Chapter 20

Dumbledore's secrets:

As fast and quietly as he was able, Harry slipped from under the covers of his bed, sat up at its edge and put his shoes on. He was certain that this had not been a normal dream; the pictures had been much too real. Voldemort and Malfoy's evilness had been almost palpable, and Snape had looked much too sick and crazy for it to be a mere dream. Besides, it was not the first time that Harry had had visions of Voldemort.

The last time he had, it had been real, and he was as sure of it now as he was then. Yet the implications that this vision brought with it were pretty frightening. If Snape went back to Voldemort's side, and if the dark wizard manipulated the potions master as he planed to do, then not the slightest information that Snape knew would remain a secret. No, Dumbledore had to know about this.

"What's goin on, Harry?" Ron murmured sleep drunken

"Nothing, go back to sleep", Harry whispered.

Ron complied all too willingly and turned over to his other side with a grumpy noise, falling back asleep without ado.

Harry threw another glance at the illuminated hands of his watch. Half past four. Well, it didn't really matter. Dumbledore needed to be informed right away. The headmaster himself had specified that Harry should notify him immediately if ever had another vision.

So, Harry threw his coat over his nightshirt, sneaked out of the dormitory, crossed the common room and made his way in direction of Dumbledore's office.

"Peppermint drop", he whispered nervously. The gargoyle instantly moved out of the way and Harry stepped onto the rotating stairs, which brought him in front of Dumbledore's door. He lifted one hand and knocked tentatively at first. Only after he got no response did he take an encouraging breath and pummel loudly against the heavy wood.

This time he didn't have to wait more than two minutes until a sleepy looking Dumbledore opened the door, wearing a grey nightshirt, his hair and beard still ruffled from sleep. "Harry? What are you doing here at this hour?"

"I need to talk to you, headmaster. I had another dream."

At once, all sleepiness fell off Dumbledore and he urged Harry in. "Come in, my boy."

"Would you care for some tea?" he asked politely, his patient words in sharp contrast to the impatient expression that had taken root on his face and which Harry had rarely seen on the old man. He shook his head in neglect.

"I had a vision of Voldemort, Sir."

"Voldemort? What has he done? Was he alone?"

Harry shook his head. "No. Lucius Malfoy was with him... and Snape."

To Harry's surprise, the entire colour drained from the headmaster's face and his eyes widened. "Severus? How was he?"

Harry didn't really know what to make of Dumbledore's reaction. What kind of connection was between those two that the old headmaster liked the ill-tempered potions master to such an extent? The headmaster was still worried about Snape, even though he now was proven guilty of murder, had broken out of prison and was most likely back at Voldemort's side. It was not fair that Dumbledore still cared about Snape so much, seeing as the Slytherin had murdered Sirius.

Part of Harry told himself that Dumbledore must feel responsible towards all his pupils. Almost like a father, and that for that reason he wouldn't hate one of his children because he or she had hurt another one. But another part of him, the part that was slowly becoming angry, told him that for some unknown reason, Dumbledore cared more for Snape than he had ever done for Sirius. For some odd reason, the old wizard held such a strong bond to Snape that he had done everything to protect him from the kiss, even though he had turned him in to the Ministry in the first place. All in all, Dumbledore acted much more loyal towards Snape than Crouch had done towards his own son.

A crazy idea started to take form in Harry's head as he thought about this and he regarded Dumbledore a bit more closely. The crooked nose could be almost the right size; the old man was also as tall as the potions master. Yet the colour of the eyes and his complexion was completly different. But nonetheless, could it be that Snape and Dumbledore were related in some way…? No that was impossible. Dumbledore would not keep something like this a secret. Or would he?

"Harry?" Dumbledore pulled him out of his musings.

Harry shook off the crazy thought and forced his attention back to the dream. "Snape looked quite ill, Sir", he begun and then recounted the Vision as accurately as he remembered, up until Voldemort's order to Malfoy.

Deep in thoughts, Dumbledore stroked over his beard, a strange glimmer in his eyes, which stirred anew anger in Harry, since he interpreted it as clear relief.

"You don't look overly worried. Snape has information about the order and he will spill them out too. Voldemort is no idiot and he'll know how to bring Snape over to his side again. What are you going to do about that?"

Dumbledore patted Harry's shoulder absentmindedly. "I know that you will not understand this, Harry, but for now, I'm just glad that Severus is alive. No matter what may have happened and what sentence he received, I never wanted to see him dead. About the information; we have been aware of the risks since he got out of Azkaban. Therefore, all his information is irrelevant. All we had to do was to change some dates and, in some cases locations. He can't do any real damage."

"But Sir", Harry protested.

"Now, now, Harry. Everything will turn out for the best in the long run but had better go back to bed now. You should try to get some more sleep." With a smile, Harry was gently but firmly shoved out of the office and on the first step of the stairs. "And remember to tell me right away, if you have any more visions."

The door locked behind him, leaving Harry bewildered on the stairs. He wasn't used to such a brusque treatment by the headmaster and his suspicions from before pressed forwards again. Dumbledore showed a concern for Snape, which would be quite typical for a father's worry. But could it be? It seemed absurd, and if the impossible were indeed true then why in the first place would Dumbledore have turned Snape in?

But that wasn't so impossible, if he really thought about it. Dumbledore had a responsibility for all the students and the order, and Harry believed he knew the headmaster well enough to know that the man would use every sacrifice he could to help the light, whilst not endangering the life of the man who he wanted to get out of the way. Maybe that had even been the real reason why Dumbledore had brought Snape into prison, to protect him, since he had clearly started to lose his mind. Even though that thought seemed absurd, that would explain Dumbledore's behaviour.

Deep in thoughts, he made his way back to the dormitories, without falling into any delusions that he would be getting any more sleep this night.

"You can't be honestly believing that, Harry." Ron was, to put it gently, beyond scepticism.

This was the first day in school, and Harry had not been able to pay any attention in class that morning. Nor had he been able to do the same for breakfast, and in lunch he had not been able to eat much. His friends realized that too, of course, but Harry had put off, saving telling them about the vision until later, when they would have time to talk in private about it.

However, as soon as the class was over, they had been going down to the lake and under the shadow of a tree, Harry told them about his dream, Dumbledore's reaction and his suspicion.

"Snape could never Dumbledore's son", Ron protested

"I can't imagine that either", Hermione said, "They are complete opposites."

Ron's eyes flashed triumphantly. "He can't be the headmasters son. They don't have the same last name."

"Blimey, Ron, are you really that thick, or are you just playing it? What century do you live in?" Hermione sighed.

Harry interrupted them before Ron could start another fight with Hermione. "I have never suggested that Snape is his son. Maybe they are related in some other way. Dumbledore's behaviour definitely speaks for it."

"I don't know. I mean it's common knowledge that Dumbledore likes Snape. I think that your theory is pretty far fetched."

"But why does he trust him? That son of a bitch was a death eater and a killer. Nobody in their right mind would trust him, were there not some deeper motivations."

"You're forgetting that it was him who turned Snape in. Or do you have an explanation for that too?" Hermione kept onto her arguments.

"Bloody hell, who knows? Perhaps he simply wanted to protect Snape from Voldemort. Maybe he planned to get him out of prison at a later time, to commit him into an asylum or something of the sort."

"Doesn't look like he had much success with that, did it?" Ron snorted. "You-know-who got Snape anyhow.

T.B.C

Thanks to Slytherin silver snake!