A/N: Although I have obviously not stricken a responsive chord among you all with this story, here finally the last chapter: :)

The Puppet Master, the Pawns and the Servants

"In all honesty, I'm not so sure what to think of Dumbledore anymore," Harry said, a bitter note in his voice. "I always thought he liked me. I thought he liked you, too. But he still used us and manipulated us. Do you remember my first year, when Quirrell tried to get the Philosopher's Stone? It was Dumbledore's set up from the beginning. He thought the time had come for the prophesy to be fulfilled."

Now it was Severus' turn to look at Harry with surprise and a good amount of curiosity. How much had the boy figured out? "How do you come to that conclusion?" he asked, wondering if James' and Lily's son was smarter than he had given him credit for.

"Contrary to what you always believed, I'm not stupid," Harry replied a bit defensively, irked by Severus' ill-concealed surprise. "I figured it out right after the headmaster's visit to the hospital wing. To begin with, there's the question of how Dumbledore, one of the greatest wizards alive at the time, could possibly have failed to notice that one of his teachers was carrying around the Dark Lord in his head. I mean – seriously – nothing of what went on within Hogwarts' walls ever escaped his notice. Quirrell had come back from his sabbatical a few months before the summer holidays and had apparently been acting weird ever since – not to mention the smelly turban he had suddenly started wearing. Even Hagrid had noticed his changed behaviour – he told me so. Yet Dumbledore gave him the DADA position. And he suddenly decided to move the stone, which had peacefully been sitting in a Gringotts vault for centuries, to Hogwarts. Why would he do that?"

Severus shot him a curious glance. "You tell me..."

"It's obvious, isn't it? Dumbledore knew that Quirrell was possessed. So he set up a trap, dangling the very thing in front of his nose that Voldemort needed to resurrect himself. Voldemort must have known about the stone and Dumbledore's connection to Flamel – it's on the Chocolate Frog cards! When he returned to Britain in Quirrell's body, he must have had some kind of plan – a plan that obviously didn't include his Death Eaters, as he never attempted to contact any of them, not even you. I suppose that Quirrell, after coming back from his sabbatical, had been inquiring about the stone, trying to find out its current location, which must have made Dumbledore all the more suspicious. He therefore transferred the stone to Hogwarts and made sure that Quirrell knew about it – first by sending Hagrid on his mission, then by making Quirrell help set up the protections. At the same time, he subtly started nudging me into action."

At that, Severus raised an eyebrow. As if Harry had ever needed to be 'nudged' into action! Stupid he might not be, but he had always had the nasty habit of sticking his nose where it didn't belong. And Dumbledore had always condoned, if not encouraged, his activities. "What makes you think that Dumbledore wanted you to go after the stone?" he still asked, curious to hear how much Harry had figured out.

"Well, for one, he gave me my father's invisibility cloak for Christmas – anonymously, I might add. He even made sure it was returned to me after we were caught on the Astronomy Tower one night by Draco and I accidentally left it behind. He even added a note that said 'just in case...'. Why, if not to encourage my sneaking around?"

Yes, why indeed. Severus made a sour face. That damned invisibility cloak. It had taken him years to figure out how Harry had been able to get into so much mischief unnoticed, despite his best efforts to keep an eye on the boy. Giving an eleven year old an invisibility cloak had been an incredibly irresponsible thing to do, for various reasons. Clearly, Dumbledore had thought the boy invincible.

"Secondly," Harry continued, "Dumbledore let Hagrid in on the secret with the stone, after having made sure that I befriended him. Really, Hagrid is a good guy and incredibly loyal, but you can't entrust him with information you want to keep secret! Hagrid even took me with him to Gringotts when picking up the stone. There was no reason to do that – unless Dumbledore wanted to draw my attention to the fact that a mysterious item of great importance was going to be hidden in Hogwarts.

Severus nodded. Indeed. He had been flabbergasted when he had heard that Hagrid of all people had been sent to get the stone – taking a first year with him, no less. It had made him suspicious of Dumbledore's intentions, especially since the headmaster had all but announced the half-giants 'important business with Gringotts' at the staff table. Surely, Quirrell had guessed what Hagrid was supposed to do and had tried to get into the vault before him.

"Thirdly, Dumbledore made sure that I found the Mirror of Erised before it was used as a final protection. He also ascertained that I understood how it worked. And seriously – all those 'protections' on the stone were no protections at all: They were challenges, an obstacle course – an adventure game designed for a first year. Dumbledore could have hidden the stone in his office – it would have been safe under his wards. Instead, he made sure that everybody knew something was hidden behind that door on the third floor corridor. It was easy to find out how to get past Fluffy, given that I had befriended Hagrid, thanks to Dumbledore's ministrations. The Devil's Snare is on the first year's Herbology syllabus and there was a high chance that at least one of us had paid attention in class. And seriously – a chess game, when Ron was a chess expert even in his first year? The logic riddle you designed – knowing that Hermione was a Muggle-born and really big into logic? And, most suspicious of all: The task of catching the flying key and the fact that, quite conveniently, there were three brooms waiting for us. An adult wizard would just have used "Accio silver key' to open the door. The only really dangerous part was the troll, and that was Quirrell's contribution, who had no idea that kids were supposed to get past the 'protections'. I guess that part must have gotten Dumbledore a bit concerned, but then, as we had defeated one in the bathroom already, he was probably confident that we would manage to get past it. I bet the stone was safely in Dumbledore's office until I had a chance to discover the Mirror of Erised. Quirrell probably didn't know that – otherwise he wouldn't have made a move at the Halloween feast."

"Congratulations, Potter. You continue to surprise me." Severus couldn't help but applaud his godson. Hermione was right. He really had underestimated the kid all this time. Clearly, the boy had Lily's brains.

"Thank you – I think?" Harry replied a bit dubiously. It was a typical Snape remark, but it held none of the sarcasm that usually went with it. Yet it was a rather backhanded compliment if one chose to take it as such... Damn, the man was still impossible to figure out. Harry decided not to bother his head about it. "Anyway... What I failed to understand for a long time was the reason why Dumbledore set this whole thing up. I suppose I felt a bit of pride at being given the chance to defeat the wizard responsible for the murder of my parents."

"Of course you did!" Severus remarked drily, definitely sarcastic. "What did I say about your proclivity to heroism again?"

"I was only eleven years old!" Harry defended himself. "It didn't occur to me that it was a most irresponsible thing to do for an adult, setting a child in his care up for potential slaughter in the hope that a prophesy might be fulfilled."

Severus had to concede the point. Children surely had a tendency to overestimate their skills and their own importance. If he was honest, Harry hadn't really been worse than most of the kids his age in that. But Dumbledore also wasn't quite as bad as Harry made him out to be. "Dumbledore had protections in place," he pointed out. "He wouldn't wilfully endanger the life of a child."

"Yeah, I figured that out eventually, too. This funny story about him having been called to the ministry under a ruse and supposedly only returning many hours later, making it seem as if he had flown there on a broom... Conveniently, I didn't know anything about apparition or the floo-network at the time, so I didn't even wonder why on earth he would take a broom to get from Scotland to London. Provided he had been called to the ministry at all, he must have found out right after apparating or flooing there that it had been a set-up – he would have been back in Hogwarts about five minutes after leaving. I bet he was sitting in his office the entire time, probably using some fancy spying device to observe what was going on in the third floor corridor, prepared to step in if the situation got dire."

"I'd award points to Gryffindor if I could," Severus said with a mild smirk. "Too bad we aren't there."

Harry snorted. "Yeah, sure! As if! The day that happens, I'd know for sure that you are being possessed."

Severus grinned, then sobered again. "Dumbledore was sure that you were destined to vanquish the Dark Lord once and for all – you, and nobody but you. I guess he had hoped that fate would be on your side, just like the night your parents were killed. That by some miracle, you'd manage to defeat the greatest evil wizard since Grindelwald at age eleven. And you almost did – if it hadn't been for those Horcurxes. Yet he was defeated again for another three years, confirming for Dumbledore that you really were the Chosen one, destined to save the wizarding world – when the time was right."

"A fact he never told me until my fifth year."

"No. But in that, I agreed with him. It would have been a too great burden to carry for a child – just like the knowledge that you had a Horcrux inside your head and had to sacrifice yourself at the end. He didn't even tell me until the last possible moment." That, to Severus, still felt like betrayal. Yes, he could understand Dumbledores' motives, and maybe nothing and nobody could have changed the boy's fate. But he couldn't help feeling used, just like Harry. Severus was sure that in his own way, Dumbledore had cared about both of them. But he had still always put everyone – no matter whether friend, family member or protege – behind the 'Greater Good'. On the other hand, Dumbledore had trusted in Severus and his honour when it was called into question by everybody else – and that was more than he could say for any other person in his life. At least, until a certain, bushy-haired Gryffindor had forced herself into it.

"Did you know that Quirrell was possessed by Voldemort at the time?" Harry asked.

Severus shook his head. "No. Dumbledore only told me that something was wrong with Quirrell and that I should keep an eye on him. He warned me that he might be after the stone – making him out to be a dumb, over-ambitious wizard who sought immortality. When Minerva, Flitwick and I wondered about the rather ridiculous set-up to hide the stone, the old man admitted with that damn twinkle in his eyes that he had a feeling you might try to play the hero, and that he was inclined to let you... to see how you'd cope and to see if you could be tempted by the stone's power."

Harry's chin fell. "Dumbledore thought that I might go after it to have it for myself?"

"Dumbledore didn't know you at the time," Severus pointed out when he saw Harry's indignation. "All he knew was that the Dark Lord had perished under mysterious circumstances when he tried to kill you, leaving the mark of a dark curse on your body. As we know now, he already suspected that a piece of the Dark Lord's soul had accidentally attached itself to you, and Dumbledore had no way of knowing if it had tainted you in any way... if the Dark Lord was somehow lying in wait inside your body. Nor did he know how character-building your aunt's and uncle's upbringing had been. So yes, he wanted to find out more about you: How would you react to the temptation? How would you go on about it and how far would you manage to get? He assured us that you were in no danger and that he had everything under control. I believed him... at least until someone hexed your broom during the Quidditch match."

"I suppose you didn't know that it was Quirrell at the time? Otherwise hexing him would have been the better solution. He was sitting right behind you."

"Well, it was not exactly a moment to ponder who the culprit might be – my focus was on keeping you on that broom. Afterwards... well, I had my suspicions, but I couldn't figure out what he was playing at. What reason could he have for wanting you dead? To my knowledge, Quirrell has never been a Death Eater, but this incident made me wonder... I tried to coax him to show his cards, but he didn't even seem to know what I was on about."

"Why did he try to kill me? I mean, I understand that it was Voldemort who made him do it, but why? His primary intent was to get the stone – he didn't even know about the second half of the prophesy at that point. Making Quirrell act in such a suspicious way and almost blowing his cover seems rather counterproductive."

"Indeed. He probably was unable to resist when the opportunity to take revenge presented itself."

"But that means Voldemort knew that it was you who had thwarted the attempt. How did you explain that to him, after his return?"

Severus sighed. "With a convincing lie, as always." He had really become adept at telling half-truths or even outright lies over the years. People had no idea how difficult it was to come up with a plausible, alternative fact in the spur of the moment. Lying successfully demanded creativity, logic and a quick mind. Thank Merlin that he possessed all of those gifts. "I managed to convince him of what was basically the truth: That I meant to thwart a pathetic, foolish wizard with delusions of grandeur who thought he could walk in the footsteps of a wizard far greater than himself, and that I had saved you because Dumbledore had ordered me to keep an eye on you. After all, I needed to stay in his favour and was still atoning for the error of my ways. And last not least, I told him that I had been curious about you. Apart from those who celebrated you as the boy-who-lived and a saviour, there were others who wondered if you were a reincarnation of the Dark Lord himself – destined to become the next dark wizard behind whom we could all rally once more. I told him that I protected you at the time to find out if his spirit lived on in your body, but that I had long since started to lose that hope, given how disappointingly mediocre you were."

To Severus surprise, the boy didn't even blink an eye at the insult, which, as pointedly and exaggerated as he had put it, was nothing but the honest truth. Harry was a rather average wizard – not overly ambitious, not immensely powerful, not even more highly skilled or more knowledgeable than other witches or wizards. He had fast reflexes, the typical Gryffindor braveness and a proclivity to heroism, all coupled with sound moral values. Harry might have been surprised to learn that Severus didn't even consider this mediocrity a flaw or worthy of an insult. Quite the contrary. It was a relief, especially since Harry didn't seem to mind that he was not born to be the next leader of the wizarding world. They had seen enough of such self-appointed leader types for quite a while.

"Me – a new dark wizard?" Harry snorted, finding the idea rather ridiculous, too. He had never felt the lure of the Dark Arts and he hated any kind of hero-worship. It was undeserved. Everything they had managed was the result of team-work, determination and sheer dumb luck. All he had ever wanted was to live and be left in peace. "And Voldemort bought that?"

"Well, at the time I was able to tell him straightfaced and with utter conviction how stupid the thought had been, because you were nothing but an arrogant and self-righteous twit deep in Dumbledore's pocket, just like your father, and that you hated me just as ardently. He definitely bought that."

"Do you still think so now?" Harry asked, his voice belying the casualness of the question.

"No," Severus admitted after only a brief moment hesitation. What he had told the Dark Lord at the time hadn't been so much a lie but rather self-deceit. An untruth he had nurtured for various reasons. "You were reckless and rash, hot-tempered and disrespectful at times, but you have never been mean or arrogant. Maybe I knew it even back then, deep in my heart. But it was easier to hate you, and it was the hatred and disdain I displayed that convinced the Dark Lord of my loyalty."

The year after his master's return had been the hardest – physically and mentally. The Dark Lord had a quick temper, and being around him was always like dancing on the rim of a volcano. He had used the Prying Potion on Severus frequently, which made it necessary to maintain a strong discipline of his mind at all times. While it was possible to deceive by giving false memories, it was next to impossible to produce false feelings.

"It must have been hard, being a double agent..." Harry acknowledged pensively. "Much harder than I ever thought. Always walking the line, lying and deceiving, never being able to justify what you were doing, never being able to tell the truth..." It wouldn't be surprising if he hadn't even known what the truth really was after a while.

"Well, like I said – it was always easier to lie with a truth, and what I said about Quirrell probably wasn't far off the mark," Severus said, quickly steering the conversation back into safer waters. Harry was touching on psychological issues he wasn't prepared to discuss, least of all with him.

"Yes," Harry readily agreed. "He was rather full of himself with Voldemort in his head. He either was a huge closet fan or out for glory when he went on his sabbatical to find him. But how did he know that Voldemort was still out there in the first place?"

"Quirrell was an expert on the Dark Arts, even while he was still a teacher for Muggle studies. If he knew about Horcruxes, he probably had his suspicions when he learned of the Dark Lord's mysterious disappearance and the fact that you bore nothing but a scar after surviving the killing curse. There are only so many known ways to assure one's return to life after dying. If Quirrell did the same research on the matter I did later on, he might have come to the conclusion that Voldemort had created a Horcrux sooner than anybody else did. It would have been easy to find out that he spent some time in Albania in the fifties. Given that Quirrell's search lasted almost an entire year, he probably went to other places before that."

"So he hoped to find a Horcrux and found Voldemort's ghost instead... The idea that he would end up possessed probably never crossed his mind."

"I wouldn't call it 'possession'," Severus qualified. "Taking possession of another human being requires an immense amount of power, and you can only maintain control of him for a very limited amount of time. Quirrell allowed the Dark Lord to use him as a vessel, remaining in control of his mind and his actions while he carried him in his head like a parasite. I guess one could call it 'shared occupancy of his body'. One way or another, the Dark Lord must have gotten Quirrell's consent."

"And when Quirrell died, Voldemort's soul piece was flung to Albania again..." Harry concluded. "That must have sucked. I really would have liked to witness his fury when he realised that he was back in that forest again!"

"It was probably good that Pettigrew only came for him two years later, after he had some time to simmer down..."

Harry's eyes widened in surprise. It almost sounded as if Snape was joking. Impossible. "I wonder what took him so long..." he mused. "If Voldemort had left him specific instructions as to where to look for him in case something went wrong with his plans to obtain the stone, he must have wondered why Peter only turned up only in the summer after my third year. And I use 'wondered' very loosely in this context. He must have been livid. Small wonder he didn't kill him on the spot."

"It would have been extremely stupid to do so, given that he was his only hope of escaping the forest he was stuck in. Besides, Pettigrew had an excuse the Dark Lord could not dismiss: His rather smallish brain. Pettigrew must have become really rat-like, even when walking on two feet. Wizards are not meant to spent twelve years in animal shape. When you transform into your Animagus' form, you adopt the specific animal's senses and awareness. Which means you start living, feeling and thinking like an animal if you stay in that form for too long. It's quite possible that you lose your ability to transform back by yourself at all, which I believe is what had happened to Pettigrew before the Dark Lord found him in your second year."

"You mean he was trapped in his rat's body all the while?" What a horrible thought. But then, it might explain another question that had been bothering Harry. Why, in all those years the twins had been using the Marauder's map, had they never noticed that first Percy, then Ron constantly hung out with a guy named 'Peter Pettigrew' – even while in bed? Maybe the map recognized people by their brain pattern. If Peter had succumbed to being 'Scabbers' brain-wise, he would have been recognised by the map's magic as a rat, not as a human. There might have been a window of time in their first year where Peter might have shown on the map again as himself, and luckily for him, the twins hadn't used it to spy on their brother. He had reappeared on the map in Harry's third year, though... Had the fearsome news of Sirius Black escaping Azkaban rekindled the human part of Scabber's brain? Enough at least for the map to recognize him as human, even when still trapped in Scabber's body?

"It wouldn't surprise me." Severus shrugged. "It's amazing that Pettigrew kept his sanity even to the degree he still did. I imagine that while he was in his rat form, he was oblivious of the fact that his master had failed to return to power, and completely oblivious about time passing."

"Still makes you wonder why Peter went back to him in the first place. I would have thought he would be scared shitless. He couldn't have known that Voldemort would be so forgiving."

"Pettigrew had no choice. It was either Azkaban as a human, continuing his life as a rat in hiding or pledging his loyalty to the Dark Lord again. And Voldemort had no choice but to be forgiving. He was entirely powerless in the state he was in, unable to even hold a wand. He needed Pettigrew – desperately."

"Why didn't he confide in you? Instead of revealing himself to the rat, he could have contacted you while he was in Quirrell's head..."

"He didn't trust me, especially not after I tried to thwart Quirrell's attempt to kill you and get the stone. He only gave me the benefit of doubt because he also saw how much I hated you, and how much everybody still distrusted me. Pettigrew, however, had nowhere to turn to. He needed the Dark Lord as much as he needed the rat."

Yes, that made sense. Pettigrew must have felt immensely grateful when Voldmort found him and transformed him back into a human if he had lost that ability himself after living as a rat for eleven years. The idea that he might have been sitting in their dormitory in his human form while they were in classes made Harry shudder, even in retrospect. Maybe he had lost his ability to turn back by himself completely, making him fully dependent on Voldemort. The idea that Pettigrew had needed his master's help whenever he wanted to regain his human shape was immensely more pleasing. Would have served the rat right!

"How did Pettigrew manage to bring him his wand? I know he must have had it in Albania, as Voldemort used it to kill Bertha Jorkins when she ran into him... Where was it all the time, after he lost it here in Godric's Hollow?"

"It was confiscated as evidence in the murder of your parents after it was found on the floor of your bedroom, where Dumbledore had left it for the Aurors."

"But how did Peter get his hands on the wand after the Ministry took it?"

"I assume a plan to retrieve it was put in motion even while the Dark Lord still resided in Quirrells' head. Pettigrew was Ronald's rat and was taken to the Burrow for Christmas break. Arthur was working in the ministry... I suppose it can't have been all that difficult to hide in his coat pocket or lunch box and let himself be carried to the Ministry."

"But he'd have to find the wand within the ministry and get it out... A rat with a wand would surely have looked suspicious."

"Finding it wouldn't have been hard. It would be with the Wizengamot Administration Service, probably laying in a storage box gathering dust. Given that the Dark Lord was dead and gone, it would have been forgotten after all this time. As to getting it out... well, yes, that part might have been tricky. Pettigrew most likely hid it somewhere in the public area, where Quirrell could pick it up the next day, visiting the ministry under some ruse. Security has always been lamentably lax in the ministry."

That was certainly true. It explained how they had managed to break into the Department of Mysteries as mere fifth graders, and not only retrieve the prophesy, but to crash the entire hall in the process without anybody noticing. Or why they had been able to pull it off a second time, and steal the locket right from the neck of Dolores Umbridge. Sadly, it also explained why Voldemort managed to take over the entire ministry in one swift strike the night of Bill's wedding.

"So Voldemort was then able to hide his wand somewhere on Hogwarts grounds, assuming that he would be able to use it as soon as Quirrell had gotten hold of the stone..." Harry mused, putting the pieces together. "And when that didn't happen, Pettigrew grabbed it before he fled Britain after he was exposed by Sirius and brought it to Albania. And he came with another present – Bertha Jorkins, a ministry official! This time, Voldemort really had a stroke of luck."

"She not so much," remarked Severus in a dark tone, which made Harry shiver.

"I alway wondered why he didn't simply take possession of Bertha and let her carry him back right into the ministry, like he did with Quirrell," he mused. "I guess I have that explanation now. He couldn't take her over, and he probably didn't want to be stuck on the back of somebody's head again."

"Yes. This time, he had the means to create himself a rudimentary body. In his spiritual form, he couldn't leave the forest."

"How did they manage to do that? Create this hideous creature of flesh and bone, I mean. It was pretty revolting..." Harry remembered the horrible ritual that brought about Voldemort's real resurrection, when the monstrosity which, in a twisted way, had looked like a crippled child was dropped into the boiling cauldron. He had seen it again when he found himself in that nothingness between life and death, underneath a bench in what appeared to be an otherwordly King's Cross station – only remotely human in shape, naked, bleeding, repulsive.

Severus had never seen the Dark Lord in that state, but he had a good idea what kind of dark magic had been used to create the rudimentary body. The poor witch. To experience such horror before finally meeting her death. "Trust me, Potter, you don't want to know," he said darkly. "If you think Voldemort's rebirth from his father's bone, Pettigrew's flesh and your blood was horrifying, this will chill you to the bone. Suffice to say that in the end, he had his body and his wand, a lot of useful information, a snake familiar and an obedient servant. Yes, he really was lucky."

"Everybody believes he made Nagini his last Horcrux by killing Bertha... But wouldn't that have been extremely stupid? I mean – he risked being flung there a third time, should his rudimentary body give out before he could be fully reborn..."

"Of course it would have been extremely stupid, not to mention impossible. The Dark Lord was far too weak to perform such complicated magic at that point, and the risk of tearing yet another piece from his soul would have been far too great in his highly unstable physical condition. He certainly didn't create his last Horcrux until after he got back to England. I'm sure he chose a much more convenient place for the creation of Nagini as his last Horcrux – my guess would be in Riddle Manor."

"Do you think he chose Nagini because he had possessed her while in that forest and had formed a bond with her?"

Severus shook his head. "No. I think he used her because turning a living being into a Horcrux is much easier than forcing the soul piece into an inanimate object. Living beings are the more natural vessels for souls. I believe the Dark Lord was too weakened in the end to turn another inanimate object into a Horcrux."

Harry frowned. "He didn't appear weak at all..."

"I'm not talking about magical power. I'm talking of the strength of his soul. There was hardly anything left of his."

"I bet he had plans to use the sword of Gryffindor – there would have been such a nice symmetry to it, using the symbols of all four founders for his Horcruxes. Maybe he tried and realised that he couldn't do it, which is why he put it into the vault, not knowing that you had already thwarted his plans by replacing the real sword with a copy. In the end, his vanity and his need for grandeur brought him down. Imagine if he had put his soul's pieces into pebbles and thrown them into the sea! They would have been safe forever."

"Well, it would have needed to be a magical object, but still. Thank Merlin that you and Dumbledore were able to locate them all. In hindsight, it seems like an impossible task. I don't know what the old man was thinking, leaving it to you three."

"I was able to sense them when I was in close vicinity..." Harry explained, "probably because of the soul piece stuck in me. I suppose that's why Dumbledore thought I had the best chance of finding them."

"More likely, our beloved Leader of the Light had the Prophesy in mind which claimed that you were the one destined to vanquish the Dark Lord. By finding and destroying those Horcruxes you did just that – piece by piece."

"Which begs the question if the Prophesy was only fulfilled because everybody – especially Dumbledore – made sure that it happened."

Severus could feel the hurt in Harry's voice, and although he could empathise, he felt the need again to defend his mentor, master and the closest thing to a friend he had had for ages. "Dumbledore did care about you, and he wanted you to survive. But you still had a role in this game, just as I did. It wasn't Dumbledore who made us play our parts according to his script. It was many things – fate, circumstances, and last not least our own decisions."

"I just can't stop thinking how differently things could have gone if only Dumbledore hadn't been so damned secretive! If we hadn't hated each other so much... if we hadn't been enemies at the time, you could have guided me, helped me so much more than you could while being in the camp of the enemy. This war could have been over so much sooner – so many lives could have been saved!"

"What-ifs are not worth pondering, Potter. There are simply too many of them. What if I had never passed on the prophesy in the first place? What if Sirius had not tried to get me killed in the Shrieking Shack? Who knows what would have happened instead... Maybe the Dark Lord wouldn't have come for you. Then your mother's protection would never have rebounded in a killing curse on him, and the Dark Lord would never have disappeared. Or he might have killed your entire family without even giving your mother a choice, and we wouldn't even be having this discussion. I didn't know half of the things I do now while they were happening. It was all a lot of guesswork based on partial information, for me as much as for you. I only managed to put all the pieces together after all was over. And it was important that I remained behind the lines – you now know why. If working together might have saved some lives, others might have been lost. Had there been another way? We'll never know. It's only ever easy in hindsight."

Harry nodded, feeling weary all of a sudden. Severus was right. There was no sense in fretting about it. The past was past, and none of them could change any of it, probably not even with a time-turner. He needed to let go of the bitterness, not dwell on what they lost, but focus on the good that had come out of it. Such as the fact that his acerbic, often verbally abusive and fear-instilling Ex-Professor was not his enemy anymore, but a man he had come to respect, to understand and even to like a little.

"Thank you for telling me all this," he said, letting his godfather see the open honesty and gratefulness in his eyes. "This has been more information than I had ever hoped to get. It really helped me to understand everything better. And I believe I needed to understand in order to find closure."

"Yes. But don't linger too much in the past – it won't do you any good, trust me. If there is one piece of advice I can pass on from my own experience – and I admit I'm often having a hard time listening to my own counsel – it is that: We mustn't allow our past to define our future."

"Do you think... that could also be true with regard to our relationship?"

Severus sighed. Typical Gryffindor. You always had to spell it out for them. "Yes, Potter. I do.

A/N: Eventually, this little story will be part of the Christmas chapters I'm still working on. As we have a big relocation on the horizon (we'll be moving from Germany to the United States) around that time, I can make no promises. What I had envisioned to be a quiet time of the year is going to be very busy and exciting for us, and most likely I'll not have much time for writing. But I'll be back eventually!