This takes place a second after the previous part.
Nightbirds
And when the wind draws strongAcross the cypress tress
The Nightbirds cease their songs
So gathers memories.
-Loreena McKennitt, "Courtyard Lullaby"
Ten days after the term has ended
Snape heard Dumbledore tell him to come in. He opened the door without hesitation, stepped in, and froze. It couldn't be…how had it happened… Thoughts stopped in Snape's head as he stared at the woman standing by Dumbledore's desk, unable to truly comprehend what he was seeing.
She had always been tall and slender, but the robes and black dress merely
accented it. Her raven black hair was
long, nearly to her waist, and curly.
Her features did not appear as elven as they had in her youth. They were softened and Snape could see the
weariness in her eyes. But there was
something different about her.
Something subtle that lurked inside her. Yet Snape could see the girl he knew years ago. "Hello Tinuvial,"
he said evenly.
A tiny smile touched her lips. "Hello
Severus. How are you?"
"Tolerable," he answered. "How are-where
have you been all these years? What
happened?" he found himself asking.
Tinuvial looked down and Dumbledore said, "Severus, you
shall hear the entire story if you would take a seat and not get ahead of where
we are right now." Tinuvial
closed her eyes and smiled softly again in a silent laugh.
Cups of tea appeared on Dumbledore's desk.
Tinuvial took one, Snape declined, and they disappeared. He could not help but notice that her hands
were trembling slightly.
"Where to start?" Dumbledore mused, stroking his beard. "After the Potters were killed, perhaps?"
Tinuvial nodded. "Ah, yes, excellent
idea."
"After Voldemort disappeared," (Dumbledore began) "the Ministry secretly employed
a select few wizards and witches to hunt for him and his followers. Because of
her history with him and her abilities, Tinuvial was one of them." She did not look up, but watched her teacup
from lowered eyelids, sitting stiffly.
"She agreed to help on the stipulation that she be free to
check on young Harry as often as needed.
The Ministry agreed and she began her own hunt for Voldemort and his
elites, checking on Harry often. This
went on for a few years."
"You told me she was killed while protecting Potter," Snape cut in coldly, an
accusatory tone in his voice.
Dumbledore silenced him with a slight hand gesture. "Ah, but, you see, Severus, I never told you
she was dead. I told you she was gone."
"And I was," Tinuvial said quietly. "Three of his Death Eaters, ones that I had
been after, followed me to Harry. They
tried to curse him, but I put a Protection spell on him." She sighed shakily
and shut her eyes. "I'm sorry," she
apologized. "I'm still so tired
sometimes…"
Dumbledore shook his head. "No need to
apologize, my girl." He turned to Snape.
"The fight had taken its toll on the three Death Eaters, but they
combined what little strength they had left to put the Cruciatus on her."
Snape went cold. The Cruciatus
Curse. He looked at Tinuvial again in a
new light and realized that is what was different about her. "And then?" he said, in a rather harsh tone
born of repressed anger.
"Then, the three wizards disappeared," Dumbledore said. His eyes were troubled.
"Something they did…somehow, their combined power twisted the Curse enough so
that it would have to actually be removed.
Tinuvial's Sidhe relations came and took her, keeping her alive. You see, the only ways for a Cruciatus Curse
to be lifted is for the caster to lift it or for him to perish. The wizards separated, so that they could
never be caught and forced to remove it.
Tinuvial had become a terror to the remaining Death Eaters and with her
gone, they were that much safer. The
first two were killed in the first few years- one in a wizard's duel and the
other in a wolf attack that Remus Lupin refuses to comment on." He winked at Tinuvial. "He knew, of course. He was always very
protective over you, more so than James or Sirius."
She smiled. "Remus," she said with a shake of her head.
"And the third wizard?" Snape asked, dreadfully suspicious of whom it had been.
Dumbledore's face grew grave. "The
third wizard was Barty Crouch."
Snape was numb. Barty Crouch had done
this to her. He had died only the previous month in Azkaban after receiving a
Dementor's Kiss. "How long did it
last?" he demanded, fury racing in his blood.
"Eleven years," Dumbledore answered somberly, his eyes sad behind his
glasses. Snape was unable to look at
her now. It all fit, now- her fraility,
the trembling in her hands, the weariness in her eyes.
Dumbledore continued. "I did not
truthfully think she would live to have the curse lifted, because we all
thought Barty Crouch had died long ago, but still she was under it. Only last month, when we realized he had
escaped and was alive did I feel some hope again. But before, I had none. I told you she was gone, because I did not
want to give false hope when I myself had none." He sighed, his eyes sad. "Not a wizard or witch alive can remove an
evil done out of pure hatred." Tinuvial did not look up.
"She recovered quickly," Dumbledore said. "The Sidhe magic kept her alive and
in relatively good health. But as you
can see, she weakens easily."
"All I truly need is rest now, before the term," Tinuvial said, placing her
teacup on Dumbledore's desk, where it vanished with a puff of smoke.
Snape looked at her carefully. "So
you're the Defense Against Dark Arts professor?" he asked quietly. She nodded.
For once, he did not feel instant hatred towards the new teacher, but
only concern for her.
"I've been traveling for two days," she said.
"The movement was good for, but I need to rest now." Her face, which had always been pale, was
white as a sheet now.
Dumbledore nodded. "Quite right." He
turned to Snape. "Would you assist
her?" She began to protest, saying she
was fine, but Snape had stood up already.
Dumbledore quieted her protests. "Tinuvial, for once, do not argue with me. When you are fully recovered, I will gladly
argue day and night with you, but for now, let yourself rest."
"Is that a challenge?" she asked in a weary tone, but Snape could see a
familiar mischievous glint in her eye.
"If you consider it so. Now go rest."
Snape and Tinuvial left the office together in silence. Snape was still recovering from the round of
shocks and surprises he had received.
It did not seem real, none of it.
As they walked, Snape found himself stealing glances of the woman she had
become. While students, Tinuvial had
been one of his only true friends, for some reason. He never did know why or how.
She was good friend with the people he despised the most and was even
godmother to the son of the man he detested most of all. Yet, on some level, they shared a sense of
being a loner. Her being partially
Sidhe made her stand out, which she did not want. But, in his seventh year, Snape found himself growing strangely
fond of the girl.
They finally reached her room. She
opened the door, but turned back towards him.
"Dumbledore told me what you had done," she said suddenly. "And what you would be doing again." She smiled faintly. To his surprise, she put his arms around
him. "I'm sorry for ever thinking you
weren't a good person still," she whispered.
Snape had at first been too surprised to react, but was soon returning the
embrace. "Don't be sorry for anything,"
he said somewhat sharply. "I betrayed
you and everyone here. You were right
to think it."
"No, you're wrong," she replied. "You're better than you even realize, than
anyone realizes. It takes a strong
person do what you have done." She
pulled away, her eyes sad. "Just be
careful. I don't want to lose my friend again." And she went into her room,
closing the door.
Snape was left standing outside in the hall.
"I don't want to lose you again either," he said softly.
