I Understand Now...

DISCLAIMER: Sadly I still don't own the Potterverse. No profit is being made from this rather amusing pasttime, and I certainly mean no harm to JK Rowling or any other parties involved.

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Chapter Three

Harry didn’t like the feeling he got at that last sentence. What could possibly upset him so much that he would need a calming drought after hearing it? All he had lost was a couple hours, or so he thought. What really had happened?

“Harry, what’s the last thing you remember?” The headmaster gently asked him.

“Erm.... let’s see. The first years were being sorted. Ron said something and the world got darker. Then I woke up here.”

“Good. And what year are you in this year?” Dumbledore hesitantly questioned, like a grandfather who has forgotten his grandson’s birthday.

“Seventh.” Duh.

“Good.” At this point, Poppy interjected.

“Headmaster, are you going to tell the boy or not? If what you say is true, than he has a right to know.”

“Yes, you are correct. I just don’t know that he’ll believe me.”

“What won’t I believe?” Harry didn’t care that he was whining.

“Harry, this might be a little difficult for you to hear, and even harder for you to believe. But please, you have to try.” Something in the Headmaster’s tone caught Harry’s attention. Did he just say please?

Harry only nodded. Dumbledore transfigured the standard issue hospital chair into a lush purple recliner, and settled in for the story.

“My boy, when you graduated from Hogwarts -”

“Graduated? Professor, I’ve barely started my Seventh Year!”

“Shh. It’s very important that you don’t interrupt me , no matter how inane what I have to say seems. Do you understand?”

Chastened, harry just muttered a quick “yessir” and allowed Dumbledore to continue his tale.

"As I was saying. At the end of your Seventh Year, you started an apprenticeship with Professor Snape. You wanted to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, am I correct? Neither you nor the Professor were exactly thrilled about this arrangement, but I felt it was for the best. No one could teach you more about DADA and classroom management than Severus."

Harry nodded. That made sense. And he really did want to teach DADA, something he had yet to share with anyone.

“And since Voldy’s dead, Professor Snape could work with me without raising suspicion.” Harry stated this as a fact.

“Precisely.” Albus was never ceased to be amazed by how quickly Harry caught on to circumstances and what they implied.

“So, does that mean that Professor Snape is going to be nicer to me this year?”

“Not necessarily. You and Professor Snape have a lot of built up animosity from over the years. But Harry, you have to promise me that you won’t go trying to aggravate the Professor anymore. It will take time and patience, but it would be so beneficial for you both to come to some sort of a truce this year.”

“I’ll try Professor, but it might not be possible this late in the game.” Snape’s one stubborn bastard. “Continue on with your story?” Harry was very curious.

“Okay. Where was I? Oh yes. Over the summer, you and Severus didn’t get along so well. In fact there were several times when you begged me to release you from your agreement. Of course, I didn’t.”

Dumbledore’s eyes twinkled. Harry snorted.

“So you struggled along. Right before the beginning of the new school year, Professor Snape was attacked while visiting his family home in England. He was not seriously injured, but most of his possessions and his entire house were destroyed in a fire started by his assailants.”

“Who attacked him?”

“We don’t know. Possibly Death Eaters.”

“You mean the MLE never found out?”

“They never tried. Fudge and the Ministry still see Severus as a Death Eater, and as such refused to assist him.”

“That’s so unfair! Snape’s as much a Death Eater as I am.”

“I know, Harry, and I’m glad you recognize that. But there was a time when that wasn’t true.”

Sighing, Harry asked the Headmaster to continue.

“After the Professor recovered, he had a completely different demeanor. He stopped barbing people with his sarcastic remarks. He became very quiet and withdrawn. Even though he was better liked by his students, those who really knew him could tell that something was horribly wrong. I’m not sure what happened the day he was attacked, but it was like something inside of him died.”

Harry was horrified. Snape not being snarky? Surely not.

“Soon, you made it your mission to return Severus to his former self. I think it really threw you for a loop when he stopped tormenting you. Anyway, you spent every free minute you had down in the dungeons, much to the surprise of the faculty and your friends. After a while, Severus started to open up to you. He was still subdued, but at least he wasn’t alone any longer.

“Christmas came and went. You and Severus became really close companions. You completed each other, I think. You definitely understood one another, at the very least, and that's saying something. Anyway. After much arguing and pouting, you managed to convince Severus to go out clubbing with you on New Year’s Eve. I can only imagine what that was like.”

Harry couldn’t imagine. Him, clubbing with Snape? The Headmaster had to be lying.

“When you two returned, you were both drunk out of your minds. I was worried that you might end up doing something to jeopardize you friendship, something that you both would regret come morning. For once, I was wrong. The next day you moved your possessions to the dungeons, and there you stayed for the next four years.’

“FOUR YEARS?!?! Headmaster, I don’t understand why you are telling me my supposed future. And for Merlin’s sake, why are you talking as though it has already happened?”

“Because, Harry, it has already happened. If you’ll permit me to finish, I shall explain to the best of my ability.”

“Okay. Sorry Sir.” Curiosity overcame the demand for rationality at this point.

“That’s quite alright, my boy. Now. After about four years had passed, you got sick of teaching. You resigned from Hogwarts, and accepted the seeker position for the Cannons. You got along very well with the rest of the team, but especially your back up seeker.”

“Who was...?”

“Draco Malfoy.” Harry gaped. Dumbledore had to be lying now. Snape was one thing. At least he could see the potential attraction there. But there was no way in the seven hells that he would ever be friends with Ferret Boy.

“No.”

“I’m afraid so. You suddenly got along with him so well, in fact, that one day you left Severus and moved into Malfoy Manor. It completely ruined Severus. I’ve never seen a man so heartbroken in my life. It was the only time I’ve ever really truly been disappointed in you, my boy.”

“My Gods, what happened then?” Harry was appalled by his future behavior. It was something he could never fathom doing.

“About a week later, Severus wrote you a suicide note. You got here as soon as you possibly could, realizing how bad you had screwed up, but I’m afraid it was too late. Severus was dead.”

“NOO!!” Harry, somewhere over the last hour, had resigned himself to a life with Snape, and it actually wasn’t sounding too bad. He refused to let go of the future he was envisioning, and he refused to have yet another person dead because of him. Hysterical, he tried to run from the Hospital Wing towards the dungeons.

Albus caught him and forced the calming potion Madam Pomfrey had left down his throat. Harry stopped struggling, but tears continued to stream down his face.

“Shh, Harry. Poppy was correct; everything will be okay in the end.”

“How can it be okay, Headmaster? He’s gone!” Harry didn’t realize that he was stating this about the one person who five hours ago, he thought he hated more than anyone in the world.

“Yes. In almost six years, Severus will be dead if things are allowed to follow the same path of events that they did originally. Your job is to change it. Fix whatever happened that made you leave Severus for Draco. Because believe me my boy, I found you when you saw Severus’ corpse, and you didn’t want him dead. You loved him more fiercely than any I have ever seen, and he you.”

“But how can I fix it?”

“Harry, I don’t know why you left or what went wrong, so I can’t answer that question. As for right now, Professor Snape is very much alive, and you will see him in Potions tomorrow. Now, go down back to your dormitories. It’s almost curfew and I’m sure your friends are worried about you.”

Quietly thanking the enigmatic Headmaster, Harry left the Infirmary. He was grateful for the second chance that apparently only he knew he was getting.

TBC...

A/N: Another chapter up! Hopefully I can keep updating as often as I am know, but who knows. :) Reviews are greatly appreciated!