Harry was lying flat on his broom, as he raced across the dark grounds of Hogwarts with neck-breaking speed, urging the broom to its limits. In the end, it took just about a minute until he reached the gates and passed through the wards. Immediately after feeling the shimmering magic of the wards pass, he lowered his broomstick into a steep dive, and jumped off the Thunderbolt the moment he was close enough to the ground. Breaking his fall by rolling in the grass, he watched as his broom disappeared in a bush, but he didn’t have time to worry about what might happen to it. Harry quickly got to his feet, already picturing the room from his vision in his mind, and spun around on the spot.
Harry had never liked Apparating, this feeling of being pressed through a tube, but sometimes it was simply necessary, just like at that very moment. At the same moment as his surroundings had changed from the landscape around Hogwarts to the stonewalled room from his vision, he had just enough time to wave his hand to let the wooden chair fly into the path of a red jet of light.
Clara and the girl in her arms screamed, as splintered wood was flying everywhere, but Harry didn’t hesitate to step in front of them, his wand raised and his eyes narrowed at Voldemort. The red eyes of the Dark Lord focused on him with a calm that was almost unnerving. He was obviously surprised by the young man’s unexpected arrival, if the slight narrowing of his forehead indicated anything, and angry at being disturbed, but he apparently didn’t let this get to him.
Harry really had to congratulate him on his poker face, but he knew that the look on his face wasn’t much different, as he regarded Voldemort calmly, his whole body poised and ready to hurl any spell he might need. “Hello Tom,” he greeted him, his lips curled with a smirk. “I’ve been dying to meet you.”
“You’re that Potter-boy,” Voldemort stated, his red eyes now regarding him curiously, as the hissing sound escaped his lips. Parseltongue.
The smirk on Harry’s face widened a bit. So Voldemort had gotten his message from Halloween. Instead of answering with the same hissing, however, Harry retorted in normal English, “Well, if your definition of a 21-year-old is boy, then yes, that’s me. Nice to meet you, Tom.”
Voldemort snarled upon hearing this name, the name of his father, and raised his wand again. “I won’t even ask, how you found this place, seeing as you always seem to be good for a surprise, as I’ve heard. However, you should be aware of one thing, Mr. Potter - coming here was foolish, because you won’t leave this place alive.”
“Really?” Harry replied, not once breaking the gaze of the other wizard, his wand still at the ready. He felt a slight push at his Occlumency shields, which quickly retreated upon noticing that they were impossible to break. Harry tried to think of what to do now, because when he had woken from that vision, knowing that he had to save them, thinking about the how had been far from his mind, when suddenly one thought shot through his mind--
This was his chance! Lord Voldemort was right in front of him, having no idea what he, Harry Potter, was capable of “ what he was destined to do! He could use the element of surprise to fulfil the prophecy and vanquish the Dark Lord once and for all. This was his chance to change the future of the people living in this time!
His right hand was completely tense, his mind a whirl of thoughts. All kinds of spells shot through his head. Harry had discovered during his research and training in all those years that there were many other deadly spells than just the Killing Curse. And it was hard to choose one. A part of him wanted Voldemort to see the same green light with which he had killed so many people, another part of him wanted Voldemort to suffer before he died. There were so many options. He was able to perform every single one of those other curses, but deep inside Harry knew too that he would also be able to cast the Unforgivable…
Suddenly a quiet whimper behind him pulled him out of his thoughts. Readjusting his body lightly, he saw out of the corner of his eyes the small girl clinging to her mother and Clara staring up at him with a mixture of hope and fear in her eyes. Immediately he remembered the reason why he had come here in the first place… Gritting his teeth, he focused again completely on his opponent. If he started a fight with Voldemort now, Clara and the children might get caught in the crossfire… Damn!
“What’s wrong, Mr. Potter? Did you finally realize your mistake?” Voldemort mocked him with a twisted smile. If Harry hadn’t used Occlumency at that moment, he was sure he would feel the triumph surging through Voldemort.
However, Harry only smiled at him regretfully. “Actually, no… I’ve only just realized that I have to cut our meeting short. But don’t worry, we’ll meet again. Expelliarmus!”
Apparently Voldemort hadn’t expected Harry to be on the offensive, especially with this spell. He almost lost the grip on his wand, but while he was fighting not to lose it, Harry had already whirled around to the young woman and the two children. As quickly and gently as possible, he gathered the girl in his arms and pulled Clara, who was still holding the baby tightly to her chest, to her feet.
“Hold on tightly,” he told her.
But just as he wanted to Disapparate, he had to change his plan. With a flick of his wand he let the table jump in front of him to bear the brunt of a green jet of light “ the Killing Curse. It exploded in thousands of tiny splinters, showering him, Clara and the children. To protect them from the splinters, he had turned his back to Voldemort, but he was moving already, ready to dodge another curse that might be flying in their direction. He jumped to the side, pulling Snape’s family along with him, careful to not hurt the children.
Cursing under his breath, Harry winced, as a larger shard buried itself in his right shoulder. He quickly whirled around and, ignoring the sharp pain in his shoulder, slashed his wand through the air. Voldemort blocked the purple jet of light, immediately firing another curse at Harry, who dropped to the ground to evade the red beam. Wandlessly casting a shield charm directly in front of them, Harry quickly got back on his feet and raised his wand again. His hand was shaking slightly.
“You won’t stop us,” Harry said as coolly as he could. His shoulder hurt like hell, the pain spreading already as far as his fingertips, and he could already feel something moist and warm running down the length of his arm. Blood. He knew that they needed to leave very soon, or else they might never leave this place. But he needed a plan and to form a plan, he needed to keep Voldemort talking. Fortunately, Harry thought, suppressing a wry grin, that was one of Voldemort’s big weaknesses “ he really liked to hear himself talk.
Voldemort laughed, a cold and cruel sound that still sent shivers down Harry’s back. He would never get used to it. “Mr. Potter,” he sneered, shaking his head mockingly. “Haven’t I told you that coming here was foolish? Do you now see the mistake you made? I will kill lovely Clara and her brats and you’ll be lucky, if I simply kill you as well… I’m sure that some of my loyal servants would really like to get to know you personally. However, Mr. Potter, I’m feeling a bit gracious at the moment, gracious to offer you one way out. The only way out.”
“Which would be?” Harry snapped, regarding his surroundings out of the corners of his eyes, when he suddenly remembered something from his vision. That was their chance!
“You are a powerful wizard, Mr. Potter. Bow to me and become one of my own… Receive my mark and stand in my ranks, when I bring on the fall of the wizarding world as you know it. I might even consider not killing your friends…”
“Never!” Harry snarled. At the same moment, an orange light shot from the tip of his wand, catching the Dark Lord unawares. A quick grin appeared on Harry’s face, as Lord Voldemort was attacked by flying bogeys, but he used this moment to point his wand at the ceiling, where the chandelier hung. “Reducto!” he shouted and the powerful spell brought not just the chandelier down on Voldemort, but also a good part of the ceiling. Not wasting any time to regard his handiwork, Harry quickly turned around, once again grabbed the small girl and Clara with the baby and spun around, disappearing with a loud crack.
A split second after they were gone, a jet of green light hit the ground where they had just been moments before, and a cry of pure rage echoed through the room.
Never before in his life had Harry Apparated with so many persons at once. The feeling of being squeezed through a tube seemed even more suffocating and when he met the resistance of the wards, Harry almost thought that they wouldn’t make it. And they wouldn’t have, if they hadn’t been lowered as much as Harry had requested. With gritted teeth he let his magic lash out and pressed forward until, with the loudest crack he had ever heard when someone Apparated, they landed on the floor of the Hospital Wing, falling to their knees at once. Harry had to grit his teeth to keep from crying out in pain and slowly got up again with Clara and Jocelyn still clinging to him.
“Bloody hell, Harry!”
Ron’s startled yell let his head whirl around, where three pairs of eyes were resting on them. Ron, Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey were looking at him with shocked expressions on their faces, obviously alerted by the incredible loud sound of Apparating. Harry could only imagine, what they looked like. Exhausted, dirty and maybe even bloody.
“Hi guys,” he greeted them with a wry grin. “I’m home.”
However, before anyone could say more, the door to the Hospital Wing slammed open and a furious Severus Snape strode inside, followed by a frazzled looking Hermione. He didn’t seem to notice them, because he was purposefully walking up to Albus Dumbledore. “Headmaster, what--?”
“Severus?” a quiet, trembling voice asked. Harry let go of Clara, as she took a shaking step forward. At the same moment, Snape turned around, finally spotting them. His eyes widened in obvious disbelief. “Oh Severus!” A sob escaped her lips, as she quickly crossed the distance between her and Snape and fell into his arms.
“Clara?” Snape looked down at her and the surprisingly quiet baby in her arms, and then at Harry, bewildered.
Upon hearing her father’s voice, the little girl, who had buried her face in Harry’s shirt, turned around. “Daddy!” she cried, as Harry set her back on the ground, and ran up to Snape.
“Jocy,” he breathed, kneeling down with his wife to embrace the girl. “How…”
If the situation weren’t that serious, Harry would have laughed at seeing Severus Snape at a complete loss for words, probably for the first time in his life. Instead, Harry said with a pointed look, “I rescued them from Voldemort. Now it’s your turn.”
Their eyes met for a few moments, as if some silent communication passed between them. Eventually Snape simply nodded and, gently loosening the grip his family had on him, got up. “Madam Pomfrey, would you please…” He helped his wife up as well and led her over to the school nurse. But Madam Pomfrey didn’t seem to be sure what to do, as she also kept throwing worried glances in Harry’s direction.
“I’m fine, Madam Pomfrey,” Harry told her, lying through his teeth. “You really should take care of Professor Snape’s family. They’re a lot worse of than I. I have reason to believe that at least Mrs. Snape has suffered several Cruciatus curses in the course of the past few weeks.”
After one last long probing look, Madam Pomfrey helped Clara to sit down on one of the beds, with Jocelyn sitting down directly next to her. Dumbledore gave Harry a questioning look, before he joined the newly reunited family and the school nurse. Harry could only vaguely hear the quiet conversation that took place between the matron and Clara, which paused, as Madam Pomfrey waved her wand over the baby still lying in Clara’s arms. A relieved sob echoed through the Hospital Wing and Harry saw that some of the tension left Snape’s shoulders, when Madam Pomfrey told them that the baby boy was unharmed and had miraculously slept through the whole ordeal of the last hour.
Snape only seemed to have waited for this announcement, because he threw one more look at Harry and nodded once again, before he walked to the other side of the ward, where Draco was lying on a bed, deathly still. His face paler than ever before. Harry’s heart nearly missed a beat and he almost didn’t notice Ron and Hermione coming to stand at his side, as he thought that he had been too late. That Draco was already dead. But then he noticed the green blob of light floating over the still body, which still pulsated, if irregularly and weakly, and sighed. He wasn’t too late.
“Harry?” Hermione asked worriedly, pulling him out of his thoughts. “What happened?” Apparently she was too distracted by the current situation that her mind for once wasn’t on her boyfriend.
“Yeah,” Ron agreed. “Are you alright?” He put a hand on Harry’s shoulder, his wounded shoulder, and Harry winced, gritting his teeth, as a new wave of pain spread through his right shoulder and down the whole length of his arm. Black dots appeared in front of his eyes, as the pain mingled with the exhaustion of his body. Apparating through wards really wasn’t that much fun, even when they were lowered. Startled, Ron pulled his hand back and gazed at it with wide eyes. “Damn it, mate. You’re not fine. You’re bleeding!”
“It’s alright,” Harry hissed, still trying to get rid of the black dots. “Just a bit longer…” he muttered, more to himself than anyone else, as his gaze once again landed on Snape. The Potions Master had pulled a vial out of the many pockets of his robes and was now pouring the blood red liquid down Draco’s throat.
Finally Ron and Hermione noticed as well, whom Harry was staring at, according to the gasp that escaped Hermione’s lips. She took a hurried step forward, but Harry gently gripped her wrist, shaking his head, as she looked at him. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw her biting down on her lower lip, but she didn’t make any more attempts to run to Draco’s side. And soon, only about half a minute later, the pulsating light began to beat more regularly and stronger, and Snape stepped back with a satisfied look on his face, as he once again looked at Harry and nodded.
Taking his nod as sign that she could now go, Hermione tore her hand out of Harry’s weak grasp and hurried at Draco’s side. She grabbed his strangely stiff hand and immediately a smile spread over her lips. Even Harry could see it from the distance “ some colour had already returned on Draco’s pale face. It seemed as if everything was going to be alright.
Suddenly, now that he could finally relax and the last of the adrenalin that had kept him going until now was drained, everything around him went dark. He only heard Ron calling his name before he knew no more.
His head was throbbing painfully and he was so tired. Those were the first thoughts that crossed Harry’s mind, as he slowly opened his eyes. However, as soon as he had opened them, glaring light greeted him and he squeezed them shut with a quiet groan escaping his lips. The pain in his head worsened, if that was even possible and Harry wanted nothing more than to slip again into this blissful nothingness.
“Potter?”
Harry heard the whisper of his name and slowly, carefully opened his eyes again. The light still hurt and without even thinking about it, Harry waved his hand wearily, which effectively closed the curtains in front of the windows of the Hospital Wing. He almost sighed in relief. This was much better. Turning his head into the direction where he had heard the voice, he saw Draco Malfoy lying in the bed next to him. In the faint light Harry could see that Draco was still paler than usual, but he was awake and obviously a lot better than before.
“Draco?” he croaked, his throat hurting nearly as much as his head. He swallowed, trying to get some moisture down his throat.
“Quiet,” Draco shushed him, nodding at the space between them.
First now, Harry saw Hermione curled up on a chair, fast asleep. Turning his head slightly to the other side, he could vaguely make out the tall and gangly shape of his best friend in the darkness. He was also sleeping on his chair and he looked really uncomfortable. A small grin appeared on Harry’s face, as he turned his full attention back to Draco. “How are you feeling?”
“Not dead,” Draco answered with a weak smirk. “And that’s one big improvement, isn’t it?”
Harry returned the smirk. “I agree.” Trying to get more comfortable, he tried to lie on his side, but his still sore shoulder reminded him that he better shouldn’t do it. With a wince, he resigned to lying on his back. “How long have I been out?”
“Not even a whole day. It’s late afternoon. I woke up this morning and Hermione told me what you’ve done, after Madam Pomfrey had finally released me from her Full Body Bind,” Draco told him. “Can’t survive a day without playing hero, can you, Potter?”
“Shut it, Draco,” Harry growled, but he was glad that Draco was already acting a lot like his old self again. His eyes wandered around the dark Hospital Wing and that was when he noticed something was different. “Where’re Clara and her children?”
“Madam Pomfrey released them this morning, though she made quite a fuss about it. But Snape had been really insistent that his wife and his children might feel more comfortable in his quarters.” Harry had expected Draco to answer, but instead it was Ron’s voice that told him this. His best friend walked around the bed, so that he was now standing between Harry and Draco, stretching his neck. “But just tell me, mate, how did you know that Snape has a family and how the hell did you know that they were in danger?”
“That would interest me as well,” Hermione, now also woken up by the noise, asked sleepily with a slightly disapproving voice. “I mean, it would be easy to find out that he had family, if one knew where to look, but I’ve been thinking about how you could have known about them being in danger and I’ve only come to one conclusion.”
Harry didn’t dare to look at Hermione. He knew that with his actions of the previous night he had given away his secret and that he would have to bear the consequences, mainly the disappointment and anger of his friends. But compared to the other secret he was still keeping from them, this was nothing.
“Harry, when exactly has the link between you and Voldemort been re-established?”
He looked up at Hermione, glad that he couldn’t make out the most likely disappointed expression on her face, and sighed. “A few hours after we arrived in this time. And I had the first vision before we went to Diagon Alley.”
“You’ve been lying to us all this time?” Ron asked, shaking his head in disbelief. “That’s more than a half year!”
Hermione knelt down next to Harry’s bed and looked at him imploringly. “Harry, do you realize just how dangerous this has been? If Voldemort”“
“No,” Harry interrupted her firmly. “No ‘if Voldemort’. I’ve been gathering information this way, Hermione. Valuable information. And if I had Occluded, Snape’s family would be dead now!”
“But, Harry, don’t you understand?” Hermione asked shrilly. “Voldemort doesn’t know yet, who we are and we want to keep it that way! He could have found out through your link!”
“He doesn’t know,” Harry told her, slowly feeling the anger rise up in him. Basically he had known how Hermione would react to this, and he hadn’t told them because of this, but he couldn’t have just let Snape’s family die. Not when he could have saved them. “He doesn’t know about the connection and I believe that the link is only one-sided anyway. He doesn’t know…” He grabbed his head, feeling the headache return at full force. It was a wonder that Madam Pomfrey hadn’t already come out of her office upon hearing this commotion. “Please, Hermione, I can’t do this now…”
Hermione heaved a long-suffered sigh, which told Harry that she wasn’t through with him yet, but eventually he could see her nod. “Here,” she said, taking a vial from the bedside locker. “This is some pain relieving potion mixed with a bit of Dreamless Sleep. Madam Pomfrey told me to give it to you, should you wake up and be in pain. She said that you need a lot of rest. Your magical energy is heavily drained and it needs a few days until you’re back to your old self, magical-wise. Actually, I still don’t know, how you did this, even though I can tell that whatever you did was completely irresponsible. But you can still tell me how, later. Now, drink this.”
Hermione simply pressed the vial against Harry’s lips and he drank the contents, if a bit reluctantly. Even though he was tired, he still had some questions. However, a few seconds later he already felt the pain lessen und his eyelids becoming heavier. But right before he slipped back into nothingness, he could hear a chuckling Ron whisper into his ear, “You better have some answers ready, when you wake up, mate. Because Hermione still insists that it is impossible to Apparate into and out of Hogwarts.”
When Harry woke up the next time, Ron and Hermione weren’t there anymore and Draco was asleep. He noticed relieved that his headache had lessened to a light bearable throbbing and he didn’t even have to squint against the morning light that shone into the Hospital Wing. Slowly sitting up, Harry flexed his shoulder. A grin spread over his face, when he felt that it didn’t hurt at all anymore. Now he only needed to convince Madam Pomfrey to let him go.
A task which would probably prove to be a lot harder than many would suspect, because almost as soon as Harry had swung his legs over the edge of his bed, ready to get up, Madam Pomfrey stormed out of her office and ushered him back into his bed.
“Professor Potter!” she told him sternly. “Get back into this bed, at once! And you will stay there for the next few days!”
“Madam Pomfrey, I’m fine,” Harry said, even though his protest fell on deaf ears.
The school nurse simply waved her wand over him, the whole time muttering under her breath, until she eventually nodded. Apparently his recovery was proceeding to her satisfaction. “Do you have, besides the light headache, any other complaints?”
“No, Madam Pomfrey,” he answered obediently, looking at the matron with wide innocent eyes, hoping that she might give in and let him go.
Her forehead furrowed upon seeing the look Harry was giving her and he could’ve sworn he saw a slight tug at her lips, before she narrowed her eyes at him. “Even though you might feel better, you still need a lot of rest, Professor. I won’t release you from the Hospital Wing for at least another two days. But seeing as you feel better, I will allow the Headmaster, Professor Snape and your friends to visit you this afternoon, because they have told me that they have a lot of questions that you need to answer.”
This time Harry groaned and fell back on his pillow. “Can’t you just tell them that I don’t feel up for that yet?”
“Really, Professor Potter,” Madam Pomfrey tut-tutted. “I will tell the Headmaster that you will expect them after lunch.”
After she had left him, Harry simply closed his eyes again. He contemplated sneaking out of the Hospital Wing, but for one it would be quite immature and then he guessed that Madam Pomfrey must have set up some monitor charms around him to alert her, when he decided to leave the bed. So he had no other choice but to wait for lunch and the inevitable conversation afterwards.
And lunch came a lot sooner than expected. Draco had also woken up, when the smell of food had wafted through the Hospital Wing and he refused the potions Madam Pomfrey had wanted to give him with his meal, because he knew that they would have just made him sleepy again and he wanted to be present for the conversation. At least now Harry had some company, while he was waiting for the others to arrive.
Just after the house-elf had cleared away the plates from lunch, the door to the Hospital Wing opened and Professor Dumbledore stepped inside, followed by Ron and Hermione and Snape with his wife and children. Harry noticed immediately that Clara was already looking a lot better than the day before, as were Jocelyn and the baby. It really was a wonder what a bath and one or two good nights of sleep could do. But they weren’t the only ones with notable changes. Severus Snape was looking like a new man. His freshly washed hair was tied back neatly and some light had returned into his dark eyes. It really made a big different to the Potions Masters usually so menacing presence.
Madam Pomfrey immediately stepped forward at their arrival and invited Jocelyn into her office for a cup of hot cocoa and some biscuits. “Please let me also take little Selvyn. I’m sure I can look after him for the duration of your conversation,” she said to Clara, motioning to the baby in the blond woman’s arms. Clara hesitated for a moment, but eventually laid the baby into Madam Pomfrey’s arms with a grateful smile on her face.
“Ah, Harry, Eirian,” Dumbledore greeted them amiably, as he conjured a couple of comfy chairs around the two beds and sat down one of them. “It’s a pleasure to see that the two of you are feeling better than two days ago. I’ve got to admit, you’ve had me worried for a moment. But now that Madam Pomfrey deems you ready, I daresay we are all very interested in some answers from your side, Mr. Potter. What interests me most “ how did you know that Mrs. Snape and her children were in danger?”
Harry sighed, having known that this would most likely be the first question. He hesitated and glanced warily at Snape, which Dumbledore noticed.
“Of course… I understand your reluctance. But you don’t need to worry. Before coming here, Professor Snape and his family had to take a vow that they won’t reveal anything they will hear now. So it is safe.”
“Alright,” Harry eventually conceded and then proceeded to tell his story.
He began with how he found out that Snape had a family and then told them about his connection to Voldemort and his visions. His friends didn’t react at all to this news, except for the still disapproving look on Hermione’s face, as they had already heard the part about the link the day before. The reactions of the others were just as he had expected “ Dumbledore had a thoughtful look on his face, Clara was clearly shocked by this revelation and Snape looked like he had a hard time to keep his mouth shut and his face was incredible pale.
“Now,” Harry concluded his tale, “before any of you say something, I just want to make some things clear. I believe that the connection to Voldemort” “ Harry ignored the winces around him “ “is one-sided. He doesn’t know that I sometimes land in his head or can feel his emotions. And no, Hermione, I won’t Occlude, I already told you that yesterday. The information I find out this way is much too valuable. In case you’ve already forgotten, I saved three lives not even two days ago. Without the vision, Clara and her children would be dead right now!”
Harry hadn’t noticed that his breaths came in short gasps until he was finished with his tirade. His headache was slowly returning, but he didn’t say anything about it. He couldn’t show any weakness, not now. He needed to show them that he was serious.
“Potter’s right,” Draco suddenly said, his voice stronger than one would expect after nearly dying. “His connection to the Dark Lord really might work to our advantage. He only seems to have forgotten something “ he didn’t save three lives. He saved four. I’m sure Professor Snape would have never given me the antidote, if Harry hadn’t saved his family “ no offence, Professor.”
“None taken,” Snape replied, his lips curling into a slight smirk, but the look on his face quickly turned into a serious, nearly defending one. “As a matter fact, I would have let him die. The Dark Lord has promised me that he would spare my family, if I killed one of you. But I should have realized that he would never keep his word.”
Harry looked at him with understanding in his eyes. He really could sympathise with Snape. If Voldemort had captured one of his family, one of the people close to him, and threatened to kill them if he didn’t do as he was told, Harry was sure he would have done the same. To protect the ones he loved, he would stop at nothing. “But you were after me, no, Voldemort was after me. After discovering that I was a Parselmouth, he thought it would be better to get rid of me, just in case I might be a threat to him. It happened at the Weasleys and I suspect that it was the eggnog that was poisoned, but I still don’t know, how you could have pulled that off.”
“Charlie Weasley,” Snape explained tiredly and Clara took his hand. Harry was a bit surprised to see that Snape didn’t pull his hand away. “I’ve had him under the Imperius curse since shortly before Halloween. There was a Hogsmeade weekend and he was an easy target as well as close to you. No one ever suspected that it was him, who let the snake into the castle. A simple Engorgement Charm was all he needed to let the snake grow. And then, before Christmas, after the Dark Lord had ordered me to kill Professor Potter, there was another Hogsmeade weekend, during which I renewed the curse and gave him his new orders and the poison. His order was to put the poison into your glass, but something must have gone wrong.”
“I didn’t drink my eggnog,” Harry told him. “Draco did.” Harry noticed his slip-up too late and already saw how Snape’s eyes widened, as they flickered over to Draco, resting on him, and slowly understanding dawned on the Potion Masters face. Harry had already known that this man was highly intelligent, but he hadn’t expected that he would figure it out this quickly.
For several long moments Severus Snape was staring at Draco as if he had never seen him before, mumbling something unintelligible under his breath. “Draco Malfoy?” he questioned eventually, his voice showing his disbelief. Harry watched, as Draco’s grey eyes met Snape’s black ones, only showing a bit surprise, before the blond Slytherin slowly nodded. “Unbelievable,” Snape muttered, running a hand over his face. “How did this happen? Which spell did this?”
Harry heaved a heavy sigh, massaging his forehead. Of all the people to find out about their situation… Well, there was nothing he could do to change it and after all, all signs pointed to Snape having changed sides. Voldemort didn’t have his leverage anymore and Snape was intelligent enough to have seen that Voldemort was only using his Death Eaters. Besides, having an excellent Potions Master like Severus Snape on their side, while brewing the complicated potion, might be a big advantage. “Proferre Tempus,” Harry finally answered.
“Harry!” Ron exclaimed shocked.
Harry turned to his friend and shrugged, knowing full well that Ron had never gotten over his animosity towards Snape. “It doesn’t matter, Ron. He’s on our side now and he can’t tell anyone about it anyway.”
“If you say so,” the redhead replied surly.
“Severus,” Dumbledore interrupted what might become a fight between the two friends by addressing the Potions Master, “if you have any questions concerning this spell, you might ask me and I’m sure also Miss Granger. However, I see that both patients are slowly tiring and I wanted to keep this meeting short. So if there are no more immediate questions, I would like to adjourn this conversation until at least Professor Potter has regained his full health.”
“Thank you, Headmaster,” Harry said gratefully.
“I still have one question,” Hermione said, almost a bit timidly. “Harry, I want to know how you got back. I looked it up again yesterday, and Hogwarts, A History clearly states that you can’t Apparate into the castle. So, how did you do it?”
A mischievous grin spread over Harry’s face. He just loved it, when he could prove Hermione wrong, or at least, partly wrong. “You’re right, ‘Mione. You can’t Apparate into the castle, when the wards are at their full capacity. However, if you remember, I told Ron to ask Albus to lower the wards down to 70 percent. In our time, I trained Apparating with Albus, especially in difficult situations. Encountering wards was one of those situations. I’m able to Apparate into Hogwarts, when the wards were at 80 percent, but two days ago I knew that I wouldn’t be alone, when I returned, so the wards needed to be lower than that.”
“That’s incredible,” Hermione mumbled. “Harry, as far as I know, you are the first person ever to achieve this!”
The grin on Harry’s face got even wider. “Well, ‘Mione, it wouldn’t be the first time that I’d be the first one to do something.”
Ron laughed out loud and a small blush crept onto Hermione’s face, as she slapped the arm of the redhead, muttering something like ‘Shut up’.
“Professor Potter,” Severus Snape suddenly said respectfully, when Ron had finally stopped laughing, looking a bit uncomfortable. He kept glancing at his wife, who was simply smiling at him encouragingly. After having taking a deep breath, he squared his shoulders and said, “I” Thank you. For saving my wife and my children. I’m in your debt.”
Harry simply nodded at him. “You’re welcome.” Stretching out his hand, he continued, “And please, call me Harry.”
Severus Snape regarded Harry’s hand for a few long seconds, so that it almost seemed as if he would refuse the offer, but then, he quickly crossed the distance between them and grabbed the hand firmly, their gazes meeting. “Thank you, Harry.”
“And again, you’re welcome, Severus.”