That's awfully generous of you to admit. I'm not sure I'd have been so kind were I in your position. Sirius is a prat, but he's a malleable prat. He wouldn't be doing anything of any use around here if not for that; just goofing off and giving the rest of us a hard time.
Lupin didn't seem much like a beat people to a pulp sort of guy either, though, come to mention it. Is there something in the water, or am I missing a part of this story?
He'll shriek about it if I don't. [ If Nathan does any digging, he'll see the instances of Sirius flinging himself at a few of Severus's network ventures, quipping such mature defenses as UR SUCH A PRICK OMG and etc.
And then-- a pause. Maybe incredulously quiet, about Lupin not seeming to be violent. ]
Harry got the second wave. He did not experience what the generation before him did.
[ Severus is quiet for a moment, considering. He has no idea how to properly explain. ]
War for us is not like it is for you. We do not have a military. It is small scale and personal and touches every one of us face to face. War is families being murdered in their homes, assassinations, children abducted and their parents tortured. Half of my students are orphans. Half of the ones that aren't have parents in hospital permanently or in prison.
Black has not experienced the war. Lupin has. I have.
[ Severus doesn't really want to talk about the war. He had to give context, though, for the actual thing they're talking about - that he still would rather not, but it's worth it to make sure someone else knows, perhaps. ]
The perception of ideological differences is one of the reasons why Black hates me, despite the fact that he's had the concept of 'covert agent' explained to him dozens of times. [ So ... there's that. An indirect admission but an admission all the same. He'd honestly prefer that no one know, but someone had the bright idea to tell Sirius before he came here, and Sirius has blabbed about it extensively. His only small comfort about it is the idea that should the Dark Lord arrive, Black will be one of the first to go. ] I think he clings to it. Otherwise he'd have to admit that he hated me first for having the audacity to be poor and ugly while getting better marks than him in school. 'Bully' is an understatement. He tried to have me killed when we were sixteen. Nearly succeeded.
[ His cold, clipped insistence of origin only might make more sense, now. ]
[ Nathan pauses now, registering everything that Severus has said, working it through what he's already been told and standing it up besides the things that others from his world have told him about. His pause takes almost twenty seconds--it's not that he thinks slowly it's that there's a lot there, and it deserves thorough consideration. ]
Thank you. That's incredibly useful to know.
[ He continues a moment later. ]
So you're a spy and he was framed. For what? What did he supposedly do?
Betraying his friends, resulting in their deaths. Killing twelve people in an attempt to escape arrest. [ A beat. Oh yeah, the other Marauder. ] And a thirteenth, another of his friends, though along with the may have been framed business, supposedly that one's still alive, somewhere. It was shocking, to be sure, but his history of violence and selfish behavior means no one's cried out to question it. And it's been years.
[ Years that Black's spent in Azkaban. Which is either exactly where he belongs or is too good for him - a very large part of Severus wishes he'd been executed. It is an abysmally cruel thought, but whether or not he's a traitor, Black does nothing but harm and is better off away from everyone.
Meanwhile if Nathan is wondering 'Did they really all start participating in a war when THEY WERE TEENAGERS', yep. ]
His history of violence and selfish behavior damned him, then. The attempted murder can't have helped. Still, killing thirteen people...I guess in a war you can't rely on past behavior to set precedent.
Alright. I guess I can start to understand on that basis.
He led people to believe he was the lynchpin of an enchantment that later broke - a kind that can only be broken willfully. Added together with a weak-spirited government who wanted to shove all relics of the war under the rug as soon as possible and his family's history of dark magic, there was no defense.
Trying to put the pieces together here has been frustrating.
[ Understatement of the year, perhaps. ]
He egged Edgeworth on. Why Edgeworth fixated on it, and me, is anyone's guess. [ As much as Severus is admitting to Nathan with this, he doesn't think the fact that Edgeworth was tortured on Arima is something he'll repeat to anyone but Charles. For now. ] With that ability of his unchecked, he is dangerous. He gets worked up every other day, publicly. I hope that he'll get help before another incident.
[ Severus doesn't sound like he thinks it'll happen. Security's response has been lackluster and inclined to protect ranks instead of someone said ranks hate; he's not surprised. He told Charles that reporting it would just bring more trouble than letting it go. ]
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Lupin didn't seem much like a beat people to a pulp sort of guy either, though, come to mention it. Is there something in the water, or am I missing a part of this story?
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And then-- a pause. Maybe incredulously quiet, about Lupin not seeming to be violent. ]
Well, the war.
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[ Oh the joy of crossed wires. ]
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[ Severus is quiet for a moment, considering. He has no idea how to properly explain. ]
War for us is not like it is for you. We do not have a military. It is small scale and personal and touches every one of us face to face. War is families being murdered in their homes, assassinations, children abducted and their parents tortured. Half of my students are orphans. Half of the ones that aren't have parents in hospital permanently or in prison.
Black has not experienced the war. Lupin has. I have.
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How did it start?
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[ Severus doesn't really want to talk about the war. He had to give context, though, for the actual thing they're talking about - that he still would rather not, but it's worth it to make sure someone else knows, perhaps. ]
The perception of ideological differences is one of the reasons why Black hates me, despite the fact that he's had the concept of 'covert agent' explained to him dozens of times. [ So ... there's that. An indirect admission but an admission all the same. He'd honestly prefer that no one know, but someone had the bright idea to tell Sirius before he came here, and Sirius has blabbed about it extensively. His only small comfort about it is the idea that should the Dark Lord arrive, Black will be one of the first to go. ] I think he clings to it. Otherwise he'd have to admit that he hated me first for having the audacity to be poor and ugly while getting better marks than him in school. 'Bully' is an understatement. He tried to have me killed when we were sixteen. Nearly succeeded.
[ His cold, clipped insistence of origin only might make more sense, now. ]
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Thank you. That's incredibly useful to know.
[ He continues a moment later. ]
So you're a spy and he was framed. For what? What did he supposedly do?
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[ Years that Black's spent in Azkaban. Which is either exactly where he belongs or is too good for him - a very large part of Severus wishes he'd been executed. It is an abysmally cruel thought, but whether or not he's a traitor, Black does nothing but harm and is better off away from everyone.
Meanwhile if Nathan is wondering 'Did they really all start participating in a war when THEY WERE TEENAGERS', yep. ]
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His history of violence and selfish behavior damned him, then. The attempted murder can't have helped. Still, killing thirteen people...I guess in a war you can't rely on past behavior to set precedent.
Alright. I guess I can start to understand on that basis.
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Trying to put the pieces together here has been frustrating.
[ Understatement of the year, perhaps. ]
He egged Edgeworth on. Why Edgeworth fixated on it, and me, is anyone's guess. [ As much as Severus is admitting to Nathan with this, he doesn't think the fact that Edgeworth was tortured on Arima is something he'll repeat to anyone but Charles. For now. ] With that ability of his unchecked, he is dangerous. He gets worked up every other day, publicly. I hope that he'll get help before another incident.
[ Severus doesn't sound like he thinks it'll happen. Security's response has been lackluster and inclined to protect ranks instead of someone said ranks hate; he's not surprised. He told Charles that reporting it would just bring more trouble than letting it go. ]