Snape's Invisible Friend
Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, I am not a multinational bookselling company, nor am I a multi-million dollar movie company, so I don't own anything that you recognize. I am a retired former teacher with a bizarre sense of humor, who likes to twist plots and play with characters' minds, so enjoy.
AN: To the several reviewers who have commented that Snape is really OOC in this fic; as my 14 year old grandsons' would say "Well, duh!" I like to start with a single incident and then have my characters grow and mature from that starting point! If you want pure canon, go read the original books, or don't read AU! That said, for the rest of you, thank you for your reviews and I apologize for the time in updating, I was stuck for the detentions with Snape for the three, so if they are a little mild, imagine your own for the days I don't cover.
Chapter 7: A Smiling Snape? Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid!
Severus and Shaun had enjoyed a peaceful outing in Hogsmeade; the owner of Flourish & Blotts had even waived the cost of the books they had selected as a thank you for averting the disaster the previous morning. So with bags of purchases sent back to the castle with Nippy, the two set out to enjoy the last of the fall sunshine with their picnic.
After eating their sandwiches and crisps, Severus sat Shaun on his lap and read him one of the many children's books that Severus had picked out for Shaun. This one told the much sanitized story of the 'Boy-Who-Lived' and the evil dark lord that wanted to kill him. Severus felt the story, with the pictures of his parents and him as a baby, would be a good foundation for telling him the truth about what had happened later on.
Shaun had settled down to take a short nap as his father read one of his new books, the tall man had his back to a tree and was sitting stretched out on the picnic blanket as Shaun slept using his lap as a pillow and his cloak as a blanket. The remains of their picnic were spread around them and Severus was occasionally sipping the icy chilled butter beer that Nippy had supplied for him. Severus put down his book and looked at the scene spread out before him. He sighed in contentment, 'Life is good!'
When Shaun awoke they spent the rest of the afternoon with Shaun practicing on his toy broom, his father's watchful eye and vigilant wand on him the entire time. He zoomed and turned and delighted in the feeling of joy that riding his broom gave him, except it was much too slow, it didn't go as fast or as high as his daddy's broom did. He thought as he rode and opened his senses to the magic he felt enveloping the broom; he almost had it figured out when his daddy called him down to land. It was time to return to the castle in order to get ready for dinner in the Great Hall.
Shaun let his daddy pick him up and carry him back home, all the while thinking on the spells that were on his small broom, now safely shrunk and stowed in his daddy's robe pocket along with all of their picnic things. If he could just figure out how to make his broom go like his daddy's, hmm…
Severus spent the next nine days planning out detentions for the three imbeciles that had hurt his son, Albus had informed him that he was not allowed to do anything permanently damaging, but that left a lot of leeway and he fully intended to use it. He also knew that the whole of Slytherin House would be exacting revenge of their own, after all the 150 points the three had lost in one afternoon would be nearly impossible to make up! And Severus knew that several of his Slytherin's were even more creative than he was.
When he wasn't plotting revenge, he spent as much time as he could with Shaun, the incident had pushed back the small boy's recovery from his blasted relatives by at least a month. Shaun still smiled and giggled softly around Severus though it was somewhat subdued, but he was once again reserved and shy around everyone else. And the boy was tired and even cranky at times when his inability to catch his breath made him frustrated. And that made Severus, Albus and Minerva upset. Those three troublemakers wouldn't know what hit them; very seldom did anyone manage to get the entire staff and faculty mad at them at once! But they had!
Rockwood, Ames, and McKnight had arrived back in the castle just in time to be late for dinner. They pushed open the doors of the Great Hall and walked quietly, heads bowed, over to their house table. The students all slid down to allow a large space for them to sit at one end, totally alone.
Ames gulped; he looked up at the staff table and tried to sink through the floor. The Headmaster was glaring at them, Professor McGonagall had her lips pursed and looked stern and angry; in fact all of the staff looked angry, except for Professor Snape. His expression was the scariest of all, he was smiling, a feral predatory smile!
Ames remembered that smile from his older brother's face, just as he would kill another rabbit with a slashing hex or a Reducto! The older brother that he hadn't seen in six years since he had been sent to Azkaban for killing four muggles at the direction of the Dark Lord. Ames picked at his food, unable to swallow much of the sawdust he now had on his plate.
Rockwood had a matching expression on his face, as Severus Snape, former death eater and now head of the House of Slytherin smiled down on the trio. McKnight had his back to the staff, and was eating as if nothing had happened. Until he looked at his two friends on the opposite side of the table. He stopped with his fork halfway to his mouth, then turned and looked over his shoulder at what had his two mates looking like they would be dead at any second. All of a sudden, his steak and kidney pie tasted like one of his little sister's mud pies.
The three looked around the room, looking for support from other students and found none. Even the other Slytherins were glaring at them. When the first student from another table left, the three fled back to the dungeon common room, they didn't run, but they had never walked faster in their lives.
Nippy was playing with Shaun in Professor Snape's office during second period the next day, instead of Shaun shadowing his father during class as he had been since the beginning of school. Shaun really didn't want to be left where he couldn't be with his daddy, but Severus had explained to him that there was probably going to be a lot of scary yelling because that was the class that the three bullies that had made him sick were in. Severus didn't want to scare Shaun so he had convinced his son to stay with their house elf in the next room. Shaun had been promised that if he really needed his daddy, Nippy would send a message to him and he would come right away. And Grandpa Albus had said that he might stay in his office and play with his whirling silver thingies if he wanted to.
Shaun could hear his daddy's voice even through the heavy oak door and decided he was glad he wasn't in the room, even though he knew his daddy wasn't mad at him; it still would have scared him.
Professor Snape was letting out every frustration, every bottled up bit of anger and resentment from the last four months out on the three hapless students in his seventh year potion's class. He had kept them back after releasing the other students to go to the library for a free study period.
Ames was currently quivering in his seat, McKnight was trying to salvage their potion and Rockwood sat, the potion's masters cold, calculating voice tearing him to shreds from just inches in front of his face.
"I though a seventh year student would be aware of the dangers of mixing unknown potions ingredients; the potential for deadly gases, even explosions. The unrestrained mixing of several of those ingredients could have reduced half of Hogsmeade to a pile of rubble. If Mr. Cooper had not had an exact list of what he had purchased, you would have killed an innocent four year old child, an innocent child who spent the next day in a coma, fighting for every breath, an innocent child who is not fully recovered to this day!"
Snape waved his wand and Evanesco-ed the mess in McKnight's cauldron. "You will spend the next month writing out every possible outcome of the ingredients on this list and then describing, in great detail, how many poisonous or explosive combinations those ingredients could have made. That you will do in your spare time, in addition to your regular homework. And each night at eight p.m. you will report to me for detention." His voice softened into a dangerous hiss, "Is that understood, gentlemen?"
He got three simultaneous 'Yes, sirs.' and went to dismiss the three, before turning around once more. "You are restricted to the castle, you will be in the common room, your dorm room, the Great Hall or your classroom at all times. You will ask me or another staff member for permission any time you need to use the library or any other room in the castle. The headmaster has informed me that you will be expelled for any infraction. I suggest you take the opportunity for reflection on what would have happened had I not returned at that exact moment. You would now be at Azkaban for life and might be facing the dementors' kiss for murder. Now leave my sight, you disgust me!" His voice had gotten softer and colder with each sentence, until the last was hissed in a barely audible whisper; that was more menacing and chilling than yelling could ever be.
Severus reached into his pocket and took a strong calming potion, he knew that Shaun could probably hear some of that and he knew he had to be calm to reassure the child that everything was all right. He paced and organized the homework he needed to take back to their quarters to grade, allowing himself time for the potion to work before opening the door to his office and smiling at his son. Shaun looked up at him; his eyes widened in uncertainty and even slight fear.
Shaun looked at his daddy's face, reading his body language and the expression of his eyes and knew his daddy wasn't mad, everything was now okay; he ran to him and hugged him.
"I was scared Daddy, but Nippy told me you weren't mad at me, just those mean bullies that made me sick. But I was worried you would be mad at me for getting sick. Are you mad at me, Daddy?"
"No, son, I will never be mad at you for being sick, and I cannot imagine every being as mad at you as I was at those three for making you sick. And remember, even when I am mad at you, and believe me sometimes I will get mad at something you do; I will still always love you, no matter what you do or don't do. Do you understand me?"
Shaun nodded and buried his head in his daddy's shoulder, "Can we go eat now, I'm hungry and Nippy said they have both fried chicken and shepherd's pie. And chocolate cake for pudding!"
Severus laughed and ruffled his son's now messy hair, "Of course, how could I resist? But how will you ever be able to choose from your two favorites?"
Shaun looked up angelically, "Nippy says I can have both, because I'm a good boy! Aren't I daddy?"
With a firm hug, Severus agreed and the two walked to the Great Hall for lunch.
Life in the castle returned to normal, well not really normal, it was after all a boarding school for young witches and wizards! The staff settled down, even though they still occasionally glared at the near end of the Slytherin table where the three sat huddled in isolation. One or the other of them frequently sported some manifestation of their housemates' ire at the loss of house points. The rest of the school was just happy the three bullying prats had been caught, and were getting some of their own back, since they no longer had the tacit and retaliatory support of their housemates and the teachers were turning a blind eye as long as it wasn't truly hurtful or dangerous.
They had sported pink, green and even multi-stripped hair on occasion; one sported rabbit ears, while the other two had the ears and tails of donkeys all one Saturday afternoon. They had been tripped, confused, had their fingers and toes webbed, and Rockwood one afternoon was lisping after his tongue forked and he grew a three horned something out of the middle of his forehead.
Because they were isolated from the rest of the Slytherin table at the far end, right under the teachers' table, even the house elves were letting their displeasure known. For breakfast they got choices like prune juice or soy milk; with porridge or hard boiled eggs their only food. And no one had ever remembered liver and onions, head cheese sandwiches, or lutefisk on the menu at Hogwarts before, they were afraid to even ask what the bowl of pork rinds was let alone taste one. And though they did get pudding every day, it consisted of plain yoghurt or stale plain biscuits.
The three tall seventeen year old boys had not appreciated the morning they spent being small, cute six year old girls, nor the flashing pink robes and ponytails. And all of their instructors seemed suddenly unable to quickly or even completely remove all of the hexes, jinxes and pranks that they frequently sprouted. Even little Professor Flitwick expressed deep sorrow when the spell he was demonstrating in class caused their feet to swell to three times their normal size, and Professor McGonagall seemed to need their help to demonstrate every new transfiguration that she demonstrated, over and over and over again.
They had begun to check their dorm room every evening after spending a miserable morning with Madame Pomfrey who had mysteriously run out of the antidote for the itching powder they found sprinkled liberally in their robes. Unfortunately they found it after they got dressed after their showers in the bathroom.
But the worse by far were the creative detentions that Professor Snape sat and smiled through. He would sit at his desk in the front of the classroom and give them their assignment for the evening, and then he would just smile at them without saying a further word to them. Smiling and grading papers each evening for twenty days. They had to prepare the most disgusting potions ingredients imaginable, separating frog parts, collecting bubo tuber puss, and even draining stink lizard venom, which meant they had to slit the lizards' belly, remove the venom sack and then squeeze the venom out into a vial without losing a drop! And there was a very good reason they called them stink lizards!
They had thought things couldn't get worse until Snape had them clean the ceiling. He drew his wand on them, and with a malicious flick, they were stuck upside down on the ceiling, scrubbing it with magically charmed sponges and scrub brushes, three hours of hanging upside down while on their knees, scrubbing what seemed like centuries of exploded potions, grime and indescribable gook off the stone.
At the end of the first twenty days, Professor Snape sat them down at the beginning of detention and talked to them. "What have you learned in the last month, gentlemen? And I want real answers, I know if you are lying, don't even try to begin to lie to me!"
McKnight was the first to speak once again, "I hate all the bullying and pranks that we have been subjected too. I realize that what I had been doing to the younger kids wasn't funny at all; I was just a big bullying prat. I don't like what I would have become if I hadn't been stopped. I'm really sorry that little boy was hurt, but I'm really not sorry that I was caught. I can't say I won't ever do anything stupid again, but I can say I won't ever be deliberately mean or a bully again. And I'm very sorry for losing points and making all the work for you, sir. I deserved everything I got, well maybe not the liver and onions and the stink lizard venom." He hung his head in true remorse and contrition, genuinely sorry for being a bully.
Severus looked at the other two, Ames just shrugged and whispered, "I don't like being bullied and treated like dragon dung, but I don't think we deserved what has happened to us, I mean, everyone bullies the younger kids, we just got caught."
"So you see no difference between someone giving you pink hair for an hour and almost killing a child? No degree of disparity between potentially blowing up half of Hogsmeade and a tripping jinx in the hall?" Severus' voice was quiet and quite calm.
"Uh, no sir, uh, I mean yes, sir, there is a big difference. I didn't mean that at all, I do know there is a big difference. We just didn't know what that little third year had in his bag…"
"So that gave you the right to destroy his property, humiliate and bully him, Mr. Ames?" The potion's master's voice was soft and deadly.
"No, sir, I know it didn't. We were just being stupid, I'm sorry sir." Ames was on the verge of a total mental breakdown, fighting not to cry at the menacing threat now only inches from his nose. The man might have been calmer and gentler this year, but that didn't erase the last four years of history. And the man was a mean git; he could shrivel your soul with a single glance.
Rockwood had remained silent during his two colleagues' interrogations, he still couldn't see what Snape was so upset about; it wasn't like they hadn't been bullying people in other houses since they got here after all. So they hadn't been too smart stomping together some of those potions ingredients, so what? He tried to keep his head down and look sorry; after all it always got him out of punishment with his mother, didn't it? His father had been killed by those bloody aurors when he was just six and his mother let him get by with everything if he just looked sorry. Well he was sorry, that was no lie, he was very sorry they had been caught!
Rockwood felt his Head of House's eyes burning a hole in the top of his head and looked up to find his gaze caught and locked with the man's deep black eyes. He didn't know how he knew it, but he knew he was royally screwed; there would be no lying to this man. He knew he wasn't sorry, Rockwood didn't know how he knew that but he surely did.
Severus sat back on the desk behind him and looked at Ames and McKnight. "You two are excused for the rest of the evening. You are now off of house arrest, any restrictions are lifted. You will report here each evening for the next ten days to fulfill your detentions, but you will do your homework and catch up on any late work. I will assist you with any difficulties you might be having. Good night, gentlemen." They didn't have to be told twice; they grabbed their things and almost ran out of the room.
Severus turned and went to the fireplace in the corner of the room, cast an Incendio and then threw floo powder in. "Headmaster's Office, Severus calling!" When the Headmaster's head appeared, Severus motioned for him to step through and moved back to give the old man room.
"Yes, Severus, what can I do for you?" He turned as he stood up and saw Mr. Rockwood sitting at a desk, his head down, trying to look contrite, but not quite pulling it off. Severus pulled the headmaster over to talk quietly to him. "The other two boys have learned their lesson; they are now off of restrictions and will just be doing homework with me for the last ten days. Rockwood is only upset that he got caught, he has learned nothing and will most likely seek revenge from anyone who has slighted him, or he thinks has slighted him. I would worry for the younger students, especially Mr. Cooper if he were to remain in the castle. And I fear he is too old for us to change in the seven months left of school."
Albus nodded thoughtfully and walked over to Mr. Rockwood and stood silently and patiently in front of him. Finally curiosity overcame the seventeen year old and he looked up only to have his gaze trapped once again, only this time into rock hard blue eyes. He felt as if he was judged and found badly wanting in the next few minutes. Albus shook his head sadly and deliberately; "I am sorry, Mr. Rockwood, it appears that you will not allow yourself to learn the most important lesson that we teach in this school. I fear that if we allowed you to continue to attend, your behavior would ultimately endanger the lives of the other children here."
"Severus, if you could escort Mr. Rockwood back to his dorm to collect his belongings while I notify his mother and make arrangements for him to be returned home. Good bye Mr. Rockwood, I am sorry that we were unable to teach you that all people deserve the right to feel safe in their home and that all people are of equal worth and deserve to have their feelings and belongings respected."
In less than an hour, Mr. Rockwood had been returned to his mother's home with charges of assault against Mr. Cooper, and reckless endangerment against all those in Flourish & Blott's filed at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
During breakfast the next morning, the doors of the Great Hall banged back to reveal Minister Fudge and his entourage striding towards the staff table, the minister's face angry and flustered, his lime green bowler hat clashing madly with the deep red flush of his face. "Headmaster, I must protest the papers that have just come to my attention!"
"Cornelius, perhaps we could adjourn to my office, I am sure the students need to finish their breakfasts and then go to classes without hearing our discussion." The students thought they would much rather hear a fight between their headmaster and the Minister of Magic than go to class any day, but it was not to be. Fudge looked around and startled, as if surprised to find himself in the crowded Great Hall during breakfast.
"Well, yes, yes, just finish up and go to class, yes that's right." spluttered Fudge.
They had barely entered the Headmaster's office when Fudge shook a sheaf of parchments under the wizard's nose and started yelling, "I just found out that the Potter boy was removed from his rightful relatives' house and adopted by a former death eater, and you arranged the whole incident! You had no right! I demand you place that boy right back with his aunt, right now!"
Snape had rightly guessed what the reason for the Minister's unexpected visit was, and he had left Shaun with Nippy and then come up to the Headmaster's office. He looked at his mentor and suggested, "Perhaps the Minister needs to see my memories also, Headmaster?"
Albus nodded and reached into his cabinet for his pensieve, placed in onto the desk and stood back while Severus once again placed the gossamer threads of his memories of Shaun's arrival into it.
Only Albus, Severus and Cornelius entered the pensieve, the others in his bodyguard and the clerks he always had following him didn't need to know the information that his memories contained. Severus had not only put his memories of the battered baby and the care he had had to provide, but the conversations about the Dursley's moving to Canada and not notifying anyone that the boy had been missing for over two months from their house. He did not include any of the unique abilities that his son had, he didn't think the minister needed to know about them; after all, the boy was much safer if no one knew where he was or the fact that he was invisible.
Severus had included several other memories taken over the last months, his favorites of the times he spent with his son; the momentous memory of his son accepting him and declaring himself, Shaun Severus Snape, the hugs and kisses, the last physical where Poppy had declared him completely healed. And finally the boy learning to fly, and even the picnic where Severus had begun to gently explain to the boy who he was and what had happened to his first daddy and his mommy.
Cornelius was visibly shaken and had to sit down heavily on a chair that Snape shoved behind him. "My word, Albus, how, why, I mean how they…their own flesh and blood could be so cruel, where are they…?"
The Minister looked up at Snape, and reluctantly nodded, "Well, I guess I can't complain too much about the placement with you. You're certainly better than his aunt and uncle and I don't think anyone would be better able to protect him from your former associates. I will allow it, Albus, but I still protest at the speed and total secrecy with which you railroaded that termination and adoption through."
"Ah, but Cornelius, can you imagine the retaliation against innocent muggles, and exactly who might come forward to try to force an adoption of the boy, if we had gone through regular channels and advertised what had happened to Harry Potter?"
Cornelius looked defeated, "Well, I guess I will have to agree with you, after all, I suspect that the Malfoy money could have dragged an objection to the adoption out for months if not years and left the boy totally helpless in our world. I will concede that it needed to be done quickly and definitely quietly. Come gentlemen, it's time to return to the ministry. Oh, and Professor Snape, congratulations, and thank you for your care for the child, I will admit that I am a bit surprised, I had heard stories about you from some of your former students."
Severus just crossed his arms and smirked; neither confirming nor denying the stories. As the minister's entourage left once more, he calmly returned his memories to his head once more. Albus wrapped an arm around the younger man and pulled him into a warm embrace. Severus returned the hug for a brief moment before pulling away and excusing himself to return to the dungeon to prepare for his first class.
He couldn't stay any longer or the headmaster might have seen the tears threatening to spill down his cheeks. He had been so afraid he was going to loose his son, and now his heart was so filled with joy that he had an odd urge to go scream for joy on the top of the astronomy tower. Luckily he had a free period before teaching fourth year Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw!
He went to his quarters and immediately scooped Shaun up from the floor and twirled around with him in his arms, "You are all mine today, son, now no one can ever take you away from me! I love you, Shaun, do you know that?"
Shaun loved being twirled in the air, and he was happy daddy was so excited; he hadn't liked that mad man making so much noise and scaring him. He hugged his daddy around the neck and kissed his soft cheek. "You're silly, Daddy, and I love you too."
No one got detention for the rest of the week, and no one even lost many points in potions classes. But even more worrying to everyone, Snape could be seen at odd moments with the strangest expression, …he was SMILING!