After another fruitless conversation with the Headmaster, Severus had had enough.
He knew perfectly well you could not threaten people into treating children decently. His father had been immune both to the theoretical threat of Severus’ mother using her magic against him – it was still possible, downtrodden though she was – and the child protection services alerted by the well-meaning Evans parents.
His father had not exactly locked him in his room to starve him – just drinking away the money they had had for food had been enough – and not exactly beaten him ... except a clip around the ear here and there, that was ... the general level of abuse might be about the same the Dursleys enacted on their nephew.
And such people knew exactly how far they could go, and they would go that far, knowing no threats against them would be made good of until they exceeded some limit. They would be careful to not break any bones in the child’s body, oh no. They would, perhaps, continue starving him until he was close to death, thinking they could always feed him back up and deny everything ... and then he would get an infection and die in his weakened state, and they would be very sorry indeed – Severus would make sure of that – but it wouldn’t be any use, then.
Sending the boy back to his relatives was madness.
Plan A had been to convince Albus, very fitting. And plan B also had a fitting name. Severus hated plan B.
Plan B was to get Black to help.
Sadly, he didn’t have a plan C. A pity. He would have loved a plan that involved Charity – the Muggle Studies teacher was inoffensive and laughed at his jokes about Lockhart – but he didn’t know her nearly well enough to ask her to meddle in things Dumbledore didn’t want any meddling in.
Perhaps he ought to have planned to get the Chudley Cannons to hire Potter, but as the boy was underage, even the famously inept team wouldn’t even think of taking him.
So, Black it was.
Severus sat down to pen a letter:
“By now, you will already have realized Dumbledore won’t let the boy stay with you. If you want to make sure your godson lives, meet me in the Hog’s Head, nine o’ clock, this Thursday.
S. Snape”
There, the ominous hint about Harry’s life being in danger ought to do it. Black would turn up.
Sighing, Severus stared at the dried stain of ... whatever it was on the table before him. He had even chosen the cleanest table in the Hog’s Head.
The only way the innkeeper could be making a business was with people going here to conduct their shady business in the relative privacy of everyone else around them also being engaged in shady business.
Ordinarily – that was, if meeting with some Death Eater, or something the like - Severus would have chosen the Three Broomsticks or perhaps even Madam Puddifoot’s to conduct any shady business, as the mere fact of being in the Hog’s Head put you under suspicion, whereas having a chat with a ‘respectable citizen’ like Lucius Malfoy in the Three Broomsticks might look as if he’d accidentally run into the man and had to be civil.
However, in this case, it was essential that the Headmaster didn’t learn of his meeting with Black, and the Hog’s Head was the only place where he at least had a decent chance to not be seen by other teachers.
After being told he had to order something if he wanted to stay, Severus decided on a bottle of Butterbeer.
The bottle was dusty and – Severus checked – several years past its date of expiry. Well, the barkeep hadn’t said he had to consume something.
Severus scolded himself for being so stupid – he should have ordered a glass of water and simply poured it away.
He let his eyes roam over the place.
In one dark corner, there were two hags, likely plotting how to kidnap Hogwarts children. Not a big threat, since the wards wouldn’t let them near the school and at year three, children were already too old for the hags’ culinary tastes.
Another dark corner, two men playing dice ... no, none of them was Hagrid, thank Morgana, the groundskeeper would immediately have told all his acquaintances that he had spotted Severus having a friendly chat with Black, delighed they had finally become friends.
Also, Severus really wasn’t keen on having to dispose of yet another illegal beast Hagrid had acquired from one of those mysterious strangers that always seemed to know whom they could sell, or even gift, their illegal beasts to when all else failed.
The other dark corner, a single person of unidentifiable sex, in a dark hooded cloak. Likely just some harmless shop assistant trying to be mysterious on the weekend. People who really meant business rarely wore hooded cloaks. In their spare time, that was. Lucius Malfoy wouldn’t be seen in Death Eater robes anywhere but at the Dark Lord’s side, that was for sure.
Another dark corner, a lanky, dark-haired young man whose bottom was surrounded by a wet spot. Either incontinent or half Selkie. And apparently too inept at magic to clean up after himself.
Severus could have gone on, as the place had a larger number of dark corners than any reasonably built and lit building ought to have, but at that moment, the door opened and Sirius Black swaggered in as if he owned the place.
Merlin, Severus had almost forgotten how much he hated the man.
Almost.
Black looked around and then confidently strode towards the cloaked person Severus had noticed earlier.
Let him embarrass himself, or alert him as to avoid drawing more attention than absolutely necessary? Hmm.
The person looked up, pushed back the hood and revealed a young, female face and honey-coloured hair.
Damn, that really was the Honeydukes shop assistant! He had been joking to himself about that.
And she looked really delighted to have drawn Black’s attention.
Black’s face was an amusing sight for a moment. Then, he caught himself, winked at the young woman and looked around.
Finally his gaze fell on Severus, who was – of course – wearing his green robes. He wasn’t stupid enough to wear something that would cause even people who didn’t know him personally to recognize him at first sight. Like his midnight black teaching robes.
Severus considered making an acerbic comment about Black being stupid enough to assume he would wear a hood on a mild May day, but thought better of it. He didn’t want to give Black opportunity to comment on his allegedly feminine looks.
Just because he wasn’t packed with more muscles than a skilled wizard could reasonably need didn’t mean his shoulders weren’t considerably wider than his hips, instead of the other way round.
But of course, such details had always evaded Black.
“Oy, Snivellus, why are you in disguise?”
“Disguise? I am wearing Slytherin colours”, Severus retorted, wordlessly casting a Muffliato spell around the table. “Specifically so that even the most imbecilic idiot would be able to recognize me immediately. And do be civil, Black. Your godson’s life is at stake.”
“Is it?” Black flopped into the chair opposite Severus’. „And whose fault is that?”
Severus raised an eyebrow. Did Black imply it was his fault? “How much has he told you about the family he lives with?”
“Not much. Just that he’s sure they won’t miss him if he stays the summer with me.” Black frowned, apparently thinking about this strained his three brain cells.
“Then let me enlighten you, Black. The boy stays at Hogwarts during all the holidays. He only goes back to his family in the summer, and he tells you they won’t miss him if he doesn’t show up. What does that tell you about them?”
Black shrugged. “I guess they don’t like him much. Same as my dear old mum, I suppose.“
Severus hadn’t concerned himself much with Black’s home life. Black certainly didn’t look malnourished, and Regulus had always been home during the holidays.
And Black ... Black had stayed over the holidays in first year, much to Severus’ dismay, but after that ... after that, he had always been away, which made Severus’ holidays so much nicer, Lily-less though they sometimes were.
Curious. But he could think about that later.
“They probably starve him”, Severus said, with a carefully studied air of disinterest. “Of course, the headmaster is sure he will be safe ...”
“Spit it out, Snape. What do you propose I do? I already talked to Dumbledore.”
“Oh, he will never change his mind.” After all, Severus had tried time and again. If even Black, one of his golden Gryffindor boys, couldn’t change his mind, there was nothing to be done. “But as I understand, you have ways to disguise your identity.”
Black glared at him. “What are you implying?”
“Only that Pettigrew, the little rat, could never have become an animagus without help.” After going through the process himself, he was sure of that. Keeping a leaf in your mouth without accidentally swallowing it was not something the clumsy boy could have accomplished without his friends’ collaboration. Severus didn’t recall a time of blessed silence on the four toerags’ part, but that didn’t mean much, you hardly ever noticed the absence of suffering.
And of course, he always had wondered why they didn’t seem to be afraid of their werewolf friend.
Werewolves didn’t attack animals. Now, that was a possible upside to even the weakest animagus form he hadn’t thought of before.
“And assuming I had, as you put it, ways of disguising my identity, what then?”
“Well, your precious godson already has an owl, but I do think he might be able to smuggle in another pet. Your friend enjoyed his lazy life as young Mr. Weasley’s pet rat, you know?”
“Peter isn’t my friend”, Black growled. “And ... suppose my animagus form wasn’t something so small?”
Severus had expected that. “That’s what you need my help for. I am a teacher at Hogwarts. I can convince them he needs to watch an animal as task for Care of Magical Creatures ... provided, of course, your form is small enough to still be somewhat reasonable for a pet.”
Black nodded absent-mindedly. So his animagus form was, indeed, pet-sized. “So how do I know this isn’t just a trap so you can sell me out to the ministry for being an unregistered animagus?”
“You aren’t registered?” Severus put on a fake shocked expression. “Why, I had no idea!”
Black just glared at him.
“As for it being a trap, no, luring people to their doom by implying their loved ones are in danger is much more your style, Black. I am above that.”
“What are you talking of?”
“You know perfectly well when you tried to lure me to my death, Black, and how you did it.” Had the detestable toerag not hinted that Lily had gotten the same message and would surely go there to help poor Lupin, Severus wouldn’t ever have set a foot out of his comfortable bed that night.
“How dare you call her - ”
“You thought I would come”, Severus cut him off. “You thought you needed to mention her to lure me out of the safety of the Slytherin dorm. Pretend all you like, but I have proof of what you believed.” He would not admit to his love for Lily. He did not regret that slip of the tongue, and she undeniably had been his dearly loved friend, but if Black was too daft to recognize that fact, Severus wouldn’t give him verbal affirmation even of that.
Black gave him another angry glare. “How do I know it is not a trap?”, he insisted.
“You are free to register as animagus anytime you want. The ministry surely will forgive you for not doing so earlier, considering your illegal imprisonment.” Illegal, yet not undeserved. Better late than never ... but Black had attempted murder.
Twice, actually, but Pettigrew didn’t count.
And he had been an utter idiot. Make Pettigrew the secret keeper because no one would suspect him? Really?
Avoiding suspicion was important, but doing utterly, utterly imbecilic things just in the hopes that the enemy would never suspect your being quite that stupid ... it had been a catastrophe waiting to happen.
Even if Pettigrew hadn’t been a traitor from the start, anyone could have made him piss his pants with fear without even uttering a threat, and Severus wasn’t too sure if the Fidelius charm kept the secret keeper’s tongue tied if he felt threatened, as opposed to actual torture.
Black totally deserved Azkaban. Well, at least as much of it as he had gotten.
And he deserved the humiliation of knowing it was entirely thanks to Severus that he even got out, but Severus couldn’t spill that particular secret without making his animagus form public, so ... that could never be.
“Apart from you being an illegal animagus, the entire risk is on me, though I don’t think the ministry will be too concerned about someone playing a prank on some muggles. The only one who tends to give a damn is Arthur Weasley, and he will immediately understand that it was a necessary safety precaution.
Black nodded. “Right. I guess I will get registered, then, just to be safe.“ He was lying – Black was a terrible liar who could only get away with it in letters. But Severus would let him keep the illusion that he was buying it.
“Good. I don’t care if you trust me.“
Black’s eyes narrowed. „Why are you doing this, Snape? Why are you helping me? I know you only saved Harry in summer because Dumbledore made you, but why do you offer to help me now? What do you want?”
Oh, of course.
Severus had thought of something to ask in return, it would have been remiss not to, but he was a bit surprised. He would have assumed Harry would at least have told his godfather about one of the times Severus saved him, and given the weak ‘Potter senior saved his life’ excuse Dumbledore had provided him with.
Just as well, though. Black might not have bought that excuse. He knew that Severus never owed Potter anything. Saving someone’s life didn’t count if you were in on the plan that endangered it in the first place.
“Oh, well ... either a favour to be called in at a later date – though I would have to make you swear an unbreakable vow on that ...”
“Absolutely not!” Black roared, so loudly Severus feared the noise of it might get through his Muffliatio charm.
“Calm down. I said there was an alternative. I want to know what happened to Regulus. Your brother.”
Black frowned. “Regulus? What do you mean, you want to know? You don’t know already?”
“Obviously not. I was under the impression that his fate was universally unknown. So, you do know?” That was unexpected but he could still accept the information as ‘payment’.
“No! But I – I just figured Voldemort offed him.You would know about that, wouldn’t you?”
“The Dark Lord was never very free with information. I did not, for example, know about Pettigrew before last year.” Obviously, or the rat would have been dead before he could have betrayed Lily. “I wish to search the Black townhouse for any hints of what happened to Regulus. From what he told me, he was going to inherit it, but I suppose it must have gone to you now?”
“Oh, that dirty old place. Yeah, it’s mine. Nose around in there all you want”, Black said with a dismissive gesture.
Then he seemed to remember that he was trying to barter. “After you smuggle me in as Harry’s pet, of course. Start of the next term, when all has gone well, you can have a look at the house.”
“I would not have gone without you, anyway”, Severus replied haughtily. “If there’s only half the curses on the house that are on the Malfoy family’s residence, I don’t want to set foot in there without the rightful heir accompanying me. Oh, and I will tell Dumbledore that you are willing to show me around out of the goodness of your heart. Just to be on the safe side.” Black was a weak duellant, but with his family’s accumulated magical power in his back, he had a chance to finally succeed with the murder he had attempted as teen.
He probably was too stupid to successfully avoid suspicion for the crime, but he had always been one to overestimate his cunning, and him going to Azkaban wouldn’t help Severus any if he was dead.
“Oh, in fact, why don’t you tell Dumbledore right now that you are going to show me around at the start of next term? As you won’t swear an unbreakable vow, I won’t get any more safety than that, but you should at least have to answer to Dumbledore if you try to back out”, Severus added, almost reflexively.
He knew Black wouldn’t try to cheat him. Not because Black was honest – he wasn’t - but because Black didn’t give a damn about what happened to the old townhouse, and liked to think highly of his own integrity.
In short, Black would keep his given word as long as he had to sacrifice absolutely nothing for it.
“Right now?”
“A letter will do. Just let him know that I asked you to, and ask for his reassurance that he will search my quarters at Hogwarts for your family silver afterwards, or something like that.”
“Okay.”
It was obvious that Black’s hate of all things related to his family extended to the family silver, too, or he surely wouldn’t have agreed to let Severus search the place.
Perhaps he was so obscenely rich that he didn’t even realize that silverware wasn’t just for eating but had real material worth.
Chapter 16