Dedicated to Emma, a friend till the end and a humongous thank you to Mike for beta reading it!
Notes: This isn't really based on the books at all. Voldemort is at full strength and Dumbledore is very much alive. It does get more serious as it develops. The story alternates between Severus' POV and Harry's POV.
'Man is a noble animal, splendid in ashes, and pompous in the grave' Sir Thomas Browne
Warnings: Bad language, drug abuse, violence, multiple character deathsThis is actually already completely written, and I will post a new chapter every few days.
All reviews gratefully received. Criticisms received, how gratefully is debateable.
A Different PerspectiveSeverus Snape curled his lip as he read through the letter from Dumbledore summoning him to his office, more than likely in order to discuss another complaint of McGonagall's. For the third time that week Severus made the now familiar journey to Dumbledore's office.
"Ah Severus. I'm afraid to say Minerva is voicing some concerns over your behaviour in the Great Hall."
"Yes Headmaster."
"She said that you were consuming alcohol at the feast last week."
"The students were unaware."
"Yes, Severus, but you know our policy. It is acceptable, but as long as it is not in the presence of students?"
"Yes, Headmaster. I shall resume drinking coffee in the Great Hall."
"I think that would be best Severus."
"Would you pass on a message to Minerva that liquor chocolates also count as alcohol and therefore should not be passed around her seventh grade classes?"
"Well liquor chocolates aren't really the same as-"
"They contain alcohol and I believe intoxicating students is more against 'policy' than self-intoxication?"
"I will mention it to her."
Severus swept out of Dumbledore's office and stalked to the staff room, throwing dark glances at any students that dared pass him. Hogwarts was falling apart; all the teachers had their own agendas and most had spent a few weeks in some type of rehab. 'And the weirdest thing is, Dumbledore does not seem in the slightest bit concerned', Severus mused to himself.
"Severus." McGonagall nodded as Severus threw open the door to the staff room, who threw her a sneer as reply. "Care for a chocolate?"
"Minerva, please keep your complaints to yourself. I do not appreciate being summoned to Dumbledore's office just because you have a vendetta against me."
"He's spoken to you then. It was a completely valid point about the alcohol, and I simply mentioned it in passing to him. How long has it been since he's come out of his office?"
"Two months. Fudge is quite happy though, contemplating gluing the door shut and leaving him in there." Severus sat across from McGonagall and sipped his coffee reflectively.
"He would say that," Minerva said, pondering over the contents of the box balanced on her knee.
"All I do is clean. Clean everywhere. Bloody kids making mess wherever they go. And who has to clean up after them?" Filch staggered into the staff room, muttering angrily to himself.
"That is because you are employed as a cleaner." Severus curled his lip. "And this is the staff room. You are not staff. You are a cleaner." Filch growled to himself and staggered out again, making sure he slammed the door after him.
"That was a bit harsh."
"Minerva, he stinks to high heaven. And I refuse to sit here and listen to him complain about doing his job for another hour."
"Yes, but still-"
"What the hell is that?" Severus interrupted, opening the door as the sound of singing floated into the room. A smile tugged at the corners of his lips, "It would appear Sprout has been down into Hogsmeade again."
"Oh no. She'll wake up the Great Squid. He flooded the grounds because of her last week."
"Well I'm not going to fetch her."
"Neither am I."
"It's not our responsibility."
"I'm going bed."
"Night."
Severus drained the rest of his coffee and made his way down the steps to his dungeon and adjoining rooms. Pushing against his chamber door, it creaked and gave way, with a lot of cracking of hinges and landed with a thud on the floor. Severus sighed and stepped over it, he couldn't be bothered fixing it, he hardly had enough magic as it was. Wandering round the school all night for ten years had started to take its toll on Severus' magic reserves. Throwing himself into his desk chair, Severus grabbed a packet off his desk and took out a pinch of green powdery substance, sprinkled it into a crucible and lit magical black flames beneath it, letting the fumes curl around his head. Yes, Hogwarts was definitely going downhill. And Severus loved it.
The next morning Harry, Ron and Hermione walked into the Great Hall, not surprised to see most of the teacher's seats empty.
"Snape's not here."
"Or McGonagall."
"Or Dumbledore."
"I don't think Sprout should be." They looked up at the table and Ron was right, Professor Sprout looked awful and hardly well enough to teach lessons.
"Apparently there's some sort of bug going round the teachers."
"Don't be silly Ron, they're wizards and witches. A bug wouldn't get into the school."
"Well it might be a magical bug." Hermione lifted an eyebrow sardonically.
"Are we getting some breakfast?" Harry interrupted their bickering. They sat at the Gryffindor table and looked upon the breakfast in front of them,
"At least the house elves aren't ill. They've really pulled out all the stops." Every type of breakfast food was on the table, most of which Harry couldn't name.
"I'm sticking to bacon," Harry said as Ron filled his plate with everything within his reach. "We've got Transfiguration first and I don't know what kind of state McGonagall will be in." Arriving at McGonagall's room, Harry read the scrawled note on the door reading,
Professor McGonagall is unable to attend lessons all day. Please go over page one hundred and ten in your textbooks
"Why is there no supply teacher?" Hermione asked.
"Quidditch?" Ron asked,
"Quidditch." Harry agreed.
Severus shifted restlessly in his chair and opened his eyes blearily, rubbing his face with his hand. He stood up slowly and groaned as his back protested at being bent up in a chair all night. Going into the bathroom, Severus splashed water onto his face from the bowl of water left by the house elves and changed into clean robes. Clearing his desk of all evidence of last night's activities, he strode down the corridors towards the staff room, eager to avoid meeting any students. He opened the door and went immediately to make coffee, revelling in its smell as its aroma filled the room. Sitting down in one of the red leather chairs, Severus smiled and looked over the rim of his cup towards McGonagall.
"Don't tell me you finished off the whole box?" McGonagall shook her head. "How many boxes?"
"Three." Severus raised his eyebrows as he sipped his coffee.
"How about you?" This was directed towards Sprout, who was slumped in a corner.
"I woke the squid up; well I think it was the squid." McGonagall nodded in agreement, but stopped pretty quickly.
"Did I remind you that Madam Hooch is back today?"
"No, actually you didn't. How long was she gone for?"
"Three weeks. She says she's completely fine now."
"I still can't believe it. I never even knew there was such a thing as steroids, not in the magical world anyway." There was a general sound of agreement from around the staff room.
"Where's Hagrid?" Filch shouted into the staff room.
"Last time I saw him he was heading into the forest and that was two weeks ago. He had some sort of camping equipment with him and that bloody hound."
"Well who's feeding the squid?" Severus peered into his coffee cup as Filch glared around at the teachers. "Well I ain't doing it 'cos that thing nearly had my arm off last time and I've got other stuff to do." McGonagall looked from Snape to Sprout and gave in with a sigh.
"I'll go and do it sometime." Filch nodded and left, pleased that someone else was going to do some work for a change.
"What does he feed it?" McGonagall looked at Snape.
"How the hell should I know?"
"Oh go and try to get Dumbledore out of his office or something will you? You aren't any help in here." Severus rolled his eyes, washed his cup with a flick of his wand, replaced it in a cupboard and stalked out of the staff room, his mood worsening with every step he took; he knew what kind of state he would find Dumbledore in.
Reaching the statue Severus muttered the password, 'reminiscing',and allowed the staircase to carry him upwards. Dumbledore was sat on the floor in the middle of his office, talking with all the old headmasters and mistresses about how Hogwarts used to be, with occasional interruptions from Fawkes.
"One time you could just open the gates and no one would try to find us, we were separate. We were…"
"Elite!"
"Better!"
"Pure!"
"Untainted!" The various paintings around the room shouted out their contribution about the Hogwarts of old and Severus looked around at them disdainfully. One of the paintings coughed and pointed at Severus, making Dumbledore jump and look around at the door.
"Morning Severus. Just chatting with my peers."
"Indeed Headmaster. Just wondering if you would like to go for a walk around the grounds." Severus couldn't believe he was asking Dumbledore to go for a walk.
"I'm very busy Severus, very busy. I would like to, but I'm afraid I can't. Very busy. Very-"
"Well, if you have any time free you're welcome to join me in the staff room or around the grounds."
"Well, thank you. I might take you up on that sometime Severus, but I have a lot to do at the minute and-"
"Well, Headmaster, I have lessons to be teaching." Severus shut the ornate door of Dumbledore's office and ran a hand through his hair. He was getting worse, locking himself in his office for days on end and he appeared obsessed with how Hogwarts used to be. He wondered how long Hogwarts would last like it was, perhaps Fudge would just employ a new Headmaster and all the teachers would concentrate on teaching instead of well, there was no point listing every vice that every single teacher held. Severus shook his head and made his way back to his rooms, pushing the Headmaster from his mind and onto a pile of homework that needed marking. Reaching his desk, he pulled a pile towards him and glanced at the name.
'Goyle. Well, I wonder what hilarious answers he will come up with today.' Severus mused as he read a paragraph on how bat-wings are an antidote for hiccups (which was of course complete rubbish) and scrawled a 'Good. Some points need adjusting,' on the bottom. Crabbe appeared to have an exact copy of Goyle's essay and so Snape used a simple charm to replicate what he had written on Goyle's onto exactly the same place on Crabbe's essay. They certainly wouldn't notice but it gave Severus some amusement. Malfoy was only slightly better and Severus scrawled a quick 'reasonable', Severus wasn't scared of what Lucius could do to him for giving his son poor grades, he had no family to intimidate and he was behind Hogwarts walls. No harm could come to him here, not from Lucius Malfoy anyway. Hermione Granger had of course taken every book she could possibly find and squeezed every fact out of them onto a two foot piece of parchment. 'Cannot possibly read,' Severus was tempted to put, 'redo for tomorrow', but he didn't want to spend another afternoon reading through it. Potter and Weasley were average, though Granger had obviously rewritten parts. Severus didn't even bother to read Longbottom's; he simply crossed through it and put it at the bottom of the pile. The last time he'd read anything written by Longbottom he had lost the will to life and had tried to hang himself from a suit of armour. A knocking at the door broke Severus' concentration and he suddenly realised that someone (probably the house elves) had reaffixed his door to its hinges.
"Yes?" Severus threw open his door to find a very grumpy Filch glaring at him.
"Students, Professor. Second floor. They're using Fanged Frisbees to have a wizard's duel." Severus sighed and rolled his eyes, anyone else could just put a stop to it, but Filch was a Squib so of course he couldn't.
"I'll see to it." Filch nodded and shuffled off. Hearing a noise at his ankles Severus looked down to find Mrs Norris slinking against the opposite wall, hissing madly. Snape was the only one Mrs Norris didn't attack at the first given chance. Striding along the corridors and up two flights of stairs, Severus heard excited yelling and jeering coming from further up the corridor and withdrew his wand from within his robes. Silently walking up the corridor a peculiar sight met his eyes, a group of third years were fighting, charming Fanged Frisbees to go for each other's various body parts. Severus thought they belonged to Hufflepuff and Hufflepuff tended not to fight, especially amongst themselves. Casting a charm, all the Frisbees fell to the floor with a clatter as the six students stared, open-mouthed with horror at the Professor. Severus surveyed them in icy silence. The students shuffled their feet and moved closer together, as if to protect one another from him. Severus sneered as he studied the frightened faces peering up at him.
"We were only messing sir," one lad stammered, moving forward from the group.
"And when one of you gets his arm removed by a Fanged Frisbee and you have to come running to me for an arm regrowth potion, shall I 'mess around' and give you hair removal potion instead?" There was a general shaking of heads.
"Sorry sir." The boy moved back, blushing profusely.
"Forty points from Hufflepuff each for this behaviour." The students started to complain but quietened down quickly.
"Go to your common room and do work." The students nodded and backed down the corridor till they were out of Severus' sight then broke into a run. The Fanged Frisbees disintegrated with another flick of a wand and Severus moved along the corridor to the Charms room to look in on Flitwick. Flitwick had recently become obsessed with creating a new charm; he didn't mind what it was so long as it was named after him. He wanted people to remember who he was, not just the Charms teacher, but Professor Flitwick, inventor of the only charm for more than fifty years.
"Flitwick?" Severus opened the door gingerly, the last time he came in here he had to perform a pretty powerful shield spell as Flitwick had thrown a rather heavy book at him for interrupting.
"Severus, give me a minute!" Snape looked around and finally spotted Flitwick amid mountains of books, leafing through them frantically. He disappeared and reappeared a few feet from where Severus was standing. "What can I do for you?"
"Just wondering how it's going. And if you are going to come out of your rooms soon."
"I will, as soon as I work out this charm. It's going very well. I must get back." And with that Flitwick disappeared. Severus shrugged and left, he might as well get some dinner seeing as he had missed breakfast that morning.