Full Circle

No Longer Welcome

8^th December, 2001:

"Miss Granger, I was under the impression that I am more senior to you in this school therefore my orders should be obeyed. For the third and final time: go away."

Hermione was standing in a dungeon at Hogwarts looking at the greasy haired, hooked nosed, newly reinstated Potions master, biting her lip as if she was debating on whether to stand her ground or obey Severus Snape's demands. This time, Hermione chose to stand her ground.

"I..."

"...have no interest whatsoever in what it is you have come to see me for. Now I am ordering you to leave."

"Professor McGonagall has asked..."

"If she wants to see me, tell her to come herself," Snape said irritably, not looking up from the large book he was reading. His temper, already considerably frayed, had been on breaking point for weeks. Five weeks and two days, to be precise.

"I've already told you; she asked me to..."

"The answer is no, whatever it is you want me to do."

"Oh, for Merlin's sake, stop being so childish!" Hermione snapped. "I'm not a student anymore! And the world doesn't revolve around you, you know, so stop moping around the castle like the world is about to end. Things have settled down for a while at least. Be happy for once!"

Snape stood up, his dark eyes burning with an angry fire. "I forgot," he said dangerously softly, letting Hermione know that she had overstepped her line. "As you know, all my life I have been the Centre of the Universe; the Golden Boy of Gryffindor; the Boy-Who-Lived."

"Don't bring Harry into this! You wouldn't be here now if Harry hadn't fought those Death Eaters back in November; you owe him your life, as everyone does! Your petty little sarcasm is starting to make me sick!" Hermione shot back, her temper flaring.

"Temper, temper," Snape said even more softly with a characteristic sneer. "And as for owing Potter my life, I believe I have saved his sorry little life on more than one occasion. I owe him nothing. I also believe that I played a significant role in the last fight against the Dark Lord's dominions, despite what the Prophet has brainwashed the public to believe."

"I..." Hermione started before stopping quickly. She had no retort to make and

Snape smirked as he surveyed her malevolently.

"You see," Snape said, his voice barely audible of the crackling of a fire lit under a steaming cauldron behind him. "Typical Gryffindor. Shout first, think later. True Slytherins do not get caught out."

"In that case," Hermione spat back recklessly, "explain why you have missed all three of your lessons today, as well as the staff meeting and all the meals, plus lunch and dinner yesterday, too."

"Don't be stupid, Gr..." Snape's dark eyes flickered over to the mahogany clock above his fireplace and the words died in his throat. It was quarter past ten in the evening. To his horror, Hermione was right: he had missed them. Snape couldn't think of anything to say to her so he just glared. To his annoyance, Hermione smiled gently.

"I think I've made my point," she said calmly but with a slight note of bossiness in her voice to match Snape's sarcasm. "I covered your lessons today so there is no harm done there. I suggest you eat something before you go and see Professor McGonagall though, you look terrible," she finished bluntly.

"Get out," Snape hissed. "You might be the new Charms Professor but you are still a bossy, interfering Gryffindor who puts her bushy head in where it is neither wanted nor needed."

Hermione shrugged, well used to Snape's biting comments ever since she had taken up her position as Head of Gryffindor at Hogwarts. Turning away, Hermione said, "Suit yourself. I suggest you at least have something to drink before you do anything else though, even if you won't eat. As I said, you look awful."

Snape glared at her retreating back until she closed the door behind her with a small click. The Half-Blood Prince collapsed into his chair, his head in his hands.

Have I really missed all my classes...?

On impulse, Snape stood up and walked over to a small mirror on the inside of his wardrobe. As he glanced at his reflection, he saw immediately what Hermione had meant - he did look horrendous. His face was thin and waxy, the curtains of dark hair framing his face making him look even paler than he actually was, while his eyes were nothing but dark pools which betrayed that he had seen too much in his still relatively short life of forty one years.

Snape closed his eyes, breathing deeply.

Twenty five years since I became a Death Eater...

He shuddered involuntary. Although a hoard of Death Eaters had been defeated the month before, the Potions master-come-spy was having a rough time trying to keep up his continual Occlumency shield, even in sleep, as he deceived the Darkest Lord ever to exist alongside torturing and murdering just to keep his cover in Voldemort's inner ranks. It had all come to a head though as the Potions master stood beside that wretched Boy-Who-Lived in the battle against the Death Eaters.

Voldemort had been weakened by the loss of so many of his inner ranks, there was no doubt about it, but that wouldn't stop him for long.

The attack, when it had come, had been swift and unexpected. The real reason for the fight was just to take Harry to Voldemort; everyone else was there as mere spectators; or as a distraction.

Everyone except him, that is.

Snape knew that only one of the two enemies, or neither of them, would survive their next meeting. If the Battle came any time soon, Harry would be hopelessly outclassed both in knowledge of spells and mental strength. True, the boy's knowledge of defensive spells was impressively extensive with counter curses for almost every spell ever created, but the only thing Harry had never seemed to acknowledge, however, is that you can't win a duel by just defending yourself and not really fighting back.

That's where he'd stepped in.

Snape had stood shoulder to shoulder with Harry using his own spells to attack the Death Eaters while trusting that Potter would help to deflect the brunt of the curses sent at the two of them. The fight had been brutal but the number of casualties had been unexpectedly small. After a time, the Death Eaters had realised that there was no way they could take Harry and so they had retreated. Within hours, Harry was once again the Wizarding world's 'Saviour' and the 'Chosen One', not to mention 'The-Boy-Who-Lived-And-So-Can-Still-Save-Us-All'.

Bloody Gryffindor...

After the battle, no one seemed to acknowledge that it had been the greasy haired, sarcastic, scrawny Potions master, universally accepted as the least popular teacher Hogwarts had ever seen, who had been the one to force the Death Eaters' retreat. Only Rita Skeeter had noticed, and Snape was half contemplating poisoning her with the most painful elixir he knew of.

...And alongside the Chosen One, she had written the day after the battle in the Daily Prophet, was the disgraced murderer of Hogwarts' previous headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. Questions have been raised as to whether the possibly deranged and undoubtedly unstable ex-Death Eater was just attempting to gain some of Harry Potter's limelight by standing alongside him in the Death Eaters' battle. Harry Potter has refused to comment, as has the man in question, although an unnamed Ministry official has been known to refer to Severus Snape as the 'traitorous scum'.

During the battle, our Saviour had to contend with large numbers of Death Eaters fighting against him and he was attacking them admirably. Professor Snape, however, stood alongside Potter and forced the Boy-Who-Lived to cease his attack and instead use his own Gryffindor sense of loyalty to protect the traitorous Potions master as hundreds of retaliatory curses were sent at them both. Snape's reckless move in an attempt to gain publicity prevented Harry Potter from furthering his attack since the apparently suicidal Professor refused to defend himself. The peace-loving Harry Potter could only watch on in horror as Severus Snape promptly murdered a fellow Death Eater in cold blood before the remaining Death Eaters retreated.

So far, no one is certain as to why the Potions master decided to change sides although an Auror, who also wishes to remain anonymous, did suggest that it 'was possible that he [Snape] was wanting revenge on You-Know-Who's followers for his own personal reasons and had not, in fact, changed sides at all. It is certainly possible that the supposedly 'ex' Death Eater was hopeful that if he was seen alongside our Saviour, his atrocious crime of the past would be forgotten'.

Whatever Severus Snape's reasons may be, there is no denying of his past and Ministry officials have issued a statement which said that 'it is strongly advisable that he [Snape] is avoided as no one is certain of his current mental state. We will be making enquiries into anyone who is believed to be involved with any Dark activities or practices, either now or in the past, and we ask the public to be aware that some Death Eaters are highly insecure and are likely to lash out if approached'.

Following this statement, large numbers of the general public have made clear requests to the Ministry of Magic that the recently reinstated Potions master of Hogwarts should be apprehended and taken to St. Mungo's Infirmary until his psychological stability has been suitably assessed by specialist professionals. More commonly, however, members of the Wizarding community have called for Severus Snape's immediate imprisonment in the now Ministry controlled Azkaban Prison where, in his currently unpredictable and violent state, Snape can be suitably monitored. Once there, it is largely accepted that the Potions master will be able to be appropriately controlled by highly trained Hit-wizards and Aurors who will be authorised to use strong measures to restrain him if it becomes necessary to do so.

"He should have been taken into custody years ago," one member of the community commented in obvious disgust. "He's more of a lunatic than that Sirius Black was believed to be. He's a murderer; a Dementor's kiss is too good for him."

Meanwhile, the Boy-Who-Lived...

Snape had been livid when the article had been released and now, with Rita Skeeter's dangerous and toxic lies fresh in his mind, Snape stormed upstairs to the circular office which once belonged to Dumbledore. Fuming, he snarled the password at the gargoyle and roughly pushed open the door at the top of the spiral staircase without bothering to knock.

"Yes?" he spat icily as Professor McGonagall and, to Snape's intense annoyance, Hermione Granger looked up in surprise.

"Ah," Professor McGonagall said carefully. "Severus, I've been wanting to have a word with you recently..."

"Get on with it," Snape sneered.

"Maybe I should go," Hermione said awkwardly to Professor McGonagall.

"Granger, I don't care, quite frankly, whether you are here or not. What do you want, Minerva? I haven't got all day."

"Severus," Professor McGonagall said cautiously. "Maybe it would be an idea if you sat down...?"

"I'm capable of standing."

"Er, in that case, umm; I'm sorry, Severus. It will only be for a short while. Until all this blows over. You've been missing your classes recently and I don't think it's fair on the students to have..." the Headmistress said hesitantly, nothing like her usual firm, controlled self.

"Get on with it."

"Please, Severus. Try to see this from my perspective. I am, primarily, trying to run a school with a safe and relaxed environment and I am concerned that this is not the case at the moment. You see, there has been a lot of pressure from the Ministry of Magic and the general public that I..."

"Professor Dumbledore would have stood up to them," Snape interrupted coldly. "Since when as Ministry interference been a problem that we cannot contend with?"

"Albus is no longer with us, Severus," the Headmistress answered timidly. "I don't see that this is the time to..."

"Why do you want to see me?" Snape hissed. "What is that you want?"

"I'm sorry, Severus," Professor McGonagall said quietly without looking at Snape. "It was decided yesterday, by both the school Governors and the Ministry of Magic. Only as a temporary precaution, but it has fallen to me to inform you... Severus, until further notice, I am afraid that you are no longer welcome at Hogwarts."

Snape didn't move a muscle as he stared at Professor McGonagall in shock, his world seemingly crashing down around him.

"You don't trust me?" Snape accused the Headmistress bitterly after a long, ringing silence. "After all I have done to make up for my past mistakes, you still don't trust me? After what I did against the Death Eaters? I would have died for you!"

"Severus," Professor McGonagall started, still not meeting Snape's eyes.

"You don't, do you," Snape stated coldly. "I have made mistakes and I'm not proud of them but still... I would have willingly given up my life last month so the Dark Lord can be defeated when that time comes!"

"No one's challenging your bravery, Severus, but..."

"But what?"

"It's not a question of whether you'd have given up your life, Professor," Hermione answered quietly for the first time. "This is more complex than that; and you know it is."

"Shut your mouth, Mudblood. I did not ask for your opinion."

Professor McGonagall seemed to snap suddenly as Snape called the Charms teacher a Mudblood.

"Get out," she said coldly, standing up. "Do not ever speak to Hermione, or anyone else for that matter, that way again. You are no longer welcome here at Hogwarts as I said. It is comments like that which are the reason why."

Snape turned on his heel, his black robes brushing the floor behind him. "I trusted you," he breathed just as he was about to close the door to the office behind him. "And you have just confirmed what I always knew. No one has ever trusted me, not really. For my whole life, there has been nothing but lies. I have been nothing but a pawn, used so that others can survive, and now I am reaping the rewards for my trouble.

"Just know," Snape continued in a bitter hiss, "that you are turning me effectively over to the remaining Death Eaters who are out there and who want revenge, not to mention the Dark Lord himself. I won't go looking for them, but if anything happens..."

Snape slammed the door, his whole body betraying his anger. Professor McGonagall dropped her head onto her wrinkled hand.

"Oh Merlin, what have the Governors done? What have I done?" she whispered.

For once, not even Hermione could think of an answer as she stared at the door the Potions master had just left through.

For two weeks, there was no sound from the disgraced Spy. He had, quite simply, vanished. The Death Eaters too, had been unusually quiet and there was widespread hope in the Wizarding world that Voldemort would not attack for a long time as he tried to increase his ranks. Little did Professor McGonagall know, however, that her world was about to be turned upside down in the most brutal fashion possible.

*~*~*~*

Snape returned to Spinner's End after he had left Hogwarts. He hated the house he had grown up in but still, he had nowhere else to go. For two weeks, he remained in the house trying to hold some form of control over his life. The Potions master was agitated; he just didn't know what to do with himself. Snape found that he was hovering somewhere between the two opposing sides as he felt distrust pressing into him everywhere he turned.

He was a traitor, and everyone knew it.

The house was silent; no one from the Order of the Phoenix, or Hogwarts, had tried to contact him although to be fair, he hadn't tried to contact them either. No, what worried Snape most was the fact that the Dark Lord hadn't summoned him. Not once since the attack had Snape felt the Dark Mark burn although it had become irritated and sore a few hours after the battle, and it had remained that way ever since. The Potions master knew the Dark Lord was taunting him but he also knew that it meant he was plotting something.

Against me...

Finally unable to withstand the gloom which hung over the Snape family home for the two weeks he had resided there, Snape left its dark walls and walked the twelve miles into central London in a little under four hours. He could have Apparated but since he had no idea where he was going, there was no point; the Half-Blood Prince just wanted to escape from what he had left behind.

Snape hesitated on Kennington Lane, half considering turning east and then heading along the side of the river Thames towards Parliament Square. The sight of a group of cheerful holidaymakers walking towards him changed his mind. Swiftly, he crossed the road and headed up Tyers Street which was much quieter and still headed in the vague direction Snape wanted to go in.

It was a decision which would ultimately change his life forever.

Snape walked swiftly down the road, his black shirt and dark trousers helping to keep him concealed as he slipped through the shadows of the buildings more out of habit than out of any real need to. Before leaving Spinner's End, he had decided against wearing his robes as they would draw too much attention to him. Even so, as he glanced nervously behind him, he couldn't somehow throw off the feeling he was being watched. Closely.

I should never have come here, he thought grimly as a threatening roll of thunder sounded in the distance. This doesn't feel right somehow...

A wind picked up as he rounded the corner at Tyers Street and turned into Black Prince Road. He turned left, heading towards the south bank of the River Thames without breaking his stride.

Stop being so paranoid, he tried to convince himself in grim unease. You're the only one here...

Nothing was moving; every living soul seemed to be seeking refuge in the shops and offices in the face of the oncoming storm.

Pathetic, Snape thought in mild disdain. It's not even raining yet...

Despite his self assurances, the Half-Blood Prince couldn't help but feel on edge. Someone had been following him, he was sure of it. Snape shook himself mentally; he was just tired and his mind was playing tricks on him. Even so, he began to subconsciously worry that his years of spying and being careful had taken their toll at last. His dark prediction just before he had left Hogwarts had just been an empty threat, after all. As far as he could help, nothing was going to happen to him at all.

I really am just getting paranoid...

There was a slight movement from the darkened doorway of a slightly run down office block. Without pausing to think, Snape plunged his hand into his trouser pocket and groped for his wand. Just as his fist closed around it, something struck him in the back of the knees and with a yelp of pain, he was forced to the floor as his arms were wrenched behind him. The unexpected roughness of the other man's grip dislodged his wand from his hand and it remained in his pocket, tantalisingly close and yet so out of reach.

Damn...

"You worthless traitor," a gruff voice snarled, twisting his arm further behind him.

Snape froze.

Oh Merlin...

"Deceiving scum like you don't deserve to live; you deserve a long, slow, painful demise..."

Slowly, the Potions master's numbed brain started to grind back into action and he started to struggle to pull himself free from the other man's arm lock. He tried to Disapparate but he just couldn't summon the energy to do so. Days of surviving on minimal food and drink had sapped much of his strength and the long walk into London had tired him more than he had expected.

"Vengeance is sweet," the Death Eater hissed. "And think how my Master will reward me when I return..."

"You incompetent fool, you've got the wrong man!" Snape spat bitterly, well aware that he was lying, as he felt himself forced roughly forwards while the grip on his arms only got tighter. Wandless, he had never felt so vulnerable before; the man behind him was far superior to him in both size and strength, not to mention that he'd had the advantage to start with.

And I never was any good at Muggle fighting...

"Have I?" the man snarled, twisting Snape's arms further. "Have I got the wrong man? I think not..."

Snape flinched as the man behind him yanked his head back by his dark hair and he briefly caught a glimpse of an unusually thin wand pointing into his face. A split second later, blows came raining down on him from seemingly every angle and after a few moments, something immeasurably heavy collided with the side of his head sending the Half-Blood Prince flying across the pavement into the road. Snape was consciously aware of the hard, gritty tarmac his head had collided with but he still painfully glanced up at the three figures walking towards him. Two of them were broad and heavily muscled while a thinner one, slightly shorter, stood between them with his wand raised. From the floor, the spy couldn't see details clearly - his left eye was swollen shut and he was feeling oddly light headed and dizzy, not to mention decidedly nauseous.

Snape watched helplessly as the smaller man raised his wand and pointed it at his ribs before muttering an incantation. There was a flash of light, the sound of squealing brakes, a dull, heavy thud, a searing pain across his back and chest, a sickening, grating crunch, and then there was... nothing.