Struggling Through New Beginnings

Chapter 4

“I will go first and get this over with,” Severus Snape rasped as he moved forward, his normally hawkish features made even more prominent by his weight loss. His robes swirled around him for a moment and then settled in a ‘bat closing its wings’ fashion and he raised his chin as he glared at all of them. “What I have to say I will say once, no more. You will ask me no more questions after tonight. I will answer none. I have given the full story to the Ministry, and to your betters, and they feel you deserve some explanation, so I will tell you some of it.”

He paused to allow his eyes to slide over the assembly until they fell on Harry. When they did, he sneered, “What Potter told everyone was true. Except for one detail, I was not dead, no thanks to Misters Potter and Weasley, or Miss Granger who simply left me for such, as they…”

“Severus!” Professor Dumbledore interrupted and shook his head at him.

After a much beleaguered sigh, Professor Snape continued, “As I am sure most of you have heard from the stories of the summer, I played my part in the war, and gave Potter the truth of my deeds, of my past. I held my breath against the pain and I could no longer open my eyes. They then left me. I was very near death, I felt it approaching. Then for reasons I do not know I met Albus in, what I can best describe as, another plane. We spoke and he told me to come with him. I did as he bid. I don’t know how much time passed before Potter joined us. I was hidden, so he would not see me as he spoke to Professor Dumbledore and I did not hear their conversation.

“But, when he left, we were left in that…space, with the disfigured form of Voldemort across from us. Albus and I went to the figure and knelt beside it as it struggled for what I do not know, nor care. Then, I touched The Headmas…Albus’ scarred hand to pull him away, just as he touched the form of Voldemort and said, ‘I forgive you, Tom.’ There was an explosion and I awoke in that same room where they had left me, with Albus next to me. I again lost consciousness. When I awoke once more, we were in a private area of St. Mungos and it was the first week of August. All that happened since the war was explained to me, I gave my story, I listened to Albus’ explanations, and we are here. I am once again your Potions teacher. That is all.”

The students murmured and shifted as they watched him turn and walk stiffly to his seat at the end of the table. His story had left them with many questions, but none dared voice them. All eyes turned to Professor Dumbledore as they waited for more explanation. He raised a hand in recognition of their many inquiries and it was only then that many noticed his scarred hand was healed and once again looked like that of an old man, and not the blackened claw it had become.

“Well, I guess it is now my turn,” he smiled at them. Most of the students unconsciously smiled back, happy to once again see his eyes twinkle in his much-missed face.

“I know many of you have questions and I regret most of them will remain unanswered. I will tell you as much I am able. And, there are those among you who I will meet with privately. I am afraid I do not know much more than Professor Snape about why things occurred as they did, but I can tell you that I believe it happened because I forgave Tom at the same time as Harry vanquished him. Something happened when he died here, to the form I was touching there. And, since Professor Snape was touching me at the time it affected both of us. Tom lost his life, but gave it to us somehow. That is not to say we are possessed or anything of that nature, just that his death brought us life. Regrettably, we have no memory of our conversation before I met with Harry, and recall little else until we awoke in St. Mungos. The few people who knew of our situation swore an oath to not tell of us being alive until we could return to you. The identities of those people will remain a secret to protect them from retribution.

“As you know, there are still those out there that refuse to believe the war is over, that truth and light has won. But, I assure you, the walls and halls of Hogwarts will continue to protect you just as they have done in the past and even moreso. We learned from our prideful past and our failures and have added more protection to this castle and these grounds than ever in the past. You are safe here.