THIEF
By brensgrrl (brensgrrl@yahoo.com)
Story Type: Angst/ POV
Rating: PG
Archive: Fanfiction.net Fiction Alley
WARNING: Spoilers for the "Harry Potter" books and movie series.
Summary: An incident of theft reopens old wounds. Snape POV.
Inspired by fanart:
Disclaimer: Characters belong to Rowling, Scholastic Books, Bloomsbury Books, Warner Brothers, and all of the usual suspects. No money being made offa this. Thin plot belongs to me. Feedback very much appreciated but any and all flames will be used to light the "Fire on Ice" over at the Rink where my daughter figure skates. And—Hey! Since I am paying for the training of a USFSA qualifying-level skater I'm broke—no money—so don't sue—
"Opportunity makes a thief. . ." –Francis Bacon
The lesson plan for tomorrow calls for the Ravenclaw/Hufflepuff double session to be devoted to beginning the preparation of the Polyjuice Potion, but I see that my stores of Boomslang Skin are depleted.
No. Not depleted. Someone has stolen from my supply. I think I know who the pilferer was.
Though my devotion to Albus has led me to agree to guard that boy's life, I remain thoroughly convinced that he is simply no good. Just like his father in more than mere appearance, steeped in hubris and conceit and trickery! And just like his father, he has managed somehow to deceive the doting old man, but I can see through all of his theatrics.
He is nothing but a troublemaker.
He looks up at me during class with those plundered eyes, and a simpering "Sir," and I am sick to my stomach.
His eyes. . .
Lily's eyes. Eyes that were purloined by that father of his. Potter.
James Potter and his clutch of brigands!
Yes, they had Dumbledore totally taken in with the notion that the games they played were nothing but harmless mischief, but I could see them for the scoundrels that they were. I watched them. I followed them and I knew. An indolent, murderous pack of beasts! Rule-breakers and flouters of authority!
They should have been expelled in their first year, the lot of them!
If only they had been. . .
I wouldn't have lost so much then.
It wasn't enough for them to skulk about and filch my books and parchments. It wasn't enough for them to have sport with me by sabotage and humiliation. If all they took were things, I could have endured that. . .
The deliberate scheming and conniving that it must have taken to perfect the delusion. . .the flirting and the ingratiation and the wheedling. The posturing and the arrogance! The lying and the 'comforting!' And all the while laughing at me, at my blindness. . . corrupting all I held dear.
I know I was wrong. God knows I think about how very wrong I was every single day that I live! I was less than dutiful, I know that. I failed to be as attentive as she deserved. My regrets are myriad! But was it right to take advantage of my focus on schooling to steal what was mine? Should one's home be pillaged because a door is left ajar?
Yes. . . how blind I was. . .but no more!
My vision is perfectly clear.
And now, I must deal almost daily with the spawn of that rogue!
They say "the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree," and it seems so in this case.
The boy is just like his father.
A thief.
(9/9/2003)