Harry Potter and the Summer of Secrets

Chapter 5: Where Loyalties Lie...

December 28, 1979

"Thank you for meeting me here. I know your time must be valuable these days - Hogwarts professor by day, Death Eater by night," she said flatly as she sat down across from the dark-haired man.

"That's hardly a fair accusation to make when you have absolutely no proof," he replied amused.

"I saw you, Severus, at a raid in Diagon Alley," she spat as she pulled a mask from her pocket and threw it on the table. "How long?"

"Lily, it isn't like that," he sputtered, surprised to see her emerald eyes shining with tears.

"How is it, then? I have defended you at every Order meeting and nearly lost James in the process. How long?" she repeated.

"Since seventh year at Hogwarts," he replied.

"Then we have nothing more to say to one another," she said sadly as she stood and walked slowly away.

"Lily, please," he started.

"Don't," she spat angrily. "I can't believe James was right about you this whole time. Where is Medea? We know that Voldemort has her."

Severus paled slightly, but answered, "She is dead, but do not think she was merely a prisoner..."

Tears sprang to Lily's eyes once again, as she shook her head in disbelief. "Are you really suggesting that she joined him voluntarily? You know as well as I do how much she detests the Dark Arts."

"If she was a lowly prisoner, then why was she allowed to come and go as she pleased; she was not under the Imperius Curse."

"Do you really hate Sirius so much that you can't put aside your silly rivalry-" She broke off, shaking her head.

"Never mind," she continued resolutely. "I have to go, James will be home soon. We can no longer be friends, Severus, goodbye..."

He watched, frozen, as she turned and Apparated. He rolled over on his stone bed and stared at the wall of his cell.

Guilt pulsed through him as he continued to try to figure out where it had all gone wrong. Perhaps he should never have entered the Dark Lord's service, or maybe he should never have started working at Hogwarts.

"No," he said aloud. "I should never have made the Unbreakable Vow."

****

She awoke early to Hedwig hooting loudly in her ear, an official looking piece of parchment tied to her leg. She detangled herself from Draco, took the letter and read:

You are expected at the dock, no later than 10:30 am.

Matilda Fischer, Prisoner Affairs Office, Azkaban

She looked at the clock; it was nine-thirty. She immediately woke Draco and they dressed in silence before leaving quickly. They took the Knight Bus to the docks of the North Sea, where a small boat waited to take them to the prison. Draco hid himself carefully under an invisibility cloak before they left the bus.

As the fortress drew nearer, Iris shivered, recalling the words everyone had spoken about it. She looked up at the dark, neglected and depressing prison as it rose forebodingly in front of her, and decided that no words could justify what she felt at that moment. She felt both scared and trapped; she remembered the terrible day that Fudge had tried to send her there before Dumbledore convinced him to let her go.

They crossed a rickety wooden bridge and entered into large circular room that had a desk in the middle of it and an ancient-looking spiral staircase on one side; several long corridors branched off from the central entrance. She surrendered her wand at the front desk before being searched. A guard then led her up the winding staircase and across another circular room to a long corridor labelled 'Known and Suspected Death Eaters', where he handed her a lantern.

"Make the first right, last cell on the left, and don't get too close to any of the doors."

April 27, 1981

He took a deep breath and knocked tentatively on the door of the large, white house. He heard approaching footsteps and nearly fled back down the walk.

The door opened slowly, revealing a pale woman with dark red hair and emerald eyes. A small child with messy black hair and eyes the exact colour of his mother's sat on her hip.

"Severus?" she asked quietly as she stepped out onto the porch, closing the door behind her. "What are you doing here? If James sees you..."

"I do not care if Potter sees me," he said quickly. "I have to make amends for my actions."

"You cannot simply knock on my door and expect me to forgive-"

"I do not come here for forgiveness," he cut in. "I have come to warn..."

He trailed off as the front door opened and a man with untidy hair and glasses walked out onto the porch, followed by a man with long black hair.

"Lily, darling, what are you..." James started, but stopped when he saw whom she was talking to.

He pulled out his wand and pointed it at Severus, as did the man beside him.

"What are you doing here, Snivellus?" Sirius asked suspiciously.

"I came here to speak to Lily, it's a private matter of grave importance."

"Say what you need to, then leave," Lily said before the argument could escalate to a duel.

Severus looked from her angry face to James' and Sirius'; he then looked at the little boy, who gave him a big, toothy grin.

"I have done something terrible," he began slowly. "Before I was given a position at Hogwarts, I overheard a prophecy of sorts. It spoke of the one who would conquer the Dark Lord, born to those who had thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies."

James looked at him oddly and then looked over at his wife. Severus continued, his voice growing softer.

"I foolishly told him of this prophecy." He stopped once again looking from Lily to her son.

"Severus," James asked quietly, "is Voldemort coming for Harry?"

The pale man nodded, looking ill, and said, "I'm so sorry, Lily, I did not know."

Her eyes filled with tears and she shook her head. She hugged her son protectively before fleeing back into the house.

Severus rolled over onto his back and stared up at the ceiling of his tiny cell miserably; silently wishing the Dementors were still in charge. He had done far worse things than that, led raids on villages, killed so many nameless people.

He knew that someone would come for him soon, the Dark Lord would not let his most trusted follower rot in Azkaban. He needed to compose himself before he went back to him, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not bury his guilt this time.

It seemed that all he could remember were her angry green eyes; his mind drifted away once more as he remembered the look on Lily's face when the Dark Lord burst into the room that terrible Halloween night. He remembered her anger as she watched him follow the Dark Lord into the nursery.

"Take your reward, Severus," the Dark Lord had hissed, "so I can kill the boy."

He remembered that he had tried to lead Lily from the room, but she pushed him away and pulled her wand defiantly from her pocket; she pointed it directly at Voldemort, who merely laughed.

"Stand aside, you silly girl, and your life will be spared; do you not understand?" Voldemort hissed. "I said, stand aside!"

Lily raised her wand, but the Dark Lord was too quick; the green light of his Killing Curse hit her before she could wave her wand. That had been the worst day of his life; yet, it was not over.

"Get the others, I want them to witness the death of my would be destroyer."

"Lucius, get up here," he called down to the man searching the house for anything useful that they might steal.

The blond haired man jumped over the body he had been searching and quickly ran up the stairs. As soon as Lucius had entered the room the Dark Lord hissed, "Avada Kedavra!"

For a moment, it had looked as though he were victorious; the green light had hit the boy's forehead before rebounding straight back at Voldemort. A blinding green light filled the room, engulfing both the Dark Lord and the boy. Lucius ran from the room, followed closely by Snape; when they reached the living room, they looked morosely down at the little girl still playing with the cat.

"Let's go, Iris," Lucius said, holding out his hand to the young girl.

"Daddy?" she asked as she looked around for him. Lucius tried to grab her, but she wriggled free and started towards the stairs. Snape, who was closest to her, scooped her up.

He handed her to Lucius who struggled to hold on to the wriggling two year old as they Apparated to Malfoy Manor. "I'll hide her somewhere, don't tell anyone about her, ever."

Snape looked away, but Lucius commanded his attention. "She is in charge now and must be hidden until the time is right; you must promise me that you will never speak of her to anyone who doesn't already know about her. That is only myself, Narcissa, and the rat..."

A sudden drawling voice cut through his thoughts. "Honestly Professor, I wonder if you wanted to get caught. "

****

"I can't believe they are still sleeping!" said Hermione at ten o'clock the next morning. "They said we had to leave early."

"We just woke up ourselves," said Harry, swallowing a bite of his cereal. "It's alright though, I promised Aunt Petunia I'd finish the garden work when she agreed to take Dudley to Marge's."

Ron groaned loudly. "I hate Muggle gardening."

After a hurried breakfast, they headed out into the bright sunlight. Harry began to mow the lawn as Hermione and Ron got to work trimming the bushes.

About an hour later, Hermione, who had finished her share of the work quickly by magic, sat reading a thick book on the founders of Hogwarts. Suddenly, she jumped up and began to pace excitedly, her nose about an inch from the page.

"I don't believe it!" she gasped loudly. "I absolutely must wake Iris up."

She ran quickly through the house and up the stairs. She knocked loudly on the door to the guest room. When Harry and Ron caught up to her, she shrugged and opened the door slowly.

The room was neat and tidy, despite the mess it had been the night before; propped on the desk was a note. As Hermione read the note, her frown increased.

"Oh, listen to this: 'Sorry guys, we had something we needed to take care of, be back by noon.' Of all the sneaky, underhanded, trait-" She broke off when she saw Harry's face.

He broke into a grin. "This is just their way of getting out of garden work, they are in Slytherin, remember? Come on, we still have an hour before they get back; we can get the flowerbeds finished."

**Meanwhile**

As they walked down the dirty, rat-infested corridor, several of the prisoners lunged at the cell doors, jeering. When they came to the last cell, Draco pulled off the cloak and looked down at Snape, who was muttering wildly under his breath.

"Honestly Professor, I wonder if you wanted to get caught," he said, smirking. "A wedding full of Aurors?"

"Draco?"

Draco looked disbelievingly back down the corridor to see a man straining to see them from his cell. He walked down two cells and stood looking at a man in shabby, torn robes; his face was pale and mask-like, with dark circles under his eyes.

"Father?" he asked softly for, as far as he knew, no Malfoy had ever looked like this before.

"Your mother said you were dead," Lucius said, incredulously.

"I was," Draco drawled, "but I got better..."

"Enough, Draco. Tell me what magic you used to hide from our Lord, no one has managed it before; he can always tell."

Draco smirked. "No magic you need to know, Father, as it's your fault we're in this mess..."

Lucius lunged forward and grabbed him, demanding to know how he had escaped the Dark Lord's service. Draco pulled away, feeling the clasp rip off of his robes.

"This will damn you," Lucius snarled. Draco shook his head sadly and walked slowly back to Iris.

"Let's get this over with," he said moodily. "Wait, how are we to do magic without wands?"

"We don't need wands, Draco," Iris said knowingly. "Sometimes I can do wandless magic."

He looked inquiringly at her. "Sometimes? Sometimes? Oh, now that really helps..." he started sarcastically.

"You probably could, too, and if you'd only shut up, I could show you how," she snapped.

She closed her eyes and placed her hands on the lock, muttering words so low the others could not hear them. She then pulled down on the lock hard and the door opened easily.

"Come on, Professor, under the cloak with Draco. Quickly now..."

He ducked under the cloak, and they were standing on the dock fifteen minutes later. They walked deep into the surrounding woods before they took off the cloak.

"Of all the stupid, far-fetched and ridiculously brilliant plans, this was the best?" Snape demanded.

"Well, it worked didn't it?" Iris replied, annoyed. "They probably still don't even know you are gone. You are just pissed because you have not been able to do it yourself."

Snape's anger was etched on every line of his face. "Why did you even come then?" he snarled.

"My father made me, and I need your help."

He laughed hollowly. "What makes you think I want to help you?"

"By helping me, you help Harry, and Dumbledore will not have died in vain," she answered softly.

A sad look came about his face, and he sighed heavily. A loud bell rang out in the distance, which could only mean they had discovered his empty cell, and he quickly made up his mind.

"Fine," he said finally. "Where are we going?"

A loud pop was heard as the Dark Lord appeared, twenty minutes later, in the drawing room of the house Iris had inherited from her mother.

"You called for me?" he asked, looking around the room bitterly.

Iris walked over to him. "Snape is over on the couch, the deed is done."

"Leave us," he ordered.

She left, placing wards on the door to prevent him leaving, except by Apparition; she then ran straight to the kitchen.

Draco sat waiting at the table and smiled when she ran in. "Ready?"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were up to their elbows in fertiliser when they Apparated in the garden.

They spun around so fast that they almost fell over. "Oh, Iris," cried Hermione. "I have something very important to tell you!"

"What?" Iris asked curiously.

"I think I know who your mother is," Hermione answered, obviously proud of herself. When Iris didn't answer, she plunged on, pulling several thick books from her bag and flipping through the pages.

"I started with Slytherin, because Voldemort is his heir. He was madly in love with Rowena Ravenclaw- they were to be married, but something totally unexpected happened. The night before the wedding, Rowena gave him back the locket he had given her and left him for Gryffindor. It's the very same locket Voldemort made a Horcrux."

She tapped a picture of the locket in one of the books, covering the page in fertiliser, before continuing, "So, I decided to follow Ravenclaw's line; curiously, it contained all women, none had ever married, and all died giving birth. This line led to you, Iris - your mother's name was Medea Ravenclaw."

Hermione pushed the book into Iris' hands, and she swept the pages clean. She looked up at Hermione and said, "I suppose you want me to thank you, to tell you how incredibly clever you are? As you stand there spitting inaccuracies as facts..."

Hermione shrank back as Iris towered over her. "What do you mean inaccuracies? It's all in the book-"

"This book is merely a sugar-coated version of a rumour in comparison with the accounts of the Founders themselves."

"Oh really, and what do you think happened?" Hermione asked angrily.

Iris looked as if she wanted to smack her, but instead answered, "Rowena did not simply give him back the locket and go to Gryffindor, she threw it in his face, accusing him of trying to trick her. She then made him leave the very school that had been his idea in the first place."

Hermione snorted, but she glared at her. "This book," Iris spat as she held it up, "is absolute rubbish. According to a journal once kept by Helga Hufflepuff, she was the only one of the Founders still alive twenty years after the completion of the school. She wrote that Slytherin had killed both Godric and Rowena within a year of his departure from the school. Gryffindor's son hunted Slytherin and finally killed him in a battle of some sort in Romania."

Hermione looked a little discomfited, but replied, "How did he kill them if they made him leave the school?"

Iris laughed and looked at her as though she were stupid. "He helped build the school, do you think the secret passages are new? He snuck in one night and slit his throat while he slept."

Hermione hesitated, but finally asked, "And what happened to Rowena?"

"It is said that he cursed her line, though none knew the true wording. She died giving birth to a daughter shortly after Godric's murder; her daughter died the same way, and so on. Yes, my mother did die the day I was born, but no one can really tell me how it happened. So I would like to thank you, Hermione, for reminding me that all my family is dead."

She took a deep breath, glared at Hermione, who looked as though she might cry, and went in to the house quickly.

****

He woke with a start as he was prodded with a wand. "Severus, you are wasting time."

He rubbed the sleep from his eyes as the Dark Lord came into focus. "My Lord," he said, sitting up quickly.

"Tell me, Severus, why did you go to that wedding?"

"To kill Harry Potter, My Lord. I was foolish to think he'd be unprotected."

"Very foolish, indeed, my friend, but I am not angry. I have come to discuss the terms of your reward. I can no longer give you Harry Potter as it seems I must dispose of him myself, according to new information..."

"What of my reward?" he asked, maintaining his composure.

"As I said before, Severus, anything you want. You alone have proven yourself my most trusted follower."

"Anything?" he asked quietly. "Then I wish to know the secret to immortality."

Snape had expected him to be angry, but the Dark Lord replied, "Horcruxes, seven in all."

He pulled a tattered book from his pocket and handed it to him. "I've made a few notes and modifications," Voldemort said raptly, "perfected the method. That will teach you all you need to know."

He Disapparated quickly, leaving Snape alone in the house. He could hardly believe his eyes, and he sat down, eagerly reading the book.

****

Draco surveyed the scene quietly. Harry and Ron were staring at the door Iris had disappeared through, shocked looks on their faces; Hermione was shoving her books back into her bag shakily.

'This isn't where I want to be,' he thought bitterly and turned to follow Iris into the house.

"Malfoy?" Harry called him back. "What was that all about?"

Draco smiled. "I suggest that, in the future, none of you speak of Iris' mother. Now, we need to leave soon, it is no longer safe for us to be here, or for your neighbours, for that matter."

He headed straight to the guest bedroom, where he found Iris packing. "Damn Gryffindors..." he started but stopped when her shoulders started shaking.

For a moment, he thought she was crying. He went to comfort her, only to find she was laughing.

"What is so damn funny?" he asked surprised.

"Did you see her face?" she said breathlessly. "Priceless..."

"You aren't angry then?" he asked skeptically.

"No," she said. "Seriously. I just wanted to make her stop researching my family; now, are the others ready to go?"

They Apparated directly into the drawing room where Snape sat reading the last page of Voldemort's book; it took only a few seconds for Harry to realise he was there.

The colour drained from his face as he crossed the room, drew his wand, and pointed it directly at Snape's face.

"Give me one good reason," he snarled.

Snape surveyed him, expressionless, and when he spoke, his voice was calm.

"I know you are angry, Potter, but you must listen to me; he made me do it. Dumbledore, I mean, he ordered me to, to-" He broke off and took a deep breath.

"He was dying anyway, slowly, painfully... You see, Marvolo's ring had a terrible curse on it, if anyone other than a descendant wore it, they would instantly begin to decay."

He stopped and looked down at the floor. "He asked me to prolong it, but I hesitated, telling him of the pain it would cause him. He did not care, he insisted that he had to pass along his knowledge."

Harry stopped him. "Why did you turn my family over to Voldemort?"

Snape sighed. "Potter, I did not know it would be your family. Lily was a close friend of mine, before she found out that I had joined the Death Eaters."

"You called her a Mudblood," Harry spat back at him. "I saw it in the Pensieve."

Snape hung his head. "I did call her a Mudblood, but she forgave me in time. Your mother was much like Dumbledore..."

"Do you have any proof?" Harry asked quietly.

"I could show you, if only I had that Pensieve," Snape replied.

Iris stepped boldly between them and said, "We can pick it up when we go after the sword."

Snape pulled something from his pocket and handed it to Harry. He unfolded it carefully to find a picture of his mother, sitting under a tree, laughing as a cauldron exploded.

Next to her sat Snape, covered from head to toe in a sticky blue substance that a second later sprouted large sunflowers all over him. She screamed as he scraped some from his face and flung it her.

"She switched my cauldron with an exploding one and had one of her friends take a picture," he explained, watching Harry's reaction carefully.

Harry looked directly into Snape's eyes. He never knew that his mother played pranks on Snape as well; he sighed and lowered his wand.

"It's alright," he said, still looking at the man intently. "I think I might believe him, it would explain a lot."

Ron snorted in disgust and sat down in the chair in the corner, far away from the others.

Snape turned to Iris and asked, "Did you want me to take a look at the locket?"

"Yes, Professor, thank you for reminding me," she said as she pulled the locket from her pocket and sat down next to him.

He took it cautiously and began to examine it carefully. After several long minutes of tapping it with his wand, he asked, "Has this locket been opened?"

"I'm not sure, we found it in the old Black house in London. I had been following clues to it for nearly two years. I know it has not been opened while in my possession. Why?"

"The Horcrux in the diary became so powerful it tried to steal the life of a child. I fear that if this locket were opened, it would be released," Snape answered thoughtfully.

"Hold on," said Harry, looking suspiciously at Iris. "If you only found out about the Horcruxes last term, then why have you been looking for it for two years?"

She pulled a tattered journal from her pocket. "Shortly before the Dark Lord returned, I found this journal, here in this very room. I didn't know how it got here, whose it was, or why these objects were so important, but now I do."

She flipped through the pages, finally stopping at a picture of the locket. Every inch of the page was covered in three sets of handwritten notes.

"Wait," Snape said, pawing through the book the Dark Lord had given him. He stopped on a page with a picture of a locket. His version, however, only had one set of notes.

"Where did you get that?' Iris asked curiously.

"I asked him to reward me with the secret to immortality, and he gave me this. It is a detailed account of everything, all six of them..."

"I only have notes on the ring, the diary, the locket, and the cup," she said happily.

"There is something else, Iris."

She cut him off quickly. "That's all I need to know right now, may I read the book?"

"Why?" he asked, hesitating slightly.

"You've been telling me for years now that I needed to expand my knowledge of the Dark Arts. What was the last thing you said to me last year? You told me that to end this, I needed to understand the cause behind the curse, the nature of the poison, and the secrets of the snake; this journal could very well be all of that."

He looked annoyed; he hated when she used his own words against him to get her way, whether it be an extension on an assignment or an impromptu trip to Hogsmeade with Draco. Though he was familiar with her tricks, he handed the journal to her looking resigned, and she pocketed it quickly before turning back to Harry.

"You must learn to better control your magic; once mortal, the Dark Lord will still be very powerful. You will have only one chance to destroy him. Also, it has now become imperative that you learn Occlumency..."

"Why?" Harry asked, shooting a mistrustful glance at Snape. "Professor Dumbledore said that I didn't need it anymore."

"At that time, you did not know nearly as much as you do now, nor did you have as many secrets to hide. Besides, learning Occlumency will help with control."

Harry finally nodded. "As long as he isn't teaching me."

****

With the night came warm and gusty winds, not to mention a torrential downpour. The sound of the rain hitting the soggy ground was deafening, but if you were to listen carefully, you would hear muffled cries.

"Ginny!"

Several hooded figures waded through the flooded grounds, searching frantically. Finally one cried out, "I've found her, over here!"

They all ran towards the sound of the voice and found Bill carrying his sister's limp body out of the woods.

"She's unconscious, but otherwise unharmed," he said quickly as his mother began to cry.

They took the drenched girl into the house; her father quickly dried her clothes with the wave of his wand before Bill lay her down on the couch.

"Fred, George, go to headquarters and inform the Order; Bill, send for a nurse from St Mungo's," Arthur said and they immediately ran back out into the storm.

"Ennervate," he said, reviving his daughter. "Ginny, are you alright?"

The girl sat up and looked around uncertainly. "I'm fine, I just fell asleep in the field."

"Bill found you unconscious in the middle of the woods, what happened?"

"I don't know," she said quietly. "The last thing I really remember is the cake crashing into the ground at the wedding..."