Many discoveries
~present~
It was the last day Harry, Hermione and Ron spent in the west tower. Tomorrow they would join Mr. Wellington and his companions out in the forest. They'd searched the room so many times now, they were starting to believe there was nothing left to be found. Ron sighed for the hundred time that day and went to have a look out the window. He was fed up, there was nothing left to be found here he was sure of it. And as Hermione and Harry continued their search for any little clues indicating Snape's faith, Ron rested his elbows on the frame and gazed out over the Sherwood Forest. It wasn't much of a view really, just some fields and then trees as long as the eye could see.. But that wasn't exactly true, was it..
Ron suddenly noticed something in the landscape, an odd detail he'd never discovered before. There was an area of the forest where trees weren't growing at all, the soil on that ground obviously was barren, so that nothing could grow there. But that wasn't what now freaked Ron out. Now as he really looked at it, from this window he could plainly see a pattern in the missing trees.. a snake, a tree and a crucifix...
"Harry! Mione! Get your skinny asses over here!" he screamed excited. He'd found a lead, he was sure of it! Harry beat Hermione to the window and pushed Ron aside to see.
"What am I looking for?" Harry nudged the struggling and hissing witch behind him, blocking her view.
"Don't you see?! Look over there, where there's no trees, don't you see it?" Ron pointed, while Hermione continued her fight to get past Harry. Harry saw it. The pattern burned down in the landscape as a constant reminder of something that had happened there ages ago. A sharp elbow in his side made Harry yelp and finally move aside so that Hermione could have a look.
"Oh my god, why didn't we notice this sooner!" she cried, finding what she looked for instantly.
"Because no one cared to look out the window," Harry answered: "We were looking for clues inside, remember?" All three of them stood still for a moment, just watching the agent proof that Snape once had been in that forest.
"What the HELL happened there?" Ron said, a tone of worried awe in his voice.
"Could that be a battlefield, the place where Snape battled nasty old Voltimore?" Harry asked, as many confusing thoughts of worry for a man he'd never savoured any kind feelings for went through his mind. Hermione shook her head.
"No, I don't think so," she answered: "It looks more like a giant collaboration of powers once tried to push back an enemy there. And that gives us a clue where to look next!" she added with excitement in her voice.
"Where?" Ron and Harry both answered at the same time. Hermione was already heading for the door.
"Come on you guys!" she whined: "The crucifix... Snape had help! The landscape shows a snake, a three and a crucifix. Where can we find crucifixes?!"
"Aaaah, " it suddenly dawned to Harry: "The church down in the village!"
"That's right, now let's get a move on, we only have four more hours before we need to be back here!" Hermione sounded like a drill sergeant.
*-*
The church was abandoned, just as the rest of the town. Although he was one of the last to leave the priest wasn't as sure of his believes as he'd thought he'd be and he'd fled right after the attack on the Richards'. The night the two children had entered his church, orphaned and with tell tale signs of an evil no God he'd ever prayed to had warned him about in the Holy Book, he'd lost his faith. He'd left the church unlocked though, in case some poor soul needed refuge in his absence. It was an agent church believed to be more than thousand years old. That would mean this church was part of the landscape Snape had wandered a thousand years ago, and like back in the castle that made Harry feel he was closer to him somehow. They'd noticed it the second they entered the old stone building, very old magic was still in use here. Trails of spells and wards, placed here ages ago still did their job protecting something that wasn't for muggles to see.
"Can you feel it?" Harry whispered as they went down the communion, passing rows of agent church benches. Nor Ron or Hermione answered, to awed by the compressing atmosphere.
"How can this be?" Hermione pondered when they reached the altar. A gigantic crucifix hang on the wall above it, sending weird shivers through the young witch.
"Witchcraft was banned and considered the devil's work. How come this place, that should be completely against heresy reeks of magic cast centuries ago?" Harry and Ron didn't know how to answer that question.
*-*
They split up and searched the church. First superficially, then thoroughly. By the end of the day they had found nothing but old cobwebs and dust. Ron who had plummeted through a small attic beside the bell tower looked like he'd dived into a fireplace.
"There's nothing here!" he moaned and bumped down onto an old, creaking bench, taking a deserved break.
"I'm not giving up yet!" Hermione was trying to trace the trails of magic behind the altar and looked like she would go on forever, until faith got tired and decided she could be right after all.
"Come on Hermione, we're half an hour from sundown, we should head back in the castle by now," Harry argued, agreeing with Ron on the matter: "Maybe there was some clues here and they've been washed away through time."
"No, there's something here, I know it!" Hermione screamed in frustration: "It's here right under my nose, I just need to figure out... She screamed. Not a terrified scream, but a victorious one.
"Look!" she yelled, pointing at a gigantic tapestry behind the wooden crucifix. There in the left corner a woven snake was to be seen.
"See!?" Hermione's pointing finger started to shake: "A snake and a crucifix! That leaves the tree.."
"Found it!" Ron said and rose from the bench. On the altar's front the roots of a tree was carved into the stone, the rest of the tree hidden by a linen tablecloth. Ron stripped the altar from some burned down candlelight's, a closed Bible and the tablecloth. And there it was, the tree.
"Did we ever stop wonder what the tree stands for?" Harry suddenly asked: "I mean, we know that the snake HAS to be Snape, and the crucifix most likely stands for something churchlike.. But what about the tree?"
"I have no idea, but it most likely is the third ingredient in a powerful cauldron of magic powers," Hermione answered as she looked at their discovery with stars in their eyes. She got the special look on her face she used to get when she tried to solve puzzles.
Ron was the one remembering what Harry had reminded them of twenty minutes ago. They'd all restarted the search with renewed energy after their find, and completely forgotten about time. Now they were running out of it.
"Oh, shit! We must head back, the sun is about to set!"
"But we're so close!" Hermione whined as she desperately continued her search.
"Yeah, we're SO close to being hunted down and killed by some demon- freak!" Ron wailed.
"Ron's right, Mione. We'll finish here tomorrow," Harry said and patted her back. Hermione let go of the brick of stone she'd just pried loose from the rest of the floor with a resigned look on her face.
"All right."
The sun was but a burning red glow diving into the hills far away. Harry and his friends decided to make a run for it. Dumbledore had been very persistent on this point, be in by sundown, or he would come to get them. The town looked a lot more scary and haunted in the semidarkness compared to the cosy atmosphere it oozed by day. Shadows crept everywhere and the unnatural silence made it even creepier. They made it in one of the side doors of the castle just in time, and collapsed on the floor after making sure the door was thoroughly locked. Norman Wellington came scrambling with a large trey and almost trampled them down on his way down one of the side halls.
"Come on, my young companions! We're having dinner down in the dungeons today!" he puffed behind some stables of various potato chips bags and a large bowl of dip. The archaeologists wasn't exactly known for their gastronomic abilities, and a bag of chips would be considered to be a feast. The trio exchanged glances, sighed and followed their jolly mentor. Tomorrow they would continue their search in the church, they were close now, so close...
*-*
Hermione was the first to wake, of course. She was so eager to get back to the old church she hadn't been able to sleep much during the night. She had, together with Harry and Ron, decided not to notify Albus about their newest discovery, not until they had found more.
"Wake up, sleepy heads!" She nudged both Harry and Ron in turns until they finally opened their eyes and protesting moans erupted from both of them.
"Pleeeeeaaaaase, have some mercy!" Ron whined and tried to crawl further down in his sleeping bag. But there was no mercy to be found in Hermiones impatient stares and twenty minutes later they were heading for the church again. It was a chilling winter morning and the three were happy Dumbledore had ordered them to pack enough clothes to break a sweat on the North Pole. The church looked as deserted as it had done the previous day. Hermione more or less ran up the archway to get to the altar where she'd left off last evening. She'd been pondering and thinking most of the night of where she'd start her search and she finally decided somewhere after midnight. The stone altar. Ron and Harry watched her silently as she tucked up the arms of her knitted sweater and raised her wand. She sure was persistent! Flick and swish:
"Effringo!" Hermione shouted the word at the top of her lungs as she swung her wand with a manic look on her face. Harry and Ron exchanged silent glares as they both thought of what mad witches their friend assembled more. There was a weird cracking sound from the altar, and then suddenly: BANG! The massive stone block was reduced to millions of pieces of tiny pebbles. Ron and Harry yelped and leaped backwards, while Hermione threw a triumphant fist in the air.
"I knew it!" She fell on her knees beside the objects the altar had been hiding successfully for eight hundred years. She picked up what seemed to be a bundle of leather, what the church used as parchment in the old days. It was rolled together and tied with string, she started to open it, carefully, as Harry picked up the second object the altar had contained, a map. There was a heavy sigh and a:
"Oh, no.." Hermione closed her eyes and forgot everything about the leather parchment she was unrolling. That "Oh, no" was a bad "Oh, no.."
"What is it?! Harry tell me!" Ron looked over Harry's shoulder: "Oh.." It looked like they had found what they'd searched for. Hermione put the roll absentmindedly down in her backpack for a later read, now they were to follow the map and see..
*-*
The Sherwood forest was intimidating even by day. And as the old church it also showed signs of old and distant magic. It was a silent trio that arched their way through both natural and magically created obstacles that Monday morning. They knew they weren't allowed to breach the borders of the forest, even by daytime, but this was too important. Wards were trying to keep them out of the area they were entering, and Harry, Ron and Hermione knew why, they knew what the forest was guarding. After a long walk they reached the centre of the map, a small clearing in the forest. The sun was on its highest now. It reeked of wards even from the limited view of the landscape, they could feel it before they could see it. Hermiones wand flew up into the air once more, Dumbledore would know immediately that the three was out of bounds and used magic when not allowed, but if they were right they would have to call on the Headmaster none the less.
"Aperio!" Hermione's voice was but a whisper this time, her heart wished desperately they had been wrong this time. Spells had been cast here on this very spot centuries ago, to hide and protect a tomb. And it magically materialised before their very eyes. The lintel on the doorway held a snake motif, not Celtic or Saxon.. a unique design for such an antiquity. The wards set on this grave were from the Slytherin house. This time it was Hermione that uttered the "Oh, no.."
Dumbledore apparated in one second later, just as they'd expected. Worry for their safeties were etched on his brow, but when he leaped forward and discovered no evident enemies he first halted with a confused look on his face, then his gaze rested on the agent tomb. He took some stumbling steps towards the massive blocks of stone, warding his child caught by the infinite slumber no wizard can save you from.
"NOOO..." he moaned as he fell to his knees. Harry, Hermione and Ron stood silently at the back as the headmaster dissolved in tears and embraced the cold stone, overcome by grief. Severus Snape was dead.
*-*
Albus hid the grave again with a silent "Abscondo" and turned to face his young students. Hermione threw herself round his neck and started sobbing violently and the headmaster gave in to the pressure once again.
"I'm so sorry, Mr. Dumbledore!" Hermione slowly backed out of the embrace as she watched the distraught being in front of her.
"I was hoping we would be wrong about this, but..." Albus silenced her with a mournful gesture.
"It's not your fault child. I'm glad you found out rather than not..." a sad smile swept over his face as he lifted his gaze and recognised tears both in Harry's and Ron's eyes.
"I suppose Severus was more liked than you care to confess, hmm?" Ron nodded silently, but didn't tell the headmaster the little sigh of relief that had brushed through him when he realised Potions Finals would be without Snape this spring. It was a sudden thought, a brief one, forgotten and rejected the very instant he'd come up with it. But he had thought it never the less, and that made him more ashamed than he wished to admit.
Albus followed the silent party back to the border of the forest before he apparated back to Hogwarts as the carrier of sad news. Hermione stood still, watching the spot where he'd disappeared for a long time before she finally turned and slipped her hands into Ron's and Harry's.
"I don't like sad endings," she wept. They went in silence for a while, joined by hands and grieve when Harry silently spoke up.
"I know it looks dark right now, but lets not abandon all hope. Maybe there's still a way..." It was ridiculous. Harry heard the poor comfort the words were meant to provide wouldn't bring ease at none of their souls tonight. They just had to accept it. Severus Snape was beyond rescue. But they still had a task to finish. They would continue their search to try and find out what had happened to Snape and also they would have to protect the archaeologists that now had moved their work out into the forest. For two days they'd been scurrying around like squirrels, apparently without no obvious clues of where to look. Harry, Hermione and Ron were to make sure the reckless muggles got safely inside the castle by night and stayed there. Apparently a battle was drawing closer and Harry wouldn't like to be in Voltimore's shoes now. The one killing one of Dumbleore's dearest had hell to pay! But they decided not to join with the old men right now, they needed some time to work through the stomach wrenching discovery they'd just made. As they plummeted down on each their sleeping bag back at the castle, Hermione remembered the roll of leather parchment she still carried in her backpack, unread. Could it be.. the final clue to Snape's tragic death? She tore the string off and unrolled the old parchment with shivering fingers. Ron and Harry watched her silently, was it a tad of hope to be found in their eyes?
The writing on this old leather was beautiful done, someone had taken great time and patience with writing this. Small boards and various drawings decorated the letters.
"Well, what does it say?" Harry asked, impatience filling his features as he hardly managed to sit still.
"Well, the first fragment of text seems to be a bible verse of something," Hermione said as she worked her way through the agent English writing.
"It goes something like this:" she read the numbers of where the verse was collected from the Bible and continued," Then I saw a beast rise from the ocean. It had ten horns and seven heads and a crown on each head. On each of the seven heads, names that spotted God. The animal of which I saw, resembled a leopard, but its feet were a bears and its mouth was the mouth of a lion. The Dragon gave the beast his power, his throne and great power. One of the beast's heads looked like it had a mortal wound, but the mortal wound healed, and all the world wondered over the animal and they worshipped the animal and said: "Who is the beast, and who can fight against it?" The beast was allowed to conduct war against the holy and win against them, and it gained power over each tribe and every folk, tongue and every nation."
"That's just the kind of cheery reading I need right now!" Ron muttered: "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"It's a bible verse, it's SUPPOSED to be cryptic!" Hermione spat: "Now, if you please- I'll continue to the last fragment!" Ron gave her a snide look but kept quiet. The next piece of text was written with even older English and Hermione slowly worked her way through it as she spoke.
"There's an old prophecy telling about the dragon and the beast, how they in unison raped the country and its inhabitants.." A sudden thought struck Harry's mind.
"What if the dragon is a symbol for the Sheriff of Nottingham and the beast is a symbol for Voltimore?!" Hermoine ducked up from her reading for a second and agreed with him.
"I think you're right, Harry. Now, can I continue?" she added, a bit agitated. Harry nodded with a silent sigh.
"The dragon was the obvious one, the one of mortal power, but the beast, the immortal was far more dangerous.. and hidden. A selection of priests, monks and nuns were chosen to serve as protectors against the beast. Many times they defeated the beast and trapped it, but every time it escaped, growing more powerful and perilous each time. The time came when the protectors, a dying race, no longer had the strength to imprison the beast, just stall it. Earth was on the brink of destruction, the forest would be painted red with blood, all life would be wiped off the face of the earth."
"Okay, now I'm depressed!" Ron mumbled and earned another one of Hermione's chill looks. A look of recognition appeared on Hermione's face as she slowly continued:
"An angel hears the cry of man and comes to earth to defeat the beast." Now she was the one that interrupted her own reading: "Oh my god, that HAS to be Snape!" Harry silently pictured Snape sinking down from the sky with a pair of enormous wings attached to his shoulders and an expression of great holiness on his pale face. If it wasn't for the grave circumstances he would have giggled.
"Oh my, listen to this!" Hermione said and continued her reading once more:" Hair and eyes, black as the night, skin white as milk and heavy with chi..." She suddenly stopped reading, all colour vanished from her face.
"Heavy with what, Mione? Heavy with grace, sulking, attitude, what?!!" Ron whined. He was starting to get impatient now. Harry noticed the weird look on Hermione's face, it wasn't translation difficulties she'd stumbled onto.. Hermione drew a long, shaking breath.
"Heavy.. with child, the angel will be found by them that serves God."
"Heavy with child???" Harry was confused: "What's that supposed to mean, that Snape was..."
"PREGNANT?!??!?!?" Ron finished for him.
"Let me see that, Mione, Obviously you must have interpreted that last sentence wrong," Harry said and reached for the leather parchment. Hermione tucked it to her chest.
"I read it right!" she croaked angrily: "That's just what the parchment said!"
"Then the angel simply isn't Snape," Ron said and raised his shoulders matter of fact. Then he suddenly remembered the charcoal portrait of Snape, where he'd been portrayed with a belly large enough to contain a well-grown piglet, not to say a baby...
"NOOOO," he moaned: "Not Snape?!" To picture Snape pregnant was as to picture his parents having sex, impossible.
"I'm afraid so," Hermione whispered.
[Reviews - 0] [Kudos - 537]
Download story PDF format or ePUB format or MOBI format
Table of Contents
Download story PDF format or ePUB format or MOBI format
Table of Contents