Entry tags:
Summer Fest Fic: The Return of the Slytherins, Part 1
This is my first entry for Snapedom's Summer Fest exchange! ^_^ (I'm only required to write one,, but I fell in love with two of ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
the_bitter_word's pieces of art, so I'm going to try and complete two entries.) I had so much fun writing this, and I hope you enjoy it! ^_^ Technically, this is gen, but I'm going to tag it as "snupin" because of the slashy hints, and because I might write a Snupin sequel to it eventually.
I'm posting this here so that I have it archived on my personal journal, but you can also find the original Snapedom posts on IJ, if you prefer: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5
Title: The Return of the Slytherins, Part 1
Pairings: Gen, but with a few slashy hints if you look at it the right way.
Rating: PG-13
Word count: ~19,420 total (4465 for this part)
Disclaimer: No money is being made off this story; consider it a little wish fulfillment on my part.
Summary: Written for Snapedom's Summer Fest exchange, and based onthe_bitter_word's art, Severus Crossing the Hogwarts Lake. Snape survives Nagini's attack, and returns to fight in the battle at Hogwarts--and is surprised when his Slytherins want to join him.
Author's note: For readers of my Snupin stories, the Theodore and Blaise here are based on the canon version of the characters, not the the Theo and Blaise from the Always series, although I did borrow the character of Serafina Avery to help round out the Slytherins. Hope that doesn't confuse anyone.
***
Snape lay on the floor of the Shrieking Shack, feigning death--which wasn't all that difficult, since he would be dead soon if the brats didn't either hurry up and help him or get the hell out of here so that he could stop playing dead and save himself.
He didn't really expect them to try to save the murderer of Dumbledore, and they soon hurried out of the Shack with the flask of memories. With trembling hands, he reached into his pockets and pulled out a bezoar and a jar of healing salve. He forced the bezoar down his torn, bleeding throat and nearly choked. It hurt like hell to swallow, but he managed to get it down and he could feel it immediately neutralizing Nagini's venom.
The actual bite wound itself was a more serious concern; he already felt weak and dizzy from the blood he had lost. He smeared the healing salve across his neck, which slowed the bleeding but did not completely close the wound. Then, with his hand still slick with blood and salve, he picked up his fallen wand and pointed it at his neck, chanting the singsong syllables of a healing incantation in a hoarse, raspy whisper that was all his wounded throat could manage. He wasn't a true healer, and he was too weak and his throat too mangled to produce a proper incantation, but the pain ebbed and the wound closed up until only a slow, thin trickle of blood was oozing out of it.
Snape tore a long strip of cloth from his shirt and wrapped it around his neck as a makeshift bandage. Then he rose to his feet and stumbled out of the Shack, wondering what he should do next: try to find Potter and give him Dumbledore's final message, perhaps? But he would risk being cut down by Potter and the Order before he had a chance to explain himself, and the memories would tell the boy what he needed to know, provided that he took the time to view them before charging recklessly off into battle.
Bloody hell, maybe he ought to go look for the stupid boy, after all.
Then again, Potter was supposed to die; that had been the scheming old man's plan all along. Perhaps it would be kinder to let the boy be killed in battle, not knowing that his beloved mentor had planned to sacrifice him like a pig for slaughter. The only problem would be if someone other than Voldemort killed him, but the other Death Eaters had been warned that the boy was the Dark Lord's prey, so he should be safe enough from them.
"Safe"--that was a bloody laugh!
Maybe he could hover on the fringes of the battle, and pick off his fellow Death Eaters one by one. He doubted that Voldemort would inform them about how he had "killed" Snape, so they wouldn't be suspicious of him until he actually stunned them into oblivion. Although he might have to kill Bellatrix; he didn't trust a stunning spell to keep the crazy bitch down, and his soul was already in tatters, anyway.
He'd try to save the Malfoys, if possible. He did still have some affection for Lucius, even though he was the one who had introduced Snape to the Dark Lord to begin with. But the mess Snape had made of his life wasn't all Lucius's fault; young idiot that he had been back then, Snape had willingly pledged himself to the Death Eaters, eager to gain enough power and status to humiliate Potter and Black and put them in their place. And since he had risked his own soul to save Draco's, he supposed that it would be a waste to let the boy be killed, or be forced to kill in self-defense. He'd try to convince Lucius and Narcissa to give up the battle as a lost cause and flee with Draco, or if necessary, stun them and hide them away until it was all over.
As he left the Shack, he could hear a commotion in Hogsmeade, the sound of frightened and angry voices, and he made his way to the village, taking the precaution of casting an obscurement spell on himself. It would not hide him as effectively as an Invisibility Cloak, but it would make him difficult to notice unless someone was actively looking for him, or he gave himself away by making a loud noise. Sometimes people--like certain idiot Gryffindors--didn't understand that small, subtle magics could work as well as great, showy ones.
As he got closer, he could see a crowd of children--all Slytherins. In fact, the entire House appeared to have congregated in the street, accompanied by Horace Slughorn, who was still clad in a ridiculous-looking set of bright emerald pajamas. They were being confronted by the Hogsmeade shopkeepers and villagers, and some of the older students were shouting back angrily, while some of the younger ones were crying, and Slughorn was trying to calm everyone down, without much success.
"Why don't you get out of here and go back to your Death Eater friends?!" one of the villagers was shouting.
"We aren't Death Eaters," Blaise Zabini shot back in a cold voice.
"All Slytherins are Death Eaters!" another villager screamed hysterically.
"I want to go home!" one of the young Slytherins wailed. Snape recognized her as one of his first-year students, Dorothea Bulstrode, a cousin of Millicent. Pansy Parkinson wrapped her arms around the girl, trying to comfort her, while Millicent raised her wand threateningly. Several of the villagers raised theirs in response.
"Now, everyone just calm down!" Slughorn bellowed. "There's no need for violence; we mean you no harm! These children are victims, the same as you are!"
"Hah!" the first villager snorted scornfully. "These 'children' are the spawn of the Death Eaters who have been bullying, beating, and kidnapping us for the past year! They hauled away my sister and her family because she's married to a Muggle-born--called her a 'blood traitor'! I haven't seen them in months; supposedly they're being kept in 'protective custody' until the Ministry can hold a farce of a trial, but for all I know, they're dead!" He pointed his wand at Theodore Nott. "I recognize you, boy--you're Nott's son. He was one of the Death Eaters who took my sister and her family away. So tell me now why I shouldn't kill you? It would be poetic justice, after all--an eye for an eye, a life for a life..."
Blaise immediately jumped between the villager and Theodore, but his friend pushed him out of the way and raised his wand in a defensive stance. But before either he or the villager had a chance to attack, a female voice cried, "Expelliarmus!"
"Rosmerta!" the villager cried, staring at the innkeeper accusingly as his wand flew out of his hand.
"I do not believe in murdering children, no matter what House they've been Sorted into or whom their parents are," Rosmerta said tartly. "You don't even know if Janie's dead, and even if she is, killing young Mr. Nott won't bring her back."
Theodore slowly lowered his wand, looking surprised that she had come to his defense. Snape was, too, but in hindsight, Rosmerta had always treated the students who came into The Three Broomsticks fairly, never playing favorites among any of the Houses.
"You'd protect me, even though the Death Eaters put an Imperius on you last year and forced you to help them?" Theodore asked quietly.
"Oh, I'm not happy about that, believe me," Rosmerta replied. "But as far as I know, you have never personally done me any harm, have you, Mr. Nott?" Theodore shook his head. "Then I have no quarrel with you," Rosmerta continued. "Although I might have a word or two to say to young Mr. Malfoy, if we should happen to cross paths again."
Her expression turned grim for a moment, and she smacked her wand against the palm of her hand for emphasis, and Snape almost felt sorry for Draco, if Rosmerta ever caught up with him. It was then that he noticed that Draco was not among the crowd of students, and neither were Crabbe or Goyle, although everyone else from Slytherin appeared to be here.
Meanwhile, Rosmerta was saying, "I have no love for the Death Eaters, but only a coward tries to get revenge by going after his or her enemy's children." The villager who had threatened Theodore had the grace to look shamefaced at that. "That would make me no better than the Death Eaters, and I will not, will not stoop to that level!"
"If it makes you feel better, you already have your revenge," Theodore told the villager in a flat voice. "My father is dead, at the hands of his own master. He thought he spotted Potter, but Potter was gone by the time the Dark Lord got there, and he was killed for calling in a false sighting. Slowly, by Crucio. The Carrows told me all about it, in loving detail." Theodore began to tremble, his face contorting with anger and grief, and Blaise laid a hand on his shoulder. "So you see, I have no love for the Dark Lord or the Death Eaters, either."
"You lot of idiots, get out of the street!" Aberforth Dumbledore barked as he strode towards the crowd, glaring at them irritably. "Do you want to attract the Death Eaters with all your bleating?"
Snape dropped the obscurement spell and said, his voice still raspy, "I think that the Death Eaters are otherwise occupied at the moment. Still, it would be prudent to make ourselves a little more inconspicuous." He knew that he was putting himself in danger by revealing himself, but he had a duty to protect his Slytherins--providing that they didn't kill him first.
"You!" Theodore hissed, spinning around to point his wand at Snape, his eyes blazing with hatred. He had always been coolly polite and respectful at school, even after he'd received the news of his father's death, never allowing any hint of his true emotions to leak out for Snape's Legilimency to detect, at least not without casting a more active and invasive form of the spell, and he'd had no excuse or desire to rip apart the boy's mind. Perhaps his father had taught him Occlumency--which meant that the elder Nott had been more farsighted than Snape had suspected--or maybe Theodore was just naturally gifted. He had always been quiet and guarded, even as a young child, and had kept to himself, rarely socializing with the other Death Eaters' children unless he had to. In fact, he rarely spent much time with anyone other than Blaise, and Snape had assumed even that was only because they were roommates, but there seemed to be genuine friendship between them, judging by the way that Blaise had defended him.
Snape was pleased rather than offended by the boy's reaction. It meant that he wouldn't have to duel with and possibly injure a loyal but misguided would-be Death Eater once he revealed his true loyalties. The only problem, of course, was convincing Theodore--and the Hogsmeade villagers--of his true loyalties without having to fight them.
Blaise, as always, kept his head, his eyes cool and calculating. Like his mother, he had avoided taking sides in the war. He had parroted all the right platitudes about pureblood superiority and Mudbloods and blood traitors, but had avoided making any actual commitments to the Death Eaters. Likewise, his mother had donated generously to official Ministry "charities" once the Death Eaters had taken control of the government, but she had avoided doing anything that could be construed as treason if the Death Eaters should be overthrown. And Snape suspected that she had a hidden Portkey that would whisk her away to a safe place in another country in case of emergencies; she had always been a practical and intelligent woman. However, she could not flee without leaving her son behind, which was partly why Voldemort had insisted on keeping all the pureblood students at Hogwarts; they served as hostages to keep their parents in line.
"Take it easy, Theo," Blaise cautioned, placing a hand on Theodore's raised arm to restrain him. "It wouldn't be wise to attack the the Dark Lord's most favored servant." His gaze drifted to the blood-stained bandage around Snape's neck, and his eyes narrowed shrewdly. "Or is that not true any longer, Professor?"
Some of the Slytherins were cowering, while others were regarding him hopefully, with pleading eyes that begged him to save them. Meanwhile, the villagers were pointing their wands at him and shouting things like, "Death Eater scum!" and "Murderer!" and "Traitor!" Rosmerta said nothing, but regarded him with a hostile, wary look.
"Severus?" Slughorn asked uncertainly, his voice wavering slightly, while Aberforth met Snape's eyes steadily, showing no fear, if not much welcome, either.
"Lemon drop," Snape said, holding Aberforth's gaze, as everyone else stared at him as if he'd lost his mind.
"Albus said I could trust anyone who gave me that password," Aberforth said calmly. "Then again, he trusted you, so he could have given it to you, not knowing that you would betray him later."
"Do you honestly think that I could have fooled so wise and powerful a wizard?" Snape replied.
"Bah!" Aberforth spat. "Albus was always too smart for his own good. It wouldn't surprise me if he had outsmarted himself."
"Indeed," Snape said, a faint, wry smile tugging his lips upwards almost against his will. He didn't know Aberforth well, having only seen him in passing occasionally at the Hog's Head, but he suspected that he would like this brother a good deal more than the other.
"On the other hand," Aberforth continued, "even a mighty Death Eater like yourself is outnumbered here, so why don't we continue this discussion at the inn? I'd feel a good deal safer not standing out in the open like a flock of sitting ducks."
"Here," Snape said, handing his wand over to Aberforth, hoping that he wasn't making a huge mistake. Given a little provocation, the villagers would gladly tear him apart like a pack of wild dogs. Still, he needed to convince them that he wasn't the enemy, and he couldn't afford to waste a lot of time arguing about it. "As a show of good faith."
Aberforth looked a little startled, but nodded and accepted the wand. Rosmerta looked cautiously approving, and the villagers and the students relaxed slightly. "Come," Snape told his Slytherins, and they followed him meekly to the Hog's Head.
Inside the inn, Rosmerta wrinkled her nose at the state of the kitchen, but set about putting together some sandwiches to feed the children, along with some tea, and warm milk for the younger ones, fussing over them in a motherly sort of way that they seemed to find comforting. The older students, like Theodore, were not comforted so easily, and picked at their food without much appetite as they stared at Snape warily.
Snape gave them all an abbreviated explanation of how he had come to work for Dumbledore, reluctantly explaining that he and Lily had been childhood friends, because he knew that they would require a believable motive in order to accept his change of heart. However, he left out the part about Potter having to sacrifice himself because he knew that they would never believe it. Well, perhaps Aberforth might, but the villagers would never believe that wise, kindly old Albus Dumbledore would ever so ruthlessly sacrifice a child. The Slytherins, who had a more jaded view of the Headmaster, were more likely to accept that he would willingly sacrifice a pawn, but they would have difficulty believing that Dumbledore would sacrifice one of his Gryffindor pets, and would probably think that the story was a way to trick the villagers into helping him capture Potter. So all he told them was what Dumbledore had told the Order, that Potter had to be the one to defeat the Dark Lord because of the Prophecy and the rebounded curse.
He also left out the bit about the Elder Wand, since he didn't want to tempt any of the Slytherins--or the villagers, for that matter--with tales about such a powerful artifact. Although he wasn't sure if those tales really were true, or if they were some delusion of Voldemort's. The supposedly all-powerful Elder Wand hadn't been able to save Dumbledore in the end, nor had it protected Snape from Voldemort's attack, even though he was its purported master.
Still, to be on the safe side, all that he said about Voldemort's attempt to kill him was that the Dark Lord had wanted Dumbledore's wand as a trophy, and had tried to kill him to gain mastery over it. And no one seemed to find it unbelievable that the Dark Lord would kill one of his favorite Death Eaters on a mere whim--especially after Theodore's story about how his father had died.
"So you betrayed your comrades because the Dark Lord killed your Mudblood girlfriend?" Pansy asked scornfully, still keeping one arm wrapped protectively around Dorothea, who cringed and whimpered softly at the sharpness of her voice. Pansy's expression softened slightly then, and she reassuringly stroked the younger girl's hair.
"No," Snape replied levelly. "I betrayed the Dark Lord because he killed my friend, even though he had promised to spare her. And because I wanted no part in murder. I was young and foolish, and I believed in the Dark Lord's promises of power and glory. I admit that I wanted the wizarding world to come out of hiding and rule over the Muggles, but I did not want to kill anyone."
"Did you really think that could be accomplished without any bloodshed?" Theodore asked cynically.
"I wasn't really thinking at the time," Snape admitted. "I assumed that our methods could be accomplished through bribery and political manipulation and judicious coercion, such as Imperius Curses cast upon key Ministry officials. I wasn't the only one who was naive. Regulus Black expressed concerns about the Dark Lord's methods, and shortly after, he vanished and was never seen or heard from again. After that, no one else dared to question the Dark Lord.
"So yes, Miss Parkinson, I did betray my master and spy on my comrades in part because he killed Lily. But also because I realized that he did not regard us as his family, as he had told us when he first recruited us, but merely as pawns that could be discarded when we were of no more use to him--or if we displeased him, as Theodore's father did, or even if he was just in a bad mood and wanted to vent his frustration on someone. There is not a single one of us in his inner circle who have not been on the receiving end of a Cruciatus Curse at one time or another when the Dark Lord was feeling vexed."
Theodore was nodding in agreement. "The Dark Lord betrayed his followers. He deserves no loyalty from them."
"I don't care about the Dark Lord!" Pansy protested tearfully. "But--"
"You seemed to care quite a bit when you told everyone in the Great Hall that they should turn Potter over to him," Blaise interrupted. "Not that I have any particular fondness for Potter myself, mind you."
"Of course I said that!" Pansy screamed. "If word gets back to him that we didn't support him, he'll kill us, and our friends and family as well! After Draco's dad was thrown in prison, my father tried to distance himself from the Malfoys and the other Death Eaters. He even told me that I should stop seeing Draco, though of course I didn't listen! After they took over the Ministry, some of them came to our house and told my father that he hadn't done enough to support the cause, and he'd better watch his step if he knew what was good for him." She shuddered. "Greyback was one of them. He grabbed my face with his filthy paw and said, 'You wouldn't want anything to happen to your pretty little girl or your lovely wife, now would you?'" She sobbed, burying her face in her hands, and now it was Dorothea's turn to comfort her. "I was scared, I was so scared!"
Millicent came over to comfort her as well, wrapping her arms around the other girl. "Hush, Pansy, it's all right; I'll protect you."
"You can't!" Pansy sobbed. "No one can protect us from the Dark Lord!"
"Did Albus hide the emergency Portkey here as he promised?" Snape asked Aberforth, who nodded. "Well, at least he kept one of his promises," Snape muttered bitterly under his breath, then said in a more gentle voice to Pansy, "There is a Portkey here, Miss Parkinson, that can send you and your housemates out of the country to a trusted colleague of mine, an American Potions Mistress. She will look after you until it is safe to return."
Assuming, of course, that Potter succeeded in defeating Voldemort. If not, his renegade Slytherins might never be able to return, but hopefully Voldemort would not bother to cross the ocean to track them down. But he kept that thought to himself, since expressing it out loud would only drive the girl into further hysterics.
"But what about my family?" Pansy asked, raising her head, her face streaked with tears and her eyes red from crying. "I can't leave them behind, especially since I'll be branded a traitor if I flee! And Draco is still at the castle!" She burst into tears again.
"He slipped away when we were summoned to the Great Hall, along with Crabbe and Goyle," Theodore explained. "He said that they were going to catch Potter, to get his family back into the Dark Lord's good graces."
"Idiot boy," Snape groaned. "All right, I'm going back to Hogwarts to try and find them before they get themselves killed. The rest of you can take the Portkey to safety."
"Is your friend really prepared for so many refugees?" Slughorn asked doubtfully.
"I told her that I might need to send some of my students into hiding, though she probably isn't expecting the entire House," Snape replied. "Still, I'm sure that she'll manage somehow."
He kept his reassurances vague, believing it would be unwise to give away too much information in case word should leak out to the Death Eaters in a worst-case scenario, but his emergency contact was the vice-principal of the Salem Witches' Institute, the largest and most prominent wizarding school in America. There would be room enough for his Slytherins there, at least temporarily, and Elizabeth would never turn away a child in need. She was strict and stern, and the students feared the sharp edge of her tongue more than they did detention, but she genuinely cared about them. She rather reminded him of McGonagall, actually, and he felt a pang of mingled pain and resentment as he recalled McGonagall's scorn, and that of the other teachers, as they had driven him from Hogwarts. He had intended for everyone to think him a traitor--that had been the old man's plan, after all--but still, it rankled that they had so easily believed it, with barely even a moment's hesitation, after all the years that they had worked together. Especially McGonagall, who had known him as a fellow Order member.
"I can't leave without my mother," Blaise said, interrupting Snape's thoughts and snapping him out of his self-pity. Some of the other Slytherins chimed in with similar protests about leaving their families behind.
"I'll send through anyone who wants to get to safety now," Aberforth said. "But if you leave to get your families, I can't promise that I'll still be here when you get back."
"I advise all of you to use the Portkey now," Snape told his students. "I am sure that your parents would want you to be safe above all else. However, if you insist on staying, I advise you to Apparate home to your families immediately. The Death Eaters are currently occupied with the battle at Hogwarts, so you have a short window of opportunity to escape while they are distracted. Tell your parents to flee as far and fast as possible, preferably out of the country."
"Will you be coming to America with us, sir?" Malcolm Baddock asked, obviously trying with a great effort to keep his voice steady, although the paleness of his face belied his fear.
"As I said, I am going to attempt to rescue Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle from their own stupidity," Snape replied. "Assuming that I survive the experience, I will join you at the designated safe location later."
"That's hardly reassuring, Severus," Slughorn murmured.
"I'm not going to lie and give them false reassurances," Snape retorted. He turned to address the Slytherins once more. "I do not know how the battle will turn out, and there is a good chance that I might not survive it. But if I do survive, I will go to America and bring you back when it is safe. If I do not survive, then my friend will look after you and return you to your families when the war is over."
"Assuming Potter defeats the Dark Lord," Theodore interjected.
"Then we're doomed," Blaise muttered glumly. "Potter's an average student at best. He's got no real talent for anything but Quidditch, and I fail to see how catching a Snitch is going to help defeat the most powerful wizard in the world."
"He does have a raw talent for Defense Against the Dark Arts," Snape said grudgingly in Potter's defense. "Though he is undisciplined and not the most studious of my pupils. But the connection forged between himself and the Dark Lord is what will give him the real edge, not any book knowledge or skill with a wand." Actually, Potter didn't really need to do anything but die and take the piece of Voldemort's soul along with him, but he couldn't tell that to the students and villagers.
"What if Potter fails?" Pansy whispered. "What happens then?"
"Then my friend and I--if I survive--will help you make a new life for yourselves in America," Snape replied. "Or help you relocate to another country, if you prefer; I know that some of you have relatives in Europe. But I think it would be safer to keep an ocean between yourselves and the Death Eaters."
Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5
the_bitter_word's pieces of art, so I'm going to try and complete two entries.) I had so much fun writing this, and I hope you enjoy it! ^_^ Technically, this is gen, but I'm going to tag it as "snupin" because of the slashy hints, and because I might write a Snupin sequel to it eventually.I'm posting this here so that I have it archived on my personal journal, but you can also find the original Snapedom posts on IJ, if you prefer: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5
Title: The Return of the Slytherins, Part 1
Pairings: Gen, but with a few slashy hints if you look at it the right way.
Rating: PG-13
Word count: ~19,420 total (4465 for this part)
Disclaimer: No money is being made off this story; consider it a little wish fulfillment on my part.
Summary: Written for Snapedom's Summer Fest exchange, and based on
the_bitter_word's art, Severus Crossing the Hogwarts Lake. Snape survives Nagini's attack, and returns to fight in the battle at Hogwarts--and is surprised when his Slytherins want to join him.Author's note: For readers of my Snupin stories, the Theodore and Blaise here are based on the canon version of the characters, not the the Theo and Blaise from the Always series, although I did borrow the character of Serafina Avery to help round out the Slytherins. Hope that doesn't confuse anyone.
***
Snape lay on the floor of the Shrieking Shack, feigning death--which wasn't all that difficult, since he would be dead soon if the brats didn't either hurry up and help him or get the hell out of here so that he could stop playing dead and save himself.
He didn't really expect them to try to save the murderer of Dumbledore, and they soon hurried out of the Shack with the flask of memories. With trembling hands, he reached into his pockets and pulled out a bezoar and a jar of healing salve. He forced the bezoar down his torn, bleeding throat and nearly choked. It hurt like hell to swallow, but he managed to get it down and he could feel it immediately neutralizing Nagini's venom.
The actual bite wound itself was a more serious concern; he already felt weak and dizzy from the blood he had lost. He smeared the healing salve across his neck, which slowed the bleeding but did not completely close the wound. Then, with his hand still slick with blood and salve, he picked up his fallen wand and pointed it at his neck, chanting the singsong syllables of a healing incantation in a hoarse, raspy whisper that was all his wounded throat could manage. He wasn't a true healer, and he was too weak and his throat too mangled to produce a proper incantation, but the pain ebbed and the wound closed up until only a slow, thin trickle of blood was oozing out of it.
Snape tore a long strip of cloth from his shirt and wrapped it around his neck as a makeshift bandage. Then he rose to his feet and stumbled out of the Shack, wondering what he should do next: try to find Potter and give him Dumbledore's final message, perhaps? But he would risk being cut down by Potter and the Order before he had a chance to explain himself, and the memories would tell the boy what he needed to know, provided that he took the time to view them before charging recklessly off into battle.
Bloody hell, maybe he ought to go look for the stupid boy, after all.
Then again, Potter was supposed to die; that had been the scheming old man's plan all along. Perhaps it would be kinder to let the boy be killed in battle, not knowing that his beloved mentor had planned to sacrifice him like a pig for slaughter. The only problem would be if someone other than Voldemort killed him, but the other Death Eaters had been warned that the boy was the Dark Lord's prey, so he should be safe enough from them.
"Safe"--that was a bloody laugh!
Maybe he could hover on the fringes of the battle, and pick off his fellow Death Eaters one by one. He doubted that Voldemort would inform them about how he had "killed" Snape, so they wouldn't be suspicious of him until he actually stunned them into oblivion. Although he might have to kill Bellatrix; he didn't trust a stunning spell to keep the crazy bitch down, and his soul was already in tatters, anyway.
He'd try to save the Malfoys, if possible. He did still have some affection for Lucius, even though he was the one who had introduced Snape to the Dark Lord to begin with. But the mess Snape had made of his life wasn't all Lucius's fault; young idiot that he had been back then, Snape had willingly pledged himself to the Death Eaters, eager to gain enough power and status to humiliate Potter and Black and put them in their place. And since he had risked his own soul to save Draco's, he supposed that it would be a waste to let the boy be killed, or be forced to kill in self-defense. He'd try to convince Lucius and Narcissa to give up the battle as a lost cause and flee with Draco, or if necessary, stun them and hide them away until it was all over.
As he left the Shack, he could hear a commotion in Hogsmeade, the sound of frightened and angry voices, and he made his way to the village, taking the precaution of casting an obscurement spell on himself. It would not hide him as effectively as an Invisibility Cloak, but it would make him difficult to notice unless someone was actively looking for him, or he gave himself away by making a loud noise. Sometimes people--like certain idiot Gryffindors--didn't understand that small, subtle magics could work as well as great, showy ones.
As he got closer, he could see a crowd of children--all Slytherins. In fact, the entire House appeared to have congregated in the street, accompanied by Horace Slughorn, who was still clad in a ridiculous-looking set of bright emerald pajamas. They were being confronted by the Hogsmeade shopkeepers and villagers, and some of the older students were shouting back angrily, while some of the younger ones were crying, and Slughorn was trying to calm everyone down, without much success.
"Why don't you get out of here and go back to your Death Eater friends?!" one of the villagers was shouting.
"We aren't Death Eaters," Blaise Zabini shot back in a cold voice.
"All Slytherins are Death Eaters!" another villager screamed hysterically.
"I want to go home!" one of the young Slytherins wailed. Snape recognized her as one of his first-year students, Dorothea Bulstrode, a cousin of Millicent. Pansy Parkinson wrapped her arms around the girl, trying to comfort her, while Millicent raised her wand threateningly. Several of the villagers raised theirs in response.
"Now, everyone just calm down!" Slughorn bellowed. "There's no need for violence; we mean you no harm! These children are victims, the same as you are!"
"Hah!" the first villager snorted scornfully. "These 'children' are the spawn of the Death Eaters who have been bullying, beating, and kidnapping us for the past year! They hauled away my sister and her family because she's married to a Muggle-born--called her a 'blood traitor'! I haven't seen them in months; supposedly they're being kept in 'protective custody' until the Ministry can hold a farce of a trial, but for all I know, they're dead!" He pointed his wand at Theodore Nott. "I recognize you, boy--you're Nott's son. He was one of the Death Eaters who took my sister and her family away. So tell me now why I shouldn't kill you? It would be poetic justice, after all--an eye for an eye, a life for a life..."
Blaise immediately jumped between the villager and Theodore, but his friend pushed him out of the way and raised his wand in a defensive stance. But before either he or the villager had a chance to attack, a female voice cried, "Expelliarmus!"
"Rosmerta!" the villager cried, staring at the innkeeper accusingly as his wand flew out of his hand.
"I do not believe in murdering children, no matter what House they've been Sorted into or whom their parents are," Rosmerta said tartly. "You don't even know if Janie's dead, and even if she is, killing young Mr. Nott won't bring her back."
Theodore slowly lowered his wand, looking surprised that she had come to his defense. Snape was, too, but in hindsight, Rosmerta had always treated the students who came into The Three Broomsticks fairly, never playing favorites among any of the Houses.
"You'd protect me, even though the Death Eaters put an Imperius on you last year and forced you to help them?" Theodore asked quietly.
"Oh, I'm not happy about that, believe me," Rosmerta replied. "But as far as I know, you have never personally done me any harm, have you, Mr. Nott?" Theodore shook his head. "Then I have no quarrel with you," Rosmerta continued. "Although I might have a word or two to say to young Mr. Malfoy, if we should happen to cross paths again."
Her expression turned grim for a moment, and she smacked her wand against the palm of her hand for emphasis, and Snape almost felt sorry for Draco, if Rosmerta ever caught up with him. It was then that he noticed that Draco was not among the crowd of students, and neither were Crabbe or Goyle, although everyone else from Slytherin appeared to be here.
Meanwhile, Rosmerta was saying, "I have no love for the Death Eaters, but only a coward tries to get revenge by going after his or her enemy's children." The villager who had threatened Theodore had the grace to look shamefaced at that. "That would make me no better than the Death Eaters, and I will not, will not stoop to that level!"
"If it makes you feel better, you already have your revenge," Theodore told the villager in a flat voice. "My father is dead, at the hands of his own master. He thought he spotted Potter, but Potter was gone by the time the Dark Lord got there, and he was killed for calling in a false sighting. Slowly, by Crucio. The Carrows told me all about it, in loving detail." Theodore began to tremble, his face contorting with anger and grief, and Blaise laid a hand on his shoulder. "So you see, I have no love for the Dark Lord or the Death Eaters, either."
"You lot of idiots, get out of the street!" Aberforth Dumbledore barked as he strode towards the crowd, glaring at them irritably. "Do you want to attract the Death Eaters with all your bleating?"
Snape dropped the obscurement spell and said, his voice still raspy, "I think that the Death Eaters are otherwise occupied at the moment. Still, it would be prudent to make ourselves a little more inconspicuous." He knew that he was putting himself in danger by revealing himself, but he had a duty to protect his Slytherins--providing that they didn't kill him first.
"You!" Theodore hissed, spinning around to point his wand at Snape, his eyes blazing with hatred. He had always been coolly polite and respectful at school, even after he'd received the news of his father's death, never allowing any hint of his true emotions to leak out for Snape's Legilimency to detect, at least not without casting a more active and invasive form of the spell, and he'd had no excuse or desire to rip apart the boy's mind. Perhaps his father had taught him Occlumency--which meant that the elder Nott had been more farsighted than Snape had suspected--or maybe Theodore was just naturally gifted. He had always been quiet and guarded, even as a young child, and had kept to himself, rarely socializing with the other Death Eaters' children unless he had to. In fact, he rarely spent much time with anyone other than Blaise, and Snape had assumed even that was only because they were roommates, but there seemed to be genuine friendship between them, judging by the way that Blaise had defended him.
Snape was pleased rather than offended by the boy's reaction. It meant that he wouldn't have to duel with and possibly injure a loyal but misguided would-be Death Eater once he revealed his true loyalties. The only problem, of course, was convincing Theodore--and the Hogsmeade villagers--of his true loyalties without having to fight them.
Blaise, as always, kept his head, his eyes cool and calculating. Like his mother, he had avoided taking sides in the war. He had parroted all the right platitudes about pureblood superiority and Mudbloods and blood traitors, but had avoided making any actual commitments to the Death Eaters. Likewise, his mother had donated generously to official Ministry "charities" once the Death Eaters had taken control of the government, but she had avoided doing anything that could be construed as treason if the Death Eaters should be overthrown. And Snape suspected that she had a hidden Portkey that would whisk her away to a safe place in another country in case of emergencies; she had always been a practical and intelligent woman. However, she could not flee without leaving her son behind, which was partly why Voldemort had insisted on keeping all the pureblood students at Hogwarts; they served as hostages to keep their parents in line.
"Take it easy, Theo," Blaise cautioned, placing a hand on Theodore's raised arm to restrain him. "It wouldn't be wise to attack the the Dark Lord's most favored servant." His gaze drifted to the blood-stained bandage around Snape's neck, and his eyes narrowed shrewdly. "Or is that not true any longer, Professor?"
Some of the Slytherins were cowering, while others were regarding him hopefully, with pleading eyes that begged him to save them. Meanwhile, the villagers were pointing their wands at him and shouting things like, "Death Eater scum!" and "Murderer!" and "Traitor!" Rosmerta said nothing, but regarded him with a hostile, wary look.
"Severus?" Slughorn asked uncertainly, his voice wavering slightly, while Aberforth met Snape's eyes steadily, showing no fear, if not much welcome, either.
"Lemon drop," Snape said, holding Aberforth's gaze, as everyone else stared at him as if he'd lost his mind.
"Albus said I could trust anyone who gave me that password," Aberforth said calmly. "Then again, he trusted you, so he could have given it to you, not knowing that you would betray him later."
"Do you honestly think that I could have fooled so wise and powerful a wizard?" Snape replied.
"Bah!" Aberforth spat. "Albus was always too smart for his own good. It wouldn't surprise me if he had outsmarted himself."
"Indeed," Snape said, a faint, wry smile tugging his lips upwards almost against his will. He didn't know Aberforth well, having only seen him in passing occasionally at the Hog's Head, but he suspected that he would like this brother a good deal more than the other.
"On the other hand," Aberforth continued, "even a mighty Death Eater like yourself is outnumbered here, so why don't we continue this discussion at the inn? I'd feel a good deal safer not standing out in the open like a flock of sitting ducks."
"Here," Snape said, handing his wand over to Aberforth, hoping that he wasn't making a huge mistake. Given a little provocation, the villagers would gladly tear him apart like a pack of wild dogs. Still, he needed to convince them that he wasn't the enemy, and he couldn't afford to waste a lot of time arguing about it. "As a show of good faith."
Aberforth looked a little startled, but nodded and accepted the wand. Rosmerta looked cautiously approving, and the villagers and the students relaxed slightly. "Come," Snape told his Slytherins, and they followed him meekly to the Hog's Head.
Inside the inn, Rosmerta wrinkled her nose at the state of the kitchen, but set about putting together some sandwiches to feed the children, along with some tea, and warm milk for the younger ones, fussing over them in a motherly sort of way that they seemed to find comforting. The older students, like Theodore, were not comforted so easily, and picked at their food without much appetite as they stared at Snape warily.
Snape gave them all an abbreviated explanation of how he had come to work for Dumbledore, reluctantly explaining that he and Lily had been childhood friends, because he knew that they would require a believable motive in order to accept his change of heart. However, he left out the part about Potter having to sacrifice himself because he knew that they would never believe it. Well, perhaps Aberforth might, but the villagers would never believe that wise, kindly old Albus Dumbledore would ever so ruthlessly sacrifice a child. The Slytherins, who had a more jaded view of the Headmaster, were more likely to accept that he would willingly sacrifice a pawn, but they would have difficulty believing that Dumbledore would sacrifice one of his Gryffindor pets, and would probably think that the story was a way to trick the villagers into helping him capture Potter. So all he told them was what Dumbledore had told the Order, that Potter had to be the one to defeat the Dark Lord because of the Prophecy and the rebounded curse.
He also left out the bit about the Elder Wand, since he didn't want to tempt any of the Slytherins--or the villagers, for that matter--with tales about such a powerful artifact. Although he wasn't sure if those tales really were true, or if they were some delusion of Voldemort's. The supposedly all-powerful Elder Wand hadn't been able to save Dumbledore in the end, nor had it protected Snape from Voldemort's attack, even though he was its purported master.
Still, to be on the safe side, all that he said about Voldemort's attempt to kill him was that the Dark Lord had wanted Dumbledore's wand as a trophy, and had tried to kill him to gain mastery over it. And no one seemed to find it unbelievable that the Dark Lord would kill one of his favorite Death Eaters on a mere whim--especially after Theodore's story about how his father had died.
"So you betrayed your comrades because the Dark Lord killed your Mudblood girlfriend?" Pansy asked scornfully, still keeping one arm wrapped protectively around Dorothea, who cringed and whimpered softly at the sharpness of her voice. Pansy's expression softened slightly then, and she reassuringly stroked the younger girl's hair.
"No," Snape replied levelly. "I betrayed the Dark Lord because he killed my friend, even though he had promised to spare her. And because I wanted no part in murder. I was young and foolish, and I believed in the Dark Lord's promises of power and glory. I admit that I wanted the wizarding world to come out of hiding and rule over the Muggles, but I did not want to kill anyone."
"Did you really think that could be accomplished without any bloodshed?" Theodore asked cynically.
"I wasn't really thinking at the time," Snape admitted. "I assumed that our methods could be accomplished through bribery and political manipulation and judicious coercion, such as Imperius Curses cast upon key Ministry officials. I wasn't the only one who was naive. Regulus Black expressed concerns about the Dark Lord's methods, and shortly after, he vanished and was never seen or heard from again. After that, no one else dared to question the Dark Lord.
"So yes, Miss Parkinson, I did betray my master and spy on my comrades in part because he killed Lily. But also because I realized that he did not regard us as his family, as he had told us when he first recruited us, but merely as pawns that could be discarded when we were of no more use to him--or if we displeased him, as Theodore's father did, or even if he was just in a bad mood and wanted to vent his frustration on someone. There is not a single one of us in his inner circle who have not been on the receiving end of a Cruciatus Curse at one time or another when the Dark Lord was feeling vexed."
Theodore was nodding in agreement. "The Dark Lord betrayed his followers. He deserves no loyalty from them."
"I don't care about the Dark Lord!" Pansy protested tearfully. "But--"
"You seemed to care quite a bit when you told everyone in the Great Hall that they should turn Potter over to him," Blaise interrupted. "Not that I have any particular fondness for Potter myself, mind you."
"Of course I said that!" Pansy screamed. "If word gets back to him that we didn't support him, he'll kill us, and our friends and family as well! After Draco's dad was thrown in prison, my father tried to distance himself from the Malfoys and the other Death Eaters. He even told me that I should stop seeing Draco, though of course I didn't listen! After they took over the Ministry, some of them came to our house and told my father that he hadn't done enough to support the cause, and he'd better watch his step if he knew what was good for him." She shuddered. "Greyback was one of them. He grabbed my face with his filthy paw and said, 'You wouldn't want anything to happen to your pretty little girl or your lovely wife, now would you?'" She sobbed, burying her face in her hands, and now it was Dorothea's turn to comfort her. "I was scared, I was so scared!"
Millicent came over to comfort her as well, wrapping her arms around the other girl. "Hush, Pansy, it's all right; I'll protect you."
"You can't!" Pansy sobbed. "No one can protect us from the Dark Lord!"
"Did Albus hide the emergency Portkey here as he promised?" Snape asked Aberforth, who nodded. "Well, at least he kept one of his promises," Snape muttered bitterly under his breath, then said in a more gentle voice to Pansy, "There is a Portkey here, Miss Parkinson, that can send you and your housemates out of the country to a trusted colleague of mine, an American Potions Mistress. She will look after you until it is safe to return."
Assuming, of course, that Potter succeeded in defeating Voldemort. If not, his renegade Slytherins might never be able to return, but hopefully Voldemort would not bother to cross the ocean to track them down. But he kept that thought to himself, since expressing it out loud would only drive the girl into further hysterics.
"But what about my family?" Pansy asked, raising her head, her face streaked with tears and her eyes red from crying. "I can't leave them behind, especially since I'll be branded a traitor if I flee! And Draco is still at the castle!" She burst into tears again.
"He slipped away when we were summoned to the Great Hall, along with Crabbe and Goyle," Theodore explained. "He said that they were going to catch Potter, to get his family back into the Dark Lord's good graces."
"Idiot boy," Snape groaned. "All right, I'm going back to Hogwarts to try and find them before they get themselves killed. The rest of you can take the Portkey to safety."
"Is your friend really prepared for so many refugees?" Slughorn asked doubtfully.
"I told her that I might need to send some of my students into hiding, though she probably isn't expecting the entire House," Snape replied. "Still, I'm sure that she'll manage somehow."
He kept his reassurances vague, believing it would be unwise to give away too much information in case word should leak out to the Death Eaters in a worst-case scenario, but his emergency contact was the vice-principal of the Salem Witches' Institute, the largest and most prominent wizarding school in America. There would be room enough for his Slytherins there, at least temporarily, and Elizabeth would never turn away a child in need. She was strict and stern, and the students feared the sharp edge of her tongue more than they did detention, but she genuinely cared about them. She rather reminded him of McGonagall, actually, and he felt a pang of mingled pain and resentment as he recalled McGonagall's scorn, and that of the other teachers, as they had driven him from Hogwarts. He had intended for everyone to think him a traitor--that had been the old man's plan, after all--but still, it rankled that they had so easily believed it, with barely even a moment's hesitation, after all the years that they had worked together. Especially McGonagall, who had known him as a fellow Order member.
"I can't leave without my mother," Blaise said, interrupting Snape's thoughts and snapping him out of his self-pity. Some of the other Slytherins chimed in with similar protests about leaving their families behind.
"I'll send through anyone who wants to get to safety now," Aberforth said. "But if you leave to get your families, I can't promise that I'll still be here when you get back."
"I advise all of you to use the Portkey now," Snape told his students. "I am sure that your parents would want you to be safe above all else. However, if you insist on staying, I advise you to Apparate home to your families immediately. The Death Eaters are currently occupied with the battle at Hogwarts, so you have a short window of opportunity to escape while they are distracted. Tell your parents to flee as far and fast as possible, preferably out of the country."
"Will you be coming to America with us, sir?" Malcolm Baddock asked, obviously trying with a great effort to keep his voice steady, although the paleness of his face belied his fear.
"As I said, I am going to attempt to rescue Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle from their own stupidity," Snape replied. "Assuming that I survive the experience, I will join you at the designated safe location later."
"That's hardly reassuring, Severus," Slughorn murmured.
"I'm not going to lie and give them false reassurances," Snape retorted. He turned to address the Slytherins once more. "I do not know how the battle will turn out, and there is a good chance that I might not survive it. But if I do survive, I will go to America and bring you back when it is safe. If I do not survive, then my friend will look after you and return you to your families when the war is over."
"Assuming Potter defeats the Dark Lord," Theodore interjected.
"Then we're doomed," Blaise muttered glumly. "Potter's an average student at best. He's got no real talent for anything but Quidditch, and I fail to see how catching a Snitch is going to help defeat the most powerful wizard in the world."
"He does have a raw talent for Defense Against the Dark Arts," Snape said grudgingly in Potter's defense. "Though he is undisciplined and not the most studious of my pupils. But the connection forged between himself and the Dark Lord is what will give him the real edge, not any book knowledge or skill with a wand." Actually, Potter didn't really need to do anything but die and take the piece of Voldemort's soul along with him, but he couldn't tell that to the students and villagers.
"What if Potter fails?" Pansy whispered. "What happens then?"
"Then my friend and I--if I survive--will help you make a new life for yourselves in America," Snape replied. "Or help you relocate to another country, if you prefer; I know that some of you have relatives in Europe. But I think it would be safer to keep an ocean between yourselves and the Death Eaters."
Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5