Chapter 4

Albus Dumbledore stood by the window of the Potter estate's drawing room, his face tight, devoid of his usual grandfatherly demeanor. The first snowfall of the season was arriving tonight, and the grounds were already starting to become whiter.

Lily sat in one of the highback chairs, her hands folded tight in her lap. James paced near the hearth, his agitation evident on his face, while Fleamont Potter helped himself to some of his father's brandy before taking a seat as well.

"The gala," Albus started.

"I know," James hissed angrily. "Five years of his reign, and now he flaunts it with a celebration, and now people lap up the propaganda because they believe their so-called lives are better now!"

"I mean, aren't they?" Lily's question stopped her husband in his tracks. Three pairs of eyes turned towards her. Two carried clear disgust, while one looked sympathetic.

"Lily, my dear. The world of politics is a fickle thing." Albus started, but her son cut in with "How could you even support him, Mom?! He's a Dark Lord! He took what was rightfully mine! The fame of defeating Voldemort should have been mine!"

"That's right, Lils. Fleamont was the one who was supposed to defeat him." James argued. "Now Albus thinks that Voldemort isn't fully dead yet. If he comes back, our boy will have to defeat him."

"Look," Lily said as she stood up, locking eyes with James and Albus. "I am not trying to play devil's advocate here, but the slums are gone, and minimum wages have increased. Heck, we have access to more healthcare options now and scholarships. For someone who proclaims himself a Dark Lord, he certainly has done a lot of undark-lordy things."

"Undar-That's not even a word, Mom!" Fleamont spoke up.

"Look, Lils, a guy whose name we don't even know, and makes all the Death Eaters his little bitches hardly seems like a good role model." James shot back. "He's turned Magical Britain into a freaking Medieval Monarchy again."

"I mean, it's not that dissimilar from Muggle Britain," Lily muttered.

"He's up to something, Lily. Albus is sure Voldemort will be back. We need to get others on our side and rebuild the Order for when that happens."

"And I need to get my fiancé back as well, Mom," Fleamont stated. "How dare she break off the engagement after Albus's last rally."

"Enough," Lily uttered, quieting the room. "I don't care nor want to know what you lot have planned. Leave me out of this," she stated before backhanding her son upside the head.

"Mom, what was that for?!" Fleamont uttered as he flinched and rubbed his head.

"Listen here, young man," Lily's voice got cold. "I struggled to keep you in this world, and I can sure as hell take you out of it. If a woman says no, then it means no. If I see you so much as approaching Ginerva Weasley at the gala, I will teach you exactly why your father whimpers when I take out my wand."

"Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Ma'am," Fleamont quickly said as he stared wide-eyed at his mother.

"Now, I would like to retire for the night. Albus, perhaps it is time you left," she suggested, though it did not sound like one.

"Ah, yes, Lily, it is getting rather late, and we still need to make final preparations for the gala in three days time," Albus answered as he was wary of her. He knew exactly what Lily Potter was capable of if motivated enough. "Perhaps your husband can see me off? There is one matter of business I would like to conclude with."

"Very well, come, Fleamont."

"But... I..." Fleamont looked between his father and his mother, and he really wanted to stay to hear what business Dumbledore had in mind, but considering his mother's mood tonight, he debated if it would be best to follow her. James mouthed "go," and the decision was made.

When Lily had left the drawing room, James turned back to Albus. "Well? Have you come up with a plan?"

"Something of the sort," Albus replied. "There are two scenarios for this. Number one, we manage to track down the Staff of Merlin, the artifact I told you about previously. With it, we can directly confront Lord Slytherin for his throne. What's more, Fleamont can then use the staff to deal with Voldemort. I currently have agents tracking down clues in the Arthurian legends about the staff, but until then, we will need to stay as inconspicuous as ever."

"And scenario two?" James asked, crossing his arms and raising a brow, as he clearly did not think they would be able to find the Staff of Merlin.

"It's a long con," Albus replied. "Instead of inconspicuousness, we cozy up to Lord Slytherin."

"And how exactly do you suppose we do that? The man hardly trusts anyone. He has his Death Eater slaves doing his bidding. They can't betray him. What will make him think us even trustworthy?"

"A show of good fate," Albus suggested. "According to Mundungus, word on the street is that Lord Slytherin is invested in finding a certain someone. A possible traitor to the Dark, Severus Snape."

"Huh? But... he let Snape go five years ago!" James pointed out.

"Clearly, he did not know at the time what he must know now," Albus suggested. "Those Death Eaters under his control must have whispered all sorts of half-truths in his ears. Why else would he want to track down Severus?"

"Severus' behaviour has been disappointing." Albus continued. "I have sent letters over the past years, urging him to come back and fight the good fight, but alas, no reply has ever been given. I fear he may be dabbling in Darker Magics now that he has been set free from the Dark Lord's clutches."

"Snivellus was always a bad seed, Albus." James huffed. "Now you finally see it too."

"Indeed. That's why I have a small mission for you and Sirius. It has to be completed within these three days," Albus said as he handed James a slip of paper. "I finally managed to track down Severus's location."

After Albus left, James stormed upstairs to the Master bedroom. When he opened the door, he found his wife changing into her nightgown. He grabbed her by the wrist and hissed, "Just what was that down there?! How could you be rude to Dumbledore?!"

"How could you let him tempt you into another one of his schemes?!" Lily shot back as she wrenched her hand from his grip. "Face reality, James! We lost. It's over. I would rather live quietly with the guilt that I already have than be drawn and quartered for treason when whatever else he has planned fails."

"He saved our son! We owe him!" James shot back.

"At the cost of our other son!" Lily stated. "Fleamont only survived because you couldn't keep it in your pants!"

"Look, no one expected you to get pregnant so soon after giving birth to Fleamont. We had a wild graduation night," James held his hands up to emphasize. "We never thought that he'd be born sickly, but good thing you had another baby on the way. We cured him, didn't we?"

"Do you even remember his name, James?" Lily asked.

James scoffed. "Don't even think about playing Holier-than-thou Lily. You were also the one who agreed to harvest his organs for Fleamont. Besides, no one knows he even existed in the first place. Albus did us a favour by erasing his name from the Magical book as well. As I said. We owe him."

Meanwhile, in Severus's cottage that was being battered by the sea winds, he wrote one final letter, having made up his mind. It was short but to the point.

'My Lord Slytherin,

I will attend.'

He sealed the parchment, tied it to the owl's leg, and watched as the bird vanished into the night.

The cottage fell silent again, and Severus sat back, his expression unreadable.