The carpet Harry landed on this time was soft and warm; the room dark other than from the glow of a fire round the corner of the desk Harry had rolled behind as he entered. His last trip, after vanishing from the Gryffindor dorms had been the time Severus had spoken about. Harry had gone out of his way to do what Snape remembered, trying to make the trip as special as possible. It turned out that 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory' had come out in 1971 and the cinema had been filled with children.

Harry had been slightly disappointed that Snape still hadn't wanted to talk to Lily, even though he'd asked him several times during their picnic. And he thought that Snape had probably already been playing with Lily and Aunt Petunia in the park before, but in the end he had dropped the subject feeling uncomfortable with the thought of pushing the man.

As he looked round he realised that he was back in Dumbledore's office. He made to stand when two things happened at once. The door opened in a rush of cold air and Harry realised that Dumbledore's portrait was already sleeping peacefully behind the desk he was still hidden behind. Awkwardly he crawled into the small hole below the desk pushing himself as flat as he could against the wood at the back. To his surprise he felt the wood melt around him, and shrank further in, holding his breath as Snape's robes appeared around the front of the desk and he sat with a whoosh into the great chair there.

Harry realised Snape was talking to Dumbledore's portrait. It sounded like Dumbledore was sucking on lemon sherberts again he thought with a grin, having to hastily stuff his hand in his mouth to stop the laugh that almost escaped at the memories. He blinked in surprise at some of the conversation - he hadn't considered that Snape might have been dropping hints about where he was to Voldemort, creating a false trail the whole time. He realised with shock that perhaps the three of them had been even less secret than he had thought, even after finding out that Snape had put the sword of Gryffindor in the frozen pond.

Harry jumped and froze as a loud bang suddenly echoed throughout the office. Small bits of glass and dust went flying past the desk opening. Seconds later Harry heard Snape slash his wand through the air again and set of books went crashing to the floor near the desk out of site, causing Harry to jump again. A cold sweat trickled down his spine in the silence that followed.

Then...

Crash! Bang! Wheeee!

Pieces of paper, more glass, some metal ornaments, and an ancient jar of lemon sherberts began flying round the room coming to land in various thuds and splats on the carpet. Finally some feathers floated down - Harry had missed the Pouf! Pouf! Pouf! as Snape had blasted the cushions apart in the other noise.

Slowly Harry let out a measured breath. He heard Snape snort and then fling himself into one of the remaining armchairs. Really, Harry though, it was amazing how resilient Dumbledore's office was, considering he had done a similar thing to it only the year before.

He jerked as a snore filled the room. Then another and another. He had to stuff his hand in his mouth once more as the relieved tension gave way to giggles. But it was too funny!

Gaining a small modicum of self-control Harry cautiously wriggled free from the desk and out from under it. Gingerly he pushed himself up and quickly focused on the rooms other occupant. Headmaster Snape was stretched out in a chair next to the fire, his head laid back and his mouth wide open. Loud, cartoon like snores erupted from its depths every few minutes and Harry felt his self-control slipping. Forcing himself to calm down he silently surveyed the mess around them both, feeling a mixture of shock and sympathy towards the man in the chair. Lastly his eyes came to rest on the portrait of Dumbledore.

The old man twinkled down at him, fingers reaching absentmindedly for another sherbet. Harry gaped. This only served to make Dumbledore's eyes crinkle up even more. "I knew it was you." He said, "Knew from the moment James asked Lily to marry him."

Harry stared non-plussed. "But I couldn't be certain," Dumbledore went on, "Not till I saw you as you look now - when you were about 16 I suppose. To think you walked right past Horace and he never as much as noticed you!" Dumbledore chuckled to himself, while Harry tried to rapidly process this new information about the man he thought he had known.

"Of course, I couldn't know what you were doing there," he went on, "But I can guess now. You will take care of him for me, won't you Harry?"

Harry managed to mumble some sort of affirmative. All he could think of was the painful reminder that in less than a few months this man would be dead - he wouldn't have a chance to look after him at all, he'd already failed Dumbledore before the older man had even asked.

"There is a way Harry." Dumbledore said sharply. "The beozoar you mentioned to him - he's been obsessed with it his lifelong, even used it for Remus' werewolf tonic. I believe he has a potent bottle of the potion used to cure Arthur Weasley's poisoning. I think it must be in the bathroom here if it's not on his person - it's the only place I can't see into!"

Harry flushed then paled at the thought of Dumbledore being able to see everywhere else and thanked whatever architects designed the castle that they had excluded the bathrooms!

He realised with dismay that his hands were beginning to fade. "Professor, how does this work? What's happening?" he asked urgently, not caring that his voice might wake the sleeping Headmaster to his left.

"A simple time portal Harry, with a difference." Dumbledore twinkled at him as he vanished from view, Harry spinning once more across darkness and stars.