Fic HP: Blood Mastery 1/?
Title: Blood Mastery
Author: Shayla
Series: Harry Potter
Warning: Slash, Rating for later chapter
Pairing: Sirius/ Sev/ Harry, Narcissa/ Remus, Lily/ James
Summary: Sometimes the past leaves lines so deep that the present can’t do anything to fight the forged ties, no matter how hard they struggle The unwilling become enslaved into roles they previously never imagined, as the past revealed forces them to accept a truth none of them imagined. Both Harry and Sirius realize that living in the shadow of the past brings upon them a burden that they cannot flee from, for trying could very well bring forth their doom.
Disclaimer: *evil laughter* I own the Universe, didn’t you already know?
01. NORMAL STORY LINE (Narcissa’s POV)
Narcissa stood by the window in Madam Pomfrey’s office starring outside watching the sun rise slowly in the horizon while it illuminated the sky above the treetops of the Forbidden Forest.
“Before I can begin, I’d rather have you bring Young Mister Potter and Sirius Black here.” She finally said turning to look at the worried faces of Minerva McGonagall and Poppy Pomfrey before she let her pale eyes drift over to the old man sitting by the desk.
She could see the surprise in their faces at the mentioning of those names. The headmaster wanted to say something, but she had come already prepared to argue his words.
“As to how I know that my cousin is indeed alive and not rotting behind the veil my sister send him to, I can only say that such is also part of my story.” She paused and took a deep breath. “I don’t particularly like to repeat myself and since what I have to tell you will take some time, I would rather to tell it just once and get it quickly over with so that I may good back to Severus before he awakens.” She looked pointedly at Albus. “And I can assure you that Harry Potter and Sirius Black will be very much intertwined with my story.”
There was obvious doubt and worries in the other three faculty member’s faces. Narcissa understood well their inner struggle to trust her, but right now there was little else she could do but await their agreement. Her Blood Sister had insisted that things proceeded in this manner and Narcissa knew better than to ignore that particular Seer’s words.
“If you wish, I would be willing to speak a wizards oath that which I see and speak of tonight will not be spoken to anyone that is not either of you or Severus.” She added seeing that she needed to put a little more pressure on them.
The two other women were obviously surprised by her words, but the Headmaster remained passive, only his eyes betrayed his calm expression. Confusion was visible in them and assessment of the situation she now presented to them.
“Very well.” Albus finally spoke.
“But I must insist that what I will tell you will not be revealed heedlessly to outsiders, because frankly I and others have worked hard and sacrificed much to keep this from the Dark Lord and I certainly do not want it all to have been in vain.”
Albus nodded in understanding. “So be it.” He turned to look at his Deputy. “Minerva will you be so kind and stand as our witness and perform the ritual?”
“Albus, are you sure?” Minerva was obviously not happy with the current situation.
“My dear, you saw how Severus reacted earlier and if Mrs. Malfoy-“
“Narcissa, please.” The blond woman corrected. “I’d rather you did not call me Mrs. Malfoy until I have finished what I’ll have to tell you.”
Blue twinkling eyes examined her again before the old man continued speaking. “If Narcissa can help us with this, then I think we should give her the benefit of the doubt.”
Poppy laid a hand on Minerva’s shoulder. “It was her that suggested the oath, I think we should trust her with Harry and Sirius’ presence.”
Sighing heavily Minerva stepped forward pulling her wand from her sleeve. Narcissa moved towards Albus and held her hand out for the Headmaster to take.
“I swear that I will not reveal to anyone other than those that will be present and Severus, or without one of the previous mentioned’s permission about what will transcend after I leave Hogwarts’ infirmary.” Narcissa stated and watched as the magic willed around her and Albus entwined hands.
“I swear that I will be careful in handling the information you will grant after you leave this infirmary.” Albus added and once more the magic flew out of Minerva’s wand around their hands.
Narcissa felt the spell settle around her flowing into her skin and she gave a mental sigh relieved that things were progressing so smoothly.
Albus pushed himself from his seat by the desk and headed for the fireplace. Opening a connection he called for Molly Weasly to answer him.
“Albus.” Molly smiled at him. “How can I help you?”
“Ah, Molly dear, there’s some business coming up here and I would like Harry to take Snuffles and to come to the infirmary.” Albus stated in a cheerful voice betraying the seriousness of the current situation.
“Infirmary?” Molly inquired in a worried tone.
Albus smiled, Narcissa could see it from her position. “Nothing to worry about, I just would like Harry’s view on some project I have running here, and I thought that a change of pace for Snuffles would be good as well.”
“Very well. I’ll get them and send them through to you.”
“That would be splendid, my dear.” and with this the flames ceased.
Albus turned to Narcissa. “I think we will be needing more chairs and some tea.” He said waving his wand and summoning seats. ”By the look on your face I can tell that this will not be all pleasant nor short.”
Narcissa didn’t respond immediately. “It all depends.” She finally said. “I can only say that it will be most likely very interesting to your cause…”
Minerva and Poppy settled on the chairs presented to them leaving two seats between the Headmaster and them empty and another across them for Narcissa to settle down.
The blond woman walked back to the shadow by the window and turned her back to them contemplating the dawn outside. Things would be revealed in the next coming hours that could very well change the outcome of the war. Her Blood sister had said that much.
She listened to the murmured voices behind her not focusing on the words but on the sound, trying to calm herself. She had waited for this moment to come. Twenty long years in which she had often thought that her Blood Sister might have been for the first time mistaken, but sheer determination to continue with her duty to the Blood Mastery had her focus again on the goal.
Flames burst to live behind her, but she made no motion to turn yet.
In the back of her mind she could feel Severus faintly and weak. The curse was still in him, but there was not much she could do at this moment besides giving him her quiet support.
“Albus.” She heard her cousin’s voice followed by a more formal greeting from Harry Potter.
“You certainly know how to rouse people early in the morning.” Sirius commented before continuing to greet the other two women by the headmaster’s side. “What’s happened?”
This time Narcissa turned, letting her robes swirl through the air and catching with this the two newcomer’s attention.
“I thought we might have a little family reunion and we could exchange some memories of old times, Sirius.” She said in a quite yet projecting voice like Severus had taught her.
Sirius and the boy’s alarmed and shocked expression was quite amusing. The swiftness with which both reached for their wands was impressive, but Narcissa had confronted more dangerous people than these two and besides, Albus was still much faster than the two. A pair of wands flew directly into the old man’s hand, and Narcissa had to mentally applaud herself for remaining calm in her spot by the window.
“Albus!”
“Headmaster?”
Raising his hand to calm her cousin and the Potter boy, Albus spoke up in an almost lecturing tone. “There will be no wand waving in this room until we have heard what your cousin has to tell us, Sirius.” He turned from Sirius to the bewildered looking boy. “I expect the two of you to sit quietly in those chairs and listen to what Narcissa has come to tell us.” He leaned his head slightly forward looking at them from above the rim of his glasses. “Have we understood each other?”
Both nodded slowly still looking suspiciously over to her.
“At least tell us what’s going on.” Sirius insisted putting and arm on his godson’s shoulder pushing him gently to sit next to his Head of House.
“Severus has been discovered as a double agent.” Narcissa explained, taking the initiative before Albus could decide to tell them less than they should probably know. “As you can expect the Dark Lord wasn’t overly amused at discovering this.”
Narcissa observed as Sirius and Harry’s faces paled and they turned horrified to Albus for confirmation. She was aware that neither of them liked the Potion Master much, but the good in them would not protect them from the reality of the Dark Lord’s fury. Both of them knew more or less at first hand what Voldemort could and would do if betrayed.
“Is he…” Harry croacked. “Is he dead?”
Minerva laid a hand on his arm and the boy looked at her shaken. “No, Severus is alive.”
“But?” Sirius spoke up his eyes locking with the Medi-Witch’s obviously expecting from her some kind of explanation, but it was the headmaster who replied to his question.
“Severus was hit by an ancient and peculiar curse.” Albus waited for the two younger men to turn back to him before proceeding. “It was not always considered a curse since many centuries ago it was usually used to heal people who had suffered a great trauma.
“The idea of the spell was to modify a certain part of the patients memory that would involve their memory of people around them and would seal all forms of recollections associated to negative feelings away.
“The main idea behind this spell was to assure the patient a new beginning with a healed mind and good perspective on life in order to motivate them to continue on.”
Harry frowned. “But that is a good thing, right?…”
Albus nodded. “Indeed, but imagine if you were to be captured, abused and mistreated to such an extend that it would leave you nothing more than an empty shell. No better than a Dementor’s kiss.”
Sirius visibly shuddered. “My god.” He whispered. “You could modify your victim’s memories and erase any evidence of the criminal let alone of the crime.” He leaned back in his seat worriedly.
“Not only that.” Poppy said. “You could cause a Stockholm Syndrom on the victim without anyone being any wiser.” She stated.
“Stockholm Syndrom?” Harry asked not understanding the term.
Narcissa stepped forward to her seat and laid her hand on the back of it for support. “It basically means that the victim starts to sympathize with his capturer and to see the capturer as the only safety and constant in his life.”
“Which is why the spell evolve from a healing method to a curse considered to be part of the Dark Arts and thus its use was forbidden centuries ago.” Albus added.
“Snape was hit with this curse?” Sirius asked looking at Narcissa.
She nodded at her cousin in confirmation. “This curse is very complicated to do, because of the control required from the castor.” She stated moving her hands in a explanatory pattern in front of her. “You see, this spell or curse affects the mind and thus it requires that the castor is aware of what he is sealing away from the patient or victim, so that the spell doesn’t take more than would allow for the castor to familiarize the patient with him and his surroundings. It would only require a single wrong movement of the wrist and you could leave the patient like a newborn with no understanding whatsoever.”
“Please tell me that isn’t what happened to Snape.” Sirius exclaimed before turning in horror to Albus. “I refuse to baby-sit him, the last thing we need at home is an over sized child.”
Albus sighed. “That won’t be necessary. The curse, although obviously cast with such extreme intend, somehow seemed to have failed according to Narcissa.” He explained turning to look at the blond woman. “Severus was found near Hogsmead unconscious, his wand laying broken next to him.”
Sirius flinched at this, he knew well what such an act caused on the wand-owner.
“Some residents brought him here recognizing him and Poppy treated his visible wounds. He awoke late into the night confused and disorientated.
“We quickly realized that he had no memory of who we were let alone of who he himself was.” Poppy continued. “Severus is by nature slightly paranoid.” The look in her eyes stopped Sirius on commenting on her last sentence. “Not recognizing any of us, he panicked which caused his magic to go wild. I understand that he only tried to protect himself at that moment but with Severus it means that he attacks first.” A deep sigh followed. “It took the three of us to immobilize him. We had to pin him down by force to the bed and force him to drink a Sleepless Draught.”
“The three of you?” Sirius looked startled at each of them. “Albus, how can that be? He shouldn’t be able to overthrow your magic that easily, especially without a wand.”
“Severus has always been powerful, but his magical strength was too much for him as a child and apparently his mother sealed part of them when he was very small. He never removed the seal, since he had more than enough with the magic he could access. I can only guess that due to the lack of memories his magic was released from its dormant state.” Narcissa explained.
Sirius and Harry looked at her as though she had just grown another head.
“You mean to say that the bastard was already bloody powerful with the seal on and now without it he is…” Sirius couldn’t find the right words to use. “Merlin!…”
“But what has all that to do with you being here Mrs. Malfoy?” Harry asked not quite knowing where the conversation was leading to.
Narcissa sighed mentally. It was truly a shame that the boy had not inherited his mother’s talent, it would make things probably much easier, but then again her Blood Sister had warned her not to keep her hopes too high on such account.
“Severus remembers her.” Minerva explained looking at Narcissa pointedly. “He recognized her immediately when she came.”
“You cast the spell?” Sirius continued to follow Minerva’s trail of thoughts.
Shaking her head in denial, Narcissa rested her hands again on the back of the seat in front of her. “No, it wasn’t me and I also don’t know who cast it, but I could feel it the moment it hit Severus.” She closed her eyes. “The moment his mind was being forced to surrender to the castor… I wasn’t fast enough to protect his mind from the initial onslaught and so he lost the memory of everyone he has ever met that has not some form of blood connection to him.” She reopened her eyes focusing on her cousin.
Sirius narrowed his eyes and Narcissa could feel the other’s intense gaze on her, since this was the first time she spoke of the reasons of her being here.
“Explain.” Sirius demanded in a harsh voice.
“Severus is my Blood Master.” She simply stated not allowing any emotion to pass over her face.
The wide blue eyes of her cousin indicated that he understood the complexity of her confession. He struggled to speak and only a croaked sound escaped him. Coughing slightly to find his voice again, Narcissa could practically see on Sirius face as he tried to grasp the gravity of the situation.
“How… how long?… Merlin…. Why?” he pointed at her. “Who else? Are you the only one?”
Giving them a small smile Narcissa walked back to the window watching as the first drops of rain hit the glass surface and trailed down.
“It’s going to be a long story… not quite one you’re going to like…” she turned her head to look back at Sirius. “Either of you.” She looked at Harry this time, but she knew that the shadow of the shelve next to the window clouded her face from their view. She leaned against the wall, in the small space between window and shelve. “I thought I better start at the beginning… the day Lilian met Severus for the first time…”
TBC