HP's Lost and the Lighthouse

Snape's dizziness was only for a moment. When his mind woke up from the whirlwind brought by the Floo network, he supported Dumbledore to hold his hand and stood up straight.

The man who was too weak to stand still just now seemed to be an illusion. If it weren't for the fact that Snape's hand on his arm was still trembling uncontrollably, just looking at the expression of the person in front of him, no one would have thought that he might have suffered Torment by black magic.

Snape's grip on the old man's hand soon let go.He tucked his hand convulsed from the aftereffect of the Cruciatus Curse into his baggy black robe, and stepped back to let the shadow hide his expression.

"..." He looked at Dumbledore and stabilized his hoarse voice, "The Dark Lord accepted me."

Dumbledore nodded.As early as when Snape withdrew his hand, he had thoughtfully put away his gesture of supporting him—after spending more than ten years with Snape, it was enough for him to understand how unwilling to show his fragility in front of him people.

The old man went back to his desk and corrected the papers pretending that he still had a lot of business to deal with, so that Snape could lean against the wall behind him when he wasn't paying attention.

"You're doing well, Severus." He looked down, not looking at the other panting figure in the room.

Snape let himself lean against the wall, the cold bricks making him feel much more comfortable.Dumbledore didn't ask him to go back to rest, so he just stayed in the principal's office and waited for his weak body to return to normal.

"I claimed to him...to the Dark Lord that I have been waiting for his return for ten years—to complete the task he gave me at the end—" The young man searched for topics in the long silence, so that his own The lingering seemed less strange, "You know—gaining Dumbledore's trust, becoming a Death Eater undercover in the Order of the Phoenix—"

Dumbledore was writing something on the paper in front of him, and the corner of his mouth slightly curled up when he heard this. "Actually, you're doing pretty well at that."

Snape paused: "The Dark Lord is very angry, but he is satisfied with the information I brought - he seems to intend to use Malfoy and others to mislead and control the Ministry of Magic..."

"Ah."

"..."

Dumbledore waited for a moment, did not hear Snape go on, so he quietly raised his head to take a look.The Potions Professor seemed to be running out of topics to talk about, and was trying to pull himself together and leave as normal as possible.

"Did he say what happened to the Death Eaters who didn't go back?" he asked casually.

"Well..." Snape said, "he seems to have sent others to hunt down those who escaped... The Dark Lord will not let the traitor go." He took a deep breath and propped himself against the wall behind him Stand up straight.Snape was relieved that the legs, which had been almost uncontrollable at first, had mostly returned to normal.In fact, he could go back to his office first and come to Dumbledore when he recovered, but for some reason, when he tremblingly sprinkled a handful of floo powder in his fireplace and stumbled into the flames, he blurted out It's Dumbledore's office—probably knowing that Dumbledore, a guy who doesn't regard himself as an old man at all, will definitely not go to rest if he doesn't get any news from himself.

Dumbledore didn't seem to notice his small movements, and smiled slightly when he heard this: "Don't worry, Severus...I will do my best."

The Potions Professor paused as he was about to leave. He understood what Dumbledore meant... He said the same thing when he thought he promised to protect her—to protect Lily.only……

He pushed open the door of Dumbledore's office and left down the winding staircase without looking back.

Facts have proved that Voldemort's so-called trust is just not to hunt down Snape for the time being.This was naturally expected by the two of them—with Voldemort's suspicious character, it would be a strange thing to directly believe Snape's lurking rhetoric. Even the Death Eaters, who answered their call when the time came, could not have his 100% trust.In Voldemort's heart, probably only those Death Eaters imprisoned in Azkaban are his loyal followers.

However, even if he still secretly doubted the Potions Master's loyalty, some actions that were not secret among the Death Eaters could not be hidden from Snape, who was also a Death Eater.For example—befriend the dementors in Azkaban, intercept the 'truly loyal Death Eaters' imprisoned in Azkaban...

It's a pity that in the face of these small tricks of the Death Eaters, even if Dumbledore, who got the news, wanted to remind Fudge to take precautions, Fudge, who had already broken his face with him, did not believe his words at all.Not only that, but he also tried to portray Dumbledore and Harry in the newspapers as liars full of lies...

The Ministry of Magic's intervention in Hogwarts has also become harsher.Although the new semester has not yet started, Dumbledore, as the headmaster, has received many letters from the Ministry of Magic claiming to review the teaching content of Hogwarts.In addition, if Hogwarts fails to find a suitable Defense Against the Dark Arts professor before the start of the term, the Ministry of Magic will have the right to appoint a professor they think is suitable...

Dumbledore knew very well that with Fudge's character, he would not really send a suitable professor - the Minister of Magic was probably still terrified by the speculation that Dumbledore wanted to rob him of his power.

But how easy is it to find a suitable Defense Against the Dark Arts professor?Rumors of the curse of the position of Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts have persisted for decades, not to mention that Hogwarts had lost its life in the last academic year.

At the same time, although the secret of immortality hidden by Voldemort has been found after several years of investigation, there are also many doubts...

All these things made Dumbledore very busy.After all, he is an old man. Even though his magic power is strong, his energy is far less than when he was young, and the old man is not a character who likes to confide his thoughts to others.Under such enormous pressure, only Snape, who knew part of the secrets, was reliable enough to keep his mouth shut, and was close enough to communicate with each other.

Even if some crucial secrets cannot be told to the other party, in this case, having someone who can communicate is enough to relieve the pressure accumulated in his heart.

Dumbledore, who had just ordered something to Hagrid, thought about it, and smiled wryly—probably, as Aberforth said, he knew how to keep secrets since he was still sitting on his mother’s lap...