There had been many times in Harry’s life where he had faced death and lived to tell the tale. Going after the Stone in his first year, the Chamber second year, his mother after he had hexed his father, for he hadn’t been nearly afraid of Lupin the werewolf, during third year, and the Triwizard tournament in fourth.

Now it was his fifth year, and he was in Dumbledore’s office with Hermione, Draco, and Ron. They were all going to stick together in this. They had to. It was just how everything was meant to be.

The man was not in his office. But, Harry knew that he was on the ledge outside of his office.

Suddenly, something caught Harry’s eye. It was a round, glass ball.

Harry looked closer at the glass ball that was in the man’s office. It was round, cloudy… But it was almost as if there was something inside of it.

Harry picked the ball up and looked at it closely. Something blue…something, whatever was inside of it moved, nearly causing Harry to drop the ball.

“I see you have discovered my secret.” Harry didn’t turn around.

“So, Dumbedore, the battle shall end tonight, shall it not?”

Harry slipped the round ball into the pocket of his jacket. One that, luckily, his mother had added an extension charm to.

“Who are you, really?” Harry asked the man as he turned around.

“Why, I am Albus Dumbledore, of course. Would you care for a lemon drop?”

Harry’s eyes glared at the man before him.

“What really happened to my mother? What happened that night?” Harry asked. If he was fixing to fight the man, he wanted some answers.

To his shock, Dumbledore sat down near the doorway that led outside. It was a doorway that Harry had never really paid attention too.

Harry was not, however, going to let his guard down. He had to stay standing.

He knew better than to let his guard down at a time like this. Hermione, knew it also, but she still moved up to stand beside Harry, with her wand drawn. Ron moved up to Harry’s side, and Draco to Hermione’s.

Together, they were united.

“You wish to know what really happened? Since I am sure that you are about to die, I see no harm in telling you some things.” Dumbledore said mystically.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

They apparated in the midst of the battle. Giant spiders were on the outskirts, near the Forbidden Forest. The Giants were on near the Great Lake. The Inferi were everywhere.

“What will we do? Trixie, it doesn’t look as if he has any humans on his side.” Frank said quietly.

“Inside. He didn’t know that the battle would happen for sure tonight. Harry, Hermione, and Draco assured that it would happen tonight.”

The trio walked, once again under Notice-Me-Not charms. At least until they reached the castle.

For there was only one thing that Frank and Alice Longbottom wanted more than to see the defeat of Dumbledore.

Their son.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Severus, Lucius, Neville, and Lupin ran down the stairs. There the battle was raging. The entire front door had been blasted open, bricks where crumbling. It took all the will Severus had not to vomit when he saw the bodies of the dead on the floor. Two sixth year Slytherins. One fourth year Hufflepuff. Several steps later lay another student, crouching behind some rubble, a gash across her arm, her robes in shreds. She was a first year, a Ravenclaw. Tears were streaming down her face.

“Miss Letherby, what are you doing out of the dungeons?” Severus hissed, trying to be an inconspicuous as possible.

“Professor!” The little girl cried and threw herself at the man.

“Miss Letherby, you have to be in the dungeons. It is not safe out here for you.” The man scolded.

“They’re dead, Professor! They are dead! My parents!”

Severus wrapped his arms around the little girl, picking her up. She was one of the smallest, if not the smallest, eleven year olds at Hogwarts, thankfully. Even while trying to comfort her, the battle waged on causing Severus to quickly throw a shield up around the two of them when a stray spell was sent their way.

“Mr. Longbottom, can you take Miss Letherby to the dungeons? If you insist on fighting, leave her with Filch.”

But Neville Longbottom was staring as though in a trance, his eyes frozen towards the hole in the front hall.

“Mr. Longbottom!” Severus yelled, trying to snap Neville out of whatever amount of shock he was in while they were in the middle of a bloody battle.

“Mr. Longbottom!”

“Professor, am I imagining things…or is that my parents? With Bellatrix Black?” his voice sounded far away, almost as if the boy thought he was in a dream.

And then the thought occurred to Severus. The boy did think he was dreaming. It was not an unfamiliar concept to the older man. For, had he not also thought it was a dream when he saw his child for the first time after years of separation?

Severus had known that Bellatrix had been searching for something for days, for weeks. It looked like she had finally found what she was looking for.

Severus, still holding the little first year, her arms wrapped around his neck and her legs around his waist, stood in front of Neville, placed one hand on his ledt shoulder, and lightly shook the boy.

“Mr. Longbottom, you have to listen to me. I know that this is a shock. This whole bloody battle is a shock. But Bellatrix was the only one who could help your parents, and she did! She freed them of a spell that Dumbledore placed on them. They are free! You have to pull yourself together! You are a bloody Gryffindor! Act like it!” Severus scolded the young man.

Right before his eyes the boy transformed. Happiness filled his eyes, his stance straightened up, and he looked directly into Severus’ eyes, something he had never before done.

“You’re right, Professor. I have to go to them. I have to make sure that they make it out of this battle alive. I have to make sure that everyone who needs to be defeated, is defeated. I have to do this for them and my Gran, and I have to do this for Harry.” With that, Neville ran towards his parents.

Severus turned around. He had to get to wherever Dumbledore was because he knew that that was where his son was. At the moment, however, he had to get Miss Letherby to safety.

Severus turned, and walked towards a hidden stairwell that led to the dungeons.

“Severus!”

He turned, his shield once again immediately going up. He slowly dropped them when Rose ran to him.

“Where is Harry, Rose? Have you seen him?”

“I’ll take her, Sev, Harry is in Dumbledore’s office. I will take her back to the dungeons.”

Immediately, the two transferred the little girl to Rose’s hip, and the child automatically latched onto her.

Severus leaned over, “Be careful, Love. And this is Miss Letherby…she just watched her parents killed. They were on Dumbledore’s side.”

Rose closed her eyes and nodded.

“Be safe, Love. Be safe.”

With that, both went their separate ways.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Once upon a time, there was a prophecy. This prophecy was made by a Once-a-Time Seer. She was a Seer, but would only make one prediction.

The prediction was about a family. The only problem with this family was that no one knew who the family was.

The Prophecy said:

“The child with the power combined with a mate will arise with the ability to vanquish the false Lord of Light….born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies….and the false Lord of Light will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the false Lord knows not…the false Lord of Light will mark two as his equal, to throw the world off course…then the one with the mate and power to defeat the false Lord of Light will add one more, a friend, a brother in spirits, also marked as the equal to the false Lord of Light…together these equals have the power to vanquish the false Lord of Light…these two shall be born as the seventh month dies…”

Dumbledore studied hard to discover who this person would be. He had been studying it for months. Though the elder man detested Tom Riddle, and he knew the man was building an army for something, it did not seem like he was the man in the prophecy.

He knew, however, that the children in the prophecy could only be two…For at the end of July there had only been two children born.

Neville Longbottom and Harrison Snape.

Who could the Longbottoms and Snapes have defied three times?

That was when Dumbledore had decided to do a bit of meddling. He sent for Severus Snape.

He explained to the man that he needed him to go on a mission. A mission that would help the wizarding world, and Dumbledore would help protect his wife and child.

Severus, though hesitantly, agreed.

The next step was to protect the Longbottoms.

But, something happened that night at the Snape’s.

Dumbledore, for the first time in his life was overpowered. He was trapped in a stasis ball, somewhere he could move and think, but could do nothing else. It was old magic. Magic, by all intents, should have been considered dark, but was actually invented as a light spell.

Then, Harrison Snape was officially renamed Harry Potter. Lily Snape would be known as Lily Potter after her death.

It was rather easy. Despite the fact that the woman had fought rather fiercely to protect her little spawn, she was killed almost immediately.

Something, however, would not allow anyone wishing ill harm to the spawn to pick the screaming child up.

A few months later, before the spawn of Bellatrix Black was to be born, he cast a spell over the Longbottoms. He was able to place the blame on the Black woman. Her child, he was able to take and give away to another. It had been simple. He had a feeling that her baby, a pureblooded child, was the one who would bond with the Snape spawn.

Once again, he was unable to pick up the screaming spawn, however, or the Longbottom brat. In the end, with the Snape Spawn, he had had to get Hagrid to pick him up….this child, however, was going to take more planning…

Harry looked at the man in front of him.

Hermione gasped at the story.

Ron and Draco were silent.

“You are bloody, effin James Potter!” Harry shouted, his want drawn and pointed at the man.

The evil grin that crossed the imposter’s face was truth enough.

~*~*~*~*~

Suddenly, every magical ward that was still intact around the building shattered. The earth shook. The spiders scurried. The Inferi raged, and Giants stood still.

The people, the ones who were fighting a battle they hoped they would win, and the ones who thought they were on the right side but weren’t, stopped. Everyone stopped.

Neville Longbottom stopped three feet in front of his parents and stared at them, in awe of being able to see them truly for the first time.

Frank and Alice Longbottom both had tears streaming down their faces at the sight of their son.

Narcissa was fighting her way to her children. Nothing else mattered to her, but it seemed every step she took something or someone got in her way.

Lucius was battling a giant that had somehow gotten into the Great Hall and pinned Minerva McGonagall and Pomona Sprout under rubble behind him.

Rosemerta was handing over a clinging child to Filch. A child who had just watched her parents die. The child didn’t care who she clung to, as long as it was someone.

“Give her to Maddie.” Rose told Filch. The young woman would be able to help the child more than anyone else at the moment.

Bellatrix was fighting anyone who tried to get at Lucius, while he helped McGonagall and

Sprout.

The Weasley’s were all in various places.

But, the moment the wards all fell, and the earth shook, everyone stopped.

Something told them all that it was now fight or die because the battle was almost over, and they all knew when a battle was close to its end was always the most dangerous part.