"During my first year as Headmaster, under the Dark Lord's control, I had to bring on two very violent and unpredictable Death Eaters as teachers. It was not a decision I made of my own volition," Severus explained. He had regained much of his self-control, and stood facing the window still, thanks to Hermione. He could still smell cinnamon and chai even though she'd moved several minutes ago. "There was very little I could do to keep them in check, but I did the best that I could. The Dark Lord had no desire to spill a single drop of magical blood, so I was able to keep a tight enough leash on the Carrow siblings. My control over them was not complete, and students were hit, yes, and stolen out from under me. In my life, those were some of my darkest days."

"You stood by and did nothing while students were abused and taken?"

Severus turned slowly back to face the white haired man. "I controlled what I could control, and took action where I needed to take action. There are several former students who would be able to tell you of moments where I did not act as I appeared to be to the world."

Hermione and Minerva looked at Severus in surprise. During the first year Severus had been Headmaster, Minerva hardly ever saw him. He held up in the office, much like I did his first year after the war. Only just recently had he branches out and began walking the castle regularly. It surprised them both that he had risked his cover to help individual students.

"Might I have their names?"

"Neville Longbottom, Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, Ginerva Weasley, and... Luna Lovegood."

"Luna?"

"I caught her, the a couple of the others, trying to steal from this very office. I didn't so much as punish them. Instead, I merely handed bruising salve to Longbottom. Several of them has bruises on their cheeks or near their eyes."

"But Luna was stolen from this school..."

"Yes. I was not made aware of that plan before it occurred. Dobby?" Severus called.

The scrawny elf appeared. "Yes, Headmaster, sir?"

"Do you remember when we went to Malfoy Manor together, after Luna Lovegood, Harry Potter, Ronal Weasley, and Hermione Granger had been captured?"

"Yes, of course, sir."

"Can you tell Mister Lovegood what my orders to you were?"

Dobby turned and said, "Headmaster Snape told me I was not to be seen by anyone, and that I was to get Harry Potter and his friends out of the house while he created a diversion."

"What was the diversion?" Xenophilius asked. Luna had never talked much of her time at Malfoy Manor. She was so aloof that she was able to heal from the experience without talking of it, but her father had always wondered.

"My presence," Severus said. "By then, I was the Dark Lord's Second-in-command. Lucius had come to Hogwarts to ask for my assistance in identifying the students that had caught. Dobby, who did you rescue?"

"Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Luna Lovegood, a wandmaker, and a goblin. They were all locked in the basement."

"The wandmaker was Ollivander. He could also confirm the details, though the man was quite traumatized, so I would tread lightly. Griphook was the goblin, but he is deceased. Dobby, where was Miss Granger?"

"With Madam Lestrange, upstairs... She was hurting Miss Hermione."

Severus glanced at Hermione, who looked very pale, but cleared her throat. "Bellatrix Lestrange had me pinned to the floor and she..." Hermione touched her arm. Severus walked slowly around the desk behind her. Lovegood did not notice again that Snape had even moved. Without thinking, he touched his hand to her shoulder. She grabbed at his hand with one of hers, Minerva looked at him wideyed, he ignored her eyes.

Hermione continued tearfully, clutching Severus' hand on her shoulder. "She had a poisoned blade. She was using it to cut my arm... Trying to torture me into giving her information about Harry. I'd jinxed his face, before they caught us, so they were unable to say for certain that he was Harry Potter. Professor Snape arrived, Bellatrix ordered for the boys to be brought up from the basement. Greyback went to fetch them, and yelled out that they were gone. Everything happened so fast. Bellatrix was off of me and searching the basement. Snape mouthed for me to run, and I did, and he gave fake chase. he caught me and disapparated us both here. He promptly treated me for the poison that had been on the blade, and for the wound I received. Then, he had Professor McGonagall say she was the one I'd come to, and had Dobby apparate both Professor McGonagall and I to Harry and Ron. That was the last I saw of him until we returned to Hogwarts and the war began."

Severus moved back toward the window as Lovegood asked, "You were unaware that Harry Potter and his friends had returned to Hogwarts?"

"Oh, I was very much aware," Severus said evenly as he reflected on the intense anxiety he'd felt that evening.

"Why did You-Know-Who attack you? Did he discover you had betrayed him?"

"No. The specificity of why he attacked me is something I cannot answer. It involves details that have been classified by our Minister of Magic."

The Minister had felt it best to keep the story of the Three Brothers, and of their powerful objects, to nothing more than a secret. Severus had agreed that the world did not need to know such power existed.

"He used his snake?"

"Yes," Severus said and couldn't help but shiver.

"He died believed you were loyal to him?"

As far as I know..."

"Well," Minerva coughed, and Severus turned to face her with a raised pointed eyebrow. "Harry did mention something about your true loyalties in the final conversation. I believe it was made clear, in Voldemort's final moments, that you had been Dumbledore's man all along, not his."

Severus would have been angry if Potter had told him when he'd first woken up after the war, but now, he smirked, knowing the Dark Lord fell with the knowledge that he'd been betrayed for nearly 20 years.

"All of this for love?" Lovegood asked.

"No," Severus said coldly. "Do not paint me as some bloody romantic. I loved Lily, yes, but we had been friends as well, known each other since we were children. I was not the same as the monster who branded me. I'd already bexome disenchanted with his ways, but outright leaving was out of the question. He'd killed people for talking about it, for attempting it, without an ounce of hesitation. Relaying that prophecy... I had no idea it could refer to her. I'd no idea she'd had a child. I never wanted her to be in harm's way, despite how our friendship had ended and the decisions I had made. The knowledge that I'd set into motion a series of events that put her, and her family, in grave danger, and those events ultimately led to her death... I had to do what I could to try and atone, and to try to align myself with a cause I truly believed in..."

Lovegood looked at Severus for the first time since the interview had started. "What do you want in life now, Headmaster? Why did you finally agree to this interview? What do you hold to gain, and what do you hope the world gains from this?"

Severus locked eyes with the man for a moment. "It was my story to tell on my terms to whichever press I felt best to write it. I finally felt ready to tell it. I want closure, and peace, on those parts of my past. The world might gain the same, or they might not. I cannot control how they respond to my truth. Now, I'd quite like to be left alone."

The three filed out, and Hermione looked back at him over her should before shutting the door behind her. He'd slumped down into his chair and was massaging his temples. It was over. He'd confronted his past with the press. She smiled as she shut his door.

"People often claim to hunger for truth, but seldom like the taste when it's served up." ~ A Clash of Kings