Disclaimer: As much as it pains me to admit it, Harry Potter, and the others, are not mine. They belong to the lucky J.K. Rowling.
A/N: Didn't make any changes to chapter 11 (the last chapter). These later chapters seem alright to me..just slight changes need to be made.
Snape thrust the door to Dumbledore's office open. Dumbledore looked nonplussed to this loud intrustion and said "Severus, come sit down, you look like hell just froze over. Lemon drop?" he said calmly, offering a candy to the man standing before him.
"Would it kill you to be serious for once?!" Snape roared, pacing the space before the headmaster's desk.
Albus Dumbledore's face took on a worried look. He was used to Severus' bad temper, but this was beyond his normal tirades. "What happened?" he asked, fixing Snape with an intense gaze.
Snape shook his head. "You have to see this for yourself." he said, gesturing twords the cabinet on the side of the wall. Dumbledore nodded to him and Snape walked over to the cabinet, opening it up to reveal a pensieve.
Snape put the tip of his wand to his temple, extracting the memory of the meeting and the prophecy. The silvery wisp slid down into the ethereal pool. When he had finished, Snape made an impatient gesture to Dumbledore, obviously waiting for him to view the memory.
Dumbledore got up from his seat, and went over the where Snape was standing next to the pensieve. He gently prodded the wisp with his wand, and the next thing the headmaster knew, he was living Snape's memory.
Snape waited impatiently for Dumbledore to finish. He leaned against the back of an armchair and scowled in the headmaster's direction, waiting for him to return.
He didn't wait too long. A little bit later, Dumbledore returned from the memory with a slight glazed look. He didn't say a thing as he walked back to his desk and sat down.
Snape was worried. He hadn't seen Dumbledore like this since, well actually he'd never seen him like this. He raised an impatient eyebrow in the headmaster's direction. "Now do you see the problem? We can't possibly let the prophecy be fufilled!" he said exasperatingly, falling into a chair and looking up at Dumbledore hopelessly.
He ran a hand through his dark hair, trying to relax himself. He was getting far too wound up over this. Dumbledore watched his actions with almost an amused look. "My dear boy, do calm down."
Snape glared at him sharply. Only Albus Dumbledore had the nerve to call him 'boy'. He was probably the only one who could walk away physically and mentally intact afterwards as well.
"I do not think that Hermione is in any danger. Nor that her, your, child will be a danger." Dumbledore said carefully. Snape eyed the man ruefully, his look practically screamed for the headmaster to elaborate.
"Funny things, prophecies are." Albus Dumbledore said, a slight smile on his face. Snape glared at him, making it obvious he foung nothing funny about it. "There's always some element of choice to them."
"Strange, I didn't see much choice in "the one will provide the way to victory". Actually it's rather straightforward about the whole thing." Snape said, straightening in his chair.
"Whose victory though? If my memory serves me, I don't remember it saying that Voldemort would be the victor." Dumbledore said simply.
Snape frowned at the use of the Dark Lord's name. "So what are you trying to say? That the child could go either way?" Dumbledore nodded to him.
"That's exactly what I believe. Frankly, I'm surprised that Voldemort would put so much faith in the prophecy, he knows as well as I do that there's always more than one outcome. I believe that if his faith in you were any less, he wouldn't have given it a second thought, after eliminating Miss Granger."
"He may yet do that." Snape snarled.
"Then we must not give him any reason to do so." Dumbledore said sternly. "I trust that you will be able to keep this quiet, but I would appreciate if you would restrain from telling Hermione."
Snape raised a single eyebrow in the headmaster's direction. "You really think you'll get away with that?"
"It will be better if she doesn't know." he answered simply, his eyes resting heavily on Snape's tired features.
"So we will still..." Snape hesitated for the most miniscule of moments "...go ahead as planned?"
Dumbledore nodded again. "That would be the best plan of action I believe. Our side really cannot afford to lose a witch like Miss Granger."
"Agreed." Snape said, and he enjoyed seeing to look of slight surprise on Dumbledore's face. Just because he didn't jump up and down singing praises of the girl like everyone else seemed to feel was necessary, didn't mean that he didn't know her worth.
"If that's all..." Snape said, letting the question linger as he stood.
Dumbledore said "Of course, you must be tired. Just remember what I said about Miss Granger."
"Oh, I'll remember." Snape said with an air of irritation. He could perhaps understand that Dumbledore didn't want the girl to know, but honestly, by now the headmaster should know that he didn't easily forget things. Which made the comment all the more odd.
Snape gave a slight incline of his head as a farewell, then swept from the room. He needed a nice stiff drink.
"Professor?" Hermione inquired from her position on the leather couch. She watched him as he stalked into the room, glancing at her as she spoke to him. He continued walking, going to a cabinet on the side of the room and pulling out a bottle of whiskey.
"Call me Severus." he said as he poured himself a glass. He downed the glass quickly, ignoring Hermione's smile at his statement. "I can't be having you call me "Professor" all the time. I get that enough in class."
"Uh, thank you..Severus." Hermione said, tasting his unfamiliar name on her tongue. She glanced him over. "Are you alright?" she said, wringing her hands slightly.
Snape raised an eyebrow at her. "What are you still doing up?" he said, not answering her question.
"I knew you had been called so I waited up.." she said, nibbling on her lower lip. "I was worried about you.."
"I'm fine." he lied. She smiled at him, visibly relieved. She rose from the couch and started walking across the room, twords the bedroom.
She never got there. Severus wasn't sure if it was the fact that she cared about him, or the whiskey. Perhaps it was both. But before he knew it, he had grasped Hermione's arm and pulled her into a kiss that could make angels weep and saints deny their god.
A/N: Ohhh poetic ain't it? Finally. I mean god, it took them long enough.
About chapter 11, the whole Dark Lord thing. I've had a few people tell me that he's a bit too nice. I don't think he is. I mean, Voldemorte might be a megalomaniac with facist tendencies, but he's a generally intelligent guy. He needs Snape healthy, if he's going to get what he wants. And about his other followers...well...basically I'm too lazy to go and write about him torturing them. Use your imagination :P.