Into the Fold

The Oath

June 1976

Severus lay awake for a long time after he and Healer Meed had their Floo-conversation with Professor Dumbledore. He couldn't get over the look of dumbfounded amazement on Dumbledore's face that the news of James Potter's healing had provoked.

It had taken the Headmaster several moments to master himself . Then, "Congratulations, Severus," he'd said quietly from the fireplace. "I'll be there first thing tomorrow morning to shake your hand."

****

He hadn't said he'd be bringing Potter's friends with him. But there they were: Black, Lupin and Pettigrew, eating breakfast in the common room with Dumbledore when Severus came downstairs.

Dumbledore looked up and smiled. Nevertheless Severus approached the table reluctantly. When he drew near, he felt the woolly closeness of a Blanket of Silence. All the noise from the kitchen and bar was gone. The sound of silverware clinking against crockery went quiet as Potter's friends stopped eating and stared.

Dumbledore stood and extended his hand. "Thank you, Severus," he said.

Hesitantly Severus took Dumbledore's hand. Although he saw nothing but relief and gratitude in Dumbledore's eyes, he couldn't meet them for long. "Er--you're welcome."

It was easier to return Black's resentful look. But Severus was distracted even from that when a savoury aroma of bacon and buttered toast reached his nostrils.

Dumbledore had lifted the cover from a dish set on the table before the remaining empty chair. "Breakfast," he said. "James awaits us."

Dumbledore spoke warmly, but that did not make Severus glow with renewed pride at his accomplishment. The whole business felt more like something he wanted to get over with as soon as possible.

They finished breakfast, with such sullen silence on the students' part that the Blanket was hardly necessary. The headmaster dissipated it with a flick of his wand and rose. "Let's go, boys."

With Dumbledore in the lead, they Flooed straight from the common room of the Cauldron to Potter's sickroom.

That came as a surprise to Severus when he stepped out of the fireplace. How had Dumbledore pierced Healer Meed's concealing magic? The question went straight out of his mind, however, when he saw Potter. Potter was sitting up in bed. His nightshirt was blood-free. He had his glasses on. The eyes behind them were wide.

"Snape," Potter whispered.

"Yeah, Snape," said Black. Dumbledore gave him a look, but Black wasn't the sort to wilt beneath looks.

"Hi, Padfoot," said Potter. "Remus, Peter."

Severus sidled away from the others. "We came straight here," he said to Healer Meed, who sat in a chair beside Potter's bed. "I thought this room was hidden from everyone but you."

"And I'm the one who linked its fireplace to the Leaky Cauldron." She rose, smiling, and took Dumbledore's hand. "At Professor Dumbledore's request."

" I thank you for that, Constance," said Dumbledore. "James. You're looking remarkably well. I'm glad to see it."

Or to have seen it, Severus thought, for you couldn't see anything now but the gaggle of Potter's friends surrounding him, muttering. They parted when Dumbledore spoke.

"Thanks, sir," said Potter. "I'm feeling pretty well."

"Thank Severus," said Dumbledore. All eyes turned toward Severus, and none belonging to Potter's gang looked particularly grateful. Potter himself stared in confusion.

"I suppose it's too much to ask yet." Dumbledore looked rueful but unsurprised . "Have your parents been to see you?"

"Oh, yeah!" Potter turned to Healer Meed. "Thanks for letting them in. They were a lot happier when they left."

"I was glad to be able to tell them you'd recover completely," said Healer Meed, smiling fondly at him.

How did Potter do it? He hadn't been awake twenty-four hours, and he already had Healer Meed cooing over him.

"At least it will make it easier for them to keep our secret," said Dumbledore. "If their son had died, I should think it would have been very difficult for them to lie about the cause of his death."

"Why do we have to lie?" Pettigrew burst out. "It's not like James is the only one of us Snape's tried to kill!"

"He's got a point there," said Black. Lupin looked pained but said nothing.

"I never meant to kill you, and besides it was an accident!" Severus looked irritably at Potter's friends. What was this all about, anyway? Why did they have to be here? "I meant the Firewhip for Potter."

"I'd gathered that," said Potter.

Severus didn't reply. Perhaps he should have kept his mouth shut in the first place. He didn't like the thoughtful look Healer Meed was giving him.

"Well, I shouldn't be surprised," she said. "We did find out you had it in you."

Severus felt betrayed. She'd been inside his head; she'd seen what they'd done to him! Me? What about them? What about the stuff Potter and his mates get up to? But this time he did manage to keep his mouth shut.

"James nearly died, Severus," Healer Meed said quietly. "You were here when it happened."

Frowning, Potter sat up. "What's this?"

Healer Meed turned to him. "I can answer your questions after Professor Dumbledore is finished. Suffice it to say, that if it weren't for Severus, your parents would be preparing to bury you, not take you home."

That silenced him. He stared at Severus, but Severus didn't want to look back. He fixed his eyes on Dumbledore instead.

"Enough," said Dumbledore. He looked sternly at Potter, his friends and Severus. "We are not here to pore over old slights. Each one of you," he looked at each in turn, "has an apology to make."

"I didn't do anything!" said Pettigrew, and everyone but Healer Meed looked astonished at this, Pettigrew's second outburst in as many minutes. "Well, I didn't!"

"True," said Dumbledore. "Except for stirring the pot just now, by accusing Mr Snape of trying to kill you."

"Oh--oh, right. I'm sorry."

"I'm not the person you accused." Dumbledore indicated Severus. "He is."

He was, of course, making it much more difficult. Severus, folding his arms and looking down his nose at Pettigrew, didn't intend to make it easier.

"Sorry," muttered Pettigrew.

"Do you think you could manage a complete sentence?" asked Dumbledore.

"Come on!" said Black.

"Quiet, please, Mr Black. You'll get your turn. Mr Pettigrew?"

"I--I'm sorry for accusing Snape of trying to kill me." Pettigrew choked gratifyingly on his words.

"Mr Snape?" Dumbledore's tone ruined the mood. "Have you any answer for Mr Pettigrew?'

"Oh! Er--apology accepted," Severus said grudgingly. Seeing Healer Meed lounging against the wall with a poorly-concealed look of amusement on her face didn't mend matters.

"Very good. Now, Mr Black. You seem eager to participate. And you did participate, in luring Mr Snape to what could have been his death, in risking Mr Lupin's exposure, which could have led to his execution, and, by means of your clever little prank, nearly getting Mr Potter killed. Not bad for one night's work."

"I didn't have anything to do with Sectumsempra; Snape cast that on his own--"

"Silence, please."

Healer Meed raised her eyebrows. She no longer looked even clandestinely amused.

"Do you really believe," said Dumbledore, "that Severus would have been at the Whomping Willow to cast Sectumsempra on James if you hadn't goaded him into following Remus? Do you really think we'd be here now if James hadn't gone to the Whomping Willow to save you from your own stupidity?"

Black looked mulish and said nothing.

"Well?"

"No, sir."

"You realise, then, that you have a good deal more apologising to do than Mr Pettigrew did. You need to apologise to Mr Lupin for risking his exposure at school as a werewolf."

Slowly Black looked toward Lupin.

"Not only that, you could have caused your friend to kill a fellow student." Dumbledore paused. "I suppose you still consider Mr Lupin your friend?"

"It's all right, Professor Dumbledore," said Lupin, looking uncomfortable.

"Yeah, well, I want to hear him apologise," said Potter. "Moony, you could have killed Snape! What would the Ministry have done to you then?" He turned to Black. "And how do you think he'd have felt about it once he came back to himself? You didn't care what happened to him! You didn't care what happened to either one of them!"

Black stared at Potter in shock. "I didn't think..." he faltered. Then he looked back at Lupin. "I'm sorry, Remus," he said, so softly that Severus could hardly hear him. "I'm sorry for sending Snape after you. I'm sorry for putting a human being in your way while you were transformed. I--I'm sorry."

Severus stared at him in wonder. Could even Black be that thick? Had he truly not realised what he had done until Potter had told him just now?

"I know," said Lupin. "It's all right."

"That, Mr Lupin, is precisely what it is not," said Dumbledore.

"Yes, sir?" said Lupin. Severus had to admire his calm. He would have cringed at Dumbledore's look.

"I won't say you're culpable in this incident," said Dumbledore. "I will say that you have clearly failed to impress upon your friends the very great danger you pose to the unprotected and the unwary when you are in transformation."

"Yes, clearly," said Lupin coolly. Potter, Black and Pettigrew exchanged nervous glances.

"I never expected that your dormitory mates would not eventually discover your true nature. But that discovery then made it your responsibility to enlist their help in keeping the school safe. I'd hoped that giving you a prefect's authority would instil in you enough self-respect to carry out that responsibility. Apparently I was wrong. If you'd got into the habit of standing up to your friends," here Dumbledore swept a displeased glance over Potter, Pettigrew and Black, "instead of going along with them for the sake of a superficial popularity, Mr Black might have thought twice before using you, a transformed werewolf, a deadly Dark creature, as a weapon in a childish rivalry."

Lupin wasn't as showily dramatic as Black. But his look spoke of a deeper, more elemental guilt, a companion that had been living with him for a long time.

Severus, who was watching him closely, started when Lupin turned to him with the same quietly stricken look.

"He's right. If I'd told them what it means to let loose a werewolf--if I'd really tried--"

"Stop it!" said Pettigrew.

"No, Moony!" said Potter. "So Sirius is a bonehead; what else is new?"

"Yeah, what else is new?" said Black.

Lupin turned back to his friends. "I said, Professor Dumbledore is right. I never made it clear to you lot. So let me make it clear now. Don't you ever--ever--do anything like that to me again. Do you understand?"

"Yes," said Black.

"Yes," said Potter. He looked very healthy, but not himself. Severus had never seen him give anyone such a clear and steady gaze. "I understand."

Lupin nodded and looked away. "I'm sorry, Severus. That's all I meant to say. I'm sorry."

"Do you understand?" said Dumbledore, looking at Potter. "Do you really understand?"

"Sir?" said Potter. Severus happily observed his anxiety.

"I should have said more of it before this, perhaps. Before it developed into a life-endangering problem. But you've developed into quite the bully. I can't enumerate all the detentions you've been given for hexing your fellow students for no good reason. Not that there ever is a good reason, but you don't even try to invent one. Why is that, do you think?"

Potter said nothing. But obviously he had sufficient blood in his body, for his face turned pink.

"Perhaps it's the fact that they exist, if you know what I mean?" Dumbledore's voice dripped with sarcasm, and Potter went from pink to scarlet.

It really couldn't get much better than this.

"It could be a case of plain stupidity," said Dumbledore beginning to stroll around the room. "Or it could be more. You could be under the impression that my friendship with your father gives you some sort of special privilege."

Potter blanched. Severus had never seen one face change colour so fast.

"No--no, I'm not!" stammered Potter. He slid Severus a fiery glance.

"No, Mr Potter. I don't need Mr Snape to tell me what goes on in my own school. I don't need him or anyone else to tell me that you honestly believe you can save yourself from expulsion from Hogwarts on the strength of your father's acquaintance with me. I can see that for myself."

Potter gulped. His mouth worked. Severus could remember few more delightful moments.

"How did you know?" Potter said.

"It doesn't matter how I know. What matters is you couldn't be more wrong." Dumbledore paused, gazing intently into Potter's eyes. "So you did say that?"

"Say--say what?"

Lupin and Pettigrew looked baffled and dismayed. Black, his eyes straying from Dumbledore to Severus, looked as though he didn't know which one of them he wanted to hex first.

"You told Mr Snape that if he tried to tell anyone what you and your friends had done, you and Mr Black would use your fathers' influence to avoid any unfortunate repercussions--like getting expelled." Dumbledore surveyed Potter and Black. "With the result, no doubt, that you would make his life next year as miserable as you could. Since you do tend to do that to the people who cross you."

"James didn't do anything wrong, Professor Dumbledore," said Black. "All he did was try to protect Remus and Snape from what I'd done wrong."

"I can't fault his instincts," Dumbledore agreed. "Though he might have gone for his Head of House first. Professor McGonagall knows spells that are far more likely than a Stunner to stop a werewolf in its tracks." He turned to Potter. "But I can see how you thought there wasn't time. And you did well in rescuing Mr Snape from the transformed Mr Lupin. It was what you did afterward that was wrong."

"Wrong!" Black exploded. "And Snape bleeding him like a slaughtered pig--that was right?"

"It's all right, Sirius," said Potter. He turned to Dumbledore. "I was trying to protect Remus. I was trying to protect you."

"I don't need your protection," Dumbledore said coldly. "I don't need you insulting your father and me by using our friendship as a cover for your bullying. I especially don't need you believing you can use your family's wealth and connections and your own supposed purity of blood to cover up a prank that could have cost one of my students his freedom and another his life. That, my dear young man, is not what Harold Potter and I stand for. In case you didn't know."

Potter looked at him with a face like a marble statue.

"You owe an apology to Mr Lupin. And to Mr Snape."

Potter remained still a moment longer. Then he nodded and looked at Lupin. "I know how to make a prefect's life miserable, don't I?"

Lupin smiled. "Yes. You certainly do."

"I'll try to be a better friend." He tilted his chin toward Black. "And I'll stomp on anybody who makes that difficult for me." Black grinned.

There was a silence.

"You forgot about Mr Snape," Dumbledore pointed out.

"I paid my dues to Mr Snape," said Potter. "I saved his sorry hide, and nearly got murdered in return."

Dumbledore turned to Severus. "He has a point."

"What?" cried Severus. "You make him apologise to everyone else, but he gets to brush me off?"

"He did nothing to you but save your life," said Dumbledore. "And make a few ill-considered, utterly baseless threats. You can't really believe I'd let my friendship with his father--"

"This isn't about you and Potter's father!" said Severus. He pointed a trembling finger at Potter. "He planned this--what did you call it--a prank? He and Black plotted to loose a werewolf on me, to scare me into keeping quiet about Lupin!"

"I did not plan it!" said Potter.

"To scare me or shut me up for good!" shouted Severus. "By killing me!"

"Really, Severus--" Healer Meed began. Dumbledore cut the air with a gesture and silence fell.

"You overplayed your hand, James," he said, indicating Severus. "A bully can't expect every one of his victims to lie down and take it. Rebellion occurs, sooner or later. And the rebel tends to be someone who can fight back to good effect."

That's right, Severus thought. He felt satisfaction begin to displace his anger.

"Or bad effect," said Dumbledore, looking at him; and the satisfaction went no further. "You, Severus, seem to be one of those people who treasure up your grudges until the slightest word, taken in exactly the wrong way, sets you off. Do you honestly believe that if James Potter had actually plotted to put you in the way of a werewolf, I would let him get away with it?"

Severus didn't answer right away. But he knew what Dumbledore wanted to hear. "I suppose not."

Dumbledore frowned. "Well, whether you believe it or not, I can assure you I wouldn't. You had no good reason to fill your spell with so much hate that you nearly killed James with it. And you had no reason to goad him into it," he said to Potter, halting the look of grim vindication that was crossing Potter's face. "I am the one who admitted Remus Lupin to Hogwarts. I am perfectly capable of protecting him while he's there."

There was another silence. Severus had the feeling that Potter was being as careful about what expression appeared on his face as he was. Then Dumbledore sighed.

"I'm not free of blame in this. I saw what was going on between the two of you. Your contempt and disdain," he said to James, and to Severus, "your resentment and fury. I watched it for years. I suppose at first I thought you'd work out your own way of tolerating each other. But when I saw you weren't--when I saw that each one of you was bringing out the worst in the other--I should have intervened. But I didn't."

"You've never liked messes, Albus," said Healer Meed. "You've never liked fussing about other people's feelings."

Their eyes met. Severus, who had felt Healer Meed's eyes, who had felt her inside his head, sifting his thoughts, could almost feel sorry for Professor Dumbledore.

"No," Dumbledore whispered. "I've never liked that."

He looked at Severus after a moment, then at Potter. "And I'm the older one here. Presumably, the more mature. So I should begin with the apologies, shouldn't I?"

Severus didn't know how to answer that. And Potter, with his round-eyed stare, didn't look as though he did, either.

"And so I must apologise to both of you," Dumbledore said. "To you, Severus: for not acknowledging your anger. I've been angry often enough myself, heaven knows. And you, James." Here his sober expression relaxed into a smile. "I should have seen that you were blind, thick-headed, boorish, inconsiderate--"

Potter drew down his brows. Dumbledore's smile broadened into a grin.

"I should have seen, in short, that you were an ordinary teen-aged boy. Having seen it, I should have--how did you put it?--stomped on you. Your father would expect no less."

Potter looked baffled for a moment. Then he gave a short laugh. "Yeah--yeah, I can see Dad wanting that."

"So, do you accept my apology?'

"Oh! Yeah, sure--I mean, yes, sir."

"And you, Severus? Do you accept my apology?"

Dumbledore's blue gaze settled on Severus, and, as used as he was to Healer Meed's looks, he still felt like squirming. "Yes, sir."

"Good. Since you both have forgiven me, I hope that you both will do something that I want very much. I want you to shake hands."

All Severus could picture was taking Potter's hand and wrenching it right off that wrist rendered spindly by his illness. He didn't even care that he was the cause of Potter's illness. He was glad of it, for it looked as though Potter would otherwise, once again, get off scot-free.

Potter looked equally reluctant, equally resentful. "I think I've been punished enough."

"It isn't a punishment," said Dumbledore. "Come now, both of you. I'm afraid I must insist. Ten seconds, and it'll be over."

Potter, evidently, couldn't yet move from his bed. It was up to Severus to go to him and extend his hand. He did so; and with a shrug and an exasperated quirk of his lips, Potter took it. They shook hands.

Potter's hand felt like a sack of bird bones, and his grip was weak. It was the handshake of someone who had been very ill. Of someone who had almost died.

Because of me. There was no getting around that. There never would be.

The exasperation cleared away from Potter's face. He looked intently at Severus.

Then their ten seconds were up. Potter's hand twisted in Severus's grip. Severus released him and backed away quickly.

"Thank you," said Dumbledore. Severus found himself looking at Healer Meed, who gave him an approving nod.

"Very well, then," said Dumbledore. "We can proceed to something we all want even more, which is protecting Remus Lupin."

Depends on what it involves, thought Severus, growing wary again.

"Or perhaps you don't want that so much, Severus. If so, think of it as protecting yourself."

"Why should we care about protecting him?" Severus heard Pettigrew mutter behind him.

"Come Peter, Remus, Sirius." Dumbledore beckoned them, waving his hand until they stood in a line before Potter's bed. "You, too, Severus," he said, and Severus was forced to return to Potter's bedside.

"We will protect Remus, we will protect the rest of you and yes, me, by keeping everything that has happened a secret."

"I don't need protection, sir," said Pettigrew. "And I don't want to protect Snape. Maybe I didn't come close to dying. Other than that, I don't know that the Firewhip was much more fun for me than Sectumsempra was for James."

"You've known I was a werewolf for four years, Peter, and never told anyone in authority," said Lupin. "You don't want that getting out, especially once you leave school and start looking into apprenticeships or jobs. If you'll protect a Dark creature, people will think you can't be trusted."

It sounded like something Lupin had thought over carefully.

"Yeah, you don't want that getting out," said Black. "You don't want Snivelly tattling on you. You don't want him protected while you're not."

"Mr Black," said Dumbledore reprovingly, and about time too. Healer Meed was watching Black with her eyebrows climbing practically to her hairline. She didn't seem to appreciate the Gryffindors quite as much as Dumbledore did.

"I think you take Remus's point, don't you?" Dumbledore said to Pettigrew.

"Yes. All right," said Pettigrew.

"I don't get it," said Potter. "What do we have to worry about? None of us are going to say anything; like you say, Professor, we've kept quiet for four years. And as for Snape," Potter eyed him, "he knows better than to talk. He's got his own secret he'll want to keep now."

"You kept quiet for four years. Until Sirius decided it would be good fun to put a scare into Severus Snape," said Dumbledore.

The Gryffindors exchanged glances.

"The fact is," said Dumbledore, "no secret can remain secret once it escapes its original keeper. I suppose I always knew that about Mr Lupin's secret. Perhaps I hoped--fondly--that if his secret did get out, Mr Lupin's virtues would outshine the world's prejudice."

"They have," said Potter. He smiled at Lupin, who shook his head but also grinned.

"Yes," said Dumbledore. "Inside Hogwarts, among friends who know him well. But even those friends don't seem able to keep him safe. Then there's the wizard who healed you. I want him safe too. The two of you can't seem to keep from fighting with each other. I don't want this to become part of your everlasting row."

Potter frowned at Severus. "How did you do it, anyway?" He touched his breast, laying his hand over the line Sectumsempra had etched into his body. "The healing?"

Severus looked at him in silence. He thought of the ride in the St Mungo's coach, of Dumbledore pulling the curtain of silence on the mediwizards muttering over Potter's unconscious body. He thought of Healer Meed combing through his mind. He thought of his struggles to produce a Patronus, of Healer Meed's struggles with the worst of his memories beneath the Veil of Tears. He thought of the music of Textum, of magic spilling into his hands through a door cracked open on another world. He thought of all of it and didn't want to tell any of it to Potter.

"I worked out a spell and cast it on you," said Severus.

Potter stared at him, but he was no Legilimens. "Yeah. Right."

"And so," Dumbledore resumed, "I've thought that we ought to place our secret-keeping promises on a firmer foundation."

"How firm?" said Healer Meed. She looked rather anxious.

"Oh, I don't mean you, Constance. Your Aesculapian Vows are quite strong enough. And have you ever even been tempted to break them?"

She didn't answer that. "You have no vows that could hold me if I wanted to break them. I mean the boys. There are promises--and the breaking of them--that can ruin lives. They have very long lives ahead of them."

"The Heart's Vow," Dumbledore said to her, "not the Unbreakable Vow. They will want to keep that promise, not merely fear the consequences if they don't."

"The Heart's Vow?" said Potter. "What's that?"

"The Heart's Vow? I thought that was a wedding vow," said Pettigrew at the same time.

Dumbledore looked at Pettigrew over the top of his glasses. "It can be. How did you know?"

Pettigrew's chubby cheeks turned pink. "My mum and dad exchanged Heart's-Vows at their wedding. You know, that they'd love each other forever. They told me about it."

"Indeed." Dumbledore eyed him a moment longer. "Well, Mr Pettigrew. You've named a characteristic category of the Heart's Vow, due to its nature as an expression of the heart's desire. When I administer the vow, it will mean that there's nothing more I want at that moment than to keep the incidents of the Shrieking Shack tunnel and the Whomping Willow a secret." With one glance he took in Potter, his friends and Severus. "Before you take the vow, you must be sure want the same, because after you take the vow, you will want it as much as I do."

Severus had no desire to be known as Potter's near-murderer. He also had no desire to be enslaved to Dumbledore's desires. "Why will we want it as much as you do?"

"Because with the vow comes a single drop of my soul, deposited into your heart. You will absorb that drop into your own soul, making the desire I have placed in it your own. I lose nothing of my soul by imparting a drop of it to you, because, in the Heart's Vow, we'll be increasing the good in the world by protecting two decent people: yourself, Severus, and Remus."

"Two decent people?" said Potter. "That's a matter of opinion."

"Mr Snape could have left you to die. Instead, he worked very hard to create the complex piece of Light magic with which he saved you."

"He wouldn't have had to save James if he hadn't practically killed him in the first place," said Black.

"You two do mean to help protect your friend, don't you?" said Dumbledore. "Because the Heart's Vow is the best way I know of doing that."

"All right," said Potter. "Yes, sir."

"I do want to help Remus," said Black.

"Shall we proceed, then? And Constance, you will witness that the vow was freely given and taken?"

"Certainly."

Her strange eyes rested on Potter and his friends. They squirmed slightly, as if for the first time they sensed her power. She didn't look at Severus, but then, what inside him had she not already seen?

"I should clarify before I begin," said Dumbledore. He smiled at Pettigrew. "For those who aren't fortunate enough to know someone who has taken a Heart's Vow. This isn't an Unbreakable Vow. You won't die if you renege. You will feel pain if you break it--the pain of giving up your heart's desire. Perhaps, even at your young ages, you know what that is like."

Severus, thinking of Lily, knew what that was like.

"And, unlike the Unbreakable Vow, the Heart's Vow may not be permanent. As we grow, we change, and that change may include a change in our heart's desire. If, someday, to keep secret Sirius's folly, James's disdain, Remus's condition and Severus's deadly spell is no longer your heart's desire, then you may find it possible--if never pleasant--to disregard the terms of the Heart's Vow." Dumbledore looked at them all. "Does that seem fair enough, then? Does this seem a vow that you can take?"

What choice did Severus have? It was far more likely that the world would believe Potter's claim that he'd nearly killed him through Sectumsempra than it would believe Severus's claim that Lupin was a werewolf who had been hidden at Hogwarts since his first year. Not least because there was one objective witness, Meed, who could testify against him. Who would testify against Dumbledore, Lupin and his friends? The teachers, who had cooperated in Lupin's concealment for years? And no one knew first-hand what Black had done but Black, Potter and Severus. It would be Severus's word against theirs.

They knew what he could do to them with his spell for enemies, though. That was enough.

"Yes, sir," said Severus.

It didn't seem a difficult choice for Potter and his friends either. "Yes, we'll take it."

"I'm afraid you'll have to kneel to take the vow." Dumbledore looked slightly embarrassed. "It's not me. One must demonstrate the proper reverence for the passage of a droplet of soul, that's all. All except you, James. You can be excused for health reasons. Who would like to go first?"

"I will," said Severus. Might as well get it over with.

Dumbledore nodded. "Good. I'm glad."

Severus stepped forward and knelt. The stone floor felt hard against his knees, and cold, in spite of a fire that roared with enough heat to keep the invalid Potter warm.

Dumbledore took his hand.

"Do you swear that you will tell no one what happened at and beneath the Whomping Willow on the night of the twelfth of June?"

Dumbledore's voice sounded like the funeral bells that had used to toll over Spinner's End, from the church near the river. Disconcerted, Severus looked into his face. A fire not reflected from the hearth burned in his eyes.

"I--I do."

"Do you swear that you will reveal to no one that Remus J. Lupin is a werewolf?"

"I do."

As he spoke those words, Severus felt first his fingers, then his hand grow warm. A soft light rose from his and Dumbledore's clasped hands, surrounding them. It was silvery, like the light above Healer Meed's Pensieve, but unlike that light, it was not a mist. It reminded him of the silver phosphorescence of the moon-shifting mushrooms.

The warmth spread from Severus's hand to his arm. It spread through his chest until he felt it enter his heart. Until that moment, Dumbledore watched him with tense expectancy. When Severus's heart warmed, Dumbledore's face relaxed into a smile.

Then Dumbledore's face disappeared. Before Severus's eyes rose the Sword of Gryffindor. He recognised it only by its ruby-encrusted hilt, for its long blade was wreathed in flame. Severus could hear the flame rumbling and snapping, like fire consuming wood. Around the sword floated Dumbledore's whisper:

"Do you see it, Severus? The burning sword?"

"Yes," said Severus, and the sword faded away. Dumbledore's smiling face took its place.

"Good. That means you have truly taken the vow. Its requirements are your heart's desire."

"Sword? What sword?" said Potter.

"You'll find out," said Dumbledore, going to Potter and extending his hand.

Potter and each of his friends took the Heart's Vow, and by their wide eyes and whispered exclamations, Severus could tell that each one saw the blazing Sword of Gryffindor. Lupin was last to take the vow, and when he was finished, an expression of immense relief spread across his face.

"There we are, then," said Dumbledore, beaming. "What say you, Constance? Is all in order?"

"If each oath-taker has seen your sword, then all is in order."

"Oh, yeah, I saw it! It was something," said Potter.

"I'll say!" said Black.

"Yeah!" said Pettigrew.

"I've seen it, like I said," said Severus.

"So have I," said Lupin. "I was really impressed, Professor Dumbledore."

Dumbledore laughed at that. "Why, thank you, Mr Lupin!"

Healer Meed gave each a searching glance as he affirmed that he'd seen the sword. "Yes," she answered Dumbledore. "I'm satisfied. They've taken the Heart's Vow. Its terms are their hearts' desire."

"Good," said Dumbledore. He looked at Potter, Black, Lupin, Pettigrew and Severus. "If the opportunity or threat that you will reveal our secret should arise, you will see my sword. It will be a warning to you and something, I think, of a guard upon your tongue. This oath you have taken can be broken. You will always be able to reveal the secret you've just sworn to keep. But for a while, anyway, it will be among the last things on earth you want to do."

Oath or no, Severus couldn't see himself wanting to announce to the world that he'd nearly killed James Potter. Nor did he expect that Potter and his gang would want to make Lupin's lycanthropy a topic for general conversation. But Dumbledore had a point in administering an oath. Things could change.

"Well, then!" said Dumbledore. "We'll be taking the train to Hogwarts in the morning, James, broom-flying being rather hard on old bones like mine--"

"I'd thought to discharge James to his parents tomorrow," said Healer Meed. She smiled at Potter. "But you could go with them if you'd like."

Potter's face lit up and his friends crowed with delight.

"As long as you check in with Madam Pomfrey the moment you arrive at school," said Healer Meed.

"Anything you want!" said Potter. "I'll drink a cauldron of that Blood-Replenishing sludge, if that's what it takes!"

"Happily, Blood-Replenishing sludge is no longer necessary." Healer Meed smiled at Severus when she said that, but he pretended not to see.

Dumbledore positively beamed. "Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, then, James, tomorrow morning at nine o'clock?"

"Yes, sir!" Potter pumped his fist into the air. "Free at last!"

Black laughed and punched his shoulder, but not too hard.

"Oh, and we have a ready-made study group, for those who've fallen behind in their homework," said Lupin, grinning.

"No slackers allowed," said Pettigrew.

Severus turned toward Healer Meed as they spoke.

"Snape." He heard Potter's voice behind him. He paused for a moment, then turned back.

Back to a rosy face, to eyes open and clear. "Thanks for healing me."

What was he supposed to say? You're welcome? He wasn't.

Severus nodded. He turned again, to see Healer Meed, Dumbledore and Potter's friends all watching him. He lifted his eyebrows, trying to look as though it didn't matter.

"Shall we?" said Healer Meed, opening the isolation room door.

"'Bye Remus, Sirius; 'bye Peter!" said Potter.

"Good-bye!"

"Nine sharp, mate; no sleeping in!" said Black.

Healer Meed and Dumbledore led the way into the shadowy corridor. Potter's friends followed, jostling one another and chortling over the onerous assignments they'd set Potter and the practical jokes they'd play on him.

Severus hung behind. Thanks for healing me. Potter wasn't welcome. On the other hand, Severus was safe at Hogwarts for his seventh year, not booted out of school and clapped in Azkaban. Unlike Potter, he would be catching up on his homework and studying for his final exams on his own, but he didn't care. He'd never liked studying with anyone but Lily, and he would never study with her again.

Potter's friends went further ahead, taking their irritating chatter further away. Soon they'd turn the corner and with a turn of their stomachs enter the normal, unenchanted world.

Soon they did so, and a minute passed before Severus followed them out of the corridor.

As he might have expected, they were concerned with the state of their stomachs.

"Feels like I'm going to lose my lunch...or my breakfast, rather...told you there was something funny about that bacon."

Dumbledore shushed them. "It's perfectly normal," he said in a low voice, so that the people bustling past the Acute Spell Damage Ward desk didn't hear. "I told you, James is kept in a magically isolated section of St Mungo's. We've just crossed from the hidden to the public part of the hospital. That's why our stomachs are churning." He patted his stomach, as Potter's friends did theirs. Huddled, their backs turned, they did not see Dilsey behind them, walking past the desk.

Dilsey and Lily Evans.

Healer Meed saw Dilsey and Lily. So did Severus. Lily didn't see them. She attended to Dilsey, and when the house-elf extended her hand, Lily took it.

They turned the corner around the desk, stepping into the space Severus had left a few moments before. Then they seemed to disappear into the press of people constantly patrolling the hallways of Acute Spell Damage.

But Severus knew Lily and Dilsey weren't in the crowd. They were in Healer Meed's otherworldly corridor, at the end of which was James Potter's isolation room.

She'd looked worried, had Lily. Worried about that boy she was not going out with, whom she did not like any more than Severus did?

There was nothing else to concern her in that room at the end of the magical corridor, no one and nothing there more important than James Potter.

Severus took a step toward the otherworldly hall, even though he knew he couldn't enter it without Healer Meed.

And sure enough, "Severus?" Healer Meed said quietly, appearing at his side. "Don't you want to go back to the Leaky Cauldron with the others?"

"--lunch!" Dumbledore was telling Potter's friends cheerfully. "And the freedom of Diagon Alley after!"

Which meant that Severus ought to be able to avoid Potter's friends after lunch. He knew his way around Diagon Alley as well as they did.

"All right," he said to Healer Meed.

He'd be better off in the Leaky Cauldron, eating lunch with Potter's friends, than he would be in Potter's hospital room, with no company but Potter, Lily and possibly a house-elf, if Dilsey hadn't the tact to leave them alone.