Disclaimer: The same as the previous chapters.
Chapter 37
Fawkes had been watching the witches and the wizards deep in conversation. He wasn't expecting Swmg to return tonight. Probably his twin will return in a month's time. Till then, he would have to guard the grounds and help the members of the Order of the phoenix and all those attached to it. He had seen Severus Snape's memories and had confirmed them with that of Kingsley Shacklebolt's thoughts. Greyback did suffer, and the spirits of the Hanging castle were not the ones to fool around with. Swmg once said," those are the serious ones, don't know how to take a joke. They will behead you and then ask its name...angry spirits of the dark kind." On the other hand, he hoped that his headstrong brother would warm up to Potter. And also get a chance to see for himself how the forgotten spirit was responding to the new settlers. Now that Hogwarts castle was once again getting prepared to hear the story of Schwarze Nacht, he decided to make sure that the listeners of it were safe.
All at once the Snapes, Shacklebolt, Mcgonagall, and Longbottom's heads were turned towards the phoenix sitting quietly on a wooden perch beside the long bookshelves. Fawkes had started to sing. Minerva and Snape had heard him do that even before while Albus Dumbledore was alive. But all this was new for Kingsley, Hermione, and Neville. The former Gryffindor students were aware of how important a phoenix was. From its tears to its feathers, every element had powerful healing properties or acted as a strong catalyst to enhance the magical capacities of a wand. But the bird's song was something entirely new for them. The tune carried a sad tone, and when it ended everyone seemed to have tears in their eyes. Hermione muttered, wiping her eyes and sniffing," Well that was moving and mournful."
Snape had run his hand over his face to shake off the uncanny feeling and added," because the real story behind your childish concoction of Little Red Riding Hood is sad, where people died, wanting to be loved, wanting to love, or falling to recognize true love. It is a story of loss. And there was no woodcutter around to save anyone. Instead, the woodcutter had died, got killed by wolves at the very beginning of the story."
He had steadily got up and brought out his pensive. Hermione noticed that it was smaller in size as her husband lowered it over the center table. Clearing his throat, he looked around the room and stared at Fawkes for a long time. Then shaking his head, he explained," I thought it was better to allow you all to see my memories of that night rather than narrate it to you. In this way, you will be able to see everything and take note of every single detail. We cannot afford to miss out on anything. I...well…"
Hermione had inhaled sharply as she watched the proud man trying to find a way to voice many of his dueling emotions. Severus Snape was a very private man and sharing his memories once again did mean a huge thing for him. It was just not the question of whether he trusted the people sitting in his study. It was the question of taking the huge step towards recognizing himself as a part of it. Minerva had tugged at his sleeve to draw his attention," Severus, you know you can trust us, don't you?" the man had jerked his head and gritted his teeth, ready to snap at her. But then Neville's soft voice had managed to throw him off.
"We all are aware of how remarkable that night was. In fact how remarkable the whole day was. I haven't really slept well after that, I have my wand held into a tight fist," laughing humorlessly," I even sleep on my couch and not on my bed, and I have my sleepers on." looking up at Snape who too was looking at the Gryffindor oddly, he stated," Sir, all I am trying to say, none of us here, at least, I can vouch for Hermione and me, we don't even qualify to judge you. We, on the other hand, can only keep thanking you in every possible way for saving our asses for the rest of our lives. And I am sorry for burning down so many cauldrons for the past seven years."
Neville Longbottom was indeed a new man, Minerva realized as the man dared to do the impossible. As soon as he had said his little piece, he had slowly arched one of his eyebrows trying to imitate Snape's signature expression. For a moment, the whole room grew uncannily quiet. Suddenly, Severus threw his head back and laughed to his heart's fill, his shoulders shaking hard with the sound. Minerva had brought out her handkerchief to wipe off her tears, sniggering into the piece of cloth. Shacklebolt had joined the man with a deep chuckle that not only rocked his body but also the chair he sat on. Neville was the last one to join and managed to chortle, self consciously. But Hermione was looking at her husband in awe.
Reining his emotions, he had tried not to look at his wife, instead brought out his ebony wand and pointed it at his temple. They all watched tendrils of his memory getting pulled out of his temple and attaching itself at the end of the wand. Carefully, he brought the wand over the still surface of the dark water in the stone pensive and dropped it in gently.
"Since it is best that we all see this memory together, we can dip one of our hands into the pensive and visit it." Snape had turned to Minerva and taking his cue, the Scottish woman had pulled up her deep green robe sleeves and let it hover over the surface of the water. " Very well, in that case, we better do it together." Once both the Minister and Neville had their sleeves rolled up and let their fingers hover over the still water with the string of memory swimming over it, Snape looked at Hermione and gave her a slight nod. He had been feeling her emotions roaring back in his mind. But now was not the time to despair. The moment her fingers were inches away from the swirling water, he had brought out his hand, placed it over her fingertips, and pushed down, saying," Now."
When the sensation of getting sucked in through a vortex of swirling mist ended, Hermione found herself inside the Hogwarts headmaster's office. On her left side, she saw Neville, Minerva, and Kingsley appear one by one and rather felt Snape standing behind her, close enough for her to lean on. She could still feel the tingle over her fingertips, where he had just touched for a moment and then disappeared. But he was present in her mind, and she could sense him towering over her. For the last couple of minutes in the study, her only thoughts were about visiting Snape's memory, when Harry had shown them to her. It was heart-wrenching to watch the man die in front of her eyes and then watch Ron go away like that… to be honest she was not prepared to visit those memories again.
Until she heard him in her mind speaking to her softly telling her, 'These won't hurt, I promise you.' His words were very encouraging, but was he aware of his own miserable thoughts? Lonely, lost, needing to be touched, desperate to hang on to something. That laughter had turned his sharp-edged out face into a picture of pure joy. She had wanted to offer him something, instead, he went ahead and surprised her. His soft voice had left its lingering warmth, even if those gloomy waters of his miserable emotions had continued to lap around. And his fingers had ignited that forgotten fire of want and desire. Closing her eyes shut, trying hard not to succumb to the temptation of leaning back into him, Hermione snapped open her eyes determined to watch the memory of the night closely.
Wiping her eyes with the end of her handkerchief, which was surely quite wrinkled by now, Andromeda Tonks looked back at Snape, While Remus Lupin, sat pensive, beside her," Would you agree with me, if I said, magic is as old as nature itself?" Snape nodded back and confirmed," I do." Taking a deep breath, the woman said." Man was still to understand and recognize his magical capacities and lived with just one huge family where everyone was as magical as he was, he thought it was normal. The Old Wolf Pack, I have the exact terms written and collected in here by the way," pointing at the box which Remus had carried with him," the old wolf pack was magical people who could shift into their wolf form and hunt in the depths of the forest. For centuries perhaps they lived like that without being aware of other magical creatures living alongside, until the new alpha, young and strong, Schwarze Nacht saw Rouge by accident and fell in love with her. I would like you to keep in mind, Severus, that the whole story, well rather a huge section is being told by people who were perhaps members of the Monde, Moons, or sons of the Black Night. Schwarze Nacht in German stands for Black Night. He was called black night because his coat was as shiny and as black as the moonless night.
It was fine to fall in love with Rouge or Red because she was the most beautiful woman in the settlement of Sang de lune Rouge, a close-knit Veela settlement located on the fringes of the Black Forest on the French side. But it was not fine at all to fall for a married woman, nor was it fine for the alpha to pine for the love for a woman belonging to another race altogether, when his wife was carrying his first child, whose name was already decided to be 'Lupine'.
Rouge had married a handsome young man who had no fear of the ferocious woods which would wake up every night with calls of wild beasts and howls of unknown and unseen predators. And his name was Raphael Hache belonging to the powerful Bûcheron bloodline.
Remember I said, Nacht saw Rouge by accident one day? The tales go like this, about a handful of miles inside the forest, where trees would suddenly thin out and the sun would actually manage to touch the ground, stood, a lonely cabin. One would just have to follow the thin silver rivulet and then cross over it hopping over the shining moonstones which look like slain giants and then follow the path etched out by the fallen trees to reach this magical cottage, where the old seer of the powerful Veela clans, Gran Grezel lived all by herself. Rouge was her favorite granddaughter. Since, the young woman could not visit the old grandmother post her marriage, one day she managed to convince Raph to take her with him into the forest.
And they say, it was either the woodsman found some dry wood to carry back home, or Rouge lost her way enjoying the freedom to roam about so far away from her home, that she simply stood on one of those giant rocks and closing her eyes, tilting her face up, to enjoy the warmth of the peeping sun. Nacht had been out hunting for the tribe. Hungry and thirsty and out of luck, he had heard the sound of the water flow close by. The unsuspecting wolf had crouched over to one the bank on the side of the forest and was about to drink some fresh water when he caught sight of her angelic reflection.
Here the alpha lost himself enthralled by the beauty of this glowing magical woman and there, not far away, Raph was surrounded by Nacht's own evil brother, Grauer Rücken, and his reckless followers. Grauer had previously challenged Nacht's right to become alpha but had lost the bout. The tribe believed he hated Nacht but said nothing. Members of the tribe made fun of him behind his back because of his dusty grey coat which made him unpopular and his prominent hunched back which made him get rejected by the woman he secretly adored. Her name was Mondstrahl, and she was now the mate of the Alpha, and mother of the unborn, Lupine."