A/N: Hello, everyone! Once again, I don't own Harry Potter and am not making money from this. Thanks as always to Jack Frost lover cadi93 !
It was an early Monday morning for the Gryffindors, understandably so as they were all on a mission. Uncharacteristically, Neville was the first to awaken in the dormitory. He quietly slipped out of his bed and wandered to the Great Hall.
Though he wasn't hungry-in fact he felt a bit queasy about the task ahead-he needed to find Headmaster Karkaroff, and this seemed like the best place to start, and he'd come prepared. It was the first Monday of the winter hols, but Neville still carried his school bag, only now it held the Herbology tome wrapped inside.
Neville waited patiently for Karkaroff to arrive, intending to ambush the man after he'd eaten. While he was waiting, the Hall filled with students and families. Though it was holiday, no one was going home, and a great many people were coming to take refuge in the castle.
Headmaster Dumbledore sat in his regal chair, overlooking the people milling about and trying to find room. Neville noticed that the old Headmaster didn't feel much up to eating either. Quickly however Neville's attention was caught by the people in the crowded Hall, and he noticed that Emil, too, had risen early and was waiting at a table pushed against a far wall but near the front of the Hall.
But then Headmaster Karkaroff entered through the Professor's door behind the Head Table. Neville kept his face turned away so as to not look suspicious, but his attention was fully on the Durmstrang Headmaster, and when the man rose to leave, Neville rose as well.
Headmaster Dumbledore watched as the Longbottom boy walked up to the end of his table before making a quick turn. It appeared he was going to talk to some of the Durmstrang students, as that's where he was headed, but then the boy took another quick turn, and the Headmaster realised he was sneaking his way behind the Head Table.
Dumbledore stood, making to intercept the boy, when a voice from right in front of him called his attention.
One of the Weasley twins was standing in front of him, looking quite distraught. Headmaster Dumbledore reseated himself, folding his hands under his chin and giving the child a nod to speak.
"Well, sir, my mum's actually quite upset. You know we have a rather large family," the boy was fidgeting as though he were nervous, scratching the back of his head, twisting his fingers, shifting his weight, "and she's- my mum, that is- she's worried about them. They haven't answered the letters she's sent them so I was wondering, if it was all right with you, if I might use your Floo to get in touch with some of them to invite them here and make sure they're okay. It would put her mind to rest if I could just tell her I've seen them."
Dumbledore leant forward, reaching out one of his hands to pat the boy's shoulder. "Of course you may. The castle is warded that whatever these things are can't get through, and that includes the Floos. The password to my office is 'paint drops', a delightful candy that you'll find on my desk, and the Floo powder is above the fireplace."
George blinked a few times in rapid succession and nodded his head, before speaking in a choked voice, "Thank you, sir."
"Not a problem, my dear boy. Remember: 'paint drops'."
George nodded his head once more and turned away before a victorious grin could break over his face. A Floo call with the Headmaster's own study in the background would give him credibility. He could tell them all that he was calling on behalf of the Headmaster, who was quite busy and simply didn't have the time, and reporting back to him with what they'd said.
He strolled casually through the corridors to the statue of the eagle, whispered the passwords, and made his way to the Floo, where he situated himself on the floor. "Right. Who first?"
Ginny woke early, the first in her dormitory, and, while that was unusual, it wasn't unheard of. Sitting up in her bed, she rifled through her school bag and charmed a note to go to Draco, to only be readable by Draco, and to alert her when it was read.
She might not be the smartest witch of her generation, but she was by no means stupid.
When she finished, she laid back down in her bed, confident that her spellwork would awaken her when Draco read her note.
It was easy for Emil to spot the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor. She was as lovely as people said she was, and she had a walk that showed she knew it.
He'd been informed that, unlike the other Professors, she always entered and exited through the main doors to the Hall. It made it perfectly easy to catch up to her as she was leaving the Hall after breakfast and corner her.
He smiled politely at her, "Are you Professor Vincintia?"
"I am," she reached out a hand, inviting him to shake it and introduce himself.
"I'm Emil Krum. I was wondering if I might speak to you a moment?"
"Sure, how can I help you?"
"In private."
Her face dropped in shock, but her features morphed into outrage quite quickly. "You're a student! Haven't we all seen enough of the troubles that can cause from Professor Snape and-"
"I assure you that is not what I meant at all, Madam. In fact, it is Severus and Harry that I wished to discuss." Severus' name felt odd crossing his lips, but his mixture of familiarity and proper decorum made her relax.
"Oh, my apologies. Mayhap we can speak in my office?"
"Wonderful." He motioned for her to lead the way and trailed silently behind.
Upon reaching her office, she turned back to him, one sculpted eyebrow rising in question.
"I heard you're the one that found out about their relationship."
Now both eyebrows rose, "Who told you that?"
"Not important. What is important is how."
She hesitated, "How what?"
"How a lot of things. How long did you know? How'd you make the garnet? How'd you learn so much Dark Magic? But also important is why. Why'd you make it? Why'd you go to Dumbledore about it? Why'd you learn all this?" He watched her face as she gaped in shock, mouth opening and closing but unable to find any words with which to speak. "In fact, just tell me everything."
"You- you already know everything."
"No. I don't want the watered down version that you've given to the others. I want to know everything." He dropped the polite act and stepped forward while pulling himself up to his full height, looming over her menacingly. "Who's side are you on?"
Hermione woke before the sun rose. As breakfast wasn't yet being served, she went down to the kitchens. She still felt bad about causing the poor elves extra trouble, but she understood that everyone needed a purpose. This was theirs, and if they enjoyed taking care of people, who was she to try and change it?
She had a quick meal before wandering around the halls, mulling over everything Harry had told her about yesterday. He was right: they needed to step up and help, but it sounded to her like all the jobs were taken. For the first time, she felt like she wasn't needed. Everyone else was gathering information, and, until Ginny procured the tomes, Hermione's research skills were useless.
Hermione sighed to herself and looked around. Realising she'd made her way to the infirmary, she figured she might as well go inside to try and comfort her family as she was no use anywhere else.
Still, she hesitated. Harmony was the heartfelt one. Harmony was the one that was good at comforting. Hermione tried, but she just made things awkward. Perhaps she should just go see if Fred was awake yet.
As she turned away from where she'd been staring at the doors, a shriek filled the air. It was coming from inside the hospital wing, and Hermione shoved the doors open in her rush to get inside.
She stopped in shock when she saw Harry sitting in bed with her Potions Professor. Of course she knew the two of them were close-they were getting married for Merlin's sake!- but seeing it was odd, and it took her a moment to remember the scream and to realise it must have been from Harry.
Her friend was breathing heavily, and now he looked as if he was trying to untangle himself from the sheets and get out of the bed. She stepped forward to help him, while the groggy patients looked around for the source of the commotion, and Madam Pomfrey came bursting out of her office, still wearing her nightgown.
As Hermione got closer, she noticed the look on Professor Snape's face. It was torn between befuddlement and extreme sadness, as if he didn't understand why Harry was leaving, but it made him upset. As she pulled Harry from the bed and helped him to stand, the Professor burst into tears.
His untapered wails filled the room as he didn't try to muffle them or cover his face. He looked like a small child having just woken up from a nightmare, and Hermione felt her heart go out to him. He sat with his hands to his sides, his legs still folded awkwardly from sleeping, and his head tilted back to look up at Harry as he cried.
Even over the weeping, Hermione could hear Madam Pomfrey's low, "Oh dear," and it must have been that that got Harry moving again. He sat back down on the bed and pulled Professor Snape into a hug.
"Shh," he whispered quietly, and Severus listened, his sobs tapering off and becoming quieter. A few moments went by in which the infirmary sat in stunned silence as the fearsome Potions Professor curled into a ball in Harry's lap while the boy rubbed soothing circles between the man's shoulder blades. Eventually Harry looked up at the Mediwitch, his eyes pleading the words his lips could not, 'Please. Please, no. Don't let this be it. Please.'
And Madame Pomfrey gazed back at him, her eyes steadily filling with tears and conveying what she herself could not say. Then she, too, burst into tears.
Neville, Emil, and George met back in the empty classroom at noon. Neville brought food from the kitchens, and they sat around it on the floor. Silence fell as the trio ate, but pretty soon the silence became deafening, and they were all shifting uncomfortably.
"So…" Neville trailed off, but at least it was a start.
"Vincintia's on our side." Emil supplied when it looked like Neville couldn't go on.
"That's good." George mumbled.
Neville ignored George, assuming that he had bad news and that they'd get to it in time. "Great, really. What else did you learn?"
"Well, she's Muggleborn," Emil settled in, leaning back against a desk as if it would take a while. "She went to Beauxbaton, and claims neutrality in the war. She said she heard about the job offer, and came over here to take it. She's been working at a private school for young kids back in France, but with everything in the war, the pure-bloods don't like her teaching there. Eventually, the Headmaster got tired of all the parents complaining and of all the families going elsewhere to schools with a pure-blood staff and fired her.
"She says she didn't know Dumbledore before that, but he was sympathetic to her and gave her the job. Obviously she's qualified if she can make something like the blue garnet, but he couldn't have known that so I don't know really why he hired her."
"So how did she make it?" George interrupted.
"I didn't understand all of it because it has some complex potion brewing, but she took the stone, uncut, fashioned it into a circle, and drilled a hole through it. Then she made the potion. She said it had a lot of personal elements to it: blood, hair, skin. It also had some ingredients I'd never heard of: blood from a living crow's heart, the suckers off a squid tentacle, nargle eyes- what is a nargle, by the way?"
Neville and George shared a look before shaking their heads, "No idea," Neville murmured.
"Anyway, lots of weird stuff," Emil continued. "But it also had a lot of the ingredients you'd find in a love potion, which would make sense because normally you love the person you're most compatible with, but I thought it was odd. In fact, when I looked it up, almost a quarter the ingredients she used are in Amortentia. It's not a love potion that she made, however, because no one drinks it. She soaked the stone in it.
"Even if it were a love potion, it wouldn't work. Some of the things she used are poisonous if consumed. Another great part of the make-up of the potion was a soul binding potion. It's the potion that was used in ancient times on engagement rings. The bloke's family would soak the ring in the potion, and when the bloke went to put it on the girl, it would kill her if she wasn't soul-compatible with him. But if the engagement was canceled and she took the ring off, even if they were compatible, it would kill her."
George and Neville nodded. Both having come from pure-blood families, they both understood the ancient concept of soul-compatibility. Apparently it had fallen out of use when too many pure-blood children began dying. When the magical race became under threat of extinction, families first began faking the potion and acting like the girl was meant to be wed into their family, then dropping the tradition altogether.
"She actually made the entire potion, then just dumped it into the garnet's potion as one of the steps. It's weird too because some of the ingredients should have been volatile together but weren't.
"After that, the only thing left was the spellwork on the potion. She did sight spells, soul-searching spells, anti-erosion spells, everything you could think of, on both the rock and the potion. Then she put the stone in the potion and left it for a month."
"A month!" Neville exclaimed. "She said she was doing it out of curiosity! No one spends that kind of time on a mere whim!"
"That's what I said so I asked why she actually made it, and the real story came out. She was engaged not too long ago. When the wedding was a week away her betrothed broke off the engagement. Shortly after is when she was fired. She had all this time on her hands because it was in the middle of term, and no one was looking to hire a teacher that late in the year so she used the time to prove to her ex-betrothed that he'd made a mistake. She knew he wouldn't believe her if she said she swallowed the stone, and she didn't believe him to tell the truth if he swallowed it so she came up with this. He'd be able to see that they were meant to be together."
"So what happened?"
"By the time she'd finished the stone, he was married to another girl. Turns out he'd been cheating on her the entire time and gotten this other girl pregnant. When he found out, he broke off the engagement and secretly got engaged to this other woman so he could be there for the child.
"Vincintia still went to his house, saw the girl, and tried the stone on them. When she found out they were soulmates, she didn't even bother trying the stone on him and herself. He was happy, and that was all that mattered to her anymore."
"Wow."
"Yeah, no kidding."
"That's another reason she came here. She didn't want to be around that anymore. She wanted a fresh start."
"Who wouldn't?" George laughed, but it was sad laughter, full of pity, "That poor woman."
"Yeah, but that's not the point. The point is: will she help us?" Neville asked.
"She said that if there was something she could do, she would." Emil told him.
"Fantastic."
"Not really," George argued. "We don't know what she can help us with, and the Order was no use."
"None at all?"
"No, the most I could get out of anyone was that wherever they were was secured. Charlie said the preserve was warded, but that he hadn't talked to anyone from the Order in at least two months. Tonks said the ministry was safe, but I'd be better off talking to Moody. Kingsley, Deladus Diggle, Fleur Delacour, and Madame Maxine were all unreachable.
"Tonks was right: the only person I could get any real information from was Moody, and he only told me that Minister Fudge was bitten in the face and died during a lunch outing so Kingsley took over as minister, and Remus was sent to the werewolves months ago, and they lost contact with him shortly before the attacks started."
"Well, cripes!" Emil shouted, throwing his hands up in the air. "What do we do now?"
"Wait, what do you mean 'real information'?" Neville asked.
"I talked to Mundungus, too, but all he told me was that he once saw a medallion that looked like the things. He said he pawned it off, but I knew he was lying so I made him give it to me." George reached into his pocket and produced as reddish metal necklace.
Neville looked closely at it. "This is the picture Karkaroff drew for me!" He too reached into his pocket, only he pulled out a crude, elementary sketch of what looked like a human with dragonfly wings and too many bug-like legs.
"It was the diagram that he said was on the front of the tome V-V-Voldemort had. It was the only time he saw the book, and it was years ago, but he said the thing had waves of Dark Magic coming off of it, and he couldn't forget it if he tried. It was the only thing he dreamt of when he was in Azkaban."
"So there is a book?"
"Yeah, Emil. Karkaroff said V-Voldemort had it before we were born but was having to translate it. Then, when the prophecy was made, he thought Harry was a bigger threat so he abandoned the book to kill Harry, and we all know how that went. Since then, he's been too busy trying to kill Harry and getting his strength back that he hasn't had time to come back to his original idea, I guess."
"What prophecy?" Emil asked.
"Oh," George answered, "either Harry or Voldemort has to die or the other one can't live."
"That's...pleasant."
"Anyway, Karkaroff said the book had instructions to get the Fae Portal open. See, the Fae Creatures are from a different dimension, and hundreds of years ago the ministry closed off the portal, sealing the things in their own world. Then, all the books on them were supposed to be destroyed.
"I have no idea how anyone found out about this, though, because this happened somewhere around 400 years ago. Anyone who was alive then is dead now, and this isn't something a lot of people knew about. They knew the government was getting rid of the Creatures, but it was only the Unspeakables that knew how. The public was only told that there would be new wards on important buildings and that they could buy them for houses if they wished."
"How do you know?"
"That's what Karkaroff was told by one of his grandparents. You know he's 250 next year?"
"Oi, he's getting on in years! Do you think he knows how old Dumbledore is?" George asked.
"I don't think anyone knows how old Dumbledore is." Neville answered. "Karkaroff also said V-Voldemort said he could control the things. Do you think that means if Harry kills V-Voldemort, the Creatures die or go free?"
"I dunno," Emil answered, "but what does Dumbledore say about all this?"
"Karkaroff said Dumbledore didn't believe him. He said Dumbledore had already known about the book, said it was the last one, and it was in a 'safe place'."
"Do you think he has another book?"
"No," George's voice was grave, "I think his safe place wasn't so safe."
Fred had waited in the Community Common Room for quite some time before deciding that Hermione was already up and going about her day without him. Knowing the one place she was likely to go, he headed straight for the infirmary.
When he reached the heavy wooden doors, he paused. THere was the sound of muffled crying coming from the other side. Fred bounced back and forth on his feet, debating whether or not he should go inside. It didn't sound like the wailing of a parent who'd lost a child, but then, he wouldn't really know what that sounded like, now would he?
It was only a moment more when he heard Hermione's voice. "Isn't there anything you can do?" the girl cried, and the pure distress in her voice, though the choking presence of tears was absent, spurred Fred into motion.
He swept the doors open, and took only a few steps before the revealed scene made him stop again.
Harry and Professor Snape were sitting on the end of one of the cots. The Professor was still covered in blankets while his face was covered in tears. Harry was holding him awkwardly as the man was still quite a bit taller than he, and though he was making the comforting shushing one would give to a child who'd scraped their knee, his face was contorted in agony.
Hermione and Madam Pomfrey were standing next to them. Hermione looked angry, but Fred knew that was just the look she got when concerned, and Madam Pomfrey had her face in her hands, silently sobbing.
Suddenly the words Neville had said yesterday morning came back to him, "Will he-will his mind-be like my parents'?" and it all clicked into place.
Severus' mind was broken.
Cracked.
The three of them sat silently after George's words. None of them really wanted to follow that up.
None of them really could.
They had no answers, no rebuttal, no other ideas.
"Well," Neville started, "we can tell Harry?"
Emil sighed, "Right. Okay. Let's go find him."
The three of them stood silently and made their way to the door. "Where-"
George cut Neville off, "He'll be in the infirmary."
They made their way to the great double doors and found them unusually open. Inside, Harry, Hermione, and Professor Snape were sitting on a cot, and the other patients were in varying states of waking and going about their morning ablutions.
The trio strolled toward the other trio, watching as Harry tried to comfort Snape, and Hermione tried to comfort Harry.
Harry looked up at them as they approached, "Tell me good news," he pleaded.
Emil nodded slowly, "There's good news." Harry sighed in relief, and Emil hated himself for his next words for the poor boy looked as if he would break with any more bad news, "There's bad news, too, though."
Harry deflated. Madam Pomfrey had told him all about Severus' condition. There was no cure, treatment, or anything really. No one had been known to come back. Severus had cried through the whole thing, and even Hermione had shed a few tears, but Harry did not. He would not until this was over. He'd lost a great many people in his life, but lollygagging would only tear other families apart and hurt more innocents.
The only thing they could find any hope in was that Severus had spoken. No other patients had been known to do this, but the mediwitch told them all not to get their hopes up. This may be as good as they ever got.
Still, Harry gathered up his resolve and slid Severus from his lap, "We can't talk about it here." He made to get up from the bed and walk away when Madam Pomfrey and Fred returned from her office.
Fred had a list in his hand, and the mediwitch was shooing him away. "Yes, yes, just those, my boy. Thank you."
Fred's head bobbed, and he spotted the group around Professor Snape's bed. "When did you say you needed them by?"
"Soon, but go for now. It can wait, and your friend's need you."
Fred's head bobbed again, and he went to leave with the rest of his friends. Harry stopped a few metres away. "Will you let me know if anything changes?"
"Of course, my d-" Madam Pomfrey was cut off my a loud wail from the Potion Master sitting on the cot.
They all turned toward him. He sat with his eyes wide and spilling tears, his arms reached out toward Harry, and his feet hanging forgotten off the edge of the bed. His hiccuping sobs broke every heart in the room with the pure, unadulterated emotion held within, "Ha-ha-ha-hawwieeee!"
Harry, his eyes never leaving Severus, addressed Madam Pomfrey, "I know you'll say 'no', but can we take him with us?"
She hesitated a moment, "Of course, my dear," she repeated.
Harry held his arms out to Severus, and he flew from the bed into them, grabbing onto Harry tightly. Harry wriggled out of the embrace and gestured for his friends to lead the way. He tried not to think about the vacant expression in Severus' eyes or the way that the effect of his slow, dignified gait was ruined in hospital pajamas as they walked down the hall to the abandoned classroom that they'd used the day before.
The large group sat on the floor in a rough circle. Quickly all attention turned to Neville as he began explaining everything they'd found out. Emil and George, on either side of him, seemed content to let him run the show, only stopping him to add forgotten details or answer questions that Hermione rapid fired every time Neville took a breath.
Through the whole thing, Severus was quiet.
Neville was just explaining that the Fae were controlled by Voldemort and their plan that if Harry could kill Voldemort, the Fae would stop attacking when Severus' calm demeanor broke. He leaned into Harry's side and began crying again.
Harry wrapped his arms around the man, unsure what brought about the tears this time, and tried to shush him, knowing that if Severus were aware of his actions, he'd be horribly embarrassed.
This Severus, however, only snuggled closer to Harry, soaking the younger man's robes with his salty tears.
A/N: Hope you like it! Sorry again for the wait and Severus' condition. I don't know when the next chapter will be up, but I hope it will be soon!