He, however, was livid when he realized that most of the rats Lady Jane was bringing to him were from the supply cabinet in his classroom. How she managed to get into the sealed box of rats that were kept for potion making, he couldn’t figure out. Besides which, they were as big as she was. It was almost humorous to watch her patiently struggle down the hallway, the neck of a rat that was bigger than she was held between her teeth, as she dragged and pulled at the rodent until she could present it to one of the family as a proudly earned present.
She was coming down the hallway now, with one such prize in her possession. Severus couldn’t help but sigh at the sight of her. He was going to have to put in another order for rats if he was going to have enough of their tails for his Second Years to make a hair raising solution.
Lady Jane started purring loudly at the sight of him and tugged the rat over to place at his feet before twining herself around his ankles. He grimaced at the grey cat hair she left behind on his trousers and shooed her away. He was going to be stuck with that menace of an animal until Olivia graduated.
“I really am working on finding a topic for my final project,” Dierna assured him as he entered his private lab, making sure that the cat was locked out.
“I’d rather you were working on the final topic instead of working on finding one,” he replied. “And what are you doing here?” he demanded of Eric, who was seated comfortably next to Dierna.
“Research,” the older man replied, “we have a horcrux to destroy if Potter is going to have even the slightest chance of succeeding. Two minds are better than one you know.”
Severus resisted the urge to sink into his desk chair and bury his face in his hands. He didn’t much feel like babysitting today, but that was clearly what lay in front of him.
“Hello kitty,” Dierna sat up as Lady Jane jumped up from chair to table and stretched out on the book Dierna had been trying to read.
“I locked that thing out of here,” Severus looked towards the door, but it was still firmly shut. “How, in Merlin’s name, am I supposed to get any work done with the three of you in here?” He turned his disapproving gaze on Eric, his daughter, and the kitten all in turn. The three of them pointedly ignored him.
“Look at this, Severus,” Eric pointed to something in the illuminated text he was reading, “what if we tried this?”
Severus glanced at the passage Eric had pointed out. “It won’t counter the horcrux completely, and it would probably kill Potter in the process.” He didn’t look all that turned off by the idea.
Dierna listened on and off as her father and Eric continued to make suggestions, which they always ended up discounting as useless. “You know,” she commented during one of their long intermediary silences as she scratched Lady Jane’s upturned belly, “it would be fantastic if all you had to do was pour a love potion, or something like that, over the scar and…*poof* its gone. I mean, it was his mother’s love that protected him from dying outright, wasn’t it?”
Eric and Severus both looked up from the texts they had been consulting.
“What?” Dierna shifted uncomfortably in her seat. They were staring at her as though she’d sprouted two heads.
“Severus, even if we had the instructions for amor amorum there is no guarantee that it would work. No one has made it since before Flammel’s time…” Eric shook his head as though ready to admit defeat.
“I have a copy of it.”
“It’s been lost for centuries. Those damnable witch hunters managed to stumble across the last known copy in 1337 and burned it, how on earth...” Eric limped over to where Severus was removing a rather battered looking text from a hidden safe in the wall. Dierna was still looking on in confusion.
Severus carefully prepared a place on his desk for the large bound volume, “I had ancestors who served under Julius Caesar and Claudius Caesar.”
Eric closed his eyes in a moment of euphoria, “that’s not on papyrus, but I’m willing to wager it’s from the library in Alexandria.”
Severus actually smiled in affirmation, “Gaius Tullius Severus served under Caesar in Alexandria, he rescued it from the fire. His grandson served in the army under Claudius and was sent to Britain. One of his descendents made this copy when the papyrus started to disintegrate.”
“What exactly is amor amorum?” Dierna asked as she leaned forward. Her hand was smacked away when she reached for the highly illuminated text.
“The vellum does not need your fingerprints all over it,” Severus snapped in irritation as he shooed her away from the book. “Its more valuable than you are.”
Dierna glowered at him in return and turned to Eric for her answer instead.
The old man smiled at her, his deformed face twisting painfully, “Amor amorum, the love of loves. It is not a love potion, which, as you know, can only produce passion and lust, but no true feelings. The love of loves represents only the truest and deepest depths of that emotion. You can not use it on yourself or on just any other person. It has to be made specifically for one person and it involves a sacrifice on the part of the one who loves them. It is supposed to have amazing healing and restorative properties. Rumored even to bring someone back to life who is on the brink of death,” here his eyes shifted subtly to Severus, “or destroy someone who means them harm.”
“Or in this case, a tiny portion of a soul,” Severus finished.
“So who’s sacrificing themselves for Potter?” Dierna asked, “I hate to say it, but I don’t think anyone in this room is particularly enamored with him, let alone ready to declare their undying love.” She hesitated a moment, “can it be the unconditional love of a child for a parent, or does it have to be…”
“It has to be the love of a person unrelated by blood,” Eric said gently, clearly reading the note of fear in Dierna’s voice. “Severus, have you spoken to Harry recently of his marital status?”
Severus passed a hand over his eyes, “I have not. They are, ostensibly, living together once again. But if their feelings are as they were…” He looked back at his grim audience, “there’s only one way to find out, and we won’t get any answers just sitting here!” he barked. “Eric, watch her,” he jerked his head in the direction of his daughter, “unfortunately her hands are steadier than yours at this point. Make sure she does all the prep work, and does it correctly. Dierna,” his eyes and his voice softened ever so slightly, “this is your sole concern now. If it works you will pass your independent study with flying colors. I will be back shortly.”
She frowned at him as he left, “and what am I supposed to do if Potter’s wife doesn’t love him enough?!”
~~~~~~~~~~~
“What do you think, Albus?”
“It is not my decision to make.”
Minerva sighed, “I know.”
“What does your heart tell you?”
“My heart tells me that we can trust him, that he is not the man his father was… that his father became,” she corrected herself, “my head tells me that the board of governors is going to give me hell for it.”
The portrait of Albus smiled gently, “they are your burden to carry now my dear. If you use the right words of persuasion, drag Severus into the mix, I’m sure they’ll see reason.”
Minerva nodded, now Severus would be her main issue, not the board of governors. Half of them had had Snape in class and were still too scared of him to deny him anything he demanded. “Now the question is, where do I put him?”
“What are your options?”
“I have letters of resignation, effective at the end of this term, from Charlie, Sirius and Neville. Sirius has a chance to return to the aurors that he doesn’t want to pass up, and Neville has the funds to open his own nursery. Neither of them were suited to be teachers for a long time, this has just been the only place for them up until now. Charlie wants to go back to doing his own research and spend more time with his family. What are you smiling at now?” she demanded.
“I was imagining Mr. Malfoy teaching Herbology… and getting his hands dirty.”
“Albus…” Minerva chided, but her voice held the hint of a smile, “you know as well as I do that he did a great deal of research in advanced Transfiguration once he left school, he’ll be very well suited for that position. And he has teaching experience now, even if it is at the primary level.”
~~~~~~~~~~
“Professor Snape!” Ginny dropped the laundry basket she was holding and grabbed for it as the contents scattered. “What are you doing here?” Her brown eyes were wide and questioning as she waved her wand and returned the clean clothes to their previously folded state.
“Do you love him?”
“What?” she hadn’t the faintest idea what her former potions professor was getting at.
“Do you love your husband?”
“Yes…” she answered hesitantly, still not sure where this was going.
“Do you love him more than anything else?”
“What exactly are you...?”
“Would you be willing to risk his life based on the strength of your love?”
“Why do you need to know?”
“Because his life depends on it. We may have a way to destroy the final horcrux, but the success rests entirely on the strength of your love for your husband. I need to know now, whether or not we can rely on that love, because if we can’t, and we try anyways, it may very well kill him. Do not shoot off just any answer at me, think about it.”
Ginny sank into a chair, her eyes sliding to where her youngest, Lily, was playing at the kitchen table and then back to Severus, “I’d give my life for him.”
“Your life I don’t need, but some of your flesh will do for now.”
Ginny’s eyes widened, “what exactly did you have in mind?”
Severus managed a weak smile, he didn’t have to use legilimency to know where Ginny’s mind had wondered, “nothing that intimate I assure you. Is there any particular area where you’ve been hoping to shed some extra weight?”
“I sincerely hope you’re not trying to joke at a time like this,” her brown eyes were fierce.
“Merely trying to divert your mind for a few moments,” he produced a silver knife, “best send the child somewhere else, this is going to hurt.”
~~~~~~~~~~
“Now what?” Dierna asked as a protection spell was placed around the cauldron.
“We wait,” Severus replied. “It needs to simmer for at least a week before it reaches its full potency.”
“Are you going to pass me?”
“Most likely.”
“Can I watch when you apply it to the horcrux?”
“We shall see.”
“Is this what you used to save Mum?”
Severus turned to face his daughter, “are you or are you not currently skipping your Transfiguration class?”
“Are you changing the subject on purpose? And, while we’re on the subject of skipping classes, aren’t you supposed to be terrorizing some Second Years about now?”
“They’re taking an exam, which Minerva was kind enough to supervise for me. And I feel absolutely no need to answer any questions that I deem impertinent.”
Dierna rolled her eyes.
“Go to class.”
“But I’ve already missed most of it, there’s no point in going now.”
It was Severus’ turn to roll his eyes. “Stay, but make yourself useful.”
~~~~~~~~~
“Beth… Beth I need you to wake up…” Kamen poked the sleeping form again.
“Mmpfh…”
“Beth…”
“Kamen, it’s your turn to be on night duty!”
“It’s an emergency.”
Beth buried her head under her pillow, “that’s why your on duty, for emergencies,” came her muffled reply.
“Eric’s dying.”
Beth tossed aside her pillow and sat up, “but he was doing so much better this last week.”
Kamen looked away, “Poppy’s going to need us tonight.”
“Poor Poppy…” Beth started to get out of bed. “I’m not wearing much,” she felt her cheeks flame.
Kamen immediately turned around to give her some privacy. “I’ll leave if you want, but I don’t particularly want to go back to Poppy alone.”
“That’s alright,” Beth quickly slipped out from under the covers and reached for her robes. “I understand. Are there any other patients in the infirmary?”
“No. But if any students come up I think it would be best if we try to treat them elsewhere.”
“Decent.”
Kamen turned back around, “shall we?”
Beth nodded.
They walked silently back up to the infirmary.
“Kamen?”
Kamen whipped around and saw Nimue hiding in the shadows. “What are you doing here at this time of the night?”
Nimue tried to hide her watery eyes, “Eric’s going to die tonight.”
“How do you…?”
“I Saw it.”
“I’m sorry,” Kamen reached out for her. “He could still make it a little while longer,” he tried to be optimistic. “And your vision may not have been accurate. After all, you Saw Mum’s death and that didn’t happen.”
“Who told you I Saw Mum’s death?” Nimue asked, her confusion clearly showing.
Kamen blinked, “when you were in Greece, you saw her death in a vision and got all upset…”
“I never had a vision about Mum dying…” she suddenly realized which incident he was referring to. “It was Eric’s death that I saw in that vision. It doesn’t matter whose death it is,” she continued seeing her brother’s confused look, “it’s very painful to have to See it.”
“Kamen,” Beth tugged at his sleeve, “we need to get in there.”
Kamen nodded, “you,” he turned back to his sister, “get back to bed before you’re caught out here.”
“Filch knows I’m here,” Nimue responded, “he said it was alright.”
Kamen couldn’t help but role his eyes. He couldn’t understand the soft sport the bad-tempered caretaker had for his sister, but it allowed her full run of the school if she so desired. “Just make sure you get to bed sometime tonight.” He waited until he had her promise before following Beth into the infirmary.
It was a long night. But when the first glimmer of light from the morning sun came through the infirmary windows, all was quiet. By that time Kamen had finished helping Eric to sit up in order to make breathing just a little bit easier while Beth held onto Poppy. At that first glimpse of the pink and blue morning Poppy said her final goodbyes, while holding Eric’s withered hand in her own. It didn’t matter that the vows hadn’t been said this time around, she found herself a widow once more.
~~~~~~~~~~
