Suspected
Chapter Twelve: A Distinction Without a Difference
Although Snape was accustomed to Rita's silence at times while he was prepping ingredients for potion-making (it was his own knowledge that his wife liked to admire his ministrations with his ingredients in quiet skill and concentration all along wearing a passive expression on his face), but he wondered momentarily why Rita was swirling the contents of her glass in her hand rather than drinking from it even after a week from giving Draco Malfoy his detention. Snape didn't think that it had been that "traumatizing" sitting in the same room as the petulant child of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, but he was perturbed because she wasn't wearing the familiar sullen expression after an unpleasant experience.
He didn't have to pry, for Rita said in a casual tone, "I performed the Imperius Curse on Draco."
Snape halted mid-cut of a small portion of a goat's bezoar, and turned to her abruptly. Rita glanced at him knowingly, leaned forward and placed her arms on the surface of his teacher's desk.
"When I said that he would need improvement in Defense Against the Dark Arts, I thought that I was quite clear in speaking for the defense portion of the class." Snape said with a sort of calm bordering on annoyance, though the topic was quite serious. "It was my understanding, too, that you had refused to teach any of your students the—"
"I didn't teach him how to perform the Imperius Curse, Severus," said Rita. "I showed him how to resist it."
"A distinction without a difference, Rita," Snape returned, shaking his head. "If Draco comes forward to any professor, his parents, there will be legal recourse—"
"To my knowledge, Professor Moody will do the same thing to his students," said Rita, gesticulating defensively. "He's on the path to following the Dark Lord, why not have him learn something that he will eventually have to know—"
"That doesn't mean you should point him in that direction," he interrupted her disapprovingly. "You're starting to sound a bit like her, you know. Bellatrix," he added when Rita gave him a confused expression. "What's more potent about the fact that you showed Draco how to resist the Imperius Curse by placing him under it is the fact that you did it without another teacher present, after hours, no doubt sound-proofed the room so nobody would have heard what you two were talking about—I know you," he reminded her when Rita opened her mouth to speak.
"I didn't do anything that he hadn't asked me to do, I was given his consent under the circumstances—"
"Under the circumstances…" Snape said slowly in a low voice. "There is no immediate threat to Draco's life, the Dark Lord has not returned—"
"Yet." Rita said venomously. "But it's no different than what Professor Moody would do in his classroom; I think he intends to perform them on his students, even the fourth years—"
Snape shook his head, "What Professor Moody does in his classroom, each teacher has their own curriculum that they set for each year; and you know that."
"Which was part of the curriculum, that the students learn how to resist—or avoid—the Unforgiveable Curses—"
"But your purpose for placing Draco under the Imperius Curse was not for the Defense Against the Dark Arts curriculum; it was part of an unsolicited training session to defend against the Dark Lord as a Death Eater." Snape said.
Rita conceded, "Severus, I just wanted him to understand exactly what he's been bragging about for years, for what his father tells him proudly and grandstanding. He doesn't know what he's signing up for, he doesn't see it."
"So, your best alternative is to teach him how to resist it?" Snape remarked. "As a Death Eater."
Rita frowned, but not because what he said was hurtful or wrong. She leaned back in her seat, and gave a half-hearted shrug. Mid-argument, Rita knew that he was right. All those years of convincing her students that she was not trying to recruit for the Dark Lord, how she wasn't using her position in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class was not part of training Slytherins to be Death Eaters—She had inadvertently taught a student how to resist the Imperius Curse, not out of survival as a student who had to learn how to defend against it, but as a Death Eater who couldn't be swayed by an Unforgiveable Curse.
Rita bit her nail between her teeth.
"That wasn't my intention at first," said Rita. "The Dark Lord punishes us by pitting us against each other—and you can't argue with me on that one. Remember what happened to Rosier when he showed weakness his first time torturing that boy—The Dark Lord had influenced his mind to nearly drop himself off a cliff—"
Snape's face stiffened. "I remember, Rita, but Draco is not a Death Eater and he wouldn't warrant such a punishment."
"Would he not?" she replied. "When I didn't perform to the Dark Lord's expectations, he had Bellatrix torture me and—"
"He went against His word with me as well," Snape interrupted her, a note of defiance in his voice. Rita noticed a wince of pain in his face, and the only time he ever showed that sort of sadness was if he thought of Lily. Rita's brow furrowed. "The Dark Lord has strict reservations for his followers; He rewards bountifully and disciplines with as much generosity. You are trying to convince yourself that Draco is in immediate danger; if he was, Lucius or Narcissa would have showed him how to resist it."
"He'd have one of us do it," said Rita.
"This is hypothetical, theoretical at best, because what you told Draco hasn't happened yet; the Dark Lord is still weak."
"Weak," said Rita. "He grows stronger every day. And each day, we come closer to going back to what life was like during the First Wizarding War; and I want Draco to know exactly what he'll soon be up against it—"
Snape held a hand up, a silent plea. Stop.
Rita bit her tongue, threw a hand up in resigned fury. She felt her neck and cheeks burn, for she felt as if he—for the first time in a long time—didn't understand where she was coming from, why she did what she did. The Dark Lord would return, and because he didn't die the first time, he'd come back with a vengeance. No one would be safe. No one. She rose to her feet and strode around the teacher's desk.
"You're right about the reason I showed Draco how to resist the Imperius Curse, but you're wrong about Draco. The boy wants to make his father proud, as he always has; and I'm not sure that even you, Professor Snape, know just how far he's willing to go." Rita said, and she strode out of the room.