The Space Between Failing and Falling • Snarry •

Chapter 1: Deficiency and Defeat

"Witness for the defence, Harry James Potter!" rings a voice from the chair beside his.

He opens his eyes just in time to observe Potter pulling off that damned cloak. Such a show off. Severus would look heavenward, but he doesn't want to bring on a headache, and so he lets his eyelids fall. There are more excited mutterings and flickering camera flashbulbs.

"This trial shouldn't be going ahead. You've seen what you need to see."

"Mr Potter, please calm yourself. Procedure must be followed," Shacklebolt says.

"Can't you see he's unwell?"

Severus prays hard for reprieve. The Dementor's Kiss, 'Not guilty', anything—whichever is quicker.

"We must proceed," a woman says. "We have a lot to get through, so please remain silent."

Shacklebolt's voice calls out again. "The charges against the accused are as follows:

"That he did knowingly, deliberately and in full awareness of the lawlessness of his actions, use the Killing Curse in the presence of schoolchildren, on the thirtieth of June 1997 at twenty-two minutes past eleven on Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. This constitutes an offence under Paragraph A of the Homicide Act of 1857. In your position of Headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the heavy-handedness, accessory to murder and treason, all constitute..."

At this, Severus leans forward, so that hair covers his face. He tunes them out, as though he is surrounded by buzzing flies.

Potter shakes his shoulder. "Professor, are you all right? You don't look well. They're asking you things, now."

"You are Severus Tobias Snape, of number seventeen, Spinner's End?"

He clears his throat. "Evidently."

"Did you cast the Killing Curse on Albus Dumbledore?"

"Yes." Let this end.

"In the knowledge that this is an Unforgivable Curse?"

"In my capacity as the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor."

"Speak up, please."

Severus grits his teeth before answering. "Yes!"

Some of the Wizengamot are muttering. This goads Potter into speech. "This is ridiculous! Do we have to go through this?" Severus's ears buzz.

"I could be wrong," Potter says, "but I'm sure that under the Wizengamot Charter of Rights, the accused has the right to be in reasonable health in their hearing, and to present witnesses for their case, so when do I get to speak?"

There is a sigh. "Go along then, Harry," Shacklebolt says.

"I submitted the evidence ages ago—there's just no way you can convict Professor Snape!"

The painkilling potions he drank before entering the courtroom hit him. A sense of preternatural calm pervades his mind, and it grips his body in numbness. The tinny voices sound as though they are coming from a distant wireless, and he can barely keep his head up.

He must have nodded off, because a Healer pulls him up by the elbow and escorts him to the Floo Network. He is not bound in chains.

****

A cat scratches at the door.

When Severus notices the tabby, he says, "For Merlin's sake." He looks up and down the street. "In!"

The front door opens directly into his parlour. There is no higher pleasure than a room covered in books; simply breathing in helps to restore his equilibrium. He gives her a few seconds of privacy to transform before turning.