Saving Ravenclaw (Severus x Rowena)

Epilogue

Severus stopped spinning and had to react quickly to avoid falling to the ground, because of his dizziness. He looked around disoriented, recognizing Dumbledore's office and the headmaster himself, who looked at him expectantly.

"Well? How did everything go?" Dumbledore asked as soon as Severus could stand up safely.

"Rowena is in Hosmeade. Everything went well," Severus responded. Dumbledore breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed.

"And how are you? Sit down, please," he offered, pointing to a chair. Severus remembered how exhausted he was but held his composure as he sat down. "You have acted very quickly."

"Quickly?" he asked confused. "How long have I been in the past?"

"Just a few minutes," Dumbledore replied. Severus remembered with irony that the same thing had happened to Siveon; he had spent more time in the past than it passed in the present. "What happened?" Dumbledore asked, softly.

Severus was really exhausted, after his duel against Siveon and the entire night riding to reach Hosmeade, but he made an effort and told the headmaster everything that had happened, omitting the more personal aspects of his journey, but detailing everything else.

Dumbledore listened carefully to the story, becoming interested in the true identity of Siveon, whom he did not know, and in the founders.

"Then, Voldemort was wrong..." he commented, when Severus finished speaking.

"He wasn't wrong, he wanted to kill Rowena's father so she wouldn't be born," Severus corrected him.

"A brilliant idea, but ultimately wrong," Dumbledore agreed. "Because the past cannot be altered... although we didn't know that."

"Rowena knew it, she was the one who convinced me that history ends up being the way it is, even though we want to change it," Severus remembered, although he remained silent when he realized that he had said too much for his liking. Tiredness was playing tricks on him. Dumbledore looked at him shrewdly but said nothing. "What I now believe..." Severus continued, after organizing his thoughts, "is that it would not have been necessary for me to travel to the past."

"Why's that?"

"Richardus Ravenclaw told us that he had been following Siveon's trail, and that he arrived at the tower where Rowena was imprisoned a day after I got her out of there," he explained. "If I hadn't traveled back in time, he would have rescued her, and they wouldn't have needed my help."

"It's a good observation, but maybe Rowena wouldn't have survived another day, or he wouldn't have been able to get past the guards, or it even occurs to me that his magic wouldn't have been able to do anything against Siveon's," Dumbledore crossed his hands in front of him, looking at the teacher carefully. Severus nodded but was still thoughtful.

"It's quite a coincidence that I was precisely the one who traveled to the past," he finally said, with a frown. "I mean... I knew Siveon when he was young, I taught him how to fight, I knew what his weakness was."

"Life is full of coincidences," Dumbledore agreed, with a strange smile. If Severus hadn't been so tired, he would have realized that the headmaster was hiding something from him, but at that moment all he wanted was to sleep.

It was dawn, and the sun's rays came through the windows of the circular office, making the objects that the headmaster displayed on the tables shine.

"I think I'm going to let you rest," said Dumbledore, realizing that Severus was going to fall asleep at any moment. "You don't need to work today."

"Thank you," Severus murmured, getting up to leave the office.

Dumbledore watched him close the door and shook his head, regretting not telling him everything.