Spoilers: Order of the Phoenix
Thank you for the reviews and your patience! I'm truly sorry for the delay, but real life decided to take all my time...
The sun had not yet risen that Severus was back in the dark clearing where Firene had fallen. He had left Hermione behind, asleep thanks to a mild sleeping potion. He knelt beside the bloodstained white body and gently caressed the soft nostrils. With a sigh, he stood up and aimed his wand at the unicorn.
"Mobilicorpus."
Focusing his magic force, he slowly made his way in the Forbidden Forest, bringing the body of the deceased unicorn with him, back to the clearing where they had met so often. There were his broom and a shovel. Somehow he doubted that magic would bring him the same satisfaction as doing the work by himself. He picked up the shovel and began digging a hole in the middle of the clearing.
He stopped after the first shovelfuls, whirling around, his wand at the ready. He relaxed only slightly when facing the high-cheekboned features of Bane. The centaur returned his gaze with undisguised hostility then asked calmly:
"Do you have another shovel?"
In the dark eyes, there was no desire to help a human; there was only a deep grief and a driving yearning to be present at Firene's burial, to have been a part of it. A single flick of his wand and he transfigured a stone into a shovel. Bane nodded curtly and, silently, came by Severus's side, driving his shovel deep into the ground.
They worked companionably as the sun was slowly rising and piercing through the leaves above their heads. Even though none of them would have acknowledged the fact to themselves, let alone aloud, they felt some comfort in being close. When the hole was deep enough to their taste, they lowered Firene's body in it. Surreptitiously, Severus cast a spell on the unicorn so his mane and fur would recover their usual shine. Bane only nodded and the wizard was grateful for the centaur's company rather than Albus's, who wouldn't have missed such an occasion to comment on Severus's sentimentality, with naturally the irritating twinkle in his eyes.
They looked lengthily at Firene's dead body, each of them thinking back of moments spent with the noble unicorn. None of them wanted to be the one to throw the first handful of earth on the white corpse.
"Will he remain so?" asked Bane, his voice strangely uncertain.
Severus hid his surprise quickly and whispered another spell instead of answering. Once again, Bane nodded. Sighing, Severus grabbed a fistful of dark earth and let the grains slid slowly between his fingers and fall soundlessly on Firene's still flank. Bane imitated him reluctantly – he seemed to intensely dislike the fact that a human was doing what was right before he had the time to do it first – and together they threw large handfuls of earth on the otherwise immaculate white fur. Then, suddenly unable to delay it further, they took their shovels and filled the gaping hole, hiding the lord of the unicorns from everyone's eyes.
When it was over, except for the freshly turned over earth, nobody would have guessed that the middle of the clearing was in fact a grave. Bane stepped back, looking at their work with a critical eye.
"It should not be so stark," he said dryly.
Severus didn't answer but he was already thinking about it. He wasn't much for outrageous display so he settled for a quick move of his wand and a white stone covered the grave, a silvery unicorn engraved on it. He waited for Bane's comment but the centaur's words were not the ones he expected:
"How is she?"
No need to be a Master in Divination to understand that 'she' was meant for Hermione, Firene's daughter.
"Shaken," he replied succinctly, hoping it would be enough to express the depth of Hermione's sadness.
Bane didn't ask for more explanations. Though he didn't like to be bound with the centaur, Severus was glad of his understanding. He couldn't have stood for any of Albus's cheerfulness or Minerva's pressing questions. Bane's silent agreement – or disagreement – was much more in his vein.
"He will be remembered," said Bane quietly.
As Severus was looking at him with curiosity, the centaur inclined his head in farewell, quite reluctantly, his hand hovering above the tomb in a strange caress that wasn't without reminding Severus of Terry's caresses for Hermione. He frowned at the reminiscence. Bane's fingers brushed against the polished stone and then he looked up suddenly, a light smile playing on his lips.
"He will be remembered," he repeated, his smile turning into a knowing smirk. "I can already hear his name being called."
Then he trotted away, leaving Severus puzzled. The wizard muttered some well-chosen adjectives under his breath against known-it-all centaurs and their misty-eyed visions.
When he came back to his dungeons, he busied himself immediately in the reversing potion for Hermione. He had some blood from Harry, thanks to Poppy, and he had kept preciously some of Firene's blood. As for Slytherin blood, he didn't have to look very far: his own would be perfect. He knew that he needed two weeks for the potion to be complete and then, Hermione would be free from her burden of being aware of Hogwarts. He hoped it would give him enough time to deal with Firene's death and his binding to Bane. Enough time so he could be there for Hermione.
During the first week, she came to him every night, wrapped in Harry's Invisibility Cloak. He didn't ask her how she had gotten it, but the fire in her eyes told him more than words would have done. Harry wouldn't have said no to such eyes. He was glad to see that there was still enough spirit in her despite Firene's death for her to continue to go on. She sometimes came to watch him work, sitting silently in a corner, her eyes following his every movement.
Once, as the potion was gently simmering, he looked up at her. The room was quite dark, casting shadows on her, but not enough to hide the sadness in the depths of her eyes.
"Are you sure of your choice?" he asked softly.
"Is there another one?" she replied quite bitterly. "I can see distrust even in the eyes of the Headmaster. There is no place for the Child of the prophecy in this world now that Voldemort isn't anymore."
He sighed and motioned her to come closer. He took a sample of her blood and set it aside to study it. She looked at him without understanding.
"You didn't do this with Voldemort's blood."
"There wasn't any occasion for doing so. But there are many differences between the Dark Lord and you. Your bloods were given freely by their original bearers. Do you remember? We wondered if it would change something about your destiny: Heir or Fraud. It probably didn't change anything – Firene was the decisive factor, thanks to Draco's sacrifice – but maybe it changed something about your blood composition. I want to analyse it before trying anything with the potion."
She nodded, her face suddenly closed.
"Why did he die?" she murmured.
"You have to understand him, Hermione," sighed Severus, weary of this discussion they already had had several times since Firene's death. "He had been deposed from his leadership, because he did the most forbidden thing for unicorns. He couldn't live any longer with his guilt of having Draco's blood on his conscience. You felt guilty yourself, yet you didn't perform the deed. Try to imagine what Firene felt. He had nothing to do in our war; you were in the middle of it since you were eleven years old. As loath I am to say, you belong to the fighters, Hermione: even though you are still a child in some ways, no Death Eater would have had qualms to kill you as one of the biggest threats to them. Firene was nothing of this. He was not part of our fight. He came into it because of you, because he felt it was his duty to stand next to his daughter."
"So it's my fault."
"Depending of whom you ask, yes, it is. And no, it isn't. For me, you're not guilty. It was war. War is like a game of chess: we have to sacrifice pawns. Except that in Wizard Chess, the pawns resurrect at the end of the game. Firene was one of the pawns."
She nodded silently and this evening, she didn't stay with him, preferring returning to Gryffindor Tower. Severus didn't comment on it and let her go, his dark eyes flashing.
He took advantage of her absence for analysing her blood and remained stunned by the results. At first, unable to believe them, he tried again. After spending half the night running the tests again and again, he had to accept what was in front of him: there was no way the reversing potion would work on Hermione. Voldemort's blood had been an amalgam of different bloods, each relatively easy to separate from the others. It wasn't so with Hermione's blood. The different components were totally blended together; it would be impossible to reverse the process that had created the Child.
He didn't say anything to Hermione, preferring to wait until the end of the brewing of the reversing potion. She came back to him, as he had known she would, even despite Albus's reproving glances. Now that everything was calm again, the Headmaster wasn't so keen on letting his prize pupil consort almost openly with his Potions Master. Strangely, Minerva didn't make any objection. But then she was the only one – except Severus – who didn't look at Tom like he was a two-headed monster.
Severus received the explanation of Albus's change of heart the last day for the brewing of the reversing potion. The Headmaster called him in his office and silently put a letter in front of him. Severus read it calmly and understood immediately. It was from Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, who still had an ownership claim on Hermione, if Severus remembered the contract clauses properly. The letter was short and straight to the point: they were threatening to call Cornelius Fudge and give him enough proofs to send Severus to Azkaban and have Albus be removed from Hogwarts.
"You need to give Hermione her life back," said Albus.
"I already did," said Severus with a snarl. "She's with me of her own free will."
"You have to let her go," insisted Albus. "Even though Cornelius isn't bright enough, he can still cause us problems. I refuse to risk it. The future of Hogwarts and the children is too important for the wizard community."
Severus looked at him lengthily and finally understood something. Hogwarts was all Albus really cared for. It was a way for him to – hopefully – inculcate in them his ideas.
"If he has proofs – and I have no doubt that Mr. Crabbe and Mr. Goyle do have them – Cornelius can do lasting harm to the school," continued Albus, unaware of Severus's realisation. "And I know about the reversing potion. It's urgent that you give it to Miss Granger. Think of the dangers that could happen if the wrong people heard about her unusual powers on Hogwarts!"
"I will see what I can do to keep them in check," said Severus, standing up.
He left Albus's office quickly before the Headmaster could notice that something was amiss. When he arrived in his laboratory, the reversing potion had just turned a silvery white. Almost absentmindedly, he poured a small amount of it in the glass container where were the last samples of Hermione's blood. He ducked instinctively when the result exploded, sending glass shards everywhere in the laboratory. He stood up cautiously, looking at the bottom of the glass container, where the single remaining drop was turning a dirty shade of brown before disappearing altogether.
"Well, I guess that settles it," he murmured. "I would say it's out of question to ask Hermione to drink this."
There was a knock at the door, a special knock that he would have recognised even on his deathbed. A flick of his wand and the door opened on Hermione. She knew that the wards would let her enter but she was always careful not to walk on a delicate potion.
She raised her eyebrows when seeing the mess around her.
"Did you get angry?" she inquired, crossing the laboratory to come near him.
Severus closed the door and, on Hermione's injunction, Hogwarts itself warded it heavily, preventing any intrusion.
"No, I didn't," he grumbled. "We need to talk."
Her eyes widened and she remained silent a moment before asking in a voice slightly trembling:
"Are you aware of what kind of talk usually follows such a statement?"
He frowned and pointed a seat to her. Frowning in turn, she sat and crossed her arms on her chest.
"So?" she asked mutinously.
"This," he said with a vague gesture toward the laboratory, "is the result of the reversing potion on your blood. I think it's useless to tell you there is no way I'm going to make you drink it."
She shivered violently.
"Thank you," she murmured gratefully. "Thank you for testing it before. I know you didn't for Voldemort."
"Well, we were trying to get rid of the Dark Lord anyway, so it wouldn't have mattered. I have no intention to get rid of you anytime soon," he added with a smirk. "In fact, I had some suspicions about this. Your blood was perfectly blended; you made every new blood entirely yours and I think the phoenix tears used for curing your barrenness are responsible for such a perfect smooth result. The thing is, it's impossible to reverse your condition. You will have to remain the Heir until the end of your days."
Hermione winced.
"This is not what I wanted to hear on the subject," she muttered.
"Well, this is not your decision, nor mine. Now, Albus received a letter from Crabbe and Goyle. They remind us nicely that they are still your owners and that we would best remember the fact until the end of the year if we don't want Fudge to come back here and send me back to Azkaban."
"What for?"
"For illicit relationship with a student. Crabbe and Goyle imply they have proofs to offer, apparently enough of them. It seems they can send me to Azkaban and have Albus removed permanently from Hogwarts."
"What are we supposed to do?"
"Albus wants me to let you go. He probably means that I have to be the usual selfish cold Potions Master and tell you unfeelingly that we are through… if there ever was anything between us."
For a moment, Hermione was frightened and her lower lip trembled slightly.
"Are you going to obey him?" she asked finally.
"I didn't have any death wish lately that I recall, so, unless I want to be crushed by every stone of Hogwarts, I will not. Albus did whatever he wanted of my life for as long as the Dark Lord was alive. Now, hopefully, I'm free, even though he didn't gave me my sock."
"I did give you one," she replied with a small grin, her shoulders relaxing in relief.
"You did not enslave me into this double life. Anyway…"
He told her of his deductions on Albus's priorities and she nodded.
"Harry has had suspicions since our fifth year," she said quietly. "He said the Headmaster was too much of a manipulative old fool. He even said that he was worse than any Slytherin. I don't think Harry meant it in a nice way."
"I don't think either," replied Severus dryly. "But we have to focus on the fact that Albus sees you as a threat."
"As for Crabbe and Goyle, I still have this," she said grimly, taking something from her pocket and showing it to him.
It was the silver and green collar that the two Slytherins had given her. She looked at it with distaste.
"If it can reassure them and the Headmaster at the same time, I will wear it again, no matter my feelings on the subject. But I can swear to you that on the day of the leaving feast, they will be wearing Gryffindor collars!"
"There should be another way to proceed, but I think it's impossible to use the blood binding ceremony. I'm afraid that my blood would react the same way as the reversing potion were I to add yours to it."
"Are you really sure you don't have any death wish?" she asked suspiciously. "Being with me seems quite unhealthy for you, seeing all the threats hanging over your head."
"I plan on living, thank you," he said with a smirk. "Albus doesn't know about the reversing potion being a disaster. Do you think you can make him believe it worked?"
She shrugged carelessly.
"I think I can, unless he uses Legilimency on me. He still didn't notice that Hogwarts would rather betray him than me. The school protects me and hides what I don't want to be known."
"In a way, he's right. It would be very dangerous if someone were to hear about your powers on Hogwarts."
"If Voldemort didn't manage to break me, I don't risk too much, now, do I?"
"They could use those you love. Potter, Weasley, Boot or even Viktor. Or myself."
"Would the Headmaster use you against me?"
"If Fudge comes here and asks for my head, proofs in hand, I doubt that Albus will stand up for me. I'm afraid nobody will do so as long as I have this on my arm."
He bared his left arm and she could see the Dark Mark on it.
"I'm probably the last one out of Azkaban. Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle didn't receive the Dark Mark. Jonathon Crabbe, Vincent's father, was too clever for this."
"I thought the Headmaster wanted you to stop hiding in the darkness. That you had a new life in front of you."
As Severus looked at her quizzically – he knew perfectly that she hadn't been there when Albus had spoken of the new situation – she smiled sheepishly.
"Harry told me. He wanted me to explain about Tom, why I did such a thing. I quite had forgotten all the hatreds that were still alive. I'm sorry for Hagrid, he must have thought that I betrayed him."
"For all I know, he understood the situation quite clearly, but it doesn't mean he has to like it."
"Is there no chance for you outside of Hogwarts?"
"Nobody is willing to employ an ex-Death Eater, Hermione. The only reason why Albus wanted to was because I was his spy. It was his way to keep an eye on me. Don't be mistaken, he was a good employer, if we except the spying thing."
"But you were acquitted at your trial! The justice didn't declare you guilty."
"Hermione, I was acquitted because I already was a spy for the Order and Albus's word tipped the scales in my favour. But it didn't change a thing to the fact that I had been a Death Eater – and still am, or almost. I did fight for pure-blood supremacy, Hermione."
"And does all the work you did for the Order since then count for nothing?" she asked desperately.
"Nobody knows about it, Hermione, except those in the Order and even they are not too keen on me. I can't go out in the world asking for a new situation with this on my arm and the probably rumour like I left the school because I seduced the prize pupil, who happened to be Potter's best friend."
Hermione winced. She had forgotten that even Cornelius knew about those rumours – not counting the whole school and there was no doubt that some students had spoken to their parents about their mean Potions Master smitten with their classmate.
"So there's no chance for us? We can't do anything but what the Headmaster wants us to do?"
"Not as long as there is this mark on my arm. But don't forget that Hogwarts is on our side."
"Did Hogwarts choose me as the Heir because we defeated Voldemort, making him the Fraud? Is it the only reason why I'm the Child?"
"Hermione… Hogwarts made its choice before we defeated the Dark Lord. In fact, someone made a choice at the same time and Hogwarts used him. When he chose you, it was also Hogwarts' choice."
"D-Draco? Draco was Hogwarts' instrument in the choice?" she asked, her eyes wide open. "I thought it was for revenge against Voldemort. That's what he said in the letter."
"You should know better than underestimate Hogwarts' powers. You are the Heir, Hermione, not because of the Dark Lord's defection, but because you were chosen as such. Never doubt such a fact."
Before she could argue with him – and he had no doubt that she would – there was a knock on the door. They both started and Hermione looked at the door as if she could see through it. She paled slightly.
"It's Tom."