Revenge of a Slytherin

Chapter 20

Severus Snape took a seat in Professor Dumbledore's Office. 'Headmaster, I regret to inform you that Professor Reynard is missing'.

'Missing?'

'I checked her home, I found that magic was used there and also to create some messages declaring she would be away for a while – I believe she is in very grave danger.'

'Indeed' replied Dumbledore 'do you have any idea what happened?'

'From the evidence I deduced that she'd arrived home from school and gone missing later that very day.

'But that would mean she had been gone for weeks!'

'Yes sir, it would.'

'Do you have any idea who would do this or why?'

'I have a very good inclination, which is why I wish to seek your permission and that of the Ministry of Magic to go and get her.'

'Why would you need my permission?' Dumbledore looked confused.

'I do not feel it would be prudent to approach the Ministry directly in this matter, and if I did not return you would need to know where I had gone …'

'And where would that be?'

Severus stood to leave; he was at the door within a few strides and turned to reply 'Malfoy Manor.'

Dumbledore called out 'stop!'

Severus stopped and turned around sharply 'Headmaster?'

'Please Severus, come and sit back down, I fear that I have not been completely open about Nichol's background – there are things about her that you are not aware, there are things that even she is not aware.'

Professor Dumbledore sat back in his chair; Severus noticed how he suddenly looked older and so very tired.

I think I should order us some tea, this will take some explaining…'

Once the tea had been delivered by a house elf Professor Dumbledore sighed and removed his glasses, pinching and massaging the bridge of his nose. 'Severus what do you recall about the turbulent times that led to the war in Europe?'

Severus looked annoyed, he wanted to find Nichol not have a history lesson 'Headmaster I think that this is neither the time nor the place …'

Dumbledore cut him short 'Severus, this is the time, I should have in fact spoken with you sooner regarding this, but I promise you this is relevant.'

Bemused Severus thought for a moment 'I recall that there was a problem between two families and this is from where the war escalated.'

'Yes, It was a terrible time' Dumbledore looked wistful 'the two families wiped each other out.' He walked over to the shelves in the wall and skimmed through some of the books 'ah-ha!' he exclaimed and took one of the books from the shelves. Returning to his desk the put the book down and eased himself back in to his seat. 'I warned them to deal with this sooner' he muttered 'but as usual the Ministry knew best.'He opened the book and placed it on the desk in front of Severus 'this was the story as it was released, but that is not entirely the truth.'

Severus skimmed the pages of the book; once he had read them he looked at Dumbledore who had sat back down at the other side of the desk 'so what is entirely the truth and how is this relevant?'

Dumbledore sat back and started to explain:

'There were two main families involved, Ratynski and Veselak. These families had been feuding for many generations, but this was no ordinary feud. The Ratynski family were a very old and highly regarded wizarding family and the Veselak family were an even older family of vampyres.

But just like in that story by that muggle writer, I forget his name, the son of the Ratynski's Nikolai met and fell in love with the daughter of the Veselak's Nina – the couple had secretly wed. They had managed to hide this until one day Nina's family found out she was pregnant, when she finally told them who the father was and that she was married to him, they were furious. They locked Nina in her room and went to find Nikolai. This went on for months, until Nina managed to escape, she met with Nikolai and they went into hiding. It was almost a year before they were found, and in that time their child had been born. When the family found them a huge fight broke out with many losses on both sides. Sadly both Nikolai and Nina were killed. By the time the Ministry heard what was happening and sent emissaries there was little could be done. Some survived and were hospitalised, but none of either family survived more than a few days after this battle, except for one.

The child of Nikolai and Nina had been hidden by them and had survived the battle, if it were not for the cries of the child we would not have known this baby existed. The child as you probably guessed Severus was Nichol. Some of the Ministry believed she should be left unfound, others said this was inhumane. In the end though all were fearful, it was decided that the child would be brought up without knowledge of any of this. So she was placed with a trusted wizarding family, with the instructions that they should never disclose their powers to her. The child was also given a potion to bind her powers.

It seemed drastic but no one knew what powers would be held by a child who was half wizard and half vampyre. Many debates were had about when to tell her of her heritage, but none could ever agree, and many were afraid that she might use her powers for evil. Until recently it was decided to not act on this, that is until her adoptive family passed away, she was now left alone and we could not lose track of her, so she was offered the job at Hogwarts. So you see why, if she is with Malfoy, we must get her back here as soon as we can.'

Severus did not know what to say, he sat and scowled, trying to take in what he had just heard.

'Ahh, is that the time?' muttered Dumbledore 'I should head to the great hall, the students will be arriving for dinner shortly. I will leave this file with you to read here, but please do not take this out of my office. Any backup you require will be made available Severus, go and bring her back!'

With that the older wizard left the office, Severus sat reading the notes for a while before leaving to head to his rooms to prepare. As he left he did not see the shadow in the corner move away from the wall, and he did not see the spider as it stopped by the desk and started to grow into the shape of a man.

Standing over the desk the stranger took his wand from inside his robes and flicked it sharply over the file Severus had been reading. With a fizzing sound and a flash of light a duplicate file appeared on the desk next to the original. He put away his wand and hid the duplicate inside his robes, checking no one was around he sneaked from the headmasters offices, but rather than heading down towards the exit he headed up, towards the roof. Managing to get there unnoticed he placed the file onto one of the parapets of the castle and turning back into a spider he climbed inside and waited. Seconds later an owl appeared in the distance, flying towards the castle. Picking up the package of papers the owl then flew swiftly away into the evening sky.