kbinnz - Harry's New Home

Snape ignored Black's words and unstuck him from the bed, though he kept the other man at wandpoint. "Your memories showed you all had Animagus forms. Prove that this is more than the ramblings of a broken mind."

Sirius got painfully to his feet. "Fine. Whatever makes you happy, you Slytherin shi-" Before he could finish the word, a large, skeletal black dog stood where the gaunt man had been.

Only Snape's iron control permitted him to keep his feet. It was true then. Pettigrew had been the Secret Keeper and had betrayed the other Marauders. It was because of him that James and Lily had died and Sirius was framed for a crime he didn't commit. But why hadn't DumbledoreтАж Snape forced himself away from that line of thought. It would not be a question he could answer here and now, and in fact he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer. Either the Headmaster was a great deal more fallible than anyone had dreamed, or he was much more ruthlessly manipulating than anyone had feared. Neither option was particularly welcome, and Snape couldn't afford to be distracted just then.

Sirius shifted back to his human form. "So? Satisfied yet, Death Eater?" he asked snidely, reseating himself on the bunk. Apparently spending time in animal form was rather restful; he seemed better, more centered, than he had before.

"Eat this," Snape ordered, passing him more chocolate. "You'll need it."

"So why are you here?" Black demanded. "If your side lost, how come you're not in the next cell over?"

"I was Dumbledore's spy, you idiot," Snape snapped. "How do you think he knew the Dark Lord was after Lily and James?" Black blinked. "After the war, Dumbledore spoke on my behalf and took me back to Hogwarts. I'm the Head of Slytherin and the Potions professor."

"Oh, Merlin," Black breathed. "Dumbledore turned you loose on poor defenseless children?"

Snape threw him a dirty look. "Shut up, mutt."

"What about Harry? What happened to him? Without James and Lily and with me locked up here тАУ"

"Dumbledore placed him with Lily's sister."

Sirius paled. "Not Petunia! She's тАУ"

"Yes. And her husband is worse." Snape glared at him. "And here I had imagined you might actually prove useful for once in your misbegotten life."

"What are you talking about?"

Snape waved a hand in frustration. "I was hoping you might have some innovative ideas on how to repay the Dursleys for making Harry's childhood miserable, but that was back when I imagined you were a secret Death Eater. Obviously, though, you're as useless as ever," he ended, feeling rather depressed. All he had managed to do was to prove the innocence of his boyhood nemesis and raise some very troubling concerns about his mentor's behavior. What a rotten night.

"Don't get your knickers in a twist, Snivellus," Black chided. "I may not be a murderer, but I'm still a Marauder. Of course I'll have good ideas." Then all of Snape's words finally registered. "Wait. What do you mean, they made Harry unhappy?"

Snape shrugged, elaborately casual. "Oh, does it matter to you? Well, let's see. They forced him to live in a cupboard, barely fed him, and used him as a house elf even as they pampered their own little horror. Oh, and they thrashed him on a regular basis. He arrived at Hogwarts too welted to sit down properly."

The look in Black's eye made Snape back up a step, raising his wand. It was only when he realized the other man's rage wasn't directed at him that he felt his heart rate start to slow.

"They did that to my godson?" Black's voice was a low growl.

"Indeed."

"And Albus is making them pay?"

Snape rolled his eyes. And they said Hufflepuffs were the loyal ones. "Albus, the man who has done nothing to extricate you from your unjust incarceration, has left both the Dursleys' punishment and Harry's guardianship in my hands."

Black came off the bed in a leap and Snape only barely managed to get his wand up in time. He flung Black back onto the bunk and stuck him down again. "You bastard. You must be delighted тАУ now you can revenge yourself on all of us by taking it out on Harry. Albus must be bloody insane."

"Calm yourself, mutt!" Snape spat. "I would remind you that I wasn't the bully during our schooldays, picking on classmates when I had a four to one advantage. The boy will come to no harm at my hands, though I can hardly say the same thing about his own relatives."

Black panted, but he had no strength to sustain his rage and the fury that had overtaken him rapidly ebbed. "You won't harm Harry? You swear it?" he sounded almost plaintive.

"Yes, of course," Snape said testily, forcing down unexpected pity for the other man. "He's a horrible, needy little brat, but he's too scared of his own shadow тАУ thanks to those appalling Muggles тАУ to remind me of either you or James." Well, not after that first night... he thought uncomfortably.

Black stared at him for another moment, as if to evaluate whether he could believe him, before dropping his gaze to the floor. There was a long silence, then: "I apologize."

Snape hid his shock and even managed an airy wave. "What's one more insult from you, Black? I barely even notice anymore."

"No. I meant that I apologize for what we did to you at school." Now Snape was truly speechless. Black kept his eyes on the floor, but he continued speaking. "We тАУ James and Remus and I тАУ well, mostly James and I тАУ were prats. And it was me more than James, especially once he started seeing Lily and she insisted we leave you be. We тАУ I тАУ treated you like shite and I'm sorry. These last ten years, I've learned what it feels like to be trapped and tortured. We should never have treated you like that. I just assumed that considering how awful we'd been, you would have taken it out on Harry. I apologize for thinking that, too."

"Wh- what do you want, Black?" Severus managed to find his voice.

Black actually smiled, though it was only a ghost of his old cheeky grin. "Ever the Slytherin, eh? Well, I wouldn't say no to more of that chocolate, but I wasn't apologizing only to get on your good side, Snivel- er, Snape. It just seemed the least I could do, considering that you're taking care of my godson after the rest of us made a bollocks of it. There's not much else I can do for you from here."

"No," Snape agreed sourly, regaining his composure. "What a surprise."

"Don't whinge, Snape," Black chided. "I swear you're disappointed I wasn't a Death Eater. Just what do you have planned for Harry's relatives anyway?"

Snape shrugged mentally and shared his plans, emphasizing the difficulty that Black's uselessness would now create for him. Maybe I still have time to drop in on BellatrixтАж

Sirius regarded him with a mixture of exasperation and tentative hope. "Snape, you bloody idiot. I may not have been one of Voldemort's little toadies, but have you forgotten who made your life a living hell all those years? Get me out of here, and I'll drive the Dursleys insane within the year. I'll make them pay for harming Harry."

Severus considered the offer. There was no doubt that Black could be an implacable тАУ and all too inventive тАУ adversary. Once provided with a new wand, he would be able to torture the Dursleys with everything from boils to termite infestations, and while his escape would undoubtedly kick off a massive manhunt, no one would ever assume Snape had anything to do with it. Snape reluctantly acknowledged that, if handled properly, Black's escape might also help to raise some questions about his imprisonment тАУ such as why he had received no trial, why Veritaserum hadn't been used, and so on. While the last thing he wanted was Sirius Black back in his life тАУ not to mention the fact that the werewolf would not be far behind once Black was exonerated тАУ in the coming years, Harry would need all the protectors he could get. And if Dumbledore were playing some kind of deep game, then having allies beyond Hogwarts could be more than helpful тАУ they might be desperately needed.