A/N: This chapter has been edited.

Part X

"… Case of magical exhaustion. He will be fine, Minerva."

"I cannot believe You-Know-Who was in the school, Albus!"

"It is rather troublesome."

Severus slowly opened his eyes, then quickly covered them as they were assaulted by bright sunlight streaming in from the windows.

"And what about Severus, Albus? Will he be alright?" Minerva asked, neither aware that the man in question was slowly coming back to consciousness.

Dumbledore sighed. "I certainly hope so. I will talk to Harry about telling him when they both awaken."

At the mention of Harry, memories of what had transpired on the third floor assaulted Severus… Quirrell… the Mark and… the Dark Lord!

He lifted his head quickly but dropped back down on the pillow and groaned as a wave of dizziness assaulted him.

"Ah, Severus, finally. We had thought you would never awaken," Dumbledore said smiling at him.

"I shall go get Poppy," Minerva said hurrying out.

"Where's… Harry?" Severus gasped out, his voice a little shaky from disuse.

"Harry is fine, Severus. He is lying right over there," Dumbledore gestured to a bed a few beds away from Severus where the still form of the boy lay. "I must admit, you both gave us quite a scare. I thought I was too late by the time I reached the chamber."

Severus tried to organize his thoughts. "Albus, the Dark Lord was possessing Quirrell. He knows that I am no longer a Death Eater."

Dumbledore sighed. "I suspected as much when I saw your arm."

"My arm?" Severus said, looking down at his left arm that was bandaged up. He carefully undid the bandage, wincing a bit as he did so. His left forearm was red and inflamed and Severus couldn't sop staring at it. Because under the redness and the swelling there was nothing. The ugly black mark he had gotten used to seeing was gone.

"How?" Severus said swallowing.

"It seems that young Mr. Potter did not like Voldemort hurting you through it."

Severus looked up at Dumbledore and narrowed his eyes. "Explain," he snapped.

"The night Lily sacrificed her life for her son's, she used an ancient magic that protects Harry as long as her blood runs through her veins. Tonight in the chamber, Voldemort could not touch Harry because of that magic. When Harry grabbed onto your mark, the love he felt for you allowed him to overcome Voldemort's power over you, hence dissolving the Dark Mark."

Severus's eyes snapped up at the word "love". "How could you keep the fact that he is my son from me?" he asked quietly.

"Ah, so Harry told you at last."

"Why, Albus?"

Something in his tone must have told Dumbledore that he was serious because Dumbledore looked at him sadly. "I apologize, Severus. I only did what I thought was right."

"And you though not telling me that I had a son was right?" Severus's voice was dangerously quiet.

At that moment Poppy and Minerva bustled in followed by Granger and Weasley. "Oh good you're awake," Poppy said briskly ignoring the underlying tension in the room.

Dumbledore sighed. "We will talk once you are better, Severus," he said.

"I look forward to it," Severus sneered unable to meet the man's eyes.

A day later, Harry was still asleep. Poppy said he was in a coma due to magical exhaustion but expected him to wake up soon. Severus finally had an opportunity to study his son without being under the scrutiny of others. He traced over his son's features with his eyes as he looked over him, wondering how he had not noticed the resemblance between himself and Harry before. Harry had his hair, his bone structure, his hands. There was also so much of Lily in him.

Severus blinked down at the boy. After everything, would Harry ever forgive him? Could they actually have a relationship? Severus did not know. They both had things they needed to work out first. Without glancing back at the boy, he walked up to Dumbledore's office. That man had a lot of explaining to do.

"Blood pops," Severus muttered the password to the gargoyle which revealed the staircase to Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore seemed to be waiting for him as he gestured to the chair in front of his desk. Two cups of tea and a plate of shortbread were resting on the desk.

Severus ignored them. "I believe you owed me an explanation, Albus, of why you could not be bothered to tell me that Harry Potter is my son for all these years," he said, more calmly than he felt. Inside he was seething at the old man sitting in front of him.

"It is a long story, my boy," Dumbledore sighed. "I suppose I should start by saying that I did not tell you sooner because I did not remember."

Severus snorted. "You're saying that you, the greatest mind since Merlin could not recall the tiny detail that the Boy-Who-Lived is actually my son! You're a hypocrite. You speak of love but it does not matter if it does not fit into your agenda," Severus spat, glaring at Dumbledore.

"Please sit down, Severus," Dumbledore said calmly taking a sip of tea. "And I will explain what happened from the beginning."

Severus sat down though his glare didn't falter.

"Do you remember when you first took the mark Severus?"

Severus deemed that a rhetorical question and did not bother to answer.

"A few days after, you came knocking on my door covered in blood and told me that you ha made a terrible mistake. I gave you the option of becoming my spy and you left, deciding to think on it.

"Not long afterwards, Lily came to me in quite a state and told me what you had done and what she had done. She was pregnant with your child and in the state she was in, I advised her to go and stay with James Potter for a while.

"In the meantime you came back to me and agreed to be my spy. Naturally at this point I could not tell you about Lily or the child for fear for your life. Voldemort was a skilled Legilimens and I did not like to think of what would happen if he found out you were married to a Muggleborn.

"Unfortunately, before I could begin to teach you proper Occlumency, you brought news that one of Voldemort's servants had overheard the prophesy and related it to him. I realized that Lily's child was due in the third week of July, which was close enough to the end for Voldemort to be wary. I also realized that both you and Lily had defied his thrice, the third time for you when you turned your back on him to join the Order. Obviously now I had no thought of telling you of the child. Instead I instigated a fake marriage between Lily and James, allowing Voldemort to believe that the child was James's."

Here, Dumbeldore paused for another sip of tea before continuing, "I did not count on the fact that he too defied Voldemort for the third time after the marriage. After those necessary arrangements, I turned my attentions to teaching you Occlumency, glad that up until then you had not been in Voldemort's presence much. Naturally while teaching you Occlumency I had to hide the memories of my knowledge of Harry's true parentage from you. I asked Lily to obliviate me so that I only remembered Harry as James's son. Lily modified the memory charm so that I would be able to remove it myself and wrote me a letter (she was rather fond of that) telling me how to remove it.

"I received the letter only last summer, perhaps due to a slight confusion on the part of the house-elf who was to deliver it. By that time, Harry was already on his way to Hogwarts, having also received a letter from his mother," Dumbledore finished.

Severus had been staring at Fawkes, who was primping his feathers, all through the narrative. He now lifted up the arm that had once born the Dark Mark. Once again, he was taken aback by its unblemished appearance. He was finally free of Voldemort and any obligation he had to spy for Dumbledore. He could do anything he wanted.

"Tell me Severus," Dumbledore said softly, "If you had found out about Harry right after Lily died, how would you have reacted?"

Severus flinched imperceptibly as he remembered the state he had been in after she died. He had wanted to die himself. "I don't know," he answered.

"And now, what do you intend to do?"

"I…" he paused considering. "I have something to do Albus if you will excuse me from classes tomorrow," he said hastily standing up.

"Of course, Severus," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling.

Looking distracted, Severus left the office, leaving Dumbledore to stroke Fawkes's feathers pensively.

Just then, Poppy's head poked in through the Floo. "Potter's waking up," she informed him.

Ron and Hermione waited outside the Hospital Wing anxiously to see their best friend.

"I hope he's okay," Hermione said wringing her hands anxiously, "Of course Common Magical Ailments and Afflictions says that people in comas because of magical exhaustion usually wake up and are fine."

When Professor McGonagall had told them that Harry had woken up this morning they had rushed to the Hospital Wing but Madam Pomfrey wasn't letting them in yet.

"McGonagall would have mentioned if something was wrong," Ron said uncertainly.

After what seemed like hours but was only ten minutes, Madam Pomfrey irately let them in with threats not to overexcite her patient.

"Harry!" Hermione screeched attacking him with a hug.

"Hermione, you're going to put him back in a coma," Ron complained. "You okay, Harry?" he asked.

"Never better, Ron," he said grinning at his friends.

They exchanged stories of what had been going on and Ron and Hermione were suitably terrified when he told them about his encounter with Voldemort.

"Why did it hurt You-Know-Who when you touched Professor Snape's Mark, Harry?" Hermione asked thoughtfully.

Harry shrugged though he knew the answer. Dumbledore had told him when he talked to him. "My Mum's love protected me from Voldemort is what Dumbledore said," he said bending the truth a little.

Ron and Hermione exchanged glances. "Snape was here all the time while you were in the coma," Ron said. "He wouldn't move. Well at least once he had woken up."

Harry looked away, "I don't want to talk about him."

"Harry, we overheard him yelling at Dumbledore about not telling him that you were his son," Hermione said.

"Well he wasn't exactly yelling. He was doing that Snape thing where he goes all quiet and deadly like when Neville really botches up a potion," Ron added.

"He knows I'm his son? How? Where is he now?" Harry glanced around as if expecting him to pop out from behind the curtains.

"Ron, do you want to tell him how?" Hermione said, quickly distracting Harry from Snape's whereabouts. They hadn't seen him the whole day.

Ron looked sheepish. "It's a funny story actually. Remember when I got Fred and George to help me find you? Well afterwards they wanted to know why the mention of Snape got you so worked up, other than the obvious of course. They said it was only fair since they's helped me. So I kind of had to tell them about it. That Snape is your father and the letter and everything."

Harry blinked. "I guess that's okay," he said slowly not really knowing where Ron was going with this.

"Well, it turns out their end-of-year prank involved blowing up the bathrooms in the dungeons, the ones that the Slytherins use. You should have seen Malfoy's face that morning! Fred and George even sent you a toilet seat," Ron looked at Harry's bedside table as if expecting a toilet seat to still be sitting there. When none appeared he continued, "Anyway, they told me they were doing research down in the dungeons-" Hermione snorted "-when they saw you come out of Snape's office dropping a letter. I kind of also told them you would be telling him that day. So they saw the letter and since they said you looked upset, they knocked on Snape's door and gave it to him. I think Snape finally believed it."

"Remind me to thank them," Harry said grinning.

"The best part is, I think McGonagall was sick of taking points because she just gave them detention until next year," Ron said enthusiastically.

The three friends continued laughing and talking until Madam Pomfrey had had enough and drove Ron and Hermione out.

Harry lay in bed wondering whether his father would come. Hermione had said he had been here and even held his hand while he was unconscious so where was he when Harry was conscious? Harry went through several conversations in his head that he might have when Snape finally came.

He woke up with a start in the morning half expecting Snape to be sitting beside him but there was no one there.

That was the day of the end-of-year feast. Harry was looking forward to finally getting out of the hospital wing. He had received his grades that morning and was pleased that he had done well in all his classes. He had a feeling he only did well because of all the time he had spent studying to impress Snape. Harry was looking forward to finally seeing Snape.

But Snape was not at the Leaving Feast. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville won the House Cup for Gryffindor but Snape was not there. Harry was starting to get worried. What if something actually had happened to Snape? He caught Professor Dumbledore's eye for a moment before the Headmaster turned back to his meal. Harry sighed, frustrated when a few minutes later Professor McGonagall appeared beside him and whispered, "Potter, Professor Dumbledore would like to see you in his office after the feast."

Harry nodded, "Yes, Professor."

"Ah, Harry, I believe you had something to ask me," Dumbledore said when Harry entered his office.

"Yes, sir," Harry said, "I was wondering where Professor Snape is. I haven't seen him since I was woke up and - Ron and Hermione told me he was okay but - "

"Professor Snape is fine, Harry. He has just had some personal business to take care of."

"Do you know when he's be back, sir?"

Dumbledore sighed. "I'm afraid not, Harry."

Harry looked down, trying to hide the hurt that was obvious in his face from Dumbledore.

"He just needs time, Harry," Dumbledore said gently, "This new revelation has come as a shock to him and Severus is one to feel emotions very strongly. He simply needs to come to terms with what he has learned."

"I understand, Professor," Harry said tonelessly, "I had better go get packed."

"I wish you well on your journey home tomorrow, Harry," Dumbledore said, gazing at him sadly over his half-moon glasses.

'Thank you, sir," Harry said standing up, unable to take the pity he saw in Dumbledore's eyes.

With a sinking heart Harry went up to his dormitory to pack. He had hoped when he left Privet Drive that he would never have to go back there again but he was apparently wrong.

Ron and Hermione tried to make small talk as they walked towards the train together but Harry was in no mood to talk to anybody.

"Hey, Harry. You should come over to my house this summer. Mum would love to have you," Ron said enthusiastically.

Harry shrugged noncommittally. As if the Dursleys would let him go anywhere.

"I'm sorry about all this, Harry," Hermione said once they were seated in a compartment in the train.

Harry gave her a strained smile.

"There has to be some explanation, Harry. He – "

"There isn't, Hermione," Harry cut her off sharply and proceeded to look out the window.

The Dursleys were waiting when they got to King's Cross. Harry accepted a hug from Mrs. Weasley and Hermione and said goodbye to Ron before following the Dursleys in a daze. When they got out of the car at Number 4, Privet Drive, Uncle Vernon took Harry's trunk and locked it in the cupboard under the stairs.

"Here's a list of your chores for tomorrow, boy," he said, handing Harry a piece of paper. "I'll have no lazing about this summer."

Harry rolled his eyes but knew better than to comment. Sighing, he walked up to his room, Dudley's second bedroom. Home again, he thought bitterly.

A/N: This is a bit evil but I'm enjoying it.

I apologize for the terrible delay (and I was doing so well!) but here you go. I hope this tied up some loose ends to the questions I've been asked in reviews. The next, and possibly last, chapter will hopefully be up sooner. Thank you to all my wonderful viewers and reviewers! You don't know how much I appreciate your support.