Before you start Gratias Vobis Ago, I feel it necessary to explain this collection just a little. All ten of these one-shots were written for reviewers of They Didn't Know We Were Seeds so that I may show my gratitude for everyone's kind words and to celebrate reaching 1000 reviews (wow!). Some of the one-shots requested by reviewers were for stories written in the Rubble Flowers 'verse. All of those will have a warning at the top of them telling you such and if there are potential spoilers in the story so you can decide if you want or don't want to read it.
Framed
Kiger-Neko: Severus is accused of stealing something from Albus Dumbledore. He's being framed and he feels as if someone besides the teachers (the culprit) is watching him.
-o-O-o-
It was just the two of them for the moment. The Headmaster and Professor Slughorn had gone to the Slytherin second year dorms a little over ten minutes ago to take a look around for the Deluminator he "stole". Severus didn't do it, of course. Why would he? What was he going to do with a Deluminator? If he was going to be daft enough to take something of the Headmaster's, it'd be one of his books. Severus had been in his office enough times over the past year or so to know he had some very interesting defense books lining his shelves.
From her seat beside the Headmaster's desk, Professor McGonagall cleared her throat. "Mr. Snape, I know you are a clever boy. Surely you understand how much trouble you are in? Stealing from the Headmaster is a great offense," the Deputy Headmistress attempted to reason. "If you own up to your mistake and return the Deluminator right now you can be let off relatively lightly with two month's worth of detention rather than a suspension."
Severus's heart raced at the word. Suspension. That would mean going back to Spinner's End. He could already imagine what his Dad would scream at him when he heard. "I didn't raise my son to be a thief!" Severus shivered at the thought. That would only be the start of his troubles too. His dad would make sure he was begging Saint Maria Goretti, Jesus, and God for forgiveness by the time he was through with Severus.
However, the last thing Severus was going to do was take the blame for something he didn't do. Even if it meant he'd get the lesser of two punishments. As his father would say, Severus wasn't raised to be a thief. He wasn't going to have that descriptor attached to him in addition to the ones he already held (troublemaker, nuisance, sneak). He turned a hateful glare on Professor McGonagall and said, "I didn't steal from him."
She sighed as if he pained her. "Mister Snape–"
Footsteps sounded behind Severus (but something about them sounded wrong – almost as if an extra pair of feet were stepping in time with the men) and Professor McGonagall ripped her gaze away from Severus to the returning Headmaster and Professor Slughorn. "We found it," his head of house declared, voice resigned. "It was in his trunk."
Severus's face heated up with anger as astonishment left him speechless. They'd searched his trunk! They had no right! How had the damn thing ended up there anyway? Who in Merlin's name got past the spells he put on his trunk after the last incident where his dormmates were messing with his things?
Of course, none of them saw his crimson face for what it was. Instead, Professor McGonagall looked at him with a stern face and pity lurking in her eyes. Severus barely held back the urge to snarl. She thought he was ashamed he'd been caught! "It's not too late to tell us the truth, Mister Snape," she told him.
"I don't know why it was in my trunk!" he spat, "I didn't steal it!"
Rebuke in his tone, Professor Slughorn asked, "Then how did the Deluminator turn up in your trunk, young man?"
Severus couldn't hold in his disdain any longer. "Perhaps when of my arsehole roommates put it there. It wouldn't be the first time they went through my trunk and left me 'surprises'." He stares contemptuously at his head of house. "As you very well know, sir."
The portly man frowned. "If I recall, they told me the slugs they left in your trunk were to pay you back for hexing Miss Pucey when her back was turned. As I told you before, an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."
"They started it!" Severus shouted. He was still furious about that incident. Professor Slughorn had given him detention while Wilkes and Rosier got away with only a few stern words as they'd been acting in "defense" of Pucey. Like it changed that they and Pucey had begun it all when they insulted his mother.
"Mr. Snape," Headmaster Dumbledore scolded.
Scowling at all of them, he crossed his arms and sneered. What was there left for him to say when they refused to listen?
Quietly, the headmaster asked, "You understand this is a very serious offense, don't you, Mister Snape?"
For a moment, he only glared. Then, grudgingly nodded. Severus bloody understood alright. He was going to be punished (again) for something he didn't do.
The old man sighed and rubbed at the bridge of his nose beneath his glasses in frustration. "Minerva, Horace, if you would step out for a moment? I would like to speak to Mr. Snape alone," Headmaster Dumbledore declared.
"Of course," Professor Slughorn agreed as Professor McGonagall dipped her chin in tandem.
Severus kept his gaze solely on the headmaster as the professors filed out. When he heard the door close behind them, Severus couldn't help but look away from Headmaster Dumbledore to glance around the room. He could see they were alone, but it certainly didn't feel as if they were.
"Mr. Snape?"
He returned his gaze to the old man with no small amount of reluctance.
Headmaster Dumbledore frowned at Severus for a moment, before looking around the room himself. He seemed to notice something Severus did not, as his eyes widened ever so slightly. If Severus wasn't so used to looking for small changes in the faces of others for ill-intentions he may not have noticed at all. Confusion began to muddle his mind, he shifted uneasily from foot to foot. "Sir?" he called uncertainly.
The old man looked at Severus as if he'd forgotten he was there.
Severus almost wanted to roll his eyes at that. Of course the headmaster would forget him while he was the only other one in the room. But, then, the man's gaze locked on his own and he felt terribly exposed. Severus couldn't be sure, but he suspected the headmaster was using legilimency on him. It was a very subtle feeling, but not unfamiliar. His mother had been using it on him for years to catch him in a lie, after all. She promised she would start teaching Severus this summer how to use it himself.
"You are dismissed," Headmaster Dumbledore declared.
Severus couldn't stop the gobsmacked expression that overtook his face. "Sir?"
He repeated, "You are dismissed, Mr. Snape."
"I'm not in trouble anymore?"
The old man sighed. "No."
Severus didn't thank the old man, because it was his own damn fault for believing Jennifer Brown when she said she saw Severus sneaking out of his office early this morning while Headmaster Dumbledore was at the Great Hall during breakfast. Instead, he just turned around and hurried out in case the man decided to change his mind.
As the door swung closed behind Severus, however, he just barely heard the headmaster say:
"If you would take off that cloak, Misters–"
'An Invisibility Cloak!' Severus realized suddenly. Someone (or, rather, someones) had been in the room under an Invisibility Cloak with them. There was no way for him to know for certain quite yet, but Severus was sure it was the Marauders, or at least Black and Potter, who'd been beneath it. He bet they had planted the Deluminator in his trunk too. Maybe even convinced Brown to lie for them as well (if they hadn't used a Polyjuice Potion). They'd also gotten past all of the spells he put on his trunk!
Angrily, Severus clenched his hands into fists and stormed off toward his dorm. He was sure he'd have to reorganize his trunk since the Headmaster and Professor Slughorn searched it, but he was also going to have to figure out a new combination of spells to keep the Marauders out of his trunk too.
Bitterly, Severus's final thought on the matter was, 'I bet they won't get in trouble for framing me with theft either.'
I hope you liked this Kiger-Neko! I think your story is one of the few that really sticks close to the prompt you gave me (sorry to everyone whose prompts I took some liberties with).
Thank you for reading everyone!