East Of Eden

There is a good chance of prequels, sequels or just totally unrelated fics. While I originally wanted to write down a stand-alone scene, the characters from my story grabbed my imagination and ran with it. Now I have all these pictures and all these people stuck in my head: the Morituris, Tiberinus Lohman -the old head of Slytherin, Florence Sinistra, Augustus Rookwood- the spy in the ministry and of course all the characters from Rowlings novels.

Special thanks to my beta-reader Darkwing.
 

East of Eden
Chapter 5
The Land of Nod

“You lied in the courtroom!” Harry blurted out as soon as his eyes focused again on Dumbledore, sitting across from him in the Headmaster’s office. Instantly he was ashamed of his rudeness towards the Headmaster.

“Yes, Harry, I did. I lied to protect Severus, and I never felt sorry for it. He has repaid me fully since then. You might find it hard to believe, but he is the best Head Slytherin has ever had.”

Dumbledore grinned mischievously at Harry, but became serious again only an instant later.

“Although I tried everything, I was not able to keep Sirius out of Azkaban, but at least I could save Severus from the same fate. He surely wouldn’t have survived it longer than a few months. You know, too many of my former students already fill the cells of Azkaban.”

Dumbledore fell silent for a while. Deep in thought he continued: “Yes, I did the right thing then. I have made mistakes earlier, when I didn’t watch over the Slytherin students properly. You see, I’m not without fail, Harry. No one is.“

“Was Professor Snape really innocent of all those other charges he was standing trial for?”

“It doesn’t matter anymore, Harry.”

“So he wasn’t?”

Dumbledore looked out of the window.

“Two years later, well after the downfall of Voldemort, Severus came into my office late at night, his breath smelling of whisky. We talked about the crimes he committed as a Death Eater until sunrise. He confessed that some of the accusations you heard were true. Others were made up by Rookwood to make sure he would be found guilty by the jury.”

Harry was silent for quite some time.

 “Believe me, Harry, Severus has paid for the crimes of his youth. He has placed himself outside of every  community. He doesn’t belong to the dark wizards anymore; not unlike Peter Pettigrew he has betrayed his friends and schoolmates. And in the Gryffindor dominated wizarding community he will never be fully accepted. He lives in a hell of his own making, mistrusting each and everybody.”

Dumbledore looked Harry straight into the eye.

“Maybe you could penetrate that cloud of hate and darkness around him for some moments, if you went and told him, that you don’t regard him your enemy anymore. And that you don’t hate him for what he has done. You don’t, right?”

“No,” Harry answered hesitatingly. “Do you think he is down in the dungeons now?”

Dumbledore smiled. “Most likely. You know the way, Harry. Oh, and maybe you shouldn’t mention that you witnessed his whole trial through my Pensieve. He surely would not like to hear that.”

After Harry had left the room the Headmaster remained silently looking at the door of his office.

Then he turned to Fawkes, his phoenix, with a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth  “ There are moments in which I really sound like a darn wise man, don’t I? ”

* * * * *

Epilogue:

[...] Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? [...] If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."
Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" "I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?"
The LORD said, "What have you done? Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground.
Now you are cursed from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from
your hand. [...] You will be a restless wanderer on the earth."
Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, [...], and whoever finds me will kill me."
But the LORD said to him, "Not so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over."
[...]
So Cain went out from the LORD 's presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

Genesis 4.1-16 (abridged)