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Chapter 27Tallis stretched to ease his aching muscles. He had no idea that coming into his inheritance would be so exhausting. The additional power thrummed through his body, almost singing in happiness. His father wanted to test his new strength this morning to compare it with the test they had done a few weeks ago. Tallis could already feel that his magical strength had increased exponentially. He personally didn't feel the need to know exactly how strong he was but his friends and father did so he acquiesced.
His thoughts flitted for a moment to yesterday's events. Yesterday had been the first time he had ever gotten to celebrate his birthday with cake and presents and friends all at the same time. It had been wonderful. They had put all heavier concerns aside for the day, even suspending his Slytherin lessons for once. He and Severus had decided to limit their small party to only Bill, Ron and Hermione. Even that was much more than Tallis had ever before imagined getting. They spent the day playing games, swimming, and eating ridiculous amounts of sweets. Even his father had joined in the festivities, donning an old fashioned swimming suit and racing with them.
The fun had quickly ended though when early in the evening he was suddenly nearly knocked out by a sudden influx of power. He completely lost control over himself and ended up burning out the sitting room to a blackened mess. Luckily, everyone had been sitting relatively close to each other and they had been able to set up quick barriers around themselves. It took all four of them to hold the shaky shield and save themselves from the destruction that raged around them. He had finally lost consciousness completely after a few minutes and his father had carried him upstairs to his bedroom.
Tallis shook himself back to the present and he stepped closer to the focus stone. It was a small, completely black piece of onyx that had runes carved into the glassy surface. He looked up nervously at his father who stared back, projecting calm reassurance. All he needed to do was aim a spell at the stone. The stone would read the strength of the spell and then change color according to the power. Tallis hesitantly raised his hands to the stone and uttered the first spell that came to mind. "Expelliarmus" he said softly.
The stone started rapidly shifting through the spectrum of colors before it began to emit a blinding ray of light and then simply exploded. Tallis quickly shielded his face with his hands to block the small pieces of flying onyx. When it was clear that there was no more danger he turned to his father and friends. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to…I don't know what happened," he said desperately. He knew that focus stones were rare and he had just destroyed his father's. He was terrified.
"It is alright, Tallis. You couldn't have known. I've never seen anything like that happen before. Are you alright?" Severus asked, concerned for his son.
Tallis nodded shakily. "It turned white before it blew up" Hermione said quietly. "That's the most powerful color, isn't it?" Bill and Severus nodded. They all knew the implications of that. Tallis was stronger than the ancient stone was capable of measuring. They all hesitated to use the words all-powerful, even in their minds, but they knew that Tallis was amazingly strong—stronger than anyone had ever imagined.
Tallis was clearly still shaken. "I'm sorry Father, I didn't mean to."
"It is nothing, Tallis. Don't worry about it. We will though, need to make certain that you have control over the power of your spells before you use them on another human. That kind of power can be very dangerous if you aren't careful."
Tallis nodded slowly. Merlin, he was a danger. He had almost killed everyone he cared about last night and today he had discovered that he couldn't even cast simple spells safely. Bill immediately realized what Tallis was thinking and rushed to reassure him. "Don't worry, love. I'm sure it will only take a few days for you to readjust to your new power level. We'll all help you and you'll be ready to use your spells on other students before you know it." Bill pulled his small lover into his arms to comfort him. He knew that Tallis was, once again, blaming himself for things he had no control over.
"I'm bloody starved. Can we get some breakfast around here?" Ron said suddenly, trying to distract his friend from his dark thoughts before it got too out of hand.
Tallis smiled, albeit weakly. "You're always starving Ron. Let's go see if the elves are finished with breakfast yet." Everyone filed out of the study and onto the balcony. They were all talking lightly about the festivities of the day before but each was internally counting down the days that they had until school was in session again. They had exactly one month in which to get Tallis' powers completely under control, finish the signature altering potion, spell all of the students and any parents who were brought into the lie, fabricate false memories for those who did not consent, and get ready for the upcoming school year. Time was quickly drawing short.
After a quick breakfast Tallis and his father withdrew to a small room in the bottom floor of the manor to try to get a bit of control over his spellwork. They emerged nine hours later dripping with sweat and supporting each other's exhausted bodies but evidently they had made great progress. Neither really had the strength to say anything to their houseguests and they simply went upstairs and collapsed into their beds.
The next few days passed similarly. Ron and Hermione had been invited to remain at the manor for the rest of the holiday. Both had happily packed their trunks and moved in to their bedrooms at the manor, pleased to stay so close to their friend and each other, although neither would admit their attraction yet. They knew that even with their new plan that would allow them to be near Tallis during the school year that they would still be separated often. They could no longer spend every waking moment together without arousing suspicion and Tallis would be extremely busy with his dual apprenticeship.
Ron and Hermione were put to work studying the will as closely as possible. Upon their first reading of it, none of them could find any reason for Dumbledore to have every withheld it from Tallis. Yes, it deprived him of money, but was that really the only incentive, considering that he still had a vault full of gold at his disposal? As of yet, neither of them had found any reason for Dumbledore to have hidden the information. As puzzling as that was though, they still couldn't figure out a reason for Dumbledore to have kept Tallis and Severus apart for seventeen years. They were beginning to fear that Dumbledore was insane, and simply moving people around and manipulating them for his own perverse amusement. Severus, though, refused to leave the old man such an easy cop out as insanity and insisted that there was something that he had specifically wanted to keep his son from discovering.
It was Bill's duty to fabricate the memories that they would implant in the students who would not agree to their scheme. They didn't need many, just enough that none of them could ever say with certainty that Tallis did not go to school with them. Fabricating memories was incredibly difficult and detailed work: a good task for the curse breaker since he was accustomed to focusing on tiny details and working through intricate problems. He created a total of fifteen memories, assuming that most students would receive an average of five or six. They didn't want everyone having the exact same few memories of Tallis or else it would look odd, inviting further study from anyone who was suspicious.
Each memory was based on something that Bill or one of the others had seen Tallis say or do. It was then wiped of any and all references that could expose the deception. Some memories could probably not be defined as memories at all. They were simple images, such as Tallis sitting at a table doing homework, that could be imbedded in an already existing memory for some students. Severus could sift through the student's mind in search of an appropriate memory and then they would simply insert Tallis' figure into the existing memory.
For the more complete memories Bill had to travel to Veyle Academy in search of background information that he could later manipulate. He needed everything from a visual memory of what classrooms looked like to exactly what a certain teacher looked and sounded like. The fully formed memories were often simple things such as Tallis answering a question in class or seeing Tallis flying on his broom near the school. Bill worked tirelessly, making certain that the memories held true from all angles, even when removed and examined in a pensieve.
After four days of exhausting work Tallis and Severus emerged from the small, nearly destroyed room victorious. Tallis was again completely under control and he was no longer in danger of killing someone with something as simple as an overly strong Petrificus Totalis. They all celebrated that night rather wildly with endless bottles of champagne and a rousing game of "How I would Kill Voldemort." Ron won with his plan that involved a voodoo doll, a bit of twine and a virgin sacrifice (although no one could exactly figure out how a gorgeous woman would help him kill the Dark Lord). Even Severus participated, much to the delight of his son.
The day had finally come for Tallis to meet the first of the students and apply the spell to them and any parents who would know the secret. He had long debated within himself whether or not he should tell the students the entire truth or if he should simply imply that he was just an intensely private individual who wanted to protect his past from prying eyes. He finally decided to reveal the information whenever he felt justified in doing so. His father would be at his side the entire time and planned to use a low level of legilimency throughout the interviews. He could help him decide who deserved to know the truth and who would be better served knowing only part of it. Some people, after all, would actually prefer not knowing everything.
A young girl with reddish brown hair and sparkling brown eyes stepped into the room followed by her mother, a woman who was clearly a close relative of Molly Weasley. For the Weasley interviews Bill had elected to be present to reassure his family members of what was happening. "What exactly is going on here, Bill?" The woman asked.
"Mary, this is my boyfriend, Tallis Snape and his father, Professor Severus Snape. Snapes, this is Mary Wright and her daughter Anna." Bill turned back to his aunt. "We need your help with something, Auntie. It is very important…please, please listen to everything before you make up your mind." Bill had faith that his aunt would be on their side. Voldemort had murdered her husband many years ago, shortly after Anna had been born. Their families had been very close ever since, with Bill's family helping to take care of the bereaved mother and baby.
Mary nodded and sat down, pulling her daughter to sit by her side on the sofa. Tallis sat down beside Bill and Severus stood behind them, clearly nervous. No one knew who should start…their story was so wild and they needed the help so desperately they were uncertain where exactly to begin the unlikely tale. Tallis decided that he should begin the explanation. He cleared his throat and leaned forward, looking closely at Mary and her daughter.
"I am actually the one who needs your help. Up until the beginning of this summer I was an orphan. My parents were murdered by Voldemort and I had been sent to live with my muggle relatives." Mary clucked with pity. So many families had been pulled apart by You Know Who. Tallis continued. "At the beginning of this summer though, Albus Dumbledore revealed something to us. He had evidently long known that Severus Snape was my birth father but had kept the information to himself, instead placing me with muggles who feared and hated magic."
Mary looked shocked at this revelation. She didn't know Dumbledore personally but she was shocked that he would do such a thing to anyone, much less a poor orphan who was clearly disliked by his caretakers. She had always been a bit wary of him though. She believed that he had too much social and political power for a simple headmaster of a school. A school headmaster had no business in politics, especially at the level that she knew Albus Dumbledore was involved.
"Dumbledore removed the glamour that my mother had placed on me to disguise who my true father was, revealing my current appearance. My father and I wish to protect my past from the world and to begin my life anew as his son. I recently passed my NEWTs and am scheduled to begin an apprenticeship at Hogwarts in the fall. I need to fill the currently empty past life of Tallis Snape with something to convince people that I did not simply appear out of nowhere though. That is where your daughter comes in." Mary looked down at her daughter, seemingly just now remembering her presence.
"You want us to lie and claim that you were schooled at Veyle Academy?" Severus raised an eyebrow. She was certainly clever. She had also said the words as a statement of fact, not a true question. There was no horror or disgust at the request that she and her daughter lie. Maybe this would be easier than he had thought.
"Yes," Tallis said candidly. "I need to have people who can vouch for knowing me over the past few years."
"If we are to agree to do this, I need to know exactly who we are protecting. Who were you before you learned of your connection to the Snape clan?"
Tallis took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Harry Potter" he whispered, dreading her reaction.
She looked at him closely and then immediately swung her gaze to her nephew. "Is this true?"
"Yes."
"How did I never hear that you were dating Harry Potter? Surely the whole family would have known!"
"We kept it a secret. Harry…Tallis was worried that if people knew then I would become more of a target than I already was. Death Eaters already hate the Weasleys but they would attack me full force if they knew I was Harry Potter's lover."
Mary nodded her understanding. "I see. Yes, well dear, we will help you however we can, won't we Anna?" The little girl nodded firmly. She would do anything to help Harry Potter. She had grown up with bedtime stories of the Boy Who Lived and here he was asking for her help! Not to mention he might marry her cousin and then they would be related! She was delighted and immediately started planning the wedding in her mind, starring herself, of course, as an attendant.
Severus snorted when he picked up her train of thought but quickly recovered his composure. He finally spoke up. "For your protection, madam, we have developed a potion and a spell that will prevent you from telling the secret and will protect your mind from invasion through Legilimency or truth serums. We would like to administer it to you and your daughter both."
"What exactly will it do?" Mary asked, suddenly a bit more cautious.
Tallis was slightly more diplomatic than his father and decided to intervene. He could just imagine his father confusing the poor woman even more by going into a detailed lecture of the potion theory. He skipped straight to layman's terms. "It will do just as my father said. It promotes illusion and dream or stories rather than the hard truth. If someone were to ask your daughter if Tallis Snape went to school with her she would be able to answer in all honesty that yes, he did. It will not, in any way, meddle with her mind or alter her reality. She will know, even as she says the words that it is not true.
"I know that it sounds like mind control but in truth it is closer to a stimulant to help you do what you already want to do—protect me by telling people that you have known me for years. It truly works more as a way to help you keep a secret than as a way to prevent you from telling the truth. It will not work if either of you does not truly want to protect me.
"More importantly though, it will protect you from any who would seek to find the truth. We do not anticipate anyone ever coming to any of you to even ask about me but we wished to help protect you after you have done so much to protect us. This potion and spell will protect you from anyone who tried to pull the truth from your mind. More, it will not only conceal the truth but it will also protect your mind itself. Legilimency can be a good and useful thing but it can also be a dangerous and debilitating tool when abused. This will protect you from anyone who sought to rip the truth from you regardless of how it may cripple your mind in the process. This potion and spell will keep your mind completely safe from harm."
"Will the spell ever be lifted?"
"In time, perhaps" Severus said. "I do not wish to lie to you madam. There is a great possibility that my son will never wish for the truth to be revealed. His life as Harry Potter was never easy and we are both happy with the way that things are now. Neither of us wishes for a return to the way that things were."
Mary nodded. She understood that. Molly was her best friend as well as her sister and they kept few secrets from each other. She had heard long ago from Molly that Severus was a spy for the light and she knew that his life had been hard. From the tiny hints that Molly had dropped about Harry's life she knew that he had not had it easy either. She looked over at Tallis, searching his eyes for an answer. "If we do this, if we help you to hide, will you still kill Voldemort?"
"Yes" he said firmly. "That is my destiny, I have long realized that. I do not seek to escape it. I only want a chance to live free from the weight that was on my shoulders since I entered the wizarding world simply for bearing his mark. I want a chance to be with my father and to actually live a normal life. I promise you though, that when the time comes, I will kill him."
Mary nodded firmly as did little Anna. "We'll do it. Please go ahead with your spell or potion or whatever it is."
Severus gave her a rare smile. "This should only take a moment and it will not hurt at all." He passed them both vials of the apricot colored potion and waited for them to drink it. Tallis stood up and placed his hands on Mary's temples, looking into her eyes. He hissed in parseltongue, activating the protection. Mary flinched momentarily when he started hissing but quickly regained control. She had long known that he was a parselmouth but it still surprised her to hear the snake language spoken. The words that he was hissing were the items that needed to be protected: namely the fact that Tallis Snape had just been discovered, that he had never attended Veyle Academy and that he was also Harry Potter.
When he was finished Tallis turned to Anna and repeated the process. She looked up at him in wonder, amazed at his abilities. When he had finished with her as well he stood back. Bill turned to his aunt. "Does Tallis Snape attend school with your daughter?"
"He did. He graduated last year" she said and then gasped lightly. "It worked! It is wonderful. Thank you for this. I understand now what you meant about the potion. We will stay for a while longer if you need any reassurance for the others about what the potion really does. Even after you described it the spell sounded too much like mind control for me to be completely comfortable with it but I decided to trust you, dear. If you have any problems with any others just call me back in and I'll explain what it is like to them. Good luck, Tallis, and you too dear" she said as she reached up to kiss Bill on the cheek.
"Miss Wright, I must check you as well to be safe. Do you know Tallis Snape?" Severus asked the little girl.
"Oh yes, he went to school with me last year." The little girl was clearly delighted with how the spell worked. She hugged her cousin and then waved goodbye to Tallis and Severus.
"Well, that's one down. Only twenty-one more interviews to go" Tallis said lightly as he took his seat once again, ready for the next interview.