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Amoris Infinitas by Persephone Lupin [Reviews - 1]

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Chapter 4: The last Memory


“How – how is Professor Snape?” Hermione asked the headmistress over breakfast in the Great Hall. Although it was more than strange to eat in the almost empty huge Hall, it was far better than having to eat Hagrid’s cooking. The porridge he had dished up after their first night at his hut had been as hard as concrete, and the colour was simply – disgusting.

“He’ll live,” answered McGonagall. “Madam Pomfrey put him in a healing sleep so the Blood Replenishing Potion can take effect properly. He won’t wake up before tomorrow evening though.”

The three friends exchanged looks of relief. Harry had finally told Ron and Hermione everything he had learned in the headmistress’s office while Hagrid had been out in the grounds for a night stroll with Fang. They had been rather quiet and downcast all evening. Once again, they had misjudged Snape, and now they had almost killed him – what if he didn’t make it through the night?

“And – was there another message, I mean, about the Death Eaters’ plans?” asked Ron, unable to suppress his curiosity.

“Yes, there was. Madam Pomfrey found it in Severus’s pockets alongside his wand. However,” McGonagall looked at them sternly, “it got spoiled. I tried to clean it up, but now the decoding-spell won’t work. We’ll have to wait until Severus is well enough to tell us and hope that we’ll still be in time to stop whatever they are planning.” There was a depressed silence.

“The headmaster wanted to show you something, I believe, Mr. Potter,” said Professor McGonagall eventually, motioning Harry to come with her. He stood up and followed her to her office.


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


“Good morning, Harry,” the portrait of the former headmaster greeted him cheerfully. “I hope you have rested well?” Slowly, Harry shook his head. “Well, it wasn’t to be expected,” the headmaster continued. “Yesterday, I promised to show you something, if I remember correctly. There is a small crystal phial in the cupboard over beside the window – yes, that one. Open it. There you go, the one with the silvery liquid. And you’ll need the Pensieve. It’s in the cabinet beside the door, you know where. Take both over to the desk. Yes. Now you pour the liquid into the Pensieve and stir it with the tip of your wand. Very good. And now feel free to enter the last memory I saved for you.”

Harry lowered his face towards the swirling and shimmering surface of the Pensieve. It had become transparent. As through a circular window in the ceiling, he could glimpse a tiny sitting room, which had the feeling of a dark padded cell. The walls were completely covered in books; most of them bound in old black or brown leather. A threadbare sofa, an old armchair and a rickety table stood grouped together in a pool of dim light cast by a candle-filled lamp hung from the ceiling. Curious, he bent even closer, his face touching the silvery surface. He felt his feet leave the office floor; he was falling, falling, through whirling darkness and then, quite suddenly, he was standing inside the room. He wasn’t alone. Albus Dumbledore was sitting on the sofa beside a shrouded figure. Opposite him, in the armchair, sat a young Severus Snape, about five or so years older than in the memory Harry had seen in Snape’s office in his fifth year. He still had the same stringy, pallid look about him, and his hair was as greasy as ever, but his features had hardened; there were deep lines etched into the otherwise young face.

“You are aware of what will happen to you if you break an Unbreakable Vow?” asked Professor Dumbledore in a serious voice.

“Yes, I am,” answered the young Snape.

“And you are still sure you want to take it?”

Instead of answering, Snape lowered himself so that he was kneeling opposite the sofa and stuck out his right hand. Slowly, the shrouded figure lowered her hood, revealing floods of shiny red hair. Harry gasped. The young woman that now reached out to grasp Snape’s hand was none other than Lily Potter, his mother. She held a swaddled bundle protectively against her with her left arm – a sleeping baby, he now realized. Dumbledore stepped forward so that he stood over them, and placed the tip of his wand on their linked hands.

Lily spoke. “Will you, Severus Snape, watch over my son as Voldemort grows more powerful?”

Snape’s hand twitched within hers at the mention of the Dark Lord’s name, but he did not draw away.

“I will,” said Snape.

A thin tongue of brilliant flame issued from the wand and wound its way around their hands like a red-hot wire.

“And will you, to the best of your ability, protect him from harm?”

“I will,” said Snape.

A second tongue of flame shot from the wand and interlinked with the first, making a fine, glowing chain. A third hand joined the magical ring of fire, clasping both Snape’s and Lily’s hands.

“And will you be true to the Order of the Phoenix and do whatever its leader asks of you?” the owner of the third hand said.

There was a moment’s silence. Dumbledore watched, his wand upon their clasped hands.

“I will,” said Snape.

Dumbledore’s satisfied face glowed red in the blaze of a third tongue of flame, which shot from the wand, twisted with the others and bound itself thickly around their clasped hands, like a rope, like a fiery snake.

The pictures went blurry; Harry was forcefully pushed back into the darkness, whirled around, and then suddenly his feet hit the office floor again. He gasped, finally realising that he had hardly drawn a single breath while witnessing the vow-taking. So this was why Dumbledore had always trusted Snape. Even if he had wanted to, Snape couldn’t possibly have betrayed the Order, or he would have died. And the many times he had saved Harry’s life were not due to his Life Debt to James but to the Unbreakable Vow to –

“Professor Dumbledore?” Harry addressed the portrait that seemed to be napping. Dumbledore opened his eyes and smiled encouragingly down at Harry.

“Professor, why my mother? Why did Snape swear to my mother?”

“Severus tried to make up for the damage he had done by telling Voldemort about the Prophecy. You couldn’t imagine him swearing to your father, could you now?”

Harry shook his head. No, not bloody likely. But still, he somehow had the feeling that there was more to the story, something even the dead Dumbledore was not willing to tell him – but what?

Once again, he had a lot to think about.



TBC

Amoris Infinitas by Persephone Lupin [Reviews - 1]

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