Hogwarts Trilogy Part One: Secrets and Sorceresses

Chapter 2

Order of the Phoenix

In which Alcyone gets interrupted in her reading,

Dumbledore is trying to find a DADA-teacher

and ‘the old crowd’ holds its first meeting

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You know how, when travelling around the most obscure places, you get to see fascinating buildings and wonders of nature. And you stop to watch them, to look at the strange and incomparable beauty no human hand could ever reconstruct. Your eyes wander about over the colours and the freshness of what you see, and you can’t help but wonder how some things seem to have been created by a truly imaginative mind- a silent artist. Rocks that have been polished to perfection by salt water. Trees that the storms have bent into peculiar formations. Fields of wildflowers with a touch of art that you realise you can never paint, hills that raise their majesty high above everything else. It was on one of those hills her house was situated.

The story about it was often told in the sleepy countryside: how a woman had arrived one night many years ago and just walked up to the Haunted Hill, moved in her things and begun to live there. She had never said anything to any of them during all these years; a fact that led many to the conclusion that she was a ghost. Thanks to time and wild fantasies, the people in the little village had now decided that the lonely lady wasn’t a human being and the house on the Haunted Hill was left alone. Sometimes, if they were fast enough, they could get a glimpse of a tall, grey shape, hastily walking across the fields with her head held down to the ground. She was always talked about and never spoken to. She was a legend.

 

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A thick fog was draped all over the Victorian room. Bookcases, dusty old furniture and the dark-red sofa in the centre of what appeared to be a library, were all swept into dims of smoke, caused by the woman by the window. She was sitting on the dusty window ledge, holding a book in her hands while she puffed on an enormous cigar. On her right, a little creature took small, terrified smokes between attacks of coughing. The figure almost fell off its seat and looked up in the woman’s face.

"Not now, Homunculus," she replied firmly and turned pages.

He coughed again, more hysterically this time.

"I is sick, Miss…I is sick of the smoking…"

The woman regarded her companion, who was getting a horrified look on its small face, with reluctance. Both of them sighed.

"Please, Hom. Don’t bother me while I’m reading. Go and make yourself some nice hot tea if you’re feeling sick, I have to finish this book."

"But I is feeling so weak, Miss…so weak…"

For a second they glared at each other, the smaller one with a triumphant smile and the woman with flashing eyes. Then she groaned, closed the book with a loud smash and stepped down from the ledge, still looking very displeased. Homunculus seemed to have recovered quite well as he followed in her footsteps, jumping up and down.

"Has anyone told you lately that you’re the worst house-elf ever?" the tall lady muttered without looking down. "A parasite, that’s what you are…a dullard of a parasite!"

Homunculus giggled.

"You always say that and then you hug me, Miss."

His female friend snorted.

"I don’t hug."

"You is hugging Homunculus!" the house-elf frantically exclaimed but fell silent when he got a dark scowl as they reached the huge kitchen. It was a room seldom used since none of its inhabitants knew the first thing about cooking and mostly ate what she knew the Muggles in the village called fast food. The old gas-stove was dirty and dusty and seemed to be surprised, but happy, to get used. The woman made a movement with her wand and mumbled something, then two cups filled with piping hot blueberry tea. Homunculus sighed out of pure happiness.

"Ahh…now this is something else than stinking cigars, Miss!"

"Of course it is. But I happen to enjoy my stinking cigars, so if you don’t mind, I’ll return to the library and please, Hom- no more talking while I’m reading!"

The tiny creature nodded, seriously.

"That is understood. Homunculus is going to remain here, silent as a house-elf."

I don’t know about the silence of those, the woman thought before bringing her cup to the dark library again, where her cigar and her book waited for her. She had been lucky enough to find a house with a complete collection of novels, and it could satisfy even her enormous appetite. Of course she had filled the house with Magic literature as time had passed- by now no one could tell there once had been a Muggle reader living here. She owned editions that would make any collector gasp for breath, rare and original editions of classic books as well as works of obscure poets and novelist only Intellectuals knew about. It was all here, in her seldom cleaned house.

After a deep smoke and a sip of her tea, she was again absorbed by the fascinating adventures of Orlando, currently living in literary London.

Less than an hour later, she heard a noise from the kitchen, closely followed by a scream from Homunculus who came running in her direction with his tiny arms waving in the air.

"Ooooooh, Miss, Miss! It’s a man in the kitchen, a man in the kitchen! I saw a man in the kitchen!"

She wanted to kill something, or even more so someone. One might think that living isolated in a place called the Haunted Hill would do it, but no. She still couldn’t get a moment of peace to read her books and it annoyed her beyond every limit of reason. The feeling of irritation didn’t decrease when the face of an old man turned up in the doorway.

"Good afternoon," the man said and stepped forward without taking any notice of Homunculus’s hysteria. "And hello, little house-elf…I believe your name is Homunculus, is that correct?"

"Yes…"

"You may leave now, Hom," the woman hissed. "And no eavesdropping through the keyhole…or any other hole for that matter!"

"Homunculus is not a eavesdropper…but I is leaving…I is leaving right now, Miss…"

When he had disappeared in his usual confused manner, the woman looked at the old man again, a little friendlier this time.

"Albus Dumbledore…" she said and got a laugh from him.

"Alcyone Arcane," he replied with the same kind of witty humour underneath that she remembered from him. "Please forgive me for scaring Homunculus out of his senses, I didn’t know he was resting in that fireplace…"

Alcyone couldn’t hold back a grin. They never used the floo powder anymore and Homunculus was very unfamiliar with the fact that people turned up in fireplaces. In fact, both of them were unused to getting any company here, it must have been years since anyone visited. They had been liberated from trespassers and visitors ever since they moved in- not even the children had come to sell lottery tickets for their football clubs. She found it quite interesting to have a guest once in a while, as long as they didn’t want to ask her what she feared that Albus wanted to ask her now. The question had been the same since that man Quirrell had turned out to be a servant of the Dark Lord and Hogwarts’ Headmaster had decided to look for another teacher, someone he knew well. He seemed to examine her closely before he spoke again.

"It has been a long time since we saw you at Hogwarts, Alcyone. We all miss you, especially Peeves."

"Oh, I bet he does," she answered. "I still remember that little, er, song he dedicated to me…"

Dumbledore giggled and looked at the sofa. Alcyone realised that she hadn’t actually invited him in at all and made a gesture in his direction.

"Please, sit down. I’m rusty these days…not many people find their way up here, you know."

"I imagine that is exactly the reason for you to be here, isn’t it?" He looked around in the room. "Quite a library you’ve gathered, I daresay it’s larger than my own."

His eyes returned to her face again and she knew what he was going to say next.

"I have a little question for you, Alcyone…" he began and suddenly she felt the urge to yell at him, make him get out of her house that instant. But it was some kind of gentleness that kept her mind sane and her lips silent. Albus Dumbledore smiled. "As you know, Hogwarts is in great need of a competent and cunning teacher in Defence Against the Dark Arts. At the moment no one is available and you know that I wouldn’t nag about this if it weren’t important. I respect your choice of isolating yourself, Alcyone, I really do, but I need you now."

"What would I teach the students? How to escape? The nuts and bolts of being a refugee?"

The man in her sofa sighed. It was a sigh of someone who had to face difficulties far too often to be able to ignore them. She felt sorry for him for the first time during their conversation.

"You are one of the greatest witches I’ve ever met, Alcyone. If you can’t teach them, nobody can."

"It’s no use flattering me, Albus."

She found it harder and harder to master her temper in front of this man, but he just looked at her with the same expression in his wrinkled face as he had when she was younger and had done something he didn’t quite like. Admiration, and possible also resignation.

"I know. But the fact remains- you are one of the best."

"True."

Albus smiled at this.

"And self-denial was never your strongest character trait, Alcyone."

"Also true."

"Then why don’t you give Hogwarts a try? Wouldn’t it be a good deed to teach our young witches and wizards defence, especially in a time like this? I won’t bore you with any more flannel, but think about it, Alcyone- you would be very useful; do me a great favour and help us in the fight against Voldemort. Can you refuse three such good things?

His voice was so pleading that she gave up. All these years had made her too soft, she thought with a heavy heart. She wasn’t the same icy woman she once had been, couldn’t evade her own feelings in the same way anymore, and it bothered her. If this was what age did to a person, she wasn’t sure she looked forward to reaching Dumbledore’s. With a shrug and some seconds of thinking it all over, she slowly nodded.

"Okay. Okay, you win. I just can’t stand the thought of being disturbed one more year by you, Albus! If you could accept when a person turns you down…"

He gave a twinkling smile.

"But this time you don’t, do you? Great, Alcyone! As soon as you’ve got your things ready…"

"You can’t mean I have to come there straight away?" She was dismayed at the thought. "Albus…I need a couple of days, at least."

"Term starts in less than a week. I’m heading back for Hogwarts as soon as possible now to meet the Order…which reminds me of you again, Alcyone. Would you like to honour us with your presence tonight?"

She sneered. "No."

Dumbledore nodded and got to his feet. Then he seemed to take a second chance and looked at her again, with a new glint of conspiracy in his eyes.

"Not even if I tempt you with names like Arabella Figgs, Mundungus Fletcher and Remus Lupin?"

Alcyone loathed herself for turning pink at the sound of that last name, but it was too late to hide, and Albus had always been far too familiar with her soft spots. She lowered her head for the first time during their conversation.

"It makes no odds," she muttered. "I arrive when I arrive- not tonight, mind you!"

The man must have agreed that it was a little too much to ask of her to come with him immediately because he made a move to leave her room.

"You use your own discretion, as always," he said calmly, standing in the doorway. "But do try to arrive as soon as possible, I know that Minerva would get the needle if you didn’t show up in time. She was brimming over with happiness when I said I would ask you again, but at this point we’re quite reserved when it comes to the Defence Against the Dark Art professors…" He must have noticed her raised eyebrow because he smiled. "Let’s just say that we’ve had bad experiences from certain teachers in the past…"

 

^#^^^^^^^^^^^#^

 

Severus Snape had waited outside the Headmaster’s office for a good hour before something that looked like Albus Dumbledore approached in the corridors, closely followed by Minerva McGonagall. They seemed to be in the middle of a furtive discussion because both of them fell silent as soon as they spotted Severus. Albus actually looked happy, he noticed. Happier than he had had any reason to be the last couple of months.

"Severus, you’re back?" he said and smiled. "How are you keeping?"

"You told me to come here and wait for you, Headmaster," he began, with irritated calmness and saw Minerva purse up her mouth as she always did when he said or did something she didn’t like. "And I have. If you don’t mind me saying so, I hope we can get to the point quite soon."

The old man masked a smile as he opened the door to his office and led them to his desk, where the three of them sat down, still silent. The Headmaster’s office had always been more or less chaotic, but now Severus found the mess unbearable. Books and letters lay scattered all over the desk where you no longer could see the polished oak. Over an armchair in the corner hung several rumpled robes, and a pair of extremely worn out shoes was placed under yet another pile of clothes. Dumbledore pulled out his wand and one of the old walls turned around to show a large fireplace. Severus had seen it before; it was one of the secret entrances to Hogwarts, and one of the few floo stations that the Ministry didn’t know about. For Albus Dumbledore that fireplace also meant something else, it was the place where his faithful and trusted witches and wizards arrived, whenever he wanted to see them.

"So, my friends," he said amicably, letting his eyes wander over the two teachers. "The time has come for us to have the first encounter with the Order."

Minerva seemed impatient.

"Shouldn’t they be here by now, Albus?"

Dumbledore was a person who never got stressed and he even seemed lazy as he bent down to search for something in his drawer. Severus and Minerva exchanged looks.

"Albus?"

The white head appeared above the desk again, cracked up in an absent-minded but charming smile.

"I was looking for my lemon biscuits but they seem to be lost. I might of course have munched on them last week…unless they’re hiding under something…"

"Not impossible", Severus sighed and wondered in his own mind how a wizard who was wisdom personified, and so far had been undefeated, could seem so disoriented in daily life. He made parallels with his own office and found the similarities non-existent. Severus Snape was a friend of control and organisation- he had his bottles and boxes labelled and sorted alphabetically on the shelves, and a storeroom filled with potions that had been placed according to brewing date, effect and field of application. On his bookshelves, everything was divided into sections- Potions, Pleasure and Parallel Philosophies- and carefully dusted once in a fortnight. He was just about to sink deeper into these comfortable thoughts when the fireplace made a loud noise and Minerva scrambled to her feet, more tense than Severus had seen her during his entire life.

"I wonder who’s first!" she exclaimed and brought a smile to Albus’ lips as they both moved into the centre of the room, to make more space for whoever was about to arrive.

Their curiosity didn’t last long. In a couple of seconds they all heard a groan and a displeased murmur, before the smooth, corpulent body of Mundungus Fletcher appeared in the sooty old fireplace. He was a short man, with silver streaks in his grey hair and an eye colour that made people think of honey. His clothes were tawdry and not made for floo trips at all, which could explain why the man irritably brushed his coat with his fat fingers. At first he seemed on the verge of anger but that impression of him changed when he saw Albus and Minerva who both grinned.

"Welcome, Mundungus!" Minerva said, heartily. "We were just talking about you-"

We were? Severus spotted a certain look in her eyes as she greeted the first visitor with a long handshake. Albus hurried to embrace the man as well, with a smile reserved for special people.

"Mundungus, old fellow!"

"Albus, long time no see. You haven’t changed."

The Headmaster of Hogwarts giggled.

"My beard got longer- look," he held up the uneven ending of his long, white beard in front of Mundungus’ eyes. "Longer and whiter…"

A shadow of seriousness fell over them, suddenly. Severus noticed that Mundungus Fletcher didn’t look too happy when he turned around to shake hands with the third person in the room.

"Severus Snape…" he said, slowly. "I haven’t seen you since…"

"My trial, no," Snape interrupted, coldly. "I remember you very clearly."

Dumbledore hawked and patted his old friend on the shoulder.

"Severus was cleared, Mundungus," his friendly but very sharp voice was heard in the office. "I vouched for him then and I would do the same today if asked. It’s of great importance that we do not dwell in the past now but look into the future and our difficult task."

They all fell silent. Severus hated situations when he got reminded of the debt that he somehow had to pay Albus Dumbledore back before he could forget and move on. It was as though everyone knew his duties and he could almost read their minds, saying ‘You don’t deserve this, you should be in Azkaban’. Having that burden in his life, his very body was like a living reminder of the past and that some things never changed or wore off. His mark was still there and it still pledged him; gave him orders like it used to. The only difference was that he couldn’t follow them anymore.

The next person to make his appearance was Remus Lupin, the former teacher that Snape had got fired. He pretended to look at his own feet when the friendly man did his formal hand shake session before turning to Severus with a suggestion of a smile in his thin, tired face. Mental calculations gave the Potions Master a better understanding of this - it was full moon a couple of days ago. He almost started to wonder whether the werewolf had someone making the Wolfsbane potions for him, with the consciousness of an experienced expert.

"Severus…"

Dumbledore closely observed Remus when he was holding out his hand for Severus to accept. There was not a single valid reason for him to be childish, for them to behave like the silly teenagers they were a long time ago. All alone with the werewolf, he could damn sure bring up a number of topics for further discussion, but this was in public, with Albus as a paternal figure among the outcasts. Everything, he thought, everything that he had done in his adult life had dragged him lower and lower, turning him into a child in need of a forgiving parent along the way, someone to help him survive. It was a degrading life. Proving to Albus that he, Severus Snape, was able to act out of maturity and intelligence was suddenly all he could think of. He grabbed the hand that was in front of him.

"Remus…"

 

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Two hours and several words later, Severus found himself sitting in a crowd of people, listening to Mrs Arabella Figgs and her concern about Harry Potter, the troublesome boy who was about to start his fifth year at Hogwarts. Dumbledore’s office had become crammed with people- apart from the staff at the school, a few other people had found their way to the first meeting of the Order. Severus listened to the old lady with interest, but he didn’t really agree with everything. Arabella was a powerful woman, not many years younger than Albus and with a dignity that came with age and knowledge. Her face was wrinkled, yet alive as ever before. She radiated something similar to the warmth that Severus always thought that Dumbledore was framed by, something that said ‘don’t worry- leave it to me and I’ll deal with it’.

"Molly and Arthur took care of the boy this summer, but what do we do now, when he’s back at Hogwarts? You-Know-Who will not lie and wait for Harry to get strong enough to defeat him- he will search for him with all his servants. I’d say that Harry Potter is in great danger even here…"

Dumbledore shook his head.

"We’ve taken care of that, Arabella."

"How exactly, if you don’t mind me asking?" the old woman said, looking exactly like Minerva did when she found a story incredible. Severus waited for Albus to tell the crowd, but the Headmaster only looked at him, demanding. He sighed before he tried to meet the eyes of everyone at the same time.

"The Fidelius Charm," he said, slowly and pending. "I’m Harry’s Secret Keeper. That way, we’ve got the Dark Lord in a trap-"

Sirius Black, who was seated between Remus and a woman, most likely Saga Black, Sirius older sister and a famous Auror, suddenly got to his feet with flashing eyes. He stared at Severus.

"You?" he spat out. "Are you Harry’s secret keeper? Wouldn’t it be easier to send the boy to the Death Eaters right away?" He looked accusingly at Albus who made no effort to speak. "How could you do this without asking me first? I’m his godfather, for crying out loud!"

"I think that Albus has a reason for this, Sirius," Remus Lupin began but didn’t get any attention from his friend.

"What did you do this time, Severus Snape? How have you been able to fool them now? Charms? Hexes? Maybe some Dark Arts? What do you want, and more important- why are you so eager to cause damage to Harry?"

Severus was turning red out of sheer anger. But still determined to be the reasonable party in this fight, he was silent for a while before he spoke and interrupted the raging Black.

"As your friend Remus pointed out, there is a reason for this instalment…"

"Put a sock in it!" Sirius roared and finally got the others to act. Saga grabbed hold of his arm with an embarrassed look. Severus could hear her whisper something that he only grasped a few words of. Mundungus hawked.

"Please…" he said, seriously. "We’re not here to behave like kids now are we?"

Dumbledore must have realised that he had to speak unless the room was going to turn into a mental institution.

"If you sit down and keep quiet, Sirius," he said and appeared to speak by the cards. "I will explain this for you and for everyone else. As we all know, Severus here is a spy for me on my command and has been ever since he was very young."

A groan was heard from Black and everybody could see how Mundungus looked away, not ready to meet Albus eyes.

"Because of certain circumstances and events that some of you know about, we have no longer any reason to believe that Severus would be accepted by Voldemort," Dumbledore continued, pretending not to hear the sighs of disbelief coming from various sources in the room, "so we had to come up with something. And we did, but it takes a lot of work and many charms to keep this thing going. Severus is under the Cornelia Charm and unable to be detected by the other Death Eaters unless he wants to or they find out his secret. This way he can visit meetings and even sneak around Voldemort, in a way that of course is absolutely essential for our work. It’s a great risk on the part of all involved, but most of all for Severus himself if he should have the bad luck to get caught. This is where being a Secret Keeper comes in. We know that Voldemort is most interested in Harry, and even though he would like to see Severus dead, the information about the boy’s whereabouts is his top priority. If anyone is unfamiliar with the charm, I can tell you more about it later on, but this is all the information you need for the moment being. Any questions?"

Sirius exposed his teeth as he stared at them in disgust. Severus thought that if the hot-tempered man got the chance, he’d tear him apart and burn the pieces.

"And how do we know that this isn’t a bloody set up?" he hissed. "I know you, Severus Snape, and I know that you would betray Harry to save your own pathetic skin!"

Minerva McGonagall had always had a soft spot for Sirius Black, so Severus watched her turn crimson with great interest. She looked like she was trying to hold back a thunderstorm of rage when her eyes focused on Black.

"Naturally," she said, with the kind of calm voice she used when she was really angry, "you feel bad about not being there for Harry before now. And you would rather see someone else as the boy’s protector, but reality isn’t created for your personal desires, Sirius, though I’m sure you’d like it to be. Severus has saved Harry’s life before, at great risk, and we have the deepest trust in him, despite everything you and your likes in here" [her eyes swept over the silent lot] "want to think."

"You have my word, Sirius," Snape said and looked thankfully at Minerva before his eyes stopped at Black who had problems sitting down. "For what it’s worth."

"Not a bloody whoop!"

Dumbledore had a dangerous glint in his friendly blue eyes and as he got to his feet.

"None of that, Sirius! You can always leave the Order if its work doesn’t fit to your ideas of safety for Harry." He spoke as calmly as always. "But I assure you that all of us in this room cares as much about the boy as you do. We all know that Harry Potter is our hope- and we’re going to protect him. Now, any other questions?"

Remus turned to Snape.

"Are you still a Death Eater in their eyes, Severus? I mean, do you interact with them?"

Severus shook his head.

"No, I am not. That is the point in this. I’m a spy, not a Death Eater. They don’t see me, and so far, no one has suspected me of being around them. But if they do, I’m sure that Voldemort would figure it out and, well, punish us all for it."

The werewolf seemed almost compassionate, he thought with a cold sneer. Of course this had little to do with concern for him as a person, and much more with the silly kind of character Remus Lupin was. His sympathy was one of the last things Severus looked for at the moment.

"The Cornelia Charm is illegal if not controlled by the Ministry," Saga said and raised an eyebrow. "With Mr Fudge unwilling to collaborate, who gave you permission?"

"No one did," answered Dumbledore. "Arthur Weasley and his sons are helping us. You know about the Magic Activity Map at the Ministry, don’t you, Saga?"

The woman in question nodded impatiently.

"But the map is charmed by the best magicians in the world…how do you avoid it showing your Cornelia Charm?"

"We did a Secret charm with it," Albus explained and Severus could see how Arabella and Mundungus looked at each other. "As long as nobody suspects anything, we’re going to be safe. And I trust Arthur."

Mundungus changed position in his uncomfortable chair.

"I still feel that everything we do in this situation is unsafe," he sighed. "Even the smallest risk could cause irreparable harm to our crowd."

"Without risks, we’re unable to act, Mundungus," Flitwick suddenly interrupted and reminded them all of his presence even though he had been quiet for a long time. "The whole situation is impossible to handle unless we’re willing to sacrifice a little safety. Now please, leave the Cornelia Charm to us and don’t worry. Next topic."

 

^#^^^^^^^^#^

 

He couldn’t get his own body to move out of the office after all the others were gone. His eyes felt dead and dry, and he had to put a lot of strength into blinking unless he wanted the simple manoeuvre to fail. Too many nights without sleep, he thought. Too many nights with work. Albus face was concerned when he sat down at his desk, examining his Potions Master.

"You are aware that life gets a lot easier when you sleep once in a while, aren’t you?" he said. "Now, I believe that we never got to talk about your work today, Severus. Do you have anything new to tell me?"

"They’re still straining every nerve to interpret the old legends and prophecies, Headmaster."

The old man wasn’t famous for caring a great deal about ancient sayings and dooms, but this time he almost seemed curious to know about them. Severus tried to remember everything he had heard them discuss.

"Is it the Blind Seeress’ Prophecy again?"

"Seems like that. Is it really something to give a second thought to?"

Albus was so old in this light. So old and uncertain of things that Severus would love to have answers to. Because he knew that if this man wasn’t able to calm him, nobody was.

"Miracles can happen, Severus," he said. "Once in a while a witch or wizard sees the future…and if this is the case with the Blind Seeress, we’d be fools to ignore it. I will take a look at the prophecy some day. But now, both of us should withdraw to our beds, don’t you think? It’s been an endless day."

When Severus didn’t answer, Dumbledore pierced him with his blue eyes once again.

"Please, do take a Sleep Potion when you get back to your room, Severus. You’re of no use if you don’t rest."

The tone was sharp and remained in his ears for a while, as he walked down to his dungeons with a stressful feeling of powerlessness flying above him, like a little black cloud. He found sleep overrated at a time like this, but by the time darkness was gone and a dawn could be seen outside, Severus Snape drank his potion and fell asleep.

* * * * *

Next chapter: Hogwarts Express arrives. And we get to see a minor fight, the Sorting Feast and Severus Snape who shows a little of his bad temper to someone who wasn’t expecting it this time…