"How long do you think I have?" He asked casually, his own gaze fluttering through his office.
"Maybe a year." In contrary to Dumbledore's calm, almost bored voice, Snape sounded truly concerned.
And I shook my head in utter disbelieve when I recognised a smile forming on Dumbledore's face. The news that he ought to live no longer than a year seeming irrelevant to him.
"Well, really, this makes matters much more straightforward."
Snape tilted his head slightly, brows furrowed as he tried to figure out what he was talking about.
Dumbledore recognised his perplexity and continued with a smile on his face. "I refer to the plan Lord Voldemort is revolving around me. His plan to have the poor Malfoy boy murder me."
My breath hitched, growing audibly heavier at the mention of Draco.
Dumbledore knew? He knew all along? Of course he knew. He seemed to know everything, somehow.
And then, there was another one of those eye-opening moments; the ones that made everything so much clearer, almost obvious. Because Snape started talking about Voldemort, and his plans, and everything else revolving around it.
"The Dark Lord does not expect Draco to succeed. This is merely punishment for Lucius's recent failures. Slow torture for Draco's parents, while they watch him fail and pay the price."
Snape wasn't merely an undercover Hogwarts professor, aiding Voldemort with inside-information. It was the other way around, through-and-through.
How could I not have seen it before?
It was obvious, so very obvious; the truth was staring right at me for years now, yet I never even thought about grasping it.
The way he let me go that night I ran into him in the potions classroom, the way he warned me in the manor. The way he tried to help Draco.
"In short; the boy has had a death sentence pronounced upon him as surely as I have," He said, nodding to himself as he thought about what he just said. "Now, I should have thought the natural successor to the job, once Draco fails, is yourself?" He asked, and Snape agreed.
"And If Hogwarts is to fall into the hands of Lord Voldemort, I have your word that you will do all in your power to protect the students?"
Seeing this now, there was no if, anymore. It was merely a when, or a now that. It was in his grasps, and I wasn't quite sure how well of a job Snape was doing when it came to protecting the students.
Yet, at the time of the memory, Snape nodded stiffly.
"Good. Now then. Your first priority will be to discover what Draco is up to. A frightened teenage boy is a danger to others as well as to himself. Offer him help and guidance; he ought to accept, he has no one-"
This was the first time during the conversation that Snape interrupted him. "He has her, now."
"Ah," Dumbledore nodded. "You are referring to Y/n, I assume, Severus?" He didn't have to wait for an answer to continue talking. "She's truly magnificent, isn't she? An interesting girl; so very different from her own twin."
I swallowed thickly, wanting to know now more than ever what they were about to say next.
"I presume he will push her away; the boy. We shall hope she can see right through it. She is good for him-"
"-He is good for her."
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow in surprise at the sudden outburst. "I apologise-"
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