Fred Weasley carefully peaked around the corner of the doorway into the Great Hall before turning to his twin and saying "No sign of him George, I think it's safe."

With that both boys entered and walked with feigned nonchalance over to the Gryffindor table, seating themselves next to Harry and Ron. Harry ignored them while Ron studied the twins with narrowed eyes, obviously considering whether or not to say anything to them.

"Ron, just say it!" George finally exclaimed, tiring of Ron's unblinking regard.

"What happened to that potion? It had to be wrong, right? What did Dumbledore say to you two? Where's Snape?"

"It was wrong, right, you don't want to know and I have no idea." Fred said calmly.

"Oh come on Fred, you owe Harry an explanation, and I'd like to hear one too!"

"He's right, you should at least explain to Harry what happened. Do you know what his morning's been like? We had Magical Creature's with the Slytherines, can you imagine the fun Malfoy had with this information?" Hermione chimed in as she sat down next to Ron.

"All right, all right. But I only want to go through this once, so you'll have to wait until we make the public apology Dumbledore's insisting on to get the whole story. We made a mistake with the potion. You really don't want to know what Dumbledore had to say, but he's making us do a 4-day suspension with Filch, and apologize publicly to Snape and Harry. I assume Snape is still in the hospital wing, and maybe if we're lucky he won't be out until June."

"But Fred, it's only September, he couldn't possibly be there until June, besides, how would we get ready for our Potions O.W.L.S. if the professor isn't there!" Hermione was visibly upset at the idea of anything getting in the way of O.W.L.S.

"I think you're out of luck, look next to Dumbledore" Ron whispered softly to George.

"Nothing new there, far as I can tell our luck's been out since before school started." George grumbled softly, eyeing Professor Snape who glared back at him malevolently.

At that moment the Headmaster stood up and tapped his cup to gain everyone's attention. As all the student's quieted down and turned to look at him, Dumbledore look toward the Gryffindor table. "I have a quick announcement to make concerning the events of last evening. As you can see, Professor Snape is none the worse for wear, and will be resuming his classes this afternoon. Fred, George, I believe you have something you wanted to say." Dumbledore quietly sat down as the Weasley twins stood up.

"Erm, we, um, just wanted to..um.." Fred started.

"Apologize. To Harry and to, um, to, " George continued.

"to Professor Snape, for.."

"the uh, unexpected, results of our potion."

"You see, it was supposed to be a modified truth syrup."

"But instead it made um, uh, Professor Snape, say his um.."

"worst nightmare."

"And we're terribly sorry." They mumbled together.

As the twins left the hall, Harry couldn't help but notice that their ears were turning red just like Ron's did when he was trying to lie.

Hermione leaned over and whispered to Ron and Harry "Do you two think that they were really telling the truth?"

"What do you mean?" Ron asked

"Something about that just didn't sound right." Hermione said decisively.

"Are you saying you think Snape really is my dad?" Harry said with quiet intensity.

"No, I'm saying I don't think they were telling the whole truth. That doesn't mean Snape's your father, just that there's something else they're not telling us. I'm going back to the library to do some more research, why don't you two join me? You could get some work done on your transfiguration essay."

"Hermione, maybe I don't want to know what's going on."

"Come on Harry, you can't just ignore the whole situation and hope it goes away." Hermione said in her most reasonable tone.

"I think I'll go do some flying practice." Harry walked away swiftly with his head down.

"Great going Hermione, you keep pushing the issue like that and he'll stop talking to us altogether."

"Ron, you know as well as I do that pretending to ignore something this important will only make it worse. Surely you know that."

"I know that I'm going to go watch Harry practice his flying, and maybe he'll even let me borrow his Firebolt. You really need to think if you're willing to lose Harry's friendship over this."

Hermione watched helplessly as Ron followed Harry down the hall toward the Gryffindor common room.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Severus Snape sat quietly in a corner of Dumbledore's study, watching numbly as Lupin and Minerva McGonagall entered for the meeting the headmaster had called.

"Thank you all for clearing your schedules on such notice" Dumbledore began. I called this meeting to discuss our current Harry problem. Or perhaps I should call it a Weasley problem." He said with a small grin. "Severus, would you have anything you'd like to tell us?"

"No sir." Snape said moodily.

"Minerva, you see Harry every day, how has he seemed today?"

"Quieter than normal, Sir. He looks understandably upset. Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley are staying close to him, though, and the other students seem to be giving them a wide berth."

"Remus, have you anything to add?"

"Yes Sir, Have you considered how Sirius will react when he hears about this? You know how fast rumors fly around the wizarding community, almost faster than an owl can fly."

"That is a good point, but one that I think we have a little time to consider. Now the question is, what do we do? Any ideas? Minerva?"

"Severus, you have to tell him, and soon. He is smart enough to be suspicious now, and he's going to worry at the idea like a puppy with a bone until you do tell him."

"So what do I say? What words can I use that will tell him the truth without sending him straight off the Astronomy tower in disgust?" Severus retorted.

"You can't possibly think he'd do something like that!" Remus exclaimed.

"How do I know? He's my son and I know next to nothing about him!"

"Then the obvious answer is to get to know him!"

"Thank you very much Mr. Obvious, now can you tell me how to do that without making the whole school and every death eater in Great Britain suspicious?"

"Gentlemen, gentlemen, I think we've gone as far as we can this afternoon. Severus, you need to look for more opportunities to talk to Harry, Minerva, please keep an eye him, and Remus, I know he's come to you to talk before, please make sure that you are available to him if he needs you."

As the door closed behind the three professors, Albus Dumbledore turned to look at Fawkes, his Phoenix, who was sitting calmly on his perch. "Fawkes, this is about the most tangled problem it's been my dubious honor to preside over. Do you think we have a chance, any chance at all, of coming out of this one unscathed?" Fawkes looked gravely at his owner, showing no sign of optimism. "I didn't think so," his owner sighed.