The Headmaster

Chapter 3 The Headmaster


To say Azkaban was better without the Dementors was an overstatement. The warden and guards were hired by the ministry. The wages were measly at best, and attracted indigents and people who should have probably been in prison and not running one. They were a sadistic group who took out their miserable lives on the inmates. There were many bodies buried behind the prison that no one would ever know or cared about.

As the small boat that carried Severus to Azkaban got closer, the ex-Professor tossed the little food he had in his stomach overboard. All the memories of his previous stay welled to the surface. He could see the guards waiting for him on the dock.

This first day of the prisoner’s sentence was the most entertaining. The guards would make bets among themselves. The winner would have the privilege of ‘training’ the new prisoner. The crime didn’t matter they were all treated equally. The de-humanization, the treating of the prisoner as if they were nothing but animals, had become a sport for the guards. The warden knew of the ‘games’ they played but turned a blind eye to the treatment. As long as they did their job they could have their fun at the prisoner’s expense. They wouldn’t be prisoners if they were innocent.

Severus stepped from the boat, his legs slightly weak from the long boat ride. All the fight he had over the years was gone. Severus felt empty and used. They could do their worse, nothing mattered any more. Jake, the bigger of the two guards, pulled Severus to the middle of the dock and waved the rower on his way.

“Snape, Severus… Death Eater.” That alone sealed Severus’ fate. They could tolerate about anything but child molesters and Death Eaters. “Hey Jake they gave him one lousy year for being a Death Eater.”

“Must have paid someone off. Is that what you did Snape, pay someone off?” Jake emphasized each word by a poke in Severus’ gut with a baton. “Going to pay us off so we’ll be nice to you?” With each jab Severus was pushed farther down the dock. Severus stoically took the abuse.

“Got ourselves a quiet one.” Derek was the second guard. He reminded Severus of Pettigrew, a small mousy man who went along with whoever was in charge. “Let’s have some fun with him, can we Jake?”

“It’s about time for us to acquaint him to how things are going to be around here.” Jake sat on a wooden box while Derek leaned against a light post. It was Jake that gave Snape his first order. “Strip for us. Slowly, like you’re giving us a show. The better you make it the nicer we will be to you.”

Snape was slow to respond which earned him a stinging hex from Derek. “Hurry up we don’t have all day,” Derek snarled.

Slowly, trembling fingers moved to the buttons of his robes and hesitantly started to slowly unbutton it. The two men hooted and hollered as each piece of clothing fell into a pile on the ground. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath Severus lowered his boxers and kicked them aside. He tried to keep a little bit of modesty by covering his manhood with his hands.

“None of that now, hands to your sides.” Severus saw the way the two men looked at him and he feared for more than his life. “Follow us and don’t try to cover yourself up again or this baton,” he slapped the weapon into his hand, “might find itself up your arse. Do we have an understanding Snape.”

“Yes, sir,” Severus answered.

Severus followed the guards through the grounds of Azkaban. Surprisingly very few comments were made of his undress. He surmised that most of them must have gone through the same humiliation.

The two men led Severus to a small room and ordered him to sit on a stool that was in the middle of the room. The stool was made for a child and Severus’ long legs were bent until they were nearly the same height of his shoulders. Anything he had hoped to conceal was on show for anyone who may enter the room to see.

He didn’t dare turn his head when he heard a buzzing sound come from behind him. His body went rigged as a beefy hand slipped into his hair lifting it slightly from his scalp. He felt the metal hit the flesh on the back of his neck. The contraption felt odd as it was pushed up and over his head. Handful after handful of his black hair landed around his feet.

As the two shaved his head bald, Severus pondered the fact that he was not a good looking man as it was, some called him downright ugly. He wondered what they would say about him now, him with a shaven head. So deep in thought he never felt the collar that was placed about his neck. A little too tight it pressed into his Adam’s apple, making swallowing difficult.

Severus’ long, bony fingers felt the cold, hard metal that was now a part of him. He gasped when a leash was attached to a small hoop in the front of the collar.

“Be a good boy and come along now.” Jake pulled harder than need be, sending Severus onto floor. His hands and knees became bloodied from the rough stone floor. “Jake, I like him like that. Make him crawl after you.”

“He does look natural like that doesn’t he?” Jake twisted the collar around Severus’ neck until the hoop was in the back of his neck. “Come along cur, it’s time to show you to your new home.”

Severus tried to stand only to be pushed down onto his face. “Crawl.”

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Warden Smyth reread the letter that sat in front of him. It was from Harry Potter, the defeater of he-who-must-not-be-named. The most admired wizard alive wrote him a letter. Harry Potter, a gift from the Gods. Some called him the reincarnation of Merlin. His hero wrote him, a nobody, a letter.

He was disturbed by the letters content. A detailed account of all the crimes Snape had committed but somehow slithered his way out of. The fact that Snape was to serve a mere year for his crimes was outrageous. After reading the letter, he decided that death would be too merciful for the Death Eater. When he heard a knock on the door, he folded the letter with loving care and slipped into the top drawer of his desk.

“Come,” the warden ordered, as he folded his hands on top of his desk.

Jake sheepishly entered. He wondered which of his many deeds got him into trouble this time. “All I have to say, sir, its Derek’s fault. He goaded me into it. I didn’t hurt the bloke that much, nothing that won’t heal in a few days.”

“What are you blathering about?” the warden asked, barely following the conversation.

“Aw… nothing sir. Did you want me to do something for you?” ‘Damn, have to learn to keep my mouth shut,’ Jake mused.

“Yes, I want prisoner DE003 put in the fifth level,” Smyth ordered.

“Sir, are you sure about that?” Even Jake pitied the souls that were tossed into the fifth level, a deep dark hole in the ground, several hundred meters straight down. No lights, no fresh air, no fresh water, no human companionship, nothing but filth and loneliness. “May I ask how long do you plan to leave him there for?”

“Until he rots,” was Smyth’s reply.

‘Better off dead than in the hole,’ Jake thought. ‘Wonder what the blighter did to piss off the warden so bad. All I can say is, glad it ain’t me.’ When he got back to his desk he looked up just who was DE003 was. ‘Severus Snape, well if anyone deserves the hole you certainly do.’

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Harry had too much bottled up energy to go to sleep. His afternoon with his friends was a disaster. All of his dreams of having his ‘family’ with him at Hogwarts were shattered. He was to be there hero, their savior of the humdrum life that they were living. Instead it was he that was left behind in a job he, if he was honest with himself, really didn’t want. Now he would have to rise to occasion and do what he was hired to do.

He meandered from one end of Hogwarts to the other, from the Astronomy Tower to the bowels of Hogwarts. As he walked the halls of the dungeons, he was surprised to find Snape’s door slightly ajar. With his hand on the door, he hesitated, feeling as if he was invading someone’s property. Hell, he was the Headmaster… he could do whatever he wanted to do and there was no one that could stop him. He liked the power, he always had.

With a surge of adrenalin, he pushed the door open and entered the darkened room. “Lumos,” Harry ordered. The room was as he expected it would be: a large fireplace, walls of books, two old chairs, one worn from use, the other almost like new, and an enormous oak desk. He slowly circled the room, his finger gently skimming the binding of the books, looking for something to read.

“Potions books. Did you ever read anything else but potions books?” Harry grumbled.

He turned his attention, in Harry’s opinion, to the most awful looking desk he had ever seen. The legs were carvings of grotesque creatures, ones he didn’t recognize. The top of the desk was marred with years of use. Sitting behind Severus’ desk he placed both palms flat on the top of the desk, his back rigid and his head held high, much like Snape would have. He gave a half smile and snickered and wondered for only a moment what his ex-Professor was doing. He pulled at the drawers and found them locked. With his curiosity spiked, he went about to open them. None of the spells he knew worked. Taking the envelope opener he started to pry the drawers open.

“Ah ha.” Harry was proud of himself when he heard the click of the drawer. The elegant script of Snape was on dozens, if not hundreds, of pieces of parchments. While reading one of them Harry sour look brightened until his face was beaming.

“Yes.” Harry giggled at his discovery. “You finally did something right Snape.” He pulled out handful of papers and moved to the floor where he started to sort his discovery. Thousands upon thousands ideas about improving Hogwarts, from rearranging curriculums, to starting an elementary school, even on what the elves should and shouldn’t be feeding the students. It seemed that the sugar in the pumpkin juice effected too many of the students. They became hyperactive and destructive in Potions class.

Laughing wildly, Harry’s problem of being the headmaster was solved. All he had to do was follow Snape’s blueprint. It was all here, written out in detail. All he had to do was implement the changes and no one, not even Snape, would know. Emptying all the drawers, Harry shrunk all of the parchments and slipped them into his robe’s pocket.

Yawning, he suddenly found that he had become very weary. Looking at his watch he found he could get a few hours sleep before morning when he would wake up and start acting as the headmaster. Patting his pocket, he smiled. Sometimes life was good.

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Severus lay unconscious at the bottom of level five. With only a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt on, the guards led him to the pit. Not getting a word out, he was pushed into the depth of the earth. When he awoke, if he awoke, Severus would start his year in… hell.

I want to thank everyone who reviewed. For those who are wondering, Harry will remain an ass for sometime. If you have a moment let me know what you think.