October 1992, 2nd year
Four days after Mabon, the autumn equinox, Naenia arrived at Hogwarts.
Lynea didn't see her aunt throughout the morning, but the headmaster was suspiciously absent from both breakfast and lunch. The Slytherins went about their usual routine, but there was a kind of excitement prevalent that only Harry seemed to be immune to. Although Harry was currently not talking to Lynea, so she couldn't say whether he was really immune or she just didn't perceive his excitement.
She was just finishing her lunch, when Lynea found a note tucked under her plate that had definitely not been there before. She read through it silently and then held it out to Harry, who took it without meeting her eyes.
"Your grand-aunt?" Draco guessed.
Lynea nodded. "She wants to talk to Harry and me before she leaves." Lynea stood up and turned to Harry. "You coming?"
Harry wordlessly rose from his seat, still not looking at her. Lynea shrugged and went ahead.
They met Naenia outside on the grounds, where she was standing by the lake, looking out over the water.
"I take it lunchtime is over?" she asked.
"Yes," Lynea said. "They just cleared the food away when we left."
Naenia smiled. "Perfect. I was hoping to make the old man miss both meals."
Lyneas eyebrows rose. "You dragged the conversation out on purpose?"
Her grand-aunt's smile widened. "Maybe just a little bit. But it honestly wasn't really necessary. The old man insisted on being as stubborn as ever." She shrugged. "It didn't do him any good, in the end, only wasted his precious time and made him miss breakfast and lunch."
"He would have missed breakfast anyway," Lynea pointed out. "Because you made sure to arrive extra early."
Naenia only kept smiling in response.
"What now?" Harry asked.
"The headmaster has begun to see reason," Naenia said, "barely. I will start the legal process of taking over guardianship of you right away, but the Ministry is not known for taking childcare very seriously – even throwing in both my name and that of the Boy Who Lived will only speed it along a little bit. And Dumbledore will most likely be anything but helpful in this case. I estimate six months, which is next to nothing to me but quite some time for you, I believe." Naenia turned around to fully face Harry, her smile gone. "I will ask you this once and only once: Do you truly want this, Harry?"
Harry took a deep breath and raised his chin. "Yes, I want this."
"Very well," Naenia said. "Then consider it done. I will inform you once I have more substantial information. Now, I would like to speak to my grand-niece alone, if you would be so kind, Harry?"
Harry nodded and left for the castle.
Lynea frowned at his retreating back. "He shouldn't go on his own."
"There is nothing to worry about," Naenia said. "Your friends are waiting by the entrance, eager to hear what news he is bearing. Did you know that Alchys went to school with your Head of House? She told me some very interesting facts about Severus Snape and his relationship with both of Harry's parents."
"Isn't this something Harry ought to know as well?" Lynea asked.
"Partially, yes. But certain facts are better kept between us and I do not want to tell the story twice. This might help you reconcile with him, too."
Of course she had noticed.
"The story goes like this," Naenia continued. "Severus Snape once lived in the same neighbourhood as the Evans, that is Harry's mother Lily, her sister Petunia and their parents. They were childhood friends and eventually went to Hogwarts together, where Lily was sorted into Gryffindor and Severus into Slytherin, but that didn't keep them apart, not at first.
"This was about a year after the Dark Lord had openly declared war on … I'm actually not exactly sure who or what he declared war on, but that's irrelevant for this story. What matters is that the Dark Arts and with them the Forbidden Arts fell once more into disrepute as a result. Slytherin had a hard time keeping its inner peace back then, but Alchys played a big part in ensuring that both sides of the conflict, at least in Slytherin, knew that all kinds of magic are neither good nor bad, it is your actions that shape the world.
"Now, the Blood Magic that Lily used to protect her child is old and powerful magic, but also considered 'dark' and 'sinister' by most of the magical world. Her child was in danger and any mother would have done everything in their power to protect their precious child, but it is hardly believable that a Gryffindor muggleborn witch would just happen to know how to perform the complicated magic needed to create a powerful Blood Ward like Lily did.
"Dumbledore might still call it 'the power of love', because love caused her to go to such lengths, but at its core it was simply Blood Magic."
Naenia fell silent and gazed intently at Lynea.
"If Harry's mother was friends with Professor Snape," Lynea said slowly, "who knew, thanks to Alchys, that neither the Dark Arts nor the Forbidden Arts are inherently evil – then that very friendship might have played a key role in shaping Lily's view on that topic. That would explain her use of Blood Magic, but not how she came into possession of that knowledge." Lynea furrowed her brows. "Did she know the Dark Lord was coming after her child?"
"I believe she did," Naenia said. "Perhaps not why her child was targeted, in particular, but Dumbledore at least informed her and James that the Dark Lord wanted to kill Harry."
"So Dumbledore knows the reason."
The corner of Naenia's mouth quirked up. "Oh, yes, he very much does."
"There's something else I've been wondering," Lynea said slowly, knowing Naenia well enough that she would gain no further information about whatever it was that Dumbledore knew. "Could Lily Evans have had an aptitude for Necromancy?"
Blood Magic was more closely related to the Dark Arts than it was to Necromancy, but it was deeply engrained in both.
"That," Naenia said, "we shall never know. If she did, she certainly did not pass it on to Harry. But it would have been very interesting – we have never witnessed a muggleborn meant for the Forbidden Arts."
"Okay, another question, then. What was the relationship between Professor Snape and James Potter like?"
The Slytherins had their theories, but no actual accounts from the people involved and Lynea doubted Professor Snape would every willingly tell them the real reason why he seemed to hate Harry so much.
"Very bad," Naenia said and confirmed Lynea's suspicions. "Severus told me so, himself, when I questioned why he seemed so conflicted about Harry. He told me, although indirectly and in much more colourful words, that James Potter and his friends bullied him." Naenia tilted her head. "Actually, that is something you might want to tell Harry. One of James Potter's friends was Sirius Black, who is currently in Azkaban, accused of murdering thirteen people, and who is also Harry's godfather. In case he ever gets released, there might be a conflict of interest."
Lynea blinked. "His crime does not make it sound like he has any chance of ever getting out."
Naenia simply smiled and that was enough to make Lynea suspect that there was more to the whole story than her grand-aunt was telling her.
"To come back to my earlier point," Naenia said. "Given my history with the Dark Lord, the power and knowledge I and my family do possess, and the strengths of the wards I have already placed around my property, Dumbledore has agreed that I might possibly be able to offer a better protection than Lily's blood wards. And, of course, the fact that Harry will no longer live with people that loathe his very being. He did not seem very focused on that, which concerns me greatly – as the headmaster of one of the largest magic schools in all of Europe and an authority figure even the Minister for Magic looks up to, he ought to truly look after each and every child under his care and make sure they are treated with respect and love. Sacrificing one childhood because of some protection anyone else could provide is no proper reason – it is no reason at all, it is an excuse."
Naenia scowled. "That I am the one saying those words makes it all the more worrisome. On another, unrelated note, there has been a second Mutilatio murder, although not where I live. The Ministry called me in, because none of their Aurors could stomach the crime scene."
"A serial killer?" Lynea asked, after recovering from the sudden change of topic.
"That remains to be seen. The new victim was not religious, but believed in the supernatural and that it was dangerous and should be eliminated. The description the body gave me of the culprit doesn't match, but for our kind appearances hardly matter. For the Muggle's sake, I sincerely hope the Ministry takes precautions, but we both know they do not possess the amount of foresight needed for that. Either way, either I or others from my family will most likely be able to investigate all future crime scenes."
Naenia smirked. "Unless the Ministry finds someone who is able to calmly investigate and clean up without getting sick all over the evidence. I am surprised the culprit – or culprits – has managed to pull that feat off in the first place. Should they ever be captured, I am sure it will be quite an interesting individual. Or several."
Something about that reminded Lynea vaguely of something. She tilted her head and sorted through her thoughts, trying to find what was nagging at her. "How is father Wilson doing?"
She hadn't spent much thought to how composed he had been, but in hindsight father Wilson had most likely still been under the influence of the Calming Draught back then.
"He is currently taking an extended vacation ever since the realization of what he had seen had truly dawned on him."
"Then I wish him all the best," Lynea said.
"I will make sure to pass it on."
o
Lynea pulled Harry aside the next time she got the chance, which was after dinner – possibly because Harry was apparently avoiding her. She told him a condensed version about Professor Snape knowing Harry's parents and their relationships, leaving out several parts like Dumbledore knowing more about the Dark Lord's reasons, Lily having the potential for an aptitude for Necromancy and Harry having a godfather. The latter, she felt, was someone else's story and not for Lynea to tell. She wasn't sure what Naenia wanted her to tell Harry and what she was supposed to leave out, so she had to trust her intuition. She also deliberately did not mention the second Mutilatio murder at all. Harry wouldn't have known what to do with that piece of information, anyway.
When she was finished, Harry stared at the floor silently.
"Harry," Lynea said quietly. "Would you please look at me?"
Harry raised his eyes to hers and narrowed them.
"I know you are angry with me and I understand why you are upset."
"Do you, now?" Harry said in a low tone.
Lynea crossed her arms in front of her. "You have a kind heart, Harry. And while that is an admirable trait to have, it will bring you a lot of trouble in the future, especially as a Slytherin."
"Are you saying that being kind-hearted is a weakness?" Harry asked through gritted teeth. "That I should get rid of it?"
Lynea shook her head. "Not at all. But it is something that can easily become a weakness and you shouldn't let it." She sighed. "Harry, you need to understand that this is not a problem that can be solved in just a day. This issue is rooted deeply in the history of our people and has been passed down through so many generations. We can't just change how people think with a snap of our fingers. This is something that can only be changed slowly, over a long period of time, by people that have the power to do so – which neither of us are as of right now. The best you can do right now is focus on becoming that kind of person in the future."
"You said I was in the right, back then," Harry said slowly.
"I did," Lynea said, tilting her head.
Harry gave her a sharp look. "Then why isn't Colin off-limits now?"
Lynea took a moment to regard Harry with a thoughtful gaze. "You are too selfless, Harry. I'm not a nice person, I never claimed to be. I barely made it through that argument as it were and defending Hermione was already putting all of us on thin ice."
"But you made Pucey stand down just like that," Harry countered. "It looked quite simple, once you used the Lémure name."
"You do realize that I was only bluffing back then, right?" Lynea raised her eyebrows. "And even if I had the power to actually make them play nice with all the muggleborn in this school … Forcing them to do so would only make their resentment against the muggleborn grow."
"Why?"
"Try putting yourself in their position," Lynea said. "Imagine being forced by some random person, someone younger than you, to play nice with people you hate, people you think don't deserve to be treated nicely." Lynea racked her brain for an example that would resonate with Harry. "Bullies, maybe, someone who is very mean and evil and irredeemable."
Harry opened his mouth to reply, then closed it again and actually considered her words.
Lynea gave him a few moments, before continuing, "And now imagine being told that you were wrong. These people are not actually mean and evil and irredeemable. They are in the right. They are the good ones and you are the bad one for labelling them as bullies. All your life, you believed in the wrong thing."
Harry furrowed his brows. "But they're bullies."
"Are they?" Lynea asked. "Do you know that? Do you have proof? Did they bully that scrawny kid that always buries their nose into school books, or did they retaliate for being called 'dumb' and 'stupid' and they didn't know how to handle it better, because they were only kids themselves."
Lynea gave him another moment. "To them you are an outsider, Harry – someone who doesn't know anything, because he didn't grow up in this world, someone who grew up in the Muggle world. You are telling them, right to their faces, that they are the bad guys, just like most of the other three houses do. Slytherins are seen as mean and evil and I won't deny that there is truth in that, but what other choice do we have? We can't just stay silent and do nothing, while the muggleborn defenders, the Muggle lovers, are being encouraged to harass us."
"It will never end," Harry said, his eyes widening. "It's an endless cycle of retaliation."
Lynea nodded. "Dumbledore certainly doesn't seem to mind and he is the headmaster. In fact, it almost seems as if he wants us to be mistreated. If a Slytherins trips a Gryffindor, they get points deducted and detention. If a Gryffindor shoves a Slytherin down the stairs, they get some points taken and that's about it. It's okay to mistreat the Slytherins, because they are obviously all bullies. It has always been that way. Slytherin is the dark house, the evil house, the house of the pureblood supremacists and dark wizards and Necromancers, the house that doesn't deserve a chance at redemption."
"Which only serves to solidify the Slytherins' beliefs," Harry said. "The others show them they are right, that the … 'Muggle lovers' really don't deserve to be treated with respect, because they won't do the same in return."
Lynea nodded. "Precisely."
"And if I tell them to play nice with the muggleborn, I side with the 'bad people', the ones that have mistreated them all their lives." Harry heaved a deep sigh. "I – I hate this. It's just like Hermione said – I thought I had finally found a place where I belonged, a home – and now I will have an actual home – but this world is just as bad as the Muggle world."
"Wouldn't that be nice," Lynea mused, "if the magical world was all sunshine and roses?"
She shook her head and uncrossed her arms, before closing the distance between herself and Harry and enveloping him in a hug. Harry froze for a moment and then brought his arms up to return the gesture, heaving another deep sigh.