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The Definition of Inappropriate	By : starstruck86 Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Snape/Ron Views: 3178 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor do I make any money from these writings.

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�� His heart was in his mouth and his
stomach went on holiday. He looked at the figure and watched as it turned round
to face him. George was still snarling and snapping between his legs. But Ron
realised with a rush of relief that the figure wasn�t who he�d dreaded at all,
they just looked incredibly similar. He swallowed and stooped down to pick up
the wine bottle, which had miraculously landed the on the right end and not
shattered. His hand was clammy as he put the light on in the room.

�Good evening,�
the ghost spoke to him like it was for all the world normal for her to be there.

�Er, hello,� Ron managed to get out, as he stepped
forward around George, and set the bottle down. �George, stop it,� he picked up
the puppy who instantly wriggled in his arms. �Stop it. She�s not going to hurt
us.�

He put him
down on the bed and turned to face the ghost again with wide eyes. �Are you..?�

�Eileen
Snape, yes,� she said sadly, looking around the room.

�But you�
you died twenty-odd years ago,� Ron realised he wasn�t making the best
impression, meeting his husband�s mother for the first time.

�That I
did,� she said in the same sad tone.

Ron sat
down on the bed and picked up the bottle again, feeling he was going to need it
for this conversation. He knocked some back.

�My son�s
drinking habits are rubbing off on you,� she said in a disapproving tone. �You
should stop it. It�ll only ruin you like it ruined my husband, and me. It would
have ruined my son had he not stopped for you.�

�So, hang
on a minute,� Ron frowned. �You know everything that�s happened between us?�

�Everything,�
she shrugged her ghostly shoulders, looking just the same as Severus did.

�You know
he�s in Azkaban now, then?� Ron took another mouthful, ignoring her warnings.

�Yes,� she
looked angry. �I know.�

�Does
Severus know you�re�� he waved his hand at her. �He�s never mentioned it.�

�He has no
idea,� she said sadly. �I�ve never allowed him to see me. I keep mainly to my
old bedroom, where he never goes, so he�ll never see me.�

�Why on
earth are you a ghost if you don�t want him to see you?�

�Because I
couldn�t leave him, my poor boy who�d been through so
much. It was all my fault. I couldn�t leave him.�

�But you
never showed himself to him when he was here,� Ron took another mouthful. �I�m not really understanding your logic.�

�You know
Severus better than anybody. Do you really think me showing myself to him would
have helped anything, made it easier for him?� She looked at Ron pointedly.

He sighed
and muttered, �No,� before sinking another mouthful.

�You have
saved him from himself,� she went on, walking closer. �You�ve saved him from
what he was becoming.�

�Don�t say
his father,� Ron warned her.

�No, I was
going to say me, actually,� she gave him the same wry smile that Severus always
gave him. �He was becoming so bitter and melancholy.�

Ron
couldn�t argue with that.

�You�ve
been through so much for him,� she went on. �I must confess when you first
moved in, I was very angry. I couldn�t see what good you would possibly do for
my son. But then I saw him begin to heal in front of my very eyes and I was so
glad. When you were attacked here it was awful. The house absorbed the misery
like it had been waiting for it. Severus said as much the night he came back
after leaving you.�

Ron said
nothing and swirled the alcohol in the bottle around. �Fat lot of good I�ve
gone and done him now, though, landing him in that hell hole.�

�I can�t
believe what�s happened,� she sounded angry. �It is not your fault though.�

Ron raised
his eyebrows and laughed. �Really? So if I hadn�t
barrelled my way into his rooms for the last two months of school I wouldn�t
have got him put away for it?�

�When you
put it like that, it sounds so black and white,� she sighed. �But you have to
think of all the good you�ve done him otherwise. How much he�s healed.�

�To be
broken again,� Ron shrugged and upended the bottle into his mouth, properly
chugging now.

�Stop drinking,� she asked him again. �Please.�

�Look, I
haven�t had a drink in four months.�

�You�re on
medication which doesn�t allow you to drink.�

�You�re a
ghost, what the hell are you going to do about it?� Ron said testily.

��

Stalemate reached, Eileen fell silent, looking at him sadly.
�You really are becoming just like him, taking both his good and his bad
points.�

Ron laughed and swallowed. The bottle was near on empty
already, so he knocked the last of the wine back and set the empty on the
bedside table.

�There, I won�t have any more, happy?� He told her, before
shifting back on the bed and leaning against the headboard.

�I suppose that�s better than nothing,� she smiled softly,
and sat down on the edge of the bed, making George growl again. �I knew Severus
must really love you when he bought you the dog,� she went on. �He�s never let
himself like animals since his father put an end to the pet hamster I bought
him when he was six.�

�He never told me that,� Ron hugged himself.

�I don�t imagine he would, there�s a lot he�s not told you
about the things his father did to him.�

�Why didn�t you stop it?� The question tumbled out of Ron�s
mouth before he could hold it in. �Why didn�t you take him away and stop him
from hurting him?�

Eileen looked ashamed and hung her ghostly head. �I was
weak. I can�t offer you any more of an explanation than that.�

�There must be some other reason� did you believe that he
loved you?�

She waited a while before answering. �I suppose I hoped he
did. And then there was the fact that he had tied all of my possessions to him,
my money was amalgamated into his bank accounts and he drank it all away. Had I
tried to leave, I would have had no means to start a new life for us. And
Severus was starting Hogwarts and it just didn�t seem worth it.�

�Didn�t seem worth rescuing your son from domestic abuse?�
Ron glared at her.

�Wrong turn of phrase, forgive me,� she murmured. �I mean�
It�s hard to explain the choices from so long ago when they can�t be undone.�

Ron made a noise of assent. �I don�t really want to know
anyway. I don�t need to be any angrier at the minute than I already am.�

�Your temper matches my son�s,� she smiled at him. �And
thank Merlin, or he�d be walking all over you. How you hold your own surprises
me sometimes.�

Ron looked at her questioningly.

�Well, he got the anger from his father and the stubborn
nature from me, the drinking from both of us and an easy path to hatred too. My
son could have become a monster without trying.�

Ron thought on that and agreed with her. �But he didn�t.�

�He tried to, but thank Merlin fate stepped in and caught him round the neck,�
she winked. �And then you came along and his fate was sealed.�

�As a man in Azkaban,� Ron muttered.

�No, as a man that would become happy.�

�I don�t know if you�ve been to Azkaban, but happy generally
isn�t what radiates off in the postcards home.� Ron rolled his eyes.

�He will not be there for long,� Eileen assured him. �But
any time there is dangerous for Severus, left with all those horrible
memories.�

Ron knew it was the truth. He swallowed and looked at
George, glaring at the ghost on the bed. And then a thought came to him.
�Eileen, if I can call you that-�

�Technically you should call me Mum, or Mrs. Snape,� she
smiled at him.

�Well, you�re dead and Mrs. Snape frankly just sounds
weird,� Ron shrugged, feeling the first signs of the bottle of wine in his
head.

�Eileen, then. What did you want to ask me?�

�Are you tied to this house? Can you leave it?�

�I can leave it,� she said. �But I never have.�

�So does that mean that you can, say, enter another
building?�

�As long as the building does not have protection to keep me out, I suppose
yes, I can.�

�Does Azkaban have protection to keep you out?� He leant
forward excitedly, heart lighting up that he might
have his very own correspondent to Severus right in front of him.

�I know what you�re thinking,� she shook her head. �I�m not
going to see Severus. You really think me ghosting up to him right now would
help?�

Ron looked at her and swallowed. �I actually think it might
be quite cathartic,� he mused.

�Come on, this is my son we�re talking about. He doesn�t
respond to therapy,� she laughed, still shaking her head.

�Please,� Ron asked desperately. �I know that seeing him
after all these years and talking to him would be hard, but� I know he would
respond if you said I�d sent you.�

�But he would think he�s going mad,� Eileen sighed.

�So what?� Ron countered. �If he thinks that then its
fine, but he needs to know I�m here feeling for him.�

�I was going to reveal myself, you know�� she began, but
trailed off.

�What stopped you?� Ron asked, as a particularly loud howl
of wind rattled the window panes.

�I promised that if Severus still broke down on the
anniversary of my death, I would reveal myself to him and talk to him. Twenty
years is a long time to hold on to guilt. Half of his life.�

�So what stopped you?� Ron blinked.

�Severus didn�t break down this year. He didn�t even
remember,� she reminded him gently. �You managed to make him forget it and feel
better about it.�

�So you didn�t show yourself to him because of me?� Ron felt
oddly guilty.

She nodded. �I have things I have to say to him. Sorry, mainly.�

�I think you should go for yourself, then, more than for
me,� Ron shook his head. �You should say those things. It�d be for you, as
well. I don�t know a lot about being a ghost� but it can�t be a picnic.�

�It�s not so bad,� she said with the same wry smile as
before. �Lonely, though.�

She got up and George growled.

�So will you go?� Ron asked breathlessly.

�I will try,� she said. �They might have protection against
me �I mean, it might be that they don�t want the ghosts of the prisoners�
murder victims coming back to torment them. On the other hand, they might see
it as an essential part of the process.�

�Can you�� Ron�s mind stalled when he tried to think what he
wanted her to pass on.

She looked at him expectantly. �Well, for Merlin�s sake don�t tell him I drank the last of the sixty-four French
Merlot,� Ron looked at the empty wine bottle. �He�ll be depressed enough.�

Eileen laughed, she sounded like a feminine Severus.

�Just tell him that we love him and miss him very much. And
that if he hasn�t deduced what happened, then he was set up and we�re working
very hard to get him out.�

�Do you want me to tell him the specifics?�

Ron shook his head. �Just tell him we�re working hard to get
him out of there.�

She nodded, and without another word disappeared.

Ron shuddered and found himself
very lonely again. George stopped growling and lay down, eyes wary, looking
about the room. �Wow, what an introduction to your parent-in-law,� Ron raised
his eyebrows at him. George threw himself at him, wagging his tail madly,
licking all over his face. Ron laughed and tickled the dog�s sides as he did
so, causing George to swing his backside round and send the empty bottle
clattering to the floor with his tail, where it rolled beneath the bed. �You
clumsy animal,� Ron gently shoved him off and dropped to his hands and knees to
reach under the bed to extract the bottle.

He realised he�d never looked under it before, not once in
his five months of living there. It was bare and a little dusty, so he reached
out for the bottle but something caught his eye taped to the bottom of the bed.
He rolled onto his back and squinted in the semi-light. What he saw made him
laugh. Taped magically to the underside of the bed was a packet of cigarettes
and a lighter, both looked old. Ron pulled at them and both came away easily,
and he wriggled out from under the bed with them clasped in his hand. He blew
off the dust and saw that they were the same sort of wizarding
cigarettes he could remember his granddad smoking when he was little. They
certainly hadn�t been used recently so Ron assumed they had been left there
since Severus was much younger, probably a teenager.

�Well well well, your daddy
was a rebel,� Ron laughed to George, flicking open the packet and peering in,
where half were left. The smell wafted up and he could actually smell his
granddad within it.

He caught the wheel on the lighter to see if it still
worked, it crackled to life and he jumped. Ron had never smoked apart from a
brief puff one night in the dormitory at school when Seamus had found some in
the common room in their sixth year. It hadn�t been horrible,
he could take it better than the rest of the boys. So he wasn�t afraid when he
put one in his mouth and raised the lighter to it and sucked as he set the end
of it alight.

A cloud of blue smoke billowed from the end of it and Ron
choked as the strength of it hit the back of this throat. �Maybe they intensify
over time?� he coughed, wafting the smoke about with his hand, looking at
George. He took another drag and still coughed, but his throat burned less than
before. It wasn�t unpleasant.

�Don�t look at me like that,� Ron exhaled, looking at
George. �I�m stressed. It�s not like I�m going to do it all the time or
something.�

The dog barked and Ron rolled his eyes. �I know Severus
would kill me.�

George barked again. �Look, just this one, alright?�

***

Severus lay flat on his back, his head cushioned by his
hands beneath it. He was staring at the ceiling in his new cell whilst the wind
raged outside the barred window. It was absolutely freezing. His teeth were
already chattering. He had spent ten minutes half-heartedly trying to conjure a
Patronus wandlessly, but of course it hadn�t worked.
He was trying not to feel too happy lest it bring the dementors by his gate
anyway; so far they�d stayed away.

He wasn�t as angry or devastated as he�d assumed he�d be.
The broken words of Albus smarted in betrayal but he wasn�t going ballistic
like he had thought he would. Ron was probably doing that enough for the both
of them. Severus had heard him thundering as he walked away down the corridor
in tears, even over the angry grumbles of the crowds. Night was falling outside
his barred window. He�d looked out at the sea for a time, watching it toss and
turn and batter the rock on which his prison sat. It was so depressing he�d
given up. Even the seagulls didn�t come near.

It didn�t stop them from shrieking overhead, though, and
they were winding him up. The same keening sound, over and
over. He had begun to wonder if the madness attributed to a stay in
Azkaban really came from the dementors at all. More like the fucking seagulls.

His stomach gave a rumble and he ignored it. He knew the
food was going to be disgusting when it came and it would be brought by a
visitor as unwelcome as the devil. No, he�d rather be hungry than be faced with
them for the first time. There had been two on the gate when he came in but
they were guarding, they merely turned their faces as he passed with his auror
guard, their breath rattling above the howling wind.

His back was starting to ache from the hard floor. He had
neglected the thin blanket left in the cell for him, deciding he would wait
until he could no longer stand the cold, when it would actually make a
difference to him. His tummy grumbled again and he muttered, �Shut up,� to it,
as if it would work.

He closed his eyes against the ceiling and exhaled, feeling
definitely depressed. He had always wondered how Azkaban affected people.
Officials who visited had always said it was hideous, and Albus himself had
never liked going there. Severus had never really understood how it would feel,
but he sure as hell did now. It was a like a constant leeching at his body, as
depression clawed at every soft angle of his body, concentrated worst around
his chest. He felt numb, a feeling which could only intensify. He assumed that
because he was imprisoned with privileges he�d been placed as far away from the
dementors as possible, which was why he wasn�t feeling the depression like he
should have been.

The prison
was silent except for the sounds of the wind and rain. Earlier another prisoner
had been screaming but had shut up alarmingly quickly and it had made Severus
throw up in the pot in the corner of the room. The silence was ringing in his
ears and that was why, when a voice spoke to him, he let out a shout in
surprise.

He was on
his feet, hand reaching for a wand which wasn�t there, before he knew it. �Oh
come on,� he whispered, looking at the speaker. �I�ve not been in here long
enough to go mad already.�

�No,� his
mother smiled at him, looking about his prison with distaste. �You haven�t. And
you won�t be.�

Severus
squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again, assuming she�d be gone when he
opened them, as a figment of his imagination.

�I�m not
going to go away, Severus,� she said quietly. �But I don�t have long. They had
protection on the gates but not on the sea view windows.�

�What are
you doing here?� She can�t be here. She�s
dead. And you haven�t seen here for twenty years and she�s not just popped back
out of her grave now.

�I�ve
always been here,� she told him, walking close, taking in his appearance. �I�ve
just never shown myself to you.�

This was
too much, Severus decided, and took a step back, holding out his hand, not that
he could have stopped her.

�I�ve
spoken to Ron,� she looked at him.

�What?� Severus gasped, his mouth falling open.

�I�ve been
in the house twenty years,� she told him. �And I only revealed myself tonight
because you weren�t there and he was.�

Severus was
speechless and his mouth had gone bone dry.

�He says
that he loves you, and misses you. He says that you were set up and they�re
working hard to get you out.�

Severus�
shaky hand covered his mouth. He couldn�t find words. His mother had been in
the house twenty years as a ghost and never let him see her, apparently.

�Don�t be angry,� she begged him sadly. �I never showed myself because I
thought it would hurt you� and you made it so easy for me, never coming into
the bedroom.�

He still
couldn�t say anything, he just stared at her in shock.

�I couldn�t
leave my boy after everything I�d put him through, though as Ron pointed out I
didn�t exactly make myself very helpful by never showing myself.�

�Is he
okay?� Severus managed to whisper.

�Chugged
away merrily at your last bottle of Merlot,� she shrugged. �Oh, he told me not
to tell you that, said you�d be depressed enough.� She frowned, angry at
herself.

A shaky
breath was all Severus could manage in place of a laugh. �He drank it because
it reminds him of me,� he whispered.

She nodded
at him. �This place is horrible.�

Severus
nodded once and tried to keep calm.

�You won�t
be in here long, my love,� she said softly. �I know that.�

�I will
only get out if Albus resigns and he loves the school too much to do it. So
what if I rot away in here?� Severus gestured miserably.

�You will
get out,� she repeated firmly, and it reminded him of when he was little, and
he said he was going to use magic on his father and she repeatedly told him not
to.

�I�m� not
so sure.�

�You�ve
been beaten enough times by life to have faith knocked out of you,� she said
sadly, and reached out and put an icy hand on his shoulder, which considering
he was already cold, made his knees knock.

�Sorry,
that was thoughtless,� she took her hand away again. �I should go. They will
know I�m here soon by your bodily reactions and I don�t want to make this worse
for you.�

�Tell Ron I
love him,� Severus burst out desperately. �Tell him I�ll always love him.�

�You can
tell him the last part when you leave,� she said firmly, before blowing him a
gentle kiss. �I love you, stay strong. And Severus, I�m sorry� I�m sorry for
every time I neglected you.�

And then
she was gone and Severus felt the despair properly crash over him. What on
earth had Ron been thinking, sending her to him like that, in a place where
misery ruled supreme? He probably thought
she�d do you some good, carrying a message from him. His heart throbbed as
he sank awkwardly onto the floor. Maybe
it did. Maybe he knew the misery would smack you into fighting. Severus
swallowed and closed his eyes.

***

Ron was
distracting himself from his thumping headache the next day by cleaning the
house by hand. It was odd, something that he hated
doing when he was younger suddenly became the source of calm in a storm. At
that precise moment, he was on his knees looking particularly masculine in a
pair of pink rubber gloves, scrubbing at the kitchen floor as though it hadn�t
been cleaned in years.

�Oh god,
your Mum warned me I might find you like this,� Ron�s head snapped up and he
saw Harry in the doorway, arms full of food and a newspaper. �She sent me with
all this stuff.� He stepped round Ron on the dry parts of the floor to put it
all on the worktop. �You shirt-lifter, you.� He
grinned at the pink gloves.

Ron had
only unblocked the Floo to receive any news he could about Severus, not to host
visitors. He sat back on his heels and threw the brush he was using in the
bucket and rubbed his arm over his forehead. �Thanks,� he rolled his eyes.

�Why are you
doing that by hand?� Harry hoisted him up as he tried to stand and found his
legs dead.

�Because it takes my mind off it,� Ron shrugged, peeling off the gloves and
throwing them in the sink. �Anything�s a welcome distraction right now.�

�Even me?�
Harry pulled a bar of chocolate out of the bags he�d bought and shoved it at
Ron. �Eat it, you look like shit.�

�I know,�
Ron used a spell to dry off the floor and walked to the table and sat down,
pulling the wrapping off the chocolate as he went.

�Did you sleep?�

�I got
drunk and passed out. Of course I slept.�

�You�re not
meant to be drinking,� Harry whirled round clutching a cucumber in a way which
made Ron think of something else. �Why are you laughing?�

Laughter
shook up out of his chest and Ron slapped his thigh with a shake of his head.

�Oh, grow
up,� Harry rolled his eyes with a grin and shoved the cucumber in the fridge
along with everything else he�d bought.

Ron ate
some chocolate and felt its sickly warmth spread through him. �Thanks for
bringing this stuff, Harry.�

�No
problem,� he walked over and sat down opposite him. �Have you been smoking in
here?� He sniffed the air and pulled a face.

�No,� Ron said with fake innocence. �Maybe.�

�Why?�

�Because I
found a pack taped under the bed and thought I�d see if they were good at
relieving stress,� Ron shrugged.

�And are they?� Harry raised an eyebrow.

�I think I got high,� Ron frowned. �Are you high when the room blurs?�

�God knows.
With the potions you�re taking it could have been any of the three! Severus
would go psycho if he knew you�d been drinking and smoking.�

�Pfft,� Ron rolled his eyes and ate some more chocolate.

�I mean it,
he watches over you like a bloody hawk,� Harry grinned. �Not that you don�t do
the same for him.�

Ron smiled
softly and looked out of the window. �So do you have any news?�

Harry
swallowed. �I do. Apparently Dumbledore is sorting everything out as we speak.
He�s going to have to make an official resignation under duress and they�re
setting it all up, including his successor.�

�Who�s
taking over?�

�McGonagall,�
Harry told him, exhaling.

�But she
fucking knew as well,� Ron�s eyes went wide as the anger shot back into his
bloodstream.

�I know,�
Harry shook his head bitterly. �But she wasn�t in charge and that�s what it
comes down to, I suppose. Here,� he reached behind him and pulled the paper off
the worktop. �Look, you made the front of the Prophet!�

Ron took
the paper from him and surveyed the front page interestedly. It was just an
article about Severus� hearing and the outcome, with a picture of Ron half
mauling him in the middle of the room with a kiss before he was tugged off out
of shot. Ron saw himself fall into the chair before the picture ran in a loop
again. �God I look like shit,� he raised his eyebrows and threw the paper on
the table.

�I can�t
believe you made the front page,� Harry laughed. �They really don�t agree with
the verdict.�

�I don�t
think many people did,� Ron shrugged. �Didn�t stop good old corruption getting
in the way, did it?�

�No,� Harry
agreed, drumming his fingers on the table, and silence fell between them.

It was
still raining out side and the garden was a soggy mess. He could hear George
mauling a soft dog toy in the other room.

�Did they
say how long it�s going to take to sort this mess out?� Ron asked
half-heartedly.

�They�re
not sure� it could be up to a week.�

�Oh god, poor Severus. That could be all it takes,� he shook his head.

�Apparently
when you�re put in there on privileges it means you only get one dementor check
a day,� Harry said. �And treated better than normal.�

�Still, here�s there.�

Silence
fell between them again.

�You don�t
have to sit here with me,� Ron smiled at Harry. �I know I�m crap
company at the minute, surely you�ve got better things to be doing with
your time?�

�I�m fine
right here,� Harry smiled at him.

***

When
Severus awoke, it was to sounds of a gate rattling nearby. His eyes opened and
he was blinded by surprising sunlight flooding his small cell. He sat up and
ignored the ache in his spine, looking for the cause of the noise. He knew he
had been in there two days now; he was keeping tally by making a rock counter
in the corner. Pathetic. You�re going to run out of rocks eventually
anyway. He heard voices but didn�t get up. Nobody had come to him in two
days, apart from those hideous times the Death Eaters rattled past and pushed
food through the bars and left again.

And the
food was awful, a far cry from the fare he�d grown used to living with a
natural cook. Somewhere between porridge and slush, half
cold, lumpy. But it was all he had so he forced it down. He shuddered at
the thought of it. It only came once a day though, he wasn�t sure if that was a
blessing or a great tragedy. The voices neared his cell and he was surprised to
see them stop and humans, actual humans, near the bars. And then he realised
who it was and distinctively felt like a caged animal. He got to his feet and
approached the bars, a snarl tearing through his lips.

�Forgive me, Severus, I think I�m going to stay on this side of the bars,� Albus
told him tiredly. �You don�t have a wand in there but you do have your fists
and you�d be well within your rights to use them.�

Severus
just nodded, and paced back and forth, knowing he was only adding to his caged
animal look, but if Albus was enjoying it, he might as well act the part.

�How are
you holding up?� Albus asked him lightly.

Severus
stopped dead, raised his hands in a gesture that said �take a fucking look
around� and scowled a bit more. He didn�t trust his voice to stay calm.

�Come now,
Severus, don�t give me the silent treatment,� Albus walked a bit closer to the
bars.

�You
deserve a hell of a lot more than the bloody silent treatment,� Severus hissed,
and raked a hand back through his greasy hair.

�I know I
do,� Albus shook his head. �We really didn�t think it was going to come to
that. We thought they�d acquit you of everything and then you�d be free.�

�And yet,
somehow Albus, I don�t think your brilliant mind was stupid enough to
completely ignore the prevailing outcome. You knew, didn�t you?�

Albus
looked at him with piercing eyes. �I knew,� he hung his head.

�And you
couldn�t have warned either of us?� Severus asked incredulously, pressing his
fingers into his temples exasperatedly. �Not a friendly word of warning about
what might happen should the vote be split and Kingsley be
left with the final word?�

�My hands
were tied by the Ministry,� Albus told him.

Severus let
out a short derisive laugh. �When the hell have you EVER taken notice of what
the Ministry wanted you to do?�

�When they
threaten to infiltrate the school I do,� Albus� face was solemn. �You know as
well as I do when they interfere I cannot say no.�

�So what
would they have done?� Severus asked him scathingly.

�They would
have put their own successor in, as opposed to letting me choose my own. And
that wouldn�t necessarily have been someone with the school�s best interests at
heart.�

�Who is
your choice?� Severus� lip curled, he already knew the answer.

�Well, if
you�d still been there, it would have been you. But I chose Minerva.�

�Is that
meant to comfort me?� Severus� heard his voice escalate.

�No, I
shan�t imagine anything would at this point.�

�Nothing
except you unlocking this door right now and letting me bloody home to my
husband,� Severus shoved the gate, causing the auror next to Albus to grimace
worriedly.

�I can�t do
that at the moment,� Albus sighed at him with a look of sympathy on his face.
�It�s going to take a few more days.�

�How long?�
Severus closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

�A week, maybe two.�

Severus
lost it, then. His eyes filled with tears and he put a hand on the bars. He
reminded himself of George, at home with Ron, pleading to be let out of the
back door to go to the toilet. �Albus, Merlin� don�t leave me here for two
weeks,� he pleaded. �Please.�

�I am doing
what I can and Kingsley is doing everything he can,� Albus reached out and
touched his hand with a withered pat.

�Please,�
Severus repeated tremulously. You fucking wimp.

�I�ve
bought you some papers,� Albus pulled the last two days copies of the Daily
Prophet from his cloak, �And some chocolate. God knows you�ll need some proper
sustenance in here.�

Severus
took them with a shaking hand and swallowed, unable to convey his thanks to the
man that had landed him in this stinking mess in the first place.

�I will
keep you updated,� Albus nodded. �And Severus, if it�s worth anything at all, I
am sorry.�

And then,
the only human contact Severus had had for two days was gone. He stood
clutching the papers and bar of chocolate to him fighting down tears. He knew
the Dementors would just feed on his misery if he cried. Swallowing, he turned
his back from the bars and walked over to look out at the sea. It was
surprisingly calm, and it was sunny. A much nicer view than he�d been awarded
so far. He shook out the paper for the day after his sentencing and saw with a
wrench of his stomach that he and Ron had made the front page. He watched as
Ron grabbed him passionately in the photograph and pushed their lips together,
saw himself slip the ring into Ron�s hand before being dragged away, and then
seeing for the first time Ron slump into his vacated chair, for all the world
looking like his heart was breaking.

He felt a
pull in his chest and read the article, glad to see the Prophet disapproved of
the sentencing he�d received. He tore off the silver foil of the chocolate and
bit into the bar wholly, realising this act made him more Ron-like than ever
before. He picked up the next paper, chewing methodically, but stopped as he
saw the headline. Lucius Malfoy had been tried the day after him, and sentenced
to life imprisonment with the possibility of the Dementor�s
Kiss looming over his head, due to absent testimony from an unnamed source.
Severus� stomach clenched. That had to be the testimony Ron had given to the
torture he�d undergone at Lucius� hands. His throat constricted as he realised
that he was under the same roof as Lucius Malfoy, and if there was even the
slightest slip in security he would probably be murdered.

No. That bastard won�t get the
fucking satisfaction.
Severus bit off another chunk of chocolate, eager to eat it before anybody
found that he�d been given it. He was sure it was against the rules.

***

�Two weeks?!� Ron asked desperately.

�I�m trying
as hard as I can,� Albus told him soothingly.

�You don�t understand� you send a man with a mindful of memories like he has to
Azkaban and he could be insane in one.�

�You
underestimate the effect you�ve had on him,� Albus said calmly. �I think you�ve
done a lot more to heal Severus than you realise.�

�He�s just
not�� Ron felt tears coursing down his cheeks and he flushed red.

�I know
Severus,� Albus got to his feet. �And he always continues to surprise me, Ron.�

�But he�ll
go mad,� Ron cried softly. �He�ll lose everything.�

�Have faith.�
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The Definition of Inappropriate