Well hehe hi, sorry its been over a week. I really struggled trying to put together the memories and stuff and don't be mad for me not going over the memories that were written in half blood prince. ALSO I do have a good reason why I didn't post I had to drive across the country since I live in two different states! Ill try to get one or two more chapters out this week because I feel bad for not updating last week. Thanks for the follows and reviews I love to hear what you think! Tell me what you think about this chapter nicely!
Severus had spent most of the day after classes tending to his potion in his classroom despite how sore, stiff his neck and back was. He blamed it on the extended visit to the Grey Lady for tea and having to sit on the ground for a prolonged amount of time. He had expected his younger body to bounce back, and if it had, he had no idea how his older body would have reacted to it.
He had wanted to spend the rest of the evening with Lily before him, and Lupin commenced their plan, but she had already invited her two Gryffindor friends to spend the evening with her. He offered to join them, but he would rather not have to deal with two girls who were uncomfortable whenever he stood near them. He could work on making them tolerable of his presence at a later date.
He wanted to complete his potion, but he needed to add a sort of muscle relaxant to it. He had been working on the aspect, knowing it would not take that much as long as he had the right ingredients, which he made sure of after sneaking into Slughorn's supplies. The man didn't know how to protect his things if his life depended upon it.
It was a promising purple that gleamed a red hue. It exuded a faint maroon smoke after he had tweaked it just hours before he had let it simmer. It wafted the scent of dittany and other herbs. He was sure it would work, and if it didn't, he would have to try again. The only one who would be suffering for his failure would-be Lupin and that didn't settle right in his stomach.
Once Severus deemed the potion done, he kept it simmering knowing it would not harm it. He dug in his bag and pulled out his vials and set them up to put the potion in. He stopped when the muscle of his neck clenched painfully.
"Bloody," he cursed, rubbing at his neck. It only took him a split second to realise he could test the amount of pain the potion could alleviate with himself. It would give a slightly strange effect due to the added concepts of wolfsbane to it, though would not be too much there due to the other ingredients unless he had lycanthropy. He grabbed himself a small dose, knowing if he had a full dose of the potion his body would relax so much he would pass out. It was meant for the deepest of pains, like your bones being rearranged and broken only to have them put back from transforming during the full moon. Prolonged exposure to the Cruciatus curse was another thing to wear out the body.
He took the small dose, finding the taste was similar to pain-relieving potions but wasn't. As if it stirred off into another range of tastes. The maroon steam left through his nose, which tickled. He coughed involuntarily as it slid down his throat, but the effect was instantaneous.
Severus had to grip the desk tightly as his legs wobbled, his muscles relaxing without his consent. The pain in his neck and back were entirely gone after twenty seconds. He was feeling as if he had never had an ache in his life. If he had taken more, his muscles would be relaxed enough to where he would have collapsed on the floor. This was a massive pain killer, which would surely help Lupin relieve some of his pain.
He smiled proudly to himself, he had done it. He would just have to see how well it helped Lupin out in the end. He had invented a new potion, but he had no idea what to call it. He was sure sanitatem would work as a temporary name.
Instead of focusing on the name aspect, he wondered if the potion would stop pain from being received before it even happened. He took a deep breath before he rammed his knee into the desk chair next to him, not willing to bump the potion still simmering on the desk itself. He barely felt a sting which confirmed that the potion was still in effect, though he didn't know how long. It seemed to be halving the pain which he wasn't sure would be too helpful for Lupin before the transformation. Though he had to know if it would even work on him in the first place, as normal pain potions didn't dig through much of the pain.
He began to bottle the potion in the vials he set up.
Severus had finished up his potion-making and then started to prepare for the plan back in the Slytherin common room. He was waiting until closer to curfew to step out and leave. The more time they had to get into the office the better.
He had been striding towards the common room exit casually, getting a glare from Yaxley who was sitting near the fireplace with his group which consisted of Jack Travers, Evan Rosier, Thorfin Rowle, Henry Mulciber and Silas Avery. He was a bit disappointed that Avery was there but should have expected the bloke to follow Mulciber wherever he went. He smirked at the several glares he was receiving and walked away but then Regulus and Urbek seemed to ambush him.
"Want to play Exploding Snap?" Regulus asked, looking overly excited.
"Chess?" Urbek put in, glancing nervously at Severus but with some sort of awe. Regulus was most likely feeding him stories and fantasies of him, which was not appreciated.
"Later, I have to go give Lily some notes," he dismissed them both, side stepping and walking past them. He wasn't technically lying as he had made a duplicate set of DADA notes to hand off to the Prefect after he obliviated them. "If you stay awake long enough I'll play," he added in seeing how crestfallen the two looked. How had he befriended Urbek in such a short notice bewildered him.
He made his way towards the Gryffindor tower. He dodged Filch and his infuriating rambling and stopped at the end of the hallway, digging out a quill from his bag and transfiguring it into a pocket watch he checked the time. Lupin was due in around ten minutes at the latest with the Prefect.
He became agitated when the ten-minute mark passed, but he still waited silently. Though he was beginning to suspect that Remus just decided to bail on him and he was going to have to go alone.
As if on cue the portrait to the common rooms swung open. Severus glanced carefully to see Remus walking out, his arms hugging himself. He was feigning sick extremely well.
Frank Longbottom followed after him as the portrait swung shut. He looked a bit panicked but was keeping himself together. You couldn't be a Prefect if you weren't ready to handle situations like this.
Severus found it almost too cruel at what he was going to have to do. Frank spent a good decade with his wife, insane at St Mungos, though that had not occurred in this timeline as of yet. He wasn't even completely sure if it would play out similarly. For all he knew, Frank could find a way to get himself killed.
He was going to graze the top of Longbottom's mind for a password then obliviate him.
"Are you sure I should not call Professor McGonagall?" Frank asked Remus.
"It's just easier to get to the infirmary," he dismissed, rubbing at his side, "isn't she patrolling tonight or something?"
"Yes, I suppose it's best not to concern her for a minor problem," he relented and began to lead Remus down the hallway.
Lupin was glancing around slowly, waiting for him to appear out of nowhere and start the next phase of their plan. When they got closer to where he was and stepped out casually. Remus looked relieved that he was there and straightened up a bit as he didn't need to feign illness much longer.
Frank blinked in confusion at the sudden appearance of him. "Why are you out after curfew?" he asked, sounding irritated, "you're supposed to be in your common room."
"Is he alright?" Severus asked dryly as he walked closer, he had to be close enough to cast obliviate.
"Go back to your common room," Frank ordered, looking at Severus unsure of what the Slytherin was doing.
"Can't be worried about a friend?"
Lupin smiled infuriatingly at his words as if he liked that Severus regarded him as a friend, even if he was being sarcastic.
"Of course you can, but that doesn't explain why you're out after curfew."
Severus didn't respond and glanced around making sure that no one was in the hall. He strained his ears to hear any footsteps coming from the distance. He didn't hear any and took this as his chance. He gave Lupin a look and he understood immediately and began to walk away.
"Longbottom, what's the password to the headmaster's office?" Severus questioned.
Frank gave him a bewildered look, "what? Lupin where are you going-?"
He silently cast legilimens and skimmed the top of his thoughts. It consisted of who does this kid think he is? …Why does he need to know the Headmaster's office password? ...ice mice...
There it was.
While Longbottom recovered from the sudden mental intrusion Severus whipped around to see that Lupin had listened and had walked towards the end of the hall and around the corner.
Frank was breathing heavily from the small intrusion, his confusion growing by the second. "What did you just do?"
"Obliviate," Severus said quietly, his wand pointing straight at him.
Frank only had a few seconds to react and his eyes widened until his gaze became clouded. He blinked a few times as he looked at his surroundings. "Huh," he started before catching sight of Severus, "what're you doing out after curfew?"
"Had to give notes back," he said absentmindedly and dug out a set of DADA notes and handed them to him, "can you give them back to Lily? You already took points from me, it is the least you can do."
Frank stared at him a bit blankly before he nodded and grabbed the notes. "Alright, get back to your common room."
Severus turned and casually walked away, glancing back to see Frank heading towards the portrait. He went around the corner and spotted Lupin looking amused at the situation.
"Longbottom, really?" he asks quietly in irritation, "very uncalled for."
"He was the only Prefect around," Remus laughed softly, "I felt bad because you know…"
"Yes," he said with an uncomfortable clearing of his throat, "let's go."
Severus, clutching his shell necklace and Remus, nervously wringing his hands stood behind a tapestry after spending nearly ten minutes trying to discern if Dumbledore had stepped out yet. Luckily for them, they managed to catch the Headmaster leaving with a very drunk Slughorn who hiccuped beside him and yelled at him for bringing that up. He threatened to retire and leave the school without a potions master for the school year, saying nobody will want the position if he had anything to say about it.
As they walked out of sight Dumbledore only commented that Slughorn should reconsider his threat as he should have headed out nearly a half an hour ago.
Once they were out of sight and long gone the two had slunk towards the Gargoyle. "Ice mice," Severus said, thinking the password was as ridiculous as ever when Remus froze and refused to open his mouth and speak the words. His emotions were plastered on his face like an open book. How would he ever do anything for the Order and not die doing it?
He would have to drill Occlumency into the wolf's mind or they would likely both be dragged into an unwanted situation.
Remus was beginning to look more nervous as they were pulled towards the office.
"Thinking of running already?" He asked him with a raised eyebrow as they stopped in front of the door, "we are steps away from getting what you wanted."
"No, let's go," he said, and to show his commitment he lowered his hand towards the doorknob to open the door. Snape grabbed his hand tightly to stop him.
"It's probably locked and warded and the portraits," he hissed, he carefully tried to detect wards on the door, finding none, he unlocked the door before he slowly pushed it open and the two crept inside. Severus stopped and silently cast a bewitched sleep on all the portraits in the room before any still awake could register their arrival. He closed the door and turned to see Remus already off and exploring the knick-knacks that Dumbledore had.
He shook his head and headed towards the area where Dumbledore kept his Pensieve only to stop when he saw it sitting out. He grew alarmed by it and began to look around the room as if the Headmaster would appear out of nowhere.
What was the old man playing at?
"Lupin we…" he trailed off when he realised that there was a memory swirling in it. He glanced around to spot a vial labelled Olive Hornby, wasn't that the girl Myrtle cried about at every opportunity? What had Dumbledore been speaking to Slughorn about? He had a sneaking suspicion that it wasn't school business. Albus had shown Slughorn the contents of the memories and it had upset the man greatly. He was intrigued as to what that could have been.
Remus appeared beside him, giving him a confused look. "What?" he questions when Severus doesn't continue his words. He spots the Pensieve and frowns. "How did you already get it out?"
"I didn't."
"What?"
"Let's look," he said, deciding the risk was worth it and not waiting for Lupin before he neared the basin and plunged his face. The world began to spin before he found himself in the middle of a Slugclub party. Remus materialized beside him, exasperated.
"Severus, really you cannot just do that!" he exclaimed before he started to take in his surroundings, "who's memory?"
"Olive Hornby," he informs, walking through the students who seemed solemn for a Slug club party. He stops when he spots a girl crying, a willowy dark-haired boy patting her back with a poor attempt at comfort. While he assumed the girl was Olive he recognised the boy immediately with sickening speed.
"You-Know-Who?" Remus whispered as he neared Severus, ignoring the rest of the party.
"Yes, Tom Riddle in the flesh," Severus ground out, scowling. He began to calculate what Tom could get out of being nice to Olive for.
The girl began to sob louder in her spot and Tom turned his head slightly and rolled his eyes. "She was a mudblood," he said dismissively, his voice cold, "why are you still crying over it? You didn't like her anyway."
"She won't go away! I found her body and now she's haunting me," she argued, guilt plastered on her face, "it's my fault, isn't it?"
Her words confirmed that it was indeed Olive Hornby.
"The person who did it was expelled," he deadpans, "that giant shouldn't have been in Hogwarts in the first place."
Olive sniffed and wiped her eyes, looking unconvinced but nodded at his words. It was enticing to blame someone else for your doings, and Tom was making it very clear what he had done. He got rid of two people he thought were impure.
He was also trying to condition Olive's thinking to agree with his bigoted ideas and morals. He lifted his hand and inspected it with a bored facial expression on his face.
Severus snorted slightly, recognizing who he was talking about. Hagrid was the only half-giant student to ever attend Hogwarts. He stopped being amused when he caught sight of the ring on Tom's finger.
Olive seemed to notice it as well and stared at it, sensing the darkness oozing out of it. She opened her mouth to question but no words came out of her mouth. She just looked scared.
"What?" Remus questioned, but Severus held a hand up when Slughorn came into the room.
"I hoped this might raise some spirits," the professor said, raising a glass of punch, which was most likely spiked by his own doing. "It is most unfortunate the passing of Myrtle Warren. She will be remembered, especially in the second-floor girls' bathroom."
A few forced chuckles are heard, but the expressions on their faces showed that they thought the joke was uncalled for.
Slughorn seemed to realise this and gulped his punch awkwardly. "Well, haha," he starts, "enjoy the party. If you have any concerns please do come to me."
That seemed to be the words to drive Tom to sit up from his chair and walk off. Not even excusing himself. Olive glared at his lack of manners and eyed him as he made his way towards Slughorn who was trying to mingle with some of the students and talk about lighter topics than Myrtle Warren's death.
Tom stopped and greeted the professor, the two moving away from other students and towards a corner of the room, which piqued Olive's curiosity. She scooted closer towards them but managed to only get a few words of their conversation, only able to watch as Slughorn began to become more agitated with each word Tom spoke. Remus and Severus strained their ears as well trying to get some sort of idea of the conversation that Olive was trying to overhear.
"Professor, really…simple slip..."
"I don't know …"
"I...you gave me…"
"Enough… once never again…"
Severus began to grow frustrated but he was realising why Dumbledore had shown Slughorn had shown the memory of this party, he wanted to know what he had said to Tom. He turned to look at Olive and saw she was looking a bit uneasy, but before he could contemplate it further they were swirled out of the memory and back into the office.
"What could he have been talking about?" Remus asked softly, his skin pale. "He just cornered Slughorn in the party, was that on purpose?"
"I don't know, I don't think the Headmaster knows either," he stated, "yes, backing him into a corner after an awkward moment like that Slughorn isn't going to want to make a scene."
Severus picked up the memory with his wand and carefully set it back into its vial, he wanted to search for a dark arts book and the memories while Lupin viewed his memories.
He put the tip of his wand against his forehead and pulled out a string of memories that he wanted Remus to see and let it swirl into the Pensieve.
"I can't believe it," Remus said in disbelief, still thinking about the memory they had just witnessed.
"We can think it through later," Severus ground out, "watch them, they're what you came for in the first place."
Remus sighed softly, but complied to his demand and submerged his face back into the liquid.
Severus took this chance to quietly make his way towards the bookshelves, where he began to scour the books until he found Secret of the Darkest Arts. Which was tucked down towards the floor mixed in with thick books that seemed to hide its existence as well as a Notice Me Not charm.
He undid the spell and began to flip through the pages searching for what he wanted to see and stopped when he came to the pages that Horcruxes were on. He pulled loose parchment out of his bag and laid them out before he carefully copied the contents of the pages onto the parchment.
He scanned the information as it began to ink itself onto the blank parchment, making sure it was copying the right things. It began with detailed paragraphs of how a Horcrux was created and the next page scanned over the effects of the Horcrux before it mentioned Herpo the Foul and the destruction of his Horcrux with Fiendfyre by an Egyptian wizard named Dedi. He was relieved to find that a way to destroy the Horcruxes was written down and it wasn't involving a Basilisk. He hadn't expected one to be written as Dumbledore had latched onto the idea of the Gryffindor sword and Basilisk venom which had been obtained in the 90s. He had strictly remembered Albus telling him that Potter had used the venom to destroy the journal, and had even shown him the large hole the fang had made. Though Severus hadn't thought too much about it, he had kept a journal trying to find out what Riddle's diary was.
He didn't fancy trying to get into the Chamber of Secrets and wake up a Basilisk to steal its venom.
He figured that Remus would want a copy of the Horcrux information instead of relying on Severus' memory, as many didn't seem to trust his word though he tended to never sugar coat things and stated them how they were. He didn't have time for such things as trying to make the truth seem sweet.
Though withholding information was a whole different topic.
He copied a few additional notes of other dark magics that he wished to brush back up, including Fiendfyre, before he decided he had enough.
He snapped the book shut and slid it back into its hiding place and placed the charm back onto it. He gathered up the papers and slid them back into his bag. He rushed back towards the Pensieve and behind towards the cabinet of memories, which he had to unlock after disabling a ward carefully with precision so it did not notify Dumbledore. It took longer than he would have liked, but he was a patient man.
Remus lifts his head when the memories finish and can only stare at him with sad eyes. His face contorted into a frown, still comprehending the memories he had been given to see. Not near the amount that Severus had given Harry, as he wasn't dying on the floor and didn't have to deal with the aftermath of whatever memories leaked out of his eyes.
Severus is reading the labels and picking up one or two vials with eager fingers. Though he knows how Lupin is looking at him, and it irritates him.
"Take a photo," Severus snapped when he was through with the pity, "last longer, I'm sure my photo would enjoy the pity."
"I'm sorry, Severus."
"Life isn't fair, Lupin."
Remus doesn't argue but says nothing to agree with him. They had been given a second chance, hadn't they? He just moved away from the Pensieve and looked at the memory that Severus had picked out. There was one and it wasn't labelled and was dusty from being hidden in the back of the shelf. He carefully picked it up and stared at the swirling contents.
"Who's this?" he asked, setting the one he had picked up. He began to read the small and fine labels on a few of the vials and wondered why the Headmaster had so many stored up.
"Why are they hidden?" Severus answered back and picked up a vial and read the name and disregarded it by putting it back. He grabbed another vial which he clutched tightly in his hands.
Remus grabbed it to inspect it himself reading Hokey etched into the small vial, he then set it down next to the one that Severus had picked out.
Severus gave him a slight glare when he caught the movement and moved away from the cabinet, unable to find anyone that could lead him to more information about the Dark Lord. He moved towards the Pensieve and carefully set the memories back into his temple and they flashed across his mind until he occluded them back. He did enjoy having them dulled greatly and that was why he had been looking for more abandoned-looking vials as they could have moments of regret inside them. If he was correct they may even contain a few of Dumbledore's and hopefully, they would be regrets of Tom Riddle. Though many seemed well taken care of except the one as if it was trying to be forgotten.
He set the bottle down next to the Pensieve and Remus followed with two other ones. The one Severus had chosen and one that he had apparently taken a liking too but one that Snape didn't think would be useful to see.
"Let's watch this one first," Remus suggested setting down the rest of the bottles but keeping the one labelled as Hokey.
"If you insist," Severus relented, just wanting to get through it and be done with the memory.
Remus poured the contents of it in the Pensieve and they took the plunge.
Severus begrudgingly admitted that the memory Remus had chosen had just broadened the horizon of Voldemort's Horcruxes, though seeing the way that he had looked at Hepzibah had made a chill run down his spine. The memory just added the Hufflepuff cup to his list of seemingly unending Horcruxes, but it explained where he had obtained the locket in the first place. Has he targeted the founders' objects? He hadn't gotten to the Gryffindor sword, he had given it to Harry in the lake and it did not exude any sort of dark magic. He wouldn't willingly just throw a Horcrux at Potter, even if Dumbledore had ordered it. Hadn't it destroyed the Gaunt's ring in the first place? No Horcrux would be willing to destroy another.
That left him wondering about the lost diadem of Ravenclaw but he put it into the back of his mind now and collected the elf's memory back into the bottle and Remus put it back in the cabinet before Severus poured the vial in his hand and they found themselves swirled into Bob Odgen's memory of confronting the Gaunt shack and the less than hospitable habitants. They got a good look at Merope Gaunt, Tom's mother. Which he had to explain to Remus, who looked saddened at the state of the dead witch. She almost reminded Severus in a way of his mother a month or so from her death, and how he could not do much but take care of her as she would not take care of herself.
After escaping that memory Severus looked apprehensively at the last memory they had, he wasn't sure how much longer they had before the Headmaster made his appearance and they couldn't avoid getting in trouble. He did not really want to find out what Albus would do if he found them going through his memory cabinet.
He poured the contents into the basin, readying himself to plunge into it once again when Remus spoke up.
"Thank you," he said, "I know you did this for the other memories, but thank you for letting me see yours."
Severus waved a dismissive hand, uncomfortable by the observation. He was bound to take back the gratitude when he learned of the existence of Voldemort's Horcruxes.
Once again they found themselves swirling into the memory and landing in another scene. Their feet hit into soft coloured wood floors and they began to look around for the source of the memories provided. The home was cosy but not too small and seemed stacked with books and other random knick-knacks with cosy furniture that was well worn. Similar to the office they had just been in. They didn't have time to ponder over the setting.
Severus furrowed his brows as the sound of music began to settle in his ears and Remus glanced in the direction as he seemed to hear it as well.
The two gave each other silent looks before turning towards the sound and found two men swaying from side to side. One sported long auburn locks and spectacles while the other had blond hair and a crooked smile.
"I could do this for a lifetime," the blond mused, twirling the other man in his arms. His eyes barely opened as he enjoyed the moment between the two.
"All you would have to do is just ask!"
Severus blinked in confusion at the two men, who were they? He walked closer inspecting their features when he came to a dead stop. He knew exactly who one of these men were. He knew the auburn man's face anywhere, it was Albus Dumbledore. He was younger than he could have ever imagined the man to be but he knew the twinkling blue eyes and soft features of Dumbledore. Despite the age he still looked similar to his older self, the only thing he was lacking was a beard and wrinkles. He was a teenager or in early adulthood.
Severus would have never expected to be stepping into Albus Dumbledore's memory, and it intrigued him why this memory was stored and dulled in the man's mind. What was he trying to escape?
Remus appeared at Severus' side and took a close look at the two men. "Is that..?" he asked softly only to get a curt nod in reply, and his eyes widened in surprise. "He's so young…"
Both staring at the blond man as if he would make his identity known.
Albus smiled softly as they danced slowly in a circle, and he fixed his spectacles since they had been sliding down his nose. "Gellert," he said softly as they split apart when the music stopped, and he went over to the record and pulled away the cartridge to stop it from trying to continue to play the music.
Gellert, who opened his eyes to look at Albus with a slight smile. Looking almost proud of himself as if he knew what the other man was going to say.
Remus gasped softly while Severus caught sight of the mismatched coloured eyes, both men having the identity of the blond dawning on them at the same time. The two just stood in shocked silence.
Severus was shocked and upset that Gellert Grindelwald was with Albus Dumbledore. Of everything that the Headmaster had done that he thought was bad and manipulative this was bordering on the top five things, the worst was sending Potter off to die for the sake of the Greater good.
"You got my letter, right?" Albus asked, stalling a bit.
"Yes," Gellert replied walking over and standing in front of him and taking his shoulders, "you're making the right choice, we will never have to hide anymore."
Albus smiled softly. "Never again," he agreed.
Gellert's face neared Albus', "for the greater good."
"For the greater good," Albus echoed, their breathing fanning across each other's face.
Severus grew disgusted by the statement, the same statement that he had stated when he talked of Harry defeating Voldemort. Who had taken Grindelwald's ideology and made it his into own inside his sick and twisted mind. The same Grindelwald that was inches away from kissing Dumbledore. The statement he had used when Severus had discovered he had practically raised Potter just to die, making Snape unable to truly keep his promise to Lily that he would protect her son. That statement he used for the light side of the war, the one against everything Grindelwald and Voldemort spat. The Headmaster was the biggest hypocrite he knew now that he knew this.
The memory started to break away as Albus' and Gellert's lips connected leaving the two standing back in the office. Severus bottled the memory back up and set it back into the cabinet wordlessly using a charm to replace the dust upon it. He said nothing to Remus, who had put Olive Hornby's memory back into the Pensieve so no suspicion rose.
"Severus," Remus started as he carefully straightened the bottle back where they found it. He noticed the bad mood that was developing under Severus' mask of indifference
"Don't."
"I'm sure he has a good reason."
"A good snog maybe," Severus snapped before he started to head towards the office exit. He waved his hand and took off the bewitched sleep on the portraits which made Lupin hurry after him as silently as possible. Getting through the door Lupin locked it as Severus had kept walking down the stairs despite them moving on their own.
Both made it down the hallway and watched the gargoyle hop back into place and then kept an eye out for Filch or any other professors.
"You have to see the good he is doing now," Remus said, continuing the conversation from inside the office. The silence was bothering him greatly as he would rather discuss what they had just witnessed in the last memory.
"Tomorrow," Severus spat irritably, "want the castle to pass rumours? We will speak of it soon."
"Severus," he tried.
"No, we will speak of the information tomorrow."
They turned through several hallways in silence, Remus finally giving him the quiet he needed. He had been planning for both of them to discuss through the memories and have him introduce the topic of Horcruxes and give Lupin a copy of the notes he had taken.
Severus became even more guarded than before. He knew someone was coming down the corridor on the right. He turned to Remus and scowled, "act ill."
"What?" He was bewildered but could hear the soft footsteps and was paling in fear.
"Just act ill, do not make eye contact," he demanded and was relieved when Remus did. He put his arm around him as if he was supporting his weight and they walked down the hall pretending as if they did not hear the footsteps as they became more pronounced and quicker.
"Mr Lupin?" Albus Dumbledore's voice echoed through the corridor, having apparently returned from his outing trip, "Mr Snape? What is going on?"
Severus scowled, not wanting to see the old fool but cooled himself for the interaction. "He says he has stomach pain and I am escorting him towards the infirmary."
Dumbledore's eyes wrinkled with concern. "You were both out after curfew?" He questioned.
Snape knew he found it odd that it was him and Lupin being found together, as the two rarely talked since his first year when Lupin became friends with the Marauders. "Yes, I was looking for a library book," he lied smoothly as the library was in the direction they had been coming from, "but he showed up looking ghastly."
Losing house points and detention for being out after curfew was manageable compared to being interrogated and expelled for breaking into the Headmasters office.
Remus looked guilty and a tad bit green and they didn't seem to be something he was feigning, which helped add to their credibility.
Dumbledore took the explanation, his face shining with worry for Remus' apparent pain. He went to take a step forward but noticed the way Severus eyed him, his distrust the only thing visible on his face. He eyed him back for a few seconds and probed into the top of his thoughts. Severus was ready though and only pushed a glancing image of Remus scrunching in pain before he was blocked out of everything else. The thought seemed to be enough for the Headmaster to accept, but he could see the underlying confusion at being pushed out of his head.
"That's very kind of you," he replied making sure to give them some sort of space, "will you be alright with just Mr Snape leading you, Mr Lupin?"
"Yes," Remus choked out, pretending to get another cramping pain to get out of looking at the Headmaster. "Just the usual stuff, Professor."
The Headmaster nodded. "I'll check on you in a few days, hopefully, it'll pass soon," he said, and Severus knew he meant the full moon. His eyes twinkled in an infuriating way as he continued, "ten points to Slytherin for being kind enough to escort a fellow peer from a different house."
Severus just scowled slightly, wondering if there was an alternative motive for the points. "We'll be off," he said and started to drag Lupin with him. They turned down the hall and stopped, and that's when Severus let go of Lupin. Still scowling at the interaction they had just had.
"That was nice of the Headmaster," Remus mused lightly in a joking matter but didn't continue when he was given a glare. "Sorry, sorry," he apologised, "not the time for jokes."
"No, it is not!" Severus exclaimed quietly as they continued their way towards the corridor that split their paths, "there is nothing trustworthy about that man."
"You trusted him when we first confronted each other," he pointed out, though he was having mixed feelings himself from what he learned in the other memories.
"I did not say I trusted him, we were merely working together to defeat the Dark Lord."
"Sure, Severus, sure."
"Goodbye," Severus said curtly as they approached the hall that went to the dungeons, he did not care if Remus was caught out after curfew. He would be kind enough to ask in the morning if he was caught then share the information. He didn't want to deal with Lupin right now, and his temper was spiking due to the emotions he was occluding back. He would never admit to feeling betrayed by the Headmaster before and the man had asked him to kill him. They had practically planned his death from the beginning of Potter's sixth year.
Severus knew the Headmaster wasn't perfect, but he had given him a second chance. He had expected too much of the man, as his portrait was nearly the only kind human contact besides Poppy after everything had happened. To hide something like this just upset him even though he didn't know most things about the Headmaster. It also irritated him the way Remus was already giving excuses for what they saw, he didn't want to hear them. He couldn't argue that the man was trying to do good for the wizarding war but it didn't replace the fact that he had been more than cosy with one of the darkest wizards on earth besides the Dark Lord.
He wasn't lying when he said he hadn't fully trusted the man since he had woken up. He could do anything to him and Remus if he found out they knew of the future. They would become pawns, and he wasn't about to do that again.
"Goodnight," Remus replied with a small frown, "I'll see you tomorrow."
Severus didn't reply and made his way back to the Slytherin common rooms. He prolonged his stroll by taking the long way to clear his mind, which calmed him down greatly. He didn't need to dwell on the thought of Dumbledore any longer, he didn't have to be a spy for him anymore. He wouldn't allow it.
When he arrived he said the password and slipped inside. There were around four people still awake, half of them studying and the other playing a quiet game of chess. Only one glanced up at from what they were doing to give him a raised eyebrow. He gave them a slight sneer in response.
What made him surprised was finding Regulus and Urbek leaning against each other and out cold. They snored softly.
He sighed softly at the sight of them, but they lifted his spirits a bit. They had tried to stay up so they could spend time with him, no one had ever done that for him before except maybe Lily. Though he had promised them a game of chess when he got back...
He walked up the stairs to the boys' dorms and quietly made his way towards their dorm room, they shared it with two other boys. He opened the door and summoned their blankets from their dorms. He caught them with ease, ignoring the grumbling protests from the boys actually in bed from the disturbance, and headed back down the stairs. He draped the blankets on each boy, knowing they would get cold when the fire completely died out. It was already dying out but the boys playing chess fed it a few sticks to keep it going.
He stared at them for a few seconds, judging whether they would be cold throughout the night and then decided to cast a warming charm on them for precautions. He didn't want to deal with crying and sick third years who would surely complain to him.
He made his way to bed and stripped out of his clothes quietly replacing them with pyjamas. He sat down on his bed when Avery's sleepy face appeared out of the darkness, his wand lit from a Lumos.
"Where was you?" he asked with a yawn mixed in.
"Where were you," Severus corrected, "and that is none of your business."
"Don't gotta be so rude," Avery mumbled and the Lumos dimmed and flickered out.
Severus just rolled his eyes and pulled the blankets up his body, not expecting the boy to speak up again.
"Think Yaxley gonna get you back soon...night."
He glanced over in the direction of Avery, who seemed to have just dropped back into sleep after the warning he had given him. He would have expected the teen to be excited to see Severus ambushed, but he had given him a fair warning. He guessed he saw more potential in him than he did in Yaxley and wanted in the more powerful wizard's good graces.
Instead of dwelling on the thought he turned on his side and tried to drift off to sleep.