Parseltongue Heiress

Chapter 17

Once we made it to Snape's office, he talked to me about my potions final. "I know results haven't technically come out yet, so I'm not really supposed to tell you this, but you finished best in your class. Miss Granger was right behind you. I'm really very proud, you've come a long way from the little girl who entered my class, unable to believe magic even existed." I smiled, happy I did well. Then something dawned on me.

"Wait, how'd you know that? I didn't tell anyone I felt that way!" My eyes crinkled in suspicion as he turned pink at the ears.

"Well, I'm not supposed to tell you, or any student, for that matter, but I'm a legilimens."

I felt my body go rigid and my mind was buffeted by a barrage of memories that were locked away.

***

"She can't know! These nightmares are going to reveal the truth before she's ready to hear it. She's only a child, not even five yet. It's not safe for her to know. You need to erase them from her mind, block them off. Using legilimency is safer than obliviating her, and you are the most skilled legilimens that I know. Please, Severus. She needs you." My aunt was begging the tall man with the shoulder length black hair to help me. I was watching from the balcony over the stairs, fearful. My nightmares were constant, and had started to infiltrate my waking hours. The man, whom I would later learn to be my future instructor, looked up at me suddenly, sharp eyes softening when he saw my fear.

"Don't worry, Minerva. I'll help her. I'll never stop helping her. Her mother was like my sister. I never wanted this life for her daughter."

***

The memory blacked out, but was followed by another.

***

I was screaming, thrashing on my bed, being held down by my aunt as darkness overwhelmed my mind. A man with the face of a snake laughed in my head, flashes of green light following. More screams. Then, peace as a hand laid on my forehead, and I calmed.

"Minerva, it's not working. I can't get rid of the darkness that has marked her. Where is this coming from? Until we know the source, she will never know peace, not unless we lock away this part of her mind." The man was back, watching me with an unreadable expression, but his voice sounded sad.

My aunt was in tears. "Her parents entrusted her to me. We must do everything we can. Is there any other solution?"

The man looked unsure as he spoke. "There is one way, but it would require teaching her occlumency and legilimency, which is illegal for one so young. But it might be her only hope. Whatever is causing this seems to be attacking her mind, so we must teach her to fight back, block it out, and then remove all traces of her knowledge of doing so. Hopefully, she will continue to do it on her own, without ever realizing it. But it will take time."

My aunts voice faded as she agreed, and the memory faded to black.

***

A new, earlier memory, one of the terrors that tormented me as a child, broke through an invisible barrier in my mind, one I had forgotten was there.

***

"You have done a great service to me, Wormtail. It's a shame no one can know until they have been destroyed. Imagine the looks on their faces after they discover your treachery." The voice was high and cold, and the man speaking had the face of a snake. He laughed, a cold, hard laugh that chilled me to the bone. Then another voice, warm and full of light, but furious. I recognized it, for how could I not?

"What are you doing here? How did you find me?!"

"Ah, Aurora, my daughter. Long time no see! Peter here was just telling me all about little Maia. Were you ever going to tell me?" The snake man was my grandfather. Voldemort. I watched as my mother's face crumpled in horror. She gathered me into her arms and began to run.

The man, Wormtail, was a mousy man with a rat like face, and a chubby body. He slowly began to shrink, until a rat crawled out of his clothes. He could change forms?! My head hurt in a familiar way, and I recalled the way I felt after meeting Ron's rat. But this one had all its toes, although I suspected, not for long.

***

The memory faded, and I could guess how it ended. The barrage was done almost as soon as it started, or so it seemed. I looked around, confused as to why I was on the floor of Snape's office. Then I sat up, all my blocked off memories coming back to me, although less aggressively. I looked up at my teacher, and stood, albeit shakily.

"You... I knew you before all of..." I waved my hand around, "before all of this. You taught me to block off my mind, you protected me from the horrors of my past. Thank you." I gave him a hug, shocking him. Then I abruptly pulled back. "The stone! I need your help."

I told him how my friends were going after the Stone, thinking Snape was after, but that I knew better. "It's Quirrel, but they can't see that. They won't see it coming. We should help them. He can't get it! He can't hurt my friends!"

Snape looked at me strangely before speaking. "You just remembered everything your mind had locked away, and instead of dealing with that you'd rather help your friends first? How are you in Slytherin?"

I just blinked. "Because that's where I needed to be, to be most useful, I guess."

He just smiled and shook his head, holding openthe door for me. "Then let's go save them."