Once back at Hogwarts and safely in the Headmaster’s office, Minerva transfigured a crib for Harry and put the dozing child into it. “We must start with Severus,” she instructed Albus firmly.

Dumbledore frowned. “Severus Snape is above reproach. I am certain he had nothing to do with tonight’s tragedy!”

“Don’t be absurd, Albus!” Minerva snapped. “Of course Severus would never harm Lily.” At Dumbledore’s expression of shock, Minerva rolled her eyes. “Severus was a student here for seven years, Albus. However secret he may think his grand passion was, students’ love affairs are rarely as clandestine as they imagine. Lily was not only of my House but as an adult was a good friend of mine. I am well aware of how close she and Severus were as children, and it was clear both at the time and in the years since how very bitterly he has regretted driving her away. You know, Lily never held a grudge – not after the first week or so – but Severus was so desperately ashamed that he would never allow himself to respond to her overtures. He was convinced she was pitying him or doing it on James’ behest as a prank.” She sighed. “Then, once he took the Dark Mark, of course he could barely look her in the eye.”

Albus had collapsed into his chair. “Minerva, you – you know all this?”

She rolled her eyes. “Honestly, you men are like children, skulking around with your secret plots when all these deep, dark mysteries are plain as day to anyone with eyes in their head. Albus, I swear that if there were no Voldemort to fight, you’d still come up with a reason to have a secret society. It’s not as if we needed a special Order to oppose the Dark Lord, but I know how much you and Severus and even Sirius and James love all the skulking around.” She sighed. “Not that it made any difference in the end.”

“But – but then why bring in Severus?”

“Because,” Minerva said, speaking slowly and clearly, “he should know if Sirius defected to the Dark Lord. Even if he’s not aware of Sirius changing sides, it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, but if he does, then we have our answer. Can you summon him?”

Dumbledore nodded. He moved to his desk and pulled a small amulet out of a drawer. A whispered incantation and it glowed with an unearthly blue light. “He will be here shortly.”

Minerva dropped into a nearby chair and looked sadly at the sleeping baby. “Oh, Albus. What will become of little Harry?”

“His relatives –“ Dumbledore began unwisely, only to see Minerva bristle like a cat.

“Not that again! Haven’t I told you – “ her rant was interrupted by a roaring in the office hearth, and then Snape was there, soot flying unheeded from his robes.

Minerva looked up and gasped. She was brokenhearted over the night’s tragedy, but Severus appeared shattered by grief. His pale face was haggard and drawn, and he looked like he had aged a decade overnight. “What is it, Headmaster?” Even his voice was dull with misery.

“Severus, what can you tell us about tonight’s events?”

The Potions Master shrugged listlessly. “I didn’t know until it was too late. I had begged Him to spare Lily and He must have decided that my loyalties might be torn. By the time I arrived, they were all dead.”

“Not all, Severus,” Minerva said, wanting to rekindle a spark of life in the young man. He appeared to be dying of grief before her eyes. “Harry survived,” she pointed to the cradle. To her shock, Severus flinched away as if a basilisk were in the crib.

“I must leave!” he said, lunging for the floo.

Dumbledore waved a hand and the fire abruptly died, trapping Snape in the office. He spun, raging. “Let me go! You have no right!”

“Severus!” Minerva found her tongue first. “What is the matter with you?”

He stared at her, face working. “Let me go. Let me die.”

“Severus!” Albus cried out, his tone anguished.

Minerva reached out to the dark man, but he pushed her hands away roughly. “Spare me your Gryffindor pity!” he snarled, withdrawing into himself. “If you knew the truth, you’d kill me yourself.”

“That’s not true,” she said firmly, but internally, she felt unsettled. What could he mean?

He looked away, unable to meet her gaze. “I deserve it. I killed her,” he said, his low voice thick with self-hatred.

For an instant, Minerva froze, but Dumbledore protested, “You said they were dead by the time you arrived.”

“Yes, Severus,” Minerva rallied. “You cannot blame yourself.”

“I killed her!” he repeated, finally meeting her gaze. “Don’t you understand, you stupid woman? I was the one who told Voldemort of the prophecy! If it weren’t for me, he would never have gone after Lily and her family. I killed her as surely as if I had uttered the Unforgivable myself.”

Minerva backed up a pace, her eyes closing in sheer reflex reaction to the naked anguish she saw in Snape’s countenance. For a long moment, no one spoke. Dumbledore gazed at Snape sadly, watching the poor man tremble with the force of his emotions. “Let – me – go,” he panted, struggling to breathe against the weight of the guilt that pressed down upon him.

Dumbledore’s heart bled for the poor suffering soul. “Severus, my boy, you must not blame yourself like this. Lily would –“

Snape spun on Dumbledore with such a look of fury that the powerful wizard automatically brought up his wand. “Do not EVER speak her name to me again. You cannot pretend to know how she would feel. How much disgust and hatred she must have had for me in her last seconds.”

“Poppycock!” Minerva said briskly, realizing that any further show of sympathy would be instantly rejected. “You flatter yourself, Severus, if you imagine that in her last seconds she was thinking of anyone but James and Harry.” Her bluntness caught both men by surprise. Snape blinked and stepped back, as though her words had physical force.

“And if she wanted anything, it was for her child to be safe. Which means we must determine how the Dark Lord found them. Do you know?”

“It wasn’t me –“ Snape began, looking from her to Dumbledore in near panic. It was bad enough he had betrayed her once by revealing the prophecy, he couldn’t bear for his mentor to imagine he would have betrayed Lily a second time.

“Of course not, my boy,” Dumbledore said reassuringly. “It could only have been the Secret Keeper.”

“But how – “ Snape trailed off, his eyes growing enormous. “Black!” he breathed. A series of emotions flitted across his face: anger, confusion, disbelief, incredulity, then a dreadful certainty, followed by implacable hatred. “That traitorous bastard. I will kill him if it’s the last thing I do.” A small twitch of his lips accompanied the vow. If he had anything to say about it, it would be the last thing he did. He had no reason to keep on living. Oh, he had a purpose now – to avenge Lily’s death – but once that was accomplished….

Dumbledore’s eyes narrowed as he watched Severus, but he did not speak.

“Did you know that Black had turned Dark?” Minerva quizzed Snape. “Have you seen him among the Death Eaters?”

Snape shook his head. “That doesn’t mean anything. The Dark Lord is well aware of my history with the Marauders; He would know that I would be very unwilling to accept Black as a comrade. And since He kept tonight’s attack secret from me until it was too late, He would likely also have avoided revealing Black’s treachery to me before now. He must have feared that I would have been willing to tell Lily of Black’s false nature, even if I paid the penalty later.”

Minerva’s lips were pressed tightly together. The notion that one of her Gryffindors had betrayed and murdered another was devastating to her, but a glance over to the slumbering infant reminded her she had more work to do before she could indulge in a storm of weeping. “Albus, you will have to summon Sirius. Severus – do you have Veritaserum handy?”

Snape sneered, a glimmer of his old personality momentarily surfacing. “I may be a Potions Master, Minerva, but I am hardly a walking cupboard. No, I do not happen to carry Veritaserum around on my person.”

“No matter,” Albus said, drawing a vial from a small cabinet. “I have some here.”

“When he arrives, we must be prepared to incapacitate him immediately,” Minerva instructed.

“Do you imagine he will be foolish enough to answer the summons?” Snape snarled. “If he has a brain in his head, he is already out of the country by now. Let me go. I’ll track him down!”

“No,” Minerva answered firmly. “I know Sirius. If he is innocent, he will come because he has nothing to hide. If he has done this terrible thing, he is probably close to panic. Now that Voldemort has disappeared, he has no powerful protector.”

“What is more, I suspect that Sirius is only now realizing the enormity of his actions,” Albus said quietly. “He has a history of rushing into things without thinking them through. You of all people, Severus, should appreciate that often Sirius will allow some madcap, exciting scheme to drag him along, without realizing the gravity of its consequences.”

Snape snorted in disgust. “You’re right. Black is stupid enough to betray his best friend to the Dark Lord as a Halloween prank.”

Minerva shuddered. With Sirius, such a thing was actually possible – horrible, but possible.

Albus relit the fire in the hearth, keeping a close eye on Snape, and a few minutes later, Sirius Black burst through.

“Albus! Albus! Have you heard! Merlin – it can’t be true! And Harry – where is Harry? No one seems to know anything!” He caught himself on the edge of Albus’ desk, breathless and frantic. Before he could say anything else, Minerva hit him from behind with a Petrificus Totalis. Just as she fired the spell at Sirius, she heard another voice – raw with pain and hatred – scream out, “Avada k—“