Chapter Fifteen

Snape's Nemesis

It was the beginning of August and Severus was enjoying himself immensely. He always spent at least four weeks in Italy over the summer: brewing with his mother (or on his own), swimming in the pool, or just lounging around and enjoying the heat.

At the moment he was sitting on the pool terrace with a pastry and an espresso, reading the Impero Magico (Rome's daily magical newspaper, founded 72 AD) in an effort to increase his Italian vocabulary. A fluttering of wings alerted him to the arrival of an owl. That's right; it was Sunday, and so his weekly shipment of Daily Prophets was due today. He grubbed in his pockets for enough coins to pay the owl—it was eight sickles for a weekly international subscription to the Prophet—and unrolled the bundle of parchment.

He didn't read all the papers in depth when they first arrived, just scanned the headlines. Fudge was stupid. How was that news? Rita Skeeter was annoying: same. The Wizengamot was trying to modernize the domestic violence laws—finally! Severus flipped idly to the next paper in line and inhaled sharply.

BLACK ESCAPES AZKABAN, the headline read.

Sirius Black, Severus's nemesis, was at large.

Severus knew that Sirius had not been the one to actually betray James and Lily; they'd told him themselves that Peter Pettigrew had been their Secret Keeper. But he fully believed that Sirius was capable both of killing Pettigrew—he would have been obsessed with revenge—and taking down innocent bystanders in the process. If there was one thing Severus had learned, it was that Sirius was heartless.

How could Black have escaped? And if he could escape, why would he do so now—why hadn't he done it earlier?

"Aziz," he whispered.

"Here, Master." It was rare, when they were in Italy, for Aziz to make himself visible, but Severus heard the quiet voice in his ear.

"I wish to catch Sirius Black."

It was the first time that Severus hadn't consulted Aziz on the wording of a wish. He sighed, enjoying the surge of magic that coursed through his body. There was silence for a while; then Aziz said:

"He'll come to Hogwarts in a few months. I'm sure of it. I can't see more than that for now."

"Thank you, Aziz. Let me know when you know more."

~~SS~~

"Wait 'til you see who I've hired as Defense teacher this time!" chortled Dumbledore gleefully.

Severus looked around the staff table uneasily. It was the traditional August 31 staff meeting; they always checked in, had announcements, and got information about the incoming first-year class on the day before students arrived. Everyone was expected to be there for this meeting, no exceptions. But despite Dumbledore's pronouncement, there were no new faces at the table. Lockhart was missing, as was Kettleburn.

Aurora Sinistra frowned at the Headmaster. "Are you just toying with us or are you actually going to produce a new Professor?"

Dumbledore shrugged, still grinning. "I'll produce him in good time. He just…well, he just couldn't be here today. He'll be riding the Hogwarts Express up with the children."

"And when will he get all of the information necessary for the school year?" Severus growled. He didn't like unfair treatment of anyone, and having exceptions made for this new professor—whoever he was—rankled him.

"I briefed him personally last week," said Dumbledore airily. Then he sighed heavily, looking as though every one of his hundred fifty or so years was resting on his shoulders. "Look, you all know there's a curse on this position. Applicants are…rare. It's why I accepted Gilderoy's application last year—there were literally no other applicants. This year there were none; I had to recruit. This person—he's a powerful wizard, no doubt. But he also has a disability. He'll teach most of the time, but there will be some days he'll be out of commission."

"Mad-Eye Moody?" queried Minerva.

"Hmm, there's an idea," twinkled Dumbledore. "Maybe I'll try him next year!"

"So who will teach when he's out?" Severus said brusquely. "You?"

"I'll do some," Dumbledore admitted. "Severus, I checked your schedule, and you're free to do the first- and third-years of all houses. Are you okay with that?"

Severus smiled. "Yeah. Yeah, I'll do that." He'd always wanted to teach Defense, and this was his big chance to show Dumbledore how capable he was.

"Filius, can you do the second- and fifth- years?"

"Absolutely!" squeaked the little man.

"And I'll do the fourth-years and the N.E.W.T. students," Dumbledore finished. "No one else had a schedule that allows them to help out. Obviously this will just be a handful of times over the school year. We'll talk more about scheduling later."

Well, whoever the new professor was, he was allowing Severus to finally get his shot at teaching Defense classes, so he must be a pretty decent guy.

"Silvanus Kettleburn has retired," Dumbledore stated, "and Hagrid will be taking his place."

There was a rumble of congratulations from Pomona, Filius, Minerva, and even old Professor Babbling (who, despite her name, almost never spoke up.)

"Now for the even bigger change," Dumbledore continued. "As you all know, Sirius Black is on the loose. It's believed that he's out to find Harry, and the Ministry thinks we need to protect Hogwarts. So, starting tomorrow, a contingent of Dementors will be guarding the perimeter of the school grounds."

This announcement was met with angry protests from all the teachers, including Severus, and the spirited discussion that followed continued until dinner time.

~~SS~~

"The Dementors attacked the train!" gasped Irma Pomfrey, who was trying to catch her breath after running the entire way from the infirmary.

The other professors, who were mostly already sitting at the head table awaiting the arrival of the students, surged to their feet.

"I told them it was a horrible idea to have those beasts here!" shouted Minerva McGonagall, who was following at her heels—she'd been waiting at the main doors to welcome the first years.

"And Harry Potter—he didn't take it well, he collapsed," Irma continued.

Dumbledore frowned. "Minerva—I believe you already had some business to take care of before the feast. Will you and Irma make sure he's well before he comes to dinner? Filius, will you handle the sorting?"

"It would be an honor," Flitwick intoned as seriously as possible with his squeaky voice. "I do hope Mr. Potter is all right."

"I think we should always have a professor on the train from now on," Irma said gruffly. "That's the only reason he wasn't Kissed."

This mystery professor was obviously a decent wizard, Severus decided.

~~SS~~

He felt differently after the older children had streamed into the Great Hall, followed by…oh, God. Remus Lupin. They didn't just have Dementors in the school this year; they had a werewolf, as well. No wonder Dumbledore knew he'd need people to cover his classes.

The full moon had been the day before, which explained why Lupin hadn't made the staff meeting. He still looked sickly and wan, and…yeah, undernourished. Severus didn't like the man, but it always broke his heart to see someone who hadn't eaten enough. No one should have to endure that.

The first years filed in and were sorted by the Sorting Hat. Minerva entered just as Filius was carrying out the hat and stool, followed closely by Harry and Miss Granger. Looking down the table, Severus noticed Dumbledore beaming at Remus. Severus scowled angrily. Why couldn't he have given them more warning instead of springing the werewolf on them in such a public place? Well, what's done was done. Although…hmmm, now that he thought of it, he really did need to have a chat with Dumbledore.

~~SS~~

"It's less about his being a werewolf, and more about him being Sirius Black's friend," Severus explained as patiently as he could.

"Have you talked to Remus about this?" Dumbledore queried.

"Why should I? He's already here."

"He's been living in the woods for the last few years, eating food out of Muggle dumpsters. He can't hold down a job in either Wizarding or Muggle worlds, thanks to his disability. I knew about Sirius's escape before I offered him the position, and it's something I considered carefully. I believe him when he says he doesn't want to rock the boat."

Severus shook his head disbelievingly. "I'm quite sure he doesn't want to, Albus. But he's so easily persuadable."

"Severus, enough! He's here. You know it's only for a year—the curse will make sure of it. Please, try not to make his life harder than it already is?"

Severus scowled and turned to leave so quickly that his swirling cloak almost knocked over one of Dumbledore's silver whirligigs.

~~SS~~

Two weeks later, he found himself back in Dumbledore's office.

"In addition to taking over Professor Lupin's classes around the full moon, I'll need you to brew the Wolfsbane potion for him," Dumbledore stated calmly.

"Why don't you just buy it commercially and take it out of his salary?" snapped Severus. "What's the point of a professor who can't even teach?"

Dumbledore sighed. "Severus, I know there's no love lost between you two. After what you went through in your fourth year, I wouldn't have inflicted his presence on you if it weren't absolutely necessary. But you know there wasn't much of a choice."

"You could have chosen me!"

"No, I couldn't," Dumbledore countered. "Because the position is cursed, and you'd have to leave after a year. You need to stay here."

"I need to stay here. And to stay here I'd need to teach. But I'm not required to brew yet another potion—a complicated one, as you know."

"Even if I pay you to brew it? I was planning to."

"Even then. I'd rather have the time than the money."

The headmaster closed his eyes and rested his face in his hands. "Severus, I know I'm asking a lot. It's just—well, you know as well as anyone that werewolves aren't welcomed in society. Most people don't know, and I want to keep it that way. I…I don't often invoke your oath of obedience, but I'll do so now if you continue to refuse."

~~SS~~

Severus was in a towering temper by the time he stalked back down to his classroom. This period he had, of course, the third-year Slytherins and Gryffindors. There was always bad blood between his Snakes and the other houses, but this particular class was worse than most. Draco walked in late, his arm was in a sling. Severus had heard about the incident with the hippogriff, naturally—he was Draco's head of house, after all—but he'd also heard that the cut had been completely healed with one wave of Irma Pomfrey's wand. A part of him wanted to put the smug child in his place, but the other part—well, he just wanted to take out his frustration on someone who would make that process satisfying. That someone would not be a person with a powerful father.

"Sir," Draco called, "sir, I'll need help cutting up these daisy roots, because of my arm—"

"Weasley, cut up Malfoy's roots for him." Severus was glancing over the recipe for the Wolfsbane Potion. He'd have to start tonight if it was to be ready in time for the full moon. He got up with a sigh and started making his rounds amongst the students, still thinking of the potion.

"Professor, Weasley's mutilating my roots, sir."

Severus looked down. Those were supposed to be diced? Ha. "Change roots with Malfoy, Weasley." The lad turned bright red, shoved the carefully diced roots across the table to Draco, and began attempting to repair his roots. Severus was going to have to find an unobtrusive source for cobra venom, if he were going to brew Wolfsbane…

"And sir, I'll need this shrivelfig skinned."

Damn the boy! Can't he leave me alone? Severus looked about for another "volunteer" and found… "Potter, you can skin Malfoy's shrivelfig." His anger about having to brew, about having his thoughts interrupted by Draco's petulant whining, must have been written all over his face, because Harry was clearly terrified of him.

Severus began breathing slowly, the way that Aziz had taught him, trying to calm down. But he'd neglected the students early on in the class, and now they were almost all ruining their attempts at brewing the Shrinking Solution. He stopped to point out to Longbottom that he'd put in too much of everything—realizing, only too late, that he'd gone past the point of merely scaring the students into paying careful attention. It was when he snapped at Granger—always trying to help everyone—that he realized that his temper was starting to parallel his father's.

Merlin. This just would not do.

He sat back down at his desk, pushed the recipe for Wolfsbane into a drawer, and attempted to bring his emotions back under control. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Granger helping Longbottom despite his orders. Of course. Well, he could get Longbottom to pay closer attention and also teach Granger a lesson. He had the boy administer his Shrinking Solution to his toad (he knew it would work; Granger would have made sure of that) and then docked five points from the girl. She really ought to let her classmates learn the hard way.

~~SS~~

He ate lunch in the staff room and stayed there afterwards, as he often did on Thursdays, because he had a free period. It would be nice to have some peace and quiet for a change.

Unfortunately, he'd forgotten that Lupin had asked to use the boggart in the wardrobe as a demonstration tool for his Defense classes. And the class in question was—of course—the third year Gryffindors.

Startled out of his reverie by the intrusion into his hiding place, he snapped at Lupin about Longbottom's incompetence. He stalked out into the hall, slamming the door behind him.

"You need to calm down," Aziz whispered in his ear. "Go to your willow."

He still sought refuge out there when the weather was good enough. "All right, all right, I'm going," he said to the invisible djinn.

He didn't realize how much his lapses of temper would cost him until dinner, when he overheard the Brown girl giggling about what he looked like clad in a dress and a vulture hat. Soon the whole school knew.

Damn Lupin.

~~SS~~

Of course, Sirius tried to break into Hogwarts at Halloween. Severus argued with Dumbledore—he was still convinced that Remus's soft heart would leave him susceptible to persuasion by his erstwhile friend—but Albus refused to believe him.

Meanwhile, Severus had more pressing matters on his mind.

First, even before Halloween he'd had to come up with an appropriate punishment for Marcus Flint, Draco Malfoy, and Malfoy's two sidekicks, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. They'd dressed as dementors to try to scare Harry into catching the snitch at the Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw Quidditch game. He was sorely tempted to turn their detentions over to Hagrid—who was excellent at coming up with creatively humiliating (but also useful) extra work for students—but after seeing the look on the half-giant's face, Severus had taken on the burden of supervising their detentions himself. Flint and Malfoy chopped potions ingredients; Crabbe and Goyle scrubbed cauldrons.

Next, Severus had also brewed the Wolfsbane potion for the first time on Halloween. It had been successful in preventing Lupin from becoming a wolf, but only barely so. The werewolf had suffered greatly as his body attempted the transformation over and over, only to be magically stopped; and so, three days later, he was still unable to get out of bed.

Severus had been teaching both his normal potions classes as well as a few Defense classes, which would have been taxing enough. But he'd also had to stay up late the previous few nights with two of his Slytherins, who were having personal issues…

"It's not fair that Mummy has one of the few illnesses that you and Daddy can't cure," Daphne Greengrass sniffed as she snuggled up against Severus's sleeve.

"She's going to die, isn't she, Uncle Sev?" sobbed Astoria, who was seated on his lap, face buried in his chest.

"We don't know that," he said as calmly as he could, patting the first-year gently on the back. "She's been sick before and recovered."

Daphne sniffed vigorously. "She hasn't really recovered, though, has she? Or else I wouldn't be here again."

Aurelia Nott Greengrass had, indeed, been ill off and on since Astoria's birth—a couple of weeks at a time, three or four times a year. And Daphne was right, she was getting worse as time went on.

Severus was always the one who gave Daphne—and now Astoria—the news. Elmore knew that if they got an owl at breakfast there was a good chance his girls would break into tears, which would lead to some serious pushback from the Slytherins. So Elmore would send the owl to Severus, who would tell the girls after dinner in his office, where they could cry unobserved. Then he'd give them some red-eye remover before they headed back to the common room.

"I suspect she'll die younger than usual," Severus admitted. "But I think she has a few years left in her."

"This stinks," Astoria muttered into his chest. "I want to be homeschooled. I don't want to be away from Mummy."

Severus was quiet for a bit as he pondered what to say. Finally he replied: "I think she's trying to get you to create friendships, so you have people to cling to when she's gone."

"But we have Daddy. And you, Uncle Sev. We don't need anyone else."

"You'll always have me," he told Astoria, snuggling her in closely and hoping to God it was true. He wrapped his left arm around Daphne and felt her sagging against his body.

~~SS~~

Fate obviously had a sense of humor, because the day after he'd been up with the Greengrass girls until 2 AM, his first class involved teaching Defense to the third-year Gryffindors. He snapped at the students, ignored Miss Granger—who, as usual, had the contents of the textbook memorized—and even gave detention to Weasley. (At least he'd had the presence of mind to pawn the boy off on Madame Pomfrey for detention.) It was a relief to head back down to the potions classroom after that, but he still sniped at the students more than he liked.

At the end of the day, he took out his temper on Aziz. "Well? I wished to catch Sirius Black. What are you doing to help me with that?"

Aziz shrugged. "Your paths will cross without my intervention. Just obey Dumbledore's orders to a tee and I promise it will happen."

"In the meantime, he's endangering Harry! And you've promised that…"

"Severus! Calm down. Harry is in no danger."

"And just how would you know that?"

Aziz smiled. "He's not after Harry. He's after someone who…hmm, can't quite describe it…is associated with Harry? Who hangs around Harry? Something like that. No, he feels quite protective of his godson."

"So you say," Severus snarled, leaping to his feet. "But you still insist that you're helping me catch him."

"I'm bound to help you catch him. But it was a stupid wish, poorly thought out, and so I'm going to do the minimum necessary," the djinn replied smugly. "Don't worry, you'll catch him. Even the Minister will know that you did. But Severus…"

"What? I'm not undoing that wish. He deserves to be given to the Dementors."

"May I remind you, Master," Aziz spat, "that you've also asked me to help you become a tender-hearted, compassionate man. Someone that a tender-hearted woman could grow to love. You've wished for two things that are completely incompatible. So don't you complain when I do the minimum possible to fulfill the wish that is not in your best interest!"

Severus quieted, breathing heavily. He'd never heard his djinn speak to him that way before—not even after he'd killed his father.

~~SS~~

It was hard to feel any modicum of compassion towards Sirius Black so Severus tried being nice towards Remus Lupin instead. The werewolf was clearly thriving at Hogwarts; his face was getting rosier and he was even putting on weight. Most of the students liked him, even many of the Slytherins, despite the fact that he was a Gryffindor.

Severus found it hard to put the past in the past, but he did start saying good morning to Lupin at the breakfast table. This was so out of character for him—he never said good morning to anyone, not even Dumbledore—that Charity Burbage started commenting on it. (Severus and Charity were still sitting together at meals, even now that Lockhart was gone; they even had conversations now and then.)

Soon, Charity started inviting Remus to sit on the other side of her at meals. She'd heard that Lupin had spent time working in the Muggle world, and she was eager to gain first-hand knowledge of what it was like. Severus had always thought it was a bit odd to hire a pureblood as a Muggle Studies professor, but it turned out that the Board of Governors put pressure on any Muggleborn or even half-blood professor in that position, so only purebloods stayed for more than a year or two.

After a while, Severus decided that his "being nice" to Remus would extend only to greeting the werewolf and thinking charitable thoughts. Being friends would be impossible. Remus staunchly defended almost anything Harry Potter did—even sneaking out to Hogwarts weekends under James's old invisibility cloak—and had no interest in helping the boy learn responsibility. Avoiding Remus as much as possible therefore kept Severus from losing his temper.

The year dragged on. Severus continued avoiding Remus (especially after Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup; Remus and Minerva were both insufferable). He snapped at Aziz, who refused to do anything active to help him catch Sirius Black. Aziz continued snapping at him, telling him that continuing to hold that grudge was going to set back his progress by a decade or more.

As the end of the year drew near, Severus started thinking about the Defense Against the Dark Arts position—specifically, wondering if it was possible to break the curse that kept people from holding it for a year. Lupin had been good with the students, and if he had to be out a few days every month—well, it just gave Severus the chance to teach his favorite subject without worrying about the curse himself. Naturally, he broached the subject with Aziz.

"Well, yes," Aziz said briskly. "There is a way to break the curse. But as far as I can tell, that way involves destroying Voldemort permanently."

"Which I've already wished for," sighed Severus.

"Exactly," said Aziz.

"If I weren't worried about his transformations, I'd let him stay at Spinner's End," Severus admitted.

"You could brew him Wolfsbane."

"True. It's just—damnit! His best friends should take care of him if no one else. But two of the three are dead and the other one is on the lam. Aziz…can I wish for him to be taken care of?"

"You know the wishes work best if they concern your own actions." Aziz paused, closing his eyes and tapping his chin as he always did when he was reaching out magically to explore possibilities. Finally he breathed deeply, open his eyes, and regarded Severus calmly. "I don't think you need to wish at all. Something's going to happen. He's going to have a place to stay soon; he'll be fine."

~~SS~~

The last full moon of the school year fell on the last day of exams. It was fortunate that it hadn't happened earlier; no one else would have been qualified to give exams on Lupin's behalf. Still, it was not the best timing for Severus, who had to prepare Wolfsbane ingredients while proctoring exams. He had to skip dinner in order to finish the potion before moonrise. This was never a problem at Hogwarts; he begged some crackers and cheese from the house-elves (to keep his stomach from growling) and obtained a promise that they'd have some soup and bread for him after he was done brewing.

Finally, he was done. He ladled a full dose into a goblet and carried the smoking, stinking concoction upstairs to Lupin's office.

Remus was not in his office; nor did he answer when Severus knocked on the door to his private quarters. He also wasn't in the staff lounge…Severus knew the werewolf didn't have rounds that night. Where could he be? He checked the office again. What was that thing on Lupin's desk? Ah, the old parchment that he'd caught Harry with a few weeks ago. It was a magical map of Hogwarts—why hadn't it worked for him before? Fascinated, he peered closer, noticing Dumbledore pacing back and forth in his office. Filius and Rolanda were—yuck!—in close proximity in Rolanda's quarters.

Where was Lupin? Ah. There he was! Heading into the tunnel under the Whomping Willow…why was he going there? Did he think the Wolfsbane potion wouldn't be brewed in time? Well, there's still a good hour until moonrise, thought Severus. I have plenty of time to intercept him.

~~SS~~

He'd known that the tunnel existed for over a decade but somehow he'd never brought himself to go through it to the very end. He knew it led to the Shrieking Shack, after all, and there were far easier ways to get there than stumbling through a tunnel with a much-too-low ceiling. Still, that was the way Lupin was going, and if Severus was quick he might catch the werewolf before he got to the end.

At the base of the Whomping Willow he stooped to pick up a branch—it was the best way to touch the 'magic' knot—and it was then that he saw it: a shimmering, silver pile of fabric lying on the ground just outside the range of the branches. He couldn't believe his eyes. Was this what he thought it was? Yes, it was. An invisibility cloak—Potter's, no doubt. He slipped it into a pocket of his robe and folded himself into the hollow under the tree, using the illumination from his wand to scan the way before him.

"Lupin?" he called as he stumbled along the low passageway, but there was no reply. He pulled himself out of the trapdoor with a sense of relief, straightening himself up with a sense of relief.

The Shrieking Shack had definitely seen better days. Not only were the windows boarded up, but the furniture was smashed and the wallpaper was peeling. Severus realized suddenly that, while the room was empty, the house was not: a glimmer of light and the rumble of voices came from a doorway. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the invisibility cloak, threw it over himself, and moved as quietly as possible to investigate.

As he moved down the hall and up the stairs towards the light, he heard a familiar voice—Lupin's. He was saying something about James. And—whoa. His own name.

"…amusing to tell Snape all he had to do was prod the knot on the tree trunk with a long stick and he'd be able to get in after me. Well, of course he tried it—if he'd got as far as this house, he'd have met a fully grown werewolf—but your father, who'd heard what Sirius had done, went after Snape and pulled him back, at great risk to his life…Snape glimpsed me, though, at the end of the tunnel. He was forbidden by Dumbledore to tell anybody, but from that time on he knew what I was."

Your father…Lupin must be talking to Harry! Well, that explained the invisibility cloak. But why had Harry dropped it? In any case, it didn't matter—he needed to put a stop to this before Lupin transformed! Severus stepped forward as Harry spoke and suddenly realized that Remus and Harry were not alone in the room—Granger and Weasley were there (of course), but also—Sirius Black.

"So that's why Snape doesn't like you, because he thought you were in on the joke?" asked Harry slowly.

Severus pulled out his wand with his right hand and whipped the cloak off with his left. "That's right," he smirked. Aziz had been right: he would catch Sirius Black!

Granger screamed; Harry jumped, startled. Sirius Black leaped to his feet, but he didn't draw a wand. Well, that made sense; it was doubtful he had one after escaping from Azkaban. Too bad. Severus would have enjoyed dueling him.

"I found this at the base of the Whomping Willow. Very useful, Potter, I thank you." Severus tossed the cloak to the side: he suspected he'd need both hands soon.

Remus stared at him bemusedly. "You're wondering how I knew you were here? I've just been to your office, Lupin. You forgot to take your potion tonight, so I took a gobletful along. And lucky I did," Severus explained, eyes glinting with excitement. "Lucky for me, I mean. Lying on your desk was a certain map. One glance at it told me all I needed to know. I saw you running along this passageway and out of sight."

"Severus," pleaded Remus.

"I've told the headmaster again and again that you're helping your old friend Black into the castle, Lupin, and here's the proof," Severus interrupted. "Not even I dreamed you would have the nerve to use this old place as your hideout."

"Severus, you're making a mistake. You haven't heard everything." Lupin's frightened eyes darted over to Black, and he paused to lick his lips. "I can explain. Sirius isn't here to kill Harry—"

"Two more for Azkaban tonight." Severus didn't care what Lupin was saying. A nagging voice in the back of his mind told him that Aziz had said the same, but he was only intent on paying Sirius back once and for all. "I shall be quite interested to see how Dumbledore takes this…He was quite convinced you were harmless, you know, a tame werewolf…"

Remus stepped forward, speaking, but Severus wasn't listening to what he said: he cast the Brachiabindio spell wordlessly, watching with pleasure as Remus toppled to the floor. After all he'd done to befriend the werewolf, how dare Lupin argue with him right now?

Sirius, seeing his fallen friend, charged at Severus: but Severus just raised his wand, saying, "Give me a reason. Give me a reason, and I swear I'll do it."

Granger interrupted then: she babbled about wanting to hear what Sirius had to say, that there must have been a mistake, and Severus yelled until she shut up.

"Vengeance is very sweet," Severus said to his erstwhile nemesis. "How I hoped to be the one to catch you…"

"The joke's on you again, Severus. As long as this boy brings his rat up to the castle, I'll come quietly," Sirius rasped, jerking his head to indicate Ron Weasley.

"Up to the Castle? I don't think we need to go that far. All I have to do is call the Dementors once we get out of the Willow." He wouldn't, of course: he wanted Black to be humiliated, as payback for the many times Sirius had humiliated him. The look of pure terror on Sirius's pale face was quite worth it—Severus continued talking, milking this moment for all it was worth. He summoned the ends of the cords that bound Lupin, yelled at the children to follow him—

And then Harry strode to block the doorway. Severus yelled—how dare Harry oppose him in his moment of triumph—and then Harry was yelling back, and just as Severus was yelling GET OUT OF THE WAY for the third time—there was a shout, and everything went black.

~~SS~~

When Severus awoke, he was lying just out of reach of the Whomping Willow, alone. How had he gotten here? Where were the others? Looking around, he spotted his wand lying on the ground a few feet away; he got to his feet and stumbled to retrieve it. The moon was up—Lupin must have transformed. Was he nearby? Scanning the surroundings, he noticed a crowd of Dementors near the lake—someone was summoning a Patronus. Merlin, that was a lot of Dementors! More than he could handle on his own, for sure.

He summoned a Patronus of his own, but instead of sending it to the lake, he used it to summon the headmaster: Dumbledore had his own ways of controlling the Dementors. He meant to cast another Patronus to help the person at the lake—Sirius, no doubt—but the Dementors were already drifting away. The shimmering Patronus—some large, four-legged animal, though he couldn't see what—lowered its head in front of the figure standing at the edge of the lake. Severus sprinted to them, just in case the Dementors came back.

~~SS~~

Harry and Sirius were unconscious when he reached the area, but Granger's eyes flickered open. "They're gone?" she whispered.

Severus nodded quickly. "Can you stand?" he asked. "I'm not sure I can levitate everyone."

Dumbledore sprinted up just then—he could move remarkably fast for a man past one hundred when he needed to—and indicated that he would handle the unconscious men. His Mobilicorpus—wandless and non-verbal, of course—gently lifted the two prone bodies into the air. Severus helped the weakened Hermione Granger to her feet and provided his arm to lean on.

"You should have listened to us," she told him. "Sirius is innocent. He didn't betray the Potters."

"Of course," Severus said gruffly. "But he still killed thirteen Muggles and Pettigrew."

"No! Pettigrew's alive! He's an Animagus!"

Severus chuckled. "Girl, I went to school with Pettigrew. He was the hardly the sharpest knife in the drawer. If you'd said Sirius was an Animagus I'd believe you, but Peter? Hah!"

Granger limped along in silence, hopefully realizing how right he was. "You're lucky to be alive," he continued harshly. "If Sirius hadn't cast that Patronus—" he broke off suddenly, realizing that Sirius should be wandless.

"It was Harry," Hermione explained. Seeing his shock, she added: "You underestimate him."

Severus sighed. "I know he's powerful, Miss Granger. But he could be even more so if he applied himself. And he's very irresponsible, which is a horrible quality in a powerful wizard."

Granger let out a bark of laughter. "I know that better than anyone—I'm the one who has to nag him to do his homework. But Professor—he has a good heart."

"Sometimes meaning well is not enough."

"I know. You only need look at how the Ministry treats Muggles to know that."

"Huh. Sometimes I wonder, Granger—are you thirteen or thirty?"

She looked at him oddly. "Tonight—well, earlier tonight—you were exactly who Harry expects you to be. But sometimes, Professor Snape, I don't think anyone knows you at all."

~~SS~~

Aziz had been right. He'd caught Sirius Black and the Minister for Magic knew it.

"Did you know that Black would escape?" he asked the djinn later that night—after he'd had a major tantrum within hearing of the Minister, then eventually calmed down.

Aziz shrugged. "I knew he wouldn't die."

"Potter—and his sidekicks, too—seem convinced that Black is innocent. They are Confunded, aren't they?"

"Didn't you say that you brought the Granger girl up to the Infirmary?" the djinn asked. "Did she seem Confunded to you?"

Severus didn't need time to consider his answer. "Not at all."

"Well, there you go," Aziz declared airily.

Severus collapsed into his desk chair and buried his head in his hands. "What a year. I don't think I've ever been this—this angry, aside from everything else. Merlin, I don't think I've ever lost control as badly as I have tonight."

"And why do you think that was?"

Severus opened his eyes and looked at the djinn as he considered. He ran his eyes over the baggy white trousers, the dark red tunic, Aziz's face with its chiseled features and dark, serious eyes, and finally the dark blue turban.

"I don't want to be my father, Aziz."

"You'll never be Tobias Snape. But it's never enough to know what you won't be. You have to know what you will be. So who do you want to become? What sort of person will you be? I thought you knew—but sometimes I wonder."

Severus shrugged.

"Your wishes say a lot," the djinn prompted. "Though you can cancel them, if you really want."

"My wishes tell me that I long to be loved for who I am, that I want to be free."

Aziz poked Severus on his beaky nose—as well as he could for a non-corporeal being, anyway. "You are always free, Severus. Even when you're bound by commitments and responsibilities and other people's wishes—you're always free to make some choices. I know that more than anyone."

His djinn had lived for well over a thousand years—in service to a master for most of them. And yet he was good, kind, usually patient—an amazing person. Maybe there was hope for him after all.

"I have this funny feeling that you're going to need to be in control of yourself soon," the djinn continued. "So figure out what you want. But next time, before you make a wish—maybe think about talking to me first?"