The next day, Severus sat in a bed in the hospital wing. He was bandaged, sore, and utterly irked. He wanted to go back to the sanctuary of his dungeons, out of the brightness and sterility of the hospital wing.

“Severus Snape!”

And out of the care of one Poppy Pomfrey.

“Did I not tell you that you should still be lying flat? You came in not twelve hours ago half-dead with your chest hanging open and I’m sure you think you’re ready to go gallivanting off across the country again, don’t you?”

“Do not treat me like some petulant child, Poppy. I feel much better already- yes, thanks to you- and I would like to go back down to my rooms now.”

“Would you, now? Well, let’s see you sit straight then, shall we?”

Severus sighed through his teeth and tried to push himself up farther, but the pain in his chest came sharply and knocked out any potential retorts. His arms shook trying to hold him up until Pomfrey came over and helped lower him back down flat on the bed.

“Just as I suspected,” she said without a trace of smugness, “Besides, the headmaster will be in to speak with you in less than an hour, so it would be most convenient for you to remain here.”

Pomfrey handed him a small vial of pain potion, which he down bitterly, and marched back off to her office.

Albus Dumbledore came gliding into the ward no less than fifteen minutes later, much to Severus’s chagrin.

“Ah, Severus! You are looking much better!”

“I am better, Headmaster. Let’s cut to the quick, shall we? I assume you want to know what happened?”

“I’m afraid so,” Dumbledore shook his head slowly, “I’m glad that our emergency Portkey worked out, but I had hoped you would never need to resort to that. Were you outright discovered?”

“I was. The Dark Lord had been giving me false information for the past few months and checking to see if you followed up on the leads I gave you,” Severus sighed and shifted slightly, trying to find a more comfortable position in this uncomfortable conversation, “He took Potter’s safe escape as the final sign of my disloyalty. He was going to kill me.”

The two men sat in silence for a moment. Dumbledore patted Snape’s leg lightly and conjured a chair next to his bed.

“Your spying days are over now.”

The simple statement hit Severus in the gut. They were, weren’t they? He was no longer a double agent; he no longer had to live two different lives. What would he do now with this one life, this life as part of the Light? His life was his to live now, as it hadn’t been since he was seventeen.

“We must discuss what comes next, Severus.” Dumbledore’s voice close to him reminded Snape that his life was not entirely his own yet. It may never be. From the moment he had given himself over to one master, he had given up that part of his free will, and that part would never come back to him.

“I assumed I would continue teaching, Headmaster. Is there a complication?”

“In a sense, yes. This is, I suppose, a complication of my own making,” Dumbledore stared at Snape over the steeple of his fingers for a long moment. Finally Severus grew impatient.

“What sort of complication?”

“I think we should declare your death.”

The silence in the hospital wing following Dumbledore’s proclamation was deafening.

“My what?!”

“Your death, Severus. Let me explain.”

“Yes, please do, Headmaster, because if I am not mistaken, I am still very much alive.”

Dumbledore held up a hand for silence.

“I think it would be safest for you if Voldemort believed you were dead. You came here on the brink of death, Severus, so it is not such a stretch.”

“I’m not questioning the severity of my injuries, I’m questioning the sanity of this idea. You do realize that if the world presumes me dead, I have to stay hidden, correct?”

“Of course. That’s the plan. If Voldemort believes you are still alive, you will become a major target. Second only to myself and Mr. Potter, I do believe. You would not be safe outside of Hogwarts, and even I cannot ensure your complete safety within the castle once some of your specifically inclined house members find out about your position.”

“I believe I’m capable of protecting myself from a bunch of children, Albus.”

“I don’t doubt your abilities, Severus. I am just unwilling to doubt the craftiness of some of your students.”

“Where would I live then? Your master plan surely cannot involve locking me away until Potter somehow manages to destroy the Dark Lord. Goodness knows, that could take decades, and it would seem suspicious if a dead man returned to his old childhood home postmortem.”

“I would like you to live at Grimmauld Place. We would set up separate quarters for you, set up a private lab. You would have free-reign over the house, and you could leave under Polyjuice- with caution, of course.”

“Oh, free-reign over the house? How generous!” Severus wanted to spit. This whole plan was ridiculous. He’d lose his home, his job, his identity, for Merlin’s sake. But there was a spark of genius to the plan. He could live relatively free of fear of capture or assault. He could easily leave that wretched house disguised as someone else. Even if someone was suspicious of his true identity, they would be unlikely to guess that he was a supposedly dead man.

“As for a job, I would like to ask you to take the reigns for the Order from me. Or, at least, some of them. I am an old man, Severus, and I am not getting any younger. I need someone young and capable like yourself to start leading more of the effort. We would, as usual, require your extraordinary brewing skills, but under a false identity you would be a leader in much of the Order’s business outside of Headquarters.”

That was a surprise. Dumbledore, for all his compassion and his good-will, guarded his position as head of the Order both delicately and almost jealously. He was always willing to dole out assignments, but never to delegate broadly or without limit. There was the chance- a good chance, even- that the headmaster was simply making the job sound far more expansive than it actually would be. But it was tempting nonetheless. He would no longer be a slave to yet another master, but he could be a leader, and not just of children. A leader of some section of the war effort. Severus was not an overly ambitious individual, but this was the sort of offer the likes of which had never been offered to him before.

“Fine. Announce my untimely demise, but make it simple and dignified. I don’t want to read in the Daily Prophet that I fell into the lake and was eaten by the Giant Squid.”

Dumbledore’s eyes twinkled just a bit too much for Severus’s liking at the decision.

“On second thought, I want to take part in the writing of this obituary. I don’t trust you one bit.”

~*~

Harry tapped his feet impatiently under the kitchen table. Remus had said he would be back at Grimmauld Place before midnight, and it was now six in the morning. It wasn’t even supposed to be a dangerous mission, just simple reconnaissance, as far as Harry had been told. Remus and the others had strict orders from Dumbledore to not take offensive action unless discovered and attacked first.

“But when is anything simple and according to plan?” Harry muttered under his breath.

Tired of the nervous waiting, Harry decided to get up and make breakfast. That way, when Remus returned and was perfectly fine, if a bit tired – because he was fine- there would have a meal ready for him. Harry found a carton of eggs and a sleeve of bread in the cupboard and a frying pan in the cabinet next to the stove and set to work. Sure, he could have just called Kreacher and had him cook something, but the thought of even being near the house elf still made Harry’s stomach turn and his blood boil. It was unforgivable! Sirius would still be alive if not for-

“If not for me,” Harry whispered sadly, shaking his head.

He didn’t want to think about Sirius, but he felt he ought to sometimes. Sirius wouldn’t want to just be forgotten, but it still hurt to think about him. He still relived it most nights; Sirius falling through the veil, Harry failing to curse Bellatrix, and sometimes Cedric’s deathly empty eyes would flash in for good measure. The Dursleys had flitted through his nightmare last night, screaming at him, asking why they had to die, too. Just in case Harry didn’t already feel guilty enough. Thinking about it made Harry lose his appetite, but he continued to cook, just hoping Remus would come home soon.

Remus finally blew in at eight, looking tired, as expected, and sporting a split lip. Harry had run to the front hall at the sound of the door opening, wand at the ready just for good measure.

“What happened? Why are you so late?” Harry winced. He sounded like someone’s mother, not that he had anything against Mrs. Weasley.

“Can I come in first?”

Harry stepped aside, realizing he’d been completely blocking Remus’ path to the kitchen.

“Yeah, sorry. What happened to your lip?”

Remus settled down onto a kitchen bench with a groan that made him sound decades older than he was. He put his head in his hands and rubbed his temples tiredly. Harry silently placed a plate of eggs and toast in front of him and waited, pushing his own cold eggs around on his plate.

“Everything was going just fine until Mundungus sneezed,” Remus shook his head sadly and sighed, “We had to move, find a new hiding place, and we got stuck waiting for the, erm, inhabitants, to leave before we could risk leaving.”

“Inhabitants?” Harry wheedled, hoping to get something more specific.

“You know I can’t tell you, Harry. Dumbledore’s orders”

“Right,” Harry said bitterly. That was always the answer. Dumbledore’s order. He was about ready to let everyone know just where they could stuff Dumbledore’s sodding orders. He’d only been staying at Grimmauld Place for two days now, but with the parade of Order members coming through the house following the so-called ‘Privet Drive Battle’, he’d heard that phrase more times that he cared to count. No one would tell him anything in any detail, just annoyingly generalized versions of events. How had they known to come and save him? Insider intelligence. Where was Dumbledore now? Taking care of some personal business. Why couldn’t he stay with the Weasleys? Dumbledore’s orders.

“Can you at least tell me how you split your lip?”

At this question, Lupin chuckled ruefully.

“Tripping. Fell flat on my face.”

Harry had to smile at that one even if he wasn’t sure he entirely believed it. Despite Remus’s constantly ruffled appearance, he somehow couldn’t imagine Remus face-first on the ground. Though, when he did try, he made sure to imagine Remus’s arms flailing on the way down, just for good measure.

Remus picked up the Daily Prophet that Harry had been too worried to read yet and slapped it open in front of his plate. His smile fell immediately.

“What? What’s wrong?”

Harry went around the table to read over Remus’s shoulder. A small article towards the bottom of the front page was headed, ‘Hogwarts Potions Master Found Dead’. Harry was speechless. Snape? Dead? Harry nudged Remus over a bit and sat down, the two of them reading the small print.

Hogwarts Potions Master Found Dead

By Nicolas Dingle

Early yesterday morning, Hogwarts Potions Master Severus Snape was found dead inside his home at Spinner’s End. Mr. Snape was found with severe wounds to his chest and appears to have bled to death. It is unclear what caused the fatal injuries, but there were no signs of a struggle, and therefore authorities believe a potions accident to be most likely. Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, recently demoted from his position as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, found Mr. Snape after he missed a scheduled meeting to discuss lesson plans for the upcoming school year.

“Severus was a valued professor here and a wonderful friend. He will be dearly missed,” says Dumbledore.

A private funeral for Mr. Snape will be held at Spinner’s End tomorrow evening and a reception for his close friends will be held on the Hogwarts grounds.

Harry’s mouth felt uncommonly dry. He had never liked Snape-he had hated him, in fact- but he did not wish him dead. And to have bled to death in his own home? It sounded like a slow and painful way to die. “Close friends”? Did Snape have any friends? Harry was immediately ashamed of that train of thought. It was awful to think of a dead man that way.

“There’s something off about this,” Remus said, still staring down at the blip.

“What, why?”

“A potions accident? The Severus Snape I know is meticulous, obsessively so. I doubt he’s had a potions accident since he was in school himself,” Remus shook his head, “Something just doesn’t fit.”

“Well, it does say that the cause was unclear.”

“That makes this even more suspicious. I’m going to go talk to Dumbledore,” Remus said, standing up and gathering his cloak.

“Wait, Remus, you just got back!”

“I know Harry, but Snape was a member of the Order. I just need to ask Dumbledore a few questions.”

Remus went into the sitting room and floo-ed out, but came back a few minutes later with Dumbledore himself.

“Oh,” Harry said, jumping up off of the couch where he had been slumped reading the rest of the newspaper, “Hello, Professor.”

“Hello, Harry. I take it everything is going well?”

“Yes, sir. But,” Harry hesitated, “well, I read about Sna- I mean, Professor Snape this morning. He’s really...dead?”

“Ah, Harry, that’s why I’ve come here. I thought I’d talk to you and Remus together. The rest of the Order will hear this soon, but seeing as you two are most immediately affected, now seems appropriate.”

“I’m sorry, Albus, but what, exactly, is affecting us?”

“Severus will be.”

Harry and Remus shared a confused look. Dumbledore just smiled.

“That piece you two saw in the newspaper was one of my own creation, with Severus’s help, of course. Now, please don’t interrupt me boys. Severus is still recuperating at Hogwarts under Madame Pomfrey’s care, but he will be coming to live here tomorrow.”

“Coming to live-” Harry started, but Dumbledore cut him off.

“Please, Harry. Let me explain and then you may ask all the questions you’d like. As you know, Severus is a loyal member of the Order, but, as you may not know, Harry, Severus was also working as a double agent. He has been a member of Voldemort’s ranks and has been giving us vital insider information during these crucial times. He was the one who told us about the attack planned on your relatives’ home.”

Harry’s head was spinning with this information. Snape was a spy? There had always been rumors of Snape’s dark obsessions, and Harry, Ron and Hermione had certainly come up with enough theories about Snape’s evil-doing over the years, but this meant Snape must be a Death Eater. A fake Death Eater, but it meant he had the Dark Mark nonetheless. And he’d been reporting back to Dumbledore about Voldemort’s plans? That must have taken an incredible amount of cunning and courage, and to fool the world’s most evil wizard took a lot of skill.

“He was discovered, wasn’t he?” Remus asked with a sad sigh. Dumbledore ignored the interruption and simply inclined his head.

“Unfortunately, he was. He was tortured and managed to escape. He and I have decided that it would be safest for Voldemort to believe that he died from the injuries inflicted that night. This way, Severus can lead a life free of the constant threat of attack. Relatively speaking, of course. He will need to be disguised whenever he leaves this house, but he is willing to deal with the inconvenience. Now, Harry, I need you to swear to me that you won’t tell anyone about Severus.”

Harry opened his mouth to ask about Ron and Hermione, but Dumbledore seemed to read his mind.

“No, not even Miss Granger and Mister Weasley. It is imperative that Severus’s status remain a secret. Remus, I’ll need your word as well.”

“You have my word, Albus,” Remus said immediately.

“Harry?”

Both men turned to Harry, whose head was still spinning.

“Uh, yeah, I swear I won’t tell anyone.”

Dumbledore smiled and patted Harry’s knee.   

“There’s a lad. Now, I’m going to go and set up Severus’s quarters. He’s going to have his own private potions lab here once I’m finished!”

Dumbledore stood with a flourish and headed out. A moment later he poked his head back into the sitting room, a familiar twinkle in his eye.

“Perhaps he’ll even help you with your summer work, Harry,” Dumbledore winked.

Harry couldn’t help but snort at that.

~*~

Severus Snape most certainly did not want to help Harry Potter with his summer work. In fact, he wanted to see Potter as little as possible over the next month and half until the brat went back to school. If possible, he’d like to forget that he was living with his least favorite student- and a werewolf to boot. Albus had conveniently forgotten to mention that Remus Lupin had all but moved into Grimmauld Place upon Potter’s arrival and was residing in the bedroom across the hall from Severus’s new quarters.

The new quarters were actually the only part of his current predicament that he was enjoying. They were larger than his quarters at Hogwarts and nicely, if plainly, furnished. He had a sitting room as the entrance to his quarters with a couch, two armchairs and a small tea table, behind which a bedroom with a large four-poster bed, a bath, a small study and a kitchenette could be found. Through a hidden door in the kitchenette was his personal potions lab. Even Severus had to admit that Dumbledore had really outdone himself on the lab. Severus looked forward to locking himself away in there and unpacking and organizing all of his ingredients, placing them in the brand new cupboards that lined the walls.

Almost better than the actual quarters was the fact that they were warded and password protected. Severus assigned one password to the door to the common hallway, and a second password to his lab door. One could never be too cautious, especially with a Marauder and the son of Marauder living in an uncomfortably close vicinity. Thankfully, both had been asleep when he and Dumbledore had arrived early that morning, and both remained asleep all the way through the tour of his quarters and the irritatingly long lecture from Albus about being gentle with Potter.

The only person Severus was going to be gentle with was himself. Though he refused to admit it to anyone, his chest still ached and throbbed when he moved around too much, and though he was looking forward to spending time in his lab, his massive new bed just called out to him too strongly to resist. With a half dose of Dreamless Sleep, Severus fell into a contented slumber, all thoughts of Potter and wolves pushed aside for the moment.

It wasn’t until noon that he finally woke up, and though he did not enjoy being seen as a lay-about, he had to admit that the extra few hours of sleep had done wonders for his chest. He dressed lazily and braced himself for what would come once he left his rooms. He wanted to ignore his fellow occupants entirely and go see Dumbledore again, demand that he begin delegating jobs to him, but the infuriating old man had ordered Severus to ‘rest and relax’ for the next two days. The whole concept seemed foreign and made Severus feel antsy and irritable. What was he supposed to do for two days other than brew or read? He supposed he could spend the time brewing batches of Polyjuice, which he would surely need a huge volume of during the coming months.

Right as he had resolved to do just that, his stomach rumbled loudly and insistently. With a sigh, he reluctantly made his way out into the hall. Breakfast- or lunch, as it would seem- would have to come first, and then he could brew. Much to his dismay, he ran into Potter on the stairs.

“Erm, Hello, Professor,” Potter managed to stutter, his eyes wide as saucers, “I didn’t know you’d come yet.”

“Well, I have. Now please cease blocking my path to the kitchen.”

“Right, sorry.”

With a strange look, Potter turned and headed down the stairs towards the kitchen, taking the steps two at a time in order to stay safely ahead of the Potions Master. Severus rolled his eyes and followed.

In the kitchen, Lupin stood at the stove humming and grilling what looked like two slices of bread.

“Remus? The Professor is here,” Potter said, approaching the werewolf, “and I think he’s hungry.”

“I can speak for myself, Potter.”

Lupin turned and flashed Severus a wary smile that was not returned and flipped the bread over in the pan.

“We’re having grilled cheese, if you’d like, Severus. Harry taught me to make it not a moment ago.”

Severus cocked an eyebrow and fixed Lupin with a glare.

“You want me to consume something that Potter has invented and that you are making for the very first time? I think I’ll pass on that wonderful opportunity to be your culinary guinea pig.”

Severus strode over to the cupboard, but found it disturbingly bare but for some eggs, milk, bread, and a few slices of cheese.

“I didn’t invent it, sir,” Potter said quietly from behind him, “It’s a pretty common Muggle food.”

Severus spun around and glared at Potter, who didn’t even flinch. He didn’t look defiant, surprisingly, just...curious. Curious and perhaps a bit apprehensive. He was dressed casually in a pair of jeans and t-shirt and looked far skinnier without the volume of his school robes about his person.

“Very well,” Severus said with a long sigh, “I assume the contents of this ‘grilled cheese’ are self-explanatory, yes? No nutritional value whatsoever in just cheese and bread, I assure you, but I’ll manage.”