A/N: Alright, I reckon I better post a new chapter, since I ain't done so for a while. I know there will be some of you who are quite happy about what goes down. :) -Raye
Chapter Thirty-Six—Allegiances
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"Poor George Weasley lost an ear?" Filius Flitwick squeaked. The diminutive wizard had always had a soft spot for the two trouble-making Weasley twins.
Arachne and Estrella were the only professors not present in the staff room.
Severus nodded.
"At least now you can tell them apart," Rolanda Hooch joked.
Aurora Sinistra piped up from the other side of the crowded room. "I always liked the Quibbler. Pity they can't publish it anymore."
"I am glad that Miss Lovegood was saved," Ancient Runes professor Walter Wrinkle chimed in. "She says the funniest things!"
Ever the loner, Severus quickly exited the staff room to return to the solitude of his dungeons.
On the way there, he encountered the sneering face of Draco Malfoy. The young aristocrat leaned against the dungeon wall and glared at the traitor.
The professor swept by without a word. Severus missed Lucius, Narcissa, and Draco.
As he swept down the gloomy halls, he ripped Wanted posters off the walls and left them littered on the floor. Severus saw his own face in black and white more often than any of the Golden Trio's. The Slytherins had it out for him. None of the students would dare trifle with their powerful Potions teacher, but they did like to annoy him. Every morning he forced his way through a quagmire of Wanted posters blocking his office door.
The man sighed as he entered his classroom. He left the door open and set himself to the arduous task of grading first-year essays.
He no longer was startled when students came in to the room to ask for his help, a stark contrast to the loneliness of last year's office hours. Quiet footsteps squeaked on the stone floor and the door shut.
Severus didn't look up until the student cleared his throat. The sound was too familiar to be comfortable in a locked room.
Severus looked up from his grading. Draco Malfoy stood before the desk.
"Yes, Mr. Malfoy?"
"Father told me to tell you…" The boy stopped, grimacing. He clenched his fists. "He told me to tell you that you look lovely in this picture." He held out the Daily Prophet declaring Snape's bounty of sixty thousand galleons on page three. Severus relaxed, shoulders slumping into his chair. Lucius and Narcissa still considered him a friend then.
Draco continued to look at him uneasily, shifting from foot to foot.
"What?"
"My father is…well, that's a rather forward thing to say…"
Severus laughed, clutching his stomach. "Your father is not gay, Draco. He has been posing for the Prophet since birth—he always chided me for years about appearing more 'comely'."
Draco relaxed as well. "Uncle Severus, you know I shouldn't be talking to you."
The professor sobered. "I know."
"The Snakes are telling the younger Slytherins not to trust you. The Snakes insist on taking care of any disciplinary problems on their own."
"I see."
The pale boy stood resolute, squaring his shoulders. "Severus—let me join the Order."
Severus stared at his godson with his bottomless black eyes. "No."
"I can give you information—you yourself taught me Occlumency. I can't use Legilimency to read the Dark Lord's mind, but I can keep him out of mine—I will keep the Order's secrets."
"No—"
"Read my mind!" Draco pressed earnestly. "I'll let you in—I'll prove myself!" The boy rested his perfectly manicured hands on the desk. "I can't be a Death Eater—I can't kill Muggles, or children, or Muggle-born! Mudblood, pureblood, it doesn't matter! If the Dark Lord should ask me to kill someone, anyone, I wouldn't be able to do it!
"Severus, he uses me for a whipping boy! I Cruciatus prisoners left in Malfoy Manner! The guilt keeps me up at night—what will happen to me when I actually have to kill someone?" he asked desperately. "Please, Severus! Even if you don't let me in the Order, even if you don't trust me with any secrets, let me help! Let me spy for you!"
"Should you be revealed, should anyone even find out about this conversation, you will be tortured and killed," Severus whispered.
"I'm tortured every day, Severus," Draco whispered back, gray eyes burning into black ones. "When the Dark Lord doesn't use Cruciatus on me, I'm using it on someone else. It's killing me."
"Your father would kill you just to spare you from the Dark Lord."
"Has Father ever struck you as the type who enjoyed senseless slaughter?" Draco asked, straightening up. "He despises commoners and Muggles but he doesn't enjoy killing them. I sense remorse in him—he and Mother regret joining the Death Eaters when they were younger."
Severus studied the wood grain of his desk.
"Please, Severus," Draco continued. "Dear Aunt Bellatrix doesn't think I have the grit to betray the Dark Lord—she tells me every chance she gets how spineless I am. She hated you and suspected you for years, and you didn't get caught until recently! No one will suspect, and none of the Slytherins would dare question my loyalties."
Severus looked up. "I will inform Dumbledore of this conversation on one condition."
Draco nodded, urging him on.
"No matter what the decision is, you will continue to recruit students into the Death Eaters. You will direct me towards any Slytherins that seem unsure."
The youngest Malfoy extended his hand. "I agree to your terms, traitor."
Shaking hands, Severus smirked. "Good day to you, traitor."
Draco smirked to his godfather in turn before checking the hallway for the all-clear. Severus stared at the boy's back.
Why are all of these children shouldering so many burdens? he thought, thinking not only of his godson, but of Hermione and of Dumbledore's Army. It hadn't been fair to ask him, all of twenty-years-old to spy on the Dark Lord, and now seventeen-year-old Draco Malfoy wanted to do the same.
Shame bubbled up inside of him once again. Draco Malfoy, his godson, the boy he had watched grow up, his prized student, wanted to become a spy. The boy wanted to take over Severus's vacated place as double-agent, delivering valuable information to the Order of the Phoenix.
Severus didn't want to risk the lives of any students, let alone the ones he liked personally. He leaned back and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands.
"Hermione, what do you think of Draco Malfoy?" Severus asked from behind his book.
The Gryffindor looked up shrewdly at her companion. "Is this a trick question?"
"Why would it be a trick question?"
The two sat in Severus's sitting room during his Friday office hours. The fire flickered and the torch-light allowed the two bookworms to read comfortably.
"Aren't you his godfather?"
The man shrugged and returned to reading. "I merely want your honest assessment of him."
"I believe he's ranked second or third in the class," she mused. "He's smart and calculating. I suspect he would have been made Head Boy if he weren't a Death Eater."
"True," Severus remarked, turning the page.
"But I can't tell if he's truly evil." Hermione looked to Severus. "I don't think he really wants to be a Death Eater. Having pureblood ideals doesn't mean he wants to kill all Muggles and Muggle-born people."
"He approached me today."
"And?"
Black eyes pierced brown ones. "He wants to replace me."
Hermione swallowed but her eyes never wavered. "Are you going to let him?"
"I told him I would ask Dumbledore. I will do so tonight."
The bell chimed for dinner. Hermione stood and Severus followed. "Let me know how it goes."
A blizzard raged on Saturday so Quidditch practices were cancelled. All the DA members and the Chess Match teachers milled around the Room of Requirement. The Golden Trio stood near the door along with Minerva and Hagrid.
"How do we tell them?" Ron whispered.
"Just tell 'em, I guess," Harry answered. "We have Hagrid and Professor McGonagall to help guard them when they come in."
Ron frowned at his two best friends. "Are you sure this is a good idea, letting them in the DA?"
"Severus used Legilimency on every one of them!" Hermione snapped back. "And Dumbledore is allowing Malfoy to risk his life to spy on Riddle for us!"
Minerva placed a wrinkled hand on her student's shoulder. "I trust Severus's judgment. The DA trusts your judgment. There should be no problems."
The clock ticked one o'clock.
"Alright, everyone, quiet down!" Harry commanded from the front of the large dueling room. "We have a bit of an announcement."
Scarred Neville, bruised Luna, and beautiful Ginny stood in the front of the crowd, quietly clutching their wands; they hoped they wouldn't need to use them. Hermione and Hagrid stood sentinel on either side of the door. Minerva and Ron flanked Harry.
"We've inducted some new members. When they get here, none of you will attempt to harm them," deputy headmistress Professor Minerva McGonagall demanded severely.
The students began to mutter and glare at their leaders.
Exactly eight minutes after one, as planned, Professor Snape swept into the room. As his black robes fluttered aside, Draco Malfoy's pale face appeared, along with Pansy Parkinson, Chris Jugson, Daphne Greengrass, and Alexandra Hammil.
Seamus Finnigan and Justin Finch-Fletchey both yelled, "The Snakes!"
"Death Eaters!" another student cried.
"Get them out of here!"
"Are you mad?"
Professors Sprout, Flitwick, Sinistra, Wrinkle, and Vector stood awkwardly to the side, keeping their skepticisms to themselves. Madam Hooch jeered along with the rest of the students. Professor Weasley looked uneasily to his younger brother.
Ron stepped in front of his nemesis Draco Malfoy, to shield him from the on-coming crowd and to answer Charlie's silent question. Draco looked questioningly at the ginger but remained silent.
"Quiet!" Harry bellowed. His temper had been coming out more and more often—Hermione suspected it was because Voldemort's temper was also on the fritz.
The room fell ominously silent.
"Yes, they are Snakes," Harry said, irascible, "but they are now members of Dumbledore's Army. You may not like them, and they may have pissed you off at some point during our years together at Hogwarts, and some of them may be counted as Death Eaters, but they are now members of our resistance.
"They are probably in more danger than you are, being here. So, shut up about it!" the Boy Who Lived snarled.
Hermione stepped forward for damage control. "Think of it this way—now you know that these five Snakes are not actually out to harm you when we duel in DADA. These five are on our side and can occasionally tell us what the Snakes are doing."
Ron straightened his shoulders. "Even if you don't like them, they are still our allies. So, don't be blabbering about their secret identities to the whole school!"
Severus, Minerva, Ginny and Harry turned their most powerful glares onto the crowd of students. The five Slytherins stood tall, awaiting the verdict.
Finally, Padma Patil spoke up. "If our commanders think they're okay, I assume the headmaster thinks the same thing?"
Minerva nodded.
"Then that should be good enough for the rest of us," the Ravenclaw determined.
Several mutters answered her declaration.
"Everyone partner up," Minerva waved. (That order included all the other staff members aside from Charlie, Hagrid, Severus, and herself).
Nearly all of the DA members clamored to be the one to duel a Snake and beat them to a bloody pulp. The Snakes had been tormenting everyone all year, taunting people or blackmailing them into becoming Death Eaters. As everyone glared at their opposites, Severus smirked.
"Now that you've found a partner, the two of you will fight another pair of students."
Every jaw in the room dropped. Flitwick and Hooch smirked as well. Severus and Minerva had always been a frightful duo to mess with.
"You will protect your partner from harm," Minerva ordered.
Seamus glared sideways at his partner Malfoy then at the pair across from them.
Hermione and Luna stood, smirking, across from Pansy Parkinson and Roberta Gearn.
Madam Hooch grinned, while her timid partner Professor Sprout faced down Ron Weasley and Harry Potter.
Professor Vector gave her colleagues a pitying look. There was no way in Hades Pomona and Rolanda could beat Potter and Weasley.
"Begin!"
Explosions shook the room. On the floor below, Filch and Mrs. Norris looked up.
Every DA member had tried to take out a Slytherin. The only unscathed Slytherins were Draco Malfoy, due to his own skill, and Pansy Parkinson, since Hermione and Luna weren't out to kill her like everyone else had been.
Severus rubbed his temple and sighed. Minerva shook her head but allowed the dueling to continue.
"That went well," Charlie remarked sarcastically.