"On the contrary, rookie. My job is to tell you how to run your class. You think you've got the credentials to question me? I've had my potions mastery before you were born. If you'd worked a single professional job since you received your mastery you'd know all the safety procedures by now. But you didn't, did you? Straight to You-Know-Who for you and followed that up by teaching kids after you turned. You can pretend you're the greatest potions master in the world as long as you keep hanging around those who know less."
Snape was left speechless as Fleming essentially took over the class, spending the rest of the day teaching them the bubble-head charm (which Harry, Hermione, and Neville already knew) and reviewing dozens of safety standards and techniques. Nobody got to brew a potion that day, and they suspected no class, in any year, would get to do so for the next few days.
"You can't let this go on any longer, Albus. The children are mocking me behind my back! They taunt me as if my leaving Hogwarts is a sure thing!" Snape and Dumbledore were having a private meeting in the headmaster's office the following week after Fleming had finally finished. No student would respect Snape's position as professor after that man had been in their classes, and most students were now pointedly ignoring him every time he told them to put their wands away. Some were spreading rumours that he was a squib, which was why he hated wand-waving as much as Filch. Others suggested that he had faked his mastery and deliberately sabotaged the students' work so they wouldn't surpass him and find out. Although untrue, the rumours were fuelled strongly by Snape's attitude against them.
"Severus, I'm afraid that I don't have control over the situation. Seven members of the board of governors have already voted against you for certain; only two more are needed to overrule me and force you out of Hogwarts. I have pleaded my case to them already."
"Then I'm on my own again, Albus. You won't be receiving my services any longer." Snape turned and headed towards the door.
"Severus, you can't leave now. You've told me yourself... the Dark Mark is growing stronger. Harry's visions have confirmed it. Voldemort is returning. I'll be needing your help more than ever. We won't be able to win the war without you."
Snape paused at the door but didn't bother looking at Dumbledore. "And what can you offer me this time, Albus? Last time you offered me Lily's protection, acquittal of my crimes as a Death Eater, and sanctuary at Hogwarts. Lily is dead, the Aurors are opening up an investigation again, and I'll be banned from the halls by the end of the week. What else can you going to offer me, Albus?"
"Is ridding the world of a Dark Lord not reward enough?" Dumbledore gave him a gracious smile, hoping to find some idealism within his former spy.
"No. Not this time. I'd be tortured for hours under Crutiatus for betraying him, and then tossed in Azkaban for returning to him even if he's defeated. The Death Eaters walking free would know that you personally vouched for me at my trial, Headmaster. And thanks to Moody, that madman has set the aurors on my trail once again. No matter which side I take, I'm facing a death sentence this time. My only hope is to deliver something of value to the Dark Lord."
Dumbledore thought for a while and motioned for Snape to sit down. "You can give him the prophecy regarding Harry."
Snape laughed. "I already did, Headmaster. Or did you forget that my actions already led to his downfall?"
"You don't know the entire prophecy, Severus. Let me tell it to you." Dumbledore recounted the night of Trelawney's interview, up to the point where he heard the young Snape scamper away halfway through. He then explained the second half of the prophecy to Snape.
"I could have guessed that, Albus, and Dark Lord would have as well. Nobody could explain what the power was that turned the Dark Lord's killing curse upon himself... although it does tell me that he must kill Potter by his own hand. The prophecy alone won't be enough." Snape paused for a few moments, thinking of another way to appease Voldemort. He realized there was one way that he would personally enjoy. "Give me Potter."
"That's quite a price for us to pay, Severus. Although, with the wording of the prophecy, it could mean that he will be open to attack only after Harry himself has died, I was hoping that Harry would defeat Voldemort himself." Dumbledore stared at his own hands morosely as he considered it... but if suspicions were correct, the boy himself was a horcrux and keeping Voldemort from leaving the mortal plane.
"If his talents at school and his abysmal duelling skills in the Tournament are any indication, then he will have no chance against the Dark Lord even if he trained for another decade. He has been rude, insolent, and completely disrespectful of authority all year. He would sooner run off and play Quidditch than learn how to defeat the Dark Lord. We can't afford to have another war begin so soon, Albus." Snape slammed his fists on the headmaster's desk, forcing Dumbledore to look at him.
"If we want to end the war quickly, then there is one thing you must deliver to me above all else, Severus. I suspect that Voldemort has used a horcrux... or, quite possibly, more than one. You'll have to find out where he's hidden them for me before we can vanquish him once and for all." He'd hoped that Harry would be the one to destroy the horcruxes, and then die when he finally faced Voldemort himself... but that would take far more time than they had. He had hoped that Voldemort wouldn't be able to resurrect himself until Harry's seventh year at the earliest, but Pettigrew's escape had greatly accelerated his return. They would be forced to destroy Voldemort first and the horcruxes afterwards- but Harry could only be killed by Voldemort himself, as the prophecy stated, and so he would have to be the first horcrux to be removed.
"The Dark Lord won't give up such information easily. If you want me to find out such sensitive secrets, there's no doubt I'll need to be in his inner circle. I must have the boy."
"You would give up the life of Lily Potter's son so easily, Severus?" Albus attempted one final plea to Snape's old love. It wasn't that he disagreed with the plan, but it saddened him to think that Snape had forgotten his love so easily.
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