The Marauders - Order of the Phoenix Part Three

In Exchange

Albus Dumbledore offered Severus Snape a lemon sherbet. Snape took it and stared at it in his palm, the yellow candy was sticky and even without putting it into his mouth, Snape could tell it was more sugary than anything he'd eaten in quite a long time. He looked up at Dumbledore, not sure what to do with the candy - he didn't really want to eat it. Dumbledore seemed unperturbed that Snape wasn't eating it, or else he didn't notice. Either way, he didn't react when Snape stood with it in his palm, not moving.

"My proposition for you is simple Severus, I do not expect you to renounce the Dark Lord to his face or anything terribly dramatic of that sort."

"I would not be able to do so even if you were to ask me," Severus answered.

Dumbledore considered this a moment, sucking on the lemon sherbet he'd popped into his own mouth when he handed Severus his. "I see. May I inquire as to why?"

Severus hesitated.

They were standing on the sidewalk next to a row of muggle cars that were parked along the curbside outside of the square. The charms protecting the muggles from knowing of anything happening within the square were doing their job - not a sound came from beyond wrought iron fence, grown over by shrubbery. 

Dumbledore stared at Severus, waiting.

And as Snape hesitated, he felt a funny feeling, like a profound urge to tell the truth. He looked at Dumbledore and said, plainly, "My muggle father beat my mother. If she were not a witch, she would not be alive today, but she was able to heal her own wounds and lived. She was able to heal me when he beat me as well. We survived. He would not work, and so we starved. When my Mother told the Ministry for Magic and begged for help, they told her they would file a report. What good does a report do?" His voice was dark and it lowered, "She went to family and they wouldn't help. They mocked us instead. But at one of our cousin's houses, begging for food, my mother met a man who overheard the story she told... and he cared. He promised to help her. To help me. For a price. And that man came and my father paid for what he had done to us. My mother's promise is my inheritance. It is binding."

Dumbledore nodded. "This is why you helped the boys at that home, when you heard what was happening to them. Did you create any such contract with those boys as Voldemort created with you, Severus?"

"No," Snape said lowly.

Dumbledore asked, "And why not?"

"It shouldn't cost anything to be protected."

Dumbledore nodded. "Mr. Snape, I believe that conviction is the very thing which might save you from falling into a cycle that is far too easy to take part in. Children who have been mistreated are more likely to mistreat others as a result of their own trauma. Why, I cannot imagine the plethora of tragedy which must manifest within the motley collection of the followers of your so-called Lord. He has built for himself an army of people and creatures who have been wronged and seek revenge. But you, Snape, are different. You understand that safety and well being is a natural-born right of every person. And it is for this reason that I believe that you, Severus, are just the man for the job which I am about to offer to you."

"I already told you - I am bound by my mother's promise," Severus said, shaking his head.

Dumbledore said, "Ah, yes, but I am not asking you to leave the service of Voldemort, Severus. Rather, I am asking you to help us to see what it is that your Lord asks of you to do. You are a great mind, and you have access into Voldemort's most privvy life, into his plans... You even more than most, being a legilimens. I ask of you not to leave his service, but rather to exploit your abilities and simply inform us. We will do the rest and you need not run a single mission on our side, you need only to inform." Dumbledore stood, watching Severus think.