Hello peoples! Good to see you all back.

So I hope everyone is enjoying all this holiday cheer so far. I'm halfway down with a mermaid blanket gift and finished with a 30-40 pound crochet weighted blanket for someone else, so I am feeling pretty accomplished. Now I just need to bake an army of cookies, decorate the house, and finish my shopping.

I'm also starting a new job in a week and a half and two of my closest friends got engaged. Yay!

Butt enough about that. Let's get on to the story.

If Someone Cared Enough

Chapter 137: She's More than a Memory

"So she just turned into a snake?" Nesme asked, mouth agape, "Just like that, right in front of you?"

They were all seated in Dumbledore's office, waiting for the Headmaster to return from a quick staff meeting.

Severus nodded, smiling gratefully at Lily as she handed him a mug of cocoa and slid her hand into his, "It looked…horrifying. She just sort of twisted an-and stretched out like flesh-colored taffy."

Nesme grimaced, putting down the candy she was eating.

"It reminded me of my transformations," Remus said weakly, eating chocolate like it would pull the chill and unease from his bones, "Everything bending and contorting, snapping in to place."

"But it didn't sound like it hurt her," Severus pointed out, "She didn't scream or groan or anything. It was almost fluid how easily she changed."

Renee tapped their chin, "Well it was an illusion, right? She disappeared before the room let you out, so maybe it wasn't an actual transformation. Perhaps it was just symbolic."

"Yeah, but symbolic of what?" Mary questioned, "I can't wrapped my head around what sort of message the room would be trying to tell us with a snake woman."

"Maybe she was an animagus," Lily suggested, "Those transformations don't hurt. Maybe the room was trying to tell us to seek her out."

"But then what would that have to do with the horcruxes?" Severus asked, "That's technically what I was thinking of when the door appeared. Is she someone else who's hiding one? Is she someone he's killed or will kill to make a new one?"

Lily rubbed Severus hand, calming him down before he could get worked out, "Why don't you tell us exactly what you were thinking to make the door appear?"

Severus rubbed his brow, "I don't know. I was…talking about needing the other horcruxes, about the cup and hoping I could get into Gringotts—that's the door I was hoping would appear—and then I…I started thinking about how we theorized that he'd be aiming for seven because it's a powerful number so perhaps there are more besides the ring and cup."

"Go on," Lily prompted.

"I wanted answers as to how many more we have to find," Severus explained, "I wanted to know where to look…what to look for. And then, the door was just sitting there."

"So you wanted to know where to look for the next horcrux if there are any more," Renee surmised, "And the room sent you—or showed you—a forest. Think that's where you need to go?"

Severus groaned, "If that is, then I don't know where it is. The forest looked like every other forest to me. Bare trees, pine, lots of snow."

"Well that narrows it down," Mary offered, "Pines aren't found in every forest, and not every place gets snow in their winters."

"I suppose so, but is the room showing me that a horcrux is there or that that woman is there?" Severus questioned, "If she is actually a woman and not some metaphor."

Remus bit off another bite of chocolate, "Maybe she knows where it is. I mean, she can't be someone he's killed because we saw her. It's not like the room can show us the future right?"

No one answered right away.

"Remus, none of us are exactly sure what the extent of the room's powers are," Lily admitted, "I mean, before you two today, none of us knew if the room made up replicas of places or could actually cross space to bring you there."

"But you guys got a fake replica of a real place," Renee added, "That's what it sounds like at least."

Nesme was quick to jump in, "But the room can bring you to actual places in the castle. I snuck up there a day ago to take a nap—where my big mouth roommates can't wake me up—and when I woke up late for my next class, a door appeared that took me right to the hallway my class was in."

"So the sky's the limit when it comes to wants and desires within the school," Severus guessed, "But we don't know how much it can do outside these walls. If that woman does truly exist, her vanishing means the place we were in was just made to look like where she is. Even that is an impressive feat. It wouldn't be completely out of the realm of possibilities to think it might show the future."

"Okay, does anyone else feels like things are getting more and more complicated as the horcrux quest goes on?" Remus asked in exasperation, massaging his brow, "We've had diaries that can revive a soul piece from the fifties—guarded by giant ancient basilisks might I add—diadems steeped in some huge ghost related love story of murder, lockets in the middle of zombie infested lakes—"

"Inferi," Renee corrected in their factual way.

"Inferi are just pet zombies," Nesme butted in.

"And now we have possible time traveling visions of some crazy snake lady who may or may not be dead, alive, or even real?" Remus finished, "What's next, You-Know-Who gets himself a love child?"

A chuckle came from behind them, "That's quite an impressive and creative imagination you've got there, Mr. Lupin."

Dumbledore smiled kindly at his students as he walked into the office.

"Perhaps you should write children's books," Dumbledore suggested to Remus as the headmaster sat down.

"Thank you for meeting with us, Headmaster," Lily said graciously.

Dumbledore inclined his head towards her, "It was my pleasure, Ms. Evans."

"Now," he said, folded his hands and lacing his fingers together, "I believe there is something you wish to discuss with me?"

"Y-yes," Severus said, cringing at how uneven his voice sounded, "Albus, as you know, the Come and Go room has lent us some assistance in the past in regards to the horcruxes."

"It brought us to the diadem," Lily took over, "took us to the records room for information on Tom Riddle, gave us a hiding place to safely discuss the horcruxes, it's been quite useful to us."

Dumbledore nodded, "Ah yes, the Room of Requirement certainly can be helpful to those who know what to ask it. I myself once came across it on my way to the loo and found a room full of chamber pots."

Nesme shuddered, "Let's never go looking for that room…"

"Yes, well…" Severus glanced around at the others for support, "I might have attempt to acquire a…shortcut to one of our goals, with mixed results."

"A shortcut?" Dumbledore questioned with good natured humor, "That surprises me, Severus; you have always been one to put in the work for something."

"Then again," Dumbledore leaned back, stroking his beard, "Slytherins are known for the cleverness, their creative means of achieving their goals. I suppose finding a loophole would fit right in with that level of ambition."

Severus resisted rolling his eyes, "While you're uncanny ability to turn everything into a joke is remarkable, truly, Albus."

Dumbledore chuckled, "Optimism is the key to a long and happy life. Now why don't you tell me about this shortcut you were looking for?"

"I tried to use the room to procure a door to Lestranges's Vault," Severus said bluntly, cutting to the chase, "I thought that if we could just get in there and see for ourselves whether Bellatrix had the cup, then we could save Simone and Thea the time of having to figure out a way in themselves."

Dumbledore hummed, "That's rather thoughtful of you, Severus, not that it surprises me anymore the lengths to which you will go for your friends."

Severus flushed, trying not to be affected by such praise from someone he used to hardly measure up to in their eyes, "I just thought it was rather wrong to expect them to go to such great lengths to get into the vault if there's a chance the cup isn't there. Why should they put themselves out there for a task that might be all for nothing?"

"A logical decision," Dumbledore agreed, "But I take it that you were not successful?"

"Not really, no," Severus admitted, "Though I can't say for certain if that's because my thoughts got distracted or if the room could have accomplished the goal to begin with. I mean…the place it did bring me to wasn't even the real location that could mean that even if the room had brought me a vault door, it might not have really been the vault door. It might only be capable of replicas," Severus wrung his hands, talking fast, "though if it could make a realistic enough replica maybe it would still show us the cup if it exists in the real one—then we would know for sure if it's there and things wouldn't be for naught and—"

Dumbledore kindly held up a hand, gently bringing Severus pause, "Take a breath, Severus. Tell me what the room did bring you."

"A cabin," Remus bit out, bringing everyone's attention to him, "More of a shack really."

Dumbledore raised a brow, "A cabin?"

"I got off topic," Severus explained, "I was saying to Remus that I wanted the vault, but it got me thinking about the horcurxes we knew about and how there may still be some we aren't aware of. It sounded like Tom wanted seven of them, right? Well we can only account for five if we include the ring and cup we still don't have. So I was thinking 'what if there's more?' and I think I just sort of jumped off with that and was fixating on how many more there were and where to even start looking and—and the door appeared."

Dumbledore leaned forward, "And what did you find in this cabin?"

Severus shrugged, "Nothing really. It was practically barren. There was so very little inside."

"It looked like really lonely, rough living," Remus confessed, "Cold and sad is what I'd describe it as."

"There was a door on the other side of the cabin," Severus said, "So we went through it and there was a forest—and we don't know where," he added when Dumbledore opened his mouth to question, "It was…snowy, and dense."

"And there was this woman," Remus said softly, a haunted look in his eyes.

Dumbledore perked up, intrigued, "A woman?"

"She wasn't really there," Severus elaborated, "The whole place was just an illusion, something the room conjured up. But it felt like it was supposed to be of a real place. This woman—she was crying. Just sobbing in the middle of the woods."

"We thought she was hurt," Remus interjected.

"But when we got closer," Severus pushed on, "She changed…she turned into a snake."

Something flashed in Dumbledore's eyes, "A snake?"

Severus nodded, "Just a great big serpent. She twisted like a-a contortionist and just…molded herself into this big snake. It looked painful, but she didn't look to be in pain at all."

"She lunged at us and we ran," Remus jumped in, "She chased us back to the cabin door, and then she vanished. Next thing we knew the room threw us out onto the floor in the corridor."

Dumbledore was no longer smile, his eyes vacant of their normal twinkle, "Boys, can you tell me anything else about this woman? What did she look like?"

"We didn't really get a good look at her face," Severus revealed, "But she was slim? And pale, I think…with black hair."

"Long black hair," Remus confirmed, "And this snake pattern dress."

Dumbledore's eyes widened, "You're sure of this?"

Remus nodded, "Positive."

"We're sure, Albus," Severus said.

"Severus," Dumbledore said gravely, "Do the two of you think you can bring this event to the forefront of your minds? Hold it there?"

Severus frowned, confused, "Probably. Why, though?"

"I would like to see this encounter for myself," Dumbledore stated, "And it would best to view it without the distractions of the rest of your thoughts."

Holding up his wand, Dumbledore looked seriously at the boys, "If I may…"

Realizing what Dumbledore was getting at, Severus nodded and leaned forward, allowing Dumbledore to touch the tip of his wand to Severus's temple. Ideally, this was preferably to having the headmaster root around in his mind.

The others watched in awe and shock as Dumbledore pulled a long, silvery strand from Severus head and carefully slipped it into a vial he conjured.

"And you, Mr. Lupin?" he prompted, turning to the other teen.

Wary, Remus moved closer so that Dumbledore could extract a thread from his head as well, still not entirely sure what was going on.

"They're memories," Severus clarified for him, "He's taking them, to view in a pensieve."

"You can do that?" Nesme murmured in awe.

Renee stared transfixed at the glowing silvery threads in the vial, "I think I read about something like this before."

"They did it when collecting evidence for the trial against Mulciber and Avery," Mary said softly, watching as the headmaster got up and approached a cabinet off to the side of the room, "It's what they used to prove those two attacked us."

"Because Avery claimed it was all consensual," Lily tacked on bitterly, her gaze turning hateful for a moment, "Thank Merlin for pensives."

Dumbledore opened the cabinet and the others watched in astonishment as a large basin on a pedestal floated out to set itself upon the floor.

"That's a pensieve, right?" Nesme whispered, elbowing Renee.

Renee nodded, still mesmerized by the scene, "I think so."

Dumbledore carefully poured the contents of the vials into the pensieve, the silvery thread swirling into the sparkling, yet cloudy water like suds down the drain. Without any warning to his group of spectators, Dumbledore unceremoniously dunked his head into the water.

Everyone stared.

"Is that…" Mary began hesitantly, "Is that normal?"

"Did the headmaster just have a stroke?" a stunned Nesme asked.

Severus slowly shook his head, "I think that's…how you use it, maybe?"

Lily gripped Severus arm tightly, staring worriedly over at their professor.

"How can he breathe like that?" Remus wondered aloud, "I mean, should we check on him? What if he actually passed out just now and we didn't know?"

"He has to be screwing with us," Renee declared somewhat irritably, a scowl on their perplexed face, "I bet you anything you can just stick a finger in one of these things and view the memories that way. I mean, it's magic! But noooo, the headmaster wants to mess with us so he just threw his whole face in."

Nesme half got up from her seat, "Should we at least make sure there aren't any little bubbles coming up from him drowning in there?"

Lily stood as well, "It couldn't hurt to just check if he's alright."

The girls were halfway to the pensieve when they jumped back with twin gasps of alarm as Dumbledore quite suddenly pulled his face from the pensieve. It was peculiar to note that despite having submerged his head in what the others presumed to be liquid, his head was miraculously dry.

Dumbledore looked unusually serious for once, no twinkle or benign smile on his aged face. He stared down contemplatively at the pensieve solemnly.

"A-are you alright, Headmaster?" Lily asked once she collected herself.

For several minutes Dumbledore didn't say anything, he just stood there in silence, gazing into the swirling, smoky, liquid of the pensieve with a troubled expression warring across his features.

When he did finally say something, it was little more than a soft, nearly indecipherable murmur.

"So she is still alive," he said.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Lily questioned, leaning closer, "Sir?"

She stepped back when Dumbledore straighten up, turning his serious gaze to the students.

"I'm afraid the vision you two saw was not a metaphor," Dumbledore announced, addressing Remus and Severus, "But a very real and most unfortunate reality. You did indeed see someone's unwilling transformation."

Severus frowned at Dumbledore's choice of words, "Unwilling? So she's not an animagus."

Dumbeldore shook his head, "Indeed not. No, what you saw was the plight of a maledictus."

Remus sat up with a start, eyes wide, "A maledictus?"

Severus looked curiously at Remus, "Lupin?"

Remus gave the others a pained smiled, "When I was little, just after I was bitten, my parents and I did countless research into ways to halt or ease the change. We spent a lot of time in tomes about magical or curse induced transformations. Several books—dark books—mentioned the curse of the maledictus."

Remus swallowed heavily, "It's an ancient blood curse that only carries through the female line of the afflicted. Any woman with this curse is fated to eventually turn into a beast. Any daughters born to her will be afflicted with the curse as well. From what I understood, you can first change into the creature at will, but eventually it becomes uncontrollable. Inevitably, you become the beast permanently. There's no changing back after that…and there is no cure."

The rest of the group blanched.

"That's horrible," Lily gasped, "Who would curse someone with something so awful?"

"That's just it, Lily," Remus said, "No one actually knows who invented the curse or who's ever cast it. Factually, there haven't been cases of the curse being cast in recent history; not even in the last two centuries. Maledictuses only exist today as the result of someone far back in their ancestry receiving the curse. It's unbreakable and there is no way of preventing its spread to the next generation, short of just not having children or…or killing all girls born to the family."

Mary looked outraged, "That's sick!"

"Some would consider it a mercy," Remus stated, "Any girl afflicted by the curse is destine to become a beast. What kind of life would that be for someone? It's worse than being a werewolf; there is no changing back. And it's said the longer you stay trapped that way, the more the afflicted will start to succumb to the more basic instincts of their animal form. You could end up being a danger to your own family."

"Indeed, Mr. Lupin," Dumbledore said sadly, "Such is the plight of the maledictus. Many of them would rather chooses death than risk passing on such a painful life to their child. It is not unusual for a maledictus to choose not to marry, to avoid as many emotional attachments as they can, so that their inevitable final change is less painful a goodbye. Of course, such a life proves a lonely existence, as it was for Nagini."

"Nagini?" Severus questioned.

"The woman you saw," Dumbledore explained, "The life of every maledictus is hard, Severus, but hers was profoundly tragic."

Lily frowned, "Did you know her professor?"

Dumbledore nodded, "I did, brief though it was. A kind heart in that one, but there was a lot in her life to be bitter about, a great deal of sorrow and heartache."

Dumbledore looked back towards the pensieve, "I haven't seen her since we defeated Grindelwald, I'm afraid."

"Woah, woah, wait," Nesme blurted out, "Grindelwald? You're telling me that this lady helped you take down the darkest wizard of all time?"

"That was so long ago, though," Lily added before Dumbeldore could answer, "She can't be as young as Sev and Remus described."

"Indeed she is not," Dumbledore agreed, "It would seem the Room of Requirement chose a version of her that I would recognize so as to better guide you."

Dumbledore looked at Nesme, "As for the battle against Grindelwald, yes, Nagini was there. Though her assistance was not in fighting Gellert himself, but rather one of his followers…someone unfortunately near and dear to Nagini's heart."

Turning to the window, Dumbledore's eyes turned sad, wistful, "His name was Credence."

And so Dumbledore told them the tale of Nagini, of her life, of her past. He spoke of her hardships, her life as a sideshow in a carnival and her time as an escape with no home or family to run to. He spoke of her alliance with them, the battle against Grindelwald.

And ultimately…he spoke of her greatest heartbreak.

So, some of you have been wondering last chapter how the Fantastic Beasts movies were going to play into this story in regards to Nagini. The short answer is that references to what actually went down in the final battle with Grindelwald are going to be kept vague since the movie hasn't come out yet or even been announced. But here's something concrete for my story: Credence is NOT Dumbledore's brother in this story.

I don't know how the actual movie is going to go down in regards to the claim by Grindelwald being fact or fiction, but canon wise, Dumbledore's father was said to have died in Azkaban in 1890 and his wife (Dumbledore's mother) was accidentally killed by Ariana in 1899. Credence was born in 1901, making it unlikely that his is actually Dumbledore's brother like Grindelwald claimed.

Now, the movies have already spat in the face of canon timelines given that they depicted McGonagall as a professor during Newt's school years despite her being too young for that to have been physically possible according to her own birth date, so perhaps the next movie will throw away continuity in regards to Kendra and Percival's deaths as well in order to make Credence their last born child. But for this story, he isn't a Dumbledore and his fate will be somewhat vague but implied to be sad.

The pensieve discussion about Dumbledore sticking his face in it was inspired by an actual forum discussion questioning whether it is necessary to stick your face in or if Harry simply kept doing it because it's what he did the very first time and Dumbledore was just too amused to tell him he could have just peered over it or stuck his wand or hand in.

Review please :)