Chapter 51: Through the Looking Wall

*Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters therein.


Pain. Pain is proof that one is alive. Pain is the sacrifice given to bring forth life, and in giving up one's life. In the dense darkness of night a life was brought into the world, more precisely in the early hours of 26 December Elizabeth Mkapa-Zabini gave birth. Even after the first feeding and a much needed nap for Mum and babe, she still refused to announce a name until her favorite members of the Pride came to visit her.

Once they heard the news, it was impossible to keep them away. Despite most of them having only a few hours rest Harry, Hermione, Ron, Neville, and Ginny all rushed to the Hospital Wing as fast as they could from their respective resting places. They had each received a note from Blaise which, in typical silent Slytherin fashion, read only:

Baby is here. Lizzie wants her Pride protectors.

-Blaise

Mya, being the early riser of the pride, found the note first and sent her patronus to wake Ginny and Harry after waking Ron and Neville with whom she happen to be sleeping in the same room as. Thankful that the halls were cleared for the winter hols, they met in the Entrance Hall and tried to wake each other by playing a small game of tag, chasing each other around until the Hospital Wing was reached. It was only then, and after years of scolding from the Hospital's Matron, that they slowed to a power walk and quieted down to a small roar.

As soon as the door opened for them they cut the chatter down to whispers, not wanting to disturb anyone, namely the new mum, who may be sleeping. Madam Pomfrey, while not happy they were there, allowed it so she could finally finish her paperwork.

The Matron, due to the nature of the court case coming up shortly, had decided to hold off on sending anything to the Ministry for a few days. No one wanted trouble, especially from the Goldstein family, and the longer it took for them to find out about the new birth, the better.


Ten fingers, ten toes, a dusting of black hair and a beautiful button nose. The precious bundle in pink was being held in her mother's arms when the lions stepped in. At once those who had been privy to Luna's comments the night before were confused and looked around the room for another bundle. Neville looked to Blaise, who shrugged back when Heather finally spoke up from a seat next to her best friend.

"There was only one baby," she murmured tiredly. "Dunno what Luna was on about, but I've been checking on Lizzie for ages, and there's only ever been the one babe."

Harry shrugged. "Who knows what Luna ever truly means." The others agreed, and focus returned to their newest member. "Now, I for one want to know how you're feeling, Elizabeth."

The girl in question smiled softly, eyes never leaving the baby in her arms as she rocked softly. "I'm okay. Sore, but happy. So happy to finally have my little girl."

"Have you named her?" Ginny asked.

Elizabeth smiled and nodded. "Adalyn. Adalyn Jamie." She finally looked up, beaming at Heather and Harry. "My Noble Usurper. Named after those who helped me take back control over my own life, and her godparents. If you want, that is?"

Heather nodded to her friend with tears in her eyes, speechless. She'd never known when she had taken on Jameson as her last name that three years later she'd meet a scrawny little boy named Harry James and later have a goddaughter named for them both. It was overwhelming to her how fate aligned itself from such shitty beginnings to create this beautiful day.

"Of course!"


In a creaking manor hundreds of miles away sat a crazed megalomaniac sitting upon his throne. He did not think himself crazed, nor maniacal, but simply a Dark Genius. Others who disagreed did not remain around long enough to voice their opinions.

The man sat, spindly legs crossed at the knee, and one elbow on the arm of his gilded chair. His chin lay in his palm, leg twitching idly as he stared down at the mangle figures of his most recent experiments and the dead bodies of low level followers he had sucked dry of magic. There was no one near consciousness to see him, so he had relaxed his rigid posture while deep in thought.

Usually he would only split magic transfusions into thirds. One third stayed in his giver, while one third went to each of two muggles who had been given their inoculations. Apparently his newest and most useless troops were so magically low that giving a third of their magic had not been enough to spark the cores within the former muggles.

So naturally he just had to give half to each of the new magicals. What good was one weakling when compared to two new magicals. Their blood was not so genetically tainted as to curb the core growth, and they had proven to be quite the storage units for large cores. He knew, with his own influx of muggle blood tainting his veins, that what society whispered about purebloods breeding themselves out was true, but neither did he care. His power base was established, his coffers filled, and his reputation suitably demanding. He had no care now for loyal followers.

With this new process he, the Dark God Voldemort, was systematically building an army of magicals, all completely under his control with the help of loyalty potions and liberal use of Imperius curses.

Voldemort thought of all he could do with his magic cows, and wondered if he could use some of the first test subjects to as givers for the next generation of new magicals. He knew he'd have to get rid of the children, their cores had proved to be too small for harvesting. He cared not if they lived or died, just that they be rid of them to make room for new subjects while their new camps and barracks were built. He thought about those very handy gas showers Grindelwald had spoken of, but thought better as his incompetent followers seemed to only have the ability to finish one mission each millennia, but he would look into it. Who's to say he could not have a construction team taken and turned within the week? What fun it would be to have these men building day in and day out, resting only in shifts as his compound expanded.

Such a tangled web, but for the spider it was great fun.

With that in mind Voldemort yelled out for Wormtail to join him. "Bring me the oldest of our magic cows. I want to play a little game." With that the sniveling excuse for a man fled. He grinned maliciously. "And you!" He waved to one of the weak underlings who had just stirred, barely managing to survive his culling. "Clean this room and dispose of the bodies immediately. I tire of their presence."


Many weird things went on in the Slytherin dorms. That isn't to say that the other Houses did not have their fair share of odd occurrences, because Gryffindor would hold exhibits A-Z and a few thousand numerically labelled after that. But Slytherin House would come in a late second.

Being underground, even below the dungeons and the Black Lake did strange things to the students of the Snake house before the hierarchy of blood was even established. The eerie green glow cast into the room was only one part of the oddities within Slytherin, but as Harry was about to find out, it wasn't the only.

Harry had received a letter from Daphne Greengrass about returning the Resurrection Stone, which she had kept in order to allow Damien and Astoria know the truth. Now, though, she knew she needed to return it before she let herself drown in the past so she had written Harry, thanking him and asking him to come to the Slytherin Dorms. It was as he was opening his presents from friends and family that he began contemplating a reply to this missive.

He laughed as he saw the Twins had given him and Severus both a box of their latest creations: sex toys for the wizard-inclined wizard. The man immediately put the lid back on the box and twisted its wrist, making both boxes disappear. Harry pouted, looking around for his new toys, and crawling over to straddle Severus' legs as he sat on the floor. He knelt up, resting chest to chest with Severus, his hands braced against the chair arms on either side of Severus' head.

"I have a gift for you," he stated nervously, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small box. It wasn't wrapped, Harry knew if he had wrapped it he would have gone insane from being unable to triple check the gift was still inside. He leaned back and thrust the box forward into Severus' hands. It grew as he handed it over, the shrinking charm receding.

With a suspicious look at the box after the last one he had opened, Severus took the lid off and just stared at the little black books stacked neatly inside. He had seen these volumes before, the day of the wards being reset.

Inside Salazar Slytherin's personal Library.

"While I do appreciate the thought, I regret to remind you that I am not able to read written Parseltongue." He looked up at his partner, blinking once at the shit eating grin on the young man's face.

"Good thing I made a translation spell, isn't it?" Harry said as cheekily as he could.

"Brat." Severus replied, then gestured to the tomes. "Well?"

"I want my gift first!" He said incredulously. "I know I won't see you for ages once you start reading those!"

Severus nodded, knowing what he said was true, and thankfully he had found a gift that would cause the same reaction, he hoped.

With a wave of his wand, Severus took a glamour off an old cherry wood Hope Chest that had been in the corner of his quarters for a few days now. "That is for you," he simply said and watched his young partner's ass sway with avid appreciation as he crawled over to the chest.

Carefully Harry opened the chest, careful of the creaking hinges.

Harry looked inside the chest, curious to see what looked like a well organized school trunk. Inside sat a woman's robe, a dirty Quidditch uniform and several books, some of which he had his own set of. School books.

Everything inside was musty and old, but well preserved. With shaking hands Harry reached inside, grabbing the first book he could and opening to the first page to read,

Property of Lily Evans

It was written in the uncoordinated hand of a young pre-teen, and with his own shaking hands, Harry turned the book over to read Standard Book of Spells Year 1 on the cover. He blew out an unsteady breath and looked up at Severus with questioning eyes.

"Continue looking, I believe you will find other items to peruse," he simply said before motioning him back.

He obeyed, and looked, seeing, oddly enough, the same book on the right side of the chest. He frowned, wondering why his Mother would have two sets of such a simple book, but he knew why as soon as he opened it.

Property of James Charlus Potter

Heir Potter

If found, please return to owner

The words were written in a scrawling, practiced hand, not one of a child. Harry guessed that one of his grandparents must have written it in for his father. He lifted a few other books from the right side, setting them on the floor neatly to find another set of robes, a few scarf sets, and even a Gryffindor tie.

The left side was packed with similar items, but of a more feminine nature. He could see how each layer of robes and books led to the next year level of Hogwarts' curriculum and smiled. It was a memory chest of his parent's school years.

On the inside of the Hope Chest's lid was a letter, sealed with Lily & James Potter written on the outside. He pulled it off and opened it, reading the decades old card.

Dear Lily and James,

We hope to find you well this holiday season. Your Father and I have been agonizing over what to get you so soon after your Wedding, but when an idea hit me (and James' mother was so accommodating), I just had to make this for you.

You know we've kept your room as it was since leaving that first year, and so I decided a memory box might be something you would enjoy. Well, now I understand just how smart you must be. All those books! Dear me. I know I wasn't able to make a Hope Chest with you through your teenage years as I had with my Mother, but we make do.

So, now, on the Christmas of your 19th year, I want you to have this Hope Chest. It may not be filled with bed linens and cookbooks, but instead your robes and school books. The memory of those years will serve you just as well. Dorea sent over James' things as well when we realized just how much room was left, and put a charm of some kind over it so it will be as good as new for years to come.

There are a few mementos of your childhoods, before Hogwarts, at the bottom, but for the most part it is filled with your school items in each year, and the photo albums you made each summer.

I do hope you enjoy this, dear, and come to remember these years with fondness, despite all the travesty going on now. Give James my love, and take a pinch for yourself, sweet child.

All our love,

Mum & Da


For hours after Harry picked meticulously through the Hope Chest, reliving his own years at Hogwarts alongside his parents. He'd asked and been told that Severus found the trunk during his visit to Privet Drive, and given how much time he'd spent away the past few days, Harry accepted the answer as truth. Once they were both suitably thanked and thankful Harry gave Severus the translation spell so they were both equally engrossed in their gifts.

It was during this time-engrossed as they were in old information-within Severus' quarters that the Bloody Baron made himself known by moving through the wall to float in front of them solemnly.

"There is a disturbance within the Slytherin dorms," he said airily. "You may want to look in on them, or not. I'd prefer their deaths, but the decision is not mine." He floated through the room listlessly, fading in and out as he seemed to await Severus' response.

Harry, for his part, just sat back and blinked owlishly at the wall that had just been used as a ghostly door. "You know," he started. "I know Nearly Headless Nick is a rather useless ghost, but the Slytherin ghost is truly a piece of work, Sev'rus."

He got no response other than a baleful glare from both man and ghost as they followed the spirit to the common room.

"Have you alerted Sinistra?" Severus asked the ghost as they walked.

"I did, but she is hampered by her long journey while I am not. She asked to alert you while she took a shortcut." The ghost answered in its deep voice. Harry wondered about the gaping hole and blood stains on the ghost, but thought better of asking such personal questions of a being not bound by doors.

As they approached, Severus touched a finger to the entryway, making it appear transparent so he could see within. From the non-reactions of those inside Harry assumed it was only a one way image transfer. After being very impressed by the spell and making a note to tell Hermione about it-despite Severus saying it was a charm only usable by Heads of House. He looked inside to find anarchy and chaos.

A not so proverbial line was drawn between two sides, with only a small pocket of bored looking students sitting on the sidelines, unwilling to join whatever was taking place. One side held most of Slytherin's first through fourth years and a handful of seventh years as well as the bound and gagged lumps of a few boys who were in an age in between. On the other side were the remaining students, all screaming for their compatriots back and for vengeance.

"Let them go, Greengrass! They have a job and you and your family are going to pay when the Dark Lord hears you have intervened!" One boy screamed at the opposing side, but Daphne and Theodore Nott, the leaders of the opposition just smiled serenely at them and stood guard silently over the traitors respectively. Daphne twirled a wand through the fingers of each hand, though Severus thought they looked a bit too long to be her own before she stopped, stuck one behind her ear and broke the other over her knee lighting fast.

It took a minute for Severus to comprehend just what he was watching, but in that time Daphne proceeded to break two more, and Theo joined her. The noise within the room grew louder, mostly that of the gagged boys at their feet, leading Severus to assume the wands being snapped were theirs.

"Sir, I don't think you should be here," Harry stated. Obviously with mention of the "Dark Lord" and "jobs" assigned to the students Severus would be placed in a difficult position.

Severus quickly and easily cast his patronus, the lithe doe trotting around them before taking her message. "Tell any of the Faculty leaders that their presence is needed at the Slytherin dorms immediately." He shook his wand as it spark, cursing his growing core. Since the consummation of their bond, Severus and Harry both had seen a growth in their cores as well as in magical strength.

Harry thought it was very cool, until Mya accused him of illicit acts with Seamus after blowing up the third spell target in a row. Severus had not taken kindly to the retelling, making mention of a flayed irishman at even the thought of him "rubbing off on" his bondmate.

"Hopefully they'll get the message faster with classes being out," Harry said softly as they watched the power struggle continuing inside the green tinged room. As young as they seemed, every student was either Pureblooded, and taught neutral and Dark spells from the cradle, or they were halfbloods who worked hard to stay out of the limelight until their repertoire caught up to their peers.

As the older students crept forward, unable to cast for fear of hitting their brethren, the younger students would cast at them without fear of missing their target. They simply needed to keep their own protectors-namely Daphne and Theo, but also the other seventh years-safe.

Daphne continued in her silent and systematic destruction of their hostages' wands, throwing the remains in the Common Room fire with glee. They would never get those remnants back, she would make sure of it. In her mind, they deserved death for their actions, but since she'd caught them before they could act she was giving them some leeway-mainly by destroying their wands earnestly and in such a way that they would never find a wand that fit just right.

It was as the last wand was broken and burned that Severus heard steps approaching their position from the main stairwell. He turned, greeting Professors Sinistra and Flitwick as well as Madame Longbottom with his own not-so-hidden schadenfreude. He let them see through the transparent wall after sending Harry back to his quarters-because the situation was volatile enough without Gryffindor's Golden Boy/Voldemort's Undesirable Number One around.

With an agreed upon plan of action Severus opened the entryway, taking much satisfaction in the paling and gaping faces around him. He was not unaware that his brat had decided not to follow his directions, and was even now standing outside the entryway, hissing in Parseltongue to the Snake engravings at the ceiling to allow him to see inside. Severus could feel just how close he was and hear the sibilant hisses as harry began thinking in Perseltongue, but put it from his thoughts as he turned to his newest form of entertainment: terrified students.

"Just what is going on here?" He asked and paused just enough for dramatic effect in the tense silence. "Would anyone care to explain to me what you dunderheads could find so utterly entertaining that I was alerted by our House Ghost whilst in the middle of a Faculty Meeting?"

For a time no one dared say a word, then, all at once utter chaos erupted as everyone tried to explain their side before the other had the chance to paint their side that of the sympathetic cause.


Thank you for reading!