Brothers by JustJeanette
Summary: Updated 15rd Aug 2006. Chapter 13 added. And finally a potion is actually discussed....  Severus Snape has a secret and that secret could mean victory or defeat for the Order of the Phoenix. What has it to do with Harry?
Categories: Misc > All written in Snape's POV, Misc Main Characters: .Snape and Harry (required), Draco, Dumbledore, Hermione, Original Character
Snape Flavour: None
Genres: Angst, Supernatural, Drama
Media Type: None
Tags: None
Takes Place: None
Warnings: Torture
Challenges: None
Series: None
Chapters: 13 Completed: No Word count: 67089 Read: 37488 Published: 28 Feb 2005 Updated: 15 Aug 2006
Chapter 8 Hair by JustJeanette
Author's Notes:

A big shout out to Bil and sunsethill for encouragement. I hope you both like this chapter.

Anti-litigation charm; JK Rowling owns the Harry Potter Universe, to her we bow. Warner Brothers and Various Publishers also have their own rights. We are just playing in their backyard and we promise to clean up when we have finished.

Sirius Black was not a happy animagus; in fact he was not anything. Being dragged out of the Potion Master’s rooms without any real answers did not make for a happy ending; he wanted to chew Severus up and spit him out, but it seemed Severus had worked the guilt ploy too well on Albus. Black did not believe a word of it, or of his explanations for Jaidy’s actions. He was going to watch Severus like a hawk, and if that meant haunting this corridor, he would.

His intention had been to remain in human form and wait for when Severus tried to sneak out. That was the one advantage of Dumbledore’s wards; Severus would have to leave his quarters to try anything. However, like all the best intentions, Sirius’ intentions faltered as the night wore on, finally he accepted that his animagus form was better suited to the waiting he planned and so he donned it, settling in for the wait.

Around three in the morning he was woken as he heard soft footsteps in the corridor, thinking Severus had somehow gotten past him. Cracking one eye open he noticed Mrs Norris saunter down the corridor, ‘out for an evening prowl’, he thought before deciding to ignore her. One of the advantages of being an animagus rather that a dog, he could ignore the instinct to harass the cats of Hogwarts; given who the cats were, that was a life preserving ability.


Severus’ arm started to throb not much before dawn, Sunday morning, though it was more of a dull ache rather than the soul-destroying pain that the call normally evoked. He was not particularly enamoured of the early morning call given that by the time he’d dealt with Brendan and Jaidy, gotten the two Gryffindor boys safely awakened and obliviated, and finished dealing with Miss Granger, he’d only just managed to get to sleep a little after three am.

‘Better share the joy’, he thought to himself. Grabbing the especially warded scroll that Brendan had given him, Severus quickly wrote a very short note to the Headmaster informing him that he had been called away. The scroll itself was quite a feat of magical engineering. It could be hand delivered, or in an emergency, striking it on any surface hard enough would cause it to ‘port’ to Dumbledore. It wouldn’t work through the shields on his quarters however, so Severus ventured out into the hallway.

Swinging the doors to his quarters open, Severus went to head for the Potions Classroom. He was prevented from completing that simple task however by the presence of a large hairy object stationed across the doorway; Sirius Black, asleep. Severus smiled an evil smile, as this was too good an opportunity to miss. The frustrations, worries and fears of the last 36 hours landed squarely on the sensitive nose of the animagus. Sirius howled as the scroll was whacked hard on his nose and disappeared.

“Get away from here, you flea-bitten mongrel,” Severus snarled, “slink back to your Master now or by Merlin I’ll make sure your animagus form is fixed by a Muggle vet!” Confused and smarting, all Sirius could do was retreat from the Potion Master’s fury. He scrambled to get away, barely avoiding Mrs Norris, who was now dozing herself in the corridor.

Dumbledore appeared within moments of the scroll disappearing. “Yes Severus?” he asked dryly.

“You said you wished to be appraised of my location at all times during my sabbatical, Headmaster. I was just informing you that I was going to take the opportunity to harvest blood flowers under the last period of the Blue Moon. I expect to be busy for most of the day with preserving and preparation.”

“And if I need to get a hold of you in an emergency?”

“Let’s just hope there are no emergencies, I will be in the Forbidden Forest. I’ll let you know when I return.”

“Be careful Severus and...” Dumbledore started to say but Severus had already turned on his heels, and with his night robes billowing behind him he strode back into his quarters.

Remembering Brendan’s comments about Draco Malfoy, Severus wondered if the boy and Pansy would be called to the early morning meeting. As they had yet to master apparation it was essential to discover what means they used to travel to Voldemort’s presence. The question was, should he remind Dumbledore or not? If they were called, it would answer the question of Voldemort’s ability to circumvent Hogwarts’ Apparatation blocks, especially the enhanced blocks that had been activated since the disappearances. Deciding that the knowledge of Voldemort’s ability far outweighed any other considerations, Severus made no comment to Dumbledore though he could feel the Headmaster’s eyes watching him. ‘Lady forgive me’, he thought to himself as he closed the door behind him, ‘for I doubt the Order will’.


Dumbledore watched the man leave; shocked that Severus had effectively ignored him. ‘Given the level of trust you’ve shown him, is it really surprising?’ a small voice in the back of his head snarked almost as well as the Potions Master could. Shaking his head, and feeling his age for the first time in a very long time, Dumbledore just watched Severus go. “Merlin, we are doing the right thing, aren’t we?” he asked the ether; the ether didn’t answer and Dumbledore apparated back to his quarters a very sad old man watched only by two pairs of animal eyes, Sirius and Mrs Norris.

Sirius Black, angry and frustrated, stared at the door to the Potions Master’s domain. He was sure that Snape had been called, and Sirius was ready to follow. For what other reason would he have wanted to speak with Albus at this time of day? Releasing his Animagus form, startling Mrs Norris in the process, he summoned Harry’s invisibility cloak and wrapped it around himself. Expecting Snape to be somewhat paranoid, Sirius also quickly cast a series of silencing charms about himself, and noting Mrs Norris sniffing in his direction he added ‘de-scenting’ charm as well.

This time he would get some answers to the questions he wished to ask the Potions Master, and if those answers were unsatisfactory. The smile that graced Sirius’ face at that moment would have done Voldemort proud. Sirius, content with the murderous directions of his thoughts, settled in to wait. This time he wouldn’t fall asleep.


Severus meanwhile had a decision to make: leave for the ‘revel’ via his ‘back door’ or just walk out towards the forest. Normally he wouldn’t have stopped to consider it but the fact that Sirius Black had been waiting on his doorstep this morning only increased his sense of paranoia. If his quarters were being watched, and he wouldn’t put it past Black to do so even without support from Dumbledore, he was going to have to be even more careful. Under no circumstances must his back door be discovered.

With his Death Eater robes stored at Snape manner, and in this case his gift to Voldemort as well, he would need to return home before answering the summons. Gathering up the tools and utensils he would need as if he were truly harvesting Moon mushrooms, Severus exited his quarters.

Sensing no one, he overlaid a new series of wards about his quarters before he turned and walked down one of the corridors that would lead him outside the castle. Ever watchful, he left the castle. No one appeared to follow him; no one appeared to be watching from the turrets, yet every step he took he was sure he was being shadowed. Black was the most likely culprit, but if he was indeed following him, then Black had finally learned a few things about stealth; and that worried Severus more than he would like to admit. At one point Severus turned sharply to the left, looking back towards his House’s Tower, “Damn,” he muttered under his breath.

Sirius Black side-stepped Severus, barely avoiding a collision and saw what had made Snape mutter; Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson making their way from the Slytherin tower towards the Forbidden Forest.

Severus, still unaware of his shadow, dropped to the ground, and laid flat. The last thing he needed was to be seen by Malfoy and Parkinson. If they saw him, he would have to apparate directly to Voldemort, something he was not prepared to do.

That the two were headed for the Forbidden Forest should have answered the question of Voldemort’s ability to circumvent the wards but for some reason Severus was not convinced. Like his own ‘backdoor’, Voldemort might very well not want to alert Dumbledore to the fact that he could circumvent the wards, though the fact that children had been taken from the grounds should have answered that; still if Voldemort’s door was portkey based then it might be possible to monitor for any new keys on the grounds. ‘Damnation,’ Severus thought to himself, ‘how in Merlin’s name am I going to get Albus to add that to the wards without compromising myself?’

Further thought on the subject was interrupted as Severus saw Lucius Malfoy appear at the edge of the forest. That answered the question of how the students would leave today, but it added a new dimension of danger to the current situation: Lucius Malfoy himself. Severus quenched all his power until he resembled nothing more magical than a blade of grass. Still, Lucius turned to look in his direction.

‘It appears I may have company after all’, Severus thought to himself as he watched Lucius scan the area around him. In many ways they were remarkably similar men, both danced on the blade’s edge of their loyalties. For that reason alone, Severus knew that Lucius had also developed his ability to notice magic to an art form; if it wasn’t Severus’ presence that Lucius was reacting to, then someone else had to be nearby.

For his part, Lucius did not investigate further, since the children had finally reached him. They were all urgently required at this morning’s gathering. Taking one last hard look in Severus’ direction, Lucius gathered the children close to him and apparated out.

This was somewhat of a pity, as Lucius would have probably enjoyed what happened next.

With Lucius and the children gone, and now certain he had company, Severus did something he rarely did away from the sanctity of his temple’s grounds: he called on Her as was his right as Her Priest.

He sent tendrils of Mother Earth’s magic sliding silently under the ground, calling for the grass to grow, snare and entrap. The grasses answered him, crawling silently up the sides of Sirius’ feet, over the top of the cloak, entwining around his boots. When he was sure that his tail was bound, Severus reached for the port-key to take him home.


It was only as the blades slid into the base of his trousers that Sirius finally noticed something was wrong. As he tore himself free from the encroaching grasses, the invisibility cloak dropped to the ground.

Seeing Severus reach out to touch his own arm at the point where Sirius presumed the Dark Mark to lie, Sirius launched himself at the prone Potions Master. “Harvesting mushrooms are you? Liar!” Sirius screamed as his world went red.

Sirius’ attack landed him on Severus at precisely the instant the port-key activated; he was along for the ride.


Feeling the weight of Sirius land on his back Severus began cursing fate for all he was worth; given Severus’ ties this was not necessarily a good thing to do. Still he had one hope, that the laboratory would be empty when he and his unexpected passenger apparated in. The last thing he needed now was additional complications.

Fate, ever a capacious lady, was almost co-operative. The laboratory wasn’t empty; Brendan was standing watch, waiting for Severus to return. Fate however had positioned Brendan such that he was behind Sirius when Severus and his passenger appeared. Brendan, seeing Severus’ passenger, grabbed the nearest heavy object, in this case a rather large cauldron, and struck Sirius across the back of his head. Sirius collapsed heavily onto Severus, but Severus saw no need to complain, an unconscious Sirius could be dealt with.

“What happened?” Brendan asked without preliminaries.

“Do you really need to ask, Brendan?” Severus snapped, first Black and then Lucius. Today was not going well and the sun had barely risen. “I suspect our friend here does not trust me. I was followed from the castle, and in fact I have to thank Malfoy Senior for unwittingly verifying that I had a tail, so to speak. We will need Jaidy to hold him, Voldemort has called and I must go.”

“Do so. I think I can keep him insensate until Jaidy gets here. Everything else is where you left it last night,” Brendan said calmly. The cauldron hanging loosely in his hand was ready to be applied again if necessary. It didn’t; a fact that actually disappointed Brendan, as Jaidy appeared almost like magic before Severus could even finish standing up.

“Laying out things in robing room I has,” Jaidy said as she looked at the unconscious Animagus. “We be keepings him like this? Yes, we will,” she said with glee.

“Don’t hurt him, Jaidy,” Severus cautioned, “I’ll be taking enough of a chance obliviating him as it is. Unexplained bruising would cause more trouble than any pleasure we would derive.”


Hermione Granger awoke to find that she was standing once more in the Lady’s Temple. She was clad again in the silken shift she had worn when the Maiden had called forth her Moon-blood, the stain still evident above her womb. She stood silently, staring at the alabaster statue as it shimmered in the moonlight. The statue began to glow from within. The Maiden, Mother and Crone stepping out of the stone, separate, yet one.

“Welcome child,” the Maiden and the Mother said in unison, “and our blessing on you.”

Hermione found herself tipping her head in genuflection. “Lady,” she acknowledged, though her mind remained aloof. She felt strangely cut off from the world in this place that she found herself.

Hermione’s reaction was watched closely by the Crone, her golden shears snipping in her agéd hands. “The serpent’s eyes walk the halls, and our Priest is endangered. Are ye willing to help strengthen the cloth?” she finally asked, having weighed Hermione in her scales and been pleased with the result. The Mother was right, there was steel in this one.

“Cloth?” Hermione asked.

“What we spin and weave, little one,” said the Maiden. “The tapestry of reality.”

“Why ask me? Surely you construct as you like.”

“Would you really wish it so, child?” the Mother asked. “While we spin, and weave, and cut, the design is not our making but that of the threads. But now a malignant thread works its way through the tapestry, breaking and rending; that is the serpent, and he would unravel all.

“And so, some threads are special, but even most of those we can only influence, never direct. It is only those completely bound to us that we can guide, and so we protect them. Our Priest is at risk, and since the Serpent Killer is not yet ready, we must protect our Priest, for he protects the Serpent Killer.”

“And what would you have me do?” Hermione asked as the Crone stepped forward, her shears clicking.


“Why do you do it?” A voice asked as Severus Snape placed his cloak about his shoulders.

Startled, he looked up to see an image in the mirror, an image he couldn’t quite place. After a moment’s panic, as no one should be able to get into the Manor, let alone this room with out his being aware of it, he recognised Hermione Granger, just. Behind Hermione the crone was visible, at least to his eyes. It was then that Severus felt the Mantle of Her Priest overlay him. Rarely, outside of the island, did this occur and so rather than turning to face them he continued to concentrate on the images in the mirror.

Hermione was a creature transformed, gone was the ‘fuzz-ball’ of hair that he had heard it so often referred to, gone indeed where even patches of skin; she looked as though she had tangled with a hippogriff and lost. “Professor,” she said quietly, the image in the mirror coming up behind him, “this might be of use to you.”

Severus turned sharply, but no one was behind him. Looking down he saw a brown pile, Hermione Granger’s hair, all of it, as though torn from her scalp.

Severus’ intention had been to gift Lord Voldemort with Hermione’s Moon Blood, suitably tainted. That the Crone had been involved in the shearing of Miss Granger, meant that he would change his plans; to Lord Voldemort would go the gift of hair. “Ours is not to reason why.” With that said, he ‘heard’ the Lady smile, and Ms Granger frown. He had answered her question, just not in the manner that she desired.


Voldemort waited as patiently as he normally did, which is to say, not at all. “I hear that you are on Sabbatical, Severus, yet you do not join me instantly I call. Why is that I wonder?” He smiled benevolently, like a father to a favourite son, “I had hoped that you would be joining us more often.” The threat was apparent, implied, but apparent.

“Yes My Lord,” Severus said politely as he swept down in a graceful bow. ‘It seems that there are leaks still’, he mused. “That was the intention.”

“Yes, but why didn’t you think of it sooner, my potions maker?” Voldemort asked with an anticipatory gleam in his eye.

“Because, My Lord, as you will undoubtedly have reasoned, I will not have much contact with the staff and students at Hogwarts whilst on Sabbatical. I understood that I was to maintain a presence there; if not, I would have suggested this long ago.” Thinking on Double Potions with Slytherins and Gryffindors, Severus was able to imbue a sense that he would gladly have done so for his Lord and Master.

Severus heard a quiet chuckle, Lucius Malfoy, undoubtedly drawing a similar conclusion probably based on reports of said classes. He nodded a greeting in the general direction of the chuckle; noting the two smaller Death Eaters in Lucius’ company. ‘I know you’re here, bastard’.

Voldemort, pleased with the flattery, smiled. “You always did have a sweet tongue, Potions maker. Now, speaking of potions,” ‘Now we get to the reason for the summons’, “how goes your harvesting?”

Severus smiled at Voldemort. The smile was not really a nice smile, a light of unholy delight infused his smile. “Oh very well,” Severus purred, “very well indeed.” When Voldemort and the others started to chuckle with delight, Severus continued, “Even better, she was pre-menstrual. I was able to harvest the Moon Blood; though its lack of purity suggests that she was not the model student some would have us believe. I took the liberty of keeping that particular ingredient in safe keeping for the present.” Severus continued.

“That is quite a liberty you took,” Voldemort hissed.

“Forgive me, my Lord, but the volatile nature of such an ingredient, even one as tainted as Miss Granger’s appears to have been, would not travel well. I brought with me something that I believe may be of use to you however,” he continued as he held out the remains of Miss Granger’s hair.

To be continued...


This story archived at http://www.potionsandsnitches.org/fanfiction/viewstory.php?sid=591