Chapter 15
DISCLAIMER - None of these delightful characters are mine, all belong to JK Rowling.
Two requests for drinks. Four trips to the bathroom. One mouse sighting. With lunch still an hour away, Severus wondered what would serve as Luna's next diversion from being grounded. No outright appeal to have the punishment withdrawn, no cajoling him, no resentful defiance. Rebellion as practised by his ward was a far more subtle art, he thought with an upward curve of his lip.
But the hour passed quietly and when he went to call her for lunch, he was more than a little curious to see what she had found to absorb her so completely. He tapped lightly on the closed door of her bedroom, heard her call and stepped over the threshold to see her sitting on her bed, looking up at him as though she had been waiting for his knock.
"It's time for lunch. Are you hungry?"
She didn't reply but she held her hand out, fingers open. He stepped towards her and looked down to see a small metal object lying on her palm. It was a symbol and he recognised it at once, every wizard would have. It was the Deathly Hallows, the sign combining three of the magical world's most powerful objects.
"It's dad's. He always wears it. Well, he did until he went away, that is," she said.
"I know you miss him, Luna. I see that you try to be brave about it but it is not weakness to find it hard without him," he said.
Luna looked up into his face, finding his expression was firmly set but his eyes were sympathetic.
"Yes, that is true," she gave a dip of her head.
Luna stood and gave the Hallows symbol to him.
"I've had it since that day but looking at it now made me think. The cloak, the one death gave the third brother, it reminded me of that message. The elf thinks the cloak is at Hogwarts," she said.
The black eyes, which has been gazing benevolently at her flared and the Professor's expression turned to something like admiration.
"And she is right," he said, closing the door and going to sit on the chair by her bed.
Luna was gob smacked. The cloak was a legend, how was this even possible?
"Or at least about a cloak of invisibility. It is in the care of the Headmaster at the moment. But it belongs to a student at the school, a friend of yours, as it happens," his eyes were trained on her.
"Harry Potter, The Boy…"
"Who Lived," Luna finished the sentence, her mind catching up. A boy who was living, the elf had said but this was what she had meant.
"You already knew this," she looked at her guardian, caught his nod.
"It feels like there are rabbles just buzzing in my head. I don't understand any of this at all," Luna lifted her hands to her head as if there really were creatures fluttering within that she might make still.
"This is not for anyone else's ears, Luna, certainly not those of the Potter boy. Remember I told you that it is likely Mrs. Crouch had an accomplice or was acting with someone else? As far as I can make out this person has a great interest in Harry Potter. They are interested enough to seek the prophesy, interested enough to know about the existence of a cloak that once belonged to his father," Severus said.
"Where does Professor Quirrell fit in? Is he the one who was helping Mrs. Crouch?" she asked.
"Luna, that perception is an impressive quality. I would like it somewhat better if you would use it to keep that clever little head of yours away from trouble," he rose a sleek eyebrow at her.
"The answer to your question is that I don't know. But yes, I do think he has an involvement."
"The more we find out, the more confusing it gets," she sighed.
"One thing I do know is that the elf does or did belong to the Crouch family. I paid a visit to Crouch himself and he admitted that the creature has vanished, a most unusual thing for a house elf to do. Should it try to contact you again…." he glared warningly at her but Luna didn't need the caution.
"I won't hang about, Severus. I promise," she said.
"I believe you, Miss Lovegood," he inclined his head towards her.
"Come here to me now," he said and suddenly his voice was very serious.
Luna scrambled off the bed and went to him. Was he going to send her away? He looked just solemn enough to do it.
He placed his hands on her shoulders as she stood before him, still seated in her bedside chair. His eyes fixed on hers, dark and intent and Luna wished she could look away but it was like she was frozen.
"I meant it when I told you that I want only to protect you. I am very serious about that and you can rail against it if you wish but by the ancients, I will do what I have to. Even if it means a spell in your bad books," he glared at her.
"You aren't in my bad books," Luna said quickly.
"Or not why you think. You told me to trust what I know and I knew the elf wasn't going to hurt me but I still got in trouble," she said.
"I did tell you that. But you have a guardian for a reason, namely that you do not have to face dangerous situations on your own and no matter how little of threat you believed the creature posed, its appearance was not exactly routine. That is so, is it not?" he pressed.
Luna nodded, unable to deny the truth of that.
"I am not helpless, though," she murmured.
"Helpless? Of course you are not. There are many fully fledged witches and wizards who would be running to the hills if confronted by even half of what you have been dealing with these past months," he said, his tone clipped, impatient.
"Being brave is not a good enough reason to throw common sense out of the window! Don't test me, my girl!" he scolded.
Looking into his stern face, Luna should have felt apprehension. Instead, she felt rather foolish. She had resented being treated like a child, left out of his confidence.
Now she realised that it was she who had assumed he would not understand about the elf. She who had treated him as though he was had to be handled, rather than the other way around.
"I felt bad because I thought you were hiding things you didn't think I could deal with. That's why you were in my bad books, not because you grounded me," she admitted.
His eyes admonished her.
"I know, kettle calling the pot black," she confessed.
"Come eat. An afternoon back here thinking about that may just serve to do you some good!" he said, exasperated, rising to his feet.
She looked up at him, her eyes full concern.
"Your leg, how is it?" she asked.
"It's healing. Argus dressed it for me earlier," he said.
"Ooof. Poor you," she grimaced.
The caretaker was not the most sympathetic man Luna could think of, though she did rather like his cat. Mrs. Norris and Galahad were good friends, too.
"When you get cross you really turn your heart to stone, Luna," he murmured.
"You are being facetious again," she gave him a sideways glance full of reprimand.
"Not completely. But perhaps a touch. I apologise, love."
He turned and drew her against him, holding her in a loose but warm hug. Surprised, Luna leaned into him, feeling the last tendrils of her ill temper evaporate.
"Can we step forward, Severus? And leave what has been unpleasant behind?" she asked, her voice slightly muffled against his shirt.
"You are forgiven, if that is what you are asking," he said dryly.
"But still grounded for the rest of the day. I always mean what I say."
Then, he moved away from her and ushered her through the door first, the way she always found rather gentlemanly.
In his years as Head of Slytherin, Snape has issued many punishments that were harsher and quite a few that were less deserved and he had never given them a second thought. Yet that Saturday weighed on him like a wet blanket and he could not explain, even to himself why he felt so guilty. He knew all along this one would cause him trouble.
He eyed her over his paper the following morning as she tucked into the large duck egg she had boiled for herself. She was dipping thin toast slices into it after a long discussion with the house elf who served him his breakfast about why they were called soldiers. He wondered and not for the first time how it was that someone who looked no more substantial than a sunbeam had packed quite such a punch into his life.
Luna, for her part found that things may have improved between herself and the Professor but there was a growing atmosphere of apprehension in the castle. It was a week when whispers abounded, many, indeed most concerned with her guardian and none in his favour.
A growing cohort of Gryffindors believed that he had tried to kill Harry by hexing his broom at a Quiddich match. In fact, by the end of the week, really only the Slytherins and Luna showed no real misgivings about this, the Slytherins because they were rather pleased about it. Instances of Luna's belongings going missing, only to turn up in unlikely or even unpleasant places increased as the belief took hold and solidified into accepted fact among the Hogwarts students.
She had to chase Peeves up three flights of stairs to catch up with him so she could coax him to return her shoe laces. She and Neville, one of the few Gryffindors who was not treating her like the executioner's assistant, spent most of one lunch break searching out her Herbology homework, which in the end was to be found nestled in the unforgiving branches of a vampire shrub.
Neville jumped back as a vine lunged at him, sharp teeth bared and snapping rather viciously.
"Hullo there you two!" the hearty greeting had them looking up into the hairy face of the Gamekeeper.
"I wouldn't go messing about with that there bloodsucker! Takes no prisoners that one," Hagrid shook his bushy head as he eyed the shrub which now sat looking perfectly benign.
"Er no," Neville glared at the plant.
"I think it may have my parchment," Luna said seeing the yellowed and frayed edge of the sheet she had written her Herbology assignment on the previous night.
Unfazed, Hagrid rummaged in the seemingly countless pockets in his coat and produced a fat garlic bulb. Brandishing it before the plant, he reached forward and pulled Luna's homework free as the foliage shrank backwards.
"Tricky beggar. Once you know how to 'andle it, you're right as rain," Hagrid handed Luna the parchment with a cheery grin.
"Thank you," Luna smiled up at him.
She wondered which of his many creatures had bitten Severus but thought the better of asking, Hagrid was very sensitive about his animals and did not like to think that they were considered menaces by others.
"Professor Snape's leg is healing well. I expect he may have been cross but the worst is past, I'd say," Luna imparted the information with the aim of reassuring Hagrid.
The huge man shuffled his feet and looked around swiftly.
"Uh, that's good, Luna. Pleased to 'ear it," Hagrid suddenly appeared to be in a very great hurry and hastened away, looking uncomfortable.
Neville too was finding it hard to meet her eyes as they resumed their stroll across the grounds.
At first, Luna put this down to the sense of fright that the Master of Potions could yield on her friend, even if only through the mention of his name.
"There are some who think that Professor Snape was injured trying to steal something the Professor Dumbledore is keeping hidden in the castle," Neville blurted out the words, keeping up a purposeful stride across the stubby green grass.
"Steal?"
To Luna, this was an even more preposterous allegation against her guardian than the attempt to murder Harry. Violence was one thing, to lower himself to common thieving, well, that was as ridiculous as thinking Hagrid would perform his duties wearing ballet slippers.
She giggled helplessly to imagine it. Neville glanced at her, anxiously. He stopped walking so suddenly that Luna had gone several steps ahead of him before she realised. She retraced her steps.
"Sorry, Neville," she still had merriment dancing in her eyes until she saw the troubled expression on his face.
"Luna, are you sure that you are ok staying with him? I mean what if it's true? What if he did go after Harry? Maybe you should talk to Professor Flitwick? Or Professor Dumbledore himself?"
Neville's earnest face and genuine concern brought Luna up short. It wasn't very often people worried about her.
"Oh Neville, I am fine, honestly. Professor Snape isn't going to hurt me," Luna threaded her arm through Neville's.
She regretted very much that she could not tell her friend the things she knew, the things that would dispel for once and for all the sinister mutterings about Snape's integrity.
"But if I keep on being late for lessons, there is a good chance he won't be exactly singing my praises either," she said, making her tone light.
"If he brings you to harm, Luna, well, he'll answer to me!" Neville said with a vehemence that seemed to surprise even himself.
Luna had only ever read about heroes racing to the rescue to damsels caught in the clutches of cruel overlords. Neville's gesture was so sincere that it went well beyond anything she had ever read in her books. Immensely touched, Luna smiled at him.
"Thank you, Neville. That's rather good to know," she said. It took enormous courage for Neville to contemplate challenging the one person he feared the most. How could Luna bring herself to tell him that it was a misguided token of his friendship? She could not and so she simply enjoyed knowing that she had made such a brave and good hearted friend.
His was a friendship that Luna came to rely on more and more in the days that followed as students grew increasingly suspicious of Professor Snape and of her by extension. Yet, not all Gryffindors believed that she was in Snape's confidence when it came to his possibly murderous ideas.
As Luna queued with her classmates outside of Quirrell's Dark Arts classroom, Draco Malfoy sidled up alongside her. He wrinkled his nose as if he had smelled something distasteful. With a deft brush of his elbow, he knocked her books, her wand and the quill Severus had given her from her arms. They tumbled to the ground with a clatter.
"Loony's got butter fingers! Can't hold on to a thing. Not her books, not her parents!" he grinned heartlessly and Crabbe and Goyle snickered at his elbow.
Luna ignored the comment and bent down to pick up her things.
"Why don't you back off, Malfoy?" Harry Potter had turned the corner just in time to witness the ugly exchange.
"Yea. If anyone's parents could do with getting lost, it's yours and better if they take you with them!" Ron Weasley snarled at the blond boy.
Luna looked up to see Draco's face flush with anger but Ron had the height advantage and even with his two side kicks to back him, he was not about to push it right under the teachers' noses. Instead Malfoy inclined his head at Crabbe and Goyle.
"Come on. Let's leave the freaks' appreciation society to it!" he snarled going back to join the queue some distance down.
Harry hunkered down and began gathering Luna's books and parchment.
"Ignore him, Luna. He's an idiot," he said, shooting a poisonous look at where Malfoy lounged with his cronies.
He handed her back her things as they stood.
"Thanks Harry," she said.
"Luna, do you by any chance know the name Nicholas Flamel?" Ron asked, the question sounding random but Harry glanced at him, startled.
"Oh yes. My dad wrote a very interesting article about him once. He would have loved to meet him but Flamel is a bit of a hermit now," Luna responded and both boys stared at her round eyed.
The door of Quirrell's classroom opened and the line of students filed in. Luna made to join them but Ron held her back.
"Luna, can you maybe meet us later? Tell us a bit more about him. We.. Umm.. We don't read as much of The Quibbler as we probably ought to," he shrugged apologetically.
"Well, I don't know much but ok," Luna nodded.
"Harry's got Quiddich practice later. We can meet you after that?" Ron said eagerly,
Luna thought quickly. Severus would not agree to her taking any evening strolls around the grounds with the elf and her master still at large. Still, if she could help Ron and Harry with their interest in Flamel, maybe she could also prove to them that her guardian was not trying to send Harry to his doom.
"Yes. I can do that," she reached a decision, gave the boys a smile and trooped into the Dark Arts lesson.
By the time the evening meal was finishing, Luna had her excuse ready for her guardian and though she felt bad about it, she was resolved to meet Harry and Ron. For one thing, she really did think she could change their minds about the Professor and for another, it was nice having friends. It also felt rather exciting to have secret plans of her own, a little like an adventure that was hers alone.
"Professor Snape, would it be alright if I was a little late back to your quarters this evening? Gertrude is having difficulty with her Herbology homework and asked me to help," she approached him as he was about to walk from the staff table.
He looked down at her, his face serious but with no trace of suspicion.
"How late?"
"An hour or maybe a little more," she answered and this at least was true.
"No longer," he gave a quick nod.
And so, minutes later, Luna's feet were carrying her swiftly across the dewy grass towards the Quiddich pitch at the back of the castle. While still a little distance away, she could hear the sounds of the practice and every so often, a broom bearing a students climbed into vision as one of the Gryffindor team soared high in the game manoeuvres.
Luna took a place in the stands beside Ron and Hermione who were watching the training with casual interest.
"Professor Snape doesn't know you are here does he, Luna?" Hermione asked a little worriedly.
"Goodness, no. I don't think he'd approve! Best file this under Quibbler business," Luna replied as one of the Weasley twins somersaulted inches from her. She gave him a cheery wave and watched the game with mild curiosity.
"Quiddich was invented by goblins, you know. They played it with the skulls of past players who paid for losing with their lives," she explained to Ron and Hermione.
She didn't think they believed her, they exchanged a dubious look but Luna was fine with that, ancient Quiddich was not something very many people knew about, her father was practically alone in his well researched history of the magical game. Still, they did not voice their doubts, instead, Hermione produced a flask of butterbeer and conjured three goblets for them. Sipping the sweet, warm drink, sitting with them in the dusky stands was one of the nicest feelings Luna had known in a while. It made her feel free and she was almost giddy with the sensation.
"Flamel created a magical object powerful enough to defeat death?" Harry pushed his spectacles higher on his nose and regarded Luna with keen interest.
He had joined the other three in the stands and his broom lay at his feet, his hair was windswept from the fast action Quiddich moved he had practised for almost an hour. He frowned and shook his head.
"That sounds sort of far fetched."
"Never heard of anything like that. Even powerful magic can't stop someone dying," Ron said.
"There is one object. Ever hear of the Resurrection Stone?" Luna said.
The three others looked at each other, Harry with a blank expression.
"The Resurrection Stone is a fabled object, a famous children's story tells how one of three brothers was given it by Death himself," Hermione said by way of explanation.
"Yea but the stone is nothing more than that, right? A myth?" Ron leaned back, doubtful.
Luna did not say it but if a cloak of invisibility was somewhere in this school, how difficult was it to think that a legendary death conquering stone was here also?
"That's what we need to look at, Ron. We have to find out if Flamel really did come into possession of the Resurrection Stone," Hermione said with purpose.
"Thanks, Luna," Harry retrieved his broom and stood.
"That's ok. Sorry I can't tell you more. If I find the Quibbler with the article about Flamel in it, I'll lend it to you," she said, standing also and tightening her cloak around her, the darkening sky making her feel a little cold.
They walked together towards the castle and then, inside the main doors, Luna headed downwards towards Snape's rooms. She hoped he wouldn't ask much about her evening, she did not like deceiving him. In truth, the past hour had tingled with magic, she had been off on a secret assignation, sharing a covert project with a group of friends. Luna did not want to spoil it by giving her conscience a prod.
As it happened, the Professor was in his study when she got back, a pile of parchments set before him. After telling her there were some cold cuts in the fridge if she was hungry, he was once again absorbed in correcting homework, leaving Luna free to hide her little subterfuge in her heart and to enjoy feeling just a bit of a rebel.
The second time she snuck off to meet her three friends some days later, to inventing a covering story was easier. Once again, she told the Professor that she was working on a homework assignment with Gertrude Gormely and he accepted her explanation with no trace of doubt. The smoothness of the lie disquieted her, she did not admire this in herself but swiftly pushed the nagging unease away. She was going to help Harry, Ron and Hermione get into the restricted section of the library. Hermione was sure that more details of Nicholas Flamel might be found there but none had the necessary pass signed by a teacher.
Luna had procured it from Professor Trelawney. She had gone to visit her father's friend in her tower hideaway and spent the afternoon sweltering in the heavily perfumed heat of the room, chatting about Ossory St. Catchpole.
"It is charming village but so full of the aura of doom. A great darkness looms above it. I fear it touched your own cosy little home already. I am saddened to say the stars tell me it is unlikely you will ever return," Sybel stared myopically at Luna through the dense lenses of her glasses.
"Oh dear," Luna said without any great remorse.
She remembered Professor Trelawney's visits to her home and most of them included some dire warnings of imminent and ghastly death. None had come true so Luna was not about to worry overmuch about this particular forecast, though it was not nice to hear it. It was a little too close to what Luna herself had come to wonder.
Still, she had stayed determinedly interested in the seer's prophesies, waiting for her opportunity to ask for the signed pass and eventually it came. So, this time as Harry's Quiddich practice was ending, Luna was jogging across the grass to the stands, watching as the Gryffindor team was landing on the pitch, Oliver Wood congratulating them on a great session.
"Did you get it?" Hermione could barely contain her eagerness and Luna grinned happily and held up her hand, the tiny parchment roll peeking above her fist.
"Well done!" Ron said appreciatively.
"Luna, you are genius to have thought of Trelawney!" he laughed.
"She fell for it ok. I knew that once she got going about The Sight, all I had to do was tell her how I really wanted to know more. She was happy to sign once she thought she was helping another visionary get the inner eye opened!" Luna chuckled.
Laughing, the three made their way across the lawns and into the castle. Confidently, Hermione led the way to the library and although they got several stares from the librarian and although she looked as though she did not believe the note, there was no doubting it was real. Hermione said that the library system was enchanted to spot fakes and forgeries of any kind.
So, they were waved ahead and Hermione looked as though all of her Christmases had arrived at once.
As a general would send her troops into battle, Hermione dispatched her three accomplices with instructions on what to look for and where they might find it. She had reached number ten of a list seemingly called 'things to avoid in case it all goes horribly wrong', when Ron stopped her with an impatient gesture of his hand.
"Hermione, if we don't get moving, the library will close and we'll have wasted a perfectly good note!" he said.
So, they separated and crept among the tall shelves, walking slowly, as though through a jungle though which any number of wild beasts could emerge at any second.
None did, Luna was happy to discover. However, less reassuring was the lack of progress they were making even as the hour slipped by rather more quickly than they would have liked. Luna carefully read through many titles, some gruesome, some rather frightening and some indicating references to old and black magic. None gave any indication that they related to Nicholas Flamel or the Resurrection Stone.
Then, came a sound rather like a low hum. It reverberated off the stone walls around them but rather than be absorbed by the thousands of parchments and paper, it grew louder, more piercing and climbing in pitch until Luna thought her eardrums would surely burst. The noise filled her head, seemed to be echoing with her.
She stumbled back up the aisle she had been exploring to find the other three clustered around a book which lay open at Ron's feet.
Hermione was pointing her wand at it but having no effect whatever. Ron was looking shell shocked and was trying to say something but his words were lost in the cone of sound that spiralled terribly from the book.
…. "is not working!" Hermione's voice sounded at last, coming out rather as a hysterical scream.
Though all of their ears were ringing very unpleasantly, they realised the awful humming had suddenly stopped and only its echo remained. The silence seemed unnatural and uncomfortable after all the noise.
"Yea, blimey Hermione, at last!" Ron breathed with relief.
"I don't think it was anything I did," Hermione said but she was not looking at any of them. Rather, her gaze was fixed behind Luna and Harry.
"And you are correct, Miss Granger."
It was almost worse to hear that quiet but mocking tone than the enchanted drone of the book.
They all looked then and sure enough, there at the entrance to the restricted section, wand in hand and looking like a midnight nightmare stood Severus Snape.