Across the Quidditch Pitch

Please review! Just to let my readers know there will be another Snape and Lily scene coming up…. And James isn’t going to be too happy! So far it has been miserable all for Snape, but the tides will turn… Is there anybody else out there that would like to make a comment?! Don’t forget there is always the rating button, too.


Chapter Fifteen: Dumbledore’s Detentions


Because even Headmaster Dumbledore wanted to see the match, Snape didn’t have detention that Saturday until nightfall.

Dumbledore was busy working, humming cheerily to himself. Snape felt it was wise not to interrupt but wait for his presence to be acknowledged.

Until another moment passed and Snape cleared his throat.

“Ah, Severus…” said Dumbledore pleasantly, but he still held his controlled, soft timbre. “You have had quite a remarkable day already. Haven’t you boy?”

“Er – Yes, sir. I did.”

Dumbledore was still smiling. Snape remained solemn. He didn’t find anything positive about today: slipping a love potion to a student and fighting another hardly qualified for a polite reception! Yet here was Dumbledore, not even disappointed in him?

Snape wished that Professor Dumbledore would show displeasure for his botched plans. Snape was deeply ashamed of what a bungler he had appeared as in the Great Hall this morning.

“I can understand completely your need to attack Mulciber….In fact your defence for the ones you love reminds me of my father.”

“Wh-what? How so?”

“You see, Severus…My father always stood up for what was right. Kind of like you.”

“I have never done anything good with myself. I-“

Before Snape could ramble on about his mistakes Dumbledore interrupted. “You’re in denial of who you really are, Severus. But you are still quite young. Perhaps one day you will realize there is a better side to you.”

“I do doubt it, sir,” Snape almost sneered. “I haven’t been taught to stand up for the sake of others. My father – Tobias – “ Snape wavered, consumed with bitterness in regards to his muggle father. He continued disdainfully, “Tobias stands up for nothing! Nothing but himself.”

Dumbledore wasn’t oblivious to Snape’s home life. He had visited on a few occasions to speak with Eileen when Snape was just a small child. It always left him feeling sad, but he knew there was nothing to be done.

“I can teach you to think differently Severus. With me you may choose a different path. But ultimately the choice always lies with you.”

“I know I was wrong. It was against the rules to use those tactics, sir. I shouldn’t have tried giving Lily Evans the Amortentia! I was – an idiot.”

“I am aware of that as well,” said Dumbledore heavily. “But being both young and in love can make one act unusual sometimes.”

Snape waited nervously, expecting to be condemned for sure. He could not understand why Dumbledore so far bestowed nothing but commendations.

A throaty low chuckle escaped from Dumbledore, and his pupil’s head shot up sharply. Snape was dumbfounded that the headmaster of Hogwarts was finding this funny.

Unconsciously Snape rubbed the back of his robes. He was expecting to be punished after Dumbledore had his laugh. The dreaded use of the cane should surely be implemented for fighting and making an illicit potion, and worse trying to give it to another student. Fuming at himself, Snape became aware of what he was doing, and stopped rubbing his backside. It was still slightly sore from getting caned a couple of weeks ago.

“You are not in trouble with me for today’s events. And I shall be relaxing the rule about love potions for this situation.” And then Dumbledore bluntly stated, “You suffered enough.”

“I wouldn’t care, sir,” said Snape despondently. It was truly how he felt. Things were so awful by this point that perhaps the justice of getting beaten for his actions could clear them.

But Dumbledore did not believe this was the remedy for this particular incident. Not this time. “No, Severus. I think that becoming an outcast by the few who call you their friend, however false they are is punishment enough. Furthermore to be refused affection from someone you love is also punishment enough."

Snape nodded dully, his face reddening slightly at the thought that Dumbledore knew he loved Lily. But suddenly his head snapped up with the keen spark of curiosity. “But sir – what happened to your father?”

Dumbledore refused to elaborate. “It is a long story. Perhaps I shall tell you it another time.”

Snape still was intrigued but didn’t press the professor any further. And Dumbledore didn’t want to share the tragedy of what happened to Ariana. Dumbledore himself wasn’t ready. He preferred to keep it buried in the past…just like Ariana who rested at peace under the ground, finally safe. Safe in her grave beside their mother, Kendra. He must be at peace with his past.

Dumbledore’s thoughts strayed to his sister and his family, remembering what a selfish young man he once was during his years as a Hogwarts pupil. His father had shown great courage, tracking down the muggle boys that raped Albus’s sister. She had been so young, and delicate. Only six-years-old at the time she was sodomized.

Cold, cold and lifeless. Ariana at the tender age of fourteen dead on the floor. Tears came to Dumbledore’s blue eyes.

Embarrassed, Snape turned his head sideways; wishing the floor would open up and swallow him. Dumbledore was still recalling his sister’s untimely death. The thought of being the perpetrator of the use of the Killing Curse on his poor sister greatly rattled his conscience.

But Dumbledore would not tell the tale today. Quickly Dumbledore decided to change the subject. Dumbledore couldn’t bear to remember it. He never wanted to know if it was himself who had killed her. Deep in his heart he knew he had cast the fatal spell.

“Now I am aware that you and your friends met Lord Voldemort one evening.”

“Yes, sir,” murmured Snape guiltily.

“Had I discovered this before it occurred I would have stopped it, of course. But I did not.”

“How did you find out?”

“Not all your friends are such astute Occlumens like yourself.”

Snape nodded with comprehension and inwardly seethed that it was probably Mulciber that Dumbledore performed Legilimency on. Of course it was just as likely it was Regulus or Avery.

“So Severus….Have you made up with Mr. Muciber?”

“For the row, sir?” Snape said blankly. However Snape had the distinct impression Dumbledore knew there was more to their bickering. That the fight today had been festering for awhile. There were quite a lot of reasons he had a bone or two to pick with his friend.

“And more. I understand the reasons for fighting Mr. Mulciber. You fought him because he said he wanted to rape your Lily.”

Snape shook palpably. Dumbledore had said this so clearly and it startled Snape, because he realized it was absolutely true.

“Yes. I know pretty much everything that went on with you. I am also aware…” Dumbledore stalled for effect, and leaned closer in his chair, towards Snape. “I am aware you met Lord Voldemort the other night. What did you think?”

Snape was stunned that Dumbledore was asking for his opinion when he should be sharply chastising him for leaving the grounds. “I- I thought he was an extraordinary wizard.”

“Yes. In fact – Voldemort – may indeed rival myself. In fact, I am certain of it.”

Snape looked nervous. Immediately he offered his objections. "I don't believe so. He is not so advanced that he could best you in a duel, professor."

Dumbledore smiled skeptically but said nothing. Fawkes meanwhile issued a sudden small cry.

“Now Severus, can you do me a favour, one of great import?”

“I hope so. What is that you want me to do?”

“Give me the memory of the night you met him in the Forbidden forest. Give me the memory and you will be forgiven for the many disruptions you've caused at my school today.”

The boy relented unfalteringly. “Of course, sir.” Yet his hands shook as he went to his sweaty brow. He wasn’t doing it just to avoid being punished. On some level Severus was Dumbledore’s man through and through, even then.

Like the figment of a spider’s web, a pearl blue strand extracted from his temple. The strand coiled around Snape’s wand.

Dumbledore rose hastily and bustled over to another cabinet. He returned quickly with an empty glass tube to collect. Within moments the memory was safely encapsulated.

“This is very valuable to me. And what is even more valuable – what is indispensable is your trust. I would not want to lose it, especially as a time might come when I will need it. Lord Voldemort is growing increasingly autonomous.”

Snape watched Dumbledore return to the cabinet and peered curiously over Dumbledore’s shoulder. Inside was dozens and dozens of the same little glass vials.

All of them had names and dates on them. All of them were apparently about Voldemort. Snape watched Dumbledore label his memory: ‘Voldemort '76.

“Now, Severus….Whilst I go inside your memory, you will sit and write an apology for the trouble you caused. Then those particular grievances against you shall be forgotten.”

So Snape sat and wrote an apology to his headmaster. Meanwhile, Dumbledore hurried to pour the memory into a stone basin. The tall wizard stood over the fixture. It emitted a soft blue effulgence and there was ancient runes carved into it.

Dumbledore bowed low over the pensieve, approaching the mass. Like spiral galaxies, the memories swirled and rotated. Quick as a flash, he disappeared from this moment in time and into the memory of Lord Voldemort. Snape’s first time ever meeting him.

It wasn’t until an hour later that Dumbledore returned to the present.

With great agility for such an old man, Dumbledore swiftly landed on his feet. “Thank-you, Severus. That memory proves a few things for me.”

“I was glad to do it, sir,” said Snape tensely. And he dared ask, for Snape was too inquisitive to refrain. “What things?”

Dumbledore’s face turned dark. Snape felt an inexplicable crinkle shoot up his spine, like a flame. Judging from the look on his professor’s face, Snape was almost frightened by the emotion Dumbledore evinced suddenly. The room fluctuated suddenly getting very hot.

“The memory confirms to me why he recruits so many. I never had the privilege to see a discreet Death Eater meeting since he’s left school.

“He is a highly dangerous Dark wizard. Perhaps he will prove to be the worst Dark wizard in all magical history.”

“But why is he dangerous, sir?” said Snape. “Is it his control of the Dark Arts – or rather the Dark Lord’s mastery?”

“That is part of it. Yes. However there’s more to it than that. Things are looking far worse. What makes Voldemort so dangerous isn’t his magic but his skills at persuasion. The memory has shown me – even if only an inkling of evidence – he is a wizard with strong convictions as well as being very charismatic. And when people – like him possess both these qualities they are always dangerous. Yes, he is a threat. To all our lives, I’m afraid.”


*

Later that evening, the first of Snape’s many detentions with Dumbledore ended.

Snape’s ink-stained hands turned the brass doorknob.

“Oh and Severus?”

“Yes, headmaster?”

“Do not forget to tell Mr. Mulciber detentions start Tuesday evening at eight o’clock for him.”

Snape assented, feeling a sense of great fealty overcome him, “I will.”

Dumbledore looked after the retreating boy. The headmaster thought these detentions would serve as the perfect way to oversee the boys’ activities closely and ensure they would never meet Voldemort again while students of his school.

Dumbledore rose from his desk to go off to bed in his chambers upstairs. And Fawkes was safe, already asleep on his perch, his crimson head resting cozily beneath his wings.

The next detentions that followed had Snape and Dumbledore sharing lengthy discourse about Snape’s actions. In addition, Dumbledore put him at more line-writing again. He hoped this would be the seed, the germination of more lofty goals that would keep Snape away from darkness.


*

Two weeks later Snape was in Saturday detention again. Dumbledore watched Snape twitch and fidget in his seat until Dumbledore couldn’t stand to watch it any longer. Somehow Dumbledore knew what the boy needed, even though he couldn’t see inside the talented boy’s mind, as he was such a natural Occlumens. There was something Snape needed to discover on his own, something he decided to do tonight and Dumbledore guessed correctly. It wasn’t hard to do, for over the preceding detentions Dumbledore understood Snape’s desires.

“Severus, I shall grant you an early dismissal tonight. You are free to go wherever your heart takes you in the castle.”

Snape rose rigidly with a startled expression and looked at his teacher closely. To Severus, Dumbledore suddenly looked old. Really old. And tired. Perhaps Dumbledore needed to be alone and rest?

“Thank-you. Good night, sir.”

Snape left the headmaster’s private study. Dumbledore watched him go with a knowing gleam in his bright blue eyes. He knew the school dance was tonight. It was a cotillion. And that was precisely where Snape was going just as Dumbledore guessed…




NOTE: The memory Snape gives Dumbledore is actually in the Half-blood Prince movie. If you look at the vials Dumbledore has, one of them says “Voldemort ’76”. This is the exact year Snape was in Fifth year and in which he meets Voldemort for the first time, at least as told here. Actually, I got the idea from the movie to include this. Also, Dumbledore did not tell Snape about Ariana, (Dumbledore’s greatest regret). Years later when they are full-fledged equals as “Friends” and “colleagues” Dumbledore would have probably told Snape when Dumbledore put the Peverell ring on because of the stone, and Snape saved him. He would owe him that explanation don’t you think? That is actually an interesting idea for a short fic. Although the account of when Snape saved Dumbledore from the curse has already been tried many times by other writers. Anyway, please review. Or rate. Only one update left!