"I'm afraid I am not as knowledgeable of the Dark Lord's plans as would be useful." Severus Snape looked more exhausted than Albus Dumbledore had seen him in a long time. His usually ramrod straight back was slumped in the chair facing the headmaster's desk. "He wants to break his followers out of Azkaban, no surprises there. If there is already a plan I am not savvy to it."

"Not to worry Severus, that will come in time. I see by the fact that you are still breathing that he bought your story." It was not a question but Severus nodded. "Though not after a few crucios I imagine." This was also not a question.

"Yes, well the Dark Lord's strategy has always been torture first ask questions later. I am just lucky that he took a break long enough for me to get a few words in." It was close to three o' clock in the morning and Severus would have liked nothing more than to take some dreamless sleep potion and crawl into bed.

Dumbledore could see the younger man's struggle to stay alert and admired his discipline. It was hard enough to utilize occlumency for that long but add a couple of crucios to that and a weaker man would go insane. Severus Snape was not a weak man.

"He was pleased with me by the end of our meeting. I expect him to be calling me frequently. But if I plan on staying in his good graces I will need to feed him valuable information when I return."

"I will take care of that, not to worry, Severus. I must say I am very proud of you." Snape twitched a little at Dumbledore's last statement. He never did take compliments well. "I was worried that you would decide not to go through with this when it actually came down to it…"

"You doubted me?" Snape's head had snapped up and he looked unbelievably at the man across from him, betrayal written clearly on his face. "All I've done for you over the years and you still don't trust m…"

"It has nothing to do with a lack of trust, Severus!" Dumbledore declared firmly so that Severus was promptly quieted. "It is no little thing I am asking you to do. Don't doubt that I know this"

"I'm not doing it for you." Severus said quietly so that Dumbledore barely caught it. The young man had that same tortured, haunted look in his eyes that appeared every time Lily Evans was mentioned.

"I know." They sat in silence for a while.

After the moment passed Albus walked around his desk and put his hand on Severus' shoulder. "Go to bed my boy, we've all had a long night, you especially." Severus nodded and stiffly stood up. He felt suddenly groggy as his lack of sleep caught up with him. Albus was looking at him very sentimentally and he worried that if he didn't get out of there quickly the old man would try to hug him or something.

"Good night Albus."

"Good night son."

Severus paused at that. His tightly reigned emotions rushed to the surface for a millisecond before he got a hold of him self and left the room without another glance at the old wizard who had given him another chance.

-X-

I am considering continuing this story or making it a series of one shots. Let me know what you think or if you have any ideas. Thanks!