The Wizard's Guide to Timelords and Other Demons Book 1: The Forgotten War

The Magic Secret

 "Doctor, does it or does it not describe the location of the Eye of Chaos?" Professor Snape asked in a raised voice which betrayed his growing frustration.

"Well, it's not quite that simple," the Doctor replied. He was finding it increasingly difficult to sustain an attitude of politeness towards the surly, greasy-haired wizard, "This manuscript is written in Old High Gallifreyan, an ancient dialog used by the Time Lords a long ago. Add to that many centuries of being corrupted by your own language and..."

"Just say it, Doctor!" Snape interrupted curtly as he walked over and stood next to where the Doctor was seated. He leaned over and pushed his face within inches of the Doctor's own face. His next words were spoken slowly, mockingly:

"I...don't... know!"

The Doctor looked up at Snape who glared back menacingly for an instant before spinning himself about. "We don't have time for this!" He snapped, and then stomped back to the corner where he had been standing before.

"Hang on there, why don't you just chill out a little and cut the Doctor some slack," Elise said in a voice that was at once both serious and very charming, "He's obviously doing the best he can."

Everyone in the room had noticed Professor Snape was becoming more agitated with each passing minute. He had told Dumbledore earlier that the stunning spell he had used against Professor Umbridge while in her office had been particularly draining. Maybe that had been part of it, but Dumbledore sensed there was something more. Perhaps it was what the Beast had said to him—about Lily?

Severus Snape had been enamored with Lily Evans ever since their childhood together, and the infatuation had not diminished even after she had married James Potter. Severus had been inconsolable the night of her murder at the hands of Lord Voldemort. It had broken him. But it also forever turned him against the Dark Lord, something he had successfully kept hidden from Voldemort all these years.

She was the only woman you ever loved, and you let her die! The Beast had told him.

Certainly, there were still tender feelings that remained, but he had kept them sealed-up securely in his heart. Still, the Beast had somehow torn those feelings from his soul and twisted them into something it could use to torment him. Dumbledore truly felt for the poor man.

Snape had been right about one thing, though: they were running out of time. Despite having downplayed the other teacher's concerns about the gathering giants in the earlier meeting, Professor Dumbledore was beginning to sense that something malevolent was at the heart of it all. The Beast perhaps? He urgently felt that someone needed to go out into the forest and investigate things as soon as possible.

But first, he had assembled everyone here for a very specific, very important reason; and it was time to start pushing things more hastily in that direction. The time had come for Dumbledore to reveal to them the great secret—an earth-shattering truth that would likely change everyone in the room forever.

"Thank you for trying, Doctor," Dumbledore said warmly, "I realize that translating the book may take some time. So, for now, I'd like to return to a discussion of something you told us about earlier."

The Doctor was not ready to move on from the intrigue of the mystifying book, and neither were Professors Lupin and McGonagall.

"But Professor Dumbledore," McGonagall interposed. "We still have many questions. Where did that book come from? Who wrote it?"

"And how did it come into your hands?" Professor Lupin added in earnest.

I promise you that, in time, all your questions will be answered, and everything will become clear to you," Dumbledore assured them while his hands gestured for patience. Then he turned back to the Doctor who was trying hard to take his eyes off the book, which was currently open to the page containing the drawing of the jewel-capped staff.