Chapter 25: Questions and Answers

Harry was eying the stairs to the upper floor nervously. Where was Hermione? There couldn't be that many books on Dark Arts, could there? But then again, the Black family had been powerful Dark Wizards. Maybe there was more research material than he had thought.

"The questions are starting, Severus."

Albus Dumbledore gave the dark haired young man by his side a piercing look.

"I will have to tell them about the part you played in all this. Unless you prefer …"

His voice trailed off, giving his companion the chance to utter his preferences. Snape smiled bitterly, avoiding Dumbledore's eyes. Instead he let his gaze wonder over the wide green plain that lay before them. Both men were sitting on the top bars of a long wooden fence that seemed to separate two pieces of farmland. In the distance a lark was entertaining a herd of sheep with an obviously fascinating story – the four-legged creatures showed no interest at all in the green grass around them but stared up at the tree and the bird stupidly.

"Unless I prefer to go into Azkaban", Snape finally finished the other man's sentence.

"I can't really say that I do, Albus, so your … interference would be highly appreciated."

Dumbledore nodded.

"Then everybody will know you have been spying on Voldemort for me."

It seemed like stating the obvious and Snape allowed himself to show the older wizard an amused smile.

"Do you think they didn't know?"

There was a slight hint of amusement also in his voice.

"Do you think I could have hidden something that big from him? Of course he knew about my connection to you. He very much appreciated my taking that enormous risk of getting close to the famous Albus Dumbledore. And he was proud that he had trained me well enough to fool you, to lure you into believing and trusting me."

Sparkling blue eyes met fathomless black ones. The blue eyes broke away first.

"You must have improved your talent in Occlumency further than I thought."

Dumbledore's voice was casual and he played with the hem of his robe. Snape kept looking at him intently.

"Are you asking me, if I was always able to keep the truth from him? Or are you asking me if I kept the truth from you?"

With an amount of vigour surprising for a man his age the headmaster jumped off the fence. He dusted imaginary dirt from his robes, then turned around and looked the younger man straight in the eye.

"No, Severus. I am asking myself how I could not have seen this. And I am wondering how you managed to keep both your masters satisfied."

The dark eyes didn't blink.

"I had good teachers."

The silence between them grew heavier with every passing second. This time Snape gave in first. Sighing he looked away from the older man and climbed off the fence himself. With slow and somewhat hesitant steps he joined Dumbledore and together they started walking across the green.

"I never lied to you, Albus", Snape continued as they walked side by side. "I just didn't always tell you everything. You understand that I couldn't always inform you about every mission, every planned attack, don't you? I mean, sooner or later it would have been obvious that every operation discussed in my presence would have been bound to fail. In some cases I interfered myself. Others I just had to let happen. And many more I never heard about until they had been executed."

Suddenly he stopped, grasping the headmaster's arm and forcing the other man to face him.

"I didn't know about James and Lily Potter. He never mentioned them to me with a single word."

Dumbledore stared at him with wet eyes.

"And neither did Lucius Malfoy?"

Snape shook his head slowly, carefully.

"No, never."

"But he knew about it."

Snape's eyes flickered for a second and he appeared to fight the urge to blink or to look away. He seemed unable to answer that question while facing the sad blue eyes. Only when he lowered his gaze he whispered:

"He never said anything to me, Albus. He usually doesn't keep secrets from me and he never said anything."

Albus Dumbledore looked at his former student, seemingly weighing his words. Then he continued to walk. After taking a deep breath Snape followed.

Harry felt a tickling sensation on his cheeks. Irritably he raised a hand and brushed it across his face. To his own surprise he found himself crying.

There was no fire blazing in the headmaster's office and a window high up was opened wide, yet there were tiny beads of sweat dripping from Snape's temples. Mad Eye Moody, looking disturbingly mundane without his magical eye, had obviously paced the younger man into a corner and continued to walk up to him, stopping short just before he would have been able to touch him, glare at him and then limp away again.

"You should have told me before, Dumbledore", he growled.

"If I had known that he was your mole, I would have checked the delivered information more carefully."

"And wasted time that we didn't have on the grounds of a tenuous inkling."

Dumbledore, sitting behind his desk and squinting at both men through half-moon spectacles, looked tired and fatigued. With an impatient gesture he swept a Honeyduke's bag off the table and grabbed the quill that had been hidden underneath. It took him another moment to locate an unspoiled piece of parchment, then he started scribbling a hasty note, rolled it up and waved at the brooding screech owl that had rested beside Fawkes on a windowsill. Obediently the smaller bird fluttered over and held out its leg, waited patiently until the old man had attached the message with fumbling fingers and then elegantly found its way out the window and into the blue sky outside.

"Severus will not be put in front of any tribunal. He will not be forced to testify in any hearing, neither in court nor in my office. Is that clear, Alastor?"

Moody took another step closer towards Snape who found himself with his back to the wall suddenly. His black eyes flickered nervously from Moody to Dumbledore.

"I guess if you trust him, I have no choice but to have faith in your judgement."

The Auror's voice held a very palpable sense of disappointment which the headmaster chose to ignore.

"I am glad we agree on this one, old friend. Now, it's time for us to get ready for the next dreaded hearing. Severus, you should stay here, it wouldn't be wise for you to appear in public right now."

The addressed wizard nodded slowly, edging towards a bookshelf and away from the still fuming Moody who was now grabbing his coat. Without looking at the younger one Moody spat:

"I presume you already heard that your friend Malfoy got off the hook without any outside help? Said he acted under a curse. Not very believable, if you ask me, but money can bend the truth into the most obscure shapes, I guess."

Snape kept his mouth shut, yet his eyes were talking – of anger, fear, contempt and something deeper, more primitive. Moody seemed to be pleased by that reaction, for his already slightly disfigured face broke into a grim smile as he limped a little closer once more, glancing casually towards the back of the room where Dumbledore was skipping through a collection of revoltingly ugly hats, throwing the unwanted ones sloppily onto the floor.

"Whatever he may or may not believe", he whispered "I know that you are a turncoat. You are loyal to no one but yourself. Congratulations, kid, you have managed to choose the right side at the right time. But rest assured, wherever you go, whatever you do, I will be there do remind you of the corpses that line your path."

Snape had started shivering, yet he didn't back away from the menacing stare and the hateful voice. Ruthlessly Moody went on.

"I will remind you of Alison, Rita, Raymond, Evan, Paul and Jeanette, Frank and Alice, James and Lily. I will remind you of unnamed and uncounted dead Muggles. I will remind you of the dead children. And I haven't forgotten about your father either."

Moody was so close now that he could see his own reflection in Snape's wide open eyes. With a satisfied grunt he turned on his heels and strode off towards the door, leaving the younger man shaking with what seemed to be helpless anger. Suddenly a frown appeared between the dark eyes and Snape dared to take a step into the room, towards Moody.

"Which children?" he asked hoarsely.

Moody shot around. Dumbledore stopped his search for a fitting headgear and turned around slowly.

"Don't think I didn't know that you had met with Albus right after I had left."

Still nothing more than a whisper, accompanied by fiery eyes.

"He was so excited about that day nursery for magically talented children from all-magical as well as Muggle families; he was bound to talk to you about it, safety or not. And you ran straight to your master to tell him about it, didn't you? The perfect opportunity for wiping them out before they can become dangerous, is that what you thought?"

Moody was screaming now, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. Fawkes fluttered nervously around the room. Dumbledore stood perfectly still, just looking at the two men.

"What children? The children that were killed on that first day the nursery was opened! The children that were snatched out of their parents' arms by masked and hooded monsters! The children that died, because you needed something to satisfy master with, to proof your loyalty!"

Moody's face glowed red with fury, yet he didn't move a muscle. His eyes were fixed on the young and stricken face before him that had lost all of the little colour it had possessed. Snape managed to focus on Dumbledore.

"You told me there were guards. Magical guards. You told me nobody would be able to get through."

His eyes glazed over and his voice quivered slightly. Dumbledore let his shoulders sink down slumped into his armchair.

"It was the first day", he whispered, looking at no one, staring off into space.

"There were so many people coming in and going out, Muggles, wizards, we thought it would be better to rely on keen eyes and sharp ears. We hadn't thought … They shouldn't have known … We thought it was safe."

His eyes had lost their sparkle as he looked at Snape in disbelief. The younger man answered the look with one of quiet desperation.

Mrs. Weasley was storming towards her son, her face as pale as the wall. Bill was crying quietly, had been for a while, judging from his puffy red eyes and his wet face. Harry was dumbfounded.

"They said they weren't worthy of the magical gift", the young man whispered, accepting his mother's comforting arms around him without any resistance or obvious appreciation.

"They told them they didn't deserve to live."

Harry glanced back at the stairs to where he knew Ron and Ginny were watching this scene from underneath his cloak. Nothing stirred and no sound came from them. He considered blowing their cover for a moment, to enable them to support their brother, to join their family in this. Then he changed his mind. Bill probably felt embarrassed enough as it was, crying in front of the other order members, reliving, if only in words, what must have been the nightmare of his childhood. He surely didn't need to know that his younger siblings had seen this moment of weakness.

"He offered me a job", Snape told Malfoy. The blond man sat in an armchair in front of the fire, bouncing an equally blond baby boy on his knees with a rather unenthusiastic expression on his face. Upon hearing his friend's words his mood lightened up visibly.

"As a teacher?" he asked eagerly. Snape nodded.

"Potions", he said quietly.  "I will be starting next term."

"Severus, that's perfect!" Lucius exclaimed, extracting himself from the heavily cushioned armchair with some difficulty, because the baby had settled on pulling at his long hair with vigour.  Allowing himself a small grin Snape stepped in and relieved his friend of the happily chuckling burden, clutching the baby with an experienced grip.

"You will be closer to Albus Dumbledore than ever before", Lucius went on, nearly skipping with excitement as a paced up and down in front of the fireplace.

"You will have direct access to any new information they might get and can keep an eye on their activities for us. Severus, that is marvellous."

The mad glint in his eyes was back.

"That Potter boy is going to come to Hogwarts, you realise that, don't you? We may not be able to find him now and we may not be able to find him soon, but once he starts at Hogwarts he will be directly under your nose."

Snape gently freed a strand of his dark hair from the little boy's grip, offering him a shiny yellow toy wand instead, before he answered.

"That thought has crossed my mind, yes. But it will be ten years until then, Lucius. Ten years in which I will have to be very careful not to draw too much attention to myself. Death threats from people who believe I have betrayed the cause and the master will make that very difficult. Dumbledore's trust may prove immensely valuable for us in the future, but right now it makes my life rather dangerous."

Lucius laid a hand on his friend's shoulder and ruffled his son's hair affectionately.

"Don't worry, eagle nose, I will take care of that. Those who are still loyal to the Dark Lord will listen to me. They will understand how important it is to have you right where you will be."

His voice dropped down to a whisper.

"We will find him, Severus. We will find him and restore his powers and then we will finally watch this world die in a bright burning flare. And from its ashes the new world, the better world will rise like a phoenix. He is not dead, Severus. He is still there. I can still hear him calling to me, feel his presence."

Snape looked down at his left forearm and touched a spot there broodingly.

"I know."