Trust

Chapter Ten – Trust

Four pairs of eyes locked onto the young Auror whose hair had turned white from shock.

The linking piece had been found. Sirius' younger brother Regulus was the reason why Slytherin's locket was here. Harry closed his eyes and fought back the urge to scream. The events of the trip to the cave with Dumbledore came crashing back to him. They had been through hell in there, and for what? Nothing. A false trinket with no worth what so ever. The ensuing weakness of the headmaster had been a direct result of the potion he had imbibed. Was it just a potion or was it poisonous? How did Regulus get in there and back out again?

One problem was solved, and so many more questions were opened.

"You said it was harmless," Remus asked, breaking the uneasy silence. "How was it destroyed?"

"I have reason to believe that it was Harry," Arthur replied quietly. Harry was on high alert. He hadn't done anything with it. There had been just the red cloud and the explosion.

Remus started to speak again but was interrupted by Harry's astonishingly steady voice. "I was angry, really furious... and then I felt a kind of strange energy shoot through me. I remember a thick red smoke, like a cloud but more dense. And then there was an explosion, and I became kind of weak-kneed, I felt drained. I picked the locket up of the floor, but I didn't realize what it was at first. I was so sad and tired, I just went to bed."

"Was it already open when you found it," Remus inquired.

"Yes," Harry answered.

"How did it look? Anything curious about it?" Remus pressed on.

"There was a dark spot inside," Harry said, drawing the locket out of his pocket. He passed the thing over the table to Remus.

"It looks like dried blood," Ron joined the conversation, craning his neck to get a better look.

"I believe you are right," Remus half-whispered. "The question is, whose blood could that be?"

"There is a way to find out," Arthur said, meeting Remus' gaze. Understanding passed over his face.

"We need to inform Minerva," Remus said. "She is the only one with the authority to give us the samples we need."

"You are right, of course," Arthur consented, though reluctantly. He didn't want to involve more people. Minerva trusted Moody a lot, as they had been acquainted for a long time. It couldn't be helped however.

"Who will brew the potion?" Tonks asked, pulling herself back together. "We don't have a Potions master anymore."

"I'm sure we'll find a way. I don't want more people drawn into this." That said, Arthur declared the meeting closed for now. If Minerva was willing to help, it would be back to Hogwarts for them as soon as possible. For now they all needed a good night's sleep.

Harry and Ron stood, not really understanding what had just been decided. What samples? Why did McGonagall have them? Nevertheless, they left the attic to go to their room, hoping to make sense of it all together.

~o~o~o~

Severus woke up, feeling astonishingly little pain. His back was sore, and his head felt a bit dizzy, but apart from that he was fine and extremely hungry. Rolling out of the bed, he was astonished to note that it was already past noon.

He looked over at the young woman, lying on her side, still deeply asleep. Her chest rose and fell softly with her slow, even breathing. She was still dressed in her everyday clothes, a white shirt that had been his when he was younger and one of his mother's floor-length skirts. She had put them on while he was gone to be ready for whatever happened.

It was such a peaceful sight, though it brought back memories he did not want to contemplate. Flashes of his mother's form, lying on the same bed, her arms bruised and her clothes torn came unbidden. She would sleep just like Hermione did now, only the marks on her body giving away the lie that her life had become.

Eileen Prince had not loved her husband, barely known him really, when she was forced to marry him. Society did not take well to unmarried pregnant women, even if the conception was the result of a not entirely consensual one-night-stand. Her parents had insisted on an official binding after their daughter had revealed that she was expecting. Severus' grandparents were of the opinion that having a Muggle in the family was slightly better than their only child bearing a bastard.

His mother had loved him as much as she was capable. She tried to protect her son against his father's wrath and often enough took the brunt of it herself. When Severus magic first manifested itself, he spent three nights in a small cellar room.

Severus shook himself mentally. Those times were long passed; his parents were dead. He drew his gaze away from the brown-haired woman to stare out of the window. A small dark speck in the sky caught his attention. It was coming closer, its form becoming more defined.

The eagle-owl perched on the windowsill and held up its leg for his perusal. It carried a small rectangular package. Severus brought down the wards with a whispered incantation and opened the window. He grabbed the delivery and shooed the bird off. It was the Malfoy family owl, and he did not want its sharp beak and claws anywhere near Hermione.

Getting a cloak out of the closet, he quickly dressed and tucked the package in his pocket. After a last glance at the bed, he left the room for the sitting area below.

Once there, he tapped the package with his wand to enlarge it and see if it held any dangerous magic. It didn't, so he carefully ripped the brownish paper off. He lifted the lid of the box. His eyebrows drew together in a frown. He carefully picked up item after item, expecting them closely.

"He was, indeed, serious," he mumbled to himself, fingering the cap of a little bottle, which held a silver liquid. "I will have to do it."

"What do you have to do?" came a sleepy voice from the doorway. Hermione had woken up the moment she had felt that Severus wasn't there anymore. Rational thought and instinct kept her from panicking and carried her down the stairs.

"Do you remember the potion I told you about?" At her nod he continued, "I got the recipe last night. And just now, the first set of ingredients arrived."

Hermione had so many questions, but the mentioning of the previous night made her skin crawl.

"What did they do to you? Why did they beat you? I always thought he would use the..."

"Cruciatus Curse?" He interrupted her concerned ramblings. "He wants me to brew a potion that requires me to work very carefully and precisely. Cruciatus affects the nerves, which means he would risk destroying the fine nerves in my hands. If they aren't steady anymore, I can't brew."

"Oh. But you could have died. You were in such a horrible state. There was so much blood..." Hermione winced at the memory.

"I'm very grateful that you were there to help me. Thank you." Hermione's eyes lifted to his, her breath catching at the open and vulnerable look in his black eyes. His defences were lowered, and she felt a sudden skip in her heartbeat at this show of trust.

"Can I help you?" she blurted, seizing the opportunity of speaking to this new Snape before he vanished. At his raised eyebrow, she amended, "With the potion. I could help prepare the less dangerous ingredients."

"Yes, that could be helpful. Though I want you to promise me that you won't touch anything unless I allow it. I don't want you to get hurt."

"Okay," she answered, beaming at him. Brewing this potion would keep her mind off things. She only hoped that Severus wouldn't revert back to the nasty Professor Snape when they were working together.

~o~o~o~

It was late in the morning when Minerva McGonagall arrived at the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. She had been eating breakfast with Hagrid and Argus Filch when a little over-eager owl landed in her cereal. After her first annoyance wore off, she noticed the unsigned note it was carrying.

Be at headquarters by noon! Important meeting. Don't tell Moody!

She had been suspicious at first, but the penmanship was one she knew well. Arthur Weasley had taken to documenting the meetings when Dumbledore was still alive.

She would go and see if it was, indeed, his request. She only needed to take a few precautions. Apparating there directly would be too risky. Anybody following her would be able to trace her Apparation pattern. She needed to make sure to shake whoever was trailing her.

So it was that she spent an hour popping about from one place to another. When she finally arrived in London, she was relatively sure that no one could have followed. She knew the wards by heart and managed to enter without making any noise.

On entering the kitchen, she was immediately drawn aside by Arthur.

"I'm sorry for the way the message was delivered. Moody is blocking all ways of communication. We couldn't risk him finding out," Arthur told her.

It didn't really make sense to her, though the urgency in his voice stilled most of her questions.

"What do you need?" It was the only thing that mattered at the moment. He would explain everything to her in time.

"Let's not talk about it just now," Arthur said, casting his eyes around the room. Percy was watching them over his newspaper, and even Harry and Ron were unusually silent. Only Molly seemed oblivious to everything, chatting away and fussing about Ginny's choice of clothes.

Minerva nodded her consent, entered further into the room and bid everyone a good morning.

The atmosphere was ripe with tension. When it was time for lunch, Fred and George paid a surprise visit. They took seats on either side of Percy. The mischievous glint in their eyes did not go unnoticed.

When Molly excused herself under the pretence of going to the bathroom, in reality taking Draco his lunch carried in a special box inside her robes, the twins saw their chance.

Fred grabbed Percy's glasses, and George put a few drops of their newest innovation in his dinner while everybody else was busy watching Percy's fruitless attempt to get his spectacles back.

"Stop that, boys!" Arthur said through his chuckle, "That's enough."

"No reflexes, that one," George pointed out.

"No wonder he's the only one in this family unable to stay upright on a broom," Fred added unhelpfully, holding out the glasses for Percy to take.

Angrily he snatched them out of Fred's hand. He cleaned them carefully before putting them back on. They all turned back to their respective meals.

"That was so lame..." Ron started, but an almost female shriek from Percy halted his complained.

Percy was scrambling away from the table as if it were burning. "There... maggots... spiders..." He started spitting and dry heaving before making a dash for the door. Molly, who was just on her way back, had to jump out of the way.

Fred and George broke out into laughter, and most of the others followed suit. Even McGonagall's lips twitched with silent mirth.

"The spell was on his glasses, wasn't it?" Ginny asked between giggles.

"It's a two-component thing. A spell on the glasses and a few drops of our newest product Liquid Boggart in his dinner," Fred said proudly.

"It works with all sorts of food and drinks," George explained. "It makes you think you're eating the most disgusting stuff you can imagine."

"Now that we know it works, we can market it," Fred finished.

Molly just shook her head and sat down. Those two, she knew, would never change.

The rest of the meal passed without further incident. Percy left without finishing his meal, still looking a little too pale.

When Molly started cleaning up, Arthur motioned for Minerva to follow him.

In the newly installed meeting room in the attic, Arthur keyed her in.

"And you need the blood samples to verify whose blood that is," Minerva asked, not yet believing that Albus would keep something like the existence of the Horcruxes from her.

"Yes," Arthur replied. "And we need to utilise the labs at Hogwarts."

"Who exactly is 'we'?"

"Remus and I will be brewing the potion. However, I want Harry and Ron there as well."

"I will organize rooms and try to organize a Portkey. Albus always kept one in his desk."

"We are on the right track with this, Minerva," Arthur emphasized. "We now know what is necessary to bring him down. Everything will work out in the end."