Chapter 9
Head Auror Amelia Bones stepped into the little interrogation room and smiled kindly at the nervous young man sitting at the table. “This is just a formality, Severus,” she reassured him as she sat across from him. “If we want to get Dumbledore out of the school, we need to do as thorough an investigation as we can, to ferret out all the secrets and misdeeds he’s committed against the students, both past and present. This interview will be recorded, so that your testimony, along with others’, can be heard during the inquest. Should it result in a trial for the old man, you will be one of the primary witnesses against him, along with other students, who were victims of abuse, and staff, who were witness to how he treated abuse cases.” She pulled the recording orb from her pocket and set it in its holder, tapping it three times with her wand to activate it.
“It is March 5, 1983, and with me is Severus Tobias Prince-Riddle. I am Amelia Susan Bones, and this interview is to determine the culpability Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore has in the continued abuse of muggleborns and halfbloods living in the muggle world, as well as his role in the death of Harry James Potter. Further charges may be pending if it is revealed that his inaction in providing sanctuary to those abused students, as provided by the Hogwarts charter, had resulted in their deaths. Now, Lord Prince-Riddle, I know that these questions may be quite uncomfortable for you, and if you need to stop at any time for a break, just let me know.”
“Thank you, madam Bones,” Severus replied with a courtly nod of his head. “I am just as anxious to see that our children are protected from men like Albus as you are, so any question, no matter how uncomfortable, will be answered as completely and honestly as possible.”
“You grew up in a very abusive environment, did you not?” was the first question, and right out of the gate Severus knew he’d be an emotional wreck by the end of the interview.
“I did,” the Potions Master intoned flatly, gearing himself up for a lot of remembered pain.
“Do you know why you were treated so horribly by your father?” she carefully queried, watching the other man for any signs of distress. She saw the shutter fall over dark eyes and her heart quailed at the information that would follow.
“Tobias Snape was an abusive drunkard who drank up most of the money Mother made through her potions,” was the response. “Mother didn’t reveal we were magical until the sperm donor had seen me do some accidental magic whilst I was lying in my cot, when I was two. He went straight to her and beat her bloody, accusing her of lying to him just to bag a husband. It took her two days to recover enough to see to my needs, and in that time I didn’t eat; nor did my nappy get changed regularly. The only time he came into the room was when I was screaming because my bum was on fire from the rashes. Then, he’d ripped the nappy off, punch me in the face a couple of times and walk out without seeing to my sores. I learned very quickly to keep silent, no matter how much pain I was feeling.”
“I’m...I’m sorry you had to suffer so, Severus,” Bones told the other man, sickened at the level of violence perpetrated against a toddler. Clearing her throat, she continued, the wobble in her voice barely there as she fought to maintain her composure. “Did...did the abuse ever stop?”
“Only when he was too drunk to move,” Severus told the woman matter-of-factly. “Those were the only times my mother and I had peace, but they were few and far between. He never had a job long enough to support the family, due to his drinking and his temper, so he relied on my mother’s potions knowledge to bring in the occasional coin. She would try and buy enough food to last us until the next order, and he would drink up the rest, becoming belligerent if he thought she was ‘holding back’. She tried setting a budget for him by hiding the money and only parsing it out in dribs and drabs, but that quickly ended when he broke her arm and her nose. After that, she made sure that there was always booze in the house, even if it was the cheapest lighter fluid she could find.”
“If he hated magic so much, how were you able to go to Hogwarts?” the Head Auror asked softly.
“When my letter came, Mother and I were so excited. We both thought the same thing; that this would be my ticket to escaping the sperm donor. She’d attended Hogwarts herself whilst Dippet was still headmaster, and Albus was transfiguration and DADA professor. I...I found in her personal records where she spoke to Armando and asked him for sanctuary at Hogwarts, and from all indications, he was going to grant it. However, because she was a Slytherin, Dumbledore got into his ear and convinced Dippet not to let her stay; that she would somehow damage the school if left unattended. I know, from my own experiences during my time at Hogwarts, that he would have bent over backward to pander to the Gryffindors' needs, if not outright offer them shelter himself, but he always left the Slytherins out to dry. Can anyone blame the snakepit for turning to someone who would promise them that they’d come first after all that?
“Did you know he offered to shelter and help Remus Lupin?” At Bones’ wide-eyed stare, the Potions Master nodded sagely and continued. “It’s true. Lupin’s gang found out he was a werewolf partway into first year, and went to Albus about it, and the old man set up a tunnel underneath the Whomping Willow so that Lupin could use the Shrieking Shack as shelter during his monthly transformations. He also made sure that Lupin was provided a home away from the public, so that his transformations wouldn't result in his death. I don’t recall any other werewolf or creature hybrid having that opportunity. I know that Salazar wanted the charter to reflect that only purebloods were to attend, but the other three Founders vetoed him, and compromised on not allowing creatures and creature hybrids to attend.
“And, I don’t believe any of the kids from Knockturn Alley or any other poverty-stricken villages were permitted to enroll, either, in spite of the scholarship fund that Hogwarts has set aside, for those poorer families to send their kids to school. I think the Department of Magical Education has also set aside some funds for those who are less solvent, too.”
“They have,” Bones agreed with a frown. “It’s bigger, now that we’re instituting magical primary schools and working on rescuing muggleborns and halfbloods, out in the muggle world, who are in danger from their primary caretakers. Did you apply for sanctuary from the abuse as well?”
“I did in my first year,” Severus told the Auror softly. “Mother encouraged me to try and escape the house; that she was worried that I might not survive if I was returned there. Dumbledore brushed off my concerns and yammered on about parents loving their children and that I must be exaggerating some simple punishments to try and get my parents in trouble. That perhaps I wasn’t getting everything I wanted. My clothes were threadbare and worn, and there were a variety of patches on them to keep them together. All my street clothes were mismatched and oversized because they were the castoffs that the sperm donor discarded, and that Mother rescued from the trash.
“My nose, as you can see, isn’t exactly straight, due to it being broken more than once when he was in one of his drunken rages. Mother mitigated as much damage as she could with her tonics, but the damage he inflicted has forever marked me. I have always been on the thin side, but the lack of adequate nutrition had left me gaunt and emaciated, and the food at Hogwarts was so rich that it took me weeks before I could tolerate it enough to eat more substantial meals. I was very obviously maltreated, but Dumbledore refused to see it because I was a Slytherin. Fortunately for me, Lucius Malfoy saw something about me that drew his interest, and he mentored me until he graduated. He also offered me sanctuary in his home during the breaks, so I was finally safe for the first time in my life.”
“Were you the only student in an abusive environment during your time at Hogwarts?” was the next query. “If not, did any of them receive sanctuary from the assaults?”
“No, I wasn’t,” Prince-Riddle answered with a scowl. “There were many kids in Slytherin whose parents were a little rougher than they needed to be, in training their kids to take up their titles when they were old enough. I know that there were several in dire straits in other houses, too, but they were mostly muggleborn, and Albus categorically refused to take the muggleborns away from their muggle families. Sirius Black’s parents, as you know, were some of the vilest Dark practitioners imaginable, as were Narcissa’s parents, and they were also sent back to their families. I was actually surprised that Sirius was not taken more...well...seriously about his own family issues, seeing that he was a Gryffindor, but Albus has blinders on for all the students, no matter their background. He’s always believed in the love and strength of family, and I’d just bet that there’s a story there that’ll help us figure out why he’s so gung-ho for familial relationships.”
“We’ll be looking into Dumbledore’s background and talking to people who grew up with him, including his brother,” Amelia reassured the thin man with a smile. “I’m sure we’ll get the full story one way or another. Now, in regards to your husband...”
“Tom should be the one to tell his story,” Severus cleanly avoided the veiled hint. “I don’t wish to speak of things he might not want to be revealed.”
“Fair enough,” the interviewer agreed with a nod. “What do you know about Harry Potter and what happened to him?”
“Only what I’ve read in the papers,” Prince-Riddle replied sadly. “Lily was my very best friend growing up. She was the only escape I had when things were starting to get really ugly at home. I met her in the park down the street when we were nine. She and her sister were playing on the swings, and Lily had done some accidental magic that had her sister calling her names. I stepped in and explained what Lily had done to the sisters, and Petunia instantly called us abominations. That we were unnatural, according to her religion. Lily wanted to know more, so we went off by ourselves to talk, and to show off what we could do. She was such a powerful little spitfire at nine, and had only grown into a wondrous young lady at Hogwarts.”
“You sound like you were in love with her,” Bones pointed out gently. “Were you?”
“She was my very best friend,” Severus told the other woman slowly. “In fact, she was my only friend until we got to Hogwarts. When we were separated into different houses, she in Gryffindor and myself in Slytherin, we tried to maintain that friendship outside classes and on the weekends. We’d spend as much time as possible together, exploring magic and expanding our knowledge as much as we could. Potter and Black bullied me relentlessly because of my closeness with Lily, but it was never more than a very deep kinship; almost like siblings, if you will. When they would attack me, she would leap to my defense, which only angered Potter more.
“James’ obsession with her, at eleven, for Merlin’s sake, wore on her quite a bit, so she avoided him as much as she could. That just made him angrier, so he and his friends increased the viciousness of their assaults, and I spent quite a bit of time in the infirmary because of them. After our OWLs, when the Marauders pulled the nastiest prank they could in front of nearly the whole school, Lily and I parted ways. She came to my defense, but I was so humiliated by what they did, and the neglect it had revealed to everyone, that I lashed out at her when she tried to help me. Lucius had a ‘friend’ to whom he wanted to introduce me, and I readily agreed. Throughout all of the punishment doled out to me in the school, and despite his graduation, he still maintained his regard for me, so I eagerly met the man who would become my husband. After that, my life and goals finally changed for the better.”
“If you and Lily Potter were such good friends, why didn’t you take the boy?” Amelia queried curiously.
“Lily and I lost touch with each other, and I didn’t know anything about her life until after she was murdered,” the Potions Master responded, voice trembling with suppressed emotion. “Even if she had designated me guardian of her son, I doubt very much that I would have been able to take custody of him. I suspect Albus had other plans in store for that boy, and that’s why he went to Lily’s sister, and that’s why he died at her hands.”