Scarpin’s Revelaspell didn’t yield much – the spell was designed for normal potions ingredients and this was obviously something else.
The only ingredient it revealed was boar testicle. Not really commonly used, but still in some legal potions.
Not ones, however, you would expect or want an eleven year old girl to use.

Severus wrote it down on a piece of parchment.

Then he looked through his books on the upper shelves. Those who dabbled in the dark arts typically also wanted to analyze potions and had invented quite a few spells for that purpose.

If he remembered correctly, there was one in the black, linen-bound untitled tome, somewhere in the middle … page 45.

Ah yes, there it was.

Very well. He closed his eyes for a moment to steel himself, then whispered the butchered Latin spell to reveal human body parts.

And it did reveal … something.

Good thing he always kept a spare bowl on his desk. Just in case.

Severus sat hunched over that bowl for a good while until he was sure he would not throw up.

Of the two things he had found, the hags’ blood was the less disgusting. Not even strictly human, but apparently, the inventor of the spell had included all sentient beings.

Alright. If this was going in the direction he thought it was going, it would explain the hair loss. But not why Potter was taking the concoction in the first place.

And he was sure there were more ingredients. Ones he had not found yet.

He paced his office. The worst was over, now, so why did he feel so apprehensive?

Forcing himself to function, he took up the almost empty phial and sniffed it. That smell … perhaps a mushroom?

Not all of the books he had collected were about the so-called dark arts. He also happened to own a tome written by generations of self-taught witches who had only ever used whatever was available in their remote forest home.

And just as he had remembered, they had invented a spell.

„Since too little time remains, show me what this pot contains“, he whispered pointing his wand at the phial. Plain English spells – could that even work?

It did.

Liberty cap, common stinkhorn, adder’s root.

Ah, yes, there was a theme here, but … why?

There must be another ingredient, one that evaded all those spells …

Something exotic?

He tried the American version of Scarpin’s Revelaspell, and indeed …

Morning glory.

A hallucinogen.

Wasn’t Potter a bit young for that kind of teenage rebellion?


Severus didn’t have the time to ponder it, as in that moment, the fire in his office flared green.

The visitor was none other than Dumbledore, already in his nightgown, purple slippers and a green dressing gown.

Had analyzing the contents of the phial really taken that long?

„Poppy alerted me“, the headmaster said, stepping out of the fire. „Have you finished your analysis?“

„Barely.“ Severus put his wand back in the pocket in his sleeve. „I do not know the quantities of each of the ingredients yet, and there might be ingredients that I could not find. However, what I did find does not bode well for Potter’s health.“

He did not pity a Potter. Most definitely not. It was just that the child was only eleven and looked so fragile and …

„Poppy found a decrease in bone density“, Dumbledore replied gravely. „It is, she says, as though the marrow has been sucked out.“

Severus shuddered, the vague unease he had been feeling all along manifesting into something more definite. „Did she give the girl an emetic?“

„Yes, your own invention. It worked well, but Harriet has been drinking this potion for weeks.“

„Tell Madam Pomfrey to give the girl a bezoar.“

He had meant that as a message to be relayed once the headmaster returned to the hospital wing – as he was bound to, considering this was the Girl Who Lived. But Dumbledore did not hesitate for a second before turning to the fire and calling Madam Pomfrey. „Severus advises to give Harriet a bezoar“, he informed the healer.

Even in this dire situation, the headmaster’s calm voice soothed Severus’ nerves.

„Here is the list of ingredients I could identify so far“, he said, handing it to Dumbledore. „I have not figured out yet what exactly it does, but I do think the hags’ blood is what we need to focus on. There are some hags selling … things in Knockturn Alley. And blood … this is old magic.“ It was common knowledge that hags preyed on children.

Beyond that … not much was known. The Dark Lord had not been much interested in joining forces with hags. They just weren’t that powerful.

Or at least that was what Severus had believed until now.

This potion, however ...

Dumbledore stroked his beard. „In ‚Holidays with Hags, it says that hags can form a long-distance connection with children to … feed on their life force …“

„What? Holidays with Hags? Isn’t that by this fool, Lockhart?“ Severus was almost certain it was. There couldn’t be anything worth knowing in anything written by that empty-headed buffoon.

„It is his name and portrait on the title, but I have long doubted that the experiences described in his books are actually his own.“

„You mean, he copied it?“ Now that made sense. „Are there any instructions in there on how to break the spell?“

„I am afraid not. There is a spell mentioned, but I am almost certain that it is fake – Gilderoy’s own invention, something he thinks flashier than the real method applied.“

Of course. Even when copying something the fool couldn’t even copy the most relevant parts.

Severus sighed. „You could, I take it, not get Potter to tell you why she thought it a good idea to ingest a potion from a highly questionable source?“

„Indeed not.“ Dumbledore faked interest in a jar with pickled toads one one of the ingredient shelves. „She was highly agitated after learning that she had been given an emetic and the dose of potion she ingested just before would not take effect. Other than accusing Poppy of ruining her only chance at happiness, we could not get much out of her. “

„Legilimency?“ He knew that Dumbledore had little scruples about using that skill on students. Highly illegal, of course, but Dumbledore had always considered himself above the law.

„She would have noticed, and what little trust I could establish would have been gone.“

Severus was almost sure this was a lie. Delving deep into the mind would be followed by headache, yes, and could be noticed by those experienced with it … but Potter wasn’t.

Perhaps Potter just was too (seemingly) innocent for Dumbledore’s self-righteousness to take effect. „No surface thoughts?“

„Desperation. Anger. The same she expressed verbally.“

Severus nodded. He knew why he preferred to leave such tasks to other people. „I am not sure whether to first continue analyzing the potion, of research hags. A bezoar should remove all poisonous effects for the time being, but …“ Chronic poisoning was not so easily cured.


„It is vital, I think, that we learn more on hags.“ Dumbledore turned to face him, not a trace of humor in those blue eyes. „If there is, indeed, a connection, if a hag is feeding on the girl, we can lose no time.“

„In disposing of the hag?“ He had never killed a person and wasn’t keen on killing a being, but if it had to be done ...

„In severing the connection. I do not think a search for one specific hag would be fruitful. Besides, without proof ...“

„Of course.“ Severus was not quite sure why the principle of innocent until proven guilty was applied to hags, who, as a group, openly admitted that they wanted to eat children.

Pro-hag-activists liked to claim that those hags that made statements about wanting to eat children were just outliers, didn’t mean it, et cetera, but seeing as the other hags didn’t seem overly invested in stopping their child-eating brethren …

„I will firecall Nicholas. Feel free to contact your own sources as you see fit.“ Dumbledore left through the door, probably to get a cup of hot chocolate from the kitchen on his way.

Which reminded Severus …

He really needed coffee.

Instant coffee was one of the few things muggle that he actively liked.

The taste might be sub-par, but it was faster than a wideye potion and much less expensive.


Once more, he consulted the book, parchment bound in stained linen, in which generations of witches had written down their life experience.

Leaving coffee stains on the pages wasn’t a problem, the pages had brownish circles on them where teacups had been placed. It was a well-used book.

Severus suspected it was only a copy – a very well done one, but still. Not that it mattered.

There was no table of contents, of course, but he faintly remembered that there had been quite a lot of dark creatures in those woods …

A hour and a half had passed, and two cups of coffee drained before he found what he was looking for.

„There is a hag in the woods. I am sure. I checked all the signs. She lurks around the village, watching the children. I’m scared. Parts of me wants to firecall mother, but … I am now the witch of these woods. It is my duty to do something about the hag. But … what? There is nothing in the family chronic. Mother probably doesn’t know, either … killing it would be the obvious solution, but I do not think I can bring myself to do that.“

Severus sighed. The woman who had written those lines was in the exact same predicament as he. Hopefully, she would come up with a solution, though he wasn’t very hopeful anymore.

„Grandmother always said that they only prey on unwanted children. That’s why we haven’t waged war against them, she claimed. People see them as easy way to get rid … I shudder to think about it, and even back then, I wasn’t sure what I found scarier, the hags’ appetite for the flesh of children, or the fact that people, ordinary humans, would send their children out into the forest … it’s all coming back to me now.
Granny told me those scary stories. Children being sent into the forests where the stepmother knew a hag dwelt … the father often not caring at all. Sometimes it would even be both actual parents sending their children to … to be eaten. At the time, I thought it was just stories … I need to make sure the children are safe. Unwanted children … how does one go about finding out which child the parents want to be rid of?“

Unwanted children? That could hardly apply to Potter … could it? Severus turned a page.

„I think I may have found a way to get rid of the hag.“

Promising … Severus squinted his eyes to read the chicken-scratch. The writer seemed excited, her handwriting even worse than when she had been scared.

„In any case, I have an apprentice now. Mary is a meek and biddable child, perhaps a bit too much so. Muggle, of course, but she will be able to help me around the house and with preparing potions ingredients. But I should start at the beginning.

I made a round through the village, knocking on doors, telling people that I need an apprentice. Of course I first went to those houses where I had my suspicions … and turns out I was right about John Miller, that useless drunkard. He practically shoved his daughter at me. I will give him one thing, though – he didn’t give her to the hag. He told me, in slurred words, that the hag had asked for an apprentice, too, but he didn’t trust her. The muggles do not trust me, not much, but they do buy my potions and I can only assume he thought I would not murder the girl, if only because it would get me murdered in turn.“

Severus stared at the words. Useless drunkard … his own father could have been described with the same words.

It took a while before he could turn the page.

„Mary told me the hag sold her a potion. Only wanted a strand of her hair in return. The potion was to make her pretty, she said. I wonder if it actually did something – I see no difference, but then, I rarely ever saw her in public before. There’s something foul about this. I just know it. Hags always have sinister motives. I surrounded Mary’s bed with hawthorn and blackthorn and renewed the protections on the house.“

Another page …

„The hag is gone. Mary seems well – she has gained some weight and while her complexion is worse than before, I think that is the effect of the hag’s potion wearing off. Mary is a good apprentice so far. Telling her that I am a witch only after I warned her about the hag was a good thing – she seemed relieved that I can protect her. I think I will teach her everything a witch needs to know, the law be damned. In the old days, people never made a difference between a woman who knew her herbs and mushrooms and an actual witch, and there always has to be a witch in these woods. There just has to be. The muggles would never be safe otherwise.“


Severus put a writing quill between the pages and closed the book.
There was something he needed to find out.

Dumbledore was still awake when Severus firecalled him. He stepped in front of the fireplace, far enough back that Severus could see his face.

„Did Flamel have any news?“ He didn’t really think so, Dumbledore would have told him.

„He could only tell me that the German fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel was based on a real life account of two children’s encounter with a hag, and to look for clues there. I have not gotten far with my musings. What about your research?“

„The book I turned to describes an encounter with a hag, where the child could be saved by adoption. Apparently hags only prey on children their parents want to get rid of.“

„Oh.“

There was something like guilt in Dumbledore’s eyes.

„What? You know something. What the hell is wrong with Potter’s home life?“ He dreaded the answer.

Dumbledore hesitated. „I thought it best to place her with Lily’s only remaining relative …“

„Petunia?“ His sense of dread increased. If Petunia’s treatment of Lily was anything to go by ...

„Yes. There are reasons, good reasons, why Harriet must live with them, but … she should have been safe …“ Dumbledore interrupted himself. „Did you find any hints on how to sever the connection between the hag and her victim?“

„Hawthorn and blackthorn placed around the bed. You could try that, although I think the protections of Hogwarts would render that superfluous.“

„You never know. We are dealing with old magic here.“

„Perhaps. I will go to Knockturn Alley tomorrow morning, before breakfast. Potter should have improved after coming to Hogwarts. It is not like she isn’t wanted here.“ Except by him, that was. Everyone else adored her, that should be plenty enough. „There might be something we do not know yet. I will find a hag and get some answers.“

Dumbledore hesitated. Then, he nodded slowly. „Be careful, Severus.“

„Of course.“

He ended the firecall, went to his bed and didn’t even bother to undress.