After a long night of deep sleep and no bad dreams, Harry woke rested and back to his usual stable self. There was no trace of the depressive or anxious feelings that had plagued his mind the previous day. He told his friends at breakfast that he had managed to persuade Snape to let them deal with his defence at the coming inquiry. Hermione gaped at him and Ginny and Ron looked incredulous.

“He accepted you to do his defence?” said Ron.

“No, no, he accepted Hermione... I told him you were really grateful because of your mother...” said Harry.

“And then you told him that he owed you because you saved his life the other night, right?” Ginny intervened.

“No, I thought that might have the opposite effect with him, so I certainly did not remind him of that… Anyway, I managed to trick him into it... But the important point is, we have... sorry, Hermione has an official mandate to do Snape’s defence. And I’ve asked Kingsley to move the inquiry to Hogwarts, like Hermione and I agreed upon the other day when we discussed this.” They explained the reason to Ron and Ginny.

“What we must do now, is to proceed with the special form of Veritaserum,” continued Harry. ”I’m done with my research. There are three principle bases for Veritaserums, the most efficient of which is the dried flowers of the Rwandan liana.Together with concentrated thistle juice it makes the strongest Veritaserum ever described.”

“Wouldn’t we want something milder?” Ginny objected.

“I think we need to start with a strong draught, as we want to modify it to allow exceptions later. It must still retain its compelling qualities. But we can try different solutions. There is a recipe based on crystal emulsions and moonstones also, but it produces a kind of automatic speech devoid of emotions and I’m not sure we should emphasise that side of Snape. It does something to the credibility of a person to lift away the emotions of speech. Even if you know that the person speaks the truth, you may not experience the depth of it,” explained Harry.

“Do you have all the ingredients?” asked Ginny. 

“Neville has managed to procure me liana flowers from Rwanda, and Hermione has made a list of the other ingredients and made sure that we have everything for the traditional Veritaserum,” said Harry and Hermione nodded.  “The problem is that it’s a potion that needs almost a month to mature. Moreover, I’m not convinced we can modify it afterwards. My belief is that we need to add the crucial ingredient to obtain the evasion quality, right from the beginning. The two seemingly opposing qualities need to marry from start to work properly. I’ve gone through several Herbology tomes and come up with some ideas, but they are far-fetched. I’m still most interested in getting some centaur magic in the draught. How’s that going, Ron?”

“Until recently, not so well. Hagrid resents the fact that the centaurs never took a stand in the battle against Voldemort. He’s not on speaking terms with them any longer, not since Firenze died. Therefore Hagrid was not very interested at first when I asked him and had no idea about how to get hold of tail hairs or hoof-powder. The day before yesterday, though - I have not had time to tell you - I told him a bit more about why we needed something containing the centaur magic of evasion and he thought we should go after their hair. Not from the tails, but from their heads. They have extremely forceful growth of hair it seems, and must have regular haircuts. They use the hair for making up beds, but it’s so abundant that they actually use it for trading with other creatures in the forest,” said Ron.

“For trading?” asked Harry.

“Yes, animals and other creatures want the hair for their nests or for warming their young ones and they swap it for food or claws, or other things the centaurs need. That’s an advantage if we’d like some - we won’t have to persuade them to give it away. We only need to come up with something to trade with. They fancy sweets above anything, Hagrid says, so that shouldn’t be difficult. And it’s more likely the power of evasion is incorporated in their hair than in their hoofs, so Hagrid says,” explained Ron.

“I trust Hagrid to know his magical creatures,” said Harry. “All we need to do is buy some sweets at Honey-Dukes at Hogsmeade and seek the centaurs out in the Forest and...”

“Well, that’s the problem, isn’t it?” interrupted Ron.

“Why? We’ve been to the Forest many times before,” said Harry with a frown.

“It’s explicitly forbidden this year with regard to security, isn’t it?” said Ron with a blush.

“It has always been forbidden, Ron. It hasn’t kept us from going there when we really needed to,” Hermione pointed out, also surprised by his reticence.

“Healer Schufflert says that adventures such as the one in our second year where Harry and I were trapped in Aragog’s nest might have inhibited my psychosocial development by its traumatising effects and that I should think twice before I launch into similar enterprises again. Which is exactly what I’m doing now... thinking twice, I mean,” said Ron a bit aggressively. The others gaped at him.

“Have you told Healer Schufflert about all our adventures? Do you tell her about our present plans too?” Ginny asked suspiciously. 

“I only told her about my spider phobia,” Ron said defensively.

“I don’t want to pressure you to go into the forest if you don’t feel like it,” said Harry evenly, disconcerted by Ron’s objections. “But Hagrid says the forest is safer by far right now, because the battle ravaged the forest last year like a natural catastrophe and all the creatures fled. I noticed it myself - the forest has been nearly deserted when I’ve ventured into it.”

“I’ll go with you,” said Ron after a second of deliberation. “I only meant that I had to think about it before I made up my mind, so that I’m really certain that I do it because I want to, and not because someone else wants me to. It’s important, so that you don’t get the impression that others are in charge of your life, because that’ll make you feel dejected and resentful,” said Ron. Harry stared perplex at his friend for a while.

“Okay,” he finally said. “Of course, I understand. Just make sure you don’t do things because Healer Schufflert wants you to.”

 Ron blushed.

“You want to come with me, then? Who else?” asked Harry.

“I wouldn’t mind,” said Ginny, eyes glittering with excitement.

“I’ll pass. I have a lot of work to do. If I’m really going to defend Professor Snape in public, I need to research inquiry procedures and stuff, so that we get the formals right,” said Hermione.

They hurried away from the Great Hall to class and could not resume the conversation until the next break. They agreed that Harry, Ron and Ginny should try to approach the centaurs the coming Sunday, after going to Hogsmeade. Hermione also started to make timetables for the potion inventions.

“If we want the potion to be ready and tried out before the middle of May, we need to start straight away,” she said. “I hope Kingsley will be able to delay the inquiry until then.”

They continued planning their activities during lunch. Harry was concerned where to keep the cauldrons during the potion’s maturation.

“We’ll probably be able to borrow the Potions class room for experimenting in the evenings,” he said. “But I don’t want to leave the cauldrons in there, not even under protective spells. I don’t trust Miss Cork – she’s way too involved with Malfoy. Have you seen them, always together with Mr Burgess? And Malfoy obeys her slightest say. It’s really strange. You’d think he’s in love with her! But surely, she’s not his type?” said Harry incredulous.

“She does have a kind of sexy voice,” Ron pointed out.

“Yes,” agreed Harry. Ginny and Hermione frowned at them. “But she’s so sullen-looking and plump. Nothing of the elegance you’d expect from someone pretending to approach the Malfoy family,” added Harry. “Anyway, I don’t trust her. Moreover there’ll be at least ten cauldrons at the same time. Where shall we keep them?” There was a silence.

“I still have my bag - my enchanted bag,” said Hermione. “It’ll swallow anything.”

Her enchanted handbag had saved them on many occasions during their year of flight from Voldemort. It had contained everything they needed, including a tent, although the bag was only the size of an ordinary handbag.

“We’ll just make sure to put on tight fitting lids when we do the transports up and down from the dormitory. You can have them under your bed, Harry, and look after their maturation,” continued Hermione.

“Good idea,” said Harry as he looked up towards the podium. He realised that Mrs Steadfast was having lunch with the teachers, seated beside Snape. She made a sign for him when she met his gaze.

“Listen,” Harry hastened to say to his friends. “I’ve not had time to tell you, but Mrs Steadfast will want to have a word with us all today.”

His friends looked at him inquiringly.

“It’s about security,” said Harry embarrassed and told them reluctantly about the note found at the Death Eater’s place and its implications.

“And you didn’t think that it was more important to inform us about this threat, than to make plans for a potion we’re not even sure we’ll succeed in making?” said Ginny, irritated. Harry shrugged with an exculpating gesture.

“I‘ve been threatened by Voldemort ever since I started at Hogwarts,” he said. “And I’ve known all along that the Death Eaters might want revenge on me.”

“In a way,” pondered Hermione, “...you’ve been protected by Voldemort.”

They all raised their eyebrows at her.

“He wanted to kill you by his own hand, didn’t he? Therefore no one dared to attack you, for fear of the Dark Lord’s reprisals. Now there’s nothing stopping whoever wants to challenge you,” explained Hermione.

“Before, no one but Voldemort had a reason to kill me,” retorted Harry.

“The motives are different now. You’re famous and people who want power will want to match you and defeat you, not for personal reasons, but for the mere symbolism of it,” said Hermione.

“That’s absurd! I’m not interested in matching any of those lunatics,” muttered Harry.

“I don’t think they take that into account,” said Ron grimly. “Creepy with a spy at Hogwarts, though. Who could it be? Malfoy?”

”Is he hateful enough to want to kill me, do you think? I saved his life last year in the Fiendfyre… And he couldn’t kill Dumbledore that time when Snape…” said Harry.

Mrs Steadfast had stridden down to them as they were talking and interrupted the conversation.

“Do you have time for a word before next lesson?” she asked.

Harry regretted that he had not prepared his friends better. When Mrs Steadfast was finished with them, they were all rather subdued and uneasy.

“The three of you have a wish to become Aurors, I think,” Mrs Steadfast said to Harry, Ron and Ginny who nodded. “Well, a future Auror must not only be able to fight and defend themselves when faced with the Dark Arts, an Auror must also learn the structured and organised ways of preventing crimes by applying vigilance and security measures,” she said.

They looked at her inquiringly.

“You work as a team and you report everything...” Mrs Steadfast paused to look sternly at them “...everything to the Head, which is me.” Her gaze of steel pierced them. “Move two by two and be vigilant. Have your wands on you, easy to sort. When you get suspicious of something, fetch help, don’t search places on your own. Understood?”

After this sermon, it was a matter of a new debate among the friends whether to tell Mrs Steadfast or not that they needed to walk into the Forbidden Forest and trade with the centaurs. Harry still wanted them to go and argued that there would be three of them together. There would be Hermione staying at Hagrid’s until they came back and, if they did not return within the time limit, she would raise the alarm. There was no reason to believe the centaurs would attack them. His friends were hesitant, but they finally reached a compromise where Harry promised to tell Simmings before they parted. ”He’s really understanding and complying for an Auror,” said Harry. ”I don’t think that he’ll prevent us from doing it, not if he’s taken a bit off guard. Leave it to me. We’re friends.”

The walk into the Forest was probably the most uneventful one they had ever experienced. They were guided by Phil, one of the Kangabbits, to the trading place described by Hagrid. There was only one taciturn centaur there who, when he saw the sweets they had brought, did not make any difficulties whatsoever with the trade. They got more hair than they would probably need and returned happily to a trepidating Hermione and to Simmings who was practically a nervous wreck.

The young Auror had regretted his lenience towards Harry the minute they departed and, dreading the worst, had debated with himself for the entire length of the excursion whether he should alert his boss or not. The pale Auror sighed with relief when they entered the Entrance Hall, looked reproachfully at Harry, but forgave him instantly when Harry patted him appreciatively on the back and thanked him for his cooperation. The Forest had seemed just as deserted as the last times Harry had visited it.

They started to brew in the dungeons. This time, Miss Cork did not feel the need to report to Professor Snape, but Harry told her explicitly that they would make an account of their results to him after they were finished. All of them felt that this was Harry’s area of expertise, although Hermione had helped him out with the planning. He was left alone with the concocting and preferred it that way. Two of his friends would accompany him down into the dungeons. He would shut himself up in the room with protective spells and his friends would come back as agreed beforehand to fetch him. On more than one occasion, he felt uneasy in the gloomy dungeon and checked the door repeatedly. After a week of daily works in the evenings, however, he was done and satisfied with the base of the potion. It had to mature over the Easter Holidays, but they would add the last ingredients subsequently and it would be ready for try-outs at the end of April.

***

In charms with Professor Flitwick, they were back to study a variant of Obliviate spells - so-called Mind-modifying spells - which gave rise to lively discussions in the class. Professor Flitwick had never, he said, had a class so ready to discuss the ethics of magic, which gladdened and tired him at the same time.

Mind-modifying spells bordered on Mind-compelling spells, which were classified as Dark Magic with its extreme form called the Imperius curse, which implied taking control over a person’s will completely. Mind-modifying could be used in all kind of situations, from innocent instances in common life to more complicated settings, to improve achievements of people or to manipulate individuals or groups of people. Among other things, they were used in large scale by the Ministry of Magic on Muggles. Here again, the ethical implications were evident.

The thing about Mind-modifying spells was that they would always become obvious to the person who had been subjected to it right afterwards, if it was not done with extreme subtlety on unimportant matters and unless it was used on Muggles, who of course would never understand what had come over them. Therefore, Professor Flitwick said, you always needed to think hard before you performed a Mind-modifying spell on a fellow magical person and consider whether you were prepared to suffer the consequences when the person inevitably debunked you. Only Obliviate spells would go undetected by its victims, although, Professor Flitwick pointed out, there were reports of diffuse symptoms surfacing long after the spell was cast, presenting as an anxious feeling of betrayal.

Professor Snape’s as yet unexplained Obliviatings on Crucioed pupils last year were frequently discussed at Hogwarts. The current opinion about Professor Snape at the moment was that he was guilty as charged and probably a pervert - and why had he not been sacked long ago?

They were supposed only to touch on the subject of Mind-modifying spells and move on, but it became a sport, first with the Slytherin students, to perform them on each other and try for how long you could go undetected. It would be small innocent things, like making a person want to pick up an object that you had dropped, or to make them take off in the opposite direction to where they were originally heading, without knowing why. Harry and his friends were adamantly against using the Mind-modifying spells at first. After being subject a few times to Slytherin jokes and seeing younger pupils abused, without the skills to retaliate for themselves, even Hermione started to repay in kind, however.

The practice spread to all houses and for a few weeks you had to be constantly vigilant. One morning as Harry passed the Slytherin table in the Great Hall, he noticed in the corner of his eye Malfoy leer at Mr Burgess who put a glass of pumpkin juice down on the table.

“Got you! Didn’t you notice? You drank from my glass? I made you.” Malfoy laughed at Mr Burgess who pulled a face of distaste and surprise. Malfoy’s smile faded as Mr Burgess turned furiously upon him.

“That wasn’t funny!” hissed the teacher. Harry was caught by the ferocity of the man’s anger and stopped to look upon the young professor frowningly. Miss Cork turned up to save the situation by asking Mr Burgess to fetch Malfoy’s attending Auror, Mr Sachs - a demand that the insulted teacher complied with promptly, to Harry’s surprise.

The same evening after dinner, Professor Snape stepped forward and asked for their attention, in order to announce the prohibition of the use of Mind-modifying spells at Hogwarts from now on.

“The magic might seem innocent to you at the moment, but sooner or later someone will be tempted to use the spells for more serious purposes and then you’ll approach Dark Magic without really noticing. All Mind-modifying spells are to be reported to the teachers and there’ll be consequences for using them,“ Snape concluded to the general muttering of the pupils.

***

The Daily Prophet had been slightly less peppery towards Snape and Harry the last week and one morning an article appeared that interested Harry a good deal. The same journalist who had written a short biograhy about James Potter, had got hold of one of James’ aunts, over ninety years old by now, who had told the reporter that because of the many diseases and deaths of infants in the family, a genetic investigation had been instigated by the consulted healers and a vast sampling of both traditional magical blood tests and complementary Muggle genetic testing had been carried out. The living child, James, had been extensively examined and of course, as a side effect, the tests had also proven blood relationships. The aunt had taken an active part in the investigations, having lost two live-born children and had two spontaneous abortions. She had witnessed the blood test comparing James’ blood to his father’s and there was no doubt to the match, she said. It had glowed a perfect silver. And the Muggle DNA test did not contradict the finding, she added for the reporter’s benefit. Thus, James was freed from suspicions of being Voldemort’s son.

Rita Skeeter wrote extensively about the Pleasure Temples of Voldemort. But her source among the Death Eaters had gone mute and there was no one to say that Severus Snape had been into the business, although she tried hard to imply that he had. More pupils of Hogwarts had come forth, though, to testify to being Obliviated, and the evilness of Snape was still a hot topic in the Daily Prophet which did not miss an opportunity to hint at the impropriety of having such a controversial wizard on such an important post at Hogwarts. Rita Skeeter wrote a more detailed biography over Eileen Prince and renewed her speculations as to Snape’s birth.

A few days after the article was published, however, an interview appeared in the paper that changed things radically. Harry realised immediately as he stepped into the Great Hall that particular morning that something was going on, because the hall was unusually silent. Everyone with a newspaper in front of them read with intense interest with friends hanging over their shoulders. Harry shot an instinctive glance at the teacher’s podium where Snape just rose from the table, a deep flush on his face and a paper crumpled in his hand. He met Harry’s eyes for a second, then walked quickly out of the hall. Harry hastened up to Hermione, impatient and apprehensive of what he would find out.

“This is excellent!” muttered Hermione to his surprise. “Wait a moment until I’ve read the entire text, Harry – I’ll tell you in a moment.” The photo in the middle of the spread showed the furrowed face of a hook-nosed old man with dark eyes that peered insolently at the readers. Harry got an inkling of what this might be about, but he was not sure. He thought he recognised this man, but...?

“That’s Snape’s father, Tobias Snape,” said Hermione.

“Isn’t he a Muggle?” asked Harry, surprised.

“He is, but as he explains to the reporter, his brother was a Muggle-born wizard, so he got used to magic already as a child. Moreover, he was married to a witch for fifteen years and his son is a wizard, so to keep up with the magical world he has maintained a subscription of the Daily Prophet all these years.”

“So, what does he say? I don’t think Snape likes his father very much,” said Harry.

“No,” Hermione looked surprised at him. “You’re right. Tobias Snape says that he hasn’t seen his son since he left home at seventeen. Blamed me for the death of his mother. As if I could have prevented what happened! I was devastated by her death. I should have given the boy more attention of course, but what can you do when you are yourself submerged in grief? he asks the reporter. Sounds to me he shows a lot of self-pity,” commented Hermione.

“Listen to this - he’s being quite contemptuous: Severus was always tied to his mother’s apron-strings. Always took her party. They had their magic in common, of course. You wizards have a tendency to elevate yourselves above us non-magic people. I never did tolerate that. But your young hero, Harry Potter, has put an end to such foolish pride, I gathered, by killing that Lord Voldemort. Good riddance. I hope you get your priorities sorted now.” Hermione sniggered. ”He’s not afraid of expressing his opinions on the politics of the magical world, Tobias Snape is. I think the reporter was quite amused. There are some hair-raising quotations that are not really related to the subject of the interview.”

Harry raised his eyebrows.

”The bottom line of it is that Snape’s father had enough of the speculations about his wife and son and contacted the newspaper on his own accord,” continued Hermione. ”That lady reporter of yours is a tad too hasty in her conclusions, he says, speaking of Rita Skeeter. Tobias Snape’s story is that he met Eileen Prince at the apothecary where she worked nearly forty years ago. Apparently, it was a split shop in London, working with Muggles on one part and with wizards on a concealed basis. Growing up with his wizard brother made Tobias Snape recognise Eileen for what she was, so he was intrigued by her and invited her out a couple of times. He got attached to her, he says, despite her sulky attitude. He confirms that she mentioned Tom Riddle at the time with admiration and that he got the impression that she was indeed in love with him.”

Harry grimaced uneasily.

”It made Mr Snape jealous, it did,” Hermione continued, ”and he stopped seeing her for a while. When he went back to the apothecary, Eileen had stopped working there. He traced her to her parent’s house where she was confined, pregnant. She had tried to drown herself in a river a month earlier, but got rescued by a stranger passing by. Her parents’ intention was to hide her until she had the baby and give it away for adoption. Indignant, Tobias insisted on finding out whether it was his child and he waited stubbornly during the length of the pregnancy. He was received only reluctantly by Eileen Prince’s parents as they loathed Muggles. Eileen’s father had been a teacher at Hogwarts and climbed to a prominent position at the Ministry. Ultimately the baby was born and tests performed according to both magical and Muggle principles with concordant results. He was my son, no doubt about it, says Tobias Snape. It’s funny - I’m a Muggle, but still I was more convinced by that magical silver shining test where they mixed his blood with mine by magic, than by the letter from the Muggle hospital stating I was the father with 99.8% certainty by DNA analysis. Mr Snape asked Eileen Prince to marry him and to his surprise she agreed, for she had hardly spoken a word to him since he had found her pregnant. She probably wanted to get away from her parents, and like this she was to keep the baby. She grew quite fond of the boy, but would panic as soon as he started to wail. She was depressed and grew tired quickly. I would come home sometimes and the baby would lie crying by himself as she had left the house in desperation. What could I do? I had to go to work, no? And I had absolutely forbidden her to use magic on him or to give him any potions of hers. No wonder, perhaps, that he grew so clinging and protective of her when he was older - he always dreaded that she would leave the family. What a terrible story! So sad. And then she killed herself when Snape was fifteen,” said Hermione, wide-eyed.

“Let me read it,” said Harry and contrary to his own principles, he read the entire text. Snape’s father struck him as a forceful character, not devoid of a sense of humour, but self-centred. If you studied his face closely, you could spot the marks of chronic overuse of alcohol on his complexion.

This interview constituted the end of the speculations about Snape and Harry as Voldemort’s heirs. As Hermione pointed out, the ground for the accusation had been the connection between Snape’s mother and Voldemort, and when this was pulverised by the testimony of Snape’s father, the rest of the accusations collapsed as a sandcastle.

Snape kept out of sight for the most part of a week. He even cancelled some of his classes. When he came back, however, he was more inscrutable than ever. His contact with Harry landed on the exchange of a few words every now and then after class, but no lengthy discussions. Harry would mostly ask him questions related to the lesson or, from time to time, show him a few lines with Ancient Magic and ask his opinion about an analysis he’d made. Snape would answer politely, but keep his distance.

The Easter Holidays approached, unusually late in the term. The pause in work would be welcome, because the teachers goaded the NEWT students on and worked them relentlessly in view of the approaching exams. Concerning security, things had been quiet. Mrs Steadfast had not given them any more information. No one had noticed anything strange at Hogwarts and the four friends had begun to relax.

***

On the Tuesday before the holidays, Harry passed a couple of hours in the dungeons, adding the second set of ingredients to the Veritaserum of Exceptions, as he had started to call it. So far, he was satisfied with the progress of the potions and believed there were several good candidates.

Ginny came down to fetch him. She was early, so Harry let her in while he cleaned up and put all the cauldrons carefully in Hermione’s handbag, marvelling at how they could disappear inside the small space and remerge undamaged in his dormitory. There must be a pouch of magical limbo created in there, he thought. He would ask Hermione to explain it to him. Harry cast a last look around him and advanced towards Ginny who was leaning against the doorpost.

“Shall we go then?” he said. Harry had never liked the gloomy Potions classroom and it was especially moist and dusky this time of the year. He did not think about it, as long as he concentrated on his work, but now he had a creepy feeling and wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible.

“I thought maybe we could visit the dungeons further down the gallery before going upstairs,” said Ginny, tilting her head towards her left shoulder, with a smile full of meaning. “I’ll do some transfiguration and we could imagine ourselves being in...” her lips mimed a word at Harry who smiled back at her.

“Get some practice before the real thing, you mean... Good idea...” answered Harry and slid an arm round her waist.

“I almost can’t believe that we’re going on a vacation the day after tomorrow, just you and me,” purred Ginny, wriggling closer to Harry and putting her arms around his back. ”I haven’t been abroad for years, not since we went to Egypt to visit Bill when I was twelve… And it’s so exciting to go away with you!” 

”Shush, we’re not supposed to talk about it, remember, Ginny? Even if there’s no one in sight, you never know,” said Harry with a suspicious glance over her shoulder into the corridor.

”Sorry. Is everything set with Mrs Steadfast for our trip?” murmured Ginny, unaffected by Harry’s paranoia and approaching her lips to Harry’s with half-closed eyes.

“I’ve obtained her permission to go and been through everything concerning security with her this morning,” answered Harry, distracted and dizzy by Ginny’s closeness. “Wait, let’s get away from here first.”

Harry turned around, Ginny still in his arms, and fumbled with his wand to close the door to the classroom. For a second, he thought that he saw a shadow move inside. He started, clutched Ginny closer to himself, banged the door shut and locked it. Discarding his vision for imagination, because he had been alone in that room for hours and there was only one access to the room which had been blocked magically all along, Harry let himself be led away by Ginny. He was careful, however, when they entered their love nest, to draw up protection spells around them.