By Alarun
Part 6
"They did not sell us out! I won't believe my friends would do that to me! Lily is dead, for Merlin's sake!" Snape was pacing Dumbledore's office, breathing like he was going to have an anxiety attack at any moment.
"Severus, sit down, please." Albus Dumbledore conjured two cups of tea onto his desk. "Calm yourself ---"
"Calm myself? You just told me that Sirius or Remus sold my name to Voldemort! They --"
Dumbledore cut him off. "Severus, you insisted on informing the Marauders and Lily of the truth, keeping them out of your Obliviation. Nobody else knew that you were a spy. Who else is there?"
"You knew. The entire bloody Order of the Phoenix knew! I could have slipped at a meeting! Anything! All that matters is that Lily and James and Peter are dead! Dead, Albus!" Snape stared, irritated, at the Headmaster when he motioned for the distressed man to sit.
"Severus," Albus began, using his name as a focus point. "Sirius was taken by the Dementors to Azkaban. He's going to have a trial in about a month, after this tragedy dies down a little." Both men flinched at Albus's poor word choice.
"You're going to have to do the Obliviate again. This time, nobody will know." The emotion in Snape's eyes was torn. He didn't want Harry to grow up without him, but he didn't want to risk getting his son hurt. Safety won out. "Not even my son. He can't. Harry would die if Voldemort ever found out."
Harry felt his jaw drop open at hearing Snape say that Harry was his son. He had figured it out from before in the pensieve, but to hear it voiced as common knowledge was still somewhat of an unfamiliar shock.
"Yes, Severus. We can fix it, if you're sure …Voldemort is gone now, remember."
Snape scowled at the floor, obviously infuriated with himself for not being able to do anything to help his family. "But his followers can be just as dangerous. Lucius Malfoy was Voldemort's right-hand man; he's good enough to keep them prepared for the eventual return of the Dark Lord."
Albus couldn't think of a reply, so silence reigned in the Headmaster's office.
"Did Bella take that aging potion she asked me for?" Snape asked suddenly.
"I believe so. She has planned to move next to the Dursleys' home on Privet Drive, to keep a watchful eye on Harry. She has nothing else to do, she said, now that James is …" Dumbledore trailed off.
Severus closed his eyes and sat down.
* * *
Lucius Malfoy stalked silently down the shadowy corridors of the Hogwarts dungeon, intent on the Slytherin Common Room with purposes of getting his son Draco out of the bloody school.
Upon passing the heavy Potions lab door, which was pushed slightly ajar with a thin stream of yellow light escaping, he paused. Even when he and Severus were in school together, the introvert spent much of his free time in the dungeons' labs. Why would things be different with an incapacitated Headmaster, wherever Dumbledore may be?
The mellow smell of a Calming potion, along with the misty steam that accompanied the ingestion of the mixture, emanated through the thin crack of light. Lucius's ears perked up, listening …
…Sirius hushed their conversation as he felt the presence of another being outside of the door. Having spent so much time as Snuffles, the shaggy black dog, had developed his senses of hearing and smell further than his eyesight. He quietly stalked toward the door, pressing his ear as close to the wood as he could without moving it, and sniffing an underlying smell of the intruder. The lilac and rosemary of washed clothing, a specific mixture of perfumes developed by individual house elves to scent the clean laundry. Money. Darkness. Power. A Malfoy.
Sirius jumped back, looking toward the others, realizing that he had spoken Malfoy's name aloud. Harry, once being dosed with a Calming potion, had insisted on returning to the pensieve with nary an explanation to the others. He sat with his back to the door, slouched over the small pewter object. Ron and Hermione were staring wide-eyed at Sirius, Remus was alternating between watching Harry and Padfoot, obviously unsure of what to do, and Snape was removing his red and gold tie, hurriedly yanking off his outer black school robes, throwing them behind a desk.
…"Malfoy…"
A quiet, rasping voice, obviously unaware that it had spoken aloud, sounded directly on the opposite side of the door as Lucius's head. The Death Eater jumped back a clear foot before stopping himself from crying out. He drew his wand and muttered a curse at the door…
…Before Snape's Gryffindor school robe and tie hit the floor, the door flew open with enough force to send it nearly off its hinges.