CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The following morning, after the fourth-year Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw Potions class had ended, Snape hurried out the door with the last student, leaving Dia alone. She sighed and filed into Snape's office, getting the ingrediants ready for the Gryffindor-Slytherin seventh year class. As she reached for the jar that contained the eye of newt, she noticed something odd. The ingrediants lacewing flies, leeches, fluxwood, knotgrass, powdered horn of bicorn, and shredded skin of boomslang were running low--lower than yesterday. Since a little after Christmas, those certain potion ingresiants had been slowly missing. Dia had thought nothing of it, but now she had the feeling that someone was breaking into Snape's private stores. And the funny thing was those ingrediants made Polyjuice Potion, a potion of transfiguration.
Dia shook off the silly notion as she reached for the jar that held the eye of newt. "Silly girl, who would want to break into his private stores?
*******
Albus Dumbledore was in his offfice that afternoon, petting his Phoenix Fawkes, when he heard the frantic knocks on his door.
"Please, do come in!" he said, as Fawkes gave a squwak and flew to his perch.
The doors swung open and Professor Sprout, looking rather distressed, came in.
"Why, hello, Lyla," Dumbledore said warmly.
He smiled at Sprout, but the worried look she gave him wiped it off his face. "What is it, Lyla?"
Sprout took a seat, and looked over her shoulder, as though expecting someone else to show.
Dumbledore began to worry. "What is it?"
"Professor," Sprout started in a low voice, "it's bad."
"What's bad, Professor Sprout, what?" Dumbledore inquired.
Sprout motioned to a crumpled piece of parchment she held in her hand.
"What's that?" Dumbledore asked.
"Alright," Professor Sprout started very quietly, "Alright. I was tending to the greenhouses today when I found that the Venus Fly Trap was very sick looking. It was dying. I didn't want the poor thing just to waste away, and I knew the only cure for it was some herbs that Professor Snape kept in his provate store of potion ingrediants. Well, I went into the dungeons looking for him, wanting to ask him if he could spare some of the herb, but I found the classroom empty. I went to his office anyway and tried it. I knew he usually locked it, but this time it was opened. I don't know if he had left it open of if Miss Diamond did. Anyway, I went into his office..."
Dumbledore gave her a stern look.
Sprout threw up her hands. "I knew I shouldn't have, Albus, but I did. The Fly Trap was going to die and I needed the herb right away. So I went into his office and started hunting for the herb. I was looking, when I heard someone enter the classroom. I kept quiet because I didn't want Severus to think I was snooping through any of his private things. It was Severus. I was surprised that he didn't see me becuase the door to his office was wide open and he walked right past it. Anyhow, he sat at his desk and pulled out a quill and parchment. He looked around the room to see if no one was there, and when he was satisfied he started writing a letter..."
She stopped midway and Dumbledore urged her to go on.
Sprout looked at him, sadly. "I don't know how or why. But Severus wrote his letter. He murmured what he read to himself, and threw the first copy in the rubbish, not happy with it. He wrote a second copy, he same thing, give or take a few words, tucked it into his pocket and left the classroom. I...I was so stunned..."
"What did the letter say, Lyla?" Dumbledore quietly asked.
Sprout handed the letter to him. "I still can't believe it. Severus..."
Dumbledore uncrumpled the letter and read it outloud. "To Whom it May Concern...
To Whom It May Concern:
It was a setback with Diamond's death, but I'm sure that we can arrange another rally. We must bring Voldemort to power again. Contact Malfoy and see what he thinks of this idea. But DO NOT send any owls to me with important messages. If we want to have another rally to bring The Master to power again, Dumbledore nor anyone else on the Light Side must find out about this. Good luck.
S. Snape
S. Snape"
Dumbledore set the letter down and his office became very quiet. He shook his head. "I do not believe that Severus wrote this. He has renounced all commections with Voldemort..."
Sprout looked like she could cry. "I don't believe it either, Headmaster. But I saw him. I saw him..."
Dumbledore shook his head sadly. He looked like he had aged drastically over the past few seconds. "Severus, Severus, Severus...I must summon him to my office."
******
Snape sat frozen, bewildered, shocked, stunned in one of the chairs in front of Dumbledore's office as the Headmaster reread the letter.
When he finished, Dumbledore lay the letter on his desk and looked at Snape with solemn eyes. "Did you write this letter, Severus?"
"Of COURSE not, Headmaster! You know that I have no connection with He-Who-Should-Be-Named anymore!" Snape cried.
"But Professor Sprout claims she saw you with her own eyes writing the letter," Dumbledore said.
"You...you don't believe that, Headmaster, do you? Have I not proved myself enough to the Light Side? I would never want to help He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named rise to power again!" Snape exclaimed.
Dumbledore looked like he despretly wanted to know who to believe. Professor Sprout or Professor Snape. It was one professors word against the other.
"What really happened then, Severus?" Dumbledore asked.
Snape tried to summon a response, the response that would set things straight again. But, as he try, he could only draw a blank. Like it never happened. "I...I don't know, Professor."
Dumbledore sighed deeply as he rose from his desk and walked over to Snape. "I am very sorry about this, Severus. But it's one professor's word against another."
"Headmaster?" Snape asked, confused.
"Severus, may I see the vial of Vertiaserum that you wear around your neck?" the old Headmaster asked.
Snape grudgily unclasp a chain that he wore under his robes and handed the small vial full of the clear potion to Dumbledore.
Dumbledore opened the tiny lid. "The Vertiaserum will tell us who is telling the truth."
Snape slowly opened his mouth and Dumbledore placed three drops in it. Snape's eye lids drooped, and his breathing subdued. After a moment, they fluttered open though. He didn't blink, looking like he was in a trance.
The Hogwarts Inquisition began.
"Severus, did you write the letter?" Dumbledore got straight to the point.
"Yes, Headmaster, I wrote the letter."
Dumbledore looked beyond shocked. "Why?"
"Why, Headmaster, I want The Master to rise to power again."
"You mean to tell me you never left the Dark Side?"
"No."
"You are still a Death Eater?"
"Yes."
"But why did you pretend that you had joined the Light Side again?"
"Because, Headmaster, how else would the Dark Side get information from the Light Side but to have a Death Eater still loyal to The Master act as though they converted? I have been feeding the Dark Side information for all these years."
Dumbledore had had enough. He said an incantation and the Vertiaserum wore off. Snape woke out of his daze. His gaze connected with Dumbledor's sad eyes.
"Severus, I would never had thought..." Dumbledore said quietly.
"What do you mean, Headmaster, do you still think that I wrote that letter?" Snape exclaimed.
"It's no use pretending anymore, Severus. I cannot believe that you would have betrayed my trust like that..." Dumbledore said, his voice filling with anger.
Snape jumped out of his chair. "But I did not write that bloody letter, Headmaster!"
"Do you dare tell me that the Vertiaserum was lying?" Dumbledore asked, trying to control his voice.
Snape was at a loss for an answer. "No...yes...I don't know! All I know is that I didn't write that letter!"
Dumbledore shook his head. "I do not think I can trust you anymore, Severus. Please leave Hogwarts at once."
Severus Snape felt as though the world had just dropped from underneath him. Leave Hogwarts?
Dia Diamond's mind completely eruptured as she pulled her ear away from the door. She still could not comprehend the conversation she had just heard.
She had been on her way to the hospital wing (she felt alfully nauseaous--perhaps the flu) when she got sidetracked to Dumbledore's office to ask about ordering some new supplies of lacewing flies and leeches when she heard the voices from inside. Not wanting to intrude, she pressed her ear to the door an instantly regretted it.
She had heard Snape's whole confession under the power of the Vertiaserum.
The final words she heard was Dumbledore's command for Snape to leave Hogwarts. Leave Hogwarts. She couldn't comprehend what that meant.
As she searched for the meaning of it, the doors to Dumbledore's office flew open, almost causing her to fall to the ground.
She had never known Albus Dumbledore to be angry at any time in his long life, but he was now. His face, a dull red, was a stark contrast with his dazzling white beard. Snape was exiting the office. He made eye contact with Dia and looked extremly pale under his black robes.
"How long have you been standing there, Miss Diamond?" Dumbledore demanded.
Dia turned her gaze to Dumbledore. "I...I...I just go here, Headmaster..."
She turned back to Snape. He clamped his hands on her shoulders.
"Severus, now!" Dumbledore growled.
Snape lowered his mouth to Dia's ear. "I love you, Dia. You know I didn't do it. You know it!"
"Now, Severus!" Dumbledore said, trying to steady his voice.
Snape released Dia and walked down the corridor. He spun around. "You know I didn't do it!" he hollered, before he disappeared around the corner.
Now left alone, Dumbledore sighed heavily and the doors to his office slammed unhappily. Dia stood alone. Tears gushed down her cheeks as she whispered, "I know you didn't."
The following morning, after the fourth-year Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw Potions class had ended, Snape hurried out the door with the last student, leaving Dia alone. She sighed and filed into Snape's office, getting the ingrediants ready for the Gryffindor-Slytherin seventh year class. As she reached for the jar that contained the eye of newt, she noticed something odd. The ingrediants lacewing flies, leeches, fluxwood, knotgrass, powdered horn of bicorn, and shredded skin of boomslang were running low--lower than yesterday. Since a little after Christmas, those certain potion ingresiants had been slowly missing. Dia had thought nothing of it, but now she had the feeling that someone was breaking into Snape's private stores. And the funny thing was those ingrediants made Polyjuice Potion, a potion of transfiguration.
Dia shook off the silly notion as she reached for the jar that held the eye of newt. "Silly girl, who would want to break into his private stores?
*******
Albus Dumbledore was in his offfice that afternoon, petting his Phoenix Fawkes, when he heard the frantic knocks on his door.
"Please, do come in!" he said, as Fawkes gave a squwak and flew to his perch.
The doors swung open and Professor Sprout, looking rather distressed, came in.
"Why, hello, Lyla," Dumbledore said warmly.
He smiled at Sprout, but the worried look she gave him wiped it off his face. "What is it, Lyla?"
Sprout took a seat, and looked over her shoulder, as though expecting someone else to show.
Dumbledore began to worry. "What is it?"
"Professor," Sprout started in a low voice, "it's bad."
"What's bad, Professor Sprout, what?" Dumbledore inquired.
Sprout motioned to a crumpled piece of parchment she held in her hand.
"What's that?" Dumbledore asked.
"Alright," Professor Sprout started very quietly, "Alright. I was tending to the greenhouses today when I found that the Venus Fly Trap was very sick looking. It was dying. I didn't want the poor thing just to waste away, and I knew the only cure for it was some herbs that Professor Snape kept in his provate store of potion ingrediants. Well, I went into the dungeons looking for him, wanting to ask him if he could spare some of the herb, but I found the classroom empty. I went to his office anyway and tried it. I knew he usually locked it, but this time it was opened. I don't know if he had left it open of if Miss Diamond did. Anyway, I went into his office..."
Dumbledore gave her a stern look.
Sprout threw up her hands. "I knew I shouldn't have, Albus, but I did. The Fly Trap was going to die and I needed the herb right away. So I went into his office and started hunting for the herb. I was looking, when I heard someone enter the classroom. I kept quiet because I didn't want Severus to think I was snooping through any of his private things. It was Severus. I was surprised that he didn't see me becuase the door to his office was wide open and he walked right past it. Anyhow, he sat at his desk and pulled out a quill and parchment. He looked around the room to see if no one was there, and when he was satisfied he started writing a letter..."
She stopped midway and Dumbledore urged her to go on.
Sprout looked at him, sadly. "I don't know how or why. But Severus wrote his letter. He murmured what he read to himself, and threw the first copy in the rubbish, not happy with it. He wrote a second copy, he same thing, give or take a few words, tucked it into his pocket and left the classroom. I...I was so stunned..."
"What did the letter say, Lyla?" Dumbledore quietly asked.
Sprout handed the letter to him. "I still can't believe it. Severus..."
Dumbledore uncrumpled the letter and read it outloud. "To Whom it May Concern...
To Whom It May Concern:
It was a setback with Diamond's death, but I'm sure that we can arrange another rally. We must bring Voldemort to power again. Contact Malfoy and see what he thinks of this idea. But DO NOT send any owls to me with important messages. If we want to have another rally to bring The Master to power again, Dumbledore nor anyone else on the Light Side must find out about this. Good luck.
S. Snape
S. Snape"
Dumbledore set the letter down and his office became very quiet. He shook his head. "I do not believe that Severus wrote this. He has renounced all commections with Voldemort..."
Sprout looked like she could cry. "I don't believe it either, Headmaster. But I saw him. I saw him..."
Dumbledore shook his head sadly. He looked like he had aged drastically over the past few seconds. "Severus, Severus, Severus...I must summon him to my office."
******
Snape sat frozen, bewildered, shocked, stunned in one of the chairs in front of Dumbledore's office as the Headmaster reread the letter.
When he finished, Dumbledore lay the letter on his desk and looked at Snape with solemn eyes. "Did you write this letter, Severus?"
"Of COURSE not, Headmaster! You know that I have no connection with He-Who-Should-Be-Named anymore!" Snape cried.
"But Professor Sprout claims she saw you with her own eyes writing the letter," Dumbledore said.
"You...you don't believe that, Headmaster, do you? Have I not proved myself enough to the Light Side? I would never want to help He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named rise to power again!" Snape exclaimed.
Dumbledore looked like he despretly wanted to know who to believe. Professor Sprout or Professor Snape. It was one professors word against the other.
"What really happened then, Severus?" Dumbledore asked.
Snape tried to summon a response, the response that would set things straight again. But, as he try, he could only draw a blank. Like it never happened. "I...I don't know, Professor."
Dumbledore sighed deeply as he rose from his desk and walked over to Snape. "I am very sorry about this, Severus. But it's one professor's word against another."
"Headmaster?" Snape asked, confused.
"Severus, may I see the vial of Vertiaserum that you wear around your neck?" the old Headmaster asked.
Snape grudgily unclasp a chain that he wore under his robes and handed the small vial full of the clear potion to Dumbledore.
Dumbledore opened the tiny lid. "The Vertiaserum will tell us who is telling the truth."
Snape slowly opened his mouth and Dumbledore placed three drops in it. Snape's eye lids drooped, and his breathing subdued. After a moment, they fluttered open though. He didn't blink, looking like he was in a trance.
The Hogwarts Inquisition began.
"Severus, did you write the letter?" Dumbledore got straight to the point.
"Yes, Headmaster, I wrote the letter."
Dumbledore looked beyond shocked. "Why?"
"Why, Headmaster, I want The Master to rise to power again."
"You mean to tell me you never left the Dark Side?"
"No."
"You are still a Death Eater?"
"Yes."
"But why did you pretend that you had joined the Light Side again?"
"Because, Headmaster, how else would the Dark Side get information from the Light Side but to have a Death Eater still loyal to The Master act as though they converted? I have been feeding the Dark Side information for all these years."
Dumbledore had had enough. He said an incantation and the Vertiaserum wore off. Snape woke out of his daze. His gaze connected with Dumbledor's sad eyes.
"Severus, I would never had thought..." Dumbledore said quietly.
"What do you mean, Headmaster, do you still think that I wrote that letter?" Snape exclaimed.
"It's no use pretending anymore, Severus. I cannot believe that you would have betrayed my trust like that..." Dumbledore said, his voice filling with anger.
Snape jumped out of his chair. "But I did not write that bloody letter, Headmaster!"
"Do you dare tell me that the Vertiaserum was lying?" Dumbledore asked, trying to control his voice.
Snape was at a loss for an answer. "No...yes...I don't know! All I know is that I didn't write that letter!"
Dumbledore shook his head. "I do not think I can trust you anymore, Severus. Please leave Hogwarts at once."
Severus Snape felt as though the world had just dropped from underneath him. Leave Hogwarts?
Dia Diamond's mind completely eruptured as she pulled her ear away from the door. She still could not comprehend the conversation she had just heard.
She had been on her way to the hospital wing (she felt alfully nauseaous--perhaps the flu) when she got sidetracked to Dumbledore's office to ask about ordering some new supplies of lacewing flies and leeches when she heard the voices from inside. Not wanting to intrude, she pressed her ear to the door an instantly regretted it.
She had heard Snape's whole confession under the power of the Vertiaserum.
The final words she heard was Dumbledore's command for Snape to leave Hogwarts. Leave Hogwarts. She couldn't comprehend what that meant.
As she searched for the meaning of it, the doors to Dumbledore's office flew open, almost causing her to fall to the ground.
She had never known Albus Dumbledore to be angry at any time in his long life, but he was now. His face, a dull red, was a stark contrast with his dazzling white beard. Snape was exiting the office. He made eye contact with Dia and looked extremly pale under his black robes.
"How long have you been standing there, Miss Diamond?" Dumbledore demanded.
Dia turned her gaze to Dumbledore. "I...I...I just go here, Headmaster..."
She turned back to Snape. He clamped his hands on her shoulders.
"Severus, now!" Dumbledore growled.
Snape lowered his mouth to Dia's ear. "I love you, Dia. You know I didn't do it. You know it!"
"Now, Severus!" Dumbledore said, trying to steady his voice.
Snape released Dia and walked down the corridor. He spun around. "You know I didn't do it!" he hollered, before he disappeared around the corner.
Now left alone, Dumbledore sighed heavily and the doors to his office slammed unhappily. Dia stood alone. Tears gushed down her cheeks as she whispered, "I know you didn't."