"He should be here soon..." Albus Dumbledore stated as he absent-mindedly rubbed his phoenix familiar´s golden peak. The bright red swan-sized bird ruffled its feathers and nipped old wizard´s fingers. "Oh, you seem to be on the wrong foot today, Fawkes. Maybe an upset stomach? You ate quite many ice mice yesterday." the old man muttered and took a step back.
"To me it sounds like you have not made up your mind, Headmaster", the other person in the room noted.
"And that is why I asked you to be present, when I meet him, my friend", Dumbledore admitted, "I have been informed that I have difficulty in obtaining my objectivity when it comes to this particular student." Smiling meekly the headmaster turned to the newly appointed Defense Against Dark Arts teacher, who sat on the couch of the office.
Edgar Bones was a life-hardened warlock in his 60´s. He was a slim man, who looked younger than his years. He had charmingly graying hair, small dark eyes and thin carefully kept mustache. He still possessed the strict attitude of a military personnel. His humor was dry and often quite cutting. After spending years in different continents, working on missions for the Ministry of Magic, Mr. Bones had finally, couple of years ago, retired from the life of continuous travelling and settled to live in Hogsmeade. For some time he had worked for auror department, training the new recruits about international missions. He had also been in politics for a short while but had soon become disillusioned of the British system. When Albus Dumbledore had asked him to take up the free teaching position in Hogwarts, the rumor of that said position being cursed had been more of an incentive to accept than a scare.
Mr. Bones nodded knowingly. "You got yelled at by your Deputy Headmistress, I heard."
"I truly am blessed to have such a brave and righteous employee as Professor McGonagall. She has always been a true beacon of her house", Professor Dumbledore confirmed humbly.
"If you are still undecided of what to do with the boy, you must have your reasons. Would you like to talk about them before he arrives?"
"You know me well, Edgar." Albus shrugged. "Then, excuse me for taking up your offer."
After taking seat, Headmaster spent a moment silently before beginning his tale. "The truth is that Mr. Snape is an unusual young man. This young Slytherin could turn out to be so important that his decisions play vital role in the course of the war. People like him can turn the scales towards us... or if we are unfortunate, towards darkness." As he confessed his worries he grimaced. "If only we could be sure that the boy eventually chooses light... He could do much good with his skills, that Mr. Snape."
"But I see that you have your suspicions, Albus", Professor Bones finished the lingering thought.
The old headmaster nodded and sighed. He combed his graying beard with his fingers. "I have a confession to make, my friend. I am not proud of what I am about to tell you but I see that for you to fully understand my concern, Edgar, I have to be completely honest with you."
Headmaster and Edgar Bones had known each other for decades and shared mutual respect. The hardened warlock crossed his fingers, leaned forward and simply waited for Headmaster to speak.
"I am a trained legilimens, Edgar. As you know, I can quite easily peek the surface of mind of an untrained individual. I have, at times, done this to my students, when pressured to find quick confirmation of something. Of course, I do that only when strictly necessary and deeper nuances stay hidden from me."
Mr. Bones was listening closely, small dark eyes glimmering with intelligence.
"Mr. Snape... That boy has the thickest mental walls I have met in a child, Edgar", Headmaster said quietly. "There is absolutely nothing lingering on surface." There was a touch of wonder in his voice.
Mr. Bones rose his eyebrows. "Do you mean that the great Albus Dumbledore was for once reduced to use just his own intuition and deduction skills to determine someone´s trustworthiness?" He smirked.
Professor Dumbledore was not offended by his friend´s trademark dry humor. "I sound quite conceited, when you put it that way." He smiled. "But still you are right, my friend. Severus Snape has to this day stayed a wild card to me", professor Dumbledore claimed. "Still, if we put aside my shortcomings for a moment, what do you think of a 15-years-old, who can completely block out a competent legilimens without any formal training?"
Only sign of surprise was minute widening of the other man´s eyes. "Mr. Snape could do that even when you used a wand? Well, certainly unheard of... What in the name of Merlin made you even test it, Albus?"
"He and a group of Gryffindors, namely Black, Potter and Pettigrew, are always at each other´s necks. You must have noticed this. This has been going on for long. On their fifth year there was an incident. This time it was quite severe. Mr. Snape´s life was endangered and worst of all a part of the fault was mine." Headmaster paced. "Their stories of the incident differed so greatly that I had to utilize legilimency to get things straightened. Potter, Black and Pettigrew... They are open-minded boys. I could easily scope the surface of their consciousness. I could make sure of the parts that were truth and what were lies and what their true intentions had been. Black, who had actually caused the matter, was genuinely shocked how it turned out. It had been recklessness in his part more than anything else. His emotions had clouded his reason. Potter had not actually known, what had been done and immediately after realizing he had done his best to salvage the situation. Pettigrew had not been active participant. They claimed that Snape´s intentions had been to harm one of their friends, but that part I could never confirm as I never got any access to his mind. I had no reassurance of what the young Slytherin would do with confidential information that had come to his knowledge during this incident, either. The matter was highly sensitive and could have lead to a severe suffering of an innocent participant. At the time, I could do nothing but extract a binding promise that he would not talk of what had transpired, to anyone as long as they all were students in Hogwarts."
"Oh..." the other man muttered and touched his moustache in deep thoughts. Headmaster´s confession had been unexpected. "Do you think that he noticed, what you were trying to do?"
"He had to. After I found out the resistance I could no longer stay subtle."
Edgar Bones took time to consider Headmaster´s confession. "This makes things more difficult, Albus. The boy certainly does not harbor great trust or respect for you after that. A binding contract... If someone in the Ministry knew about it, we would be in danger of losing the school. I know that you did not have a chance, otherwise you would not have done it. That would, nevertheless, be seen as serious abuse of your position."
Professor Dumbledore nodded. There was still something he had not told to his friend. His other friend, an inn keeper in Diagon Alley, had owled him on one of the last days of the summer holiday. He had told that an young man called Severus Snape was staying in his inn. The man had also told a peculiar story of Mr. Snape´s reaction to sudden disappearance of banker Dawlish. From what the boy had said to old Tom it seemed obvious that Mr. Snape had attended a Deatheater meeting or at least had a good hunch of what had transpired at the Lestrange´s during the Moon Celebrations. The boy had not come forward with his knowledge, which could mean two things. Either he had sided with the Deatheaters already, which Headmaster feared. Or he was too afraid of them and didn´t have anyone to trust on his side to tell. The slip up the boy had had gave Dumbledore hope of this. Someone as skilled in oclumency as the boy must have felt severely disturbed to lose his composure and allow it to show.
