The Magical World Exposed
by Healer Pomfrey
All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.
Warnings: COMPLETELY AU! If you don't like this, just stop reading and write your own story more to your liking.
"I'm not sure if the Longbottoms can be cured by a potion," Snape finally voiced his thoughts. "Since they were hurt by a spell, maybe it needs to be a spell to reverse their situation. I suggest that we speak with Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor in their portraits and ask them. Maybe there is a remedy, even if not for the Cruciatus curse, then maybe for insanity, which we could use - at least as the basis for further research," he then suggested.
"Severus, will you please take Harry and Hermione to speak with Salazar and Godric then?" McGonagall asked in a soft voice.
'We can simply ask the founders in the founders' lair,' Harry thought to Hermione, however, neither of them trusted the Potions Master enough to tell him about the founders' lair.
Suddenly, Godric spoke up from his portrait that showed him as the former headmaster of Hogwarts.
"I believe that there is a spell, however, I don't remember it clearly. Therefore, I suggest that Harry and Hermione go to the founders' lair and speak with my portrait there. Maybe he knows. Or give me a moment, I'll ask him." With that Godric vanished from his portrait, only to reappear a minute later together with Salazar who pushed him aside.
"There's a potion that should work," Salazar informed his audience, making everyone stare at the founder in expectation. "I believe that it's in book nine of my Parselscript books in my personal library."
"Thank you very much, sir," Harry replied, politely. "Where is your personal library, sir?"
"Do you know my Chamber of Secrets?" Salazar queried, quirking an eyebrow. Seeing everyone shake their heads, he explained everything about his Chamber, his familiar Amaterasu, a basilisk, who was residing there, and about his private rooms within the Chamber. "Before going to meet Amaterasu, you must cast a spell to change her large, yellow eyes to white. Otherwise, you will die the instant you look into her eyes," he explained.
"Salazar, why don't you step into this small portrait frame, so that Severus, Harry and Hermione can take you with them?" Lily offered and left the small frame, joining Godric in his portrait.
Salazar agreed and took the small group to the edge of the lake, where he taught Severus a spell and instructed him to cast it, so that Amaterasu could not endanger anyone at Hogwarts.
"Excuse me, sir, how often will the spell have to be renewed?" Snape asked with apparent interest, before he told the founder that a girl had been killed by looking into the basilisk's eyes about fifty years ago.
"It has to be recast once a year," Salazar replied, and the younger Potions Master promised to remember reapplying the spell every year.
Salazar showed them to his Chamber of Secrets and introduced them to Amaterasu, who was a very amiable familiar. Harry spoke with the basilisk for a little while, wondering why everyone else, even Hermione, remained quiet for once, before Salazar finally led them to his library and potions lab.
'Harry, did you know that you're able to speak Parseltongue?' Hermione thought to him, when they entered the library.
'Parsel what?' Harry thought back.
'Snake language, Harry,' Hermione replied, smiling.
'No. Is that bad?' Harry enquired, horrified at the thought that he was indeed a freak like his relatives had always told him.
'Of course not, dear,' Hermione quickly reassured her husband.
The library was enormous, and not only the professor but also the students stared around in amazement.
"Do you perhaps have a cure for Lycanthropy as well?" Snape suddenly asked, looking at the founder in clear expectation.
"Exuse me, for what?" Salazar queried.
"For curing werewolves," Snape explained, causing Salazar to nod.
"The wolvescure potion, of course," Salazar confirmed. "It should be in book 13 of my Parselscript books."
Together, they searched for books 9 and 13, and Harry quickly skimmed the books for the requested potions.
"Harry, can you read that?" Hermione asked in surprise.
"Of course," Harry replied, showing the book to Salazar. "Is that the wolvescure potion, sir?"
"Yes it is. Very well, since you're able to read my writing, feel free to use my library as often as you wish," Salazar said, smirking. "I suggest that Harry first translates the two recipes that you need right away. Afterwards, you can look for more recipes that might be lost in your time."
Everyone agreed and headed back to the headmistress' office, after switching on the fireplace in the Chamber upon Amaterasu's pleading.
Harry promised to translate both recipes during the next few hours, and Snape agreed to come over to Potter Manor in the late afternoon to take a look at the recipes and, if possible, brew them together with a few assistants at the Manor right afterwards.
"Don't get your hopes up too much," he warned the students. "We don't know yet if we still have the necessary ingredients in our time."
While Harry stared at the Potions Master in shock, Hermione showed the professor a small parchment, making the older wizard nod contentedly.
"Thank you, Ms. Granger," he said, before he graciously stepped into the fireplace to return to his rooms.
"Thank you for involving Professor Snape in this," McGonagall spoke up, smiling. "He can really use some company for once. I don't like how he spends the whole day all alone in the dungeons."
"We don't have a problem working together with him," Harry reassured the headmistress, and he and Hermione returned home, not without inviting McGonagall to visit them as often as she could get away from Hogwarts.
'I hope we'll manage to cure Remus and the Longbottoms,' Harry thought, as he settled down at the table in the dining room to translate the requested recipes.
HP
"The potion for the Longbottoms we can brew," Snape voiced after closely inspecting the recipe. "However, we don't have roots of aconite, which is on the list of ingredients for the wolvescure potion."
Trying to hide his disappointment, Harry suggested, "Shall we brew the potion for Neville's parents right away, sir?"
The Potions Master agreed and with Harry's and Hermione's assistance brewed the potion from Harry's translation of Salazar's recipe, glad that all ingredients could be found in the large lab at Potter Manor, which was equipped with a self-refilling ingredients shelf. Two hours later, the three brewers cleaned up their workspace and left the lab with two small phials of the concoction safely tucked in Snape's robe pockets.
"We should call Madam Pomfrey and ask her to accompany us to St. Mungo's to administer the potion," Snape suggested, when they were back on the first floor.
"No dears, we're going to have dinner first," Molly contradicted him in a firm voice and ushered the three brewers into the dining room.
In the meantime, Lily went to Hogwarts and informed the healer, who was very pleased to hear about the matter and quickly made her way to Potter Manor to support her colleague and students.
Snape quickly filled in his colleague about the two potions recipes that they had received from Salazar as well as their disappointment with the missing ingredient for the wolvescure potion.
"Roots of aconite?" Cillian spoke up. "Is it possible that it's a Muggle ingredient? I think I've heard of aconite before."
"Maybe that it's still existent in the Muggle world, while it's lost in the magical world," Snape said, pensively, causing Cillian to rise from his chair in determination. "I'll head to the university and try to find out something," he promised, as he crossed the room and left right away, while David and Ginny hurried after him to possibly assist in the matter.
HP
After dinner, Harry and Hermione followed Pomfrey and Snape into the fireplace to head to St. Mungo's. Fortunately, Pomfrey was good friends with the head healer, and Professor Snape was allowed to administer his potion to Alice and Frank Longbottom under the sharp eyes of Pomfrey and the healers of the long-time ward.
'I hope it goes well,' Harry thought to Hermione, while they were waiting outside the Longbottoms' room.
'If so, we need to call Neville quickly,' Hermione replied, just when Snape came out of the room, suddenly looking very tired.
"What happened sir?"
"Did it work?" the students queried, hurriedly, eyeing the Potions Master in concern.
"Can one of you call Mr. Longbottom here quickly?" Snape asked, causing Harry to nod and head away as quickly as he dared without getting breathing problems.
Ten minutes later, he returned with Augusta and Neville Longbottom on his heels.
"Severus," Mrs. Longbottom addressed the Potions Master. "Why are we here? Did something happen?"
"They're cured, but they don't believe me that ten years passed," Snape replied, tiredly. "Please go in and speak with them."
HP
"Shall we return to Potter Manor, sir?" Hermione offered, apparently understanding the Potions Master's feelings.
"Yes sir, let's go and see if my father could find out something about the other ingredient," Harry agreed, recalling what McGonagall told them about the Potions Master. 'He shouldn't return to Hogwarts in the mood he's in,' he thought to Hermione, who unobtrusively smiled at him.
"One of you should remain here and offer the Longbottoms to join you at Potter Manor if your family doesn't mind," Snape replied, sighing. "They're so out of real life that they probably won't be able to just continue leading a normal life. Neville is only eleven, and his grandmother quite old. I believe that they need help. It won't do good taking them to Hogwarts, as everyone except for myself is about the same age as Augusta Longbottom," he added, thoughtfully.
"Yes, that's true, and I believe that it's a good idea to take them with us," Hermione said, warmly. "Our family won't mind at all."
"Harry, why don't you go in and tell them about Professor Snape's idea," Pomfrey, who had joined them a few minutes ago, suggested, and Harry agreed.
He hesitantly entered the room and greeted Neville's parents, only to learn that Neville's mother was his godmother, before he could offer the family to come to live at Potter Manor for the time being.
"First of all, I need to apologize to Severus and thank him for curing us," Alice Longbottom replied. "Afterwards, we'd love to join you at Potter Manor, provided that it's all right with Augusta and Neville."
"Of course, it would be so cool," Neville told her, smiling broadly at Harry.
HP
Twenty minutes later, the whole group including the four Longbottoms and Snape stumbled out of the fireplace at Potter Manor, and Harry led everyone into the dining room, before he asked Gina to call his enlarged family and serve some snacks for everyone.
If the Longbottoms were surprised that apart from the Weasley clan most of Harry's enlarged family consisted of Muggles, they did not show it. On the contrary, they seemed to be very happy for Harry and were delighted that Professor Snape together with Lord and Lady Potter had been able to rescue them from a very unfortunate fate.
"Let's just hope we can cure the werewolves, too," Snape mumbled, causing Dan Granger to enquire what the problem was.
"Roots of aconite shouldn't be a problem," he finally said, glancing at his wife, who confirmed that it sounded like a normal herb in the Muggle world.
"Tomorrow morning, we'll see to it if Cillian doesn't manage to lay his hands on it," she promised, smiling.
"Thank you all so very much for trying," Remus suddenly spoke up, teary-eyed.
"Of course we try, and if we can't get the ingredient, we'll do some research in order to replace it with something else," Harry promised, glancing at the Potions Master, who nodded his agreement.
"Don't get your hopes up, Lupin, but we'll try the best we can," he told his former classmate, whose tears were now running down freely.
tbc...