CHAPTER 13
An Unusual Holiday
The first few days of their vacation were very awkward. Considering that their grandparents decided to stay with them until things settled down. They insisted on the triplets, Neville and the remaining Dursleys putting aside their differences and forming a bond. It took a little more than a week, but soon, it seemed that they were getting closer. Aunt Petunia wasn't as mean as she used to be. And the triplets did their best to behave civilly around her, which was a bit too hard at first.
There were several awkward moments where the triplets would instinctively and involuntarily get on the defensive side when they came across her, and many even more awkward moments when she would begin to cry when they entered the room. The number of fights they had per day was surprising. But gradually, with cooperation from both sides, they were slowly able to push back their past.
But when it came to Dudley, the boys just let Blaire handle him. They really didn't know how to get through to him when he was in one of his teary moods. Not that they were repulsed. The very opposite in fact. But the entire situation made them highly uncomfortable.
Blaire on the other had done a marvelous job and within two weeks, Dudley was chatting and laughing with her, Neville and Ethan as though he'd been doing that his whole life. Harry found it a bit uncomfortable, but tried his best to get along. He really did, but he and Dudley would end up with a war of verbal insults that would lead to them both being grounded. Ethan supposed that it was the grounding that finally got them to be friends.
Sometimes Professor Snape would floo in and have a cup of tea with them. He had offered to take care of the official matters and paperwork using magic and their Aunt gladly accepted. And once everything was settled, Ethan insisted on a visit to the beach.
Neville was as excited as them for it turned out that this was his first seaside trip ever. The entire family journeyed by bus and that included Professor Snape and Venn as well. And one had to admit that he looked much healthier in t-shirt and shorts, with his hair tied up in a tight ponytail. He wasn't happy about it though, and Harry who was unfortunate enough to sit besides him throughout their journey had to endure his incessant grumbling.
The sea seemed to blend beautifully with both, the sky and the beach and the sand would just seem to slip through their fingers, eager to fall back onto the ground. Blaire contented herself in collecting shells, while Ethan saw to it that he had enough of memories (and pictures) of the place to add another canvas of his already huge file of paintings.
The grown-ups preferred to sit for a little chat and watch the parachuting and boating activities. It was but a few minutes later that Aunt Petunia went to try her hand at parachuting. Followed almost immediately by Grandma. Harry, Neville and Dudley sat and began building a fort out of the sand. Venn spent her time splashing about in the water and then happily trotting to sit besides the professor, her tongue hanging from the side of her mouth
This was followed by lunch, half-an-hour of snoozing and then a few games of volleyball. Then they headed home for the Professor wanted them all, that is all in the exception of Grandma and Aunt Petunia well rested for the next day. Aunt Petunia would be busy at the library and Grandma was due for a visit to the bank, and she decided to include shopping to her to-do list.
The next day, saw him taking the triplets, Neville, Dudley and Grandpa straight to Godric's Hollow by the Knight Bus. They visited the Graveyard first and then headed to the house. The Professor went in first, to check it for dark magic but returned soon after and told them that there were only some 'doxies' and 'boggarts' hiding in the dark corners of the house.
He then set up stability wards all over the house to prevent any more collapse.
"It was early in the morning of the first of November that I cast certain charms on this house preventing anyone, human and some creatures, from entering." he said. "I'm not to certain if I added the stasis charm to keep everything inside intact. I had planned on doing it. I don't remember casting it."
It turned out that the Professor had indeed cast the stasis charm, for, except for a thick layer of dust, grime and even stains caused by drying rain and snow, everything seemed to be intact.
The Professor flicked his wand and every bit of dirt and even small bits of rubble vanished.
Then began Operation Restore.
That is, as the kids set about searching for as many things they could gather from the remaining rubble, cushions, photos, cutlery, unharmed bedsheets and tablecloths, etcetera. Their Grandad, who happened to work as an electrician in a company that manufactured appliances, began to test the appliances using an extension that was connected to an outside line.
He started with the fridge and the moment it was given excess to electricity, something in it burst with a loud pop.
Grandpa sighed and so did the Professor who'd busied himself by performing some very complicated charms that seemed to set the bricks into taking their place back on the broken walls up on the first floor. The Professor came back down and with another flick of his wand, he had the appliances working without any electricity. Then moving up back again, he summoned some concrete that began pasting the bricks together.
Then they stopped for lunch at a nearby restaurant.
Heading back, the children began looking around in the kitchen searching for utensils and more cutlery, while Grandpa began testing the furniture. When Harry and Ethan came up to look upstairs for more items they could find, they found the Professor supervising paintbrushes frantically painting the outside and inside of the house.
And thus by quarter to seven, they were done for the day. That night however, Ethan insisted that they go to the cinema for a movie. It was immediately frowned upon by Aunt Petunia who didn't seem to like any of the night's movies much to the children's dismay.
But in the end they settled in the living room, watching a copy of Grandpa's favourite 'Parent Trap' released nineteenth sixty one... that wasn't too bad, but the kids chose to remain in sulky silence.
And thus the days went on and very soon it was the triplets' and Neville's birthday. How the others managed to keep it a secret, the four would never know, but that day, Ethan, Blaire, Harry and Neville had the surprise of their life. And it going down on a special page on Ethan's diary, for not only did they get a special birthday breakfast, a dozen gifts, and a delicious homemade lunch (half of which was prepared by Aunt Petunia and Dudley) and a brilliant cake each (made by Grandma and Dudley!), they were even taken to the cinema that afternoon.
That was followed immediately by a visit to the Godric's Hollow graveyard and St. Mungo's via the Knight Bus and then everyone enjoyed a large ice cream each. Then they reached back home and the Professor decided that it was time for him to reset the wards he'd placed on Harry's brain a year ago. Harry sat patiently still for fifteen minutes until the Professor was done. And now all that was left was for them to dine in a restaurant in Paris via a Portkey that would activate in an hour.
However, as the family of nine waited patiently in the living room a loud crack disrupted their excitement. For then appeared, what could be described as the ugliest creature Harry ever saw, right in the centre of the room.
It looked like a miniature human, almost like a five year old child, one with floppy ears and a pencil-like nose and two large eyes. It wore a pillowcase for clothes and there were bruises and bandages on every part of its skin that was exposed.
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Severus turned his own hair blonde and eyes blue with a flick of his wand and leapt to his feet immediately fully aware that this wasn't one of the Hogwarts elves.
"What do you want elf?" He demanded, his wand now at the ready.
"D-D-Dobby is meaning no harm, M-Master Snapey Sir!"
"How do you know my name?"
The elf began pulling it's ears pitifully, crying out, "Dobby must not t-tell! Dob-bby must not tell!"
Severus growled, half worried that the Death Eaters decided to hand out an all time low blow by commanding an elf to harm the triplets.
"What's the purpose of your appearance in this house?"
"Dobby has come to warn Master Harry Potter Sir!" the elf howled and picked up the poker by the fire and banged it's head with it eliciting our many cries of pity and protest from the spectators in the room.
"What is it trying to do?" asked Mrs. Evans.
Severus held out a hand reassuringly telling her that he'd answer her questions later.
"What warning do you carry for Mr. Potter?"
"Dobby is warning Harry Potter Sir not to return to Hogwarts!"
"Whatever for?" Harry said.
"Hogwarts is in much danger."
"What kind of danger?" Severus demanded harshly.
"D-Dobby can't say!" the elf wailed, twisting its ears harder now.
Severus let out an irritated breath.
"Albus Dumbledore had had the protections around the school strengthened."
"It is of no use Master Snapey, if the danger is being in the school."
"What kind of danger?" Severus asked again.
"Dobby is sorry, Master Snapey Sir! Dobby can't say -"
"Is your master involved in this danger?" Severus said deciding to change tactics.
The elf squealed and picked up the poker again, but Ethan leapt and wrenched it out of it's grasp.
Dobby let out a cry of dismay and said, "Dobby cannot say! But Dobby will be keeping Harry Potter safe! Dobby will also be keeping Master Snapey Sir's secret safe! Dobby must go before Master calls. Harry Potter must not return to Hogwarts!"
The House-elf disappeared leaving Severus to spend twenty minutes explaining to the eight spectators exactly what a house-elf was, and making them understand that it was the elf's nature was to serve the Wizard. Then he had to spend the next half-an-hour reassuring everyone that Hogwarts was safe as long as Albus Dumbledore was around but in vain.
Finally as a last ditch effort, Severus conjured a patronus and said to the doe, "Go to Minerva McGonagall and tell her that an abused elf appeared at the Dursleys house to warn us against the wish of it's master that the master would in some way endanger Hogwarts this year. Apparently the danger is already lurking somewhere in the castle and will have to be sniffed out before the students return in September. I will join you in the search tomorrow."
Severus wrapped up the conversation with a loud exclamation ("We have but a few minutes for the Portkey to activate!") and had them all ready for a night in Paris.
Overall, the food was just as interesting as Dudley Dursley's birthday dinner in Spain, but somehow, the entire mood was a little down thanks to that wretched elf. However, it wasn't everyday that you went out on a date to Paris.
Severus returned to Hogwarts the next day and found every elf of the kitchens searching every nook and cranny of the castle. Apparently Dumbledore used this as an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone and as every member of the staff of Hogwarts searched high and low for any form of evil, they also made a note of things that needed to be fixed, replaced and modified around the place.
Well, in two weeks, every part of the castle was carefully inspected and the number of boggarts they found and got rid of was highly disturbing. There were many hidden alcoves and rooms and passages all around the castle that were discovered and many places around the castle where dark magic seemed to have been used many times. These places were cleaned thoroughly.
Then there was the room of requirements that Dumbledore said shouldn't be tampered with. Not that any of them could do it, given the power of the magic used to create it. However, the room of hidden things proved to be quite informative. And seeing that the teachers wouldn't themselves be in a position to clear the room of any dark artifacts, the task was given to the house-elves.
However only to the knowledge of Dumbledore and Severus, who had been in the headmaster's office at the time, one of the elderly elf's appeared before them gingerly holding on to a tiara, an expression of disgust on his face.
"Patter, whatever is the matter?" Dumbledore said gently as he sat up straighter in his chair.
The elf placed the tiara on the ground and bowed low.
"Headmaster Sir," it said in a deep voice, "Patter and the other house-elves are ridding of any dark items from the room of requirements. However, I is not being able to remove the darkness from this diadem. Patter is feeling terrible darkness in this item. Headmaster Sir says to bring Headmaster Sir the items Patter and other house-elves cannot rid off darkness."
For a moment, Dumbledore's eyes lit with recognition and he said, "Thank you Patter. Leave the diadem as it is. I shall take care of it. You and the house-elves did very well."
The moment the elf bowed and disappeared, Dumbledore became grave.
"That evil, Headmaster?" Severus said.
Dumbledore nodded, "That evil, Severus. I think I will destroy it before I tell you anymore."
The headmaster moved towards his bookcase and it jumped to the side revealing a hole in the wall that seemed to be covered by some glass. Only the glass turned out to be a large glass box that was pushed into the hole to fit it exactly. Dumbledore floated the box into the air and placed it besides the diadem on the floor.
Dumbledore levitated the diadem into the glass container and set it on fire before sealing the box. The tiara gave out started oozing out some black substance and an inhumane scream was heard less than a second later and there was no more. No more fire, no more diadem, no more black stuff. The chamber sat on the floor almost innocently.
Dumbledore sighed and levitated the box back into the hole in the wall and the bookcase closed in on it.
"I need to do a bit of research, Severus. I need to know that there is only one of its kind in existence. If it isn't, fate will never have mercy on its maker."
"What on earth are you talking about?" Severus asked confused, he was sure he would never forget that scream or that sight for as long as he lived.
"Come to my office at the end of the starting feast Severus, and I am afraid, I will have to take away that last bit of ignorance you have in you. You want to know what the diadem was, don't you?"
Severus nodded firmly. They said ignorance was bliss. Severus knew ignorance was a vulnerability.
From that day on, Dumbledore was rarely seen in the castle, but more of such artifacts weren't found. However, aside for a stubborn tap in one of the girl's bathrooms that refused to be fixed no matter the spell they used on it, everything else seemed to be in order.
When McGonagall finally realised that this was the bathroom Moaning Myrtle died in, they finally came to the conclusion that she had probably somehow cursed the tap before she died. It may have somehow even been the reason for her death. Severus didn't bother asking her how she died for he wasn't interested in sob stories. But he couldn't find a plausible reason to explain her death.
The snake engraved there only meant that the tap was tampered with by a Slytherin and a revealing charm didn't show anything. Neither did many of the dark magic revealers and Severus carefully placed different forms of finite incantatem for the sake of his conscience and together the teaching staff left the bathroom.
But, Severus returned the next day and placed a few alerting charms around that particular tap. Perhaps he was being paranoid, but there was no harm in a little caution. Though if there really was any ill intent behind the tap, as ridiculous as it may have sounded, Severus was certain his alarms wouldn't go off. So he placed a charm that would alert him if his alerting charms were cancelled.
Perhaps if they were lucky, the elf was just an brilliant actor with an equally brilliant brain of a master who enjoyed causing chaos for no good reason.
Anyway, not feeling any less apprehensive than he was throughout the past fortnight, Severus and Venn returned to Spinners End for a few days.
Encouraged by their success in restoring the Potter house in Godrics Hollow, Severus decided to try his hand at redecorating his childhood home, alone. Maybe, it would just take away all his bad memories of the place. He didn't want to bother the Evans' with any of his problems. Heaven knows they had problems of their own.
So over the next week, Severus had torn off the wallpapers and burnt them along with many of the drapings and some eaten up furniture and mattresses. He painted the walls a white, which lit up the room considerably, given that he added in a couple more windows here and there. The rooms, he painted a pleasant blue and he had all the plumbing systems replaced and the furniture was also transfigured into something that wouldn't remind him of his former home.
Severus admired his handiwork and flopped down tiredly into his chair only to jump out when he heard knocking at his door. He opened it to find Mr. Evans in a bit of a panic.
"Mr. Evans!" Severus greeted, "What's wrong?"
"I - well, I think you should see it for yourself."
Severus lifted Venn, who'd really become heavy of the last two months followed him to his house and they flooed to the Potter Alcove and hurried down into the living room only to find three guests he'd least expected to ever sit in a Muggle home in various degrees of consciousness. All bleeding profusely and while the women worked on preventing Narcissa Malfoy from suffering from anymore blood loss, Harry, Neville and Dudley worked on Draco Malfoy, leaving Neville and Blaire to help the elf, Dobby.
"Give me a minute." Severus said tersely and shot up the stairs three at a time and headed back to the Alcove where he flooed to his quarters at Hogwarts and picked up a large kit of potions and flooed back. He took out three bottles of blood replenishers and magicked the contents into the three patients. Then he handed a bottle with essence of dittany to Mrs. Evans.
"One drop on the small wounds, three on the larger ones."
He handed another bottle to Blaire and knelt down and ripped off Draco's clothes and cleaned out the blood to find a deep gash on his chest along with the many on his arms whose bleeding the boys were trying to stem.
Severus procured another bottle with the essence of dittany and patiently added a drop at a time on his wounds. The semiconscious boy began moaning in a pain at the sting. Nevertheless, the wounds looked much better.
Without another word, Severus levitated the now unconscious three on stretchers and on Petunia's insistence, he placed mother and son on her bed. Dobby, however, he placed on a couch he conjured by the bed.
Whatever could have happened to them, Severus didn't know, and he dreaded knowing given those injuries the three sustained. But he could safely conclude that this had been the most unusual holiday he had ever had, and an unforgettable one as well.
It looked like Privet Drive would house another three individuals and Draco would likely share a room with Dudley. Petunia's large bed would now be split into two smaller ones for her and Narcissa. But that could wait.
They would first have to listen to the Malfoys' story before anything could be done. However, Severus requested Filius to do some snooping around to find out what happened at the Malfoy Manor.
Two days had passed and the Malfoys and Dobby moved in and out of their state of unconsciousness, but Severus had learnt from Filius that Lucius Malfoy was responsible for the terrible state his family and house-elf were in. A priori incantatem on a wand under Malfoy's pillow served the purpose.
However, there was nothing that could be done without involving the press.
Then finally when Narcissa awoke, once she realised that they were out of danger, she told her tale clutching at a slowly awakening Draco like a lifeline. Only Petunia, Mrs. Evans and Severus were in the room. Dobby was already up and about and had insisted on making lunch for all of them, claiming that he was now bonded to only Narcissa and Draco.
"Lucius wanted to teach Draco to cast the unforgivables, using Dobby as the target." she said with a terrible shudder. "He demonstrated the Crucio and demanded that Draco try. Draco refused and I hadn't any idea what was actually happening!
"I heard Draco screaming and ran into the room only to find him being tortured by his own father! Dobby was twitching on the floor quite unable to do anything else. I screamed and tried to disarm Lucius. I failed!" she moaned.
"He disarmed me instead and he looked so insane, Severus! He wanted to kill! But he probably realised that it would put him in the bad-"
"He was already in the bad!" Petunia said indignantly.
"I know! But now there's no proof! He's too powerful!"
"What happened then?" Severus said.
"All I remember is pain. I was trying to shield Draco as best as I could. He cast Crucio upon Crucio, cutting hex upon cutting hex. I wasn't even sure whether it was me who was screaming or Dobby or even Draco. Then I passed out. I woke up to find the three of us in a bloody mess.
"Dobby was also awakening. I couldn't think. I just wanted to get Draco away from that place. I told Dobby that he would from now on obey nobody else's commands save for mine and Draco. And vaguely I felt magic surge through me, only intensifying the pain. Before I passed out, I asked Dobby to take us all somewhere safe. That's all I remember."
"You can stay with us." Petunia said generously. "Until the triplets turn seventeen, this place is the safest on earth."
"I wouldn't want-"
"You wouldn't be imposing." Petunia pressed on hurriedly. "And I sure would appreciate the company."
"The children won't get along." Narcissa sighed turning to look at Draco who was now awake. Severus reached down to check for his vitals. The boy smiled at him weakly.
"They didn't get along with my son either, not that it was any of their fault. Now everything is quite alright between them. I'm sure it will be the same with your son."
Narcissa looked questioningly at Draco. The boy sighed but nodded.
And soon Number four became the home for the Dursleys, the Malfoys, a Longbottom and the Potters. They were visited by the Evans' and Severus for the rest of the week and were served by a fantastic house-elf who was now paid a galleon a week and given a day off.
Narcissa showed no antagonism towards any of the other members she lived with, it was as though she had suddenly turned into a humanlike lamb. It's strange how such terrible experiences change some people for the better and sometimes the worse. But both Petunia and Narcissa and their boys, who really seemed to have attained some sense, left behind personal grudges and beliefs.
Narcissa always had her own special Black vault which she never gave in to the possession of Lucius Malfoy and with the money she was able to purchase clothes herself and her son and their wands along with all the other material Draco would need for Hogwarts that year. Dobby was given the liberty of getting his own clothes and he did that with gusto.
Severus pulled Dobby aside one day and said, "Dobby, now that you are not under Lucius's command, please tell me what kind of danger Harry and Hogwarts is in."
"Harry Potter Sir must not return to Hogwarts, Master Snapey Sir." The elf insisted.
Severus sighed, "But if you tell me what the danger is, he will not only be able to complete his education, but it will also prevent a great catastrophe!"
"It is very evil, Master Snapey Sir."
"Does it involve Vold- He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?"
Dobby nodded enthusiastically.
"Will he be coming to the school?"
The elf frowned and shook his head.
"Is he already in the Castle?"
Dobby shook his head violently.
Severus growled in exasperation, "Why don't you give me the answer then?"
Dobby took in a big breath and steadied himself and then he said, "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is giving old Master an artifact for safekeeping. Dobby is hiding and watching from the closet. Old Master is no longer wanting the artifact so he is wanting to give it to a student!"
"What kind of artifact, Dobby?"
"A bad thing, Master Snapey Sir! Very evil!"
"What is the article made of Dobby?"
"Paper, Master Snapey Sir!"
"Paper?" Severus said confused.
"Paper, Master Snapey Sir! The artifacts is a diary of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named!"
"What?"
"The artifacts is a diary of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, Master Snapey Sir!" the elf repeated.
Severus shook his head and frowned, "I heard you the first time, Dobby. Now tell me, has Lucius already given away the Diary?"
The elf nodded.
"To whom?"
"Dobby does not know, Mast-"
"When did he give it away?"
"Around the start of this month, Sir!"
Severus nodded and thanked the elf. Then he rushed to Hogwarts to inform the Headmaster. Dumbledore patiently listened to Severus's story right from the appearance of the elf in their sitting room to what information Dobby gave him, now that he wasn't Lucius's elf anymore.
"We will have to keep an eye out, Severus." Dumbledore said. "We may even have to assign some elves to take some time out so as to watch the students. If this Dobby is free, maybe he could even recognize the diary and get it out of this students grasp. The other Heads will be informed of this, Severus as well as the Malfoys' plight.
"And I don't suppose these children will maintain a fake front when around others, would they? It would be nice if they remained enemies...but I suppose it would do too, now that they're friends. But I must insist that you maintain your cover."
The children's interaction were a bit lukewarm, but there was no backstabbing or insulting or pranking. In other words, they were most likely heading towards something akin to friendship. It was a pity that there were no more of the holidays left, for in another two days, they would be heading to Hogwarts.
Miracles didn't need to be forced to happen when it came to Dumbledore. For the very next day Aurors were summoned to the Malfoy Manor and Lucius was questioned very harshly. When he insisted that he couldn't remember anything that had occurred that day, Kingsley Shacklebolt subjected him to Severus's Veritaserum.
Lucius Malfoy stated that he 'merely' wanted to teach his son how to treat those inferior to him.
Lucius was arrested without any further argument. He was tried the next day and it was only influence and money that kept him out of prison. No one bothered asking him if he ever worked for Voldemort. No one bothered hiding the facts from the Wizarding World. All that he lost was his seat in the Board of Governors and his standing in society, and Severus could do nothing else but seethe over the matter.
Now Narcissa and Draco needed to be kept safe any cost.
And speaking of mother and son, by the end of the day Lucius was removed from his seat as governor, Narcissa had officially become a Black again and, very sadly, so had Draco.
The Daily Prophet had a field day and Severus knew that if Draco had been on his own at Hogwarts, he would certainly be crushed by the stares he would receive once he set foot in the express, not to forget that there would not even be a handful of Slytherins who would stay by him this year.
Dobby kept insisting on keeping Harry at home and finally, he had to be ordered by Narcissa to stop. She even went a step further and insisted with Dobby that he would in no way interfere with Harry's being at Hogwarts.
All in all this certainly was one of his more interesting vacations.
tbc...