Behind the Façade

Chapter 8 – Reports

By Ammarine

It has been said that patience is a virtue; however, even the most virtuous can be impatient. The moon was hanging low in the sky while Albus Dumbledore was pacing in his private quarters. Usually, the old wizard preferred to pace within his sitting, but this time he was loath to wake up the sleeping boy in there.

Harry had arrived that evening in quite a state over Severus safety with Tom Riddle, which was quite surprising as the animosity between the two of them is well known. Still, it had taken Albus a while before Harry was calmed enough to relay Severus message and where he was. Albus wished it wasn't so, but Severus double role in this war was one of there strongest weapons. Voldemort knew he was playing host to a spy; and Albus suspected that he knew who it was; he just prayed to the Gods above that Severus would not get caught. For all that Severus had done for the Order, the last thing he deserved was to bear the brunt of Riddle's fury.

In the next room, Harry was sleeping fitfully on the conjured sofa bed. It was impossible. Every time he closed his eyes, he mind showed him Severus, curled on the ground I n a fetal position, being tortured by the likes of Malfoy Sr, Wormtail, Macnair and Dolohov. After a few hours, he gave up and curled into a ball as he watched the sun rise. Once it was, as he decided, a respectable hour, Harry left the Headmaster's personal quarters for his office, but stopped at the threshold. Before his eyes lay the sight of Dumbledore holding a teacup to the Potions Mater's lips, like a parent would for their child. Severus himself was collapsed onto a small couch, with his eyes closed, his face a myriad of cuts and bruises and the robes remaining on his battered body were little more than rags; ripped, burnt and bloodied beyond repair.

The sight of Severus relieved the tension that had been consuming Harry's body. Heis alright. He's not dead, Harry thought as he crossed the room quickly to where Snape half-sat. As he approached though, his stomach dropped as he remembered where Severus had been. Harry knew this was because of Voldemort. What he didn't know was why the professor had ended up with these injuries.

"Anything I can do to help?" Harry asked softly. Snape's eyes flicked open and focused on him, his face darkening, but as he made to speak, Dumbledore answered.

"Certainly, certainly. My boy, would you mind washing the cuts on the professor's face," he chirped, conjuring a washcloth and basin with the wand in his free hand.

Harry nodded and picked up the basin as he made his way to the professor's head. On closer inspection, Severus' face looked much worse than Harry had first thought. His lips were cracked and bleeding, in a number of places, his jaw appeared to be broken and the left side of his face around his eye was heavily bruised and swollen. A gash caked with dry blood decorated the right half of his forehead, continuing past his hair line and the rest of his face was peppered with smaller cuts and scratches.

As Harry gingerly cleaned Snape's face, he noticed the professor becoming drowsy and fall asleep. With a questioning glance from Harry, the Headmaster answered.

"A soothing potion, in the tea. The more he rests, the quicker he will heal. But just a word of warning, when a person's temperament is stronger, the sedative properties in the soothing potion become more noticeable." With a carefully aimed flick of his wand and an 'Antisepticum', Dumbledore finished Harry's cleaning of Severus' face. "It is a shame that Fawkes is having one of Burning Days, otherwise his tears would have been rather useful."

"Professor," Harry started, setting aside the basin, "why would you let Fawkes heal him? Why not do it yourself?"

"If it were possible, Professor Snape would have been healed by now. But, if Tom Riddle found any evidence of my magic in your professor's body, he would be worse than dead," Dumbledore explained gravely. In response, Harry's eyes widened, and with a small nod of understanding, the two men watched the sleeping figure.

"Why did it happen, sir?" Harry asked after a short period of silence. The Headmaster gave the sleeping figure a searching glance before replying to the boy next to him.

"I must profess that I do not know, andthough I have my suspicions, the answers will come to us with time. I must leave for a short time, would you please watch over Professor Snape? I shall not be absent for long, though if, there is a problem, send Fawkes." At Harry's small nod, he continued. "Thank you, my dear boy. If you are in need of anything from the kitchens, just call Dobby." Harry watched the Headmaster leave his office, before turning back to Severus.

"Don't you dare die on me," he muttered half to himself as he took on of Severus' hands. "I defended you to my other friends, so you owe me. Don't you die on me now…" he trailed off, losing himself in his memories of defending the prone wizard in front of him. He remembered his friends astonished faces when he spoke and the contentment of just the two of them sitting down to dinner in the cosy dining area.

It felt real, like family real.

Sometimes, the two of them would chat, if Harry read an interesting article or book, or like when he got his OWL results, or when he asked Snape about his holiday assignments. On the odd occasion, Snape would quiz him on potions and their ingredients. Now that was always interesting. He knew that he would never be as smart as Hermione, but, as Snape's Anti-Potter attitude gradually lessened, Harry found himself doing fairly well with the quizzes.

Of course, there were off limit topics; Snape's Death Eater spy role; Snape's past; Harry's parents and Sirius; but their conversations generally allowed Harry to get just that little more into the enigma of Snape.

Just before lunch, Professor Dumbledore returned, along with Remus. Harry had seen Remus only a handful of times since Sirius death, the last being his birthday party, but it didn't appear that the mourning time had helped the ragged man much at all. In fact he almost looked like part of him had passed through the veil when Sirius did. His hair was messy and unkempt, his clothes more ragged than ever and his eyes were haunted and bloodshot. Harry had to stifle a gasp at the sight of the clearly despondent man.

"Ummmm….He stirred a couple of times, sir, but he hasn't woken yet." Harry said, releasing Snape's hand and turning to face the Headmaster.

"Thank you my boy, you have done a marvelous job. If you both would like to wait in the parlor, Severus and I shall join you momentarily," Dumbledore replied.

As the pair was exiting the room, Severus started to stir.

"Aaawwwe," Severus groaned, unable to move his mouth much with the broken jaw.

Dashing back to the Severus, Harry looked over at the Headmaster. "What'd he say?"

"I believe he said 'Aaawwe', my boy. What that is in English, I would not be able to say," Albus answered, his eyes twinkling. Severus heard this and glowered at the Headmaster.

"Perhaps if we got a quill and parchment, Albus," Remus said from behind Harry.

"'Accio quill and parchment.'" The items flew from Albus' desk into his hands and he passed them to Severus with a cheerful "Here we are, my boy."

Severus' glower at Albus darkened before taking the parchment and quill. Furrowing his brow, he wrote on one of the pieces of parchment,

"Potter, my quarters behind Asian armor in dungeons. Password: Comfrey. Second door on right. In cabinet behind mirror, take 2 green bottles with Symphytum on label. Bring back up here."

He gave the sheaf of parchment to Harry who read it, before tucking it into his pocket. "Back in a few," Harry said as he raced out of the office and down to the dungeons. In the meantime, the men drank, or in Severus' case, sipped, tea while waiting for Harry to return.

Harry raced down to the dungeons. He knew where the armor was, he'd seen the rooms behind it on the Marauder's maps for years, though he had never seen Snape occupying them on the map. "Comfrey," he spoke to the armor once he arrived, and after a moment's pause, the armor moved aside and allowed Harry entrance. He pulled the note out of his pocket and read on. "Second on the right, second on the right." Harry looked around the room. It was dark but homely, with the living area reminding him of the cottage. Where he expected to see green and silver and snakes, there was only a tapestry on one of the walls, of Salazar Slytherin draped in snakes. Walking through Snape's quarters, Harry quickly found the second door on the right and tentatively pushed it open. Not sure what was going to be there, Harry gasped when he saw a bathroom furnished in black marble and silver furnishings. He whistled lowly, "This just screams Snape," Harry thought aloud. Harry moved in front of the mirror and looked at his reflection. He supposed that it was an enchanted mirror that Snape had silenced. Harry didn't blame him; he got sick of the ones in the Gryffindor tower harping on about his unkempt hair and skinny body. Well, it's not his fault he inherited his hair and his build from his dad. Snapping back to reality, Harry opened the cabinet and took the first two green potions he saw. He quickly checked the labels, and dashed out of the bathroom and Snape's quarters to return to Dumbledore's office.

He arrived at the statue guarding Dumbledore's office and, gasping for breath, said the password. He leapt onto the moving staircase and entered the Headmaster's office without bothering to knock.

"Here – gasp- you go, –gasp- sir," Harry panted as he handed the bottles over to Dumbledore. Then he slumped into the closest chair possible to regain his breath. Dumbledore uncorked the bottles before passing them onto Severus, who checked the labels before drinking the contents. Severus shuddered at the taste, but lay back with his eyes closed to allow the potions to work on his beaten body. A short while later, Severus reopened his eyes and put his hand up to his jaw, only wincing slightly. He looked at Harry, a small tilt of the head and a respectful gleam in his eye showing his thanks.

"Well, now, gentlemen, before we start, would anyone like some tea? Or a lemon drop?" When the others shook their heads, Dumbledore shrugged and popped a sweet into his own mouth. "Harry, could you please repeat what you told me when you arrived last night?"

Harry recounted his memories for what felt like the thousandth time, while the 3 men listened on. Dumbledore looked pensive, Severus was scowling and Remus was shocked and worried. By the time Harry had finished, the shock was gone from Remus face, and the look on Dumbledore's face was very solemn.

"Severus, your report, please," Dumbledore said quietly after several moments of silence. Harry looked at Severus, whose face went devoid of any emotion, before he started to speak.

"It was at the Malfoy Estate; Draco was not present, as usual. Both the Central and Inner Circles were there, a few new recruits, none I recognized were on clean-up duty. Status reports from Macnair and Adams for the Ministry, Narcissa Malfoy for Fudge and myself for Hogwarts. Apparently the Ministry are flailing about, however Tonks and Shacklebolt should be able to confirm. Fudge is tolerating, if not already supporting the Dark Lord, Malfoy's money and other assets are making sure of that. Hogwarts is on alert but quiet, with school on leave at the moment. In the recruiting sector, there are a number of upperclassmen in Slytherin and one or two in Ravenclaw that are novices to Circle members in preparation for the Final Confrontation. They must be watched as the Dark Lord has assigned them the task of recruiting more students to stand against Hogwarts when he attacks. Still no definite time frame. Also, there are a number of plans for revenge He has instigated. I am unsure as to whom these are directed to and when. He still doesn't know where Potter is, and tried to convince me to tell him, though that is impossible since the 'Deletrius' charm was performed. He has warned though, that if Potter is not caught, then it is going to be trouble for all involved in his 'case'. I believe we should stage some appearances within the next few weeks, but not for the next couple of days."

"We will have to discuss this in more detail with the Order; but in the meantime, Remus."

Remus drew in a deep breath before starting his report. "I believe the revenge plans are to be on those that fought in June. Molly's muggle relative, an accountant, I believe, has already been attacked. He didn't survive. There has also bee an attack on one of the houses on Privet Drive, 3 doors down from the Dursleys. Arabella reported that there was no-one home at the time, so the place was ransacked then set alight. The Grangers are being moved to a safe house, and finished the sale of their practice to some other muggle dentists. Miss Granger is, as we speak, being escorted to Headquarters, where she will remain with the Weasleys until September first. Esmerelda Longbottom reported that it is unusually quiet at Blackpool. As a precaution, Neville and Esme have reactivated the wards Frank and Alice erected years ago and Bill Weasley added some anti-intruder curses from Egypt. They check into Headquarters every second day and have an emergency portkey to reach us in the event of an attack."

Harry couldn't remember who lived 3 doors down, on either side, except for the fact that the family on the right had twins the summer before he left for Hogwarts his first year and neither of them liked him much. He was more upset about the Weasley's accountant relative who was killed rather than the destruction of the house of people who thought he was a menace to society. Dumbledore started talking, however, Harry continued with his thoughts until Remus laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Harry?" Remus asked. "Are you okay? It's time for you and Severus to leave." Harry nodded and stood to join Severus holding the portkey. On 'three', Harry felt a tug behind his navel and before long found himself looking at a familiar front door. He was home.

A/N: I really apologise for the delay, work and RL got rather hectic and part way through writing, my muse fell asleep on me... Anyway, the next chapter is already underway, and with any luck there shouldn't be such a big gap between updates. If anyone is interested, I have a yahoo group going for this fic. Look up 'Behind (underscore)the (underscore)Facade'(without spaces)on yahoo groups.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Dragin, sweetie, you are the best! You've stuck with me through all sorts of dramas I've had and are still with me... Wow! You rock Babe!