19.

Hogwarts - Late October 1997

"On the morning of Theosophia's birth, a Seer found us. A young girl, still almost a child herself, but that…ethereal mark of Seer was upon her."

Salazar's voice was smooth and hollowed by his frame, a strange sound when Hermione was so used to the full depth of his voice in her mind. She glanced at McGonagall as she sank down next to her on the long couch. Severus remained standing, though he was directly behind her and she could almost feel the reassuring warmth of him.

"'Heed, House of Slytherin', she began. Prophecies..." He shook his head and a twitch of a smile pulled at his thin lips. "And hers was a true insight to the future. I'd witnessed enough of them. 1043 was thick with them."

He was stalling. Hermione could almost feel it. This was something he'd kept hidden to himself for almost a thousand years.

"Please, Salazar." A whisper through her thoughts to him and his long sigh was almost audible.

In his frame, the ancient wizard straighened and lifted chin. "'Heed, House of Slytherin. A Child wrapped in Sacred Wisdom spins a secret thread of Time and Power to a Child Born Well. They seek to Balance the World. And You shall hide their Bond in Darkness and Scorn.'"

Salazar wiped a hand over his bearded chin. "Those were her words. And the only ones on the Prophecy she spoke for the rest of her life."

"Theosophia and Hermione," Severus murmured.

"Indeed, Severus. We'd already decided on our daughter's name before the Seer came to us. And we knew that Theosophia didn't have a wisp of magic to her flesh." His dark eyes slid to McGonagall. "We cared not. And now…now before she knew us, we had to give up our daughter and my plans to hide her line began."

He paced his frame, his face tight, a nerve jumping at his temple. "I had no more to go on until…twenty five years ago. When a student here, a young Ravenclaw…"

Severus groaned and Hermione glanced back at him.

"Sybil?" he asked.

Salazar nodded. "Yes. She was in her first week here. She found me…I'm still not sure how, and said these words, 'In the end times, Darkness and Light revolves around He Who Is Favoured on the Land of the Rightful Heir.

"'He falls and all is lost. The Future will be as a Silent Door.

"'He is victorious, and your House, Slytherin, will rise with him.

"'Balance forever restored.'"

Severus swore. Thoroughly and in three, possibly four languages, one being Aramaic. "I was the year above Sybil and she would just stare at me sometimes. I put it down to those odd little Ravenclaws you get. Miss Lovegood is another fine example. But some part of her bloody knew." He gripped the back of the couch, his fingers bloodless and leant hard on his hands. His head fell forward, his hair a black curtain around his face. "Me. It all revolves around me. Shit."

"Yes."

"Somehow…somehow Dumbledore also knew."

The words broke from Hermione. It was the only explanation for how he'd treated Severus for decades. Binding him close…but making his world unstable. Only him, only Albus as his anchor. For what reason? Why would he want to thwart the balancing of the magical world when he was —supposedly— a wizard of the Light?

"Fuck." Severus jerked away and strode to the window that looked out over the lake. His gaze fixed there as he muttered, "And you've always known too, haven't you, my Lord Slytherin."

"Not till the Pretender began to sniff around you, Severus, no."

Severus' spine was stiff, his shoulders hunched over. He breathed in and out. Just that. Though every inch of him…vibrated. He'd thought himself free, when he was a pawn. Again. Hermione wanted to go to him, to offer comfort…but McGonagall was there and she would not open him up to yet more scorn from that witch.

"What's the Land of the Rightful Heir?" Harry threw the question into the strained silence.

Salazar's voice was quiet, his attention locked on the unmoving Severus. "Theosophia's ancestral seat. Egremont Castle in Cumbria. Secured to the hidden line of Slytherin since her death."

Harry caught his fingers in his hair and winced. The heel of his hand dug against his hated scar. "Then…that's where we face Riddle." His mouth quirked into a bitter smile. "That's where we end it. All of it."