East of Eden

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Disclaimer
Everything, every location, every character belongs to JK Rowling, Bloomsbury Pub., Warner Brothers or whoever might currently hold the rights of Harry Potter. There are exceptions - the title is taken from a John Steinbeck novel, the concept of the Life Shield Charm and the transmitter owl are mine. I swear, I don't make money out of this.

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Chapter 2
Once upon a time

by Clio
Spring 2001

Harry was confused. "Headmaster, please, what did really happen the night my parents died?" A ghost of a smile moved over Dumbledore's face, as if appreciating that Harry had come to this conclusion himself.

"I don't see this time and place being appropriate to discuss those events," Snape said brusquely before Dumbledore could answer.

The Headmaster sighed heavily. "Severus, sooner or later Harry must know. He seems to be old enough now. And I might remind you, that despite his youth he is deeply involved in our fight against Voldemort. It is time for him to understand the past and learn from it."

Dumbledore obviously had a point. Snape didn't reply. His lips were pressed into a tight line and no muscle in his face moved. Harry could only see a vein in his temple flicker nervously.

"Well, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore began, "14 years ago Voldemort was on the peak of his power. It was then that a prophecy was made about the son of Aurors being his downfall - the son of the Potters, to be specific."

Snape interrupted him harshly. "That's rubbish! There was no divination whatsoever involved."

"Yes, that's true, but nonetheless Voldemort was willing to believe in it. He was already after your parents because they both were powerful members of the Order."

At this point McGonagall got up. "Please excuse me, Headmaster. I have business to attend, ... essays to mark. And I believe this will be something you, Severus and Harry should discuss in private." Dumbledore nodded and McGonagall left the office.

After the door fell shut Snape looked at Dumbledore with a wry smile. " I reckon I'm not allowed to leave?"

Dumbledore gave his Potion master a cheerful smile and began anew. "Like today, Severus was my spy in Voldemort's circle. He informed us about Voldemort's plans to attack your parents. That was the time when we placed the Fidelius charm over your parents' house in Godric's Hollow. Only your parents and Sirius Black knew who James had chosen as their secret-keeper. And while I thought it was Black, it was the treacherous Peter Pettigrew , as you well know,."

Dumbledore paused as if to recollect Pettigrew's betrayal. "A while after your parents went into hiding the Death Eaters captured a man, who was known as a seer. He was tortured cruelly. And while he was tortured, Voldemort's men, who enjoyed the power over their victim, taunted him. They asked him for a proof of his divination abilities. The man took his chance and made up a prophecy. Voldemort's downfall would come from a child, he said, an Aurors' child. He offered Voldemort to help him finding and fighting that child. Voldemort allowed him to live, if the man told him the name of the child. Your parents were the only Aurors he could think of instantly, and he told him their name."

Dumbledore forced himself to smiled at Harry. "Your parents were quite famous in their time. You shouldn't blame him. Many men break easily under torture."

Snape snorted. "He didn't live long enough to regret his stupid words."

Dumbledore shook his head. "As Severus said, Voldemort killed the unlucky man instantly. And the Dark Lord began to hatch a plan how to kill you. Severus reported to me what he knew about this plan. We were having a meeting here in this very room, Severus, your parents, and I . Unfortunately your father refused to believe Severus. They had been enemies at school, and at the time of that meeting they were still nursing their childish grudge. Both of them were acting very, very immature."

Dumbledore glanced quickly at Snape, who seemed to study the stones in the wall with great interest. "Your father suspected Severus to have invented the new danger to be more believable as a spy, while really working for Voldemort. He called him a Slytherin liar. Severus on the other hand reproached James with being an irresponsible husband and father, because he rejected to leave the country with you and Lily. Those accusations only deepened the trench between them in a situation where we should have stood united against Voldemort. Your father and Severus got into a heated argument, which ended in a fistfight right here in my office."

Dumbledore shook his head again. "The meeting was called off without any result. Few days later your mother Lily was sitting again in the chair you are occupying now. She had thought about Severus' warning and had decided to take it seriously. Without James' knowledge she came here to ask me about shielding and defense charms to protect you. You might find it hard to believe, but amidst all house rivalry and hate, Lily and Severus had managed to stay friends during their school-days. Actually, they grew up in the same village in Yorkshire, where they spent a great deal of time together in the summer holidays."

Harry frowned. This was news to him. Sirius had never mentioned that Snape and his mother were playground buddies. Was it possible he hadn't known? Or maybe he and the James had been very aware of it, and Harry had just come across the underlying reason for the rivalry between Snape and the Marauders.

Harry focused his attention back on Dumbledore.

"Lily trusted Severus and believed his warning. It was then that the three of us – Lily, Severus, and I- came up with the unfortunate Life Shield Charm plan. It was a backup strategy in case Voldemort would find a way around the Fidelius that protected your parents' house. The basic idea was, that Severus would accompany Voldemort to Godric's Hollow. He and Lily would then cast a spell over you, in case Voldemort would try to kill you. The charm I had chosen was a powerful yet untested experimental shielding charm, which needed to be cast by two strong wizards. One of them had to be a blood relative –your mother- the other one must not be related to the charge. Hence the need of Severus being present." Dumbledore waved his hand in Snape's direction.


"I also knew that the charm, when effective, would rebound any curse, and I assumed it would rebound it onto the caster. This tragically turned out to be wrong, but I will try to tell you the events in a timely order. As I said, we assumed that the curse, possibly a killing curse, would be rebounded onto Voldemort, which would weaken him immensely. Severus was selected to take the opportunity and kill Voldemort in that moment of weakness, while your mother would keep up the shielding charm on you for some more minutes. In his normal condition Voldemort was almost immortal back then, and we all hoped that we had found a way to get rid of him once and for all."

Dumbledore sighed. "This was the theory. Severus and your mother secretly practiced to cast the charm simultaneously for days. Lily had decided against telling James, because she thought it would only fuel his hate for Severus. Too soon came the day on which our plan had to come into action. Voldemort tried to kill you with the unforgivable killing curse and the shielding charm was placed on you by Severus and Lily. It turned out that I had misjudged the direction of the rebounding curse. It didn't hit Voldemort- but both casters of the shielding charm.
"Luckily, in the very moment the killing curse rebounded, Severus broke his connection with the shielding charm to place his own killing curse on Voldemort as planned. This saved his life. While the rebounding curse affected Severus only lightly, it hit Lily with all its might."

Harry looked unbelievingly at Dumbledore. "Why didn't you tell me that before? Why were you lying to me about my parents' death for years?" He raised his voice accusingly. It betrayed more anger than he had intended.

Again Dumbledore glanced over to Snape. "See Harry, that's all difficult to explain. More things went wrong that night. I admit you have a right to know what has really happened, but I couldn't tell you earlier. It's a tale not appropriate for a child."

"I'm not a child anymore." Harry protested.

"No you are not. I didn't tell you about this earlier, because you were not ready, but now I believe you are. You see, this is very well kept secret. Few people know what really happened that night. And believe me, it is better to keep it that way."

Harry's mind raced. "Does Sirius know? He was there, too, right?"

Dumbledore sighed. "Sirius, yes. He came later to the scene and then rushed off to search and meet Pettigrew in that unfortunate duel, which brought him into Askaban. Sirius doesn't know, I'm sorry to say, because he lacks the necessary maturity. And him knowing what you will learn now would only make things worse. I must ask you not to tell him, and also not to confide in your friends or anyone else. No word of this conversation is to leave this room. Do you understand me, Mr. Potter?"

Harry nodded numbly. What secret could be there around his parents' death, other then Voldemort murdering them?

Dumbledore interrupted his musings. "You must know we had a special owl placed at the scene of the events. A transmitter owl. I wanted to monitor what happened."

"What's a transmitter owl?" Harry asked.

"Well, you can place a charm on an owl and then see through its eyes, even when the owl is located in a great distance. Of course the owl has to be carefully trained to go to an assigned location."

Dumbledore rummaged through a drawer of his desk and produced a big orb, very much like the crystal orbs Professor Trelawney was using in her lessons. "In this receiver you can see whatever the owl lays its eyes on. I would suggest we now watch the recording of the events of the night." Dumbledore placed the orb on a black piece of velvet.

"No!" whispered Snape, his voice suddenly hoarse with emotion.

"Severus, please. Sooner or later Harry must see the record."

Snape had gotten up and began pacing the room agitatedly. "But not tonight, Albus." Harry looked at his teacher in surprise. Small beads of sweat shone on his upper lip.

" Would it make any difference if it was tomorrow or next week? Would you be more willing to let him see it then?"

Dumbledore responded. He stood up and placed his hand on the shoulder of his Potion master in a surprising fatherly gesture. "Please stop pacing, Severus. You are wearing out my rug."

Both men sat down again, and Harry couldn't help but notice that Snape seemed to be afraid of watching the record. What scenes where trapped inside the orb, that made his infamous, feared teacher look so shaken?