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

Web of Lies: Revelations.

Severus nodded lightly to her. She had been a fourth year when he started at Hogwarts, and while they had never been friends, she had once tutored him in transfiguration at Professor McGonagall's prompting. In his opinion, she had been one of the most tolerable Gryffindors. "I'm doing ok, you?"

The woman smiled lightly. "We have been through a rough time, with Chris' injury, then the whole fight with Alec, and now this." Dumbledore's niece looked towards her man and her supposed child. "Uncle Albus has told me you've been taking care of Alec. I really appreciate it."

Severus had to do a real effort to not tell her to drop the act, so he simply nodded and looked towards the boy, who was now standing uncomfortably next to his supposed father. "It has been no problem, Amanda, Alec is really a sweet child."

The teen, who had been listening intently to them, blushed brightly. "Uncle Severus!"

The adults all laughed at his embarrassment. But soon the mood sobered, and Severus turned to face Amanda once again. "How is Albus doing? Sinistra didn't tell me much."

The woman shrugged, looking sadly towards the closed door. "She probably told you what the doctors have told us. He needs to wake up for them to treat him further, until then..."

Chris placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "The doctors are once again in there, trying to find out if they can get him to wake up. They fear that if they wake him in the usual way, he might go into shock, and right now that would only make things worse."

Severus nodded in understanding and watched as Chris tried to comfort his distraught wife. His attention soon moved to Alec who was looking at them uncomfortably. Sensing the teen's distress, the man moved his arm a bit in invitation. It seemed to be enough, because a second later, the boy was at his side, pressing his face against his side. Without a word, Severus wrapped a comforting arm around him and rocked him lightly.

The silence that had descended on them was broken when the door opened. A few men stepped outside and while most of them continued on their way down the hall, an older looking wizard approached them with a tired smile.

Amanda and Minerva looked up and watched the man expectantly. Luckily, they didn't need to ask anything. Probably sensing their distress, the man started to explain without prompting.

"I won't lie to you and say that everything is going to be ok, because it's too soon to say that, but we've been able to dispel one of the curses that were giving us most trouble. It was affecting his heart and lungs so the fact that it's now gone should help us enormously."

Everyone sighed in relief, and Severus felt Alec relax a bit against his side. It wasn't what they had been hoping for, but at least it wasn't bad news. Chris stepped forward. "Can we see him?"

The man looked at them pensively. "I don't see why not, but not everyone at the same time, please. Why don't you and Madam Dumbledore go in first?"

Severus felt Alec tense at his side again, and when he looked down, he saw the child biting his lip in order to remain silent. Knowing how he was feeling, Severus squeezed his shoulder lightly. Before he could say anything comforting, Amanda had turned to them. Bending down slightly so she was looking the child in the eye, she spoke softly. "Do you want to go in first with Chris, Alec?"

The teen looked at her for a long time. He wanted to go in and see that Dumbledore was really alive, but he didn't want to go with one of them. He wouldn't feel comfortable with his supposed parents and that on top of dealing with his own emotions would be more than he thought he could bear right now. Besides, he could easily see the longing to see the old man in the woman's eyes. So he shook his head and pressed himself a bit more against Severus.

"It's ok, Mum. You can go see him first; I'll go in later with Uncle Severus or Aunt Minerva."

The woman looked at him intently. "Are you sure?"

Harry nodded and attempted to brighten the mood a bit. "Yes, besides, I haven't had breakfast yet, and I'm very hungry."

The woman laughed lightly and gently ruffled his hair. "Very well, I'll see you later then."

Then, to Harry's surprise, she bend over and gently kissed his forehead before turning around and going to Dumbledore's room followed by her husband. Alec watched the closed door intently, still trying to figure out how he felt about the small gesture. He was jostled out of his thoughts when Minerva approached them.

"How about we go find something to eat? I haven't had breakfast either."

Severus frowned at her, she had deep rings under her eyes, and she seemed to be about to fall asleep. "Why don't you go back to Hogwarts and get some sleep." Then another thought came to him. "And where's Filius? I thought he was here with you."

The woman yawned and nodded. "He was until Amanda and Chris arrived, then he went to the Ministry to find out about what happened."

She rubbed her eyes lightly; the tiredness seemed to be catching up on her. "You really should go rest for a bit, send someone else if you want."

Minerva nodded reluctantly. "If you're sure, I could use a few hours of rest. I'll send someone along."

Severus nodded and watched as she moved down the hall they had come from. After she disappeared from their sight, he turned around to face the child. "Come on then, let's get you something to eat."

Harry looked down. "I'm not hungry."

The man raised an eyebrow. "You just said you wanted to have breakfast."

The child shrugged. "It was just to convince her to go in, she wanted to see him but was making an effort for me."

Frowning, Severus knelt down and forced the boy to meet his eyes. "If you wanted to go in, why didn't you say so?"

Alec shrugged and nodded towards the door. "She wanted to see him too."

The man nodded. "Yes, she did, but she gave you the opportunity to go first. Why not take it when it was so kindly offered. She probably knows that you've grown closer and thought that seeing him would comfort you."

Alec shrugged lightly, seemingly not knowing how to answer such a question. In the end he just said: "It just seemed to be the right thing to do."

Of course he could have said that he didn't want to go in with Chris, but he didn't want to arouse the Professor's curiosity so he left it at that. Seeing that he wasn't going to get any more answers from the teen, Severus stood up and took the youth's hand.

"Even so, you should eat something, and I haven't had breakfast either so let's go look for something."

Reluctantly, the teen followed Severus, who didn't give him much a choice since he had taken his hand and refused to let go of it. Soon they found themselves in Muggle London. The man led them to a small cafe where he ordered a small breakfast for each of them. They ate silently, Severus didn't seem to be very hungry either but it would be hypocritical from him to refuse to eat when he had insisted that Alec had something.

They were finishing their breakfast when suddenly Harry looked up from his half empty plate. There was a deep frown on his face and his gaze seemed to be locked on nothing. Severus, noticing there was something wrong, gently reached out and touched his hand lightly. "Alec? Is there something wrong?"

The child blinked, but his gaze didn't focus on him. "There's something wrong. We should go back."

"Alec, what are you talking about?"

But the teen wasn't listening anymore. He was on his feet and had started running towards St. Mungo's. Cursing softly, Severus threw a few muggle pounds on the table and quickly moved to follow the teen, ignoring the questioning glances that were being thrown their way.

With his longer legs, he managed to catch up with the teen halfway to the hospital, but instead of stopping him, he decided to follow. They quickly entered the building and Severus followed Harry towards Dumbledore's room. He knew that Alec had been right as soon as they approached the place. Amanda and Chris were standing in the hall, pale and trembling while healers and nurses hurried in and out of the room. Both Alec and Severus managed to peek into the room and the sight in there made them both pale. It seemed that Albus was having a seizure of some kind and the shouts and orders being screamed over the place told them it was bad.

To be continued...

A/N: Happy New Year to you all. Thanks for all reviews and thanks to my wonderful beta, Vinnie. (Que? T'ha agradat? XD)