Aftermaths, Part 48

by Geri ([email protected])

Rating: Mostly PG-13, but NC-17 for overall story

Pairing: Snape/Lupin, Theodore/Blaise

Warning: AU; events that occurred at the end of Order of the Phoenix were significantly altered from the book.

Sequel to: Always, Summer Vacation, For Old Time's Sake, Three's a Crowd, Return of the Raven, Phoenix Reborn, and Phoenix Rising.

Summary: The various characters deal with the aftermath of the war, and Snape and Lupin try to build a family together with Theodore and Dylan. However, some people are unable to let go of the past...

Author's note: {} Indicates character's unspoken thoughts.

Disclaimer: Characters belong to J.K. Rowling, except Hob, who belongs to William Mayne; no money is being made off this story; consider it a little wish fulfillment on my part.
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Draco slumped against the couch in the Slytherin common room, dispiritedly flipping through the pages of the Daily Prophet, feeling restless and bored. Crabbe and Goyle had gone off to help Hagrid with the Thestrals; Dylan had a date with Granger; Theodore and Blaise had gone off together somewhere, to shag themselves silly, no doubt, or perhaps just for a romantic stroll by the lake; and Damien was probably off flirting with some girl. Ever since the war had ended, he'd taken advantage of the opportunity to flirt shamelessly with every pretty girl in Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw. He still flirted with the Slytherin girls, too, but he seemed most drawn to the Gryffindor girls; the allure of the forbidden and all that, Draco supposed. But the end result was that all his friends were busy doing other things, and he had no one to hang out with. He wasn't quite the pariah that he'd thought he'd be, partly because Dietrich was so obnoxious that everyone's hostility was focused on him, but at the same time, while they weren't outright rude to him, most of the Slytherins seemed to be keeping him at a distance.

{Don't want the taint to rub off on them, I suppose,} he thought sulkily. Or even worse, they thought he simply wasn't worth bothering with. He sighed heavily and flung the newspaper down on the floor.

"What's wrong with you?" a cool, detached voice asked, and Draco looked up into Serafina Avery's violet eyes.

"Nothing," Draco said, trying not to pout. "I'm just bored."

"I'm going to the library to study," Serafina said. "You're welcome to come with me, if you like."

"Going to the library on a Saturday; that sounds like a lot of fun," Draco said in a sulky voice.

"Have you got anything better to do?" Serafina asked.

"Not really," he admitted, and got up to join her.

They sat quietly together at a table in the back of the library, doing some research for Professor Blackmore's class. They were the only ones in this section; there seemed to be only a handful of students in the entire library. No doubt everyone else was off having fun...Draco sighed again.

"Will you quit doing that?" Serafina said, sounding just the slightest bit annoyed, and Draco felt oddly triumphant at having provoked an emotional reaction from her.

"Don't you miss it?" he asked.

"Miss what?"

"You know, being someone important, having a father with a high-status Ministry job."

"I don't miss my father," Serafina replied calmly. "I'm glad he's not able to hurt me or my mother--or anyone else--anymore." Then she gave him a suprisingly sympathetic look. "You miss your father, don't you?" she asked softly.

"I know I shouldn't," Draco said, staring down at the table. "But I do."

"It's okay to miss him, Draco."

"But he tried to kill me," Draco said in a low voice. "I should hate him. And I do; sometimes I get so mad at him that I could kill him myself if he were still alive. But...I love him, too. I don't want to, but I do." It was strange, but he felt comfortable discussing these things with Serafina. In a way, her emotionless demeanor made it easier; she listened intently, but rarely said much in response, which was fine, because all he really wanted was someone to listen. She never regarded him with scorn or, more importantly, with pity. Draco could stand being hated, but the one thing he could not stand was being pitied. Serafina remained silent, and Draco continued, "I've been thinking, and I can remember a few happy times: the time Dad bought Nimbus 2001 brooms for the team so that they'd make me Seeker, the time he took me to the Quidditch World Cup, and the time he arranged to meet me in Hogsmeade on Halloween after he escaped from Azkaban. He gave me a communication mirror so that he could send messages to me, and I was so proud that he trusted me enough to give me a role in his mission with the Death Eaters.

"But I remember other times, too. I remember that even though I got the highest grades in Slytherin, and the second-highest ranking for the entire school, he still yelled at me for letting Granger, a Mudblood girl, outdo me. I remember the disgusted look he always gave me when Gryffindor beat us--when Potter beat me to the Snitch--in our Quidditch matches. I remember that he wasn't there the one time we finally did win last year. Mother recorded the game so that he could see it, but when I tried to tell him about it, he didn't even care. I remember that he never once said he was proud of me, not once in my entire life." He gritted his teeth, feeling tears sting his eyes. "Lupin's told me that he's proud of me; a Gryffindor werewolf that I treated like dirt was always nicer to me than my own father." He angrily rubbed his eyes on the sleeve of his robe. "Why do I care about somebody like that? Why shouldn't I just be glad that he's dead?"

"Because it's natural to love your parents," Serafina said quietly.

"Did you love your dad?" Draco whispered.

Serafina hesitated, then nodded. "Yes, I did, a long time ago."

"But not anymore?"

"No. I tried hard to please him, for a long time, but finally I realized that nothing I did would ever be good enough for him, because he wanted me to fail so that he would have an excuse to punish me. He liked hurting people. I watched him hurt me and my mother so many times that it finally killed my love for him." Her voice was still calm and cool, but there was just the slightest hint of something--sorrow? anger?--deep in her violet eyes.

"So why can't I stop loving my father?" Draco asked despairingly.

"Because you only just found out what he was really like," Serafina replied reasonably. "I've known what my father was like for years."

"Which makes me stupid, I guess," Draco said with a bitter little laugh.

Serafina was silent for a long moment, then said slowly, "I think Professor Lupin would say that you aren't stupid or a bad person for loving your father and wanting to believe the best of him. I think he would say that your father was the bad person for betraying your trust."

Draco cocked his head to one side, giving Serafina a puzzled look; he was unable to read the expression on her face. Then he smiled, a little shakily but sincerely, and said, "You're a strange girl, Avery."

Serafina smiled, just a little. "I know."

They studied together until it was time for lunch, then headed to the Great Hall together. By that time, all Draco's missing friends had returned, and he passed a pleasant hour discussing Quidditch with his teammates and watching Damien clown around to attract the girls' attention. By the way they giggled, it seemed to be working. Making things even more pleasant was the fact that Dietrich was absent--serving detention according to Theodore and Blaise. Slytherin was signed up to use the Pitch after lunch, so Draco and the rest of the team left the table, still laughing and talking.

Draco was concentrating on more on the conversation than where he was going, and bumped into a Ravenclaw boy, a fourth-year named Stewart Ackerley. Unfortunately, Ackerley had still been sipping from a glass of pumpkin juice as he was rising from his seat at the Ravenclaw table, and it spilled down the front of his robes.

Draco was in such a good mood that he actually said, "Sorry," but the Ravenclaw boy snarled, "Why don't you watch where you're going, Malfoy?"

"Why don't you watch where YOU'RE going?" Draco snapped. The one time he'd tried being polite, and look what happened! And people wondered why Slytherins never bothered with politeness... In a haughty voice he added, "And you should mind your manners when you're speaking to a prefect, Ackerley!"

"Why don't you get off your high horse, you Death Eater scum?" Ackerley retorted. "You're not such a big shot now that your father's--"

"MR. ACKERLEY!" Snape roared in a thunderous voice, and both Draco and Ackerley nearly jumped right out of their robes; neither boy had heard him approaching. "That will be ten points from Ravenclaw. Now move along before I decide to give you detention as well."

"But he--" Ackerley protested.

"Fifteen," Snape said in a cold voice. "Would you like to make it twenty?"

Ackerley turned on his heel and stomped off. On his way out, he gave Flitwick an entreating look, but his Head of House only shook his head slightly. Ackerley glared at him as well, and ran out of the Great Hall.

Draco stood there, still shaking with anger, but Snape laid a hand on his shoulder and said quietly, "You will encounter many ignorant and prejudiced people in your life, Draco. Hold your head high and don't give them the satisfaction of seeing that they've gotten to you. Nothing will disappoint them more than failing to get a reaction from you." Snape smiled and said dryly, "At least, that's been my experience from observing people insult Lupin." Draco managed a laugh, and Snape squeezed his shoulder. "Run along, then," he said. "You need to get to Quidditch practice if you're to help me win my bet against Professor McGonagall this year." This time the entire team laughed. Snape hesitated, glancing at Theodore for a moment, then said, "Perhaps I'll come along and watch, if you don't mind."

"Not at all, Professor!" Draco said happily, and Theodore beamed at his father. "I'm sure it will inspire the team to work harder!"
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Three pairs of eyes at the Hufflepuff table watched the Slytherin Quidditch team and their Head of House leave the Great Hall. Isabelle Laroque rose from her seat, and motioned for Susan Bones to follow her. She tapped Tristan Ames-Diggory on the shoulder in an unobtrusive way as she passed by him, and he gave her a curious look, then got up and followed the two older girls.

Not sure exactly what what they were doing, Susan followed her friend Isabelle as she went after, not Snape and the Slytherins, but Stewart Ackerley. They caught up with him as he was stalking down a corridor heading in the direction of the Ravenclaw dorm.

"Stewart!" Isabelle called.

He turned, scowling, but his expression softened a little when he spotted her; the pretty French-born girl was popular with all the boys. "What?" he asked, his voice gruff but not hostile.

"Can we talk?" Isabelle asked.

"I've got to go change," Stewart said sullenly, indicating the large damp spot on his robes.

Isabelle took out her wand and cast a quick cleaning spell, leaving Stewart's robes clean and dry. "Now can we talk?" she asked calmly.

Stewart shrugged. "Okay."

"Not here," Isabelle said. "In private." She led them down the corridor, and they slipped into an empty, unused classroom.

"What if Filch or one of the teachers finds us here?" Stewart asked nervously.

"We'll just tell them that we were looking for a quiet place to study," Isabelle said. "The room wasn't locked, and there aren't any potions or supplies that we could tamper with." It was true; the room contained only desks and chairs, which was probably why no one had bothered locking it. "We aren't doing anything wrong."

"Then why are we meeting in secret?" Tristan asked with a wry smile.

Isabelle smiled back at him serenely. "Because this is a private conversation."

"So what did you want to talk about, Isabelle?" Susan asked curiously.

"All four of us have something in common," Isabelle replied. The other three stared at each other, puzzled. "We have all lost family members to the Death Eaters. Tristan, his cousin. Susan, her uncle and his family. Stewart--"

"My father was an Auror," he said bitterly. "He was killed during the final battle."

"Who did you lose?" Tristan asked Isabelle.

"My uncles, during the first war," Isabelle replied, her face still calm and composed. "The Death Eaters had threatened to wipe out the entire Prewett family, so my mother fled England in fear of her life. Even after the war ended, she was afraid to come back, since so many of the Death Eaters had been pardoned by the Ministry because they were supposedly under the influence of the Imperius Curse. It wasn't until Voldemort was finally killed that she felt it was safe to return home to England."

"It's not right!" Stewart burst out, clenching his hands into fists, "that people like Malfoy are walking around free when my father is dead!"

"And Snape," Tristan added. "And his so-called sons."

"B-but," Susan said uncertainly, "the Headmaster said that Snape was a spy, that he wasn't really a Death Eater."

"Do you really believe that?" Isabelle asked solemnly. "Do you really trust him? Maybe he changed sides, but who's to say whether he did it out of heroism or just self-preservation. That's what happened during the first war, you know. When the Death Eaters saw that their Master had fallen, they were all quick to switch sides and say how repentant they were, that they never meant to do it in the first place, that Voldemort had forced them with the Imperius Curse. And look how quickly they switched sides again when Voldemort returned. Maybe Snape was just a little smarter than the rest of them; he saw how things were going to turn out, and he threw his lot in with the winning side."

"Well, when you put it that way..." Susan said hesitantly. "I--I want to believe the Headmaster and Professor Lupin, that he really is a good person. But..."

"But something inside you isn't sure," Isabelle finished in a gentle voice. "You don't quite trust him."

Susan nodded reluctantly. "But Professor Lupin loves him; I can't believe that he'd be with Snape if he was really a Death Eater."

"Lupin's an okay guy," Stewart agreed, "but he's softhearted, and apparently Snape was an old flame of his from their schoolboy days. So maybe Snape has him fooled. I'm not sure I trust Lupin's judgment anymore; look how cozy he is with the Slytherins." His face hardened. "I've heard from some of the other Aurors how Draco fought on the Death Eaters' side during the battle. He ought to be in Azkaban along with the rest of them!"

"But didn't he--" Susan started to say.

"Switch sides?" Stewart finished. "Yeah, supposedly, after his dad tried to kill him." Tristan looked startled. "Oh, you didn't hear about that?" Stewart asked, a malicious grin on his face. "Lucius Malfoy, that coward, tried to use his own son as a shield when Mad-Eye Moody cast a Killing Curse his way. Too bad he missed. Hmm..." Stewart looked thoughtful. "Come to think of it, according to my father's colleagues, it was Snape and Lupin who saved Draco by knocking Moody's curse astray."

"And now Snape's adopted another Death Eater's son," Tristan said. "The Death Eaters look out for their own, I guess. So who's looking out for us? I can't stand all this talk about inter-House cooperation and Houses standing together! And Potter, the supposed hero of the war, telling the Daily Prophet that he had to 'embrace his Slytherin side' to defeat You-Know-Who--it makes me sick! All of a sudden we're supposed to be chummy with Slytherin and forget that they supported the Death Eaters! It's like they've forgotten about Cedric and all the other people who died!" A tear ran down his face, and Susan laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Like my father," Stewart said softly.

"And my uncles," Isabelle said.

Susan bit her lip for a moment, then said, "And my Uncle Edgar and his family. Everyone is so happy that the war is over...I don't blame them; it is a great relief but...when I see people laughing and smiling, it seems like maybe they've forgotten that there are people who should be mourned as well."

"It's human nature," Isabelle said, "to want to forget about the bad times. No one wants to feel sad all the time. But still, we shouldn't forget the people who died, not just for their sakes, but for ours as well. Even though Voldemort is dead, that doesn't mean that we're safe. Not all the Death Eaters are dead. Rabastan Lestrange is on the run, and while the others are in prison, that doesn't mean they'll stay there; they've broken out of Azkaban twice before. And there are Death Eater sympathizers and family members who were never charged."

"But what are we supposed to do about it?" Stewart asked. "We're just kids."

Isabelle smiled. "The members of Dumbledore's Army were 'just kids,' too."

Susan's eyes widened. "That's why you were asking me about the D.A.! You want to start another secret club to...to..."

Tristan's eyes lit up. "To fight the remaining Death Eaters and expose those Slytherin scum for what they really are!"

"Now wait a minute!" Susan said, feeling alarmed. "We don't know that Snape and the Slytherin students are on the side of the Death Eaters! I mean, we might be suspicious, but we can't go attacking them if we're not sure--"

"No, of course not," Isabelle said soothingly. "That wasn't my intention. All I meant was that we should band together and watch them, to gather information and evidence. If they've really reformed, all well and good, but if they haven't...we'll be able to stop them before they put anyone else in danger."

"Oh," Susan said, relaxing a little. "Then I guess that's okay."

"What should we call ourselves?" Tristan asked eagerly.

"And where should we meet?" Stewart wondered. "This isn't the sort of thing we can talk about around other people."

"I was thinking...instead of D.A., how about R.A.?" Isabelle suggested. "The Remembrance Association, in honor of our dead loved ones who should not be forgotten. And if anyone asks, we can say that it's a history club, that we're studying great witches and wizards of the past."

"That's a great idea!" Stewart enthused. "History of Magic is so deadly boring that no one will want to join our club, so they'll leave us alone!"

"Hermione Granger might," Susan pointed out. "And we can't let her join the club; her boyfriend is a Slytherin and the son of a Death Eater."

Isabelle smiled. "She seems most preoccupied with her new romance. Between her studies, her friends, and her dates with Mr. Rosier, I doubt that she'll have time for other extracurricular activities."

"Will it be just us, then?" Stewart asked. "Or should we be trying to recruit other members?"

"I'm sure Dean would join," Susan said. "I'd hate to keep a secret from him, and I know he doesn't trust the Slytherins, either."

"I'd like to increase our membership," Isabelle said, "but we'll have to make sure that everyone who joins is trustworthy, and they'll have to swear an oath of secrecy."

"Corbin Talbott," Stewart said thoughtfully. "I think he might be a good candidate."

"Isn't he from a Slytherin family?" Tristan asked skeptically.

"Some of his relatives might have been Slytherins, but Corbin is a Ravenclaw," Stewart said loyally. "And I heard him arguing with Gabrielle Delacour in the common room; something about how she should stay away from Dylan Rosier. He doesn't want anything to do with the Slytherins."

"Isabelle and I overheard them arguing in the library, too," Susan said. "His grandaunt was Dylan's grandmother, and the Talbotts blame the Rosiers for her death. It sounds like he really hates the Death Eaters."

"Is it agreed then, that we shall ask Corbin Talbott and Dean Thomas to join us?" Isabelle asked. Stewart and Susan nodded, and after a moment's hesitation, so did Tristan. "Then, for now, let's watch Snape and the Slytherins carefully, and we'll have our first meeting...let's see, Dumbledore's announced that there will be a Hogsmeade day the last Saturday of September."

"But Tristan and Corbin won't be able to come," Susan reminded her. "Only third-years on up are allowed to go to Hogsmeade."

"Oh right, I forgot," Isabelle said. "Well, we'll need to meet more frequently than Hogsmeade days arise, anyway. I'll ask Professor Sprout if we can use one of the empty classrooms as a meeting room; since we're posing as a legitimate extracurricular club, it shouldn't cause any suspicions. Let's have our first meeting a week from today; I'll let you know when and where. If you can think of any other prospective members, you can bring them, but as I said, be careful about who you choose."

Everyone agreed, and Susan said, "I'm supposed to go meet Dean now. I'll talk to him about the R.A."

"Be subtle," Isabelle warned, "and make sure he doesn't mention it to Potter and his friends."

"I will," Susan said. "Don't worry!"

Susan ran off, and Stewart and Tristan stared at Isabelle. "Are we really just going to watch the Slytherins?" Tristan asked.

"I didn't want to upset Susan," Isabelle said with a smile, "but 'R' can also stand for 'Revenge'." Stewart and Tristan grinned. "But we must be careful," Isabelle cautioned. "We must move slowly and subtly. For now, we will watch, but when the opportunity is right..."

 

Part 49