Chapter 12 – Down Memory Lane

On their way back to Gryffindor tower Hermione pulled Harry aside and gave him Snape's memories. "Harry, Snape told me to give you this before he 'died'. They're his memories."

"What?" said a shocked Harry, "Think we can get to Dumbledore's office and see them before he gets back up?"

"Let's go quick," she agreed; this was the only chance they would get to see the memories. The two of them turned the corner unnoticed by Ron or Ginny. They got past the Gargoyle guarding the office 'Canary Cream' and they finally got to the pensieve. "Harry, he said to give the memories to you, so if you want I'll stay here as a lookout."

"Yeah, that's a great idea 'mione. Here you can use my invisibility cloak," he said as he tossed her the cloak. He pulled out the bottle and poured it into the large basin. Then he took a deep breath and went in headfirst. Hermione waited and waited, Dumbledore would surely be here soon.

Five minutes later Harry emerged from the pensieve looking startled. Hermione opened her mouth to question him, but he cut her off, "I'll tell in the common room," was all he said before they hurried out of the office undiscovered.

"Where have you two been?" Ron asked angrily as they climbed through the portrait hole. Both he and Ginny had obviously realized they were missing and both looked annoyed.

"I gave Harry the memories," said Hermione looking at Ginny. Her mouth formed an 'o' and a look of comprehension appeared on her face.

"Will someone tell me what's going on?" Ron asked loudly.

"When the snake bit Snape, he gave me a bottle of memories for Harry, so we went to Dumbledore's office to see what they were about," explained Hermione.

"So what were they about?"

"Snape…"

"No, I would have never guessed Snape's memories were about Snape," said Ron exasperated.

"I was about to say that Snape was in love with my mother," said Harry who still seemed shocked.

Then Ron started to laugh and the remaining three looked at him like he was mad. "What," he said tears rolling down his cheeks, "You try imagining Snape on date and you'll see what's so funny." The rest of the group continued to stare at him until his laughter died down.

"Are you okay now?" Harry asked slightly annoyed, "Good, do you realize what this means? We finally know why Dumbledore trusts him so much. He came to our side to protect my mum. Wow, this is hard to process."

Ginny left first, deciding that she was tired and wanted to get some rest. The rest group sat it silence for the next little while all thinking.

Snape and…my mom? This is way too weird.

I wonder if classes will start again on Monday. I hope so; I have so much catching up to do.

Snape on a date…haha…that's a good one.

Each member of the golden trio had a lot on their mind that night especially Harry. So they bid each other good night and left each to their own thoughts.