Hour of Grace

HOUR OF GRACE

by Strega Brava

Chapter 7: Dark Revelations

Harry was finding that keeping up with a Hermione when she was on a mission was easier said than done. He was running on adrenaline and his body was complaining rather loudly from the lack of sleep. He ignored the complaints and kept running after the figure in front of him.

"Come on, Harry," she gasped, "we’re almost there."

Indeed, as they turned around another corner, they found themselves at the entrance to Dumbledore’s office, beyond which were his private quarters.

"Do you know the password?" Hermione asked him, somewhat breathlessly as the stone gargoyle turned to look at them expectantly.

"It’s always some sort of sweet," he shrugged, "just start naming as many as you can."

"Sugar quill!"

"Chocolate dragon eggs!"

"Cockroach clusters!"

"Licorice wands!"

"Toffee gargoyles!"

"Marshmallow skulls!"

"Gummy snakes!"

The gargoyle suddenly swung open, revealing the entrance to Dumbledore’s office. Without a moment’s hesitation, Hermione rushed forward while Harry followed in a flash. He wasn’t quite sure if the matter was as urgent as Hermione said it was, but he wasn’t about to argue with her…and he certainly was not going to explore how deep her feelings for Malfoy actually went. No, it was a much better idea to concentrate on actually getting to Dumbledore and talking to him.

Hermione reached the door to his office first and began pounding on the door frantically.

"Hermione! You are going to scare his beard off with your banging on the door like that!" Harry hissed.

Hermione simply ignored him and continued to bang on the door.

"Professor Dumbledore! Please open up. It’s Hermione…and Harry too. We really need to speak to you! It’s an emergency!!"

The door opened quietly and there, standing in the doorway and looking a little bleary-eyed himself, was Albus Dumbledore, sleepily tying a robe over his nightshirt.

"Good evening, Hermione. Good evening, Harry. What brings you here at this hour of the night?" he said with a rather sleepy smile.

Harry could not believe that Dumbledore was taking all this so calmly. The older wizard did not look surprised, merely concerned at the upset expression on Hermione’s face. He also looked sleepy but that was quickly fading.

"My dear Hermione," he said gently, "what is the matter? You look as if you could use a steaming cup of hot chocolate. Come in, both of you, and sit down by the fireplace."

Hermione and Harry followed Dumbledore into his office and sat down on two comfortable squashy leather armchairs – the kind you could really snuggle into and relax. Dumbledore conjured three mugs of delicious hot chocolate and sat down on an adjacent chair.

"Mmmm…this is delicious," Hermione sighed, feeling a little less frantic as she sipped the delicious beverage, feeling the warmth radiating through her and calming her somewhat.

"No one makes hot chocolate quite like you," Harry raised his mug in a half-salute.

Dumbledore chuckled, merriment dancing in his eyes.

"Well, Harry," he smiled, "I cannot, in all honesty, take the credit for that particular hot chocolate. It was Professor Snape who gave me the recipe."

Hermione nearly laughed out loud at the expression on Harry’ face…an odd combination of horror and admiration…which was really quite comical. For a moment, she thought he might refuse to drink anymore but then he took a long sip, wincing ever so slightly.

"Well," Harry finally said after swallowing his hot chocolate with some difficulty, "what sort of Potions Master would he be if he couldn’t even make decent hot chocolate?"

"Well said, Harry," Dumbledore chuckled.

"Professor…we…we weren’t sure where else to go," Hermione started, rather unsteadily.

"This is usually a good place to start," Dumbledore sat back with his hot chocolate, looking at her seriously.

Hermione tried to find the words to begin but felt very nervous. It was one thing to talk about going to see the Headmaster. It was quite another to actually be there. She felt a warmth on her hand and, startled, looked up to see Harry smiling at her.

"It’s okay. I’m here too, remember?" he said quietly.

Hermione gave Harry’s hand a quick squeeze in gratitude and turned to Dumbledore once again.

"Usually, it is Harry who has the strange dreams and the strange premonitions and the pains in his scar," she started.

"Not this year, thankfully," Harry muttered quietly.

"No, this year that particular responsibility has fallen to me," Hermione mumbled.

"How do you mean?" Dumbledore asked quietly.

"Since the end of the summer, I have been having nightmares…really bad nightmares…nightmares that feel so real they frighten me even when I am awake. And I hear voices…well, I have heard a voice…crying in the night. I think…" she looked over to Harry for support and he smiled at her, encouraging her to continue, "I think this might have something to do with Draco Malfoy because he has been acting strangely as well."

Dumbledore put down his mug of hot chocolate and steepled his slender fingers together while seemingly lost in thought. Harry and Hermione looked at one another. For the Headmaster to be so serious…that could not bode well.

"We must speak to another person," Dumbledore announced, standing up and walking over to the fireplace. He reached up to the mantle to take down a small sack made of rather pretty silver fabric that had been sitting rather unobtrusively among other sacks of other colours. He took a pinch of something out of the sack and threw it into the fireplace. The powder or whatever it was crackled loudly and the flames changed to vivid green and silver.

"Severus! Severus! I know it is late but you must come immediately to my office!" he spoke into the flames. "This is an urgent matter!"

Hermione thought she heard a very sleepy "Yes, sir" but couldn’t be entirely certain because the powder made the flames crackle quite loudly.

Dumbledore returned the sack to its original resting place and sat down again.

"Severus should be here in a few moments," he commented to no one in particular.

"Professor Dumbledore," Harry started, "why did you call Sn…Professor Snape? I don’t think he will be too willing to help us."

"People change, Harry. Many things have happened to Severus over the past few months," Dumbledore answered enigmatically.

"What has happened to Professor Snape?" Hermione asked, sipping her hot chocolate.

"I cannot tell you another’s story, Hermione," Dumbledore shook his head, "That is his right, not mine."

Harry nodded. He had heard Dumbledore say the same sort of thing before and he was right, although he couldn’t help but to wonder himself what had happened to the dark and seemingly sinister Potions Master. He certainly was treating his students, specifically his Gryffindor students, much more fairly.

As they sat sipping their hot chocolate and not saying anything, they heard the sound of tapping on the door.

"Come in, Severus," Dumbledore called.

The door opened quickly and Professor Snape stepped into the room. He had obviously taken the time to change and was wearing his customary black robes but he looked very tired and he stopped short when he saw who else was in the room. He did not say anything but looked at Dumbledore questioningly.

"Come in and sit down, Severus," Dumbledore invited cheerfully, "Would you like some hot chocolate?"

"Coffee. Black. Since I am here, I might as well be awake," Professor Snape muttered quietly. He did not look murderously angry…not even mildly upset…just very tired. Dumbledore immediately conjured a cup of strong coffee, which Professor Snape accepted gratefully, quietly sipping the hot beverage and sighing contentedly.

Hermione had the distinct impression that Professor Snape’s fatigue was not merely on the physical level.

"Severus, I have called you here because of what Hermione has been experiencing lately," Dumbledore started.

"Does this have to do with Draco Malfoy?" Professor Snape asked, a guarded expression in his black eyes.

Hermione and Harry looked at one another in surprise. Obviously, nothing got past the Potions Master.

"Please tell them what you know…and what you suspect," Dumbledore sipped his hot chocolate and conjured a fourth chair for the younger professor to sit in.

Severus, after another sip, sat down on the chair and looked at Hermione and Harry intently. Then he shook his head slightly and laid his head back, sighing slightly.

"Narcissa Malfoy," Professor Snape said the surname as if its very mention was a veritable anathema to him, "was a very good friend of mine…someone I cared for a great deal. She was a Slytherin, like myself, but she had a lot of the qualities that might have made her a Gryffindor or a Ravenclaw. She was the best friend I had," he started quietly, looking into his coffee rather ruefully.

Hermione and Harry quickly glanced at one another. They had never thought that there was any connection between Draco’s mother and Professor Snape. Mind you, they had never thought there might be a connection between Professor Snape and any member of the human race.

"I always had my doubts about Lucius. Even for a Death Eater…and yes, he is a Death Eater, despite all the evidence he presents to the world to the contrary," Professor Snape’s voice held a note of bitterness.

"We already knew that," Hermione said gently.

Professor Snape looked at her and the bitterness seemed to fade somewhat. "Yes, I would imagine that being petrified by a Basilisk in second year, thanks to Tom Riddle’s diary, would give you a clearer view of exactly where Lucius’ loyalties lie. That was his book…he showed it to me a few years after the Dark Lord disappeared. I could not reveal him without…without…"

"Without revealing where your loyalties lie," Harry finished for him.

Professor Snape nodded.

"And besides, I had no real proof that he purposely placed it among Miss Weasley’s books. He never talked about the whole incident. Probably did not trust me enough. I really am not such a bastard," he smiled somewhat grimly, "but my role is too important…I am the only link between Voldemort and the Headmaster."

"Professor Snape," Hermione spoke up, somewhat nervously as he fixed his glittering black eyes on her, "we have known who and what you are for some time. We all have roles to play…we really have no choice…none of us. We all want the same thing and will do anything to achieve it. Is that not right?"

If it were possible for Professor Snape to look impressed with something a Gryffindor said, this looked to be that time. He nodded.

"Narcissa and Lucius were married around the same time as your parents, Harry. It was a gross spectacle of decadence and money. I remember wondering if she was doing the right thing in marrying him. I had to believe that she loved him just as I knew he did not love her. Everything seemed like such a sham…as if it were all for show."

Professor Snape paused to take another sip of coffee.

"When Narcissa became pregnant, she seemed to truly come alive. She looked radiant, happy and confident…all the things that were missing beforehand. I went to see her and she told me that Lucius had been in the habit of placing her under the Imperius Curse. He had told her it was in order to practice but he would subject her to it weeks at a time. He abstained during her pregnancy for obvious reasons. She told me that she was afraid for the child. She was afraid that, if she bore a girl, that Lucius would murder it. I have no doubt of that…Lucius was fixated on an heir. However, Narcissa was more afraid that a son would be subjected to the Ritual Bath."

"What is the Ritual Bath?" Hermione asked, her heart suddenly racing and the hairs on the back of her neck standing up on end in alarm.

Professor Snape ran a hand through his black hair and looked at her sadly, as if steeling himself for what he had to say next.

"The Ritual Bath is part of the process to becoming a Death Eater. It is normally done on adult males only. It can be done on an adult female but there is an extremely high risk of her becoming infertile and, since Death Eaters must procreate, it is not generally encouraged. The individual is placed in a special cauldron. Inside the cauldron is a potion, containing the blood of the potential Death Eater and…"

"And the blood of the Dark Lord?" Hermione asked in a whisper.

"How on earth did you know that?" Professor Snape’s eyes widened in surprise while Dumbledore leaned forward in his chair, listening intently. Harry simply held Hermione’s hand tighter.

"My dreams. I had a dream of a baby…being placed in a cauldron full of blood. It…it was horrible…" Hermione’s voice faltered as she remembered the dream.

Dumbledore continued the story as Professor Snape simply stared at Hermione, stunned at her revelation.

"Severus came to me for help. Together, we created an ointment…a protective shield if you will. The purpose of the ointment was to save the baby’s soul. Subjecting such a tiny infant to the Ritual Bath is extremely dangerous. It has been known to drive a grown man insane…the consequences on an infant would be unimaginable. I sent it to Narcissa, through Severus, in the guise of a cosmetic cream and told her that the jar would vanish once the ointment was used."

"So, Draco was born, the ointment was administered and he survived the Ritual Bath. What happened next?" Harry asked, starting to see things a little more clearly.

"I am not sure," Professor Snape sighed deeply, "I suspect that Lucius continued to place the Imperius Curse on Narcissa but she was starting to rebel against him…probably because of her concerns over Draco. Mother’s love. She probably started talking to Draco several years ago about what his father really was. Lucius found out and started placing his son under the Imperius Curse or something akin to it as well. He has to keep him under control until he turns 18, which will be early in the new year. That may also be the reason Narcissa was murdered…and I have no doubt that he did murder her…probably had the medicoroner paid off handsomely."

The expression on Professor Snape’s face was rather horrible to witness. He looked as if he were ready to murder Lucius on the spot.

"What happens when he turns 18?" Hermione asked, dreading the answer.

"That is when he will acquire the Dark Mark and he will be lost to us."

"That is not necessarily true. You found your way back," Harry pointed out.

Professor Snape smiled slightly. "Yes, I did, but it was not easy and it is a wonder that I managed to do it without losing my mind." He paused for a moment, swirling the cup of coffee gently before draining it.

"Hermione, why don’t you tell us everything you have experienced?" Dumbledore asked quietly.

Hermione took a deep breath and began telling the story of the nightmares, of the strange looks in Draco’s eyes and of the voices she and Harry had heard. She only left out the part about the dance. That was far too personal to share with anyone.

Professor Snape listened intently to her story, nodding now and again at a particular point. When she finished, he put his empty mug down on a nearby table and stood up to stand by the fireplace, staring into the flames, deep in thought.

"This changes things, does it not, Severus?" Dumbledore asked quietly, taking a final sip of hot chocolate himself and setting his mug down.

"This means we do not have much time," Professor Snape muttered in reply, still staring into the flames as if some sort of answer could be found there.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, still holding Hermione’s hand, which had suddenly gone cold.

"It means that we have to somehow rescue Draco Malfoy from whatever particularly nasty curse Lucius has placed him under before he turns 18 or else…"

"Or else I lose him forever," Hermione whispered, then coloured furiously when she realized she had said that out loud, however quietly. "I mean…we lose him forever."

Harry gave her hand a quick squeeze. She did not dare look at Professor Snape or Dumbledore for a few moments until her cheeks returned to their normal colour.

"How can we do that? Obviously Lucius has managed to do all this without anyone knowing…like some kind of secret deep in the Slytherin quarters that none of us, not even the Head of Slytherin House, is privy to. What do we do?" Harry protested, wanting to help but feeling rather helpless.

"I need to get you into the Slytherin Common Room for an undercover assignment…specifically, under the cover of your Invisibility Cloak," Professor Snape replied, turning to Harry with a rather enigmatic expression on his face…it almost showed…concern.

"What about me? I have to go too!" Hermione shouted.

Dumbledore turned to Hermione and patted her shoulder in a friendly manner. "Yes, you will certainly have to accompany Harry. Between the two of you, I have every confidence that you will be able to find a way to reach young Malfoy."

Professor Snape walked over to the two students. "Come to my office tomorrow after classes and we will discuss the matter further. Good night Headmaster. Good night."

With a nod, Professor Snape left the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

Hermione caught Dumbledore staring at the door thoughtfully. "Are you all right?" She asked, somewhat concerned.

Dumbledore nodded, turning his eyes back to her. "This is very difficult for Severus. He and Narcissa were very close…I believe, and it is only my private belief mind you, that she was the only person he ever came close to loving. Losing her to Lucius hurt him deeply. Losing her to death hurt him more. He cannot afford to lose Draco. It will kill him."

Hermione and Harry nodded. It was an unlikely alliance but, then again, it was such an unlikely situation to be placed in.

"And now," Dumbledore announced, getting up, "you should both be heading back to your beds. I believe we have done enough talking for one night. You will meet with Professor Snape tomorrow and we will determine what needs to be done next. Good luck to you both."

Harry and Hermione rose and the four empty mugs disappeared with a wave of Dumbledore’s wand.

"Thank you for listening," Hermione said gratefully.

Dumbledore simply smiled at her as he showed them both to the door.