Nothing Hidden

When Harry emerged out of the dungeons, he found Dumbledore, Lupin, and Sirius sitting silently in the staffroom. They watched him approach, but they neither moved nor spoke.

The only remaining evidence of the two hours he had spent below was the paleness of his face and the dark circles under his eyes.

They expected him to speak, but Harry didn't know where to begin.

"Did you find out what you wanted to know, Harry?" Dumbledore finally broke the silence.

"I did, Professor," Harry refused to meet Sirius' eyes. "And I . . ."

Sirius made it easy for him.

"I will bring in your trunk," he tried to make his voice sound light. He felt like he needed some fresh air anyway. The room had suddenly grown close.

Harry looked down at the floor miserably. He had hurt Sirius terribly, he knew.

When Sirius had left, Dumbledore took Harry's hand gently.

"He will be alright, Harry."

"I've hurt the one person I would never want to hurt!" Harry's voice wavered. "How can it be alright?"

"He wants what's best for you," Dumbledore told him, "and he will come to understand your choice."

"When he does, maybe he can explain it to me," Harry smiled weakly.

It was too late that night to do anything but retire. Harry walked up the many staircases to Gryffindor tower, feeling exhausted.

He fell asleep quickly, and woke up the next morning to the sound of last minute reconstruction going on throughout the school.

It was less than two weeks until the start of his fifth year at Hogwarts. He found that for the first time since he came to Hogwarts, he was dreading it. He would have to tell his friends, and he couldn't begin to imagine what their reaction might be. He would have to part with Sirius, who would be leaving the school that night.

That was the hardest thing of all. Harry was overcome with misery when he thought of Sirius. He saw again the profound sadness on his godfather's face, which try as he might he couldn't hide.

Sirius had tried. It was impossible not to feel robbed. For a long time, Harry had been central in his existence. Now he faced going home to his newly bought house — alone. It was a bitter feeling.

He tried to be happy for Harry, but although his face obeyed his commands to smile and look cheerful, his eyes never did.

"If I had a dungeon," he had told Dumbledore after an uncomfortable breakfast, "I would hide there."

It was amazing how much he understood Snape now. The tables had turned, and he found himself no better at making the sacrifice.

Harry spent the better part of the day with Sirius, knowing that it would be their last for a while. How long, he didn't know.

Time seemed to speed up as if by magic as they sat in the Great Hall, trying to talk of anything but the fact that the hour of their parting was fast approaching. At last they had to face it.

"Promise you'll write to me?" Harry begged. "I need you in my life."

Sirius promised, just as he had promised to return to Hogwarts during the term, but Harry knew that nothing would ever be the same between them.

Lost in each other, they never suspected that from the top of the hidden staircase behind the staff table, their conversation had been overheard.

Snape hadn't been spying on purpose. He had merely taken a shortcut out of the dungeons, and stopped in his tracks when he heard their voices. The newly replaced panel did not quite fit, and through the small crack the words had drifted down to him. He didn't know why he had stood and listened for so long, except that old habits died hard.

Dumbledore and Lupin chose to leave all three of them alone; Harry, Sirius, and Snape. Snape spent most of his time down in the dungeons, though they doubted that this time he sulked. Harry and Sirius deserved time alone with each other on their last day together.

Dumbledore had received another stack of reports from the Ministry, and they sat in the staffroom going through them. Time passed surprisingly quickly that day, though it was tedious work.

Harry was first to walk in. Sirius had left for the train station, to get his things on board. He would be back long enough to say a final goodbye.

Seeing Dumbledore and Lupin working, he sat down quietly and watched. He had made peace with the fact that he was not allowed to see Ministry reports, and didn't try to challenge that rule.

Snape came in soon after. He looked with disdain at the reports on the table; in the last few days he had read more of them than he ever cared to see again.

"I brought you your potion," he said to Lupin, holding out a small bottle.

"Thank you, Severus," Lupin took it from him.

"While you are both here," Dumbledore addressed Snape and Lupin as he gestured for Snape to sit down, "there is one more piece of business that we must take care of before the term begins."

He looked at them, smiling.

"I'm happy to announce that there are two open positions at Hogwarts. The first, Care of Magical Creatures, is vacated because Hagrid intends to spend the next year in the mountains, continuing the important work he started. I offer the job to you, Remus. Will you accept?"

"I accept," Lupin stood up and shook Dumbledore's hand, almost formally.

"The second," Dumbledore paused, "concerns you, Severus. It appears that we are yet again without a Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor. I seem to recall that you once wanted the job."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled — he knew all too well how long Snape had been after that position.

But there was nothing of the expected cheer on Snape's face. For many years he had wanted to teach Defense. His experience that summer only affirmed this desire. And yet, there was his research, his unfinished potions, his dungeon dominion below the castle . . .

"Thank you Albus," he said slowly, "but I don't believe that I want a change of positions. I'm quite comfortable as Potions Master. "Besides," he suppressed a smile, "if I leave my post, who would keep in check the Werewolf?" Lacking the sneer, it was only a friendly dig.

Harry couldn't believe it. Snape was refusing a job teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts?

Then he looked up, saw Snape's face, and understood. Snape wasn't refusing the job, he was sacrificing it. Not for Sirius. No, their hatred for each other was as yet only beginning to diminish. For Harry.

On the other side of the table, Dumbledore realized the same.

"Then," he said, feigning ignorance, "I expect I'll need to place yet another advertisement for a Defense instructor in the paper."

"Only if you wish to waste twelve sickles," Snape had expected a little more percipience on the headmaster's part.

Sirius, back from the station and looking for Harry, entered in time to overhear.

"Waste twelve sickles on what?" he asked.

"Another advertisement for a Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor," Dumbledore sighed exaggeratedly. "The fifth year in a row — what terrible luck."

"I thought . . ." Sirius looked confusedly between Snape and Dumbledore.

"Severus wishes to remain at his current position," Dumbledore explained. His eyes twinkled. "Say, Sirius, you wouldn't happen to be interested in the job?"

"As a matter of fact . . ." Sirius looked at Harry. If he was working at Hogwarts, he could see Harry on a daily basis.

But that was the point, he understood suddenly.

"Well then," Dumbledore went on, "I hope two weeks will be enough time for you to prepare a curriculum. Perhaps Remus can help you with that, being already familiar with the demands of the position."

"Thank you, Albus," then Sirius turned to Snape, who had turned to leave the room, "and thank you, Severus," he called after him, able to admit for the first time that he had been mistaken all along.

"Thank me?" Snape turned to look at Sirius. "I don't know what for. But really, I wish you the best of luck." He paused, and suddenly a peculiar gleam lit his eyes. "I heard a rumor that the job is jinxed."

He swept out of the room, leaving four pairs of eyes staring after him.

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