"Professor Snape, what happened to Sirius?"

"He . . . "

"Professor Snape."

"He . . . He. . . He was tortured. I had to kill him to stop it."

Dumbledore looked upon the resting young man.

"Did he fall asleep naturally?"

"I put a spell on him. He is too far gone." Snape shook his head. "If I had stopped it earlier then it wouldn't have happened."

"You did what had to be done." Dumbledore assured. "Just as we have to do cleaning up after him."

"Headmaster," Snape said. "What are we going to tell the Marauders? They are going to ask questions."

"Tell them that you found him this way and Voldemort." Dumbledore said. "That Voldemort allowed him to hold his wand last time as he was about to kill him for irony purposes and then, he was dead. Unfortunately, the Death Eater tortured him one last time and he went insane after holding on for that moment." Snape nodded in agreement. "Did you get Sirius's wand as I have asked?"

"Yes." Snape withdrew the wand from his robes.

"Was it easy?" Dumbledore asked.

"Not that difficult, surprisingly. Needed little convincing." Snape replied. "I took it from Lestrange before she left to retire for the night."

"Why did she give you it?" Dumbledore asked, intrigued.

"She has too many wands in her collection that need to be apprehended and given to Diagon Alley. Said she didn't know where to put it." Dumbledore fell disturbed. "She has shown me her collection; earlier." Then he added in disgust, shaking off the imagery, the images of wands in a simple small cauldron with name tags on them and some that had auror with descriptive words such as 'meany'. "She calls them her . . ." Snape was reluctant to finish at first. "trophies."

The last mention of the wands were in disgust. Dumbledore didn't say another word as he let the word hang in the air. It was difficult not to be angry at first but with time that passed by between them and careful contemplation of the situation at hand the anger went back into the sea where all his feelings went. Once, he would have let those feelings strike him down and control him. Once he was certain the disgust was gone then he was able to reply.

"Put it in to his hand." Dumbledore requested.

Snape did as instructed then made sure with a spell that it remained in place.

"Now, what?" Snape raised a brow.

"We send word of the story." Dumbledore said. "The war is over." He held his own wand above the man then did the necessary adjustments. "The secret keeper has no need to be a secret keeper and has served his purpose. The prophecy is broken."

With a tap of the wand, the Fidelius Charm was dissolved.

"The future is unknown as it was long ago and we can welcome it as a new stranger in our lives once more." Dumbledore finished.

The thought of the child getting to grow up and that he would be able to watch Lily be happy made a warm feeling grow in Snape's heart that spread all over his chest. It spread all over as the feeling turned into freeing.

It was a unique and different sensation compared to the dark feeling that he had been forced to experience. Snape started to smile for the first time in a long time and looked toward the sky with a smile. It's all going to be okay. His smile faded after a moment then he looked down upon the resting man.

"But, did it have to take a act of Love to end the war and lose one of our own?"

Dumbledore gazed down upon the man then finished jotting down his letter and handed it over to a owl then watched it fly off.

"There are many ways it could have gone, Professor." Dumbledore said. "This was the most . . ."

"Unfortunate way that it went." Snape said. "It could have been worse."

"A lot worse." Dumbledore shook his head turning toward the younger man. "This will be our little secret. Now, tell Lestrange and return quickly."

With a nod, Snape apparated away.

And his fate, of being alive, was sealed.