Chapter 7 - Snape the Antagonised.
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Snape woke up to the sound of moving around in his rooms. First of all thinking it was an intruder, he sat up and grabbed a candlestick, but as he heard his own voice swear gently under it's breath, he knew it was his double.
He got dressed in the shortest possible time, and walked slowly into the main room, assembling his tired face into its usual look of contempt and hatred. The other version of himself was already dressed, but was rubbing his knee. "I walked into a table," he apologised.
Snape gave him a look of pure contempt and said; "I will show you to the hall, as you don't seem to be able to walk from one end of the room to the other without bumping into anything."
Sev gave him a dirty look, but allowed Snape to show him to the hall, all the time fuming at Snape. As he looked at himself he asked himself, Iam I really that condescending? Am I really that pail? It has been a long time since I remember my last job in the sun, but I really can't look almost dead. I can't be that Ugly? I never realised that my nose hooked as much as that. And do I really look that Greasy? /I Sev looked at the other Snape, but all the time his mind seemed to refuse to believe that it was him. It just couldn't be! He refused to believe that this man in front of him was, no matter how far removed and different, was essentially, him. This man was suspicious, cruel, lonely and, well, not how he wanted to think of himself. If was like everything he denied about himself had been personified and thrown in front of him.
He couldn't be a completely horrible man. He had to have some redeeming quality. He was him, he couldn't just be a nasty, slightly sadistic potions teacher who trusted no one and had nothing. He couldn't be. This couldn't be one version of him. There had to be a mistake. It just couldn't be true. This man had to a good person in one way. But this man, he was cold, condescending and just...Sev wasn't too sure. It was either hate filled or extremely sad. He wasn't sure why this man, himself, would be either, or why he himself had thought he could be either of these things, but his rooms in the Dungeon were not the rooms of a man who was happy.
As they walked into The Great Hall, Sev could feel over a thousand pairs of eyes giving him a double take and heard the sounds of over a thousand people spluttering as they realised they saw two Severus Snape's. Snape motioned to Sev to go to breakfast, sitting next to Dumbledore, which he did before both Draco Malfoy and Professor McGonagall faced him
Professor McGonagall's face looked like thunder as she strode over to him and shouted, "Professor, I found on of your first years, walking around the halls last night, out of bed. I took fifty points from Slytherin, but I expect you to punish her properly!"
"I shall give her what she deserves." Said Snape neutrally.
"Don't use that one on me Severus," She hissed, much to the amusement of all the Gryffindors who were listening into their conversation, "She should be given detention for at least a week!"
"Then that's what she will get." Said Snape, his voice devoid of emotion. McGonagall l, obviously annoyed by his level headedness walked off, while Draco Malfoy waited to speak with him.
"Professor, " he said in a simpering voice, "I found Ysabelle Todd walking around the corridors at three AM"
"Sixty points to Slytherin for your good work then," Snape said Smugly. He saw McGonagall looking at him with an expression of hatred and grinned nastily. Stupid Gryffindor. It pleased him immensely when he could get his revenge on Gryffindor, although sometimes he wondered what revenge he was exacting. He swept over to the table where his Double was eating like a man who hadn't eaten for ages, occasionally apologising for his manners between mouthfuls of the food.
The way he ate disgusted Snape. He ate like an animal, unrefined, tearing at bacon and sausages with his teeth, like an animal ripping at a corpse. He sat down next to the other Snape, and taking his usual bowl of Museli and listened in.
"I trust to see you slept well Severus...."
"Thank you headmaster, " he said between mouthfuls, "But please call me Sev. I think it's easier as my double here wouldn't like to be called that."
"Of course, but later we will have discus how we should approach the Ministry. We will have to be very Diplomatic. Out Minister, Cornelius Fudge..."
"...Is paranoid enough with the threat of The Dark Lord, let alone the other races." Finished Sev, "yes, as I was briefed by, well, you."
Dumbledore allowed himself a small smile. "Indeed, but I don't think that this is a matter to be discussed over breakfast. You have free reign over the school grounds, as long as you don't disturb lessons of course."
"But the pupils Headmaster, if they see me..."
"Sever... Sev, I'm perfectly sure the pupils can come up with their own explanation for your appearance, but I shall tell the pupils in a few days. But first of all we must not let them know who you really are. The ministry may find it disturbing, they might not think before they act and so on."
"I see Professor," he acknowledged as he started on some fried bread, "do excuse me Headmaster, I haven't eaten for a few days."
"I understand Sev."
"I don't remember the school food being this good...or perhaps that's just my memory being jaded."
"It's of no consequence, I'm sure, "said Dumbledore lazily, "please, continue breakfast, but I must ask you a question that's been puzzling me so far, and you must answer me truthfully."
"Of course headmaster."
"Who is the dark Lord in your world?"
"Which one?"
"One?" asked Dumbledore, hiding his horror.
"Um, sorry, I meant He who must not be named."
Snape chocked on his museli. At the very mention of the Dark Lord, his arm began to tingle, making his drop his spoon.
"Severus," enquired MacDuff, "Are you all right?"
"Yes, yes I am!" he snapped, more at himself than at MacDuff.
"Okay," said MacDuff, looking away, turning back to his conversation with professor Flitwick.
"We must discuss this later," said Dumbledore.
Snape put down his spoon. What the hell was going on? Snape looked at himself, and realised that he was right about his double. This might be more than it was worth. He had brought along trouble, and a lot of it. The thought that his double might have messed up made him want to smile. But, unlike Snape, no one seemed to have noticed. But Snape was of the mind that his double would be under strict orders not to tell him anything, and although he did not think himself that important, he still wanted to know what he had meant.
"Excuse me, ISevI" he said, nastily, "Finished?"
"Ummff?" asked Sev, his mouth full of fried egg.
"I'll take that as a yes." He sneered, and grabbing his double by the arm, "C'mon!" And with that he pulled the other version of himself out of the chair, and lead him out to the corridor to the Great Hall.
As Snape, not hiding his double from sight, walked pasted the Gryffindor table, Hermione looked up, and almost spat out her pumpkin juice in astonishment. "Oh my God, is that what I thought I saw?"
Ron had turned white. "Please, please let that be the effect of Dobby's cooking on breakfast."
"Two Snape's, who could think of a worse fate?" asked Harry, "Two of them, twice the...snapeness." He shuddered, "Ehh, that's a thought that shouldn't be thought on a full stomach."
Neville leaned over to them. "I'm so glad I didn't take potions. What do you think it was, he made a double so he can create nasty punishments for pupils more efficiently?"
"Neville, you really know how to cheer me up, don't you?" asked Ron sarcastically.
"No, I think this has to do with the lake, " said Hermionie, "And we're going to find out, even if I have to actually talk to Snape."
**********
The moment Snape left the hall; he grabbed his double by the lapels, and thrust him against a wall.
"Talk." He said simple.
"About what?" asked his double.
"You know what. What did you mean, which one?"
"Which what?"
"Don't act stupid, it doesn't suit either of us, " spat Snape, "Which dark lord? That meant something. It means that you've brought your trouble with you as well!"
"Take your hands off me," growled Sev, his eyes suddenly flashing with anger.
"No." Growled Snape back, his own hooked nose practically touching Sev's own.
"I've been told not to hurt anyone, but I think I might make an exception for myself." Sev rasped back, his hand going down to his pocket.
"Oh, a slave of the Ministry are you?" Snape jeered, grabbing Sev's hand in a vice-like grip, "You always have to do as they say? Like a little boy?"
"Just because I don't want to share some unimportant information with you, a simple teacher, you take me out here to mock? " He sneered, grabbing Snape's other hand. He clamped onto it, and squeezed. Snape didn't want to show that his other self was getting to him, but his grip was like that of a python, deadly and was causing his hand to go red. He could feel his bones crack under the pressure, looking into his other self's face, the pure concentration on not showing any kind of emotion.
Finally, Snape's grip on Sev's wrist loosened, and Sev pulled his hand out of Snape's. He almost fell down to the ground as his other self let go, abandoning him. Sev only walked about two foot down the corridor before Snape, managing to summon some strength in his hand grabbed his wand out, and screamed, "Impediementa!"
Sev let out a short shout as the invisible ropes tied themselves around him, holding his unceremoniously upside-down. Sev, attempting to kick in mid air, his robes falling over his face, his black jeaned legs looking rather superfluous as he tried to get at his wand. "What the hell....."
"I'm taking you to the ministry, right now!"
"What about Dumbledore?"
"He trusted you, but obviously, he was wrong." Shouted Snape, "Now, if you don't do as I say, I'll take you to Fudge and get the reward he'd probably pay for you."
"You'd go to Azkaban for this, our Fudge would put you their!" Shouted Sev, his eyes standing out of his head, "Or your Fudge would lock you up!"
"Talk!"
"No"
"What the hell troubles have you brought with you?" Screeched Snape, like a hysterical schoolgirl, "You come here, you walked around like you own the place, you talk to everyone like you're the oldest of friends, and act like you're a......you're a.....you're a Bloody Marauder, and now you've brought trouble with you, tell me! Or are you too bloody perfect to do that!"
"Bloody Marauder?" asked Sev, looking confused as he hung, but once Snape had started his rant, he wasn't going to stop.
"If it was me doing this, I probably would be dead by now, but no, when It's someone else bringing trouble to Hogwarts, it's all they can do to accommodate them! But me, well, I might as well just have become a hermit! Tell me, tell me what the hell you're going on about, who the hell this Dark Lord is, and maybe, maybe I'll let you go, but I'd rather let you hang their like the arrogant smart Alec you are!" Snape, his face red, his throat suddenly swore from the pent up rage had to gasp for breath before he could hear Sev's answer.
"Please, just let me down and I'll answer you. I'll answer you, and I will tell Dumbledore, but first of all, just let me down." He said calmly.
Snape, as if he had just realised what he had just done, looked a little confused, but then putting on a face of resigned triumph he raised his wand, undoing the spell. Sev fell back to earth with a bump. He sat up, rubbing the back of his neck, and gasped, "You didn't need to do that."
"What is this?" said a gentle voice.
Both Snape's turned around. Professor Dumbledore was standing there, as if he had been watching the whole event. Both of them looked at him with wide- eyed horror before Dumbledore said, "Severus, go to class, I shall talk to Sev. "
"But, but...."
"No buts Severus." Said Dumbledore, his voice suddenly warning; "This is a matter for the Ministry."
"But Headmaster....."
"Severus, don't you have your NEWT classes this morning?" said Dumbledore with more wit than he should have been allowed to have.
Snape gave up, and stormed off angrily, turning his back on the old man before he drew a face of disgust. How dare his other self get off so lightly? How dare he not tell him what he wanted to know? Snape's pallid skin turned a very bright shade of beetroot red. Snape was beginning to hate himself a lot more than he thought he would.
**********
Notes.
1/ I think it's funny for both Snape's to hate each other so much. Also, have you noticed how little most people actually know about themselves? A person can go through life thinking they're good, but in fact be evil, or the other way around. It's just a matter of perspective. The way you view a situation is different to everyone else's. For example, an accused murderer could see himself as an innocent victim, while the rest of the world see him as a barely human monster. But, it could be that a supposed hero could see his own heroic actions as cruel and callous, while the rest of the world could see them as good.
Okay, more on that later.
2/I have to admit, I think like Snape does at the end of the chapter, but that's because I see waaaay too much of myself in Snape. I'm petty, sharpe tongued, somewhat good at what I do and dislike people that I don't know well. So, my apologises for putting my own resentment about the world into Snape.
3/ yes, the hanging thing was a reference to OoTP
4/ I swore in this chapter. Sorry! I didn't mean to, but it was the only way I could express everything.
5/This Is continuing, but very, very slowly. I'm sorry, I'm just being slow at the moment.
**********
Snape woke up to the sound of moving around in his rooms. First of all thinking it was an intruder, he sat up and grabbed a candlestick, but as he heard his own voice swear gently under it's breath, he knew it was his double.
He got dressed in the shortest possible time, and walked slowly into the main room, assembling his tired face into its usual look of contempt and hatred. The other version of himself was already dressed, but was rubbing his knee. "I walked into a table," he apologised.
Snape gave him a look of pure contempt and said; "I will show you to the hall, as you don't seem to be able to walk from one end of the room to the other without bumping into anything."
Sev gave him a dirty look, but allowed Snape to show him to the hall, all the time fuming at Snape. As he looked at himself he asked himself, Iam I really that condescending? Am I really that pail? It has been a long time since I remember my last job in the sun, but I really can't look almost dead. I can't be that Ugly? I never realised that my nose hooked as much as that. And do I really look that Greasy? /I Sev looked at the other Snape, but all the time his mind seemed to refuse to believe that it was him. It just couldn't be! He refused to believe that this man in front of him was, no matter how far removed and different, was essentially, him. This man was suspicious, cruel, lonely and, well, not how he wanted to think of himself. If was like everything he denied about himself had been personified and thrown in front of him.
He couldn't be a completely horrible man. He had to have some redeeming quality. He was him, he couldn't just be a nasty, slightly sadistic potions teacher who trusted no one and had nothing. He couldn't be. This couldn't be one version of him. There had to be a mistake. It just couldn't be true. This man had to a good person in one way. But this man, he was cold, condescending and just...Sev wasn't too sure. It was either hate filled or extremely sad. He wasn't sure why this man, himself, would be either, or why he himself had thought he could be either of these things, but his rooms in the Dungeon were not the rooms of a man who was happy.
As they walked into The Great Hall, Sev could feel over a thousand pairs of eyes giving him a double take and heard the sounds of over a thousand people spluttering as they realised they saw two Severus Snape's. Snape motioned to Sev to go to breakfast, sitting next to Dumbledore, which he did before both Draco Malfoy and Professor McGonagall faced him
Professor McGonagall's face looked like thunder as she strode over to him and shouted, "Professor, I found on of your first years, walking around the halls last night, out of bed. I took fifty points from Slytherin, but I expect you to punish her properly!"
"I shall give her what she deserves." Said Snape neutrally.
"Don't use that one on me Severus," She hissed, much to the amusement of all the Gryffindors who were listening into their conversation, "She should be given detention for at least a week!"
"Then that's what she will get." Said Snape, his voice devoid of emotion. McGonagall l, obviously annoyed by his level headedness walked off, while Draco Malfoy waited to speak with him.
"Professor, " he said in a simpering voice, "I found Ysabelle Todd walking around the corridors at three AM"
"Sixty points to Slytherin for your good work then," Snape said Smugly. He saw McGonagall looking at him with an expression of hatred and grinned nastily. Stupid Gryffindor. It pleased him immensely when he could get his revenge on Gryffindor, although sometimes he wondered what revenge he was exacting. He swept over to the table where his Double was eating like a man who hadn't eaten for ages, occasionally apologising for his manners between mouthfuls of the food.
The way he ate disgusted Snape. He ate like an animal, unrefined, tearing at bacon and sausages with his teeth, like an animal ripping at a corpse. He sat down next to the other Snape, and taking his usual bowl of Museli and listened in.
"I trust to see you slept well Severus...."
"Thank you headmaster, " he said between mouthfuls, "But please call me Sev. I think it's easier as my double here wouldn't like to be called that."
"Of course, but later we will have discus how we should approach the Ministry. We will have to be very Diplomatic. Out Minister, Cornelius Fudge..."
"...Is paranoid enough with the threat of The Dark Lord, let alone the other races." Finished Sev, "yes, as I was briefed by, well, you."
Dumbledore allowed himself a small smile. "Indeed, but I don't think that this is a matter to be discussed over breakfast. You have free reign over the school grounds, as long as you don't disturb lessons of course."
"But the pupils Headmaster, if they see me..."
"Sever... Sev, I'm perfectly sure the pupils can come up with their own explanation for your appearance, but I shall tell the pupils in a few days. But first of all we must not let them know who you really are. The ministry may find it disturbing, they might not think before they act and so on."
"I see Professor," he acknowledged as he started on some fried bread, "do excuse me Headmaster, I haven't eaten for a few days."
"I understand Sev."
"I don't remember the school food being this good...or perhaps that's just my memory being jaded."
"It's of no consequence, I'm sure, "said Dumbledore lazily, "please, continue breakfast, but I must ask you a question that's been puzzling me so far, and you must answer me truthfully."
"Of course headmaster."
"Who is the dark Lord in your world?"
"Which one?"
"One?" asked Dumbledore, hiding his horror.
"Um, sorry, I meant He who must not be named."
Snape chocked on his museli. At the very mention of the Dark Lord, his arm began to tingle, making his drop his spoon.
"Severus," enquired MacDuff, "Are you all right?"
"Yes, yes I am!" he snapped, more at himself than at MacDuff.
"Okay," said MacDuff, looking away, turning back to his conversation with professor Flitwick.
"We must discuss this later," said Dumbledore.
Snape put down his spoon. What the hell was going on? Snape looked at himself, and realised that he was right about his double. This might be more than it was worth. He had brought along trouble, and a lot of it. The thought that his double might have messed up made him want to smile. But, unlike Snape, no one seemed to have noticed. But Snape was of the mind that his double would be under strict orders not to tell him anything, and although he did not think himself that important, he still wanted to know what he had meant.
"Excuse me, ISevI" he said, nastily, "Finished?"
"Ummff?" asked Sev, his mouth full of fried egg.
"I'll take that as a yes." He sneered, and grabbing his double by the arm, "C'mon!" And with that he pulled the other version of himself out of the chair, and lead him out to the corridor to the Great Hall.
As Snape, not hiding his double from sight, walked pasted the Gryffindor table, Hermione looked up, and almost spat out her pumpkin juice in astonishment. "Oh my God, is that what I thought I saw?"
Ron had turned white. "Please, please let that be the effect of Dobby's cooking on breakfast."
"Two Snape's, who could think of a worse fate?" asked Harry, "Two of them, twice the...snapeness." He shuddered, "Ehh, that's a thought that shouldn't be thought on a full stomach."
Neville leaned over to them. "I'm so glad I didn't take potions. What do you think it was, he made a double so he can create nasty punishments for pupils more efficiently?"
"Neville, you really know how to cheer me up, don't you?" asked Ron sarcastically.
"No, I think this has to do with the lake, " said Hermionie, "And we're going to find out, even if I have to actually talk to Snape."
**********
The moment Snape left the hall; he grabbed his double by the lapels, and thrust him against a wall.
"Talk." He said simple.
"About what?" asked his double.
"You know what. What did you mean, which one?"
"Which what?"
"Don't act stupid, it doesn't suit either of us, " spat Snape, "Which dark lord? That meant something. It means that you've brought your trouble with you as well!"
"Take your hands off me," growled Sev, his eyes suddenly flashing with anger.
"No." Growled Snape back, his own hooked nose practically touching Sev's own.
"I've been told not to hurt anyone, but I think I might make an exception for myself." Sev rasped back, his hand going down to his pocket.
"Oh, a slave of the Ministry are you?" Snape jeered, grabbing Sev's hand in a vice-like grip, "You always have to do as they say? Like a little boy?"
"Just because I don't want to share some unimportant information with you, a simple teacher, you take me out here to mock? " He sneered, grabbing Snape's other hand. He clamped onto it, and squeezed. Snape didn't want to show that his other self was getting to him, but his grip was like that of a python, deadly and was causing his hand to go red. He could feel his bones crack under the pressure, looking into his other self's face, the pure concentration on not showing any kind of emotion.
Finally, Snape's grip on Sev's wrist loosened, and Sev pulled his hand out of Snape's. He almost fell down to the ground as his other self let go, abandoning him. Sev only walked about two foot down the corridor before Snape, managing to summon some strength in his hand grabbed his wand out, and screamed, "Impediementa!"
Sev let out a short shout as the invisible ropes tied themselves around him, holding his unceremoniously upside-down. Sev, attempting to kick in mid air, his robes falling over his face, his black jeaned legs looking rather superfluous as he tried to get at his wand. "What the hell....."
"I'm taking you to the ministry, right now!"
"What about Dumbledore?"
"He trusted you, but obviously, he was wrong." Shouted Snape, "Now, if you don't do as I say, I'll take you to Fudge and get the reward he'd probably pay for you."
"You'd go to Azkaban for this, our Fudge would put you their!" Shouted Sev, his eyes standing out of his head, "Or your Fudge would lock you up!"
"Talk!"
"No"
"What the hell troubles have you brought with you?" Screeched Snape, like a hysterical schoolgirl, "You come here, you walked around like you own the place, you talk to everyone like you're the oldest of friends, and act like you're a......you're a.....you're a Bloody Marauder, and now you've brought trouble with you, tell me! Or are you too bloody perfect to do that!"
"Bloody Marauder?" asked Sev, looking confused as he hung, but once Snape had started his rant, he wasn't going to stop.
"If it was me doing this, I probably would be dead by now, but no, when It's someone else bringing trouble to Hogwarts, it's all they can do to accommodate them! But me, well, I might as well just have become a hermit! Tell me, tell me what the hell you're going on about, who the hell this Dark Lord is, and maybe, maybe I'll let you go, but I'd rather let you hang their like the arrogant smart Alec you are!" Snape, his face red, his throat suddenly swore from the pent up rage had to gasp for breath before he could hear Sev's answer.
"Please, just let me down and I'll answer you. I'll answer you, and I will tell Dumbledore, but first of all, just let me down." He said calmly.
Snape, as if he had just realised what he had just done, looked a little confused, but then putting on a face of resigned triumph he raised his wand, undoing the spell. Sev fell back to earth with a bump. He sat up, rubbing the back of his neck, and gasped, "You didn't need to do that."
"What is this?" said a gentle voice.
Both Snape's turned around. Professor Dumbledore was standing there, as if he had been watching the whole event. Both of them looked at him with wide- eyed horror before Dumbledore said, "Severus, go to class, I shall talk to Sev. "
"But, but...."
"No buts Severus." Said Dumbledore, his voice suddenly warning; "This is a matter for the Ministry."
"But Headmaster....."
"Severus, don't you have your NEWT classes this morning?" said Dumbledore with more wit than he should have been allowed to have.
Snape gave up, and stormed off angrily, turning his back on the old man before he drew a face of disgust. How dare his other self get off so lightly? How dare he not tell him what he wanted to know? Snape's pallid skin turned a very bright shade of beetroot red. Snape was beginning to hate himself a lot more than he thought he would.
**********
Notes.
1/ I think it's funny for both Snape's to hate each other so much. Also, have you noticed how little most people actually know about themselves? A person can go through life thinking they're good, but in fact be evil, or the other way around. It's just a matter of perspective. The way you view a situation is different to everyone else's. For example, an accused murderer could see himself as an innocent victim, while the rest of the world see him as a barely human monster. But, it could be that a supposed hero could see his own heroic actions as cruel and callous, while the rest of the world could see them as good.
Okay, more on that later.
2/I have to admit, I think like Snape does at the end of the chapter, but that's because I see waaaay too much of myself in Snape. I'm petty, sharpe tongued, somewhat good at what I do and dislike people that I don't know well. So, my apologises for putting my own resentment about the world into Snape.
3/ yes, the hanging thing was a reference to OoTP
4/ I swore in this chapter. Sorry! I didn't mean to, but it was the only way I could express everything.
5/This Is continuing, but very, very slowly. I'm sorry, I'm just being slow at the moment.