A/N: Characters and world property of JK Rowling. No copyright infringement intended.
Of Blacks and Boarhounds
Severus stared into her eyes, then pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Not gently, not chastely; this was something more, something almost primal. He traced the seam of her lips with his tongue, and as she opened her mouth for him, she wrapped her arms around his neck. Their tongues battled for dominance, and she moved to straddle his lap. She threaded her hand through his hair, as his hands roamed over her back, touching skin where her shirt had ridden up once more. Lulabelle moaned into his mouth. Severus slowly pulled away, and rested his forehead against hers.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have…"
"Don't be sorry, Lou," she interrupted, still breathing heavily. "I've been wantin' to do that for days now."
Chapter Thirteen
June 29, 1992
They took their dinner while seated in the kitchen, after having taken Sinaka for a long walk. It was simple fare, sandwiches and crisps, which Lulabelle informed him were really called chips.
"If these are chips in America, then what do you call chips?"
"French fries."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah."
"I guess that makes a certain amount of sense," Severus said thoughtfully. "Some chips are made by julienning potatoes… what do you call the chips that have a thicker cut?"
"Mmm," Lulabelle said around a bite of sandwich. "Steak fries."
Severus snorted at this.
"I'm not kiddin', Lou! There's curly fries, too. Some folks call 'em Suzy Q's, though."
"Madness."
"Y'all call the stove a hob. Ya don't have a lotta room to talk, mister. And don't think I don't see ya sneakin' Sin chips over there, either," she said.
"I am doing no such thing, madam." At her raised eyebrow, he added, "I am sneaking him crisps."
Lulabelle laughed out loud. "This is why I usually put him up durin' meals. He gets that look, the one that says he's a poor lil' doggy who's just a-starvin' to death and hasn't eaten in days, even though he's just been fed."
"It's the eyes, I think. He's quite convincing," he agreed.
Sinaka chuffed, and Severus slipped him another crisp.
"Well, just before Harry's seventeenth birthday, the Order moves him from the Dursleys' house to the Burrow. Accordin' to the prophecy, he's the only one who can defeat Voldemort…" Lulabelle began once they had finished their meal.
"Wait, what?"
"Oh, right. Ya didn't hear the whole thing, Lou. There was more to the prophecy. The whole thing said, 'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not… and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives… the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…' So basically Dumbledore had been raisin' him like a hog for slaughter this whole time."
Severus closed his eyes. "This shouldn't be surprising. At this point, nothing that man does should be surprising."
Lulabelle took his hand as she cuddled into his side on the loveseat. "I know, Lou. I know."
He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "So the Order is moving Potter…" he prompted.
"Yeah. It's this whole thing to do with the Trace and how they don't know who they can trust in the Ministry and everything. So they make this plan to Polyjuice six people into Harry, and have seven other people fly with the seven Potters to the Burrow. That way he'd be harder to capture if things go wrong. And they do. There's a battle in the air, Death Eaters vs. Order members. You're there too, Lou. Ya save Remus' life by castin' Sectumsempra at a Death Eater who was fixin' to curse him in the back, but George Weasley gets hurt by it too. It takes off his ear. Mad-Eye Moody and Hedwig, Harry's owl, both die in the battle. Everyone else makes it back to the Burrow where they patch George up and find out that Mundungus Fletcher had run away from the fight."
"Dung? He betrays them?"
"I'm not sure, actually. He mighta just got scared. He was a criminal, to be sure; he stole a bunch of stuff from Grimmauld Place after Sirius died, includin' the actual horcrux locket, but I don't think he was workin' with Voldemort."
"Dung has always been a vile little man, but vile little men do have their uses. I can see why Dumbledore would keep him around."
"Well anyway, shortly after that, Bill Weasley marries Fleur Delacour. At the…"
"Fleur who?"
"Delacour. She was the champion for Beauxbatons durin' the Triwizard Tournament. She's a quarter Veela. They met workin' at Gringotts together," Lulabelle explained.
"A French Veela? Congratulations Mister Weasley," Severus said with a leer and a raised brow. Lulabelle elbowed him in the side.
"Hush your mouth. They're very good together. She doesn't care that his face had been mauled by Greyback."
"Mmm. He must be her mate. Otherwise…"
"Or maybe she's just not a superficial bitch who only cares about appearances," Lulabelle chastised with a raised brow. "But that's neither here nor there. At the reception after their weddin', Kingsley Shacklebolt sends his patronus to say that the Ministry has fallen, and Scrimgeour was dead."
"Rufus Scrimgeour?"
"Yeah, he becomes the minister when Fudge resigns in disgrace after the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. So now Voldemort controls the Ministry."
Severus pinched the bridge of his long nose. "It gets worse, doesn't it? It's about to get very bad."
Lulabelle sighed. "Yeah, Lou. It does. Hermione had been squirrelin' away stuff for weeks in her lil' beaded bag that she's got this undetectable extension charm on. Stuff like food, clothes, a tent, books, potions… anything and everything she thinks they'll need as they try to hunt down the last horcruxes. She and Harry and Ron had already decided they weren't goin' back to school that year. They were gonna find the other four horcruxes and destroy 'em. They just have a few breadcrumbs of a trail to follow that were left by Dumbledore in his will. He'd left Ron his deluminator, Hermione his copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, and Harry the Sword of Gryffindor and the first snitch he ever caught. They're not allowed to keep the sword, though, since it was determined that it wasn't Dumbledore's to give.
"So when Kingsley's lynx patronus shows up, sayin' the Ministry has fallen and that Death Eaters are comin', everyone starts to panic. Hermione grabs Harry and Ron and apparates 'em to Tottenham Court Road. They go to a cafe to discuss their next moves, and without realizin' it they activate the taboo on Voldemort's name. They hafta fight a couple Death Eaters, but they get away and go to Grimmauld Place.
"They're able to stay there for about a month, and they find out from the house elf there that Regulus had instructed him to take and destroy the locket, only Mundungus stole it after Sirius died. Death Eaters are camped outside the house, and they nearly get caught after stealing the locket back from Dolores Umbridge at the Ministry. They manage to apparate to the woods, but Ron is badly splinched.
"They make camp and try to heal him as best they're able. They make what plans they can, to find the other three horcruxes and find a way to destroy 'em once they're found, all the while not gettin' caught. They take turns wearin' the locket 'round their necks, but it has an effect on 'em. When they wear it, it makes 'em mean, makes 'em doubt. So much so that Ron eventually takes off and leaves 'em there.
"Harry and Hermione go to Godric's Holler at Christmas, mostly 'cause he's never seen his folks' graves. They meet Bathilda Bagshot, but she turns out to be dead and it's really just Voldemort's pet snake in an old lady suit."
Severus snorted at this. "You have the most creative way of stating things, Lulabelle. I'm sorry for interrupting, please, do continue."
Lulabelle elbowed him in the side, then settled comfortably against him once more. "Right. So they hafta fight the snake, and Harry's wand gets broken in the scuffle. They make it back to the woods, in the Forest of Dean, and try to re-group. One night Harry sees a patronus, your patronus, and he follows it to a frozen pond. You'd stuck Gryffindor's Sword in the pond, Lou. Ya knew ya couldn't just hand it to 'em, they wouldn't have trusted it, or trusted you. But your patronus was the same as Harry's mama's, and he sure as hell woulda trusted that. He just forgets to take that damn locket off before jumpin' in the pond.
"Ron comes back just then and manages to save Harry from drownin'. They use the sword to kill the horcrux, and go back to the tent and Hermione."
Severus stopped her. "The Sword of Gryffindor can destroy horcruxes?" he asked.
"Well, not right now, I don't think. But after Harry uses it to kill the basilisk…"
"Ah. And it's goblin-made. So it was now imbued with basilisk venom," he nodded at her.
"Exactly. So then they figure out about the Deathly Hallows, because of some symbol Dumbledore drew in the book he left Hermione. They go to the Lovegood's house, because Luna's daddy had been wearin' a necklace with the symbol, and he tells them all about it. Only Luna had been kidnapped, and Xenophilius tries to turn 'em in to get his daughter back."
"Xeno was always a strange one, but I just can't imagine him…"
"They had his daughter, Lou. His baby girl. Ya can't blame him for it at all."
"I suppose you're right," Severus sighed.
"In any case, the trio gets away, only for Harry to start hollerin' and then yellin' out Voldemort's name. The Snatchers find them…"
"Snatchers?"
"People who earn money by kidnappin' muggle-borns and blood traitors. The Ministry is offerin' rewards for everyone they turn in. Anyway, when the Snatchers, led by Scabior and Greyback, show up, Hermione hits Harry in the face with a stingin' hex so that he'll look different. Doesn't help all that much, 'cause they take 'em to Malfoy Manor anyway.
"It's bad here, Lou. Real bad. Lucius and Bellatrix bring Draco out to identify Harry, but he says he can't tell. He knows exactly who Harry is; he went to school with him for the last six years, saw him everyday, ya can't tell me he didn't recognize him. But he tries. Draco tries to help Harry. Harry and Ron are sent to the dungeons, where Dean Thomas and Luna are already bein' kept, along with Ollivander and a goblin named Griphook. But Bellatrix keeps Hermione upstairs. She tortured her, Lou. Bellatrix tortures Hermione with the Cruciatus Curse, over and over, and the boys could hear her screams all the way down in the dungeons.
Lulabelle stopped speaking when she felt Severus' arms tighten around her, and she climbed into his lap to make it easier for him to hold her. She wanted to give him all the comfort she could.
"Then suddenly a house elf appears. Dobby comes in, swingin' from the chandelier, and knocks it to the ground nearly on top of Bellatrix. He'd already taken half the people in the dungeon to safety, to Bill and Fleur's lil' cottage by the sea, and had come back for Harry, Hermione, and Ron. Bellatrix throws that cursed knife at 'em as he's apparatin' 'em away, and it hits Dobby in the chest.
"They get to Shell Cottage, and Dobby dies in Harry's arms. He buries him, diggin' the grave himself. They stay there for awhile and Hermione recovers as much as she can; food ran out while they were on the run and they've all three been starvin' at this point, and they make plans to break into Gringotts. Bellatrix had been screamin' about 'em bein' in her vault, so they determined she was hidin' a horcrux in the bank. They manage to break in and get the horcrux, which was Hufflepuff's Cup by the way, but they end up havin' to escape on the back of the dragon they keep down there.
"They drop off into a lake, and make their way to Hogsmeade. Aberforth Dumbledore helps 'em get to the castle through a secret passage from his bar to the Room of Requirement, 'cause they think there's a horcrux somewhere in the castle.
"Lou. When Voldemort took over the Ministry, he also appointed you as Headmaster of Hogwarts. The Carrows are teachin' there, too; Muggle Studies and what's now just called the Dark Arts. You've spent the whole year tryin' to keep as many kids as safe as ya can, while still keepin' on Voldemort's good side. If he removed ya from the school, it'd be real bad for the kids. Real bad. They're already bein' taught to use the Cruciatus Curse on other kids, Lou. Ya had to stay, to protect whom ya could.
"Neville Longbottom has been runnin' the DA and savin' kids as best he can in the Room of Requirement. Harry asks everyone there about what an important item to the school could be. They still didn't know what the last horcrux was, even though they'd already figured out that Nagini was one as well. Luna tells Harry about the lost diadem of Ravenclaw, and they go to talk to the Grey Lady about it. Turns out it was in the Room of Hidden Things all along. Only when they're in the Ravenclaw common room, Alecto Carrow is waitin' for 'em. She presses her Dark Mark, and Voldemort finds out they're in the castle."
"The Room of Hidden Things?" Severus questioned.
"One of the incarnations of the Room of Requirement, where all the lost things go. Anyway, while Harry and Luna are talkin' to the Grey Lady, Hermione and Ron go down to the Chamber of Secrets and get a basilisk fang to kill the Cup horcrux, since they'd lost the Sword at Malfoy Manor."
"How did they get in? I thought Potter was the only parselmouth."
"Apparently Harry talks in his sleep."
"Of course," Severus held back a sneer, but there was no real contempt behind it in the first place.
"By now, everyone knows they're in the castle. Voldemort included. Um, Lou, McGonagall kinda, well, drives ya out of the castle, for lack of a better term. The Carrows are incapacitated, and the school prepares for war. Members of the Order start showin' up, ready to fight. Voldemort gets there with his Death Eaters, and the battle starts. It's bad, Lou, real bad. Harry, Hermione, and Ron get to the Room of Hidden Things, but Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle find 'em in there. Fiendfyre gets cast, and Crabbe dies. It destroys the horcrux in the diadem, and he was a pretty evil guy, but he was still just a kid, Lou. They're all just kids, fightin' in someone else's war."
Lulabelle stopped talking for a moment. Explaining the stories - even though they had been just that, stories, to her for her entire life - was harder than she had imagined. She couldn't bear to think about how Severus was feeling; he actually knew these children, taught them, had watched them grow. She took a deep breath, blinked back tears, and continued.
"Harry gets a 'vision' through his connection to Voldemort in his scar. He's in the Shriekin' Shack with his snake. Nagini is the last horcrux they need to destroy before they can kill Voldemort. So they sneak out there under the invisibility cloak, and they see ya there, Lou.
"Ya see, Voldemort had stolen Dumbledore's wand from his grave. It's the Elder Wand, one of the Deathly Hallows. Voldemort thinks he needs it to kill Harry. But it's not workin' right for him. It's not any better than any other wand he's ever had. He decides that you are the true master of the Elder Wand, because you'd killed Dumbledore. Only he didn't know that Draco had disarmed him first. He explains all this to ya, Lou, and then he has…" she broke off with a sob. "He has Nagini kill ya, Lou. That's how ya die. Nagini kills ya in the Shriekin' Shack, with three kids watchin' it happen, and Voldemort stands there and says he regrets it."
Lulabelle is sobbing by this point. Severus holds her close as he thinks, 'How is it that this woman is crying over me, over my future death and yet I am calm? I am the one offering her comfort? I have just been told how I am to die, and all I can think about is how to make her feel better.'
Lulabelle was mumbling into his chest, "I'm so sorry, Lou, we won't let it happen, I won't let it happen, I'm so sorry," over and over again. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
"Please, my lady. Don't cry. It will be okay," he murmured to her, and other platitudes as well in effort to calm the sobbing woman.
As her tears tapered off, she sniffed and said, "After Voldemort leaves the Shack, the kids come out from under the cloak to try to help ya. There's nothin' to be done, of course. Ya make 'em take your memories, which are fallin' like tears from your eyes as you're layin' there dyin'. Ya ask Harry to look at ya, so ya can see Lily's eyes one last time. And then," she drew a shuddering breath. "And then, ya die."
They sat together in silence for awhile.
"After that, Voldemort's voice can be heard all around and throughout the castle. He's givin' everyone one hour, one hour to collect their dead and treat their wounded, and then, if Harry hasn't come to meet him in the Forbidden Forest, then he'll kill everyone.
"Harry sneaks off to view your memories in the Headmaster's office, in the pensive up there. He sees your childhood growin' up with his mama, how ya were treated by his daddy. How with one word, one fuckin' word said by a scared and mortified teenager, his mama ended a friendship and refused to forgive her best friend. Harry sees how ya ran to Dumbledore the second ya realized the prophecy was about the Potters. How ya begged him to save 'em. How when he doesn't, Dumbledore makes ya swear to spend your life protectin' Harry instead. Harry sees how ya only agree as long as Dumbledore doesn't tell anyone. How ya do protect him, Lou. Harry sees just how very much ya do for him. And he sees how Dumbledore asks ya to kill him. How you've always been on the right side, fightin' against Voldemort, doin' everything ya can to make sure Harry wins, to make sure Harry lives. He sees how mad ya get when ya find out Harry's a horcrux, and that Dumbledore knew he had to die for the war to be won. He sees how you've done all this because ya still love his mama. How you'll always love his mama."
"Lulabelle…" Severus starts to say, but she cuts him off.
"Harry goes back to the Great Hall, where all the dead and wounded are. I don't wanna tell ya who all dies, Lou. There's just so many, so, so many, and we're gonna fix it. But it's.. it's a lot, Lou. Harry sneaks off, under the cloak, away from the Weasleys. They lost Fred, Lou. They're mournin' their son, their brother, and Harry sneaks off to Forbidden Forest to meet Voldemort alone. He doesn't want anyone else to lose a son, a brother, a friend. He's so tired of fightin', Lou. He takes out the snitch that Dumbledore left him, that one last breadcrumb from a despotic ol' man, and it finally opens. Dumbledore had written 'I open at the close' on the snitch. Harry was walkin' to his death, to the close of his life. The snitch opens, and the Resurrection Stone comes out. He sees his mama and daddy, he sees Sirius, he sees Remus. He asks if it hurts to die. He's scared, and he's brave, but he's so tired. He just wants it to end.
"They promise to stay with him, and they do. Voldemort tells the other Death Eaters not to attack him, that he's gonna be the one to kill him. And he does. But. Harry's a horcrux. Voldemort kills the horcrux, and Harry gets to come back. He's layin' on the ground, seemingly dead, and Voldemort makes Cissy go check to make sure. Cissy was so brave, Lou. She sees that he's alive, and she asks about Draco. She needs to know that her boy is still alive. When Harry tells her yes, she lies to the Dark Lord, Lou. Cissy tells him that Harry's dead. She knows the only chance her family has is for Harry to win, for Voldemort to die. And so she lies. You'd be so proud of her, Lou.
"Voldemort makes poor Hagrid carry Harry's body back to the school. He tells everyone that Harry was killed while runnin' away, and asks 'em to join him. Neville steps forward, but instead of joinin' Voldemort, he pulls out the Sword of Gryffindor and chops off Nagini's head. Battles break out again, and Molly Weasley manages to kill Bellatrix. Then Harry jumps up and duels Voldemort. He tells him that you were always Dumbledore's man. That you were against him from the second he threatened Lily.
"He tells Voldemort that he's the real master of the Elder Wand. That Draco had disarmed Dumbledore before ya killed him, and that he'd disarmed Draco after that. Voldemort fires the Killin' Curse, and Harry fires the Disarmin' Curse. The curses meet in the middle, and then Voldemort's curse rebounds on himself, and his wand lands in Harry's hand.
"He won, Lou. He beat Voldemort. But the price, oh the price was so high. There's an epilogue, but it's set nineteen years later, nineteen years after 1998. That's ten years after the final book was published. I'll tell ya all about it if ya want, but it just seems… too easy. Too perfect. People don't come through a war like that without long-lastin' scars, ya know? And if all this is real, if I'm not in a coma and this is first-hand knowledge of the Second Wizardin' War, then how does she know what happens ten years down the line? How does J.K. Rowling know the future?"
After a long moment, Severus spoke. "Perhaps, she didn't. Perhaps, she needed an ending to the horrible story that she'd turned into a children's book. And perhaps, we can make a better ending for everyone."