Hibernaculum

Ten old women sat in a room, glaring at one another. The tea sat cold beside them, forgotten during their heated debate. A woman with pure white hair stood and cleared her throat.

\"Let\'s take roll shall we?\" She sneered, \"I shall go first.\"

\"Malfoy,\" she smiled.

\"Avery,\" said the woman beside her, rolling her eyes in embarrassment.

\"Mulciber,\" stated a third.

\"Dupries.\"

The fifth woman glared at them. \"Lestrange,\" she hissed.

\"Snape.\"

\"Travers.\"

\"Nott.\"

\"Rosier.\"

\"Wilkes.\"

\"Very well.\" Mrs. Malfoy smiled, \"Now let\'s go over recent events, shall we?\"

Mrs. Avery groaned. They all looked at her with pity.

\"Let\'s see. Mr. Avery convinced several Death Eaters to attack the Dupries, and Anna\'s son Robert was killed.\"

Anna Dupries glared at Mrs. Avery.

\"Lucius found him and Mr. Nott, along with some others, holding Severus Snape captive.\"

Mrs. Snape glared at her as well.

\"He then tried to poison Severus.\"

Mrs. Avery placed her hands over her eyes in embarrassment.

\"We must ask if your families are going to seek retribution from the Notts and Averys.\"

Mrs. Dupries stood, her hands clenched at her sides in anger. \"Mr. Avery has committed vile crimes against my family. As he is a second son, I suggest he be removed from our protection and be placed on the list of expendables.\"

Mrs. Malfoy\'s eyes widened at this. She turned to Mrs. Snape, \"Do you agree?\"

Her black eyes narrowed, \"I do.\"

\"Mrs. Avery, what do you have to say to this?\"

The small w sho shook her head. \"Hs cos committed these crimes and should be punished. I have been concerned about him for quite some time now, as you well know. I would prefer he be punished with something that would affect him immediately, rather than later should the war be lost.\"

The other women nodded in understanding.

\"What do you recommend, Victoria?\" Mrs. Malfoy prodded gently.

Victoria Avery sighed, \"He was furious when Robert Dupries ended the betrothal. tilltill plans on wedding her though.\"

Mrs. Dupries started at this. \"Robert never informed me that he had broken the contract!\"

Mrs. Avery nodded, \"It has been broken for some time now. I am sorry. I would have informed you had I realized you didn\'t know.\"

Mrs. Dupries nodded, \"But what exactly do you have in mind?\"

\"I suggest you marry her to someone else.\"

The women in the room stared at her for a moment.

\"Marrying her to a Snape would be fit punishment for his offenses against the Snape family.\"

Mrs. Lestrange snorted, \"I hardly think Severus could be called a fit suitor to Elizabeth. He is probably an emotional basket case at this point.\"

\"I hardly think you should be pointing fingers, Lucretia!\" Mrs. Snape spat. \"Your own grandchild and his wife are still in Azkaban due to their inability to be quiet!\"

Mrs. Malfoy held up her hands. \"We don\'t have time for the old \'whose grandchild is the craziest\' argument right now. Let\'s get this settled. Whenever someone brings up marriage, we are here all night!\"

\"Mrs. Snape, would that be satisfactory?\"

\"Yes, but Severus will be furious when he finds out.\" She groaned.

Mrs. Malfoy glared at her, \"We\'ll have to come up with a plan for that next and that will all all night.\" The other women groaned in agreement.

\"Mrs. Dupries, will you agree to such an arrangement?\"

\"I have no real objection to Severus. My daughter-in-law and his mother are good friends. He is a smart boy and while he isn\'t exactly an ideal mate, I have never heard of him mistreating a woman.\"

\"Has he ever even had a date?\" sneered Mrs. Lestrange.

\"Lucretia, I have hexed you before, and I have no objections to doing so again,\" hissed Mrs. Snape.

\"Stop it, immediately!\" screeched Mrs. Malfoy. \"It will take all night to figure out how to talk Severus into this. Ce jue just get tsettsettled??\"

The two women glared at each other and then nodded.

\"So it is agreed that Elizabeth is to marry Severus?\"

The women slowly nodded.

Mrs. Dupries cleared her throat,\" This is understanding of course, that if they have children, one of them must carry the Dupries name.\"

\"Of course,\" Mrs. Snape agreed. \"Severus is well aware that the family name must continue. That is our whole purpose.\"

The other women nodded.

\"Do we also agree to remove Thomas Avery from our protection and place him on the list of expendables?\"

They nodded more slowly at this, sending pitying glances to the stricken Mrs. Avery.

\"I know it must be done. He will endanger us all with his actions.\" Mrs. Avery shook her head with sorrow.

\"I am sorry, Victoria,\" Mrs. Malfoy sighed. \"This is indeed the most difficult of all we do.\"

\"Mrs. Wilkes, would you mind terribly pulling out the sherry? We are all going to get quite a headache trying to work out how to talk Severus into this.\"