That same evening the Three Broomsticks was filled with students to the limit of its capacity.

Because of Snape’s and Harry’s disappearance the previous evening, the parties at the different houses, intended to celebrate the summer holidays and the departure from Hogwarts had been cancelled. Instead, Ron and Hermione told Harry, the dinner party that Professor McGonagall had prepared transformed into a vigil. Once it became clear that they were missing, the mounting concern had risen to alarm and Mrs Steadfast had been called for. Students had been allowed to stay in the Great Hall all evening. Mrs Steadfast ran back and fro, interrogating people and looking grim. They all waited anxiously for news and became more and more destitute as the night came.

“They actually cleared away the tables and allowed us to conjure up mattresses to camp in the Great Hall. We had the doors to the Entrance Hall open to be alerted at once in case you would suddenly come back. Mrs Steadfast’s Aurors were out searching for you despite the darkness of the night, but they must have gone in completely the wrong direction - I wonder why? I told them you had seen Malfoy go into the northern part of the forest,” said Ron. “I felt so guilty for having let you go on your own. I begged Mrs Steadfast to be part of the search team, but she wouldn’t let me.”

The Hogwarts express had left in the afternoon during the thick of the battle in the Forbidden Forest. The train had taken the younger pupils away from Hogwarts to their parents and their summer holidays. The older students had stayed behind and agreed to meet at the Three Broomsticks in the evening. They wanted to celebrate their graduating from Hogwarts in due form.

When Harry came back to Hogwarts, he found his dormitory cleared out and his things packed. He had missed his last night at Hogwarts. Ron and Hermione took him up to the Hospital wing to Mme Pomfrey who attended to Harry’s injuries. Hermione had not taken part in the fight but stayed by Professor McGonagall’s side to sort things out at Hogwarts.

“We didn’t know when your Patronuses arrived, one for Ron and one for Professor McGonagall, that you had not been forced to send them,” she explained to Harry. ”We thought it might be a trap. Mrs Steadfast was away so we couldn’t consult her. Therefore we decided to see the pupils off on the train as planned. It was a bit like last year, actually, like an evacuation, and there was apprehension in the air. One did not know what to expect. If we were going to be attacked or... Professor McGonagall was so worried, so affected. I thought she was going to be ill... For the first time, I thought she looked old and frail, you know. She really needed my help to sort things out.”

Harry was exhausted when he arrived at the Hospital wing and spent his last forces fending off Ginny’s mixture of preoccupied concerns and angry accusations. She had difficulties forgiving him for exposing himself to all the danger. In the middle of her scolding, Professor McGonagall came in, eyes brimming with tears. She hugged Harry like a lost son and started to speak to him lengthily and nostalgically about all the times she had worried about him during his years at Hogwarts, concluding with a tight voice that she would miss him so much next year and may all the happiness in the world be with him. With all these attentions, Harry forgot to eat before he lay down on an anonymous bed behind a piece of drapery and went to sleep. He had the time to reflect on the irony of his last hours as an inhabitant at Hogwarts being spent in the Hospital Wing.

Later in the evening he woke up, restored and fit. It was dark outside and he had missed dinner. He and his friends walked over to Hogsmeade and joined the others at the pub. Harry was received by loud cheers. In want of food, waiting for Mme Rosmerta to bring him some fish and chips, Harry emptied his glass of Butterbeer in big gulps. It might have been spiked with Firewhiskey, and it is probable that the light headedness that followed made Harry more persuadable when the assembled crowd craved an account of the adventure that the last twenty-four hours had offered. Someone, perhaps Ron or Seamus Finnigan, gave him another Butterbeer and placed him standing upon a chair. Harry grinned self-consciously at his scanning and clapping fellow-students but launched ahead and put his heart and soul into reliving and recounting the terrifying events of the last day. He dramatised with a personal will and had the presence of mind to make short-cuts when necessary.

Harry was so wrapped up in his story that he did not notice that several gazes were directed at the door behind him through which new guests stepped inside. One of them advanced and put a finger to her lips in sign for the students not to interrupt Harry’s tale. The audience listened attentively, especially when Harry described the scene at the cave and Snape’s attempts to make himself reaccepted as a Death Eater. Harry left out some of the nastier lines of Snape, though. When he described, with great feeling, the scene where Healer Frankiss was brought forward and Snape positioned himself to kill the old and wounded wizard, the crowd held their breaths collectively.

“So do you think he did it?” Harry asked his fellow students, his eyes wide from the horror the recent memory aroused in him. “It was the only thing left. It was nothing to them - only an execution to be carried out. Healer Frankiss was condemned anyhow. Snape had convinced them thanks to his Occlumency. I don’t know how he did it. I believe he let himself be read by Legilimency by Mr Burgess and exposed selected memories that agreed with the lies he told them. If Snape killed Mr Frankiss they were going to give him his wand back and accept him. He could have become a spy again...”

Harry made a pause for effect.

“...But he didn’t!” he continued triumphantly. “Snape returned Mr Burgess’ wand and revealed himself.”

 The crowd let out a collective sigh, clapped their hands and Harry went on. He skipped the part with the book of Voldemort, passed quickly over the Crucio session he had been subjected to and did not elaborate in detail on how he managed to get hold of his wand, but passed on to the amazing part where Snape and he launched out and fell down the precipice.

“I was pushed over the edge by Draco Malfoy.”

A shocked buzz travelled through the crowd.

“I would not have made it if Snape had not gone after me and picked me up in a Spiral Move that made us land quite safely. We landed on quagmire, however, and guess what lived under the murky waters of that swamp?”

Harry held his audience in suspense for another fifteen minutes as he vividly described their fight with the giant swamp squid, their walk through the Forbidden Forest and the battle against the Shiftings and the Death Eaters in the clearing. He finished with relating how Snape ingeniously saved his life by doing a Levicorpus on him, taking the Avada Kedavra Curse in his own chest in Harry’s place, but he omitted to say that he had saved Snape right beforehand in the same manner.

“So Sirius fell... I mean Snape fell...“

Ginny and Hermione exchanged a significant glance at Harry’s lapse. In fifth year Harry had watched his godfather, Sirius Black, fall through the veil of death and disappear for good at the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic. It had been one of the most traumatising events of his adolescence.

“I thought he was dead and I... He wasn’t, but the Avada had gone through part of his heart, so Snape’s at St Mungo’s now, but he’ll be okay.” Harry’s voice wavered the least little bit.

The secret spectators behind Harry could not see the expressions on his face, but the horror and the relief of the event was mirrored and multiplied in the fifty or so young faces in front of Harry. It was impressive to watch. In the end, the assembled students were gaping in awe when their eyes were drawn to one of the secret guests behind Harry’s back who first bowed his head in embarrassment, then looked up, shook his head and lifted his eyebrows as he grimaced disbelievingly.

“Wait, Harry, what you’re saying here is that you mean Professor Snape is some kind of a hero?” Dean Thomas collected himself and spoke with an ironical glint in his eye.

“No... No, that’s not what I mean, exactly,” said Harry with a frown. “Although he did save my life, you know.”

“A powerful wizard!”

“A great man, saving your life at least three times, Harry...” Others caught on the taunts.

“Amazing skills, fantastic powers Professor Snape’s are!”

“A true hero, in short!”

“No, don’t be ridiculous. That’s not what I said. Come on, don’t be bantering, it’s a good story no? And my point with Snape is that he could have chosen to kill Healer Frankiss. He could have reasoned that it was the one opportunity to have his wand back and that it would have enabled him to save himself later - and me for that matter. Now, in the end, Healer Frankiss did get away from the Shiftings and the Death Eaters - Mr Sachs told me. He hid in the cave and Mr Sachs who returned with his colleague Aurors found him only a few hours ago. He too is at St Mungo’s Hospital right now.” Harry nodded over at a table where Mr Sachs, Soundy and five or six of the more experienced Aurors sat, enjoying Harry’s story.

“So he survived thanks to Snape’s decision,” continued Harry. ”But it was not the obvious choice to make from Snape’s perspective, don’t you see, when he was so close to convince them? He could have chosen to sacrifice Frankiss for the perspective of gaining more in the other end, if you understand what I mean? Doing one evil thing to be able to do many good things later. But it’s never worth it... never! That’s my point of view, anyway, and I’m just glad that Snape realised that in the end.”

“A moral hero, no less, is that what you’re implying, Potter?”

“No, stop using that word, Dean. Snape would abhor it and he would think I’ve set you up to taunt him or something and he’ll get mad at me as usual... What are you laughing at? A hero, that’s Muggle vocabulary. You know I have nothing against Muggles, but the words are sometimes not exactly to the point when describing the conditions in the magical world. And that word lacks subtlety. It’s not a relevant epithet to Snape. I’m sure the professor would say so himself if he was here,” said Harry.

The crowd roared with laughter.

“Come on,” pleaded Harry. “Be serious! The point I’m making here... The point, I say... It’s important, listen to me... You’re not being serious!”

“And you’re just drunk, Potter, speaking a lot of nonsense!”A Slytherin boy spoke dismissively from a corner of the room. But Harry continued stubbornly, gesticulating wildly with his hands and punctuating the words as he spoke.

“The point is that Snape abstained from an act that would’ve benefited him both in the immediate and in the long perspective. There really was much at stake. The Auror Office wanted a spy among the Shiftings. It might have been really helpful, and saved even more lives. From a Slytherin point of view doing what he did might even seem irrational. From my point of view it was exceedingly brave of Snape to act this way, all the more so since he has been so used to playing that role. The double spy role, I mean. Mixing good and bad, calculating and compromising... It’s always easier to do what you’re used to do, much more difficult to start thinking differently. But he did, somehow... because he found that it was not worth it to kill another human being... And that, my friends, makes Snape...”

“A hero...” Ginny teased him now. Harry frowned at her.

“That makes him... don’t you see? That makes him... Gryffindor! Yeah, that’s the word I’m looking for. Snape’s Gryffindor, that’s it... You may laugh as much as you want, but it’s exactly what I mean...”

Harry halted at the convulsion of laughter that seized his audience.

“Oh, well, I realise he’s not Gryffindor Gryffindor but he’s kind of Slytherinish Gryffindor, if you see what I mean...” Harry waved wildly at the crowd in a desperate attempt to persuade them.

The audience was seething with excitement. Ron, Hermione and Ginny were convulsed and shot Harry alternating amused and pitying looks. Luna who sat by Josepha looked at Harry with tears in her eyes and said in a muffled tone, ready to burst into laughter any moment:

“Harry, do you know that Professor Snape has more than four hundred publications in magical Journals on his record?”

Harry lifted his eyebrows impressed. “More than four hundred?”

“Yes,” replied Luna, “so, I’m sorry, Harry, but I believe you’re wrong. Being that intelligent and productive and with the wit Professor Snape possesses he’s clearly Ravenclaw, you know, not Gryffindor. He’s absolutely Ravenclaw.” Her merriment knew no boundaries. The hilarity in the room doubled. Harry looked bewildered at them. David Burbage turned to Luna.

“I believe you’re wrong, Miss Lovegood,” he said tauntingly. “Did you see Professor Snape dance at the School Ball? A swift dancer like him can only be a Hufflepuff. Not a Hufflepuff Hufflepuff surely, but kind of Slytherinish Hufflepuff. That’s my opinion, anyhow.”

Renewed laughter and Harry just stared at them, his arms slack at his sides. Something was amiss. What was the matter with them? Then he heard the rippling laugh of Mrs Steadfast behind him and swirled around.

Harry almost lost his balance on his chair as he met her brown eyes sparkling with amusement. At her side was Kingsley Shacklebolt looking more composed, but entertained, and right behind them an impassive, but slightly coloured face curtained by black hair. Harry reddened up to the hair roots, covered his face with his hands and sank down in a crouched position, still upon his chair. His embarrassment was so deeply felt that several persons let out pitying sounds. The taunting laughs predominated though, and Harry flung himself down on a chair beside Ron and hid his face against Ron’s shoulder.

The next moment he pretended to strangle Ron.

“You’re supposed to be my friend. Why didn’t you say anything?” More laughter. Ron looked confused.

“Mrs Steadfast gestured for us not to betray them. She might be my boss next year, Harry. So you see I couldn’t...” he tried to explain.

Harry raged at him.

“Ron, you’re just too yielding towards those ladies. Your mother, Hermione, Mrs Schufflert and now Mrs Steadfast. I thought you were supposed to have learnt to think for yourself?” hissed Harry. Now Ron looked affronted for real but the situation was saved by Mrs Steadfast stepping forward and pecking Harry on the cheek as she bent down and put an arm around him.

“Don’t worry, Harry,” she whispered to him. “I, more than anyone, do get your point about Professor Snape, you cannot imagine...”

Kingsley raised a hand, and the laughter died away. Mrs Steadfast stood up. Everyone wanted to know what the Minister had to say.

“I apologise for not making ourselves known and for embarrassing you, Harry. I’m persuaded, though, that Professor Snape realises that, coming from you, being Gryffindor is about the most flattering compliment you could ever give him.”

Harry blushed again.

“Moreover, I believe that you others who spoke from the Ravenclaw and the Hufflepuff houses might not have been so wrong, joke set apart, in you descriptions of Professor Snape’s qualities fitting your own houses. I believe that what characterises a good headmaster at Hogwarts, where the tradition of dividing pupils into the four categories is so deeply rooted, is that he or she houses in his or her own person all those qualities at the same time. Now, that’s something that comes with age and experience. It takes a complex and mature personality to rule Hogwarts in a way that reconciles all the differences and paradoxes that exist in the magical world. Your headmaster is young, maybe not in your eyes, but in mine he is. This has been a difficult year for Professor Snape, with the perspective of the trial hanging over him. I have believed in him from the start and I’m happy that his innocence has been pronounced at last. I believe he is the versatile and talented personality I was talking about, fit for taking on the challenge of managing and developing Hogwarts. I have the pleasure to announce to you that I’ve contracted Professor Snape on the post of headmaster for the next ten years. After that I hope to contract him for another ten years and after that my young friends, after the age of sixty, the contract is a life-long one. Dumbledore was headmaster at Hogwarts for over forty years. Let us remember him and let us toast to Professor Snape and wish him a likewise illustrious and long career!” Kingsley lifted the glass of Firewhiskey that Mme Rosmerta had provided him and Snape with.

Enthusiastic cheers and applause broke out after Kingsley’s speech, which increased in volume when Snape took a step forward. Harry peaked at him under his fringe. Snape looked okay, a bit tired but not ill or unhealthy. He moved his left arm with ease. The room went silent as it appeared he was about to say something. He looked awkward.

“Thank you, thank you,” he said and made a pause. “To be frank with you, I’m not used to such lavishing praise as the Minister so kindly just bestowed me with, nor am I used to find myself the principal part of such a glossed over tale that Mr Potter just told you, deviating on more than one point from the truth, I must add... I’m not good at this but I would nonetheless like to take the opportunity to thank these two persons, Mr Kingsley Shacklebolt and Mr Harry Potter...” Snape gestured at them both but he and Harry avoided looking each other in the eyes. The room was silent. “Without really understanding why they have done what they have done, I want to thank them for their faith in me.” He bowed slightly in their directions to rapturous applause from the students.

“Equally important, however,” Snape continued briskly, “I want to congratulate you all for graduating from Hogwarts. It has been an interesting year in many aspects. You have worked well. The results from the NEWT exams will take some time to arrive, but preliminary impressions from both teachers and examiners I have spoken to are generally favourable. It seems to us that you are an unusually talented and sympathetic batch of students. I hope that you’ll go out in life to find occupations and challenges that suit each one of you and I hope that whatever you choose to do, wherever in the world you choose to live, you’ll honour the spirit of Hogwarts and remember it as a good place to have lived and learned at.”

The applause was if possible even louder than before with whistles and acclaims.

Eventually everyone settled down and the buzz in the room became more checked. Kingsley who had been an Auror before becoming Minister of Magic joined his former colleagues at Soundy’s table and seemed to have laid politics aside for a while.

“I’m sorry I didn’t have time to join you at St Mungo’s, Severus. There was so much to do, I couldn’t leave the office until late and then the Minister had already laid his hands on you,” Mrs Steadfast said to Snape. They were sitting at a table aside. “How are you?” Snape stared down into his glass of Firewhiskey.

“I’m fine, just fine, Audrey. Finished all my treatments for tonight. I have an appointment with Healer Solomon for a last check of my heart tomorrow at noon,” answered Snape.

“No permanent sequelae then?” she asked him cautiously. Snape sighed.

“Quite substantial damage according to Solomon but the early intervention made by Harry probably saved me and the pumping capacity will be completely restored...” Snape went silent and shook his head.

“I know what you’re thinking,” said Mrs Steadfast, “but Harry doesn’t see it like you owe him. You heard him. He emphasises the things you’ve done to save him more than anything else. Whether you like it or not, that boy has developed some kind of attachment to you, Severus.” Snape pulled a face and made a gesture to dismiss her words.

“Harry’s narrative of what happened in that cave was a largely edited account of the truth. I’m not particularly proud of myself,” he said.

“Will you tell me in more detail, then, please, what really happened?”

Snape did and when he finished, Mrs Steadfast looked grim.

“Voldemort did have a son, then. Are you sure?”

“Well, that note attached to the book seemed to imply as much and Harry seemed convinced of the fact after having listened to Voldemort’s echo. We’ll need to check with him, however. Harry’s the only one who knows what Voldemort actually said. He gave an account of it to Mr Burgess, as I told you. I think he spoke the truth but he still might have omitted things and he shut the book up before it had come to an end,” said Snape.

“It was wise of Harry to censure this part when he told his story earlier and not to blazon the news of Voldemort having a son on everyone. Are you up to speaking to Harry without starting a quarrel, Severus? You’ve had a rest from him for a couple of hours now,” said Mrs Steadfast.

“As to having a rest from Potter...” snorted Snape. “Good that you brought it up, because I was going to warn you of that Auror of yours who accompanied me to St Mungos’s - Simmings. He looks harmless enough but he might be just as dangerous as Burgess. He seems frankly obsessed with Potter. What a chatterbox! And it was all about the splendid qualities of Harry, about his bravery and his skills and general pleasantness. There was no end to the praise. Now, an admiration like that might just as well turn into the opposite and...” Mrs Steadfast was laughing.

“Oh dear, I’m sorry about that,” she said. “He didn’t let you breathe, did he? No, Severus, I don’t think we need to worry that Simmings should present a threat to Harry. He simply has a crush on him. He’s got a reputation of falling head over heels in love with the most impossible objects. We tease him about it at the office. He’s sustained this one for longer than usual, though. Of course, he doesn’t stand a chance against that lovely lady Harry has got hold of...”

They cast a glance over at the table where Harry sat with Ginny’s ginger head close to his and her arm around his neck picking chips teasingly from his plate as he shovelled the food he had finally been served into his mouth.

“Oh, I see...” said Snape, slightly disconcerted. “It makes sense I guess. Poor man, he doesn’t stand a chance. One thing less to worry about, however.”

“You don’t worry about love, then, Severus?” Mrs Steadfast asked teasingly. Snape blushed.

“Oh, it might have its complications,” he muttered, “but generally speaking I believe it brings more good than anything else.”

“You’re a romantic, Severus Snape, I could’ve told as much! Why, when you thought that Harry and Ginny had eloped to Paris, I could hardly believe my ears. It was so sweet!” exclaimed Mrs Steadfast.

Snape looked up and studied the ceiling for a while as he tried to keep his impassive countenance. Finally he pulled a wry face and looked at Mrs Steadfast.

“You’ll keep that one for yourself, will you?” he asked more pleadingly than threateningly. Mrs Steadfast looked at him without batting an eyelid.

“I’m good at keeping secrets,” she said at last and leaned towards him, smiling. “You should just know how good I am.”

Mrs Steadfast caught the attention of Hermione who told Harry that they wanted him to come over to their table. He had finished his meal and felt great. It was with a slight hesitation that he rose to join Snape and Mrs Steadfast. He would not have objected to be allowed to forget everything serious for a while and - to quote Ginny - just have the time of his life with his friends. He understood that there were things to sort out, though. He pulled a third chair over to the table and settled down as Mrs Steadfast covered them with a Muffliato spell.

“You okay?” Harry asked right off with a glance at Snape, challenging his own embarrassment and defying Snape’s reserve. Snape answered him politely, possibly with a streak of irony in his voice.

“Yes, thank you for asking. Healer Solomon sends his compliments. He was pleased with your work, couldn’t have done it better himself, that’s what he said to me.”

Harry nodded, satisfied. A silence ensued. Harry cleared his throat.

“How come it took you so long to find us, Mrs Steadfast?” he said. She looked at him affronted.

“It took us long, you say? Well, we didn’t have much to go on, did we? It’s not as if you tried to communicate with me or anything.” She lifted an eyebrow. “Ron indicated that Malfoy and his company disappeared towards the north. I had a squad looking that way but not as far off as the mountains. I was hoodwinked... I’ve learnt after the battle that Mr Burgess had managed to put the Imperius curse on both Professor Sawman and, believe it or not, Professor Flitwick.”

Snape lifted his eyebrows.

“At the time, they struck me as trustworthy witnesses and they said they had seen Professor Snape and Draco Malfoy walk to the other side of the lake, to the south with their wands drawn. I didn’t know what to think, but my search of the Forbidden Forest was directed to the southern part. And I had no idea if you had reached the NAZ somewhere and disappeared. In fact you could have been anywhere in the country. I alerted all my watch-outs. Oh, what a horrible night it was!” Mrs Steadfast shuddered. “Why, by Jupiter, did you not contact me earlier?”

Snape and Harry looked at each other.

“Well,” said Harry, “I was afraid to uncover myself or to lose track of them if I let them move ahead of me. And I wasn’t sure about Professor Snape’s intentions. I followed and watched.”

“I had to surrender my wand at an early stage, unfortunately,” said Snape. “I counted on having it back when I had convinced them of my wanting to join them. They had Healer Frankiss and I knew I had to have a try at rescuing him. Moreover, matters between me and Lucius had not been closed. I wasn’t altogether clear over my own intentions, I may add. I had not had time to think the new situation after the trial over.”

Mrs Steadfast looked thoughtfully at him.

“Lucius Malfoy has been sent to Azkaban,” she said. “I didn’t even bother to interrogate him. I’ll go down one of these days and speak to him in his cell, but I doubt I’ll get more out of him. I’ve higher hopes to get something out of our younger prisoners. By Mars, I hope that we’ve caught the secret keeper of that last Pleasure Temple this time.”

“What about Bellamy Burgess? Have you interrogated him?” asked Snape.

“Didn’t you notice? He got away! The witch they called “H”...”

“H for Henna,” interposed Harry and Mrs Steadfast lifted her eyebrows at him.

“H came back and freed him. Very daring and quick that little witch is. What do you know about her, Harry?”

Harry opened his mouth to reply.

”Wait, what a nuisance, Kingsley waves me over. Can’t he see we’re in the middle of an interrogation here? I have to walk over and hear what he wants. Can’t ignore the Minister of Magic, even if he probably only is interested in how many feet of misty ropes we have used up this evening. Stay, Harry, I’ll be right back.” She darted off. Snape snorted.

 “I’d like to hear her definition of the difference between an interrogation and a conversation,” he said disapprovingly. There was an awkward silence between Snape and Harry.

“So, did I manage to make you start doubting me up in the cave?” Snape finally said a bit aggressively.

Harry looked at him defiantly and shook his head.

“When I said you had made a mistake to show me the recipe of the Veritaserum beforehand and that I had concocted an antidote?” tried Snape. Harry smiled slightly.

“That was a mistake, undoubtedly. I’m happy no one form the Wizengamot thought of that, but then they didn’t mean to take that draught into consideration anyhow, did they? I was aware, however, that there is no known antidote to the Rwandan liana flower and having some experience of Potion invention myself by now, I was pretty sure not even you could have come up with anything, certainly not in the time lapse of a couple of hours like you said you had.” Snape nodded and smiled slightly as a sign of defeat. His face became serious.

“Did you really think I was going to kill Healer Frankiss?” he asked.

Harry did not answer. A glint of anguish shone out of his eyes.

“How on Earth could you vouch for me being a good man when you believe me capable of murder?” Snape pressed on hoarsely.

“I already knew you’re capable of murder,” said Harry, meeting his eyes. “I just don’t know you well enough to figure out under exactly what circumstances and for just what motives you’d do it. But I didn’t really think... It was just an awful situation...” Harry’s voice trailed off and he averted his eyes.

Snape looked incensed at him.

“Me too, I’m capable of murder,” said Harry and his voice was so brittle that Snape’s countenance relaxed again.

“Under the most extreme circumstances...” Snape acknowledged softly. 

Harry exhaled slowly.

“I’m glad we got Healer Frankiss out of there,” continued Snape in a murmur. “He was abducted only because of me and my trial. It was close on a number of occasions today that he be executed – and you too.” Snape’s mouth contorted and he looked down on the table. “Why, Burgess, or that character “M” that he was trying to impersonate was so unpredictable, so terribly unbalanced that he almost outdid Voldemort without possessing a fraction of his magical skills,” he continued.

“They’re all siblings, did you know?” said Harry.

Snape looked inquiringly at him.

“Machivato and Bellamy Burgess were brothers and bore the surname of their mother whereas “H”, or Henna, is their half sister on the father’s side.”

Snape looked interested.

“She introduced herself to me when we duelled - Henna Hatch. Do you know a Mr Hatch, Professor? Because she said...” Harry stopped himself abruptly when he saw the reaction the mention of the name produced.

Snape was unable to disguise a flinch and an expression of incredulity and fear mixed with - was it disgust? He seemed almost panic-stricken. Snape quickly bent forward to take a large gulp of Firewhiskey with the result that his face was hidden by his black hair.

Harry leant forward with an interrogating and sympathising gesture. Then, before the very eyes of Harry, the transformation took place and it scared Harry more than anything to see it happen. The muscles in Snape’s face were forced to relax and all expression vanished from the face. Wrinkles in the skin were wiped out and the skin assumed a sallow, lifeless appearance at the same time as a veil passed before his dark eyes that now looked coldly at Harry.

“No, I don’t know any Mr Hatch,” Snape said in an automatic voice, slightly too loud.

Harry started back violently from him.

At this very moment, Mrs Steadfast came back to them. When she saw their countenances she stopped dead in front of them and started to scold them.

“I can’t leave you for two minutes and you manage to put each others in a state of... I know not what... What have you done or said to one another? What is it now? You tell me right off!”

Harry felt the reticence emanating from the Occluding Snape as waves of magma flowing towards him. With a racing heart, because he understood it was essential to do so, he fought against the forbidding signals. The loathing he used to feel for his former teacher before Snape revealed himself last summer surged up in him with a force that surprised him. He positively hated those dead eyes of Snape’s. He did not find it difficult at all in the end to defy his Occluding teacher. He riveted his eyes challengingly on Snape as he told Mrs Steadfast in exact words what Henna Hatch had said to him during their duel.

“Let me get this clear,” said Mrs Steadfast. “Save the fact that you defeated their Dark Lord which they resent and want vengeance for, they also have personal incentives for going after you. Mr Hatch has a grudge against Professor Snape and Henna Hatch feels deeply for the fact that you killed her brother. Moreover they think that you work jointly as a kind of trained team. This is not good. Who is this Mr Hatch, Severus?”

Snape had had time to reconsider his position and answered Mrs Steadfast with more subtlety than what he had done to Harry.

“I’m not sure I know of any Mr Hatch,” he said slowly. “There was a boy two years ahead of me at Hogwarts, in Slytherin, with that name, though. I don’t remember much about him – why, it’s nearly thirty years ago - that’s why I didn’t recall him when you first said that name, Potter. He didn’t graduate with us. I think his family moved away and that he changed schools after only two or three years at Hogwarts. You must check the annuals, I don’t remember. It’s far from certain it’s the same Mr Hatch we’re talking about here, but it’s the only one I can think of. At any rate, I’m not aware of being at enmity with any person by that name.” He took a new sip of his Firewhiskey. Harry stared at him. Snape sounded calm and convincing and Mrs Steadfast only muttered, slightly disconcerted:

“At least we have a name to go on. You two had better watch out wherever you go.” Harry looked suspiciously at Snape and opened his mouth to protest but Snape advanced him.

“I’ll watch my back for hatchets, then,” he said briskly. “But there are other important things to discuss. What do you think we should do with this?” Snape pulled out something from inside his coat and showed them discreetly Voldemort’s black notebook before he hid it again in his cloth. Harry drew his breath.

“You got hold of it. That’s great! How did you do it?” he exclaimed, forgetting his suspicious approach to Snape.

“I managed a wandless summon while Burgess tortured you,” Snape answered readily. “No one noticed. They were all looking at you. Once I had got hold of it, I attempted to attack Burgess, to give you a break from the Crucio. They’re going to search for it desperately.” He looked smug.

“That’s some presence of mind,” muttered Mrs Steadfast. “And an important victory. But you must tell us, Harry, what does it contain precisely and what should we do with it?”

“You should take it, Mrs Steadfast and hide it as far away and as securely as possible. I, for one, must not know where it’s hidden, because I speak the language. But it must not be given to Voldemort’s son or to any other wizard who is a Parselmouth. It’s really dangerous. Professor Snape must not know where you hide it either, because they’re liable to go after him and try to torture its whereabouts out of him. They’re convinced that they must give it to the son of Voldemort and that it’ll help him make his father come back, but it won’t. It will only kill the son, there’s a curse in that book that hits “he who speaks the language and is of the same blood” to quote Voldemort. But...”

Harry leant forward and whispered to them, despite the Muffliato spell protecting them.

“It contains instructions how to resuscitate a dead person from a horcrux. I started to listen and it was horrible... Just as much evilness and Dark Magic that is required to create a horcrux, seems to be needed to release the piece of soul it contains. Dreadful things... I could not even listen to the end. It must under no circumstances be spread. Even if Voldemort cannot come back, because all his horcruxes are destroyed, someone might be tempted to use it out of greed for his own purposes. It must be safely hidden.”

Harry was eventually released from Mrs Steadfast’s interrogation and joined his friends again. They were sitting at a large table with Luna, Josepha, Neville, David Burbage, Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan and their girlfriends and a couple of other students. At the farther end of the table more Aurors had joined them, Simmings and Miss Swan among others. For the moment Harry heard them discuss whether Draco Malfoy had been under the Imperius curse, or not.

“He always hated Harry, but all the same, Harry saved his life last year as we brought him out of the flames of Fiendfyre that his friend Crabbe had cursed us with. And Harry testified in favour of his mother,” said Hermione incredulous.

“I don’t believe he was under the Imperius curse,” said Harry. “But Miss Cork was, Burgess said so himself, although I believe he had other holds on her, or that she might simply be in love with him or something.”

“There was something weird going on between the three of them,” said Simmings and turned to Mr Sachs. “Don’t you think so? Burgess and Miss Cork worked on Malfoy the whole year. I think they intended to recruit him all along.”

“I agree, but I could never work it out,” answered Mr Sachs.

“I have an idea,” said Ron suddenly and they all turned to him. “It always struck me as strange that Malfoy should obey the slightest wish of Miss Cork, which is what he did, if you remember. She only had to open her mouth and he did whatever she said.”

“Are you saying that Miss Cork in her turn had him under the Imperius curse?” said Ginny.

“No,” said Ron, “but listen to this: I think she gave him some kind of love potion that made him obey her voice. She had a very special voice, a deep sensual one if you recall, that did not altogether match her plain looks. I think that she gave Malfoy a draught that enforced that effect and kind of made him in love with her.”

“Of course,” said Ginny. “I found it so funny, really, that Draco Malfoy who has always been terribly condescending towards plain and poor people should fall for a girl like Miss Melanie Cork. I saw him try to kiss her once in the dungeons but she steered away from him. I felt rather sorry for him.”

“I think Ron is right,” intervened Harry. “At one occasion Draco Malfoy made a Mind Modifier on Burgess that made him drink from Malfoy’s glass of pumpkin juice at breakfast. I noticed that Burgess got disproportionately angry at him and after that we were forbidden to do Mind Modifyers at school. That juice must have contained the potion.” The idea of Draco Malfoy having been under a Love Potion all year caused some merriment.

At Harry’s table a pleasant spirited languor installed itself. The Aurors were telling stories that the students listened to eagerly. Jokes flew over the table as the Aurors included the students in their comradeship. Ron and Dean who were both given praise for their intervention at the battle were nearly treated as members of the team. Mrs Steadfast was still seated at the table aside with Snape but her Aurors called out to her now and then and she replied in her usual quick and bantering manner.

Kingsley said thank you and good bye under cheers and acclamations and patted Harry’s shoulder appreciatively before he exited the pub. The older Aurors joined their younger colleagues at Harry’s table. Soundy drew up a chair and sat down at Harry’s side. Harry had not spoken so much to him before. Soundy was one of the toughest and most experienced Aurors, Mrs Steadfast’s right hand, and he was not usually talkative.

“It’s as good as settled that Mr Weasley and Mr Thomas join us after the summer at the office and go into training. You’re not coming with them, Mr Potter?” said Soundy. Harry looked back at him tentatively.

“I haven’t decided yet. I’ll see if I manage to enter St Mungo’s first. That’s my priority,” he answered.

“We’re keen to have you with us, you know, especially since what we saw this afternoon of your fighting capacities. Mrs Steadfast has been convinced for a long time whereas I... I admit to being suspicious of your fame... However, I wanted to tell you that I’m certain now that you would fit in and be an asset to the team, very much so.”

“Thank you, Mr Soundy, it’s kind of you to say so. It’ll be a difficult choice for me, no doubt. I think you’re a great team and that you’re doing a great job.”

“Things might be arranged so that you can have some medical training on our program as well. We could make a deal with St Mungo’s...”

Harry shook his head.

“I don’t want any special treatment just because of who I am,” he said shortly. Soundy looked at him with an impassive face.

“Not because of who you are, Mr Potter, but because of what you do. We are eager to have you because of your skills, your exceptional skills.”

Harry felt himself blush.

“The Double Case Knight’s Move is all thanks to Professor Snape...” he said quickly. Soundy frowned.

“You’re being too modest, Mr Potter. Let me tell you this. The reason Professor Snape and you perform that Move with such extraordinary success is that your powers are extremely well balanced between the two of you. Of course he has the greater experience but I doubt he could find a better partner to do the Move with than yourself. It’s not only the strength of your powers that match, but the composition, the balance of magical constituents that is similar. It’s very rare to find a partner like that.”

Harry stared at Soundy.

“I just mean that the merit is not solely on his side, not at all. Moreover, I saw you fight on the ground on your own, so don’t wriggle out of this.”

Harry laughed a little and looked embarrassed.

“Did Mrs Steadfast put you up to recruiting me?” he asked smilingly.

“I happen to agree with her. Give it a thorough thought, Mr Potter.”

“Of course I will,” promised Harry as Soundy rose and joined the gang at the other end of the table.