PG-13 Methos takes a young Severus Snape under his wing.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters.

Death & Betrayal
by MarbleGlove

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Methos scanned the letter while stroking the owl that had delivered it. Alternately he ruffled and soothed its feathers. It seemed to appreciate the attention. He rather thought it was a public access owl and they didn't get the same sort of personal attention that privately owned owls did.

He stuck the letter in his pocket and carried the owl, perched on his forearm, to the kitchen to get them both something to eat. He had a great deal to think about.

Severus had graduated. Methos rather thought that Severus hadn't even noticed the transition, but it was there. There was always a pang of loss when a student first became their adult selves, and were no longer students. The boy who had once been his student had been a spy, had spied for two decades and had not failed. Instead, he had come out the other side, surviving his betrayal and smoothly transitioning into a more public role in this war. And Methos did not take public roles, especially not in wars. Not anymore, at least.

And like that, so easily, Adam watched his student head on for other, if not greater, challenges.

Severus would always have a place in Methos' life as an ex-student, and Methos would help him, but it would be done in his own way. For the time being though, he had some battle plans to analyze and he had a portkey to keep on hand. Then, of course, there were his own plans to develop. No matter what he wrote back, he still had a means to get to the battle without any further assistance.

Methos smiled. It would be sort of pleasant to get back into the role of battle strategist. It was a role he was extremely good at.

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The letter that Albus had sent to Adam was returned three days later. It was covered in red ink comments.

Albus was completely taken aback and Severus had snickered until Albus had joined in the amusement with his own laughter. Their laughter had egged each other on until there were tears running down Albus' face from laughing so hard and Severus' cheek muscles hurt.

Mad-Eye Moody had insisted on taking part in the discussion on whatever Adam sent back and Ronald Weasley was there because he was showing a great deal of potential for planning and strategy. Their expressions made Severus laugh even harder. Moody looked like he wanted to check the letter for a laughing potion and Ron just looked completely gobsmacked.

Eventually Severus and Albus both calmed down and the group read over the comments. They showed a deep understanding of strategy and raised several issues they had not thought of before. Real battles in wizarding wars were so rare that neither of them really knew what they were doing in planning this. Adam seemed willing to tutor them, at least from a distance.

Neither mentioned it, but both were disappointed that Adam had not accompanied his comments and come back to Hogwarts.

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Alone in his chambers, Severus thought about his enigmatic mentor.

He'd finished grading the most recent batch of his students' papers and there wasn't an Order Meeting scheduled for another week. Yesterday, he, Albus, Moody, and Weasley, had composed yet another letter to send to Adam. According to the pattern, Adam wouldn't respond for at least three days.

Severus poured himself a glass or port and settled down in an armchair by the fire. He wanted Adam to come to Hogwarts. He wanted to talk to him while they sat together drinking port in front of the fire in his chambers. It was a desire that sometimes seemed to constrict something inside of him.

When Adam had left him, after the first fall of Voldemort, he had been scared by the absence of his mentor to help him reason out what was happening, but he was also relieved at the absence of the man who still scared him at times.

Several times at Death Eater meetings, when he was scared, he had bolstered his courage with the thought that he routinely had dinner with a man who was infinitely more terrifying than any wizard, no matter how dark.

But Adam had always been available. When he had owled Adam after Harry Potters first year, he had gotten a response. And when he had owled Adam after Harry Potters fourth year, Adam had invited him to dine back to the large white manor, where they had first met. But what would happen after Voldemort's second, and hopefully more final, fall? Would Adam disappear again, and this time, there would be no reason for any owls?

Adam no longer reassured him about the worlds basic rationality, as he once had. But then, neither did he still terrify him with his past and his secrets. He saw Adam every few weeks. They dined together and talked about war and potions and students and life. But it was always at the big white manor and never in the wizarding world. It was always in Adam's world and never in his.

Severus studied the port that remained in his glass. He swirled in around and studied the fire shining through the golden liquid.

What was different this time, that he was so uncertain simply following Adams lead? It was, he realized, the fact that he had grown up. He would never be as old as Adam, however old that was, but he had reached the plateau of maturity. He wanted to meet Adam as equals, as adults, and maybe even as friends.

He also, Severus realized, wanted assurances.

Adam never promised anything, and for many years that had helped him. But perhaps he had finally grown out of that as well. He wanted Adam to promise him to stay around and to mean it.

Something in his chest constricted. It hurt.

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Methos thought about betrayal as he flipped through back issues of the Daily Prophet. Real betrayal had to be based on trust. Only if someone trusted you could you betray them. However not all trust was the belief in loyalty. Any belief, if proved false, could be the basis for a betrayal. The belief that someone was innocuous was just as dangerous as the belief that someone was loyal.

With Severus' proven disloyalty, there would be few people that Voldemort believed were necessarily loyal.

However, there were still a great many people he believed were powerless. In a fight with wizards, muggles generally had two strengths and two weaknesses. They had technology and wizards tended to underestimated them. On the other hand, they didn't have magic and they tended to be surprised by those who did. The muggle parents of wizarding children however, while they had no magic of their own, were generally used to magic and had at least a vague understanding of it's uses and limitations.

Voldemort thought any muggle would be at the mercy of any wizard, and he had based this conclusion on the fact that groups of his trained Death Eaters could kill individual surprised and untrained muggles. An extremely foolish mistake on his part of which Methos was perfectly willing to take advantage.

So for the next few weeks he would be researching the families of all the muggleborns who were currently students and the muggle survivors of any Death Eater attacks. If all went as planned, in the next few weeks he'd start making phone calls and soon after that would be personal visits. If things didn't go as planned, there was plenty of leeway in his plan, and he was perfectly capable of doing a fair bit of damage all by himself. But by the time of the final battle, he imagined he'd have a small group of very useful muggles.

He vaguely wondered what Albus Dumbledore would think of his plan. The man had written a letter practically asking for his help. One should always be wary of asking favors of the faerie realm, Methos thought. All the best gifts were so very double edged.

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"I fear that we might indeed need your Adams help."

Albus and Severus were having tea together in the Headmaster's office as they had each week for the past fifteen years. Despite, or perhaps because of, mounting tensions, they continued to take this time for themselves. Things were too tense and too frenetic for them to not take time away from it all to relax, reassess, and gain a better perspective.

"Why are you so worried?", Severus considered a plateful of sandwiches and finally chose one after deep consideration. "You've only learned of Adam's existence recently and while he can certainly achieve some rather impressive results, you felt confident in our success before his arrival. What has changed?"

"Sybil has been doing Tarot readings and the results have been disturbing."

Severus snorted. "Of course they are, she thrives on seeing unpleasant futures."

Albus' eyes twinkled over his tea cup. "But only for other people." More seriously he continued, "Recently she's seen White Death appear in her fortunes. It upsets her which makes me believe she might actually be seeing something and if it includes White Death..."

"I am frequently represented by White Death in Tarot readings. Proper tarot readings, that is, by competent seers."

"No," Albus sipped his tea calmly, "you're shown as White Death reversed, the Betrayer. But White Death, in it's upright form, is something else, is a sign of the coming apocalypse."

"It's a sign of change, cataclysmic change yes, but not always apocalyptic. And yes, there will be death involved, but you knew that already. This is war after all. I am not inclined to worry about Sybil's predictions of doom and disaster." Severus wondered how surreal this conversation would get. He rather thought that it would be a bad idea to point out that he had a good guess what the cards were telling them. Sybil might be slightly more competent than he had previously assumed. Although apparently still incapable of correctly interpreting the signs.

"It worries me, though. These signs of mass deaths. I want our people to survive. But on the other hand, I don't want to massacre everyone on the other side. I don't want to either endure or create an apocalyptic event." Albus really did look worried. Sometimes Severus thought he was too Gryffindor for his own good. Any good Slytherin knew to take care of them and theirs and not waste sympathy on the enemy.

"If you were wandless and dying and Death offered you life, would you take it?"

Albus looked startled at the seeming non sequiter, but answered and waited to see where Severus was going with this. "No. It would cost more than my life in the long run."

"Probably. If you were wandless and dying and a stranger offered you life, would you take it?"

"Yes. I always believe in the kindness of strangers. Are you saying I should distrust strangers as much as I distrust the White Death?"

"No. I was going to point out, however, that the stranger could be Death. Death, being what he is, is not obliged to introduce himself and let you make an educated decision about accepting his help."

"Then I would owe him nothing in return."

"Everything costs something. Even if you never pay for it directly, it still costs you. Becoming friends with Death would be difficult whether or not he ever asks you for anything. You are still effected by the realization that things are not always as clear cut as they could be. For there is Death giving you life."

"And that is why it would never happen. Death does not give life, and so the situation would never occur. I am safe to accept help from any strangers who offer it." Albus' eyes twinkled with laughter at his logic.

Severus chuckled as well, but at a different aspect of the situation. Here was Albus announcing that he would not accept Death's help, not three minutes after asking for Death's help since he was nervous about the portents saying Death was present. He wondered if perhaps he should reassure the man. It would also give him a chance to point out the failure of logic and the old mans unknowing hypocrisy. On the other hand, it was dangerous knowledge and there was no real reason to spread it, while there was a good reason to refrain from doing so. Severus did not think Adam would appreciate the knowledge of his identity being made public.

As if he even knew Adam's real identity.

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After learning about one of Adams more prominent past identities, Severus had felt like he didn't have any understanding of his mentor. Everything had suddenly changed.

"Death."

"Hmm. What about death?"

"You. You're name is Death."

"It was. It is not any more. You've heard the legends, as all good little wizards learn them. Death betrayed his brothers and became Death no more but rather the Beloved Traitor whom his brothers continuously search for. Eventually, according to legend, they will be reunited and the world will end. Personally I'm hoping for that to not happen. Either the meeting or the end of the world."

"You can run, but you can't stop being what you are."

"I'm just a guy. Just Adam, who you've known for over two years now. Get over the Death thing." His mentor was looking annoyed. Severus thought about how he really didn't want to annoy Death. It must be true that he really did still think of the man as Adam.

"No. I can't. I think of you as Adam, but that's not your real name. Your real name is Death."

"No. My real name is not Adam. But it is the name you will call me by. And my real name isn't Death either."

"Then what is it?"

Adam was thoroughly annoyed now. Severus was taller than Adam, but he was still made to feel small and young and extremely vulnerable by the look Adam gave him. "Who are you to ask me that? Names have power, names grant knowledge. And you think I should just give it to you as if it were of no worth, threatened no danger to me?"

Severus didn't answer. He was trying to remember the lessons he had learned under this mans instruction about not flinching in the face of danger or the anger of powerful people. It had stood him in good stead during Death Eater meetings, hopefully it would prevent him from being killed here and now, as well.

Adam sighed and went over to a chair and sat down. "Perhaps I would give it to you, willy-nilly. But the truth is, I don't know it."

"What?" That startled Severus.

Adam laughed in a way that implied that if there was any humor in the situation, it was extremely dark. "When I first came to myself I was as you see me. And I had no memory of a name or a life from before, and there were no people to help me. I recall no childhood, no family, and no identity. And so I gave myself a name. It was, it was Legend. False Story. Ghost. Myth. That is as true a name as I can claim." He smiled rather grimly. "I continue to use that name to remind me of what I am, who my people are, or rather who they are not."

Severus could feel the shock marking his face. The horror, not of the man before him, but for him.

Adam waved his hand, swatting any pity away as if it were a swarm of gnats. "Every few decades I give myself a new name, and it reminds me of what I am, and who I will be for that time. For now, I am Adam. For you, I will always be Adam."

Severus got his face under his control once more. The man before him was right to irritably wave off any pity. He was not a pitiful creature, this man who could and would recreate himself endlessly. This man who had created himself into Adam, his powerful, rather scary, but endlessly reassuring, mentor.

"Adam. Of course."

He had been both right and wrong at the beginning of this conversation. He didn't have any real understanding of his mentor. But when it came down to it, nothing had changed.

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"Do you think he'll fight with us?"

Severus was brought back from his memories by Albus' question. "I don't know." It was his standard reply when asked anything about Adam. It was almost always true.

He leaned back into the cushions on his chair and sipped his tea. His eyes narrowed as he thought through the question. "No. I don't think he will."

"Why not?"

"Because he is too good at it." Severus suddenly closed his eyes against the pain of a revelation. He respected Adam for the ability to create himself and then recreate himself over and over again. And recently he had been glad to know that it was possible to recreate oneself from a spy into something, someone, different.

"Severus?"

"It just occurred to me that I have no idea if I'll ever see him again, after the battle. I don't think I'm his student any more." It had not occurred to him that he might recreate himself as someone who was not Adam's student.

One of the things he liked about Albus is that for all of his inane, and quite amusing, chatter, he did know when to be quiet. "He is a talented killer. But he gave it up, before I ever met him. The last vestiges of that life linger, and he taught me how to defend and attack with my knives. But his life now is one of deceit and manipulation, rather than fighting, and that is what he taught me. And I'm through with that. Ever since Kingsley betrayed me, I've been retired from spying. I'll fight to the bloody end, but not as a spy. And Adam won't follow me in this new direction. I've, I suppose you could say I've dropped out of his school. I haven't studied potions under him for years, and now I'm no longer studying subterfuge."

Severus had to stop talking and close his eyes for a minute to get control of himself. His eyelashes were suspiciously damp when he looked up, but his voice was as controlled as ever when he said, "I don't know what he'll do. And I don't want him to go away."

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A/N: I can't tell you how much I love getting reviews. They make me feel all warm and happy inside. This chapter was actually heavily modified to include Dumbledore stumbling across a clue that Adam/Methos is Death in response to a review.

Thank you all.