Nothing Hidden

Feet pounded down the dungeon stairs, and moments later Dumbledore and Sirius appeared in the corridor. Lupin was a little slower, his injured leg still bothering him, but caught up with them at the doorway.

They found Snape leaning against the wall, his eyes staring straight ahead into the room.

The spacious dungeon classroom had no floor. The ragged edge of the pit ran a near perfect circle, leaving only a ribbon of crumbling stone close to each wall.

They assumed the worst.

"Severus?" Dumbledore tried to pull him away from the edge, but Snape wouldn't be moved.

"There's no chance . . .?" Dumbledore looked into the gutted room and his voice trailed off.

"The boy?" Snape didn't look up. "No, he's fine. He had a portkey with him — my backup plan during the attack."

He could sense them exchanging a look behind his back. If Harry was alive, then why . . .

"Why are we standing here!" Sirius exclaimed agitatedly when Snape didn't continue. "What was the destination?"

"Hagrid's hut," Snape told him, and Sirius bound up the stairs almost before the words were spoken.

Lupin followed. Dumbledore tried to pull Snape along, but Snape resisted.

"I'll be right behind you," he promised.

Dumbledore didn't like leaving him. Snape was standing so still, his eyes seemed glazed as he stared into the abyss. But finally, with one final look back, he followed Sirius and Lupin up the staircase.

As soon as Dumbledore was gone, Snape seemed to come back to life.

He knew he had frightened them, standing there like that, but that couldn't be helped.

Snape hadn't been stunned. He wasn't numb from the shock of seeing Harry Potter's demise, as the others had assumed at first. He stared into the pit for one reason only.

He didn't want to take his eyes off the rat.

He pulled out his wand. He stunned Wormtail first, then, with Wormtail dangling in the air, he bound him with the strongest spell he knew. He pulled the rat forward, until he could finally wrap his fist around the skinny rodent body. Carrying the rat to his office, Snape placed Wormtail into a secure container, sealed it and made it unbreakable, and stowed it away in a cabinet.

Harry had already been found by the time Snape arrived at Hagrid's hut. Sirius was carrying him, since following his rough landing on top of Hagrid's hard bed Harry was feeling disoriented and bruised.

"Have we learned our lesson yet?" Snape asked sourly. "We should bind him to one of us."

"An excellent idea, Severus," Dumbledore turned it around on him, "would you prefer to take first watch?"

Snape said nothing, but looked as if he'd been fed a lime.

Soon Harry was safely in an infirmary bed, with Sirius watching vigilantly, and the Marauder's Map pinned to the wall above the headboard. Snape stalked the hallway outside the room, not trusting Sirius to have any control over a boy who insisted on being nearly killed at every turn.

Spoiled! Utterly spoiled! That's all it was, Snape thought. They had spoiled him and now look where it got them. No sense of reason, no common sense at all. Arrogant! Foolish! No regard for rules, however for his own good they are. I pity the one who has to raise that, he finished resolutely. No doubt about it . . .

Dumbledore approached from the side, Snape saw him too late to avoid him.

"Will you join us for a late dinner, Severus?"

"No thank you, Albus," Snape shook his head, hoping Dumbledore would take the hint. "I'm exhausted, I was thinking I would lie down for a while. Do call me if anything else happens," he couldn't help adding the last, voice dripping in sarcasm.

"Really, Severus, you must eat something," Dumbledore continued as if he hadn't heard Snape's last comment.

He just doesn't know when to quit, Snape thought bitterly.

"What a day we've had," Dumbledore chuckled, though his voice was more weary than mirthful. "And I haven't even thought to ask you who that was, down in the dungeon."

Snape frowned slightly. He wasn't ready to explain that bit. Things were complicated enough for the moment.

But Dumbledore had already forged ahead, into even more dangerous territory.

"Have you given any more thought to my little proposition?" Dumbledore peered at him over his spectacles.

The man was relentless. When did he suppose Snape had time to think about it — between running madly through the castle and almost being blown up by Pettigrew?

He thought again of how little control anyone had over the boy. He already ran wild, disregarding all rules and sensibilities. With Dumbledore or Sirius as his guardian, he'd likely be killed within a week.

Was everyone incompetent? Snape wondered. Did they not see where they were going wrong?

He refused to believe that he had made up his mind hours ago, in the dungeons, just as the boy's eyes had locked with his across the expanse of the room.

No, it was only about the best man for the job.

He would take the boy. It was about time that someone took charge, someone who wasn't blinded by the ridiculous pretenses he put on.

If Dumbledore knew what lay on a cabinet shelf down below, in Snape's office, surely he would change his mind about this crazy scheme. But Dumbledore wouldn't know until the necessary papers were signed. He'd make up some reason to make them binding magical contracts, and that would settle that. Then, and only then, would an anonymous package be delivered to the Ministry. Let Black be free! It would make no difference. Armed with a legal right, Snape would make sure that the man's dubious influences over the boy would be in check from now on.

Thus, not believing that he had any other motive, he said, "I have thought it over, Albus, and I believe that I . . ."

"Good evening Professors!" a voice startled them from behind. Both whirled around.

Two Ministry officials approached, with Lupin right behind them. As he stepped forward to shake hands with the men, Dumbledore looked pointedly at infirmary door, behind which Harry and Sirius were unaware of the Ministry presence at Hogwarts.

Snape caught the look.

"Good evening," he held out his hand reluctantly. How inconvenient it would be, having Black captured before all was settled. "What brings you here tonight?"

"Official business. The Ministry has called a meeting, and Professor Dumbledore is needed," one of the officials said. "As well as searching the school once more. Ministry orders."

"Search the school? Very well. I believe the logical place to start would be from the bottom. Shall I show you the way?" Snape attempted to steer them away from the infirmary.

"No," the man waved his hand toward the closed door. "Why not start right here. This is, I believe, where . . . You-Know-Who . . . was felled?"

"Yes," Snape answered reluctantly. He had done all he could to stall them, if Black was too dim to make use of the window, that certainly was not Snape's fault. Ministry orders, indeed! Two star-struck halfwits, more likely.

Sirius was gone. So was Harry. Snape could barely control his anger. That blasted fool! Wasn't it enough he was always hanging about, standing in the way of any rightful discipline that might be administered? Did he have to also drag the boy from the safety of the school? Snape glared at the open window, lacking any other target. Wait. Just wait. He would speak to Dumbledore as soon as he returned from the Ministry, and settle this.

Hours later, Snape entered the Great Hall and scowled to see Harry, Sirius, and Lupin having a late supper. They were discussing something animatedly, until they saw Snape in the doorway.

"Severus," Lupin waved him over, "won't you join us?"

Conversation was a casualty of the invitation. They ate in near silence until Dumbledore arrived back at Hogwarts and joined them.

"I'm afraid I can't stay long," Dumbledore helped himself to a piece of pie, "the Ministry needs all the help available."

He looked around the table. Harry, Sirius, and Lupin were sitting on one side. Snape sat on the other side, about as far as he could get from them without leaving the table. He sighed. Snape by himself was predictable, and therefore could be handled. Add Sirius and Lupin, and things seemed to go sour quickly. The chasm between them seemed too vast to bridge.

Look at them, he thought, hanging on to their old grudges when they should have been brought together by their common needs. Each of them, having gone through crushing loss, sacrifice, and alienation, and yet each of them obstinately refusing to acknowledge their shared experience.

Worse, Dumbledore thought as he looked at Harry, they would allow their loathing of each other to tear apart the person who could have brought them together.

There was one thing Dumbledore realized as he looked at the scene in front of him. If Snape was to have any chance, Sirius and Lupin had to go.

With Sirius, it was easy. He would have to leave that night anyway, there would be Ministry officials all over Hogwarts the following morning. As for Lupin, Dumbledore would try to send him with Sirius.

When Harry found out that Sirius was leaving, he clung to him pathetically. It had been an exhausting day, and Harry wanted to stay in the safety of the three people he believed cared most about him in the world. But there would just be Snape with him that night, he thought miserably when he realized that Dumbledore and Lupin were leaving as well.

Sirius sat on the edge of Harry's bed, trying to calm him, reluctant to leave. He knew Snape felt that proper discipline had not been applied after Harry's latest caper. Sirius loathed to leave Harry with him.

Outside the door, Dumbledore pulled Snape aside, intending to continue their conversation, hoping for an answer before he left Hogwarts again.

But Snape would have none of that.

"Look at them! Just look!" he gestured wildly.

Dumbledore looked. He sensed a change in Snape, and didn't like it.

"I see nothing new," he replied. "They've always been close. Let us set them aside for the moment. What matters right now is your answer. Tell me, what do you want to happen?"

"Does it really matter?" Snape demanded. "There's your guardian!"

"Severus, he sensible," Dumbledore's voice held a hint of the frustration he felt. "You know Sirius is still a fugitive. You must think. What is the best for Harry?"

"What's best for him?" Snape repeated. He was looking at the two again. He recalled how pale and quiet the boy had been through the weeks that they had spent virtually alone at Hogwarts. There was none of that on his face now. He was holding out one hand to Sirius, reluctant to let him go. If there was one thing Snape understood, to hunger for something unattainable was that. Bitter realization washed over him.

"He wants him. Isn't that's what's best?" Snape's lips pressed together until they turned white.

"Of course Harry wants to live with Sirius. Harry believes him to be the only semblance of family that he has left. But Severus, that's just not realistic. It may be years before Sirius' innocence can be conclusively proven."

"I didn't mean . . ." Snape faced Dumbledore. He closed his eyes for a moment before continuing.

"Sirius wants him," he finally went on. "That is what I meant. Sirius wants the boy."

"Are you saying you do not?" Dumbledore's face twitched.

"What difference does it make, if I could never make him feel it?"

Having no answer for that, Dumbledore clung to the strongest argument that was still at his disposal, "All that still means little in light of the fact that Sirius . . ."

"It can be conclusively proven right now."

Dumbledore shook his head, perplexed, "What?"

"Wait," Snape disappeared down the dungeons stairwell. A minute later he was back, with a draped container in his hands.

"Here," he shoved it roughly into Dumbledore's arms. "This, I believe, will settle all accounts."