Harrypotterbang Chapter Five
Title: Severus Snape and the Battle of Hogwarts
Pairing: Snape/Hermione, Harry/Ginny
Rating: PG13
Warnings: AU Deathly Hallows
Disclaimer: The Harry Potter Series belongs to J K Rowling. No copyright infringement intended, and no money is being made.
Beta: The wonderful glittersprite
Artist: The most talented duskblue
Summary: Severus Snape is Headmaster of Hogwarts, Death Eater, estranged member of the Order of the Phoenix, long-suffering victim of Dumbledore’s Army and battling against all the odds to ensure the Dark Lord’s defeat.
Chapter Five
“Come. Back. Here.” Snape ordered between gritted teeth.
Luna jumped, emitting a sharp intake of breath and froze where she was, assessing the situation. Ginny and Neville had nearly made it to stairs, but were still visible from the door so had no chance of running for it. They looked at each other in fear and then, giving in to the inevitable, skulked back into the office to stand before their hated headmaster, still clutching the sword.
“What is the meaning of this?” Snape hissed, inwardly wincing as he seemed to channel some of Lord Voldemort’s charm.
All three students now stood before him. None of them seemed to be willing to answer him and from the defiant looks on their faces Snape didn’t think that he would get anything out of them. He took the sword off Neville, turned around and slowly placed it on his desk whilst being careful to keep his facial expression stony so that they couldn’t see any of his internal turmoil in its reflection in the window. He was deliberately taking his time so as to increase the tension and could see that it was working from the looks on their faces. In times gone by he would have got a lot of satisfaction out of this, however his enjoyment in harassing the students had waned over the years and the current students’ stupidity had put him in a tenuous situation which made him more angry than usual and took all the joy out of the baiting.
Turning back round to face them he folded his arms across his chest and intoned “Well?” as he raised an eyebrow for good effect.
“Just a prank,” said Neville, “Sir.” He added after a jab in the ribs from Ginny.
He hadn’t wanted to give the real reason and saying it was a prank was the best he could come up with in short notice. None of them had thought to come up with a plan should they meet with any situation other than being successful.
Neville leaned back a bit as Snape towered over him and glared at him with a stare so penetrating he thought he could read his mind and see the truth. At that thought Neville quickly averted his eyes to the floor not wanting to give away the real reason behind their now labelled ‘prank’ and all three of them fidgeted, uncomfortable as they waited for their Professors’ response.
“I see,” he sneered, “and exactly what did you think to gain by performing a prank involving the sword of Gryffindor?”
As Luna started to step in with an answer, Snape waved his hand at her impatiently. “No! Stop it! I do not want to know what feeble excuses you are about to dream up. You are all on detention. For a month. You will report to me at seven o’clock tomorrow evening without fail.”
He then collected his papers for the staff meeting and, leaving the sword where it was, escorted the students out of his office.
“You will go to your respective common rooms and may only leave for your dinner this evening. I do not wish to see you at any other point and I will be informing your Head’s of House exactly what you have attempted to do.”
Snape was practically spitting at them as he instructed them to get out of his sight and the three of them almost ran down the corridor as soon as they were allowed to leave. Turning his attention to the Gargoyle once Ginny, Luna and Neville had disappeared from the corridor, Snape changed the password to stop them from being able to get back in and then headed to the staff room.
The staff meeting dragged on as he thought it would, making his anger worse. He had set it for before dinner hoping to encourage them to say less so that they could all go and eat, but they hadn’t said less, they’d just said it quicker. He found himself unable to pay full attention to the meeting as the sword incident was playing at the back of his mind and he knew that he would a) have to suitably punish the students and b) tell Lord Voldemort. Neither things really appealed.
Once all points had been covered and he had finally been able to close the meeting he had swept from the room with his cloak snapping around his ankles and headed to the Great Hall where he proceeded to push his food round his plate whilst glaring blackly at the students. Noticing Neville and Ginny rising to leave at the same time Luna did, he quickly left the hall from the teachers entrance so that he was at the main door when the three of them reached it.
“I do hope you are headed to your common rooms,” he intoned with a raise of his eyebrow.
All three of them jumped guiltily and their whispering stopped as they nodded and hurried off. Watching them go again, Snape decided that the children of Hogwarts were definitely going to be the death of him this year. Then he turned and headed back to the Head’s office to decide what his next step was to be.
He had informed Ginny, Neville and Luna in no uncertain terms that they were to report to him at seven o’clock the next evening for their punishment as the seriousness of the crime committed meant that he was going to decide personally what it was going to be. He had been his most menacing in order to get across the point that his would be a worse punishment than that of the Carrows, but really he knew that the Carrows would punish them far worse than anything he would give them to do so it was merely a cover to get them out of the Carrows’ reach.
Arriving at the office, he sat down at the Headmasters desk just about managing not to put his elbows on the desktop and head in his hands. The fake sword of Gryffindor lay across his parchments on the table and his quiet despair was written all over his face. He now had to request an audience with the Dark Lord and tell him exactly what had happened. To him, this sword was the real one, so Snape failing to protect it - even though the students didn’t manage to complete their theft - meant that he was going to be in bad favour. If he didn’t tell the Dark Lord himself then one of the Carrows or other spies within the school would and he had a feeling that his punishment would be worse if that happened. Not that it would be a walk in the park as it was.
It had been sheer chance that he had decided to floo back to the office instead of walk. Usually he liked to stride up the corridors and stairs to the Headmaster’s rooms so that he could terrorise the students whilst en route, but in this case he had decided to floo straight there to collect the papers he had left behind before facing the vultures that made up the staff meeting. Nothing had prepared him for what he had found in the office upon his arrival. In fairness to the students involved, they had helped him in a way. Their actions had put him into such a foul mood that the Carrows had been perfectly delighted with the way he had run the staff meeting. Not so much could be said for the rest of the staff, but at least it had strengthened his position as a Death Eater. He had his part to play and not a soul alive could be confided in.
Now he had to request an audience with the Dark Lord.
“It will be best for you to do it now, my boy, rather than waiting any longer.” The voice came from behind and above him and had made him jump. It seemed that Dumbledore had deigned to wake up whilst he was in the office for once.
“I realise that, Albus, I am not quite that much of a fool,” Snape replied, “However I must secure this sword against any further attempts of thievery whilst I am gone.”
Pushing himself into a standing position and looking once more at the sword on the desk as he tried to work out how to secure it whilst he was away from the castle. Just changing the password for the Gargoyle was simply not going to be good enough. He decided that for now he would put it back into its case and apply an unbreakable charm to the glass to ensure no further attempts could be successful. Having completed this task he touched his wand to his Dark Mark and stalked from the office without another word or glance spared to Dumbledore and strode to the apparition point, apparating when his mark burned as the Dark Lord permitted him an audience.
He landed outside the gates of Malfoy Manor and swiftly made his way up the sweeping drive to the ornate front entrance which was opened by an House Elf that he paid no attention to whatsoever. Malfoy was lying in wait for him and practically pounced him as he tried to find out what he had requested an audience for.
“What’s happened? Have you found Potter? Have you lost him again?” Lucius bombarded him with questions as they walked across the entrance hall, hoping for something to happen to lower Snapes obvious favour with the Dark Lord and hoping it may take some of the heat off himself and his family.
“It is no concern of yours.” Was Snape’s infuriating reply, and then he left Lucius standing in the hallway as he entered the room where the Dark Lord awaited him.
Dropping straight to his knees in front of Lord Voldemort he lifted the hem of his robes to his lips and kept his eyes down as he waited for permission to rise and speak.
“Snape, my boy,” Voldemort addressed him, “rise and inform me why you felt such an urgent need to come see me.”
Snape rose to his feet and stood facing the Dark Lord as he replied. “My Lord, forgive me for interrupting you, but I felt that I had to come straight away.”
The Dark Lord’s eyes seemed to narrow into smaller slits than normal, but he nodded for him to continue.
“Three of Potters little friends,” Snape spat, “obtained access to the Head’s office and attempted to steal the sword of Gryffindor.”
He was trying to keep his muscles relaxed in an attempt to lessen the pain of the cruciatus curse, but it was never easy to be relaxed in the presence of the Dark Lord. Especially when you knew that the words you were speaking were going to intensify his always bubbling anger as well as direct it at yourself. Which happened almost immediately. With an almost inhuman cry Lord Voldemort had cast the curse at Snape who fell to the floor in agony barely able to here the ranting and raving from his Master over how he had let something like this happen and as the curse continued on and on he soon fell from consciousness altogether.
As the pain began to reside and awareness returned Snape kept his eyes closed as the twitching in his arms and legs continued and he attempted to ascertain where the Dark Lord was before admitting to consciousness. He could hear him pacing back and forth and thought that the sound was coming from behind him. Ever so slowly he cracked one eye open, and then the other to find that he had been right. His Master was pacing behind him to and fro in front of the fire. Carefully, he pulled his legs up and turned towards Voldemort until he was in a bowing position, head down, showing his submissiveness and penance for his errors.
“Severus,” The Dark Lord hissed, “I see that your punishment has reminded you of your position.”
Snape did not reply either by voice, which he did not believe he could have done even if he had tried, or by body language. He stayed where he was and waited.
“You know the mistake you made?” Voldemort asked.
“Yes, my Lord.” Rasped Snape as he answered.
“You may rise. I do not wish to talk to the floor.” He continued disdainfully.
“Thank you my Lord.” Snape continued to attempt to speak in a subservient and grateful sounding tone, but the rasping was not lending his voice to anything much at all. To further show penance he kept his head bowed, which made his hair, lanky from the sweat caused by the cruciatus curse, fall over his eyes so that he was able to look up and watch Voldemort without seeming to be doing so at all.
“The sword is no longer safe in your hands at Hogwarts.” The Dark Lord mused. “It must be removed as soon as I have decided on a suitable place for it. You will return to your post until I call you.”
Snape, taking his cue, bowed deeply and slowly backed out the room whilst saying, “As is your will.”
********
Continue
Pairing: Snape/Hermione, Harry/Ginny
Rating: PG13
Warnings: AU Deathly Hallows
Disclaimer: The Harry Potter Series belongs to J K Rowling. No copyright infringement intended, and no money is being made.
Beta: The wonderful glittersprite
Artist: The most talented duskblue
Summary: Severus Snape is Headmaster of Hogwarts, Death Eater, estranged member of the Order of the Phoenix, long-suffering victim of Dumbledore’s Army and battling against all the odds to ensure the Dark Lord’s defeat.
Chapter Five
“Come. Back. Here.” Snape ordered between gritted teeth.
Luna jumped, emitting a sharp intake of breath and froze where she was, assessing the situation. Ginny and Neville had nearly made it to stairs, but were still visible from the door so had no chance of running for it. They looked at each other in fear and then, giving in to the inevitable, skulked back into the office to stand before their hated headmaster, still clutching the sword.
“What is the meaning of this?” Snape hissed, inwardly wincing as he seemed to channel some of Lord Voldemort’s charm.
All three students now stood before him. None of them seemed to be willing to answer him and from the defiant looks on their faces Snape didn’t think that he would get anything out of them. He took the sword off Neville, turned around and slowly placed it on his desk whilst being careful to keep his facial expression stony so that they couldn’t see any of his internal turmoil in its reflection in the window. He was deliberately taking his time so as to increase the tension and could see that it was working from the looks on their faces. In times gone by he would have got a lot of satisfaction out of this, however his enjoyment in harassing the students had waned over the years and the current students’ stupidity had put him in a tenuous situation which made him more angry than usual and took all the joy out of the baiting.
Turning back round to face them he folded his arms across his chest and intoned “Well?” as he raised an eyebrow for good effect.
“Just a prank,” said Neville, “Sir.” He added after a jab in the ribs from Ginny.
He hadn’t wanted to give the real reason and saying it was a prank was the best he could come up with in short notice. None of them had thought to come up with a plan should they meet with any situation other than being successful.
Neville leaned back a bit as Snape towered over him and glared at him with a stare so penetrating he thought he could read his mind and see the truth. At that thought Neville quickly averted his eyes to the floor not wanting to give away the real reason behind their now labelled ‘prank’ and all three of them fidgeted, uncomfortable as they waited for their Professors’ response.
“I see,” he sneered, “and exactly what did you think to gain by performing a prank involving the sword of Gryffindor?”
As Luna started to step in with an answer, Snape waved his hand at her impatiently. “No! Stop it! I do not want to know what feeble excuses you are about to dream up. You are all on detention. For a month. You will report to me at seven o’clock tomorrow evening without fail.”
He then collected his papers for the staff meeting and, leaving the sword where it was, escorted the students out of his office.
“You will go to your respective common rooms and may only leave for your dinner this evening. I do not wish to see you at any other point and I will be informing your Head’s of House exactly what you have attempted to do.”
Snape was practically spitting at them as he instructed them to get out of his sight and the three of them almost ran down the corridor as soon as they were allowed to leave. Turning his attention to the Gargoyle once Ginny, Luna and Neville had disappeared from the corridor, Snape changed the password to stop them from being able to get back in and then headed to the staff room.
The staff meeting dragged on as he thought it would, making his anger worse. He had set it for before dinner hoping to encourage them to say less so that they could all go and eat, but they hadn’t said less, they’d just said it quicker. He found himself unable to pay full attention to the meeting as the sword incident was playing at the back of his mind and he knew that he would a) have to suitably punish the students and b) tell Lord Voldemort. Neither things really appealed.
Once all points had been covered and he had finally been able to close the meeting he had swept from the room with his cloak snapping around his ankles and headed to the Great Hall where he proceeded to push his food round his plate whilst glaring blackly at the students. Noticing Neville and Ginny rising to leave at the same time Luna did, he quickly left the hall from the teachers entrance so that he was at the main door when the three of them reached it.
“I do hope you are headed to your common rooms,” he intoned with a raise of his eyebrow.
All three of them jumped guiltily and their whispering stopped as they nodded and hurried off. Watching them go again, Snape decided that the children of Hogwarts were definitely going to be the death of him this year. Then he turned and headed back to the Head’s office to decide what his next step was to be.
He had informed Ginny, Neville and Luna in no uncertain terms that they were to report to him at seven o’clock the next evening for their punishment as the seriousness of the crime committed meant that he was going to decide personally what it was going to be. He had been his most menacing in order to get across the point that his would be a worse punishment than that of the Carrows, but really he knew that the Carrows would punish them far worse than anything he would give them to do so it was merely a cover to get them out of the Carrows’ reach.
Arriving at the office, he sat down at the Headmasters desk just about managing not to put his elbows on the desktop and head in his hands. The fake sword of Gryffindor lay across his parchments on the table and his quiet despair was written all over his face. He now had to request an audience with the Dark Lord and tell him exactly what had happened. To him, this sword was the real one, so Snape failing to protect it - even though the students didn’t manage to complete their theft - meant that he was going to be in bad favour. If he didn’t tell the Dark Lord himself then one of the Carrows or other spies within the school would and he had a feeling that his punishment would be worse if that happened. Not that it would be a walk in the park as it was.
It had been sheer chance that he had decided to floo back to the office instead of walk. Usually he liked to stride up the corridors and stairs to the Headmaster’s rooms so that he could terrorise the students whilst en route, but in this case he had decided to floo straight there to collect the papers he had left behind before facing the vultures that made up the staff meeting. Nothing had prepared him for what he had found in the office upon his arrival. In fairness to the students involved, they had helped him in a way. Their actions had put him into such a foul mood that the Carrows had been perfectly delighted with the way he had run the staff meeting. Not so much could be said for the rest of the staff, but at least it had strengthened his position as a Death Eater. He had his part to play and not a soul alive could be confided in.
Now he had to request an audience with the Dark Lord.
“It will be best for you to do it now, my boy, rather than waiting any longer.” The voice came from behind and above him and had made him jump. It seemed that Dumbledore had deigned to wake up whilst he was in the office for once.
“I realise that, Albus, I am not quite that much of a fool,” Snape replied, “However I must secure this sword against any further attempts of thievery whilst I am gone.”
Pushing himself into a standing position and looking once more at the sword on the desk as he tried to work out how to secure it whilst he was away from the castle. Just changing the password for the Gargoyle was simply not going to be good enough. He decided that for now he would put it back into its case and apply an unbreakable charm to the glass to ensure no further attempts could be successful. Having completed this task he touched his wand to his Dark Mark and stalked from the office without another word or glance spared to Dumbledore and strode to the apparition point, apparating when his mark burned as the Dark Lord permitted him an audience.
He landed outside the gates of Malfoy Manor and swiftly made his way up the sweeping drive to the ornate front entrance which was opened by an House Elf that he paid no attention to whatsoever. Malfoy was lying in wait for him and practically pounced him as he tried to find out what he had requested an audience for.
“What’s happened? Have you found Potter? Have you lost him again?” Lucius bombarded him with questions as they walked across the entrance hall, hoping for something to happen to lower Snapes obvious favour with the Dark Lord and hoping it may take some of the heat off himself and his family.
“It is no concern of yours.” Was Snape’s infuriating reply, and then he left Lucius standing in the hallway as he entered the room where the Dark Lord awaited him.
Dropping straight to his knees in front of Lord Voldemort he lifted the hem of his robes to his lips and kept his eyes down as he waited for permission to rise and speak.
“Snape, my boy,” Voldemort addressed him, “rise and inform me why you felt such an urgent need to come see me.”
Snape rose to his feet and stood facing the Dark Lord as he replied. “My Lord, forgive me for interrupting you, but I felt that I had to come straight away.”
The Dark Lord’s eyes seemed to narrow into smaller slits than normal, but he nodded for him to continue.
“Three of Potters little friends,” Snape spat, “obtained access to the Head’s office and attempted to steal the sword of Gryffindor.”
He was trying to keep his muscles relaxed in an attempt to lessen the pain of the cruciatus curse, but it was never easy to be relaxed in the presence of the Dark Lord. Especially when you knew that the words you were speaking were going to intensify his always bubbling anger as well as direct it at yourself. Which happened almost immediately. With an almost inhuman cry Lord Voldemort had cast the curse at Snape who fell to the floor in agony barely able to here the ranting and raving from his Master over how he had let something like this happen and as the curse continued on and on he soon fell from consciousness altogether.
As the pain began to reside and awareness returned Snape kept his eyes closed as the twitching in his arms and legs continued and he attempted to ascertain where the Dark Lord was before admitting to consciousness. He could hear him pacing back and forth and thought that the sound was coming from behind him. Ever so slowly he cracked one eye open, and then the other to find that he had been right. His Master was pacing behind him to and fro in front of the fire. Carefully, he pulled his legs up and turned towards Voldemort until he was in a bowing position, head down, showing his submissiveness and penance for his errors.
“Severus,” The Dark Lord hissed, “I see that your punishment has reminded you of your position.”
Snape did not reply either by voice, which he did not believe he could have done even if he had tried, or by body language. He stayed where he was and waited.
“You know the mistake you made?” Voldemort asked.
“Yes, my Lord.” Rasped Snape as he answered.
“You may rise. I do not wish to talk to the floor.” He continued disdainfully.
“Thank you my Lord.” Snape continued to attempt to speak in a subservient and grateful sounding tone, but the rasping was not lending his voice to anything much at all. To further show penance he kept his head bowed, which made his hair, lanky from the sweat caused by the cruciatus curse, fall over his eyes so that he was able to look up and watch Voldemort without seeming to be doing so at all.
“The sword is no longer safe in your hands at Hogwarts.” The Dark Lord mused. “It must be removed as soon as I have decided on a suitable place for it. You will return to your post until I call you.”
Snape, taking his cue, bowed deeply and slowly backed out the room whilst saying, “As is your will.”
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Continue