Chapter 3: Memories Returned

The halls of the school were bare and empty, dark and damp; there was no movement even from the portraits. The candles and the lamps were out, making the halls dark and sinister. Every sound echoed loud against the stone walls. The feeling of uneasiness filled the cold dusty building like death itself has set into the school. Belinda's shoes hit hard on the stone floor and the sound echoed and duplicated as though there were hundreds of people running after her. She ran as fast as she could. The only people that had been around the ground for the summer, on a regular basis were Hagrid and Filch. Footsteps seemed to boom in the hallways as Belinda ran towards the phoenix statue that led to Dumbledore's office. She was afraid and tired. She heard the echoes and thought she heard the whispers of many years ago. She felt all the eyes of the ages on her as she ran; judging her and mocking her. It was all around her; she could never escape. The phoenix looked angry, judgmental and it loomed over her; hard and impassable. Not as inviting as it once had been, when she had been a student in this school. As she reached it, out of breath, it began to spin. Hesitantly, she followed the staircase to the top and grabbed hold of the knocker. It stung with cold and her hands shook with fear. Before she could muster enough strength to lift the knocker the door opened, "Belinda, how nice it is to see you!" Dumbledore smiled, "please come in!"

"Dumbledore, please you must help me!" Belinda cried, "I am afraid for my life and for my children lives! How will I be able to live with the Dark Lord about?"

"It's alright dear lady, please be calm," Dumbledore said, offering her a chair.

"He will find me; he will get me and my children. The dark mark was at my home, even with my children away from here. The only place I will be safe is at this school!" She cried, panic stricken.

"My dear, it's all right," Dumbledore said calmly.

"How can things be alright?" Belinda sobbed.

"Well you see, my care of magical creatures teacher is extremely busy with other work to try and keep the Dark Lord's powers from spreading, which means I need a new care of magical creatures teacher for the coming term," Dumbledore stated.

"How does that benefit my children? How can they be safe?" Belinda stated as tears continued to fall down her face.

"Your children have already been accepted to continue at Hogwarts. They have been sorted and the teachers all have their records," Dumbledore said calmly, "and you dear lady, should you accept, will be safe here at the school and be paid as our care of magical creatures professor."

Belinda remained silent for a moment, letting this all sink in. It was what she had come to ask Dumbledore in the first place; before she had even mentioned it, he knew what she was looking for. His soft, deep eyes looked at her kindly and calmly. He watched her contemplate the offer and saw the fear fade from her face. Belinda believed now that she would be safe so long as Dumbledore was around, and as long as she could be at Hogwarts, the dark forces would never come near her.

"Well will you accept?" Dumbledore asked as he looked over his half moon spectacles at her.

"Yes, of course!" Belinda smiled, "How can I ever repay such kindness, sir?"

"No payment is needed dear," Dumbledore smiled, "your expertise will be well respected and a welcome addition to this facilities faculty."

"You know that I have not taught in the magic community," Belinda asked, "don't you?"

"We know," Dumbledore smiled, "but you are very well known for your development in the muggle community as well as your award winning achievements in developments in Muggle Biology. It is very impressive."

"Well," Belinda blushed, "it wasn't anything the magical community didn't already know." she added feeling embarrassed.

"Yes, but it did help, and that is what we have always wanted for our technologies," Dumbledore said.

A sudden bit of cold air caught the back of Belinda's neck as the door to the office opened again and she shivered slightly.

"Ah Severus come in, let me introduce you to our new care of magical creatures professor," Dumbledore smiled and offered another chair to Snape.

"Severus..."Belinda gasped as terror grasped her again.

"Belinda..." Snape muttered silently in shock.

"Ah yes, I remember now. You two were quite the item when you were in school," Dumbledore smiled.

"I was the reason Belinda left," Snape said softly, not able to look at the woman again, "Like everything else about our relationship, that was the most publicized part."

"What are you doing here?" Belinda managed to force herself to say, "How can you be here?"

"He has been a teacher here for many years. He is our potions professor," Dumbledore said happily.

Belinda was floored; she didn't know what to do, "How?" she asked. She had believed that Hogwarts would be a safe place for her but Severus was here, "How can he be?" She couldn't make sense of the situation. He was a professor; surely Dumbledore knew what he was, what he had done and who he worked for. Could she possibly stay and teach at a school where this evil was, "He can't be a teacher here!" She cried out.

Snape's eyes fell to the floor and remained there.

"I know what you're thinking," Dumbledore said as he caught the terror in Belinda's eyes, "How could I have a man like Snape working for me, isn't that right?" Dumbledore asked, as calm as always.

"I'm sorry Severus, but I need to know," Belinda said in a low voice as she stared at the floor.

"I gave that up long ago Belinda," Snape said, "you would have known if you'd have stayed!" he turned and left the office.

"Severus has been on our side for many years now. He has worked for me and for our side much longer than he was a Death Eater. You and your children will be safer here at Hogwarts because of him," Dumbledore explained.

"But how," Belinda asked, "I thought when the Dark Lord had you, you had no choice but to stay. How could his hold be broken?"

"Free will is something that the Dark Lord was unable to conquer," Dumbledore explained, "It seemed that quite often the Death Eaters had no choice, but that isn't entirely true. Severus realized what he had done was not what was meant to happen."

"Isn't he putting the school in danger, then?" Belinda asked.

"No, there are ways to fool even the greatest of wizards," Dumbledore smiled, "He is our insider now."

"But what if the Dark Lord finds out?" Belinda asked, confused and unnerved.

"He won't." Dumbledore stated, "Severus would never let that happen. Hogwarts is all he has."

The news was still a bit much for Belinda. Could she believe that Snape was no longer what she had though him to be? She forced a smile at Dumbledore and slowly walked out of his office. She would have to bring her children to the school now. She had accepted the position, her children had been registered and Dumbledore had already known she was coming, but it would be a difficult transition for her. Seeing Severus in the office for the first time in many years, he had still had the same affect on her as he did when she was young. Would she really be safe with him around? And if he was on the good side now, what would stop the man that knew of their relationship from trying to use her against the one who had betrayed him?

Snape fled to his office. The term was not yet starting for another three weeks but he had come to the school to share news with Dumbledore in a place that he knew was safe. Now, however, he had to face an extreme truth; she was back in his life or at least for the time, back at Hogwarts and there wouldn't be any avoiding contact with her. She was now a professor and the professors at the school were always in contact working with each other. It had been years since he had seen Belinda, and yet she hadn't changed much from the last day he had seen her, with the look on her face as she had turned in fear, and run from him. The image of her was still very clear in his mind, burning in the deepest parts of his soul. It was a very dark day for him, probably his darkest because he had loved her so much, so completely, and yet he had hidden a great truth from her for so long. He and Belinda had kept their relationship as secret as possible, but the walls of the school have eyes and ears, and it wasn't long before it was publicly known. It had been a scandal for a Gryffindor and a Slytherin to even befriend each other in those days, but Belinda loved him and he knew this. And yet, because of the ridicule of the other students, he had chosen to pursue the dark paths and keep it from his beloved to gain revenge on Potter and his gang. It was that selfishness that cost him all of his happiness. It was on an evening of sneaking about the corridors of the castle, after hours, that Belinda had nearly been caught out of the Gryffindor tower, down near the Slytherin dormitories, when she had run right into Severus, knocking him down and tearing the sleeve of his robe to reveal the mark on his arm. Snape closed his eyes as tightly as he could but still could hear her screaming at him. Not only in anger, but in absolute horror.

"Severus!" she had gasped, seeing sickly green image on his arm, "What on earth is that?"

"Its nothing," He had fumbled with what to say and, again, had lied to her.

"Lies!" She cried as tears ran down her face, "How could you keep this from me? How could you even take part in that? How could you hide it from me?"

"I can explain!" he had said over and over as she continued to cry and cry.

"Its evil," she whispered in absolute terror.

"Please let me explain," he has said, reaching out to her.

"Don't touch me!" she cried and jumped out of his reach, "Don't ever touch me again! Don't look for me. Don't call on me. Don't ever see me again!" she said tears soaking her face, "how could you have ever loved me? Loved me, and been what you are?"

"But I do love you!" He has said, filled with anguish.

"How could I believe that?" Belinda sobbed, "How could I ever trust you again? You would turn on me and my family and my secrets if the Dark Lord asked you to!" she screamed, "You would give me up to him!"

"No I wouldn't!" he had started to panic. She was so angry and so filled with fear, "I could never do that to you!"

"You're one of them!" she sobbed and began to run away down the dark hallways, "you are, and always will be, evil!"

She had finally found out about his dark side, and this terrified her more than she could bear. Snape leaned heavily on his desk and took a few deep breaths before he opened his supply cabinet. He moved a heavy glass jar from the farthest corner, and revealed a small hidden door in the back of the cabinet. With a small key that he kept on his key chain, he opened the door and pulled out an old framed picture. Quickly, he slumped into his chair and looked longingly down at the two seemingly happy people in the picture. A beautiful, young, blonde Gryffindor smiled shyly and hid her face ever so often in a strapping young man's shoulder. She seemed shy and yet so very in love with the man with her. The young man was from Slytherin house, was taller than the girl with dark hair and pale skin. The young man was professor Snape in his youth. The picture was taken at the beginning of their final year of school. Snape had been keeping the secret from her even when the picture was taken and had been for a long time prior to it.

"If she only knew that I had seen her leave. I knew she was angry but I never though she would leave Hogwarts. I saw her sneak away with Dumbledore and disappear," Snape sighed as she turned the picture face down onto his desk. Only days after she had fled the country Snape had turned his back on the dark arts. He had lost the only thing he has ever loved, the only person that brought meaning and good to his life. He loved her with all his heart and now his selfishness has lost her. Knowing what he had done, he went straight to the only man he knew could help him, Dumbledore. Dumbledore schooled him personally in ways of protecting himself, for Dumbledore knew that as long as the Dark Lord was in power, Snape would not be safe if Voldemort ever found out he had betrayed him. Dumbledore helped Snape to master Occlumency, as well as other arts to keep himself alive. But he was too late; he had lost Belinda and betrayed her trust. To turn back to the Dark Lord would be suicide, but he was broken hearted and feeling a terrible sense of guilt. He would not be able to live his life the way he had and so he turned away from the darkness and stayed in the only safe place he knew of, Hogwarts. He buried himself in his work and never really left the school. For many years it had been the only place he knew, his home was in this place and his demons were also here to remind him constantly of what he had done, and to punish him for his wrongs

"I should have told you Severus," came a voice from the doorway, "before she came back here."

"You knew?" Snape asked, looking into the darkness.

"The mark came to her where she had thought she was safe" said the dark shadow, "I couldn't say no."

"He's becoming suspicious. She could be in danger!" Snape said abandoning his normally calm exterior, "We have to do something!"

"That's why she's here." Dumbledore said coming into the room, "It is best if we just let her settle back into this lifestyle. She is very afraid and vulnerable. We will do all in our power to prevent what happened to her parents from occurring again. She should be safe here."

Snape remained silent.

"You have been given another chance, Severus," Dumbledore's voice came quietly from the doorway.

"She's afraid of me, she will never forgive me," Snape said as he sat up straight, his eyes as dark as ever, and his face looking stern and angry, "all I can do is keep this school safe for her."

"She will, if you want her to," Dumbledore said calmly.

Snape slammed the photograph into a desk drawer angrily and turned back to Dumbledore, "I have news about the Dark Lord!" he said finally and would not let Dumbledore change the subject back.