Er. Story still isn't done, but it's getting there! Next chapter? Next week.
When Severus woke up everything was different, and he learned all about reading an old paper at the Potters' kitchen table.
James was leaning back against the doorway, frowning at him.
Severus ignored him and stared at the headline, feeling faint. M.I.A. HERO JAMES POTTER RESCUES AUROR, SAVES BABY, KILLS DANGEROUS DEATH EATER, RIGHT BEFORE YOU-KNOW-WHO'S EYES. He would have laughed at all of it if he wasn't still so horrified.
He had forgotten about the potion. He had created his own trap and then he had walked right into it. He had wasted too much time and he had been caught by the Dark Lord. He had seen the Dark Lord's face…
The article was almost breathless in its description of what he (as Potter) had looked like, apparating there in the middle of the street having just escaped certain death. It detailed how thin and skeletal Alice Longbottom had appeared. It painted the baby Neville as the world's most cherubic, innocent creature to have ever existed. The boy was just a baby, of course, but the article was salivating over him in a most embarrassing way. It claimed that Alice had been clutching at Potter the way a muggle princess might clutch on to a knight.
As gaudy as it all was, he was despairing not so much at the lack of journalistic integrity flaunted by the article, but instead at the simple fact that all of it had happened the way that it did. A part of him wished he had left the Longbottoms to their fate. It would have been the intelligent thing to do.
He decided that it would be less awful to turn his attention to the actual James Potter. "You can't honestly be mad at me. You're getting all of the credit for some heroic thing that you didn't even have to do –"
"I'm not mad that you saved Alice and her son," James snapped. "I'm just waiting for you to say it."
"What am I supposed to say? I'd be happy to oblige," Severus muttered, pushing the paper away distastefully.
"That you think I still can't go out."
Severus thought about it for a moment. "I don't know why you'd think that what just happened changes anything, especially for the better."
James gave him a flourished bow. "And there you go."
"I saw his face, while I was pretending to be you," Severus said, and to his surprise his voice sounded almost airy, flippant, as though the memory of it didn't still terrify him. "Trust me. Stay inside."
"I am not afraid of that – of that thing you call a 'Dark Lord,'" James scoffed. "I don't care if he tortures me –"
"That's all well and good for you to say now –"
"And I don't mean that in some lousy disrespectful way about you and what you've been through but honestly, Snape –"
"When you've never actually been tortured by him or any of his Death Eaters –"
"He could hurt me, he could kill me, he could even play his pathetic mind games on me, I would not care, I would laugh in his face –"
"While I, on the other hand, have endured what everyone goes in fear of time and time again, and all because I have been putting everything at stake in order to keep you alive –"
"Because as long as he doesn't have Lily or Harry, there's nothing that he can do –"
"You still don't understand that the world isn't some enormous playground created only for you to strut around in, playing the hero all of the time –"
"And even if he could get to me with his curses it would be nothing compared to what he's done already, making me sit here, day after day while my friends are out there –"
"You don't even begin to understand what it is that you want – to be a real hero you have to actually face the things you fear the most and clearly that isn't death or pain or the Dark Lord –"
"They're doing what I should be doing, they're being useful and helping to fight this war – for God's sake Snape, you – what you are doing, that's what I should be doing, I should be out there helping you –"
"It's not just about bursting in at exactly the right moment and saving people from Death Eaters – if you'd just for one second STOP THINKING ABOUT YOURSELF ALL THE TIME –"
"THIS ISN'T ABOUT ME, SNAPE –"
"OF COURSE IT IS, POTTER! IT ALWAYS IS, IT ALWAYS HAS BEEN –"
"IT'S ABOUT BEING USEFUL!"
"AND YOU STILL DON'T SEE HOW SELFISH YOU'RE BEING! THE WORLD IS GETTING ALONG FINE WITHOUT YOU, POTTER!"
In the silence that followed they heard Lily, who was upstairs, say, "When you're a big boy you'll express yourself in a civilized, well-mannered way, won't you, sweetheart? Promise mummy."
Harry replied, "MAGIC MOOSE MUMMY MOOSE MUMMY MOOOOOOSE!"
"That's what you're afraid of, isn't it?" Severus snapped. "It's not about helping people, it's about watching other people do what needs to be done while you have to wait inside to fight another day."
"Maybe you're right, Snape. Maybe I can't handle it. Maybe I have to go out, even if it is selfish."
"You don't have to do anything. You can choose to think things through. If you are actually interested in being the hero instead of just playing at one, face your fears. Stay inside."
James crossed his arms. "I can't."
Crouch on Potter-Longbottom Rescue
Just a few days ago in Hogsmeade, shoppers stood shocked as a battle-worn and exhausted-looking James Potter, who, close friends have since divulged, has not been seen for more than six months, apparated in the middle of town with Alice Longbottom, also long missing, and her baby, Neville. Even more shocking is the story behind the unexpected appearance, which was the subject of a Prophet-exclusive interview Minister for Magic Bartemius Crouch gave last night.
According to the Minister, James Potter has been a part of the Ministry initiative to rescue the Longbottoms from brutal captivity in their own home at the hands of the Lestrange family, notorious supporters of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Crouch told your Daily Prophet reporter, "For months the Department of Magical Law Enforcement has been suspicious about the disappearances of several well-respected families, and the Longbottom disappearance in particular has been worrisome. It was clear to many of us in the department, even if it wasn't as clear to some others, that the Longbottoms would not simply disappear from wizard society, as they are capable Aurors and well-known Ministry employees." By happy chance, the Department was investigating the Longbottoms' disappearance as well as surveilling Rabastan Lestrange due to the disappearances of his brother Rodolphus and sister-in-law Bellatrix. The disappearances, as we now know all too well, were linked.
As to how James Potter, who has never been a Ministry employee, came to be a part of the investigation and to eventually single-handedly carry out the rescue mission, Crouch said, "Upon the discovery of James Potter's whereabouts, the Department was able to offer sufficient security for his family, and this allowed him to resume his fight against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named as a Ministry agent, rather than participating in activities that were unregulated, dangerous, and certainly not Ministry-approved. I will admit, with enthusiasm now that Alice and little Neville are in safe hands, that with Mr. Potter's help, finding the Longbottoms became significantly easier."
What happened next may be hard for some readers to believe. James Potter discovered that the Longbottoms were not "safe and properly hidden" as his mentor Albus Dumbledore had suggested that they were by following a tip provided by his own network of friends. Before Potter joined the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, he had been a member of Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix, an underground group headed by the Headmaster aimed at making trouble for Death Eaters. When trouble followed Potter home, Dumbledore told him to hide, just as he told Frank and Alice Longbottom, who also dabbled in the vigilante group. "This case in particular highlights why people should leave the law enforcement work to the Aurors," Crouch said.
James Potter single-handedly attacked the Lestranges, but help arrived too late for Augusta Longbottom and her son Frank. Potter was only able to whisk Alice and Neville away just in time to avoid a confrontation with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named himself, who, according to Crouch, was intent on using the child in an ancient curse which would have afforded He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named much greater power than he even now possesses. "It has something to do with using the murder of an innocent pureblood baby and the use of an ancient magical object to contain the power in the child's blood," Crouch said.
When asked why Potter was alone on the rescue mission, perpetually unruffled Crouch did become a tad ruffled. "Mr. Potter did not wait for the go-ahead from his superior. In this case, it saved two lives. But perhaps if he had waited, Augusta and Frank may too have been saved. We will never know."
Crouch went on to divulge new information gleaned in an important partnership with an unnamed source close to You-Know-Who. "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named," Crouch said, "was once in fact known by a name forgotten even by friends that he had in his Hogwarts days: Tom Riddle. Riddle was the son of a pureblood witch and a muggle. Though he has maintained his claim to perfect pureblood status trickling down his ancestry all the way to Salazar Slytherin, the magical blood comes only from his mother's side. My source suspects that the jealousy Riddle felt about his pureblood acquaintances' stronger bloodlines may have influenced his actions from a very early age. His attacks of notable purebloods, most recently, of course, upon the respected Longbottom family, as well as his obsession with pureblood James Potter's half-blood son Harry strongly support my source's theory."
Crouch said that the Ministry is looking carefully into other pureblood supporters of You-Know-Who. Evidence has arisen about the Lestrange family's ties to an entirely muggle branch, and Bellatrix Lestrange herself had a half-blood niece. Crouch said that the recent arrest of Arthur Weasley, notable pureblood muggle-enthusiast, was part of an effort to investigate a trend in pureblood supporters of You-Know-Who who may be interested in taking power away from purebloods and distributing it to lesser wizards and even to muggles.
Dumbledore sat with his head in his hands. Regulus Black stood in a shadowy corner and stared out at the grounds through the window.
"This," Dumbledore said, finally looking up and at the blank space of wall directly across from him, "was not at all what I had planned."
"I'm not his source," Regulus said quietly.
"Obviously not," Dumbledore replied with uncharacteristic harshness, "but indirectly you most certainly are. As, of course, am I."
"You didn't think they'd be able to twist it like this."
"No," Dumbledore said. "I did not."
The Headmaster sighed and turned to watch Fawkes pick at an unruly feather between his wings. He arranged it and rearranged it, and finally he just plucked it out and let it drift to the floor. The great bird turned his bright eyes up from the discarded feather and looked straight at Dumbledore. Fawkes gave a low, shimmering cry.
"What happens next?" Regulus asked.
"Voldemort falls. The Ministry rises. And we endure."
Fawkes sounded his cry again.
Charity was beside herself, and Holly was sick of it, sick of her, sick of that bloody Prophet article, sick of Crouch, sick of James Potter, sick of everything. People stared at them as they walked to and from the Library, classes they had together, the Great Hall, the Quidditch pitch, and they weren't staring at Holly anymore. Any notoriety she had earned as the only surviving family member after a Death Eater attack had diminished after the Hogwarts Express, and it had disappeared entirely the moment Charity gave an enraged speech the morning Crouch's Prophet interview about James Potter and the Longbottom lady in the Great Hall. She had even stood up. She had waved a fork around with hash browns still skewered on it. She had been mocked to death but Charity had ignored all of it. The more people mocked her the louder she got. The louder she got, the more people mocked her. It was a vicious and headache-inducing cycle.
Charity had always been pretty loud and she had never cared who was listening to her. Listening to her raging against the Prophet and the Ministry was nothing new – not if you were ever within hexing distance of Charity Burbage, anyway. People had never been able to help hearing bits and pieces of her complaints and opinions, but this time things were different. She quoted the article constantly, interrupting herself with annotations that became more advanced and yet more ferocious with each repeated performance. She did this even in front of teachers, often during class when she was supposed to be taking notes or practicing spells.
In potions, someone passed around a doodle of Charity expanding and turning brighter and brighter red until she finally exploded. When it found its way into Charity's hands, she set it on fire, stood up like she had when the article first came out, and accused the entire class of being thoughtless, mindless, selfish sleepwalkers. Snape had frowned at her and announced that she'd be doing detention that night. He had never sounded more bored. Charity served her detention with Flitwick. Word was she had annoyed him so much he cast a freezing charm on her until detention was over, but Charity just laughed whenever anyone referenced that rumour. She told Holly in a fit of self-congratulatory indulgence that she and Flitwick had spent the time cussing out the Prophet and Crouch together over a huge sack of Bertie Bott's.
It had been a week already and Charity was showing no signs of calming down about it. "… and Arthur Weasley. ARTHUR WEASLEY. This is some kind of fiction, Holly, because real life is not this demented. I refuse to be governed by these people, I really do. I'll tear the whole building down if I have to, brick by sodding brick." Holly sighed, muttered some sort of feeble agreement about how the Ministry needed to be burned, and excused herself to take a bath where Charity, out of common decency, couldn't follow her. Even though she pumped a vulgar amount of soap, suds, and bubbles into the tub, she couldn't get Charity's voice to stop ringing in her ears. Bloody Charity. Bloody Daily Prophet. Bloody Arthur Weasley. All she wanted was some peace.
Severus grudgingly brought them that particular paper when he brought them some more supplies - a week and a half after it had been published.
They read it once he had left.
Lily and James stared at each other.
"Oh God," Lily finally said.
James set fire to it with a savage flick of his wand.
When Severus first read the article (he had waited a couple of days out of fear that it wouldn't be convincing enough – and out of a small hope that if he didn't read the article he would wake up in a world where he lived a solitary, simple life and James Potter didn't exist) he had been more interested in a smaller story. He found it on one of the few pages that didn't in some way reference his enormously stupid actions. Madame Malkin was a tad annoyed at the graffiti that had been appearing down the front edge of her shop in Diagon Alley for the past week now. It's not that she was against the overall message, of course, especially not since what she'd heard happened on the previous day. But it did make it look like she alone was making a bold statement, and she wished some of the other shops might start getting similarly decorated so that she could keep the messages up without fearing for her life.
The message had started small, but last night it appeared in enormous, glimmering brick letters:
"POTTER LIVES"
The two months that followed looked something like this:
The Real James Potter Sighted?
… but in the midst of mystery shrouding the whereabouts of the hero, Ms. Doris Crockford claims to have spotted the real James Potter, as opposed to the mass replicas of him that have lately been taking to the streets, only yesterday. In just a few of the more recent episodes, James Potters have set off firecrackers that display anti-You-Know-Who messages in stars and sparks, have aided elderly shoppers crossing busy muggle London streets in full wizard robes, have drawn muggle crowds and made muggle papers by pulling parrots and cockatiels out of passersby's ears, have wandered Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade simultaneously prophesying the doom of You-Know-Who, and in the most reported incident last week, several of them blasted through Knockturn Alley, leaving shops vandalized, windows smashed, and Borgins and Burkes in shambles.
Crockford insists that the man she saw was indeed the real James Potter; he was enjoying a Florean Fortescue ice cream on Saturday, and Crockford insists, "The Cherry-Caramel Gryffinbopper has always been his favourite, everyone knows that."
When asked for comment, Sirius Black, generally considered to be Potter's best friend and closest confidant, said only, "Bugger off, the lot of you." He later hexed Prophet photographer Bozolophus Bogpinks in a tavern incident and has since …
The Weasley Trial Begins
Minister for Magic Bartemius Crouch said last night that the trial of Arthur Weasley will likely be a lengthy affair due solely to Weasley's steadfast refusal to admit to any crimes, rather than to a Ministry plot to hold Weasley without trial because of a lack of evidence against him, as protesters have been claiming. Crouch said in a Prophet-exclusive interview yesterday that the reasons for Weasley's prolonged incarceration without even setting a date for a trial were due to the need to approve new methods of interrogation. "Weasley and those like him pose a real threat to the wizarding world," Crouch said. "Unsurprisingly, he has been reluctant to confess to his crimes, and so to protect the community these unfortunate measures have to be taken." The Ministry has just last week approved the use of Veritaserum during a trial before the Wizengamot, with the approval of the use of the Imperius curse still pending.
Weasley's interrogation before the Wizengamot began early yesterday morning. He was asked whether he felt that purebloods were born with superior magical ability. Under the influence of truth serum Weasley confessed that he does not believe purebloods are at all able to produce superior magic than half-bloods or muggle-borns. He also confessed that he believed muggles to be equally capable of mental capacity and emotion to their wizard counterparts, and that they are perfectly acceptable companions and partners for wizards.
I spoke one-on-one with Weasley after the interrogation was over and after, of course, the effects of Veritaserum had worn off.
Rita: Mr. Weasley, can you tell my readers candidly whether you believe that the truth serum impacted your answers in this trial? In short, would you have been so self-damning if you'd had the choice?
Weasley: My answers would of course have been different without the Veritaserum. I would have said that I do not believe that there is any important difference between a pureblood, half-blood, muggle-born, or muggle, and I'd have added that I am fairly certain that there is also no discernible difference between Barty Crouch and fermented baboon excrement.
R: Ah. So, if anything, you'd have been more self-damning.
W: I suppose that's the way someone like you, and perhaps a good number of your readers, might look at it.
R: Aren't you at all worried about how your bursts of uncouthness and decided lack of loyalty to your own kind might affect your children in future? How many of them did you say you have?
W: I have seven young children, and I am not at all worried about them while they are in my wife's care, and while their father still has a head on his shoulders.
While many a Wizengamot member was openly shocked by Weasley's Veritaserum-tamed answers during the interrogation, many, within and without, have shown a surprising amount of support for him. Amelia Bones was clearly heard, as she marched to her seat before the trial began, declaring, "I would have resigned a week ago, but that I have to see this farce for myself before I'll believe it." Many like her have quietly questioned Minister Crouch's choices to imprison and charge Weasley, as well as allowing Veritaserum to be used lawfully as an interrogation aid. The objections are louder outside of the courtroom. The atrium was briefly taken over by a gaggle of protesters. A dirty-blond Hogwarts student shot protest lyrics out of her wand and led the chants, "Free Arthur Weasley, the Minister is sleazy," and "Free Arthur Weasley, the greater threat is Barty," which, to be fair, were rather impressive rhymes from someone who feels that taking a NEWT-level Muggle Studies class is an intelligent decision.
Weasley will be interrogated again on Thursday. This time the questions will center on Weasley's knowledge of suspected Death Eaters and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's blood status.
Letters to the Editor (Rejected File)
Disgusting Waste of Ink and Paper
If you knew enough about me, Ms. Skeeter, to report that I am a NEWT-level muggle studies student, I have to wonder why you referred to me simply as "a dirty-blond Hogwarts student." My name is Charity Burbage, and I denounce you, the sorry excuse for a paper that you write for, and our entire Ministry as worse than scum. They've locked a man in Azkaban for no reason other than his commendable belief in the equality and dignity of all people. Shame on the lot of you.
Tom Riddle Exposed
Just yesterday in a Prophet-exclusive, Lucius Malfoy and Minister Barty Crouch rocked the wizarding world about never-before-heard information about You-Know-Who's past. Today wizards everywhere are asking one big question: how did all of this come to the surface?
The answer is the long-standing and dangerous friendship between Crouch and Lucius Malfoy. Mr. Malfoy has been a longtime financial backer of Crouch and a quiet informant on all of the inner workings of You-Know-Who's operations. Crouch admits, "It was Lucius who opened my eyes to the quiet peril this Tom Riddle was placing pureblood wizards in. We had always been led to understand that You-Know-Who was against muggles and muggle-borns. Radical types like Arthur Weasley and Albus Dumbledore had been open about how hate-filled the Death Eaters and such were towards wizards with lesser blood status and muggles, but it became clear through this partnership that what Tom Riddle was really after was the power that only pure blood could offer him, which left all of us, especially our pureblood children, vulnerable to both his allure as a cult leader and his parasitic tendencies."
Mr. Malfoy and the Minister are even now working on new ways to use this sensitive information about Tom Riddle's past to bring the Death Eaters down. More on page 31
James Potter, Man or Myth?
… while some are absolutely positive that the real James Potter has been dead for months. Most still believe that Potter is actually orchestrating the entire thing, from the vandalism to the public acts of flouting the Statute of Secrecy.
"He was always known to be a bit of a trouble-maker," says Mrs. Marjory Whittle. "Everyone loved him for it. Of course, that was Hogwarts, where anything goes as we know, with Dumbledore as Headmaster and all, and you'd hope that he grew up some. Not that I'm complaining about him saving that little boy and his mother, obviously that was gallant, but showing off magic for muggles on the streets? He should know better."
Mr. Borgin, partner and owner of Borgin and Burkes, a month ago demolished in a shocking display of vandalism from a pack of James Potters, wonders what Potter's young son has to do with it all. "The boy is a half-blood, is he not? Clearly the man is a Riddle-sympathizer, and is hoping to groom his son as Riddle's successor."
Whether or not Potter's half-blood son is …
Weasley Trial Gets Ugly
It seems ages ago that the trial of Arthur Weasley began. The time it has taken to convict the man clearly shows on him; his face is much thinner than it was before, his hairline has receded much further, and he appears pale and paler as each day goes by. Even steadfast Weasley condemners are growing tired of the trial, openly and loudly wondering why it has taken the Wizengamot so long to convict him for Riddle-sympathizing. In an attempt to speed up the process, the Ministry is trying to force through the use of the Imperius curse in trial situations. Crouch has also appointed Ms. Dolores Umbridge as the head of Weasley's interrogation, stating that he believes Ms. Umbridge a capable interrogator with fresh eyes. "She will be able to ask questions that we have not thought of yet, and she will do so with an eye for conviction. It won't be long now."
What is certainly not doing anything to help matters is the war that has broken out on wizard streets and within the Ministry itself. "Free Arthur Weasley" campaign members and supporters have taken to manning protest stations at all hours of the day, and a growing crowd of protesters opposing the campaign have taken to standing opposite them and trying to drown their chants out. Only a week ago the Ministry came to a standstill when Weasley supporters once again surged into the Atrium, and this time it took two days to clear them out. Crouch has maintained that this was due to a Ministry-wide agreement to allow the protesters to have their say, but head of the "Free Arthur Weasley" campaign Charity Burbage insists that they were able to hold the Atrium because of growing support against Crouch in the Auror Department. Kingsley Shacklebolt, a young and inexperienced Auror, is at least one Auror showing a general lack of content with the Weasley trial. "The fact is, Weasley has not committed any crimes. If he had, under Veritaserum, he would have been convicted by now. It is time for the Wizengamot to admit defeat and free the man." Since these remarks, Shacklebolt has been undergoing a thorough inquiry.
Hexing wars between opposing protesters have broken out several times, mostly in Diagon Alley. Both sides claim that their opposing sides began each attack. Each time, Weasley supporters identified as the perpetrators were taken into Ministry custody. All protestors were released just hours after each incarceration, and a growing whisper is that Albus Dumbledore himself stormed in to argue on the protestors' behalf every time. Dolores Umbridge asked the Prophet yesterday, "Would the Hogwarts Headmaster argue on behalf of Anti-Weasley protestors, if the case should arise that any of them be arrested?" Many are echoing her words.
Baby Harry and What Riddle's Fixation on Him Means
… that it has been generally accepted that Riddle's obsession with the boy requires a thorough Ministry investigation at the very least. Some are even going so far as to demand that the Ministry immediately storm the Potters' house and throw the boy and his parents into Azkaban …
James Potter's Puppet Master
… Ministry cronies continue to chase their own tails by trying to convict Arthur Weasley of crimes every thinking person knows he is not guilty of, unless being a decent, tolerant person is now a crime, this gem is one we can all savour. The source divulges that Potter has actually participated in none of the acts attributed to him, and that they are all in fact performed by a community known as the Potter Heads, who are a group of people duped into believing that James Potter is the anti-Voldemort savior they've been waiting for.
The real mastermind behind this scheme? None other than known enemy and secret lover of James Potter, one Severus Snape, currently potions master at Hogwarts. He has masterminded this scheme for two reasons: one, to take revenge on Potter, who spurned him in favour of the woman who would become his wife, and because of a deep-seated and insatiable jealousy over Potter's talent on the Quidditch Pitch; and two, as part of a blackmail scheme involving a Troll gang and none other than interrogator-supreme Dolores Umbridge …
I solemnly swear that the rest of the story will contain zero Daily Prophet articles. Not even a single Quibbler article shall appear, even though those are a lot of fun.