PART ONE CONTINUED

Chapter 2 The Truth This Time

"Manasa."

"Hello Severus."

"You should have told me."

She smiled wanly at this, and his expression softened as well. "It's rather a long story, but I'll be glad to tell it, if you have the time." As Janus would probably be occupied cheering people up for at least an hour, he led her into the hall.

They walked in silence to his quarters. She sat down at the table as he made tea. After an uncomfortable lapse of time, she finally spoke. "If you expect an apology, you're going to be disappointed."

He rounded on her quickly, and his voice was cold. "I don't want an apology. I want answers. The TRUTH, this time."

She nodded. "Where do you want me to start?" Her eyes looked up at him with a sad expression that he would never have expected. He paused for a moment and tried to sound a little less angry. It didn't work.

"How about the beginning? Did Dumbledore ever even send you to my office?" He asked scathingly.

"No," she whispered, averting her gaze.

"I suppose you were the seeker on your school's Quidditch team, too?" his voice was rising. Very soon he was going to be screaming at her, but he didn't care.

"Chaser," she replied, still looking away. The teapot whistled and he ignored it.

"And your dead uncle?" he hissed.

"Tom Riddle."

He looked at her for a moment with a furious expression before he wheeled back around and grabbed the teapot. He took a deep breath and poured the tea, his mind turning like a top. It had all been lies. Had he really expected anything else?

When he was sure he could keep a civil tone, he began again. "And Janus?"

"Uncle Tom wanted to bring the Slytherin name back into prominence in the wizarding world. I was his only hope of that. My parents died before I was old enough to remember them, and he raised me from that time. I went everywhere with him, hidden under an invisibility cloak. I was there the day you took the mark."

Severus leaned against the counter and watched her as he sipped his tea. She was gazing around the room, looking anywhere but at him. But he was calmer now that he was getting some answers, so he waited silently.

"When he managed to resurrect his body, he was thrilled that I hadn't married. I had been living as Kimber Alderfer since the night he disappeared, but I felt the mark that night, and knew he had returned."

"You don't have the mark," Severus interjected, inwardly wincing. Saying that only reminded him of how he knew that information. A vision of bare skin flashed before his eyes and he blinked, forcing himself to concentrate on her answer.

"It's on the inside of my ankle, where no one was likely to look. I had it long before I was old enough to know what it was." She looked up at him and noticed that he looked extremely uncomfortable with that knowledge. She looked away again and continued hurriedly. "Uncle Tom wanted me to have a son. He decided that Lucius had the purest bloodline of all his death eaters. Lucius was told that we'd kill his wife and he would marry me instead. The real plan was to kill him before the child was born, so Janus would be named Slytherin rather than Malfoy."

Comprehension was beginning to come to Severus in a round about way. He recalled that Lucius had begged Narcissa to go to his family in France not long after the Dark Lord returned. That at least seemed to match Manasa's story. Lucius would have protected Narci at all costs, he knew. Finally he nodded his acceptance and she took a deep breath to continue. "He was a first rate bastard, and I decided very quickly that I wouldn't be having his child. Then I met you."

She stopped abruptly and finally met his eyes. On her face was a shadow of the calculating expression that had first intrigued him. He narrowed his eyes. She obviously expected him to figure something out. But he wasn't interested in puzzles just now.

"He sent you to find out if I was a spy. Why did you lie for me?" He kept his voice even, affecting disinterest. But his heart had begun to hammer before the words were out of his mouth. She didn't answer. Waiting, he lifted his mug to his lips to find that it was empty. He was too distracted to put it down.

"Was it true, what you told him? That you never cared for me at all?" So much for attempting to sound disinterested. His voice shook as he spoke, and again he waited.

"No," she whispered finally. "That wasn't true."

He stared at her for a moment. "Then it did mean something to you? You couldn't hand me over to him after that." He knew that sounded rather arrogant, but hadn't been able to come up with a better way to phrase it. To his surprise she laughed harshly.

Her voice was bitter as she answered. "Yes. It meant something," she spat. "But it wouldn't have saved you. I don't know why I stayed until morning. I should have gone."

Severus tried to take another sip of tea, and realized again that his cup was empty. This time he threw it into the sink, where it cracked loudly. In his moment of distraction, she'd looked away again.

"I don't think anyone had ever uttered the word 'love' in my presence before, Severus. I could have killed you, in spite of my own feelings. That's what I'd been raised to do. But I couldn't kill you in spite of YOUR feelings. I couldn't kill the only person who'd ever – " She stopped speaking, her eyes fixed on the floor.

He was surprised. But before he could decide whether or not to comfort her, she'd collected herself and continued. "I wanted the Slytherin name to flourish, just as he did, but suddenly the price was too high. I decided that casting doubt on Janus' parentage was the only way to keep you safe. If I said I didn't know who the father was, then Janus would have to be named Slytherin anyway."

"But by the time he was 2 it was obvious he was yours. The Dark Arts professor at Beauxbaton was Macnair, and he took one look at the boy and knew. I made him promise not to tell Uncle Tom, and he agreed. He cared about you a great deal."

"You're speaking in past tense," Severus said, his shock registering in his voice. She paused again, as if gathering strength. This wouldn't be an easy thing to tell him.

"I told him I didn't want a Death Eater for my child's Godfather. He didn't take much convincing, and we were in contact with Dumbledore from then on. He gave his life to warn Madam Maxime about the attack. Janus is taking it pretty hard. He's a strong boy, Severus. You would be proud of him." There was just a hint of hope in her voice. She wondered if he could look past what she'd done to him and learn to care for Janus.

Macnair's death was a hard thing to swallow. Severus had tried, those first few months of the summer, to find out if his old friend was truly loyal to Voldemort. Manasa had succeeded where he'd failed. She had managed to convince Macnair to join the right side, in the end. He was grateful for that. It hit him suddenly that he was grateful to her for several other things as well. He owed her his life.

She was looking into her own empty cup as if she could find some strength there. He understood a great deal more now. She'd hidden the boy from anyone who might recognize him as a Snape. And she'd lied to Lord Voldemort to protect Severus because somehow it mattered to her that he cared for her. It hadn't seemed that way at the time, but perhaps that was only because he hadn't known her very well.

Silently he took the cup out of her hands and put it on the counter. Taking both of her hands in his, he pulled her out of the chair. He didn't know how to put into words the only question he had left.

The silence was lengthening, and he still hadn't quite come up with what he wanted to ask her when the door to his quarters flew open. "SEVERUS?" It was Sirius Black, and he looked agitated, until his eyes fell on them.

"Mur's awake," he exclaimed, a little more calmly. "Thought you'd want to know." Sirius felt remarkably awkward, now that he realized Severus wasn't alone. It occurred to him that interrupting them to talk about Muriel might not have been the best thing he could have done. Severus, however, didn't seem to notice. He dropped Manasa's hands immediately and they all set out for the hospital wing.

They were met at the door by Fred and George Weasley. "George, be reasonable! You just woke up, let Poppy check you out first." Fred was following his brother with a shocked expression on his face. Severus stopped them both with a look.

"You recall, Weasley, that at least two days of rest are necessary for each day you remained unconscious?" He knew the boys were aware of this, since they'd been his primary test subjects for the potion. It slipped his mind for a moment that he'd ignored that guideline himself.

George didn't even look at him as he answered, his eyes still turned angrily toward Fred. "I'm going to Egypt and I'm leaving from the store in 20 minutes. I kept my promise to you and stayed until everything was finished here. Now I'm going to keep my promise to her." Severus and Sirius were both staring at the boys as if they were grindylows in disguise. Since when did the Weasley twins ever disagree on anything? "Are you and Angelina coming along, or not?"

At this question, Fred perked up a bit. "Yeah, alright," he said quickly. Severus, Sirius and Manasa watched the boys walk out down the stairs, shoulder to shoulder. Pausing only a moment to wonder what that was all about, Severus pushed open the hospital ward door and headed for Muriel's bed.