Author's Note: Thanks for the great reviews!
A Memory Found
by: Mystical Dragon
Hagrid and Filch joined the search party but Draco had lost any hope of finding Snape. The dog Snuffles, Fang had chickened out, was heading down a narrow cliff side towards a bay. Dumbledore was first (after the dog), followed by Hagrid, and then Draco. Lupin should have been before him but strangely, Lupin had let him go first, which Draco was very glad of.
"You can Apparate at the end of the bay," Dumbledore said. "But you have to have a boat and there aren't any around. They shouldn't have made it to there by now."
Draco momentarily froze as he remembered Robertson showing him a small boat that he had received that morning by owl. Draco had wondered why someone would have sent Robertson a toy.
"They have a boat," Draco muttered. "Robertson got it this morning by owl."
Hagrid cursed, as did Filch from somewhere from behind.
Snuffles started to bark.
Draco tried to peer around Hagrid's massive bulk but he couldn't see a thing and Draco wasn't about to lean over far enough to see or he would topple down the cliff side.
"What is it?" Draco yelled.
"The boat," Dumbledore yelled back. "It's been destroyed. There are three bodies near it. A storm?"
Draco forced himself not to shove Hagrid off the cliff as he waited for the group to safely make it down, his heart pounding and his throat dry.
"Snuffles is down there and just woke one of them up," Dumbledore reported. "I think that one's Severus. Yes, that's Severus. He's acting very tipsy."
Draco nodded his head. Mind-ensnaring potions did that.
"Hurry up!" Draco snarled.
"I am, Draco," Dumbledore calmly told him.
Once they were on level ground, Draco darted around Hagrid and raced across the rocky coast, ignoring his bruised knees as he kept slipping and falling. He had to make sure Snape was okay. Snuffles had his teeth sunk into Snape's sleeve robe as Snape kept trying to get into the water.
"The dog won't let me go swimming," he slurred, tugging on his sleeve.
Draco grabbed his other arm, afraid he would disappear on him. "You can't go swimming. It's too dangerous."
"Oh!" Snape said as he suddenly sat down, dragging Draco with him.
Draco, with a firm grip on Snape, looked around at what had happened. Robertson and Morton were laying together, soaking wet, and unconscious. The boat was in splinters beside them. A storm? But, then, why was Snape completely dry?
And, as Draco looked around, he could see no evidence that it had been raining and the bay and ocean beyond looked calm and there were no clouds.
Dumbledore and the rest were carefully making their way across the rocky shore and Draco glared at Potter. Why was Potter always included on everything? He had no right coming down with them. In fact, Lupin and Hagrid had no right either. None of them even liked Snape. But Lupin had been nice to Draco in letting him go before him down the cliff.
"Is he okay?" Potter called, actually sounding worried.
Draco glanced up at Snape who was watching the bay with awe. Sighing, Draco decided to answer.
"He's out of it," Draco said, grudgingly. "He'll be like this for the rest of the day."
Dumbledore dropped down beside Snape and quickly checked him over. "He's fine," Dumbledore said. "He's not even wet. How are Robertson and Morton?"
Hagrid and Lupin had stopped by the two of them, after hearing that Snape was fine.
"They're alive," Lupin said, shaking his head. "What happened?"
"Maybe Snape rescued himself?" Potter ventured. "Does he have his wand?"
"Professor Snape?" Draco asked. "Sir? Where is your wand?"
Snape waved a hand at Robertson and Morton. "Jeffrey has my wand. He wanted to play with it. I let him."
Draco glanced at Jeffrey Morton. "Does he have it?"
Lupin searched him. "I can't find.... Wait.... Is that them?" he asked, pointing to some splinters that had two strings of unicorn hair on them and a bit of dragon heart string and something else that Draco couldn't identify.
Dumbledore knelt beside the pile. "Yes, two wands. But... where's Snape's?"
Snuffles snarled, his hair standing on end, as he backed away from a wand that was laying beside Snape.
Draco glanced at the dog oddly. Why was he so nervous about a wand?
"Was that there before?" Dumbledore asked.
Draco shrugged his shoulders and realized that Dumbledore hadn't been asking him. He had been asking the dog. The dog shook its head.
Dumbledore looked around the shore nervously. "Get the kids, Hagrid. Carry them to Poppy's and have Minerva contact their parents. Harry and Remus, tell Harriet Hooch to let the kids out of the Quidditch field after twenty minutes. Filch, Draco, get Snape back to his rooms and don't let him out of your sight. Snuffles, go with them."
Draco and Filch managed to drag Snape to his feet but he didn't want to go anywhere. He just wanted to sit there and watch the water.
"Professor," Draco said carefully. "We have to go back to the castle. You want to go to the castle, don't you? There's some warm bread and soup waiting for you. And a nice warm fire...."
Snape jerked out of their hold. "I don't like fire..." he muttered. "It burns people up," he said, rubbing his chest. "It hurts. Fire hurts."
Draco glanced at Filch. "Okay. Water. Water is nice. There is a pond with a squid in it. Nice cold water."
"Water is nice," Snape said, his voice slurred.
Draco nodded his head, and extended upon the virtues of the pond as he and Filch carefully lead him up the narrow path. Snuffles was behind Filch and Draco wondered about that dog. How could he have understood Dumbledore well enough to answer him? Or did he? Maybe Draco was giving the dog to much credit.
"You're good at this," Filch said, glancing at Draco as they reached the top of the cliff and headed towards the castle.
"I've read a lot about mind-ensnaring potions," Draco admitted. "Professor, we are going to go to your rooms instead," he said softly. "Your bedroom has a nice bed in it for you to sleep on on. You want to sleep, don't you? You're tired."
Snape nodded his head, trying to clear his mind by shaking it, but the potion was much too strong for that. Draco was rather surprised Snape was still conscious.
"What happened down there?" Draco asked, confused. "I don't understand," he muttered as they entered the castle and headed, quickly, to Snape's rooms, before the students were set loose from the Quidditch field.
Filch shrugged. "Maybe another Death Eater didn't like what they were doing," he theorized. "Dumbledore probably does have other spies, I'm assuming, at least."
"But wouldn't they have told him about the attempt to kidnap Snape in the first place?" Draco asked as Filch opened Snape's room door.
"Unless they didn't find out until the last minute," Filch said, stopping. "You better wait here while I put Snape into bed."
Draco nodded his head, not liking being away from Snape, even for a few minutes.
Draco folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the closed bedroom door, keeping an eye out for anyone. Snuffles sat beside him, alert.
Filch opened the door and Draco fell backwards a little before he righted himself. Turning, Draco noticed how pale Filch was.
"What?"
"I found out why Snape hates fire," he said hoarsely. "He has burns all over his back and chest."
Draco darted around Filch, the dog following, Snape was sound asleep, and on his back so Draco gently pushed up Snape's shirt. Draco stared at the burns. Snape had never liked fire much. He usually put it out when he came into the Slytherin common room and it was a very rare occurrence to find a fire going in his office and now Draco knew why. Carefully pulling the shirt down, Draco turned to the dog, who looked about as sad as Draco felt.
"That guy never told me about these burns," Draco muttered. "He told me about the knife wound that he took care of though," he said.
The dog cocked its head to the side, listening. Draco stared at the intelligent eyes of the dog and decided to share the story. The dog may be able to understand human speech, sort of, but he couldn't talk and therefore he could tell no one about what Draco was going to say. Draco shut the door, Filch was sitting at the table, looking sick and didn't notice.
"After Snape was kicked out of the orphanage," Draco didn't need to clarify since he was only talking to a dog. "He lived under the store of this old man who sold stuff on the Dark Arts. And when Snape was nine, he got stabbed and the man took care of him for a week while he was too ill to do it. Snape doesn't remember it, though and the man isn't about to tell him."
The dog looked confused and Draco shrugged. "I don't know why the guy doesn't want Snape to know," he said, looking over at Snape. "I think the guy's ashamed. He was too poor to take care of Snape much. He could afford to occasionally give Snape food and a blanket or robe, which he would leave in his trash, but for the most part he couldn't help him any. Probably afraid to get Snape dependent on him. Afraid he would get killed by the Dark Lord or killed by the Ministry and then Snape would be on his own again," Draco sighed. "I never really thought much about what he had told me. It never seemed relevant. I'm glad my parents are rich," Draco decided. "I have a ton of money put aside for myself in case something happens to them. I'll never be in want," Draco said, shuddering. "And Ron Weasley thinks he's poor. He's never gone hungry and he even has a bed. Snape never had one until he went to Hogwarts," the dog looked away, its head lowered, and Draco patted it.
Draco went back to Snape's bed and carefully moved his shirt down, to show no skin, and then put a blanket over him to keep him warm.
"Don't worry," Draco said. "I won't tell anyone about the burns," he told the sleeping man.
Picking a book on potions off the bookshelf, Draco opened the bedroom door and settled himself in the chair, in the bedroom, to read. He had a clear view of the front door this way. Snuffles laid down by his chair.
Looking up, Draco frowned. Was that weeping? It was an extremely faint sound. Snuffles had his head cocked and was staring at the bed. Worried, Draco put his book down and crept to Snape, but he was sound asleep. The sound ceased.
Draco shook his head and went back to the chair to read.
It wasn't long before Dumbledore, Lupin, Hagrid, Potter, two Weasley's, and Granger came in. Draco moaned. Great. Potter and his gang were here.
"Potter and his cronies," Draco spat out, looking at the dog. "And Lupin," he said, though the name wasn't said with as much venom as it normally was. At least Lupin seemed to know when to back away.
Lupin came into the room, glanced at Snape, and then at the dog. He finally looked at Draco. "We have decided that it would be best if you made up the schedules on who is allowed to watch Severus. You seem to know, better than any of us could, on who is to be trusted and who is not."
Draco glanced beyond him. Potter and company did not look happy, one bit, about this news and nor did Hagrid. Dumbledore looked disgusted with himself.
"Whose idea is this?" Draco asked suspiciously, knowing none of them liked him.
"Lupin's," Ron Weasley said, sounding annoyed.
"He mentioned that we should allow you to have input before but I didn't allow it," Dumbledore said, his voice heavy. "I thought I could make the right decision on who we can trust but I was wrong."
Draco glanced at Lupin, not knowing what to make of Dumbledore's self-pity or Lupin's trust in him.
"Thank you," Draco muttered, blushing as he recalled all the insults he had hurled at Lupin. "I'll work on it tonight."
"These are our schedules," Dumbledore said, handing him several sheets of parchment. "Who can you trust in Slytherin?"
Draco looked through the sheets. Lupin's, Hagrid's, Filch's, McGonagall's, Dumbledore's, Potter's (Draco winced at seeing this), Granger's, both Weasley's, and Flitwick's. "I.... I don't know all the Death Eater's children. Even my father never knew half the Death Eaters, if that many. And... not all the Death Eaters are from Slytherin. Of course no one believes that anyone that isn't from Slytherin could possible be a Death Eater so no one suspects them."
Lupin nodded his head. "I know, Draco. I know of at least one person from Gryffindor that was a Death Eater."
Draco hid his self-satisfied smirk. So, the Gryffindor's were as perfect as they pretended to be.
"How can we trust anyone, then?" Potter asked.
"Only use the people in those lists, then, Draco," Dumbledore advised. "Some of us just may have double duty."
"I can do it quite often," Granger piped in. "I can do my homework in here."
"The House Elves can take over some of my chores," Filch said.
"And there's Snuffles," Potter said. "He's a very good candidate."
Snuffles nodded his head.
"A dog?" Draco asked.
"He's very intelligent," Dumbledore said.
Draco looked down at the dog who was staring at him. "Okay, the dog is included. I better work on this list," Draco said as he went to Snape's desk and began to make a schedule out, hoping everyone would leave as he did so.
From the sound of it, everyone did, but Snuffles (who was still in the room with Draco) and Dumbledore.
Dumbledore walked into the bedroom and sat in the chair Draco had vacated. He watched Snape sleep for awhile. Ignoring him, Draco worked on the schedule. Lupin couldn't do it tomorrow or Wednesday because of the full moon. He would still be weak on Thursday but.... Why was he doing this? If Dumbledore was only going to trust the people on this short list then he could do the assignment himself. But this way, Draco could assign himself to watch Snape the most. Deciding not to point out the obvious to Dumbledore, Draco continued on with the schedule. Their next Quidditch match wasn't until after the holidays and Draco would just excuse himself from practice until Snape was better, so he would be able to watch Snape every day after classes. But who would he get to watch Snape with him? Filch was okay, Snuffles would work but he still needed an adult. Lupin? He would work. Potter and his cronies were not going to be used. Draco guessed he had to use Dumbledore and McGonagall and Flitwick and Hagrid.
Sighing, Draco assigned a different adult every day for a week so he could see which one he could tolerate the most and that one would be used more the following week.
Hearing the weeping again, Draco spun around to check on Snape. He was still sleeping.
"What is that?" Dumbledore asked.
Draco shrugged. "I heard it before..." and then it stopped, as it someone had put a hand over their mouth.
"Is someone here?" Draco asked nervously. "In an invisibility cloak?"
Dumbledore pulled out a piece of parchment, the same one Potter had had earlier, and shook his head. "No. Everyone is accounted for. Are you sure it's not Severus?"
Draco looked at Snape. "I don't think so. It might be but I doubt it," Draco put the quill down and turned to Dumbledore. "What are you going to do to Robertson and Morton and what happened down there?"
"Robertson and Morton are being transferred to Durmstrang. I wanted them expelled but I have no proof that they were taking Severus to Voldemort and Fudge won't listen to me. But I do have the power to exchange students if I wish. And I don't know what happened down there, Draco," Dumbledore said. "Severus may have done it somehow. When he wakes up, he won't remember anything, though, so we may never know. Maybe Filch is right and it was another Death Eater. I don't know. When Robertson and Morton woke up they were both shaking. They said that a storm suddenly came on them, Morton said it came out of the water and surrounded them, and admist the roaring, the water, and the wind, they both were thrown out of the boat and lost consciousness. Morton couldn't remember if Snape had his wand or not. He might have. Snape's a very good..." he stopped talking and looked like he was about to change what he had just said.
"Pickpocket," Draco finished for him. "I know."
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. "Is there anything about Severus you don't know?"
Draco looked at Snape. He didn't know where he got those burns from. "Not everything."
"So Severus might have gotten his wand back and used it. But how did he destroy those other wands? Those wands weren't just snapped in two they were shredded and the damage to the boat? I find it hard to believe that the boat was that damaged and the kids managed to live through it," Dumbledore rubbed his forehead. "I don't understand what happened," Dumbledore stared at Draco. "I thought the Slytherins all liked Severus."
Draco rolled his eyes. "Most of us do. But some of us are very ambitious. I've heard kids say that they would sell their parents to further their own ends and they weren't joking. I, and many others, draw the line at some point though. I wouldn't have cared if it was Potter, Robertson and Morton were taking to the Dark Lord. I probably wouldn't have told you about that either but Professor Snape... I like him. And I can't trust Crabbe or Goyle either. They would never hurt Professor Snape but if the Dark Lord told them to bring Snape to him because he had a present for Snape they would fall for it. That's why I stayed the entire night that one night. I didn't know which Slytherins I could trust. I still don't."
Dumbledore gently smiled, looking quite tired. "From the way Severus talks about you all one would think none of you can do any wrong."
Draco snorted in laughter, shaking his hand in memory. "We get punished plenty. I had to scrub the bathroom floor until it sparkled for trying to poison Longbottom's toad once. Blaise had to wash all our sheets, by himself and by hand in a cauldron, for going into the Forbidden Forest last year. And Pansy had to mend all the girl's Slytherin banners that hang in their room for trying to hex Potter off his broom once."
"Why doesn't he take points off your house?" Dumbledore asked, an edge of his voice.
Draco laughed. "That doesn't work anymore. No matter how many points we have or don't have at the end of the year we are still going to lose to Gryffindor. You always find a way to award Gryffindor just enough points to beat us. Taking points off my first year worked but it doesn't anymore. We're not stupid enough to believe points matter anymore now that Potter is here."
"That's not true," Dumbledore protested. "If you behave well you will get the House cup."
Draco laughed again. "You can't see it, can you! You favor Gryffindor just as bad as Snape favors Slytherin, you just won't admit it yourself."
"That first year was a fluke," Dumbledore said, still trying to defend himself.
Draco quit being amused. "A fluke? You didn't award Gryffindor any points until it had been decided Slytherin had the most. And then.... and then you award them just enough to beat us. And you've been doing that every year since then," Draco shook his head. "There's no point in trying to win points anymore. It's hopeless. Maybe, if we're lucky, one of us will die and then you'll award us the House Cup like you did for Hufflepuff. But that's the only way we are going to win."
"Draco, that's not true," Dumbledore said quietly.
"Yes, it is. You may have blinded yourself but you haven't blinded us."
"I won't do it this year," Dumbledore said.
Draco shook his head. "Until Potter does something heroic at the end of the year when the Dark Lord tries to kill him again. And you know he's going to."
"It's not Harry's fault Voldemort is after him."
"And it's not my fault he's not after me," Draco countered. "Maybe if he was you might have noticed I existed. And now if you will excuse me, I have a schedule to finish."
Draco turned his attention back to the schedule and crossed out Dumbledore's name and put in Flitwick, feeling his face burn with emotion. He hadn't meant to scream at Dumbledore like that but the attention Potter got from him galled Draco. Dumbledore acted like there was no other kid as wonderful or as great as Potter around. According to Snape, James Potter had been treated the same way. It wasn't fair.
Snuffles nudged Draco and looking down Draco noticed the dog was moving his head towards Dumbledore a little. Draco glanced up at him. Dumbledore was rubbing his head, his eyes closed, and he looked very old.
"I'm sorry," Draco muttered, wondering why he felt compelled to apologize.
"I'm sorry, too, Draco," Dumbledore said, smiling at little. "I guess I just never realized how unfair I've been. You are right I have been giving Gryffindor just enough points to win. I wanted Harry to enjoy his time at Hogwarts. He's had a hard life."
"So have other people," Draco said, his eyes hard. "You have no idea what my childhood was like. And no, it wasn't bad. I was spoiled if anything but you didn't know that when I came. Potter may have had to sleep in a cupboard under the stairs but at least he was fed, clothed, and had a roof over his head, unlike some people in this room," he said, and Dumbledore's eyes flickered over to Snape. "I bet you didn't even notice him when he was student, did you? All you probably cared about was James Potter and his gang. The one child at Hogwarts who could have used some attention you ignored. Some Headmaster you are," Draco said, feeling angry again.
Dumbledore suddenly got up and left the room, Snuffles hurried after him. Draco slumped in his chair, glancing over at Snape. He hadn't mean to hurt Dumbledore so much but it wasn't fair that he was always favoring kids just because they were in Gryffindor and ignoring the kids in Slytherin. Slytherins needed as much attention as the rest of the houses. But... Snape did the same. Just the opposite. Draco had always liked that but maybe he should talk to Snape about it. It wasn't really fair. Longbottom could definitely use some help, from someone. Longbottom? Draco shrugged and scribbled his name down.
The weeping began again and Draco closed his eyes. Either it was Dumbledore or that weird noise again and Draco didn't have the heart to find out.
"Draco?" Snape said sluggishly.
Draco glanced over at him. "Go check on Dumbledore," Draco said quietly. "He's not feeling good."
Snape opened his eyes a little further and sat up. Draco blinked. His hair! He hadn't noticed it before in the rush of things but Snape's hair wasn't greasy. Snape slid of the bed and teetered his way out the door. Draco smiled a tiny bit at his Head of House's unsteadiness. It was strange seeing Snape having trouble with his balance since he usually was one of those people that never seemed to make a wrong step.
The dog wandered back in, looking at Draco with what Draco could swear was a looking full of reproaching.
"Well," Draco snapped. "He deserved it."
Snuffles seemed to shrug and went back into the living room.
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Hearing a noise at the door, Dumbledore looked up to see Severus trying to make his way to him. Snuffles slunk in and hid in a corner to eavesdrop.
Severus's eyes were barely open and he seemed ready to fall at every step but he made it to the couch and collapsed down on the other end.
"Draco's mad at you," Severus said, yawning. "I heard him yelling at you. Why?"
"Oh, it's nothing," Dumbledore said. "Difference of opinion," Dumbledore gently told him, aware that Severus probably couldn't understand anything right now.
"He thinks you need to cut your beard off?" Severus asked, beginning to lean against the arm rest.
"No," Dumbledore smiled. "He thinks I favor Gryffindor over..."
"You do," Severus yawned, "everyone knows that."
"Oh," Dumbledore muttered. "Severus," Dumbledore began, quite seriously, aware that while the mind-ensnaring potions were not truth serums they often caused the victim to speak the truth since their minds were too foggy to think up any lies, "when you were a student, how did I treat you?"
Severus looked blank. "I was in Slytherin. You don't like Slytherins. I avoided you."
Dumbledore closed his eyes. "I like Slytherins. I'm just worried about them. Voldemort came from Slytherin. Every time I see a Slytherin, the first thing that pops into my head is that they might be the next Dark Lord. Maybe I am a bit mean to them. And when you were a student, Voldemort was getting all his supporters from Slytherin and I couldn't risk being lenient with that house. I guess that is why I tolerated the Marauders when maybe I shouldn't have. They were a bright spot in an otherwise bleak present. They took my mind of things and allowed me to see that kids could still be kids even with a Dark Lord gaining power in the background."
"You know before Robertson and Morton woke me up to see their boat I had a dream about my train ride here," Severus said. "It was weird. After all these years of hating Potter and Black I remembered how nice to me they had been on the train."
Surprised, Dumbledore glanced at him. "They were nice to you?"
"Yeah," Severus frowned. "I was late on the train, scared to death, and looked into their compartment. I backed away seeing people there and Potter said that the whole train was filled and that I could sit down with them. There were talking about Quidditch and I started to read a book, or pretended to. I could barely read when I first came to Hogwarts."
"You couldn't?" Dumbledore asked, interrupting his story. "You couldn't read?"
Severus shook his head, resting his head on the back of the couch, and sleepily blinked at Dumbledore. "No. Had to copy Nathan Lestrange's homework. He let me. I told him I didn't have time to do the homework, I don't know why no one caught us. Mine was exactly like his. He never minded."
Dumbledore remembered subbing for a class once when Severus was a first year. His homework had been badly written, Dumbledore had just put that down to laziness or lack of proper practice. But his homework hadn't been like Nathan's. Nathan's homework had usually included examples, detailed examples, of how to use a certain thing on a person to get what you wanted from them. Severus's homework had been straight forward.
"And he used to read books out loud while I followed along in mine. I think he was the only reason why I didn't fail that first year. He even let me copy his tests," Severus said.
Dumbledore shut his eyes. "It sounds like he knew you couldn't read."
"He might have," Severus said. "Nathan was an odd one. Never could tell what he was thinking."
"A lot like you," Dumbledore softly said, kindly smiling at him. "What happened at the train again?"
Severus put a hand on the arm rest and drew patterns with a finger. "When the snack lady came Black and Potter got a ton of food. Black then ate ten chocolate frogs faster than I thought possible. He looked through the cards he had gotten and then asked me if I collected the cards. I didn't know anything about cards in chocolate frog boxes and said "No, not yet." He then gave me all the cards and told me I could start my own collection with them. Potter handed me some candy then. I slowly ate some and put the rest in my pocket. Black noticed this and gave me quite a bit more, to eat. I don't know why I didn't remember that. I think there were the only reasons why I didn't leave the train to go back to the Alley. I figured if they were nice then Hogwarts had to be a nice place."
"What happened?" Dumbledore asked, aware of Severus's mention of Knockturn Alley. If he could admit that under the influence of the mind-ensnaring potion, what else could Dumbledore get him to admit. Maybe he would actually find out some stuff about Severus now. "It sounds like the three of you could have been friends."
"They played a prank on me the next day. Dyed my hair red. No big deal. But.. I was very embarrassed," Severus said quietly. Dumbledore moved over to sit next to him and nudged him to go on. "I was scared, worried about making a good impression, and having people laugh at me for having red hair was not something I could handle right then. I hexed Potter with boils and Black with painful skin lesions. I overreacted. But I was so scared I didn't know what else to do. And then Potter, no matter what he did, never got into trouble while I had to watch my every step. And Black and Potter never studied and got the highest grades while I had to study late at night to catch up on what I had missed while living in the Alley. It was hard and my hatred and resentment of them just spiraled out of control. I used to draw pictures of them being stuck with knifes, arrows, and being killed with Avada Kedevra curse. And I recognized them and was afraid of them telling on me."
"Recognized them?" Dumbledore asked, worriedly. "What do you mean?"
"I pickpocketed them," Severus said. "They went into Knockturn Alley before they were first years. Very rich looking so I pickpocketed them and ran past them. Black yelled at me, something about a book store, but I ran back to the store I stayed under and opened their change purses. I couldn't believe it. I had never seen so much money. I kept it safe and then when the Hogwarts Letter came I decided to see if the money I had stolen was enough to send me there. I asked someone on Diagon Alley to read me the letter so I would know what it said and what I had to buy. I pretended that I had lost my glasses. He told me and I bought the stuff. I even had money left over to buy a good pair of shoes and several robes. If anyone had ever found out I went to Hogwarts on stolen money I would have been expelled."
Dumbledore shook his head. "No, you wouldn't have been. How did you pay for your other years?"
"Black and Potter were very lax with their money. They never kept track of what they spent so every chance I got I would pickpocket them. They never noticed, though Black got infuriated with me following them around so much. I had to steal a lot of money every year for the next one."
Dumbledore didn't blame Severus for what he had done. "I'm sorry, Severus," Dumbledore said, not caring that Severus would probably not remember any of their conversation the next day. "You shouldn't have had to go through that."
"Thank you," Severus smiled. "I still have those cards Black gave me. I meant to tear them up but I never could bring myself to do it. I guess it's my fault they hate me so much."
"No," Dumbledore said firmly, glancing Snuffles. "James and Sirius should have realized that not everyone can handle having jokes played on them. It was both your faults."
Snuffles lowered his eyes to the ground.
"I miss Ivan," Severus suddenly said.
"Whose Ivan?" Dumbledore asked, confused. Did he mean Igor?
"I called to him on the boat and... oh... never mind," Severus said, leaning his head against Dumbledore's shoulder. "He's here."