Trying Snape

Chapter Two - Meetings

This was not the Snape he had known. This bedraggled man sprawled out on the floor of a dirty cell was not the man he had known. It stank in here, and Harry couldn't label the smell. Maybe it was fear, maybe it was death. Azkaban had always been despicable and distasteful to all the senses.

Snape's hair was even longer than it used to be. It went halfway down his back, and was more tangled, greasier, more disgusting than it had ever been while he was at Hogwarts. Those sallow cheeks had sunken even further into his face until his whole face looked like a skull with yellow skin stretched over it. It was the skull of a corpse.

He thought back to how he remembered the Potions Master. He had been scrawny, and deathly-pale, but this was different. Harry thought about the way that Sirius had looked right after he'd escaped from Azkaban, how gaunt and dead he'd looked. Magnified by a thousand, that was Snape. He could have been a corpse, except for the slight rise and fall of his chest, and how his eyes followed Harry as he walked into the cell.

Harry really didn't know what he was supposed to be doing. Snape had always hated him, and he couldn't see why that could have changed at all. There was no reason that Snape should talk to him, there had never been any kind of friendship between them. Harry would even go as far as to say that he hated Snape. Snape had killed Dumbledore, and for that he could never be forgiven.

"Um...hello." Harry wasn't sure what he was supposed to call Snape. 'Professor' was clearly wrong, but Harry felt extremely uncomfortable calling him 'Severus'.

Snape didn't acknowledge Harry's words in any way.

"Look...look, Snape. I'm the only way that this is going to be at all easy for you. I'm sure you don't LIKE being tortured. Well...maybe you do. But that's beside the point." Harry was babbling now, and he knew it. Gaunt and decimated Snape might be, but he still instilled exactly the same amount of fear in Harry that he had when they were both at Hogwarts. Right, Harry told himself, you have to get hold of yourself. No sense in letting this man scare you. He's a dead man, anyway. "So, all I need you to do is say that you killed Albus Dumbledore. It's a formality, we all know you did it...I SAW you do it, but the Ministry insists on a confession for crimes that carry the punishment of death." He wasn't surprised to see that Snape had no reaction to this, either. "Just 4 words, Snape. I killed Albus Dumbledore." Snape did nothing. "Can you really just sit there and not even say a goddamned thing when it's your life we're talking about? How much easier it will all be if you just say those four words?"

Snape said nothing.

"I can't believe you, Snape. I hope you know that I hate you and that I look forward to your death. I don't care whether you die today, tomorrow, or next year. As long as you die, I am satisfied. And you know what? The rest of the wizarding world feels exactly the same as I do. Is that what you wanted, Snape? To be universally hated? It's certainly the image you seemed to be aiming for when you were at Hogwarts." Harry couldn't believe the words flying out of his mouth. Years of pent-up anger towards this man all let loose and he couldn't stop himself.

Harry got up and walked out of the cell, past the guards, and stormed down the hall. He ignored their surprised glances and he ignored the rest of the prisoners, all of whom seemed to be jeering at him. He had had enough. Snape was a bastard, had always been a bastard, always would be a bastard, and Harry didn't give a damn about him. Snape deserved to die; Harry wouldn't argue that one bit. He deserved to be in Azkaban, awaiting trial and death. If only he'd just confess and let them all get on with it.

Harry apparated back home, and waited.

It wasn't long before Felix apparated in his living room. "Harry..."

Harry closed his eyes. "I can't imagine that you had honestly hoped I would succeed."

"We need that confession."

"I know that." Harry opened his eyes. "But did you consider the fact that perhaps sending the student that Severus Snape hated the most was possibly a bad idea? Or that sending the guy that killed Voldemort to extract a confession from one of his most loyal Death Eaters might not be the most...tactful of moves?"

"You're getting upset, Harry." Felix took out a cigar and lit it. Harry wrinkled his nose. "Snape can stay in a cell as long as is necessary for him to confess. But even you, even with your...prior animosity to Snape, cannot possibly condone his torture."

"I don't know how the Ministry condones his torture."

"Snape killed Dumbledore. They're willing to allow anything to see that Snape dies." Felix shrugged. "And I still think that you're the only one that can make him confess."

"I'm glad to see YOU have faith in me, because I certainly don't." Harry got up from his chair and made a drink. "I want nothing to do with him. I hated him in school, I hated him for what he did, and I still hate him. There is not a person in the world less suited than me to trying to convince him to confess."

There was a long pause. Finally Felix said, "Nevertheless, you will do it."

"Or what?" asked Harry, feeling rebellious. Meeting Snape had put him in a foul mood and Felix was doing nothing to get him out of it.

"Or you lose your job," said Felix simply. He smiled. "Good day, Harry. I trust you will meet with Snape again tomorrow."