Chapter 13

Truth Be Told

"I'm so sorry it happened this way, dearie." Madame Pomfrey said, sympathetically as she pulled the pieces of glass from Eliza's hands and face.

The potions' mistress shrugged. "It was bound to happen one way or another. It's a bloody wonder, he hadn't found out himself. If I kept it up much longer, the end result would have probably been much worse."

The Healer patted her head gently. "Everything is going to be alright, darling. There, that should be the last of the shards."

Eliza smiled a small smile in thanks. "I just wish I hadn't been so hard on him."

"Eliza, dear, he deserved it. No one talks to him that way and it probably surprised him. You probably put him back where he belongs." She said with a warm smile. "When he remembers, he'll know why you were so hard on him. If I recall correctly, when you were in second year, he was being a bit too proud of his accomplishment in Potions, so you blew it up and got best in the class. Then, in your fifth year, Lily Evans was getting a little too close for your liking and you got jealous, so you cut holes in their uniforms."

"I remember that. It was rather childish of me. I knew what I wanted back then. I wanted to finish school, become Potions' Mistress, marry Severus. Instead, I dropped out of school and travelled the world." Eliza bit her lip uncertainly.

"What is it, Miss Barron?" The nurse asked, concerned.

Eliza's sage green eyes filled with tears that refused to spill. "I'm not so sure, that he should remember anymore. Maybe Dumbledore was right, maybe I should have left things the way they were."

"Don't say things like that, listen to yourself! The old man is crazy if that's what he thinks. He just wants this war over and done with, so that everyone can be safe. He doesn't want you to hurt anymore, no one does." She said, comforting the younger woman. "Even some of the students are starting to wonder what's going on with you."

Eliza laughed humourlessly and turned to face the door. "I should go. Thanks again, Poppy. I owe you a new batch of Dittany."

Walking towards the door, Eliza took small steps, not trusting her footing and balance. As she stepped through the door, she nearly collided with Severus.

"Sorry," she mumbled, trying to go around him. "Didn't see you."

"You," he started. "Aren't going anywhere, until you explain to me what the devil happened."

"I have nothing to say to you, Severus Snape. What needed to be said, has been said." She answered elusively, trying to walk around him again. Unfortunately, he was blocking her way out the door.

Grabbing her around the waist, he lifted her and walked over to the chair she had just been sitting on.

"Let me go, you savage man!" She yelled, trying to get away.

"No." Severus answered, placing her on the chair and holding her captive. "We need to talk."

"I told you, I have nothing more to say!" Eliza insisted, attempting to push him away.

"Seems to me like you've got plenty." He spoke quietly, sincerely concerned by her behaviour. "This isn't you, Eliza. What is it? Why can't you tell me?"

Her mouth dropped open. "You insult me, then expect me to reveal my deepest secrets to you? Have you gone completely mad? Madame Pomfrey, get me out of here!"

"Eliza Barron, you will shut it right this moment and you will listen to what I have to say. You will sit still and you won't interrupt me." Snape ordered.

"The hell I will." The curly haired witch spat.

Frustrated, the dark wizard took a deep breath and focused his attention on her.

"I'm sorry, Eliza. I am truly sorry for the things I said. I was out of line. Now, about what you said, what did you mean? I'd remember of something like that happened."

Her eyes filled with tears and they rolled down her cheeks as she shook her head. "That's why I placed the spell."

"You placed the spell?" He asked incredulously.

"I made a deal with Dumbledore. He would place the spell, if I left long enough for him to erase me from all the records in the school. He tricked me. The spell wasn't supposed to last this long, so I came back, to tell you that you fathered my only child." Endless tears streamed down her face.

"When did this happen?" Severus asked.

"I used to sing a lullaby to my baby before bed. It's not really a lullaby, it's from a Muggle musical, but I related to the song so deeply, that I had to share it with someone." She took a deep breath and to Severus' surprise, she began to sing.

"Once there was a night, beneath a moonless sky. Too dark to see a thing, too dark to even try. I stole to your side to tell you I must go. I couldn't see your face but sensed you even so. And I touched you, and I felt you, and I heard those ravishing refrains. The music of your pulse. The singing in your veins. And I held you, and I touched you, and embraced you, and I felt you. And with every breath and every sigh. I felt no longer scared, I felt no longer shy. At last our feelings bared, Beneath a moonless sky. And blind in the dark, as soul gazed into soul. I looked into your heart and saw you pure and whole. Cloaked under the night, with nothing to suppress. A woman and a man, no more and yet no I kissed you, and caressed you, and the world around us fell said things in the dark, we never dared to say. And I caught you, and I kissed you, and I took you, and I kissed you. With a need too urgent to deny, and nothing mattered then except for you and I, again and then again, beneath a moonless sky. And when it was done, before the sun could rise. Ashamed of what I was, afraid to see your eyes. I stood while you slept and whispered a goodbye
And slipped into the dark beneath a moonless sky. And I loved you, Yes, I loved you. I'd have followed anywhere you led. I woke to swear my love and had to go, instead. And I loved you, how I loved you, and I left you. I had to, both of us knew why. And yet I won't regret, from now until I die. The night I can't forget, beneath a moonless sky."

It was quiet a heartbeat too long.

Finally, Severus spoke. "Why didn't you say anything sooner?"

"Because you had to remember, and I slipped up." She answered truthfully.

"Where is the child now?" The man inquired gingerly.

Eliza swallowed thickly. "Here."

Shutting his eyes for a brief moment, he exhaled a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "That's what I thought."

"I'm not telling you who, though it probably isn't very hard to guess, now that you know. I can only tell you, once you've remembered." Eliza whispered.

"I understand." Severus replied.

Leaning forward, she brushed her lips hesitantly across his and stood from her chair, before leaving the infirmary.