Beyond Death

Bella alone showed exactly what kind of person the Dark Lord was.

He was undoubtedly powerful, learned, and brilliantly gifted, capable of teaching her much dark magic that neither the school nor the Black family would ever teach.

He was also an indulgent teacher. He encouraged Bella to do whatever she liked, whether good or bad, as long as it made her happy. In contrast, her two younger sisters were both proper ladies who strictly observed aristocratic etiquette.

Being in the same room as the three Black sisters made Pomona feel as though she were suffocating. They were all there because of Sirius Black, though the situation was somewhat bizarre. Narcissa and Andromeda stood behind Sirius, constantly wiping away tears with their handkerchiefs. Bella stood on Snape's side, looking as though she demanded a fair judgment. Pomona and James Potter stood between the two groups, while Pringle watched the backs of the two young aristocrats from nearby with a vicious grin. Professor McGonagall sat behind her desk, apparently considering how to handle the matter. Pomona only wished this endless mess would be over soon.

Foolish Hagrid made friends easily with people outside Slytherin. After finding Potter and Sirius frolicking in the Forbidden Forest, he had even wanted to invite them to his home for tea. Then Pringle, who had been patrolling that night, caught them, and Hagrid was excluded from the witness stand.

Snape had spent an entire night crafting a flawless lie. His only weak point was why he and a Hufflepuff had appeared outside Hagrid's hut. The two Gryffindors had no chance of proving their innocence; they wanted to drag Snape down with them, so everyone would suffer together. At a time like this, her testimony became crucial.

Rumors of an eleven-year-old Hufflepuff professor had circulated around the school, but no one had taken them seriously. Old madman Dumbledore had done too many crazy things, so this was perhaps another prank. Pomona felt it was quite remarkable that she had not gone mad by now.

"Why were you near the Forbidden Forest, Miss Martin?" Professor McGonagall stared into her eyes as if she wanted to see through her soul.

"Yeah, why did you run off to the Forbidden Forest?" Sirius Black loudly demanded, emboldened by the people backing him up. James Potter had been staring at Snape the whole time, and that almost tangible gaze was more blinding than wandlight.

Bella had no interest in watching the farce. She boredly examined her nails for a while, then glanced over Professor McGonagall's office decor before letting out a disdainful sneer. When she sensed someone looking at her, she turned her gaze toward Pomona. Pomona immediately looked away and lowered her head, desperately trying to hide her presence.

That was why Hufflepuffs had to keep a low profile. How lucky it was to be a silly Hufflepuff girl.

"I... I heard there were Unicorns in the Forbidden Forest." Her voice carried a sob, and two actual tears fell, dampening the ground at her feet. "I wanted to touch one. Then I got lost in the forest, and I ran into him."

She pointed at the Slytherin who had been kicked in the head by a Unicorn and still had a bruise on his forehead. He curled his lips into a smug sneer.

"Just as I said." He deliberately drew out his words, speaking slowly. "I was innocent throughout this whole incident, Professor McGonagall. The students you should punish are the Gryffindors."

Honestly, she wondered whether an eleven-year-old boy would really speak to Professor McGonagall in that tone.

As the suspicion grew in her mind, that eleven-year-old boy gradually began to change. He suddenly grew much taller, and his robes changed with him. At first they were dark green, but in the end they became black, like the midnight sky.

Then, with a pop, the clothes on his body vanished. Pomona hurriedly covered her face. How could she have such unhealthy fantasies?

"He looks like a vampire." The students all said that because of his excessively pale complexion. Yet he truly was not a vampire. He had met a real vampire at Slughorn's party. His name was Xue Ni, an unremarkable "ordinary person."

He was harmless to wizards. The little mind-control magic he knew could be resisted by any wizard with even a basic understanding of Occlumency. It was simply that this magic had become quite obscure, with only most pure-blood families still passing it down.

If one could not empty one's thoughts and emotions, then one should imagine being inside a safe, empty room, surrounded by nothing but walls. Any magical energy attempting to invade would first have to shatter the barrier outside. A vampire's mind-control magic was only strong enough to break a glass window; compared to a true master of Legilimency, it was far inferior.

Racial gifts included magical immunity in addition to appearance and physique. Giants were nearly immune to all magical attacks, including Avada Kedavra. Perhaps only Tom Riddle could casually raise his wand and kill a giant with the Killing Curse.

Veela were born masters of mental magic. As for wizards casting magic on goblins, it was like a giant wielding a wooden wand.

Severus Snape's mind contained many things useful to the Dark Lord, and Wolfsbane Potion was only one of them. Dumbledore wanted to know more. To perform Legilimency, one had to get close, but because of his experiences as a Death Eater, Snape was wary of everyone. Who had a more legitimate excuse than the herbology professor who brought him potion ingredients every day?

The Legilimency used playfully while studying was not remotely the same thing as what Tom used. Other people's minds were, at most, a house with brick walls, while his was an endlessly stretching maze. Pomona had once succeeded only through occasional surprise attacks. Now the time had come for her to reap what she had sown.

He was improving. He had now learned silent Legilimency, and later he would learn wandless magic. By then, who knew whether racial gifts would still work? Worse still, Dumbledore was already dead. Who could control him now?

Right, there was still Lily, the eternal lily in his heart, representing the kind, pure, harmless part of his soul. As long as she lived, he would not become a second Tom Riddle. He knew where the Elder Wand was, and he knew how to become its master. Add the Invisibility Cloak, and he would become the master of the Deathly Hallows, fulfilling the dream Tom had failed to achieve: conquering death.

"Before desire, all morality and law are useless, Pomona. At that time, people become beasts, just like the Sphinx."

In Ravenclaw's attic, Patricia was once again telling fortunes with Tarot cards. She still wore the clothes of a Gypsy woman.

"What is this card?" She pointed at the card that had been turned over, then immediately realized something was wrong. Her hand was no longer a child's hand.

"This card is called the Chariot," Patricia said. "A prince possessing both pride and nobility will drive it to conquer the world. The city behind him is his spoils of war. The black and white Sphinxes represent life and death. They are what the prince wishes to control and conquer, and also the force that drives him forward."

"Stop, Patricia!" She saw it: Snape, dressed in black, stood in her classroom filled with soft cushions. Those were not clothes he should have been wearing in his fifth year.

"How can he be restrained?" she heard her younger self ask.

Patricia turned over a card. It was the Empress.

"You know who I am." Snape appeared, completely naked. Like the Dark Lord summoned back by Pete during the Triwizard Tournament, he wore not a stitch of clothing. But he was warm, unlike the Dark Lord, who was as cold as a snake.

"Why did you resurrect me? What other task did Dumbledore give you?"

She spat at that beast, then returned to Hogwarts to seek someone who could help her: Lily Evans.