Two Old Friends

Chapter 21

I itch. That is all I can say. My face itches, my legs itch, my entire body itches. Why this is, I know not. Perhaps it is the memories of dementors swooping past my jail cell every night and the parasites crawling over my dirty skin. But I see Adriana. She doesn't itch. She has never been to Azkaban, not that I can recall. She has never had to sit in a cold and smelly cell, forced to think back on all the terrible things she had gone through.

Then again, knowing her melodramatic tendencies, she probably itches every sleepless night when she cannot slumber and her overly active mind has nothing better to do but reflect.

The Obliviate charm must have a wonderful sensation.

~*~

I was not an alcoholic. I was very tempted to drink myself into a coma every night, but I had other obligations. I had the Dark Lord to keep me occupied. Adriana, on the other hand, she had her work to keep her occupied, but soon she discovered the bottle and that replaced me as her lover. She drank herself to sleep while I was gone at night and that was that. We did not speak. It was an unfortunate habit of ours, this charade, but it was not likely to change.

I was not an alcoholic, though I did pick up the habits of one. I often drank while I was supposed to be doing something responsible and messed it up in one way or another. The Dark Lord was losing his faith in me and I didn't notice. Dumbledore never truly noticed my instability, to my knowledge, at least, and he accepted my tales of the Dark Lord's actions without question. Perhaps he saw my dismay and domestic issues, but he never questioned me.

My alcoholic tendencies also landed me in trouble that was quite the inconvenience.

I was ambling through Knockturn Alley one day while Ministry Officials lurked by, keeping an eye on any suspicious people. I openly bought all sorts of dark and suspicious objects and was arrested for quarrelling. But they wished to arrest a Death Eater, so they found some evidence against me and charged me as one. I was given one call and owled Dumbledore. He came to my call while I sat in my Azkaban cell.

"Severus," he said, "come on out. I will talk to you in a civil area." He seemed very disdainful of my surroundings. I shrugged. My eyes were unfocused while I thought back on Adriana's drunken face.

The dementors grudgingly let me off the island and Dumbledore and I went to a small eatery on the outskirts of some Muggle town. We attracted curious looks because I was grubby and subdued and Dumbledore wore a violently yellow beret.

"Severus, I received your owl. I wish to hear your recollections of your arrest."

"It's very simple," I said. "I was caught in Knockturn Alley with suspicious purchases and I blurted something stupid and irresponsible and they found or pretended to find enough evidence against me as a Death Eater and so they threw me in Azkaban." Dumbledore sighed.

"I wonder how an ambitious man such as yourself can put himself in a situation like this."

"I didn't do anything. It was an inconvenient time, that's all." Inconvenient timing, that seemed to be a theme.

"Well, I have enough presence in the Ministry to persuade Barty Crouch to give you your entitled trial, but I cannot persuade the Ministry to give you clemency just because I am there. Is there anyone who can vouch for your innocence? A character witness or something to that effect?" I sighed and tore my bread.

"Lucius Malfoy?" I suggested.

"No," he said. "I have been fighting to get him arrested, it will only appear as a contradiction unto myself." I tore my bread some more.

"Adriana Rodriguez," I finally said. It pained me to say it, but she was the only one I could possibly think of who would consider arriving.

"The Defender?"

"I would assume such." He stroked his chin while 'hmm'ing to himself.

"She has a clear record, if I recall correctly. I think she can come in use. How is she related?" I tore some more bread.

"She lives with me," I said stiffly.

"Ah. Is she likely to use any grudges against you when it comes to something like this?"

"We'll be lucky if she arrives sober to something like this," I said savagely. His eyebrows averted themselves upwards, wrinkling his forehead.

"Is there anything I should know?"

"Nothing."

"I expect I can find her either at your home or in her office?"

"I expect so."

"Alright. Eat something, Severus. You're skin and bone. I doubt the dementors feed you anything decently in that cell." I grudgingly put a piece of torn bread in my mouth.

"Severus Snape, you are here under charges of suspicious purchasing which gives you a place under the Dark Lord. The evidence our Aurors have found gives you the role of a Death Eater. Do you deny this?"

"No," I said.

"You do not deny this?"

"No, my client does not deny that he was a Death Eater. However, being under my employment and having my full trust, he has turned his ways and has supplied ample information that has helped us in the war against Lord Voledmort." There was a collective flinch as he spoke the name with ease.

"Dumbledore, have you given the thought that perhaps he is in fact your turn coat and is given you false information?"

"I have given the thought, but I have no reason to put it into further consideration. He has faced a great and personal tragedy and was not in the right mind when he was in Knockturn Alley."

"What was this personal tragedy, Dumbledore?" the official asked, almost mockingly.

"I ask to address a character witness, Adriana Rodriguez," he called. I looked up when I heard the name and Adriana walked into the room. She wore something pink and had her hair tied back to look innocent and young and - as though she was on top of the world for a twenty one year old Defender, but I knew that as she averted her face from me, her eyes were blurred and perhaps a little bloodshot. She sat in the chair Dumbledore drew for her and folded her hands in her lap.

"Are you Adriana Rodriguez?"

"De la Galena," she corrected. Barty Crouch arched an eyebrow.

"I beg your pardon?" he asked with a steely voice.

"She's merely finishing her name, Barty. Her name is Adriana Rodriguez de la Galena."

"The daughter of Antonio and Esperanza Rodriguez? Antonio Rodriguez, the fellow in Azkaban right now for murdering his wife?"

"Yes, that is me," Adriana said, straightening up and glaring at Crouch in the eye. I did not expect this to have a good turn out if Adriana refused to have her pride damaged in any way.

"Very good. Now, let's continue with the proceedings. Miss Rodriguez de la Galena," Dumbledore continued, "how are you of any relation to Severus Snape?"

"We are living together."

"For how long now?"

"Three years at the least."

"How long have you known him?"

"Since I was ten. We were neighbours in London and went to Hogwarts together. We were both Slytherin, same year."

"Would you say that Mr. Snape ran in the same crowd as any other Death Eater?"

"Well, many would say that anyone who wound up in Slytherin was more likely to wind up a Death Eater than anyone else. So, yes, he did run in the same crowd as many potential Death Eaters. A few of who are in Azkaban or are being prosecuted or searched."

"How does that reflect upon Severus?"

"If you ask me that reflects rather poorly upon Severus. And it's fairly well known that Severus is a bit brighter than the goons he was associated with in school so he'd be bright enough to keep himself out of trouble if he did mingle with the Dark Lord after school..."

I was prepared for the worst after this declaration of hers.

"But what makes you think that this fellow you live with could possibly be innocent?"

"I don't think he's innocent. Well, no, I don't think he's innocent of being a Death Eater. I wouldn't be surprised, actually. I'd be more surprised if he turned out not to be a Death Eater. But I also know him well enough to know that he has a conscience somewhere and that he has the smarts to act on it when he absolutely feels that he has to, so I would be less surprised to find out that he had a recent conversion."

"What does your opinion on his conscience and hypothetical actions have in importance here, Miss Rodriguez?" Crouch asked, his moustache bristling irritably.

"De la Galena."

"De la Galena," he amended grudgingly.

"Well, I'm a Defender now, I know the law and how it works and how people work with and around them. I know Severus and know how his mind works. I can only put two and two together and give you the information that you need."

"If you know his mind so well," another witch asked, "what do you think he was doing in Knocturn Alley?" Adriana hesitated before speaking and almost looked at me.

"I... I think he might have been purchasing suspicious items, like you think, but... But what in Knocturn Alley isn't suspicious? His mind was clouded at the time, he wasn't as sharp as he normally is..."

"Why?"

"Because of a recent personal issue."

"What is that recent personal issue?"

"Well... he hasn't led the smoothest of a life. He's faced abuse from his Death Eater of a father and wired out mother, and so I can only imagine what he had hoped he would have done by now. Being the father of a recently departed mentally retarded seventeen month old boy isn't what he had in mind, I don't think."

There she was, I looked up brazenly at her. She couldn't bring this to my attention, but she could declare it to the Wizengamot without hesitation. I would have felt angry at her for bringing our personal affairs into such a broad spotlight such as this, but I was too busy feeling miserable for myself. Of course, I didn't think of the idea that this might nurse some sympathy from the Wizengamot and this definitely didn't bring any emotions of thankfulness for what she was willing to risk, instead I felt ashamed of what she said.

"When did the child die?"

"August seventh."

"What does this have to do with the suspicious purchases? And how does this tie in with your proclamations of his new found faith in your ideals, Dumbledore?" Crouch demanded.

"It simply states how he had a muddied mind when he made the purchases and got into the brawl. And this goes to show his priorities concerning his new found faith."

"I think it shows more that since he led a life in an abusive home and witnessed my own, he was not willing to bring that same unhappy atmosphere to his family. So he could have a clean conscience when he would come home stressed out over the sins he committed for the Dark Lord, if he were actually committing them to benefit Dumbledore. It shows that he has a moral backbone and that he had genuine reasons when he decided to become a spy for Dumbledore. He's not just using it as an excuse to avoid Azkaban."

Crouch looked over her, stroking his toothbrush moustache thoughtfully. He then dismissed her after asking Dumbledore if that was all we needed to know. Adriana got up, gave a little curtsy, and left. Dumbledore gave some more flawless arguments for my innocence and how I ought to be given a clean slate, for I will be more useful if not harassed by the Ministry. He also promised that if I was found to be false, that I could be thrown to the Ministry's punishment without question.

Eventually, after what seemed like hours later, I was released. Adriana had been waiting outside and Dumbledore and I found her looking apprehensively at the door as the Wizengamot filed out.

"Well?" she asked.

"He has been cleared."

"Should I expect a dinner tonight or will I be allowed in the kitchen without supervision?" she asked me coldly, I heard a slight slur. She was drunk during my trial.

"We'll see." Dumbledore observed us and decided to ignore whatever domestic issues we seemed to have and clapped his hands together.

"Perhaps a celebratory drink?" he suggested.

"I've got to pick up Rosalyn from nursery school," she replied kindly to the Headmaster.

"Are you sure? I'm sure it'd be so lovely to enjoy your drinks on someone else's tab," I snarled. Adriana glared at me.

"You ought to go ahead and go, I'm sure you'd like to avoid your home with a prepared and genuine excuse," she snapped in response and left without another word. Dumbledore looked at me, his bushy silver eyebrows raised.

"Maybe it's just me, but I'd like to think that I'd be a bit more gracious to the woman who helped keep me out of prison." I grunted. Dumbledore changed the subject and took me to a nearby pub. I sat and listened to his ramblings for a healthy amount of time (not too long to let him see me get completely drunk, but not too short to make him think I'm not grateful) and left. I went back to my home and found Birdie stroking a sleeping Rosalyn and found Adriana staring blankly at the carpet as her body was thrown over the couch in an alcohol induced personality coma.

I went to the kitchen and fixed myself something to eat and went to my laboratory.