Damaged Raven

chapter 4

"Albus" Snape said as he saw Dumbledore entering his interrogation cell "finally, I was beginning to believe I would rot in here. What took you so long?" Snape said, as Dumbledore looked over the man. Currently his hands were handcuffed to the table and the chair he sat in looked quite old and uncomfortable.

"I have just been spending some time conversing with a few ministry officials" Dumbledore admitted "it has taken me some time to merely get a conversation where all of our words won't be recorded" He said before conjuring his own chair and sitting down

"Well, how long till you get me out of here?" Snape asked "When I get back to Hogwarts I intend to teach that Potter brat a damn good lesson!" He growled that last part as visions of torturing that hideous brat were gladly accepted into his mind.

"There's a problem with that" Dumbledore said

"And what's that?"

"I'm not sure if I should help you" Dumbledore said calmly

"What?!" Snape blurted out, looking at the old man in shock

"I trusted you Severus" Dumbledore said sadly "despite everyone else disagreeing with me, constantly I might add, I defended you. I defended you against the members of the order, my fellow colleagues at Hogwarts, the board and even occasionally my students. I did this because I believed that if you had simply let go of your petty grudge and hatred against a dead man, then you would be able to move on and eventually live a happy life. Sadly, not even I can help a person who refuses my help"

"Albus that arrogant child attacked me!"

"You tried to mind rape him" Dumbledore countered "not only a criminal offence that is highly frowned upon, but you decided to do it on none other than the boy of the prophecy, the boy-who-lived. To make matters worse you chose to do it in front of a classroom full of witnesses including some pureblood children who would have studied occlumency and when you realised that Harry had some mental shields, you didn't stop, you merely continued as if you were determined to beat him, an eleven year old child"

"I was showing that brat how to treat his betters!" Snape snapped and slammed his hands on the table in front of him

"Severus, I saw a pensive memory of what happened in that classroom, and before you say anything, I should add that it has been checked by multiple people quite a few times, including myself and it is definitely real. In that memory, what I saw was a man with no intention of changing barging into a classroom and attempting to horrify innocent school children. Do you know what it looks like to a casual observer?"

"No but I have no doubt that you're going to tell me" Snape glared

"It looked like a former death eater stormed into a classroom, insulted some children including and especially the boy-who-lived, who also happens to have most of his face damaged, which will bring him quite a lot of sympathy. You also insulted him and his father despite the fact that the boy had not acted against you in any significant way, you then tried to read his mind and when he fought back you continued trying until he attacked you in an attempt to stop. You tell me Severus, who is the one that people are going to favour? The burned child hero who is the last of an ancient and respected family which includes two war heroes or the half-blood former death eater that barely escaped Azkaban and tried to read a child's mind?"

"You...you're going to abandon me?" Snape looked at him with disbelief

"Severus, it would take me a great deal of time, money and favours to save you from Azkaban" Dumbledore sighed "it would then take a miracle to get you back into a teaching position at Hogwarts without the board and the parents demanding both of our resignations. Let's say that I do this, this will be what? Your third chance? I remember giving you a second chance all those years ago and you've blown it within an hour of meeting the one boy you knew would be the one responsible for the downfall of Voldemort. Should I give you a fourth chance? A fifth? A sixth? A seventh?"