The Greatest Love, The Highest Sacrifice

Chapter 3 -- Detention in the Dungeons

There she weaves, by night and day,

A magic web of colours gay.

She has heard a whisper say

A curse is on her, if she stay...

Alfred Lord Tennyson, The Lady of Shallott

Muggle Studies flew by in no time. The seventh year class was quite an elite group by now. There were only fifteen students, a combination of all four houses, although there were only two Slytherins, and they worked very well together. They had been surprised to find that they had a new teacher this year, and even more so when they entered the classroom to find Professor Dumbledore sitting behind the teacher's desk, with his Phoenix, Fawkes, on his shoulder.

"Yes, I'm taking your class for this year. We're going to be doing focused work on Muggle literature, as a way of understanding the values and ideologies of Muggles as they have changed over the last few centuries."

Elsie loved learning the literature of earlier centuries; she saw it as a window not only into understanding Muggles, but humans in general. She had been taught to appreciate Muggle literature by her grandfather, who adored their poetry, and had a great penchant for Shakespeare, Keats and Tennyson in particular. As a result, she was both comfortable and enthusiastic about this year's course. As Professor Dumbledore said, "There's as much magic in their works as there is in your wands."

Dinner was a rushed affair. All the Gryffindors were talking vociferously when she arrived, plonking herself dramatically in the space Ginny had saved for her. She looked down at the meal in front of her and sighed, twisting her fingers absently through her dark brown hair. "I don't feel hungry at all," she explained to Ginny, but Ginny would hear none of it, and at her friend's insistence, she reluctantly began picking at her food. Her best friend had already heard about Snape and her encounter with Cináed, and she sighed dreamily when she had received the finer details of what had happened with Charlie's familiar.

"I've always wanted to meet Charlie's dragon," Ginny confided wistfully. "But Mum insisted that a brute as big as Cináed was totally unsafe in The Burrow." And she did a very creditable imitation of Mrs. Weasley telling Charlie how he couldn't bring his dragon on visits. "And he likes you, Norri!" she continued enviously. "Charlie always said Cináed's incredibly fussy about his humans."

Elsie opened her mouth to say something, but then thought better of it and closed it again. Her eyes flickered to where Professor Snape sat at the High Table, the perpetual scowl on his face as he listened to something Professor McGonnagall was saying, and glaring at the students who walked past. Elsie sighed, thinking to herself how much she wished she were able to wipe the scowl away and make him really smile.

She started suddenly as she realised Ginny had just asked her a question, and blushed when she saw the knowing look on her best friend's face.

"Sorry Ginny, what did you say?" she asked, hoping to stem the inevitable commentary sure to follow.

Ginny shrugged her shoulders, and at that moment Elsie heard Ron's distinctive voice in her other ear. "Please, please tell me that it wasn't Professor Snape you were gawping at so obviously," he murmured. Elsie swiveled in her seat to see him grinning at her -- looking remarkably like Fred and George, she thought absently -- with Hermione wearing an identical grin on her face and Harry looking simply thunderous.

Elsie swallowed. "Was it really that obvious?"

"You're damn right it was," muttered Harry, stabbing his fork into his food. He turned and looked at Elsie. "Honestly, what is it you see in him?" he asked. "He's just given you detention, for goodness' sake!"

Elsie sighed. "I know. But he can't have always been like this! He must have been a happy person once." She looked back at Snape, who was gathering his robes about him as he stood, casting one contemptuous glance around him before striding out of the Great Hall -- off to prepare her detention, Elsie realised ruefully.

Quickly she leaned back and whispered something to Ginny. She smiled apologetically at them all as she also rose to leave. "I guess I might as well get this over and done with." They all nodded. "See you in the common room in a couple of hours."

As she walked out of the Hall and headed down the stairs to the Potions dungeon, Elsie wondered what punishment Snape had in store for her. 'Probably cleaning the floors à la Muggle,' she thought to herself. Her mind flicked back to Harry's mutinous expression when they had caught her watching Snape. "No wonder Sirius thinks he's so much like his Dad,' she reflected, and then she guiltily remembered Sirius. 'Much, much too complicated,' she berated herself. 'At least have the sense to get detention over and done with -- then you can go talk to Remus.'

By this stage, she had reached the Potions classroom. The door was firmly closed, so she rapped on it and waited, her heartbeat quickening. From beyond the door she heard a familiar voice say "Alohomora" and the door swung open to reveal an empty classroom, except for Snape, who was sitting at his desk.

"Come in, Miss Norr," he said, not lifting his head as he continued marking what appeared to be fifth year assignments. "Take a seat." Elsie was surprised at this -- it belied the many stories she'd heard from Ron and Harry about detentions with Snape. But she was not about to say so, and she sat down in the front row, directly opposite the Potions Master.

For several minutes, there was no sound except the movement of Snape's quill across parchment. Elsie did not move, except to allow her eyes to wander over the many jars floating around the room. Then she heard Snape put down the quill and she looked back at him, expecting instructions of some kind that would make the next few hours very, very uncomfortable.

However, Snape did not issue any instructions. He sat back in his chair, flexing his fingers together as he looked at Elsie. "Miss Norr," he said, and his tone was almost civil, "I must tell you that I was most disappointed with your behaviour this morning." Elsie lowered her head -- calm recrimination was even worse than outright punishment.

"No matter what it was that Malfoy said to you, you were not justified in what you did. Your actions were immature, headstrong and thoughtless -- the sort of thing one expects from a Gryffindor," here the sarcasm was evident, "- but not from you."

Although Elsie understood what Snape was saying, agreed with it, and had already apologised for it, she could not help but flinch at her professor's words. She looked up at Snape, to be confronted with the unexpected. Despite his harsh words, Snape's face was gentle -- almost unrecognisable in its gentleness -- and his expression was one of understanding.

Elsie's own face must have expressed her confusion at this, for Snape smiled wryly and said softly, "Even though I know what led you to curse Malfoy, I still consider what you did unjustifiable."

Elsie paled, then whitened as the full import of what Snape had just revealed hit her. "How do you know?" she asked in a voice which trembled.

Snape sighed and rose from his chair. He walked to the other side of the classroom and stood facing the wall, his head bowed. When he began speaking to her, he raised his head, but he did not turn back to Elsie.

"After your class, I had asked to speak with you. When you left, I presumed you had forgotten, and I started out of the room to catch you before you had gone. I had just emerged from the classroom when Malfoy started." He paused. "I have excellent hearing."

Elsie's ears began to burn as she realised that if Snape had heard Draco, he had most definitely also heard her. 'Oh God,' she prayed, 'please don't let him say anything. Please don't let him ridicule this -- anything but this.'

It seemed that her prayer was heard, for Snape made no comment about what she had said. He turned and looked at her speculatively for a moment before continuing. "So, even if Mr. Malfoy had not come and explained everything to me, I would have been aware of the truths behind the matter. But I could not let unauthorised spellcasting go unpunished."

Elsie hardly heard this last statement. Her mind was reeling from the knowledge that Draco had actually come and explained his actions to Professor Snape. It seemed impossible, but there was no need for Snape to lie about something like this. Unconsciously, she smiled at this proof that Draco did have the nobler aspects of character which she had always attributed to him. She was unaware of this smile, or the effects it had on Snape. Any wavering intention he may have had of enforcing Elsie's detention completely disappeared.

He cleared his throat and continued. "Although your actions did merit the detention I originally gave you, both my own awareness of the context and Mr. Malfoy's illuminating explanation have convinced me that there is no need for you to fulfill it."

Elsie looked up at him, her eyes shining with gratitude. "Thank you, Professor!" she exclaimed earnestly. As Snape continued to regard her benevolently, Elsie wondered exactly why he had changed his mind. 'Could it be?' she wondered, and hope leapt up within her, only to be extinguished by her practical rationality. 'Much as you wish, Norri dear, he could never feel that way. He just felt sorry for you, that's all -- and you know how much he likes Draco. He's obviously made the exception out of consideration for Draco.' Elsie tore herself away from her thoughts to listen to Snape again.

"I expect that an incident of this nature will not be repeated. I will not be returning the points you lost from Gryffindor" -- well, she hadn't expected that anyway -- "but I am sure that with your excellence in Potions you will soon redeem them for your house."

For a second, Elsie thought the Potions Master was about to say something else. There was something in his eyes, an indefinable expression that seemed to suggest...but then Snape picked up his quill, and Elsie knew she was dismissed. She stood and collected her bag. "Thanks again, Professor." He nodded and returned to his marking, and Elsie left the classroom, closing the door quietly behind her.

Once outside, she stood staring at the door she had just closed behind her. 'Curiouser and curiouser,' she thought to herself. 'And what am I going to do with an hour and a half of time everyone thinks I'm serving as detention?' Elsie grinned to herself as she realised exactly what this breathing space allowed her to do. Quickly checking to make sure no one was in the hall, she pulled her wand out of her robes. Tapping herself lightly, she murmured a few words -- and promptly disappeared.

Several minutes later, a voice was heard just outside Professor Lupin's door. Lupin had left it ajar, in case any students came past, but when he stuck his head outside to see who had spoken, the corridor was deserted. He was about to go back inside when he heard a voice in his ear saying, "Hold on Remus, and let me in first."

He was startled, but then grinned and replied, "I might have known it was you, Norri," and he held the door open dramatically before closing it carefully and locking it behind him. Remus Lupin turned and gazed with widened eyes at the young woman standing before him. "Are you sure it's safe that way?" he asked, his hands gesticulating vaguely at her person.

She laughed, and shook her long blonde hair out around her. "Do you still have all the charms in place? And you're not going to be disturbed tonight?" When he nodded, she smiled, satisfied, and sank into the divan near the fire. "In that case, it's perfectly safe." When he still appeared dubious she said rather crossly, "Oh come on, Remus! If it's safe for Sirius to visit you here, then it's definitely safe for me. You have no idea what a relief it is to be one's self for a change." She stopped and looked at him apologetically, remembering who and what he was. "I'm sorry, Remus -- you have every idea."

He shrugged and sat down beside her, placing an arm around her in a brotherly fashion as she laid her head on his shoulder. "Its all right, Norri," he said softly. "I know how hard it is. Its just that between you and Harry and Sirius, all I ever seem to think about is safety." A sudden thought occurred to him, and he pulled a battered watch and chain out from somewhere in his robes. "He'll be here any minute, actually," he said matter of factly.

"What?!" Elsie cried in horror, and jumped up from the divan. "Harry's coming here and you didn't tell me?! Now what am I going to do? You know it takes half an hour for the charm of..."

Remus cut her off before she could get any more worked up. "Not Harry, you silly thing! Sirius. Although," he added reflectively as he looked at her, "even if it was Harry, he wouldn't have a clue who you were. I mean, you're blonde, and blue-eyed, and..."

"...and Lily looks nothing like me," she finished for him, though her tone was glum where his had been neutral. It had been a hard day, and for some reason this topped it off. Her eyes filled with tears as she added forlornly, "So even if I got a chance to see him -- like this -- it wouldn't mean anything to him at all."

Remus sighed, and pulled her back down next to him. "Come on, Norri, be reasonable. One day it won't be like that, but right now that's the way you want it to be, remember? No one knows you even exist, and that's the only way you can protect him." He chucked her under the chin as she smiled tremulously at him.

He sighed, and the worry lines were plain on his face. "You know I still think you're too young for this, don't you?" he asked, not looking at her. "Its just too much, what you've been doing. And it wasn't fair on Charlie."

Norri looked at him exasperatedly. "Remus, I've been doing it for three years now. Surely that's long enough for you to realise I can handle it." She looked at the ground as she added, "And this has nothing to do with Charlie." She didn't think that this convinced him, as his next statement proved.

"I heard you had a hard day at school today," he said, apparently changing the subject. "Detention with Snape?"

Elsie could tell he was looking at her intently. "How did you know?" she asked suspiciously.

"Harry told me," he replied evasively. "He was worried about you."

She grimaced. "The last thing I need Remus," she said to him, and there was steel in her voice along with affection, "is for you to drill me about Snape."

"What about Snape?" asked a voice from the fireplace, and the two of them looked up to see Sirius shaking off the last of his Floo powder.

"Sirius!" Norri cried gladly as she sprang up and threw her arms around him. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming?!"

Someone a little more cynical than Norri might have called Sirius' expression at this guilty, but his air was relaxed as he replied, "Oh, I just wanted to discuss a few things with Remus." The aforementioned Remus did not look impressed with this, and his gestures to Sirius indicated that he felt Norri should be included in whatever he wished to discuss.

"So what about Snape?" he repeated, as he looked down at the girl he was still holding. There was an edge in his voice as he asked, which Norri chose to put down to the same brotherly protectiveness she copped from Remus. If she had looked into his eyes, she would have been forced to acknowledge that the edge was caused by something quite different. But she did not -- would not -- look into his eyes.

"Nothing," she replied with finality, shooting a warning glance at Remus and stepping out of the circle of Sirius' arms. "And don't try to change the subject," she added. "You never come within five miles of Hogwarts without letting me know that you're coming, or arranging a meeting, or something! Why not this time?" She stood looking at him with her arms crossed, feeling absurdly childish, but determined not to back down.

Sirius kept his mouth closed, an obstinate expression on his face. It was Remus who came up and told her, placing his hands on her shoulders as he looked into her face. "He didn't want you to get involved, Norri."

But she would have none of it, and brushing him off, she confronted Sirius again. "Well, that's your prerogative, I suppose -- you'll excuse me for having one of my own. I'm not leaving -- and neither are you -- until you tell me what the hell is going on."

Sirius sighed, and his whole body seemed to sink where he stood. He answered Norri, not looking at her face, but staring into the fire Remus had just lit. "Voldemort's coming this winter," he stated tonelessly.

Norri took a step backward, her head whirling. "No," she whispered to herself. "It's too soon, he's not strong enough yet. It isn't true, it can't be true! Remus?" She turned to him desparately, knowing what he would say but hoping against hope that his answer would otherwise.

"I'm sorry, Norri," he said quietly, and lead her back to her seat on the divan.

Sirius coughed uncomfortably from where he was still standing in front of her. "Norri, I'm sorry. But there's more." He paused, uncertain as to how to break it to her. "Justin's coming with him."

She stared at him blankly, not comprehending the significance of this declaration. Then, as it sank in, she blanched and began trembling uncontrollably. "Oh God," she breathed. "That's rather unexpected, isn't it?" She began to laugh weakly and the two men looked at each other in alarm, obviously thinking that she was hysterical. "Four in one," she said mysteriously to herself, and they wondered what on earth she could be talking about.

Then something else occurred to her, and she looked up at them both, wild-eyed. "One of you has to tell Severus!" she exclaimed in alarm. "Voldemort will want him as much as he wants Harry!"

In spite of the extreme seriousness of the situation, Sirius could not help but allow the twinge of jealousy he felt have full vent. "Since when did Snape become Severus?" he demanded icily.

"Since when did being my best friend equal fulfilling a parental role in my life?" she shot back, and he winced. She knew -- as well as both of them did -- that this was not why he was angry. But there were too many other things to discuss, and she steered clear of this issue at the best of times.

"The reason I didn't want to tell you," Sirius explained carefully, obviously trying to check his temper, "was because of Justin. I don't have details yet, and I didn't want to bother you until I could give you specifics."

She grimaced at this, but recognised the truth in what he said. Talk of Justin always shook her to the core, and although she had never admitted it, Sirius knew it -- just like Sirius knew everything else. 'Almost everything,' she corrected, her mind flying to a picture of Snape and then flying away again just as quickly.

Norri looked at Remus sitting next to her, and then up at Sirius again. "Grandfather knows," she said, and it was not a question. The two men nodded, and she released a sigh of relief she had not realised she was holding. "So, are there any plans in place?"

This was met with a pair of shrugs, but recognising this wouldn't satisfy Norri, Sirius elaborated. "Only general ones. Dumbledore is in full control of the situation. McGonagall and Snape are both aware of what's going on too. And Charlie Weasley is here for the same reason."

He paused here, noticing how Norri clenched her fists at this reference to the new Hogwarts professor. His eyes narrowed, and in spite of his best intentions, he couldn't help sighing in exasperation. "Norri, I always told you that I thought you should have let him know everything."

She looked at him defiantly. "He wouldn't have agreed with what I did. And he wouldn't have understood the reasons -- I didn't want him to get involved!" she exclaimed. When she saw Sirius still disagreed, her own fuse blew. "If I'd told him everything, I would have had to tell him how I'd been visiting you since I was fifteen. How do you think he would have liked that?"

Remus could tell from looking at the two of them that this was going to be a fight of considerable proportions. But before he could step in and intervene, they were all interrupted by a voice from the fireplace.

"Remus, are you there?"

It was Professor Dumbledore, and although his eyes still twinkled irrepressibly, there was a hint of worry behind the habitual cheerfulness.

Remus stepped forward. "Yes, Headmaster?" he asked, concerned as to what could be bothering Dumbledore.

"I was wondering if you have seen...oh, hello Miss Evans!" Dumbldore's voice took on the audible tones of relief as Norri's face came into view.

"Hello, Professor," Norri replied, smiling wanly.

"I presume you've heard the news, then?"

"Yes. Yes, Sirius told me," she replied, sending a glare in Sirius' direction that made it clear she resented the fact he had wanted to keep the news from her.

"Good. I was actually trying to find you, Sirius. I need to talk to you about the plans we are going to put in place. We still have several months until winter, but the sooner we finalise things, the better I'll feel about the whole business."

Sirius moved forward until he stood next to Norri at the fireplace. If he noticed that she shied away from him, he did not let his expression show it. "No problems, Professor. I'll be right up."

"Excellent. The password is toot-sweets just now. I'll see you shortly."

And he was gone.

The three of them stood in silence for several moments. Norri was the first to move. "Well, I'm off too, then."

"But it takes an half an hour for..."

She cut off Remus' protest. "There are more places than your chambers to wait for an hour while the Illusion Charm works," she snapped, then glanced at him apologetically. "I'm sorry, it's been a long day. I don't really feel up to conversation anymore."

She leaned over and hugged him quickly, then turned to Sirius.

"Next time you come, do you want to let me know? Even if you do want to keep information from me, I'd rather see you about other things than find out you came and went without even saying hello."

He nodded, but didn't say anything, and she shrugged her shoulders before whispering a few words which took her out of their sight. The door opened and closed, and Norri was gone.

"I thought I asked you to make sure she wasn't around when I came," Sirius snapped, more angry with himself than with Remus.

Lupin shrugged. "She was meant to be serving detention with Snape," he said meaningly, running a hand through his pale hair as he did so.

Sirius' eyes darkened again at the mention of the Potions Master. It was too much for Remus. He had spent the whole day teaching, had counseled Harry for an obvious crush on Elsie, organised to see Sirius, been caught out by Norri's appearance and played referee in a duel of words between his two best friends. He had had enough.

"Honestly, Sirius, if you aren't going to tell Norri that you're in love with her, you have no right to complain about the fact that she's interested in another man! She's twenty-seven for goodness' sake. Half the girls in her grade are already married. All of them have had some kind of serious relationship. Why not her?"

"She had Charlie." The response was sullen.

"You know as well as I do that she was never in love with Charlie. He was her friend; someone her age, someone she could be with and feel normal."

"Then why did she go and get herself engaged to him?!"

The retort was explosive, and Remus realised belatedly that this was an outburst that had been years in the making. Unfortunately, he did not have the answer to this most fundamental of questions. Nobody did -- not even Norri, he suspected. But an answer like that was not about to pacify Sirius.

He groaned at the complexity of it all. "How would I know?" he said quietly, sitting down on the divan and staring into the fire. "How would anyone know why she's done any of the things she's done?" He looked up at Sirius, still pacing the room. "How would I know why she visited you in Azkaban all those years ago? How would you know why she believed your explanation about what really happened with Lily and James? How would either of us know why she's still refusing to reveal who she really is to the wizarding world as we know it?"

Remus looked back at the fire. His worn face clearly showed how much he felt for Norri. Having been an outcast for so much of his life, he could perfectly identify with her situation.

"We're talking about Norri here, Sirius, but we're limited by the Norri we know."

Sirius looked at Remus, not understanding exactly what his friend was getting at. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked.

"There are worlds within worlds, Sirius. We see Norri as an intelligent, extremely controlled young woman. Head of her class, doing brilliantly as an Auror before she decided to throw everything -- including her engagement to a wonderful young man -- away for the sake of protecting a young man who already has excess of protection. And as far as either of us can tell, she hasn't looked back."

He paused for a moment, and in the flames he could see the flicker of a history, a past which presented Norri in a very different light: the light of Elinor Evans.

"There's a side to her you don't know at all, and I have only glimpsed at random. You have to remember, she's also the girl whose parents were needlessly killed by Death Eaters, who had the sister she adored murdered and the nephew she hardly knew taken by a sister who wouldn't have her as well. She was only eight, Sirius! And then she lived all those years alone with her grandfather, banished from interaction with others for fear she would meet the same fate as the rest of her family. And when she was finally old enough to start Hogwarts, she was 'discovered' -- and relentlessly hounded -- by Justin Malfoy, who is even worse than his uncle Lucius. And amidst all this, Charlie Weasley was the only remotely normal thing that happened to her. No wonder she held on to him with both hands. And as for Charlie--" he stopped. "I don't need to tell you why Charlie felt the way he did about her."

Sirius nodded. He knew that what Remus had said was true. He forgot all too often what Norri had given up, and had no idea what kind of stress pretending constantly to be eighteen and carefree might bring. He wanted to talk more with Remus, considering that talking with Norri herself right now was not an option, but Dumbledore was waiting, and he needed time to sort out his own thoughts and feelings.

"Thanks, Remus. You're right, old boy. But I have to dash and see the Professor. I should be back in two weeks or so. Tell Norri that I'm coming will you? And, Remus -- look after her for me."

This last was added with a pleading tone that made Remus hug his friend quickly in sympathy, although he had no words of hope to give. But Sirius had survived for eleven years knowing that Norri's heart was not his; he could survive a little longer.