DISCLAIMER: See
NOTE: This chapter has nothing to do with
the thrilling novel by Dan Brown, despite the similarities in titles. Just thought you’d like to know.
Also, this
chapter is dedicated to Dzeytoun,
for allowing me to use his “Sorrows of
Lucifer” passage once again. This is
also dedicated to him with the hopes that he will recover soon.
CHAPTER 8:
ANGELS AND DEMONS
Sun broke
through gray clouds, shedding light upon the manor in the grassy moor. Inside, a tall and dark man gazed through a
magnificent window to see two young wizards cavorting outside on
broomsticks. One was roughly a man now,
with his blond hair reflecting some of the sunlight, while the other
was
pre-adolescent and with dark brown hair which normally didn’t run in
the
family.
Severus
Snape, Hogwarts Potions Master and Head of Slytherin House, was
occupied with
thinking about the recent developments in his life.
The self-styled Dark Lord Voldemort was now
finally dead, along with most of his followers (the last few were still
being
rounded up).
But
problems like that in his life he could tolerate; it was inner problems
which
he seemed to have the most trouble with.
There’s an
old saying that each man is his own worst enemy. Granted,
there may have always been people in
Snape’s life who made it hell one way or another – his father, Potter
Sr.,
Black, Lupin, Pettigrew, Bellatrix Black-Lestrange, and Riddle
– but in retrospect, he realized he wasn’t exactly perfect
either with how he could have handled everything.
Could Snape
really just put everything behind him?
Just forget everything ever done to him?
No, he knew
he couldn’t do that. He had been so
defined by what life and his instigators had thrown at him. Snape was able to adapt into a hardened,
precise man in control of his emotions.
Whenever a
person has been hurt or offended, they hesitate to forgive because it
would be
as though saying the injury or offense done to them was nothing. Snape knew that, and also loathed the notion
of “forgive and forget” with a passion.
That notion was only for minor misdemeanors and complete
accidents,
neither of which were the pain he had suffered for most of his life.
Instead,
Snape decided to do something even he never would have considered
before:
Forgive, even if he could never forget.
However,
the offenses done to him by his own father and those Marauders were
just
smaller incidents, compared to something else.
Dumbledore.
While Snape without a doubt considered the man the best mentor
he ever
had. And yet… there were times when
Dumbledore’s benevolence or indifference caused, in a way, more damage
to Snape
then anything else before.
First,
there was when Snape was bullied at school by the Marauders, including
when Dumbledore
seemingly let them off the hook with the werewolf incident. Dumbledore, for all his benevolence and
integrity, favored his Gryffindors a bit too much back then. Snape had eventually gotten past that, since
Dumbledore had learned from his mistakes in that department.
No, perhaps
the biggest issue, and definitely the most paradoxical one at that, was
concerning one Harry Potter.
While it
was widely assumed that Snape hated Harry Potter merely for being the
brood of
his father, it went far beyond that.
It was how
Dumbledore devoted most of his attention to the boy nonstop, praising
his luck
over the efforts of Snape and everyone else who worked for him. How Dumbledore loved the boy so much that he
probably would have been willing to sacrifice just about everyone and
anyone to
keep Harry Potter safe and sound.
Snape
wasn’t ever jealous of Harry Potter…
more like wary of him. What
if young Potter were to err? Dumbledore
was certainly taking a big risk,
gambling everything on his figurative apprentice. Once
or twice, when he tried bringing it to
the Headmaster’s attention, he would be met with a piercing look as
though he
had overstepped his bounds.
Being a
Potions Master, he had traveled all over the world in his studies. During one journey, when he was in the
This story
was about an occasion before Lucifer fell; it was when Adam and his
family had
sinned, and Lucifer brought it to God’s attention, saying they had
betrayed
God’s trust. However, Lucifer made a
miscalculation on his part; he had assumed that Adam and his children
were to
be angels, servants to carry out God’s plan.
In fact, they were only meant to be children, and just that. God then told Lucifer the following…
"Lucifer,
Lightbringer, most glorious of Angels, you are the
greatest of my servants, the most faithful of my creations. You have never veered from my
commands. Ever you have obeyed my will. Now you come before me and
speak the
truth about Adam and his family, for they have defied me. They flout my
will,
they ignore my commands. In their hands my Plan for creation comes to
naught
"And yet I say to you Lucifer, Lightbringer, that were you ten thousand
times as glorious, and they ten thousand times as vile, yet would they
still
stand in my esteem as far above you as the stars stand from the earth.
For you
are a servant, whose duty it is to obey my commands and carry forth my
plans,
and that is all you shall ever be. And Adam and his descendants are my
children, who shall inherit my kingdom, and nothing will displace them
from
that right. For that is the nature of the servant and the child, of the
master
and the father. And now it is given unto you that you shall remain and
accept
your lot, and the rights of my children, or you shall depart from me
into the
darkness never to return.
"And I say further unto you Lucifer, Lightbringer, most faithful and
glorious of Angels, that because you speak out of ignorance this once
do I
forgive you. But should you dare ever again to slander my children
before me I
will put you forth from my presence with my own hand, and neither your
deeds
nor your obedience shall stay my judgment. For it is not meet that a
father
should suffer his child to be slandered by a servant, even one such as
you."
Something
about that tale made it stick out in Snape’s mind about as clear as his
duties
as a spy and Potions professor, if not more.
No matter what he did for the Headmaster, either out of duty or
out of
concern, he could never hope to hold as much respect from Dumbledore as
Harry
Potter did.
Of course,
Snape knew that some of that lack of respect was deserved, due to
errors and
mistakes in his younger years by having ties with Death Eaters and even
joining
their ranks. He tried to atone for that
as much as possible by doing whatever he could to inform the great
Albus
Dumbledore, leader of the Order of the
Snape had
been doing so much thinking over the course of the past year, over
things both
concerning and not relating at all to Harry Potter.
Was he an angel or a demon? The
Potions Master who taught his students or
scared them? The spy who helped or hurt
the Order of the
Ah,
Harry… amazing how so many things connected Snape to him.
Six years ago, before Harry started at Hogwarts, Snape wanted to
do as
little with the boy as possible. Now,
however, he was wondering if he was doing enough for the young man
which Harry
was maturing into.
When Snape
first found out about his family ties to Harry, he almost wanted
to adopt his student.
Part of it felt like he was doing it to compensate for how
unjustly
tolerant he had been of Harry all those years.
No, Harry
had grown to the point where he was no longer that dependant on adults,
even
for him; Snape felt more as though he was there for Harry should
something ever
happen.
And more
things had happened to Harry in the past year which required Snape’s
attention
than before. First there was Harry’s
apology letter and wish for reconciliation; then there was when
Umbridge almost
killed him at her trial; then there was the N.E.W.T.-level Potions
training for
him to become an Auror; then with things like the Command of Osiris
potion
directions and that serpent ring; then adopting Harry; when Voldemort’s
Ministry insider kidnapped Harry; and when Snape had to rescue Harry
back and
nurse him back to health afterwards.
‘No,’ Snape
thought, ‘I’ve been doing enough for him, and he’s been doing enough
for me, as
odd as that still sounds.’
Snape was
now just as proud to have Harry under his wing as he was with his own
son,
Marcus (Mark).
Six years
ago, before even seeing Harry for the first time, Snape probably would
have
laughed for a week or so at that very thought.
Now,
however, Snape now found that notion
rather laughable instead.
Shortly
afterwards, Draco and Mark came in for lunch, and after that, Snape
sojourned
to his lab rooms to experiment with some new potential potions. The ingredients and texts Harry had managed
to acquire for him were quite useful.
Hopefully, he would finally be able to create a cure for
lycanthropy,
and maybe one which helped give magic to Squibs...
Snape no
longer found himself in the same situation as the Lucifer he had heard
of; he
was now equally important in the eyes of Dumbledore, almost the father
he
wished he had.
And that
alone was enough to satisfy him.
TBC…
This was
basically a lot of my thoughts about Snape somewhat jumbled together in
order
to create the 8th chapter of PoG. Sorry if I let anyone down or anything.
A QUICK
NOTE: This Ministry
insider mentioned above is/was one of the bad guys from HoG;
I’m just trying not to give it away for anyone who may not know.
Next
chapter is back to Harry & Co. … –Quillian