ꜱᴇʀᴘᴇɴᴛɪɴᴇ ꜱᴇʀɪᴇꜱ | ᴛᴏᴍɪᴏɴᴇ

Whispers from the Past, ch. 17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

The sun was high in the sky and well on its way down by the time Snape returned to the inn. He was exhausted having to continuously reapply his glimmer spell in order to stay inconspicuous. He had found the perfect "money opportunity" he had been searching for, and he had to Apparate all over the Wizarding world to confirm the rumors were true. He glanced down at the piece of parchment in his hand which contained all the information he needed to know. As he read, only one thought came to mind: She is going to despise me for this. That is, more than she already does.

When he walked into the inn, he noticed the innkeeper was not standing in his usual location behind the bar counter. Perhaps he was attending to new customers, and Snape felt a twinge of worry in his stomach for Harmony. When he reached the top of the stairs, he saw the innkeeper just shutting their room door behind him with a small tray in hand. When the innkeeper saw Snape, he growled.

"That girl is a mess," he sneered up at him as he walked by. "You ought to be ashamed of yourself." Without another word the innkeeper stalked off down the stairs.

When Snape walked into their room he saw Harmony sitting on the bed with her back to him. On the nightstand was a steaming cup of tea untouched. She didn't turn around when he closed the door.

"I found exactly what we needed to earn the money, though you will not like it," Snape said thinking that would get her attention. It didn't. "I ran into the Death Eater Mag once or twice, I feel that won't be the last either."

She said nothing.

Snape narrowed his eyes. "I told you to think about how Voldemort could be sending you the dreams. Have you thought of anything?"

He saw her head bob as she nodded. Sun poured from the window onto her hair, setting it aflame.

"You have?" Snape said in a surprised tone. "Well, what's with this silence? Come now, tell me." He took a couple steps toward her and his foot stumbled on an object on the floor. He looked down and saw Harmony's horcrux book; a couple of the pages were wrinkled as though it was carelessly set aside. He bent over and picked it up. He looked at the book, then slowly up at Harmony.

In a hushed tone he asked, "What has happened?"

Thoughts and memories were racing through her mind, stumbling over each other. She still couldn't believe it. She was a…she could hardly even think about it. This moment was exactly like when Voldemort told her about the meaning of her Serpentine charm, except now was ten times more horrifying. With the Serpentine charm she was still her own person, but with this she didn't know who she was. She didn't know what was hers anymore. She felt a sense of loneliness, but tried to keep in perspective she wasn't the only one; Harry, too, had once held a piece of Voldemort's soul. But despite the fact she wasn't the only one, it still changed everything.

She was only half aware Snape was standing behind her, but it was as though she could feel another presence in the room: Voldemort's. His soul—a part of his being and existence—was inside her, mingled and intertwined with her own soul. It occurred to her she was never alone; even when she fled around the country from forest to forest, inn to inn, she was never alone. When she made physical contact with Harry, it was not she who felt the hunger to kill her friend, it was Voldemort within her.

Harmony flinched when Snape spoke, dragging her away from her thoughts.

Snape's voice was low and threatening when he spoke. "You tell me this instant what is going on."

Harmony sighed. She hadn't cried yet. She didn't remember crying even when Voldemort told her she was his heir, but she felt close.

"Page two hundred and thirty-seven," Harmony said, looking over her shoulder at him and waving a hand to the book he held.