Chapter 27: Resolution
After a couple of hours, Severus went up to the infirmary to talk to his Potions students. He knew they'd not been responsible, and wanted to reassure them that he knew that. Severus was aware that he'd never win a popularity contest with lower school, deliberately in fact, but he knew that his N.E.W.T. students held him in regard, and the feeling was mutual for the most part. He only took students into his upper classes who had a passion for the subject and they appreciated that.
These two students had willingly given up their holidays to perfect potions because they wanted to. They'd get Os for their exams anyway. They'd offered to brew this potion for Severus out of goodwill. He had been brewing for Poppy and they freed up his time for him. They were good brewers and good students.
"Sir, I'm sorry, I don't know..." began Ryan but Severus interrupted.
"It had nothing to do with anything either of you did or didn't do. That I can guarantee. It appears that someone played a... prank... in the classroom."
"They went a bit far then, didn't they?" said Harriet. Poppy had done a good job with her face. There was only one splinter mark left on it. "Do you know who it was?"
"I have my suspicions," replied Snape, "Did Madam Pomfrey say whether the dittany balm she used on you needed to be stronger?" he asked.
"She said she'd give it a second application, but she'd speak to you about it. I won't have a scar, will I?" she asked worriedly.
"No, it won't scar. I can brew a stronger balm if required. You'll be absolutely fine."
"Um, sir?" asked Ryan.
"Yes, Mr. Lee?" said Snape.
"When you catch who did it, they're going to be in really deep trouble aren't they?"
"More than you can possibly imagine," said Snape, an edge of vindictiveness creeping into his voice.
"Good," was all Ryan said in reply.
Dumbledore's office was rather crowded. Dumbledore, Lupin, Snape, Filius, Minerva and Jones were gathered round the table in there.
"I cannot apologise enough," said Jones, "I am deeply sorry. I and my team, we misjudged his mental state. We thought he was safe for others to be round. Whatever complaint or censure you wish to send to St. Mungo's against me, I won't argue with it. If you want us off the premises, consider it done. I understand if you do not wish to continue using me as the Healer attached to the school."
"No, Healer Jones, an apology is not necessary," said Dumbledore, "I agreed to this with my eyes open. You have done excellent work for us. One misjudgement doesn't negate all that. However, for the safety of the school I think it would be best if Mr Black does not continue his stay here."
Healer Jones nodded in understanding.
"May I ask that he stay until tomorrow? I would like to interview him here about this incident. I find being at the scene of the crime as it were, helps me to get an honest answer out of my patients."
Dumbledore looked around the room. None of the other staff looked supportive of this idea, although none of them spoke out against it.
"I will ward his rooms and the corridor and make egress through his window impossible. He may stay, but as a virtual prisoner. He need not know it so long as he doesn't attempt to leave. I appreciate the fact that he is mentally ill, not a criminal," said Dumbledore.
"I can't say as I've seen the difference in his case," growled Severus.
"What did he mean by 'If at first you don't succeed'?" Filius asked, before Albus could respond to Severus. Severus was entitled to be bitter about this, and didn't need Albus' rebuke.
"He means he set a 'prank' that would have seriously injured or killed me in the past and he's picking up right where he left off!" snapped Severus.
"Oh!" exclaimed Filius, shocked, "I never knew that. What happened?"
Albus glanced at Remus.
"It's okay, Albus, I can explain if you like," said Lupin, "I just assumed you all knew."
Severus glared at Albus. "Obviously not."
"Sirius arranged a 'prank' as he termed it in our fifth year," explained Lupin. "I'm not truly convinced it was a prank, or that if it was, he didn't understand the ramifications of it." Severus huffed. "I'm inclined to agree with Severus in a way, but I know Sirius. If it wasn't a prank, then it was attempted murder, and I don't believe that was his intent. Severus?"
"Perhaps not, but that's what would have happened."
"Teenage hormones don't always mature until early twenties," said Jones. "There's a reason teenagers do dumb things."
"Listen to this next bit and tell me if you think 'dumb' is accurate," snarked Severus. He subsided at a raised eyebrow from Albus, "Sorry, your story, Lupin."
"You are all aware of my condition. You are all aware that in my school days I would spend full moon at the shack. In order to get there the passage from the whomping willow was created. I assume you all know this?" He got nods in reply. "James, Sirius and… The others knew of this too."
"In fifth year things were coming to a head between the houses in general, but Minerva, you remember that especially Sirius and James had a mutual dislike for Severus."
"It was quite hard to forget," agreed Minerva, sadly.
"Severus tried to find out every month where we all went. He knew we were up to something, and no offense, Severus, but when you investigate something, you don't let up." Severus waved away the comment.
"Sirius deliberately told Severus of the existence of the passage, but not why. Severus did not know that I am a werewolf. So, that full moon, when I went down the passage, Severus would have seen me. Sirius shared what he'd told Severus with James. James told me afterwards how horrified he was at the thought that Severus would meet a werewolf at the other end of the passage. He said Sirius had laughed when he told him. That terrified James most. James ran from the dorms to the passage. Severus was nearly at the door at the shrieking shack end when James found him."
Minerva and Filius looked in horror at Severus. He'd been minutes away from lycanthropy or death.
Severus looked at Albus, "So tell them what happened next, Albus," he said coldly.
"You know why I made you swear not to tell anyone about Remus," said Albus, defensively.
"Yes, I do. I'm sorry now to say I would have told everyone I could." Snape replied. "What I meant was," he continued in a harder voice, "Tell what you did to them in response to this 'prank'."
"I awarded James house points for doing the right thing and stopping you," said Albus awkwardly.
"And Black?"
"I gave him a week's detention with Filch," admitted Dumbledore quietly.
"You gave merely a detention to a student for attempting a 'prank', if I can call it that, that would maim or kill another student?!" spluttered Filius incredulously. "Look, I know we didn't use St Mungo's Mind Healers back then, but are you saying, given some of the penalties we did dole out more regularly, the only chastisement he got was a detention?!"
"I don't know what I was thinking," said Albus, sorrowfully.
"You've always had a soft spot for the lions, and conversely you're harsher with Slytherin," said Minerva, making it sound like a casual observation when it was in fact a dig.
"I've tried to rectify that bias, and I'm sorry. I realise that if I'd acted differently with Black that day a lot of things might be different. I can only say I'm sorry," Albus said, a touch defensively.
"I'm glad I've got a good idea of the background to this," said Jones. It'd been as if they'd forgotten he were there for a minute. "When I speak to Sirius, Remus, could you attend?"
Lupin nodded, "Of course."
Healer Jones and Remus went to talk to Sirius in his quarters.
"Out of curiosity," said Jones to Lupin, as he knocked on Sirius' door, "Will he make it easy and admit it?"
"Most likely," said Remus, "He's probably quite proud of what he did."
"Come in," said Sirius.
To Remus' annoyance Sirius was sauntering around his room, the smirk clearly printed on his face. Lupin clenched his fists. It was rare he wanted to lash out and flatten someone physically, but now was one of those moments. For an age old vendetta, indeed!
"Mr. Black, you appear to be rather pleased with yourself over something. Perhaps you'd like to inform us what that is?" said Jones.
"You know exactly what's making me happy," replied Sirius carelessly, glancing over to where Mooney was grinding his teeth. "Shame my timing was off, better luck next time, eh?"
"So you attempted to murder a professor?" demanded Lupin, a little surprised by Sirius' reaction. Remus had guessed that Sirius would be quite open about having set the prank, but not quite so proud of its consequences. Lupin had a horrible feeling that Sirius had known exactly what he'd set up and the scale of the explosion and that surprised Lupin. That wasn't the Sirius he remembered.
"Merlin, no," said Sirius, "It's just a good prank, you know, adult size. It was a bit bigger than I thought though. But he deserved it for being a sadistic tosser," he said with simplistic pride.
"Then perhaps you aren't aware of the consequences," said Jones gravely. "Miss. Hopkins from Ravenclaw and Mr. Lee from Slytherin were caught in the classroom. They are currently being looked after by Poppy. You harmed two of Severus' N.E.W.T.s students because you played a prank, assuming I can even call it that, that was over the top and went wrong. What do you have to say about that?"
"Perhaps if Snivellus didn't work his students to the bone in the holidays, or pick on the Lions..." started Sirius, but broke off with a yelp as he was hit with a stinging hex from Remus.
"Severus Snape is Potions Master and professor here. Accord him the respect he deserves, Padfoot," said the werewolf.
"I'll accord him the respect he deserves alright," growled Sirius rubbing his rear.
"How did you cause the explosion?" asked Jones.
"Confringo inside a shield bubble," said Sirius with a grin, "Quite a nice little explosion. Don't test it in an enclosed space," he added nonchalantly, nodding towards some fallen plaster on the floor of his own room.
"Were you aware of the size of the effects?" continued Jones.
"Oh yes, that's why I put it in the middle of the room. Better to get the whole room. I was expecting Sni...Snape to be behind his desk. He'd have just about had time to duck."
"And the fact that there were students in the room?"
"Unfortunate, but you can't have everything. Gotta say, though, at least one was a Slytherin, must have had it coming," replied Sirius.
Lupin's hand tightened on his wand but he didn't say anything when he got a look from Jones.
Jones sighed. "Please sit down, Sirius, Remus, before any of us regrets saying anything we shouldn't. Let's all take a breath and work out where to go from here."
"What like, detention with Filch?" asked Sirius, with a grin.
"Sirius," said Jones, heavily, "We've discussed the effect Azkaban has had on you, and the guilt you've suffered for all these years, but this isn't a good release. The actions you carried out today had serious consequences. It was only by astounding good luck that no-one was killed."
"This wasn't a release, this was justice. Snivellus shouldn't be here, I told you the other day, Mooney, he's dark, and he's a sadistic prick. Just look at that student today!"
"Which student?" asked Lupin, confused.
"Um, Oliver told me his name, can't remember. The one Snape had beaten."
"Do you mean Spinnet?"asked Lupin, even more confused, "The one having trouble sitting down at lunch?"
"That's the one. Snivellus must have doled out something harsh to him. Why? Because he's a Gryff, that's why, and, as we know, Snape is is a bastard."
"No, he gave him a fair punishment for going to Hogsmeade, getting drunk, then insulting Minerva. If I'd caught him I'd have done the same!" said Lupin.
"What? Are you sure?" asked Sirius, surprised.
"About the facts? Yes. About Severus's punishment being fair, also yes," said Lupin. "Is that why you blew up Severus's classroom?"
"Not entirely, but sort of," admitted Sirius, "Come on though, it was a good one, just like old times."
"You could have killed him back then too," interjected Jones quietly, glad that Remus knew what Sirius had been talking about.
"As I said back then, it'd have served him right," said Sirius. "He was always into our business, always trying to steal Lily from James, always being a snide, bullying tosser. Given he joined the Death Eaters when he left school, I'd have done the world a favour."
There was silence after that. Jones was thinking, 'Where do I start to unpack that?' Lupin just thought, 'Fuck.'
"Sirius," said Jones eventually, having thought carefully about what to say next, "Do you agree that none of us are the same people we were when we left school? That we've matured. Sure, basic character is grounded there, but adult actions aren't the same as student actions."
"OK, sounds reasonable."
"So for example, what you'd do and say when you're a student, you wouldn't necessarily do and say now. You've learned over time that some things are better left unsaid, or undone, even if you'd get a sense of righteousness if they happened to someone. The phrase, 'It couldn't have happened to a nicer person', for example."
"Precisely," said Sirius. "There's a boatload of things I thought in Azkaban that I didn't say out loud. I wouldn't have lived until morning!"
"But blowing people up in their classroom is acceptable? I'm talking about Severus, the intended target, not the students."
"Well," said Sirius, "If attacking Snivellus wasn't fair game, Dumbledore would have done something before, wouldn't he? He must believe there's something pretty fucked up about the man. He's kept him under his nose all these years, and it's not like Dumbledore blew his stack with the werewolf thing, did he? I mean, it's Snape. That's my point."
Jones waited to see if there was anything else before continuing.
"Think carefully about the fact that you injured students. Don't focus on what house they're in. You set a device that, given your slap dash approach, had every possibility of misfiring. It did, and two students were caught in it. How do you feel about that?"
"Alright, I wish I'd made it work properly so that it hadn't done that, but pranks going wrong is a thing. You remember in fourth year Remus, we wanted to colour the Slytherin shower water red but ended up doing Slughorn's too. So glad he never found out it was us, though, eh?"
"So you are implying that there should be some sort of penalty for injuring other parties. You just said you were glad Slughorn didn't catch you. I presume if he had, there would have been repercussions?" asked Jones.
"Well yeah, but that was Slughorn," said Sirius. "I suppose that's true." Sirius laughed. "I've spent twelve years in Azkaban, so sure, the Headmaster can assign me a punishment for this. What's it to be, detention with Filch? Scrubbing the dungeon floor? Did you know Gryffindor got points out of the werewolf thing? A week's detention was worth it. Was that the year we won the cup by like 10 points, or was that year before?" he asked casually.
Healer Jones was back in Dumbledore's office with Severus, Minerva and Flitwick. He had a pensieve of the session he'd just had with Sirius. He'd told Sirius that because students were injured, the staff had a right to know what happened in the session. Sirius had just grinned and said 'Tell who you like'.
"Severus," said Jones, "Before we watch this, I should warn you, Sirius didn't exactly hold back on his opinion of you."
"I've never held back on my opinion of him either. It's nothing he won't have said to my face before."
They dived in.
When they emerged, Albus looked the most shaken. Severus looked at Albus smugly.
"You're going to say 'I told you so,' aren't you Severus?" asked Albus.
"There's no need," replied Severus with an edge of satisfaction.
"I'm not going to deny it, Albus," said Jones, "His logic about acceptable and not acceptable stems from the rules and consequences from his time in school and the fact that he had few boundaries back then. He's stuck in that past."
"He's not at school anymore though," said Dumbledore, "I can't correct my mistake and give him six of the best now, can I?"
"You could," said Severus, vindictively.
"If I can't make him see that inappropriate levels of response is not acceptable, then he's going to be spending a long convalescence in the secure ward in St. Mungo's," said Jones sadly, "But I think it's for the best."
"I've already had a Howler from Harriet's family demanding the perpetrator be punished and Hogwarts safety systems be revised," said Filius, "I'm sorry, Healer Jones, but we aren't a rehabilitation facility. Sirius genuinely believes he can pay for his actions with some detentions, or even going over Dumbledore's desk, although I don't believe he even considers that an option. I vote he goes back to St. Mungo's."
"I'm surprised he's still that far in the past," said Minerva, "But Filius is right."
Dumbledore sighed. "I'm sorry this didn't work out, Healer Jones, I truly am."
"Sirius," said Jones, "You said earlier that you'd accept a school punishment for your actions today. Why?"
"Because I did a school thing. You've told me all week that I'm here because this is something that grounds me. It does. This I can relate to. So, hey? Detention with Filch?"
Jones sighed, "You said earlier in the week you felt Hogwarts seemed smaller. You're an adult, Sirius, and you can't pay for things you've done in the same way as you did when you were at school. The penalty for doing things as an adult is living with the consequences of your actions."
"I've spent twelve years locked up in Azkaban," growled Sirius, "I've paid for anything I could possibly do. Yes, the prank went wrong, what's the big deal? I'll even apologise to Flitwick for his student getting hurt."
"I'm sorry, Sirius, but tomorrow you'll return to St. Mungo's for a bit longer."