17. Azkaban
The week went by in a flash and soon it was Sunday, the day before the full moon. Before Severus Flooed to the Ministry to meet up with Kingsley he pulled Bobbie into his arms and kissed her. "I will be back in the morning, my Love."
"It will be a lonely night. I will miss you, and I'll miss sleeping in your arms and feeling you next to me. I always feel so safe with you." She leant into him with the side of her head against his chest listening to his heartbeat.
He smiled and stroked over her hair and drew in a breath of her scent. They finally broke apart after another lingering kiss and Severus disappeared in a cloud of green flame inside the fireplace.
He stepped out of one of the many fireplaces inside the Ministry and went to the front desk, while brushing the soot off his frock coat. The woman there said with a smile, "Professor Snape, go right ahead, Minister Shacklebolt is awaiting you."
Severus inclined his head and went straight to Kingsley's office. When he arrived he saw that Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom and Miss Granger were also there. He greeted the men with a handshake and then walked over to Hermione Granger and gave her a package and said, "My wife and I were hoping you would attend this meeting so I could give this to you. We acquired it in Canada. It is for all of your help locating the potion for my wife's grandfather. I want you to know he is doing very well." He smiled at her with a nod.
"Thank you Professor but that wasn't necessary. I was happy to help," she said.
"You are welcome." Then he pointed to the package and said with a smile, "We think it will fit. If it doesn't I am certain you know a charm or two to make it so."
After that the whole group took a Portkey to Azkaban. They arrived on the island, right on the narrow rocky beach in front of the prison, with the forbidding tower-like structure looming just 5 meters in front of them. Severus could feel the hair on the back of his neck standing up just from his memories of this place. He had only spent two days in a normal holding cell, awaiting his trial but had not realized how brutally intimidating it would be for him, even now that he was here as a free man. This would have been his destiny if Albus had not asked him to be his spy.
Before he could fall deeper into dark thoughts the appearance of a guard coming out of the gate to let them in pulled him back to the here and now. They were led inside. Dripping drops of water could be heard echoing through the long ominous hallways. They were finally guided to a dim, dingy and moldy smelling room which was barely warm enough to keep everyone from shivering. The walls were rough stone and the chamber was divided by heavy steel bars. On their side of the room, which was the larger part, were a few chairs scattered around a small table. On the other side of the bars they saw Thomson, the prisoner who had taken the potion which hopefully had cured him of lycanthropy. He was lying on a bench but got up into a sitting position when he heard them come in.
He glared at them and asked, "What do you want from me this time? Wasn't it enough that whatever you did to me last time landed me in the hospital?"
Kingsley said with a mischievous grin, "We're not doing anything, we're only here to keep you company."
Hermione looked around with a wary expression on her face and said, while walking to the table to lay down her parchment and quill, "I can't believe how gloomy and depressing it is in here. I hate to imagine how it must have been when the Dementors were still around."
Harry said, "Sirius told me he would have never made it for so long if he wouldn't have been an Animagus. He said he spent most of the time in his Animagus form because it didn't affect him as much and they pretty much left him alone."
Severus said, "This place reminds me of some of the dungeons where Voldemort was locking up his so called prisoners. Most of them were innocent Muggles that he would torture for his sick enjoyment... By the way Mr Potter, I never told you this but I am sorry about your godfather."
Harry said without anger in his voice, "Why are you telling me this now, Professor? You never liked him... and if I am honest I can understand why..." Harry then added, "I also know by now that you have tried warning him about going to the ministry."
"No, I didn't like him," Severus said quietly. "I am also not completely ready to forgive him. I did however seem to have lost the severity of my dislike when I saw him..."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
Severus saw that Kingsley and Neville Longbottom walked over to Miss Granger to give Harry Potter and him some privacy. They seemed to have picked up on the notion that there was something he and Potter needed to get off their chests.
Severus looked at Potter and said, "I saw them in..., I don't know exactly where it was... My wife seems to think that it was heaven, that I had died when Voldemort's snake bit me. I saw Albus, your parents, Black and Lupin. There were hundreds more people behind them but I couldn't make them out..."
Harry asked, "Was it all white?"
Severus first looked somewhat puzzled and asked, "White...?" Then it dawned on him. "Yes, everything was white. Everybody wore white clothes. It looked like a white, foggy Kings Cross Station."
This time it was Harry's turn to look puzzled. "Wow, I can't believe it was Kings Cross for you too."
"What are you talking about?" Severus asked.
"I was there. I also died. Voldemort killed me but Professor Dumbledore had given me the Resurrection Stone in his will. It brought me back. When I saw Professor Dumbledore in... heaven, for lack of a better word, he told me that it looks different for everyone."
"Albus always told me that you and I had similar lives. We both couldn't get away fast enough from the people who raised us. With you it was your relatives and with me it was my parents. I can only presume that Kings Cross was the first semblance of freedom for both of us," Severus mused.
"Yes, it sure was for me. Anyway, I also saw my parents, Sirius, Remus and Professor Dumbledore of course. They all encouraged me to go on and finish Voldemort off even though the place was so peaceful and I was quite reluctant to leave."
"Yes, I had the same experience, a very strong sense of peace," Severus agreed.
"Did they say anything to you?" Harry wanted to know and then he added, "If you don't mind me asking... I just find this all very interesting."
Severus looked Harry straight in the face and said, "Your parents thanked me for protecting and helping you. Black said he was sorry for the way they treated me and Lupin said that, that I was..., he said 'you are the bravest of all of us'..." He had gotten so quiet by the end of the sentence that Harry could hardly hear him. Severus hated to speak about himself like that.
Harry smiled and said, "I happen to agree!" And since he knew his old Potion Master didn't take compliments well he quickly asked, "What made you come back?"
"Albus showed me how sad and distraught my wife was. He made me realize I actually had something to live for," Severus reluctantly admitted.
Harry nodded and then decided he should let Snape off the hook and changed the subject, "Well, I sure as hell think that you do." Then he pointed at the prisoner and said, "And I'll bet you 10 galleons that this poor sap will be glad you're still around once he finds out that he is cured."
Hearing Harry's statement Severus suddenly realized that he had totally forgotten about the prisoner. He also noticed that he could hear faint howling in other parts of the prison but the prisoner they were watching was still sitting on his cot unchanged. When he looked at Kingsley he saw him looking back with a large grin on his face. "Well Severus, I think you did it old friend."
Kingsley then talked to the prisoner. "Well Thomson, what do you think, any urges to transform?"
The prisoner asked, "What do you want?"
"Well, come on man, it's a full moon tonight. Don't tell me you don't know that?" Kingsley taunted.
Thomson's hateful glare slowly changed into thoughtful recognition and then he stammered, "Why..., what did you do, what is..., why am I not changing...?"
"Because the last time when you thought we tortured you this chap," Kingsley pointed to Severus, "had brewed a new potion that we crammed down your throat in the hopes that it would cure you."
"Looks like it worked," Neville said with a grin.
"Can I ask you a few questions, Mr Thomson?" Hermione ask.
The prisoners puzzled gaze turned to Hermione. He still didn't look totally convinced about the validity of the situation but suddenly he was somewhat reasonable and said, "O... okay!"
"Did you feel anything, like the pull of the moon, any tiredness, any prickling on your skin, some wild instinct or any aggression before you were supposed to change?" Hermione asked.
"I did...! I mean, I used to before but not this time. Am I really cured?" he asked hopefully.
"We will have to examine you before the moon is setting. You will understand that we need to protect ourselves and have to put you under a full Body-Bind Curse while doing so," Severus said.
"I will do anything if I can be cured of this accursed disease," Thomson said and readily agreed to being hit with the Body-Bind, but before Kingsley did curse him he said more to himself than to Severus with his head shaking, "Couldn't you have come up with this earlier? It could have prevented me from siding with 'You-know-who'."
"Unfortunately not. I was engaged otherwise," Severus said. "What are you trying to say?"
Thomson said in distress, "I had a wife and two children. I had a good job. After I was bitten no one wanted to have anything to do with me anymore. I was suddenly an outcast and I lost everything."
"You still didn't have to turn to Voldemort. Remus didn't," Harry said.
"Lupin?" Thomson asked. "Yeah, he tried to get our pack to lay low and not to go with 'You-know-who'. Most of us listened. Unfortunately it was too late for me. I had fallen into a deep depression and by that time I didn't care one way or the other anymore. I had also bitten someone already. I thought there was no redemption for me anymore." He shook his head and then buried it in his hands and started sobbing.
Kingsley, Hermione, Harry, Neville and Severus all looked at each other not knowing what to do. Then finally Kingsley spoke up, "Listen, there may be something that can help your case. But first we will have to check you out and make sure there are no traces of lycanthropy left, and then we will get you out of this hellhole and put you in a somewhat better establishment. If you behave yourself we will let you out with an unbreakable vow as soon as the next tests on some more people are finished. You will have to keep your mouth shut about a cure though. If we hear anything, all bets are off. You will understand that if there is a leak about a cure people will go crazy and demand to be healed. If you behave we may have a proposition for you as a spokesperson for the cure and you will get paid for it. What do you say?"
"I'll do anything," Thomson agreed right away. "Merlin, I can't believe I am cured...! I never thought it was possible." He almost turned euphoric.
"That is exactly what we are afraid of, that excitement of yours. If you let anybody know you could create a mass hysteria," Kingsley said.
"I promise, I won't say anything," Thomson said with conviction.
"Very well then!" Kingsley looked at his pocket watch and asked Severus, "What do you think?"
"Let's take him to St Mungo's for a checkup," Severus answered.
Hermione had stopped asking questions long ago because she got all the information she needed from the conversation. She packed up her notes and then they walked out of the room to get a guard to open the cell door so they could take Thomson to the hospital.
Thomson cooperated without a problem and laid down on a cot so they could put the Body-Bind Curse on him. He saw some hope for his future and he didn't want to mess it up. The healer in St Mungo's looked at him and said, "This guy again? I think he is a hypochondriac. There wasn't anything wrong with him last time. I think he just likes to get out of Azkaban once in a while to get a good nights sleep."
Kingsley said, "Just check him out anyway. He said he was bitten by a werewolf. I didn't see any bite marks but check for that anyway.
"The moon is still out. He would have turned hours ago if that was true...," the healer argued.
"Never mind, I don't have time for this shit. We'll go somewhere else," Kingsley said angrily and stormed out of the examination room and into the head healers' office where he tossed a handful of Floo Powder into the fireplace and said, "Hogwarts infirmary!"
As soon as they all had arrived Hermione woke Poppy. Even though she was sleepy Poppy understood the severity of the situation and went to work. They decided to take a chance and released Thomson from the curse and he went to lie down on a bed without a fuss because he himself wanted to know if he was cured for sure. They didn't put him back into a Body-Bind since he was fully cooperating but Harry and Neville still stood guard, just in case.
Poppy checked and scanned Thomson and even drew blood and examined it for any traces of lycanthropy. She didn't find anything.
It was official, the cure had worked. When Thomson got up into a sitting position he said to Poppy after he had recognized her as being the one who had made him take the potion a month earlier, "Lady, you can cram a potion down my throat any time of day. Thank you!"
They all sat around for another hour and finally Kingsley looked at his watch and said, "Miss Granger I think you can go home now and get some sleep." Then he said to Harry and Neville, "Okay you two, let's take Thomson to a holding cell in the Ministry and then let's all get some sleep. Severus, thank you my friend, I will talk to you later."
The men shook hands and just before they all left by Floo Kingsley said, "Anyway, I will have to put in a complaint about that healer in St Mungo's. Seems to me that when I was in school I was taught that you respect the Minister of Magic and do what he's asking of you. I can't believe that oaf argued with me until it was almost too late and the moon would have set. I'm sorry we had to wake you Poppy."
"No problem! I would have gotten up in an hour anyway," Poppy said with a cheerful yawn.
After everyone was gone Severus yawned and said to Poppy, "Don't wait for me at breakfast. I'm going to bed."
Poppy chuckled and said, "I don't blame you. Get out of here...!"
888
When Severus arrived in their quarters he saw Bobbie lying on the sofa asleep with a book beside her and halfway covered in a blanket. He went to her and looked at her serene expression and softly brushing a strand of hair out of her face. When she woke she first looked a little disoriented and then she stated, "Severus, you're back."
He sat down beside her and asked, "What are you doing here? You are supposed to be asleep in bed."
She slung her arms around his neck and first kissed him and then said, "I was in bed but couldn't sleep. I guess I missed you."
She sat up beside him and even though he looked tired she could tell that he was bursting with excitement, so she asked, "How did everything go?"
He smiled and said, "Very well. Thomson didn't even realize that it was the night of the full moon until Kingsley pointed it out to him."
Bobbies face lit up, "You did it, Baby! Not that I had any doubts... I am so proud of you." Then she stroked his cheek and said in earnest, "My brilliant husband!"
He still wasn't used to get such praises so his answer was to pick her up into his arms and carry her to bed. When he gently laid her down he said, "I missed you too. Let me take a quick shower and I will be right with you."
When he came to bed she snuggled up to him and let out a content sigh and was soon asleep. Severus smiled and soon after that he fell asleep himself.
