Chapter 21: No matter how powerful the wizard, a knife between the shoulder blades will seriously cramp his style.
There was a quiet gasp from somewhere, quickly stifled, though it seemed that no one beside the siblings heard it. Severus's eyes began to scan the room until Rowena, with the slightest motion of her hand, told him to drop it. She knew exactly where it had came from, he thought, and how long that person must have been there for.
"Are you accusing me of common murder?" she asked, voice very low and quiet.
"Of assassination!"
"Now, Cornelius --" Albus tried to interject a note of reason into the irate man.
"Headmaster, please." She held up a hand to forestall his comments. "I haven't been an active member for well over 4 years," she said to Fudge.
"That doesn't mean--"
"Do you think I would kill someone," she continued over him, ignoring the fact he had spoken, "without Guild approval or funds, both of which require one to be active?"
"You are listed at the Ministry as being a member for the next 25 years, recallable at any time!" Fudge announced, clearly thinking that he had made a closing point.
Wondering how the man had ever graduated Hogwarts, let alone becoming Minister for Magic, Rowena spelled it out for him. "I would have to make an announcement of my return, which would, of course, be forwarded straight to the Department for Magical Law Enforcement. I believe that they still give the Minister for Magic weekly reports, unless that has been changed since my days there."
Fudge was fumbling for words, an amusing sight. "You…er… you could…."
"Why," she continued in between pauses, "would I tarnish my family's reputation with an unauthorized kill? We've been scapegoats before for other, more wealthy, families. I refuse to allow that to happen again." Slowly rising, Severus no long holding her back, she made her way around his bed and approached the portly politician. "Unless you have irrefutable proof, Minister, I kindly suggest that you retract your statement and leave."
Fudge tried to say something, only to be overridden again. "This boy," she pointed to Draco, "now needs, due to your loose tongue, to have a meeting with my superiors." She stepped closer to Fudge, who backed up a few paces more, nearly putting him outside the Hospital Wing. She leaned closer to him and said, "I just hope that certain memories don't have to be modified. For the wizarding world's sake."
Fudge's face went white, no doubt imaging the scandal that would accompany a Malfoy being Modified. "I'm sure…sure that the boy will realize the …the gravity of the situation."
"I do hope so," she agreed, voice soft and girlish, reminiscent of Umbridge. "I would hate to see such a promising young mind be damaged. Memory Charms are difficult at the best of times." Her gaze wandered to Draco's still form, standing confused by the bed.
Fudge followed her gaze and swallowed once more. "Yes, of course not. I will leave this in Dumbledore's capable hands then." He replaced his bowler's hat on his head and practically fled down the corridor.
Dumbledore leveled her once look over his spectacles that clear spoke of 'we will discuss this at a more suitable time' and made his way calmly out of the Hospital Wing.
Rowena took a few deep breaths, readying herself for the second round. She stepped just outside the large doors before saying, "Come in. We need to talk."
Rowena stood to one side of the door and waited. There was a long pause, in which no sound could be heard, then soft footsteps broke it before --
"Potter," Severus hissed, trying to straighten up fully.
"Severus," Rowena scolded. "He is here at my invitation." She closed the doors and put up Anti-Eavesdropping spells before saying, "I don't want to give this lecture twice through, or interrupted."
"Hold on, what do you mean, 'at your invitation'?" Harry said, walking a bit further into the room.
Rowena made her way back to her brother's bedside. "Remember that test on the second unit? The one that you've been carrying around with you for over a month?"
"Yes, but what…?"
"I charmed it." She settled down, not on the chair, which she pushed out for Draco to sit down on, but on the bed beside Severus. With a casual flick, she conjured another chair for Harry and plunked it down at the foot of the bed.
Harry balked instantly at this, anger clearly written all over his face. "What do you mean, you charmed it? With what-?" He broke off at Severus's sneer, but it was his sister that answered him.
"Gryffies are so easy to manipulate," she murmured, then continued. "The charm was set so that you would find yourself attracted to certain conversations held by over-age wizards. If you had been in the Leaky Cauldron during Christmas, it may not have let you leave 'til last call, which is much past your bedtime." She leveled her gaze, so much like the Headmaster's, at Harry, as if trying to think the correct answer at him through his skull.
"About the Snapes?" he ventured.
She dipped her head in assent.
"Then why am I here?" Draco burst out sullenly.
She looked at Draco for a long moment, long enough for him to surely have thought better of interrupting her. When she finally spoke, she weighed her words carefully. "You are here, Draco, because there is a choice in front of you. If the notion of service does not appeal, which to many it does not, then there are many other paths open to you. If the power that Voldemort claims to offer is to your liking, in and of itself, then there is another … organization that would gladly take the talents you have and hone them into …into something you control, not what he would hold over your head."
"Sister," Snape hissed softly, "you delve into forbidden areas outside the blood."
"The old ways are not what they were, brother. I have seen that too clearly for the last 20 years." She sounded suddenly very tired. "Fresh blood, if you'll pardon the expression, is needed, otherwise we will die off, and the traditions and skills with it. That would, as Albus would put it, be the most terrible thing about it."
"Which side were you on the last time, Professor?" Harry interrupted as he clicked all the pieces together. "Or was it a matter of you paid the most for those 'talents'?"
Silencing Severus with a look, for he had been about to rip Harry apart, she answered the young man question. "We, as a group, are without permanent allegiance. They do what is in the best, or what they believe is in the best interest for their continued existence and, more so, for the good of the wizarding world."
"THEN WHY DIDN'T SOMEBODY STAB VOLDEMORT 20 YEARS AGO?"
Her voice dropped and became very cold and waspish. "Don't think we didn't try, Potter! We lost some of the best we had when that leach came to full power!" She looked at Harry more closely, then whispered, "But that's not what you meant earlier, was it, dear boy? You wanted to know where the Snape's stood in all this."
"Rowena Snape, our history--!"
"Is public record, brother."
"Then let him search for it for a decade or more to piece it together!"
Rowena smiled sadly and turned to Harry. "You wonder why my brother is the way he is. Call it a bid to return to past glories, an attempt, if you will, to redeem what was lost. You see, we clawed our way back once to a shadow of what we once were." She paused, head tilted at Harry, who had sat down during this. "But you already knew the breaking point, don't you, Harry?"
Harry looked into the black eyes in front of him, but saw the white page of Hermione's book. "Martinus Snape was in command of the Assassins Guild."
"No."
Harry blinked.
"It was Lenella Snape, his wife, who had command of the Guild. He commanded the Guard. Suffice it to say that the Snapes went out on a political and financial limb for James II and we lost. We were one of the best in our world, and it has been costly return to the favor of those who fell in behind William of Orange. Costly to keep the family alive and whole, I through our family's old profession, and my brother through other…methods." Severus looked away for her, hand absently moving toward the spot where the Dark Mark was branded.
"I won't bore you with the details, Harry, because, frankly, anything past the 1920's will comatose me. But it is still disturbing information, even if it is 'public'. I nearly got fired from Durmstang when a good percentage of the student body found out. As it was, I had to voluntarily retire at the end of the year. Several students had to have Memory charms placed on them, for their own safety."
"That was due more to the Dark Lord being only 5 years gone, sister, and the paranoia that was running rampart at the time," Severus abolished.
"I don't think you need to pay him lip service anymore, brother. His beating the stuffing out of you quite elegantly says 'you're fired'."
Draco looked at the two siblings before asking, "Why are you telling me this? I mean, you said something to Fudge about modifying my memory, so what's the point in this?"
"Fudge is an idiot," the siblings said in unison.
Rowena shot an annoyed look at Severus, who sneered, but quieted again. "I trust you both, for my own reasons, and believe that you can be trusted not to spread this around your respective common rooms. I think that you both can understand the gravity of this situation, and the consequences.
"You, especially, Harry, cannot forever be rapped in cotton swabs against our world. Draco may have been brought up to this type of thing, but you must become aware of what waits for you in the shadows. It will come out and bite, Harry, the first moment it even predicts weakness.
"For be assured, they will start to come out of the woodwork. The final battle draws near, and the Guild must take a side soon, or risk being on the edges, where the victor will turn and quarter them." She looked hard at Harry, not allowing him to blink or turn away. "I cannot tell you which side, Harry. They will choose the side they think is most likely to win and to allow them to continue their own traditions. I am not high enough in the political tower to be able to say, one or the other."
"Or active status?"
Severus snorted, but remained silent. Rowena ignored him and said, "I've never been inactive."
"The only way to be inactive, Potter, is to be one's grave."
"Something I hope will be a long time in the coming," Rowena commented, dryly.
"You will need to arm yourselves, both of you. Severus and I can only teach you such much. It will be up to you what you do with the information. Do you use it to the full extent, or, like so many others, do you only skim the surface in hopes of picking up useful tips?
"The final test is coming, and you cannot retake it in hopes of correcting your errors."
Author's Notes:
Okay, I hope that wasn't too bad. Epilogue is coming up next, then thanks. Oh, and to address one thing: I don't plan on a sequel. This started as a one-shot (blackbird messengers) that I got a couple of requests to update, so this is it. Rowie might come up in my other works, I sort of like her, fun to write at least.
Reviews for the poor? rattles link please?