Chapter Four

Snape

The moment they arrived back at Grimmauld Place, Mrs. Weasley shooed Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny away from the kitchen. "We're having a meeting tonight." As they tramped upstairs, she called after them, "Someone's left their joke shop bag down here!" She peered into it and narrowed her eyes disapprovingly. "Skiving Snackboxes? Whose are these? I don't want any of my—"

"Oh, sorry, Molly, those are mine," Tabitha took them from Mrs. Weasley, blushing.

"What's she need those for?" Ron muttered to Harry. "Is she planning on skiving off some of her own lessons?"

"Let's hope," Harry muttered back.

Hermione turned around. "Tabitha is very nice, you know," she snapped. "I don't know what you two have got against her. She's friends with Tonks, and she's been quite nice to all of us."

"You mean when she's not shut up in her room or giving Harry foul looks?" Ron said.

"Fred and George think she's all right," Ginny piped in. "They wouldn't be friends with her if she wasn't a good person."

"Well, she's got something against me," Harry said glumly.

The doorbell rang. They peered down the stairs and saw a large group of witches and wizards entering the front hall—among them, Tonks and a fellow Auror, Kingsley Shacklebolt; Fred and George Weasley; Mundungus Fletcher, a crook and a gambler who'd bungled his duty to guard Harry against Voldemort last summer (resulting in Harry and Dudley's being attacked by soul-sucking Dementors); Mad-Eye Moody, a retired Auror; several people that Harry did not know; and finally, Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, and Severus Snape. Dumbledore's silver beard and silvery-white hair glimmered in the light of the hall. He lifted his head and, catching Harry's stare, winked one of his bright blue eyes from behind his half-moon glasses. He sniffed the hall with his long, crooked nose and said gaily to Mrs. Weasley, "Another delicious dinner tonight, Molly?"

Mrs. Weasley took their cloaks, pausing a moment to lean in to hear something Professor McGonagall—Hogwarts' stern Transfiguration teacher, Deputy Headmistress, and head of Gryffindor House—was saying. "Oh, well, thank you, Minerva," Mrs. Weasley replied. "Yes, Arthur and I are very happy for them …" Her voice trailed off as they walked towards the kitchen. Greasy-haired Snape glided behind them, his black robes billowing. Before disappearing into the kitchen, he shot a dark look up to Harry.

"We should try to listen in," Harry whispered.

"Mum's put an Imperturbable Charm on the door again," Ginny replied.

"She caught us trying to listen in last meeting," Hermione said. "Honestly, what can they be hiding that we won't find out one or another, anyway?"

They were walking very slowly towards Harry and Ron's room, hoping that someone from the Order would rush up to tell them they were invited to the meeting.

For the first time this visit, Harry took in all the changes to Grimmauld Place. When he'd first seen the house last summer, it was very obviously the former residence of Dark wizards. The heads of house elves had lined one wall, while books about blood purity filled the shelves in the study. Sirius, being unable to leave the house for fear the Ministry would catch him, had spent much of his time cleaning and redecorating—with some help from Mrs. Weasley. It looked as though Sirius had finished the house before he died. Everything was very bright and cheery, though in his gloom over Sirius' death and Tabitha's unfounded hatred for him, Harry had hardly noticed. Even the house-elf heads were gone.

Ginny noticed Harry looking all around the halls. "Mum finished it up," she said. "Everything that—that Sirius didn't get to finish." The tips of her ears turned red. "I'm sorry, Harry. I—I didn't mean …" Harry didn't get to tell her that it was okay. The kitchen door burst open below them. The front hall erupted with sound.

"... unfounded accusations!"

"... the truth, every bit of it, and you know it! You were always …"

"Never, in my life ... "

"... cursing them, jinxing them, picking on Harry, picking on me. All you ever do …"

"... have I ever even thought … "

"... is brood in that dungeon ... "

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny raced to the stairs. Snape was quickly backing into the hall, his wand raised, pointed towards Lupin and Tabitha. They had their wands pointed right back at him. Charlie Weasley appeared behind them with his wand. Snape, Lupin, and Tabitha were shouting so loud, Harry was afraid the Muggles next door would hear everything going on in the invisible house.

Suddenly, Lupin shouted, "Expelliarmus!" Snape's wand flew out of his hand and into Lupin's. Tabitha was quick to shove her wand right under Snape's big hooked nose. "Dumbledore may trust you," she hissed. "But we don't."

Professor McGonagall appeared behind Charlie. Her nostrils were white and flared in anger. "Tabitha!" she cried. "Remus! Charlie! Severus is a trusted member of the Order! That you would just come out and accuse him of such a horrible crime ... something that surely has no evidence to support his involvement, from so many years ago ... "

"Remus." Albus Dumbledore's voice, no matter how soft, rumbled in the hall. "Give Severus his wand back, please." Harry had never seen Lupin so shaken with rage. Silently, he flung Snape's wand back to its owner. Tabitha backed off, settling herself cross-armed between Charlie and Lupin. They were all staring at Snape with utter hatred. Dumbledore, though his voice was calm, was obviously quite angry. "Now, please return to the meeting before we set any more bad examples for our curious students." He smiled softly up at Harry and the others. Everyone turned back into the meeting silently. Dumbledore remained in the hall. "Harry," he said softly. "Could you come down here for a moment?"

Harry looked at the others before joining Dumbledore in the hall. "What is it, Professor?"

"Harry, I want you to continue your Occlumency lessons this year." Harry was not expecting this. It was during an Occlumency lesson with Snape that he was able to sneak a look into the Pensieve. Occlumency lessons (taken under the embarrassing guise of Remedial Potions) seemed just another excuse for Snape to ridicule Harry. Though if Harry had practiced, if he'd kept up with them, he would not have seen the false image of Sirius being tortured, he would not have snuck off to the Ministry, Sirius wouldn't have come to save him, and Sirius wouldn't be dead ...

Professor Dumbledore's voice brought Harry back form his thoughts. "But Professor Snape will not be teaching you. I will. We will have two lessons each week, and I expect you to practice. The other three nights during the week, you will have short practice sessions with your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. I suppose you know now who she is?"

"Yes," Harry replied glumly. The last thing he needed was to spend more time with Tabitha McNoira. Something occurred to him. "But Professor Dumbledore, how will I manage the lessons with homework and Quidditch practice, and being captain, too?"

Dumbledore smiled. "I will not require you to spend much time with me for your lessons, perhaps an hour at most. Professor McNoira will keep you for half of that. And, of course, you will be the one to designate when Quidditch practice is. I have faith in you, Harry. I know I didn't show it last year, and it was a mistake. Now, I daresay I should return to the meeting before I miss too much." He smiled once more at Harry and disappeared down the basement door and into the kitchen.

"Well?" Ron asked when Harry had rejoined them. "What'd he want?"

"I'm to continue my Occlumency lessons. Not with Snape," Harry added at Ron's disgusted face. "With Dumbledore personally. And," he made a sour face. "Three times a week with Tabitha."

"Unfair. Really unfair. Does Dumbledore think you've got more time than you did last year? We're getting into N.E.W.T.s soon!"

"But Occlumency is really important," Hermione said. "I mean, just look at what happened when Harry stopped. "

"It's not your fault, mate," Ron said quickly. "You really thought he was in danger."

After they'd reached Harry and Ron's room and shut the door, Ginny asked what they were all thinking. "I wonder what that fight was about? I've never seen Charlie look that mad."

"Charlie? What about Lupin? The last time he was like that was when he thought Sirius killed Harry's mum and dad." Ron's mouth opened wide. "Harry, d'you think it has something to do with what you heard Tabitha and Lupin talking about?"

"It could." Harry sighed. "I—I suppose I could ask him."

They waited up for the meeting to end. Sometime after midnight, Hermione and Ginny excused themselves, yawning, for bed. Ron stayed up with Harry until the meeting was over. They heard many members leaving. Tabitha and Tonks passed by their door, chatting rapidly. They heard Mr. and Mrs. Weasley retire to bed. Once they were sure it was safe, they sneaked from their room to Lupin's room a floor below.

There was a light on underneath the door. Harry knocked. After a moment, Lupin said, "Come in." He looked surprised to see Harry and Ron. "Oh. I wasn't expecting ... I suppose you want to know about that fight?" he said, smiling.

"Well," Harry exchanged a look with Ron. "It's only, last night, I got up to get water, and you were in the kitchen with Tabitha. I only heard a bit of what you said, but I heard something about Snape and my parents' wedding. And then, tonight ... "

Lupin nodded. "We didn't want to tell you. Dumbledore and Sirius and I ... and Molly Weasley wasn't too keen on letting you know either. We thought it could only make things worse between you and Snape. We knew your aunt wouldn't dare tell you." He sighed. "But you hate Snivellus as it is, and I'm tired of having to put up a front with him. It's very difficult to have to look at him, knowing what he did."

"Yes, but what did he do?" Harry said impatiently.

"Are you familiar with wizard wedding traditions?" Lupin asked.

Harry looked at Ron, who shrugged. "It's been ages since I've been to one, mate, and I was a baby then."

"Many years ago, friends would stage a small party for the newly married couple directly after the ceremony," Lupin began. "It was to distract them while the family of the bride and groom prepared the formal reception. It's become tradition. The bride and groom know that they're family is preparing a reception, but for about an hour they attend a party with their friends and their wedding party. The day of your parents' wedding, Harry, we did just that. There weren't many of us there, as your parents didn't want a very large wedding. Their only attendants, in fact, were Sirius and your Aunt Petunia."

"Aunt Petunia?" Harry echoed. "But she hated my mum!"

"They had a very ... complicated relationship, Harry. You'll understand in a moment why she cut herself off from Lily." Lupin continued, "We took pictures, ate some cake. Lily looked beautiful, of course, and James was very happy. He loved her so much. Anyway, we were waiting for the signal to head over to your grandparents' house. Your mother's family was thrilled to be attending a wizard wedding, and to be in a wizard's house, so everyone had rushed there after the ceremony. We waited for almost two hours, and there was still no signal. As that job had been entrusted to your father's odd great-uncle Charon, we thought perhaps he'd forgotten. Sirius had borrowed a car from a friend, and bewitched it so twelve of us could fit inside. We saw it even before we reached the house," Lupin said hoarsely. His eyes were dead, staring beyond Ron and Harry into a memory so horrible, he could barely get the words out. "It was hovering above the house, this ghastly green skull ... " Harry turned away, clenching his eyes shut, trying to get the image out of his mind. He didn't want Lupin to finish. "... with a snake climbing through its mouth. Only half of us knew what it was. The Muggles thought it was some hideous decoration, but they had no idea. Sirius, James, and I ran in with our wands, but there were no survivors, and no Death Eaters hanging around. It looked like some of the wizards there had tried to fight, but they were no match for the Death Eaters. They'd been caught off-guard. It was James and Lily's happiest day; no one imagined this could happen."

"Bloody cowards," Ron whispered angrily. "Had to do that, didn't they? They knew any other time, Harry's family would have taken them."

"Your aunt blamed Lily," Lupin said to Harry. "She was already hurt and jealous of your mother's powers. She said their family never would have died if it hadn't been for Lily and James. That was the last day she ever spoke to them."

"Like my mum wanted her whole family killed!" Harry exploded. "And Snape? Was Snape there, killing my family?"

"No. Snivellus was always too much of a coward to confront things head-on," Lupin said bitterly. "He'd try to jinx us in the halls at school when we weren't looking. No, he told Voldemort he knew where they could find a large group of Muggles and Muggle-lovers, and wouldn't it be fun to send some of their men out for a thrill? We never had proof, of course, but we knew. He told us, in his own way."

"So Snape is the reason I have no family?" Harry said angrily. "My whole family is dead because of him?"

Lupin hesitated before answering quietly, "Yes."