The Dark Past: Confusing Times

Chapter 9: Talks and Fights

Harry tightly closed his eyes as the swirling memories threatened to make him lose his battle not to vomit.

Hearing soft crying noises, Harry forced his eyes opened to see Severus curled up in a corner, with Florence holding him, crying onto her shoulder. It was a strange sight for Harry, watching Severus cry, having never seen him anywhere near tears, either in the Pensieve as of yet, or in real life.

Harry turned away from it, knowing how much he had hated Ron watching him when he wanted to cry that night Cedric was killed. Evan was whittling a huge stick with a wicked looking knife while sitting on the hearth. He often looked at Severus, his face soft and compassionate. It was hard to imagine that Evan was a killer; in fact, Harry just couldn't picture it. But Harry had seen him kill, knew he was capable of it, and, according to Evan himself, enjoyed it and wouldn't be able to stop doing it.

Evan motioned Urzula over to him with a nod. She brought her mending over to sit with him on the hearth. Harry sat next to them, enjoying the warmth of the fire.

"Is he going to be okay?" Evan asked.

Urzula nodded her head. "Yes, Evan, he will be. Severus was very close to his family and its naturally going to take him some time to get over it."

"How long?" Evan pressed.

"It took me about two years to mostly get over my first raid. And it isn't something I've ever forgotten either."

Evan sighed, stretching his back out with a crack. "Where's Narcissa?" he asked.

Urzula shrugged her thin shoulders. "We don't know. She's very pretty so my guess is she got adopted. Especially since she is so good at telling stories. Probably has someone believing she's the relative of someone rich and famous."

"She lied a lot?" Evan asked.

"No, not lies, stories. She'd amuse the children with stories about her "past lives." Those kids actually believed her and so did some adults if they didn't catch themselves. Narcissa was very well liked for her stories."

"Why isn't she coming back?" Evan demanded.

Urzula shook her head. "I don't know Evan. She was very close to her parents, like Severus was, and they both saw them get killed. It may be too painful for her to come back, especially since Severus looks so much like their father and Katrina."

Harry wondered if Narcissa had ever come back. He doubted it. She probably had to be very careful. After all, Harry didn't think Lucius Malfoy would be very happy to find out his wife was the sister of Severus Snape, a lowly Potions Master at a school, and had been raised in poverty in the Dark Forest.

"Why was Narcissa so weird?" Evan wondered. "She didn't act like the rest of her family and those clothes she wore?"

Urzula smiled gently at Severus. "Evan, that was because of their mother. She was born deformed and burned as a baby. She was ugly, told she was ugly, knew she was ugly, and felt like a monster. Patrick, Severus's father, was very loving to her but he's scary looking himself and Madeline just figured no one normal looking would ever like her. And then one day she has a baby that was precious looking. It made her realize what she could have looked like if things had been a little different. And that is why Narcissa was so careful with her looks, it wasn't conceit, it was because it made her mother feel human instead of feeling like a monster. Those two had a special bond."

Evan slid down off the hearth to sit on the floor and lean against the sooty stone. "Do you think she'll ever be back?"

Urzula shook her head. "I don't know. I don't think Severus will be back for a long time once you all leave for Hogwarts this time. Coming back here will be too painful for him. I moved away when the raid happened where I was. I eventually came back, years later."

Florence shifted her grip on Severus and stroked his back, softly singing old nursery rhymes to him. Florence was very good at giving comfort.

"She's quite good at that," Urzula remarked.

Evan nodded his head. "Learned it from Severus. That's the way he'd hold her when she'd break down in our first few years of school. Severus was the first person to ever hug her, you know."

"Really?" Urzula asked, sounding slightly horrified.

"Yeah. I remember it too. He was always kind of affectionate, touching her arm when he talked with her, touching her shoulder to guide her somewhere, brushing her hair back off her shoulder. I could tell it unnerved Florence but after awhile she got used to it and enjoyed it. And then on Valentine's in first year, Severus gave her one, it was her first one and she burst into tears. He hugged her and she was like a piece of steel, he said. Stiff and unbending. But he hugged her occasionally after that and she just got used to it. By third year she really liked being hugged and wanted to be kissed," Evan laughed a little, not enough to bother Severus and Florence though. "They went behind a greenhouse and kissed a little. Not much, both only being thirteen and only on their cheeks. But some gossipy girl named Bortha or Berta had followed them and was teasing Severus about kissing Florence. She was trying to make Florence feel bad about it, I think. So Severus! hexed her. Made her hair fall out, her teeth enlarge, and her nose to grow warts. He got into trouble with our head of house but Severus didn't care. Told Borta that he would do something even worse if she ever teased Florence again. Florence was in love with him from that day on though no one but me and Sev knew it."

Harry smiled. Severus could be very sweet. It was too bad he was so consumed with hate and revenge to be sweet anymore.

"It sounds like they would make a good match," Urzula murmured. "They do seem to love each other, though I still think they are too young for marriage."

Evan shrugged. "I don't know."

The door opened and Harry watched as the wild haired boy from the Midsummer Gathering, the one in the band that had gotten Severus when it was their turn, came in. His eyes were red and swollen.

"Who'd he lose?" the boy said, softly walking over to Urzula and Evan.

Harry moved over to make room for him.

"His parents and Katrina," Evan answered.

"Kat's dead?" the new arrival said, wincing. "Man, she was such a great kid."

"Evan," Urzula said, "this is Michael Davenport. The Wolf in Wolf and Snake."

"I'm a werewolf," Michael explained.

Harry rubbed his forehead. If Severus had a friend that was a werewolf why did he hate Lupin for being a werewolf? Maybe he just hated Lupin for being Lupin and his being a werewolf was just a cover up for the real reason. Harry wondered what it was.

"We lost our other two band members," Michael said softly. "Dennis and Rich."

"They're dead too?" asked a hoarse voice.

Harry looked at Severus. He looked horrible. He was pale, his eyes were red and bloodshot and his face was splotchy. Harry had an urge to hold him like Mrs. Weasley had done for him when Cedric died.

Florence pressed Severus's head back against her shoulder and rubbed his back.

Michael wiped at his eyes. "I best be going. I just wanted Severus to know. Rather tell him now than let him find out later, I guess."

Evan patted Michael's leg. "Thanks."

Michael nodded and left.

The memories swirled. Harry shook his head. Everyone Severus knew was either dead or fixing to get killed. Evan and Florence, the only two people he had left, were not going to be alive for many more years. No wonder why Severus was so miserable, he had no one left.

Harry had all sorts of people: the Weasley's, Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, Sirius, Lupin, and Hagrid. Who did Severus have: maybe Filch (if they still got along), maybe Draco (if Draco wasn't sucking up to him for deceitful motives), and maybe Dumbledore (if Dumbledore liked him instead of just trusting him which wasn't the same thing).

Harry decided that no matter what, when he got back to Hogwarts, he was going to become Severus's friend. Even if Severus threatened to use him in one of his potions. He needed a friend and Harry was willing to be that friend.

They were on the train this time. Severus looked normal but his eyes weren't. They were cold and empty, not as bad as they were as an adult, but getting there. He was sitting next to Florence while Evan was across from them, with his legs propped up on the seat in between Severus and Florence.

"Don't want you two to start kissing while I'm in the compartment," Evan informed them.

Severus smiled slightly but he didn't blush like he normally would have. Florence squeezed his shoulder.

"Can you believe it?" Sirius's voice said in the hallway. "We lost all those people in that Dark Forest Raid and the Ministry just sits there on it's hands. I think we should round up some more people and attack them again."

Harry's eyes flew to Severus. Severus was watching the door now, his face rather blank.

"They did," Lupin's voice. "They didn't find anyone and they couldn't go very far into it. Some sort of magic they can't go through."

"That's because they haven't let me have a go at it," Sirius boasted. "I'll tell you. If I ever see someone from the Dark Forest I'm going to kill them, not the other way around. Those witches and wizard deserved to die that lived in it. They are all evil after all."

Severus stared at the door, his face twisting with the familiar hate and loathing that Harry knew only too well.

"How could.... she was only... my parents..... how could...." his throat constricted and he looked away.

The door slid open and Harry winced as Sirius and James walked in. He wanted them gone. Harry didn't want to see them right now, not after what Sirius had said.

"So, what happened to the three of you during summer?"

Evan and Florence looked at them with hate but neither Sirius nor James seemed to care. It was the same look that Evan and Florence always gave them, after all.

"What about you, Severus?" James joked. "What did you do this summer?"

"Join Voldemort?" Sirius laughed.

"As a matter of fact, I did," Severus snarled, turning to them. His face twisting in absolute hate. "My first duty is to rid the world of the two of you. I can't kill you, or Dumbledore will have my hide, but I could expel you and make you two the laughing stock of the wizarding world."

James's smile faded as he realized Severus wasn't joking. "What's the matter with you?"

"I'm evil," Severus smiled nastily. "Or haven't you been listening to your esteemed friend throughout all these years?"

James glared at Sirius. "He was just joking. Can't you take a joke?" James tried to laugh it off.

"No, not anymore," Severus bit out, standing. "I'm all joked out." His wand was in his shaking hand. "Since Sirius has always known what I am, evil that is, he'll be my first victim."

And before either James or Sirius could react, Sirius was thrown out the compartment to crash into the other compartment's door across from them. The other compartment held Lily, Lupin, and Pettigrew. Harry got up and went into the hallway to watch.

Severus did the same thing to James, who landed on Sirius as he was struggling to get up.

"Now," Severus said, deadly quiet. "Don't bother me again."

He went back into his compartment, sliding the door shut.

Sirius was furious, trying to get a stunned James off of him to seek his revenge.

"He's going to pay!" Sirius snarled.

"I don't get it," James said, getting to his feet. "He's never done that before. He's never physically assaulted any of us before, even when you deserved it," he said, looking as Sirius. "And he's always the one holding Evan back. It doesn't make any sense."

"You heard him!" Sirius screamed. "He's always been evil. He's just showing his true colors now."

James shook his head. "Maybe."

Harry, rather disgusted with his godfather, went back into Severus's compartment. Severus was rocking back and forth, looking scared.

"They know," he whispered. "They know. I have to expel them before they can prove I'm from the Dark Forest and get me killed."

"They aren't going to try to kill you," Evan assured him. "They wouldn't do that."

Harry felt his stomach lurch, begging to release it's contents. Sirius had tried to kill Severus. Evan had been wrong about that. Stupid, moronic prank. Didn't Sirius have a brain? Couldn't he see that something was wrong with Severus? Or did he just not care?

"Yes, they would," Severus said. "Black said he was going to try to find someone from the Dark Forest and get them killed. He's after me. He never did like me. They didn't mind killing a three year old so why would killing a sixteen-year-old bug them?"

"That was the Ministry, not Black," Florence reasoned with him.

Severus shrugged. "Same difference. They are all on the same side."

The memories swirled and Harry shut his eyes, feeling tears threatening to leak out. He needed to get Dumbledore to talk with Severus, get Dumbledore to help him. But Harry couldn't do that, he wasn't here. Maybe Dumbledore would help anyway, he had to have helped eventually since Severus turned against Voldemort and Dumbledore trusted Severus so much.