No Longer Your Man Title: No Longer Your Man Author: K8BNimble Pairing: implied Severus/Harry if you squint Rating: PG-13 Word Count: 921 Warning(s): None really – other than no beta. Barely had time to write this for the deadline so all mistakes are mine! May be slight AU due to possible timing inconsistency of when one conversation happened and the event happened to which I am referring too. I’m not sure the conversation had an actual timeframe in the book so I took a few liberties. Summary: Severus Snape must take on yet one more unpleasant task to win Dumbledore’s war for him. A/N: Response to the challenge for a scene from the first part of DH from Severus' POV. Wish I had something more original but plot bunnies are hiding from me... Disclaimer: I don’t own Harry Potter. Some lovely lady named Rowling does. She also makes money on it while I do not.
No Longer Your Man
“Is it done?”
Severus shifted his weight from side to side, feeling anxious and unsettled. He stared out of the tower window into the dark and didn’t answer. He felt dirty.
“Severus, have you done it?” the old man asked again.
“You mean, have I sullied my soul even further for the cause?” Severus whispered into the darkness.
“It has to be done. Harry must get it.”
“I’m well aware of the things Potter must do to fight your war.” Severus turned and faced the portrait. He was angry. Angry at a splotch of paint that continued to ask the impossible of him.
Dumbledore squinted from his frame. “Our war, Severus. Ours. We’ve all made sacrifices.”
“Some more than others,” Severus spat. He spun hard so his dark robes swirled around him before he went to the cabinet and poured himself a drink. He threw it back with determination. Perhaps, he could allow himself a drunken stupor just this once.
He shook his head. No, still too much to do this evening.
“Yes. I only had to die,” Dumbledore’s visage replied, serenely. If Severus didn’t know better, he would have thought the man was being sarcastic. Severus was partially pleased that, at least, the former Headmaster recognized that his own was the easiest of sacrifices.
He thought of their conversation just a few days prior when Dumbledore finally admitted Potter’s true destiny. Of how his own heart had sunk at the realization the boy would need to die. Of how he lied to Dumbledore about why his own Patronus was a doe. Let the man believe Severus still loved Lily. Dumbledore knew too much about Severus already. He didn’t need to know how much Severus had actually come to care for the boy. It was pointless anyways. Harry would die. Severus, too, would die. He had accepted that. Maybe on the other side he and Harry could confront the man together and then spend eternity reconciling their own confusing and conflicting emotions between each other. Severus missed those green eyes deeply. He missed the stirring of passion he felt whenever Harry had walked into the room. Even if they just fought, at least Severus felt something. That’s more than he could say about any other single person alive. Harry made him feel.
“I ask again. Is it done?” the old goat broke the long silence.
“Yes,” Severus answered tightly, irritated he’d been interrupted in his musings.
“Good.”
“There’s nothing good about it. You know what will happen when they are discovered. How they will be punished.” Severus dreaded the images coming at him. Images of the things his new staff liked to do. He was mostly impotent against them. Severus may not like the students personally, but he did not wish to see children suffer – and they would be when discovered.
“That is why you will need to take charge and punish them. Do not let the Carrows find them first. This is one time you must insist on doling out punishment yourself.”
“Well then, I guess I’d better make it easy and go position myself awhile for the inevitable.” Severus reached up to where the newly minted sword had been hiding and carefully replaced the real sword. He would need to be sure the authentic one was safe until he could locate Harry. He became aware he was biting his own lip in frustration and anger.
“The plan is solid, Severus.” Dumbledore tried to sound reassuring. It sounded patronizing. “We need to be sure the Death Eaters believe the Sword of Gryffindor is no longer at Hogwarts so you will be able to deliver it to Harry when the time comes. The only way to do that is to have it very visibly removed from the grounds.”
“And that requires using the Imperius Curse on children? Yet another crime I would be sent to Azkaban for if discovered? Another spell that damages my soul?” That was the real reason the three curses were considered ‘Unforgivable’. There were certainly worse curses in existence, but the nature of those three actually required a small piece of your soul to execute them. It was an ‘Unforgivable’ price to pay to perform them. That small fact seemed to elude most wizards. Severus sighed. He didn’t know why he bothered. Dumbledore no longer cared about Severus’ soul.
The man interrupted his thoughts again. “You and I both know that Neville Longbottom and Ginevra Weasley would never think of doing this on their own. And yet, no one would believe anyone other than them would do this. It must be them and they must be caught. Then, you may place that sword at Gringott’s Bank which will give you the freedom to get the real sword to Harry without fear of discovery.” Dumbledore seemed inordinately pleased with his own plan.
Severus closed his eyes for a long moment. “As usual, you will leave me to do the dirty work and the excruciating clean-up afterwards.” He tried to imagine how he would be able to find Harry to deliver this special package. He allowed himself the small indulgence of picturing a reunion where, instead of delivering the sword, he apparated the two of them out of the country and into hiding. But that would never happen. The Gryffindor would never leave his friends to the tender mercies of the Dark Lord.
Severus let out a disgusted sigh of acceptance. “So be it. But know this, Albus – I am no longer your man.”