Forest of Dean, Hogwarts

Late Christmas 1997

Two expert flicks of his wand and two silently cast incantations – one of them Expelliarmus, the second a laming hex unknown to Harry – were all it took Snape to disarm and disable the boy. With fury burning in his eyes, Harry opened his mouth to call for Ron and Hermione to help him – hating Snape even more for humiliating him like this. Before he could utter a single sound, the greasy git grabbed him firmly on his collar and pulled him close, harshly forcing the boy's lips shut. Disarmed, lamed by Snape's hex and muted by the man's hand, Harry was powerless. With a painful groan of defeat, the boy closed his eyes. Not Snape, not him again, he wished desperately and like a mantra repeated to himself: Not now, not now, not when we finally started to be lucky. The silver doe coming to him seemed like a lie now; the broken Horcrux was a joke in the sight of the undiscovered rest of the Dark Lord's soul vessels.

Then Harry felt how Snape Apparated them away. So this is how it ends, the boy thought bitterly, bracing himself for the inevitable encounter with Voldemort and his minions. What now? He felt himself panic. What would Dumbledore want me to do? But the old man was dead and Harry's luck seemed to have expired – he had lost the protection of the twin cores as he had lost his last and biggest protector thank to the very same man who held him captured now. Snape, no Snivellus, was the source of everything that went wrong in his life – he as good as killed his parents, ridiculed Harry for years, sabotaged his potions, forced Lupin to leave Hogwarts, failed to teach Harry Occlumency and hence lured Sirius to the Department of Mysteries and to his death, and on top of everything else, assassinated Dumbledore who had never wanted to hear a word against him…

Hell, why has it to be Snape again and again? Why does it have to be him who will deliver me to Voldemort? Harry's head hurt and he wished himself dead.

But Snape seemed to have other plans. With a quiet pop, the man Apparated them to a much different place than Harry had expected. When the boy cautiously reopened his eyes, it was to the brightness of Dumbledore's circular office and the unbelievably angry voice of its, sadly past, owner.

“Severus Snape!“ Dumbledore's voice bellowed from behind Snape's back. Harry couldn't see the source of the sound, but knew that it had to be the old Headmaster's portrait that spoke – the portrait that he had previously seen only inanimate. It hit him then that the dark wizard who had him still imprisoned in his arms held the Hogwarts' head position now, and he shuddered with protest against the man's strength.

“You swore to me not to breach the safety of this school, young man!“ Dumbledore's portrait berated Snape. Harry had to smile in satisfaction, despite his own unfortunate situation. It would be only just if Snape couldn't silence his predecessor's painting, the boy thought, recalling the unstoppable, hateful screams of Sirius's mother's. Harry found himself hoping that Dumbledore's portrait held the recollection of the old man's death and that it reminded Snape of his crimes whenever the Death Eater was present in the office...

“Voldemort cannot know that Hogwarts accepts you as its Head, Severus!“ the old wizard continued, by the sound of his voice still greatly displeased. “I won't have him Apparate here and back with the ease you did just now!”

What the hell does that mean? Harry wondered at the lecture, still hidden from Dumbledore’s gaze.

“I have my own reasons not to share this particular information with him, Dumbledore,” Snape said calmly, partly letting go of a very bewildered Harry. Not wasting a single moment, the boy jumped away from the man as far as the laming hex allowed him. Dumbledore had to see him over Snape's shoulder, then, as the former Headmaster again spoke to the man with deep disagreement.

“You didn't bring the boy along with you, Severus!” The painted wizard shouted, his face quite angry. “What have you been thinking in Merlin's name? Have you completely lost your mind?”

“Quite the contrary, Dumbledore,” Snape smirked, not even partly losing his composed manner. “I would rather say that I have finally come to my senses."

Dumbledore's clear blue eyes flashed with rage Harry had never seen in them before. "We have an agreement, Severus Snape, and if you ever had any honour you will not break it!"

"I am not sure if I would call it agreement," Snape observed quietly, stepping closer to the portrait with Harry forcefully following on his toe. "Rather manipulation… or perhaps even misuse…" the dark wizard finished in a whisper, his eyes intently staring at Dumbledore's face. "You said that you didn't want to put all of your secrets in one basket – and particularly not a basket that spent so much time dangling on the arm of the Dark Lord." Snape smirked at the clearly startled old man. "Oh yes, I remember this wisdom of yours by heart, Dumbledore. It was a most enlightening session that particular evening after all… My question, nonetheless, is just how you want to explain that you preferred to entrust your biggest secrets to this – for the lack of better words – leaky cauldron?" Snape ruthlessly pushed Harry forward, right in front of the portrait.

Not sparing even a single glimpse at Harry's confused face, Dumbledore's portrait continued to eye his one-time employee with growing displeasure. "I trust we spoke about this issue often enough in the past, Severus! If Harry's inability to close his mind is what concerns you so much, I fail to understand why you felt it necessary to bring the boy here. Or has Lord Voldemort's resolution not to venture into Harry's mind changed lately?"

Unhappy and perplexed, Harry was looking from one older wizard to the other. Once again, people were discussing him and apparently making decisions about his life without as much as asking for his consent. Worse even was that Dumbledore, the man Harry had trusted so much, clearly didn't care for him – so Rita Skeeter was right, no matter what Hermione had said. And Snape – what was the meaning of all this? Was the man somehow still working for Dumbledore? That didn't make sense, absolutely no sense at all. Harry shook his head.

"No," Snape was replying to Dumbledore right then, "the Dark Lord is still reluctant to reopen the connection. But," his words were extremely cautious now, as if the man wasn't saying all that he knew, "during Christmas night, he seems to had a glimpse into Potter's mind. I overheard him speaking to Bellatrix about some sort of a connected dream…" Snape shot a meaningful glare at Harry and the boy shuddered under the man's grip. Voldemort and he had shared the strange recollection of Harry's parents' death? Merlin, no, not again!

Apparently, he missed part of the conversation with his musings. Snape was practically shouting at Dumbledore now. "Can you explain me why you have never seen it fit to inform me that there was more than one vessel carrying the Dark Lord's soul?" the man cried at the portrait and Harry jumped up in shock. Seeing the movement and Harry's bewildered face from the corner of his eye, Snape unhappily chuckled to crown the day.

"Have you seen the boy just now, Dumbledore?" he said sarcastically. "The leaky cauldron gives away your deepest secrets with ease even I didn't think possible by now… Forgive me if I refuse to lose all my hard work over the boy who in the half a year since his departure from Hogwarts hasn’t found the time to at least learn to cast wordlessly…"

With a smile Harry would describe as unmistakably evil, Snape calmly announced, “This all considered, I am stepping back from our agreement. From now on, hence, I will deal with Potter as I – and not you, Dumbledore – will see it fit... The first rule of yours I shall break is not to harm your precious Potter while teaching him.”

Snape barked a laugher at Dumbledore's open shock. “I wonder why I was under the impression that you no longer cared for the boy except for him being your best weapon... But then, you are a skilled actor, aren't you? Come, Potter,” he dragged Harry again behind him, away from the portrait, “let us show the old man that not all our lessons are predestined to become a failure.” With that said, Snape had them Disapparate from the room.

ooooo