I Solemnly Swear

Chapter 29: Meeting The Professors

In all their years of pranking the living daylights out of the school, Rose had never seen Dumbledore this furious. He didn't yell, or rant, or berate them for their idiocy. He didn't even expell them as soon as he had seen them. No. It was worse. Much worse. Infinitely worse.

He sat there.

In silence.

Staring at them.

Not a word of reproach or anger passed his closed lips. He sat there, examining them from behind his half-moon spectacles, radiating disappointment. Normally, the Marauders (as a whole) wouldn't have given a flying flobberworm about disappointing a professor, but this was different. Not only had they broken his trust, placed his students in danger, and opened up his school to criticism from the Ministry (if this were ever to get out), but they were also rather fond of Dumbledore. If the Marauders were the type to squirm uncomfortably, that would be exactly what they would have been doing right at that very instant.

Rose thought it said something about the gravity of the situation that none of the Marauders had yet dared attempt an explanation. Remus had tried, voice quiet and unusually subdued (even for him), but he had trailed off, sinking even deeper into himself as an expression of his shame and guilt. Peter couldn't even meet their eyes let alone Dumbledore's. He was sunk deep into a thoroughly uncomfortable chair, gnawing nervously on his fingernails and appearing to fervently hope that someone might take pity on him and have the ground swallow him up at their earliest convenience. James and Sirius were remarkably composed, ignoring Dumbledore, Rose, Remus, and Peter in favour of having one of their weird wordless conversations. Their eyes flickered with intensity, each clearly trying to put their point across with as much emphasis as it was possible to do without using words or any gestures whatsoever. As for Rose, well she was exhausted. Her body was protesting the night's activities, and was bringing back uncomfortable memories of those weeks in the Hospital Wing recovering from Bellatrix's not so tender attentions. Frankly, it was a case of something having to give, and Rose just couldn't take the tense silence another second longer.

"It was all an illusion, Professor" Rose spoke up, knowing that Dumbledore might not find James and Sirius (with their well-known hatred of Snape) credible. To their credit, both their jaws clicked shut, not even considering that the news might be better delivered by them as they had so obviously been planning. Rose kept her violet gaze on their Headmaster, trusting that he would be able to read the sincerity and the truth in her eyes. "We set it up. All five of us. Otherwise we'd never have even thought of letting James in there after Snape." Dumbledore gazed thoughtfully at her, some of the raw fury abating. Time to lay it on a bit thicker. "We've known about Remus for years, we don't give a flying flobberworm. But" here she smiled sadly at the shamefaced Remus. "We know the hatred and bigotry that would follow if Remus' furry little secret ever got out." Remus, still so guilty, but still so wonderful, squeezed her hand lightly, giving her the gentle prompt to go on. "I admit that there were definitely better ways that we could have gone about it, Professor. And perhaps we could have gone about it more gently for Snape's mental well being (not that we actually ever thought to give any consideration to that, nor do we particularly care even now). But the simple fact of the matter is that sooner or later, Snape would have tried to follow Remus into the Shack, he would have run into a furious werewolf who recognised an enemy intruder threatening his pack, and Moony couldn't have stopped himself from attacking. It's only werewolf instincts to protect what they consider to be their territory." James picked up the thread of the explanation with a thankful nod at Rose.

"Now, we all know that anyone with a working braincell knows that we despise Snivell- Snape, but we love Remus. Good Godric, he's our brother." It was a simple fact, one backed up by the automatic nods from the other Marauders. James cleaned his glasses, staring straight at Dumbledore. His hazel eyes had the intensity Rose recognised from Hogsmeade; raw and decisive, but also intent on doing what he knew was right. "Think what you will about our collective maturity, despite the proof of what we went through in Hogsmeade, but we could never risk Moony or his well-being like that. It would kill him if he thought he'd hurt someone, even someone as utterly worthless as Snape." He shrugged lightly, half-gesturing expansively at them all. "We're the Marauders, we have to look out for our own. There's no one else around who'll do it."