The Headmaster

Chapter 4 The Headmaster

“What do you mean I am not allowed to see Severus?” Minerva could be heard through the halls of Azkaban.

“Calm down lady, prisoner DE003 is on the no visitor list that means… no visitors.” Derek spoke slowly, so the old lady could understand what he was saying.

“Young man I am not senile and do not treat me as such. The problem, as I see it, is… you. Now get me whoever is in charge of this establishment.” Derek moved too slowly for the Gryffindor. “Immediately!” She would get some answers, even if she had to cause a scene.

Minerva watched as the annoying young man disappeared into an office. Taking too long for her liking, she stormed down the hall and entered the room she saw the young man enter.

“I don’t have a lot of years left in me and I’ll be damned if I’m going to waste any time waiting for the likes of you. Now, where is Severus?” she ordered with her hands on her hips.

Smyth was not a well educated man and was intimidated by those he peered as intellectually superior. That was one reason he took the job as warden of Azkaban, to the men he worked with he was a mental giant.

He had heard of Minerva McGonagall. Her name was often linked with that of Harry Potter. This made no sense to him. Why would someone so close to the savior of the Wizarding World want anything to do with the likes of Snape? He hadn’t expected anyone to miss the Death Eater and wasn’t sure how Mr. Potter would want him to handle the situation. Smiling inwardly, he was excited about the idea that he would have to correspond with the Great Harry Potter and ask him how he would like him to deal with this situation in the future.

“Miss…”

“Ms. McGonagall, if you would.” She tilted her head slightly back so she could look down her nose at the younger man. She smiled as she saw the man cringe.

“Yes, Ms. McGonagall, since DE003 is a new arrival…”

“He has a name, I suggest you use it.” She folded her arms across her chest.

Smyth started to fidget nervously in his chair. “Um… Snape…”

“Mr. Snape,” Minerva corrected.

“As I was saying, Mr. Snape is a new arrival to our facility and being such is not allowed visitors for the first month. I propose you come back then.”

Minerva placed her hands on top of the desk and leaned across the top. “I shall be back next week. I expect, at that time, to see my friend.” Straightening up she reached into the pocket of her robe and pulled a phial containing Severus’ potion for his legs. “I insist that you give this medicine to Severus. He was gravely injured saving the life of Harry Potter and needs it to be able to walk.”

“I will be sure he gets it. Now if there is nothing else, I am a rather busy man and I must get back to work.”

“Yes, I’m sure you are. Until next week Mr. Smyth.”

Smyth waited until she was no longer in sight. “Bitch!” he said with a sneer. Once Jake left his office the first thing the warden did was take the phial into the bathroom and flush the contents down the toilet. Then he went back to his desk and pulled a piece of parchment out to write a letter Harry Potter. He wouldn’t even admit it to himself but he was ecstatic that he had a valid reason to correspond with the Headmaster of Hogwarts.

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Hermione had put a shot of brandy into Minerva’s tea. Something was terribly wrong and she had to talk to someone. She was aware how Severus helped Hermione over the years and knew she would have a sympathetic ear. At the small dining room table the two women sat across from one another.

“I’m in fear for Severus’ life.”

“Aren’t you over exaggerating?”

“Hermione, you have know me for almost a decade, have I ever in all those years, exaggerated?”

“No, I have to admit you have never been overly emotional.”

The door from Hermione’s bedroom open and a yawning, barely clad werewolf emerged.

“Remus, we have company. Don’t you think it would be a good idea the slip into a robe?”

“Minerva?! I’m so sorry.” He slipped back into their bedchamber to become decent.

With wide eyes Minerva turned her attention back to Hermione. “Are congratulations in order?”

“Yes.” She lifted her petite hand and showed the small but lovely engagement ring.

“You have made a dreadful day much better. Congratulations my dear, he’s a fine young man.”

Before Hermione could reply Remus reappeared, dressed now in sweats and a t-shirt.

“Minerva, what has brought you to our humble abode?” He greeted her with a smile.

“She is worried about Severus.” Remus poured a cup of tea before sitting.

“What can we do to help?” Remus asked as he sipped on his tea.

“I’m not really sure what we can do but we need to try to eradicate him from that hellhole.” She had no idea how true that statement was. “Have either one of you ever thought of ‘prisoner rights’?”

“Not really,” replied Hermione.

“With the departure of the Dementors, we assumed that Azkaban would be run humanly.”

“I believe you are wrong. I have no proof. I saw no abuse but something was amiss. I can feel it in my bones. It was like when I knew when my Gryffindors were up to no good.”

“And you did a very good job of it Minerva.” Remus saluted her with his tea cup as he reminisced of all the times she caught the marauders up to no good. He always regretted that her premonitions didn’t work the night he attacked Severus, while being a werewolf.

“It wouldn’t be a bad idea to check into the prison,” Hermione agreed.

“Minerva, I promise that Hermione and I will talk to Severus before we leave Azkaban.”

“Thank you.” She gave a sigh of release and visually relaxed into the chair. “No man should have gone through what Severus has. The abuse and the neglect he has grown up with was criminal.”

“Would you care to elaborate?” Remus asked his curiosity peeked.

“It’s not my place, sorry, and I would ask you not to mention the little I have said. As you know he is a very private man and would be rather upset with me if he knew I said that much.”

“Our lips are sealed,” Hermione assured her.

“I think we might do one better. We all accepted the ruling of the courts without challenging the outcome.” You almost could see Remus’ mind working.

“We never thought Severus would spend a day in jail either,” Hermione answered.

“That is beside the point. We need to be proactive. Get people involved.”

“And what is that brilliant mind of yours thinking?” Minerva watched as Hermione looked at her fiancé with admiration.

“We need to be proactive, get the newspapers involved, hire lawyers. We start a petition for his release.”

“I’ll get a hold of Luna and Draco today.” Hermione was off her duff and heading towards the floo before she had finished her sentence.

“I will start the petition at school. Everyone there, except Harry, will be more than willing to sign it.” She paused for a moment before she brought up the subject of Harry. “Even if he’s not my main concern at the moment, I am worried about Harry. This man is not the same person we all knew.”

“I agree. You weren’t there at lunch when even the mention of Severus sent him into a rage. I understand he has every reason in the world dislike Severus but to loathe him so vehemently is beyond my comprehension.”

“A few sessions with a wizard therapist would do him wonders but I doubt that any of us would be able to talk him into seeing one.”

“Perhaps… one could visit him instead…” Remus thoughts drifted.

“Remus John Lupin you are not thinking of doing something illegal are you?” Minerva asked.

Remus laughed heartily. “No nothing illegal, just a little underhanded. I need to speak to a friend of mine before I tell you what I’m planning.”

“At times I think you should have been a Slytherin.”

“So true.” Hermione rejoined them smiling ear to ear. “I talked to both Luna and Draco. Before I remembered Luna’s pregnant again.” Hermione snickered. “Got pregnant within the first month after having Ludra.” She shook her head in bewilderment. “Well, anyway, Draco slapped himself silly for not thinking about hiring a lawyer in the first place. He was going to get in touch with his lawyers today and find out who they suggest he should hire. He insisted on paying all the legal fees.” She smiled at her friends. “Who was I to argue with him?” Minerva and Remus snickered.

Draco was sharp and took his father’s fortune and doubled the value in a few short years becoming the wealthiest wizard alive. Luna insisted that the two live in a modest house to bring their children up in. Even though he could have easily bought the Prophet for her, she wanted something of her own, something that belonged to Luna Lovegood and not Luna Malfoy.

“Luna’s first editorial will be about how Severus has been ill-used by the ministry, how he should have been hailed as a hero and not imprisoned for a crime of being a stupid seventeen year old. She said she was going to place it on the front page for everyone to read.”

“I want to thank you on the behalf of Severus, dear friends.” Minerva wiped a tear from her cheek.

Solemnly, Remus spoke, “This won’t happen over night. It may take months before we can secure his release.”

“Let us hope that we won’t be too late.” Minerva dabbed her eyes with a tissue.

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The worst thing besides a broken leg and living like an animal was Severus was so fucking lonely. He could live with the fact his legs were fused together from the hex at the end of the war and had to use only his arms to crawl about his small cave. He had lived with stink and filth before. He had been starved until he passed out from hunger but the silence was maddening. He tried to keep track of the days by marking the walls with a small stone but after a few days, he lost track of time. His one and only function in life was not to go insane.

He would spend hours with his eyes closed, his fingers moved over an imaginary piano while he hummed the tune he played in his mind. Over and over again until he was sure every note was played perfectly with all of the nuances and feeling of a professional pianist.

The other half of the day he made potions. Going over the most complicated time consuming brew he could think of. Both helped but when the time to sleep came his mind would relax and all of the frustrations and misery of the day would come crashing down.

If only he could hear a voice, to talk to someone, he didn’t care, even Potter would be a Godsend. More often than not he found he would cry himself to sleep. His last thought was with a little luck he wouldn’t have to wake in the morning.

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Harry was so fucking lonely. Through the day he kept busy by implementing the changes that Severus had written out. The ex-Potions Master even had names of professors to hire if any of the current ones decided to leave or get fired as Harry had plan on doing but when the day was over he had no one to talk to. They all deserted him in favor of the Death Eater. None of them would ever understand his hate for the man and until they could he would not associate with them. There must be someone in the world that could ease the loneliness that gnawed at him, every hour of every day. As he lay his head upon his pillow at night he would feel the tears threaten to rise. Swallowing hard he pushed back the tears. He’d show them all. He didn’t need any of them. He would survive nicely without any of their friendships. He was Harry Bloody Potter, the savior of the Wizarding World.

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