(A/N: And so, my dears, another ending- this one hopefully more surprising, befuddling, and brain-melting than others. Oh yes, if you are expecting, gentle reader, that this chapter will provide answers and explanations, you are sadly mistaken- for your Author is a sadistic soul, who will leave no opportunity to mess you up and annoy you. Or at least, that is what she is telling you. It may, of course, not be the truth at all. But anyway, enough teasing, I shall leave you in peace to enjoy this Chapter the Last. Fare thee well, reader, and do not forget to read all the other nonsense I have written. Sincerely, The Duchess)
Chapter 7: Friend Or Foe?
Just as Snape was stirring his ninth cup of tea, there was a knock on the door of Dumbledore's office. "Come in," Dumbledore said, unwrapping a biscuit. Snape turned to see who it was when he heard the door creak open.
"Oh, just what I needed..." he muttered as he saw the trio walk in. "Potter," he sneered, by terms of greeting. Harry at him, so he gave him a glare and then turned back to his tea.
"Good afternoon," Dumbledore said. "have a biscuit." He held out a tin of biscuits. The three students crept forward past Snape, who glared at them, and each took a biscuit from the tin. They remained next to Dumbledore's desk, standing silently and motionlessly.
"I, er, I hope we're not disturbing," Hermione finally said, fumbling with her biscuit.
"Oh, no," Dumbledore replied serenely, ignoring Snape's meaningful stare. "Professor Snape and I were just having a friendly chat. What did you want to see me about?"
"Er, well," Harry said, "we have been hearing some rumours that we wanted to talk to you about."
"Rumours?" Dumbledore said. "What kind of rumours?"
"About......about....Professor Snape, sir." Hermione said, nervously.
"Oh, really?" Dumbledore said. "Well, I am sure that the professor will be kind enough to answer your questions." He leant back in his seat expectantly. Snape sat grumbling to himself, his fingers clenched tightly around his cup of tea, and Harry thought that he had never seen anyone who looked so unwilling to answer questions about himself. Nevertheless, with Dumbledore in the same room, he would be unable to do anything to them, so he felt brave enough to start.
"We were walking to breakfast, and then we overheard Professor McGonagall say something to Hagrid." Harry said, avoiding Snape's disgruntled stare. "About Professor Snape being.. being..... Voldemort's daughter." He paused, took a deep breath and continued: "And we also saw that the teachers were acting differently towards him, so we wondered if it was true."
A silence fell. Everyone was now looking at Snape, who did not want to answer that stupid question again, so he concentrated on his tea. After a few minutes and several coughing fits of Dumbledore, however, he started to get annoyed, and slammed down his cup on the desk. "Oh, alright," he snarled. "I'll answer." Dumbledore smiled a vague, amused smile, that made him want to do something rash to the old coot, but he suppressed his anger. "I'm not the Dark Lord's daughter." He said, turning to the trio, and then turned back to Dumbledore, whose eyes were now twinkling in that extremely irritating fashion.
"But we already knew he couldn't be...." Harry went on, uncertainly, and looked at Hermione, who continued.
"Yes, because I looked up Polyjuice potion, and it said that it could not change the drinker's sex." Hermione said nervously, turning slightly red. "So we wondered.....why?"
Snape glares at her and then snorted disdainfully. "Because you were wrong, Miss Granger. Polyjuice potion can change the drinker's sex, as you would have known if you had bothered to check the most recent sources." Hermione turned even redder, and Snape turned back to his tea, a satisfied smirk on his face. Dumbledore had stopped smiling, however, and waves a hand in the direction of the trio.
"Of course I trust you, Harry.... but I somehow get the feeling that you have heard this rumour from other sources." Dumbledore looked at Harry in a way that told him that Dumbledore knew they had not heard about it from McGonagall. Harry stood silent, trying to decide whether to tell or not. "If this is so, please tell us. We were just discussing the origins of this rumour, and would like to find out who started it at Hogwarts." Dumbledore added.
"Well....." Harry looked at Ron, who was looking scared, and at Hermione, who fidgeted, and sighed. "We did hear Draco Malfoy mention something about it to Evan Rosier." Snape turned around quickly at this, and fixed his eyes on Harry. "They said that they'd heard about it from their fathers." Harry did not know what else to tell, so he shut his mouth again and looked at Dumbledore.
"Lucius....." Snape murmured, followed by a series of aggressive sounds, none of which Harry could understand. Snape stood up, wrapping his robes around him. "Please excuse me, Headmaster, I have to call on someone." He nodded at Dumbledore, who smiled at him.
"Oh, why don't you just use my fireplace, Severus, it's much more convenient." He gestured towards his own fireplace, and handed Snape a small velvet bag of Floo powder. Snape looked less than pleased, but grabbed the tiny bag anyway, and strode towards the fireplace. He took a handful, launched it into the fire like a chess player who is a sore loser throws the chessboard, and snarled something to the flames. Within seconds, Lucius Malfoy's face appeared in the fire, his blonde hair reflecting the green flames blindingly.
"Hello Severus, what the devil......" Lucius looked around, recognised the environment, and then the other people in the room, and frowned. ".....are you doing flooing me from Dumbledore's office?" His light eyes, luminous green in the flames, flitted towards Harry, and narrowed in disgust. "And what is the good Mr Potter doing there? With his little friends?" He raised his eyebrows mockingly as his gaze slid over Hermione and Ron.
"Potter had some surprising news for me, Lucius," Snape said, giving Harry a dirty look, "that he heard from your son."
"Did he, now?" Lucius said, "I can't imagine it to have been anything interesting. I make it a point never to tell nor show the br....." he paused, reflected, and went on: "...... the bright young lad anything important." Snape, who appeared to understand what he meant by important, smirked.
'Well, apparently he got it into his head that I'm the Dark Lord's daughter." He said, lightly.
"Oh?" Lucius said, coughing embarrassedly, "I can't imagine where he ever got that idea."
Snape glared at him. "Well, ehm.... I'm afraid I'm rather busy, Severus, so let's talk about this some other time, hm?" Lucius said.
"Fine, Lucius. But please be so kind as to tell me who started the rumour. I somehow feel that you know said person." Snape said, raising his eyebrows.
"Oh, I'm afraid I don't know who started it, I just heard it in the street," Lucius said, airily. But he was making slight hinting movements with his eyes, and Snape, getting the point, took out his wand, and, with a long swish of it, created an area around them outside which, no-one could hear what they were saying. "There. Speak." He said.
Lucius' head cocked to one side, his brow furrowed. "It was Peter." He said. "You can find him at......" he whispered a few words to Snape, who nodded.
"Thank you," he said, and Lucius' face disappeared, while the flames returned to their normal colours. Snape took out his wand, grabbed another handful of powder, threw it carelessly into the fire, and after a while, Peter Pettigrew's face came searchingly into the flames. "Finite Incantatum," Snape muttered, and the spell around him lifted. He wanted Dumbledore at least, to hear what Pettigrew had to say.
"Pettigrew!" he heard Harry Potter whisper angrily, and then the voice of Dumbledore as it advised him to stay calm and not do anything. Snape snorted disdainfully. He hoped the little runt would be able to control himself for a few minutes, or this would never be sorted out.
"Hello, Severus!" Peter said, happily. "How are you?"
"Not very well, I'm afraid," Snape said.
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Peter said, rubbing a hand over his face as though straightening whiskers that weren't there.
"Can you imagine why I'm not well, Peter?" Snape continued, gazing down at him.
"'Fraid not," Peter said. His eyes finally noticed the room Snape was in, and widened in fear when he saw Dumbledore, Harry, and the others. He let out a frightened squeak.
"Calm down," Snape snarled at him. "I'll let you go as soon as you clear up why you've been saying to everyone that I'm the Dark Lord's daughter!"
"You?" Peter said, looking at him in surprise. "Ha, no, you're not the Dark Lord's daughter!"
Snape's dark eyes narrowed in dismay.
"If I'm not the Dark Lord's daughter, who is?" he hissed angrily.
"The other Severus Snape who lives at Hogwarts, of course!" Peter exclaimed.
"The other Severus Snape?" Snape said, astonished.
Peter nodded. He looked around, and when his beady eyes had found Harry, he pointed a gnarled, clawed finger at him.
"Him!"
THE END