When I hoped that Monsieur de Flois would quickly remove the Obliviate from me, I was very wrong. The teacher confirmed the diagnosis, praised me for noticing it, but refused to remove the Obliviate. He decided that I should do it myself under his guidance. Damn! Since the professor had seen many of my memories, he already knew about Snape. And he recognized him the first time he "looked in" on one of the Potions classes.
"Severus Snape - such a talented young man!" It turned out that Snape was one of the most gifted Legilimens that de Flois had ever met in his life. The teacher had heard that Severus was also impossibly good at potions, his friends from the higher certification commission highly praised the young potioneer when he defended his mastery. "An amazing wizard, they're born once in a hundred years. But an absolutely worthless teacher who doesn't know how to behave." After looking at Snape in my head, de Flois repeatedly cursed that such a versatile talented and promising wizard, with persistence worthy of a better use, was flushing his life down the toilet.
"Wonderful that you were able to notice the boundaries of the memory he erased, Mademoiselle Granger! The Obliviate was cast by a master, if an outsider looked at your memory, they would surely notice nothing. I can rightfully be proud of my student. And therefore no, don't even ask, you must try to manage on your own."
And only a month later I succeeded. I sat there puffing, trying to digest the news. My appearance intrigued the professor, he even asked me what had happened there? I didn't want to show him about Lily, despite being angry with Snape. Too personal. But I'll definitely need to punch Snape in the face. If he survives.
***
I finished the ritual circle and complex of diagnostic spells that show all possible brain problems: edema, injuries, abscesses, aneurysms, tumors, blood supply problems, nerve cell atrophy... I started with the brain precisely because there's always a neurosurgeon at hand for consultations. Then I'll do the same for everything else. Taking a biopsy by magical means is pure pleasure. I had to modify the copying spell a bit, the new version copies a small piece of tissue from the area that interests you. The only problem is that the copy disappears after six days. But this way you can take as many samples as you want without fear of harming the patient.
But we needed test subjects for research. Since this is purely diagnostics, without any intervention, I couldn't harm anyone. However, I could violate the Statute. And wizards almost never have such problems, magic suppresses most diseases in the bud, and you can't test on wizards. You can't just walk into a hospital and start conjuring either - a lot of medical equipment is very sensitive to magic. So André found Squibs who know about the magical world - the Ledoux family collected such data. And then checked them against the medical database. It turns out there are quite a lot of Squibs in the world. And even some with brain diseases. Our joint research with André showed that my diagnostics work quite well. And it also showed that you can't relax like that. One of the Squibs reported me to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. I hadn't violated anything yet, but one day after the last class an Auror caught me right in the university corridor and politely but insistently invited me to go with him to the Ministry.
***
A ban on normal scientific activity - that's the result of the conversation at the Ministry.
"Oh no, Mademoiselle Granger, you haven't violated anything," my interlocutor smiled widely, "that's exactly why it's me talking to you now, we're sitting in a comfortable office, and my secretary brought us coffee. Believe me, if you had violated something, they wouldn't be talking to you so politely and not here."
And they know a thing or two about intimidation.
"Of course, you can use magic to treat patients, you're a witch, after all! But I strongly ask you, only in a private capacity. No one forbids you from treating Muggles. No one forbids you from using magical medicine and your own developments. As long as Muggle patients remain fully convinced that their treatment was absolutely Muggle. But this permission extends only to your personal patients. Please refrain from attempts to give your knowledge to the general public. You don't need problems with the law, do you? As long as you brew very weak potions for sale, disguising them as Muggle herbal tinctures - everything is fine, another matter is scientific activity. All your developments and publications will be carefully checked by Ministry employees. If there are suspicions that your work threatens the Statute of Secrecy in any way, they'll talk to you differently."
First they intimidated me, but tried to say goodbye politely:
"Don't take it personally, Mademoiselle Granger, periodically we have to conduct such preventive conversations. Mainly with Squibs - quite a lot of those who devote themselves to Muggle sciences. But from time to time, wizards living in two worlds also need to be reminded of the existing danger. After all, any wizard is primarily a person of feeling, not logic. It's always better to prevent than to regret later."
In the evening André plied me with cognac and comforted me that just treating people is also very good. But I felt lousy.
***
Fairy tales must develop according to certain laws. If a knight prepares for a long time to battle a dragon, in the end they must meet and fight epically. The knight cannot die on the way to the dragon in a stupid drunken brawl in yet another tavern where he stopped for dinner. And the dragon itself must be in full health and ready for battle. It would be absurd if the knight finally galloped up, and the dragon was lying dead - choked yesterday on the thighbone of another princess, and there was no one to perform the Heimlich maneuver.
Exactly such thoughts are spinning in my head while I hypnotize with my gaze the new issue of the English Prophet.
The front page screams in huge letters:
"You-Know-Who has fallen! Death Eaters on the run! End of terror!"
According to the article, Voldemort decided to conduct some powerful ritual at Stonehenge, sacrificed five wizards, gathered his Death Eaters and some number of wizards under Imperius for magical power. But something went wrong. The victims were killed, but in the middle of the ritual Voldemort fell dead, and the concentrated magic struck with a blast wave. When the wizards got to their feet, the Imperius charms fell off, and "valiant Ministry employees fought back against the criminals, forcing them to flee." Part of the Death Eaters were killed on the spot. When the Death Eater masks were removed from the dead criminals, Augustus Rookwood, Magnus Nott, and Anthony Green were identified. Two remained unknown. "The Dark Marks disappeared from the criminals' forearms, we assume this is connected to the death of You-Know-Who." The rest managed to escape. In the battle for the Ministry, Pius Thicknesse, John Dawlish, and Hector Proudfoot were killed. The Ministry promises to arrest the remaining Death Eaters as soon as possible. The Lord's body was transferred to the Department of Mysteries for further study.
Unexpected, nothing to say. The Death Eaters "fled" surely only because their leader died once again. I bet many didn't even engage in battle.
But the Horcrux in Harry remains. I have some bad premonitions. If Harry is the last one, what if Voldemort is drawn to him and resurrects himself? The Horcrux is alive, perhaps in this case no assistant is needed for the ritual? What if he's already done it? No one would even understand. Sirius loves his godson too much and therefore can't be critical. Rita will understand that Harry has changed, she's observant, but will attribute it to anything but a personality replacement. Ron... Ron's not a thinker, he'll understand that Harry has changed, and he knows about Horcruxes, but won't draw conclusions. More likely, he'll just quarrel with his former friend and distance himself. No one will let Snape near Harry now.
Newspapers from the island arrive in France with some delay, several days have passed already. I need to urgently write to Black.
I didn't have time, the same day he wrote to me himself.
"Everything's bad, Hermione. I have to tell you. Moony is dead! He died like a hero. Killed that crazy bitch! You can't imagine how shitty I feel"
I listened for a long time, or rather, read Padfoot's stories about what a wonderful person Lupin was. And about what a bloodthirsty creature his cousin Bellatrix was. I comforted him as best I could, good thing he's not alone there. Only a couple of days later, when Sirius calmed down a bit, was he able to consistently present his version of events.
Sirius Black's Account:
"We learned the news from the newspapers. At first we didn't even believe it. After all, Dumbledore said that it was Harry who must defeat you-know-who. That is, Voldemort. Still have to make an effort to say it. But owls flooded Harry with letters in which people wrote the same thing. Moony and I went to the Ministry - there was terrible confusion, department heads were trying to restore normal work. But the information was confirmed. Many employees were freed from Imperius, those who were fired were invited back. And people returned, in such a situation everyone must fight for the common cause.
And the Lestranges completely lost it after their master's death and loss of their marks. Led by the bitch Bella, the three of them burst into the main Floo hall and started throwing around dark spells. They wanted to kill as many people as possible! Moony grappled with Bellatrix, he's a werewolf, many spells don't work on him. And Remus is very good at DADA, you know, but she Transfigured her silver chain into several thin blades and launched them at Moony. One hit his heart. Remus, already mortally wounded, managed in the last moments of his life to somehow partially transform into a wolf without a full moon and threw himself at Bella. He managed to tear that creature's head off and died right on her body. He saved many people at the cost of his life! The Lestranges were confused after Bellatrix's death, and the Aurors grabbed them.
All the marks on the Death Eaters disappeared. Therefore many scum couldn't be caught, they were always in masks. And you can't identify them by their arm now. Those acquitted after the first magical war of course won't admit their participation in the second. Too bad you can't interrogate them with Veritaserum "without sufficient grounds," what a stupid law?! But besides the Lestranges, they caught and re-imprisoned both Carrows and Dolohov. That strange Russian was sitting in the Malfoy Manor kitchen getting drunk. And most importantly, they managed to capture the vile traitor and vicious murderer - Snape! I would have killed him myself, but a group of Aurors beat me to it and sent the bastard to Azkaban. May his cell become a Dementor favorite!
Can you imagine, crazy Crouch cut off his own head with a Sectumsempra! The capture team witnessed it. Mad Barty was sitting on the floor, looking at his arm without a mark, crying and laughing. And paying no attention to the Aurors surrounding him. Then he raised his head, grinned so that the guys got goosebumps running down their spines, and sent a spell to his throat. Completely lost it! But it's even better this way, this cunning son of a bitch already escaped from Azkaban once.
Forgot to tell you about Tonks! My niece is saved! Nott is dead, and now she's free. All his prohibitions fell away after death. Nymph is now in St. Mungo's with nervous exhaustion, they're trying to restore at least part of her memory. Nott Jr. disappeared somewhere, but when they catch him, they'll send him to Azkaban too. Everyone saw him aim at Albus.
But Edward Nott... I don't know what will happen to him. Nymphadora immediately said she doesn't want to see him. Maybe she'll change her mind, they have to cure her first. If not, we'll need to give him up for adoption to a worthy wizarding family. Perhaps to an impoverished family. We'll provide him with money, after all, he has Black blood.
Sorry I didn't write to you right away, so much has happened! Moony's already been buried, but we'll visit him together later when you come. We all miss you very much. Harry too! It's time for you two to make up.
Rita was beside herself when she found out I didn't call her and was drinking alone. She and the children only returned the day before yesterday. And my wife almost killed me for not telling her immediately, as if she were a stranger. But you understand, I just couldn't. Remus was my best friend..."
All this is strange. But I'm very sorry that Lupin died like this. Tonks almost waited for him. Although, she didn't remember him... But Remus is undoubtedly a hero.
What to do with Snape now is the question.
Such is the story.
But one detail worries me: what about the Horcrux in Harry? If the marks disappeared, does that mean there was no Horcrux in Harry? It's just some unknown dark curse, as the healers from St. Mungo's said? Snape said: "creating a Horcrux is quite a painstaking ritual." This is in favor of there being no Horcrux in Harry. Wait a minute, but Dumbledore claimed it was definitely a Horcrux. And Harry did see dreams. After Voldemort's resurrection they were connected by blood, but before that there was at least one dream too. Or did the curse still connect them, even if it's not a Horcrux?
Some curses really do connect the caster and the victim. For example, to draw magic and life force from the victim. And there's a spell that lovers use to feel each other's strong emotions at a distance. It was created primarily to feel a loved one's pain or fear and be able to come to help. But it turned out they don't only transmit pain. For example, one witch caught her husband cheating, unexpectedly experiencing an orgasm. And Apparating home at an inopportune moment, she found her husband with his mistress. Dr. Defossé showed me such spells. But they, both good and bad, were specifically created for this. Avada Kedavra is from a different category. But no one has ever checked Avada for side effects, because before Harry absolutely everyone died.
The next day I remembered one important thing and wrote to Sirius that they need to get the Muggle-borns out of Azkaban who Umbridge imprisoned there. And to try Umbridge herself. Probably they thought of this without me, but there's no certainty. Black promised to check.
***
A week later I received a letter from Lady Malfoy. She somewhat supplemented the existing picture, as Snape managed to talk to her before his arrest. If you omit all the flowery phrases required by etiquette and personal emotions, the facts as she presented them looked like this:
Narcissa Malfoy's Version. Summary.
After losing two Horcruxes, the Dark Lord checked the rest. "Horcruxes, Miss Granger, are very dark magic, even the House of Black avoided such things for centuries, and there are reasons for that." The Lord found out that all his Horcruxes that he could reach had been destroyed. Therefore he decided to conduct a powerful ritual and create five more. "The Dark Lord had definitely gone mad." He chose the most powerful of all available places of power, found victims, as magical power gathered Death Eaters and wizards under Imperius, but something went wrong in the ritual. "Rituals of this kind killed wizards or drove them mad even in ancient times, no wonder the House of Black didn't want to have anything to do with this abomination." Snape Apparated to Narcissa after the Lord's death, told her everything and said goodbye. As Lady Malfoy later found out, he Apparated to his home, where he began to wait for arrest. Narcissa didn't understand this.
And Bella went mad after the Lord's death and decided to take as many people with her as possible. "My poor sister loved her master more than anything in the world, more than family, more than life."
The letter ended with a request to save Snape:
"....Miss Granger, before his arrest Severus managed to mention that you know about his role in this magical war. You know whose side he was on. He asked for nothing and surely didn't want you to interfere. But I'm asking you: if you can, help him, you're his only hope. My lawyer agreed to take this case. Mr. Lowly is one of the best lawyers in magical England, with his help I finally managed to get Lucius's body returned. Unfortunately, one problem arose, Severus Snape refuses to accept anyone's help. Mr. Lowly achieved a meeting in Azkaban, but his client didn't even want to talk to him. This stubborn man wants to spend the rest of his life with Dementors, punishing himself for his sins. But I cannot allow this.
Sincerely Yours, Narcissa Malfoy"
I don't understand Snape either. Why didn't this fool run away later? He knew what it was all coming to. Narcissa's fervent request in the last part of the letter... I didn't think Snape was so dear to her. Although why not, he's not a stranger. I just remembered her as so cold.
But this is almost a hopeless case - trying to acquit a person when he himself doesn't want to participate in his acquittal. Dumbledore's letter is basically neutral. There was something about my mistakes, those lines can be carefully cut out, citing that it's personal. Otherwise they'll ask under Veritaserum what mistakes. And I can share the memory of Snape's oath. I'll need to conclude a magical contract with Narcissa's lawyer. That he undertakes not to use against me the information he receives from me. Otherwise I don't agree.
I have exam session coming up, and exams soon. But there's no point waiting for a trial these days anyway, it's a long process.