Meeting the Past

Albus Severus Potter sat in the Headmaster's office and waited. He had been sent up here after he had insulted Professor Trelawney's "Inner Eye", insisting that it was all a big joke. Trelawney hadn't liked that, so here he was.

He gazed around the round room, at all the portraits on the walls of past Headmasters and Headmistresses, which were currently fast asleep... or pretending to be. Phineas Nigellus quickly closed his half-open eye when Albus looked at him. Albus smiled and allowed his green eyes to wander onto the Sorting Hat. He immediately grabbed it and tried it on.

"Bee in your bonnet, Albus Potter?" asked the Hat. Albus laughed and replaced it on the shelf. Then he noticed the portrait below. With a golden frame, right behind the Headmaster's desk, was the portrait of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Albus Potter's namesake- or one of them, anyway.

"Hello, Professor Dumbledore," said Albus Severus, sitting down again.

For a little while Professor Dumbledore did not speak, he just sat in his frame and pretended to sleep. But then he opened one light blue eye, recognized Harry Potter's son, opened his other eye, smiled, and winked. Albus Severus, grinning, winked back.

"Albus," said Dumbledore, shaking his silver head, "what mischief have you gotten into, to wind up in here?" His tone was light, however, and his blue eyes were twinkling.

"I told Professor Trelawney that she doesn't really have the Inner Eye," Albus replied, and his namesake's portrait laughed.

"You find that amusing, Dumbledore?" said another Headmaster portrait not too far away from Dumbledore's. "Yet another Potter, a third generation, wreaking havoc and crossing lines, as always." The man in the portrait had shoulder-length, greasy black hair that framed a thin, sallow face, cold black eyes, and an abnormally large, hooked nose.

Dumbledore turned to face the sallow man and surveyed him over his half-moon glasses. The other portrait scowled.

"Now, Severus..." said Dumbledore, and Albus gasped.

"Severus?" he said. "Severus Snape?"

Albus Dumbledore nodded, smiling. Severus Snape merely scowled again.

"I am certain you have heard of me, Potter?" sneered Snape. "You're useless father no doubt mentioned me-"

"Of course he has!" said Albus Severus excitedly. "He's told me all about you! You were the bravest man he ever knew, and I'm even called Albus Severus, after you and Professor Dumbledore!"

Dumbledore beamed as Snape's scowl turned into an expression of utter shock.

"Harry Potter said that I was the bravest man he ever knew?" said Professor Snape in disbelief.

"That's right," said Albus Severus, "and you're one of my namesakes. He also told me that you were in love with my grandmother. And he told me that you were a genius at Potions, and that you were the 'Half-Blood Prince' and you invented some very useful spells, which my brother, James, and I use almost every day!"

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows at Severus. "The Half-Blood Prince?"

Snape ignored him. He was now staring at Albus Severus with a new, calculating interest. "Potter called me a genius?" he said quietly, as if he couldn't believe his ears. Albus nodded eagerly. Snape raised an eyebrow at him.

Dumbledore smiled. "Well, it certainly sounds as though Harry has come a long way. How wonderful it is that he finally sees the good in you, Severus!"

Snape didn't respond, but his black eyes glittered. Finally he opened his mouth to speak, but at that moment the door of the office opened, and the portraits could speak to little Albus Severus Potter no more.

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Later, when the Headmaster's office was empty again, and some of the old portraits were awakening and beginning to communicate with one another, Albus Dumbledore spoke to the portrait of Severus Snape.

"What did you think of young Albus Severus, Severus?" the portrait of Dumbledore asked Snape cheerfully.

Snape's mouth tightened. "Well, Dumbledore, he- ah- seemed very unlike his father," Severus said carefully.

Dumbledore chuckled. "Or perhaps he is just like his father, and Harry is just wiser now and no longer biased!"

"Perhaps," replied Snape, and his lip curled.

The two didn't speak again for a little while, then Albus Dumbledore said, "He has Lily's eyes, young Albus Severus Potter."

"I noticed," muttered Severus Snape.

There was silence again, then Dumbledore said blissfully, "Little Albus has a younger sister, you know. A first year. Her name," he continued, eyes twinkling, "is Lily."

Snape said nothing to this, but merely stared into the frame of his portrait. Finally he said softly, "I wonder if she has green eyes?"

Dumbledore didn't look at him, but gazed upward and twiddled his thumbs. "Perhaps. I am certain we will find out someday."

The two portraits didn't speak again for another long time. Then Severus broke the silence between the two by saying, "Do you think she would be happy with me? Lily? Potter's mother, not his daughter." He paused. "Would she be grateful that I protected her son, and be pleased that I spied for you, risking my life for the side of good, for all those years?"

Dumbledore continued to twiddle his thumbs. "Oh yes, Severus, I think she would be very happy indeed."

Severus Snape smiled, and the two said no more.