By the time Harry left the Ministry again, it was nearly three in the morning. The aurors had started to come around shortly after he and Kingsley had left with the druidess and Moody had taken great pleasure out of berating them for their foolishness.

Ron had been so angry that it had taken three aurors, five medics, several ministry officials and a secretly smirking Harry to stop him from going in and teaching "that stick-waving nature-loving bitch" a lesson. Said druidess just sat there regally smirking the whole time. Her posture made Ron look more like a monkey than usual.

Ron settled on shoving her, none too gently, into a magic-free cell. A normal witch or wizard would break after less than six hours in an area completely free of magic. Harry didn't think it would be a problem for the druidess though, since the earth was the source of her magic and the ministry was on a major lay-line. Harry could almost see the fireworks.

Harry paused as he entered the atrium. He knew he had to start the first phase of his plan, but that didn't, make it any more appealing. He grabbed a pinch of floo-powder and threw it into the fire. "Spinners End", he called as he stepped through. Who was he kidding?

Snape was going to kill him.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Harry stumbled through the floo and landed flat on his face. He had never gotten the hang of it. He dusted himself off and looked around. Spinners End had changed quite a bit since the first time he'd been there. The dank oppressive air it once had was gone. Now it felt light and airy.

Harry sat down on a seat by the fire and barely ten seconds later, Severus ran down the stairs in his dressing gown, wand in hand. "What took you so long?" he asked with a half smile. Severus jut glared and scowled fiercely, crossing his arms. If looks could kill, Harry thought as he struggled not too laugh, I'd be a corpse. The flowery dressing gown kinda ruins the effect though.

Severus, oblivious to Harry's inner turmoil sat down gracefully opposite him. "I presume you have a reason for turning up on my doorstep at this ungodly hour of the morning?" he asked in his trademark velvety drawl. Harry grinned. "Amazingly enough I do actually. I could tell you about it over tea if you'd like." Severus sighed and motioned him towards the kitchen.

Five minutes later both men were back in their seats tea in hand and a plate of biscuits on the table between them. Harry was happily munching on his fifth biscuit while Severus looked on faintly disgusted. Harry polished off the remainder of the biscuit and put down his cup. Now comes the hard part, he thought to himself. He put his head in his hands and sighed. "Right!" he exclaimed, making Severus jump slightly. "Basically the magical world has gone to pot and I'm going to do something about it". Severus continued to stare at him as if he'd grown a second head.

Harry sighed again."I don't know about you Severus", he began softly, "but I fought against Voldemort because I believed that everyone, wizard, werewolf, vampire, muggleborn, whatever, deserved to be treated equally. I still want that. It's why I became an auror....." he trailed off into silence.

"I want to help them, all those people who can't help themselves. I have to. It's killing me Sev. The hypocrisy. The lies. Dumbledore. I, I just can't do it anymore. I can't pretend that everything is okay." Severus looked at Harry. He noted how his eyes were filled with true emotion for the first time in ages, even if it was sadness. Severus put down his shaking cup and stood. He paced the floor for a few minutes before stopping in front of Harry. He grabbed the arms of the chair and brought his face down to Harry's.

"Are you out of your mind?!" he hissed, "Do you know what they'll do when they catch you?Your already head runner for the position of next Dark Lord as it is!" Severus pushed off from the chair and began to pace again. "The best thing to do is forget you ever said anything."

"No."

The word was whispered with such emotion that Severus had to stop and turn. Harry was standing directly in front of him , hands white and clenched at his sides, tears in his eyes.

"Did the Dark Lord take your damn brain as well?! Not everybody has as little to lose as you!" Severus snarled. Harry step back as if struck, hurt clear on his face. Severus widened his eyed in shock. "I'm sorry Harry. I didn't mean-" "I think we both know what you meant." Harry said, self hatred clear in his voice.. He's right though, Harry thought bitterly.

Severus watched in silence as Harry tried to pull himself back together again, a single tear sliding down his face.

"It was a mistake to come here," Harry started shakily. "I should have known better. Good night Severus." With that Harry left.

Severus stood in his sitting room, running his fingers through his hair. He sighed. Sleep would be a long time coming now.

So that's chapter number three sorted. It didn't take half as long as I thought to write. Hope everyone's enjoying the story so far. I should probably be doing my essay on the poetry of Patrick Kavanagh right now, but I decided that this was a much better use of my time.
Everyone please review, even if it's only to say you like/hate the story. Reviews may make me write faster. (hint hint hint)