Author's Note: I am still in the process of writing the next chapter of To Find a Family and Master of Death and What it Means (MoD) so they should be posted soon. I had this new plot idea but didn't think it would fit in my MoD story line so I chose to post in separately. Also I am not going to accept any more prompts for MoD for awhile, those who have already sent theirs, I will be working on them soon. Enjoy and please review!

Chapter 1: Sometimes Apologies Aren't Enough

It was a celebratory feast at Hogwarts. Conversations were in abundance on the tables full of food and the castle was full of dark, earthy tones. It was a time of thanks and family. Tonight there were no Gryffindors or Slytherins, no house rivalries, because a boy had won the war; a boy and the Slytherins were aware, perhaps better than anyone else, what he had to sacrifice to win it.

After all, Harry trusted, and was friends with, Severus Snape and it was no secret that Severus told his snakes everything. It was that faith that Severus had in all of his snakes that allowed Harry to trust them with information that he shared with no one else.

Tonight, though, was a time of friends, family, and warm memories. All the bad memories were pushed to the side to make room for the lull and calmness that only loved ones could provide.

-Line Break-

Dumbledore watches all of the festivities from his place at the head of the staff table. His beard neatly bound and wearing his sophisticated dove-gray robe that he only wears for special occasions. His blue, blue eyes peered over half-moon spectacles at his students and though he tried not to, his eyes zeroed in on the raven hair of his most prized student.

Harry was walking and laughing, laughing and that was still a rare thing even a year and a half after Sirius' death, with his two best friends Draco and Hermione. Part of Dumbledore wondered what had happened to the original trio but he knew that Harry would never tell him now. Dumbledore kept his eyes on that raven hair and sparkling eyes, which were so striking today because they were normally dull with shadows, even as Severus and Minerva slipped into chairs beside him.

"How is he?" Minerva asks Dumbledore quietly. Severus and Minerva watch as Dumbledore closes his eyes with something not unlike pain, not unlike despair.

"I talked with him." Dumbledore says and does not elaborate. For how can he dare to put into words what has happened to that young, troubled boy?

"What did he say?" Severus demands because his first loyalty is no longer to Dumbledore, not after what he had done. He made that oath to Lilly to protect her son and once he discovered what Dumbledore intended to do he went straight to Harry and never looked back. He became a known protector and one of Harry's confidents and Severus hasn't been this happy in years.

So anything that threatens the boy, threatens Harry, must be eliminated.

Dumbledore sighs and suddenly he looks like a withered, grievanced old man. Minerva looks at him, someone she would have done anything for even half a year ago and feels no pity.

It is, after all, nothing less than he deserves after what he has done.

"He will not trust me," Dumbledore croaks brokenly, "Not ever again." Dumbledore doesn't mention how this is his second failure- and the worse of the two because it is his own fault and because, in the end, he chose to do this. The carelessness of temper and youth that caused the death of his beloved Arianna is nothing next to the cold, cruel manipulation he used on Harry.

'A lamb for slaughter, indeed.' He thinks grimly to himself thinking back to the words Serverus had spewed at him after he was informed of Dumbledore's best and worst plan. Best because it would defeat the darkest wizard the world had ever seen and worst because it willing sacrificed one the brightest, kindest children to ever be born to the Wizarding World.

Minerva and Severus look at him and their scowls have lessened but neither look sorry- they can't be; they won't be in light of what they know.

"Can you blame him?" Serverus asks honestly. Because he knows Dumbledore deserves this. And though Minerva aches to defend the Headmaster, she holds her tongue, because she knows what he has done.

Dumbledore looks at Harry and thinks of all the triumphs he has had- thanks to Ablus' pushes. He had made Harry a hero-famous. Just like Dumbledore himself. But looking at the shadow's in Harry's eyes, which he has learned to hide so well, Dumbledore is ashamed.

Sometimes, Dumbledore would look at Harry and the things he has accomplished, that even he himself would be hard pressed to achieve- and thinks he can be redeemed.

For tampering and always, always making Harry go back to his own personal Hell, so Dumbledore could try to forge a more useful weapon in the flames of the Dursley's cruelties to better fight the dark that Dumbledore himself encouraged Harry to encounter.

But then he looks at Harry, a boy, a child but at the same time neither because Harry has suffered a lot more than Albus thought anyone could live through and so Harry could never be considered a child, not ever again.

And wasn't that one of the saddest things of all?

"He won't forgive me now. But alas, Severus, I cannot know the future." Except in this case he does. And he knows he will never be forgiven.

Severus says nothing as he stands and glides down from the head table to where Harry is sitting. He bends, whispering into Harry's ear before he sweeps out the room, only pausing to glower at those who stared.

After Severus departs, Dumbledore stands and makes his speech and watches as the students and the rest of the teachers file out of the Great Hall to return to their rooms. In a few short minutes only Dumbledore and Minerva are left.

"Albus-stop. Stop your plans now. You have lost the trust of a boy who began by only trusting you. So stop interfering in other people's lives before you do something even worse. Because if your next 'genius plan' ends up going wrong, then just like the mistakes you made with Harry, you will only have yourself to blame." Then with an impressive flourish of her robes Minerva was gone as well.

-Line Break-

If anyone had looked into the Great Hall later that night they would have seen slow tears fall down the great Albus Dumbledore's cheeks as he wondered, 'Who was really the evil man in the end?'

The man who announced he was evil and was honest with his intentions or the man who hid behind a grandfatherly demeanor and manipulated the lives of others behind the scenes?