INTERROGATIONS
When Snape entered the Hospital Wing the next day, he realised he had never seen it so full in his entire life - not even after that terrible Quidditch incident during his third year at Hogwarts. All the beds were occupied and extra ones had been conjured. With all these, one could barely walk from one place to another without bumping into or stepping on someone.
Madam Pomfrey was overwhelmed with work. She had come to the same conclusion as Snape had: all this was the effect of the Dormant Poison. This very complex poison plunged its victim into an eternal and tormented sleep. It was Dark Arts of course, and had no known antidote to date.
Snape spotted Ursaglow in a corner explaining this with many useless details and examples to a couple of horror struck students. When Ursaglow saw Snape, the young wizard immediately looked away. Good boy.
On the other side of the room, Snape also noticed Potter, a comforting arm wrapped around Granger's shoulders as the Head Girl looked down at Weasley's bed with tears in her eyes. There was also Crabbe somewhere, Snape knew, which meant Crabbe Senior hadn't been warned any more than he had.
In a way, it was good to see the Dark Lord suspected just about everyone.
Snape made his way to McGonagall's bed. The old witch seemed to be sleeping, but Snape knew it wasn't a quiet sleep. Dumbledore was already there, a concerned frown barring his forehead.
"Ah, Severus," the Headmaster greeted. "Come with me for a moment, will you?"
Dumbledore managed to find them a quiet place in a corner, away from any prying ears.
"I am glad you detected the presence of this poison immediately when I didn't. With years passed by, my senses aren't as acute as they used to be, but thanks to you we avoided the worst. However, the situation is still critical," the old wizard said in a very tired voice. "Parents are furious, and the Ministry wants to take over. They want to send Aurors to investigate, but I managed to get a two day delay."
Snape nodded. Dumbledore wanted to investigate on his own.
"As much as it saddens me, I suspect House Elves to be involved," the Headmaster continued. "Not all of them of course, one or two would be enough…"
"Do you suspect some in particular?" Snape asked.
"I have no certainties yet," Dumbledore began, "and I prefer to keep my opinion unbiased. I will interrogate a couple of House Elves this afternoon, and I will need your participation. Could you bring me some Veritaserum? I probably won't need to use any of it, but… just in case…"
"Of course," Snape replied.
At that precise moment, an owl flew to Dumbledore and dropped a red Howler at his feet.
"Ah, a Howler," Dumbledore noted on a half amused tone. "I expect many more of these as soon as the news spreads. At two this afternoon in my office, Severus?"
Snape only nodded his agreement, for the Howler unwrapped itself and started to yell.
"PROFESSOR DUMBLEDORE! I AM TOTALLY OUTRAGED TO LEARN THAT MY SON WAS SUBJECTED TO AN INCURABLE POISON WHILE ATTENDING SCHOOL! THIS IS ABSOLUTELY INTOLERABLE! I WILL NOT ALLOW MY CHILD TO REMAIN THERE ANY LONGER AND WILL TAKE HIM TO ST MUNGO TO BE HEALED PROPERLY!"
As he had been asked, Snape came to Dumbledore's office at the beginning of the afternoon with a flask of Veritaserum. These last years, he always had some available - you never knew when it could come in handy during these dark days.
He found a House Elf waiting nervously in the antechamber. He didn't know his name - there were so many of them it was hard to keep track - but the Elf was wearing an outrageous number of layers of all kinds of disparate clothes.
"Good afternoon, sir! Is Professor Snape waiting for Professor Dumbledore too?" the Elf asked.
"He's expecting me," Snape replied coldly as he knocked on the Headmaster's door. He entered shortly after.
"Here is the Veritaserum you asked," he told Dumbledore.
"Thank you, Severus," the old wizard said before inviting the House Elf in. "Come in, Dobby. I hope you don't mind if Professor Snape remains here while we talk?"
Snape gave a quick annoyed look to Dumbledore. He could have asked him first if he didn't mind staying longer.
"Dobby doesn't mind, sir," the Elf replied.
"Good," the Headmaster nodded. "So, Dobby, you informed me this morning that you might know the identity of the one who poisoned the drinks yesterday."
"Dobby fears he does, sir," the Elf answered. "But Dobby doesn't wish any harm to the one who did."
"I assure you that no harm will be done to whoever is guilty, Dobby," Dumbledore promised.
"Professor Dumbledore is a very kind Master, sir," the Elf thanked him. "But Dobby isn't sure Professor Dumbledore will be as kind as soon as he knows Dobby could have stopped this before it happened, sir," the Elf said hesitantly, fidgeting the hem of one of his many jumpers.
"Did you poison the drinks?" Snape intervened with a suspicious tone.
The Elf looked outraged. "No, Dobby didn't, sir. Dobby would never do such a thing."
"Then how could you have prevented the poisoning?" Dumbledore asked gently.
"Dobby tried to convince her not to do it, Professor Dumbledore, sir. Dobby thought he had managed to," the Elf apologised, looking down at his multicoloured socks sheepishly. "So Dobby didn't tell anything to Professor Dumbledore, because Dobby didn't want to put her into trouble, sir."
"Dobby," Dumbledore began calmly. "Tell me, who poisoned the drinks?"
The Elf was still staring at his socks. "Winky did, sir," he eventually whispered guiltily.
Dumbledore lay back in his armchair. "Are you sure? This is no light accusation, Dobby."
"Dobby knows, sir," the Elf replied as he looked up to the Headmaster with a serious look on his face. "But Dobby heard Winky talk about it. Winky said friends of her former Master asked Winky to do it."
"How would they be able to contact her?" Snape asked.
"Winky is a free House Elf, sir," Dobby explained. "Winky can go wherever Winky wants. Dobby thinks Winky went to the friends of her former Master when Winky was depressed." The Elf turned to Dumbledore. "They are evil people, Professor Dumbledore, but Dobby supposes Winky didn't know who to turn to, even though Dobby always offered help to Winky, sir."
The Headmaster took a deep breath and sighed. "So it would be them who gave her the poison and asked her to poison the drinks," he concluded. "By any chance, Dobby, would you know who these friends are?"
"Dobby doesn't, sir, Professor Dumbledore will have to ask Winky," the Elf replied.
Dumbledore nodded. "Dobby, would you care to go and fetch Winky, now?"
"Dobby will, sir," the Elf answered and disappeared through the door.
Snape turned to Dumbledore as soon as the Elf was gone. "May I return to my other affairs, now?" he asked.
"If you so wish, Severus." The Headmaster then looked at him over his spectacles. "Though I would appreciate if you consented to remain here for a little longer."
Snape sighed heavily and crossed his arms over his chest. He hated when the old wizard did that, giving orders without actually giving orders. A few minutes later, another Elf entered the Headmaster's office, probably the one named Winky, Snape assumed.
The House Elf looked very embarrassed and was staring at the ground. "Good afternoon, Professor Dumbledore, Professor Snape," she greeted them uneasily in a whisper.
"Winky," the Headmaster began. "I suppose you know why I asked you to come here?"
The Elf nodded meekly.
"Winky, did you poison the drinks?" Dumbledore asked gravely.
The House Elf grimaced, looking torn. After a few silent seconds, she nodded and burst into tears.
Dumbledore sighed heavily "It's alright Winky. Just tell me how you managed to get this poison."
"Winky sniff doesn't know if she should, sniff sir," the Elf stuttered.
"This is very important, Winky," Dumbledore insisted. "You have to tell me."
The Elf hesitated. "Will Professor Dumbledore forgive Winky and allow her to stay at Hogwarts if Winky tells Professor Dumbledore?"
"Of course," the Headmaster assured her, "I never considered throwing you out of Hogwarts. Now tell me, Winky, who gave you this poison and asked you to poison the drinks?"
Winky opened her mouth, shivered and closed it again. Then she remained silent a few more seconds. Snape was thinking she would never betray whoever had ordered her to poison the drinks when she spoke at last.
"Narcissa Malfoy," Winky replied in a murmur.
Malfoy, Snape repeated silently. Of course. The Elf mentioned Narcissa, but Snape knew the instructions came from her on-the-loose-Death Eater husband. It was very much like Lucius to do something like this. Maybe it was even his own idea, and he would have suggested it to the Dark Lord. Voldemort was usually a bit more direct in his attacks - the giants' one was blatant evidence of this fact. But Lucius… If there was a term to describe his style, it was 'devious'.
"Thank you Winky," Dumbledore said. "You can return to your duties now."
Snape stared at Dumbledore. He wasn't going to hand her to the Ministry?
The House Elf blinked a couple of times at the Headmaster. "Is that all, sir? Professor Dumbledore isn't going to punish Winky?"
"I need some time to ponder," Dumbledore sighed sadly, "but I think you were misguided and wouldn't have acted the same way under other circumstances. As I said, I am willing to forgive you, as you told me who gave you these orders. However, I expect you to never go back there and to report to me if they ever try to contact you again. Do you understand?"
The Elf nodded wildly. "Of course, Professor Dumbledore, sir! Thank you sir!" she replied before storming out of Dumbledore's office.
"Why did you send her away?" Snape asked as soon as the Elf was gone. "We could have used this information to convict Narcissa Malfoy!"
"We both know Narcissa is but the intermediary," Dumbledore countered. "Plus I doubt the testimony of a House Elf would have much weight in a trial at the Ministry."
Snape nodded.
"Well," the Headmaster went on with a slight smile as he gave a look at his watch, "I believe we finished just in time for you to go give your Occlumency lesson to Harry."
Snape suddenly straightened. He had completely forgotten about it since his visit to the Hospital Wing. Was it why Dumbledore had insisted he stayed? To make sure he didn't forget?
"I'll be right off, then," Snape answered. "I surely wouldn't want to be late to spend some quality time with my favourite student," he finished bitterly.
A few minutes later, Snape was in front of the Potions classroom. Potter was already there, just outside the room, waiting for him - even if the boy didn't look happy to see him. Snape unlocked the door and walked in without a word. Potter followed him silently.
During the next seconds, Snape magically pulled the tables and chairs aside. From the corner of his eyes he noticed Potter staring at a cupboard where he knew a Pensieve was - Dumbledore had lent it to him again in anticipation of the Occlumency lessons so he could store some of his memories, which he had already done earlier that morning.
As soon as he was done with the furniture, Snape walked up to the cupboard, aware of Potter's gaze following him. There, he conscientiously locked the cupboard while casting a nasty look towards his student.
He walked back to the centre of the room where Potter was standing. They both eyed each other in tense silence for a few seconds. Snape took his wand out.
"Ready, Potter?"
Coming Next: The Puppet Master