Dad's offer was sensible. In times like these, minutes, even mere moments, mattered most. In times like these, Al had a very tangible, logical sense of regret at not owning a broom or having aptitude to ride it. But that was pointless to revisit right now, so Al shoved down the sensation of panic and forced his body to cooperate as he swung one leg over the broom behind Dad. He clutched the broomstick in a deathgrip.
"Hurry," he breathed. He just wanted it to be over soon.
If Al had to choose from the moments of his own not-so-stellar broom mounting, Al much preferred the night he was at home, hidden underneath Jamie's invisibility cloak, climbing up behind him and leaving Garden Court for what turned out to be the last time. Even that terrible night had seemed better than the current situation.
Severus was in his office, a fortunate occurrence which Al didn't dare to hope for. Al didn't want to have this conversation in Severus' study, not in a place where Septimus and the spiders and the Compendium and Al himself had made their home.
Al didn't add much to his father's words, only the necessary: "I need to use your pensieve." Afterwards, he only did what was necessary as well: he drew his wand, and with it, he pulled three knotted pieces of his memory into the basin, just as Jamie had taught him.
'You shouldn't let the possibility of publicity stop you,' Mandy told him once. Well then, that made what Al was doing now, a therapist-approved choice.
What was it that I told her?
It's not a question of bending. Or even a question of Severus not being welcome at the family dinners in the foreseeable future. Being associated with me makes Severus vulnerable as well and puts his position at Hogwarts at risk.
"Her notes were thorough and she abbreviated names and locations to a single letter," Al said, neutral, as if describing a co-worker's writing style. "I cannot be certain that it was always the case." Al stepped away from the pensieve, looking at Dad and Severus both. Even if Al had no control of who poked and pried into the coveted, hoarded canvas of Al's personal life and even if he was forced to watch others chop it apart and run off with the torn pieces, he could at least do this. He could control who else got to see the tattered remains.
"There were three sessions. I need you both to examine them. In the worst case scenario, you need to consider any and all information revealed in them to be compromised."