A/N: I am Chudley Cannon's third chaser. My prompts are , 16. Old and 15. Willing.

Potter,

I am not willing to write this letter. But just in case, something happens to me, as you can never be sure with the Dark lord, I am writing this letter, In the hopes that your arrogant brain will not push this aside.

Contrary to what you may think, Potter, I do not hate you. I hated your father, I loved your mother, and you are the result. I am not going to indulge in any apology-forgiveness now, as there are much more important matters at hand.

First thing is, potter, I am not on the Dark Lord's side. Because I loved your mother and I do not want her sacrifice to go in vain. I do not personally feel any love or affection to you, mind you. Just an obligation for my Lily.

I saved you from a lot, Potter. But only when it came to your life. Your pride and foolish rash behaviour were hardly of any concern to me, and I did reprimand you. I do not regret doing so. Id still do it if you were in Hogwarts.

But the old fool got himself killed, and let me take his place. Yes, Potter, that is EXACTLY why I am writing the letter.

You think i killed Dumbledore, don't you? I didn't. His death was his own doing. He asked me to kill him, Potter. Of course, I refused. But I of course, Dumbledore was too clever. He convinced me – of course his plan had a reason. But it made you loathe me more, not that I care.

Dumbledore wore a cursed ring. He was too excited, he claimed. Either way, the ring was cursed, and it was going to kill him. I gave him to potion, to contain the poison to his hand – yes, that blackened hand, potter – but we both knew it would spread. It would kill him.

Meanwhile, remember you landed Lucius in Azkaban? To punish him, The Dark Lord ordered Draco to do kill Dumbledore. Of course, that was impossible, Draco could never have been a match for Dumbledore. The Dark Lord's plan was simple – make Draco suffer and hence make Lucius and Narcissa suffer.

On that day, as you witnessed, Draco was unwilling to do it. That gave me the opening to do it. When Dumbledore said, "Severus, please" he wasn't asking me to spare him. He was asking me to kill him. So I did.

You have no idea the amount of courage it took me to do this, Potter. Your mediocre mind will never think that a lonesome, sneering, angry man like me would feel remorse, but I do. I regret having had to kill Dumbledore. However, Dumbledore is right here, guiding me more, from the portrait. Of course, he will expect me to help you in whatever impossible quest you are on, and I will do it, no matter what I feel.

There is one more thing about me you got wrong, Potter. I do not hate Muggleborns.

I fell in love with your mother, Potter. I can imagine James Potter and Sirius Black gloating over how I lost. Perhaps you would love to join them? You are no different from James Potter. Of course, you'd be laughing as you read this.

Anyway, Potter. I am going to request something. Keep yourself safe. Not for me, Not for Dumbledore, not for the millions who believe you are the chosen one, but for Lily. She gave her life up to protect you. You better make sure her sacrifice doesn't go in vain. Keep Granger close to you, Potter. She will save you from any situation. My observation is that she is the most loyal friend you have – pray I am not wrong. Weasley – well, suffice to say, he is to you as how Wormtail was to James Potter. Yes, Potter, Wormtail. I wouldn't be surprised if he leaves you in the lurch one day.

I may be wrong, as I have been countless times, but I may also be right, Potter. Perhaps you should learn a thing or two from me, and I do not mean potions. As much as I tried, I couldn't push anything into that brain of yours – clearly you got it from your father. You should learn to be secretive, Potter, for there are eyes and ears everywhere , waiting to listen to you, waiting to watch you .

I can imagine how wonderful it must be to be The Chosen One, but remember, whatever power you may have, The Dark Lord has years and years of experience, skill that a mere boy of 17 like you can never hope to have and thousands at his command. So stop thinking you have a secret weapon that will jump to your rescue when you duel the Dark Lord. You do not have anyone to die for you this time- though, I wouldn't put it past Granger to take the killing curse for you. The Dark Lord is abroad in one of his secretive missions (see what I said about keeping to yourself? I cannot tell you the details, because I do not know) and my guess is to find another wand, as both of your wands share a core.

Also Potter, I would like to tell you, Your mother and I had our childhoods intertwined. I say this only to emphasize that I do not hate muggleborns and I try to protect you because of her. Your aunt was a dementor's human version even back then, but your mother was an angel. So once again, Potter, for her sake, keep yourself safe. Seeing her body, dead and cold was the worst thing my eyes have ever seen, and I have seen some really horrible things, being in the company of the Dark Lord, Bellatrix and so on. I have enclosed a couple of childhood photographs of us in this envelope – though I expect you to cut me away from it.

That's all I have to say, Potter. Be safe.

May Merlin be with you in whatever you are doing.

Yours,

Severus Tobias Snape

Headmaster,

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry