"Miss Sylith!" exclaimed Professor McGonagall.
She stood up, her hands clenched on her hips and her lips pressed tightly together.
Omegas took a step closer. "Professor McGonagall," she greeted calmly.
She walked past her and approached the rest of the meeting. She offered Severus nothing more than the quick, fleeting glance she had given him when she entered.
"So, tell me," she began, glaring around the table. "Which one of you was stupid enough to imprison a Death Eater without making sure they were disarmed?"
Most of the Order's members muttered to each other and looked around curiously. Meanwhile, Sirius, Lupin and Harry exchanged far too eloquent looks.
Omegas shot them a dry look. "Ah, of course," she whispered.
Sirius swallowed. "I made sure she didn't have a wand," he said defensively.
"Oh, well done!" she sneered. "Wonderful job. Did you make sure they didn't have anything else?"
Sirius raised a grumpy eyebrow. "What difference does it make? She's locked up. She can't hurt anyone."
"Right," replied Omegas, in a tone that implied the exact opposite. "She can't hurt anyone. Except…"
She fumbled in her bag for a moment. She pulled out something long and heavy and slammed it down on the table.
Many of those present jumped; some turned away in disgust. Severus glanced from the woman to the object in front of him. It was undoubtedly a severed arm.
Sirius wrinkled his nose in disgust. "What the hell is that?"
"This," she hissed, "is a left arm, Black. The one where Death Eaters have the Dark Mark. The one that keeps them locked in their cells in the Room of Requirement."
Sirius paled visibly. He looked at the arm in horror, then at the grim face of the woman standing before him.
"Where… where did you get it?" he asked shakily.
Omegas approached him slowly. "Guess," she breathed.
Sirius swallowed hard. They stared at each other in silence; the air between them crackling with tension.
"So…" Hermione interjected tentatively. "Is that… is that how they captured Draco? Bellatrix… she…" she gestured vaguely towards the arm.
Omegas frowned. "Bellatrix?"
She looked around to find two dozen eyes staring at her in confusion.
"Is it Bellatrix you think you've caught?"
Sirius snorted. "We don't think we caught her—we know we caught her. I caught her."
Omegas arched an eyebrow in mock-impressed grimace. "Sweet Salazar! Isn't that impressive? All by yourself?"
Severus had never heard her speak to anyone with such hostile sarcasm before. He stifled a laugh, but not as successfully as he would have liked. Both Omegas and Sirius turned to him.
"Would you care to explain, Miss Sylith?" McGonagall interjected.
She glanced around again. Severus could clearly see the discomfort taking hold of her as she met the eager gaze of each pair of waiting eyes. She cleared her throat and stared stubbornly at a spot on the opposite side of the table.
"You can't have caught Bellatrix," she claimed.
"Why not?" the Headmistress asked.
Omegas hesitated. "Because… I saw her," she explained. "Very recently. With both arms attached to her body."
McGonagall's grip on her hips tightened. "And where exactly did you see her, Miss Sylith?"
Omegas bowed her head and muttered something too indistinct to be heard. The Headmistress must have caught it anyway, though, because her eyes widened and she suddenly seemed to double in size.
"Would you mind repeating that?" she asked icily.
"I… joined the Death Eaters," Omegas mumbled.
Every jaw around the table dropped—no one dared to make a sound or move a muscle. No one except McGonagall, who approached her in deliberate, slow steps.
"You did… what?"
"Just… for a while," Omegas hurried to explain. "I… I didn't know what to do out there, you know? Eventually I ran out of ideas to annoy the Death Eaters, so… I made friends with them. No one important, mind you, I kept to myself mostly… I hoped to come back with something useful."
There was a widespread murmur of concern. Most of the looks Omegas received were suspicious; some were wary. Some were judgemental; others, more rare, were simply impressed. Severus looked at her with his mouth hanging open in horror.
"How on earth did you manage that? Sirius asked sceptically.
Omegas looked at him and shrugged. "Well, it wasn't particularly difficult. Riddle has been recruiting followers for months."
"But they saw you!" Hermione chimed in. "At the Ministry, when you got the Arch back! You fought them!"
"Yes, well…" she said vaguely. "I told them I had changed my mind."
"And they believed you?" Harry asked, clearly unconvinced.
She looked at him gravely. "Of course they did."
"How is that possible?"
Omegas lowered her head and seemed to be deliberating for a while. When she raised it again, her expression was one of grim resignation.
"They do checks before they accept new members into their ranks," she explained. "They did it with me. They found out who my father was."
She glanced at McGonagall, whose stern frown softened almost imperceptibly. Then, for the first time since she had entered, she looked Severus in the eye and held his gaze for a few moments. She seemed to be trying to have one of their silent exchanges—but he didn't let her. She gave him one last guilty look before averting her gaze.
"Who was your father?" Harry asked.
Omegas gave him one of her unmistakable, cryptic smiles. Then the smile disappeared and resignation crept back in. She took a deep breath and shot dark glances at everyone in the room.
"Gellert Grindelwald,"
She waited patiently for them all to focus their disbelieving gaze on her. Slowly, she removed one of her fingerless gloves. Severus realised that he had never seen her without that glove before, except on the day they met when she had treated his wound. Revealing her left wrist, she exposed the symbol of the Deathly Hallows, burned into her skin.
"They obviously trusted me when I said I wanted to join them," she said bitterly, pulling her glove back on. "Why would anyone believe that Grindelwald's daughter is loyal to Dumbledore's Order?"
Only then did Severus understand. She hadn't hidden her identity because she hated her father, despised her surname, or was ashamed of her past. She did it because she was afraid that everyone would see her as nothing more than a monster's daughter.
He turned towards the table, ready to glare at and curse anyone who doubted her loyalty to the Order. But it wasn't necessary.
"Great!" exclaimed Harry. "So, did you hear something useful?"
Omegas looked at him in shock. She smiled—one of her genuine ones. Then she quickly turned to Severus and tried again to communicate with him. She gave him a look that meant 'Is this okay?'
To that, he answered. He gave her a calm nod that meant 'It is.'
"I…" she murmured. She choked on her words and was forced to clear her throat. "Not… not really. But I know one thing: Riddle is coming."
She looked at Harry, then at McGonagall, with renewed gravity.
"The Death Eaters are more than they've ever been. He's been recruiting people from all over the world while we have been trapped here. He knows he can't allow the Order to exist any longer, he has to act. Ever since he found out about the Elder Wand, he has been looking for a way to take Draco."
"And he found it," Harry interjected darkly. "They took him."
Omegas found back her smirk. "No," she replied.
The boy looked at her. "No?"
She shook her head. She reached for the severed arm on the table and pulled off the sleeve covering it.
That arm, with the Dark Mark now visible, was clearly not Bellatrix Lestrange's. It was too long, too pale, the fingers too slender and well-groomed. Severus had seen that arm countless times.
"Lucius," he breathed.
Omegas turned to him and nodded. "He disappeared a few days ago. Technically, he, Bellatrix and Avery were just supposed to make sure Draco was at the castle. Then one night, three came to Hogwarts, and only two returned. But it wasn't Bellatrix that went missing."
"The Polyjuice Potion," Severus added. "Lucius took the Polyjuice Potion and pretended to be Bellatrix. Why?"
She approached him slowly. "Because he knew that if they caught Draco, he would die. He knew that he had to find a way to find him before Riddle did, so he turned into Bellatrix and got himself locked up. Then, once he had found out how the spell worked—"
"He cut off his arm," he continued. "But how?"
"He expected to have to escape from something. He must have brought what he deemed necessary," she replied. "It was planned, Severus. A calculated plan. He brought the Polyjuice Potion, stole Bellatrix's hair and cut off his arm. His own arm!"
Her inappropriate enthusiasm was back.
"He betrayed him," Severus said softly. "Lucius betrayed Voldemort to save his son."
They looked at each other.
Ever since they had met, their conversations had always felt like a single, continuous discourse that could be resumed at any time, regardless of how much time had passed since they last spoke. This time was no different. He felt just as he had in the Room of Requirement when Selwyn and Epsley were in front of them, as if no more than half an hour had passed between that enigma and the one they had just solved.
Professor McGonagall cleared her throat, and Severus remembered that he was not alone with her. He looked around, doing his best to hide his growing embarrassment with an air of indifference.
"Miss Sylith—"
"Grindelwald," she cut her off.
The Headmistress looked up at her. "Excuse me?"
"Miss Grindelwald," Omegas said firmly. "To be honest, I'd rather just be called Grindelwald. Or Omegas, if you prefer. That's fine with me. Don't worry—I won't start calling you Minerva. I think I've finally figured out how it works."
Severus suppressed a smile.
McGonagall sighed. "Omegas," she tried again. "You are the only one of us who has witnessed the current situation outside the castle first-hand. What would you suggest we do?"
Omegas met her stern gaze with a sinister grin that was all but reassuring.
"Well, Headmistress," she whispered. "If you want my opinion… I would say we should prepare for war."
McGonagall looked at her gravely as a buzz of agitated whispers rose around the table. She returned to her place at the head of the table and raised her head solemnly.
"Very well," she declared. "Then let's prepare."
She glanced at each member of the Order of the Phoenix.
"Severus, I believe it is time to break the Fidelius Charm. The Death Eaters will come whether or not they can see the castle. If this is to be the final battle, we will not hide from it."
Severus nodded once.
"Fred and George Weasley, Sirius, Miss Granger. Make contact with the Resistance outside these walls. Let them know that this is where the war will be fought. Potter," she nodded to the boy, "you are coming with me. There are a few things we need to discuss."
Harry nodded, rose from the table and quickly joined her.
"The rest of you…" she concluded, casting piercing looks at the members she had not named. "Be ready."
Several determined faces nodded energetically.
A moment later, the members of the Order rose from the table and headed for the doors of the Great Hall.
Sirius paused in front of Omegas. "Welcome back, Grindelwald," he muttered.
She gave a crooked smile. "Missed me, Black?"
Sirius let out a sound halfway between a scoff and a proper laugh. He walked past her with his head held high.
Severus and Omegas were alone. For a few slow, painful seconds, neither of them knew what to do. Severus was the first to take a tentative step closer. Omegas, her head bowed guiltily, only raised her gaze to meet his when he stood towering over her.
He looked properly into her violet eyes for the first time since she left. All the feelings he had accumulated during her absence came flooding back. He was finally forced to confront the emotions lurking beneath the initial shock of seeing her again. He was furious.
He made his position clear with nothing more than a death glare. In response, she offered a weak, shaky smile and cleared her throat.
"A… a word?" she mumbled.
He didn't answer. He eyed her sternly for a few more seconds, then turned on his heel and quickly crossed to the other side of the room. He headed for the stairs that would lead him to the dungeons, confident that Omegas was following him.
When Severus reached his office, he waited until he heard her enter the room before waving his wand and slamming the door shut with a bang. He turned slowly towards her.
Omegas took a few hesitant steps in his direction. "So, uh…" she murmured, "do you… have any questions?"
He remained silent, his black eyes fixed and burning with unadulterated fury.
She narrowed her eyes. "I take that as a no. Right…" she said, offering a half-smile, "I'll give you my answers anyway."
Severus kept scrutinising her from head to toe in silence. Omegas sat on the edge of his desk, swinging her legs back and forth. She kept her head down in obvious discomfort as she began to speak.
"I… tried to come back the day after I left," she explained. "You had given me permission to leave, but not to return, you know? The moment I took my first step outside the boundaries of Hogwarts, I could no longer see the castle."
Severus studied her face carefully, but found no sign of dishonesty. He tried to remember the moment he had cast the spell on her, but that night seemed so distant and blurred by events that he found her words entirely plausible. Still, he was careful not to show it.
"When I realised I couldn't come back, I looked for another way," she continued. "I tried to contact you, but Potterwatch only worked in one direction. I had fun annoying the Death Eaters for a while."
She giggled, and Severus felt a strong urge to slap her.
"Then I thought of the Vanishing Cabinet. It would have been impossible to enter the Ministry as Apolline Moreau at that point, considering that even if they didn't recognise me as a member of the Order, they would have thought I was the Quidditch player who spoke ill of the English Ministry of Magic. So I had to improvise."
She got up and paced slowly around the office.
"From the moment Riddle took me in, I tried to get into that Cabinet every day, more than once, but it was always locked on the other side. One day, I…" She hesitated and wrinkled her nose. "Well, I… made a mistake. Malfoy followed me, he saw the Cabinet. He knew how it worked, it was his Cabinet after all. I thought he'd tell Riddle and I'd be exposed, but he didn't. Riddle had known about Draco and the Elder Wand for some time, and Lucius knew he planned to kill him. When he didn't come back after the last mission, I realised he must have done something stupid, and that it had something to do with the Cabinet. So I tried it again, and this time I found it open on the other side. So… here I am," she concluded.
She met his gaze and offered him an awkward smile, but Severus stood his ground. None of those answers were what he wanted to hear. Omegas must have sensed it, because she immediately turned serious again.
"You want to know why I left, don't you?" she asked.
Severus swept his eyes quietly over her face. She averted her gaze, picked up the string that had previously held Draco's letters together and fiddled with it.
"Well, I don't have a satisfactory answer," she whispered. "But I'll give you an unsatisfactory one."
She swallowed, took a few more steps towards him and stood in front of him.
"I'm a coward," she said softly. "I am incapable of taking responsibility for my actions. I do this every time, Severus. I arrive, do something stupid, and usually someone dies. I feel guilty and run. I've always done that. I wanted to run away when Tonks died, but you…"
She paused for a moment to gather the strength to carry on.
"Well, I stayed. And then, Nagini… I couldn't handle it. I can't lie to myself about that, you know? I can't tell myself I didn't do it—it's not debatable. I actually did it. It was too much."
"Then why the hell did you do it?" he thundered.
Omegas gave him one of her sad smiles. A moment passed before she replied.
"I have been on the brink of death countless times," she said quietly. "Every time… every single time, the only thing I could think of in those moments was—"
She stopped. The lump in her throat had grown too painful to ignore. She turned abruptly to hide her face. When she mustered the courage to look at him again, two large tears were streaming down her face.
"I didn't want her to die without remembering him," she croaked.
Severus' fury vanished as quickly as it had appeared. He felt the urge to go to her and hold her, but he held back. He watched her sniff, wipe away her tears with a glove, and quickly return to her unreadable smile.
"That's all. I have no more answers for you."
He couldn't answer once more. Not because of anger—he simply lacked both the strength and the courage to utter the words that were on the tip of his tongue.
Omegas interpreted his silence as punitive and gave him another guilty look. Then she seemed to make a decision. Clutching her fists, she walked closer still and stopped in front of him. She looked so fierce that he feared she was about to hit him.
"I was stupid, Severus," she stated. "I'm sorry. Please forgive me."
The moment she said those words, Severus realised that nobody had ever said them to him in his life. Although he managed to maintain his composure, when he finally spoke again, his tone was remarkably less cold than he would have liked.
"Did he mark you?"
Omegas furrowed her brow. "What?"
"The Dark Mark. Did he…?" He left the question hanging. He was sounding far too concerned.
"Oh," she murmured, her cunning smile restored. "No."
She took off her glove and rolled up her sleeve. The only thing visible on her pale skin was the whitish symbol of her father.
"I told him that my father's mark had been cast on me using the same magic he had used to create the Dark Marks. Then I told him a rather fanciful story about how the mark could sense the Deathly Hallows. Riddle was afraid that they would conflict, so he didn't mark me." She chuckled and shook her head. "The poor idiot thought he could use me to find the Resurrection Stone."
He stared at her pale arm in utter disbelief. "You… lied to Lord Voldemort?"
"Yes," she replied.
"How?" he breathed.
She gave him a cheeky grin. "I'm quite a skilled Occlumen."
Severus smiled. It was barely there—restrained, subtle—but it was genuine.
They looked at each other for a few more moments, then Omegas suddenly seemed uncomfortable again. She turned around and sat back on the edge of the desk.
"So, how have things been for you?" she asked cheerfully, as though they were two old friends catching up after a long summer apart.
Severus had no desire to lie, nor any intention of telling her how things had really been. He studied her, hastily searching for something to say to change the subject. He took in her round face, violet eyes, cloud of black hair, which was now slightly longer, falling past her shoulders, the small scar next to her left eye and the dark circles under her eyes, which seemed larger than ever.
"How long has it been since you last slept?" he asked, treating the question as if it were of little importance.
"I don't know," she replied. "How long has it been since I left?"
Severus scolded her with a glare. He walked past her to his cupboard, grabbed his Sleeping Draught, and returned to her. Without looking at her, he threw it lazily in her direction. She caught it in mid-air.
"We're about to go to war. The Dementors could leave at any moment, as could the Death Eaters. You'd better be clear-headed."
Omegas looked at him and smiled softly. She climbed down from the desk, walked past him and stopped with her hand on the doorknob.
"I missed you, you know?" she whispered.
She opened the door and closed it behind her.
Severus couldn't tell whether the remark was one of her usual ironic ones or if she was being sincere. What he did know was that the words left him alone with the realisation of how much he had missed her.
Once he was alone in his office, he felt as though he hadn't been there for weeks. He looked at the string that had once bound the envelopes he had started to open just a few hours earlier. It felt as if another man had done it. A lonely, lost man.
He lingered on Draco for a moment. In the end, the old Lucius had made it. Even he had shown a shred of humanity beneath the mask of nobility and pure blood that he wore as if nothing else in the world mattered. He hoped with all his might that he had managed to keep his son safe. The two of them had passed through the Cabinet and emerged right in the middle of the Ministry of Magic. The chances were high that someone had seen them. At least, he told himself, Draco wouldn't be involved in the approaching war.
The war, he thought. Severus was finally forced to confront his situation. He was about to go into battle against Voldemort and his ever-expanding army. He found himself shivering.
The Headmistress had told him to be ready. But how? How do you prepare for something like that? His role in the war had always been behind the scenes. Even when he came face to face with the enemy, his missions had mostly been strategic. He had never thought that he would find himself on the battlefield with Voldemort on the other side. He hadn't predicted that he would live to see that day.
Before he could stop himself, one of his trembling hands had gripped a full glass and raised it to his lips. All the thoughts he had had on the day he returned to the castle came flooding back, but in reverse.
That might have been the last time he sat in that chair. The last time he rested his elbows on his desk. The last time he set eyes on his office.
He sat motionless for a long time, dwelling on every detail of the room he wished he could see again. The list seemed never-ending. That intimate, undeniable feeling had finally returned. Severus did not want to die.
As he raised the glass to his lips again to empty it, an urgent knock distracted him from his musings.
"Come in."
McGonagall entered, out of breath and more distressed than he had ever seen her. She glanced around several times.
"Is she here?"
Severus considered asking who, but ultimately decided that it would be an insult to the Headmistress's intelligence. He simply shook his head.
"Good," she said briskly. "I'll be quick, Severus."
She sat down in front of him, adjusted her glasses on her nose and gave him a piercing look.
"I need to know if we can trust her," she declared. "The Dementors have almost finished dismantling the shield. By this time tomorrow, we will probably be at war. I need to be sure that every member of the Resistance is truly on our side. If she stays in the castle and—"
"I thought demonstrations of distrust towards any member of the Order were not tolerated, Headmistress," he cut her off.
McGonagall's nostrils flared dangerously. Rather than expressing her obvious frustration, she rose uneasily from her chair and averted her gaze.
"I don't know exactly how much she told you about her past. I don't know how much you know about her father."
"Enough," he replied firmly.
She turned and met his eyes with growing seriousness.
"I don't believe so, Severus," she said quietly.
She walked back to him and sat down again, elbows on the desk, hands clasped.
"That man planted ideas in her head. When she arrived at Hogwarts, she was just a child, yet she was already convinced that she had to be the one to save the Wizarding World from the 'Muggle Impurity'. Grindelwald raised her to believe that it was her mission. That's the only purpose for which she was brought into the world."
She stood up again, seemingly unable to sit still.
"I know how deeply she has changed. I've seen it. But we're talking about a woman who was raised to dominate Muggles, Severus. On the other side of this war is Lord Voldemort. I'm sure you understand my concern."
Severus, who had never trusted anyone in his life and who would have shared the Headmistress' concerns in any other circumstance, rose from his chair, approached her solemnly, and looked her straight in the eye.
"I don't," he said.
McGonagall's eyes widened, then narrowed in astonishment. Standing tall, she fixed him with the sternest gaze he had ever received.
"She's your responsibility, Severus," she declared.
He nodded.
Clearly astonished, the Headmistress held his gaze steadily for a few more seconds, then turned on her heels and left the office.
When he entered his quarters some time later, determined to follow his own advice and try to get some rest while he could, he found Omegas fast asleep on the armchair. He rolled his eyes as he transfigured it into a bed for the umpteenth time, then watched her stretch out and embrace a pillow.
For a moment, Severus doubted. He thought back to the one memory he had been strong enough to watch, preserved in the Nurmengard phase of her book: her very first memory. He heard the deep, eerily calm voice of Gellert Grindelwald.
"You are essential. The most important. You have the greatest mission there is."
He tried to put himself in her place. To wonder if, in her situation, he would have been able to overcome his father's influence.
Disgust and self-loathing immediately took over his doubts. He hadn't needed Grindelwald to make this mistake. He had done it all by himself. He watched her chest rise and fall calmly and regularly under the sheet. He heard her arguing with the Muggle boy.
"You're aloof. Is that why? Because we're not like you?"
"Absolutely not, Jay."
No, she would never have done that. She was better than that. Besides, he told himself, Omegas had never lied to him since the day he had met her. She had often been vague, imprecise or ambiguous, but she had never lied. If she had, he would have known. She was obviously clever—but not to that extent.
As he looked at her closed eyes and cryptic smile—which didn't leave her even in her sleep—Severus realised that he trusted her in a way that he found nauseating. With that thought, he called himself an idiot, opened the door to his bedroom, and closed it behind him.
He woke up a few hours later, wondering why his Sleeping Potion had suddenly started working properly again, giving him a full night of deep, dreamless sleep. He was grateful for it. That might have been the last night he would spend on that mattress.
When he left his room, he found Omegas standing, rested and fully clothed. She was wearing a blood-red dress and a matching cloak over her shoulders. The cloak was wider and in better condition than the one she usually wore. It fluttered across the room with her every movement.
"Ah, Severus!" she greeted him cheerfully. She flicked her wand and a large amount of food appeared on the low table between the chairs. "Hungry?"
He looked up at her and raised an eyebrow.
"I've already been upstairs," she explained. "The Dementors are gone, but there's still no sign of Riddle and his lot. Maybe we still have time for breakfast."
She gave him a broad smile, sat down in her armchair and began to eat.
Severus sat down in front of her and watched her eat for a while. His own stomach had closed irreparably the moment he saw the first Dementor hovering ominously over the golden dome; he did not touch his food. He just sat there, wondering how she could act as if it were any other day.
"What are you wearing?" he asked.
The sleeves of her dress were elaborately embroidered and fell tightly to her wrists. The fabric seemed overly refined—decidedly inappropriate given the context.
She swallowed a bite. "Do you like it? This is my battle dress."
Severus frowned. "That is your battle dress?"
Omegas nodded. "It doesn't show when it's stained with blood," she deadpanned.
She chuckled as though the prospect of her clothes being stained with blood was appealing.
He wasn't at all convinced that she was being ironic.
"Are you… having fun?" he asked, betraying a note of judgement.
"Not yet," she replied calmly.
Severus, half irritated, half impressed, rested his elbows on his knees and leaned towards her.
"You do realise we could be dead in less than twenty-four hours, don't you?"
She took a sip of pumpkin juice. "Yes."
He narrowed his eyes in curiosity and tilted his head slightly. "Aren't you scared?" he asked.
Omegas gave one of her brightest smiles. "Oh, yes," she breathed.
He stared at her in silence for a while. She continued to eat without looking at him.
"Are you scared?" she asked.
Severus' first instinct was to lie, but he chose not to. He knew deep down that the reason he wanted to lie was because he hoped she would see him as braver than he really was. It had been a long time since he had cared what others thought of him. The fact that he might fear her judgement irritated him. So he decided to be honest.
"Yes," he replied.
"Good," she murmured.
"Good?" he echoed irritably.
Omegas brought a napkin to her face, wiped the juice from her lips, and put it down on the table. She leaned forward and finally looked him in the eye.
"Fear is a wonderful feeling," she declared. "You can only feel it if you think you have something to lose. You can only be afraid of dying if you don't want to die, Severus. Not wanting to die is a beautiful thing. It's when you're not afraid that you should worry."[1]
They stared at each other. Since regaining the ability to fear for his life a few months earlier, Severus had done nothing but regret it and condemn the feeling as a weakness. Suddenly, he felt better.
He did not want to die, and Omegas thought it was beautiful.
He quickly looked away; the smile on her face gave him the impression that she could read his thoughts despite the blank look in his eyes. He searched for something to say that would divert her attention.
"You're insane."
Omegas chuckled and relaxed in her chair. "Well, I told you that stupidly dangerous, senseless and potentially fatal things were my favourites."
Severus shook his head and chuckled in return. She watched the reaction with a wide smile, her eyes much more intense than usual. She picked up a second glass of pumpkin juice and handed it to him.
"Drink some. You'll need it."
She said it with such care that reaching out to take the glass while feigning nonchalance proved rather challenging.
There was a long silence that, for the first time since they had started sharing spaces that were often too quiet, felt unnatural. He wanted to talk to her. He wanted to tell her something important enough to make that breakfast worthy of being their last meal together.
But Severus knew he couldn't do it. He never could, and he never would.
"Speaking of stupidly dangerous, senseless and potentially fatal things…" she said, leaning towards him again. "Have you recovered from the last one?"
He frowned. "Why?"
Omegas smirked. "Because I have one to propose to you."
Severus honestly didn't think that whatever Omegas could propose would be worse than the impending war that awaited them beyond the school walls. So, when she said those words, he was intrigued rather than alarmed.
"I'm listening."
She gave him a satisfied grin. She took out her bag, rummaged through it for a while and pulled out something that looked like a photograph. She handed it to him, and Severus studied it carefully.
It seemed to have been taken in the heart of the Forbidden Forest quite recently. Large, half-naked trees stood on either side of the scene, and yellow and orange leaves lay scattered on the ground. In the middle stood an unusual-looking oak tree. The trunk was black and dry, yet pale green leaves had sprouted on the bare branches and were swaying back and forth in the breeze. From time to time, a leaf would break off and fall to the ground, clashing with the warm shades around it.
He looked back at her, puzzled. "What is it?"
"I had the chance to take a few trips into the Forbidden Forest while I was away," she replied. "Do you recognise that tree?"
He raised an eyebrow. "Should I?"
She half-smiled. "Not necessarily, no. It was pretty dark the last time we saw it," she said. "But I recognised it. That's the tree I hid my bag in when I transformed, the night you killed the Carrows."
Severus blinked and looked at the photograph again. He vaguely recognised the area around the tree as the one they had passed through that night. But it couldn't be the same oak.
"It isn't."
"Isn't it?" she countered. "Look at the cavity at the bottom of the trunk."
He lowered his gaze to the picture again and looked more closely at the large hole in the centre of the tree's black trunk. He recognised it. It was undoubtedly the same cavity.
He turned the photograph in his hands, holding it closer to his face. His eyes narrowed to slits as he searched for something that might prove otherwise, but he found nothing. It was the same tree.
"How is that possible?" he asked, more to himself than to her.
Omegas didn't answer.
"It was broken when we saw it. It was a dead log," he continued. "Has it… has it grown back?"
She rested her elbows on her knees, bringing her clasped hands to her lips. She gave him one of the most intense and obsessive looks he had ever seen. It was almost maniacal.
"I found the Resurrection Stone."
[1] This is what I consider to be Omegas' core line; the one that describes her the most as a character.