33 – The Introduction of Miss Rouge Arrow
Harry took a step back from the pensieve and fell into a chair, letting it completely engulf him in its plush, satiny exterior. He needed a break. He needed out of Snape's memory. And he needed to talk to Dumbledore.
"Even after death, Severus is challenging you, isn't he, Harry?" Dumbledore was the only headmaster awake in his portrait.
Harry had actually been hoping for another Phineas Nigellus Black wisecrack about a Twisted Sisters song named after him, and was disappointed to see this headmaster sleeping.
"He's been out for awhile," acknowledged Dumbledore.
"Challenging me? Snape makes my head hurt. Still!" Harry closed his eyes and felt the silence in the room, making the question he was about to ask, all the more potent. "My mom really loved Snape, didn't she? My dad was second best. I can tell. I can see it in her eyes."
Dumbledore didn't say anything.
"I just don't understand. Snape! My mom really loved Snape!" Harry shook his head somewhat in disbelief, although the dream had shown him sides of the potions master that he'd never known—sides that were admirable, sides that he would strive for. And others that he cared to forget.
"Harry, I've found that it's hard to rank those you've loved. You cannot take love away from where it is, and you cannot put it where it's not." Dumbledore sighed. "But sometimes, we feel for certain people more strongly. With some of these people, they're always in the back of our mind, even though our time being with them might be long gone—"
"So my mom loved Snape more."
"I don't think this diminishes the love Lily and James shared, and a wonderful one at that. But yes, her connection with Severus was very real, and it would be unfair of me to say otherwise."
Harry stood and paced through the room. "It just doesn't feel right! If Snape was the love of her life, then why did she give up on him? And why did he mess it up so bad?"
"I think you're about to see that in Snape's memory."
"I know," said Harry. "I've seen this coming from miles away. He gives everyone the Dark Tourist in Slughorn's class and then ditches her at the Yule Ball. Or my mom finds out and dumps him."
"You'll need to see what happens for yourself."
Harry continued pacing the room, looking at all of the headmaster portraits, or anything really, to take his mind off of Snape's memory. "How did you know that Snape was going to give you the Dark Tourist?"
"I didn't, but Professor Slughorn had mentioned his idea of using doppelganger root for the Christmas Challenge. And when I found out that Tom Riddle would be judging, it seemed like a good time to prepare for a surprise."
"How did you prepare?"
"Well, I must admit, it was an area of magic I didn't know, so I reached out to an expert on the matter. She goes by the name of Miss Rouge Arrow, and she's probably the most knowledgeable wizard I know."
Harry looked at Dumbledore curiously. "You've never mentioned her before."
"Well, she's a bit of an enigma really. After winning the Triwizard Cup and leaving Hogwarts, she disappeared from the magical community for some time. There were rumors she'd moved to Paris, opened a café, and was writing the definitive collection on all things magic. She was one of a few in Hogwarts history to have scored outstanding on all of her N.E.W.T.S., and I mean all of them: Divination, Care of Magical Creatures, Study of Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Muggle Studies, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, History of Magic, and Herbology."
Harry smiled. "She sounds like Hermione."
"Maybe even better," winked Dumbledore. "Others claimed she resided somewhere in the American Midwest, likely Ohio, Indiana, or possibly even Kentucky."
Harry scratched his head in confusion. "Blimey! Why would she be in Kentucky?"
"Who knows, who knows" said Dumbledore, shaking his head. "Remember, it was just a rumor and obviously if she was, it was their gain and our loss. The Ministry of Magic denied this, but supposedly there was interest in having her open an American branch of Hogwarts, and she was looking in the Midwest for the right location."
"I never knew that was a possibility!"
"Well, she was a very forward thinker. She was even one of the few to speak out against Henrietta Harrison's books on love, especially the best seller, Meeting Your Match in a Mansion of Men. But that's neither here nor there. What she did the day of the Christmas Challenge, changed everything for Severus."
Harry's eyes widened a little. "Was she here that day? At Hogwarts?"
"Yes," said Dumbledore. "I suspected that Voldemort could attack that day, and I needed someone who I could trust. Someone that could stop the Dark Tourist should it be used beyond my reach."
"How? What? What did she do?"
"You'll need to go into the last thoughts once again for that, Harry. However, I will say this. Miss Rouge Arrow probably helped save Severus."
Harry moved to the pensieve and took a deep breath. "I'm ready."
"I'm not sure exactly what you'll see, but soon, Severus will let go of the greatest gift any of us could receive. Try not to judge him, for he spent his remaining years making up for it."
"What do you mean by the greatest gift?"
Dumbledore smiled a sad smile, the wrinkles showing years of wisdom. "A person who makes us realize that we are not insatiable. A person that, once we meet, we can stop chasing ghosts forever."
Harry didn't respond to Dumbledore's last statement; he let it become like a sunken treasure ship in his mind, and as he felt the coolness of the pensieve swirl around him, he was startled to see Snape, trembling, as he stared at Lily and James in the infirmary.
