All my thanks to Jared, Joe, and Kuilin, who beta-ed this chapter.

Chapter 28.

Memory Charms

11:57 pm, July 2nd, 1993

Accompanied by an Auror trio, Severus walked slowly through the stone hallways of Hogwarts, slightly dazed. He and Mad-Eye had escorted Harry back to his bed chamber in Ravenclaw, where an Auror trio would guard the Boy-Who-Lived for the night, and Mad-Eye had just departed through the Floo in Minerva's office.

Usually, Severus would prefer a solitary walk in an almost-empty Hogwarts at night. However, the current security protocol required that nobody should ever pass through the corridors alone. What was worse, to the dismay of both Severus and the current Auror trio, Severus and Auror Bahry had to share what used to be Severus' temporary living room, while the place Severus had called his bedroom for a few days was shared by Auror McJorgenson and Trainee Auror Tonks.

Any other time, Severus would hate this rather inconsiderate arrangement; but he knew his current daze, caused by multiple advanced memory charms, might impair his ability to defend himself for a short while - so he tolerated the presence of the Auror trio for now.

-Well, my patience will run out when the women begin their long showers, while Bahry and I have to wait for our turns. Merlin knows why women can take showers together, while Bahry and I would rather hex each other than do the same. Perhaps that's because Tonks and McJorgenson like each other, while Bahry and I despise each other.

Severus gave an inward sigh and dearly hoped this safety protocol would end soon.

-To be honest, who are we kidding? The glasses we are wearing at all times may prevent immediate death by basilisk attacks, but the Dark Lord can probably kill all of us without any magic. Even I can think of Muggle explosives. The Dark Lord can surely think of something better.

-And the Boy-Who-Lived's plot, whatever it is, will it work?

Severus frowned slightly, wondering what the things that he didn't remember now were. He remembered that Harry Potter had called him into the Headmistress' Office four days ago after Hermione, Draco, and Mad-Eye each had their own talks with the Boy-Who-Lived. Potter had asked Severus whether he would participate in something and then be memory-charmed about it,only recalling part of it after certain events occurred. Severus had surely agreed.

-The Girl-Who-Revived seemed a bit sad after her talk with Potter, so whatever the plot is, it must require some sacrifices on our side. Would that boy be stupid enough to really act Dumbledore-ish, and sacrifice himself? That's surely a possibility.

Severus felt a familiar wave of sadness and nausea.

-If only we can somehow preserve the boy's head when he sacrifices himself, maybe I can revive him.

-Otherwise, I can only hope one of three things turn out our way. First, Potter is creative enough that he will think of something powerful enough to defeat the Dark Lord again using the lessons that Mad-Eye and I are about to teach him. Second, my future attempt to corrupt magical officials of the former Soviet states may result in some interesting discoveries, and the boy may get something more from those. Third, as Lucius has offered, he may be able to weasel out some secrets from Grindelwald after he is sentenced.

-Grindelwald had been literally invincible before his Muggle allies failed - or at least that was what Albus claimed, though I never asked Albus the question in Parseltongue - so there must be something there. Nazis had notorious concentration camps that killed Muggles in very meticulous manners: could that be the secret? If so, can we use the natural deaths of Muggles to boost Potter's magic for a while? Tens of thousands Muggles die from natural causes every day anyway.

The ex-Death Eater continued his thought that would definitely be condemned by the "good" people of magical Britain as he entered his temporary residence. When the women went to the bathroom, Bahry and Severus stared at each other, before they each went into their own beds with curtains drawn.

Severus reached into his pouch, drawing out his dark-blue suitcase containing most of his books, and descended into his suitcase-study.

Severus' plan for tonight had been learning Russian in preparation for his future trip to whichever former Soviet states had enough secrets and plenty of corruptible magical officials, but his heart wasn't exactly in Russian now. For some reason Severus had a feeling that if he were to learn ancient runes or Egyptian hieroglyphs tonight, he might gain more.

-Is this related to what I did for the past three days? Is it possible that the Boy-Who-Lived knew something from his Line of Merlin Unbroken heritage, and asked Mad-Eye and me to perform the magic for him? The knowledge might not be Interdicted, but ancient and powerful for sure. Or, the boy had guessed the secret of some Interdicted magic, and just needed us to fill in the details.

Severus sat down by his solid wooden desk, adjusted the light in the study, and summoned the Advanced Magical Hieroglyphs that he had duplicated from Hogwarts library, and the Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs that he had duplicated from the British library.

Severus sighed inwardly for the wizarding kind: even in the language that is considered magical, the Muggles know more these days. Should I feel lucky the wizards hired by the goblins to work in the pyramids don't study Muggle Egyptology? There might still be something left for me to discover there.

-Maybe after we get rid of the Dark Lord once and for all, I can explore Latin America, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, India, China, and Japan as I originally planned. Actually, I should travel to Iraq and Iran first, before the Muggles start another war in the region and destroy everything.

Severus looked longingly at his large collection of mostly-untouched language and history books that he duplicated with the help of several memory charmed and bribed Muggle librarians in the British Library. He knew all his planning would only be dreaming if the Boy-Who-Lived's plan didn't work out.

After Severus had flipped through quite some pages in his third read-through of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs, Auror Bahry yelled something outside the suitcase, and Severus ignored him.

-Let him take the bath first. The hieroglyphs are really beginning to make sense to me now.

However, by this time, Severus started to feel some emptiness in his stomach. Severus murmured, "Tempus."

"12:42 am, July 3rd, 1993" showed up in the air.

Severus then drew out his mechanical pocket watch from his pouch, and it showed 6:42 am.

-I must have somehow turned my Time-Turner six times in the past twenty-four hours, for some purpose that I don't remember. And as a matter of fact, when did I have my last meal?

Severus shook his head, trying to get the light fog of tiredness and the after-effect of memory charms away, and summoned a frozen burger from his pouch. While heating the burger, Severus absent-mindedly noted that the memory charms he or someone else had used on him must be quite strong, since he was still feeling the after-effect.

-However, there is something not quite right. What is it?

Severus opened his pouch and dug into it, hoping he had left himself a note or some other form of communication.