The Third Time is a Charm

Posted: 11 February 2010

A/N Sorry for the delay, I wanted to post this yesterday, but fell asleep at the computer so here it is. I want to thank Crapounette for correcting my French in the previous chapter.

Chapter 70 Confrontation with the Headmaster

When Severus and Harry arrived back home, it was to peace and quiet. They were grateful that everything went well while they were gone. Sometimes the constant excitement of things happening around them could be wearing on the nerves.

“I am going!” Harry repeated to his husband later that afternoon when Severus expressed his disapproval of the younger man going to see the Headmaster.

“Harry, please understand. I am worried about what he may do while we are there.” Severus tried to make his lover see reason.

“I am not staying behind. I don’t want you there anymore than you want me there. I am going!” Harry replied.

Salazar and Becca were sitting in the next room at the dining table, listening to the argument for the last half hour, sighing as there seemed to be no end in sight. Not that they were ease dropping, but you couldn’t help but hear the overly loud discussion.

“Do they always do this?” Salazar asked the woman in front of him.

“Sometimes” she answered. “I have seen them go at it for hours, but it seems as if this argument is winding down. Perhaps we could suggest an alternative?”

“And what would that alternative be?” asked Severus as he walked into the room. He was tired of arguing with his new husband and had come in for something to drink. He stepped to the sideboard and poured two glasses of juice for him and Harry. The younger man had followed him into the dining room just at that moment and Severus handed him a glass while taking a sip from his own.

“Well it seems fairly simple to me. You both go but only one of you should be seen.” Becca said with a Cheshire cat smile on her face. “One does the distracting, while the other does the ‘snooping’ in the castle.”

Severus looked thoughtful for a minute and then nodded his head. “It could work Harry. If you go through one of those tunnels or use the invisibility cloak, the Headmaster won’t even see you.”

Harry shook his head in the negative. “It won’t work Sev, he can detect me in the cloak and he would know I was there.”

“Not if we time it right and you mask your magical signature.” Severus responded. “If you take a tunnel and use the cloak at the same time we are meeting with him and following him to the office then he wouldn’t be any the wiser. You and Sal can go into the chamber if you are very careful… No forget that, the bloody snake is still down there. I keep forgetting some things haven’t come to pass yet. Forget it, you are not going.”

It was Salazar that took up the conversation before Harry started his rant again. “Don’t worry about my familiar, Severus. She won’t hurt me and there are areas that she can’t get into if I seal the doors. There are alternate routes to my chambers. We can leave through the outside exit passage after we make sure she is sealed in her nest. I wouldn’t attempt it on the way in, but after I take off the enchantments that Riddle induced I will be able to control her once again.”

“Salazar, I know you want to get to the time mirror, but is it worth the risk?” Severus said. “Harry has to be careful and I don’t want him hurt.”

“Is there a reason Harry has to be careful? Other than the fact that you are newlyweds, extremely overprotective and don’t want anything to happen to him?” Salazar questioned the older man.

“He is pregnant with our second child.” Severus announced to the two unaware people in front of him.

“WHAT?” Becca shouted. “Didn’t he take his potion? I wasn’t expecting something like this. No wonder you don’t want him going to the school.” She glared at Harry for insisting on going into a dangerous place when he was obviously in a delicate condition.

“I did take the potion and it didn’t work. We thought it was all the power surges that keep happening around us. That perhaps it had cancelled out the potion.” Harry retorted.

“What other power surges? Are we speaking as in plural?” Salazar picked up on what Harry had said.

“Well, not like the one at the wedding, that was way super wicked. But there have been a few smaller ones when we were alone.”

“When do these power surges occur? How do they…

“Never mind that” Severus interrupted. He was certainly not going to tell them about their sex life. “There have been a few and Harry is pregnant, that is all anyone needs to know at this time.”

Sal’s eyes grew wide in understanding, and then the amusement set in. He was going to have much ammunition to tease them with in the future. He smirked at Severus and switched back to the original topic of conversation.

“Don’t worry about Harry. He will be with me and will be fine.” Salazar assured the older man. “How do we coordinate this?”

“Harry, didn’t you tell me there was a passage from Honeyduke’s Sweet Shop? Could you and Sal use that to get into the castle?” Severus asked his husband who still had a blush on his cheeks from Sal’s earlier questions about the power surges.

“Yeah, it will take us right into the school and to the one eyed witch on the third floor.”

“How far is the tunnel? Do you know how much time you will need to get through?” Severus asked. He looked like he was calculating in his head. Harry had seen him do this before.

“It took me about an hour the first time, at least it felt like it. The tunnel is large enough for me to walk standing upright. Do you think, perhaps, we could ride a broom to make the trip faster?”

“And let you hit your head? Not a chance.”

“Sev, what if we put a charm on the brooms to not go above a meter? They do that with the baby brooms. If we charmed the broom, we could easily fly down the tunnel.” Harry then turned to look at Sal. “How are you at flying?”

“A meter off the ground? I would say it doesn’t really matter. I couldn’t hurt myself it I fell off.” Of course he didn’t really answer Harry’s question. He would prefer not to fly.

After discussing the details and getting Moony and Reg into the group, they made their plans to go see the headmaster in two days time.

Two days later…

Harry and Salazar used the floo network to go to The Three Broomsticks. They wanted to arrive separately from the other three in case someone noticed them. They nodded to a very young Rosmerta and ordered two butterbeers and sat down as if they had all the time in the world.

In the meantime, three soft pops of apparition could be heard across the street as Severus, Moony and Regulus arrived in Hogsmead for their appointment. As planned they were early so made their way to The Hogs Head to have a drink before going to meet the Headmaster. They went up to the bar and ordered three butterbeers from the man at the bar with a striking resemblance to the old man they were going to meet at the castle. They took their time and finished their drinks before moving out the door.

At the same time, Harry and Sal made their way to the men’s loo so they could put on their cloaks and sneak out of the pub to go to Honeyduke’s without anyone noticing. Since Becca brought a cloak with her and Harry had his they each could go through the crowds without a trace. There would be no magical signature that would be detectable from a concealment spell or a notice me not charm when using the cloaks and a spell to mask their own magic.

Harry kept a good hold on Salazar as they made their way through the throng of people until they were standing in front of the sweet shop. He whispered into Sal’s ear to go straight to the back of the store and down to the cellar. Then he started to make his way through the store to do the same thing. When he reached the cellar and made his way to the secret passage he removed his cloak and waited for Sal to join him. He resized the brooms they were to use as he watched the door open and close with no one there.

“Sal, we need to hurry.” Harry said in a loud whisper. Salazar pulled off the cloak and looked at the younger man.

“Why do I feel like a five year old disobeying his mother? I am a founder of that school and should not have to sneak into it like some recalcitrant child.”

“Don’t worry about it, once we get there and take care of what we need to do, you can walk in bold as you please anytime you want.” Harry smirked at him. He actually thought the founder was getting a little thrill at the excitement of thwarting the headmaster in this way.

“Alright, lead the way Harry.” Salazar said as they started down the stairs.

Harry placed light discs along the way as he and Sal slowly made their way on the brooms. It was like the Chamber of Secrets all over again when he lead the way with Becca and Severus in his own time line.

Severus, Reg, and Moony arrived at the gates of Hogwarts just as the time said it was three in the afternoon. They could see Professor Burbage, the muggle studies professor, there at the gate waiting for them.

Severus was the first to speak, “We are here to see Professor Dumbledore” he stated as they approached the gates.

“Yes, welcome. I am Professor Burbage and am here to escort you to the Headmaster’s office” she said with a smile. The two younger men nodded in her direction but said nothing. They knew who she was, but hadn't taken Muggle Studies so she would not be familiar with them.

As they walked into the school, there were some students milling around but some classes were in session so the halls were sparsely populated. Severus looked around and recognized some of the students standing around the entrance to the Great Hall. Merlin, he thought, was he ever that young?

As they progressed to the Headmaster's office, Professor Burbage kept up a friendly chatter about the school and what they taught there. Severus, who just tuned her out, was looking around to see if he could spot some evidence of Harry and Sal. He could feel his husband was near, but saw no signs of the other two men.

Finally they made it to the Headmaster's office and after Burbage said the password to get past the stone gargoyle, they entered the stairway to ‘the old coot’s’ domain.

Dumbledore had it all planned. He sent the Muggle Studies Professor down to greet the representative from Prince Conglomerate. She was quite a pretty young thing and he just knew that she would charm him and put the man off guard.

Little did he know, but Severus hadn’t even given her a second look. He already knew what she looked like and he wasn’t interested. Why would he when he considered Harry one of the most beautiful creatures to grace the earth? Of course he may be a little biased.

As the Headmaster sat at his chair, it never occurred to him to look out the window and see who came up to the gates. His head was full of plans of how to get the owners of the company to join his ranks and fight for the side of the light. He had heard they were powerful and did not side with Voldemort, so he was sure to get them to see things his way.

When he heard the knock, he noted that his guest was punctual. What he didn’t expect were the other two guests that arrived at the same time.

Dumbledore stood up as he said “Enter” with his most winning smile and twinkling eyes to put the man at ease. When the three entered his office he looked at the younger men and stated, “Mr. Black and Mr. Lupin, I am very surprised to see you here. I was not aware you were coming today, but I already have a scheduled appointment.”

“Yes Headmaster, we know. We are here at his request.” Regulus told the old man. He could see that they had caught ‘the old coot’ off guard and was glad the Severus had asked them to come, if only to see this rare occurrence.

“Mr. Black, I was under the impression that you were going to school somewhere else.” Dumbledore didn’t like this, not one bit. He had wanted to confront the Prince scion alone, not with guests. It was very rude to not let him know that others were coming.

“Greetings Headmaster, I am Severs Masterson Prince, the corporate head of Prince Conglomerate. I hope you don’t mind the extra guests. I have been out of town and we have some business to attend to later. This was more convenient for my schedule” Severus said in his silky tones that were guaranteed to put anyone at ease, except old coots that have an agenda. Dumbledore didn’t look so at ease any more, as if this meeting were suddenly bothering him.

“Please gentlemen, have a seat and we can have some tea. I had the tray for two set up, but let me call a house elf for more.” Just as he was about to shout for the elf, Moony and Regulus declined saying they had just come from a late lunch and would not partake of any refreshments.

Severus had warned the guys not to consume anything from the old man. He had a habit of lacing his tea and candies with calming drafts and Veritserum. It was how he got the kids to tell the truth when problems came up or arguments broke out. It was also how he got personal information about the wealth of families that were represented in the school.

After about fifteen minutes of the ‘small talk’ the old man was famous for, Severus tried to cut the meeting short. He had no patience for this type of prevaricating.

“Headmaster, my time is very valuable and I have many things that need to be done today. Could you please tell me what this meeting is about and why you keep sending parchments requesting my presence?” Severus admonished the old man. If they let Dumbledore have his way, they would be here until dinner and he would ‘ask’ them to join him in the Great Hall.

“Yes, well then, I shall get to the point. I wanted to ask you about your book that you wrote and see if you would consider joining a group of people that are trying to rid the world of a great evil.”

“We have written several books, so you will have to be more specific and I assume from the second part of your statement you are asking us about joining the war.” Severus had to remind himself not to act like his old self and not sneer at the idiot before him. He didn’t want the old man to associate him with the current Severus Snape.

“To put it bluntly, yes, and I was referring to the book about Voldemort.”

While Dumbledore’s focus was on Severus, Regulus rose out of his seat and approached the fire phoenix that was on the perch in the corner of the room. Since Harry was not going to be in the office with them, he made the other three men promise that someone would check on the beautiful bird and make sure it could get away from its perch and was not chained to it as the other Fawkes had been. So Reg saw his opportunity as the Headmaster and Severus were arguing about what the old man wanted from them.

“The book is what it is Headmaster. What do you want to know about it?” Severus answered. It seemed self explanatory to him, what was to explain?

“Where did you get your information?” Dumbledore asked.

“That’s privileged information.”

“Who wrote it?”

“The book had several authors as it was a great amount of information and not collected by one person.” Severus felt confident enough to be able to impart that little bit of explanation of the book.

“Can I assume that one of the writers was a Death Eater?”

“That is privileged information.”

“Are you sure you wouldn’t like some tea?” Dumbledore must be getting desperate to offer a second time.

“No thank you.”

“Was your family close to the author?”

“That’s privileged information.”

“Where did you first start your company?”

“Germany” was all he said, not giving the man any details. He knew the German Minister would back him up.

Dumbledore was getting frustrated. This man was not cooperating at all and he wouldn’t drink his tea either. He wanted to scream and pull out his wand and legilimens him to get his answers. Perhaps he could get away with it if he could get the man to look him in the eyes.

“Professor, if this is just an interrogation then I have to say, we need to be going. I am not in the habit of being questioned about my company’s secrets, nor about my personal life. If there is not anything else you need, then we have come to the conclusion of our visit.” Severus had felt several spells come his way and he was not happy about it. The old coot was trying to get him to talk.

“Wait” the old man said as Severus started to stand up out of his chair. “Would you be willing to join a few others in the fight against Voldemort?” Now he changed the topic of conversation, Severus thought. I wonder what he is up to.

“I really have no intention to get any farther involved, I have a family to protect, as well as many employees.”

“But if you joined us, we could help protect you, your company and your family.” This was always Dumbledore’s trump card that had others falling for his schemes.

“Headmaster, I know you don’t know me but I assure you, I can take care of my family and employees on my own without your help. How would joining your little group benefit me if I gave my pledge of loyalty?”

Aha, the Headmaster thought with the twinkle back in his eyes. The boy is a Slytherin and quite a good one in fact. He would have to give this information a little thought on the best way to approach the man. The fact was he was finally getting a small bit of the knowledge he wanted and now didn’t want the trio to leave. He barely registered that Regulus Black had gone to pet his bird. He was used to people being curious about him. Phoenixes were very rare.

“We would give you backup and pass information on to you from the enemy’s camp. We could be very good allies.” The merry little twinkle changed to a cold steel and determined look. “Think about this Mr. Prince, it would not be a good idea to stay neutral in this war, when you have already waged a battle by printing all their secrets.”

“Why Headmaster” Severus replied to the veiled threat, “what makes you think I printed all of their secrets?” He then stood up and wished Dumbledore a good day, calling his companions to leave with him as he noticed Regulus step away from the phoenix’s perch, signaling that his task was completed.

As they walked out of the castle, there were many students staring at them and a few that you could hear say, “That’s Regulus Black, I thought he was going to school somewhere else?” Another student replied “No, my father said the Dark Lord had him killed for wanting out. He doesn’t look very dead to me.”

They ignored the rest of the speculations and gossip as they walked out the door.