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

Web of Lies: Revelations.

Harry wasn't surprised when he woke up screaming after a nightmare of the night his parents were murdered. He had expected to have nightmares after the taxing day he had had. What upset him even more was that his grandfather hadn't come to comfort him as he usually did.

He had grown so used to the man being there for him that now that he wasn't, he had more trouble dealing with the aftermath of the nightmare. When he finally regained some control of his emotions, he remembered that Snape had told him that Dumbledore wouldn't come unless he wanted him to. For a moment, Alec debated whether he should just try to sleep again, but previous experience told him he wouldn't be able to do so.

Briefly he also considered going to Snape, but he wouldn't be able to tell him the truth so that would be no use. Swallowing his pride and remembering the warmth and comfort that the older man usually offered, Alec got out of bed and put a night robe over his pyjamas.

Silently, the teen left the room and went to the one his grandfather slept in. He wasn't very surprised to see light burning under the door. With a slight hesitation, he pushed the door open and stopped there. Dumbledore was sitting up in bed; he had obviously been sleeping and had been awakened by the teen's screams. The two of them looked at each other intently for a few seconds before the old headmaster opened his arms and this time without hesitation, Harry ran into them.

The tears he had been suppressing before came out, mingling with the emotions he had been suppressing all day, leaving him sobbing his heart out against his grandfather's shoulder. Dumbledore just held him gently, rubbing his back with one of his hands while the other one held him tightly against his chest.

"Hush, Alec, everything is going to be alright."

Harry didn't answer, but instead, he listened to the gentle voice soothing him. Sleep came while the older man continued with his calming words. Seeing that the teen was closing his eyes repeatedly, as if fighting sleep, Albus jostled the child around so he was under his covers, pressed against his side. Alec didn't complain about being tucked in against the old man; instead, he buried his head in the soft beard while one of his hands raised to clutch at Dumbledore's sleeping gown.

"Granddad?"

The man looked down at the head nestled against him while his hand continued his soothing movements. "Yes, Child?"

"I'm still angry at you."

"Hush, we'll talk about it tomorrow."

Harry blinked up tiredly. "Promise?"

Dumbledore hugged him closer and nodded. "Yes, I promise."

Closing his eyes and getting more comfortable, Alec nodded lightly. "Ok."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Severus woke up around three in the morning; he had had a restless night, and he had already woken up several times. Not knowing why he was feeling so unsettled, he got out of bed, knowing that if he tried to go to sleep again he would only wake up a few minutes later. Sighing, he went to sit in the chair placed in front of the fireplace and summoned a house-elf. The small being brought him some tea that would hopefully help him to calm down. Once he had drained the cup, he was no closer to feeling calm and decided to go check on the young wizard. He was worried about him; up until today the child had been pretty regular in his behaviour. He knew that he had problems but he had always been able to talk them out with the Headmaster. Now the child even refused to see him; that didn't bode well.

Sighing, he went to the child's room only to find it empty. Seeing the rumpled sheets, he guessed Alec had had one of his infamous nightmares, which wasn't all that surprising since he seemed to have had a stressing day. What worried him was the fact that he wasn't in his room. After a moment of hesitation he went to look in Albus' room. He knew Alec usually went to the old man when he had nightmares or rather, that Albus went to him, but he didn't know if the teen would get over his anger and seek out help this time.

Severus was slightly reassured when he saw light shinning from the headmaster's room but just to make sure, he pushed the door open. The sight that greeted him made him smile. The teen was seemingly deeply asleep curled up against Dumbledore's larger frame. The old man looked up when he felt someone staring at him.

"Severus."

The younger wizard stepped silently into the room and spoke in hushed tones. "I didn't find Alec in his room when I went to check on him, I just wanted to make sure he was here with you."

Dumbledore smiled slightly up at him while he continued to stroke the teen's hair. "He had a nightmare and needed some comfort."

Severus nodded in understanding. "I guessed as much." After a moment's hesitation he continued. "I'm surprised he came to you; he seemed pretty angry at you this evening."

The old headmaster frowned a bit but nodded in agreement. "Yes, I know, but I guess he has become used to have me around after a nightmare. I didn't want to intrude so I didn't go to his room and rather, waited to see what he would do. I was a bit surprised when he came."

Snape nodded. "I know how you feel; he usually seems very independent." When Dumbledore didn't react to his comment he steered the conversation to something he had been wondering about. "Do you know why he's so angry at you? He literally refused to see you this evening, and I nearly had to drag him up here."

Dumbledore frowned and looked at the teen sleeping against him. "Truthfully, I have no idea." At the younger man's disbelieving glance he smiled a bit. "I know it has something to do with his mother's letter, but I don't know why he's so angry about it, or rather, why he's so angry with me about it."

While keeping a serene face, Albus winced at the lies he was feeding his younger colleague. While he didn't know why Alec was that angry at him, he understood the teen had the right to be pretty pissed at him for the stunt he had pulled about his niece suddenly being the boy's mother. Yet he had never expected such extreme reaction from the young teen.

Seeing that the older man was lost in thought and that he probably should be sleeping instead of chatting with him, Snape bided him goodnight and went to his own room, wondering if he would be able to sleep now.

Alec woke up surrounded by warm blankets, one arm tightly wrapped against his back, and his head leaning comfortable against someone's shoulder. Blinking, his sleepy brain registered that he was sleeping next to someone. Slowly he started remembering what had happened the day before, including the nightmare he had had and how Dumbledore had comforted him. Finally fully opening his eyes he saw the white beard that belonged to the man he had come to love like family. That thought finally led him to a frightening realisation. He had been angry at Dumbledore for many reasons but one of them had been because he didn't think he would ever be angry enough at anyone he considered family to shut them out. But now he finally realised that that was exactly what he had been about to do. Last night he had refused to see Dumbledore and only Merlin knew how much longer that might have gone on had he not had that nightmare.

After reaching that devastating realisation, Alec couldn't help but start to cry softly. Had he started to take Dumbledore's affection so much for granted that he now dared to act like a spoiled brat? He himself was hiding a lot of information from Dumbledore; had he the right to be angry with the old man doing the same? Suddenly he was pulled out of his musings when he felt a hand start to pet his hair.

"Alec? What's wrong? Did you have another nightmare?"

The teen shook his head and moved so he could look into concerned eyes. "No, I just realised that I had no right to be angry at you."

The headmaster frowned, if he had been confused before, it was even worse now. "How about we have breakfast and you explain everything, because I don't understand."

Alec nodded and after tightening his arms around the man slightly and drying his tears, he sat up. Dumbledore followed him, ruffling his hair slightly before getting out of the large bed.

Harry left the man's room with a small smile on his lips. It was good to know that Dumbledore was willing to wait for an explanation before judging him.

In the hall he met Snape. The man was dressed in his usual black robes and stopped to look at him intently.

"Good morning."

The teen blushed a bit, remembering his behaviour the day before. "Good morning, Uncle Severus. I'm very sorry about what I did yesterday, I shouldn't have shouted at you and skipped all my lessons."

The younger man nodded lightly. "Alright, Alec, apology accepted."

Harry nodded in acceptance, knowing instinctively that it would take a bit more for the man to return to his usual behaviour. Sighing slightly he walked pass the teacher and entered his own room.

To be continued...

A/N: Thanks all of you for your wonderful reviews, they helped quite a lot. As you see I'll keep the length of the chapters as they are, mainly because everyone had a different opinion (no surprise there). As most of you probably know, I have a yahoo group where my fics are posted at the same time as on From now on, if anyone wants any questions or reviews answered, please, send them there. Any questions send to will be viewed as rhetorical.

There's another matter I wanted to talk about. This fic started out as a prequel to Dangers in the Past, it was meant to be a pretty short fic that would just explain the close relationship between Albus and Harry. As many of you have noticed it has grown much longer than expected and has become a story on its own, one that doesn't really fit with Dangers anymore. There're several reasons to that happening, me becoming obsessed with Severus as a father figure being one of the main ones. There's also the fact that I can't work well with Sirius anymore, as I'm sure you've noticed, he has barely made an appearance since this fic started. I hope you won't be disappointed by this turn of events, while I may be announcing it now, I made that decision quite a while ago, I just wanted to make sure I wouldn't change my mind before officially announcing it.

Anyway, hope you keep enjoying this, hugs to all,

Star Polaris. (and yes, it's ok to call me Star if you want)