Chapter 5: My Memory is the thing I forget with.
The night before Christmas, Rowena sat planning out lessons, getting herself read-up on possible side effects of creatively made potions. She knew she had to have at least one layer of protection when it came to first-years and amazing melting cauldrons. A soft rustling drew her attention. She got up and went into Sevi's sleeping room.
When she entered, she saw that Severus was trying to get out of bed. She settled on the edge, pushed him back down. "Well, it's about time, Brother. How are we doing?'
Severus glared up at her. "I am alive. Let me up."
She sniffed. "And Neville will be a Potion's master and take your job." She exerted a bit more pressure on his shoulders as a warning. "Be a good boy, Sevi, and you won't go to the hospital wing. Be an extra good boy, and I might give you your wand back."
Severus' eyes narrowed. "By Merlin, you are a cruel woman."
She smiled and patted his cheek. "And I wonder who taught me, hmmm?" She rose. "Now, don't you move. I told the Headmaster that I'd summon him when you awoke."
After Dumbledore arrived, he settled down on the edge on the bed. "May I?" he asked motioning toward the bandaged arm. At the other's shrug, he unwrapped it. The wound was finally starting to heal, albeit slowly. He rewrapped it, and settled it back down. He caught Severus with his eyes. "I want you tell me everything from your last letter onward. Even if you believe it trivial."
Severus proceeded. His account was brief. He had, since the summer, been unable to get near any of his fellow Death Eaters. He seemed to be blocked from Voldemort's presence, for when the summoning came, he was always thrown out of apparating midway. "I had finished my preparations and was departing the area in which I had last been dropped when someone appeared behind me, someone in front. They--" Severus broke off, his gazing shifting as if trying to find something in his mind – and not.
"What did they look like?" Rowie prompted.
"I... I don't remember. They said something – I should remember it! – But what..." Severus trailed off.
Dumbledore murmured something to Rowie, and she nodded, leaving the two. She returned a moment later with a small vial. "2 drops?"
Severus sat up quickly. "You don't believe what I have told you?" he asked in a low voice, insulted.
"This isn't the Vertiserum, Sevi. It will reveal to us whether you've been Memory Charmed, or something else."
He nodded, but Ro could still see the mistrust in his eyes. "2 drops, no more."
She dropped the dose into his mouth and waited a moment for it to take affect. Taking a pinch of purple powder from a pouch, she tossed it above her brother's head. The powder turned from purple to the telltale white, but with purple patches remaining. "A very selective charm at that," she murmured, putting both away.
"Which means that those memories are almost certainly gone." Dumbledore eased the injured man back down into bed.
"They might not return, or they may. Perhaps, for now, it is best that you don't remember," Rowena soothed. "You're less of a threat."
Severus nodded, but he was distracted, looking inward for a way past the charm. He accepted the goblet that Albus gave him with only a cursory glance. The sleeping draught pulled him into a dreamless sleep.
The two stood in Dumbledore's office the next morning. Rowena stood beside Fawkes, offering him a piece of his favorite treats. She never asked what the glowing blue chips were, and frankly didn't want to know.
Rowena finally broke the silence. "Know this, Albus. If I catch wind of whoever did this, I personally will track them down and see the rot in Azkaban. Death for them is not an option." She bowed. "If you'll excuse me." With that, she descended the stairs, disappearing from view.
"I pity those you suspect, Rowena ... and I will mourn those who are responsible," Dumbledore murmured to the empty room. Fawkes trilled softly in answer.
The snow was falling outside the window, adding to the packed down remains from the last storm. The crack in the panes let a few flutter in, caught in the candlelight, then melting, their short lives ending so tragically.
With a snort, she fixed the windowpane. "I've stayed up way too late if I've started to mourn a snowflake," she muttered wryly to herself. She got up and blew out the extra candles, condemning her marking to darkness for another day.
As she walked by the large mirror, (why on earth did Sevi keep a mirror there?) she caught a glimpse of herself. Pale skin, black hair, not exactly tall frame, she was ordinary...well, for her family at least. A normal killer, teacher and a Snape.
"At least," she said to her reflection, "I don't have the same nose."
"I could fix that, Rowena," came a voice behind her.
She smiled. "And I could make your hair match your house colours, Sevi." She turned around to see Sevi leaning ever so subtlety on the doorframe. "Still no steady on you feet, are we?"
"I am-"
"-Fine, ye, I know. 'Fine' people always lean on doorframes and loose what little colour they have when they move too fast." She moved up to him. "Bed."
Severus's eyes narrowed. "Do you think you can order me about, sister?"
She smiled. "Yes, I do. Bed. Now." She took his hand off the doorframe. "Before you fall down."
He sneered, but allowed her to lead him back to the bed. "I will be returning to teaching in the New Year, Rowena."
"Of course," she said as she unrolled another blanket. "As soon as you can make it across the room without falling."
"I am not that badly injured. A few potions-"
"No!" Rowena calmed herself down before continuing. "You're not hiding behind your potions this time. Whoever it was beat the stuffing out of you and I am not going to let you up until you're healed. Then I'll let the kids beat the stuffing out of you, if I don't first."
Severus leaned back against the headboard. "My wand?"
"Safe."
He sighed. "My wand?"
"Safe," she repeated. "Along with your lesson plans and grades," she added, smiling. "Goodnight, brother."