Proof of Life

The End of a Quest



Saturday was almost an exact repeat of Friday. The group ate at High Grounds in the morning, searched the forest until afternoon, had lunch at High Grounds, bought food for dinner, and went back to the forest to continue the search. When night came, they slept together at their makeshift campsite. The stone had still not been found, but Harry forced himself to remain optimistic, and Ginny\'s cheerful attitude appeared to be enough to keep the group going.



On Sunday morning they ate at High Grounds again, and made arrangements with the hostess to open the shop for them in the evening to allow them to Floo back home.



The search continued, but by the afternoon the mood of the entire group had become foul. People were irritated and frustrated with each other. Blaise and Daphne shouted at each other, with Daphne storming off into the woods. George said something nasty to Angelina, who threw a handful of dirt in his face and walked off, moving to work alone in a new square.



They had moved too far away from Aragog\'s lair – and Harry stopped believing that the stone would be found. The others seemed to lose hope as well, and their work had become sloppy and disorganized, earning stern reprimands from Hermione and Ginny alike.



Finally as evening came, they had to concede defeat.



Harry was the one to put it into words. “It\'s not here,” he said.



“We don\'t know that. Maybe we\'ve missed it,” Pansy said a little desperately. “We should come back next weekend and keep looking.”



“We can do that,” Harry said quietly, standing up. “But for now, we should go home.”



They began to hike back to Hogsmeade. Harry cast a cautious glance at Severus, wondering how he was taking the news. The man\'s face remained calm and composed as he continued to walk alongside Harry. If anything, Severus appeared to be a spectator, rather than a participant in events that concerned him directly.



~ * ~



They reached High Grounds, ate together in strained silence, and took the Floo to the Burrow, where everyone sat down together in the large living room. Severus felt remarkably out of place, and took a seat in the corner, avoiding looking at anyone. He didn\'t know what to make of this turn of events. He knew, of course, that something precious and incredibly important had just slipped through his fingers, but he felt surprisingly numb and unconcerned about it. All he wanted at this point was to go home.



Everyone was silent for a long time.



“All right,” Draco said breaking the silence, his voice tight and his eyes not looking at anyone directly. “Any other bright ideas, Potter?”



Harry shook his head. “Not yet,” he admitted.



“I suppose we could go back and keep looking,” Hermione said softly. “Maybe we did miss it.” The desperate lie sounded strange coming out of her mouth.



“It\'s not there and you know it,” Ginny said bluntly. “I think someone else got the stone before we got to it.”



“What I want to know is who,” Marietta said. “Ron, did Percy know we were doing this?”



“Who do you take us for, Edgecombe!” Ron snapped in exasperation. “Of course we didn\'t tell anyone. We didn\'t even tell mum and dad what we were doing.” He glared at her harshly. “Did you tell anyone this time, eh? Your mum still works for the Ministry, doesn\'t she?”



“I don\'t tell her anything,” Marietta said coolly. “If you don\'t believe me, feed me Veritaserum.”



“I believe you,” Hermione said quickly, before she glanced at Draco. “Did you tell your mum? Maybe she\'d mentioned it to someone, innocently, you know?”



Draco shook his head. “I don\'t tell her this sort of stuff, Granger.”



Across the room from him, Lee Jordan was staring at Cho Chang intently. “You said you spoke to Flitwick,” he said with a chilling calm in his voice. “You told him we were going to look for the Resurrection Stone.”



“Yes, but he\'d never..! Lee, you don\'t know him like I do! He believes Professor Snape, he really does. He was the first one to believe Harry\'s story, even before McGonagall and Hagrid!”



“How nice,” Lee said grimly. “And you firecalled him, hmm? Used the good old reliable Floo Network to exchange this sort of information?”



Cho paled slightly and brought her hand to her mouth.



“It didn\'t occur to you that the Network could be monitored by the Ministry?” Lee continued dangerously. “All that time in Dumbledore\'s Army, and you never learned a thing.”



Cho\'s face contorted slightly and her eyes brimmed with tears. “I\'m sorry,” she mumbled quietly, not meeting anyone\'s eyes. “I\'m not used to thinking like this anymore...”



“Like what?” Pansy asked in an icy voice.



“Like we\'re at war,” Cho said dejectedly. “Life seemed just... so normal, that... I didn\'t think...”



“Life seemed normal?” Blaise asked derisively. “What part of it, exactly, seems normal to you, Chang? The Dementors back in action, former Slytherins being persecuted everywhere they dare show their faces, or the Professor, not being able to leave Harry Potter\'s home? Huh? Tell me, what\'s so bloody normal about any of this?”



For a few moments the others looked like they were going to take out their frustrations on Cho, who sat crying quietly, but Harry stood abruptly and put an end to the budding conflict.



“Enough,” he said. “This isn\'t going to help. Go home, everyone. We\'ll talk later.”



His former students began to get up and leave.



Eager to escape the commotion associated with people departing, Severus went to the kitchen and dropped into a chair wearily. To his surprise, Cho followed him there.



“Can I have a word with you, Professor?” she asked uncertainly.



He gave her a quick nod, and she took a deep breath.



“I\'m sorry,” she said in a quiet way, her eyes lifting briefly to dart in his direction. “I really am. I don\'t know how I could have been so careless...”



He shrugged slightly, not knowing what he was supposed to say. In the course of his life he had not had much experience at offering absolution, as people were not in the habit of asking his forgiveness for anything. For that matter, he didn\'t know what it was like to be a recipient of forgiveness granted graciously either. Even Albus Dumbledore himself, the man Severus had come to think of as a friend, had exacted a pound of flesh from him before finally granting his own form of clemency to Severus....



Just as he was about to dismiss Cho\'s request with another one of his silent, impatient shrugs, deciding that the matter was far outside his sphere of experience, a single quick thought crossed his mind. Harry.



Things were different now. Somehow, over the last two months, he\'d begun learning a different kind of language. Harry certainly had both cause and opportunity to exact revenge for the sins of Severus\' past, most of which had directly affected Harry... but Harry seemed uninterested in that sort of thing. He didn\'t rehash the old conflicts. He didn\'t issue warnings. Harry received him into his home without any conditions or apparent reservations. Severus didn\'t quite know what to make of this simple, unconditional acceptance. He only knew his world had changed forever.



He lifted his gaze slowly to realize that Cho was still standing there, clearly waiting for him to say something.



“I\'m sorry,” she said again, a little desperately.



“It\'s all right,” he said awkwardly. “These things happen.” The words of reassurance sounded strange coming out of his mouth. Apparently, it was also the wrong thing to say, because it only made Cho cry harder.



Severus shifted in his chair uncomfortably and cast a longing glance into the living room. Fortunately, Harry came to his rescue, entering the kitchen and resting his hand on Cho\'s shoulder.



“Enough,” Harry said firmly. “You\'ve made a mistake. We\'ll fix it. End of story. Go home.”



Cho sniffled and fled quickly, and Harry shook his head ruefully.



“Are you going to be all right for a few more minutes?” Harry asked. “I just want to say goodnight to Lily. Then we\'ll go home.”



Severus gave another silent nod, and Harry went upstairs.



Left alone, feeling worn out and drained beyond all measure, Severus shifted in his chair again, and rested his elbows on the kitchen table. He must have been even more tired than he\'d realized, because he began to nod off as soon as Harry departed. He didn\'t hear the sound of footsteps, but simply became aware of someone\'s presence nearby.



He opened his eyes with a start, and his gaze focused on Luna\'s silhouette in the kitchen doorway.



“Hey, Professor,” Luna said softly. “I\'m about to go home, too, but I just wanted to tell you you\'re right.”



“Right?” he echoed uncertainly.



“Right not to get upset,” Luna explained serenely. “Everything will be fine. Things are already better than they were two months ago, aren\'t they?”



“Yes,” he agreed cautiously, not certain what she was trying to tell him, but very much wanting to understand.



“Things will keep getting better,” Luna said confidently. “You\'ll keep getting better and stronger. You\'ll start doing magic again, and then, one day, you\'ll conjure your Patronus.” Luna smiled encouragingly at him. “Everything will be fine after that.”



To Be Continued...