"Stop being an idiot, Severus," the headmaster chided. "It's not a matter of trust or confidence. It's simply the way things must be."
"Must they?" Snape questioned, his tone by then acidic. "The way things must be... Yes, I recall that phrase. You use it whenever you know your actions to be indefensible. You told me that it was just the way things must be when you refused to discipline that mongrel Black for nearly feeding me to the damned werewolf!"
"Sirius Black was severely disciplined as you well know--"
"Three months of detention," Snape scoffed. "And now the way things must be just happens to mean that yet another Slytherin shall be sacrificed on the altar of keeping Remus Lupin safe and warm? If you think will stand for it, you are gravely mistaken!"
"Yet another Slytherin...." Harry blinked. "What do you mean?"
"I told you I was an angry young man, did I not?" Snape cast a brief glare his way. "What do you think made me that way, if not his determination that to avoid making Lupin's life difficult, my near-death could be overlooked?"
"Severus, you cannot blame those few Gryffindors for your own heinous mistakes--"
"Are you deaf?" the Potions Master coldly interrupted. "I believe I intimated that I blamed you."
Harry could see that this was going nowhere fast. "Look," he broke in, directing a pleading glance at Dumbledore. "We really do need to talk to Remus. It could mean the difference between freedom and Azkaban for Draco! And Severus has a point. I mean, you haven't even bothered to ask us why we think he could make that difference. All you can say is no, no, no."
"There are reasons, my boy...."
"We saw the murder as it happened, right there on the Marauders' Map," Harry stalwartly put forth, ignoring the bile almost rising up to choke him. His father had been right about needing to tell the headmaster everything, so Harry went ahead and explained. "We saw two people in the Owlery, only two... we saw Draco push Pansy straight out the window. But we know it didn't happen quite like that. Somebody else had to have been up there, somebody the map failed to show. And Remus can tell us how to find out who it was... or at least we hope he can. There's nobody else to ask, Professor Dumbledore! So let us ask him! Please!"
Dumbledore looked about as sorrowful as Harry had ever seen him. "I... I do understand your need, Harry. And I have listened. But I have more to consider than you can possibly realise. I must, I regret to say, refuse your request."
Harry's mouth dropped open. He'd been sure, so completely sure, that the headmaster would come around.
"Then I regret to say," Snape calmly countered, standing up as though to lend his words weight, "that I must tender my resignation effective immediately."
The headmaster stood up as well, his blue eyes all at once fierce and gleaming. "Oh yes, Slytherin to the core," he grated, clearly furious. "You know how much I need you--"
"What I know, in fact, is that you do not need me as much as formerly," Snape replied without much emotion.
"You may no longer be a spy but you are of inestimable value to the Light nonetheless--"
Snape appeared not to have heard a word. "Of course Potions Masters are difficult to engage, as so few of us wish to come within a thousand leagues of a school, but Hogwarts has the kind of reputation that will attract someone, I feel sure. Accio parchment," he announced with a flick of his wrist, no wand in sight. Then he was withdrawing from his robes a never-out quill. He stepped over to a table and bending over slightly, began to write.
"Severus, you are being ridiculous!"
Snape paused, lifting his quill off the parchment. "You do not understand," he remarked. "This is not petulance and it is most certainly not blackmail. Shall I outline the facts of the matter since they seem to escape you?" Standing up straight again, he turned to face the headmaster. "I will not see Draco unjustly confined in Azkaban. Lupin is the best hope we had. If you will not put us into contact so that we may exploit whatever advantage he can offer, I have no choice but to take other measures to protect my son. We will leave the country, Albus. I will use every last trick I learned as a spy to hide where no one from the Ministry can ever find us."
"Severus, I have told you that I will use my every influence to ensure that justice prevails--"
"Albus," Snape quietly broke in, his tone thrumming not with anger or malice any longer, but only with determination. "I know what you have told me. But you give me little cause to trust your intentions when you will not even do us the small courtesy of putting us in contact with Lupin."
Put your money where your mouth is, Harry thought. Put up or shut up.
"There," Snape said as he signed the resignation.
Albus clenched his hands when the Potions Master extended it with a slight flourish. "I do not accept it. You are under contract to Hogwarts."
"You may certainly sue me for breach of contract if you wish," Snape shrugged.
At that, Albus glared, and the resignation abruptly went up in flames. Snape dropped it before his fingers could become singed, then calmly stepped on the little conflagration with one booted toe. "Harry. I would prefer you come with Draco and myself but I leave the decision to you. Flight will mean you will likely not have the chance to properly complete your education--"
Harry stood up and walked to his father's side. He didn't actually know if Snape was bluffing, but then again, he didn't need to know. He was going to stand by his father, and Draco, no matter what.
"I'm sure you can teach me anything I want," Harry said, looking up into Snape's dark eyes. "Actually, I'm sure you will teach me anything I need, and you'll make certain I learn it, too."
"Oh, for Merlin's sake, Harry," Dumbledore entreated. "What of the prophecy?"
For once, mention of it didn't fill him with despair, or worry... only with resolve. "The prophecy robbed me of a family once, sir. It's not going to do that to me again."
Snape grasped his hand briefly, then let it go to say, "If it is a prophecy, Albus, then I am sure it will come true. I don't believe we need to sacrifice Draco to it."
"I am not sacrificing Mr. Malfoy. I am doing my best in a difficult situation!"
"As am I, Headmaster."
Harry cleared his throat. "Sir. Have you realised... you always call Draco Mr. Malfoy? To you I'm Harry, and he's Severus, and I've heard you use first names with Ron and Hermione, too. But Draco's always Mr. Malfoy. It's like... he is worth less to you than any of us."
"Oh, Harry..." Dumbledore sadly murmured. "There's a great deal at stake, here. More than you realise. But... very well. As you insist, I will arrange for you to speak with Professor Lupin tomorrow, or Monday at the very latest--"
"Tonight," Snape interrupted. "Now. This instant."
"Oh really, now that's unreasonable."
"It's not," Harry insisted. "By tomorrow the Aurors will be asking to talk to Draco. If we refuse, or even if we don't, they might charge him. We can't waste time. We have to know now what's going on with the map."
"Moreover," Snape added, "The moment they charge him, easy routes out of the country become more difficult to find. I will not delay, Albus. I will speak to Remus Lupin now, or I will collect my sons and leave. And the choice, as I am sure you have divined, is entirely yours."
Dumbledore glared at them both. "And you wonder why I had reservations about the adoption, Severus. The two of you make a formidable team, as I feared would happen."