I am very sorry for the delay in the chapters. Good news: I kept writing and writing and the next chapter is also done. So I'll probably edit that and update again in two to three days. I considered making this twice as long, but there's a lot of information in this and the next chapter, so I didn't want to overload you.
Congrats to Jettoak, the 100th reviewer! PM me and we'll talk.
Also:
JKR tells us [in an interview or Pottermore or something] that the Potters (James' parents) died of dragonpox at an advanced age. The dragonpox is such a boring way to die during a war…
That's all I'll say on that for now.
Chapter 19
The Halloween Massacre
"You better not," Hermione said coldly, sitting up in bed, her wand pointed at James. "You have a witness. You'd have to kill me too."
The two swiveled their heads to look at her. James appeared to hesitate, but Sirius merely looked inconvenienced.
"Snivellus," Black sneered, turning back to Snape, bereft of humour. "You even got a girlfriend to come to your funeral. Pity she-"
"YOU KILLED THEM!" James interrupted his friend, snapped back to Snape, and roared in a perfect imitation of his future son. "You killed them and I'm going to kill you! AV-"
"EXPELLIARMUS!" Hermione cried, leaping out of the bed. Sirius' and James' wands flew out of their hands and towards Hermione, accompanied by Severus' wand that had been on his nightstand.
Hermione was determined not to make the same mistake as before when Callie held her and Popov's wands, so she shoved the wands behind her and under her bed covers, blocking them with her body and her own raised wand.
As soon as it registered that he had lost his wand, James had raised his fist to pummel Severus below him in the bed. Sirius, however, at least had the foresight to realize this was a bad idea and had pulled James back forcefully, whispering, "we need to explain to her, she'll help us then" and other unintelligible things as he held him tightly. James struggled against his friend for a few moments, breathing heavily and trying to keep his body in check.
In the meantime, Severus had taken advantage of James retreating and had shoved off the bed and towards Hermione. He looked a mix between terrified and furious. He stood beside her, eyes darting behind her to the bedsheets and his wand, but he so far referred to her to mediate with her raised wand.
"Now," said Hermione, trying to keep herself from shaking with fear. I need to diffuse the situation. "What's this all about?"
James finally stopped struggling against Sirius' arms. Sirius felt it was safe to release his friend, who was still shaking in anger and emotion.
"The Potters- James' parents- are dead," Sirius said roughly. "The Dark Mark was found over their house tonight. It was in retaliation-"
"THEY SAID NO!" James yelled again, still shaking. "THEY SAID NO TO GIVING HIM THE MONEY AND YOU MURDERED THEM FOR IT- YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS- I KNOW YOU'RE ONE OF THEM! I'LL KILL YOU, SNAPE, I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU BLOODY FUCKING DEATH EATERS!"
James kicked and struggled against Sirius, who was gripping him tightly and glaring daggers at Snape.
"I- I'm… I'm so sorry," Hermione whispered, eyes wide. She lowered her wand slightly, so it was still at the ready, but not pointed at James.
He reminded her so much of Harry.
"Are you?" Sirius snarled at her, still holding on to a thrashing James. "You're the one defending him." His head jerked toward Severus. "Everyone knows he's trying to snivel into Voldemort's good favour." He looked at Severus then and hissed, "What a perfect little shit you are, Snape, finally done something worthy enough to catch his attention. You just couldn't pass up the opportunity to have a go at James-"
"You're wrong!" Hermione said heatedly, coming to Severus' defense as quickly as she had when it was Popov on the attack. She looked frantically at James, willing him to believe her, but trying to be gentle at the same time. "I'm so so very sorry about your parents, James, but Severus had nothing to do with it! He's been in the hospital wing with me the entire time!"
"HE HAS EVERYTHING TO DO WITH IT! HE'S NOT ABOVE GOING FOR SOMEONE'S FAMILY! HE WENT FOR ALEX'S DAD AND GAVE HIM TO THE SOVIET SECRET POLICE TO BE TORTURED!"
"That's where you're wrong, Potter. I have no contacts in the U.S.S.R." Snape had slipped behind her and retrieved his wand from under the bedsheets. He stood behind Hermione now, raising his wand above Hermione's shoulder to point at the screaming young man. She felt his raggedy intake of breath as he did so. He must have slipped his arm out of the sling to be able to hold his wand in his right hand. "Although, I do regret that I was not involved in that particular meting out of justice. It was quite… inspired."
"A real winner, aren't you?" Sirius bit out. "Let me guess, you did the same in this case? Holing yourself up in here with a flimsy excuse for an injury while your goons kill his parents for you? You've always been jealous of James! Even Evans stopped falling for the downtrodden poor boy act! Looks like you've got another pussy to huddle behind now, you coward!"
"I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT, BLACK!" Severus yelled, finally broken by the taunts.
"NO?" Sirius roared, forgetting to hold James down. James didn't immediately rush forward, startled at actually being released. "BUT YOU REGRET NOT BEING INVOLVED IN THAT TOO, DON'T YOU?"
"Of course not," Severus hissed. "I would have gone straight for the both of you. Why waste my time with incidentals?"
"THEY AREN'T INCIDENTALS, YOU BLOODY SLYTHERIN BASTARD! THEY'RE MY MUM AND DAD! THEY'RE INCREDIBLE PEOPLE AND THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN KINDER TO YOU THAN YOU DESERVE! THEY ARE- They WERE- They- THEY are…"
James choked over his last words; he had finally run out of steam. Sirius seemed unsurprised, merely holding his friend back and coldly looking at Hermione and Severus. Hermione realized that Sirius might not have definitively known anything would happen here tonight, but he knew James needed to scream at someone.
James crumbled to the floor, holding his head in his hands just as Madam Pomfrey burst into the ward.
"What in the fates is this?" She flicked the lower oil lamps into flame with a quick wave as she rushed along the ward in her dressing gown. "Mr. Black, Mr. Potter! Do you have a medical emergency that necessitates…"
She trailed off when she saw James on the floor sobbing with his head in his hands.
Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall strode in through the entrance to the hospital wing just at that moment. McGonagall had wide eyes and a grim line for a mouth, rushing forward in her own tartan dressing gown. Dumbledore was in his regular voluminous robes and appeared unsurprised.
James continued to shake and sob as he was crouched on the floor, moaning like a wounded animal. Sirius had dropped to the floor along with him, shielding him from the people huddled over him. Hermione saw a few tears streaking silently out of the edge of Sirius' eyes which still held an angry, haunted look. It was the first time she had seen a semblance of the Sirius Black she had known, scarred by his time in prison.
"Poppy, I apologise," Dumbledore said quietly, when he arrived at the group. "Mr. Potter was informed tonight- actually, yesterday evening by now- of his parents' death. He expressed a desire to be left alone to grieve with his friends, but… it is completely understandable to feel overwhelmed in these circumstances…"
Minerva McGonagall snuck a furious glare at Dumbledore and crouched over the boys on the ground.
"Some calming draughts…" Madam Pomfrey mumbled, half to herself.
"Something stronger for tonight, I think," said Dumbledore somberly. "Professor Slughorn often brews large batches of dreamless sleep, so there should be some on hand for any student who needed it to sleep peacefully for… oh, let's say for a few weeks."
Not much time later and Sirius' and James' wands were returned, and they were both sent away, escorted by Professor McGonagall with plenty of calming draughts and dreamless sleep potions. Dumbledore had a whispered conversation with Madam Pomfrey for a few moments before sweeping away. Poppy extinguished the lights again and Hermione and Severus separated wordlessly to return to their beds.
It would have made sense to give them each a vial of dreamless sleep as well, for Hermione tossed and turned the rest of the night, and Severus forgot to breath loudly enough to feign sleep.
Severus and Hermione were discharged to their respective dorms the next morning to hear the news themselves. The student body was abuzz with whispers about the latest Death Eater attacks, which had been covered in the morning edition of the Daily Prophet. The headline read, Halloween Massacre of Prominent Pureblood Family, but thankfully only described the burned-out Potter residence without depicting it. For the accompanying photograph, the grim face of Minister Harold Minchum's black and white form spoke of heightened security measures being taken by the MLE office to defend against You-Know-Who.
At breakfast, Hermione quickly perused the Daily Prophet she had nicked from the couch in the common room.
…sad discovery of Fleamont Potter and his wife Euphemia…
…survived by their son James, Hogwarts Head Boy…
Aurors suspect they were approached by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and his supporters who were searching for financial backing and political support for their fringe paramilitary group…
While the Potter Family is not included in the Sacred Twenty-Eight of the widely read "Pure-Blood Directory", it is often included in so-called apocryphal purity lists such as "The Much-Favored Fifty" and the "The Untainted Eighty", as the Potter line of Wizards is descended from ancient houses such as the Peverells…
Potter is best known as the inventor of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion…
…the Potters' wealth made them a clear target of the Death Eaters…
Is it also the Pro-Muggle viewpoint of the Potters that made them a target or will the Death Eaters come after other prominent Pureblood families? Minister Minchum released a statement…
"Hey, Anna."
Hermione looked up, startled out of her reading. "Marina. Hey, how are you?"
The normally bubbly girl grunted and sunk into the seat across from her. "You weren't at the feast last night." She nodded at the paper. "James was pulled out of the hall by McGonagall just as dessert came out. By the time the feast was done, and we went up to the tower, he was back from seeing Dumbledore and ranting and raving."
"Was he?" Hermione whispered.
Marina nodded. "Lily tried talking to him, but eventually he went off with the other boys. They didn't even try to hide the fact that they were going out onto the grounds. I think they went to blast trees in the Forbidden Forest."
Run in Animagus form, probably.
"Is it true?" Marina looked at her icily as she pointed again at the newspaper on the table. "Was Snape involved?"
"Absolutely not!" Hermione hissed. Her eyes darted around the room, and she leaned forward. "Who told you that?"
Marina relaxed a bit, looked away, and shrugged. "It was James' first guess. Remus didn't think so, but… well, just thought I'd check with you. From what Callie told me, l figured you might know."
Hermione's irritation did not abate by much. "What has Callie been telling you?"
Marina had the good sense to look a bit guilty. "She didn't say anything outright… just… well, that there is actually a valid reason for you spending time with Snape."
Hermione blanched. "Who said I've been spending time with Snape?"
Marina snorted. "Please. Lily figured it out pretty quickly when you didn't want to watch Quidditch practices anymore. Callie explained that you were doing some investigating into his activities. You need to be more careful about it though, can't be stepping in between him and well-deserved curses anymore."
"What?" She hissed again.
"Popov, of course! You took a Cruciatus Curse for Snape!" Marina looked guilty again, remembering Hermione's recent injuries and the brunette softened further, babbling on. "I'm glad he wasn't involved in this at any rate, but I expect you'll be keeping an eye on him and his friends to find out what they are involved in. Lily is likely going to talk James off the cliff and let him know that you've got it handled. They'll stay back and leave you and Snape alone, but you need to come forward if you learn anything important, obviously."
"Obviously," Hermione said between gritted teeth. It was essential to keep her cool now so that Marina would keep talking. "You know about him coming to the Hospital Wing last night then?"
"That was a bit of luck actually. Lily had trouble sleeping and went to check on James to find him missing. She woke us seventh-year girls and got us down to the common room in time to see James and Sirius come back with McGonagall. You know how Lily is," Marina gave a little giggle, "she told them to march right up, and wake Peter and Remus and we'd all have a chat together. I think she just wanted to make sure no one would go sneaking off again on their own to burn the world down in revenge. She said Muggles talk things out, theropee I think it's called."
"In the middle of the night?" Hermione said, agog.
"Sure! Why do you think I'm the only one here for breakfast? I'm just hungrier than I am tired, that's all." As if to prove a point, Marina grabbed a scone from the basket on the table. "Lily sat with James, Marlene sat with Remus, Arabella sat with Sirius, and I sat with Peter. He's sweet, he is. He was moved to tears for his friend you know, but he's really worried about his own family now."
She bit into the scone and chewed for a moment before continuing. "Anyway, all the boys needed was some tea and biscuits and a bit of a chat and they've agreed not to touch Snape or any of the other Slytherins until there's more definite information."
Hermione was angry, shocked, and somewhat impressed. The girl group was far more in control of things than she ever would have realized. Sure, the Marauders were the daring gang of Animagi, but… it took almost no convincing at all for the girls to redirect them and set some limits. Hermione mumbled through the rest of the conversation with Marina as she tried to sort through her thoughts.
As the week continued, the power of the Gryffindor girls proved itself further.
James Potter and Sirius Black steered clear of Hermione, and a few times she saw a sympathetic, grateful look in James' eyes. Not quite an apology, but it was clear he now thought she was on his side. They think I'm the double agent spying on Severus for them, she realized. How ironic.
The change to the student body was palpable as well, for James Potter was a well-known and popular figure at the school and his family was wealthy, prominent and Pureblood. The question in the air was, if it could happen to them, couldn't it happen to anyone?
The Cook family did debate relocating and pulling Arabella to go with them. The beautiful brunette did not appear as carefree as she normally was, fretting that Beauxbatons would not be much safer, and the American school did not appeal to her at all.
Dumbledore said nothing. She met with him for all of five minutes and after a few terse questions on both sides, he learned she was convinced of Snape's innocence, and she learned nothing. If Dumbledore knew any further specifics of the death of the Potters, he wouldn't confide in her.
Dumbledore in this time hadn't been much help at all, but he did check the outer Occlumency layers of her mind and tell her she was convincing as an airheaded teenage girl, at least. Hopefully a probing Legilimens wouldn't know there was a further intellect hiding there.
Severus was no help in any of this, further frustrating Hermione.
"It was faked," he told her in a low tone the next time he saw her in the library.
Now that she knew her clandestine library sessions with Severus were known about and approved of by no less than 10 people (eight Gryffindors and two Ravenclaws if she had her maths right), they were far less appealing to her. She was on the fence as whether to trust him with the information of her… "double agent" status. For one, he would eventually be a Death Eater, and for two, wasn't it Calliope who had helped spread this rumour? What was Callie to him? He had looked at her so… so fondly!
"What do you mean, faked?" She said in a dangerous tone.
"The Potters aren't dead. If they are, it wasn't the Death Eaters."
Hermione just looked at him. He can't really be this fucking stupid, can he? The brilliant Severus Snape?
"Don't look at me like that," he said, glowering. "You know… you know I have my sources; you know I have political leanings."
"Yes, so I'm inclined to believe you are extremely naïve at best and at worst you're either a sadistic scumbag or a complete dunderhead."
Severus snorted bemusedly, which was quite infuriating to Hermione.
"Okay, I'll bite," she said. "What makes you so sure they aren't dead?"
"That it was faked," he clarified. "I can't know if they're alive or not. Maybe someone else killed them and had an easy scapegoat."
"Of course, the Death Eaters are an easy scapegoat! Don't they go around killing Aurors-"
"Political demonstrations that turn violent." Severus's eyes narrowed. "I'm not saying the movement isn't violent, but I'm saying it's not so one-sided. It's not murder like this- you can hardly build support for a cause by murdering its most likely followers. This is the beginning of a revolt. Rebellions," he lowered his voice, "revolutions can turn violent, but they have an end in mind. The Protestant Reformation, the French Revolution, the Bolshevik uprising, they were rebelling against clear injustices of their time-"
"Severus!" Hermione protested wide-eyed. "Please! If you're a student of history then you know the deaths that resulted from these movements! Meaningless deaths!"
"Tragedies." He nodded sharply. "Yes, tragedies. I am no politician, no leader, if I were to run a movement I would act differently, however…" He trailed off in thought. For a split second, Hermione sensed that he was uneasy with the path he was on, but then Severus doubled down. "However, I cannot avoid becoming involved and it is clear which side I stand on."
"It isn't clear, Severus, it isn't." Hermione grabbed his hand and held it across the library table. She knew what contact did for him and sure enough when she met his eyes again, they had become darker. "You don't have to stand on that side," she whispered. "You don't have to make this choice!"
"The decision has already been made!" He snarled, eyes wide, jerking his hand away. They had held the conversation in hushed tones the entire time, but he was anything but timid in this reply. "I do not make the decision, but it is made for me! It is clear what side I stand on. It was clear when I was sorted, perhaps even before I was sorted, when I expressed a dislike for the mighty and beloved Gryffindor House."
His tone stung with bitterness as he made his case. "I have always been disliked; the worst assumed of me. I have been hexed and maimed and cursed more times than I can remember, and it does not shock or surprise me in the slightest that my life has less worth here than a flobberworm's. I do nothing apart from exist and it is assumed I am a- what, a sadistic scumbag, as you say."
Severus' eyes met hers and he recoiled, finally putting together that he was just the same sadistic scumbag she believed the others to be.
He hissed at her angrily. "The attempts on my life are not new! Damned if I do, damned if I don't! If I were to eschew the Dark Arts or the Death Eaters, I would have hell to pay from my own house, but if I only remain neutral- as I was up until last year- then, still I am attacked by the noble, valiant Gryffindor House simply for my mannerisms, my appearance, my continued existence! My decision was made without my input. At least this way I have a defense! I'm not about to roll over and take it like my mother did! At least this way I have some say in where I end up besides dead in a ditch!"
Severus had stormed off after that, leaving Hermione aching.
What a life he had lived… At least Harry and she had finally made friends at Hogwarts. Severus had only really had Lily, and now he had no one.
Severus wouldn't talk to her, wouldn't meet with her after that. She spent the next week without seeing him, and even spending time with the girls gave her no joy, since they all believed she was simply using Snape anyway. "I confronted him and he's angry with me," she told them.
"He won't stay away long," Lily said. "He gets bored without someone to talk to." This was said in a quiet voice, not bitter and resentful as it usually was when she commented on Snape.
Lily hadn't been at the library much recently. She had taken it upon herself to protect and comfort James in his recent tragedy, spending most nights studying with him in the Head suites. She had mellowed out somewhat from extended contact with James. Hermione suspected they would announce a relationship soon. Hopefully Severus wouldn't be even harder to deal with then.
"He'll open up when you see him again," Calliope said quietly.
Hermione narrowed her eyes at Callie and seethed internally. She still needed to get Callie on her own and demand answers from her, but the girl was as slippery as Severus was and difficult to corner. Hermione didn't want to give away to the other girls that there was something amiss.
As her eyes left Callie and returned to her own books, they fell across Elpida, who had turned away at the same time. Before Hermione's face dropped into a neutral look, Ellie had a direct view of the anger and suspicion that had been directed at Callie. Before Hermione glanced away, Ellie raised an eyebrow and gave an imperceptible nod.
Understood, she seemed to say. I'll keep an eye out.
The first Quidditch match was Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw and, thankfully, Ravenclaw won. Hermione cheered for Ellie with the other girls as she tried to spot Severus in the stands.
November grew chillier and a little drearier. The dungeons would be getting colder at night. How would Severus fare?
Schoolwork was drudgery, everything was drudgery. He would sit as far from her as possible in classes and be sure not to look at her.
Severus wouldn't talk to her!
He had become her best friend, she had wanted him as a lover for ages, she admired the man he would later be, and felt a fierce protective instinct for the younger man he was now. How could she be such a fool to force him away! He would eventually see the error of his ways, and didn't she want to be there to pick up the pieces?
It was nearing the end of November when Hermione had waited long enough.
He wasn't at the make-shift gymnasium at six the next morning, nor the two mornings following that. Hermione didn't think he would quit exercising, for he was taking his self-defense seriously at this point. He must be coming at a different time.