Needfire

Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize. All credit goes to JKR.


and now you are and i am now and we\'re
a mystery which will never happen again,
a miracle which has never happened before
and shining this our now must come to then

our then shall be some darkness during which
fingers are without hands;and i have no
you;and all trees are(any more than each
leafless)its silent in forevering snow

--but never fear(my own,my beautiful
my blossoming)for also then\'s until


--\" now all the fingers of this tree \"

-- e.e.cummings


Chapter 24 - Malfoy Manor


Snape stepped out of an unused fireplace in the Hall of Malfoy Manor, relieved that the wards on the Floo still recognized him. The fireplace had long been swept clean, the Manor\'s Floo connection to the wizarding world. Not even a faint drifting of soot mussed Snape\'s black clothing and Hogwarts teaching robe. He looked down at himself, standing with his two bags, and thought he should probably remove the teaching robe. It was his no longer, really. He set his bags down and was removing the robe when a thin, high voice piped from behind him.

\"Who is arriving this time of the morning?\"

Snape turned to find one of the Malfoy house elves looking up at him. \"Tell your master that Severus Snape is here to ask a favor of him.\"

It wasn\'t long before Snape heard soft footsteps descending the stone staircase off to the side of the Hall. He turned, to see Lucius padding downstairs slowly in a rich velvet dressing gown of deepest blue, running his hand through his shoulder-length blond hair and over his sleepy face. He needed a shave, but it was hardly noticeable, his hair was so very fair. In the early morning light through the windows, the beard gave him a nimbus about the face, and his hair a golden aureole. Angelic, as always, Lucius Malfoy. As was his wife, Narcissa, who looked enough like Lucius to be his twin. Snape recalled that Lucius had always liked mirrors; it almost seemed he had married his reflection.

\"Severus,\" he said, standing a bit apart, his hands in his robe pockets, his bare legs in a wide stance, soft slippers that matched his dressing gown on his feet. Lucius had never been one to shake hands upon greeting an old friend, which suited Snape just fine. \"What brings you here, this New Year\'s dawn? Narcissa and I have not been home long, ourselves.\"

\"It\'s a very long story,\" said Snape, \"and not a pleasant one. If I could trouble you for a bed, and a bath, and a little food. Not necessarily in that order.\"

Lucius snapped his fingers. \"Hobnail,\" he said, to the bat-eared elf that appeared as if from nowhere. \"Some breakfast for Professor Snape. Bring it into the morning room. Have these bags taken up to the Slytherin room. And bring us coffee.\"

\"Hobnail is going, sir, to fetch,\" squeaked the elf, backing, bowing, wringing his hands, and then vanishing.

\"I see your elves are still well trained,\" said Snape dryly.

\"I believe in obedience. Come, through here. You look tired, Severus.\"

\"I am. I\'ve not slept this night.\"

\"Celebrating the new year a bit too strenuously, my friend?\"

\"You might say that.\"

Lucius pushed open the door to the morning room. The draperies were open, and the sky outside was pale, edging the clouds with silver, nearly the color of Lucius\' eyes. \"Do tell,\" he said. \"And sit.\" He motioned to a small armchair.

Snape sat. He folded his hands on his lap. \"There\'s not an easy way to say this, so I\'ll just say it. Lucius, I\'ve been sacked.\"

\"Great Merlin. Where\'s the Jameson\'s?\" Lucius began to snap his fingers and call an elf, but Snape shook his head.

\"No, thank you. Food first. Lucius. I...was caught sleeping with one of my students. Dumbledore had no choice.\"

\"Do tell,\" said Lucius again, silkily. He looked wide awake now, his grey eyes gleaming with curiosity. \"It sounds delicious, and quite unlike you. And let me guess, my old friend...another tragic Gryffindor romance? Boy, or girl?\"

At that moment breakfast arrived. Snape had his choice of a rich porridge, yellow with thick cream, or peeled and sliced fruit. Instead of choosing, he spooned some of the fruit over the cereal and began to eat hungrily. Hermione: \"You need more protein, Snape.\" Not this morning; he could not have stomached meat.

Lucius stole his fork, and fished some pale green melon from the bowl. He nibbled it slowly, the blue of his gown making his eyes clear, like still water. \"Do tell,\" he prompted.

\"I had forgotten how that phrase of yours annoys me,\" said Snape. \"Very well, I will tell. Yes, Gryffindor, and girl.\"

\"Age?\"

\"Sixteen.\"

Lucius emitted a chuckle very like his son\'s. \"How interesting, how young, and how shameful, Severus.\"

\"Exactly.\" Snape continued eating quickly, before Lucius\' comments took away the last of his already waning appetite. But Hermione thought him too thin, so he would eat.

Lucius poured them both coffee. Snape drank it while it was too hot, but it felt good, scalding down his throat. It felt clean, which reminded him of Hermione. If he concentrated, he could still smell her on his skin.

\"Tell me more, Severus. What kind of affair? How long were you able to keep it a secret? Was it delicious? Who discovered you? You\'d think, after everything you went through with Lily that you\'d be through falling in love with Gryffindors. Or sleeping with them, however it was. They\'re not predictable, like Slytherin women. Far too...irrational.\" He looked at his nails critically. \"Though I\'ve heard they\'re very loyal to their mates.\"

Snape\'s eyebrow rose. He well knew Lucius\' views on Muggle-born witches, and had no intention of sharing Hermione\'s name with him. \"I realize I once told you all about Lily, and what she meant to me, and how much I hated James Potter. But what I\'ve told you now is as far as it goes, Lucius. I slept with a sixteen year old Gryffindor, was caught, and sacked. I need a place to stay for a week or two while I figure out what to do next. I\'d like that place to be here, with you, where it\'s comfortable, with people I know. Plus I should catch up on Voldemort\'s doings -- I\'ve been a bit preoccupied this term.\"

Lucius laughed. \"Preoccupied. A nice term for a social crime, Severus. Certainly you must stay with us, I wouldn\'t have it any other way. I want to be there when you decide you want your young lover back.\" He leaned forward. \"I\'d like to see Dumbledore\'s face when you go to fetch her, that\'s what I\'d like.\"

Snape frowned and pushed away his bowl. \"That won\'t happen, Lucius. She\'s better off without me, I\'m well over twice her age. She needs her education, not her ragged old Potions Master between her thighs.\"

\"Mmm.\" The noise was noncommittal. Lucius\' manicured fingers stroked the handle of his coffee cup. \"Draco will tell me everything anyway, Severus.\"

\"I can\'t stop him telling you what gossiping trash he hears -- and I\'m sure it will be in this morning\'s owl post -- but I don\'t feel inclined to give you the gory details myself. Am I to be in my old room?\"

\"Of course. Top of the stairs, fourth room on the left in the East wing. I\'ll call you for luncheon, shall I? It will be rather late. Narcissa and I rang in the New Year in style with... friends last night.\"

\"Death Eaters?\"

\"Who else would throw such a party? Of course, Death Eaters. We\'ll catch up on the past months tonight, over some Jameson\'s.\"

Snape staggered up the stairs and into the room where he\'d stayed in the past. It was massive, and gloomy with the curtains drawn, the biggest bed he\'d ever slept in, and the softest carpet on the floor. He left his boots outside the door for the elves to clean. He drew a bath, and after immersing himself briefly, knowing a moment\'s regret at washing Hermione\'s fragrance from his skin, crept into the cave of the curtained bed and slept the sleep of the exhausted.

The rushing sound of wind outside woke him much later. The sky was dark. Snape was shocked. He never slept more than a few hours in a single stretch, but he\'d slept the day away. He dressed and wandered downstairs to find Lucius, and instead found Narcissa seated alone in the dining room, pushed back from the remains of her supper, nursing a snifter of brandy. She smiled as he entered the room.

\"Severus, dear one. How long it has been.\" Snape bent over her hand, barely brushing it with his lips because she expected it. \"I do hope you\'re more rested now. We\'ve dined; Lucius wanted to wake you, but I said you needed the rest.\" Her eyes, pale blue and soulful, looked into his. \"Lucius told me what happened.\" She gestured to an empty setting to her right. \"Please. Join me. I hate to drink alone, and you must be hungry again.\"

Snape was indeed hungry. He filled his plate with vegetables, then, remembering Hermione, took a trout fillet as well. \"Where is Lucius this evening?\"

Narcissa slanted Snape a flirtatious glance. \"Answering the post,\" she said. \"Severus. Draco says you were sleeping with the Head Girl, Hermione Granger.\"

\"Does he,\" growled Snape, lifting the spine and ribs from his fish and setting them aside. He had forgotten how wonderful the food always was at the Manor.

Narcissa went on chatting. \"Yes -- and, apparently, you made the Daily Prophet as well. Dreadful rag, we don\'t take it here, but Draco sent us a clipping. Would you like to see it?\"

\"Narcissa, stop baiting me. Ask whatever questions you want to ask, and I\'ll decide if I want to answer them or not.\" He cut and speared several thin green beans with his fork and stuffed them rudely into his mouth. He felt like chewing at her, but he knew she would only laugh at him. She was a Slytherin to the bone, and understood him very well after the many long years.

She leaned forward now, and he could smell the brandy on her breath. \"Why did you choose that particular girl?\"

Snape leaned forward as well. Narcissa licked her lips, certain she would be given a precious nugget to squirrel away. \"Because I could,\" he said. Then he laughed. \"Why do you think? What did Draco tell you?\"

She pouted. \"Now you mock me.\" She took a large and unladylike swallow of her brandy, and set the glass down hard on the table.

\"Of course I do. When have I not?\"

\"Draco has no idea why you chose her, a Gryffindor, and especially since you\'ve never shown the slightest interest in any of your students.\"

\"Dinner was lovely,\" he said, wiping his mouth and fingers on his napkin. \"Thank you for keeping the dishes warm.\" He kissed her hand again, and left the room.

~*~

A couple of days later, it was Lucius\' turn to torment him about Hermione. Snape had spent the intervening time plotting and planning what was next in his peculiar life, and trying to find time to speak to Lucius alone about Voldemort, but Narcissa seemed determined to involve herself in all their conversations. Snape had also been catching up on what felt like years of missed sleep. For some reason, not being at Hogwarts any longer, worrying over exploding cauldrons, or summons from Voldemort, or having to mark the many miles of punishment essays, had left him with time on his hands, and he was spending it in restful sleep. And, eating like a pig at the Malfoy\'s generous table. He could swear he felt himself thickening hour by hour, though his clothes fit him no differently.

His only problem with so much rest, and time on his hands: Hermione, who crept into all of his dreams, and tormented his free time with her dreaming dark eyes and red hands. On the fourth day of his visit, Snape borrowed a Malfoy falcon and sent a cryptic letter to Hermione, telling her where he was, after a fashion, and a reminder to be wary of her demon hand-washing. He had fears of what the stress of their discovery might be doing to her. It wasn\'t long before the falcon returned, flapping awkwardly onto his arm -- with his letter still attached, unopened. So Dumbledore has blocked our communication route, he thought. He would have to think of another way.

The three were sitting in the drawing room after dinner, Narcissa reading a Muggle novel, and Snape and Lucius working their way through glasses of Jameson\'s with the chess set between them.

\"Tell me, is it true what they say -- that Muggle women...\" Lucius paused wickedly, in mid-move with his knight.

\"Muggle women...what, Lucius.\" Snape was tired of the baiting, but he needed a few more days to set his plans in order.

\"Oh, never mind. I was just thinking about your little mudblood lover. I remember her. Large teeth. Didn\'t they make you anxious? What if you\'d angered her, she could easily unman you, my friend, with teeth like those.\"

\"If you\'ll set down that damned knight, I will take it with my bishop,\" growled Snape.

Lucius sighed. \"Oh, Severus. Why won\'t you be drawn? I want so much to hear the details.\"

\"Get them from Draco, since he appears to know so much about it.\"

\"Her little pals aren\'t talking.\"

\"Her little pals probably weren\'t told anything more than you,\" Snape pointed out. \"Put the damned knight down.\"

\"Not there, though...\" said Lucius, chuckling.

Snape lowered his voice. \"We need to talk, privately.\"

\"Yes, we do. Tomorrow evening. Meet me here. I\'ll see that Narcissa is otherwise occupied.\"

~*~

The next night, instead of meeting Lucius, Snape found Narcissa in the drawing room. She turned from the fireplace, arms wrapped about her middle, and walked towards him, looking cold and anxious.

\"Where is Lucius? I was to meet with him this evening.\"

\"He\'s been called away.\"

\"Where?\"

Narcissa clutched the neck of her dress in her thin hand. \"Voldemort summoned him.\"

\"And not me,\" said Snape, unconsciously putting his hand over his Dark Mark.

\"Voldemort has summoned Lucius alone several times this autumn and winter. Severus -- do you know why? It\'s worrisome, but Lucius won\'t tell me what it\'s been about.\"

Snape thought for a moment. \"I think it must be about Draco,\" he mused. \"Voldemort didn\'t like the information I was giving him from Hogwarts; it was never enough. He wanted more specifics, but I was never sure what about.\" About Potter, thought Snape. And who better to have specifics about Potter than Draco, his lover. Though how the Serpent Wizard knew about Draco and Potter he could not guess, unless Draco had told Lucius.

Narcissa turned sharply from him, back to the fire. He heard her draw shuddering breaths. \"I think you must be right; Lucius has been very silent about the whole thing. And he\'s given Draco a portkey; something he never did before this year.\" She turned back to him. \"What if Voldemort wants my son to take the Dark Mark?\"

\"I don\'t think it will come to that,\" said Snape, trying to sound reassuring. \"At most, Voldemort wants a second perspective within Hogwarts.\" It wasn\'t only worrisome for the Malfoys. There had to be a reason why Voldemort had ceased to call Snape, and perhaps it was the correct one: Snape was a double agent, and if Voldemort had found out, it was the end of his utility as a spy, leaving him no cards to play. He needed to talk to Lucius, and soon.

~*~

As it happened, it was two days more before Snape could talk with Lucius. The summoning lasted more than a day, and when Lucius returned, he would speak to no one -- particularly Snape, pushing past the dark man on the stairs and walking silently and quickly to the suite he shared with Narcissa, where he closed the door behind him and Snape heard the sounds of powerful wards clicking into place.

Late the night of the second day, Snape was sitting alone in the Malfoys\' drawing room, idly playing himself at wizard chess, and settling his plans. In another day or two he would shift himself to Angharad\'s cottage, it was the simplest and best solution. One of Hobnail\'s minions had offered Jameson\'s, but Snape shook his head. \"Brandy,\" he said. No more whiskey for him for a while. It was too simple a solution. He didn\'t enjoy the sweetness of brandy the way he did the astringency of the whiskey, and was not so tempted to continue drowning in it. With Hermione gone from his life, he knew he would want the entire bottle of Jameson\'s if Lucius weren\'t there to keep an eye on the level in the bottle.

Years ago, along with the feathered cloak had come a will and testament, of sorts. Angharad\'s small stone cottage in Oxfordshire, the one he had shared with her during most of the eighteen months of his Druid training, belonged to him now. He had no idea of its current condition, but moving there seemed like a logical next step, once he was able to talk with Lucius and make additional plans where Voldemort was concerned.

\"I\'ll take white and finish the game with you, Severus,\" said Lucius now, coming into the warm drawing room. He was dressed all in black, unusual for him, for black washed out the paleness of his coloring. Lucius was unbeautiful tonight.

Snape spun the board and Lucius settled in the armchair across from him.

\"Tell me what happened with Voldemort, Lucius. You were gone for a long time.\"

\"The man is fixated on Potter. I spent hours trapped in Legilimency with him draining every least thought I\'d ever had about that wretched boy, and everything I\'d ever heard.\" Lucius\' clear eyes flicked up to meet Snape\'s. \"And Voldemort is very angry with you. It seems you\'ve not been responding to his summons lately. I myself have been wondering where you were. The meetings are even more excruciating without you there to exchange bitter commentary.\"

Snape tried to school his features. He moved a bishop out into the middle of the board, temptingly placed for Lucius to take with his queen if he felt reckless. \"He has not been calling me. I\'ve been...concerned about that.\"

\"Not calling?\" Lucius ignored the foolishly placed bishop and moved a knight into position to take a pawn in the next move. \"Of course he\'s been calling you. But see here, Severus -- he feels he\'s been blocked from reaching you. There is some...white noise...between the two of you that has never been there before.\"

Now Snape\'s black head did come up and he stared directly at Lucius, thinking rapidly. \"Since when?\"

\"Since the early autumn...perhaps mid-October. Severus, you\'ve missed five meetings. With Voldemort just getting more and more angry. Are you telling me you never once felt the call?\" His elegant hand touched the place on Snape\'s sleeve that covered the Dark Mark.

\"Not once, since early October.\" Not since I was able to call down the Needfire, at the new moon, with Hermione in my Circle, that fierce, wonderful hawk of a girl. Prey sparrow no more.

Angharad: \"In olden times, when there were still rituals performed that involved blood sacrifice, the power of the circle could be used to drive out demons. And build a wall of protection around the celebrants.\"

\"For the duration of the ritual, yes, I could see that.\"

\"Not only that, but afterwards as well. Lasting protection, Severus. It is the reason I still use my sickle, and the four drops of blood. Not a strong wall, such as would be created with an actual death, but sufficient for my purposes.\"

\"What are your purposes, Angharad? Why do you need such protection?\"

\"I simply want not to be found, Severus. I like the quiet of my life.\"

It was an old buried memory of a discussion that he had discounted as fable. He hadn\'t believed that such temporary magic of the kind he saw raised at the rituals could last beyond the ritual itself, nor outside the confines of the Circle. Yet now...now, he must think.

\"And Potter. Voldemort has been unable to see through Potter\'s eyes clearly for a couple of years, but now that same white noise that surrounds you, surrounds Potter as well. Voldemort is desperate to understand what Dumbledore has done to prevent his access to the boy.\"

\"Hmm.\" Careful, Snape. Give nothing away. The lives of those children -- and your own worthless life -- depend upon your circumspection. Hermione must be teaching Potter the rituals. \"And so we come to Draco, do we not, Lucius?\"

At the mention of his son\'s name, Lucius went whiter still, if that were possible. He pulled back the cuff of his sleeve and looked at the Dark Mark that almost seemed to pulse there. \"There was a time -- you remember it well, don\'t you, my friend? A time when this Mark of mine meant everything. A freedom like no other. But there came another time, Severus -- when Narcissa and I became a family, with our son\'s birth. And this Mark ceased to be primary in my life.\" His gaze met Snape\'s yet again. \"Voldemort is desperate for another window into Hogwarts and Dumbledore\'s plans. My son is to be that window.\"

\"And you would not choose this path for him.\" Snape moved the pawn out of reach of Lucius\' knight.

\"I would not.\" Lucius, distracted, took the bishop with his queen.

Snape quietly moved a hidden rook forward and took the queen. Lucius, in a fit of temper not directed at Snape at all, swept his arm across the chessboard, sending pieces flying everywhere, and then swept himself from the room.

Snape spent the rest of the evening in deep thought, sipping tea with lemon, instead of brandy. It was more important than ever that he reach Hermione, tell her of the new knowledge he had gained, and encourage her to extend the reach of the Stones\' protection around more than just herself and Potter -- but also Weasley and Draco, the remaining youths singled out by Dumbledore somehow, for special roles in the war against Voldemort. For the first time he was glad she\'d been forced to remain at Hogwarts. But how to find a way past Dumbledore\'s wards? Deep inside, a growling began. It was looking like he might actually need to ask James Potter\'s son -- Lily\'s son -- for a favor or two. With any luck, Dumbledore had only blocked Snape from reaching Hermione by owl post. If he had blocked Snape completely from Hogwarts, there was nothing that could be done short of involving Lucius in his plight. Snape knew the price Lucius would exact for his assistance: revealing the details of his passion for a Muggle-born witch.

He returned to his room and began to write a letter to Potter, explaining nearly everything, hoping that Potter\'s love for Hermione would make him inclined to help his perverted bastard of a Potions Master.

~*~

It was the uproar in the middle of the night that woke Snape from his sleep at the desk in the guest room, where he had lain upon the draft of the letter to Potter. There was a loud rushing noise outside: hard rain upon his windows. And, there was shouting going on downstairs. Snape could hear Lucius raging, his voice clear as a trumpet sounding, though the words were muffled. And someone was responding, arguing, in tones that sounded remarkably familiar. Snape pushed his hair out of his face and went to his door. He opened it a crack, to spy, and heard the argument progressing.

\"How -- dare -- you!\" Lucius, enraged. \"Endangering my son in this manner! You will return that Portkey this instant. I will send you back where you came from!\"

\"I won\'t, either, and you won\'t send me back. Not until I have what I came for.\"

Snape knew that voice. His heart leapt. Hermione. Here. Here!

\"And what, pray tell, would that be, you little bitch? What have you come for, that you foul my home with your muddy blood?\"

\"You Slytherin fuck. Take your filthy hands off me! I can\'t stand your putrid touch! \"

The part of Snape that always stood aside, watching everything, was amused by his small spitfire. Calling Lucius names. How entertaining. But the other part of Snape, the larger part, the part that needed his Hermione in his arms, caused him to wave his wand and apparate himself to the lower floor. He could not take the time required to run down the stairs.

There, across the Hall floor, he saw Hermione, soaking wet -- from the rain? In the winter? You will catch your death, you need a warming spell. She was encumbered with a cat carrier in one hand -- that damned kneazle -- and a carryall slung over her back, and was physically struggling with Lucius. Lucius had her wrist in his grasp. Hermione\'s hand was clenched in a fist; she held something that he was trying to pry away from her. And even from here...oh, from so very far away...Snape could see her hands and arms, raw, red, oozing. And that wasn\'t all; her cheeks showed tearstains, and her eyes were reddened and swollen. What had been making her cry? Who was responsible? Who should be punished for this offense?

\"She came for me, Lucius,\" said Snape, crossing the Hall in a very, very few strides, and sweeping Hermione from Lucius\' hands. \"She came...for me.\" With a clatter the carryall slid to the floor, and Hermione dropped the cat carrier, and Snape wrapped both arms around her, holding her tightly, her head pressed to his chest. \"For me. My darling.\" The last two words were whispered in her ear. She was trembling in his hold, and he felt her arms steal around his waist to lock behind him.

Lucius stood staring in astonishment at the two of them. There was a long, long moment of silence, and then the explosion. \"This...this is what you gave up your career and reputation for? A mudblood? A Muggle-born slut? This is what you slept with? How could you sully yourself, Severus? Did Lily teach you nothing? This was made to be fodder for a killing knife in Voldemort\'s court, not to be your... love. \" The last word was spat at them. \"And this has endangered my son, has caused Voldemort to cast his evil glare upon him. All because your lust got you sacked.\" His voice began to tremble in his rage, and he raised his wand. \"Step aside, Severus.\"

Snape\'s glare was glittering and sharp and focused. \"You will not touch her, Lucius. I would see you dead first. And you know I can do it. You know I will do it.\" In his arms Hermione stirred, looking out at Lucius through a tangle of hair. Her red little paw came up, and in it was her own wand, pointing back at Lucius. Snape released her enough to push her behind him and force her wand hand down.

\"Get out. Get...out.\"

\"All right. I\'m going. We\'re going. Give me ten minutes, Lucius.\"

\"I want that Portkey returned. I don\'t know how she got it away from Draco, but I want it returned. He cannot be unprotected in that school, not with Voldemort\'s eye turned upon him.\"

\"Portkey?\" Snape was confused. Hermione came out from behind him, just as she had the night Minerva caught them together. She would not be gainsaid, pushing away his restraining hand.

\"Draco gave it to me so that I could come find you. He knew you were here.\"

\"My son gave it to you. That\'s rich. You stole it, you mean.\" Lucius in a protective fury was awe-inspiringly frightening. His clear eyes were frigid; bright color stained his high cheekbones and the ridges of his fine brow; his lips were thin; his white teeth showed in a vampire\'s grimace of sharp edges and fierce eyeteeth.

\"How else would I have discovered the activating words? Let them hate, as long as they fear. No, Draco gave it to me.\"

\"Be quiet, Hermione,\" said Snape now, hurriedly. \"Just give Lucius back that Portkey.\" He looked up at Lucius. \"I\'m sure I can explain everything,\" he said. He knew who must have persuaded Draco to give Hermione the Portkey -- it must have been Potter.

Hermione opened her mouth to speak again, but it was to hiss under her breath at Snape. \"Don\'t bring Harry into this. \"

Snape jerked her back against himself. \"I asked you nicely to be quiet,\" he said, with menace. He tried to instill some private meaning into his tone. Hermione was looking up at him in a towering temper. Snape saw something in her eyes and blinked. She wants to protect Potter, he thought. Why? \"The Portkey, Hermione,\" he said, abandoning Potter for the moment, and saw relief in her eyes. She flung the Portkey at Lucius, who caught it deftly.

\"Anything you\'d care to share, Severus?\" said Lucius now, advancing. Snape could see the predatory gleam in Lucius\' silvery eyes. The man could smell prey, it seemed, aware some key bit of information might be escaping him. He wasn\'t highly placed in Voldemort\'s organization for nothing.

\"Nothing that is of your business,\" said Snape. Prey sparrow, but not today, my Malfoy falcon.

\"I have made it my business, seeing how my son is involved in this sordid mess. Oh, when Voldemort hears you\'ve been fucking a mudblood bitch --\"

\"And just who will be telling him, Lucius? You? How will that help your son, who\'s been fucking Harry Potter? \"

Hermione pinched Snape\'s middle, hard. \"I thought you understood -- I don\'t want Harry involved!\"

Snape looked down at her, and pressed two fingers over her lips. \"I did, but I changed my mind. He wants to play dirty, we will play dirty. Let me handle this. Not another word from you, it will only make things worse.\"

She looked at him mutinously, but nodded with an ungracious jerk of her head, complying.

Lucius\' mouth was opening and closing like a fish\'s. Snape could almost hear the words sizzling in his brain. ... your son, who\'s been fucking Harry Potter. YOUR SON, FUCKING HARRY POTTER. Your son, in danger from Voldemort, because he\'s FUCKING HARRY POTTER.

When Lucius finally spoke, it was to hiss, \"You have thirty minutes. Pack your things and go, and never return. Never, ever speak to me or mine again.\"

\"First I want your word, Lucius, that you won\'t speak to Voldemort about this girl and myself. And in return, I won\'t mention Draco and Potter to him.\" Onyx eyes met silver eyes and dueled there, in the Hall. Neither dropped, neither blinked, but in the end Lucius capitulated. Love for his son won out over the desire to hurt Snape for bringing a mudblood bitch into Lucius\' well-ordered and controlled world and placing his son at risk by not attending Voldemort\'s meetings.

\"You have it.\"

\"One other condition.\"

\"Go to hell, Snape.\"

\"I need you to contact me when Voldemort summons you next. Send an owl.\"

Lucius looked at him closely, with an assessing eye. \"Why? Aren\'t you happier, not going?\" His voice was ugly.

\"Naturally. But I don\'t want Voldemort angry with me. Surely you can see that, even if you hate me. Besides, if I return to the meetings, perhaps Voldemort will leave Draco alone.\" I doubt it, though, my friend, especially if Voldemort should discover the identity of Potter\'s lover. Voldemort could ride in Potter\'s head not so long ago, and we never quite finished those Occlumency lessons. He may know already.

Lucius folded his arms, and Snape knew he had won. He recognized that narrowed gaze; Lucius still wanted answers to his questions, despite having ordered Snape never to speak to him again. \"Fine. But go.\"

\"Then I\'m gone. I just need a few minutes to pack. And I need you to drop the wards on your Floo so I can take her out of here. Hermione -- pick up that damned kneazle of yours and follow me.\" He released her, strode to her carryall, slung it on his shoulder, and led her up the stairs.

Inside his room he warded and silenced the room, and then turned to Hermione, his gaze dark and glowering. \"What have you done? Why are you here? Why aren\'t you at Hogwarts, where Dumbledore can protect you?\"

Wordlessly, she opened her carryall and took out an envelope, handing it to him. In the upper corner was that happy, smiling tooth. And inside was her death warrant, her parents planning to bring her home from Hogwarts. He looked at the letter again, then set it aside. He reached for her hands and she let him take them, though he knew she longed to thrust them behind her back and hide her weakness from him. He hissed on an indrawn breath as he looked at her skin. Worse than before, worse than he had ever seen it. Worse even than the night he had been driven to Minerva\'s office, to write that first fatal letter to the Grangers, the thing that had sent them all down this reckless and terrible path. Hermione, Snape himself, Minerva, Dumbledore, Potter, Draco, and now, Lucius. All of them, hurt in one way or another, by his hands, his unnatural desires.

He pressed kisses on those red, red hands, and heard her whimpering. Tears were streaming down her face, again, moistening the trails that had dried there earlier. \"Don\'t, don\'t,\" he heard himself saying, gathering her close, pulling her arms around him, holding tight to her. \"Don\'t. You\'re with me now. You may only be sixteen, but I won\'t let them take you.\"

\"They can\'t find me anyway, \" she told him now, turning up her face. \"Harry\'s my Secret Keeper. That\'s why I didn\'t want you bringing him up to Draco\'s father. With Harry holding my secrets, I can\'t be found anymore. And if you send me away, I won\'t go back to Hogwarts, and I won\'t go home. I\'ll --\"

He stopped the flood of words with a kiss, groaning against her mouth. \"Foolish, foolish girl. Stupid girl. Brave girl. Wonderful girl.\" He molded her to him and closed his eyes. \"There is a place we can go, I think,\" he said. \"Help me pack. Then we\'ll Floo to where we\'re going.\"

\"Where are we going?\"

\"Someplace safe.\"

It was only a few minutes later that he led her back downstairs to the empty Hall and slung their luggage across their bodies. Crookshanks spat and hissed from inside his carrier. \"Why are you soaking wet, Hermione? Never mind. We\'ll deal with that soon.\" Snape tossed a handful of Floo powder into the large hearth, then Hermione stepped inside with her luggage and turned to look at Snape.

\"Angharad\'s cottage,\" said Snape, and she was gone.

A moment later, the Hall was empty as Snape followed Hermione, and when Lucius went storming into Snape\'s bedroom only a few minutes after, to confirm for himself that they were gone, the only remnant of Snape to be found was his Hogwarts teaching robe, neatly hanging in the armoire.