"So you vowed an Unbreakable Vow," Dumbledore spoke from behind his desk in the Headmaster's Office, his finger tracing the rim of the tainted glass bowl filled with sherbert lemons. "That wasn't very smart of you, was it now, Severus."
"The Dark Lord would've intended me to do it in the end, I think. But he is determined that Draco should try first. This is merely punishment for Lucius' failures; I am not aware of what that failure is, however. Slow torture for Draco's parents, while they watch him fail and pay the price," said Snape. His eyes were on his arms— one of them marked by the Dark Mark while other freshly inscribed by the Unbreakable Vow, leaving behind a reminder of what waited for him if he were to break the vow.
"You were sadly cornered into taking the vow," Dumbledore sighed, pushing the bowl away. "Who would have thought that the proud Narcissa Malfoy would come begging at your doorsteps... and that with her sister."
Narcissa's sister. The corner of Snape's eyes wrinkled as his nose twitched. "If I had refused Narcissa's request, Lestrange would have gone babbling her crazy mouth into Dark Lord's ears." Any chance he had to escape being bound was sealed the moment Bellatrix Lestrange had stepped into his home.
Dumbledore stroked his beard. His eyes watching Snape, who had his usually scowling eyes staring dazedly at the table; a rare sight from the vigilant and sharp potions master.
"What do you plan to do now?"
"I do not know," said Snape. "Do you have a way to undo an Unbreakable Vow?"
Dumbledore shook his head. "Unfortunately, I don't." He sighed, "Even the wording she used doesn't show me a way you can escape the bindings, especially with intent and all."
There was silence. Neither men spoke, nor there was any chatter from the empty headmaster/headmistress portraits, all having scurried away on the orders of Dumbledore.
"Do you intend to follow through with the vow, Severus?"
Snape's dark eyes went up at Dumbledore, and he scoffed, "Are you asking me to spare you to spare you with me costing my life, Dumbledore?"
Dumbledore shrugged, his expression unchanging— calm, looking at Snape with his usual sparkling gaze behind his half-moon glasses.
Snape's eyes narrowed into half a glare. "You don't believe I will be able to succeed if I am to try."
"One can never be too careful, Severus. This might be arrogant of me, but I do not believe that you will be able to kill me if I do not desire for you to succeed... and I have no desire to die."
"So, I am to die, then?"
Dumbledore kept his silence on the question, but he did speak, "How does Draco plan to carry out this mission of his? Did Narcissa share something she might have heard from her son?"
Snape's fist clenched on his lap; however, that was the only indication he showed with his body and face remaining calm and unperturbed. "No, the poor woman was fear-stricken that after the vow was sealed, she couldn't even stand still on her, and it was better for her to return home... and I haven't had the chance to meet Draco."
"Lord Voldemort foresees a moment in the near future when he will not need a spy at Hogwarts?" asked Dumbledore.
"He believes the school will soon be in his grasp, yes."
"I see. Now then. Your first priority will be to discover what Draco is up to. A frightened teenage boy is a danger to others as well as to himself. Offer him help and guidance, he ought to accept, he likes you —"
"— much less since his father has lost favour. Draco blames me; he thinks I have usurped Lucius' position," Snape shook his head.
"All the same, try. I am concerned less for myself than for accidental victims of whatever schemes might occur to the boy. Ultimately, of course, we need to save him from Lord Voldemort's wrath."
Snape raised his eyebrows, and his tone was sardonic as he asked, "Are you intending to let him kill you?"
"Of course not, but I can try to sway him to the correct side. If we can ensure that we can at least save his mother, I am sure the boy would walk to our side."
"From the way Lestrange talked, Draco seemed excited about the prospect of being deemed worthy of such grand responsibility," said Snape.
Dumbledore shook his head, "He might think so, but as the time passes and he tries to scheme about killing me, the weight of the situation and actions would dawn upon him. Draco would become cognizant of what he was asked to do— all I need to do is to persuade him in the moment of pressure and weakness. We have time to lay the groundwork to ensure that he turns."
"... You have everything planned, don't you," said Snape, sneering.
Dumbledore eyed Snape. There was a long silence, broken only by an odd clicking noise. Fawkes, the phoenix, was gnawing a bit of cuttlebone.
"When it happens, I want you to be there, Severus," said Dumbledore.
Snape frowned, "What? Why do you need me there?"
"If I fail to convince Draco, then the responsibility will fall upon you. You must give it a try— he would be much more willing to listen to you, who is a well-known, trusted Death Eater, and suddenly knowing that you're on the other side would give him hope."
His tone was light, but his blue eyes pierced Snape. At last, Snape gave another curt nod before standing up and announcing his leave. He turned away and walked towards the exit when Dumbledore once again spoke up.
"Thank you, Severus... and I am sorry for placing this burden on you."
Snape slowed to a stop. In that moment of stillness, no words were exchanged. Snape's robes billowed, and he was off again.
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- (Scene Break) -
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Snape struggled in the air against the glowing red bindings wrapped tightly around his body, barely giving him the space to breathe freely. His struggles came to a stop when he was thrown onto the ground.
He used his legs to push himself back as he dragged himself away from his capture, who was staring down at him. He soon felt the wall of the room he had been brought with him with his back. His eyes moved between the black-clad captor and the closed door.
"You should relax," Quinn said, seeing the disturbed Snape, "it is too late for you to be thinking about returning back to the Astronomy Tower."
Snape's eyes turned to him, and he shouted his demand, "Release me this instant. You have no idea that what you're interfering with."
"I do understand what I am involving myself in," said Quinn. "I don't know that you and Dumbledore have planned, but whatever it may be, I can't have you killing him today— Malfoy will not cast the spell, and Dumbledore will live past today."
Snape's eyes turned into eggs, and his body went slack for a moment. His mouth opened and closed wordlessly before he finally asked, "Who are you? How did you...."
There was no moment from Quinn, but Snape could feel the gaze trained on him. Then the black-gloved slowly raised up to the black mask, there was a double-click, and then the hand lowered again, taking the mask with it.
Snape's eyes already wide eyes widened yet again as he a tremor shot up through his body. "Q-Quinn West!?" he all but yelled. "W-W... What?!'
Quinn stared down at his mask. It was a risk, he knew that, nevertheless....
"Good evening, professor. I apologize for the injuries I caused during our duel, but I had to ensure that you were disarmed and disabled for me to take you away." Quinn noticed the confusion on Snape's face that had deepened as he had spoken. "For the context of the situation, I am who the have come to call the Invisible Vigilante..."
Snape's breath caught, tell-tale signs that the realization had dawned on him.
"... Today, Draco Malfoy allowed six Death Eaters entry to Hogwarts, and I made sure they were put to rest before they could complete their reason for visit," said Quinn. "Right about now, Draco Malfoy is alone with the headmaster... and from what I know about those two, what I can see happening is Dumbledore successfully persuading Draco, bringing today to an end."
Snape felt his head swirl. He felt a throbbing overcome as he tried to think of what he had just seen and heard.
"You swore an Unbreakable Vow with Lady Malfoy."
"!! How did you?!"
Quinn shook his head with a smile, "That is not of importance, professor. What is of significance is that I can't allow you to go up there to kill the headmaster—"
Snape looked as if he wanted to say something, but Quinn continued.
"— I do not wish to know if my assumption is right or not. As long as the Dark Lord walks this Earth, the headmaster won't let himself die in vain. But I don't know about you— you might want to live past today by completing your vow. Unfortunately, that isn't the outcome that will lead to the least damage, so I have taken it upon myself to ensure that you broke your vow."
Snape stared at his student of seven years. Quinn had his head bowed and didn't dare meet eyes with him.
"... You wish to kill me?" asked Snape, the tense energy in his body slowly draining.
Quinn shook his head, his chin still tucked. "There are a few minutes to midnight, and for all intents of the magic, if you fail to kill Dumbledore today, you will have failed to uphold the vow... and the penalty of failure will bring your life to an end...."
His voice trailed; what came next was unsaid.
But Snape had no problems putting the unsaid into words. He spoke with a tired voice, "If I don't die at midnight, you will kill me yourself."
Quinn gave a short nod.
"What if I told you that I was never going to kill the headmaster," asked Snape.
Quinn shook his head. "I have no way to verify your claim, professor. I can look inside your mind, but it takes time and preparation to be entirely sure when the target is someone of your skill. I have neither of those. Soon this place would be crawling with Aurors and Order of Phoenix members, and when they find the Death Eaters or notice that you're missing, they will come looking— I can't be here in this attire when that happens.
And when it comes to life and death, people's thoughts can change in a blink of a second."
Snape stared at the ceiling above, myriads of thoughts roaming in his mind. "Have you prepared yourself? Taking a life changes people, assuming I'm going to be the first one."
"I... I think I am," said Quinn breathily. "There is a heavy pit in my stomach that I want gone, but with each passing moment, it only grows heavier. I don't know if this will change me... but this is something I have chosen for myself."
"Of all people who I thought who would kill me, I never thought it would be you, West," said Snape, "but I guess I did think that the Invisible Vigilante might come for me."
Quinn finally raised his head and gazed at Snape. The potions master looked resigned.
He asked Snape if he could ask him a question.
Snape nodded.
"Why did you never make peace with Lily Potter. I heard she tried to put the past behind," asked Quinn.
"I couldn't," said Snape. "You already know so much, so you must know that I'm a double-spy for both sides. If I grew closer to her, I would lose that position... and it was too precious for me to let it go.... It was for her own good."
Quinn bowed his head. He felt a buzz in his pocket. It was time, and he told Snape about it.
"I see; I prefer a quick, painless death if you could provide me with that," said Snape. "The killing curse would be best for that."
Quinn took out a pocket watch and clenched it tight in his hand. He watched as the minute and hour smoothly met at the top of the watch face, and a soft ping sounded when midnight arrived. Quinn didn't move and kept his eye on the watch as the minute hand did another round.
"Didn't you want to not to be seen," said Snape.
Quinn didn't respond and waited for another minute before he closed. He snapped the pocket watch close with a deep, deep sigh.
"Make it quick," said Snape and shifted in his spot to get comfortable.
Quinn slowly raised his palm to face Snape and could feel his heart threatening to beat itself to death.
"It was a pleasure learning under you, sir," said Quinn.
"Don't lie to a man about to die," said Snape before he closed his eyes.
His last words were followed by a green light that flushed every corner of the room.
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-*-*-*-*-*-
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Quinn West - MC - May he have a great adventure.
Severus Snape - A ruined man - Death comes us for all in the end.
Albus Dumbledore - Headmaster - Alive.
FictionOnlyReader - Author - Just made a promise/deal IRL that would come to fruition in 6 years. It's a big(biggest) deal for me and I wanted to document it here. It's literally going to be a turning point in my life.
