Severus and Aurelia stood at the front gates. Even from that distance, the destruction was clearly visible. Gryffindor Tower had collapsed, as had the Headmaster’s, the Great Hall was exposed and piles of rubble littered the ground.

Aurelia took hold of his arm for support. She had seen pictures of the damage in the Daily Prophet, but she was still not prepared for the enormity of seeing it firsthand. Knowing this was the first time he had seen it, she was concerned about his well-being. “Are you all right?” she asked quietly.

He thought he had prepared himself for the worst, but seeing it in person was still quite overwhelming. “I’m fine.” He strode up the path, forcing her to jog a bit to catch up to him.

As they closed on the castle, they could see that only one door remained on the entrance, and that one hung open at an awkward angle.

It wasn’t long before Pomona joined them. “Severus, so very good to see you,” she said cheerfully.

He could tell that she wanted to hug him, so he crossed his arms and scowled to discourage her overt display of emotion. “I am likewise pleased to see you.” He gestured towards Aurelia. “This is Aurelia MacLean, Healer.”

Pomona considered the healer a few moments before extending her hand. “Healer, how good to see you again, though you went by Carter at the time, didn’t you?”

“How good of you to remember me,” Aurelia replied politely.

“I couldn’t forget one of my best students. I’m glad you decided to be a healer. It’s a good profession for you. What brings you here?” She was quite surprised to see her, or anyone for that matter, with Severus.

“We’re conducting a research project and he wanted me to help sift through the debris to see what we could recover from his library.” She hoped this would be suitably vague to protect Severus’ reputation.

Pomona smiled sadly. “Yes, well, I wouldn’t get my hopes up too much. That part of the castle suffered heavy damage. I wish you the best of luck. We serve lunch at the regular time over at the tents.” She gestured behind her. “Well, I’ll let you to it,” she said quietly. She watched him for several seconds more, as if there was more she wanted to say, before walking back to the construction area.

They stood in silence for several minutes, just staring at the ruins. When Aurelia looked at Severus, she was almost positive that he was lost in his memories. She thought about disturbing him, but decided that letting the memories play out would help him more.

After almost ten minutes, he walked up the steps and into the ruins of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Aurelia was left to follow in his wake.

It took nearly fifteen minutes to find a way down to his dungeons. The main stairs were destroyed, but like everywhere else in the castle, there was more than one route. Neither said anything. Thankfully, all signs of death had been cleansed from the castle.

****************

Severus surveyed his domain. Pomona had been correct; his dungeons had suffered severe damage. The destruction in his office and private lab was almost complete, but what he was looking for wasn’t there. He would return to his office later. The door to his quarters blocked by debris and through part of the ceiling, he could see daylight. “Would you mind?”

Aurelia pulled her wand out of her sleeve and carefully began moving the rubble. She knew the fragile state of the castle and didn’t want to risk the ceiling coming down on them. It took her nearly five minutes to finish clearing his door.

Once the door was clear, she watched him approach and put his hand against the door. “The wards are intact,” he said quietly, the smallest trace of hope in his voice. “I will instruct you on how to remove them.”

After following his direction and removing the wards, she stepped back to give him privacy to enter first.

He stood with his hand on the doorknob, afraid of what he would find. His logic finally reasoned that time would make no difference to what he would find, and he opened the door. The room was dark, since debris was blocking the windows from the outside. Slowly he raised his wand, and said, “Lumos.” In the weak light from his wand, he could see books and furniture strewn across the room. Everything was covered in dust and there were chunks of stone lying about the room. The damage was not as bad as what he had expected, given the state of the castle outside his quarters. His wards had been effective.

“Aurelia,” he called, letting her know she could enter.

She carefully slipped through the door and added her wand to his in providing light. “It could have been worse,” she offered.

“Much worse,” he replied. “I suggest we pile all the books together and begin going through them.”

“That’s easy,” she replied cheerfully, and with a quick wave of her wand, books flew into neat piles in a clear part of the room. She noticed that some of them were scorched, but the damage looked minor. After the books were stacked, she started looking for some lamps that had not been destroyed. Reading by wand light was not easy.

He couldn’t help but feel jealousy at the ease with which she had organized the books. That was the reason he had asked her to come along; he didn’t want any of his colleagues to know how impotent he was.

Once the two lamps she had found were lit, they started sorting through the piles of books. The literature could easily be separated from the other books to be searched. The number of Muggle classics surprised Aurelia. She would have thought that he disdained anything to do with the Muggles. He had the complete works of Shakespeare and Dickens among others, but now was not the time to comment on his literary tastes.

It took them nearly an hour to divide the books into four piles: literature, history, potions and herbology. “I think it is more likely that we will find the answer in herbology,” he announced.

“Agreed,” she replied. After levitating one of the lamps to a small table, she righted and cleaned a pair of chairs. They both got lost in the books.

**************

“Hello? Severus, are you still down here?” came Irma Pince’s voice from the hallway.

“Yes, Irma.” He wondered why anyone was looking for him.


She poked her head in the room. “Oh, good. Pomona was worried about you when you didn’t show up for dinner.”

“Dinner?” asked Aurelia.

“Yes, it’s nearly seven o’clock.” Irma surveyed the damage. Severus’ quarters seem to have fared much better than her library. “Well, I guess I can’t chastise you for hoarding books anymore. We’ve saved dinner for you, if you’re interested.”

Aurelia realized that she was quite hungry and, from a medical standpoint, knew that Severus should eat, but, from a practical standpoint, realized that he wasn’t likely to appreciate her suggesting he should eat. He didn’t look like he was interested in leaving his books. “I think a bite to eat would be a good idea,” she announced and set down the book that she had been reading. Severus showed no sign of leaving so she resigned herself to bringing him a sandwich.

******************

When Aurelia returned from dinner, she found that Severus had not moved from his chair, though the stack of books was gone. “I assume you haven’t found anything yet?”

“No. This is the last of the herbology books. You should begin going through the potions books.”

She pulled a sandwich out of her pocket. “I brought you something to eat. As it is getting late, and I somehow doubt you will eat regularly once I leave, I would appreciate it if you would eat it.”

He took the sandwich from her and began eating it without really paying attention to it.

Aurelia shook her head and gathered a small stack of potions books. “I asked at dinner and neither Irma nor Pomona could recall reading anything about wormswort.”

“You asked them?” he inquired tersely.

“I didn’t tell them why. They thought nothing out of the ordinary about my inquiry. After all, they are academicians and used to having people ask them questions. And considering I specialize in poisons and their antidotes, there is no reason they would not connect that question with you. Quit being paranoid.”

He put down his latest book. “If word were to get out that I’m half-blind and have almost no magic…”

“No one is going to find out. Besides, once we find that information on wormswort, it should be a moot point. At any rate, you don’t believe in all that ‘foolish wand waving,’ do you?” she teased.

“How did you hear about that?” he demanded.

“Julia wrote home about your welcome to Potions speech, if you want to call it that. You worry too much. Well, let’s see if we can find what we are looking for tonight.” She dug back into the stack of books.

****************

Aurelia was starting to get a headache from staring at the books. She rubbed the bridge of her nose, trying to make it go away, to no avail. “What time is it?” she asked. When he didn’t immediately respond she tried again. “Severus?” She waited for him to look up. “What time is it?”

“Quarter to eleven,” he replied tersely.

She put down her book. “As much as I would love to stay, I’m going to have a splitting headache if I keep going. I’ll come back tomorrow to help.” Noticing that he was holding the book much closer to his face than he had earlier, she asked, “Is there something wrong with your vision? Is it getting worse?” He ignored her. “Severus?” She tried louder. “Severus!”

“Be quiet, woman!” he snapped.

She was shocked, but held her tongue. Perhaps he had found something.

He stabbed at a page in the book. “Here it is. Essence of lethifold.”

“You’re joking, right?” she asked. She could not think of many things more dangerous. There was no record of anyone actually ever catching a lethifold.

“I would never joke about this. It could be worse, it could be something from a nundu,” he replied.

“Oh, yes, but at least you can subdue one of those. Might as well be re’em blood. Just about as impossible to obtain.”

“I will continue to search through my books. There may be some account of capturing a lethifold. I will require your help,” he stated simply.

“You aren’t serious, are you?” She examined his expression. “You are. I have responsibilities here. I can’t just run off for weeks at a time. I also have a family to think about.”

“Aurelia, please, there is no one else.” He hated begging and hated sounding desperate, but she already knew about his infirmity. “I cannot let the others know. I have trusted you to keep my secret.” He reached out for her hand. “I cannot live like this. I am barely more than a Squib.”

She could see the desperation in his eyes. “I’ll see what I can do to rearrange my vacation. I think I can shift the second week earlier. I’ll talk with the girls and see how they feel about losing out on the trip to Greece. I’m not going to make any promises, though.”

“Thank you.” After a few quiet seconds, he asked, “You can conjure a Patronus, can’t you?”

She nodded. “Yes, nice of you to ask first. And before you ask, it is a fully corporeal Patronus. Are you sure there is no one else you can ask? I would like to have another.”

He knew why she was saying that; it was because he was useless. He also knew there was no one else. “No. There is no one.”

She sighed. “All right. I’ll come by tomorrow and let you know if it will work. Do try and get some sleep tonight,” she suggested before leaving.

“The wards are still down. You can Disapparate from here,” he said simply.

“Ah, right. That’s useful information. See you tomorrow,” she said before disappearing with a crack.

He had no intention of following her suggestion. He was no longer in her medical care. At some point in the past, he was almost positive he had read about lethifolds before. He only hoped it had been in one of his books, and not one from the school collection. From what Irma had said, he got the impression that a majority of library had been destroyed or badly damaged. Switching his search to the pile of history books, he settled into his chair for a long night of reading.

*****************

Pomona knocked on the dungeon door. “Severus? Are you still in here?” came her tentative voice from the doorway.

“Yes,” he replied curtly.

“You missed dinner and breakfast. I thought you might like something to eat. Is Healer MacLean around? I didn’t see her leave.”

“She left last night.”

She could see that he was busy and knew that he had a tendency to get lost in a project, so she placed the food on a nearby table. He would eat it at some point. She looked around his dungeons and found them surprisingly intact given the amount of destruction to the surrounding castle. “Did you get any rest last night?”

“Unless there is a purpose to your questions, I have work to do and wish to be left alone,” he said tersely. He watched her wavering in his doorway. “In or out, Pomona.”

“I just wanted to say that I was relieved to see the…the testimony. We were all shocked… I’m glad we were wrong, Severus,” she finally said.

He had wondered when one of his former colleagues was going to bring up his past. “Is there anything else?” he asked tersely.

“Someone from the Board of Governors is coming this morning. It would be best if you were there with the rest of us when he arrives.”

Without looking up from his book, he asked, “And when exactly is this representative coming?”

“Any time now, though I cannot say for sure.”

He knew that it was best for him to be there to keep up appearances, especially if he wanted his job back. “I will be there shortly,” he replied. While he hated playing the political game, he knew it was best for his reputation. If he proved to be uncooperative, he might find himself looking for a new job. He wasn’t exactly sure he wanted to do that. Hogwarts had really been all that he had known.

****************

When he emerged from the castle, he found the others working on clearing of the rubble around what was left of the library. Even without getting too close, he could see that many of the books were completely lost. That needless destruction disgusted him. Of course, most of the Dark Lord’s minions had not been academics or even remotely interested in knowledge, but it still did not excuse the wanton destruction they had wrought.

As he approached, he saw a familiar, and unwelcome, form. “Lupin, what are you doing here?” he asked disdainfully.

“I’ve come to help. We’ve salvaged some stuff from the ruins, but not much. Glad to see you on your feet again. I had heard that you were a casualty of the battle.” His voice trailed off as he realized this was an uncomfortable topic.

Severus snorted and decided to examine a different part of the library, not wanting to be anywhere near the werewolf. He did find it surprising that so many accepted the fact he had acted on Dumbledore’s orders. He had expected to be ostracized from the Wizarding community. Instead, everyone here seemed to believe his intentions had been noble. Of course, all of them were those that had known him. He still had no real idea how the rest of the community would accept him.

Thankfully, the Ministry representative arrived shortly after he emerged from the dungeons. The representative approached and introduced himself. “Ah, Snape, good to see that you have returned. I heard that you might be here. I’m James Brock, Board of Governors.”

“Mr. Brock,” Severus replied politely.

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to speak with you privately before I address everyone.” Brock gestured towards a secluded part of the ruins.

“Of course.” Severus wondered if Brock knew the extent of the injuries he had suffered, and if that would have an impact on his position. It was a matter of record that he had been blind upon his discharge. Of course, he had partially overcome that hurdle. He did not know if Aurelia had recorded his magical difficulties in his patient record.

“So, your vision is fine?” Brock asked.

“Obviously,” Severus replied dryly. Not quite the whole truth, but there was no way for Brock to prove otherwise.

Brock shifted uncomfortably, unaccustomed to Severus’ brusque manner. “Yes, well, that’s good. Are you planning to reapply at Hogwarts?”

“That is my current plan, assuming the school will be back in session this autumn.” He watched carefully to see what Brock’s reaction would be. He was quite surprised that Brock did not seem to oppose this notion.

“Good, good. That’s what I like to hear. We’d like to keep as much of it as close to normal as possible for the children. The more professors we have return the better. It’ll give them a sense of continuity.”

Severus thought the man was daft. Normal? There was nothing normal about this. The school was more than half destroyed and the Headmistress and two Heads of House had been killed. No, there was no such thing as normal anymore. He decided nothing would be gained by questioning Brocks’s sanity, and replied simply, “Of course.”

“Well then, as part of that, we are looking for a new Deputy Headmaster, as I’m sure you are aware. In the past, the Deputy has always been someone that was on staff, someone that understood how things were run at the school. We’d like to continue that. As a Head of House, you have an understanding of how things work and background into the administrative details. This makes you particularly well suited to the job. And your experience would be invaluable to the new Headmaster.”

This was the most roundabout job offer Severus had ever heard, and most surprising one. He had fully expected everyone to be suspicious of him, and that he would no longer be welcome at Hogwarts. Instead, Brock was acting as though the events of the last year had never happened. “Surely, Pomona Sprout would be a better choice. After all, she has been here longer than I.” He didn’t want Brock to think he was too eager for the job.

Brock shifted uncomfortably. “Well, yes, that is true, but she has expressed in interest in restoring the greenhouses. As you know, they were all destroyed and she feels that would take too much of her time.”

“You mean to say that the Board cannot find another herbologist to take her place?” he asked snidely. He could tell the Brock was getting nervous.

“Well, no, that’s not all. She just doesn’t think she’s particularly well suited to the job.” He was searching for a way to placate Snape.

“So, I am your second choice?” He was thoroughly enjoying watching Brock squirm.

“Now, there’s something you have to understand. We wanted to return things to normal as quickly as possible, you were hospitalized, and there was the question of your past…”

Severus interrupted, “Mr. Brock, if there is a point, make it. I am a busy man. As you can see, there is much work to be done to bring the school back to working condition.” He was inwardly pleased to see that he had not lost his powers of intimidation as Brock flinched. As for the question of his past, they had obviously begun the search before his name was cleared.

“All right. I won’t mince words with you, Snape. You aren’t exactly the first choice the Board had for Deputy. You have a questionable past, but you acquitted yourself commendably in the end. We also took into account the fact that your House does not have the best reputation. Now may not seem like the best time to have a Slytherin Deputy Headmaster, but you know the school and its inner workings very well. You have a strong personality that will be vital to the rebuilding.” Brock seemed to be regaining his courage.

He knew that he had a mission to accomplish first. He could not accept this post if he was not himself. “I will consider your offer,” he replied off-handedly.

Brock was surprised. He had expected Snape to jump at the offer, as it would serve as proof to the Wizarding world that he truly was forgiven. “This is an important and prestigious posting,” Brock began.

“Mr. Brock, I know what this post entails. I will require time to consider this. As you know, my House has to be my priority. I will need to ensure they will be led in the proper direction. I will give you my answer after two weeks.” This should give him the time he needed to find the antidote to the poison. He could hardly believe what he was hearing. This was something he had aspired to his entire adult life, the first step to being Headmaster. Now, it was practically being handed to him, yet he could not accept.

“But, two weeks? Surely this is something you have considered in the past.”

“Mr. Brock, I see no reason this decision cannot wait two weeks. There is still ample time before the term to interview and hire new professors, and you have not, as yet, hired a new Headmaster, who may violently disapprove of my reinstatement at Hogwarts, not to mention my assignment as his Deputy. And this is a very important decision, one that should not be made lightly. Wouldn’t you agree?” His tone indicated the he would brook no argument.

“Yes, of course. You’re right; this is a very big decision. Perhaps you will make your decision sooner?” he asked hopefully.

“Perhaps. Now, did you have some reason to address the staff?”

“Yes, yes.” He called louder, “Everyone, please gather around. I have some announcements.” He rather quickly announced to everyone that funding and manpower were in place to ensure that Hogwarts would be open for the new term. He thanked them for their continued service and reassured them they were a vital part of recovering as many artifacts as possible from the ruins. His closing remarks were about the number of applicants for the vacant positions and how the Board was taking great pains to ensure that no one but the best would be teaching the children.

All in all, Severus found it an utter waste of time. He wanted to return to his dungeons and see if he had any literature on lethifolds.

*******************

It was late afternoon when Aurelia arrived and found Severus buried in his books. They were piled haphazardly. “Have you found anything?” she asked.

He tossed the book he was reading to the floor. “No. I know that I have read something about lethifolds, but I have been through these books twice and have found nothing.”

“Perhaps it was from the school library. We could see what they have recovered from the wreckage?” she offered.

He snorted. “Not likely. I was there this morning and most of the books recovered will require extensive restoration if they are to be useful.”

“Well, I’m going to go up and see what’s been recovered. We could get lucky.” She turned to leave and paused at the door. “By the way, I was able to rearrange my vacation. The girls were upset about missing out on Greece, but I’ve promised them something nice for Christmas. I’ve also arranged for a Portkey on Monday.”

“Aurelia,” he called as she was leaving. Once she turned to face him, he continued, “Thank you. I’ll be up shortly.”

*******************

When he arrived at the library, he found Aurelia digging through the ruins. The main reason he had not wanted to return to the library was that the others were using magic. He knew that he could not assist in the search.

“Ah, Severus, I’ve placed the latest finds over there.” Aurelia pointed at a pile of books. “You know what you’re looking for better than I do.”

He gave silent thanks for the way she covered up for him. He began going through the pile of burnt and battered books. Most he could rule out without opening, because he knew he had never read them. A few he had, but none of them were the book in question.

As darkness descended, he felt a hand on his shoulder. “Are you ready to call it a night? The girls should have dinner ready and you could use a good meal and decent night’s sleep. I can bring you back in the morning before anyone’s moving. Healer’s orders.”

His eyes were sore and he had a throbbing headache from trying to read in the waning light. “You saw fit to discharge me so I am no longer under your medical care,” he replied dryly.

“Well, I’m leaving. You can come if you’d like. I’d prefer you did so you can get some rest. Once we leave, I doubt we’ll get much rest; especially if it’s just the two of us.” She paused for a few seconds, trying to determine how best to phrase her question. “Are you sure you don’t know of anyone else?”

“You have a suggestion?” He knew she was up to something, but he didn’t know what.

She sat across from him. “Well, I was talking with Remus Lupin and he used to teach Dark Arts. He seemed pretty knowledgeable about other creatures and defensive spells and he can conjure a Patronus.”

“Did you tell him what you are doing here?” he asked defensively.

“Not specifically. He doesn’t know about our lethifold search.”

“Then how did the subject of Patronuses come up?”

“He brought it up when he was telling stories about Harry Potter.”

“Harry Potter,” he sneered. “No. I will not invite Lupin.” The last thing he wanted to hear about was the great Harry Potter, and he was sure that Lupin would be unable to resist retelling stories of the heroics from the battle that destroyed the Dark Lord.

“Think about it. He might be useful. It really would be much better if we traveled with three. Well, are you coming?”

He set down the book; it was now too dark for him to read. “Very well.” As they walked away from the others, he said, “You are quite the mother hen.”

“Why thank you,” she replied smugly. “Since you don’t look after yourself, someone has to.”

*******************

The following morning, he stared at the ruins of the castle. He had no idea what he was doing back here. While it was true he needed to look through the books, he knew there would be too many questions if he started rooting through the library. He sighed and swallowed his pride. In one of these books, he had read how to capture a lethifold; it was just a matter of finding the right book.

“Good morning, Severus,” came Lupin’s cheerful voice.

This was truly going to be a long day. “Lupin.”

“Will you be helping with the library this morning?”

“As my research permits.”

“Aurelia didn’t say what you were looking for. I wondered if I might be of assistance?” Lupin offered.

Severus gritted his teeth. He hated the thought of admitting he needed help, especially from Lupin. “No,” he said sharply.

“Well, if you change your mind,” Lupin offered before walking away.

Severus stared after him. If Lupin thought that for one moment that he would ask for help, that werewolf was sorely mistaken.

*******************

After a couple of hours, Severus had gone through the books that had been salvaged. None of them had been the book he was searching for. If only he could have remembered the title. Now, he was faced with a dilemma. He only had one more day in which to find the book he needed, but he couldn’t really do much to help in the search for more books.

Unfortunately, he took too long to consider his options. Lupin approached him again. “Severus, something is bothering you. You’ve been searching through these books like your life depended on it. I know we have never gotten along particularly well, but we did fight together with the Order. Whatever it is, you can trust me to be discreet. Let’s put our pasts behind us and let me be your friend. Let me help. What are you looking for?”

Severus scowled and swallowed his pride. “There was a book in the library that discussed the capture of a lethifold. I believe it was a history book. That is the book that I am looking for.”

“A lethifold? Why would you want to capture one of those?” While Remus didn’t know a lot about them, he knew that they were not the type of creature people generally had any interest in.

“Does it matter?” Severus snapped.

Lupin knew this as much information as he would get out of Severus. “No. Well, if it was history, I have an idea of where to start looking.” He thought about asking Severus to help, but he had the distinct impression Severus was hiding something, and that’s why he had been reluctant lend a hand with the search.