The more they walked, the more damage they found. There were parts of the castle that were just gone now. One never would have guessed that would have happened, but it had.

"Sir?" Harry finally said twenty minutes into their walk.

"What, Potter?"

"I, well, I was just wondering about what happened earlier."

Severus's eyes narrowed minutely before he glanced at the young man.

"Back in the room we all were stuck in earlier," Harry clarified. "You cast a spell, didn't you? To pull me back?"

Pausing for a moment to think, he found a frown etching into his face. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, it's just, I don't know, this past year has taught me that I have loads to learn still, sir. So, I was just wondering if it was a stronger Accio or something." Harry shrugged, kicking a loose rock as they continued climbing up a badly damaged staircase.

"Ah." Severus then sighed, shaking his head. "Truthfully, I'm not certain what it was, Potter." He caught Harry's look of disbelief instantly and sighed again. "There are times when instinctive magic comes into play. That was one of those times."

"Oh." Harry then shrugged slightly.

Unable to bear the silence that followed, Severus groaned inwardly. Of course Harry wouldn't take just that as an answer and think of something else. The boy was more like Lily than he realized. "I've spent the majority of my adult life protecting you, Potter. I'm not about to let you get sucked up into a tornado of all things." The Dark Lord, rogue Death Eaters, Quidditch matches, the boy's idiot guardians, the boy himself—those had all crossed Severus's mind at one time or another as particular threats to the boy. "Though, I admit that particular scenario had never crossed my mind before." He glanced at Harry and quickly noticed the boy's faint smile.

"Thanks, Snape."

Severus couldn't hide his responsive flinch soon after.

"I mean, sir," Harry corrected quietly. "Sorry. Old habits."

"Indeed" was Severus's only reply.

"May 2," Hogwarts' corporeal self suddenly stated.

"Huh?"

"What are on Earth are you on about?" Severus grumbled, glancing at the ethereal woman.

"Today is May 2, Headmaster," Hogwarts replied. "The day you two finally had a decent conversation with one another."

Harry snorted instantly.

"How grand," Severus drawled, rolling his eyes.

"Who would have known Hogwarts was so cheeky?" Harry said with a laugh.

"My sarcasm is a trait I inherited from our current headmaster, Mister Potter," Hogwarts replied.

"Enough!" Severus frowned, disliking the current emotions swirling inside him currently. He would not become yet another father figure to the boy. He couldn't be. A father was someone who cared. And Severus couldn't do that. Not with Harry. It would hurt too much if he did, he knew.

"As you wish, Headmaster." Hogwarts winked at Harry before she looked forward and stayed silent as they continued onward.

"So, where are we headed anyway, sir?"

"Headmaster's office," Severus answered, motioning to Harry a broken step they would have to jump across.

"But I thought Hogwarts said it was badly damaged."

"There are more protections there than the main part of the castle. Not to mention, I should be able to find a way to repair the damage faster there and erect the shield again."

"You don't think Voldemort's dead then, do you?"

Looking to the side again toward the boy, he frowned. "Let us not kid ourselves, Potter. We both know that the Dark Lord is using magic somehow to prevent his death from occurring."

Harry nodded slowly. "Yeah. He's using Horcruxes," the young man explained as if Horcruxes were nothing but objects. "That's why I came back tonight actually. I was looking for the final ones to destroy them."

"So I surmised," Severus drawled, his frown deepening at learning the final piece of the puzzle. Horcruxes. Dumbledore had never revealed that little tidbit. Though, it did help him make more sense of his having to give Harry the Sword of Gryffindor now. Horcruxes. Everything was falling into place and making so much more sense now.

"I don't suppose I could speak now, Headmaster?" Hogwarts asked a moment later.

Severus suppressed his groan. "What now?"

"The darkness the boy is hunting. I know where he can find them."

"You do?" Harry stopped and stared at her, as Severus's eyes narrowed on the ghostly woman.

All this time Hogwarts had known of darkness in the castle, and it hadn't said a word to Severus?

"I do," Hogwarts replied contently. "You're searching for the lost diadem of Ravenclaw. You could always ask Helena of course, but I would imagine she's still hurt over the last boy who came asking about it."

For seven months now, the castle had kept that from him. Seven months! What other secrets was the castle hiding from its headmaster, he wondered.

"Where is it?" Harry asked, pulling Severus back from his thoughts.

"The place where everything is hidden." Hogwarts then smirked. "Say, for example, where the Headmaster's old potions book is."

What? Severus's eyes darted to Harry instantly. So that was where the little brat had hidden it.

"If we destroy the diadem, then all we have left is the snake, sir," Harry stated, vibrating slightly with obvious excitement.

Severus sighed inwardly, though. It wasn't just Severus that Dumbledore had kept things from. It was Harry as well. The boy didn't know he was a Horcrux too.

"Sir, we can stop him. We can make sure no one else dies. Isn't that worth at least trying? I mean, don't take this the wrong way, but you're freaking brilliant when it comes to the Dark Arts and you know loads more than I do. All this time I've just been stumbling around with no real idea how to do any of this. But now I have you, sir. My chances of ending this once and for all have just increased exponentially, sir, and it's all because of you."

The boy deserved to know the truth. That in Dumbledore's eyes, the boy's true purpose in life was to die at precisely the right moment. Like a pawn in a chess game.

"Potter," Severus started to say, his voice low and even.

"Step, sir," Hogwarts interrupted suddenly.

"What?"

"The step there is missing," Hogwarts replied politely, pointing where Severus was about to step. "Wouldn't be doing my duty to you, Headmaster, if I didn't point it out right then."

He didn't know how to explain it, but all sorts of warning bells went off inside his mind in response to Hogwarts' words and actions right then. It was as if the castle was preventing his telling Harry the truth.

"Timing is, after all, everything, Headmaster. And I assure you that now is not the right time for that." Hogwarts then glanced toward Harry. "Not when you two have quite a bit left to do first."

Harry nodded in response, obviously not understanding the hidden meaning behind Hogwarts' words. "Do you know of a shortcut?" he asked the ghostly woman.

"None that are close. However, the Headmaster does have the ability to cut this walking down, I would think." Hogwarts then motioned toward Severus's wand. "I promise not to erect a field this time."

"Wait! Are you suggesting we jump out a window?" Harry asked in clear puzzlement.

Severus's frown deepened as his eyes remained on the castle's corporeal form. What difference would it make if he told the boy the truth now rather than later? The fact would still remain that the boy was expected to die for the Greater Good.

"Now, Headmaster, there's no need for that," Hogwarts chided quietly. "You will succeed if you stick to the plan. I'm certain of this."

"And if I don't?" Severus replied.

"Then it will all be for nothing. The deaths. The pain. The loss. Please, Headmaster. Remain on the path set before you, and see that your fears are unfounded." Hogwarts gave Harry a small smile when the boy's eyes narrowed on the ghostly woman. "After all, young Mister Potter is correct. With you by his side now openly, the chances of success have increased."

A line. That's all that was. It's all it could be really. Just a line that Hogwarts was expected to parrot to him when he doubted the plan. Dumbledore clearly thought of everything. And, yet, Severus couldn't help but wonder what would happen if he did brush off her warning. Would his telling the boy the truth really affect their success that much?

He thought back on his argument he'd had with Dumbledore last year. The boy had to learn that he was to die at exactly the right moment. But why? Why did it matter that much? Because of the Horcrux that was inside the boy, maybe?

It was clear the boy still hadn't mastered Occlumency in the slightest, but Albus had said that the Dark Lord feared his link with Harry and would not use it again. So, then it had to be the Horcrux. Something about it not knowing the truth would help them somehow. But that didn't make sense, though. How would the Horcrux not knowing affect them?

A scream then tore through the air and ricocheted off the walls around them.

Severus tensed instantly, reaching for Harry and yanking him closer in order to protect the boy better. He caught the familiar green eyes widen before an unfamiliar look entered them. Trust. That was what he was seeing in the boy's. Trust. He had never seen that in Lily's eyes before.

"Melody!" someone below them suddenly screamed.

"NO! Stay there!" another voice yelled.

"But she's my sister!" Tears were heard clearly in the scared girl's voice.

"Just stay there, damn it! There's nothing you can do for her from there anyway! Just stay there!" The second voice then paused for a moment, causing Harry and Severus to inch closer to the railing to glance over it to see what was going on below them. "I think I can reach her. Just, for the love of Merlin, stay there! Do you hear me? Leave the bravery at home for once, Lion, and let us show you that we can be brave too!"

"Wait. I know that voice," Harry said quietly, glancing up at Severus a moment later.

"Nott, I need you to—" the second voice started to order.

"Say no more, Zabini. I got this," Theodore Nott cut in.

A moment later, they saw two Slytherins take a flying leap down to another landing where a young Hufflepuff girl lay motionless on the floor as her Gryffindor sister looked on in horror.

Severus's eyes darted around as he looked for a safe way he and Harry could reach the two older Slytherins and younger Hufflepuff girl. But short of using his wand to fly to them and risk giving up their position, he saw nothing he could do. He couldn't allow any more time to pass by needlessly, as the more time passed, the riskier the mission became.

"Hogwarts, remain here and assist Misters Nott and Zabini with Miss Harper," Severus instructed, hoping the castle would follow his orders with no arguments. "Come, Potter. We're needed elsewhere." He didn't even bother to glance at the ghostly woman before he pulled Harry toward the next landing in the opposite direction of the students in need.

"But, sir—"

"No, Potter!" Severus growled, glaring at the boy. "I would have thought you of all people would know now that you and I are expected to make the difficult choices." He then pointed where Zabini and Nott were tending to the Hufflepuff girl. "Look down there. They have the situation under control, so we push on and complete our mission."

"But they're just kids, Snape."

"As are you, Potter, and yet you've done extraordinary things as well over the years. And they're not alone either. They have Hogwarts with them. Now, go! We're wasting time."

He could tell the boy wanted to stay and help, but eventually Harry inclined his head and followed as they continued up the badly damaged staircases. Somehow, the journey seemed quicker now. It wasn't long after that they found themselves pacing outside a familiar bit of wall.

I need the place where everything is hidden . . .