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Much Ado About Nothing	By : goblet Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male Views: 2534 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

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MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
by The Goblet

Chapter 28

James rushed back towards the garden after ushering the gossiping guests away from the unconscious potions apprentice and escorting Remus and Sirius back to Gryffindor Tower to think over their actions. He had not been pleased with the way his friends had handled the situation.

A quiet word to Minerva or Albus would have been best, thus avoiding the public humiliation of both Remus and Snape. But to announce to the entire congregation that Snape was a Knockturn Alley whore was low: very low. Not even Snape deserved that.

James returned to the garden, still upset, carrying a glass of water and a wet washcloth. He headed straight for Lily, who was kneeling on the ground, with Snape's head in her lap.

"Here," he whispered, placing the wet cloth on Snape's forehead. "How is he?"

"Dead to the world," Lily replied. "His heart is shattered." She looked up at Albus who was comforting Minerva.

"He'd be better off dead after what he has done!" Minerva admonished. She had been greatly upset. Why would Severus do such a thing?

"Severus, please wake up," Lily whispered, stroking the side of his face all the while ignoring Minerva. "Please wake up."

Severus slowly opened his eyes, squinting in the brightness of a cloud-free sky. Lily helped him sit up slowly and handed him the glass of water James had brought.

"How could you!" Minerva shrieked, placing her hands on her hips staring down at Severus. "You shamed yourself! You didn't even deny it. Why did you agree to marry him when you could not be faithful? Why did you ask me to stand up for you, if you didn't intend for this to be a real marriage? How long have you taking us all for fools?"

Lily pulled Severus into a hug during Minerva's tirade. "It's ok, sweetheart," she whispered, rubbing his back in large circles as tears threatened to spill down his cheeks.

James stood from his crouched position beside Severus and Lily and turned towards Minerva. "Minerva, calm down. I know Snape. I spent seven years watching the git. I know his faults, and his failings. These accusations seem so out of character; I don't know what to think."

Lily looked up from the ground. "It is not true. It is all a lie," she said vehemently.

James looked down at the two potions apprentices on the ground. "Did you throw Severus that little party you were planning?" he asked Lily, referring to the surprise beauty treatment they had bestowed upon Severus the previous night.

Lily nodded. "But we left at ten! He wanted to get his beauty sleep."

"We left at ten, and he was spotted at ten thirty," wailed Minerva, still upset about the entire incident, and still believing the worst of Severus. "He had plenty of time to floo to Hogsmeade! Would Sirius and Regulus lie? Would Remus lie? He who loves… loved Severus so much: why would he accuse him of such foul behaviour if it weren't true?!"

Slowly, the deputy headmistress calmed down, and began to thinks about the entire situation more rationally. She had watched the boys grow up: from when they were eleven she had watched them bicker and fight each other. Had this entire romance… affair all been some elaborate practical joke on Severus' behalf? But he had denied meeting anyone anywhere at that time last night. Were Remus and Sirius lying? She thought back to the Whomping Willow incident. Sirius might have, but Remus loved Severus; the werewolf had been too upset for him not to have truly believed that Severus had been unfaithful. She didn't understand. Severus couldn't have been lying. Remus couldn't have been lying. So what had happened last night?

Albus had been observing the group quietly. During Minerva's last outburst, he began to delve into Severus' mind using Legilimency. For once, he had purposefully broken through Severus' Occlumency. His student had excelled at the art, and Albus could no longer detect that Severus was shielding his mind from view. However he knew his prot�g� well enough to know that he would not lay out his mind for the taking. Albus had assumed that Severus had invoked his defensive barriers, and so he had set about breaking them.

When he finally sifted through Severus' memories to the previous night, he saw the so-called 'party' the girls had thrown him and almost chuckled as he felt the memory of Severus' bikini wax. He saw that the boy had gone to bed… after taking care of a few stray hairs himself.

Severus had not left his quarters that night at all. In fact, he had retired at midnight, after nervously checking and rechecking his preparations for the wedding.

Albus took one more look around Severus' mind and failed to see any sign of another lover, let alone lovers. As far as the Headmaster could tell Remus had been Severus' first and only.

Albus finally stepped forward. "Listen to me," he said quietly. "Severus did not, not even once, leave his quarters last night. He did not meet with anyone, male or female at the Hog's Head inn. He was telling the truth when he denied speaking to anyone at the time he was apparently seen on the balcony."

"How can three men be mistaken? Regulus, himself, attested to the fact they were all sober," Minerva replied. She was still quite upset at Severus.

Albus turned to address Severus. "Who is the man that they accuse you of… engaging with?" he asked.

"I don't know," Severus quietly replied. "Black knows. As does Remus. But I have no idea."

"I believe you," Albus said kindly.

James looked down at Severus. "Remus and Sirius wouldn't lie. Not about something like this. They believed what they were saying… but Regulus… I have a bad feeling about him. He could not have changed terribly much since we were at school. He hates his brother, why would he endorse Sirius' story? I think he knows more about this incident than he is letting on," James declared.

Albus nodded. "I agree. That boy is hiding something: something relevant. He would not meet my eyes during the ceremony."

"Do you think, perhaps he has tricked Sirius and Remus into believing that Severus was unfaithful?" asked Minerva, hope in her eyes.

"I believe that is precisely what has happened," Albus replied. "How and why, however, I know not."

The Headmaster looked down at Severus, sitting on the ground. "Remus still loves you," he told the distraught boy. "But he won't believe that he didn't see you without proof. He and Sirius saw you, or a person who looks very much like you, last night and that was proof enough. Nothing we can say will change their minds, or persuade them that they didn't see you."

Albus levitated three of the chairs from across the garden, and bid Minerva and James to take a seat as he sat down on one himself. He leant forward until he could whisper to his friends as they huddled in the circle.

"Remus and Sirius have left Severus, claiming that they don't care if he lives or dies. Of course, they do care – well Remus is heartbroken and very angry, and Sirius currently wants to throttle him, but I'm certain that neither of them truly want to see Severus dead. What we'll do is hide him in the castle somewhere. Maybe move him up to one of the Hufflepuff dorms.

"We will then tell everyone that Severus has died; that he committed suicide over the incident. We will go through the motions of a funeral, and we will burn his 'body' over the lake."

"Why?" asked Minerva. "This is ludicrous! You won't achieve anything except heartache and pain."

Albus smiled and leaned closer to the group. "Oh I agree: it will turn Remus' anger into remorse; but that is not why I have suggested this course of action.

"Severus' reputation was slain the instant he was accused. To anyone who hears the story, he has wronged his betrothed. If he were to 'die', he becomes the innocent: the falsely accused. Mortified beyond belief, he took his life.

"The charges Remus and Sirius laid against him are scandalous, and as such, he will never again be welcomed into polite society. For him to be mourned, pitied and excused as an innocent, will be favourable to his reputation, for it will prove his innocence. If he were guilty of the crimes he was accused of, then he would not care enough to take his own life.

"But there is another benefit of this action. When the instigators of this plot hear of Severus' death, hear that he died because of their trickery, they will show themselves." Albus held his hands up to stop the protest on the lips of his companions. "I don't believe they will confess. But they will show themselves by some action or some word. A man whose heart is heavy with guilt does not rest easily."

Severus slowly shook his head. He had been sitting, cradled in Lily's arms as Albus spoke. "I can't do that to Remus," he whispered.

Albus smiled kindly at the young Slytherin. "At the moment, he wishes that you were dead. He doesn't fully want this, but he wants the hurt to go away. When he hears that you are dead, when he sees us acting as though you are dead, he will realise just how much he loves you. Just how much he cares for you. You will consume his every thought, his every word, his every action.

"By the time the real villain shows himself and you are able to come out of hiding, he would have forgotten what he saw last night, and will be thankful that you are still alive."

James turned to Severus. "I think you should do what Albus asks," he told his one time enemy. "Even though Remus and Sirius are my best friends, I think you should fake your own death, draw the culprit out. I will help you anyway I can, and I will not say a word to either of them."

All eyes turned to Severus. He was still very distressed by Remus' accusations. Not that he cared about his reputation. No, all he wanted to do was go back to three days ago when everything was brilliant between the two of them. But now, the love of his life hated his guts.

Eventually Severus nodded. If, perhaps, he had been thinking clearly he would have objected. But as it was, he was happy to let Albus do all his thinking for him. So he agreed, wishing that his suicide would not be a rouse: all he wanted to do now was crawl into a hole and die.

tbc...

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Much Ado About Nothing