One Young Heart
Chapter 21: The Lazy Day
Dumbledore was nowhere to be seen as the sun rose the next day, as in her dormitory Hermione raised her head and tried to summon the energy to face the day, as deep in the castle, Snape continued his path, the track he was wearing across his sumptuous floor growing deeper with the weight of woe.
The sun hung lazily, seeming too lethargic even to drag itself across the sky. The tepid heat of the day contrasted sharply with the barely anxiety throughout the school. Ginny Weasly crossed the dining hall floor in a haze, bumping into tables and jumping at small noises.
The only place where the school did not hum with suppressed hysteria was a single darkened room.
Severus opened the door to see Dumbledore standing tall, staring out the window, his hair a whispy wreath of age. He turned to acknowledge Snape, gaze sweeping over the dusty, peaceful rooms that even Potter had never seen, the inner sanctum of the greatest wizard in the world. "Severus, I thought I might be seeing you here." The potions master crossed the room, stopped a foot away. The two men stared each other down, a stiff-backed, black-clad shadow calmly watching an informal, bent old man across a table as old as the school itself.
The Headmaster sighed, looked away, backed down. "He's got Harry." "Yes. And I say we let him keep the boy." Severus stopped the other man with a hand. "Why would He want to take Harry? He knows everything Harry knows anyway. Here, Potter is malleable, rebellious, useful to Him. There, Potter is dead. Why, then, would the Dark Lord offer him back? He is relatively intelligent. And He's met Potter before. He knows better than to use Harry for political gain." Inscrutable black eyes challenged Dumbledore to accept the truth. "No one would lift a finger to help this boy if you lot didn't have an absurd feeling that he is important. Let the boy fend for himself. This isn't about him. This is about you. Potter is just a tool. As of now, he is either dead or alive, and it would mean my life to try and change that. So I say, let Potter stay there."
The old man turned away, shoulders bent, head bowed, whispered "He wants the potion". "No. If he wanted the potion he would torture me. He wants you to give him the potion."
Severus was sick to death of having to spell out politics and psychology to his handler, a man who held his life in a very incautious hand. He opened his mouth, to repeat the words he had said again and again over the endless years-
A clear, firm voice from the back of the room. "It's not that He can't take Hogwarts, you know. He just thinks he can't. Come on, how well are we defended, if it comes to that? If Voldemort ever got his head straightened out, we'd know. The school would probably fall, and Professor Snape would be dead." Hermione slipped confidently into the room, making no apology.
Severus was taken aback by the girl's sudden appearance, and by her accurate assessment, but nothing matched his surprise at the haughty tone with which Albus answered her. "Indeed, Miss Grange. But, lest you missed that part of the discussion, let me inform you that your hero here would have me leave Potter there, and Weasly. Leave them there to die."
"I know." It wasn't the tears in the girl's eyes that told the teachers that she meant it, but rather the way she tried to keep them from her voice. "They have to stay, or you sacrifice the only advantage you have, Headmaster." Risking a quick glance at the potions master, she flashed him a teary smile. "For once I wish I wasn't such a know it all, Professor."
---
Years later, Snape wasn't able to justify to himself why he went to the Death Eater's meeting that night determined to save two useless children he hated, without implicating a man he hated, all for a girl who had always hated him.
Chapter 21: The Lazy Day
Dumbledore was nowhere to be seen as the sun rose the next day, as in her dormitory Hermione raised her head and tried to summon the energy to face the day, as deep in the castle, Snape continued his path, the track he was wearing across his sumptuous floor growing deeper with the weight of woe.
The sun hung lazily, seeming too lethargic even to drag itself across the sky. The tepid heat of the day contrasted sharply with the barely anxiety throughout the school. Ginny Weasly crossed the dining hall floor in a haze, bumping into tables and jumping at small noises.
The only place where the school did not hum with suppressed hysteria was a single darkened room.
Severus opened the door to see Dumbledore standing tall, staring out the window, his hair a whispy wreath of age. He turned to acknowledge Snape, gaze sweeping over the dusty, peaceful rooms that even Potter had never seen, the inner sanctum of the greatest wizard in the world. "Severus, I thought I might be seeing you here." The potions master crossed the room, stopped a foot away. The two men stared each other down, a stiff-backed, black-clad shadow calmly watching an informal, bent old man across a table as old as the school itself.
The Headmaster sighed, looked away, backed down. "He's got Harry." "Yes. And I say we let him keep the boy." Severus stopped the other man with a hand. "Why would He want to take Harry? He knows everything Harry knows anyway. Here, Potter is malleable, rebellious, useful to Him. There, Potter is dead. Why, then, would the Dark Lord offer him back? He is relatively intelligent. And He's met Potter before. He knows better than to use Harry for political gain." Inscrutable black eyes challenged Dumbledore to accept the truth. "No one would lift a finger to help this boy if you lot didn't have an absurd feeling that he is important. Let the boy fend for himself. This isn't about him. This is about you. Potter is just a tool. As of now, he is either dead or alive, and it would mean my life to try and change that. So I say, let Potter stay there."
The old man turned away, shoulders bent, head bowed, whispered "He wants the potion". "No. If he wanted the potion he would torture me. He wants you to give him the potion."
Severus was sick to death of having to spell out politics and psychology to his handler, a man who held his life in a very incautious hand. He opened his mouth, to repeat the words he had said again and again over the endless years-
A clear, firm voice from the back of the room. "It's not that He can't take Hogwarts, you know. He just thinks he can't. Come on, how well are we defended, if it comes to that? If Voldemort ever got his head straightened out, we'd know. The school would probably fall, and Professor Snape would be dead." Hermione slipped confidently into the room, making no apology.
Severus was taken aback by the girl's sudden appearance, and by her accurate assessment, but nothing matched his surprise at the haughty tone with which Albus answered her. "Indeed, Miss Grange. But, lest you missed that part of the discussion, let me inform you that your hero here would have me leave Potter there, and Weasly. Leave them there to die."
"I know." It wasn't the tears in the girl's eyes that told the teachers that she meant it, but rather the way she tried to keep them from her voice. "They have to stay, or you sacrifice the only advantage you have, Headmaster." Risking a quick glance at the potions master, she flashed him a teary smile. "For once I wish I wasn't such a know it all, Professor."
---
Years later, Snape wasn't able to justify to himself why he went to the Death Eater's meeting that night determined to save two useless children he hated, without implicating a man he hated, all for a girl who had always hated him.