A Push in the Right Direction – Chapter Three – emersli1!

Reading Time:
10 Minutes

Severus couldn’t quite believe he’d done it.

Working sixteen hour days, he and Master Gaiar had managed to cover the Level 2 content in just under two years.  Severus had even completed the original work required for distinction by tweaking a potion used for years in the treatment of forgetfulness.  His creation provided a non-addictive alternative to the Dreamless Sleep potion, with fewer side effects and greater efficacy.

Now it was time.  He and Master Gaiar had traveled to Rome for the testing from Ansalonga, Andorra, where Master Gaiar had made his home for the past three decades.  Severus had come to love the little town, careful to only use his alternative name when dealing with people in the community.  If all went well with his Boards tomorrow, Severus would owe three years and seven months service to a monster… but after that, his life might be his own again.

“It will be well, boyo.”  Master Gaiar knew what was riding on tomorrow.  “Ye’ve learned all the mental discipline and potions knowledge I could teach you on a Level 2.  And tomorrow that will show in your Boards defense.”

Severus nodded.  “I am worried about tomorrow, but not about the exams or my potion defense.”

“Ah lad, I know what yer worried about.  And I know that it will be a long time before you can come home.  But know, wherever ye are and whatever befalls ye … home will be waiting for you.  You were entrapped, and Lady Magic knows this.  Whatever sins you must commit in service to him, our Lady will account them against the souls of those who set the snares.”  The old man looked at his serious young student, who had been such a delight to mentor.

“I hope you’re right Master Gaiar.”  Severus held no such hope, but perhaps … if he survived the next four years, he could spend the rest of his life doing penance for whatever ills the monster would require of him.

“Have you not learned yet, boyo?  I’m always right.  Now, get some rest.  Morning will be upon us early enough.”  The old man put out the light between their beds.

It was a long time before the younger man fell into a restless sleep.

In the dark, the older man petitioned his Lady. 

He did not sleep that night.

The next day went as they had been sure it would.

Severus came out of the grueling exams and went straight into an exhausting defense of his work.  His master was well-known, and had not taken an apprentice in decades, so many of the questions were pointed.  He understood now why Master Gaiar had been so intent on documentation that proved his creation was his own.

At the end it was bittersweet, hearing his committee declare him a Level 2 Potions Master, with distinction.  His sponsor had been notified at the same time, and no sooner had the documents been filed than Severus felt a tug on his mark.

Master Gaiar smiled proudly, and crossed his arm over his chest in the ancient salute of his people.

The memory of that smile and salute would carry Severus through the horrors of the next two years.

It could have been worse, Severus mused as he waited in the Hogs Head to interview for a job he didn’t want.

When he landed at the feet of the monster he was bound to for the next four years, Severus hadn’t known what to expect.  Only that it would be a nightmare.

When the Dark Lord’s spear of Legilimency dissolved in the face of Severus’s Occlumency shields, the man laughed.  The next assault blew past the outer shields, but failed to perceive the inner shields Master Gaiar had helped him build.  Thinking he had gotten through, the Dark Lord was pleased.

But apparently his primary shield had been good enough to convince the Dark Bastard to use him as a spy.

So here he sat, midway through the process of applying to be the Potions Professor at Hogwarts.  Severus had no intention of outing his hidden name in this part of his life, but the position only required a Level 3 license, and there were many people who took three years to get one.  All that was left of his application process was an interview with the Headmaster.

Severus had no idea why the man was interviewing potential candidates in a seedy bar instead of his office, but he showed up as instructed and met with him.  Dumbledore had never been a fan of his, and the feeling was mutual.  But if the rumors were true, he was having a hard time filling several positions.

Now it was just a matter of waiting to see what Dumbledore would decide.  Severus sat at the bar, and drank the beer the headmaster had ordered for him for some reason.  It was a dark beer, and Severus honestly preferred a pale beer if he was going to drink beer at all.  But when your potential employer insists on buying you a drink … well, what else are you going to do?

Suddenly the privacy shield over the booth where Dumbledore was meeting with a candidate for the Divination position seemed to ripple oddly.  

“The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches.  Born to those who have thrice defied him.  Born as the seventh month dies…”

The privacy shield settled back into place.  Severus had to snort.  Seems Sibyl Trelawny decided to pull out all the stops for her interview.  Finishing his beer, he nodded to the bartender and left the establishment, being sure to leave a decent tip.

Then he apparated back to the Dark Monster.

“Ah Severus, welcome back.  How did your interview go?”  The man was waiting for him in his laboratory so there was no avoiding him.

“I really don’t know.  Dumbledore was never that impressed with me when I was a student.  Maybe I should have brewed something for him there in the booth.”  He had to chuckle.

“What?  How would you even manage that in a place like the Hogs Head?”  Voldemort seemed genuinely puzzled at the notion.

“Oh, I couldn’t.  The containment issues alone … no, I couldn’t, but someone else certainly tried it on.”  Severus couldn’t believe the drunken sot had actually tried it.

Voldemort gave his potions master a considering look, sliding a Legilimency probe discreetly (as he thought) at Severus.

Seeing no harm in the matter, Severus allowed him to see the memory.

It was to be a decision he would regret for the rest of his life.

When Severus reported to Hogwarts to sign his contract, he told Dumbledore everything he knew.  In exchange, he begged the man to protect Lily.

It had never occurred to Severus that someone who fancied himself so intellectual would hold such belief in divination, of all things.  But the Dark Lord had become obsessed with the part of the ‘prophecy’ that foretold his doom.  According to his research, there were two babies due next month who could potentially be the foretold child.

Severus had spent a terrible night, wrestling with himself, but by morning he had come to a decision.

He had sent an anonymous warning to Frank Longbottom, telling him of Voldemort’s interest in his coming child.  The Longbottom’s had immediately closed their house and moved in with Frank’s mother temporarily.  They hadn’t broadcast it, but word had reached Severus that they were making plans to move abroad as soon as the baby was born.

Severus had tried to warn Lily too, but his letter was met with a howler from James threatening legal action if he continued his ‘stalker behavior.’

Severus had risked his magic, sending those warnings.  If his vow of service identified them as a betrayal of his agreement it would rip the magic out of him brutally.  So far that hadn’t happened, so he was hopeful he could come through unscathed in that regard.  Apparently Magic took his vow of service to only be relevant in the narrowest possible terms.

With James blocking communication, Dumbledore was the only path to warning Lily.  Severus hadn’t been prepared for the Headmaster’s contempt, but in retrospect he probably should’ve been.  Dumbledore had never liked him, had hired him largely because no one else applied, and now apparently despised him because he’d asked for protection for his friend instead of the asshole who had made his life a living hell for seven years.

“James and Lily are already under the greatest protection magic can offer.  He can certainly keep her safe.”  Dumbledore appeared to consider for a moment.  “Of course, she would be safer if there were someone keeping watch from inside Voldemort’s camp.”  The man side-eyed his new Potions Professor.

Severus couldn’t imagine a time when he wouldn’t be willing to watch over his friend.  “I will be watching.  I will pass along what information I can.  I doubt it will be much.  I am not much trusted.  The Dark Lord knows our contract is based on deceit, so he is careful to keep me away from most tactical meetings.  I only learned of the threat against Lily because Bellatrix Lestrange can’t hold her liquor.”

“Splendid my boy!  We are in agreement then.”  Dumbledore clapped him on the shoulder hard enough to sting.  “Now, the Potions Professor traditionally has his quarters in the dungeon.  I’m sure you remember how to get there.  The password is ‘regret’.”

Severus took his leave with a slight bow and an uneasy feeling.

He would later learn he was right to feel uneasy.

Severus Snape hated teaching with a passion.

Part of the problem was that the students were only a few years younger than himself.  Many of them remembered him all too well from his own school days, when on any given day he might be purple, or bald, or sprouting feathers thanks to the Marauders.

But part of it was just that he had neither patience nor understanding for people who didn’t take their education seriously.  Having never truly had the opportunity to be a careless, carefree child Severus couldn’t relate to their lives at all.

Marking yet another 3rd year essay with a large, red T Severus sighed.  At least this Halloween was shaping up to be better than last year’s.  Last year he had been taken by surprise at the excess the students indulged in, whether food or sweets.  Somehow, he didn’t remember such groaning tables and sugar highs when he had been a student a few years ago.

This year he was at least prepared, with plenty of Stomach Soother already brewed and waiting.  No frantic hours in his lab trying to keep five cauldrons on the go by himself.  No, this year he was ready for the noxious little monsters to spew their guts all over everywhere. 

Another T.  Great Merlin, these children hadn’t learned anything.  Or worse, they’d learned just enough to get it all wrong.

Suddenly, Severus felt as though something were pulling him out of his body.  The sensation had barely begun, before it ended with the feeling of a violent wind or explosion.  The pain in his arm had him tearing his sleeve up to look at the ugly mark … which was fading quickly.

What in the Lady’s name was going on?

As soon as he caught his breath, Severus dropped into meditation and raced to the place in his Occlumency shields where his vow of service was sequestered.  Peering through the translucent shield, he could tell that something had happened.  The monster was still there, still waiting for a chance to break out of captivity and devour his magic with its corruption.

But somehow, it was … faded?  What had been a bright black woven through with pulsing crimson and lime green veins was now … dull.  Still there, still binding him, but somehow still less … present?

Severus wasn’t sure how to describe what he was feeling, but he knew he needed more information.  Grabbing his robe and cloak out of the cupboard, he headed out in search of the answers he needed.

Severus knelt in the ruins of a baby’s nursery, by the dead body of the girl he grew up loving.

He had seen James’s body downstairs in the destroyed front hallway, and slowed down just long enough to check for life signs.  There were none.

He had flown up the stairs with his heart in his throat … and it had shattered as he crossed the threshold to the little boy’s room.  Lily lay there, with her beautiful hair splayed out around her head.  Her hand was reaching towards the cot, and the look on her face would have terrified him if it had been directed his way.

Severus had no problem believing the force of her wrath had obliterated the Dark Lord’s physical body.  He was just sorry it hadn’t been able to throw the rest of him to Hell where he belonged.

“I’m so sorry, Lily.  I tried.  I tried to warn you, and I told Dumbledore about the threat.  He said he would protect you, and I believed him.  I wanted to believe him.”

A whimper sounded from the crib and startled Severus.  Could the child have actually survived?

Rising from the floor, Severus moved towards the cot, fearful of what he might find inside.  Before he’d gone two steps, he heard the roar of an engine outside.

“James!  James, where?  No!  No…”  The yelling trailed off into a wail, but Severus clearly recognized the voice.  He had no desire to deal with Sirius Black whatsoever.  And surely if Sirius was here, he could deal with the child more appropriately than Severus could.

Nodding to himself, Severus silently apparated away to mourn alone.

The Wizarding World would celebrate for days.