Disclaimer:

All characters in the story are the property of J. K. Rowling and Bloomsbury Books, with the exception of Eleanora Sterling and a few supporting characters, who are my own creations. This story is created purely for the entertainment of myself and other like-minded readers and no copyright infringement is intended.

By mentioning J.K. Rowling in this story I do not intend to present her as a fictional character or to imply that the Harry Potter books are not her own 100% original works.

Any opinions, political or otherwise, on world events, personages or governments expressed in these pages, are the opinions of the characters speaking them and not necessarily those of the author.

Chapter 4: What Every Tyrant Wants

Snape had been in Mundane Canada for two weeks; he needed to learn more about the world he now found himself in. The best way of doing that was by reading about history. Nora had mentioned that there was a library nearby, so while she busied herself in her garden collecting herbs for various homeopathic remedies she made for her naturopathic medical practise, he went off to the local library and got himself a borrower's card.

He had a problem. All his forged personal identification was in his real name, Severus Snape, but in this dimension that was the name of a fictional character. He had already had so many strange reactions to his name that he decided he needed to come up with a logical explanation for it. The solution was simple: the next time he got a funny remark about his name, he had merely to explain that in fact he was a personal friend of J.K. Rowling, and had given her permission to "borrow" his unusual name for a character in her famous books. That had certainly satisfied the ladies at the library.

What had been harder to do, however, was come up with identification that included his current address - the library required it. It was rather easy to convince library staff by the means of mind control that his driver's license had a local address on it. This particular natural skill of his kept coming in handy, but very soon he would need to put in for a change of address for the false driver's license that had been created for him by the document forgers in London. The less he had to manipulate people over small matters such as these the easier he would find life here.

Snape began to Mundane 20th century history in depth, beginning with WWII and Hitler and progressing to a few other notorious dictators and fascist world leaders. He learned a few lessons along the way about human despots and their thirst for power. He felt an uncontrollable compulsion to cram in as much information as he could get his hands on in the shortest possible time.

He must get back in the game as quickly as possible. Voldemort's defeat had seemed impossible up until now because to this day the balance of power between the good wizards and the Death Eaters had remained fairly even. There had been massive losses on either side, but the Dark Lord always seemed to know how far he could go before beating another retreat.

Nora took an active interest in his research but threw up her hands in disgust one night when he had borrowed the entire World At War video series from the library and had insisted upon staying up all night to watch every tape. He had invited her to watch with him, but she demurred, saying she had already seen enough "grainy World War II footage" to last her a lifetime, thanks to her own father's obsession with WWII history.

Upon his return from his most recent visit to the library, Nora picked up a few of the books he had brought back with him and examined the titles.

"Hmm. You seem to keep coming back to Hitler. I told you he was a pretty bad guy, didn't I?" she remarked.

"Yes, it's quite fascinating really. I'm no expert on psychology, but it appears the man was quite insane."

"My take on him was always that he was a psychopath who succeeded by surrounding himself with power hungry followers who carried out his every suggestion."

"Indeed, including some very unsavoury ideas they managed to come up with all on their own. But in the end, it appears he was overcome by failing to act when his military defeat seemed imminent."

"And by biting off far more than he could chew when he tried to take over Russia," Nora added.

"Yes," Snape replied thoughtfully. "You know, I can see some parallels between Hitler and Voldemort, but the differences are also important. It's clear he's surrounded himself with power-hungry followers, but luckily none of them seem to have the diabolical imagination or the initiative of a Joseph Goebbels."

"That's good news, at least. But what is it that you think he wants? To me, the struggle always just seemed to be an 'Us against Them' kind of thing - just a gang war, really. It always seemed like he'd just go after anyone who opposed him, but I was never certain why."

"It was all about consolidation of power with him. The fewer people who opposed him the more power he could have."

"But what does he plan to DO with that power? There must be some purpose behind it! Is he waiting for most of the good wizards to be either out of the picture or converted before he reveals his Master Plan? Is he going to start putting Muggles into concentration camps and making slaves of them? Is this some sort of Racial Purity issue? Exterminate all Muggles to make the world a better place for Wizards?"

"Possibly. So far he's refrained from making mass attacks against Muggles, but I figure it is only a matter of time before it becomes his goal to enslave Muggles in some way and force them to do his will. But in all my years as a spy for Dumbledore, I was never privy to what his ultimate goal might have been."

"If he was ever suspicious of you, you'd be the last person he'd tell," said Nora. "And if that's his plan, you know Dumbledore won't stand for it. He'd find a way to bring down the hammer if that much were at stake."

"That's a given, but Dumbledore certainly has done all he can up to now to prevent anything that terrible from happening. Voldemort must be biding his time until the forces of good are so weakened as to be unable to prevent him from going forward with whatever his plan might be," Snape replied. "It's becoming a war of attrition."

"So what are you thinking? Is all this research telling you anything?"

"What I seem to be finding out by reading about these very nasty characters is that they all seem bent on the domination of others -- in other words power for its own sake. Eventually some of them are foiled by their own age and infirmity, but most seem to 'bite off more than they can chew' as you so aptly put it. Perhaps Voldemort is smart enough not to do that."

"Perhaps, but maybe it's just that no one's offered him a big enough prize."

"My thoughts exactly. If we could just provide some sort of incentive for him to make him tip his hand or act rashly, we might have him."

"You said something earlier about allowing Voldemort to enter this dimension. Surely you're not planning to actually do that?" she said, aghast at the idea.

"Yes, exactly! But think of it. A lot of his power is centred on forces outside of himself. Most wizards' power comes from without - it's just our ability to draw those forces to us and control them that makes us powerful."

"This sounds like the Jedi Knights using the Force or something."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Nothing, just another movie reference"

"Well, no matter. Many of us seem to have some native abilities, for example, your healing powers and telekinesis"

"And your mind control and mind-reading abilities, and that freezing thing you do."

"Yes, those things were not affected by passing over to this dimension - if anything, I feel that my powers are getting stronger."

"Maybe that's just because you have to rely on them so much more here."

"Perhaps... but my wand, and other magical objects we brought over, don't work at all here."

"You brought your wand with you?" she asked incredulously.

"Just as an experiment. I wanted to see if I could make it work. Let me show you"

With that, they went up to the bedroom, where Snape kept his personal things. He produced a wand from the bottom of a drawer.

"What if the customs inspectors had seen that?" said Nora testily, as he produced the wand.

"I would have told them it was a conductor's baton or something. Anyway, they didn't. And I seem to recall that you brought yours back from Hogwarts with you."

"I didn't know better. I was only eighteen!"

"Do you still have it?"

"No, I - um - buried it somewhere after I got back home and discovered I couldn't make it work. I thought that I had broken it and I was too ashamed to show it to my mother. I think I told her I'd had some sort of accident with it... I don't really recall." Nora's face reddened considerably as she made this confession. "Anyway, show me what happens when you try to use it."

NEXT: Wand Waving and Sabre Rattling

A/N

I'm not getting much response to this story. I'm wondering if people are managing to find it? Or are folks simply finding it too boring?

I am still writing... Please R&R!!

- Grey Lady