Swinging of the Pendulum

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Swinging of the Pendulum

~June 1, 1977~

Severus sat reading in the shade of a beech tree. He could see the lake from his position, but at the moment he didn’t want to. Lily was walking along the shore with Potter, Black and Pettigrew. He knew that Lupin was in the hospital wing since it was the day after a full moon, which explained why the Gryffindor bullies were one short. Lily was laughing, smiling at Potter and Black. His gut clenched. After that last time in the tower, Lily wouldn’t meet with him or speak to him. Worse, she was actually hanging out with Potter and Black now.

He glowered as he replayed the last conversation he’d had with her the following day, after he’d confessed his love to her in the tower room, watching as Potter had the audacity to brush a strand of her hair from her face…

Severus spied Lily as she was leaving the corridor that led to the kitchens. “Lily, wait,” he called out. “Wait – damn it!”

“What?” she asked, turning around.

“What do you mean what? We need to talk,” he said, coming to a halt in front of her.

Lily crossed her arms. “Talk about what?” she asked, the exasperation apparent in her tone again.

Her green eyes were hard but determined, and he knew that this wasn’t going to be easy. “Lily, I love you. I always have,” he pleaded, opting for the direct approach. “We’ve been friends for too long to just – you can’t just not talk to me.”

“Friends? You love me? You have a funny way of showing it,” she said, looking at him incredulously before her expression turned to one that clearly showed her frustration. “All right, you want to talk – let’s talk.”

“Don’t be like this,” he asked, not sure what to say to get her to come around again. He hated the cold treatment and knew she’d been avoiding him as much as possible.

“Don’t be like what? Mad? Upset? How am I supposed to act?” she asked, the hurt in her voice tainted with annoyance. “Every time I turn around I’m in the middle of a skirmish between you and my housemates or in a confrontation with yours. You hang around those thugs you call friends. We sneak around the castle having secret trysts because neither of us wants to be seen by the others in our houses. I’m sick of it. I’m sick of the fighting. I’m sick of being harassed by your friends. I’m sick of having to constantly worry about being hexed, or worse, from behind my back. I’m sick of trying to get you to understand that this wizard all the Slytherins seem to worship is evil.”

“Lily love, I’m not trying to…”

“Stop calling me that,” she said, turning her head and staring at the wall.

“You will always be Lily love to me. My Lily love,” he said in his silky voice she’d always said she loved so much, reaching out to touch her arm.

“Stop that,” she said, jerking away from his hand. “Look, Sev, I know we’ve been friends forever it seems. But we’ve grown apart. I should have known the day you were sorted into Slytherin… Slytherins and Gryffindors don’t mix. We’re like myrrh and water, and unless there is something else in the cauldron, we just don’t blend.”

“We were doing just fine a while ago. What happened?” he asked, confused.

“I dunno. It’s like a light went on, and I could really see things for what they were. I could see what our relationship was and knew without a doubt it couldn’t continue. We are too different,” she explained. “Sev, I still care about you, but I’m Muggle-born. I can’t change that. So unless you decide to accept that you are half-Muggle, too, and choose to stand up against those who’d hunt us down and kill us, we don’t stand a chance. You have to choose. It’s You-Know-Who and his knights, these Death Eaters – or us, witches and wizards like us. It’s simple.”

“I know I’m half-Muggle!” he said, a bit angry that she’d brought that up. “What’s that got anything to do with it?”

“You tell me, Half-Blood Prince,” she snapped at him. “I bet your friends don’t even know your dad’s a Muggle? I bet they are ignorant that you grew up on Spinner’s End, too. Eh? I’m also willing to bet that you’ve not told them we were a couple.” Severus opened his mouth to retort, but she cut him off. “Your mate Avery called me your fling. Told me I should just shag you and get it over with because you have better things to do than sully yourself with the likes of me. And it’s not the first time I’ve had to endure their taunting.”

“I don’t kiss and tell, Lily,” he said, hurt. “I respect you too much to besmirch your reputation by telling them anything. It’s not their business anyway. It’s ours – you and me.”

“But they don’t know I was your girlfriend, do they?” she snapped at him.

“Yes, Lily, they did know that you were my girl,” he said emphatically.

“Oh, really?” she asked, her eyes narrowing. “Then why all the sneaking around? Why all the unused corridors and abandoned towers? Why have we never gone to a Quidditch match together or Madam Puddifoot’s?” she asked challengingly.

“You hate Madam Puddifoot’s – you said so,” he answered defensively.

“That’s not the point! You’re ashamed to be seen with me because of your friends and my housemates. You never stand up for me! I stand up for you all the time – but you won’t stand up for me!” she stated angrily.

“I’m not ashamed to be seen with you! I just don’t want to run into Potter and Black! And I always stand up for you, or get even for you – all the time!” he stated. “Besides, sometimes it’s easier to just get even with my mates than to cause a confrontation. But I get my point across…”

“No, you do not! It’s not the same,” she snapped. “Oh, this is pointless. Deanne was right! This won’t work. I’ve tried and tried and I just can’t anymore. Please, just leave me alone,” she said, turning to go.

“I can’t give you up!” Severus said, following after her.

“You have to,” she said over her shoulder, not bothering to stop. “I’m not an object you can possess. I’m a person. And I just can’t do this anymore. Please, let it go. Get over me.” She started to run, and Severus let her go, watching her run up the stairs.

Hermione ran into Severus in the corridor on her way to his office. She was a bit late, having recalled a book she’d read once in her second year when researching the castle for the location of the Chamber of Secrets, thinking she might need it to support her hypotheses.

Severus stopped and stared at her, scowling as she approached him. Just seeing him this close again made her heart race and the feelings of nervous anticipation swell in her gut. “I thought I made it quite clear – immediately after dinner. My time is valuable, Miss Granger, and therefore, I do not appreciate dalliances.”

Hermione’s heart seemed to fall, landing in the vicinity of her stomach. “I didn’t dally, sir, I went to retrieve a book,” she stated, hurrying over to stand next to him. He was watching her, and Hermione fought the urge to plead with him to hold her, tell her things could go back to the way it had been. He’d confessed he loved me after all, and if he’d meant it, that doesn’t just vanish, can it? People don’t just fall out of love that quickly, do they?

“You left the Great Hall over half an hour ago,” he stated.

Hermione mentally cringed from his harsh tone. Maybe Severus could. “Heather Croombrite had a book I wanted to show you, and I had to find her to borrow it,” she said, pulling a few books from her bag. She opened up the book on Blood-Bound Curses.

“I’m not interested in the book; I’m interested in your declaration in the corridor,” he said smoothly. He grasped her arm and pulled her with him into a deep alcove. He taped his wand at the wall, and a doorway appeared. “Inside.”

Hermione entered the dark space. When the wall sconces lit, she realized it was a small classroom of sorts. Hermione felt her cheeks grow hot and ducked her head to avoid his stare. “I’m sorry about that. I know you wanted to keep all this private. I shouldn’t have blurted it out like that. I was just so stunned when I saw that the words above the door had changed.”

“Tell me again what they were?” he asked, crossing his arms.

“The words above the doorway read: Amoris Aeterna Devotio Spreta Reiectaque Dolorem Aeternum Parit,” she said, looking up at him and nearly felt her pulse skip. “It means: Love’s enduring promise turned away, refused, begets an everlasting sorrow. I looked it up.”

“I know what it means,” he said, leaning back against the wall. “You said that the new words appeared as soon as I’d left?”

“Yes,” she admitted. “It was like I could feel them; the meaning of the words seemed to sear me as I watched the door close behind you.”

He looked shocked, momentarily, then became thoughtful as if remembering something.

“What?” she asked, worried.

“I think you should know that you’ve been released from the spells of the tower,” he said firmly, his expression showing hints of regret.

“Released, but how?” she asked, aghast. “If I’m released, then why do I still crave the tower, still feel the urges I have?”

His eyes narrowed. “Urges? You still feel the pull of the tower?”

“Yes, like if I could just be there with you one more time, I could make this – all of this – all right again,” she said, not caring how pathetic she sounded.

“But I saw it in your eyes,” he said, an edge of hurt in his voice.

“You saw what? That I was shocked by your confession! I had no idea you felt anything for me, let alone anything like I feel for you,” she confessed, hurt by his aloofness. “All I knew was that our actions were caused by the spells of the tower, but I didn’t know how much. You even said we were only intimate because of the spells on the door. But the longer this has been going on, the more time I spend with you… I knew, or thought that I knew, that this was all it was for you – an inconvenient entrapment with a student. I thought that in the end – when this was over… What I expected was that once we solved the spells on the tower, you’d end things, you’d be free, and I’d simply have to get over you!”

Severus transfigured two desks into slightly more comfortable chairs. “Sit,” he demanded.

Hermione set the books down but remained standing. “I think you know a lot more of what is going on than you’re telling me, aren’t you?” she asked, rounding on him. “I have tried piecing this together, tried solving this like a puzzle, and yet, you don’t offer me anything. I’ve told you everything I know and everything the Grey Lady told me. I showed you all my research, and yet you don’t offer any of your own input, except to show me books you’ve read, drawings you’ve made, and a list that matches mine.”

“Are you through?” he snapped. “Please sit.”

“No! Not until you start telling me the truth,” she said angrily, sounding like a child. “I want to know what you know.”

“All right. Fine! I have been under the influence of that tower since my sixth year,” he snapped, jerking his hand up in the air to indicate the tower. “I found the tower when I was seventeen, just like you are now. I saw those words, too, and realized what they meant. I spoke to the Bloody Baron to try to reason out the spells on the tower and the stairs, and I came to the same conclusions you have. I admit that you have reasoned out a few things I hadn’t considered, but as you can see, the end results were the same. The spells broke – I saw it in your eyes.”

“What did the Baron tell you?” she asked, stunned by his confession. “Please, I need to know.”

“Not much more than what the Grey Lady told you, or that you’ve been able to deduce yourself,” he said. “He told me what spells were used and which books to look into. I learned that he’d placed the spells on the tower because of his love for a girl. He’d only identified her to me once. He called her Helena, I think. She wasn’t important to me, since it was him – the Baron – who’d cast the spells. But what I do know, her mother was a professor here. I’d assumed she taught around or after the founders’ time judging by the Baron’s attire. I had assumed that the incident in which he’d created the spells on the tower happened later than the dates you uncovered, but when hadn’t matter to me, just that he had. I had simply wanted to understand how they worked, and what they were, not why.”

“And you didn’t think to show me what you knew?” she asked, perturbed. “You simply allowed me to do all that reading and research for nothing?”

“Nothing?” he sneered. “With you and me, knowledge is never for nothing. You crave it as much as I do. You are so like me it’s frightening. Only you’ve led a more sheltered life, made different choices… Look, I thought that since you wanted to get to know me – I’d let you. Solving the spells on the tower gave me an excuse to have you in my office. You’re my student for an augury’s wail! But I knew, with each time you came up to the tower, what was happening, and it couldn’t be stopped unless you set your mind to stop it. Unless you used your will power, which by the way, you didn’t do. I still don’t know why, but because you didn’t, yes, we became intimate.”

“I fell in love with you!” she nearly shouted, “and you tore my heart apart as if you didn’t even care!”

He stiffened at her remark, his expression becoming hard. Hermione stood frozen for a few seconds, her heartbeat pounding in her ears, before felt that same sense of dread, that huge lump in her gut. She turned to leave, but Severus grasped her arm.

“You’re a fool to want me,” he said, making her turn around, but Hermione refused to look him in the eye, lest he see her tears forming.

He’d closed the gap between them, pulling her into his arms, and she clung to him, grateful that he still seemed to care. “I’m a fool to let this continue,” he said as he grasped her head gently, his fingers sliding into her hair. “But I love you.”

She looked up, stunned, just as his lips landed on hers. There was a hunger in his kiss that he hadn’t had before. He ravished her mouth with a fierce desire that made all coherent thought drain from her mind. She clung to him, trying to reciprocate. Her body seemed to melt and her knees gave way, but his arms held her tightly, supporting her weight effortlessly.

He broke the kiss and rested his forehead on hers. “You love a dead man, Hermione.”

Her eyes flew open. “What? What are you talking about?” she asked, pushing away so she could look at his face.

He looked tired and over burdened, and there was a deep sense of grief that filled his eyes. He pulled her to him in a crushing embrace, burying his face in her hair. “We don’t have much time.”

“We have forever.” She could feel the weight he was carrying as he clung to her and she cradled him in her arms as best as she could, trying to soothe and reassure him. “When this is all over – when we win – we’ll have the rest of our lives.”

He pushed away. “Not with me you don’t. I have to go,” he said, turning and leaving the room quickly, leaving Hermione alone, staring after him, gobsmacked.

So, Lily has chosen to sit in the back of the room with that dunderhead Phyllis Figergrey and Sirius Black instead of our usual worktable, Severus thought, angrily, as he walked across the Potions classroom to take his seat. Larry Proudrew walked up to him, obviously delighted, and Severus glowered at him for having the audacity to take the seat Lily would have occupied. “So, you and I, we’re partners today?” he’d asked enthusiastically.

“No,” Severus sneered coldly as he stared at Lily, who was talking earnestly with Figergrey. She’s supposed to be my partner! My Lily.

He got up and went to the cupboard to retrieve his ingredients, stopping to tie his trainers so that he’d arrive at the cupboard the same time Lily did. “You’d prefer working with Figergrey instead of me?” he asked her in an angry hiss.

“Yes,” she replied in an angry hiss of her own.

Severus passed her the Lithfold skin strips, and she took it, looking at him briefly from the corner of her eyes. “Lily, I’m sorry,” he said as he counted his Ramora eggs. She avoided his eyes as he tried to hand her the jar. Lily ignored the offer and picked up another canister off the shelf. Severus set the jar down next to her.

“Severus, I just can’t anymore. Please accept it.” She selected a piece of Gillyweed and then set the jar back on the shelf. “Where’s the jar of spiny scales from a horn toad?” she mumbled as she searched through the jars.

“I said I was sorry,” Severus said, handing her the canister. “Here, I’ve got my twelve.”

“Thank you,” she said automatically.

“You’re welcome. Lily,” he said, hoping to draw her into conversation, “I just think we could work this out…”

“No, Sev, we can’t.” She counted out her quills, then set the jar back. She was clearly trying very hard to ignore him.

Finally, Lily started to tuck everything in her arms and pockets, and Severus tried to assist her. “No, Sev, leave me alone,” she said as she got up and left.

At the end of class, Severus dumped his things haphazardly in his bag and hurried from the classroom to catch up to Lily. He barely managed reach her before she got to the stairs. “Lily, wait,” he called out, trying to pull her aside in the corridor.

“Sev, please, it’s over. Let it go,” she said, pulling her arm free of his grasp.

“No, talk to me,” he pleaded.

She turned to go. “No, I don’t want to,” she said, her expression hard.

Severus grasped her arm again and stepped in front of her. “Lily, please wait a minute,” he said.

“No, I’ve got to get to Transfiguration,” she said, trying to sidestep him.

“Lily, please,” he pleaded, successfully blocking her again. “Please, give me another chance.”

She turned and looked at him, her green eyes guarded. “You have chosen your friends, and I have chosen mine. You chose them over me. What is there to say?”

“What if I choose you?” he asked, imploringly, but his frustration made his tone harsh.

“Sev, it won’t work. I am what I am, and it won’t change. Your friends, given the chance, any chance, would really hurt me – maybe even kill me,” she said firmly. “Black is right. They’re just waiting to side with You-Know-Who and might have already. They already talk like him and act like him, and if you’re still friends with them, you will be pulled in, too.” She pushed past him. “Now leave me alone.”

Hermione’s idea of trying to find the elusive Half-Blood Prince by looking for individuals who excelled in Potions proved to be quite fruitful. However, there wasn’t a Prince mentioned in the potion journals for nearly a hundred years. Hermione read the article written by Edgar T. Prince, and although the yellowed article was slightly faded, he was apparently explaining the benefits of combining dragon blood with Ramora fins and silver Pearlfish scales. Not that that was much help, she thought, putting the journal aside. He’s much too old to have owned Harry’s book. Still it gave her a name. After checking through many more journals, and a few more Daily Prophets, Hermione found a marriage announcement in the Daily Prophet dating back one hundred and twenty-seven years:

Edgar Theodore Prince renowned Potions Brewer to Jezibelle Jenkins in Canterbury last Saturday…

Edgar Prince, Master of Potions at St. Mungo’s for the last twenty-five years…

Still, it was a start and could possibly prove that the Half-Blood Prince was in fact a descendant of the Prince family line. Now all I have to do is try to find any mention of a Prince attending Hogwarts, since… She calculated it in her head. 1870. Harry’s book was printed about 1946, and I’ve already checked the registries from 1945 to present. So if the Half-Blood Prince did have a Muggle father, it would be his or her mother who was a Prince, which limits my search down to sometime after 1881… So back to the school attendance records.

Hermione was engrossed in the 1920 school registry when she felt a hand slide around her waist and a body press into her back. She set the registry down to turn around, but her silent assailant pressed her into the bookshelves. “Tell me who you are, or I will hex you,” she said, hoping that her tone was threatening enough to cover the nervous anticipation Severus was causing as his hands roamed her body.

“I should think, witch, that would be obvious,” he said silkily in her ear. “What are you doing way back here?” he asked, his one hand sliding down her stomach to press her against his groin as the other raised her skirt. “This is not the section I granted you permission to be in.”

“I was looking for someone – something,” she said with a deep, throaty sigh. “Let me turn around.”

“No,” he said, his hands now sliding on skin, one under her skirt, the other under her blouse. “What if I was to simply make love to you right here? Could you be quiet?” he asked softly.

She could feel soft wool of his trousers on her bum, and she pressed into him, making him chuckle softly. “Someone will come,” she said, teasing him by rubbing against the bulge in his trousers and sliding her hands on his thighs.

“But you want me to, don’t you?” he asked as his trousers opened and he freed himself.

Hermione groaned as she felt the silky-soft skin against her own. “Yes, but we’ll be seen.”

He pushed her legs wider with his foot as he ripped off her knickers with a wandless spell. “I’m not that foolish,” he replied, and she could practically hear his smirk. Hermione gasped as he prodded her, easing into her slowly. “I haven’t spent the last seventeen years as a spy and not learned how to cast Concealment Charms.”

Hermione arched her back as his penis moved in and out of her, his hand firmly pressed at her groin teasing her clitoris, the other braced upon the shelf above her head. “That’s it, you like this, don’t you?” he asked smoothly.

“Oh, my gods, yes,” she purred, still trying to touch him and roll her hips with his thrusts. The knowledge they could be seen, that someone could walk up upon them, heightened her arousal, regardless of his assurances to the contrary, and she began to shudder. He moved faster, harder, pressing her into the books. Her knees nearly gave as she surrendered into the sensations in her body, and she slid a hand down to place it over his. She felt him stiffen slightly, knowing he would climax any moment, and it excited her even more.

“I love you,” he said softly in her ear. “Circe, Hermione, come with me.”

Her climax hit her hard, making her buck against him, gasping for breath, and she clenched her jaws to keep quiet, nearly biting her tongue. His feral growl in her ear was her complete undoing. She felt her body yield into the euphoric bliss as he slammed her into the books as he came. He held her protectively in his arms, until his breathing slowed to normal.

She turned around and embraced him. He simply held her, and she could feel his warm breath in her hair.

“I should leave you to your studies,” he said, finally, kissing her gently. “Thank you.”

“Thank you,” she replied. “I wish you didn’t have to go.”

He smiled as he stepped back from her, straightening his robes. “If this has anything more to do with the tower, bring me your findings tomorrow,” he said with a smirk.

“It doesn’t,” she replied, and he raised his eyebrow, questioningly. “It’s personal. But I’d like to come see you later tonight?”

“However, I cannot tonight,” he said sadly. His dark eyes stared at her face as if he was memorizing it. “Be good,” he said before sweeping away from her quickly.

Severus, Avery, Rosier and Mulciber were gathered in the shade of the trees, watching the Gryffindors down by the lake. Lily was skipping rocks on the lake surface with Potter and Lupin while Black chased her friend, Leanne.

Black caught Leanne in his arms and then tried to throw her in the water. She kicked and squealed until he set her down on the shore. As usual, Pettigrew was clapping and laughing at Black’s antics, but Severus was really only paying attention to Lily and Potter.

Severus felt a hint of satisfaction that Potter could only make the rocks skip once – twice at best, while Lily’s always skipped twice. He watched as Lupin managed to make his rock skip three times, and Lily turned to pat him on the arm. Just like she used to do when I was skipping rocks with her. Severus remembered how frustrated she’d get with him because he could make his rocks skip three times and how she’d touch his arm, begging him to show her how. Just like she is doing with Lupin now.

“Look at them, the whole bloody lot, thinking that they are all that,” Rosier sneered.

“Heard that those girls were up at the Transfiguration classroom with the Headmaster for two hours yesterday,” Mulciber stated. “Did your Muggle-born girlfriend get a detention, Severus?”

Severus just shook his head, scowling. “No, Lily didn’t have a detention. She doesn’t do stuff to get in to trouble.”

“With Summer coming, Dumbledore’s going to go all out, fighting against the Dark Lord. From what I’ve heard, he’s really putting up a weak effort so far,” Avery said, sneering. “My dad told me that there will be loads more raids on Mudbloods this summer. What with all of them going home, it’ll be easy pickings.”

“What?” Severus asked, then quickly schooled his expression into one of curiosity.

Rosier didn’t catch the look of shock in his eyes. “Yes, the Dark Lord’s followers are growing in numbers, and even the Ministry can’t stop him. You watch, this summer there will be loads of Mudbloods that get it.”

The announcement made Severus feel sick. In his gut he actually felt sorry for those with a Muggle parent. His own thoughts drowned out his friends as they extolled the Dark Lord’s powers. Lily? Is that why Dumbledore was pulling all the Muggle-borns aside? To warn them and tell them the same thing? I know that Lily and her friends Deborah and Leanne were summoned to Dumbledore’s office. Could Lily be in danger? Would they really try and kill her family? For the first time, Severus was really worried about the Dark Lord and the Death Eaters’ attitudes towards Muggle-borns. Lily won’t let me near her! I can’t protect her unless… I could add to the wards on her house. There are books in the library… but I’ll have to modify them so they can’t be identified. Can I do it though? Will she let me?

“Severus, mate, are you with us?” Avery asked, drawing Severus’ attention.

“What?” he asked, then quickly recovered. “Yeah.”

“Cool,” Mulciber said, grinning wickedly. “Right after we get off the train then, we’ll all go. I can hardly wait.”

Severus suddenly felt apprehensive. What? “Go where?”

“He’ll be at the Lestranges’ home,” Mulciber stated, apparently not having heard Severus’ question. “At least for a while.”

Shite, the meeting! Avery is supposed to meet him. Severus groaned inwardly. He’d have to set the wards on her house after this meeting. One way or another, Lily, I’m going to make sure you are all right. Even if you’re upset with me now – I’m still going to protect you. A solid feeling of sickness filled his gut, and he fought back the surge of emotions of regret and loss. One way or another, I’ll win you back…

Hermione finally found an Eileen Prince in the school registry. It was much easier then to track the Prince family backwards to Edgar Theodore Prince. She had also found an article on Eileen Prince, and it had gotten her thinking. The Prince family had been a prominent and well-respected wizarding family for generations. Unfortunately, except for Eileen Prince, there hadn’t been a member of the Prince family attending Hogwarts for sixty years.

Furthermore, Eileen Prince had never won a Potions award, so her being the owner of the Potions book seemed unlikely. Especially since the annotations in the book showed that the original owner had a remarkable talent for Potions and an affinity for the Dark Arts. What Hermione had found out was that Eileen had been Captain of the Hogwarts Gobstone team in 1938 and 1939, her fifth and sixth years at Hogwarts, and the Regional Gobstone Champion in 1941 and again in 1944. So it was apparent she hadn’t been on the Gobstones team her N.E.W.T. year, although she’d still played Gobstones after graduating Hogwarts. There was no indication that the sullen-faced girl was ever into Dark Arts or Potions. That confirmed that either a son or a daughter of Eileen Prince was the most likely candidate for the Half-Blood Prince.

Hermione scanned every page of the old Prophets, looking for any mention of Eileen Prince in any issue dated after the article about her winning the Gobstone Championship in 1941. She had found a spell that made a single word glow, which made scanning for Eileen’s name easier. She read the names in the birth announcements carefully, but the Daily Prophet wasn’t consistent on where they put the announcements. Depending on how prominent, famous or well connected the parents were often depended on which page the announcement was placed. Hermione knew that Eileen Prince was a pureblood, but that she’d obviously married a Muggle or Muggle-born since the owner of the book deemed him or herself a half-blood. Apparently, there were years where any marriage involving a Muggle was tucked away in the gaps between articles or on the bottom corners of a page.

Then she found it.

A tiny article in the corner of the Prophet mentioned the marriage of Eileen Prince to a Tobias Snape in 1958, and Hermione inhaled in surprise. She kept searching, finally finding what she was looking for, a brief mentioning for the birth of a baby boy, born in January, 1960.

Born the ninth of January,

7 pounds, 14 ounces and 19 1/2 inches

I finally found the connection of the Half-Blood Prince, and it turns out to be Severus Snape! she gasped, amazed. It’s Severus?

~ T B C ~>

Author’s Notes:

In regards to the final days, the countdown to Dumbledore’s death, I have used these dates simply as a reference and don’t know if they are accurate coinciding to the dates JK was using when she wrote HBP. Therefore if there are inconsistencies with the dates I have chosen in relation with canon, I apologize.

In regards to Severus’ birth announcement, I was told that in the UK pounds, ounces and inches are occasionally used, and since this is what I’m familiar with I chose to use them here.

Thank you, Southern_Witch_69, for sticking with me and betaing this story, helping me to catch all my errors. You have been so terrific and I really enjoy not only having you as my beta but as my friend.