The Desk

21 February 1998

"Ron get up."

"Go away Harry, I'm sorry for getting you up early yesterday ok. Now yet me go back to sleep."

"Professor Dumbledore's here to open the package from yesterday. Don't you want to see what it is?"

"Good morning Ronald, how are you this morning?" Professor Dumbledore's eyes were sparkling with obvious amusement of the conversation that had just taken place.

"I'm fine professor. I'm sorry I did not see you there."

"Ok I think that we should get to business. I'll check to see if this has any curses or the like on this. It shouldn't take very long. Though at the moment I do not feel a malicious aura from it I suspect that it is perfectly harmless."

Dumbledore then proceeded to chant the most complicated spell that Harry and indeed all the seventh year Gryffindor boys had ever heard. The package glowed a brilliant white and then went back to it usual colour.

"Yes as I thought it is perfectly harmless. While this is a magical object it is free of any dark magic what so ever. If it had any dark magic on it, it would have glowed either grey or black depending on the power of the curse or curses on it.

"You can open it now if you wish Harry. I must confess to being slightly curious to know what it is myself. It is rare that gifts are delivered magically rather than by owl or house elf."

Harry immediately went to open the present. It was wrapped in old fashioned brown paper which was easy to tare. The present was a very unusual and very old desk. The desk was obviously hundreds of years old.

"Harry do you have any idea who sent you this?" Dumbledore asked obviously very surprised by the gift that Harry had been given. "I have seen a desk identical to this one before. Infact I see it very often as it belongs to Severus Snape. However as far as I know it is a one of a kind which is very magical and can only be given away, it can not be stolen as it will find it's way back to it's owner."

"I don't know who it is from, that is one of then reasons that I asked you to check it for me sir."

"Well lets look inside it to see if there are any clues as to where it could have come from." Inside the desk there was a book that seemed to be a journal. "Oh my, this seems to be Severus's desk. This certainly is his journal, though I do not understand. I know that this is one of Severus's most prised possessions and I believe that he would only give it away in the event of his death. As I have already seen Severus today I know that he is perfectly healthy, so I am astounded that he would give this desk to you, at this time.

"Harry do you mind if I take this diary for a while? To see if there is anything else that I can find out from it."

"That's ok sir, I'd like to know what is happening myself."

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Dumbledore went straight to his office to think out the issue. He had a feeling that this was much more important than it seemed to be. He decided that the first thing that he should do was read the diary. While he didn't feel one hundred percent comfortable reading his colleague's diary he really had to understand that had made his colleague do something so out of the normal.

He of cause knew that Severus did not hate Harry as much as he made out, (well at least not any more) and it was probable that he truly liked him, if not loved him. So that was not the reason that he was shocked at the gift. The reason was that Severus truly loved that desk, while he was happy to leave all his other belongings at Snape Manor when he moved to Hogwarts he had insisted on bringing the desk with him. As far as Dumbledore knew it was the only object that Severus had an emotional attachment to.

So while Harry receiving a gift from Severus would not real shock him. Harry receiving this gift had astounded him.

The first problem that Dumbledore faced however was that the diary was completely blank. Dumbledore knew that while Severus did not write in his journal every day he knew that he did frequently write in it, so that this meant that Severus must have put a spell on it that only he and the person that he had given it to would be able to read it. He thought about trying to break the spell but decided that that would be going too far. Not to mention that Severus' spells were hard to break. Many people have thought because Severus is a potions master that his spell work is not as good as the other teachers here, but that is far from the truth. The only reason he doesn't have the DADA job is because it is so hard to find a good potions master.

The only thing Dumbledore could think of doing was to simply ask Severus why he had given his desk to Harry. He had been planning on seeing Severus later to see if he would be willing to help Harry with the DA later anyway. He had a feeling that Harry would be able to get the DA to see that having Severus helping Harry would be a good thing not just for Harry but for them as well. Though he had a feeling that they would put up with Snape even if it was just for Harry sake.

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After supper Dumbledore went to see Professor Snape. He had got very little done that day as he had spent most of the day trying to figure out this mystery. While for the last few years Dumbledore had been trying to help Harry get over his curiosity in order to keep him safe. He had only partially succeeded as, to be totally honest he hadn't wanted to succeed. Harry's curiosity was one of the reasons that Dumbledore loved Harry so much, he of cause knew that as headmaster he was not supposed to have favourites but as powerful as he is he still only human. Also the reason he loved this trait in Harry was because he too was extremely curios though some especially Severus would simply call him nosy.

"Severus would it be possible to talk to you now, if you are too busy I can come back and talk to you later."

"I'm free now headmaster what would you like to talk to me about?"

Dumbledore and Snape walked into the potion master's quarters. Dumbledore then had the surprise of his life. Professor Snape's desk was sitting right there in his office it obviously hadn't been moved since the last time that he had been in Severus' quarters.

This cleared up the question of why Severus would give Harry his desk to Harry, he hadn't. However it led to new questions, as Severus' desk was one of a kind, that he knew for a certainty. How was it that Severus' desk was both here and upstairs? Would Severus' diary hold any answers to this riddle? And is it significant that Harry received the desk?

Dumbledore talked to Severus about him assisting Harry with the DA, Snape agreed in principal, however did not seem to be too happy about being the assistant, but was happy to finally get his teach defence against the dark arts. Dumbledore also let Snape into his belief that Harry was also teaching the students curses as well, and if that was the case not to let him know as he would have to stop the lessons in those circumstances and he really didn't want to have to do that.

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Dumbledore decided that he would have to try and break the spells on the diary to see why Harry had an exact copy of Snape's desk. It was also possible that Harry would be able to read the diary with no problems at all. Though Dumbledore wanted to solve this mystery on his own. He was aware that it probably would be simpler to ask Harry if he could read the diary, but he rarely did things the simple way and this was to be no exception.