Dumbledore's Legacy to the Half-Blood Prince

This story is Snape-centered and begins just post-HBP by one week. It will offer one possible explanation, compliant with canon, for Snape's actions and his rather horrid personality! It also supports his loyalty to Dumbledore, and reveals a legacy left by Dumbledore for Snape. This story has fairly dark overtones, and is a character-driven angst drama.

This chapter shows Severus Snape as a six-year-old, and gives a look at his personality, background, and parents. It will be one of two chapters that show a glimpse of Severus as a child (the second one will be chapter four). This information is important to explain the choices the adult Snape has made.

In this chapter, Snape fulfills one of his promises to Dumbledore by investigating a possible connection between his mother, Eileen, and Tom Riddle. We find out when Riddle makes his first Horcrux.

This is a second look at Snape's childhood and at a critical event that occurs when he is seven years old. This chapter is very dark because it seeks to offer an explanation for Snape's deep, unrelenting self-hatred and poor choices.

Snape summons Lupin to the Prince mansion to give him the Horcrux research. Lupin, quite understandably, is not willing to trust a word from Snape.

Snape and Lupin enter the Pensieve to view Snape's memory of renouncing Voldemort to Dumbledore. Snape discusses the Horcrux research with Lupin.

Snape remembers Trelawney's "third" prophecy, and the events of the previous year at Hogwarts.

The ambush of the Dark Lord does not go as expected. Snape and Lupin re-enter the Pensieve.

This last chapter of the storyline centers on the final duel between Harry Potter and Voldemort. Snape plays a vital role, and realizes that his legacy from Dumbledore is more than one of duty.