Dark Legend of Potter, Chapter 50 - Dumbledore and Snape Play with their Cocks (Patreon)

Even in the darkness and chaos of sobbing students and shouting professors as they fled the great hall, Snape could feel it in his bones that he was short four students. Even as the teachers hastily escorted their students to Hogsmead village, the first Aurors were already appearing at the edge of the grounds with loud cracks and hurrying towards Hogwarts. Word had been sent quickly, and there would be no carelessness in dealing with a fully grown basilisk.

Save for a certain set of idiots.

“Professor Sinestra! Take my students!” Snape shouted to the astrology professor. “I’ve got four missing still! Professor McGonagall, there's-”

“Potter and her friends, and Lavender Brown,” the Gryffindor head said, hiking up her skirts and hurrying back up the path. “Kettleburn! Get my students to Hogsmeade! Flitwick, Sprout, we’ll get yours.”

They both turned back from the path to Hogsmeade and raced back to the castle, where the Headmaster was talking with an out of breath young woman whose hair was switching back and forth between Bubblegum Pink and Mousy Brown.

“-definitely a basilisk. By the size of the beast, potentially the legendary Serpent of Slytherin,” Dumbledore was saying.

“Bloody buggering hell,” Tonks swore. She looked over to see Snape and McGonagall and grimaced. “Schools closed, you can’t go in. We know about the kidnapped girls and-”

“Megumin Potter is still in there with her idiot friends,” Snape snarled. “As are four of my students. You can’t keep me out.”

“Oh no,” Tonks groaned, pulling at her hair, which started to lengthen and turn a sickly green color. “Not Megs! This is going to be worse than Hawaii!”

“Professor Mizu is absent as well,” McGonagall put in. “After that shameful display with the chicken, I don’t know if she’s sulking in the toilets or has actually gone after the beast.”

Which just goes to show you that sometimes even dumb guesses can be right both times.

Dumbledore opened his mouth, and Snape interjected, “Don’t you dare try to claim this is some sort of brilliant plan on the woman’s part. She’s an idiot.”

“I mean, Aqua’s alright. Her concerts are bloody brilliant and she’s great at parties,” Tonks put in.

The three older adults all turned baleful gazes on the young auror, who fidgeted nervously. “What? Chris and I went on holiday with her in France, back when I’d just graduated.”

“Regardless, we have far too many missing students. By my count, it’s eleven, plus Mizu makes an even dozen,” McGonagall said, her tone brisk and businesslike. She drew her wand. “Basilisk or no, nothing and no one harms my students.”

“No offense, Professor, but are you mad? This is a basilisk. We’re waiting for a bloody cartload of roosters before we go in there,” Tonks said with a shake of her head. “And don’t try transfiguring one, you know that won’t work.”

“Headmaster! Headmaster, I got the birds,” Hagrid puffed, lumbering up the hill with a very irate crate of poultry. “Four prime roosters they are. More ‘n enough to deal with a ruddy great snake.”

“Well, that changes things I suppose,” Tonks sighed. “Look, the other aurors will be here soon, but I’m the one on the scene now. There was a spot of trouble with a robbery in Knockturn Alley.”

“Really? Hasn’t been one there in years,” Dumbledore mused.

“Wiz and Vanir are on the continent buying some supplies. Idiots thought they could get away with it with the Ice Witch gone,” Tonks explained. “Anyway, I’m taking a bird. Hagrid, no offense, but you’d best keep a lookout here for if anyone wanders out. I’m not going to tell two heads of house and the headmaster not to go in with him, in fact I’d damn well appreciate it because I’ve seen what you can do with a wand or potion.”

“Thank you, Miss Tonks,” McGonagall said, giving the poor girl a tight smile. Each of them took a rooster, while Hagrid stood by at the door with a cocked and loaded crossbow.

They ventured inside the castle, where Snape whispered, “First, we go to my laboratory. I have several potion’s of Bat’s Eye prepared. That will prevent us from being slain by the gaze. And who knows, perhaps Potter thought to raid the potions cupboard before launching her mad quest to slay the snake and rescue her cousin.”

They cautiously made their way to Snape’s laboratory, and in a few minutes, had passed out and imbibed the Bat’s Eye potion, which did not, in fact, work like a bat’s eyes. Contrary to popular belief, most bats have fairly good vision in low light conditions, though most of them lack good color vision, so a potion that lets you see in the dark like a bat would have been quite useful. No, instead, this potion was made with bats’ eyes, because magic doesn’t make any sense, and let the drinker use echolocation to hear their way through the darkness while keeping their eyes closed.

Dumbledore led the way back to the Great Hall, making a great deal of clicking noises as he did so. They were just about there when the building started to rumble and shake.

“Oh no. Not again,” Snape groaned.

“Is it the basilisk?” Tonks gasped, her head swinging around despite the blindfold she had on.

“I believe we should vacate the premises. It seems Miss Potter found the basilisk,” Dumbledore said, and then lifted up his robes and ran pretty fast for an old guy with knobby knees.

They all made it out of the building, still holding on to their cocks, just in time to see the entire left finish collapsing into the dungeons. Several towers toppled right over, and the main building was sagging on its foundations. The various other aurors who had recently arrived were goggling at the devastation, looks of horror on their faces.

“Not again,” McGonagall groaned.

“That infernal girl,” Snape growled, stalking towards the epicenter of the devastation.

“What the bloody hell happened?” one of the other aurors demanded. “Tonks! Just what in blazes-”

“Megumin Potter happened, unless I very much miss my guess,” Tonks said, jogging after Snape. “Just hope she killed the basilisk with that shot!”

“And not herself and her friends,” Snape snarled, breaking into a run. To his and Tonk’s shock, Dumbledore shot past them, and quickly began clicking and whistling amidst the rubble, putting his ears to large stone blocks as he did so.

Snape began doing the same, though it took Tonks a minute to figure out what they were up to. “Oh, using the sound waves to look for them? That’s brilliant!”

It took the rest of the night and into the morning, but by dawn Dumbledore had located a section of the rubble with someone buried inside. It took several hours of careful excavating, even with magic, as the rubble was dozens of yards deep and precariously balanced. At last, however, Dumbledore managed to lift off the final block, and reveal an open chamber below them, several frightened and dust coated faces looking up at him. And also Dust.

“Um, hi!” Aqua said, waving sheepishly. “So, uh…I found the missing students!”

“And I killed the basilisk!” Megumin said, puffing out her chest.

Dumbledore smiled, breathing a heavy sigh of relief. He was just about to say something when a boy jumped up and struck a pose.

“No, it was I, TOM R-”

“-oberts!” Aqua squeaked.

The boy paused and glared at Aqua while Dumbledore quietly had a heart attack.

“Yes, it was none other than I, TOM ROBERTS, who slew the basilisk with my cunning plan!”

“No you didn’t, it was me with my Explosion Magic!” Megumin argued, shoving Tom so that he fell down into the muddy water.

“Can you all argue about this later,” Hermione said, sounding exhausted. “I just want to go home and fall asleep.”

“Headmaster? Who’s that talking? I don’t recognize their voice,” McGonagall called. “Severus? Severus, what’s wrong? Are you quite well?”

“AH-HA! I see you have inquired about my EPIC BACKSTORY!” Tom “Roberts” cackled while Dumbledore was still trying to decide if he should blast the boy on the spot. “FOR YOU SEE! Once, long ago, I, Tom Roberts, was HEAD BOY OF HOGWARTS!”

“You can’t have been bloody headboy. You’re the same age we are,” Ron said. “Will you just shut up and let them rescue us?’

“What?! Introductions and first impressions are very important! Everyone knows that,” Tom said, sulking mightily. “Now will you let me finish my introduction or not?”

“Not now, Thomasss,” a woman said, stepping into Dumbledore’s line of sight. She appeared to be dressed in…a cut up table cloth? But was tall and dark, and a very handsome looking woman in the prime of life. She bowed to Dumbledore, putting a hand on Tom’s head. “I am SssSylvia Sssslytherine, and thisss isss Tom Robertsss. We were trapped by the dreadful basilisssk my godfather ssset as guardian of this ssschool, petrified for hundredsss of yearsss in my cassse, and decadesss for Tom.”

“Petrified? Basilisks don’t petrify, they kill,” one of the aurors said, looking suspicious.

Dumbledore, having made up his mind there was going to be no blasting, at least not yet, sighed and took off his spectacles, attempting to clean them on his grimy robe. “That is not the case. If one is subjected to the basilisk’ gaze, but some medium partially obscures the view, such as smoke, thick fog, or the reflection of a mirror, you are not instantly slain, but petrified. A state that can last for some time.”

“Yep! And because I’m a super amazing professor, I had some mandrake potions ready for just such an occasion!” Aqua declared. Then, to Dumbledore’s bafflement, Aqua actually did pull out several vials of mandrake potion and hold them aloft with a grin. “After Megumin slew the basilisk-” Tom let out a deeply offended huff, “-we found these two and gave them a potion each to fix them! Right everyone?”

Everyone but Kazuma nodded, until Ginny stamped on his foot, at which point he did after rolling his eyes.

“I see. Well, let’s get everyone out of the hole and to safety then,” Dumbledore said, shaking his head.

It took a few minutes to get everyone out, whereupon Snape and McGonagall began giving their students the ass chewing of a lifetime.

“-on Earth possessed you to go after a BASILISK!?” McGonagall roared, causing all six of her students to jump

Lavender raised her hand. “Um, well, technically, I didn’t go after the basilisk…”

McGonagal blinked, then smiled at Lavender. “Of course, dear. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean you. You’re excused to-”

“Oh no she isn’t,” Ron said, grabbing Lavender firmly. “You bloody well deserve a bawling out more than any of us!” Hermione and Megumin nodded firmly, while Darkness looked like she was enjoying herself for some reason.

“Ronald Weasley! That poor girl was taken against her will!” McGonagall snapped. “Unlike you who charged after-”

“Um, actually…Ron’s right. I, uh, I maybe…sort of…invited the basilisk to get me…” Lavender admitted.

McGonagall blinked, then looked at Lavender, then at the others, and completely lost it. “INVITED!? INVITED!? YOUNG WOMAN I HAVE HAD THE MISFORTUNE TO HAVE TO PUT UP WITH SUCH LOUTS AS CHARLIE WEASLEY, THIS FOOL’S BROTHER, AND EVEN JAMES POTTER, SIRIUS BLACK AND REMUS LUPIN ALL AT ONCE AND I HAVE NEVER IN MY LIFE SEEN SUCH COMPLETE HARE BRAINED IDIOCY AS TO INVITE A BASILISK OVER FOR TEA AND THEN TRAIPSE BACK INTO ITS LAIR!”

Snape, for his part, was colder in his fury, if no more stern. “I have removed pustulant boils from the backside of trolls with more intelligence than the four of you put together. I had thought you had reached the peak of folly last year, or perhaps this year with that idiot stunt with the flying monkeys. But this? This? I wash my hands of you. Perhaps it is not too late for you to be welcomed into the ranks of the House Elves, or even some garden topiary. Even a house elf has better sense than to traipse into a basilisk’s lair!”

“Oi, some of my best friends are house elves!” Kazuma protested.

“Well, then perhaps I should offer them a place in my house instead of YOU.”

Dumbledore, for his part, took aside Tom, Sylvia, and Aqua. He had Tom and Sylvia sit with Tonks with some hot soup, and gave Tonks strict orders that under no circumstances was she to let either of them out of her sight, up to and including stunning them senseless.

He brought Aqua a little distance away, then turned to her. “Miss Mizu. Can you offer me any excuse?”

“For what? Um, we totally defeated the basilisk! Yep, it’s all gone, forever!” Aqua said, shifting about and tapping her fingers together in a manner that was reminiscent of a five year old lying about stealing the last biscuit.

“What?! It’s still out there!?” Dumbledore gasped, shocked and horrified, his eyes darting to the hole they’d just dug for it.

“No! No! It’s not dangerous any more I promise!” Aqua said. “Please don’t hurt Sylvia, she’s nice!”

Dumbledore’s blood ran cold. Then his eyes suddenly narrowed. Sylvia was sitting with Tom, keeping an eye on the boy. She looked human. But she kept sticking her tongue out and flicking it up and down, as if…as if she were a snake tasting the air. And the sibilant “sss” in her speech…

“Miss Mizu. Did you unleash the basilisk?” Dumbledore asked quietly, barely keeping his fury restrained.

“...Um, technically, no, but uh…I maybe helped her finish becoming human?” Aqua said, giving Dumbledore a guileless smile.

“So. You led seven students into a basilisk's lair, somehow collapsed the castle, and turned the basilisk human,” Dumbledore asked, his tone as tranquil as ever, but his eyes flashing dangerously.

Aqua cringed. “Um, well…I didn’t collapse the castle, that was Megumin, but, uh, I’ll rebuild it! I promise! It’ll be done super fast, I promise!”

“I suggest you get started then. Classes should be beginning shortly,” Dumbledore said, pointing to the rubble.

Aqua nodded hastily, then spun about. Dumbledore blinked. She’d changed into a baggy t-shirt and canvas trousers, and had a mason’s trowel in one hand and a hammer in the other, and had her hair pulled back under a blue bandana. “Right! I’ll get on it straight away, boss!”

Shaking his head, Dumbledore went over to Sylvia. “You first, I think.”

“Yesss, Headmassster,” Sylvia said, and stood hastily, wobbling on her feet. She actually nearly fell down, and would have if Dumbledore hadn’t caught her.

“Accurssssed legsss! Ssso much harder to, uh…” Sylvia blushed, and looked at Dumbledore like a deer caught in headlights.

“I think we had best have that discussion now,” Dumbledore said, helping the woman all the way to her feet.

They went off a few paces to under the shade of a large oak, before Sylvia suddenly bowed. “Headmassster! I know my form doesss not appear that way, but I-”

“Am the Serpent of Slytherin?” Dumbledore asked, conjuring up a comfy armchair and sinking into it. He was too old for this.

“You are very wissse, and very perssseptive, Headmassster,” Sylvia said, looking up from her bow. She slowly straightened and smiled bashfully. “Um, I can explain…”

“Oh, I don’t think you need to,” Dumbledore said, taking off his still smudged glasses. He frowned at them, then instead of using his robes tapped them with his wand. He nodded and put them back on the bridge of his nose, and steepled his fingers. “Let me hazard a guess. Young Miss Dursley, in her lonely quest to find friends, somehow stumbled on the Chamber of Secrets.”

“Well, not ssso much ssstumbled. Tom led her to my lair through hisss diary horcrux,” Sylvia admitted.

That brought Dumbledore up short. He licked his lips, then summoned a bit of brandy from his office. He poured a tumbler of himself, eyed it, then took a pull from the bottle and offered the cup to Syliva.

“Oh! Thisss is alcohol, yesss? Massster usssed to drink it,” Sylvia eagerly accepted the tumbler, took a drink, coughed and sprayed it all over Dumbledore, who just sat there, accepting his fate at this point. “Ugh! Thisss isss vile! How do you humansss drink it?!”

“You’re human now too. And we’ll have to do something about your speech impediment,” Dumbledore sighed, taking out a hankie and cleaning his face and glasses, again. “So. Yunyun was led there by the Ghost of Tom Riddle.”

“Um, he’s sssupposssed to be Tom Robertsss now, but sssince you are the Headmassster of Hogwartsss I will tell you the truth,” Sylvia said, wiping her mouth off and frowning at the tumbler.

“Quite. I’ll deal with him soon. So. You were there, in your lair, and somehow, Yunyun Dursley awoke and befriended you.” Sylvia nodded, and Dumbledore continued, “She then started her little club, which Lavender Brown, Luna Lovegood, and Ginerva Weasley joined.”

“Um, not Ginny, sssir. Ssshe just came along by missstake, and ssstayed for the cake.”

“Naturally.” At this point, Dumbledore wasn’t certain anything would surprise him. “So, in their quest to make more friends, somehow, Miss Dursley hit upon the idea of turning you human through a potion. I don’t suppose Miss Potter helped with the potion?”

“Well, Yunyun sssaid she talked to Megumin, but that Megumin refusssed to come sssee me herssself. Though I gathered that ssshe talked with Megumin to help her modify the Animagusss potion to allow me to drink it and gain a human form.”

In all his years, Dumbledore didn’t think he’d ever had such a brilliant pair of geniuses among his pupils. Oh, Tom had been a genius too, but not at this level. Severus would be over the moon at his protegees’ incredible skill, and then want to strangle the both of them.

“I see. Well, that simply leaves the question of how my school was destroyed then,” Dumbledore said, nodding to the castle. “I hazard that Miss Potter let off one of her explosions, but am not able to guess why.”

“Oh, well, it’sss like thisss, you sssee.” Sylvia then laid out how the Diary had attempted to possess everyone, and succeeded in getting most of the students to write in it, then draining them of life, and fully restoring Tom. “However…that’sss not Tom Riddle. Not the one you knew.”

“Oh? Well, we’ll be the judge of that. Send him over, and you sit with Miss Tonks. Ask her about walking. She’s had some trouble with that herself.”

Tom, upon hearing Dumbledore wanted him, sprang up, and ran over, skidding to a stop in front of Dumbledore. “Sir! Can I do my introduction properly now!?”

“By all means,” Dumbledore said, taking another swig of brandy and motioning for Tom to continue.

“BEHOLD! I AM TOM ROBERTS! FOREMOST GENIUS OF THE HOUSE OF SLYTHERIN, AND HE WHO WILL ONE DAY BECOME HEAD BOY!” Tom bellowed, posing up on one foot and making arcane gestures with his arms while he wobbled back and forth. He set his foot down and beamed at Dumbledore. “Pretty good, isn’t it? I was practicing for ages while I was trapped in the Diary! I mean, as a statue. Yes. Definitely as a statue.”

Dumbledore gave Tom a long look, glanced at the bottle, and set it down. “Right. And why don’t you tell me a bit about yourself, young man. And how you came to be trapped as you were, and how you escaped.”

“Oh sir, well, it’s an incredible tale if I do say so myself.” Tom began to pace back and forth, making wild gestures with his hands, as if he were an amateur actor upon the stage and was chewing the scenery for all he was worth. “YOU SEE! ONCE, LONG AGO, I, TOM MARVIN ROBERTS, WAS HEAD BOY OF HOGWARTS! I-”

“I’m right here, young man. No need to shout,” Dumbledore chided.

“Yes, sir, sorry sir. Well, you see, I was Head Boy! Um, I was very precocious! They elected me early, you see.”

“Oh, of course,” Dumbledore agreed mildly.

“Yes! I was very popular, and had lots of friends! I was in, er…well, the house I was in isn’t important, as the Head Boy is of all houses and none!”

“Naturally.”

“Yes, I was exactly like Sauruman the White! Brilliant chap, Sauruman! Anyway, word came to me, high atop my citadel, that a basilisk was rampaging through the halls, petrifying students, killing professors, even laying low a jedi!”

“Really.”

“Absolutely!” Tom said, really getting into it now, his eyes gazing into the middle distance as he continued to pace. “So there I was, one man alone, standing against evil! I had my rod and my staff with me, and I faced down the basilisk at the Pass of Thermo-pliers-”

“I believe it’s pronounced ‘Thermopylae.’”

“Yes! That one! Well, the basilisk was a fearsome beast, and threatened all of Narnia! I could not let it pass, so I raised my staff, and smote it upon the ground! ‘I am Tom! Wind rider! Potion maker! Winner of the Quidditch Cup! And the black fires of Ungoliant shall not avail you! Go back to the shadows, spawn of serpents’! And lo, the basilisk was not dismayed! It reared up, spraying venom at me! But I was not to be dismayed! I conjured forth a bolt of lightning, and blasted the basilisk! Still, it would not die! It looked upon me with its dreadful gaze, and I knew it would be my undoing! So I cast my greatest spell! I would be wrapped in powerful magics, keeping me alive until love's first kiss would wake me! And binding the basilisk for many years, until it was awoken!”

Dumbledore nodded. “Really.”

“Yes! Absolutely! That’s definitely what happened!” Tom said, beaming and putting his hands on his hips proudly.

Dumbledore leaned forward. “And what if I said you were a liar, Tom Riddle.”

The boy quailed, cringing and looking away. “D-don’t be silly. Tom…Tom Riddle was a bully! H-he didn’t have any friends a-and he spent all his time alone, a-and he liked hurting p-people a-and he b-betrayed his b-best friend a-and a-and…”

Tom broke down sobbing, standing there and bawling his eyes out. Dumbledore watched for a moment. Tom Riddle had been more than capable of crocodile tears. But these…this was no carefully studied art to draw sympathy. This boy was lost, alone, and desperate, and deeply hurt and ashamed. He was sobbing uncontrollably, and didn’t seem to be able to stop himself as sobs wracked his body so hard he shook visibly.

Standing, Dumbledore went over and knelt by Tom, his old bones creaking slightly as he did so. ‘Bless Mizu for curing most of my aches.’

“There, there, son. Now. We both know all that wasn’t true, don’t we?” Dumbledore said gently, giving Tom a gentle hug.

Tom nodded into Dumbledore’s shoulder, sniffing and getting snot everywhere.

“Very well. Why don’t we start over. Now. Who are you, and how did you come here?”

“I…I think I’m Tom Riddle,” the boy admitted, scrubbing at his face with a spare hankie Dumbledore gave him. He looked Dumbledore in the face, a little taller now that Dumbledore was kneeling. “Um, I think…I think…I was a bad person, wasn’t I?”

“Why do you say that, Tom?” Dumbledore asked gently.

“Because…a good person wouldn’t try to steal their friends' souls with a journal, would they?” Tom said, looking down and sounding absolutely miserable. “I don’t know why I was in that journal. I must have done something very, very bad. Why else would I be locked away in a book for punishment?”

Interesting. Dumbledore knew only a little of Horcruxes, but they were supposed to be soul jars of a kind, granting a wicked form of immortality.

“You don’t remember making the book?”

“No. I don’t remember anything before Yunyun started writing in me, and that first part’s really hazy,” Tom admitted. “But…who locks a little boy away in a journal, unless they’ve done something really vile? I…do you know what sort of monster I was, sir?”

“I don’t think that matters as much as the person you are now. So. Why don’t we start over?” Dumbledore prompted.

Tom nodded, and began anew. This time, the story made much more sense. Tom had been sleeping, trapped in a book for longer than he could remember. Then, a wonderful person named Yunyun Dursley had started writing in him. Yunyun was the best person in the world, the kindest, most gentle, most loving person he’d ever met. Even though he’d been in a book and had tried to trick her (he remembered that he’s been trying to deceive her into doing something, but not what or why) she had still been his friend. She’d promised to help free him, and for a little while, Tom thought she’d succeed.

But then…he waited. Weeks went by. Months. And Tom was still trapped. He hatched a scheme to get more and more people to write in him. Not just to have someone to talk to, but because he’d have a connection with someone who wrote in him, and if he had enough, he’d become real again. He’d known he’d hurt whoever he trapped, perhaps he suspected, even putting them in the journal in his place.

“Maybe that’s how I got trapped in the journal. Some bad person was in it before me, and I let them out, and I got trapped, so I’m not completely horrible,” Tom said, looking at Dumbledore with an expression of pure innocent hope.

“Perhaps, that sounds as likely as anything else,” Dumbledore said, and it was true. He still didn’t know what to make of this.

“Well, I…I sort of…pulled myself out. Even as I was pulling their lives into me. Into the book,” Tom explained, looking down, abashed. “Megumin was too smart though. She saw through my cunning plan. We…we dueled. We both unleashed epic magic, and, um…and then I don’t remember. Did…did we do that?”

Tom pointed to the collapsed castle. Dumbledore had to take a second look. The foundation had been completely repaired, and the rubble was being repaired and refitted at an impossible rate. Mizu never failed to impress at the oddest of times.

“So, I don’t want to be Tom Riddle anymore. I’m Tom Roberts, now. And I’ll be a hero! Just like Yunyun,” Tom said, puffing out his chest.

Dumbledore regarded the boy for a moment, pursing his lips. This was Voldemort, returned through vile magic. A chance to strangle the greatest evil to plague Britain in centuries in the cradle.

But Dumbledore didn’t see the Dark Lord. He didn’t even see his old pupil. Riddle had never been this earnest or sincere. Or, for that matter, this boisterous and bellicose. It was almost like-

“Do the words ‘Crimson Demon Clan’ mean anything to you, young man?” Dumbledore asked.

Tom nodded eagerly. “Oh yes, sir! It’s my life’s ambition to join the Crimson Demon Clan and be Yunyun’s friend! Well, that and be Head Boy.”

Of course. Well. Dumbledore had two Crimson Demon sized headaches running around. What was one more?

“Well, young man. Welcome back to Hogwarts. We’ll see to you. I’ll see if any of your relatives yet live who we can get in touch with, but if it’s been as long as I suspect, I fear they are no longer among the living.” True, on all counts, though Dumbledore knew for a fact the only possible living relative was the original Tim Riddle, if he were still alive after what Megumin had done to him.

“Thank you, sir! I promise, I’ll be a brilliant student!” Tom vowed.

“Tonks!” Dumbledore called. “Would you be a dear and show young Master Roberts to where the rest of the students are staying? I think he’ll fit in quite well.”

Tom beamed, and hurried over to Tonks. The boy immediately started chattering away at a mile a minute, explaining how he’d always wanted to go to Hogwarts again, and did Tonks know he’d fought a basilisk? Twice now!

With the boy gone, Snape disillusioned himself, and stepped out from behind the overstuffed armchair. “I have several vials on me we can put in his drink. There will be no pain, but he will never wake.”

“No, Severus.”

“He is the Dark Lord! Reborn again, to walk among us and-”

“No, Severus. He is a boy. A boy innocent of even the crimes he’d committed at that age I daresay. We’ll watch him. But we will not harm him.”

“This is folly! What if he becomes another Dark Lord, worse still than the last time?!”

“And what if he becomes what he always should have been? A brilliant man who loves knowledge, and wishes to pass it on to others? A man of peace and virtue.”

“This is not a chance to correct your mistakes, Albus!” Snape snapped.

“No,” Dumbledore said, stroking his dusty beard. He looked to the sun, which was standing halfway to its zenith. “But it’s a chance to make the world a better place, I think. Come. Let’s see to our students.”

Still grumbling, Snape followed Dumbledore out of the shade they’d been standing in, and out into the new day.