Disclaimer: J.K Rowling owns everyone in this story 
except of Morrigan Snape and Cassiopeia Black.

Pairing: SS/SB
 
Rating: PG-13. Warning: implied incest

Summary: When Dumbledore asked Black and Snape to 
shake hands in GoF, I thought, they are behaving like two 
little boys, and Dumbledore like their impatient father. 
Plotbunnies sprang out of the wilderness...


Family Ties, Chapter Four: Prodigal Son
By Ratwoman
ratwoman02@yahoo.de

Albus Dumbledore was sitting in an armchair in front of his 
fireplace staring into the flames, or rather at Morrigan 
Snape's head, as she was relating the latest 
developments in the fight against the Dark Lord. 

"Lily will be at our place until her child is born." Morrigan 
said. "Sirius thinks it would be saver if James Potter also 
went into the hiding. But there is a problem: he is sure, 
one of his friends is passing information over to the 
enemy."

That did not sound good. "Does he know who?" 

Morrigan shook her head. "He said, he can neither 
imagine Remus nor Peter being a traitor. But it looks like; 
the Dark Lord seems to know each of our next steps in 
advance."

"But, how can Lily be safe with you if someone passes on 
the information?"

Morrigan smiled: "Sirius is not stupid, he did not even tell 
James where Lily is hiding."

"Apropos not stupid," Albus said, "did you hear something 
about Severus?"

Morrigan's smile faded. "Nothing, Albus." 

"I think I drove him away, Morrigan." Albus said sadly. "I 
should have talked to him right after the Shrieking Shack 
incident, but I delayed it until it was too late."

"There is no use in reproaching yourself, Albus." Morrigan 
said. "He will come back, I know it."

"I hope you're right." Albus said. "Good night, Morrigan, 
and give Cassie a kiss from me."

Morrigan smiled lasciviously. "I will." she said, and her 
head disappeared.

Albus sighed. It had almost been four years since Severus 
disappeared. If he had at least send them an owl telling 
that he was alright, but there was no trace of him.

*

The next afternoon, Albus was sitting at his desk doing 
some paper work when the door opened and Minerva 
came in. 

She looked at him very earnestly. "Albus," she said. 
"There is someone who just snowed into my class telling 
me urgently that he wants to talk to you."

"And who could that someone be?" Dumbledore asked 
softly.

"Your son."

"Sirius?" Why did Sirius not come to him directly, he was 
informed over every change in the password to his office?

"Your other son." Minerva said. 

Severus? "Let him in." Albus said in a strangled voice.

Minerva opened the door and said in a friendly tone to 
someone waiting outside: "You may get in now, Severus."

Albus raised to his feet, staring in hope at the door. Could 
that really be true?

A tall, pale young man clothed in black robes hesitatingly 
walked in. His long black hair looked as if he hadn't 
washed it for at least a week, and there were deep 
shadows under his eyes. Without any doubt his son, and 
he did not look as if he was happy with his life.

Minerva quietly left the room. 

"Severus!" Albus called and went past his desk towards 
the young man. "Where have you been?" he asked, 
hugging his son tightly. Severus did not return the 
embrace but stiffened. 

"You must warn Cassie. They are going to kill her." he 
said.

"Who?" Albus asked. 

"The Death Eaters." Severus voice was worryingly 
monotonous.

"How do you know?" Albus asked in alarm.

"I'm one of them." 

"Oh Severus," Albus said, sadly shaking his head. His own 
son a Dark Wizard!

"Warn Cassie!" Severus said urgently. "They are going to 
kill her with a poison that cannot be perceived by colour, 
taste or smell. They'll do it at work, I guess, since no one 
knows where she lives." Severus paused. "There is an 
antidote, called Miraflax. The receipt can be found in 
Safran's Book of Antidotes. Tell Cassie she needs to drink 
the Miraflax every six hours, then the poison won't kill her 
if they succeed in smuggling it into her food."

Albus nodded his head and walked over to the fireplace, 
throwing a handful of grey powder into the flames. 

"Cassiopeia Black!" he called. 

After a short while Cassie's head appeared in the flames. 
"Yes, Albus?" she said smiling. 

"I've got information that the Death Eaters want to poison 
you."  Dumbledore said. Her smile faded. "There is an 
antidote called Miraflax, you can find it in Safran's Book of 
Antidotes. Take it every six hours."

She earnestly nodded her head. "Thank you Albus." Then 
she tried to gaze past him. "Is that Severus over there?" 
she asked excitedly.

Dumbledore turned around in time to see Severus 
stepping a few feet back, as if hiding from her gaze.

"Yes," Albus answered. Cassie's eyes widened. "He is 
alive and well. I'll inform you when I know more. Just take 
care with the Miraflax, Cassie!"

Cassie nodded and disappeared. 

With a sigh Dumbledore turned back to his son. "What 
happened, Severus?"  Severus looked so ... lost. There 
was a haunted look in his dark eyes and nothing of his 
pride was left in his slightly hunched posture. 

"What do you want to know?" Severus asked in a flat 
voice.

"Everything." Albus said. "Everything that happened since 
you ran away."

Severus sat down heavily. "At first I was just travelling 
from city to city. Then I met one of my old schoolmates, 
Evan Rosier. He told me about his life as a Death Eater. 
How glorious it was, how they all held together like a 
family. I outright laughed at him." 

Albus felt a pang of guilt. He knew that Severus had 
always felt as if even Morrigan was against him and for 
Sirius. They should all have made clearer that it was not 
that way.  

"Evan took me along to one of their meetings anyway; and 
they all praised my knowledge in the Dark Arts and my 
talent in Potions. For the first time in my life I felt wanted 
and appreciated for what I was."

Albus buried his head in his hands. Had he really done 
everything wrong with his son? How could it be that he 
had dedicated his life to leading school children to the path 
of light, but had driven one of his own sons towards 
darkness? 

"So I became one of them. I was part of a group." Life 
returned into Severus' eyes as he related that. "I 
belonged." Severus paused for a moment to delve in 
memories. "They asked me to brew potions, not forgetting 
to mention each time how good my work was."

"What kind of potions?" Albus asked. 

"From harmless truth potions like the Veritaserum, over 
potions that destroy a person's will to deadly poisons, 
everything." Severus said monotonously. "Sometimes they 
mentioned for whom the potions were intended, but they 
were only names to me. I didn't care. Until yesterday they 
said that the Invisible Death was for Cassiopeia Black." 
Severus giggled madly. "It's like poisoning my own 
mother, isn't it?"

Albus watched Severus, feeling sad, guilty and helpless. 
"What do you intend to do now?" he asked, hoping the 
answer would not be going back to them. He would not 
call the Aurors, because he'd rather see his son as a 
Death Eater than as a prisoner of Azkaban, but he would 
prefer searching for another way. The recognition that Sev's 
so-called friends were planning to kill a woman who was 
as-good-as Severus' mother seemed to have shocked him 
enough to see what he was doing.

Severus shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know." He 
frowned. "I indirectly killed people. I never stopped to think 
about that. And _I_ used to call Sirius thoughtless."

"Do you want me to help you out?" Dumbledore said, 
praying that Severus would take his offer. 

For a second Severus looked at him with hope, then he 
resignedly shook his head: "They'd kill me. They'd find me 
and kill me. Evan told me what they do with traitors." 
Judging from Severus' face, is was not a painless form of 
death. "Best would be I say goodbye to Morrigan and 
Cassie and end my life." Severus said flatly.

No, Dumbledore would not let this happen! Maybe he 
could save him by giving him another perspective.

"You could work as a spy for me." Albus said.

Severus looked up uncomprehending.

"Keep your eyes and ears open and report back to me. 
You can help to stop them from killing more innocent 
people." 

Severus still looked undecided. And very tired. 

Dumbledore changed a chair into a bed. "You don't need 
to decide now. You can sleep here for now." 

"Thank you." Severus said politely. 

"And Severus," Dumbledore added, "I'm sorry."

Severus looked at him in confusion. "For what?"

"For everything." Dumbledore replied.

* 

A few days later.

Dumbledore had hardly apparated in his wives' living room 
when Morrigan jumped up and ran to him. 

"How is Severus?" she called. "Cassie said he was with 
you?"

Albus nodded his head. "He made some bad decisions, 
Morrigan, but our lost son has come back."

And he sat down to relate to the women how Severus had 
first been a Death Eater and now had become a spy for 
their cause.


TBC