Harry seemed to be watching the two men from one end of a long tunnel,
they were so far away from him, their voices echoing strangely in his ears.
"So the boy…the boy must die?” asked Snape quite
calmly.
"And Voldemort himself must do it, Severus. That is essential."
Another long silence.
Then
Snape said, “I thought…all those years…that we were protecting him for her. For
Lily.”
“We
have protected him because it has been essential to teach him, to raise him, to
let him try his strength,” said Dumbledore, his eyes still tight shut.
“Meanwhile, the connection between them grows ever stronger, a parasitic
growth. Sometimes I have thought he suspects it himself. If I know him, he will
have arranged matters so that when he does set out to meet his death, it will
truly mean the end of Voldemort.”
Dumbledore
opened his eyes. Snape looked horrified.
“You
have kept him alive so that he can die at the right moment?”
“Don’t
be shocked, Severus. How many men and women have you watched die?”
“Lately,
only those whom I could not save,” said Snape. He stood up. “You have used me.”
“Meaning?”
“I
have spied for you and lied for you, put myself in mortal danger for you.
Everything was supposed to be to keep Lily Potter’s son safe. Now you tell me
you have been raising him like a pig for slaughter – ”
“But
this is touching, Severus,” said Dumbledore seriously. “Have you grown to care
for the boy, after all?”
“For
him?” shouted Snape. “Expecto Patronum!”
From
the tip of his wand burst the silver doe. She landed on the office floor,
bounded once across the office, and soared out of the window. Dumbledore
watched her fly away, and as her silvery glow faded he turned back to Snape,
andhis eyes were full of tears.
“After
all this time?”
“Always,”
said Snape.
