Chapter 5: On Riddles & Lies

Author's Note: Story depicted may be unpalatable to sensitive readers for its portrayal of Hermione and Ron's relationship. Hermione may also not be likeable to readers. Some readers might consider the characters a little OOC. Some organisations and Ministry of Magic departments are made-up.

It would help readers following the story to view it as a 'cinematic' experience whereby there are shifts in perspectives, as well as shifts between flashbacks, the past, the present, dreams and reality within the space of one chapter.

Footnotes, translations &ca follow chapter.

Emphasises are italicised and book titles are underlined. The only exception to this is correspondence, where emphases will be underlined.

From the Blood of the Gorgon

Chapter 5 – On Riddles & Lies

In order not to dwell on the issue of the similarities she thought she saw between Perseuss and her late potions' master, she took a sleeping draught after her bath and went to bed. While the draught did help her to go into slumber, it only brought a fitful sleep. Like most instances of fitful sleep, hers was wrought with the same recurring nightmare that had so long plagued her. Indeed, it had become so realistic to her that it appeared that she was reliving the incident sans Harry and sans Ron, witnessing everything like the sole spectator of a very badly written farce. It appeared so realistic to her that she awoke with tears streaming down her face at the passing of a wizard who should have otherwise been saved. For the briefest moment upon opening her eyes, she was uncertain whether she was in the dream world or back in reality. It was not until she sprang up, bolt upright in bed and wiped the tears from her eyes that she realised she had been dreaming. She was still in her safe bed, alone.

"Alone?" her mind wondered, as she climbed out of bed and drew the curtains aside. The gentle light of a sun that only just risen from slumber greeted her with its greyish-orange blush. Squinting a little, she turned back to her bedroom to find that she was indeed alone. Come to think on it, she had been alone all night too since she got home from the Malaysian restaurant. "Oh, so that's it," she realised with a knowing smirk, "my husband must have spent the night with the very feminine Lavender Brown again. No matter, he can seek solace where he chooses."

Pushing aside any further thought of her errant husband, she drifted to her study and took notes on her nightmare so as to better analyse it. Once again, she had been in a hut with a dying Severus and where she had attempted to save him. There were key differences in this nightmare vis-à-vis the previous ones, however. First of all, instead of being in the middle of nowhere, she could distinctively see the village of Hogsmead in the distance, and for once, she knew that the hut was definitely the Shrieking Shack, and she knew that she was unable to save Severus. Despite knowing all that, the nightmare still inexplicably terrified her. Why? What was it about his death that was out of place?

It struck her that her attention in this version of the nightmare was specifically focused on the fact that Severus had fumbled for something in his pockets before he expired. Come to think on it, he had the same indication of going through his pocket for something in Harry's memory as well. Why did Severus Snape insist that the memories were for her? Why did Severus Snape ask her to look at him while he was searching for something in his pocket?

"Is that significant?" she asked herself aloud. "What could have been in his pocket? Could it have been a portkey? Was that why his body was never found? Did he portkey away? Or was there a potion or salve that would mitigate Nagini's venomous bite? Could it have been both? If such were the case, he must have it talked it over with Dumbledore and conceptualised some kind of a contingency plan. Dash it, why does Dumbledore have to be bloody dead? It makes everything doubly complicated because that old man had a finger in so many bloody pies! It makes everything so infuriatingly oblique!"

The more she thought on it, the more she felt there was some special meaning behind Severus's fumbling in his pockets. After all, there had to be a reason why her attention was so markedly drawn to it. She was acquainted with Severus Snape's character and his contributions to the Order. Furthermore, Albus Dumbledore had left many papers behind with Minerva McGonagall and he had taken the precaution of taking out his memories of his conversations with Severus shortly before he and Harry took off to find the locket in the cave by the sea. Hermione herself had looked through some of these documents when she was reading law, for Minerva had generously donated them to the wizarding section of the British Library when the war ended. If her brief look into a few of the Dumbledore papers had yielded much about the Order of the Phoenix's legal deals with the Fudge administration, then who is to say that much remained to be uncovered about Albus Dumbledore and his relationship to Severus Snape in his private correspondence and memories? If the few papers she had gone through while she was at Oxford had yielded so much insight on his character, it was entirely likely she would discover more about Severus Snape's private plans with Dumbledore. "Yes, that's the only plausible option left to me if I am to clear up the mystery of this nightmare," she murmured.

A brief consultation with her diary later, she saw that she had no other case for which to prepare, and her case of 'Malfoy and Goyle versus the Crown and Ministry of Magic' was not due for presentation for another two days. She had a full day to do as she liked. Upon hastily scribbling a note to the senior clerk of Chambers informing him that she would not be going into work that day, she whistled for the family owl and requested that it take the note to Chiswell Square. Her duty once executed, she made preparations to head for the British Library.

She arrived at the British Library in good time, freshly showered, powdered and pressed. Following procedure, she flashed her reader's pass at the librarian's counter before heading for Disused Books Office Collections, pulling out books with such titles as Cleaning with tea-leaves, Making your Crystals shine brighter than White, and How to be a Successful Despot with a Smile, and tapping the book on the vernacular used by Officer Crabtree on the 'Allo 'Allo television show, and uttering a special incantation. The effects of these actions opened a discreet door into the wizarding section of the British Library. As soon as she stepped through the passageway, the door closed behind her. No stranger to this part of the library, Hermione was not the least surprised when the librarian smiled her welcome and pointed the law section to her. Nodding her greeting to the librarian, she made sure that she was unobserved before making her way to the relevant section, and consulted the index, specifically the part which read:

GUIDE TO ALBUS DUMBLEDORE COLLECTION

ca. 1899-1997

Descriptive Summary

Title: Dumbledore, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian. Collection

Dates: ca. 1899-1997

Size: 59.8 linear feet (89 boxes)

Repository:

Wizarding Collection,

Special Collections Research Centre,

British Library,

Saint Pancras,

96 Euston Road,

London,

NW1 2DB,

United Kingdom.

Abstract:

Albus Dumbledore (1881-1996), former headmaster of Hogwarts. Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore remains famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, the late Nicolas Flamel.

The Collection includes correspondence, manuscripts, research notes, notebooks, publications and memory recordings. The collection document Dumbledore's career as an educator, headmaster, Wizengamot member, and leader of the Order of the Phoenix.

Information on Use

Access:

Permission must be obtained before access will be granted. Immediate access restricted to members of the Order of the Phoenix. Series XIII, Subseries 12 is restricted indefinitely. Series XIII, Subseries 13 includes specific reproduction and citation requirements. Contact the Special Collections Wizarding Research Centre for more information.

Citation:

When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Dumbledore, Albus. Collection, [Series #, Subseries #, Box #, file #], Special Collections Wizarding Research Centre, British Library.

INVENTORY

Series I: Correspondence

Series II: Alchemical research

Series III: Dragon blood papers

Series IV: Flamel papers

Series V: Teaching

Series VI: Wizengamot papers

Series VII Order of the Phoenix papers

Series VIII: Memory recordings

Series IX: Personal files

Series X: Publications

Series XI: Reviews

Series XII: Manuscripts

Series XIII: Restricted

Running her finger through the series numbers, she summoned the Flamel papers, the Order of the Phoenix papers, the memory recordings index, the personal files, and the Restricted index to the private study room (which had its own Pensieve) that she usually used when patronising the library and began the long task of sifting through the various volumes. She was not certain why she took down the Flamel papers. Perhaps it had been her long standing interesting in the work of Dumbledore and Flamel; perhaps she wanted an insight on Dumbledore from the perspective of someone who was both an intimate friend and scholarly collaborator. She did not know the real reason for her taking that selection. To her, it seemed as if the series had been calling out to her to be read. Yet, whenever her hand wandered to the series on the table, her mind reproached her saying, "Not yet. Save that for later." She did not know why she did it, but she heeded the advice of her brain and ploughed through the other files she had taken down first. After three hours, she was of the opinion that most of the material before her thus far was irrelevant to her cause, and she needed a brief escape from reading. Randomly picking up a bottled memory recording and pouring it into the Pensieve, she plunged headlong into without checking the label.

As soon as the swirling vortex around her abated, she found herself back at Hogwarts, in the headmaster's office. Severus Snape was busily pacing the floor before Dumbledore's desk while the older wizard stroked his withered hand with his good one.

"I am only asking you to consider the possibility of it," said Dumbledore, turning a sweet over in his mouth.

"And what happens if I do?" snapped Severus, stopping in his tracks and leaning over the desk, glaring menacingly at his employer and sometime manipulator.

"You will have a second chance at life, away from all this." Dumbledore made a wide gesture with his hands and smiled benignly at his potion's master and spy. "I specially made a portkey for you to use in cases of emergency – unregistered, of course. It will take you to my distant cousins on the Continent," he continued, pushing a package wrapped in a white handkerchief towards Severus. "It will only be activated on a command that you will set by yourself."

"What about the ramifications of it if the Dark Lord finds out?" snarled Severus, inching closer to the old man who was sagely stroking his beard. Though he made a great show of general reluctance to humour the gift giver, he pocketed the proffered the object.

"Well, by then, you will be long gone, won't you?" chuckled Dumbledore. "You would always require additional potions, I believe. From your last report, I gathered that Riddle's serpent has been imbued with certain powers. There is no telling what the fellow might do, you know. He's a bit of a wastrel, not one to conserve his best men. He might put an end to you when he thinks you've outlived your purpose."

"Do you think I am unaware of that?" hissed Severus, clenching his fists in an unsuccessful attempt at mastering the anger that was making his hands quake. "That blasted snake's blasted venom has been the very thing that has been keeping the Dark Lord nourished." He paused to violently flick aside the hair that had fallen into his eye. "My research notes on that wretched reptile have already been put to use for a restorative against its poison. Its counter-poison should be ready in another seven hours. I will test it at the first available opportunity."

"Do you expect some problems?"

"I wouldn't be testing it otherwise."

"What did you use in it? You are usually more confident in your ability than this."

"The key ingredient is Sopophorous Beans stewed in Knotwood juice," confessed Severus with some reluctance.

Dumbledore glanced up from his half-moon glasses with a frown. "That could reverse some of the effects of..."

"Yes, it would, but my notes indicate that there may be a high cost to pay for it. In potions of this stamp, there is always something the drinker has to give up. It is akin to all this between us; there has to be some form of equivalent trade." He snorted all too knowingly. "I have to give something up if the effects are to be reversed. It is like shaking hands with the devil and calling it justice. I will have to wait to see what happens when I test it. At the rate the Dark Lord kills off Wizards and Muggles left, right, and centre with that snake, I will have an opportunity fairly soon."

Dumbledore nodded grimly with a sigh. "Apprise me of the results when you do." He sighed again and pushed his spectacles up his nose. "I wish I could protect you further, my boy."

Signalling his disgust at the older wizard's term of endearment, Severus snorted, "Don't give me the 'my boy' nonsense. You know bloody well you've done more than enough to me, making me want to kill you every time we speak."

"I shall take that as a compliment!" laughed the most respected wizard in Britain. "By the way, other than always carrying the portkey and the counter-poison, I would like you to carry something else."

"What? Sweets?"

"No, but that would be a good idea," chuckled Dumbledore, opening a drawer and placing a bottle on his desk. "I meant it would be a capital notion for you to carry this."

"The Elixir of Life," purred Severus with interest, turning the bottle in his hand and examining it. "I thought you did not have anymore of it."

Dumbledore waved his good hand in the air dismissively and adopted a casual air. "I happened to make a few bottles when the Philosopher's Stone came under Hogwarts' protection. Nicolas and I improved the formula while searching for the tenth practical use of dragon's blood."

"Where are the rest of these few bottles?" asked Severus with a raised brow that bespoke both his scepticism and his admiration for the old man's cunning.

"In the cabinet under Dippet's portrait," hummed the headmaster tunelessly. "It doesn't last as long as it does with the Stone, but for your purposes, I think, it will buy you time to concoct whatever potion you need to undo any curse Riddle might throw at you when he decides to remove you from his favour."

Hermione noted with interest that Severus sputtered on seeing the cabinet filled to the brim with the bottles upon bottles of the Elixir of Life.

"And what am I to do with this whole cabinet?" asked Severus quietly with a dangerous glint his eyes. "Surely, you don't mean for me to carry the whole bloody cabinet with me wherever I go?"

"Of course not!" chuckled Dumbledore, stroking his bad hand again and counting off his fingers. "On your person, you will carry one bottle of elixir, one counter-poison against his serpent's venom, one portkey. Everything in the cupboard will be sent ahead to my cousins as a precautionary measure in anticipation of your arrival."

Severus shot metaphorical daggers at his companion and at the other so-called sleeping portraits. "You seem bloody certain that I will use the portkey."

"Let's just say I have the gift of foresight," laughed Dumbledore.

Hermione would have liked to stay and see more but the swirls of the memory soon enfolded her and brought her back to reality so much so that she found herself back in the private research room of the wizarding section of the British Library. Rubbing her brow in consternation, she sought to calm her mind and reflect upon that which she had seen so far. First point in hand – so there was a portkey Severus could have used to escape from the Shrieking Shack. The question was whether he had carried it with him and used it that fateful day. Both alchemists intimated that it would take him to the European continent. Where would it have taken him if indeed he had used it? Second point in hand – so Dumbledore had created more of the Elixir of Life. Given that he had worked closely with Flamel in the improvement of the elixir for the Philosopher's Stone, it was no surprise that he should make more of the concoction. The purposes of the elixir were already familiar to Hermione.

The residual question in her mind was the meaning of Dumbledore's words. What did he mean by the elixir buying time for Severus? Lastly, it astounded Hermione to learn there was some kind of potion that could have mitigated the effects of Nagini's venomous bite. The question was whether it was effective. The conversationalists in the memory hinted that there could be some side-effects upon consummation. Just what were these side-effects? Were they inimical to the human body? More importantly, Dumbledore had strongly advised Severus to always carry the counter-poison to Nagini's venom, a vial of the Elixir of Life and the portkey. Did Severus carry them all with him on that fateful day?

"Too many questions," muttered Hermione, lightly banging her head on the table in frustration. "Stupid old bugger! Why did you have to weave so many webs? Can you ever state anything explicitly for once, Albus Dumbledore!"

Turning her head to the side, she saw that the bottle of memory she had just revisited was labelled 'Hogwarts' Musings 1996 (no. 77)'. She groaned in realisation that the labels on the memory recordings would prove no help to her in determining which information she would find useful. While the Dumbledore collection had been useful in her search for unravelling her nightmare, she was no closer to uncovering the reasons for her dreams and why Severus always seemed to insist that his memories were for intended for her. She needed to find the formula on his counter-poison to see if she could figure out the exact nature of the side-effects the two wizards touched on.

Seizing upon that idea, Hermione took up the subseries on Flamel and searched desperately for any hint as to formula of the counter-poison. "Why couldn't there be a Snape collection? It would make things so much easier if there were one," she muttered, flipping a page savagely. As she flipped page after page, she wondered whether she would gain any new leads as to the constituents of counter-poison. After three subseries in the Flamel series, she only managed to barely discern the ingredients and methodology of making the Elixir of Life rather than any hint of Severus's probable counter-poison.

Pushing aside the volumes, she thought of a new method to uncover the nature of the counter-poison. While she had no idea whether it had worked; she felt that researching into it would prove invaluable. Perhaps it would help if she broke down the constituents of Nagini's venom, she pondered. After all, she was a skilled alchemist and adept in potions brewing. Perhaps she would be able to break down the whole process of concocting the counter-poison, if it indeed served the purpose of countering the poison. "Yes, that would be the most sensible way of approaching things," she mumbled. If she recalled the snake's appearance correctly, it had all the markings of a spectacled cobra. The effects of a cobra venom invariably resulted in death if left untreated. Death would be by respiratory failure through the complete paralysis of the diaphragm. What would be an effective way of slowing down or reversing the paralysis of that valuable organ?

At the top of her list was the Sopophorous Beans stewed in Knotwood juice as it was mentioned by Severus. The Sopophorous Bean helped with slowing down the metabolic breakdown of poisons in the body, and the Knotwood juice was supposed to have emetic qualities if properly stewed. Mandrake extract could also be deployed to strengthen the body's natural lymphocytes in the event of poisoning. But what ingredient had to be added for the potion to stew for over seven hours? And what were the side-effects that made Dumbledore so wary? The only way about it was to list all the ingredients of the counter-poison (or probable ingredients) and individually determine their dangers if used in conjunction with another. There had to be some more effective use of her time than going through the trial-and-error process herself. There had to be a hint of the counter-poison somewhere, like Dumbledore's correspondence perhaps. Armed with the hope stirred up this idea, Hermione combed through the index in Series I of the Dumbledore Collection until coming upon 'subseries 2: correspondence to A.P.W.B. Dumbledore'. Further inspection of subseries 2 yielded this piece of information:

Box 8, file 37 – Correspondence, Severus Snape to Albus Dumbledore. Compilation

A similar inspection of subseries 1 of Series I revealed that correspondence of the former Hogwarts headmaster fell under Box 3, file 17. Taking out those relevant sections, Hermione began her desperate perusal of their letters for clues as to the counter-poison. After spending several hours in this worthy endeavour, she could not find that which she was seeking. The whole Dumbledore-Snape correspondence consisted of a series of undated epistles written with obscure references to equally unintelligible objects, places and people. Most notably, Hermione found several instances of allusions to Greek mythology. After reading through their correspondence, she managed to discern the rough order in which they must have been sent. Taking those she supposed were written with regard to Severus's work on some brew or the other, she was left with the following that she arranged thus:

~ ~ One ~ ~

Albus,

S. Snape

Severus, my boy,

Conserve your strength & effort,

A.D.

~ ~ Three ~ ~

Albus,

S. Snape

~ ~ Four ~ ~

Severus, my boy,

Follow this advice and persevere always,

A.D.

~ ~ Five ~ ~

Albus,

S. Snape

~ ~ Six ~ ~

Severus, my boy,

I have faith in your work. Do not despair,

A.D.

~ ~ Seven ~ ~

Albus,

S. Snape

~ ~ Eight ~ ~

Severus, my boy,

A.D.

Hermione sighed upon rereading these missives. Commonsense told her that cobra venom blocked the acetylcholine receptor within the body, however, it would seem that Nagini's venom did more than shut down one's diaphragm and impede one's breathing. Does it mean that Severus Snape was well and truly dead or did it mean there were other modes of going about the curse of Nagini's venomous dark prima materia? More puzzling were all the references to non-existent rivers, kingdoms and empires long extinct, and Dumbledore's penchant for quoting Greek philosophers. Lightly banging her head on the table in an attempt to stimulate her brain to work faster, Hermione pondered as to the constant reference to 'Αλήθεια'.

"Ale-theia," she read aloud while desperately clicking and unclicking her propelling pen in frustration, "Ah-le-the-ia, Ah-lethe-ia." She paused with a frown as she came to a sudden realisation, and she began cancelling letters from the word. A gasp escaped from her when she realised she was left with λήθη or Lethe. "That's it!" she exclaimed, "the removal of the blindfold of Aletheia leads to Lethe. But even forgetfulness is a form of blindness in itself. That is why it is a sister to forgetfulness. The only way to really remove the form of blindness plaguing both Aletheia and Lethe was to expose them to the human condition of life. That is, one has to truly live, and that meant infusing into the waters of Lethe a few drops from the river Mnemosyne!"

Lethe may be one of the rivers of the Greek underworld and the river of forgetfulness as well as the chief river running through wizarding Greece, but Lethe was also the name of the daughter of Eris, Goddess of Strife. No wonder Severus was so reluctant to use it. Although it was known to be the most soluble liquid in potions brewing, it had certain corroding powers of rendering the potion's consumer no longer himself – or so it had been written in a number of alchemical texts. These same texts also prescribed two ways of dealing with the corrosive effect of Lethe's waters. Of these, only one was truly viable and that was to mix in the waters of Mnemosyne. The other method of adding the waters of the river of Carelessness could not be done mainly because there was no vessel capable of holding the water. Dumbledore himself had made it quite clear that the plain of Lethe passed by near the river of Carelessness in wizarding Boeotia. However, beyond being in a better possession of some facts, she was still no further in her quest to uncover the truth behind Severus Snape's missing body, or what truly happened to him on the night he was supposedly killed, or why she was haunted by nightmares of his so-called death.

"At least," she silently comforted herself, "I now know why he was desperately fumbling in his pockets, and I know that I had not imagined the trembling of the hand in his pocket when we left his body behind in the Shrieking Shack."

Hermione rolled her eyes at herself as she furiously clicked her propelling pen when she realised she was already presuming Severus Snape had not been killed. There was no evidence to suggest otherwise, so why was she of that mindset? There were all indications that the counter-poison did not work or would not work as planned. What did she know? All she knew was that part of the potion to starve off the effects of Nagini's venomous bite of pure dark magic contained Sopophorous Beans stewed in Knotwood juice, time turner sand, water from Lethe and a few drops from the river Mnemosyne. She had yet to decipher what else Dumbledore and Severus could have meant by their references to the Merovingians and Alamannia on top of all the talk of Greek myths.

As much as she would have liked to continue her analysis of these unresolved mysteries, she was informed by the librarian that the library was closing. Upon gathering up her papers, she went to do the only thing that would get her mind off puzzles she could not solve, namely work. So it was that she bade the librarian goodnight and headed to Chambers.

Footnotes:

The Gorgon in the title refers to Nagini. I know she is not a 'real' Gorgon'. However, I believe her role in the books position her as a kind of symbolic Gorgon. There is another reason for dubbing Nagini the Gorgon, and I enjoin the readers to devise that for yourselves. This chapter, I believe provides a hint of that. My beta assures me that those cognisant of Greek mythology (especially that surrounding the Gorgon) will know what I mean.

There are double entendres in the title (of the literary kind not the sexual kind as my prelim reader thought). Make what you will of them.

All references to characters are from Rowling's Harry Potter universe unless otherwise stated. Any character you do not recognise is my own creation.

Facts about Wizarding Law and Wizarding Politics are made up.

Facts about the improvements of any Wizarding and/or Muggle object, governing body, and facility are made up.

Facts about other Harry Potter universe characters in the post-Voldemort years are also made up.

The wizarding section of the British Library, and the books used to get there are entirely made up. I, for one, wish books with such titles existed, especially the one on Crabtree's "French" in 'Allo 'Allo

Propelling pen – for definition and explanation, c/f footnotes in Chapter 1.

On the Dumbledore-Snape correspondence:

The basis of most of the Dumbledore-Snape correspondence is drawn from my reading of Plato's Republic Book X and Meno 80a-81e, especially the Myth of Er, talk of the underworld, death, and what happens in between life and death. The significance of these references will be revealed in the plot some time later, so I will not expound on them here.

In Plato's Meno, Persephone is said to arbitrarily decide what to do with you when you die. You never know whether she might punish you or reward you because her decision does not take into account as to whether you were a good or bad person in life.

The Myth of Er appears in RepublicBook X. It's basically (and this is over-simplifying things) about a man named Er and his journey and experiences in the Underworld. In it the river of Carelessness and Lethe are mentioned. Basically, the myth of Er introduces the concept that moral people should be rewarded, and immoral people punished, after death. These rewards and punishments result directly from the individual's conduct, rather than being administered by an external deity. It is not, however, a straightforward description of heaven and hell, but more of a story of the journey between one life and the next, the intermission between death and rebirth. Within the dialogue, we are told by Socrates that the soul must be immortal. Socrates' argument for this is that the mind cannot be damaged or destroyed by immorality, despite the fact that immorality is the defect of the mind. The mind will not perish simply because it possesses a defect, unlike food, for example, which will perish should it become mouldy. Therefore, the mind cannot be destroyed by its defect, immorality, but neither can it be destroyed by any other subject's defect; in other words the mind cannot be destroyed by an illness that affects the stomach for instance. In order to explain his theory that morally good people are rewarded after death, and that the opposite is true of immoral people. I read this as a figurative experience. Since my interpretation is likely to be long, I shall refrain from boring my readers.

Αλήθεια is Greek for truth. It is pronounced 'aletheia' and more literally means 'non-forgetfulness' or 'non-concealment'. Both the Greek form and its transliteration will be used interchangeably in this story. I use the Greek form in the correspondence because I believe Severus and Dumbledore would have used the original Greek in their letters.

Βοιωτία is Greek for Boeotia. It was most famous for being the home of the legendary Greek centre of Thebes. I believe the Greek form would have been used within the Dumbledore-Snape correspondence and have reproduced it in the text. I use the Greek form in the correspondence because I believe Severus and Dumbledore would have used the original Greek in their letters.

Έρις is Greek for strife. Pronounced as 'Eris', she is allegedly the mother of Lethe, and a daughter of Zeus. I believe the Greek form would have been used within the Dumbledore-Snape correspondence and have reproduced it in the text. I use the Greek form in the correspondence because I believe Severus and Dumbledore would have used the original Greek in their letters.

Mνημοσύνη is Greek for Mnemosyne. There are two accounts of Mnemosyne. One is that she is the mother of the Muses. The other is that the Mnemosyne is a river in Hades that gives you back your memories. I believe the Greek form would have been used within the Dumbledore-Snape correspondence and have reproduced it in the text.

Aab-e-Hayaat is the transliteration of the Arabic word for the 'elixir of life' or more literally, 'the water of life'. I tried using Arabic font here but it did not show up, so I have transliterated it. Just bear in mind that I believe Severus and Dumbledore would have written it in the original Arabic.

The Merovingians were a Salian Frankish dynasty that came to rule Swabia/Alamannia (present day Bavaria) in 539-744AD. The significance of this reference will be revealed in the plot some time later, so I will not expound on them here.

Alamannia is the ancient name of the German Duchy of Swabia (known as Schwaben or Schwabenland in German) up to the 13th century. The significance of this reference will be revealed in the plot some time later, so I will not expound on them here.

Nagini is a naja naja (its scientific name) or spectacled cobra (its common name).

Prima Materia or Materia Prima (used interchangeably in this story) is the primitive formless base of all matter, according to Aristotle and the Alchemists, given particular manifestation through the influence of forms. According to the latter, lead could be turned to gold by reducing it to prima materia and imposing the form of gold on it. In the broadest terms the concept of the prima materia states that all particular substances are formed out of one and the same original substance. Considered in this way it becomes apparent that, in one form or another, this is a universal concept, possibly of an archetypal nature. The most prevalent notion of the prima materia to be found in modern thought is the atomistic theory which we inherited from the ancient Greeks. In this conception all material structures are composed of tiny building blocks of indestructible 'substance'. This substance is considered to be pure matter, and in an entirely materialistic paradigm this equates naturally to the concept of the prima materia.