Fire in The Dungeon

Ch 21 White. Monster. Bermuda.

The air in the Headmaster's office was thick with the scent of old parchment and flickering candlelight, casting dancing shadows on the ancient stone walls. Severus Snape sat in a high-backed chair, his eyes fixed on Albus Dumbledore, who stood by the window, gazing out into the night. Each man held a glass of firewhiskey, the amber liquid glowing in the dim light.

"Well? What sort of creature is she?" Snape asked, his voice edged with urgency.

Dumbledore scoffed softly, turning to eye Snape over his half-moon spectacles. "I empathize with your shock, but mind your words, Severus. Andromeda is not a 'what'—she is a 'who,' and that question is rather complex and not something even I can fully answer. She is certainly not human, Severus, but there is no record of any being like her. She is not the last of her kind—she is the one and only, with no memory of how she came to find herself on the forest floor. Immortal in the truest sense, she is virtually indestructible. But time, for her, does not just stand still. It simply moves differently, she said that a millennium has aged her the equivalent of about five years. That aside, her connection to magic and her ability to manipulate frequencies down to the atomic level, makes her power both limitless and unfathomable."

Snape's brow furrowed, his thoughts swirling as he listened. Dumbledore continued, "You need to understand, she doesn't just transfigure the appearance of objects, Severus—she changes their very essence. As you witnessed yesterday, she can use her voice to amplify her control over matter, turning a legion of Dementors into harmless owls and absorb their magic. And that display barely scratches the surface of her capabilities."

The weight of Dumbledore's words hung heavy in the air as he took a sip of his firewhiskey. The two men sat in silence for a moment, the gravity of their new reality settling in.

"Can she not kill the Dark Lord then? Would it not be child's play for her?" Snape asking the most obvious question.

"Indeed she can, but she will not. I won't overwhelm you with details, but I asked her the same question when Tom rose to power years ago and again after Harry's encounter with Tom in his first year. Andromeda explained that revealing herself to the world would have catastrophic consequences. Understandably so, can you imagine, Severus, what would happen if both the Muggle and magical worlds discovered her existence? The world would tear itself apart trying to own her or destroy her. She was very adamant about not interfering with the course of humanity, but after years of appealing to her good nature, she finally agreed to help and looked towards the future, one where Harry defeats Tom.

She is not a seer who deals in solely the possible end result, but rather taps into a frequency of endless possibilities, like a ripples over a pond, determining the sequence of events and minute details that must occur for the desired future. I barely managed to convinced her to join our staff and watch over the boy to make sure all happens as she foresaw it.

However, she gave me two conditions; one was that she could not directly involve herself in Harry's life, for she cannot see her own fate nor that of those who are closest to her. Thus her position as an instructor of a course he would never take was created."
Dumbledore said as he began to stroke his white beard with his long bony fingers.

"What of the second condition?" Snape asked hesitantly.

His head felt as though it was splitting into two pieces, the back of his eyes hurting from the pain of overwhelming information. He took a swig of his drink, feeling the fiery liquid warm his throat.

"The second condition binds me to secrecy, ensuring that the truth of her existence remain in the furthest confines of my mind." responded Dumbledore.

Snape considered this for a moment, then asked, "How do you know you can trust her?"