Plot, new characters, new magical terms and abilities etc. are my intellectual property. If you want to borrow then please kindly ask. JK Rowling's characters and Wizarding Universe are all uniquely hers. I don't make any money from this and just do it for the genuine love of writing.

ALTERNATE UNIVERSE – Canon used very sparingly here!

Summary: Short Story - A bitter, meddlesome Dumbledore clings to life some years after the end of the Second War of Voldemort. His most useful pawn Snape is once again on the run, this time following his heart rather than his head. Features: Snape/OFC, HGranger/DMalfoy, HPotter/GWeasley. ALT U

Author Notes: This is actually the Epilogue to an outlined, but as yet unwritten story

Rated M/R for language, situations

The Girl With the Haunted Eyes

By NativeMoon

Chapter 001: It Came Upon A Midnight Clear

A weary Harry Potter made his way through the dense snowy woodland of the Forest of Dean, trying to shake off the tiredness that begged him to go home and collapse in the warm comfort of his own bed as distance church bells began to chime the Witching Hour. Harry had last been here when he was on the run from the Dark Wizard Lord Voldemort during the war and hadn't been too keen to revisit the place. But when the Greatest Wizard of the Age Albus Dumbledore issued a summons only a fool would ignore it. Dumbledore always had a way of making sure people lived to regret it.

It was enough that Harry's job as the Head of the Auror Office at the Ministry of Magic in London sometimes required him to keep unreasonable hours, but those had been mercifully few and far in-between unlike when he was just one of the rank-and-file in the immediate aftermath of the last Wizarding War. The sooner he got this cloak-and-dagger business over with, the sooner he could go home, he thought to himself as he stood on the edge of a clearing. He had a wife and three young children to go home to, unlike the former Headmaster at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry.

'I see you are a lot more cautious even in a time of relative peace, Head Auror Potter,' came a gravelly voice from the darkness to his right.

Harry sighed as he lowered his wand.

'Occupational hazard I guess,' he replied as Dumbledore ambled into view. 'So what's this about, Professor?'

'Not even so much as a "hello, how are you?" and other mundane pleasantries?' his former Headmaster observed as he transfigured two chairs out of tree branches and gestured for Harry to sit.

'With all due respect Sir; it's the middle of the night and freezing cold…and I'm normally at home safe-and-sound tucked up in bed. Considering everything you went through to get me out here, of all places, at this hour and away from the Ministry I'm assuming it's not for a social call.'

'I suppose the war has changed us all, in one fashion or another…'

There was no reply as Harry waited, barely hiding his irritability. He had a suspicion about what was coming and was in no mood for yet another game of Dumbledore's real-life version of Wizard's Chess.

'I am in need of your assistance…' Dumbledore said, peering at him over the top of his half-moon glasses.

'…and my discretion about whatever it is since you're avoiding official channels, such as they are.'

'Yes.'

'Let me guess – you haven't been able to track them down.'

'It is rather like searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack.'

'I can't help you.'

'You have been refusing to help me.'

'Snape was fully exonerated and Julian Petersson never said boo to a goose even though she lost a lot more than most and not just because of the war.'

'I see.'

'I have a job to do, Professor; hunting down Dark Wizards and Witches. I still don't particularly like Severus Snape but I do respect everything he did for us. And I don't understand what the problem is with Julian but she's as far from being a Dark Witch as a woman in our world can get.'

'As your dear wife's best friend, I don't suppose Miss Petersson has had occasion to be in contact with her after all this time.'

'It's obvious to me that Professor Snape is getting on with his life wherever he is and so is Julian Petersson wherever she's hiding herself. Neither of them is bothering anyone – and that's all that matters in a court of law.'

'I'm not asking for charges to be brought against them. The Wizengamot…would be a waste of time.'

'So – this really is personal for you; which means there's no reason for me to be out here about it yet again.'

Harry started to stand up, but the old man grabbed his arm.

'Wait – just listen…. All I ask of you now is to just listen…' Dumbledore rasped as Harry jerked his arm free.

Harry swore under his breath as he sat back down.

'OK; I'm listening,' he said resentfully.

A half-hour later he was filled with horror.