Chapter 26
The short stick rolled lazily across the stone floor. It collided with a feather of blue then another of wispy gray. On it rolled until it reached the far wall by the fireplace. There it came to rest finding solemn camaraderie with its brethren. Broken quill shafts and feathers littered the floor of the Infirmary. Uncharacteristically, Madam Pomfrey ignored the aberrant state of her normally spotless floor. Her mind was on her student. Near the fireplace, Demos hunched forward in a transfigured adult-sized student desk doggedly practicing his letters on pieces of parchment. He had learned block lettering easily enough. Mastery of cursive writing was proving elusive.
Under her bemused eye, he practiced on and on comparing his handiwork with her writing on a makeshift blackboard on the wall. The only noise in the room was the gliding of Demos' quill. The serenity was punctuated by the occasional crack of yet another broken quill. Demos automatically tossed the useless bit over his shoulder and glanced at Madam Pomfrey who was finalizing her potions inventory at her desk. Wordlessly, the nurse levitated a new quill to her eager pupil. He snatched it out of the air and began writing again. A bowl of ice cream sat on his desk. He was down to a bowl every four hours now. The arrangement suited him well enough but he still could not stop his growing loathing of ice cream in all its shapes and forms.
Professor Flitwick heard the last crack as he passed by the Infirmary on his way to the Great Hall. His curiosity got the better of him and he looked in. Wordlessly, he eyed the bits of wood and feathers strewn about the floor. "Everything all right in here?"
"Demos is just practicing his writing. He's improving by the minute." Pomfrey nodded towards Demos. "Filius, since you're here, I'd like to give you the usual treatment now."
"Oh, yes, yes, splendid idea." The tiny professor sat up on one of the beds.
"Feeling better now that your sitting duties are limited?" Pomfrey opened a cabinet and took out a rack of vials. Each vial was labeled. She picked out the one belonging to Flitwick in between vials labeled "McGonagall" and "Sprout."
"I must say I didn't realize how sitting duty exhausted me. Thanks to your booster potions I feel quite recovered."
"How have you been sleeping? You haven't been indulging your companion with nightly escapades have you?" She approached him. She held the vial to the light to make sure that it was the correct vial.
"What exactly are you referring to, Poppy?"
"Hmm, so you take no part in the impromptu spell tag sessions in the greenhouses? Wasn't it your team's practice last night?" The nurse emptied the vial into a small cup, added some water then stirred. She held the cup out to him.
"I did not participate per your orders," Flitwick downed the potion quickly. "Besides, with Hagrid and Filch in the same round it would have been ill-advised for me to join in."
"Wise decision. I would not have cared to explain to Albus how his warmaster ended up in a traction sling." Pomfrey cast a diagnosis spell on her patient and saw that all things were normal. The stress of the past few months had taken its physical toll on the faculty. But Flitwick had suffered the most due to his heritage, size and age. He had not shrugged any duty that was his by right of being a head of house so he had borne double what the rest had had to.
"Hah, as if those two could have bested me," Flitwick was a past dueling champion and one underestimated him at their eventual cost. "They rely too much on brute force or superiority in numbers. They need to learn about tactics and strategy."
"Then teach but don't do." Pomfrey cast a quick rejuvenation spell. Her patient gasped as the spell took effect. "There you're done."
Flitwick stood up and stretched. He glanced at Demos who was too engrossed in his practice to notice much else. He tugged on Pomfrey's uniform. "Poppy, may I have a minute of your time? In your office please."
Mystified, Pomfrey led the way into her office. She closed the door behind her. "Well, Filius?"
Flitwick did not mince words. He quickly cast a Circle of Anomi. "Tell me what's wrong with Albus."
"What do you mean?"
"He has lost his temper more in the last month than he has in all the decades I've known him." Flitwick paced in front of her. "I look at him and I can feel something is wrong. His reactions verge on the extreme sometimes. When was the last time you examined him?"
"Six weeks ago. There were no indications of illness. I'm sure of it."
"You've seen how erratic his behavior has been. No one else has said anything to you about him?"
"If any one has I could not divulge so to you. The rules of my profession apply."
"You did not answer my question, Poppy." Flitwick stopped pacing and looked at her.
Poppy avoided looking at him. She looked off into the distance. "I believe I did, Filius."
"I see." After a moment, he nodded in unspoken understanding.
"Albus is under a great deal of stress, Filius."
"If it is only that then my mind is eased greatly." Flitwick rubbed his chin and looked at the nurse earnestly. "It is only that isn't it?"
"It is stress for the most part. As people age, their reactions to stress can vary. Albus is not as young as he was when he faced Grindelwald."
"None of us are." Flitwick sighed. "Thank you. I was worried that's all."
She placed a hand on his shoulder. "You were being a true friend."
"I tried to talk to Minerva but, outside of official meetings, she seems to be avoiding me of late. I cannot get anything out of Nicholas either."
"Very like they know as little as you. The heads of houses will be targets and potential hostages so Albus tells me. It seems to be a wise strategy for all of you to know only certain pieces and not the whole." She smiled encouragingly at him. "Albus has told me that you have qualms about the task he has set for you. If you need to talk, I'm here."
"You know about our tasks?"
"We all have assigned tasks, Filius. Even I."
Flitwick's eyes showed genuine puzzlement. "What has Albus asked you to do?"
"Think upon what I have said. It will not take you long to imagine what it could be." With that she stood and opened the door. She dissolved the Cirquo Anomi and swept out of her office leaving Flitwick alone to think.
A few minutes later he came out of her office. As he passed by her on his way out, Flitwick gave her a very strange look - a mixture of fear and wary respect. She broke eye contact quickly. She knew that he knew. That was enough.
~ * ~
The stinging wind stabbed at her cheeks. She could feel the late afternoon chill deep in her bones but as Hermione sat in her garden, she felt warm and alive. She was too keyed up to stay indoors. She fished the owl post from her pocket, unfolded it and reread it. The owl post had arrived at dawn and she had by now read it for the fiftieth time. It said:
Ms. Granger,
Your academic achievements and contributions to the school have qualified you for a unique opportunity. Please be advised that upon your return to Hogwarts after the Christmas holiday, you will be appointed my new teaching assistant.
Appointment to an assistant's position is a rare honor. Only one other student at Hogwarts has ever been elevated to such a position while still attending Hogwarts. His name was Albus Dumbledore.
Appointment to an assistant's position is a rare honor. Only one other student at Hogwarts has ever been elevated to such a position while still attending Hogwarts. You may have heard of him. His name was Albus Dumbledore.
Professor Snape and I will be arriving at your parent's residence right after breakfast to discuss the matter with you and your parents. Please respond immediately if this time is inconvenient.
I am looking forward to our new association.
Professor Minerva McGonagall
Her parents were ecstatic while she had been stunned by the offer and the circumstance. Even after Professors Snape and McGonagall's arrival, she had still not found the words to adequately express how she felt. It was all too much to absorb.
Privately, the two professors had informed her of what Professor Snape had seen about her and Voldemort as well as about Peter Pettigrew's appearance the day before. Her initial horror had been replaced by a steely determination not to let that particular future happen. No, this swan would be under no one's control, she thought. She would be free and strong. Now, as she sat in the garden marveling at the unexpected turns her life had recently taken, she vowed to make the most of everything to come the good and the bad.
She sat outside for a few minutes more before going back inside for dinner. She smiled to herself. After dinner she would compose her congratulatory post to Ron for becoming a prefect. If she sent it about noon tomorrow, it should arrive after Professor McGonagall's own letter.
~ * ~
Keeping secrets from one's partner was a sure way to dissolution of that partnership. In all the years of his marriage, Serjanus Snape had never looked at another woman, lied to his wife or kept anything of real import from her. He was seriously contemplating doing the latter. He lay in bed that night thinking back at what happened when he linked with Severus and pulled him out of the time stream. The images replaying in his mind made sleep impossible.
Every timeline had common events. These events were usually of such a pivotal nature that their presence was an absolute requirement in most timelines involving the same person, object or place. Through years of discipline and mastery, Serjanus could sift through multiple timelines and pick out the salient events or threads of connected events. He had done so almost effortlessly while he was leading Severus back out of his mind. Because Severus' mind had been focused on Hermione Granger, it was threads of common events to her probable futures that had flashed around them on their return path. He was fairly certain that Severus was not himself fully aware of these events in their entirety. Severus did not have the training or the experiencing to even create those streams himself. He would only be able to see singular images of singular events as he had confessed to him and Calliandra.
Serjanus twisted in bed pulling his arm over his head. He groaned out loud. He had tried every meditation technique he knew to purge himself of the memories but the memories were persistent. He knew well enough the consequences of intervening in timelines and future probabilities. A word here, a small gesture there could make all the difference. How could he keep this from his son? Should he even try?
Beside him, Calliandra stirred and, ever alert to her husband's needs, woke up. "Serjanus, do you need your pain potion?"
"No, go back to sleep." His eyes drifted to the window. Gazing at the night sky over Hogwarts always used to soothe him but not it seems tonight.
"And I believe that boggarts are dementors in disguise. I know something is bothering you. During all our meals today you kept staring at Severus and Demos."
"I was trying not to be so obvious."
"You were only obvious to me, love." She turned around to her side until she was facing him. "I have reservations about our demon doppelganger and we disagree on that point. Have you had a change of heart?"
"No, I have not changed my mind. I sense no remaining malice in him."
"Out with it then or neither one of us will get any sleep tonight. I need my beauty sleep. Wizard blood or no, I'm not getting any younger."
Serjanus chuckled and turned over himself. He ran a finger across her cheek. "Beauty itself does not need sleep."
"Flatterer!" Calliandra took his hand in hers. "Tell me what's wrong. If it's not Demos, then it must be Severus. Will we never stop worrying about our boy?"
Serjanus sighed deeply and rested his head on her chest. She stroked his hair slowly not pressing him for an answer right away. He answered in his own time. "I saw real events, Calliandra. Wonderful, fantastic things that will happen no matter what the future will be."
"Wonderful? Why then are you so quiet and sad?"
"Because the events leading up to these wondrous events will be difficult for Severus." Serjanus wrapped an arm about his wife. "Can a father not want to shield his child from hurt, from disappointment? He has endured so much already."
"If these wonderful things will in fact occur and ultimately benefit our son, then again why worry so?" Calliandra moved to stroke her husband's bare shoulders.
"It will benefit wizard kind, Calliandra, of that I am certain. But I pulled us out before I could see how it would go for Severus. I need to know that this will not destroy him."
"Severus has always been strong. A true survivor. Whatever this is, he can overcome it."
"This is not some potion or spell, Calliandra, nor a specific problem with a defined solution."
"Then stop talking in circles and tell me what this is."
"I glimpsed a timestream where I saw Hermione become something glorious."
"Really? In what way?"
"I will not spoil it for you but believe me when I say that she will be a beacon in our world."
Calliandra sat up fully awake. Her eyes shone with excitement. She knew her husband was not going to reveal any more for fear of contaminating current timelines, but that did not mean she couldn't try to wheedle hints out of him. "They will fall in love with each other that much we can assume. Did you see them together finally? Will he be there by her side?"
"He will grow to love her but I do not believe it will be mutual. Someone was by Hermione's side, true, but it was not Severus. My son, our boy, stood off to the side hidden in the shadows as he has always been looking at her with such pain while -." His voice trailed into silence. He could not continue.
Calliandra did not like the anguished look on her husband's face. She said the words reflected in his eyes that his mouth could not bear to utter. "Demos stood by her side." It was not a question.
~ * ~
A/N: It has been a long time to get to this point. I hope the ride has been satisfying to the readers so far. The rest of the way will be bumpy with many hairpin turns. This started out as an SS/HG fic and that IS the way it will end.
Thank you to all for your comments, critiques and questions. If the story ever veers too far from believability please let me know. I've tried to keep it entertaining as well as believable. Enjoy!
The short stick rolled lazily across the stone floor. It collided with a feather of blue then another of wispy gray. On it rolled until it reached the far wall by the fireplace. There it came to rest finding solemn camaraderie with its brethren. Broken quill shafts and feathers littered the floor of the Infirmary. Uncharacteristically, Madam Pomfrey ignored the aberrant state of her normally spotless floor. Her mind was on her student. Near the fireplace, Demos hunched forward in a transfigured adult-sized student desk doggedly practicing his letters on pieces of parchment. He had learned block lettering easily enough. Mastery of cursive writing was proving elusive.
Under her bemused eye, he practiced on and on comparing his handiwork with her writing on a makeshift blackboard on the wall. The only noise in the room was the gliding of Demos' quill. The serenity was punctuated by the occasional crack of yet another broken quill. Demos automatically tossed the useless bit over his shoulder and glanced at Madam Pomfrey who was finalizing her potions inventory at her desk. Wordlessly, the nurse levitated a new quill to her eager pupil. He snatched it out of the air and began writing again. A bowl of ice cream sat on his desk. He was down to a bowl every four hours now. The arrangement suited him well enough but he still could not stop his growing loathing of ice cream in all its shapes and forms.
Professor Flitwick heard the last crack as he passed by the Infirmary on his way to the Great Hall. His curiosity got the better of him and he looked in. Wordlessly, he eyed the bits of wood and feathers strewn about the floor. "Everything all right in here?"
"Demos is just practicing his writing. He's improving by the minute." Pomfrey nodded towards Demos. "Filius, since you're here, I'd like to give you the usual treatment now."
"Oh, yes, yes, splendid idea." The tiny professor sat up on one of the beds.
"Feeling better now that your sitting duties are limited?" Pomfrey opened a cabinet and took out a rack of vials. Each vial was labeled. She picked out the one belonging to Flitwick in between vials labeled "McGonagall" and "Sprout."
"I must say I didn't realize how sitting duty exhausted me. Thanks to your booster potions I feel quite recovered."
"How have you been sleeping? You haven't been indulging your companion with nightly escapades have you?" She approached him. She held the vial to the light to make sure that it was the correct vial.
"What exactly are you referring to, Poppy?"
"Hmm, so you take no part in the impromptu spell tag sessions in the greenhouses? Wasn't it your team's practice last night?" The nurse emptied the vial into a small cup, added some water then stirred. She held the cup out to him.
"I did not participate per your orders," Flitwick downed the potion quickly. "Besides, with Hagrid and Filch in the same round it would have been ill-advised for me to join in."
"Wise decision. I would not have cared to explain to Albus how his warmaster ended up in a traction sling." Pomfrey cast a diagnosis spell on her patient and saw that all things were normal. The stress of the past few months had taken its physical toll on the faculty. But Flitwick had suffered the most due to his heritage, size and age. He had not shrugged any duty that was his by right of being a head of house so he had borne double what the rest had had to.
"Hah, as if those two could have bested me," Flitwick was a past dueling champion and one underestimated him at their eventual cost. "They rely too much on brute force or superiority in numbers. They need to learn about tactics and strategy."
"Then teach but don't do." Pomfrey cast a quick rejuvenation spell. Her patient gasped as the spell took effect. "There you're done."
Flitwick stood up and stretched. He glanced at Demos who was too engrossed in his practice to notice much else. He tugged on Pomfrey's uniform. "Poppy, may I have a minute of your time? In your office please."
Mystified, Pomfrey led the way into her office. She closed the door behind her. "Well, Filius?"
Flitwick did not mince words. He quickly cast a Circle of Anomi. "Tell me what's wrong with Albus."
"What do you mean?"
"He has lost his temper more in the last month than he has in all the decades I've known him." Flitwick paced in front of her. "I look at him and I can feel something is wrong. His reactions verge on the extreme sometimes. When was the last time you examined him?"
"Six weeks ago. There were no indications of illness. I'm sure of it."
"You've seen how erratic his behavior has been. No one else has said anything to you about him?"
"If any one has I could not divulge so to you. The rules of my profession apply."
"You did not answer my question, Poppy." Flitwick stopped pacing and looked at her.
Poppy avoided looking at him. She looked off into the distance. "I believe I did, Filius."
"I see." After a moment, he nodded in unspoken understanding.
"Albus is under a great deal of stress, Filius."
"If it is only that then my mind is eased greatly." Flitwick rubbed his chin and looked at the nurse earnestly. "It is only that isn't it?"
"It is stress for the most part. As people age, their reactions to stress can vary. Albus is not as young as he was when he faced Grindelwald."
"None of us are." Flitwick sighed. "Thank you. I was worried that's all."
She placed a hand on his shoulder. "You were being a true friend."
"I tried to talk to Minerva but, outside of official meetings, she seems to be avoiding me of late. I cannot get anything out of Nicholas either."
"Very like they know as little as you. The heads of houses will be targets and potential hostages so Albus tells me. It seems to be a wise strategy for all of you to know only certain pieces and not the whole." She smiled encouragingly at him. "Albus has told me that you have qualms about the task he has set for you. If you need to talk, I'm here."
"You know about our tasks?"
"We all have assigned tasks, Filius. Even I."
Flitwick's eyes showed genuine puzzlement. "What has Albus asked you to do?"
"Think upon what I have said. It will not take you long to imagine what it could be." With that she stood and opened the door. She dissolved the Cirquo Anomi and swept out of her office leaving Flitwick alone to think.
A few minutes later he came out of her office. As he passed by her on his way out, Flitwick gave her a very strange look - a mixture of fear and wary respect. She broke eye contact quickly. She knew that he knew. That was enough.
~ * ~
The stinging wind stabbed at her cheeks. She could feel the late afternoon chill deep in her bones but as Hermione sat in her garden, she felt warm and alive. She was too keyed up to stay indoors. She fished the owl post from her pocket, unfolded it and reread it. The owl post had arrived at dawn and she had by now read it for the fiftieth time. It said:
Ms. Granger,
Your academic achievements and contributions to the school have qualified you for a unique opportunity. Please be advised that upon your return to Hogwarts after the Christmas holiday, you will be appointed my new teaching assistant.
Appointment to an assistant's position is a rare honor. Only one other student at Hogwarts has ever been elevated to such a position while still attending Hogwarts. His name was Albus Dumbledore.
Appointment to an assistant's position is a rare honor. Only one other student at Hogwarts has ever been elevated to such a position while still attending Hogwarts. You may have heard of him. His name was Albus Dumbledore.
Professor Snape and I will be arriving at your parent's residence right after breakfast to discuss the matter with you and your parents. Please respond immediately if this time is inconvenient.
I am looking forward to our new association.
Professor Minerva McGonagall
Her parents were ecstatic while she had been stunned by the offer and the circumstance. Even after Professors Snape and McGonagall's arrival, she had still not found the words to adequately express how she felt. It was all too much to absorb.
Privately, the two professors had informed her of what Professor Snape had seen about her and Voldemort as well as about Peter Pettigrew's appearance the day before. Her initial horror had been replaced by a steely determination not to let that particular future happen. No, this swan would be under no one's control, she thought. She would be free and strong. Now, as she sat in the garden marveling at the unexpected turns her life had recently taken, she vowed to make the most of everything to come the good and the bad.
She sat outside for a few minutes more before going back inside for dinner. She smiled to herself. After dinner she would compose her congratulatory post to Ron for becoming a prefect. If she sent it about noon tomorrow, it should arrive after Professor McGonagall's own letter.
~ * ~
Keeping secrets from one's partner was a sure way to dissolution of that partnership. In all the years of his marriage, Serjanus Snape had never looked at another woman, lied to his wife or kept anything of real import from her. He was seriously contemplating doing the latter. He lay in bed that night thinking back at what happened when he linked with Severus and pulled him out of the time stream. The images replaying in his mind made sleep impossible.
Every timeline had common events. These events were usually of such a pivotal nature that their presence was an absolute requirement in most timelines involving the same person, object or place. Through years of discipline and mastery, Serjanus could sift through multiple timelines and pick out the salient events or threads of connected events. He had done so almost effortlessly while he was leading Severus back out of his mind. Because Severus' mind had been focused on Hermione Granger, it was threads of common events to her probable futures that had flashed around them on their return path. He was fairly certain that Severus was not himself fully aware of these events in their entirety. Severus did not have the training or the experiencing to even create those streams himself. He would only be able to see singular images of singular events as he had confessed to him and Calliandra.
Serjanus twisted in bed pulling his arm over his head. He groaned out loud. He had tried every meditation technique he knew to purge himself of the memories but the memories were persistent. He knew well enough the consequences of intervening in timelines and future probabilities. A word here, a small gesture there could make all the difference. How could he keep this from his son? Should he even try?
Beside him, Calliandra stirred and, ever alert to her husband's needs, woke up. "Serjanus, do you need your pain potion?"
"No, go back to sleep." His eyes drifted to the window. Gazing at the night sky over Hogwarts always used to soothe him but not it seems tonight.
"And I believe that boggarts are dementors in disguise. I know something is bothering you. During all our meals today you kept staring at Severus and Demos."
"I was trying not to be so obvious."
"You were only obvious to me, love." She turned around to her side until she was facing him. "I have reservations about our demon doppelganger and we disagree on that point. Have you had a change of heart?"
"No, I have not changed my mind. I sense no remaining malice in him."
"Out with it then or neither one of us will get any sleep tonight. I need my beauty sleep. Wizard blood or no, I'm not getting any younger."
Serjanus chuckled and turned over himself. He ran a finger across her cheek. "Beauty itself does not need sleep."
"Flatterer!" Calliandra took his hand in hers. "Tell me what's wrong. If it's not Demos, then it must be Severus. Will we never stop worrying about our boy?"
Serjanus sighed deeply and rested his head on her chest. She stroked his hair slowly not pressing him for an answer right away. He answered in his own time. "I saw real events, Calliandra. Wonderful, fantastic things that will happen no matter what the future will be."
"Wonderful? Why then are you so quiet and sad?"
"Because the events leading up to these wondrous events will be difficult for Severus." Serjanus wrapped an arm about his wife. "Can a father not want to shield his child from hurt, from disappointment? He has endured so much already."
"If these wonderful things will in fact occur and ultimately benefit our son, then again why worry so?" Calliandra moved to stroke her husband's bare shoulders.
"It will benefit wizard kind, Calliandra, of that I am certain. But I pulled us out before I could see how it would go for Severus. I need to know that this will not destroy him."
"Severus has always been strong. A true survivor. Whatever this is, he can overcome it."
"This is not some potion or spell, Calliandra, nor a specific problem with a defined solution."
"Then stop talking in circles and tell me what this is."
"I glimpsed a timestream where I saw Hermione become something glorious."
"Really? In what way?"
"I will not spoil it for you but believe me when I say that she will be a beacon in our world."
Calliandra sat up fully awake. Her eyes shone with excitement. She knew her husband was not going to reveal any more for fear of contaminating current timelines, but that did not mean she couldn't try to wheedle hints out of him. "They will fall in love with each other that much we can assume. Did you see them together finally? Will he be there by her side?"
"He will grow to love her but I do not believe it will be mutual. Someone was by Hermione's side, true, but it was not Severus. My son, our boy, stood off to the side hidden in the shadows as he has always been looking at her with such pain while -." His voice trailed into silence. He could not continue.
Calliandra did not like the anguished look on her husband's face. She said the words reflected in his eyes that his mouth could not bear to utter. "Demos stood by her side." It was not a question.
~ * ~
A/N: It has been a long time to get to this point. I hope the ride has been satisfying to the readers so far. The rest of the way will be bumpy with many hairpin turns. This started out as an SS/HG fic and that IS the way it will end.
Thank you to all for your comments, critiques and questions. If the story ever veers too far from believability please let me know. I've tried to keep it entertaining as well as believable. Enjoy!