Rewind Those Final Nights

Summary: Snape remembers the second-to-final night with the Dark Lord and reviews his newfound memories and the results of the Memory Charms.

July 31st, 1980

Unknown Location (Under Fidelius)

Both the Headmaster of Hogwarts and the spy Death Eater has noticed the Dark Lord's absence. Snape had been summoned through his Dark Mark sporadically and the Dark Lord was being very suspicious. It wasn't like him to dismiss his followers so calmly and it was odd to watch him hardly cast any curses, especially the Cruciatus Curse.

That one was his Lord's favorite.

But that night, Snape had been summoned and it was the first time he'd been summoned and only him. It was the first time in a long while. He'd been in his Lord's study with said Lord sitting behind a magnificent desk. Suddenly, from a few rooms down, there was a strange splashing sound and womanly shriek.

The door had burst open to reveal a heavily pregnant Bellatrix Lestrange with water dripping down her skirt. Well, it looked like water, but Snape knew. Bellatrix was with child and she was in the beginnings of labor. Her water had broken.

There was a moment of deadly silence, and Bellatrix made eye contact with Snape and screeched, "Don't tell a soul!" He was quickly dismissed and shaken to the core.

And now he stood, trying to compose himself, outside the Headmaster's office.

"Come in." Albus beckoned.

Severus Snape entered his office, face ashen.

Albus immediately took in the look of pure dread on his spy's face. "What is it, my boy?"

For the first time in many years, Snape was speechless. He swallowed thickly and eventually muttered, "...child."

Albus frowned. "What are you talking about, my boy?"

"A child!" Snape cried, losing his composure suddenly. "The Dark Lord is having a child!"

Now the Headmaster was confused. And quite alarmed. "Can you repeat that, Severus?"

"The Dark Lord is a father. Bellatrix is pregnant with a child! And it is to be born tonight!"

1995

Snape remembered that night now. He remembered the Headmaster Oblivating him.

He remembered the Headmaster approaching him in Hog's Head after getting kicked out and placing a Memory Charm on him. He really wanted a word with the blasted old coot, but knew that he was at risk of being Oblivated again. Heck, he didn't even know if the Headmaster knew!

The next thing he knew, he heard a rumor that the Potters had a child and there was a prophecy about that child. Of course, it was all fake, but Snape hadn't known then. When he reported the prophecy and met the Dark Lord for the final time fifteen years ago, he wondered if the Lord was Confunded or placed upon a similar Memory Charm.

He made no mention of a child, Bellatrix, or any implication of being a newborn father. So it was a very high possibility.

(And, he realized, that he made no mention of Snape's betrayal. Snape realized he must've been put under a temporary compulsion charm to reveal what happened. Now that he thought about it, it did seem that his mouth wasn't working right.)

Looking back, and remembering Potter's (or is it Riddle now?) long forgotten memory of a younger Albus looming over him and casting a series of charms at him to erase or block his memory. Snape figured that if one were to erase another's memory, it would destroy them eventually.

So Albus had kept Harry under watch his entire life and made sure the charms were sticking.

And now, they were gone.

(Wait a minute. Potter's (shall he call him Potter, Riddle or Harry?) summer-long stays at those Muggles' residence was completely useless! Those blood wards were fake! Wasn't anything real by now? Snape wondered how Harry felt about the fact that he'd been lied to and told he'd been an orphan his whole life when his father was actually under several compulsions and was alive.)

Speaking of that night, it was a high possibility that Albus had kidnapped Harry and placed them with the Potters. He didn't know if the family knew or not, but it was horrendous. Stealing a child from one parent and placing it with another possibly unsuspecting parent or parents.

The last time he saw the Dark Lord, the night he saw Bellatrix in labor, he was at a location that was under the Fidelius and he'd been keyed into the wards long ago. He was the Secret Keeper, but now he knew that Albus had Legilimized it out of him and kidnapped little Harry.

It was very likely he Legilimized multiple people to keep them in his control...

He wasn't sure if he should report to his Lord or not.

Good heavens, this was overwhelming!