And Then There Were Three

Chapter 27

AN: I'm still here. Things are getting better and I really just wanted to write. Hopefully this is the start of me being fully back, but I don't make promises anymore lol. This is a short chapter, but I hope you enjoy it, and thanks to everyone who has stuck around!

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The compartment was smaller than Harry expected, tucked behind a loose panel of cedar that smelled of Remus's old cologne and ancient parchment. When Harry's fingers brushed against a heavy, cold object wrapped in dark silk, he pulled it out with a frown.

It was a silver-stoppered crystal vial, but the liquid inside wasn't a potion. It looked like trapped moonlight, swirling with a faint, iridescent violet smoke.

"Find anything good?" Draco asked, hovering in the doorway of Remus's old room, looking half-curious and half-envious.

"I think so," Harry murmured, holding up the vial to show Draco.

Draco moved closer. "What is it?" he asked.

Harry shrugged. "No idea. Let's go ask."

Draco pointed back to the compartment. "There's something else in there."

Harry reached back into the compartment. This time, his fingers brushed something thin and dry. He pulled out two identical, weathered slips of parchment. "Random pieces of parchment?"

They found the adults in the parlor. Severus was seated in a high-backed armchair, a book on advanced Arithmancy balanced on his knee, while Remus was nursing a cup of tea by the fire. The atmosphere was peaceful—the kind of peace Harry still occasionally waited for someone to break.

Harry walked right up to the center of the rug. Draco stood behind him, holding the blank pieces of parchment. "I found the compartment, Uncle Remus."

Remus beamed, his scarred face lighting up. "And? Did you find any treasure?"

"Not sure," Harry said. He reached into his pocket and held out the silk-wrapped vial.

The room went deathly silent.

Severus's book didn't just close; it hit the floor with a heavy thud. He stood up slowly, his dark eyes narrowing to slits as they fixed on the shimmering violet liquid. Beside him, Remus suddenly found his tea very interesting, his ears turning a telltale shade of pink.

Severus turned his head with predatory slowness toward Remus. "You," he said, his voice a low, dangerous silk.

"Severus, now, let's be reasonable—" Remus started, holding up a hand.

"Reasonable?" Severus stepped toward him. "That is the Concentrated Essence of Lethe. I spent three months brewing that in our seventh year for my Mastery entrance. When it vanished from my lab, you swore—on your life, Remus—that a Niffler must have gotten into the dungeons!"

"In my defense," Remus squeaked, retreating slightly behind his armchair, "you were going to use it to wipe the memory of our 'Gillyweed-in-the-Punch' prank from Filch's mind. It was a historical masterpiece! I couldn't let you destroy the evidence."

"I knew you'd taken it!" Severus barked, though the familiar sneer was missing, replaced by a look of indignant triumph. "Thirty years! I have spent thirty years wondering if I'd simply misplaced the crowning achievement of my youth!"

"You didn't misplace it," Harry interjected, grinning as he handed the vial to a stunned Severus. "Remus just... archived it. In the closet."

Severus looked down at the vial in his hand, his expression softening into something Harry couldn't quite name—a mix of nostalgia and the lingering warmth of a sibling rivalry that had never truly died.