Severus paced anxiously in the Headmaster's office during lunch period the next day. He didn't know where to start with the whole situation, and apparently Albus saw this, because he wasn't pressuring Severus to get started already. Severus felt like a little school boy, taking up a valuable professor's time but not actually producing anything for it. He paced a few more times. Finally, he collapsed into the large armchair he had used the previous day.

"What did you find?" Albus asked, taking his change in posture as his cue.

"It was an hallucination," Severus said, lacing his fingers, steepling his index, and tapping those against his lips thoughtfully as his eyes took on a far away look.

"Are you sure?" Albus questioned further.

"Absolutely," Severus replied. "There were definite residues of hallucination in the memory. Very subtle. Too subtle for anyone but an outside expert to be able to find. It would fool the legal system and the medical system both, I'm sure, if Potter wishes to show someone else."

"Yet you are certain you are not mistaken."

"You can't fake hallucinations, Albus," Severus drawled.

"Have you told Harry?"

"Absolutely not!" Severus shouted, affronted. "You, apparently, lack every ounce of tact ever given to man, if you think I would tell him!"

"But if it was an hallucination," Albus continued, "then Sirius is cleared of all charges and should be able to see Harry where and when he likes, with the company he likes, should he not? It's not like Harry's memory is real."

"It's real to him, Albus! It might not have actually happened, and Black shouldn't be turned over for something he didn't do, certainly, but Potter will have the effects of it still. He will behave like a victim of sexual abuse, because he believes himself to be. The effects will be real even if the occurrence was unreal, but does a difference that makes no difference make a difference? Potter doesn't want to see Black brought to court over it anyway. There's no reason why we have to tell him."

"We should tell him so that he can trust Sirius again."

"Think about it, you old fool," Severus sneered. "He remembers this. He remembers it like your or I remember supper last night. It happened. It is real to him. No amount of explanation on our part can override the testimony of his mind. How would you feel about it if someone had wronged you, you remembered it, and then you were told it was all a dream you had made up? Would you believe that, or would you trust your mind to know what you had seen?"

"I see your point, Severus," Albus sighed.

"I have no intention of ever bringing this up to Potter," Severus continued. "If he discovers it is an hallucination on his own, and he is willing to believe that, so much the better. In the meantime, he has trusted me with what he knows to be reality."

"Then you've already checked to see if he's lying?"

"You can't fake an hallucination!" Severus repeated, getting clearly annoyed with the redundancy of the questions. "Potter speaks the truth as he knows it! I brushed his mind while we discussed the matter. He believes his story and would testify under oath that it is the truth, because to him, it is. If you gave him veritaserum, he would tell you everything he's told me, not a word differently. This is the truth for him."

"Then what should we do about Sirius?" Albus asked. "Perhaps we should just put the two together and show Harry that nothing will happen?"

"No!" Severus objected, rising to his feet. "That will likely cause another hallucination. High stress situations are more likely to cause them than low stress ones. If you leave him alone with Black, he will feel betrayed and fear for his safety. He'll have a second hallucination, only confirming what he already knows. That will shatter any meager trust he has in either of us."

"Either of us?" Albus echoed.

"He didn't want to bring this to you himself," Severus began, "because he was convinced you would believe Black over him. He came to me because I hate both of them."

"Oh, come now," Albus said, almost rolling his now twinkling eyes. "This whole situation has done nothing but confirm that you don't, in fact, hate Harry."

"Of course I do," Severus contradicted, sitting again.

"Harry's trust in you is a beautiful thing," Albus continued.

"Oh, no," Severus sighed, exasperated, "we're not going to start the whole 'Be friends with Harry and just give him a chance' lecture again, are we? Spare me the torture. I can't stand the brat."

"It's not very nice to say that about your son," Albus said his voice dropping to almost a whisper.

"I'm not a nice per- " Severus cut himself off and looked horrified when he realized what Albus had said. "My what?" he asked, his voice monotone. When Albus didn't respond except to look at him with a triumphant twinkle, Severus repeated, louder, "My what?"

"Your son," Albus said again. Severus blinked several times, his mouth hanging slightly open, and he looked quite a sight to anyone who knew him. It was a rare occurrence that Severus Snape was lost for words.

"I'm sorry, I thought you said Potter was my son there for a moment," Severus said, collecting himself some.

"Harry is your son," Albus continued.

"Physically impossible," Snape dismissed. "It can't have happened. I'm not ignorant in biology, Albus."

"How do you mean?" Albus asked.

"I've never known a woman," Severus declared, feeling a bit awkward. "I've never known anyone," he continued, just for clarification's sake. "I can't have a son. It just can't happen."

"Severus," Albus began, his voice not boding well. It had the tone where Severus knew he would be in for a long, difficult story. "Perhaps this isn't the best time to tell you, simply because of what you've said just now about trusting your own memories, but then, perhaps it is the best time, because you remember saying that." Albus paused.

"Well, get on with it!" Severus shouted. "I have classes to teach."

"It's a long story," Albus sighed sadly. "Perhaps it would be better for another time."

"Tell me now!" Severus demanded.

"Alright," Albus finally agreed. "Your memories of your life are false. I have official records if you wish to see them to prove them false. Do you recall the unfortunate incident with Lily and the Marauders?"

"Which one?" Severus drawled, intensely not liking this conversation.

"The one where you used a slur against Lily." Severus winced.

"Of course I remember," he said softly.

"Do you remember what happened after that with your relationship with her?"

"She refused to forgive me, even though I sat outside the Gryffindor common rooms every night for a week and tried to apologize during classes. She never spoke to me again."

"And that is where your memory is wrong," Albus said. "She did forgive you, the first time you apologized." Severus just looked skeptical. "She took you back, and the two of you remained the best of friends. In your next year, you began seeing each other as more than just friends. Shortly after you graduated from Hogwarts, you and Lily married."

"What?!" Severus exclaimed.

"I have the marriage license," Albus continued. "It was a very quiet wedding. Not many people knew you wed."

"Then why do I have this?" Severus challenged, pulling his left sleeve up, revealing his Dark Mark. "Lily would never have married a Death Eater."

"You were not a Death Eater," Albus explained.

"I'm confused," Severus stated, rubbing his forehead.

"Lily kept you from the worst of the Dark Arts, at least. You were always fascinated with them, and you did do some dabbling, but that was it, dabbling. Lily didn't want you to, and you knew that, so for her sake, you kept it to a minimum. When you married her, you did not have a Dark Mark."

"Then what on God's green earth would have possessed me to take it?!" Severus almost screamed.

"When Voldemort's power was becoming more threatening, I needed a spy, Severus," Albus said sadly. "You were the logical choice, of course. Your interest in the Dark Arts was not hidden. You would make a believable candidate, while also reliable."

"I would never have agreed to spy for you, if I had Lily," Severus ground out. "You might be able to change my memories, but you can't change who I am!"

"You're right," Albus conceded. "You didn't agree. You didn't want to leave your wife and unborn child."

"Continue," Severus said, his voice very controlled.

"I'll admit, I said a few somewhat misleading things to Lily. Alright, very misleading. I told her that you had agreed to do this, to protect her and your son in the long run, even though it would mean you would have to leave them for a while. She was exceedingly understanding. She said you were the bravest man she had ever known. I explained that I needed a paper signed, giving me permission to change your memories, because as long as you remembered her, you would be in more danger from Voldemort. She agreed and signed the paper."

"Because you lied to her!" Severus screamed. Somewhere in his heart, he believed Albus' story. It was like hearing a truth you had known all along, had forgotten, and then someone told you. You couldn't quite remember it, but you knew it was true.

"With the release signed, I obliviated your memories from the day Lily accepted your apology onwards and replaced them with the ones you have now."

"Then why does Potter look like James?" Severus challenged. It was his one last argument. He wanted to see Albus wiggle out of that one. Well, more like he feared Albus would wiggle out of it.

"When your memories were changed, Lily got a divorce. Only officially, of course. She still thought of you as her husband, and when Voldemort would fall, she would return to you. In the meantime, expecting, she needed someone to protect and support her. Muggle society is much more tolerant of unwed mothers, as you know. Few knew the two of you were ever married. James Potter agreed to look after Lily for you in your absence."

"He - what?"

"Officially, James and Lily had a lavish and well-publicized wedding. James paid for it himself. He understood what was happening, and he knew he wasn't Lily's real husband. He knew the child she bore was yours. He agreed he would never touch your wife in any way unbecoming to a married woman, Severus. James Potter was many things, some of which you despise, but he was not an adulterer, and neither was Lily."

"I am aware James was honorable," Severus agreed.

"The marriage was for show, to protect Lily and your child. Unfortunately, your memories from taking the Dark Mark on, are accurate. Delivering the prophecy caused Voldemort to hunt Harry down. Both James and Lily died protecting your son."

"All this is very nice," Severus dismissed, "but you still haven't explained why Potter looks like James."

"Glamours," Albus said. "End the spells over his appearance, and you will see he looks like you. He had to look like James to make the facade believable. If you don't believe this story, that should be the ultimate proof. You will find he has your nose."

"A terrible curse to have," Severus muttered. "Why did James agree to do it? Marry Lily and die for Harry?"

"He loved Lily too," Albus said, almost surprised. "He loved her son for the fact that he was her child. If that was what the role was to be, surrogate protector and father, then he was ready to do so."

"Alright," Severus said, still in shock. "So can you replace my memories now, so that I can remember?"

"I had to obliviate you, as I already said," Albus said sorrowfully. "As you should know, an obliviate is permanent."

"What?" he replied. "Of course I knew that. You couldn't find another memory charm?"

"No, Severus, not one that was guaranteed to work."

"So you took my only happy memories and turned them into ashes!" Severus shouted, standing up, holding the sides of his head as he began to wrap his mind around the new information. "The only time I was ever happy. The only good thing that ever happened to me, and you took it from me. I didn't agree to this!"

"Look at all the good that has come from it, though," Albus pointed out. "And you still have Harry."

"'And I still have Harry,'" Severus mocked. "No, don't be a fool. I've driven him away too far to ever recover him. I could have taken Lily and Harry to Australia, or America, and we could have had a happy life. We wouldn't have had to be involved in this war at all!"

"Severus, the greater good, remember?"

"It's not my greater good!" Severus shouted back at him. "What about this is good for me? For Harry? For Lily? I could have saved her life! I still killed her! I marked Harry for life! What kind of a man kills his wife and condemns his son to being an orphan and doesn't even know?"

"I'm sorry, Severus," Albus said.

"No, you're not," Severus said, his tone deathly quiet. "I need to go now. None of this changes the fact that I have dunderheads to keep from blowing themselves up this afternoon."

And with that, Severus turned and left the Headmaster's office to go teach his classes.