Chapter 21
He helped me see the truth is all his lies
The year started off as any other, yet at the same time it felt different. It felt different because Dumbledore was gone. I didn't think it would hit me the way it did...I was never very close to the man after all, but I could certainly feel his absence in a way I wasn't expecting. My feelings for the former Headmaster were mixed and while his passing was sad it was far from crushing which was how many would take it when they were eventually told of his death. Minerva, who was one of the few who currently knew of his actual passing seemed to take it the worst. She held it together in front of the students and her colleagues, but when she was alone, she would often just lose it.
Only a few days previous she and I had been in her office finishing up some last minute items before the term started and out of nowhere, she glanced up at the sea of portraits of former Headmaster and mistresses and started sobbing. The only individuals I ever had experience comforting on a serious level was my wife and of course my kids. I respected Minerva as a person, an educator and now as the Headmistress but I could never say we were close. So when she starting balling out of thin air I really didn't know what to do.
"Minerva… do you wish to take a break?" While she did say why she was crying, it wasn't hard to figure out. Her eyes were often red and puffy, even if they were dry so it was something she had been doing often. He also noticed that she also carried his old pocket watch with her. I had noticed it shortly after his death, when they were discussing where to temporarily place his body as it was under a stasis charm in his old bed for a couple of days after her death. She had pulled it from her robe pocket to check the time.
Pulling a handkerchief from her pocket she wiped her eyes and shook her head. "No...I'm sorry Severus. I'm still having a difficult time...his portrait should be up there."
"It will be...eventually." I stated, hoping she would simply see my point and we could move on.
"Albus, he was like a father and a best friend all in one, you know." She sighed. "I don't know if you knew this but my mother died shortly after I was born, my father when I was just twelve...in an explosion. In my grief I made friends with a boy in my year but in Slytherin but he understood or at least I thought he did. He was an orphan as well...though he had no memory of either of his parents. He helped me a lot through those first difficult months.
"Your can be strong without them, Minnie." He would tell me. "You are a powerful young witch, you only need yourself."
He helped me stay strong, his reassurance that I could protect myself, that while I could and would always miss my father, I didn't need him to go one with my life, that I didn't need anyone and I believed him… for a long time I believed him…"
I would admit at this point I was growing curious as to who this mysterious Slytherin was, but also curious as what, if anything, he had to do with Albus.
Over the next couple of years we would sit next to each other in class and study together in the library. On the weekends we would go on walks and talk about our interests. At one point I had started to help him with a project of his own, he wanted to know more about his family and where he came from.
At this point Albus had mentioned a few timed to me that I should be careful and him, that he had a darker side that couldn't be trusted. I knew this was true but I assumed it was more out of being surrounded by his darker minded roommates, plus I had never seen him do anything remotely dark as far as magic went. He pressed the boundaries once in a while, but nothing that made me think he was dangerous.
One day, however, he hadn't shown up for Potions, or DADA, and I knew something was wrong. Those were his favorite classes, he never missed them. No one really knew where he was and neither did I until after Transfiguration later that day, Albus took me aside and told me. "I know you are his friend so I thought you should know, Tom is being questioned at the Ministry… a young muggleborn Ravenclaw was badly cursed and there was a witness that said they saw him nearby when it happened."
"I refused to believe it at first. Not Tom, not my Tom, he knew a lot of spells, including curses but he would never purposely hurt an innocent little girl. When he returned the next day, I asked him, expecting him to explain it all away but instead he took me aside and simply said, "They couldn't prove anything and the girl is fine."
He never flat out said he did it, but he might as well have. I could see it in his eyes and he was proud of it...he took pride in the fact that he had hurt an innocent girl. It was at that point I realized all along Albus was right and so I ran away from him and never looked back. I ran all the way to my Transfiguration class, and I sobbed on Albus' office floor for Merlin knows how long. After that day Tom Riddle was no longer my friend...he was my enemy.
When the Chamber of Secrets was open I knew it was him, Albus and I both did, but no one would believe us. He had everyone fooled, but not me and certainly not Albus Dumbledore.
Albus helped me see the truth in all of Tom's lies, if it wasn't for him, for all I know I could have become one of his mindless followers. From then on it was Albus and I verses that evil, manipulative, heir of Slytherin. We are close, Severus, so close and with Neville and Harry out there...soon it will all be over. I just wish he was alive to see the day when he finally defeated once and for all."
I honestly didn't know what to say. She had been best mates with the Dark Lord. It certainly explained a few things, but at the same time it was almost unbelievable. Slytherin and Gryffindor-friends turned enemies...sounds eerily familiar. The only difference, Lily gave me a second chance, Minerva turned her back on him completely. I couldn't help but wonder...if she had tried to talk to him, to reason with him...could he have changed? Perhaps not. The Dark Lord is not like most men. It is very difficult to reason with him, or to get him to see other people's point of view. He has always used his power to manipulate others or really communicate with them at all. Many say his power commands respect, but being a powerful wizard does not automatically make you a good person. Perhaps if Minerva has stayed his friend, had given him a second chance, like Lily had with him, then the boy Tom Riddle may have found another way to show his worth and the world may have never known Lord Voldemort.
Minerva pulled out Albus' pocket watch rubbed her thumb over the gold backing and then placed it gingerly back in her pocket. "I'm sorry, Severus, we should get back to work. We were discussing the prefect rotation, correct?"
I simply nodded and we continued with what we had been doing.
XXX
I had been in the middle of class when he called me. Something he had never done before. So whatever it was I knew it was urgent. I quickly headed into my office and floo called The Headmistress office...no answer. Next, I floo called my quarters. Lily hadn't gone back to work yet and I knew she would be there. Sure enough the floo was quickly answered.
"Lily! I need you to come cover my class."
She could clearly hear the urgency in my voice and quickly agreed to help. "Of course, is everything ok?"
"No. I'm being called."
"Oh… I'll be right there. I"ll just have Dobby watch the kids until Midge gets back with the kids lunches."
Heading back into the classroom I immediately called for the classes attention. "Do not stop what you are doing but listen closely. I have to step out, so Mrs. Snape will be coming in for the remainder of class. If you so much as make a single rude remark in my absence you will see yourselves in detention for the rest of your educational careers. Do I make myself clean?"
"Just as the class replied, "Yes, Professor Snape, in near unison, the door opened and in walked Lily."
XXX
As soon as Severus arrived at Malfoy manor he was all but dragged up into an upstairs room where he found Bellatrix laying in bed very obviously in pain grasping his stomach. "What is going on?" I asked with no clue as to what is wrong with her or why I was brought to her.
"She is losing the baby." Came a deep, oddly shaky voice from behind. "Help her. NOW!"
I turned to see my Master, panic very clearly filled his blood red eyes. Looking back over at the bed, and then to Narcissa who was sitting beside her sister, holding her hand in comfort.
"My Lord, perhaps a Healer would be a better option."
"I cannot take her to St. Mungo's for obvious reasons and no one else in my following has the skills to save them."
It quickly struck me that he had said them, not just her. Was he truly as invested in this infant as much as he was in Bellatrix? Was it possible that she was more than just a plaything to him? I never thought such feelings were possible for him. For a man who kills with little to no regard to the life he is ending, was it possible that he truly loved Bellatrix and their unborn child? It was something I found very difficult to believe.
No matter his reasoning I knew I had no choice but to do everything I could to help. While I am not an expert in the medical field, Medical Potions is an area one must learn to obtain your masteries in the subject, so I would do what I could to help her, but first I needed to assess the situation. So pulling out my wand I got to work.
XXX
I had managed to slow the contractions with a series of spells, mostly from magical pregnancy books Lily had all but forced me to read. They had worked long enough to brew a potion to completely stop the contractions and from what I could tell Bellatrix and the baby were fine, but I did encourage The Dark Lord to find an actual healer to evaluate her. She was only four months along and if it happened again I didn't know what the outcome would be. When I had finished I was assumed I would be able to leave, instead the Dark Lord called me into Malfoy's den.
"Very few people know that Bella is pregnant let alone with my child, and I would very much like to keep it that way, at least for now."
"Of course My Lord." The only person I had told was Lily, no one in the order knew, and I was sure that was what he was getting out. There were many radicals. who if they found of the Dark Lord had a child, would do their very best to make sure that the child never had the chance to become like his father. Much like he had done when he attempted to have Neville killed as a toddler.
"If Minerva asks you why I called you, you can tell her you needed to brew a potion for medical reasons but do not give specifics."
"Yes, My Lord."
I'm not sure why I decided to ask him, in truth I doubted he would even tell me, but when he mentioned McGonagall by her first name again, something in me just had to confirm the connection."
"My Lord, were you and McGonagall friend in school?"
His pale brow rose in surprise at my rather off topic question. "Why would you ask me that?"
"She told me you were." I said honestly. I didn't see the harm in revealing it, and I was curious as to his point of view concerning it. Normally I don't involve myself in such matters but the parallel between he and Minerva and Lily and I caught my interest and I had not been able to get it out of my head,
"Did she? What did she say exactly?"
"They you were there for her when her father died and that you stayed friends for a few years after that until you had a falling out."
He gave a snorted laugh as he plopped himself in a chair beside the cabinet that held Lucius hard liquor. "Oddly enough she was my first real friend. I thought she liked me because of my skill in magic. She didn't appreciate it when in my fourth yearI tried out a new spell on some random mudblood in the corridor. It was a powerful spell, I thought she would be impressed."
"But she wasn't?"
"No..unfortunately I was seen, it caused an.. Well issue but in the end they couldn't prove it was me. The girl was fine...she just had a really bad rash for a while."
"A rash?" I had a hard time believing he simply hexes her, Minerva had said in was a curse.
"Pretty much. It was a powerful one, that's for sure, left her with some scars on her legs… but she was never in any real danger."
Taking a bottle of Ogdon's Finest from the cabinet be twisted off the cap and poured himself a glass. "Did she tell you I gave her, her first kiss?" He asked then bring the glass to his lips and taking a big swig.
"Uh...no, she left that part out." And Thank Merlin she did.
"It was a few weeks before the incident. It was after Potions and she was mad because she didn't like the grade Slughorn had given her on her essay. She wouldn't stop going on about it. So I kissed her to shut her up." Placing the empty glass down on the cabinet, he looked back up and me and smirked. "She liked it… kissed me back. We kissed a few more times before she stopped talking to me. Too bad… I wanted her to be the one."
"The one?" I asked though I had an idea of what he meant. He wanted her to be what Bellatrix now was to him.
"To be by my side when I rule the world." He explained. "Her loss I suppose. If she's lucky I wont kill her and if she falls in line and plays nice I might even let her stay at the school."
I honestly could never see Minerva, who stood for truth and justice for all, could ever be attached to the Dark Lord who one could easily compare with Grindelwald. But perhaps Fourteen year old Tom Riddle was different...he wasn't a murdered yet. He was dark, and powerful and maybe even a little scary but it could be argued he still had a chance at that point...then again...maybe not.
A/N: Hi everyone. I know it's been forever. Sorry, going through some stuff. Left my job, found another but it ended up being seriously toxic so now I have another that I really enjoy and I'm finally settling down. Next up Severus and LIly hear from Neville.
