Knocking on the Doors of our Past

'All they found was a gaping hole at the bottom of the Great Lake,' Eileen wept. 'There's nothing left of them, Tobias! Nothing!'

'Nothing is certain, Eileen!' Tobias barked back from behind his local newspaper. They were sitting at the breakfast table, but the breakfast Eileen had served remained untouched. There was a large picture covering the frontpage. It was a photograph Lily's parents had provided to the newspaper. On it, were Severus and Lily sitting together in their garden during the summer, shortly before the start of their fifth year at Hogwarts. It was the last summer before the exchanging of words had drifted them apart. 'The whole of bloody Cokeworth and beyond is out there looking for them! As I said before, they probably ran off somewhere like they've always done.'

Eileen's eyes narrowed and raised her voice. 'Well, the whole of bloody Cokeworth don't know that they disappeared at the bottom of a magical Lake at their magical school now do they!? Severus is always off Merlin knows where, but that Evans girl doesn't just leave her parents without telling them of her whereabouts. I'm certain of it! Something bad happened, Toby. Something really bad, and at this point we can only hope that they're off somewhere doing something incredibly stupid, because the alternative is that they died in some horrible magical incident on the bottom of that Lake.' The mere mention of their potential death brought tears streaming down her face. 'I don't know what's worse,' she sobbed. 'That their bodies will be recovered, and that we'll know for certain that they're dead. Or that we'll never know at all – and that they will be gone forever, somewhere hovering between life and death, and we are left here to wonder.'

Tobias put the newspaper away, closed his eyes and brought his thoughts inward. Severus did have a knack for sneaking away unnoticed. He had tried to set boundaries for him. So many boundaries. Curfews. Rules. Punishments. Nothing had worked to tear him away from that Evans girl. Of all the people in the world he chose to be friends with, why his daughter? Why did his daughter get to have magic when neither of the Evanses were magical? Why her, of all people?

'We have to go and visit them, Tobias,' Eileen said carefully. 'I know that you and Erwin share a long and complicated history, but our children are missing, and it should transcend everything the two of you have been through.'

'WHAT THE TWO OF US HAVE BEEN THROUGH!?' Tobias raged. 'YOU DON'T KNOW AN OUNCE OF WHAT EVANS AND I HAVE BEEN THROUGH! I LOST ALL MY MEN OUT THERE, EXCEPT FOR ERWIN FUCKING EVANS! AND EVANS HAD THE AUDACITY TO TURN ME IN! AND I GOT DISCHARGED! DISCARDED BY MY BROTHERS! YEARS OF SERVICE, FOR NAUGHT! LOATHED AND SPAT ON AS I WALKED OUT WITH MY HEAD BOWED DOWN IN SHAME! AS IF IT WERE ALL MY FAULT THAT I LED MY MEN INTO AN AMBUSH! I –' The memory of it send him into a blind fit of rage. His hands were balled into fists, and his body shivered from the explosive energy that burst up inside of him. 'And then Severus has the blithering impudence of becoming friends with the one person he should've stayed away from!' he spat through his teeth. 'And he likes being there, Eileen. He certainly likes being there, with them, much more than he likes being here. He doesn't love us. He loves the enemy, and he doesn't even have the decency to pretend otherwise!'

'The Evanses are not the enemy, Tobias,' Eileen responded calmly. She feared his raging hands, but kept her eyes locked into his as she spoke. 'Lily is not just a friend to him. She is the love of his life. You and I both know it, and there is nothing, Tobias – nothing, that will stop him from being with her. You've locked him in his room, and he still went back to her. You've struck him in the face, and he still went back to her. You've lashed him with your belt, and he still went back to her. He'll always go back to her. Always. All-ways. Every street, every road, every path, and every way. She will be there, and she will be a part of his life, one way or another. I beg of you, Tobias, begging, that you set your hatred for the man aside, just this once, and meet with them. Our children are missing, and wherever they are, they went missing together.'

As much as Tobias hated to admit it, Eileen was right. They had been holding off meeting the Evanses for too long. For now, the newspapers' focus had been on their children's disappearance, but soon they were bound to find out that he and Erwin Evans also shared a history, and a dark and ugly one at that. Somewhere in the depths of his mind he still believed that Severus had run off with her for foolish reasons like the coward he is, but perhaps that was just his own way of coping with the situation, for in his heart a sense of ill foreboding lingered also. 'Fine,' he answered stiffly, 'we'll go, but don't you dare get in my way when the conversation turns ugly.'

With a nod, Eileen agreed and stood up from the kitchen table. With a swish of their coats, they made their way outside onto the narrow street of Spinner's End. In utter silence, they passed an abandoned playground, the rusty chains of the swings creaking in the wind. Further up ahead, the bridge that connected the industrial part of town with the other came into view. Underneath it, a litter-strewn riverbank. A place where Severus and Lily had often found shelter during the hot summer days in private reclusiveness, though the people walking over the bridge did not know it. Eileen turned some corners, and then some more, until she abruptly stopped in front of a small cottage with a thatched roof and a low picket fence. 'I picked Severus up here once,' Eileen said as she looked at the garden. There were many flowers and herbs sprouted out of the ground. Some with magical properties, others not. It looked welcoming, and warm. 'Severus and Lily had only known each other a few weeks, and Erwin and Arnica weren't sure what to do when Severus said he didn't want to go home, and so they searched for our phone number and found me. I came here, and that is how Erwin learnt that you were his father.' Tears were welling up in her eyes at the memory. 'He spoke very briefly of it, and didn't look kindly while he spoke, but he also said that Severus was welcome any time, and that the past between the two of you would never be mentioned in their house again.'

Tobias ignored his wife's words, straightened his back, making himself taller than he already was, and drew a deep breath, wishing he had brought a pack of cigarettes with him. 'Let's get this over with, shall we?' he said. With a firm knock, he knocked thrice on the door.

After a long and winding moment, the door swung open, revealing a redhaired man with an impressive moustache and bright green eyes that were rimmed with red from tears and exhaustion. The green eyes moved upward, meeting black, and turned to slits.

'Lieutenant Evans,' said Tobias dull but sternly.

'It was about time,' Erwin answered venomously. 'Captain Snape.'

…o0o…

Albus Dumbledore stood on the edge of the dock of the southside of the Traunsee lake in Ebensee, Austria. He had waiting for the sun to go down between the mountain tops, and it was nearly twilight. All the sailboats of the day had been docked; its sailors gone home where they would await the arrival of the dawn.

Albus had not told anyone of his whereabouts. Not even his dearest and most loyal friend Minerva, for even she would not understand his motives. At the very bottom of the lake was Nurmengard Castle. A castle of majestic size Grindelwald had built to contain his many enemies, and now contained only him by his own wrongdoings.

The embroidered golden stars on his light-blue robes shimmered in the setting sun, as though Varda, the Vala of the Stars, had blessed them with her presence. Figuring it was time, he pulled out an old tin box from his inner pocket and took out a few springs of Gillyweed. Swiftly, he swallowed the sprigs whole, feeling the bitter saltiness slither from his throat down to his stomach. Webs started to grow between his fingers, and gills opened on the side of his neck. With a graceful dive, he jumped off the edge of the dock, down into the clear dark water.

'Lumos.' The Elder Wand guided his way into the deep, his robes billowing behind him like rogue waves under the surface. The sun had set entirely by the time he had reached the top of the highest tower, and continued to swim down until he reached the portcullis. The castle stood perched atop of a needle-shaped rock in the middle of the lake, looking grandeur in the light of his wand against the darkness.

The iron bars of the portcullis were strong. Above its arch, written in the beautiful flowing lines of the Tengwar script, stood the very words that had struck fear into the hearts of Wizards and Men in this world. "For the Greater Good," it read, and Albus knew how to open the gates, for he, too, was responsible in the creation of this fortified castle. "An i anvaliéf mára," he said, speaking in a tongue he had not uttered since he had left Middle-Earth. The chains of the portcullis creaked and groaned and rumbled low, its echoes belching through the lake, causing ripples and gentle waves on the surface. With a dull clang, the portcullis was raised, and Albus stepped through the gate, there where the water could not reach.

Before him stood Grindelwald, tall and proud. His long white hair neatly tied, and his beard trimmed and well kept. Dark-blue robes he wore. Blue as the night sky, and light blue his eyes were, blue as icy mountains. 'Albus,' he said, his voice wise and deep, 'it's been a long, long time.'

Albus held up his hand, as though to stop him from speaking. 'Today I stand before you, Rómestámo, not as Albus Dumbledore, but as Morinehtar,' he said, and lowered his hand again.

'Morinehtar,' Grindelwald repeated, and something shifted in the depths of his eyes. 'To what do I owe the pleasure of your return, Alatar?'

'It is about something that I have kept hidden from you, Pallando,' Alatar said with great sorrow. 'Hidden, because I had feared it might corrupt your hungry heart for power even further than it already did. And now, it has taken two of my students to Middle-Earth. The Great Eye of the Dark Lord Sauron is gathering strength, and soon, all of Middle-Earth shall turn to ash.'

Pallando took a step forward, curious to hear more. 'And what is it that you are saying, Alatar?'

'What I am saying, my dear Pallando,' Alatar answered, 'is that it's time for us to return to Middle-Earth – and I believe I know the way.'

A/N When I wrote "Severus Snape and the Art of War", the second Fantastic Beasts movie had just come out and created a different version of Nurmengard than I had envisioned. Sticking to my own idea, I settled on Ebensee, Austria, an idyllic place with a deep lake secluded between mountain ranges, but with a dark past, because it also housed a concentration camp. I decided that instead of the fortress being on a mountain top, it resides at the bottom of the lake (for that nice dramatic effect).
A/N In the Art of War, Lily's parents also play an important role in the story. Rowling never revealed their names, but I named them Erwin and Arnica. Arnica to stick to the theme of flowers in the family, and because Arnica flowers are used in healing salves. Erwin is derived from Herwin, from Old High German. 'Heri' meaning army. 'Wini' meaning friend. I made it so because Severus in that story (time travel fic) had experienced the entire war and found a friend in Lily's father who also had experiences of being on the frontline.
A/N Sadly, neither FFN nor AO3 allow me to write things out in Tolkien's beautiful Tengwar script (created by the elf Fëanor), so a phonetic translation will have to suffice. "An i anvaliéf mára" translates to "For the Greater Good." An i = for the. Valiéf = great. Mára = good. Anvaliéf uses the an- prefix to create a superlative. Literal superlatives don't really exist in Quenya, but rather intensifies the meaning of the adjective. Quenya is an Elven language created by Tolkien and simply translates to 'language.' Over the ages of Arda, Quenya disappeared in use and became (for lack of better comparison) what Latin is to our world.
I do have to point out that Tolkien never wrote complete dictionaries for his invented languages, meaning that there's a chance my translation might be off.
A/N Tolkien enjoyed making things complicated by giving the same characters several names in different languages. Alatar and Pallando are the Quenya names of the blue wizards. Morinehtar is also Alatar's name, meaning Darkness-slayer in Quenya. Pallando is also Rómestámo, meaning East-helper. Darkness-slayer and East-helper are earned nicknames if you will.