Chapter 3

Year Five

"The Greatest Sympathy"

"You sent for me, Headmistress?" asked Severus Snape as he breezed into the office of Hogwarts' new headmistress.

As he surveyed the room he knew that this could only be trouble. In a chair sat Potter, who'd just gotten a smack across the face from the wretched pink-loving woman. Across the room members of her Inquisitorial Squad were holding Granger, the two youngest Weasleys, the loony Lovegood girl, and Longbottom hostage.

"Snape, yes! The time has come for answers, whether he wants to give them to me or not. Have you brought the Veritaserum?"

"I'm afraid you've used up all the stores interrogating students - the last of which on Miss Chang." He lied, of course. But he couldn't allow the toad-woman to get any amount of truth from Potter's mouth.

He took a moment to glance at something that caught his attention from the moment he walked into the room. While Draco was holding onto Longbottom, he was also standing entirely too close to Miss Granger. He was standing between her and Mister Longbottom. To everyone else it probably just looked as if Draco was trying to separate the two Gryffindors. Everyone noticed the look that Potter gave Granger and that caused a scowl to form on the blonde boy's face. Severus understood his frustration. He knew what it was like to have a Potter near the girl he was taken with.

"Unless you wish to poison him - and I assure you, I would have the greatest sympathy if you did - I cannot help you."

Snape turned away, eager to listen in from the hallways whilst escaping the scrutiny of the Headmistress, but was stopped by Potter's voice.

"He's got Padfoot! He's got Padfoot at the place where it's hidden."

This was what he had expected - the Dark Lord had planted the vision into Potter's mind. He only hoped that someone could convince Potter not to go.

"Padfoot? What is Padfoot? Well, what is it and what is he talking about, Snape?" Umbridge asked in a confused voice.

He looked to Potter, then the Headmistress. "No idea." He glanced once more at a scowling Draco and left the room.

He waiting outside of the door until he heard the words "Dumbledore's secret weapon" fall from Granger's mouth. She was a smart girl, so it was at this time that he chose to leave.

He returned to his office and before long Crabbe came in with a bloody nose, saying that Potter's gang had gotten away.

He waited a short while, hoping that someone had convinced Potter to stay put, but there was no news of their group's return to the castle.

But of course he should've expected this. It was Potter and he was an idiot. And they were a bunch of bloody Gryffindors and a Ravenclaw who seemed too irrational to have been placed in her house.

He locked up his office and made his way to floo to the Order's headquarters.

"What do you mean my father's been arrested?" cried a furious boy.

"Exactly that, Mister Malfoy. Your father was caught at the Ministry and arrested on the spot."

"What was he doing at the Ministry?"

"Don't be naïve, Draco. You know exactly what he was doing - the Dark Lord's work! There was a plan to get a prophecy that could only be retrieved by Harry Potter and-"

"Potter!" he spat, dragging a hand through his hair. "I should've known that blasted Scarhead had something to do with this! He's always ruining everything!"

"Potter is a large nuisance, I concur, but back to the point, Mister Malfoy - the Minister saw the Dark Lord and everyone knows that he's returned, so things are looking grim for your father."

Draco's nostrils flared. "Does my mother know?"

Snape nodded, "I spoke to her through the floo just before you arrived. She wanted to tell you when you returned home, but this will be in today's issue of the Prophet. I reminded her that she cannot shield you from the world, no matter how much she would like to."

"Thank you, Professor. Now I can give Potter a proper thrashing before we leave Hogwarts this term." Draco's fists clenched as he stormed toward the office door.

Draco opened the door to find a surprised girl mid-knock. Granger sucked in a surprised breath.

Mister Malfoy's expression changed from angry to surprised at the sight of Miss Granger. His fists unclenched and they stared at each other for a moment. Granger had been at the Ministry. Granger had fought against Death Eaters along with her friends and his classmates. Alongside Potter. She was always alongside Potter. His expression hardened again and he shouldered her roughly as he walked through the doorway.

She struggled with her balance after the angry shove, but managed to stand herself upright. She cleared her throat, "May I come in, Professor?"

"If you must," drawled the dark-haired man, pulling a stack of papers written by first years.

She closed the door behind her and made her way to the front of his desk. She appeared to be in pain.

"I just wanted to thank you - for alerting the Order about our being at the Ministry."

He briefly looked up from a paper he was grading. "I am a member of the Order, Miss Granger. It would have been wrong of me not to warn someone that a handful of teenagers were going to face the Dark Lord alone."

"I know. It's just still very new - Harry still doesn't believe you can be trusted."

Severus looked up from his work, giving her his complete attention. "And what do you believe, Miss Granger?"

She paused to think then took a deep breath. "I-I'm not sure what I should believe."

He clasped his hands together and lifted an eyebrow. "I did not ask what you should believe, I want to know what you do believe."

She inhaled once more. "There are so many things that I don't know about you - you can guess how much I hate not knowing things. But Dumbledore trusts you and he has a way of knowing things about people. Whatever he knows about you has convinced him, so I believe it would convince me as well."

"You're placing blind faith in Dumbledore? While he is a great man, I can assure you that he has been wrong before."

"I know. Trying to distance himself from Harry this year was wrong. It nearly drove Harry mad."

Before Snape could comment, she began speaking again. "But it's not just faith in Dumbledore. While I am a very logical being, there are some things that can only be left to intuition. Mine is telling me to believe in you. I trust you, Professor. Stupid move or not, I do." She turned and made her way toward the door, pausing in front of it "Thank you again. I was hit by a curse from a Death Eater and I'm not sure that I could have lasted much longer." She opened the door and shut it gently behind her.

He let out a deep breath and silently cursed his life.

The Dark Lord would be angry that Severus alerted the Order.

Draco's father was in Azkaban. Sooner or later Draco would find out that Snape turned the Order loose on the Death Eaters - on Lucius. Draco and Narcissa would have to deal with the burden of Lucius's failure and the exposure of having a Death Eater for a father and husband. As grim as things were looking for Lucius, they were looking just as badly for his family.

And then there was the matter of Draco being interested in Miss Granger. He couldn't deny it any longer, Draco's attentions were not just a phase. He liked the girl. Whether he wanted to or not. He liked a muggle-born witch when his father was a Death Eater and the Dark Lord had taken up residence in his home… He would teach Draco occlumency over the holidays.

And Miss Granger trusted him. Even if her faith didn't fully align with her logic.

And he missed Lily.

And he hoped that Draco wouldn't have to miss Granger.

But when did Severus Snape ever get what he hoped for?