"They never proved I did any of that. I was guilty by association. A lot of people were put in Azkaban just like me. All they needed was someone to accuse them or be related to the wrong person. Those trials were that way. All you had to have was an accused that said anyone was a Death Eater, and there you were the next minute, right in Azkaban."

Bast didn't seem much bothered by the glare, still not meeting Harry's eyes or even looking towards him. The napkin he was methodically destroying by tearing it into tiny bits now that his tears had stopped looked to have all his attention. Bast twitched when Harry called the Dark Lord by name, a reaction that was universal in the wizarding world when that single word was spoken.

"I always did wonder why the Dark Lord believed Severus was his. Severus never gave in to anyone, bent to anyone's will. Oh, he'd act like it occasionally to get ahead, at least in my opinion, but he never had that near religious zealousness like Bella did or that hunger for more like Lucky or Dolph. There wasn't anything the Dark Lord could give him really that Severus didn't already have except for a title."

Bast shrugged. That would always continue to puzzle him, then again, by his own admission he hadn't known Severus that well.