"Do you remember what you promised me? Hm? You said, 'Severus, I'll make proper arrangements for Lily's safety.' Do you remember? You said she would be safe!"
Dumbledore's lips moved. He made no sound.
Snape pressed his fingers against the edge of the desk, hard enough for his knuckles to turn white. "You just watched her die... You stood before a gravestone and told me, 'There was nothing to be done.'" He paused, his Adam's apple bobbing as his trembling voice carried undisguised grief and fury. "That was your promise? For what? The Greater Good?!"
There was no other sound in the office.
The fire danced in the hearth, light and shadow weaving back and forth through the space between the two men. Dumbledore sat in the high-backed chair, his spine following the curve of its back. Outside the window, a bank of dark clouds drifted over and happened to cover the moon.
Moonlight pushed forward from the wall behind Dumbledore, swallowing his face from beneath his brow into shadow.
Snape maintained that leaning posture, staring at Dumbledore for a long time. Then he straightened and took half a step back.
"I'll keep an eye on your golden boy." His voice returned to its calm, slightly halting tone. "But not for you, and never for you..."
When he turned toward the fireplace, his black robes flared widely. Green flames rose, curling around the edge of the fabric before releasing it. Once the fire died down, only dark red embers remained in the hearth. Snape was gone.
Dumbledore remained seated, unmoving. The dark clouds outside shifted away, and the outline of the castle's west wing emerged once more. Moonlight began climbing over Dumbledore's shoulders, pushing a patch of dim silver brightness from his cuffs up to his cheekbones.
His face reappeared