Chapter Text
Time is a fluid concept when you are a magical wizard, and time is even more fluid if you are a magical wizard of Great Power who lives in a grand and ancient place of great magical power which has been soaked and steeped in Great Magics for Umpteen (yes that is a technical term) Generations of Great and Magical People
Smoke focused very heavily on the reality of what war can do to a person physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and in this case magically. It is set in the Twilight of the Great War, but it focuses on the time after the Great War is over, it has it’s lens set to the time after the dust of the Final Battle has settled after the dead are buried and the tears are shed and everyone is standing shell-shocked (or in this case “Spell-Shocked” that’s the term coined by the Golden Trio and Minister Kingsley Shacklebot used in the Daily Prophet in what was I believe chapter 10 or so of Smoke) and silent staring at the rubble of what was and terrified of what might become.
Smoke focuses on breaking the nearly impenetrable barrier that SILENCE causes (because silence is actually a character in the original HP books- if more people were more vocal and had stood up to the conventions of the society, the entire thing would have changed course for certain- but that is a very different soap box for a different day) and as such talks a lot about the Inconvenient Truths of a Muggle Reality and a Wizarding Perspective. Like the fact that Mental Healthcare is non-existent in the Wizarding World but there are enough Muggle-Borns to make that very unlikely as a reality (at least for our purposes in the world BadgerAngel helped create, where the world is a little kinder to people whose lives have been torn apart to the foundations by unspeakable horrors and tragedies and losses innumerable.)
The Castle is a character very much in her own right in the main body of Smoke- but BadgerAngel focused much more deeply on the characterization and the fixing and healing of hearts and minds and souls of living witches and wizards Whereas my work focused on Castle as the Great and Powerful Lady under her own right and what She could do to help the living souls under Her Care.
Severus Snape got shafted in the original work of HP- no offense AT ALL to JK Rowling- seriously nobody come after me here, love the original works so much- but BadgerAngel and I both felt very strongly that he DESERVED better than he got- so we fixed it.
Slytherins are NOT paragons of total evil in our world- they are people and so come in every shade of humanity that exists. BadgerAngel tried very hard and usually succeeded in giving depth and truth and life to each and every character that became part of her world- and there are a LOT.
Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs are people too- BadgerAngel’s work focused heavily on changing the balance of focus so that it wasn’t All Gryffindors All The Time. Because everyone in this world has an important part to play
I will never ever be able to do justice to the brilliance and awesome and heartfelt and tragic and raw and real magic that was what Badger wrote- I have not the heart, nor the experience, nor the wisdom, nor the grace, nor the heartbreak, nor the compassion (Ravenpuff though I am- Huffleclaw though I might be akin to as Dear BadgerAngel was) to put the words needed to the page and evoke the richness of the tapestry that she wove with words- and I still grieve deeply for all that we lost in the fallout of THE INCIDENT (and the other circumstances) which led to her bundling up all of her works on AO3 and abandoning ship.
BadgerAngel and I were friends though we were separated by years and miles and life circumstances and time and space and life, though we never met in person and communicated mainly by email googledoc and telephone conversations- I grieved her when she left, for she not only left the internet, she lost contact with me and I must respect the choices that she made and the reasons for them but I GRIEVED hard for that loss of contact which is why this work (much like Castle who was Chained) has sat dormant for nearly five years of my life after THE INCIDENT collecting dust at the bottom of my written works pile. I hope that she felt we were friends in the time that we had together, and if by chance she happens upon this I hope she will know I never meant any offense or harm to her at all if I caused any. I know I am not the same person I was before having known her and having gotten to be part of creating this wider world with her. I grieve that I will probably, certainly never be able to again, but alas the tide of life ebbs and flows in many a way.
So now a brief (for a given value of brief) synopsis of the brilliant Smoke (which was about 30 chapters before it left us and had much more planned besides as it was a slow burn):
Severus Snape is a Double-Triple agent working to take down the Dark Lord from the inside of the inner circle, having been charged to do so as a master spy, brilliant tactician, occlumens, and extremely intelligent awesome BAMF wizard by the leader of the Order of the Phoenix himself Albus Dumbledore. Much of his behavior in the original canon is explained by the fact that he walks an extremely dangerous tight-rope of loyalties- by necessity reporting to both the Dark Lord and to Albus Dumbledore in an attempt to end the threat of he who had been Tom Marvolo Riddle forever. Knowing at any moment the true loyalties and true purpose of his being a Death Eater could be discovered and that there are fates worse- much worse than death should he fail. Because of this, most of the Order of the Phoenix and most of the Hogworts Professorate believe that Severus Snape is the most vile of traitors and the most scummy of wizardkind and treat him accordingly even though he is working tirelessly to protect all of them without their knowledge. If they find out that he is trying to protect them it will get back to the Dark Lord and then they will surely be in very BIG TROUBLE and he will almost assuredly die. He has taken up this mantle of a task too much for one human on the very slim chance that evil will be vanquished and the Dark Lord will not take over entire control of Wizarding Britain knowing full well that regardless of the global outcome- he will Almost Certainly Die. Either the Dark Lord will kill him, or the Wizarding Public will cry out for his blood, or a team of Aurors will spell him and put him in Askaban and a True Believer Death Eater will kill him- or dementors will.
Severus Snape sitting alone in his chambers weary beyond all imagining and grieving after he has killed Albus Dumbledore as he swore to do under Unbreakable Oath- becoming quite unwillingly, but needfully the Acting Headmaster of Hogwarts under a brief reign of the Dark Lord Himself now dealing with a staff of the Order who hate his guts and want him dead, having to manage to seem incredibly cruel and vindictive and evil while simultaneously protecting a vulnerable student body from the wickedness and spiteful and frankly sociopathic actions of his UNWANTED but granted by the Dark Lord Himself Deputies at Hogwarts the Carrow twins (who are actually awful and terrible people who get off on torturing innocents) and ready and waiting and certain that he will most surely DIE before the war is over, trying to figure out how to complete his task and destroy Nagini the Snake which he knows for certain is the last Horcrux (not knowing that Harry’s brain is actually the Last Horcrux) so that Voldemort can be killed dead for good and realsies this time- is startled to find a Mysterious Letter bound by a sealing spell clever and sophisticated enough to intrigue and alarm him.
In the letter, he discovers that there is hope that he should live through this mess if he remembers a certain potion and goes out at a certain time to collect its ingredients. It is written quite astonishingly in his own hand and contains information only he would know dated 4 years in the future and signed by S.P.S (Severus Prince-Snape) Bemused and Intrigued he does as the letter instructs.
Upon following the instructions in the mysterious letter, he finds himself part of a Very Secret Meeting deep in the Forbidden Forest along with Minerva, Hagrid, and two other members of the Order who at the very same moment Severus received his Mysterious Letter also received Mysterious Letters of their own, written in their own hands with knowledge only they would have, similarly dated in the future.
Heartfelt and tearful apologies are made to Severus as their letters explained the trials and tribulations of Severus’s charge to Double-Triple cross the Dark Lord in the hopes of his eventual total defeat. There is much rejoicing that Severus is not a Total and Absolute Wanker of the Highest Order and there is grieving at all that has passed and all that must continue to pass until the Dark Lord is dead.
The letters sent to the Order give very helpful hints to each key member for actions that help turn the tide of the Final Battle to a better light and give legal teeth to the key members of the Order poised to make the most impact in the aftermath of the Dark Lords defeat. More specifically for our main protagonist- give Severus legal protections so that he will not immediately be executed on sight as a Most Vile Traitor by the horde of Aurors out for his blood.
Severus forgives the members of the Order for their hateful treatment of him in their grief and misunderstanding and charges them not to treat him any differently as discovery could mean Death or a Fate Worse Than Death for him and for them.
He charges Minerva with protecting the student body to the best of her limited abilities being hobbled by the presence of the Carrows on Hogwart’s grounds, with guarding them as best as she is able, and Hagrid with trying to communicate with the Forest Beings what is needed and with caring as he can for the grounds.
On his way back from a long walk in the Forest to get some alone time to clear his head in the dead of night; He comes across a beautiful Scottish Deerhound being tortured on school grounds by the Carrows which he rescues, heals, bathes, and names Smoke. Smoke becomes his companion when he goes about the grounds, coming and going like her name suggests- often disappearing for long stretches, clearly not tame, but always returning when his task seems the most impossible, when he is at his darkest, when he is mired deeply in despair and depression- Smoke offers him companionship and hope and helps give him the strength to see his task through to the end.
At the final Battle- Severus manages his task, but he is gravely and deeply savagely wounded by the great Snake Nagini- his throat nearly torn out. Severus manages to stay alive- poisoned and bleeding out in the shrieking shack when he is beset by Peter Pettigrew the most loyal servant of the Dark Lord who is very dangerous and violent in his grief. At the last moment when all seems lost and Severus has resigned himself to his death, Smoke comes to his aid and kills Pettigrew who had taken rat-shape in a final effort to escape.
Smoke then reveals her true nature as Hermione Granger after killing Pettigrew she transforms to her human self and manages to stop the bleeding and stabilize Severus Snape before he dies from his wounds, calling Minerva and Madame Pomfrey to his aid. Severus loses consciousness before he can become properly horrified and offended at Hermione’s actions during her time as his woodland companion being a Scottish Deerhound.
He wakes to house arrest being cared for by members of the Order with armed Aurors outside his chamber door and Hermione as Smoke guarding him quite jealously and firmly able to sense in Deerhound shape even those Aurors who are disguised.
Narcissa Malfoy is called in- being a brilliant witch well versed in Dark and Dangerous magics and Curses being of the lineage of the Noble house of Black and she helps work a spell that aids Severus with restoring his ability to use his voice and the dangerously necrotic and very terrible savaged wound left behind by being bitten by Nagini.
The beginnings of interpersonal healing and forgiveness are started between Narcissa and Hermione and Minerva.
Severus has a heart-wrenching and very affronted angry conversation with Hermione. It is discovered that she also got a Mysterious Letter along with the members of the Order on that fateful night that instructed her on which night and in which book in the restricted section to find the very ancient spell which was the fore-bearer of the animagus (which is in the Restricted Section because it requires a sacrifice from its caster—in this case the small toe of Hermione’s left foot) to become the Scottish Deerhound shape and also which Very Important Potions she needed to carry and also when she would be Needed in the shrieking shack to save an important life (though she thought at the time it was either Ron or Harry) everyone in the room is properly Horrified by her revelations- Severus is offended and yet somehow charmed and also disgusted and there are some nasty words and everyone in the room is generally upset by the whole conversation.
Kingsley Shacklebot is called in where it is revealed that the legal protections uncovered by his team make it so that Severus will be sentenced (but not to death)- but part of his punishment involves him acting out a sort of Parole /Community Service/ Civil Repair as the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Minerva still acting Headmistress in his absence. There is much rejoicing that he will not die under the legal system- but he will still have to spend time in jail for his crimes. Part of his sentence is served as what is basically house arrest and accountable to a special team of people during school terms at Hogwarts.
Severus winds up in jail with Lucius Malfoy during the off-term of Hogwarts- they circle each other like spitting alley cats in the most haughty Slytherin high-born fashion but manage to stay friends and have a long heart-to heart with each other. There is a repair of friendship and we get to see more of Lucius’s humanity, frailty, and the repercussions of his time living in mortal terror under the thumb of he who had been Riddle.
Narcissa and Draco have retreated to the seaside manor in France under House Arrest while everything is blowing over, Hermione Granger starts writing letters to Severus Snape while he is in jail as she pursues both a Muggle University Education at Muggle- Cambridge and continues learning advanced Magical practices. They apologize to each other and forgive each other in turn and start forming the tentative bonds of friendship based in intellect and shared love of knowledge and mutual curiosity.
Minerva also writes Severus weekly with updates to the repair of the Castle and Grounds of Hogwarts which she is overseeing as Deputy Headmistress. There was much damage and much to repair, but the tone of her letters is mostly hopeful if weary and exhausted.
The Golden Trio get together for a heart to heart time- start talking about the horrors of war and Hermione talks about how she is enrolled in therapy with a Squib in London, is on medication, and is working through the horrors of all that has happened. Harry and Ron admit to their struggles and together with Kingsley Shacklebot come up with a campaign that they take to every newspaper about the realities of war and raise awareness of PTSD or what the Wizarding World will know as “Spell-Shock” money and training as well as grants for potions which aid in the treatment of the symptoms of Spell-Shock begin to be gathered- Severus reads about this from his jail cell finds it necessary, but concludes that there needs to be more funding for such a project.
Severus receives a letter from a Barrister concerning an inheritance he did not know that he had from his grandfather Prince on his Mother Eileen’s side- He is gobsmacked by the fact that he now is the owner of Prince Manor and all of it’s holdings and accounts and that it can’t be taken away even though he was sentenced- as it is determined by the Ministry of Magic (with much grumbling) that he is actually a War Hero- spurred mostly by Shacklebot.
Severus gets out of jail and gets sent to Hogwarts six weeks before the start of first term to realize that there is still a whole heck of a lot to be done before it’s ready for students to return. Many plans are made.
Severus asks Draco and Narcissa Malfoy to assist with teaching the students potions as he is still the Potions Master but is now also the Headmaster of Hogwarts and the Executor of the Prince Estate and finds himself very overwhelmed by all of it.
Narcissa and Draco say yes, certainly as long as they don’t have to live at Hogwarts full time.
Hogwarts invites and hires on retainer a group of wizards and witches from the US, Canada, and Australia to serve as House Counselors for all of the students at Hogwarts because trauma is a thing and Spell-Shock is not something only experienced by adults, and a lot of the student body was directly involved in the Final Battle and whoa-Nelly is that a lot of stuff to deal with for anybody.
Professor Flitwick reveals part of his heritage and some of his family ties as he brings to Severus’s attention a young human Wizard who is indentured under a servitude contract to a noble Goblin Household as a tutor to their children for a family debt owed to the Gringott’s Bank- a young human wizard old enough and smart enough to be a Potions Master- Severus buys out the young man’s debt and offers him a job as the potions professor to the first through fifth years. He himself will remain the Potions Master to the sixth and seventh year students as he is himself a more advanced practitioner of potions. This clears a lot off of Severus’s plate and there is much rejoicing.
Hermione Granger having nowhere to go during her summer break away from Muggle-Cambridge where she is in the Pre-Med program, and planning on double-majoring in Muggle Medicine and Muggle Psychology having made an utter and complete mess of her relationship with her parents by her actions however noble in the books and by finding them after the war was over and returning their memories which she erased out of necessity finds herself essentially disowned from her Muggle Parents who are quite understandably extremely hurt and furious with her for what she did to them. They give her an ultimatum- forget that she is a witch, stop practicing magic and return to being Hermione before the mess of the War- or leave and wait for them to contact her (which given how hurt and angry they are might be a long time) she chooses to stay in the Wizarding World. Because of this she is staying with Minerva at Hogwarts.
Severus and Minerva have a drink in Minerva’s study where it is revealed that Hermione is essentially alone in the world at the moment and finding it difficult to cope being at loose ends without a support network. The professors scoop her into their circle and become her surrogate family, making sure that she has a place to stay and a great many honorary uncles and aunts.
Severus supports this and recites a Latin Phrase which turns out to be a deeply guarded spell unique to the Great Old Places of Magic like Hogwarts that grants Hermione safety in Hogwart’s Walls.
This unexpectedly awakens the Castle and frees it form a set of Magical Enchantments that held it under bondage during the reign of Headmaster Dippet and Headmaster Dumbledore. The Castle House Ghosts burst into the room and proclaim Hermione Granger the Daughter of Four Houses, a Ward of Hogwarts. A very special honor last granted in 1918 during Muggle World War One to a Jewish Muggle-Born Wizard. An honor and tradition ruthlessly buried and carefully hidden by certain individuals who were in power because of fear that it would break the enchantments used to chain the Castle and bend Her to the will of said individuals.
Hermione’s relationship with the professors, with the Castle, and with Severus Snape continue to grow and change once this occurs- she and Draco Malfoy have a needed Heart to Heart on the Quidditch Pitch Where Draco brings up the fact that Severus owes her a Life Debt because she saved him in the Shrieking Shack.
Hermione and Severus having gotten over the first hurdle in their relationship after the Smoke Reveal Fiasco have another conversation regarding the Life Debt where they come to a decision and Severus says he surely owes her such a debt- Hermione reluctantly allows this to stand, though it makes her very uncomfortable.
Severus and Smoke start having long walks through the grounds again, it does them much good.
With Castle now awake, Castle takes over a bulk of the repairs to the Halls, Walls, Grounds, and various physical attributes of the Grand Lady. Severus notices and starts having conversations with Castle’s Mouthpiece to the Headmaster- the Gargoyle on the Mantle Beccos whose cousin Ostiarius guards the stairway up to the Headmaster’s office.
Severus takes a trip to the Prince Manor with Narcissa Malfoy and has a bit of culture-shock whiplash when the grandeur of it all is revealed to him by the Manor’s personal cadre of House Elves. He cannot believe that he is the Lord of such a grand and noble Manor House. There is Cautious gratefulness and Much Awe and Wonder.
Through Several long and pointed conversations with the Castle- Severus starts to get suspicious of his former Mentor Albus Dumbledore. But all is not revealed yet.
The Forbidden Forest’s Centaurs start making noises about the poison in the Forest- Fenrir Greyback slaughtered a herd of unicorns before the Last Battle and left them to rot in one of the streams feeding the Forest- an act of deliberate violence for the sake of violence that upsets the balance of life in the whole forest-poisoning and corrupting it.
Great Effort is made to restore balance and cleanse the Forest and to purify the bodies not so rotted that they need to be burned.
The Ghost of the Gray Lady Helena Ravenclaw goes on a midnight walk with Hermione Granger and grants her the gift of her mother Rowena Ravenclaw’s personal diaries and workbooks which had been hidden in the observatory tower of the Manor. In these ancient and very informative texts, there exists a passage of study for the purification rituals which are pleasing and honoring to unicorns and centaurs.
Castle Aids Hagrid and Severus in finding the appropriate materials, rituals and spells for purification of the unicorns, a suitable burial site which will be accessible and honorable for the living unicorns and centaurs who will wish to honor their fallen herd.
Hermione starts to understand what it means for Castle to be awake and uncovers more of what being a Ward of Hogwarts and a Daughter of Four Houses means, her relationship with the Castle, it’s Ghosts, and it’s portraits deepens.
There is a purification and burial ritual held for the fallen unicorn herd under the light of a full moon- the professors and Hermione attend. Minerva sings a Scottish lullaby to soothe the slain unicorn foals, many a tear is shed by Hagrid and after a time of solemnity- they adjourn to the Castle.
On an after midnight walk close to the cairn of the fallen unicorns when Hermione and Severus can no longer sleep- they stumble upon the ritual mourning dance of the unicorns and centaurs- and have a conversation with Firenz the Centaur and Ambergris the Lead Stallion of the main unicorn herd of the forest and brother to the fallen stallion.
Severus Snape learns who chained the Castle, learns what a vile deed this really is and has a mini mental breakdown as his perception of one of his greatest mentors is shattered by the revelation that to the Castle- Albus Dumbledore was The Chessmaster- a twisted Lord of Light who took the position of Headmaster for prestige and acquisition of knowledge and power for his own selfish gains.
Castle asks Severus as Headmaster to release the final layers of chains that bind the House Elves of Castle and prevent them from performing all of their duties for the living witches and wizards that grace Castle’s Halls. Severus accepts.
There is an extremely Painful Conversation where Severus charges the Castle to Tell the Whole Truth regarding all that was done by the Chessmaster. There is grieving and hurt and anger. An agreement is made between Severus and Castle when the portrait of Albus Dumbledore is flung from the wall during the telling of the full tale when Headmaster Dumbledore is repudiated- and called Headmaster in name only and never in spirit. A plan for his portrait to be bound- but not destroyed, for most do not know of Dumbledore’s true nature- as its presence is unwanted and painful.
Hermione continues to foster relationship with Draco, Narcissa, the Professors, Castle, and Severus. She falls asleep in the Library, has a nightmare, and Wild Magic Shennanigans Happen.
It is revealed that the blade that Bellatrix Lestrange used to carve the cursed words into Hermione’s arm was a Horcrux- a most vile and cursed horcrux.
Severus calls Narcissa, Harry Potter, Professor Flitwick, and Sinistra for aid in dealing with the resulting Blood Curse from the wounds Bellatrix inflicted.
Severus calls upon Castle to guard the Horcrux in the Room of requirement until a counter-curse can be found to free Hermione from her most heavy and painful burden.
It is revealed at the ceremony that Severus has the blessing of the Nine World Dragons when he casts the counter curse for the one imbedded in the Horcrux-dagger, the curse is transferred to Narcissa Malfoy- a burden she takes willingly for the same amount of time as Hermione bore it, at which time it can be lifted completely.
After the ritual, The Dagger-Horcrux is taken back to the Room Of Requirement and with the help of Professor Flitwick and his mastery of the Fiendfyre spell- destroyed for good.
The relationship between Severus and Castle, Severus and the professors, and Severus and Hermione continues to grow and change and deepen as they prepare for the students to arrive for the first term after the Great War is finally over.
The out of country trained wizards and witches are set to arrive about three weeks before term is to begin so that they may settle into their new surroundings.
Castle and Severus Snape argue over terms and conditions of the Professor and Staff contracts- Castle having been promised never to be chained again, but finding this very difficult to believe, and Severus having a difficult time shaking all of his training and viewpoints from his years and years of being a Double-Triple spy infiltrator. Severus wants to place a clause in the contract whereby the staff knows Castle’s true nature but should they leave service at Hogwarts, or attempt once again to prevent Castle from doing Her Most Sacred and Important Work as the silent Fifth Member of the Charter of Hogwarts School- their memories of Her true self would be lost to them. Castle Abhors chains and leashes and bindings and finds this underhanded bit of spell work very distasteful, but Severus argues that- while underhanded, it is necessary for Her safety as an autonomous Magical Being even if She is a building and grounds and statues and house elves and portraits. They come to a wary if tense agreement where Castle allows this to stand but makes Her displeasure greatly known.