Chapter 25:

POV Time

Snape

Most people who claim to know me would be surprised to learn that summer is my favorite time of year. It is not because of simple weather patterns or anything as mundane as temperature, that is what heating charms are for. No, my love for summer stems from one thing and one thing only. Summer is the only time of year that I have ample time to devote to my potions. With no interruptions.

My current project, an improved version of the Polyjuice potion, was proving to be an elusive prize. Polyjuice itself was not a difficult potion, merely tedious, but I was determined to produce something better. Something that would outshine the original in every way. Merely looking like someone was not nearly enough, I would not be satisfied until—

Ring.

I grimaced, the alarm for Albus' office was going off. Which meant that someone was back early. Bother.

Ring.

Whoever they were they had horrid timing. I was in middle of a delicate part of the brewing process. I turned off the flames and activated the cauldron's standby mode. A temporary fix, it would hold the potion in suspended animation for a few hours, allowing me to deal with the visitors, before returning to my experiments.

Ring.

With deliberate and unhurried movements I broke and reformed the circles surrounding my current project. Ensuring that the potion was cut off from outside influences was a very important part of inventing new potions. If you didn't know exactly what, and how something, went in than you could not replicate it.

Once outside the last circle the wards were able to inform me who was in the office. Lily's child, Alexandrea Potter, and she wasn't alone. I frowned, no one hostile should have been able to follow her here. During the last war some of my compatriots had tried. They were never seen again. There was a reason Hogwarts had never been breached in the war, and it was not simply because the Dark Lord's followers feared Albus' wrath.

If she had made use of her emergency portkey she was likely in need of medical attention. I quickly left my lab and made my way down the hall to my office and grabbed my extensive medical kit.

I grabbed a pinch of Floo powder, "Headmasters office." A dizzying trip that only took a second but felt much longer. I stepped out of the fireplace and into Albus' office. I only had a moment to take in the situation, Petunia and her son unconscious on the floor, before Potter spun on her heel and pointed her wand at me.

"Potter," I calmly said. Her shirt was ripped, exposing far more than I was comfortable seeing. Her breath was coming in gasps—coming down from an adrenaline rush no doubt—but her wand was steady and her eyes were hard as they took me in. A spell was halfway out of her mouth before recognition lit in her eyes and she hastily lowered her wand.

"Sorry Professor," she said.

"No matter, are you harmed?" I asked. I could see a bloody line on her throat and a bruise-shaped hand print on her arm. Someone had laid hands on Lily's child. I felt my hands clinch before I took a breath. Focus, Severus, focus. Ensure the child is healthy, then get revenge.

"No," she shook her head, "I'm fine, but they won't wake up." She cast a worried look at her family.

"Why don't I take a look at them?" She nodded. "While I'm doing that, why don't you walk me through what happened?" I knelt next to Petunia and cast a diagnostic charm. The chemical in her system was not one I recognized, but a simple Purging Draught should work.

"We went to the movies, but someone gassed us." Potter took a deep breath before continuing. "I, the next thing I know I'm waking up and a ghoul was searching me for weapons. He took my wand and threatened my family." I tilted Petunia's head back, and poured the potion in her mouth. A quick spell and she swallowed it without any problems. I moved on to the boy. "He grabbed me and then he was gone. I don't know how but… But he was gone, then I got us out."

"Accidental magic most likely," I said, before finishing up with the boy. I turned back towards her. "I know it's hard but did you see anyone else? Anyone who wasn't a ghoul?" Ghouls wouldn't have bothered with kidnapping her unless they were working for someone.

"It looked like…" she hesitated before continuing, "Bellatrix Lestrange." My blood ran cold. How? How could she be alive? I examined the body myself, it was her and she was dead!

"How do you know what she looks like?" I asked. She had to be mistaken. She had to be.

"I was looking through some old newspapers and I saw her picture. She has red hair now but I'm pretty sure it was her." Potter was giving me an odd look. "Sir, are you alright?"

"Yes." I composed myself and tried to ignore the throbbing of wounds long gone. "How did she sound? Her voice I mean." Merlin, if it's her…

"Insane. She crucioed one of her ghouls when I was getting away and then made his head explode." It's her. My stomach dropped and my back spasmed in remembered pain. Exploding people's heads was one of her favorite pastimes.

Before my emotions could get the best of me I bundled them up and locked them in a box. The effect was immediately noticeable, my breathing slowed and my pulse returned to a normal pace. Focus now, panic later.

I handed Potter a jar of Bruise Balm. "Put this on your arm and your bruises will be gone within the hour." I sighed, "If you'll excuse me I need to contact the headmaster." The IWC should have recessed for the night by now, and Albus needed to know. He needed to know now.

888

Alex

I watched Snape exit the room with a hurried step. I frowned, going by his reaction Bellatrix must have played a bigger role in the war than what I remembered. He was acting like Voldemort himself had returned. I made a mental note to do more research on the war before chiding myself for not doing so earlier.

I opened the jar of Bruise Balm and started spreading it up and down my arm. The effect was immediately noticeable, the dull ache in my arm was replaced with a cool numbness and the ugly purple color started fading. I arched my brow. Potent.

"My head," Aunt Petunia groaned before slowly sitting up. She looked around blearily. "Alex? What…" She raised her hand to the lump on her head only to wince when she touched it. "What's going on?" I hesitated for a moment before just telling her everything, leaving out only my cloak. (And the fake suicide attempt.) The last thing I needed was for her to forbid me from using it. It was too big of an advantage to just stop using because it was a little creepy.

Okay, very creepy, but still.

"…and then I used my portkey to get us here," I said, my gaze firmly affixed on Aunt Petunia's face. This was the second time she and Dudley were put in danger because someone wanted to get at me. If there was a part of her that blamed me I could not fault her. Lord knows I felt responsible.

So when she jumped to her feet and pulled me into a bone crushing hug, I was a little caught off guard.

"Wha…?"

"I am so sorry," Aunt Petunia said, her voice rough with emotion.

"Sorry?"

She pulled back and looked at me. "Sorry that you had to go through that. Sorry that I didn't stop it." She smiled sadly. "Sorry I didn't listen to you when you got worried."

"It's not your fault," it's mine. "They were after me," I said.

"It's my job to protect you, Alex," Aunt Petunia said. "Not the other way around."

"But they're after me," I said. "If it weren't for me you'd be safe!"

"Oh, Alex." She pulled me back into a hug. "It is not your fault. It's theirs."

"But…"

"They made their choices and we've made ours, family sticks together. Especially when things get hard." She looked me straight in the eye. "Understand?"

"Yes Aunty," I said.

"Good." She pulled the Kevlar vest off and handed it to me. "Put this on, your shirt's ripped." I glance down and blushed, no wonder Snape wouldn't look at me. I slipped it on just in time for Snape to come back in.

"Severus?" Aunt Petunia asked.

"Petunia, how are you feeling?" Snape asked.

"Fine, but Dudley still hasn't woken up." She gave Dudley a worried look.

Snape went over and cast a diagnostic spell before nodding at the results. "He will be fine. When I administered the potion I erred on the side of caution and gave him a lower dose. The gas is still working its way out of his system." That made sense. Everyone had some ability to work magic, but most people had very little magic. And since potions used some of your magic to work, the less magic you have the less potions work for you.

"But he will be fine?" Aunt Petunia demanded.

"Yes, an hour or two at most and he will wake up no worse for wear," Snape said.

"Good." Aunt Petunia nodded. "Now I think we should be getting home. Vernon will be worried by now."

Snape nodded and walked over to one of the shelves behind Dumbledore's desk. He picked up a short length of rope. "This will take us to your house." We all grouped together over Dudley. "Privet Drive," and we were off.

888

?

"…have fun screaming." On screen Alexandrea Lily Potter, upon whom much hope is rested, tried to cut her throat with a pair of scissors. Only to be stopped by a ghoul. The ensuing struggle ended with the ghoul being eaten by the cloak. The rest of her escape played out, though most of it had to be inferred given that she spent it invisible.

I paused the video just before the grenades exploded. "Thoughts?" I asked, taking a drag of my cigarette. Benson & Hedges, perfect.

"She too ready to risk her life," said Gerard. Brash, overconfident, and worst of all ambitious. "She will be no use to us if she's dead."

"I'll remind you we had planned for her to fight her way out," George said. Smart, level headed, and best of all, loyal. "How, exactly, was she supposed to do that without risking her life?"

"I meant that she's far too willing to risk her life for those muggles," Gerard spat the last word as if it tasted dirty. Arrogant fool. "We should simply kill them and be done with it."

"Kill her family? She needs to be functional for our plans to work. Kill them and she breaks. Simple as that," George said. "But then you never understood family, did you brother?"

"If she breaks, then she is no use to us anyway," Gerard sneered.

"Testing her is one thing, deliberately breaking her is a waste of resources," George said, before turning to look at the last person in the room. "What do we know of her home life? What does she do at Hogwarts?"

"According to our sources she spends most of her time with two other students. A muggleborn—one Hermione Granger—and the Scion of House Parkinson," Robert said. Dull and unassuming, he always did as he was told. Though I often got the feeling there was more to him than he ever revealed.

"A mudblood and a child of one of the Desecrator's servants. I'm unsure which is worse," Gerard said.

"And her family?" George asked, ignoring his brother.

"The boy is nothing of note, and neither is her Aunt, but the Uncle was in the military until an incident that ended with only him and another returning from deployment. They were the only survivors of a ten man group. Further investigation reveals that a group of Wardens were dispatched to deal with a Scourge of Black Court vampires that were operating in the same area." Robert paused to glance at his notes. "No concrete evidence exists to support my theory but I believe that the two teams met up and laid waste to the Scourge."

"Fascinating," Gerard said, rolling his eyes. "It still doesn't mean that she's the one we are looking for."

"She has the cloak's loyalty, the Desecrater tried to kill her as a child. If she isn't what we're looking for, then I don't know what is," George said. "I say we continue as is."

"Seconded," Robert said.

"It's not as if we are spoiled for choice, Gerard," I said, eyeing him. I carefully didn't smile at his flinch. He was a fool, but he knew what I was capable of.

"I suppose she's a better choice than letting one of the others get their hands on it," he said. "Phase three?"

I nodded, "Phase three."

"And Miss Hagglethorn?" Robert asked.

"She's useless now, get evidence to the Wolves that she is behind the ghouls killing their people. Let them deal with her." I took another drag on my cigarette. "If that's all?" It was. They left in short order.

I rewound the tape.

"…have fun screaming."

Rewind.

"…have fun screaming."

Rewind.

"…have fun screaming."

I smiled. Yes, I think you'll do perfectly, Alex.