Power in all its Glory
Chapter 26: The Second Time Around
"Come in my boy, come in," Professor Dumbledore said cheerily as he ushered the Potions master into his office. "We are all ready to get started."
A stone basin with strange symbols stood in the middle of the room.
The headmaster's mood grated on Severus's nerves. He was here against his will having to relive two of the most tedious days of his life. The least Dumbledore could do is not be so damn cheerful!
"Headmaster," he began, hoping against hope that he could salvage part of the day. "I think we can safely sort through which interviews to view. Many are not relevant to what we are doing."
"Nonsense." The headmaster waved his suggestion away with a smile. "We will go through every last interview. We don't want to miss anything," he said with a twinkle in his eye. Snape got the distinct impression he was up to something.
"Then at least let me go back to my office to finish going through the files. Your really don't need me here and that seems to be a more prudent use of my time."
The twinkle disappeared from the headmaster's eyes. "We have discussed this Severus. I need you here. Please do not mention it again."
With that said, the older wizard returned to his cheerful state.
"We shall go in the order that the interviews occurred, I think, for continuity and clarity.
Snape nodded in agreement and proceeded to pull the silvery string of memories from his mind with the tip of his wand. He deposited it into the pensieve and then following Dumbledore's lead he placed his head into the liquid in the stone basin. He fell forward and came to rest in the interview room he spent the last couple of days in.
Professor Binns sat quietly (a rare sight indeed) waiting for the memory Snape to start. As Snape watched the interview unfold, he thought of the irony of this particular interview. If this were truly a meeting to develop staff potential in an effort to increase student learning, Professor Binns would have been the teacher at the top of the list needing the extra assistance. As it was he was actually the last professor needing to be interviewed for this; he was a ghost and lacked the ability to have an affair with a student. Perhaps the only other professor who even came close to this level of irony was Professor Trelawney. She certainly came in a close second!
As Professor Binns rambled on and on, answering a question that actually only required a short response, the present day Snape reflected it was indeed going to be a long day!
****
Hermione slipped into Professor Snape's office with a feeling of accomplishment at finally achieving her goal. The feeling was short lived, though as she looked at the boxes and boxes of files on the floor. She would never have time to look through them all. Hermione shook off her feelings of frustration. She had come prepared, of course. Last night she had developed a simple algorithm to help her find the most likely candidate to be their culprit. The variables she used in her formula were the traits their guilty person would need. She pulled out her scrap of parchment and read:
Sneaky (possibly Slytherin)
Mean spirited (probably Slytherin)
Ambitious (wanting power)
Excellent at Potions (able to brew a reverse-love potion)
As well as Herbology (to find/grow the necessary ingredients for said love potion)
Good at spells and charms (the picture)
Still, there could be many students as well as professors who meet that description. She needed to narrow it down considerably. After a moment, Hermione thought she had a figured out a good place to start. There were only a handful of people who had been acting differently for the last few months. Even if it wasn't one of them, there could be clues to point her in the right direction. After some thought she decided to collect the files on the following people:
Draco Malfoy
Sirius Black
Sibyll Trelawney
Pansy Parkinson
Millicent Bulstode
Neville Longbottom
Hermione Granger
Severus Snape
Of course, she knew that she and Severus were innocent, so to speak, but she thought she might find some commonality in the files.
"Accio, Draco Malfoy's file," she commanded and within a short amount of time, she had a significantly smaller pile of files to go through. Even so, she worried that Snape could get back at any moment. She did not relish having that conversation with him and so she quickly used a duplicating spell to copy the files she wanted to look at.
Besides, she wanted to peruse the files carefully so as not to miss anything. Being careful to leave the room exactly as she found it, Hermione left for the library.
It was a beautiful fall day and most students were outside, procrastinating to do their homework until the last possible moment.
Of course, no one would be surprised to find Hermione in the library studying on a Saturday night.
****
As expected, the day wore on slowly for the Potions master. They watched countless interviews over what seemed like hours. It might not have been so bad, he reflected, if they had done just that. But the headmaster decided they needed to dissect each interview as soon as it was finished. It was a total waste of time!
This did not do much to improve Snape's disposition. Interestingly, the headmaster's mood remained cheerful.
The next memory they watched was the interview with Professor Vector, the Arithmancy professor. Another waste of time!
But as the interview wore on Snape found himself listening more closely than the first go round. Perhaps Dumbledore was correct. He could have missed something the first time. No one would ever suspect this witch of ever being evil. However, that is precisely why he needed to be suspicious. What if wasn't someone they would usually suspect? What if it was someone who just blended into the background?
He could not find anything amiss in her interview, though, that would suggest she was somehow involved in all of this. He vowed to keep a closer eye on the Arithmancy professor. After all, could you really trust someone who just worked with numbers all day long?
A/N: Couldn't resist a jab at my sis … she's an accountant. Sevfank you know I love ya … and thanks for being such a great Beta!
