't allow the day
Here inside, where I hide with my loneliness
I don't care what they say, I won't stay
In a world without love
Birds sing out of tune
And rain clouds hide the moon
I'm OK, here I stay with my loneliness
I don't care what they say, I won't stay
In a world without love
Hearing those words made him want to barge in there and stop the music. He no longer had that alarm in his cloak, but he felt another part of him was in control. He simple shrugged it off and walked past the room to go back to his knitting.
But Lily did notice him.
Soon enough, night fell. Dinner was served, consisting of everything Hogwarts had served at any feast, no matter what the occasion. There were some extra things, as well, in case Ron wanted to devour more than he already had.
"He's a lean, mean eating machine," Harry remarked.
"But look at him," Hermione pressed. "You'd think he was eating his last meal."
Harry tried not to stiffen at that.
Once the dinner dishes were cleaned up, the beds were made up. Hermione's bed was right beside Harry's. She piled up some books on their beds for the two of them to study together. Their study sessions from primary school hadn't changed in the slightest, and they were both proud of that.
Ron immediately fell into a deep sleep, Harry fell asleep with a kiss on the forehead from his mother and with Hermione holding his hand. After a while, she felt holding his hand from another bed was too hard and instead, she just crawled into bed with him. She held him in such a safe grasp, she didn't realize she made one fatal error; she forgot to cast a silencing charm. Ron's abnormally loud snoring was sure to expose them.
Soon enough, the door to the room was blasted down.
"BOMBARDA!"
What did I tell you?
Our heroes awoke and in burst Draco Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy, and a bound Severus Snape, along with a chained up Dobby.
"I'll deal with you later," Lucius spat.
Snape was thrown into the corner and our heroes were cornered themselves. Lucius Malfoy faced Lily with the Cruciatus curse, or the curse that brought excruciating physical pain. After cursing her a few times, Draco Malfoy cornered our golden trio to get more of the glory. He didn't want to let his father have all the fun, and it would have been a good time for, what I call "evil family bondage". Just before Draco could curse them, Lucius grabbed a somber Snape by the arm. His somber expression was obviously directed at Lily.
"Don't forget where your loyalties lie, Severus," he smirked.
"You remember how it was, when all the filthy mudbloods met the same sticky end..." he continued "...at your hands."
"Don't listen to him, Sev," Lily pleaded, to which Malfoy threw another curse.
"Power," he tempted "So much power. All yours for no extra cost, except the lives of those that dared to defy you."
All of a sudden, Snape's face went blank.
"Sev?" Lily called. "Sev!"
Snape was at more of a loss than he'd ever been. It had been more than ten years, but this year he was letting go of his contempt for life, making up with his best friend, and the only one he'd ever had. But now, bad memories were being brought back again; how he was either abused by peers and neglected by parents, how he and his best friend were sorted into different houses, and how he pulled that derogatory word on her. For all he knew, he could end up giving into temptation again. He'd done it several times in the past, but now it was all just a blank.
Malfoy held the smirk on his face, but after a while, he was losing his patience.
"So, what's it going to be?" Malfoy demanded.
"I won't wait forever, Snape," he warned. "And neither will they." He pointed at our Golden Trio who were in the midst of suffering their third Cruciatus curse from Draco Malfoy.
All of a sudden, something snapped. The whole world seemed to freeze, and it felt like his heart had just stopped.
Snape's blank face turned into his trademark death glare. Lucius Malfoy smirked, but Snape merely stood up. He firmly removed his arm from Lucius Malfoy's grasp. He pried Draco Malfoy from his personal torture session and threw him into his father's arms. He took a deep breath and held out his wand.
"Petrificus totalus!" He spat.
Both of the Malfoys were blown to the ground, frozen solid.
Soon enough, Dumbledore arrived with reinforcements, in the forms of McGonagall and Pomfrey, and a rather gristly and unpleasant looking man. This was Argus Filch, the school caretaker. He was always on the lookout for trouble, being a glutton for punishment. Sure, I brought him out of nowhere, but remember, everything in this story comes in the right place at the right time. Snape gathered up our heroes.
"Get then to the hospital wing," he ordered.
Dumbledore smiled.
"What about these two?" Filch questioned.
"I believe punishment is in order, don't you, Argus" Dumbledore replied.
Filch grinned victoriously as he picked up the Malfoys and started for the hospital wing.
"The aurors and the Board of Governors will hear of this at once," Dumbledore promised.
Before they were brought to the hospital, Harry noticed that both the Malfoys dropped their wands. This gave him an idea. He grabbed both wands from the floor and hid them in his pocket.
"Harry, why did you pick those up?" Hermione asked
"Yes, what are you planning on doing with those?" Lily questioned.
"You'll see," Harry replied.
Both Hermione and Lily were in too much pain to argue, and Ron just fell asleep again.
Snape sat on Lily's bed, smiling. For the first time in his life, he felt content.
