Strong Enough

CH 29 UNDER PRESSURE

Zephyr, you’re a star!!

Thanks at the bottom

Not mine, not now, not ever!!

“It\'s the terror of knowing
What this world is about
Watching some good friends
Screaming let me out!
Pray tomorrow takes me higher”

-Under pressure, Queen and David Bowie

Severus was beside himself. She had been gone for nearly half an hour and for the first time in his life he didn\'t know what to do. He didn\'t want to cast any spells in case she hadn\'t found him yet. He would never forgive himself if anything he did led Lucius to her. He heard a noise behind him and turned to come face to face with Dumbledore and McGonagall.

\"I\'ve put the aurors on high alert around the building and your best D.A members are with their houses in case this is a full attack,\" said Dumbledore gravely.

Severus nodded. \"I don\'t think it is, I can\'t feel anything in the air, but better to be safe than sorry.\" Said Severus and resumed the pacing he had begun since coming out of the forest. \"I can’t think of anything to do that would help her.\" He said bitterly, feeling as useless as she had once called him.

\"O sai said McGonagall suddenly, startling both the men. \"The map Severus, do you still have the map?\"

Severus looked as though he was going to kiss her. \"Bollocks,\" he said angrily. \"I am such a wanker sometimes\" He pointed his wand at the castle and closed his eyes. \"Accio Marauders Map\" He said desperately.

~*~*~

Hermione was looking at the figures in front of her in defiance. She would never show her fear to anyone, but she couldn’t believe her eyes.

(OK Severus, where the hell are you?) She thought to herself.
One of the deatheaters had taken her wand and was now twirling it between his fingers and staring at her. He was injured, quite badly by the look of it, bleeding from quite a few places including his face and chest, but still had that same sneer on his face that she remembered so well.
(Right then Hermione, just calm yourself down, any minute now Severus is going to come swooping in and rescue you... of course it might have helped if you hadn’t ran off into the forest like a bat out of hell. He is 20 years older than you and not an Auror. Shit! If I get out of this alive he’s going to kill me for going off on my own again)
She was trying not to panic but was running out of ideas as to what sheld dld do to get herself out of this mess. The man in front of her stopped twirling her wand and winked at her.
(Well, this is it.) She thought, calmly. (I thought it would have happened before this, and I certainly didn’t think I would die in the forest. I just wish I could tell Severus that my life wo muo much better for having him in it, the good and the bad.)
She looked one of her captors dead in the eyes and he smiled and pointed his wand at her again.

~*~*~

\"How is it?\" Hissed Severus, while waiting for the map to reach him, \"That between the two of you who know every damn bit of gossip that goes on in this school, but you can’t tell if she’s alright in there?\" He gestured to the forest as the map flew into his hand. \"Here, you do it.\" He said, throwing the map at Dumbledore. \"It just insults me.\"

Dumbledore smiled and shook his head. He had taken the map from the fake Moody’s office years before and had given it to Severus to get in and out of the school unnoticed. He tapped the parchment and said, \"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.\"

The map came to life and all the little dot people started to show up on it, starting from the depths of the castle and working outwards to the grounds. Dumbledore saw himself, Minerva and Severus and then, \"Ah.\" Dumbledore said quietly. \"I do not believe she is in any danger, but I do think that we need to go and sort this out.\"

Minerva took the map away from Dumbledore, looked at it and then at the headmaster. \"How is that any better?\" She said quietly.

\"Oh for fucks sake, give me that.\" Severus said angrily, snatching the map back and scanning it.
There was Hermione’s little dot still in the depths of the forest and advancing on her were two other little dots. Severus gasped and looked at Dumbledore. \"When we get back to the castle you’d better explain.\" He snarled taking off full pelt into the forest.

Minerva turned to Dumbledore sternly. \"I hate to say it but I agree.\" She said. \"I can’t wait for you to explain why Ginny Weasley, mediwitch, is in the forbidden forest with Draco Malfoy, death eater.\" She finished sarcastically and with that she followed Severus into the forest.

~*~*~

\"Herm.\" .\" said Ginny, approaching the fallen Auror, still wearing death eater robes. \"It’s not what you think, if we let you out of the body bind, will you at least listen to what we have to say?\"

Hermione would have laughed if she could have, and that was the problem. How was she supposed to answer that, when she couldn’t move or speak.

\"Ginny, I’m not letting her out until I’m sure that she’s not going to try anything, you really have no idea how good she is at her job.\" Draco whispered.

\"Expelliarmus!\"

Before they could even turn around, Draco, Ginny and Hermione’s wands sailed into Severus’s hand. He pointed his own at Hermione \"Finite Incantatum.\"

Quick as a flash she was up \"My wand?\" She looked at Severus expectantly.

\"I think we need to wait for the headmaster.\" Severus said calmly, although he had his pointed at two of his former students.

\"Give me my wand, NOW!\" She said quietly.

\"Just wait, they’re not going anywhere.\" He replied. He didn’t like this any more than she did, but he could see the murderous rage in her eyes and had a feeling that if he gave her the wand she would do something that she would live to regret.

Hermione strode over to Ginny and punched her in the face. Then she turned to Draco grabbed him round the throat and pushed him up against the nearest tree.

\"What the fuck are you doing here, Malfoy? Do you want to die? Because you know I’ll gladly kill you.\" She was shaking with anger.

Draco looked pleadingly at Severus. \"Uncle, please let me explain.\"

\"Is he speaking to you? Because if he is I think you’ve got some explaining to do yourself.\" Hermione snarled still staring at Draco as she spoke. She was determined not to take her eyes off of him, but it was obvious that she was speaking to Severus.

\"Do not take that tone with me Miss Granger.\" Severus said sharply. \"Mr. Malfoy is my godson and has called me uncle since he was a small child.\"

Hermione realized was Severus was doing, he was covering himself until he knew more about the situation. Not giving away his position even though he had not returned to Voldemort since the night she had found him. But it still made her angry to hear him use that tone with her. She knew she should be calm and cool, the way she had been taught, the way he was, but the sight of Ginny Weasley in death eater robes was a bit to much for her to comprehend rationally.

Suddenly Dumbledore and McGonagall appeared in the clearing. \"I will explain everything, if you all follow me back to the school.\" Dumbledore said calmly.

\"I don’t think so!\" raged Hermione. \"Maybe you’re not clear on what it is that I do, headmaster but I can assure you that I will deal with this sorry excuse for a death eater.\"

\"No,\" said Ginny, running to where Hermione and Draco were standing.

\"And I’ll deal with you later.\" Hissed Hermione, dangerously.

\"Miss Granger, you will release Mr. Malfoy at once.\" Said Dumbledore firmly. \"He needs to go to the infirmary, which is where I think we should all be headed.\"

Hermione knew that she wasn’t going to win this argument so she let go of Draco, letting him slump to the ground. She turned around and stalked off towards the castle, not looking at anyone.

Ginny went to Draco’s side and helped him up.

\"This is going be horrible.\" Dumbledore muttered to himself as Severus stormed off after Hermione. Minerva shot him a look before following them. \"Mr. Malfoy, Miss Weasley, shall we?\" He asked waiting for them to head up to the castle.
\"Horrible.\" he sighed shaking his head and began to follow them.

~*~*~

Hermione was pacing the length of the infirmary when Severus stormed into the room. She stopped and sent him an evil glare before resuming her pacing. He was just about to launch into a tirade about her going off alone, when the others came in. Poppy came out of her office and started fussing over Draco, ignoring the death eater robes that he and Ginny were both wearing.
Making sure that the infirmary was empty of anyone else, Dumbledore warded and silenced the room, turning to the motley crew in front of him.

Minerva had plopped down into a nearby chair. Draco was now laying on one of the beds, with Ginny sitting on the edge next to him. Hermione was still pacing but every now and then she would throw a glare at either the bed where her ex school friend and enemy were or at Severus who was leaning against the wall looking distrustfully at Draco and Ginny and pointedly ignoring Hermione.
\"I should have anticipated this.\" Began Dumbledore. \"I knew that you would be patrolling Hermione, and it never occurred to me that you would all run into one another.\"

Hermione looked up sharply. \"What the hell is going on Albus, why are we letting death eaters on to school grounds?\" She pointed to Ginny. \"And when did you start employing them?\"

\"Oh, I believe he started employing them long before you were born Miss Granger.\" Severus said silkily from his spot by the wall, sending her a glare.

\"Shut up Snape, this has got nothing to do with you.\" She snapped, her anger projecting out on anyone who spoke to her.

Severus stalked over to her and grabbed her arms. \"Who do you think you are talking to?\" He sneered.
wre wrestled her arms away and shoved him hard. \"I’m talking to you, you sorry son of a bitch.\" She shouted. \"Why didn’t you tell me that he was your godson?\"

He stumbled but didn’t fall, coming right back at her, he snarled. \"What the hell has it got to do with you?\"

She backhanded him across the face, causing his head to snap back with the force of it. He looked back at her, gave a small smirk and slapped her smartly round the face. As they both drew their wands, Dumbledore stepped in between them.

\"Enough.\" He said. \"I have warned you both about fighting on the school grounds, and I thought that you were past that now.\"

They both turned to face the headmaster. \"Would somebody explain what is going on?\" Said Severus as he turned back to keep an eye on Hermione

\"I will.\" Ginny said from her spot beside Draco, who was staring and Severus and Hermione after their display.

\"No,\" sighed Dumbledore, \"I will.\" He looked around at them.

\"Draco and Ginny are spies for the Order of the Phoenix.\"

Kisses to:

RedWritingHood; It’s Draco, but I guess you know that now!! Sorry about the delay!! xx

Deb; I love making up ‘The boy who..’ names for Harry, especially for Severus to say!! The ‘Couple of what?’ came from the reply my other half gave to someone in our local pub who commented on us!! I hope you got the answers you wanted from this chapter!! xx

PotionsMistressM; S’up Biatch?? I’m glad you liked the cliffie, I myself love them, in the stories I read *hint, hint!* I’m glad you didn’t think it was too short. I work on ‘Microsoft Works Word Processor’ and try to average five pages per chapter but the last one was only four, because of the cliffie!! I like it when you bow to me!! xx

WizardingAngel; Thank you!! xx

Roisin; Welcome, and a huge thanks, your review made my day!! I have recently gone back and re read the whole story to make sure that I wasn’t losing the plot and only then did I realise what a monster this story really is, so I thank you for reading it in two sittings!! The chapters have become tighter because I have gone back over it again, and because my beta is an angel, trust me, wit het her you wouldn’t be able to read a word of it!! You are the first reviewer to say that they have gone back and re read certain chapters out of sheer enjoyment and I must admit that I do that with my fave stories too, which chapters have been your favourites? I do get very swept away with the characters thoughts and feelings and I’m glad that it comes across well. As for the thanks, I’m of the mind that, if you can take the time to review then I can take the time to thank you for them!! The tattoo’s aren’t mine, but I do have five scattered across my body!! Thank you so much for reviewing xx

Pixi; Thank you for reading!! xx


O.K ladies, first an apology. I am sorry for the delay in writing. Those of you who read my LJ will know that I hurt my back about a week ago and have been unable to use my computer as I have been in bed, resting and drinking (I needed something for the pain, honestly!!) but I am back now and raring to go!!

Second, I am sorry if the cliffie was a bit of a let down, it’s my own fault for being such a drama queen and bigging it up so much!!

There is only about five more chapters of this story to go (you’ll be relieved to hear!) and then I’ll start working on the sequel...maybe!! I have a couple of bunnies jumping about in my head so you’ll have to wait and see!!

Thank you all for reading and reviewing

Kisses
GrrArrg