Sundown two days before September 1st, found Severus Snape in the middle of a dark room. Before him, face unreadable loomed Harry Potter. Not the boy he had taught for four years, but the wizard who had claimed him as his first advisor. A man who had fought, then aligned himself with Voldemort; who had become the Dark Lord's equal. Said Dark Lord stood at his back, glancing over his soulmate's shoulder at Severus as if he was vermin, a means to an end and nothing more. Ron Weasley stood right; Hermine Granger left. The four radiated power and he swayed in the eye of their storm.