The Sunshine of Hogwarts, Snape

The sudden turn of events made Lupin's hair stand on end. He nervously drew the wand from his sleeve, while Harry instinctively moved closer to Severus's side.

Yet Severus acted as though he hadn't noticed the wands now pointed at him.

Casually summoning three chairs, he sat down without hesitation and gestured for Lupin and Harry to relax and take their seats as well.

"Spare me the theatrics, Lucius. If you truly wanted to interrogate me, you would have done so the moment I stepped through your front door… not waited until we were in this room."

He glanced up at the opulent crystal chandelier overhead.

"Wouldn't you be heartbroken if any of these precious trinkets of yours were accidentally shattered?"

At Severus's signal, Harry and Lupin also cautiously sat down, though they only allowed themselves to perch on the very edge of their seats.

The elegantly dressed, dignified wizards surrounding them still hadn't lowered their wands, keeping them trained firmly on Severus.

Lucius's expression remained icy as he stared coldly at Severus.

"You know better than anyone what you've been up to lately! Pleading remorse and begging for forgiveness at the Wizengamot trial… I've known you for years, and I've never seen you grovel like that!"

"And now you're working for the Ministry, opposing werewolves who fly the Dark Lord's banner, sending them to Azkaban, ruining Barty Crouch Jr.'s plans!"

"What exactly are you playing at? Have you truly decided to betray the Dark Lord?!"

Severus merely crossed his legs, not even bothering to draw his wand. Meeting Lucius's gaze, he replied with certainty.

"Barty has already approached you."

At the same time, he turned his head to look at the dozen or so people who were pointing their wands at him. They were once famous Death Eaters, and were now high-society pure-blood wizards in the Wizarding World.

"And he's certainly reached out to all of you as well."

"So? Do you really intend to trust Barty's baseless claims and side with him? Where is the Dark Lord now? And where is Dumbledore?"

The drawing room fell silent, as though Severus's confident tone had subdued them. Lupin and Harry also began to relax.

Lucius simply stared at Severus, remaining silent, refusing to respond to the challenge.

Severus then gestured dismissively at the wizards still holding their wands.

"And just look at the company you've gathered."

"Goyle, Crabbe, Nott, the Carrow siblings, Parkinson… Look at these pampered aristocrats. Why didn't you invite Karkaroff along too, if you wanted to prove your loyalty to the Dark Lord by capturing me?"

Lucius could no longer maintain his cold composure. His face flushed red and he cursed those idiots in the Ministry in his heart!

'Was this Severus's so-called remorse?'

'His so-called repentance?'

'His so-called apology?'

'That mouth of his was still as sharp as ever… like he'd swallowed a toad and couldn't spit out anything pleasant!'

"Lower your wands! Lower them! We're not intimidating him!"

Lucius waved his hand irritably, and the pure-blood wizards reluctantly lowered their wands, each taking a seat in the high-backed chairs around the drawing room.

Their expressions were dark, after all, no one enjoyed being insulted like that.

Especially when every word was.

Once the tension had eased slightly, Lucius immediately turned his attention to Harry.

"Where did you find this student?"

"His parents had some history with me." Severus said casually.

"You can go upstairs and play with Draco." Lucius said, clearly trying to dismiss the outsider. Some conversations were not meant for eavesdroppers, "You are around the same age. You should get along."

Harry glanced at Severus, who gave a slight nod before leaning in and whispering in his ear, "Go and enjoy yourself. But remember one thing… as long as I'm here, don't start trouble. But don't let anyone else start trouble with you either."

Once Harry had been led upstairs by the house-elf Dobby, someone else turned their attention to Lupin.

"Is this Dumbledore's watchdog assigned to you?" It was old Goyle who spoke.

Lucius also looked at Lupin with ill intentions.

"He certainly knows how to pick them… Severus, shall we take this opportunity to teach him a lesson on your behalf? Help you vent some old grudges?"

Lupin had remained calm since sitting down. Even at Lucius's words, his expression didn't change.

"Take a walk outside, Lupin," Severus said. "Remember what I told you… the Malfoy gardens are quite the sight."

After hearing Severus' words, Lupin nodded, stood up, then turned and left the living room.

Once he was gone, Lucius raised an eyebrow at Severus.

"Seems you've tamed Potter's old friend quite well?"

Severus didn't respond to his remark and instead asked coolly, "You made such a grand show of summoning me here… just to intimidate me and have this pointless conversation?"

"Regardless, your public actions and statements were inappropriate, Snape!"

This time, it was Alecto Carrow, the stout, short witch from the Carrow siblings, who spoke up.

She and her brother, Amycus Carrow, were classic opportunists… bullies who preyed on the weak and switched sides when convenient.

After the First Wizarding War ended and Voldemort fell, the two siblings fled without a second thought about searching for Voldemort.

Unlike the die-hard Death Eaters who chose to fight the Aurors to the bitter end, they schemed their way out of Azkaban.

Instead, he came up with some crooked ideas and escaped from Azkaban.

"And why is it inappropriate?" Severus turned his gaze to her, "What exactly do you think I should have said under those circumstances? That I remain unrepentant? That my loyalty to the Dark Lord is unwavering? Or should I have helped Barty and his lot stir up chaos, only to be captured by Aurors and thrown into Azkaban alongside them?"

Her brother, Amycus, spoke up in her sister's defense.

"Alecto didn't mean you had to go to extremes. You could've just stayed silent, acted like nothing happened. But now, because of you, Barty is forcing us to pick a side! If we don't help him, we're betraying the Dark Lord outright!"

Severus merely smirked, sweeping his cold gaze over the gathered pure-blood wizards before raising his voice.

"Do you all share the same opinion?"

No one said anything… it was obvious that they all agreed.

They believed Severus had gone too far by cozying up to the Ministry and openly sabotaging Barty's plans to find Voldemort. His actions had forced them into a corner, stripping them of the luxury of remaining neutral.

"I had assumed that while my friends might not excel in loyalty to the Dark Lord, they at least had some sense of self-preservation and the ability to read the times."

He spoke calmly.

"Now, it seems your intellect in that regard falls far short of my expectations."

Such biting sarcasm made even these pure-blood wizards, who are long accustomed to Severus's sharp tongue, shift uncomfortably in their seats.

Goyle was the first to loudly rebuke Severus, demanding to know what right he had to criticize them when his own groveling speech at the Ministry was hardly any better.

Others soon joined in with veiled jabs. These men were masters of flattery… skilled in praising the Dark Lord and equally adept at delivering cutting insults without a single vulgar word.

It wasn't until Lucius intervened that the chaos subsided.

"Enough! We didn't gather here today to bicker!"

As the room quieted, Lucius fixed his gaze on Severus.

"If you think our reasoning is flawed, then why don't you enlighten us with your own?"

Severus's expression darkened, his face taking on the same sour look as Ghost Snape, as though the entire world owed him a lifetime of debt.

"My reasoning is simple, gentlemen. Barty Crouch Jr. is leading us to our doom!"

His opening statement was so explosive that several in the room stiffened.

"He wants to find the Dark Lord and restore the glory of pure-blood supremacy! How is that leading us to ruin?" Crabbe retorted.

"If he truly had direct contact with the Dark Lord, or, at the very least, concrete leads on his whereabouts, then yes, you'd be right. We could join him in finding our master and reclaiming pure-blood dominance."

Severus spoke slowly, his voice barely above a whisper.

"But has he told any of you that he actually knows where the Dark Lord is?"

The drawing room fell dead silent. No one could answer that question.

If any Death Eater knew where Voldemort was hiding, they would have acted long ago… not allowed the Wizarding World to remain peaceful for so many years.

"Precisely. He has no leads, no proof of the Dark Lord's survival… nothing but blind, meaningless loyalty. And he wants to drag all of us into the abyss with him!"

"Think! Use your brains for once. If Barty had succeeded in having those werewolves murder seven children and then publicly cast the Dark Mark, declaring the Death Eaters' return while the Dark Lord's fate remains unknown, how do you think the Ministry would react?"

"They'd hunt Barty Jr. and his lot like rabid dogs." Nott muttered.

Severus turned to him.

"Correct. The Aurors would go mad. But what if they fail to catch Barty Jr.? Who would bear the brunt of the Wizarding World's fury? Without the Dark Lord's protection, who would suffer the consequences?"

The room fell silent again. These 'former' Death Eaters were realizing that, time and again, they had no answer to Severus's questions… even if they already suspected the grim truth.

Even though they had already vaguely guessed the answer in their hearts.

"It's us. Every single one of us in this room… those who once relied on every trick in the book to evade the Ministry's judgment and escape justice!"

Severus said firmly!