The Prince's Tale

Arthur remained kneeling at Snape's side, staring down at him, wondering why he said those words.

Then suddenly, a high, cold voice spoke so close to them that Arthur jumped to his feet, the flask gripped tightly in his hands, thinking that Voldemort reentered the Shrieking Shack.

Voldemort's voice reverberated from the walls and floor, making Arthur realise he was talking to all of Hogwarts and the surrounding area, making the residents of Hogsmeade and those still fighting in the castle hear him as clearly as though he stood beside them, his breath on the back of their necks, a death blow away.

"You have fought valiantly. Lord Voldemort knows how to value bravery. Yet you have sustained heavy losses. If you continue to resist me, you will all die, one by one. I do not wish this to happen. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a loss and a waste. Lord Voldemort is merciful. I command my forces to retreat, immediately. You have one hour. Dispose of your dead with dignity. Treat your injured. I speak now, Arthur Pendergast, directly to you. You have permitted your friends to die for you rather than face me yourself. I shall wait for one hour in the Forbidden Forest. If, at the end of that hour, you have not come to me, have not given yourself up, then battle recommences. This time, I shall enter the fray myself, Arthur Pendergast, and I shall find you, and I shall punish every last man, woman and child who has tried to conceal you from me. One hour."

Arthur looked to Mike, David and Chrys, all three shaking their heads frantically at him.

"Don't listen to that bastard." Mike said, gripping one of Arthur's hands tightly.

"He's right. You can't give yourself up to him." David backed Mike.

"Come on, let's go to the castle. If he's gone to the Forest, we'll have to think of a new plan." Chrys said.

She glanced down at Snape's body before hurrying back to the tunnel entrance with Mike and David following after her.

Arthur grabbed the Invisibility Cloak and looked back down at Snape one last time, feeling confused, yet disgusted by how and why he was killed.

Voldemort thought Snape was the master of the Elder Wand, when that wasn't true. He didn't Disarm Dumbledore, that was Draco, who was Disarmed by Arthur himself.

They all crawled back through the tunnel, no one saying a word, Arthur pondering what Voldemort said.

You have permitted your friends to die for you rather than face me yourself. I shall wait for one hour in the Forbidden Forest… one hour….

He didn't let his friends die for him. He may not have wanted them to stay and fight, but they did so because they felt like they had to, to help Arthur for him to succeed in his mission and to save the wizarding world.

Some may have died, but they no doubt knew they'd give their lives for all that is good.

Small bundles littered the lawn at the front of the castle.

Arthur guessed it was an hour or so until dawn came, yet it was pitch black.

The four of them hurried to the stone steps, seeing a lone clog, the size of a small boat, lay abandoned in front of them. There was no other sign of Grawp or of his attacker.

There was an unnerving and unnatural silence throughout the castle. No flashes of light, bangs, screams or shouts.

The flagstones of the deserted Entrance Hall were caked with blood. Emeralds were still scattered over the floor among pieces of marble and splintered wood. Part of the bannisters were blown away.

"Where is everyone?" Chrys asked in a whisper.

David led the way into the Great Hall.

Arthur stopped in the doorway.

All of the house tables were gone and the room was crowded.

All of the survivors stood in groups, arms around each other's necks.

Those that were injured were being treated up on the raised platform by Madam Pomfrey and a group of helpers.

Firenze was amongst the injured, his flank pouring blood as he shook where he lay, unable to stand. Jack was surrounded by his entire family, all looking relieved despite having tears down their cheeks.

David and Chrys went over to them, to give support and comfort. Mike went on his own, deciding to check on the other injured individuals while Arthur still stood at the doorway.

The dead were laid out in a row in the middle of the Hall. There, Arthur had a clear view of a still breathing Tonks, kneeling and physically shaking as she cradled the lifeless body of Remus Lupin, who was pale, still and peaceful looking, like he was asleep beneath the dark, enchanted ceiling.

This sight made the Great Hall fly away, becoming smaller as Arthur reeled back from the doorway, shaking and eyes welling up.

He couldn't draw breath as he couldn't bear looking at anymore of the bodies of people who will have mourning family and friends. Especially since thinking of Teddy losing his father was alone too much for Arthur to think about. He may know all of their deaths weren't his fault, but it still got to him that they all died to help him.

He turned away and ran up the marble staircase, wishing he could just rip his heart out.

The whole castle was empty, even the ghosts seeming to have joined the mourning in the Great Hall.

Arthur just ran without stopping, still clutching the crystal flask of Snape's memories, not slowing down until he reached the gryphon that guarded the Headmaster's office.

"Password?"

"Dumbledore." Arthur replied without even thinking, as he truly yearned to see him. He was surprised to see that the gryphon slid aside, revealing the spiral staircase behind it.

When Arthur entered the office, he saw a change right away. All of the portraits that hung around the walls were empty. Not one headmaster or headmistress remained. They were probably charging through the many portraits that lined the castle, to see what was going on.

Arthur glanced hopelessly at Dumbledore's deserted frame, which actually hung directly behind the Headmaster's chair. He glanced around, finding the Sorting Hat where it always was before he looked round and found what he was looking for.

The Pensieve lay in the cabinet where it always was. Arthur heaved it onto the desk and poured Snape's memories into the wide basin with its runic markings around the edge.

Escaping into someone else's head was something that Arthur desperately wanted to do… even if it's into Snape's.

The memories swirled, silver white and strange.

Without hesitation, Arthur dived in.

He fell headlong into sunlight before his feet landed on warm ground.

When he straightened, he found himself in a nearly deserted playground with a single, huge chimney dominating the distant skyline.

Arthur spotted two girls swinging backwards and forwards with a skinny boy watching them from behind a clump of bushes, like some creep. His black hair was overlong and his clothes were very mismatched with jeans that were too short, a shabby, overlarge coat that had to have belonged to a grown man and an odd smock-like shirt.

Arthur moved closer to Snape, guessing he was nine or ten years old, looking sallow, small and stringy. There was also an undisguised greed in his thin face as he watched the younger of the two girls swinging higher and higher than her sister.

"Rose, be careful!" The elder of the two shrieked.

The girl let go of the swing at the very height of its arc and flew into the air, literally flying as she launched herself skywards with joyful laughter. Instead of crumpling on the playground asphalt, she actually soared, a bit like a trapeze artist through the air, staying up for a long while before landing far too lightly.

"Rose, mum told you not to do that."

Patty stopped her swing by dragging her heels on the ground, making a crunching, grinding sound before standing on her feet.

"Mum said you're not allowed to do that stuff, Rose. I don't want you to get into trouble."

"But I'm fine, Patty." Rose said reassuringly with a gentle smile. "And I just learned I can do this, as well."

Patty looked around, seeing that the playground was deserted except for her and her sister, though they didn't know of Snape's presence.

Rose picked up a fallen flower from the bush that Snape lurked behind.

Patty advanced, letting her curiosity take over.

Rose waited until she was close enough when she held out her palm. The flower sat there, opening and closing its petals, like it was some many lipped oyster.

"How do you do that?" Patty asked longingly as Rose closed her hand on the blossom and threw it back to the ground.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Snape said, no longer containing himself as he jumped out from behind the bushes.

Patty shrieked before she stood in front of Rose protectively. Her sister looked at Snape with questioning eyes.

This made Snape regret his appearance as a dull flush of colour came on his sallow cheeks as he looked at Rose.

"What's obvious?" Rose asked.

Snape had an air of nervous excitement.

"I know what you are." He told Rose.

"And what is that?" Rose asked sceptically.

"You're… you're a witch." Snape said, leaving Rose affronted and Patty frowned at him.

"That's not a nice thing to say to someone!" Rose said as she and her sister turned, noses in the air, marching to leave the playground.

"No!" Snape said, now highly coloured, not taking off the ridiculously large coat, probably because he didn't want to reveal the smock beneath it.

He flapped after the two girls, looking bat-like, just like his older self.

The sisters considered him, very disapproving, now holding onto one of the swing poles.

"You are." Snape said to Rose. "You are a witch. I've been watching you for a while. But there's nothing wrong with that. My mum's one, and I'm a wizard."

"HA!" Patty roared with cold contempt. "Of course you'd say that! I know you! You're that Snape boy that lives down at Spinner's End by the river! It explains why you've been spying on us like some creep!"

"Haven't been spying." Snape said, hot, uncomfortable and dirty haired in the bright sunlight. "Wouldn't spy on you, anyway." He added with spite. "You're a Muggle."

While Patty didn't know what he meant, she knew what he implied by the tone.

"Let's go back home, Rose, away from this weirdo."

The two turned and left, Rose glaring at Snape as they did so.

He stood there, watching them as they marched through the playground gate.

Arthur, being the only one left to observe him, recognised Snape's bitter disappointment. He planned this moment for some time, mad that it went wrong. But that was to be expected. How else would Arthur's mother react to being told she was a witch, living her whole life up till now among Muggles?

The scene then dissolved, reforming around Arthur.

He now found himself in a small thicket of trees with a sunlit river glittering through their trunks.

The shadows cast by the trees made a basin of cool, green shade.

There were two children sitting, facing each other, cross legged on the ground. Snape now removed his coat, his odd smock looking less peculiar in the half light.

"...and the Ministry can punish you if you do magic outside school, you get letters."

"And I've done magic outside of school!"

"We're alright. We haven't got wands yet. They let you off when you're a kid and you can't help it. But once you're eleven…" He nodded importantly. "...and they start training you, then you've got to be careful."

There was a little silence. During which, Rose picked up a fallen twig and twirled it in the air. Arthur knew she was imagining sparks trailing from it. She then dropped the twig, leaning in towards Snape, saying "It is real, isn't it? It's not a joke? Patty says that you're lying to me, messing with me. That this Hogwarts isn't real. Is it?"

"It's real for us." Snape said. "Not for her. But we'll get the letter, you and me."

"Really?" Rose whispered.

"Definitely." Snape said. Even with his poorly cut hair and odd clothes, he seemed like an impressive figure, confident in his destiny.

"Will it come by owl?" Rose asked.

"Normally." Snape replied. "But you're Muggle-Born, so someone from the school will have to come and explain to your parents."

"Does it make a difference, being Muggle-Born?"

Snape hesitated, his black eyes, eager in the greenish gloom, moving over the pale face and dark red hair.

"No. It doesn't make any difference."

Arthur narrowed his eyes on him in disbelief. His hesitation said otherwise.

"If you say so." Rose said, looking somewhat suspicious of his hesitation as well.

"You've got loads of magic." Snape said. "I saw that. All the time I was watching you…."

His voice trailed away, Rose wasn't listening, though she stretched out on the leaf ground, looking up at the canopy of leaves overhead.

He watched her as greedily as he did in the playground, which disturbed Arthur slightly, seeing that he truly had a creepy stalker obsession with Rose.

"How are things at your house?" Rose asked, causing a little crease to form between Snape's eyes.

"Fine." He replied.

"They're not arguing anymore?"

"Oh, yes, they're arguing." Snape said, picking a fistful of leaves and tore them apart, seemingly unaware of this. "But it won't be that long and I'll be gone."

"Doesn't your dad like magic?"

"He doesn't like anything, much."

"Severus?"

A little smile twisted Snape's mouth when she said his name, unnerving Arthur.

"Yeah?"

"Tell me about the Dementors again."

"What d'you want to know about them for?"

"If I use magic outside of school -"

"They wouldn't give you to the Dementors for that! Dementors are for people who do really bad stuff. They guard the wizard prison, Azkaban. You're not going to end up in Azkaban, you're too -"

He turned red again and shredded more leaves.

Then there was a small rustling behind Arthur, making him turn to see that it was Patty, who hid behind a tree and lost her footing.

"Patty!" Rose said with surprise and welcome in her voice, but Snape jumped to his feet.

"Who's spying now?" He shouted. "What d'you want?"

"To make sure Rose is alright!" Patty snapped back at him. "I still think you're a weirdo! Even look like one with those clothes. Was that blouse your mother's?"

There was a crack and a branch over Patty's head fell. This made Rose scream as the branch caught Patty on the shoulder, making her stagger backwards and burst into tears.

"PATTY!"

Patty ran away, which had Rose round on Snape.

"You did that, didn't you?"

"No." Snape said, looking defiant and scared, clearly being a bad liar.

"Liar!" Rose spat as she backed away from Snape. "You hurt my sister!"

"No - no I didn't!"

He didn't convince her in the slightest as, with one last burning look, she ran from the thicket after her sister, leaving Snape miserable and confused.

The scene reformed again.

Arthur looked and found himself on platform nine and three quarters with Snape standing beside him, looking slightly hunched next to a thin, sallow faced, sallow looking woman who resembled him significantly.

Snape stared at a family of four a short distance away.

The two girls stood a little apart from their parents. Rose looked like she was pleading with her sister, making Arthur move closer to listen.

"I'm so sorry, Patty, please!" She grabbed her sister's hand, holding it tightly as Patty tried to pull it away with a cold and steely look on her face. "Perhaps when I get there, I can talk to Professor Dumbledore and persuade him to change his mind!"

"Don't bother, I don't want to go anymore." Patty said, dragging her hand out of her sister's grasp.

Her pale eyes roved over the platform, over the cats mewling in their owners' arms, over the owls that fluttered and hooted at each other in cages and over students, some already in long, black robes with their house colours, loading trunks onto the scarlet steam engine or greeting one another with glad cries after a summer apart.

"None of them would accept me anyway."

Rose looked like she was going to cry.

"Patty…."

"Besides, I don't want to be anywhere near that Snape boy. He's nothing but a creep, Rose. You must stay away from him. Be with others that actually act like normal people."

"He isn't a creep, Patty." Rose said defensively. "Besides, he read your letter to the Headmaster to me."

"What did you say?" Patty hissed.

"Severus saw the envelope, he couldn't believe that a Muggle could contact Hogwarts."

"How could you defend someone who snoops into other people's private business?" Patty said accusingly. "In fact, as long as you are friends with that freak, you and I are no longer sisters."

She then walked to their parents when the scene dissolved again, leaving Arthur shocked.

He now found Snape hurrying along the corridor of the Hogwarts Express as it clattered through the countryside.

He now had his dreadful Muggle clothes off and now in his school robs.

He soon stopped outside a compartment where a group of rowdy boys talked. And hunched in a corner seat beside the window was Rose, her face pressed against the window pane.

Snape slid the compartment door open and sat opposite Rose.

She glanced at him before looking back out of the window, evidence on her face that she was crying.

"I don't want to talk to you" She said in a constricted voice.

"Why not?"

"Patty hates me now. All because we saw the letter from Dumbledore."

"So what?" Snape said indifferently, making Rose look at him with a deep dislike.

"She's my sister!"

"She's only a -" Snape caught himself quickly. Rose clearly heard him as she cried some more while trying to wipe her eyes without being noticed.

"But we're going!" He then said, unable to suppress the exhilaration in his voice. "This is it! We're off to Hogwarts!"

Rose nodded, mopping her eyes, though in spite of herself, she half smiled.

"You'd better be in Slytherin." Snape said, now encouraged that she brightened a little.

"Slytherin?"

One of the boys that shared the compartment, who eyed Snape with a real dislike leaned forward.

Arthur looked and saw that it was his father: slight, black haired like Snape, but more well cared for in comparison to Snape's.

"The only people who want to be in Slytherin are bullies and racists." John said before he looked at the boy who lounged on the seats opposite him, who Arthur recognised, with a jolt, as Sirius. "I'd leave instantly if I was Sorted into Slytherin, wouldn't you?"

Sirius didn't smile.

"My whole family have been in Slytherin." Sirius replied.

"That's a shame. I was liking you." John groaned, which made Sirius grin.

"Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you've got the choice?"

"Gryffindor, just like everyone on my father's side of the family." John replied with pride.

This made Snape make a small, disparaging noise, causing John to round on him.

"Got a problem with that?"

"No." Snape said, though his slight sneer said otherwise. "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy -"

"Then where are you heading, since you're clearly neither." Sirius interjected.

This made John roar with laughter.

Rose sat up, rather flushed and looking at both John and Sirius with dislike.

"Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment."

As they passed, John tried tripping Snape.

"See ya, Snivellus!" A voice called as the compartment door slammed shut.

The scene dissolved once more.

Arthur now stood right beside Snape as they faced the candlelit house tables, all lined with rapt faces.

Then a professor Arthur had never seen before said "Evans, Rose!"

Arthur watches as his mother walked forwards on trembling legs and sat down upon the rickety stool. The professor then dropped the Sorting Hat onto her head.

Barely a second later, the Hat cried "Gryffindor!"

Arthur heard Snape let out a tiny groan as Rose took off the Hat, handing it back to the professor.

She hurried to the cheering Gryffindors as she glanced back at Snape with a sad smile on her face before she sat next to who Arthur instantly recognised as McGonagall, who seemed to be two years older than her.

Arthur then saw Sirius sitting opposite Rose, who she looked away from, folding her arms.

The roll call continued and Arthur saw Lupin, Pettigrew and his father all join Rose and Sirius at the Gryffindor table.

There were only a dozen students left when Snape was called.

Arthur walked with him to the stool, watching him place the Hat on his head then hear the Sorting Hat cry out "Slytherin!"

Snape moved to the other side of the Hall, away from Rose, to where the Slytherins cheered for him. He then sat next to Lucius Malfoy, a prefect badge gleaming upon his chest, who patted Snape on the back as he sat beside him.

The scene changed….

Rose and Snape now walked across the castle courtyard, arguing. Arthur hurried to them to listen in.

Upon reaching them, he noticed that they were taller, meaning a few years have passed since their Sorting….

"...thought we were supposed to be friends?" Snape said. "Best friends?"

"We are, but I just hate the people you're hanging out with. I especially detest Avery and Mulciber! What do you see in that creep? Do you even know what he tried to do to Mary Macdonald the other day?"

She leaned against a pillar that she reached, looking up into Snape's thin, sallow face.

"That was nothing." Snape replied. "It was a laugh, that's all -"

"It's Dark Magic, Snape!" Rose snapped. "If you think that's funny -"

"What about the stuff Pendergast and his mates get up to?" Snape demanded, his colour rising again as he said this, unable to hold in his resentment.

"What does Pendergast and his friends have to do with anything?" Rose raised an eyebrow.

"They sneak out at night. There's something weird about that Lupin. Where does he keep going?"

"Sev, he's ill, that's all -"

"Every month at the full moon?" Snape cut her off.

"Oh, for goodness sake!" Rose groaned as she rolled her eyes. "Why are you so obsessed with what they do? Why do you even care?"

"I'm just trying to show you they're not as wonderful as everyone seems to think they are."

The intensity of his gaze made Rose look away.

"At least they don't use Dark Magic." She said accusingly. "And you're being downright ungrateful. I heard that you snuck into the tunnel by the Whomping Willow and John saved you from whatever was down there -"

Snape's entire face contorted as he spluttered "Saved? Saved? You think he was playing the hero? He was saving his neck and his friends' too! You're not going to - I won't let you -"

"Let me what?"

Rose's bright green eyes were now slits, making Snape backtrack at once.

"I didn't mean - I just don't want to see you made a fool of - he fences you, John Pendergast fancies you!" The words seemed to have wrenched from him against his will. "And he's not…. Everyone thinks…. Big Quidditch hero -"

Snape's bitterness and hatred rendered him incoherent, Rose's eyebrows travelling higher and higher up her forehead.

"He can be a bit full of himself and him bullying you isn't nice." She said, cutting across Snape. "It's just that Mulciber and Avery's idea of humour is just pure evil, Sev. I don't know how you can be friends with the likes of them.

Arthur saw that Snape didn't hear her dislike for Mulciber and Avery. The moment she criticised John, his body relaxed and they then walked, Snape having a new spring in his step.

The scene dissolved….

Arthur watched as Snape left the Great hall after his Defence Against the Dark Arts O.W.L., wandering away from the castle and inadvertently strayed close to beneath the beech tree where John, Sirius, Lupin and Pettigrew sat together.

Arthur kept his distance this time, knowing what would happen.

Distantly, soon after, he heard Snape shout at Rose in his humiliation and fury, the unforgivable word: "Mudblood."

The scene changed again….

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah, right."

"I'm sorry!"

"No you're not!"

It was nighttime.

Rose, who wore a dressing gown, stood with her arms folded in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady at the entrance to Gryffindor Tower.

"I only came out here because Mary said you threatened to sleep here."

"I was. I would have done. I never meant to call you Mudblood, it just -"

"Slipped out?" There is no pity in Rose's voice. "I still remember you hesitating when I asked if being a Muggle-Born made any difference the day you hurt Patty! She was right all along! I've done nothing but make excuses for you for years! None of my friends, especially Minerva, could understand how or why I even talked to you. You and your Death Eater buddies - there, you don't even deny it! You just can't wait to be Voldemort's follower, can you?"

Snape opened his mouth, but closed it without saying a word.

"You've shown your true colours, Snape. John was right all along. You've chosen your way as I've chosen mine."

"No - listen, I didn't mean -"

" - to call me a Mudblood? Yeah, right. You call every other Muggle-Born a Mudblood, Snape. I now know why with me you didn't until now. We would never have had a chance together. You truly are a freak…."

Snape struggled on the verge of speech, but Rose turned and climbed back through the portrait hole with a look of utter disgust and contempt.

The corridor now dissolved and the scene took longer to reform.

Arthur seemed to have flown through shifting shape and colours until his surroundings solidified again, now finding himself on a hilltop, forlorn and cold in the darkness, wind whistling through branches of a few leafless trees,

A now adult Snape was panting, turning on the spot, wand gripped tightly in his hand, waiting for someone.

A blinding, jagged jet of white light flew through the air suddenly. Arthur first assumed it was lightning, but Snape dropped to his knees and his wand was flown from his hand.

"Don't kill me!"

"That was not my intention."

Any sound of Dumbledore Apparating was drowned out by the sound of the wind in the branches.

He stood before Snape with his robes whipping around him, his face illuminated from below in the light cast from his wand.

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

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

Snape wringed his hands, looking a little mad with his straggling, black hair flying around him.

"I - I come with a warning - no, a request - please -"

Dumbledore flicked his wand. While 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 - prophecy… the prediction… Trelawney…."

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

"Everything - everything I heard! That is why - it is for that reason - he thinks it means Rose Evans!"

"The prophecy did not refer to a woman." Dumbledore pointed out. "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 spat with the most contempt Arthur had ever heard from him. Even Snape shrank 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?"

Arthur looked down at Snape with fury, seeing that this man, who had an unhealthy and obsessive love for his mother, even after she told they never had a chance at all, actually wanted both his father and himself dead as long as she was alive, which she would never forgive him for if she did live and find out.

Snape didn't say a word, merely looking up at Dumbledore.

"Hide them all, then." He finally croaked. "Keep her - them - safe. Please."

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

"In - in return?" Snape gaped at Dumbledore.

Arthur actually expected him to protest, but he eventually said "Anything."

The hilltop then faded and Arthur now found himself in Dumbledore's office.

Something was making a truly terrible sound, like a wounded animal.

Arthur saw that it was from Snape, who was slumped forwards in a chair with Dumbledore standing over him, looking grim.

After a moment or two, Snape raised his face, looking like a man who had endured a hundred years of misery since leaving that wild hilltop.

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

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

Snape's breathing was now shallow.

"Her boy survives." Dumbledore revealed

With a tiny jerk of his head, Snape seemed to have flicked off an irksome fly.

"Her son lives. He has her eyes, precisely her eyes. You remember the shape and colour of Rose Evan'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 coldly asked. "If you loved Rose Evans, if you truly loved her, then your way forward is clear."

Snape peered through a haze of pain, like Dumbledore's words were taking a long time to reach him.

"What - what do you mean?"

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

"He does not need protection. The Dark Lord has gone -"

" - the Dark Lord will return, and Arthur Pendergast will be in terrible danger when he does."

There was a long pause before Snape regained control of himself, mastering his own breathing and finally said "Very well. Very well. But never - never tell, Dumbledore! This must be between us! Swear it! I cannot bear… especially Pendergast's son… I want your word!"

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

The office then dissolved and reformed instantly to Snape 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 as he kept his eyes on a copy of Transfiguration Today. "Other teachers report that the boy is extremely modest, very likeable and extremely talented and a natural. Personally, I find him an engaging child."

Dumbledore turned a page before he then said "Keep an eye on Quirrell, won't you?"

A whirl of colour before everything darkened.

Snape and Dumbledore now stood a little apart in the Entrance Hall as the last stragglers from the Yule Ball passed them on their way to bed.

"Well?" Dumbledore murmured.

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

"Does he?" Dumbledore said softly as Fleur Delacour and Roger Davies came in from the grounds giggling. "And are you tempted to join him?"

"No." Snape said, his black eyes on Fleur and Roger's retreating figures. "I am not such a coward."

"No." Dumbledore agreed. "You are a braver man by far than Igor Karkaroff. You know, I sometimes think we Sort too soon…."

He walked away, leaving Snape, who looked stricken.

Arthur now found himself back in the Headmaster's office at night.

Dumbledore sagged sideways in the throne-like chair behind the desk, semi-conscious.

His right hand dangled over the side, blackened and burned.

Snape was muttering incantations, pointing his wand at the wrist of the hand, while his left hand tipped a goblet full of thick golden potion down Dumbledore's throat.

After a moment or two, Dumbledore's eyelids fluttered and opened.

"Why…" Snape said without preamble. "...why did you put on that ring? It carries a curse, surely you realised that. Why even touch it?"

Marvolo Gaunt's ring lay on the desk before Dumbledore, cracked and with the sword of Gryffindor laying beside it.

Dumbledore grimaced.

"I… was a fool. Sorely tempted…."

"Tempted by what?"

Dumbledore didn't answer.

"It is a miracle you managed to return here!" Snape sounded furious. "That ring carried a curse and extraordinary power, to contain it is all we can hope for; I have trapped the curse in one hand for the time being -"

Dumbledore raised his blackened hand, examining it with the expression of someone being shown an interesting curio.

"You have done well, Severus. How long do you think I have?"

Dumbledore's tone was conversational, as though he was asking for the weather forecast.

Snape hesitated before saying "I cannot tell. Maybe a year. There is no halting such a spell forever. It will spread, eventually, it is the sort of curse that strengthens over time."

Dumbledore smiled, like the news he had less than a year left of life was of little concern. This left Arthur shocked. He knew he was going to die soon.

"I am fortunate, extremely fortunate, that I have you, Severus."

"If you had only summoned me a little earlier. I might have been able to do more, buy you more time!" Snape said furiously, looking down at the broken ring and the sword. "Did you think that breaking the ring would break the curse?"

"Something like that… I was delirious, no doubt…." Dumbledore said.

Then, with an effort, he straightened himself in his chair. "Well, really, this makes matters much more straightforward."

Snape looked perplexed as Dumbledore smiled.

"I refer to the plan Lord Voldemort is revolving around me. His plan to have the poor Malfoy boy murder me."

Snape sat on the chair that Arthur often occupied, across the desk from Dumbledore.

Arthur could tell Snape wanted to say more about Dumbledore's cursed hand, but the other held it up in polite refusal to discuss the matter further.

With a scowl, Snape said "The Dark Lord does not expect Draco to succeed. This is merely punishment for Lucius' recent failures. Slow torture for Draco's parents, while they watch him fail and pay the price."

"In short, the boy has had a death sentence pronounced upon him as surely as I have." Dumbledore said. "Now, I should have thought the natural successor to the job, once Draco fails, is yourself?"

There was a short pause.

"That, I think, is the Dark Lord's plan."

"Lord Voldemort foresees a moment in the near future when he will not need a spy at Hogwarts?"

"He believes the school will soon be in his grasp, yes."

"And if it does fall into his grasp…" Dumbledore said, almost as though as an aside. "...I have your word that you will do all in your power to protect the students of Hogwarts?"

Snape gave a stiff nod.

"Good. Now then. Your first priority will be to discover what Draco is up to. A frightened teenage boy is a danger to others as well as to himself. Offer him help and guidance, he ought to accept, he likes you -"

" - much less since his father has lost favour. Draco blames me, he thinks I have usurped Lucius' position."

"All the same, try. I am concerned less for myself than for accidental victims of whatever schemes might occur to the boy. Ultimately, of course, there is only one thing to be done if we are to save him from Lord Voldemort's wrath."

Snape raised his eyebrows and his tone was sardonic as he asked "Are you intending to let him kill you?"

"Certainly not. You must kill me."

There was a long silence, one that was broken by the odd clicking noises that came from Fawkes, who was gnawing at a bit of cuttlebone.

"Would you like me to do it now?" Snape asked, his voice heavy with irony. "Or would you like a few moments to compose an epitaph?"

"Oh, not quite yet." Dumbledore smiled. "I daresay the moment will present itself in due course. Given what has happened tonight…" He indicated his withered hand. "...we can be sure that it will happen within a year."

"If you don't mind dying…" Snape said roughly. "...why not let Draco do it?"

"That boy's soul is not yet so damaged." Dumbledore told him. "I would not have it ripped apart on my account."

"And my soul, Dumbledore? Mine?"

"You alone know whether it will harm your soul to help an old man avoid pain and humiliation. I ask this one, great favour of you, Severus, because death is coming for me as surely as the Chudley Cannons will finish bottom of this year's league. I confess I should prefer a quick, painless exit to be the protracted and messy affair it will be if, for instance, Greyback is involved - I hear Voldemort has recruited him? Or dear Bellatrix, who likes to play with her food before she eats it."

His tone was light, though his blue eyes pierced Snape as they had frequently done with Arthur, like the soul they discussed was visible to him.

Eventually, Snape gave another curt nod.

Dumbledore looked satisfied.

"Thank you, Severus…."

The office now disappeared, Snape and Dumbledore now strolling together in the deserted castle grounds by twilight.

"What are you doing with Pendergast, all these evenings you are closeted together?" Snape abruptly asked, making Dumbledore look weary.

"Why? You aren't trying to give him more detentions, Severus? The boy will soon have spent more time in detention than out."

"He is his father over again -"

"In looks, perhaps, but his deepest nature is much more like his mother's. I spend time with Arthur because I have things to discuss with him, information I must give him before it is too late."

"Information." Snape repeated. "You trust him… you do not trust me."

"It is not a question of trust. I have, as we both know, limited time. It is essential that I give the boy enough information for him to do what he needs to do."

"And why may I not have the same information?"

"I prefer not to put all of my secrets in one basket, particularly not a basket that spends so much time dangling on the arm of Lord Voldemort."

"Which I do on your orders!"

"And you do it extremely well. Do not think that I underestimate the constant danger in which you place yourself, Severus. To give Voldemort what appears to be valuable information while withholding the essentials is a job I would entrust to nobody but you."

"Yet you confide much more in a boy who, despite being capable of Occlumency, has a direct connection into the Dark Lord's mind!"

"Voldemort fears that connection." Dumbledore told him. "Not so long ago he had one, small taste of what truly sharing Arthur's mind means to him. It was pain such as he has never experienced. He will not try to possess Arthur again, I am sure of it. Not in that way."

"I don't understand."

"Lord Voldemort's soul, maimed as it is, cannot bear close contact with a soul like Arthur's. Like a tongue on frozen steel, like flesh in flame -"

"Souls? We were talking of minds!"

"In the case of Arthur and Lord Voldemort, to speak of one is to speak of the other."

Dumbledore glanced around when they were close by the Forbidden Forest, making sure they were alone.

"After you have killed me, Severus -"

"You refuse to tell me everything, yet you expect that small service of me!" Snape snarled, real anger flaring in his thin face. "You take a great deal for granted, Dumbledore! Perhaps I have changed my mind!"

"You gave me your word, Severus. And while we are talking about services you owe me, I thought you agreed to keep a close eye on our young Slytherin friend?"

Snape looked truly angry and mutinous, making Dumbledore sigh.

"Come to my office tonight, Severus, at eleven, and you shall not complain that I have no confidence in you…."

They were now back in Dumbeldore's office, the windows dark and Fawkes sat silently as Snape sat still, Dumbledore walking around him, talking.

"Arthur 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 Arthur 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?" Snape asked, looking astonished.

"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 Arthur."

"Tell him what?"

Dumbledore took a deep breath and closed his eyes, leaving Arthur anxious and even scared of what he'll hear.

"Tell him that on the night Lord Voldemort tried to kill him, when Rose cast her own protection 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 left in that collapsing building. Part of Lord Voldemort lives inside Arthur, 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 Voldemort, remains attached to, and protected by Arthur, Lord Voldemort cannot die."

Arthur felt like he lost all feeling and control of his body, frozen as stiff as a statue upon learning of the worst news he could ever hear: he's a Horcrux.

"So the boy… the boy must die?" Snape asked, quite calmly.

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

There was another long silence before Snape broke it.

"I thought… all these years… that we were protecting him for her. For Rose."

"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. "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 finally opened his eyes and Snape looked as horrified as Arthur felt, who never suspected that he was a Horcrux, one that Voldemort didn't know about.

"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." Snape said as he stood. "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 Rose Pendergast's son safe. Now you tell me you have been raising him like a pig for slaughter -"

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

"For him?" Snape shouted. "Expecto patronum!"

From the tip of his wand burst forth a silver lioness. She landed on the office floor before bounding at once across the office and soared out through the window.

Dumbledore watched her fly away, and as her silvery glow faded, he turned back to Snape, his eyes full of tears.

"After all this time?"

"Always." Snape repled.

Arthur was even more shocked: Snape still loved Rose after all of these years and he was the one who cast that lioness in the Forest of Dean, leading him to the sword and journal of Gryffindor.

The scene then shifted and now Snape talked to the portrait of Dumbledore behind his desk.

"You will have to give Voldemort the correct date of Arthur's departure from his aunt and uncle's." Dumbledore told him. "Not to do so will raise suspicion, when Voldemort believes you so well informed. However, you must plant the idea of decoys - that, I think, ought to ensure Arthur's safety. Try Confunding Mundungus Fletcher. And Severus, if you are forced to take part in the chase, be sure to act your part convincingly…. I am counting upon you to remain in Lord Voldemort's good books as long as possible, or Hogarts will be left to the mercy of the Carrows…."

Snape was now head to head with Mundungus in an unfamiliar tavern, Mundungus looking curiously blank, Snape frowning in concentration.

"You will suggest to the Order of the Phoenix that they use decoys. Polyjuice Potion. Identical Pendergasts. It is the only thing that might work. You will forget that I have suggested this. You will present it as your own idea. You understand?"

"I understand." Mundungus murmured, his eyes unfocused….

Arthur now flew alongside Snape on a broomstick through a clear dark night, accompanied by other hooded Death Eaters.

Ahead of them was Lupin and Kevin, who was pretending to be Arthur.

A Death Eater moved ahead of Snape, raising his wand and pointing it directly at Lupin's back -

"Sectumsempra!" Snape shouted.

The spell, which was intended for the Death Eater's wand hand, missed and hit Kevin instead -

Snape now kneeled in Sirius' old bedroom.

Tears dripped from the end of his hooked nose as he read the old letter from Rose.

It was the second page that carried only a few words:

was friends with Gellert Grindelwald.

I'm starting to wonder if her mind's slipping.

Lots of love,

Rose

Snape took the page that bore Rose's signature, and her love, and tucked it inside his robes. He then ripped in two the photograph that he also held, keeping the part where Rose laughed, throwing the portion showing John and Arthur back onto the floor, under the chest of drawers….

Now Snape stood in the Headmaster's office as Phineas Nigellus hurried into his portrait.

"Headmaster! They are camping in the Forest of Dean! The Mudblood -"

"Do not use that word!"

" - the Ranger girl, then, mentioned the place as she opened her bag and I heard her!"

"Good. Very good!" Dumbledore's portrait cried. "Now, Severus, the sword and journal! Do not forget that they, mainly the sword, must be taken under conditions of need and valour - and he must not know that you give it! If Voldemort should read Arthur's mind and see you acting for him -"

"I know." Snape said curtly. He approached the portrait and pulled at its side. It swung forwards and revealed a hidden cavity behind it, from which he took the sword and journal of Gryffindor.

"And you still aren't going to tell me why it's so important to give Pendergast these?" Snape said as he swung a travelling cloak over his robes.

"No, I don't think so." Dumbledore's portrait replied. "He will know what to do with them. And Severus, be very careful, they, especially Arthur, may not take kindly to your appearance after Kevin Merlon's mishap -"

Snape turned to the door.

"Don't worry, Dumbledore." He said coolly. "I have a plan…."

Snape then left the room.

Arthur rose up out of the portrait, falling to his knees on the carpeted floor in the very room that Snape might have just closed the door.


Talk about a bombshell of information Arthur to soak in.

And I bet some of you feel like I should have kept Tonks dead, but I feel like Teddy should still have a parent in his life. And I want to give her a moment during the final part of the battle.