Chapter 66

"I don't want to do this."

"You say that as if you have a choice," Albus sat back in his chair behind his desk. "You will join, and you will not tell her."

A younger Severus was standing across from the Headmaster.

"Tom is getting stronger and stronger. More and more followers are joining him. I need to know what he is planning. That requires a spy. And what better person than you?"

Severus knew that the last statement wasn't a compliment. Far from it. But what was Severus to do? He proclaimed that he would do anything to stay out of Azkaban. This was the price of his weakness. His cowardice.

"Get in touch with the Malfoy heir," Albus ordered, bringing Severus out of his thoughts. "I'm sure he would love to recruit a new Death Eater."

"I don't want to be associated with them," Severus demanded. "Their views on just muggleborns alone is disgusting."

"Says the young man that called his once best friend a Mudblood," Albus countered, raising one eyebrow.

That stopped Severus' tirade. How did he know about that? He wasn't outside when it happened.

"My boy," Albus said as if reading his thoughts. "There is very little that gets past me. I know that you called sweet Ms. Evans that awful name and also that she has yet to forgive you." Severus seemed to shrink into himself. "And do you really think you deserve forgiveness?"

Severus knew Lily would never forgive him for saying that word. He really didn't mean it. It was a nasty slip. Malfoy and Lestrange were touting their bigotry beliefs all over the Common room. It got out the beginning of that year that Severus was half-blood and the taunting and bullying began. He learned early on the way everyone in Slytherin felt about anyone that was not a pure blood. The first five years Severus was able to keep his family a secret. But the beginning of his sixth year it came out and the bullying began within the House. Not to mention that they had been threatening Lily.

"Minnie," Severus whispered.

"By all means tell Minerva," Albus said. "And make sure you tell her that you are a cold blooded murderer as well."

Severus blanched. All the color left his cheeks. He knew he could never tell her that he killed his father. He didn't mean to. He didn't even know he had done it. He only wanted the beating to stop. Tobias Snape was never a nice man, especially towards his own son. Growing up, Tobias would smack Severus around. The beatings got worse when he started Hogwarts. The summer going into his seventh year was the worst Tobias had been. He was always creative when it came to what he would use to beat Severus. This particular time he used a cast iron skillet. Severus only wanted to stop the beatings. Stop his father from hurting him anymore. He never meant to kill his father.

"I'll do it," Severus whispered, his shoulders sagging.

"Wonderful, my boy," Albus smiled. "I expect to see some results before the end of the school term." Albus lowered his head by way of a dismissal.

Severus opened his eyes. That nightmare always plagued his mind every so often. He knew he sold his soul to the devil when he agreed to do whatever Albus wanted. But he had no choice.

Harry did his homework and stayed for dinner, but did not stay the night in his room. He went back to his dormitories. Severus insisted, even though he really wanted the boy to stay another night. He got out of bed and walked to the child's room.

Standing in the doorway, he could see in the few days that Harry had stayed, he was already making the room his. Severus walked into the room, waving his hands to turn on the lights. He saw some of Harry's homework was still on the desk in the corner of the room. Severus sat down on the bed if only to feel a little closer towards the child. He debated going up to the Gryffindor dormitories and watching Harry as he slept, running his fingers through that wild mane of his. He could do it and not be seen. He'd gone up there before, but he quickly dismissed the idea. Harry had asked if he could stay the night and against Severus' need to have the boy close to him, he denied the child.

Severus needed to talk to someone. He knew it was late and because of a counseling session, Minerva was not able to make it down for tea. He got up off the bed and headed towards the sitting room. Wandlessly starting the fire, Severus threw a pinch of Floo into the flames and called out a name.

Snuffles was curled up at the foot of the bed. It had been a long night. He had a lot on his mind. He could not sleep. His brain just would not shut down. His cousin was struggling with some very hard decisions. Decisions no child should have to go through.

"Black."

Snuffles lifted his head from the floor and looked towards the door. Seeing the light in the other room, he transformed back into his human form. Sirius saw that Minerva was still asleep. Not knowing what he was about to see, Sirius slowly walked out of the room, casting a locking charm over the door after he exited. If someone was coming into these chambers to get Minerva, they would not be able to get pass the charm Sirius erected over the door. The only person that could get the charm down was Sirius. He and James put together that charm for the protection of Remus during the months that they could not spend with him during the full moon.

When he walked into Minerva's sitting room, he saw Severus' head in the fireplace.

"Snape," Sirius said, kneeling down on the floor.

"Is mother protected?"

"Yes," Sirius said. "What is it?"

"Come through," Severus said and removed his head from the flames.

Sirius stepped through the flames and received another shock when he stepped into the sitting room. Remus was sitting on the sofa.

"What are you doing here, Moony?" Sirius asked walking over towards the sofa.

"I need to talk with you both," Severus said, walking back into the sitting room and going to his armchair. "Sit, please."

"What's going on?" Sirius asked, sitting down on the other end of the sofa.

"How's Poppy doing?" Severus asked, ignoring Sirius' question.

"You know her," Remus said. "She's strong. Not having her eyesight hasn't kept her down. She gets around better than me some days."

Severus nodded and then looked over at Sirius. "Have you seen or heard anything with regards to my mother?" Now that the remaining Marauders knew about his relationship with Minerva he long since stopped hiding his adoption from them.

Sirius looked at Severus. There was so much that he could and probably should tell Severus, but Minerva insistence that Severus does not know what happened earlier that evening stayed his tongue.

"No," Sirius said, shaking his head. "I haven't heard anything, but I'm keeping my ears open."

Severus nodded. Sirius' and Remus' furrowed their brows. They both knew that last statement Sirius said was just an open invitation for Severus to give a snide remark. For him to not take a shot at Sirius they knew that something had to really be bothering the Potions Master.

"What's going on, Severus?" Remus asked.

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Remus stepped through the Floo. His talk with Severus worried him. He was sure it worried Sirius as well. Severus never really answered his question. They sat in silence for a while just sipping tea. It was the first time the three of them ever sat down in a calm environment. There was always hostilities, especially between Sirius and Severus. Thought things were always tense between him and Severus, it was never as bad as Sirius and Severus. But tonight, made Remus wonder what their friendship would have been like if they didn't pick on Severus when they were in school. Ever since he talked with Minerva when she was in St. Mungo's, he always wondered about Severus' upbringing. It hurt him to learn of Harry's home life, but to learn that Severus suffered the same thing was upsetting. The guilt he was feeling was too much. Though he was adamant that he did not participate in the bullying of Severus, he did not actively try to stop Sirius and James. Now, he wished he did. Those thoughts plague him over and over most days.

"Poppy," Remus called out. "I'm back."

Remus shrugged his jacket off his shoulders. There was no response so Remus walked out of the receiving room and down the hallway.

"Poppy," Remus called out again. "Where are you?"

When he got to the stairs, he heard a faint tapping sound. Walking up the stairs, Remus followed the faint sound to the room where Harry was when Severus discovered that he was hurt. He opened the door and looked inside; he didn't see anything out of the ordinary. He was about to leave and close the door when he saw the small globe on the desk shake a little. He walked into the room going towards the desk. He picked up the globe and looked at it. Looking in the glass, he saw a tadpole wearing a pink cardigan, sitting on an ivy leaf. A small smirk graced his lips as he turned and left the room. He did not see the globe shaking when he closed the door.

Turning around he was slightly startled when he saw Poppy standing behind him.

"You called?" Poppy asked.

"You trying to sneak up on me?" Remus asked extending his arm out towards her.

"I find that funny," Poppy said, reaching out towards the wolf and taking the proffered arm, falling into step beside him. "I was heading downstairs for some tea and I heard you in Harry's room."

"Care for some company?" Remus said, leading Poppy down the stairs.

Remus and Poppy walked down the stairs neither one hearing the globe in the room as it cracked at the seams.

_0000_0000_000_0000

The next few days were uneventful. Classes carried on. Everyone in their own little world. Draco kept his head down during the day. He didn't talk to anyone. After confessing to Minerva, Draco's main worry had been if his former godfather would confront him on what he was supposed to do. It was Professor McGonagall's idea to keep quiet about everything right now and he knew he was putting a lot of faith in her. He hoped that she would help him.

Draco, while walking, came to an abrupt stop. Since he was not looking where he was going, he bumped into what felt like a wall. When he came back to his senses and focused on what was right in his line of sight, he saw a pair of black shiny boots. Automatically knowing who's boots they were, Draco's heart began drumming in his chest. He slowly looked up to see that he had indeed bumped into his godfather.

"You know, Mr. Malfoy, you would see a lot clearer if you lifted your head and watched where you were going." Severus' tone was not harsh or mean. Actually, it was his usual everyday way of speaking.

Draco couldn't help his eyes widening when he looked up at his godfather, fearing that this was the moment where he was going to die. Min-Min didn't keep her promise of not telling Uncle Sev and was coming to find him. Draco quickly glanced around and saw that they were the only ones in the corridor. He swallowed convulsively.

Severus narrowed his eyes as he looked at his godson. There was pure fear in the boy's face.

"S-sorry, sir," Draco mumbled out, stepping back and quickly turning the opposite direction and walking away.

Severus was going to call out to the boy but thought against it for right now. He had somewhere he needed to be. Resting his thoughts on his godson, he would find the boy later and talk with him again, as the last times they talked he was terribly vague with his explanations.

Severus walked into the laboratory to begin getting things ready for his detention with the twins. They weren't due for another twenty minutes, so he had plenty of time to get the ingredients together that they would be working on. After they scrubbed a few cauldrons.

Focused on his work, he didn't hear the door open, as he was in the back storage cupboard. Walking out of the small room, Severus saw Horace standing in the doorway.

"What are you doing here?" Horace asked. "Still hiding out here?"

"What do you want?" Severus deadpanned, continuing towards the table with the rest of the supplies.

"You have no rights down here," Horace said.

"Really?" Severus raised and eyebrow and faced his former Head of House. "And why is that? You have no control over me. And you have no say in what I do. Now if you excuse me, I have a detention to oversee."

Severus turned his back on Horace. The former Head of Slytherin walked up on the man in black and quickly grabbed his elbow turning the younger man around to face him.

Horace was about to rant off a blistering tirade when he felt something poke him just under his ribs. He glanced down at the wand, that he did not know Severus had removed, and back up to the man before him.

"I am no longer a student you can bully," growled Severus. "Your intimidation will not work."

"Professor."

A voice from the door brought both wizards out of angry gazing at each other. Severus glanced at the door and saw the Weasley twins made it down. Seeing the looks on their faces he could just picture what they were seeing. The new professor standing up to the hated former potions professor. Tickets could be sold to the students to witness the dressing down of the Greasy Git of the dungeons. Had it been any other student, they probably would have run out of the room laughing and telling the first person that they saw what was going on in the Potions lab.

Fred and George made their way to their detention with mixed feelings. This was going to be their first actual detention of them scrubbing cauldrons, but they were also excited that they would be brewing a new potion. The twins talked softly to themselves as they walked, speaking of new products that they could come up with. New candies and lollies. New jokes and fireworks. To anyone looking on them, they looked like they were just conspiring not heading towards detention.

When they got to the room, they heard voices. Both always wanting to have something over on someone as a way of blackmail, quietly opened the door. What they saw took them by so much surprise. Professor Snape was leaning against the worktable and the new Professor Slughorn was hovering over him, looking menacing. It caught the twins off their guard that Fred called out.

"Professor."

Severus looked at the twins and saw that George's temper was about to get the best of him, quickly. He stepped aside, letting his wand hand fall to his side. Horace, without saying another word, walked passed the twins and out of the laboratory.

"Get started," Severus ordered, pointing to the few cauldrons by the sink.

The twins stood at the doorway. Fred looking worriedly at Snape and George looking furiously down the hall where Slughorn retreated down.

"If you want to work on your potions today, I suggest you get started," Severus said, effectively bringing both of them out of their thoughts.

Severus caught the worried look on Fred's face but it was the anger that George was emitting that he needed to address.

"Mr. Weasley, do calm yourself down," Severus said stepping into George's path.

Severus prided himself in being able to tell the two of them apart. Something that at the best of times their own mother could not do. The twins were the same height as Professor Snape so looking the twin in his eyes was not a problem he had to deal with.

"But, Professor," George started but was cut off.

"I can take care of myself, Mr. Weasley."

"But, Professor," George tried again, wanting his reasoning to be known.

"George," Severus said softly. "I'm fine. You do not have to worry about me. I've been dealing with the likes of Professor Slughorn for a long time." George's shoulders deflated a little. "Now, go help your brother finish cleaning those cauldrons so we can work on the salve."

George lowered his head and he looked smaller and younger than he was. Severus saw the first year that opened his heart to them.

Fred was already getting the cauldrons underwater so that they could soak. He watched as his brother walked over towards him. George didn't understand himself why he was feeling that way. Maybe it was because they had never seen Professor Snape in that kind of position. Professor Snape was a feared man. He was not someone that had fear in his eyes. In the twins' mind, especially George, Professor Snape was impervious. Nothing could harm the man. Seeing that Professor standing over Snape made George's throat burn with anger. It was getting increasingly hard to swallow as water filled his eyes.

Fred looked over at his brother. He understood what his brother was feeling, even if George did not.

There were tense moments during their detention but things calmed a little when they started brewing. The twins felt calm in the subtle movements that were required to brew a potion. There was nothing wrong in their little world while they brewed. They truly understood Professor Snape's passion behind his mastery. The walk back to their room in the tower was a quiet one. Though things calmed it wasn't far from George's mind.

"What's wrong?" Fred asked when he closed the door to their room.

"Nothing," George shrugged as he got out of his outer robes.

"Now that we got lying out of the way, why don't you tell me the truth?"

George was about to say something but quickly shut his mouth when he looked at the face of his twin.

"I just didn't like what we walked in on," George sighed, slumping down on his bed.

"Professor said that he can take care of himself," Fred said, walking over towards the bed and sitting next to his brother.

"I know," George almost whined. "He should not have been like that."

"Do you think he didn't have the situation under control?"

"What are you talking about?" George looked at his brother.

"Georgie, you have got to learn to see everything," Fred sounded tired. "He may have looked like Slughorn had the upper hand, but that was not the case. And if you were just looking at their faces and looked at the whole picture, you would have seen that Professor was just fine. His wand was in his hand when he lowered his arm."

"I still don't like him," George said, petulantly.

"We'll keep an eye on him," Fred said, getting up and walking over towards his trunk. "But keep that temper intact. We've already gotten in trouble because of your temper." That last part was said with a smirk, as Fred wasn't all that upset, but not wanting to jeopardize their brewing time again.

"Too bad we don't take his class," George mused. "It would be fun to see how we could mess things up in there."

The twins were in their last year and opted to not take potions. Their one on one time with Severus was much better than taking the class. And now that Severus wasn't teaching Potions anymore, it made their time together that much more special.

_0000_0000_0000_000

Albus was looking over some parchments when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," he said absently.

The opening door revealed Horace. He came in a without permission sat down across from the Headmaster.

"And what can I do for you, Horace?" Albus asked when he looked up and saw who came in.

"I was thinking of starting back up my club again," Horace said.

"What a splendid idea," Albus said, his eyes twinkling. "Any students caught your attention?"

"A few," Horace said.

"And they are?"

"Ms. Lovegood, Mr. McClaggen, Ms. Granger, Ms. Bones, Ms. Cho, a few others, and, of course, Mr. Potter."

"Excellent." Albus smiled.

TBC