A Debt Repaid

Chapter Four

Harry met Jolie and Pascal in the hallway at midnight. They were elders from the Romani camp and his close friends. Jolie was a small, thin man; a head shorter than Harry. He wore a hat pulled down raucously over his forehead; it hid the dark laughing eyes beneath. Jolie was in the habit of twisting his curled moustache and flashing the gold front teeth. He also liked to chew on a long stem pipe and smoke it frequently.

His companion, Pascal, was a cousin that sometimes joined the caravan with his own family and sometimes broke off to travel the road with other families. Harry didn't know him as well. He was a larger man, hat in hand and standing quietly behind Jolie. Both men were dressed in their normal clothing. Pascal wore suspenders and pulled on them nervously.

"Chav (dear child)!" Jolie said and hugged Harry. "Mushto hom me di kava tute (I have missed you)."

"Jolie, I left you two days ago. How could you miss me?" Harry said in Romani.

"Ah, it is the way I am. So, you need this old Roma again, eh?" Jolie flashed the gold teeth. "Good, good. I am here." He tapped his chest as if boasting. Harry knew it was an act. Jolie was a 'godaver manush' ( a wise man and wizard) on equal if not better footing in some things than Albus Dumbledore.

Harry hugged Pascal. "Has the road been good for you, friend?" he asked.

"Yes, friend," Pascal said and hugged him back. He smiled shyly down at Harry.

"Sit tut bocklo (are you hungry)?" Harry asked. It was customary to ask about the comfort of his guests.

"We are well," Jolie said.

"Then we'll go upstairs." Harry led the way to Dumbledore's room. Madam Pomphrey had been sent to bed and Snape sat in the chair by Albus. He stood when the men entered the room.

"Hello, Old Crow," Jolie said warmly in Romani and shook hands with Snape using both of his own.

Harry noticed the look on Snape's face. He must be learning Romani, he thought. He knows what Jolie just called him.

Jolie turned to look at Albus, bent over the bed, examined his face and smelled his breath. "He is mullo (possessed )?"

Snape shook his head.

"Pascal, look at this Gadjo( non-gypsy) and tell me what you think." Jolie nodded for the man to take his place. "It's alright Harry. He knows what he's doing that's why I've brought him along."

Pascal wrinkled his nose, touched Dumbledore's chest and looked around the room. Harry watched nervously. The man examined the room and got down on his knees to look under the bed. He pulled the bed clothes down and examined Dumbledore's body in detail.

"What's he doing Jolie?" Harry asked.

Snape stood, arms crossed, watching the man examine Dumbledore.

"Looking for marks or hexes, talisman or amulets," Jolie said, putting his finger to his lips. "We wait."

Pascal finished and gently covered the unconscious form. He shook his head at them.

"He is not haunted by a dead person," he said. "We can proceed."

Harry translated for Snape, "He says that we can go ahead." He then spoke in Romani to Jolie, "He's going to teach me how to go into the mind of this man. To look in his head and see the pictures there and find out why he is like this."

Jolie looked at him as if he had gone mental. He turned and looked at Pascal who shrugged his shoulders and turned his palms out. "You're going to travel into his head?" he asked.

"Yes." Harry nodded at Snape. "He has to show me how." Harry had been taught to Spirit Walk, leave his body and travel to meet others. Jolie had been his teacher and guide. Now Harry was hoping that Jolie and Pascal were added measures of safety, that the combination of Snape's skill and the gypsy's skills would help him accomplish the task.

"This, I want to see," Jolie said in Romani and smiled. "You- Black Crow- you can do this?" he asked Snape in English.

"My name is Severus or Mr. Snape if you like," Snape said, "And yes, I can do this, Mr. Pulani."

"Jolie, call me Jolie," Jolie said. "It is not bad you have name of Crow. It is a lucky name for our people. It means 'Happy Journey'." Jolie was being his usual charming, vivacious self, like a puppy nipping playfully at ones' heels; Snape was like a snake, curled and ready to strike.

"I'd prefer Severus if you don't mind," Snape snapped, waspishly.

Harry had to shake his head in wonder. These two had known each other for almost a year and they were circling each other like two dogs.

"Okay! Professor what do I need to do."

Snape explained, "You will perform the spell as I explained before. You will use your mind and will, like a wedge opening a door. If you get in, the memories and thoughts will flash by very quickly. Initially, many people become nauseous from the physical feeling. It's like spinning in a circle very fast. I don't expect you to get to that point his evening."

"Tell me everything to expect, Professor," Harry asked politely. "I probably won't be successful but I need to know what to do with what I see."

Snape glared at him for a moment and Harry remembered the feeling he'd experienced in Snape's Potions classes when Snape had given him that look. He was about to say something when Snape spoke, "Very well. It is very much one-sided. You don't talk to one another, you are the viewer and the other person 'plays out their memories'. With a normal person, that is. However, Dumbledore is not a normal wizard. I think you can expect many things or perhaps nothing. He's quite capable of keeping you out even in an unconscious state."

"Have you tried?" Harry asked him.

"No," Snape said and hesitated. He was watching Harry and said, "I thought it would be best if we do this together. I can act as your anchor, add to your power to generate the spell and act as your guide."

Harry knew why he hesitated. They had done something like this before and it had involved Harry's dead mother. Harry watched Snape's face as he translated for Jolie and Pascal.

Jolie asked Harry to step on the landing outside the bedroom door. "Harry, I think that there should be some precautions taken if you are going to take this journey."

"What do you suggest, Jolie?" Harry asked.

"What do you know of this man Dumbledore and of the black crow-man, Snape?" he asked in return.

"What do you mean, 'know'?"

"If we go into another's mind there may be places that are familiar and many that are not; a road traveled rather than one unused." Jolie squatted down as if he had a fire next to him. He pulled Harry down with him. It was a normal gesture for him. "The things we share with each other- those are familiar, a trail we can recognize. But there are many things that remain hidden in a man, sometimes shameful, unpleasant or ugly. We hide our faces with our hands. How do you hide your mind?" Jolie watched him with knitted brows. His gold-ringed fingers tugged on the moustache.

Harry understood what he was saying. "He might try and block the way if there was something he didn't want anyone to know," Harry said considering it. "I know very little about the two of them, as you already know, Jolie. I didn't know about Severus and my mother for one thing. Dumbledore has been my headmaster at school. I don't know if he even has any family."

Jolie nodded.

"Learning about someone takes a lifetime, and that, I don't have," Harry said grimly.

"Yes, that's true," he answered. "But this man will be your guide and he knows this Albus more. You have to trust him. He knows the road better than you. There are more familiar markings for him. And remember Harry, Kai zhalo vurdon vurma mekela (where the wagon goes a trail will follow)." It was an old Romani saying.

"What are you saying, Jolie?" Harry asked confused.

"If you get lost, follow the road you know back," Jolie said.

They re-entered the room. Harry wasn't sure how to approach Snape. "I need to ask you a question Professor," Harry said.

Snape nodded.

"When you were teaching me Occlumency, I was able to force you out of my mind with a stinging spell."

"Yes," he nodded.

"What will it be like if Albus thinks we are invaders rather than friends? Harry asked.

"He'll kill us," Snape said, simply. "Probably in a very painful way."

Harry considered it and then nodded in assent. "It would help if I'm not calling you 'Professor' all the time. I think if we're going to do this it might help to call you by name," Harry said.

Snape nodded again.

"Alright, then," Harry said and sat down, waiting until everyone had taken a seat. "Jolie made a point to me a minute ago and I thought it was a good one. We want to do this as safely as we can. He reminded me that I don't really know you and Albus very well. Not as people, not your personal lives anyway. And...and if I'm reading Albus' memories, thoughts- whatever- well, I can't ignore the fact that I won't recognize or understand most of it. Jolie says that you'll be better at it because you have known each other for so long."

"Yes, essentially that's true," Snape confirmed.

"He also says that people naturally have many things they'd rather not share with others, very private thoughts..." Harry stumbled on the word and then took a breath, "You and I have managed to stumble on a few of those ourselves during lessons."

Snape sat motionless and then said, "Yes, you're right. The boundary between our minds will also be thin when we try and interpret what Albus is thinking and feeling."

Harry nodded thoughtfully. "Do you know of any sensitive issues that might help me? Or areas to avoid," he finished, "for Albus... or for you?"

"Thank you for being thoughtful, Mr. Potter," Snape said.

" 'HARRY', Snape, call me Harry," Harry said, irritably.

Snape shifted in his chair. Jolie and Pascal were watching intently, not understanding the entire conversation, but listening.

"I am a proficient Legilimens, Harry..." Snape said, "I will most probably be able to handle any intrusions you attempt on your part."

Harry said politely, "Good, good." He waited and then added, "And intrusions on your part- in my mind. How do we handle those?"

"I shall endeavor to focus my mind on Albus," Snape said. The air seemed to fill with tension and Harry almost felt like giving up. "Potter, there is one thing..." this said in a less defensive tone.

Harry sat looking at Snape and thinking. What is it with you? Why do you have to be so bloody ugly and mean? What did I ever do to you? "What is it?"

"We may learn some things that no one else should ever know about," Snape looked strangely uncomfortable.

Harry nodded again. "I understand."

"Are you ready to begin?" Snape asked. His face was a blank page.

No, Snape. I'd rather be eaten by wolves alive then share my mind with you, he was thinking. Harry translated what their intentions were to Jolie and Pascal and pulled out his wand.

"Severus, ( the word rolled uncomfortably on his tongue) have you ever attempted Legilimens with Dumbledore?" Harry asked, standing and pointing his wand at Dumbledore. They stood side-by-side.

"No," he answered. Snape was taller and looked down his long equine nose at Harry, "Any further questions?

"I'm ready." Harry turned to Dumbledore and intoned along with Snape, "Legilimens."

Harry had experienced the sensation of using floo powder to travel from fireplace to fireplace. It was a standard method of travel that he preferred not to use. He found that the spinning, heat and choking sensations of the method were always unpleasant and left him disoriented more often than not. As he spoke the words Legilimens and pointed his wand, focusing his mind, he felt the same type of overpowering sensation.

Unlike other spells, where he felt the power come from him; he realized this felt more like a portkey, another wizard method of travel. He felt himself being pulled into a world of dizzying sights and sounds and fast moving pictures. He had the sense of a presence nearby which he knew to be a Snape. This too, was unlike his previous experience in Spirit Walking with the man. The boundary between them was blurred and to Harry it felt like their two minds crossed over.

Harry could hear Snape's voice as if it were in his own head.

"This is very unusual. We are being pulled in," the voice said. "Try and stay relaxed Harry, breath deeply. I'm thinking of a favorite moment in my memory that felt very relaxing," Snape's voice drifted up and down in volume. "Don't fight him. Let him pull us in."

Harry seemed to wake as if from a dream. He stood in a long paneled hallway. There were no windows and no doors. Lamps lit the wood and warmed its' polished surface. The floor was carpeted with a rose-colored, deep-pile carpet.

Snape stood at his side. He looked so solid that Harry was tempted to reach out and touch him. The terrible whirling and spinning was completely gone.

Snape looked at him and frowned. "This is most unusual. Stay focused." He said the words without moving his mouth and his voice was very clear.

"Hello," a familiar voice echoed down the hall. "May I be of service to you? Are you lost?" Albus Dumbledore walked towards them, dressed in light blue robes. He was smiling pleasantly.

He glanced around. "Perhaps I can show you the way, although... I seem to be misplaced myself," Dumbledore said studing the hallway.

Harry could hear Snape's voice in his head, "He doesn't recognize us. Be careful."

"Ah no, this is the way. Follow me," he turned and walked back down the hall and they followed silently. "'Yes, yes. This is such a large place, easy to get lost," he mumbled. "I don't remember having guests before. That's fine. We'll just go down here." They turned a corner and found another long hallway. Dumbledore stopped for a moment, "Hmm, don't remember this. Nevertheless... I should like to offer you some tea. Perhaps if we go this way." They turned to another hallway. To Harry each hallway looked the same and he was feeling lost.

"Albus, you are a guest in my home. Let me show you the way," Snape's voice was silky. "Remember the day you came to fetch me. It was my first time at Hogwarts. You're in Snape Manor."

"Severus, my boy!" Albus' eyes lit up. He was not looking at them, but walked down the hall a little faster, "Now I know where I am. I was a little confused before. Follow me!"

"Harry, this is going to be unpleasant, but it cannot be helped," Snape's voice bled into his thoughts.

"I think this is it!" Dumbledore opened a door that had not been there a minute before. He led them into a room.

"He is remembering how we met..." Snape explained to Harry.

"Oh my boy, my poor boy," Dumbledore moaned. He held a boy of about eleven in his arm's. Harry knew the boy. He had seen him in Snape's mind when they had practiced Occlumency. It was Snape as a child. "How can the world treat it's children in this way?" Dumbledore turned to them. His eyes were full of tears. Harry could see what he cried about. The child's dark eyes stared at them in terror; his body badly bruised. Harry knew in his heart that the child was beyond tears. He had been abused so many times that he no longer knew how to cry. He could feel himself wandering into Snape's mind and saw the terror and pain there. Snape shoved him away and Harry spun back into his own thoughts.

"Time to go, Albus, You have saved me from my parents and I am well," Snape's sad voice resounded through the room like a whispered echo.

They were once again in the hallway. "There are so many of them. I don't have enough time," This time Dumbledore looked frantic. "Will you help me gather them. All the little ones?"

"Call to him Harry. He's caught in a trap of his memories."

"Albus, it's Harry, Harry Potter," Harry stood in front of the man and opened his mouth. "It's me Professor, it's Harry."

Dumbledore peered into his eyes penetrating into the core of Harry's brain. It almost felt like a cold shaft of steel and it hurt. "Harry?"

"Yes, Professor, it's me." Harry could feel a vise-like grip in his head.

"Is it you?" Dumbledore squinted, "Or do you mock me? Your not Harry!"

"You have to convince him." Snape turned and looked directly into Harry's eyes. "He's dangerous if he doesn't believe you."

What can I say to make him believe? Harry thought. The pain was getting stronger.

"I'll show you the real Harry Potter!" Dumbledore said and took off down the hall, "Not an imposter!" They followed him.

Dumbledore opened a door that lead to dark street in front of Number Four Privet Drive. He held a small bundle in his arms. " Little Harry," he said to the sleeping child, " you'll never know that your father died to save the world, and your mother died to save you. But you will never lack from love." Dumbledore kissed the child's head and laid it on the step to the house. "This is but a temporary home, Harry. When you're ready you will come to your true home."

Harry felt his heart erupt in his chest and tears welling up in his throat.

They stood again in the hallway. Dumbledore looked at them as if they were real. There was a moment of pure sanity and clarity when he said, "Take me home children." He said it as if he knew why they were there and was sending out; one last overpowering, desperate message.

And then, he degenerated into an angry, shouting person that Harry had never seen before. "You will not harm my children!"

They were thrown from his mind. Harry thought he was flying too fast and didn't know a way to slow himself down or stop. "Severus!" he shouted, flailing his arms in the spinning well that seemed to surround him. " Help me! I 'm falling."

"Harry," Jolie's voice penetrated his mind. "Listen to the beat of my heart. Listen closely, follow the sound and it will bring you to me. Listen..."

Harry concentrated. Yes, I can hear it. It was very faint and very fast. Jolie, I can hear it!

"Follow it back. It is my heart, come back to us," Jolie's voice was soft.

---------------

It was some time before Harry opened his eyes. The room was familiar but he wasn't sure where he was and why he was there. Then, he remembered. He glanced over and saw Snape watching him from a chair. Harry was sprawled on a bed in a room in Sirius' house.

"Did we do it?" he gasped.

Snape looked exhausted. "Yes."

"Where is Jolie and Pascal?" Harry asked, sitting up gingerly. He felt sore all over.

"They are downstairs having breakfast," Snape said. He looked unusually frail and aged.

"Is it morning already?" Harry looked around. Drapes covered the window and the room was lit with candles. "Are you alright?" Harry asked. "I feel like I've been kicked around."

Snape watched him. "Actually, Mr. Potter, it's been two days. This is the morning of the third day."

"What do you mean?" Harry felt light-headed. "Two days!"

"Yes," Snape didn't move. His hand was over his eyes and he was slumped in the chair in a very uncharacteristic-like pose. "We were very lucky. I hadn't expected that to happen. Albus just drew us in. He also very neatly kicked us out, too. Your friends helped us get back." He looked up and dropped his hand to the chair arm.

Harry waited, thinking through what he'd just heard. "Can you help me understand what it all meant?"

The man dressed in black studied him and was a long time in answering. "I believe that Albus needs to be at Hogwarts to recover. I think the source of his power and strength lies there," Snape said and straightened. He looked like Harry felt, bruised and sore.

Harry marveled at the struggle that was taking place inside the man as he sat and watched his face. He wasn't sure that Snape could accept the need to join forces with him. They had already been through a lot together and yet Snape always drew back, defensive and petulant. Harry had just shared minds with the man that sat before him. He knew Snape! But he also knew he could not be pushed.

"Potter, you know who the Guardians are?""

Harry shivered as if the room had grown cold. "Guardians?"

"Remus told you, don't be thick," Snape scolded. "The true Guardians of the Order of the Phoenix," Snape said.

"Yes. He told me something about it," Harry answered. "He didn't know much, just that Albus was one of few..."

"Did he also tell you your father was one?" Snape said.

"No!" Harry sucked in his breath. "God no, he didn't."

"Griffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin; all Guardians."

"They were?" Harry forgot his stiffness and soreness in his body. "Slytherin, too?"

"Yes. The founders of Hogwarts were all Guardians. That was until Slytherin decided to use the dark power to become the most powerful wizard in the world. He left Hogwarts when the others refused to maintain the purity... the purebloods."

Snape sat staring into the room, his gaze unfocused. "There have been Guardians that followed, of course. Drawn from the students that attended Hogwarts." Snape put his hands together and templed his fingers, raising them to his forehead in an uncharacteristic moment of exhaustion. "Each generation of Guardian seeks to add to the Order: the true Order. I won't speak of it's mission here, but you are aware of it."

Harry nodded.

"Your father was a Guardian, so it is easy to conjecture that you would be as well. Dumbledore knew who those children would be; he chose them for very special qualities. Children that were abused," Snape's voice cracked slightly and then he pulled it back, "children without parents. The new generation..." he broke off.

Harry's mind flew with activity, "Tom Riddle, an orphan; his only home was Hogwarts," Harry surmised. "And me, an orphan. My only true home has been Hogwarts." Harry was thinking of others, Neville Longbottom, for one.

"Yes. Riddle would have been prepared-trained- to become one of the Guardians, but he left Hogwarts," Snape looked thoughtful. "I doubt he knows what he did to himself."

"And you?" Harry asked. "Dumbledore rescued you."

Snape dropped his head, a look of agony flashing across it. He pulled up his sleeve and exposed the Dark Mark that glowed against his skin. "Because of this-I am not suitable."

"Why did you take it then?" Harry asked. "Why did you let Voldemort mark you?"

Snape threw back his head and closed his eyes. He remained silent.

"You know, Professor, " Harry began, trying to keep his voice level and calm, "all I ever hear is part-truths. Just when I think I know and understand, I run into another layer of secrets; layer after layer after layer, from everyone. Dumbledore kept them. And you... I had to learn that you loved my mother so that I could see her after she was dead! I find out that you stop becoming a Death Eater because Voldemort killed her. Now, I find that my father was a Guardian and died guarding, protecting... this, this..."

"Potter!" Snape' eyes snapped open, "Not here!"

"What more am I going to learn? I'm to be groomed for this job of Guardian? That Dumbledore went around choosing orphan children, without homes, so that we could grow up to take his place?"

"Would that be such a horrible imposition, Mr. Potter. I would take your place in a heart beat!" Snape glared.

"Is that it?" Harry slid off the bed and stood in front of Snape, and looked down at him, "Is that why you hate me? Why you've become such a bitter man? Because you can't become Guardian? That you took a pledge to not have an allegiance to evil and you broke that promise?" Harry could feel his anger rising unexpectedly, "On pain of death, I might add. But you're not dead!" He felt the words coming effortlessly from his mouth, "If you wanted to be a Guardian why did you go over to Voldemort?"

"Stop saying the evil bastard's name!" Snape shouted. He was on his feet towering over Harry. They had both reached for their wands without thinking.

"Why? It's always the Dark Lord this, and the Dark Lord that. Where do your loyalties lie, Snape? Why aren't you dead? Why didn't Albus kill you the minute you broke your vow to the Order?"

"I am not the resource of all knowledge for you to dip into whenever your heart desires, Mr. Potter," Snape shouted, his face hardened.

They both were caught off guard by the door springing open. It was Hermione.

"Get out!" they both shouted. She paled and closed the door. They stood now, nose to nose, both furious.

.

"You were among the children chosen. Dumbledore loved you!" Harry shouted. "How could you do this to him?"

"You've got it wrong as usual, Potter," Snape said, through his gritted teeth. "I took the mark because Albus asked me to."

Harry was dumbfounded. "You what?"

"I took it willingly." Snape turned and dropped into his chair as if deflated. The fury was over. Harry stood staring at him in horror.

Snape looked at the wall and said dreamily, "Albus told me once that it is only through knowing Evil that we can know Good. Each child he chose had known evil, and, in their own way-marked by it. Supposedly, once marked as innocent child you become the Uncorruptable."

Harry slumped down on the bed. "The Uncorrupted." That's the term Lupin used that he didn't understand.

Snape smirked, "That's what's suppose to happen. But obviously it doesn't always turn out that way. Tom Riddle became corrupted, as others have been. We are human beings and very fragile when it comes to that. Vanity, greed... the hunger for power, jealousy... whatever, it gets us all." He turned sharp, obsidian eyes at Harry. "It is a powerful master."

Harry instantly knew the reason why Snape had been watching him, angry with him all those years. He'd been waiting for him to become corrupted; had even accused him of arrogance and big-headedness.

Is that why you've hated me, he thought. Because you were afraid? Afraid that I would fail Albus and turn into a dark wizard? That I would fail the man you love?

"Why did he ask you to take Vol...the Dark Lord's mark?" Harry asked gently.

"He has never told me the reasons and I have never asked," Snape replied.

Harry was amazed at the number of sacrifices the man had made. "You were afraid that you would find out the reason when we entered Albus' mind." Harry knew it was true. They had shared each others minds and the fading residue of knowing what was in his mind was still there.

Snape remained still.

"No one knows any of this but Dumbledore," Harry said, sitting back, "and me. I will keep it to my dying day, Professor."

"The source of his power is at Hogwarts," Snape said quietly. "We must get him back there soon. It is clear that he has lost his way."