Deeds and their consequences

Chapter twelve: An unlikely ally


“You’re joking, right?”

“Jesus Harry, what are we going to do?” Hermione pulled up a chair and sank down in it. Her shoulders slumped and she let out a sigh.

“When? Or h-how?” Ron stammered.

“I don’t know. Maybe if I come close to it again, the arch will suck me in. Maybe I could just drop dead any second.” At that Ron and Hermione looked at him as if he was about to do just that. “And maybe nothing will happen at all and after I’ve died a natural death my soul would go to the veil.”

“We have to fix this, we have to do something!”

“How? What are we supposed to do Ron?” Hermione’s voice started to shake.

“We’ll think of something. We always do.”

“No Ron, this goes way over our heads. Normally I do research or something, but this…I don’t even have a clue where to start.”

“Can’t we just throw Valerius back into the veil?”

“No, that would get Sirius back there as well! I was prepared to give my life in exchange for his, I still am.”

“Well, what’s the difference for Sirius: being trapped beyond the veil or being trapped inside his own head?”

Ron’s words startled Harry and he had to think about that for a moment. Suddenly his nightmares were all making sense. It all fell into place. They were warnings, prophecies of sorts. Then he came to the solution.

“What we need is an exorcism of sorts. If we somehow extract Valerius’ soul out of Sirius’ body and get it back through the veil before something bad happens to me it just might work.”

“Harry you’re talking about very advanced magic none of us is capable of,” Hermione wasn’t too convinced of his plan.

“Maybe not. But I know someone who is.”

“Who?”

“Someone who knows everything about the dark arts from first hand experience and how to fight them.”

“The DADA teacher?” Hermione didn’t sound too sure.

“No, that guy’s an idiot, probably will be sacked at the end of the year,” Ron dismissed the thought.

“No, I meant Snape,” explained Harry.

“Snape? You can’t be serious, mate! He’ll never help us.”

“It’s not as if we have another choice. Besides, I’m good at persuading people.”

“Since when? Hermione huffed.

“Since I’ve got blackmail.” With that Harry walked out of the room, leaving his friends baffled.

***

The loud banging on his door had awoken the potions master and after shrugging on a dressing gown he yanked the door open, he blinked twice, finding the person he least expected to see standing behind it.

“Potter! What the hell are you doing here at,” he turned to look at the clock, “two in the morning?” His hair stuck out in all directions and he looked generally pissed off.

“I need your help professor, can I come in?” Without waiting for an invitation Harry pushed passed Snape into his champers. The potions master was so surprised by all of this that he momentarily forgot to be angry and gave in to his curiosity instead. He closed the door and walked into the living room which Harry was already passing up and down.

“Sit down boy, for Merlin’s sake before you make a hole in the carpet.” Severus sat down as well and looked quizzically at Harry. “Well, what’s so important that it couldn’t wait until morning and why did you come to me? Normally you’d run to Dumbledore.”

“Normally I would go to him, yes, but I need your special expertise now.”

“You need a potion?” asked Snape unable to hide the disbelief in his voice.

“No, I meant your knowledge of the Dark Arts. I need to perform an exorcism.”

“You need to perform what?”

Harry sight, this was going to be a tough conversation. “Sirius didn’t just come back, I brought him back.”

“Hah! I knew it! I knew you had something to do with that,” Snape exclaimed.

“Well yeah, but something went a little wrong…” Harry then quickly explained Snape all the important facts and what needed to be done. Severus listened to all of it with mild interest and when the young wizard was done, he leaned back in his chair and raised one eyebrow.

“And you think I’m willing to help you, why? I can just go to the Ministry and tell them everything. They’ll have to arrest you for the use of highly dangerous dark magic and Black for being an escaped convict. Or I can wait until you get killed trying to save him and then tell the truth about Black. Either way I get rid of two people I detest.”

“You could do that, but you won’t.” Harry sat back as well and crossed his arms.

“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t do it?” challenged Snape.

“Oh I intend to give you a couple actually. First of all, I know you despise Sirius, but it was Valerius who publicly humiliated you, don’t you want revenge?”

“I will have my revenge when they are both dead.”

“You should know by now I’ll never let that happen. With or without your help I will try all I can to save Sirius, and by that I mean I’ll do anything that’s necessary. When Dumbledore finds out you knew and didn’t help me, you’ll lose your job, but that’s not the least of your worries. If I have to I’ll drag you down with me.”

“Do you think I’m afraid of you?”

“No, but the Malfoys are. I understand you used to be friends with Lucius and his family? How much pain you think Draco can handle, before he dies? And what about Narcissa? Is it really worth it to lose everything you have just to prove your point? Your job, your friends, Dumbledore’s respect? Just now that you are finally free, which is by the way my doing. Should I refresh your memory?”

Harry pointed his wand at Snape and with his other hand easily deflected the curse the man had flung at him. Snape doubled over and grabbed his left arm where he was apparently experiencing pain. Rolling up his sleeve, there it was, the Dark Mark, which had vanished the moment Voldemort was defeated, but now back again. Harry flicked his wand and it was gone.

“You!” Snape was looking at him with pure hatred in his eyes.

Harry sighed. “Look, you can hate me as much as you want, but you will help me. It’s the only thing I will ever ask of you, after that I’m out of your life. I’ll leave Hogwarts and I’ll take Sirius with me. We’ll be off your back forever, just how you want it. Besides, I know this is a challenge for your DADA skills. And have never seen you back down from a challenge, despite what Valerius has said. I know you are not a coward. I’m not doing this to harm you or because I hate you. I just need Sirius back. I’ll do anything you want in return. If you want me to beg you I will, if you want me to die after I know he is save, I’ll take my own life in front of you. Just help me.”

Snape anger was lessening, getting replaced with curiosity again. He knew deep inside that Harry would indeed do what he threatened to do and with his new powers he might as well drag the whole Hogwarts with him. And as much Severus would complain about his job, Hogwarts was still the closest he had to a home and his colleagues the closest thing to friends. The sight of a, for a change, humble Harry was puzzling as well. Severus felt that he was loosing a battle of wills with himself. He was genuinely interested in the situation, this would be a one of a kind test of his abilities. The-boy-who-woudn’t-stop-living was right about one thing: Snape never backed down from a challenge. His curiosity was too great.

“You really care about that loser so much you’d jeopardize your friends?”

Harry nodded.

“Why?”

“I love him. He is the closest thing I have to a family. He went to Azkaban for protecting my parents. He broke out to protect me. He died protecting me. All I know is that I can’t live without him. I just can’t.”

Severus was taken aback by the pure honesty of that statement. For the first time he saw Harry as others saw him: someone willing to fight and die for his believes, for the people he loved. He saw a trace of Lily in those eyes for the first time.

“Alright. I’ll help you, but I can’t guarantee it’ll work, and if it works you’re leaving and take that dog with you.”

Harry’s face lit up, he didn’t expect Snape to give in so easily and he wasn’t all that sure that he actually could force him, despite his threats. He wanted to hug him out of gratitude, but he obviously restrained himself. Harry was afraid that that was one thing that would make Snape Avada Kedavra him.

“I’m going to need more details on that ritual you so foolishly conducted.”

Once Snape’s curiosity was spiked he wanted to get to the bottom of the thing immediately. And so they spent what was left of the night going over facts and details and looking things up in scrolls and books from Snape’s personal collection. This wasn’t going to be a simple exorcism, because it didn’t concern a ghost, but a soul and they had to remove one soul, without harming the other. Harry had been right when he said that Snape might find the case interesting, simply because it would test his knowledge and skill and soon they were busy with the preparations for the ritual, most of the animosity between them forgotten for the time being.

To be continued...