Dumbledore said, "Of course not. You must kill me." Snape raised an eyebrow and replied, "And what will you give me in return?"

Dumbledore said, "Of course not. You must kill me." Snape raised an eyebrow and replied, "And what will you give me in return?"

Dumbledore blinked, caught off guard. "In return?" he stammered, looking genuinely puzzled, his calm composure cracking for the briefest moment.

Severus leaned closer, his voice dripping with bitterness, as if pulling from a well of old grievances. "When I came to you, desperate, in 1980, begging you to protect Lily, I offered you everything. Anything. And now, here I am, once again, being asked to do the unthinkable. So, I ask you, Dumbledore—what will you give me this time?"

For a moment, Dumbledore simply stared at him, stroking his beard with an air of thoughtful confusion, as if Severus had just asked him to explain quantum physics to a garden gnome. Then, suddenly, as if struck by a moment of inspiration, Dumbledore clapped his hands together, his eyes twinkling with that infuriating mischief.

"How about… free lemon drops for life?" he said, beaming as though he had just solved all of Severus’s problems.

Severus’s expression remained unmoved. "You’re serious?" he deadpanned, his voice heavy with disdain. "Lemon drops? This is the grand offer you make to the man about to commit murder on your command?"

Dumbledore’s eyes twinkled even more brightly. "I mean, they’re very good lemon drops. Have you tried them? They’ve got a delightful zing!"

Severus groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You’re insufferable," he muttered under his breath.

“Alright, alright,” Dumbledore finally said, his tone turning slightly more serious, though the twinkle in his eyes refused to dim. “How about my undying gratitude, Severus? My eternal trust? A hearty round of applause from beyond the grave?”

“Don’t test me, old man,” Severus hissed, though there was a faint flicker of what might have been reluctant amusement on his face—or perhaps indigestion from earlier. “If you weren’t already dying, I’d kill you myself.”