Narcissa, Draco, and I stand on black stones, dark waves crash against the shore beneath us, a gloomy stormy sky hangs low and threatens to pour rain at any moment. The dementors' aura reaches the shore in this place. Muggles can't see this stretch of coastline and are currently enjoying nice summer weather.
A boat slowly approaches the shore. Two Aurors help the former prisoner out and lead him to us. Snape's black hair has been heavily peppered with gray after several months in Azkaban. It's fine, Black was also partially gray, it will pass. Dementors affect not the weak most strongly, but those who have many regrets in life and an enormous sense of guilt. You can shield yourself from them with Occlumency, partially. But if Snape didn't even want to talk to a lawyer, maybe he didn't shield himself much. People shield themselves when they still have something to hope for.
The Aurors released Snape, and he collapsed onto Draco. Lady Malfoy activated the portkey.
In the manor, Narcissa levitated Snape to the bedroom.
"Dumbledore lied. The Mark disappeared, there's no Horcrux in the boy. Why?" Snape muttered and passed out.
Ah, Professor, there is still a Horcrux in Potter, but possibly Voldemort has nothing to do with it.
Narcissa ran to the fireplace to summon the Malfoy family healer, and I began casting diagnostic spells, then cleansing ones, and used spells to change the professor into pajamas, destroying the dirty robes he was wearing.
Narcissa returned with the healer, who wasn't very pleased with such a patient. Despite today's article by Rita about yesterday's trial, not everyone has changed their opinion of Snape. We'll need Rita to write a couple more articles about what a hero he is. But still, the healer gave general instructions, nothing I didn't already know myself, and prescribed a series of potions. It's better to brew potions ourselves, because potions tailored personally to a person are always more effective. So Draco and I went to the potions lab, while Narcissa stayed with the patient. As I was leaving, I noticed how tenderly she brushed away the hair that had fallen on the sleeping man's forehead. I wonder if this means something, or is she just platonically concerned?
Draco would make an excellent potioneer. Well, in my unprofessional opinion. During our joint work, he suggested I become a vassal of the Malfoys. Seeing my bulging eyes, he explained that actually, a Muggle-born wizard can't be a vassal of the Malfoys, all other vassals of the house are purebloods, but the Malfoy family is in my debt.
Mixed feelings. On one hand, in the magical world such an offer from such a family is normal. Vassals among wizards not only have additional duties, but also their own benefits. But for my Muggle nature, this is almost an insult. And the benefits, from a modern person's point of view, can't outweigh a dependent position. I didn't voice my feelings and politely declined. Draco implied in a veiled way that I'm a fool who doesn't understand my own happiness, and it's worse for me. But in any case, I can count on their help within reasonable limits.
Luna arrived at Malfoy Manor with her father. Xeno immediately went to the library, and Luna went to her mentor to help him with Legilimency. Through mental "conversations" you can transmit not only words and images, but also feelings. Snape was sleeping, Luna tuned in to the right emotions, and within a minute the professor's sleep became peaceful and his face smoothed out.
Draco and I brewed potions for the next couple of weeks, and the Malfoy elf was instructed about nutrition for Snape. I don't want to stay here overnight, despite the fact that both my friends are here. In the Black mansion I feel at home, even grumpy Walburga is already like a dear annoying grandmother to me.
***
Rita received news through the mirror. Sirius and Harry managed to find an African shaman who was knowledgeable about Horcruxes. The shaman stated that he could perform a ritual. But he's only an assistant, and only Harry himself can get rid of the second entity. And only Harry can allow it to take over. This is a battle in the "halls of the mind." If they agree, the shaman demands the Horcrux itself as payment. But in case of failure, the body will be captured by an alien spirit. Then the shaman will kill Harry's body, and keep the possessor anyway. Harry's soul in that case will go to reincarnation.
Sirius didn't agree with such a choice, was even ready to return to the Japanese option. Yes, it will take a long time to restore the soul, but Harry definitely won't die. But Potter is a true Phoenix member, in the worst sense of the word. He proudly refused, because he doesn't want to become like Voldemort, and insists on the African option. Rita has already ordered a portkey to Tanzania. She's going to support her husband and his godson. According to Rita's plan, Andromeda will watch the children. I hope Rita arranged it with her, and didn't just drop the kids off without asking for consent.
***
Before leaving, I visited the Malfoys once more. The Professor looked better, and diagnostic spells confirmed it. Potions quickly put you back on your feet. Though mental state isn't so easily fixed. I found Snape in the library, he categorically refused to lie in bed during the day. But otherwise he didn't interfere with his treatment, obediently drank potions and didn't try to wriggle out of diagnostics.
And for once he himself wanted to talk.
"Thank you, Miss Granger. For getting me out."
"You're welcome, Professor... But tell me, why did you refuse to talk to a lawyer and participate in your own rescue? You know, with your help it would have been easier."
"Because I was sure there was no chance, and Narcissa was clinging to an illusion. I didn't want to participate in this farce. How did you remove the Obliviation?" he asked after a pause. "How was it even discovered, am I getting old?"
"Yes, you really almost ruined your chances with your own hands," I chuckled.
"At that time I didn't think I'd survive this war at all," Snape shrugged.
Yes. Not only the professor was supposed to die. Probably Voldemort's rash decision saved many lives. But it took others.
"I hope you don't regret that you stayed alive?"
"Everyone wants to live, Miss Granger. Even slaves. And now I'm free for the first time in the last twenty years. You know, it's a very unusual feeling."
"I hope you'll use your freedom properly. One of our mutual acquaintances talked a lot about you," I mentally transmitted to Snape the image of Monsieur de Flua when he was once again berating Severus for being such an idiot and expertly ruining his life. He could have been a great scientist, but became a lousy teacher.
Snape looked at me with bulging eyes for a minute, then laughed.
"Well, now I don't have to worry that I've forgotten how to cast Obliviations properly. Where did you meet Master de Flua?"
"Professor de Flua is my teacher of mentalism. And you're glad in vain, it was I who discovered your Obliviation. I wanted to punch you in the face for that for a long time. I even got you out of Azkaban for that purpose."
Snape raised an eyebrow in surprise and looked at me doubtfully. Is he assessing how serious I am?
"And you removed the Obliviation too?"
"I removed it too. After a month. Because the professor refused, despite all my persuasion. He said I should learn it myself."
"Are you planning to defend a mastery?"
"Actually, I haven't thought about it yet. But why would I need it? The title of master mentalist won't give me anything in the world of ordinary people."
"Why are you so fixated on the Muggle world?" the professor asked angrily. "I understand when weak wizards go there. Average Muggle-borns who can't find their place in the wizarding world. But you? Having a gift! And mastering it at a high level... And you have other abilities. Draco said you brewed these potions? Not at Master level, but quality work. Didn't you do a blood check at the goblins?"
"Potions-making isn't among my gifts. I had a lot of practice at St. Nicholas Hospital."
"Your second gift is healing?"
"Yes."
"And you want to leave the magical world?!"
"Not exactly. Professor, in any case I'm going to become a doctor, but treating diseases of ordinary people is more interesting than removing curses. Even a trainee can handle injuries from wizards or bites from magical creatures. I'm actually studying to be a doctor."
"I know you're studying. So what? For a healer, knowledge of Muggle medicine is a big plus. You'll understand your profession better than others. You'll know not only how, but why. After all, Muggles have a more serious approach to education. Higher education includes normal theory and is streamlined, while wizards, if they're not lucky enough to find a personal mentor, just wave their wand all their life without any understanding."
"Did you study too? Chemistry?"
"What else could I be, since I'm a potioneer? By correspondence. I didn't have time to attend classes. And no time-turner, unfortunately."
"Oh, since you can compare two worlds, what do you think - why are there no psychiatrists in the magical world? Wizards could use them. Why don't Legilimens become them? Who could better understand their patient? After all, there are curses that make you go mad, and Legilimens in the hospital only diagnose insanity. Or check memory to see what caused the illness. At most, they remove Obliviations. But besides that, they don't treat anything."
"Perhaps you yourself will take this up? And it won't be necessary to go into the Muggle world."
"Mm... I'll think about it. But unlike Luna, my painless Legilimency didn't work out right away. Now I've learned more or less. But at first Professor de Flua said I was jumping around in other people's memories like a happy kangaroo. And I still can't evoke similar feelings in patients with my own emotions, like Luna can."
"Professor de Flua didn't only tell you about the kangaroo," Snape smiled.
Honestly, he smiled normally, not with that crooked smirk like before. Buy a dementor's goat, sell the dementor - and feel all the joy of life. By contrast.
"If Professor de Flua compared you to a kangaroo, he really flattered you," I stated in a mischievous voice.
"Why is that?"
"Well, you... you... are an Erumpent with a flamethrower!"
"How does an Erumpent hold a flamethrower? And why, if he's already like a flamethrower himself?" Snape asked with interest.
"Fine, you're like an Erumpent without a flamethrower. And still, you won't be a magical psychologist," I said sadly.
"What a loss," the professor supported me ironically.
"And all because you don't like people. You should be sitting in a laboratory creating something brilliant. And come out to people once every couple of months with another discovery. But you became a teacher for some reason!"
"My opinion on this matter wasn't asked."
"Well, now everyone who decided for you and didn't ask your opinion is already in the afterlife," I replied cheerfully. "What will you do?"
"I had a number of ideas that I never got around to for years while working at school. I'll leave this damned country, set up a laboratory and finally do something more meaningful than teaching unteachable sheep the simplest potions," after a pause he adds, "and I'll help Miss Lovegood get her mastery after graduating from Hogwarts. One student is something I can survive."
I smiled.
"Sounds good."
"Though it's still strange... I still don't understand what ended up happening with Potter."
Should I tell him or not? Or let him live in peace? He's no help now anyway.
"You yourself said that creating a Horcrux is quite a painstaking ritual. And no matter how much soul remains, it's unlikely it would be created accidentally. Headmaster Dumbledore was a smart man, can't take that away from him, but everyone makes mistakes sometimes. Maybe an Avada Kedavra to the forehead gives a similar effect? No one has ever studied wizards who survived an Avada."
"I really hope you're right. Otherwise it turns out you freed me for nothing. The backlash from contradictory oaths will finish me faster than dementors."
"What were those oaths? If it's not a secret?"
"Now, probably, there's no point in hiding it. I gave an oath to Headmaster Dumbledore that I would protect Potter from the Dark Lord. And to him I swore I'd do everything he asked," there's bitterness in his voice, "but before his death Albus admitted that Potter must die anyway. Otherwise the Horcrux can't be destroyed. And Albus asked me to help Potter in destroying all of Voldemort's Horcruxes."
"So the headmaster deliberately doomed you to death? Once again I'm convinced that he's the kindest soul."
"I hated him in that moment, Miss Granger. For the fact that for his greater good he's ready to sacrifice each of us. But still, he was right. My life and Potter's life - two lives against hundreds of other wizards' lives. It's more right for two to die."
"Or the headmaster could not have taken contradictory oaths from you, and you wouldn't have had to die because of them."
"I was on the Dark Lord's side, Albus couldn't trust me without oaths."
"He could have formulated the oath differently somehow. Why such a desire to justify a person by whose plan you were supposed to die?!"
"And why do you have such a desire to blame him for everything? Besides personal motives? When I gave the oath to protect Potter, the Horcrux in his head was still unknown."
"It's an old story," I muttered. "But now, since Voldemort is dead..."
"Yes, now I'm free from both oaths. The Mark disappeared, which means there are no more Horcruxes, and there's no need to protect Potter from the Dark Lord. Who would now protect him from himself?"
"And how can that be done?" I became interested. "Well, suppose Harry decides to become an Auror after all..."
"Considering how this heroic dimwit loves to find adventures for himself, the best option would be to lock him in a basement with soft walls. But you've given me an excellent idea, Miss Granger!"
"I'm already scared. I'm sure Harry won't like your idea."
"But he'll be healthier. We need to make sure he doesn't pass Potions. And then no Auror training."
"Don't tell me you want to spend another year at Hogwarts for that?"
"Merlin forbid, Miss Granger. Why such sacrifices? Whoever teaches them potions, I'm sure I can come to an agreement. It won't be difficult. Potter will fail everything himself, just need to not help him on the exam."
"I think Harry would have preferred you not to save him at all."
"I'm sure Potter would have preferred me to save him in a way that's convenient for himself. His father in similar circumstances..." seeing that I'd already opened my mouth to object to the comparison, Snape decided not to finish, "I hope it won't occur to Potter to seek a meeting with me to figure everything out. Mrs. Black wrote such an article that you can expect anything," the professor winced.
"Harry isn't available right now, he and Sirius left. What a pity, I couldn't see their reaction to the news of your release! Rita already told everything through the mirror."
"I doubt this news made them happy."
"Don't even doubt it, Professor. Definitely not. But to see those elongated faces... oh, so many pleasant moments passed me by."
"Don't worry, Miss Granger, you can still punch me in the face," Snape reminded me wickedly.
"Alas... now conscience won't allow it, and when you recover, your fa... face won't be so easy to reach."
"By the way, you can rent a dueling hall. From my side - nothing more serious than Incarcerous, from yours - everything except Avada. You can let off steam. I invite you in a couple of months."
"Actually, I'm not serious about punching you anymore... Yes, I had that desire at first, but I cooled off long ago. I hope there won't be any more Obliviations between us."
"All the more so, which means you won't throw anything particularly dark. Besides, such halls have absorbers that activate when there's a serious threat to life. Otherwise duelists would constantly kill each other. Only from Unforgivables there's no magical protection."
Snape suddenly looked at me very attentively, as if assessing something.
"Hermione, I hope this won't upset you too much," he began cautiously.
Wow, he called me by my first name, this can't be good! And anyway, all these preambles only make it worse. "We need to talk" and "just don't worry." Everyone knows this is nerve-wracking, but not everyone manages to get rid of such phrases in their speech.
"When they were taking me away, Dolohov asked me to give you his regards."
I look at Snape silently. Sirius wrote to me that Dolohov was arrested. But after that I hadn't thought about him even once. Snape shows a memory.
A dark narrow corridor with a low ceiling, bars on both sides. The Professor is being led to the exit, even through the memory you can feel the dementors' aura faintly. After Snape several cells throw dirty curses. But one prisoner, in whom you don't immediately recognize Dolohov, stretches his hand through the bars and grabs Snape by his rags.
"Hey, Snape, you lucky bastard! You know Katya, who's Hermione... forgot, stupid surname. The curly one! Tell my fake niece hello. Let her name her daughter Olga!"
At that moment Snape's escort hit Dolohov on the fingers. He let go, swore, and then laughed maniacally...
Times go on, but Snape doesn't change, still masterfully manages to spoil the mood. What did Dolohov do for me? He didn't kill me. But I can say that about any person on Earth. I'm not grateful to everyone who didn't kill me. And he forbade the guards to touch me. That's valuable, of course. But if Dolohov hadn't dragged me to the dungeons, the guards wouldn't have threatened me... Damn. But now I feel sorry for him. I still think death is more humane than Azkaban. It would be better if those who were imprisoned not for one, two, three years, but for life, were simply killed rather than feeding dark creatures with them. And the dementors should be killed too, no benefit justifies the existence of such filth.
My thoughts were interrupted by Narcissa, who called us to the table.
A large company gathered at the table. Narcissa, Draco, Susan, Luna, Xeno, Snape and I. Theodore is hiding from the Lovegoods. Snape will surely run away from here as soon as he recovers. Too many people around. Unless Narcissa takes him in hand. After dinner I said goodbye to everyone, went beyond the anti-Apparition dome and moved by portkey to France.