The Man Who Lied - Part IV

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READ BELOW FIRST:

Author's Note: As you might already know, this is the third series in
my altraverse that includes "The Girl Who Loved and "The Boy who Cried."
If you want more info about this altraverse, go to my website at:
http://www.geocities.com/ratheramutemwiya/

This installment in particular takes place *concurrently* to The Girl
Who Loved Part V. If you haven't read that series, it is also linked
from my website. Review to tell me what you think of these concurrent
story ties please!

Disclaimer: THIS IS S-L-A-S-H! This one is Lockhart/Snape in particular,
and trust me, it is going to get weird. But I think I have an okay idea
for it, so please give it a try!! Ron costars with them, I normally hate
his char but I wanted to try developing it by giving him a new frame of
reference on life.

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Long after Snape had left, Dumbledore remained sitting stiffly at his
desk. His pensieve was sitting before him, glowing softly with its own
beckoning light, but he did not reach for it.

The possibility that Voldemort could to some extent control his
followers through his Mark was one that had been brought before him
by Aurorers in the past, but Dumbledore had never heeded it. But now,
with Snape insisting that this was the reason for Lockhart's slow
recovery, he could not just ignore it.

Finally letting his hand caress the wood of the pensieve, Dumbledore
drew forth a memory about a trial he had witnessed once... one where
the deatheater in question had been unexpected to say the least. He
let himself be enveloped by the memory, closing his eyes to the
concious world.

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A younger Dumbledore sat in the back of the courtroom as a young
girl was half dragged into the chamber, her wrists bound behind her
back and her eyes wild with fear. The sleeves of her robe had
been ripped off, and the Dark Mark glowed defiantly even as its
bearer sobbed and pleaded.

When Crouch asked the girl to explain why she was pleading innocent
when she had been found sitting next to the dead bodies of an entire
family, clearly guilty, the girl's sobs increased tenfold. "I don't
remember!" She shrieked. "It couldn't have been me! I don't remember!"

As Crouch delivered the verdict of guilty with barely a second thought,
the girl's cries became more frantic. "The gods help me, I didn't kill
them! I don't even know who they were!"

The crowd around Dumbledore muttered anxiously. The girl looked so
young... Dumbledore remembered her graduating only a year ago, when
she was near the top of her class and the Prefect of Ravenclaw
house. No one wanted to believe that she had so quickly fallen from
grace, but the evidence was so clear...

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Or was it all as clear as it had seemed then? The older Dumbledore
saw in the girl the same frantic helplessness that Snape had displayed
earlier that day.

Dumbledore returned to his silent contemplation, and the night passed
without event as he sat in the hard backed chair of his office.

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The following day, Ron leaned over Hermione's shoulder to get a glimpse
of a dusty and clearly rarely touched potions book she had uncovered.
Hermione flipped through the pages irritably, almost oblivious to his
presence as she hunted for her query. When this book too turned up
nothing, she looked at Ron in frustration. "It is nice to see you
devoting yourself to your studies for once Ron, but why this sudden
interest in the memorius potion?"

Staring intently at the table, Ron replied casually, "Well, after...
after Snape had us brew it in class I was fascinated by it. Some of the
ingredients just didn't seem to make sense.

Rolling her eyes, Hermione rose to browse the shelves once more. As he
rose to follow her, Ron knew he dared not say more to Hermione lest she
begin to suspect... Snape would not appreciate the secret of Lockhart's
condition becoming common knowledge. But Ron wasn't lying when he said
the ingredients didn't make sense- they didn't! From even what little he
knew of potions, it seemed there was room for improvement.

When Ron had earlier broached the subject with Snape, the professor had
dismissed- probably, Ron was inclined to think, because Ron had thought
of it first. But all quarelling aside, Ron felt to some extent responsible
for Lockhart's current condition. If he could figure out what about the
potion seemed so wrong to him, maybe he could find a cure.

Hermione's voice at his side caused Ron to start out of his revelry.
She was holding a book and looking gleeful- a sure sign that she had
found some dusty tome that no one had opened in years, Ron thought
with a wry grin.

As Hermione opened the book and pointed to the section on memory
alteration herbs, Ron saw a flicker of red hair out of the corner of
his eye. Ginny was peering through the books on the other side of the
library, a look of hurt in her eyes... and even jealousy? Ron tried to
get a better look, but Ginny had already disappeared. With a sigh, he
returned to his study of the tome... and quickly found far more
interesting things to occupy his mind.

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It was not till hours later that Ron left Hermione alone in the library,
a bit reluctant to depart but wanting to share his discovery with
Professor Snape immediately. When he passed the halls and saw the
grandfather clock posed at "lights out for students," he cursed under
his breath. Snape would have to wait until tomorrow, Hermione might be
enough of a teacher's pet to get away with still being up, but Ron was
in enough trouble as it was.

The notes he'd taken on a possible alteration for the memorius potion
tucked under his arm, Ron ascended to his dormitory and prepared for
bed.

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Snape waited impatiently for Ron to show up with the potion for Lockhart.
Lockhart himself was staring at the ceiling, his dinner barely touched
and his thoughts far removed from the confines of the tiny room.

When it was obvious Ron was not going to show up, Snape shattered the
silence of the chamber and murmured, "I'm afraid you'll have to do
without any antidote tonight, Weasley has proven unreliable."

Lockhart had come to that conclusion himself nearly an hour ago, but
one question still nagged at him. "Why can't you brew the potion yourself?"
He asked.

Snape tensed at the words, but knew he owed Lockhart an answer. "It
is... it is possible that my potion was responsible for your being
bound by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."

"How is that possible?" Lockhart asked in shock. "Surely you weren't...
you weren't poisoning me in that manner?"

"To my knowledge, I was not." His unconcious emphasis on the words caused
Lockhart to narrow his eyes. Snape continued, "I was once... I was once
numbered among His followers. It is possible he was able to control your
recovery through me, using the Imperius curse."