Chapter Eight Snape's Story

They moved quickly through the forest, gradually going uphill and through ever more difficult terrain. Harry was the last and struggling. Although it was warm, he felt like he was on-fire. Sweat stung his eyes and blinded him. He walked and stumbled until a hand reached out and steadied him and helped him through a maze of boulders. It was Snape.

"Where are we going," Harry groaned.

"Don't speak Potter," Snape said quietly. "We need to be out of hearing range. Keep walking."

They continued to climb until they reached a trail overlooking the little valley. Harry could tell they had been following the natural course of a little creek which eventually ended up in the blue lake encircling the prison. The scene was quite beautiful if he'd had a moment to more than just glance at it.

Natural waterfalls fell like strands of downy white hair over deep green mossy cliffs. They moved along a shelf-like outcrop barely wide enough for a single person to walk. Snape was behind him holding onto his cloak and pushing him forward when he stopped. Harry noticed there were tiny boats on the lake coming their way and on the distant narrow shore there were more figures disembarking.

The forest below them, looked almost like a thick impassable jungle from his viewpoint, but now looked unnaturally alive. There wasn't any wind and yet there were undulations in the treetops that moved in waves towards the lake. He wondered what could be making the movements and got caught up in his curiosity and almost forgot where they were and what was happening.

He stopped completely out of breath, falling behind the others and leaned against the wall, gasping. Snape remained silent standing under an eave of earth and grass waiting for him to recover.

"Professor, what is that?"

Snape spoke, his deep voice muffled by the shelf of earth. "Those are Death Eaters crossing the lake and coming ashore. Probably other creatures with them. It's likely they know we are on the island and Malfoy has sent them out to search for us. I think the Dark Lord is probably getting impatient for his prize."

Harry's head whipped around and studied the man's face. There was no malice there.

Snape continued, "They are going to run head-on into the elves."

Harry jerked back around and watched the two forces as they moved towards one another. It would take place almost at their feet.

"Mr. Potter, unless you want to have horrific nightmares for the next few years of your life, I suggest you find the strength to move on. We are but a short distance from our goal."

"I don't think my mind is that delicate," Harry said under his breath and then grabbed a rock to pull himself along. He took a moment to glance down one more time before rounding a corner. It was just after that he started hearing horrendous, hideous screaming that sounded barely human coming from somewhere very close.

"Keep going," Snape murmured and once again put a hand in his back and pushed him along gently.

They entered wide mouth cave hidden by a bench of rock. Harry thought he had never smelled anything quite as ghastly as what he was smelling at the moment. It made his stomach lurch almost uncontrollably.

The others were waiting for them as they came around the bend and stepped into the cool but acrid interior of the cave.

"Harry, what was that noise we heard?' Ron asked anxiously. Snape had motioned to Sooki and together they turned and left the way they'd come.

"Snape says it's the Death Eaters coming ashore. There were elves waiting for them," Harry gulped. "It sounded horrible." They stared at each other in horror. "What is that terrible smell?"

Moses came out of the dark throat of the cave and met them. He was smiling and pinching his nostrils together. "This is the dragon's lair," he said and then pulled the brim of his hat down on his brow. "The elves can't smell us or hear us here. The others, if they survive, won't come near the place."

"We are in a dragon lair?!" Lupin said, in surprise. "No wonder it stinks."

Moses found a soft spot near the entrance where the daylight reflected against the walls and sat down. He pulled things from his bag again.

Harry sank gratefully to the floor nearby and closed his eyes.

"You should rest while you can," Moses told the other two. " Pashal and Sooki will not be back for awhile."

"Where have they gone?" Ron asked.

"To steal a boat," Moses answered and then almost to himself, "There will be plenty left to steal."

"Moses, what does Paschal mean?" Harry asked, accepting apiece of cheese. The taste mixed with the smell from the cave almost choked him and he swallowed quickly.

"What about the dragon? Where is it?" Ron asked simultaneously.

Moses smiled one of his enigmatic smiles and stuck a pipe in his mouth. He lit it with a click of his fingers, closed his eyes and appeared to fall asleep. He spoke a minute later. "The dragon is asleep and will stay that way until it is woken. Paschal, Harry, means… friend…and more; a mate, someone who would give his life for you." He glanced at Ron and then pulled the brim of the hat down the long nose and they could see his mouth and a glint of gold. "I will tell you a story. It is for you to hear Mr. Lupin. I think Harry knows it already." The cave was silent.

Harry dropped back and followed Moses' example and closed his eyes.

"There was a woman, a girl really," Moses began." "She danced and did the dukkering (fortune-telling) in a place called the Hogs Head Inn in this village of Hogsmeade." He hesitated and lingered over his pipe, studying the glowing embers, puffing and inhaling. "It was some time ago."

"That's the village near Hogwarts," Ron said.

"Shut it, Ron," Harry grumbled. "Let him tell it."

Harry glanced over at Moses with one eye. The man's tiny smile curled his lip and he continued, "She was a pretty Rom girl. She had no other family than her brother. Of course, the Rom people consider all the Rom, family, but… she was there working, and her brother he worked there also. They met another boy there. One who had no other home as well. He was finished with this school you call Hogwarts."

Moses puffed at the pipe and pushed his hat back slightly to look at them. He continued to speak, "This boy was a tortured person, shying away, afraid of every shadow, like a rabbit afraid of its' enemy the hawk. They all became friends, much like Ron and Harry and this girl we search for, this Hermione."

"The boy was Severus Snape and the girl was Crica. He called her Cricket, like the little bug." Moses rubbed his index fingers together; a gesture mimicking the hind legs of a cricket. "She chirped constantly." He frowned. "Too much talk for a woman, but…" He shrugged.

"They all become friends and this boy Severus, he begins to heal and look less and less like a dead man. The brother watches and sees his sister and this Severus begin to love one another. It is not our custom for a Rom to marry outside the tribe, but this girl is stubborn and head-strong. She loves this man and wants to marry him, and so, they marry. But this story has pain in it because in his heart this man still loves another; one he cannot have, one taken by another." Moses sat up and knocked the ashes from his pipe. He leaned on his knee and continued his story.

"The brother understands but it saddens him. That is not to say Severus was not kind to Cricket. He loved her too," Moses nodded, "in his own way. Then the girl tells him she is going to have his child. This was good news. They all joined the Kumpania in the summertime…"

"What's a kumpania?" Ron whispered looking over to see if Harry was awake.

Harry lay quietly listening.

"That is the families who come together and travel the road, Ron," Moses said. "They leave the winter shelter and go traveling the roads. This little family and the brother go and join their Kumpania."

"How is it that you know so much about them?" Ron asked interrupting again.

Moses smiled and tapped his shoe with the empty pipe and stared at him thoughtfully, "Because I was the brother. Crica was my sister." He sat quietly for a moment.

"Go on, Moses," Lupin said quietly.

"Ah yes, I was thinking to myself," Moses mused. After another moment he continued, "We traveled the summer and would go to the villages and walk the streets in the summer sun, barefoot and ragged, but happy. Very happy. One day we are in this small place called Godric's Hollow. It is an old village, an ancient one. Above it's tiny streets there sits an ancient castle on a hillside. It is in ruin. It is not like this castle here or the one you call Hogwarts." He scrunched his nose and shook his head. "No, it is old, very old. Anyway, we are there and it is a bright day and Severus and my sister are on the street eating ice cream. They are playing…laughing... and I am trying to trick this man out of his gold coin. I play the violin for money." Moses raises his arms and stokes an imaginary violin as he speaks.

Harry closed his eyes so he could better envision the story as it was told. He could almost see the teenagers on the street enjoying themselves, and hear the music playing.

"Then, from up the street several figures come closer," Moses was saying. "Severus, he is startled and he stands staring at the three people who walk to him. One is a girl with brown hair that is very long. With her is a man with dark hair and another smaller man. They see him and the one bursts out laughing and he strolls up to him and says, 'Well if it isn't Snivellus!' The other two, the dark-haired boy and girl stand back a little. The dark haired one says to the other, 'Sirius, leave him alone. Come on we'll be late.'"

Moses drew on his pipe and continued, "It is hard for the smaller one called Sirius to leave and Severus is standing tall and straight and facing them. I can tell he is angry. But his eyes they keep going to the woman with the long hair and I know in my heart this is the one he calls Lily. This is the one he still loves."

Moses scratched absent-mindedly in the dirt, his head bent. "My sister also sees the look in her husband's eyes. She grows angry." Moses' head came up, "The Rom women you must know, have hot blood. When she sees the look on Severus' face she is jealous and hurt. For it is the first time I think that she knows Severus loves another."

"My sister is ripe and ready to have this baby. She sees the other girl is also going to have a baby. I think perhaps she thought it was Severus' child. Who knows what comes into the mind of a jealous woman." Moses frowned and shook his head.

"Jealousy, is an evil thing. It was madness that made her think it, but she wanted to know for sure, so she went to their house. She went to the house of the woman and the dark-haired man. Severus did not know of this. He was with me and we traveled to a country fair in another place to sell some horses."

"Crica went to this place but did not see the woman there," Moses said again very softly. Harry could hear the pain in his voice. "But the small man who she had seen on the street was there, the one they called Sirius, the one who spoke to Paschal."

There was silence and Harry could feel, once again, the horror rising and the sickening feeling of tears in his eyes.

"Sirius knows her. He frightens her and taunts her. Because Circa is scared she lashes out. She says to him that the woman's child, the one called Lily, her child will die at the hands of the Kalo Beng, the evil one. She tells him she is Severus' wife and will be the only one to carry Severus' child. She says it has been prophesied that the other woman's child will die.

Sirius asks her how she would know that. He's furious thinking Crica is saying Lily's child is Severus', that she is prophesizing the death of the child. He becomes angry and intimidating. She tells him Severus was in the Inn the night an old man and a woman were talking. He overheard the woman prophesize the death of the infant boy. He heard part of it before the Innkeeper threw him out for snooping. Severus had told her."

Harry could hear Ron's sudden intake of breath from surprise.

Moses continues almost in a moan, "Sirius is angry. He holds her hostage. He uses a wizard's spell and binds and gags her and then leaves to send a message to Severus. Sirius wants to hear it for himself and thinks Severus will come to him when he knows Crica is there." Moses suddenly stood as if the story had an energy driving him. Harry could feel it himself. Just hearing it told again made him want to jump up and run from the cave so he couldn't hear the rest, but he laid still and tried not to move.

"What happened?" Lupin asked in a dry, dead voice.

"She struggle to escape the spell that bound her. Yet she was unfamiliar with Gadje magic and she could not do it. She made it the stairs leading down from the house sitting on a hillside. The awkwardness of her belly she became unsteady and fell," Moses said. "She broke her neck.

"Oh, no," Ron breathed in shock.

Moses made a circuit of the cave and was coming around again. He stopped at Ron's feet. "Yes. The dark-haired man they call James. The father of this one, Harry," he nodded over to Harry, "he comes home and finds Crica. She is dead but the baby has been delivered. It is dead as well." Moses shrugged and continued, "Severus comes then and sees this. He thinks James has killed her, has killed the child- his child. The woman called Lily arrives home. Severus is screaming and screaming, 'a child for a child', he screams."

"How, how did you…" Remus stuttered and then couldn't finish.

"I was there," Moses said calmly. "I see the man holding the baby and my sister's blood red on his hands. I know what has happened even though I mourn the death of my sister and her child."

Harry swallowed hard as he lay listening and felt the first tears running down the sides of his head and pooling in the dirt below. He sobbed silently and clenched his fists.

"Severus has a rage he cannot release. He goes to this black devil, the Kalo Beng and says to him, 'Give me the man in place of my child, take his life and I will serve you', " Moses intoned and sighed heavily.

"It is often the case when a man makes a mistake, it is worsened because he follows it with another. Severus told this Voldemort about the prophecy. It was only then that Severus learned of the man called Peter Pettigrew and learned he was betraying his own friends by being a spy for Voldemort. Severus realized Voldemort was going to kill Lily and James Potter and then the child she carried. However, Voldemort planned to kill the Potter boy and to kill the Longbottom child, because he did not know which was to be his assassin."

Moses stared down at Harry as he stopped in his circuit of the cave and said, "Although Severus was deeply grieved over the loss of Crica, for he loved her too; he also realized he had betrayed his one true love, Lily Potter. Severus set out to stop, Voldemort." He was interrupted from telling the rest of the story.

"I can tell the rest of the story," Lupin said.

Harry opened his eyes and dried his face with his sleeve. He rolled his head to stare at the brown-haired man sitting on a boulder at the face of the cave.

"I met him on the way to the Potters. I received a message from Lily telling me to come to them quickly. It didn't give specifics; it just said that Severus was involved. Well…" he laughed dryly, "I had never done anything to Snape when we were in school. I never did anything to stop what happened to him either. To my shame I watched when James and Sirius tricked him and teased him...and''' bullied him. I didn't particularly feel sorry for him but I didn't hate him either. I thought when I received her message that he had done something terrible to Lily."

Lupin shuffled a rock between his hands and went on, "At Hogwarts, I found out Lily was his friend. It was just before we left after our seventh year and I was feeling very frightened at the time. I knew my kind find it very difficult to manage out in the real world. Lily had been there for me all those years consoling me and I found myself falling in love with her, too. I also knew that James loved her and so I didn't make my feelings known." His voice dropped, as if he were talking to himself. "I mean what future would she have with a….a werewolf."

He stood and turned to them, "I was jealous of Snape and the time Lily took with him. I wouldn't allow myself to feel that way about James, or even about Sirius, because I knew they loved her, too. I just couldn't accept Severus in the same way. After all, James and Sirius were my best friends and I consoled myself with the idea I would still have all of them; that I would never really lose her. It would always be like it was at Hogwarts."

Remus continued, walking slowly towards Moses. The two appeared to be in their own world and lost to the fact that two boys were listening. "When I got her message, it frightened me. She didn't give any details, but just the tone of what she sent made me frantic to reach her. I left immediately. She was beside herself, almost hysterical in the letter and I couldn't imagine what had happened. I went and learned of the death of the woman and her child. It was such a tragedy . Lily couldn't find Severus and she tried. She couldn't fix what was unfixable and she was still pregnant herself and very close to having Harry. Severus, of course, just disappeared."

"It was a year later almost to the very day of the anniversary of his wife and son's death when I stopped him…I stopped him... from going to James and Lily." Lupin dropped his head and his voice sounded strangled. "I didn't believe him when he told me Peter was going to betray Lily and James. I mean I thought Sirius was the secret-keeper and I didn't know that at the last minute he'd used the Fidelius charm on Peter. I didn't believe Severus when he said he wanted to save them. How could I? After his threats, his grief...his loss.. I couldn't believe he wanted to save them instead of kill them. We all thought he'd gone over to Voldemort."

So… I…hurt him." Lupin said and threw the rock shattering against the wall. He continued, "I didn't know about….the charm... he placed on Lily and Harry to protect Harry."

Moses nodded and sat down again staring at him. He continued where Lupin had left off. "I share in the responsibility, I was the one who sent her to her death. I was the one who found where they lived and told her; and when Severus got the message from Lily Potter, I was the one who took him there. So you see, it is a full circle now." He raised his hands and there was a deafening silence that followed the act.

A noise from the front of the cave drew their attention. It was Snape and Sooki.

"I hope you are all rested," Snape said dryly. He studied the expression on each of their faces and turned to Moses last. "It's time to wake the Old Dog. It's time to wake the dragon."