The Iridescent Conclusion

Chapter Eight

The light dimmed and faded as the afternoon slipped into early evening. Within the hospital wing, lamps flared to life automatically to chase away the encroaching darkness. For Snape, though, the darkness was welcome and he wished that the lamp beside him would show something better than Harry’s pale, grey visage.

‘Madam Pomfrey said that he would be okay,’ Draco said beside him, not lifting his eyes from where he gazed at Harry.

On Harry’s other side, Sirius sat, looking equally pale. He looked shaken too, Snape thought absently, and he began to realise that he wasn’t the only man to love this impetuous young man.

‘Of course you’re not,’ Draco looked over at him then, ‘I love Harry too, you know.’

Snape sighed and dropped his chin, staring down at his clasped hands and wishing…just wishing…that Harry would wake up. Halfway through Hogsmeade, he had received an urgent, terrified cry from Draco, telling him that he’d abruptly lost contact with Harry and something bad…something dark…had somehow infiltrated their line of telepathic communication.

And then, Apparating to the bottom of the mountain and running uphill, Snape had felt and heard his lover’s alarmed shout amid a clamour of numbers, equations and fractions. This was followed by the triumphant yell from the one person in this world that could still terrify Severus Snape.

Giving an answering shout to Harry, he then re-doubled his efforts and sprinted over the rough, treacherous ground; hoping and praying that he would get there before Lord Voldemort. He saw the mouth of the cave then and knew, just knew, that Harry was inside. But before he could Apparate to his lover’s side, Harry pulled the shared magical energy towards him and summoned Caramon.

“Harry, WAIT!” Severus hollered, aloud and within his mind, but the young man obviously didn’t hear him. Too caught up in summoning the beast, too focused on defending himself for when the Dark Lord inevitably found him.

‘I see you!’ Snape heard Voldemort shout with obscene glee, ‘You didn’t stray very far, did you, little Harry? Who will reach you first, I wonder? Or shall I maybe send something to intercept dear Severus?’

But in that instant, Snape cared nothing for his former-master’s threat and only pushed harder, desperate to reach Harry, to help him, to keep him from entering into a fight that he couldn’t hope to win…

“Snape,” Sirius said, very softly, “was he…? Did he fight…Voldemort? Did you see him…hear him?” he winced and shrugged, struggling to find the right words.

“I don’t believe Harry engaged the Dark Lord,” Severus replied, looking across the bed at him. “From what I heard, the Dark Lord was about to attack me – to keep me from reaching and defending Harry. I think Harry strove to defend me by sending Caramon, his magic, down the telepathic connection.”

“Fuck,” Sirius whispered, closing his eyes.

“He clearly didn’t realise just what it would do to him,” Remus said, stepping up and resting a hand on Sirius’ shoulder. “Presumably, Voldemort was stopped in his tracks, though, or he would have come to finish him off.”

“Didn’t you teach him?” Sirius demanded quietly. His blue eyes fastened with cold, hard certainty on Severus’ face, “I thought you were teaching him how to use the Dark Arts?”

Snape drew himself up and regarded Sirius with the utmost disdain, “I’ve been teaching Harry and Draco in my limited spare time for just two months,” he said with equal coldness. “There is a limit to how much and how fast you can teach a young man with so much power, knowing that he can flatten this entire castle with one accidental flex of his little finger.”

Sirius opened his mouth, ready to argue, but was silenced as Draco wrote a message for both of them: ‘Stop arguing, both of you! It’s useless, it’s childish and do you really want the first words Harry hears on waking, to be you two bitching at each other? He’ll be fine,’ he wrote then. ‘As Madam Pomfrey stated, Harry is going to be fine!’

“Actually,” Sirius retorted, “she said that she couldn’t find anything wrong with him. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s fine.”

“No but, Siri, Poppy is an excellent medi-witch and she examined Harry very closely…” Remus countered gently. “I’m sure if there was anything wrong, she would find it.”

Even as he spoke so Harry stirred and shifted beneath the bedclothes.

“Sev? Severus?” His eyes opened blearily, blinking and wincing against the light above him.

“I’m here,” Snape started to say but Sirius cut across him.

Reaching out to touch Harry’s shoulder, Sirius said, “Harry? You’re okay. You’re in the hospital wing. You gave us quite a scare,”

But Harry wouldn’t take his eyes off Severus and in a state of fevered desperation, cried, “Voldemort’s coming! We have to stop him – run, Disapparate...God,” he screwed his eyes closed and, for one tense moment, it seemed to Severus that Harry was still living in the moment of danger from before and had no clue that he was now in a hospital bed.

‘Harry,’ he said silently, “my Harry, you’re safe now. It’s all right.’

“Harry?” Sirius said again, speaking quietly and sounding a little less sure.

“Sirius,” Harry breathed, turning to look up at his godfather. He offered a weak smile and shook his head. “What happened?”

“You don’t remember?” Sirius frowned, glancing at the others around the bed.

‘You fought with the Dark Lord,’ Snape said silently, frowning too. If Harry heard him, however, he gave no indication. Instead, he simply looked even more confused and looked from Sirius to Remus for an explanation.

“You – ah – you ran off, Harry,” Remus advised carefully, “and while Professor Snape was coming after you, Voldemort located you and…well, we don’t really know the details.” The former DADA professor glanced at Snape and then looked back at Harry.

Snape, meanwhile, was trying hard to conceal his concern over Harry’s lack of telepathic response. Aware of this and knowing that his guardian couldn’t say or do anything too revealing, Draco spoke to Harry.

‘Hey,’ he murmured and touched Harry’s shoulder, drawing the dark youth’s attention, ‘are you okay?’

‘I’m all right,’ Harry offered a smile. ‘My head hurts and I feel like I’ve been torn into little bits and put back together, but other than that I’m fine.’

‘And your powers?’ Draco pressed, ‘You sent Caramon after the Dark Lord – did it cause any damage?’ There was something…something a little strange about Harry’s telepathic voice. It sounded just the same but…

“No,” Harry said aloud, answering Draco’s question. He then elaborated for those who hadn’t been following the conversation so far, “I can feel Caramon – he’s within reach and everything seems fine.”

So, Snape considered, Harry was willing to communicate with Draco but was still angry with him – despite what had occurred in Hogsmeade. He rolled his eyes and gave a short sigh of irritation.

Perhaps unaware of Severus’ thoughts or perhaps simply ignoring the man, Harry turned his head to offer a weak smile to his godfather.

Reassured, Sirius offered a smile in return and started speaking. “You need to rest – take it easy. You’ve been through so much and no one can blame you for running off like that. Hell, I’d run if I found that I was -” he faltered and cast an awkward glance at Snape. “I mean, I understand you needed someone – someone to turn to, who could protect and understand you. Well, anyway,” he glanced down at the bedspread, “take it easy and we’ll talk soon, I guess.”

Severus, meanwhile, was too astonished to either move or respond. Black had clearly bought the schoolboy crush story but did he really think that he could just pat his godson on the head and it would all be all right?

Before he could draw his wits about him, however, Madam Pomfrey appeared beside them and favoured Harry with a warm smile before summoning Sirius, Remus and Snape into her office.

‘My Harry,’ Severus sent the thought out as he walked away, ‘I’ll be back soon. We need to talk.’

No answer came back to him, though.

*~*~*

Alison moved with hurried footsteps, collecting her long cloak and gloves from behind the door whilst taking to her brother and sister-in-law.

“I’ll probably stay up in Scotland tonight,” she explained. “I can’t Apparate with Oscar anyway and it’s going to be so late for him…”

“Professor Dumbledore will put you up in one of the guest rooms,” Jenna nodded. She looked across at Daniel and gave a wan little smile. Her ex-husband was still dreadfully pale after the shock of losing Thomas. “We’ll be fine.” She added, wondering how much of that was true.

“He didn’t give me any details but said that there had been some kind of incident,” Alison said, pulling on her gloves and shaking her hair free of her collar. “It must be something fairly major though for him to want me to fetch Oscar right away, don’t you think?”

Again, Jenna nodded. “It’s not as if Oscar’s any trouble.”

“So we’ll see you tomorrow then?” Daniel asked, speaking for the first time in hours.

Alison offered as bright a smile as she could manage and moved to kiss him on the cheek. Perhaps having their nephew around the house would draw Dan out of himself a bit. The gods knew, he’d barely said more than half a dozen words in a row since arriving the other evening. And he’d still flatly refused to speak of where he’d been over Christmas.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she confirmed. “Help yourselves to absolutely anything. You know where everything is. Bye!”

*~*~*

“Physically, there’s nothing wrong with him that a good night’s sleep and some food won’t sort out,” Madam Pomfrey stated calmly, speaking to the collection of concerned gentlemen currently crowding her small office.

Dumbledore sat in the chair opposite her desk while Sirius and Remus leaned against the wall. Snape hovered in the doorway, casting frequent glances to where his ward remained by Harry’s side. Harry was sleeping again, curled on his side with one hand beneath his pale cheek.

Harry’s telepathic silence had unsettled Snape – more so because he was quite happy to talk with Draco – and this incited a little curl of jealousy that he was acutely ashamed of. And this, in turn, stirred the man’s legendary ill temper. Of course, it wasn’t Draco’s fault and nor could he blame Harry for not wanting to speak with him and yet…

And yet, Harry had tried to save his life and immediately after coming to, he’d been convinced that he still had to protect him. So what did that mean?

“So, when Harry cast his magic down the telepathic connection…” Sirius began, drawing Snape’s attention once more.

“He merely expended more than his body could copy with,” Madam Pomfrey shook her head. “There should be no lasting damage.”

“So what now?” Remus asked, glancing briefly at Snape and then looking at Dumbledore.

“Well, as Poppy has said, Harry should spend tonight here in the hospital wing. Then, at some point tomorrow, we’ll look to moving him back into his old room in Gryffindor tower.”

“And Harry knows about this plan?” Sirius asked, looking at the Headmaster, “And he’s happy?”

“No,” Snape interjected before Dumbledore could respond, “Harry’s earlier departure was primarily owing to the news that he could no longer share my quarters. But then,” he allowed his lip to curl contemptuously, “I fail to see why you should be concerned, Black. After all, Harry’s removal is according to your wishes, is it not?”

“I daresay you’re not too enamoured with the idea either, Snape.” Sirius growled. “Harry might have been infatuated with you but I bet you didn’t do much to dissuade him! And just why, while we’re on the subject, does my godson refer to you as ‘Severus’?” he demanded with a little sneer.

“As my ward, Draco calls me by my given name,” Snape shrugged elegantly, “I suppose Harry simply picked up on it.”

“And you, in turn, call him ‘Harry’.” Sirius retorted bleakly.

“Would you rather I went back to calling him ‘Potter’?”

“I think I’d rather you didn’t call him anything,” Sirius barked, his eyes dark and every bit as angry as Snape’s.

“Gentlemen,” Madam Pomfrey reprimanded sharply, “this is a hospital wing and that young man out there has been through a very serious ordeal. Yes, he will recover,” she said in response to the look on Sirius’ face, “but only if he has peace and quiet. Right now, I really don’t believe he needs to have his nearest and dearest bickering over him. So, if you’ll all give me some space, I’d like to return to caring for my patient.”

“Yes, Poppy.” Dumbledore replied, looking every bit as cowed as Sirius and Remus. Severus felt the rebuke but showed none of the remorse he felt within. He sighed and looked once more to where Draco was ostentatiously stroking Harry’s face; no doubt aware that they were all about to step back into the ward and wanting to keep up the earlier pretence that he and Harry were more than friends.

‘You’re going to break his heart,’ Draco murmured, having shared his thoughts and realising just what the Potions master was about to do next. He looked up then and met Severus’ eyes.

‘Then you must hold it all together for me,’ Sev replied with an inward twinge of guilt and pain. ‘It has to be done and it has to be done soon.’

Any response that Draco might have made to that was halted as Dumbledore stepped past Snape and headed across to check on Harry.

“I daresay you were extremely worried,” he said with a gentle smile at Draco. “If you like, I’m sure Madam Pomfrey would let you sleep in the bed next to Harry’s.

Madam Pomfrey muttered something along the lines of “Not a youth hostel” but offered a weak smile when Dumbledore turned to look at her.

“Good lad,” Sirius said quietly to Draco as he passed, “you stay with him. I’m sure he’ll realise that you’re the one for him. He just needs to get…certain people,” he glowered at Snape, “out of his system.”

Draco of course could make no verbal response but didn’t even bother to write anything either. Instead, he rolled his eyes at Severus and looked down into Harry’s sleeping face.

“Now,” Dumbledore began, herding Sirius and Remus towards the double doors, “I think our other guest should be here by now. Shall we go up to my office to meet her? I’m sure Oscar will be happy to be reunited with his aunt.”

*~*~*

Bombarded by an onslaught of conflicting emotions, Sirius was unprepared for the rush of dismay and poignant loss on seeing Oscar reunited with his aunt. Without a single backward glance, the small boy had made his way immediately into Alison Litworth’s arms, almost before Dumbledore had finished making his introductions.

Sirius sighed and turned to look out of the window at the early evening light, only to find himself looking straight at Remus. It was no surprise really, to find his own emotions mirrored on his lover’s face and, for a moment, they exchanged a look of shared pain.

“I want to thank you,” Alison said then, looking strangely shy for some reason. “You’ve obviously looked after him very well.”

“Our pleasure,” Remus replied in his soft voice. He smiled at Oscar then and sighed a little.

“We knew your brother,” Sirius stated then, shifting a little and looking down at the carpet. “He was a good man.”

“Yes, he was.” Alison nodded, raising her chin with an air of almost-defiance. She looked as if she might have said something more but Oscar, perhaps prompted by the reunion with his aunt, interrupted.

“Where’s Daddy?”

For a moment that seemed to drag on into hours, the four adults froze in silence. Alison swallowed painfully and took a seat, as offered by Dumbledore.

“Er…” she frowned, looking pained, “Daddy’s gone, honey.”

The little boy frowned too, looking grumpy and upset. He picked disconsolately at Alison’s robes and mumbled something.

“What was that?” she asked gently, giving him a little jog up and down to get his attention.

“Want Si-wi,” Oscar murmured, a fraction louder but still staring at the front of his aunt’s robe.

Alison looked momentarily confused and then embarrassed as she realised what Oscar meant. “Um…” she looked helplessly at Sirius and blushed.

Feeling an entirely different mix of emotions, Sirius smiled slightly and stepped forward. “You’re going home, Oscar.” He said reasonably. “You’re going to stay with your Auntie Alison -”

“No!” Oscar retorted loudly, “Want Si-wi! Want Si-wi now!” He squirmed then, thrashing in Alison’s arms until she was forced to let him slide off her lap and immediately, he wrapped his little arms around Sirius’ long legs.

“He really seems to have grown quite fond of you, Sirius,” Dumbledore offered a smile. The smile widened as Sirius resigned himself to scooping Oscar up into his arms for a cuddle. “I was thinking that you, Remus and Miss Litworth should get to know each other better in any case and it seems that Oscar would prefer you to remain a constant figure in his young life.”

Alison lifted troubled eyes to the Headmaster then and frowned, even as Remus gave him a particularly searching stare.

“Miss Litworth – may I call you Alison? Thank you. Alison has been conducting some covert work for the Minister of Magic.” As she opened her mouth to strongly protest, Dumbledore went on, “Hear me out, Alison. After all, you’re not the only one with secrets to protect. Sirius, as your no doubt aware, is believed to be dead and gone.”

Alison nodded, looking a little uncertain and then flashed Sirius another swift, shy smile. At that point, he got a sudden idea of why she might be so shy and made a point of looking at Remus.

“And Sirius and Remus,” Dumbledore continued, “have done some similar work for me in the past. Having spoken with the Minister, I think it would be a good idea if the three of you pooled resources.” He favoured her with a rather piercing blue-eyed gaze then, “And, quite frankly, Alison, your spy work couldn’t continue for much longer without detection. Even those of low rank – the likes of Rabastan Lestrange – attract the attentions of Lord Voldemort. And considering that, thanks to you, Lucius Malfoy’s plan to attack Sirius, Remus and Oscar in London this morning -”

“What?” Alison’s head snapped up and she stared at the Headmaster in utter shock. She looked quickly then at Sirius and Remus before paling as she considered her nephew. “I…I had no idea…When I followed Lucius’ tracking spell with Rabastan, I had no idea that…that…”

She started to shake and, handing Oscar to Remus, Sirius hurried across to take the seat beside her.

“You couldn’t know,” he soothed and reached out to hesitantly take her hands. “But, as I understand it,” he glanced at Dumbledore, “your report to Fudge saved our lives.”

Alison shook her head, “My own nephew. My own nephew and I was just there – standing outside the house with that…that…” Her hands closed into angry fists and her nails dug painfully into her palms.

“Albus is right,” Sirius said then, “you couldn’t continue alone for much longer. You need someone to watch your tail, to know where you are and what you’re doing. Rabastan is a vicious little rat at the best of times!”

“I can’t stop now, though,” Alison shook her head. At Dumbledore’s move to argue, she shook her head, “No, hear me out! If anyone suspected me of treachery I’d already be dead. And you need someone on the inside! Getting into that network is nigh on impossible but I did it and Rabastan trusts me.”

From across the room, Remus was watching her with a shrewd expression. “He has a personal interest in you, doesn’t he?”

At once, Alison dropped her gaze to the floor as she struggled to hide her embarrassment. “He’s made…one or two comments,” she said quietly and then looked up at them, “but I’ve managed to avoid any of his more…persistent…advances.”

“That won’t last for long,” Sirius shook his head grimly. “If Rabastan’s anything like his brother…” he paused for a moment and then shrugged. “Well my cousin, Bellatrix, appeared to thrive on the rough treatment but I doubt if you’d have quite the same taste.” He said, making a face.

Alison stared at him with wide, frightened eyes for a moment but then straightened in her chair and lifted her chin in a defiant gesture, “I should still remain as a spy.” She said firmly. “I’ll report to you, sir,” she looked to Dumbledore, “and I’ll keep you informed as much as I can, but I’ll stay as I am. You need me,” she said softly, “especially as Severus Snape has been exposed as a spy.”

There was a collective inhalation as her decision sank in and the silence was broken only by a fractious note of discontentment from Oscar.

“He’s tired,” Alison said, changing the subject. She stood and moved to take Oscar into her arms.

The little boy gave an indignant squeak however and pressed into Remus’ chest. He was quite clearly not keen on going with his aunt.

“As I was going to say,” Dumbledore began, “if you, Alison, were to work more closely with Sirius and Remus, then you could perhaps live closer to them and…” he paused for a moment, “share the responsibility of caring for our young friend here?”

Oscar, aware of the Headmaster’s fond gaze, stopped whinging and turned to fix the old man with innocent hazel eyes.

“I…” Alison started to shake her head, looking uncertain, “I’m not sure. I’m afraid I can’t make that kind of decision just like that. With Thomas…and the funeral…I…” she shook her head, looking anguished for a moment.

“It’s okay,” Remus soothed, gathering Oscar and standing up. He moved towards Alison and smiled reassuringly at Oscar. “Take him home with you now and think about it. We’d be happy to work with you – in any way you prefer. Just,” he paused, frowning and looking pained, “keep in touch, okay? We’ve grown very fond of him.”

“As we did Thomas,” Sirius interjected softly and stepped forward too to say farewell to the little boy and his aunt. “Would it be okay for us to attend the funeral?”

Alison’s response was with a smile, a nod and a couple of tears.