Hey guys! Updating sooner than I thought I would. To answer a question I got: Harry is not wearing glasses but his vision is still slightly blurry from the potions that Snape is giving to him but he'll soon be able to see perfectly.

PLEASE READ: IF YOU DON'T LIKE SLASH THEN DON'T READ THIS STORY. IT'S CLEARLY MARKED AND HAS MULTIPLE WARNINGS. I respect that everyone has their own opinions but I think that if you don't like slash, you don't have any business telling me not to like it or to believe what you do. That's just rude, so if you don't like SLASH or are bothered by Albus/Harry even if they are both young, so it's not grandpa slash, IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, DON'T READ THIS, AND PLEASE DON'T FLAME.

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Thanks for reading Hope you enjoy!

-Chapter 2-

-The Troubled-

Dumbledore was alive.

Harry thought that he could deal with that but it might take more than a bit. Hopefully, he wouldn't have another fainting spell before he could at least talk to the man.

"Harry, how are you my dear man?" This time when he saw Dumbledore he didn't fight, but it still shook him down to his core.

Dumbledore now looked like he had been bathed in sunlight. He had golden skin and his hair was a shaggy tawny blond. From the robes he was wearing (he still had no sense of fashion at all) he had clearly gained some muscles. The robes showed off his now fit and slim figure. Harry blushed. This man was the Headmaster…or was… is?

"Um… are you Headmaster again?" was all that Harry could think of to say. Dumbledore gave that warm smile, eyes twinkling all the while.

"Yes Harry. Last night in fact I was reinstated in to my old position by our Minister Kingsley Shacklebolt. Professor McGonagal has graciously agreed to return to her position of Transfiguration teacher as I am afraid our new one is not quite up to form as of late."

"Do not worry Potter; there is no ill will towards the Headmaster. I am sure that it would not be the best job for me." McGonagal seemed not the least bit heartbroken to not have the task of bringing the school back together in the hard aftermath of the war.

"Yes Professor," Harry replied.

"Actually concerning teaching positions, you wouldn't happen to know if dear Severus would appreciate the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor? I haven't talked to him since I died. My portrait alarms me as much as it did him, I think, though a mirror nowadays alarms me just as much I think," and there the eyes were twinkling again. Harry rose from the bed to stand in front of the professors.

"Sir, I haven't talked to him in a couple weeks but as far as I know he is happy."

"Oh good for him. I'd always hoped but I still think that I'll offer him the job. He did used to want that you know."

"Um… Prof—, " but Harry was cut off.

"Please, call me Albus. After everything that we've all been through, it's time."

"Ok…right, Albus… how exactly are you here?" Harry just needed an answer at this point.

"Oh of course. I assume you mean 'alive' because I am sure you know what walking is. Let's see that is a very interesting story, but one that I think that we should share another time. I have already explained it so many times and I think you are the one that I will give the full version to as you are the only one who would understand."

"Albus," now it was McGonagall's turn to be shocked. "I thought that you told us everything!" the indignation in her voice could be heard across Scotland.

"My dear friend, although we have gone through much together I don't see how you could fully comprehend just what Harry here and myself have been through." Maybe Dumbledore was soothing McGonagall but he was just starting to annoy Harry.

"Sir, no offense intended, but you don't really understand what I went through. You were dead, remember. How could you feel what I have gone through these past years even when you were alive." Dumbledore, or rather, Albus now looked apprehensive.

"Now Harry, this is probably not the best place for this conversation, if we could go to my office, if you don't mind Minerva?" Albus' eyes were twinkling again

"Oh of course not," McGonagal replied pretty sarcastically for her regular prim self. "It's not like you owe me the truth after all I've done for you and this school." Dumbledore's eyes lost some of the twinkle.

"Minerva. You know why," Dumbledore said quietly. The only other time Harry had ever seen Dumbledore like this was when they were talking at King's Cross. It wasn't quite any of the expressions he had seen when he was recounting the aftermath of the Triwizard Tournament to a much older looking Dumbledore or after the Ministry, or just ever. It had more history and meaning behind that one gaze than Dumbledore had ever given Harry. This bothered him. But then again, this whole situation was starting to make him want to run away to some discrete mountain, well, you know, if mountains could be discrete, and just hide there like a hermit until life was done throwing him curveballs, or rather hard ones that broke his proverbial nose.

"Professor, that's alright. You don't have to talk right now, but I think that I deserve an explanation at some time or another."

"Of course Harry, I thank you for understanding. Now!" Dumbledore started walking to the Hospital Wing's door with a flourish. Mrs. Weasley quickly followed him; it seemed that she was very happy to have him back. "We must have lunch together if that's fine with everyone," Dumbledore continued. His robes really were the same bizarreness that they always were. Personally for Harry that proved that it was Dumbledore right there because no ex-Death Eater in disguise, well, no one in the world, really, would wear those robes.

Ginny stayed behind for a moment while the two women walked and Dumbledore waltzed gracefully through the doors. Where did Harry come up with this stuff? Snape ended up staying behind as well as they watched the group hurry towards lunch.

"Mrs. Weasley, would you care to assist your mother while I talk to Mr. Potter here?"

"But I—"

"Now." Snape's voice though raspy still held tons of power. If anything, the rasp made him more terrifying than in the past. Ginny flounced to the door in a huff. She still rather loathed Snape.

"Snape, I don't understand. Has he explained it all to you and what about the papers? I haven't seen anything in them."

"Well, you wouldn't. The Ministry has deigned to keep this quiet so in the case that they're wrong about this person being Albus Dumbledore, they won't be persecuted, but they carry too much hope that it really is him and insist on him taking over Hogwarts again, as if Albus would complain."

"But won't students tell their parents?"

"Of course Potter. The Ministry has never been smart, though I expected Shacklebolt to do better than this."

"Sir," they were now walking slowly through the halls after the group that remained rather far up ahead and seemed familiar with the halls, but few of them had changed so this was reasonable. Snape's hair was still greasy, his teeth still yellowing, and was wearing his traditional robes, but there was an air about him that seemed lighter than when Harry had ever known the man. "Has he told you everything?"

"I assume you are talking about his return from the world of the dead. I would also assume that you would know better than to think that Albus Dumbledore would tell everything to one man, but… he is rather attached to you for reasons I shall never understand, so you will have a better chance than most. To answer your idiotic question, no, he has not, and I doubt he ever will." Snape was at least consistent and that was what Harry liked about the man, he always knew what to expect. He considered Snape a friend, even though he would never say it to the man's face. Harry had given back the man's memories after the war, but Snape hadn't wanted them back, he had gone to the Potter's burial site and buried them with his past love. Harry had been there for part of the occasion, but had felt Snape really needed time alone to grieve one last time.

They ended up walking in silence for the rest of the trip to the Great Hall, where Harry would be back in a couple days time for his eighth year that would be offered permanently. After, this year as the seventh year survivors of last year left Hogwarts, the year would be left as a college course to continue their learning before venturing out for a job or apprenticeship. Harry was looking forward to a simple year, even though he would be without the Gryffindor Trio. The memories haunted him as he walked the halls, but he needed to face them because he couldn't get over them waiting in Grimmauld's Place for the rest of his life and he didn't want the constant fighting that came with being and Auror.

As they reached the Great Hall, the saw the house tables stacked on either side of the room and Mrs. Weasley, McGonagall, and Dumbledore were all seated at a medium sized circular table. There were two spots between Dumbledore and McGonagall. When Harry looked at Snape to see where he cared to sit, the man just sneered and gracefully plopped himself down next to McGonagall leaving Harry with the seat between him and Dumbledore.

The plates in front of them seemed to fill magically as Harry sat down. The food looked to be whatever the person felt like. Harry hadn't even known he wanted a grilled cheese or that he wanted two but as he ate he found that it was perfect for him at the moment and rather safe from him throwing it up with all the memories in Hogwarts and Dumbledore's supposed return from the dead. But Dumbledore certainly didn't look like he'd just been returned from the dead and didn't really look like he'd been anywhere near death for decades.

Holy crap. Albus Dumbledore was attractive.

Life just liked to screw with him, didn't it?

Thank you for reading! Sorry it's short but life gets in the way. Let me know if you want me to continue!

Please don't review about your personal beliefs and religion relating to slash in general or just this story because I'm just writing this for fun and I'd rather not ruin my day with bigotry.

Everyone else, thank you for saying you like this story and I will really try to update faster.