For the rest of the week, Harry could talk of nothing but his outrage at Snape for hiding in Professor Browne’s office. Ron and Hermione were similarly shocked, but neither of them seemed quite as obsessed with this scandal as Harry was. Hermione was still convinced that Snape was on their side, and Ron seemed to care more than anything else about this being his turn to say “told you so” in regards his theory that “opposites attract”. At last, they suggested that Harry write to Dumbledore. This Harry did on Wednesday night after wading through the complex homework set by Professor Flitwick. He sent a message requesting only that he be allowed to meet Dumbledore in his office as soon as possible, although it was no emergency. He got a message back from Dumbledore the next day, suggesting that they meet Friday evening and giving Harry the password to his office, which, due to security increases, was unprecedented in its complexity.

“How about doing a bit more in our Transfiguration homework,” said Hermione on the scheduled evening, after putting the finishing touches to her rune translation.

“Aw, c’mon, Hermione,” Ron yawned, “it’s Friday.”

“I’ll help you do it,” said Hermione quickly. “We can do it together and get it done in half the time! Well, since you won’t do any of the work, I mean we’ll both get it done in the time that it normally takes me to do it by myself.”

Ron brightened up. “Really? All right, might as well get started, I guess.”

Harry stood up suddenly.

“Don’t leave on our account!” said Hermione in alarm. “You’re welcome to stay, too, and… watch.”

“It’s not that,” said Harry quickly. “It’s… I have to meet Dumbledore now.”

“Oh,” said Ron as Harry turned to leave. “Well, good luck with him, then.”

Harry quickly found the gargoyle on the seventh floor and said to it clearly, “Bertie Bott’s Every-Flavor Beans in the original flavors as manufactured in May of 1985.” In response, the gargoyle leapt aside, and Harry was able to step onto the moving spiral staircase which carried him up to Dumbledore’s office. Harry knocked at the door.

“Ah, Harry, good to see you again,” said Dumbledore, opening the door and smiling down at him. “Come in, do come in, and take a seat.”

Harry walked in and sat down at one of the tables with delicate-looking instruments on it. Dumbledore sat down across from him and surveyed intently him through his half-moon spectacles.

“So, Harry,” he said. “I trust that your first week has gone well?”

“Yes,” said Harry.

“You have not had any detentions or anything so far, have you?”

“No, sir.”

“You are understanding this week’s lessons to your satisfaction?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And how are things going with young Miss Weasley?”

“Er… I’m not actually going out with her anymore, Professor.”

Dumbledore frowned. “That is a pity. I thought you made a handsome couple.”

Harry hesitated, then tried to explain. “You see, sir, I thought that if we continued our relationship, Voldemort might use her as bait to get to me.”

“Ah,” sighed Dumbledore, nodding. “That is a very wise decision. It just goes to show that even someone with my considerable genius does not think of everything. And now, on to more serious matters. You wanted to meet me to tell me something?”

“Yes, Professor Dumbledore,” said Harry. “You see, I…”

Dumbledore held up his blackened hand to stop him. “I think that at this point, after all we have been through together, there is no need to continue to call me ‘Professor’ or ‘sir’. I give you my permission to call me whatever you wish from now onwards. In fact, you may even call me ‘Dumby’ if you prefer.”

“All right, then, er, Dumby,” said Harry uncertainly. “You see, I think I found out who destroyed the Horcrux that we thought we found in the cave at the end of last year. The message was signed by someone called R.A.B., and I’m pretty sure that Professor Browne is the R.A.B. that we’re looking for.”

“Ah, yes,” said Dumbledore. “Ramona Anne Browne. Yes, you may be right.”

“But on Monday night, I went up to her office,” continued Harry, “and I heard Snape’s voice from inside! She’s been hiding him in there the whole time!”

Dumbledore opened his mouth to correct Harry, but Harry said quickly, “Er, now that Snape no longer teaches, I shouldn’t have to call him ‘Professor’, should I?”

Dumbledore hesitated for a moment, and then said grudgingly, “I suppose not. But are you sure it was Severus’ voice from inside the office?”

“Yes,” said Harry, “I’m positive. And that means that he’s up to even more trickery and deceit! First he tried to kill you, and now…”

“He did not try to kill me, Harry, as I explained to you after popping out from under your bed at the Burrow,” said Dumbledore, a little coldly. “And while I am surprised that Professor Browne went so far as to keep Severus in her office, I was aware of the relationship between them. One of the reasons why I hired Professor Browne is that although she was not qualified to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, I knew that Severus would be helping her every step of the way.”

“Being spokeswoman of the Deathly Hallows doesn’t qualify her?” said Harry curiously. “What are the Deathly Hallows exactly?”

“Now is not the appropriate time to explain it,” said Dumbledore delicately.

“Yes, Prof �“ I mean Dumby,” sighed Harry.

“At any rate, you have my assurance that what you tell me does not perturb me in the least,” said Dumbledore serenely, leaning back in his chair and staring at the ceiling.

“So, Dumby,” said Harry in disbelief, “you still trust Snape, even after all this?”

“That’s enough!” said Dumbledore sternly, turning his penetrating gaze back down to Harry. “How many times do I have to tell you that I trust Severus Snape no matter what? It is time for drastic measures!”

Dumbledore strode over to the office door. Harry followed him, almost paralyzed with the fear of having gone too far.

“I have resisted doing this for years, Harry,” said Dumbledore unexpectedly softly, turning the doorknob, “but the time has finally come. Follow me.”

Harry followed Dumbledore out of his office and down the spiral staircase.

“Where are we going… Dumby?” he asked in a small voice.

“To Professor Browne’s office,” said Dumbledore. “I am going to do my utmost to demonstrate to you that Severus Snape is trustworthy. But it will involve certain cooperation on your part in a game of role-playing.”

Harry had not expected this and was not sure what to say. They paused outside of Browne’s office door.

“Maybe you had better put on your invisibility cloak,” Dumbledore whispered to Harry. “I think that Ramona and Severus will better be able to endure one startling surprise at a time.”

He knocked on the door as Harry threw the invisibility cloak over himself. There were a few muffled noises from inside, and then the door opened.

“Dumbledore!” beamed Browne. “What a pleasant surprise!”
“May I come in?” said Dumbledore politely. “I have very important business.”

“I don’t know…” Browne looked nervously around her small office. “Oh, all right.” And she opened the door a little wider to let Dumbledore in. There was just enough time for Harry to slip in behind him before she closed the door again. Harry could see no trace of Snape.

“How would you like a drink?” said Dumbledore, flicking his wand. Three small glasses of elf-made wine appeared on Professor Browne’s desk.

“Why, thank you, Dumbledore!” said Browne with a characteristic laugh. “But why have you conjured three glasses? There are only two people here, after all.”

“Oh, I’m not so sure about that,” said Dumbledore smoothly. He turned around to look at a small table in the room. Then, very suddenly, he did something that Harry had seen him do once before. Dumbledore poked his wand into the table very hard without warning, and the table instantly turned into Severus Snape, who was standing on all fours, with one limb where each leg of the table had been.

“Good evening, Headmaster,” said Snape sourly, straightening up.

For a moment, Professor Browne looked paralyzed, but within a second, she had forced her mouth into a silly grin as she yelled, “Surprise!”

“It’s quite all right, Ramona,” said Dumbledore serenely. “This works to my convenience. I needed Severus for something important. Maybe now is a good time for my invisible companion to reveal himself.”

Harry took off the Invisibility Cloak, and Snape snapped his gaze over to him.

“Potter,” said Snape in a voice of hatred.

“Snape,” said Harry in a voice of equal hatred.

“I have had enough of all this hostility and misunderstanding between you two,” said Dumbledore a little impatiently. “It is time now for drastic psychological methods of reconciliation. It seems to my analysis that the two of you may have gotten off to a bad start six years ago. But I am going to see what I can do to demonstrate to each of you that the other can be trusted. First of all, to show how much I trust Severus, I am going to switch my wine glass with his. Is that all right, Severus?”

“Whatever you say,” said Snape idly, not even looking at his wine glass.

“And now, to further prove that I entirely trust Severus and that we really are good friends, I will throw away my wand. You, too, Harry.”

Harry did not want to argue with Dumbledore, so he followed his lead in throwing his wand to the side of the room and turning back to face Snape, who was still sneering.

“Now, let us wipe the slate clean between you two,” said Dumbledore. “Pretend that you have never met each other until now. Channel all of that hatred and rage, stuff it into a little bottle and throw it out to sea, never to be felt again.”

Harry tried to do this, but did not seem to get very far. Snape seemed to be finding it similarly difficult.

“Severus,” said Dumbledore, “let us pretend that it is the first week of Harry’s first year at Hogwarts. Let us go through your lecture on the first day of Potions class, with better results this time.”

“Very well, Headmaster,” said Snape reluctantly. He turned to Harry. “Welcome to Potions class, my new… celebrity.” He gave Harry a slight sneer and went on. “As there is little foolish wand-waving in this class, you will probably have difficulty with that tiny brain of yours in believing that this is really magic.”

“Tone of voice, Severus, tone of voice!” cried Dumbledore sharply.

Snape modulated his voice down to an almost expressionless whisper. “I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses...”

“Severus,” said Dumbledore, “maybe a gentler wording for that would be…”

But Snape did not seem to be listening to him. His cold, black eyes bored into Harry’s. “I can teach you how to bottle fame… brew glory…”

There was a long pause as he continued to stare at Harry with a very slight smile.

“…even… stopper death.”

Snape’s smile widened, and Harry suddenly noticed that although he was looking directly at him, his wand was pointed directly at Dumbledore’s heart.

“If you aren’t as much of a moron as those whom I usually have to teach.”

Snape was walking very slowly towards the other side of the room without taking his eyes off Harry. He picked up Harry’s and Dumbledore’s wands with his other hand, opened a window, and threw them outside. Harry gave a yelp of protest.

“Not what you expected to see in your first lesson, is it, Potter?”

“You see?” said Dumbledore cheerfully. “He even has a sense of humor!”

Snape’s wand was still pointed at Dumbledore. “And now,” he said softly, still looking at Harry, “it is time to do what I have waited to do so for long.”

Dumbledore stared at him, and then a spasm of fear went across his face for the first time. “No…” he whispered.

“Oh, yes,” murmured Snape in a silky voice. “Oh, yes, yes, yes.”

Browne shouted, “Sevvy! NO!” Snape pointed his wand at her and muttered, “Stupefy.” Browne slumped against the wall.

It was as though Harry were not present in the room. Snape and Dumbledore gazed at each other, Snape with an expression of long-awaited triumph and Dumbledore with an air of beginning to realize that he was cornered.

“You cannot be serious…” breathed Dumbledore.

“I have waited a long time for this moment to show my true form, Dumbledore,” said Snape softly. “How ironic it has been, to play the role of the Death Eater bringing about your demise, while all the while knowing that the act was merely a rehearsal for what I aspired to do eventually. And now you have placed yourself right into my hands.”

“You cannot do this to me!” implored Dumbledore. “Think what we’ve been through together! Don’t you remember how much fun we had that time we went krup hunting back in ‘89? And that camping trip in the Forbidden Forest!”

“Such sentimental memories are insignificant compared to my duty to the Dark Lord!” snarled Snape.
“Severus, please! Shirk your duty just this once for old time’s sake!”

“I’m sorry, my old friend. It is time for you to die again, and this time for real.”

Snape raised his wand with a savage look on his sallow face.

“No… Severus… please…”

“Avada kedavra!” A jet of green light flew out of Snape’s wand and hit Dumbledore directly. Dumbledore crumpled to the floor, unmistakably dead.