Resurrection

Resurrection
by Eilan

Chapter Two: Redemption

"It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways."
Buddha

At exactly nine o'clock in the morning, the fireplace sprung to life and a slightly worse for the wear looking Severus Snape stepped out of it. He didn't stop to straighten his robes; instead, he immediately addressed the man standing in front of him.

"Lucius." Severus nodded. He was sure his disgust showed on his face, but if it did, the other man paid no attention to it.

"Severus. You're right on time," Lucius said evenly.

Severus didn't even bother with a reply. He was always right on time, and Lucius knew that.

Lucius, on the other hand, didn't expect any kind of reply. He gestured for Severus to sit down on one of the couches and took the armchair himself. After they had both seated themselves, Lucius coughed and then began to speak.

"Is Dumbledore still convinced that you're on his side?" He came straight to the point, as always. Severus hadn't expected otherwise, and he had already thought about how he was going to answer the questions Lucius would no doubt ask. This was one of them.

"Yes, he is. Doesn't suspect a thing." If you only knew, he thought to himself, but kept his expression neutral.

"When are you going to Hogwarts?"

"One week before the term begins. That should give me enough time to reacquaint myself with the castle."

"Good."

There was a pause and Severus shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Lucius was obviously thinking about something, but Severus had no idea what. After all, all of what he had said had already been clear to Lucius.

"Karkaroff spat out a few names," Lucius continued matter-of-factly.

"What?" Severus raised his voice a bit, desperately hoping that Karkaroff had not brought his name to the Ministry's attention. He had so many other problems at the moment.

"Barty, Pricilla, Leith and Todd."

Severus nearly sighed out of relief, but stopped himself just in time.

"Let me guess, it's about the Longbottoms," he said with as much disgust as possible. By the time the Lestranges and their accomplices had suggested torturing the two Aurors, Severus had already begun to doubt his beliefs. By the time they put their plans into action, two weeks after the downfall of the Dark Lord, he had already switched to 'the other side', as he now called it. He couldn't sympathise with the four Death Eaters.

"When is the trial?"

"Next week," Lucius replied shortly, distant-minded. Something was bothering him and it was not the trial; at least, it was not only that. Actually, Severus didn't give a damn about what was bothering Lucius, so he didn't even ask.

"Will you attend?"

"No, but I told Narcissa to go."

Severus nearly snorted. He knew damn well how Lucius treated Narcissa. In public, he made the effort to treat her as someone close to an equal. After all, Narcissa had been a member of the Dark Lord's inner circle, trusted by him. But since Severus was very close to Narcissa, he knew that in private Lucius treated her only a bit better than he treated the house-elves. Severus suspected it was neither one's fault. The Malfoy family was not known for their respect towards women, and Lucius had surely been raised this way. Still, Lucius at least accepted Narcissa. As far as Severus knew, Malfoy's father had gotten rid of his wife as soon as Lucius, his heir, had been born. And in the Malfoy family, 'getting rid of' didn't mean divorce.

Severus nodded, then decided he needed to talk to Narcissa before she went to the trial.

"Shall I go too?"

"No, there's no need."

"Would you mind if I talked to your wife?" Severus put a bit more emphasis than necessary on the 'your'. He was well aware of the fact that he ranked below Lucius in Voldemort's inner circle, but not low enough to have to crouch before him if he wanted something. However, he would never go as far as questioning Lucius's behaviour, towards his wife or anyone else. He didn't have a death wish.

When Severus had joined the Death Eaters he was fascinated by their system of hierarchy, as it had given him a sort of security about his position. Now he thought it was ridiculous.

"No, just go. But I want to speak to you once more before you leave."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Narcissa was sitting in the dining room, reading a novel, when the door opened and Severus stepped inside. Immediately, she rose and hugged him.

"Severus, we missed you yesterday," she told him when she let go of him. She had indeed missed him. Without Severus, their circle was just not complete. Severus had been a part of it for so long that she couldn't imagine it being any other way.

"I'd guessed so," he answered calmly.

"So you were at Hogwarts yesterday?" she asked, gesturing for him to sit and take a cup of tea.

He did so, and equally calmly, replied, "Yes, I'm sure Lucius will tell you about that."

Narcissa flinched a bit at the mention of her husband's name. "Don't speak of him in my presence today if you want to survive."

"What has he done this time?"

"Oh, he wasn't happy about the fact that I 'dared to speak up in his presence like that' at the last meeting. As if a true Calstone would've kept her mouth shut the entire time." Narcissa succeeded in making her voice suggest that she was more upset then she really was.

"He's probably just worried about his reputation. He didn't do anything to you, did he?" Severus asked her, concerned. He had always been concerned about her, especially when it came to Lucius. Narcissa remembered the day when she had told him that she would marry Lucius. Severus had not been happy and had directly told her that if Lucius ever dared to do anything to hurt her, she should come to him and he would find a way for her to leave Lucius. Narcissa had wanted to laugh because Severus had sounded like a child, but she hadn't. She had suspected there was more than a bit of jealousy involved.

"He would never dare to, if he wanted to live. My parents can become quite upset when they think their only child is being mistreated," Narcissa replied, sipping at her tea. She meant what she said: Lucius would never dare to abuse her. He had shouted at her and she had just nodded like the good little wife she was supposed to be and soon enough he had calmed down again. It always went like that, and Narcissa suspected it was because Lucius wasn't really that upset about her behaviour in front of his friends.

"Good." Severus seemed to relax a bit.

"Has he already told you about the new plans?"

"About what new plans?" Severus seemed to be confused.

"If you don't know yet than he'll surely tell you before you leave."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Only fifteen minutes after Severus had left the room, Lucius heard the door open again. He sometimes wondered what Severus and his wife did when they were by themselves, but he guessed they weren't stupid enough to have anything going on. He didn't even want to imagine what he would have to do to them if that were the case. He might not love his wife but he quite liked her, and what was more important, her status gave him some advantages.

"You wanted to see me?"

How Severus sometimes managed to say something as mundane as this with a tone bordering on sarcasm Lucius would never know. He was constantly fed up with Severus just for his damn sarcasm. Whether Severus did it on purpose or if he always spoke like that, Lucius had never found out. It had been like that since he had first become aware of the potential the boy had shown, which had been in Lucius's seventh and Severus's first year. The boy had known even more curses when he had entered Hogwarts than Lucius had as a first year. And since Lucius was a Malfoy, that was quite amazing.

"Yes, indeed." Lucius had never been a fan of long, complicated sentences, except for when talking in order to impress people with his education. He had once read a book about a former German dictator and he quite liked to compare himself to this man. Lucius tended to think of himself as a talented speaker.

Severus didn't reply and Lucius smiled inwardly. He had indeed taught the boy a lot of respect since his initiation. He dared even to say Severus was his masterpiece, except for Todd Raven, who was one of the most obedient and eager people Lucius had ever met.

"We need you to do more than just inform us about what Dumbledore does," he began. "We need to get rid of him, preferably as soon as possible." Lucius paused for a moment. "You do understand what I mean, don't you?"

"I understand perfectly," was the even answer, again uttered with the slight sarcastic, mocking undertone so typical of Severus.

Lucius bit back an angry reply, instead dismissing Severus with a wave of his hand.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Albus Dumbledore sat down beside Bartemius Crouch. Today would be the last day of the trial against Bartemius Crouch Jr., Leith Lestrange, Pricilla Lestrange and Todd Raven. He looked down at the four people that were bound so tightly to their chairs that they could make no movement. They had all been students of his, all of them Slytherins and all of them drawn to the Dark Arts -- at least according to Bartemius Crouch Sr. The two Lestranges had been in Severus's year, and Albus knew that instead of Todd Raven it could have easily been Severus being tried for this crime. But the two Lestranges and Todd had also been under his care, and whilst he thought he had saved Severus or was doing his best to do so, he had lost them.

"You have been brought here before the Council of Magical Law," Barty Crouch began clearly, "so that we may pass judgement on you, for a crime so heinous..."

Albus stopped listening, instead concentrating on his surroundings. Mrs Crouch sat next to her husband, silently weeping, because she knew what was coming. Albus couldn't help but feeling sorry for her. So far, the whole trial had been a mere farce. The public wanted retribution for all the crimes committed by Death Eaters during the past years, and this was the perfect opportunity to get it. He was relatively sure that those on trial were indeed guilty of what they were charged with, but the trial was just... laughable. Crouch was on a crusade for justice and blood and he didn't even want to know what had caused these four people to fall so far into darkness to torture two people until they cracked.

The room was full of people, but there was one face that stood out to Albus. Narcissa Malfoy. Narcissa Calstone, as she was still called when she had attended Hogwarts. One of the few Ravenclaws to go over to the dark side. Contrary to popular belief, not every Slytherin was evil and not everyone who ended up with Voldemort had been in Slytherin. Narcissa Calstone was a very good example of what the prospect of power and wealth could do to someone.

"I now ask the jury," shouted Barty Crouch, "to raise their hands if they believe, as I do, that these crimes deserve a life sentence in Azkaban!"

As she saw the vote of the jury, Mrs. Crouch lost her self-control completely. Albus couldn't blame her, as he considered a life sentence in Azkaban worse than a death sentence. He thought that given the chance, the jury would have given Barty Crouch Jr. a lesser sentence; however, in order to satisfy the public's hunger for blood, they had only been given the choice of sentencing all of them to death or none at all. Another piece of injustice in this game created to secure the peace after Voldemort's defeat, Dumbledore thought. In this game, consisting of trials and sentences, it was never taken into account that the defendants also were victims in their own way and had rights. Although everyone had the choice when it came to choosing his or her own path, some paths were made impossible to follow by others.

Albus shook his head and left the room as soon as possible. He tried not to think of all the children he had already lost to either Azkaban or death because people had chosen their paths for them and they had been too weak to defend themselves.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

After Severus had shut the door, he immediately protected it with three different charms against unwanted entry . He had just arrived back at Hogwarts, one week before the start of the term, and had been given his room by Dumbledore. His quarters were, like the rest of the staff quarters, in a separate wing of the castle. The rooms of the Head of Houses were centred around the main staff room, which was at the moment unoccupied, as the rest of the teaching staff would not return from holiday until the next day. For now, he and Albus were the only people present.

If you didn't count the Deputy Headmistress, that is.

Severus hadn't seen McGonagall, and Albus had just told him she was busy with the students' timetables. Severus had tried very hard not to let his relief show. He had been given a list of the teaching staff, but not even having looked it through he knew that McGonagall would be his nemesis for the next year.

Severus looked around. The teachers' rooms - at least the ones for the Head of Houses -- were large, bigger than the rooms he had lived in since he had left Hogwarts, which by no means had been small. There was a large bedroom with a king-size bed (which was, in Severus's opinion, a waste of money and space), a living room with large windows that made for a friendly atmosphere, a kitchen, and a large bath.

He had all his belongings in the two trunks with him, and a few spells later, everything had been unpacked. Having done that, he lay down on the bed and summoned to him the list of current Hogwarts teachers the Headmaster had given him.

There were a few he knew from his school years, most significantly Maria Celeste Sinistra, a witch who had been three years above him in Slytherin and now taught Astronomy. There were also, of course, what he called the 'usual suspects': Minerva McGonagall, the Head of Gryffindor; Serena Sprout, Head of Hufflepuff; Filius Flitwick, Head of Ravenclaw; George Brown, Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and his wife, Helena Brown, the Ancient Runes Professor. But there were also a few names he didn't know, such as Sybill Trelawney, the new Divination Professor, who -- according to the list -- had been in Gryffindor; Daniel Hundale, the Muggle Studies Professor, also a former Gryffindor; the Flying Instructor Rolanda Hooch, a former Hufflepuff; and Elizabeth Vector, the Arithmancy Professor - apart from him and Sinistra, the only other Slytherin on the staff.

Sinistra and Vector would probably be at least bearable as former Slytherins. But Severus was relatively sure that McGonagall, Sprout and Flitwick would hate him with a passion after a few days. Severus hadn't been able to stand them when he had been a student and he had no intention of beginning to get along with them now. But now, at least, he wouldn't have to hide it. Albus couldn't sack him without very good reasons. Severus smirked and leaned back. Tomorrow would certainly prove to be an interesting day, although he wasn't looking forward to it.

To be continued...