Summoned

Chapter 28: Specialis Revelio!

"When one wizard saves another wizard's life, it creates a certain bond between them..."

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

July 28, 1995, late morning (cont.)

...Gilded.

That was the only word Severus could think of to describe the place he was in. Even though everything was actually draped in, or colored, green, Severus had a sense that all the green was simply gold covered by spring.

"Master needs something from Dobby?" the little creature at the foot of the bed asked. Severus blinked a few times to make sure he was seeing what was really there. The house-elf was about three feet tall, maybe not even that: he was bouncing on the end of the mattress, so his height was hard to tell. He had large, pointed ears that stuck straight out from his head, and enormous eyes, for the size of his face. Most disconcerting though, from Severus' point of view, was what the creature was wearing.

"Is that a pillowcase?"

"What? Oh, Master, this is Dobby's pillowcase, yes, sir, it is."

"Why - are you wearing a pillowcase?"

The elf clasped his hands in front of him and gave a shrugging kind of gesture and his ears twitched downward. "Master has given Dobby a pillowcase to wear because a pillowcase is not clothing, sir. - Did Master require a service from Dobby?"

Severus scrunched his face and finally sat up. He pointed to the pail. "I - I can't Vanish it on my own," he explained. "I'm sorry to ask you..."

Dobby looked at the pail, snapped his fingers, and the thing was gone.

"Would Master like something to eat? Or some tea? Dobby knows a particularly good tea to help after dementors, oh yes, Dobby does. Would Master like some chocolate? Chocolate is the best thing to have after the dementors have been there, yes, it is! Dobby is happy to get Master some chocolate!"

"My name is Severus," the boy said, rubbing his eyes. He was still seeing visions left over from the time with dementors. "Not Master."

"Yes, Master Severus, Dobby must call anyone in the house 'Master' or 'Mistress', sir. It is Master Malfoy's order."

"And what would happen if you just called me 'Severus'?" he asked irritably. He looked into the house-elf's eyes and a sudden wave of images, not his own, flooded his brain...

... Dobby was being kicked on the kitchen floor, Lucius was yelling at him to get him some tea, the elf was scrambling, trying to get away from the boy's boot... He grabbed a hot pan from the stove and plunged his other hand onto the burning surface...

"NO!" Severus screamed and clenched his eyes shut as the small creature in the room with him looked away and made a whimpering sound.

"Dobby will come back with-"

"Wait!" Severus ordered. He climbed forward in the bed so that he could touch the elf. "Are you - do they treat you - like that?"

"Dobby is a house-elf, sir, Dobby must do as he's told, and when he is bad, Dobby must punish himself."

Severus felt another wave of nausea, but this one rose up from his mind, his thoughts: his mother telling him to crawl, to get her wand... struggling to get up, to stand, to run... struggling to stay in place as he was forced to kneel, bare-legged, on the glass he'd accidentally broken...

"Dobby will be back with his special tea and some chocolate for Master Severus," the little creature said, and with a snap of his fingers, he was gone.

There was something horrible in this house, Severus realized: something that the gold-plating was hiding.

Dobby returned less than two minutes later with a small tray. A cup of steaming liquid and a large chunk of chocolate were on the tray, along with a napkin. Severus was still trying to get rid of the swirling, sickening memories and impressions as Dobby placed the tray in his lap.

"What's this?" Severus asked, and took a sniff of the stuff in the cup. He recognized it immediately.

"That is Dobby's special tea," the creature said, sounding quite pleased with himself. "Dobby makes it with cocoa beans and sugar and milk."

"It's called hot chocolate," Severus told him, and he couldn't help a bit of a smile. "Thank you, Dobby."

"Oh, no, Master Severus is not needing to thank Dobby. Dobby is pleased to serve Master Severus."

"Well, Master Severus doesn't think much about being called 'master'," he grumbled. He broke off a chunk of the chocolate and began eating it. It was definitely helping: his fingers began to feel a warm, tingling after he had swallowed some of the hot cocoa and the first bit of chocolate. "You're a slave, aren't you?" he asked. "I mean, you aren't a servant. You don't get paid."

"House-elves is not to be paid, Master Severus! House-elves is happy to serve their masters."

He shook his head. "No one is happy to be treated like - like that - what I saw."

Dobby hung his head. "Dobby has been serving the House of Malfoy for many years, sir. No one has ever minded the way he is treated." The elf looked at him with something like awe. Well, that wouldn't do.

"I'm just saying," he struggled to sound cool and uninterested, "it doesn't seem like a good idea to treat you poorly. You won't be around as long if they keep-" He stopped and tried to meet Dobby's eyes, but the house-elf was on to him, he knew Severus could see things in his mind. "Dobby, does - does Mr. Malfoy - Lucius' father - kick you and - and stuff?" What kind of place was this, he suddenly wondered.

But before Dobby could answer, the bedroom door opened and Lucius Malfoy swaggered in. "Well, Snape, feeling better?" he demanded as he crossed the room. He saw Dobby and grabbed the creature by the arm and flung him across the room. "You're done here," he shouted. "Go!"

Dobby scampered away as quickly as he could. Lucius flicked his wand at the door and locked it.

"So. What do you think of my father?"

Warily, Severus answered, "He seems nice."

"He is nice," Lucius sneered. "Which is why I knew I could get him to fetch you for me."...

... Dumbledore hovered, watching carefully, ready with his cloak...

... "Fetch? Like a dog? For you? I should have known," he snapped.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Lucius cried out, and instantly, Severus was immobilized. Lucius' eyes were glinting and he moved the tray and set it on the night table. "Now then," he said, and stood by the bed, waving his wand in irregular arcs and swings and switches. Nothing was happening. Severus guessed he was merely toying with his mind at this point, trying to make him anxious.

But he had just spent the worst four days of his life in cold cells with vicious criminals and horrid dementors. He doubted there was anything Lucius could do to beat that...

... Dumbledore moved lower, waiting...

... "So," Lucius started, flicking his wand at Severus' nose, "did you kill him? Your dad? Or was it really your mom?"

And Severus realized that since Malfoy knew that much, it would be all over the school within a day of returning this term. And the look on Malfoy's face told him everything he needed to know: behave himself and do what Malfoy told him - or have the only world he could ever call home become a death trap for the half-blood Slytherin boy who had killed his own father.

With a flick of the wand, Malfoy lifted the spell and Severus took two long, deep breaths. "What do you want from me?" he asked angrily.

Malfoy "tsk tsked," and then he sat on the side of the bed, his face uncomfortably close to Severus'. "I want you to work with me this term," he said, and the words sounded so innocuous. "I want you on my side. No more hexes. No more jinxes. And don't worry, by the end of the summer, you'll be very happy to be my close friend." Then, swiftly and before Severus could even register what he was doing, Lucius leaned in and kissed his lips, then got up and strode out the door, shutting it behind him.

Severus grabbed one of the pails near the bed and threw up...

... "Deletrius," and Dumbledore tossed his cloak over the boy...

"Somnus," he whispered, and Severus left the world of light and entered the darkness of his dreams...

* * *

Dumbledore had just gone to the fireplace to see if Minerva were ready for lunch when the flames whooshed upward and Sirius' face appeared in them. "Dumbledore? Are you there?"

"Here, Sirius. How are things going?"

"Fine enough," the face answered. "We'd like to call a meeting of the Order tonight."

"Has something happened?" Dumbledore found himself feeling quite tired from the work he and Severus had been doing. The idea of a meeting didn't appeal to him.

"Nothing, really, but - well, some of us have been talking about Orestes and what he was sent there to do. We had some ideas we wanted to run by the Order. - Could you make it around six? Molly's having dinner after."

"Fine. I'll round up Severus and Minerva. - You haven't heard anything from Hagrid, have you?"

"No." Sirius frowned. "We were hoping you had."

Dumbledore shook his head. "We'll see you this evening," he said.

"Yes. - Uh, you won't be inviting Snape to stay for dinner, will you?"

"No," he answered curtly. Of course, Severus would hardly want to remain for a meal with the rest of the Order, but Sirius' animosity was still something he didn't like.

After Sirius disappeared from the flames, he called to Minerva.

"Oh, Albus! I'm glad you're free. I seem to be back to normal," she said, but he could tell that before she even spoke: the familiar, aged and wise eyes of his Assistant Headmistress were back, shining in the flames with relief.

"Excellent. - Why don't you come here, then," he invited. "Severus will probably be awake shortly and we can eat together."

"Do you think he'll be up to that?"

"I'll order him to be up to it. - I have some other news to share with you both."

And so it was that Dumbledore found himself, at last, enjoying a quiet, familiar little feast with his right- and left-hands, as they so often did during the school years and even over many summers.

Severus seemed wary when Dumbledore told him he was expected to stay, but when Minerva came into the room and smiled at him, his tension seemed to dissolve. He glanced nervously at her a few times during the meal, but she merely carried on as though nothing odd had transpired between them. Though, for her part, she spent a few minutes early in the meal evaluating his state of mind, it seemed. Only after about half-way through their sandwiches and pumpkin juice did she relax enough to chuckle at some little joke Dumbledore made.

He offered them lemon drops for dessert, out of his enchanted candy box, and met Severus' eyes across the table long enough for him to understand the message: there were things in the past that needed to stay in - or go back to - the past.

Dumbledore knew his offer had been accepted when Severus took a candy and ate it.

* * * July 28, 1995, early evening

In favor of saving his energy for the meeting that night, Dumbledore decided against any further work with the Deletrius that afternoon. The Potions master made noises about needing to restock his cupboard, and Minerva and he let him depart without further questions.

They agreed to meet at the Entrance Hall that evening, and in anticipation of the topic of the meeting, Dumbledore and Minerva went through the quarters Orestes had had when he'd been staying here. They found little of any value. He'd brought several changes of clothing, a few books - nothing even remotely suspicious - and a few potions and potion ingredients, which Minerva took down to Severus to be identified.

He glanced at his hourglass as she brought them to him. "I may not be able to identify everything before we leave," he said stiffly, not really looking at her as she placed the small vials and larger jars on his desk.

"Well, whatever you can identify might help us learn something about him," she said. She turned and glanced at the cauldrons: they were empty.

"I have not yet begun," he answered her unasked question when she looked back at him. She smiled indulgently.

Severus sighed, then looked up at met her eyes. "Is there something - you want to know?" he asked, his voice dropping to a whisper, as if it would hurt him to speak any louder.

"Just whether or not you're going to be alright."

"Of course I - that is not what I meant."

"I know what you meant. - I think I remember - everything. I just don't know how -"

He stared at her without expression, and finally she just smiled. "You really are quite the gentleman, Severus Snape," she said with a twinkle in her eyes. "And, as I said, I'm very grateful to you for getting us out of there so quickly. You could have - lingered. I could hardly have blamed you under the circumstances."

"I could not have lingered!" he snapped. "That would not have been something I could live with! I have done many evil things in my life, Professor, but I have never raped anyone."

She flinched. "I didn't mean to imply..."

He looked away and then, with an air of dismissal, grabbed two of the jars and pulled them close.

"Did she know?" Minerva asked boldly. Severus lifted one of the two jars and eyed the contents critically.

"I like to think she did not," he answered. "She couldn't forgive me..." He stopped and sighed. "This looks like it could be a Strengthening Solution. I will see what I can find out before the meeting tonight."

And that, most definitely, was a dismissal.

* * *

Sirius was still acting quite cool toward Remus when the meeting began that night. It had bothered him a great deal that Lupin had spent the full moon at Hogwarts and Remus had a feeling he knew why. Sirius was suffering from the kind of claustrophobia that came from having been locked up for so long as a prisoner. Lupin would have bet that Sirius had hoped to talk him into letting him transform into his Animagus form and for the two of them to go out on a jaunt, like the old days.

Remus was glad he hadn't had to talk his friend out of that idea: given enough time and persuasion, Lupin might have found his resolve dying and given in to Sirius' desires. Even tonight's meeting, which they had been discussing most of the day, was going to be another attempt on Sirius' part to get himself out of this despicable house. And while Remus couldn't blame him in the least, he also hoped Dumbledore would have sense enough to veto it.

The Hogwarts contingent arrived together: Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall - back to her own form, thankfully - and Severus who, for once, didn't look any worse than the last time he'd seen him.

"Well, everyone..." Arthur began as they took their seats. But a crashing sound from the kitchen, followed by the gruff voice of a man and the higher-pitched scolding of a woman, interrupted the gathering.

Having been woken by the noises, the portrait of Mrs. Black began screaming invectives. Tonks was already here, so it wasn't she who'd made the noises this time. Seconds later, as Sirius rose to confront the portrait, and Arthur and Molly and Tonks rose to see what had happened, Mundungus Fletcher and Arabella Figg both came into view in the hallway. Mundungus was desperately trying to hold onto a pipe that was quickly stinking up the entire room, and Arabella was just as desperately trying to snatch it from him.

"Oh, Albus, ye got to get this old bat away from me!" Mundungus swore, forcing his way past the little woman and beating off her arms as she took swing after swing at the pipe.

"Dung, please, get rid of that thing!" Molly Weasley demanded, and she, too, made a grab for it.

"Awright, awright! Hold onto yer broomsticks!" The plump, disheveled man tapped his pipe and the smoke disappeared, and he shoved it into a coat pocket.

"Nasty habit!" Arabella announced to the room, looking at all of them as if they were each guilty of smoking the foul things. "Nasty, nasty habit!"

"Here, Arabella," Dumbledore said, standing from his seat and offering it to her. She crossed around the room and her cat, Mr. Tibbles, Lupin thought it was, went off in search of something else to do: possibly in search of Crookshanks, since they were both part kneazle.

"Have you all met Arabella and Mundungus?" Dumbledore asked the crowd, after conjuring himself another chair. Mundungus was leaning against the wall behind the Weasleys, which Lupin could see didn't suit Molly at all. She looked over her shoulder and scowled at him, but he showed no signs of moving into the room.

Everyone in the room, aside from Severus, nodded at them. "You look familiar," Severus said to Mrs. Figg, "but I cannot recall from where."

Lupin and Sirius chuckled, and it was Sirius who answered. "She and her husband worked in the kitchens at Hogwarts years ago, Snape. In charge of the house-elves."

Severus nodded.

"Caught you three out all the time I did," the woman said, addressing Sirius and Remus. "You two and James - always sneaking into the kitchens at night to snatch food!"

Sirius laughed. "Ah, the good old days!" he said, tilting his chair backward, hands clasped behind his head. "I recall getting a lot of detention time in the kitchens," he added, grinning at her.

"During which you snatched even more food!"

There were chuckles around the table, and then Mundungus belched and drew everyone's attention to that side of the room.

"And you all know Mundungus?"

This time it seemed everyone did: no amusing anecdotes followed.

"Alright, then, are we all here?" Arthur asked again. His quill had been dutifully noting the attendance, Lupin could see, but had not yet noted all the rest of the activities since Arthur hadn't called the meeting to order.

Which he did at that point. They commenced, as usual, with the prior meeting's minutes and business, and then jumped quickly to the business at hand.

"Well, first of all," Sirius said, though Remus hadn't expected him to start, "since Professor McGonagall is back to her - delightfully normal form - can you please tell us who it was she was transformed into?"

"No," said the professor in question. She gave Sirius a very stern, angry look. "It had nothing whatsoever to do with Order business, Mr. Black, and it is none of yours - or anyone else's - concern. Arthur," she added, "would you please add a note that that particular topic is not to be brought up again?"

Arthur looked slightly embarrassed and cleared his throat, then instructed his quill to make the notation. Remus shook his head and wished she had not been so vehement: it would only make Sirius' hunger to find out that much greater and he would now be likely to resort to any number of devious means to find out the answer.

He glanced at Severus after the quill had finished it's task, but the Potions master did not look in his direction.

"Dumbledore," Arthur began, "we asked for this meeting because we've been discussing Orestes and his - well, his reason for being at Hogwarts."

"What we still don't know for sure," Sirius said, turning to the Headmaster, "is what his purpose there was. Unless, of course, Snape knows and just hasn't told us."

Severus looked quite calm. "Everything I know I have told the Headmaster," he said quietly. "So to answer your question, no, I have no further knowledge than you have."

"And you said," Kingsley began, "that you thought he might have been Confunded? Or Imperiused?"

"It is possible. I also believe the Dark Lord gave him the Weakening Solution in order to deliberately hasten his death after his link to the Dark Lord was revealed." He glanced at Lupin. "Which the potion might have done even if it had not been - altered."

Remus gave him an appreciative nod.

"What we've been thinking, is that maybe we should send a couple people to Albania to check his apartment. See if there's anything incriminating, anything that might help us find out if he was trying to sabotage us."

Dumbledore had been sitting back in his chair - an old, chintzy one - and nodded. "It could be a good idea. Who did you have in mind?"

"Remus and I," Sirius said, before Remus could open his mouth.

Dumbledore turned to Sirius and shook his head. "It's too risky for you," he said in that quiet, firm tone they had heard so often as students. "You cannot risk being seen, Sirius!"

The man dropped his chair back onto all four legs and leaned into the group. "I am not going to stay locked up here for the rest of my life, Dumbledore!"

"It won't come to that, Sirius."

"Sirius," Kingsley interrupted, "I'm already making some headway into the Ministry. While I'm feeding them some highly entertaining misinformation on your whereabouts, I am also making contacts who might be willing to re-evaluate your case. Maybe get a trial..."

"And how long is that going to take? Another year? Two?"

"Sirius," Remus tried, "it's not worth your life!"

"Oh, so it's fine to send Snape out to do brave and dangerous things, but not me? Well, I am just as expendable as everyone else here!" he shouted, banging his fist on the table for emphasis.

Remus wrinkled his face in confusion, but it was Arabella who put his thoughts - and probably many others' - into words. "That has to be the most idiotic, backwards form of a logical argument I've ever heard in my life! You're angry because we want you to stay alive? Idiot!"

"Sirius, that was -"

"You know what I mean!"

"Yes," Severus said quietly, his eye glinting unpleasantly. "You are unhappy that you are not getting fame and glory for - housecleaning."

"Snivellus, I swear -"

"Alright, that's enough!" Dumbledore intervened. He glared at both of them, then turned a somewhat gentler gaze at Sirius. "I know you feel trapped here, Sirius, and I'm sorry. But you are too valuable to risk losing."

"And Snape's not? What happened to him being your precious -"

"Stop!" Minerva McGonagall surprised them all by adding her voice to the argument. "I say we vote on it," she announced. "All in favor of letting Sirius risk his life to go through a dead wizard's apartment in search of what would most likely will be a useless expedition, raise your hands."

She had, Remus thought, a marvelous way of devolving an argument to its most pathetic components. In any case, the point was made, though the vote was not technically done according to the rules of order.

Not one's hand went up. Not even Severus'!

"Alright," Dumbledore said, once the result had time to sink into Sirius' head. "Alastor? Would you be willing to go back and check things out for us?" he asked.

Mad-Eye nodded silently.

"And Remus?"

"Fine," he said, though he really didn't like the idea of leaving Sirius 'unattended'. And he hated the look Sirius leveled at him when he agreed: jealousy and anger and an almost palpable sense of despair.

"You can leave in the morning," Dumbledore suggested, glancing at Arthur for support. "Two days, I think. No more than that. Any activity that's still going on there..."

"We'll be careful," Moody growled and grabbed his hip flask.

Mundungus sneezed, loudly, and wiped his nose on his sleeve. "That it, then?"

"No," Dumbledore said, turning to Arabella and Mundungus. "We know that Vold- that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has access to at least a few dementors. I think we need to assume that he's going to use them some time soon. I want you two to redouble your watch over Harry. I understand he's - frustrated - at not hearing from us. And his birthday is in three days. So - please, keep a very close watch on him."

"Always do," Mundungus answered, and Mrs. Figg snickered.

"That it, then?" Arthur asked, glancing around the room. "Alright. Meeting adjourned."

They straggled out into the hall. Above them, as usual, the student cohort in residence was leaning over the banister, two long strings to which were attached grotesquely life-like ears were quickly yanked back up. Remus grinned, realizing he and James and Sirius would have done exactly the same thing had they been in that position at their ages. He caught a glance of Tonks, looking up at them and transforming her face into something vaguely horse-like, and getting a giggle from Ginny and Hermione.

Then the children caught a glimpse of Severus as he walked through the hallway toward the front door and all of them, as if they'd rehearsed it, stuck their tongues out at him - unseen by the Potions master. Ron added a particularly explicit hand gesture.

The door closed behind the Potions master, Molly called, "All those staying for dinner! Children! Hands washed, come on down!" and the usual, extended family of Grimmauld Place gathered for their evening meal.

* * * July 28, 1995, late evening

Severus had expected Dumbledore to have returned by now. He needed to see him before he left: he didn't want the man to come looking for him in either the wrong or, worse, the right place.

He had gotten into the Headmaster's office while the others stayed behind to eat at the Order Headquarters, and had found what he'd been looking for: a small piece of parchment encoded with ancient runes sitting on a corner of the great desk, half-covered by one of Dumbledore's many silvery objects. He pulled it from its near cover, then aimed his wand at it.

"Specialis Revelio!" he incanted and quickly memorized the information that appeared. He tapped it once more and it returned to the runic symbols as he'd found them. He put the parchment back exactly as it had been, then left the office without being seen.

That was the first difficult step, and he'd gotten it done without any problems: it gave him some hope for the rest of the night.

But Dumbledore didn't come to see him by nine o'clock, and he couldn't wait too much longer. He had packed nearly everything he needed and had even taken a dose of Strengthening Solution for the task ahead. His mind felt fairly clear, and he'd certainly given his body a decent amount of sleep since his last visit to the Dark Lord. But he needed to be absolutely on guard once he left Hogwarts, both physically and mentally.

And magically.

He was just about to call to Dumbledore through the fireplace when the man knocked on his half-opened door.

"Headmaster. I was just about to see if you'd returned yet."

Dumbledore looked pleasantly relaxed, an excellent sign. "Minerva and I just got back. We stayed to play Gobstones with the children. Ron Weasley has a spectacular, old chess set, as well, but I'm afraid I've never had the patience or subtlety to- Are you going somewhere?"

"Yes," Severus said, hefting the satchel he'd just spent the last hour carefully packing. "I have to spend the night in Hogsmeade," he said carefully.

"Ah. - I had thought that we could work some more on -"

"Not tonight," he cut the man off. He was impatient to get moving. "Tomorrow, perhaps. I should be back in the afternoon."

And then Dumbledore must have sensed something. His gaze sharpened and he tried to meet Severus' eyes. Quickly stowing away anything he could think of that would alert the older wizard to his deception, he looked at the man and waited.

"In the afternoon? Why so long?"

"The work I have to do will take some time. Some - precise monitoring."

Dumbledore nodded slowly, and his gaze continued to sharpen. "Perhaps, I could join you and work on the Deletrius with you there-"

"Not tonight. Tomorrow, when I'm -"

"Severus!"

"Tomorrow, Dumbledore. I am not up for any more of you clawing through my memories tonight!" He waited, feeling quite tense, but Dumbledore finally nodded and headed back to the doorway.

"Very well, Severus. Tomorrow. - You'll let me know when you return?"

"Of course." He took a breath, half-intending to apologize for his outburst. Then he changed his mind. Depending on how things went, he might be glad he left Dumbledore irritated with him.

After the Headmaster left, he grabbed his broom and put the satchel over his shoulder and left the castle. He flew to Hogsmeade, but not to the Shrieking Shack. He made his way to the Hogs Head Inn. Their fireplace was part of the Floo Network, and he was going to need to make several stops before the night was out.

To be fair, he bought a cold butterbeer before availing himself of the free transport way, and waited until the inn keeper wasn't paying attention before he tossed the Floo powder into the fireplace and announced his next destination.

It was almost by accident that he knew how to get from Hogsmeade to Albania by way of the Network. He had, at one point when Orestes was working with him, seen a dozen or so fireplaces all flaring around the Healer as he stepped into them. Now, as he duplicated the steps backward, he wondered if Orestes had intended him to see the pathway. The answer could be interpreted either way.

But the specific directions from the final fireplace at the decrepit and shady inn in Ilitia, the small village Orestes called home, to Orestes' particular building, were what he'd needed - and gotten - from the parchment on Dumbledore's desk. It was a two hour flight, which, on top of the time it had taken him to Floo through the rest of Europe on his way here, made it well past dawn by the time he arrived.

The man lived in a very old, worn-down stone tenement building just at the edge of the village. It seemed that the village had a large wizarding population, based on the number of cloaks and caps and robes and broomsticks he saw. In fact, he saw very few people in Muggle clothing, and felt much more comfortable in his traveling attire.

According to the directory in his building, Orestes lived on the third floor, and when Severus got to the landing, he stopped. There was an old mat just outside the door, with symbols on it he didn't recognize. Glancing around, but seeing no one, he pulled out his wand and aimed it. Downstairs, he heard the door to another apartment open, and he held very still until he heard the door to the building open and then close.

"Specialis Revelio!" he intoned quietly.

The symbols on the mat at his feet - he was careful not to touch it - altered. The word, "confringo" appeared. A Blasting Curse that, he assumed, would work perfectly if someone unthinkingly stepped on this un-welcome mat. At least Orestes had a sense of humor.

He aimed the wand again, and again incanted the revelation spell: "Specialis Revelio!"

As he watched, the blasting curse dissolved and a two-dimensional image of a dog - a hound - appeared in its place. Then, as the hound formed, it gained a third dimension and lifted itself from the mat and pawed at the door as if to be let in.

"Specialis Revelio!" Severus intoned once more, and this time the dog sat on the mat and turned to look at him. A voice from the door said, "Well, come on in!"

The animated dog's tail wagged, it's tongue lolled out, and it grew quite excited as Severus touched the knob of the door with his wand. "Alohamora!"

The door opened. The cartoon-spell rendition of a dog scampered in ahead of him. Slowly and carefully, Severus stepped over the mat and into the apartment, his steps light. "Lumos!" His wand emitted a faint blue light and he glanced around.

He could feel the magical energy in the room. There were still several spells and wards here: he could not just walk into the apartment as if he were an invited guest.

Had Orestes done all this to protect himself from the Dark Lord, he wondered, only to be somehow pressed into his service in the end? Or had he done it to protect his work for the Dark Lord from discovery? Or was this merely a manifestation of an elderly, bored, yet brilliant mind?

The presence of the happy hound didn't square well with the image of service to the Dark Lord, he thought. But then, if someone happened to glance his own Patronus, would they mistakenly think he'd had no loyalty to Voldemort, either?

He stayed exactly one foot in the door, letting the wand illuminate the various choices and pathways ahead of him. To his immediate right was a small kitchen, the type of thing one expected would suffice for an old bachelor who mostly summoned prepared foods and rarely had company. There was a burner, a hot plate, a small refrigerator, and a sink. Above the sink was a hand-drawn picture of the dog that sat in front of him, waiting for - something.

"Specialis Revelio!" he whispered quietly, aiming his wand at the picture of the dog. Slowly, the picture changed and revealed the word, "Colloportus," and immediately the door behind him closed and locked with a squelching sound.

Boggarts! He'd tripped an alarm. He waited, holding his breath, for his arm to begin burning: but after nearly a minute, nothing happened. He looked at the hound, which was still panting happily at him. It seemed that if he kept the dog happy, he would be safe. So...

"Specialis Revelio!" he tried, aiming his wand at the three-dimensional drawing. The dog began to bark, then to laugh, and then it spoke.

"Welcome, Severus. You have four riddles to get through. And then you shall know all there is to know."