Back at the Castle

Author's Notes: If you skipped the last chapter, welcome back!

Chapter 9: Back at the Castle

The group appeared in the Headmaster's office. Rowan was helped down the circular stairs and taken the Hospital Wing at once. Haunted black eyes followed her till she was out of sight.

With a flash, Dumbledore and Fawkes appeared. Dumbledore had Fawkes' tail firmly in his grasp; Fawkes held a vial of some dark liquid in his claws. Dumbledore took the vial and handed it to Moody. "See that this is destroyed appropriately." Fawkes flew over and settled on his perch with a satisfied ruffle of flame-red feathers.

Moody nodded to Dumbledore and pocketed the vial. His scarred face was twisted further into an unnatural grimace. "So what next, Dumbledore? What do we do with that?" He nodded towards Snape.

"The first thing is that we debrief him. When we find out exactly what happened, and why, perhaps we can determine a course of action," Dumbledore told them. His rage had passed now that Rowan had been removed to safety, leaving him drawn and tired.

"And then? Are you going to bury this or turn him in? Frankly, I think the girl's entitled to see justice done, but I suppose you still need Snape?"

Dumbledore looked at the two Aurors, then included Snape in his gaze, and replied, "What happened tonight was a terrible crime. I do not believe it is something I have the right to cover up. Still, let us hear the facts of the matter, and then maybe we will know how to proceed."

Dumbledore sat in one of the soft chairs by the fire. Snape paced around the room, tense and anguished. Moody's face wore a look of disgust. Tonks appeared too shocked to register any expression, but her hair had changed from bubble-gum pink to puce.

Moody butted in, "You aren't going to just trust him, Dumbledore? Don't you want to dose him with a good slug of Veritaserum first?"

"I will leave it to the Ministry to waste their time and truth serums on Severus. I know he is too well defended against it. The only way to find out the truth from Professor Snape, Alastor, is to ask." Dumbledore turned from Moody to Snape and regarded him quietly for a moment before speaking.

"Severus, after we last spoke, I was under the impression that you would not be returning to spy on Voldemort again. You had agreed to cede to my judgement in the matter. Please tell me what happened today."

Snape's face was drawn and haggard, he held himself like an overwound watch, and when he spoke, his voice was closer to sandpaper than velvet.

"Voldemort did not summon me after our last conversation, and I did not contact him, Headmaster. I knew that things would start to go badly when he knew I had rejected him, but I did not believe that crisis would occur till after the Solstice." Snape paused sourly and spit out, "I was mistaken." Never one to easily admit error, Snape now had to confess to having been outmaneuvered, too.

"The Dark Lord sent two of his Death Eaters to Hogwarts to check on me that afternoon. Since they both have children here, they were able to simply enter without concealment."

Moody snarled that even parents shouldn't be trusted. Dumbledore looked extremely grave at having overlooked that weakness in the castle's defenses; he sighed but remained silent while Snape continued.

"Miss Bourne was at that time in my workroom, conferring with me about her Potions term project when they arrived. I had not been expecting her; she had not made an appointment. She had run into trouble that morning and sought me out for guidance." Tonks looked astonished that anyone would voluntarily go to Snape for help, but repressed her comment in favor of hearing the rest of the story.

"Boyle and Wart made the natural assumption that I had arranged for her to be there and that she was the victim I had selected." Snape's lip curled in a sneer of superiority. "Fortunately, they were too dim to notice my attempt to get Miss Bourne to leave. They ensorcelled her, then activated a Portkey, which they used to bring themselves, Miss Bourne and myself back to the Dark Lord. There was no opportunity to prevent this, or to send any message, but I believed you would guess what had happened."

"Yes, I heard the alarm when the Portkey activated, and I summoned the Order immediately."

He had arrived at the worst of the story, but Snape would not allow himself to leave any of it unsaid. Bleakly, he told the rest:

"When we arrived, it was clear I that would not be given any chance to help Miss Bourne escape or to find any other way out of the situation. The Dark Lord had everything in readiness. Bellatrix Lestrange had prepared the potion, all but the last step, which the Dark Lord had assigned to me."

"I understand, pray continue," Dumbledore said quietly.

"It is not likely that Miss Bourne would have escaped unscathed if I had refused to follow orders. There were others more than willing to perform the necessary step." Snape's features twisted wryly. "If I did my part convincingly, there was a chance that Miss Bourne would be allowed to live and I might be able to get her to safety afterwards. Nothing short of the danger to her could have impelled me to do what I did, but I will, nevertheless, regret it always."

As Snape completed his tale, he turned his face away, so it was curtained by his lank, black hair. Still, enough of the stern, hawk-nosed profile was visible by the glinting firelight to show a hint of his haunted and grief-stricken expression. Even Tonks could pity him and Moody looked a half a shade less stern.

After allowing Snape a moment to compose himself, Dumbledore spoke. "It is a terrible thing, Severus, but I can only agree that you made the right choice under very trying circumstances. Nonetheless," Dumbledore sighed, "it will be an extremely difficult thing to defend."

Snape looked sharply at Dumbledore. "There is no defense possible, Headmaster. Your testimony kept me out of Azkaban once before, but this time you should not interfere. I don't believe even you could withstand the criticism if you were to defend me."

"I know you take your duty to protect the students seriously, Severus. It has been quite plain to me from the many times you have protected them – even ones you have not liked." At this there might have been the ghost of a twinkle. "It is deeply regrettable that you were not able to protect Miss Bourne, but I do not blame you for it. If anything, the fault lies at my own door. I failed in my own duty; both you and she should have been safe within the castle." Dumbledore stood and also paced the room. He walked over to his desk and began fiddling with the dish of lemon drops. He didn't bother offering them around, he knew no one wanted any.

"I am afraid of what would happen to you, Severus, outside the protection of myself and this school. I might add that the Order still needs your skill and experience very badly. In fact, I surmise that this was part of Voldemort's scheme. Either you must betray yourself to him as being loyal to me or you must perform an act which he believed must permanently divorce you from us and lose us your services. A plot as twisted as a serpent's path has always been his trademark."

"A game he wins at every outcome is always the Dark Lord's favorite," Snape replied wryly. "I should not have forgotten it."

"I, too, should have remembered it," Dumbledore sighed. "It is now left to us to salvage what we can. It appears that Voldemort has no reason yet to believe you were my spy. However, having 'captured' you, we must now carefully consider how to proceed to avoid having him learn it."

Snape turned in shock. "You can't be suggesting I should continue in that capacity. You have told me for months that the danger was too great. You ordered me to stop when I told you about the Serum. You believed that the price was too high."

"The price was too high," Dumbledore replied heavily, "but it has already been paid. We must not waste it. There is also the danger to you. It would have been bad enough to resign from Voldemort's service, but to have him know that you betrayed him--no where on Earth would be safe enough. I am convinced, the only way out is to go forward."

"And when I am convicted and sent to Azkaban? Shall I spy for you on the Death Eaters there?" Snape's voice dropped; he continued slowly and softly, "I still say it is only what I deserve for this night's work, but that cannot be much help to you."

"No, I really think we must try to get you acquitted," Dumbledore said thoughtfully. Snape, Moody and Tonks all stared at him in confusion--how was he possibly going to pull that off?

"Perhaps we can suggest that you, too, were kidnapped, along with Miss Bourne. You were, in a way; her statement should agree with that. Then perhaps you can claim you were under the Imperius Curse."

"You cannot believe anyone would believe such a thing?"

"There is precedent, they believed it of many others, including Lucius Malfoy."

Snape gave a snort of derision. "And now they have been extremely embarrassed to find he was in the thick of it all along. They won't buy it a second time."

"Perhaps. However, I believe Madam Bones is sympathetic to our cause, and my opinion of you will hold some weight with her. If she does not believe it, she may choose to proceed as if she did."

Moody looked at Dumbledore with new respect; Tonks looked as if she had been enlightened. Dumbledore stopped speaking for a moment and appeared deep in thought. When he started, he sounded as if he were reaching for an answer, just at teasing distance.

"There is a point, Severus, on which I am not clear, and I think that it may be important. I presume that the potion which was hurled at me upon my arrival was the Aversion Serum?"

"Yes. I had completed the preparation shortly before you entered," Snape said grimly. Tonks winced.

"Moody, Tonks, I told you earlier what the Aversion Serum would do. Did either of you feel any dislike or hatred for me?"

Tonks replied, "No, Dumbledore, I liked you as much as ever. Can't say the same for him." She nodded towards Snape. Moody also replied negatively, but watched Dumbledore sharply, convinced he was getting at something.

"I also did not feel any, er, aversion. The potion does not appear to have had any effect. Why do you think that might have been?" Dumbledore directed the question to Snape.

"I can only assume that Bellatrix Lestrange botched it somehow."

"That is certainly possible, although I recall Miss Black's Potions N.E.W.T. was Outstanding. I wonder.... Ah, well, in any event, it might help your case. We could make the argument that since the Potion was not brewed correctly, you were not guilty of performing Dark Magic."

Moody looked impressed at this bit of craftiness, but Snape snorted and his expression remained black.

"You know as well as I do, Dumbledore, that the result doesn't matter. Need I remind you that I raped a virgin for her blood?" Snape looked utterly appalled at having to say such a thing of himself. "Regardless of the potion's success, or lack of it, the Ministry would be entirely justified in condemning me to life in Azkaban."

"I have not forgotten it. But somehow, it does not seem to me that all is lost. I have a feeling that there is something we still do not understand about this. Perhaps when I speak to Miss Bourne, it will become clear." Snape did not look hopeful.

Moody growled, "It is getting late, Dumbledore. If you are going to turn Snape over to the Ministry, you'd best be doing it. Otherwise they're going to ask what took you so long." Moody took a swig from his flask; both real and magical eyes remained fixed firmly on Snape.

"Alastor is correct, it is time for you to go. Alastor, please see that he is held at the Ministry till tomorrow and that the matter is kept as quiet as possible. I will speak to Madam Bones the first thing in the morning and request that she take no action until I have had a chance to interview Miss Bourne."

They stood. Moody and Tonks escorted a dour and silent Snape into the fireplace and through the Floo to the Ministry. Dumbledore sat at his desk a long while gazing into space before he retired. The portraits lining the walls of his office, maintained a subdued silence in deference to his mood.

Author's Notes: Did I mention things would get complicated? Next up, Rowan wakes up and has something to say about all this.

You can all thank Verity none of you had to suffer the first six version of this and the next few chapters :*)