A/N Keeping my habit of writing several things at once, and thus increasing
my chances of losing my thread totally and looking an utter berk, this is
the first chapter of a Hogwarts Murder Mystery fic ;-) representing
grateful relief from Dark!Snape for a while, and the return of Witty!Snape.
Why was this fic even conceived? It has a lot to do with Alan Rickman's utter suitability for the role of the Master, Sherlock Holmes, I must admit. ;-) Imagine if you will Minerva as Mrs. Hudson.heh-heh.
"He's dead." Said Sirius Black, poking the lifeless body before him gingerly with the tip of his wand.
"Thank you for that utterly ground-breaking observation, Black. I never would have noticed, from the *rictus sardonicus* on his face and the general lack of pulse or respiration, that this man no longer lives."
"Don't mention it." Replied Sirius, cheerfully, as Snape leaned over the dead wizard's body for a closer look.
"I know this man."
"Of course you do. He's - he was - a Death-Eater. You've probably been to dinner parties with him, baby-sat his little Death-Eater children."
"Shut up, Black."
"I commiserate your loss."
"Sod off." Said Snape calmly, then regretted his lack of wittiness. He was contemplating a more intelligent response when the door of the office - Snape's office, in which Snape, Sirius, and the stiffened corpse were to be found - opened, and a young face framed by bushy brown hair appeared.
"Professor," began Hermione Granger, "Professor McGonagall wants to know if." predictably, having spotted the corpse, she broke off and clapped a hand to her mouth. "Oh! What happened?" This to Sirius, who was cheerfully poking the body again, as though expecting some response.
"He's dead." Replied the animagus. "A dead Death-Eater, the best kind. You should probably fetch McGonagall."
"Oh - yes.right." Wide-eyed, Hermione fled.
"Wonderful." Muttered Snape. "Now we have little miss know-it-all involved. How are we supposed to keep her out of this? The silly girl doesn't know when to stop."
"Hermione is a very clever, extremely competent young witch." Sirius told the other man sternly. "And sensible enough to keep quiet and let others deal with a situation beyond her capacity."
Snape snorted. "Clever enough to let those more capable take care of the philosopher's stone? Clever enough to leave the Chamber of Secrets well alone? Clever enough to stay away from Potter and the constant trouble he brings? I tried to tell Lily Evans much the same thing."
He got no further; the last remark was too much for Sirius.
"Don't dare to mention Lily and James in front of me! And don't even think about criticising Harry. If it hadn't been for him and his friends, Voldemort would have been fully regenerated, the Chamber of Secrets would have been opened, and I'd be a soulless wonder by now!"
"As for the first remark, I find it very unlikely that certain Hogwarts teachers would not have been able to secure the stone *without* a group of twelve year olds' posturing and melodrama. Secondly, if that idiot friend of Potter's hadn't resurrected Tom Riddle in the first place, the Chamber of Secrets would never have been opened. And thirdly - you say that as though it's a good thing."
There was a short silence. Snape smirked. Sirius smirked back.
"Well, while we're blaming everything on the Potters, how about this? If not for James, you'd have been dead before you were seventeen, and a hell of a lot of lives would have been saved with one less twisted Death-Eater around, hm?"
"You talk too much." Said Snape, calmly, but with a nerve twitching in his cheek. He drew out his wand. "I think a Lockjaw hex would deal with that admirably."
"You wouldn't dare."
"No?" Snape raised the wand. Sirius bared his teeth. Fortunately for them both, however, McGonagall chose that moment to arrive, with the alarmed Hermione in tow.
"Gentlemen!" Was her first, astonished exclamation. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing." Muttered Snape, putting away his wand. Sirius relaxed, and turned what he hoped was a winning smile on McGonagall. She looked back stonily, then down at the corpse.
"Goodness!"
"He's dead." Sirius offered, helpfully.
"I can see that, Mr. Black. What happened here?"
This question fired directly at Snape, who made an incongruent attempt to look innocent.
"Don't ask me. I didn't kill him."
"Well, he's in your office! And a Death-Eater." She added, spotting the Dark Mark on the body's outflung arm. Snape simply shrugged.
"Black found him. Perhaps he committed the deed."
Sirius responded with a growl, Hermione with an indignant squeak.
"Unlike some people around here, I don't go in for murder." Sirius snapped.
"Oh, is that so?" Snape replied silkily. "Perhaps then we should all forget about your history of *attempted* killings - Pettigrew, myself, Lucius Malfoy, and who knows how many others?"
"Lucius Malfoy?" Hermione piped up again, from behind McGonagall.
"Long story." Said Sirius, casually. "Quite funny actually. I'll tell you about it sometime if you remind me."
"It was not amusing in the least." Snape hissed.
"Oh, for goodness' sake," McGonagall made a timely interruption. "will the pair of you stop arguing over your respective criminal histories and get back to the point. We are dealing with *this* corpse." She pointed to the dead body. "And I think," she added, "that it's about time someone fetched Dumbledore. I'll." she hesitated, obviously unwilling to leave Snape and Sirius alone with the body. "In fact, why don't." she began to Sirius, then realised that Snape, of course, was suspected of being involved. Then again, it was a fair point that Sirius had as much of a grudge as anyone against Death-Eaters, and although there were mitigating circumstances, he *had* tried to kill Peter Pettigrew.
"Miss Granger," she said eventually, "find the headmaster and ask him to come immediately to Professor Snape's office. The password you require is 'toffee twirl'. After altering Professor Dumbledore, you will return to your colleagues in the Gryffindor common room. I assume that I can trust you to say nothing to *anyone* of this affair?"
"Especially Potter and Weasley." Snape muttered under his breath, as Hermione nodded wordlessly.
"Good." McGonagall dismissed Hermione efficiently, then knelt with dignity beside the corpse.
"Have either of you moved, touched, or interacted with the body?" She asked.
"I offered it a cigarette twenty three minutes ago." Said Sirius.
"There's no need to be facetious, Mr. Black. I was merely enquiring."
"I feel as though I'm being interrogated." Sirius told her, pathetically. "Even though I've been officially cleared, my name will always be mud, won't it?"
Snape rolled his eyes at all this melodrama.
"Black, this is a dead Death-Eater who has quite obviously been murdered. He was found in my office - my office, which is protected by various spells. My office, which no one but myself should be able to enter, once it has been locked up for the night. Which it was. Hence, I am a suspect."
McGonagall made a noise of protest, but the potions master waved a hand to silence her.
"You, Black, discovered the body. With no one else present. And you still haven't explained what you were doing in my office, in any case. This makes you a suspect."
"Your point being?" Growled Sirius.
"My point is that you know you are not the murderer, I know that I am not the murderer; but no one else does. It is only right that we should be treated as potential suspects. You don't see me complaining."
"That," decided Sirius, "must be because you have a watertight alibi."
Snape smirked, but said nothing.
"Gentlemen, I do not believe that either of you killed this man. Before passing any sort of judgement, we will see what the headmaster has to say on the matter."
They did not have to wait long. Professor Dumbledore arrived in minutes, looking as cheerful and relaxed as ever.
"Oh, dear." He remarked, upon seeing the corpse.
"Black found him." Snape said quickly.
"He was like this when I got here." Sirius added, glaring at his arch- nemesis.
"No one is making any accusations." Dumbledore soothed. "I would simply like to know what has transpired here."
"Should I owl the Ministry, Albus?" McGonagall wondered. But Dumbledore shook his head.
"We will make what we can of the situation before any official body is informed. Severus, Sirius, would you join Minerva and I in the potions classroom? This room should not be disturbed. I assume none of you touched the - er - body?"
"Black poked him with his wand." Snape put in immediately.
"Snape breathed over it." Sirius countered. "For all we know, that might have been what killed him."
Dumbledore chose to ignore this. McGonagall rolled her eyes, and herded Snape and Sirius out of the room as though they were still pupils under her care.
"No one has interfered with the corpse, Albus." She assured the headmaster, as she perched primly on a chair. Sirius climbed onto one of the tables and sat with his legs dangling; Snape leaned broodingly against the blackboard; and Dumbledore seated himself behind Snape's desk.
"Perhaps you could begin, Sirius, by telling us what happened when you found the victim."
"I'd hardly call him a victim." Sirius replied crisply. Dumbledore's blue gaze did not waver. Sirius shrugged and began to explain.
"I got up at about ten - it is a Sunday after all." He added, as McGonagall raised an eyebrow. "Anyway," he continued, "I had breakfast, washed, dressed."
"The headmaster did not ask for a comprehensive account of your slovenly morning routine, Black." Snape cut in. "He merely wishes to know."
"Thank you, Severus, I will come to you in a moment. Go on please, Sirius."
With a smirk at Snape, Sirius did so.
"Anyway, at about ten thirty I headed down to Snape's office. I wanted to talk to him about something."
"So you say. But what could you possibly desire to discuss with me, Black?"
"It was about Harry." Sirius shot back. "And under the present circumstances I'd say it can wait, all right? As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted by the insinuations of that lanky greaseball, I reached Snape's office at about twenty-five to eleven, something like that. The potions classroom door was locked, so I opened it."
"Cheek!"
"I opened it and came through. I was surprised to find Snape's office door open - we all know how he loathes company. And that he doesn't get up until twelve on Sundays."
Snape scowled - then smiled, unpleasantly.
"If you knew I wouldn't be there, why were you coming to see me at that time? You're digging your own grave, Black."
"That does seem inconsistent." Agreed McGonagall, reluctantly.
"I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation, Sirius." Dumbledore said calmly. Sirius coloured slightly.
"Well - there is an explanation, but it isn't one you're going to approve of. I didn't come down to talk to Snape, I came to steal something from his office."
"I knew it! And finding the Death-Eater there - for whatever purposes - you killed him. That solves one aspect of the mystery, at any rate. I'm sure you'll be able to convince the Ministry it was self-defence, Black. As for the attempted theft."
"Snape, stop gloating and shut up a minute. All I wanted from your office was Ginny Weasley's potions homework. She made a mistake with the essay and didn't realise till afterwards; the poor girl's so terrified of you she couldn't sleep for worrying about how you'd humiliate her in class on Monday."
McGonagall tutted and shook her head. Snape's smile faded.
"That does not give you the right."
"I know, I know. But I felt sorry for her." Sirius looked imploringly at Dumbledore. "She was worried sick. And I knew Snape is a lazy so-and-so at weekends, so I thought I could sneak into his office and grab the essay, Ginny could correct it - it'd only have taken a few minutes - then I could put it back before Snape marked it. If he wasn't such an ogre about homework."
"Sirius, whatever your motivations, you do not have the right to break in to anyone's office. I disapprove strongly of such behaviour." Dumbledore spoke severely, but there was a twinkle in his eye. Snape noticed, and scowled even harder.
"That explains the inconsistency. Please go on with your report."
"But." Snape spluttered. "You mean you believe him? I've never heard such a foolish excuse."
"Severus, please. Sirius."
"Thank you, headmaster." Sirius flashed a gloating look in Snape's direction. "Seeing the office door open, my first thought was that Snape must've got up early, so I decided to leave before he spotted me. But something was wrong - the smell. I have a highly developed sense of smell, and the stink coming from the office, gross as it was, didn't match Snape."
The potions master refrained from commenting on this slur on his personal hygiene. He remained silent, fingering his wand.
"I couldn't just leave without investigating. I know the scent of - of death. And this was it. So I poked my head round the door, and there he was - the Death-Eater, dead as you like."
"But you didn't raise the alarm then?" McGonagall asked.
"I didn't have the chance. I was examining the body - I didn't touch it - when Snape walked in, demanding to know what I was doing there and generally being offensive. He had a look at the Death-Eater and had just told me that he knew him when Hermione came in."
"I see. Thank you, Sirius. Severus?" Dumbledore turned to the potions master.
"You knew the - ah, deceased?"
"Not intimately. He had only recently been initiated into the Dark Lord's circle. He was." Snape swallowed, and said quietly, "he was seventeen years old. I believe his name was Trentham, Claudius Trentham, but beyond that."
"Very well. Clearly our tasks now are twofold: examine the body itself, and find out as much information as possible about him from his name. Severus, you and Sirius will begin the former. Minerva, you and I will tackle the latter."
"But, Albus," McGonagall was startled, "shouldn't we inform the Ministry? Surely they will want to conduct the investigation."
"The Ministry," Dumbledore said quietly, "has refused to acknowledge the return of Voldemort. If the Ministry comes to know of what has happened here, it is likelty that the affair will be hushed up and ignored, and we will learn nothing. Thus, we will conduct an investigation ourselves into the murder of this Trentham. For the moment, I would prefer that no one else is to be involved. We do not yet know what this murder signifies, or why it came about - to release any information we do possess might be playing into Voldemort's hands."
"You think this might be some sort of trap?"
"Possibly, possibly. I would like to know what the Death-Eater was doing in your office, Severus. I would like to know who sent him there. I would like to know who killed him, and why. I would like to know how this event fits with the larger picture, and how it affects Voldemort's ongoing plans. We will determine the answers to these questions together, as quickly and as efficiently as possible." This last remark he directed at Sirius and Snape. The two exchanged dark glances.
"I expect you to cooperate on this." Dumebldore reinforced, gazing intently at each of them.
"You won't have any trouble from me." Said Sirius, eventually.
"I will cooperate, of course." Snape agreed quickly. Dumbledore smiled.
"Excellent! Good luck to you both, then. You may begin at once. Keep me informed of all developments. Minerva?"
McGonagall got up, nodded crisply to Snape and Sirius, and followed Dumbledore out of the room, leaving the two men staring at one another.
"Cooperate, he said." Remarked Sirius.
"Efficiently." Agreed Snape.
"Think we can do it?" The animagus asked, dryly. Snape shook his head, not in negation but in fretful weariness. He dropped into a chair.
"You all right?" Sirius was curious rather than concerned, but determined not to fail Dumbledore by antagonising Snape, no matter how much he wanted to. No, Sirius was not going to strike first.
The potions master passed a hand across his forehead before answering. "Our young friend in there was in my office for a purpose. I believe he was there to kill me."
"What? Sent by who? I mean, you hardly knew him, it can't have been a personal thing."
"Presumably he was sent by the Dark Lord."
"But.I thought you had You-Know-Who convinced you were on his side."
"Hardly." Snape sighed heavily, and Sirius noticed how drawn and pale he looked - even more of an ugly git than usual.
"I sometimes feel that the Dark Lord and I are playing an absurd, vicious game." Snape went on, in an unnervingly dead voice. "I am working against him while pretending allegiance to him; he knows this, but in his turn, pretends ignorance. I suspect his mistrust, but again, feign ignorance."
"So - you think Voldemort is just biding his time, waiting for the right moment to kill you? But why do it like this - why not just use the killing curse at one of your little gatherings? Seems a bit unnecessarily complicated to me, to send an assassin. Besides, surely there are more likely candidates for an assassin than that kid."
"The Dark Lord often uses tasks to test the loyalty and ability of his followers. Possibly Trentham, as a new initiate, was expected to perform such a task - the task of murdering a renegade Death-Eater. I suspect that the Dark Lord waited this long because he wanted to see whether he could still make use of me. Finding that he couldn't he lost patience, and." Snape's voice tailed off. Sirius, looking at him, could read Snape's thoughts clearly: Voldemort's young assassin might have failed, but Voldemort still wanted Snape dead - hence, the next Death-Eater gathering Snape attended would likely be his last. But how could he not go, and still keep up his role as an agent for Dumbledore?
"We'll get to the bottom of this." Sirius told Snape, firmly. "Maybe you're wrong. Maybe this is just some random occurrence that has nothing to do with Voldemort."
But as he said it, Sirius knew how unlikely it sounded. Ever since resuming his role as double agent, Snape had known that a day would come when the Dark Lord would run out of patience, and snuff out his life as easily and with as much equanimity as one would a candle. Today had very nearly been that day, and though disaster had been averted this time by some unknown source, it could not be prevented for ever - or even for long. Snape might have another day, a week, a month to accept the fact of his own incipient demise, but that it would come was inevitable. And Sirius, though he disliked Snape, took no pleasure in that thought. He was searching for something comforting to say when Snape glanced up at him, shrugged, and offered a strange, lopsided smile. There are more important things to worry about than the life of one miserable ex-Death-Eater, that smile said. If it's coming, let it come. Let it come.
Why was this fic even conceived? It has a lot to do with Alan Rickman's utter suitability for the role of the Master, Sherlock Holmes, I must admit. ;-) Imagine if you will Minerva as Mrs. Hudson.heh-heh.
"He's dead." Said Sirius Black, poking the lifeless body before him gingerly with the tip of his wand.
"Thank you for that utterly ground-breaking observation, Black. I never would have noticed, from the *rictus sardonicus* on his face and the general lack of pulse or respiration, that this man no longer lives."
"Don't mention it." Replied Sirius, cheerfully, as Snape leaned over the dead wizard's body for a closer look.
"I know this man."
"Of course you do. He's - he was - a Death-Eater. You've probably been to dinner parties with him, baby-sat his little Death-Eater children."
"Shut up, Black."
"I commiserate your loss."
"Sod off." Said Snape calmly, then regretted his lack of wittiness. He was contemplating a more intelligent response when the door of the office - Snape's office, in which Snape, Sirius, and the stiffened corpse were to be found - opened, and a young face framed by bushy brown hair appeared.
"Professor," began Hermione Granger, "Professor McGonagall wants to know if." predictably, having spotted the corpse, she broke off and clapped a hand to her mouth. "Oh! What happened?" This to Sirius, who was cheerfully poking the body again, as though expecting some response.
"He's dead." Replied the animagus. "A dead Death-Eater, the best kind. You should probably fetch McGonagall."
"Oh - yes.right." Wide-eyed, Hermione fled.
"Wonderful." Muttered Snape. "Now we have little miss know-it-all involved. How are we supposed to keep her out of this? The silly girl doesn't know when to stop."
"Hermione is a very clever, extremely competent young witch." Sirius told the other man sternly. "And sensible enough to keep quiet and let others deal with a situation beyond her capacity."
Snape snorted. "Clever enough to let those more capable take care of the philosopher's stone? Clever enough to leave the Chamber of Secrets well alone? Clever enough to stay away from Potter and the constant trouble he brings? I tried to tell Lily Evans much the same thing."
He got no further; the last remark was too much for Sirius.
"Don't dare to mention Lily and James in front of me! And don't even think about criticising Harry. If it hadn't been for him and his friends, Voldemort would have been fully regenerated, the Chamber of Secrets would have been opened, and I'd be a soulless wonder by now!"
"As for the first remark, I find it very unlikely that certain Hogwarts teachers would not have been able to secure the stone *without* a group of twelve year olds' posturing and melodrama. Secondly, if that idiot friend of Potter's hadn't resurrected Tom Riddle in the first place, the Chamber of Secrets would never have been opened. And thirdly - you say that as though it's a good thing."
There was a short silence. Snape smirked. Sirius smirked back.
"Well, while we're blaming everything on the Potters, how about this? If not for James, you'd have been dead before you were seventeen, and a hell of a lot of lives would have been saved with one less twisted Death-Eater around, hm?"
"You talk too much." Said Snape, calmly, but with a nerve twitching in his cheek. He drew out his wand. "I think a Lockjaw hex would deal with that admirably."
"You wouldn't dare."
"No?" Snape raised the wand. Sirius bared his teeth. Fortunately for them both, however, McGonagall chose that moment to arrive, with the alarmed Hermione in tow.
"Gentlemen!" Was her first, astonished exclamation. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing." Muttered Snape, putting away his wand. Sirius relaxed, and turned what he hoped was a winning smile on McGonagall. She looked back stonily, then down at the corpse.
"Goodness!"
"He's dead." Sirius offered, helpfully.
"I can see that, Mr. Black. What happened here?"
This question fired directly at Snape, who made an incongruent attempt to look innocent.
"Don't ask me. I didn't kill him."
"Well, he's in your office! And a Death-Eater." She added, spotting the Dark Mark on the body's outflung arm. Snape simply shrugged.
"Black found him. Perhaps he committed the deed."
Sirius responded with a growl, Hermione with an indignant squeak.
"Unlike some people around here, I don't go in for murder." Sirius snapped.
"Oh, is that so?" Snape replied silkily. "Perhaps then we should all forget about your history of *attempted* killings - Pettigrew, myself, Lucius Malfoy, and who knows how many others?"
"Lucius Malfoy?" Hermione piped up again, from behind McGonagall.
"Long story." Said Sirius, casually. "Quite funny actually. I'll tell you about it sometime if you remind me."
"It was not amusing in the least." Snape hissed.
"Oh, for goodness' sake," McGonagall made a timely interruption. "will the pair of you stop arguing over your respective criminal histories and get back to the point. We are dealing with *this* corpse." She pointed to the dead body. "And I think," she added, "that it's about time someone fetched Dumbledore. I'll." she hesitated, obviously unwilling to leave Snape and Sirius alone with the body. "In fact, why don't." she began to Sirius, then realised that Snape, of course, was suspected of being involved. Then again, it was a fair point that Sirius had as much of a grudge as anyone against Death-Eaters, and although there were mitigating circumstances, he *had* tried to kill Peter Pettigrew.
"Miss Granger," she said eventually, "find the headmaster and ask him to come immediately to Professor Snape's office. The password you require is 'toffee twirl'. After altering Professor Dumbledore, you will return to your colleagues in the Gryffindor common room. I assume that I can trust you to say nothing to *anyone* of this affair?"
"Especially Potter and Weasley." Snape muttered under his breath, as Hermione nodded wordlessly.
"Good." McGonagall dismissed Hermione efficiently, then knelt with dignity beside the corpse.
"Have either of you moved, touched, or interacted with the body?" She asked.
"I offered it a cigarette twenty three minutes ago." Said Sirius.
"There's no need to be facetious, Mr. Black. I was merely enquiring."
"I feel as though I'm being interrogated." Sirius told her, pathetically. "Even though I've been officially cleared, my name will always be mud, won't it?"
Snape rolled his eyes at all this melodrama.
"Black, this is a dead Death-Eater who has quite obviously been murdered. He was found in my office - my office, which is protected by various spells. My office, which no one but myself should be able to enter, once it has been locked up for the night. Which it was. Hence, I am a suspect."
McGonagall made a noise of protest, but the potions master waved a hand to silence her.
"You, Black, discovered the body. With no one else present. And you still haven't explained what you were doing in my office, in any case. This makes you a suspect."
"Your point being?" Growled Sirius.
"My point is that you know you are not the murderer, I know that I am not the murderer; but no one else does. It is only right that we should be treated as potential suspects. You don't see me complaining."
"That," decided Sirius, "must be because you have a watertight alibi."
Snape smirked, but said nothing.
"Gentlemen, I do not believe that either of you killed this man. Before passing any sort of judgement, we will see what the headmaster has to say on the matter."
They did not have to wait long. Professor Dumbledore arrived in minutes, looking as cheerful and relaxed as ever.
"Oh, dear." He remarked, upon seeing the corpse.
"Black found him." Snape said quickly.
"He was like this when I got here." Sirius added, glaring at his arch- nemesis.
"No one is making any accusations." Dumbledore soothed. "I would simply like to know what has transpired here."
"Should I owl the Ministry, Albus?" McGonagall wondered. But Dumbledore shook his head.
"We will make what we can of the situation before any official body is informed. Severus, Sirius, would you join Minerva and I in the potions classroom? This room should not be disturbed. I assume none of you touched the - er - body?"
"Black poked him with his wand." Snape put in immediately.
"Snape breathed over it." Sirius countered. "For all we know, that might have been what killed him."
Dumbledore chose to ignore this. McGonagall rolled her eyes, and herded Snape and Sirius out of the room as though they were still pupils under her care.
"No one has interfered with the corpse, Albus." She assured the headmaster, as she perched primly on a chair. Sirius climbed onto one of the tables and sat with his legs dangling; Snape leaned broodingly against the blackboard; and Dumbledore seated himself behind Snape's desk.
"Perhaps you could begin, Sirius, by telling us what happened when you found the victim."
"I'd hardly call him a victim." Sirius replied crisply. Dumbledore's blue gaze did not waver. Sirius shrugged and began to explain.
"I got up at about ten - it is a Sunday after all." He added, as McGonagall raised an eyebrow. "Anyway," he continued, "I had breakfast, washed, dressed."
"The headmaster did not ask for a comprehensive account of your slovenly morning routine, Black." Snape cut in. "He merely wishes to know."
"Thank you, Severus, I will come to you in a moment. Go on please, Sirius."
With a smirk at Snape, Sirius did so.
"Anyway, at about ten thirty I headed down to Snape's office. I wanted to talk to him about something."
"So you say. But what could you possibly desire to discuss with me, Black?"
"It was about Harry." Sirius shot back. "And under the present circumstances I'd say it can wait, all right? As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted by the insinuations of that lanky greaseball, I reached Snape's office at about twenty-five to eleven, something like that. The potions classroom door was locked, so I opened it."
"Cheek!"
"I opened it and came through. I was surprised to find Snape's office door open - we all know how he loathes company. And that he doesn't get up until twelve on Sundays."
Snape scowled - then smiled, unpleasantly.
"If you knew I wouldn't be there, why were you coming to see me at that time? You're digging your own grave, Black."
"That does seem inconsistent." Agreed McGonagall, reluctantly.
"I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation, Sirius." Dumbledore said calmly. Sirius coloured slightly.
"Well - there is an explanation, but it isn't one you're going to approve of. I didn't come down to talk to Snape, I came to steal something from his office."
"I knew it! And finding the Death-Eater there - for whatever purposes - you killed him. That solves one aspect of the mystery, at any rate. I'm sure you'll be able to convince the Ministry it was self-defence, Black. As for the attempted theft."
"Snape, stop gloating and shut up a minute. All I wanted from your office was Ginny Weasley's potions homework. She made a mistake with the essay and didn't realise till afterwards; the poor girl's so terrified of you she couldn't sleep for worrying about how you'd humiliate her in class on Monday."
McGonagall tutted and shook her head. Snape's smile faded.
"That does not give you the right."
"I know, I know. But I felt sorry for her." Sirius looked imploringly at Dumbledore. "She was worried sick. And I knew Snape is a lazy so-and-so at weekends, so I thought I could sneak into his office and grab the essay, Ginny could correct it - it'd only have taken a few minutes - then I could put it back before Snape marked it. If he wasn't such an ogre about homework."
"Sirius, whatever your motivations, you do not have the right to break in to anyone's office. I disapprove strongly of such behaviour." Dumbledore spoke severely, but there was a twinkle in his eye. Snape noticed, and scowled even harder.
"That explains the inconsistency. Please go on with your report."
"But." Snape spluttered. "You mean you believe him? I've never heard such a foolish excuse."
"Severus, please. Sirius."
"Thank you, headmaster." Sirius flashed a gloating look in Snape's direction. "Seeing the office door open, my first thought was that Snape must've got up early, so I decided to leave before he spotted me. But something was wrong - the smell. I have a highly developed sense of smell, and the stink coming from the office, gross as it was, didn't match Snape."
The potions master refrained from commenting on this slur on his personal hygiene. He remained silent, fingering his wand.
"I couldn't just leave without investigating. I know the scent of - of death. And this was it. So I poked my head round the door, and there he was - the Death-Eater, dead as you like."
"But you didn't raise the alarm then?" McGonagall asked.
"I didn't have the chance. I was examining the body - I didn't touch it - when Snape walked in, demanding to know what I was doing there and generally being offensive. He had a look at the Death-Eater and had just told me that he knew him when Hermione came in."
"I see. Thank you, Sirius. Severus?" Dumbledore turned to the potions master.
"You knew the - ah, deceased?"
"Not intimately. He had only recently been initiated into the Dark Lord's circle. He was." Snape swallowed, and said quietly, "he was seventeen years old. I believe his name was Trentham, Claudius Trentham, but beyond that."
"Very well. Clearly our tasks now are twofold: examine the body itself, and find out as much information as possible about him from his name. Severus, you and Sirius will begin the former. Minerva, you and I will tackle the latter."
"But, Albus," McGonagall was startled, "shouldn't we inform the Ministry? Surely they will want to conduct the investigation."
"The Ministry," Dumbledore said quietly, "has refused to acknowledge the return of Voldemort. If the Ministry comes to know of what has happened here, it is likelty that the affair will be hushed up and ignored, and we will learn nothing. Thus, we will conduct an investigation ourselves into the murder of this Trentham. For the moment, I would prefer that no one else is to be involved. We do not yet know what this murder signifies, or why it came about - to release any information we do possess might be playing into Voldemort's hands."
"You think this might be some sort of trap?"
"Possibly, possibly. I would like to know what the Death-Eater was doing in your office, Severus. I would like to know who sent him there. I would like to know who killed him, and why. I would like to know how this event fits with the larger picture, and how it affects Voldemort's ongoing plans. We will determine the answers to these questions together, as quickly and as efficiently as possible." This last remark he directed at Sirius and Snape. The two exchanged dark glances.
"I expect you to cooperate on this." Dumebldore reinforced, gazing intently at each of them.
"You won't have any trouble from me." Said Sirius, eventually.
"I will cooperate, of course." Snape agreed quickly. Dumbledore smiled.
"Excellent! Good luck to you both, then. You may begin at once. Keep me informed of all developments. Minerva?"
McGonagall got up, nodded crisply to Snape and Sirius, and followed Dumbledore out of the room, leaving the two men staring at one another.
"Cooperate, he said." Remarked Sirius.
"Efficiently." Agreed Snape.
"Think we can do it?" The animagus asked, dryly. Snape shook his head, not in negation but in fretful weariness. He dropped into a chair.
"You all right?" Sirius was curious rather than concerned, but determined not to fail Dumbledore by antagonising Snape, no matter how much he wanted to. No, Sirius was not going to strike first.
The potions master passed a hand across his forehead before answering. "Our young friend in there was in my office for a purpose. I believe he was there to kill me."
"What? Sent by who? I mean, you hardly knew him, it can't have been a personal thing."
"Presumably he was sent by the Dark Lord."
"But.I thought you had You-Know-Who convinced you were on his side."
"Hardly." Snape sighed heavily, and Sirius noticed how drawn and pale he looked - even more of an ugly git than usual.
"I sometimes feel that the Dark Lord and I are playing an absurd, vicious game." Snape went on, in an unnervingly dead voice. "I am working against him while pretending allegiance to him; he knows this, but in his turn, pretends ignorance. I suspect his mistrust, but again, feign ignorance."
"So - you think Voldemort is just biding his time, waiting for the right moment to kill you? But why do it like this - why not just use the killing curse at one of your little gatherings? Seems a bit unnecessarily complicated to me, to send an assassin. Besides, surely there are more likely candidates for an assassin than that kid."
"The Dark Lord often uses tasks to test the loyalty and ability of his followers. Possibly Trentham, as a new initiate, was expected to perform such a task - the task of murdering a renegade Death-Eater. I suspect that the Dark Lord waited this long because he wanted to see whether he could still make use of me. Finding that he couldn't he lost patience, and." Snape's voice tailed off. Sirius, looking at him, could read Snape's thoughts clearly: Voldemort's young assassin might have failed, but Voldemort still wanted Snape dead - hence, the next Death-Eater gathering Snape attended would likely be his last. But how could he not go, and still keep up his role as an agent for Dumbledore?
"We'll get to the bottom of this." Sirius told Snape, firmly. "Maybe you're wrong. Maybe this is just some random occurrence that has nothing to do with Voldemort."
But as he said it, Sirius knew how unlikely it sounded. Ever since resuming his role as double agent, Snape had known that a day would come when the Dark Lord would run out of patience, and snuff out his life as easily and with as much equanimity as one would a candle. Today had very nearly been that day, and though disaster had been averted this time by some unknown source, it could not be prevented for ever - or even for long. Snape might have another day, a week, a month to accept the fact of his own incipient demise, but that it would come was inevitable. And Sirius, though he disliked Snape, took no pleasure in that thought. He was searching for something comforting to say when Snape glanced up at him, shrugged, and offered a strange, lopsided smile. There are more important things to worry about than the life of one miserable ex-Death-Eater, that smile said. If it's coming, let it come. Let it come.