Harry shot a quick glance at Dumbledore. He was not smiling, and the notorious twinkle in his eyes was noticeably absent. Then he glanced at Snape, who offered a barely-perceptible nod, and both of them turned and followed Dumbledore up out of the dungeons, through chill winding corridors, where the rough gritty stone of the walls was wet with moisture, slimy with mold. Finally they reached the Great Hall and crossed it, going from there to the circular staircase that led to the headmaster's office.

At the top, Dumbledore laid a hand on the gargoyle's head, causing it to slide aside, and motioned for the others to go first. Snape and Harry looked at each other, and then Snape stalked into the room. Dumbledore waited until they were both there, and then walked around to the chair behind his desk, and heaved himself into it. For an uncomfortably long time, he simply looked at them sternly over his half-moon glasses, his fingers tented against his chin. He did not offer them a lemon drop.

Snape was the first one to break. "Headmaster," he began, unease flowing from him in waves, "What, exactly, did you call us here for? Some of us have exams to grade, and I'm sure the Golden Boy has homework he's been neglecting."

Dumbledore was silent for another uneasy moment. "Severus," he said at length, "I expected better of you."

"What do you mean?" Snape asked him. Harry had a growing suspicion, but neither of them really wanted to think about it.

"I know you loved his mother, but that does not excuse your advances. I-" He got no further, as Snape cut him off with a choking noise, utterly appalled.

"I was in the same year as his father!" He managed when he could speak, still a delicate green. "I would never make advances on a child, much less one of my students. I thought you knew me better!"

Dumbledore did not relax his stern scrutiny. "What else do you expect me to think?" He returned. "Mr. Potter is absent two nights from Gryffindor Tower, once somewhere outside the wards and once in your private chambers, which, I might add, is not allowed, and the portraits told me that the two of you returned together the night before last, wearing nothing but shabbily conjured robes. Add that two the drastic shift in house points, which you are obviously behind, as no other teacher takes more than fifty points total in any given day, and how do you think it looks?"

Harry met Snape's eyes. "What do you want to tell him?"

"Tell him that you healed me, but try to keep your animagus form to yourself. I believe that you can lie convincingly. Above all, don't mention the mental block. He would not be happy, and I would rather stay out of Azkaban."

"Will he believe me?"

"I -we- can only hope. Now start talking, or he will be suspicious. More than he already is, that is. I will corroborate whatever story you tell."

"Got it."

Neither of the two noticed the astonished and worried look that Dumbledore fixed on them, as he noted the changing expressions on their faces and the faraway glint in both of their eyes.

"Um," Harry begun, "I sort of might have saved his life."

Dumbledore's eyebrows shot way up. Evidently that was not what he'd been expecting.

Snape snorted. "Well that works. Although you will have to figure out a lie for why you were in the Forest..."

"Oh, I won't need to lie," Harry told him with a mental smirk. "I missed Quiddich practice last week, you know," (Hermione had bullied him into studying for the Herbology exam) "So I was out flying when I came across Professor Snape, and he was unconscious. So I flew down and landed to see if he was ok, and he had some nasty wounds. Luckily, ever since the Chamber incident I've wanted to have some phœnix tears on hand, just in case, and I had some with me, so I fixed him up as best I could, then gave him a blood replenisher. I had to cut his robes off though, and they were so bloody and messed up that I just conjured a cloak for him, and I'd used part of mine to bind a giant gash."

Dumbledore did not look convinced, but after a moment he turned to Snape. "Is he telling the truth?"

Snape could say yes in all honesty. "Indeed. I had just come from a particularly nasty Death Eater meeting, and I did not exactly apparate right to the gates. I would probably have been dragged away by a denizen of the Forbidden Forest if he had not been there. It is perhaps a good thing that he is such a Quiddich enthusiast. As for the points, I was simply tired and very sore, and a few of my students crossed me a few too many times. That and I don't have to play the loyal Death Eater any longer."

"What?!"

"I did not make my report yesterday because I was recovering. However, the gist of the meeting was simply to announce an attack on Hogsmeade, at least, that was all I heard. I was late, so it was possible I missed something. In any case, as I was late, the Dark Lord decided to have 'fun' with me, which involved an overdose of veritaserum. I'm afraid I spilled everything."

"Everything?!"

"My true loyalties and the full text of the prophecy. He might have asked more, but at that point he was too angry to be coherent, so he passed me off to Bellatrix."

Dumbledore set his elbows on the desk, sighing heavily. "If that is the case, we are in a great deal of trouble." He frowned. "Although that does not explain why Mr. Potter spent the night in your rooms."

"I fell asleep." Harry told him sheepishly, barely even having to affect the tone. "I'd been up all night the previous nights, one for studying and then one for saving Professor Snape, and I ran out of pepper-up."

"The dunderhead asked me for one," Snape chipped in to make it believable. "I asked why, and he told me, so I let him sit down in my chambers, because I didn't want him slicing off a finger instead of an iguana cross-section. He was asleep before I even got the damn potion."

"And you didn't take him back to his dorm?"

"I didn't want to wake him up, and I was not going to carry him, magically or physically."

"You didn't want to wake him up? I didn't think you'd care."

"I didn't. Not about him anyway." Snape idly took a lemon drop from the nearby dish and twisted it in his fingers. "I just didn't have the energy to wake up a grumpy teenager. I do that enough already!"

Dumbledore smiled a little, but his eyes were still grave. "Very well then. I believe that it is time for you to chaperone the Hogsmeade group. We will, however, be discussing this later. And Harry?"

"Yes sir?" said Harry nervously.

"I do believe that your permission slip is signed already. You are both dismissed," he added while the pair got up and turned to go, Snape still absentmindedly rolling the lemon drop, wrapper and all, in his sweaty hand.

"Thank you, sir," Harry called over his shoulder to a brooding headmaster as he shut the door behind them. Dumbledore was thinking too deeply to reply.