Chapter 15.

4:02 pm, June 24th, 1993

Second Private Meeting, Severus Snape

Harry sat on his personal couch - which did not look anywhere near a throne, just a regular muggle single person couch colored in Ravenclaw blue - and watched as Severus closed the suitcase door for the three Malfoys inside. When the ex-Potions master started to apply privacy spells toward the suitcase, Harry couldn't help but to ask, "Professor Snape, I didn't know that you are such good friends with the Malfoys."

Severus finished his spells, then turned to Harry and hissed. "I v-will sspeak truth in human lan-language. Too dif-ficult."

Harry nodded. That was a good idea for communication.

Severus took a seat on the couch across from Harry on the other side of a small table, and said. "As for your information, I wasn't this close with the Malfoys before. And that is one of the things that I need to tell you today."

Then Severus began to recount everything happened after he woke up from Voldemort's Hyakuju montauk curse. "After the pain on my Dark Mark woke me up from the hallucination and then subdued, I realized that the Dark Lord must have temporarily returned and was vanquished again. I initially wanted to contact Albus by my patronus to see if he needed any help, yet I found my patronus couldn't find him. I wanted to contact you, then I realized that I shouldn't try, because that might create a paradox if I wanted to go back in time to help you. Then I heard the explosion sound coming from the Forbidden Forest, and guessed that your hand might be involved. I decided to turn back an hour and check what happened in the Forbidden Forest, and to see if I could help. In order to facilitate my search in the forest, mostly against magical concealments, I -" The ex-Potions master cleared his throat and stared down hard at Harry. "I turned into my animagus form, and used my echolocation system to detect any discrepancies between visual and auditory images."

Harry used a whole second to understand what Severus really meant by "echolocation system" and "auditory images", then he had to use his perfect occlumency barrier to fight down his hysterical laughter, because, well, judging from Severus' stare, he might murder the Boy-Who-Lived right here and right now if Harry dared to laugh out loud.

-The resident bat in the dungeon is actually a BAT animagus!

Harry knew it was wrong to laugh at people's animagus form, which mostly reflected one's nature, but this was simply too hilarious, even his Hufflepuff side was laughing with tears.

When Harry finally managed to stop the laughing self behind the occlumency barrier, Severus already began to describe his unbelievable joy upon seeing the reconstruction of the Dark Lord's body with only blood and Hermione's body with only flesh. "It was then that I finally realized why both purebloods and muggles have the same custom as to preserve the deceased's hair, only that wizards would use magic to do the job better. It must be some reminiscent ritual from an era where resurection was quite common, and people could be revived with only a part of their body preserved. And luckily, I have your mother's hair preserved, as well as my own mother's."

Harry's heart sank. He had hoped against hope that Severus had stolen Lily's body or her head, and magically preserved it over the years. But no, it was only Lily's hair, which had no brain and no mind. Tears began to well up in Harry's eyes, and his lips quivered as he barely managed to speak. "Professor Snape, it doesn't, it doesn't actually work like that. You have to keep their brain cold immediately after their death, preserve the brain, and work from there."

Severus looked at Harry as if in shock. The man's voice lost its usual drawl, running rapidly as if searching for some alternative explanation. "But no, it, it - the Dark Lord only used his preserved blood to construct his own body. It doesn't need the brain."

"The, the Dark Lord had horcruxes, he used h-horcruxes to preserve his mind beyond death." Harry choked a bit. "And you, you saved Lucius' head, right?"

"I, I -" Severus looked at Harry in dawning horror, as if hope and happiness were crushed into dust in his black eyes, but the ex-Potions master hadn't given up yet. "If, if a single hair is enough for the polyjuice potion to shape a new body, including the head, why a hair is not enough for the ritual to reconstruct a new brain?"

Harry had to fight back his tears, and tried to control his voice. "I know polyjuice potion, the drinkers still think like themselves even they looked exactly like whoever the hair is from. I doubt the potion only reshapes the body, not the brain."

"You don't KNOW that!" The dark-haired potioneer spat. "An adult can polyjuice into a child, a man into a woman, and vice versa. Their brain sizes are surely different."

Harry then remembered that time when Severus drank polyjuice potion and changed into Harry. Hope and Rationalization began to argue inside Harry.

-What Severus said is true, we don't KNOW it, we just made an assumption and jumped to conclusion.

-But the probability is high. All a human being isis the brain, anything else can be repaired by magic. Otherwise, you would have to use something like the horcruxes. How could a hair possibly store all the memories and thoughts?

Blinking hard, Harry spoke against the screaming rationalist inside him. "Professor Snape, do you have evidence whether the brain changes into the hair donor after drinking polyjuice potion? Like a CT scan or something."

Severus frowned. "Muggle electronics do not work well around magic, Mr. Potter. I suspect if I get a CT scan, the machine won't produce any useful result. And I wouldn't advise you to put polyjuice potion into the mouths of muggles, because potions harmless to wizards can usually be lethal to muggles or even squibs. - Wait, I guess someone may already know the answer." Severus' words stopped here, and his eyes unreadable.

Harry had a sense that he shouldn't ask, but his Hope and Ravenclaw sides made him ask. "Who?"

Severus's lips twitched a bit before he answered in a flat tone. "Lord Grindelwald, his researchers, and perhaps some Americans and Russians after Dumbledore won the duel."

That answer sent a chill down Harry's spine.

-Actually, there are other ways to inspect the differences between two brains. For example, you can feed someone with polyjuice potion, then cut open the heads of both the drinker and hair donor to see for it yourself. Or, you can force a muggle to drink a polyjuice potion with the hair of another muggle regardless of the danger of the potion, and then see it on a muggle scanning device.

Harry gulped. All of a sudden, he remembered the horrible human experiments conducted by the Germans and Japanese during World War II, and sadly, how some of the data from the experiments had benefitted scientific research later on.

-Lord Grindelwald had allied with the Nazis. He used muggles in concentration camps to make himself invincible. Nazi muggle scientists might even helped to design experiments for him, using some scientific methods.

From a small corner of Harry's heart, Ravenclaw quietly suggested, even though we will never do the experiments ourselves, since the results are already there, why not try and get it? We are doing this for all humanity, remember? There could be other important knowledge there as well, right?

Severus pondered for a while, then spoke slowly. "I suppose wizards in some former Soviet states might be easier to persuade than the Russians and Americans."

Harry's Slytherin side jumped in. Grindelwald already did the experiments, and a lot of our potential enemies already knew the experimental results. There is no advantage that we can gain by not knowing what the enemies already knew. And by knowing, we can bring back everyone much faster, including Grindelwald's victims. We have infinite gold now, and Severus seems to be willing to do the bribery job for us.

It was fair to say that though Hufflepuff was screaming and Gryffindor was in righteous fury, Harry's Rationality side was quite tempted by the proposal. But again, Harry needed to ask Hermione's opinion. "Professor Snape, I need to take some time and think about it."

Severus hesitated, then nodded. "Fair -" The man suddenly stopped, then smiled with confidence and triumph. "Mr. Potter, I am afraid we have argued over a point that is irrelevant to the revival ritual. Although whether soul exists is up for debate, magical scholars all agree that wizards' thinking process can definitely continue without their original brain, or be discontinued with their brain intact. Animagi can think and act according to their own will inside the bodies of animals, where the brain sizes can vary greatly. Some wizards can even turn into something as small as a beetle. Whatever is there in the head of the beetle, it is not the original brain. But I do admit that the form of animal one adapted does have certain effects on one's primitive needs such as food preference. Moreover, it is widely known that dementor's kiss can suck one's soul out - or end their thinking process, depending on how to want to describe it - without any damage to the victim's physical existence. Therefore, I suspect the well-preserved brain may not play the central role for revival as you assumed."

Harry opened his mouth, then closed it again. He had to admit he had never pondered the relationship between mind and brain for wizards, and he didn't have enough time to read books written by magical scholars. The existence of animagi did suggest that the original brain was not a necessary condition for wizards to think; as for the dementor's kiss, Harry assumed no wizards - that was, perhaps besides Grindelwald's researchers - had cut open an victim's brain to see if some brain damage did occur, so it was inconclusive. Professor Quirrell did say that he craved a live mouse for food after being a snake, and he also said one could never quite disentangle the mind from the body it wore.

-But still, there is a big logic gap between an animagus' ability to think and the lack of necessity for a preserved brain in the ritual. Maybe I will teach Severus the scientific methods later.

Harry wanted to point this out to Severus, but the problem was, some part of Harry really wanted to agree with Severus. Harry looked at the smirking man, and sighed. "Professor Snape, the fact that wizards don't need their original brain to think when they are alive doesn't mean you don't need their original brain to make them think again without a horcrux. Plus, I guess even it was possible, the amount of magic required to reconstruct all the memory and thoughts someone had at the point of death must be massive, and I don't think the magic used in the ritual would suffice."

Severus first seemed to want to refute, but after he heard the last part, smirk slowly disappeared from his face. Harry could see the man's face turned grey, sorrow and remorse occupied the dark eyes, his shoulders slacked, and his back hunched a bit. The part of Harry that hoped Severus would offer some valid counter argument was squashed.

-I need to figure out how to retrieve the deceased's' memory and thoughts, or I need to tear apart reality and Time, whichever is easier.

"But reconstructing one's body is definitely a first step." Harry didn't want the man to destroy Lily and his own mother's hair in frustration and desperation, so he had to say this much.

Severus nodded gravely. After a while, the dark-haired man slowly resumed his composure, and continued his recount of that night. "Mr. Potter, I suppose, you know what happened later better than I do, since I only heard fragments of the conversation, the echolocation system didn't provide high quality images, and my eyes couldn't see much except false regular woods set up by the Dark Lord himself. However, the brightness of your patronus that you used to bring back Miss Granger was quite unique, I could see it with my poor eyes even through the magical concealments. But I do have a question concerning that, besides a little bit of life and magic, did you sacrifice the corporeal form of your patronus as well? Mine lost its corporeal form, but became really bright afterwards. Or am I not to know?"

Initially, Harry didn't know what Severus was talking about, then he realized: Severus must have upgraded his patronus from a Version 1.0 animal corporeal patronus to a Version 1.5 death-repellent non-corporeal patronus in the revival of Lucius without quite knowing why. Harry had told the secrets of the true patronus to Hermione, so she could use her true patronus to kill all the dementors in Azkaban. Judging from the fact that Severus already got a Version 1.5 patronus by accident, Harry didn't doubt that the man could perform a true patronus if Harry told him the secret. Harry hesitated before he replied. "There is some tricks about that. I suppose you can still use your patronus to communicate and everything, right?"

Severus nodded. "True. I think my patronus is even more powerful than before, and I feel it can easily drive dementors miles away, though it's hard to find a dementor and do the test these days. -Oh, is that how you destroyed the dementor brought to Hogwarts, and how Miss Granger destroyed the herd in Azkaban?"

-Well, Severus Snape is smart.

Severus pondered and said. "I suppose that's some riddle I need to solve for myself, but it's good to know that dementors and lethifolds are less of a threat to me."

"Also, though I guess it would be a poor comparison, did you become more friendly and more protective toward Miss Granger after you revived her in the ritual?" Severus frowned. "Or, is it because Lucius recognized multiple life debts to me regardless of the status of Snape family? I heard there is some old magic involved in life debts, that some sort of magical bond might be formed in the process. Or, is that simple human psychology that led to my growing care for Lucius, after I revived him and saved him a couple dozens of times? "

-Err…

Harry had no answer to that question. He was indeed more protective toward Hermione after she was revived, but that could be simple human psychology. And come to think of it, Hermione did owe him a life debt, and the part of ritual where Harry needed to put his life and magic into the patronus might have some effects as well.

"To be precise, I think I might have lost the will to kill Lucius." Severus sighed. "I wouldn't want to kill him before, but I think I could use the killing curse on Lucius if necessary. Now, I don't think I can kill him, at least not with the killing curse."

Harry could never use the killing curse on Hermione in the first place, so he had no idea whether it was the ritual at work, or Severus just became a better person, or Severus cared more about Lucius or about humanity in general.

Slytherin quietly suggested. That's a big side effect. If we want to use Severus as an assassin, we can't let him revive too many people. And we shouldn't revive too many people ourselves, either.

All the other parts of Harry screamed SHUT UP.

Harry decided to answer honestly. "Professor Snape, I already cared Hermione a lot before that day, so I have no idea."

"I would expect so." Severus nodded, and continued with his story of that night. "I have to say that I was quite shocked when I heard that you might destroy the world according to a Prophecy, and somewhat relieved when the Dark Lord forced you to take the Unbreakable Vow. Then later, as I heard you threatened the Dark Lord with massive explosion, I was almost scared to death. I thought you had a miniaturized nuclear weapon, or something with similar effects, and you might start a world-wide nuclear war."

Harry wanted to correct Severus' misconception about nuclear weapons, and decided against it. Harry had estimated in that night that there was no way an explosion caused by antimatter could be misinterpreted as a nuclear attack. And modern nuclear weapons and missiles had too many electronics in them that they couldn't possibly work properly around magic. But it wouldn't do Harry much good to deny it right away. On the other hand, Severus was a half-blood, he might read muggle books himself later.

Severus' dark eyes searched Harry's blank face, and continued. "I tried to fly into the graveyard to stop you, but I was stopped by Time. Obviously, the Dark Lord had set up some barrier to prohibit the graveyard's future to interact with its past. Then you struck all the Death Eaters and the Dark Lord with some magic that I still do not understand today, and you brought down the Dark Lord with some magical resonance between the two of you. The Time barrier disappeared as the Dark Lord lost consciousness. I fell to the ground as the pain from the Dark Mark almost made me pass out. Then," The ex-Death Eater's voice became less steady. "I saw Lucius' head right beside me. He wasn't really my friend back then, but he was someone that I could trust slightly above average, for the reason that you might have already guessed. I used cooling charms on his head, and the heads and partial heads of several others."

Harry was quite relieved when he heard this part. At least, the thirty-six accounts of life that Harry himself took could be easily brought back, or could it? "So you collected all the heads? How about Macnair and Quirrell? I mean, Quirinus Quirrell was innocent, he was just occupied by the Dark Lord. And Macnair tried to fight the Dark Lord."

Severus' eyes widened a little upon Harry's question, but answered smoothly, "I only have the ones that I didn't resent too much. I have Macnair's thumb, Quirrell's whole body, heads of Dolohov, Crabbe, Goyle, Rosier, Yaxley and Nott, and half heads of Mulciber and Sr. and Jr. Avery."

Harry was a little disappointed for this answer. However, eleven transfigured bodies plus one living Lucius, that was still better than none.

Severus expanded his answer. "And if you must know, I also have bodies of several muggles in my collection, but I am afraid all of them were brain-dead long before I got them, since the majority of them were nameless frozen bodies in muggle police morgues."

Ignoring the angry stares from all other parts for his previous suggestion, Slytherin had a good idea. Cunning people all have false identities ready at hand, we should do so as well. As Lucius indicated, it could be quite a lot of work, we'd better start soon. Ask Minerva to add an extra name on the list now and then, and ask Severus or Mad-Eye to look for nameless bodies in muggle morgues whose identity you can take.

But the construction of false identities could wait. "I assume you took the instruction the Dark Lord gave me, and made a copy?"

Severus nodded, and described how his time-turned self reminded him what to do; how he waited in the bathroom, swapped Harry's pouch, and took the Stone while Harry was changing; and how he used the duplication charm and the Stone to make duplicates of the instruction and the bodies. When time wasn't enough, he turned back another hour to make more transfigurations permanent, and finally duplicated the Stone itself. To the last part, Severus added in frustration, "Obviously, the power of the Stone is not something that could be transmitted so easily. I have tried it on several objects, a cat, and a dog, there was no problem before I used it in the ritual. However, the body of Lucius still came out the way it is now. The duplicate stone could stabilize Lucius for six to seven hours at the first time, then it became five hours, then four. Now, it is mostly my magic that is sustaining Lucius' life."

Harry's brain quickly generated several experiments to test the power level and the decay curve of the duplicated Stone, and that of duplicates of duplicates. And after some extrapolation, Harry might be able to estimate the power level of the original Stone, unless the extrapolation didn't work for the original Stone. Harry had been sort of worried over whether the Stone might slowly lose its power over intensive usage. Harry had read some theory on the Gemeo charm that the decay rate of duplicated object was dependent on the power of magic put into the charm and the size of the object. Severus was an exceptional potioneer, that meant he had excellent control of magic at all times, therefore, he might be a very good experimenter for this test - and a lot of other experiments that Harry and Hermione couldn't do yet.

Both Slytherin and Ravenclaw started to regret his decision to let Severus go freely one year ago, but Hufflepuff and Gryffindor shouted them down. Then Harry had an idea that he needed to test. "Professor Snape, can I have the duplicated Stone? I may need to study its properties."

Severus reached into his pouch, and handed Harry a red glass that looked quite similar to the original Stone, but the color was a little dull. "I just used it to stabilize Lucius before we came here. The power might return after six or more hours."

Harry put the duplicate into his regular pocket. "Thank you. I will test it later then. Please go on."

"As for my days in the past year, there is little that needs to be said. No magical law was broken except the usage of false identities and being an illegal animagus." Severus' voice took on a tone of sarcasm and grievance. " I guess reviving a dead Death Eater is rare enough that there is no law against that." He sighed. "I had been proud of myself for completing the ritual, but I never realized what I have done to the world until Lucius pointed it out to my face."

This part, Harry understood quite well now. Everyone in the world would want to know the secrets of revival, and who knew who they might choose to revive? Voldemort wasn't the only dark wizard who made horcruxes. Maybe some good people have destroyed fathers' bones of some dark lords, and rendered them unable to return. And this ritual could work in the dark lords' favor. What if some of the dark lords were so insane that they wanted to destroy the world? That was downright disaster.

Remorse was obvious in Severus' eyes and voice. "I should have thought of it, everyone would want to grab the power. And the potential enemies who wanted the Stone might have a much easier time in convincing their minions to risk their lives in the endeavor, since if they were successful, any lives lost in the attack could be restored."

-Oh, that as well. I need to spend some more time in my dark side to think about more avenues how revival could be dangerous.

There was a problem with that, Harry figured that by thinking about how the world could be destroyed, or just spending too much time in the dark side, he might increase his chances of causing the end of the world. Harry needed to ask for Hermione's opinion.

"In my blindness in the pursuit of power, and in my laughable ambition to walk the walks of Albus Dumbledore among others, I have neglected my duty in the Order as the dark wizard." Severus looked highly uncomfortable, somewhat reminding Harry of a student awaiting for reprimand from a teacher. "I should have stayed, and spent my time thinking like a dark wizard so that I could anticipate what they might do."

Harry didn't think there was anything wrong for Severus to try to become an extra powerful lord, as long as he didn't hurt anyone on his path. And Harry thought it would be bad for Severus to brew himself in the dark wizard mode for too long.

-And that was what Dumbledore made Severus and perhaps Mad-Eye do, or maybe these two just volunteered themselves. No wonder Severus was that snarky and Mad-Eye was that paranoid. Good people shouldn't be forced to do that.

There was a dull pain in Harry's heart, even if he knew it was necessary and right, even if he knew the personal happiness of two wizards was nothing as comparing to the number of lives they had already saved and might save in the future.

Don't forget we have a dark wizard and a bad person at our service for the next several hundred years. Slytherin suggested. We don't need to worry about Lucius going darker. Though we'd better let Severus and Mad-Eye check on the ideas proposed by Lucius.

Harry's face adapted some of the sternness of Albus Dumbledore, then softened. "Professor Snape, I don't want to let you spend too much time in the dark mode, but do you have any more ideas how the whole affair could be dangerous?"

Severus answered without hesitation. "If people know that even duplicated Stones can sustain transfiguration for up to a year, instead of using them to stabilize dying people so that they can be transport to the Hospital, they may use the duplicated Stones to sustain weapons. I heard the maintenance of nuclear weapons can be quite expensive so that a number of nations are considering to cut the stock of such weapons, but they are also worried that they may not have enough weapons when needed. As far as I know, the highest offices in most countries already knew about magic, and some might think to have contracts with powerful wizards, so that they can multiply their weapon stock as needed, and keep it there for a while with the duplicated Stones. I know that a lot of modern weapons with fancy electronics don't work well around magic, but I don't think the earlier models, such as those used by the Americans on the Japanese, could possibly contain too much electronics. Well, on the other hand, from what I heard about Chernobyl, nuclear things that do not work may cause more damage than those ones that work."

Harry almost gulped. That was an idea he had thought of before. It seemed Harry was not that unique. "How long did it take you to think of it?"

"One day when I was sleep deprived and magically exhausted, in the middle of trying to keep Lucius alive." Severus sighed. "I can certainly generate more if I get some rest."

-Well, it only took us a second. Regular smart people are not THAT creative.

Harry wasn't sure if he could take this as a comfort. There was also a question that Harry had to ask. "And how many wizards know about nuclear weapons or something like that?" Harry deliberately avoided the word "physics".

"Everyone who has spent enough time when their TV sets or radios are tuned to the news channel during the past fifty years. We have just ended a Cold War, Mr. Potter. Even the drug addicts in the ghetto where I grew up used 'the Soviets may nuke us all tomorrow' as an excuse for their behavior." Tiredness and frustration were in the silky voice of the half-blood wizard. "About five to six percent of the students in Hogwarts have non-magical parentage or upbringing, and I would assume the number to be similar for other countries. Therefore, about fifty to sixty thousand in total."

-And you don't need to be Harry or Voldemort to think of that. You just need to be Severus Snape.

Severus' face began to show desperation. "And in the thirty or so powerful lords in the world who are almost in par with Albus Dumbledore, at least two are known to have non-magical parentage, more might hide their family history. There are also lords like Grindelwald. I can hardly imagine Lord Grindelwald doesn't know how his muggle Japanese allies failed."

By this point, Harry was quite amazed that the world was still largely intact. Harry almost wanted to set up a Interdict of Harry now, so that no magic could be used around nuclear reactions or any fundamental particles in general. But no, Harry still needed to figure out how to use stars as fuels and how to conquer the galaxies.

-And I need to remind Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt that he should never give any good ideas to the muggle prime minister whom he is protecting.

That wasn't the end of Severus' words. "The worse thing is, among the several hundred to several thousand muggles in the highest offices who know about magic, a lot of them are reasonably intelligent, and some might even be creative. And according to some city legends in the United States, during the Cold War, both the American and the Russian muggles had used muggleborns in various experiments, and some wizards in the United States and Soviet Union might have participated. Considering the number of new spells crafted and the number of powerful lords emerged during the Cold War in those two countries, that could be true."

Harry felt sick. Harry had read about it somewhere that the United States government had deliberately spread syphillis and other sexual transmitted diseases in Guatemala in the 1940s, and in rural Alabama in black neighborhoods the 1970s, to test the epidemiology of such diseases. Therefore, there was no reason to believe that Germans or Japanese were particularly cruel, nor to believe Grindelwald's research was that unique. The British wizarding nobilities wanted to kill all muggleborns, elites in some other countries just found better uses for muggleborns, minorities, and citizens of some unimportant third world countries. Harry needed to optimize the world sooner.

The sternness and determination on Harry's face might have unnerved Severus, for the man quickly said, "I am sorry to disturb your thought so. I wonder if there is anything I could do."

Harry shook his head. It was Harry who had been too naive, and it was Harry who had deliberately avoided to think of such cruel things. Harry inhaled, and exhaled. "Professor Snape, thank you for letting me know. It's not decided yet, but would you mind to go on a trip to, say, Ukraine? You don't need to worry about cost or anything like that."

Severus composed himself from the previous desperation, and from his fear for the Boy-Who-Lived who scarily resembled Albus Dumbledore in his wrath. Severus bared his teeth with a bit of smirk. "My pleasure."

Harry realized Severus must have made himself quite a lot of gold and silver with the Stone, as a cunning Slytherin should.

Then, Severus looked a bit hesitant.

"What?" Harry didn't want to force Severus to do things that he didn't want to do.

Severus sighed. "Lucius is an expert in bribery and corrupting government officials."

-Oh, right, he cares about Lucius. I should really be careful about when and who to revive whom. For example, I can't let Mad-Eye revive people he might need to hunt down later. By the way, should I use Lucius on so many important matters?

Harry hesitated, and said, "I need to think about it."

"Then, I guess I have already received the answer to another question, but I have to ask. Lucius has invited me to be Draco's godfather. Lord Potter, according to your opinion, I should refuse it, right? " Severus said with some reluctance.

Harry noticed that Severus had just called him "Lord Potter", and the man seemed quite ready to serve another lord even if something the new lord desired was different from what he himself desired. Plus, Severus completely misunderstood what the previous hesitation was about. Harry was all about giving Draco more protection now after he talked with Lucius. "Oh, Professor Snape, of course you can become Draco's godfather if you want to. I am really happy for Draco and you."

Severus' eyes were perplexed for a while, then he said, "Thank you."

"And please call me Harry, or Mr. Potter, or Mr. Potter-Evans-Verres. Lord Potter is only reserved for very formal occasions." Harry added. He was OK being called as Lord Potter by Lucius, and Harry could act accordingly; but being called that by the ex-Potions master, or Professor Flitwick, or Professor Sprout? That was just bizarre. Plus, Harry needed to stay away from the image of "Dark Lord Harry".

Severus seemed to have worked up some courage from Harry's statements. "Mr. Potter, there is a matter that I may need to remind you to be more careful next time. It is about your theory on magical inheritance. Lucius had told me about what he heard from Draco when Draco was under Veritaserum. It seemed like you considered it a Mendelian inheritance of one single pair of gene. I happen to know some basics of the muggle genetic theory. According to your theory, a magical parent and a muggle parent can only give birth to a squib, and no squibs should be borned to wizarding families. According to what I know, my father was a muggle, or at least, he could be driven away by a muggle-repelling charm that I could master without a wand in my fifth year in Hogwarts."

Harry opened his mouth. He hadn't revisited his theory after the hasty session with Draco. He didn't even collect data for all types of couples, let alone trying to disprove his own theory. For such an important question, one hour with shreds of paper was obviously not enough. And according to Harry's theory, it was either that Severus had a mutation in the magical gene, or he was adopted, or his mother cheated, with much higher probabilities for the later two than the first one. "Professor Snape, I didn't mean to -"

"Personally, it is not a big insult to me, I didn't like my father anyway. However, I guess you have gathered why topics like this should be treated with more care. Draco was not an occlumens back then. Imagine what would happen if some 'good' fools accessed Draco's mind before Lucius did, and they might make this theory public for some greater good." A hint of sarcasm was in Severus' voice. "Either that you are right, and you will offend a lot of half-bloods who could be on your side, including Minerva, Trelawney and our new DADA teacher Lupin in the faculties, and Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas in your year alone; or you are wrong, and you will lose much credibility on other matters."

Harry nodded, and thanked Severus sincerely. "Professor Snape, thank you so much for telling me. You are right, I need to be more careful, and I will definitely reinvestigate my theory."

And that is our reward for not being a Dark Lord. Hufflepuff commented happily. Severus will never think to correct Voldemort's assumptions or to warn him to be more careful. As a result, Voldemort never knew two of his foremost Death Eaters could understand his hisses.

Ravenclaw echoed. Yeah, I also wonder how many other things Voldemort was wrong and nobody told him. And, come to think of it, Voldemort just withheld so much information from his followers that not even Bellatrix knew where he hid one of his many horcruxes. Otherwise, Bellatrix would have revived him years ago. By the way, we really need to revisit all our previous assumptions, discuss them with Hermione and/or Draco, discuss with Severus and Mad-Eye if necessary, and make a serious effort to disprove them. According to the number of names Severus just listed, it is possible that we already made a mistake. Not only the half-blood that Severus mentioned, if what Voldemort said in front of the SPHEW witches were true, he thought his father was a muggle as well.

The inner critic offered an alternative explanation. Or maybe none of the half-bloods know or tell others that their non-magical parents are actually squibs.

"Professor Snape, please do tell me everything that I might be wrong in the future." Harry said with all his sincerity. "And, umm, I have some books you can read after you get some rest. I can't imagine what you would be like with the books."

-At least, my book choices for Draco in his first year were no secrets now. So I'd better appear to be generous.

Severus slightly tilted his head.

Note:

Some basic inheritance data that Harry should collect before he could draw his conclusion on the AA-Aa-aa genetics:

1. The percentage of different phenotypes of children born to magical (AA) and muggle (aa) couples, which should be 100% squibs (Aa).

2. The percentage of different phenotypes of children born to magical (AA) and squib (Aa) couples. The result should be approximately 50% of magical children and 50% of squibs.

3. The percentage of different phenotypes of children born to squib (Aa) couples. The result should be approximately 25% of magical children (AA), 50% of squibs (Aa), and 25% muggles (aa).

4. The percentage of different phenotypes of children born to magical (AA) couples, which should be 100% magical (AA).

5. The percentage of different phenotypes of children born to squib (Aa) and muggle (aa) couples, which should be 50% squibs and 50% muggles.

6. To be precise, Harry also need to collect data to see the percentage of squib/muggle children born to muggleborn, half-blood, and pureblood couples.

Harry only collected less than 20% of the basic data he needed from a very small sampling pool, and he jumped to the conclusion that suited his taste. Plus, Harry didn't know the possibility that some of the squib parents in his sampling pool could actually be magical, and their magic was suppressed for some reason. Ariana Dumbledore and Merope Gaunt had both been considered as squibs by some others, but they were both witches. Any scientific journal should reject Harry's paper within 10 minutes.

The next update will be 6 pm (EDT), 04/11/2015.