A Drop in the Ocean | By : AndreaLorraine Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Snape/Hermione Views: 3498 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0 |
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story. |
“She went out with Lucius
Malfoy? That git
Draco’s father?” Ron asked incredulously. Harry was filling him in on their way to
Divination.
“Yeah. But get this.
She was nowhere to be found in the yearbook for their seventh year.”
“You mean…?”
“She never graduated from Hogwarts.”
“Well,
that you know of,” Ron pointed out. “Maybe
she finished school somewhere else.”
Ignoring Ron’s uncharacteristic burst of logic,
Harry went on. “And guess who else never
graduated?”
“Who?”
“Lupin.”
“No way!”
“It’s the truth.”
“This whole situation is getting
weirder and weirder,” Ron said with a shake of his head. “Maybe we need to take another trip under the
Invisibility Cloak to get some answers.”
“But she can see us under the
cloak!”
“Well, we’ll just have to avoid
her.”
“Maybe we can just ask her…” Harry
said as they made their way into the Divination classroom.
To their surprise, the room was not nearly
as dreary and heavy with incense as it usually was. The curtains were drawn back and the windows
were all open at least halfway. The room
was bright and flooded with the early autumn sun. Harry and Ron found that they could breathe,
which was usually next to impossible in Divination.
“Every come in and take your seats!”
Trelawney’s voice shrilled, cutting through their amazement. Harry and Ron were not the only disoriented
students; many were crowded around the windows taking in the view that they
were never allowed to see.
“Sit down, sit down, you’ll ruin her
concentration!” the gaudily-dressed witch barked. She sounded uncharacteristically annoyed, and
sensing that, everyone shuffled to their seats.
“Ruin whose concentration?” Ron muttered,
collapsing onto a giant pink pouf.
“Look!” Harry whispered, elbowing
him in the side.
“What?” he whined. Why did everyone always insist on elbowing
him like that? His eyes followed where
Harry was pointing and he quickly forgot his complaint.
“What is she doing?” he wondered.
“I don’t know.”
In the very back of the classroom,
settled among a pile of pillows and poufs, was Selena. She sat Indian-style, her back perfectly
straight. The sunlight flowed over her
and lit her hair, which was half up and half down, ablaze with bluish
highlights and silvery shine. Her eyes
were closed and her hands rested limply on her knees. Wait…upon second glance, her eyes weren’t
closed, at least not all the way. A tiny
bit of the white of her eye showed, and if one paid attention, one could see
the slight fluttering of her lashes and the movement of her eyes beneath the
lids.
As most of the class began to stare
at her in silence, her eyes flickered open.
They were glazed for a moment, but quickly regained their focus. She registered their presence with a sweeping
look around the room, but did not speak.
Instead, she picked up a nearby quill and a piece of parchment and began
to write.
“If I could have your attention,”
Professor Trelawney said with a clap of her hands. “Today you are lucky enough to witness a
psychic at work. Selena has been here
since early this morning in the process of what is known as filtering. When a person has the Gift, the amount of
information he or she can receive can, at times, be overwhelming. Filtering is the process by which all this
information can be sorted and hopefully understood. It requires extreme concentration and mental
focus, which is why I would ask you to please keep your voices down. As a matter of fact, you may leave if you do
not wish to stay and observe, as I do not plan on teaching any lessons.”
An incredulous murmur circulated
through the room. Classes were almost
never cancelled, and now they had been twice in the same week! And everyone’s least favorite classes, no
less – Potions and Divination!
A few people filed out quietly, and
Ron began to get up. Harry stopped him,
latching onto his elbow.
“Let’s stay for a few minutes, ok?”
“But she’s just sitting there…” he
whined, sinking back down onto his pouf.
“Just a few minutes,” Harry
promised.
“Lavender! Parvati!
Not so close!” Trelawney snapped at the two girls, who had inched up to
Selena’s toes to watch. Harry and Ron
chuckled as they scrambled back about three feet.
“What’re you guys doing?” Dean
Thomas asked, plopping down near them.
Seamus followed suit a moment later, looking mildly annoyed that his
friend was delaying their exit.
“Just watching for a few minutes,”
Harry answered.
“Why?” Seamus said, making a
face. “I’m not sticking around for
anyone related to Snape.”
“She’s actually really nice,” Ron
said, giving Seamus a look. “We’ve
talked to her. She’s nothing like him.”
“But still,” Seamus insisted, “she’s
not doing anything.”
A gasp from the mass of cushions in
the back silenced their arguments. By
the time they looked, Selena was already on her feet.
“Selena, dear, what is it? Are they being too noisy, because I’ll—“
“No, no,” she said, jumping over
scattered cushions on her way to the door.
“It’s just that the number of Malfoys under this roof is about to
double.”
And with that, she lapsed into her
Animagus form. The coal-black tail of a
panther was the last thing they saw before the trapdoor slammed shut.
* * * * * *
Lucius was not at all surprised when
Albus Dumbledore intercepted him not three steps into the castle.
“Lucius, to what do we owe the
honor?” the old wizard asked pleasantly, falling into step beside him.
“I am here on official Ministry
business,” he replied, his tone clipped.
He did not look at the man; those twinkling blue eyes were the one thing
in the entire world, aside from Narcissa and Draco, that
could tug on his conscience – if you could call it that.
“Is that so?” Dumbledore replied
conversationally. “What is it that the
Ministry wants? Because if I can be of
any help…”
“If you want to be of help,
Headmaster, you will show me to Selena Snape.”
Dumbledore stopped in
mid-stride. Lucius had gone a little
further before he realized that the old man was no longer with him. He pivoted in the wide stone hallway, drawing
himself up to his full and impressive height.
“What does the Ministry want with
her, Lucius?” Dumbledore asked, his tone uncharacteristically grave. “Or perhaps I should ask what you want
with her?”
Lucius snorted.
“This is not about us,” he
snarled. “This is a legitimate criminal
charge. I know she is here and I feel
that it is my duty to inform you that you are harboring a murderer in this
school!”
“I fear you have been misinformed,”
Dumbledore said impassively.
“Misinformation or not, Headmaster,”
he spat, producing a small scroll from his pocket. “I have a warrant from the Ministry, signed
by Mr. Fudge himself.”
“May I see it?”
“Of course.”
He handed it over triumphantly,
smirking at the old wizard as he affixed his spectacles and read the tiny,
swirling script. After a moment, he
refolded the parchment and lifted his eyes to Lucius.
“I think a simple Priori Incantatem
would clear this up. Clearly she could
not have killed anyone if she has not cast the Killing Curse,” he said,
spearing his former student in a glance of appraisal.
“Naturally that is what will take
place, but I must take her into custody for formal questioning,” Lucius
replied, his jaw clenching in annoyance.
Damn this man for being able to see right through anyone who
crossed his path…
“I do not like to say this of one of
my own former students, Lucius, but I fear for her safety if she is entrusted
to you.”
“I am not a child, Headmaster. I am beyond such petty ploys of vengeance.”
“I would hope so, Lucius. But even so, considering your…history
with her, I do not think it unreasonable for someone else to conduct the arrest
and questioning.” Dumbledore was playing
diplomat now, and Lucius had no problem going along with it.
“I thought it would be more to her comfort
to have me escort her in place of the Dementors.”
The old wizard’s face changed
swiftly. “I am no fool, Lucius. It has been a long time since you have cared
about her comfort.”
Lucius was somewhat shocked at the
bluntness of Dumbledore’s words. The
Headmaster usually tried to maintain a pleasant air no matter what was
afoot. With his last statement, that
doctrine had gone out the window. His
usual twinkle was hard and flinty now; he didn’t think it possible, but he had
managed to incense Albus Dumbledore.
“Father!” Draco’s voice drifted down
the high-ceilinged hallway, saving them both from what could have become an
ugly confrontation.
“The Ministry would be very
interested to hear about your dogged support of a murderer,” Lucius hissed, low
enough that only Dumbledore heard.
“Innocent until proven guilty,
Lucius,” the old wizard replied, pushing his spectacles up the bridge of his
nose. His eyes still held that
disconcerting hardness.
“I think I win this one,
Headmaster.”
“It hurts me to see that life has
become a game to you, Lucius.”
Lucius ignored him easily. “Either you let me take her or the Ministry
impeaches you.”
“We will speak of this later,” the
Headmaster replied, his lips pursed.
“Come to my office after lunch.
For now I suggest you enjoy your time with your son.”
Dumbledore turned on his heel and
walked away as Draco drew up to his father’s side.
“Hello, Father!” he said, smiling a
smile that few were privileged enough to witness. “I didn’t expect you so soon!”
* * * * * *
Dumbledore looked mildly surprised
when he entered his office and found that he was not alone. The look dissolved a moment later, however.
“I should have known you would be a
few steps ahead of me,” he said with a sigh.
“What is he here for?” she asked,
twisting in her chair to look at him.
She straightened as he walked past and behind his desk, sitting a trifle
heavily.
“I’m afraid this is not looking
good,” he said after a moment, not bothering to conceal a frown.
“So it’s not a routine visit,”
Selena said, sagging in her seat.
“No.
He has a warrant from the Ministry.
They’re accusing you of murder.”
“What?!” she yelped, shooting out of
her seat. “Albus, I swear, I told you
the truth!”
“I know you did. Do not worry, I doubt that there is a single
grain of truth in whatever story they have concocted.”
“So who did I supposedly kill?”
“The Muggle that Karkaroff killed.”
She sighed in disgust, rolling her
eyes. “Well, what have the Muggle
newspapers said about it?” she asked, tensing as she realized just how bad this
could get if both the wizarding and muggle communities thought her a
murderer. She would be a fugitive on the
level of Sirius Black.
“They believe that Ms. Galina
Dmitrov has been kidnapped by whoever murdered the gas station attendant.”
Her eyes slid shut in relief.
“Well, at least someone is on my
side,” she muttered, reaching up to rub her temples.
“I am on your side, Selena, and I
will never hesitate in my support of you.
Unfortunately, with the current state of affairs…” Dumbledore trailed
off, shaking his head with a faint expression of disgust. “I cannot do much. The Ministry already knows that you are
here. You know how easily they could
convince every wizard in Britain that I have finally lost
my faculties and that I am hiding a supposed murderer within the walls of this
school, in close proximity to their children.”
“I understand, Albus,” she said
solemnly. “Politics. Bureaucracy.
I do not envy you, Headmaster. But
I also recognize that you are much more important than me in terms of the
upcoming war.”
“War,” he said, his eyes closing
behind his half-moon spectacles. “Oh, I
did so hope that it was the end.”
“At least there has been peace.”
“Yes, peace. And now half the world refuses to believe
that Voldemort is back and the other half is too terrified to even know what to
do about it.”
Selena sighed and picked up one of
the many trinkets he had cluttering his desk.
It was a small glass sphere filled with some kind of liquid. It swirled and undulated as she turned the
small globe. It was as if someone had
liquefied and bottled the tail feathers of a peacock.
“Severus made this,” she murmured,
turning it over in her hands.
“Yes,” Dumbledore nodded. “When he first came back to us. He couldn’t sleep, so he stayed in that
dungeon of his all night, simply…creating.”
“Penance.”
“Yes. Making things instead of destroying them.”
Tears stung her eyes as she stared
at the palm-sized ornament. Her fist
closed around it and she squeezed the cool glass tightly.
“I tried so hard, Albus. What did I do wrong?”
“None of the fault lies with you,
Selena. You were still a child.”
“I am no longer a child and I still
fall apart at the merest hint of adversity,” she said bitterly, sniffling.
“It is so like you, my dear, to worry
more about your brother than yourself when it is you who is in danger.”
“He is always in danger.”
“Severus can take care of
himself. And when he cannot, I am here.”
She replaced the small globe in its
spot and slouched in her chair. She
tried to compose herself, but couldn’t prevent the note of melancholy that
crept into her voice. “So what does Lucius
intend to do?”
“Arrest you and take you to London for questioning.”
She could not hide a shiver. “You know as well as I that it will not be
that simple.”
“I am loath to hand you over to
him. I know he will treat you
badly. I tried to negotiate, but, as
always, his ears are closed.”
“I thank you for trying, Albus. I will bear whatever he intends to do to me,
and hopefully I will be back in a few days.
I am sure his accusations will not stand for very long. Even he cannot conjure evidence out of thin
air.”
“Let us hope so.”
A silence hung between them. They both believed strongly in the magical
world’s justice system; it had the advantage of really being able to compel the
truth. But be it by magic or by money,
outcomes could still be swayed.
“How much time do I have?” she asked
wearily.
“I will call for you after lunch.”
Selena could not keep the annoyance
and disappointment from flashing across her face.
“I was on to something, Albus. Something big. I felt it from the moment I woke up, and
since then, I have seen much, but I don’t understand how it all goes
together. But I fear…that Lucius’s
presence, him taking me away…my instincts are telling me that it is the
trigger. That everything else will come
to be as a result of this.”
“No offense is intended, Selena,
dear, but I do not need a psychic to tell me that awful things are coming.”
“Of course not,” she said, smiling
ruefully. “And I know…I know everything
I see won’t happen. It all depends on
how events unfurl.” Her eyes were
intense. “But that is the problem. There are so many paths…and I don’t always
know which one will be taken.” She
sighed and sagged visibly, looking very much like the weight of the world was
sitting on her shoulders. “Well, I
suppose I should try to see what else I can pick up before I leave. I certainly won’t be able to concentrate
around the Dementors, or in Azkaban.”
She stood abruptly, but paused, her
eyes locked on the little crystalline sphere.
“Take it with you,” he said, raising
his wand lazily and sending it floating toward her hand.
She unlaced her fingers and it slid easily into her
palm, a comforting yet insubstantial weight.
Her eyes raised and looked into his questioningly.
“It is small enough to go
unnoticed,” he said. “It is not magical,
at least not on the outside. Just a
paper weight.”
She looked at it, at the oiled,
rainbow beauty that swirled beneath the glass.
“What’s on the inside?” she asked.
“A suicide potion,” Dumbledore said
quietly after a long stretch of silence.
“At the time of his return, neither Severus nor I knew how well our plan
to use him as a spy would work. There
was the possibility that he would be discovered. The Death Eaters are not kind to traitors. I would rather he end his own life than
suffer their torture.”
“Then I won’t take it,” she said,
moving to place it back on the desk.
“I…I don’t want him to suffer, either.”
“I ordered him to keep it. But he staunchly refuses to carry it with him
as a precaution. He doesn’t want my
pity. Or anyone’s, for that matter.”
“But I know something is
going to happen to him.”
“So does he.”
“You expect me to have no fear about
this just because he has none? It is not
courage, Albus! It is self-loathing
recklessness! It is nothing but the
attempt of a shredded soul to ease its suffering!”
“Why should I die painlessly?” her
brother’s voice drifted lazily through the door. “What excuses my sins?” To the untrained ear, he sounded casual,
nonchalant. But it was obvious to both
Dumbledore and Selena that the soft, emotionless tone held a wealth of pain and
regret in it.
“You have paid your dues, Severus,”
she said hotly, anger lacing her words.
“You know nothing of what I’ve
done. Your judgment doesn’t apply. I am a man, Selena, and I will do what I wish.”
“Why are you up here anyway?”
she spat, her hand coming up to cup her forehead in a gesture that seemed
strangely desperate.
“I figured there might be a party
going on, what with Malfoy waltzing in.”
She paled visibly. Naturally, he noticed.
“Why is he here?” Snape asked
carefully, his dark eyes alternating between Dumbledore (who looked every bit
his age at the moment) and Selena, who either couldn’t or wouldn’t meet his
gaze.
“He is trying to pin the murder that
Karkaroff committed on Selena,” Dumbledore supplied, sensing that Selena was
not eager to inform her brother of recent events.
“That’s ridiculous,” Snape
snorted. “There is no evidence at all.”
“Which is why I think this is merely
a ploy to exact some kind of revenge on Selena.”
Severus’s head shot up and his arms
unfolded at this statement.
“Of course,” Dumbledore went on, “I
would protect her with my reputation and my life, if necessary. But at the present time…”
“It isn’t an option,” the Potions
Master finished shortly.
“Precisely,” Dumbledore sighed.
“Lucius…that…” he ground out,
rapidly trailing off into a spate of Russian curses. Both of the other people in the room knew
that he only reverted back to use of the maternally-taught language when he was
extremely angry. She might have laughed
at some of the things he wished on Lucius if the horrible, sinking sensation in
her stomach hadn’t told her that the dark wizard in question would probably be
doing some of those things to her very soon.
Severus calmed himself quickly,
seeing how much his violent utterings were disturbing her. He pressed his hands together, willing them
to be still. “Why now?” he said, his
eyes burning into Dumbledore. “He has
never made a move for her before. What
makes now any better than yesterday, or tomorrow? And does he honestly think that I will let
him whisk her away right under my nose?”
“I do not know,” the old wizard
answered truthfully.
“I do,” Selena said.
Both men turned to her, surprised by
her quiet admission.
“Think about it. How could he have known I was here?”
“Draco,” Severus said
immediately. “I am sure the snotnose
keeps a watchful eye for his father.”
“It’s too quick,” she said, shaking
her head. “I’ve hardly been here a
week. I had the displeasure of meeting
Draco only yesterday. And even if he
sent a letter or spoke to Lucius, he knew nothing more than my name and that I
was here. Lucius couldn’t have known
about the incident at the gas station.
Unless…”
“Karkaroff,” Severus growled, his
eyes narrowing.
“Yes,” she agreed softly. “Karkaroff went to him. I’m sure he didn’t believe him right at the
beginning, maybe even tried to kill him…but Lucius is a meticulous man. He would have sounded the alarm on me anyway,
just in case. Which explains why the
Dementors attacked me that night.”
“And if Draco confirmed that you
were here…”
“Karkaroff was proved right. Which leads to more questions. How much did Karkaroff tell him? And how much is he willing to believe?”
“He’s testing me,” Severus said
through his teeth, pounding his fist against the back of the chair he was
standing behind. “If I try to protect
you he’ll run his mouth. And it will
sound much more believable coming from Lucius than from Karkaroff. Shit.”
“And if you just let him take me,”
she sighed, running a hand through her hair nervously, “it’s an uneasy
truce. You keep your secret. He gets his opportunity for revenge.”
“He has no proof,” Dumbledore
interjected. “And it is only natural for
a brother to want to protect his sister.
That, in itself, is not unusual behavior.”
Snape shook his head. “Lucius wouldn’t dare attempt this right in
my face if he didn’t have something up his sleeve. We are not quite friends as we used to be,
but there is still respect between us.”
“So he’s very sure of himself,”
Dumbledore said, frowning.
“Very. And Lucius Malfoy in the know is a very
dangerous thing.”
“So he is,” the Headmaster agreed,
contemplating his tin of lemon drops before taking one. “Well!” he exclaimed a moment later with a
clap of his hands. “We have two hours to
come up with something to use against him.
We need to…even the score, shall we say?”
“Draco,” Severus said
immediately. “The fool cares for his
son.”
“No,” Selena said. “He’s just a kid. We do not need to drag him into this.”
“He’ll probably just become a Death
Eater in a few years anyway.”
“Let’s not speed the process,” she
said sharply, casting her brother a dark look.
“Think about it!” he said, pacing. “You could ‘kidnap’ the boy. Take him to a secure location, keep him shut
up for a while. You wouldn’t really do
him any harm, and since the Ministry thinks you’re a crazed murderer anyway…we
could all claim that we had no idea, hammer out a ransom and do some
negotiations…Draco is returned to his family, and you disappear. Lucius will never dare to come after you
again.”
“Even if I thought kidnapping a child for my own
means was ok, you know Albus could never authorize it,” Selena
practically shouted. “No harm? What about the psychological harm of thinking
you’ve been kidnapped by a crazy murderer and will probably never see your
family again? I’m surprised you could
even consider doing that to one of your own students, Malfoy or not.” She shook her head. Difficult times had a tendency to bring out
the best and worst of her brother, and this was just another example. “Severus, I am not afraid for myself. I can handle whatever he throws at me. I am more afraid of him taking me away from
you and then betraying you to the Dark Lord.
And I will only be able to sit helplessly in the dark and know
that you’re hurting.”
“I will be discovered someday,
sooner or later,” he said resignedly with a small shrug.
“You know how I hate feeling
useless,” she said softly, fixing him in a glare that even Dumbledore could not
fathom. Some unseen communication was
going on, and the Headmaster mused that perhaps allegations of psychic
connections between twins were not so ungrounded…
Finally, Severus sighed
heavily. He took two steps towards the
center of the room and snatched the suicide globe from Dumbledore’s desk.
“Fine,” he said, approaching his
sister. He took her by the wrist and pulled
her hand up, placing the sphere in her palm and closing her fingers around
it. “Have it your way. But we’re going to make a deal.”
She looked at him warily. He leaned down slightly, so that he was on
eye-level with her.
“As long as you have this in your
possession,” he said, his hand tightening over hers ever so slightly, “I
promise to live. But,” he said
hurriedly, noticing the burst of relief that streaked across her face, “you
have to promise me that if you have the chance to escape him, to incapacitate
him, even to kill him, you won’t hesitate because of me.”
* * * * * *
“Remus! Hello?”
Lupin blinked as his mind finally registered that the
annoying blob moving in his field of vision was Sirius’s hand.
“What?” he said irritably, shoving the offending
appendage away.
“Easy, Moony,” Sirius said, holding his hands up
defensively. “It’s just that you were
staring at that spot on the wall for so long that we started to think you’d
slipped into a coma or something.”
“Yeah, what’s wrong with you?” James piped up, twirling
his quill between his fingers.
“Nothing’s wrong with me,” he said, emphasizing the last
word.
“Oh, are you still worried about that Ravenclaw girl?”
James asked, rolling his eyes.
“What Ravenclaw girl?” Sirius asked, his interest
immediately piqued.
“You forgot already?
The one who almost died on the Quidditch field? The one who freaked out when Remus was
visiting her?”
“Oh,” Sirius said, making a face. “That Ravenclaw girl. What’s the big deal, Moony? Pomfrey said she’d be fine.”
“You
weren’t there. You didn’t see her,”
Remus said sullenly.
“Thank God,” Sirius said crassly. “I’m not sure which is worse, the male or
female version of a Snape!”
Across the room, Peter chuckled. James, however, could see Lupin’s face, and
clearly Remus found no humor in that remark.
He bit his lip. Sirius did have a
bad habit of insulting anyone freely and without shame, and usually they all
got a laugh out of it. But this time it
seemed that he’d crossed a line. One
that he’d never before stepped over with the quietest of their group. This could get ugly.
Remus stood up and slammed his book shut. He looked pointedly at his friend an
enunciated,
“Fuck off, Sirius.”
And then he breezed out of the room, leaving three wide-eyed,
slack-jawed Gryffindors in his wake.
“I’ve never heard him say the f-word,” Peter said in awe.
“Me either. You
must have pissed him off royally, Sirius,” James concurred.
“He likes her!” Sirius burst out, jumping down from the
desk he’d been perched on. A ridiculous
smile spread across his face. “Moony
likes a girl!”
“Of course he does, you daft idiot! And you just insulted her!” James cried,
throwing his hands up in exasperation.
“Eh. So I
did. Guess I should go apologize.”
“Yeah, I think you should. I’ve never seen him so angry.”
Sirius waved his words away, still aglow from his
realization that Remus had a crush on Selena Snape.
James sighed and turned to Peter as Sirius disappeared
into the dormitory.
“Why is he so stupid sometimes?” he asked.
“Got me,” Peter replied with a noncommittal shrug.
“He’s got so many brains,” James mused, nibbling the end
of his quill. “And yet, sometimes he
just does the dumbest things…”
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