Remembrance and Renewal by Avatar Arkmage and Nigel Tatsuya
Chapter Five:Descent
"Okay, Professor Snape, take a deep breath." Nurse Poppy Pomfrey secured the binding around Severus's midsection. The entire process had been a harrowing ordeal for both nurse and patient. Over the last six hours, she had employed methods more fitting of a muggle physician; and like a true muggle physician would feel after that much exertion, she was exhausted.
"Madam Pomfrey? Madam Pomfrey, what's wrong?" Severus asked as the nurse slumped against one of the cabinets.
"Nothing," Poppy replied, "just get some rest. I've done all I can, and it is now up to your body to heal itself."
With nary a gesture to betray his agony, Severus closed his eyes. Before being released from the Death Eater meeting, Voldemort had ordered him drink the notorious Interventio Interferus potion he had brewed earlier. The concoction corrupted its drinker's systemic response to magic, thereby preventing any healing by magical means, and rendering any magical potions ingested virtually poisonous. Even worse, it also inhibited the effects of any pain alleviating substance, magical or not, for at least six to seven days. Severus had to endure all the pain that came with resetting his bones, suturing incised or lacerated flesh, and dressing his wounds without even the mildest analgesic. By the time Poppy had finished, Severus had fainted not less than five times, and had regurgitated twice.
Not wanting to risk using magic even externally, Poppy cleansed him manually using a washcloth, and nothing more than an emulsion of warm water, essential oils and antiseptic herbs. Normally, Severus would have protested, for he hated being so vulnerable. In the past, when Poppy had employed cleansing charms after healing him, Severus had always threatened to retaliate by casting sullying charms on her. Today, Severus only tried his best to ignore the nurse's ministrations.
After helping Severus don pajamas, and tucking him into the bed adjacent to Harry Potter, Poppy sat on a nearby chair to observe them both for a while.
Severus turned in Harry's direction, and concluded initially that the youth was asleep. Upon closer examination however, Severus saw that Harry's breaths were very shallow, and that his skin was abnormally pale; not what one would expect to see in a person who was merely asleep. Harry must have been unconscious. Little wonder, as the boy had nearly drowned on the previous day, and his family did not seem the least bit concerned.
Momentarily, Professor Severus Snape entertained thoughts of retaliation against the Dursleys, by means of some strategically placed impotence inducer potions, or perhaps a shampoo that would make all three of them develop green stripes in their hair. Snape grinned evilly at the thought of installing faucets that dispensed water so hot that only a some one who normally lived in a magma chamber could appreciate it .
Or survive it...
Poppy's cold hand on his forehead broke into this contemplations. "You've got a terrible fever, Severus. You can expect to be confined to the hospital wing for at least ten days..."
Snape turned to Madam Pomfrey with the same expression one might see on a person who had just been told that an asteroid made of waste from a space station was going to hit their home town. "...TEN DAYS!" he interrupted. "I will depart in no more than three."
"You will do no such thing!" Madam Pomfrey ordered in an almost scolding tone, as she poured water into a goblet, then held it to Severus's lips. "Just hours ago, you were barely conscious! You've been hurt very badly, and you'll have to heal completely on your own without magic. I won't release you for ten days at the VERY LEAST!. You had better grow accustomed to staying here."
Severus swallowed the water grudgingly, fighting off the urge to gag. "I would rather apparate to Antarctica wearing nothing but McGonagall's hat and Dumbledore's annoying pink bunny slippers!"
"Why Severus, I had no idea you were such an exhibitionist!" Poppy retorted. "I'm sure the penguins will be clamouring for an encore after you succumb to hypothermia."
"Well that would be preferable to staying under your care for the next ten days!" Severus attempted to be his normal rude self, but was too fatigued and weak from injury to sound very convincing.
Poppy was about to tell him of the activities he would be limited to after the ten days, but merely pulled the blanket up to his chin when she saw that he had closed his eyes once again. Madam Pomfrey wondered if Dumbledore really did own pink bunny slippers, and if he did, how in the world did Severus know about them? Moreover, would Albus Dumbledore ever loan them out?
Harry Potter knew that he should leave the spiritual realm and return to his body...
...his beaten, hyponatremic, broken, and starved body...
It was as though his soul were splitting along the very seams of his cognizance. One part of him knew that he should return to his own time, but another wanted desperately to bombard his mother with questions, which had accumulated over sixteen years, and had compounded interest like a debt on a loan taken from a particularly tyrannical group of goblins. Yet another part of him wanted to follow Snape's mother, that humble, yet emotionally steadfast woman he had grown to admire, and accept as a grandmother.
"Come along, dear wife," Harry's attention was drawn to the abnormally flat voice of Snape's father. His demeanor was equally flat as he clutched the woman's wrist.
"Release me!" Mervidith Snape jerked her hand with such force that her estranged husband pitched forward, but stayed on his feet. "Lucien! Let me go! And do not refer to me as dear wife' until you can be one iota of the husband and father you used to be!"
'used to be?" Harry questioned as he shielded his eyes, expecting the violent man to strike her. The Elder Snape remained unwavering, holding onto the glowing coal haired woman's wrist. There was something in the man's hand, and Harry realized too late that it was a portkey, as the two of them winked out of the scene.
Harry did not have to think too hard to follow. The tranquil country scene around him changed to that of a mansion so dark it seemed that the flagstone walls themselves circulated a form of evil, inorganic blood. At first, Harry thought they had portkeyed back to the Snape family home, but this place was far more ominous. The walls were lit only by torches which seemed to burn with a faint green glow, as though their flame of origin was a St. Elmo's fire on a moonless night.
There were people in the room, wearing the all too familiar black robes and white masks. Although Harry could not see any of their faces, he could feel their evil smiles bore into the chained figure on the floor. Some of them held out their wands, while others merely clenched their fists in anticipation of the night's festivities.
Severus Snape raised his head and looked around. His range of motion was very limited, as the chains were wrapped from just below his shoulders to his waist, fixing his hands firmly behind his back. Another set of chains were coiled from his knees to ankles. Harry wondered why the Death Eaters did not employ a body bind charm, for it was far more efficient and easier to apply. Harry giggled, believing that some of the Death Eaters must be sporting bruises and black eyes behind their masks, courtesy of an incensed Snape's fists.
Harry then realized with desolation, that Snape had been abducted upon returning from his mother's home in Alsace. Snape could not have been able to talk to Lily that night.
"MUM!" shouted Severus, as Harry watched the Elder Snape drag Mervidith to a podium near the front of the room. Severus rolled onto his back, raised his legs into the air, and jumped to his feet in a whip like motion. He then began vaulting toward his parents.
It became apparent as to why the Death Eaters had used chains, when a cloaked figure directly behind Severus grabbed the links, and used it to slam him onto the floor. Another death eater grabbed the links immediately above Severus's waist and dragged him backwards.
"Good work, Lucien Snape." a very cold, but very human voiced praised.
Harry almost did not recognize Voldemort. Even though he had seen him in the spelled diary during his second year at Hogwarts, Harry had not been expecting to see this version of the dark lord. The middle-aged Tom Riddle was almost handsome with his dark hair, and peach coloured skin. Almost handsome; the look of malevolence tainted his features in the extreme.
Voldemort walked toward the bound boy on the floor and ordered Goyle Sr. and Crabbe Sr. to stand him up. "So, Severus Snape, your reputation precedes you. You are becoming quite the prodigy, arguably the best potion brewer in many generations."
Goyle yanked on Snape's chains for effect.
"You will be an exalted asset to the cause, even at your age, for you've already developed many new potions. Perhaps you can brew some that would be of great use to us." Voldemort drew his wand and pointed it at Mervidith. "Will you willingly take the mark, and accept all the responsibilities and rewards that comes from being one of us?"
In horror, Severus said nothing.
Voldemort took a step toward Mervidith. "CRUCIO!"
Caught off-guard, Mervidith screamed and fell to the platform thrashing wildly. Harry wanted to turn away, but found he could not, and began to wonder if this was what came of curiosity. He had wondered what events led up to that scene in St. Mungos with a distraught Severus trying to get any type of response from his mother. As a consequence, his question would be answered in full.
Voldemort ended the curse and turned back to Snape. The still-human authoritarian seemed to revel in the nineteen year-old's horror at watching his mother's torture. Before Severus could answer, Voldemort cast the curse again. To Harry's astonishment, Mervidith Snape did not utter a sound this time, and just lay face down on the platform.
The Dark Lord looked confused, and wondered if he had cast the curse correctly. He raised his wand, quickly ended the spell, and waited until some of Mervidith Snape's involuntary jerking abated before casting the curse again. Save for the twitching and shuddering, Mervidith Snape seemed largely unaffected by the torture, and shocked murmuring resounded throughout the room. When Voldemort ended the curse a second time, he kicked the woman onto her back and reached for the hem of her gingham house dress. "Perhaps we should try a more conventional method of convincing disrespectful sons to comply."
"Please," Mervidith wheezed, barely audible, "let me talk to Sevvi-Severus. I can reason with him."
Believing that the frail woman was surely going to plead with her son to stop her torture and join the Death Eaters, Voldemort picked Mervidith up by the collar and threw her at her son. She landed some distance away from him, skidding the last few metres. Severus dropped to the floor next to her, as did Harry.
"Don't join them, son!" Mervidith said, looking up from where she had landed on the marble floor. "No matter what they do to me, never take that mark!"
"But mum," Severus gaped at the sight of blood trickling from his mother's mouth. She must have bit her tongue during the course of the torture. "They're hurting you..."
"Son, I've gone through 21 hours of labour with you." Harry could tell Mervidith Snape was forcing the smile on her face, and was in the process of concocting a lie. "After that, the cruciatus curse is...is nothing by comparison."
Harry thought that if childbirth as painful as Mervidith said, then all humans would either die off in the next hundred years or learn to be oviparous in all haste. People like Molly Weasley would be sent to the ward for people with masochistic tendencies at St Mungos. The expression on Snape's face said that he was thinking along those same lines.
"Severus," Mervidith pleaded. "Do not join the Death Eaters."
"But they'll kill you if I don't."
"Dear...if you get take the mark, it will only mean the suffering and deaths of many more people." Mervidith reached a shaky hand to her son's. "Your father, the man you know as your father, he was a kind man before the mark was burned into his arm. I know you may not remember a time when he was otherwise, but he was a good man who loved us both."
Severus Snape looked stunned.
"It's true, my precious child. My family, the Rogues, cast me out when they learned I was pregnant. They didn't care that I was fifteen and scared, they just couldn't stand to see the House of Rogue disgraced by a bastard child." The older woman, who Harry noted did not look that much older than Snape, closed her eyes and clenched her teeth before continuing. "Your father, he was disowned by his own family. But he vowed to take care of me, and love you as if you were his own."
Harry looked back at Lucien Snape, and realized that it was true. He looked nothing like his "son" Severus. It appeared that he had long white hair to Harry at first, but upon closer observation, Harry realized that his hair was actually the palest blonde. His eyes were the colour of a frozen polar sea. In fact, Lucien looked very much like Lucius Malfoy would if he were bitter and violent, rather than bitter and haughty. Lucien must have been descended from the Malfoy family.
Mervidith quivered before answering. "Yes. He did not father you. But he knew what it was like to have a father that wouldn't claim him, and he was determined that you wouldn't suffer the life of a bastard child."
"Then who was..?"
"I had hoped I'd never have to tell you. It is one of the most painful things I'd ever had to live with." She turned away as she continued. "Before the Knights of Walpurgis became established, there were many gangs of pure blooded wizards who hated half-bloods, muggles and muggle-borns. At first, I thought that my pure blood would keep me safe, but I was gravely mistaken. One day, as I was at a slumber party at my muggleborn friend's home, a group of those prejudiced wizards attacked. Although I knew that I was not allowed to use magic outside of Hogwarts, I had no other means to fight those wizards off. I was proficient at duelling so I fought back..." Tears appeared at the corner of Mervidith's eyes. "But there were too many of them, and I quickly became exhausted. When all my magic was spent, they...they hurt me," her voice trailed off.
"Not even my own parents believed me when I told them what happened." Mervidith forced her self to go on. "So I was pregnant with you, and expelled from Hogwarts for using magic outside of school..."
"But you had just cause!" both Severus and the spirit Harry said at the same time.
Voldemort, who expected Severus to be grovelling to join the Death Eaters by now, moved in closer to hear what passed between the dark-haired mother and son. Severus, thinking quickly, said loudly: "So if I join the Death Eaters, you'd be most proud of me?"
"Yes son, I think after you join, you can invent some Chromavomit potion. After all, if you're going to curse the muggles into vomiting, it would be much more effective if you should make them do it in shocking colours. Some pine green vomit will scare them incurably. Then again, I had this wonderful idea about a potion that would disrupt one's small intestines..."
Voldemort seemed to decide that Mervidith was making progress with her wayward son, and moved on to other matters with the death eaters. When Voldemort began talking about the curses they should employ on an upcoming raid, Mervidith went on. "The Ministry of Magic refused to hear my case, since they determined that I hadn't been hurt as badly as some of the gang's other victims had. So they snapped my wand and expelled me from Hogwarts."
Every vestige of color vanished from Severus's face. Harry absently put a hand on his shoulder. He could not imagine what being a child of rape must be like.
"I was ready to end my life at that point, but then the beautiful boy with eyes like the night sky appeared, and I knew I'd have to find a way to live. My friend Lucien, your adopted father, was there for me always. Because I had been denied the Rogue name, and Lucien had been disowned by the Malfoys some years before, we searched our family trees and found a common ancestor. Severitus Snape, the famed potion master, was the ancestor we shared, but the Snape line died with her. We reclaimed the name as our own, and we showed our families that we didn't need to walk their paths, for we paved our own. We have the Snape blood in our veins. The three of us, and surely the little green-eyed angel soon to be born, bear both the talent and curse of being adept at potions. The name is our true birthright."
Harry swallowed hard, he was certainly not 'adept at potions...?' Or was he only mediocre at them because he did not like his teacher? No, there must be some mistake, Harry wasn't be a Snape, he couldn't be, he looked like James Potter, then again... why did Mervidith Snape feel so much like his Grandmother?
Harry forced himself to pay attention once more. "You never knew the Lucien Snape that I knew, you were much too young to remember him," Mervidith lamented. "I believe he was blackmailed into joining the Death Eaters when you were in your second year of life. He went missing for almost two weeks, and when he returned from the Death Eater meeting, he would divulge nothing that had happened to him. When I insisted that he tell me, he beat me for the first time. That was when he became ever more violent with each passing year.
"Why did you stay with him?" Both Severus and Harry asked in unison.
"Because I had hope," the woman now looked many times her age, and very weary. "I hoped he would one day return to being the Lucien I had grown up with. I hoped that he would be the father to you that he was in the beginning. Do you know, Sevvie, that throughout the 21 hours of labour it took to bring you into this world, Lucien never left my side? He even helped the mediwitch and midwife deliver you. After that, he could barely leave your side, even going so far as to have a special carrier made so that you could be fastened to his back as he worked in the labs potions."
"Why does he seem to hate me?" Severus grated out. "He never allowed me in his labs!"
"He doesn't hate you, and up until he took the mark, he was proud of your interest in potions. After he joined the Death Eaters, I believe that your father feared you would become too proficient, thereby drawing the Dark Lord's attentions. You would suffer as he did." Mervidith turned to Harry, then back to Severus. "If you truly love Lily Evans, and want to bring that green-eyed angel boy into the world, refuse that mark! The little angel and Lily do not deserve to be unhappy even for a moment, and they surely do not deserve to suffer the fear of living with a Death Eater father or husband."
"But if the Cruciatus curse is applied for too long, you'll go insane!" Severus stopped, he could barely say the rest. "You could die."
"Sevvie, I've lived my life..."
"You're only thirty-five..."
"Dearest Sevvie, you've brought me enough joy over the past nineteen years to last several lifetimes. When you took me from the family home, you gave me a rich life, and there was not a moment of that life that was not full of the purest elation. Please, let me attempt repay you in kind." Mervidith said, holding Severus's hand in her trembling one.
"Well, Severus Snape, do not keep us waiting!" Voldemort's attention returned to them. "Will you willingly take the mark?"
Severus shook his head.
"I thought your mother was going to reason with you. You may be a brilliant potion master, but evidently there are some matters you can truly be a fool in!" Voldemort pointed his wand at the flaming-coal haired woman. "Crucio!"
The curses came in quick succession, and lasted longer each time Severus refused to take the mark. After twelve minutes, Mervidith could no longer refrain from screaming in agony, and began to lose control of her bodily functions after fourteen minutes.
"STOP!" screamed Severus at last.
Voldemort pulled back his wand. "You wish to say something young, black snake?"
"Sevvie...no!" Mervidith choked out.
"I-I'll pledge loyalty..." Snape muttered.
"I'm afraid I did not hear you." Voldemort raised his wand again. "CRUCIO!"
"I PLEDGE LOYALTY TO YOU LORD VOLDEMORT!" Snape bellowed, the volume of his voice rivalling that of his mother's agonized shrieks. One of the senior Death Eaters stepped forward and led Snape through the Death Eater Oath in its entirety. Voldemort did not lift the curse from Mervidith Snape until Severus had uttered the last syllable.
Harry was stunned at what he had witnessed. He had never seen the Cruciatus applied so long and could barely endure seeing the curse's aftermath. Mervidith Snape turned to Harry one last time, her whole body convulsing. "Green-eyed a-ngel, I-I'm sorry that we-we'll not w-walk this Earth t-together... b-but grandmum will l-love you always." With that, Mervidith Snape lay motionless on the floor, tears streaming from beneath her dark lashes. Severus made to go to her, but was dragged out of the room.
Lucien Snape did not follow the other Death Eaters. He knelt over his wife's body and began trying to revive her. Lucien tilted her head back and attempted to pour some potions into her mouth, but the liquids merely trickled out; the cruciatus curse had inhibited her ability to swallow properly. If Harry hadn't been staring, he would not have noticed the tears flowing from the man's icy blue eyes.
"Has there been any improvement in his condition?" Headmaster Albus Dumbledore asked quietly as he walked into the school nurse's office.
Nurse Poppy Pomfrey looked up from the reports she was writing. "Whose?"
"Either of them." Dumbledore replied, glancing back toward the main area of the ward. His eyes resting first on Harry Potter, who would have appeared dead were it not for his chest rising and falling shallowly; and then on Professor Severus Snape, whose face was contorted with pain even though he appeared to be asleep.
Rubbing her faintly lined forehead, Poppy exhaled. "Neither one of them is doing very well. Professor Snape, while stable, has a rough time ahead of him. He was forced to drink the Interventio Interferus potion after those animals stoutly beat him."
"Interventio Interferus?"
Poppy looked as though she could barely contain her rage. "If it weren't such a new concoction, I would swear it was invented by medieval inquisitors!"
"It is a pain causing potion?" The twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes was completely absent.
"No nothing like that. It's worse..." Poppy said, frowning. "It prevents healing by magical means, allowing the torturer to do anything short of killing the victim! The poor soul will then have to heal entirely on his or her own. If we try to use any healing spells or charms on Professor Snape now, in a best case scenario, it would only cause him excruciating pain." Her expression darkened, "In the worst instance, any magic used to heal him, including any potions, can react on a cellular level with the magic in his body and use it to inflict even more damage. There haven't been many studies on this potion yet, but patients have literally been ripped open by their own magic when the mediwitches or mediwizards tried to employ healing charms."
Professor Dumbledore's face went so pale that his skin matched his beard and hair almost perfectly.
"The potion's effects should begin wearing off in about a week or two and I can begin giving Professor Snape some non-magial healing elixirs and analgesic potions then. I dare not use any spells on him for about three weeks though, and he should be extremely careful that no one casts any spells on him until the potion has completely worked its way out of his body." Poppy's face paled with apprehension. "With even a trace of the potion still present, even the simplest hex could cause massive internal haemorrhaging, or even death. "
Dumbledore recoiled at that. Over the years, Severus Snape had become far more than a valued employee and spy for the Order of the Phoenix. Memories of the troubled youth flooded the older man's mind. Those first days where the boy had been sent to his office to be disciplined for cursing his peers. Young Severus looked at him with those frightened obsidian eyes, as though he expected Headmaster Dumbledore to beat him. Albus remembered the disbelief on the little boy's face when he patiently explained that while his actions could not be condoned, it did not warrant corporal punishment. Albus could not recall a student, before or since that time, who seemed to enjoy scrubbing caldrons, polishing trophies or mopping corridors as much as little Severus Snape did. Severus practically thanked him the first time he had been disciplined in that way, and the youth remained dutiful to the Headmaster ever since.
Madam Pomfrey continued to explain all the effects of the Interventio Interferus despite the distant look in the headmaster's eyes. She knew that somehow, his mind always managed to take in any information given to him, even if he appeared to not give his full attention to it. He did not disappoint this time. "So there is nothing you can do for him? Not even for his pain at least?"
"Very little, Headmaster." Poppy said. "I've even consulted colleagues in the muggle world to see if there were some treatments there that might be able to help with the pain, and some of them owled samples they got from their Pharm-a-soo-ti-kal companies."
"Muggle drugs?" Dumbledore asked, his eyes brightening.
"Yes, Muggle-produced drugs are about the safest option available to Severus at this time." Poppy replied, motioning to the large oval pills in a dark bottle on her desk. "Severus had the most difficult time swallowing the pill. At first, Severus started hacking and choking, so I thought it was the Interventio Interferus potion reacting to the muggle drug, but Severus told me it felt like the drug went down sideways and lodged in his esophagus."
"Why don't muggles take their potions in liquid form?" Albus Dumbledore thought out loud as he noted the size of the pills, and their elongated shape.
"Maybe so it doesn't spill from these flimsy dark bottles? Look at this cover! If you were to invert it, the potion would leak out." Poppy said, shuddering at the difficulty she had prying the "child proof" cap off of it. Apparently it was "wizard proof" to some extent as well. "I am not sure it helped with his pain, but he went to sleep within thirty minutes of taking it and couldn't tell me. We can only hope."
Poppy went on, motioning to another dark bottle which looked remarkably like the first, "There are also these muggle things called ant-ti-bi-o-tiks. From what I've read in the muggle books, these can help keep Professor Snape's wounds from becoming infected, since we can't use the potions that would normally do that."
Severus groaned in his fitful sleep. He rolled onto his side, cringed, then returned to laying supine, his hands coming to rest on his lower abdominal region. Thanks to Crabbe Sr. and Goyle Sr, those injuries would cause him great pain and nausea until he healed more. Only time could achieve that end. Poppy cringed as she remembered how hard it had been to suture that area without the help of pain reducing potions. The potions master, wanting to retain some illusion of his bravado, covertly stuffed a cloth into his mouth to keep from vocalising. Poppy hadn't noticed, until she asked him a question, and he had to withdraw the cloth to answer. Severus had been in tears when she finally applied the cold packs, and all but passed out when she applied the supportive bandaging.
"As for Harry, his injuries are coming along really nicely as there was nothing to prevent him from being healed." Pomfrey stated.
"Why is he still unconscious?"Albus asked.
"That is something I cannot explain, Headmaster." Poppy said, slumping her shoulders. "It's not exhaustion, because he'd at least show normal sleep patterns. He may have nearly drowned, but he has almost fully recovered from that. His injuries, while considerable, aren't enough to force him to remain unconscious. And though he's slightly malnourished, I managed to get him to swallow a nutrient replacer potion, so he's by no means starving. Not even the enervate spell has had any effect. "
Dumbledore removed his half-moon spectacles, and rubbed his nose and brow.
"I'm sorry Headmaster, I really don't know what to tell you." Poppy dropped her quill onto the desk. "We'll just have to wait until he wakes up on his own."
"Poppy?"
"Yes?"
"Is it possible, that Harry may not WANT to awaken? At least not for the time being?" The Headmaster asked gravely.
Nurse Pomfrey gave no reply and just looked at the headmaster with an uncharacteristically blank expression.
The Headmaster nodded to Poppy and walked out to the main ward, and stopped between Severus's and Harry's beds. Albus looked from one to the other, watching their chests rise and fall as they slumbered. "There is still great animosity between the two of you."
Severus shifted painfully again, and for a moment, it seemed to be his way of saying. "Of course there is!" But he apparently had not awakened.
"It was my wish that one day you both would have learned to put your differences aside." The Headmaster said as he put his left hand on Harry's forehead and his right on Severus's. "Severus, though you are an excellent occlumens, that was not the reason I chose you to teach Harry. I had hoped that while you may have only seen each other's differences, that you would also learn that you had much in common. Both of you have had more than your fair share of pain in your short lives." The Headmaster paused to dab at a tears that rolled into his white beard as he recalled the many events these younger men had endured in silence.
"I had hoped, and still do hope, that you might one day rise above those differences, and work cooperatively instead of competitively, for neither of you can stand up to Voldemort's forces alone." Albus turned to Harry. "Although the prophecy indicated that you have the power to vanquish the Dark Lord, Harry, Voldemort has many powerful allies... You will need your own, equally powerful, allies." And he motioned to Severus.
Harry's expression remained unchanged. Severus however, unnoticed by the aged headmaster, opened his eyes slightly and looked in Harry's direction. "What is that faint glow around his scar?" he wondered. He felt Albus brush some of his hair out of his face and tuck a raven lock behind his ear. For a while, he felt the warmth of the man's gaze upon him, so he willed his face to feign sleep as best he could. Severus knew from experience that fooling the older wizard was a difficult, if not impossible undertaking, but he attempted to appear asleep nonetheless.
The sound of the infirmary door opening softly drew Albus's attention from younger men. Remus Lupin, who still looked exhausted from his recent transformation, motioned the Headmaster to follow him. With a heavy heart, Albus left the room.
Severus opened his eyes fully, and gazed upon Potter's tranquil face. Just a week ago, he would probably have glowered at the boy, and balked at being placed in the bed next to his. He knew that Poppy only placed them there because those were the beds closest to the entrance to her quarters and her office, but he still would have made his displeasure known. For some reason, he could not find it in himself to resent the boy anymore.
Despite all the horrors Severus had witnessed throughout his life, the sight of Harry Potter laying motionless beneath the bath water had been unnerving. And why had he suddenly remembered a similar event from his own childhood shortly before he found Potter? Could it have been a premonition which helped dredge up the memory? Had Potter, desperate for help, used his magic and unknowingly cast a legilimens on him?
Had Potter witnessed that memory even as his lungs filled with fluid? How much had Potter seen? Had Potter seen his father slapping him, and threatening him with that accursed belt? Had Harry seen his father forcing him into the tub of hot water? Had Harry seen him cry?
Severus squeezed his eyes tightly, but that action did little to force the images back into the dark corners he had forced them to reside all those years ago. Instead, the images burned with a new intensity. He could once again smell the faint scent of soap from the bath, hear the sound of the tub filling, and feel his face stinging from his father's firm palm.
Using everything in his occlumency arsenal, he cast those memories back which such force, that it left him feeling dazed. He sighed, hoping that Potter would remember nothing, if he had seen that memory at all. With any luck, Harry would remember nothing from that day. With still more luck, the boy might not even recall what he had seen in the pensieve months earlier as well.
If Dumbledore ever ordered him to give Occlumency lessons to Potter again, he would be sure to fill his mind with "more suitable" thoughts. If Potter was indeed powerful enough to cast a legilimens involuntarily, then surely he'd be capable of breaking into his mind again whilst fully conscious.
Severus wondered how eager Potter would be to reverse a legilimens again, if he were treated to images of gutting blast ended skrewts for potions? How fast would Potter retreat from his mind if Severus were to show him images from his time at the University studying for his potions master degree? Surely images of the infestations of the Magical Equivalent of the human botfly and its cure would send Potter retreating? Or perhaps advanced potions for treating charmed and venomous ascarids would do it? Once Potter had his fill of those images, Snape was sure he'd never want to look into his mind again.
After a while of musing, and making himself sufficiently queasy in the process, Severus began to feel sleepy. As much as he longed for better scenery than the son of an old school mate he could barely tolerate, he did not want to risk causing himself unnecessary pain by shifting positions. He drowsily remained facing in Harry's direction. Without those overlarge and thick glasses on, he looked less and less like James and more like...like... As he continued to gaze at the boy, he thought with some fondness that the boy had Lily's delicate cheekbones, and her lovely green eyes behind those long lashed lids. Long dark lashes. Severus recalled that while James had dark lashes, but they were sparse and short, and while Lily had long eyelashes, they were pale and red. Harry's traits were a nice combination of the two, making him look almost...angelic...
Snape bolted upright, and received sharp waves of pain from his injuries. He bit back any expletives he longed to shout and clutched his aching side. Severus guardedly lay back down after several minutes, and berated himself for even thinking on this boy as he turned away from him. His battered side reverberated with deep throbbing pain, but Severus ignored it, though it was difficult to do so. What was he doing comparing Potter to an angel..? A devil would be a more accurate comparison, after all, the boy made his life a hell; and he was miserable enough to want to escape to hell if it meant avoiding Harry Potter altogether.
Then again, Severus thought as his eyes snapped open once more...
Potter did have Lily's eyes. Lily's beautiful, loving eyes, green like the first leaves of spring. Severus once again berated himself for thinking on things like these, and was still scolding himself when he eventually fell asleep.
Harry continued to lay motionless in the next bed. His scar's glow brightened inexorably, the colour becoming a brilliant cerulean.
The Death Eaters dragged Snape into a stifling room with a large furnace in the middle of it. Harry guessed it was how the large mansion was heated during the coldest months of winter, when the fireplaces would not suffice. The temperature of the room was unbearable in the strangely mild weather of early November 1979.
The masked escorts threw Severus Snape next to a stone slab which looked more like it belonged in a smelter's workshop than in a mansion. One of the masked figures roughly pulled Snape's sleeve up to his shoulder and chained his arm to the stone slab.
"Now my, snake." Voldemort said as he donned heavy gloves and pulled a branding iron from a rack near the furnace. The end, with the familiar shape of a skull with a serpent emerging from it, glowed almost white with the heat. "You shall be one of us."
Harry closed his eyes as Voldemort thrust the burning iron upon Snape's forearm.
Severus screamed.
End Part Five
