Chapter 27 Before the Storm
Christmas Dinner was a joyous affair. Albus, Minerva and Hagrid joined them and Harry realized that he had everyone in the world that he loved sitting there at the table. He couldn't think of a better gift to himself than to simply be here, part of this odd family. He knew the war still hung over his head, and when they returned to Hogwarts they would return to the worry that haunted him constantly. But for this one day he was happy, and he determined to forget about everything else for a while.
Albus of course wanted to hear all about Slytherin's books, and he promised to take the Headmaster back down to the Chamber to see if any of the remaining books were of any value. Truthfully, he found it very odd to think that he had access to a place in Hogwarts that the Headmaster did not.
They all talked late into the night, but eventually Hagrid, Albus, Minerva and Severus bid them goodbye to head back to Hogwarts, while the Grangers prepared to use a port key Albus had brought them to go home. Before he left, Severus drew Harry outside to talk to him in private.
"I wanted to thank you for inviting me, Harry," he told him. "I didn't expect to enjoy myself, but I did."
Harry grinned at him, his new and improved eyesight letting him see more clearly the subtle play of emotion in Severus' eyes. If you knew what to look for, the man was actually quite expressive, despite the fact that he so rarely smiled. "I'm glad you came."
"Was it what you were hoping for?" Severus asked curiously, motioning back toward the house. Harry knew immediately what he was talking about, the memory of the invitation he'd issued to Severus springing clearly to mind.
"Yes," he nodded. "Just like I'd imagined a family would be."
Severus nodded and turn to leave, though he paused a moment, a thoughtful look on his face. "You know. . .for all their lack of political power and prestige or social standing, the Weasleys are rare breed."
It was an extraordinary statement considering Severus' opinion of Gryffindors, but Harry knew exactly what he was saying. Severus' own family was nothing like this. Not too long ago he had told Harry that hate was a common theme in families, that often it was the glue that held them together. He was acknowledging openly that this was not true for the Weasleys.
"I know," Harry agreed. "But then from where I come from, all of you are a rare breed."
Severus frowned thoughtfully, but said nothing. Instead he gave Harry a very rare half smile, before nodding to him and apparating home. Harry, still grinning, went inside to join Sirius and Remus in the living room.
Albus arranged for Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny to return to the castle two days before the other students returned on the Hogwart's Express. Severus found himself anxiously awaiting Harry's return. He'd missed the boy more than he expected; his quarters seemed empty without him. And though he had never touched the boy in the bed they shared, the nights felt colder without him beside him.
He'd spent much of the rest of the holiday pouring over the book Harry had given him. He doubted the Gryffindor truly understood what the personal notebook of Salazar Slytherin meant to someone like him - the knowledge contained in the manuscript was some of the most sought after secrets in the entire world. Albus had been chomping at the bit to read the book himself, something Severus had promised he could do after he had copied it down in his own hand. And while the Lycanthropy cure was horribly complicated, Severus was certain it would work. It would require a great effort on both his and Lupin's part, but he was willing to put in the work, and knew Lupin would be as well. He anticipated publishing the results with great glee.
As for Harry, he found himself looking forward to the young man's company once more. The potion he had given the Gryffindor had done more than just improve his eyesight. It had also fixed the faint myopic caste to his green eyes. Without those clunky glasses, the boy had gone from being attractive to down right handsome. He had no doubt that the girls of Hogwarts would be swooning over him upon their return, and no few number of the boys as well.
Surprisingly both Black and Lupin had thanked Severus individually for the potion he had given Harry. It seemed they had determined between them that Harry had never actually received any proper eye care growing up. Apparently the glasses he had been wearing all these years weren't even made to his prescription - they had been given to him by a neighbor who was throwing them out. They were several degrees weaker than they should have been and it was a wonder Harry had done as well in school as he had.
It occurred to Severus that if Harry had been unbeatable at Quidditch with such poor eyesight, his own house team did not stand a chance now. It would seem that until Harry graduated, he had no hope of winning his standing bet with Minerva. It was also entirely possible that Harry's prediction about him becoming a professional Quidditch player just might indeed come true.
Harry returned to their quarters later that morning, looking happy to be back and surprisingly cheerful to be in his company once again. He took only a few moments to unpack all his things before he raced off again - to take Albus down to Chamber of Secrets he explained. Anxious to see it himself, Severus invited himself along, and the three of them along with Ron, Hermione, Remus and Sirius spent the day exploring Slytherin's domain. Ginny Weasley choose not to join them, having seen enough of the Chamber the first time.
Listening to Harry Potter speak Parseltongue was a strange experience for Severus. Save for that one time during the duel in Harry's second year, none of them had heard him use it again. Prior to that the only person Severus had ever heard speak Parseltongue was Lord Voldemort himself. Coming from Voldemort the language was the epitome of evil - something dark and terrifying. To hear it from Harry's lips was alarming, startling all of them. Remus, Sirius and Albus had never heard him before and they all stared at the boy in silence as they listened to him hiss a command to open the various doors of the Chamber.
To Severus the sound was magical; coming from Harry's mouth it was strangely sensual. There wasn't a Slytherin alive who did not envy such a gift. To Severus' embarrassment he found himself becoming aroused by the sound and was grateful for the long robes he currently wore. He received only an odd glance from Remus, however, and so suspected that the others did not notice his reaction.
It was odd to explore the Chamber of Secrets with so many Gryffindors. It struck Severus almost as sacrilegious - but then he saw the carcass of the enormous basilisk on the floor before the statue of Slytherin, and understood that once again he had severely underestimated the young man he had married. That a twelve-year-old had slain such a creature was unimaginable. That he had also somehow survived the bite of the creature, even with the aid of the Phoenix tears defied all logic.
The Gryffindors all gathered around the dead beast, poking and prodding it like some side show attraction, while Albus simply stood before it with an odd gleam in his blue eyes. Severus saw the old man turn to stare at Harry who was ignoring his godfather's and best friends' comments in favor of looking at the giant statue of Slytherin. Severus could see both sorrow and admiration in the old man's eyes and moved to his side in concern.
"Albus?" he said quietly.
"I hadn't realized it was such a creature, Severus," Albus murmured softly.
"It doesn't seem possible that he could have survived this," Severus agreed.
"No," Albus agreed. "It does not. But then Harry regularly does the impossible, doesn't he?"
Severus frowned at that, wondering what else Albus might be referring to. He had of course researched the King's Voice command that Harry had used that day in Hogsmeade. But beyond the translation of the spell, and the caveat that it was not useful because it did not seem to work any longer, he had learned nothing of significance. He, like Granger and Weasley, had tried the spell himself, but had failed to get it to work. How Harry had been able to force a Death Eater to turn on his companions with it, he did not know. He suspected Albus knew, or guessed, more than he was letting on. But then Albus Dumbledore had always had his secrets.
Severus asked Harry for permission to harvest the body of the basilisk for potion ingredients - something which seemed to startled the young man. "Why are you asking me?" he wondered out loud.
"By all law, it belongs to you," Severus explained simply. "And it's worth a fortune if you must know."
Harry looked surprised at that, but he waved it aside. "Well you know I don't have any use for it. Have at it."
When he was certain that the Gryffindors were done oohing and ahing over the beast he summoned two of his personal house elves and had them begin the arduous task of harvesting the remains.
"The library chamber is through there," Harry explained, pointing to the mouth of the statue of Slytherin. They'd all brought their brooms with them and followed Harry inside. There they spent much of the day pouring over the books that had been left behind - Remus, Albus, Hermione and Severus all in heaven over the discovery. Sirius, Ron and Harry however passed much of the day playing Exploding Snaps in a corner.
Severus and Albus spent the following day locked in Albus' office going through the books they had removed from Slytherin's chamber while Remus and Sirius headed into the Dark Forest to find a long list of ingredients Severus had determined he would need to begin his experiments on the Lycanthrope potion. They left the four younger Gryffindors to pass the day away out on the Quidditch pitch, having a snowball war - boys against the girls.
Albus and Severus eventually came down to dinner just as Remus and Sirius were returning from their trip to the forest. Before sitting down to eat, Severus went through the list of ingredients, checking to see that they had found everything necessary. While Sirius had never been much of a potions student, Remus at least knew what he was doing and stored everything adequately.
"Where are the children?" Minerva asked as she entered the great hall to join them for dinner.
Severus glanced up at that, noticing for the first time that none of the younger Gryffindors had come in from the cold. Night had already fallen, and it was unusual that they had not returned. He was just about to go look for them, when the Hall doors burst open and to Severus' shock his sister Diana came running in, followed closely by Hagrid.
"Severus!" she cried, her dark eyes wild and desperate looking. "I couldn't stop him!"
A cold chill of dread washed over Severus' body. "Diana?" He caught hold of his sister's arms, shaking her fiercely. "What are you talking about? Stop who?" If this had something to do with Julius. . .
"I tried to stop him," she insisted, her face pale and terrified looking. "But I couldn't! They took Harry!"
Severus didn't wait to hear any more. He was off like a shot, running out of the great hall followed closely by Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. Minerva and Albus were just behind them as all of them raced for the Quidditch pitch where the young Gryffindors had been playing. It was pitch black outside by now, the moon little more than a crescent in the sky. Albus sent several Wizarding lights aloft to follow them and light their way as they raced across the snowy grounds toward the pitch. As they neared, Severus' breath caught in his throat. Amid the churned snow of the pitch he could see bodies lying unmoving on the ground, reminding him terribly of the time he'd returned to Hogwarts to find the very same pitch covered with the dead bodies of Death Eaters and Aurors. But there were no scorch marks this time, no blood. Just three unmoving forms lying in the snow.
Severus could see immediately that Harry was not among them, and when he reached the first body he fell to his knees to turn it over. Hermione Granger's pale, unmoving face was cold to the touch, but as he pressed his fingers to her throat, he could feel the slow but steady beat of her heart. "She's alive," he told the others in relief as Remus and Sirius checked the two Weasley children.
"So are they," Sirius announced, frantically looking around for some sign of Harry. He transformed immediately into a dog and began sniffing the ground, moving in swift circles in his search.
Severus immediately rose to his feet and grabbed hold of Diana again. "Who did this?" he demanded. "Who took him? Was it Julius?" The monitoring spell he had put on Julius had not been triggered, but he supposed his brother might have found a way around it.
Diana looked briefly confused, but then shook her head swiftly. "No, Severus, it was Alrik. Alrik took him."
For a moment her words didn't make any sense. Why in Merlin's name would Alrik have taken Harry? There was no love lost between the two of them, but Severus would have sworn on his life that Alrik had no loyalty to the Dark Lord and never would. It was Severus' dubious past that had created the rift between him and his sister's husband. "Why?" he hissed. "Why would he do this? What has Harry done to him?"
"Nothing," Diana told him. "It has little to do with Harry. They took him so that Britannia's Ministry would be forced to acknowledge the blood debt they own the Winter Lands. They took him as hostage."
The Winter Land blood debt? Severus only vaguely remembered something about it - vague references Alrik had made back when he first had married Diana. But Severus had not been on speaking terms with any of his family back then and had never learned the whole story. That Harry had been pulled into this madness was unacceptable. "Where did they take him, Diana?"
"Bifrost Hall," Diana stated.
Severus heart lurched. "That's at the heart of the Winter Lands," he exclaimed. They could neither fly nor apparate into the Winter Lands. The only way there was by taking a boat into the cold North Sea, a dangerous prospect in the heart of winter. He turned desperately toward Albus.
"I'll find out what I can from the Ministry," Albus promised him, and he knew Dumbledore would tend to whatever this blood debt was all about. "You three go after him, bring him home."
A quick glance behind him confirmed that the 'three' Albus was referring to were him, Black and Lupin. The look of dark rage in the two Marauder's eyes was strangely comforting to Severus. For the first time in his life he was grateful to have the two men on his side. He knew for this mission he could not be in better company.