After the End

"Well, as I've told you, Harry; I feared that you would fail as I have failed. I wanted you to make your own mistakes along the way," said Dumbledore.

"You said that about why you didn't tell me about the Hallows, I want to know why you didn't tell me about how you were dying, about me being the seventh Horcrux, about Snape being good!"

"I told you I trusted Severus," said Dumbledore simply.

"Yes, but you never told me why!" said Harry.

"Severus made me promise not to reveal that to anyone, especially you, Harry."

"But why didn't he want me to know the truth?" asked Harry.

"I have no idea. You will have to ask him that yourself, Harry."

"Fine. What about the other two things?"

"Well, as to me dying, no one knew besides Severus," said Dumbledore.

"But why didn't you tell me?" interrupted Harry.

"If you let me finish, dear boy, you will know."

"Sorry. Please continue, Professor."

"I didn't tell anyone, Harry, because I didn't want people to feel sorry for me. My time was coming anyway; I just put a time limit on it. I didn't tell you because, as I'm sure you know, you have a "saving people" problem. I knew that if I told you, you would put all of your energy into trying to find a way to prevent it, and there were far more important things for you to be concentrating on."

"But all this time I've been wanting to kill Snape! If I had seen him in the forest, or if Tom Riddle had allowed him to come find me, I would have killed him before he had a chance to tell me anything," said Harry.

"That, Harry, was my mistake. I'm just thankful that you found him, even if it was at the last minute," said Dumbledore

"Yeah, well, that's just grand, isn't it?"

"I am terribly sorry, Harry."

"Right. What about the most important thing?" asked Harry.

"About you being the last Horcrux? That, I told myself, I would never tell you until the last minute for a reason. What would you have done if, in your first year here at Hogwarts, I had told you everything?"

"I would've left," said Harry simply.

"Exactly! You may think, looking on it now, that I, to use Severus's words, raised you like a pig for slaughter. Up to your forth year, that is what I feared I was doing. But when you came out of that maze with the cut on your arm from where Tom Riddle used your blood to bring him back to his own body, I knew then that everything had changed. I did not know exactly what it meant, but I had a good idea. I knew that when Severus was to tell you that you indeed had to die, you would make sure that it truly meant the end of Tom Riddle. I was right. You not only trusted Mr. Weasley and Ms. Granger, but also Mr. Longbottom."

"Well, I thought that I was about to die, and I knew I couldn't kill the snake before Tom Riddle finished me off, so it just seemed right for Neville to know," said Harry.

"And it was right. Mr. Longbottom finished off Nagini," said Dumbledore.

Harry gazed out the window to see the Quidditch pitch and remembered just how much he missed chasing that little golden ball.

"How did you make that Snitch open at that certain moment?" asked Harry as he remembered the Snitch.

"Oh, some very complicated magic, I must say. I knew the Minister would go through and examine everything I left for everybody, especially you, and I wanted you to retrieve the stone when you knew you were walking towards where those people that you were about to bring back were. Did you like it?"

"Yes, very much. They gave me the courage to keep going, just talking to them and seeing their faces. But I wondered why you didn't come?"

"I think the reason you didn't summon me was because you had too many untrue facts in your head about me, and what you saw in the pensieve didn't help your memory of me either, I daresay," said Dumbledore.

"Well, no, not really," said Harry.

Dumbledore chuckled at this. "Sometimes, we believe we know somebody, only to find out later that we really only knew certain parts in their lives. One thing I do regret not telling you about my past, Harry, is that I grew up in Godric's Hollow as well. I'm not even really sure why I never told you that."

"Professor, what did you really see when you looked into The Mirror of Erised? You told me it was socks," asked Harry.

"Well, Harry, it certainly wasn't socks. No, I saw precisely what you see, my family standing next to me. When I first discovered the mirror, I would sit in front of it for days, just looking at them. I eventually realized that nothing could bring back the dead."

"Thank you, Professor, for finally telling me everything."

"You're very welcome, Harry."

"When Professor Snape gets back, can you let me know? I want to talk to him again," said Harry.

"Certainly, I will send a message with Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore.

"Thanks. Well, I'm supposed to meet Ron and Hermione, sir," said Harry.

"Well, you don't want to keep them waiting, off you go."