The Staff of Orkney

Chapter VIII

The Truth Behind the Staff

 

Harry was in a daze. His friends had huddled around him and a great cheer went up when he rose to his feet, but he paid them little attention.

Professor LeSal had gotten up and was concealing his hand with his cape as he showed it to Dumbledore and Snape. They had all become very serious and they all at once looked over at Harry.

Ron had come down and was busy saying something about Malfoy when Dumbledore came over. “Harry, I need you to come with me.” He sounded urgent.

Ron started wide-eyed and looked about to say something but Hermione held him back. Harry obeyed and left his bewildered friends and teammates.

“Does your head still hurt?” Dumbledore asked after they were some distance away.

“No,” Harry replied. “What happened?” He glanced over at Professor LeSal who seemed to be biting back the pain. Snape was walking close at his side, wand out, attempting to start the healing process on LeSal’s hand, but it seemed that he wasn’t making much progress.

“I don’t know what happened,” Dumbledore admitted, “but I have an idea.”

Harry’s head was swimming. What had just happened? The only time his scar had hurt had always been because of Voldemort. He looked sideways at LeSal. What was going on?

They walked briskly through the school and up the winding stairs to Dumbledore’s office. Professor LeSal sat down in a chair at the side of the room while Snape stood over him, guarding him.

“I don’t understand exactly why that happened, but it’s certainly not Salazar’s fault,” Snape said at once.

Dumbledore put up a hand and leaned against his desk. “Sit down, Harry; and Severus, you should probably see to getting something to help your cousin.”

Snape seemed hesitant to step away, but he finally left.

“Harry, you came to me yesterday, telling me that your scar briefly hurt. At that time, you were with Professors Snape and LeSal?”

Harry had stopped to talk to Dumbledore yesterday, and he had been somewhat concerned, but had strangely relaxed when he had been told that LeSal had been there.

“Yes,” Harry answered slowly, eyeing Professor LeSal with a new sense of suspicion. He then suddenly remembered, “I think Professor LeSal grabbed at my cloak.”

“Did you notice anything?” Dumbledore asked LeSal.

“No, but I wasn’t well, and had just taken some potion that Severus made.” He squeezed his eyes shut seemingly against an oncoming migraine.

“Yes…” Dumbledore nodded. “In case you didn’t know,” he explained. “During Harry’s first year here, Voldemort took over the body of one of the professors…”

“I’ve heard of that incident,” LeSal interrupted. “But what exactly caused Voldemort to have to leave that man’s body? I never heard. You must understand—I heard about what happened from a …uh…unreliable source.”

“The charm that Harry’s mother placed on him, that made it impossible for Voldemort to touch him…”

“But last spring…” LeSal cut in. Harry couldn’t recall a time when he had ever seen a professor interrupt Dumbledore.

“The charm has been broken for him,” Dumbledore continued, not seemingly bothered at being interrupted. “What’s curious, is what ever it is that caused Voldemort not to be able to touch Harry, you have as well.”

Professor LeSal shifted around in his seat and looked down at his wounded hand. “I don’t know what it would be.”

There was a creak as the door to the office suddenly opened. A large black dog came loping in.

“Harry, are you okay? What happened?” Sirius had transformed back into himself. He turned on LeSal. “What have you done, Salazar? What are you up to?”

“I saved Harry from breaking his neck,” LeSal said rather coldly, and he closed his eyes again.

Sirius looked disgusted at his burnt hand.

“We’re attempting to find out exactly what happened, but I’m sure that it is something far beyond LeSal’s fault or control,” Dumbledore explained calmly.

Sirius was about to say something but Snape came back carrying an earthenware jar. He stopped at the sight of Sirius.

“What’s he doing here?” Snape said, pointing.

“I need to know what happened to Harry,” Sirius returned.

“You stay out of it. It’s Salazar that’s hurt, not Harry. Now get out of here.” Snape pushed past and knelt down before LeSal.

LeSal drew up his face in pain as Severus turned his blistered hand over, studying it more closely. Then he opened the jar and proceeded to rub some of the cream onto the burn. LeSal jerked back almost causing Severus to drop the jar.

“What the hell, Sev! That’s not regular incendium cream. Could you have found anything that stung more?”

“I’d calm down if I were you,” Snape said lowly. “That’s no ordinary burn.” He turned and stared hard at Harry.

Sirius caught sight of the hostile look. “It’s not Harry’s fault…”

“I’m not blaming Harry,” LeSal spoke up. “Sev, will you watch it?”

Severus looked irritated and slapped on more cream a little less than gently. LeSal realized what was best and sunk back into his chair and dug his chin into his free hand, letting his staff clatter to the floor. Severus immediately jumped away from it.

“Watch that!”

“Sorry,” LeSal mumbled but didn’t look it in the least.

Suddenly, Sirius backed up. At first Harry thought it had to do something with the staff but then he pointed an accusing finger at LeSal. “I knew it!” He grabbed Harry and pulled him back toward him.

Dumbledore looked very concerned. “What is it, Sirius?”

“Salazar, of course, with a name like that!” Sirius was wringing his hands and his eyes flashed at the Snapes. “Harry, what did you say the name of that snake that was the pet of Voldemort?”

Harry looked over at LeSal in shock then at his godfather who was staring down Snape. Professor LeSal had looked up and was staring fixedly at Sirius. Harry couldn’t read him. Surely what he had thought earlier, after Hermione had showed him that book… It couldn’t be true, could it? “Nagini,” he answered quietly at last.

“Nagini Snape,” Sirius said with triumph. “Old follower of Voldemort. Crippled by an Auror.”

“So he turned her into a snake,” Dumbledore said quietly. “Yes, Sirius, but she has nothing to do with what we’re concerned with at this moment.”

“Yes she does,” argued Sirius, stomping his foot. Harry wanted to step away from him. “She was Salazar’s mother.”

Harry wondered if Sirius noticed the look the Snapes were giving him. Slowly, he inched toward Dumbledore. Even he had never gotten Snape to look at him so murderously, so full of hatred, and he hoped he never would.

“His mother—and Voldemort himself,” Sirius growled. “He’s got Lord Voldemort’s blood in him that’s why you were burned, Harry. Salazar Snake is the very own son of…”

LeSal shot up out of his seat, knocking Severus backward and causing the jar of cream to crash to the floor. He bent down and picked up his staff, which immediately turned green. “How dare you!” he stormed. “How dare you say that!”

“Salazar,” Dumbledore said quietly. Harry watched as he actually took out his wand and crossed his arms across his chest, making sure that LeSal saw it.

LeSal shut his mouth and backed down, though it seemed as if he were attempting to grind his teeth to powder.

“LeSal is not Voldemort’s son, Sirius,” Dumbledore explained calmly.

“He’s not?” Sirius took his eyes off the Snapes and looked over at Dumbledore.

“No!” LeSal confirmed. “My father was a muggle.” His face twisted into a sneer. “I’m a mudblood just like you.”

Dumbledore threw LeSal a warning glance, apparently for his poor choice of words.

“Sorry, Sirius,” said LeSal in a tone that made it sound like when Malfoy was forced to apologize. “Suppose you can’t help yourself. All those years in Azkaban could easily cause someone to see a boogerman hiding behind every bush.” Then he turned to Dumbledore, “See, Headmaster? You wonder why we can’t get along. I’ve been trying. Merlin! I’ve been trying, but neither Black nor Lupin trusts us. Especially Black,” and he furiously whirled around on Sirius. “You damn well think we enjoy dressing up as Death Eaters and think that at anytime we’d go back? Yes, Sirius, it’s a real tempting thing to do. It’s a real cracking good time we’re having. Sunday, the Dark Lord himself took me out for a drink. S’been hell of a hangover. Have to drink some vile crap Severus concocted just so I might not go insane…”

“Salazar,” Dumbledore broke in, “may I remind you that there is a student in the room?”

LeSal closed his mouth and retreated back to the chair he had been sitting in. He studied the mess that the broken jar had made. He didn’t even attempt to fix it, but just smeared the cream with his shoe. Severus looked irritatingly at it and pointed his wand down at the floor to clean it up.

“Sirius, I understand how you must feel. However, the Snapes have been putting their lives on the line for our cause. I have complete faith in them.”

Sirius stared down at the floor and placed his hands on his hips with a long drawn out sigh. “What about what just happened on the field? If that charm Lily put on Harry is to protect him from Voldemort, why is it working to keep Salazar from him as well?”

Dumbledore pulled on his beard. “I really don’t know. They’re no way related.”

“I think I might have an idea,” Snape said, stepping forward. He glared at Sirius and Harry had the feeling he was just daring him to say something that could give him an excuse to use a hex.

“What is your assumption, Severus?” Dumbledore asked, looking very interested, his bushy white eyebrows lifting.

“It may be the cause of a potion,” Snape began. He glanced over at LeSal who only averted his eyes. “A potion Voldemort made him take a long time ago, back when we were still…his...followers.”

“Continue,” Dumbledore coaxed gently when Snape had stopped.

“I made it,” Snape said directly. “The Dark Lo…Lord Voldemort ordered me to. It was a modification of one of the first potions that he had taken in his quest to become immortal.”

Dumbledore looked slightly confused. Harry wondered himself why Voldemort would want to give one of his supporters immortality.

“The staff was killing him,” Snape explained further. “As you probably know, a mage’s staff can only truly be used by a select few, sometimes with certain skills or bloodlines.”

“This staff was carried by Merlin and many in his lineage, including Godric Gryffindor and Madigan Maolflynn,” LeSal added solemnly. “Many have tried to use it and I admit that I should not have it, but it was not by my choice. When Voldemort hands you something, you don’t tell him: thanks, but no thanks.” He let out a long sigh. “Grindelwald was one who tried to use it, but it helped lead to his downfall.”

“That it did,” Dumbledore agreed then he said in a darker tone, “Voldemort is too smart to take it. He stole it, but waited for someone who he could use to carry it for him.”

“And that was, yours truly,” LeSal said with a great deal of bitter sarcasm. He turned the staff over in his good hand and stared into the stone somberly. It was just faintly glowing so that Harry couldn’t quite make out the exact color. “My mother,” he said, his voice tight. “Offered me to Voldemort while I was still a baby. I was raised for the purpose of carrying this infernal stick.”

Watching LeSal’s expression, Harry suddenly felt very sorry for him. He couldn’t imagine having such a weight placed upon his shoulders. It was just plain cruel. Yet another life wrecked by Voldemort.

“Of course, the chances were that he would fail. That the staff would be too much for him,” Snape continued. “But he held on well for some time. Then after a few months, we knew something was wrong.”

“I was still fifteen, but I looked twenty,” LeSal recounted.

“So Voldemort ordered me to concoct a potion to stop his aging,” said Snape, and to Harry, he seemed to be fighting back some horrible memory. “And so I did…Voldemort gave me some of his own blood to use.”

Professor LeSal curled his lip into an amused sneer. “Jolly good blood brother,” he mumbled.

“That’s probably what caused him to have that reaction against Harry,” Snape finished.

It made sense and Dumbledore went and sat at his desk. He’d probably pull out the pensieve when they had left, Harry thought.

Harry felt relieved yet disturbed at the same time. At once he decided that he had been so very wrong for doubting LeSal’s loyalty. He no doubt hated Voldemort for what he had done to him. But then what about the Longbottoms? Perhaps there was an answer to that.

Maybe, just maybe, he hated Voldemort so much that he was willing to stop at nothing to finally end him. He seemed to go through an incredible amount of agony in his fight. This new revelation left no doubt that Professor Salazar Snape was on their side. That much could be trusted. But did this make him less dangerous?