A/N: Well, this week's chapter features Understanding!Snape, although I'm afraid he isn't going to be with us for much longer. The rest of it isn't *very* exciting, but I don't think it's too bad either. Besides, it wouldn't do killing everyone at the same time, would it?
Disclaimer: if you haven't got the gist of it already, sod off (or go and see the other chapters, or the thousand other stories on ff.net); I'm not feeling particularly creative today.
FAMILY MATTERS
PART XIV
"What did you want to talk to me about, Headmaster?" asked Svetlana formally, after refusing a Lemon Drop. She held Dumbledore's piercing blue gaze firmly although not defiantly and the old wizard smiled to her.
"First of all, I wanted to extend my condolences to you as well" answered Albus, leaning back on his chair "Mandy had grown quite attached to you in the short time you shared here at Hogwarts" Svetlana acknowledged this with a stiff nod of the head, her eyes threatening to fill with tears yet again. "I also wanted to apologise to you"
"Whatever for, sir?" asked Svetlana in sincere surprise.
"I suppose you know Severus informed me of your whereabouts before coming to stay at Hogwarts" said Dumbledore blandly, wondering at the best way to face this conversation.
"He did ask me for permission, yes; he seemed very keen on you knowing, and I can understand his reasons"
"I'm afraid I had to make public, to a selected group of people, the news of the attack on your life" informed the Headmaster tentatively. He knew it was a breach of trust, but he simply couldn't allow Harry to remain with such misguided ideas in his head; knowing the child, he would get into trouble trying to spy on Svetlana, and he didn't think the Russian witch would appreciate it greatly.
Svetlana narrowed her eyes when she heard the softly spoken words, and her lips compressed to a thin line. Inside, she knew the role of helpless victim favoured her and helped chase suspicions away, but she was still sensitive over the idiocy of allowing herself to be endangered for a trivial personal affair. //Not so trivial to you, or you wouldn't have risked you life for it, would you?//
"I'm sure you had your reasons" conceded Svetlana, releasing a therapeutic breath and trying to calm down her anger; the old wizard seemed quite ashamed of his actions, and she could use that to her advantage. "And I'm sure you ensured the people who were told were discreet"
"Of course, my dear, of course" Dumbledore reassured her with a bright smile; he was relieved he wouldn't have to deal with an irate Russian witch, and he was also prepared to make up for his indiscretion, or at the very least, explain it. "I know it seems awfully inconsiderate from me, but the fact remains that some people, with an understandable lack of information, dared suspect you of being in some way involved with the attack to the school….." Fire flared again in Svetlana's dark blue eyes, and the Headmaster did his best to soothe it "….. and I had to convince them that you were, in fact, another of the victims"
"How dare they think that?!" exclaimed the witch in a doleful voice "After all I have been through because of my family's involvement with the Dark Arts….." she lowered both her head and her voice, and Dumbledore strained forward to hear her "My father, murdered by Death Eaters; my husband, tortured by the Dark Lord; my children, hunted and threatened; myself, attacked and almost killed; Mandy, killed before our very eyes….. and still they say I had something to do with it! Haven't I suffered enough?!"
"I know, my dear child, I know" said Dumbledore soothingly "But you must understand: people who don't know anything about your family history, who don't know anything about yourself, who only know you are Russian, and you know Russian groups have been largely involved in the war….. people with only a few shards of information here and there can make that kind of mistakes, specially if they're young, inexperienced and zealous" Someone matched that description, someone with emerald-green eyes, instinct, curiosity, and the annoying habit of regarding her too curiously.
"I understand" admitted Svetlana finally, looking as if she had had an internal struggle before saying those words.
"It won't happen again, I assure you" declared Dumbledore in response to her unspoken question. She offered him a somehow forced smile and took her leave, leaving him to lay back on his chair and smile contentedly. "At least something went right today" muttered the old wizard to himself; he was so lost in that thought that he completely missed Fawkes' disapproving ruffle of feathers.
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Friday, easily the worst day of the week for Severus Snape, Potions Master of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He had few lessons, but those he had were enough to make him regret the day he had accepted Dumbledore's job offer to hide away from his dysfunctional family-life: Potions with both the first and seventh-year Slytherins and Gryffindors. As he faced the enormity of the task ahead, he almost forgot that barely a few hours before the body of Mandy McGonagall had been found hanging from the door of the Great Hall. Morning-lessons had been cancelled, but the Headmaster had come up with the brilliant idea of keeping afternoon-lessons in a vain effort to restore normality to the school, and so Snape now had to face Serguei, Longbottom, Granger, Malfoy and Potter in the span of three hours; he rubbed his temples once again and charmed open the door to the classroom.
Dutifully, the Gryffindor and Slytherin first-years began to file in, the later looking much more cheerful than the Gryffs. Serguei sat next to Lewis Lestrange, a blonde and wispy devil of a child who would have made great friends with Draco Malfoy if the chasm of a seven-year age-difference hadn't avoided it (to the relief of Gryffindors and teachers alike). In front of them, Laetitia Lestrange, Lewis' twin, sat next to Teresa Boot (Terry's little sister, sorted into Slytherin to keep up with family traditions) and Gwen Bowles. Last row was occupied with Michael Flint, Bruce Pucey and Andrew Nott. The Gryffindor side of town didn't even deserve a full roll-call, although there was a Johnson, a Patil, a Spinett, a Serby, more Thomas and fortunately, no Weasleys nor Longbottoms.
Snape, not being in the mood to behave *too* vindictively, assigned them an easy Pain-Numbing Potion and began his daily duty of hovering over the nervous Gryffindors, picking on every little mistake and deducting points. A few feet away, Serguei was making the assigned potion easily (//He even inherited my skill for potion-making, the sly child//) while his partner looked much more interested in trying to boycott William Serby's potion with a careless dash of armadillo bile. Catching Lewis' eye, Snape silently avoided the prank and kept his students in check (with only one exploding cauldron) during the rest of the lesson; Slytherin had fifty points more, Gryffindor seventy-five points less and Snape had a headache when it was time for the seventh-years lesson. Taking a gulp from Serguei's potion, the teacher welcomed his next victims with a scowl. Unfortunately it was lost in the Gryffindors, who seemed far too worried about something else.
Intrigued (and a bit miffed that his glare hadn't affected them), Snape kept a close eye on Harry Potter and his side-kicks, to see if he could work out the source of the problem. All he could come up with was that Ron seemed worried and tried to keep out of Harry's way, Hermione was obviously trying to comfort the green-eyed boy without being too obvious about it, the Finnigan boy was angry and kept ignoring Potter, and the rest of the Gryffindors seemed as much at a loss as Snape. He was distracted by Neville's exploding cauldron splashing everything in a three-meters radius (which luckily for him didn't include the teacher) with a sticky, yellow and ill-smelling substance, clearly the result of having added the salamander liver too late and stirring clockwise instead of anti-clockwise.
"Longbottom!" roared Snape "Surprise me today!" Neville gave him a half-terrified, half-confused look "Show me that you are indeed capable of following the simplest of directions by getting out of my sight *now* and announcing to you fellow Gryffindors that you have lost them fifty-points by your never-ending incompetence!" Neville whimpered and picked up his stuff, still smeared with the yellow goo, shooting a pleading look to his comrades. The rest of the lesson went by without further incidents, except for the fact that Blaise Zabini had to keep elbowing Draco when it was time to add another ingredient, because the blonde Head Boy seemed lost in his thoughts. Wondering what was wrong with people that day, and dismissing the fact that it could have something to do with the murder they had recently witnessed, Snape finished the lesson with a three-feet long essay and gave the students leave.
"Potter, stay behind" growled Snape when they all thought they were all home-free for the week-end. The boy gave him a questioning look but the teacher was busy writing something down in a scrap of parchment and throwing it into the fire, so Harry didn't get a clue of what he had done wrong this time. "Follow me, Potter" said Snape, picking up a pile of student essays, two vials with colourful potions and locking the door to the classroom behind him. Harry obediently followed the teacher down the dungeons, hauling his bag and not being able to guess where he was being taken. They stopped in front of a plain door: Snape placed his hand on the knob and muttered something that sounded like Latin under his breath. The door opened and the teacher went inside motioning that Harry should do the same. "Sit down and try not to break anything for a moment, will you?"
Harry was too surprised to do what he was being asked to do for a moment: he was in Snape's private quarters, being asked to have a seat by the unbearable Potions professor! Fine, he was also a man with whom Harry had worked a few times over the last two years, in war business, but this was altogether different.
"Do have a seat" insisted another voice, startling Harry out of his reverie. Svetlana Snape stood in front of him, having just come out of her room, dressed in plain mourning robes and with a somehow tense expression on her face.
"Thank you" answered Harry, forcing his legs to move to the nearest armchair. He saw Snape busying himself by his desk and three children, two little babies and Siena, sleeping on the latter's bed under the discreet vigilance of the two adults in the room.
"Would you like a cup of tea, maybe?" offered Svetlana; Harry turned back to her and nodded nervously. He felt guilty talking to the witch, knowing that he had suspected her of murdering Mandy and then having learnt that she had been in as much danger as the now-dead witch. And the reddened eyes and crumpled handkerchief in her hand left no doubt that she had resented Mandy's death as much as he had; after all, hadn't Mandy been as much of a help to her as she had been to Harry? He remember hearing Mandy talk about Svetlana, take care of Siena, offer the Russian witch a cup of tea and an attentive ear whenever she needed it….. but now Mandy was gone, and it was the younger witch who was placing a cup of steaming tea on the table in front of him and smiling sadly. He didn't react for a moment, and Svetlana urged him on "I know it's not hot chocolate, and I know I'm not Mandy, but I also assure it's not poisoned either"
"Sorry, I was just thinking….." apologised Harry, grabbing the cup and sipping at his tea. Svetlana helped herself to a cup and smiled again, that kind of smile that seemed to be asking for comfort.
"I understand" she said, and Harry felt inclined to agree. Finally, Snape appeared to be finished with his paperwork and went over to them, bringing a chair along. Svetlana poured him another cup of tea, and handed it to him in silence. Harry had time to wonder at the interaction between those two before Svetlana put down her cup and announced she was leaving.
"I will see you this evening, at the funeral, I suppose" said Harry to her, in lieu of a good-bye; she agreed quietly and then took the two Vector babies from Siena's bed and left the room to hand them back to their parents.
Finally it was only Severus and Harry, and the youngest wizard took another sip of his tea to avoid making conversation while his teacher moved to the armchair in front of him and gave him a stern look.
"What happened today?" Never mind all the talks Albus had given him about counselling, Snape always thought that being blunt was a better method.
"N-nothing, sir" stuttered Harry, avoiding his gaze as if his life depended on it.
"Don't insult my intelligence by giving me such an obvious lie" snapped Severus. "Do you think I didn't see all those dunderheads you like to call 'friends' looking at you as if you were a curse about to go off?" Harry lowered his gaze to his cup of tea and stared into the hot liquid. "I don't think you will divine the answer to my question in the tea leaves, Potter. What happened?"
"Everything happened!" exclaimed Harry, setting the cup down; he had been close to the edge all day and Snape's questions had pushed him into breaking his silence; the teacher sat back and allowed himself an inner congratulatory smile. In Svetlana's room, behind the closed door, the fire shone brightly and the Russian witch stepped out; she walked silently to the door and pressed her ear to the lock, glad that she hadn't missed much of the ongoing conversation. "Mandy is dead! They killed her and it's my fault! Don't you think it's enough?!"
"I don't think it's your fault" answered Snape calmly.
"Everyone says that, but you don't understand! They killed her because I cared! They killed her because she talked to me, because she was there for me when no-one else was….." Harry broke off, willing himself not to cry in front of Snape.
"Mandy's life was threatened long before she met you. Although I will admit that what you said might have been another of the reasons they had for killing her, I insist that you are by no means responsible of her death. In any case, the responsibility would be shared with the Headmaster and the staff of the school, who weren't able to prevent the attack, or even foresee it, as I was told you did" Snape's words were calm and measured and they had the effect of getting Harry to listen to them.
"I'm not blaming Professor Dumbledore, or you, or…..!" denied Harry in horror.
"Besides" continued Snape, ignoring Harry's comment "I am not convinced that your misguided feelings of guilt are the sole cause of your temper"
"I'm afraid" admitted Harry, looking at Snape defiantly and searching his eyes for mockery or condemnation; there was none. "They've broken into Hogwarts, the only place I was sure was safe….. the Order told us that it's not only Death Eaters we have to worry about, there's also a group with a French name, what is it?"
"Les Fleurs du Mal" answered Snape, frowning at his own cup of tea.
"Yes, that's it, and, I mean, they're really good, you've seen what they did to Mad-Eye Moody, and to the Dursleys, and now to Mandy….." Harry trailed off again, feeling the weight of Snape's gaze upon him.
"And now you fear they're after you" said Severus, completing Harry's train of thought. The boy wizard nodded miserably and Snape hesitated on the brink of discretion for a moment "Has Albus never told you that you are well-protected?"
"Yes, of course he has" said Harry dismissively "But Hogwarts is well-protected, the Durselys were well-protected, Moody was well-protected….."
"You're better-protected than that" interrupted Snape, his black eyes staring at the flames "Have you never wondered why the attack on your relatives was carried out when you weren't there? If they were powerful enough to break through the wards, they could have known you were out and waited for you….. but they didn't. They didn't because you aren't protected just by safety-wards and luck-charms. Very ancient and very powerful magic was summoned after Voldemort's second raising to guard you; I doubt the Dark Lord himself would be able to get past the layers of protection you have….."
"Do you mean they can't hurt me?" asked Harry in a small, awed voice; Svetlana pressed her ear to the lock in a futile attempt to hear better.
"They can't hurt you, Potter. Dumbledore hasn't told you about this because he doesn't want you taking too many risks, but….. they cannot hurt you" A moment's silence sat between them.
"Then why haven't they used this protection upon Hogwarts, upon everyone who's in danger?!" exploded Harry "You could have saved so many lives…..!"
"Potter, it isn't a simple spell and wand-wave" snapped Severus "It's a very complicated invocation, and it can't be done more than a few times every century; it was lucky the star conjunction happened a year ago and the required ingredients and everything was ready….. it can't be used indiscriminately, as you'd want to" Harry fell into a gloomy silence again and Snape started thinking about the consequences of what he had just done. "You will promise me now you will not take more risks than those necessary to keep you Gryffindor foolhardiness alive"
"I promise" muttered Harry sullenly.
"You will not tell Dumbledore you know about the spell either"
"I won't"
"And you will not, under any circumstances, divulge the fact that I had you in for tea and cookies when you were feeling down" warned Snape "I wouldn't want to have queues of Gryffindors at my door every afternoon" Harry felt a smile tugging at the corner of his lips at this words, and realised that Snape, in his sarcastic Slytherin way, had tried his best to replace Mandy.
"Did the Headmaster ask you to do this?" asked the Gryffindor, mistrust seeping through his voice.
"If Albus had wanted to comfort you, he would have chosen a more suitable person" dismissed Severus "or he would have had you in his office, choking you with sweets and blinding you with the damn twinkling of his eyes" Harry felt another smile coming, and he stood up to take his leave.
"Thank you, sir. I won't tell anyone, and I *will* take care of myself"
"Pray do, Mr Potter, I have other things to do than save your life at least once every term" Snape watched the boy leave and shook his head regretfully: who would have thought that he would be comforting a Gryffindor, who happened to be James Potter's son, in his private quarters, and without anyone forcing him to do it? //You're growing soft, Snape, next thing you know you'll be handing out sweets and offering private tutoring to Longbottom// To dismiss those nagging thoughts, Snape went to his desk to work on a surprise quiz for the seventh-years.
In her quarters, Svetlana was still laying against the door. She wasn't trying to hear anything anymore, but rather stop herself from banging her head against the walls: another obstacle had suddenly appeared from where she least expected it, and she was finding herself out of ideas about how to overcome it. Still lost in her thoughts, she silently took the fire to a deserted corridor in the upper levels of the school, and prepared herself to make her visible re-entrance into the dungeons. As she lifted her head, she spotted Draco Malfoy training in the Quidditch field, a green-and-silver spot flying from post to post. A smirk appeared on her lips as yet another bright idea danced its way across her brain //Men will be men always, and that's a weakness I have yet to explore…..//
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A/N: what is going through her precious little head now? Wouldn't you love to know? I'm giving you a clue: nothing good will come out of it. Also, I'm interested in knowing if someone *is* reading this, so if you would just say 'Hello!' right now….. ::strains to hear:: Stupid speakers, they can't go high enough; as an alternative, you could leave me a review (even if it just says 'Hello!').