Chapter 18
When Severus regained consciousness again and slowly opened his eyes he stared immediately into emerald green ones, which now were blazing with anger. The young Lord was standing over him and pointed his wand straight at him.
"Why did you want to kidnap me? Stay where you are! Or I will curse you!"
Severus let himself sink back to the ground while he couldn't believe that he had been overpowered by a boy who was around ten years old and that this child had actually broken his Imperious Curse. Dismayed he realized how powerful Voldemort's son in reality was. Though his thoughts raced through his head, he didn't know what to answer and shocked he realized that it didn't matter which answer he gave.
He had lost and he would never see his daughter and his wife again. If he had still his wand, he perhaps would have still a chance, but in such case however he was totally helpless at the boy's mercy. So he said resignedly,
"I wanted to bring you to Dumbledore."
"You are a spy," The young Lord stated calmly and stared with his green eyes piercingly at him.
"Obviously," Severus replied. He was surprised that the future Dark Lord had such a quick wit.
"What's your name?"
"Snape. Severus Snape."
Suddenly the young Lord took a step away from him and said with a chilly voice,
"You can go Snape. I won't tell anyone your secret. But remember that I saved your life. One day you will pay your debt back to me."
Severus, who was completely speechless, couldn't believe it. The boy wouldn't hand him over to his father? He wouldn't tell anyone?
"You should better go now."
Severus stood shakily up and looked at the child who still had his wand pointed at him. The emerald eyes watched him. Hesitantly he halted for a moment; he couldn't believe that he would see his family again and that he would actually escape. Finally he began to move.
"Your wand."
Severus turned around and caught his wand, which the boy had thrown to him.
Then he went to the apparation place, expecting any moment that a curse would hit him.
Arriving at Hogsmeade he began to walk quickly to the castle while pondering over the fact that he was now in the debt of a child who was the son of Voldemort and who had a surprising similarity to James Potter. But could he rely on that the boy wouldn't say anything? And why had the boy let him escape instead of calling the guards, who would have immediately heard him, had he loudly screamed? Severus shook his head. He didn't understand that. It didn't make any sense.
When he entered Dumbledore's office he saw that the whole Order of the Phoenix was gathered already.
Albus lifted his head and looked relieved at him.
"Severus, finally you came. What took you so long?"
Severus sat on his chair and said,
"I found out who the raven-haired boy is. He is the son and heir of Voldemort."
This unexpected revelation caused many to gasp for breath and to stutter to oneself while in nearly all faces shock and disbelief were written.
The blue eyes of the headmaster widened and shortly afterwards he looked at him with a grave expression on his face.
"That is certainly bad news."
"Yes, but I have worse ones," Severus replied and began to relate the events that had happen earlier today.
When Severus had finished, there was silence. With raised eyebrow, Alastor asked unbelievingly,
"He did let you go?"
Albus inclined his head thoughtfully,
"I'm wondering why he did this. I fear however that we have no other choice than to trust in him keeping your secret, Severus. At least we finally know who he is."
"So we'll have to deal with two Dark Lords in the future," Minerva said gloomily.
"Tragically the child can't even be blamed. Voldemort will certainly make sure that his son will become as heartless and evil as himself," Albus sighed, looked at the window and riveted his gaze than on Severus.
"Perhaps you could try if you might succeed in obtaining the boy's confidence. Although I don't know, if that would help very much, but everything what might contribute that Voldemort's influence on him will weaken, could be later extremely valuable for us."
"And if he should trust me, what I doubt very much? What then?"
"I don't know Severus. Perhaps you can manage to win him over to our side. He is still very young, so he surely will be still suggestible. Find out as much as possible about him. Be careful, as he can betray you anytime, but try to raise doubts in him, that the Dark side is wrong. Thereby perhaps a possibility will appear. "
Severus stared at the headmaster as if the old wizard had lost his senses but didn't say anything. The next minutes the Order members sat silently together while thinking about the surprising news they had just discovered and which none of them had ever expected.
In the meantime Harry sat in his room and stared sadly at the pictures while his hands, which gripped the cover so hard that his knuckles turned white, were trembling madly. But the photos of his parents didn't comfort him. They only caused a terrible searing pain in him. Since he had discovered the photo album in the ruins of Godric's Hollow he had guarded this album like a treasure. He couldn't explain it but he hadn't even showed the pictures to Caro and Draco.
Caro had only seen the one photo he had found in the broken frame. Harry lightly touched the photo where his mum was brightly laughing and happily waving at him. Suddenly he closed the album with a loud snap, stood up and angrily ran a hand through his eyes where tears were forming.
He looked through the open door over to his bed and sighed. Nell, after Rainbow had taken care of her, had fallen asleep and Harry had laid the small house- elf on his soft bed. Hopefully she would recover soon.
Silently he went to the window and looked out. The events of today had made him understand that someday he had to choose. He had realized that he had to come to a decision on which side he was, that he had to choose either the Darkness or the Light. That he had either decide for the side of his parents he never knew or the side of his adoptive father. It was strange but only today he had really realized this fact.
Only today he had understood the situation in all its consequences. He knew very well that his adoptive father would demand further cruelties from him in the near future. He would have to torture and to kill and this knowledge caused him to shudder.
To torture Nell had been horrid for him and even now he still could see her terrified scared eyes which had looked up at him. He never again wanted to be in such a situation. Perhaps it was different with people he didn't know personally but he doubted that. Apart from this he didn't want to kill anyone at all. That's why he hadn't called after the guards when this Death Eater had tried to kidnap him today. As soon as he had realized that the man was a spy he had known that his adoptive father would punish the man without any mercy and very probably kill him, if he would ever discover the truth.
Although he had been angry at Snape for trying to kidnap him, he hadn't wanted to be guilty of his death. So he had allowed the man to go, but now he wasn't entirely sure anymore if that had been really the right decision. Couldn't the spy become dangerous for all of them? Would Snape try it again to kidnap him?
Harry didn't know it; decided however that he would be very careful from now on. Furthermore he had to think about his future behaviour. Somehow he had to find a possibility how he could avoid situations where he had to torture and to kill. Regarding his adoptive father, he would never forgive him that he had forced him to torture Nell. But what…
"Harry? Harry! Why have you locked your door?" A voice shouted suddenly and Harry recognized Caro. He sighed slightly and pointed his wand at the door. He wasn't so sure if he now wanted his friends around him. Seconds later Draco and Caro came inside.
"Where for God's sake have you been the whole day? We couldn't find you anywhere," His silver-blond friend remarked and dropped himself in one of the armchairs.
"I attended a Death Eater meeting," Harry answered.
"Really? Great! How was it?"
Harry observed how Draco's eyes flashed with excitement, a reaction he couldn't quite understand. He also went to an armchair and sat down. A moment he was silent, then he began to tell his friends what had happen today. Apart from his meeting with Snape, he told them everything. Somehow he had the feeling that it would be better to not confide this secret to anyone. After he had finished he noticed that Caro stared on the table and it seemed to him, as if she would avoid his look. Meanwhile Draco shrugged his shoulders and said,
"It's only a house-elf, Harry. Nothing else. You shouldn't bother your head about that."
Harry looked a bit unbelievingly at his friend and answered with a chilly voice,
"For you Nell may be only a house-elf. But not for me. "
"But that isn't right! You are the heir of the Dark Lord! You can't be friendly to worthless creatures! That's just impossible. And regarding your worries that we'll have to kill someday, they're totally baseless. They'll be anyway only worthless Mudbloods. "
Harry stared at Draco, as if he would see him for the first time and said quietly,
"I'm not sure if I'm the heir of the Dark Lord…"
"What the hell is the meaning of this?" Draco wanted angrily to know.
"He isn't my real father and…my parents fought against the Dark Side. "
Although his friends had known this of course, it was however the first time where he had really said it aloud.
Suddenly Draco's features distorted with anger and he began to shout,
"So what? Your parents didn't know it better! But you should know it! You after all had the proper education! Or do you now want to betray us and become a worthless Potter?"
Harry's eyes narrowed dangerously. Confused and hurt, as he had never believed that his friend would ever offend him like that, he shouted back,
"You've absolutely no right to speak about my parents like that! And you know nothing! Do you really want to torture and kill? Are you so desperate of becoming a Death Eater? "
"Yes! We would only kill worthless Mudbloods anyway! "
"Shut up! They aren't worthless!"
"Of course they are! They are as worthless as your damned parents were!"
A crashing noise interrupted the quarrel. The glass of the windows had broken into thousand glittering pieces and now Harry's eyes were shining with unbridled rage. Harry clenched his fists and tried to keep calm. He sensed, if he should lose control entirely, that more would break than only the windows. So he only said with an ice-cold voice,
"Leave my room, Draco. I don't want to see you here ever again!"
For a moment Harry saw regret and dismay flashing through Draco's eyes but then they become cold and without a word he turned and stalked out of the room. After Draco had fiercely slammed the door Harry buried his face in his hands and said with a broken voice,
"Why? Why did he say that? How could he do that?"
Caro went to him, sat beside him and put her arms around him.
"Harry, you have to forgive Draco. He was angry. He didn't mean it like that. Try to understand him."
"Understand him? Why did he attack me like this?"
"We all have learned that the Muggle are worthless and don't have a right to live. We know that the wizards who are fighting against our side are traitors. Draco believes this. Especially because he loves his father so much. It was like a criticism of him and of everything Daco believes. In that moment where you said that you weren't sure whether you are the heir of the Dark Lord, he didn't see his friend in front of him, but a Potter. After finding out who you are in reality he could forget that you are a Potter since you never behaved like one. But today you nearly said that the Dark Side is in the wrong. "
Harry broke away from Caro's arms and looked at his friend.
"And you? What are you thinking?"
"I…I think that Draco is right. Harry, today was a terrible day for you but that really doesn't mean that you have to abandon the Dark Side. What you had to do to Nell was awful for you because you love her. But basically she is only a house-elf, you shouldn't forget that. Apart from this Draco is right. You are the heir of the Dark Lord and everyone, who is against us, is worthless and evil. Remember what this damned Order and Dumbledore did to my Dad. They've just killed him. I hate them and they will pay for it! The Dark Side is right and you shouldn't worry so much about it, Harry."
"So you as well think that my parents didn't know it better and that they were worthless? Then you too can leave my room!"
"Please calm down, Harry! I love you, you know that. You and Draco are more than friends to me and I only want to help you. We shouldn't scream at each other like that. We should be there for each other, so that we can solve our problems together. And regarding your parents, they…" Caro dried up in mid-sentence, as if she didn't know what further to say and looked insecurely at him.
For some time they were silent and an awkward quietness spread out in the room. Then Harry said softly,
"Caro, why do you think that Muggles are worthless? Or the people who fight against us, like my parents did it? Don't you think that everyone has the right to believe what they want? I thought very long about those problems but somehow I never knew what was right. But since I discovered who my parents were I…I can't believe that they were worthless and evil, only because they fought on Dumbledore's side. When I see their photos, then…somehow I have the feeling that if I kill or torture anyone like I did with Nell today that I would betray them with this. "
"Harry, that is sheer nonsense! After all the Order killed my Dad! They torture and kill as well! Your parents certainly killed someone, too."
"Yes,…you're probably right. But…when I tortured Nell today, Caro, that was…it was just horrid. And if I have to kill anyone….Are you really want to kill later?"
Caro hesitated and without really noticing she draw invisible curls on the table.
"I don't know, Harry. I've never thought about it before. You know that Draco's parents practically brought me up and they always taught us that there is only a right and an evil side. You know it yourself. You after all had the same education as we. If I think of the murderers of my Dad, then I would kill those without any regret. I hate them more than anything else on the world. I would take revenge!"
"But if you had to kill innocents, for example children? Would you do it then? Only because they are the children of Muggles? Or would you kill Nell? Would you hurt her, if you had to? Only because she is a house-elf? The Order had killed your father, yes, but what were the Death Eaters and your father doing to the Muggle family? Who the devil started that war? The Dark or the Light side? But we've to decide someday, Caro! Would you do it? Would you kill anyone?"
Caro looked at him with a confused and fearful expression on her face. Both stared at each other.
Finally Harry sighed and laid an arm around Caro.
"I will speak with Draco tomorrow. I only hope that he won't run to his father now. He won't betray me, will he?"
"Harry! Draco may have said terrible things; he was angry and maybe confused as well. But he would never tell anyone what you have said!"
"I'm not so sure, Caro. He loves his father very much and when he believes that I changed the sides…"
"No, Harry! You mustn't believe that! He would never betray you! I know him!"
Harry didn't answer and when Bellatrix Lestrange entered the room a little later she found the heir of the Dark Lord and her daughter snuggled up in each other on the sofa and sleeping peacefully.
Alison Snape looked at her sleeping husband and sighed silently. Today she hadn't been at the Order meeting because she had watched the children, so that she had discovered the events of today only, when her husband had told her. She had been shocked but at the same time unbelievingly grateful that Voldemort's young heir had saved Severus' life.
Despite all difficulties and quarrels in the past she loved her husband still more than anything else. But today they had felt so close again as they hadn't for weeks. Sometimes realizing how very nearly they had lost each other for ever only caused their love to increase more. She snuggled in her pillow and wondered what the young Lord might demand from Severus in the future. In such moments she wished that she could read in the future but unfortunately she couldn't.