Hogwarts: Proficiency Panel Chapter 473 474: A New Identity

"You are worried, Severus."

Dumbledore wore robes of deep purple, a corner of which was embroidered with

stars. Snape shot him a cold, icy glare but remained silent.

"You shouldn't be teaching him these things," Dumbledore said again, his voice

slow and deliberate.

"This is not a matter for you to dictate to , Dumbledore," Snape sneered.

"I know that, but you should trust ." Dumbledore sounded almost as if he were

compromising.

"Trust you? Dumbledore, when have you ever trusted ?" Snape let his anger lash

out, cold and sharp.

"At all tis," Dumbledore replied, as if the thought required no contemplation.

"At all tis? Ha... and yet I remain in the dark... The Dark Lord's power is

waning, he will sense it, and when he does, do you know what asures he will

take? That fool doesn't even bear a mark or any trace of magic—are you trying to

get him killed?!" Snape demanded, his voice trembling with fury. He stared at

Dumbledore as if he were looking at a common thief or a cutthroat.

"He will return; I have never denied that. But Hogwarts will always be the

safest place of all," Dumbledore said, his tone carrying a calm, unshakable

confidence.

"Hmph..." Snape let out a derisive snort.

"You still do not trust , nor do you trust anyone, yet I trust you, and we all

trust you, Severus," Dumbledore sighed.

"You refuse to tell anything, yet you expect to trust you. Dumbledore, do

not take everything for granted," Snape hissed.

"The point is not that I do not trust you, Severus. We all have things we ought

to know, and things we do not need to know—perhaps things we must not know."

"You think you have the right to know everything? Or that he has the right? If

you believe that, then you must agree with what I am doing now," Snape said with

utter disdain.

"No, I have never believed that I know everything. Most of the ti, I know

nothing, and I am good for nothing. But you have crossed the line, Severus; that

is not sothing he should be touching." Dumbledore lowered his gaze.

"You want him to encounter the most dangerous things, you want him to face the

most dangerous man, yet you teach him nothing, you tell him nothing... Are you

asking to watch him die! Dumbledore!" Snape roared. "He is only twelve years

old—Dumbledore—does your plan require his life as a cost?"

Dumbledore fell silent; he had no rebuttal.

The biting wind of the dungeon whipped through the room, and the sky outside was

shifting rapidly from velvet deep-blue to a cold, dreary grey. It was raining in

Scotland. It was always raining here.

"Severus... this is not sothing I have decided." Dumbledore finally spoke.

"Then I will decide. I will teach him everything I can. I will keep him at

Hogwarts as much as possible, and when the ti cos that he must face

sothing, I will ensure he is as prepared as possible to fight back," Snape

said, his throat raw.

"Fight back... that is our task, Severus. Not his. Do you not understand? Our

expectations, the mission we must complete—they have nothing to do with him."

Dumbledore sounded as if he were trying to talk a man off a ledge.

"What do you an?"

"You shouldn't be teaching him that knowledge. He does not need that kind of

power."

"You think he is the next Dumbledore?"

"No. He is Sean Green, the only one of his kind. He will be stronger than I am,

stronger than all of us... He does not need anyone to lead the way; he will find

his own path. All we must do is wait. If we can, we pass on our knowledge to

save him so ti, not delude ourselves into thinking we can walk the path for

him. Severus, you have crossed the line. Your child does not need you to lead

him."

Dumbledore fell silent again, staring out the window at the rain forming a

jagged track of water on the glass.

"You have set your expectations of him too high." Snape suddenly understood.

But that word—"child"—was whispered so softly it felt like a murmur in the dark.

It felt as if a painful fog hung before his eyes, and it took an age for

Dumbledore's words to truly reach him.

"On the contrary, I spend every waking mont wondering if I have underestimated

the boy." Dumbledore sighed.

"You an..." Snape realized.

"Let him choose for himself. If there is sothing he wants to learn, let him

learn it. Most wizards are spoon-fed what magic they should study, but he must

choose his own, for his path will be longer than ours. No one can help him with

that." As Dumbledore spoke, the fire in the hearth died out of its own accord.

The scent of charred wood lingered in the air, drifting through the damp gloom

of the dungeon.

"I have one last question..." Snape was finally swayed. He desperately wanted

Sean to have the strength to protect himself, yet in Dumbledore's eyes, this

strength seed beneath notice. "If you think this way, why have you kept him so

close to you all this ti?"

Snape glared coldly at Dumbledore, searching every wrinkle at the corners of the

old man's eyes for the slightest trace of a lie. To his utter shock, there was

no lie—only an embarrassnt he was trying to conceal.

"I never intended for it to happen this way. If I could, I would want everything

you want: for him to be nowhere near these affairs. Severus, tell —if ti

could solve all our problems, would we need to take these risks?" Dumbledore

confessed, with a rare hint of awkwardness.

Snape was entirely convinced, but also entirely enraged.

"I feel the sa as you, Severus. I am pleased when a difficult problem is

solved, yet I worry about the accidents of the future. I do not oppose your

actions; I signed that detention notice, did I not? I thought you would

understand ." Dumbledore looked genuinely saddened.

"Sean Green..." Snape muttered, his teeth gritted.

He had thought Dumbledore was pulling the strings, but the little boat had been

sailing of its own accord all along. He had known it, but he had never felt this

agitated before.

"Do not break the boy's soul. Do not test him, even if you think he can

withstand the test." Dumbledore prepared to leave, a kind, gentle smile

returning to his lips. "Oh, and don't forget to fill out the supporting

docuntation, Severus. Give the Board of Governors a reason to support this

'sumr detention.'"

"Hmph—" Snape let out a cold snort.

He placed a parchnt on the desk. One could clearly see the words 'Potions

Teaching Assistant' and 'Sumr Training' scrawled upon it. Those words

naturally reminded Snape of the Care of Magical Creatures class for the next

sester, and he felt a flash of annoyance that he couldn't schedule the two

classes to overlap.

"Oh, an excellent idea. I imagine Hagrid has nothing to do with this,"

Dumbledore teased, picking up the parchnt.

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