Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns the characters but I have made them dance this time. No money made, no gratuities accepted except the reviews of my peers, for which I thank you.

I always answer my reviewers if they leave a name and I am always happy to chat with them over PM. Huge thanks and a great deal of gratitude as you are the reason I managed to get out of the mud and get going again.

If you have a flame to send, I suggest you do a spell check, the last couple look like they were written by a drunken kindergartener.

Another huge thanks to my BeST betas Zarathustra46 and the Wicked Bunjhny who make this lot legible and grammatically sane.

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Chapter 05 – Let Him Go?

The trip down to the holding cells was something of a nightmare for Snape and his handlers. None of the attendant Aurors were quite sure if he was a prisoner or a guest and it showed in their wary movements and heightened over eagerness to pull wands in a split second. Shacklebolt clipped a number of junior ears when a hedge of wands greeted the unexpected appearance of Professor Dumbledore in the hallway. The old wizard merely raised an eyebrow, making quite a few young men and women blush furiously and remember their school days.

Nodding acknowledgement of his presence, Moody herded junior Aurors McKnight and Larapech down to the guest suites with their long, thin bundle strung between them. Oh, it would have been easier to levitate the man but his juniors needed to remember that the personal touch was much more intimate. It was far too easy to forget that their prisoners were human and therefore had some rights. Besides, personal and professional had to be separated in their minds, even in the closest of contact situations.

Dumbledore watched as the two young Auror trainees manoeuvred Severus into a room and set him down on the bunk attached to the wall. It was not a prison cell but a plain, comfortable room furnished with a bed, desk, chair and wardrobe. In some ways it was far more hospitable than some of the rooms at the Leaky Cauldron, Albus admitted to himself cautiously. Moody dismissed the juniors and made sure Snape was lying comfortably before he left also. Alone, Albus hurried over and laid a long, gnarled hand on the pale brow, clicking his tongue at the heat radiating from the Potions Master's skin.

"Oh, my boy, you are not in good condition, are you?" he mourned as he fumbled through his robes and found a potion Madam Pomfrey had given him. "Here, sit up a moment and take a sip of this, it will help you."

Severus obeyed numbly, opening his mouth and swallowing without a blink. A few moments later he seemed to shudder and grow a little more aware of his surroundings. "Albus?" he croaked and was given a glass of water for his throat.

"How are you feeling?"

"Terrible. Albus, they aren't going to let me go! You know that, don't you?"

"I will get you…"

"No, Albus, you won't be winning this one," the younger man said almost gently. "The Wizengamot cannot afford to let me go, nor are they going to send me to Azkaban. I know too much, Albus, too much to be allowed to roam free, especially if they think I will blackmail them at any time, which I could, very easily and successfully."

"Now, Severus, you know that will not…"

"Damn it, Albus, stop trying to cajole me!" Snape snapped, then started to cough, grabbing the water Albus still held. "Face facts, old man, I'm a danger to our society and if it was me on the Wizengamot, I would have me assassinated as soon as possible!"

Before Albus could reply, the door opened again and Auror Blair McGonagall brought in a tray of food, setting it down on the desk before she turned and smiled at the man she considered her uncle. "Here's lunch for the Professor, Professor Dumbledore. There's a neutralising potion too, to help with the residual effects of the Veritaserum so he should drink that first. Auror Moody suggests, Sir, that you come along and have some lunch, too. I will stay with Professor Snape in case he needs anything."

"Very well, my dear, I will leave you to your duties. Severus, I will do my best, I assure you," the old man affirmed, then turned and left the cell.

McGonagall picked up the first potion and handed it to her ex-professor, rather surprised when the double strength pepper-up potion barely made a wisp of steam come from his ears, not a good sign. The next potion was basically a hang-over cure but with a larger stomach settling portion to try and minimise the damage Veritaserum did to a prisoner's stomach. Snape swallowed that one too, without a blink, even though she knew it tasted utterly vile! The third potion made Severus pause before he even took a sip, those huge nostrils expanding and taking in the scent before he pulled it away and held it carefully.

"You're supposed to drink it," the girl reminded kindly.

"Really? Do you know what it is? Who prepared the tray?" he asked croakily.

"I-I got it from one of the Ministry kitchen workers and I assume Moody put the potions out for you."

"The only trouble with assumptions, Miss McGonagall, is that they turn you and me into donkeys. This potion is nick-named Mother-in-law solution, a mixture of scallia, nightshade, cobra venom and pixie toadstools. The distinct rhizome scent gives it away every time."

The young Auror blanched. "You mean it's poisonous?"

"Yes, rather, when added to a foodstuff to neutralise the smell. It can deal with a mother-in-law in a matter of moments. I am surprised it was left in the bottle as it takes on the flavour of the foodstuff as soon as it is poured, losing the mushroom odour almost instantly."

"Maybe it was just a warning? Perhaps it was meant to make you alert to the possibilities," Blair muttered to herself, her eyebrows knit in thought. Almost absently she cast Acclaro over the rest of the meal, no poison alert coming to light. "Oh well, at least the rest of the food is fine."

"Yes, indeed," Severus agreed morosely.

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The wave of arrests made on the strength of Snape's testimony spread, those taken into custody instantly interrogated under Veritaserum. All names were immediately picked up and faced with interrogation in their turn. It was amazing how far the corruption of the government reached, even in very small ways; stupid things like getting free tickets to a venue in exchange for the swift passage of a document through the morass of red tape. In large ways, it was horrifying.

"…as if it was part of the job description," Clearwater ranted as he stomped back and forth across his carpet. "If you take office, then you must take bribes or else you are not doing your job properly! Even the bloody doorman takes bribes when registering wands, damn him!"

"Not bribes, Con, just tokens of esteem. He still registers the wands honestly," Deputy-Minister Janus Rogerson muttered. "Autographs for his son and daughter cannot really constitute as bribes, Sir, not really."

Constantine Clearwater ground his teeth but did concede the point. "But what are we to do with Severus Snape? The man is a menace! We can't have that much knowledge running free outside our control and we can't toss him into Azkaban, not with the Boy-Who-Triumphed firmly in his corner, as well as Albus Dumbledore and half the senior Auror staff. It would cause a split even more detrimental than the one we now face!"

"Can't we just quietly kill him?" Rogerson suggested, pouring tea and passing his Minister a cup.

"With Albus on the job? Not a chance!"

"It is a conundrum. Usually, in cases like this in the Muggle world, they shuffle the inconvenient embarrassment off into some sort of esoteric educational position, give them assistants and secretaries who are really guards and gaolers and bury them under the mantle of academia…" The two men exchanged long, meaningful looks.

"He is a Potions Master, after all…"

"…and it wouldn't look as if he was being punished, but rewarded for his dedication to the cause, Minister."

"But would Albus go for it? Would Snape?"

"Oh, come on, you know… Hell, everyone knows how much he hates teaching 'dunderheaded brats'," Janus remarked, a touch of bitterness in his tone. How well he remembered his own days under the tyranny of Severus Snape in the Potions dungeon.

"It's a beautiful solution to a sticky problem. Send him to the College of Potions Makers as a Research Fellow with a huge grant and his own facilities and he'll be in Potions heaven, never realising he is out of the public eye and well on his way to being forgotten."

"Well! That's a relief, a perfectly rounded solution." The Deputy Minister sighed and toasted his Senior Minister with his teacup. "Now we just have to sell it to the Headmaster."

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Sleep came late to Severus Snape as he lay on the narrow cot in the Aurors' 'visitor's room', his glorified prison cell. The only thing that separated him from the prisoners further down the hallway was the fact the door was ajar, not locked down tight. Despite his 'lodgings', his wand had not been mentioned or returned to him. Where that had gone, he didn't know. Without it, he felt completely naked. Still, he had warm blankets and a decent meal even though the Veritaserum was eating a hole in his ulcers. Hell, his ulcers had ulcers if the truth be known! He was marginally surprised that Alastor had treated him so decently, despite their differing views on various things. The old man had been a fellow professor off and on for years but they had still clashed on a lot of key issues.

He sighed and turned over, looking for a comfortable spot, the rustle of blankets all but hiding the slight hiss of the door as it was slowly pushed open. Without stiffening or even changing his breathing, Severus pricked up his ears, hearing the stealthy footsteps creeping up on him. Two yards, one yard, half a yard. He exploded upward, stringy muscles propelling his long, thin carcass at a shocking rate. The man fell back, his hood slipping to the side as the Potions Master leaped out of the bed and landed a foot on his chest. Fingers made of spring steel wrapped around his wand, plucking it from his fingers hard enough to tear skin and wrench sinew. A strangled squawk broke out as the captured wand was shoved into its owner's throat with enough power to puncture the trachea. Horror bloomed as blood flooded into his throat, choking him. Scrabbling desperately, he tried to pull the offending wood clear but the maniac above him continued to smile evilly as he coughed and gasped, gurgled and twitched. Then he was gone.

A shaft of purple hex caught Snape directly in the chest blowing him backward into the wall like a rag doll. A second spell put the Potions Master in a complete body bind as he fell helpless on the cot he had just vacated. The second attacker looked down on his careless accomplice, snorted softly, and muttered Diffendo and cut his throat smoothly; finishing the work Snape had started.

"So, the great Severus Snape, brought low by a schoolboy spell, how ironic. You know, it would be so easy just to kill you as you lay there so helpless, incapable of lifting even a finger to protect yourself. No stealth, no cunning, not even the infamous wandless magic can help you now, can it?" A mad giggle, rather reminiscent of Bella's post-Azkaban efforts broke out as a wand tip pressed into Severus' forehead. "But that would be too easy, wouldn't it? Quick and over; too bad, so sad." The man stepped away in a swirl of robes before whipping back around.

"No! I have a much better idea, one that I know will bring great anguish to the headmaster, to all the so called Light fighters, damn their hides! Don't they know that this world runs on money and power, that old money is best and the most potent? Why can't they see that we have a right to control anything we can, anything we are strong enough to dominate and subjugate to our wills, be it people, circumstances or situations. We are the strongest of the strong and all should bow to us… Oh, but you would like that, wouldn't you? If your pet Aurors came in and caught me monologuing, such an easy trap to fall into when one has such a distinguished audience, captivated, so to speak. No! I have a better idea for you. They want your knowledge, all the little facts and suppositions you have collected over the years. So how about I just… take them away! You love your mind, you love your knowledge and your intelligence, without them you are as helpless as a baby, and about as useful. So, hang onto your hat, neither Occlumency nor Legilimency can save you now."

Severus was so glad he was in a total body bind or he would have whimpered in unconditional terror. The madman had hit the nail directly on the head. Snape treasured his mind, his knowledge and his learning more than any gold or jewels. If that was all taken from him he would be… nothing!

Putting the wand down, the assassin managed to prise the stopper out of a small potions vial and force his head back against the body bind. Soft-fleshed, callous-free fingers forced his head back and the thick, honey-like potion was poured into his mouth. Snape could not swallow even if he wanted to, and nearly choked to death until his assailant thought to massage his throat to make sure he swallowed reflexively. Grinning madly, the assassin was about to throw the vial away then giggled. "Oh no, no-no-no-no-no, too easy. No clues, remember, no clues! Use the spell now, wand only works with the potion, not traceable!"

The incantation was quite complex but each word stabbed directly from the wand tip on his forehead and burrowed into his brain. If he could have moved he would have arched in agony as his solid Occlumency walls began to crumble and fail under the onslaught. The elaborate castle he had built to protect his mind could not withstand the bombardment of the unknown spell that hammered relentlessly on the walls, tearing them down, exploding rooms, levelling all before it and crushing the remains to powdered dust. Severus Ibrim Snape lost consciousness as the spell rendered his brain to devastated barrenness.

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