A Dark Time For The Light

82

If falling asleep was bliss, for any and all, then the awakening wasn’t so much fun at all. Headaches ruled. They had to be cured by Mundane methods. Three ibuprofen with two pints of water, at least, then the throbbing at least receded far enough to be ignored. The only people not inflicted with spare folk were the celebrants. Everyone else was making strong coffee for their guests and fed them painkillers. Everyone agreed that this was the best wedding they had attended.

The next week was business as usual for everyone save the newly-weds. Severus was on his Whitsun break so he and Remus travelled to the south coast for a few days holiday, getting some sea air into smog-filled lungs and enjoying some peace and quiet and a sweet sexy time together until the next round of Remus’ treatment brought them home with heavy hearts. Severus dropped his beloved at the hospital, installed him in his usual room, kissed him and with a “See you later”, he left.

He made straight for the Bunker, parking the bike and unlocking the door. The weather was unseasonably warm and he loved the blast of coolness that hit his face as he descended the stairs. It was reminiscent of going into the Dungeons at School accompanied by the same feeling of relief as at the end of a trying day of attempting to instil Potions lore into numbskulls.

He tore off his leather jacket and piled it in a corner with his helmet, then removed his riding boots with a sigh. If he shut his eyes, he could imagine himself dropping onto his old sofa in his rooms at Hogwarts. About now, he would pad over to his sideboard in bare feet and pour the first of two large single malts to savour, the first always enjoyed sitting back and letting his mind roam. Getting up to pour the second and then he would steer over to his desk with the inevitable two or three hours of marking and administration that he had to attend to.

His reverie was broken by the sound of the intercom. Minerva had arrived. Hot on her heels came Harry with Alice on the back of his bike. Today’s session was just for the four of them. Sometime during the week, Severus had received a call from Alice, “Severus, I think it’s about time we investigated this Legilimency thing. You said you want to test me and I’ve had a think about it and will agree to it so long as I’m not forced to reveal too much. I’d prefer it if the youngsters were not there, well, maybe Harry, but I’d rather this was all grown-ups if possible”. He’d readily agreed to her conditions and they had set a time to meet.

Minerva was fascinated by this woman in a way she couldn’t fathom. She’d heard rumours when the Kilmarnock youngsters had stayed in the Guest House, something about this woman liking the latest ‘crop’ amidst giggles and billows of pungent smoke at the wedding bash, not to mention the other drugs that everyone had inhaled, then the generous donations of books that had been coming their way. She had apparently added an extra line to her ad in the local paper, ‘Magical texts wanted: any topic’, and had sifted through the chaff to get to the wheat. She was turning up several things including what looked like a pile of stuff looted or stolen from Hogwarts itself. Just two boxes, most of which had been originally housed in the Restricted Section.

Before they started the session Alice invited them into her Bunker for tea. Harry was most surprised to see that the bookcases that normally stuck into the room were now folded flat against the wall covering the wall shelves and that the desks had been pushed to one side as well, leaving a large empty space in the middle of the room. Harry detected an odour like spent fireworks in the room, as if several boxes of matches had all set alight at once. He quirked a brow at his host and she smiled, murmuring, “Target practice. I can’t be heard down here. I meant what I said about teaching you. I have extra ear-protectors, Tony comes down here with me sometimes, he’s ex-Army and is a blistering shot”.

As she only had her computer chair and a couple of rickety foldaway wooden garden seats, she laid three books from her ‘pulp’ box on the floor and with a by-now accomplished flick of her wand turned them into comfy armchairs for her guests. Minerva applauded, “You really have come on. You have learned more in a few months than some of my leaving groups at School. Well done”. Alice blushed and thanked her as she busied herself making the tea. She was showing off a bit but she was glad the spell had worked, she would have been mortified if the books had turned into cockroaches as they had the first time she’d tried it. She handed them a mug each, “Here you go, Harry, dishwater, just how you like it”, then served the others.

As they talked, she could feel Severus gently probe her mind and she broke off her conversation with Minerva to shoot him an amused glance as she snapped her shields shut, “Think you can get me like that, huh?. No chance. Get me distracted and then have a fiddle about in my head?. You’ll have to try harder than that”. She stood and faced the three of them, “I believe you should be able to do this on demand, so,” she pointed her wand at them and in a flash intoned, “Legilimens!!!”.

She had three very powerful Magicals all scrambling to erect their shields and failing to put up much of a barrier before she was ruthlessly sorting through their heads. This time she showed not the slightest inclination to pass out. Severus shut her out the most but he had to screw up his face and shut his eyes to do so. Harry was next, but his shields were weaker and she soon shredded them. It was obvious that Severus had been doing some work on his shields, but when she turned to Minerva, she got a shock. Although she took longer to build her shields, her mind was tightly snapped shut, no more than superficial fluff left on show. Alice half-bowed her head, a small smile on her face, “You’re good. Are you as good a Legilimens, only I think my problem is keeping my shields in place for long enough”.

Severus looked genuinely surprised at his ex-colleague, “I knew nothing of this Minerva”. The older woman just smiled, then cast a lightning fast Legilimens on him. He snapped his shields to, but she was faster and managed a good rummage and still had access to some embarrassing stuff before his shields took, but she could hold on and hold on until his shields collapsed momentarily, needing a re-start. Voldemort himself never probed for long and Severus now suspected it was because he was unable to, being fonder of the short sharp shock approach, all useful things to know. He felt her lift the mind-probe and they both blinked at each other. “Bloody hell, Minerva”, was his breathless comment.

Alice grinned, “Give yourself time to recover, Minerva, then I’d appreciate all you have to give me”. The older woman just nodded as she sipped her tea, strong and well-brewed, just how she liked it. “Alice, to make tea like this takes a proper Yorkshire woman”. Alice’s eyes widened, “I think not”, she said, tartly, “I’m from the other side of the hills, I’ll thank you. I’m a true Lancastrian from a long line of the same”, her voice softened, “But we still make good tea”.

“An old Lancashire family?”, Minerva enquired, intrigued. Alice shot her a look then huffed out a breath and bowed her head, “Yes. One of the oldest Wizarding families in the land. Older than the Malfoys even, but we have bred out more, miscegenated, but the bloodline is still pure and I am destroying it, willingly. I want it to die out. That’s why I never had children. I am a Nutter”.

The two adults stared at her while Harry couldn’t help himself, he giggled into the shocked silence until he realised the stunned silence around him and tried to subside, but tremors of chuckles shook him until Alice joined in, realising how it had sounded to his untrained and unknowing ear. “Sorry, Harry, but you should have listened to your History of Magic teacher”. Her laughter pealed out.

They both calmed at the still-amazed faces of the other two and Alice continued, “Harry, I come from a long line of Nutters”, deliberately to provoke more chuckles. Harry was in stitches again, stuffing his knuckles into his mouth to stifle his mirth. Minerva leaned over to him and murmured, “Come on, Harry, the Pendle witches, tried before a kangaroo court and summarily burned at the stake accused of demonic possession, a common enough fate for our kind in those days, but a babe was spared. So you are her descendent?”, the question was fired at Alice who just nodded.

She eventually replied, “Yes. My family line remains unbroken for hundreds of years, which is why he wanted some of it”. She gazed around at the slack jaws all around. “Yes, I meant him”, she jabbed a finger in the direction of her monitor. The other three held their breath, hardly daring to think what was coming next.

She sighed and continued, “He formed his first Death-Eater squad sometime in the mid-fifties and right from the beginning, they have always had these parties, until he was robbed of his body. Well, in 1958, sometime, he had the pleasure of capturing and.....subduing..... the last of the clan Nutter at one of these parties. He let her go, he couldn’t kill her, he tried, he usually killed them, but this time she didn’t die, but the curse reached into her and made this”, she stood and turned to them and lifted the back of her shirt revealing her scar. “I was born with this. My mother ran. She had me, disappeared into the Mundane world and eventually married my abuser, the man who refused to let me go to Hogwarts”. She took a deep breath and said,

“Tom Riddle is my father and I am his rape-conceived bastard daughter”.