His Heart's Desire

Severus Snape was where the Dark Lord had required him to be : Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He'd been appointed Potion Master altough he had applied for Defence against the Dark Arts, and he felt quite sour about it, but who could he complain to? Certainly not to his master, who had more important things on his plate these days.

No, Severus Snape definitely hadn't been sent to Hogwarts to secure himself a confortable position and a subsequently confortable retirement. The Dark Lord had sent him there in order to spy on the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. Information had leaked out that Dumbledore had recently acquired something very valuable he was keeping inside the school, and he wanted to know what it was and maybe get it for himself if he could.

Clever, clever Albus Dumbledore! He knew only to well the attractiveness of a valuable object on a greedy mind like Lord Voldemort's, and he must have foreseen that it wouldn't be long before Lord Voldemort sent a spy to him.

Snape was soon to find out what the object was, and though he was aware of the existence of such a thing, as the Dark Lord also undoubtedly was, he didn't expect the mysterious object of his quest to be something so trivial : a Mirror of Erised! How could an old and wise wizard like Dumbledore set much store by an artefact telling people what they already knew : what they really want!

It is true it had cost Snape a few sleepless nights before he had discovered the place where the thing was fidden, and another few in front of a massive door protected by a powerful enchantment to get to the Mirror, so that his disppointment was clearly understandable.

Well, since he had come so far, he thought, and before returning to inform the Dark Lord of the poor results of his work, why not have a look at the Mirror ? He knew what he was going to see there : his old friends Potter, Black and Lupin not faring too well, while he, Severus, achieved his heart's desire : glory and fame, fame and glory. And money to boot.

But look! How little he knew himself ! What he did see in the Mirror was totally different from what he'd expected. He stayed a long time in front of the Mirror that night, trying to understand. He had time the rest of the night and the following day (because it was a day off, you see) to ponder about he'd seen and draw conclusions from it.

And the conclusions he drew pretty quickly too, since he asked the Headmaster for an interview on that same night. We don't know exactly what passed between the two wizards that evening, the portraits in the headmaster's office are not very talkative, they don't go divulging people's secrets like that, but one thing is sure : Lord Voldemort had lost a battle. He had sent Dumbledore a Deatheater, and the Deatheater had decided he was not his servant anymore.

Clever, clever Albus Dumbledore!