As Harry and Hermione made their way thru the school they past the Great Hall were they saw the Weasley family all gathered around what Harry assumed to be Fred's body. Hermione made her way into the Great hall and consoling Ginny. And it was then when Harry saw the bodies beside Fred's. It was Lupin and Tonks, Harry felt guilt in the pit of his stomach. He couldn't look at the bodies bare to look any longer he walked past the Great hall allowing his feet to lead the way while his mind race with the events of the night.

He reached Dumbledore's office or rather the Headmaster's office.

"Password," the stone gargoyle said.

Without thinking he answered, "Dumbledore." It was Dumbledore that he wanted to see Dumbledore who he needed to speak to. And to his surprise the Gargoyle slide aside and Harry made his way up the spiraling stair case.

When Harry entered into the circular office he found a change. The portraits that hung all around the walls were empty. Not a single head master or headmistress remained to him; all, it seemed, had flittered away, charging through the paintings that lined the castle, so that they could have a clear view of what was going on.

Harry glanced hopelessly at Dumbledore's deserted frame which hung directly behind the headmaster's chair. Then he noticed something odd, the Pensieve lay on the desk as if someone knew that he would need it. Harry poured Snape's memories into the wide basin with its runic marking around the edges. To escape into someone else's head would be a blessed relief…Nothing that even Snape had left him could be worse than his own thoughts. The memories swirled, silver white and strange, and without hesitating, with a feeling of reckless abandonment, as though this would assuage his torturing grief, he dived.

Harry was watching two girls, they were swinging back and forth, and a skinny boy was watching them from behind a clump of bushes. His black hair was long and his clothes were so mismatched that it looked deliberate: too short jeans, a shabby, overlarge coat that might have belonged to a grown man and an odd smock-like shirt.

Harry moved closer to the bout. Snape looked no more than nine of ten years old, sallow, small, stringy. There was undisguised greed in his thin face as he watched the younger of the two girls swinging higher and higher than her sister.

"Lily, don't do it!" shirked the elder of the two. But the girl had let go of the swing at the height of it arc and flown into the air, quite literally flown, launching herself skyward with a great shot of laughter, and instead of crumpling on the playground asphalt, she soared like a trapeze artist through the air, staying up far too long, landing far too lightly.

"Mummy told you not to! Mummy said you weren't allowed, Lily!"

"But I'm fine, Tuney look at this. Watch what I can do."

Harry watched as his mother continued to use magic, and as aunt started to freak out. He watched as Snape revealed himself explaining why his mother could do what she did. He watched as the two girls ran away. But he watched as Snape and his mom become friends and he watched as they drifted apart.

Harry seemed to fly through shifting shapes and colors until his surroundings solidified again and he stood on a hilltop, forlorn and cold in the darkness, the wind whistling through the branches of a few leafless trees. The adult Snape was panting, turning on the spot, his wand gripped tightly in his hand waiting for something or someone…His fear infected Harry too, even though he knew that nothing could harm him, and he looked over his shoulder, wondering what it was that Snape was waiting for.

Then a blinding, jagged jet of white light flew through the air: Harry thought of lighting, but Snape had dropped to his knees and his wand flown out of his hand.

"Don't kill me!"

"That was not my intention."

Any sound of Dumbledore Apparating had been drowned by the sound of the wind in the branches. He stood before Snape with his robes whipping around him, and his face was illuminated from below in the light casted by his wand.

"Well, Severus? What massage does Lord Voldemort have for me?"

"No –message –I'm here on my own account!"

Snape was wringing his hands: he looked a little mad, with his straggling black hair flying around him.

"I… I came with a warning…no a, request…please…"

Dumbledore flicked his wand. Though leaves and branches still flew through the night air around them, silence fell on the spot where he and Snape faced each other.

"What request could a Death Eater make of me?"

"The…the prophecy…the prediction…Trelawney…"

"Ah, yes," Dumbledore said, "How much did you relay to Lord Voldemort?"

"Everything…everything I heard!" Snape said. "That is why…it is for that reason…he thinks it means Lilly Evens!"

"The prophecy did not refer to a woman," Dumbledore said. "It spoke of a boy born at the end of July…"

"You know what I mean! He thinks it means her son, he is going to hunt her down…kill them all…"

"If she means so much to you," Dumbledore said, "surely Lord Voldemort will spare her? Could you not ask for mercy for the mother, in exchange for the son?"

"I have…I have asked him…"

"You disgust me," Dumbledore said, and Harry had never heard so much contempt in his voice. Snape seemed to shrink a little. "You do not care, then, about the deaths of her husband and child? They can die, as long as you have what you want?"

Snape said nothing, but merely looked up at Dumbledore.

"Hide them all, then. Keep her…them…safe. Please."

"And what will you give me in return, Severus?"

"In…return?" Snape gaped at Dumbledore, and expected him to protest, but after a long moment he said, "Anything."

The hill top had faded and they were now in Dumbledore's office and something was making a terrible sound like a wounded animal. Snape was slumped forward in a chair and Dumbledore was standing over him, looking grim. After a moment or two, Snape raised his face, and looked like a man who had live hundred years of misery since leaving the wild hilltop.

"I thought… you were going… to keep her…safe…"

"She and James put their faith in the wrong person. Rather like you, Severus. Weren't you hoping that Lord Voldemort would spare her?"

Snape's breathing was shallow.

"Her boy survives." With a jerk of the head, Snape seemed to flick off an irksome fly. "Her son lives. He has her eyes, precisely her eyes. You remember the shape the color of Lily Evans's eyes, I am sure?"

"DON'T!" Snape bellowed. "Gone…dead…"

"Is this remorse, Severus?"

"I wish…I wish I were dead…"

"And what use would that be to anyone?" Dumbledore asked coldly. "If you loved Lily Evans, if you truly loved her, then your way forward is clear."

Snape seemed to peer through a haze of pain, and Dumbledore words appeared to take a long time to reach him.

"What… do you mean?"

"You know how and why she died. Make sure it was not I vain. Help me protect Lily's son."

"He doesn't need protection. The Dark Lord has gone…"

"The Dark Lord will return, and Harry Potter will be in terrible danger when he does."

There was a long pause, and slowly Snape regained control of himself, mastered his own breathing. At last he said, "very well. Very well. But never… never tell, Dumbledore! This must be between us! Swear it! I cannot bear…especially Potter's son…I want your word!"

"My word Severus, that I shall never reveal the best of you?" Dumbledore sighted, looking into Snape's ferocious, anguished face. "If you insist…"

They were back in the office. Snape was pacing up and down in front of Dumbledore.

"…mediocre, arrogant as his father, a determined rule breaker, delighted to find himself famous, attention-seeking and impertinent…"

"You see what you expect to see, Severus," Dumbledore said, without raising his eyes from ca copy of Transfiguration Today. "Other teachers report that the boy is modest, likable, and reasonably talented. Personally, I find him an engaging child. Keep an eye on Quirrel, won't you?"

A whirl of color, and now everything was darkened, and Snape and Dumbledore stood a little apart in the entrance hall, while the last straggler from the Yule Ball passed them on their way to bed.

"Well?" murmured Dumbledore.

"Karkaroff's mark is becoming darker too. He is panicking, he fears retribution; you know how much he help gave the Ministry after the Dark Lord fell." Snape glanced sideways at Dumbledore. "Karkaroff intends to flee if the mark burns

"Does he? And are you tempted to join him?"

"No, I am not such a coward."

"No, you are a braver man by far than Igor Karkaroff. You know, I sometimes think that we Sort too soon…"He walked away, leaving Snape looking stricken.

A black cloak billowed in the wind as the hooded figure stood outside the gates of a grand village, his eyes swept across the city. He stepped thru the threshold of the village, when he noticed a man leaning against a tree he had silver gravity defying hair, his left eye covered by a head band. His other eye buried in a book.

"What are you doing here?" Harry was surprised to see who it was the silver haired man that he had met on a couple occasions before.

"I must speak to your leader," the Snape said.

"Very well," Kakashi said putting his book away, and started to walk the hooded figure followed Kakashi but he had a feeling that someone was watching them. They walked into the tallest building that stood in the center of the village. Kakashi knocked on the door.

"Enter," shouted a very angry voice, the door opened and a blond woman who looked as if she had been sleeping, "what is so damn important that you had to wake me?"

"I am Severus Snape and I have come to request the service of a team of Shinobi," Snape said looking at the irate blond sitting behind the desk.

"What does this mission entail?" Tsunade asked looking into the dark emotionless eyes of Severus Snape.

"It will be a protection mission. There is a certain boy that unfortunately must be protected," Snape said.

"Why does this boy have to be protected?" Tsunade asked.

"It is believed that this boy will be the one who will bring an end to the Dark Lord's reign," Snape explained.

"I wish we could help, but we have just finished fighting a war and we are still searching for a very dangerous man by the name of Yakushi Kabuto," Tsunade said. Harry had heard that name before it was the same man who brought Dumbledore back from the dead.

"Tsunade-Sama if I may, why don't we just ask her to go," Kakashi said. Tsunade frowned at the statement.

"Call her," Tsunade said after a second in a soft voice. Kakashi pulled out a strange kunai; he dropped it and the next second someone in a red cloak with black flames she had blond hair and blue eyes, she wore orange pants a jack that was orange and black and a black t-shirt. She also wore a head band but it was different it had kanji on it. Naruko appeared before them in a flash.

"Naruko, would you be willing to take a mission?" Tsunade asked looking at the girl before her.

"For you Baa-Chan, I will do anything you, but who is going with me?" she asked a little nervously.

"You will be going at this mission alone, it is an S-ranked mission," Tsunade told her.

"You are sending just one girl the same age as the boy she is protecting?" Snape asked not looking too pleased with this bit of information.

"She is more than capable of protecting this boy. She is the most powerful Shinobi I have ever met," Kakashi said in his lazy tone. Snape looked between the three of them waiting for someone to tell him he was in the middle of some unpleasant joke.

"Look you can either take her help or leave," Tsunade said coldly.

"Very well, but if she dies on this mission then don't blame me," Snape said coolly.

"What are the details of this mission?" Naruko asked surprise Snape that she could speak such fluent English.

"It is simple you need to protect this boy from every threat. You need to keep him alive until he is ready to face the Dark Lord," Snape said as he handed her a picture of Harry Potter.

"Very well," she said looking at the picture, there was a boy with a lightening shaped scare on his forehead, he had green eyes and he was smiling, there was a red head boy to his right grinning and a bush haired girl to his left with a slight smile.

A toad was in Snape's office, "The Potter boy has made a gang to learn magic and the Ministry woman knows about it," then the toad was gone.

It was back at "There were people there but it seems they are waiting to ambush someone…" she said to Snape, "Where is Potter?" she asked quickly.

"He went down to the forest with that Granger girl and Umbridge some about five minutes ago," Snape answered.

"Dobby!" Naruko called out and the little elf appeared, "has Harry returned?" she asked the second the elf appeared before them.

"No, Miss," Dobby said.

"We will wait a little longer before we act, we don't want to jeopardize this in the long run for something that might not happen," Snape said coolly.

"Dobby, I am sorry," Naruko said in a soft voice. She turned to face the little elf her eyes red with three rings and nine tomoe. His eyes went glassy and he vanished.

"What did you do?" Snape asked coolly.

"I made him forget that I know you, it's better this way," Naruko said replacing her mask. Then she sat down her legs crossed and she sat perfectly still. She quickly located Harry's life force, but this made her stomach sink. He was not getting closer he was getting farther away and much too fast to be walking or even running.

"I have to go, he is going to the Ministry," Naruko said opening her eyes. They were now orange with horizontal rectangle pupil. Around her eyes it looked like she had red mascara, "Send backup to be safe."

"You called me Headmaster?"

"Yes, someone has a Shinobi following Harry and ANBU if I remember correctly," Dumbledore said.

"Who do you think it is?" Snape asked coolly.

"I don't know, I don't know how long she has been fallowing him," Dumbledore said showing his age as he sat at his desk. "I have a feeling this next year will be of great importance."

"I will do my best to find out who hired the Shinobi, Headmaster," Snape said leaving the room. A few steps away from the office he stopped to speak, "you did well."

"Thank you Snape-San," a voice whispered from the shadows.

More memories flashed passed they were back in Dumbledore's office, the window dark, and Fawkes sat in silence as Snape sat quite still, as Dumbledore walked around him, talking.

"Harry must not know, not until the last moment, not until it is necessary, otherwise how could he have the strength to do what must be done?"

"But what must he do?"

"That is between Harry and me. Now listen closely, Severus. There will come a time –after my death –do not argue, do not interrupt! There will come a time when Lord Voldemort will seem to fear for the life of his snake."

"For Nagini?"

"Precisely, if there comes a time when Lord Voldemort stops sending that snake forth to do his bidding, but keeps it safe beside him under magical protection, then, I think it will be safe to tell Harry."

"Tell him what?"

Dumbledore took a deep breath before closing his eyes. "Tell him that on the night Lord Voldemort tried to kill him, when Lily cast her own life between them as a shield, the Killing Curse rebounded upon Lord Voldemort and a fragment of Voldemort's soul was blasted apart from the whole, and latched itself onto the only living soul in that collapsing building. Part of Lord Voldemort lives inside of Harry, and it is that which gives him the power of speech with snakes, and a connection with Lord Voldemort's mind that he has never understood. And while that fragment of soul, unmissed by Lord Voldemort, remains attached to and protected by Harry, Lord Voldemort cannot die."

"So the boy… the boy must die?"

"And Voldemort himself must do it, Severus. That is essential."

Another long silence, then Snape spoke, "I thought… all these years…that we were protecting him for her… For Lily."

"We have protected him because it has been essential to teach him, to raise him, to let him try his strength," Dumbledore said, his eyes still shut tight. "Meanwhile, the connection between them grows ever stronger, a parasitic growth: sometimes I have thought he suspects it himself. If I know him he will have arranged matters so that when he does set out to meet his death, it will truly mean the end of Voldemort."

Dumbledore opened his eyes. Snape looked horrified.

"You have kept him alive so that he can die at the right moment?"

"Don't be shocked, Severus. How many men and women have you watched die?"

"Lately, only those whom I could not save, you have used me."

"Meaning?"

"I have spied for you and lied for you, put myself in mortal danger for you. Everything was supposed to be to keep Lily Potter's son safe. Now you tell me you have been raising him like a pig for the slaughter…"

"But this is touching, Severus. Have you grown to care for the boy, after all?"

"For him?" Snape shouted, "Expecto Patronum!"

From the tip of his wand burst a silver doe: She landed on the office floor, bounding once across the office and soared out the window.

"After all this time?"

"Always."

The more he saw the more he became confused but one thing was perfectly clear by the time he was back in reality back in Dumbledore's office. He was going to die that was his destiny he was always going to die all the work Naruko had put in to keep him alive all the people who died to protect him. It was all so that he could die at the right time. He wanted to say goodbyes, he wanted to see them all one last time but if he did…would he have the strength to do what needed to be done.