Disclaimer: All of Harry Potter belongs to Ms. J K Rowling. I am but borrowing the plot, using it to create another story.
Note: I've edited the previous chapter of the silly mistakes that occured. To all those who've found them offending, sorry!
Also, this chapter has two small titbits that can be termed 'spoiler alert' for book 5. Do remember though, this story will most likely not be in canon with Ms Rowling's HP. After all, someone's who already dead cannot be dead again in sixth year, ne? Once again, I'm sorry for not going with the book, but I do hope you'd still continue reading. Thanks :)
Chapter 3
Shadows never lie.
But they aren't entirely intelligent too.
After his first outburst, Severus Snape tried having his emotions in check as he stalked into the living room, relighting the fireplace with a thought whilst pouring himself a goblet of brandy. He downed it immediately, thankful that it calmed his frazzled nerves quite a bit, and poured another before settling in the couch facing the fire.
Where the heck could Potter go? That was the question that kept floating in his mind. The boy did not have any other living relatives, and it wasn't likely that he went to the Weasleys. Severus knew that the Gryffindor would never venture there so soon after that Weasley's death. Granger was out of the question too, seeing that she was usually abroad during the holidays, and Potter hated being a bother.
Being a bother?
What an irony.
Sighing, the potions master shook his head of those thoughts, his hands firmly placed on the armrests of the chair. Hoping that he would find the boy soon, the man attempted something not many would dare to try.
Astral projection.
With a single command, his soul started separating from his physical shell, melding into the darknes with the ease of breathing. Still, this wasn't something very surprising, seeing as he actually controlled the shadows and darkness as a whole. Through the shadows encompassing virtually the entire world, Severus shifted at an alarming speed, taking only minutes to reach the entirely too muggle-ish home that was colored white (through his eyes only) by the absurd amount of wards placed there for the safety of one foolish boy.
He was about to slip through the walls and into the rooms when a transparent barrier prevented him from entering. Strange, Albus' wards should have no control on me... Testing the barrier, Severus tried to forcefully enter the house, but a cold feminine voice rang in his head, "Thou shalt not pass, Shadowmaster."
Both baffled and irritated by the voice, Severus pushed his mental barriers further, trying to find any loopholes for him to enter into the house by. Once again, something disrupted his actions... a visage of a pair of silvery-blue eyes appear in his mind, eyes that looked calm but held an air of finality. The same feminine voice sounded once more, this time colder than before, "Until my young mistress wakes up, you will not enter, Severus Snape. Even if it is due to a promise to my master, get out."
With that, the black-haired man was forcefully pulled out of the place and into his body in Hogwarts by some unknown force, one, which puzzled more that angered him. Not having a plan, he just weaved wards to guard over the boy's room, using his memory as a base for the spells. He would heed the voice's command, but until he returned to fetch the boy, he did not want any of the muggles to get hold of the brat Potter, or whatever is in his room.
Finishing his brandy, Severus Snape made way for his bed, mentally reminding himself to talk to Dumbledore first thing the next morning...
... After a cup of coffee, of course.
Morning
Harry awoke to a very odd feeling. He felt weaker than he had been before, and all of his bones hurt like hell. Furthermore, it did not help with the fact that he had slept on the floor that night, huddled up like a child. Not surprising, the wounds on his back had cracked due to the posture he was in yesterday night, and most of them were bleeding sluggishly once more, staining his tattered shirt a rusty-red.
Standing up unsteadily, he felt a slight rustling behind his back - one that felt gentle on his neck - and frowned. What was that? He wondered in confusion.
He was given the answer very soon though.
When he had finally stood upright, long, black tresses now fell in front of his chest, that seemed to have swelled slightly overnight. Frowning, he fingered the soft hair, and tried remembering what had happened last night. He had received letters, gifts from the Founders, all of whom had talked of something unknown to him. It had remained as a mystery to him until...
Salazar Slytherin's letter.
Slowly, a sense of dread began overtaking him. Trembling, he limped over to the mirror situated inside his wardrobe cupboard, fearing what he might see...
... One glance at the mirror had him sliding down against the bedpost again.
Instead of the usual reflection of a ruly-haired boy, with overlarge clothes and a pair of broken spectacles, the mirror now spotted a girl. One, who had long, straight raven locks framing a pale heart-shaped face who looked very shocked. What was once plain features now held aristocratic cheekbones, full lips - though it was a little white - and a straight, slightly upturned nose. The girl looked severely malnutritioned, her green eyes identical to Harry's emerald ones. All these he could have shrugged it off as coincidence. Then, as if the gods had willed it themselves, Harry could not help but glance in horror at the lightning-bolt scar... It just confirmed his worst fear.
The girl in the mirror was him!
And she looked eerily like Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor superimposed unto one another.
"Holy hell..." Harry whispered, dazed beyond belief. He did not want to believe in what he thought was just dreams, but the image he saw made it too real for comfort. He really was the child of Slytherin and Gryffindor... Two men who'd died eons of ages ago!
Still wrapped in his thoughts, he kept shaking his head, not wanting, not willing to believe that he wasn't the person he thought himself to be. Worst of all, the pounding on the door began...
"Where is my breakfast?"
"Open up, you freak!"
"Boy, you're going to get it from me! Now get the bloody door open!"
Uncle Vernon's shouting, combined with the screeching tone evident in aunt Petunia's voice and Dudley's bossy whine, made Harry's mind snap.
"SHUT UP!" Harry screamed aloud, trembling uncontrollably as the rage and despair that was kept shut in his heart went loose. In turn, all the windows shattered into thousands of shards as fragile china, glass, porcelain, and everything that was breakeable cracked.
The black-haired girl stared in horror as things started floating all over the place, irregardless of size - only his magical items were not in the air. Behind him, the pounding on the door was getting even more relentless. Apparently, the Dursleys were pissed by this sudden show of magic. Scared that his, or her, relatives would start a massacre because of this, Harry tried frantically to bring all the objects down. Nonetheless, his wandless magic did not work on it.
This frightened him very much, and, trying hard to keep calm, Harry stared at a nearby levitating chair, concentrating hard in an attempt to suppress this outburst of magic... only to cough out blood instead.
Not being able to stand it anymore, the girl huddled her head in her knees, mumbling hysterically over and over again, "Please, no more. It's enough. Please, no more..."
Perched on the windowsill, unharmed by the shattered glass, Ithil sighed before whistling sharply, a whistle that blocked all noises from outside the room. Mentally, she called out into the air, hoping the shadows would heed her call and bring him here, ::You'd better come here soon. My mistress's ill.::
Hogwarts, Headmaster's office
Albus Dumbledore was a great man. He had survived three reigns of terror, defeated it, and gave hope to the Wizarding World when they needed it the most. He could predict what might happen, true. But still, he wasn't God Almighty, nor would he claim himself anything near Merlin.
That was why when Severus Snape, potions master of Hogwarts reported that their resident Golden Boy was no longer in his relative's home, he was, for once, at a lost.
"How did you know?" Albus asked gravely.
The ancient wizard seemed to have aged quite a lot after the last war, and although he was still fit enough to lead the school, he could no longer bother too much about other personal things - like the separate welfare of his students - given how he had to help rebuild the Wizarding World up once more.
In fact, he felt guilty to have pushed Harry into the ruthless war against Voldemort when he was only eleven, and of revealing why Voldemort had wanted him dead since young because of a prophecy. Then, when all was finally over, he only managed to make some time off his hectic schedule to visit the boy just before he left for the summer. Also, Poppy had only given him a vague report of the boy's injuries, seemingly hiding something from him, though up till now, he wasn't sure.
"The shadows said so." Severus replied sourly, mentally cursing his predecessor of disrupting his sleep. Even now, he was still bleary after three cups of strong, bitter black coffee, and his temper was fraying badly. One could only hope that he does not blow up anytime soon... it wasn't something very nice to watch.
"You called upon them?" Albus asked, alarmed. It was seldom that the man in front of him summoned the shadows, given how it had been a danger for him to do so during Voldemort's reign. The Dark Lord had wanted the Shadowmaster of their era to be bound to him, seeing how that power could easily bring the entire world into darkness - a darkness that held despair and fear.
This, in turn, had Voldemort sending many of his Death Eaters in search for the fabled master of the shadow elementals, and spells had been put to detect his use of such magic. To make matters worse, all of his supporters had their memories secretly read by the Dark Lord - what with him being a Legilimens and all - to constantly check if they hid information of this from him. Thus, Severus had been extremely careful with this particular trait of his. That was why he seldom called upon it - he even took to learning Occlumency from Dumbledore, who was very much impressed by his ability to do it within a month - and did everything with simple wand, or when the situation permits, wandless magic. Even after Voldemort's first demise, the potions master had refrained from using it, so it had come as a surprise for the Headmaster for him to use it suddenly.
"Yes," Severus replied absently, "It had been a promise to a... friend."
"Friend?" The Headmaster asked, his curiosity piqued. Severus, noticing this, gave him a white eye, "Oh all right. Salazar Slytherin asked it of me. A promise made between Shadowmasters."
"But why?" Albus wondered aloud. It was true that such promises were sacred, and though it hadn't been that well-known a fact, Salazar Slytherin too, had been a Shadowmaster and a Waterbearer - being both the master of shadows, and of the waters.
In every generation since the beginning of time, a master of each element - light, darkness, water, earth, fire and wind - would emerge. Legend spoke of how they held the fragile balance of nature together, that they bear ultimate control over the elements. These mages were chosen by birth, fabled for their dedication to the elements, keeping them, and nature, in order.
Seldom was it that one would be master of two elements, but Salazar Slytherin had been one of the few with enough power to balance two, which was why he was so revered by many in his time. Since then, the ability to converse with the elemental masters of each generation was enabled by the Founder and his lifebonded's research, and this brought about much ease in ruling the elements, since they could ask of help from their predecessors if need be.
Another piece of trivia lost to time was that since the era of the Founders, there hadn't been a Waterbearer - the master of the waters - or a Lightbringer - the master of light. The reasons were still unknown, which was why Dark times kept surfacing through history. The lack of a Waterbearer could be made up by the few Water elemental mages that pop up through time, but a Lightbringer was vital to keep good and evil in balance, despite the Light elemental mages that struggled to keep order in equilibrium.
Hell, if it had not been Albus Dumbledore who kept the light in balance with his abilities, it would not be surprising if Darkness had ruled the lands since Grindelwald's time.
"I don't know." The Shadowmaster replied honestly, "Lord Slytherin just wanted me to look after... Potter until he came. Don't look at me like that, Albus. I do not know what he means." Wisely, he had excluded Salazar's mentioning of 'Sandrilene' - whoever she was - and of how sad the man had been when he had spoken of her.
"So, I had the shadows go check on that br... boy, but they said he's gone." Severus continued smoothly, mentally wondering about the voice that had sounded in his head. Turning his thoughts back to the problem at hand, he asked, "I was hoping if you'd come along with me. Gods accursed, Albus, you do know that I am not an eloquent speaker..."
Hearing this, Dumbledore chuckled. It was true that Severus wasn't a good speaker. The black-haired man had the knack of glaring at a person to make him feel uncomfortable, and his words could make a grown-up man cry for his mother.
No doubt he'd scare the Dursleys even before he speak.
The potions master just ignored his mentor's laugh, resuming from where he had trailed off, "You could perhaps check if any of the spells had been tampered with. I do know that there are more wards than what you've placed previously."
Now this caught the elderly wizard's attention. The amount of spells he had placed there was enough to rival the ones in Hogwarts - it only lacked an anti-apparation ward - and one would be mad to add some more. Of course, Severus knew it too, and silently agreed. One really must be mad to try adding some more protective spells to that house.
Opening his mouth ask the Headmaster should any other people be made privy of this information, he shut it immediately when a familiar voice entered his head. This time though, it was tinged with worry.
::You'd better come here soon. My mistress's ill.::
Shocked by the words, the potions master had Albus Dumbledore pulled out of his chair in no time flat as they made way for 4 Privet Drive, knowing that the situation has gone from bad to worse.
To say that they were surprised would have been an understatement.
By the time they had apparated into Privet Drive and entered the house after taking down several wards, Severus Snape felt his jaw slack at the amount of things floating and moving around the muggle flat. Dumbledore too, could be seen surprised by the 'flying' show - it took a lot of raw power to keep everything levitating and moving around. Waving his wand, the wizened man muttered, "Finite."
To his disconcertment, the furniture did not cease their moving, but kept on with their reckless routes about the house. Turning over to stare at Severus, who too, could not believe that the spell hadn't worked, shouted, "Immobilius!"
The objects just continued moving, as if nothing had happened. Frowning, both man tried using wandless magic instead, hoping against hope that this might do the trick. Alas, it was as good as throwing an egg against a stone wall. This bothered the two men very much. Not surprising, both are excellent wizards in terms of magical abilities, and yet, their combined wandless magic could not stop the objects from floating.
Sighing, Dumbledore knew defeat when he saw it, and signalled for his colleague to go upstairs with him instead. Apparently, the Dursleys were now shouting so loudly that their voices could be heard despite the din of clattering metal and wood.
As expected, Vernon Dursley was pounding on a door that had a huge padlock on it. The lock had been opened of course, but it seemed that the fat muggle could not enter it, hence his brawlings, "Get out! You freak!" Petunia Dursley too, could be seen scratching against the hardwood door, screaming, "Stop those furniture now" Dudley just hid at a corner, not daring to go anywhere near the floating electronics.
Severus smirked at the scene, but resumed an impassive facade immediately after that, his voice silky with mocking, "Is there a problem with that door?'
His words made all three muggles jump, and, on seeing their robes, had Vernon turning a purple that matched Dumbledore's robes perfectly.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" The overbloated piece of flesh growled as Petunia hurriedly shielded Dudley from them, fearing that her baby might get hurt again. Dumbledore, polite as ever, asked courteously, "We've come for Harry, Mr. Dursley." Having said that, the wizard asked once more, "Was he in there last night?"
"Of course he was!" Petunia squeaked at having to reply to the man her sister had termed 'the most powerful wizard alive' sixteen years ago. Vernon, however, butted in and pointed his finger at Dumbledore's beard, yelling, "Freaks! He locked the bloody door with m - mag - ah! With you-know-what! Get that boy out of there! I'll kill him!"
He did not seem to be joking about that, seeing as there was a pistol at the back of his pocket. Severus, noticing this offending piece of metal, yawned lazily, "Accio revolver."
The gun was immediately brought to the potions master hand, where he - with a certain amount of glee - had it levitating off his hand before the metal was consumed in flames, burning heartily. The Dursleys paled at this blatent display of magic, and Dumbledore tried to placate the family whilst Severus ignored the muggles' ogling, murmuring softly to the door, "I am here."
Somewhere in his mind, the black-haired man felt someone smile at his words, and a bright light emanated from the door, suffusing the air with a pearly glow. Everything the pearly glow touched fell to the ground once more, placed back in its original position whilst broken china and window shards repaired themselves fast that anyone could say reparo. Most importantly, it had shut the Dursleys up, and the wards that once guarded the room dissolved into nothingness due to the enormity of the phoenix's power.
::I've been waiting.:: The voice sounded once more, this time in the minds of both wizards present.
As the light died down, Severus and Dumbledore saw a girl crouching by the bed, with a snowy owl and a supposedly extinct species of phoenix perched on the open windowsill. The girl's face was covered by the long raven tresses, but both wizards could hear the soft mumbling that sounded from her. The girl didn't look too well too. The loose pants and tattered shirt spotted red stains. Rusty, dull red stains whose source no doubt had brought about the metallic tang in the air. Arms that were hugging her knees so desperately held red welts and whip marks, ones that left Snape cold.
No child deserved that. It reminded him of his past, and that was more than enough to bring the already incensed potions master into a full bout of fury.
Vernon Dursley, who had previously been blocked by the two shocked wizards, jostled into the room, pulling Petunia and Dudley with him as he shouted angrily, "Boy! You get this for wrecking the house, and doing what you, you freaks do!"
The man had pulled Harry up by the collar to face him, but blinded by anger, did not really see the change in the boy... or girl. He was about to slam his meaty fist into the girl's face when Severus wrenched his arm aside, roaring in fury, "Can't you see that it's a girl?"
Severus's words had Vernon dumbfounded and in pain within seconds - the potions master's deathgrip on Vernon's wrist was so strong that the brainless muggle was convinced that his bones were already broken. Petunia, scared that the black-haired man in front of him might attack her too, asked the girl nervously, "Who are you?"
The five people looked on anxiously, wondering who it was that had entered into Harry's room so early in the morning. The girl, who had fallen when Dursley hold on her had loosened, looked up at the adults present, not noticing the sudden intake of breath by everyone present. The girl's face was a beauty to behold, though bruises marred her perfect, pale complexion. A heart-shaped face, framed by long black locks which was also covering her forehead (messily as of current), held features that were unmistakably aristocratic - there was no doubt to anyone that she was noble-born. However, the look of her face held despair...
As she slowly glanced past the adults, her blank emerald eyes settled at Severus' oynx ones, the lost look that was held by few made his heart wrench.
It was the look of desolation that one would only possess should they witness the lost of one's kin, or the sick realisation that one wasn't what he thought himself to be. He himself had been victim of such anguish before, and it hadn't been just once.
However, that became the last thing in his mind when Severus finally understood why he'd found her face so familiar. He had seen those features before, but on another two other people.
"Sandrilene?"
End of Chapter 3
::Grins:: I've gotten this out earlier than I thought! Most of it is due to the sudden hyper-activity that was caused by my knowing that Order of Phoenix would be out soon. Then, when I finally finished reading the book, I just had to get this out before I scream.
Can blame me though, I kept giggling from midnight to four-thirty in the morning, while reading the book leading to 'Snape's Worst Memory'. I knew I had to stop there and get a rest, seeing as I'm doing a reading for mass this morning at 11.
After reading the book, I kept wailing to everyone at home about why he had to die! I kept moaning, and screaming (talk about mad) until my aunt started matter-of-factly, "Dear, it's just a book. No need to get all upset over it."
Down to earth as always, now, that's my aunt for ya! But I must say, I still cannot believe that he died! On the other hand, Ms. Rowling has really done well for this book, and I applaud her for it! This three-year wait was definitely worth it! Problem is, I can't wait for the next book to be out! But once I think of the long wait, I can't help but groan... Grace... I need some more fanfiction to fill up the blank hole in my heart that's thirsting for more Harry Potter. Any recommendations?
Okay, dawdling aside, I'd like to thank: Kateri, Fallen Dragon, Nikcole, Jen, Jewelclaw Lady of Wind, Midnight-Kisses, anon, Zaeria, Grrrinnning Golden Retriever, Cricket, VB, Sakura Le, ZetaStar, myrddin_ambrosius and shakiya for reviewing. A big THANKS for supporting this fic!
So, until next time, when Harry/Sandrilene gets back to Hogwarts, bai bai!
Ephirel
