Disclaimer: Everything you recognise is J.K.Rowling's property. I do not own Harry Potter, nor Severus Snape, nor Albus Dumbledore, which are the principal characters in this fic.
Prelude
Albus Dumbledore was severely staring at a much younger man sitting in front of him. His bright blue eyes for once weren't twinkling at all as he said:
"… so really, you ought to reconsider. I'm sure last term unfortunate's events will have changed his mind about the usefulness of it. Now he will be much more cooperative…"
"Do NOT insist Albus. I won't. I WON'T! Last year I let you talk me into it and it was a total disaster! The boy is just a worthless insufferable little…"
"Severus, my boy. I never asked you to like him, but you have to stop this nonsense. Just because you didn't like his father…"
"Didn't like? DIDN'T LIKE? I bloody damn hated him and you know it old fool! But it isn't about James! Perhaps it was, at first, but the brat makes himself quite hard to stand! Bloody hell Albus, he couldn't help but look into my pensieve! He invaded my privacy, looked into the most shameful memory I had.."
"And what did you do, while "teaching" him to occlude? Weren't you per chance invading his privacy, looking into his most shameful memories? Why are you so completely convinced that it's all right for you to do so and yet find it incredibly rude when he does?"
"It's not the same! I was trying to teach him! He had no purpose whatsoever!"
"So you were trying to teach him, did you? Tell me, Severus, you didn't think I would just put the two of you in a room together without supervising did you? I had means of spying. Portraits, house-elves, ghosts? Did you know they are all bonded to obey to the castle's Headmaster my dear boy?"
"Get to the point Albus."
"I will. From what I've heard, you didn't teach him at all. You just kept attacking him, over and over, without telling anything more useful than to clear his mind. Never once did you explain how he was to do it…"
"If you knew all that and found my teaching inadequate, then why did you make me continue? And why the hell would you want me to resume now?"
"At first I thought that spending enough time together, you would learn to get along… you must forget an old man's fool wishes. When it became clear that you wouldn't teach him anything, I admit I had some doubts. But I thought, let him see really what Harry's childhood has been like, so then he could get past this awfully mistaken impression that he's a spoiled child. But you never did. "
"But…"
"And as to why I now request you to resume lessons, it's because I'm fairly aware that it was both of your foolishness who got in the way. Just as you didn't want to teach him anything, Harry didn't want to learn. He didn't want to block his possible visions from Voldemort because he thought it was his only way of getting information. And that, I'm afraid, is entirely my fault. I should have known he wouldn't be content with just letting the Order do the job and play teenager… "
"And you think Black's death is enough to make him want to learn it?"
"That and the knowledge that Voldemort is capable of planting false visions in his head, yes. "
"Why don't you just teach him?"
"I can't. Don't ask why, this information is on a need-to-know basis, and you don't really need to know, do you? What matters is that you have to teach him, and I mean really teach him this time. "
"I already told you, I won't. "
"Please."
"No."
"Severus…"
"Don't Severus me old man. And stop with those puppy eyes. I-won't. IS THAT CLEAR?"
"I must insist. I need you to do this. For me?"
"Don't I already do enough for you? I teach those brats and listen to my Slytherin's little problems as their Head of House, just so that you could know just which of them supports the Dark Lord's ideas! I spy on him for you! I "
"You don't. You do all these things to redeem yourself, and it has nothing to do with me, even if the information you bring is of great value to the Order. You see again? To the Order, not me. I ask you this for me, Severus Iran Richard Snape. It is my wish that the two young men I appreciate most learn to get along."
"You can wish all you want. But Potter and I will never ever understand each other. There's just no way. "
"Of course there is… All right then. Sorbet lemon?"
"What? That's it? no more pushing?"
"You wish me to?"
"Of course not. Well, if you excuse me I have things to do."
"Of course. Goodnight."
Albus Dumbledore was smiling widely to himself by the time Severus Snape reached his dungeons.
They will understand each other, whether they like it or not, he thought while adding a few phoenix tears, graciously provided by Fawkes, into a greenish potion.
Then, he added two little pictures, almost regretfully (it was so difficult to get pictures of Severus these days, too bad the potion required it) and then went to sleep, humming to himself.
Tomorrow was going to be an eventful day…