I Wish I Could Be Trapped in the Sheep Pen

"Ha..." Snape only let out two cold laughs, then pulled down his sleeve, and the Dark Mark disappeared with it.

"Could it be the Soul Healing Art?" Dumbledore lowered his wand and guessed at one possibility. "Am I wrong?"

Snape neither confirmed nor denied it, only wearing a faint sneer at the corner of his mouth.

"Mm... I must say..." Dumbledore drew the words out. "Peter Pettigrew was the one who betrayed the secret..."

"If I had been the one to tell you that fact... Severus, would you truly have been able to accept it calmly?"

Snape said nothing, only raising an eyebrow.

"You see?" Dumbledore spread his hands. "After all, you previously believed that Lupin had actually conspired with Sirius, when in truth he had merely trusted Sirius."

"If I had really told you this, perhaps you would have thought... that I had gone senile... that I had been bewitched by Remus... otherwise, how could I possibly say such nonsense..."

"That I was actually telling you Sirius had been misunderstood, that Peter Pettigrew was in fact the secret-keeper, and that he was the one who told the secret to Voldemort... You might have thought I needed a very bitter potion?"

Snape pressed his lips together, remaining silent with his arms folded.

"So at a time like this... we could only rely on Vizet." Dumbledore spread his hands with a smile. "You asked of your own accord... and then he explained the truth..."

"In that way, perhaps you would accept it more easily, and that was indeed the case... Your conduct tonight... was outstanding! It avoided a great deal of unnecessary trouble..."

"Outstanding? Avoided trouble?" Snape narrowed his eyes slightly, as though something had occurred to him. "Could it be... the Dark Lord was there as well?"

His heart had