Shadows || A Severus Snape Fanfiction

Chapter 26 - Severus

"Why did you not tell me!" Severus barked at Dumbledore once Asha's footsteps had faded. The headmaster looked at him and sighed. He went over to his desk and sank into his chair. Albus suddenly looked very tired.

"You must understand, Severus," he said wearily.

"No, I certainly do not understand," Severus snapped. He marched over to Dumbledore and planted his hands on the desk, leaning over him. "I thought you trusted me! I needed to know this!"

"The fewer people know of her existence, the better things will be for everyone," Dumbledore said calmly.

"But me, Albus! Why not tell me? Clearly you needed someone to watch her more closely. I caught her in the restricted section of the library looking at Slytherin lineage over two years ago!"

Severus' accusing glare bored into Dumbledore, but the old man seemed infuriatingly lost in thought.

"Have I not proven my loyalty to you?" Severus continued, "have I not risked my life concealing truths from the Dark Lord? Have I not told you that I am willing to do so again if, Merlin forbid, the time arises?"

"That is exactly it, Severus," said Dumbledore suddenly, standing to meet him at eye level. "When Lord Voldemort returns, you will be the one to deceive him. I could not risk information about Asha falling into his hands if your Occlumency were to falter."

Severus opened his mouth in outrage but Dumbledore pressed on. "I have no doubt she will have a crucial part to play in the war that is to come. In what way exactly, I am not certain. But she is our wild card - we must keep her close to our chest and we cannot lose her."

"You say that," began Severus, his voice now dangerously quiet, "and yet you put her entire mind at risk with that atrocity of memory-altering magic!"

"You are right," admitted Dumbledore, "it was a complex and unstable form of magic. When instincts and habits sneak through, short circuits can be triggered. I thought after she shielded the rock during the First Task, the magic had continued to do its job and she would be perhaps a little confused but not any more troubled than that. I see now it dislodged one of the barriers in her mind and the deterioration of the spell began."

You have no idea, thought Severus. He paced the room, thinking over all that had come to light in the last hour.

"What a ridiculous scheme," he spat, "to send a sixteen-year-old into Hogwarts as if they were eleven!"

"I know," said Dumbledore severely, "but I chose to take the risk. And up until this point, it seemed to have paid off. I was lucky. She chose to play the part well. Until recently she was always intent on blending in. I'm afraid that now that is something I am going to have to convince her to do." The two men met eyes and a knowing look passed between them; that was going to be difficult.

"What form of physical concealing magic did you use?" asked Severus after a moment, "she is clearly not a fourth year."

Dumbledore's lips twitched into a small, sad smile.

"Ah," he said, "this type of spell requires no magic, Severus, "it's quite simple. People see what they expect to see."

Severus opened his mouth to argue the ludicrousy of the suggestion but Dumbledore cut in, "It is a more powerful tendency than one would expect."

"Nonsense!" said Severus, "Perhaps that trick works on the less observant, but I would have noticed."

"And yet," said Dumbledore, motioning with his hands, "here we are."