CHAPTER 16: The Trial
A/N: A quick recap, all the way form the beginning.
Harry begins to have flashes of memories involving Snape in the beginning of his sixth year. They always involve Snape being kind and almost fatherly to him. Snape in reality, however, is just as nasty as usual, if not more. Just as Harry begins to question his sanity, a spell cast by someone in the Great Hall shows, very publicly (a glimmering golden cord connecting him and Snape), that there is some kind of mysterious connection between Harry and Snape. The next morning, Snape is arrested for the use of Dark Arts. Dumbledore summons Harry and explains to him that the memories Harry had been seeing (from Snape's POV) were from the summer, the events of which were removed from Harry's mind at his own request. He reverses the Obliviate spell.
Harry remembers everything that happened over the summer—a slave Bond, how it changed him and Snape, and then how Snape destroyed everything they had by admitting to him that his caring for Harry had all been an act.
Moving on.
A few weeks earlier
"Sit down, Harry," Dumbledore sounded very, very tired. "When I cast the spell, try not to fight me."
Harry's last thought before the Obliviate hit him was, Fight for these memories? Not a chance.
In the present
Harry sat bolt upright in his chair, gasping as a month's worth of memories came rushing back. He only dimly heard Dumbledore's gentle admonishments to breathe deeply; he was too busy trying to make sense of the load of new information in his head.
He had cast a spell on Snape. He took a deep breath. The spell had backfired. Breathe. He had ended up as Snape's slave. Breathe. Snape had pretended to… be friends… and then turned around denied everything they had built when the Bond was broken. Deep breath. And then he, Harry, had asked to be Obliviated.
And here I thought this summer had been unbearably dull, Harry thought, burying his throbbing head in his hands with a small groan.
"Harry." Dumbledore's voice brought him back to the present.
Harry wearily lifted his head. Dumbledore looked back at him expectantly. "If the Bond was broken, then why was I seeing Snape's memories of that time? They were Snape's memories, weren't they? They couldn't have been anything else…" He quickly shut up when he realised he was babbling.
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "Yes, Harry, the physical aspect of the Bond was broken. Professor Snape tells me you have studied Bonding Theory in some detail?" He nodded and continued while Harry scrambled for the memory. "You are no longer his slave, but the mental link remained, because… you grew rather close at the time."
Harry felt nauseous thinking about that, so he promptly turned to something else. "The mental link can't be removed?"
"Not unless both of you want it to go."
"We do, Professor! I do, and Snape…" He stopped, confused by the increased twinkle in Dumbledore's eye.
"Professor Snape, Harry. And I would venture to say he does not know exactly what he wants at the moment."
"Are you saying he might want the mental Bond to remain?" Harry said, incredulous.
"I believe it very likely, Harry," Dumbledore said with utter seriousness. "That is why the Bond remains active, and that is why it responded to one of the Slytherins' Testing Spell."
"Er— the golden cord-thing in the Hall? The Slytherins did that? How do they know about this?"
"Voldemort has suspected that you've been using Bond magic ever since he looked into the Vault you inherited, Harry. The Slytherins were likely acting under his orders to find out whom you are Bonded to, because he would consider that a liability that he could exploit."
"Consider it?" Harry repeated. "So you don't think it's a liability?"
"In the form you and Professor Snape experience it? No," Dumbledore said. "There are, however, Dark Bonding techniques that would indeed be a serious danger to you."
Harry now remembered studying this.
"And this is why Professor Snape has been arrested, Harry. Voldemort will not hesitate to reveal his past as Death Eater to the Wizarding World— just to turn the Wizarding World against him, now that he knows Severus was a traitor to him all along. The people, and the Wizengamot, will assume Severus has been using Dark Magic on you. That is a crime punishable by a long sentence in Azkaban."
"Snape could go to Azkaban?" Harry said in alarm. "But I cast that spell, and it wasn't Dark!"
"And we must convince the Wizengamot of precisely that," Dumbledore said. "The trial is tomorrow, Harry. I'm afraid I must ask you to testify on Severus' behalf."
"Of course, Professor," Harry said, his mind still awhirl.
"Harry!" Hermione shrieked as he entered the Gryffindor Common Room. "I found out what that golden cord means!"
Harry sighed. This would take a while.
He and his friends talked late into the night, huddled in a corner of the Common Room. Ron couldn't get over the fact that the spell he and Harry had practised together had landed Harry in all this trouble.
"Why don't we have a slave bond, then?"
"Oh, don't be silly, Ron," Hermione said. "That happens only when the victim," she cast an apologetic glance at Harry, "doesn't want to give up his memories. You're friends and Harry trusts you; he didn't mind you seeing his memories. It was very different with Snape."
Harry blushed at her explanation. He peeked at Ron to find him looking down, red-cheeked. But that wasn't completely true, Harry thought. Ron didn't see my memories of the Dursleys, because that had nothing to do with my loyalties—which was what the spell was for. Snape ended up seeing those memories; he knows more about me than Ron does now!
This unwelcome discovery did nothing to improve his mood. He rubbed his aching head.
"Wait till this gets into the papers," Ron said.
"It's a good thing we've got Rita Skeeter under our thumb, or she would've found a way to blame you for this," said Hermione.
Harry thought they'd find a way to blame him no matter what, but said nothing.
"Poor Professor Snape," Hermione said, "he's waiting to be thrown into Azkaban through no fault of his."
Ron snorted. "I daresay Snape's done a lot of things deserving Azkaban. He lied to Harry!"
"Oh, come off it, Ron! That doesn't mean he deserves Azkaban!"
Harry sighed again as his friends went at it like hammer and tongs. He wished they'd just confess their undying love for each other and spare him the misery.
Good heavens, I sound like Snape. He went to bed with that very unpleasant thought in his head.
"Charges against the accused," boomed Rufus Scrimgeour. "The use of Dark Magic to bind one Harry Potter to himself in a slavery Bond."
The Wizengamot muttered angrily, and Harry looked around the room to distract himself from the looming faces. Dumbledore was already beside Harry, and Snape was sitting in the accused's chair. Unlike in Harry's trial, the chains had wrapped themselves around him as soon as he had sat himself down. Snape would not look at Harry, and Harry looked away immediately.
Scrimgeour finished reading out his accusations against Snape, and Harry couldn't help but wonder how they had managed to conclude Snape was the guilty party. Surely if they had looked into it, they would have found that it was he, Harry, who had cast the spell?
"Did you and Harry Potter have a Bond of slavery in the month of July?" Scrimgeour barked, glaring at Snape.
Snape looked rather pale, but answered with a curl of his lip. "Yes."
"Did you cast this Dark spell?"
"Objection," Dumbledore said quietly. "I have submitted evidence to the court that the piece of magic in question was not, in fact, Dark. Quite the opposite."
"Oh, you think so, do you, Dumbledore?" Scrimgeour said scornfully from the judge's balcony. His hand was clenched into a very tight fist on his desk. "And how many slavery bonds do we know of that are fully Light?"
"Not many, to be sure, Rufus," Dumbledore said politely. "Not more than five broad categories, perhaps—depending on the circumstances under which the Bond was made and the conditions therein—"
"Five broad categories!" Scrimgeour said, in the same scornful tone. "A very lax view of Dark Magic you must have, Dumbledore. This is slavery we are talking of, not to mention a former Death Eater subjecting the Boy Who Lived to it!"
Harry felt a white-hot flare of anger. So Snape was going to be punished simply because of who he used to be, and who Harry was? "I did it," Harry said, loud and clear. Snape flinched at his voice, he noticed. Curious. "I cast that spell on Professor Snape, and it backfired on me."
Scrimgeour smiled—he had probably meant it to be kind, but it was ruined by the fact that it never reached his eyes. "Which is what one would expect you to say, Potter, when you are a slave. Snape probably ordered you to say that, didn't he?"
This kind of reasoning was all too familiar to Harry. "Dose me with Veritaserum, then!" Harry said. Dumbledore had coached him before they left for the Ministry. "Or check my memories; they'll show you the same thing!"
"I see." Scrimgeour's face had suddenly gone hard. "And why would you do such a thing? Why did you experiment with an unknown spell, on a professor no less, and in the middle of your holidays, in direct violation of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery?"
Harry's heart was pounding, and his palms were sweaty. "I—I wasn't thinking straight," he confessed. "My godfather had just died, and I… I had begun to doubt that it was all Sn—Professor Snape's fault; I was worried he was on Voldemort's side, that he was still a Death Eater. So when I found a spell that would let me know if he was still a loyal Death Eater, I took the chance." His voice had become confident as he went on.
"Hm," Scrimgeour said, and to Harry's surprise, he looked slightly pleased. "Ascertaining even your teachers' loyalties, eh?"
"Yes, Minister," said Madam Bones from beside him, and the coldness in her voice made Harry's heart sink. "It is truly remarkable that Mr Potter feels the need to break this particular law quite so many times, and each time he has what seems like a perfectly reasonable defence."
Yes, well, desperate times, Harry thought mutinously.
"I would remind the Wizengamot," Dumbledore said pleasantly, "that Harry has been cleared of all those charges. Two of those instances were directly related to his… unique position… in the Wizarding World, and the dangers inherent in it."
Harry knew what Dumbledore was talking about—Dobby and the Dementors, both in Little Whinging, and ultimately because he was constantly in danger—but still blushed at this subtle reminder of his status. Snape's scathing voice rings in his ears, talking about Special Treatment for the Boy Who Lived.
"Indeed," Scrimgeour says, looking far more relaxed. "And his treatment of the boy in his power? Was his behaviour satisfactory?"
It felt odd and backwards, being asked to assess if his teacher's behaviour had been satisfactory. Harry risked a glance at Snape. The man had the overly blank look on his face that he sometimes got when he was feeling hostile but couldn't show it. How do I know that? It really was creepy how he noticed these things about Snape now and knew what they meant. "It…" Harry had to clear his throat, it had suddenly gone hoarse. "It was rough at first, but yeah, once we got used to it, we were… fine." Now he couldn't look at Snape anymore. He was remembering again, still a bit bewildered by all he had learned the previous day. Fine? Why had he said that? How could he even sum up everything that had happened in a few short words—Snape's initial hostility, then the opposite, and then the admission of deceit?
Harry snapped his attention back to the Wizengamot. They were still talking—Dumbledore, Madam Bones and Scrimgeour—but it was obvious that Snape was to be cleared of all charges.
"Consider yourself fortunate, Snape," Scrimgeour said.
Snape said nothing. He was now standing, free of the chained chair, but still looked rather pale in the light of the burning torches on the dark walls.
"And Potter," said the Minister, "do be careful in the future—I do not believe you might be so lucky the next time, either."
Harry waited to be told off for his use of magic, maybe even to return for a trial of his own, but there was nothing. Scrimgeour, however, was still watching Harry as the Wizengamot was dispersed. Harry didn't like the look in his eyes; it was strangely possessive. He heaved a sigh of relief when he reached outside the doors of the large courtroom, feeling very aware of Snape in front of him, talking in a low voice to Dumbledore.
Then suddenly he heard Dumbledore say something that sent him into a mild panic. "Severus, why don't you wait with Harry here, while I go on ahead to clear the way for you? I'm afraid there will be rather a lot of reporters outside the Ministry walls."
Snape opened his mouth, Harry thought probably to protest, but Dumbledore was already gone. Harry was left alone with Snape in the deserted corridor.
A/N: There was someone who thought Snape's use of the word 'child' to refer to Harry was condescending. Well, it might be personal opinion and/or something that differs from place to place (I was born and have lived in India all my life, and even though English is the language I feel most comfortable with, it's really not the same as growing up in a country where it's the most commonly used language)—but I've never felt that way about the word. It really is intriguing to me that someone would feel that way. And also a bit annoying that I'm not getting across the meaning I want to…sigh. The limitations of language, I suppose. Anyway, I'm sorry you felt that way (I'm gonna call you Guest Reader since I don't have a name), it's horrible when that happens. Maybe replace it with a suitable term of mild endearment in your head, one you like? Feel free to send me suggestions, actually. My all-time favourite for Snape-Harry interactions is the 'idiot child' from A Year Like None Other. Really wish I could think up something so quintessentially Snape. Suggestions? A nickname for Harry, courtesy of Snape? What about 'muppet'?—I kinda like that one.
