Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: We're looking at one more chapter. It'll probably be a long one though.

It was the end of March, and the history professor had successfully avoided almost all dinners in the Great Hall. He made an appearance for breakfast and lunch, but dinner, almost never. So, Severus was more than a little surprised when the man strode into the Great Hall just as dinner was getting started and plopped himself down in the seat beside the potions master. Dobbins gave his standard nod of greeting before beginning to load his plate with food.

"To what do we owe this pleasure?" Severus asked, noting that the man looked very irritated for some reason.

Dobbins grimaced. "Dumbledore," he said by way of answer. After a minute, he sighed and seemed to decide to elaborate. "He keeps cornering me and asking me about my day or my classes. He insists I need to socialize more with the staff. I told him we play chess occasionally, but he seems to think you don't count," Dobbins grumbled. "It almost makes me wish I hadn't obliviated him."

Snape chuckled to the horror of several students who happened to be looking at the head table. "Of course, I don't count. I'm the misanthropic dungeon bat. And, you know, if you hadn't obliviated him, he would be much much more annoying."

Dobbins put down the pitcher of pumpkin juice to look at Severus better. "Yeah, that's what I don't get. He wants Snake Face dead, so I don't see why he has an issue with my methods."

Snape shrugged, knowing the leader of the light had some very hypocritical views on what was right and wrong. "I think it's more who you are than what you plan to do," he said cryptically by way of explanation.

Dobbins nodded though, seeming to understand. "Ah, the fact I'm getting paid for it is the problem," he shrugged. "Oh well, it's not like he's really my employer anyway."

"And that would be…"

"Nice try Snape," Dobbins smiled a crooked smile at him as he speared a potato with his fork. "Not very Slytherin of an attempt though if I might give you come constructive criticism."

Snape chuckled once more, causing the students to start wondering if he were ill. "Well, we can't be at the top of our game all the time."

Dobbins seemed to contemplate through a few bites of roast. "Speaking of…" he started, a dark gleam in his eye. "Last night was the full moon, right?"

Snape narrowed his eyes, worried about where this was going. "Yes, why?"

Dobbins shrugged and polished off the last of his roast. "Just thinking…all those werewolves out there would be pretty sore and under the weather today."

"Uh huh," Snape said slowly, now certain of where this was going.

"Well!" Dobbins said suddenly as he pushed his still full plate away. "I made an appearance. Tell Dumbles I said 'hi.'"

"Dobbins," Snape hissed, grabbing onto the assassin's sleeve. "Be careful," he warned with concern in his eyes.

Dobbins backed up, dramatically putting his hand over his heart. "Oh Severus, I didn't know you cared!" He laughed as he exited the Great Hall.

Later that night, Severus couldn't sleep. He was trying to read a potions journal on his couch, but he had read the same page at least three times. Greyback was extremely dangerous, day after the full moon or not. He wished he had asked Dobbins to stop by when he got back to the castle, just so he knew he was all right. At that thought, he was shocked at himself that he cared. Why in the world did he care if the anti-social assassin was all right or not?

After deciding, he was never going to answer that question, he began to wonder if it were weird if he just walked by Salazar's portrait and asked the founder if Dobbins had gotten back in or not. That seemed a little excessive though too, in his opinion. However, he might be able to sleep if he knew the man were back in his rooms. Would the portrait tell Dobbins in the morning that Snape stopped by though? Would that be weird?

He still hadn't decided if he were leaving his quarters or not, when a sound of someone shuffling in broke him from his reverie. "Snape, where are you?" A voice asked from the wall by the door. "You awake?...Move it you furball!"

"Yeah, hello? You!" Snape exclaimed in surprise as he saw Salazar Slytherin shoving the black panther out of his frame by the door so he could enter the room. "What are you doing here? Is Fred ok?!"

"You need to get down to the kid's chambers he's in a bad way. Bring potions," Salazar instructed, a touch of concern in his voice before he rushed out of the jungle portrait once more, leaving a very disgruntled black panther.

Severus grabbed the medical bag he would take to the infirmary in emergencies and followed the painted founder out of his rooms without question. He anxiously rushed towards the History wing and his…friend's?...quarters. Coming up to the room, the door opened immediately for him, Salazar having taken short cuts through the portraits back.

Severus rushed in to find a crumpled form leaning up against the couch in the bare sitting room. "Damn, I told him not to get you," Dobbins grumbled from where he was holding a very red towel to his shoulder. "I promise I'm fine. You can go back to bed."

"I wasn't asleep," Snape replied tersely as he sat on the floor as well. He gently peeled the towel away from Dobbins's shoulder as the man hissed in pain. "You seem to have been hit with a cutting curse that almost went deep enough to expose bone. Yes, that seems just fine. Sleep it off, no worries," Snape continued sarcastically.

"Hey, at least he didn't bite me," Dobbins laughed dryly.

"Drink this and take off your shirt," the potion master instructed, handing over a vial of pain reducing potion.

Dobbins downed the liquid but shook his head. "Just banish the shirt, it's not salvageable anyway," he instructed.

Once Snape had waved his wand and the blood-covered shirt was gone, he saw several more deep scratches, probably from Greyback's nails. He sighed and immediately began treating the wounds. "He really did a number on you didn't he?"

Dobbins shrugged. "I've had worse. Besides…it's just Vol-er…Snake Face left now on my contract," he added with a dark grin on his face that made Snape shudder against his will.

"The Dark Lord will not be happy at the next meeting," Snape shook his head. Greyback gone was worth any pain though. The werewolf wasn't a man, he was a pure monster. If Snape had to rank them, for depravity, he believed Greyback to be worse than the Dark Lord himself.

Dobbins waved a hand dismissively as if to say there was nothing he could do about that. "How long do you think till this is all healed," he motioned to where Snape was now applying a large bandage.

"A couple days. I'd take it easy for a week though. Werewolf scratches take a long time to heal. I know the cutting curse was the worst, but those scratches are deep."

Dobbins smiled at the man. "Thank you, Snape," he said sincerely. "I guess I could use a week off."

"You know…" Severus started as he packed the empty potion vials back into his bag. "The students think you are a proficient history professor. If you wanted to retire when all of this is over…I don't think they'd mind if you stayed on. Durmstrang must have had an excellent history program for you to just jump in like you have."

Dobbins laughed and scooted up the couch so that he was sitting there instead of the floor. "Actually, I was pants at history, slept through class most of the time."

The potions professor sat his bag aside and joined the man on the couch. "Really? My Slytherins are always talking about how they learn so much in your classes," he said, disbelievingly.

Dobbins laughed wryly and then winced in pain. "Well, when I took on this contract, I knew Hogwarts was the optimal location for my placement. Armed with an over-powered exorcism spell, history was the easiest subject to take over."

Snape nodded. "I figured you must have gotten rid of Binns."

Dobbins gave him an unapologetic look. "Yeah, well, you would be surprised at how much information you can cram in your head when you're highly motivated and have a good tutor."

"Must have been an excellent tutor," Snape replied, still not really believing the man could so quickly get to such a high level in a subject.

Dobbins just laughed though. "Ergh! He was terrible! You know that all purebloods are taught history growing up. Well, if you can wade through all the supremacist crap, they actually know quite a bit, even with Binns's horrible teaching. So, I just had to find a pureblood prat who hadn't completely sold his soul to Snake Face. It actually wasn't that hard. That and read a whole lot of books," Dobbins's face showed his dislike of that.

Snape thought about it a minute. Yes, Binns had been around so long that most of the pureblood families had taken over teaching history at home. His Slytherins complained all the time about having to take the class. Not surprisingly, those complaints had stopped that year. "Regardless, you should consider staying on."

"Um…I'll think about it," Dobbins remarked sleepily as the potions really began to kick in. "See you morning…Sev," he mumbled as he laid his head on the armrest and closed his eyes.

Snape chuckled and stood with his bag. "I'll let you get away with that name slip only because you're extremely drugged right now."

Dobbins grunted a laugh but didn't respond. Still smiling, Snape exited the chambers and assured Salazar that his charge was still alive and would recover, not that the acerbic portrait thanked him at all.

"Severus, my boy!" Dumbledore exclaimed as Snape entered his office where Shacklebolt and Moody were already waiting.

"You summoned, Headmaster?" Snape drawled, irritated that he was taken away from his work, he had a time sensitive potion brewing.

"Has the Dark Lord said anything recently?" Moody almost growled.

"About?" Snape prodded, crossing his arms stubbornly.

"The prophesy, man!" Moody exclaimed frustratingly.

Well, it had taken…three months?...for anyone to notice. The Order was definitely slipping in Severus's opinion if no one had thought to check the shelf the all-important object they were protecting was on. "No, he has not," Severus said simply. "He's frustrated that he's finding it difficult to get into the Potter brat's mind, and he's murderously furious that Greyback was found gruesomely slain a few days ago, but he's said nothing about the prophesy."

"Greyback is dead?!" Shacklebolt questioned with almost relief in his voice.

"Indeed."

"My boy…" Severus hated Dumbledore's favored term of endearment. "You see, the prophesy has gone missing."

"Really?" Snape faked surprise at the news. "Do you want me to tell the Dark Lord?"

"No, no!" Dumbledore shook his head. "If he doesn't know, we should all act like it's still there until we know what happened. Only he or Harry could have taken if though. If Voldemort doesn't have it, then I do not know what happened."

"Maybe your Golden Boy swung by the ministry over break," Snape sneered in sarcasm, knowing it was actually true.

Moody shook his head. "Black assured us he was in Grimmauld the whole time. It must have been something else."

"Well, I don't see how this is my problem. If you don't mind, I have a potion that needs attending…" Snape made to leave.

"Of course, my boy. Make sure to tell me if Voldemort says anything about it though," Dumbledore said unnecessarily.

Snape nodded to all three before striding back out of the headmaster's office in a billow of robes.

Entering his office once more, Snape saw the history professor standing over his simmering cauldron stirring. "Dobbins, I swear if you've ruined my potion, I'll skin you alive!"

Dobbins stepped back, raising his hands in fake surrender. "I just noticed it needed stirring, no need for violence," he laughed.

Severus looked in the cauldron and begrudgingly had to admit to himself that the man had probably saved it. "Dumbledore just discovered the prophesy missing," Snape smirked at him.

Dobbins looked at him in consternation. "Three months! It took them three months! Really?! No wonder someone had to hire an assassin. The Order is useless!"

"I find their spies are fairly exemplary," Snape smirked at him once more.

"Well…that goes without being said. Their spy is the only competent part of that organization," Dobbins said emphatically.

Snape had no clue how to answer that. He had been joking, but Dobbins was dead serious. "What are you doing here?" He grumbled instead.

Dobbins held out a bottle of fine Scotch. "Care to share a glass?"

Snape narrowed his eyes before pulling two tumblers from a desk drawer. "What do you want?"

"What? I can't just share a drink with a colleague?" Dobbins said in a fake, hurt tone.

"Firewhiskey, yes. Cheap wine, yes. Fifty-year-old Scotch, no," Snape replied, but still poured himself a generous glass. "So, what is it you want?"

Dobbins poured himself a glass and sat in the chair beside Snape's workstation. "Actually, I do need a favor."

"Indeed," Snape smirked at him over the top of his glass, savoring a sip.

Dobbins rolled his eyes. "I could use some potions. I'd brew them myself, but I figured if you happen to already have them on hand, it would save me a lot of time."

Snape checked the clock and stirred his potion once more. "What are these potions you need?" He asked. "I will not be giving you any Dreamless Sleep."

Dobbins huffed. "Yes, oh judgmental one. No, I don't need Dreamless Sleep. I've stocked myself quite well. I could however use two…no three pain relieving potions, extra strength, four blood replenishers, and two full jars of Essence of Murtlap. I gave the last of mine to Harry. I didn't catch him before Umbridge last week."

Snape raised his eyebrow in surprise at that list. "You know you've just recovered from your injuries. What are you up to this time? Are you going after the Dark Lord?"

Dobbins shook his head in the negative. "No, there are still a couple things I need to take care of before I go after Snake Face. This is a related side-project."

Seeing the look on Dobbins's face that promised he would get no more information out of the man, Snape made his way to his potions stores and pulled down the ones the assassin asked for. "Don't take them all at the same time," Snape warned, hoping they were for multiple people.

Dobbins smirked at him. "I'm not an idiot," he said, leaving the Scotch on the table and heading to the door.

Snape picked up the bottle. "Stop by after your side-project is finished. You can help me empty this bottle," he offered.

"Most definitely!" Dobbins happily agreed.

Saturday morning, Dobbins was not at breakfast. This wasn't highly unusual, but of all the meals he missed, breakfast usually wasn't one of them. On the same note of being odd, Potter also seemed to be missing from breakfast, and his friends looked a little worried. Knowing it would be up to him to find the brat, Snape decided to swing by Salazar's portrait first…just to check in, not that he actually cared or was worried. He just…wanted to know when the man would stop by for that Scotch, yeah, that was it.

"Salazar," Snape nodded at the man who continued to frown at him menacingly. "Dobbins in?"

"Now's not a good time," Salazar narrowed his eyes.

Now Snape was a little worried. What would have the founder so protective? "Ok…well, can you tell me if he's ok?"

Salazar sneered at him before seeming to listen to something behind him. He faced forward once more, rolling his eyes. "Fine, he says you can enter, but be quiet," Slytherin said in a huff as he swung the portrait open.

Confused, Severus entered the, now very familiar, rooms. Immediately, he noticed that a large fire was going in the fireplace and the room was very dark besides that. The second thing he noticed was a student curled up on the couch, sleeping soundly. A very familiar student.

"Shhh, he's sleeping," Dobbins instructed Severus quietly by the door. He motioned for the potions master to follow him into the kitchen area.

"What's Potter doing in your room?!" Severus exclaimed, sitting at the kitchen table where Dobbins had already laid out things for tea. "Students aren't allowed in professors' chambers."

"Oh please," Dobbins rolled his eyes and picked up the kettle from the stove before it could whistle. "I already swore an oath to not injure the boy. He's fine and will leave just as soon as he gets up. He was helping me with that side project, and it ran late."

At this, Snape noticed that the slight tremor in Dobbins's hands had gotten quite a bit worse as he tried to pour the water into a teapot. It took him a minute of concentration, but he triumphantly poured in the water without spilling. "What happened to you?" Snape asked, running through possibilities in his mind.

Dobbins waved a dismissive hand. "Nothing. I'll be right as rain tomorrow. I think I'll let you pour the tea though," he chuckled.

"Is the Dark Lord dead?" Snape asked, expectantly. It seemed that every time Dobbins was injured, someone else had died.

"What? No," Dobbins whispered in shock. "I'm still working on it."

Snape nodded in a little disappointment. He picked up the teapot and poured for them. "Is it going well?"

Dobbins nodded and gratefully accepted his tea. "As well as can be expected. Erm…Severus…?"

Snape looked up over the rim of his teacup, the man almost never called him by his first name. "Yes…Fred?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe next time Snake Face calls you…maybe you don't want to answer," Dobbins suggested.

"Will you be going after him then?"

"No," Dobbins said assuredly. "I will be making him very, very angry though. You might not want to get caught in that."

They drank their tea in comfortable silence for several minutes. "I can take care of myself," Severus finally answered. "I'll go prepared, but I won't lose my place as spy."

Dobbins nodded, already knowing what the man would say. "Just…take care of yourself, ok?"

Snape put down his teacup and stood. "I'll see myself out. I'd hate to be here when the brat wakes up. Make sure no one sees him leave."

Dobbins nodded. "Thank you for trusting me, Snape."

Snape gave a quiet laugh. "You swore a binding oath not to hurt the boy. I don't think that calls for any trust from me."

"You know I don't mean that," Dobbins whispered back.

After a pause, Snape gave him a short nod and exited back to the castle. Severus hated how the man got under his skin. The history professor irritated him, challenged him, scared him, worried him, and then he goes and says something like that…something that almost made him want to…like?...the man. That was even more irritating than his constant need to be secretive and mysterious. He was starting to maybe, possibly, see a little hope that someone could end this war though. How Potter was going to factor in that was beyond the potions master, but Dobbins, now he was brutal enough to do something. Greyback had been utterly destroyed. If he could do that to one of the Dark Lord's main enforcers, then Snape was looking forward to what he would do to the Dark Lord himself.