Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Severus appeared in front of a small house. Drawing his wand, he approached it cautiously. Turning left and right, he sent spells to identify wards and booby-traps. Nothing suspicious seemed to be awaiting him, but the wards on the door were intensive. He waved his wand in a figure eight pattern and began to break through them. He was almost through when a ball of light sped from around the back of the house and came straight for him. A lesser wizard would not have had time to react. As it was, Severus barely had time to deflect the curse. Assessing his surroundings again, he found another hex rounding the house. Severus shielded himself again. The balls kept coming, appearing to grow in size with each new ball. Severus spun his wand in a small circle and sent a powerful spell from it. He watched as it disappeared around the house, and a bright light flashed for a second. He waited, wand outstretched and at the ready, but no more ball hexes came at him. Keeping an eye to his side, he turned back to the wards. Suddenly, an apparition of Lestrange appeared before him.

"Ah, Snape. You can't get in here," the apparition said.

"Why not?"

"Because, you are going to kill yourself before you can get the ward down."

Severus frowned. The apparition came closer and stared into his eyes. "Go ahead. Take your wand and cast the killing curse at yourself. It's only what you deserve, after your betrayal of everyone. You have let us all down. Go ahead... lift your wand."

Severus fought the urge to lift his wand and point it at himself. He felt the Killing Curse at the tip of his tongue. His hand rose slightly. He tried to push it down, but it would not yield. He watched in horror as it got higher and began to turn against him.

"No!" he shouted at his hand. The hand hesitated. He looked at the apparition. "You have no power over me!" he snarled at it.

"Oh, but I do!" the apparition said with a laugh. Suddenly, it was face to face with Severus. "I have all the power, and you have none!"

Severus dropped to the ground, all of his strength leaving him.

"Now, cast the curse against yourself," Lestrange demanded.

Once again, Severus' hand began to snake toward him and point the wand in his face. Severus struggled against the hypnotic magic. Every mind game he ever played to strengthen his shields against Voldemort was used to get control. He looked up at the apparition, now floating above him.

"You... do... not... control... me!" he grated out finally. With a final push, he forced his arm to extend as he shot one last hex at the door.

"Nooooo!" the apparition screamed. The wards around the door disappeared, and Lestrange's apparition dissolved into smoke. Severus collapsed fully to the ground and took in huge gulps of air. He stayed there a while, building his strength back up before he entered the home. He had no idea what other tricks Lestrange had set up for an intruder.

When he felt his strength had returned, he rose and extended his wand again. Entering the house, he waited to be ambushed. Nothing happened. He stood in the doorway and assessed the home. It was small with humble furnishings. He spied the door through which he knew he would find Albus. Cautiously moving forward, he made his way to the back room and flung the door open. There in the dark lay the body of Albus Dumbledore, thin and frail looking. His eyes stared at the ceiling, unmoving.

Severus checked the room for spell-traps and found it to be safe. He rushed to Dumbledore's side and gazed down at the man who had been his friend for most of his life. He placed a hand on his head and stroked his hair.

"I will release you, Albus," he murmured before stepping back and casting the spell to make Dumbledore whole again. A yellow light enveloped Dumbledore's body and was absorbed into it. Severus held his breath as he awaited movement from the still man. What would six years have done to the old wizard's brain? Would he ever be the same?

A blink was the first movement made, then another and another. Arms began to bend and fingers flexed. With a turn of the head, Albus Dumbledore was looking upon Severus Snape. The older wizard's eyes widened.

"I knew you'd come for me," he said in a gruff voice, weak with misuse.

Severus struggled to keep his emotions well hidden. He schooled his face into the mask he usually wore. He grasped Albus' arm. "It has taken much too long for me to find you."

"Ah, Severus," Albus said roughly as he patted his arm weakly. "But you did, my boy, you did."

"Albus, can you sit up?" Severus asked worriedly.

"If you'll help me, I believe I can."

Severus gently put his arm under Albus' back and lifted him into a sitting position. He settled next to him on the bed and steadied the older man. Albus looked at him gratefully.

"I can't tell you how good it is to be rid of that spell," he muttered.

Severus grimaced. "I searched for you, almost day and night. There was no clue as to where you'd disappeared. If Lestrange hadn't sought to take vengeance on me, I would have never realized he was connected. I am sorry, Albus, that you have been trapped like this for so long."

Albus lifted his hand and placed it on Severus' shoulder. "Severus, you blame yourself for every bad thing that happens. It was not your failure in not finding me. Please don't wallow in guilt, Severus. You have done that for too long in your life already."

Severus looked to Albus. Here was a man who had railed against him for his choosing of sides. He'd used him ruthlessly as a pawn and set him up to take the fall for his murder. He knew Albus had some sort of feelings for him, but they were never in the forefront of their relationship. Albus would never put their friendship ahead of his agenda. He had never cared how wracked with guilt Severus had been in the past. This man who sat next to him had never given his comfort a second thought as he sent him time and time again to Voldemort, never knowing in what condition he would return.

Seemingly knowing all that had just run through Severus' head, Albus gave Severus a sympathetic look.

"In the state I was in, I have had much time to think about our past relationship and the things that I did to win this war. I believe that in my zeal to defeat Tom Riddle, I may have let my closest friends suffer. I would like to apologize for that."

Despite Severus' calm exterior and indifferent front, his insides were churning. The man who, of all the people he knew, had been the hardest to understand had just laid himself bare for Severus. An apology was the last thing he'd expected. A realization of everything that he'd done to him had been beyond Severus' understanding. He looked to Albus, not quite sure what to say or believe.

The hand squeezed his shoulder. "Severus, please forgive me. I should have never lost sight of our friendship just to get a little bit of information. I shouldn't have put this huge burden of my death on your shoulders. I thought the plan was foolproof, but as you can see, I failed to foresee how my awaking from the spell would affect me. I failed to see how my kidnapping would cause you to be punished for a crime I had no intention of you ever being punished for."

Severus stared at Albus for a long time. Finally, he gave a great sigh. "I know that what you did was for the cause, but at times it felt as if you cared nothing for me except in what way you could manipulate me to your will."

"At times, that is mostly all I thought about," Albus said as he looked down sternly. "All this time under that spell, I have been trapped with only my memories to keep me sane. Unfortunately, my memories would probably drive a normal wizard insane in minutes. Luckily, I was used to them." He smiled ruefully. "But I took the time to examine my motives and found myself coming up short. I lost sight of what truly mattered in the quest for victory. Harry and you both suffered the most for it. I truly am sorry, Severus."

Severus nodded, but kept looking straight ahead. He wasn't sure of what else to say. Albus' words had lifted a great weight from him. Gone was his guilt at not finding Albus. Gone was his remorse at all the evil he'd done. How could a short conversation do such a thing? He wasn't sure, but the feeling was quite liberating.

Looking to Albus once again, Severus spoke. "Are you ready to go? We can Side-Along Apparate back to Hermione Granger's flat. She awaits us there with Potter."

"I feel strong enough to do so, Severus," Albus answered.

Severus helped Albus to his feet and grasped his waist to support him. He turned swiftly, and they Disapparated together.

At the appearance of Severus and Dumbledore, Hermione and Harry were overwhelmed with emotion. They rushed to the old wizard's side and hugged him furiously. Severus shoo'd them away after a moment, claiming that Dumbledore needed to sit and rest.

Albus lifted his hand in protest. "Now, now, Severus, I am feeling much more myself," Albus stated. "But perhaps a seat would be welcome."

Harry, Hermione, and Severus helped Albus over to the couch and settled him in. He glanced at the two people who were tied to chairs in Hermione's sitting room. The Polyjuice had worn off Lestrange, and he sat there glaring at Dumbledore. Umbridge, for her part, couldn't stop staring at Lestrange. She had a grimace on her face and appeared to be worried, the enormity of the situation seeming to have hit her finally.

Albus struggled to rise. Severus' hand and arm was proffered, and Albus accepted it gratefully. Staggering somewhat, he made his way over to Lestrange. He glared at the other wizard. "It seems that your plan has been found out, Rodolphus."

"At least I took away five years of your life!" Lestrange spat.

"Yes, well, I'm sure the Ministry will take away much more than that," Albus said as he turned away from the man who had been his captor for so long.

"Professor Dumbledore, please sit down," Hermione begged, noticing how shaky he seemed.

Albus let himself be guided to the couch. Everyone sat and looked at him expectantly. He glanced at Hermione.

"I should have known that you would be involved in this somehow, Miss Granger. You've always had a keen mind for solving things."

Hermione smiled. Severus placed his hand upon hers, which elicited raised eyebrows from Dumbledore.

"It seems I have missed much," he muttered.

Hermione blushed as Severus squeezed her hand. "We will have time to catch up," he said. "Now, we must take these two to the Ministry."

Lestrange immediately began to struggle. "No! You can't do this!" he cried.

Harry flicked his wand, and a gag appeared over Lestrange's mouth. He moaned and groaned, but no one paid him any heed.

Dumbledore looked over at Harry. "I am ready whenever you are," he told him.

"Let's get this over with," Harry told him.

There had been quite the uproar at the Ministry when Harry and Hermione showed up, not only with a Severus Snape who wasn't a zombie, but a very much alive Dumbledore and two prisoners in tow. Before anyone knew it, the group stood in front of Kingsley Shacklebolt. He looked from one to the other incredulously. Finally, he found his voice.

"You mean to tell me that you've been alive all of this time, Dumbledore?"

Albus nodded.

"How?" Kingsley queried.

The entire plot was laid out for Shacklebolt. He listened with rapt attention and took notes during the entire story. His head shot up when Harry explained that Umbridge had used a potion to sway the Wizengamot to find Severus guilty.

"That's impossible," Kingsley countered. "I didn't even have anything to drink or eat before the trial. I came to my judgment on my own."

"Minister, the potion was released into the air. That's how the entire Wizengamot was affected. She told all of you to find Severus guilty."

Kingsley's head snapped to Umbridge. "Is this true?"

"Well, Minister, yes." Umbridge straightened. "I did what had to be done. I brought the solution to you days before the trial, but you would have nothing to do with it. I had no choice. Obviously Snape needed a special punishment. If you were wise, you would cast the spell on him again!"

"Madam Umbridge, is it not yet clear to you that Severus Snape has been on our side from the beginning?"

"I will never believe that! He was only concerned about his own hide. He sided with whoever was the party that was going to win."

"So, you purposely swayed the Wizengamot's verdict and imposed your own sentence."

"I did what needed to be done!" Umbridge claimed unrepentantly.

"I do not take kindly to being Imperiused!" Kingsley shouted.

"I didn't Imperius anyone. It was a potion."

"You might as well have cast an Imperius. This crime will be treated as if you had. You will be charged with use of an Unforgivable... potion in this case, and conspiring with a Death Eater. I'm sure there will be a nice cell in Azkaban awaiting you at the end of your trial."

"No! You can't do that!" she spat. "Don't you know who I am? This government wouldn't survive without me!"

Kingsley looked over to one of the guards who was standing by the doorway. "Take the prisoner away," he ordered.

Umbridge struggled against the strong hands of the man who held her to no avail. She yelled and yelled as she was taken away.

"You'll be sorry!" she cried. "I will not be silenced! Severus Snape must pay, just like every Death Eater must pay."

Her cries continued down the hall as Kingsley listened with a look of disgust on his face. Turning to Lestrange, he continued where he'd left off.

"Rodolphus Lestrange, you are charged with Death Eater activities during the war, kidnapping, harming another wizard, and collusion. Perhaps you would like to share a cell with Madam Umbridge?"

"If I never see that old toad again, it'll be too soon," he growled.

Kingsley looked to the other guard. "Take him away," he ordered.

Lestrange's departure was much less of a spectacle than Umbridge's had been. He quietly left, escorted by the guard. Kingsley looked to Severus.

"I apologize for everything, Severus. I'm not sure that you would have been found innocent had the Wizengamot not been tampered with, but to have your trial come out this way is unconscionable. As Albus is alive, all charges will be dropped against you."

Severus gave a slight bow of his head to Shacklebolt. "Thank you," he said.

"I suppose that's it," Kingsley said. "I will be in touch with all of you for the upcoming trials."

"Thank you, Minister," Hermione said.