Here is the next chapter. Please read and review love Hermione xxx Thank you for all of your wonderful reviews as they help to keep me motivated and continue to write the stories you all love so well.
An investigation was undertaken and so far they could tell that all of their dark marks had exploded killing them with extreme dark magic. It was guessed at that since Voldemort had been dead for so long their marks had been designed to kill them many years after he perished as he never thought he'd perish. Dumbledore at Hogwarts had gotten word of this news as his role in the Wizengamot allowed him to. He was to say the least horrified. He left for the ministry at once and headed to the hall of Prophecies to check on the one for Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort. When he saw that it was no longer glowing and active he cursed and then cried. Was Harry Potter truly dead? Was that really why he'd not turned up this year? He decided once again to test the blood of Damian and Dudley Dursley. Something had always horrified him about the last results.
He was back in his office as Ivy had handed him their blood and then he saw the same results as Marvolo had. So Damian was formerly Harry Potter. He would guess that whoever had given him to the Dursley's had used magic to make them seriously believe he was their son and indeed the twin of their original son Dudley. It did make sense that they had been manipulated magically into believing he really was there son as when he questioned them using truth methods they really hadn't lied to him. He hadn't realised of course that it had been tampered with and they had really known he wasn't originally their son. What with the prophecy now essentially null and void did that then mean Voldemort was no longer interested in killing Harry Potter? Where was he now he wondered? He would still try to get Damian into that corridor on the third floor to see how he handled everything. It was meant to be a test for Voldemort but if he did show up here he'd still like to see how Harry or rather Damian handled it. He left for a couple of errands he needed to run and would return for dinner in the evening at which point everything would change for him even though he didn't know it yet.
The problem with Severus Snape and indeed Marvolo Riddle was that Marvolo was a natural Legillimens and Severus a natural occlumens so there was never any way to tell if they were telling each other the whole truth. He decided to rectify that though and asked both Severus and Lucius to join him for tea which he laced with veritas serum from the word go. In fact he didn't lace the tea as Severus would be able to suss that out but he laced the cups instead. He specifically asked for a cup with a chip in it for himself so he wouldn't be poisoned by the serum himself. They arrived at the same time confused.
"Welcome gentlemen and have a seat. As you can no doubt notice you are both the only two people aware of my secret and it shall stay this way. Now come here and sit down while we have some tea and cakes. I want to catch up and learn of the ways of our world while I've been out of touch all these past years. Pour yourselves a cup of tea!" he instructed doing the same and setting it up the way he liked before taking a sip of it and setting it down. Severus had eyed him warily but as he was fine he then made some tea and took it himself at the same time as Lucius both of their eyes glowing to show it had taken affect. He had used the same amount of veritas serum in each cup which would last a total of twenty minutes. After which he'd be summoning some new and identical cups which had no veritas serum in them. He needed to be sure they were truly loyal to him. He would begin questioning Lucius first and erase their memories of the event when he was done for extra security.
"Lucius how truly loyal are you to me?"
"As loyal as I can be although I don't agree with everything Draco has told me you said to him!"
"What did he tell you I told him?"
"That squibs come from purebloods interbreeding! It's an outrage and I will not hear of it any longer."
"What do you truly think of me?"
"Now or before?"
"Both. Start with before and then tell me about now!"
"Well before you were a reckless and arrogant man who would probably sell his own mother up the river to get the job done if it meant you didn't have to do it yourself. There is absolutely no honour whatsoever in that quite frankly ridiculous conduct. Honestly you weren't all that intelligent either always cursing anyone who ever asked you anything as you cannot know things if you're not questioned. As for now you still scare me because I am never sure of your true intentions although you are the perfect Slytherin which is indeed admirable. I wish I could be like you in that regard. It is better that you no longer curse people who ask you questions as you won't get very far otherwise. Stick with me and you'll be fine!"
"Why are you truly afraid of Dursley?"
"Because he knows Lord Black somehow quite closely and he threatened me too. It was horrible!"
"How did he threaten you? Was it Dursley or Black who threatened you?"
"No Black threatened me saying he was best friends with Dursley and sent me a trunk via house elf telling me to take back my dark shit however when I opened the trunk it was empty save for a note telling me that I was a fool for ever thinking it would be that easy. When you died I stored most of my dark artefacts in the attic of the Black home which I can't remember the name of now. Maybe it's under the fidelius charm or something I don't know. He threatened that if I wasn't more careful those artefacts would see the light of day. If he does that I'll be ruined. I wouldn't honestly survive Azkaban! I just wouldn't!"
"Have you ever lied to those working in the ministry about something?"
"Yes I have."
"What was it?"
"Well I said you had placed me under the imperius curse to do the bad things I did and avoided jail for that reason as people took pity on me. I had a newborn son at that point too and they didn't see fit to separate me from him. Also I sometimes pay the minister of magic to either enforce a law I like or to ignore something bad I might do or something. He does it because he knows I'd blackmail him if he didn't and besides which I know so many influential people that it would be career suicide for him to ignore me!"
"Indeed. Have you ever lied to me?"
"Yes of course I have. I daresay all of your death eaters have at one point. It would be remarkable had they not!"
"What did you lie to me about?"
"Well a few times you asked me to do a mission I didn't feel like doing so someone else elected to do them and I took the credit for them being successful. If they complained about it I cursed them and they soon learned to do it and shut up. I am not just beauty you know I do have good brains too!" he said as Marvolo raised his eyes in shock. He hadn't expected that at all. It was indeed interesting. He then moved on to Severus.
"Severus how truly loyal are you to me?"
"I am loyal truly only to myself however I neither need nor want your ire so I will do all you ask of me without complaint. I am not a dunderhead! You need not ever worry about me Marvolo I do not care for your ire should I ever disobey you so I will never do it."
"Are you afraid of me?"
"As you were I was only mildly afraid of you but now I am not. You seem more like a strong independent old friend at this point. As far as I can tell I have not done anything wrong so see no need to waste time on emotions such as fear. When you've had the childhood I had nearly dying on three separate occasions in which no one was ever held accountable you tend to become pretty damn fearless!" he said as Marvolo gasped in horror. He'd never done it so who had?
"Who did this to you Severus?"
"Well my father Tobias and the late James Potter did!"
"How did they do it?"
"Tobias pushed me down the stairs once nearly killing me. Another time he attempted to poison me and I almost died but thankfully my mother had a spare bezor in the cupboard so I was spared. She got me to Saint Mungos in time and they were able to save me. James Potter has a friend Remus Lupin whom Fenrir Greyback turned into a werewolf when he was six or so years old. He tried to get me to come to the shrieking shack when he had transformed into a werewolf and the deranged Lupin nearly killed me. He has regretted it ever since. I can see it has emotionally scarred him. You know he was never quite friends with James again afterwards for this exact reason. I hold James accountable for it though and not him as he didn't realise I would be there and my appearance genuinely stumped him."
"Interesting. Have you ever lied to me?"
"Yes I have but only because I had no choice!"
"About what?"
"When I learned of the prophecy I was horrified as you had ordered me to tell you all about it but I hadn't heard it all so I had to tell you only the part I had heard of. When you targeted Lily the only woman I've ever truly loved I came to Dumbledore begging him to hide them all and keep them all safe but he quite Slytherinly took advantage of my extremely emotional state and said he would only help me for a price which of course I agreed to. I loved her and would have done anything for her. He made me give him certain vows to relate back to him anything you had ever said at any of your meetings and so I had no choice but to comply. They are still active to this day and I am most saddened by them. He abused me in my weakest moment and because of it I cannot move on. He wouldn't even release me from these vows after your demise no matter how I begged him to!" he said as Marvolo reeled at that. He had not expected that answer nor had he expected to hear that Dumbledore had been so Slytherin. He knew of course that the hat had asked him to go there but he steadfastly refused and so went to Gryffindor.
"What other vows did he use on you?"
"He used one to make me keep the rivalry he had built up between Slytherin and Gryffindor going. He was angry that he'd been asked to go to Slytherin so much so that he hated that house and inadvertently hated all who had ever come from it. He was jealous that most of them had been better then him and when he defeated Grindelwald it went to his head completely. He told me one day that he could take you down with a mere stunning spell if he truly wanted to however he wanted everyone to continue hating Slytherin so he made you into what you became. He said this solidified everyone's hatred of his least favourite house! Aparently you were the means to an end and suited his propeganda he wished to spread" he answered as Marvolo raged internally.
"I will be rectifying that. Could you ever find love with anyone else? You are only thirty two Severus."
"Yes I could. I am interesting in dating again but I am a bitter man and am very set in my ways. I would need to seriously overhaul everything about myself first! This would include how I look. His vows make me dress this way and I hate it so much. To quote one of my students it's pants!"
"Would you allow me to test you and tell you if you have any charms on your person or indeed potions in your system which shouldn't be there?"
"Yes you may do so!" he said as Marvolo did so stunned at the results. It would seem Dumbledore had blatantly abused him too. He was full of hatred charms and potions directed at house Gryffindor because of the marauders and his treatment by them. He was also fed various potions of extreme mistrust of all houses bar Slytherin. It would seem Dumbledore wished him to show loyalty only to Slytherin house and therefore gain the schools hatred of him and indeed his house keeping up the loyalty. Marvolo removed the cursed teacups and replaced them as the potion wore off. He carefully erased their memories of the last twenty minutes and as it was such a small amount of time neither man would notice anything amiss.
"Well gentlemen I have called you here for reasons better known only to me right now. Essentially as you know or should know I am natural legillimens and I have been reading Dumbledore's mind. He has does some inexcusable things I need to rectify right now. Severus here you go. I need you take this potion to clear your system. Then I will be cleaning you up. Lucius I have a task for you in a moment!" he said as Severus who was stunned drank the potion a huge exploding sound coming from him as everything was removed from his system in one go.
When it was gone he looked a lot younger and even a bit larger then he had. He had a little more weight but nothing much to be worried about. His hair was still filthy but he did have a darker complexion. He no longer looked deathly pale and sick now. With a wave of his wand his hair and robes were now clean all over and fitting him and he looked down in disgust.
"Why am I in all black? This is most distressing! I don't love black all that much actually as it does nothing for me! Eww!" he said reeling in disgust from his outfit and how bad it looked. He waved his own wand some blue robes appearing on him which did indeed look better. Marvolo waved his wand as with a shriek Severus' hook nose was totally prepared. It had hurt like hell but at least he could say it did look normal now although he still glared at Marvolo for doing it without warning first.
"What would you have me do Marvolo?" Lucius asked reminding him that he was even there at all.
"We are going to Dumbledore's office under the guise of discussing Draco's conduct. When we get there I will wandlessly cast the spell which silences his portraits and you will cast the imperius curse on him. You will order him to release Severus from any and all vows he has on him. After you are done and he has done as you have asked of him you are to cast the lumos and levitation charms one after the other. Severus you have been a good and loyal friend to me and didn't deserve this. I have been given a fresh start or rather I have given myself a fresh start and this is yourss. Use it wisely because you are on your own after that!" he said as they left heading up to his office just as he himself came through the floo and they knocked on his door.
"Enter. Gentlemen how may I help you?" he asked as Marvolo wandlessly silenced the portraits and tapped the shoulder of Lucius who called out imperio.
"You will remove any and all vows you have Severus here under right now!" he intoned the spell taking affect. While that was going on Marvolo read his mind learning that today he had figured out about Harry Potter's identity and was terrified about Voldemort.
"Lucius you will cast it again once he is done and ask him to give you a vow on his life and magic to always be afraid of Voldemort all the times and to rarely remember Harry Potter!" he intoned as Lucius did so.
"I Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore do hereby release Severus Tobias Snape from all vows I have him under. I will no longer take much notice of all he does so mote it be!" he intoned seamlessly as it took affect, the light magical lines connecting their hands severing permanently. He was now free at last and smiled. Lucius cast again and ordered him to be always afraid of Voldemort and not pay much attention to Harry Potter which he then did complying with his actions. After that Lucius cast the two light spells he'd been asked to and Marvolo erased Dumbledore's mind of the last two minutes and removed the spell he'd placed on the portraits. Not only could they not see anything but they couldn't hear anything either while he'd been doing all he'd done. Dumbledore looked up at them all in shock.
"Hello Gentlemen. I didn't see you come in I must have been away in my own world. How can I help you?" he asked kindly.
"We need to talk about Draco!" Marvolo said smoothly. This was an interesting day so far. Oh boy would Slytherin house be getting a serious comeback soon.