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The Daring Win	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > General > General Views: 8180 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I am making no money from this story.

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Chapter Twenty-Six—Into the Light
Harry flinched and blinked, but Dolores knew that wouldn’t matter. Legilimency only needed eye contact for the first few seconds; after that, the Legilimens was in your mind even if you were thrashing around and not looking at them.
So she stepped back and said in as loud a voice as she could, “Professor Snape, why are you raping my ward’s mind?”
Dumbledore’s arm jerked in surprise. Snape backed up a step and his hand fell to his wand. Harry immediately moved behind Dolores. She contented herself with giving a faint smile and holding Snape’s gaze.
“I am not sure what you mean,” Snape said a moment later. But his stance didn’t relax.
“Yes, you are,” Dolores continued on, at the top of her voice, ignoring the way the Greengrasses hustled their daughters out of the room. They probably thought they were too young to hear the word “rape.” That was all right. There were still plenty of witnesses. “I heard you utter the word ‘Legilimens.’ Why would you do that if you weren’t planning to mind-rape him?”
“Now, Dolores. I’m sure that you must have misunderstood what dear Severus is doing. A professor at Hogwarts would never—”
“I have yet to hear a justification from the professor for trying to rape Harry.”
By then, Sirius had come up to her side, and Dolores felt the hungry way he looked at Snape. Sirius would just love to have something that would destroy his enemy, she thought, and fell silent for a second so Sirius could add his two Knuts.
“That’s a question we’d all be interested in hearing the answer to, I think.” Sirius polished his fingernails on his robes for a second and looked at them. When he looked up again, his hand held his own wand. “What did you do to my godson, Snivellus?”
“Did you try to use Legilimency on Harry, Severus? If that is the case, I am, in fact, shocked and upset.”
Dolores turned abruptly on Dumbledore. She saw at least part of his plan now, even if she was missing most of the subtleties. Make Harry distrust Snape if he was caught, and use that to strengthen his own position as one of Harry’s “allies” and perhaps to push Harry away from becoming part of Slytherin House when he went to Hogwarts.
“I really doubt that you didn’t hear him, Dumbledore. You were as close as I was.”
“My dear—”
“I am not your dear. I am an outraged guardian who wants to know exactly why you denied your professor was mind-raping my ward at first and why you now appear to believe me.”
Dumbledore only stared at her. Dolores kept her head up and her lips clamped together. There was no temptation to laugh when she could still feel the way Harry held onto the back of her robes. Nothing should ever hurt or frighten him, not when he was going to be so powerful in the wizarding world. It was like someone getting away with threatening the Minister.
“You were close enough,” Dolores said. “You were close enough to hear him cast the Legilimency spell, too. And he’s on your staff, has been for a decade. I doubt you didn’t know he could use Legilimency. Or that he hasn’t used it on someone else before, probably on your orders. Don’t play the innocent with me, Dumbledore. I’ll be happy enough to go to the Aurors and part with my Pensieve memories and take Veritaserum. That means everyone will know that you have a mind-rapist teaching at your school by tomorrow.”
Dumbledore winced. “I wish you wouldn’t keep calling Severus a mind-rapist, my—Miss Umbridge.”
“That’s what he is. Why else would he use Legilimency on a minor who’d done him no harm, and who hasn’t even met Snape before? Why would he?” Dolores spun to face Snape before Dumbledore could say anything else. “Why did you?”
Snape was silent, his wand down at his side now. His eyes darted back and forth between her and the Headmaster.
And Dolores saw the moment when he made the decision to preserve himself and turn his back on the man who would have made him the scapegoat.
“It was indeed on the Headmaster’s orders.” Snape stood straight and tall as if he was a soldier giving a report. He didn’t look at Dumbledore now. “He told me that we were losing control of Potter, and there was too much we didn’t know about him. I was to snatch what I could, anything important that hovered near the surface of his mind. If I was caught, I was to say it had been my own idea. If I wasn’t, then we would know something more about Potter than we already did.” He paused.
Dumbledore was as still as a boulder beside Dolores. She didn’t bother to look at him. She could feel the messages he was sending Snape with his eyes, anyway.
“I was to look, in particular, for the secret of the loyalty binding Potter to you, and ways to disrupt that loyalty.”
“If you would only tell the truth, Severus, my dear boy—”
“Harry’s loyal to Dolores because she treats him well,” Sirius said, so loudly that Dolores almost jumped. It seemed like it was mainly the grip Harry had on her robes that held her to the floor. “And he likes living with her. He’s not loyal to Albus because Albus was the one who left him with the bloody Muggles.” He turned and stared at Dumbledore. “Is that really so hard to understand?”
“What Muggles?” Snape asked quickly.
“Lily’s sister and her husband.”
Snape pivoted on his heel to stare at Dumbledore. “You said he was somewhere safe in the Muggle world. With Tuney hardly qualifies as safe.”
“Tuney,” Dolores heard Harry mutter to himself behind her, and he giggled. She reached back and caressed his hair, but couldn’t smother a smile of her own. Now and then Harry could still be a child, and if he wanted to revel in awful nicknames for the Muggles, she would let him do so.
“Of course it does,” said Dumbledore, and his voice was mild and unruffled. If there was a bit of wildness around his eyes, Dolores didn’t think someone standing further away would see that to remark on it. “It meant that protections could be founded based on his mother’s blood. And Petunia did take him in, despite whatever resentment she might have held towards Lily in the last years of her life—”
“It did not keep the Muggles from abusing him,” said Dolores, and let her hand stroke Harry’s head again.
“Of course it did not,” said Snape. He had stopped looking at Sirius entirely, even though Sirius still had his wand drawn on Snape. He was staring at Dumbledore instead, his body swaying slightly back and forth. “You knew what Petunia was like. What threats did you use to make her take Potter in, old man?”
“No threats were necessary,” said Dumbledore gently. “An explanation of reality was enough.”
“Threats,” Snape said, with what sounded like a sigh of satisfaction. “Ah, well.” He turned to Dolores and jerked his head at her. She only stared at him, having no idea why he thought she would obey him, and his face flushed. “I want to apologize to Potter,” he said between gritted teeth.
“I don’t want to hear the apology,” Harry said at once.
“My ward doesn’t want to hear it right now,” Dolores said. “Perhaps you should think about why we shouldn’t press charges, Professor Snape. Using Legilimency on a minor is illegal and has been for hundreds of years.”
Snape’s flush deepened. Dolores spoke before he could, though, glancing at Dumbledore and turning her head thoughtfully to the side. “Of course, if you were acting on orders, perhaps with a statement that you had to do these things or be threatened with the loss of your job or similar consequences…”
“I will submit my Pensieve memories to the Wizengamot,” said Dumbledore. “And take a Veritaserum test. I did not threaten Severus.”
“He did not have to,” Snape said, and Dolores frowned at him. She was trying to find a way out for him, one that would also trap Dumbledore, and he persisted in tangling himself further in the coils. But a second later Snape added, “I swore a vow to keep Potter safe. All he had to do was say reading Potter’s mind was necessary to that safety, and I was bound to do what I could by the vow itself.”
Who goes about swearing vows when they don’t have to? And probably Unbreakable, to be compelled to do it. But Dolores hid her contempt with a simple nod. “I see. In that case, charges will probably be unnecessary.”
“I’m so glad that you’re seeing the truth of what’s best for Harry.”
“As long as you do what you can to keep Harry safe with the fact in mind that Albus Dumbledore left the boy with abusive Muggles,” Dolores added helpfully.
Snape turned his head before Dumbledore could speak again, and looked him right in the eye. “I will remember that. I will remember it forever.”
“I’m so glad we could have this chat, in that case,” Dolores went on, stepping a little to the side and putting her hand on Harry’s shoulder commandingly. Reluctantly, he came out from behind her. When she touched him like that, she was telling him to put on his public persona, so he couldn’t hide. “I still want Harry to go to Hogwarts. I think it’s an important part of his heritage and a good opportunity for him. But of course I couldn’t let him go if there were people there who might go raping his mind on a regular basis.”
It seemed to her that Snape turned pale as he met Harry’s eyes. But there was no sign that he was going to use Legilimency again. He only gave a sharp nod and said, “I will not use Legilimency on the boy again unless it is for his protection.”
“I can tell you that it never will be,” Dolores said swiftly, because she could just imagine all the ways Dumbledore would try to maneuver around that prohibition. “Harry is smart enough to tell a responsible adult if he feels threatened.”
“How unlike his father, then.”
Sirius bristled, but Harry only moved a step forwards and took the stage. “I don’t know very much about my father. From what I know, though, he wouldn’t have told someone if he was in danger. He would have kept the truth to himself because he thought it was exciting.”
Sirius chuckled, and Snape turned paler still. Dolores wondered what that was about, but she knew she wouldn’t get an answer right now. Perhaps she could ask Sirius after Snape left—or Remus, since he also knew the origin of the pranks James Potter had played on Snape.
“I’m never going to do that.” Harry threw his head back a little. From the corners of the room, Dolores could feel those valuable witnesses watching. “I love my life too much. And I know that someone might try to take advantage of me being in trouble and take me to Voldemort—”
Flinches, hissing, indrawn breaths. Snape was one of the people who flinched, Dolores saw.
“So I’ll always tell someone the instant something happens that puts me in danger,” Harry said. His face was stern and true, his eyes gleaming. He could pass for a Gryffindor right now, Dolores thought, warm with pride. “I’ll never try to fight something on my own when I can’t do that. An adult should defend me.”
“Very wise of you to have raised the boy that way,” said Dumbledore, breaking the moment—but only after it had been a moment. He gave a faint bow to Dolores. “But you understand that I couldn’t know you had raised him that way until now. I had to have Severus look.”
“No, you did not,” Dolores said. “And while I don’t think it’ll do any good to press charges on Professor Snape, I haven’t decided about you yet.” She turned to Harry. “What do you think we should do with him?”
Harry spent a moment studying Dumbledore. He did keep his eyes determinedly away from his face, though. That satisfied Dolores, since she knew Dumbledore was also a Legilimens. “I don’t think it would work. There’s no way to get him a fair trial, since he’s part of the Wizengamot. And lots of people hate him or adore him. I think it’s better to give him a few rules if I’m going to go to Hogwarts.”
“Very wise, Harry. And what should those rules be?”
“He can’t use Legilimency on me the way he was going to have Snape do,” Harry said promptly. “Or any other way. And he can’t try to persuade me to join Gryffindor House or whatever Light movement he has to fight against Voldemort. And he can’t lie to me. And he can’t talk with me alone in his office.”
Dolores smiled, looking down at Harry. She didn’t care who saw it. They would either think she was really fond of Harry, or pretending fondness, and either way suited her plans. “Good rules, Harry.” She looked up and nodded at Dumbledore. “Do you think you can follow them, Headmaster?”
“This is absurd. Harry will not even be going to Hogwarts for a year.”
“I know. It works out, don’t you think? That gives you more time to absorb the rules and decide whether you’re going to follow them—or not.”
Dumbledore lifted his eyes again. Dolores looked at his forehead. He wasn’t about to read her mind in her own home. She was still a little surprised that he’d had Snape do so, although the double-pronged plan he had had explained it.
“I think some misunderstandings are happening here. What Severus did was not a crime—”
“Legilimency on a minor,” Ernest said, stepping up beside them. His grey hair was pulled back with a black leather band, and he looked as if he was enjoying himself immensely. His grudge might be against Lucius, Dolores thought, but he won’t mind reducing Dumbledore’s power, either. “That can be verified either by Pensieve memories or Veritaserum. That’s illegal, Albus.”
“Madam Umbridge said she wasn’t going to press charges.”
“Because she understands what happened, and Professor Snape has promised that he won’t do it again.” Ernest glanced at Snape, who nodded. “You can’t backtrack now and declare it not illegal.”
“Now and then, a professor who knows Legilimency has to use it on a student to verify that the student is safe, or didn’t cheat, or doesn’t have a plan that might put them in danger—”
“And part of the plea bargain you made for Severus Snape to stay out of Azkaban was that he would be under constant supervision, and never use the Mind Arts without permission from the Ministry. Or am I misremembering his trial?”
Dumbledore looked like a snail trying to remember where it had left its shell. He said stiffly, “You aren’t misremembering, Mr. Bolton.”
“I didn’t think so.” Ernest moved a step nearer, his hair swishing, and lowered his voice. “You’ve lost, Albus. Go home. Try to think up some other method to relieve your obsession with Mr. Potter than the rape of his mind.”
Dumbledore opened his mouth, maybe to say that Legilimency wasn’t mind-rape, but he obviously realized that he couldn’t win with the crowd against him the way it was at the moment. He turned around and marched back towards the Floo. Dolores decided she would figure out how to bar it against him, although that was hard to do for an individual person. It was easier to do for a specific place, but she didn’t want to close off Hogwarts.
It doesn’t matter what kind of research I have to do. I’ll figure out how to do it.
“Bye-bye, Snivellus,” Sirius sang under his breath as Snape followed Dumbledore. Other than that name, Dolores thought, she had to admit she was also impressed by Sirius’s maturity.
Snape’s back stiffened, but he gave no other sign that he’d noticed as he stepped into the flames.
Sirius laughed, flinging his head back. Then he turned and crushed Ernest’s hand in a strong, wringing shake before he called out, “Are we really going to let someone who tried to upset my godson interrupt his birthday party?”
It took a moment, and a lot of gaping from the children, but the party slowly started to flow back together again. Remus came forwards to bring Harry back into the circle of presents and the debate about which one he should open first.
Dolores was about to follow, to make sure that none of the gifts were cursed or otherwise unsuitable, when Sirius grabbed her in a hug. Dolores stood there, blinking, and meeting Harry’s eyes over Sirius’s shoulder. Harry only shook his head in the way that meant she was on her own for now, and snatched a silver-wrapped present from the pile. Draco immediately pushed forwards, shouting, “I got that for you!”
“Thank you,” Sirius breathed into her ear. “I couldn’t come up with anything except cursing them, and that wouldn’t have worked.”
Dolores patted his back. “Well,” she said, stepping away as soon as Sirius let her go, “maybe you can see some of the value to my teaching Harry how to do political maneuvers now?”
“Yeah,” said Sirius, and his smile was gleaming and manic. “I really can. And I think it’s about time I took a lesson in that, too.” He winked at her.
“I thought you already knew how to do that.”
“I do. But I haven’t done it.”
And Sirius turned back to watch Harry open his presents, leaving Dolores to watch his back thoughtfully.
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The Daring Win