‘Mr Potter.’

‘Professor Snape. You’re feeling better?’

‘Excuse me?’

‘You weren’t in class today. I thought you were ill.’

‘Don’t try and play innocent with me. Come on.’

‘What?’

‘We’re going to have this conversation. But not here.’

‘Now?’ Harry gestured around him at the DA who were watching the conversation with concern.

‘Yes, now. Miss Granger can take over, can’t she?’

‘Yes, Professor,’ she answered quickly.

‘Revise detection spells maybe?’ Harry asked her.

‘Good idea. See you in the Common Room later.’

‘Yeah. Bye.’ He waved briefly at the room and walked out with an irritated Severus. ‘You know, the point of giving you the galleon was so that you could be less disruptive. That’s the third meeting you’ve stopped.’

‘If I were you, Mr Potter, I would be careful of your attitude.’

‘Yes, sir.’ Neither spoke until they reached what was a gargoyle that was far too familiar for Harry’s taste. ‘You’re taking me to the Headmaster?’

‘He wants to speak to you about the events of last night. I assured him that I would escort you. I’ll speak with you afterwards. Strawberry bonbon.’ Harry walked hesitantly up the stairs.

‘Harry, dear boy!’

‘Good evening, Headmaster.’

‘Good evening indeed, Harry. Sit down, child. Lemon sherbet?’

‘No thank you.’

‘You would imagine from your and Severus’ reactions that I poisoned these. But no matter. Harry, I must ask you about last night.’

‘What about last night?’

‘Were you outside school grounds?’

‘Why do you think that?’

‘That’s not an answer, Harry.’

‘No, I wasn’t.’

‘Severus is seeing things then,’ Dumbledore muttered.

‘Excuse me Headmaster?’

‘Nothing, nothing. I will tell my source that he was misinformed. You may leave if you wish, Harry. Unless you want to talk about anything? Your scar’s not hurting, is it?’ He fixed sharp blue eyes on Harry who squirmed slightly.

‘Just background noise, sir. It’s fine.’

‘If it ever becomes unmanageable I trust you will come and see me?’

‘Of course, Professor.’ Harry wasn’t sure whether that counted as lying or not. He and the Headmaster had different ideas about “unmanageable”. His version had him lying on the floor screaming, and if that happened he could pretty much guarantee someone or other would tell Dumbledore themselves.

‘Very well. Good night, Harry. Send Professor Snape up please.’

‘Yes, sir.’ Harry walked downstairs to find Snape waiting impatiently

‘The Headmaster spoke to you?’

‘Yes. But I wasn’t out of Hogwarts last night. Which I told him. He wants to speak to you.’

‘Very soon, Mr Potter I’m going to require a reason for your lying to me. Wait here.’

‘Fine.’ Harry sighed and leant against the wall.

‘Don’t be so melodramatic, it won’t be long.’

**********

‘Half an hour isn’t long?’ Harry muttered to himself as Snape stormed out.

‘Upstairs now. And the truth this time.’

‘I told the truth.’

Snape spun round at this. ‘Mr Potter. If your stubbornness convinces the Headmaster that “all this stress is getting to me” I will find some way to punish you before they cart me off to a padded room. Now listen to me. I know you were there last night. I remember realising that, and nothing else until I woke up in the hospital wing. So do not delude yourself that I will let this pass. I will not. Now come upstairs and stop lying.’

‘Tell him to stop lying to me.’

An almost smile crossed Severus’s face before it was replaced by a stormy expression. ‘So you admit that you were lying. Come.’ He led Harry up the remainder of the way to Dumbledore’s study. ‘Sit.’

‘Hello again, Harry.’

‘Hello, Professor.’

‘Professor Snape has mentioned that it was he who believes he saw you last night?’

‘Yes.’

‘But you weren’t there?’

‘May I ask something?’

‘Of course. I cannot, however, promise an answer.’

‘Why was Professor Snape outside the castle last night?’

‘Harry, the Professors have their own reasons and their own lives outside the school. Students however must follow the school rules. They are there for a reason. Now tell me, were you out of school last night?’

‘Yes.’

‘I must confess my disappointment. After the tragedy of last year I imagined you would have better judgement.’

‘I could say the same for you.’

‘Mr Potter!’ Snape was forced out of his silence but Harry ignored him.

‘You admitted after the “tragedy” that you shouldn’t have kept so many secrets from me.’

‘No one’s keeping secrets from you, Harry.’

‘What does Voldemort want to know about me?’

‘What do you mean?’ Dumbledore asked cautiously.

‘Last night “I’m disappointed in you, Severus. I’ve given you ample time to find this out. I need to deal with the Potter boy now.” What did he mean?’ Harry demanded.

‘How did you hear that?’ Snape hissed. ‘Foolish boy, why did you not clear your mind?’

‘I did.’ Harry turned to face him. ‘I was hoping you could tell me how I managed it.’

‘How do you know he didn’t try to get you there?’

‘Because I wasn’t in his head. I wasn’t the one casting the Crucio.’

‘You were in me?’ Severus looked unnerved at this possibility.

‘No. I was just outside watching. It felt like Occlumency.’

‘Ah,’ Dumbledore spoke quietly but it was enough to stop the other two speaking.

‘What?’ Severus had abandoned civility now and tersely demanded an answer.

‘Firstly, Harry, it was you last night? Professor McGonagall was adamant that it was not.’

‘Hold on.’ Harry sighed, placing one hand against the table and waving the wand in the other at himself. He grew taller, his hair lengthened and his face subtly changed. Lastly, his eyes changed from emerald to sapphire. He looked at Severus. ‘Satisfied?’

‘Partially. You believe me now, Albus?’

‘Indeed. Although I will admit that I understand Minerva’s confusion. That is an excellent disguise, Harry.’

‘Thank you.’ Harry’s hand shook slightly and he let the spell go. ‘Can’t hold it though.’

‘How did you manage last night?’

‘Professor Snape and I discussed potion methods. I used a binding potion to maintain the transfiguration. I haven’t quite got the hang of multi-layer yet.’

‘So it appears he does listen,’ Snape drawled. ‘Now that we have ascertained that I was right all along, how did Harry see the meeting?’

‘An unforeseen consequence of Occlumency I fear.’

‘What do you mean, Albus?’

‘How much are you prepared to tell Harry?’

‘As much as is relevant.’

‘Harry. In Occlumency, have you been forcing the spell back?’

‘You mean have I got into Professor Snape’s head? Sometimes.’

‘And when you do this, the way you see was the same as last night?’

‘Yes…’

‘Severus. Last night, presumably Voldemort wanted to check you were telling him the truth.’

‘Naturally.’

‘And Harry, after the incident with you and Professor Snape in the evening, you were thinking about it before clearing your mind.’

‘Yes.’

‘Well then the solution is obvious. Your minds have become accustomed to each other.’

‘Accustomed to each other?’ Severus asked.

‘Consider this logically. We know Harry has an innate ability with wandless magic. He found your mind through something like what you have been teaching him in Occlumency. Aided by the fact that Voldemort may have passed him some of his own ability in Legilimency. And your mind didn’t block him because it was facing attacks from two fronts. You considered, subconsciously, Harry’s mind as a friendly force and concentrated on blocking Voldemort.’

‘A friendly force?’

Harry wondered at Dumbledore’s ability to ignore the derision as he answered, ‘Yes Severus. It seems clear that you knew that Harry was, at the very least, not a threat. So you let him in.’

‘I did not let him do anything. He broke in.’

‘I didn’t mean to.’

‘You didn’t mean to? You can’t violate someone’s privacy unintentionally.’

‘I wasn’t violating your privacy. I wasn’t in you.’

‘You were watching me.’

‘I’m sorry Severus, Harry, I must attend to something, wait a few minutes won’t you?’

Both paused until Dumbledore left and then Harry spoke angrily, ‘You’d rather I had just went back to bed, don’t you? You’d rather I hadn’t saved your life.’

‘You didn’t save my life.’

‘This is why I didn’t tell you. Why can’t you believe that I wasn’t trying to score points against you? It doesn’t always come down to owing people. My Dad saved your life and you saved mine so you’re even. Then you saved mine again and I saved yours so we’re even. But you’ve tried to save mine more times than that. And I’m going to keep trying to save yours. It doesn’t balance out. It just is.’

‘This is what is going to get you killed, Harry. Do you really want to know what he wants? He wants you dead. And he wants me to give him a way to do that. That could have been him trying to get you out there to kill you. You can’t save everyone. Sometimes there’s a greater good.’

‘You were the greater good.’

‘Excuse me?’

‘Those sort of rules work for spies. You can’t endanger the mission. I can and I’m not going to risk anyone else dying on the off chance that this is a trap. I went on my own; the only people at risk were you and me. Me dying doesn’t change the war.’

‘You said yourself you had to kill him.’

‘Or he can kill me. But there’s nothing in the prophecy that says only I can kill him. Just that one way or another one of us is going to die.’

‘You believe the claptrap that Trelawney comes out with?’

‘She was right about Pettigrew bringing Voldemort back. “Greater and more terrible” remember?’

‘Not true.’

‘What?’

‘He’s not any worse than before. The problem is that that idiot Fudge won’t believe the proof right in front of him. He’s no worse than before.’

‘Except that last time I stopped him and I don’t know how I did it.’

‘You are not the only person who can stop him. But your death would change this war.’

‘How?’

‘People need…something…as a symbol.’

‘The “people” see me as either a hero, a tragic victim, or a delusional psychopath depending on what the Prophet said today.’

‘It would kill the Headmaster. And your friends. Harry, I find it odd that you are eminently willing to die for them but not to live. You refuse to consider the possibility that your death would be harmful to those you profess to care for.’

‘Not as harmful as me staying nice and safe inside the castle instead of going to help. You dying would do more harm than me dying.’

‘That’s not true.’

‘Our cause would be grievously damaged by the loss of either one of you,’ Dumbledore said sadly, re-entering the study. ‘And I would mourn both of you terribly. So if you could both stave of your deaths for a while I would be extremely grateful.’

‘We’ll try,’ Harry replied.

‘I trust all your problems have been ironed out?’

‘More accurately,’ Snape answered, ‘we have decided that Harry refuses to take his own safety into account and will continue to do so.’

‘The best I had imagined we could achieve.’ Dumbledore smiled. ‘Harry, it’s getting rather late. I’m sure Ms Granger and Mr Weasley are becoming concerned.’

‘Probably.’ He grinned. ‘Hermione has a tendency to overreact.’

‘Really?’ Snape snorted.

‘Although Ron is the one most likely to be thinking you’re doing something to me.’

‘Mr Weasley and I have never exactly seen eye to eye.’

‘I suppose not. I’ll see you in Potions tomorrow.’

‘Indeed. Sleep well and try and keep your mind within your own head tonight?’

‘I’ll try.’ Harry walked out and could just be overheard murmuring. ‘Although if you tried not to need rescuing that might help.’

‘Ungracious whelp.’ Severus glared at Dumbledore who was watching Harry leave with a suspicious twinkle in his eye.

‘I don’t know. There was a certain familiarity with the disguise he picked.’

‘What are you trying to say, Albus?’

‘I think Mr Potter has developed a certain admiration for you. Along with an unnerving use of sarcasm and disregard for personal safety.’

‘He’s going to get himself killed. He’s trying to atone for deaths that weren’t his fault. And he doesn’t realise that getting himself killed won’t help.’

‘Indeed?’

‘Stop that.’

‘Stop what?’

‘That “I know something you don’t know” look. He’s nothing like me.’

‘Of course not.’

‘Insufferable old fool.’

‘Brat.’

‘Know-it-all.’

‘These sort of exchanges don’t reflect well on you Severus. What would your students think?’

‘Fine. Goodnight Albus.’

‘Good night.’ Severus walked out muttering, ‘You would think I would win one of these. Just by law of averages. By chance even…’