Instead of going straight to Hogwarts for the last week of summer, which was Snape's usual routine, he kept his family at Billeghdonn Cove for three more days. He'd prepared his lesson plans for Defense Against the Dark Arts long back when he had first applied for the position right after finishing Hogwarts. There were only a few changes to update, and that had been completed in one night. All he had left to do was set up the classroom for his fourth through seventh years. Fortunately, Dumbledore had decided that he and Lupin needed their own classrooms and so Remus had his classroom closer to Gryffindor, whereas Snape's classroom was the original dungeon classroom for Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Snape tried to assist Lyrica with her lesson plans for Potions. That assistance became interference every time he took issue with something she planned to present or demonstrate. In order to finish her lesson plan, she'd locked Severus in his lab for one day, leaving Dobby to feed him his meals and let him out before dinner.

Harry, Draco, Hermione, and Ron used their last three days of absolute freedom in racing their brooms and swimming in the hidden pool.

On their last night, after the teenagers were all in bed and sleeping deeply, Snape sat with his wife on the seventh floor deck, both tucked in together beneath a warm blanket against the chill coming off the ocean. Lyrica leaned against her husband's side as his arm wrapped protectively around her shoulders.

"You did speak to Albus, didn't you, Severus?" she asked quietly.

He stared out at the stars twinkling overhead before replying, "We did talk, at length, that last night at Headquarters. He's still being stubborn."

"About the Prophecy," she stated flatly.

"And about the fact that he believes Harry is not ready to encounter the Dark Lord."

"That boy is a fool, Severus."

Snape laughed at the thought that Lyrica, who had known the Headmaster as a teenaged boy, still remembered him that way.

"You know that he is. He still refuses to come see what Harry, Draco, and all of the other children are capable of with Ley Line Magic. Not to mention Remus and Sirius. Oh, yes, and Poppy who has made great strides in using Ley Lines to enhance her own healing skills."

"I tried, Lyrica. I tried to make Dumbledore see reason, but he is an old man set in his ways."

"Those old ways are going to get our children killed," she said so sharply that Snape pulled slightly away. Lyrica pulled him back and kissed his cheek. "Severus, I do love Potions and it will be good teaching it this year, but I truly would like your help in introducing a course on Ley Line Magic... or Natural Magic... whatever they wish to call it. Just because it was considered Women's Magic it should never have been forgotten. It's an important tool, just as the wand is."

Snape smiled and kissed his wife's forehead. This was a subject he'd heard before. "I have said before I will help you, Lyrica, but we must deal with the Dark Lord first. It is unfortunate that Dumbledore still thinks it wise to wait until Harry is older. The children are ready, we have the fight routines in place, and various battle plans that we can easily switch or modify as needed. The Dark Lord is still weak and the time to draw him out is now before he gains more strength."

"What did you discuss with Remus and Sirius, then, this afternoon?" she asked settling closer to his side.

"Both think that Lucius is the key to further weakening the Dark Lord and I am inclined to agree. Shacklebolt has told us that Lucius' magical signature is evident in these Dementor attacks that have been occurring. We need to take down Lucius first, then we can lure the Dark Lord from his hiding place."

"Will you keep Albus apprised of what you're planning?"

"I don't want to undermine his authority, Lyrica. I know you think I should, but even though I consider him to be wrong, Albus Dumbledore is still a very powerful wizard in his own right. The Ministry, particularly Fudge, may be against him, but he still wields a great deal of influence over the Wizengamot."

Lyrica shifted suddenly and turned so she faced her husband. "Would he send you back to Azkaban?"

"It is not a possibility I have dismissed, my dear. I have enemies on both sides who would like to see not just me dead, but my whole family. I will not allow that. Dumbledore MUST be made to see reason. We can't sit on the sidelines anymore or else our losses will be so great that even a victory will be nothing but a bitter potion. To that end, I have set the mutt a task he ought to do well at."

Lyrica laughed lightly. "Severus, do you mean to imply that there's anything Sirius Black can do well?"

He grimaced. "Unfortunately. However, I prefer to not speak of it at this time. I also discussed the DA with those two. Something else I am loathe to admit is that Black can teach. He tutored quite a few of the Muggle-born students who had trouble when we went to school. It was one of the rare times he was... tolerable. He and Lupin have prepared a crash course in Ley Line Magic and our combined fighting tactics that he'll be teaching to Moody, Shacklebolt, and Tonks. In turn, they'll teach the Aurors from the Order that are trustworthy." He adjusted the blanket covering them. "I have also recruited Minerva to help us goad the old man into attending a demonstration of what the DA can do."

"You've gotten Minerva on your side? I didn't know that."

"It was actually Harry and Draco that managed that. This week at Grimmauld Place those two idiots decided to show off some of their 'tricks' to Luna, Pansy, and Millicent. Minerva happened to go outside and was rather impressed by what she saw. She was... annoyed when Harry told her that the Headmaster had yet to see what they could do."

Lyrica laughed fully, then. "I haven't known Minerva long, but I've learned that when that witch is annoyed, you'd best watch yourself! She's Albus' Achilles Heel, Severus. She'll make him see reason. I've no doubt of it."

Snape waved his wand to straighten one of eight gruesome paintings on the wall behind his desk in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. They added a macabre lustre to the sculptures that occupied shadowed niches along the two walls that flanked the rows of desks.

"Really, Severus. Is it your intent to give your students nightmares?"

His lips thinning in annoyance, Snape turned to face the Headmaster whose garish yellow robes with red phoenixes on them, gave him an instant migraine.

"It is my intent to show my students that the Dark Arts are neither 'wicked' nor a 'great way to get girls'." Albus stifled a chuckle. "I do believe I have heard that whispered quite a number of times."

The Headmaster walked over to a statue of a woman whose face had been melted. "Volutabrum Tergum. This was a favorite curse of Grindelwald." He stepped to the next statue which was of a man who appeared to have been killed by hundreds of long, thick splinters. Albus grimaced as he muttered the curse, "Praemium Ossis... The explosion of the skeleton. I believe that was crafted by Salazar Slytherin."

"And used to devastating effect during the Goblin Rebellion by Salazar himself," added Snape.

The Headmaster gaped at the third statue, which was twisted upon itself. Any sunny mood he'd come in with had been replaced by a chill that would take hours of hot tea to erase. Snape stepped down from the lecture dais and walked up to stand beside his mentor.

"I know you remember this one, Headmaster," he spoke softly, but with an undertone that was razor sharp.

The bile rose in Dumbledore's throat. "You would teach Harry about this one, Severus?"

The fear in the old man's eyes softened the hard edge to Snape's gaze. He placed a consoling hand upon his elder's forearm. "Wasn't it you that told me once that there can be no Light without Dark? It has touched all of us at some time in our lives, Albus. Even you; the creator of the Binding Muscle Curse."

Snape guided the older wizard to the center of the classroom and transfigured a wooden desk bench into a padded chair that the Headmaster dropped into wearily. With a wave of his wand darker shadows hid the statues and obscured the paintings. The younger wizard then conjured a cup of hot tea and pressed it into Dumbledore's hands.

"These curses and hexes are a nightmare, Headmaster. A nightmare of our own reality for these are all Dark Magic that the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters have used before and will do so again. I do want to prepare my students for this war, but I also want them to understand that the Dark Arts hold nothing but a life of slavery for the wielder." The gentle tones left his voice as his arms crossed stubbornly over his chest. "I refuse to sugar coat the Dark Arts, Albus. If this is too much for you to bear, I would ask you to return me to Potions before the term begins."

For several long, silent minutes, the Headmaster sipped his tea. Deep down he knew that Snape was right. He did not wish to see these images and he did not want his children to be exposed to such horrors. Yet, were they not already reading in the daily news of the terror that now fed upon the world of Muggles? Would they not encounter such awful things in battle someday?

Snape saw the consternation behind the Headmaster's blue eyes and saw a brief dulling of their usual glimmer. It was a sight he was beginning to see more often of late. Not just the older wizard's body's realisation of his age, but his mind feeling his age as well. It was the weighing down of all his responsibilities, fear as to whether or not he was truly acting in the best interests of all concerned, and self-doubt.

Transfiguring another chair, Snape seated himself, leaned forward and placed a hand on the older man's forearm. Beyond a handshake, or a supporting hand, Snape had never initiated touch towards Albus Dumbledore. A large part of that had been self-preservation. To touch someone was to let down those barriers that protected the heart from being hurt, and emotions best left hidden to awaken.

Snape did have great respect for the aged wizard. This is why it had hurt so much when he and Harry learned that Dumbledore had placed a Dark Magic spell on them in order to manipulate them both into leaving the ease of 1898 and returning to the fear that was their present. Dumbledore should have trusted in Snape, and not some horrid spell. The two wizards had been able to forgive Dumbledore for both of them loved the old Headmaster. They also knew that the older wizard was not perfect. No one was.

Rarely, though, had Snape ever shown Albus how he felt. This wise, yet flawed wizard, had been the father to him that his own, Tobias Snape, had not. Of course Dumbledore had failed the youthful Severus Snape, but he had redeemed himself when Severus truly needed someone to care for him and to love him despite the worst mistake he'd ever made in his young life.

Spying had not been easy and he had nearly lost his own life the night that Harry Potter had been marked by the Dark Lord. His injuries had been brutal, but it was Albus Dumbledore who fixed the broken bones, cleaned the grievous injuries, changed the bloody bandages. It was Albus who read to him each day and who had comforted him when he woke from nightmares that brought renewed pain. Snape recovered and was entirely prepared to continue spying upon his contemporaries in a search for the gravely injured Tom Riddle.

There wasn't the open torture that Voldemort preferred, but the danger was there. Snape constantly had to be on guard against those wishing him dead. Twice he'd been nearly fatally stabbed, and once, as a prank, Lucius had tested a new poison on the Potions Master; a poison made from the venom of the Dark Lord's pet, Nagini.

The Headmaster had been certain he would lose Severus, his son, that night, but he used his strongest magic to keep the young wizard from succumbing to the poison's fatal fire while he himself brewed a complicated antidote.

Severus Snape reached out, now, to his mentor and did not speak until those blue eyes, that so often maddened him no end with their twinkling, looked up into his own. The weariness in those eyes softened the words he had intended to be stinging. In fact, he carefully re-thought what he planned to say, and then spoke gently.

"Albus, the Dark Lord is not Grindelwald. Grindelwald was impulsive, gregarious, and bent solely upon your destruction. The Dark Lord is a cunning creature who hides beneath the earth while he sends others to do his bidding. The damage is small and deceptive now as he gathers strength and gathers followers. We cannot wait for him to strike for by then, even if we prevail, our losses will be so severe as to threaten our continued existence."

Snape was encouraged by Dumbledore's other hand covering his and squeezing tightly as the old man listened. Snape continued speaking.

"Allow me to show you the plans we've devised. Come and see what all of us are able to do with the magic Lyrica has taught us. These young witches and wizards would make you proud. And, Albus, there is no better time to see to our enemy's demise than when he is weak."

Dumbledore took several deep breaths before replying, "Minerva called me an 'old fool'. She also suggested that I be sent to St. Mungo's ward for 'Doddering Old Twinklers'." He smiled gently and Snape merely quirked one corner of his mouth in a tight smile. "You of all people, my boy, may understand how difficult it is for one to ask for help... to relinquish control." Snape nodded solemnly. "These days, Severus, I feel so tired. Right down to the marrow in these brittle, old bones. There are times when all I want to do is to remain in bed with my blanket over my head. I have been fighting, in one form or another, for nearly all of my life. Whether it be Dark Wizards, their ignorant followers, or the hopelessly inane politics and policies of the Ministry and the Wizengamot, I am always fighting someone."

"Then choose not to fight me, Albus. We are on the same side. I came back to help you so allow me to do so," urged Snape.

Snape smiled as the blue eyes of the Headmaster lit up with a brief twinkle. "Why don't I have dinner with you and your family tonight, Severus. Then you can show me these battle plans you've drawn up."

Dumbledore let go of Snape's hand and slowly rose to his feet and smiled, the full twinkling now possessing his cerulean gaze. A swift rolling of his eyes and Snape was on his feet, transfiguring the chairs back into hard, wooden benches. "Perhaps I shall see if Dobby can concoct those ghastly lemon things you're fond of, Headmaster."

"Ah, yes! Lemon Love Notes! That would be splendid, Severus."

"Six o'clock then, Headmaster."

Dumbledore nodded in acknowledgement and then left the classroom. Snape took a deep breath as he clasped his hands tightly behind his back. He owed Minerva for directing the Headmaster down to his classroom. He owed that witch big time.

That evening, after dinner, Lyrica reviewed her lesson plans, Ron played his lute, Harry taught Draco King's Table, and Hermione was lost in her Transfiguration textbook. Snape and Dumbledore went to the Potions Master's private lab to look over the battle plans that had been drawn up.

Snape unrolled the various parchments and explained, "Ronald Weasley helped heavily in drawing up these various plans. That boy has a unique ability to visualise his opponents, their weaknesses and strengths, in conjunction with various locations. I decided to test him one evening and played a game of chess with the boy without the use of a chessboard and pieces. He trounced me soundly."

"Did he now?" asked Dumbledore who was pleased to hear such praise for a Weasley coming out of the acerbic Potions Master's mouth.

"Ten games. All ten were won in less than fourteen moves." Snape scowled. "I think I shall stay away from the bloody game for awhile." Snape smoothed out the parchments, incanting silently a spell that would keep the ends from snapping back into a tight scroll.

Snape tapped the first set of plans that pictured Hogwarts with a slim finger. "If the Dark Lord comes for Harry, Hogwarts, I think you would agree, is the most likely place for a battleground. You, yourself told me that Tom Riddle always looked upon the school as his home. Hogwarts also would be an important political jewel in his proverbial crown were he to control it."

Dumbledore linked his hands loosely behind his back as he leaned over the table. He then unlinked them, adjusted his spectacles, and looped the fingers of one hand into his beard. "I have never doubted that Tom might try to take Hogwarts, Severus. Please continue."

"Hogwarts is guarded very well by layers of secure wards. There are internal wards in place throughout the castle, many of which were placed there by the Founders." Snape glanced at the Headmaster. "I know you do know most of this, but just hear me out, Albus. The Dark Lord, like any student that attended Hogwarts, knows of these protections. We know of several incidents in which he has tested these wards and I strongly believe he will continue to do so. Part of our plan for luring him to Hogwarts is to set up a believable incident that weakens the outer wards."

Dumbledore's hand grasped Snape's wrist. "That would be folly, my boy!"

Snape smiled lightly, and knowingly. "Not quite. Let me divert for a moment. I have become acquainted with an interesting artifact my son received as a questionable gift from two identical Weasley baboons in his third year. Lupin tells me you're aware of it. The Marauder's Map?"

"Ah. That explains quite a bit. I understood that Mr. Filch was in possession of that ingenious bit of parchment?"

"Apparently not. Whatever it's history has been of late, it was vital in identifying Peter Pettigrew as Ronald's rat. It has also shown us an impressive network of hidden tunnels and rooms, one of which is the Chamber of Secrets, that would be beneficial to defending Hogwarts and turning the castle into a veritable trap for the Death Eaters and the Dark Lord. I have spoken with Lupin and Black who can duplicate portions of the map and also secure the duplicates so that no one outside of the Order can use one."

"The wards, Severus. You would not weaken the interior wards?" asked the Headmaster dubiously.

"Not quite. Our ruse of weakening the outer wards would simply be that, an illusion. It is our intent that once the Dark Lord steps within the boundary of the wards, they are strengthened to the point that any who are with him are trapped." Snape went through the various pieces of parchment until he found a smaller one that had what appeared to be Hogwarts surrounded by a colourful, woven abstract.

"Credit this to my little Know-it-all, Hermione, Albus, and be thankful she's on our side. As you can tell, these are all the layers of wards surrounding Hogwarts. These marks indicate where the wards intersect with the wards surrounding Hogsmeade and the Forbidden Forest."

Albus lifted the smaller piece of parchment and his hands shook slightly as he held it. "Severus, only I, the Headmaster of Hogwarts, know all the wards that surround the castle. How did that child discern this?"

"As I overheard Black once say, the girl is the brightest witch of her age. Hermione already has an innate talent for deciphering wards and breaking them. She broke into my lab at Billeghdonn Cove and broke a very complicated sealing ward on one of my most dangerous Dark Arts books." Albus bushy eyebrows rose at this. "The girl is a Houdini, Headmaster."

Albus chuckled and stroked his beard. "Even so, Severus, I have known other Houdinis and Miss Granger couldn't have produced this without some help."

Snape tapped the map of wards. "Ley Line Magic, Albus. In the hands of a female, it is formidable magic and Hermione has discovered aspects of the old magic that surprised even my wife. The girl, when she tapped into the Ley Lines beneath the castle learned that Rowena Ravenclaw and Helga Hufflepuff had connected some of those wards directly to the crossed Ley Lines. Hermione, using her connection to the Ley Lines, was able to trace every single ward within and without Hogwarts."

The Headmaster paled somewhat as he realised how intelligent a witch the Muggle-born Hermione was. Snape took the parchment from the Headmaster and tapped it with his wand. They watched as the wards on the map shimmered slightly and a wide portion thinned.

"This is how the wards can appear weakened, Albus. Those are the particular wards connected to the Ley Lines. That hole is created by essentially lowering the power of the wards in that area. Like a dying ember in a fireplace. The power can be easily lowered so that the Dark Lord and his minions can come through. It can then be snapped back into place, thus trapping them inside the boundaries of Hogwarts. The wards, will of course, keep them from Disapparating, and Disillusionment charms will be useless as well. Lastly, we'll add a final ward which will disable their portkeys. The only portkeys that will work, will be ours."

"Ingenious, Severus! Now, what about the younger children? How do you propose to keep them safe?"

Snape put aside the ward map, and they went back to the main schematic.

"Hermione and Luna will be in charge of taking all the first through third years here." Dumbledore leaned closer to see where Snape was pointing. The older wizard squinted at the small lettering. "The Marauder's Map showed us Rowena Ravenclaw's old workrook beneath Ravenclaw tower. It's immense, Albus. We couldn't get in, at first, but Harry and Luna discovered a cipher book at the rear of the fireplace in Ravenclaw tower that was the key to Rowena's complex wards. The workroom is extremely well protected and the younger children will be safe there."

Dumbledore perused the various parchments that illustrated different plans for defending Hogwarts and for conducting the battle defenses. For several long moments both men went over the parchments while Dumbledore pointed out minute weaknesses and areas of the castle that not even the Marauder's Map knew of.

"What's this notation about the house elfs, Severus?" the Headmaster pointed to a notation near the kitchen.

"Lyrica reminded us that the house elfs are a completely untapped source of magical power. They are pledged to protect Hogwarts and the children. Dobby will be in charge of a contingent of house elfs that will apparate amongst the Death Eaters as snipers."

"Snipers?"

"A Muggle military term that denotes a soldier that attacks on his own from a hidden vantage point. The house elfs can apparate within the anti-apparition wards. They will not be expected, and I'm quite confident that they'll aid in decimating a good portion of the Death Eaters."

Dumbledore sighed appreciatively. "I would never have thought of soliciting their help, my boy. This is, indeed, quite impressive!"

"I am pleased you approve. Now, let me show you what's occurring right now." Snape pushed the Hogwarts battle plans aside and pulled to the fore another set.

"Riddle Manor is where it seems the Dark Lord is now although there are times when he has made use of Malfoy Manor. However, our intrepid Gryffindor, the bookworm, discovered two months ago an interesting purchase of an abandoned asylum in Coulsdon by a Lord Redmond Lair towards the end of 1992. Redmond Lair, as you can see, is an anagram of Riddle Manor."

Dumbledore nodded. "Tom was always rather fond of anagrams."

"Hmm, yes. Anyway, this is Cane Hill Asylum. As you can see by this extensive layout it is a true fortress. The buildings are not only maze-like but are grouped in such a way that the inhabitants would have a decided advantage. To fight here would be folly so I sent Black to scout out the place last week. He has yet to see any sign of Death Eater activity, but he did discover that the Dementors are being kept there."

"Their presence would easily give rise to such an abandoned building being haunted. Quite clever," mused the Headmaster.

"Indeed." Snape's long finger pointed to several orange dots scattered here and there on the blueprints of the abandoned asylum. "After much argument with the mutt and the werewolf, we came to the conclusion that Cane Hill must be destroyed or our losses, in a battle, would be catastrophic should the Dark Lord's minions decide to move there at any point during a confrontation. Hermione and Draco, who both have an affinity for magical fire, first suggested Fiendfyre to destroy the place. Quite out of the question as neither are old enough nor possessed of the needed concentration to control Fiendfyre. Both of them are able to conjure Bluebell Flame for warmth or light. A harmless bit of magic. However, those two discovered that by suspending the flame and linking it to the Ley Lines, Hermione can send a spell through the Ley Lines that detonates the flame on command."

"Good gracious! I had no idea..." the old man murmured. "Bluebell Flame is harmless."

"Draco was able to modify the Bluebell Flame and increase its temperature to one that is not harmless, Headmaster. Since the last Order meeting, Black and Tonks have been planting these 'Bluebell Bombs' as Draco calls them, all over the asylum. Harry, Ron, and Draco also devised a barrier that will keep the fire confined that will serve to protect the surrounding land and properties. Black is certain that within two weeks, we'll be able to destroy this stronghold and take out the Dementors."

"Very well thought out, my boy, but my only concern is the drain this may cause to Miss Granger's own magical core."

Snape smirked. "Had you joined our Ley Line Magic lessons, Headmaster, you would have learned that we are able to link our magical cores in order to prevent such a drain. With the help of Luna, Pansy, and Millicent, they will link their magical cores to Hermione's. They will be exhausted, but that will come from a concussive feedback of the Bluebell Bombs detonating. They'll only fall asleep, perhaps 24 hours at most. Lyrica will watch over them."

Dumbledore began to pace the lab floor, as his long fingers tugged his long beard. Snape watched, knowing that the older man was impressed, but wondering if he was impressed enough. The Headmaster stopped his pacing abruptly and looked at the younger wizard.

"I have grossly underestimated the value of your brilliant wife, Severus, and your equally brilliant children. I am eager to see what else she has taught all of you. Minerva mentioned a demonstration?" He asked, his eyes twinkling so brightly, Snape had to look away.

"After we're certain that Cane Hill and the Dementors are destroyed we'll have the Defense Association assemble in the Room of Requirement to show you what is possible."

"Very good, Severus. I truly am looking forward to it." He moved back to the table where all the parchments lay. "Now, take me through these battle plans again, my boy."