Chapter 7 – The Prophesy
Things at Hogwarts were tense over the next few days, to say the very least. Evan Ryper and the Lestrange boys ambushed and beat up Sirius Black when he was walking from the lake. James was also jumped by a couple of Slytherin lads he couldn't identify; he was knocked out before he could turn around. He did recall one of them saying, "We've saved you a bed at St.Mungo's, Potter."
There were insults, catcalls, and seriously nasty pranks played by Slytherin against Gryffindor and vice versa. Fed up, Dumbledore announced a seven o'clock curfew for an indefinite period of time, which meant that the students went straight from dinner to their dorms. All evening activities were cancelled until the cessation of hostilities between the Houses.
Remus Lupin was trying to get used to eating by himself, walking to class by himself, and studying by himself. It seemed that his only friends were James and Lily, and he hadn't wanted to be a third wheel. Lupin also found it odd that he'd escaped the wrath of the Slytherin students. Perhaps his disavowal of Sirius Black and his tactics had saved him from all sorts of trouble. In spite of it all, he was lonely and miserable.
Even Fawkes the phoenix couldn't seem to locate Severus' mother.
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Lily had summoned the courage to actually floo to St. Mungo's to see Severus one afternoon. She had wanted James to come with her, but he had told her it wasn't a very good idea and gave her a card to give to the ailing boy instead.
Healer Asphora LaChance, who had scrutinized and re-scrutinized the girl's aura looking for threads of deceit or trickery and finding none, showed her to the Children's ward.
The pinched little faces in all the beds looked at her as she entered.
"Mama LaChance," one little boy called. "Want some water please, Mama LaChance." Leaving Lily, the healer went to assist the child.
Lily looked around until she saw the only bedside table without any flowers or cards. His father in jail, his mother gone to parts unknown, his classmates locked in combat against one another – who else would have sent greetings to Severus? So few kids at Hogwarts had cared for him anyway, with his standoffish air and sharp tongue and his tendency to hex anyone who crossed him. The Gryffindor girl was extra glad she had come.
She walked over to where Severus lay asleep.
He lay there, twitching slightly, as if someone had fixed him with a dark curse. His dark hair – clean and shiny for once – was spread out over the pillow. His face was pale, his eyes deeply shadowed in their sockets. Since he still had trouble eating solid food, he was being nourished via Muggle intravenous fluid.
Lily's eyes followed the liquid up the tube and then watched it drip, drip, drip. The room was warm enough to make her sleepy. She didn't want to be rude and wake him up, so she dropped into a nearby chair and waited.
Sev moaned and turned his head. "Please no," he murmured. Fearing that he was trapped in a bad dream, Lily leaned over him and gently shook his arm. His dark eyes snapped open and became furious instantly.
"Whu – whu – what are you doing here, Ev – Evans?" he whispered. There appeared to be something wrong with his voice because it didn't sound like Severus.
"I just came to see you and to say hello," the girl said in genuine innocence and goodness. "I've missed seeing you around – Potions Class just isn't the same without you!"
"I'll bet the Marauders don't miss me in Potions Class. Or anywhere else, for that matter," the boy whispered hoarsely.
"Well, Remus stood up to Sirius over what had happened to you, and Sirius put him out of the Marauders. Then James said there was no real point in his belonging, either. So right now, Sev, there are only two Marauders."
"Never fear," Severus continued. "They'll all kiss and make up – so to speak. It would take more than some greasy Slytherin kid snuffing himself to break up that gang of pack-hunters."
"James sent you this card," Lily said, taking it from her school bag and handing it to him.
He waved it away. "I don't want it."
She laid it carefully on the bedside table. "I've never been in hospital before, Sev. What is it like in here?"
He focused his fathomless dark eyes on her clear green ones. "Welcome to the Land of the Lost Children, Evans. Broken toys, all of us. Stuffing torn out and tossed around, springs unsprung, parts missing. Some adult manhandled each of us then threw the husks away, until somebody swept us all together and dumped us into a barrel. This is it. The barrel, I mean."
Lily noticed how his mouth curled and twisted as he spoke, and how his eyes clouded with pain. She wondered if it was physical or emotional.
"You can glue together the head of a broken doll, but it'll never be sound again. It will just crack right on the lines of the original breaks when too much pressure is put on it. Snap!"
Lily wondered if the poison had damaged his brain.
"That's me. I think I'm all right for a while, then something makes my head go 'snap' and I'm all broken again."
"I'm sorry to hear it, Sev."
"They call it 'counseling'. All I know is that it hurts like the very devil and I'm made to look in places I'd just as soon not poke around in." He paused and sighed, his eyes darting around the room. "My knee is healing all right. I keep having operations, though, because of the poison having mucked up my innards. I won't be out of here anytime soon."
Lily leaned forward, afraid to touch him. "I'm so sorry for your trouble, Sev. I wish I could make it all go away."
His mouth quivered, and he abruptly rolled over with his back facing Lily. "I'm tired now. Give my regards to your boyfriend and his pals. Maybe they'll be kind enough to slit my wrists for me when I come back since I'm no longer allowed to do it for myself."
The tears squirted out of Lily's eyes. "Oh, Sev. I hope you feel better and you're back at Hogwarts soon. Not everyone hates you, you know." She looked at the boy closely, seeing his shoulders shaking and realizing that he was crying. No wonder he had wanted her to leave so abruptly.
She stood and removed her wand from her sleeve. She transfigured a paper drinking cup (glass was not allowed on the ward for obvious reasons) into a bouquet of peonies. She took a tissue dispenser and created a vase of yellow roses. She spotted a crumpled-up cup on the floor, retrieved it, and transfigured it into a large vaseful of jonquils.
As she walked away, she decorated the windowsill with violets, and surrounded the floor around the boy's bed with daisy heads.
"Get well, Severus Snape," she whispered as she reached the doorway.
She then fled for the floo portal, crying.
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Albus Dumbledore sat in his study, poring over an old parchment. One of his old friends at the Ministry of Magic had given it him once as a favor since it mentioned a "Castle" – ostensibly Hogwarts.
The old wizard had puzzled over it many a night and still understood very little of it. He had uncovered the first clue quite by accident; he had been talking to Minerva about the new First Years and referred to Severus Snape as a "Dark child" because of his lineage and pre-Hogwarts training. The next time Dumbledore had read the parchment, it had clicked in his head.
Time to try it again:
His life of struggle, shame and fear
Shall to the Castle hearken near.
Strange shall he be to all, and yetA friend from Grecian Island met
Torn from his arms via evil threat.
Defied throughout by enemies fourThe fourth by whom an open door
Is pushed, shall open more.
Deceit and lies the Dark child trickHis heart and mind so deathly sick
Until the Flame shall meet the wick.
The man of Light his eyes unblockYet one shall craft a deadly plot
And none his poor heart shall unlock
The Devil and his Hell to seeThe child returns to plead with he
Whose love once set his spirit free.
Another youth shall grow apartWith wife and child plans to impart
Relief from Devil's angry art.
That two shall die, but why not three?The babe shall to the Castle flee
The Dark child shall heap misery.
The Babe and Demon struggle nighOne to defeat, and one to die
Dark Child shall raise the Babe on high.
The last travail by Goodness wonBy that marauder's Earthly son
And by the Dark Child, all but gone."
Only the first four stanzas made any sense to him. "Well, the gods must intend a long life for me if I'm to see this prophesy unfold before my eyes," thought Albus Dumbledore.He thought that perhaps he would bring Remus Lupin with him when he visited Snape tomorrow night.
He would have to decide that then. For now – sleep.
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It was late in the Children's ward.
Severus hadn't spoken to any of the other young patients since his arrival at St. Mungo's. Why should he? He could barely deal with his own misery, let alone theirs.
It was all right. When you were solitary by nature, you tended to be excellent company for yourself. Unless you were in the morass of a depression, that is. Then you were your own worst enemy.
Sev looked at the flowers Lily had left him. He smiled. He wished he hadn't been so stinking mean to her. She hadn't hurt him any, after all. The flowers smelled good – like the meadows at home in the springtime.
His eye fell on the card Lily had left on the bedside table, right next to the yellow roses. Severus reached for it, moaning as the muscles in his diaphragm contracted. Might as well have a look.
He opened it. It was a handmade card, obviously.
TO SEVERUS
GET WELL SOON
FROM JAMES POTTER AND FAMILY
Potter had drawn squiggles around the edges as a special touch. Kid wasn't much of an artist, that was for sure.
Sev opened the card, and something slipped out. He caught it before it was swept off the bed and onto the floor. He didn't think he could reach over that far, if that's what it came down to.
It was the photo of Sev and James eating the Pig Cake.
He looked at the chocolate "eyebrows" he had drawn on Potter, and at the mashed-up icing smeared down his own sweatshirt.
Just two mates having a bit of fun. They had their arms around each other in cheerful friendship, like brothers.
Severus burst into tears.
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