Harrypotterbang Chapter Six
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 Six
Arriving back at the school’s apparition point Snape made his way through the gates and across by the lake to one of the lesser used and lesser known entrances to the dungeons. He was aiming straight for his potions lab rather than going through the front entrance and up to the Headmasters office so as to avoid seeing as many people as possible whilst in this dilapidated state. He could not afford to show weakness to anyone.
His progress was slow as the less his muscles twitched and trembled the more his knees would buckle and the weaker he became. He was grateful to finally be able to prop himself against the external wall of the Castle upon reaching the entrance. It was covered in moss and he scrabbled at the vegetation for a moment before finding the lock. Aiming his wand he whispered a hoarse ‘Alohomora’ and pushed himself away from the wall as he heard the faint click of the lock turning. He pushed through the door, allowing it to swing shut behind him as he forced himself to move along the corridor and to his lab.
With his wand still in his hand from opening the outside door, he disabled the wards and entered the room, falling to the side as his legs gave way beneath him he knocked the now empty mouse cage from the shelf along with some empty vials and jars. The noise served to revive him enough to haul himself to his feet, using the shelf as support and make his way to the cabinet that stored his personal potions. In particular, his invigoration draught kept specifically for occasions when the Dark Lord saw fit to punish him.
Once he had removed the cork and shakily brought the vile to his lips and managed to swallow all the potion the effects were immediate. He no longer felt weak, no longer needed to support himself against the wall or cabinet and was able to make his way through the other door to his personal suite where he lit a small fire, grabbed his bottle of firewhisky and a crystal cut glass from the side board and lowered himself into his armchair.
It was only when he woke up early the next morning that he realised the half empty bottle of Ogdens and empty glass dropped in his lap had not been such a good idea. He had only meant to have a drink whilst mulling over the events of the evening before, but had ended up having many more and passing out where he was sat which had resulted in a sleep that did not refresh and a crick in the neck from falling asleep sat upright.
The slight feeling of hangover was neatly dealt with by swigging an hangover potion from his cabinet in his personal laboratory. He showered, changed and headed up to the Great Hall for breakfast and to see what news was being printed. Also, he wished to have a word with Hagrid as that evening he would be setting the punishment for the insubordinate students. As much as it could be easy to go down the avenue of: ‘their actions caused my pain, therefore they should be punished in kind’ Snape knew that he needed to protect them from the Carrow’s idea of punishment therefore he had decided to speak to Hagrid and have them serve their detention with him in the Forbidden Forest.
Taking his seat at the teachers table he poured himself some coffee and helped himself to bacon and eggs whilst his eyes took in all the details of the room, taking note of which students were now missing and which weren’t, as well as who was sat where and what possible outbreaks of violence could happen. He gave Luna, Ginny and Neville his particularly fierce glare in order to remind them that they needed to be on one hundred percent best behaviour. Finishing his breakfast he rose and headed to where Hagrid was consuming a gargantuan amount of meat and eggs.
“I require your assistance, Hagrid, with detention for three students,” he stated without any preamble.
“Wha’?” Hagrid attempted to say through a mouthful of food.
“Students, Hagrid, that are to have detention,” said Snape irritably, “I need you to cover their detentions. Have them help you with your creatures in the Forbidden Forest.”
“I thin’ I can manage tha’,” Hagrid replied, having finished his mouthful, “Which o’ the little terror’s am I havin’?”
“Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood and Ginny Weasley,” Snape replied completely misinterpreting Hagrid’s attempted cover-up of his reaction to this news as him choking on the large quantity of food that he was eating.
“Righ’ righ’ I’ll sor’ som’at out,” Hagrid said between coughs and grunts as he mopped his face with his hanky.
Snape raised an eyebrow at him, inclined his head slightly and replied, “I’ll send them to you straight after they have seen me at seven o’clock this evening.”
The rest of the day passed like any other. Imbecilic students in the classroom; unimaginative excuses for unfinished homework; fights in the corridor; giggling teenage girls mooning over their fellow students and just generally people getting in his way as usual. After dinner, he just had one last confrontation to deal with and then the evening was his and he would hopefully have it all to himself.
Ginny, Neville and Luna all presented themselves to the headmaster’s office dot on seven o’clock and he motioned for the three of them to stand in front of the desk as he turned back from looking out the window.
“Due to the gravity of your actions I have decided that simply writing lines will not suffice.” He crossed his arms as he paused to let this sink in. “Therefore I am sending you to Hagrid to help with his creatures in the Forbidden Forest. You will not stray between here and there and you will do everything that Hagrid tells you to. Do you understand?”
Not daring to speak as it would give away how pleased they were with this outcome, the three students nodded and left as Snape dismissed them with a wave of his hand.
The next day continued in much the same vein as any other typical teaching day. It was only when Snape was sat at his desk after dinner, working through the post that he received as headmaster that was worthy of response, that his mark burned and any chance of a peaceful evening on his own was scuppered. He accio’d his Death Eater garb and proceeded to the apparition point outside the castle gates, noting as he put the robe and mask on and touched his wand to his mark that neither of the Carrows were joining him.
He arrived outside the Malfoy’s mansion and deciding that no others had been summoned he stowed the mask in his cloak and continued up the elegant drive to the front door which was opened by a house elf that ushered him through to the drawing room where he was immediately in the Dark Lord’s presence. He was stood in front of the fire, pouring himself a glass of wine which he placed on a table next to the fire before turning to speak to his visitor. Snape had bowed low on entering the room and only raised his head when Lord Voldemort began to speak.
“Ah, Severus. I wanted to see you about our little, shall we say, debacle with the sword of Gryffindor.”
Snape inclined his head in a small nod to indicate that he was listening as he waited for Voldemort to continue.
“As I said before I have decided that Hogwarts is not a safe place for it.” Voldemort turned to the chair next to the fire, sat down and took a sip of the wine he had poured. “I am now satisfied that I have found a much safer place for it and it will be moved tomorrow evening.”
Snape nodded again to show his understanding.
“You will bring it to the castle gates when I call for you and hand it to my most trusted servant,” finished Lord Voldemort as he watched Snape’s face to make sure that his intimations of Snape’s inability to keep the sword safe and secure and his lack of trust in him had sunk in. Then he held out his hand to him.
Snape replied, “Yes, My Lord.” Then bent to one knee, bowing his head over the Dark Lord’s hand and kissed the ring on his finger.
He then backed out of the room, more to make sure there were no more punishments to be received than to show courtesy to him, but showing that sort of courtesy was always a wise move even if it came with an ulterior motive. He was able to leave the room with no further inkling from Voldemort that he was aware of him and he hurried back to the castle, luckily without bumping into Lucius as he was not in any mood to deal with his snide remarks.
On returning to the office he looked first to Phineas’ portrait to check whether he was there or not. As he was not he knew that he was in his other portrait, attempting to keep track on the trio as Snape had requested he do as soon as he discovered that they had taken the portrait with them. Turning his attention away from the empty portrait he looked to that of Dumbledore’s and found that he was still awake. He then relayed to him the outcome of his summons.
“This is good news indeed, Severus,” Dumbledore said after listening quietly to all Snape had to say, “This confirms my belief of Harry’s need for the sword in his task I requested he complete as well as indicating that my belief of Tom Riddle’s knowledge of what the sword could be used for. With him believing that the sword is safely tucked away Harry will have more chance of being successful.”
“And will you deign to stop talking in riddles or are you prepared to tell me of this so that I can better help that dratted boy?” Replied Snape.
Dumbledore chuckled. “My dear boy, that ‘dratted boy’ as you so succinctly put it, will need the sword and you must get it to him. That is all you need to know. You know, Severus, that you are too close to your second master to be given the full story. It would be far too risky for the Order and for your own safety.”
Snape just snorted in response. Dumbledore had looked sternly over his glasses at him as he had berated him and Snape wondered at being put in his place so firmly by the shadow of a dead man. He decided that it was better to call it a night rather than get into a full blown argument with the old headmaster.
The following evening he headed down to the apparition point with the fake sword of Gryffindor wrapped in black silk, only to find that it was Bellatrix that he had to hand it over to.
“Come on Snivellus!” she cackled as she took great delight in his misfortune.
“It is not a race Bellatrix,” replied Snape disdainfully, handing the sword to her and crossing his arms across his chest.
Bellatrix cackled again and apparated away whilst Snape sneered at her and then at the empty space that she had just occupied. Shaking himself out of his reverie Snape turned and headed back into the castle and up to the headmasters office.
As he had thought, Dumbledore’s portrait was awake and eager to hear about where the fake sword had been taken.
“Bellatrix taunted me, took the sword and left,” Snape told the portrait, “there was no time for interrogation and any question I may have asked would only have aroused further suspicion.”
“But surely there could have been some intimation? You say she taunted you, you of all people could have worded a taunt in response that could have stirred her to respond and let slip this information!” Dumbledore replied.
Snape was close to being lost for words at this and took a deep breath in order to tell Dumbledore what he really thought. Luckily there was no further chance for argument along these lines as they were interrupted at that point by Phineas who appeared back in his portrait and gave them the information that they had been waiting for. The boy was in the Forest of Dean and it was now time for Snape to get the sword to him in a manner that did not give himself away and meant that Potter had to go through a courageous act to retrieve it.
“There’s no time like the present,” muttered Snape as he got up and turned to Dumbledore’s portrait.
********
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 Six
Arriving back at the school’s apparition point Snape made his way through the gates and across by the lake to one of the lesser used and lesser known entrances to the dungeons. He was aiming straight for his potions lab rather than going through the front entrance and up to the Headmasters office so as to avoid seeing as many people as possible whilst in this dilapidated state. He could not afford to show weakness to anyone.
His progress was slow as the less his muscles twitched and trembled the more his knees would buckle and the weaker he became. He was grateful to finally be able to prop himself against the external wall of the Castle upon reaching the entrance. It was covered in moss and he scrabbled at the vegetation for a moment before finding the lock. Aiming his wand he whispered a hoarse ‘Alohomora’ and pushed himself away from the wall as he heard the faint click of the lock turning. He pushed through the door, allowing it to swing shut behind him as he forced himself to move along the corridor and to his lab.
With his wand still in his hand from opening the outside door, he disabled the wards and entered the room, falling to the side as his legs gave way beneath him he knocked the now empty mouse cage from the shelf along with some empty vials and jars. The noise served to revive him enough to haul himself to his feet, using the shelf as support and make his way to the cabinet that stored his personal potions. In particular, his invigoration draught kept specifically for occasions when the Dark Lord saw fit to punish him.
Once he had removed the cork and shakily brought the vile to his lips and managed to swallow all the potion the effects were immediate. He no longer felt weak, no longer needed to support himself against the wall or cabinet and was able to make his way through the other door to his personal suite where he lit a small fire, grabbed his bottle of firewhisky and a crystal cut glass from the side board and lowered himself into his armchair.
It was only when he woke up early the next morning that he realised the half empty bottle of Ogdens and empty glass dropped in his lap had not been such a good idea. He had only meant to have a drink whilst mulling over the events of the evening before, but had ended up having many more and passing out where he was sat which had resulted in a sleep that did not refresh and a crick in the neck from falling asleep sat upright.
The slight feeling of hangover was neatly dealt with by swigging an hangover potion from his cabinet in his personal laboratory. He showered, changed and headed up to the Great Hall for breakfast and to see what news was being printed. Also, he wished to have a word with Hagrid as that evening he would be setting the punishment for the insubordinate students. As much as it could be easy to go down the avenue of: ‘their actions caused my pain, therefore they should be punished in kind’ Snape knew that he needed to protect them from the Carrow’s idea of punishment therefore he had decided to speak to Hagrid and have them serve their detention with him in the Forbidden Forest.
Taking his seat at the teachers table he poured himself some coffee and helped himself to bacon and eggs whilst his eyes took in all the details of the room, taking note of which students were now missing and which weren’t, as well as who was sat where and what possible outbreaks of violence could happen. He gave Luna, Ginny and Neville his particularly fierce glare in order to remind them that they needed to be on one hundred percent best behaviour. Finishing his breakfast he rose and headed to where Hagrid was consuming a gargantuan amount of meat and eggs.
“I require your assistance, Hagrid, with detention for three students,” he stated without any preamble.
“Wha’?” Hagrid attempted to say through a mouthful of food.
“Students, Hagrid, that are to have detention,” said Snape irritably, “I need you to cover their detentions. Have them help you with your creatures in the Forbidden Forest.”
“I thin’ I can manage tha’,” Hagrid replied, having finished his mouthful, “Which o’ the little terror’s am I havin’?”
“Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood and Ginny Weasley,” Snape replied completely misinterpreting Hagrid’s attempted cover-up of his reaction to this news as him choking on the large quantity of food that he was eating.
“Righ’ righ’ I’ll sor’ som’at out,” Hagrid said between coughs and grunts as he mopped his face with his hanky.
Snape raised an eyebrow at him, inclined his head slightly and replied, “I’ll send them to you straight after they have seen me at seven o’clock this evening.”
The rest of the day passed like any other. Imbecilic students in the classroom; unimaginative excuses for unfinished homework; fights in the corridor; giggling teenage girls mooning over their fellow students and just generally people getting in his way as usual. After dinner, he just had one last confrontation to deal with and then the evening was his and he would hopefully have it all to himself.
Ginny, Neville and Luna all presented themselves to the headmaster’s office dot on seven o’clock and he motioned for the three of them to stand in front of the desk as he turned back from looking out the window.
“Due to the gravity of your actions I have decided that simply writing lines will not suffice.” He crossed his arms as he paused to let this sink in. “Therefore I am sending you to Hagrid to help with his creatures in the Forbidden Forest. You will not stray between here and there and you will do everything that Hagrid tells you to. Do you understand?”
Not daring to speak as it would give away how pleased they were with this outcome, the three students nodded and left as Snape dismissed them with a wave of his hand.
The next day continued in much the same vein as any other typical teaching day. It was only when Snape was sat at his desk after dinner, working through the post that he received as headmaster that was worthy of response, that his mark burned and any chance of a peaceful evening on his own was scuppered. He accio’d his Death Eater garb and proceeded to the apparition point outside the castle gates, noting as he put the robe and mask on and touched his wand to his mark that neither of the Carrows were joining him.
He arrived outside the Malfoy’s mansion and deciding that no others had been summoned he stowed the mask in his cloak and continued up the elegant drive to the front door which was opened by a house elf that ushered him through to the drawing room where he was immediately in the Dark Lord’s presence. He was stood in front of the fire, pouring himself a glass of wine which he placed on a table next to the fire before turning to speak to his visitor. Snape had bowed low on entering the room and only raised his head when Lord Voldemort began to speak.
“Ah, Severus. I wanted to see you about our little, shall we say, debacle with the sword of Gryffindor.”
Snape inclined his head in a small nod to indicate that he was listening as he waited for Voldemort to continue.
“As I said before I have decided that Hogwarts is not a safe place for it.” Voldemort turned to the chair next to the fire, sat down and took a sip of the wine he had poured. “I am now satisfied that I have found a much safer place for it and it will be moved tomorrow evening.”
Snape nodded again to show his understanding.
“You will bring it to the castle gates when I call for you and hand it to my most trusted servant,” finished Lord Voldemort as he watched Snape’s face to make sure that his intimations of Snape’s inability to keep the sword safe and secure and his lack of trust in him had sunk in. Then he held out his hand to him.
Snape replied, “Yes, My Lord.” Then bent to one knee, bowing his head over the Dark Lord’s hand and kissed the ring on his finger.
He then backed out of the room, more to make sure there were no more punishments to be received than to show courtesy to him, but showing that sort of courtesy was always a wise move even if it came with an ulterior motive. He was able to leave the room with no further inkling from Voldemort that he was aware of him and he hurried back to the castle, luckily without bumping into Lucius as he was not in any mood to deal with his snide remarks.
On returning to the office he looked first to Phineas’ portrait to check whether he was there or not. As he was not he knew that he was in his other portrait, attempting to keep track on the trio as Snape had requested he do as soon as he discovered that they had taken the portrait with them. Turning his attention away from the empty portrait he looked to that of Dumbledore’s and found that he was still awake. He then relayed to him the outcome of his summons.
“This is good news indeed, Severus,” Dumbledore said after listening quietly to all Snape had to say, “This confirms my belief of Harry’s need for the sword in his task I requested he complete as well as indicating that my belief of Tom Riddle’s knowledge of what the sword could be used for. With him believing that the sword is safely tucked away Harry will have more chance of being successful.”
“And will you deign to stop talking in riddles or are you prepared to tell me of this so that I can better help that dratted boy?” Replied Snape.
Dumbledore chuckled. “My dear boy, that ‘dratted boy’ as you so succinctly put it, will need the sword and you must get it to him. That is all you need to know. You know, Severus, that you are too close to your second master to be given the full story. It would be far too risky for the Order and for your own safety.”
Snape just snorted in response. Dumbledore had looked sternly over his glasses at him as he had berated him and Snape wondered at being put in his place so firmly by the shadow of a dead man. He decided that it was better to call it a night rather than get into a full blown argument with the old headmaster.
The following evening he headed down to the apparition point with the fake sword of Gryffindor wrapped in black silk, only to find that it was Bellatrix that he had to hand it over to.
“Come on Snivellus!” she cackled as she took great delight in his misfortune.
“It is not a race Bellatrix,” replied Snape disdainfully, handing the sword to her and crossing his arms across his chest.
Bellatrix cackled again and apparated away whilst Snape sneered at her and then at the empty space that she had just occupied. Shaking himself out of his reverie Snape turned and headed back into the castle and up to the headmasters office.
As he had thought, Dumbledore’s portrait was awake and eager to hear about where the fake sword had been taken.
“Bellatrix taunted me, took the sword and left,” Snape told the portrait, “there was no time for interrogation and any question I may have asked would only have aroused further suspicion.”
“But surely there could have been some intimation? You say she taunted you, you of all people could have worded a taunt in response that could have stirred her to respond and let slip this information!” Dumbledore replied.
Snape was close to being lost for words at this and took a deep breath in order to tell Dumbledore what he really thought. Luckily there was no further chance for argument along these lines as they were interrupted at that point by Phineas who appeared back in his portrait and gave them the information that they had been waiting for. The boy was in the Forest of Dean and it was now time for Snape to get the sword to him in a manner that did not give himself away and meant that Potter had to go through a courageous act to retrieve it.
“There’s no time like the present,” muttered Snape as he got up and turned to Dumbledore’s portrait.
********
Continue