INTERLUDE IX
Severus did not know who was truly responsible for his new task, but if he ever got his hands on them, he would make them rue the day they were born.
Albus had been making noises of taking care of Slughorn all week, but yesterday's Daily Prophet had forced his hand, as it had declared that the former Magister would be doing a humanitarian inspection at the behest of several charity organisations. As such, Slughorn needed to be dealt with before the Headmaster could arrive next week with a bevvy of cameras and reporters.
On second thought, anyone who had enough sway with several organisations, some of them of opposing viewpoints, was not someone he wanted to meet.
Anyway, that explained why he was now disguised as a guard, John Peters according to his fake identification, and was swiftly approaching a particular cell. When he opened the door with his stolen set of keys, Severus felt a wave of revulsion come over him as he saw what remained of his old Head of House.
"No, no, no," Slughorn pleaded as he skittered backward, "Please, no more." His emaciated frame was not enough to hold his loose, sagging skin, so it made an audible noise as he moved quickly until his back touched the hard-stone wall.
"It's alright, Professor. It is I, Severus." He approached slowly, afraid of spooking him further. "I have come to aid in your escape."
"Escape?" Slughorn latched onto the word, and his haunted, sunken eyes looked at Severus with hope. "I can leave?"
"Yes, we, your chosen students, have come to free you." Severus smiled at him as best he could, even though he had never been part of the auspicious Slug Club. His sullen nature and quiet talents hadn't interested Slughorn as much as some other students in his year, but he doubted the Dementors had left enough of his mind intact to recall that accurately.
"I knew you would come." Slughorn said, as tears began to stream out of his eyes. "I knew you would not forget me."
"Come Professor." Severus urged. "We don't have much time." At his urging, Slughorn stepped forward and allowed himself to be obscured from the senses of others. Binding them together with invisible ropes, he led the prisoner out of his cell and deeper into Azkaban fortress.
"No!" Slughorn hissed. "Higher! Higher!"
Severus shushed him. "Don't worry, Professor. Our escape route is by an underground cave that leads out to sea."
"Our?" Slughorn asked, confusedly.
"Your students." Severus prompted.
"My students." Tears flowed from his eyes. "I knew you would not forget me."
Severus ignored the growing pit in his stomach as he led the old Potions Master further down into the fortress. Despite knowing what he had come here to do, what he had been ordered to do, he still could not shake the feeling of wrongness that came over him.
But it was too late now.
Feeling the growing chill as they approached the lowest level, deep underground, where the most heinous criminals were kept in close proximity to the Dementors, Severus removed the obscuring spells from Slughorn and threw him forward. Before the old man could do anything more than cry out, Severus placed a Leg-Locker Curse on him to slow him down.
"Wait-!" Slughorn was silenced, and Severus watched from the relative safety of the stairs as the Dementors swooped down on him. He watched as he struggled, as he had his soul torn from his lips and as his body sunk into darkness, only to be replaced by a new-born Dementor.
Shaking slightly, Severus turned and walked back up the stairs. It was moments like this where he wondered if working for Dumbledore was truly the right thing to do.