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Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns the Potterverse, and the characters, of course, unless I end up coming up with any original ones. And I'm not making any money on this.


Over the next two days, Dumbledore met separately with Severus and Remus in the sitting area of his office.


At precisely 10 a.m., he heard a tap on his door. Albus knew his visitor had been waiting outside the door for several minutes, waiting for the clock to strike the hour. He opened it and waved Severus to a seat on the couch across the coffee table from his own overstuffed armchair. The Slytherin sat down, crossed his right leg over his left knee, and put his hands in his lap, leaning forward slightly in an attitude of attention.

"Would you like tea or pumpkin juice?" Albus asked solicitously, acting the host.

"Tea, please," answered the boy politely. The teapot poured him a cup and he took it without adding sugar or milk. The biscuits he ignored.

Albus puttered over his own tea and then took a bite of biscuit.

"Severus, I was very pleased by your actions with Mr. Black at the Whomping Willow. You risked your life to save an enemy."

"Thank you, sir. But it was a calculated risk. I knew what I would be facing." He took a sip of his tea. "Are you going to be able to expel Black? Do you want me to do something that will give you a reason to? It wouldn't be hard."

"No, Severus. I won't do that to him," Albus said. He didn't like the way the boy was thinking, but couldn't say that he was surprised by it.

"But you will endanger the entire school. I fail to understand the trade-off," Severus said softly, with a calculating look in his eyes.

"Mr. Snape, you are out of line to presume that I would endanger this school," the Headmaster said calmly but coolly.

Severus lowered his eyes at the rebuke.

"In fact, your behavior over the past few months has led me to consider whether you are a danger to this school," he continued, pressing his advantage to bring up a subject that had been disturbing him lately.

Severus' face snapped up with a look of outrage he didn't even try to hide. He pressed his thin lips firmly closed, and only years of indoctrination against attacking a superior kept his words from matching his face. "May I know the cause of this ... consideration?" he asked softly.

"There are several things," Dumbledore said. His face was bland, but his tone had a slight edge to it. He was asserting his full rank. "Your vicious hexing of Miss Jorkins. Complaints from patients you attended in the Infirmary - not from Mr. Lupin, there were others. Your newly invented slashing curse, used on two fellow students, who were, granted, attacking you without provocation. Your falling out with Lily Evans."

"And these things make me as dangerous as a werewolf at the full moon?"

"I do not worry about Remus Lupin or Sirius Black becoming Death Eaters."

"And you worry about me? What makes you think a near Mudblood," he spat out the word, "with a Muggle father would join the Death Eaters?"

"The fact that your patron, Lucius Malfoy, quite probably is one."

"Your information is a little out of date, Headmaster," the Slytherin sneered, leaning back. "Avery dropped me over the attack on Potter and Black, and Rosier picked me up. I may still be put at Malfoy's disposal, but he is no longer my patron."

Albus looked at the boy. "Was that why you attacked Potter and Black? To get Avery to drop you?" He was reminded how much he admired Slytherin scheming.

"No," Severus said, with a faint smile, noticing the Headmaster's approval. "That would have been good, though, wouldn't it? I've been trying to get over to Rosier since he showed interest in me at the end of last year. But Potter and Black - I'm afraid that was nothing more than a fit of temper."

"Mr. Rosier's father is allied with Abraxas Malfoy. You may still be asked to join the Death Eaters. And if asked, refusal would mean your death."

Severus leaned forward, feeling once more in his element. "The Death Eater connection is with Lucius, not Abraxas. Abraxas doesn't think much of a Dark Lord who uses an assumed name. Lucius, on the other hand, wants to be sure he isn't dependent on his father's networks. I'm sure that was a factor in his joining the Death Eaters."

Severus paused, thinking, then met the Headmaster's eyes and continued. "I don't know what Evan's views are on Lucius. I think he would like to establish himself as an ally on a fairly equal basis. I do know he doesn't think much of the Dark Lord or the Death Eaters. I doubt he would join solely in order to improve his connection with Lucius and I can't see any other reason he would want to."

"Severus, would you keep me informed of anyone you learn has joined the Death Eaters or allied with Voldemort?"

"And in return?" asked Severus.

"If they ever ask you to join, say yes, and then come to me. I can protect you."

"What about my father?"

"Him, too. Anyone you consider to be in danger if you turn Voldemort down."

"Agreed." The Slytherin teenager leaned over the coffee table to clasp hands with the elderly Gryffindor.

They both sat silently for a few minutes, sipping their tea. The Headmaster finished his first biscuit and started on a second.

"Severus, I would like to talk about the violent turn your hexes have taken." said Albus. "With some students, I would understand it, almost expect it, but this is not your usual behavior."

The dark head dropped. "I ... seem to have trouble controlling my temper. I ... get upset much easier. And I ..." He couldn't continue the last thought, letting the words fade away. He was torn between a desire to tell the Headmaster everything and find out what was wrong, and a fear that if he did tell him, he would be expelled and lose the protection he had just negotiated for his father.

"You have started to enjoy causing pain?" prompted Albus gently.

Severus looked up at the older wizard in surprise. "How did you know?" he whispered. "I've told no one."

"Those are the signs of having cast the Cruciatus Curse. Often."


"Remus, would you like some tea?" Albus offered. At the boy's nod, Albus waved his hand and the teapot poured out two cups, one for each of them. "And please, help yourself to some biscuits. I believe the house-elves have outdone themselves on this batch."

Remus added plenty of sugar to his tea and took a sip. Then he grabbed a chocolate biscuit and held it in his lap, waiting for the Headmaster to explain this meeting.

"The incident with Sirius was unfortunate. We were all very lucky that it didn't turn into a tragedy," Dumbledore began. "But it does bring up an issue that we are going to have to deal with."

"I can be used as a weapon," Remus said flatly. "Against my will and without even knowing about it." Over the last couple of days, he had been replaying what he'd been told of the incident over and over in his mind. Up until that full moon on the last day of OWLs, Remus' worries had all concerned getting loose accidentally and hurting somebody. Now he realized that someone who knew he was a werewolf could use him to hurt people on purpose. And he had been taught that lesson by one of his best mates.

"I am afraid it is even worse than that, Remus," said the Headmaster, shaking his head sadly. "Fenrir Greyback has allied his pack of werewolves with Lord Voldemort."

Remus winced when Dumbledore said Voldemort's name out loud. "I know. At least that's what they're reporting in the Daily Prophet. Do you think he'll try to recruit me? Or just capture me?" He felt sick as he imagined being held somewhere, the full moon almost upon him, with some poor soul locked in with him.

"I doubt Greyback will approach you. He doesn't trust werewolves that he says try to 'pass' as wizards." Albus paused, then continued. "The Death Eaters are another matter. A trained wizard who is also a werewolf could be very useful to them."

"Professor Dumbledore, you know I'd die before I'd join either of them."

"They will threaten your family and your friends. As Greyback threatened your father when you were a small boy."

"Are you saying that - ?"

"You did not contract lycanthropy through the misfortune of a fellow sufferer whose precautions for the full moon had failed. Greyback threatened your father and he followed through on that threat. And now Greyback is allied with Voldemort."

Remus was beyond being shocked by this. He nodded grimly.

"There's got to be something I can do or you wouldn't be telling me this. So tell me, what do I do?"

"I will set in place measures to protect your family if they are threatened. I will also provide you with a means to contact me. And once you are out of Hogwarts, we will set up a schedule for you to contact me. If I fail to hear from you at the agreed upon times, I will assume you have been captured, and take measures to protect your family and find you."

"Thank you, Headmaster."

"And Remus?" he continued.

The boy met the older wizard's eyes again.

"You know that it will be difficult to make it as a wizard with your condition. If you ever wish to make use of it to help others, there is a task that only you could do."

"What would that be?" asked Remus.

"If someone could infiltrate Greyback's pack, he could provide us with information that could help us turn the werewolves away from Voldemort, maybe even prevent attacks."

"I see," the werewolf answered. When hell freezes over, he thought to himself.


Severus closed his eyes, and sat back in the chair, his arms on the armrests, his head hanging partly over the back of the chair, baring his neck as if to the guillotine. He sighed. "Would you believe me if I told you I never cast the Cruciatus on a being? Avery never even brought in a pet, although I think eventually he would have worked up to it."

"I am inclined to believe you, Severus. But this is serious enough that I must be sure. Have you heard of Legilimency?"

Severus sat up again and looked at Dumbledore. "Legens means reader and mens is mind. Is it some kind of mind reading?"

"It allows me to sift through your memories and emotions to determine if you are telling the truth."

Severus hissed in a breath through his teeth. He didn't like the sound of that. "What about Veritaserum?" he suggested, amazed that he actually found something worse than the truth potion.

"Ministry guidelines would require me to register the use of the potion, the person to whom it was administered, and the information obtained. Would you prefer that?"

Severus shuddered. "No. I assume there are no such requirements for using Legilimency?"

"There are none."

"And if I agree to neither?"

"You will be expelled from Hogwarts. My offer of protection to you and your father in the event you are approached to join the Death Eaters still stands, regardless."

The two sat in silence as Severus considered his options, eyes cold and empty as he processed the information. Finally, he looked at the Headmaster and said simply, "Legilimency."

"Think of the times you have cast the Cruciatus," instructed Dumbledore. "Now look in my eyes." When the boy's black eyes were fixed on the Headmaster's blue, Dumbledore waved his wand, "Legilimens."

Severus felt the intrusion and immediately fought it. The presence in his mind stilled, but remained, seeming to tell him to relax, not to fight. He took a couple of deep, calming breaths and the presence began to move again. He felt memories and their accompanying emotions being gently pulled to his conscious attention. The first one was his memory of casting the curse on himself, accompanied with disgust at his lack of foresight about a Silencing Charm. Then came the horrible memory of the first time Avery had told him to torture an animal. He felt again the nausea at the animal's struggles. Worse, he identified when the sick feeling had gone away. Then it seemed that Dumbledore was making him relive every time he had cast the curse. He felt shame well up in him as he remembered how he had enjoyed it after that first session, a pleasure that had not faded but grown.

When Dumbledore finally released him, Severus shut his eyes and hid his face in his hands. He was surprised to find his cheeks were wet.

The old wizard moved over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "I have verified what you told me," he said quietly. Then, after a silence, he continued. "The damage is great."

Severus lifted his head from his hands and opened his eyes. He was terrified of looking at the Headmaster's face and, especially, at those watery blue eyes, so he gritted his teeth and forced himself to. "What does that mean, sir?"

"You will always have an impulse to hurt others. With proper training, it will lessen, but it will always be there."

"I see," Severus said, face impassive, eyes hollow, voice toneless. Looking at the boy, Albus thought he looked like an Inferius, a dead body animated by some awful magic.

Then he returned to the living. "I'll just have to control it, then," he said grimly, seeming to have aged from a sixteen-year-old to a weary adult in the space of those few moments. "Will you train me?"

"No, son. I shall assign you a number of detentions with Madam Pomfrey. She will teach you methods of dealing with the damage caused by casting the Cruciatus. No one will be told what she's doing."

Severus nodded. His face was completely impassive. The tear stains looked strangely out of place there, as if they had been painted on by an inexperienced artist who didn't really understand his subject.


Author's Notes:

According to canon, there are strict Ministry guidelines regarding the use of Veritaserum, but they are not described. I made up the guidelines myself.

We have hints from canon on the effects of casting the Cruciatus Curse. The two people who use it most often are sadists - Lord Voldemort and Bellatrix Black. We know that casting the Killing Curse damages the soul - it would make sense that casting the Cruciatus Curse, another Unforgivable, would also cause damage. And finally, when Harry tries to cast the Cruciatus at Snape in the HBP, Chapter 28, he says "No Unforgivable Curses from you, Potter!" He covers his concern by adding "You haven't got the nerve or the ability-", but I think he was trying to protect Harry from the damage caused by casting the curse.