Chapter 29

In 'God' we Trust

Severus Snape wore his usual pouty scowl, frustration plainly evident on his face. It was his usual demeanor after most of the potions classes he taught. He had told the insufferable know-it-all not to help that fat idiot with his potion, but of course, the Gryffindors never listened to a damn word he uttered. He should have deducted a hundred points from their house! His black robes billowed angrily in his wake as he stomped through the Hogwarts' dungeons, wary students giving the muttering potions master a wide berth.

Snape stopped outside the door to his private office with a grimace – the doorknob always changed color when someone was present inside and there was only one wizard clever enough to bypass his protection charms. Snape opened the door to find Albus Dumbledore in his living quarters, standing over a steaming cauldron and giving the orange liquid simmering within an appraising stare.

"May I help you?"

"Just taking a quick peek at the new potion, I've read all about it but had yet to see it in person. Doesn't give off a particularly nice scent, does it?"

Snape swirled about the cramped room, grabbing different ingredients from various shelves and fussing over the cauldron. He painstakingly dropped in different bits of animal, insect and plant at carefully timed intervals, gently stirring in the contents. His eyes continuously darted towards a clock on the wall, timing his every move with precision.

"Come to make sure I don't tamper with the wolf's tonic? Why don't you just ask someone else to do it then?"

"Whether you believe it or not, you're the wizard I trust the most when it comes to potions – and I would never believe you would knowingly make a mistake with the brewing. And I must admit, I'm impressed you already know the recipe by heart."

Snape continued to stir the potion with a gentle touch most would not believe he was capable of – the orange color slowly turning into a strikingly vibrant ginger.

"I'm running low on gillyweed and pixie dust."

"I'll alert the staff my boy."

"What is it that you want Dumbledore? I'm rather busy right now…as you can see my precious free time is now dedicated to serving a half-man beast that's been allowed to prowl our halls."

"What do you think of my new hire?"

"I've already told you my thoughts on this ridiculous situation."

Dumbledore let out a long sigh – goodness me, sometimes managing the faculty was more trying than watching over the students. "Severus please, I would like to collect feedback from the faculty before I give my performance report to the board of…"

"I still think it's a colossal mistake allowing him back onto school grounds. And the tenuous situation is now exacerbated with his treacherous best friend running around looking for blood!"

"I'm well aware of your personal feelings towards Professor Lupin, I'm not naïve enough to think that you two will become best friends this school year. But I am interested in your professional assessment of him."

Snape continued to stir the bubbling ginger potion in sullen silence.

"I do value your opinion Severus…"

Snape kept his eyes on the potion, his waxy complexion reflected back at him with an orangish tint.

"I think Remus is…I think he has the students' best interest at heart. I think he is capable of teaching rudimentary and basic concepts, but lacking in experience and talent to teach the DADA curriculum at advanced levels. But most importantly I think that he's a danger to the students and it sickens me that you would ever jeopardize the children just to make a point!"

"And what point is that?"

"That everyone has goodness in them, everyone just needs an opportunity to shine. He's a danger and when the time comes he will help Black! You're always seeing the light in people, never the dark. No matter the overwhelming evidence – you believe everyone is worthy of a second chance!"

Dumbledore gave the potion one final look and headed for the office door. Before he walked across the threshold, he hesitated.

"Your words echo the concerns many voiced about you when Lord Voldemort fell and I think I made the right decision back then, as well as now. Thank you again for brewing the potion."

An hour later Snape found himself outside Lupin's office, carrying a hot smoking goblet…

…The door opened, and in came Snape. He was carrying a goblet, which was smoking faintly, and stopped at the sight of Harry, his black eyes narrowing.

"Ah, Severus," said Lupin, smiling. "Thanks very much. Could you leave it here on the desk for me?"

Snape set down the smoking goblet, his eyes wandering between Harry and Lupin.

"I was just showing Harry my grindylow," said Lupin pleasantly, pointing at the tank.

"Fascinating," said Snape, without looking at it. "You should drink that directly, Lupin."

"Yes, yes, I will," said Lupin.

"I made an entire cauldronful," Snape continued. "If you need more."

"I should probably take some again tomorrow. Thanks very much, Severus."

"Not at all," said Snape, but there was a look in his eye Harry didn't like. He backed out of the room, unsmiling and watchful…

…Snape gently closed the door, nausea washing over him. The boy looked just like him! It was if Lupin had his running mate back, James once again roamed these hallowed halls. Hurtful memories enveloped Snape as he walked down the hall, as raw and potent as ever. As Snape turned the corner an unlucky second year Hufflepuff ran into him, eyes glued to a new text book. The poor child received the tongue lashing of a lifetime and a week's worth of detention for his clumsiness.

A large black dog poked its head out of the dark brush. It had mangy fur, dark black eyes and a skeletal frame – it appeared as if the dog had suffered a lifetime of mistreatment and malnourishment. It raised its large snout and sniffed in the cold night air – satisfied, the dog leapt out from the shadows into an empty cobblestone street and headed towards a darkened shop. The dog pawed at the latch of large window, nudged it open and wiggled its large body inside.

The shop room was dark, but moonlight was shining through the window and illuminating all the counters. Dazzling colors sparkled all over, shining displays of all types of candy and spice gleamed before the panting dog. It looked about in wonder for a few seconds and then headed behind the main shop counter. It stopped before a door and tried the door knob, but its giant paw could not make the knob turn. It seemed as though the dog was finally stumped, but then, impossibly, it shook violently and blended into the shadows. The next instant a grubby looking man was standing before the door.

He was a dark mass of grime and dirt – filthy, matted hair hung down to his elbows, a few grey strands intertwined with jet black locks. If bright, intelligent eyes hadn't been shining out of dark sockets, the man could have been mistaken for a corpse. Waxy skin was stretched so tightly over his face that it appeared as a gleaming skull in the dappled moonlight. His yellow teeth were bared in a twisted grin, triumph etched on his face.

It was Sirius Black. Back from the dead. Reborn.

He turned the doorknob and headed down to the cellar of Honeydukes. The shop room was now empty, small dirt streaks on the floor the only evidence an intruder had been there. A few seconds later Sirius walked back into the shop room. He took a quick look around, grabbed a few handfuls of chocolate covered frogs and headed back down to the cellar. Seeking vengeance is hungry work.

The Fat Lady was quivering in her portrait, the sickly zombie had appeared out of thin air and had been hurling threat after threat in her direction.

"I did not brave the frozen walls of Azkaban, survive the deadly North Sea and traverse miles of open country to be denied by a slovenly pig! There is a murder in there and I need to find him! Open UP!"

"I – I – I cannot permit you to enter sir. I can only admit Hogwarts' students and staff, and then on – on – only if they have the correct pa – pa – password…"

"Open up now or I swear on everything that is holy I will slice you to bits, only cloth scraps will remain of you!"

The Fat Lady began to cry, her eyes darting to the sides of her portrait as she prepared to flee. The angry zombie began to shake with rage and in the blink of eye disappeared – in his place stood a hulking black dog. The animal bared its razor sharp teeth and began swiping its large paws at the portrait. The Gryffindor hallway was filled with the shrieks of the Fat Lady, the cackling laughter of Peeves and the angry growls of a terrible beast.

Snape marched quickly along the darkened hallway, a loud chiming echoing within the castle walls alerting him that it was three in the morning. He had just finished searching the third floor, not a whisper of the traitorous scum was found. Snape's heart beat faster and faster as he approached the Great Hall. Could the rumors be true? Had Black breached the castle walls and attacked that stupid portrait? He gently opened a large door, careful not to wake the hundreds of sleeping students…

…"Headmaster?" It was Snape. "The whole of the third floor has been searched. He's not there. And Filch has done the dungeons; nothing there either."

"What about the Astronomy tower? Professor Trelawney's room? The Owlery?"

"All searched . . ."

"Very well, Severus. I didn't really expect Black to linger."

"Have you any theory as to how he got in, Professor?" asked Snape.

"Many, Severus, each of them as unlikely as the next."

"You remember the conversation we had, Headmaster, just before — ah — the start of term?" said Snape, who was barely opening his lips.

"I do, Severus," said Dumbledore, and there was something like warning in his voice.

"It seems — almost impossible — that Black could have entered the school without inside help. I did express my concerns when you appointed —"

"I do not believe a single person inside this castle would have helped Black enter it," said Dumbledore, and his tone made it so clear that the subject was closed that Snape didn't reply. "I must go down to the dementors," said Dumbledore. "I said I would inform them when our search was complete."

Dumbledore left the hall, walking quickly and quietly. Snape stood for a moment, watching the headmaster with an expression of deep resentment on his face; then he too left…

…Snape caught up to Dumbledore just as the Headmaster was descending the front steps.

"Headmaster…Dumbledore sir, wait, please."

A swirling mass of hooded figures waited impatiently several yards ahead as Snape rounded on Dumbledore.

"Please sir, I must ask you to reconsider the evidence."

"Not now Severus!" Dumbledore's tone took on a hardened stance. The night mist was cold, misery wafting from the ground. The dementors' presence seeping into everything and infecting the very air.

"If it's true and he was here tonight, then he must've had help from within, the castle is impregnable!"

Dumbledore looked past Snape, to the agitated dementors restlessly waiting for him to deliver the results of the search. Then he slowly turned his attention back to his young potions master.

"No person within these walls is helping Sirius Black breach our defenses and commit murder, trust me. Lupin loathes his actions just as much as you and I do. But I cannot control everything, there are paths contained on these grounds that even I am unaware of. And you forget, the castle can reason and act for itself. I've been thinking…perhaps the castle does not perceive Black as a threat."

"Are you serious? You think it's more plausible that Hogwarts' is actively helping Black, rather than his erstwhile best friend?"

"Listen…"

"No you listen! I'm going to get proof, incontrovertible evidence of Black and Lupin's treachery – and then watch as you beg for my forgiveness! You old fool!"

Snape marched back up the stairs, roughly pushing past a group of teachers who had collected at the front entrance.

Dumbledore paused for a moment, turning over the insult in his mind. Another, from long ago, used to call him that. After what seemed like minutes, Dumbledore finally headed towards the waiting dementors...

...A pair of large yellow eyes had been observing Snape's tantrum from a dark corner of the front courtyard. As Dumbledore disappeared into a swirling black mist, the yellow eyes slinked back into the shadows, one thought racing through its mind. Moony is here?!

Sirius remained noiselessly in the shadows until Dumbledore returned to the castle and the dementors were long gone, drifting back to guard the school entrances. The dark creatures were getting restless indeed, they rarely found themselves near so many potential victims. Their proximity to all these emotions was getting to be too much to bear. And now a sighting of their escaped prisoner!

Just as Sirius felt it was safe to quietly head down to the Forbidden Forest, an orange flame shot by him.

"Hello there friend…come for another night time chat?"

"I heard you attached the Fat Lady – I thought you said your intentions were noble?"

Anyone walking by that dark corner of the front courtyard would have stumbled across quite a peculiar scene. A large black dog growling and whining towards a small ginger cat, who seemed to be responding to it with gentle purring. The cat was bowlegged and its ginger fur was thick and fluffy. Its face looked grumpy and oddly squashed, as if it had run head first into a stone wall.

"You know there's something wrong with that rat, you can sense it."

"Tis no animal, a disturbing malevolence surrounds it."

"It's a man, a filthy murderer and traitor. If you truly care for your new girl, your owner, you'll help me catch him and pay for his sins."

"He's not concerned with her."

"He's intent on killing her friend, her best friend. And he will not hesitate if she gets in the way…he has killed before…you know this to be true."

"What do you want from me?"

"The tower is protected by passwords, they'll be changed daily from now on after my actions tonight. You must get me the passwords, all of them if possible – you must help me get into that tower. Innocent lives are at risk every day that I'm kept out of there."

Crookshanks eyed the filthy dog – it too gave him a sense of unease. Just like the rat, she could sense this animal was not what it seemed – it was…human. But the dog spoke the ugly truth, its words rang true.

"I'll get you into that tower – eradicate the vermin from the school once and for all."

"Thank you my friend. You'll see, I've no intention to hurt any of the children."

"I just want my owner safe…now tell me something. What exactly are you? Man or beast? And how did you get all the way to Hogwarts?"

"It's a long story…"