Severus Snape stared down at the letter in his hand, his mind racing. He had already read and reread it over a half-dozen times, but it had yet to sink in. For so long he thought about this day, a freedom from his obligations and 'duties', then he could do what he wanted, live his life as he wanted to, but now that it was finally here he simply found himself being manipulated by the Headmaster once again.
An emptiness filled his chest, combined a certain sense of displacement and uncertainty. What would he do now? What could he do now? For a brief moment he considered sending a letter to his Lord, asking for advice or, even more embarrassing, aid.
No, he wouldn't do that. He was an adult, and Harry was a teenage boy almost certainly still on one of his vacations for the summer. The Potion master mentally assured himself that he could handle the situation, he had always done so, by himself, before and he could easily continue to do so.
' But you don't NEED to'
The voice in his head was soothing, gentle, and feminine. It was the moral compass he often suppressed, and yet leaned on, the voice of the woman he loved to this day, trying to ease his pain.
' You were alone before because you had no options, no one to turn to… now you DO. You have friends and allies. You have those who understand you, that you no longer need to hide from.'
"I do not need their help, I am strong." He argued against himself.
' How strong do you need to be though? All these years suffering in silence… why not just let someone help you for once? Imagine what the world would be like if you had done so decades ago…'
It was all the convincing he needed, and the man promptly stood, letter in hand, before walking into the Floo and disappearing in a burst of flames his destination, the Malfoy manner.
...
Sirius Black and glanced up in confusion from the morning paper he was reading as his former school nemesis walked into the room. He hesitated for less than a moment before giving the man a nod and tossing him an apple from the fruit bowl located nearby.
Snape caught it instantly, a raised eyebrow asking the unspoken question.
"No, it isn't Hexed or anything like that, pup asked me to refrain from pranking anyone in the inner circle. That means you are immune."
Remus smirked, "Harry threatened to make him do even more babysitting of the adults if he did."
"Indeed… but the others?"
A shout of 'BLACK!' rang through the corridor from one of the other former Death Eaters, earning a grin from the Animagus, and a soft chuckle from Lupin, "Like I said, no one in the inner circle."
Snape hid his smirk, before taking a bite of the fruit and giving the man a nod in return. "Speaking of, our Lord is not currently here is he?"
"No, still on vacation with Hermione. He's probably shagging her in a library or something right now, why?"
The professor considered opening up to the men but deemed it to sound far too much like whining and merely shook his head. "It is nothing, I merely wanted to speak with him."
"Ah Severus, I am surprised to see you here, shouldn't you be preparing for school?" Lucius Malfoy called from the doorway as he strolled in with his wife and sister in-law.
"There has been a… change of plans in that regard, it is something I wish to speak with our Lord about, hopefully before classes begins."
"If it involves Harry then it shouldn't wait Snape." Sirius chimed in, his expression and demeanor focusing.
"It is nothing I cannot handle…"
"You don't sound so sure of that." The Werewolf interrupted.
Snape forced back a sneer, they were just trying to help after all, "It is not worth interrupting his vacation for."
"Then don't, we were put in charge for a reason Severus. Let us show Harry we can handle things while he is away."
The professor paused, before sighing and giving a nod to the Malfoy matron, he promptly revealed the letter and passed it to Sirius, who was currently the closest one to him.
Taking the offered object with a flourish the man cleared his throat dramatically before reading it aloud, " Dear Severus Snape, due to recent faculty changes your continued position as Potion instructor as well as Head of Slytherin House is no longer required. You will continue to be employed on Hogwarts salary until such time as the school board approves your dismissal. Albus Dumbledore. "
The room fell silent, up until Bellatrix gave a shrug, "So what? You still get paid and you don't have to deal with whiny brats all year, sounds like a win-win to me."
Lucius interrupted, before Snape could answer, with a hiss, "The big deal is that Severus is our Lord's Head of House. Dumbledore is clearly trying to manipulate the situation now that he knows the truth."
"Wait," Sirius chimed in, "Dumbles can just switch you out like that? I thought it required board permission to make staff changes."
"Only in terminations," Remus corrected. "It doesn't require a vote to hire or swap anyone around. Right now, Severus is still employed he just isn't assigned to any position."
"So, what do we do? Even the board cannot force Dumbledore to change his mind on these decisions and impeaching him would be incredibly difficult and time consuming at the moment."
"Oh Cissa dear you are making things too complicated. We just wait and see what idiot Dumbledork finds and kill them, then they will have no choice but to put Snape back in the spot."
Said professor rolled his eyes, "Brilliant strategy Bellatrix, unfortunately that will only draw more attention to us and achieve nothing of value."
"So, then what do you suggest professor ? Oh, wait we can't call you that, now can we?"
As the adults began to argue Sirius was, oddly enough, quiet and contemplative until he came up with his own idea. "Lucius" the conversations halted at the interrupted, with the blonde raising his eyebrow in acknowledgment. "You still have contacts on the school board, right?"
"I do, but after the start of the investigation into my time as Minister I was temporarily removed from it."
"That's fine, reach out to them, find out as much as you can about what the new professors and what Dumbledore might have been telling them. Snape, do you think you could make a list of anyone qualified to replace both of your positions?"
The greasy-haired man nodded slowly, not quite sure how to take the change in the Black Lord.
"Good, I will start prodding around the Wizengamot, see what kind of gossip I can pick up, Cissa if you could do the same with the housewives you usually have tea with it would be appreciated."
"What is your plan Padfoot?"
....
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