Chapter 26: Therapy Goes Wrong

Sirius loved it up here, the breeze gently blowing through his hair, the warm feeling of the spring sunshine on his face. It was always cold in Azkaban. He'd always liked coming up to the top of the astronomy tower, but today felt especially peaceful. He hadn't been here in years, but it could have been a lifetime. He was glad to be back.

This was his third day at Hogwarts. He'd freely admitted to the Healers that that first morning he'd run around like a giddy schoolboy. Just the freedom and pure joy of the place. They'd got him settled in guest quarters on the same corridor as Mooney, and as soon as they'd left him to 'get used to his surroundings again', he'd rushed off happily to just see everything.

The Great Hall with it's ceiling had been as magnificent as ever, the moving staircases had made laughter bubble up inside him. Old classrooms, the quidditch pitch, all of it. The Fat Lady had greeted him warmly, even back then he'd been a charmer and she'd remembered. McGonagall had told the Fat Lady she could let Sirius in if there were no students in there. Seven Gryffindors were staying over the holidays, five seventh years and two sixth years. All the students had been at breakfast when Sirius went up to the tower so he was let straight in. He loved the happy memories recalled by being there again. He'd spent the whole morning in a kind of euphoric daze.

That afternoon he'd talked to Healer Strout about all the things he'd seen that morning. Instead of sitting in an office they'd had their talk while walking around Black Lake. In the evening Sirius had spent time with Mooney and had physical therapy. He wasn't in bad shape, but twelve years of minimal movement and undernourishment, spending over twenty hours each day in dog form had taken its toll.

On day two the initial euphoria had worn off. He loved the place, but by lunchtime there was something missing. He spent another few hours with Mooney reminiscing over the highlights of his Hogwarts' days, the anecdotes, the pranks, the fun times with Mooney and Prongs. They didn't mention the rat.

Sirius wanted something. Something was missing, he missed something. He'd seen a few students flying on the pitch, and late afternoon had taken a set of practice balls and entertained himself. But it wasn't the same on his own.

So now, up on the Astronomy tower he was running through this morning's conversation with Healer Jones.

"I loved it, just being here again, I can't easily describe it. After years of feeling not a single happy thought, it was an overload. I went to Gryffindor tower and my heart could have burst out of my chest."

"Do you notice differences between now and then?" Jones had asked.

"I've seen some students. They seem so young, so carefree. I don't know if we were ever like that."

"Oh, I'm sure you were," Jones had said.

"It's quieter, but I suppose it's the holidays, it'll liven up again."

"Does it seem smaller?" Jones had asked.

"Kind of, but I suppose for many years here I was physically smaller than I am now," Sirius had answered.

"Do you feel you've outgrown Hogwarts?" Jones had asked.

Sirius hadn't answered, he wasn't sure what to say.

"What else is different?"

Sirius knew the answer to that. "My friends aren't here."

He was brought out of his reverie when he saw people far below him. Two people walking across a courtyard. One was Dumbledore, you could tell from the colour of the robes and the beard. Top down it was hard to recognise the other, but Sirius knew he should know him. A man, his age, long black hair. They were walking away from him. If only they'd turn around, he'd have a clear view of the man's face. They reached the end of the courtyard and stopped moving. The conversation ended. The man turned and went back the way they'd come. He saw his face clearly.

It hadn't been his imagination when he'd woken up bound and gagged in the chair! What on Merlin's green earth was Snivellus doing here?!

"But you knew Albus employed him years ago, didn't you?" Lupin asked, passing Sirius a drink and sitting down in his chair in his own quarters. Sirius sat down too, but was agitated.

"No, I didn't know," he said, "When was this?"

"He took up the Potions position in September '81. I think he'd been doing something for Albus on and off before then though."

"But Snivellus is a sadistic, arrogant tosser," asserted Sirius, "Why did Albus want him anywhere near the place?" There was a pause, "Snivellus blackmailed him for the role, that must be it."

"I don't presume to know why Albus appoints who he appoints. Severus," he said, emphasising Snape's correct first name, "Has successfully taught Potions here and been head of Slytherin since then."

Lupin had no idea if Sirius knew Harry was in Slytherin. He wisely chose not to mention that fact, but made a mental note to tell Jones. There were a whole heap of ways for things to go wrong otherwise.

"But he's into the Dark Arts, he was a Death Eater, I don't understand why he's not in Azkaban."

"I know you know he was a spy for our side. Under immense pressure to not be caught by Voldemort. Don't start this again. He was on our side. His information and disinformation was invaluable to our cause. Do not trivialise what he did during the war. He was in more danger than any of the rest of us."

"I still don't believe he was never on their side. You know how he was in school. Spying on everyone. And some of his hexes! There was a reason he was fair game. I told you all it would've served him right if he'd met a werewolf that night. I meant it!"

Lupin didn't know what to say. 'A werewolf' had been him. Lupin could've bitten or killed Severus that night and Sirius maintained now that it would have served him right. Jones has his work cut out, was Lupin's second thought. Lupin's first thought was that he wanted Sirius to leave his quarters before he slapped him.

At lunchtime everyone sat at one table in the great hall. Mealtimes were relaxed during the holidays. There were less than thirty students staying, all of them sixth year and above, most seventh year. Many of the students were already of age and sensible with it. They were, for the most part, staying because they were doing project work, and were grateful to take up the staff's offer of individual help over the holidays, or to make use of the library and quiet space to revise properly for their N.E.W.T.s. A small number of students were staying because it'd been spelt out to them in words of one syllable that they needed to stay to do some remedial work or they'd fail their exams. Only four students fell into this category.

But for whatever reason the students were staying, the staff treated all of them equally. The staff were more relaxed over the holidays. They didn't wear their teaching robes (and neither did the students wear theirs) and they were a bit more conversational with the students. There were fewer students so staff got to know some of them a bit better.

For the first few meals there had been a bit of gawking at Sirius, despite the fact that Dumbledore had announced at breakfast that day Sirius would be staying in the castle. Dumbledore had had to only clear his throat meaningfully for a number of abashed students to get on with eating their own lunch.

Sirius had talked to a few of the students. He'd listened to their conversations and joined in, especially with charms related ones. Sirius had been good at charms.

Today Sirius was looking around the table. Snape wasn't present. He hadn't been present at any of their meals, hence why Sirius hadn't known he worked here. Sirius was seated next to Oliver Wood. Oliver was staying for some catchup work with McGonagall. No-one would accuse him of neglecting his studies to play quidditch, especially as his aim in life was to be a professional player, but he knew he needed to do some extra work to get decent grades. He'd also persuaded Flitwick to show him some more advanced duelling moves when he wasn't studying. Sirius liked Wood. Wood hadn't acted oddly around him, and was just a nice guy to talk to about quidditch.

Looking round the table, Sirius leaned into Wood quietly, "What's with the lad over there, itching powder down the trousers?" he asked with a grin.

Oliver glanced over to where Sirius was looking and saw Tom Spinnet, Alicia's older brother. Without realising the ramifications of his words he casually said, "Oh, don't mind him, he had a run in with Snape's ruler."

What Oliver didn't elaborate on was the whole saga behind that. He wasn't about to share it with a stranger. But it went like this.

Tom, a seventh year, was one of the people who were staying at Hogwarts for some remedial work. If he were honest with himself he'd have to admit to spending too much time in the common room and all that entailed, than on his study. If socialising were a subject, he'd get an O.

Last night he'd gotten frustrated with his Transfiguration work. He didn't understand the theory, and certainly couldn't do the practical. So after throwing his textbook across the common room he'd gone out for some fresh air, and not paying much attention to his surroundings, found he ended up in Hogsmeade village. And that's where his common sense abandoned him. He was of legal age to drink. So he went into the Three Broomsticks and bought a drink. The bartender served him, gently reminding him as he did so that he was aware the castle didn't approve, but it was the holidays, so what the hey. If this were term time he wouldn't be being served.

One led to two. He was ejected after the third. Flushed, not sober, but not drunk either. The walk back to the castle didn't help much, it just gave him time to stew on his inability to do Transfiguration. It was unfortunate that the first person he met in the entrance hall, given he didn't look, sound or act sober, was Professor McGonagall. The question, 'Mr Spinnet, have you been drinking?!' was met with, 'So what if I have, you old cat.' It was very unfortunate for Mr Spinnet that right behind McGonagall was Professor Snape, who'd heard the exchange. "Would you like me to deal with this for you, Minerva?" asked Severus, rhetorically, "Follow me, Mr Spinnet."

But Sirius didn't know any of this, nor had he heard Tom apologise profusely and unreservedly to Professor McGonagall that morning, and not because his backside still ached fiercely, nor because of the looks of disgust from his housemates when he recanted to them what he'd said to their head of house. Sirius also didn't see Spinnet looking very sheepish, or the looks of disappointment from around the table. He just saw what he wanted to see. Severus Snape bullying students.

Sirius was angry. He stewed in his anger for much of the afternoon. How dare Snivellus beat the students! He'd clearly carried on where he left on when he'd returned to Hogwarts, only now as an touchable member of staff. That angered Sirius. He felt offended on behalf of all the students that Snivellus was doing this to them.

Sirius had learnt things after leaving school. The Order and the things he'd done and seen others do out of necessity, had warped his sense of appropriate, especially when used in the phrase 'appropriate level of response'.

Was what Sirius was about to do a prank or revenge? Sirius knew to ask himself the question, but his answer was 'Both'. Sirius spent the evening plotting the prank. It wasn't really a prank, if Sirius was honest with himself, it was going to be downright nasty, and it was going to be aimed at Snivellus. But he squared it away in his head as a prank. Rather like the werewolf incident.

There were a number of interesting spells that he considered. He didn't know whether to target the man himself, his office, his quarters, or his classroom. It had been a tricky decision, but Sirius wanted maximum impact so chose his classroom. It'd be a bonus if the man was in it at the time, but if he couldn't swing that, then at least Snivellus should know who had bested him in the pranking stakes.

He spent some time researching in the library, sneaking into the restricted section more often than not when Madam Pince wasn't looking. Sirius knew a few not-quite-so-nice spells from his days in the Order, but there was so much more to work with when he added the content from the restricted section. He also did some research about muggle methods of causing chaos that he found in there. Snivellus wouldn't stand a chance.

Sirius put his plan into action two days later. He'd discovered a rather interesting muggle device called a grenade. The concept of it was what he'd wanted - pack explosive magic into a small space and have it release at a certain time, in a certain place. It'd taken him a while to fine-tune modifications to a Confringo curse. He'd had to create a shield charm like a bubble and contain the curse inside it. He'd sensibly started small, and more than once had made his own ears pop in the confines of his rooms when the blast had gone off. He'd warded his rooms when experimenting, so that no-one would know what he was up to. The point when he'd blown up his own desk because his shield was too weak was the point when he knew he was on to a great prank.

Healer Jones came to talk to him daily. Sirius didn't mention anything that he was doing, nor did he mention Snape. When Jones brought the name up, Sirius shrugged, lied and said, "Water under the bridge."

Saturday afternoon, just after lunch, Sirius knew Snape was in a meeting with McGonagall, he'd seen them go into her office, so there was no chance of him being in his classroom. Fortunately the room wasn't locked. He'd just seen some students leave and had casually put his foot in the door to stop it closing. He slipped inside.

With great care, Sirius created a shield bubble. He'd spent quite a bit of time working out how to let it dissipate slowly over time. It had to start strong, so that it could contain the blasting force he required. Once he had created the shield he aimed the blasting curse into it. By his reckoning, it would go off just after dinner. When Snivellus got back to his classroom that evening the man was in for a shock! He thought briefly about whether Snape would be able to shield himself in time if he were in the room when it went off, but thought, 'Meh, should be able to'.

Sirius walked over to the teacher's desk, removed a quill from his pocket and wrote on the desk. Then he quietly left the room, making sure he wasn't seen leaving, and spent the afternoon in his room waiting for the explosion.

During dinner the great hall trembled and a shock wave ran through the school. The staff rose from the table, wands drawn, unable to determine immediately the source of the noise. Professor Vector stayed in the great hall with the students. The students stayed put as told.

Severus and Filius headed down towards the dungeons. They were fairly sure the noise had come from below to make the hall rumble as it had. It was surely something at foundation level.

They ran faster when they heard the screaming.

They entered the Potions classroom and were greeted by a war zone. The furniture was either smashed into splinters or jammed against the walls. The middle of the floor contained a circle two metres across that resembled a crater, only it was perfectly smooth. They didn't have time to wonder though, as they ran towards two students, one of whom was screaming, trapped beneath a bench that was jammed into a corner.

Severus recognised both students as his N.E.W.T.s students, the first, a Ravenclaw girl, Harriet Hopkins, had splinters all up one side of her face and looked to be trapped by her legs. The second student was hopefully only unconscious. Ryan Lee, one of Snape's most promising Slytherins, was skewered to the wall by a table leg that had impaled him through the shoulder.

Severus cast a diagnostic charm on them both as Filius hurried to calm Harriet. Severus breathed a sigh of relief on finding Ryan alive and stable, just unconscious. He'd taken a blow to the back of the head. Harriet had a broken leg trapped under the desk and the only other injury was her face. A few of the splinters looked nasty. Snape made a mental note to make sure Poppy had a good dittany balm, and if she didn't, he'd brew one. In what was left of his room.

"Harriet," said Severus gently, "We need to move the desk off you. Can you feel your feet?"

"No," said Harriet, "Just my thighs and the desk, it's really heavy. Please, get it off me, get it off me..." her voice had gone up a couple of octaves and Filius held her tighter until she'd calmed down.

"Shh. It's going to be fine. Just take a deep couple of breaths. We'll have you with Madam Pomfrey in no time. You're going to be fine," Filius said reassuringly.

"Harriet, you're probably going to get sudden sensation in your legs when I lift the desk, it's going to hurt. I'm sorry," said Severus. "I don't want to move it too much because it's connected to the desk Ryan is trapped by, but I'm going to move it just enough for Filius to slide you out. On three... One...Two... Three."

The desk rose by a couple of inches, Harriet screamed and Filius used a feather-light charm to pull her free. Severus lowered the desk carefully so as to not disturb Ryan. Filius summoned a house-elf.

"Take Harriet here to the hospital wing, I'm sure Poppy is expecting someone. Then inform the Headmaster where we are."

"Yes, Professor Snape," replied the house-elf and he popped away with the Ravenclaw.

"That's nasty," said Filius, turning to where Severus was inspecting Ryan's shoulder.

"I can hold him and the table leg that's through him in place if you move all the other things out of the way. I'll sever the table leg close to the shoulder for now," said Severus.

Filius nodded as Severus put a totalus petrificus charm on the boy. Filius then pushed all the other objects away.

"How's his head?"

"Diagnostic indicates he's got a concussion. He's certainly going to have a headache when he wakes up. But I'm actually glad he's unconscious given his shoulder, " replied Snape "He'll be fine."

Snape flicked his wand for another house-elf. "Take us to the infirmary please," he said. He apparated with the house-elf and the boy. When he arrived Poppy was tending to Harriet. She turned towards the newcomers.

"Put him in that bed over there. Are there any more?" she asked.

"No, just these two. He's impaled on a table leg through the shoulder, but he's unconscious. Concussion," Severus informed her. "He's got a totalus petrificus on him to prevent movement."

"Lay him down on the bed and I'll cancel the spell in a moment when I've finished an initial look at Miss. Hopkins here. He's out cold?"

"Yes, fortunately, " replied Severus. "Do you have a good dittany balm for Miss. Hopkins?"

"Not the strongest, but I'll see how it goes. If I need another, could you?" Poppy asked.

"Of course, although my classroom's out of action for a while, it's the location of this incident."

"Do you know what happened?" she asked.

"Not yet. I'll take a look at the room and talk to Miss. Hopkins and Mr. Lee when they've got over the shock," responded Severus. "So if you don't need me right now? Although I could stay to help with Ryan's shoulder..."

"No, Severus, I'll be fine, those kinds of wounds aren't as bad as they look. Give it a couple of hours before talking to either of them though could you?"

"Of course." Severus left to return to his very broken classroom.

When he got there, Filius had been joined by Dumbledore and Minerva. "It's an impressive explosion, Severus," said Filius, pushing bits of splintered workbench with his foot, eyeing the crater in the floor, "How are your safety procedures these days?"

Severus knew Filius was thinking back to the only other similar incident Severus had had, which had happened during his first year of teaching. Severus had learnt a lot since then, but wasn't offended by the question. Filius had the right to ask, one of the injured students was in his house.

"They're competent N.E. students who were finishing a hiccoughing solution. There wasn't anything in the room that could go that badly wrong. The only other potion brewing was... oh, Merlin, no!" said Severus and he ran towards the front of the room where he brewed potions himself. A safe potion, that would also not have caused this disaster. His cauldron was overturned and empty, the potion splattered across the floor. "Albus, I need to send for an urgent potion by Monday," said Severus indicating the mess on the floor.

"Can you get hold of it in time?" asked Minerva, her voice full of concern, realising what Severus had been brewing.

"An inferior product, yes, but it will suffice."

"But it wouldn't have caused this?" asked Albus.

"No, not in the slightest," confirmed Severus.

"This crater is rather interesting," said Filius, who'd moved to look at the hole in the floor. "Perfectly smooth, as if by a perfect explosion. I know from experience cauldrons don't do that."

"Tell me you didn't blow up a cauldron when you were a student, Filius?" jibed Minerva.

"I would never admit to such a thing," said Filius, with a slight blush.

"Severus..." called Dumbeldore, who'd wandered around the room and got to where Severus's desk was, "You might want to come here."

The desk was in bits, blown off its legs, the heavy desktop was leaning against the blackboard which was hanging onto the wall by only one corner.

Severus read what was written on his desk. "Bastard!" growled Severus with feeling, turning to head straight out of the open door. The door shut in front of him.

"Calm down first. Then speak to the students. Then speak to Mr. Lupin. Then you may meet me in my office. Don't go near Mr. Black," said Dumbledore calmly, but in tones that weren't open for discussion.

Severus opened his mouth to argue anyway.

"Believe me, I will not raise a finger to defend him this time, but this needs careful handling. I need to speak to Hear Jones too."

Filius and Minerva edged over to Severus's desk and read what was written there. Minerva winced.

'If at first you don't succeed... Snivellus, you were never going to win.' She remembered who called Severus that when he'd been at school, and suddenly wished Sirius Black had never been a Gryffindor. A part of her felt responsible.