Finally. Something to think about that wasn't regret, or pain or bloody empathy. Something that wasn't in the past; something not to remember, but to live.
"What did he tell you?" Severus asked urgently, walking around the table.
Draco closed the door behind him and sat down in the chair in front of his desk. "I know what he's doing in the Room of Requirement."
"What is it?"
"He's interrogating the Death Eaters. He's got all three of them locked up in there: Yaxley, Selwyn, and that woman. What's her name? Amon, Avon…"
"Agon," he corrected, pacing back and forth.
"Right."
"Did he tell you anything?" he pressed. "What did they tell him?"
"He didn't tell me exactly what they confessed, no…"
Severus sucked his teeth in annoyance.
"But you can ask them yourself," Draco added.
Severus met the smug grin on his face questioningly.
"Don't you see?" the boy whispered. "We know what he's doing in the room. How hard can it be to make it appear? All we have to do is think three times, 'I need a place to hold prisoners,' or something like that. We can get in!"
He seemed as excited as Severus secretly was, but far less good at hiding it.
"Good," Severus replied quietly. "Good. We'll have to make sure Potter doesn't try to get in while we're there."
"Let's just go at night," said Draco with a scoff. "Potter still sleeps like he's eleven."
"Good," he repeated softly. "Tonight then."
The boy nodded. He got up from the chair and headed for the door, only to stop in his tracks and glance over his shoulder.
"Oh… sir?"
"Hmm?"
"Potter told me something else."
Severus looked up. "Yes?"
"He said that Selwyn and that woman, Agon… apparently they resist Veritaserum."
The Professor frowned almost imperceptibly.
"But I mean… it's not too strange, is it?" Draco asked. "They're Death Eaters, after all. Right?"
Severus didn't answer. He gave a small nod, which Draco took as enough of an agreement to consider the matter settled and leave the office.
Yes, it was indeed too strange. None of the Death Eaters he had ever known had been able to resist Veritaserum, not even himself. He had told Potter otherwise just to irritate him. And now, suddenly, two Death Eaters—coincidentally the two they had taken hostage—were able to do it. Bizarre. Suspicious.
He sat at his desk, thinking for a while; then suddenly he knew what he had to do.
As he entered his quarters, the memory of the previous evening's conversation seemed to belong to another life. He was even surprised when he saw Omegas giving him a vacant look, before he remembered. He forced himself to pretend not to notice: empathy could wait.
"What is it?" she asked curiously.
He gave her a mischievous smirk and for a moment felt as if their roles were reversed.
"I have two Veritaserum-resistant Death Eaters imprisoned, and the means to interrogate them safely in an untraceable room, away from prying ears."
She parted her lips and stared at him for a long moment, then let out a disbelieving huff and jumped excitedly out of the chair.
"Are you joking?"
He frowned. "When have I ever joked?"
"Oh…" she murmured. "Touché." She brought her joined hands to her lips and paced the room quickly. "Which Death Eaters?"
"Selwyn and Epsley, the two we captured in the forest."
She stopped abruptly and looked at him. "That mad woman with the doe eyes?"
He nodded.
"Interesting," she said quietly, and resumed pacing.
"What exactly do you know about resistance to Veritaserum?" he asked.
She shrugged. "Well, I know how to resist it."
"Obviously," he deadpanned. "But how do you do it? Is it learned? Is it innate?"
She huffed. "Oh, of course it's learned!" she replied sourly. "Everything is learned! It's like Parseltongue all over again. All those stupid legends about innate abilities that no one can learn. I learned Parseltongue!"
Severus rolled his eyes. "You didn't learn Parseltongue. You turned into a snake," he pointed out.
"Same thing," she insisted.
He huffed. They had already had that conversation, and he knew it would lead nowhere.
"Have you learned to resist Veritaserum or not?" he urged.
Omegas waved a dismissive hand in front of her. "More or less."
He shot her a glare. "This is no time to be vague."
"All right, all right," she muttered.
She sank back into the armchair with a soft sigh and gestured for him to join her. Severus approached and sat down in front of her.
"Resisting Veritaserum is complex," she explained. "It's not just a matter of giving vague answers, I mean, that helps, but…" She leaned towards him. "To manage not to speak, you really have to have been in a situation where you didn't want to confess something. Do you know what I mean? You have to know that feeling, tame it. Make it your own. You need a good reason."
She tapped her fingers on the surface of the low table and lost herself in thought for a moment.
"I managed because once, in Ireland, I was captured by some dark wizards who wanted the…" She stopped and shook her head. "Well, it's a long story, I'll tell you later, that's not the point. The point is that I'd had a bad argument with Dumbledore. And I mean… a bad one. So, when they asked me, 'Who sent you to look for the lance?', I was angry with him to the point that I didn't want them to know I was working for him. So I resisted."
She got up from the chair again and resumed pacing.
"It's not just a matter of not wanting to give answers, there must be a valid reason. There must be a… a…"
"A feeling?" he ventured.
She turned to meet his gaze. "Yes. A feeling," she confirmed. "A feeling strong enough to resist one of the most powerful potions in the world."
Severus raised an eyebrow. "And you resisted… out of spite?"
Omegas hesitated for a moment, then gave a smirk. "You vastly underestimate the power of spite as a motivator."
They locked eyes until a soft chuckle escaped Severus' lips. Omegas stared at him in amazement, just as she had in his storeroom some time before.
"Did you just laugh?" she asked, her eyes narrowed.
"No," he replied.
Omegas didn't make much of an effort to pretend to believe him. Her smirk widened until all trace of amusement had left his face and she found herself facing another glare. She cleared her throat and averted her gaze.
"So, you get it," she went on. "It must be a significant feeling, a powerful one, for it to work. Do you think their loyalty to Riddle goes that far?"
"No," he said bitterly. "I don't know about her, but him? He'd sell his soul to the highest bidder for a scrap of power. The only reason he's with Voldemort is because he's offering it to him."
"Hmm…" she mused. "Hatred?"
"Towards whom?" he countered.
She shrugged. "I don't know, Muggles? Muggle-borns? They're the ones they hate, aren't they?"
"I don't know," he whispered thoughtfully. "Isn't it too vague? How powerful can a hatred directed at no one in particular be? There are plenty of Muggle-borns."
"Right…" she mumbled.
She was silent for a while, then sat down in front of him with a newfound intrigued smile.
"How did you manage to pretend for so long?"
Severus frowned and met her gaze again. "To pretend what?"
"To feel that hatred," she clarified.
A half-smirk spread across Severus' face. He didn't like her asking questions about his past, but he'd never had the opportunity to boast about it. It had been a twenty-year mission. Severus knew he had been good, and it was about time someone acknowledged that.
He leaned back in the armchair with ostentatious, utterly false modesty. "I'm quite a skilled Occlumen."
She gave her a sceptical look. "Are you?"
He met her sardonic air with a solemn one. "I am."
Omegas studied him, her expression shifting slowly from mocking to astonished.
"Did you… did you close your mind to everyone for years?"
"Decades," he corrected.
Her mouth fell open. Severus took in the sight with no small measure of satisfaction.
"It must have been… horrible," she breathed.
"It was," he confirmed softly.
She acknowledged his words with a small smile and an impressed grimace.
They sat in silence for a while, before Omegas spoke again.
"We should go to the library."
He furrowed his brow. "Why?"
"Because the name Epsley rings a bell. I don't know why, but I've been thinking about it ever since that night."
She stood up, smoothed down her dress, and walked over to the door.
"Coming?"
"We have an appointment with Draco in less than five hours," he pointed out.
"I'm a fast reader," she countered, a clear note of arrogance in her tone.
He raised an eyebrow and looked her up and down. He rose from his armchair, seized by a sudden urge to prove that, of the two of them, he was certainly the faster reader.
They read. They read for hours and hours, in silence, facing each other. They tried Modern Magical History, because it started from the previous century, and Agon Epsley couldn't be more than a century old. Then they tried The Worst Dark Deeds of Recent History: nothing. They even reluctantly looked in the section where some of Rita Skeeter's scandalous volumes were kept. After spending about half an hour leafing through the pages of The Trials of Barty Crouch. Has the Ministry Told Us Everything?, Omegas slammed the book down on the table.
"God, I hate that woman," she grumbled.
Severus looked up from All the Secrets the Death Eaters Haven't Told Us, but hid his smile behind it.
"Are you sure you read that name?" he asked, declaring a coldness he didn't feel. "Maybe you saw one similar."
She scoffed. "Similar to 'Agon Epsley'?"
He conceded the point with a grimace.
"A pathetic name for a Death Eater, by the way," she added. "Imagine being called 'Agon Epsley' and trying to go unnoticed."
She chuckled softly.
"Can't have been easy for you either, can it? Severus Snape."
He gave her a grim look, the only purpose of which was to avoid laughing at another joke: twice in one day seemed excessive.
"Of course," he quipped. "You, on the other hand, are Miss 'You'll-Forget-Me'. Also known as Omegas Sylith Grindelwald."
She burst into a stifled laugh.
"Lower your voice!" she warned softly. "In my defence, I never told you more than my first name. Well, it'll be a bit harder to forget now—"
She stopped abruptly. She stared straight ahead with parted lips, then gave one of her cunning smirks.
"I remember," she announced.
Before he could ask, she got up and disappeared behind one of the shelves in the library.
She reappeared almost twenty minutes later, breathless and holding her bag. She pointed her wand into it, grabbed what came out and slammed it unceremoniously down on the table in front of him.
It was a copy of the Daily Prophet. She opened it, flipped through a few pages and placed her finger on a small article tucked into one of the last pages.
Agon Epsley, 34, half-blood, has been formally convicted of the murder of her son Ambrose, 10, which occurred in mysterious circumstances at her home in Wigtown, Scotland. The woman made no statement following her arrest, which took place at around eleven this morning.
"I was reading it the night we met," she explained.
Severus scanned the page intently. "Interesting," he said quietly.
"Is it?" she asked.
He nodded. "Some time ago, Selwyn was also arrested. He was accused of murdering his wife."
"Well, that's not so interesting, is it?" she countered. "They're Death Eaters. Death Eaters kill."
"He wasn't a Death Eater at the time."
She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Do you think they… got a taste for it?"
He shrugged.
"It doesn't make sense," she objected. "We're talking about trying to hide something to the point of not giving in to Veritaserum. These people kill in broad daylight. What could they possibly be hiding?"
Severus shook his head.
They both fell silent again. They remained at the table, deep in thought, for a long time. They didn't go to dinner, nor did they return to his quarters; only when the library clock struck midnight did they finally rise from their chairs, put their books away and head for the third floor.
Draco was already there when they arrived. He was pacing in front of a wall; he seemed impatient and slightly worried. When he saw them, he strode purposefully towards them.
"Why is she here?" he asked curiously.
Severus opened his mouth to reply, but realised that he couldn't think of a satisfactory answer. He gave one of his usual glares instead, hoping it would be enough to silence him.
It was.
"How does it work?" she asked, pointing to the wall behind them.
"It doesn't," Draco replied bitterly. "I've tried everything I could think of. I've tried 'I need a place to hold prisoners', 'I need a place to interrogate someone' and even 'I need a place to lock up Death Eaters'. It doesn't appear."
"Hmm…" Omegas mused. "Perhaps we could try 'I need a place to keep someone safe'. Sounds like something he might use. You know him better, Mr Malfoy. What do you think?"
The boy turned and looked around, as if expecting someone to be standing behind him.
"Are you talking to me?"
She frowned. "Who else?"
Draco stared at her confusedly. "Why… why are you calling me 'Mr Malfoy'?"
Omegas hesitated, then lowered her head. Without a glance nor a word, she walked past him and reached the wall behind them.
Draco followed her with his gaze. "Well… she is odd."
Severus shot him another glare. He agreed wholeheartedly. But he still didn't like the statement.
Omegas walked up and down the corridor with determined steps. On her third pass, a door appeared on the wall beside her. She opened it slightly and peered through the crack.
"Yes, I believe this is it," she announced.
Draco looked at her wide-eyed. "How the hell did you do that?"
"Well, Severus told me the boy has a bit of a hero complex, right?" she replied. "He believes he has to help everyone all the time, doesn't he? He would never have looked for a place to lock someone up. He would have looked for a place to keep them safe."
She smirked at the sight of Draco's open mouth, then shifted her gaze to Severus, her smile softening as she did so. He had to make an effort not to reciprocate.
The three of them stepped through the door and closed it behind them.
The room was quite spacious. Three identical four-poster beds stood side by side, each alongside a wooden bedside table piled high with food and drink. Yaxley was silently reading a book with a dark red cover on the bed on the left. Selwyn lay motionless on the bed in the middle, his vacant gaze fixed on the ceiling above him. Finally, Agon was curled up on the bed to the right, her knees pulled up to her chest and her hair cascading down her sides.
"Unbelievable," said Omegas softly. "We're giving them room and board. I've never seen prisoners treated so well before."
All three Death Eaters stirred and fixed their eyes on their visitors.
"Ah, Snape! It was about time," snarled Yaxley. "You brought young Malfoy, too, I see. How's Father?"
"Silence," said Severus curtly. "We're not here for you."
Selwyn stood up and walked slowly towards them. As soon as he passed the bed, it was as if an invisible wall had appeared to block his path. He pressed his palm against it.
"Good evening," he greeted. "To what do we owe the pleasure?"
Severus flicked his wand and a chair moved towards him. He put it in front of Selwyn's bed, then sat down on it.
"How's the shoulder?" he asked maliciously.
Selwyn wrinkled his nose in annoyance.
"Fine," he grumbled. "Well, it hurts, but you know… she must have hurt you a lot more than you hurt me."
He nodded at Agon, who got up from the bed and sat on the floor at the edge of her invisible wall.
"You… you are the Painless Woman," she said breathlessly.
Her voice could easily have been mistaken for that of a child.
Omegas smiled and sat down on the floor in front of her. "I like the title. Can I steal it?"
Agon tilted her head to one side and looked at her as one would at a particularly ugly animal in the zoo.
Omegas glanced at Severus and gave him a nod and a look that was tantamount to a 'You go first?', to which he replied with an almost colourless stare that she interpreted as an 'After you'.
She turned back to Agon. "So. Mrs Epsley…"
"Miss," she corrected. "I've never been married."
"Oh. My apologies, Miss Epsley."
Omegas bit her lip and swept her gaze on the other woman's face for quite some time.
"It's a shame, really, that we captured you," she whispered silkily. "Of all the Death Eaters we could have gotten… we got one who hasn't had the chance to live a life yet. A lot of Death Eaters are settled, aren't they? And look at you. A prisoner of the Resistance. Never married… never had children…"
Agon's eyes snapped to hers, big, innocent, yet fierce. "You know nothing about me."
Omegas grinned. "I know something."
She pulled the newspaper out of her pocket and threw it into the Death Eater's hands. For a moment, as it passed through the invisible wall, it glowed yellow-orange.
Agon took the paper, unfolded it and studied the snippet before her. Severus tried to read the expression on her face. It wasn't a look often seen on a Death Eater. It seemed to be… remorse? Grief?
"You two have something in common, don't you?" he chimed in. "What is Voldemort doing? Looking for followers among the murder convicts in Azkaban?"
"You dare speak His—" began Yaxley, but Draco threw an empty bottle of pumpkin juice he had picked up from the floor at him, and hit his head.
Selwyn chuckled and fixed his expressionless grey eyes on him. "Draco, boy. What happened to you?"
Draco returned the look with one of pure disgust.
"You redeemed yourself?" Selwyn sneered. "That's touching. If your father could see you now…"
"DO NOT SPEAK OF MY FATHER!" Draco cried, striding towards him.
Severus rose and stopped him with an arm.
"Gentlemen," Omegas said. "Please. This really isn't necessary. We just want you to answer a few simple questions."
Agon and Selwyn shared a joyless laugh.
"And how do you think you're going to get us to answer them, girl?" Selwyn asked. "Didn't your little friend tell you that the stuff he puts in our food doesn't work on us?"
Omegas' face twisted into an irritated grimace. Severus saw her pull out her wand and thought at first that she might curse him. Instead, she twirled it and the newspaper that had been in Agon's hands returned to hers. She unfolded it further and held it up to her face.
"Hm… 'Agon Epsley convicted of the murder of her son Ambrose,'" she mumbled, as if reading the news for the first time. "Interesting, isn't it? Such a tragic event squeezed into a three line snippet."
She fixed her eyes on Agon.
"It must be unpleasant. You work so hard to be remembered as a murderer and they slap you on the last page. Unless, of course…"
Agon seemed paralysed, her eyes lowered, her hands in her lap.
Omegas looked at Severus again and a flash of shared understanding passed between their eyes.
"You two have a lot in common," he repeated sleekly. "You both know what it's like to kill someone. To kill someone you were supposed to love."
He slowly approached the woman behind the barrier.
"What did you feel when you watched your son die? Anger? Pain?"
Agon's green eyes lifted to him, merciless.
"Stop it," Selwyn growled.
Severus studied them in turn.
"Ah," he murmured. He turned to Selwyn and sat back in the chair. "Look at me."
Selwyn raised his head defiantly, ready to fight, if only with words. But there was no battle. Severus stared into his eyes without uttering a word.
"Interesting," he said eventually.
He rose from the chair and gestured to Omegas. She got up off the floor and joined him on the other side of the room with Draco following behind.
"It wasn't them," Severus whispered.
She looked at him in surprise.
"Wasn't them what?" Draco asked.
"They didn't kill," he explained. "Agon didn't kill her son, Selwyn didn't kill his wife. They were wrongly convicted."
"That doesn't make sense," Omegas argued. "Why would they—"
She stopped mid-sentence. The same expression that had crossed her face in the library flared up again.
"I get it," she breathed.
"You get what?" Draco pressed.
She stared straight ahead and paced back and forth between them.
"Two people are wrongly accused of murder," she said quietly. "Both lose faith in the Ministry. Imagine being accused of killing the person you love most and being convicted. They become Death Eaters—of course they do. What else can they do? The alternative is to rot in prison for a crime they didn't commit. Besides, they can take revenge for the wrongs done to them. Riddle controls the Ministry, I imagine that must be quite satisfying."
"What does that have to do with anything else?" asked Severus impatiently.
She stopped, looked up at him and smirked.
"Don't you see?" she whispered. "Two Death Eaters who happen to have practically the same backstory. The same trauma. Nothing bonds two people like a shared trauma!"
She paused briefly, shooting Agon and Selwyn a contemplative glance.
"They met after being recruited by Riddle. They saw each other. They understood each other," she added. "Veritaserum doesn't work on them because they're trying to hide something. Because they know that if that something were known, Potter, you, me, anyone else here, would have the means to make them talk. We would know what weakness to exploit to make them say what we want to know."
She shook her head and burst into a soft laugh.
"Oh, it's not hatred, Severus, nor loyalty to Riddle. It's—"
"It's love," he concluded.
She nodded. "They are lovers."
All three turned and stared at them for a moment.
"They are protecting each other," she sneered. "Romance among Death Eaters… how touching."
Severus stepped into the trajectory of her gaze. They stared at each other with growing seriousness.
"You know what that means," he said gravely.
She nodded slowly. "I know."
Draco glanced back and forth between them a few times. "What does that mean?"
They didn't stop looking at each other, their expressions changing from awareness to shared horror.
Severus cast Draco a furtive glance, raised a hand and pointed at the door behind his back. "Out."
The boy frowned. "I'm not going out!"
The Professor's eyes snapped to him fiercely. He didn't say a word; he just fixed him sternly. Draco shifted uncomfortably. He opened his mouth a few times to retort, but finally huffed and made his way to the door, head down.
As the door closed behind them, Severus and Omegas returned to facing each other.
"Which one do you think has the information you're looking for?" she asked.
He turned and studied the two Death Eaters carefully.
"Selwyn."
"I thought so." She gave a soft sigh. "Oh, well… I ought to do it, then."
His gaze darted on her face.
She smiled weakly. "You know… in some parts of the world they say it's more effective between same-sex individuals. I don't know why. Maybe some kind of weird concept of solida—"
"You're lying," he cut her off.
Omegas fell silent. Her smile turned into something softer. "Yes, I am," she admitted. "Pretend I'm not."
Severus stared at her face for what seemed like an instant, but turned out to be several seconds.
"We'd better get started," she observed. "This could take a while."
He swallowed. He quickly averted his gaze and turned.
They cautiously approached the Death Eaters again. They studied them for a while, then exchange one last glance and nodded weakly.
"What is it?" asked Selwyn, a note of concern behind his cold tone.
No one answered.
Omegas let her eyes slide from him to his lover. She approached her with extreme caution and stood in front of her. She took out her wand, turned it a few times in her hands, then raised it and pointed it at her chest.
"Crucio."
Agon screamed.
"What— what are you doing?" shouted Selwyn. "Stop it! STOP IT!"
Omegas stopped, but kept her wand pointed at her. Agon, gasping for air, collapsed on the floor.
"What are you searching for in the forest?" Severus asked calmly.
Selwyn glared at him, his face contorted with anger. He didn't answer.
Severus glanced over his shoulder and gave another slight nod to Omegas.
"Crucio," she repeated.
Agon cried loudly, and Selwyn turned away.
After a brief moment of suffering stoicism, he lunged at the shield, but it glowed yellow-orange and blocked him.
"STOP IT!" he roared.
Omegas paused again.
"What were you searching for in the forest?" Severus insisted.
Selwyn held his gaze like a beast ready to bite, but kept his silence.
It took five Cruciatus Curses and Agon beginning to lose even the ability to scream before he gave in.
"All right, enough. ENOUGH!" he bellowed.
Omegas stopped and lowered her wand. She joined Severus as they both waited for the Death Eater to speak.
"We…" he muttered. "We were looking for a… a stone."
"Alaric… don't—" she croaked.
"I'm doing it, Agon!" he growled. "I don't care. Not anymore, I don't—"
"He'll kill you!"
"LET HIM KILL ME!" he cried.
Agon burst into tears.
Severus and Omegas exchanged a glance. There was no hint of it on neither of their faces, yet for a moment they could almost feel the other's horror. They turned to Selwyn, impassive, determined.
"Go on," Severus prompted. "The stone. What is it?"
"The… the Resurrection Stone," he rasped. "Potter used it. The Dark Lord found out. He found out about the Hallows."
Omegas' eyes widened as she took a step closer. "Is that what he's trying to do? Gather the Deathly Hallows?"
He nodded.
She froze for a few seconds; then burst into a loud laugh.
"Really?" she snickered. "Sweet Salazar, that's ridiculous! Is this supposed to be the greatest Dark Wizard of all time?"
At that point, everyone seemed to have lost their ability to speak. The three Death Eaters looked at her in stunned disbelief; Yaxley looked around as if expecting Voldemort to appear at any moment.
Severus, on the other hand, was simply confused. Still, he didn't ask any questions: she would explain what he had missed later.
He turned back to Selwyn. "Where's the snake?"
It was Omegas' turn to be confused. She looked up at Severus, then at Selwyn. He didn't react; he seemed to have regained a shred of his old, stern control. Omegas raised her wand again and pointed it towards the shivering woman in front of her.
"I DON'T KNOW!" Selwyn shouted. "I don't know. He won't tell us where he's hiding, or where he's hiding Nagini."
Severus approached him and studied him carefully.
"Hm…" he mused. "No, I'm not convinced."
Omegas waved her wand and opened her mouth. "Cru—"
"AT THE MINISTRY!" he cried.
She lowered her wand.
"He makes us take shifts guarding the Ministry of Magic. He makes us guard the Department of Mysteries, but we don't know why. He won't tell us," he blurted in a single, angry whisper.
Severus and Omegas looked at each other and both declared themselves satisfied with an eloquent look. They nodded, gave the Death Eaters another couple of inquisitive glances, then turned to leave the room.
The moment Omegas moved her head, her long curly hair hit the invisible wall. Severus had barely time to see a tiny orange glint: a lock of her hair was on the other side. It was enough for the Death Eater; he grabbed it with a movement so quick and violent that she lost her balance and ended up on the other side of the shield.
Alaric Selwyn had been stripped of his wand, as well as any other object he could have used as a weapon, but he didn't care. In an instant, he was on top of her and his fist had landed on her nose before Severus could retrieve his wand.
That, however, happened just a moment later.
"Stupefy," he said idly.
He hit Selwyn square. He was thrown over the canopy bed, collided with the invisible wall behind it and fell to the ground, unconscious.
Severus approached Omegas to offer his hand and help her up, but as soon as he tried to cross the wall, it stopped him and his left arm began to burn under the sleeve of his black robes. He withdrew his hand with an irritated gesture and a groan of pain.
She stood up and paused for a moment in front of the barrier, slowly extending an arm to pass through. She managed smoothly.
"It's the Dark Mark," Severus claimed, massaging his arm.
"Ah," she said softly. "Well… that's a brilliant spell! Do you think it was the boy?"
"No," he muttered. "If I had to guess, I'd say it was Granger's idea."
She grimaced in amazement, which bothered him greatly for reasons he did not stop to investigate.
There was a brief silence. He examined her: she had a broken and bleeding nose and a torn midnight blue dress. He approached her and pointed his wand at her face.
"Episkey," he cast.
Her nose cracked; she didn't even turn her head.
"Thanks," she mumbled absently. "You know what? I think I'm going to cut my hair."
Severus lowered his head and shook it. For the third time in a single day, he felt like laughing.
When they left the Room of Requirement, they found Draco pacing restlessly in the corridor.
"Finally!" he exclaimed, striding towards them. He scanned Omegas' bloody nose and torn dress. "What… what happened?"
They didn't stop to talk. They walked briskly down the corridor towards the stairs, the boy following behind.
"I was stupid, he grabbed my hair," she said lazily.
"He— how?"
"Long story. Hey, do you fancy a trip to the kitchens?" she asked Severus. "I'm peckish."
He stopped in his tracks and gave her a perplexed look. "You're… peckish?"
She nodded.
Severus decided not to answer. Instead, he continued walking and turned to Draco.
"I need to speak to Potter."
"Why?"
"Because we've managed to get some information and I think he hasn't been as lucky," he said curtly.
"What information?"
Severus' eyes flashed fiercely in the boy's direction.
Draco huffed. "Oh, come on! I'm the one who told you about the Room of Requirement. I've had to put up with Potter for weeks, make friends with him, do you have any idea how boring that's been?" he whined. "I bring you here, you get me out of the room, and now I can't—"
"Tomorrow," Severus interrupted, stepping closer to him. "You and Potter, in my office. At eleven."
Draco stared at him for a moment, then took a step back. He swallowed and nodded weakly.
"Yes, sir."
"Good," he said quietly.
He nodded to Omegas and the two of them walked back towards the stairs, leaving the boy behind.
When they reached the dungeons, Omegas headed for Severus' quarters, only to find that he had changed direction halfway down the corridor.
"Where are you going?"
He turned and gave her a blank look. "Wait inside."
He walked away before she could protest.
When he joined her again, a few minutes later, he found her sitting in an armchair, wearing a new, perfectly intact dark green dress. He sat down in front of her, waved his wand and a large amount of food appeared on the low table between them. Omegas looked at it, then back at him. She gave him a broad smile and pounced on the food with what Severus judged could only be described as 'animal fury'.
"So," she said, not bothering to swallow her bite, "would you like to begin?"
"Begin what?" he asked, following her actions with growing disgust.
"Asking questions."
Severus leaned back in the armchair and clasped his hands in front of his face. "The Deathly Hallows?"
Omegas stifled a laugh. He was grateful, for he was sure she would have spat all the food in her mouth at him otherwise.
"Those. You know them, don't you?"
He shook his head.
"You've never heard of the Deathly Hallows? Really?"
Severus had the sudden urge to slap her. He suppressed it, mostly because he was sure she would perceive it as nothing more than a caress. Nevertheless, he gave her one of his scowls and she lost her sneer.
"They are a legend." she explained. "A trio of magical objects said to make the owner the 'Master of Death'. My father searched for them all his life before he was captured."
She seemed to suddenly lose her appetite. She leaned forward and toyed with her fork.
"Gathering them was to be part of my… 'mission'."
"Did you ever look for them?"
She scoffed. "Of course not. They're not real, it's just a legend. I mean… sure, the Elder Wand is powerful, and yes, maybe there's an Invisibility Cloak that's enchanted well enough not to wear out, but come on… the Resurrection Stone? Please."
She chuckled bitterly and shook her head.
"It's ridiculous. I'm surprised Riddle wastes time on such nonsense."
Severus pondered on her words for a while.
If there was a wand that could make one the Master of Death, it was surely the one Voldemort had stolen from Dumbledore's tomb, which had almost caused his own untimely demise. There were thousands of Invisibility Cloaks in the world, and the right one could be anywhere. Although… if Potter knew about the Hallows, and the Death Eater had said he'd used the Resurrection Stone, then… could that be why he hadn't died? Surely no mysterious women with miraculous antidotes had come to his aid. He must have done something.
"The snake?" Omegas asked, snapping him out of his thoughts.
He looked up at her. He had never involved her to such an extent before. It had never even occurred to him to tell her what he knew about Voldemort, let alone ask for her help. He had never trusted her enough.
He pondered some more, quietly. She waited patiently, her violet eyes looking up at him. Severus had the impression she knew exactly what thoughts were running through his mind.
Finally, he decided to speak. He had already included her and she had proved surprisingly useful.
"Voldemort cannot die as long as the snake is alive."
She frowned. "Why not?"
"I believe he has hidden a piece of his soul in it."
Omegas, who had taken a large swig of wine, almost spat it in Severus' face. She choked and coughed, patting her chest to swallow. His eyes narrowed to slits as he waited for her bizarre reaction to be explained.
"You mean like…" she muttered hoarsely. "Like a Horcrux?"
The confusion on his face grew visibly.
"Do you… do you know what a Horcrux is?" she asked. For the first time since he had met her, she seemed genuinely frightened.
He shook his head slowly. She left the food in front of her and settled into the armchair. She tilted her head from side to side, as if trying to shake off a particularly horrible thought.
"Well, it's… a dark thing. A very dark one," she whispered. "I've only heard of it on two occasions during my travels, and both were… let's say unfortunate."
His interest now unquestionably piqued, Severus leaned forward in turn.
"The first was more of a legend," she continued. "It spoke of an ancient dark wizard who had placed a piece of his soul inside a… inside an object. One of the most inhumane things one can do."
"Why?" he asked softly.
She gave him a grave look.
"Souls seek souls, Severus," she said firmly. "A soul is not meant to remain attached to something cold. Something dead. When a soul breaks, it tries to cling to life. To imprison it in something lifeless is not only an act of madness. It shows a certain self-loathing, if you ask me. A certain contempt for what makes us human."
He took a moment to absorb her words.
"How do you break a soul?" he asked.
"By killing," she replied. "Well, not just killing. By killing with the Killing Curse."
The image of himself standing before Albus Dumbledore formed clearly in Severus' mind. He saw himself raise his wand.
"Severus… please," he heard him say. His last two words.
"Avada Kedavra," he heard himself utter.
Was it so? Was his soul broken? He closed his eyes for a moment. He tried to feel it. Did he feel broken? But he couldn't tell. He wasn't sure if he had ever felt whole.
"Do you really think Riddle did it?" she asked. "With the snake?"
He opened his eyes. "Probably."
Omegas shivered.
"What's the other one?" asked Severus after a moment.
"Hmm?"
"The other occasion you heard about it."
"Oh," she murmured. "Right. Well, there are stories that speak of Horcruxes as a war practice. As an act of compassion."
"Compassion?" he echoed curiously.
"Compassion," she confirmed. "You know, wars bring death. Always. And not always the people who are forced to kill are able to bear the burden. Sometimes the souls of good men break, and it's too much for them. Putting your soul back together again is one of the most painful things in the world, and it takes years. Decades even. So some say…"
She leaned forward again and rested her elbows on her knees.
"Some say that someone put the piece of their broken soul into someone else. With their consent, of course. Someone to help them carry the weight."
Severus's mouth fell open in astonishment. Who in their right mind would ever agree to that?
"It is just stories, of course," she added. "No one has ever provided a shred of evidence. I mean, even if they had actually done it, I doubt they would admit it, would they?"
He agreed with a grimace and a nod.
He remained silent for a while, then finally remembered why they were having the conversation.
"Voldemort did it to Potter," he said gravely.
Her eyes snapped to his. "You mean… you mean he created more than one…"
"Yes. At least two."
She seemed amazed, even impressed for a moment. Then she formulated a thought that visibly horrified her.
"That means… that means the boy must die," she breathed.
"No," he replied. "He already did. But he came back."
She raised her eyebrows in surprise. "How?"
"Well…" he whispered. "According to Selwyn, with the Resurrection Stone."
Omegas' eyes widened.
They looked at each other for a few more seconds, then both turned their pensive gaze to an undefined point in the room. Neither of them moved from their armchairs or uttered another word until sunrise.