Lest We Forget
Chapter 7 - A lost battle is a battle one thinks one has lost.

Sirius sat in the court room. There weren't many ministry members that attended to the case, as not many of them wanted to get involved with Severus Snape. Especially not in such a manner.

News of him molesting or raping Severus Snape had hit the Daily Profit after their announcement of Snape's survival. The public's reactions were not what he had hoped for.

There were a few that sneered at him, spit at him while he walked down the street. Which is what he had largely expected. But the majority ... It made him sick to his stomach that the majority of the wizarding populace congratulated him for "putting the Death Eater in his place" as the Daily Profit made it out to look like he had forcefully made Severus have sex with him.

He currently sat in the court room, waiting the verdict of his punishment.

"Sirius Black." Sirius brought his thoughts back to the Minister. Who was he? Severus' uncle, or great Uncle or something. He was sure to land back in Azkaban again. "Sirius Black, rape in a normal situation would land you at least two years in Azkaban. But due to the situation, seeing who the victim is, we're putting you on house arrest for one year time. You may leave the house only on the condition you have an escort and it is job related."

Sirius felt like he was going to be sick.

"You'd lessen a punishment just because of who the victim is? He's your nephew!" Sirius said making a few of the members of the Ministry look at Gilbert.

"He is no nephew of mine!" He said. "You are to return to your home. An auror will be by later to put up wards to alert us if you leave without an escort."

"If I have an escort, will I be allowed to visit Severus?" Sirius asked, his eyes looking up to the minister.

"Why? Didn't have your fill while he was living with you?" Gilbert asked.

"I care about him." Sirius said honestly, looking away from Gilbert as he couldn't look at his cruel face anymore. The man sought only to hurt Severus and that made Sirius ill. What kind of like did Severus have growing up if his family hated. He wondered if maybe Severus' parents were like this as well. He severely hoped not.

"Funny. I heard you hate him." Gilbert said. "Even tried to kill him back in your sixth year."

"Times change." Sirius said looking back at Gilbert. The minister sat back and seemed to think about Sirius' request. He honestly didn't care about Severus one way or the other, and anything that Sirius did to the boy mattered little to him.

"Permission to visit granted." He said before waving his hand to dismiss him. An auror came up behind him and escorted him out of the room.

(Three weeks later)

Sirius had spent almost three weeks trying to find an auror that would take him to go see Severus in St. Mungos. But at long last he had reached Arthur who had been given permission to escort him. But that permission had taken more time than Sirius would have liked, due to Arthur not being an auror. But as a ministry member he was finally given permission.

The two of them walked through the halls of St. Mungos care unit, finally coming up to the small desk where a woman sat working on some papers.

"We're here to see Professor Severus Snape." Sirius said, his voice clear as a bell. The woman continued on her papers, ignoring Sirius. Arthur stepped up.

"I'm from the Ministry," Arthur started out. "We're here to see Professor Severus Snape. Would you be so kind as to allow us in?" Arthur asked.

The girl finally looked up at them. She cleared her throat before she spoke. "Mr Snape." She said putting emphasis on the mister. "Is in room 14B." She said, waving over a guard to lead them to and allow them into the room.

When they reached the door the guard stopped. "Remove your shoes, tie, and strings you have on your person, and put any belongings into that tray right there." He said, his voice monotone and uncaring. Sirius did as he was instructed. He left his shoes on the mat, removed his tie and put it on the tray, before he removed what little items he had and put them with the tie as well.

"The book too." He said.

"The book is for Severus." He said. "Surely there isn't anything he can do with a small book like this. There's no weight to it, it's spelled to be impossible to paper cut yourself with, and he can't do anything with the information in it without any potions ingredients or a cauldron." He said annoyed. The guard took it from Sirius and inspected the book a moment before handing it back to him.

"Very well ..." He said before opening the door to the bright white padded room.

"I'll wait out here." Arthur said, knowing that Sirius would appreciate the time alone with Severus. Sirius nodded to Arthur as he stepped into the room. Once inside he almost flinched at the brightness of the light. It took him a moment to locate Severus, the only thing standing out against the whiteness was his hair. The rest of him almost so white he blended in with the walls.

Severus sat in the corner leaning against one wall, his knees drawn up, his arms pulled to his chest, though he seemed relaxed, his gaze straight forward. Sirius moved to him and sat down in front of him slowly, as not to startle him.

"Severus?" He asked. There was no response. Severus didn't even look up at him. It was as if he didn't know he was there. "Severus?" He tried again. "It's me. Sirius." Sirius said quietly. Still Severus did not look up. "Severus please. I'm sorry. There wasn't anything I could do. I couldn't stop them."

Sirius sat for a long time in front of Severus. Or at least it felt like a long time. It could have been minutes. "Severus, I know there isn't anything I can say or do to make you understand how much I wanted you to stay with me. Or to apologize for not being able to help you. But Severus ..." He reached out a hand to Severus, his hand on his wrist, but Severus pulled it back quickly. "Severus ... please talk to me. Please, just say anything. Scream at me, yell at me, be mad at me. Anything ... just please don't shut me out."

"He won't say anything." Sirius nearly jumped at the sound of the nurses voice. "He doesn't respond to anyone. Short of the occasional temper tantrum when we try to administer him his potions."

"What potions do you have him on?" Sirius asked as the nurse put down some food near by Severus.

"Mostly dreamless sleep at night. If we don't he'll stay awake for days staring at the floor. And nutritional potions. It hard getting him to eat anything. He hasn't really eaten anything since he got here. And we can't force feed him so we've been giving him potions to at least help him. But until he starts responding, we can't really get that much food into him anymore than we have."

"I was making such progress with him." Sirius said quietly. "He was talking, he was eating, he'd have conversations with me. We'd sit on the couch for hours and watch television or just talk. He's not the Severus I once new, but at the time, I supposed that had been a good thing. Before he got ... sick. We did nothing but fight." He said, unsure as to why he was telling the nurse this. "But when he came to my home after ..." He paused unable to say the word. "It was like suddenly a hole in my life had been filled. And now he's been taken away again, and everything is back as it was. He's shut down again because he doesn't like it here. He won't get better here." He said. The nurse put her hand on his shoulder. "I made a mistake and now Severus is the one suffering for it. I didn't rape him ... I ... I should have stopped him. I know it sounds like I'm making excuses but I didn't mean for this to happen!" Sirius said, tears starting to flow down his cheeks.

The nurse rubbed his shoulder caringly. "I know, I didn't believe what was put into the Daily Profit. I don't know you, but I can't see you taking advantage of anyone. Especially seeing you now. I believe you, for all it matters." She said with a small smile. She handed him the tray of food. "Since he used to respond to you. Do you think you could try to get him to eat something? Maybe you'd have a bit more success than we have." She said quietly. Sirius whipped away his tears. Now was not the time for it. He nodded to the nurse and took the tray from her.

"Of course." Sirius said before moving a bit closer to Severus. He'd do anything to try to make things better. And if he had to start at square one, by trying to get him to eat, then so be it.

((A/N – Wow I'm just punching out the chapters now aren't I? Please Please Please take the time to review))