A/N: This chapter is a fairly shortish one, by my standards anyway. LOL! The reason is that it is the second part of the previous chapter and when I divided it, it didn't exactly split down the middle evenly. Still at 5,000 + words it is still quite substantial. I'm away from home and have been for over a week so writing is problematic. As is the fact that this story isn't cooperating in my desire to draw it all to a satisfactory ending. I've had the epilogue - a two part - written months ago but the last few chapters keep ballooning out. Anyway each chapter completed is one step closer to the end, I guess.

Thank you to people who have reviewed, faved or alerted. Just a reminder - this fic hasn't been beta'ed.

Warning: If you're a Snape fan, my advice is not to read this chapter since I plan on debunking a sacred cow or two.

Serieux Part 2

Chapter 20 Undercover for Dummies

They were still at the hospital. Tony had been transferred to a private room at the behest of the director who was suddenly very solicitous about his welfare. Vance had also arranged for a team of Marines to remain outside his hospital room to make sure he was safe and they were preventing the FBI and CIA from hassling him. It was the middle of the night and he'd woken up after sleeping off the effects of the anaesthetic and the pain medication that had him out for the count for most of the evening.

Despite telling Harry he didn't need to stay awake too, he'd refused to rest. So, after casting a privacy charm they'd been discussing the Auror Department and the DMLE, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the personnel and their procedures. As Harry was one of the most experienced Aurors, the future director was keen to get his opinion on the most pressing problems within the department and why corruption was still rife. Tony had noted how few Aurors there were in the cohort between those who'd trained in the group which included Alice and Frank Longbottom, James and Sirius and the group that included Harry and his peers, who'd entered the ranks in the aftermath of Voldemort's defeat at Hogwarts.

Unable to curtail his disgust or unfortunately, his tongue – more than likely due to the cocktail of chemicals still rampant in his system – he railed against Severus Snape for the decline in the number of recruits which lowered the standards as there weren't enough graduates to enable the department to pick the best suited candidates for the job. Snape's campaign preventing far too many students from obtaining their NEWTs in Potions, unless they had received an Outstanding grade in their OWLs was outrageous. Especially when potions professors both before and after him had only required students gain an Exceptional or higher to study for their NEWTS. Which after all, was consistent with prerequisites needed for recruits to enter post Hogwarts training for both healers and law enforcement.

Snape had single-handed managed to decimated the Auror and healer ranks of a specific cohort (all those educated during his tenure as potions master) within their society and Sirius felt compelled to question if he'd deliberately been attempting to weaken two crucial areas of their magical society. Even if it hadn't been intentional, it was outrageous and high handed of him. He'd ended up calling Snape a narcissistic, cruel bully who enjoyed making others suffer.

Truthfully, he'd been biding his time to express what he thought about Severus Snape - based on his hindsight – always a wondrous thing. Because of retrospection that he'd gained via physical and emotional distance, which included him having a new life and doing a bunch of growing up. However, lying in a hospital bed while his liver was busy detoxing a variety of drugs probably wasn't the best time to choose but hey, it was what it was.

When Harry staunchly defended Snape, he realised it was time to bite the bullet.

"Sirius how can you say that about Snape? He was undercover – he had no choice."

"So, because he was undercover, after he decided he didn't want to be a Death Eater any more he what…gets a free pass on being a miserable arse? C'mon Harry, it doesn't work that way. He was so filled with hate that he betrayed you – an innocent 15-month-old toddler and your parents, and let's not forget he betrayed the Longbottom family, without a qualm. He left you all like goats staked out on a rope for his master, Voldemort – no one forced him to do that."

Harry winced visibly. "He regretted it… and he paid for his actions. He loved my mother." Harry protested.

Leaving that argument about Lily alone for the time being, Sirius (and it was definitely Sirius in the driver's seat right now) continued their difficult discussion.

"So we should ignore the fact that Snape was a vindictive bully? Is that what you are saying, Harry? That all the wizards and witches that he bullied in his time as a professor at Hogwarts… those students he terrorised… all the students that failed potions because they were freakin terrified of him, they don't matter? Let's just forget about those poor wretches who failed potions because he took a dislike to them and set them up to fail or those he just flat out failed without justification because he hated them? They don't count either I guess!"

Harry looked pained, and as someone who'd done his own unpleasant soul searching regarding one of his own sacred cows by the name of L.J. Gibbs recently, Tony was trying not to get too heavy handed. This was a sensitive topic after all. Harry had called one of his offspring after Snape and Dumbledore for pity's sake – he had both wizards up on a massive pedestal.

"But he had to act like that. It was all just a sham," he protested weakly.

"The ranks of both the healers and Aurors were decimated because of his refusal to let anyone who failed to receive an Outstanding in potions to go on and study it at NEWT level – you're saying it doesn't matter because he was undercover. Notwithstanding he made it nigh near impossible for most students to pass his course unless they were the lucky few he favoured ( or they were geniuses like Hermione) because he was a) a bloody awful teacher and b) a damned bully. So, that was okay?"

"No it wasn't okay… but it was for the greater good and he had no choice… he was pretending to be Voldemort's spy. He's a hero, Sirius – he was in danger so he had no choice but to pretend to be a bully and a hippogriff's arse. We should be thanking him for his sacrifice," Harry said reprovingly.

"Even if his educational expectations weren't related to Voldemort's implicit or explicit doctrine, goals or orders such as excluding muggle born students, so therefore they were completely superfluous to retaining his cover? And let's not forgetting that the DMLE and St Mungos had a less stringent educational requirement for their recruits than Snape imposed? C'mon Harry, there is no reasonable justification for that other than he was vindictive narcissist who got off on ruining other wizards and witches dreams because he'd ruined his own by joining the Death Eaters, even if he regretted it later on."

Seeing the stubborn set to Harry's jaw, Sirius recognised that look. It was an exact replica of the one worn by Lily Potter when she was bawling James out for being a prat and he dug his heels in. Mentally shaking his head at such woolly-headed thinking, Sirius decided to shake things up.

"You know, one of the new courses I intend to introduce at the Auror Training Academy is a course on undercover work. I want to set up a specialised department inside the DMLE for stings and I'll be looking at recruiting specially trained operatives."

His godson looked momentarily off balance at the shift in topic before looking interested. "That sounds bloody brilliant. Who'll run the course for the trainee Aurors, and can existing Aurors like me enrol in it too?"

Sirius nodded. "Trainees will need to meet certain psychological criteria, Aurors can take part too, provided they pass the psych. screening and I'll be teaching the course. After years living undercover as a non-magical male plus years of working undercover as a cop, I'm more than qualified to run it."

Having achieved his objective of deflecting Harry and subtly reminding him that he was an expert on the subject of working undercover, he parried elegantly. "Oh and by the way… that is absolute dragon dung about Severus having no choice but behaving like a bully because he was undercover. It would have had the exact opposite effect.

Harry frowned. "What? How do you figure that?

Sirius stepped back and pushed his Tony persona back into the spotlight as he began to educate Harry about the basic tenets of working undercover. "Seriously Cub? Let's run through 'Undercover for Dummies' then."

Harry looked discouraged. "You think I'm a dummy?"

Sighing, Tony realised just how wide the gulf still was between himself and most of the wizards he'd be encountering after almost two decades in the States. He had a lot of reacclimating to do. "Nope, not was I meant; the 'For Dummies' refers to a series of self-help books. They give a very basic overview of a topic – often they take a complex topic and dumb it down so that a newbie can grasp the basic principles."

Seeing Harry nod in relief he realised furiously that the 'damage' done by years of Durlsey, Snape and Dumbledore's abusiveness to Harry's fragile self-esteem, was still very much alive and residing in the adult's psyche It was easy to see should you scratched just below the surface. More good reasons to hold a grudge against them all.

Taking a sip of water, he manoeuvred around, trying to get comfortable as Harry sprang up, fluffing up pillows and helping him resettled. Waiting until Harry settled back into the padded hospital chair before he began to explain the basics of undercover work.

"Okay, so you're a cop and you get to take down the bad guys – let's say it's the mob. So, you go undercover and have to act like the group you are trying to catch and put away. There are variations on this theme but remember we are distilling this right down to its essence."

He waited until his listener indicated his understanding before continuing. "So, your backstory is that you're Italian – your father is an Italian-American mobster in Philly. You speak fluent Italian and obviously, you respect the culture of the mob. So, you need to be able to speak Italian and be able to fit in with mobsters if you want to survive, since they don't like spies in their midst.

"What you don't want to do is go in claiming to be Italian and a mobster and then start acting like someone who doesn't fit in. To act like say the Russian Mafia, drinking copious quantities of Russian, not knowing what a cannoli is, or speaking Italian with a Russian accent."

Harry nodded. He was following the rationale but couldn't see how it related to Snape. "Yeah because you want to fit in – be one of the guys, not draw unnecessary attention to yourself."

Tony grinned approvingly. "Correct, since no matter how good you are, or how good your cover is, it can always be broken, given enough scrutiny or if you are put under the right amount of pressure." Tony declared firmly. "No matter how good you are you can be broken. The trick is to avoid attracting suspicion so you stay under the radar."

Tony (and it was Tony driving this particular conversation) paused, thinking about how he'd learnt this particular fact-of-undercover-life the hard way. "Okay, so if you're lucky…if your cover story holds up to scrutiny… then you can do your job. That's providing you're good enough at bluffing and improvisation, and you don't get asked to do something too abhorrent and or illegal like murder. Let's say, for the sake of this discussion that you gain their trust and they tell you enough classified intel or you find a way to collect it without them knowing. Then you get to set them up…catch them breaking the law and arrest them."

Harry smiled. "How does that feel? It must be bloody brilliant when they find out you've fooled them?"

Feeling his stomach clench with anxiety, he disagreed. "If it's the mob – Russia Mafia or the Cosa Nostra – then hopefully they never find out it was you that ratted them out. Or if they do, then you pray that they never learn your real identity, because they will hunt you down and kill you if they can."

Seeing Harry's horrified expression, he explained. "The mob is like Voldemort in as much as if you betray them, they'll hunt and kill you without losing any sleep over it." Recalling how the Macaluso family had dispatched men who they thought were spies during his time undercover, Tony shivered involuntarily. The constant fear that he might be next had been all encompassing and made it difficult to close his eyes at night.

"They're ruthless, Cub and they'll never forget a betrayal… even if they take more than a generation to collect the debt. So, the standard operating procedure is when the cops move in and arrest everyone that the undercover operative also gets arrested and charged too. Sometimes they might even go so far as to chuck you into jail and then they'll arrange for you to be transferred out or set up a fight where you're killed in the shower block. Just so they never find out who ratted them out."

"But if it's a cop it's their job…"

"Doesn't matter, Harry. To them, you wormed your way into their organisation and gained their trust, then betrayed them."

The young Auror looked considerably less enthralled by the romance of undercover work and to be fair, not all undercover work was as dangerous as going undercover with the mob or Death Eaters – but it was always potentially dangerous. Sometimes it was your own side that put you in danger. Tony thought about how close he and Jeanne had come to being killed by the bomb planted in his car by Trent Kort and the CIA. Of course, when you worked undercover you relied on your backup to be ready to get you out if you got into trouble.

Sighing since that debacle was all water under the bridge now, he concentrated on the topic at hand. "Right, so we looked at how you carry out a basic no frills undercover mission as a cop. Let's switch it up and look at being a double agent. Let's say that the Mob decides that it needs someone in the police department to act as an informant, so they choose you because you're the son of a Mob guy to go to the police academy under a false name and they give you a cover story."

His godson looked intrigued as he stretched his legs out and crossed them. "So if I'm a kid growing up in the mob I'd have to infiltrate the cops, act like a cop, talk like a cop. I'd need to graduate from the training academy?" he asked.

"Yep…the Police Academy. And once you got your badge you might have to arrest members of the mob to allay suspicion as the need arises. Now let's say that one day you do your job (your real mafia job) and deliver intel to the mob boss telling him that the police are getting far too close to closing down their drug and extortion ring. So, the mob decides to eliminate the main threat – the police lieutenant who is driving the whole operation and they decide to kill him. There's a shootout as he's leaving the police station to get into his car and drive home and a child who is walking past gets killed in the crossfire."

Tony took a sip of water and shifted uncomfortably in bed, wishing he was home in his own custom made bed with its super thick mattress and high count sheets. He noted Harry was captivated by the scenario he was painting and he grinned.

"Suddenly you have a huge attack of conscience, since that little kid wasn't supposed to be killed and you start making mistakes on the job because you aren't sleeping at night. Your police Captain is on the warpath about the Lieutenant's death and the kid dying… he starts putting two and two together and coming up with four. He confronts you and threatens to make sure you go away for premeditated murder and then he turns you. You agree to work undercover as a spy for the cops and set up the mob because if you don't, then you'll end up in prison for a very long time."

Harry frowned. "But if I've become a spy because I might end up in prison for 30-odd years, can you really trust me?"

"Maybe… or maybe not. But your captain doesn't just have the threat of prison hanging over your head – he can also make sure that the mob learns that you've turned if you step out of line in the slightest. That might be enough to keep you in line…or not."

Tony let him digest that information and then pressed. "Okay…so how do you act undercover now?"

Concentrating, he ran his hand through his already unruly black head of hair. "I'd umm… I would continue to act the same way with the cops." He said looking for validation."

"Why?"

"Because apart from my Captain, no one knows about me and the Mob?"

"Yep…well maybe a few bigwigs like the Chief of Police know about the operation now because it would be stupid if the Captain was the only one. All you would need to do is to kill him and the threat would disappear with him, so there would need to be a limited number in the know and help run the op. But not too many, because it could endanger the undercover operation if word leaked out, so most cops don't know you are a mole."

Harry nodded. "Yeah…makes sense."

"Exactly. And if I was your Captain, I'd make a point of telling you that I'm not the only cop who knows the mob planted you and that you're an accessory to murder…just so I didn't end up dead. And now you've been turned, how would you act around your Mob buddies?" Tony questioned.

"Well…they don't know I've been turned, so I'd just act normally."

"So you wouldn't start acting like a corrupt cop or getting slack in the job because you were being forced to become a mole against the mob?"

"That would be dumb. It would call undue attention to me from the cops who might suspect I'm dirty," Harry protested.

Tony nodded, pleased that Harry had grasped the basics. "Good, so let's look at a slightly different scenario. Let's say that it wasn't your Captain that figured out that you were a mole placed in the department by the Mob. What if it was Internal Affairs who had you under surveillance and arrested you in a blaze of publicity. They charge you with two counts of murder and your links to the Mob are emblazoned across the media, so everyone knows about it.

"Just when you are getting ready to have to go to trial your Captain and the Drug Enforcement Agency come to see you with a proposal. They promise to vouch for you with the cops and say that the IA cops framed you. Plus, they'll get the charges dropped if you spy on the Mob for the Drug Enforcement Agency and help bring it down."

Harry looked a little hesitant. "Yeah okay?"

"So, how would you act?"

"How do you mean?

"What's changed from the last scenario?"

Well the cops are going to be highly suspicious of me and now they'll examine every single little thing I say and do." Harry replied, looking at Tony for affirmation.

Tony nodded. "Plus, the Mob also know that you've been suspected of spying on their behalf and you getting off so easily probably will make them suspicious. That complicates things completely." Seeing Harry's questioning look, he probed. "Okay…so, do you act like you're part of the Mafia? Blackmail your fellow cops? Rough up witnesses to make them talk, threaten to provide them with concrete shoes and feed them to the fishes? Do you start openly associating with the Mob types because if you don't they might get suspicious that you aren't their mole anymore?"

The younger wizard looked befuddled. "No, if you started flouting the rules as a cop then you blow your cover as a cop obviously. Especially if you associate with members of the Mob."

"Yeah but the cops don't matter, do they? It's the DEA who continue to vouch for you no matter what you do. Your police Captain does too, so because he wants to put the mob away, he'll ignore it every time you break the law or act suspiciously."

Harry stood up and stretched out his muscles. 'Well then I supposed that would work. Although the cops would probably start to suspect that I was spying on the Mob because I could get away with so much. Which might make it more dangerous for me personally, plus if any cops had loose lips or they were corrupt too, it could get tricky."

"Yes they might and that is a concern but the real problem is not that the cops find your actions suspicious. Tell me Harry, if you are the Mob boss, wouldn't you find it suspicious that the cops were letting the mole you'd placed in the police force to spy for you get away with breaking the law, blackmail other cops, rough up suspects and not do their job properly? Or would you think it was suspicious if they were disciplined or even fired for behaving contrary to the good of the police department and the citizens that cops are supposed to be protecting. If I was the Mob Bosses, I'd think it was bloody suspicious if they didn't discipline my mole and protect innocent people who he harmed.

"In fact, being the nasty cynical person that I am, I'd be so suspicious that they didn't throw him out on his ass I'd immediately suspect that my mole had been turned by them. Nothing else would explain why they were letting him get away with so much crap."

Harry was silent for the longest time and Tony let him reflect – figuring he would get the point in the end. Finally, the younger wizard rose from his chair, reversed the privacy charm and disappeared from the room. He returned with an armful of snacks from one of the vending machines in the hospital, including drinks and packets of chips. He'd managed to grab several mixed sandwiches too, all of which he dumped down on the rolling bedside table.

"Feeling a bit peckish, Harry?" he queried, unable to stop himself from chuckling before wishing he hadn't. For some reason a stab wound to the upper chest wasn't conducive to hilarity.

The younger wizard shrugged. "You slept though dinner so I thought you might appreciate a snack."

He watched with amusement as the younger wizard openned the various packaging containers as Tony had an IV line in one hand that Harry was convinced was an object of torture and excruciatingly painful, in spite of all his reassurances. He couldn't help remembering that scene from Star Trek IV - The Voyage Home, where Bones goes to a 20th century hospital to rescue Chekov, who is near death. But the Doc stops to help heal a patient with his 23rd century skills because he's appalled by the primitive treatment methods employed by the hospital doctors who he thinks are barbarians.

Harry gestured for Tony to help himself to the sandwiches, handing him a bottle of soda. The Auror had developed quite a taste for the non-magical drink since he'd been staying with his godfather in DC. He seized his own drink, taking a long desperate pull before scoffing down his sandwich. Finally, after a manly belch he drilled Tony with a look.

"So what you're suggesting is that Voldemort suspected that Professor Snape was a mole who was spying on him."

"No…I'm not suggesting it, Harry. I have absolutely no doubt he was certain of it. Riddle was evil incarnate, but he also was not stupid – unlike Dumbledore or Snape. You'll recall he tried to get the job as the defence against the dark arts position at Hogwarts when he was younger and the then headmaster, who coincidentally just happened to be Dumbledore, refused to employ him because he felt that Voldemort or Tom Riddle as he was back then, was delving into dark arts and Albus wanted to protect the students from him. Voldemort knew that the only way that Snape would be permitted to act in such an unprofessional manner and have no punitive action meted out or his position terminated was if Dumbledore had some other agenda which was even more important to him.

"Being a massive narcissistic personality, old Tommy Boy would have immediately glommed onto the notion that nothing and no one was more important to Dumbledore than defeating him and in this estimation, he'd be right. To Dumbledore, nothing WAS more important to him than beating Voldemort. Not my innocence, not even your life."

"But hang on, if Voldemort knew that Snape was Dumbledore's spy, then why wouldn't he have killed him? He hated his minions being disloyal and deceiving him. You said so yourself," the younger wizard protested.

"True, but if there's anything worth its weight in gold, it's using your enemy's mole to disseminate disinformation." Seeing Harry's confusion, he clarified, "False information. Plus, he had Snape between a rock and a hard place. He got to make him do a lot of things that he would have baulked at when he was interacting with him and the Death Eaters, except that he had to keep his cover intact – or so he thought at least.

"And don't forget that he was a potions Master and Voldemort made use of his skills to create potions for healing his Death Eaters. He must have been laughing his snakey butt off with the mind games he got to play with Snape and Dumbledore. They thought they were putting one over on him but he was laughing his ass off at them."

"So it was an impossible ask for Snape to be a spy, then?" Harry asked, rhetorically as he reached in and grabbed a handful of chips.

Shaking his head at his denseness Tony responded curtly. "Don't be dense, Cub. All Snape had to do to be convincing, was 1) to publicly renounce his Death Eater past and adopt a blameless life as an earnest potions professor. 2) Go about his business of educating all the Hogwarts students without fear or favour. 3) Crack down on the Slytherins and NOT engage in bullying James Potter's son. They all would have been an excellent start!

"And when I had to face Old Tommy again, I would have explained I was lying through my teeth so Dumbledore thought I was a reformed character and let me stay in the castle so I could spy on him. I'd also point out that a real Slytherin would con his enemies into believing that he was a reformed wizard and therefore was not a threat to Dumbledore and his asinine little Order of the Phoenix. That meant pretending that I didn't hate his so-called secret weapon- that smug, spoilt Harry James Potter - even though I'd never forgive him for surviving instead of Lily. I'd tell him that I hoped Albus would invite me to join his merry little band of minions so I could deliver intel on their plans and that's why I'd been sucking up to Dumbledore and making myself invaluable as his potions master."

Tony's voice died away and he looked at his best friend's son cautiously. He could go on about how he would have pulled off the undercover op. and made a compelling case that he was still Tommy-boy's mole spying on Dumbledore. But he didn't because he could see from Harry's stricken face that he'd already made his point more than eloquently.

After another pregnant pause that lasted several minutes at the least, Harry had one last objection. "If Voldemort truly knew that Dumbledore had turned Snape against him, why on earth would he appoint Snape as the Hogwarts Headmaster after Dumbledore died?"

"A few reasons in my opinion. Most everyone in the castle believed he'd murdered 'ol Dumbledumb' in cold blood and they were terrified of him, so he helped keep the students under control. Don't forget, even when he was only the potions professor and Head of Slytherin House, he had Albus' blind support no matter what he did and at least three quarters of the Hogwarts students either despised or were afraid of him for his treatment of them. Probably even more importantly, Voldemort decided it was a politic decision to have him at the castle. Have you ever heard the phrase - keep your friends close and your enemies closer?

"Oh yeah, that was in the Godfather II movie that we watched the other night, right?" Awesome movie," he enthused "but stupid plan."

"Barking out a laugh that sounded somewhat like Padfoot, he nodded. "Yeah it was in The Godfather II but the writers pinched the quote – it was first attributed to a famous ancient Chinese military strategist – Sun Tzu. And it's far from being a stupid plan, Harry. The closer you are to your enemy, the more you have the chance to study them and get to know their strengths and their weakness, so you can mount an effective attack.

"But more than that, by appointing him as headmaster of Hogwarts, he knew where he could be found, practically every minute of the day. So, if he ever needed to find him urgently, he could. Plus, by giving him Hogwarts to run, it meant he had less time to be plotting against him. It was a very clever way to control him."

When Harry attempted to argue, Tony scowled at him. "Have you ever heard of a figurehead? That was Snape – he had no power. Tell me Harry, who did Voldemort appoint as Snape's 2ICs?"

"The Carrows."

"Exactly. Apart from Lucius Malfoy, the vile LeStrange brothers and Bellatrix, , Amycus and Alecto Carrow were his most vicious and trusted Death Eaters, part of his inner cadre. Why have them mouldering away at a castle full of children in the Scottish Highlands as Deputy Headmaster and Deputy Headmistress if he trusted that Snape was totally loyal to him?"

Tony saw the questions in Harry's emerald green eyes as he considered his rationale. "So they were keeping their eye on him?"

"I have no doubt that Tommy Boy fully intended to kill Severus during the final battle, or terminate him if he'd survived until the end. Let's face it, Voldemort was such a narcissist that he would have never considered he could be defeated. Snape just caught him off guard when he struck out at him when he did… but he was always going to die for betraying his Dark Mark and his Dark Lord." Tony sniffed disdainfully at the moniker as he lay back against his pillows, done in and deciding that sleeping for a few hours sounded great right about now.