Chapter One: November 10, 1981

Lily sighed as the wards went off letting her know of yet another visitor. The streams of people had been nearly non-stop over the past week, and she was exhausted. The strain of losing her husband and of unknowingly defeating Voldemort was truly getting to her. To make matters worse, she had discovered that the Death Eater who had died for her had been none other than the Order's spy and her childhood friend--Severus Snape.

No one knew why he had done it; they only knew that he had. Lily was faced with grieving her husband and her close friend--whom she had known was a spy for the Order.

Lily placed Harry carefully into his crib and walked down to see who was at the door this time. It was the Headmaster of Hogwarts--Albus Dumbledore. She smiled sadly at him as she opened the door and gestured for him to come in. "Headmaster," she greeted softly.

"Ah, Lily, my child," he responded in kind. His voice was sad and the usual twinkle in his eyes had diminished as he looked his former student over.

Lily led the way to the sitting room where she offered tea. Albus accepted and he waited deep in thought as Lily went off to make some. He had come because there was still much to take care of in the coming days. The past week had been very busy, and he had barely had time to sit down with Lily to discuss what had happened. He knew what had happened, yes, but they still needed to discuss it to see what they could learn from the incident.

At that moment, Lily returned bearing a tray with a teapot, two cups, and some biscuits on it. She placed the tray down and poured some tea for herself and Albus. It was a special blend--one that Severus had taught her how to make. She had always loved it, and it seemed especially appropriate to drink now.

Albus caught the familiar scent of the tea. Severus had always drunken it with him during one of his reporting sessions on the Dark Lord's activities. It saddened him to know that yet another one of his "children" had died by Voldemort's hand.

Lily looked at him and nodded. "It helps," she said softly as she cradled the cup in her hands.

Albus simply nodded his understanding. For several long moments they sat in silence together until Lily looked up again.

"Why are you here, Albus? I'm sure it's not just to drink some tea with an old student," she asked him, almost hesitantly.

Albus nodded in acknowledgement. "Not just any old student, Lily," he corrected gently, but he went on without waiting for her reply. "In between mop-up activity with the remaining Death Eaters, I have been trying to discover why it is that the curse rebounded off of you that night. There have been no other recorded instances of the killing curse rebounding and hitting the caster. However, there are stories that exist in certain circles... It looks to me as if a true sacrifice will call upon ancient magic in order to protect the original target of the curse."

Lily frowned. "A true sacrifice?" she repeated.

"One done wholly selflessly," Dumbledore explained. "One in which the sacrifice is made out of pure love for the victim." Dumbledore's voice was soft, and he studied Lily as she processed his words.

"Pure love?" Lily's voice was incredulous as she echoed the words softly to herself. "Severus?" She looked up at Dumbledore and shook her head in confusion. "Why?" she whispered.

Dumbledore shook his head. "One can only imagine," he told her. "You two were close when you were younger, were you not? You knew he was a spy... It is my guess that he simply found he could not live with himself were he to not do something."

Lily nodded, still quite dumbfounded. To be sure, she and Severus had always cared for one another, but she had never guessed that his love for her had run so deeply.

Dumbledore put down his empty tea cup and stood. "I'll leave you to your thoughts, Lily."

Lily thanked him, but Dumbledore saw himself out, he did not want to disturb the young witch anymore than he had already done. He left the cottage and apparated to Hogsmeade, where he walked swiftly back to the castle. Though it was Sunday, there were still a great many things to do.

November 12, 1991

By Tuesday morning, the old Minister of Magic had been removed from office, and Dumbledore had already turned down the nomination to the position at least thrice, and it looked as if he would have to do it at least once more before the day's end. He had no desire to leave Hogwarts, and he had no desire to become the Minister. He preferred to do his work from behind the scenes.

By Tuesday afternoon, Cornelius Fudge had been sworn into office. He was the only one available, and... almost willing to take the position. Everyone still thought Dumbledore should have the position, but by then they had resigned himself to him remaining as Hogwarts' Headmaster.

By Tuesday evening, several prominent members of Society had been arrested under suspicion of being a Death Eater. One of those was Lucius Malfoy.

November 15, 1991

This was Dumbledore's third straight day of Death Eater trials. Thus far, they had released Ludo Bagman and Walden McNair. The previous night, they had also arrested the LeStranges as well as Barty Crouch's own son -- they had been caught at the home of Alice and Frank Longbottom. Unfortunately, it had been too late to save the Longbottoms, but their son Neville had emerged unscathed.

The LeStranges were being rushed through the process. The Ministry was becoming desperate to finish the trials. They were dragged in before the Wizengamot. Bellatrix LeStrange insisted the entire time that her lord would return, that they would not be held for long. She, along with her husband, refused a defence. They were taken to Azkaban with all haste -- the eyes of the courtroom that watched them be dragged away were filled with disgust.

Next up was Lucius Malfoy.

Lucius Malfoy, expectedly, got himself off by claiming -- as had many others -- that he had been under the Imperious curse. Since the majority of the Wizengamot simply refused to believe that a citizen such as Lucius Malfoy could truly be Death Eater, he had been let off fairly easily. Only Dumbledore and one or two others, such as Alastor Moody and Arthur Weasley, refused his claim. However they were over-ruled and Malfoy was released without further ado.

What hadn't been expected was what happened in the course of the next few weeks and months.