A/N: Thank-you for your kind reviews everyone; hopeful you will enjoy this
chapter and the little revelation within. I would like to thank my beta
reader Deborah, for checking my stuff and giving me ideas to work on, one
which will be seen in the next chapter, more on that next time.
Chapter Fifteen
It was warm in the Slytherin common room, although the dungeons were extremely cold in the winter the rooms that were under use were always warm, with the exception of the Potions classroom. Severus learned quite early on in his teaching career that warm classrooms usually induced sleep and lethargy in the student body, which was why the Potions room was just warm enough that the students could still function but did not freeze to death.
Severus was standing to the left of the fireplace, which was just tall enough for a first year to stand in, and the students were gathered around him in a loose semi-circle. The upper years were seated on the brown leather couches and green velvet chairs; the lower years were either stood behind or seated on the floor in front. All of them had their eyes fixed on Severus.
"Good evening, as you may be aware, I will be substituting all of Professor Snape's duties, I will be teaching potions and taking on the responsibilities of the Head of Slytherin. Professor Snape has told me many things about Hogwarts and the Slytherins, and I will endeavour to hold true to his image.
"Unlike many of my colleagues I have not attended Hogwarts and so was never sorted into any of the four houses, but I am confident that as a Snape I would have been a Slytherin, the house of ambition, cunning and, the little known trait, patience. They are the characteristics that I want all of you to realise you have the potential to reach, and I will help you reach that goal. For too long have the Slytherins been seen as the black sheep of Hogwarts, to be blamed for the misfortunes and stupidity of others, despite what some member of the school thinks Slytherins are not devoid of integrity and morals.
"Get on the right side of me and we shall get along fine, however, I do not suffer fools gladly and will not turn a blind eye to any wrong doing. Now, it is late and you all have an early morning tomorrow so I shall leave the lecturing for another day, I bid you all a goodnight," Severus concluded.
The Slytherins all stood as Severus exited the common room.
Back in his own quarters Severus picked up a large bundle of parchment that sat on his coffee table, after reading for forty minutes Severus threw them back onto the table in disgust and stalked into his bedroom.
***
The first year Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws began to file into the Potions classroom looking both curious and wary, they took their seats in silence and waited for Severus to begin.
"Good morning, class. I have read over the schedules and notes that Professor Snape has left me. Can anyone tell me what you are to be learning today?" asked Severus.
A few hands raised into the air.
"Mr Sampson," Severus said and pointed to the young Ravenclaw.
Charlie looked slightly surprised that Severus had known his name, but recovered quickly before answering, "We are suppose to learn how to brew the pepper-up potion," he said confidently.
"Correct," Severus said, "however, you will not be learning how to brew the pepper-up potion this time round," the class looked back at him surprised, "because we will be learning about laboratory safety. I have seen the amount of accidents that occur in this classroom, and I believe that it is time I taught the correct laboratory etiquette,"
Severus walked over to the chalkboard and picked up a piece of white chalk, he turned to the class and asked, "Who can tell me what dangers are present in a laboratory of any sort?"
Slowly some hands were raised.
"Mr Manor?" Severus asked.
"Dangerous ingredients?" Justin said unsurely.
"Yes, and what can you do about it?" Severus asked as he wrote the suggestion on the board.
Justin looked back and colour begin to rise in his cheeks, "Er.wear gloves."
"Yes, and?" Severus prompted.
".don't handle them unless you need to," Justin said.
"Thank-you, Mr Manor," Severus said relieving Justin his embarrassment, "safe handling of dangerous ingredients depends on the ingredient, if it was a poisonous plant like Belladonna, them you should be wearing gloves when you handle it, but if it was two liquids that are toxic when mixed together then they should be placed as far apart as possible and not be handled at the same time,"
When the blackboard was filled with dangers and their remedies, Severus decided to use the last half hour to teach the students a few basic charms that were useful for the laboratory. One of which was the containment charm continere periculum, which casts a light blue sphere around the target, it keeps the target within an impenetrable magical barrier that can only be removed by a dispelling charm.
The students were eager to try out the spells and Severus created several dangerous scenarios for them to amend. All of the students seem to be adequate at casting the charms, except for a Hufflepuff who had accidentally encased his foot in the containment charm.
After the class left Severus sat down and smiled to himself; the students were more relaxed and looked relatively less terrified, and they were able to recall most of the teachings when Severus had quizzed then at the end of the lesson.
Severus stood up and walked through a plain oak door to the left of the classroom, which led into his office. Picking-up the small leather bound book from the green velvet couch Severus stretched himself out on it, his shoulders resting on the armrest, and opened up the book to a dog-eared paged and began to read.
So engrossed in the book was Severus that he did not realise the time until he heard the door of the classroom being opened and the sound footsteps on the stone slabs. Quickly rolling off the couch and onto his feet Severus straightened his robes and walked into the classroom.
He could feel the students watching him as he made his way to his desk and sat down, Severus could see that all of the students were present, so stood again and walked in front of his desk.
"Good morning, today I will be teaching you the theory of a gentle sleeping inducing potions, called Sleep Dust," Severus said, "Angel's dust was created by a thirteenth century wise-woman to promote sleep in young children, the other potions at that time were suitable for adults but were too strong for young children and sometimes resulted in placing the child into a deep coma.
"The recipe to make sleep dust is simple however the brewing of it is difficult as it requires constant attention once it has begun. The base of most sleeping draughts use Majorana hortenis (marjoram) as the active composite, however it is too strong for young children so Viola odorata (violet) is used as an alternative. Articum lappa (burdock) and Thymus vulgaris (Thyme) are also added, can anyone can tell me what are their properties?" Severus asked. "Miss Granger?"
"Articum lappa is used for protection and Thymus vulgaris keeps away nightmares," Hermione said.
"Correct," Severus said.
As Severus walked over to the blackboard to write down the three ingredients Draco began to screw up tiny pieces of parchment and flick them at Harry's head, Severus turned around and saw the last paper ball that Draco flicked.
"Five points from Slytherin, Mister Malfoy," Severus said.
Draco's eyes widened and his, mouth dropped open, as did most of the class.
"What for?" Draco asked when he recovered from the shock.
"For throwing pieces of parchment at Mister Potters head," Severus replied.
"But I." Draco began protesting.
"If I were you I would not complete that sentence, Mister Malfoy, I would hate to take off more points for lying," Severus said.
"My father will hear of this," Draco muttered.
"Are you going to trouble your father with such trivial matters? You need to learn to take responsibilities for your actions, Mister Malfoy," Severus said.
Draco stared at Severus speechlessly but decided not to argue any further; instead he crossed his arms over his chest and glared at his desk. A few of the Gryffindors began to laugh.
"Two points from Gryffindors," Severus announced.
The laughter stopped abruptly and they stared at Severus in disbelief.
"For laughing at another's misfortune," Severus added. "Shall we carry on with the lesson or does anyone else have something to say?" When met with silence Severus nodded and proceeded with the remainder of the lesson.
At the end of the lesson Severus asked Hermione to stay for a few moments.
"I wish to ask if you would like to carry on with the extra tuition classes that you had been taking before the Christmas break?" Severus asked.
"You know about them?" Hermione asked slightly surprised.
"Yes, I have been reading some of Severus' notes," Severus replied with a small smile.
"Of course, I would love to," replied Hermione.
"Same time and place?" asked Severus.
"Yes," Hermione said, "if it isn't too much trouble,"
"No trouble at all, Miss Granger," Severus said, "I look forward to working with you,"
***
The next evening Albus had decided to visit Severus in the dungeons, Severus answered the door looking extremely agitated. Severus led the way into the lounge the coffee table and surrounding floor was covered with pieces of parchment and a few open books, a small circle of uncovered floor was situated next to the coffee table.
"Are you busy, Severus?" Albus asked.
"No, I just cross checking the results of the analysis," Severus said as he picked up some parchment from a nearby green velvet armchair and proffered the seat to Albus.
Albus sat down and watched as Severus cleared another seat. "So have you deciphered the potion?" he asked.
"Yes," Severus replied quietly.
"That is good, now you can work on the antidote," Albus said cheerfully. "What is wrong?" Albus asked when Severus did not reply.
Severus looked up into Albus' eyes; emotions raced though his own eyes.
"The potion.it.it is an extremely powerful.glamour remover," Severus said.
Albus opened his mouth to speak, closed it and reopened it, "Are you sure?" he asked.
"Albus, I began to learning potions before I was able to walk. Yes I am sure," Severus said sharply.
"Of course, my child, that was a stupid thing to ask," Albus said.
"No, I am sorry, I should not have snapped at you," Severus replied.
"Why would someone cast a glamour over you?" Albus asked.
"I do not know," Severus replied as he buried his head into his hands.
Albus stood up, walked over to Severus and laid a hand on his shoulders.
"Albus, I wish to take the afternoon off tomorrow. I want to find some answers," Severus said.
"Of course, I will not deny you that request. I will arrange cover for your lessons," Albus replied.
***
At Gringotts Severus handed over the key to his vault to the goblin at the desk, the goblin scrutinised Severus before dropping off his chair and motioned for Severus to follow him.
The cart ride to his vault, 163, was as nauseating as usual; when the cart stopped Severus got out slowly and leaned against a pillar as he caught his breath. Severus composed himself and walked to the large steel door of the vault, placing the key in the lock Severus retrieved a vial of red liquid from his cloak pocket and inserted it into the hole next to the lock, and turned the key.
Without looking at the interior of the door Severus knew how the lock was activating the mechanism within. The turning of the key triggered a beam of light that passed through the vial and into a black ball of light. As the light passes through the vial it changes from white to red, the ball analyses the light and if it is the correct colour the door unlocks. The red coloured liquid in the vial is a highly complex potion that none other than a potion master could brew; the ingredients and timing for the potion have to be exact otherwise the colour would be different, even if the colour of the liquid was off by a hue or shade the ball of light could detect it.
The gently whirling of magic and cogs assured Severus that the liquid had passed the test. The steel doors began to open slowly outwards, Severus took a few steps back, the musty smell of books and money emanated from behind the door. When the door finally stopped the torches inside the chamber lit up at once bathing the interior with a soft orange light.
To the left of the room were stacked a large number of chests, these contained galleons and jewellery, however, the focus of the room were the bookshelves full of books that dominated the room, Severus stepped into the room and breathed in deeply the smell of generations.
Walking further into the room Severus began to search the bookshelves, finally stopping in front of shelves of plain, dull coloured leather-bound books, Severus picked out four books, two black and two brown. Embossed on the covers was the word 'Diary' and dates '1960-1965' and '1965-1970', Severus opened the front cover and checked the names inscribed in gold ink, 'Valere Snape nee Koti and 'Cronus Snape', and shrunk them into his inner cloak pocket.
When Severus exited Gringotts he turned left and made his way to the British Magical Library at Diagon Alley, it was situated in one of the numerous side streets, Scribe Lane. The library was the largest in the wizarding world, containing the earliest written works by witches and wizards. Severus found a desk in an isolated area of the library and unshrunk the diaries, after picking up his mother's first diary and finding the date that he was born Severus began to read:
".April 3rd: I have given birth to a health baby boy, Cronus has decided to call him 'Severus', it is a old family name. Severus must have been impatient for I went into labour some days early.It had been a long and difficult birth, the contractions began on the evening of the 1st - 36 hours - but it was worth the pain. Severus began to scream almost immediately, which bought Cronus running in."
Severus stared at the entry with a frown, then opened up his father's diary to almost the same date:
".April 4th: At last I have an heir to the Snape family, Valere gave birth yesterday to a boy, I have called him Severus, after Uncle Severus. Valere went into labour on the 1st, Ms Fenchurch, the midwife, was summoned immediately."
"Fenchurch," Severus whispered, "I wonder where she is now,"
Severus took out his pocket watch and looked at the time, it was a quarter past three, he packed up his books and went to the Public National Records room. The room was half the size of a football field and all four walls were filled floor-to-ceiling with books, lining each level were walkways and ladders.
Severus climbed the central spiral staircase to the third level and walked to the north of the room, a blue 'F' was floating in front of the left side of the bookcases. Severus began looking through the spiral bound files, "Farquar.Fayer.Fedder.Ah, Fenchurch," Severus pulled out a large tome and began to flick through the pages.
Severus suddenly looked up, "First name, what is her first name," he whispered to himself. Putting the file down he bought out his mother's first diary, enlarged it and turned to the entry for the third and skimmed read it. "Sarah Fenchurch,"
Severus turned to the page containing all entries for 'Sarah Fenchurch', pointing his wand to the page, "Midwife, nineteen sixty-four," he said. Most of the entries faded away leaving three names. "Details," Severus said, underneath each name appeared a small paragraph. After reading the details Severus wrote down the details of the second person, a Sarah Fenchurch living in the village of Boxely in Kent.
After packing up his thing Severus made his way to The Leaky Cauldron to take the floo back to The Three Broomsticks. It was dark when Severus arrived in Hogsmeade; wrapping his cloak tighter around himself Severus began walking back to Hogwarts. The January frost covered the countryside in a white blanket, which glistened in the half-moon light. The snow crunched underneath Severus' boots, the pathway had recently been cleared but the snowfall that afternoon had partially covered the tracks.
As Severus was halfway up a hill when a piercing scream broke the silent night, Severus looked about sharply trying to pinpoint the source. A second scream sounded and Severus raced up the hill, crouching low when he neared the crest of the hill. Peering over a hedge Severus could see a loose circle of dark shapes around a solitary figure, Severus realised that the figures were Deatheaters.
Moving slowly closer Severus could see that there were four Deatheaters, the person in the middle of the circle looked up toward the ringleader and Severus could see that it was an ex-pupil, a Ravenclaw by the name of Victoria Season she was a half-muggle who was the daughter of a prominent politician.
Severus cast an invisibility and hover spell on himself, and began to move down the hill. Circling around to the furthest Deatheater Severus moved behind him and thrusted his wand into the Deatheaters back. "Do not make a sound if you want to live," Severus whispered into his ear.
The Deatheater stiffened but did not make a sound.
"If you value your life you will do as I say," Severus whispered. The Deatheater nodded slightly. "I want you to stun the rest of your group members," When the Deatheater didn't make a move Severus jabbed him with his wand.
The Deatheater cast petrificus totalus on the Deatheater to his right; the spell hit and the Deatheater stiffened and fell to the floor. The Deatheater to his left reacted quickly and cast the killing curse, Severus leapt out of the way as the green light hit the Deatheater.
The Deatheater to the right walked closer to the body of the fallen Deatheater and checked him. He looked back at the leader, "What's gotten into him?" he asked.
"Maybe he is the traitor that Lord Voldemort has been talking about," the leader suggested, "It doesn't really matter now. Lets finish up here and go,"
They turned their attention back to Victoria who was trying to crawl away, the leader walked up to her and kicked her to the ground, she gingerly turned over to face her attackers. "My father will never yield to Voldmemort," Victoria gasped.
The other Deatheater walked to Victoria and slapped her, "It's Lord Voldemort to you," he said.
"Get bent," Victoria retorted.
"Let's just take her," the leader said and picked up Victoria her left arm, the other Deatheater grabbed her right arm and held her up.
Severus dispelled his own charms and appeared in front of the Deatheaters, they jumped in surprise and dropped Victoria who gave a groan of pain. Severus fired a freezing spell at the duo but they leapt out of the way.
"Expelliramus," the leader shouted.
Severus' wand leapt from his hand into the open hand of the leader's, "I see now that it was you who caused that little ruckus earlier," the leader laughed, "not so clever without your wand, now are you?"
Severus looked at his wand then at Victoria, resolution showed in his eyes. A line of fire ignited separating the Deatheaters from Severus and Victoria, the Deatheaters jumped back and shot several spells at Severus. Severus motioned with his hand and a light blue barrier appeared protecting himself and Victoria.
"Accio wand," Severus called, and his wand returned to him.
Gently grabbing Victoria around the waist Severus and propelled them both upward, the Deatheaters fired a few spells at Severus, most missed but a fireball grazed Severus' left arm.
When Severus touched down at the front doors of Hogwarts he shifted Victoria so that he was cradling her, he dashed down the hallways and burst through the doors of the infirmary. Poppy came running and pointed to a vacant bed and Severus gently set her down.
"I am going to call Albus," Severus said as Poppy began to work on Victoria.
Albus appeared several moments later through the fireplace, "What happened?" he demanded.
Severus recounted what happened.
"I see that Voldemort is trying to recruit some influential figures," Albus said, "he is beginning to move, I fear that the time draws near,"
"We will be prepared," Severus said.
"Yes, we too have to move our plans forward," Albus said, "You said that the Deatheaters saw you use wandless magic," Severus nodded, "Voldemort will hear of it,"
"Doubtless," Severus commented.
"I would suggest you lay low for a while at Hogwarts, I would not put it pass Voldemort to try to persuade you to join him," Albus said.
"Would it not aid our side if I were to rejoin Voldemort and assume my role as a spy again," suggested Severus.
"No," Albus said hotly.
Severus looked at Albus in shock; it was unusual that Albus became so fierce.
"My apologise, Severus," Albus said, "I do not wish to lose you to Voldemort again,"
Severus nodded, "I understand, but if need be I will not hesitate to take on my former role,"
"I hope it will not come to that," Albus said. Turning his attention back to Victoria Albus asked Poppy, "How is she?"
Poppy spoke without looking at Albus, "She will live, but it will take many days for her to heal. She has two cracked ribs, a fractured tibia and collar bone, some minor internal bleeding and many bruises and cuts," Poppy straightened up and caught site of Severus' arm, "Have you been running around with that all night?" Poppy asked.
"It's just a superficial burn, Poppy," Severus said.
"Superficial burns still need tending too, it is an open wound and will attract bacteria and germs," Poppy said as she began taking care of Severus' wound.
"Will Victoria be able to answer some questions tonight?" asked Albus.
"No, I have given her a mild sedative and I expect she will sleep till at least tomorrow afternoon," Poppy replied.
"Then I will try to drop by then," Albus said.
***
Chapter Fifteen
It was warm in the Slytherin common room, although the dungeons were extremely cold in the winter the rooms that were under use were always warm, with the exception of the Potions classroom. Severus learned quite early on in his teaching career that warm classrooms usually induced sleep and lethargy in the student body, which was why the Potions room was just warm enough that the students could still function but did not freeze to death.
Severus was standing to the left of the fireplace, which was just tall enough for a first year to stand in, and the students were gathered around him in a loose semi-circle. The upper years were seated on the brown leather couches and green velvet chairs; the lower years were either stood behind or seated on the floor in front. All of them had their eyes fixed on Severus.
"Good evening, as you may be aware, I will be substituting all of Professor Snape's duties, I will be teaching potions and taking on the responsibilities of the Head of Slytherin. Professor Snape has told me many things about Hogwarts and the Slytherins, and I will endeavour to hold true to his image.
"Unlike many of my colleagues I have not attended Hogwarts and so was never sorted into any of the four houses, but I am confident that as a Snape I would have been a Slytherin, the house of ambition, cunning and, the little known trait, patience. They are the characteristics that I want all of you to realise you have the potential to reach, and I will help you reach that goal. For too long have the Slytherins been seen as the black sheep of Hogwarts, to be blamed for the misfortunes and stupidity of others, despite what some member of the school thinks Slytherins are not devoid of integrity and morals.
"Get on the right side of me and we shall get along fine, however, I do not suffer fools gladly and will not turn a blind eye to any wrong doing. Now, it is late and you all have an early morning tomorrow so I shall leave the lecturing for another day, I bid you all a goodnight," Severus concluded.
The Slytherins all stood as Severus exited the common room.
Back in his own quarters Severus picked up a large bundle of parchment that sat on his coffee table, after reading for forty minutes Severus threw them back onto the table in disgust and stalked into his bedroom.
***
The first year Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws began to file into the Potions classroom looking both curious and wary, they took their seats in silence and waited for Severus to begin.
"Good morning, class. I have read over the schedules and notes that Professor Snape has left me. Can anyone tell me what you are to be learning today?" asked Severus.
A few hands raised into the air.
"Mr Sampson," Severus said and pointed to the young Ravenclaw.
Charlie looked slightly surprised that Severus had known his name, but recovered quickly before answering, "We are suppose to learn how to brew the pepper-up potion," he said confidently.
"Correct," Severus said, "however, you will not be learning how to brew the pepper-up potion this time round," the class looked back at him surprised, "because we will be learning about laboratory safety. I have seen the amount of accidents that occur in this classroom, and I believe that it is time I taught the correct laboratory etiquette,"
Severus walked over to the chalkboard and picked up a piece of white chalk, he turned to the class and asked, "Who can tell me what dangers are present in a laboratory of any sort?"
Slowly some hands were raised.
"Mr Manor?" Severus asked.
"Dangerous ingredients?" Justin said unsurely.
"Yes, and what can you do about it?" Severus asked as he wrote the suggestion on the board.
Justin looked back and colour begin to rise in his cheeks, "Er.wear gloves."
"Yes, and?" Severus prompted.
".don't handle them unless you need to," Justin said.
"Thank-you, Mr Manor," Severus said relieving Justin his embarrassment, "safe handling of dangerous ingredients depends on the ingredient, if it was a poisonous plant like Belladonna, them you should be wearing gloves when you handle it, but if it was two liquids that are toxic when mixed together then they should be placed as far apart as possible and not be handled at the same time,"
When the blackboard was filled with dangers and their remedies, Severus decided to use the last half hour to teach the students a few basic charms that were useful for the laboratory. One of which was the containment charm continere periculum, which casts a light blue sphere around the target, it keeps the target within an impenetrable magical barrier that can only be removed by a dispelling charm.
The students were eager to try out the spells and Severus created several dangerous scenarios for them to amend. All of the students seem to be adequate at casting the charms, except for a Hufflepuff who had accidentally encased his foot in the containment charm.
After the class left Severus sat down and smiled to himself; the students were more relaxed and looked relatively less terrified, and they were able to recall most of the teachings when Severus had quizzed then at the end of the lesson.
Severus stood up and walked through a plain oak door to the left of the classroom, which led into his office. Picking-up the small leather bound book from the green velvet couch Severus stretched himself out on it, his shoulders resting on the armrest, and opened up the book to a dog-eared paged and began to read.
So engrossed in the book was Severus that he did not realise the time until he heard the door of the classroom being opened and the sound footsteps on the stone slabs. Quickly rolling off the couch and onto his feet Severus straightened his robes and walked into the classroom.
He could feel the students watching him as he made his way to his desk and sat down, Severus could see that all of the students were present, so stood again and walked in front of his desk.
"Good morning, today I will be teaching you the theory of a gentle sleeping inducing potions, called Sleep Dust," Severus said, "Angel's dust was created by a thirteenth century wise-woman to promote sleep in young children, the other potions at that time were suitable for adults but were too strong for young children and sometimes resulted in placing the child into a deep coma.
"The recipe to make sleep dust is simple however the brewing of it is difficult as it requires constant attention once it has begun. The base of most sleeping draughts use Majorana hortenis (marjoram) as the active composite, however it is too strong for young children so Viola odorata (violet) is used as an alternative. Articum lappa (burdock) and Thymus vulgaris (Thyme) are also added, can anyone can tell me what are their properties?" Severus asked. "Miss Granger?"
"Articum lappa is used for protection and Thymus vulgaris keeps away nightmares," Hermione said.
"Correct," Severus said.
As Severus walked over to the blackboard to write down the three ingredients Draco began to screw up tiny pieces of parchment and flick them at Harry's head, Severus turned around and saw the last paper ball that Draco flicked.
"Five points from Slytherin, Mister Malfoy," Severus said.
Draco's eyes widened and his, mouth dropped open, as did most of the class.
"What for?" Draco asked when he recovered from the shock.
"For throwing pieces of parchment at Mister Potters head," Severus replied.
"But I." Draco began protesting.
"If I were you I would not complete that sentence, Mister Malfoy, I would hate to take off more points for lying," Severus said.
"My father will hear of this," Draco muttered.
"Are you going to trouble your father with such trivial matters? You need to learn to take responsibilities for your actions, Mister Malfoy," Severus said.
Draco stared at Severus speechlessly but decided not to argue any further; instead he crossed his arms over his chest and glared at his desk. A few of the Gryffindors began to laugh.
"Two points from Gryffindors," Severus announced.
The laughter stopped abruptly and they stared at Severus in disbelief.
"For laughing at another's misfortune," Severus added. "Shall we carry on with the lesson or does anyone else have something to say?" When met with silence Severus nodded and proceeded with the remainder of the lesson.
At the end of the lesson Severus asked Hermione to stay for a few moments.
"I wish to ask if you would like to carry on with the extra tuition classes that you had been taking before the Christmas break?" Severus asked.
"You know about them?" Hermione asked slightly surprised.
"Yes, I have been reading some of Severus' notes," Severus replied with a small smile.
"Of course, I would love to," replied Hermione.
"Same time and place?" asked Severus.
"Yes," Hermione said, "if it isn't too much trouble,"
"No trouble at all, Miss Granger," Severus said, "I look forward to working with you,"
***
The next evening Albus had decided to visit Severus in the dungeons, Severus answered the door looking extremely agitated. Severus led the way into the lounge the coffee table and surrounding floor was covered with pieces of parchment and a few open books, a small circle of uncovered floor was situated next to the coffee table.
"Are you busy, Severus?" Albus asked.
"No, I just cross checking the results of the analysis," Severus said as he picked up some parchment from a nearby green velvet armchair and proffered the seat to Albus.
Albus sat down and watched as Severus cleared another seat. "So have you deciphered the potion?" he asked.
"Yes," Severus replied quietly.
"That is good, now you can work on the antidote," Albus said cheerfully. "What is wrong?" Albus asked when Severus did not reply.
Severus looked up into Albus' eyes; emotions raced though his own eyes.
"The potion.it.it is an extremely powerful.glamour remover," Severus said.
Albus opened his mouth to speak, closed it and reopened it, "Are you sure?" he asked.
"Albus, I began to learning potions before I was able to walk. Yes I am sure," Severus said sharply.
"Of course, my child, that was a stupid thing to ask," Albus said.
"No, I am sorry, I should not have snapped at you," Severus replied.
"Why would someone cast a glamour over you?" Albus asked.
"I do not know," Severus replied as he buried his head into his hands.
Albus stood up, walked over to Severus and laid a hand on his shoulders.
"Albus, I wish to take the afternoon off tomorrow. I want to find some answers," Severus said.
"Of course, I will not deny you that request. I will arrange cover for your lessons," Albus replied.
***
At Gringotts Severus handed over the key to his vault to the goblin at the desk, the goblin scrutinised Severus before dropping off his chair and motioned for Severus to follow him.
The cart ride to his vault, 163, was as nauseating as usual; when the cart stopped Severus got out slowly and leaned against a pillar as he caught his breath. Severus composed himself and walked to the large steel door of the vault, placing the key in the lock Severus retrieved a vial of red liquid from his cloak pocket and inserted it into the hole next to the lock, and turned the key.
Without looking at the interior of the door Severus knew how the lock was activating the mechanism within. The turning of the key triggered a beam of light that passed through the vial and into a black ball of light. As the light passes through the vial it changes from white to red, the ball analyses the light and if it is the correct colour the door unlocks. The red coloured liquid in the vial is a highly complex potion that none other than a potion master could brew; the ingredients and timing for the potion have to be exact otherwise the colour would be different, even if the colour of the liquid was off by a hue or shade the ball of light could detect it.
The gently whirling of magic and cogs assured Severus that the liquid had passed the test. The steel doors began to open slowly outwards, Severus took a few steps back, the musty smell of books and money emanated from behind the door. When the door finally stopped the torches inside the chamber lit up at once bathing the interior with a soft orange light.
To the left of the room were stacked a large number of chests, these contained galleons and jewellery, however, the focus of the room were the bookshelves full of books that dominated the room, Severus stepped into the room and breathed in deeply the smell of generations.
Walking further into the room Severus began to search the bookshelves, finally stopping in front of shelves of plain, dull coloured leather-bound books, Severus picked out four books, two black and two brown. Embossed on the covers was the word 'Diary' and dates '1960-1965' and '1965-1970', Severus opened the front cover and checked the names inscribed in gold ink, 'Valere Snape nee Koti and 'Cronus Snape', and shrunk them into his inner cloak pocket.
When Severus exited Gringotts he turned left and made his way to the British Magical Library at Diagon Alley, it was situated in one of the numerous side streets, Scribe Lane. The library was the largest in the wizarding world, containing the earliest written works by witches and wizards. Severus found a desk in an isolated area of the library and unshrunk the diaries, after picking up his mother's first diary and finding the date that he was born Severus began to read:
".April 3rd: I have given birth to a health baby boy, Cronus has decided to call him 'Severus', it is a old family name. Severus must have been impatient for I went into labour some days early.It had been a long and difficult birth, the contractions began on the evening of the 1st - 36 hours - but it was worth the pain. Severus began to scream almost immediately, which bought Cronus running in."
Severus stared at the entry with a frown, then opened up his father's diary to almost the same date:
".April 4th: At last I have an heir to the Snape family, Valere gave birth yesterday to a boy, I have called him Severus, after Uncle Severus. Valere went into labour on the 1st, Ms Fenchurch, the midwife, was summoned immediately."
"Fenchurch," Severus whispered, "I wonder where she is now,"
Severus took out his pocket watch and looked at the time, it was a quarter past three, he packed up his books and went to the Public National Records room. The room was half the size of a football field and all four walls were filled floor-to-ceiling with books, lining each level were walkways and ladders.
Severus climbed the central spiral staircase to the third level and walked to the north of the room, a blue 'F' was floating in front of the left side of the bookcases. Severus began looking through the spiral bound files, "Farquar.Fayer.Fedder.Ah, Fenchurch," Severus pulled out a large tome and began to flick through the pages.
Severus suddenly looked up, "First name, what is her first name," he whispered to himself. Putting the file down he bought out his mother's first diary, enlarged it and turned to the entry for the third and skimmed read it. "Sarah Fenchurch,"
Severus turned to the page containing all entries for 'Sarah Fenchurch', pointing his wand to the page, "Midwife, nineteen sixty-four," he said. Most of the entries faded away leaving three names. "Details," Severus said, underneath each name appeared a small paragraph. After reading the details Severus wrote down the details of the second person, a Sarah Fenchurch living in the village of Boxely in Kent.
After packing up his thing Severus made his way to The Leaky Cauldron to take the floo back to The Three Broomsticks. It was dark when Severus arrived in Hogsmeade; wrapping his cloak tighter around himself Severus began walking back to Hogwarts. The January frost covered the countryside in a white blanket, which glistened in the half-moon light. The snow crunched underneath Severus' boots, the pathway had recently been cleared but the snowfall that afternoon had partially covered the tracks.
As Severus was halfway up a hill when a piercing scream broke the silent night, Severus looked about sharply trying to pinpoint the source. A second scream sounded and Severus raced up the hill, crouching low when he neared the crest of the hill. Peering over a hedge Severus could see a loose circle of dark shapes around a solitary figure, Severus realised that the figures were Deatheaters.
Moving slowly closer Severus could see that there were four Deatheaters, the person in the middle of the circle looked up toward the ringleader and Severus could see that it was an ex-pupil, a Ravenclaw by the name of Victoria Season she was a half-muggle who was the daughter of a prominent politician.
Severus cast an invisibility and hover spell on himself, and began to move down the hill. Circling around to the furthest Deatheater Severus moved behind him and thrusted his wand into the Deatheaters back. "Do not make a sound if you want to live," Severus whispered into his ear.
The Deatheater stiffened but did not make a sound.
"If you value your life you will do as I say," Severus whispered. The Deatheater nodded slightly. "I want you to stun the rest of your group members," When the Deatheater didn't make a move Severus jabbed him with his wand.
The Deatheater cast petrificus totalus on the Deatheater to his right; the spell hit and the Deatheater stiffened and fell to the floor. The Deatheater to his left reacted quickly and cast the killing curse, Severus leapt out of the way as the green light hit the Deatheater.
The Deatheater to the right walked closer to the body of the fallen Deatheater and checked him. He looked back at the leader, "What's gotten into him?" he asked.
"Maybe he is the traitor that Lord Voldemort has been talking about," the leader suggested, "It doesn't really matter now. Lets finish up here and go,"
They turned their attention back to Victoria who was trying to crawl away, the leader walked up to her and kicked her to the ground, she gingerly turned over to face her attackers. "My father will never yield to Voldmemort," Victoria gasped.
The other Deatheater walked to Victoria and slapped her, "It's Lord Voldemort to you," he said.
"Get bent," Victoria retorted.
"Let's just take her," the leader said and picked up Victoria her left arm, the other Deatheater grabbed her right arm and held her up.
Severus dispelled his own charms and appeared in front of the Deatheaters, they jumped in surprise and dropped Victoria who gave a groan of pain. Severus fired a freezing spell at the duo but they leapt out of the way.
"Expelliramus," the leader shouted.
Severus' wand leapt from his hand into the open hand of the leader's, "I see now that it was you who caused that little ruckus earlier," the leader laughed, "not so clever without your wand, now are you?"
Severus looked at his wand then at Victoria, resolution showed in his eyes. A line of fire ignited separating the Deatheaters from Severus and Victoria, the Deatheaters jumped back and shot several spells at Severus. Severus motioned with his hand and a light blue barrier appeared protecting himself and Victoria.
"Accio wand," Severus called, and his wand returned to him.
Gently grabbing Victoria around the waist Severus and propelled them both upward, the Deatheaters fired a few spells at Severus, most missed but a fireball grazed Severus' left arm.
When Severus touched down at the front doors of Hogwarts he shifted Victoria so that he was cradling her, he dashed down the hallways and burst through the doors of the infirmary. Poppy came running and pointed to a vacant bed and Severus gently set her down.
"I am going to call Albus," Severus said as Poppy began to work on Victoria.
Albus appeared several moments later through the fireplace, "What happened?" he demanded.
Severus recounted what happened.
"I see that Voldemort is trying to recruit some influential figures," Albus said, "he is beginning to move, I fear that the time draws near,"
"We will be prepared," Severus said.
"Yes, we too have to move our plans forward," Albus said, "You said that the Deatheaters saw you use wandless magic," Severus nodded, "Voldemort will hear of it,"
"Doubtless," Severus commented.
"I would suggest you lay low for a while at Hogwarts, I would not put it pass Voldemort to try to persuade you to join him," Albus said.
"Would it not aid our side if I were to rejoin Voldemort and assume my role as a spy again," suggested Severus.
"No," Albus said hotly.
Severus looked at Albus in shock; it was unusual that Albus became so fierce.
"My apologise, Severus," Albus said, "I do not wish to lose you to Voldemort again,"
Severus nodded, "I understand, but if need be I will not hesitate to take on my former role,"
"I hope it will not come to that," Albus said. Turning his attention back to Victoria Albus asked Poppy, "How is she?"
Poppy spoke without looking at Albus, "She will live, but it will take many days for her to heal. She has two cracked ribs, a fractured tibia and collar bone, some minor internal bleeding and many bruises and cuts," Poppy straightened up and caught site of Severus' arm, "Have you been running around with that all night?" Poppy asked.
"It's just a superficial burn, Poppy," Severus said.
"Superficial burns still need tending too, it is an open wound and will attract bacteria and germs," Poppy said as she began taking care of Severus' wound.
"Will Victoria be able to answer some questions tonight?" asked Albus.
"No, I have given her a mild sedative and I expect she will sleep till at least tomorrow afternoon," Poppy replied.
"Then I will try to drop by then," Albus said.
***
