Snape apparated before Dumbledore's eyes at Grimmauld place. Upon his arrival he immediately dropped to his knees as his legs gave out. Breathing heavily, exhausted from the pain he tried to rise again to his feet on his own, but failed again hitting the floor. Dumbledore helped him to a chair, he winced from the pain. Dumbledore held him out a vile of a very thick gold potion which he gulped quickly.

"Cruciatus?" Dumbledore asked solemnly. Severus stiffly nodded, talking another long sip of the potion, sitting a little more comfortably as the potion began to minimize his pain.

"I'm sorry Severus," Dumbledore began.

"It's alright," he said.

"Does he know?" Dumbledore asked.

"He is becoming greatly concerned. They tore the whole place up, I think he still thinks it has to be an inside job, as only a few of us knew of her existence, so we are all walking on very thin, very sharp ice." Severus said.

"Your home, Severus? Dumbledore questioned.

"Yes, he was confident I had her there, didn't leave a single thing untouched, I still have a feeling he believes I'm the cause of her disappearance, it's better that he keeps thinking that, as we can't risk him questioning you or Potter's involvement in this matter." Severus replied. Dumbledore nodded.

"Yes, but you can't keep taking this kind of torture over and over again Severus, we won't be able to keep this up, we will need to make a plan." Dumbledore sounded anxious. Severus agreed.

"Is she here, at this moment?" Severus asked him.

"No, she is still out shopping with Harry," Dumbledore informed him. Severus breathed in irritatedly.

"You know I could have taken her," Severus said.

"Yes, but I didn't want it to burden you with what happened today, so I thought it would be a good idea for her and Harry to spend sometime together, as they will be roommates before she starts at Hogwarts." Dumbledore explained.

"She's not a burden to me," Severus said, wishing he didn't.

Dumbledore smiled.

"There is nothing of the romantic fashion going on between the two of you?" Dumbledore asked with an almost teasing quality.

"Not in the slightest," Snape answered feeling the red flush slowly over his pale face frustrated him.

" I see," Dumbledore responded. Dumbledore was ready to ask another question when Harry and Alice appeared in the fireplace with a few bags in hand.

"Ah great to see you two," Dumbledore said with a warm smile as Alice was turned around trying to wipe floo powder and dust from the front of her robe.

"Evening sir,"Harry said with a smile to Dumbledore, and then turned to Snape.

"Evening Professor," he said to his old Potions teacher, in a much more aloof tone than what he used with Dumbledore.

"Evening Potter," Snape said back matching his tone. Alice was satisfied with the cleanliness of her robe and greeted Dumbledore kindly. Then something happened that Harry could never had imagined. Alice put down her bags and quickly skipped over to Snape and brought her arms around him. Harry's jaw dropped. After a whole 7 years he had known this man, he had not yet once seen him hug anyone, especially the way he was hugging her. Though it only lasted a second or so Harry saw him close his eyes when his arms held her, and colour coming to his usual dull face.

"Severus were did you go this morning, I thought you were going to take me?" She asked with disappointment, though Harry could tell she was trying to hide it.

"I apologize, but something had me tied up," he said vaguely.

"Well that's alright," she said. With that she pulled out her wand from her boot and held it in front of his face.

"Look!" She elated. That's when Snape did something else Harry had never seen him do, smile. He had wished either Ron or Hermione was here to see it, because there is no way they would ever believe him. He looked interested in what she was saying, it looked so foreign to Harry, watching Snape interact with another person so pleasantly. Dumbledore must have caught him staring as he cleared his throat to get Harry's attention.

"Did the shopping trip go well?" Dumbledore asked Harry, while Alice was showing Snape her new things.

"Yeah, it was fun," Harry said distracted with Snape's interaction with Alice.

"Professor, are they... Friends?" Harry asked curiously.

"They do seem to get along quite well don't they," Dumbledore agreed.

"I don't understand, how do they even know each other." Harry asked.

"Before she moved in here, she stayed with Severus for a week while Remus was recovering from the full moon." Dumbledore explained.

"Sir she could have stayed here," Harry suggested.

"That's very thoughtful of you Harry," Dumbledore smiled.

"Would you leave us for a few moments?" Dumbledore asked Harry.

"Yeah, course" he said and carried the bags to Alice's room.

Alice was in the midst of begging Snape to teach her a spell when Dumbledore cleared his throat to catch their attention.

"I'm afraid you father is looking for you quite aggressively my dear," Dumbledore told her. Her eyes grew bigger as her heart sank.

"Does he know where I am?" She asked, he voice trembling, moving closer to Snape.

"Not yet, but I'm afraid it's only a matter of time," he admitted. She began to sob, leaning into Snape, who, without even thinking wrapped his arms around the girl like it was an immediate reflex. It was as if Dumbledore wasn't even there, the way he began to play with her now short blonde hair. He whispered in her ear and it shot goosebumps all over her body.

"You need to be strong now. You will be safe, but you need to be smart. I won't let anything happen to you, we will do this as a team, okay?" he whispered, waiting for her response. She sniffled, bit back her tears and looked up at him and nodded. Her face and eyes were puffy, red and glossy with tears, yet he thought she was just as beautiful as she always was.

"What should I do?" She asked turning to Dumbledore.

"I have a plan, it's risky, but I think it could work" Dumbledore responded.

"You need to go back to your father. You need to convince him you went on your own to find Harry Potter yourself to win his trust, and that you are starting to succeed. Tell him you want to spy for him, be a direct line to Harry." he said. She looked back at Snape, she saw everything in his black eyes to know that this was the only way. She agreed. Tonight she would go by herself, back to the house in which she thought she just escaped and if she made it, she would be a double agent, just like Severus.