Cursed

SS/LE, AU, Marauder Era

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter 2: Delegation

Delegation is an important skill that successful people use to make their workload more manageable. Some tasks are too important to delegate, and some just find it too difficult to relinquish control. However, in this case, when Prof. Minerva McGonagall received a letter as deputy headmistress causing concern about a student's parents, she properly delegated it to that student's Head of House, Horace Slughorn.

Horace received it, read it and put it aside upon finishing it. This was a task that could be delegated because he too was busy, and needed to make his workload more manageable. There were some students he would naturally handle personally, but Severus Snape, son of Eileen Prince … no. Maybe if it were in London, since he had a lot of people he could visit there but … no, this was not London.

Sometimes, he forgot the letter. Other times, he remembered, but there was no one around to delegate it to. And then, Hagrid looked at Horace … well, it was worth a try asking the games keeper to … or maybe not. Then the opportune moment presented itself. Horace had the letter and had cornered Prof. Kettleburn alone in the staff room while he was looking for plasters.

"Who?" Silvanus asked, not recognizing the name.

"Severus Snape."

"He's not my student, Horace."

"Is that important at a time like this?"

"Well … if the worse has happened, wouldn't it be better that a teacher that knew him was along?"

"Maybe not. He's not the sharpest quill in the drawer, if you know what I mean. A troublemaker. A stranger would probably treat him better."

"Really? But if his parents are ..."

"No, I really think you are the best for the job, Silvanus. You have such a degree of empathy, I'm positively envious."

Silvanus Kettleburn did not try to disguise the dubious look on his face. Horace was not even trying to convince him … convincingly. "Horace, this is a muggle town. I'm not sure I'd even know what to do."

"Evans' parents wrote this. I'm sure they'll help you out. See here, on the envelope, they even included their address in the upper corner."

"Well, I do have Lily Evans in class, and she is a prefect, and such a nice girl … so uh … maybe … this is all so irregular, Horace. Shouldn't you … ?"

"Come now, Silvanus. You know you've been here a long time. It's an opportunity like this that you've been waiting for. Just imagine how Albus will view it when he hears the magnificent way you've handled such a sensitive situation," Horace cajoled, putting on more charm and making very vague references to a possible pay raise or promotion. Convincing Kettleburn was taking longer than dragging Snape down to the armpit of England to sort this. Horace had to review his invitations for Halloween. He was entering his busy season with dinners, galas, balls, parties and other prestigious events.

What Horace was saying was true. With Dumbledore, a fellow who made a few honest mistakes stood a bit of a chance. Dippet had been always eager to suspend him without pay, resulting in Silvanus having to cover twice as much material in half the scheduled classes. Same amount of material, but he did not get the same pay. Dippet was drastically unfair, and Silvanus absolutely loved that book by Rita Skeeter, even if it contained very little truth. "I guess if you are willing to put in a good word for me, Horace. Your voice carries a lot of weight with Albus."

"Well, we've been companions for many years and bonded together over some difficult times," Horace said while nodding his head. "I can remember back when Grindelwald was giving us trouble how much Albus depended on me. Now, it's the day to day running of the school, though naturally I'm not one to seek titles and such, so I let Minerva have the Deputy chair. She's so good with all the paperwork. An efficient administrator."

Silvanus was afraid to agree, in case Minerva McGonagall was hiding in the closet. Calling the head of Gryffindor an efficient administrator? Why not declare open warfare on her? Horace was so full of himself sometimes. "Uh … maybe you should let me have the letter so I can have that address, in case I need assistance with something muggle-like."

"Sure thing, Silvanus, and I'll let Albus know. Don't you worry."

Rolling his eyes, Silvanus grabbed the letter and went back to looking for the plasters.

SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS

Not that Lily was the worrying type, but when almost a week passed without anything happening with Severus, she was wondering if her mother's letter was even received. It was entirely possible that the school went on their own to verify that his parents were alright, rather than causing him undue concern. Sev was in a lot of NEWT level classes. More than any of the Gryffindors in her year. Not that that was any of her business, but causing him anxiety without needing to would be terrible, whether they were still friends or not.

Then a couple more days passed, and at lunch Friday, Prof. Kettleburn approached the Slytherin table, and after some hostile looks was directed to Severus. Lily scrunched up her face. Kettleburn? Sev didn't have Magical Creatures. She knew because she was in that NEWT level class with Slytherins. Maybe he was arranging a detention. That hopefully was it because if Sev's parents were … and more than another week passed, that would be like really gross and very irresponsible of the school. Detention. It had to be from the annoyed look Severus was giving Kettleburn.

Severus was interrupted from his reading by one of the staff. He knew who Kettleburn was, but why was he bothering him?

Silvanus had no classes scheduled this afternoon so would have time to escort this student to … wherever it was. Finding the long-haired, sixth year, he addressed him, "Mr. Snape, perhaps we could go into the Front Hall to discuss a matter."

"Why? … Sir."

"It's confidential."

"I haven't done anything … sir."

"Please, it's better that you just escort me."

Severus had no clue what Potter and Black did now, but guessed he was going to find out pretty soon. It had to be bad if a teacher did not want to say in front of other students.

Reaching the Front Hall, Silvanus pointed out a corner near the door that was clear of loitering students, due to the draft from under the door. He turned, took a deep breath, and tried to sound sympathetic as he told the boy, "Your parents may have met with a misfortune."

"I'm Severus Snape. Do you have the right student, sir?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so."

"My parents don't travel, and rarely go out together so it's unlikely that both of them together would meet misfortune."

"Well, I know this is difficult, but there's a chance they died at home. You see another parent wrote about a large fire on the street you live on … here's the clipping from the paper."

Severus took it and scanned the article regarding the fire in Spinner's End. He studied the grainy photo and said, "My house appears fine."

"They could have died from the smoke … but the locals don't know because your house while muggle is magically sealed."

"May I, sir?" asked Severus, extending his hand for the letter.

He looked at the envelope. The Evans would be the correct people to write and it was postmarked … two weeks ago. If his name was Potter or Black, Dumbledore would have talked to him weeks ago. Worthless student with worthless parents in a worthless town and finally tossed to a … mediocre teacher to handle. If something really had happened to his parents, what would he do? Or would he need to do anything? He'd be seventeen in January so Hogwarts would not care where he went after they put him on the train in June. He wasn't their problem. How conveniently lovely for them.

The boy read quickly, and Silvanus waited for him to refold the letter and place it back in the envelope before suggesting, "We can leave right away. Your teachers this afternoon already know you are excused."

Right away. Those two words were rather contradictory with the attitude he had perceived from the school. Probably this fellow just wanted to get him wherever, and then pop over to the Hog's Head for the rest of the afternoon. Hogwarts was such a crock of shit.

Staying in his dark mood, Severus had nothing more to say to Kettleburn as they walked outside the gates, and they did a side along apparition since Severus lived near nowhere on the floo system. Seeing the right smelly river in front of him, Severus trod through the reeds to get up on the walkway and headed for Spinner's End with Kettleburn following behind him. There was a rusted bulldozer wedged into the street, and some of the former houses had been knocked down to rubble, unless the fire had done that. The whore's house that used to be next to theirs was gone. She had a lot of children. Were they all dead?

Reaching his front door, Severus suggested, "Did you want to stay out here while I check?"

Silvanus felt uneasy, like many pairs of eyes were watching him. He saw no one out on the street, but he had a sixth sense for these things. Like something big was about to bite off his limb. "Perhaps I should ..."

Severus had already breathed a word on the door and opened it. The smell was overpowering. As Silvanus stepped back from it, Severus entered and shut the door. Oh no, what if the fumes overcame the boy, and he lost him? That wouldn't be good. Wouldn't be good at all. Alohamora did not work.