"You attacked me first. That's not the point; the point is I can offer you freedom. You take me up on it, and you'll never have to worry about serving anyone again. If you listen to Dumbledore, you'll be spending the rest of your life in a job you hate. Listen to me and you leave the country tonight and you'll never have to look back," Hydrus explained with a slightly mischievous gleam in his eye. Snape may never serve anyone again, but he would always be on the run. Being the Slytherin he was, Hydrus was sure that the Potions Master would be fine, just very paranoid.
Snape shot him a distrustful look and then barked, "Explain."
"I can remove the Dark Mark, give you enough non-magical money to get out of the country as well as give you a device that will hide who you are. The rest is up to you, you're smart enough to support yourself, youngest Potions Master of the age," Hydrus shrugged as if it was not big deal.
"How did you know about the Headmaster's offer?"
"Sorry, can't tell ya, vow you know. I can tell you that your conversations weren't as private as you thought," he lied.
"And what of my vow to protect the Potter brat?" Snape asked, as his dark eyes flitted around the room. You could see he was honestly thinking about getting out of Britain. There were no good memories for him here, and if they ever found out what he did to Pettigrew...
"He's well protected, thanks to his mum. Besides, Dumbledore didn't keep his side of the bargain, so the vow is worthless."
A look of anguish crossed his face for a moment at the thought of his dead friend. He had trusted Dumbledore to protect her, this man was correct, the vow was void. Then his face firmed into his usual sneer. His well-kept mind was going over the possibilities. "How do you know I'll keep my word?"
"Easy enough, you take a vow to never step foot in the country again."
"And if I am captured?"
"Not my problem."
"My position as a spy?" was the greasy-haired man's final question.
"If I have it my way, Voldemort will never return," Hydrus said in a steely voice. There was a murderous glare in his eyes.
Mulling it over for a few minutes, Snape finally nodded. Hydrus lifted the Elder Wand and pointed it at the man's head. He unbound him and threw him his wand. "Simply say that you will never willingly come back to the United Kingdom."
Taking his wand, Snape incanted the vow and waited. Hydrus pulled out a glamor watch, explained what it did and then gave the Potions Master an expanded Mokeskin bag filled with pounds.
Severus's face changed in drastic ways. His greasy hair turned dark brown and messy, which made Hydrus giggle internally. His eyes went from fathomless black to pale brown. His nose shortened, it still looked like it had been broken a time or two it was just smaller. He crooked teeth straightened a little, so it didn't look like he ate metal on a regular basis, but just didn't care for them. His skin went from shallow to just plain pale. Oh, the Potions Master would never win a beauty contest, but he might not be tracked down so fast with this face. The immortal was surprised at the major differences; usually the watch was far more subtle.
Snape conjured a mirror and sneered at his new face. Hydrus said he might want to change his distinctive style of clothing, which caused the man to snarl. He then indicated for the ex-Death Eater to show the tattoo on his arm. He grabbed the wrist and said in parseltongue, "Finite Incantatem." The mark disappeared, the skin was unmarred. Snape almost showed signs of relief.
It had been a shock to realize that he still had the snake tongue. After a lot of research on the mark he figured out why no one could remove it and was surprised when it was so simple. Voldemort must have thought it a great amusement that so many had tried and failed.
"It is all up to you now. I do have one question though. Did you kill Pettigrew?" Hydrus inquired casually.
Snape shot him a fleeting wary glare, which of course gave the immortal the answer. The younger man's face smoothed and he said snidely, "I have no idea what you are talking about."
"I really don't care; I just want to know if I have to watch out for the traitor in the future."
"As far as I know Pettigrew will never darken your doorstep," Snape said in that silky voice he had. Then he turned and dismissed the intruder and started packing up his house, putting everything in the Mokeskin bag.
Seeing the snub for what it was Hydrus shrugged and left. He had done what he came for and got a bit of extra information in return. So he popped back to the house, scaring Sirius, who was trying to figure out the telly. "What are you doing?" Hydrus asked in amusement.
"This one isn't like the one Lily showed me and James. There is no on button," the Animagus said sheepishly.
"Sit, I'll turn it on. Where's Harry?" the older man said as he pushed the button at the bottom of the telly and turned it to the local news.
"Sleeping again. He's been down for about an hour, so he should be up soon. We had a really good time; Harry is such a bright kid. He seems to be adjusting well. Thanks for getting his stuff, I think that helped," Sirius answered and then looked at the other man's content face. "You got him to leave?"
"Yup," Hydrus said happily, "it was easier than I thought. Then again he all but confessed to killing Peter. Not even the headmaster can help him if that gets out."
Sirius's brow wrinkled in a frustrated frown. He wanted to kill Peter, now Snivellus took that from him.
Seeing that look Hydrus said, "He's gone, there's nothing you can do now. Live with it."
The two men sat and watched the news; there were more reports on fireworks and owls, but nothing important. So, Hydrus introduced Sirius to the wonderful world of video games. With the more important things out of the way, they could talk over the rest tomorrow.
....
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