Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. I'm just playing with her world
Chapter 21: That's Love, You'll See
Since Hermione had finally fallen into a bit of a troubled sleep, Minerva walked the hallways.
Her thoughts went back to the story Hermione had told her. All the events replayed in her mind once again. Severus had seemed so different from how he was before the incident. His thoughts were always on the girl and his determination to find her.
But her train of thought was cut very short as she saw Severus come into the Great Hall.
"You, selfish bastard!" She screamed his way.
Severus stopped in his tracks at her outburst. "Excuse me, Madame?" He asked rather annoyed.
"You heard me, you overgrown bat. You disgusting, no-good excuse for a man!" Again Minerva screamed at him, but she had advanced on him and was poking a finger into his chest.
"Madame, are you going to tell me what you are babbling about or just continue to rant and rave." Severus figured what she was going on about but wanted to hear it from her own mouth.
"You know very well what I am speaking of. Hermione has told me what happened between the two of you this past summer." Minerva backed off him a bit but was still a bit too close for Severus's comfort.
Severus sighed and ran a hand through his lank hair. "Ah, so she has told you our story?" Minerva nodded hotly. "And you yell at me about something you know nothing of?" He shouted at her.
Minerva was taken back a little but stood her ground. "Fine, then." She replied smartly. "Inform me of how you treated her. Made her cry, made her feel so terrible about herself."
Severus eyed her severely, and his eyes flashed dangerously. "Don't you speak of how I made her feel. You have no idea how I felt!" His voice was in a whisper, frightening Minerva to no end. But she, of course, would never admit to it.
"Then tell me your side of the story Severus. I'm sure it shall be short." She spoke curtly.
Minerva conjured two dark wood, high backed chairs, definitely not made to be comfortable. She sat and gestured for Severus to sit also. He just looked foully at the chair and made it in a small glass, filling it with a dark, amber liquid.
Severus took a sip from his glass. He turned his back to Minerva and sighed deeply before he started telling his tale.
"When I returned from…my…trip, I was so desperate to find Hermione. I would finish schoolwork and search for hours for any kind of sign of her or the Granger name, anywhere. I had even resigned to searching in the Americas." Severus laughed bitterly and took a long gulp from the glass that automatically refilled itself.
Minerva glanced up at him. Her stiff face had softened a bit, but not enough for it to be very noticeable. "Yes, I remember that year. Your grades were still the highest that this school had ever seen but your mind was always elsewhere."
"It was a year that I shall never forget. That time was the hardest that I had gone through." He took a sip. "I had finally relented to asking acquaintances if they knew a Granger or if they knew of anyway I could find her. I received a letter soon after asking a certain friend for help. He told me that his Master…" He spat this word out as if it were bitter in his mouth. "Would get me what I wanted and needed." Another long sip and the glass refilled itself. "So the next month, after a long month of waiting, I met his Master. Terrifying: Was the first thought that came to my mind. But if it meant getting my Hermione back I would have gone through anything." A sip. "He promised me that I would be able to find her if I were to join him and work at Hogwarts as a spy for him. It didn't take me long to agree and become a Death Eater." A long gulp, as Severus gripped his forearm and was thrust back into memories.
Minerva couldn't help but gasp at the intensity of his voice.
"Not long after being recruited I found that Lucius Malfoy was also in league with this Lord Voldemort." The liquid once again was drained and refilled. "He was only in it for the power and because it was expected of him. He could not have cared less about Purebloods and Muggleborns."
Minerva sat wide-eyed with her mouth slightly agape. "I had no idea." She whispered to herself, almost silently.
Severus took this time to clear his throat of the lump that was growing, and his eyes of the unwanted and unexpected tears.
"The two of us really stuck together. Leaving Hogwarts was a hard thing but we had to work to keep us occupied. I was creating potions for the Dark Lord and his apparently vast armies, and Lucius was making his way up to political ladder." A sip. "But, two years went by and we were eventually called to go and get 'field experience'." Severus bit out a harsh laugh and took a drink, still keeping his back turned to Minerva. "I, along with Lucius, were there that night Potter and Lily were killed. We had only created things and kept to the background but that night of mayhem and destruction had been enough. After the panic among the Death Eaters settled in, we went back to Hogwarts as fast as we could. Dumbledore had some how suspected that he would have company and let us enter his office without a password."
"Goodness, yes. I do remember asking Albus why he had done that, but he merely smiled at me. I had no idea." Minerva was staring intently at his back waiting for him to continue on with his story.
"Once Albus finally showed up, Lucius and I told him everything and begged for a forgiveness we thought would never come. But good old Dumbledore…" Once again Severus laughed but it turned into a slight cough as he took a long drink from his now refilled glass. "Dumbledore gave us forgiveness. For a price. We became his spies, double-agents if you like. Our lives became defined by the information that we gave to the different parties. So the years went on. I never forgot about Hermione, she was always there whispering in the back of my head."
"Oh, gods." Minerva was moved by the tale. But she knew what was coming.
Severus seemed to take no notice in her interruption. "Finally, though…I never thought I was to see her again. Hermione Granger. I can still remember exactly was it felt like to hear her name being called. The absolute joy that she was back in my life, but then the absolute terror when this tiny, bushy-haired girl came up to the Sorting Hat with so much confidence and defiance. Even though the woman I fell in love with was a girl, I knew it was her."
"Oh, Severus I didn't know." Minerva shook her head and wiped tears away that rolled down her cheeks.
"That evening I spoke with Dumbledore about her return to me. It is the only time I know of that I saw the sparkle and cheer fall away from his eyes. The smile stopped gracing his lips. He looked me in the eyes and told me that I am never to speak with her about anything that had happened. That I was to treat her as any undercover Death Eater might treat a Muggleborn." He took a long drink as his throat was beginning to tighten and dry. "I cursed at him, asked him why, slung terrible names at him. But Albus just sat there, took it, and when I was finished comforted me. Finally I agreed to treat her so miserably, to make her cry. But even though I knew it was for her own safety, every night after seeing tears well up in her gorgeous brown eyes I hated myself. I told myself that one day she would forgive me for what I put her through and we would be together again." He cleared his throat and licked at his dry lips.
He had forgotten long ago he had an audience, he just wanted to story out of him. But a small sob emitting from a few feet away reminded him she was there. "So, there is your story Minerva." He spat this out bitterly.
"I had no idea." She sobbed out. "I didn't know, I thought you were ashamed or you truly did not love her any more. But I just didn't know." Minerva was holding back a tidal wave of tears at this point.
"I KNOW THAT YOU DID NOT KNOW, ALRIGHT!" Severus suddenly and violently screamed out. "It doesn't matter that you didn't know. It's that you did not even respect me enough to ask." Severus hung his head in exhaustion.
Minerva sighed deeply at this and felt shame and guilt wash completely over her. "Severus, I am sorry." She stood and walked over to him. Tentatively she placed a hand over onto his shoulder.
Severus felt the contact and couldn't help but tense up. "It is forgiven, Minerva." They both knew that it, of course, wasn't, but other matters needed to be discussed. "Now we must speak of something that is very serious."
He turned and walked over to where Minerva had sat before. Changing his glass into a chair, he waited for her to sit down once again.
"At the meeting, the Dark Lord proclaimed that he would be advancing on Hogwarts tomorrow." His tone was very businesslike.
Minerva gasped at this. "Without the protection of Albus here we do not stand a chance, Severus. We need to get the students out of here."
"No, we cannot. If we try to move them out now, the Death Eaters will know there is a spy in their midst." He shook he head and tried not to think of what would happen if he were found out.
"Then what do we do? We cannot expect those children to fight! They would be massacred." Minerva spat out hotly.
Severus placed his chin in his hands and thought deeply for a moment. "The Chamber of Secrets, that is still open, yes?" Minerva nodded her head slowly. "So we place the younger students in there and keep the older ones to assist us."
Confusion swiped over her face. "It could work. But still students against Death Eaters is hardly a fair fight."
"Indeed, I agree. Many of them will be Healers, just simple spells of course." A wild fire was beginning to grow in his eyes.
"Severus, that takes care of the students but where will we get the wizards and witches willing to risk their lives fighting against an almost unbeatable force? Beyond the Order there is not much of a reserve." Minerva couldn't help but see his eyes dance as a plan was being cooked up in his head.
"Don't worry about that, dear woman. I know of a man who can help with that."
"How do you know you can trust him to be here on time? And with the numbers we need to fight?" She asked skeptically.
"I would trust this man with my life, which has got to tell you something about him. If I ask him to be here, he will be here on time that I promise you." Severus answered looking ready to go and contact this friend of his.
Minerva narrowed her eyes. "Alright but hurry and speak with him we have much we need to discuss to be prepared for the upcoming…day" The word 'battle' was still to fresh and gruesome for her to speak aloud.
Severus nodded, bowed slightly, and ran off to find Ennis.
Severus scratched down the note quickly and asked for a reply back.
"Ennis," he stated to a very large gray hawk. "Don't let anyone else read this note. If they try you know what to do." The bird almost grinned terribly. He flexed his razor sharp talons as he remembered the last time he was interrupted during a mission. "Fly well, Ennis. And be quick."
The bird needed to hear no more as he swiftly flew out the window. In a matter of moments he had disappeared in the horizon.
An hour later, Ennis reached his intended destination.
"Ah, Ennis! What are you doing here so late?" The man asked the hawk.
The bird just stuck out its leg impatiently. The man laughed in response to the birds actions. "I see Severus has rubbed off on you quiet a bit."
The man unfurled the message and read it intently. Thinking of what needed to be done he pulled out a parchment and quill to write back a reply.
"Oh, yes Severus. We will be there. Don't you worry. We will be there." Laughter could be heard as Ennis streaked across the brightening sky.
A/N: Guys, I am so sorry that I haven't updated in so long. I was going to update about a month and a half ago but my computer died on me, so we needed to get that fixed. During the time I had no computer I wrote about 5 other chapters. When I finally got a computer I typed them out and saved them to a disk. Well the next day I was going to update, I was very excited. But oh no! My floppy got wiped clean. I lost all of my chapters! GRRR!
And also, school getting over slowed down the writing also and getting a job and actually having to show up to that job slowed it down too. So I really hope you enjoy this chapter and I will get out the next one so much faster. Love you all! BYE
Read and review, please!