Severus stood very still as Dumbledore walked past him, out the door, and down the revolving staircase to the griffin three floors below.
Snape was alone in Dumbledore's office.
He glared around at the many shiny, and very delicate instruments that lay on the small, rickety tables, and shelves all around the room. His eyes had just passed over the dilluminator, and an old snitch, when they fell upon a gold ring with a small black stone cut in a diamond shape. There was a triangle, and circle, and line set into the top of the stone. He caught his breath.
It had been years since he had heard his mother's sweet voice telling him the ancient t