The day after his miraculous resurrection had been so long and eventful that the days that followed seemed to pass in an instant.
The very next day, the Fidelius Charm was placed on the castle, and Severus officially became the Secret Keeper of Hogwarts. It made him quite proud, but he chose not to show it.
In addition to the Enagisis Charm—which would have been enough on its own—and the Fidelius Charm, guards were placed around the shield surrounding the school, which only became visible when one attempted to cross it. Members of the Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore's Army were given fake galleons that heated up whenever one of them had to stand guard, indicating the time and place; an idea of Hermione Granger's, according to a very proud Professor McGonagall.
Severus loathed the duty. Firstly, because he felt it was completely unnecessary. Secondly, because May was beginning to get hot and bright and he hated being forced to stand under the summer sun. And thirdly, because he was busy enough preparing potions to deal with the remarkable number of magical wounds in the process of healing.
Then there was Harry Potter. The fact that not only had the boy admitted to hiding something, but had also been given permission to do so openly, made it almost impossible for Severus to get through the day without feeling irritated whenever he saw him wandering around the corridors.
So when Draco asked him what he could do to help, the Professor seized the opportunity.
"What kind of relationship do you and Potter have at the moment?" he asked.
"Strange," the boy replied. "He tries to include me. I think he's sorry to see me alone. Anyway, he can only do that when Weasley isn't around, because he seems… much less willing to bury the hatchet."
"Hm…"
"Why?" Draco asked.
"Do you think you could get him to trust you?" Severus said, his black eyes suddenly fixed on him.
A sly grin appeared on the boy's face. "Oh, I could," he whispered.
From that moment on, he investigated Potter on his behalf.
It was a simple, brilliant solution. Not only did it give Draco a purpose, something to occupy his mind; but the boy also had a good chance of succeeding. He really knew how to deal with people when he wanted to.
At first, he'd considered having Draco prepare some not-too-complicated potions to help with the enormous amount of work that lay ahead of him, but he'd finally decided that there wasn't much need for that.
Omegas, after insisting for at least twenty-four hours that Severus let her leave the castle, and receiving a firm no in response—"This is kidnapping. You're holding me here against my will," she'd said, with a resentful grimace that had given Severus great satisfaction—she finally began to help him restock the supply cupboard.
Not only was she good at it, Severus was forced to admit reluctantly, but also incredibly fast. She could do the job he set her in half the time it would take an average Potioneer; sometimes even faster than an experienced one.
One day, the two of them split the number of Sleeping Potions to be prepared equally, so that Madam Pomfrey could administer them to all the badly injured who couldn't fall asleep because of the pain. They set to work immediately after lunch, and by tea time she arrived in his office with her share of the potions already bottled.
He was so astonished to see the bottles lined up neatly in front of him, while his cauldron was still on the fire, that he lost the ability to speak and suddenly felt the urge to hide under his desk. She didn't notice, though, and left the room as if the office was empty.
Omegas never spoke, if she could help it, and for the most part behaved as if no one else was in the castle. She worked mostly at night; mostly because, Severus observed, she often slept until late in the afternoon. On the rare occasions when someone brave enough to make conversation approached her, she would barely look at them before casting an Isolation Charm to ignore them as efficiently as possible.
The only person she seemed interested in speaking to was Tonks, who would occasionally accompany her husband to the hospital wing to keep him company while he was treated for a new wound after a full moon night.
The two women seemed to get on very well. One day, while checking the number of Anti-Bleeding Potions he had to prepare that afternoon, he overheard a bit of their conversation.
"You know, I met another Metamorphmagus once. A strange boy. Sometimes a strange girl… but not as nice as you," Omegas said softly, and Tonks laughed.
Severus was quite surprised to hear them speak in such friendly terms. Omegas seemed determined to remain strictly formal with everyone else, including the students. He had called her by her name ever since that strange conversation they had about her father, but she continued to address him as 'Professor Snape' for quite some time.
The change occurred on a scorching sunny day, during which Severus decided he would not leave his office even if the fake galleon on his desk began to melt. Fortunately, it did not, and he was able to continue working on his potions in peace.
In the late morning, Omegas, her head and side now completely healed, entered his office and handed him a good number of bottles of Skele-Gro. He glanced up at her in mild curiosity; she wasn't usually awake at that hour. Then he looked at her face and noticed two deep black circles under her purple eyes. She didn't sleep at all, he thought, and her eloquent yawn confirmed it.
"You know, Remus Lupin asked me to tell you that he needs the Wolfsbane Potion," she said, as if continuing a conversation started who knows when. "I'm done with the Skele-Gro, I can do it. But you'll have to take me in, because my cauldrons in the hospital wing are all occupied."
He curled his lips. He didn't like working in company. Then again, he liked the idea of having to spend his time preparing Wolfsbane Potion for Remus Lupin even less.
"Fine," he grumbled, hastily clearing part of his desk.
Severus had only seen her work for very brief periods when he occasionally found himself in the new hospital wing at night, and almost never up close. Omegas moved with quick grace and seemed to know exactly where to find what she needed, even though she had never set foot in that office for more than a few minutes.
As soon as he had cleared part of the table, she arranged everything she would need to make the Wolfsbane Potion in such an insanely orderly manner that even he, who constantly reprimanded his students for arranging ingredients haphazardly in front of their cauldrons, found it excessive.
She did not cast an Isolation Charm, probably because she thought it would be rude; but still, she did not speak a single word to him. She seemed lost in her own world.
From time to time, when he needed an ingredient and reached for it, Omegas' hand would quickly shoot towards him, handing it to him with a polite smile, only to get back to her potion in absolute silence.
Working with that woman beside him, he found himself thinking after a few hours, was just like working alone. Except in company.
Around midday, Omegas placed her cauldron, now filled with a bluish liquid, on the fire, and waited patiently for him to set his, which contained a pale leaf-green fluid, to cool.
"Well, that was fun!" she said cheerfully. "Hungry?"
"Hm?"
"Mine has to boil for over an hour, and you can't do anything until the late afternoon," she noted.
"I know," he replied.
"Right. So?"
Severus raised an eyebrow. "So what?"
She pointed at the clock hanging behind him. "It's lunchtime."
"Then go have lunch," he retorted curtly.
Omegas paused. She gave him a look that seemed to hold both incredulity and considerable amusement. She remained silent for a while, watching him put away some Green Caterpillars, then she said clearly, "I'm asking you to have lunch with me."
Severus' eyes darted to her, only to narrow into suspicious slits a moment later. "Why?"
She seemed even more puzzled. "What… what do you mean 'why'?"
"I mean 'why'," he repeated.
She pointed at the clock behind his head again. "Because it's lunchtime!"
"I can see that myself," he said dryly, "but why do you want me to come with you?"
"Oh," she murmured. She seemed to be giving the matter a thought. "Well… we're both here, and… I suppose I… I don't dislike your company."
Severus froze over his ingredients.
It wasn't that he'd never been invited to lunch before. There had been times when a colleague had mistaken his formality for politeness and tried to include him. But more often than not, he had read a certain condescension, or worse, pity, in their faces and tones, and declined the offer. Severus never misread people's faces.
On her face, at that moment, he saw nothing but complete, unadulterated spontaneity; an almost childlike honesty that he had rarely seen on anyone. He opened his mouth to reply, but closed it almost immediately.
She watched the odd reaction for several minutes in silence. "It doesn't matter, you know," she added. "You can just say no. I probably wouldn't be much company anyway."
He swept up all the ingredients that were scattered on the desk, walked around the table and gave her a completely blank look.
"Let's go."
Omegas smiled and gestured towards the door. "After you."
From that moment on she lost at least part of her formality.
The two of them walked up to the Great Hall and found it crowded with people. Professor McGonagall was having what looked like an important conversation with Lupin, while all the students were sitting close together at the Gryffindor table, completely forgetting that they belonged to three different houses.
He saw Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger sitting next to each other, Ron stuffing himself with food and Hermione watching him with a look that was half tender, half disgusted.
The only two who seemed to be missing were Harry and Draco. He lingered for a moment at the thought of the information the boy would bring him the next day.
Then Severus walked automatically towards the High Table, but had to stop halfway. Omegas, with his same absent air, had made her way to the now completely empty Slytherin table and was sitting in the most isolated corner from the rest of the diners. He looked around in bewilderment, before following her and sitting down in front of her.
The food appeared before them as soon as they took their seats. Omegas began to eat with such fervour that Severus found it impossible to believe she was the same woman who had prepared potions with such composed elegance just a few minutes before. He raised an eyebrow and looked at her, not bothering to hide the hint of disgust that crossed his face.
She saw it, stopped and straightened in her seat, regaining just a hint of her former composure.
"I… like Hogwarts food," she mumbled.
"I can see that," he replied dryly.
He watched her shift on her chair and clear her throat awkwardly. The curiosity he had managed to keep at bay for days slowly began to creep back into his mind.
"You're not a student," he stated.
It was not a question: if she had been a student, he would have known.
Omegas snorted a laugh, almost spitting out the remarkable amount of food she had put in her mouth.
"How old do you think I am?" she asked incredulously. "Of course I'm not a student. I was, though."
Severus' mind was flooded with so many questions that he had to pause for a moment to decide which was the right one to ask first.
"How old are you?"
"Thirty-one in November," she replied.
He gave her a sceptical look that did not escape her notice.
"Yes, I look younger," she muttered. "Thank you for the astute observation."
Severus, who had not yet opened his mouth, gave her a deadpan glare that held something dangerous in it.
"If you were really thirty-one, you would have been at Hogwarts since 1978," he objected.
"I did."
"That's not possible," he countered. "You would have been my student from the third year. I don't remember you."
Omegas gave him one of her cryptic smiles. "My father had me transferred to Durmstrang in my third year," she explained. "I think he thought I was too happy here. He hoped it would be tougher there."
That, rather than answering the question, opened the door to a whole new series of enquiries, Severus thought. Moving from Hogwarts to Durmstrang wasn't just changing schools; it was changing countries, changing languages. Changing lives.
"Do you speak Bulgarian?"
"At Durmstrang they speak German," she corrected. "Anyway, I do."
There was not the faintest note of arrogance in that reply. But he perceived it as such nonetheless and made sure to appear anything but impressed. He looked down at his plate and began to eat with ostentatious nonchalance.
"How do you know me?" he asked after a few silent bites.
She gave him a questioning look.
"When we met and I told you I taught Potions, you said my name." he clarified.
"Ah, yes," she said. "Well, I know you by reputation, of course. I kept up with Hogwarts as much as I could."
Severus looked at her for a few seconds, his eyes narrowed to slits.
"No," he said firmly.
She frowned. "No?"
"No," he repeated. "When I confirmed that I was me, you had a… bizarre reaction. As if you had seen me before. As if you knew… something." He stressed the last word with a hint of accusation.
She half-smiled, lowered her eyes and seemed to blush slightly.
"You really don't remember, do you?"
He didn't answer. He kept staring at her inquisitively.
Omegas stopped eating, rested her elbows on the table, put her chin on the back of her hands and leaned forward as if to confide a secret.
"You were quick with the maths," she whispered. "Think. Where were you in 1978, when I was in my first year?"
Severus thought, and almost immediately realisation dawned in his black eyes.
"My final year."
She nodded.
"Did we meet?" he asked.
"Not exactly," she replied, a hint of laughter in her voice. "The first day, the sorting, you know… I arrived late. I had had a… rather funny exchange of opinions with a boy on the train." She chuckled. "Professor McGonagall was not pleased. I was sorted alone. In Slytherin, which pleased her even less. She sent me to the dormitory without supper. Anyway, as I told you, I've always been a bit undisciplined. So I snuck into the Great Hall anyway. I was starving."
As she said it, she took another big bite of roast chicken and popped it into her mouth, as if to satisfy a twenty-year-old hunger.
"Anyway… when I arrived, the feast was over and you were all getting up. You were the last one at the table and you saw me. You gave me one single look." She raised a finger. "One."
Severus looked into her eyes. Suddenly, that odd violet colour brought back a distant memory, one he hadn't bothered to put aside.
"Yes…" he whispered. "I remember, you— you were covered in blood!"
She laughed heartily. "Yes," she confirmed. "You looked at me with the coldest stare I've ever been given. And I said—"
"'You should see the other one,'" he interrupted.
She seemed surprised and a little pleased. "Yes. You do remember!" she exclaimed.
He parted his lips to answer, but all he could do for a while was linger on the memory.
"Anyway, you never spoke to me again," she added. "Not that you spoke to anyone else, to be fair. Everyone seemed determined to ignore you."
Severus was brought back to reality. He looked away quickly, suddenly scowling again; aware that the remark would force him to dwell on his last year at school and the reasons why he had no one to talk to.
"I admired you," she murmured after a while.
He turned and found himself facing an intense gaze. He met it with a displeased one.
"Why?" he grumbled. "Because no one spoke to me?"
"No," she replied. "Because you didn't seem to care."
She smiled at him. It wasn't the same cryptic smile as before, nor one of the cunning ones she had given him when they had met. It wasn't one of the false polite smiles she gave anyone else, either. It was… oddly genuine. Severus had no idea how to respond to such a thing. So he simply waited for her to stop and resumed eating in silence.
She had been right; she wasn't much company. She didn't speak another word until they got up to return to his office.
From that day on, though, Omegas seemed to have suddenly regained the ability to get up before lunch. Late in the morning she would enter Severus' office, always with large bags under her eyes, check the cauldron she had left there the day before, and work beside him until it was time to eat. Then she'd throw in a "Hungry?" always in the same vague tone, as if she thought he wouldn't expect it, and the two of them would move to the Great Hall. They would have lunch, return to his office, finish their work and she would leave with a quiet, "See you tomorrow then," before dinner time.
In the evening, Omegas, Tonks and Lupin had got into the habit of eating together at the Hufflepuff table. Lupin didn't always seem to enjoy it: he often returned to the High Table, leaving the two women alone to chat. Omegas didn't seem to talk to her much either; it was mostly Tonks who carried the conversation. Severus was measurably surprised. He had expected the woman to prefer less talkative company.
At dinner, Severus often sat with Draco, who kept him informed of the Potter situation.
"He spends all his time in the library," the boy told him one Tuesday evening as the two of them sat apart at the Slytherin table. "So are Weasley and Granger. They're looking for something, I don't know what. Sometimes they lock themselves in the Room of Requirement."
He frowned. "The what?"
Draco looked at him. "The Room of Requirement," he repeated as if it were obvious.
Severus remained quiet, waiting for a clarification that was slow to come.
"You don't know the Room of Requirement?" the boy asked in disbelief.
He gave him a hard glare.
"Sorry," Draco hastened to mutter. "It's a… it's a room that becomes whatever you want it to be. It's on the third floor. You have to walk past it three times and think about what you need. I used it when…" he stopped.
Severus understood, his lips parting slightly.
"That's how you did it," he mused, mentally solving one of the many puzzles that still lingered in his mind.
The boy nodded sombrely.
"Potter didn't tell you what he's doing in the room?" Severus asked.
"No," Draco replied. "I try to pretend to like him, I really do, but he's insufferable. Most of the time he talks about other people and expects me to care. 'Ron said this,' 'Ginny said that,' 'Do you know what that woman, Omegas, said the other day?'" he mimicked.
Severus' interest was suddenly piqued. "What did Omegas say?"
"Hm? Oh," Draco murmured, "Yes, that is a bit strange, to be fair." He looked vaguely around and leaned forward. "He told me that once he happened to be in the hospital wing talking to Lupin, and Omegas was chatting to Tonks. Potter says he heard her referring to…" He hesitated for a moment and swallowed. "Him… in a weird way."
Severus waited for him to continue. When he didn't, he ventured a guess.
"Does she call him 'The Dark Lord'?"
Draco shook his head. "No." He did not elaborate further.
"Then what?" Severus snapped.
The boy glanced up at him worriedly. "I don't want to say it," he mumbled.
Severus rolled his eyes. "You must," he ordered firmly. "You're here to report on things other people have done and said. What's the point if you don't have the nerve to repeat them?"
Draco looked at him with growing panic. He swallowed again, opened his mouth without uttering a sound and let out a loud huff.
"Oh, all right," he finally muttered.
He leaned reluctantly into the Professor's ear.
"She called him… 'Riddle'," he whispered.
Severus was rather impressed. It was quite strange, indeed. Not just strange, it was… odd. Far beyond unusual.
There was only one person in the world Severus had heard call Lord Voldemort by his given name: Albus Dumbledore. He did it because he knew him by that name. He did it because he had met the boy Riddle and refused to bow to the legend of Voldemort. He did it because he was more powerful than Voldemort would ever be, and he knew it.
But Omegas? She had never had anything to do with Voldemort. Or had she? She surely had nothing to do with Tom Riddle. Perhaps she had something to do with Dumbledore?
The questions haunted him throughout the evening and beyond. They haunted him when he tried to sleep, when he woke up, and throughout the following afternoon. Why did everything that came out of that woman's mouth seem to bring to light an unending stream of questions? Why did everything about her seem to be part of an indecipherable puzzle? Most of all, why did he waste time thinking about her instead of concentrating on the ongoing war he had been a part of for seventeen years?
He blamed boredom. Trapped within those walls, there was nothing he could do but try to distract himself from the feeling of helplessness that came over him every time he thought of Voldemort, alive and free, taking over the Wizarding World.
But he had had enough. He was tired of not knowing, and too clever to let her keep her secrets. All he had to do was find the right opportunity.