Harry Potter and the Puppetmaster of Hogwarts

AN: Remember my poll and review if you like it! Sorry about the wait between chapters; hopefully the next installment will be coming soon...

Chapter 13

Hermione winced as the older wizard collapsed, cinnamon eyes bright with guilt. "Oh- I shouldn't have asked- did I do that?"

"The idiot should have known when to stop casting," was Harry's response as he heaved Sirius up, assisted by Ron. "Although he probably shouldn't have been casting any more after having to remove all the spells from Snape..."

"Professor Snape," the girl replied automatically, and then blinked. "Wait, what does Professor Snape have to do with anything?"

Harry stared at her. "Oh right, I forgot you weren't awake for the explanation. I overheard a conversation between Snape and Dumbledore, where Snape wanted to quit teaching and Dumbledore was trying to guilt-trip him into staying. Snape refused, so Dumbledore cast some really nasty hexes and mind-control curses on him."

Hermione choked, hands flying to her mouth.

"And so," Harry went on, "that's why he disappeared; I had Dobby pop him to the Chamber so that Dumbledore couldn't do any worse to him, and then when I talked to Sirius, I got him to do some advanced cursebreaking on all of us, including himself. The things on Snape...they were worse than Voldemort. I'd be surprised if he has any free will at all at this point."

"Oh, God," whispered Hermione. "Where is he now?"

"Um, Sirius said that he's in the Chamber potion lab, why?"

"He shouldn't be brewing while he's still recovering!" Hermione exclaimed, giving him a look. "Didn't you try to stop him?"

"Sirius apparently checked on him," Harry replied sheepishly. "He was brewing something extremely sensitive and volatile and he didn't want it to be ruined so Sirius let him go on. I mean, think about it, he's in Salazar Slytherin's private lab!"

"He still shouldn't be brewing, especially alone; he could have had an accident and we would never know!"

"Snape, having an accident?" Ron broke in. Harry was of the same opinion.

"Honestly, boys," Hermione huffed. "We should at least check on him."

"Why don't you, then?"

"I will! Where is the lab?"

Harry pointed. Ron gave a snort. "Admit it, 'Mione, you want to explore that lab just as much as you want to make sure Snape's ok..."

"Ron!" echoed in the vast, greenish chamber as Hermione made her way to the partially concealed door of the lab. Then she opened it. "Guys, over here, and cast bubble-head charms!" she shouted.

Apprehension began to balloon up inside Harry's chest as he hurried over, casting a bubble-head charm on the way. Ron chased after him. "'Mione? What is it?"

Hermione, who couldn't speak very well with the shimmering bubble of magic distorting her features and words, gestured instead, and the boys at last saw what she was looking at: a hazy pale blue fog floating like a smoky sea inches above the floor of the lab. And Snape's unconscious form.

"Bloody hell," Ron breathed, then cast his own bubble head charm and began to non-verbally try to banish the smoke, while Harry and Hermione went further in, to attend to their teacher. They shook him first, but the Potions Master did not move, and so with a few hissed expletives (on Harry's part, at least) they attempted to lift him.

It was depressingly sad how light the wizard was. Harry barely even needed Hermione's assistance to lift him. Despite his tall frame and powerful core, he was almost pitifully thin, and Harry could feel his ribs through the dark teaching robes that he always wore. A sudden, strong wave of compassion washed over Harry again as the two of them carried the Potions Master out of the unsafe laboratory, and Harry swore, yet again, to make Dumbledore pay.

And so they brought him back to the room that they had first put him in, and then Harry and Hermione returned to decontaminate and cleanse the lab and the main chamber before whatever toxic gas that Snape had created contaminated the whole place. They cast charm after charm, banishing the vapor, cleansing the air, and insuring that the waxy residue was cleaned off of all the surfaces it might have collected on. Then, for the first time, they entered the lab fully.

Even Harry had to admit that it was magnificent, and he would be the first to deny any talent or even competence in anything besides brewing healing potions, and that he had only learned by necessity. Harry stared in wonderment at the shelves of ancient, yellowing, crumbling books, and at the countless ingredients in tinted glass bottles; this place must have been Snape's greatest dream come true. Meanwhile, Hermione was nearly drooling, perusing the stacks of books with feverish excitement, and Ron was curiously examining the various cauldrons, stirrers (glass, pewter, pure gold, and bamboo, with one opal one for particularly delicate and expensive potions), and ingredients. After a few minutes of searching, he came upon several cauldrons which were not scrubbed, and cautiously testing the substances inside...

And then he found it. It was a cauldron full of a partially-burnt peacock-blue substance that was still emitting pale bluish gas. Harry raised his wand to banish it, but Ron, to his surprise, shook his head. "You don't want to just toss some potion that you aren't familiar with into non-being."

"Why?" Hermione, who had overheard him, asked. "What could happen?"

"Mum never really got into the magical theory," was Ron's vague response. "Um, but I think Fred said that it could explode or the banishing spell might backfire and vanish your wand."

Harry gulped. "Right. Thanks, Ron."

"No problem."

"But what should we do with it, then?" Hermione asked. "Is there a specialized banishing spell, or do we just have to wash it out with soap and water?"

Ron shrugged. "Don't ask me; I'm not a Potions Master and I can't even come close to knowing what that stuff is. Maybe we just seal the lab and wait for Snape to wake up?"

"But then it would just fill up with gas again," Harry responded. "We should probably wait, yeah, but it'd be safer if we cast a containment charm, if anyone knows how to do that."

Ron shrugged again, but Hermione's eyes brightened at once. "Toxicos Continite!"

At once, a double, transparent shield rose around the offending cauldron. Hermione added a stasis charm and grinned. The boys stared.

"Hermione...do you know what level that spell was?" Ron asked shakily.

"Master level, why?"

Both boys stared at each other, and then at her.

"Right. Just roll with it," Harry said to a gaping Ron. "And anyway, we've got to check on Snape."

"A master level spell," Ron repeated faintly as they headed to Snape's temporary room. Harry could see Hermione's ears turning pink even from behind her.

Snape was still out cold when they checked on him, but it seemed to be more of a healthy sleep rather than gas-induced unconsciousness, as he was breathing deeply and regularly and the color had returned to his face, and since he was no longer breathing poisonous gas. The other two Gryffindors simply stared at him, looking a bit surprised and guilty for spying on their professor in his sleep, but Harry, having had to get over it when patching up the man the first time, simply called Dobby to bring him a moist cloth, water and light soup, and a blanket, as the man was shivering gently.

Dobby brought everything, and while Hermione looked on smiling and Ron gaped, Harry carefully laid the blanket over Snape's body. But as he did so, black eyes flickered open and Snape stared dazedly up at him.

"Lily Flower?"

Harry froze for a few shocked seconds. Snape thought he was his mother? What had that gas done to his mind? Was it permanent? "Shh, Professor," he responded quietly. "You're okay. Just rest."

But already, the glazed look was beginning to clear, and Snape's eyes widened still further. "P-Potter?" he nearly stuttered. A pause. "What happened?"

"A lab accident," was Harry's terse response. "I honestly don't know what the whole story, but we put the burned potion in stasis with a containment charm, so unless there is another, it should be fine. What can you remember?"

"I remember brewing in Salazar's personal laboratory, but before that, everything is a blank," Snape replied honestly. "What happened for me to be in the Chamber to begin with? Black said I was recovering, but I didn't hear from what because one of my potions was boiling over."

Harry hesitated. "It's...you will probably need a purging potion first," Harry replied at last. "You have at least two loyalty potions still in effect, and I'm not sure you'll be able to believe us. And you're not well enough for a purging potion I don't think."

Snape stared at him, emotions battling in his dark eyes. "I...see." A frown. "And how, exactly, do you come into it?"

"That's...complicated. Siri is here because I guilt-tripped him and because he was tired of staying in Grimauld. These two are my strategist and my researcher, along with being my best friends, and they wanted to help."

"More like you shanghaied us," muttered Ron, and Harry reddened.

"Ok, I kidnapped them from the common room," Harry corrected.

Snape gave a rusty laugh, but he still looked perplexed and not a little confused. "And you? Why are you involved?"

Harry closed his eyes. Here goes. "Because I was not going to let Albus Many-Names Dumbledore railroad you into Azkaban."

"Azkaban?! How...what did I do?" Snape asked, suspicion whiplashing across his face.

Well, this could go very well or very poorly. "You were planning to hand in your resignation, from what I heard, and he was angry that you wanted to leave."

Snape was silent for a long, painful moment. Harry was just beginning to think that he should have waited to tell him, when the man burst out "that manipulative old bastard!" dark eyes flashing angry and wild. "I always trusted him," he whispered brokenly. "I never knew why, except that I was inordinately grateful to him for accepting my service and keeping me out of Azkaban in the first war. In my more cynical moments, I did consider that he was drugging me, but I always assumed that I would have been able to detect it if he had.

"I should have known. That man never cared about anyone but his golden Gryffindors. Little Luna Lovegood is being bullied, and Albus pops a lemon drop. Gemma Crabbe was raped, and Albus suspends her for indecent exposure. Susan Bones is mourning her mother, and Albus offers her the Hufflepuff Quiddich Captaincy to 'cheer her up'." Snape snorted bitterly and dropped his head back onto the pillow. "I...should be well enough to occlude the artificial emotions, if you would tell me the whole story."

And so Harry began. "Ok. So you told Dumbledore you were resigning. He tried to guilt trip you and brought up a lot of specifics that I didn't quite understand, but you didn't let the old goat get to you. Finally he 'allowed' you to go, but then he cursed you when your back was turned, using the crucitus and a couple of really nasty mindmagics. Then he imperiused you and told you to shut up, plead guilty, and not allow veritaserum, and then shot off a patronus to Amelia Bones saying you'd attacked him, and cast a few combat spells at the walls of your lab to make it believable. After he was gone, I called Dobby and popped you into the Chamber so he couldn't do anything worse. Then I made Sirius do a surface scan and some cursebreaking. It's...it's not pretty."

Snape gave a brief sigh. "Right. I...show me."

"Sir, are you sure?"

"Potter, I need to know."

Harry reached for the scanning paper and handed it to him with trembling hands.

Snape took it slowly and began to read, growing paler and paler as he did so. Once or twice he choked at whatever he was reading, horror in his eyes. "Gods," he murmered at last, looking sick. "I...see."

"Sir, are you ok?" Hermione cringed as soon as she said it- of course Professor Snape was not okay. But Snape simply sighed.

"May I ask what details you remember from the conversation you overheard?"

Harry blinked a few times. "Um. We wanted you to teach me occlumensy and then was angry when you refused. He also wanted you to spy for him. Um, and what are horcruxes?"

Snape choked. "Dark magic," he managed finally. "The darkest possible soul magic. The reason the Dark Lord is still alive."

"What?!"

A nod, made rather difficult because the Potion Master's head was already on the pillow. "He split his soul into several different pieces," he said hoarsely. "Seven, to be exact. Then he gave them to his most trusted or his them personally. As long as they exist, his followers can resurrect him, though it will grow more and more difficult each time and most of his followers will probably gladly be shot of him."

The Golden Trio looked at each other and then back at Snape.

"So how do we kill the pieces?" Ron asked at length.