Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Over break, Dobbins was conspicuously gone for large periods of time. When he returned, he was usually travel worn and sometimes injured. Once, Snape had even heard him grumbling about "bloody goblins and their bloody dragons," as he stumbled towards his room after one of these trips. A smell of burned hair wafting in his wake. The suspense was killing him. He needed to know how Dobbins was doing with his contract. If someone could kill the Dark Lord, he was really hoping it was this assassin. Dumbledore seemed to be hanging some kind-of hopes on the Potter brat, but who in their right mind would believe that Harry Bloody Potter would have it in him to kill anyone, let alone a Dark Lord?

So, it was with his curiosity running rampant that Severus stood in front of the ancient and ornery portrait that guarded Dobbins's rooms on Boxing Day with a bottle of wine under his arm as a belated Christmas present. "Is your master in?" Severus asked, really hoping the man wasn't out on one of his 'missions.'

"Young man, I answer to no one as master," the old wizard crossed his arms and glared at the potions master with a glare that even Snape couldn't achieve. "I will however convey the message that an impudent upstart is at the door," the wizard said as he grumbled his way out of the painting.

Severus smirked at Dobbins when he entered the assassin's chambers. "You really should complain to whoever thought that portrait made a good guardian," he said, holding out the bottle of wine to the other man.

Dobbins laughed and accepted the wine. "That would be me. I found him in storage and replaced the annoying mermaid that was there before. I find him much easier to deal with."

"Indeed, you would," Severus smirked again. "Care to share a few glasses?"

Dobbins led the way to his bare seating area that only had a couch, a coffee table, two end tables, and two armchairs, standard for the room. He conjured two wine glasses and poured a generous serving in each before handing Snape one.

Taking the glass, Severus got a good look at the calloused and tanned hand of the other man. Surprisingly, "I must not tell lies" stood out in white scars across the back. "I see you have your own experience with a blood quill," Severus remarked as he accepted the glass and sat in the armchair.

Dobbins self-consciously pulled his sleeve over it a little farther. "Yes, a lifetime ago."

"I take it that was a lesson you didn't learn well," the potions master referenced the text.

The world-weary man gave a humorless chuckle. "You'd be surprised just how honest I am. Yes, I definitely lie, but I find honestly the more productive tactic in dealing with others. Most of the time they don't believe me anyway."

"Like with the headmaster," Snape nodded. "You were honest, but then obliviated him. Why not me? I've been wondering."

Dobbins scrutinized him for a bit. "You are an interesting character, Snape. I believe you would be one to more likely help me than stop my plans, as long as I stayed within your own brand of morals. I believe, for now, our goals align, so I see no danger in you knowing my plans."

Severus studied him for a minute before a dangerous gleam flickered through his eyes. "Well, honest assassin, we have a full bottle of wine, it's break, and there's a comfortable fire in your fireplace. I propose a sharing of information…a truth for a truth, a question for a question. It's not a drinking game men in my line of work get to play very often. I have a feeling you already know a lot of my secrets anyway though."

Dobbins snorted. "I think you've had a bit too much of the Christmas spirit," he replied. After taking another sip, he gave a small nod. "Ok, spy, I'll agree to your terms. I must add my own though, nothing that seeks to reveal my true identity or that of my employers."

Snape nodded, knowing the man would never tell him that anyway. "Let's start easy. How old are you?"

Dobbins looked at him in surprise. "That's your first question. Ok, sure, I'm 28, I think…It's possible I lost count somewhere in there, and I don't want to do the math right now."

Yes, it was a simple question, but that answer was nowhere near simple. Who wasn't sure about their age, and seemed to not be able to care enough to figure it out? "Your question?" Snape asked, studying the man over the rim of his wine glass.

Dobbins smiled. "Why do you hate Harry Potter?"

Snape repressed a wince. "I don't hate Potter," Snape clarified. "I may strongly dislike him, but I do not wish to see harm come to him."

"Ok, then why do you strongly dislike him?" Dobbins asked with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"I had…history with his father that I admit may influence my behavior towards the boy," Snape said honestly. "On his own merit though, the boy is arrogant, headstrong, spoiled, and has no regard for the rules."

Dobbins nodded, seeming to accept this and file it away. "Why do you care for the boy so much?" Snape asked his own question.

"He's an innocent," Dobbins responded with a strange gleam in his eye. "He's an innocent now, but with the way this war is going and the vested interest of Dumbledore and Voldemort (collective wince) he won't remain an innocent for much longer. I wish to keep him that way."

"Dobbins, I know you're a masochist, but I'm not. Could you please refrain from that name? Use Dark Lord or You-Know-Who or even Snake-Face if you must," Snape absently rubbed his left arm.

Dobbins gave him a wry grin. "Of course, Snape. I'll tame my masochistic tendencies for you. It's my question though now…If I were to give you definitive proof that Harry isn't as you believe him to be, would you change your opinion of him, or are your beliefs too ingrained in your hatred for his father?"

Snape actually gave him the courtesy of considering the question. He had almost just answered with complete assurance that he would, but then questioned himself. Would he actually? "Maybe," Snape said slowly. "If such proof existed, I would listen, but I don't know that I could ever be persuaded to like the boy. I may change my base opinions of him somewhat though."

Dobbins nodded, once again accepting the answer and filing it away. "I appreciate you being honest with me and yourself," he added to Snape's surprise.

Deciding to get at what he really wanted to know, Snape jumped right in. "Have you killed anyone else since Bellatrix Lestrange?"

Dobbins nodded and poured himself another glass of wine. "Augustus Rookwood is no longer with us…good riddance. Snake-Face probably doesn't know yet though. Be prepared for an angry Dark Lord next time you're called."

Snape winced; he was not looking forward to that meeting. There was no possible way any Death Eater would be leaving without a crucio thrown at them. "May I ask a follow-up question about how?"

Dobbins pinned him with a glare. "It was bloody; that's all you need to know."

Snape nodded and poured himself another glass, suppressing a shudder at the cold, detached tone Dobbins had answered in. "Rookwood was a piece of work. He wasn't as bad as Bellatrix or Greyback, but he took great pleasure in others' pain, especially women. I will gladly accept the crucio knowing he's out of this world for good."

"How do you think the war is going to end?" Dobbins asked his next question.

Snape sighed, here is where his pessimism was given full reign. He saw no hope in sight. "This war has been going on since I was a child. I see no good end to it. I would assume it will come down to Dumbledore and the Dark Lord one of these days. I find myself losing hope though that it'll ever happen."

Dobbins opened the drawer of the end table beside the couch and lifted out a glowing orb that he sat on the coffee table in front of them. "Is that a prophesy?!" Snape asked in shock. He looked up at Dobbins's smirking face and restarted his question. "Is that the prophesy?!"

"You know, I'm going to take that as your question," Dobbins smirked at him again. "It is. Why you all just left it hanging out in the Department of Mysteries is beyond me."

"Only Potter or the Dark Lord could collect it," Snape continued, staring at the orb in shock.

"Yes, Potter did collect it," Dobbins nodded as Snape wondered at the sudden change to the boy's last name when Dobbins had only ever referred to him as Harry. With frustration, the man continued, "Look, I don't know what Dumbledore's game is, but I don't understand why he has you Order members guarding a prophesy in the ministry that Snake-Face wants when he could just have Harry collect it during normal business hours and put it in Gringotts or hide it out here at the castle, or even just smash it. It'd keep things like Arthur Weasley from happening, or at least keep you all from having to lose sleep to be on guard duty. Seriously!"

"Does anyone know it's missing?" Snape asked, agreeing whole-heartedly with the man, and also very concerned that he somehow had taken a student from the castle with no one noticing, especially the Boy-Who-Lived. How did this man know so much?!

Dobbins shrugged. "I didn't tell anyone. I would hope that someone looks at the shelf occasionally to make sure what they're guarding is still there."

"Do you know what it says?" Snape asked, knowing only Potter or the Dark Lord could activate it. He wasn't sure if Dobbins would have had Potter activate it for him or not.

Dobbins nodded though to Snape's dismay, so the boy knew it as well. "It tells how the war will end," Dobbins answered. "It will not come down to Dumbledore and the Dark Lord, it'll be Potter and the Dark Lord at the end. I thought you should know because I'm sworn to protect the boy, and I know you are as well."

"How do you know that?" Severus felt a chill run through his veins that everything was going to rest on the spoiled brat spawn of James Potter. He was beyond shocked that Dobbins knew about his vow though. He was sure only he and Dumbledore knew of that.

Dobbins shrugged. "Deathbed confession. Not important now though. Now, it's my turn for a question. Let's see…what did Petunia Evans think of her sister, Lily Evans?"

Severus shook his head. "What does that have to do with anything? How do you know I know Petunia? Who is telling you all these things?"

"Is one of those your question?" Dobbins asked, taking a sip of wine with a smirk on his face.

"No," Snape backed off, not knowing how long Dobbins would keep this honesty up with him so not wanting to waste a question. "She hated her sister. She called her a freak all the time and screamed at her anytime she mentioned something having to do with magic. It was almost a phobia with that banshee of a woman. Honestly, Lily was a little afraid of her by the time she finished at Hogwarts."

Dobbins nodded. "We're almost at the end of the bottle. I think one last question for each of us is fair. What's your last question?"

Severus thought for a minute. He had so many questions. Finally, he settled on, "Why did you become an assassin?"

Dobbins drained the last of his glass before turning his dead eyes on Snape. "I was raised to be an assassin. It's all I know. My life was ordered and manipulated to lead me to that one end goal. I denied it for years, but at some point, I snapped," Dobbins looked over to the incongruous picture of him and two others on the mantle. Snape figured it must have had something to do with the people in the photo. "I'm well past what anyone would consider innocent these days and haven't been for a very long time. Yes, I was led here, but my choices brought me here as well. I could have chosen another path; I could have chosen death. I chose to live though, and this is what I became."

Severus picked apart the answer in his head for a minute, accepting the truth of it. He felt the same about some of his own choices. "Your last question?" He asked, setting down his empty wine glass.

"My last question I don't expect you to answer," Dobbins crossed his arms and looked searchingly at Snape who kept himself from squirming uncomfortably under the gaze with great difficulty. "It's a question of logic…If what you've told me is true of Petunia Evans, and Harry Potter has lived the past fourteen years with Petunia and Vernon Dursley, how do you think she would treat the magical son of her hated sister?"

The room fell silent as Severus considered the question. Bloody hell, he thought to himself. Potter had been living with Petunia?! He'd been sure the boy had been passed off to a Potter relative or anyone else besides that horrible woman. He realized no one had actually told him specifically who Potter had been living with, just relatives. He hadn't thought about it because he fully believed that no one in their right mind who had talked to her for two minutes would give Petunia Evans custody of a magical child. "Bloody hell," he repeated out loud.

"Good night Snape," Dobbins smiled and stood to usher him out of the rooms. "Thank you for the wine and conversation. Be nice to Salazar on your way out, he really is a decent person, just a bit grumpy."

Before he knew it, Severus was standing outside of Dobbins's rooms and staring at what he now believed to be a portrait of Salazar Slytherin. "Well…you going to stand there all night?" the founder grumbled from where he was seated in front of a window in the portrait.

"You're Salazar Slytherin?" Severus asked in awe.

"Yeah, yeah, don't spread it around," the man said gruffly. "This might be better than storage, but I don't particularly want to be answering all the students' questions for the next millennia either."

Maybe it was the wine or maybe it was the shock of everything he just learned, but Snape found he just couldn't process one more piece of information. So, he nodded to the Hogwarts founder and headed off silently to his rooms to join Dobbins in taking a Dreamless Sleep potion, something he rarely allowed himself to do but which he admitted would be needed after that conversation.

The next term started off similarly to the last, in pain and annoyance. Severus was still nursing pained nerves from the furious Dark Lord's rant, and resounding crucios, after realizing he had lost both Bellatrix and Rookwood. Also, the students seemed even more annoying than usual when they invaded the castle's peace once more. Two days back and Longbottom had already blown up a cauldron! The only comfort he had was that there was no way in the seven circles of Hell that Longbottom would pull an O on his OWLs, so this would be the last year of having to deal with the potions terror.

After a couple trips to visit the portrait outside Dobbins's rooms, Severus had decided that once Dobbins disappeared after fulfilling his contract, the founder was going directly back into storage. How one man could be so ornery and acerbic was beyond his comprehension. Dobbins seemed to get a great deal of humor out of that comment when Snape made it in front of him. Severus concluded that the assassin must have been cursed one too many times.

And then, the first sign of the apocalypse happened. Severus was stalking through the corridors on his way to the Great Hall for dinner when he heard running footsteps behind him. Quickly he ducked into an alcove to catch the student and deduct points for running in the hallways. The footsteps slowed as they came closer though and a very familiar drawl with an irritated edge resounded. "Potter, stop following me! I don't want to be your friend!" Draco Malfoy exclaimed out into the almost empty hallway.

An out of breath Potter finally caught up to him and responded. "Well, I don't want to be your friend either you prat, but I think it's time we stopped being enemies. There are things going on bigger than you and me now. Don't you think it's time we grow up?!"

Draco grumbled in annoyance and went into a room that Severus recognized as the men's loo. He obviously seemed to think Potter wouldn't follow him in. He was wrong. Potter gave a little shrug and pushed into the loo behind him.

Severus came out from the alcove and studied the door the two teens had disappeared into. Merlin would return and Albus would swear off lemon drops before Severus would enter the cesspool known as a student washroom. Those two alone in any room was a recipe for disaster though. Someone, or two someone's, were going to need Madam Pomfrey's care. The door opened once more and Severus stepped back into the shadows, a smirking Potter exited and continued on to the Great Hall without a scratch on him. Snape did not like that look on the boy. It was much too devious. After waiting a minute, Snape felt his resolve cracking. Maybe he should go in and check on Draco. Just then the door opened again, and a contemplative Draco Malfoy exited like he had a lot on his mind.

Snape watched him walking towards the Great Hall. What would it mean for the world if Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy put all their animosity behind them? What if, Merlin forbid, they actually became friends? Deciding to forego dinner, Snape made his way back to his rooms where a bottle of wine seemed like the better plan for the evening. Maybe he'd take the bottle with him and see if a certain assassin, who never attended dinner, was any good at chess, yes, that sounded much more relaxing than the Great Hall.