A/N - This is a darker version of the School Days piece - The Tie. After I'd wrote the first version, I then wondered if I should have made it a dark story, so instead of scrapping the first version, I then wrote a second piece with a darker undertone. Although I do have to mention that Hermione hardly features in this piece.
I also want to make an announcement about the sequel to Goddess of Vengeance. Even though I had already mentioned that a sequel wouldn't be up any time soon, I've had a lot of recent questions about it. My intention was to make it my priority when I wrote, but I have to admit I haven't even looked at it so far this year. Instead I wrote a couple of chapters of another dark story and got totally absorbed in it. The story I have been working on has totally gripped me, and gone in a direction I hadn't planned. It's now a trilogy and features a dark Harry. So that means the Goddess sequel is currently on hold, but I do still intend to try and work on it soon and I will post it as soon as I can, which will hopefully still be the front half of the year. As for the story I'm currently engrossed in, I have the first part done, so I now have to decide whether to think about posting the first part, and just posting the others whenever they're finished and possibly having long gaps in between parts, or waiting until I've got more done so I can post all three parts back to back.
The Cover-Up.
Severus Snape was on his way back down to the dungeons to prepare for his afternoon lessons, when he was collared by the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. Severus had been under the illusion that Dumbledore was eating lunch in the Great Hall, but instead he managed to grab him as he passed the staff room.
"Ah Severus, may I have a word?" Dumbledore asked.
"I am rather busy and lunchtime is nearly over," Severus replied. The last thing he wanted to do was spend the rest of his lunchtime conversing with the doddering old headmaster.
"This won't take a moment," Dumbledore insisted.
"Very well then," Severus conceded with a sigh. As part of his act as a member of the Order of the Phoenix, he knew he had to toe the line and play the part of a good Professor on occasions, and this was one of those occasions.
"Let's go into the staff room," Dumbledore said, returning into the room he'd only just vacated.
Severus followed Dumbledore into the staff room, but instead of settling down in a seat, he remained standing as to remind Dumbledore that he didn't have long. Fortunately, Dumbledore got the hint and he got straight to the point.
"As you know, I've got a meeting with the Ministry tomorrow afternoon," Dumbledore began. "It's nothing special, just pretty standard really, but you know they're wanting to see our predictions for the next few year's exam results."
"I sent my report to your office yesterday," Severus interjected, assuming Dumbledore was going to inform him he hadn't received his contribution.
"I'm well aware of that Severus," Dumbledore said. "But quite frankly your report made for some pretty bleak reading. Your predictions for next year's N.E.W.T.S are far lower than our normal standards."
"And you know why," Severus ground out, as he worked hard to keep the full extent of his annoyance in check.
At the beginning of the year, Dumbledore had made the unprecedented move of interfering in which students Severus took into his N.E.W.T lessons. Since he'd began teaching, Severus had only ever accepted the best students for their final two years at Hogwarts as the work load was difficult and the final exam one of the toughest around. For years his practice had worked like a charm, and every student who took their Potions N.E.W.T.S passed with a top grade. However, this year, Dumbledore had forced him to admit students who didn't have the highest grades, therefore Severus knew the exam results the following year were going to be lacking.
"You can't blame two students for bringing down the marks of an entire year," Dumbledore ordered.
"But it's not just two students though, is it?" Severus shot back. "You wanted Potter and Weasley in my class, therefore I couldn't exclude other students who have the same ability as the pair. So as a result, I've got a dozen extra students in my class, none of whom stand a chance of passing their exams in the top marks bracket. They might all scrape through their exams and I'm sure some of them will get one of the lowest passing grades, but we'll no longer have the impressive results we've been getting."
"Is the situation really that dire?" Dumbledore asked with a frown.
"It is," Severus confirmed with a nod. "And I will not sugar-coat things for the Ministry."
"They're going to ask questions Severus," Dumbledore said with a sigh. "The Ministry have always been very proud that our Potions results are better than both Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, and they won't like these predictions that the supremacy is going to end."
"Then I guess you'll have some explaining to do," Severus remarked, totally unconcerned with the sticky situation Dumbledore might find himself in with the Ministry. It wasn't as if it would be an issue for much longer as The Dark Lord was gearing himself up to make what would hopefully be the decisive strike in the ongoing war. "This is on you, Albus. You forced me to change my policy this year."
"I've explained this numerous times," Dumbledore argued. "Harry and Ron need their Potions exams to enter Auror training. With the war gathering pace, we need them to be able to fight."
"And I told you, the grades they will receive will not impress the Ministry," Severus countered. "Yes, they might get the required qualification, but not the high grade the Ministry expects. Quite frankly, the low grade they might get is not much different from them not having any grade. This still won't get them into Auror training, not unless you're going to pull some strings for them there as well."
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Dumbledore said, neither denying nor confirming that he was going to help the Gryffindors in their quest to become Aurors. "Although, I've always been convinced that Harry and Ron have never quite reached their potential in Potions. I think they could achieve a good grade if they applied themselves."
"In that case, you need to talk to the pair of them, and not me," Severus said as he turned on his heel. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got afternoon lessons to prepare for."
"Severus, wait," Dumbledore called, running after the Potions master as he swept into the corridor. "I want you to help them."
"Help who?" Severus questioned, not stopping as he headed towards the stairs that led down to the dungeons.
"Harry and Ron," Dumbledore answered, trailing after Severus as he descended into the dungeons. "Help them achieve their potential."
Suddenly stopping, Severus whirled around and fixed Dumbledore with an unimpressed glare. "Are you suggesting I give them extra lessons? May I remind you, if I do it for those two, I'll have to do it for everyone. I can't have anyone saying I'm biased now, can I?"
"You're not bothered about being seen as biased, Severus," Dumbledore said astutely. "Your own personal feelings are getting in the way here. Forget that Harry is James's son, and remember that he's also Lily's."
"Don't use Lily as emotional blackmail," Severus hissed, his black eyes flashing angrily at the headmaster.
Even after fifteen years, memories of Lily and her death were still hard for Severus to deal with. Although, what Dumbledore didn't know what that Severus placed the blame for Lily's demise on Dumbledore's shoulders. True, it had been The Dark Lord who had struck the killing blow, but in Severus's opinion in never would have happened if the Potters had been as protected as Dumbledore had always promised.
Dumbledore's big mistake was to convince the Potters to change secret keeper at the last moment. Instead of using Sirius Black, or even Remus Lupin, two wizards who would have died rather than give up their friends, Dumbledore had persuaded them to use Peter Pettigrew, on the basis that it wouldn't be as predictable and the dark wouldn't think of them using Pettigrew. Sadly, The Dark Lord wasn't stupid and he'd considered all three of the Potters closest friends as potential secret keepers. It was just good luck for the dark side that they'd managed to get hold of Pettigrew first, and of course he squealed like the gutless worm he was and gave up his so called friends.
"I'm just urging you to do what's right," Dumbledore said softly as Severus once again began striding off towards his classroom. "The war is gathering pace every day, Severus. You know as well as I do that Harry is the key. We need to help prepare him for the day he'll face Voldemort."
"And you think mixing a good potion will help?" Severus scoffed. "He won't defeat The Dark Lord by making a potion."
In actual fact, Severus didn't believe that Harry would defeat The Dark Lord at all. Not only did Voldemort have a very secure safety net in place to counterbalance his potential downfall, but he had strengths the light knew nothing about. Voldemort was far more powerful than Dumbledore suspected, and he had far more than just Severus in contact with the light side. In fact he had a secret weapon in the very heart of the light, and Severus knew when the time was right, he planned on exposing his secret weapon and ripping the guts out of the Order.
"The skills he will learn as an Auror will stand him in good stead for the battles to come," Dumbledore countered. "At least think about it."
"What does it matter anyway?" Severus asked, swinging open the door to his classroom and strolling inside. "As I said earlier, you can just pull strings to get Potter and his little sidekick into the Auror programme. It'll be easier than me trying to teach the useless pair about Potions."
"What if I'm not around to pull string?" Dumbledore asked.
"Are you going somewhere?" Severus asked with an arched eyebrow.
"I'm not planning to, but we both know I'm a target," Dumbledore replied with a shrug. "If Voldemort can get rid of me, he'll think Harry and the Order are weakened. He might strike before the end of next year, and I can't risk leaving Harry without help. At least this way if the worst happens, he'll have the qualifications to go into Auror training."
"Fine," Severus conceded with a slight snarl. He knew Dumbledore would just keep pressing him, and quite honestly it was easier to give him what he wanted now and save himself days of nagging. "But just Potter. Weasley can fend for himself."
Dumbledore opened his mouth to argue, but closed it again when he saw the look on Severus's face. "Harry it is then. I'll let you make the arrangements."
"Something to look forward to," Severus muttered under his breath as he turned to his desk.
"Thank you Severus. I'll be leaving now," Dumbledore said, turning back towards the door. As he did so, he got his eyes on a flash of green material draped over one of the chairs. "Oh look, one of your Slytherins have forgotten their tie."
"What? There was no tie here before lunch," Severus replied without thinking as he stalked over to where Dumbledore had just picked up the tie. Just as he reached Dumbledore, he spotted a scrap of lacy green material on the floor, but before he could either grab it or distract the headmaster, Dumbledore had spotted it and was reaching for it.
"What's this?" He mused, picking up the material. Straightening back up, he turned the material over in his hands, before dropping it to the table in horror as he realised just what it was. "These are ladies undergarments," He stuttered, his face turning a bright shade of red.
"So it looks like," Severus agreed quietly, inwardly cursing the owner of the tie and underwear.
Despite the fact the tie was just an everyday Slytherin tie and could have belonged to any of his students, Severus knew exactly who it belonged to. Just as he knew who the knickers belonged to, despite the fact he'd never seen them before. There were only two people in the entire castle who would have the balls to fool around in his classroom, and unfortunately it wouldn't be good news for the dark if Dumbledore discovered the owners of the two pieces of clothing.
"I can't believe the depravity," Dumbledore seethed. "In a classroom of all places. It's an utter disgrace. We must get to the bottom of this, and find out who these items of clothes belong to."
"Allow me, headmaster," Severus said smoothly, sweeping the knickers and the tie off the table and into his pocket. "Logic dictates it's either a seventh year or a sixth year and I happen to be teaching both years this afternoon. I can track down the owner of the tie and punish them appropriately."
"And the owner of the undergarments?" Dumbledore asked.
"That might be trickier," Severus replied. "I can see who is missing a tie, but I can hardly check to see if any girls are missing their underwear."
"No, of course not," Dumbledore replied, his face turning even redder at Severus's words. "I'll leave it to you. I trust you'll find the culprit and put an end to such depravity. In fact, I think I need to plan a speech for this evening. We need to stamp out the sex, Severus. School is no place for such behaviour."
Severus fought the urge to roll his eyes at Dumbledore as the old man bustled out of the classroom, still muttering about putting an end to sex. How Dumbledore thought he was going to crack down on frisky students when they had a whole castle full of hormonal teenagers was beyond Severus. Whether Dumbledore liked it or not, sex was always going to be going on at Hogwarts. It was just too ridiculous to expect the older students not to give in to their hormones from time to and time and explore their sexual side. Although Severus would have preferred it if the exploring hadn't taken place in his classroom.
Heading over to his desk, Severus sat down as he pondered on how to proceed with the task Dumbledore had set him. In normal circumstances, Severus would have just pulled the owner of the tie to one side and had a quiet word, but he knew that wouldn't be possible with Potter and Weasley in the class. The pair, Potter especially, reported everything back to Dumbledore and Severus knew that it would get back to the headmaster if he didn't make a song and dance about the tie and the underwear. He would just have to play it by ear, and hope that the owner of the tie lived up to his reputation and was able to think on his feet and worm his way out of trouble like any good Slytherin.
Severus still wasn't sure how to proceed with the tie as the bell rang for first lesson of the afternoon and the sixth years began to troop into the classroom. Among the last to enter were three Slytherins, Draco Malfoy, Blaise Zabini and Theo Nott. All three boys looked slightly flushed, as though they'd ran to class, and none of them were wearing ties. As inspiration struck him, Severus waited for everyone to take their seats and settle down before he got to his feet.
"Before we begin, I have an announcement to make," Severus began. "This is a classroom, a place for learning. It is not a room for secret trysts, nor is it a room for behaviour that should be saved for the bedroom." Pausing dramatically, Severus pulled the tie and knickers from his pocket and held them up for all to see. "I have two pieces of clothing here, both of which were found in my classroom during lunchtime. I will give the owners the chance to come and claim their items, or if the wizard in question would like to be a gentleman, he can accept both items of clothing and give the underwear back to its owner in private."
Severus's announcement was met by excited whispers and furtive glances around the room as the class waited for the owner to come forward. Attention was obviously more on the Slytherins, since one of their ties had been found, and three of them were sitting without their ties. Severus was also slyly watching the trio of Slytherins, and while nothing noticeable happened between the three, Blaise Zabini finally gave a reluctant sigh as he got to his feet.
"Sorry sir, the tie's mine," He offered.
Severus was impressed with Draco for getting Blaise to own up to being the owner of the tie. Blaise already had a reputation with the female population of Hogwarts, and it was very believable that he would be messing around in the Potions classroom with a girl. Chances were no-one would even try to get to the bottom of who he was with, whereas if Draco had come forward, people might have been curious about who he'd been fooling around with as he had no such reputation. In fact, Draco had been in a relationship for over a year and he wasn't the sort to have numerous witches on the go like his best friend did, which made Blaise the perfect person to take the fall.
"Do you want to take possession of the underwear as well, or are we waiting for your companion to claim them?" Severus asked as he handed Blaise a tie which he knew didn't belong to him.
"I'll take the knickers," Blaise answered, shoving them into his pocket when Severus handed them to him.
"This is not to happen again, Mr Zabini," Severus snarled. "You can stay behind after class so we can discuss your punishment."
"Punishment?" Blaise cried, his eyes briefly flicking over to Draco as he retook his seat.
"Yes punishment," Severus confirmed. "Now enough on the matter for the time being. Back to lessons, and I want you all to turn to page two hundred. Read the instructions, grab your ingredients and brew me a perfect potion before the end of lesson."
Returning to his desk, Severus did some marking as the class got on with their assignment. He also kept an eye on the Slytherins, and he spotted Blaise and Draco having several whispered conversations. Across the room, he watched for some sort of reaction from the witch he knew the underwear belonged to, but she seemed engrossed in her work.
At the end of the class the students began to pour out of the classroom, while Blaise remained at his desk, the departing students smirking and laughing at him as they went. Draco was the last to go, and he threw Blaise an apologetic look as he finally left the classroom and shut the door behind him.
"I can explain," Blaise began when Severus got up from his desk and walked around to perch on the front of it.
"I'm sure you can, and I'm sure it'll be a very entertaining story," Severus replied. "But before you do that, go and get Draco. I'm sure he's just outside."
Sure enough when Blaise pulled open the classroom door, Draco was hovering in the hallway. Blaise ushered his best friend into the room, and Draco let out a sigh as he looked over at his godfather.
"You didn't buy it, did you?" He questioned.
"Not for one minute," Severus replied. "Blaise, give Draco his tie back. And the knickers."
"I've already got them," Draco answered as he took his tie off his best friend.
"It's a shame you didn't think to grab them earlier," Severus remarked.
"Sorry, we were in a rush," Draco admitted. "We heard your voice outside with Dumbledore and we had to flee through your office. We obviously missed a few things as we ran."
"So does this mean I don't get punished?" Blaise asked excitedly.
"Unfortunately not," Severus replied with a grimace. "Since Dumbledore was the one to find the evidence of Draco's activities, he'll want to know what happened."
"And Potter and Weasley will be sure to tell him," Blaise muttered.
"I'm sure the story will be all over the school before the end of the day," Draco said. "Everyone will know that Blaise was getting up to no good with a girl down in the dungeons."
"No change there then," Severus remarked.
"But seriously, you're still going to punish me?" Blaise asked.
"We have to make it look as though you're being punished," Severus replied. "Unless you want people asking questions."
"No, he doesn't," Draco answered on his friend's behalf. "Blaise will play along with whatever punishment you decide on."
"Yeah, I will," Blaise agreed with a sigh. "But I also want compensation. I'm being punished and I didn't even get the pleasure I'm in trouble for."
"Neither did I, we were disturbed," Draco snorted.
"I'm so sorry Dumbledore and I put a kink in your sex life, Draco," Severus drawled. "And Blaise is right, you owe him big time."
"I know, and I'll make it up to him," Draco vowed.
"You better," Blaise warned, before turning to Severus. "So come on sir, what's my punishment?"
"We'll start with detentions," Severus replied as he walked over to the cupboard and pulled out a large vial of potion which he handed to Blaise. "Come to my classroom after dinner and I'll set you some work."
"And the potion is for?" Blaise questioned.
"Work it out," Severus replied. "You can go now Blaise, I want a quick word with Draco before my next class arrives."
Still puzzling over the potion and what it could be, Blaise exited the Potions classroom. However, Draco had a feeling he knew what potion his godfather had given Blaise, and he suspected that it would be him that returned to Severus's classroom to serve detention.
"How stupid are you, Draco?" Severus hissed once they were alone.
"It was an accident," Draco protested.
"An accident you've been warned about," Severus pointed out. "Honestly, could the pair of you not control your hormones?"
"I can't help it if I'm irresistible," Draco replied with a smirk.
"Irresistible or not, in future keep it for somewhere more private," Severus warned. "My classroom is not private."
"It is one of the quietest parts of the castle actually," Draco said. "No-one dares just walks into your classroom."
"Except that today the pair of you were almost caught by Dumbledore," Severus snarled. "Do you have any idea the problems that would have caused? Her cover would have been blown and The Dark Lord has big plans for her."
"I know," Draco said. "We both know."
"Then you should be more careful," Severus said. "I warned the pair of you about being careful, as did Lucius and The Dark Lord."
"You're not going to tell him, are you?" Draco asked, some of his confidence evaporating when Voldemort was mentioned.
"What? Tell The Dark Lord that you were almost caught in a comprising position with his granddaughter?" Severus smirked. "Don't worry Draco, I'll not drop you in it this time. But in future think about the consequences if you're caught. I know it's hard for the pair of you, but try and control your hormones."
"We will," Draco promised. "And thank you Severus, we owe you one."
"All I want is for the pair of you not to mess this up," Severus replied. "It won't be long now, Draco. The Dark Lord is getting ready to strike, and he wants his granddaughter by his side when he does. Just have patience, and you'll not have to sneak around for much longer. But don't jeopardise it for a quickie at lunchtime. I won't be able to keep it from The Dark Lord if the pair of you are actually caught."
"It won't happen," Draco said confidently. "We won't mess this up, I promise."
"Just pass my message along," Severus replied. "Make sure she knows that you're playing with fire. I know she doesn't want to disappoint her grandfather, but if you're going to keep being as careless it's exactly what's going to happen."
"It won't," Draco replied. "I better get going before I'm late to my next class. Thank you Severus."
"Go," Severus said, dismissing his godson and hoping that he'd gotten through to him. After all, it would be a terrible waste if The Dark Lord's plans all came crashing down around his ears thanks to his granddaughter and her boyfriend, and their teenage hormones.
Thankfully for Severus, his words seemed to have the right effect on the young couple and there was no further near misses. In fact there were no more incidents until The Dark Lord was ready to strike, and when he did make his move the entire Order were blown apart when it was revealed that Voldemort had a granddaughter. Not just any granddaughter, a granddaughter who was at the heart of the Order. And to think, it all could have fallen apart if Dumbledore had walked into Severus's classroom and found Draco Malfoy in a comprising position with Hermione Granger.