"Yes, Headmaster?" said Snape rather timidly as he went into Dumbledore's office. "So, are you angry at me? Because…" He sat down, exhausted. "You should be."

"Severus, I am not angry with you," said Dumbledore, to Snape's surprise. "How can I ever be angry at something like the love you have for my granddaughter? However, I truly must admit that I am very disappointed in you. You lied to me about Meg, you know."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"You tricked me," said Dumbledore. "I knew the moment Meg's Romance Charm broke. We were all forced to prepare this wedding for you, and it was horrible to do, I must say. You must never do something like that again. I am now banning Romance Charms at Hogwarts."

"Headmaster," said Snape, "do you have any respect for what I feel like right now?"

"Yes, I do, Severus," Dumbledore said, and Snape thought he saw a twinkle of understanding in the headmaster's eyes. "You've just lost the woman you love the very most to the man you hate the very most."

"So what are you going to do to me?" said Snape. "You're going to sack me, right?"

"Oh, of course not," Dumbledore told Snape, who felt relief surge through him. "All I'm going to do is tell you that someday, somebody will come along who likes you for who you really are, not how good you make a Romance Charm. It could take a day, a week, a year, two years…Just remember, though, that someday, your perfect match will probably come and find you."

"I don't know," said Snape. "No girls ever liked me."

"Well, just open yourself up a bit," Dumbledore said gently. "If I can remember correctly, all you ever did was catch up on spells nobody else in your year knew yet. That particular kind of studying left not a lot of time to talk to people. Sorry to say, my granddaughter has been rather heartless around you. She's never going to go out with you, but there are some people you've never even met yet, I know that, and you can tell them what a fabulous person you are. That's all."

"I lied to you." Snape sighed. "Aren't you going to do anything about it?"

"Meg has never liked you. Am I correct in stating that you only put the Romance Charm on her because you loved her, and lied to me because you thought I would make you lift it? I cannot ever, ever be angry at true love. I am only disappointed in your lying."

"I just thought…"

"That is all, Severus. Unless you want to be sacked, then I can arrange something and we can get a new teacher for Potions. If you don't want to be sacked, that's all."

"Okay," said Snape. "Then…look. I used to be a Death Eater, remember? Some people just don't believe me when I say I was under a curse. The point is, they'll hear my name and I'm out of here." Then he paused as hate and jealousy surged through him. "Why does Black have to ruin everything for me? I had her, our lips were this close apart" (he showed it with his fingers) "and then he had to come running in, and he broke the stupid Charm…AND SHE JUST RAN OFF WITH HIM!"

"Severus, don't shout," said Dumbledore. "Meg, I believe, has had feelings for Sirius as long as you have for Meg. That's since you both were eleven. She likes him better than she likes you, if you'll let me be frank, and you'll just have to live with it. And you know what you did wasn't right. Part of the reason why you used to get so nervous is because you were so guilty."

"I thought of lifting the Charm," Snape mumbled, "but I never did."

"What is love?" said Dumbledore softly. "Is it insanity? No. It is merely the only thing that could ever cancel out hate. Hate cannot run out hate. Only love can do that."

Hate cannot run out hate. Only love can do that.

- Martin Luther King, Jr.