Dream & Shadow

9* Dumbledore's Advice

The two professors entered the castle and dried themselves with heating spells. Leonor took a rubber band from a pocket and put the damp hair into a loose bun. Severus watched her privately, avoiding carefully to be too obvious. Leonor's eyes were still red, the face pale and tired, but she looked relaxed and a little happy.

"Are you cold?" he asked.

"No, not cold. I'm getting a headache." She smiled despite herself.

"Dumbledore wants us to visit his office," Severus said matter of factly.

Leonor frowned. "That late? It can wait until tomorrow, can't it?"

"We better show up," Severus answered.

He took Leonor by the hand and led her briskly down into the dungeons, but not to his office. A narrow passageway was hidden behind an alcove built into the wall. Torches flared up on waving a hand and lit the stairs to an upper floor thinly. Severus stopped on a landing of the staircase and turned abruptly. His face was grave and only inches away from Leonor. She moved a step back and bumped to the wall.

"Severus, what— you scare me," whispered Leonor fighting the fear, but he let go and stumbled backwards to sit on the stone.

"I need to know," he panted.

"What, Severus?"

"How many, how many men?" The fury visible plainly.

"Four," Leonor said looking down the passage.

"The cuts and bruises, are they healed completely?"

"Yes, most are. One long cut was lethal. The scar is still visible. It's here." Leonor pointed between the abdomen and the thigh. "I cannot have children," she added sadly. Severus nodded as if something made sudden sense, then spoke quietly.

"My father was a violent drunk. I still remember my mother's painful whimper; the carefully concealed bruises, the days when she couldn't sit or walk. I should have killed him, but I was too cowardly. Instead, I counted the days to get away from home."

"Your mother would not want you to be a murderer." Leonor sat next to Severus putting her hand on his shoulder.

"She always wanted me to leave the house, to pretend I'm not there," he answered ruefully and added with an intensive glance to Leonor's eyes, "Are we friends?"

"Yes, we are. You saved my soul tonight. Should we see Dumbledore now?"

A sheepish smile crossed Severus' face before walking upstairs firmly. Both had been afraid to repulse each other with their past and now they could continue to work together. She liked it and knew Severus did as well.

XXX

Leonor expected to find another secret walk to the seventh floor, but the staircase ended behind a tapestry one floor above the dungeons. There was a little hallway with ancient portrayals and delicate chandeliers. The floor was covered with a thick dark red carpet. The corridor looked elegant and bright, and the wall opposite the tapestry showed a lordly door. On the right-hand side leaned a ladder next to a smaller entrance. A long narrow window to the left gave an outlook to the mountains and the forest.

"Where are we?"

"The potion's storage of the school," Severus said and pointed to the low door, "The other door is my private chamber. I'll get you something against a headache."

Leonor viewed the paintings and then turned looking curiously through the window into the gloomy night. Severus disappeared into his quarters and returned with two vials.