Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!

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As the school year ended, Draco wondered if it would be his life or Dumbledore's that would end with it.

He couldn't stomach the idea of murder, yet the thought of hearing his parents' tortured screams made him want to vomit.

Desperately searching for a compromise somewhere along the edge of villainy, Draco sought a way to accomplish his impossible task while keeping his humanity.

He stumbled through one failed attempt after another.

A cursed necklace that never reached its intended recipient.

A vial of poison intercepted by the castle's house elves.

Late one evening, in the headmaster's office, Dumbledore sat in his chair while Severus blotted his affected arm with a bit of Healing Elixir dabbed onto a clean washcloth.

"Tell me, Severus….." Dumbledore said with a small smile, "Is it as difficult for you to watch the boy bungle his orders so comically?"

The frown that had settled on Severus's pale face deepened as he glanced up at his employer and asked, "You would dare mock the attempts of the very person sent to kill you, headmaster?"

"Draco is little more than a frightened boy." Dumbledore replied with a knowing chuckle.

Severus narrowed his dark eyes at the ominous, black lines of venom that could be seen creeping up Dumbledore's arm to spread all the way from his cursed finger and stretch threateningly towards his ancient heart.

"The time is coming, Severus." Dumbledore confessed with a resigned sigh, "I hope you stand ready to choose between what is right and what is necessary."

Severus lifted his head to meet Dumbledore's piercing gaze with a scowl of deep concern.

"You will, of course, be sure to give the details of my slaying to Tom?" Dumbledore expectantly asked, "He'll trust you more for it, Severus, believe me……..And that alone may very well win you and your family a bit more time for Harriet to strengthen herself."

"Has it ever entered your brilliant mind that I don't want…..to do this…..anymore?" Severus drawled.

His brow furrowed more with the slow enunciation of each carefully chosen word.

"Nor do I have any particular interest in dying." Dumbledore replied as casually as if he spoke of running errands. He glanced down at his cursed arm before he looked at Severus again and replied, "Regardless, it seems that we both find ourselves men of few choices these days, my old friend."

Dumbledore was more than four times Severus's age, but to hear him speak so sentimentally warmed Severus's heart.

"...And if I fail, Dumbledore?" Severus mused out loud.

Dumbledore blinked as he waited for Severus to go on.

Severus cleared his throat, "Suppose that in the end, I cannot do what is……..necessary……What you've asked of me?"

"Inconceivable." Dumbledore said with a bittersweet smile, "You took the vow, Severus. There is no going back."

"...The question remains, Dumbledore." Severus insisted.

Dumbledore shrugged, "If we are going to assume that the truth is no longer the truth and that you have not already bonded yourself to Draco in a life-altering magical contract……….If we are to suppose you choose to let me live out the rest of my greatly limited and compromised days……." He went on.

Severus fell silent as Dumbledore stared off Into the distance as he thought for a long moment.

"...No." He said at last as he raised his eyes to meet Severus's black gaze, "No, it's impossible, Severus. I know, beyond all shadow of doubt, that you will not fail."

"How can you be certain?" Severus asked as Dumbledore clutched his hand to temporarily pause the incessant rubbing of his wound.

"Because if you fail, Severus," Dumbledore said with deadly seriousness, "...Lily will most certainly die."

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On a desperate quest to gather answers her parents refused to offer, Harriet sought out every available resource.

As she trudged through the final semester of the school year, her many assignments and pesky Professor Umbridge failed to hold her attention for any length of time.

She requested to speak with Dumbledore again, in an effort to consult the last possible person she knew who may be able to fill in the blanks left by the Order and her family.

Dumbledore reluctantly agreed to meet with Harriet one cloudy afternoon, high atop the Astronomy Tower.

The headmaster was careful to arrive first.

As he shuffled across the platform, clutching his aching hand, a frown marred his wrinkled face.

He would have to work to keep his hand and his deteriorating condition hidden from Harriet's watchful eye without the cover of his desk.

Riddled with exhaustion, he lowered himself down on the bench next to the railings and waited.

His head lolled back against the post while his eyelids grew heavy.

The notion of sleep whispered to him like a seductive siren.

Dumbledore's eyes fluttered closed as he slowly drifted off, the only real release he had found himself capable of achieving over his pain during the last few months.

Dumbledore could feel it in his soul.

It wouldn't be long until he found himself freed from his irritating, mortal condition.

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"Professor?"

"PROFESSOR!"

Dumbledore woke some time later with a sound between a gasp and a snarl as he jolted violently and opened his eyes.

Harriet crouched in front of him, with a hand on his shoulder and her face twisted in worry.

"Harriet!" Dumbledore rasped before he cleared his throat and tried to collect himself.

He quickly glanced down to ensure his hand had remained covered in his robes as he spoke, "Forgive me…..I must have nodded off. I've been so very busy lately I haven't found the time to rest as much as I've needed."

He could tell by the frown that creased Harriet's face she had not accepted his lies as truth, although she did not question him as she asked, "Are you alright, Professor? I can't say that I've ever found you sleeping somewhere before."

"Do not worry about me, Harriet." Dumbledore chuckled with the wound that could possibly bring about his own death slyly concealed, "I'm eager to hear what exactly it is you wanted to discuss. Please, go on, tell me what's on your mind."

Dumbledore's words were honest then.

He couldn't help but wonder exactly what had crossed Harriet's thoughts?

"As I mentioned, I……I know about the Order of the Phoenix." Harriet began.

"Yes?" Dumbledore asked as he raised a brow, "May I ask why that warranted our meeting today?"

"I followed Professor Lupin." Harriet admitted with a shrug, "...To Sirius Black's house, he…..he told me there, all about it. I know everything! I know Severus Snape is not my real father, but that doesn't matter! In my eyes, he is and always will be…..my Dad."

"Then may I humbly ask, Harriet, why you've come to me?" Dumbledore questioned with a wry grin, "It seems as if there is little left for you to discover now."

Dumbledore cruelly taunted her in his own way.

He knew well enough it would have been impossible for her to discover the plan he had laid for her in the upcoming battle, yet Dumbledore offered no information or warnings on the subject.

Harriet furrowed her brow while she thought.

"Professor…….?" She asked, "What's the point of all this? People act in such secrecy around me……I've had to pry answers from everyone….Why? Don't I have a right to know? About myself? About him? About my family? None of this should have been kept from me!"

Dumbledore opened his mouth to speak until the sound of rushing footsteps and chatting voices echoed from the tower steps.

He glanced in the direction of the sounds before he nodded at Harriet, who furrowed her brow as he hissed, "...HIDE!"

Reluctantly, Harriet obeyed as she slunk down the steps that led to the area just beneath the Astronomy Tower's overlook.

Above her, the floorboards creaked and dust fell.

Peering up from her vantage point, she could clearly see who had come.

Draco was there.

Her father too, and Bellatrix Lestrange.

Several of Voldemort's lesser known miscreants gathered behind them, like spectators who had come to watch a popular sport.

Harriet's eyes widened as Draco withdrew his wand.

"Draco……….." Dumbledore said as he slowly raised his hands.

In a split second, he had passed his palm over his pocket and grasped his own wand, but his affliction had delayed his stealthiness.

"EXPELLIARMUS!" Draco shouted.

Dumbledore cried out as the burst of red magic that shot forth sent his wand flying across the platform into Draco's hand.

"Draco…….listen to me." Dumbledore ordered.

From her hidden position, Harriet watched her father and headmaster exchange nervous glances.

"I don't have a choice!" Draco hissed as he pointed his wand at Dumbledore.

Bellatrix sneered while Dumbledore nodded, "There's always a choice, Draco."

"Don't you understand?!" Draco spat.

Harriet could hear the tears that clogged his voice.

"If I don't kill you……he's going to kill me!" Draco cried.

"Make the Dark Lord proud, Draco. You're so very brave….." Bellatrix cooed as she slithered near his side like a snake while her polished fingers drifted over his face.

Harriet wrinkled her nose in disgust while she watched from the floorboards underneath.

Her eyes moved back to Dumbledore, but as she took a step forward, intent on protecting the headmaster, she discovered she had been trapped there, under the floorboards, by someone's enchantment.

Harriet would have been furious if she realized the headmaster himself had made sure no one interfered with his plan.

A nauseating moment of anxiety passed.

Harriet's eyes darted around to see, just in time, the slight, barely noticeable nod that Dumbledore gave Severus when Draco lowered his wand with a sob.

What happened next still took her by surprise.

Severus stepped forward, withdrew his wand, and pointed it at Dumbledore.

"Severus……." The wise headmaster pleaded as he held up his hands, "...Please….."

A grim pause followed only to be broken too soon.

"...AVADA KEDAVRA!" Severus shouted as he step forward and flourished his wand.

A hideous green light erupted from the wand's tip to strike Dumbledore lifeless before it sent his empty body falling from the tower.

Harriet drew in a long gasp of shock.

As she watched Dumbledore's fall from the stone window, whatever remained of her childhood died with him.