Title says it all. Thanks for reviewing.
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Chapter 20
The truth about Serena Romero
In the evening that same day, Lierin knew very well that she owed Severus and Minerva an apology. With a heavy heart she had just visited Minerva and had begged for her forgiveness and understanding. And finally, after at least an hour of explaining and persuasion, Minerva finally had given her a small nod, though still with pursed lips. And now she was on her way to see Severus. She sure hoped that he was in a good mood because it would be hard enough to convince him.
She descended the stairs to the serpent's lair and raised her hand to knock on the massive oak door, but then she hesitated. All of a sudden, a flashback took her straight into the dungeons, only they looked slightly different. Warmer, if possible. A small girl slipped in through the massive doors and courageously approached Snape. Strange how that man's appearance never changed, not even by the hands of time. The girl was obviously a Gryffindor student. Slytherins would have approached their head of house with confidence in their stride. This girl was nervous and it showed in her body language, yet she approached Snape with a natural courage that most of the time only came with Gryffindors.
"Miss Romero, please enlighten me and tell me what a young Gryffindor girl such as yourself might be doing in the dungeons on a day like this?"
"I'm here professor, because I wanted to ask you a question… and I didn't dare to enter your office … because I wasn't sure if I should… ask you this question."
"Miss Heartilly, in or out, if you please. Quit dawdling!"
Abruptly taken back to the present, Lierin gaped at Snape who had just opened the door the leave his lair. How could she have a memory about Serena Romero when the first time she had heard of that name, it came from Snape's lips? Or wasn't that the first time? Was there a possibility that she had known Serena but somehow forgot about her? But how could she forget about a girl who had died under such tragic circumstances?
Another flashback showed Lierin the same girl but then a few years older... at graduation? But how was that possible? Why did she have memories about her graduation when she supposed to have died years before that event? And why had Lierin been present? And why didn't she remember more?
Her slightly diminished interest in that young girl was back again with full force, especially now Lierin knew that somewhere in her head, there was a memory about that same young girl that shouldn't be there in the first place. Dilemma's, dilemma's. Lierin really wanted to rush to the library, like she had planned to do weeks ago. But then there was still Snape, standing right in front of her, getting angrier by the second and she still had to apologise. Well then, Serena had to wait for another little while.
"Good afternoon, Severus."
Severus stared down at her with his most Arctic glare but said nothing. His shadow loomed over Lierin and she gulped. This was going to be even harder than she first expected.
"I was hoping I could have a word with you. In private?"
Severus said nothing and didn't move a muscle. Lierin could almost see his mind working. On one hand he didn't want to give Lierin the chance to apologise thus giving himself the perfect excuse to keep treating her maliciously, but on the other hand he couldn't wait to see Lierin grovel in the dust for his mercy. Both options weren't very appealing to Lierin, but she didn't have much choice if she wanted a somewhat better life at Hogwarts. Obviously Snape liked the idea of Lierin grovelling in the dust for his mercy the best, because he stepped aside and let her enter his realm. He strode to his desk, pulled his large leather chair from behind it, sat down and placed his hands together, watching Lierin thoughtfully using his joined fingers as some kind of visor.
"Please make it fast, Miss Heartilly. I was just on my way to... nothing that's anything of your concern."
It certainly didn't sound like he was going to forgive her anytime soon.
"Look, Severus, it's already hard enough for me to say what I'm about to say, so please don't make this harder for me than it already is."
A diabolical glint of amusement appeared in his eyes. Lierin was right, he was going to enjoy this and take advantage of this situation for as long as he possibly could.
"I'm listening."
"Can I at least sit down?"
"Do you see another chair apart from the students benches?"
"I can magic one!"
Severus looked at Lierin and a subtle use of facial muscles tucked his lip in a sarcastic smile. He pulled his wand from his sleeve and with a small flick he transfigured a pencil -left behind by one of his students- into a chair and pulled it over towards Lierin until the edge of the seat bumped against the pits of her knees, causing her to topple backwards, right into the chair.
"If I remember correctly you were better in Charms than you were in Transfiguration. Now, what was it that you wanted to tell me?"
"I wanted to talk to you about what happened the earlier today."
The amusement in his eyes was gone and Lierin found herself staring into two black pits again.
"You mean when you tried to kill me? And Dumbledore and McGonagall?"
Lierin sighed."Yes, Severus, about that. Look, I didn't mean anything of that to happen. I didn't even begin to understand the power that was hidden in Achilles' Spear, yet I used it."
"So you did."
"I was humiliated in front of my entire class, by a student! I was angry."
"I know."
"You suggested to Mr. Malfoy not to pay attention in my class and to spend it on 'more useful' matters."
"So I did."
"So, you admit you were wrong about that?"
"I said no such thing. I merely stated that I did say such a thing."
"Fine. But the heart of the matter is, Severus, that you provoked me. If you hadn't manipulated Malfoy into disobeying me in class, I never would have taken revenge in such a way. I was angry and I didn't know what I was doing until it was too late. And... damn it Severus! If you would just throw me a bone here you would see that!"
"Your apologies are as bad as your potions once were, Miss Heartilly. But what I want to know, is why Dumbledore didn't send you away from Hogwarts!" hissed Snape as he rose from his chair.
"That's why you provoked me didn't you?" growled Lierin, as she too rose from her chair to face Snape and look him square in the eye.
"You hoped for such a reaction so that I would get expelled from school!"
They were at daggers drawn and Snape was about to fling a tart remark back at Lierin when he noticed something peculiar about her eyes. His right-hand shot forward and he grabbed her face forcefully between his thumb and index finger.
"Auch, Severus! You're hurting me!" cried Lierin.
Snape ignored her last remark and kept gazing in her eyes.
"You have her eyes now."
"What do you mean 'you have her eyes now'? Who's 'her'?" asked Lierin as she freed her face from Snape's strong grasp with one quick motion.
"Crejy."
"Crejy? But...that's her name! The entity of the crystal. How do you know her name?"
Snape looked at her and a confused look appeared in his eyes. How did he know her name? He decided he would go with a lie.
"You told me her name, don't you remember? Or actually, she did."
Lierin stared at him, recalling everything that happened earlier that afternoon.
"No, Severus. I may be gullible but I'm not stupid. The moment Crejy entered your classroom, you knew her name. You called her. Don't you remember?"
"No, I don't," said Severus, turning away from her.
"Don't lie to me, Severus, I don't deserve that."
"I'm not lying to you, Lierin. I always speak the truth."
"If you always tell the truth, then why did you lie to me about Serena Romero for one? Why did you tell me that she died?"
"Maybe... because she did?"
"I remember her, Severus. I remember that day she asked you to place her out of Gryffindor and into Slytherin. I remember her graduation day!"
Snape turned around abruptly and grabbed Lierin by her collar.
"Serena Romero died in my arms. She was too severely wounded to be saved, even by magic. The Gryffindors had beaten all the life from her. She never made it to her graduation and you weren't there either when she came to me to plead for her transfer to Slytherin. After all, that happened a full year before you first came to school!" hissed Snape. Lierin's eyes grew wide with shock and fear. She didn't doubt his sincerity for one moment but she didn't doubt her own sanity either.
"You're lying, Severus, and I'm going to prove it!" spat Lierin as she freed herself from his grasp.
"Do as you will, woman. You'll find that I spoke the truth. Serena Romero is dead. As dead as the parents of Mr. Potter. Unless, of course, if you in some miraculous way 'remember' that they too survived to live through Mr. Potter's heroics these days."
Lierin said nothing but she sent Severus a death glare and turned to leave the class room. Right before she opened the door, she remembered something. An upcoming holiday to be exact.
"Christmas is coming up you know."
"What did you say?" asked Severus, surprised that she would bring up the subject of Christmas after a heated discussion.
"Christmas, Severus, Christmas is coming up!"
"So it does, Miss Heartilly. Every bloody year! What's your point?"
"I understand that teachers too give each other gifts each year. I was just wondering..."
"I don't. So don't bother."
"I jus want to know if you'll accept a gift from me or not!"
"I said don't bother. You're wasting your time if you want to bribe my good sentiments with a gift. And why you are so fixed on giving me a gift is beyond me."
"Trust me, the thought never entered my mind to bribe you. I know you too well for that. And I hate making exceptions. I don't want to buy everyone a present and purposely neglect to buy you one."
Snape sighed. He knew Lierin to well to hope for her to just let go.
"I do respect your sentiment on that. You have a big heart. Yet, you shouldn't waste your worries on me. Besides, your consideration on my behalf is already more than either of my colleagues has ever showed me. Except maybe for Dumbledore. Just let it go."
"I can't, just don't throw away my gift. Because you are getting one."
Snape said nothing and Lierin hesitated a little while longer.
"Severus, are you still angry with me?"
Snape sighed and threw his head back. "Just go, Lierin. Just go and leave me alone. After what happened today I think I deserve that, if just for one evening."
At least a bit reassured that Snape had called her Lierin and not 'Miss Heartilly' or worse 'woman', Lierin finally did leave the room to give Snape's already pestered nerves a little rest.
At a steady pace, at least for Lierin, she made her way to the library and when she reached it, she sat down in the most isolated corner she could find. At first she did nothing but rest her head on her arms on the table. Was she going crazy? Or was Serena Romero yet another piece of the puzzle in the Hogwart's Mystery? Maybe Snape was lying? She serious doubted the latter possibility. Yes, Snape was a very dubious person with a just as dubious a past. And most of the time he was an intimidating and manipulating bastard. But a liar? Well, the school records and the yearbooks wouldn't lie so that's where she needed to look.
Now, what was it that Snape had said? "After all, that happened a full year before you first came to school." So, that meant that Serena died in 1988 because Lierin first attended Hogwarts in 1989, the year that Voldemort disappeared. Lierin got up and searched for the school records of 1988 and started working. Soon however, a familiar pain started to beg for attention and though Lierin forced herself to ignore the pain in her leg, after just a few minutes of research her hand started creeping to her leg repeatedly to massage the painful muscles. It didn't take Lierin long to realise that working under this condition was virtually impossible so she started to close the first book just as her eyes caught what she was looking for, and just as a large shadow loomed over her desk. She quickly threw the book back at the table, her finger resting near the spot she wanted to read and she looked up to see who was there to disturb her.
"Severus?" exclaimed Lierin surprised as she recognised the person to whom the large shadow belonged.
"I figured you would be here," said Severus without reacting on her exclamation and without greeting her. "Have you found what you were looking for?"
"I think so, yes. I haven't read it yet though, you startled me."
Severus' mouth opened as if he were about to apologise, but he closed it again and just nodded stiffly.
"Now are you prepared to admit that I was right?" asked Snape. Lierin didn't react; she had started reading the article in the yearbook and was too engrossed to pay any attention to Snape's remark.
This year a tragedy befell Hogwarts as the premature death of the fourteen year old Serena Romero (Gryffindor) shocked the entire Hogwarts population.
Due to an unfortunate accident just outside the Quidditch field, Serena's life ended as she was beyond any help, be it practical or magical. The entire school mourns the loss of her great mind, her bright personality and her sweet caring nature.
That was it. No more, no less was written about the unfortunate Serena Romero. Tears stung in Lierin's eyes but she didn't allow them to fall. Her voice was thick with emotion when she made the only conclusion she could make out of the tribute in the yearbook.
"No graduation," she said softly.
Snape couldn't help but feel sorry for Lierin. She had seemed so convinced that she was right, that Serena had graduated like every student was supposed too. He sat down at the desk right in front of her and moved his hand to place it on her shoulder. She didn't see this gesture and at the last possible moment, Snape clenched his hand into a fist and pulled it back.
"No, not for her," he agreed sadly.
"This is it? This is all that the school wrote about her?"
"Yes, that's it. There's nothing more. Not even in the school records. You can check it if you don't believe me. There's nothing more but 'deceased' behind her name."
"And the medical records?"
"Don't torture yourself like this. She's dead. Let it go. I had to do so too."
"Am I going crazy, Severus? Why do have memories of her when I shouldn't have them? If you are not lying, am I lying to myself?"
"Maybe you got her confused with another..." Snape tried to explain, but Lierin cut his words short by an outburst of anger, confusion and possibly even grief.
"Why? Why wasn't there more in the books about her death? Was this all the space they could spare for her? Was this all the space they wanted to spare to remember her?"
Snape got up from the desk and he threw his hands up in the air with despair. She asked all the same questions that he himself had asked McGonagall, hell even Dumbledore. She tore open all the old wounds that had quietly healed over the years and all the pain and anger was back. And what was the use? The girl was dead and no answer to any question could bring her back. The truth was, while Snape himself made it no secret that he favoured his Slytherins, the school did make it a secret that it favoured Gryffindor. That's why nothing more was written about Serena, because the school couldn't possibly publish a negative article about the self-concerned, conceited, brave Gryffindors who, in their ignorant crudeness, had murdered a young innocent girl who, though being a Gryffindor herself, should have been a Slytherin from day one.
"Do you really think that the school would publish an article about Gryffindor that would expose their true nature? Do you really think they would publish a story that would reveal how Gryffindors treated a young girl who didn't seem to fit in their house? Of course not. Gryffindor House was elected in the memory of the great Goderic Gryffindor; the students were selected after his own personal character traits. Blaming them would be like blaming Goderic himself."
"Do you know what happened to her? What really happened to her? If you do, Severus, please tell me. I need to know. I need to be able to separate the truth from just a figment in my head."
Severus sighed and closed his eyes. He could understand Lierin, really he could, but the truth was, he had no idea whether he could bring himself to remember. But her eyes, Crejy's eyes now, they were so full of hope... How could he not...?
"Yes, Lierin, I know exactly what happened to Miss Romero."
Severus looked at Lierin and noticed that she was waiting for him to continue. He took a seat right across Lierin and watched her intently as he began his story.
"That day Miss Romero came to me, the day you claim to remember, that was the start of everything... No, it was not. I must go further back... The first time Miss Romero came to school, two older Gryffindor students had managed to put a spell on the Sorting Hat. They wanted to cheat their younger brother into Gryffindor by having a little control over the Sorting Hat. Unfortunately for them and for Miss Romero, somehow the spell backfired and as a result their younger brother was placed into Hufflepuff and Miss Romero was placed into Gryffindor. It never became clear whether young Mr. Dippler really was a Hufflepuff or not. He seemed to be quite contempt there and if he wasn't, he never showed it. But that Miss Romero was unhappy in Gryffindor became clear for everybody soon enough..."
"So, Miss Romero really should have been put in Slytherin, she didn't just feel out of place?"
"Right, she really was a true blue Slytherin. She was a silent worker, always got top grades and had a healthy dose of ambition. At first I mistook the first two abilities as those of a Gryffindor, until she approached me and I got a good look into her eyes. It was all there. She was a Slytherin."
Snape paused for a moment and Lierin could see that merely talking about the young girl was hard for him, very hard. Still, he continued his story.
"As you know, she asked me to speak with Minerva about a possible transfer to Slytherin. I did, but Minerva refused. She said that the Sorting Hat was never wrong and if the hat had placed her in Gryffindor, she was a Gryffindor. I took the matter to Dumbledore, but even he couldn't believe that the Sorting Hat had placed a student into the wrong house. And in the mean time, things were getting harder on Miss Romero. She had found a friend or two in Slytherin, who had discovered her great passion for Quidditch and her wish to be on a Quidditch team. Of course, the Gryffindors shunted her away; they didn't want to have anything to do with her and she soon became the laughing stock of Gryffindor"
"Poor girl. But why did they hate her so much? What happened to her?"
"Why they hated her? Who knows. She pretty much kept to herself because she felt out of place and the Gryffindors could sense that she didn't belong in their house. Yet, she was in their house and they probably felt like she was intruding. They probably just wanted to protect their 'territory' and did everything possible to let her know that she wasn't welcome in Gryffindor. After all, a true Slytherin and a true Gryffindor never get along."
"Really? Hmm, you could have fooled me. I think we get along just fine."
"If we, for one moment, can forget that we are a Slytherin and a Gryffindor."
"Hmm. Go on with your story."
"Very well. Her two friends came to see me and convinced me of Miss Romero's talent on the Quidditch field. It was against the rules of course, that someone would play in a game against his or her own house, but the Gryffindor team didn't want her, the Slytherins did and neither Minerva nor the rest of the Gryffindors protested against Miss Romero playing for Slytherin. After Dumbledore's approval Miss Romero joined the Slytherin team as a Seeker. And a fine Seeker she was. With her in the team, Slytherin was unbeatable. Her talent as a Seeker far surpassed Mr. Potter's current attempt at being one. At that point Gryffindor started to object, they wanted Miss Romero off of the Slytherin team and onto theirs. She, however, refused."
"She refused to play? But wasn't that what she wanted in the first place?"
"Of course, but not like that. Gryffindor only wanted her when they discovered her talent; they wanted to use her to beat Slytherin. So, Miss Romero agreed to leave the team after one final game of Quidditch. Now, from the time she had entered the team until the day she left, I noticed that Miss Romero lost all concentration in class and turned a whiter shade of pale by each following day.
I went to see Minerva about it but she dismissed every speculation that something might be wrong with the girl. Until one night the girl came crying at the door of my private rooms. She had been beaten by several Gryffindor students. I'm afraid I lost my temper, I grabbed her forcefully by her shoulder, probably inflicting her more pain, and I dragged her to the private chambers of Minerva and forced her too see the plain evidence of abuse. Old bruises, new bruises, old cuts and new cuts. She had managed to hide it well."
"They had beaten the poor girl?"
"Oh yes. They had tried to scare her from the Slytherin team but she refused to heed their warnings."
"And her last game of Quidditch?"
"The day she died... I should have refused to let her play that day, but she begged me to let her and, by Merlin I indulged her, I allowed her to play and the victory of Slytherin led to her death."
With tears in her eyes, Lierin looked away from Snape, so she didn't see how he wiped away a single blasted tear as he was engrossed in memories he had tried to forget.
"Her friends, they came to me, long after the celebration of Slytherin's victory. They had started looking for Miss Romero when she hadn't showed up for the celebration. They found her just outside the Quidditch field, beaten up by her fellow housemates. The blackguards who had done this to her were nowhere to be seen of course. Her friends fetched me and, unsure of how I would find her, I neglected to send for Madam Pomfrey. Had I done this immediately... Anyway, when I arrived at the scene, Miss Romero lay there dying... So now you know the entire story. I hope it was to your satisfaction."
"I'm sorry I couldn't be a Slytherin, Professor. I'm sorry I couldn't make you proud of me."
"I AM proud of you and you ARE a Slytherin. You'll always be a Slytherin to me!"
That memory, her last words, would haunt him forever.
Lierin sat quietly, her hands folded in her lap. She knew what he had told her was true. But still, there were so many questions left for her to ask. Questions she would never get an answer to. Snape turned around to face her when she didn't react, and noticed the absent expression on her face. Her eyes, Crejy's eyes, were full of tears. That faint feeling that something was going on was back again. Here was Lierin, convinced that Miss Romero had survived her third school year…that she had graduated. And there was himself, who had memories of Lierin giving him the fabled knife of Bia and who had recognised her as Crejy when she was possessed, or whatever, by that entity. And she... had Crejy's eyes now.
He watched as Lierin massaged her painful leg. He approached her carefully, left a small vial on her table, and turned around to leave the room. He turned around once and saw her staring at the vial.
"I wasn't lying about your eyes, Lierin. They have changed. You have her eyes now."
With those words Snape left the library and right after he left, Remus entered the library.