Sirius, Severus and Harry stared at the rat, too transfixed by the sight to move. It only took that moment of horrified silence for Sirius to completely lose his head. With an howl that made him seem less like a man and more like the large, dangerous dog he transformed into, Sirius threw himself at Peter, landing hard on the floor. The rat was too fast.

At the same moment, Severus cast a freezing spell, but the curse missed and hit the coffee table instead causing glass to rain down on Sirius and Peter. Neither seemed to care, and Sirius scrambled over the glass to attempt to grab the rat again.

“Stupefy!” yelled Harry from behind Severus. The curse landed finely between Peter and Sirius and Severus didn’t dare try again with Sirius’ fingers perilously close to the rat. The rat scuttled into a small hole in the wall that Severus has never noticed. Severus’ forehead creased in confusion, but before he could formulate a thought he saw Sirius scramble to his feet and raise his wand.

“BLACK! NO!” Severus yelled. But it was too late. Sirius’ wand came crashing down, and the wall exploded. The high ceilings and cool green and silver furnishings of the Slytherin common room burst into view, as did several students whose eyes and mouths were all rounded in surprise.

“That’s Sirius Black,” one boy whisper-yelled. The ensuing panic would have been hilarious if the situation was remotely funny. Girls shrieked, some students drew their wands, others raced for the portrait hole causing Emmeline Kliene, a particularly small first-year, to almost be trampled. Sirius realized the danger and went to pull the little girl out the throng of students. Jack Prewett, in an act that was both incredibly brave and stupid, ran up and kicked Sirius in the shins. Sirius swore and dropped the girl’s arm and Jack pulled her back to the crowd. If they made it out of this, Severus was going to give Jack ten points just for the sheer hilarity.

“Enough, enough.” Severus said firmly, his voice raised only enough to carry over the din of panic. Rather reluctantly, the throng of students stopped their movement and turned their wide-eyes to him.

“Black put away your wand. You’re scaring them,” Severus muttered as he walked by him to address the students. Sirius, still stunned by the appearance of the Slytherin common room, looked at his wand as though he just remembered possessing it. He stowed it in his pocket and gave the students a sheepish smile.

“Erm – has anyone seen a rat?” asked Sirius asked hopefully, before Severus could open his mouth. Most of the students continued to simply gape at Sirius while others reluctantly checked their surrounding areas. Severus turned and glared at him then returned his attention to the students.

“None of you are in any danger. If you’d please - ”

“Sorry Professor, but is this the rat you were looking for?” asked Faye Dawson, holding the rat out to Severus without a hint of disgust or fear on her face. Severus narrowed his eyes slightly as he approached her. She was the niece of Yaxley, one of the fiercer Death Eaters, and Severus had no doubt she would head the same way. Dark hair and blue eyes that were as cold as highly-polished marble, she was exceedingly pretty and dangerously intelligent. Unlike Draco her allegiance was never something to boast about, she was careful, calculating, the Dark Lord already had her pegged for his inner circle. She returned his narrowed eyes with the slightest raise of her thin eyebrows as Severus took the rat from her.

It was all-wrong. Severus knew instantly. The fur, though close in colour was slightly greyer than Peter’s and the missing toe was on the wrong foot. Severus raised his eyes to meet Faye’s again. The left corner of her lip lifted up in to the beginning of a smile and her eyes conveyed nothing but knowledge.

“It’s not Peter, Black.” Severus said softly, turning away from the wretched girl to face Sirius who was looking at the rat with wide-eyed horror.

“No…” whispered Black, the disbelief was clear in his voice even as dawning comprehension filled his pale face. Severus didn’t have time for Black to process. He roughly grabbed the man’s arm and pulled him back across the destroyed wall to the apartment.

“You have to get out of here now.” Severus said lowly “Before - ”

“Well, well, well – what do we have here?” The sweet, sticky voice that Severus hated so much flowed through the common room like a spilt potion. Umbridge appeared at the portrait hole, flanked by two Aurors.

“Arrest him,” ordered Umbridge, a hard smile on her paunchy face. A surge of anxiety flooded through Severus’ veins. “The Dementors have been waiting an awfully long time for this.”  Severus felt Sirius’ arm tense under his hand and his wide-eyes flickered from Umbridge to the students, clearly trying to assess the possibility of fighting without hurting one of the children. Severus gripped his wand in the pocket of his robes. He supposed at this point they were in it together.

“NO!” yelled Harry, stumbling over the rubble to put himself between the Aurors and Sirius. “You can’t take him! He’s innocent.”

“It’s alright, Harry,” said Sirius. The comforting words were belied by the thready tremor in Sirius’ voice that Snape had heard only one other time: when he thought he was about to be expelled from Hogwarts.

“I fancy myself a little more well-informed about Black’s situation than you, Mr. Potter,” Umbridge said, teeth barred in a horrible, patronizing smile. “What are you waiting for? Get him. Potter and Snape too, they must be questioned.” There was a rumble of disapproval from the Slytherin students.

“Harry and Snape have done nothing,” Sirius almost whispered. There was none of the usual levity and over-confidence in his voice, it was replaced by an almost beseeching tone. He pulled Harry back from the Aurors.

“That remains to be seen,” Umbridge replied toothily, nodding to the Aurors. The taller of the two Aurors wrenched Potter’s arm from Sirius.

“You can’t do that!” Jake protested, aghast. The mutinous mutterings of some of the Slytherins grew louder, and a fifth year girl was drawing her wand. Severus’ eyes flicked between Sirius, Harry, and the Slytherin students. Add Dumbledore and a few Order members and all the people Severus cared about would currently be threatened. He didn’t enjoy the feeling.

“You can’t take him to the Dementors.” Harry said to the Auror, clearly hoping he was more reasonable than Umbridge. “He is innocent. Please. Dumbledore can explain –“ The Aurors that had seized Sirius by the arms were now half-dragging him towards the door and Potter’s pleas were almost nonsensical.

Severus was so busy trying to formulate a plan to get Sirius and Harry away without hurting any Slytherin students that he didn’t notice Jake run up to the portrait hole, blocking it with his small body.

“Out of the way, boy.” The Auror bellowed. Jake wide-eyed, shook his head no.

“It’s alright, kid,” Sirius said with a little smile on his face, even as he eyed the Auror’s wand apprehensively. “Go on, sit down.”

“Do as he says, Mr. Prewett.” Snape said beginning to feel his heart beat in his ears. Umbridge wasn’t above blasting a student out of the way, and the boy was going to accomplish nothing with the gesture. It was positively Gryffindor-esque. He felt a new sympathy for Minerva.

“If he’s innocent, you can’t take him,” said Jack in a small-voice. “You should hear his side of the story. It’s only fair.”

“Jack!” Severus snapped, looking warily at the wand in the Auror’s right hand, “Sit. Down.”

“Enough of this!” Umbridge yelled, a hysterical note to her voice. She pointed her wand at Jack. That was not on.

“HEY!” Severus yelled as he lunged at her. The last thing he saw was the fuzzy pink of Umbridge’s sweater as she raised her arms to defend herself.

The first thing Severus wanted to know was why his bed was so hard and cold. He might come off as the kind of guy who liked a hard bed and needed only a thin blanket, but really, Severus liked big, soft beds and clean, squishy duvets. This was all wrong.

“Professor, please wake up,” someone begged, their voice panicky.  Severus attempted to open his eyes, but he couldn’t quite remember how.  

“Snape, you have to wake up.” The voice sounded near tears and shook him roughly. Clearly, the voice wasn’t alright. It needed help. For some reason, that thought provided the motivation Severus needed to pry open his eyelids.  

Potter’s face hovered inches above his own. Severus tried to recoil but only succeeded in banging his head on the stone floor.

“Does the concept of personal space mean anything to you, Potter?” Severus asked rubbing his head. There was no apology or abashment on Potter’s face, only pure panic.

“Sir, they’ve got Sirius. They said that they will perform the kiss at nightfall. Just like last time.” Potter’s eyes were so wide that they seemed to take up an unusually large portion of his pale face. They seemed to dull the usually overwhelming effect of James’ high cheekbones and strong jaw-line on Harry’s appearance. For the first time, all Severus could see was Lily, Lily, Lily all over the boy’s face. Lily’s eyes staring at him: frightened, wordlessly begging for help. Severus blinked, he must have hit his head really fucking hard.

He tried to sit up but his stomach burned and his head throbbed with fresh vengeance. Harry put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

“I think you re-opened some of those gashes on your stomach when you flew at Umbridge,” explained Harry, anxiously.

“Jack?” Severus asked, feeling to nauseous to say anything more.

“He’s fine,” Harry said, looking Snape over with concern. “One of the Aurors got him out of the way, you know, without magic.” Severus nodded, one less thing to worry about. “They took our wands.” Harry whispered fearfully as Severus felt his pocket. They exchanged dismal looks for a long moment. No wand. Severus couldn’t remember the last time he was without a wand. He felt as though some vital part of his body had been removed. Potter was looking panicked again.

“That’s fine.” Snape replied hoarsely. “I can do wandless magic.” The confidence in his voice far surpassed the confidence Severus had in his own abilities. Dumbledore had taught him some wandless magic, many years ago and his abilities were extremely limited.  Still, Potter looked reassured, and for some reason that made Snape feel better.

“Ok,” Harry said reaching forward to grab Severus’ elbow. Instinctively, Severus flinched and pulled it back. He scowled at the boy for good measure. Harry pulled back, his face frozen in a sort of apologetic cringe. Harry reached forward again and gently touched Severus’ elbow.

“I should probably help you, sir,” Harry said hesitantly. Knowing he had no other choice, Snape nodded. The hand around his elbow tightened and he clamored to his feet unsteadily.

“Alright?” asked Harry. Snape made a conscious effort not to sway on his feet and gave Harry a short nod. The boy let go of his elbow, a little hesitantly, and they both walked to the locked door.

“Stand back, Potter. I’m not sure how much control I’ll have.” Snape muttered. Potter stepped back so he was against the far wall.

Snape raised his wand hand and tried not to think about how ridiculous he looked as he pointed at the door.

“Alohomora.” His fingers felt warm, but nothing else happened. He felt Potter’s eyes on him and felt slightly embarrassed at the lack of bangs and whistles.  “Alohomora.” Nothing happened.

“I’m sorry, Potter,” Severus said, lowering his hand. “I don’t seem to be able to.” He turned around to look at Harry. The boy turned to look out at the setting sun, shoulders slumped. 

Severus turned back to the locked door. He took a deep breath and felt his magic, swirling through this blood. He imagined connecting with it, controlling it like an animal ready to attack. Wandless magic was the only way to protect Potter and help Black. At this thought, he felt his magic surge, as though the importance of helping Potter was so deeply rooted it affected his blood. He focused on pushing that energy through his body to his fingers.

“Alohomora.” A bright white light shot spastically from Snape’s fingers sending him cascading backwards and causing the door to blast off of its hinges. Debris from the upper part of the wall slide down. A large rock landed on Severus’ arm, pinning him and sending a flare of excruciating pain up his arm. Well, Severus thought numbly, at least the problem isn’t a lack of power.

“HOLY SHIT!” Harry yelped, climbing over the rubble to Snape’s side. “Are you ok?!”

“Yes,” Snape lied, blinking heavily to focus on Potter. The boy started levitating rocks off of him.

“Potter! Stop! There is no time for that. You need to go to the floo and contact Arthur Weasley. He’ll know what to do.” Harry searched Snape’s pale face and looked out the window to the rapidly darkening sky.

“I’m sorry, Professor,” Harry whispered. “There isn’t time.”

“Potter!” Snape snarled as the boy picked himself up. “Do not go for Black alone.” Harry turned towards the door, and did not respond.

“I’ll be back soon.” Harry said, then he ran through the door. Snape had no other option but to listen as the sound of Harry’s trainers rapidly slapping the ground faded.

                                                                        XxXxX

Harry ran as fast as his legs could carry him towards the Gryffindor common room.

“Harry! Hey, Harry!” Ron’s voice stopped Harry in his tracks and he turned to see Ron, Hermione, Luna, Neville and Ernie all jogging towards him looking concerned.

“What happened? Ernie said you fainted in the middle of the exam?” Hermione asked anxiously, looking over Harry for any physical abnormalities that may provide a clue.

“I’m fine,” Harry’s eyes darted to Luna, Neville and Ernie who were all looking at him expectantly. As much as he appreciated their work in Dumbledore’s Army, he wasn’t willing to talk about Sirius in front of them.

“They say Stubby Boardman is back in the castle.” Luna said vaguely. “Is that why you fainted?” Ernie looked at her, bemused, and Harry realized with a slight laugh that Ernie had not been truly exposed to Luna’s particular world-view. The laugh was gone as soon as it came. Sirius was still being held in the Astronomy Tower, about to be descended on by Dementors. How dare he think of anything else?

“Sirius is in the Astronomy Tower. Umbridge found him. She’s calling the Dementors.” Harry explained hurriedly to Hermione and Ron, no longer caring what Luna, Ernie and Neville thought or did. He didn’t have time for that.

“Is he still after you?” Ernie asked eyes wide. Taken aback, Harry fully-remembered that even his friends thought Sirius was a raving murderer.

“He’s innocent. We have to help him.” Harry directed the last part of his sentence to a milk-faced Hermione and Ron, but Neville, Luna and Ernie were nodding in agreement. 

“Harry…look.” Hermione pointed to the window. A cloaked figured slid eerily by, casting an eerie, cold shadow over the. A deep despair that had nothing to do with the Dementors filled hollowed Harry’s lungs.

“We have to go now.” The five of them started after Harry. “Not you.” Harry said turning to face Neville, Luna and Ernie. Ernie turned back to look at the window where two more Dementors were gliding by.

“Do you really think you three can hold off that many Dementors?” asked Ernie, an eyebrow raised skeptically. Ron grimaced.

“Neville, can you do a Patronus charm?” Hermione asked with a hesitant kindness. Neville blushed and shook his head negatively.

“That’s alright, Neville.” Luna said, looking away from the painting of a unicorn she had been examining. “They’re rather difficult, aren’t they? Pretty though.”  Harry blinked at Luna for a moment than turned back to Neville.

“Neville, Professor Snape is trapped under a pile of rubble in the Astronomy Tower. Go get Madam Pomfrey and help him,” said Harry. It felt odd to be giving orders. Neville looked like he would much rather face Dementors than an injured Snape, Patronus or no Patronus, but he nodded and turned back towards the hospital wing. Harry took one last look at Ernie and Luna.

“Well, come on then!” They broke in to a sprint, past the Gryffindor common room, shuttered classrooms and empty Great Hall until they burst out into the cool evening, leaving the safety of the castle behind them.