On their way to bed.

“Well?” murmured Dumbledore.

“Karkaroff’s Mark is becoming darker too. He is panicking, he fears retribution;

you know how much help he gave the Ministry after the Dark Lord fell.” Snape looked

sideways at Dumbledore’s crooked-nosed profile. “Karkaroff intends to flee if the Mark

burns.”

“Does he?” said Dumbledore softly, as Fleur Delacour and Roger Davies came

giggling in from the grounds. “And are you tempted to join him?”

“No,” said Snape, his black eyes on Fleur’s and Roger’s retreating figures. “I am

not such a coward.”

“No,” agreed Dumbledore. “You are a braver man by far than Igor Karkaroff.

You know, I sometimes think we Sort too soon…”

He walked away, leaving Snape looking stricken…

And now Harry stood in the headmaster’s office yet again. It was nighttime, and

Dumbledore sagged sideways in the thronelike chair behind the desk, apparently

Semiconscious. His right hand dangled over the side, blackened and burned. Snape was

Muttering incantations, pointing his wand at the wrist of the hand, while with his left

hand he tipped a goblet full of thick golden potion down Dumbledore’s throat. After a

moment or two, Dumbledore’s eyelids fluttered and opened.

“Why,” said Snape, without preamble, “why did you put on that ring? It carries a

curse, surely you realized that. Why even touch it?”

Marvolo Gaunt’s ring lay on the desk before Dumbledore. It was cracked; the

Sword of Gryffindor lay beside it.

Dumbledore grimaced.

“I…was a fool. Sorely tempted…”

“Tempted by what?”

Dumbledore did not answer.

“It is a miracle you managed to return here!” Snape sounded furious. “That ring

Carried a curse of extraordinary power, to contain it is all we can hope for; I have trapped

the curse in one hand for the time being – ”

Dumbledore raised his blackened, useless hand, and examined it with the

Expression of one being shown an interesting curio.

“You have done very well, Severus. How long do you think I have?”

Dumbledore’s tone was conversational; he might have been asking for a weather

forecast. Snape hesitated, and then said, “I cannot tell. Maybe a year. There is no halting

Such a spell forever. It will spread eventually, it is the sort of curse that strengthens over

time.”

Dumbledore smiled. The news that he had less than a year to live seemed a matter

Of little or no concern to him.

“I am fortunate, extremely fortunate, that I have you, Severus.”

“If you had only summoned me a little earlier, I might have been able to do more,

buy you more time!” said Snape furiously. He looked down at the broken ring and the

sword. “Did you think that breaking the ring would break the curse?”

“Something like that…I was delirious, no doubt…” said Dumbledore. With an

effort he straightened himself in his chair. “Well, really, this makes matters much more

straightforward.”

Snape looked utterly perplexed. Dumbledore smiled.

“I refer to the plan Lord Voldemort is revolving around me. His plan to have the

poor Malfoy boy murder me.”

Snape sat down in the chair Harry had so often occupied, across the desk from

Dumbledore. Harry could tell that he wanted to say more on the subject of Dumbledore’s

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 527