A/N

(checks the stats) Man…this story is apparently popular. Over 900 hits in one single day.

Severus: That's because I'm in it.

Draco: Of course not, it's because of MY charming presence.

Harry: Maybe it's because Dumbledore is being so mean

Severus/Draco: Naaaaaah….

(Ignores the banter) Well, whatever the reason, I'm flattered…and a bit scared! Now I've raised expectations…I hope I can live up to them.

All three point out that that's not a very Slytherin thing to say.

Hey! Anyway, let's just remind people (humph, like people need reminding) that everything belongs to JK Rowling, that wonderfully talented writer. (is the female form of 'writer', 'writress'? Like 'waiter' and 'waitress'?)

"A-Albus?" Severus managed, paling.

Harry nodded grimly. "He's trapped in the wards. Apparently he tried to Apparate in, the wards caught him and caged him. I so love my new fancy wards…" he grinned. Then his face became grim again.

"Do you want to talk to him, or do you want me to just kick him out?"

Severus hesitated. "What do you think?"

Harry shrugged. "You should do what you think is best, Severus. The advantage of talking to him now is that he is not in his own domain, but mine, and trapped to boot. You have an advantage over him now. But that's only part of the story; only you know if you are ready to face him. I can't make that decision for you."

"I suppose we can't leave him in there until oh...say…next week, so I have time to prepare?"

Harry laughed. "Sorry. I don't want him on my premises all week."

Severus sighed. "Ok, let's go then. You go first," he said, pushing Harry forward.

Harry snorted, but walked into the garden to see another glass cage, this time containing a very nervous headmaster.

"What part of 'Stay away from him' didn't you understand, Headmaster? Because I'll be happy to explain it further."

Dumbledore turned around quickly. "Harry! I…I…your wards…"

Harry tapped his lip with his wand. "Yes, my wards. Oh, that's right, you haven't been here since before I added the newer wards, and locked you out of my house. Tell me, why did you come here against my repeated warnings?"

Dumbledore lowered his head in defeat.

"I wanted…You won't believe me anyway…but I just wanted to sneak in and see Severus. Not to talk to him, just to…to watch him sleep and see for myself that he is ok."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "You wanted to watch him sleep?"

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes."

"So," came Severus' voice from the shadows, "you just decided to break into Harry's home, like you have done mine, while you were told we didn't want you here?"

Dumbledore's head whipped up. "Severus," he breathed.

The Potions Master stepped into the light, face contorted in anger. "What right do you think you have, to even see me? To force me to show myself? Was your letter just another attempt to manipulate Harry and me into telling you where I was? 'I know I don't deserve his forgiveness, or even to ever see him again' that's what you said, wasn't it? And then you just waltz in here against my wishes, with the intention to break in and sneak up on me in my sleep. Just who the hell do you think you are?" he shouted at the trapped man.

Before the headmaster could respond, he went on.

"You…I waited for you for three years! I didn't escape because I hoped, I prayed to every deity I could think of that you would come to talk to me, that you would change your mind and believe me. But you threw me in there without a word, or even looking at me, and just forgot about me! Did you know that Harry had to tell me what I was accused of, when he came to see me after a WHOLE BLOODY MONTH? What do you think it was like to realise that this boy, that I had treated so badly, trusted me more then the man who told me repeatedly that he loved me? That he thought of me as his son? It was all just a lie, wasn't it? You used me, you used my hopes and fears and…yearnings…to make me into one of your pawns. And when it no longer suited you, you threw me into the pits of hell without another thought."

He turned around. "Just…just send him away, Harry, before I do something I might regret someday."

Harry nodded and raised his wand. The cage disappeared. The headmaster looked every bit his 150 years old, tears running down his face. As Harry cast the spell to send him back to Hogwarts, the old man raised his head to meet his eyes.

"It wasn't a lie," he whispered, "it was never a lie." With that, he disappeared.

Harry lowered his wand, a pensive look on his face.

When he came down for breakfast two hours later, Severus found Harry in the library, deeply immersed in some books.

"Hey. Researching? What are you reading?"

Harry snapped the book shut guiltily. "Yeah, a bit. How are you?"

Severus sighed. "Doing ok, I guess. It did feel good to get that all off my chest."

"I can imagine it did. You were great."

"Thanks. And now that you have sufficiently distracted me from my original question, what were you reading?"

Harry leaned back in his chair. "Just a vague idea I had. I seem to have been wrong though. It's not important."

Severus raised his eyebrows. "Important enough, apparently, to try and hide from me what you were reading and then to try to distract me."

Harry groaned. "Drat, Severus. Your brain is beginning to function normally again."

A pleased smirk appeared on the Potions Masters face. "Yes, it is, isn't it? So, why don't you tell me either what it is?"

Harry kicked the desk. "Can't you let this one rest, Severus?"

"Oh no, I'm enjoying this way too much. My brain is working again and I get to pester you. What more could I want?"

"Breakfast?" Harry supplied, hopeful.

Severus pinned him down with a gaze that reminded him so fiercely of the Potions Master of his childhood that he nearly began to sweat.

"Out. With. It. Harry."

He was defeated, and he knew it. His shoulders slumped. "I was pondering something Dumbledore said, and was trying to see…I was just wondering if there could be some way that someone influenced him."

The face was carefully tooled in a neutral expression. "Someone?"

Harry stood up. "Mad Eye Moody brought in the reports that day. Mad Eye Moody had been the one to tell us he had received an anonymous tip the Death Eaters would be attacking the village. Mad Eye Moody was the one who insisted there were enough people for the mission and you wouldn't be needed. Truth be told, I suspect Mad Eye Moody of helping to set you up and I wondered…him being such a good friend of Dumbledore…"

Severus' face betrayed nothing of his feelings when he answered calmly.

"I doubt Dumbledore would be easily hexed. And most potions work only for a limited amount of time. To manage to dose him once without him noticing would be a miracle, let alone every month or so."

Picking up the books, Harry answered, "Yes, that's what I found so far. I just…just had to be sure."

Severus inclined his head slightly.

"I'm hungry, Harry. Let's get something to eat."

At Hogwarts.

Dumbledore collapsed on his couch after Harry had sent him back. He rubbed his forehead and sighed.

"My, my, Albus, weren't you up early this morning?"

Minerva McGonagall stood in the room.

"You went to see Severus, didn't you? Against all their warnings."

Dumbledore stared at the fireplace.

"When will you ever learn? It's bad enough what we did to that boy, can't you at least respect his wishes now?"

With that, the Transfigurations teacher stalked from the room, robes billowing behind her, reminding Dumbledore very forcefully of the potions master. He sighed as he remembered the angry, frail looking young man that had thrown so many harsh truths at him. If Harry said he looked loads better now then he did when he first arrived, he hated to think of what that would have been like. Severus still looked like a breeze would blow him away.

Meanwhile the Transfigurations teacher sat down at her desk with a piece of parchment in front of her. Despite her reproach to Albus earlier, she couldn't resist the opportunity to try either. Only with a lot more respect then the Headmaster had done.

Harry's mansion

Harry and Severus had just returned from visiting the Weasley twins. It had been Severus' first time out of the house since his escape/release, and Harry had worried, but it had gone very well. The twins had clearly felt uneasy and guilty, but Severus let them know he didn't hold anything against them.

"She was your mother, you were grieving. Grieving people are led by emotions. You and your family are hardly to blame."

They had talked fondly about Molly a bit afterwards, how much she had cared for all of them, her infamous temper, and how proud she would have been of her grandchildren, little Molly especially.

With promises to come back later to check out their expanded shop, they had left after a short visit. Severus still tired easily and even though it went well, it had still been emotional.

Severus poured them some tea and got out some biscuits when Harry noticed the owl with a small package and a letter.

The letter bore McGonagalls name but was addressed to him. He opened it and read.

"Dear Severus,

I know you don't want me to contact you, and I know that I have done just that. I'm addressing this to Harry. Perhaps he will tell you that I have written, and you can decide whether you want to read it or just chuck it in the fireplace. I wouldn't blame you if you did.

I thought I wanted to say hundreds of things to you, but now that I'm writing I find that I don't know what to say. 'I'm sorry' just wouldn't do, would it? What I've done to you was too gruesome for that.

I don't expect you to forgive me; in fact, I insist that you do not. I will not write you again after this letter. All I wanted to do was let you know that I realise what I have done and will bear the guilt for the rest of my life.

Oh Severus, how I wish now that I had been more insistent when you were arrested, that they question you under Veritaserum. That I had listened more to what Harry had to say. When Harry walked in, dragging Lucius, and the scumbag admitted to impersonation you, I thought I'd die of shame.

I have done nothing for you, and there is probably nothing you would let me do for you now. There is only one thing I can return to you; when you were arrested, no one bothered to take your wand. I've retrieved it from your rooms and kept it safe, hoping against hope…well. I return it to you now.

Minerva."

Harry stared at the letter in shock, mouth wide open.

"Harry?" Severus asked, "What is it?"

Harry closed his mouth. "A letter from Minerva. She sent it to me so you would have the choice whether or not you want to read it."

Severus paled. "And the package…?"

Harry licked his dry lips. "She's returning your wand to you."

Now the potions master's mouth fell open. "She…she kept my wand?"

With trembling hands, he took the letter from Harry and read it. Tears formed in his eyes, and he slowly unwrapped the package. In it was indeed his own wand. He looked at it in awe, and his fingers remembered their old skill. He waved it, and music filled the room.

"If you don't mind…I think…I think I have a letter to answer," he said, and rushed from the room.

A strange owl entered the Deputy Headmistress' rooms just before she retired for the night. "My, you're not something one sees every day," the witch complimented the owl, who hooted arrogantly, obviously agreeing with her assessment. She laughed as she untied the letter.

Her laughter turned to a strangled gasp as she recognised the handwriting. It took ten minutes before she dared to open it.

Her eyes flew over the single sheet of parchment and the familiar handwriting on it.

"Minerva,

Thank you for returning my wand. I had indeed not bought a new one yet. I was surprised, I must admit, that you kept it all this time.

I would like to just write down that I've forgiven you all and we can pick up like nothing has happened, but that would be a lie. It will take a lot of time for me to forgive anyone, but your honest letter, as well as you keeping my wand for me, did go a long way in reducing the anger and resentment I feel towards you.

That is one thing that Albus fails to understand; that his demanding to see me, forcing me to see him, expecting my forgiveness, only succeeds in alienating me further (if that were possible).

I know I said I don't want any contact with any of you, but I think I would like it if you wrote again. You don't have to apologise all over again; I got the point. Just tell me what is going on with my Slytherins, if the new first years had heart attacks when you transformed, that sort of thing. Let's just go from there, ok?

Severus.

Ps: Oh, the owl that delivered my letter has been instructed to wait for your response, as I know the Headmaster has ways to monitor the school owls. His name is Pothos, and complimenting him regularly will ensure you of his devotion to you. He has a rather bloated ego. I'm in the process of researching a potion to remedy that. (don't read that last sentence aloud where he can hear, he'll bite me when he returns if you do)."

Minerva hugged the letter to her chest in happiness and spent most of the night writing a very lengthy response.