The golden trio and the tarnished trio spent the next few weeks debating, and more often than not arguing, over what the newest information meant, as well as how they could use it to their advantage.

"I don't care how dangerous you think it might be. I feel I need to strengthen this ability." Harry said, trying to keep his voice calm and his temper in check.

"Why do you insist this is important? You already have all the information we can get coming from me. Is this your way of telling me that I am still not trusted?" Snape said, not bothering to keep his temper in check.

"No, it's not just that. Even as close to Voldemort as you are, he still doesn't tell you everything. You don't know who Voldemort has spying on the Order, and this might be the only way we can find out," Harry explained.

Lucius snorted as Snape pinched the bridge of his nose, "Why do you always insist on putting yourself in unneeded danger? Who is to say that you would gain any information before you are found? Did your fifth year teach you nothing? The Dark Lord is one of the strongest Legilimens alive, and you think a seventeen year old just learning how to control his newfound ability will be able to sneak past those defenses unfound."

"Harry, maybe he's right, mate. I mean, do we really need to know who the spy is that badly? My dad has it under control, and we do still have Snape's info. Hermione, what do you think?" Ron asked.

"I, um, I kind of agree with Harry. We have to use every weapon against Voldemort that we have at our disposal, within reason of course. Something tells me that this is not an opportunity we can pass up," Hermione said, not looking at Ron.

"This arguing is getting us nowhere. Let us move onto a different subject, one that we also need to discuss: How to safely destroy the remaining Horcruxes. We need to come up with a plan, one, that preferably, does not include someone else losing their life to destroy the horrid items," cut in Draco. "Not that I would mind the loss of any Gryffindor, but it seems Potter here can't die until after the Dark Lord does or Merlin himself couldn't save us."

"Very well, no need to continue arguing over something that will not happen," Snape said giving Harry his glare that meant he was not to be disobeyed. Harry just rolled his eyes.

"Here, Harry, can you put your memory of what happened to Moody in there for us?" Hermione asked hastily, trying to keep another argument from starting, as she handed him the Pensieve. Harry nodded and closed his eyes to gather the memory.

After the six of them had finished viewing the memory a few times, they came out of the Pensieve. "Oh Harry! You're lucky you weren't killed. That black lash hit you full force. One thing I still don't understand though, why your Glamour was messed up in such a way? It didn't even look anything like your appearance does now," Hermione pondered.

"Miss Granger, now is not the time to cater to Mr. Potter's vanity. We need to discuss what happened to Moody, so that we can figure out a way for us to do this safely. I wish had the foresight to request Albus' memory from the destruction of the Ring. Comparing the two would have been a much easier way to distinguish what went wrong," Snape said.

"Why can't we simply compare the two I witnessed? One caused a death, and the other only resulted in the destruction of a Horcrux. Won't that give us the information we are looking for?" Harry asked, looking from Hermione to Snape.

"Harry, didn't you say that Fawkes had to heal you, and that you'd have been dead if he hadn't?" Hermione asked, looking a bit scared.

"Yes, I did say that. But that was from the Basilisk venom. I wasn't hurt by the destruction on the Diary. Now should I gather the memory or not?" Harry finished with an exasperated sigh.

"Please do, Mr. Potter. I, for one, would love to see how you survived that year. The Old Co..." upon seeing Snape's already dark look, darkening to thunderous proportions, Lucius changed his wording rather quickly, "well yes, Dumbledore refused to tell me anything on the grounds that it would keep me safer if the Dark Lord ever breached my mind. There were many paths in his design for that year that I never would have thought were capable of being possible, yet here you sit alive and well. Even better the same can be said about Miss Weasley as well." Lucius finished with a slight grimace.

Harry could tell that no matter how much the Malfoy's were on the side of light, those two families would never get along. Harry was glad, he didn't need everything in his life to change that drastically. He'd had quite enough change already, Thank You Very Much!

"So, how much of that night would you like me to put in? Would you like to be able to yell about me and the giant snake fighting, or just cut to the end?" Harry asked giving Hermione a cheeky grin.

"Start from the first time you saw Tom Riddle, that should give us enough to use for comparison," Snape said, motioning to the Pensieve.

Sometime later, five dismayed people and one mildly amused Harry emerged from the Pensieve. Hermione, who had been hanging onto Harry as soon as she got a good look at the Basilisk alive, buried her head in his neck and started to cry. Ron was very pale, and had his arm wrapped securely around Harry's shoulders. Draco and Lucius just sat heavily on opposite ends of the couch, while Snape fixed himself a Firewhisky and downed it.

"What is wrong with you people? You act as if the world ended in that Chamber," Harry says as he pushed Hermione's head up so he could look into her eyes, "I'm still here, see. And Ginny, she's alive as well," he added as he looked at Ron. Harry then snorted as he looked at the Slytherins, "and you three. I'd think you'd be dancing for joy. If I haven't proven to you before that I can accomplish this and free you, then that right there should have."

"Merlin, Potter! How can you be so bloody cheerful after reliving that? You do realize that you nearly died at the age of 12, correct?" Draco asked incredulously.

"Damn right I'm cheerful. Reliving that made me realize just how much I actually accomplished at Hogwarts. Do any of you realize that I have had a near death experience every year, and yet I'm still alive and kicking? I'm cheerful because I just figured out that I really do have it in me to be the end all of Voldemort!" Harry exclaimed.

"Typical, arrogant Gryffindor, I see. Did not take much to bring that arrogance out," Lucius snipped.

"No, you're wrong. I'm not arrogant." Harry ignored Snape's snort, and continued, "Far from it in fact. I'm confidant. I discovered what it really means to be The-Boy-Who-Lived. I'm a survivor, it's what I've done since I was just a toddler, and I've continued doing it every year since. Voldemort doesn't have a chance!" Harry nearly shouted in his excitement, "Come on Hermione, surely you have put this together? ‘Neither shall live while the other survives.' I've survived against all odds, and I didn't have the help of nasty little artifacts. Now if I was arrogant like Mr. Malfoy claims now, and as Snape has claimed all along, then I'd slack off since the Prophesy has all but guaranteed I'll win. I'm not going to do that. I'm going to do what ever I can within my power to stack the deck in our favor, and that includes strengthening the power I have over our link," the last part was said with a glare in Snape's direction.

"Potter, tonight is not the time to rehash this weary argument once again. In fact, seeing how all of us, excluding you, seems to have taken the recent viewing rather hard. I propose we retire for the night and start the comparison tomorrow, when we are all fresh minded." Snape said, looking pointedly towards the four teens.

The teens made their goodnights and quietly headed upstairs. Harry paused as he passed Ron's room. "Would you two like to talk? We could go to my room, I don't like seeing the two of you that shaken." Harry asked.

Ron looked at Hermione, whom was still rather pale, and nodded. "I think that's a good idea mate. Even though I was there that night, I didn't realize how much I had actually missed. You coming, Hermione?" Ron asked.

"Yes, I'm coming as well. Wait have any of you seen my notebook? No? I must have left it in the Library. Go on, I'll be right there," she said as she turned to head back down the way they had just come.

Stepping up to the almost closed door, she was about to knock when she heard a heated discussion going on inside. Giving into her Gryffindor curiosity, Hermione listened in...

"It is useless, Lucius, he will never trust me, much less see me as a father. I knew it was a bad idea to treat him so badly as a student."

"You had no choice, think of what the students in your own House would have done to him, much less any of the Death Eaters when they got wind of your treatment. I do not care how well Albus said he had the boy guarded, he was still so vulnerable."

"Do not dare to even mention that pathetic excuse of a woman! She was a vulture that was entirely too strict, and paid little to no attention to his emotional welfare. She gave him no compassion, and bothered not with his need for reassurance. That woman should be so lucky to never seen the wrong end of my wand!"

‘Who are they talking about? At first I thought it was Harry, but he hasn't shown much of a vulnerable side in years now? Hmmm...Oh I'm missing something, what did Snape just say?'

"Yes, I know you feel like you should have just taken him and his mother and run to a different country. But you saw what they did to Karkaroff, and even though you did not know it then, are you not glad you listened to Albus? Had you run, all three of you would have been dead. I know you became closer to the ‘fill in' father near the end, but surely you do not mourn his loss enough to wish you had replaced him?"

"Mmhmm...was it really necessary for me to be so bloody cruel to the boy? I tried my best to terrify him on a daily basis. He would take one look at me and become as pale as the Bloody Baron! He hid himself behind that Know-It-All Granger as much as he could in class. Without her help, he would have never made it as far as he has. I guess I owe her my gratitude, lucky for me she has no idea."

‘He owes me his gratitude; it will be a cold day in Hades before he says that to my face, Hmph! And what's this about a fill in father? And Snape was close to them? And we were in the same year at school with Snape's son and never knew it, and...Oh I need to talk to Harry and Ron!' She quickly and quietly made her way back up to Harry's room missing the last of the conversation.

Lucius laughed, "The gratitude you owe Granger is the least of your problems, if you want to reconcile with your son. He all but said he still does not trust you."

"What do you mean? He has not shown any sign of distrust."

"Oh, has he not? When you asked if it was the fact that he did not trust you, he replied ‘No, it's not just that'. Now, you tell me what he meant."

Severus growled, "Why that, how he managed to stay out of Slytherin House, I shall never understand."

*~~*~~*~~*

"Oh, you two are never going to believe what I just overheard. We went to school with Snape's son, we're even in the same year, and we never knew it." Hermione went on to explain every detail of what she had over heard, "So, who do you think it could be?"

"Let's take a page out of your book, Hermione, and list what you found out: male, in our year, had to be in our class if Hermione helped him in potions, his caregiver was a harsh woman, Snape was extra mean to him, and got along with who ever the ‘fill in father' was. OH! And he had to be an orphan of the sort," Harry said.

"Well, Harry, that right there narrows it down to you and Neville," Ron added.

"WHAT?!? It can't be me. I mean you know how everyone tells me I'm just like James, and can you imagine Snape with my Mom? Snape was mean to me because of who I am, we all know that!" Harry exclaimed.

"I wonder..." said Hermione in her far off ‘I have an idea' voice.

"What, Hermione?" Harry and Ron asked at the same time.

"It all fits, it really does. We never really understood why Neville's parents were attacked after Voldemort fell, and do we ever really hear much about his dad? Neville lives with his father's mother, but even she hardly mentions him. She is also rather harsh with him, you remember running into them at St. Mungo's. Snape was probably meaner than he planned to be, because he couldn't believe his son could be so bad in potions. We know for a fact that Severus Snape and James Potter could never get along, no offence Harry, but we know next to nothing about Frank Longbottom, Snape and him could have been best friends," explained Hermione.

"Harry, didn't you say that Snape mentioned that Bellatrix Lestrange never fully trusted him? Hermione, wasn't it the Lestrange's that attacked the Longbottoms? Maybe she suspected him even then and thought an attack on his son would bring his true colors out, or thought of it as revenge against Snape?" guessed Ron.

"I never thought of that. Well done, Ron!" Hermione said, launching herself at her boyfriend to squeeze him.

"So, we're agreed? Poor Neville is Snape's son? Should we tell them that we know, or keep this to ourselves?" asked Harry.

"I don't know about you mate, but I wouldn't want to be the one to tell Neville that. He might keel over from the shock alone," said Ron.

"I don't suggest we tell Snape either, he's finally acting mostly civil towards us. No need to ruin that by letting on that we know," added Hermione.

"Agreed!" exclaimed Harry. "Now, what do you want to do before bed? How about few games of chess? I can play Ron, and then Hermione can play him after he smashes me," Harry said, chuckling. He was relieved his friends had gotten over their shock of what had happened to him, too bad it was at poor Neville's expense.