“We’ll start a search immediately,” Bill Weasley said as he checked to make sure that his rucksack was completely packed.
“I’ll go with you, or set off on my own if you think its better,” William put in.
“A search would be all but pointless,” Kalliope finally broke into the planning party when the men pulled out rolled maps. “None of you can know where she apparated to.”
“But you can…” Remus looked at his wife closely, noting that she wasn’t meeting his eye as she concentrated on getting Angelos to nurse.
She shrugged, “I can only guess, no more. And if my guess is correct, then she has likely been found already. Although I still think that you should wait another day or two before telling her father what happened. It is likely that she will either show up or we will have some news of her by then. There is no reason to alarm her family yet. Yes, I am sure she has been found…” She cocked her head to the side, as her eyes slid shut, “she is not in any immediate danger, so I doubt her finders are malicious…”
“How does she do that?” Bill whispered as he paused, map half-way rolled up dangling from his fingers.
Remus shrugged, “I haven’t the slightest idea, but your niece was starting to do it too before… before she left.”
A chill wind filled the room as the woolen flap over the door was lifted and Cadmus entered. “Lady,” he inclined his head to Kalliope in a much more formal manner than he usually afforded her, “the satyrs have come up from their camp. They heard what happened and would like to know if there is anything they may do to assist in retrieving the little one.”
Kalliope nodded slowly, her eyes never leaving Cadmus’ face, “yes, of course. Remus, please see to them, they trust you more than any of the other warriors.” She waited until Remus had left with Bill in tow before she spoke again. “You knew she was going to leave,” her tone was accusing and it was by no means a question. Cadmus bent to adjust the straps of his sandals, it was a long moment before he looked up again, “so did you.” His tone was much more calm and even.
Kalliope adverted her eyes, “it is not your place to question the doings of the Head Priestess…”
“I watched you play in the waves as a child, you terrorized my men and horses as a girl to the point that I cursed the gods that you had come into being, or at least that you were not my daughter or niece that I could take you in hand, I watched you take your vows of service as a young woman, I watched you with your daughter, I watched you put your daughter on the funeral pyre, and I see you now as a married woman with a child at your breast once more,” he poured himself a glass of watered wine, “you knew that she was going to leave. And, I believe that you could have stopped her.”
“No one else can know, Cadmus,” Kalliope stood to put Angelo to bed, her hand hovering briefly above Kleo, but not actually touching the deformed infant.
“Your secret is safe with me.”
~~~~~~~~~~
She hadn’t made it as far as she would have liked. The lady had said that she would only have to spend one night alone if she was lucky. Obviously, luck was not on her side this time. Nimue’s feet were bruised and cold. The sandals she wore were no match for the rocky, snow covered terrain she was in now. And she still hadn’t seen anything that would give her any idea of where she was. And night was quickly approaching again. It looked like a second night under the sky was awaiting her.
The night before had been truly miserable, and was not something she wanted to repeat. “I don’t dare risk a fire…” she muttered to herself as she knelt by the stream she continued to follow. She fought back the tears that she had so bravely kept at bay this whole time.
“I wish…” she drew her knees up to her chest seeking more warmth, “I wish I wasn’t so powerful.” She closed her eyes. There were no stars visible tonight through the heavy clouds that were sifting down a light dusting of snow to cling in her hair and cloak. “I wish I could just be normal… I would even give up all my magical abilities if I could just go home again… I wish I wasn’t alone.”
A faint whisper, so soft that Nimue wasn’t sure if it was her imagination or not answered, “you’re not alone child…”
Nimue strained her eyes, trying to see where the voice had come from, if there had even been a voice. She couldn’t be sure. It could all just be in her head. There were voices there already. The magic that allowed her to see what lay ahead whispered to her, the voices clamoring over each other in the quietest of tones. And not matter how hard she tried to suppress them, they were still there. Maybe this was another one of those voices. “Maybe I am going mad…”
Her head snapped back up and she looked again, this time swearing she had heard a low and throaty laugh. A single tear rolled down her nose and fell onto her clasped hands.
She quickly decided that she could not remain there for the night. Although she was tired she had to keep pressing on. As long as she was moving she was moving closer to Hogwarts… and closer to her mother. A mother who wouldn’t be there to greet her with open arms. She sniffed again and wiped away the offending tear that escaped. But her father would be there… although last she had heard from her siblings he wouldn’t be much comfort.
Nevertheless, she pressed on. Her feet caught on rocks and nearly sent her to the ground as she dragged her tired and cold body onwards. She couldn’t help but wonder why she had seen no other signs of life on this journey. But she didn’t wonder too much. She could feel the magic in the air. Something was shielded here… perhaps it was her… although she didn’t know how that could be.
~~~~~~~~~~
“I am perfectly capable of going to Rome by myself,” Dierna glared at the two men sitting in front of her. Her dark scowl was only matched by the expression on her father’s face. “Besides, you already said that I could, it’s not fair to change your mind now.”
“You will do as I say,” Severus began in a dark tone. His scowl turned even more menacing as Potter had the audacity to clear his throat in a manner to suggest that he didn’t agree with the direction that Severus was taking. That impertinent twit! As if he needed the boy-wonder’s help in managing his own children. Nevertheless, and telling himself that he was doing so of his own accord, he changed tactics. “Potter will not be accompanying you directly. But he will be in Rome should you need his assistance.”
Dierna still didn’t look satisfied and began listing off reasons why she was perfectly capable of going to job interviews on her own.
Harry decided to stay out of this new development completely. He had no desire to get between two Snapes, particularly the two most temperamental of the whole clan. While he knew that Severus would win eventually, it looked like they were in for a long battle. Of course neither man was going to divulge to Dierna the real purpose for Harry’s accompaniment.
They still didn’t know who the spy was, and of late more information had been leaking to the enemy, and at a faster rate than before. Severus and Minerva had decided that they needed to start getting Harry out of the school whenever possible and to random locations. Voldemort would know where he was moving, but not to where. While Hogwarts was safe, thanks to Voldemort’s interpretation of the prophecy, Harry was still the only one who could defeat the Dark Lord. No one wanted him to be waiting around as a target.
They were growing desperate. They had to use any means possible to ensure a victory. And it had to come quickly. While Voldemort had relatively few supporters in comparison with the society he was attempting to overthrow, he was a brilliant tactician. He had already rendered the government all but ineffective, if not counter effective, and had scared off all trading partners.
“Get your head out of the clouds, Potter!” Snape barked, as though Harry were still a student in his classroom, instead of a fellow professor. “I want both of you packed and ready to leave an hour after classes end today.” He directed his sharp tongue to both members of his audience. “And make sure you are quite up to apparating the whole way. And you,” he turned back to Dierna, who was still bristling over being completely taken apart for trying to assert her independence, “don’t think that this will count as any form of excuse if your homework is not done for Monday.”
“You know, if it’s any consolation,” Harry waited until Snape was safely out of earshot, “he wasn’t half that nice to me when I was a student,” he couldn’t help but smile briefly as he remembered some of his most memorable encounters with the Potions Master during his time as a student.
Dierna snorted, “you’ve never had to live with him.”
Harry opened his mouth to try and top that, but found he couldn’t, “fine, I concede.”
“So…”
“I promise not to hover over you the whole trip. We will merely be in the same hotel, I will be there if you need me.”
Dierna sighed, “I suppose I don’t have much choice. Although… probably better you than Dad.”
Harry couldn’t help but chuckle at that. It was refreshing to know that some things never changed. And the reputation of Severus Snape was one of them.
~~~~~~~~~
“What do you mean you’re going to quit?!” Anastasia put her hands on her hips and glared down at her favorite tenant. “I mean, yes, you are on the reserve team, but in a couple of years you could be a starter. A starter! Do you realize what kind of fame comes with that? What kind of women?”
Kamen rolled his eyes at the statue’s eagerness, “and a few months ago that would have been very attractive. He cast his eyes sideways, aware that Mrs. Fig was sitting only a few yards away, ostensibly not listening, as she knitted away in the small garden that he had charmed to stay warm all winter for her. “I just figured that there’s more I can do with my life than play quidditch.”
“And what is better than quidditch?” Anastasia demanded, “you’ll have fame, money, admirers, security… even in times of war quidditch continues. You’ll have everything you ever wanted.”
“Everything I wanted in the past,” Kamen agreed slowly, “but I think… I think I want to do something that matters.”
“And entertaining the entirety of the British magical community doesn’t count as something that matters?” Anastasia sneered with derision.
Kamen shrugged, “I just think I can do better.”
Anastasia snorted her disagreement as he walked away for his benefit. But, as soon as he was gone she turned to Mrs. Fig, stone eyebrow delicately arched while she waited for the land lady’s forthcoming comments.
“You did very well, I’m sure, dear,” Mrs. Fig never looked up from her knitting. “Thank you for your help, he would have never admitted to me or his parents that quidditch, while full of glory, was something that he no longer desired to pursue. I think he’ll find his way yet.”
Anastasia didn’t look pleased, “I don’t know why you want him to do something else, I’ve always been partial to athletes myself.”
~~~~~~~~~
They had apparated to the side of the Basilica di Massenzio. Luckily the area was secluded and no memory charms were necessary. Apparation to Rome was always tricky, because even the most secluded areas tended to contain wandering tourists. Rome was truly the eternal city. The location of the entrance to its magical portion was still located in its ancient home, at the heart of early Rome.
“I think we’ll be best walking the rest of the way,” Harry said, even as he palmed his wand in side his sleeve. Theoretically this should be the safest part of their journey, the walk between the Capitoline and the Palatine. The area was filled with muggles, natives and foreigners alike. Hardly the place for even the bravest of Death Eaters to make an appearance, not that bravery tended to be one of their stronger traits.
“We’d blend in better if we had a camera,” Dierna teased as they picked their way through the forum to the via S. Theodoro.
Harry smiled, even though he never let his attention wander from the surrounding crowd. An old memory of Mad Eye Moody came to him them, constant vigilance!
“Is this it?” Dierna asked as they approached the steps to the church of St. Anastasia. She looked around for the entrance to the magical community, not quite sure what she was looking for. She smiled as she saw it, a small building had suddenly appeared to the right of the church.
Harry led the way inside the newly visible building. While small, hardly more than a shed, on the outside, inside it spread out into a sprawling establishment. Witches and wizards, and at least one ill concealed hag, were settled throughout, spilling into each others’ tables, passing bottles of wine and shouting to be heard over each other. It was reminiscent of the Leaky Cauldron, but more… friendly.
“I think it would be best if you checked us in,” Harry said in a low voice. Although he’d glamoured himself in order to alter his appearance slightly he thought it best to keep a low profile. He waited off to the side, both comforted and a bit unsettled by the number of the people in the room. They made it easier for both him and any spies from the other side to blend in.
Dierna sauntered back twirling a set of keys on her finger. “Checked in with connecting rooms and I’m having dinner sent up for us. And just so you know, I just realized how weird it is to be on this trip with one of my professors.” She tossed Harry’s key to him as they reached the top of the stairs and found their rooms.
“You know, Professor,” Dierna started slowly as they finished eating, “I have a feeling that if my dad thought he could get away with following me here, he would have.”
Harry couldn’t help but smile, “you’re probably right…”
“How much more of that wine do I have to get you to drink to get you to talk about him?”
Harry couldn’t help but laugh, though it was a sad one. As much as she was a Snape, there was definitely a lot of Morgan in the girl sitting across from him, “that depends on what you want to know.”
Dierna leaned forward, “something I don’t already know.”
“Well… although you may not think so… he’s a lot softer now than he was when I first knew him…” Harry leaned back a bit in his chair as the memories pulled him back. “I hated him, so did Ron. We never understood when we were at the Burrow on holiday why Bill told us to give Snape a chance. I didn’t realize until long afterwards that he was in the only class that knew Snape as both a student and a teacher. He saw what my dad did to him… and he saw him try to overcome it in the only home he’d ever known.” He snorted, “we have far more in common than we would care to admit…”
Harry took a moment to shake off those memories and move on to something more appropriate. Dierna didn’t need to know what he did about her father’s school days. “I used to get so angry at him for favoring the Slytherins in class. At least until I learned that he dealt with them in other ways, just not public deductions of points. It took me a very long time to realize that he didn’t do that out of animosity for Gryffindor… well… at least most of the time… but everything he did was for the Slytherins. And then for your mother, and then for you and your brother and sisters. Severus Snape never thinks of himself first, contrary to popular beliefs about the attitudes of all Slytherins.”
“Sometimes,” Dierna voiced a confession she had never spoken out loud before, “I think he’s closer to his students in Slytherin than he is to us.”
“There’s a difference. They’re alike, all those Slytherins. You’ve always had your father, always will. From what I understand Hogwarts was a haven for your father when he first arrived. And it has been for many Slytherins. They need each other and they understand each other.” Harry realized too late how personal this conversation had become, “I’m correct in assuming that no part of what we have discussed will leave this room?”
Dierna nodded, “of course. I may have to let a little bit of it slip to my siblings of course, we’ve spent our entire lives trying to understand our father.”
Harry smiled, “I have a feeling it will take you a great deal longer to achieve that particular goal.”
“Did he really kill Dumbledore?” the question burst out before Dierna realized that she had spoken aloud.
The shock of the question sent Harry straight back to that night, that horrible night. When he finally recovered, it was only enough to ask, “don’t you know?”
Dierna shook her head, “we’ve suspected, but of course Mum and Dad don’t talk about it, and all the books about the last war only say that Dumbledore was killed by a Death Eater. But, the other students talk… they know what their parents have told them.”
“Yes.”
Dierna swallowed, “why?”
“I can’t answer that. There are details that I don’t know, and I think it wouldn’t be right for us to sit here and theorize about it.”
She snorted, “I hate that I know more about you than I do about my own dad. He’ll go on and on about the prophecy and the idiots at the ministry who insisted on incarcerating Voldemort instead of letting you do what had to be done, but he won’t tell me a single damned thing about his own role in any of the wars!” She slammed her fist down on the table so that the dishes rattled.
“It wasn’t entirely the ministry’s fault that I didn’t kill Voldemort the last time… that I couldn’t kill him the last time,” Harry amended himself.
“Dad always says…”
“Your father, when he thinks others won’t find out about it, offers very high praise indeed. But this,” Harry tapped the scar on his forehead, “prevented me from doing what I thought I could, what everyone was counting on me to do. One final horcrux standing in the way, and no one with an answer as to how it can be destroyed. At least without ending my life, which I promise your father offered to do at least once.” What would have been an awkward and inappropriate conversation with any other of his students, was somehow very appropriate with the most Snape-like of Severus’ children. It was one quality above all that made the two Snapes so alike, one that neither, especially Severus, would ever admit to. A strong sense of justness, more for others than for themselves.
“The thing I don’t understand, is that Dad insists that Voldemort was the one who decided the terms of the prophecy. That it was his interpretation of that makes it necessary that you be the one to kill him.”
Harry smiled without feeling any real emotion, “I was concerned about the same thing once. ‘If you go to war you will destroy a great nation’.”
“Croesus was a fool.”
“So is Voldemort. Tactically brilliant, but a fool.”
“I think prophecies are worthless, they’re only what you make of them,” Dierna said firmly.
“I believe you were kicked out of Divination for good reason.”
~~~~~~~~~~
