"So, children, you have something to report?" prompted Dumbledore. He, Hermione, and Geoffrey were sitting around a table in the Charms classroom to discuss their findings.
Hermione nodded eagerly. "Yes, sir, we think we've solved a piece of the puzzle. We found a treatise on blindness that Professor Snape wrote that mentions a method we think we can use to break the connection between Harry and Voldemort."
"Indeed?" Dumbledore motioned for Hermione to elaborate, so she went on to describe their hypothesis in detail. Geoffrey sat silently, listening to her explanation. It needed no correction from him.
"So we think that Geoffrey was brought here to help teach Harry occlumency and to prepare the potion Professor Snape spoke of. It all makes sense, don't you see?" finished Hermione.
"An interesting theory," nodded Dumbledore. "I am unclear though as to how you intend to deliver this potion to Voldemort?"
Hermione blushed. "We haven't gotten that far yet, sir. But I'm certain we will think of something. In the meantime we can move forward with Harry's occlumency lessons. I'm sure Geoffrey can teach him in no time since Harry won't resist him quite so much as he did before."
The Headmaster pursed his lips. "I think you may have forgotten one small detail, Miss Granger. Severus,"
Geoffrey startled, surprised at being addressed at all and doubly so for being addressed by his real name. No one had called him Severus for over a month.
"Am I correct in assuming that your experience with occlumency does not extend into leglimency?" Geoffrey felt as if the Headmaster's eyes were boring into him as Dumbledore waited for his answer.
"No. I mean, yes. I have never used leglimency." Geoffrey laughed bitterly. "I generally make it a habit to avoid raping other people's minds."
Dumbledore looked shrewdly at him for a moment then continued, "I would never think you had, Severus. However, I must admit that I'm surprised it has not yet occurred to either of you that in order to effectively teach occlumency, one requires a leglimens to provide the proper motivation for defense?"
Hermione slapped her forehead. "Good lord. You're right! I can't believe we didn't think of that. But you can help us with that, Professor, can't you?"
"I'm afraid not, Miss Granger." Dumbledore shook his head regretfully. "I asked myself many a time after ... after the first attempt to teach Harry was unsuccessful whether I should have done it myself. I told Harry at the time that I believed it to have been a mistake, but after further consideration I still do not believe that opening Harry's mind to Voldemort in my presence would be a wise idea."
"Well, if you can't help us, Professor, who can? Surely someone else in the Order is skilled with leglimency and would be willing to help us?" asked Hermione.
The Headmaster nodded. "I can think of one other candidate for the role. However, it would be too suspicious for him to come here during the school year. We must wait until the summer for Severus to begin his training."
"Me?" replied Geoffrey in surprise. "Why not Harry? If we've got a leglimens, why can't he just teach Harry occlumency and leave me out of it?"
"I am sure that he could. However, if Voldemort were to see this person interacting with Harry on a regular basis it would not take long before Voldemort realized what we were trying to accomplish. There is nothing unusual, however, in Harry spending time with a fellow student. You will learn leglimency this summer and then use it to train Harry in occlumency in the fall."
Geoffrey couldn't shake the feeling that this was a weak excuse, that Dumbledore must have some other motive in pursuing this seemingly indirect course toward the goal. He also couldn't help but feel a bit of nausea at the idea of invading someone else's mind in the way his had been invaded so many times before. "I really don't like this idea."
"Nevertheless, it is what you must do," insisted the Headmaster. "We must all deal with some measure of unpleasantness to fight this war."
I don't see you dealing with any, grumbled Geoffrey under his breath, giving Dumbledore a sullen look.
"But Professor Dumbledore," interjected Hermione. "Why can't you teach Geoffrey? After all, he doesn't have a mind link with the Dark Lord the way Harry does, so there should be no danger there."
"Ah. An excellent question, Miss Granger. That would seem logical. However, I fear that any attempt for me to train Severus in leglimency would end much like Harry's recent endeavor. I do not feel I could teach him effectively."
Geoffrey had to admit that he hardly held the Headmaster in a favorable light, but preferred to believe that Dumbledore merely wanted to hand the responsibility and work off to someone else. Dumbledore wouldn't want to waste his precious time on the likes of me.
"I see your point," Hermione acknowledged with a sidewise glance at Geoffrey. "Come on, Geoffrey. It will be all right."
Geoffrey turned his gaze to her. She was looking at him compassionately, as if she really did care that he was not keen on the plan at all. Her look calmed his frantic nerves. He didn't want Hermione to think he was weak, so he tried to appear nonchalant. "All right. I'll do it. It's not like I'll have anything better to this summer, will I?"
"Oh, staying at Hogwarts for the summer would be great," gushed Hermione. "Just think of all the time you'll be able to spend in the library without being bothered!"
Geoffrey was about to respond when Dumbledore interrupted, "Severus will not be staying at Hogwarts over the summer."
"He won't?" asked Hermione.
"I won't?" repeated Geoffrey, confused. "Just where am I supposed to go then?"
"Why, you'll go home, just like the rest of the students, of course," Dumbledore replied as if this were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Home? But I thought my absence from my own time was already covered? I can't disappear twice!"
The Headmaster chuckled. "You misunderstand me, Severus. You will go home, to stay with your mother in Snape Village, but in the current time, not your own."
"Wait, that doesn't make sense. If I go home my father will surely let his friends know and then Voldemort will be on to us." argued Geoffrey.
"Geoffrey," Hermione said softly. "You don't have to worry about that. Your mother lives alone now. Even that dreadful bird is gone."
"Alone? You mean... my father is dead," Geoffrey concluded. "Of course. Finally, some good news about my future. What did the old bastard in at the end, do you know?"
The Headmaster looked down at Geoffrey with pity he didn't want. "I do not know how your father died, Severus. You can ask your mother when you see her, if you think it appropriate to trouble her about the matter. However it would be preferable for you to let the matter lie, lest any future accidental revelation on your part prevent it from occurring."
That was a sobering thought. He wouldn't want to interfere with his dear father's demise in any way. "But won't it look strange for me, even in disguise, to suddenly appear at my mothers' home?"
"No more suspicious than it was for you to appear at Hogwarts mid-year. Olivia can tell her neighbors that she has hired a young assistant to help her in the shop; her health, after all, is not what it once was. And since Severus Snape is known to be both adult and deceased, it is highly unlikely for anyone to suspect that you are he," explained Dumbledore. "Besides, Miss Granger and I promised your mother that you would visit her while you were here. I would hate for her to be disappointed."
Geoffrey nodded. Home would be bearable with his father dead. And he would have the opportunity to talk to her about what she'd written in her letter. That required some additional explanation. "Fine. Are we done here?"
"Almost," replied the Headmaster. "Miss Granger, you are free to go. I would like to speak with Severus for a few moments privately."
Geoffrey wondered why Dumbledore would possibly want to speak to him alone, and why he kept feeling a twinge of discomfort at being addressed by his given name. Hermione had already collected her things when he thought to call after her. "I'll see you tonight for Potions?"
"Yes, I'll see you there," she replied before making her exit.
Geoffrey turned back to the Headmaster with eyebrows raised. "Well? What do you want?"
"You misunderstand me, Severus. I want nothing. However, I sense there is a question you would like to ask me." The old man tapped his fingers together and waited patiently for a response.
How does he do that? Geoffrey wondered. "All right, I'll bite. Why do you keep insist on calling me Sev- my old name? The whole point of all this," he motioned to his face, "is that no one can know who I really am! But if you keep on calling out the other name, someone may overhear and then all your plans will be for nothing."
"Ah," nodded Dumbledore. "You are quite correct. It is essential to the plan that your true identity remain hidden. However, I believe that it is also very important for you to remember who you really are."
"What are you talking about? Of course I remember who I am, I'm not a pillock!" Geoffrey was annoyed by the implication.
"I did not mean that you do not literally remember who you are, of course. Rather, that when one assumes a false identity, especially an appealing one, one must resist the temptation to internalize that identity at the expense of one's own true self. It would not do to become too attached to Geoffrey Horton. For when the task is done, you must once again become Severus Snape." Again the piercing gaze.
Like hell I will! Geoffrey bit back his retort. No good could come of betraying his plan to change his destiny to the old coot. "I am fully aware that I am only here to do a job. This charade will end the moment Voldemort is dead." What charade Geoffrey was referring to, Dumbledore did not need to know.
The Headmaster stared him down a few seconds more, then replied. "Very well. I trust we understand each other. You may go, Severus."
"What did you and Professor Dumbledore talk about?" asked Hermione when Geoffrey met her in the ever-changing room (Hermione'd called it the Room of Requirement) that evening. "I didn't hear any shouting."
"Very funny. No, he just wanted to remind me of my 'place' again and how he's the one in charge and all." Geoffrey didn't want to elaborate about the identity issue. He dropped his books to the floor with a thump. "I hate that old man. We're all just toy soldiers in his little war, he doesn't care how we feel about being used."
Hermione looked concernedly back at him. "I didn't realize you still felt that way. It really isn't just the Headmaster's war, you know. It's all of ours. If Voldemort wins he'll kill all the half-bloods and muggleborns and rule everyone who's left with an iron fist."
"Yes, but how does that concern me? I'm dead, remember? Whether Dumbledore wins or Voldemort wins I have to go back to my own time and mark time until I die. It doesn't make any difference to me who wins." Geoffrey realized as soon as the words were out that they were probably the wrong thing to say to the girl he was trying to woo. He'd been so bothered by how Dumbledore was pushing him around when Geoffrey was doing them all a favor that he didn't consider how Hermione might take his words. He kicked himself inwardly for his stupidity.
"So why are you here, then?" she retorted angrily. "If you don't care about all the people who are going to die if Voldemort wins, then why did you even bother coming here in the first place?"
For revenge. Geoffrey considered how he should answer to salvage the situation. The truth, but not the whole truth. "For my mother. Because she asked me to. Look, Hermione, I didn't ask to be 'the Man Who Knew He Would Not". I didn't ask to be part of any of this. But I came anyway, and I'm doing what you asked me to do. Why the hell does it matter why I'm doing it?"
"You sound like Harry. He didn't ask to be The Boy Who Lived either. Voldemort came after him. He didn't have a choice like you did." Hermione looked like she might cry. "I suppose it doesn't matter why you're doing it. I guess I just want to believe that you're the kind of person who would care if Voldemort slaughtered me and my family and all the others like me."
"You? Why would Voldemort kill you?"
"I'm a mudblood. Didn't you know?" Hermione laughed through tears of anger. Geoffrey cringed at Hermione referring to herself with the epithet. "Having muggle parents and being one of Harry Potter's best mates puts me near the top of Voldemort's 'To Kill' list, don't you think?"
"I didn't know. I hadn't even thought about it." This was totally true. It had never occurred to Geoffrey to consider her parentage at all.
"Well, you should think about it. A lot of the people you've met here, people who think of you as a friend, a lot of them are people Voldemort would have killed. Your roommate, Justin? Muggleborn. You know Seamus and Dean, in Gryffindor? Half-blood and muggleborn. Eloise Midgen? Half-blood. Anthony Goldstein? Muggleborn. Do I need to go on?"
"No, stop!" Geoffrey didn't want to think about any of this. Without even realizing he was doing it, Geoffrey took Hermione's hand. "You're right. I hadn't thought about it that way. Maybe I should have, I'm sorry. But I didn't know any of them back then. I only knew you. And I promise you, Hermione, Voldemort won't win. I won't let him win." I won't let him hurt you. Geoffrey wanted to hold her, wanted to reassure her. He wanted to kiss her. But she wasn't his. Not yet, anyway.
"You'd better not, then you would have come here for nothing." retorted Hermione with a teary smile. She gave his hand a squeeze before pulling it back to wipe her eyes. "We should get to work. I have some Ancient Runes homework to do after this."
No, not for nothing, thought Geoffrey as he sat beside her at the table the Room of Requirement provided for their use.
The next few months proceeded as normally as they could for one displaced from his own time. Geoffrey studied diligently both alone and with Hermione, as eager to please her as he was to rise to the top of his class. He found that his social time became divided between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. The other members of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team had included him fully in their clique. Geoffrey suspected that their victory over Slytherin had something to do with their warmth, since it turned out that Geoffrey really did play better than the majority of their team. That Malfoy had been suffering from a head cold at the time of the match probably had more of an effect on that game's outcome, but Geoffrey was happy with the end result nonetheless.
Additionally, Hermione's friends also accepted him into their own group as a sort of adjunct member. Since being friendly with the Gryffindor clan meant more time spent with Hermione, Geoffrey encouraged the relationships, occasionally playing Wizard Chess with Ron broom racing with Harry down at the Quidditch pitch, all the while being careful not to let on that he fancied Ron's girl.
All and all, it was the happiest time of his life.
A/N: Two chapters in a little over a week. Almost a record! I will keep them coming, I promise. Also, the pace of the action will be picking up shortly; unfortunately there was a lot of emotional set up that needed to be done first.