Chapter Text
“Severus, I must say, you need to get more rest over the holidays. Maybe take a trip to the sea or something?” Filius offered squeakily when he saw the younger professor limping down the hill to the apparition point. They could see two other figures standing just across the boundary waiting for them to join.
“Hmf,” Snape grunted in annoyance. “Unfortunately, if I do not work on my research or try to restock my stores during the holidays northing will get done during the year.”
“Alas, I’m sure Madam Pomfrey wouldn’t mind buying some potions off the catalogs this year?”
“Ha,” Snape snorted, “I’ll let you suggest that to her, shall I?”
“Ah, Filius! Severus! Good to see you both again! I appoligize that I couldn’t meet you both at the portrait like I said I would, but I see you both found my note to go on without me” Albus greeted them. “We will be going by side-along apparition since neither of you have even been to this place before. Severus with me.”
Snape took Albus’s offered sleeve, a gaudy thing really, and closed his eyes. He hated side-along apparition, but there was no avoiding the mode of travel this time. Muggle travel, floo travel, and travel by the night bus or brooms could be tracked easily if a witch or wizard wanted to spend their time tracking someone.
“Now, keep an open mind, son.”
“I’m not your son,” Snape muttered just as his stomach dropped and the familiar feeling of being squeezed through a small tube.
He slammed into the ground and let out sharp hiss as he felt stitches pop with the force of his landing. He slammed his eyes closed and took a few deep breaths.
“Merlin, the wanker can’t even fucking apparate right! Some things never change, do they, Snivels?”
His blood froze in an instant and Snape quickly pushed himself off of the floor and stood straight, wand extended in the direction of the snide remark.
“Sirius!” Albus reprimanded as he walked between the two men. “This is your final warning. If you do not even attempt at acting like an adult, the Order will leave this house and never come back. You were not the only place to offer to be headquarters.”
At this, Snape stopped glaring and looked curiously around the entrance hall. The place was filthy. The walls, which were once covered in expensive wallpaper, had been stained with water leaks and years of caked on dust. The floors were warped, covered in thick grime, and in need of a few rounds with a magical mop. Heavy curtains, half dissolved by moths and rats, covered a portrait which was thankfully still asleep.
There was only one place this hovel could be. Grimmauld Place, the last remaining ancestral home of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. Regulus, and sometimes Narcissa, had referred to the home often in the common room when they were children at school together. It appears that the decade of being left empty after Walburga’s death hadn’t suited the old bones very well at all.
“The others are in the kitchen, Headmaster,” Sirius said after pointing to the steps. Snape withdrew his wand and followed the headmaster to the short set of rotting steps leading to a lower level.
“Ah, Professors! Welcome!” Arthur Weasley smiled at both of them. “We’re just waiting on a few more, but Molly’s been cooking all morning and tea’s on the table.”
“Thank you, Arthur,” Dumbledore smiled and stretched his neck to peer at the long table, “Would there be any of her marvelous pumpkin pasties by chance? How I do love those.”
“Er, maybe,” Arthur glanced over to the table.
“Professor Snape?” Arthur glanced over at him.
“Yes, Mr. Weasley?” He asked evenly.
“Could we perhaps talk in the hall?”
“I suppose we have a few minutes,” Snape agreed and went back into the dusty hallway, ignoring Sirius’s glare or the stares from the other order members. It had been similar before the Dark Lord’s demise years ago.
“What is it Mr. Weasley?” Severus asked once they were alone.
“Molly and I just wanted to pass on our gratitude for helping the twins with their little accident,” Arthur said.
“I was just doing my job,” Snape said flatly. “Although, the boys should reconsider unsupervised brewing of experimental potions.”
“Yes, well, we try our best with all the children,” Arthur blushed red.
“Hmm, yes, well,” Snape paused. “I suppose we should return to the kitchen. I think our last guest just arrived.”
“Thank you, Severus, really,” Arthur said one more time before heading back to the kitchen.
“As you all know, Voldemort has returned after an incident at the Triwizard Tournament,” Albus said gravely. “We know that he has recalled his Death Eaters and we should expect to see more violent attacks on muggles and muggleborns. Each and every one of us should stay vigilant.”
“Albus, is Harry Potter safe?” An elderly female asked from the end of the table.
“Young Harry is as safe as he ever was, Emmeline. He is protected while he is at his home for the holidays and he will be safe at Hogwarts. Voldemort won’t risk attacking the school while I am still Headmaster,” Albus assured the woman and the group.
“What is our plan?” Nymphadora Tonks asked from a few chairs down.
“We shall wait and see for now. Severus, Alastor, and Arthur will keep an eye out for any plans that Voldemort might be starting.” Albus started. All heads snapped toward the three mentioned men. Arthur blushed with the attention, Mad Eye grunted in annoyance, and Severus did his best to ignore all of them.
“So, we’re just going to wait for someone to get hurt?” A man’s voice rang out, Sirius’s if Snape heard correctly.
“No, Mr. Black, we aren’t simply going to wait,” Minerva scolded the man. “We’re recruiting new members, we’re infiltrating the ministry and tracing leads down internationally. We are building safe houses and networking with new members. Our spies are trying to find out what You-Know-Who’s next move may be.”
“Why aren’t we arresting the Death Eaters that are free?” Sirius bit out, glaring at Snape.
“I have proven my loyalties, in case you’ve forgotten that, Black,” Snape scathed at the man. “Now, if one of you would like to spy on the Dark Lord, be my guest.”
The room fell deathly silent. The old members looked pale as they remembered how he had proven his loyalties. The new members looked almost more pale at the acknowledgement of the dark professor being a Death Eater and that he would gladly swap places with one of them.
“And what about my cousins, the Malfoys? Or the Crabbes and Goyles? Or the…”
“BANG!” Sirius was cut off by a loud explosion coming from the floors above. Dust and plaster rained down on the table and Snape didn’t even stop to react.
He quickly drew his wand and ran to the stairs with a noticeable limp. Sharp pains radiated as he climbed the steps to where the dust in the air was thick and noxious smelling. He could almost taste the fumes on his tongue and he reached the landing.
Five teens stood panicking on the landing, four redheads and a bushy-haired brunette. Snape pushed past them and threw open the door to the room at the far end of the hall. Thick gas poured into the hall and Snape coughed as it burnt his eyes and made his nose water. He cast a quick spell to banish the fumes before stepping into the room. A growing puddle of goo was seeping into thick shag carpet and burning holes into the floor.
“Evanesco,” Snape cast and watched as the remains of what looked like a botched and poorly brewed anti-nausea potion disappeared. He swirled around on the panicked teens and scowled at them.
“What were you thinking?!” He yelled at the twins. “Did you not learn anything from the years in my class?!”
The twins stayed silent.
“Brewing without supervision? Brewing outside of a controlled lab? Brewing without following the directions exactly? What did you think would happen you idiots?!?”
“Now, Severus,” Minerva cut in from the hallway. “It’s summer holiday and disaster was avoided. I’m sure the boys will have learned their lesson.”
Snape stared at her and noticed that the rest of the order had followed him upstairs.
“Besides, you seem to be bleeding,” Minerva pointed to his thigh and the glistening fabric that turned his hand red when he touched it.
“I’m fine,” He said unnecessarily. "They might not be next time."
“Let’s go back to the kitchen," Remus offered. "I'm certain Molly can handle the boys after the meeting."
The teens wisely stayed silent, as did most of the order. Severus glared coldly at the assembled group before following Minerva back to the kitchen.
“Stay in your rooms until I come back,” Molly Weasley ordered the children who paled even more at the promise of punishment.
“Would you like some help?” Filius asked Snape as they made their way down the steep steps, Snape limping more than before and looking wearier after the physical demands of the stairs and the use of his magic.
“No, I’ll be fine.” Snape snapped and Filius wisely let him be.
The rest of the meeting went quickly and Snape left the house before the morning meal was served and before any of the Weasley’s could thank him again or blow up another cauldron of mystery potions. He stood on the front porch of No. 12 Grimmauld Place in London and called the Knight Bus. He was too drained to apparate and he wasn’t going back into Grimmauld place to find out if the Floo even worked in the house.
“Railview Hotel, Cokeworth,” Snape told the driver and found a stationary seat to sit in for his ride.
A few stops later Snape saw the tall, dilapidated chimney and rows of old brick homes that made up his childhood hometown. He stiffly excited the bus and limped past the dingy hotel, along the dirty river, and finally down an overgrown lawn to his childhood home’s front door. He unlocked the door, waved off the layers of spells he installed for security and entered the cramped entryway.
“Ah, Nero,” he greeted the large owl that was sitting on the fence near his kitchen window. He opened the window and let the bird squeeze through. He offered a talon, to which a tightly curled scroll was attached.
He untied the scroll, straightened it out, and read the few lines of unusually jagged script.
‘Severus,
I hope this letter finds you to be in better health than I. I fear I’ve fell rather ill this week due to my idiotic actions. Yet, that is besides the point of this missive. Our mutual friend would like to know if you are still going to be Potions Master next term and able to help out his cause that was discussed earlier this week?
Your Friend,
Lucius’
So, Voldemort was wondering if his spy was still trusted? Interesting. Snape grabbed an ink pot and quill from his study and wrote on the back of Lucius’s fine parchment.
‘L,
I am as well as can be expected. You may inform our mutual friend that I still hold the position of Master of Potions and Head of Slytherin House at Hogwarts. If he is in any need it would be my honor to assist him in any way I am capable.
S.S. Master of Potions’
He tied the scroll to Nero’s offered foot and summoned a dried lizard from his personal store room in the basement to give to the bird as a treat. The bird chortled at the treat and flew through the open window. Snape secured the window and headed to his small bedroom. Exhausted he pulled off his robes, messily dressed his bloodied thigh and fell back onto the lumpy mattress.
It was going to be a long year, Severus thought to himself before falling into a deep slumber.