Altering Reality

Chapter Three: Some Very Odd Revelations

Hogwarts School - 1997

When Albus arrived at his office he was glad to see that his orders regarding Severus, Remus, and Snuffles had been carried out. As Albus nodded towards everyone, the giant black dog at Remus' side whimpered then turned into Sirius, who quickly took a seat next to Remus on the sofa. The three men watched in silence as Albus stopped to pet Fawkes, noting that the poor Phoenix was undergoing burning day and looked as if he was going to die right there and then.

Albus sighed then walked to his desk and sat down, a cup of strong chamomile tea appearing before him. Looking over at the three men he wasn't sure exactly what he was going to say. Sirius had not been present in the Great Hall during the events; however, it was clear that Remus had filled him in on the way up. Stirring his tea he chose his words carefully.

'I assume you are wondering why I have asked only you three here and not the others,' Albus said.

'What I want to know is why no one bothered to tell me Harry wasn't on the train. What's going on?' Sirius asked.

Albus didn't answer right away, instead, he wondered just how far he could push the theories he had been thinking over for the past few minutes without doing significant amounts of damage. Levelling an intense gaze at the three men he asked, 'Gentlemen, how much of your pasts do you remember?'

Severus, Remus, and Sirius looked at Albus in confusion. 'Our pasts?' Remus asked brushing a lock of grey hair from his face. 'What does that have to do with anything?'

'More than you think it might. Now tell me, do you remember your pasts ... specifically your Hogwarts days?' Albus asked.

'Albus, this is pointless. I have tried to forget my school days best as I can. You couldn't pay me enough to dredge it up again,' Severus said.

'Severus, I really do not care if you wish to do this or not. Right now it's very important that you all try and remember your pasts,' Albus said firmly.

'It would help if you could tell us a specific part of our pasts that you want us to remember,' Sirius said.

'Sirius is right; the past is a pretty wide open space here. What are we supposed to be remembering?' Remus asked.

Albus stroked his beard then got up and walked over to his display case. Opening the door he took out a pensive, looked at it thoughtfully, and then dipped his wand into the pinkish substance, swirling it round a bit. Putting his wand to his head a silver coloured web flowed into the pensive, adding to the memories inside. However, as the three men watched in silence another silvery strand appeared, only this time going from the pensive back into Albus' head.

'Err ... Albus? Was that supposed to happen?' Remus asked hesitantly.

Albus didn't move or respond to Remus, he just stood there a trance-like state, and after a few minutes of silence the three men were growing concerned.

'Albus? Are you in there?' Sirius asked. When there was still no reply he got up, went over to the headmaster, and slightly shook him.

As Sirius shook him, Albus finally came out of his daze. Looking over at Sirius he said, 'Oh dear, have I dozed off again? I really must do something about that.'

'Albus, you did not doze off, you were in a trance. You asked us to come here, don't you remember?' Severus asked.

Albus shook his head. 'Ah, did I ask you all here? Funny, I don't remember doing that. Did I happen to say why?'

'You don't remember? How can you not remember, it was only ten minutes ago!' Sirius exclaimed.

Albus spotted the tea cup on his desk and went over and sat down. 'Ah, a good cup of tea. Just the thing I think,' he said jovially.

'Albus, this is no time for tea! Don't you remember that we were discussing the past?' Sirius asked in annoyance.

'The past? Oh yes, what a wonderful thing the past is ... err ... was. I remember one time right after I was married ... such a lovely woman even though she was a Ravenclaw to my parents' distress, alas, but indeed she was still a wonderful woman. Anyway, we went to the Isle of Capri ... such a wonderful time we had,' Albus said dreamily.

'For crying out loud!' Severus said in exasperation and flopped down into a chair with a huff. 'Albus, we are not interested in your wife or in Capri. What we are interested in is who those men were in the Great Hall and why you called us in here!'

'My, my, seems you should have some tea yourself, Severus. You're awfully ruffled up, quite unlike you isn't that?' Albus said and sipped at his tea.

Severus stared at Albus in shock. 'Quite ... unlike ... me?' he repeated. 'You have known me for going on the better part of thirty some years, Albus, and I am always "ruffled up" as you put it!'

Albus shook his head. 'As a child you certainly were a handful, of course all that changed when you and Remus started dating. You calmed down so nicely after that, became such a good boy,' Albus said and smiled at Remus.

Now it was Remus' turn to be shocked. 'We ... we ... what ...?' was all he managed to stutter.

Severus was in no better shape. He first stared at Albus then at Remus with a look between revulsion, hatred, fear, and something Remus didn't even want to classify. 'Albus,' he began slowly, 'I think you're losing more than your memory, clearly you're losing your blasted mind. Lupin and I have never ... would never ... even dream of ... err ... well ... doing that!'

'Albus, this better be some sick sort of joke you're playing. Much as I admire and respect you, this is not funny,' Sirius said angrily.

'Ah, Sirius, my dear boy, I am sorry for you most of all. To have such a terribly broken heart at such a young age; if only we had known sooner about Peter, perhaps more could have been done to save him,' Albus sighed sadly, and took another sip of tea.

'Peter? As in ... Peter Pettigrew?' Sirius asked in a faint voice.

'Of course, how many other Peter's were you dating?' Albus chuckled. 'Oh come, come, no need to be ashamed of it. Pity though, he was such a sweet boy until that awful situation happened,' Albus reflected.

'Albus, this is not amusing, and I demand you stop playing us for fools! Tell us what you wanted us for, and then let us leave in peace,' Severus scowled.

Albus stared down at his tea cup, pouting a bit as he realised there wasn't any more left. With a sigh he got up and walked over to Fawkes. He petted him for a few moments whilst reflecting on things. 'Severus, I'm afraid I really don't know what you mean. I am not playing anyone for fools, and I honestly don't see what I've done to make you so unhappy. This really is most unlike you,' Albus said with a frown.

'Oh God, this is more than I think I can handle,' Remus groaned. 'First we have men from who-knows-where absconding our students, and now Albus has gone loopy on us. Does anyone else feel like we've just landed in the Twilight Zone?'

Severus and Sirius hadn't a clue what Remus meant. 'And what is this Twilight thing supposed to be, Lupin?' Severus asked.

'It was a popular Muggle television show back in the '60's, so I reckon it's not surprising you wouldn't know of it, Severus,' Remus said and turned to Sirius. 'Sirius, don't you remember Lily used to love that show?'

Sirius thought back to those days. 'Of course, now I remember!' he said and nodded his head. 'You're right; this is the bloody Twilight Zone! We're doomed!' he groaned and put his head in his hands.

'Care to enlighten me now?' Severus asked Remus.

'Oh yes, please do tell us, it sounds most interesting,' Albus said.

For the next few minutes Remus explained what the Twilight Zone was. 'I don't know about being doomed, but I would say we are definitely in a bit of a spot here,' he said.

Severus nodded in agreement, now that he understood the concept of what Remus was talking about. 'I would have to say that right now we could match this Sterling person. This goes beyond the strange and unusual wouldn't you say, Lupin?'

Remus chuckled. 'On a scale of one to ten, I'd say we're batting a hundred. What do we do about it though? Obviously, we can't let Albus go back out to the others like this. And we still don't know what it was he wanted us to remember!' Remus said in exasperation.

'I do wish I was more help to you all, I truly do. Somehow, it seems as if what I remember and what all of you remember are obviously not the same,' Albus said thoughtfully. 'I know I am getting older, but it is quite ridiculous having a whole different set of memories from everyone else.'

'I'm in agreement,' Remus nodded. 'The problem is ... whose memories are correct? Is it yours or ours?'

All four men in the room thought on that. 'I suppose you haven't thought that this is maybe an alcohol induced hallucination of sorts?' Sirius asked.

'Nice try, but no, that isn't it,' Remus said shaking his head. 'You know that I can't really drink. Hell, a teaspoon of wine could make me drunk,' he said, and surprisingly, he noticed a strange glint in Severus' eyes as he said that, although he refused to think on what that could mean at the moment.

'Okay, then it's not a hallucination,' Sirius said. 'What else?'

'Did either of you dunderheads bother to think this could be some elaborate Dark Arts scheme? If you ask me, the whole thing stinks of Dark Arts. That's your specialty isn't it, Lupin, or is Albus paying you for nothing?' Severus said, raising a questioning eyebrow in Remus' direction.

'Much as I hate to say this, you could be right. What I really need to do is go and have a look at that wall. Maybe I can get some sort of reading from it,' Remus said.

'Not yet, no one is leaving this office until we figure out what we're doing about Albus,' Severus said.

'Severus, honestly, I don't know what all the fuss is about. Why don't you and your husband go do what you have to do; I'll be fine, really,' Albus said.

'My ... what?' Severus and Remus said at the same time.

'Err, I realise this might be just another crossed memory, however, a gold band around the fourth finger of one's left hand usually is a wedding ring. And I remember back seventeen ... no, eighteen years ago now, taking part in a wedding ... and I do believe it was your wedding I performed,' Albus said.

A pin could have been heard in the room until Sirius happened to glance at his own hand. 'Holy shite,' he whispered, and held his left hand up to look at what was there. 'No ... no, no, no ... this is not happening ...' he groaned.

Remus and Severus came out of their stupor and looked over at Sirius who was still whispering over and over the words "this is not happening". Then, knowing they were both going to regret doing it, Remus and Severus glanced down at their own hands. Severus drew in a sharp breath of air, whilst Remus just sat there staring at his hand. Sure enough there were wedding bands on their fingers, ones that obviously had not been there moments before. Neither of them had noticed the ring until Albus had said something, but what was strangest of it all is that for some reason, unlike Sirius who was on the verge of having a breakdown because of his newly formed ring, both Severus and Remus felt like these rings belonged on their fingers. In fact, it felt like they'd always been there, and not as if they had just appeared out of the blue.

Suddenly, at the same exact time, Severus and Remus looked up and straight into each others eyes, a mixture of surprise and fear passing between them. Severus swallowed hard as he looked at Remus, and suddenly, emotions that had been long buried bubbled to the surface, however, there was no way in hell he was going to say what he was feeling. Not even if he was put under Veritaserum would he admit what he had once felt for Remus, and was now feeling again. Instead, he bit his lip and put up a scowl so nasty that had he been in class it would have scared his students into next week.

'Now are you going to tell me that this isn't some perverted, sick, and totally twisted form of Dark Arts?' Severus said holding up his left hand and thrusting it towards Remus. 'This is your field, so do something about this ... this travesty!' Severus yelled.

'I don't like this any more than you do, Severus, but I can't think when you're harping at me!' Remus yelled back.

'Marriage is a wonderful thing isn't it? Ah, my wife and I had such lovely arguments. Alas, not in the forty years since her death have we spoken, but I still remember how she would harp at me from time to time. Quite healthy rows can be when --' Albus began but Sirius cut him off.

'Will you shut up already?' Sirius said angrily then he said in a more subdued voice, 'sorry, Albus, I didn't mean that. I'm just having a hard time accepting what's happening here. I mean ... you can't be saying that I'm married to ... to ... oh Merlin ... are you seriously suggesting that I might have married that traitorous, murdering, slime ball rat Peter Pettigrew?'

Albus blinked in surprise. 'I don't understand, what do you mean by traitor?'

'What do I mean?' Sirius asked. 'Peter is a traitor ... he sold out Lily and James to Voldemort! Don't you remember?' Sirius pleaded. 'Please tell me you remember what he did ... please, Albus ...'

Albus sighed and shook his head. 'I'm sorry, Sirius, but by my memory he isn't a traitor.'

Sirius groaned and sank back into the cushions of the chair he was sitting in, his hands once again covering his face. 'This is not happening ... this is not happening ... .please tell me this is not happening!' he sobbed.

'Stop blubbering like a child, Black, it's getting us nowhere. Personally, I'd rather go back to the hallucination theory. It would thrill me to no end to think I'm actually in my quarters drunk than here with you,' Severus muttered.

'Will you both stop acting like a couple of depraved children?' Remus said and glared at both Sirius and Severus. 'We need a plan here since obviously Albus is going to be no help in this matter.'

'I agree. I am not going out there to have him announce to the world that you are my husband,' Severus said.

'This is no picnic for me either, Severus, so do shut up,' Remus retorted.

Suddenly, a strange sound diverted their attention, and all eyes were now focused on Sirius, who for some strange reason was laughing.

'Do you have a problem, Black?' Severus asked.

'Yeah, you ... I mean the pair of you,' Sirius said as his laughter died down to a few chuckles.

'I don't see what is so funny here, Sirius. Care to share this little joke?' Remus asked.

'You don't, but I do. Will you two listen to yourselves? Much as I hate to say it, right now you two really do sound like a married couple!' Sirius said and this time he erupted into side-splitting laughter.

The laughter got contagious, and soon even Albus was laughing. After a while everyone calmed down and again tried to rethink their plans.

'Do you know how much of a pain in my arse you are sometimes, Sirius?' Remus said as he wiped a few tears from his eyes.

'My dear Moony, you expect less of me?' Sirius grinned.

'Despite the fact perhaps we possibly needed that diversion,' Severus said with a slight cough, 'can we please get back to the issue at hand?'

'You're right; we need to figure out something. We can at least rule out that this ...' and now Remus held up his ring finger where the gold band was glinting off the candlelight, 'is not some hallucination, which leads me to believe this is most assuredly Dark Arts at work; powerful Dark Arts at that.'

'Which leaves me to wonder if it isn't Voldie himself,' Sirius said.

Severus raised an eyebrow towards Sirius. 'Voldie? I do not believe I have heard him referred to in such a colourful manner before. Not very complimentary is it,' he mused.

'That's exactly the point, Snape. That prat cost me everything, I owe him no respect in any form. I'd like to see his head hanging from a twenty foot pole, and I'd love to be the one to put it there,' Sirius said.

Severus slightly grinned. 'I have no doubts you would. You're not the only one who has suffered though; I also have suffered my share. Do not forget what I am,' he said.

'You were a Death Eater, Severus, you aren't one now, not really anyway,' Remus said.

'Severus a Death Eater? Nonsense! You never would have allowed it, Remus,' Albus said.

'Albus, I do not understand why your memories have been altered, but I can assure you I am most definitely a Death Eater. Just as I can assure you that Remus would not have cared if I were one because we are not married,' Severus said firmly. Much as he admired the Headmaster for how much he'd done for him over the years, right now he was getting on Severus' nerves.

Albus' eyes lit up at something Severus said. 'So it's "Remus" now is it? Wasn't it moment's ago you were saying "Lupin?"' he asked Severus.

Severus gawked at Albus then turned away, muttering something under his breath. 'Err ... it was merely a slip of the tongue; I assure you I did not mean to say Re-Lupin's name in such a manner,' he scoffed and waved his hand in dismissal. 'At any rate, for all the time we have spent going rounds on this, we have yet to come up with anything,' Severus said wearily.

'I wonder ...' Albus mused and gave all three men in the room very strange glances. 'Time ... yes ... something to do with time ... now what was it?'

'Are you remembering something useful?' Sirius asked hopefully.

Albus stroked his beard, thinking hard on things. 'Time ... time ... of course ... that's it! He said "not at this particular moment in time." Why didn't I see it before?' he said excitedly.

'What are you going on about now?' Severus asked.

'It's foggy, still so very foggy ... the memories are distant ... yet familiar. My memories have changed whilst yours have not ... but when did one become two?' Albus mused.

'What the hell are you on about, Albus?' Sirius asked in a very agitated voice.

'Yes, the answer is in the past ... that's what he meant. I know it's there somewhere ... I just have to find it!' Albus said.

'Before I knock you over the head with a broomstick, what is in the past, and what do we have to do with all of this?' Remus asked.

'The answers are here ... or rather ... there ... then. What I mean is that the answers to this dilemma of memories stems from the three of you ... or rather, from your pasts. What we have to do now is find out when my memories split away from all of yours then we shall have our answers ... at least, I hope we will ...'

****

Somewhere in the Future ...

'Phase two complete, Master. There were no further complications,' said a petite woman.

'You've done well 504; go and collect your rations. Be sure to get enough for your son and husband. Make sure 691 eats well; your husband needs all his strength now.'

'Yes, Master,' the woman said obediently. 'As always, I thank you for your generosity in allowing my family first share of rations.'

The woman bowed her head and quickly walked out of the room. As the door swished shut a thin, pale-skinned man came out of the shadows. 'They are always so eager to please their Master aren't they,' he said.

'Of course,' the Master said smugly. 'Things are going well down below?' he asked a tinge of worry in his voice.

'Yes, there's no need to worry, I have seen to everything. That little chat with Albus was a good idea after all.'

'It was a last minute decision, but I fear it may not be enough. The seeds have been planted, the props are in place, but yet nothing has changed,' the Master frowned.

'It's far too soon for any changes; for now let's leave things to 327. The Darkness is his field after all.'

The Master nodded then looked at the tattered yellow map and tapped a section with his finger. 'Hmm ... it seems 327 is taking a break at the moment,' he said in amusement.

The pale skinned man walked over and inspected the map as well. 'He's not alone either,' he chuckled. 'Which makes me think that they're not the only ones who could use a break ...' he said in a husky voice and slid his arms round his lover, pulling him roughly towards him.

The tall, dark-haired man smiled seductively and leaned his head to the side, gazing at his lover. His hair was no longer the beautiful silvery-blonde it had been so long ago, now it was yellow and pasty. 'Perhaps you're right. I think it is time for a short break,'

'Only a short one? And here I was thinking of taking a rather ... long ... break,' the pale man said breathlessly as his dark haired lover's lips brushed against his own. The pale man captured those lips hungrily with his teeth and devoured them with his tongue, whilst a moan of lust echoed in his throat.

Breaking off the passionate kiss, the dark-haired man waved his hand towards the door and muttered a few words before falling back into his lover's embrace. No one in the fortress would dare disturb their Master, not once they saw the reddish-gold glow on the door frame. They all knew what the glow meant, and those who had dared try to get past the well-crafted wards learnt the hard way never to do such a thing again.

Drawing his thin, cold-bodied lover over to a makeshift pile of bedding he knew that, for at least a little while, he could make his lover's coldness disappear. Although the dark haired man was the Master of this place of suffering and torment, in bed he was the servant to his pale lover's desires. Soon enough everything was forgotten, and the only sounds in the room were the moans and whispers of two men in love who desperately needed each other's touches to survive.