Chapter Fourteen

"Oh, how the mighty hath fallen!"

"It was one instance, with the mother of my child. Hardly comparable to your exploits with half the faculty."

Regulus couldn't hold back his chuckles, even if he tried, and he couldn't not tease Severus about this.

No way.

It was far too delicious an opportunity to pass up.

"Please, Severus, do remind me; who was it that insisted I introduce the clause forbidding employee relations?"

"Oh, shut up, Regulus."

"Oh no. No, no, no. Not for a long while. I am not the one who was just caught having sex in their office."

"We were not having intercourse. We were…reacquainting ourselves."

Regulus' laughter was reaching howling levels as Severus attempted to fend off his remarks.

Severus rolled his eyes, tossing onto the desk the parchments Regulus had handed over to him the night before for reviewing; "What of this, anyway? I thought you had accepted it was a dead duck?"

Regulus wiped at the tears of laughter, attempting to compose himself.

"Not at all. Lily and I both agree, this is the way to go. It was Blood Magic that directly defeated the Dark Lord the first time and, even, the situation with Sirius and Harry came about due to a similar form of magic."

"Yes. Sacrificial Magic. Though the circumstances of your brother's will be impossible to replicate, no matter how much yourself and Lily attempt to make it so."

"We're not trying to replicate the circumstance."

"Is that not the reason for your choices of Secret Keeper?"

"No."

"No?"

"Well. It doesn't hurt."

Severus scowled.

"It would be foolish not to, after seeing how it worked before. For the sake of the children, if nothing else."

Severus shook his head; "Do not waste your time with this, Regulus. Not when there are still Horcruxes to be found."

"One Horcrux. Nagini."

"And have you heard the whispers?"

"Yes. Albania, again. I believe my cousin is amongst them, the congregated Death Eaters."

"They will have long since moved on. But it won't be long, now that he has so many of his followers by his side."

"And you?"

Severus drew in a breath, narrowing his eyes as he considered it; "As yet, I am uncertain the best course of action to take. Whether or not to seek them out."

"You could do it either way, I suppose. When he returns, there are few Death Eaters who have any strong foothold in the Wizarding World left. You could argue that your worth only increases with you staying put. Even in the Ministry, those who served were either killed or captured. The others, they only did occasionally, without any real commitment."

"That will change. The Dark Lord will see to that."

"Yes," Regulus agreed, before pointing out what he was certain Severus was already pondering over; "Of course, it would be another black mark; that you did not attempt to seek him out."

There were many 'black marks' against him, both he and Regulus knew that. It would not be easy, convincing the Dark Lord of his loyalty. But, then, if anyone could do it, it was Severus; the smoothest talking Death Eater of them all.

"Until the summer, I have the perfect excuse," Severus stated; "Dumbledore's eyes are upon me, after all. Once the school year concludes, if he has not yet resurfaced, I shall attempt to locate them."

Regulus nodded, slowly, glancing down at the parchments in front of Severus and reaching to take them back; "I suppose you have no advice for us, then?"

"I just gave it. Drop it."

"It is not whether or not we will be able to do it that is preventing us from getting any further on with it," Regulus explained, skimming through the parchments as he spoke; "It is the complete dead end we come to any time I try to find out any relevant information; the Ministry purges have seen to it that it is impossible to get anywhere. It's obscene, the amount they have tried to conceal."

"I agree. Though, in this case, I am glad."

"As is, there is only one person living whom we know has information regarding it further than what is currently accessible," Regulus went on, as if Severus had never spoken.

He hesitated before meeting his eyes, knowing that Severus would make the link right away.

Of course, he did.

Severus' eyes were narrowed as he regarded him, daring him to speak the name.

Regulus did.

"Eugene."

"Pah!" Severus was on his feet in an instant, turning from him with a shake of the head; "Your dreaming knows no bounds, Regulus. You are not seriously considering going to him?"

"No. How could I face him now we know the truth?"

"You face him?" Severus repeated, incredulously; "Indeed."

"We know how they died. Anchor Ridge –"

"Regulus."

"The Prophet labelled it a massacre."

"It was mercy," Severus' voice was stern and his eyes dark, leaving no room for argument; "We were both there that day. Do not tell me otherwise."

Regulus glanced down, fingering the parchments; "He may be the only one."

"Regulus. This is a fool's errand. I believe it even more so now that I know what you're thinking. Absolutely, under no circumstances, are you going to go to Hopkins about this matter."

"I was hoping you might."

Severus glowered.

Regulus shook his head; "His vengeance was not as indiscriminate as we once thought. He may be receptive. He always liked you."

"No."

"No?"

"No," Severus ground out; "That man is a murderer, he should be in Azkaban."

Severus shook his head, looking every bit as furious by the suggestion as Regulus expected; "I would sooner eat dirt, than ask Eugene Hopkins for anything."

"Well. Let it not be said that Severus Snape does not have a flare for the dramatic."

"Oh, like you are one to talk about dramatics, Regulus!"

Regulus gave him a small smile and rolled up the parchments; "Just a thought."

Severus was still thinking on it, Regulus could tell from the faraway look, even after he had tucked the research away; "Have you spoken with Malachi?"

"Briefly. However, I have spoken with his Housemates, as a whole, and I'm certain that any issues have been dealt with. He will have no more trouble from them."

"Thank you."

Severus nodded, making his way towards the adjourning door to his office, dismissing himself and still seething over Regulus' comments regarding Eugene.

"Oh. Severus?"

He stopped, turning back.

"Here."

Regulus held up a green hair scrunchie for a second before tossing it in Severus' direction, and the other man caught it easily.

Severus held it up, looking at it strangely, before turning bewildered eyes on Regulus.

"And what do you expect me to do with this?"

"It's for the door handle. The next time you and Lily are…reacquainting yourselves."

Severus threw it back in his face, storming out of the office.

Regulus; rendered to a laughing heap in his chair.

"The Dark Lord, that's what Professor Snape calls him?"

Harry glanced up from the map, his eyes having been following Peter Pettigrew's steps as it snaked the dungeons.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Just, my dad calls him that, too," Malachi said, lowering his notebook to the grass, and had a quick look around the clearing before adding; "I think it's a Death Eater thing, actually."

"Death Eaters?" Harry repeated, sitting up and crossing his legs underneath him; "I thought you said Snape wasn't on the list?"

"He wasn't. But that was a trial list. Could be he just wasn't called up."

"You think Snape's a Death Eater?"

"I thought you did?"

Harry looked unsure, this time, no hint of the certainty he had about him at the Foundation the previous month when he had asked Malachi the names.

"I dunno," Harry finally said; "He's…different to what I thought."

Malachi snorted, shaking his head and lifting his notebook back up; "Right. Now that you like him he couldn't possibly be one of them."

"I don't like him. I just don't think he's pure evil anymore, that's all."

"Well, my dad isn't 'pure evil' either and he was Professor Snape's best friend back then."

"So, yeah. Right. It makes sense, then. That they were both Death Eaters."

"Maybe. But then, would Professor Dumbledore hire Professor Snape if he had been a Death Eater? He's been working here for a long time, since before the Foundation, I think. Maybe even during the war."

"Maybe Dumbledore doesn't know," Harry said, though even he sounded sceptical as he said it.

"Dumbledore knows everything."

Harry gave a slight nod, lifting the map back up; "Pettigrew the Spirit is hovering around Snape right now."

"Yeah?"

Harry nodded; "I've noticed that, sometimes. It's like he follows him. When he's not following me."

"Just you two?"

"Sometimes you, too."

"Me?"

"Spirit magnets, that's us," Harry grinned and Malachi laughed.

Harry tapped the map, speaking the 'Mischief Managed' incantation to deactivate it, and tucked it away before getting to his feet; "I gotta get to Quidditch practice."

"Right. I'll see you later."

Harry gave a smile and slung his bag over his shoulder, heading back in the direction of the Castle.

Only when Malachi was sure he was gone, that he wouldn't be coming back, did he reach into his bag and pull out the copy of The Ingenious Ideals of Gellert Grindelwald that had been left for him.

Malachi leant back against the tree, opening the book to the page where he had left off the night before.

Harry Potter had surprised him.

And Severus was not often surprised.

He had not, yet, gotten his head around the information that the boy had opted to share with him. And, in fact, even that Potter had felt that he could share the information with him, at all, was surprising enough in itself as Severus was entirely certain that Lily had not the faintest idea just how in-the-know her son was about all of this.

So, the boy knew that the Dark Lord would return.

Well. Severus supposed that was obvious. The boy had faced him, even spoken with the remaining essence of what was left of the Dark Wizard, from what Dumbledore had told him. It would not be difficult for Potter to deduce the fact.

What couldn't be explained away by deduction or logic, however, was how the boy had managed to learn that he had been a target from the beginning. Severus daren't mention the prophecy – he had learnt his lesson in that regard – and could only assume that somehow Potter had learnt it from someone.

Dumbledore, perhaps? But Severus doubted he would do so, not without Lily's input.

There was Lupin, of course, for he was not above meddling in the Potter family secrets, Severus was sure.

But, really, how Potter had learned of it was irrelevant.

What mattered was that he knew.

And Severus would be lying if he were to say he wasn't just a little impressed by that; he carried the knowledge and the secret of it well. None of the dramatics he would have expected, based on the boy's previous escapades for the past few years.

Though Severus was undecided whether or not this new knowledge made Potter's behaviour in seeking the Dark Lord out for the past few years incredibly brave or incredibly stupid; or a little of both, Severus conceded, as he remembered only too well that youthful feeling of invincibility.

But then, Potter was not entirely overcome with that, either; he appeared totally resigned to his doomed fate – death! – and Severus would be snapping him out of that very quickly.

"Legillimens."

The memories came forth but not as scrambled, not as easily as they had done so when he and Potter had first begun these lessons.

Potter had not yet noticed the change, but Severus had. Felt that little bit of resistance, of control the boy was beginning to develop.

Soon, once Potter had grasped more prominent control of his mind, Severus would have to up the stakes, push into his head more aggressively; the Dark Lord would not be rifling through his head with the same consideration that Severus had been doing the past several weeks.

No.

The Dark Lord would be merciless. Gruelling. Agonising.

There it was, the resistance Severus had come to expect, and he pushed a little harder until the memories there came forth.

An entirely uninspiring one.

Potter flying around on a broomstick during the most recent Slytherin and Gryffindor Quidditch match, while Sirius Black cheered from the stands –

Severus withdrew.

Crossed his arms across his chest and waited the minute or so it took Potter to come back to himself, regain his senses, and when he did and noticed Severus watching him carefully he shrugged.

"Yes, Sir?"

Sir. That was a happy consequence of these lessons. The seeming respect the boy had, gradually, developed.

"That was not a memory."

Potter stared back at him for a second. And then he smiled, evidently pleased with himself, and shrugged, as if to modestly push away any recognition for the fact in an 'oh shucks' kind of way.

But the delight was so much so that the boy's eyes positively lit up with the realisation that he had done it, had found and succeeding in utilising something to fight back against the mind attack.

Severus fought a smile of his own in response, because the boys was downright infectious and there was no way Severus would be caught smiling.

But, never, had the boy looked right at him and smiled like that, before.

Severus had to turn away.

"Very good, Potter."

Very good?

He had surely gone soft.

The progress was minimal, at best. Merely a first step.

Still, Severus allowed the boy to bask in his own proud delight for a minute before he said anything further.

"Well. As expected, it is imagination that you have managed to utilise first. A seamless transition, from real to imaginary; need I tell you the drawbacks of this method?"

Potter shrugged.

"Imagination is ever-changing, unreliable; it requires thought, which is difficult, nay almost impossible, under a more aggressive onslaught. I advise you try to stick to living imaginary inserts, if possible –" Harry met his eyes sharply, but Severus carried on; "You need to be wary of that. Keep it simple. All the while, not offering up anything that contradicts that which you are trying to convey."

"I still don't understand why I need to be able to do that. Does it really matter if Volde –"

"Potter."

"If he knows that I'm lying in my head? As long as he doesn't see what I'm going to do or what I want to hide, who cares if he sees flying elephants and pink hippogriffs walking about in there?"

"We will not be doing this half-way, Mr Potter."

Potter almost rolled his eyes but seemed to think better of it, just crossing his arms across his chest.

"Why do you call him 'the Dark Lord'?"

Severus lifted his chin.

Potter didn't look away, stared right back at him, in that infuriatingly defiant way he could and Severus realised, no legilliemency necessary, that he must have been speaking to Malachi, for Severus knew that the boy had confronted Regulus not so long ago to demand the truth about his past.

Severus knew what Potter was really asking him here.

Are you a Death Eater?

"Prepare yourself, Potter," Severus said, ignoring the question; "Now that a level of resistance has been reached, I shall increase the magnitude of the spell accordingly."

Potter didn't seem surprised by Severus' deflection, his refusal to answer, and drew in a breath before lifting his wand.

When the boy gave the nod, Severus spoke the incantation.

"Legillimens."

Sirius Black was throwing a toddler Potter in the air while he squealed.

Sirius Black was flying Potter through the air on a broom.

Sirius Black was embracing a tearful Potter in their kitchen.

Sirius Black was dead on the floor.

"Protego!"

It happened so abruptly that Severus was entirely unprepared for it and, suddenly, they were no longer looking at Potter's memories but his own.

"Watch your step, Snivellus!" Sirius Black's voice as a jinx hit him from behind, sending him tumbling down the stairs.

"Wash your mouth out. Scourgify!" James Potter's voice and Severus was gagging and choking on soap and liquid, pink bubbles overflowing from his mouth.

Sirius Black gave him a sneer, standing aside and indicating at the trunk of the Whomping Willow; "You wanna see what Moony's up to, the knot, it's right under there."

A werewolf, all glinted eyes and teeth and saliva suddenly took up his entire line of vision in the tunnel and then it lunged for him with a snarl.

"Who wants to see me take off Snivelly's pants?"

James Potter's face was upside down; an arrogant smirk and eyes full of hate as he looked right at him.

Severus' back hit the shelves of the classroom, as his vision cleared and the memories stopped.

It had lasted mere seconds. But those were enough; enough to present the damning account of those years at Hogwarts and it was far too much, far more than he would ever dream of revealing to the boy. And it was difficult to tell, once Severus had managed to regain control of himself, which of the two of them were more shaken by the unexpected turnaround.

Thank Merlin, Severus had used the pensieve for any memories of Lily and Grace.

There was not even a sniff of triumph from the boy, as he had exhibited just minutes before, when he had managed to demonstrate his first bit of resistance using fabricated memories.

Rather, Potter was staring back at him, looking, for all intents and purposes, as if his world had just been turned upside down.

The dramatics of youth.

"Professor," his voice was quiet; "Was that –"

"Well, I am impressed, Mr Potter," Severus cut him off, attempting to regain control of the situation; "That is your second successful attempt at resistance. Dare I hope for a third?"

"Professor –"

Severus returned the boy's look squarely.

There it was, the first signs of sadness, of pity for him.

"Was… was that my dad?"

Severus said nothing, felt his own barriers coming up, for he could not, would not answer that; though the memories spoke for themselves.

"And Sirius – he – you almost –"

Severus narrowed his eyes; "We do not talk about the memories, do we, Potter?"

It was the words Potter had spoken to him, the previous lesson, when the boy had not wanted to discuss what was seen and Severus hoped he would get the hint.

He had better, because Severus wasn't going to do this.

No.

Not with Lily's son.

"But … who was 'Moony'? Did – did you know what he was? Or did they – did they send you there –"

Severus lifted his eyes to the ceiling.

"Potter. Get out."

They would get nowhere with this.

It was all Severus could do not to grab him and throw him out physically, as the pity in the boy's eyes intensified, as Potter's mind positively reeled as he quickly made sense of what it was he had just seen. Two of the worst possible incidents from that time, with those men, who this boy loved, who had made Severus' life a living hell for seven years.

And Lily would not thank him for this, for revealing it to him.

Nor would Severus wish for it; he would not be reduced to the status of 'victim' in this child's eyes, no.

Severus was mortified. He did not need to be a legillimens to know it was exactly that, that the boy thought of him right now.

Pathetic, weak; as wretched as the child from those memories. And how could he possibly command any respect or discipline from the boy, if that were the case.

"Sir."

"I said," Severus spoke softly, drawing on all the self-control he could muster; "Get out. That concludes our lesson for the day."

Potter just stood there, continuing to stare.

Severus turned away, ignoring him, going to his desk and rifling through the parchments of marking he had already completed, fighting back to the urge to snap, to shout, when he could feel the boy's eyes still on him, though he should.

He should.

The boy was entirely too comfortable with him, it seemed, for no other student would dare to look at him in such a way, standing there brazenly, not following the order to leave immediately, and Severus raised glowering eyes from the parchments to Potter and it was only then that the boy finally did as he was told, turning and heading from the room.