Chocolate Cake
"Harry!“
Was Aunt Petunia yelling at him again? But no, the voice wasn’t quite right ... it sounded rather nice, really ... Harry blinked against the much too bright light.
Ron was standing over him.
Of course, he was at Grimmauld Place!
“Huh? It’s the middle of the night. Did you have a nightmare or something?”
“No! You won’t believe what I just saw! Or heard, rather.”
Immediately, Harry was wide awake. “You managed to spy on the Order meeting?” He had only noticed there must be one when he had heard the people arrive, but by then, he had already been half asleep.
Ron shook his head. “No, I didn’t want to risk getting caught. I noticed earlier that Mum baked a chocolate cake, so I thought I’d come back later at night and get a piece. But then I saw Mum was still up and cleaning the kitchen, so I hid under the table before she could notice me.”
A perfect spying position. The kitchen at Grimmauld place was large enough it was possible to sneak in unnoticed. “What did you find out?”
“I had just hidden there when I ... you’ll never guess who came in!”
“Dumbledore?
“No, Snape.”
Almost as good. Harry had wondered what Snape was up to. “And?”
“He asked where Dumbledore was, and Mum was like: ‘He already left, but do sit down, you look like death, what happened’ or something, well, you know how she is.”
If you had asked Harry, he would have said that Sape looked like death pretty much all the time. “He didn’t actually tell her, did he?”
“That’s the thing, he did! He was at a Death Eater meeting!”
Harry sat up. “Wow. What happened?”
**
Ron was cowering under the kitchen table, hoping against hope no one would hear him breathe.
“I suppose it will do no harm to tell you”, Snape said slowly. “The Dark Lord wishes to keep a low profile and as such has forbidden attacks on muggles. However, Bellatrix always found it hard to keep her violent tendencies in check.”
Mum gasped. “So she ...?”
“She took a puppy from a muggle settlement, intent on torturing it to death and leave its mangled remains for the owners – a family with children, as she gleefully told everyone in hearing range – to find.”
“Merlin!”
Ron bit into his hand to keep himself from exclaiming anything similar.
“When I arrived, it was already in bad shape”, Snape continued. “I foolishly decided to vanish the puppy, thus depriving her of her entertainment, and tell her that she was getting blood on the carpets and ought to stop fooling around.”
A sudden pain in his hand made Ron realize he had bitten down on it rather forcefully. At least he hadn’t broken skin, that would be awkward to explain.
“No one could have watched and done nothing”, his mum exclaimed.
“I ought to have”, Snape replied. “For she saw fit to attack me with the Cruciatius in response. Which is why I look somewhat ... unwell.”
Ron tasted blood.
“But – but ... surely ... I thought ... does she not believe you to be on her side?”
“No. She has never liked me, and I think she suspects my ... lack of committment to the cause.”
“But the Dark Lord trusts you?”
“He does, yet not completely – it is very hard to get into his good graces – and while he did not mind my spoiling Bellatrix’ fun, he would not take kindly to me retaliating against his current favourite.”
“Dear gods! Severus! I had no idea – is there anything I could do for you?”
Was there anything one could do about the Cruciatus curse?
“I do not want your pity”, Snape snarled.
Oh right. Ron had forgotten this was Snape for a moment there. Trust him to be a jerk!
“However”, Snape continued, in a forced-sounding polite tone. “I do think a piece of chocolate cake might restore my spirits somewhat.”
Mum chuckled nervously. “Of course. Now, do sit down. It is nice to know that some people appreciate a good cake.”
So the Order members hadn’t eaten much of it? Ron perked up. There might yet be hope.
“And a cup of tea?”
“Only if it is no inconvenience. Thank you, Mrs. Weasley.” Snape walked around the table, and Ron had to move out of the way so Snape wouldn’t hit him with his legs.
It was a good thing the light was so dim.
For a while, there was only the sound of eating.
“This is the best chocolate cake I have ever eaten”, Snape said, and Ron had to bite his lip to keep himself from gasping.
Since when was Snape reasonable?
“Oh, it is nothing special”, Mum said in that tone that usually was accompanied by a blush.
“I am quite sure Headmaster Dumbledore would agree with me. Speaking of which, I ought to report to him. Nothing of note was discussed, but he likes to keep track.”
“Of course you need to talk about that to someone! But, wait a moment.” She walked to where the cake must be.
“There is no need to bother - ”
“Oh, shush. After all you went through, it is the least I can do, really.”
She didn’t intend to give Snape the whole cake, surely? She couldn’t!
But apparently, she did.
“Thank you, Mrs. Weasley. I owe you a favour.”
“You don’t owe me anything, it’s just cake.”
Just cake? Just cake?! Ron wanted to scream. He wanted a piece of that cake! He had been looking forward to it all evening!
“And the only thing I would ask for is that you protect Ginny and the boys, and you do that anyway, don’t you?”
“Certainly.”
“Harry, especially, that Umbridge woman has a vendetta against him.”
“I shall do my utmost to protect all my students, as always”, Snape replied. “Good evening, Mrs. Weasley.”
The black-shoed feet under the black robes walked away.
**
“... and then I had to wait until Mum was done cleaning up after him, before she left and then I could sneak back here.”
“That’s ... that’s really ...” Harry had wanted to know what was discussed at the meetings, but now he understood why Mrs. Weasley had been so against them being there. Cedric’s death was bad enough without the thought of Snape being tortured by another Death Eater haunting him in in his nightmares, too.
“It changes everything!”
Harry blinked. “How?” It was pretty much how he had imagined the Death Eater meetings would be. Except he hadn’t really thought they would torture animals, too.
But after Barty Crouch junior had been very happy to torture spiders with Unforgiveables in front of the class, he really could have guessed.
“Snape must be ... you know ... trustworthy. Even though he’s still a jerk, of course.”
“Oh. Yeah, makes sense.” Someone who was really evil wouldn’t have saved the puppy. Or killed it? Could you come back from being vanished? In any case, the puppy wouldn’t suffer and the children wouldn’t have to see what had happened to it.
“He can’t be that bad. Not if he likes Mum’s chocolate cake, like a normal human being.”
Harry didn’t think that was such a sure sign but then ... “He’d be a right idiot to betray us. That would mean no more chocolate cake for him.”
“Yes, exactly!”
“Perhaps that is why Dumbledore trusts him.” It was a bit silly to judge people on their taste in sweets, but then, Dumbledore did like sweets enough to use them as passwords.
Ron nodded enthusiastically.
The End.