Harry stared at Snape. “What ”?” His first reaction was confusion. Whyever would Snape want to tamper with his memories? Did he have something to hide? Then he felt angry. He’s got no right to mess with my head! It’s my memory, what’s he doing changing them?
“What’d you do that for!” Harry exploded. “It was my memory, who gave you the right to change it? It was my mum and dad who were killed, I deserve to know what really happened!”
Snape’s face went even paler than usual. “I had to, Potter!” he shouted. Then, as if aware of his volume, he lowered his voice and said harshly, “I had no choice! That memory contains information the Dark Lord would willingly kill for... If he ever tried to use Legilimency upon you, with that memory, he would discover the truth about me... He would have had yet another weapon to use against the Order!”
Something Snape had just said stuck out, and didn’t seem to fit in with everything Harry had been told about that night. Harry paused. “If he ever tried to use Legilimency upon you, with that memory, he would discover the truth about me...”
But what did Snape have to do with the events of that night? “What are you saying... Were you there, Snape?” he asked incredulously.
Snape reached for his wand and slowly walked toward Harry, who automatically took a few steps back. “Stop cringing away like that, Potter,” Snape snapped. “I’m not going to hex you, if you’re worried about that. If you want to get your memory back, I have to unlock it.”
“Well, why can’t I just do it?” said Harry nervously, eyeing Snape’s wand.
“Only the one who locked the memory in can unlock it again. Come on, then. Stay still!”
Harry forced himself to relax. “I have to put it into the Pensieve first,” Snape warned. “I don’t suppose you’ve ever had a memory extracted from you before...”
“No, I haven’t,” said Harry, feeling even worse. “You know what, it’s really not all that ”” But before he could say he’d changed his mind, Snape put his wand to Harry’s right temple and muttered something. The next thing Harry knew, his brain felt like it was being pulled out through his forehead. There was a violent jerking feeling between his eyes... He was going to be sick... and then it was all over. Harry had the distinct feeling that his head was just a bit emptier now. He looked over at Snape, who had a silvery strand of memory clinging to the tip of his wand.
“Now that wasn’t so bad, was it, Potter?” Snape asked, but Harry could detect a hint of scorn in his voice. He watched as Snape dropped the memory into the silver basin, which glowed briefly. The former Potions master then waved his wand three times over the glittering basin and said, “Deut Obfirmo!” There was another glow of light, this time followed by something that sounded like a small, far-off explosion.
Snape gestured to the Pensieve. “I suppose you’d like to see the memory before it’s replaced? It will be much easier that way.”
Harry nodded, gritted his teeth, and let himself be pulled headfirst back into the basin of memories. He was vaguely aware of Snape entering at the same time... And then they’d landed.
Harry looked around. They were inside a room in a small house that Harry recognized as his parents’ old home in Godric’s Hollow. Wait ” how did I remember that? he wondered, startled. The memory was obviously beginning to come back. But did he really want to know?
The room had no furniture or decorations except for a small throw rug on the floor, a baby’s crib, and a chair by the crib. And on the chair sat Harry’s mother, Lily Evans Potter.
Harry’s heart skipped a beat. It was his mother. Still alive, looking beautiful and radiant as she sat next to the crib. Harry approached the crib... and there he was. Himself, as a one-year-old baby. He was much smaller, of course ” at that thought Harry whacked himself for stating the obvious ” but already with a thick mane of the black hair he’d inherited from his father. But there were two distinct differences between Harry, and... well... Harry. The one-year-old had no glasses, and definitely no scar.
Harry tore his gaze from his younger self. He knew how he looked; what was he wasting time staring at a mirror image for? He turned his attention to Lily instead.
She had a stern-looking face, but it managed to be soft and loving at the same time. Her long red hair reminded Harry very much of Ginny, though it was slightly lighter in color. And her eyes... They really were just like his. Bright green, almond-shaped eyes. Or mine are just like hers, he corrected himself, unable to look away from her face. This was his mother...
He reached out to touch her face, knowing he couldn’t. His hand passed right through. “I love you,” he whispered.
And then James Potter came into the room. Tears welled inside Harry’s eyes. He wanted to get out of this place, this memory... It hurt... But he knew that this was an important thing to see. He had to see it through.
“How’s our Harry?” cooed James, picking Harry up, out of the crib. He grinned and kissed his baby son, then glanced over at Lily. “Has anything ” happened?” he murmured. “Are you two alright?”
“We’re fine,” Lily assured him quietly. “We’ll be fine, as long as he doesn’t find us. But it looks like it’ll be another quiet night. Don’t you want a rest, James?”
“No. No, we can’t afford for me to rest... It’s too dangerous out there Lily, and I ” I’m afraid he might come. I’ve been on edge ever since we moved here... Are you sure Peter’s okay? I have a very bad feeling about tonight... I think I’ll call Sirius, ask him to check up on Peter for us... just in case...”
“Peter wouldn’t ””
“No, but I just”I wish I hadn’t let Sirius talk me into making Peter our Secret-Keeper.” James pulled a small hand mirror out of his robes pocket. Harry turned cold as he recognized it as the exact double of his own two-way mirror. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this night,” James muttered, glancing out the window. He breathed on the mirror in his hand and whispered, “Sirius Black.”
Harry moved behind James and looked over his father’s shoulder. Sirius Black’s face presently materialized in the glass, looking up at James. Harry’s stomach lurched to see his godfather’s face, young, mostly relaxed, and healthy as he’d never been again after Azkaban. He also looked as if he’d just gotten out of bed.
“James? What is it? Are Lily and Harry alright?” Sirius asked urgently, looking positively alarmed at his friend’s appearance.
“We’re fine,” answered James. “Listen, Sirius, I know I said I wouldn’t call you except in the case of an emergency, but... Could you check up on Peter for us? We’re getting kind of worried... And I’ve never felt so tense, so... open to everything. Unprotected. I’d like nothing better right now than for you to tell me he’s locked away at home. Could you do that, Padfoot? Please.”
Sirius visibly relaxed at the use of his old nickname. He grinned slightly. “Sure thing, Prongs. I’ll let you know right away. I haven’t felt quite right all day, either... There’s a bad feeling in the air today. I don’t know... Give my love to Harry and Lily, will you?”
“Yeah, I will. And Sirius? Thanks for this, mate.”
“Hey, like I said, no problem. What are friends for, right? Be safe, all three of you. God knows we could all use a bit more safety these days. I’ll talk to you in a bit.”
“Okay, Sirius. I’ll be seeing you.”
“Bye.” Sirius’s face vanished from the glass, which gradually lost its fogginess and became a normal mirror once more.
James sighed and dropped the mirror back into his pocket. “Well, I suppose that’s the best we can do. I hope he’s okay... Sounded a bit ragged to me...”
“He’ll be fine,” Lily said. She stood up and embraced her husband reassuringly. He hugged her tightly back. “We’ll be fine. He hasn’t found us up to now, has he? What’s to say he’ll find us tonight?”
“Yes, I guess I was just being ”” James suddenly broke off in the middle of his sentence and quickly stepped away from Lily and toward the open window. He stared outside. “That’s funny. I could’ve sworn I saw some ””
This time he was interrupted by a frantic knocking at the door downstairs. “That can’t be him,” Lily murmured, looking frightened. “It couldn’t, he wouldn’t make so much noise, he’d get the muggles looking... But who else would be wandering around the streets at this hour?”
“Stay here,” James commanded. He raced down to the first floor. The door could be heard opening. James’s voice drifted up through the ceiling. “Who ” what the hell are you doing here? It’s...”
Two voices quieted to an inaudible whisper. Harry shifted back and forth on his feet nervously. Who was it down there? Obviously not Voldemort, or James would be dead already...
James appeared at the door again. “We’ve got a guest, Lily,” he said, not looking at all happy about it. He stepped back to allow another man to come inside the room. A tall, pale form entered the doorway...
“Snape!” both Harry and Lily gasped at the same time, although Lily’s was the only voice heard. “What on earth are you doing here, on this of all nights? James, why did you let him in? You know he’s a Death Eater, he reports to him, how could you just let him come waltzing in here...”
“Yes, Lily,” James said patiently. “But Snape here says he has some important information for us, and the way he came running through the rain to get to us, I expect he’s not lying. Well, Snape, what have you got to say for yourself?”
Snape miserably pushed his soaking hair out of his face and stared at them. He seemed nervous and afraid of some unseen threat. “The Dark Lord,” he gasped. “He’s coming. Now. He’d just left his house when I came here, he’ll be arriving any second! You have to get out of here now! He’s come for Harry, and you two are just in his way, he’ll try to eliminate all three of you! You’ve got to ””
There was a crashing sound downstairs. Everyone froze. Snape spun around to face the stairs. After a moment he spun back around, terror in his eyes. “He’s here! Get out, get out, NOW!”
With a frantic speed, Lily began gathering clothes and things that belonged to Harry. “James, can you get Harry ready to go?” she whispered calmly.
“Come on, Harry. It’s time to go,” James said to his son, pulling him out of his crib. The baby Harry gurgled, happily oblivious to the danger he was in.
But they were too late. Footsteps began coming up the steps, menacingly quiet and slow. James frantically dug around in a trapdoor he’d uncovered beneath the rug. After a second he triumphantly drew out a cloak that shimmered and seemed only half there. The invisibility cloak, Harry thought, startled.
James looked at Snape. “Is it true? What you said downstairs?”
Snape nodded, then looked bewildered as James shoved the invisibility cloak into his arms. “Here. Use it, to keep out of his sight, then please bring it to Dumbledore for me. He’ll know what to do with it. And if anything should happen to us ” let the Order know. I assume you know about it? Please. Just go, now! Before he comes and sees you.”
Snape threw the cloak over his head and vanished just before a tall, hooded man rounded the corner and came into view of the doorway. Lily, James, teenage Harry, and the older Snape all stared at him. A flat, snakelike nose and two scarlet eyes were just visible in the shadowed face.
In a blur of action, James raced into the hallway and slammed and locked the door behind him. Lily sat, trembling, on the chair, holding baby Harry tightly as they waited...
There was a yell of anger. The electric sound of spells whizzing by their intended targets. Then a horribly cold voice saying, “Avada Kedavra!” A body outside hit the floor, and Harry’s eyes flooded with tears as he realized just whose it had been. Goodbye...
As Lord Voldemort smashed open the door and came through, Harry heard the faint swish of robes as the invisible Snape fled, passing right by Voldemort. So is all this next part new to him?
Voldemort looked at Lily, who had put Harry down, and she shrank back. Harry could tell that she knew exactly what he had come for. “No...” she whispered, horror-struck, as the hooded man took one slow, unhurried step into the room. “No, not Harry, please, not Harry!”
He took two more steps, each a bit quicker than the previous one. “Stand aside, you silly girl,” he said coldly. “If you value your life, step away from the boy... stand aside, now...”
“Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead ”” she pleaded. She refused to stand aside, however, and although Harry knew how it would end, he felt a surge of pride, watching his mother. Thanks, Mum. You have no idea just how much good that did...
Voldemort advanced another few steps. He pushed Lily away and strode to baby Harry, looking down at him. The expression on his twisted face was unreadable as he stared at the boy prophesied to overthrow him. Harry’s teeth clenched and he struggled to stay in control. There’s nothing you can do, he reminded himself. You can’t change a memory... But what I wouldn’t give for one of those smashed Time Turners. Watching this felt horrible, especially since he couldn’t do anything about the ending.
Lily stepped in front of Voldemort, wand forgotten in the desperation of trying to save her child. “Not Harry! Please... have mercy... have mercy...” She was almost crying, but nothing he said or did would make her abandon Harry to certain death.
Harry could tell Voldemort was getting impatient. He put up with a few more minutes of begging, then smiled, pointed his wand, and killed her. Her body hit the ground with a thump right at Harry’s feet. Glassy green eyes stared up at him. He fought the urge to throw up. Oh God, I can’t do this... I can’t do this...
Snape’s hand gripped his shoulder from behind in a tight, uncomfortable way. Harry looked back and saw Snape’s face, white as a ghost’s, as he stared at the scene unfolding before them.
Voldemort spun to face baby Harry, sitting on the chair. He had begun to cry, but now he gazed at Voldemort with solemn green eyes. The two stared at each other for a moment, boy and man, child and monster. And then the Dark Lord began to laugh. It was a high, cold laugh, one Harry had heard in many of his nightmares.
He laughed and laughed, certain that victory over the prophecy was close at hand. Then he stopped and lifted his wand, smiling a chilling smile that didn’t reach his scarlet eyes. He opened his mouth and, caught up in the thrill of the moment, shouted the words.
“AVADA KEDAVRA!”
When the jet of green light reached Harry’s forehead, the spell inexplicably rebounded and headed toward Voldemort. An explosion ripped through the room, and Harry was momentarily blinded by the intense light and heat that flared all around them. But he wasn’t hurt by the beams of wood and debris that fell from the destroyed house, and Harry was amazed to see that the few pieces of falling house that did hit him and Snape just fell through them as if they weren’t even there. Well, we’re not, really, Harry reminded himself. We’re not really in Godric’s Hollow, it’s just like we’re looking at something on a television set. Granted, he thought as a flaming timber rushed past his head, it’s a very realistic television...
His brain was babbling while the little house fell in around them, and Harry realized he was still in shock. I knew about ” most of ” this stuff already, it shouldn’t be so big of a deal...
But it was. The truth had a greater twist than he could have ever imagined, and he had a feeling it wasn’t over yet. The dust and smoke settled around them, and finally Harry could see around them.
The small building had been totally destroyed. All that remained of it was a smoldering pile of rubble. Not even the original structure of the house could be seen anymore.
Harry took a deep breath and began to stumble over fallen tiles and beams of wood. There should be something left... Wasn’t there anything? He tripped and nearly lost his balance. He looked back and saw Lily Potter’s body, half-buried beneath the debris of what once was his home.
Bile rose in his throat. Oh my God, I can’t do this... He forced himself to swallow and turn away from her body. He continued through the ruins and happened upon the battered corpse of James Potter, whose face ” so like his own ” stared up blankly at him.
Harry breathed deeply and walked away, toward the edge of the ruins, where he could see a figure bent over something on the ground. He was aware of Snape following him as he approached the figure.
It was Snape. Snape was holding up baby Harry, who by some miracle wasn’t even crying. He gazed up at Snape with solemn eyes, and Snape gazed back, unmoving. They stood that way for a long time, just standing in the rain, and Harry felt equally frozen, waiting for what might happen next. The memory was slowly coming back to him, but at a much slower pace than things were happening.
Finally, Memory Snape, as Harry had come to think of him, pulled his wand out of his robes and gingerly pushed a lock of the baby’s hair to the side. Harry’s breath caught in his throat as he saw the scar, the reddish, lighting-bolt-shaped scar on his forehead, that had been the cause of so many of the troubles that Harry had experienced. Snape seemed to become breathless as well, as he stared down at the scar.
After a moment, he let out his breath and jerked his wand away from Harry’s forehead as though he’d been burned. A steely resolve hardened the expression on his face. He raised his wand and murmured, “Abdere!” When the wand came away, a shimmering memory clung to its tip.
Baby Harry’s eyes became glazed and unfocused for a moment. In that moment, Snape seemed to scan the memory, prodding it with his wand in certain places, and completely wiping out other parts. Finally, he replaced the memory inside Harry’s mind.
The infant twitched and began to cry almost instantly, but by that time Snape had already disappeared into the fog that had crept around the houses of Godric’s Hollow. Harry let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. He was started out of his reflections on what had just taken place when a considerably large figure descended on a flying motorcycle, at the edge of the ruins. As the person drew closer, Harry recognized it as Hagrid, who picked up the squalling baby and knelt down in the mud. The rain slowly began to cease as the memory faded from Harry’s vision to be replaced by the dingy upstairs room in Number Four Grimmauld Place.
The memory itself came back to Harry with the force of a runaway train, and he staggered back as he realized that ” he could remember. The memory of that awful day had returned, and although it was very fuzzy and unclear, he just felt relief that his mind was once again his own. Glancing down at the Pensieve, he saw that the traces of memory had disappeared from inside. It had replaced itself.
Malfoy was sitting against the wall, looking at them in a quizzical way. Snape was standing a few steps away from Harry and the Pensieve, gazing at him intently. “Is that sufficient evidence for you, Potter?” he said. His voice lacked its usual venom, and now sounded only tired. “Do you believe me now? If you don’t, you may as well hand me over to either Voldemort or the Order. Both are probably after my blood, so you’ll be getting rid of me whichever you choose.”
Harry blinked. His thoughts were going a mile a minute. So Snape really was on our side after all... But then why didn’t Dumbledore ever tell me about this? It would have been so much easier to accept it before his death... I suppose it’s just like the whole thing with the Prophecy... Why didn’t Snape tell me? If he’d just told me what really happened that night, we wouldn’t be in this mess, and I would have trusted him long before now... Or would I have?
He had only really disliked Snape because of his animosity toward his father, and Harry’s resemblance to James had probably been why Snape had hated him so much anyway. Would Harry have trusted him even if he had revealed this critical information before now?
Which brought him to another interesting question... “Why’d you warn my mum and dad?” Harry asked. “You didn’t have to, and you didn’t like my dad enough to warn him just because you were on the same side. What made you do that, Snape?”
Snape looked at Harry with a pained look in his eyes. “In our sixth year at Hogwarts, the Marauders almost got me eaten by a werewolf who, I am sure you know, was their good friend Remus Lupin. If not for James’s bout of conscience, he would have been expelled and I’d ” I’d be dead right now. I owed your father, and I couldn’t let that hang over me for the rest of my life. I couldn’t ever stand being in the debt of a conceited person like that.”
“That’s why you tried so hard to keep me safe,” Harry said, suddenly remembering Dumbledore’s explanation at the end of his first year. “My first year at Hogwarts. You wanted to repay my dad for saving you, because your warning didn’t come in time.”
Snape nodded, and Harry felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude toward the man he hated. Now that he knew the former Potions master’s true motives, he felt sorry that he had openly loathed him for so long. He still didn’t like him, but this new feeling of gratefulness lessened his hate.
“Snape ”” Harry began.
He was interrupted by a sound that came from downstairs. Snape put up a hand and slipped over to the door and listened carefully. The next second he had grabbed Harry, Malfoy, and the Pensieve and was dragging them toward the far wall. “They’re here,” Snape said in a ragged whisper. “They must have seen you come in here, and now they’ve followed you. You two need to hide, quickly.”
There was no need for him to explain who “they” were. Harry felt a cold knot of fear in his stomach as he was shoved into the corner. The Death Eaters must’ve known about this place... Are we going to be caught now, after all I’ve just learned?
Another thought occurred to him, and he stopped dead in horror. Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna... Are they alright? I sent them to check for Death Eaters... He was filled with a sense of despair. I’ve sent us all to our deaths.
Snape waved his wand at the wall, and the hidden loft from which he had drawn the Pensieve once again revealed itself. The rope ladder fell at their feet, and Snape shoved Malfoy halfway up the ladder. “Hurry up. Climb up there, and stay out of sight.”
Malfoy scurried to the top, and Harry began to follow him. But Snape stopped him, putting a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll try to distract them, Potter,” he muttered, “but I don’t know if that will be enough. If they find you, get out and run, no matter what happens to me. Understand? Run.” The sound of footsteps on the stairs reached them.
Harry nodded to show he understood. Snape’s hand moved down until it got to Harry’s hand. Before Harry could turn and climb back up the ladder, Snape pressed something into his hand and whispered, “Good luck.” He let go of Harry and took a few steps toward the door, drawing his wand again reflexively.
Harry paused, staring at the tall man, and in that one moment of hesitation he had the horrible feeling that he’d never see Severus Snape ever again. An instinct, some hidden sixth sense, told him that something dreadful was going to happen to Snape. And even despite his hatred for the man, he felt a deep sense of regret. No matter how nasty Snape might have been to him, no matter what he had done in the past, nobody deserved the fate that was coming for Snape. And Harry felt... sorry. He didn’t want another death of someone he knew on his hands.
“Snape ”” he said.
Snape whirled around as the sound of footsteps grew louder still. “You are still here?” he snapped. “Get up that ladder, Potter, and be quick about it!”
Harry swallowed and, without another thought of the matter, fled up the ladder. As soon as he reached the loft, the wall section swung shut behind him, and he and Malfoy were left alone in the dark.
And in the room beyond, Snape was left alone to face the Death Eaters.
Harry Potter and the Seventh Soul by PadfootBaby
Chapter Notes: Before the reviews start coming in, yes, I’m aware that Jo has crushed the theory in this chapter, but as I’d already written it by then, I couldn’t do anything about it. And so here is the first (and hopefully only) diversion from the true plot of Book 7. Sorry!