The Fate of Two
Chapter 2: Are you sure what side you're on?
((5 Days Previous))
Severus jumped as the base of a long wooden staff slammed onto the hard stone floor inches from his face with a thunk. His eyes trailed up the staff slowly before he met the eyes, or eye, of Mad-Eye Moody.
"Think you're smart huh?" Mad-Eye asked. He looked down at Severus who was laying shirtless on his side, his arms chained behind his back, a nice layer of sweat coating his body despite the chill of the room. The skin on his wrists were raw from fighting against his chains for hours. "You think they are going to go easy on you just cause you turned yourself in?" Severus didn't respond to him. He just turned his head back down and continued to stare blankly. Moody kicked Severus in the side. The kick would no doubt bruise him but among his other already visible bruises it would hardly be noticeable. "You're trial's today. You best hope you get life in Azkaban, it'll be the best you'll get."
"It tears you up inside doesn't it Moody?" Severus asked. Moody looked at him confused, his magical eye spinning around before focusing on Severus again. "That you have never missed a Death Eater ... that every one you've set your mind on capturing you've caught ... except me." He said simply almost as a state of fact. "I've managed to elude you twice. And the only reason you got to bring me in ... is because I gave myself up ..."
"You eluded me twice because I let you get away."
"No you didn't. You don't work like that Mad-Eye." Severus said. "You wanted to catch me and you couldn't. I know it eats at you, it's why you're here. You want to knock me down a peg so it'll make you feel better. Sleep better at night knowing you had some part in bringing me down."
Mad-Eye sneered. "Get up, now before I throw you in the shower myself and force you to wash your hair you disgusting reprobate." Severus smiled.
"Is that the best you can threaten me with?"
"I'd do worse ... but I promised Dumbledore I wouldn't ... the Dementor's can have you for all I care ... Get... Up ..."
Severus stayed on the ground a few more moments before receiving another kick from Moody and a jab in the ribs by the staff. This wasn't anywhere near the pain he had received at the hands of the Dark Lord on many occasions but it was still annoying. "Hurry up before I decide to dress you myself, I think it a fitting end for you to appear at your hearing dressed as a Muggle Clown. I guess you'd be one of those sad clowns I've seen in those paintings back in the day." Severus sneered as Mad-Eye tossed some clothes to him.
"You wouldn't dare." Severus said picking up the clothes as the chains fell off him.
"Oh wouldn't I?" Moody said pulling out his wand and taking a few steps towards him. Severus jumped at his clothes and whipped them on. "Good lad."
The lights were dim in the small round room, the walls lined with rows among rows of ministry members. The only light in the room was the still dim light that was trained on the man chained to the seat in the middle of the room. The man's long black hair hung in his face covering his pale shallow skin.
"Please state your name before the Ministry." The man didn't look up but muttered something. "I'm sorry you'll have to speak louder." Said the minister annoyed.
"Severus Snape." The man said louder so that all could hear.
"I am under the impression, or rather, said fact, that you have turned yourself in. Is this true?" Severus still did not look up.
"Yes." He said simply.
"Can you state why?" The minister asked. Severus stayed quiet for a long time before answering.
"I realized I had made a mistake." Severus said quietly.
"You just ... woke up one morning and just thought to yourself. 'Hmm ... what I'm doing is wrong, I should stop'?" Severus shook his head.
"No ..."
"Then what is it?" The minister asked. "That has changed your mind?" Severus was quiet again a few moments. He did not know how to answer.
"If you do not answer, then we will resort to Veritaserum" Severus still remained silent. He wanted to cooperate but didn't want to spill his secrets so easily. The minister nodded to someone who stepped forward with a small green vial. The man grabbed onto Severus' hair and pulled back forcing him to open his mouth. The man poured the potion down his throat. It wasn't long before Snape got this glazed over look and they knew that the potion was in effect.
"Can you state again, under Veritaserum, your name."
"Severus Snape." He said immediately.
"And why is it you turned yourself in?" He asked again.
"Because I realized I made a mistake." The minister sighed.
"Why?" He asked.
"Because a friend of mine was in danger. She was muggle born and it was my fault she was in danger. I had to help her."
"Who is this girl?" The minister asked. Severus was about to answer when someone else spoke up.
"Minister, I do believe that that information is irrelevant." Severus did not respond to the voice but did not answer the question.
"Dumbledore. I did not expect you to be here. We were under the impression that Snape here was defending himself." The minister said. Dumbledore shook his head.
"No ... he has me, and you may continue." The minister looked annoyed.
"Thank you Dumbledore, for the permission." He said sarcastically. "Now Snape, what is it that you did to put said friend in danger?"
"I told The Dark Lord of a prophecy. I had heard Dumbledore and Trelawny speaking about it."
"Ah so this friend you speak of is none other than Lily Potter?" The minister asked. Even through the Veritaserum the sneer of Snape's face at the name was visible. "Is this incorrect?" The minister asked noticing the sneer.
"No." Severus said. Dumbledore cleared his throat.
"So what did you do, when you realized that your ... friend ... was going to be killed by you-know-who?"
"I came to Dumbledore, asking ... no ... begging for help. For him to protect her. He had asked me why I had not asked the Dark Lord to spare her in exchange for her son. I had told him that I had. The Dark Lord said he would spare her on the condition that she stay out of his way. I knew Lily to well to know that she would not do that. I turned to Dumbledore, I had nowhere else to go."
"You could have just let her die. Why didn't you?"
"Because I lo-"
"I do believe Minister that this question is irrelevant. If I may speak Minister." The minister looked annoyed at Dumbledore's interruption but nodded.
"Severus did come to me as stated and I am more than willing to give you a pensive memory of the occasion. He did state that he had asked Voldemort to spare her life in exchange for her son, but at the time he saw no other option. He knew Voldemort was going to kill the boy either way, he was trying to spare her life."
"And her husband?"
"He was on the list to be killed as well. When Severus had come to me he had told me as such, and due to their past he didn't care what happened to James Potter as they have a bit of a history. But that did not mean that he wanted James to die. He asked me personally to keep them all safe. If it meant keeping Lily, his friend, alive. In return for my protection he said he would do anything. I have requested for him to remain on our side, as a spy if Voldemort where to ever return."
"And you trust him to do so?" The minister asked. "You would allow him to roam free and return to you-know-who's side if he were to ever return. You would trust him not to turn spy against you ... or the ministry. What if he comes after your precious students?"
"He will not. I trust Severus with my life. He was indeed changed."
"He should rot in Azkaban for what he's done." He said. "Seven counts of murder, three counts of rape and sixteen accounts of dark magic all used or done to Muggles. How do you plea?"
Severus didn't hesitate in his answer. "Guilty."
"See, he admits it." The ministry said. "Severus Snape I hereby sentence you to ..."
"Minister, please take into consideration that he did save both Lily and Harry's life, he was only acting on orders of a man he no longer follows. He can be a valuable asset to us at a later time. What good is he doing rotting in Azkaban?"
The minister seemed to take in Dumbledore's words.
"Alright Dumbledore, I have taken your words in consideration. Severus Snape you are hereby sentenced to twenty years working under Dumbledore's care at his school. If Dumbledore so agrees. If not you are sentenced to life in Azkaban." Severus closed his eyes as the potion was wearing off. 'Azkaban here I come.' He thought to himself.
"Of course I will accept him at our school. Gladly." Severus looked up at Dumbledore confused, as did the Minister.
"Headmaster ... surly you would not allow a dangerous Death Eater to work around your students. I figured you where smarter than that Dumbledore."
"As I have told you before Minister. Severus is not dangerous ... now if you would so kindly remove the chains off my new employee, I need to return to Hogwarts to speak to Professor Slughorn about his retirement so as Severus may take over his post."
Severus looked at Dumbledore shocked. "You want me to teach?" He asked.
"I forbid it!" The minister said. "He is not to be teaching anything to those students."
"Ah but Minister, it is within the rules of your sentence isn't it? You stated that he was to work for me. He is working for me, you never specified what he would be doing. I wish him to be teaching Potions if Slughorn agrees to his early retirement as he has been asking me for a few years now. I believe Severus to be the perfect replacement."
The minister didn't look too happy as he sneered down at Dumbledore. "Very well, but I will be sending someone to check on him randomly every week. They will be monitoring his classes and if there is any funny business ..." He said eyeing Snape. "He will be in Azkaban faster than he can say You-Know-Who." He waved his wand and the chains fell off of Severus to the floor with a clank.
((Five days later))
Severus sat in his empty class room; the only sound was the bubbling of the cauldron that was sitting on the desk in front of his own, and the quiet scratching of his quill on parchment as he graded the awful papers of his new first year students. The hour glass in front of him counting down the time before he would be able to stir the potion again, the sand sifting through the thin tube of glass.
His start to his teaching career had started out as he had predicted. A disaster. The fifth years and up where making his life miserable and where turning the first year through fourth years against him as well. He was lucky if any of them listened, not many of them caring if they passed the class of an ex Death Eater, others deciding to cause havoc by making their cauldrons explode, or purposely doing something wrong so that their potions would have the wrong effect. He sighed as he set aside another paper. He would need a new approach to his teaching methods if he wanted any of them to learn anything.
He tried being nice to them and in doing so they had walked all over him. If they didn't want to learn, he would have no other choice but to scare the information into them.
He set aside the next paper that he had marked and picked up the next one. The paper wasn't even about the topic at hand; it just had the few words "Death Eater Scum" no doubt inspired by the older students. He put a large T on the paper and put it down in the stack of finished ones.
Snape dipped his quill into the ink on his desk as a soft knock sounded on his door.
"Come in." Snape said quietly. The door opened slowly, he didn't even look up at who it was, and frankly he didn't care. He was half way through marking another page before the person spoke.
"Severus ..." Snape paused, his hand frozen in the spot. The ink spattered on the parchment where he had stopped it, marking the page with a blot of black ink. "Severus I ... I want to talk to you." Severus didn't look up at her as he continued marking his papers.
"What can I help you with?" He asked as if he would to one of his students.
"I ..." Lily paused not knowing what to say. "I just ..." Lily leaned against the desk in front of his that the potion was sitting on, careful not to touch it. She knew how finicky they were and did not want to upset him by ruining it. "I wanted to know what happened." Severus still didn't look up from his paper.
"You'll have to elaborate." Severus said still not looking up.
"I mean ... how did you get a job here? I thought you were aiming to be a Death Eater." She said.
"I thought you didn't want me to be one." He retorted.
"I don't but ... why the sudden change of heart. Why not become a Death Eater anymore."
"I was a Death Eater. I realized I had made a mistake and Dumbledore was kind enough to give me a second chance." He said standing up as his hour glass timed out. He walked around the desk and stood next to Lily. He picked up a potions stir stick and stirred it three times one way and then twice the other.
"And that's it? You just spoke to Dumbledore and he up and gave you a second chance. There had to be more to it ..."
"What is it you came here for Lily? Don't you have Potter's spawn to take care of?" He asked as he moved back to the desk and flipped the hour glass back over so it was timing another hour. Lily flinched.
"I was just wondering what happened to you." Lily said.
"No you where interrogating me on how I got here ... want to know about my Death Eater days? Wondering if I'm going back? What?" He asked. "Go take care of that thing you call a child and leave me alone. Come back if you actually want to have a civilized conversation." Severus turned back to his papers. Lily stood there staring at him wanting to say something, but not knowing what to say.
"Look, if you really have changed, then I'm glad. I really am ... I never wanted you to become a Death Eater. I just wished you had realized they were bad before you joined. At least then I might have had my best friend still." She said stepping out of the room.
Severus closed his eyes for a moment not wanting to think about what she had said but having no choice. His mind dwelled on it. But he had done the right thing coming to Dumbledore when he had; he had just wished that he hadn't been so stupid. So many lives could have been saved. So many lives, James, his father Tobias, and countless others that he did not know the names of but remembered their faces, their screams. The majority of them Muggles. He been a Death Eater for only six months but ... how many people had he killed?
Everyone was right. How could Dumbledore give him a second chance? How could he be any type of good influence to these students, what could he teach them?
Severus sighed and pushed the rest of the essays away from him. He flipped the hour glass back over so that what little had sunk into the bottom rushed back down, resetting it. He pulled out his wand and waved it over the cauldron, the potion disappearing, the ingredients that had been left out zipping back into the cupboard where they belonged.
He still felt nerve racked from the trial he had been through only days before. Dumbledore had been there to defend him. He was nearly sentenced to execution, but Dumbledore had saved him. They had released him on the condition he was sentenced to work at Hogwarts under Dumbledore's supervision. He would remain at Hogwarts on holidays for ten years and would not be able to leave the grounds. That was some of the information Dumbledore had not informed any of the staff of for obvious reasons.
Of course the Ministry had not counted on Dumbledore making him a teacher. A caretaker like Filch yes, or a Grounds Keepers assistant like Hagrid, but never a teacher. But they could not go back on their sentence. They had only stated that he was to work for Dumbledore, they never specified doing what.
Severus stood up, his wooden chair creaking against the hard tiled floor of the class room. He didn't bother taking the essays with him as he walked out of the door towards his chambers.
((TBC ... More Lily to come this was more of a flash back to his trial and stuff but uh ... hope you all enjoyed ... ))