The Redemption of Severus Snape
By. Charles Phipps
Author: Charlemagne
Part: 1
Rated: PG
Genre: Drama
Content: Angst, Fantasy Violence, some mild cursing
Disclaimer: I do not own Severus Snape nor do I own any of the characters mentioned within save those I create whom you'll probably recognize as they're in none of J.K. Rowling's fine books. This story is actually a tie in to a project called the "After Hogwarts" storyline available for reading at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HarrypotterAH and http://www.harrypotterah.homestead.com/ but can be enjoyed on it's own.
The calendar in the Defense against Dark office read October 2000 and it had a picture of the various Order of Merlin winners from the previous year selected from the previous month. The door then opened as the tall well groomed wizard who bore far less traces of pale skin and greasy complexion, no longer exposed to so many noxious brews, entered the room. Severus Snape sat down and leaned back in the dragonskin leather chair and looked at his onyx vampire hair wand, smiling to himself. The room was completely quiet with the new term starting, he'd been teaching Potions over eighteen years and only now had he been allowed to have the position he'd always wanted. Voldemort was defeated now forever, the Death Eaters had been destroyed utterly and scattered, the Dementors had been chased from Britain, and a more competent Minister of Magic had taken the place of the late Cornelius Fudge. It had been Dumbledore's last act to promote him to his current position before his retirement and while Snape was a bit disappointed Albus had given the Headmaster ship to Professor McGonagall instead of himself but that just meant there was something still left for him to accomplish.
'I've accomplished enough in my lifetime to last a thousand years….all eternity perhaps.' Severus blinked his eyebrows a bit as he mused, he was rarely the sentimental type but he felt as if a great weight had been at last lifted from his shoulders that at last signified that what he'd been seeking these past few years signified by this office if not the position itself had been achieved.
'I've come a long way…' Snape mused thinking back to the horrific two decades past when he had come back to Hogwarts.
***
March 15th, 1975
3:33 a.m.
The Forbidden Forest
Severus Snape shivered as the rain poured down on his robes and the Dark Mark burned in his arm with its' infernal energies. He was soaked to the bone but the cold of the body was nothing to the chill on the inside that made him fear for his very soul's continued existence.
'Come back to me Severus…..I can destroy you with a thought and find you any time I desire….what good can running away do.' The voice of the Dark Lord seemed to intone in his head.
"No….no…NO!" Severus shouted to no one in particular as he slipped on the ground of the Forbidden Forrest where he lay faced down in the mud and actual tears fell from his eyes even as peels of laughter from sheer terror came forth from his throat.
Severus didn't know exactly what force had compelled him to return to the school of his youth, especially when it had been a time of misery more than anything else. He hadn't really been a graduate long despite his impressive degree in potions work and defense against the Dark Arts…mostly because he'd known all the Dark arts and imagined they'd get him far.
'No don't think about that.' Severus blinked hearing the screams of the children in their mother's arms as they were suddenly cut off by Voldemort's green light, a bus taking a group of tourists through the countryside chosen at random to be butchered and Snape had done nothing but watch in open mouthed horror.
The Slytherin looked at the mud which almost looked like blood on his hands as he chortled, what had he been expecting Voldemort to be doing, have a tea-party for the Muggles whose hate speech and bile Snape had spoken and sung with a song in his heart. He'd chased Muggles on his broomstick and tormented them with great abandon. He'd worked with Lord Voldemort himself on numerous compounds which he'd been informed would help bring an end to death and at last unlock the keys to immortality that some wizards only knew the beginnings of in eternal youth and had selfishly guarded. He'd known about the deaths, the killings, but he'd never imagined they had been, could have been like he'd just witnessed.
"What have I done." Severus asked blinking and knowing he'd probably find himself crucified on a tree upside down for the insult he had paid Lord Voldermort for running away from the horror. He had not believed the stories that the Dark Lord was killing his fellow wizards who might stand in his way but after watching what Tom Marvelo Riddle did to those people, for FUN, for a demonstration, for a LESSON he couldn't help but realize that it was all true and it was hilarious in it's gut wrenching horror.
"I don't know young master Snape. What have you done?" Albus Dumbledore said, the Headmaster who had been appointed in Snape's final year at Hogwarts. Severus gave a start and spun around, landing on his rear in the mud as he looked up to see the old man carrying a pink frilly umbrella and in a night shirt and night cap. The utter ridiculousness of the image was enough to make Severus smile despite his situation.
"You'll forgive the attire but Fawkes my friendly Phoenix said there was someone dying out in the Forbidden Forrest. Pardon do you know who he's talking about?" Albus Dumbledore said twirling his umbrella lightly.
"No I'm afraid not. I am dead Albus Dumbeldore not dying." Severus Snape coughed with a half smile. He had been wandering for hours and he was fairly sure had caught pneumonia but he had little intention of that finishing him off. He knew a great deal about poisons from the Snape family library, he was certain that he could brew up a relatively painless one to end this throbbing.
"Oh well that's a pity." Albus sighed "Eech what ghastly weather. Well if you don't intend to decompose on my carpet I suppose I could allow you in Mr. Dead Man."
Snape chortled and stared up at Hogwarts.
"I somehow doubt your students would approve." Snape smiled at the building and chortled.
"Well my students are willing to trust my judgment I think Master Dead Man and I'd hope they'd hope I'd do them same for them if they were out in the rain in the middle of a forest filled with centaurs and unicorns whom I had to shoo away from shooting or trampling you underfoot." Albus said simply, moving his ever-clean slippers nearby as he held his umbrella over Snape's head.
"Even if your student were a Death eaters?" Snape asked with irony.
"Well if you see any Death eaters do tell me Master Dead Man." Albus said as he helped Snape up and took him towards the castle.
***
Severus sighed as he pulled out his daily lesson planner and thought about that momentous meeting. Albus Dumbledore had spoken to him at great length about the truth of the Death Eaters, the moral imperative that required every man of conscience to fight against them, also that as long as he wore the Dark Mark there was no place on Earth that he could hide from Voldemort's vengeance. His time there had been a brief three days and he had returned to Lord Voldemort with a renewed sense of loyalty that had been able to fool the Dark Lord into believing that Snape had discovered Albus's Muggle loving ways were more disgusting than the brief loss of "stomach" he had seen to the Dark Lord's demonstration. As Severus began to mark down the various subjects that his classes would be covering tomorrow, he thought about the operations of Voldemort he had foiled and the Death Eaters whom had died because of the information he had supplied to Albus and the "Old Crowd" at critical moments in the eleven-year war against the terrorists. Too often, too little it had seemed like he was performing a pittance against an ocean but he had even warned the Potters about the Dark Lord's plan for them and their little son. The thought of Harry was enough to make Severus snap the quill he was writing with in his hands.
'I cannot believe I am still mad about that.' Severus sighed looking at the quill before tossing it at the rubbage bin, the bin moving over to catch it in a jump.
Severus had never truly hated Harry Potter despite the curious feeling of honor and distaste he felt towards Harry's father. Albus Dumbledore had made one of his few mistakes when he believed his grudge against the boy and Snape admitted indeed he had disliked the young man intensely was purely the result of his father's memory. In truth it was actually more Harry's fault than anything he had felt for James Potter whom HAD been a truly self-righteous contemptuous bully whose skill as a Chaser was the most overrated travesty in….
'Stay on subject Severus.' The Defense against the Dark Arts teacher thought, mentally reminding himself not to go on tangents as he got himself another quill. Harry had always been the object of Snape's ire because Severus had tried in vain to remind him of the fact that he had not won his fame through any heroic actions but because of a gross accident that had been immortalized by a press eager for propaganda heroes, untainted by dark pasts and pretty enough to post in journals. It had only been later he'd discovered Potter was impossible to discourage and what his abusive Aunt and Uncle had done to him if it hadn't crushed his deviance, no force Snape could muster could do so.
"And in the end I'm actually rather glad…." Snape murmured as he wrote, thinking back to the days he thought he should have been a hero.
***
January 25th, 1982
8:30 p.m.
The Ministry of Magic courtroom
Severus Snape watched member of the Death Eaters after member of the Death Eaters brought before trial wearing an invisibility cloak wrapped tightly around his body. Albus had offered it so he could watch the proceedings without being recognized by any one of his former colleagues as a silent witness. Severus had after seven years of secret meetings, passwords, and magically hidden messages had wondered why. Severus would have joined in the toasting of Voldemort's defeat that had been celebrating since Halloween decrying his involvement as a spy to the highest hills. Snape's trial had only recently come up though, and the wizard had been shocked by the amount of malevolent feeling that had been present. Spy or no spy, he had soon come to realize the reason behind it. Lucius Malfoy, Igor Karkaroff, Macnair and many other Death Eaters completely in their right mind had plea-bargained, bribed, and/or blatantly lied to have their sentences reduced or be outright annulled. In their place Severus saw several innocent young witches and wizards who had been controlled or set up, he was sure take the place of the guilty. Lucius had spoken to him actually after his trial and complimented him on his brilliant defense! It had been a stroke of genius feeding them false information he had said and was curious if Snape would like to be his newborn son Draco's godfather! When Barty Crouch was done sentencing his son to Azkaban Severus followed Albus into an adjoining room where he pulled off his invisibility cloak and tossed it onto a nearby chair in the plainly decorated stone room with a single wooden table.
"The cure is worse than the disease." Severus said plopping his form down into a nearby chair as he placed his hands on his face and breathed, momentarily checking again the Dark Mark to make sure that it was gone.
"You're exaggerating somewhat Severus. The cure is far less painful than the disease but the healing is not going perfectly I must admit. There are still many side affects and the contagion will take many years to fully be cleansed. Voldemort is not dead truly either and I would be far greater satisfied if he were." Albus spoke taking a seat before conjuring a pitcher of wine for himself and Snape. Severus gladly took some of the sweet smelling fruit of the vine and drank deeply.
"No wonder, people still do not trust me." Severus said blinking. He was still treated like pond scum throughout the common district of magic even as darker wizards and the contemptible treated him with a feigned reverence that he might suddenly kill them with dark magic left over from Voldemort. As good as dead they were still calling "He who must not be named" and "You know who" as if the pathetic shade would hear them and punish them!
"Memories fade Severus and in the end it matters less that other people know that you are a hero than you yourself know it." Albus said as Severus was not comforted, such self-examination was alien to his nature and he preferred being able to measure himself through other people's eyes.
"And the way everyone is fawning over that Potter child. There was no way he had anything to do with the defeat of Voldemort! It was obviously Lily or James' doing so why put such accolades on a one year old!" Severus spat, it was disgusting the attention they were fawning on someone who could neither understand their praise nor appreciate it. It hadn't helped that Snape couldn't even find a position anywhere that would hire him, or even not throw a book at his skull.
"Everyone needs their heroes Severus. The Potter child is innocent and a survivor. Thus he is deitized in hopes of restoring some hope for the future with a champion while so many others like the Potters and Bones lie slain. Frankly they've offered me the Ministry of Magic, terrible business really. Where would I find time to sort my butterfly collection?" Albus spoke with a nonchalant voice as he noted Snape's incredible discomfort with the way things had turned out for him despite his decisions, evidently it was easier to ignore redemption than to forgive when one wasn't photogenic. "I have an opening at Hogwarts if you are interested you know."
Snape looked up instantly. "You do?"
"Yes indeed Snape. What sort of field would you like to enter?" Albus sighed sipping his tea.
"Well I'd love to teach Defense against Dark Arts, there is more I can teach a child to prevent another evil like Voldemort from arising." Snape said truly, he was aware of all the tricks the Death Eaters, werewolves, vampires, and far more common creatures would pull and ways that people could fight against them easily enough.
Albus shook his head and looked at Severus with eyes that told all, while Albus might be able to wrangle him a job as a teacher he knew that no parents would ever be able to trust him around any job that involved the Dark Arts. While on some level most didn't believe he was definitely one of Voldemort's supporters or one of those who'd killed women and children he knew that the distrust ran deep.
"I kn…know potions." Severus said with a resigned sigh knowing perhaps his greatest contribution was going to waste.
"Good." Albus confirmed.
***
Severus Snape though about the long eighteen years following and what effect they had on him. Year after year of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and even some Ravenclaw children had been informed Snape was a trail of slime walking upright and even if they had stopped eventually being whispered that the non-Slytherin graduates of his courses would always speak of their personal distaste for everything about Snape from his appearance to his manners to his grading system. They're belief he treated them differently wasn't unfounded, just because he had been given his job out of pity by Dumbledore did not mean he intended to run any less of a efficient class nor that he would accept anything less than proper respect from his students. Uniformly the Slytherins had come from broken homes, abusive environments, or places which might seem wealthy paradise to some but Snape knew from his own experience were literal hells on Earth for the capable who wished to think for themselves.
'So it was then so it is now.' Severus thought as he finished writing down his class plans for this year. Snape had high hopes for the second generation of Death Eaters that had come into his class; Draco Malfoy had been free of thought if tainted by his father's biases. Snape had hoped the boy would amount to something better than his father but with Lucius Malfoy's death at the hands of the gang of murderous avengers called Wotan's Eye he knew he was on the run and Snape knew that eventually he would meet a dark end sometime in someplace.
The new crop of Slytherins though Snape was proud to teach, more proud than ever. With Voldemort defeated again and presumably dead this time he hoped, Snape believed that he could at last alter Salazar Slytherin's hallowed halls of learning into something more befitting a modern age. Ambitious, cunning, pragmatic, and intelligent did not make one evil and Snape was determined to make this fact true of each of his students to become leaders of the next age of wizards and bring honor to a woefully tarnished reputation. After a distinctly long talk with the Sorting Hat involving bubbling acid, Snape had convinced it to remove the prohibition against accepting Mudbloods into Slytherin let alone half breeds and the crop of this year was being shaped well by his teaching Defense against Dark Arts. He expected many to become Aurors, others to become healers, and others still scholars and teachers of the highest order themselves both wary of treachery and willing to employ it against those who would abuse sacred bonds.
'Mina would be proud.' Snape thought as he pulled out his moving photograph of his wife and infant daughter from inside his desk. It had scandalized his family he was marrying a Muggle let alone a non-witch but she had accepted life in the wizardry world nonetheless and provided him with his beautiful daughter Alchema as well as a look that was untainted by fear of Voldemort. Alchema was a young witch now and in Hogwarts herself, it had been in part because of her he had insisted the rules be changed and he was certain she would make Prefect and Head Girl someday. He put away the photo and remembered bitterly Mina's fate and the man whom he owed his daughter's life.
***
March 15, 1998
12:33 a.m.
The Snape Estate, Wales
Voldemort's laughter rang out through the mansion as the flames jutted up from his hands and all along the tapestries and ancient furniture, consuming it and transforming the Gothic castle trappings into something more appropriate to the fires of Hell. Lighting which seemed to possess an unholy life of it's own crackled forth from the Dark Lord's wand over Severus Snape's body and through his nerves as he inflicted unforgettable suffering upon him which he knew was only the prelude to the most torturous horrific punishments that the evil one intended to inflict on the Potions Master. Snape had come to his ancestral home for ingredients key to the potion that would once applied by Harry undo the Dark Lord's power and return him to the state that he had been in before his dark ritual. Severus had then seen the Dark Mark hovering over the place and had known instantly before even setting his eyes on her that Voldemort had murdered his wife.
"DAMN YOU TO HELL!" Severus cried up at Voldemort who danced his screaming daughter over the flames that were seemingly unable to harm the Dark Magician.
"Severus I am damned and THIS IS HELL! Yours! Ha ha ha ha ha!" the laughter rang out as Alchema cried for her father but Voldemort slammed his foot down and shattered his wand even as the Potions master tried in vain to move his tortured body to it and attack the monster that he had once assumed to be even remotely human.
"You gutless coward! If you were possessed of half the power and strength of will you say you were you would bring your vengeance down on me and me alone! AHHHhhh" Snape screamed as the flames started to burn his robe like an oily rag and all he wanted to do was grab his child. He hated Lord Voldemort more than he had ever hated any other being in his life.
"Mere death and torture of you Severus? How little you know my method. Yours was a betrayal of the heart, you took my trust and quite appropriate to your name severed it. Thus in repayment I am merely severing your other ties to make you realize just what your treachery has cost you." Voldemort smiled as he spoke nonchalantly despite Snape's attempts to roll out his fire. Having lifted the girl's feet away from the fire the Dark Lord then pointed his wand at her head.
"AVADA…Arhhh!" The once human being cried as Snape watched a stinging cold of icy frost spray Voldemort in the face. Thomas Riddle's hideous fires directly around Snape and his daughter disappearing as well but the flames were possessed of too much evil magic to stop elsewhere and Severus watched it move up every corridor, wall, and hallway in his castle with frightening speed. Turning his head to stare the Hogwart's teacher took a single moment to notice who it was with shock then launch himself at the swiftly recovering Voldermort with a tackle and to grab his daughter as the stunned evil wizard was knocked over.
Sirius Black's wand sizzled with frost as he looked to Snape and smirked with a cocky grin "Why Professor Snape I never knew you had a daughter. How ever did you get someone to mate with you?". The comment like all of Sirius's was made with such juvenile idiocy and as usual came at the most dramatically horrible time to inflict far much more pain than the Slytherin head believed Sirius's brain capable of fathoming but he was much too grateful to say anything to Harry's godfather.
"We have to get out of here!" Snape cried as he stared back, he could get the ingredients elsewhere as he placed Alchema on the back of his broom and Voldemort lifted up his nostril-less face to snarl at him and point his wand.
"You just get the little Snape out of here. Hey Voldy. You owe me 13 years of my life." Sirius smilingly told the most evil wizard in the world as he released a torrential hail of curses, likely every one he knew, as Severus mounted the broom with his daughter and took off. Praying that Sirius would have the sense to get to his blasted motorcycle in time. The shattering of Severus's castle's windows with green light told him though that Sirius was dead and the house collapsed soon after, hopefully with the Dark Lord in it.
***
Severus had spent most of his life hating Sirius Black but he had died protecting him and he had saved his daughter's life. For that no matter how hard he tried, Severus knew that all the taunts, pranks, torments, and the fear that had been unimaginable when he'd almost died at Remus Lupin's claws meant nothing and he would be forced to almost smile when the memory of Sirius Black came to mind. Yet another example he was sure of the universe's infinite capacity for ironic torture of its' inhabitants.
"Well…almost time for my first class of the day…Delightful, Gryffindor." He murmured as he got up. Today wouldn't be all bad as after the Gryffindor's whom all seemed to be three levels lower in common sense, decency, and etiquette than even Harry and his little gang of hoodlums there was Quidditch practice with the new Head Boy Julius Titanius. The Seeker and Slytherin prefect was the perfect example of everything Severus was trying to cultivate in his students. Though Julius's father had been a Death Eater convert to Voldemort's new order Julius had defied his wishes and stood fast in defense against them when Voldemort attacked even though he was but a child. It gave Snape hope for the future.
It was then that his daughter Alchema came into the room through his door, she was a very pretty young girl with long black hair that went over her shoulders and very pale skin which accented her deep blue eyes. It pleased the future Headmaster that she would become likely one of the most beautiful women in the world of wizardry someday. It was then he noticed she was shaking a look of frantic panic was on her face and his proud face immediately turned quite concerned as he got up and spoke "What is it Alchema?"
"Father..sir…it's Julius, he's been murdered."
To be continued in After Hogwarts main story.
***
Comments?
-Charlemagne
By. Charles Phipps
Author: Charlemagne
Part: 1
Rated: PG
Genre: Drama
Content: Angst, Fantasy Violence, some mild cursing
Disclaimer: I do not own Severus Snape nor do I own any of the characters mentioned within save those I create whom you'll probably recognize as they're in none of J.K. Rowling's fine books. This story is actually a tie in to a project called the "After Hogwarts" storyline available for reading at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HarrypotterAH and http://www.harrypotterah.homestead.com/ but can be enjoyed on it's own.
The calendar in the Defense against Dark office read October 2000 and it had a picture of the various Order of Merlin winners from the previous year selected from the previous month. The door then opened as the tall well groomed wizard who bore far less traces of pale skin and greasy complexion, no longer exposed to so many noxious brews, entered the room. Severus Snape sat down and leaned back in the dragonskin leather chair and looked at his onyx vampire hair wand, smiling to himself. The room was completely quiet with the new term starting, he'd been teaching Potions over eighteen years and only now had he been allowed to have the position he'd always wanted. Voldemort was defeated now forever, the Death Eaters had been destroyed utterly and scattered, the Dementors had been chased from Britain, and a more competent Minister of Magic had taken the place of the late Cornelius Fudge. It had been Dumbledore's last act to promote him to his current position before his retirement and while Snape was a bit disappointed Albus had given the Headmaster ship to Professor McGonagall instead of himself but that just meant there was something still left for him to accomplish.
'I've accomplished enough in my lifetime to last a thousand years….all eternity perhaps.' Severus blinked his eyebrows a bit as he mused, he was rarely the sentimental type but he felt as if a great weight had been at last lifted from his shoulders that at last signified that what he'd been seeking these past few years signified by this office if not the position itself had been achieved.
'I've come a long way…' Snape mused thinking back to the horrific two decades past when he had come back to Hogwarts.
***
March 15th, 1975
3:33 a.m.
The Forbidden Forest
Severus Snape shivered as the rain poured down on his robes and the Dark Mark burned in his arm with its' infernal energies. He was soaked to the bone but the cold of the body was nothing to the chill on the inside that made him fear for his very soul's continued existence.
'Come back to me Severus…..I can destroy you with a thought and find you any time I desire….what good can running away do.' The voice of the Dark Lord seemed to intone in his head.
"No….no…NO!" Severus shouted to no one in particular as he slipped on the ground of the Forbidden Forrest where he lay faced down in the mud and actual tears fell from his eyes even as peels of laughter from sheer terror came forth from his throat.
Severus didn't know exactly what force had compelled him to return to the school of his youth, especially when it had been a time of misery more than anything else. He hadn't really been a graduate long despite his impressive degree in potions work and defense against the Dark Arts…mostly because he'd known all the Dark arts and imagined they'd get him far.
'No don't think about that.' Severus blinked hearing the screams of the children in their mother's arms as they were suddenly cut off by Voldemort's green light, a bus taking a group of tourists through the countryside chosen at random to be butchered and Snape had done nothing but watch in open mouthed horror.
The Slytherin looked at the mud which almost looked like blood on his hands as he chortled, what had he been expecting Voldemort to be doing, have a tea-party for the Muggles whose hate speech and bile Snape had spoken and sung with a song in his heart. He'd chased Muggles on his broomstick and tormented them with great abandon. He'd worked with Lord Voldemort himself on numerous compounds which he'd been informed would help bring an end to death and at last unlock the keys to immortality that some wizards only knew the beginnings of in eternal youth and had selfishly guarded. He'd known about the deaths, the killings, but he'd never imagined they had been, could have been like he'd just witnessed.
"What have I done." Severus asked blinking and knowing he'd probably find himself crucified on a tree upside down for the insult he had paid Lord Voldermort for running away from the horror. He had not believed the stories that the Dark Lord was killing his fellow wizards who might stand in his way but after watching what Tom Marvelo Riddle did to those people, for FUN, for a demonstration, for a LESSON he couldn't help but realize that it was all true and it was hilarious in it's gut wrenching horror.
"I don't know young master Snape. What have you done?" Albus Dumbledore said, the Headmaster who had been appointed in Snape's final year at Hogwarts. Severus gave a start and spun around, landing on his rear in the mud as he looked up to see the old man carrying a pink frilly umbrella and in a night shirt and night cap. The utter ridiculousness of the image was enough to make Severus smile despite his situation.
"You'll forgive the attire but Fawkes my friendly Phoenix said there was someone dying out in the Forbidden Forrest. Pardon do you know who he's talking about?" Albus Dumbledore said twirling his umbrella lightly.
"No I'm afraid not. I am dead Albus Dumbeldore not dying." Severus Snape coughed with a half smile. He had been wandering for hours and he was fairly sure had caught pneumonia but he had little intention of that finishing him off. He knew a great deal about poisons from the Snape family library, he was certain that he could brew up a relatively painless one to end this throbbing.
"Oh well that's a pity." Albus sighed "Eech what ghastly weather. Well if you don't intend to decompose on my carpet I suppose I could allow you in Mr. Dead Man."
Snape chortled and stared up at Hogwarts.
"I somehow doubt your students would approve." Snape smiled at the building and chortled.
"Well my students are willing to trust my judgment I think Master Dead Man and I'd hope they'd hope I'd do them same for them if they were out in the rain in the middle of a forest filled with centaurs and unicorns whom I had to shoo away from shooting or trampling you underfoot." Albus said simply, moving his ever-clean slippers nearby as he held his umbrella over Snape's head.
"Even if your student were a Death eaters?" Snape asked with irony.
"Well if you see any Death eaters do tell me Master Dead Man." Albus said as he helped Snape up and took him towards the castle.
***
Severus sighed as he pulled out his daily lesson planner and thought about that momentous meeting. Albus Dumbledore had spoken to him at great length about the truth of the Death Eaters, the moral imperative that required every man of conscience to fight against them, also that as long as he wore the Dark Mark there was no place on Earth that he could hide from Voldemort's vengeance. His time there had been a brief three days and he had returned to Lord Voldemort with a renewed sense of loyalty that had been able to fool the Dark Lord into believing that Snape had discovered Albus's Muggle loving ways were more disgusting than the brief loss of "stomach" he had seen to the Dark Lord's demonstration. As Severus began to mark down the various subjects that his classes would be covering tomorrow, he thought about the operations of Voldemort he had foiled and the Death Eaters whom had died because of the information he had supplied to Albus and the "Old Crowd" at critical moments in the eleven-year war against the terrorists. Too often, too little it had seemed like he was performing a pittance against an ocean but he had even warned the Potters about the Dark Lord's plan for them and their little son. The thought of Harry was enough to make Severus snap the quill he was writing with in his hands.
'I cannot believe I am still mad about that.' Severus sighed looking at the quill before tossing it at the rubbage bin, the bin moving over to catch it in a jump.
Severus had never truly hated Harry Potter despite the curious feeling of honor and distaste he felt towards Harry's father. Albus Dumbledore had made one of his few mistakes when he believed his grudge against the boy and Snape admitted indeed he had disliked the young man intensely was purely the result of his father's memory. In truth it was actually more Harry's fault than anything he had felt for James Potter whom HAD been a truly self-righteous contemptuous bully whose skill as a Chaser was the most overrated travesty in….
'Stay on subject Severus.' The Defense against the Dark Arts teacher thought, mentally reminding himself not to go on tangents as he got himself another quill. Harry had always been the object of Snape's ire because Severus had tried in vain to remind him of the fact that he had not won his fame through any heroic actions but because of a gross accident that had been immortalized by a press eager for propaganda heroes, untainted by dark pasts and pretty enough to post in journals. It had only been later he'd discovered Potter was impossible to discourage and what his abusive Aunt and Uncle had done to him if it hadn't crushed his deviance, no force Snape could muster could do so.
"And in the end I'm actually rather glad…." Snape murmured as he wrote, thinking back to the days he thought he should have been a hero.
***
January 25th, 1982
8:30 p.m.
The Ministry of Magic courtroom
Severus Snape watched member of the Death Eaters after member of the Death Eaters brought before trial wearing an invisibility cloak wrapped tightly around his body. Albus had offered it so he could watch the proceedings without being recognized by any one of his former colleagues as a silent witness. Severus had after seven years of secret meetings, passwords, and magically hidden messages had wondered why. Severus would have joined in the toasting of Voldemort's defeat that had been celebrating since Halloween decrying his involvement as a spy to the highest hills. Snape's trial had only recently come up though, and the wizard had been shocked by the amount of malevolent feeling that had been present. Spy or no spy, he had soon come to realize the reason behind it. Lucius Malfoy, Igor Karkaroff, Macnair and many other Death Eaters completely in their right mind had plea-bargained, bribed, and/or blatantly lied to have their sentences reduced or be outright annulled. In their place Severus saw several innocent young witches and wizards who had been controlled or set up, he was sure take the place of the guilty. Lucius had spoken to him actually after his trial and complimented him on his brilliant defense! It had been a stroke of genius feeding them false information he had said and was curious if Snape would like to be his newborn son Draco's godfather! When Barty Crouch was done sentencing his son to Azkaban Severus followed Albus into an adjoining room where he pulled off his invisibility cloak and tossed it onto a nearby chair in the plainly decorated stone room with a single wooden table.
"The cure is worse than the disease." Severus said plopping his form down into a nearby chair as he placed his hands on his face and breathed, momentarily checking again the Dark Mark to make sure that it was gone.
"You're exaggerating somewhat Severus. The cure is far less painful than the disease but the healing is not going perfectly I must admit. There are still many side affects and the contagion will take many years to fully be cleansed. Voldemort is not dead truly either and I would be far greater satisfied if he were." Albus spoke taking a seat before conjuring a pitcher of wine for himself and Snape. Severus gladly took some of the sweet smelling fruit of the vine and drank deeply.
"No wonder, people still do not trust me." Severus said blinking. He was still treated like pond scum throughout the common district of magic even as darker wizards and the contemptible treated him with a feigned reverence that he might suddenly kill them with dark magic left over from Voldemort. As good as dead they were still calling "He who must not be named" and "You know who" as if the pathetic shade would hear them and punish them!
"Memories fade Severus and in the end it matters less that other people know that you are a hero than you yourself know it." Albus said as Severus was not comforted, such self-examination was alien to his nature and he preferred being able to measure himself through other people's eyes.
"And the way everyone is fawning over that Potter child. There was no way he had anything to do with the defeat of Voldemort! It was obviously Lily or James' doing so why put such accolades on a one year old!" Severus spat, it was disgusting the attention they were fawning on someone who could neither understand their praise nor appreciate it. It hadn't helped that Snape couldn't even find a position anywhere that would hire him, or even not throw a book at his skull.
"Everyone needs their heroes Severus. The Potter child is innocent and a survivor. Thus he is deitized in hopes of restoring some hope for the future with a champion while so many others like the Potters and Bones lie slain. Frankly they've offered me the Ministry of Magic, terrible business really. Where would I find time to sort my butterfly collection?" Albus spoke with a nonchalant voice as he noted Snape's incredible discomfort with the way things had turned out for him despite his decisions, evidently it was easier to ignore redemption than to forgive when one wasn't photogenic. "I have an opening at Hogwarts if you are interested you know."
Snape looked up instantly. "You do?"
"Yes indeed Snape. What sort of field would you like to enter?" Albus sighed sipping his tea.
"Well I'd love to teach Defense against Dark Arts, there is more I can teach a child to prevent another evil like Voldemort from arising." Snape said truly, he was aware of all the tricks the Death Eaters, werewolves, vampires, and far more common creatures would pull and ways that people could fight against them easily enough.
Albus shook his head and looked at Severus with eyes that told all, while Albus might be able to wrangle him a job as a teacher he knew that no parents would ever be able to trust him around any job that involved the Dark Arts. While on some level most didn't believe he was definitely one of Voldemort's supporters or one of those who'd killed women and children he knew that the distrust ran deep.
"I kn…know potions." Severus said with a resigned sigh knowing perhaps his greatest contribution was going to waste.
"Good." Albus confirmed.
***
Severus Snape though about the long eighteen years following and what effect they had on him. Year after year of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and even some Ravenclaw children had been informed Snape was a trail of slime walking upright and even if they had stopped eventually being whispered that the non-Slytherin graduates of his courses would always speak of their personal distaste for everything about Snape from his appearance to his manners to his grading system. They're belief he treated them differently wasn't unfounded, just because he had been given his job out of pity by Dumbledore did not mean he intended to run any less of a efficient class nor that he would accept anything less than proper respect from his students. Uniformly the Slytherins had come from broken homes, abusive environments, or places which might seem wealthy paradise to some but Snape knew from his own experience were literal hells on Earth for the capable who wished to think for themselves.
'So it was then so it is now.' Severus thought as he finished writing down his class plans for this year. Snape had high hopes for the second generation of Death Eaters that had come into his class; Draco Malfoy had been free of thought if tainted by his father's biases. Snape had hoped the boy would amount to something better than his father but with Lucius Malfoy's death at the hands of the gang of murderous avengers called Wotan's Eye he knew he was on the run and Snape knew that eventually he would meet a dark end sometime in someplace.
The new crop of Slytherins though Snape was proud to teach, more proud than ever. With Voldemort defeated again and presumably dead this time he hoped, Snape believed that he could at last alter Salazar Slytherin's hallowed halls of learning into something more befitting a modern age. Ambitious, cunning, pragmatic, and intelligent did not make one evil and Snape was determined to make this fact true of each of his students to become leaders of the next age of wizards and bring honor to a woefully tarnished reputation. After a distinctly long talk with the Sorting Hat involving bubbling acid, Snape had convinced it to remove the prohibition against accepting Mudbloods into Slytherin let alone half breeds and the crop of this year was being shaped well by his teaching Defense against Dark Arts. He expected many to become Aurors, others to become healers, and others still scholars and teachers of the highest order themselves both wary of treachery and willing to employ it against those who would abuse sacred bonds.
'Mina would be proud.' Snape thought as he pulled out his moving photograph of his wife and infant daughter from inside his desk. It had scandalized his family he was marrying a Muggle let alone a non-witch but she had accepted life in the wizardry world nonetheless and provided him with his beautiful daughter Alchema as well as a look that was untainted by fear of Voldemort. Alchema was a young witch now and in Hogwarts herself, it had been in part because of her he had insisted the rules be changed and he was certain she would make Prefect and Head Girl someday. He put away the photo and remembered bitterly Mina's fate and the man whom he owed his daughter's life.
***
March 15, 1998
12:33 a.m.
The Snape Estate, Wales
Voldemort's laughter rang out through the mansion as the flames jutted up from his hands and all along the tapestries and ancient furniture, consuming it and transforming the Gothic castle trappings into something more appropriate to the fires of Hell. Lighting which seemed to possess an unholy life of it's own crackled forth from the Dark Lord's wand over Severus Snape's body and through his nerves as he inflicted unforgettable suffering upon him which he knew was only the prelude to the most torturous horrific punishments that the evil one intended to inflict on the Potions Master. Snape had come to his ancestral home for ingredients key to the potion that would once applied by Harry undo the Dark Lord's power and return him to the state that he had been in before his dark ritual. Severus had then seen the Dark Mark hovering over the place and had known instantly before even setting his eyes on her that Voldemort had murdered his wife.
"DAMN YOU TO HELL!" Severus cried up at Voldemort who danced his screaming daughter over the flames that were seemingly unable to harm the Dark Magician.
"Severus I am damned and THIS IS HELL! Yours! Ha ha ha ha ha!" the laughter rang out as Alchema cried for her father but Voldemort slammed his foot down and shattered his wand even as the Potions master tried in vain to move his tortured body to it and attack the monster that he had once assumed to be even remotely human.
"You gutless coward! If you were possessed of half the power and strength of will you say you were you would bring your vengeance down on me and me alone! AHHHhhh" Snape screamed as the flames started to burn his robe like an oily rag and all he wanted to do was grab his child. He hated Lord Voldemort more than he had ever hated any other being in his life.
"Mere death and torture of you Severus? How little you know my method. Yours was a betrayal of the heart, you took my trust and quite appropriate to your name severed it. Thus in repayment I am merely severing your other ties to make you realize just what your treachery has cost you." Voldemort smiled as he spoke nonchalantly despite Snape's attempts to roll out his fire. Having lifted the girl's feet away from the fire the Dark Lord then pointed his wand at her head.
"AVADA…Arhhh!" The once human being cried as Snape watched a stinging cold of icy frost spray Voldemort in the face. Thomas Riddle's hideous fires directly around Snape and his daughter disappearing as well but the flames were possessed of too much evil magic to stop elsewhere and Severus watched it move up every corridor, wall, and hallway in his castle with frightening speed. Turning his head to stare the Hogwart's teacher took a single moment to notice who it was with shock then launch himself at the swiftly recovering Voldermort with a tackle and to grab his daughter as the stunned evil wizard was knocked over.
Sirius Black's wand sizzled with frost as he looked to Snape and smirked with a cocky grin "Why Professor Snape I never knew you had a daughter. How ever did you get someone to mate with you?". The comment like all of Sirius's was made with such juvenile idiocy and as usual came at the most dramatically horrible time to inflict far much more pain than the Slytherin head believed Sirius's brain capable of fathoming but he was much too grateful to say anything to Harry's godfather.
"We have to get out of here!" Snape cried as he stared back, he could get the ingredients elsewhere as he placed Alchema on the back of his broom and Voldemort lifted up his nostril-less face to snarl at him and point his wand.
"You just get the little Snape out of here. Hey Voldy. You owe me 13 years of my life." Sirius smilingly told the most evil wizard in the world as he released a torrential hail of curses, likely every one he knew, as Severus mounted the broom with his daughter and took off. Praying that Sirius would have the sense to get to his blasted motorcycle in time. The shattering of Severus's castle's windows with green light told him though that Sirius was dead and the house collapsed soon after, hopefully with the Dark Lord in it.
***
Severus had spent most of his life hating Sirius Black but he had died protecting him and he had saved his daughter's life. For that no matter how hard he tried, Severus knew that all the taunts, pranks, torments, and the fear that had been unimaginable when he'd almost died at Remus Lupin's claws meant nothing and he would be forced to almost smile when the memory of Sirius Black came to mind. Yet another example he was sure of the universe's infinite capacity for ironic torture of its' inhabitants.
"Well…almost time for my first class of the day…Delightful, Gryffindor." He murmured as he got up. Today wouldn't be all bad as after the Gryffindor's whom all seemed to be three levels lower in common sense, decency, and etiquette than even Harry and his little gang of hoodlums there was Quidditch practice with the new Head Boy Julius Titanius. The Seeker and Slytherin prefect was the perfect example of everything Severus was trying to cultivate in his students. Though Julius's father had been a Death Eater convert to Voldemort's new order Julius had defied his wishes and stood fast in defense against them when Voldemort attacked even though he was but a child. It gave Snape hope for the future.
It was then that his daughter Alchema came into the room through his door, she was a very pretty young girl with long black hair that went over her shoulders and very pale skin which accented her deep blue eyes. It pleased the future Headmaster that she would become likely one of the most beautiful women in the world of wizardry someday. It was then he noticed she was shaking a look of frantic panic was on her face and his proud face immediately turned quite concerned as he got up and spoke "What is it Alchema?"
"Father..sir…it's Julius, he's been murdered."
To be continued in After Hogwarts main story.
***
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-Charlemagne