ACT I SCENE I
Dumbledore apparates onto the hilltop, disarming Severus.
SEVERUS SNAPE
Pray sir, listen! I do fear I speak too late.
ALBUS DUMBLEDORE
I intend to kill you not, Severus,
And yet my suspicions are justified.
Why dost thou come to me if not for thy master?
SEVERUS SNAPE
He is absent. I myself came to you.
You hath my wand, and sir, you hath my word
It is you I seek and I seek you alone.
Unnatural darkness penetrates our world
And I myself, I have no innocence.
Each light I took and doused beneath my scorn
Burns now thrice as fiercely in my guilty breast
The shadow that hath followed me since youth
Is now inflamed with memories of the sun.
Sweet Apollo, he did take the form of she to me
And my soul did heal for one divine decade.
Yet Loki did follow my every step,
Until, like fruit, my mind did sour once more
And even Sol Invictus was conquered.
ALBUS DUMBLEDORE
Fie! Why speak'st thou of this? Explain thyself!
SEVERUS SNAPE
The raven himself can croak no more.
It does tire quickly of its constant duty,
Much as the man does tire of peace and war,
Yet prospers not without one or t'other.
Sir, t'is I who revealed the prophecy
In weakness and in greed, for in mind
Frailer am I than the most feeble man.
My blood is thin, too much bile in my throat,
Makes me act rashly, as did Metis
Who, in her great cunning, did become sightless
As I am now.
ALBUS DUMBLEDORE
I know of thy actions.
SEVERUS SNAPE
Then if you know of my actions, know of my sorrow.
Even the most venomous of flowers
Has a serpent coiled around the stem
Bewitching thy eye, thy tongue and thy hand
To do such deeds on the path to greatness.
The slaughtered lambs that do lie in the fields,
Are nothing more than empty sacrifice.
Yet as the blood doth make Nature see red,
Apollo is hunted, no sun shall rise.
ALBUS DUMBLEDORE
Thy most precious flower does drop its petals.
SEVERUS SNAPE
Oh, wizard brethren, gracious sorcerer,
Perceptive Dumbledore, rue the tears I shed,
A sinner's tears in passion for his love!
If an unrequite was ever dear to thee,
Think such flower to be as dear to me.
Though suffices not that I plead with you now,
For the greatest plague is still yet to come,
Merciful sorcerer, I ask you this:
Dumbledore, stain not yourself with blood
Allow not your mistrust to blinker thee,
Draw near to flora, and be merciful.
Sweet mercy is the greatest of powers,
Noble wizard, spare my Lily Evans.
ALBUS DUMBLEDORE
And yet still theehave no heart, Severus!
He wish me to preserve his precious gift,
Turning his blackened back upon murder,
Cares not about the blood still on his hands!
Get thee gone; evil silhouettes thy heart.
SEVERUS SNAPE
No!
ALBUS DUMBLEDORE
The time is up, the morn is bright and grey,
The fields are bloody and the sense is dark.
Return thee to thy master, and forget.
SEVERUS SNAPE
I beg you! Save them all, husband and son!
I will do all that you must ask of me.
ALBUS DUMBLEDORE
He who sits before me is not damned.
Thy mother's milk still warms thy heart and breast,
And for that, I shall try and help thee.
Still my aid shall come with the highest of cost.
Think'st thou clearly before you agree.
I ask, what shall be my price?
SEVERUS SNAPE
Anything.
