Chapter 33: The Princess’s Tale
Harry raised his right hand to shield his eyes, as he looked up at the bright sun nearly burning down on him. It was May and summer seemed to start really early in Scotland this year, at least according to the temperatures. There hadn’t been any rain and just small white clouds for the past few days and the weather forecast on the Wizarding Wireless said that it would stay that way for the coming weeks, maybe even until the end of school. A few birds were in the sky above him and all in all, it seemed really peaceful.
Yes, peaceful was the right word. Nothing had happened in the course of the past couple of weeks. Somehow, since Harry had faced Voldemort for the first time in person in this timeline, the Dark Lord had been lying low. Not even Severus had any news concerning plans Voldemort might have told them. As a matter of fact, the Death Eater meetings had been few and far between, too. Harry could almost say that life was boring, but he wasn’t complaining, as there were still plenty of other things he had to do.
For one, he had of course still seven years of students to teach Defence and this wasn’t proving to be easier now that the exams were looming at the horizon. Next to some new topics he still wanted to cover with his students, he also helped them to revise a lot. At first the students had complained, when he had sprung the first pop quiz on them, but now they were really grateful for this, as this ensured that they were actually revising and not just dreaming over their notes.
Another thing that kept them, or rather mostly Hermione, Draco and Severus, busy was the potion that was simmering down in one of the dungeon’s private potions labs. Harry was really glad to have two Potion Masters and with Hermione, Lily and Clara also other persons who were much better at potions than Harry or Ron would ever be, at hand for this complicated concoction. Harry knew that if he had been forced to brew this potion, the cauldron would have exploded at least a hundred times by now, despite his great O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s results. He also shouldn’t forget that the potion had just passed its early stages and was going to get even more complicated than it already was.
No, Harry couldn’t be happier that this was something he didn’t have to deal with. For now, he was enjoying the peace and tried to ignore the nagging feeling that Voldemort might be planning something big.
However, the peace didn’t last long, as suddenly a hard black ball whooshed past Harry and his eyes followed the ball, startled out of his thoughts. “Bloody hell, Harry!” Ron yelled from his position in front of the three hoops. “Pay attention and watch out!”
“Sorry, Ron!” he called back with a sheepish grin on his face and swerved the broom, so that he could watch over the whole Quidditch pitch. When he couldn’t spot the Golden Snitch anywhere, Harry suddenly began to dive. A bright smile lit up his face, as he sped towards the ground, the wind rushing past his face. His eyes began to water, as he gained speed, and he pulled up just merely an inch over the grass. His broom was nearly vertical, as he now rose higher and higher, past the other players, until he eventually stopped high over the pitch.
Quidditch, oh how much he had missed this sport! He would always be grateful for Ron’s simply fantastic idea. Otherwise he had no idea, when he would have gotten the chance “ if ever “ to play this game again. Dodging violent Bludgers, stray Quaffles and fellow players, all the time speeding through the air looking for the tiny Golden Snitch. While doing all this, Harry could almost forget everything else, all the worries that were still plaguing him. Even though Ron was almost worse than a slave driver, Harry almost couldn’t remember having that much fun.
And it was just getting better, Harry grinned, as he finally spotted a golden glint near the Hufflepuff stands. Without warning, he leaned forward and the broom accelerated to its top speed. Still, Harry urged it on even more and he would have collided with the stands, if he hadn’t pulled up at the last second, the Golden Snitch securely in his right hand.
Shouts of relief came from the other players and if Harry didn’t know better, he might almost think that his team-mates were students instead of teachers, who were happy that practice was finally over. Harry winked at Ron and joined him and the others on the ground. They had been on the brooms for three hours already and had just been waiting for Harry to finally catch the Snitch, because Ron had made one rule at the beginning “ after he had seen how hard the students’ team trained “ and this was that the practice would first stop, when Harry had caught the Snitch.
Now, if Harry had been giving his best, he would have caught the Snitch already after seventeen minutes, but he and Ron had agreed that he would wait at least two hours until he caught it. Otherwise practice would end far too soon. Still, to stay in shape, Harry still chased after the Snitch every time he saw it and always pulled his hand back again, when his fingers touched the small ball.
Harry was the last to land in the middle of the pitch and he wiped the damp strands of black hair from his sticky forehead. Even though he had been high up in the sky and there should be enough wind to keep him cool, he was still sweating. But the others didn’t look much better, and, he had to admit, it was an amusing sight to see Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall, both still clutching their Beater’s bat in their right hands, with red faces and windswept hair, dressed in the purple Quidditchrobes that had been designed for the teachers. Harry was still getting used to seeing them like this, but they were doing a great job, or to quote Ron: “Dumbledore and McGonagall are simply bloody brilliant! They could even give Fred and George a run for their money!”
“Alright,” called Ron with a smile on his face. “Good training. We’re really starting to play as a team and we’re getting pretty damn good, if I may say so. But I watched the students’ practice yesterday and they’re getting very good, too. We may never underestimate them, because in my opinion, the kids are going to be a force to be reckoned with. Well, you may all go now. Next practice is tomorrow, same time, same place. See you at dinner!”
A collective grumble of ‘Finally’s and ‘See you later’s came as answer and most of the other teachers began to retreat to the castle. Only Harry and Draco stayed back with Ron to help him put back the balls and other items they had used during the training. While they were struggling to catch the two Bludgers and to get them back into the crate and putting the chains around them, they were talking, mostly about the practice. Harry and Draco both shared Ron’s opinion of their team having become very good in the course of the past few weeks, but while Draco was pretty enthusiastic about the game and their chances “ he was almost giddy at being allowed to play again “ Harry pointed out that they had also seen the students and that he knew that it would be incredibly hard to beat them.
Still, not just the students had a good team. While he had been sceptical at first, Harry had realized after a few training sessions that he had been wrong. He had never expected Albus, Minerva or Filius, who were all already pretty old after all, to be able to play as well as they did, but in reality they were even much better than good. There was a force behind the blows with which Albus and Minerva hit the Bludgers that belied their ages, and Filius was just the right size to weave agilely through the fast Bludgers and other players and still play the Quaffle at the same time.
They had a chance, he realized with a grin, because otherwise they still faced the same problems as the other team. Both of their teams were new, they all had to get used to their new team-mates and had to learn to play with each other and not against each other, as especially the Gryffindors and Slytherins were wont to do. Still, the teachers had the advantage on their side that the students might underestimate them, especially Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall.
However, when he had watched their training, he had been surprised at how well the four houses cooperated. Basically, instead of just being a fun event, this Quidditch match was just one step further towards the unity of the four rivalling houses. Maybe they really could change more in this time than they had thought.
After they had also put the Quaffle and Snitch into their respective holes in the crate, Ron closed the wooden box and together the three young men walked back to the shed, where all the equipment for Quidditch was stored “ a couple of crates with the four balls, school brooms and other spare parts that might be needed. However, on the way to the shed, they saw Hermione and Lily, who appeared to be walking in their direction. The two young women waved cheerfully, as they saw them and they met just a minute later in the middle.
“Are you finally finished with practice?” asked Hermione, sounding slightly annoyed. But there was a smile on her face, and Harry thought that she might just be the tiniest bit excited for the game. After all, the whole school was completely crazy about this event, so it would just be unnatural, if she were not infected by this mood.
“Yes, finally!” Draco exclaimed, as he swung an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close against his side. Somehow, after his near death experience Draco seemed to have become more open, especially concerning his feelings for Hermione. And Harry could see that Hermione liked it a lot, at least much better than just being close to him behind closed doors. “Weasley’s a real slave-driver.”
“Oi, shut up!” Ron laughed. “If I remember correctly, you wanted to be on the team, even though you were still weak. Maybe I should tell Poppy that you had to stop the first practice short, because you weren’t feeling good.”
“Don’t you dare, Weasley!” Draco threatened, but there was a smirk tugging at his lips, which quickly turned into a pained grimace, as Hermione’s sharp elbow in his rips. “Ow… Granger!”
“You said you were fine!” she hissed at him, much to the amusement of the others.
“I was fine! It was just some overexertion during the first practice. I’ve lost a lot of my stamina, and don’t forget all those muscles, spending all those months in bed! It was terrible!” Draco growled defensively and playfully shoved Hermione away. She was still trying to glare at him, but Harry saw that she couldn’t stay mad at Draco for long, not when he was obviously so happy at being able to play again, especially with almost having lost him.
“But he’s fine now?” Hermione asked, turning to Ron and Harry.
Harry nodded solemnly, but there was a slight smirk tugging at his lips. “Yes, don’t worry, Hermione. He’s back to his old self, unfortunately, if I may say so.”
“Hey!” Draco protested.
“Oh, don’t worry, Draco,” Hermione smiled. “It might be true, but I still love you.”
“Ugh…” Ron imitated gagging. “It’s getting mushy. You coming, Harry?”
“You go ahead, Ron,” Harry told him, as he looked at his mother. It was rare that he got the opportunity to see her now, when she wasn’t somehow occupied with the potion or when his father wasn’t with her. In the past few weeks he had either never had the chance to talk to her or he had chickened out, but Harry began to think that he couldn’t push this conversation off much longer. “Lily, would you like to take a walk with me?”
Lily smiled brightly at him. “I’d love to. You don’t mind, do you?” she asked Hermione.
“No, of course not,” Hermione said, but she was giving Harry an imploring glance. She knew that he had kept this conversation off for so long and had been pestering him repeatedly to talk to her. Both she and Ron had seen how much this whole thing between Snape and his mother had bothered him. “We’ll see you at dinner. Come, Draco, Ron… Let’s go. You guys seriously need a shower.” She wrinkled her nose in disgust. “You stink.”
Harry watched the three of them go, Ron and Hermione having immediately started to bicker about whether it was an important part of Quidditch to see (and smell) how hard you’ve worked, with the occasional input from Draco’s side, which mostly supported Ron, much to Hermione’s aggravation.
When they were out of earshot, Harry turned to Lily and smiled, lightly shaking his head. “Those three… Well, then, shall we?”
“Yes, let’s go,” Lily smiled again.
They began walking in the opposite direction, but still away from the pitch. Harry realized that his feet were unconsciously carrying him towards the lake, but he didn’t mind. Most of the students were still inside, hopefully brooding over their homework or revising for their exams, so no one would bother them, when they eventually settled down at the lake. He didn’t want to start this much needed conversation while they were still walking, but it would take them a few more minutes to reach their destination. So, almost on its own, Harry’s right hand went to the pocket of his pants and pulled out a crooked cigarette, which had definitely seen better days, but just as he wanted to put it between his lips, he caught the highly disapproving look on his mother’s face and put the cigarette back into his pocket.
“Sorry…” Harry mumbled, knowing exactly how much his mother despised his bad habit. He’d had to refrain from smoking in front of her ever since they had arrived in this dimension, but in some situations he simply forgot, like this one.
Suddenly, he felt her hand on his arm and they both stopped. She was staring up at him with worry shining in her green eyes “ eyes that were so much like his own “ as she asked, “Harry, what’s wrong.”
He tried to appease her with a light smile. “Don’t worry… Nothing’s wrong, per se. There’s just something on my mind, has been there for quite some time actually, that I need to talk to you about. It’s nothing bad, I swear. It’s just something that’s been confusing me.”
The concern in her eyes didn’t lessen, but she nodded reluctantly. “Let’s go over there,” she said to him, nodding over to a tree standing at the edge of the lake in the distance. Harry realized with a quiet pang in his heart that it was the same beech tree from the memory he had witnessed in Snape’s Pensieve years ago. “No one else is outside and this is a quiet place to have a serious talk. I doubt anyone could overhear us before us noticing them.”
“Thanks.”
Harry was relieved and he squeezed her hand, before she took the lead and gently pulled him along to the tree. None of them talked for the short walk and Harry was glad for that. Even after they had sat down, Harry resting his back against the tree, which was in full bloom, and Lily sitting cross-legged next to him, Harry didn’t say anything at first. He simply had no idea how to begin.
“The beginning is usually the best point to start,” Lily suddenly said and Harry looked at her startled. Had his worries slipped past his lips, while he had been lost in thoughts, or could his mother read his mind? “You had that look on your face,” she admitted grinning, upon seeing his questioning and surprised look.
“Oh,” he replied, returning her grin for a second before he turned serious again. Thoughtfully, Harry lowered his eyes to the ground, his hand playing with the green blades of grass, as he said, “The beginning… It was the day I was relieved from the Hospital Wing. I had a vision about Severus having returned to Voldemort and I went to talk to Clara about it. During our conversation… she mentioned something… something I don’t understand.”
Lily regarded him calmly, as he hesitated for a moment, but eventually she prompted, “What is it you don’t understand?”
“Clara told me that… you and Severus were friends.”
“It’s true,” Lily told him. “We were friends.”
“I know.” Now it was Lily’s turn to look a bit startled and Harry guessed that she had thought, he just wanted to know if it was true. Thinking that he owed her a small explanation, Harry elaborated, “Severus had already told me a few days later. But he also said that I should talk to you about it.”
“You want to know, how it was possible that Severus and I became friends.”
“Yes,” Harry answered, although it hadn’t been a question. “Will you…will you tell me? I mean, you don’t have to, but the Snape I know, he’s a Slytherin through and through… A pureblood, who despises everyone with Muggle background. And…” he called you a Mudblood. Harry halted, not knowing if this was some information he should disclose to his mother. No, not yet, he decided. Later, maybe, depending on what she was going to tell him, if she was going to tell him something.
Much to his surprise, Lily smothered a small giggle. Harry raised his eyebrows, hoping that she might explain, and he didn’t need to wait long. “Severus isn’t your typical Slytherin,” she said. “I don’t know, how he managed to keep it a secret all this time, but he isn’t even pureblooded. His mother, Eileen Prince, was a witch, that’s true, but his father, Tobias Snape, was a Muggle.”
“Oh…” Harry was, to say it bluntly, stunned. He truly hadn’t known that.
“We grew up in the same neighbourhood,” Lily continued, without reacting to Harry. As a matter of fact, Harry thought that he saw her eye glaze over slightly, as she was getting lost in memories. “Until I was ten, Petunia and I simply knew him as that Snape-kid from Spinner’s End. It was a more rundown part of our neighbourhood and it was common knowledge that the Snapes hadn’t been exactly wealthy. He always ran around in mismatched clothes, some of them seeming to come from another time period, and his hair… I don’t even want to start about his hair. He never talked to us, until one day, on the playground.
“Petunia and I, we were on the swing and I… I was showing off. I knew I could do things other children couldn’t do and I didn’t hide it. I just didn’t know, why I could do those things, like jumping from the swing, when it was at its highest point, without being hurt, or making plucked flowers move in my hands. It was then that Severus decided to talk to me. He had been hiding out in the bushes, watching us, until he jumped out and told me that I was a witch. At first I thought that he had insulted me, but eventually, after we talked more later, I believed him.” There was a small grin tugging at her lips. “What else could it have been, if not magic?
“I asked him a lot of things about the Wizarding world, almost interrogated him, and he told me everything, about Hogwarts, owl-post, magic, but also about Azkaban and…”
“Dementors,” Harry whispered, as a revelation hit him. He suddenly remembered that bizarre day in the kitchen of Privet Drive, so many years ago, before his fifth year. “Aunt Petunia said that she had heard that boy telling you about them. I always thought that this boy had been James, but she meant Snape!”
“That’s right,” Lily told him. “Petunia eavesdropped on this conversation and only Merlin knows how many others. She’s been jealous the whole time. She wanted to be one too, you know. A witch, I mean. She even wrote a letter to Dumbledore, asking him, if she couldn’t go to Hogwarts, too. I saw his reply, it was very kind, but Petunia slowly but surely began to hate me and everything connected to the Wizarding world. When I left for Hogwarts for the first time, it was also the first time that she called me a freak. We’ve never talked much afterwards.”
Harry saw a sad smile on her lips and he could sympathize with her. He had, after all, experienced his aunt’s hatred for magic and the Wizarding world first hand and freak had been one of the names he had been called very often by his aunt and uncle. Reaching out with his right hand to cover hers, he tried to comfort her a bit.
“But you don’t want to hear about my sister,” Lily eventually said. “On the train, Severus and I met James and Sirius for the first time. Petunia’s words had hurt me a lot and I had just entered the first compartment I could find. I ignored the two boys who were already there and they ignored me. I guess they didn’t want to deal with a crying girl. But then Severus came. He tried to cheer me up and told me that he hoped that I’d be in Slytherin. James and Sirius, bullies as they were, immediately used this to insult Severus. We eventually left the compartment, but on this day, the hated nickname Snivellus was born.
“And then, at Hogwarts, we were sorted. I hadn’t been sure what I had hoped for. I wanted to be there for Severus and he was so sure that he would be in Slytherin. So, when Minerva put the hat on my head, I started to chant ‘Please put me in Slytherin, please put me in Slytherin’, but the hat had other ideas. He never even considered my wish but simply told me he was sorry and called out Gryffindor for everyone to hear it. I had no other choice. I saw on Severus’s face that it crushed his heart, even more so, when he was sorted into Slytherin. Lucius Malfoy was there to welcome him and at this moment I feared that Severus’s fate had been sealed.
“And I was proven right. As the years passed, Severus and I got into more and more spats about his friends. I thought that they were evil, but he wouldn’t hear anything of it. I tried to ignore it, I just didn’t want to lose Sev’s friendship, after all, he was the one who had been at my side, when I discovered that I was a witch, and I liked him, I really did. But I was losing him. And then came that fateful day at the end of our fifth year.”
Harry’s insides clenched painfully, as another revelation hit him. That memory, Snape’s worst memory… All those years he had thought that Snape had hid this memory, because he had been embarrassed by this situation and didn’t want anyone to know how much he had been humiliated in his schooldays. Never, never would Harry have expected that the reason might be a completely different one. Snape didn’t want Harry to see this memory, because… “He called you a Mudblood on that day and lost your friendship.”
“How did you know?” Lily’s eyes were wide with astonishment. At that moment, Harry realized that he would have to tell his mother about the memory he had seen.
“Do you remember the Occlumency lessons Snape gave me in my fifth year that I told you about?” Lily nodded. “Well… I also told you that those lessons ended rather abruptly because I saw something I shouldn’t have seen. Snape always put the memories he didn’t want me to see into a Pensieve, but one day he was called away during a lesson and I had had a really bad day and felt extremely reckless. I saw the Pensieve and without even thinking long about it, I plunged inside. It was this memory that I saw, of the exams, how James and Sirius bullied Snape afterwards, how you tried to stop them and then, how he called you a Mudblood. Before I could see more, Snape discovered me, naturally, and threw me out of his office. But this memory, it changed a bit how I regarded not just Snape, but also the Marauders. It’s just that I always thought that it was one of Snape’s worst memories, because the Marauders humiliated him, but now I know better. He lost you that day. He… he loved you, didn’t he?”
“Yes, I believed he did,” Lily answered him softly.
“Did you love him?” Harry couldn’t stop this question from leaving his mouth, but he regretted it at the same time as it did. However, his mother simply smiled at him.
“It wasn’t love, yet, but I cared for him a lot. If he had changed earlier, and if James hadn’t been there or if James had never gotten his head deflated, I think I would have been able to reciprocate his feelings. But he hadn’t changed earlier and James was there and he had grown up, so…” she shrugged. “But even though the friendship between Sev and me had been lost, I kept watching him, and it hurt. Sometimes I thought that it was my fault that he seemed to get deeper and deeper into the whole mess with the Death Eaters and the Dark Arts and I often thought that I might have been able to save him, if I had continued to be his friend.
“So I was glad, when I saw that he was getting close to Clara. I knew her and she was a nice girl, even back then. She was good for him. But apparently not good enough to keep him from becoming a Death Eater, but she hadn’t known and I think he had already been in too deep to get out again. Still, he was happy with her and I was happy for him. He deserved this. However, Severus and I, even though we were acting civil towards each other, when we were in public, we never tried to revive our friendship.”
Harry heard how his mother’s voice thickened and saw the tears in her eyes. Putting his arm around her, he pulled her close, so that her face rested against his chest. She returned the embrace, clinging to him as silent sobs shook her body. Harry wanted to comfort her, but didn’t know how. He had never been really good at this. But seeing his mother like this, he needed to say something, so the first words that entered his mind left his mouth. “Maybe… maybe you should talk to him. Start new. He has changed now, he’s on our side and has turned his back towards the Dark Arts and Voldemort. And I think that he misses you and your friendship.”
“Oh Harry,” Lily sighed. “You know, you’re the best son a woman could hope for. But you’re right, I should talk to him, and I will. Thanks…”
“What for?” Harry asked confused, as he gently pulled away from her.
Lily just smiled and hugged him, not clinging to him like she had before, but actually hugging him. Harry’s heart soared, just like it did every time, when she put her arms around him, showing her love. “Because I needed to talk about this. This had been on my chest for just too long. I couldn’t even talk to your father about it. But Harry, please… Whenever there’s something that’s bothering your, confusing you or if there’s just something you want to know about us and our past, never be too scared to talk to us about it. I know you never had the chance to talk to your parents in your time, but we’re your parents, too, and maybe we can help you just as much.”
“Thanks, mum…” Harry simply mumbled and relished in her embrace a moment longer, until there was suddenly a rustling noise behind them. Startled out of his peace, Harry reacted on instincts alone and jumped up, wand ready in his hand. But he couldn’t see anything, except for a bird that was flying away from the tree. Behind him, Lily laughed, as she got up too and put a hand on his shoulder.
“You’re much too tense, Harry,” she grinned. “You need to relax once in a while. And I know exactly how. Why don’t you tell me about your Quidditch practice? I’m sure that James would be angry with me, if I couldn’t tell him about it.”
Harry laughed, pushing the nagging thought that he had missed something away, and regaled Lily with an amusing tale about the latest Quidditch practice. They stayed outside until the sun began to set and then they returned inside, for a much deserved dinner.
~*~
A few days later, Harry was sitting at his desk late at night, correcting the pop quiz he had the seventh years write today. It was long past midnight, when Harry finally finished the last one and went to bed. Sleep came to him quickly, but it wasn’t peaceful. Normal dreams quickly gave way to a dark room Harry didn’t know.
“M-my L-lord…” the rat-like person in front of him stuttered, shaking. “I’ve… I’ve got news…”
“Speak, Wormtail, I don’t have all night,” he hissed.
“M-my Lord… I-I have reason t-to b-believe that…that…”
“What Wormtail?”
“P-professor Potter a-and his f-friends are from the future…”
That caught his attention. “Elaborate, Wormtail.”
The man in front of him still trembled, but he appeared to be relieved that his Lord was listening. “A-a few days ago, I-I listened to a conversation b-between Lily Potter and Professor Potter. Lily said to him that… that she and James w-were his p-parents and h-he called her m-mum.”
A victorious smirk appeared on his face after a short moment of contemplation. “This explains a lot… But you disappoint me, Wormtail. You should have told me sooner. For this, you’ll need to be punished…”
However, how Wormtail was punished, Harry didn’t see anymore, as he was suddenly sitting up straight in his bed, drenched in sweat, his face filled with horror at the revelation.
“No…”
Harry Potter and the Impossibility of Time Travel by ChibiChibi
Chapter Notes: Well, I'm still one chapter ahead with this story (after this one's posted) and I didn't want to let you wait any longer than necessary for this chapter. I plan to write a new chapter soon, but I'm really caught up in work for my university at the moment. I will, however, do as much as I can!
Thanks agaon for all the nice reviews! You guys haven't forgotten me yet! :)