Disclaimer: All Harry Potter people, places, things, and ideas (all Harry Potter nouns) belong to J. K. Rowlings. Mordecai and Elisabeth are mine. I am not sure what colour aurors wear, but I think it is blue.
Chapter 27: The worst of both worlds.
It was barely dawn when Severus woke, slightly disoriented at first. Minerva was in his arms, still asleep. He stroked her hair and debated waking her. Slowly he unwound himself from her and dressed himself. He turned and sat on the bed next to her. She would prefer that I told her, he reasoned.
"Minerva," he called as he gently gasped her shoulders.
She turned and blinked for a while, bleary-eyed. "Severus? You're going somewhere, aren't you?"
"Yes. There are matters that must be tended to," he replied.
As he stood, she dressed quickly and then walked over to him. "I can't talk you out of this, can I?"
He pulled her close and they embraced, kissing soundly before he left. She sighed heavily and prepared for her classes, trying to conduct things as normally as possible. As she ate breakfast with the other staff members, she noticed Severus' absence. Though he had for some unknown reason missed he morning meal, he was found to be teaching his classes that day, and for the rest of that week.
Then Saturday came and Minerva watched as Mordecai observed that Severus was missing. Elisabeth followed Mordecai as he left the table. "Cyrus, what is it?"
"Something is wrong and Professor Snape has something to do with it. I can't get rid of the feeling," he replied.
They passed a window as they headed to the library. "The staff seems as restless as you. I don't know what is going on, but it is something we have not been privy to," she mentioned.
Mordecai glanced at the window and stopped. "Look down there. I wonder why Professor Snape is heading toward the forest."
Elisabeth shrugged and sighed. "I wish I could give you an answer," she stated as they passed through the doors and headed for a table to set their books on, deciding to study for a quiz on Monday.
Minerva had also noted the odd mood of the staff, even of Dumbledore, and decided to speak to him. She found him after breakfast in his study. "Albus, what is going on and where has Severus gone?" she questioned.
The look he gave her was somewhere between apologetic and sad. "My dear, trust that I am trying to protect you in that I cannot say. What I can tell you is that unpleasant events may mar the next few days."
"You say that as though I should prepare myself for the worst, but how can I do so when I don't even know what the worst is?" she argued.
He sighed, taking her hands gently in his. "There is one thing I would like to know; have you ever felt anything more than friendship for me?"
The question surprised her, but she began to understand now why he would not tell her much about what was to come. "I have made my choice, Albus, awkward as it is. You have always been my best friend, but there is a place in my life that only he can fill," she told him kindly.
"Then I will tell you this: you must be strong in the days to come and believe what your heart tells you, even if it means that everyone around is you is wrong," he cautioned.
"I suppose I'll be going then," Minerva said, stepping back. As their eyes met, she saw a sadness, as if he would not see her again. The sudden comprehension of the expression caused her to give him a hug and they embraced before she departed. As she headed over to her office, Minerva passed Mordecai and Elisabeth.
The two were on their way back to the common room when they heard a noise from somewhere downstairs. Elisabeth grabbed his arm. "Come on, we should find out what that was."
"Aren't you the least bit worried that the sound could belong to something dangerous?" Mordecai cautioned.
"I would rather find out what made that noise than let it find us," she rationalized. He nodded and the two headed off in the direction of the commotion. It grew louder as they turned a corner.
Suddenly Mordecai ducked as a blue beam of light shot over the top of his head. He was in a battle of sorts as he saw red, green, blue, orange, and several other colours of beams fly near him, creating a layer of smoke. However, he could tell that one group firing was all in black while the other group wore blue and he could see their faces. The group in black must be deatheaters, he figured, deflecting a few curses that came his way. In the confusion he realized with a cold, sickening feeling that Elisabeth was missing.
Severus was well aware of the mess going on inside the castle and was trying to get back as fast as he could, having been to a deatheater meeting in which strategies were discussed. However, before he could follow the others something hit him on the head from behind. He found himself on the ground face first and quickly rolled over to see who his assailant was.
Peter Pettigrew smirked and waved his regenerated hand at Severus. "What are you bloody doing?" Severus managed to ask.
His vision was quickly growing fuzzy, but he was well aware when he felt a sharp yank as Pettigrew took some of his hair. "The others think that young Malfoy will kill Dumbledore, or you will do it for him. But I know you never made the Unbreakable Vow."
"Once a rat, always a rat," Severus growled, trying to find his wand.
Pettigrew added the hair he had taken from Severus into a flask he held that also contained a liquid. "I'm going to do it and take your credit," he paused and drank some of the flask's contents. "But I'm going to do it as you and ruin anything you had at the school forever," he said as the potion began to work, letting him look like Severus.
"No, you can't-" Severus tried to protest, but Pettigrew hit him on the head again and the world melted into murky blackness.
In the castle the battle continued. Ducking below the smoke Mordecai spotted her feet, not far from where he stood. Using her Defense Against the Dark Arts skills she had been able to hold her ground, as had he. We walked into a crossfire, he thought with annoyance. He watched Elisabeth for a second and noticed that she could not see who was firing what as well as he could. The one thing she could see was that people were dying on both sides. A red flash from the deatheaters came into Mordecai's view and he made a quick dive toward Elisabeth. The beam just barely missed them as they crashed to the flagstone floor.
"Ouch, my side," she groaned.
Mordecai moved and they sat next to each other. "I'm sorry, but it was the only way to move you. We have to get out of here," he advised.
"What do you suggest?" she implored.
"That we crawl out through there," he motioned toward a lighter spot in the smoke.
Using a few shielding charms for what felt like hours but was actually mere seconds, they safely made it to the other side and scurried toward the common room, glancing back to see more shadowy figures fall on both sides. As they went, Mordecai noticed a half-empty flask on the floor and picked it up. When they reached their destination, both were breathing hard and sat down next to each other near the constantly twitching fire.
"Those were deatheaters, weren't they? And the others were probably aurors. We are lucky to have made it out of that. Oh, what a mess this is! I wonder how they got in here? And where are all the rest of the students?" Elisabeth rambled.
Mordecai eyed her with concern and realized that she was shaking, from shock and not from the cold. He wrapped his arms around her and they sat in silence for a while. Then she began to cry. He could feel her swallow, trying to fight her emotions. She took a deep breath and moved out of his embrace, appearing to collect herself, but Mordecai knew better.
"They want to murder us all, don't they? How long can we really hold them off when they are killing us? What's the use of being here anymore when we don't know what will happen to us from one day to the next?" Elisabeth choked, failing to hold back a few tears.
Mordecai quickly pulled her close to him again and held her for a minute. Then he gently tilted her chin so that they were facing each other. Meeting her weary expression with the fortitude of his own, he closed the distance between them and kissed her soundly. Though caught off guard she did not pull away.
He spoke when they finally broke apart for lack of oxygen. "Don't you ever say anything like that again," he instructed quietly.
"That felt really good," she whispered, blushing.
He pushed an unruly strand of hair behind her ear. "Lisa, I've been so foolish. Finally I've realized what you truly mean to me. What I'm trying to say is… that… I love you."
The change in her expression from despair to joy was as if someone had switched on Christmas lights on a formerly dark mansion. "I love you too, I have for a long time. I can't believe-"
"Hush," he interrupted before kissing her again, this time more passionately. They continued their snogging for a while longer, sitting on the floor.
When they broke away again, she smiled up at him. "You make a good point. In this troubled time we need something stronger to hold onto, something that lets us stay bold and keep going."
"Will you be my girlfriend?" he asked frankly.
She kissed him lightly. "Yes."
They stood and he suddenly remembered the flask that he had found. Reaching into the pocket of his robes, he removed it and showed it to her. "What do you think it is?" she inquired.
He removed the stopper and smelled it. "I think it's polyjuice. I can get a better look at it from my bathroom," he commented as he headed to his dormitory with Elisabeth following him.
When they entered his room his two roommates were nowhere to be seen. "I wonder where your roommates are," she stated.
He looked to his bed and found a note. "They went to see a few other guys in the room across the hall. They hope that I'm safe, since everyone was told to stay in their rooms."
"That would explain where everyone has gone. I suppose we missed the message when we were in the library," she remarked.
Still holding the flask, he headed over to the bathroom and lit the light with his wand. "I am nearly certain that this is polyjuice, unfortunately I lack the resources to test it at the moment," he mentioned, continuing to stare at it. "Oh well," he said before downing some of the flask's contents.
Elisabeth gasped and grabbed his arm, too late to stop him though. "What are you doing? You know better than to test potions like that, especially if you just find them lying around!"
"We don't have the time. If there is someone here who should not be, then we need to test this and find out who it is," he countered.
They waited for a while and Mordecai continued to look in the mirror. "I see little difference," he observed.
Elisabeth did. "Then you need to look again. You have gotten slightly taller, larger, and your hair has gotten darker as well as longer."
He looked again and nodded. "I suppose…" he trailed off when his nose became a familiar hook nose. "Professor Snape was the one someone was trying to imitated."
"It really is disturbing that you now look exactly like him. Can you imitate his voice?" she asked out of curiosity.
"Imitation really isn't all that difficult. I've nearly done it before on accident," he replied, in a voice that mirrored Severus'. "Why did I not realize it immediately though?"
"It's because you have dark brown beady eyes like he does. The question now is how long it will take to wear off," she reminded.
"Since I did not take much of it, the potion should last less than an hour," he told her.
She grabbed the flask. "We should take this to someone as soon as possible."
He took hold of her arm before she could move out of the door. "If we exit now, I still look like Professor Snape and we could both walk right back into another battle. I should have realized this sooner, but the best place for us to be right now is here. When it's safe we can find mum."
Minerva was exhausted after finding deatheaters and having to fight. She reached the infirmary to check on those that were injured and spotted some of the Order members. Bracing herself against a table, she took a few deep breaths. Poppy stopped to offer her a chair but she refused. She managed to move over to the window to see some of the deatheaters being chased off.
Then something dark moving out of the woods caught her eye. It appeared to be human and seemed to stagger about before suddenly dashing back into the forest. Was that Severus? I wonder what has become of everything, she asked herself. She raised an eyebrow when she spotted Harry chasing a person who appeared to be Severus off of the grounds. This is most peculiar.
A few minutes later Harry burst into the infirmary and nearly collapsed, out of breath. Poppy rushed over to him along with Minerva and he was treated as he sat on a bed. He looked up at Minerva with such profound sadness that she already understood what had happened before he could say anything.
"Professor McGonagall, Snape killed Dumbledore, but Draco is now on our side," Harry blurted out.
The room had started spinning and Poppy quickly brought the chair over to her. She collapsed into it, an expression of shock and horror etched onto her face. The next hour passed in a blur as she and the other staff members decided that the best plan would be to close the school until the following school term. She left quietly, ignoring inquiries about whether or not she was alright.
Once in her quarters she allowed herself to break down her emotional reserves. Alone, she sat in a chair and wept, for Dumbledore and his lack of information, for his putting her in charge. She also wept for the dead, the injured, and the troubled times. Lastly she wept for Severus, for what she felt was a deep violation of her trust of him, for his turning his back on a chance for a better life, and for turning his back on their son.
Severus had a pounding headache when he realized that he was still face-down in the ground. He shakily rose to his feet and brushed himself off. Placing a hand on the back of his head, he winced in pain as he touched the dampness. He brought his hand forward and noticed the blood. "When I get my hands on that rat…" he grumbled aloud.
Then he looked at the sky and realized to his horror that he had been unconscious for quite some time. "No, this can't be right! I have to- there has to be a way to-" he realized with a sickening feeling that he was too late when he saw Harry chasing off something that looked like him.
While the deatheaters ran off, he stayed put, watching as a group gathered at the foot of the Astronomy tower and levitated something with a sheet over it. Merlin, I'm too late. Why couldn't Pettigrew have hit me hard enough to finish me off? How can I ever convince Minerva that I didn't do it? What will my son think of me? I am a dead man myself, but one condemned to walk like a ghost and never live again, he thought with deep anguish.
Mordecai and Elisabeth wanted to tell Minerva about what they had found, but no one saw her until the day of the funeral. "I suppose you'll be going back to your family then, right after the funeral," Mordecai surmised.
Elisabeth shook her head and smiled sadly at him. "I am not leaving until you are. You have lost a mentor, and in a way your mother. Therefore I will stay as long as you need me to," she reassured.
Minerva gave a spectacular eulogy. Severus had made himself temporarily invisible in order to attend the funeral. She looks like her heart was ripped from her. I'm so sorry, Minerva. You lost not one but two people and I don't know if this situation can be fixed, he thought to himself.
After the funeral Elisabeth noticed that Mordecai had disappeared. Instinctively she knew that something was wrong and went in search of him. She dashed through the common room and stood in front of Mordecai's closed bedroom door. Then she began knocking relentlessly. "Cyrus! Cyrus open this door, we need to talk! Mordecai Cyrus Maddock, you open this door right now or I'll come in anyway and drag you out by your nostrils!"
She suddenly stopped when the door jerked open. "Come on it quickly, before you draw a scene from all the racket you just made," he told her.
After she had entered he closed the door again. "Are your roommates ever here?" she asked, having noticed their absences once again.
"They left already," he replied. She noticed the hint of regret in his voice.
"I told you that I would not let you face things alone," she reassured, sitting on his bed while he took the chair by his dresser. After a long pause she spoke again. "Alright, Cyrus, are you going to tell me what this is all about or not?"
He sighed heavily and looked up into her stormy hazel eyes. "I am sorry that I kept you waiting for so long, but I just don't know what to do this time. I figured out who my father is," he explained.
Her eyes widened in surprise. "This must be bad news if you are hiding from me for it. Who is it?"
"Remember all those times that you told me that I looked like Snape?" he began.
She nodded. "Yes, and I with the polyjuice when you looked in the mirror and saw that you have the same dark brown beady eyes as-" she cut herself off for a moment when she realized what he was hinting at. "Oh gosh! Are you telling me that Snape is your father?"
"Yes, and I don't know what to do, now that he has killed Dumbledore."
She put a hand on his shoulder. "But we don't know that for certain. What about the polyjuice? And think about what kind of a man he was. You knew him better than anyone and even I don't think he would be that cruel and treacherous."
He realized what track she was on with her train of thought. "I heard a rumor from the staff that he was a spy. If he was a spy, why would he do something that would jeopardize his position here? He was too smart for something like cold-blooded murder, unless there are reasons that we are not seeing. I am inclined to agree with you though, that he was framed."
"We need to find your mum and take the polyjuice to her," Elisabeth advised.
At that moment Minerva had come to Dumbledore's study in search of a few files from the Ministry of Magic regarding the appointing of a new headmaster or headmistress for the school. Since she had his consent in writing, she was searching for a letter concerning a discussion Dumbledore had conduced with them on the subject. Once she had the file she stood and then noticed an object at eye-level on a bookcase.
It was a small pensieve and a piece of parchment with her name on it was attached to the bottom labeled "for consoling." She looked into it and watched the conversation that had gone one between Dumbledore and Severus after she had left them. At the close of it she found herself in tears again.
"Oh Albus, what you have made him do. Severus, why do you still find yourself continually in trouble?" she asked herself aloud as she sank down into the desk chair.
(My thanks to excessivelyperky, Fairyprincess21, Isabelle (), Kimmy Malfoy, artemissan09, and Leta McGotor for reviewing :D)