Albus paced outside the room where Lily Potter’s son had been taken. The boy had seemed weak and sickly, and it seemed as though, despite the efforts of the healers, the child would not last the night.

That left him with a difficulty, however. Lily’s son was going to be crucial to the coming war, as would Alice Longbottom’s. The Longbottom boy had been born the day before and was perfectly healthy, but Lily’s child was not. Lily and James were loyal members of the Order. Their child would be raised properly, and would do his part in the war, Albus had no doubt of that.

The problem was that he doubted that the child of Lily and James Potter would survive the night, let alone long enough to defeat Tom Riddle.

To his knowledge, no other witches had been admitted to deliver a child today, which meant that there was no chance of a ‘mix-up’. He was internally cursing his luck while also attempting to come up with another plan, when voices from the room next to where the Potters’ son had been taken got his attention.

“He’s a beautiful baby, Mr. Snape. I’ll bring him back so that he can nurse soon, right now we need to check him over, make sure he’s healthy. Little Henry will be back before you know it.”

A quick glance into the room confirmed his suspicions. Severus Snape had apparently just given birth to his child, not long after Lily had done the same. The child was a boy, and seemed to be in perfect health.

Briefly, he debated the morality of what he planned to do. It was for the Greater Good, however, and Severus was a Death Eater. Any child of his would grow to take the Mark as well, it would be easier to solve this problem before it occurred. Killing two birds with one stone, as the muggles would say.

When the mediwitch who had been in the room with Severus went into the nursery, Albus slipped in after him.

Memory charms were applied, glamors were cast, and when the healers left the room, they accompanied Severus’ mediwitch to tell him of his child’s death, while the living baby went with the Potters’ mediwitch, off to tell James and Lily that their son was alive and healthy.

“You switched the babies?” Harry asked, stunned. He had hoped it was just a mistake, one that Dumbledore had taken advantage of once he learned of it, but this?

“Harry, dear boy, you have to understand. The prophecy,” Dumbledore tried to explain, only to be ruthlessly cut off by Severus.

“Meant nothing, as I had never defied the Dark Lord,” Severus snapped. He had planned to keep a low profile after his son was born, but he wouldn’t have been foolish enough to risk the Dark Lord killing his son when he changed sides. When Severus did decide to change sides, throwing himself into saving Lily because he had nothing else, he didn’t care if he lived or died. His son was dead, and he had blamed himself because of the potions he had brewed for Lucius. He assumed that the spells he had cast or the protections woven into his robes had failed, and the fumes had killed his son.

“You did defy Tom, Severus,” Dumbledore pointed out, looking at the two men sitting across from him. “When you became my spy-“

“Something that happened after Henry was declared dead,” Severus said frostily. “I did not defy the Dark Lord even once until after my son was declared dead. Even then, I did nothing until I discovered that the Dark Lord was targeting Lily.”

Harry wondered if he should be frightened by that, the man had said outright that he had joined the Death Eaters and hadn’t changed sides until after Voldemort targeted the Potters, but he was going to wait to hear Snape’s explanation before he jumped to conclusion. Maybe the man had been planning on quitting once his son was born, and just hadn’t afterwards.

“Regardless of whatever half-baked prophecy that the drunken seer made to attempt to pass her interview, you stole my child, tampered with the healers’ minds, and cast strong glamor charms on infants, all so that you could have a child savior for your war,” Severus continued.

“But Harry did defeat Tom, not once but many times already,” Dumbledore replied, and Harry scowled.

“I survived because of luck, and you forced me into a lot of the situations,” Harry replied. “Leaving the Mirror of Erised where anyone could wander onto it? My cloak? The easy tasks in first year?”

“You’re a reckless fool, Harry, that’s been established,” Severus said dryly, causing Harry to look at the man indignantly. “But you do make a valid point. Several of the situations that you found yourself in could have been avoided if you were properly punished when you broke the rules, rather than letting you off with a slap on the wrist. If any child of mine had flown a car to school, a Howler would have been the least of their worries.”

“What would you have done?” Harry asked, interested. Snape had said that he wouldn’t hit him, so what would the man have done?

“I would have had you scrubbing cauldrons and pickling rat spleens for weeks,” Severus replied.  “And you certainly wouldn’t have gotten your allowance for a set time.”

Harry was going to ask about that, since he had never gotten an allowance and wasn’t sure if he would be now, but Snape didn’t give him a chance, standing and glaring at Dumbledore.

“The only reason that I am not pressing charges is because I do not want this getting out until after the war has ended and there will be no increased risk to my son,” Severus sneered. “But I want your word, on your magic, that you will not tell another about what has been discussed here without our express permission.”

Harry watched as Dumbledore promised on his magic, planning on asking how it worked later, and then followed Snape out of the office. Now they knew what Dumbledore had been hiding, but Harry didn’t know where they would go from here. He was also having trouble reconciling the kindly headmaster who had visited him in the hospital wing with the manipulative leader of the Order. Time, he supposed, and further conversations, would help with that.