Tentatively, Harry knocked on the Chemistry teacher's office door, startled when he heard an instant reply:

"Come in."

He closed the door gently behind him and allowed himself to look around the room. The walls were dark, as if there was darkness seeping through them. The desk that Snape was situated behind was bland and empty, save for a pot of quills. Everything was neat and tidy and organised. In its place. Composed.

Except the man sitting behind the desk.

"Sir, your eyes," Harry began. Snape cut him off, rubbing at his red eyes a little.

"It's fine, Potter," he said, sniffling. "Take a seat."

Harry did so, looking down at the desk so as to avoid the vulnerability of looking into the older man's eyes..

"Would you like to know it all, Potter?" Snape asked, straight to the point.

Harry hesitated, but deep inside he knew he had no reason to. Snape had been nothing but kind and thoughtful around Harry since he came. And even if he wasn't telling the truth...

There was nothing wrong with hoping, right?

"Yes."

"I was told by my boss, Voldemort, that I needed to find targets Lily and James Potter, who were drowning in their debt, as James had been shunned from his family for coming out as bisexual. It was seen as a terrible deed back then.

I hung around a little and became acquainted with a small, grubby man named Peter Pettigrew in an inn one day, and the moment the word 'Potter' slipped from my mouth, his face paled. Like a sheet.

"Not them! I'll- I'll never say!" he had drunkenly slurred. I knew it wouldn't take much coercing to get out their address from the idiot. He was completely out of it.

I reported back to my boss and he promptly sent over people to capture them and bring them back. He had no idea about you, though. You took him off guard. It's why he kept you alive for so long, figuring out what to do with you.

It was deemed it would not be safe to let you go, regardless of whether it was your parents' debt and you were just a child. I could see it pained my boss to make such a decision. But we all knew we would risk exposure if we released you.

But what we didn't know was that a certain Draco Malfoy had been seeing you in secret, building a friendship. His father told us that he had scolded Draco for going near the boy once already, but he didn't know it would go this far. So far that Draco would call in members of the Order! The Order of the Phoenix was a society dedicated on bringing down our organisation and everything we stand for, and was founded by one of the boss' greatest enemies. Your godfather was in it as well, Harry.

Draco was severely punished for his betrayal and his mother was promptly sent away to the cells after she tried to defend him from his punishment. His father, however, disowned him. He said that Draco brought shame on the Malfoy name and he would not stand to see everything he had built go to waste because of some 'ignorant boy'.

The poor boy swore vengeance for his mother. In his grief and anger, he saw you as responsible for his mother's imprisonment. If he had never have met you, he would never have been tricked into releasing you from your prison, and his mother would never have been locked away trying to defend him. You see, Harry, while you grew to forget all that had happened from the sheer shock, Draco never did. His mother's anguished and fearful face was forever engraved in his mind.

As she was being taken away, Narcissa told me to take good care of her boy. That she would not want her sacrifice to go to waste. That she trusted me to help her boy, while she was fed scraps of food and kept in the darkest place possible, surely going mad.

I transferred to the school Draco had been sent to as part of his punishment and made it so that he would not be mishandled, by speaking to Draco's uncle, Ted Tonks, and the headmaster, Professor Hagrid.

The moment I saw you with him, I knew it would only lead to trouble and heartbreak. I tried to warn you, but I could tell you were already deep in love. With every waking second I knew Draco was tightening his hold on you, waiting for the right moment to capture you and steal you away and deliver you to his master as a repentance for freeing you all those years ago, to have his mother back.

I could not let him. For I too had learned to love you, Potter. I would visit you sometimes, in the dark of night when I knew you were starving and afraid. I fed you my food and I read you books. I wanted your last few days to be as enjoyable as I could make them, while I tried to distract you from the fact you would be dying shortly.

You were a light in my life filled with darkness. You opened my eyes to how wrong this all was! An innocent child being put to death for an accident of birth? That was plain cruel.

I never wanted you to get hurt. And I'm sorry I couldn't protect you better."

Harry sat there in silence as he took it all in. So far, there were a few parallels between Snape's story and Malfoy's story: his parents had both died and Malfoy had let him out and had been sent to school as a punishment. But there were also contradictions: Malfoy said his mother had gone to live with his sister, yet Snape had said that Draco's mother was in the dungeons. Malfoy had also said that his mother had talked to his uncle, not Snape.

But it seems Snape must've cared about him to some extent. Even though Harry was not ready to trust again, he could see Snape was telling the truth in some areas.

"So, what now?" Harry said after a few moments. "You said I could still be saved. How, exactly?"

"I had two ideas," Snape said, a little light entering his eyes. "You could change your identity. Become someone new and start over. I could get you therapy and no one would find out who you are-"

"No," Harry cut him off, looking uneasy. "I don't want to hide my true self out of fear of an old guy out to kill me. It's cowardly."

Snape sighed. He had seen that one coming. "My second idea was to reassemble the order and take down the Death Eater organisation once and for all."

"But, you're part of it, aren't you?" Harry pointed out. "Won't the other Order members recognise you?"

"I was part of it, you mean," Snape corrected. "I told you, didn't I? You opened my eyes, Harry. I don't want to be part of that anymore. I've been a spy for the Order for nearly six years now."

"Oh," Harry's eyes widened. He had really changed this man's life. "How can we call the Order to come together? And what about that leader, where is he?"

Snape smirked. "I think you'll find the members of the Order closer than you think."

~~~

IS SEVY TELLING THE TRUTH?? hmmm

Also TELL ME THE NAMES OF EVERYONE YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE NEXT CHAPTER (Order members) AND I WILL TRY MY BEST TO INCLUDE ;) AS LONG AS THEY AREN'T CANONICALLY DEAD BEFORE HARRY WAS BORN.

NO I WILL NOT INCLUDE MUNDUNGUS FLETCHER TYVM >:(

ALSO VOTE AND COMMENT PLEASEEE!!! <3