A Strange Love

Mary: Yeah, Claudius Lestrange took me by surprise to I can tell you. Oh well, here’s an update.



Lisa: Yeah, maybe read on and find out what happens next.



Faye: Here’s the update sorry it took so long, writers block on this particular story for a long time I’m afraid.



Alyson Diaz: I have.



Nikkuman: Yep this is. Don’t worry. And no, there would be no Hermione/Pettigrew scenes in any of my stories I do have my limits you know!



Cateye: I am glad someone see’s it like that. Yes, none of us know what we would do if we were in that situation. And the young are fickle because they don’t know what we want... she’ll know soon enough.



Angel: You’ll find out what he has been up to. But yes forty years is a long time to go without speaking to your son isn’t it?



Dee Dee: As I have said before it surprised me completely too. I hope that you loved this chapter.



Strangerdanger89: Yeah, that fantasy brought a smile to my face. I wouldn’t mind Rabastan doing that to me... oh well, here’s more medicine for you.



Zairaphel: Thank you for thinking my naughty bits are marvellous. Here’s more. Although there is nothing naughty in this chapter.



Ophelia Immortal: I will keep posting, as this has just proven.



SmileZ: Lol! Yeah, all right. You might get your wish as far as those D AND G models are concerned. Anyway. More here for you to possibly salivate over. There was a bit of bonding wasn’t there?



Chavela: Well, yeah. She is but Voldemuse sulked because he wasn’t getting any action... got to keep the Voldemuse happy.



Sbrande: Yep, there is a lot of fanning opportunities to come believe me!

Lazyllama101: You could say a small part of her lusts after the power of the Dark Lord, yeah. So, anyway, I hope you like this update.



Anna: I know this may not be soon enough, but I have other stories, and my computer bust on me after a measley three weeks, to top it all off I also got stretches of Writers Block. Anyway, I have worked out the problems now. I hope you like it.



BuckyKattGirl: Hee hee, yeah! I like her with practically every Death Eater going... I hope you like this chapter.



JW: Sorry if Voldemort and Hermione squicks you, like I said though, imagine Voldy as your favourite actor maybe that might help. Yeah, forty years is long enough isn’t it! There is a reason, trust me!



Scarlet: Call heeded, and answered. Update is here. I hope you love it.



Shay: Thanks! Your review certainly brings a smile to my face. Sorry for adding another WIP to your list. I hope you like the way I have developed the story. I am so pleased you like this story so much.



Esmerelda: Thank you ever so much for liking this story. I suppose she could be, but what else can she be? It’s a matter of life and death really. As for Harry and Ron... well, that will be answered in this chapter.



Sofiya: Thanks, and here’s more for you to read.



Wolf: I will, here is the proof.



Vanessa: I have and here it is. And thank you for reviewing.



Alissa: No, well she’s only eighteen and wanting to know it all, she’s bound to be ‘I wonder what its like with so and so...’ so, yeah. I have to defend her actions a bit. Thanks, and yes lamentably, Rodolphus/Hermione don’t seem to be used much in Fanficland.



Altering Perceptions



Severus sighed. He had pulled a robe tightly around his body as he shivered from the cold of the night. He gently opened the door to Grimmauld Place and walked inside. He had to talk to someone soon. Things had taken a turn for the worse. It seemed that Hermione managed to seep into the Dark Lords cold skin to. He had just been informed that he had intended to make Hermione his Queen. Severus was normally a man of cool judgement, and never wore his emotions on his sleeves but this was different; he had been told the worst news he had ever had to convey.



He slipped past the sleeping portrait of Mrs Black who was snoring in her portrait. Severus took a long look at the portrait and sniggered as he noticed someone, possibly a Weasley, had drawn a moustache under her nose, and a pair of glasses around her eyes. He knew it was childish and normally he’d roll his eyes in exasperation, but it seemed to suit this particular portrait. He continued walking down the hall towards the study where he knew Potter and Lupin would be.



He slipped surreptitiously into the room almost unnoticed. Lupin had refined senses and he decided to look up when he realised there was a new man in the room. Harry looked up almost simultaneously.



“You must be losing your touch,” Harry sneered. He then looked back at the documents sprawled on the desk. Lupin sighed.



“What is it, Snape?” he growled.



Snape snarled in return. “I bear bad tidings,” he said.



“Yeah, well we’re busy. I am waiting for Shacklebolt and Tonks to come back from their search for Hermione,” Harry mumbled.



Severus rolled his eyes and strode up to the desk and placed his hands on the desk. Harry looked up.



“That is the news I have to come to tell you of,” he said. “I know where she is, and what has happened to her.”



Harry widened his eyes and frowned. “How long have you known?”



“A fortnight!”



Remus got up off the chair in a rush and slammed him against the wall. “Why didn’t you say anything last week you miserable bit of spit?”



“Is that the best you can come up with on your own, Lupin?” Snape sneered. “Pity!” He exclaimed thrusting the werewolf off him with a disgusted look on his face. He smirked a little at Remus reaction. “Anyway,” he sighed, “I have known but could not say anything until I knew the exact circumstances.”

Harry sighed and looked straight at the loathsome man in front of him.



“So, where has she been?”



“Lestrange Court,” Snape said. Remus was about to leap on Snape again but Snape rolled his eyes and stepped sideways making sure Lupin landed on the floor. “I can see out the corner of my eyes you know, Lupin!”



Lupin scrambled back to his feet and glared at his old school peer and work colleague.



“Where?” Harry gasped.



“Lestrange Court. It’s the ancestral home of Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange,” Snape explained slowly as if he was talking to the village idiot. I might well be! he thought to himself.



“What the hell?” Harry asked.



Snape looked around for a chair to sit in. He found one, hitched his trousers up and sat in the chair. He stared straight at the boy.



“At the battle after Mr Longbottom managed to kill Bellatrix Lestrange, Rodolphus had found Herm – Miss Granger lying on the ground unconscious from the curses that Bellatrix was flinging her way. He decided that she was pretty and would possibly, when revived, make a beautiful toy for him to play with,” Harry’s eyes hardened and narrowed at the description of a girl he thought to be a sister. “Then it transpired that the Dark Lord actually promised the spoils of war, women included, to Rabastan Lestrange. The next day The Dark Lord conceded the gift to Rodolphus. On one condition…”



“Which was?” Lupin interrupted.



“Which was that I teach Miss Granger the ways of the Dark Arts and turn her,” Severus sat back. He had to use all his acting ability to show that this did not affect him as much as it was. “So, I have been living in Lestrange Court in order to help Miss Granger as much as I can. After the first week everything went well, and surprisingly I found myself wishing I had asked for her instead… but!” he said as Harry had opened his mouth to say something. “Something even stranger begun to occur. They say that anyone can fall in love given the right circumstances; the circumstance of propinquity is perhaps the best of all. You see, Rodolphus wanted a toy; a plaything, a woman to bear him a child and then he would send her on her way. After a week though I began to see a change in the man. He had begun to fall genuinely in love with her, and she with him. Hardly surprising really, if I was a Severina Snape then perhaps I might have done… but my bread’s not buttered that side!”



“That’s good news,” Harry muttered sarcastically.



“They got engaged,” Snape said; a slight edge crept into his voice. “It was actually rather romantic. He got down on his knees and proposed in front of me, the Malfoy three, his brother and Shola Grey.”



“Who is Shola Grey?” Harry asked.



“A rather vacuous charmless woman,” Snape said. “She’s about ten years older than you. She changes men the way you’d change a pair of underpants. “



“And now you’re going to tell me she said yes I suppose?” Harry asked between clenched teeth.



“Spot on, Potter. My, my you really are good at the old guessing games aren’t you?”



Harry bit his lower lip trying not to let this man get to him. “Where exactly is this conversation going?” he said wearily.



“Well, just when we all thought we knew where we stood; the Dark Lord comes and moves us all. He announced that he wanted Hermione Granger to live with him for three days to find out what it is we all find so spectacularly wonderful about her. He said that if she doesn’t charm him then he’ll kill her!”



Harry’s complexion turned the colour of gone off milk. “You’re not telling me that she’s dead?”



“No, what the Dark Lord has in mind is worse than death, Potter.”



“Oh, really, do tell as your such an expert?” Harry snapped back.



“It seemed that not only did the delightful Miss Granger charm the Dark Wizard, he also wants to marry her and make her his Dark Queen.”



“BLOODY HELL!” Lupin exclaimed in his broad Lancashire voice.



“My sentiments exactly, Lupin,” Snape replied coolly.



“So, what have you done?” Harry asked. “Nothing, I bet!”



“Actually, the only thing I can do for a friend I revere and esteem as highly as I do Rodolphus Lestrange. He wants to change, Potter. He truly wants to change. He loves Hermione, and she loves him.”



Lupin sniffed the air and growled. “And not only is it him that loves her either,” he growled. “You do to!”



“Yes,” Snape replied airily. “I do love her. I love them both for different reasons. It is because of this that I am prepared to let him be with her and I step back into the shadows and watch them. Potter, he is truly sorry for his crimes. Also, and this might interest you, his father has returned.”



“I thought his father was dead,” Remus said. “That’s what Sirius said anyway.”



“Black didn’t know a thing about that family,” Snape said. “The reason why he thought that they were dead was because that was the rumour encouraged by Rodolphus mother. She was a Voldemort supporter, and his father, though Slytherin and pure was a Dumbledore supporter. Dumbledore sent his father on a mission when Rodolphus was but ten years old. Forty years has lapsed and now his father has returned. Rabastan barely knew his father, which is why he is perhaps the worst of the two.”



Harry kept silent through this. “What has this to do with me?”



“You have a choice, Potter. You can either let Rodolphus be fed to the Wolves, so to speak, or you can give him a chance.”



“He tried to kill us! He’s the reason that Neville has no parents! You expect me to forgive THAT?”



“I told you it wouldn’t work,” a deep voice said from the shadows. Lupin leapt up into the air.



“How did you get in here without my sensing you?”



“Ah, the poor ickle doggy woggy’s put out is he?” Rodolphus sneered.



“Rodolphus,” Snape said in a stern tone.



“Sorry,” Rodolphus muttered. “Look the main thing is I love Hermione and now she’s been ripped away from me, and the worst of it is she has been compared to my last bitch of a wife Bellatrix! I couldn’t contradict him because I didn’t want to die. If I died Hermione would be lost to the Dark Side forever.”



Harry looked at the relative stranger. He stared at the build and he couldn’t ignore the fact that the man had a certain presence about him. Rodolphus shook his head and he sighed. He sank down on his knees.



“Please, Potter, please help me? I need her. I need her more than I need drink. She is my beautiful one. She is my angel. Please, she has awoken my heart and made it beat truly for the first time in my whole damnable life. Do not deny me this? Help me?”



Harry sighed. He looked at Lupin. Lupin sniffed the air around him and smiled a slow, cruel smile.



“It would actually be more sensible to keep him alive than dead,” he surmised to Harry acting as if he wasn’t in the room. “He must be privy to some information that might be useful to us!”



Harry sat down on his chair. “I’ll think about it. First you have to prove yourself.”



Snape swung his head around and his eyes glittered malevolently at this insolent pug of a boy.



“How?” Rodolphus asked. “How do I prove myself to you?”



Harry shrugged his shoulders. “You’ll know when the time comes. Now leave, I happen to be busy.”



Rodolphus got up off the floor and walked out of the room; his head hung dejectedly as he sloped slowly between the gaps of the doorframe with his exit from the room. Snape watched his friend leave the room before he rounded on Potter.



“Do you have any idea about how much courage it took that man to come here and do that, Potter? For him to submit to you of all people for the woman he loves? I was beginning to change my mind about you, but I won’t bother. I was right with my first assumption; you are plainly your father’s son!”



With that he swept out of the room his robes billowing and his hair swinging around to land neatly on his back. He walked out of the house where he saw Rodolphus clutching onto a wall sobbing as he felt his heart breaking into a thousand tiny pieces.



“I’ve lost her, haven’t I Snape?” he choked. “I’ve lost perhaps the only thing in my life that has ever done me a bit of good.”



“You haven’t lost her, Rudi,” Snape said throwing a glare to the house. He didn’t know what to do. He had never comforted a crying man before.



“I told you he wouldn’t take me in and accept me the way you thought he would. I told you that!”



“I thought he’d do anything for her,” Snape said. “They seemed to be inseparable at School.”



~*~*~



“That was a bit harsh, Harry,” Lupin said after Snape had left the room.



“What do you mean?” Harry snapped.



“Why couldn’t you have given him a chance? You don’t know unless you give him a try. I sometimes wish that your father and Sirius had given Snape a chance sometimes, then maybe he might not have been so vindictive now.”



“Now you agree with Snape?” Harry snarled.



“Sometimes, yes. Dumbledore would have given him a chance just like that!”



“Well, look where that got him!”



Lupin sighed. “Listen, Harry. I can smell raw emotions, remember that! I smelled how strong his love was. If you could have smelled that then you might have been more willing to accept him.”



“So you’re saying he was telling the truth?”



“I am not sure he was telling the truth about properly redeeming himself, but I do believe he loves Hermione,” Lupin said. “As would any right thinking man. She’s not unattractive inside or out, you know.”



“I know that,” Harry said. “It’s just that even Snape said he loved her. Did you believe that?”



“Oh yes,” Lupin sighed. “I can’t believe he would step aside so meekly though. I’d have thought that the second time he loved he might have taken her for himself.”



“Second time?” Harry asked.



“Yeah, he was madly in love with a girl in our year, but she didn’t show any signs of returning his affections.”



Harry sat his chin on his cupped hands and stared moodily into empty space. “It was my mother, wasn’t it?”



Lupin smiled. “Snape’s right; you are good at guessing games.”



“Shut up,” Harry sighed. “Okay, go and find them. Tell them to use whatever means they want to bring her back and tell them both to make sure they stay relatively unharmed and alive in the process.”



Lupin nodded, and uncrossed his legs. He heaved himself out of his seat and walked out of the room and made his way out of the house. He looked both ways and saw two figures in the distance. He ran up to them. Snape and Rodolphus turned to look at him.



“Harry says that you’re to do what you can and use whatever means possible to bring her back; you’re also to remain unharmed in the process. Despite appearances Harry hates to see people die. He wanted to kill Bellatrix but couldn’t summon enough hatred to do it, even after her blatant murder of Sirius.”



“I wish he could,” Rodolphus said. “Tell him, thanks!”



Lupin regarded the two men for a moment before turning back on his heel to Grimmauld Place.



“That wasn’t helpful was it?” Rodolphus asked, turning to his companion.



“Not much,” Snape said. “We must find Narcissa. She actually likes Hermione. We need to find people that can help us.”



“What about me?” a strong voice said from behind. Rodolphus and Snape turned around to find themselves face to face with Neville Longbottom. All traces of his fear had left the boys face; it was replaced with a determined glint in his blue eyes. Snape had only seen him like this once before and it startled him then.



“Mr Longbottom,” Snape sighed. “How long have you been standing there?”



“Long enough, sir, so what can I do? I’ve heard all about it. I don’t like either of you. In truth both of you repel me into the next millennium or two. But I do happen to love Hermione, and I’d do anything for her. So, do you want my help or not?”



Rodolphus raised an eyebrow in Snape’s direction. Snape nodded. “You can help us if you want, boy. As long as you can remember the details.”



Neville took a long, deep breath, and began reciting a Potion he was supposed to have brewed in the third year. He then began to reel off Herbs and their properties, and he even managed to round of with answering the questions Snape put to the class in his first year. Snape groaned and turned to the young man before him.



“It appears my fear of you has been cured, Snape. Now, do you want my help or not?”



“We want you’re help,” Rodolphus said. “We need someone who still talks to that four eyed idiot.”



“Harry’s not that bad, he taught me how to stand up for myself against Slytherin thugs like Malfoy!”



This engaged Rodolphus attention immediately; anyone who hated the Malfoy’s were good in his book. “All right. Let’s see, you might be good for relaying messages. Can you apparate, boy?”



Neville nodded. “Passed; eventually.”



“Good,” Rodolphus said. “I want you to remember this address and don’t tell a single soul about it! Not even Potter. We don’t need his interference.”



Rodolphus whispered the address in Neville’s ear. Neville nodded. “Thank you,” he said.



Rodolphus and Severus looked back to the young boy before him. Neville smiled behind their backs. At least I can see what they’re really up to, perhaps Harry might want this address someday.



“What is the address?” Snape asked.



“One that I am telling only you, the boy, and Narcissa,” Rodolphus said. He looked across the street and saw a group standing together. He shook his head. Normally he’d go in for a bit of fun but he didn’t think that’d go down too well with four eyes.



He walked further on down the road. “So, we’re bound for Malfoy Manor next then I presume?” Snape asked.



“Yes,” Rodolphus said.



~*~*~



Narcissa was shaking from what Draco had just told her. She knew the Dark Lord to be fickle and sometimes rather odd, but this was the first time she had ever heard of his interest in taking a mate. Something about this didn’t seem right. She then asked Draco whom it was that he intended on marrying.



“Hermione Granger,” Draco murmured. “It’s worrying me to. I mean, first she traps Uncle Rodolphus, Rabastan, and Snape, but now she has turned our Master’s head. We must do something; we must kill her!”



Narcissa turned around and slapped her son around the face. “Don’t ever say that again. I don’t want you turning out like your father; I don’t want you to ever kill anyone. I gave you life – I want you to do the same one-day. I don’t want you to take life!”



Draco turned to look at his mother. “You’re on her side?”



“I want her to be happy, yes. I thought you were charmed by her once, I sort of wished you had asked her out.”



All of a sudden the wards shook on the Manor, and the new elf popped her head around. “Mistress, Mr Lestrange, and Mr Snape to see you.”



“Send them in,” she ordered in a lofty tone.



Rodolphus and Snape walked into the sitting room and both observed the boy. Draco rolled his eyes and stormed out of the room and stormed up the stairs. He had no wish to see what might happen in that room.



“What do you two want?” Narcissa sighed. “If it’s about Lucius I don’t know where he is. Sorry. I would tell you if I did know.”



“No,” Rodolphus said. “Do you want to help Hermione?”



Narcissa looked at her friends. “Yes,” she said firmly. “I liked her. When I finally managed to talk to her.”



“Good,” Rodolphus said. “Then only you and Snape are to know the meeting place, I have told only one other; a Neville Longbottom. He seems to have grown up in the past two weeks. He’s lost his innocence that’s for sure. Anyway, we need to move.”



“Move? But I can’t leave Draco on his own. Someone needs to show him that there is another choice but Lucius!”



Rodolphus looked at the fragile woman before him. “He’s old enough to make his own choices, Narcissa,” he said regretfully.



Narcissa looked at Rodolphus and nodded. “I suppose so.”



“So, where is the address?” Snape asked.



Rodolphus looked at his two friends. “Rivenshaw Lodge. Apparently it’s where my father has been hiding out for forty years.”



“But isn’t that where?” Narcissa asked; Rodolphus nodded.



“Go and pack, and don’t tell your son anything!”



Narcissa nodded and hastened out of the room. She didn’t want to abandon her son but Rodolphus was right. Draco was old enough to make his own choices now.



Rodolphus looked at Severus. “We’d better go and pack before my idiot brother finds out what we’re up to.”



Snape nodded in agreement. They walked out of the Manor and apparated back to the Manor. The three of them didn’t know they had been overheard.



“Interesting,” a voice murmured. “Most interesting. You are not the only ones planning on getting her back though!”



A/N – So, Harry knows. Severus, Narcissa, Rodolphus and Neville Longbottom are going to go into hiding, and who was the person that overheard their conversation? Find out in the next exciting episode of A Strange Love!