When McGonagall returned back to Hogwarts-a whole lot in her mind-the student were already at dinner so she went to the only person she knew she could at least talk to about everything that happened just a few hours ago. McGonagall headed down to the Dungeons.

It was a Friday and Severus was very fond of spending his Friday evening in his office than going down to dinner in the Great Hall.

McGonagall knocked on the door, there was no response immediately but she could hear quiet shuffling from the inside so she knew Severus was in.

"Merlin help me, if it's wanna of you stupid first years again with another qustion about the quills, I'll ju-" His words cut off seeing the Gryffindor head of house standing there.

"Its not nice to insult the children Severus,"

The dark haired man scoffed. "Oh yeah, you say that when it's not you they're coming to with stupid questions about quills and parchments! For goodness sake it's not that different from a pen and paper you idiots!"

McGonagall gave him a small smile. She's known Severus since he was a student and anyone who looked at him-both now and then-would see him as a cold-hearted emotionless twat-not that he's not all that- but she has always been able to see the boy underneath it all.

"It's not funny," he huffed. "Is there something you wanted Minevera? "

She gave him a look and he rolled his eyes but stepped aside. "Please come in."

She nodded and stepped into the office, Severus shut the door behind her.

He turned to look at her, his hands folded. She gave him another look.

Severus threw his hands in the air with a loud huff. "Please have a seat Minevera,"

McGonagall ignored the sarcasm practically dripping from his words and took a seat on the couch near the bookshelf. Severus rolled his and took a seat opposite her.

"Yes, yes, Minerva. Do go on and bully me into inviting you into my quarters and playing the gracious host."

Minerva gave him a small smile. "I'll always be here to bully your manners right back into you if you ever forget."

"Not that I'm not happy that you're here-"

Minerva rolled her eyes at the sarcasm but Severus ignored her.

"But what are you doing here?"

"I teach here Severus."

The dark haired man just gave her a very, very annoyed looked.

She sighed, it's fun messing with him but she wasn't planing on beating around the bush when she came here.

"I met with the Northerns," Severus flinched, hard. "They told me about what happened to the Potter boy."

Severus looked away.

"I didn't know that Dumbledore-"

"Was a liar, a cheat, a phony, should probably be arrested for child neglect and abuse." Severus cut her off. He shrugged. "Well none of us knew."

She sighed heavily. "I also knew you were supposed to be there too."

Minerva saw him visibly shrink back into himself but the dark haired man sat up trying to hide it.

"Severus," she paused then continued. "Severus, Sirius didn't kill the Potter's."

Severus turned to look at her but she didn't see the shock she expected to see in his expression.

"You knew?" She asked in shock.

He shrugged. "Just suspected," he sighed. "Come on Minerva, Sirius Black was like a brother to those two, they were so close, he loved them and I don't understand how anyone could actually believe that Sirius Black killed the Potter's especially the man who was supposed to be the smartest wizard in the world. It was as obvious as abc."

And Minerva realized at that moment that he was right, she couldn't even believe that she hadn't seen it before.

"So I thought you might have left because you didn't want to meet the person who killed the woman you loved," Severus flinched again, harder this time. "If that's not the reason, then why weren't you at the meeting?"

The dark haired man stayed silent.

Minerva frowned. "Wait, is this because it's the son of James-"

"No!" Severus cut her off sharply. "James is the father, Harry is the son. I will never blame a child for the things his father did."

It's something he wished something someone had told him all those years ago when his father looked and treated him with disgust all because his mother was too much of a coward to tell him that she was a witch.

"Then why weren't you there?" Minerva asked bringing him back from his thoughts.

"I was bullied by them, Minerva. They made my life an absolute nightmare—worse than anything my father ever did. Hogwarts was meant to be my home, my safe haven, yet I couldn't even have that because of James Potter and his mates! They humiliated me, disgraced me, made me believe that aligning myself with a sociopathic madman was the only way to get back at them! I can't—I don't think I can stay in the same room with them without feeling the urge to run or just disappear!" His voice dropped lower, and Minerva felt her heart ache. "It's as if I'm a child again, hiding from them and praying to Merlin, Arthur, any entity, muggle or magical, to please make them leave me be!"

They were silent while Severus caught his breath. It's the first time he had actually allowed himself to talk about this particular topic and he hadn't realized that he had been feeling so much till Minerva asked him that question.

Severus sighed massaging his temple.

"I'm sorry, Minerva, I didn't mean to—"

"I suppose I do owe you an apology."

Severus blinked in confusion. "What?"

Minerva stood up and moved to sit beside him. She took hold of his hands, which startled Severus more than anything else.

"I'm truly sorry, Severus. I should have said something, done something, really. Although you never reported the bullying to me, I witnessed it happening; I saw just how bad it became. I ought to have intervened instead of allowing my house's prejudices and biases to cloud my judgment. Hogwarts is meant to be a safe haven for every student, irrespective of house or blood status. I'm so sorry that was taken from you."

Severus stared at her, and for a moment, she thought he might cry, but then he simply inhaled a long, deep breath and offered her a very rare, very small smile.

"I forgive you."

Minerva returned his smile with one of her own.

"The true essence of forgiveness lies in letting go of the past and moving forward in the present."

Severus nodded. "I understand."

Two updates in a day because Cassandra30 review inspired me.