Unlikely Allies: A Harry Potter Fanfic; Chapter 1
Q: What do a deceased Pureblood supremacist, a magic-hating Muggle, and the Half-blood Head of Slytherin have in common?
A: No, no, you had the correct answer: nothing at all. Don’t be silly!
Chapter Summary: Severus asks a Pureblood supremacist (deceased) to help protect a Half-Blood.
Chapter One: The Heads of Slytherin
Severus Snape had determined long since that, in respect of his proposed immortality, the Dark Lord had been entirely uninterested in encouraging the sincerest form of flattery. Lucius had substantiated that certain volumes had disappeared from his father’s library after the Dark Lord’s early visits. The booksellers in Knockturn Alley had been regularly frequented by Death Eaters-mostly armed with money; the Dark Lord didn’t want to sow unnecessary ill-will there. But tomes acquired by the Dark Lord never returned to general circulation. Severus suspected that most of the brightest among the Death Eaters had eventually made the same calculation he had. There was a reason, after all, why fanatic Bellatrix and mad little Barty had been the only followers of the Dark Lord to make any concerted effort to get him back.
Dumbledore had effected a similar purge at Hogwarts, if from different motives. Slughorn had implicitly admitted as much when his welcome gift to his successor had been a curious book on the use of human ingredients in potions. Or rather, Sluggy’s muttered comment, “It’s no longer available even in the Restricted Section,” had told Severus everything he had needed to know.
So if Severus, a decade behind the chase, were to try to determine what Dumbledore thought the Dark Lord might have been (or still be) attempting-and how, therefore, Dumbledore might be proposing to stop him…. Severus needed access to the private library of an old pureblood family, well steeped in the Dark Arts, whose family head, at least, had never fallen prey to the Dark Lord’s allure.
Such as the Blacks. Who had never done themselves the honor of entertaining the Dark Lord, whose wards had never fallen to the Death Eaters, though both sons had, eventually, joined. And hadn’t there been a rumor that the Dark Lord had been angry with Regulus for some failure to bring him something? The house had been deserted since the mother’s death and in legal limbo since the death of the head of the Black family earlier in the year….
However, the most cursory of inspections revealed that the Black family wards were perfectly intact. Severus wasn’t fool enough to attempt them. He needed inside help.
As it happened, there was a Black, a former head of the family, with whom Severus had had an admittedly uneasy alliance of over ten years’ standing. Phineas Nigellus had been Head of Slytherin for two decades before he became Master of the school as a whole, and he still took a proprietary interest in his former House.
So during Severus’s interview with Dumbledore, a few times when he was certain that his right hand was well hidden from the headmaster, his fingers moved in a gesture that should be meaningless save to Slytherins.
Severus swept out of the headmaster’s office after the unsatisfactory conclusion of his interview with Dumbledore. It was natural enough that he soothe himself by storming down to his dungeon and reviewing his potions stores, despite the lateness of the hour. The job needed to be done within the next several weeks, and he had always reserved the bi-yearly task for when he needed -calming. No break in pattern here.
And it was only a slight break in pattern when a sly voice came from the direction of Ibn-Sina, the sole portrait to grace the Potions classroom walls. The supercilious voice did not speak in Arabic.
The youngest Head of House in Hogwarts history had not infrequently been the beneficiary of unsolicited advice from former holders of his post.
Severus let out his breath. “Phineas Nigellus. Come to see how the Half-blood is mucking up your House?”
He cast several wards. The current headmaster could override them, but only if he thought it worth making something of an effort. And even then, not unnoticed, Severus thought. He was almost sure.
The portrait waited politely until he had finished, then said, “Come in answer to an urgent appeal, rather. Well, Head of Slytherin? Is your need related to our House?”
Severus shrugged. “Not immediately, Phineas, though it certainly relates indirectly, as most matters do. It relates directly to the well-being of one of your descendents, a student entering next month. He might sort Slytherin, or not. And my business relates to our House’s reputation. I request information on your family’s library at Grimmauld Place, on whether it might contain tomes useful to some private research I’m conducting, and if so, on how I might gain access to them.”
The former headmaster raised his brows. “Research, Severus, so private that you prefer to keep it secret from your superior?”
“Exactly so. I have noticed that you, ah, are less inclined to subordinate yourself to the current headmaster than some of the other portraits.”
The portrait snorted. “I hired the man originally. I respect him, and I must obey him in his office, but I hardly revere him blindly. But you, boy-I thought you did.”
Severus looked away and started pacing. “Possibly so. But I have a matter which I must investigate without involving him at this time.”
“One of my descendents,” the portrait mused. “The one in question earlier, I take it. A Half-Blood, the son of a blood traitor… not eligible to revive my name.”
The living man paused in his pacing and said softly, “Still your child’s child. And you have so few left, have you not? A few old and dying ones; the two in Azkaban; Narcissa and her son; insane Frank and his boy; a few Burkes; the disowned ones and their children; and the one last Half-Blood. And all of your scions but the Burkes have been harmed or threatened by one cause, one wizard, which you know I work against. My request relates also to that.”
The portrait said harshly, “My foremost duty here is to Hogwarts as a whole. That supersedes my duty to either House or family. I have so sworn.”
“I swear that to the best of my knowledge, my request does not contravene that obligation.”
The portrait relaxed slightly. “What is it, then, that you want, Severus?”
Severus smiled sourly at the portrait and folded his arms. He tilted his chin challengingly. “Information not usually vouchsafed to upstarts such as myself. Information never vouchsafed to those mistrusted. It seems that certain, ah, sensitive materials have been removed from Hogwarts’ libraries by our esteemed headmaster, and from general circulation in Britain by the Dark Lord. I don’t fancy a wild-goose chase all over the Continent. Possibly the head of the Black family might recall his family library, to tell me whether the information I require exists among their holdings?”
The portrait folded its arms in turn. “What information, boy?”
“I need to know how those ambitious for personal immortality, and devoid of, ah, moral considerations, might hope to achieve it.”
Black had caused his formal Hogwarts portrait to have been taken when he was still a man in his late prime, perhaps sixty or so; in full vigor, certainly, though the portrait had been infused subsequently by the knowledge Black had had at his death. Not all that much later, though Severus couldn’t be bothered to recall how much just now. He was concentrating on keeping the furious portrait from escaping.
A living will had an advantage over the dead, whether portrait or ghost. Provided the living body and will were strong enough.
If Severus’s body and will were not strong enough, he’d had no right, ever. to have accepted the post of Head of House. Part of the job description was to subdue the Hogwarts dead when necessary.
Black had every right to try him, under the circumstances
*
After giving Black time to recover his self-possession, Severus spoke again. “Need I swear, Phineas, that my interest in this matter is not personal?”
“You need.”
Severus thought for a moment. Many of his … debriefings with Dumbledore had taken place in the headmaster’s office, as the most heavily-warded place readily available. There was, therefore, almost nothing that this portrait did not know about Severus’s past or his loyalties. And while Phineas was honor-bound to aid the current headmaster in matters related to Hogwarts security and policy, this subject was, strictly speaking, outside the bounds of the portraits’ obedience to Hogwarts.
Severus raised his wand and steeled himself to speak impassively. “I have found reason to believe that the specifics of how the Dark Lord intended to evade death are relevant to the Potter boy’s survival and well-being. I swear by his mother’s grave and my wand that my only interest in this knowledge is to protect her son.” Green sparks shot from his wand.
The portrait raised its eyebrows blandly and challenged him. “For ten years, you’ve been content to let that be the headmaster’s concern. What has changed?”
Severus scowled and dipped his head, his hair falling over his face. “For ten years, I had trusted that the headmaster and I were at one in desiring the boy’s protection.”
He looked up at the portrait bleakly. “A natural enough mistake on my part, I contend, considering that it was the headmaster who swore me to that goal. I was therefore content, for those years, to let all matters of strategy rest in his hands and to obey him. But now… I no longer believe that the boy’s welfare was ever his first priority.”
Severus swallowed, his eyes blazing. “I am sworn to the boy’s protection. And the boy has not been protected.”
The portrait raised one brow higher and pointed out reasonably, “You swore, as I recall, to help him protect Lily’s son. Your agreement, then, was actually to help the headmaster.”
“Yes, and how cleverly he phrased that!” Snape snarled. He turned on his heel and stalked across the room. He clenched his fists against the wall and spoke to them, not to the portrait.
“It was to keep her sacrifice from being in vain; you know it as well as anyone, you were watching and listening, weren’t you? Enjoying the show? But I agreed specifically to help him protect the boy, and the boy has not been protected! So I am released.”
He shoved himself off the wall and strode back to the watchful portrait, snapping at the dead man, “Your grandson! The headmaster placed the infant with guardians who neglected and abused him. He must have had watchers on the house; he must have known their lack of care. Moreover, he most probably predicted it-he gave them sole custody, but he retained control of the Potter fortune! Nor did he offer an allowance to defray expenses, even when the Muggles sent the boy out dressed in cast-offs. And then, when he sent me as his emissary to the Dursleys, you know well what my instructions were. A neglected child will frequently form an attachment to the first adult to show concern and interest. The headmaster claimed that he thought first of sending Hagrid, who can’t really be classed as adult; and then when he sent me instead, it was with instructions to alienate the child. It’s clear he wanted the boy to have no adult he might depend on. He cannot possibly have been acting in the child’s interests.”
The portrait tapped its lips reflectively with one long finger and said nothing.
Severus regained control of his breathing, and said ironically “Besides, isn’t there a saying? He who is unfaithful to his first master shall be unfaithful to the second?” He lightly struck his left forearm.
Phineas glanced down at the young man’s gesture and then met the stormy black eyes. “All this over a Mudblood. Though pretty enough and bright enough, I grant you. Well, no accounting for taste. Still, Severus, your contention that the headmaster could have predicted the abuse would seem insufficiently substantiated. You, after all, apparently knew this Muggle, and for ten years assumed her to be an adequate guardian.”
Severus took a hot breath and said, “The girl I knew was a dull, jealous, unimaginative cow. But she loved her sister; her jealousy was for anything that took her away. I had assumed that she transferred those feelings to the nephew, and treated him as Minerva reported she treated her own son. I never thought that she’d be a good guardian, but I thought she’d be … an indulgent one. Instead, it seems she transferred to the boy the … jealousy and spite… she felt for the magical world that stole her sister’s affections.”
“Those with the disease can recognize the symptoms, eh?”
Two spots of color flew in Severus’s cheeks; he otherwise ignored the comment. “Dumbledore knew at least some of it; he put wards on the house to ensure no one can see inside magically, but still any outside observer can see that the child’s neglected at the least. And you can’t credit that he’s had no watchers on the boy! Had he ever expected the Dursleys to be loving guardians, it would have been natural to give them financial control as well. And he took steps to ameliorate none of their mistreatment, when it would have been easy enough to do. I know of only one consideration that would make the headmaster treat a baby in that manner, and that’s the defeat of the Dark Lord.”
Severus took another breath.
“So I need to know how the headmaster thinks the Potter boy is connected to the Dark Lord’s defeat, that allowing the boy’s mistreatment could be a part of his plans. I am sworn to the boy’s protection. Which encompasses the Dark Lord’s defeat, to be sure, but is not limited to that concern.”
The portrait said reflectively, “One thing which may be relevant… Dumbledore truly believes in prophecies. He believes they may be fulfilled; he also believes that he has the cleverness to avert them.”
Severus went white. “That accursed prophecy…. Do you know the full text?”
Phineas shook his head.
Severus said slowly, “But if he believes in prophecies… and if he believed, as the Dark Lord came to, that Potter is or might be the prophesied ‘one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord’… perhaps his intent is to raise the boy as a warrior? Early privation, followed by intense tuition… and securing the boy’s loyalty only to himself…? I had wondered before why his use of me involved only spying on my former compatriots, when I should have been happy, and I should have thought, qualified, to aid in the efforts to find and destroy the remnants of the Dark Lord. But now that I think---it was the Ministry, not the Order, most involved in those efforts. If Dumbledore’s plan were truly that of the mindless masses, to let the child grow up and then send him out to save us all--!”
Phineas interjected, “That may once have been his plan; it may still be part of it. But I saw him after he first examined the baby in detail. Which was after he had talked with you, that night. He was troubled, deeply so. Too troubled even to take comfort from Fawkes. Whatever his previous expectations, something had gone wrong. It was after that examination that he made the arrangements to leave the baby with his mother’s relatives. Before then Dumbledore had been considering guardians within our world.”
Severus’s eyes narrowed. “So well after he knew that the mother’s sacrifice had saved the child… it wasn’t the wards, then, or not just the wards. I need to know what he expected previously, then, and what went wrong. Do you agree, then, Phineas, that I have need of knowledge of some of the Darker means of cheating death?”
“It would seem so, indeed.”
“And does the Black family library contain such information?”
“Naturally.” The portrait preened a little. After a moment’s self-congratulation, it continued, “Indeed, I myself am acquainted in outline with a method nearly guaranteed to appeal to the Dark Lord’s tastes. It requires, of course, that one can conceive of no higher goal than personal immortality, but one gathers Riddle was so deluded.”
“Riddle?” Severus said sharply. “We were speaking of the Dark Lord-you know of his other identity?”
“The Dark Lord was once a Slytherin Head Boy, fifty years or so ago. A Half-blood or even Mudblood, at a guess; the name Riddle, like the name Snape, appears nowhere in Nature’s Nobility. Though the House rumor at the time (probably promulgated by Riddle himself) was that he was an orphaned bastard of the Peverell line. Certainly he was Muggle-raised, which explains his evident lack of breeding.
“Riddle’s choosing to invent a name instead of using his own; his evident desire to distance himself from his birth, were, I thought, useful things to point out to those deluded enough to follow him. But our headmaster didn’t see it that way. But you, boy, have heard this name? I had understood that most of his younger followers were in ignorance of his background.”
Snape smirked slightly. “It has been mentioned. So tell me-in outline-about this, ah, appealing method.”
The portrait snorted and shook its head. “No. It’s been years since I’ve thought of it, and it would be better for you to read the sources; details may be critical. To gain access to my library…. The house and most of the estate was unbreakably entailed upon Sirius. But as Sirius can neither claim it nor make other disposition from Azkaban, by his grandfather’s final will, after Sirius’s death the estate devolves upon whichever of the girl-cousin’s sons is willing to revive the Black name. There are a few distant contenders, but at this time Draco Malfoy is heir-presumptive. With his consent and escort, you could enter the house. And even remove items.”
Severus smiled slowly. “My birthday gift to the boy this year was brewing lessons, to give him an advantage when he starts school next month. We still have several scheduled. He might not be averse to a side trip. Though I should that prefer his parents not discover my new interest.”
“Lucius Malfoy? No, I imagine one might well prefer that he not discover your direction of research. Nor have I drawn the Malfoys’ attention to the fact that Draco might have right of entry even while my great-great-grandson remains alive.”
Severus stared at the portrait. “Then why are you so drawing mine? Out of fellow-feeling for my sentimental attachment to a dead Mudblood?”
The portrait drew itself up. “When I died my family was numerous and deservedly respected. As you pointed out, Riddle sent three of great-great-grandsons to death, others of my blood to Azkaban and St. Mungo’s. Riddle’s revival would endanger my last descendents and any hope of reviving the family name. I want him crushed.
“And the headmaster-when he acts as headmaster, I must extend to him my aid. But he frequently chooses to ignore his duty to the school to concentrate on other matters. He has, for instance with yourself and that seeress, made hiring decisions based on the needs of his Order of the Phoenix rather than the good of the school. You will forgive my plain speaking, Severus, but you were neither the only choice for Potions Master, nor the best choice for Head of House. And not just for your Blood status.”
The living man went a little pale. He said, “That interview with the headmaster took place in a taproom, so you were not privy to it. I will say only that I told him so at the time.”
The portrait raised its brows at the young man. “That mitigates your offense in accepting a responsibility to which you knew you were ill-suited. But you know well that our House could have been better served.”
The young man raised his chin a little. The portrait said testily, “Yes, well, it also could have been better served than by Slughorn, we both agree on that! I hired Horace merely as Potions Master, at which he was good, if kept up to the mark. It was Dippet who installed him as Head of Slytherin, and everyone knows that Dippet was simply incompetent. You, boy, were, and are, at least more conscientious than Horace. But we both know that the headmaster never chose you for that reason. The good of his students should have been his primary concern, which he ignored in favor of other concerns, not his principle responsibility.
“Dumbledore refused to become head of Magical Law Enforcement, he refused to become Minister of Magic, yet he hid information from those whose duty and responsibility it was to fight Riddle. Instead he founded a secret group which looked only to him for leadership.
“As to his further failings as a leader-he’s in love with his own intelligence. Like Riddle, in fact; they both of them were somewhat spoiled for lack of competition as boys. He makes plans assuming he’s out-thought his enemies; he hides information from others and then expects them to obey him on the grounds that he knows best. He never even told the Potters that it was the child who was the primary target, which might have altered their response from bravado to protectiveness.”
The young man stiffened further and went dead white; the portrait observed this with some satisfaction.
Phineas added a trifle sententiously, “And one must always consider contingencies, and recovery plans in case of failure. The headmaster seldom does, for all his vaunted brilliance.
“I want Riddle crushed before he can be revived. I don’t trust the headmaster to oblige me. So if I see one of his lapdogs finally thinking for itself, and thinking intelligently, well, I think a different approach to the riddle might well prove beneficial. If I can help to provide it, I will.”
*
A/N: I’m following Jodel’s interpretation of the Black family tree.
http://www.redhen-publications.com/BlackHouse.html
If we do accept Jodel’s reading, then of Phineas’s descendents who were children or young adults when Riddle started his formal “rise” ca. 1971, twenty years later we have, because of Riddle: dead, Regulus Black, James Potter, and (supposedly) Barty Crouch Jr.; in Azkaban, Sirius Black and Bellatrix Lestrange, tortured into insanity, Frank Longbottom.; various scions blasted off the tree. Alive and in good standing, Narcissa Black Malfoy and her (non-Black) son.
Should Voldemort rise again, Harry and Neville would be in danger as possible prophecy children, Narcissa and Draco because of Lucius being a DE. Of the disowned scions, Tonks and all the Weasleys would be endangered as Dumbledore supporters. Of all Phineas’s descendents, the only ones who might be safely out of the front lines are whatever Burke scions there might be (and, of course, if Isla Hitchens or the disowned Phineas or Marius left any descendents-but if they did, presumably they might well, like the Weasleys, be Dumbledore supporters).
Phineas has about at much reason to want Riddle defeated as anyone can who cares about the shredded remnants of his family, however Riddles’ stated prejudices might appeal to Phineas’s stated prejudices.
And we do see in canon that Phineas is not inclined to be deferential towards Albus.
A: No, no, you had the correct answer: nothing at all. Don’t be silly!
Chapter Summary: Severus asks a Pureblood supremacist (deceased) to help protect a Half-Blood.
Chapter One: The Heads of Slytherin
Severus Snape had determined long since that, in respect of his proposed immortality, the Dark Lord had been entirely uninterested in encouraging the sincerest form of flattery. Lucius had substantiated that certain volumes had disappeared from his father’s library after the Dark Lord’s early visits. The booksellers in Knockturn Alley had been regularly frequented by Death Eaters-mostly armed with money; the Dark Lord didn’t want to sow unnecessary ill-will there. But tomes acquired by the Dark Lord never returned to general circulation. Severus suspected that most of the brightest among the Death Eaters had eventually made the same calculation he had. There was a reason, after all, why fanatic Bellatrix and mad little Barty had been the only followers of the Dark Lord to make any concerted effort to get him back.
Dumbledore had effected a similar purge at Hogwarts, if from different motives. Slughorn had implicitly admitted as much when his welcome gift to his successor had been a curious book on the use of human ingredients in potions. Or rather, Sluggy’s muttered comment, “It’s no longer available even in the Restricted Section,” had told Severus everything he had needed to know.
So if Severus, a decade behind the chase, were to try to determine what Dumbledore thought the Dark Lord might have been (or still be) attempting-and how, therefore, Dumbledore might be proposing to stop him…. Severus needed access to the private library of an old pureblood family, well steeped in the Dark Arts, whose family head, at least, had never fallen prey to the Dark Lord’s allure.
Such as the Blacks. Who had never done themselves the honor of entertaining the Dark Lord, whose wards had never fallen to the Death Eaters, though both sons had, eventually, joined. And hadn’t there been a rumor that the Dark Lord had been angry with Regulus for some failure to bring him something? The house had been deserted since the mother’s death and in legal limbo since the death of the head of the Black family earlier in the year….
However, the most cursory of inspections revealed that the Black family wards were perfectly intact. Severus wasn’t fool enough to attempt them. He needed inside help.
As it happened, there was a Black, a former head of the family, with whom Severus had had an admittedly uneasy alliance of over ten years’ standing. Phineas Nigellus had been Head of Slytherin for two decades before he became Master of the school as a whole, and he still took a proprietary interest in his former House.
So during Severus’s interview with Dumbledore, a few times when he was certain that his right hand was well hidden from the headmaster, his fingers moved in a gesture that should be meaningless save to Slytherins.
Severus swept out of the headmaster’s office after the unsatisfactory conclusion of his interview with Dumbledore. It was natural enough that he soothe himself by storming down to his dungeon and reviewing his potions stores, despite the lateness of the hour. The job needed to be done within the next several weeks, and he had always reserved the bi-yearly task for when he needed -calming. No break in pattern here.
And it was only a slight break in pattern when a sly voice came from the direction of Ibn-Sina, the sole portrait to grace the Potions classroom walls. The supercilious voice did not speak in Arabic.
The youngest Head of House in Hogwarts history had not infrequently been the beneficiary of unsolicited advice from former holders of his post.
Severus let out his breath. “Phineas Nigellus. Come to see how the Half-blood is mucking up your House?”
He cast several wards. The current headmaster could override them, but only if he thought it worth making something of an effort. And even then, not unnoticed, Severus thought. He was almost sure.
The portrait waited politely until he had finished, then said, “Come in answer to an urgent appeal, rather. Well, Head of Slytherin? Is your need related to our House?”
Severus shrugged. “Not immediately, Phineas, though it certainly relates indirectly, as most matters do. It relates directly to the well-being of one of your descendents, a student entering next month. He might sort Slytherin, or not. And my business relates to our House’s reputation. I request information on your family’s library at Grimmauld Place, on whether it might contain tomes useful to some private research I’m conducting, and if so, on how I might gain access to them.”
The former headmaster raised his brows. “Research, Severus, so private that you prefer to keep it secret from your superior?”
“Exactly so. I have noticed that you, ah, are less inclined to subordinate yourself to the current headmaster than some of the other portraits.”
The portrait snorted. “I hired the man originally. I respect him, and I must obey him in his office, but I hardly revere him blindly. But you, boy-I thought you did.”
Severus looked away and started pacing. “Possibly so. But I have a matter which I must investigate without involving him at this time.”
“One of my descendents,” the portrait mused. “The one in question earlier, I take it. A Half-Blood, the son of a blood traitor… not eligible to revive my name.”
The living man paused in his pacing and said softly, “Still your child’s child. And you have so few left, have you not? A few old and dying ones; the two in Azkaban; Narcissa and her son; insane Frank and his boy; a few Burkes; the disowned ones and their children; and the one last Half-Blood. And all of your scions but the Burkes have been harmed or threatened by one cause, one wizard, which you know I work against. My request relates also to that.”
The portrait said harshly, “My foremost duty here is to Hogwarts as a whole. That supersedes my duty to either House or family. I have so sworn.”
“I swear that to the best of my knowledge, my request does not contravene that obligation.”
The portrait relaxed slightly. “What is it, then, that you want, Severus?”
Severus smiled sourly at the portrait and folded his arms. He tilted his chin challengingly. “Information not usually vouchsafed to upstarts such as myself. Information never vouchsafed to those mistrusted. It seems that certain, ah, sensitive materials have been removed from Hogwarts’ libraries by our esteemed headmaster, and from general circulation in Britain by the Dark Lord. I don’t fancy a wild-goose chase all over the Continent. Possibly the head of the Black family might recall his family library, to tell me whether the information I require exists among their holdings?”
The portrait folded its arms in turn. “What information, boy?”
“I need to know how those ambitious for personal immortality, and devoid of, ah, moral considerations, might hope to achieve it.”
Black had caused his formal Hogwarts portrait to have been taken when he was still a man in his late prime, perhaps sixty or so; in full vigor, certainly, though the portrait had been infused subsequently by the knowledge Black had had at his death. Not all that much later, though Severus couldn’t be bothered to recall how much just now. He was concentrating on keeping the furious portrait from escaping.
A living will had an advantage over the dead, whether portrait or ghost. Provided the living body and will were strong enough.
If Severus’s body and will were not strong enough, he’d had no right, ever. to have accepted the post of Head of House. Part of the job description was to subdue the Hogwarts dead when necessary.
Black had every right to try him, under the circumstances
*
After giving Black time to recover his self-possession, Severus spoke again. “Need I swear, Phineas, that my interest in this matter is not personal?”
“You need.”
Severus thought for a moment. Many of his … debriefings with Dumbledore had taken place in the headmaster’s office, as the most heavily-warded place readily available. There was, therefore, almost nothing that this portrait did not know about Severus’s past or his loyalties. And while Phineas was honor-bound to aid the current headmaster in matters related to Hogwarts security and policy, this subject was, strictly speaking, outside the bounds of the portraits’ obedience to Hogwarts.
Severus raised his wand and steeled himself to speak impassively. “I have found reason to believe that the specifics of how the Dark Lord intended to evade death are relevant to the Potter boy’s survival and well-being. I swear by his mother’s grave and my wand that my only interest in this knowledge is to protect her son.” Green sparks shot from his wand.
The portrait raised its eyebrows blandly and challenged him. “For ten years, you’ve been content to let that be the headmaster’s concern. What has changed?”
Severus scowled and dipped his head, his hair falling over his face. “For ten years, I had trusted that the headmaster and I were at one in desiring the boy’s protection.”
He looked up at the portrait bleakly. “A natural enough mistake on my part, I contend, considering that it was the headmaster who swore me to that goal. I was therefore content, for those years, to let all matters of strategy rest in his hands and to obey him. But now… I no longer believe that the boy’s welfare was ever his first priority.”
Severus swallowed, his eyes blazing. “I am sworn to the boy’s protection. And the boy has not been protected.”
The portrait raised one brow higher and pointed out reasonably, “You swore, as I recall, to help him protect Lily’s son. Your agreement, then, was actually to help the headmaster.”
“Yes, and how cleverly he phrased that!” Snape snarled. He turned on his heel and stalked across the room. He clenched his fists against the wall and spoke to them, not to the portrait.
“It was to keep her sacrifice from being in vain; you know it as well as anyone, you were watching and listening, weren’t you? Enjoying the show? But I agreed specifically to help him protect the boy, and the boy has not been protected! So I am released.”
He shoved himself off the wall and strode back to the watchful portrait, snapping at the dead man, “Your grandson! The headmaster placed the infant with guardians who neglected and abused him. He must have had watchers on the house; he must have known their lack of care. Moreover, he most probably predicted it-he gave them sole custody, but he retained control of the Potter fortune! Nor did he offer an allowance to defray expenses, even when the Muggles sent the boy out dressed in cast-offs. And then, when he sent me as his emissary to the Dursleys, you know well what my instructions were. A neglected child will frequently form an attachment to the first adult to show concern and interest. The headmaster claimed that he thought first of sending Hagrid, who can’t really be classed as adult; and then when he sent me instead, it was with instructions to alienate the child. It’s clear he wanted the boy to have no adult he might depend on. He cannot possibly have been acting in the child’s interests.”
The portrait tapped its lips reflectively with one long finger and said nothing.
Severus regained control of his breathing, and said ironically “Besides, isn’t there a saying? He who is unfaithful to his first master shall be unfaithful to the second?” He lightly struck his left forearm.
Phineas glanced down at the young man’s gesture and then met the stormy black eyes. “All this over a Mudblood. Though pretty enough and bright enough, I grant you. Well, no accounting for taste. Still, Severus, your contention that the headmaster could have predicted the abuse would seem insufficiently substantiated. You, after all, apparently knew this Muggle, and for ten years assumed her to be an adequate guardian.”
Severus took a hot breath and said, “The girl I knew was a dull, jealous, unimaginative cow. But she loved her sister; her jealousy was for anything that took her away. I had assumed that she transferred those feelings to the nephew, and treated him as Minerva reported she treated her own son. I never thought that she’d be a good guardian, but I thought she’d be … an indulgent one. Instead, it seems she transferred to the boy the … jealousy and spite… she felt for the magical world that stole her sister’s affections.”
“Those with the disease can recognize the symptoms, eh?”
Two spots of color flew in Severus’s cheeks; he otherwise ignored the comment. “Dumbledore knew at least some of it; he put wards on the house to ensure no one can see inside magically, but still any outside observer can see that the child’s neglected at the least. And you can’t credit that he’s had no watchers on the boy! Had he ever expected the Dursleys to be loving guardians, it would have been natural to give them financial control as well. And he took steps to ameliorate none of their mistreatment, when it would have been easy enough to do. I know of only one consideration that would make the headmaster treat a baby in that manner, and that’s the defeat of the Dark Lord.”
Severus took another breath.
“So I need to know how the headmaster thinks the Potter boy is connected to the Dark Lord’s defeat, that allowing the boy’s mistreatment could be a part of his plans. I am sworn to the boy’s protection. Which encompasses the Dark Lord’s defeat, to be sure, but is not limited to that concern.”
The portrait said reflectively, “One thing which may be relevant… Dumbledore truly believes in prophecies. He believes they may be fulfilled; he also believes that he has the cleverness to avert them.”
Severus went white. “That accursed prophecy…. Do you know the full text?”
Phineas shook his head.
Severus said slowly, “But if he believes in prophecies… and if he believed, as the Dark Lord came to, that Potter is or might be the prophesied ‘one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord’… perhaps his intent is to raise the boy as a warrior? Early privation, followed by intense tuition… and securing the boy’s loyalty only to himself…? I had wondered before why his use of me involved only spying on my former compatriots, when I should have been happy, and I should have thought, qualified, to aid in the efforts to find and destroy the remnants of the Dark Lord. But now that I think---it was the Ministry, not the Order, most involved in those efforts. If Dumbledore’s plan were truly that of the mindless masses, to let the child grow up and then send him out to save us all--!”
Phineas interjected, “That may once have been his plan; it may still be part of it. But I saw him after he first examined the baby in detail. Which was after he had talked with you, that night. He was troubled, deeply so. Too troubled even to take comfort from Fawkes. Whatever his previous expectations, something had gone wrong. It was after that examination that he made the arrangements to leave the baby with his mother’s relatives. Before then Dumbledore had been considering guardians within our world.”
Severus’s eyes narrowed. “So well after he knew that the mother’s sacrifice had saved the child… it wasn’t the wards, then, or not just the wards. I need to know what he expected previously, then, and what went wrong. Do you agree, then, Phineas, that I have need of knowledge of some of the Darker means of cheating death?”
“It would seem so, indeed.”
“And does the Black family library contain such information?”
“Naturally.” The portrait preened a little. After a moment’s self-congratulation, it continued, “Indeed, I myself am acquainted in outline with a method nearly guaranteed to appeal to the Dark Lord’s tastes. It requires, of course, that one can conceive of no higher goal than personal immortality, but one gathers Riddle was so deluded.”
“Riddle?” Severus said sharply. “We were speaking of the Dark Lord-you know of his other identity?”
“The Dark Lord was once a Slytherin Head Boy, fifty years or so ago. A Half-blood or even Mudblood, at a guess; the name Riddle, like the name Snape, appears nowhere in Nature’s Nobility. Though the House rumor at the time (probably promulgated by Riddle himself) was that he was an orphaned bastard of the Peverell line. Certainly he was Muggle-raised, which explains his evident lack of breeding.
“Riddle’s choosing to invent a name instead of using his own; his evident desire to distance himself from his birth, were, I thought, useful things to point out to those deluded enough to follow him. But our headmaster didn’t see it that way. But you, boy, have heard this name? I had understood that most of his younger followers were in ignorance of his background.”
Snape smirked slightly. “It has been mentioned. So tell me-in outline-about this, ah, appealing method.”
The portrait snorted and shook its head. “No. It’s been years since I’ve thought of it, and it would be better for you to read the sources; details may be critical. To gain access to my library…. The house and most of the estate was unbreakably entailed upon Sirius. But as Sirius can neither claim it nor make other disposition from Azkaban, by his grandfather’s final will, after Sirius’s death the estate devolves upon whichever of the girl-cousin’s sons is willing to revive the Black name. There are a few distant contenders, but at this time Draco Malfoy is heir-presumptive. With his consent and escort, you could enter the house. And even remove items.”
Severus smiled slowly. “My birthday gift to the boy this year was brewing lessons, to give him an advantage when he starts school next month. We still have several scheduled. He might not be averse to a side trip. Though I should that prefer his parents not discover my new interest.”
“Lucius Malfoy? No, I imagine one might well prefer that he not discover your direction of research. Nor have I drawn the Malfoys’ attention to the fact that Draco might have right of entry even while my great-great-grandson remains alive.”
Severus stared at the portrait. “Then why are you so drawing mine? Out of fellow-feeling for my sentimental attachment to a dead Mudblood?”
The portrait drew itself up. “When I died my family was numerous and deservedly respected. As you pointed out, Riddle sent three of great-great-grandsons to death, others of my blood to Azkaban and St. Mungo’s. Riddle’s revival would endanger my last descendents and any hope of reviving the family name. I want him crushed.
“And the headmaster-when he acts as headmaster, I must extend to him my aid. But he frequently chooses to ignore his duty to the school to concentrate on other matters. He has, for instance with yourself and that seeress, made hiring decisions based on the needs of his Order of the Phoenix rather than the good of the school. You will forgive my plain speaking, Severus, but you were neither the only choice for Potions Master, nor the best choice for Head of House. And not just for your Blood status.”
The living man went a little pale. He said, “That interview with the headmaster took place in a taproom, so you were not privy to it. I will say only that I told him so at the time.”
The portrait raised its brows at the young man. “That mitigates your offense in accepting a responsibility to which you knew you were ill-suited. But you know well that our House could have been better served.”
The young man raised his chin a little. The portrait said testily, “Yes, well, it also could have been better served than by Slughorn, we both agree on that! I hired Horace merely as Potions Master, at which he was good, if kept up to the mark. It was Dippet who installed him as Head of Slytherin, and everyone knows that Dippet was simply incompetent. You, boy, were, and are, at least more conscientious than Horace. But we both know that the headmaster never chose you for that reason. The good of his students should have been his primary concern, which he ignored in favor of other concerns, not his principle responsibility.
“Dumbledore refused to become head of Magical Law Enforcement, he refused to become Minister of Magic, yet he hid information from those whose duty and responsibility it was to fight Riddle. Instead he founded a secret group which looked only to him for leadership.
“As to his further failings as a leader-he’s in love with his own intelligence. Like Riddle, in fact; they both of them were somewhat spoiled for lack of competition as boys. He makes plans assuming he’s out-thought his enemies; he hides information from others and then expects them to obey him on the grounds that he knows best. He never even told the Potters that it was the child who was the primary target, which might have altered their response from bravado to protectiveness.”
The young man stiffened further and went dead white; the portrait observed this with some satisfaction.
Phineas added a trifle sententiously, “And one must always consider contingencies, and recovery plans in case of failure. The headmaster seldom does, for all his vaunted brilliance.
“I want Riddle crushed before he can be revived. I don’t trust the headmaster to oblige me. So if I see one of his lapdogs finally thinking for itself, and thinking intelligently, well, I think a different approach to the riddle might well prove beneficial. If I can help to provide it, I will.”
*
A/N: I’m following Jodel’s interpretation of the Black family tree.
http://www.redhen-publications.com/BlackHouse.html
If we do accept Jodel’s reading, then of Phineas’s descendents who were children or young adults when Riddle started his formal “rise” ca. 1971, twenty years later we have, because of Riddle: dead, Regulus Black, James Potter, and (supposedly) Barty Crouch Jr.; in Azkaban, Sirius Black and Bellatrix Lestrange, tortured into insanity, Frank Longbottom.; various scions blasted off the tree. Alive and in good standing, Narcissa Black Malfoy and her (non-Black) son.
Should Voldemort rise again, Harry and Neville would be in danger as possible prophecy children, Narcissa and Draco because of Lucius being a DE. Of the disowned scions, Tonks and all the Weasleys would be endangered as Dumbledore supporters. Of all Phineas’s descendents, the only ones who might be safely out of the front lines are whatever Burke scions there might be (and, of course, if Isla Hitchens or the disowned Phineas or Marius left any descendents-but if they did, presumably they might well, like the Weasleys, be Dumbledore supporters).
Phineas has about at much reason to want Riddle defeated as anyone can who cares about the shredded remnants of his family, however Riddles’ stated prejudices might appeal to Phineas’s stated prejudices.
And we do see in canon that Phineas is not inclined to be deferential towards Albus.