Previously...

The scene he saw in front of him gave him pause for a split second. Poppy, Narcissa Malfoy, and Lucius Malfoy were huddled around one bed, murmuring frantically to one another.

Severus sped forward, concerned. Who he saw on the bed made him gasp in shock and horror.

Albus Dumbledore.

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Severus's eyes were automatically drawn to the blackened and shrivelled hand that the headmaster was sporting. The wizard was looking very pale and even more gaunt than usual.

He quickly asked Madam Pomfrey what on earth had happened. They both stepped back as Lucius Malfoy started waving his wand over the headmaster, muttering an incantation under his breath.

"I'm not exactly sure what happened. He just appeared outside the wards of the castle, and Remus Lupin was with him. Lupin ran up to the infirmary, levitating him. We haven't had time to question him, but he's in my office right now. All I know is that Albus had an unfamiliar ring on the hand that was damaged."

Severus hummed, and joined Lucius in the incantation. He knew this incantation because he had used it before on himself and others. It was a thorough spell that let the caster know if there were any curses or Dark magics acting upon the victim. However, this wasn't a spell that was used often. It was seen as Dark itself because of how invasive it was. The headmaster wouldn't feel the effects of the spell, since he was unconscious.

About thirty seconds later, they saw the result of the incantation. Obviously, his hand was cursed to the bone. But, that wasn't the only problem - the curse was spreading. Frantically, Severus forced the headmaster's eyes open. He didn't usually use this kind of remedy on people other than himself often, but it was very necessary.

Using wordless, wandless legilimency, he dove into the wizard's mind. Now that the man was unconscious, accessing his inner being was very easy. Severus went along the outskirts of his mind, searching for the dark growth he knew would be there. Sure enough, he found a rapidly expanding thatch of dark, oily, vines.

Knowing what to do, he grabbed the walls of the headmaster's partially fallen occlumency shields and wrapped them firmly around the throbbing mass. Once he was certain the curse had been properly contained, he exited the mind.

He sighed as he re-entered his body. It wasn't perfect - he had read of this type of curse before. It was made to have the entire victim rot - and it had no counter. So, Severus had done the best he could with what he had. This would not stop the dark vines forever, though. Eventually, maybe in a year or two, the headmaster would have a face-to-face meeting with Death.

"The curse has been interrupted," he said, giving them the good news first. All three people in the room slumped over with relief. "However," everyone looked up, "it will not stay that way forever. Ultimately, this curse will kill him."

Madam Pomfrey covered her face with her hands. Narcissa's eyes clouded with tears, and Lucius looked down. Severus carefully blocked his emotions from showing. If he broke down now, then he'd be useless for the rest of the afternoon.

As everyone wallowed in their grief, Severus glanced outside. The sun was shining brightly. It was a pleasant day. If the headmaster had not been deathly ill, it might have satisfied him to see such weather. Though, now, he felt empty.

Hollow.

He thought over the past few years, trying to detect where this sense of pointlessness came from. A memory surfaced to the front of his mind:

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Severus Snape dashed up one of the vacant staircases of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was the middle of the night, and his left arm twinged as a reminder of where he was before. He never thought he'd ever end up back in this castle, where so many memories were made… both good and bad.

Severus had come in search of Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster. He never really had interacted with the wizard before. The wizard had quite the reputation of being… eccentric, to say the least. No matter the man's repute, he had to speak with him.

Severus had made a colossal mistake, and he had hopes of being able to rectify it before things were too late.

Severus arrived in front of the headmaster's office, slightly winded. He really needed to get into shape. He stared at the stone gargoyle in front of the passageway he just knew to be the way into his quarters. He had seen professors go into that room before.

He just didn't know the password.

Severus might have paced outside that door for a solid hour, if Professor Mcgonagall hadn't been patrolling around the same time.

Her eyes narrowed under her oval glasses. "Mr. Snape. What are you doing back at the castle?"

Mcgonagall had never really liked him, nor any other Slytherin. "I need to speak to the headmaster," Severus replied, trying not to fidget under her gaze. Somehow, even after an entire year, the transfiguration professor made him feel as if he were a disobedient first year caught out in the halls.

The witch humfed, and after giving him one last suspicious glance, spoke the password to the creature. The gargoyle leapt to the side, allowing them passage into a golden eagle's embrace.

Before he stepped inside, he wondered how he could tell Mcgonagall to go away. He decided to take on a polite tone as he said, "I would appreciate it if I saw the headmaster alone. The matter I will be speaking to him about is rather private."

The professor nodded her head, saying, "I understand." She turned away, and headed in the other direction. Wow. That was easier than he thought it would be.

He stepped inside the eagle's hold, and he ascended slowly. Eventually, he arrived in front of a door. A door Severus presumed to lead to the headmaster's office.

He slowly pushed open the door, feeling a slight sense of unexplainable trepidation. He was about to bare his soul to the man behind that door, and he didn't know exactly how he would be received.

Sure enough, a wizened old man with garish robes was sitting behind a desk in the middle of a room with multitudes of magical devices floating around and sitting on tables.

"Why, Mr. Snape. To what do I owe this pleasure?" Dumbledore said, setting down a quill and crossing his fingers.

Severus treaded carefully further into the room. "Headmaster, I have made a most grievous error."

He proceeded to tell Dumbledore about his fidelity to the Dark Lord. He poured out his heart for the first time in forever about how he had eavesdropped on the headmaster and that Trelawny woman. How he had told the Dark Lord everything he had heard, and now he was after the Potters. In particular, Lily.

By the end of his confession, rebellious tears were shining in his eyes, and the twinkle the headmaster was so famous for had almost vanished. The man sat forward, looking very serious. "Thank you for this information, Mr. Snape. Due to this admission, I am assuming that you are wishing to… shift your allegiances."

Severus took in a deep breath and nodded. He blinked back the burn from his eyes, and said, "I take it you do not trust me quite yet, and I do not blame you for that. But please, please, believe me on this. Lily's life hangs in the balance. I have pleaded the Dark Lord to spare her, but I think he is too far gone to care." Severus never thought he'd be begging not one, but multiple people for any reason, so this threw him off.

The headmaster's eyes narrowed. "Very well. I will warn the Potters, and perhaps take measures to protect them."

Severus clenched his jaw. "That is all I ask of you."

He spun on his heel to walk out the door, when Dumbledore stopped him with a "Severus." The wizard had never before addressed him by his first name, so this was a novelty. The famous mischievous twinkle was back in the headmaster's eye as he said his next words. "Professor Slughorn is thinking of retiring at the end of this semester. Could you take into consideration, perhaps, taking the post of potions professor?"

Of all the things for Dumbledore to say, that was the last on the list of things Severus was expecting. Not wanting to give a straight answer, in case the offer was only in jest, he repeated, "Perhaps."

Mere months later, he had been accepted into Hogwarts as the new potions professor - mere days before the Potters had been murdered. Mere days before Severus had dedicated himself to his duties as a spy.

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This little trip down memory lane helped Severus identify the empty feeling he had. Albus Dumbledore had been the first person to truly offer him a life worth living.

And here he was, dying.

The headmaster still had time to live, but not long. Severus was going to try his hardest to change this.

"Poppy, where is the ring the headmaster deemed necessary to put on? And bring the werewolf out, too. I think we all need an explanation."

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Harry was on the couch, stroking Nagini's head, when the portrait door opened. Expecting to see Severus walk through the passage, he turned his head to utter a greeting and a question about what on earth had happened.

His words fell flat as he recognized the person walking through the door.

The last time he had seen this lady was at the quidditch world cup. Then, she had seemed quite sour and discontented. The woman that he was seeing now didn't look unhappy now. In fact, a neutral expression looked better on the blond.

Narcissa Malfoy nodded at Salazar Slytherin as she stepped into the room. She spotted Harry sitting on the couch with the huge serpent coiled around him.

He would have jumped up with his wand raised if Nagini weren't coiled around him, weighing him down. After all, a ten meter snake was very heavy.

"Mr. Potter," Narcissa said. "It truly does me well to see you conscious and healthy."

Not expecting this, Harry stopped thinking of ways to defend himself from imminent death. He still couldn't quite believe that the Malfoys, of all people, had saved his life. Harry settled with asking her, "What are you doing down here?"

Narcissa chuckled, of all things. "Harry - is it okay if I call you Harry?" She didn't wait for an answer. "Severus is held up at the infirmary with Lucius. They both are the best with Dark curses and how to reverse them." His shocked expression must have shown on his face, for she followed with, "Someone got hurt with a spell, and those two were the best qualified for helping them."

Harry had an inkling of who it was, and that sent a finger of dread trailing down his spine. Dudley poked his head out of the hallway, and started saying, "Is the professor back-" before he noticed Narcissa standing by the portrait. He made an "eep" sound before ducking back into the darkness.

Once Dudley had vanished, Harry looked back to Narcissa, whose eyes were slightly narrowed. "You still haven't told me why you're down here." Harry didn't mean to be rude, but he was still wary of this woman. She, in Harry's mind, was still closely associated with Death Eaters and Voldemort.

Narcissa didn't even look fazed. "Why, I came down to keep you company." She sat down on a chair, and cracked open a book Harry didn't notice she had.

Since he didn't seem to be in any immediate danger, Harry looked down at Nagini. She was sound asleep, so she obviously didn't hear the witch walk into the room. Harry allowed his body to relax, but he made an inventory of what he had on him. He had his wand in his pocket, and that was basically it.

He decided the best way to deal with this situation was to talk. "Erm… where's Mal- er, Draco? Why isn't he with you?"

She hummed. "He said he didn't want to spend time with 'Potter.'" She made air quotations. "He was truly offended when you sent him away, the other day." Harry found it hard to believe that Malfoy could care what he thought. He really was rude.

"I wouldn't want to spend time with him, either. We don't get along at all." Narcissa nodded, looking a bit sad.

"Whenever someone brings you up in a conversation, he always gets angry. 'Potter' this and 'Potter' that. He never explained what in Salazar's name happened between you two. Why do you hate each other so?"

Harry leaned back. He deliberated for a second about whether or not he should tell her about the falling-out between him and Malfoy at the beginning of first year. Well, why not?

"Well, he tried to make friends with me back in first year. I rejected that friendship, because he seemed so pompous and 'better-than-you.'" Harry shrugged.

Narcissa sighed. "When Draco meets people he's intimidated by, he puts on a mask of self-importance," she explained.

Harry remembered how shrimpy and scrawny he was when he was eleven. Heavens, he was still small for his age. Had Malfoy really been afraid of him? Well, there was the story of the 'Boy-Who-Lived' going around. And when Harry had rejected Malfoy's handshake at the beginning of the term, who knew how badly that reflected on him and his family.

"I find it hard to believe that he found me 'intimidating,'" Harry eventually replied.

Narcissa sniffed, turning a page in her book. "I can read my son well, Harry. He was frightened of meeting you." She chuckled. "After all, you had defeated the greatest Dark wizard since Grindelwald. Children have been told bedtime stories of you since that night on October thirty-first."

Harry blushed. He tried not to think of his fame too much, since it always made him feel very awkward and underqualified. He couldn't even stand up to his uncle - what made people think that he must be the one to finish The Forsaken One off for good?

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After a while of slightly awkward silence, Harry reached over Nagini to grab a sheet of paper and a pencil. It had been a few days since he had last drawn a picture, and he felt as if he needed to practice. He placed the paper down upon the surface of the table beside the couch.

Conscious of Narcissa's eyes upon him, he set a shaky line down on the paper. Harry spent the next several minutes sketching a rough picture of Fawkes from memory. By the time he was finished, he had almost completely forgotten that he had an audience. He held the paper up with one hand, surveying what he had done. Not bad, he thought.

"May I see?" Narcissa asked, making Harry jump. He was still slightly insecure about the quality of his artwork, but he didn't see the harm in showing her. It was obvious she didn't mean any harm.

Harry slowly handed it to her, trying not to disturb Nagini - who was still partially wrapped around him.

He refused to admit later that he was inexplicably nervous when she surveyed his artwork. Harry, tense, jumped when Narcissa finally spoke.

"Harry… this is incredibly realistic. When did you start drawing?" she said, looking up curiously.

He squirmed, slightly uncomfortable. "Erm… a few days ago," he answered.

The regal witch's eyes widened. "Really? From the quality of this work, I would have said at least a year or two." She seemed to notice Harry's discomfort, and handed the paper back to him.

"Thanks," he murmured.

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Hello, readers! I'm sorry that this chapter is shorter than usual. It's second nine weeks of school, not to mention I've been battling with a rather brutal case of sinus infection. I try to make my chapters at least three thousand words long, but I didn't want to keep you waiting.

Thanks!