Harry Potter and the Wizard's Debt

Chapter 5

Frost walked out of the room; she did not feel like eating; let Remus handle the two kids left. She did not know them, and she did not want to be around anyone at the moment. Eleven years of solitude had left her not wanting to be around people. She went out into the atrium; she was here earlier with Dumbledore and had studied the statues. They had moved; she was sure of this now when she was looking at them. She sat down on the bench in front of the elf. It still looked the same after all these years; this was her favorite out of all of them. She loathed the Divine Dragon statue, the one that haunted her dreams at night. She was turning into it. If anything she was a real animagus, only no real animagus ever turned into a dragon.

When she had been in Romania, she had watched the wizards working with dragons. They had one dragon down there, a male, whose female had died the night before Remus found her. During that eleven-year sabbatical away from life, she had learned some things about those dragons. There were always two, a male and a female, and when one died another would show up a year from its death. They never breed, they never lay eggs, so the dragons were a real mystery, and only, she had the key to it. She knew she was the female dragon that would show up when the year came back around and that she had ten months left. Solitude had only confirmed what was happening to her. She had yet to tell anyone.

Dumbledore had always told her not to worry about it, that an answer about what was happening would come. She found the answer, and it scared her. She put her head in her hands. It had been a long time since she cried, but she could no longer hold it back.

Snape entered the atrium, rather bewildered and annoyed because of his conversation with Harry. He only hoped that he had managed to get through to the boy, and that in the next year he would be able to prepare Harry for what was to come. But what if Voldemort finds out? What if Draco discovers the truth and tells Lucius? What then? He'd never be able to get the information he needed then. He would end up dead if he went to any revel. He paused mid-stride and looked at Frost. He was never one to deal with tears, or sorrow very well. This was not his cup of tea.

Her senses were always on alert, and she looked up too and saw Severus. Great! Just what I need, more people around me, and Severus on top of that. Remus I could deal with right now -- tell him to go to hell and he leaves. Tell Severus and you're liable to find yourself hanging upside down. That's always been his way of showing you he doesn't like people in his face, especially after what James did it to him in our fifth year. Frost wiped her eyes, stood up and walked over to the statue of the Divine Dragon, watching him silently.

Severus walked over to the elf statue and started studying it. He glanced over at Frost who was almost fully composed. Even after he gave her the potion that broke Voldemort's curse, she had said nothing to him. The room had been shocked into silence, and she left quietly. He couldn't blame her on that accord, he had a pretty good inkling of why he was here. Molly Weasley didn't trust her to be around her Ron, and now that he found out Harry had gone missing for a month, this had to have been the other reason. Which now brought him back to the orbs. Looking back at Frost he noticed her glaring at the one of the dragons. He cleared his throat, making Frost turn back to him.

She looked down, and then back up.

"I didn't thank you for what you did. How did you break the curse?"

"Four years of long research. Tell me about these orbs. I want to know how Harry can go disappearing for a month."

She looked at the dragon.

"The orbs have something to do with this." She looked back at Severus. "Do you know what type of dragon this is?"

Walking closer, he noticed the shimmering effect of the scales. The dragon appeared to be translucent, which would put it in a rare category. It was being held by some type of magic. All the statues were, and they looked so real. He was sure they were.

"It's rare," he said, "but I can't recall the name."

"It's a Divine Dragon, there are only ever two of them at a time. They don't breed, I don't think they can reproduce. When one dies, another will turn up in its place in one year. I talked to a dragon keeper in Romania, they had two of them, until two months ago. The female is dead, so another will replace it."

Where is she going with this?

"How does this tie in with orbs?"

Frost walked to the elf statue.

"The orbs I've found out are Elvin in descent. They are made from elvish magic. When I was eleven I turned into the dragon for the first time. I ended up killing my parents. Dumbledore found me at an orphanage and brought me here. An Auror covered up my parents' death, and he went to Dumbledore afterward. When he brought me to this house, he told me about the orbs, but he didn't know where they were, or how they worked. I had free reign in this house, I got to know almost every secret inside it. There are more diaries, other than the ones Harry has; I have those hidden too. It took me a while to figure them out. Each one, when first touched, will take you inside them. After you're inside them, you can do things, each one is different." Frost pulled out her wand and unburied the box. She set it down on the bench and opened it up after reading aloud the inscription on the top. Severus looked at the six orbs, and saw, different colored lights shining from each of them, going all over the atrium.

"Which one did Harry pick up?"

Frost reached down and picked up the one that she knew Harry had touched. It used to be pure silver, now it had a light gold color to it. It tingled in her hand, but that was all it ever did.

"I can only feel the magic from this one, it never took me inside it. In order to control the dragon inside me, I have to compensate for the changes. The orbs help me do that. I can shift from form to form, because of the magic from the orbs, but it doesn't stop the dragon -- it only delays it. I spent years figuring these out, and then Harry comes along and he's inside this one in less than three weeks. It makes me wonder if this one is even made by elves."

"What happens if someone else touches them?"

"After I touch them, nothing." She picked up the blue one and held it out to him. "Take it. You can't control it, only I can."

"You're sure nothing will happen?" Severus asked skeptically.

"Positive, even Dumbledore couldn't get anything to work from them."

Severus took it out of her hand.

"It tingles. What does this one do?"

"That one controls any cold blooded animal that I turn into. The red one controls warm blooded animals, the green controls the thought process. I found in some forms I can't think, but when I learned to control the green one, I can think in any form I'm in. The purple one lets me communicate with some animals, though not all of them -- I'm not sure why. And the dark gold one gives me the ability to shift at will and hold the forms, that aren't my own. The one I'm loosing control over is my own body; I don't know how to stop the changes."

Severus put down the orb.

"What changes?"

Frost put the orb that Harry had changed back in the box. She closed it, and when she looked up she could see that Severus was not waiting patiently.

"Do you remember back at the beginning of sixth year I told you I was a shapeshifter?"

"Yes, you showed me, showed me how you could change form to form. Are you saying something is wrong now?"

"Yes." Frost looked back over to the dragon. "My skin is not like it was. Before, I could at least look human, but I can't anymore."

"Look at me."

She looked over to him, but would not look him in the eye.

"You look human enough right now."

She finally looked into his eyes. He did not understand her. She knew Remus would not touch her, she had showed him. She wanted Remus to see that he wouldn't be able to. She would not be able to talk with Remus about this. With Severus she wasn't sure, but knowing him, he just might be able to think of a solution to the problem. He found one for the curse, maybe he could find one for this.

"I appear to be that way with what isn't covered. As long as I stay in an animal form, I can hold it. I at least have everything the animal requires. Like the wolf, it looks like wolf fur and all. The way I am right now, I don't have any skin underneath my clothing."

Severus looked at Frost with raised eyebrows.

"You can't be telling me that you bare no skin under your clothing." He was not about to believe that the girl he once had feelings for wasn't even human anymore.

I didn't show Remus, he only felt it.

Frost unbuttoned her shirt. She knew what everything looked like, and she couldn't stop the shifting anymore. The scales were more prominent than any other form that her body took, but visible too were the minx and the wolf fur. She hadn't had skin for the last couple of years on her torso. She waited for Severus' reaction as she showed him.

This is absolutely not happening.

Severus turned from her, not out of disgust but out of sheer anger. "How can you not be able to hold a human form? You can hold everything else but you're loosing reality over what you are!"

Frost closed her shirt.

"This has been happening for the last five years. It's been gradual. I'm turning into that dragon Severus, I have no control over that. The orbs were my only chance of stopping it, but it isn't working anymore. I have ten months and I won't be here anymore because I'll be that damned bloody dragon!" She told him this dead certainty, no longer even knowing what she wanted from him. Severus turned back to her and glared.

"Humans don't turn into dragons, not permanently!"

"They do if they have elvin blood in them. I can only tie it back to that -- at least that is what Dumbledore thinks its coming from. Something about elemental magic that elves performed, and the pittance of what they have to pay for now since they had fallen. I don't know all of it. Dumbledore never told me all of it. Since the orbs were made from elvin magic he thought if I could control all of them I could control what was happening to me."

"Give me a break! I don't believe any of this Frost. You left once, now you're telling me you've returned for absolutely NO reason at all because in the end you'll just be leaving; but not as the Frost I once knew." Snape replied hotly as he turned away from her.

"I returned because Dumbledore is making me pay a life debt that he took from you. I don't owe Dumbledore a life debt, I owe you one. He didn't tell you, he didn't tell which debt he took from you did he?"

Severus slowly turned around and looked at Frost. Suddenly he felt like Harry must feel having people lie to him. Frost was supposed to be dead, the life debt would never have been fulfilled. Still it made no sense; he was not in any need of her help. "It doesn't matter. You'll leave as a Dragon, and I'll be left to teach and possibly raise my reluctant son." He harshly whispered his thoughts.

Frost took out the letter and flung it down to the ground.

"Then Dumbledore can be damned because I'm not staying. This is impossible. I don't know what that man is thinking, he knows I'm changing into this. I can't stay around the kids like this, it's too bloody dangerous." Frost started walking out of the atrium, then remembered the orbs and turned back around.

Severus bent down and picked up the letter and began reading it.

"This has nothing to do with me, it's more or less towards Remus." He staid, looking over at Frost. "How does Dumbledore think by your coming back that you're repaying your debt to me? How does he think that I'm repaying him?"

Frost had opened the box and had the orb Harry had touched back out.

"I have no idea, you think I know how the man thinks. He defies logic, I think he's seriously loosing it. He was the only one who knew where I was." Frost was so angry, she was about ready to throw all the orbs at the wall. What have they done but buy me some time? And time for what? So I could see my godson and not be apart of his life; so I could see Severus again knowing that I would only have to leave?

"Don't talk to me about that man. He's kept me from my son for fifteen and half years, he made sure Harry never found out. You weren't a part of your Godson's life, so you might understand a small part of what I went through seeing him day after day, and never getting to tell him. Dumbledore's mind works in ways none of us will ever comprehend. If you think he's loosing it, he probably is," Snape growled as he flung the letter back at Frost. "If you break them, have fun explaining things to Harry. I wouldn't be surprised if he has another of his well known fits."

Frost looked at him, confused.

"Harry has fits? What type of fits?"

"Oh just the sudden out bursts of rage directed typically at his friends. Save for last year when he took off to find Bellatrix Lestrange to kill her for killing Black," Snape replied. "Over the course of last year, he had numerous out bursts of anger at many people, and ended up in detention with Umbridge more often than not."

Frost sat down but kept playing with the orb. Now this is interesting. "How is he doing this inside Hogwarts? Bellatrix went to school with us, is she teaching?"

"Let's put it this way, Harry has a little bit of an adventurous side. He ventured off into the Department of Mysteries and was confronted by several Death Eaters, and put his friends into Danger. Black was killed there, and Voldemort showed up as did Dumbledore." Snape suddenly growled, "It seems your godson owes a life debt to our wonderful Dumbledore."

Frost shook her head.

"Harry sounds like James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter. He's your son, yet from what you just told me, he doesn't even act like you or Lily. This is out of hand. I was worried about you telling him, but now, I'm glad I made you do it. He would only get worse if he didn't know. The marauders ran unchecked in that school."

"Yes, and Dumbledore is letting Harry do the same thing. He's treating him just the way he treated them. Harry doesn't need to be treated like that, he's going to get himself killed. That boy needs guidance and he isn't getting it."

Frost watched as Severus paced back and forth in front of the statue of the elf. She had seen him upset, and even frustrated to the point of rage. Now, watching him, she saw the cold, bitter, murderous wrath in his eyes. Nothing she could say would quench the fire that had built up in him over the years. It was pretty astounding how much she could actually see in him, having not been able to be in a room with him in over fifteen years without feeling some form of pain. She missed the intensity he had when he walked into a room -- he had the presence of someone who just sucked the air right out of a place, though he probably did not realize it. This happened to be one of the reasons she had fallen in love with him the first place -- he did not know what he had. She had seen it when they were in school, all the other girls out of their class thought Severus was some slimy git. Severus was not slimy, though he could undermine people. Lily could not see what Frost had found so interesting in Severus until Frost had pointed out the obvious to her. Ever since then, Lily had even made friends with Severus.

Severus stopped pacing and glared at her.

"I thought you were leaving."

"No, not yet. I'll stick around for a while and see what Dumbledore's game is." Frost tossed the orb up in the air and caught it. "Besides, I think I need to have a chat with Harry, and find out how he got into this orb."

Severus watched her put the orb back in the box.

"Are you going to talk to him tonight?"

Frost looked back up at him, her gray-blue eyes meeting his black ones.

"No, I think he may have too much on his mind tonight. It might be better if he sleeps on what he learned today. And if he's acting that much like the marauders, he definitely needs some time to think. I hated springing things on them, because you didn't know how they would react. They would either take it and accept it, or they would hold grudges against you until they did."

Snape watched Frost for a while, and then replied sorely.

"They are not the only ones that do such things. Harry and his friends do also. You'll find out, should you mention me in the truest of contexts to Harry, that his friends will never find out."

"What do you mean his friends won't find out?" Frost asked, not understanding.

"As he said himself, Weasley wouldn't understand, and Granger might find away to understand, but the three have taken up the marauders feelings of vindication, and hatred towards those they do not understand."

Frost shook her head. The marauders had plenty of faults, even Remus had a few, she had some herself. She never told any of them the truth about herself, about the dragon, and even Severus was having a hard time with it. Remus would not understand at all. Frost looked back up at him.

"Then he at least needs to tell Hermione. The girl is not stupid, she'll figure it out, unless she can't read Harry all that well. She figured me out pretty quickly, and that is scary. I hadn't told anyone about the dragon, you're the only one who knows about it other than Dumbledore."

"You're right, she will find out, and she will keep it to herself, as she did when she found out that Remus was a werewolf. If it will hurt Harry, I'm sure it won't come out." Snape paused, and then continued, "unless Weasley finds out of course. But if you wish, you may attempt to get Harry to disclose it to her."

Frost stood up.

"You don't want them to know. You're scared because you're his father, and now he knows. I never thought I'd live to see the day that Severus Snape is scared of something."

Severus glared at her hatefully.

"I am not afraid of their knowing, that's Harry's choice, not mine. I kept it from him, not from anybody else. If he wants his friends to know then so be it. If he doesn't, then I have no problem with knowing that either." He kept his voice at a calm but angry tone.

"Believe what you will, but that is not what I see. Maybe someday you'll quit acting. I just hope I'm around long enough to see it. You always were a good actor, you did so well with that in school." Frost bent over and closed the box with the orbs. I hate confronting him like this. He always takes the defensive as soon as you show him any little dent in the armor he's built up. I may have been gone for almost fifteen years, but I can still read him.

"I am no actor! I do my job and I do it well. Take it as you will," Severus snarled as he turned away from her.

"Then keep doing your job Severus." Frost picked up the box with the orbs. "I'll have better luck telling Remus I'm a dragon than you'll ever have admitting to yourself that your scared."

Snape's lips curled into a hateful grimace as he looked over at Frost.

"You said so yourself you have ten months, I doubt I will be changing, even for you."

Frost cringed. She had never seen him like this before, never seen him this cold and cut off to the world. "I'm not asking for myself. I know a hopeless cause when I see one; I'm more than gone and I know it. Think about Harry, Severus. He's still young enough for you to care about him." She started out of the atrium waiting for that last retort. He always had to have the last word. One...two...three...there it is.

"What about him? Sixteen years Frost! I'm sure a few more won't matter much!" he snarled.

What an arsehole, I'm not taking that bait. Frost continued walking. If he says one more thing I'm liable to attack him.

Pallador could make out shapes, but he was not clear as to what they were. One appeared to be a man and the other a woman, but he could not understand the language they were speaking either. The magic that was holding him in place was giving way. He had waited for a long time. The spell first gave him his mind, but his movement was still hampered by the shields around him. The woman walked back inside. He could see the man clearly now, and hear him, even though he did not know what he was saying. At last he had full movement and the last of the spell fell away as he drew in a deep breath of air. The man had not noticed him -- he could see the anger written clearly in his face. It was strange the last he had seen was a garden, he had been placed in the middle of one. He stepped down off the plat form and turned to look at the others. They had not woken from their spells.

Pallador turned and saw the angry man stop in mid stride and look at him.

"Suilad," Pallador told him in Sindarin.

Severus spotted the elf, the one that had been a statue just moments ago. He shook his head and pointed his wand at it.

"Who the hell are you?" he questioned, gripping his wand tightly; not out of fear, but out of habit.

Pallador's forehead furrowed. Not a good sign, the wizard has drawn his wand. Pallador opened his hands and kept them palm up, showing the wizard he had nothing to fear, and that he was not going to do anything to harm him. Sindarin didn't work, Hedonic spoke Latin, and Latin might work. If it doesn't I don't know that many more languages.

"Salutare, ego Pallador." He still had not moved. "Ego medius non periculum, magiavir."

He continued to glare at the elf. He had not a clue of what this elf was saying. Everything now sounded more like a curse that could very well be used against him.

"If you won't speak English, than leave this house now!"

Pallador put his head to chest. The wizard doesn't know Latin but only wizards use that language. Hedonic spoke one more to him, but that one was not clear. The other I know is called Italian.

"Non significo danno, ho messo via l'attrezzo magico." He kept his head bowed. I know must seem odd, having an elf come off a stand and come to life, but surely this man doesn't think I'll do anything. He was in a position of what many called utter mercy.

If ever Severus Snape was confused, it was then. He turned to look down the hallway to see if Frost was still around. She had said she had elf blood in her, so she might have been able to communicate with him. Snape was only becoming more aggravated and angry with the current situation.

Pallador looked back up. He could see the wizard looking for someone, it had to be the woman. Keeping his arms out at his side, he took a step to the right to see how the wizard would take to this gesture.

"Stay where you are." He raised his wand, having let it fall slightly to his side. "Where the hell is she now?" he grumbled.

Pallador stopped -- it was the wizard's tone of voice that made him do so. They both turned when they heard voices.

"Come on, Hermione. I want to go exploring." Ron told her.

"I want to talk Harry," Hermione replied.

"Miss Granger, Mr. Weasley, go get Frost." Professor Snape commanded them.

Hermione stared at the elf along with Ron.

"Bloody hell! There aren't supposed to be any elves left!"

"Mr. Weasley, we're well aware of this fact. Now go you two."

Ron and Hermione turned and ran back into the house hunting Frost -- they returned rather quickly.

"Of course there is an elf in the atrium, it's a statue!" Frost told them, coming back out into the atrium. She stopped in her tracks when she saw that the elf was no longer a statue. "Dumbledore has a lot of explaining to do."

Frost turned to Hermione. "Go to the portrait in the library, get the old headmaster to contact Dumbledore now."

Hermione gave one last look at the elf.

"Yes ma'am." She dragged Ron back with her.

Pallador still had his arms outstretched, and he looked at the woman. He first spoke in Sindarin, to no avail. Next, he tried Latin, which only made both her and Snape point their wands at him. He tried Italian once more.

"Non significo pericolo, prego ho messo via gli attrezzi magici." Pallador said.

Frost looked at him. She understood Italian as her mother had been Italian, and she spoke this language fluently, though it had been some time since she had done so.

"Chi sono voi?" she attempted.

"Pallador," said the elf, watching the both of them.

Snape looked over to Frost.

"You understand it?"

"He's speaking Italian. His dialect is off, so he had to have learned it; I'm guessing what he spoke before was Latin. The other language I've never head."

"Of course it was Latin, he sounded like he was cursing us." Snape still had his wand drawn.

Frost ignored him and turned back to Pallador.

"Perchè eravate sotto un periodo? Era alla prigione voi?"

Pallador smiled.

"No, sono stato disposto sotto il periodo perché ho scelto essere. Per venire ad un momento di contribuire a compiere la parola futura." Pallador pointed over to the Divine Dragon that was still under the magical spell. "La mia gente ha dovuto disperdere a causa della magia elementare. Gli uomini magici di quel tempo, hanno messo un curse su tutti i elves che potrebbero effettuarli, che se potessero invitare la magia elementare si trasformerebbe in un drago divine. Poiché quando la magia elementare è effettuata e non in una situazione di morte e di vita una creatura magica morirà."

"Attenda, il can?t di I invita questa magia elementare, in modo da perchè I che si trasforma in un drago sanguinante."

Pallador looked back at her, studying her. "Soltanto un elf può essere trasformato in esso invitando la magia elementare."

"Ho anima di elvin ma non ho invitato mai questa magia."

Pallador took a step closer and spoke in voice unlike his own.

Il destino in fine ha cominciato,

E sveglierà la traversina,

E la sua canzone.

Bambina di Phenor e della luna,

Inverno baciato rugiada sarà chiamata,

Con l'alimentazione di vento e di pioggia.

La natura del drago è dentro,

Ma il wanderer cielo-contrassegnato discenderà,

E metterà per dormire la bestia di anima-hearted.

Ascolti il custode di lore di elvin,

Per il Noxmor è svegliato una volta di più,

Chiamata di He?ll lo svarione della luna,

E ricerca del bevitore di anima,

E sia il cacciatore di loro tutto,

E sia il loro custode di anima.

Il lupo della luna aumenterà

E sgomini il suo foe

Con tutti i sussurro e noia

La luce del cielo-wanderer

È il suo custode di destino

E soltanto può determinare il reaper

Non sia debole di cuore

Per le scale cadrà a parte

E l'inverno baciato rugiada sarà intero una volta di più

"What did he say?" Snape asked.

Frost looked over at Snape.

"A lot of stuff I'm still trying to figure out."

"We'll have to put your memory in a pensieve. That way you can play it over and write it all down."

"An excellent idea," Dumbledore said.

Frost looked over to Dumbledore who was studying Pallador.

"Are you going to tell me why I'm here? Or let me just believe what you put in that letter?"

"I'll tell you when we're alone, I don't care to discuss this with you in front of three students, a bard elf, Professor Snape and Professor Lupin. What is this elf's name?"

"Pallador."

"And the language?"

"Italian."

"I was under the assumption he would come out speaking Latin."

"You know where he came from, don't you?" Professor Snape asked.

"Yes, and when. All the headmasters of Hogwarts knew about these statues. It's been handed down from generation to generation, and kept a secret from everyone else. Pallador comes from fifty years before the founding of the school. He lived in the Forbidden Forest, at that time known as the 'Black Forest of Hedonic's Landing'. Pallador was born in the Forbidden Forest among a band of elves known as bard elves, the very last of their kind."

"A bard elf? What's a bard elf?" Hermione asked.

"A song bearer of prophecy, though most elvin prophecies stay within their own race. But the bard elves of the Forbidden Forest never did. Some of the prophecies from the Ministry of Magic came from them."

Dumbledore walked over to Frost, who was still looking at Pallador. He was watching everyone and had not said another word. "You'll need to teach him English, my dear. If he speaks Latin again, some wizards may not understand and start cursing him."

Frost did not answer Dumbledore's request. The words Pallador had sung were still tumbling over in her mind. She was trying to figure out all the meanings. She shook her head yes.

"Thank you my dear."