-:-:-:-:-:-
Here's what I find about compromise-
Don't do it if it hurts inside
'Cause either way you're screwed
-:-:-:-:-:-
The students were perfect little shits, every one of them. On the morning of the first day of classes, Severus stepped outside his rooms to find a message painted on the wall opposite the stone gargoyles: "DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY: STILL RECRUITING." He was so offended that, without thinking, he tried to Vanish the message, which of course only changed the color of the paint from blue to neon yellow. After he threw a few Identification Charms at the paint, he erased the message completely.
In the Great Hall, there was doxy powder on his chair. He Vanished it before he sat. His eggs were so over-salted that they were inedible. When the Carrows rose from the table, he noticed the backside of their robes smoking slightly from the doxy powder in their own chairs.
No one looked at him all morning.
When he went back to his office after breakfast, he found that someone had released a niffler there, which had already torn apart several things that Severus could no longer recognize, and was currently attacking the gilded frame of Castro Parmer, Headmaster from 1704 to 1717-and who was screaming for Severus to save him. After he'd forced the niffler into a hastily conjured cage, he demanded that the portraits tell him who came in his office.
"But Severus," Beatrice Armstrong (Headmistress, 1543-1591) said, "we didn't see anyone. The niffler seemed to come in from that same door you used this summer!"
"Well, fuck that," Severus said, and conjured a brick wall in the corner. "I need to go fix something," he said, and left the office again, this time heading for the seventh-floor corridor. When he arrived at the blank wall, he paced in front of it, thinking furiously, "I need to seal my office against intruders."
The same plain wooden door appeared after his third pass, and he entered the passageway lit only by torches. At the end of the passageway he found the door to his office, presumably. He opened it up and found a solid brick wall on the other side. I need this to be accessible only to me, he thought as he closed the door. Even as he thought it, he wondered what would happen if someone "needed" another door to his office. I need to keep the students out of my office, he thought. Something caught his eye down in the corner by the door. Bending down, he found an enormous lock with a key sticking out of the bottom. He turned the key and the lock sprang open. This will do, he thought, and swung over a catch on the door that he hadn't noticed before, and hooked the lock through. He closed it and took the key. I need this to be the only key.
As he left the Room of Requirement, he felt pretty proud of himself, until he reached his office again and found Pomona-Professor Sprout-waiting for him by the stone gargoyles with Theodore Nott. Nott's face was covered with great, flapping bats. "Severus, I'm glad you're here," Professor Sprout said.
"You may address me as 'Headmaster' or 'Professor Snape,' thank you," Severus said. It was easier for him to keep his roles straight if they weren't so familiar with each other.
"Yes, of course, Severus," she replied, without any indication that she was being rebellious, which was one of the problems with Hufflepuffs. It was possible that she didn't mean anything by it. "I'm sorry to bother you with this, but Miss Bones-Susan Bones?-she's one of mine-she cursed Mr. Nott here with the Bat Bogey Hex during my class-which I understand is a problem, and trust me when I say that I will deal with that-but Mr. Nott responded by casting the Cruciatus Curse. The Cruciatus Curse, Severus! An Unforgivable, in my classroom, on another student! I called Poppy right over, but I think Miss Bones'll be fine-she was just a little unsteady."
For fuck's sake. How would a Death Eater react to this situation? And didn't Professor Sprout remember Severus in particular for his own Unforgivable Curse, that he just so happened to cast on Dumbledore? And he couldn't even scowl properly at Professor Sprout with those great flapping bat wings so close to him.
The proper course of action eluded him, so he took care of the most immediately annoying problem first: he ended the curse on Nott, who seemed both grateful and sheepish. This somehow did not improve Severus's mood. "Why didn't you remove the hex at once?" he snapped at Professor Sprout.
"Well, I thought you might want proof that Mr. Nott was provoked, at least!"
"So he was." He turned to Nott. "In the future, you will leave punishment to those in charge. You will serve a detention with me. And Professor Sprout, Miss Bones will also serve her detention with me."
Professor Sprout looked thunderstruck, which Severus had never seen on her before. "Detention, Severus? For the Cruciatus? And I already told you-I will take care of Miss Bones."
"You will not. You will have her report to my office, tonight after dinner, and Nott, you will do the same. Dismissed." He swept into his office and was thankful when the door slammed behind him. Until it occurred to him that he had two students for detention tonight, and nothing for them to do. Well, he still had hours to dream something up.
Unfortunately, he knew he lacked the proper perspective for this sort of thing. Based on Professor Sprout's reaction, casting the Cruciatus Curse was pretty bad, but if Miss Bones had honestly thought she'd be subjected to anything less, she was a fool.
He traveled up the circular staircase to his office, and was greeted immediately by Dumbledore. "Severus, I realize that you may be busy, but we really do need to discuss the sword of Gryffindor. It is imperative that you deliver it to Harry Potter as soon as possible."
Oh, well that was just fine. "I'd be happy to do that for you, Albus," he said, resolving on the spot to be on a first-name basis with the portrait. "I'll just gift-wrap it and send it along with a school owl, shall I?" It was ludicrous-who knew where the boy was hiding. He could be anywhere.
Anywhere.
"Phineas Nigellus Black!" he said suddenly.
"Yes, Headmaster Snape?"
"Go to your portrait at Grimmauld Place. Let me know if Harry Potter is there now, or has been there recently."
"Yes, Headmaster."
And Phineas exited frame left. But he returned a very short time later, looking distinctly green. "I'm sorry, Headmaster," he said, and sicked up just outside the frame. He turned back to Severus, wiping his mouth. "My other portrait has been moved-it appears to be a room full of...clothes, and books, and bottles...no doors, no windows...and it was...moving in a most unpredictable manner. I heard voices, but I couldn't make anything out before I had to...leave." He heaved again, but didn't bring anything up.
That was...odd. "It was moving, like it was on a ship?" he asked Phineas Nigellus, who frowned and heaved again.
"Not sure," he said, after he'd recovered. "Never been on a ship."
Well, that cleared nothing up. But perhaps this meant that Potter had been at Grimmauld Place, and had taken the portrait with him.
By dinner that day, there were six more fights among students. At least no more fights involved Unforgivable Curses, but that was hardly a comfort. One student had been hit with a leglocker curse at the top of a staircase, and after she had finished falling, she had two broken wrists and a cracked skull. Another student (who by all accounts, had been a mere bystander) had been too close to the bust of Paracelsus when it was hit by a Reductor Curse, and Madam Pomfrey was still working to salvage the young boy's sight.
It had to be the worst first day ever in the history of Hogwarts.
Severus did not take over any other detentions; he still had not decided what to do for the two detentions that he would administer in half an hour.
At dinner in the Great Hall, Professor McGonagall leaned over Alecto to address Severus.
"Pomona informs me that the punishment for the Cruciatus Curse is a detention, Severus."
"You will address me as 'Headmaster' or 'Professor Snape,' thank you," he said.
Her entire face pulled into a thin line, but otherwise she ignored this declaration. "I should say I'm not surprised," she said, in a voice that was not quite steady, "not when the punishment for the Killing Curse is a promotion." She stood and left the Great Hall, and Severus did his best to ignore her.
When Miss Bones and Nott appeared at his office door after dinner, Severus put them on opposite sides of his office and erected a barrier between them. Really, he didn't know what possessed him to have both students in his office at the same time-it was honestly a terrible idea. He set them both lines-he couldn't even say what he'd made them write-he didn't care and it didn't matter, as there was really no appropriate way to punish anyone at this point. He wanted to make them write, "We're all fucked and we might as well not fight each other about it anymore." He tried to make up some sort of suitable alternative to this idealized phrase, but it was unlikely that either student understood the underlying message.
Meanwhile, he took care of paperwork at his desk, and thought about the near-riot state the students were in. God, he had to bring them in line, and fast. If the students kept on the way they were going, someone would be murdered in their beds before the week was out. He had sworn to protect the children of Hogwarts-but when he made the promise, he hadn't thought that he'd have to protect them from each other. He'd been pessimistic, sure, yet still unfortunately naïve.
Coming up with a plan, he sent messages out to the teachers to meet in the staff room at ten-thirty, which gave the miscreants on hand plenty of time to write however many useless lines he had set them.
He arrived at the staff room two minutes late, and found everyone already in attendance. "Good evening," he told them. "I'm sure you noticed that we had a rocky start to the term, and I have no wish for the pattern to continue. I believe that a firm disciplinary hand will help end student restlessness. To that end, I am putting Amycus and Alecto Carrow in charge of all punishment at Hogwarts. Should any student misbehave for any reason, it is your duty to refer them to one or both of the Carrows for appropriate disciplinary action. Heads of House, please inform your students as soon as possible. This policy goes into effect immediately."
The professors stared at him in disbelief-except for the Carrows, who looked like Christmas had come early. The pair were clearly unbalanced, and he sincerely hoped that the threat of being punished by them would curtail wrongdoing. To put a fine point on it for any of his staff who might need it, he said to the Carrows, "You have free rein over any student referred to your care. I would just hope that you don't spill too much magical blood."
Alecto actually giggled. "I think we can stick to that, fer some definitions of 'too much.'"
The hairs on the back of Severus's neck stood up, but he didn't react.
"S-Severus," Professor Sprout said, but Severus held up his hand.
"One more point of order. You will address me as 'Headmaster' or 'Professor Snape' at all times, is that clear?"
Silence rang out for a few uncomfortable moments.
"Yes, Headmaster," Professor Flitwick finally said. With that, everyone stood to leave. Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout were both gray; Professor Flitwick dexterously escorted both of the taller women out.
And thus ended Severus's first full day as Headmaster of Hogwarts. One down, an unknown number to go. He just had to hold on until some nebulous time in the future when the Dark Lord started to fear for the life of his snake.
When the staff room emptied out, he took several deep breaths, but refused to betray any other emotional response. And if he had to carry on with his deep breathing for several minutes...well, there was just nothing for it.
Over the next several weeks, Professors McGonagall and Sprout avoided him altogether. Professor Flitwick only met his eye warily, and on those occasions it seemed accidental.
The Carrows were predictably ruthless. As horrible as the students were inclined to be toward each other, the Carrows were worse. This did have the desired effect of cutting back on student fights, but once the Carrows' bloodlust was whetted, there was no stopping them.
Severus refused to let himself regret anything.
He would have thought that he would miss Minerva, as she had probably been the closest thing to a friend he'd had before...Before. But Professor McGonagall's cold distance helped him remember who he was supposed to be. In fact, he was pleased that she was outdoing herself in making his subterfuge easy. The Carrows took great delight in needling her; she rose magnificently into righteous indignation; the Carrows responded with open mockery-and while all this noise was being made, no one noticed if Severus happened to take over an occasional detention.
He couldn't save them all, but he supposed that even Professor McGonagall's righteous indignation had its limits. One day, Alecto hit Lavender Brown with the Cruciatus Curse during Muggle Studies. At lunch, Alecto justified her actions to Severus, loudly declaring, "I asked a question, and that girl gave me an answer that...dissatisfied me." Alecto smirked and Severus smirked back. That night, Severus walked up to the Astronomy Tower, as he sometimes did-the place where, in the privacy of his own thoughts, he imagined that this whole journey had started-and wished the journey would just fucking end already. On this night, he caught a glimpse of a cat, sitting rigidly, regally-as only a cat could do, with her tail wrapped around her. Severus did not look directly at her, and pretended not to see. Instead, he leaned over the parapet and looked up at the stars for a quarter of an hour or so.
As far as he could tell, the cat didn't move.
He and Minerva had once had a conversation about what it was like for her to turn into a cat. She had told him that she maintained her higher reasoning, but her emotions were blunted. She felt neither great joy nor great sorrow. "As a cat, I can be dispassionate," she'd said. "I've never quite been able to manage that as a human." Severus was glad that Professor McGonagall at least had that refuge.
When he left, the cat wasn't where she had been, but Severus suspected she was still nearby.
Each miserable day was followed by another, but somehow Severus managed to keep everyone alive without any major scares until mid-October. On a Sunday evening, he was walking to his office with Amycus on his heels, who was happily discussing his new plan for Dark Arts training (which was truly demented-but Severus only nodded and smirked), when he quite literally ran into Miss Weasley, Longbottom, and Miss Lovegood. They were emerging from his office door, and Miss Weasley was obviously concealing something behind her back. The students froze.
"Wot's this then?" Amycus said, but didn't wait for an answer. He backhanded Miss Weasley, who threw out her hands to catch her balance, and dropped the fucking sword of Gryffindor. "Stealing from the headmaster?" Amycus roared, and drew his wand.
Severus quickly put his hand on Amycus's arm. "Let's move this out of the corridor, shall we?" he said, mainly just to stall the inevitable.
"Certainly," Amycus said, and bound all three children with a single Incarcerous, and dragged them onto the moving stone staircase, up to Severus's office.
Severus grabbed the sword and followed. He needed to act quickly. The idiot children had forced his hand-and they would pay a dear price for it, Severus couldn't help that-but they also presented him with an opportunity. He could think of only one reason they would try to steal the sword of Gryffindor-and he was going to take advantage of that.
When they arrived at the office, Amycus handed over all three of the students' wands. Severus hadn't even noticed him taking the wands-however little intelligence Amycus possessed, he was ruthlessly efficient at incapacitating others.
Severus took the wands and strode over to his desk, where he opened a warded drawer and retrieved a small bottle of Veritaserum. As Severus tucked the vial into his pocket, Amycus pointed his wand at Miss Weasley and said, "Crucio!"
Miss Weasley shrieked, and Longbottom and Miss Lovegood, both still bound to her, stumbled and shouted for Amycus to stop. But they could do nothing useful for their friend; the best they could hope for was to not fall over on top of Miss Weasley as she writhed uncontrollably. They failed of course; they were bound too tightly to prevent it. When they fell, Amycus lifted the curse and turned to Severus. "What are you going to do with them, Sev?" he asked eagerly.
"I'm going to question them. Individually. Miss Weasley first." Perhaps Amycus would leave the others alone-he did seem fixated on the Weasley girl. Best to take her first. He removed Amycus's restraints and pulled Miss Weasley out from under her classmates, grabbing her arm and guiding her firmly into a smaller room off the main office.
The girl was still dazed and slightly teary. "W-what do you want?" she said. She had tried to sound gruff, and if not for the stammer, she would have succeeded. She had a fat lip that would have been comical under other circumstances.
"The truth, Miss Weasley," he said, and, grabbing her by the hair, forced her head back and put a single drop of Veritaserum on her tongue. It was a small dose and would wear off quickly. She immediately slumped in the chair and her eyes glazed over. "Why did you take the sword of Gryffindor?" he asked.
"Because it doesn't belong to you," she said, flatly.
"Who does it belong to?"
"Harry."
"You were going to give it to him?"
"Yes."
"Where is Harry Potter?"
"I don't know."
Severus's next question caught in his throat. "What?"
"I don't know."
"You-you risked your life to steal a sword for Harry Potter, and you can't even deliver it to him?"
"We didn't think that far ahead."
Well, at least the truth serum was still working properly, then.
"How do you know the sword belongs to Harry Potter?"
"Because Dumbledore left it to him in his will."
Severus snorted, exasperated. That had been Dumbledore's plan to get the sword to Potter? He surely would have known it wouldn't work-he may as well have bequeathed the Black Lake to the boy. Good thing, really, that Albus had a backup plan.
"When was the last time you saw Harry Potter?"
"This past summer, at Bill's wedding."
"Where did he go after that?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know?"
"No, they left suddenly, when the Death Eaters attacked."
Oh, so it had been that night. "You said 'they.' Who was with him?"
"Hermione and Ron, as far as I know."
"Have you seen either of them?"
"Not since the wedding."
"Have you had any letters, messages, anything, from any of them?"
Miss Weasley got a little teary-a sign that the potion was losing effectiveness-but she still answered, "No, nothing."
Severus waited a few moments, until Miss Weasley blinked several times and sat up straight in her chair. "W-What did you do?" she asked, without the gruffness, but still with the stammer.
"I merely got some answers, Miss Weasley-nothing you need to concern yourself with." He made to grab her elbow to guide her out into the main office, but she shrugged away from his touch. She stood shakily and walked under her own power to the door. He sent her out and traded her for Longbottom, who was sweaty, shaking, and whose eyes were red-rimmed. Amycus had shifted his focus, then.
His interrogation of Longbottom was much the same-Longbottom hadn't seen Potter since the end of the previous school year, and didn't know his current location. When Longbottom emerged from the haze of Veritaserum, he shook his head a few times, as if to clear it.
The boy surprised him by saying, "I thought it was illegal to dose people with Veritaserum, Professor."
Severus fumed. Had the boy not yet discerned the lay of the land these days? Severus was not the only one who disregarded the law. "I thought that using the Cruciatus Curse on people was also illegal, Mr. Longbottom. Not to mention stealing school property."
"Not to mention murdering Professor Dumbledore."
Severus grabbed Longbottom roughly, who responded only with a squeak. Severus shoved him out the door and roared, "I need to see Miss Lovegood! Now!" Amycus smirked and sent her in.
Miss Lovegood was shaking slightly, but walked composedly to the chair and said to Severus, "The Cruciatus Curse is really horrible, Professor Snape. You shouldn't let the Carrows use it as much as they do." Her voice was scratchy and slightly breathless, and Severus decided that he hated everything and everyone. Eager for the interrogation to be over, he grabbed his bottle of Veritaserum, but Miss Lovegood said, "If you want me to tell you the truth, you can just ask me. I'll tell you if I need to lie."
And somehow, Severus believed her completely.
"Do you know where Harry Potter is?" he asked, still holding the bottle of truth serum.
"No. But to be fair, if I did know, I'd need to lie about it."
He corked the bottle and put it back in his pocket. "But, then why did you try to steal the sword of Gryffindor?"
"Because Ginny and Neville wanted to. They're like my friends, and it's nice to have friends. I didn't think their plan would work, but it's still rather nice to be with them."
"Whose idea was it?"
"Ginny's. I think she misses Harry a lot, and wants to help him." She looked thoughtful as she continued, "I think they had sex last year. Harry had a horrible case of Wrackspurts that cleared suddenly, and sex is the only thing that can do that."
Christ. He wished he'd used the Veritaserum. He would have gotten less truth through that route.
"When was the last time you saw Harry Potter?"
"At Ginny's brother's wedding. Harry was there, but he was wearing a disguise."
"Did he-or Miss Granger or Mr. Weasley-mention where they might go afterwards?"
"No, I don't think anyone planned for anything that happened afterwards."
And suddenly, Severus had more important questions. "Why are you talking so freely with me?"
"Because you haven't asked me anything I need to lie about."
"Will you tell the others that we talked like this?"
"Only if they ask, but they probably won't."
He had never known anyone quite like her. "Have you lied to me yet?"
"I lied to you last year when we talked about boggarts in class. But I still don't want to talk about what my boggart is, so if you ask me again, I'll still lie."
He couldn't help himself. "What's your boggart?"
"Professor Carrow," she said immediately. "That's a lie," she clarified.
"Will you tell me if Harry Potter contacts you?"
"Yes."
He frowned. "Is that not a lie?"
"No, because Harry won't try to contact any of us, anyway."
Thus by the rules of formal logic, she had told the truth. He bowed slightly to her, because the moment demanded it of him. He almost asked for her permission to throw her out of his office, but caught himself in time. He roughly grabbed her by the upper arm-she startled, and looked at him, betrayed-but he dragged her behind him and threw her out the door. She stumbled, but didn't fall.
"I will assign detentions to these three!" he roared at Amycus, who flinched. "You will leave at once!"
The man scrambled to leave, and Severus glared at the children left in his office. "You will never break into my office again. You will report to Professor Hagrid tomorrow night at eight o'clock to serve your detentions. You are dismissed."
The children looked at him with wide eyes. Longbottom finally spoke. "Is-is that all, sir?"
"I could also subject you to the Cruciatus Curse, if you wish," he said, raising his wand and wondering if he would.
Miss Weasley spoke, and she seemed to have recovered her composure. "We need our wands, sir."
"You'll get your wands when I say you get your wands!" he yelled, and shoved them all forcibly out his door. It would serve them right if they fell down the staircase.
Christ, he didn't even remember that he had their wands. He looked on his desk, and in his desk, and in the small room he had used for the interrogations, and finally found them in his pocket. He was glad he'd kicked the students out; they didn't need to see him bumbling. But still, they needed their wands as soon as possible; the halls of Hogwarts were not safe for unarmed witches and wizards.
He summoned Professors Flitwick and McGonagall, and gave them the wands to return. They didn't look at him, nor did they ask why he had the students' wands. He was glad of both of those things.