Archibald Gripes

"Living forever seems the ultimate dream of most Wizards who dabble in the dark arts." Snapes voice was calm and silky. He had flicked his wand, transfiguring a nearby table into a chair, sitting in it to give Hermione the room to breath he figured she would need. "As was the tale of a young, extremely talented Wizard by the name of Archibald Gripes.

"Gripes was a cold, troubled boy who grew to be a cold, troubled Wizard. He attended Hogwarts until he turned seventeen in his sixth year, and chose to leave to pursue interests beyond what Hogwarts could teach him. He was cruel, snide, ugly and shrewd, having no interest in what others would offer him, only in what he could take from them.

"He traveled as a young Wizard, searching for treasures and powers greater then his own. He was a great wizard in many ways, discovering the many properties of scorpion tale in pursuit of his greatest want, eternal life.

"As he grew older he began conducting most disturbing experiments, such as dissecting unicorns to ascertain why they lived so long. He felt his time to die approaching, paranoid of death lurking around his shoulder and it wasn't until his one hundred and fiftieth year that he came back to Hogwarts in search of something else; a young Wizard much like him who he could successfully possess.

"He knew a great many potions to help him in his quest, disguising his true identity, cloaking his mind with new memories so that when Dumbledore tried legilmens he only succeeded in procuring the memories of a Durmstrang student curious to explore the Hogwarts Castle in order to determine whether he would like to attend next fall.

"Gripes succeeded in finding his counterpart in a young Thomas Riddle…"

Hermione gasped, enthralled in the story though entirely perplexed as to what it had to do with her.

"Ah yes," Snape continued, "the Dark Lord himself as a boy."

Hermione shifted in her seat. She was never comfortable with how her Professor referred to Voldemort as the 'Dark Lord.'

Snape watched for Hermione to settle and then continued with his story. "Riddle seemed young and foolish to Gripes, but had a taste for the Dark Arts which he was pleased by. Gripes heard rumours floating around from other students, tales of Riddle doing awful things to fellow students and small animals alike. This made Gripes joyous, eventually approaching Riddle when he was left to explore the castle of his own means, following him to the prefect's bathroom.

"It can be said with great certainty that Gripes unveiled himself to Riddle in that very bathroom, telling his tall tale of wanting a young apprentice to help him discover the elixir of life. All that is known of Riddle's reaction is the fact that he agreed to meet Gripes at The Hog's Head that weekend."

Snape sighed hard, "We do not know what they discussed at the Hog's Head, only that they were there and met again there a month down the line right before Christmas, meeting throughout the Christmas holidays and the summer holidays at various locations until Thomas Riddle graduated Hogwarts.

"As you may well have gathered, information about the Dark Lords life after Hogwarts is limited at best. What we do know is Gripes took on a mentor like role to young riddle and continued that role up until Thomas Riddle became the Dark Lord."

Hermione flinched at every mention of the 'Dark Lord'. She would have much preferred him to say, as Harry does quite frequently, 'Voldemort'.

"We shall skip ahead to a mid September day in the late 70's. According to sources the weather was in a terrible state, likened to a hurricane. A young heavily pregnant woman was toasting her feet in front of a fire when she went into a sudden premature labour. The husband rushed to a phone yet was unable to get a line out, and looking out the window at the storm all hopes were dashed about making it to the hospital in their small, poorly maintained Volkswagen Beetle."

All of this began to sound awfully familiar to Hermione.

Snape, noting Hermiones sudden change of expression, let an accomplished smirk cross his face as he continued.

"At that moment two men seemed to appear out of nowhere outside of the house. There were great noises coming from the side yard, followed by brilliant lights and screams of pain overpowering those of the young woman giving birth. A bright light was seen again as the lounge room window crashed open with the body of a very old man flying through landing right next to the young woman who shrieked and gave a last push to release her baby from her womb."

Snape seemed as dramatic as ever, his smirk never faltering for a moment. "Of course the two men were Wizards, and it was later determined by the Ministry of Magic that the dead man was no other than Archibald Gripes."

"That's a very dramatic story sir, but, and pardon me for asking, where do I fit in exactly?" Hermione asked this question in a huff. She was mightily entertained but not a bit amused by what seemed to be a very pointless tale.

"Gripes, as I said before, spent his life searching for a way in which he could obtain eternal life. I can say without hesitation that he ended his life in the same way."

"What do you mean to say?" Hermione enquired, still confused but a little fearful of catching on.

"Gripes was so determined to not see the end of his life, he entered the body of the closest, most vulnerable soul. He possessed the baby, the little girl the young woman gave birth too."

Hermione was in shock for a moment, but shook herself out of it to ask, "How do you know?"

Snape hooked his eyes on hers and moved forward in his chair. With a smooth voice he pronounced, "Because I was there."

Hermiones eyes narrowed as she began to piece the puzzle together. "You killed Gripes." She stated, without needing to ask.

"Indeed," Snape leaned back again, "On the Dark Lords orders, I hunted Gripes down and killed him. I watched him fall through the window and land next to the young woman. I watched his soul leave his body and enter the screaming child."

Hermione assumed the parents' memories were erased and she assumed Voldemort wouldn't have told Snape why he wanted Gripes killed; only that he had to do it. She only had one question to ask and she very much didn't want to ask it.

"Who…who was the baby?" Hermiones heart pumped vigorously. She wanted to crawl inside herself, yet she remained stock still, staring hard at Snape.

Snape moved uncomfortably in his chair, cleared his throat and once again sipped his water. "The baby was you."

And then there was darkness.