The Third Time is a Charm

Chapter 28: On a Mission or Two

At breakfast, after another session of sexual calisthenics, Severus and Harry were discussing the previous day’s activities. There were a few questions they had about the attack, and they wanted to ask Becca about some of the details. Everything happened so fast that they weren’t even sure who cast the shield. Of course they remembered casting the Protego, but they didn’t know if Becca cast a different shield. They both turned to the doorway as Becca shuffled in, bleary eyed, holding a small plate of half eaten biscuit. They smiled at her and Harry greeted her.

“Good morning, sleepy eyes. How are you feeling today?” He smirked at her glare as she sat down heavily into the chair and muttered.

“Humph.”

Severus wasn’t amused however; he looked at her searchingly and asked, “How are you after yesterday’s attack? They didn’t hit you with anything, did they?”

“I think they did,” Becca replied to the older man, “but it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. Nothing can penetrate my cloak, not even a severing charm.” Becca really didn’t want to talk about it. She had a nasty bout of morning sickness earlier and was just able to get up and move around after Kreacher brought her some tea and plain biscuits.

Severus was remembering the cloak she had on yesterday. It was a beautiful shimmery royal blue color that reached just a few inches from the ground. He hadn’t really paid much attention to it other than to think it suited her.

“What makes the cloak so impenetrable? I didn’t notice it had protection charms on it.” Harry asked a little puzzled.

“Do you remember, in the chamber, my telling you about a cloak I had? We were picking up the basilisk skins that had been shed. I told you that we could make clothing and footwear out of them?”

Harry nodded, remembering the conversation and his comment about wasting potions ingredients on clothing.

“My hat, boots and gloves were also made of the same material. So were your coats.” Becca informed them grumpily.

Severus could see that the young woman was not in the mood for a lengthy discussion so he cut the conversation short by saying, “Then we have you to thank for helping to protect us. I never realized you could make clothing with the skins like that. I didn’t know that was why you were collecting all those sheddings.”

“I wasn’t the one who invented the idea. It was Harry and Madam Malkin’s future niece and long before I was born. But you are quite welcome for the protection.” Becca tried to sound gracious but it wasn’t coming across very well.

Severus stood up and came over to the side of Becca’s chair. He stooped so he could look her eye to eye as she was sitting down and said, “You don’t seem to be all that well this morning, maybe you should have a good lie in. We can handle anything that may come up and will call you if we need you.”

“Yeah, I was kind of sick this morning. I think I will go do that. Could you have Cook Caddy bring me some more chamomile tea?”

“I think we can manage that.” Severus replied as he took her hand and helped her out of the chair. He watched as she shuffled off back to her bedroom, then he turned to Harry.

“I think I should call Doc and see if he has some time to come and check on her.”

Harry, who had been worriedly watching this whole scene, nodded his agreement and went to the kitchens to talk to the cook elf while Severus used the mini floo to call Doc.

Later that afternoon Becca had been declared healthy, and was told that she had suffered no ill effects from yesterday’s excursion. So now they were strategizing while at the pool side relaxing; it was much better than the war room.

Since no one would know Hedwig they decided that she would be the best owl to send a message to Remus. They were taking a chance and sending a portkey so that he could arrive in the first level reception area to what Becca called the filtering room. They still had to take precautions and could not risk anyone coming along for the ride or someone coming in his place if his mail was intercepted. It wasn’t like this Remus knew how to decipher a coded message from Harry in this time.

With Regulus, that was a different story, in this case they had to make a personal appearance. Harry was sitting, listening to Becca and Severus argue about who was going to the cave and what could be done. He had his feet in the water and was lying on the floor leaning back on his elbows with his head back and his eyes closed. He could get used to this; it was so relaxing with the artificial sun beating down on his body. The pool was surrounded by three walls with murals of different beach scenes and the palm trees were gently swaying in the breeze. It gave you the feeling of being right on the beach except the water was heated to just the right temperature, there was no sand to get in places you didn’t want it to, and you didn’t have to worry about stepping on the water wildlife or seashells. Harry lazily interrupted their heated discussion and said, “Too bad we can’t imperio one of the inferi and make THEM drink it.”

Severus and Becca quit arguing and jerked their heads in the direction of Harry, who was still lounging on the floor with his legs dangling in the water. “What did you say, Harry?” Severus asked.

“I said it’s too bad we can’t just imperio one of the inferi in the water and make them drink what ever concoction that idiot put into the bowl.” He repeated lazily.

“Harry, how do you know there are inferi in the water?” Severus hadn’t even considered that inferi were what attacked Kreacher and Regulus. Kreacher had only said they were attacked but he didn’t know by whom.

“It’s in the second timeline information. I, or one of the other Harrys, was horcrux hunting and when he and Dumbledore found the cave they tried to obtain the locket that was turned into a horcrux. Regulus had already been there and was killed years earlier before I was born but they didn’t know that. Dumbledore drank the potion and Harry took the locket. They were attacked by inferi from the water in the lake surrounding a small island in the middle of the cave. Dumbledore used a fire out of his wand to beat them back and they got in the boat and left.”

“Harry?” Severus was saying.

“Yeah?” Harry didn’t move from his position.

“That’s a great idea. It is possible to imperio an inferi. We just need enough power to override Voldemort’s spells.”

Becca interrupted the two men. “You CAN override Voldemort’s spells. The parsletongue is a magic all its own and all you have to do is speak what you want in parsletongue. That’s why those that speak it are presumed to have so much power. It’s more of a mind magic and not a spell dependent on wand movement. Voldemort was actually very simplistic in his parsletongue magic; he didn’t think anyone else could speak it so he never made it complicated. We can work on some today if you wish, but as Harry is more familiar with it, I suggest both of you go. Together you can create enough power to undo anything Voldemort came up with and get Regulus out of there, but know this;” Becca admonished, “it will be dangerous no matter what precautions you take.”

Severus thought about this for a minute and called, “Kreacher!” The little elf popped into the room, bowing and answering with his solemn “Yes, Master Severus?”

“Can you get us into that cave or is it warded against intrusions.”

“Sir?”

“The cave where Regulus was attacked by the inferi, can you get us in that cave at the same time he arrives there?”

Kreacher stared at Severus for a minute, shook his head as if clearing away the cobwebs in his brain and finally answered him, “Yes, Master Severus.” The elf was standing straighter and had a look of elation on his face. “It was early tomorrow morning at six o’clock. We went to the cave before anyone else was awake and Master Regulus drank the poison and gave me the locket to destroy. But Kreacher could not destroy it. Kreacher failed until Mistress Becca came and destroyed the one I had. Now there is another one and Master Regulus will die again and the other Kreacher will not be able to destroy it.” His face went from elation to down cast in the matter of a few sentences.

“Don’t worry Kreacher, we will be able to change what happened and save your Master Regulus. At least we are gong to try.” Severus promised the strange elf, amused over the use of present and future tense in his statements.

They made plans to leave at half past five to go to the cave. They would have Kreacher take them there, wait for Regulus and use the inferi as Harry had suggested. When all the details were set, Severus practiced the parsletongue words for imperio, fire and a few others, so they could defend themselves against a whole lake of the animated dead corpses.

The next thing was the werewolf’s cure. Severus had gotten up very early that morning and found the potions lab with a little help from an elf who called himself Assistant Biddy. He had yet to ask Becca about that title thing, but put it off till later. He spent a few hours brewing the solution and there were now twenty doses ready for consumption. When he returned to the bedroom, his young lover was still sleeping curled around a pillow. Severus had slowly climbed back into the bed and Harry was none the wiser. Severus wanted to surprise him so this had worked out better than he had hoped.

Later as Harry and Becca fell asleep by the pool, he went to find Hedwig and explained to her what he wanted to do. She hooted at him softly and gave his finger an affectionate peck as Severus tied the note and portkey to her leg for Remus. Hedwig took off through a special chute that went to the outside.

The next morning Kreacher woke Severus and Harry at half past four and the two reluctantly got up and went through their morning ablutions and sat down in the dining room for a brief breakfast of tea and toast. They discussed again what they needed to do and what they would do with Regulus after they saved him. It would not be safe for him if the other Death Eaters had even a hint of what he was doing.

When they got to the cave, Regulus was already inside and making his way to the boat. Harry and Severus tried to stop him and were almost hexed for their trouble until Regulus got a glimpse of Kreacher standing behind them. He did a double take with his own Kreacher already in the boat and started to listen to what they were trying to tell him.

“Regulus, we are here to help, not try to stop you. Look at me; do I remind you of someone?” Severus asked. He was hoping that Regulus would recognize him on his own so he could explain and they could continue to try for the horcrux. Regulus looked at Severus for several minutes and finally answered the question.

“You look like an older Severus Snape, but his father is a muggle so I know you can’t be him and he has no other siblings, so who are you?”

“I am an older Severus Snape. Regulus, I have traveled back in time to help end this war. We don’t have time to go into detail, but just to let you know, you die in this cave and we want to change that. We want to imperio one of the inferi to drink the potion while Harry, you and I use a fire and light spell to keep the rest of them back; this lake is full of them.” He watched as the young man’s face when stalk white. “If we get out of here alive, we have a safe place to bring you so we can explain further.”


Regulus nodded his head and then asked, “How are we all going to get across the water, only two can fit into that boat.”

Harry at this point pulled out his Firebolt and said, “We fly right over the water, but first…” Harry raised his hand to the lake and hissed “finite” Then Harry straddled his broom and kicked off the ground. “Alright everyone, we are ready to cross the lake. Regulus, you take the boat with both Kreachers. Sev and I will fly across and meet you at the bowl.”

But Regulus was not quite listening. He was looking at Harry with fear and horror in his eyes. He heard the parsletongue and couldn’t believe that the Dark Lord had found him out and was doing this to him. He knew he was going to die. This whole thing was a trick of some kind. Only the Dark Lord could speak in parsletongue.

Severus saw Reg’s face blanch when Harry started speaking to the lake and could guess what he was thinking. “Reg, you need to calm down. We really are here to help just ask Kreacher. Command him to tell the truth and I will do the same. You can believe him.” Severus then commanded the elf and he heard Regulus do the same.

“This Kreacher be telling the truth and asked these new Masters to help. This Kreacher saw you die Master Regulus, didn’t want it to happen again.”

“Kreacher, how did these two men become your Masters? You are the Black elf, not a Snape elf.”

“Kreacher still being the Black elf protects Lord Black he does. Harry Potter is now Lord Black in the other time.”

“I’ve never heard of Harry Potter. Is he related to James Potter?”

“Yes, but we have to leave the explanations for now. The more time we spend in here the longer we are exposed to possible attack.” So the three adults and two elves made their way across the lake. Severus touched the water as Harry and Regulus stood with their wands ready to create a fire. The inferi started to rise up as Severus hissed “imperio” and pointed his wand at one of the living dead. The corpse immediately stood at attention and Severus was able to get it near to the bowl of poison. He forced serving after serving of the potion down the throat of the dead body until he got at the end and saw the locket.

“Regulus, do you have the other locket that you were going to replace this one with? We should stick to the original plan as much as possible, without your death of course.” Regulus threw him the other locket while keeping up the wand fire to keep the other inferi back. When Severus was finished he pushed the imperio-ed inferi back into the water, then he got out his wand to help Harry and Reg hold back Voldemort’s army of the dead.

Harry had another idea but it was a risk, he grabbed Severus’ hand and said, “Sev, on the count of three, switch to lumos maxima!” Severus nodded his head and at Harry’s count, they switch to the new spell while holding onto each other as they had done before. It was like turning on the sun the spell was so strong. All the inferi were driven back deep into the lake water where the light could not reach. They waited till Regulus and the two Kreachers were on dry land then both got on the broom still holding the light and reached Regulus without harm.

“Yes, we did it!” Harry shouted then addressed Regulus. “Now we need to do something else before we leave. Regulus, I don’t know if you are aware of it, but Tommy can track you through the mark. If we leave here, it is possible for him to find you even before we get you to a safe place. I want to remove the mark from your arm so that he can no longer feel or steal you’re magic. Will you let me do this?”

“Who’s Tommy?” The younger Black brother asked in puzzlement.

“Your leader of the dark; Tom Marvolo Riddle aka Lord Voldemort.”

Regulus’ eyebrows shot up at that remark but then he said, “The dark mark cannot be removed, we all know that. I will have to take my chances, but I don’t want to put you in further danger. Somehow I get the feeling that there is a lot more to this story than I could possibly imagine.”

“Possibly, but I was serious about the mark. I need to remove it.”

“Will it hurt?” Regulus asked with some trepidation, imagining having to cut off his arm.

“It will hurt a little; mine did, but not as bad as it did to get it in the first place.” Severus joined into the conversation. With this revelation Severus rolled up his sleeve and showed his unblemished pale skin on his left arm.

“Wow, I never dreamed that could be done. Alright I am ready, have been ready since I got the damn thing and then realized the man was a fraud.”

Harry held Regulus’ arm and started to hiss “You have to leave; you are a squatter and no longer wanted. You trespass on this property under lies and pretences of the one who created you. You must go now.” Regulus watched as the mark hissed and seemed to answer back to Harry. “I was wanted and was welcome when I was created. I don’t have to leave.” Harry was persistent, as Becca had told him to be and stated, “You were wanted by the belief of lies and are no longer welcome, magic holds best in the truth. You must leave.” The mark suddenly started to blur as if breaking up and with a hiss it became a black cloud above the arm and left.

Regulus sat down on the rock and cried.

Harry and Severus knew what a relief it was to be free of the monster that made their lives miserable so they left Regulus to himself for a few minutes while they destroyed the locket. Harry had brought one of the basilisk teeth from the chamber. Soon though, they had to get out of there. They pulled out the scarf that was a portkey and handed Reg a corner to hold on to. Kreacher said he could pop home with the other Kreacher but Harry admonished him to go to the first level reception room, not the main house. Kreacher nodded and popped away holding the hand of Reg’s identical but younger elf.

They arrived at the Prince safe house, and as usual, Harry nearly fell flat on his face before Severus grabbed his shirt to keep him upright. The Kreachers arrived right at the same time and Severus also noticed a table in the room filled with all kinds of breakfast foods and the ever present teapot filled with the fragrant brew.

“Regulus Black, before we proceed any further, I must ask for a wizard’s oath that you will not reveal anything you are about to hear, nor anything you see here in this facility.” Regulus took out his wand and made the oath, adding to not reveal anything of what transpired earlier either.

With the oath in place and a table full of food they began to eat and try to bring Reg up to speed. They did not tell him everything, but he seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when he heard they were not following Dumbledore. Then he spoke of his own observations about the eccentric headmaster.

Kreacher the younger was still in the room and he looked to his Master. “What would Master have Kreacher do?” Regulus had forgotten about the elf momentarily and could not decide what he should do with the little being. He turned to Severus and lifted a brow as if to say ‘What do you think’?

Severus picking up on the facial expression said, “You will have to go back to Grimmauld Place and not tell anyone where you have been or what we were doing. We have stopped Regulus from dying but if other people know he is here, other events may not occur. We need to be able to anticipate the reactions of others and other events. Your master will have to hide for awhile until it is safer for him. Don’t worry, Kreacher, it will not be that long. You are an important part in saving our world.”

At this statement, Kreacher stood a little straighter and looked to his master for final instructions. Reg looked on him fondly and told him, “Everything he has said is true, you must go back to Grimmauld and I forbid you from telling anyone what has happened today. You may tell my mother that I am safe, but you can’t tell where. Say nothing more except ‘this is a Slytherin matter’. She will understand what that means and will keep the secret that I am alive.”

The little elf bowed his head and answered his master. “I understand and will obey master. I will keep your secret but your absence will be noticed from the house.” Then with that last comment, the elf popped home.

Regulus Black was sitting in front of the other two men that were snuggled up together while the younger one slept in his mate’s lap.

It was good to be alive.

A/N Thank you to all those who reviewed since my last update. Here is another chapter early because I am now at over 5500 hits and you guys are so wonderful to read my story.
Thank you to Sandra, qwerty, momoko and tamikolee for reviewing.