I have given evidence already on this matter
This vignette isn't part of the seven part series that starts with "Why Snape never eats here" – it's just a little story about Snape's friendships with Barty Crouch and Regulus Black, his interrogation by Barty's dad and how he feels about shopping his best mate Lucius Malfoy to the Ministry.
Chapter 1: Bartemius Crouch
He walks into the room, thinking, I'm running late already and I really don't have time for this, if Albus Dumbledore is prepared to vouch for the man, if the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is prepared to vouch for him, then this is a formality - but if there's no public hearing I'll have to submit his confession and a written report to the Council for Magical Law, and Alastor Moody will foam at the mouth if I don't go through the motions. I've had the same conversation with Moody over and over again, yes I know that Death Eaters are scum, filth, I know that. Merlin's beard, I was the one who authorised the use of the Unforgiveables against them! But we need the information they can give us, if they'll co-operate, and Dumbledore says this fellow has been an invaluable source. If Dumbledore himself is prepared to make a deal with a Death Eater, I think that I can.
And I really don't have time for this, Lucius Malfoy's trial starts at 9 am in Courtroom Ten, and that's going to be a three-ring circus, Abraxas Malfoy wields a lot of clout and while he knows that his son is as guilty as hell, he's willing to spend unlimited galleons to get him out of Azkaban - and there are plenty of gullible fools like Cornelius Fudge who are willing to go along with it, the Malfoys are such a distinguished, wealthy, generous family! How can Fudge be so blind – he's head of the Department of Magical Catastrophes, he's had to clean up plenty of the nasty messes that Lucius Malfoy and his Death Eater friends have made ... Yes, I need to wrap this business up and get down to Courtroom Ten as soon as possible, this is such a waste of my time, but I promised Dumbledore that I'd see his spy as soon as I could.
He nods to Alastor Moody and Albus Dumbledore, the only other people in the room are the recording clerk and the prisoner chained to the chair. The tension in the room is palpable - the prisoner is radiating resentment, Moody is bristling with hostility, the young female clerk is nervous - only Dumbledore seems calm.
Well of course Moody is peeved, he hasn't been able to get anything out of the prisoner, but what would you expect - if the fellow has been able to deceive Voldemort for a year, not even Moody will be able to get him to talk. Of course with Moody it's personal, I'd feel the same way if Death Eaters had killed my wife, if I'd been the one to come home and find the Dark Mark flying over the house and my wife dead … my dear wife, the most faithful, the most devoted, the most supportive of wives! My family thought that I could have done better than a Hufflepuff, and she's not a beautiful woman, but I couldn't do this without her, she's the rock of my life. And she tried so hard to please my wretched parents, to give them grandchildren, to give them a grandson to carry on the name of Crouch – and she worries herself sick over that boy! Twelve OWLs and even better results in his NEWTs and he wouldn't take that position in the Ministry that I arranged for him, I don't know where he's living now or what he's doing … the useless, insolent whelp, he's clever, I'll grant him that, but he's got no drive, no ambition, there's nothing of me in him at all … he should have been Sorted into Ravenclaw, not Slytherin.
The clerk hands him a roll of parchment - the prisoner's confession, he really ought to have read it beforehand but last night was frantic - people are a bit hysterical, if Sirius Black, the Potters' best friend and the Boy Who Lived's own godfather, can be a Death Eater, then anyone can be a Death Eater, and they're jumping at shadows. Black is in Azkaban now, he must be a complete fanatic, he absolutely refuses to name any of his fellow Death Eaters. Or perhaps he's mad - the way he behaved when he was arrested, laughing hysterically ... and then he thinks, even if Black did talk, I couldn't let him out of Azkaban, public opinion is so strongly against him it would be political suicide.
He unrolls the parchment, turns to the prisoner - the fellow mustn't have been in custody for long, because he's quite presentable, his robes are still clean, though his hair is dirty. He's thin, with a hooked nose, sallow complexion, shoulder length black hair and black eyes, still a boy really, he couldn't be any more than twenty-two at the most. So this is Dumbledore's spy ... a sulky, defiant youth. Well, age means nothing – some of Voldemort's most vicious supporters have been mere youths.
The prisoner doesn't avoid his gaze, he doesn't seem to be in any way cowed or ashamed at the prospect of being personally interrogated by the man who is Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and only one step away from being the Minister for Magic, quite the contrary, and this grates with him. He thinks, you may be Dumbledore's pet Death Eater, but you'd better watch your step or you'll find yourself spending a few days in Azkaban. A few days with the Dementors, my lad, and you won't be quite so cocky.
He glances at the parchment, what's the fellow's name again – Severus Snape? He says, curtly, "Severus Snape, you have been brought here today to answer charges that you are a servant of the Dark wizard who styles himself Lord Voldemort, that you are a Death Eater. How do you answer?"
Snape's eyes flicker to Dumbledore, and Dumbledore answers for him, "Severus Snape was a Death Eater but he left Voldemort's service forever nearly a year ago. He turned spy for me and provided me with much valuable information."
He asks, "Dumbledore, how do you know that Snape isn't a double-agent? How do you know that you can trust him?"
This question seems to have rattled Snape a little, Snape turns his head to look at Dumbledore and then he recognises the hawk profile, he's seen him somewhere before ... but where? And then he remembers where he's seen the face ... Snape was with Barty that day in Diagon Alley, that day that Barty had made it painfully obvious that he didn't want to speak to his father. He'd seen the two of them walking down Diagon Alley together, and then they'd turned into Knockturn Alley, in a transparent effort to avoid him. And then he remembers where he's seen the name before ... it's a faint, distant memory ... a letter that Barty had sent to his mother, he'd seen it in lying on the dining table, "Dear Mother, if you don't mind, I'd like to stay with Severus and a couple of his friends for a few days after graduation. I'm sure I've mentioned his friends before - Rosier and Wilkes - they've got a flat in London." Of course he'd had to miss Barty's graduation, Voldemort was moving openly against the Ministry by then, for Merlin's sake he was rarely ever home at the time and he couldn't spare a minute away from the office!
And now he's feeling very uneasy ... Snape is a self-confessed Death Eater, and Rosier and Wilkes were Death Eaters too, they're both dead now, killed resisting arrest - what the hell was Barty doing with a pack of Death Eaters? And then he knows, and his first thought is, dear god, it will kill his mother if it ever comes out, and his second thought is, it will ruin my career, a Death Eater son will ruin my chances of ever becoming Minister for Magic. Damn the stupid, impressionable boy, why was he ever born? His mother nearly died giving birth to him, and he will be the death of her yet! Damn him, damn the bloody little fool! How could Barty have been so stupid as to mindlessly follow his friends and get mixed up with Voldemort - and what has he done? Sweet Merlin, what has Barty done? What has he done?
He can hear Dumbledore speaking, answering his question, and he wrenches his attention back to what Dumbledore is saying, "That is a matter between myself and Severus Snape."
Moody looks deeply dissatisfied with this answer, but frankly, he couldn't give a damn why Dumbledore trusts Snape - he has bigger problems right now to think about. Why hasn't Snape named Barty as a Death Eater? He's named a lot of others, not that Albus Dumbledore's spy is going to be called to give evidence against them, Dumbledore has made that clear, he wants the existence of his spy kept a secret, at least until Voldemort is found.
Snape is waiting for the next question, the clerk's quill is poised to record it, Moody looks impatient - and suddenly he is acutely aware of Moody, the Auror Office's most relentless, most implacable hunter of Death Eaters. If Moody knew, if Moody so much as suspected ... Moody mustn't know, Moody mustn't know about Barty, not yet, not until he's had time to think ... he must act normally, ask another question.
He asks, "When did you become a Death Eater? When did you take the Dark Mark?" Snape's eyes switch to the parchment in his hands, and sullenly he replies, "When I was eighteen. It's all written down in my confession."
And now he's not just shocked, he's angry, really angry, almost trembling with anger, and he thinks, and when did Barty become a Death Eater? How old was my son when he took the Dark Mark? He's only nineteen now! And who talked him into it? Was it you, Snape? Oh, you've wriggled out of trouble, Severus Snape, you had the sense to rejoin the winning side in time, but what about Barty? And then he gets a grip on himself, he's imagining things, Barty is NOT a Death Eater. So many young Slytherins joined Voldemort - people are starting to say that every witch or wizard who goes bad is a Slytherin, and that is not only untrue, it's insulting - of course Barty must have known a few of them at school, but that's not proof. There's no proof. And Snape hasn't named Barty as a Death Eater.
He looks through the list of names in the confession, people that Snape has killed or helped to kill, wizards' names anyway, there are no Muggles' names, just the bald statement, "I killed countless Muggles," and then the name Regulus Black leaps out at him. Regulus! Younger brother of the notorious Sirius Black, reviled betrayer of the Potters, and Barty's best friend at school - what does it say here, Regulus Black was a Death Eater! And then he knows that he's been clutching at straws, and he thinks, the filthy little swine, did he join Voldemort just to spite me? I know he hates me - but this much?
He realises that Moody is looking at him oddly ... the parchment is twisted and crumpled in his hands. He untwists it and reads a little further. Regulus Black betrayed Voldemort, turned against him! His heart jumps in his chest and he thinks, if Regulus Black was another one of Dumbledore's spies, he would have named names ... he would have named Barty. Does Dumbledore know? But if he knows, why hasn't he said something, done something?
He looks at Dumbledore, asks, "Dumbledore, was Regulus Black another one of your agents?"
Dumbledore shakes his head, says, "I was unaware that Regulus Black had left Voldemort's service until it was too late, until it was too late to help him."
He stifles his relief, keeps his face impassive, he mustn't give anything away, and then he remembers that Dumbledore is a Legilimens, probably he wouldn't breach Ministry guidelines on the use of the spell, but best to avoid eye contact, and he'd better find some reason to be interested in Regulus Black.
He reads the next words on the parchment. "The Dark Lord ordered me to execute Black," and he asks, for something to say, "How did Black die?"
Snape looks at him poisonously and answers with just one word, "Crucio."
That's not exactly a surprise, Voldemort and his Death Eaters don't always use the Avada Kedavra to commit murder, going by the state of some of the bodies that they've found. He looks back at the parchment, and the last words catch his eye, "I enjoy killing. I don't do it any more. I know it is wrong," and he thinks, it's not just killing, it's rape and torture as well ... and the worst crimes have been against the Muggles, the Muggle Prime Minister has been very angry indeed. And we're not living in the days of Wendelin the Weird any longer, the Muggles have got weapons of terrifying power now, and where will we be if sixty million Muggles turn on us! How many wizards are there in Britain? Ten thousand? Voldemort and his pureblood Death Eaters don't know enough about the Muggles to be frightened of them! Or ... a truly alarming idea ... they've been deliberately provoking them, trying to start a war between wizards and Muggles. People think that the Ministry spends most of its time trying to prevent the Muggles finding out about us so we won't be bothered by them asking for magical solutions to their problems – I don't think so! The Muggles would be likely to try to kill us all if they knew about us – and if they knew what Voldemort wants to do to them, what he and his Death Eaters have done ...
And then the full horror hits him, Barty is one of them, my son is one of these foul, disgusting creatures ... and I know what he's done, I know what the Death Eaters do, I know all about the ugly details that the Ministry keeps out of the Daily Prophet, out of respect for the relatives and because it would be bad for morale, bad for public confidence.
He can feel the nerve twitching in his temple, he can feel Dumbledore's eyes on him, and now he's angry even with Dumbledore, don't look at me like that, Dumbledore, I know you don't approve of my decision to authorise the use of the Unforgiveable Curses, and you don't approve of the alliance with the Dementors either - but you're a high-minded Gryffindor, too principled to use the Killing Curse against even Grindelwald himself! But maybe you'd think differently if it was you who had to mop up after the Death Eaters ... and do you really know what a dirty little beast you're sheltering at Hogarts, what kind of a nauseating thrill he gets out of killing people? It takes a wizard of strong character to use the Avada Kedavra and not be corrupted, and not want to use it again, and again - that curse is toxic!
He thinks, damn these squeamish Gryffindors, it's up to us Slytherins to make the hard decisions, and then they say that we're ruthless - but it wasn't a decision that I made lightly, to fight fire with fire and authorise the use of the Unforgiveables. Millicent Bagnold would never have had the guts to make that decision – and I had no choice ... we were losing, the situation was desperate until Voldemort fell. And that is a troubling mystery - there's no doubt that Voldemort lost his powers when he attacked the Potter child, but where is he? And what is he? Dumbledore says that his body has been destroyed but somehow he's still alive. And what does Dumbledore's spy know of this? I've got to forget Barty and get on with my job, find out if Snape has any useful information, we've got to catch Voldemort, and if I think for a minute that Snape is holding anything back he'll go to Azkaban, I don't care what Dumbledore says – if Snape didn't tell Dumbledore about Barty, what else didn't he tell him?
He asks, "What do you know of Voldemort's attack on the Potters? Why did he choose to attack a baby? And where is he now?"
Snape doesn't like this question, he's openly insolent, snarling, "I don't know! The Dark Lord didn't tell me everything, and what I do know, I've already told Dumbledore! I've told Dumbledore the name of every Death Eater I ever worked with!"
And with a jolt he realises - this is a threat. Snape knows that I know, and he's threatening me! Is it blackmail? Or is he playing both ends against the middle, has he betrayed Voldemort in the hopes of biding his time and becoming the next Dark Lord – is Barty one of his supporters, is that why he's looking after him? It can't be for the sake of a schoolboy friendship, friendship would mean nothing to a Death Eater, particularly this one, Dumbledore told me yesterday that half the Death Eaters in Azkaban are only there because of the information that Snape has provided. And then a truly horrible idea crosses his mind – is it more than friendship? Are Barty and Snape lovers? No, that's insane ...
He stares into the black eyes opposite, and for a moment he thinks, go on, say it, do your worst, Barty is no son of mine, he stopped being my son the day that he became a Death Eater. But then he imagines the headlines in the Daily Prophet – the string of Slytherin names ... Snape, Rosier, Wilkes, Black, Crouch. What a generation of vipers! And if the truth about Barty comes out, it will kill his mother, she isn't well, the Healers at St Mungo's are useless, we've even tried alternative medicines, Muggle medicines, but nothing helps with these nervous attacks, they get worse all the time ... it will kill his mother and it will end my career, and that idiot Fudge will be Minister for Magic when Millicent Bagnold retires – if Dumbledore doesn't want the job. And the Death Eaters have been running scared since Voldemort disappeared ... they won't dare to try anything, not now, surely Barty's smart enough to keep his head down, keep out of trouble – because if he's ever brought before the Wizengamot he's on his own, he'd better not look to me to help him!
Snape is smirking, the filthy little bastard knows that he's won ... and he turns to Moody, tells him, "I've got no more time for this, I should have been in Courtroom Ten five minutes ago, you can release Snape into Dumbledore's custody - and give him back his wand."
But he's thinking, you might have won this round, Snape, but you'd better keep your nose clean, you'd better stay at Hogwarts under Dumbledore's eye, because if there's one whisper of suspicion that you've stepped out of line I'll move heaven and earth to make sure that you spend the rest of your life in Azkaban.