Act Two

A/N: I anticipate that many readers will find fault with the language and grammar herein. Please bear in mind that this play seeks to remain authentic to the style and language of literature produced in the Tudor, Elizabethan and early Jacobean times (c.1485-1615). They had different modes of writing, grammar and spelling. While I have faithfully produced these as far as I could, please understand that I have opted not to replicate the erratic Tudor spelling as most words were spelt phonetically in the Tudor era (c.1485-1603).

In order to be true to the custom of the time, this play is written in a combination of late Mediaeval Latin, as well as Tudor and Elizabethan English. Some English words used then had different of meanings than they do now. While I am aware that this maybe very off-putting to many people, I sincerely hope you will come to see and understand the plot as I intend for it to be read. As far as possible, I have included a glossary when the definitions of words differ from the modern meaning and pronunciations. If you are in doubt, ask and I will answer. There is apparently a word limit per chapter upload on this website. To cope with this, I have moved the footnotes and glossary of this Act to the next 'chapter' section. Stage directions are given in square brackets, like so [ ] and asides are listed. If asides are not indicated explicitly in the text, they are denoted by round brackets like so ( ).

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TANQUAM OVIS

ACT TWO

Act II Scene I

Hogwarts, before Albus Dumbledore's office.

Enter Harry Potter reading a parchment

Harry (reading off parchment):

Professor Dumbledore, I beseech thee.

Beware of Severus Snape, his heart is black;

Trust not the Malfoy clan, their regret be false;

Take heed of Dacro Malfoy's murd'rous wish;

Go not near Severus Snape, he loves thee not.                                   5

Thou hast wronged those whose trust thou took.

It is a plot to thy end. Prepare to avoid thy doom,

Thy well-wisher, Harry Potter.

                                                                                                                        [Rolls up parchment]

[aloud]

Here will I stay under the shimmery

Invisibility cloak until He,                  10

Albus Dumbledore press along,

This he must read ere we leave for our quest,

That his safety would be an assur'd thing.

My heart laments at the death of virtue.

I did always foresee Snape's treachery                                   15

And the unstable hand of Draco Malfoy!

O Dumbledore, I pray you wilt read this;

If so, you may'st live to thwart the Fates

To defeat Voldemort by my side.

                                                                                                                        [Hides under invisibility cloak]

[Enter Sybill Trelawney]

Sybill:

Dumbledore'll'd gone from Hogwarts, I fear                                   20

Omens portentous I must to him bespeak.

                                                                                                                         [Shuffling and drawing from a pack of cards]

These cards herein my hand herald peril!

The Two of Spades doth frequently appear

Bringing dissention and conflict in its wake;

The Seven of Spades that now I withdraw                                   25

Be a blind harbinger of ill tidings;

The Ten of Spades bespeak a violent end;

(Wherefore all the Spades doth haunt me tonight?)

At last the Knave of Spades winketh at me.

Odd, he's no light in Dumbledore's fortune –                                   30

The Knave be a dark young man of troubl'd heart

With fear and dislike for his questioner.

Wherefore did'st it appear in Dumbledore's set?

I have tonight uneasily sensed

Distant vibrations of coming catastrophe!                                   35

Why should'st this card constant from my shawls,

This evil looking lightning-strucken tower,

Which herald calamitous disaster?

I fear for Dumbledore religiously;

He hast not heard my suit, will he but list?                                   40

The heavens speed me in my enterprise!

Would Dumbledore not gone – I grow faint,

I must get me to speak to him.

[Enter Dumbledore]

Dumbledore:

The new moon has come to shed her light.

Sybill:

The new moon hath not gone, take heed of it!l                                   45

Beware of he born under Janus' star!

The cards hath spoken ill of your venture.

Do not leave the castle tonight – Do not!

[Exit Sybill]

Harry (throws off invisibility cloak and comes forward):

Dumbledore, I have a boon to beg of you,

I prithee, read this, my supplication.                                   50

Dumbledore:

There is not time enough for reading and speech

Thou know'st there is much I have to do

Now, Harry, there is time enough for thee.

The last sands in my glass already have fallen,

Demand me nothing – what you think you know                                   55

You know – there is nothing I can say to you

Or for you in the silence echoing in my glass.

Hide you and list, for there is much you may learn.

[Exeunt]

Act II Scene II

Hogwarts, Astronomy tower.

Enter Draco Malfoy, solus.

Draco:

The events of this night hath chill'd my bones

Dumbledore and Potter hath sith been gone,

The hours hath turn'd the candlelight blue.

I fear for and with my immortal soul

Shall I my sweet mother's heart deign to break                                   5

Or shall I damn my soul to deepest hell?

The agony and pain within my breast

Bid me continue for my family's grace!

I did'st see how the false soothsayer

Plead with Dumbledore for his wretch'd life!                                   10

Heartily do I repent what I must do

What else can I do to preserve my soul?

                                                                                                                        [A noise within]

But soft, methinks Dumbledore approacheth,

Behind this arras, I shalt hide to bide

The little time I hath left of pure hands.                                   15

[Exit]

[Enter Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore with brooms]

Harry:

The castle is bath'd in the Dark Mark's light.

                                                                                                                         [They set their brooms apart]

Dumbledore:

It dost not bode well. Remember, Harry,

I have thy oath that thou wilt obey me

In all things in these my last decisions.

I need Severus. Remove that scowl now,                                   20

To Severus I must speak of my state.

Harry:

If your sagacity desires it

I hasten to execute your will.

                                                                                                                        [Harry hides under invisibility cloak]

Dumbledore (aside):

Something sits ill in the surrounding air,

Another body I sense is drawing near.                                   25

With no time left to warn impulsive Harry,

To avert disaster, I must immobilise him.

                                                                                                                        [Casts spell to immobilise Harry]

[Re-enter Draco]

Draco:

Expelliarmus! Alone, old man? Here be an extra broom? Where art your servant?

Dumbledore:

Where art thine? Or dost thou serve them?

Draco:

I hath come to kill you, Dumbledore.                                   30

Dumbledore:

Very well, get on with it, my dear boy.

Doth thou hesitate? Thou art a good sort;

Thou hast Disarm'd me, why dost thou not act?

Is thy vanity so great that thou art

Desireth witnesses for this deed?                                   35

Fear is a natural emotion, like love.

Draco:

There is nothing natural left in me.

Dumbledore (aside):

So much like Severus the poor boy sounds!

[aloud]

Professor Snape hath said thy good mother

Wants thee to be protect'd at all costs;                                   40

He and I know'st well thou wilt not strike me dead.

Draco:

Do you trust that traitor? He is loyal

Only to the Dark Lord's service. He had

But lately destroy'd thee.

Dumbledore:

So I heard, at the new moon, am I right?                                   45

Draco:

Be that true, Snape is nought but a vainglorious traitor

In his wish to climb the Death Eater ranks!

An you should'st I kill, I wilt him displace

In the Dark Lord's favour and thence thereby

Bring my mother and my name much glory!                                   50

Dumbledore:

I congratulate thee on thy perspicuity

For thy stringing of many innocents

Like an Imperius puppet in thine venture.

Pray bespeak thy reason why thou stay'st

Thy hand in bringing my life to an end.                                   55

I see thy heart is not in the matter'

I can help thee if thou would'st allow it

Draco:

I canst not! There is much I canst not say...

[Enter Amycus, Alecto and Fenrir Greyback]

Amycus:

Well done, Draco, thou hast disarm'd the fool!

Be quick and pursue the deed, we shalt be                                   60

Thy witnesses to the Dark Lord's true will.

Dumbledore:

Welcome good friends, to this merry party,

Wilt you not stay to join the parlay?

Alecto:

Wherefore hast thou not struck? Act now, Draco!

Greyback:

All this prattle sits ill within me, let me,                                   65

And the old Fool will have a bloody end!

Amycus:

No! The Dark Lord shalt not be disobey'd

'Tis Draco's task and Draco must perform!

Alecto:

Methinks, brother, the shaking boy canst not!

Stand aside, young Draco, so that I might –                                   70

[A noise from within. Enter Severus Snape]

Greyback:

Thou hast taken much too long to come here!

Amycus:

Snape, a problem hath lately greeted us,

The trembling boy doth not seem able to

Stoop to fair murder for the Dark Lord's sake.

Dumbledore (aside):

'Tis always as I have known it.                                   75

Severus (aside):

Wherefore should the clouds be so heavy!

Dumbledore:

Severus!

Severus (aside):

What hast thou agree'd with Dumbledore?

Look not so intelligibly at me, old man!

Surely, thou canst not wish me to kill                                   80

Afore the unsanctified sight of others

With nary a parting embrace from thee?

Dumbledore (aside):

Severus, thou must act as we had plann'd

Look not at me with thy fastidious

Revulsion, I have no regrets to die!                                   85

My lad¸ compromise not thy position!

Turn not thy contempt inwardly, Severus!

Self-hatred shalt lead to thy destruction!

Severus:

Stay aside all, and you especial, Draco

I know'st well what must perforce be done.                                   90

[aside]

Wherefore dost thou insist I do it?

The accurs'd Malfoys and Bellatrix

Made me swear on my worthless soul, an oath

To kill thee and thou agree'st to it

Sans thought, without care, sans hesitation!                                   95

Dost thou wish to damn me more than I am!

Dumbledore (aside):

Thou must, else all thou work'st for us is lost!

Betray not thyself with thy tender thoughts,

I am sorry to bring this upon thee,

Yet it must be done to secure thy place                                   100

In the dark e'erlasting court of riddles.

[aloud]

Severus...please...

Severus (aside):

Thou demand'st too much of me!

Dumbledore (aside):

Do it now ere the Order reach it here!

Hesitate not! Thou must be resolute!                                   105

Hesitate not! Thou must or all else

We have fought for is betray'd and lost!

[aloud]

Severus...please...

Severus (aside):

Canst thou see how mine hateful hand trembles?

Dumbledore (aside):

The others see not the truth. Do it now                                   110

And with my blood I shalt bless thee again.

Severus, my boy, thou art a good man.

I know so and I'll'd always trust thee!

[aloud]

Severus...please...

Severus (aside):

Did'st I not say no good can come from me?                                   115

I am loath to bid thee adieu like this!

Dumbledore (aside):

I bid thee farewell not adieu, Severus

[aloud]

Severus...please...

Severus (aside):

Do not press me thine demands for death,

This is my final salute, fare thee well,                                   120

Know'st thou I do this with a heavy heart!

[aloud]

Avada Kedavra!

                                                                                                                         [Dumbledore falls and dies]

The deed is done! Come fellow Death Eaters,

We must flee quickly! It's over! Over!

It is now the time to go or all is lost! 125

[Exeunt all but Dumbledore's corse (manent) and Harry Potter]

Harry (unpetrified and throwing off invisibility cloak):

I have always held Snape as a traitor!

The end of Voldemort is nought compar'd

To my need to avenge Dumbledore's blood –

By the heavens, I swear I shall be the

Woeful instrument of thy demise, Snape!                                   130

[Exit Harry with Dumbledore's corse]

Act II Scene III

Hogwarts, the Crypt.

Enter the corse of Albus Dumbledore with Minerva McGonagall as the chief mourner, attended by Remus Lupin, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Nymphadora Tonks, Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley.

Minerva:

Set down, set down your honourable load,

(O Albus! As if thy nobility

May be completely shrouded in a hearse!)

Let me awhile obsequiously lament

Th'untimely fall of my virtuous husband.                                   5

Pale cold ashes of the Phoenix's Order

How can your bloodless remnant leave me here?

Be it lawful to call for necromancer

I would with my love invocate thy ghost

To hear poor Minerva's lamentations!                                   10

I would I were slain by the selfsame hand

That made these wounds my heart bleeds to caress!

Is our love thus to be rent asunder?

Wast our love for he who did this misplaced?

Albus, Albus, look how these windows speak                                   15

O, in these windows that let forth your life

I pour the helpless balm of my poor eyes.

O, cursed be the force of the Dark Lord

Who commanded that you should be taken!

O, cursed be he who held that same hand                                   20

To perjury, deceits and these windows!

O, cursed be the hand that made these holes!

Cursed the heart that had the heart to do it!

Cursed the blood that let this blood from you!

More hateful hope betide that ugly wretch                                   25

That rend thy friends and I so wretched

By the cruel untimely death of thee!

I curse he who cannot be named to live

In the prodigious abortive state of life

With his unnatural aspect brought to light                                   30

To die more miserable than my love!

Stay! Wait! Cover not your heavenly load,

Rest you, while I weep o'er Dumbledore's corse.

[Enter Severus in heavy mourning]

Severus:

Shacklebolt, Tonks, Lupin, I command you

Who bear the corse to set it down slowly!                                   35

Ron:

Thou black magician, wherefore art thou here?

Harry:

Thou art a fiend, Snape to arrest this life!

I swear by my wand, I will kill thee now!

All else I implore, kindly more aside

I'll make a corse of him who slew the hope                                   40

Of the light of the Order of the Phoenix!

Lupin:

Stay aside both Severus and Harry!

This doleful time is not for duelling!

Harry:

What? Do you tremble? Be you all afraid?

Alas, I blame you not, for you be noble                                   45

And noble good canst not abide the devil!

Minerva:

Begone, thou hated minister of hell!

Thou had'st power over his mortal body

His soul thou canst not have; therefore begone!

Severus:

Believe you me, this contrition you see                                   50

Is as real as the mourning garbs you curse!

Ron:

Thou crusty botch of nature should but stay

And leave us here to lick upon your bones

With a well placed curse to kill you anon!

Harry:

Foul devil! For the love that Dumbledore bare thee                                   55

Thou must perforce his life end afore me!

Thou hast made our happy good earth thy hell,

Fill'd it with cursing cries and deep exclaims

If thou wretched servant of Voldemort

Cry delight to view thy heinous deeds,                                   60

Behold this pattern of thy butcheries!

Minerva:

Please gentlemen, fight not before Albus!

If you must kill each other, let it be

At the field of war or in honour's fields!

Remus, Tonks, I beg you, keep them apart!                                   65

O, my Albus! See, see thy dead wounds

Open their congeal'd mouths and weep afresh

For Severus' sins and the Phoenix's end!

Blush, I say, thou lump of ill deformity

For 'tis thy presence that calls forth his blood                                   70

From cold and empty veins where no red boils!

Thy deed inhuman and unnatural

Provokes this deluge most unnatural!

Ye Gods, which this blood made, avenge his death!

O Gods, who this blood see, avenge his death!                                   75

Heaven open with lightning strike the murder dead,

Or hell gnash wider and eat him quick

This evil soul who butchered my love!

Severus:

I am here to mourn him, like it or no!

Harry:

Villain! Thou know'st no law good or bad!                                   80

Thou art worse than beasts for thou hath no pity!

Severus:

How wonderful it is when ignorance

Deigns to speak the Devil's Truth!

Harry:

Devils like thee have no truth; if not for

Professor McGonagall's grave request                                   85

I would thee slay atop Dumbledore's grave!

Severus:

Then keep your wand and these words of anger,

Of these supposed crimes, to give me leave

By circumstance, t'accuse my cursed self.

Minerva:

Save thyself the need to forcibly weep!                                   90

I know of thy evils, but give thee leave!

Ron:

For thou art foul of heart and of deed,

There's no excuse but to hang thyself dead!

Severus:

Know not you, his noble soul foreswore me

To stay my hand on my wretched being!                                   95

Harry:

By this false despair, shalt thou stand exus'd

For doing worthy vengeance on thyself?

Dost thou deny wishing slaughter on him?

Who commanded you to corrupt the times?

Severus:

I do not deny the desire                                   100

To slaughter that HE who's unworthy,

However, I deny me the desire

To slaughter He who have me trust and love!

Shacklebolt:

Dost you deny your murder of Dumbledore?

Severus:

You would have me say I slew him not?                                   105

Minerva:

Then say Albus wast not slain by your hand!

But dead he is and cursed devil, by thee!

Severus:

Nay, he is dead and slain by Lucius' hand

And the Dark Lord and Belle Lestrange's.

Harry:

In thy foul throat thou liest, for I saw                                   110

Thy murd'rous wand (ne'er will I forget it) –

Thy murderous wand smoking in his blood!

Severus:

I wast provok'd by Lucius' perfidy,

Bellatrix Lestrange's slanderous tongue,

Narcissa Malfoy's love for her own son                                   115

(A pleasing affection though it may be,

Is misplaced in that boy's devilish heart).

I wast provoked by Albus Dumbledore's

That this must be done if thou art to win.

I wast provoked by the Dark Lord's deep need                                   120

To prove my loyalty slavishly!

These laid their guilt on my bloodied hands.

Harry:

Thou wert provoked by thy bloody mind,

That never dream'st on aught but butcheries

Didst thou not kill Albus Dumbledore?                                   125

Severus:

I grant ye, yea.

Minerva:

Dost grant me, fiendish devil incarnate,

Then the Gods grant me too – O hear me, Severus,

Thou mayst be damned for that wicked deed!

O, he wast gentle, mild and virtuous.                                   130

Severus:

The better for the Order of the Phoenix

That his soul hath ascended the Heavens.

Harry:

He's in Heaven where thou shalt never come!

Severus:

True, he is fitter for that place than you.

Ron:

And thou unfit for any place but hell!                                   135

Severus:

Dost thou not know, cub, that this is our hell

From whence there is no hope of escape?

Does that mean I will meet thee and Potter

At the dark dungeons in deepest hell?

Minerva:

Would my eyes be a basilisk to strike thee dead!                                   140

Severus:

I would they were that I might die at once;

For now they kill me with a living death.

Those eyes of yours from mine have drawn salt tears,

Sham'd their aspects with store of childish drops

Aye, true, scorn me, spit on me as you've done!                                   145

Kill me if you must – kill me, Minerva,

I implore you to smite me with the killing curse!

Minerva:

I cannot for Albus made me promise!

Severus:

Thou art tired, McGonagall, come you,

Help your Professor to rest in her rooms,                                   150

I will allow myself to be mourning

And presently repair to Hogwarts crypt

Where after I hath solemnly interr'd

In his chosen tomb this great noble man

And shower his stone with my sinner's tears                                   155

I will with all expedient duty see to my sins.

Minerva:

I hope thy penitence be real!

Harry:

Since the Professor has implored me and Ron,

I will stay my hand – but know thee this, Snape –

I will kill thee when I next get the chance!                                   160

Ron:

'Tis more than thou deserves!

[Exeunt all but Severus and Dumbledore's corse, manent]

Severus:

At last, the cold silence envelopes me.

This is the summer of our warring trials

Cast into darkness by this Bee's death

And the ascendance of the miasmic fog.                                   165

Yet, in all these clouds that lour'd on the Order

Riddles may be unravelled by lightning

At the sounds of the next stern alarum.

Look how the war cloud wrinkle his grim visage

And now, Dumbledore's body frowns on me.                                   170

It is to cheat me of my proportion!

I've been cheated of power and salvation

By you, Dumbledore whom I bury now

In this stone weather craved effigy.

An uttered spell and your body shall be at peace.                                   175

Aye, but what of my soul? I am twice damn'd!

The dissembling Dark Lord hath cheated me

Through the accursed Lestrange and Malfoys!

[Enter Hermione Granger, heavily veiled, unseen by Severus]

Look at me, ye twinkling stone effigy,

Thou hast left me alone scarcely made up,                                   180

What am I to without thy guidance

In this uncertain chess game of warfare?

I no longer have delight to pass my time

Unless to spy on my shadow in thy Sun!

This deformity that is on my soul                                   185

Paints me and my mind a determin'd villain!

I hate the idle things I must commit

For the Dark Lord in order to survive!

Thou art the progenitor, Dumbledore,

Of these inducted plots that thou hast laid                                   190

Based on Trelawney's libels and prophecies.

Look thee here, Dumbledore, look at my hands –

Methinks thy effigy chuckled at me

To see my hands trembling in grievous pain

And my voice hoarse and shaky like a dying leaf.                                   195

Did I tell thee that regret I shall

If your golden blood stains my traitor's hands

Yet you wink'd that smile and a lemon drop

Bidding me to cut his dangerous cloth,

To set one Potter against the Dark Lord                                   200

In deadly hate, the one against the other;

And if Harry Potter be true and just

As I am subtle, false and treacherous

All for the sake of a damned prophecy!

Let me rest here awhile in this your tomb.                                   205

I must feed my sorrow with inward moan!

                                                                                                                        [falls]

Despite this sinking of myself to the ground

My diseased idiosyncratic wit

Shall not carry me even with this

My famed sophisticated air and poise!                                   210

How long more can I pretend – e'en if I'm here

On the ground, beneath the stone of your effigy's feet

O, this is higher than my Fortunes reach.

And therefore better than my state deserves

Aye, Aye, this earth, image of melancholy,                                   215

Seeks him whom fates adjudge to misery!

Here let me lie at your tomb's hallowed feet

Here let me lie, now am I at the lowest.

Qui jacet in terra, non habet unde cadat.

In me consumpsit vires fortuna nocendo,                                    220

Nil superset ut jam possit obese magis.

Yes, Fortune has bereft me of my self.

Here, take it now! Let Fortune do her worst,

She will not rob me of this sable weed:

O no, she envies none but pleasant things,                                   225

Such is the folly of despiteful chance!

Fortune is blind and sees not my desserts,

So is she deaf and hears not my laments:

And could she hear, yet is she wilful mad,

And therefore will not pity my distress.                                   230

Suppose that she could pity me, what then?

Hermione (coming forward and removing veil):

If I were Fortune, I would not be blind;

Neither would I be wilfully deaf nor mad.

If I were Fortune, I would not be standing

On a perpetually rolling sphere, away my veil –                                   235

Your face is not worth sun-burning in heat,

I would not be as changeable or false

Or discriminatory like Harry

Or Ron, or the rest who've forsaken you.

Severus:

Wicked Wench! Shall I kill thee? I can do so!                                   240

Hermione:

What? On consecrated ground? I think not, sir?

Severus:

Thou art not privy to my thoughts and mind,

Miss Granger, shall I oblivate thee?

Hermione:

Unless I disarm thee first, Professor Snape.

Severus:

What art thy business in this my unrest?                                   245

Hermione:

The same as yours – mourning for Dumbledore!

Your words of distress and pain ring quite true

For alone one invariably speaks golden truth.

If you push me away you wilt have nought.

I am at present, the only one who                                   250

Wilt believe you – I trust you implicitly.

Severus:

So did Dumbledore speak ere he expir'd

By the curse of this wand in hand thou doth spy.

The good I wrought is not to be glean'd!

Miss Granger, my self appointed goddess,                  255

Fortune is still wilful angry at me,

What help canst I expect from Fortune's hands

Whose foot is standing on a rolling stone,

And mind more mutable than fickle winds?

O Goddess Fortune, Miss Granger, be not blind,                                   260

Trust not in me – an evil dissembler!

Why wail I then, where's hope of no redress?

Hermione:

For complaining so makes your grief seem less.

Severus:

My late ambition hath distained my faith,

My breach of faith occasioned a new war!                                   265

This bloody war hath spent my confused wit!

My best beloved mentor and saviour

Now lies dead by my evil treacherous hand!

Hermione:

O wherefore went you not to war yourself?

The cause is yours too; you might have died                                   270

For Harry and Professor Dumbledore!

Your years be mellow, your soul is honourable.

Their deaths might be unnatural, but you

Would be forced to be our salvation.

Severus:

Thou art deceived in me                                   275

As thou art in Dumbledore.

Thy nature is too honest for

Such business as sin.

Hermione:

Your nature is too politic for such business,

Know'st you that you I trust and you I will help.                                   280

'Tis for the cause and for us to avenge

Dumbledore against the Order as well

As for your sake in the betrayal thou face'st.

Severus:

It would behove thee to be lur'd away

By thine friends and the rest of the staff                                   285

To look askance at me and give me wide berth.

Thine friends and now the remnants of the Order

Canst no longer abide by my loathsome image,

Follow thou not their lead?

Hermione:

Doth they study thy private devotions?                                   290

Care they for secret lamentations?

There's no credit to be given to blind prejudice

Of one's own opinion without concern

For the truth of defining the Others'

Reasoned judgement and cautious logic?                                   295

There's no credit to be given to blind Harry's claims

Than to old Dumbledore's sweets, which some call

The physician's whore because she cozens him,

Harry and they suspected you wrongfully.

Severus:

For that, Miss Granger, Fortune reborn                                   300

Thou must give great men leave to take their times;

Distrust doth cause us seldom be deceived;

Thou see the oft shaking of the oak tree,

Fastens it more at the root.

Hermione:

Yet take heed,                                   305

For to suspect a friend unworthily

Instructs her the next way to suspect you

And prompts her to deceive you.

Severus:

We be well met then in this battle of wits.

Hermione:

Because I have been abandon'd                                   310

By my alleged friends.

Severus:

It seems we understand each other.

Hermione:

Aye, 'tis true. I shall call on you the later,

When dusk falls across the shadows.

[Exeunt severally]

Act II Scene IV

Severus Snape's house. The Book filled sitting room, late evening.

Enter Severus Snape and Hermione Granger.

Hermione:

It seems then that the tidings of this broil

Of Dumbledore's irregular end

Brake off our educational courses

Of the unwarranted closure of the school

As well as our business against Voldemort.                                   5

Severus:

Doth the Order of the Phoenix still live?

Hermione:

The phoenix still breathes as does its owner's

Bereaved spouse at the chariot reins.

Your name and image be still taboo.

Severus:

So what follows with this trust thy presents?                                   10

Whose throat must I cut?

Hermione:

Your inclination to shed blood rides post

Before the Order's occasion to use you.

Fie! Keep thy arch look away in your lips.

There is much yet to be done by your wit                                   15

For thee alone holds the key to that

Creature foul and misshaped – thine Dark Lord!

You know'st best amongst all the Order

That Harry's view lacks virtue and similitude.

You know'st best how the Dark Lord would strike,                                   20

When daring blood, his rent to have regained

Upon Dumbledore's crown to have distained

But thou art different – the crown thou want'st not,

By the prelate's cruelty, the crown Albus gave

But with thine priests' vestments and by pity,                                   ;25

The Order's cause hath since prevailed,

And thou hast saved the keeper's life in deed.

Severus:

You believe'st you see'st too much.

I am an invisible devil in flesh.

Hermione:

I know you to be an intelligencer and a quaint dissembler.                                   30

Severus:

Thou art speak'st in riddles.

Hermione:

How else ought I speak to a man acquainted with riddles in riddles?

Severus:

What dost thou want from me? Take thy devils,

Which hell calls angels: these curs'd gifts would make

Thee a corrupter and me an impudent traitor,                                   35

And should I take these they'll'd take me to hell.

I would have thee curse thyself for thy kindness!

O Goddess Fortune! Dost thou seek to candy my sins?

Hermione:

An Fortune should I be, respect my will;

I will have you be nothing for thyself.                                   40

Keep thy old garb of melancholy: 'twill express

You envy those that stand above your reach

Yet strive not to come near them; this will gain

Access to private lodgings, where yourself

May like a politic dormouse turn spy again.                                   45

Severus:

O Goddess Fortune, thou art like the crab

Which though it goes backward thinks it goes right

Because it goes its own way – but observe:

Thou ask'st for too much of this dissembler.

Hermione:

We already live in a cesspit                                   50

In a rank pasture at Hogwarts school;

There's a kind of honey dew o'er Britain far deadly

'Twill poison all our fame, look to it,

For Death Eaters and members of the Order alike

Hath faces that do belie their hearts                                   55

For they all give the devil cause to suck.

Severus:

Mock me not to sign the quietus est on my soul.

Ambition, madam, is a great man's madness,

That is not kept in chains and close pent rooms

But in fair lightsome lodgings and in girt                                   60

With the wild noise of prattling visitants,

Which makes it lunatic, beyond all cure.

This as the Dark Lord's chief ailment

And wast formerly mine!

Hermione:

Thou art ill to sell thyself;                                   65

The darkening of your worth is not that

Which Harry uses full of false light.

And you wilt know where breathes a complete man

(I speaketh it without flattery), turn your eyes

And progress through yourself.                                   70

Severus:

Vindicta mihi!

Hermione:

Aye, if you wish for it, it may be gratified.

Severus:

How shalt this be done?

Hermione:

The Dark Lord's pleasures shall court his eyes

Let you abuse him and flatter him,                                   75

For flattery is the bellow-blows up sin

To which that blast gives heat and stronger glowings;

Thus be the quality of war to bite with the frost.

We be one in fortunes, Professor Snape.

We both hath had our scrupled trials                                   80

Both felled by the death of Dumbledore.

Sir, I advise you do me right and justice

And for the Order, Dumbledore and yourself.

I come to you as a poor strange creature,

Born out of your dominion, having here (like you)                                   85

No judge indifferent nor no more assurance

Of equal friendship and proceeding. Fie, sir!

Hath my behaviour given to your displeasure

That thus you should proceed to put me off

And take your soul further into Hades!                                   90

I offer you a chance of salvation

Thou art a Prince prudent and an excellent

And unmatched wit and judgement,

Take not my olive branch of redemption and

The Fates and I, Fortune, will punish thee.                                   95

Severus:

Fortune canst not repay! I do believe,

Induc'd by potent circumstances that

Thou art mine enemy and make my challenge.

Thou shalt not be my judge, for it is thee who

Hath blow'd this coal betwixt my lords and me,                                   100

Which Merlin's dew quench. I say again,

I utterly abhor, yea, from my soul,

Refuse thee for my judge, whom yet once more

I hold my most malicious foe, and think not

At all a friend to truth.                                   105

Hermione:

Fie! Peace I do sue between the Order

And your half-witted politic jealousy.

Speak, doth you wish to avenge Dumbledore?

An thy answer be yea, join me and fight

For the sake of the Order and of the good.                                   110

Tell me thou art one of us again and I will believe.

Good faith, I shall swear to exculpate you

Doth you give me your word?

Severus:

Present me with blessing, Goddess Fortune,

As Miss Granger is neither blind nor deaf                                   115

Nor spherically changing the paths I tread,

I shalt my honourable word swear

To remain constant to Dumbledore's cause.

Hermione:

Noble sirrah, let me kiss your hand in thanks,

I shall keep my word if you keep'st thine.                                   120

The hour grows late; I must withdraw – good night.

[Exit Hermione]

Severus:

O wicked forgery! O traitorous miscreant!

Must all seek to haunt me? Curse thee, Albus!

A plague upon the Dark Lord and them all!

The heavens be just, murder canst not be hid:                                   125

Time is the author of truth and right;

Time and Miss Granger'll bring this treachery light!

The Malfoys shall quake, the Dark Lords shall fall

And I shall rend Bellatrix's long limbs apart.

Meanwhile, I, Severus, must cease my 'plaints                                   30

Or at least dissemble them awhile.

Ah, how my potions room awaits my touch

To help relieve this torment in my soul.

Gentle Miss Granger, thou art used cruelly

By the worthless sack of bosom bows!                                   135

I shall on a wizard's oath honour thee

With the same unbreakable vow I gave

To the selfsame Dumbledore who haunts me!

                                                                                                                        [points his wand at his heart]

O aliquis mihi quas pulchrum ver educat herbas

Misceat, et nostro detur medicina dolori;                                   140

Aut, si qui faciunt animis oblivia, succos

Praebeat; ipse metam magnum quaecunque per orbem

Gramina Sol pulchras effert in luminis oras;

Ipse bibam, quicquid meditatur saga veneni,

Quicquid et herbarum vi caeca nenia nectit:                                   145

Omnia perpetiar, lethum quoque, dum semel omnis

Noster in extincto moriatur pectore sensus.

Ergo tuos oculos nunquam, mea vita, videbo,

Et tua perpetuus sepelivit lumina somnus?

Emoriar tecum: sic, sic juvat ire sub umbras.                                   150

                                                                                                                        [Throws aside wand in despair]

At tamen absistan properato cedere letho,

Ne mortem vindicta tuam tum nulla sequatur.

[Exit]

FOOTNOTES & GLOSSARY

One of my betas informed me that in Act One, not all my footnotes &ca were displayed. There appears to be a word limit on each uploaded section on this website. To remedy this, I will include the glossary and footnotation on a separate page following each Act if this should happen. After an analysis, I realise that the notations to Acts I. III and V will have posted separately. I can post the notations to Acts III and IV with the play proper because they are relatively short Acts. Any inconvenience caused is deeply regretted.

Response to questions from readers

* As many readers do not seem to refer to previous notations in the previous Acts (as evinced by the number of emails I received on the same points), I have decided to reproduce certain sections of my footnotations and Author's Notes (which precedes each Act proper) in every Act. In so doing, I hope to encourage readers to read the footnotes and author's notes, thereby minimising their emails which seem to be repeatedly asking me the following questions:

(a) Why is there Latin?

Ans: Please c/f to the A/N at the start of each Act. I include them before every Act for explicitly stating my reasons for doing what I do within this play.

(b) Why is your Latin not the kind that I learn in school?

Answer: You learn Roman Latin in school, I'm writing in Mediaeval Latin, which is different from Roman Latin. Please c/f to the A/N at the start of each Act. Please also c/f to the section of the footnotes and glossary entitled "Choice of Latin". I include this section in my notation every Act for explicitly stating my reasons for doing what I do within this play..

(c) Your Latin is all wrong! Tanquam Ovis does not mean "like a lamb to the slaughter"!

Ans: You learn Roman Latin in school, I'm writing in Mediaeval Latin, which is different from Roman Latin. If I am quoting from Roman Latin, I will tell you so. Please refer to the sections of the Footnote and Glossary entitled "Tanquam Ovis Explanation" and "Choice of Latin". I include these sections in my notation every Act for explicitly stating my reasons for doing what I do within this play.

(d) Why does your Latin have religious overtones?

Ans: Please c/f to the A/N at the start of each Act. Please also c/f to the section of the footnotes and glossary entitled "Choice of Latin." I include this section in my notation every Act for explicitly stating my reasons for doing what I do within this play.

(e) Why is the English so 'funny'?

Ans: Please c/f to the A/N at the start of each Act and the section of the footnotes entitled "Brief Primer on Tudor and Jacobean English". I include this section in my notation every Act for explicitly stating my reasons for doing what I do within this play.

(f) What is the purpose of the preface?

Ans: Please c/f to the Preface which precedes the play proper. I uploaded the preface for a reason, mind you.

(g) How come there are apostrophes on certain words?

Ans: Please c/f to the A/N at the start of each Act. Please also c/f to the section of the footnotes and glossary entitled "Brief Primer on Tudor and Jacobean English". I include this section in my notation every Act for explicitly stating my reasons for doing what I do within this play.

(h) What does "c/f" and "cf." stand for?

Ans: They stand for cross-reference or cross-refer; I use them interchangeably.

(i) What is the difference between your usage of [ ] and ( )?

Ans: [ ] represents stage directions. ( ) represents asides. Please refer to A/N at the beginning of each Act. I include them before every Act for explicitly stating my reasons for doing what I do within this play

(j) Why are there words in square brackets before and between some of your lines?

Ans: [ ] represents stage directions. This means it instructs the actor what (s)he should do, such as drink, sit, die, fall to the ground.

(k) Why do some characters' speeches happen within round brackets?

Ans: ( ) represents asides, when not stated explicitly thus (aside), it means that the person is muttering under his/her breath as an aside. Please cf. to the A/N preceding each Act. I include them before every Act for explicitly stating my reasons for doing what I do within this play

(l) What is an aside?

Ans: Please refer to the section of the footnotes and glossary entitled "Brief Primer on Stage Directions used in Tudor-Jacobean Masques and Plays". I include this section in my notation every Act for explicitly stating my reasons for doing what I do within this play.

(m) I do not understand what's going on in the play?

Ans: It helps if you read it aloud. A play is meant to be performed (i.e. read aloud and performed to an audience, who will buy oranges to throw at the actors if they are terrible). Reading a play is not the same as seeing and hearing a play. You may notice that English writers in the 16th-18th Centuries write with many semi-commas, e.g. Hobbes. It helps if you read it aloud. Really it does.

(n) Is a problem play a problematic play?

Ans: Please refer to the section of the footnotes and glossary entitled "Problem Play: An Explication". I include this section in my notation every Act for explicitly stating my reasons for doing what I do within this play.

(o) Why aren't your notes on the same page as the relevant section of the chapter?

Ans: In a play, there are no chapters. One of my betas informed me that in Act One, not all my footnotes &ca were displayed. There appears to be a word limit on each uploaded section on this website. To remedy this, I will include the glossary and footnotation on a separate page following each Act where this is necessary (i.e. Acts I, II and V). Any inconvenience caused is deeply regretted.

(p) Why don't you use 'you' or 'your' all the time?

Ans: Please refer to the section of the footnotes and glossary entitled "A Brief Primer on Tudor-Jacobean English". I include this section in my notation every Act for explicitly stating my reasons for doing what I do within this play.

(q) Why are there numbers at the end of some lines? Are they meant to be read as part of the play too? What about the words in the square brackets? Are they to be read aloud too? What about the things in round brackets?

Ans: No, non, nien, nyet! You are not meant to read the numbers out aloud. You are also not to read the things within the square brackets i.e. [ ] aloud either. Those things in [ ] are stage directions; it informs the actors what to do. This is a play; a play is different from a story. Please refer to your dictionary if you do not know the difference. Lines in round brackets i.e. ( ) are meant to be said on stage as asides. If you don't know what asides are please refer to the section of the footnotes and glossary entitled "Brief Primer on Stage Directions used in Tudor-Jacobean Masques and Plays". As for the numbered lines, on NO ACCOUNT are you to read aloud the line numbers. I have included the numbers at the end of certain lines (every 5 lines for metred lines and at the end of every speech for unmetred lines) to give you a rough guide as to whether the lines are metred, and to facilitate your understanding of the play. How do the numbers facilitate your understanding of the play? Have you looked at the footnotes and glossary? Do you want to hunt all over for a certain reference? I have included the Act, Scene and line number (where applicable) when I am explaining certain lines/concepts/imagery &ca.

(r) Why don't you lines rhyme all the time? All poems rhyme!

Ans: It's not meant to rhyme all the time. Whoever told you that all poetry ought to rhyme all the time ought to be drug out into the streets and clubbed very severely with a saucepan. When the battery is done, please give this person a volume of poetry from every century and perhaps he/she will come to realise that poetry does not have to rhyme and neither does Shakespeare.

I earnestly hope that the replication of the footnotes and so on will encourage the readers to cross-refer to the others sections of the play as well as the other reference notations. I repeat the A/N and first section of footnotations in every chapter of all my fictions for a reason – viz., to save you (the reader) and I (the authoress) from these sort of roundabout questions! Please read the A/N and the footnotes.