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braveclementine · 2 days

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Chapter 23

Warnings: None. However, future chapters will contain sexual content so readers that are under the age of 18 may have to skip those chapters (Please keep note of the warnings).

Copyright: I do not own any Wizarding World characters that J.K. Rowling wrote. I do however own Elizabeth Kane (main character) and Trang Nyguen (best friend). There should be no use of these two names without my permission. I also do not condone any copying of this.

𝕴 𝖍𝖆𝖉 𝖆𝖑𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖉𝖞 said my good-byes to the kids and to Severus. Severus was sitting in the headmasters' office, waiting for the Dark Lords' notice. Trang had come into the room, telling me that Neville had left to get Harry. And then she disappeared into the room to be with the kids. So I had kissed Severus one last time, and had left without looking back.

Now, I was entering the Room of Requirement. Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Neville were back and all of the students were standing around them, chattering excitedly.

I could not bring myself to muster up such excitement.

"Why can't you tell us? It's something to do with fighting You-Know-Who, right?" Neville was asking as I silently took a spot near Susan and Ernie.

"Well, yeah-" Harry was saying.

"Then we'll help you."

"You don't understand. We- we can't tell you. We've got to do it- alone."

"Why?"

"Because Dumbledore left the three of us a job and we weren't supposed to tell- I mean he wanted us to do it, just the three of us."

"We're his army. Dumbledore's army. We were all in it together, we've been keeping it going while you three have been off on your own-"

"It hasn't exactly been a picnic, mate." Ron interrupted.

"I never said it had, but I don't see why you can't trust us. Everyone in this room's been fighting and they've been driven in here because the Carrows were hunting them down. Everyone in here's proven they're loyal to Dumbledore- loyal to you."

I wanted to interject, to tell Harry to give up his stubborn pride. But I would not alter a minute here, a single frame of my vision. I couldn't afford it. If we were off by a single minute. . . then perhaps I wouldn't be able to save their lives.

"Look," Harry started, but the portrait behind him opened.

"We got your message, Neville! Hello you three, I thought you must be here!" It was Luna and Dean naturally, as expected. "Hi everyone! Oh, it's great to be back!"

"Luna, what are you doing here? How did you-"

"I sent for her. I promised her and Ginny that if you turned up I'd let them know. We all thought that if you came back, it would mean revolution. That we were going to overthrow Snape and the Carrows."

Harry met my eyes. I wondered what he saw there, what he was thinking about.

"Of course that's what it means, isn't it, Harry? We're going to fight them out of Hogwarts?"

"Listen. I'm sorry, but that's not what we came back for. There's something we've got to do, and then-"

"You're going to leave us in this mess?" Michael demanded.

"No!" Ron interjected once more. "What we're doing will benefit everyone in the end, it's all about trying to get rid of You-Know-Who-"

"Then let us help! We want to be a part of it!"

The portrait opened once more and my heart fell down through my stomach as Fred came through the portal with George, Ginny, and Lee. And down in my stomach, my heart started to pound erratically. My hand reached into my pocket, gently squeezing, fingers counting the vials of liquid luck I had. Four. Fred, Dad, Tonks, Severus.

Dad and Severus came first but I'd be damned if I didn't try and help Fred and Tonks too.

"Aberforth's getting a bit annoyed. He wants a kip and his bar's turned into a railway station." Fred said.

Cho Chang came through and I rolled my eyes, inching myself closer to Hermione.

"I got the message." Cho said, sitting next to Michael.

"So what's the plan, Harry?" George asked.

Fred caught me staring at him and winked.

"There isn't one."

"Just going to make it up as we go along, are we? My favorite kind." Fred said, rubbing his hands together.

Oh Fred.

"you've got to stop this! What did you call them all back for? This is insane-"

"We're fighting, aren't we? The message said Harry was back, and we were going to fight! I'll have to get a wand, though-"

"You haven't got a wand-?" Seamus asked Dean in shock.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione talked amongst themselves while the rest of us sat in wait. Fred and George started to crack jokes. Fred said, "A blind wizard walks into a bar, finds his way to a stool, and sits down. He says rather loudly to the barkeep, 'Hey, how would you like to hear a Hufflepuff joke?' The bar goes silent and the barkeep replies, 'Sir, I will not lie to you. You are speaking to a Hufflepuff. The man behind you is an Auror from Hufflepuff, the woman to your right is a Hufflepuff dueling champion, and we all have our wands drawn. Do you really want to continue?' The blind wizard goes silent for a moment before curtly replying, 'No I don't. Not if I'm going to have to explain it three times!'"

The students around them laughed and a small smile appeared on my lips. Ernie on the other hand, rolled his eyes. Fred winked at me again.

I took it all back. Dad. Tonks. Fred. Severus. All of their lives were equally important and I just had to save who I could. I wouldn't put Dads' life over Freds'. He wouldn't want me to, and this young man who was sitting in front of me had his whole life ahead of himself. I would do everything in my power to keep him alive.

"Okay." Harry suddenly called out. "There's something we need to find. Something- something that'll help us overthrow You-Know-Who. It's here at Hogwarts, but we don't know where. It might have belonged to Ravenclaw. Has anyone heard of an object like that? Has anyone ever come across something with her eagle on it, for instance?"

I couldn't stop myself, despite how much I wanted to. But after years of answering questions as quickly as possible, on top of all of the stress I was under, the words just spilled out of me. "You're talking about her diadem, Harry."

"Yes!" Luna agreed. "The lost diadem of Ravenclaw. Daddy's trying to duplicate it."

"Yeah, but the lost diadem, is lost. That's sort of the point." Michael said, rolling his eyes.

"When was it lost?" Harry asked.

"Centuries ago, they say. Professor Flitwick says the diadem vanished with Ravenclaw herself. People have looked, but, nobody's ever found a trace of it, have they?"

This time I bit my tongue to stay quiet.

"Sorry, but what is a diadem?" Ron asked.

I nearly threw my chair at him.

"It's a kind of crown. Ravenclaw's was supposed to have magical properties, enhance the wisdom of the wearer." Terry supplied helpfully. I loved Ravenclaws.

"Yes, Daddy's Wrackspurt siphons-"

"And none of you have ever seen anything that looks like it?"

"I totally didn't draw you a picture of it or anything last year." I muttered under my breath.

"If you'd like to see what the diadem's supposed to look like, I could take you up to our common room and show you, Harry? Ravenclaw's wearing it in her statue." Cho suggested and I could've sworn to Merlin that she actually fluttered her damn eyelids. War was about to break out and she was flirting?

Harry muttered to Ron and Hermione again as Cho got to her feet. Bless Ginny, love her. "No, Luna will take Harry, won't you, Luna?" She said fiercely.

"Oooh, yes, I'd like to." Luna said happily.

"How do we get out?" Harry asked Neville.

"Over here." Neville led Harry and Luna over and I slowly rose from my chair, pacing the back of the room.

Hermione timidly approached me. "How are the children?"

"Fine. Trang is with them now." I said mechanically.

"Are you-"

"Hermione, I'd really rather not be bothered right now." I inhaled sharply, looking over at her. "It'll just make everyone nervous."

"Okay." Hermione said softly, heading back over to where Ron was.

I knew I needed to act better. I needed everyone to feel confident. My fear was not for the people in this room- almost all of who would be fine- but my attitude would convince them differently. I needed to put a confident face on.

I straightened up. I pushed all of my fears and worries down, locking them in the depths of my heart. I would do what I always did, every year during the conflict: I would become the main event.

I ran from the room, finding myself easily on the right floor as I watched Flitwick, Sprout, and McGonagall duel Severus. He barely caught my eye before he took off through a classroom door. I sprinted after the teachers, heart pounding, wand drawn. I could hear McGonagall cry out, "Coward! COWARD!"

"What's happened, what's happened?" Luna asked somewhere as I skidded to a stop inside of the room.

"He jumped." Professor McGonagall said as Harry and Luna joined me in the room.

"You mean he's dead?" Harry sprinted to the window as Flitwick and Sprout let out yells of shock at his sudden appearance. I hated the hope that was in Harry's voice, but I pushed it away once more.

"No, he's not dead. Unlike Dumbledore, he was still carrying a wand. . . and he seems to have learned a few tricks from his master." McGonagall caught my eye and the bitterness in her voice lightened a little.

"Harry!" Slughorns' voice came from behind. "Elizabeth! My dear children. . . what a surprise. . . Minerva, do please explain. . . Severus. . . what?"

"Our headmaster is taking a short break."

"Professor! Professor, we've got to barricade the school, he's coming now!" Harry shouted, pressing his hands to his forehead.

"Very well. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is coming. Potter has work to do in the castle on Dumbledore's orders. We need to put in place every protection of which we are capable while Potter does what he needs to do." McGonagall said swiftly.

"You realize, of course, that nothing we do will be able to keep out You-Know-Who indefinitely?" Flitwick asked.

"But we can hold him up." Sprout said firmly.

"Thank you, Pomona. I suggest we establish basic protection around the place, then gather our students and meet in the Great Hall. Most must be evacuated, though if any of those who are over age wish to stay and fight, I think they ought to be given the chance."

"Agreed. I shall meet you in the Great Hall in twenty minutes with my House." Professor Sprout said as she left the classroom.

"I can act from here." Flitwick said, starting to recite incantations. Harry quickly approached him to ask him about the diadem.

"We shall meet you and your Ravenclaws in the Great Hall, Filius!" McGonagall said and beckoned to the three of us. We exited the classroom only for Slughorn to finally say something, which were not to any of our liking.

"My word. What a to-do! I'm not at all sure whether this is wise, Minerva. He is bound to find a way in, you know, and anyone who has tried to delay him will be in most grievous peril-"

"I shall expect you and the Slytherins in the Great Hall in twenty minutes, also. If you wish to leave with your students, we shall not stop you. But if any of you attempt to sabotage our resistance or take up arms against us within this castle, then, Horace, we duel to kill."

"Minerva!"

"The time has come for Slytherin House to decide upon its loyalties. Go and wkae your students, Horace."

The three of us had to run after Professor McGonagall from how fast she was walking. She stood now in the middle of the corridor and raised her wand, "Piertotum- oh, for heaven's sake, Filch, not now-"

"Students out of bed! Students in the corridors!"

"They're supposed to be, you blithering idiot! Now go and do something constructive! Find Peeves!"

"P-Peeves?" Filch stammered.

"Yes, Peeves, you fool, Peeves! Haven't you been complaining about him for a quarter of a century? Go and fetch him, at once!" Filch hobbled away, muttering under his breath as he did so. "And now- Piertotum Locomotor!"

We watched as the statues and suits of armor jumped from their plinths, and heard the crashes of the ones above and below this floor. The stone statues marched in uniform line through the hallway and down the stairs, probably out to the front of the castle.

"Hogwarts is threatened! Man the boundaries, protect us, do your duty to our school!" Professor McGonagall clasped her hands together and actually smiled for a moment. "I always wanted to do that."

She turned to us. "Now, Potter. You, Miss Lovegood, and Miss Kane had better return to your friends and bring them to the Great Hall- I shall rouse the other Gryffindors."

Harry, Luna, and I sprinted through the school. We passed students with their teachers. Heads spun as we ran past and whispers followed us with our names in them. We ignored them, running up the flights of stairs and down hallways that would lead us to the Room of Requirement.

Luna, Harry, and I ran down the steep staircase that was in the Room of Requirement and came to a stop at the bottom of the stairs.

"Wh-" Harry sputtered, slipping down some of the stairs.

The first people I saw were Kingsley and Dad, who were standing next to each other. On instinct, my hand slipped into my pocket, fingering the different bottles of liquid luck once more. I breathed out. I could do this.

"Harry, what's happening?" Dad asked as he met us at the foot of the stairs. Without talking to me, he pulled me into a bone crushing hug.

"Voldemort's on his way, they're barricading the school- Snape's run for it- What are you doing here? How did you know?"

"We sent messages to the rest of Dumbledore's Army." Fred spoke up. "You couldn't expect everyone to miss the fun, Harry, and the D.A. let the Order of the Phoenix know, and it all kind of snowballed."

I could see the original Gryffindor Quidditch Chasers talking to Oliver Wood like it was some nice get together. I bit my bottom lip.

"What first, Harry. What's going on?"

"They're evacuating the younger kids and everyone's meeting in the Great Hall to get organized. We're fighting." Harry said.

Their was a huge roar and the crowd surged past us. I stepped to the side, clutching dad's arm, not wanting to let him go.

There weren't much people once we were left standing. It was simply Harry, Dad, Mr and Mrs. Weasley, Fred and George, Bill, Fleur, Ginny, and myself. Mrs. Weasley was arguing about Ginny about the fighting.

"You're underage! I won't permit it! The boys, yes, but you, you've got to go home!"

"I won't! I'm in Dumbledore's Army-"

"A teenagers' gang!"

"A teenagers' gang that's about to take him on, which no one else has dared to do!" Fred tried to defend his sister.

"She's sixteen! She's not old enough! What you two were thinking, bringing her with you-"

"Mum's right, Ginny. You can't do this. Everyone underage will have to leave, it's only right." Bill said softly.

"I can't go home! My whole family's here, I can't stand waiting there alone and not knowing and-" She shook her head and finished bitterly. "Fine. I'll say good-bye now, then, and-"

We looked over at the entrance hole as we heard scuffling and the thump of somebody falling out of it. The figure pulled himself up on the nearest chair, looking around and asking, "Am I too late? Has it started? I only just found out, so I- I-"

Percy broke off, spluttering into silence. The silence was so thick that it felt like the room was actually growing colder.

"So- 'ow eez leetle Teddy?"

My dad just blinked at her, startled before he understood and said rather loudly, "I- oh yes- he's fine! Yes, Tonks is with him- at her mother's- Here I've got a picture!" He was actually shouting now, his hands grabbing at his pockets before pulling out a photograph, showing it to me, Harry, and Fleur.

My brother was an adorable little thing, very tiny with a head full of bright turquoise hair. He waved his little fists at the camera.

"I was a fool!" Percy roared, so loudly I flinched and dad nearly dropped the photograph, clutching it tightly with his fingers once more. "I was an idiot, I was a pompous prat, I was a- a-"

"Ministry-loving, family-disowning, power-hungry moron?" Fred finished.

"Yes, I was!"

"Well, you can't say fairer than that." Fred said, holding his hand out to his elder brother.

Percy didn't even get to shake his brothers' hand. . . the last time to shake his brothers' hand, before Mrs. Weasley ran forwards in tears, pushing Fred to the side. . . the last time she would push him to the side, to strangle Percy in a hug.

"I'm sorry, Dad." Percy said. Mr. Weasley hurried forward to hug his son like he had returned from the dead.

But they would never hug Fred again.

"What made you see sense, Perce?" George asked.

"It's been coming on for a while. But I had to find a way out, and it's not so easy at the Ministry, they're imprisoning traitors all the time. I managed to make contact with Aberforth and he tipped me off ten minutes ago that Hogwarts was going to make a fight of it, so here I am."

"Well, we do look to our prefects to take a lead at times such as these." George imitated Percys' pompous manner from when he had been at Hogwarts. "Now let's get upstairs and fight, or all the good Death Eaters'll be taken."

"So, you're my sister-in-law now?" Percy asked, shaking hands with Fleur while walking up the stairs with his twin brothers and Bill.

"Ginny!" Mrs. Weasley snapped as the young girl had been trying to sneak out of the Room of Requirement herself.

"What about this?" I quickly interfered. Ginny looked at me with hope and Dad closed his mouth since I was about to steal his line. "We need someone to stay in the room to keep it open, specifically to keep the secret passageway between Aberforths' bar and this room open to evacuate the kids. Ginny can stay here for the time being, that way she won't be in the middle of fighting, but then she can be an informant and the gatekeeper."

"I-" Ginny glared angrily at me.

"That's a good idea. Ginny, you stay in this room, you hear me?" Mr. Weasley said. '

Mr and Mrs. Weasley walked out and Dad went with them. I hesitated and then squeezed Harry's shoulder, hurrying back to my fathers' side. Harry would be able to manage without me, but I needed to keep an eye on my father.

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖊𝖓𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖓𝖙𝖊𝖉 𝖈𝖊𝖎𝖑𝖎𝖓𝖌 of the Great Hall was dark and scattered with stars, and below it the four long House tables were lined with tired students, half in traveling cloaks and half in dressing gowns. Every school ghost imaginable was in the room, floating up near the ceiling.

For a moment, I forgot my worries, as I saw Firenze standing with the remaining teachers and the members of the Order of the Phoenix. They were all standing behind Professor McGonagall who was making her speech about who could stay and who could not.

"And what if we want to stay and fight?" Ernie asked.

I smiled a little.

"If you are of age, you may stay."

"What about our things? Our trunks, our owls?"

Priorities please?

"We have no time to collect possessions. The important thing is to get you out of here safely."

"Where's Professor Snape?" A girl from Slytherin asked.

My heart clenched.

"He has, to use a common phrase, done a bunk." Professor McGonagall said and the other three house tables cheered. I simply looked down at the ground.

No emotion.

"We have already placed protection around the castle, but it is unlikely to hold for very long unless we reinforce it. I must ask you, therefore, to move quickly and calmly, and do as your prefects-"

"I know that you are preparing to fight." Some of the students screamed as Voldemorts' voice filled the room. It surrounded everyone, like he was both whispering in your ear, yet speaking right in front of you, while also speaking at the front of room, echoing throughout. "Your efforts are futile. You cannot fight me. I do not want to kill you. I have great respect for the teachers of Hogwarts. I do not want to spill magical blood."

The room was silent now, though some of the students still clutched each other.

"Give me Harry Potter or Elizabeth Kane and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter, and I shall leave the school untouched. Give me Elizabeth Kane, and you will be rewarded. You have until Midnight."

There was a silence again as every eye in the room found Harry and I. Pansy Parkinson rose from the table and screamed, "But there they are! They're there! Someone grab them!"

Neither Harry nor I even had to move as the three tables moved in unison, facing the Slytherin table. Wands were drawn at every angle, not just from the students, but from the Professors and Order as well.

"Thank you, Miss Parkinson. You will leave the Hall first with Mr. Filch. If the rest of your House could follow." Professor McGonagall said in a clipped voice.

"Wait." A Slytherin male rose. I frowned just slightly because I recognized him. It was the same Slytherin seventh year from last year that had complimented me on the Professor artwork. The Slytherin who had decided that they would all sign it for the Professors. The Slytherin who had made the uniting of four houses- even for just that day- possible. "What if we want to fight regardless of our house?"

There was a stunned silence before some of them broke out in whispers, including the Slytherins around him.

He flushed only slightly, but said determinedly. "Elizabeth showed us last year what we can do when the four houses unite so. . ." He walked forwards, approaching me. I pushed past the students who were attempting to 'protect' me and met him halfway.

I smiled a little, holding out my hand. He shook it, the two of us keeping eye contact. "Welcome to the team."

He nodded. Ten other Slytherins broke away, joining him. I glanced up at the front of the Great Hall, meeting Firenze's' eyes. He looked so proud, smiling gently, and nodded at me. I smiled back just slightly.

The rest of the Slytherins left after Filch. One by one, McGonagall dismissed the other three people, Gryffindor showing their bravery by leaving half the table there. McGonagall descended on them to start kicking the ones underage out.

Kingsley stepped up to the platform while this was happening. "We've only got half an hour until midnight, so we need to act fast! A battle plan has been agreed between the teachers of Hogwarts and the Order of the Phoenix. Professor Flitwick, Sprout, and McGonagall are going to take groups of fighters up to the three highest towers- Ravenclaw, Astronomy, and Gryffindor- where they'll have a good overview, excellent positions from which to work spells. Meanwhile Remus, Arthur, and I will take groups into the grounds. We'll need somebody to organize defense of the entrances of the passageways into the school-"

"Sounds like a job for us!" Fred called out, motioning between himself and George.

"All right, leaders up here and we'll divide up the troops!"

"So," I said, turning to the Slytherin. "I think it's only fair I learn your name."

He grinned, "Malcolm Samael."

I tilted my head slightly. "Jewish mythology last name?"

He flushed a little. "You recognize it."

I raised a teasing eyebrow. "Well perhaps you aren't aware but uh, I happen to be the smartest witch of my year."

"Duly noted." He smirked. "So, you our team leader?" He motioned to the other ten Slytherins with him, nine boys and a girl. All of them looking to be the same age as him.

"You are." I said, smacking his arm. "I got a solo job to do. Good luck."

"You too Kane." He said and the eleven of them headed off. Others watched them go, clearly not trusting them, but I did, despite not knowing their future.

I stayed in the shadows, following dad and his group as a cat. I stayed in the shadows, even as the Death Eaters collided with them, my green eyes scanning the battlefield until I laid eyes on my prey: Dolohov. The man who would kill my father.

I streaked across the battlefield as he started to duel Dad. The two of them fought viciously, streaks of green flying. I couldn't waste anymore time. I raced towards Dolohov, before leaping at him. He looked at me, stunned, perhaps wondering why a cat was lunging at him. He raised his wand and I switched, becoming human.

He crashed to the ground, staring up at me in shock, the light dying from his eyes as I had stabbed him through the neck, killing him immediately.

"ELIZABETH!" My dad shouted, racing across the battlefield, skidding to a stop, staring down at me. I staggered to my feet, pulling out the liquid luck.

"He would've killed you." I whispered, pushing the golden liquid into his hand. "Drink. Now. Do you understand me?"

"Yes." He whispered.

"I have to go save Fred next." I whispered. "Don't die on me dad, please. That was the only one I foresaw."

"Okay." He nodded. "Elizabeth, I love you."

Tears pricked at my eyes but I wouldn't let them flow over. "I love you too."

I raced back into the castle only to collide with Tonks halfway there. I grabbed her, dragging her away from the fighting.

"Elizabeth let me go! I have to get to Remus!" Tonks shouted, trying to jerk her arm out of my grip.

"Not before you drink this." I snapped.

I couldn't kill Bellatrix. For one thing, she would see my cat surprise attack far quicker than Dolohov, nor would she hesitate like he had. For another, Mrs. Weasley had to be the one to kill her, it was imperative for Voldemorts' death, I knew that much. But I couldn't let Tonks die either. Dad was saved and he wouldn't fall in love again, I knew that much too.

"Liquid luck?" Tonks asked.

"Listen to me. You must stay away from Bellatrix Tonks, at all costs. Dolohov was supposed to killed Dad and Bellatrix was supposed to kill you. I killed Dolohov so Dad should be fine, but I can't kill Bellatrix. You have to stay away from her, please Tonks. Dad won't make it if you don't."

"Okay." Tonks said, calmer now that I had explained it to her. She downed the potion right in front of me, before taking off again and this time, I let her.

I sprinted, sweat pouring down my back, my hair sticking to the back of my neck. I made it to the Room of Requirement, only to dive out of the way as the doors shot open, Fiendfyre shooting a flame above my body. I rolled out of the way just as the doors closed, three brooms colliding on the floor, dropping their passengers.

"C-Crabbe. C-Crabbe. . ." Malfoy choked out. Ash covered his face as he coughed and retched. Goyle laid nearby unconscious, but Harry, Hermione, and Ron were alright.

"He's dead." Ron said harshly.

"Are you three alright?" I asked.

"Where have you been?" Hermione asked.

"I just saved my dad's life." I explained, helping her to her feet. A look of understanding and then relief crossed her face. "And hopefully Tonks as well."

Suddenly, the Headless Haunt ghosts burst out of the wall, all of them carrying their heads under their arms, which were screaming for blood. They rode on into the battle that was ensuing down the hall and screams echoed back down to us that were not from the ghost heads.

"Where's Ginny?" Harry asked, getting to his own feet. "She was here. She was supposed to be going back into the Room of Requirement!"

"Blimey, d'you reckon it'll still work after that fire?" Ron asked as he also got to his feet. "Shall we split up and look-"

"No." Hermione said. "Let's stick together. I say we go- Harry, what's that on your arm?"

"What? Oh yeah-"

It broke my heart to see an heirloom so old, ancient, and valuable destroyed like that. It was literally a piece of history that had been ruined beyond repair. Something that should've been in a museum or put being a glass case, unrecognizable and in burned pieces with melted gems.

"It must have been the Fiendfyre!" Hermione gasped as we watched it literally burst into a thousand pieces, clinking lightly as they hit the marble floor. My heart shattered with it.

"Sorry?"

"Cursed fire." I explained quickly, heart thumping again as I knew Fred was going to die soon. "It's one of the substances that destroy Horcruxes."

"I would never, ever have dared use it, it's so dangerous- how did Crabbe know how to-" Hermione explained.

"Must've learned from the Carrows." Harry said.

"Shame he wasn't concentrating when they mentioned how to stop it, really." Ron said. "If he hadn't tried to kill us all, I'd be quite sorry he was dead."

"But don't you realize? This means, if we can just get the snake-" Hermione said.

I froze, my hand in my pocket as I realized I had two bottles left instead of one. I had been so focused on saving Dad and following him, that I had never given the Felix Felicis to Fred.

"No." I whispered.

I turned to shouts, my heart failing. Death Eaters had backed Fred and Percy into view. I sprinted forwards, the other three on my tail.

"Hello Minister!" Percy bellowed, sending a neat jinx straight at Thicknesse, who dropped his wand and clawed at the front of his robes, apparently in awful discomfort. "Did I mention I'm resigning."

Time please slow down.

"You're joking, Perce!" Fred shouted as I shot a stunning spell at his Death Eater. But I knew that wasn't what would kill him.

I gripped the liquid luck tightly in my other hand.

Please. He just needed to drink a drop.

"You actually are joking, Perce. . ."

Please.

"Fred! Catch!" I shouted, tossing the liquid luck under hand to him. He caught it, continuing to speak to Perce, still laughing, "I don't think I've heard you joke since you were-"

"FRED!" I screamed.

The air exploded. I flew off of my feet, squeezing my eyes closed as dust settled around us. I slammed into the wall, feeling something metal and long collide with my back. I cried out, before slamming against the marble floor. Rock hit me from above

I struggled, trying to claw my way out from underneath the rubble I was trapped under. I could hear Percy screaming and tears streaked down my face as I wiggled like a turtle on its back, but the chunks of rock were crushing me.

Hermione staggered to her feet with Harry's help, levitating the rock off of me.

"No- no- no! No! Fred! No!"

"NO." I sobbed, collapsing into Hermione.

Percy was kneeling by Fred's side shaking him, Ron next to him. Fred's eyes stared without seeing, the ghost of his last laugh still etched upon his face, a puddle of golden liquid and shattered glass in his hand.

⬅️➡️

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braveclementine · 2 days

Text

Chapter 21

Warnings: None. However, future chapters will contain sexual content so readers that are under the age of 18 may have to skip those chapters (Please keep note of the warnings).

𝕴 𝖘𝖙𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖜𝖎𝖙𝖍 my feet in the sea, looking out at the storm. March had slowly melted in April and April showers bring May flowers so the wind bustled around me, blowing my dress out in front of me. Remus was not asleep, though he was quiet in my arms, looking at the storm with me.

Trang was not with me for once, staying up at the house. She said I was crazy for coming out here at this time, but I couldn't stay inside. I knew dad was coming tonight, to tell everyone that his son had been born.

That my brother had been born.

It was weird, that this boy who I would not meet until his father was dead, would be the brother I got to recognize first, before my blood one.

I was to melancholy to stay with them. So I stayed outside, telling Remus a story.

In the depths there is a man lost in time.

He has opened the wrong doors. Chosen the wrong paths.

Wandered farther than he should have.

He is looking for someone. Something. Someone. He does not remember who the someone is, doe snot have the ability, here in the depths where time is fragile, to grasp the thoughts and memories and hold on to them, to sort through them to recall more than glimpses.

Sometimes he stops and in the stopping the memory grows clear enough for him to see her face, or pieces of it. But the clarity motivates him to continue and then the pieces fall apart again and he walks on not knowing for whom or what it is he walks.

He only knows he has not reached it yet.

Reached her yet.

Who? He looks toward the sky that is hidden from him by rock and earth and stories. No one answers his question. There is a dripping he mistakes for water, but no other sound. Then the question is forgotten again.

He walks down crumbling stairs and trips over tangled roots. He has long since passed by the last of the rooms with their doors and their locks, the places where the stories are content to remain on their shelves.

He has untangled himself from vines blossoming with story-filled flowers. He has traversed piles of abandoned teacups with text baked into their crackled glaze. He has walked through puddles of ink and left footprints that formed stories in his wake that he did not turn around to read.

Now he travels through tunnels with no light at their ends, feeling his way along unseen walls until he finds himself someplace somewhere sometime else.

He passes over broken bridges and under crumbling towers.

He walks over bones he mistakes for dust and nothingness he mistakes for bones.

His once-fine shoes are worn. He abandoned his coat some time ago.

He does not remember the coat with its multitude of buttons. The coat, if coats could remember such things, would remember him but by the time they are reunited the coat will belong to someone else.

On clear days memories focus in his mind in scattered words and images. His name. The night sky. A room with red velvet drapery. A door. His father. Books, hundreds and thousands of books. A single book in her hand. Her eyes. Her hair. The tips of her fingers.

But most of the memories are stories. Pieces of them. Blind wanderers and star-crossed lovers, grand adventures and hidden treasures. Mad kings and cryptic witches.

The things he has seen and heard with his own eyes and ears mix with tales he has read or heard with his own eyes and ears. They are inseparable down here.

There are not many clear days. Clear nights.

There is no way to tell the difference here in the depths.

Night or day. Fact or fiction. Real or imagined.

Sometimes he feels he has lost his own story. Fallen out of its pages and landed here, in between, but he remains in his story. He cannot leave it no matter how he tries.

The man lost in time walks along the shore of the sea and does not look up to see the lack of stars. he wanders through empty cities of honey and bone, down streets that once range with music and laughter. He lingers in abandoned temples, lighting candles for forgotten gods and running his fingers over the fossils of unaccepted offerings. He sleeps in beds that no one has dreamed upon in centuries and his own sleep is deep, his dreams as unfathomable as his waking hours.

"Elizabeth!"

"At first the bees watched him. Followed him while he walked and hovered while he slept. They thought he might be someone else.

He is just a boy. A man. Something in between.

Now the bees ignore him. They go about their own business. They decided that one man out of his depth is no cause for alarm but even the bees are wrong from time to time.

"Elizabeth!"

This time I heard the shout, the first I thought an imagination or just a strange production of the wind.

It's my fathers' voice.

I close my eyes while Remus stirs, looking over my shoulder.

I heard footsteps step into the water and that is when I finally turn around to face my father for the first time in months.

Even the state of me being pregnant does not take the joy out of his eyes or the colour from his cheeks. He looked younger than I had seen him, at least since I had been a young girl myself.

"It's a boy!" He said, his voice full of the same joy as his eyes.

"I know." I said with a smile that I could make reach my eyes, no matter how hard I tried. "I saw. Teddy, it's a wonderful name dad. I am so happy for you."

"You'll be the Godmother of course?" He asked, as though there was no other choice.

"Really?" I asked. This time, the astonished smile did manage to reach my eyes.

"Of course!" He exclaimed, looking surprised that I was surprised. "Who else would I choose?"

I just shrugged with a smile, feeling a drop of happiness warm my insides. "I'm really, really happy for you two dad." I leaned forwards so that I could rest my head against his shoulder, giving him the best hug that I could manage.

It was then that he sort've snapped out of his own daze. "You're pregnant?!"

"Twins." I replied lightly.

Dad hesitated, looking like he wanted to say something, but also not wanting to say something. When I met his eyes though, I saw the disappointment there, which punched me in the gut so hard that I actually put a hand to my stomach as though I could soothe it.

"That's. . . that's great sweetheart."

We stood there silently on the beach, both of us avoiding each others' eyes. I swallowed back my tears, knowing that this could very well be one of my last times with him. So I said the only thing I could say to save the situation.

"They might not be Severus'."

I watched his expression furrow with confusion, before understanding, and finally his eyes filled with pity. "Oh, Elizabeth."

I pushed my hate far, far down for my dad's reaction. I refused to let any other emotions besides positive ones surround my last times with my father. Even if they were fake for me, I would not let my father die with the idea that our last interaction was negative.

Though, of course, he would not die at all since I would save his life.

"You should get back to Tonks and Teddy dad." I whispered. "They need you."

"E-"

"I love you." I said firmly, kissing his cheek. "Get back to your son. I should put my own down for sleep."

It was so weird, referring to the little boy as 'his son' instead of 'my brother' or even just calling him 'Teddy'. I knew then that I was not hiding my feelings as well as I had hoped. Dad would see right through me, just as he always did.

Just like he always would.

"Elizabeth just wait a minute." Dad said, reaching out to grab my elbow, since both hands were occupied with Remus.

I turned back to him, looking into his warm, brown eyes.

He pulled me into a full hug this time, his arms wrapped strongly, safely around me. I vowed right then and there that this would not be the last hug my father would give me. I would make sure to get another hug, and another. I would keep him alive, even if it cost Tonks and Fred. No matter what, I would keep my father.

Even if it cost me myself.

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

"𝕿𝖍𝖆𝖓𝖐 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖘𝖔 much Bill. And you, Fleur. We're sorry we stayed so long, but it was just beautiful." I said as Trang and I stood in their front yard, getting ready to disparate back to mountains outside of Hogsmeade.

"I actually wish you two could stay longer." Bill chuckled, hugging Trang first, and then me. "It's been nice, having company."

"Yes, we shall miss you both." Fleur said, hugging both of us as well, also kissing Remus on the forehead. He giggled, kicking his feet, reaching for her. "Aww." Fleur cooed to him, taking him from my arms to give him one final hug. The two of them had bonded greatly over the entire month we'd been here, and I knew they'd miss each other. I would make sure to reunite them again.

I knew that next week, Harry, Ron, and Hermione would take off for Gringotts. I was looking forwards to hearing about it- in the newspapers.

"We should go now." Trang said softly.

Fleur kissed Remus a bunch of times, making the baby giggle, before handing him back to me. Trang and I disapparated on our own without another word and appeared several feet apart from each other.

Trang and I stared at our stuff and Remus for a moment, wondering just exactly how we were supposed to get back to Hogwarts in broad daylight, when a figure came around the corner, stopping dead at the sight of us.

All three of our wands' were raised in seconds before recognizing each other. "Severus." I sighed happily, lowering my wand.

Severus rolled his eyes. "You are far to trusting Elizabeth. Can you at least attempt to let me ask you a question and you ask me one?"

I huffed, "What kind of kids am I having?"

"Twins. To easy." Severus responded.

I rolled my eyes again and then became a cat, which was a slight mistake because Remus was suddenly falling through thin air, as I could not hold him as a cat.

Severus lunged, falling on his stomach as he caught our son and I turned human again, laying on my side. "I think that answered everything." I said lightly, though my heart was pounding. Remus however, just giggled, waving his hands excitedly. I think he liked it.

"Merlin, Elizabeth." Severus said weakly, rolling over onto his stomach, setting our son down on his chest. He glanced over at Trang. "I suppose you're fine."

"Gee, thanks." Trang rolled her eyes, but smirked to herself.

"Uh, back to the castle?" I asked weakly. "Sorry."

Severus huffed, kissing the top of my head. I turned back into a black cat, hopping into Severus deep pockets. A second later, a pocket watch was placed beside me, engraved with Vietnamese artwork. I rolled my eyes, settling my paws on the metal as though it would keep Trang safer.

Severus moved quickly and I could hear the townspeople talking about their day to day lives in hushed whispers. I supposed that had to mean he'd hidden our luggage and Remus in his other pocket or somewhere.

He made a stop after about twenty minutes, pulling the watch out. I heard him tell Trang that wherever we were was the safest place for Trang, then he was walking again.

After another ten minutes or so, he was reaching into the pocket again, lifting me out. He placed me up on his shoulder and I could see that Remus was fast asleep in his crib now, his thumb in his mouth, his owl stuffed animal tucked against him.

I turned human, pulling Severus down onto the bed at the surprise of me transforming.

"I've missed you." He murmured, kissing me on the cheek.

"I've missed you too." I said with a small smile. "How was uh, your visit with him?"

He frowned. "I wish I had a forewarning about that. My heart leapt, thinking of you still being here."

"Hence, why we left." I said lightly, cupping his face. "Besides, I figured I'd keep as many things the same as possible. This timeline is to important to mess up or screw around with, even with the smallest of changes."

"I understand." Severus said softly. "I just wish it didn't have to be with me worrying about you all of the time. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you."

"You're never going to have to find out." I said softly.

Severus hesitated and then said, "Dobby has not delivered dinner for quite some time. I just. . . Are you. . ."

I looked away sadly. "I don't really want to talk about it Sev. There wasn't. . . I couldn't do anything. He didn't wear the clothes I made for him and since he didn't. . ."

"I get it. I'm sorry." He murmured. I looked up at him, wishing I could voice all of my worries aloud. But I couldn't. His life was one of the ones I needed to protect.

"Anyways." I said quickly, struggling to sit upright. Severus quickly got up, helping me up into a sitting position. "Uh, do you have another elf who I could ask to get some hot wings? I'm craving them again and the spicy food will also help with the pregnancy."

"Yeah, of course." Severus murmured. "I'll be right back."

He left the room and I wiped at my eyes quickly as I tried to take in all of my emotions at once. I did deep breath exercises until I heard the door open again, the smell of spicy chicken wings intruding my senses. My mouth started to water immediately and the corner of my mouth lifted up into a smile.

He put the plate down for me on a wooden TV tray (although he just called it a sick bed dinner table) and then asked if I needed anything else.

"Can you just sit with me for a little bit?" I asked softly. "I'm really sorry I'm in such a depressed state. Maybe it's the pregnancy."

Severus chuckled a little. "You're actually sorry for being down? Elizabeth you can see the future of everyone you love dying, your brother is on the run, your grandfather-in-law through Tonks has been murdered, you're stressed about all your friends, you're pregnant, and you're trying to save the world- your world anyways- all on your own. I'd be worried if you weren't depressed."

I took a bite of my chicken wing and hummed in satisfaction. "These give me so much happiness though."

Severus chuckled. "Well, you can have as many as you want."

I smiled then, a true smile. "I love you Severus."

He kissed the top of my head. "I love you more."

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

"𝕴 𝖍𝖆𝖙𝖊 𝖞𝖔𝖚!" The words ripped from my lips as I grasped the bed sheets in pain as another contraction hit.

"Push." Madam Pomfrey said simply, trying to regain my attention.

Severus smartly kept his mouth shut, sitting by the bedside, letting me dig my nails into his hand.

"I can see his or her head, you need to push Miss Kane." Madam Pomfrey said firmly.

"I am pushing!" I snarled.

Severus squeezed my hand lightly.

"There we go." Madam Pomfrey said, unfazed, the pressure dwindling just slightly as the first baby exited me. She took the bloody baby, quickly handing the baby up to me. I could see that it was a little boy, the little bit of hair that he had was black.

"Oh, Severus." I cooed now, "Look at him."

"He's beautiful." Severus whispered softly. The baby whimpered, opening his eyes to show that they were a beautiful brown.

"Headmaster, you should take the baby until the next one is out." Madam Pomfrey said.

I felt my heart fall at the idea of having to let go of my baby so soon, even to his father. Severus however, seemed to be able to get how I felt because he shook his head. Madam Pomfrey gave him a slightly exasperated look, but focused solely on helping me deliver the second baby.

"Elijah." I gasped out.

"What?" Severus asked slightly.

"Elijah Kingsley Snape." I said again, crying out from another contraction. "We would call him Elijah Kingsley. I just. . . I don't know his name just suddenly popped out."

"It's a beautiful name." Severus said softly. "Very, well," He chuckled. "Royal."

It took another thirty minutes for the second child to come out, which were full of Severus encouraging me, me yelling at both him and Madam Pomfrey, and Madam Pomfrey giving me times to push.

This time, it was a beautiful baby girl that Madam Pomfrey delivered from me. I relaxed into the sheets, sweating and panting, but excited all the same.

"Alright, let me check their eyes." Madam Pomfrey said, taking both of the babies into her arms, bringing them over to a table she had set up when Severus had rushed to get her. It took only thirty seconds, before she carried both of them over, a smile on her face. "They both have beautiful eyes Miss Kane."

I smiled, tears coming to my own. "Thank you Madam Pomfrey." I whispered, taking both of the little babies into my arms.

"Minerva." Severus said so suddenly and confidently that I looked up at the door to see if Professor McGonagall had come in, Madam Pomfrey doing the same.

"What?" I asked, seeing that she wasn't there.

"Her name is Minerva. . . how about Trang?" Severus asked hesitantly. "Minerva Trang?"

"I love it." I whispered, my black cloud that I had been carrying around popping and dissipating as my heart swelled with love. This was the true Severus Snape, the one that I knew and loved.

Madam Pomfrey was surveying Severus, which I wasn't entirely a fan of. I wanted her to like him of course, but after his name was cleared, not before. I didn't know how much her seeing this side of him would affect the future. Hopefully not by much.

"Thank you for coming down Madam Pomfrey." Severus said suddenly, looking up at her. "If anyone were to ask why you were up here for so long-"

"I will say that you were questioning me about the students underground trade to see if I know anything. If someone asks you, I knew nothing." Madam Pomfrey said solidly.

"Naturally." Severus said and then she left the room, leaving the two of us with Remus and two new, beautiful babies.

Severus gently sat on the edge of the bed, looking down at the little ones. "They are truly miraculous, Elizabeth."

"They are, aren't they?" I asked softly, staring at them in awe. Elijah Kingsleys' brown little eyes fluttered sleepily. It seemed that he was already tired from such an exciting event as being born.

"I'm glad I can change the colours of the cribs." Severus smiled a little, flicking his hand at the new cribs in question, changing one of the blue pads to pink instead.

I tsked at him. "You really thought both of them were going to be boys?"

"One can hope." Severus smirked, but softened as he took Minerva into his arms. "She is adorable."

"She's going to be your favorite, I already know it." I whispered softly, kissing his cheek. "You're going to protect her fiercely."

"Yes I am." Severus whispered, rocking her. She also had brown eyes, which seemed happy, even for a newborn. "No one will hurt her. Not while I'm around. I promise."

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braveclementine · 2 days

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Chapter 20

Warnings: None. However, future chapters will contain sexual content so readers that are under the age of 18 may have to skip those chapters (Please keep note of the warnings).

𝕿𝖗𝖆𝖓𝖌, 𝕽𝖊𝖒𝖚𝖘, 𝖆𝖓𝖉 I spent as much time outside as we could over the following days. Considering Remus and I had been pretty much confined to exactly one room for most of the year, it was nice to be outside and feel the fresh air on our faces.

The sea wasn't exactly how I imagined it would be. Trang said it was much nicer in France as well, more sun and less grey clouds. Apparently the water was bluer in France was well, instead of this dark, cold grey water.

Despite the look of the sea however, it was still pleasant. I enjoyed the smell of brine and sea salt, and the feel of swimming in the ocean was more enjoyable than a pool once I got used to it, though since I was pregnant I could not go very far out.

Most of the time, we simply sat on the beach, reading newspapers and books, or talking to Remus and making sure that he didn't try to eat any sand. He did make friends with a very small sea turtle, which would occasionally come back to the beach for 'sunbathing'. Remus' eyes lit up every time he saw it and would crawl over to it. It didn't seem to fear him, because it would let him pick him up, before eventually wiggling away and back into the sea.

"Elizabeth! Griphook wants to talk to us!" Harry called down from the cliff. I knew he'd been sitting up there for some time. And I'd heard Ron and Hermiones' voices drift down.

I groaned. "Why does he think I care?"

"Because you've cared and tried to be in on the action in the past six years." Trang said sleepily from where she was laying down on the sand, one arm thrown over her eyes.

"Fine." I grumbled. "Don't let Remus eat sand."

Trang groaned, sitting up so that she could keep an eye on my baby. I got up slowly, and gingerly made my way back up the slippery, rock stairs that were carved into the cliff side. I always hated this part of getting to and from the house. I always feared that I was going to slip on the steps and fall down them.

Bill appeared the top of the stairs, which he quickly came down, before helping me back up the rest of them. "Elizabeth, I said send a Patronus." He said in an exasperated voice. He had indeed asked me to send a Patronus if I ever needed help with the stairs.

"I know, I know." I said with a sheepish smile on my face. "Sorry Bill."

Once I was actually in the house, I met with Harry, Ron, and Hermione outside of the door that Hermione, Luna, Trang, and I slept in throughout the night.

Griphook was sitting in the wooden chair next to the crib that I would sit in to breast-feed and sing Remus to sleep in. "I have reached my decision, Harry Potter. Though the goblins of Gringotts will consider it base treachery, I have decided to help you-"

"That's great! Griphook, thank you, we're really-"

"-in return, for payment." Griphook finished.

"How much do you want? I've got gold."

"Not gold. I have gold. I want the sword. The sword of Godric Gryffindor."

"You can't have that. I'm sorry."

"then, we have a problem."

"We can give you something else." Ron said and I bit my bottom lip, knowing what was coming, "I'll bet the Lestranges have got loads of stuff, you can take your pick once we get into the vault."

"I am not a thief boy! I am not trying to procure treasures to which I have no right!" He spat angrily.

"The sword's ours-"

"It is not."

"We're Gryffindors, and it was Godric Gryffindor's-"

"And before it was Gryffindor's, whose was it?" the goblin demanded.

"No one's. It was made for him, wasn't it?" Ron asked.

"No! Wizarding arrogance again!" Griphook said, bristling with anger as he pointed a single, pointed finger at Ron. "That sword was Ragnuk the First's, taken from him by Godric Gryffindor! it is a lost treasure, a masterpiece of goblinwork! It belongs with the goblins! The sword is the price of my hire, take it or leave it!"

Harry glanced between the three of us before saying, "We need to discuss this, Griphook, if that's all right. Could you give us a few minutes?"

The goblin nodded, looking disgusted with all of us, though neither Hermione nor I had said a word the entire time.

We didn't just leave the room, but went downstairs into the living room. Gratefully, I sank back down on the couch while Harry walked to the fireplace, thinking. Ron followed behind him. "He's having a laugh. We can't let him have that sword."

"Is it true? Was the sword stolen by Gryffindor?" Harry asked Hermione and I.

"I don't know." Hermione said, sounding both desperate and hopeless. "Wizarding history often skates over what the wizards have done to other magical races, but there's no account that I know of that says Gryffindor stole the sword."

"It's possible, I only deal with the future, Harry." I replied wearily. "However, like Hermione, I have never read an account on either side of Gryffindor stealing the sword. I was under the impression he had bought it or it was gifted to him freely."

"It'll be one of those goblin stories about how the wizards are always trying to get one over on them. I suppose we should think ourselves lucky he hasn't asked for one of our wands." Ron said in that supremacy that I disliked. Sure, I did not like to think of us as bad people, but there was a bad egg in every group of people, no matter their blood purity, colour, religion, or species. Wizards were no exception.

"Goblins have got good reason to dislike wizards, Ron. They've been treated brutally in the past." Hermione tried to reason.

"Goblins aren't exactly fluffy little bunnies, though, are they? They've killed plenty of us too. They've fought dirty too."

"But arguing with Griphook about whose race is most underhanded and violent isn't going to make him more likely to help us, is it?"

Harry went to look out the window at Dobby's grave. From my angle on the couch, I could just barely see Luna as she arranged sea lavender in a jam jar at the headstone. I saw that the rock I'd carved the weird engraving into was propped up with the headstone Harry had made. I wondered when he'd done that.

"Okay, how's this?" Ron asked and the three of us looked at him. "We tell Griphook we need the sword until we get inside the vault, and then he can have it. There's a fake in there, isn't there? We switch them, and give him the fake."

I rolled my eyes and almost scoffed out loud. "Real classy."

"Ron, he'd know the difference better than we would! He's the only one who realized there been a swap!"

"Yeah, but we could scarper before he realizes-"

Ron actually seemed to shrink under Hermiones' glare. "That, is despicable. Ask for his help, then double-cross him? And you wonder why goblins don't like wizards, Ron?"

"All right, all right! It was the only thing I could think of! What's your solution then?"

"We need to offer him something else, something just as valuable."

"Brilliant. I'll go and get one of our other ancient goblin-made swords and you can gift wrap it." Ron replied sarcastically.

"Maybe he's lying. Griphook. Maybe Gryffindor didn't take the sword. How do we know the goblin version of history's right?" Harry said.

"Does it make a difference?"

"Changes how I feel about it." Harry sighed.

"Use grammar." I said.

"What?" The three said together.

"Liz, I know you love talking and using words, but really, I don't think that's going to work in this case." Ron replied.

I huffed, "Tell him he can have the sword, but do not tell him when he can have the sword. Tell him he can have the sword after he's helped you get into the vault- but avoid telling him exactly when he can have it."

"I was going to suggest that." Harry nodded. "It's good."

"Harry, we can't-"

"He can have it." Harry said in a finalized tone. "after we've used it on all of the Horcruxes. I'll make sure he gets it then. I'll keep my word."

"But that could be years!" Hermione protested.

"I know that, but he needen't. I won't be lying. . . really."

"I don't like it." Hermione said.

"Nor do I, much."

"Well, I think it's genius. Grammar, hah! Let's go and tell him." Ron said, getting up.

I followed them back up the stairs because, why not? Harry made the offer very carefully, just as I had suggested. Hermione frowned at the floor while I continued to stay impassive.

"I have your word, Harry Potter, that you will give me the sword of Gryffindor if I help you?"

"Yes."

"Then shake."

I knew grammar was important because the goblin himself had used it. He would help them get into the vault, but he would not help them get out of it. That was the danger, though I knew they would escape on the back of a dragon anyways.

"So, we begin!" Griphook said.

"Well," I said softly, getting up off the bed. "You don't need me from here on out. You've got it all on your own." I squeezed Harry's shoulder, kissing his cheek, leaving the bedroom. I was glad to be away from it all, away from the adventure for the first time.

I just wanted to be with my son.

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braveclementine · 2 days

Text

Chapter 18

Warnings: None. However, future chapters will contain sexual content so readers that are under the age of 18 may have to skip those chapters (Please keep note of the warnings).

"There we go." Trang murmured softly, sitting back from the radio that Severus had provided for us. Severus was sitting on the other side of the room at his desk, going over something for the school. Despite his headmastership being mostly just so a competent Death Eater was in charge, he still took his duties seriously.

I sat next to Trang, Remus in my arms. I knew that today was the day that Harry, Hermione, and Ron would be taken to Malfoy Manner. I had it so that Trang and I would leave at the same time they were taken. After all, the Dark Lord would visit Severus later tonight, though Severus would not get the owl for another hour and a half.

We were a little bit late to the show as Lee was saying, ". . . remains of Bathilda Bagshot have been discovered in Godric's Hollow. The evidence is that she died several months ago. The Order of the Phoenix informs us that her body showed unmistakable signs of injuries inflicted by Dark Magic."

My last link to my past was gone. The last person who knew me when I was young, knew me when I lived with Lily and James was dead. I had known it would be that way, but it still saddened me that I would never really know the truth of my living.

"Listeners, I'd like to invite you now to join us in a minute's silence in memory of Ted Tonks, Dirk Cresswell, Bathilda Bagshot, Gornuk, and the unnamed, but no less regretted, Muggles murdered by the Death Eaters."

I didn't glance up at Severus when I did not hear his quill stop on the parchment. I knew that every death that occurred brought guilt to Severus, like he should've prevented it somehow. So I did not berate him for not giving his silence. He already carried more than any of us ever would.

"Thank you. And now we turn to regular contributor Royal, for an update on how the new Wizarding order is affecting the Muggle world."

"Thanks River." I smiled as I heard Kingsley speak. I felt that reassurance, the way I did every time Kingsley spoke. Like he would set everything right in the world just by saying a few words.

"Muggles remain ignorant of the source of their suffering as they continue to sustain heavy casualties. However, we continue to hear truly inspirational stories of wizards and witches risking their own safety to protect Muggle friends and neighbors, often without the Muggles' knowledge. I'd like to appeal to all our listeners to emulate their example, perhaps by casting a protective charm over any Muggle dwellings in your street. Many lives could be saved if such simple measures are taken."

"And what would you say, Royal, to those listeners who reply that in these dangerous times, it should be 'Wizards first'?" Lee asked.

"I'd say that it's one short step from 'Wizards first' to 'Purebloods first' and then to 'Death Eaters' We're all human, aren't we? Every human life is worth the same, and worth saving."

"Excellently put, Royal, and you've got my vote for Minister of Magic if ever we get out of this mess. And now, over to Romulus for our popular feature 'Pals of Potter'."

"Thanks, River." I took the radio into my hands, hearing dads' voice. I felt this pain and happiness in my chest, knowing that he was alive.

"Romulus, do you maintain, as you have every time you've appeared on our program, that Harry Potter and Elizabeth Kane are still alive?"

Just out of the corner of my eye, I saw Severus shudder just the slightest bit.

"I do." Dad said fiercely. "There is no doubt at all in my mind that their deaths would be proclaimed as widely as possible by the Death Eaters if it had happened, because it would strike a deadly blow at the morale of those resisting the new regime. 'The Boy who Lived' and 'The Girl who Sees' remain symbols of everything for which we are fighting: the triumph of good, the power of innocence, the need to keep resisting."

I let out a half laugh, half sob sound. I felt Trang touch my shoulder gently with her hand.

"And what would you say to Harry and Elizabeth if you knew they were listening, Romulus?" Lee asked. I supposed he must've thought the two of us were together.

"I'd tell him we're all with him in spirit. I'd tell him to follow his instincts, which are good and nearly always right. And I'd tell her that I love her and I know she'll do what's right."

I smiled, a tear sliding down my cheek, dripping onto the radio.

"And our usual update on those friends of Harry Potter's who are suffering for their allegiance?" Lee asked.

"Well, as regular listeners will know, several of the most outspoken supporters of Harry Potter and Elizabeth Kane have now been imprisoned, including Xenophilius Lovegood, erstwhile editor of The Quibbler. We have also heard within the last few hours that Rubeus Hagrid, well known gamekeeper at Hogwarts School, has narrowly escaped arrest within the grounds of Hogwarts, where he is rumored to have hosted a 'Support Harry Potter' party in his house. However, Hagrid was not taken into custody, and is, we believe, on the run."

"A few hours ago?" Trang and I asked in sync, both of us looking over at Severus, who looked exasperated.

"He was throwing a party for the enemy of the Dark Lord. Of course I had to do something. It's not like I tried that hard." Severus glared at me.

". . . against following Hagrid's lead. 'Support Harry Potter' parties are unwise in the present climate."

Indeed they are Romulus. So we suggest that you continue to show your devotion to the man with the lightning scar by listening to Potterwatch! And now let's move to news concerning the wizard who is proving just as elusive as Harry Potter. We like to refer to him as the Chief Death Eater, and here to give his views on some of the more insane rumors circulating about him, I'd like to introduce a new correspondent: Rodent."

"Rodent?"

I couldn't help but giggle at the disdain in Freds' voice at this nickname. "I'm not being 'Rodent', no way, I told you I wanted to be 'Rapier'!"

"Oh, all right then. 'Rapier,' could you please give us your take on the various stories we've been hearing about the Chief Death Eater?"

"Yes, River, I can. As our listeners well know, unless they've taken refuge at the bottom of a garden pond or somewhere similar, You-Know-Who's strategy of remaining in the shadows is creating a nice little climate of panic. Mind you, if all the alleged sightings of him are genuine, we must have a good nineteen You-Know-Whos running around the place."

"Which suits him, of course. The air of mystery is creating more terror than actually showing himself." Kingsley responded.

"Asshole." Trang commented offhandly.

"Agreed. So, people, let's try and calm down a bit. Things are bad enough without inventing stuff as well. For instance, this new idea that You-Know-Who can kill with a single glance from his eyes. That's a basilisk, listeners. One simple test: Check whether the thing that's glaring at you has got legs. If it has, it's safe to look into its eyes, although if it really is You-Know-Who, that's still likely to be the last thing you ever do."

Trang and I burst out laughing and even Severus covered his mouth to hide his smile.

"And the rumors that he keeps being sighted abroad?" Lee asked. His voice was stressed like he was holding back laughter himself.

"Well, who wouldn't want a nice little holiday after all the hard work he's been putting in? Point is, people, don't get lulled into a false sense of security, thinking he's out of the country. Maybe he is, maybe he isn't, but the fact remains he can move faster than Severus Snape confronted with shampoo when he wants to, so don't count on him being a long way away if you're planning on taking any risks. I never thought I'd hear myself say it, but safety first!"

I had giggled at first, especially at the face Severus made at Freds' comment on shampoo. But when I heard Fred say that last line. . . it killed my joy, thinking of how safety wouldn't be enough where his life was concerned.

"Thank you very much for those wise words, Rapier. Listeners, that brings us to the end of another Potterwatch. We don't know when it will be possible to broadcast again, but you can be sure we shall be back. Keep twiddling those dials: The next password will be 'Mad-Eye.' Keep each other safe: Keep faith. Good night."

The radio's dial twirled and the lights behind the tuning panel went out. I sighed, setting the radio down gently. I looked over at Severus who was holding Remus now, holding his son close.

"We should go." I whispered softly, getting to my feet. Trang retrieved our traveling cloaks and I fastened mine around my neck. Trang shrunk our bags, putting them into her pocket.

"Please stay safe Elizabeth." Severus whispered, letting Trang take our son into her arms while he embraced me tightly. "I don't like the idea of you being gone so long, especially being so close to giving birth."

"I know." I whispered. "I don't like it either, but it has to happen Severus, trust me."

"Implicitly." He whispered softly. He gently placed one kiss against my lips before I pulled away, leaving with Trang without looking back.

Severus had guaranteed us a particular route of nothingness, which was exactly as we found it and we made it out of the castle with no problems. We had to skirt around Hogsmeade the long way in order to avoid the charms on the village, before apparating far away, landing on the seashore.

There was nothing there, unlike in my visions, as Bill and Fleurs' cottage was hidden by the charm.

"Are we in the right place?" Trang asked me quietly. The stillness was slightly alarming, until there was a violent cracking sound. I saw Harry, Hermione, Ron, Dobby, and a smaller creature I knew had to be Griphook appear out of nothing.

"Stay here." I commanded of Trang, heart beating in my chest. It was time to see. . . to see if I had saved Dobby, or if there was no hope left for my family.

Harry was bent over Griphook while Dobby stood to the side. From this position, I could not see his front. My feet pounded against the sand and I felt slow, especially in my pregnant state, straining to gain traction.

"Harry!" I called out.

"DOBBY!" Harry shouted as he looked up. "Dobby- no- HELP!" Harry bellowed. "HELP!"

My heart sunk, even as I slid to my knees in the grainy dust as Harry caught him in his arms. The silver knife hilt protruded from the small elfs' stomach, even as a red stain spread across the front of his bare chest.

He hadn't worn the knife-proof sweater I had knitted him for Christmas. He hadn't worn it. I wondered where it even was.

"Dobby, no, don't die, don't die. Elizabeth do something, you have to do something." Harry begged me, rocking the dying elf in his arms.

"Harry. . . Potter. . ."

Dobby died in Harry's arms, even as my brother begged him not to, begged for me to help him. All I could do was hug Harry from the side, a tear slipping down my cheek, dropping onto the dry ground.

Not only was Dobby dead, but the rest of my family was doomed.

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braveclementine · 2 days

Text

Chapter 17

Warnings: 18+ readers only, smut, sir kink

I blinked my eyes open, seeing both Harry and Hermione leaning over me. "You alright?" Hermione asked fretfully.

"Ow, yeah." I mumbled, slowly pushing myself into a sitting position. "Where are we?"

"Safe place. C'mon, let's get into the tent." Harry said, helping me up. I gently placed a hand on my stomach, feeling little kicks. They were unhappy with me, but at least I knew they were both alive and well.

"So," Ron started immediately, showing that I had missed a bit of their conversation, "that Peverell bloke who's buried in Godric's Hollow, you don't know anything about him, then?"

"No, I looked him up after I saw the mark on his grave; if he'd been anyone famous or done anything important, I'm sure he'd be in one of our books. The only place I've managed to find the name 'Peverell' is Nature's Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy. I borrowed it from Kreacher. It lists the pure-blood families that are now extinct in the male line. Apparently the Peverells were one of the earliest families to vanish."

"Extinct in the male line?" Ron asked.

"It means the name's died out. . . centuries ago, in the case of the Peverells. They could still have descendants, though, they'd just be called something different."

"Marvolo Gaunt!" Harry suddenly shouted.

"What?" I asked.

"Sorry?" Ron and Hermione asked together.

"Marvolo Gaunt! You-Know-Who's grandfather! In the pensieve! With Dumbledore! Marvolo Gaunt said he was descended from the Peverells!"

I had forgotten about that and was impressed that Harry had.

"The ring, the ring that became the Horcrux, Marvolo Gaunt said it had the Peverell coat of arms on it! I saw him waving it in the bloke from the Ministry's face, he nearly shoved it up his nose!"

"the Peverell coat of arms? Could you see what it looked like?" Hermione asked sharply.

"Not really. There was something fancy on there, as far as I could see; maybe a few scratches. I only ever saw it really close up after it had been cracked open."

"Blimey. . . you reckon it was this sign again? the sign of the Hallows?" Ron asked.

"Why not? Marvolo Gaunt was an ignorant old git who lived like a pig, all he cared about was his ancestry. If that ring had been passed down through generations, he might not have know what it really was. There were no books in that house, and trust me, he wasn't the type to read fairy tales to his kids. He'd have loved to think the scratches on the stone were a coat of arms, because as far as he was concerned, having pure blood made you practically royal."

"Yes. . . and that's all very interesting, but Harry, if you're thinking what I think you're think-"

"Well, why not? Why not? It was a stone wasn't it? What if it was the Resurrection stone?" Harry asked.

"Blimey- but would it still work if Dumbledore broke-" Ron gasped.

"Work? Work?" Hermiones' voice was going up in octaves, making little pricks against my brain and I closed my eyes, laying on the cot. "Ron, it never worked! There's no such thing as a Resurrection Stone! Harry, you're trying to fit everything into the Hallows story-"

"Fit everything in? Hermione, it fits of its own accord! I know the sign of the Deathly Hallows was on that stone! Gaunt said he was descended from the Peverell's!"

"A minute ago you told us you never saw the mark on the stone properly!"

"Where d'you reckon the ring is now? What did Dumbledore do with it after he broke it open?" Ron asked frantically.

Harry didn't answer however. He was looking off into the distance, a faint look of concentration on his face. His black hair had fallen into his green eyes, boring holes into the tent wall.

"Harry?" Hermione asked after a few seconds.

Suddenly, Harry let out a dramatic gasp. "Dumbledore had my Cloak the night my parents died!"

I felt that twinge of sadness, whenever he called our parents 'his' or 'my'. I knew it was not his fault, I knew it was what he believed. And I knew that was my fault, because I had made sure it was that way.

His voice was shaking as he continued, "My mum told Sirius that Dumbledore borrowed the cloak! This is why! He wanted to examine it, because he thought it was the third Hallow! Ignotus Peverell is buried in Godric's Hollow. . .He's my ancestor! I'm descended from the third brother! It all makes sense!"

"Harry." Hermione tried again.

"Read it," Harry pushed a piece of parchment in Hermiones' hand. "Read it! Dumbledore had the Cloak, Hermione! Why else would he want it? He didn't need a Cloak, he could perform a Disillusionment Charm so powerful that he made himself completely invisible without one!"

"That's true." I murmured, frowning a little. I hadn't even thought of that.

I heard something clink, rolling on the ground and then Harry shouted so loud I winced, "IT'S IN HERE! He left me the ring- it's in the snitch!"

"You- you reckon?" Ron asked.

Harry looked between me, Ron, and Hermione. Ron looked taken aback and Hermione was obviously unbelieving. I hoped I mostly just looked like I was in pain, fingers pressed against my head like that would get rid of the headache.

"That's what he's after." Harry whispered. "You-Know-Who's after the Elder Wand."

I sat up, motioning to Hermione that I wanted the letter. Hermione handed it over without a word.

I unfolded the letter, taking in a deep breath as I saw Lily Potters' handwriting.

Dear Padfoot, Thank you, thank you, for Harry's birthday present! It was his favorite by far. One year old and already zooming along on a toy broomstick, he looked so pleased with himself, I'm enclosing a picture so you can see. You know it only rises about two feet off the ground, but he nearly killed the cat and he smashed a horrible vase Petunia sent me for Christmas (no complaints there). Of course, James though it was so funny, says he's going to be a great Quidditch player, but we've had to pack away all the ornaments and make sure we don't take our eyes off him when he gets going. Lizzy just absolutely loves the Muggle dolls. I don't think she's stopped playing with them ever since she got them. She's so serious about making sure they're wearing appropriate attire before bed and she doesn't dress herself until they're dressed in day clothes. It's adorable. I would enclose a picture, but you know she's camera shy. We had a very quiet birthday tea, just us and old Bathilda, who has always been sweet to us, and who dotes on Harry and Lizzy. We were so sorry you couldn't come, but the Order's got to come first, and they're not old enough to know it's their birthday anyway! James is getting a bit frustrated shut up here, he tries not to show it but I can tell- also, Dumbledore's still got his Invisibility Cloak, so no chance of little excursions. If you could visit, it would cheer him up so much. Wormy was here last weekend, I though he seemed down, but that was probably the news about the McKinnons; I cried all evening when I heard. Bathilda drops in most days, she's a fascinating old thing with the most amazing stories about Dumbledore, I'm not sure he'd be pleased if he knew! I don't know how much to believe, actually, because it seems incredible that Dumbledore

The letter cut off, but I wasn't focused on that, especially since I knew how it finished. I had found the scrap of letter and half a picture in Severus' top drawer months ago. Despite me being camera shy, it was clear a picture had been snuck with me holding my mother's hand, a doll in my other hand. I knew it had originally connected to a photo of Harry riding along on a broom, our father diving after him, just a pair of legs.

The part I was focused on were the small tidbits about me. Muggle dolls. I had gotten muggle dolls and I liked to dress them, even at a year old. I knew which clothes should've gone on them and I dressed them like they were my children.

It took all of my willpower not to cry, especially knowing Hermione was looking at me, seeing as Harry was still lost in thought.

"I don't suppose you know what the last bit is supposed to say?" Hermione asked quietly.

"Oh." I looked up and said after a moment. "'because it seems incredible that Dumbledore could ever have been friends with Gellert Grindelwald. I think her mind's going, personally! Lots of love, Lily.'"

"You know," Hermione said quieter, "There's something that doesn't quite make sense."

"What?" I asked.

"Harry said he did have a sister, but that Barty Crouch Jr. said she died in April. But if she's celebrating her birthday in July. . . how could she have died in April?" Her eyes were holding mine and I just knew that she knew.

"Maybe she's still out there. Maybe she doesn't want people to know who she is." I answered. "Maybe she wants to reveal herself at the right time." I went silent and then said, "Or maybe she doesn't know who she is."

"This is it." Harry suddenly said, not having paid attention to a word we had said. Ron looked away from us slowly. Hermione and I stared at each other for a moment longer and I shook my head an inch. "This explains everything. The Deathly Hallows are real, and I've got one- maybe two- and You-Know-Who's chasing the third, but he doesn't realize. . . he just thinks it's a powerful wand-"

"Harry, I'm sorry, but I think you've got this wrong, all wrong."

"But don't you see? It all fits-"

"No, it doesn't. It doesn't, Harry, you're just getting carried away. Please, please just answer me this: If the Deathly Hallows really existed, and Dumbledore knew about them, knew that the person who possessed all three of them would be master of Death- Harry, why wouldn't he have told you? Why?"

"But you said it, Hermione! You've got to find out about them for yourself! It's a Quest!"

Hermione was going to hate herself for that one later probably. "But I only said that to try and persuade you to come to the Lovegoods'! I didn't really believe it!"

"Dumbledore usually let me find out stuff for myself. He let me try my strength, take risks. This feels like the kind of thing he'd do."

"Harry, this isn't a game, this isn't practice! This is the real thing, and Dumbledore left you very clear instructions: Find and destroy the Horcruxes! That symbol doesn't mean anything, forget the Deathly Hallows, we can't afford to get sidetracked- You don't believe in this, do you?"

I glanced up, finally handing the letter over to Harry.

"I dunno. . . I mean. . . bits of it sort of fit together," Ron said very awkwardly, looking like he wanted to placate both of them. "But when you look at the whole thing. . . I think we're supposed to get rid of Horcruxes, Harry. That's what Dumbledore told us to do. Maybe. . . maybe we should forget about this Hallows business."

"Thank you Ron, I'll take first watch." Hermione said, walking off.

Harry looked at me. "What about you?"

"I don't know Harry." I said softly, standing. "I know that's a rare answer from me but, I just don't know. I'd listen to Ron." I pulled him into a hug, letting out a sigh. "I'll see you later, I need to get back."

"Back to Snape?" Harry asked, a dangerous note in his voice.

"Back to my son." I said, my voice equally dangerous now. I squeezed his arm and stepped out of the tent without another word. I smiled at Hermione but made it clear I wasn't staying for a word, moving far away into the forest before closing my eyes and apparating.

I turned into my normal black cat form, padding through Hogsmeade before making my way up to the castle once more. Severus was laying on the bed with Remus, fast asleep until the door opened, his wand pointed at me until he saw who it was.

"You know you shouldn't relax so easily." I teased, taking my cloak off, laying it on the back of the chair, locking the door behind me. I sauntered over to the bed, climbing up awkwardly onto the piece of furniture, straddling Severus' lap. "What if I was a Death Eater."

"What if I was a Death Eater?" Severus asked lowly, nose skimming my neck.

"You are a Death Eater." I giggled, before pressing my lips to his. "I'm all yours sir. How do you want me to serve?" I was desperate to lose myself in him after the rough afternoon and the near miss with Hermione discovering I was his sister. Well, knowing, I suppose.

"Hmm, tempting." Severus rolled over, pinning me underneath him. "However, our son is in bed with us so I think we need to behave."

I kissed him again and then wiggled upwards. "That's not fun at all."

"You're a terrible influence." Severus groaned, before rolling out of bed to pick up Remus and lay him down in his crib, tapping it with his wand so that Remus could not hear certain noises that would be going on in the room. Severus crawled back up on the bed, hovering over me, before kissing down my neck. "Now then, I believe you said you were going to serve me?"

"Yes Sir." I replied coyly, letting my hands wander south on him, until they were undoing the buttons on his pants. He rolled off of me, landing on his back as I helped him lose his trousers and boxers. "You look delicious sir."

"You're such a tease." Severus moaned through gritted teeth as I licked up the underside of his shaft. His hand grabbed me by the hair, pulling me towards him. I went with it till I was straddling him, his cock rubbing against my folds.

Our breathing grew heavy as I sank down on him, riding him slowly, his hands moving to my hips, helping me ride him.

"Merlin, you feel amazing." Severus moaned out, fingers digging softly into my hips.

"My name is Elizabeth." I teased lightly, rolling so that we were both on our sides as we made love now. I captured his lips with mine, nipping at his bottom lip.

"My apologies." Severus teased and then gritted his teeth as he moaned lowly again. "Cum, Elizabeth."

It was instantaneous as I released, feeling him release inside of me at the same time. I sighed in content, relaxing into his arms.

We laid there for a moment before Severus slowly started to kiss my skin. Then he lightly murmured, "I'll go run the bath."

I hummed as he got up off the bed, watching him disappear butt naked into the bathroom, before he came back out to get me. I padded out to the bathroom, my legs shaking only a little bit and he helped me into the bath.

We took turns washing each other, soaking in the hot water until it cooled, before heading back out to bed. Severus climbed into bed, helping me up onto the raised furniture, before pulling me against him, cuddling me as the both of us drifted off to sleep.

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braveclementine · 3 days

Text

Chapter 12

Warnings: None. However, future chapters will contain sexual content so readers that are under the age of 18 may have to skip those chapters (Please keep note of the warnings).

"There is a door in a forest that was not always a forest.

"The door is no longer a door, not entirely. The structure that held it collapsed some time ago and the door fell along with it and now lies in the ground rather than standing upright.

"The wood that composed it has rotted. Its hinges have rusted. Someone took its doorknob away.

"The door remembers the time when it was complete. When there was a house with a roof and walls and other doors and people inside. There are leaves and birds and trees now but on people. Not for years and years.

"So the girl comes as a surprise.

"She is a small girl, too small to be wandering in the woods alone.

"But she is not lost.

"A girl lost in the woods is a different sort of creature than a girl who walks purposefully through the trees even though she does not know her way.

"This girl in the woods is not lost. She is exploring.

"This girl is not scared. She is not unnerved by the darkness of the clawing shadows cast by the trees in the late-afternoon sun. She is not bothered by the thorns and branches that tug at her clothes and scratch at her skin.

"She is young enough to carry fear with her without letting it into her heart. Without being scared. She wears her fear lightly, like a veil, aware that there are dangers but letting the crackling awareness hover around her. It does not sink in, it buzzes in excitement like a swarm of bees.

"The girl has been told many times not to wander too far into these woods. Warned not to play in them at all and she resents her explorations being dismissed as 'play'.

"Today she has gone so far into the woods that she wonders if she has started going out of them again toward the other side. She is not. . ."

I trailed off as Remus started to snore in my arms, the bedtime story putting him fast asleep. Severus hears the sound of my voice stopping and turns away from the desk where he is working.

I continue to cradle Remus as I walked over to Severus.

"What'cha doing?" I ask casually, sitting down on the corner of the desk, keeping my voice low as Remus sleeps soundly in my arms, his tiny lips parted in the smallest 'o' I've ever seen.

"The Dark Lord requests an audience with me." Severus said in a casual voice, but despite his tone, I still feel a cold shudder flow over me. "He has questions about you that he believes I can answer."

The unsettled feeling in my stomach increased even more.

"He suspects Godric's Hollow." I choked out, finding my hands were shaking. Severus gently took Remus from my hands, cradling him in one arm, before pulling me onto his lap with his other arm.

"Of course not." Severus said solidly. "Why should he?"

"Someone in the village must've seen that you were gone. He's put the times together, it's really that simple." I said, unable to swallow. It felt like there was dry cotton in my mouth.

"Elizabeth." Severus tilted my face so that I was forced to look into the soft onyx eyes. "I'm an expert liar when it comes to him. What do you think I've been doing my entire service under him? And there's nothing more important to me than you. You will always be safe where I'm concerned, I swear that."

I studied each of his words in measured concept before nodding. "Okay. I just. . . I'm worried I'll have screwed something up. My plan is only going to work if you stay alive till the exact moment you should die. Anything else. . . "

"I know." Severus took my hand, kissing the back of it. "Now come, we need to eat."

He gently put Remus back in his crib, tucking the blue blanket around our son. Dobby had set a tray to the side for us, containing chicken noodle soup for me, and a pork chop dinner for Severus.

"You know you should be eating your dinners in the Great Hall." I said, blowing on the soup gently to make sure I didn't burn my mouth. "Don't they find it suspicious that you're always up here in your office?"

"Actually, everyone finds it quite normal." Severus replied, clearly unconcerned about my questions. "I've always been rather remote and quiet. Besides, now that I'm headmaster, I'm not obligated to show up anywhere. Dumbledore. . . Dumbledore always did it because of his personality. If I did it, that would be the suspicious part."

Content with this answer and realizing the truth of it once he had explained it, I ate.

"Hey." Severus said softly, pausing as he went to eat his pork chop. "You don't have to worry so much about me, you know. There's no reason to believe that you're with me. I'm clearly a loyal Death Eater and would turn you in, in seconds. Besides, it helps that you were always with the Golden trio for every adventure. I believe that is the assumption the Death Eaters- and everyone else for that matter- believes."

I nodded. That was probably true. Voldemort himself had seen me down in the Chamber of Secrets with Harry. And Wormtail had probably mentioned it for my third year. Death Eaters had also seen me with Harry at the Battle in the Ministry and also last year when Dumbledore had died.

"You're right. I just. . . I don't know what I'm going to do if I lose you." I admitted quietly. "I've never exactly had great success with keeping people alive."

Severus was silent at that and I closed my eyes. "I shouldn't have said that."

"Hagrid? Is that you?" Severus joked dryly, before putting down his cutlery and pulling me into his arms. I gave a weak laugh. Severus sighed, kissing the side of my head. "Elizabeth. Listen. I'm prepared and that's all we can hope for. Your plan is good, the best one we have so far. But things can still happen. And I want you to know now, that if I do die, it's not your fault. You did your best. And. . . don't dwell over me, okay? Please? I want you to only be happy and I know it's not a reality but that's what I want to imagine. I want to imagine that you're able to move on eventually and quite frankly, Remus and these other babies will need a father. Or a father figure at the very least. We both know that."

I nodded, turning into him but said nothing.

"Good." Severus whispered, "Thank you."

"But you will live." I said strongly, unable to think of any other option.

"Of course." Severus agreed.

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

I woke with a jolt, lying on the bed, wondering what exactly had woken me up. I laid there, trying to recall the last dregs of the dream. Severus deep slow breathing on the other side of me grounded me a little. I could feel the tips of his fingers on my hip, his warm body heat behind me.

Remus was very quiet and I slowly rose up on the bed to look over at him. He was sucking on his thumb- I really needed to get rid of that habit- and was holding his little panda. I smiled, sinking back down on the bed, running a hand over my stomach.

I turned into Severus, wondering if we would have a girl or a boy or one of each. I desperately wanted a girl, though I loved Remus. But I couldn't wait to dress her up in cute dresses and put tiny bows in her hair. And I knew Severus would spoil her silly.

I drifted away for a moment, wondering what she would look like, before an image of a small blond-haired child popped into my head. But why would she be blond? Severus and I were both dark-haire. . .

"No!" I gasped aloud, sitting up straight in horror. It jolted Severus out of his sleep and I could feel his fingers groping along as they tried to find me, his hand finally resting on my thigh.

"Elizabeth?" His deep, sleepy baritone voice triggered something wonderful in me, but I pushed it to the side in my overbearing horror.

It wouldn't be so bad if the children were Lucius'. Lucius was innocent in my eyes, even if he didn't think so himself. But if it was Greyback. . . or Nott. . . or any of the nameless Death Eaters that I didn't know. . .

What were the chances the babies were Severus'? He had been there first, but was that enough? The others had been there more. And it might not have taken hold the first time with Severus. . .

"Elizabeth talk to me." Severus' voice was more urgent, less sleepy. "What did you see?"

"I- nothing. It was a dream." I whispered. "But not a vision, cause it's. . . it's not. . ."

Severus tightened his grip on my arms, trying to get me to talk to him.

I shook my head, "It's stupid. It's ridiculous."

"Elizabeth." He said sternly, commanding me to talk.

I sighed deeply and said, "What if the babies aren't. . . aren't yours?"

Severus' hands let go of me and he became very quiet. I couldn't look at him, staring at the wall to the side of me instead. "What if they're Greybacks or- or Notts! Or-"

Severus pushed me down into the bed, cutting off my worrying with a desperate kiss. "Stop. They're mine. No matter what, they're mine."

"No matter. . . you don't care?" I asked incredulously.

Severus was quiet for a long time. He sighed, hovering above me. "These children are going to be born from you, Elizabeth. They're your children. Which means that no matter what, they're mine too."

"Even if they have blond hair?" I asked quietly.

"Even so." Severus answered softly. He paused and then said slowly, almost hesitantly. "If they're Lucius' kids. . . in looks you know. . . he's like a brother Elizabeth. And he was sick and I know that it wasn't him and you know that too. It won't be so bad. . . will it? Are you. . ."

I looked up at my husband, running my fingers over his face, feeling the curve of his nose. I felt a little calmer, hearing those words. It didn't matter to him, so long as they came from me. They were our kids.

"Okay." I whispered. "I just. . . I was afraid you wouldn't want them anymore."

"It's not their fault." Severus murmured softly. "It would be unreasonable."

I hugged him tightly, resting my chin on his shoulder. "I love you Severus."

"I love you Elizabeth." Severus whispered softly, kissing the side of my neck. "Now get some rest, okay? You three need it."

I smiled, curling into his side, loving the way his arms wrapped around me- around us protectively.

"Sweet dreams darling." Severus whispered softly in my ear, so that I drifted off to the sweetest voice.

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"Today she has gone so far into the woods that she wonders if she has started going out of them again toward the other side. She is not concerned about finding her way back. She remembers spaces, they stick in her mind even when they are expansive ones filled with trees and rocks. Once she closed her eyes and spun around to prove to herself that she could pick the right direction when she opened them again and she was only wrong by a little bit and a little bit wrong is mostly right.

"Today she finds rocks that might once have been a wall, clustered in a line. Those that are piled on each other do not reach very high, even in the highest places it would be easy to climb over them, but the grid picks a medium-high spot to tackle instead."

My voice shakes as I pace the room, holding Remus. I'm not even trying to put him to sleep, I'm really trying to distract myself. Severus is with the Dark Lord right now, has been for a few hours. I know that he will come back, but I can't help but feel an overwhelming sense of despair. A sickening feeling growing in my stomach that has nothing to do with my pregnancy.

"On the other side of the wall there are clinging vines that snake over the ground, making it difficult to walk so the girl explores closer to the wall instead. It is a more interesting spot than others she has found in the woods. Were the girl older she might recognize that there was once a structure here but she is not old enough to put the pieces of crumbling rock together in her mind and assemble them into a long-forgotten building. The hinge of the door stays buried beneath years of leaves near her left shoe. A candlestick hides between rocks and the shadows fall in such a way that even this intrepid explorer does not discover it.

"It is getting dark, though enough of the now golden sun remains to light her way home if she climbs back over the wall and retraces her steps, but she does not. She is distracted by something on the ground.

"Away from the wall there is another line of stones, set in an almost-circle. A most-of-an-oval shape. A fallen archway that might once have contained a door."

Remus fusses in my arms. He doesn't want to be in them, he wants to sit on the ground and play with the wooden blocks and the trains. He doesn't want to be up, he wants to be down. But I don't want to let go of him, he's the only thing grounding me and keeping me sane.

But he whimpers and I know he's on the verge of tears. I sigh, putting him down on the ground by the small trains and wooden blocks. Once he takes a small wooden train into his hand, his fussing stops and he smiles.

I sink to the ground, my back against the bed, wrapping my arms around myself. I don't want him to see me like this.

He hits his small fist against the floor, the train wheels rolling a little every time he does so. He's only six months old so he doesn't play with toys in the same way a toddler might. He mostly just bites them or throws them at his feet.

I smiled a little, laying down on my side, deciding that they best thing for me is to continue the story.

"The girl picks up a stick and uses it to dig around the leaves in the middle of the arch of stones. The leaves crumble and break and reveal something round and metal.

"She pushes more of the leaves out of the way with the stick and uncovers a curling ring about the size of her hand, which might have been brass but has tranished in mossy patterns of green and brown.

"One side is attached to another piece of metal that remains buried.

"The girl has only ever seen pictures of door knockers but she thinks this might be one even though most of the ones she has seen have lions biting the metal rings and this ring does not, unless the lion is hiding in the dirt.

"She has always wanted to use a door knocker to knock upon a door and this one is on the ground and not in a picture.

"This one she can reach.

"She wraps her fingers around it, not caring how dirty they become in the process, and lifts it up. It is heavy.

"She lets the knocker drop again. The result is a satisfying clang of metal on metal that echoes through the trees.

"The door is delighted to be knocked upon after so long.

"And the door- though it is mere pieces of what it once was- remembers where it used to lead. It remembers how to open.

"So now, when a small explorer knocks, the remains of this door to the Starless Sea let her in.

"The earth crumbles beneath her, pulling her into the ground feetfirst in a cascade of dirt and rocks and leaves."

I pause in the story now, watching and listening as Remus giggles, having knocked over the block tower with the wooden train that had once been in his hand. The story finishes silently in my head.

The girl is too surprised to scream.

She is not afraid. She does not understand what is happening so her fear only buzzes excitedly around her as she falls.

When she lands she is all curiosity and scraped elbows and dirt-covered eyelashes. The lion-less door knocker rests bent and broken by her side.

The door is destroyed in the fall, too damaged to remember what it once was.

A tangle of vines and dirt obscures any evidence of what has occurred.

A hand touches my shoulder. I jump, turning, going to block Remus from whoever is in the room with my body, vividly aware that my mother did the same with Harry.

It's just Severus, who looks upon me apologetically, his black travelers cloak still tightly fastened around his neck.

"Severus." I can barely breathe his name out as I fight to get air into my terrified lungs. "You gave me a heart attack."

"I'm sorry." Severus apologized sincerely, unfastening the cloak and tossing it onto the bed. "I knocked but. . . you didn't answer. And I grew particularly concerned when you didn't answer when I said your name. I half thought you'd fallen asleep."

"No, I'm sorry." I said, getting to my feet, wrapping my arms around him. "I was lost in thought."

I was struck by how easily I hadn't noticed his presence. How easily it could've been a Death Eater without me noticing.

"So um, how did it go with him?" I asked, settling onto the bed. Remus was crawling around now on the floor, heading toward his father. Severus smiled, bending down and scooping Remus into his arms.

"Hi Buddy." Severus said, tossing Remus into the air a bit, making the little boy giggle and squeal. I smiled a little more.

Severus settled him back on the floor on a pillow, before sitting down next to me. "Well, first he wanted to know if I knew anyone by the description of the man who was with you in Godric's Hollow. I answered everything rather honestly. Told him you were often admired and it could be a great many boys, Wizard or Muggle."

"Not very honest then." I teased, unbuttoning his shirt at the first button, leaning in to press a kiss to his collarbone. I had missed him desperately.

"Hmm." Severus replied, amused. "And then he wanted to know the probability of if you had broken apart from Potter and if perhaps your father knew where you were. Your father, of course, is hidden so they can't find him and I said as much. I also told him that I doubted your father knew anything of your whereabouts because you would have protected him to keep him from being a target."

Severus hesitated and said, "I wasn't quite sure how to answer the first one. I thought about saying it was unlikely that you had broken away from the others. But if they were ever caught, then I wanted you to have an alibi. So I simply said that you might be moving between Potter and also doing your own thing based on what you could see of the future."

"Ah, and lastly, he wanted to know why so many people seemed to know that Charity Burbage was dead." Severus grimaced, moving up and away from me at this. I knew that he blamed himself for letting her die, even though he always knew there was nothing that he could do. "I did have to tell him about the mural you'd done of the Professors and what happened when one died."

He sounded apologetic about this and I shook my head. "No, that's fine. The Carrows would probably suspect the same if they had any brains."

Severus snorted at that.

"So we're okay?" I asked tentatively, climbing into his lap so that I could wrap my legs around his waist. He placed his hands on my waist, rocking me a little with a devilish glint in his eyes.

"We're okay." He whispered before placing his lips against mine.

I smiled into the kiss and then pulled away softly and whispered, "Remus."

"Cockblocker." Severus muttered, before playfully dumping me onto the bed and standing up. I giggled, feeling more light-hearted than I had all day. He hung up his clothes and then the three of us settled on the floor and played for the rest of the day.

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAGRID! WE LOVE YOU SO VERY MUCH 🖤🖤🖤

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braveclementine · 3 days

Text

Chapter 7

Warnings: None. However, future chapters will contain sexual content so readers that are under the age of 18 may have to skip those chapters (Please keep note of the warnings).

The house in question was a small one, that was still abandoned with a FOR SALE sign in the front yard. I slipped into the house using Alohomora, and then headed upstairs to the bedroom. The furniture had all been moved out, so I simply used the few blankets I had to make a small bed for Remus. He looked adorable, all trundled up in the blankets.

I sat on the floor and cried. The stress of everything that I had gone through caught up to me. I couldn't sleep, consistently having nightmares about the dungeons. I worried about Severus and I also worried about Lucius.

I hoped that Severus made him the potion quickly and I hoped that Lucius was able to recover in time. I knew from the little research that I had done, that the potion usually took effect in less than forty-eight hours. That was promising. It just depended on how fast Severus could get the ingredients.

I tried not to focus to much on the rapes. I wasn't sure if the ability to focus on other things like taking care of Remus or planning out the future was a good thing or a bad thing. Did it mean I wasn't coping with it and pushing it away until it became detrimental? Or did it just mean I was strong enough to move past it?

Somehow, I felt I was moving past it, too easily. Which probably meant that I was dealing with it the wrong way.

It took Trang three days to show up on my doorstep. When she slipped into the house, she gave me a heart attack as she called out my name. I pointed my wand in her face unapologetically. "When did you find out I was a witch?"

"Technically, I didn't know you were a witch until we were in the summer of our fourteenth birthdays." Trang rattled off quickly. "However, I knew something was fantasy like in your family when I was on a camping trip with my family and I watched your father turn into a werewolf."

I sighed in relief, pulling her into a hug. She hugged me back tightly and we went back upstairs.

She had packed everything I'd left behind at the Burrow, which also contained books and journals. I had notes on the upcoming year. Dates and timelines so I knew when I needed to start brewing the Felix Felicis potion for Dad, Tonks, and several of the others.

We moved house after that, leaving the small one behind. We found a house that was for rent near Kings Cross. We paid for only a month since that was how long we were going to be there. Since it was already complete with furniture and the likes, we didn't need to worry about that.

I was the one who paid for the house while Trang and Remus waited around the corner. It was only after the real estate agent had left, did Trang come around the corner with Remus in her arms.

We had already agreed that I needed to be the one to do things, but not have Remus with me. Me, a natural Brit was perfectly fine. Especially since I looked and acted older than my real age. But if I had Remus with me, there would be questions and curiosity around me. A single teenage girl with a baby?

And Trang was out of the question since she was definitely looked like a foreigner. Vietnamese, living in Britain, with a mix of Vietnamese- British- American accent combined. She would stand out too.

We settled into the new house in comfort. We kept the doors and windows locked with alarms on every single ones. They were special wizarding alarms that would sound only inside the house, not outside so the Muggles weren't alerted. The only people that needed to be warned of intruders were us.

It was actually a nice month. I would go out and get the groceries- once again by myself- and then we would cook and eat in the kitchen. We could watch movies on the telly. Read books upstairs in the bed. There was a crib so Remus had a comfortable place to sleep.

There was also a park nearby and every few days we would walk down there together with Remus and we'd take turns pushing him in the baby swings. If anybody ever inquired about us, I would say that he was my baby brother and that me and my friend were taking him out.

There was never anyone suspicious around the park. It was always families with children. And unless the Death Eaters were taking Polyjuice Potion to be a child too (which I couldn't see), we were perfectly safe here.

It wasn't until about three days before we were going to leave for Hogwarts did Trang and I finally discuss the plan.

"I was thinking," Trang said as we sat on the bed. I had been reading a Stephen King book while eating Salt and Vinegar crisps with tea. She had been sketching a little in a notepad, but was taking a break. Remus was already fast asleep in the room, so the lights were dim and the curtains were pulled. "We could make our way to Vietnam. I have family there. I haven't met them, but we've contacted through letters over the years. We could stay there until the war is over."

"If that's what you would like to do, I won't stop you." I said softly, closing the book over my finger, holding my spot. "But I have to go to Hogwarts Trang."

I hesitated and she waited. "I. . . There are things there that I need. Potion ingredients and, well, most importantly. . . Severus. I need to make more Felix Felicis."

"For the war?" Trang questioned carefully.

"For people I love who die in the war." I whispered softly. "It's. . . Trang this battle. This war if that's what we want to call it. . . I am going to lose everyone if I don't do something about it. Dad, Tonks, Fred, friends, and especially Severus. And his life will be the hardest to save."

"Elizabeth. . . why didn't you tell me?" Trang asked softly.

"Because I didn't want to ruin your summer, ruin the wedding." I sighed. "Because even Dad and Tonks and Severus don't know. I could never tell them. I have plans. Dad, Tonks, and Fred are the easiest to save. Give them some Felix Felicis and they should be fine. Maybe stun them and throw them in some broom closest just for safe measure. But Severus. . ."

I trailed off, thinking over Severus' death. The window period between Nagini biting him and me being able to save him was small. I knew it was pertinent to the future that Voldemort had to believe Severus was dead.

So I had Felix Felicis, which I could shove down his throat and hope that luck would be enough to save him. I had Fawkes, which meant that while Severus was swallowing the luck potion, his tears would be healing him. And I had a special rune knife that I was going to use to carve runes into his neck and heart.

I shook my head, "Anyways, I have to go to Hogwarts. But I understand if you want to part ways from here."

"Lizzy." Trang sighed, taking my hand into hers. "I'm with you till the end of the line."

And that was the end of that.

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"Okay, you ready?" Trang asked, looking at the packed trunks along with the basket.

"No, but we need to go." I sighed, cuddling Remus close. "Come on. Before it gets to crowded."

We made sure we had packed up everything that we had brought with us, and then exited the house for the last time.

It was a dreary day out, so no one was going to look twice at us with our hoods pulled up over our heads.

The plan was clear and simple: Trang would get on the train, accompanied by a cat. She would keep her luggage with her, which would contain a wicker basket that had been poked with three hundred and fourteen holes so that Remus could breathe safely.

She would find an empty compartment- easy since we would be there earlier than most other people- and pull the shade down. I would transform back and hold Remus in my arms. The door would be stuck for three seconds, giving me enough time to put Remus back in the basket and curl up on top of the lid as a cat before anyone came in.

I kept Remus in my arms until the last second, before Trang looked around discreetly. I kissed Remus' forehead, placing him gently into the basket.

"Let's make this quick." I warned Trang, before putting the lid down, turning into a cat, and jumped on top of it.

Trang walked briskly through the station, looking like a woman on a mission. She got half a dozen side-eye glances. Perhaps partly from her having a cat as part of her luggage, or perhaps because she wasn't native British- in their minds- like the others around them. But no one paid close enough attention to her to make me nervous.

She paused near the platform, going and leaning on the wall, falling backwards through platform 9 3/4, before pulling the rest of the trolley through.

The platform was nearly empty, devoid of most anyone except for a couple of extremely nervous, early bird first years and a few older students who had badges on their chests. So prefects and Head boys and girls.

Trang was quick in leaving the trolley out there, picking up the basket, which I leapt off of. I padded after her as she found a compartment near one of the many exit doors of the train. Once inside, I immediately became human again, scooping Remus up out of the basket. I checked him over, fawning and fretting, but he was perfectly fine, having a little tired smile for me.

"It's okay sweetheart." I murmured, holding him close to me. "We're going to be okay. You're going to get to see daddy soon."

Trang tapped a code on the door quickly, before slipping back in, this time with her luggage. Then she tapped the compartment door with her wand so that we could see out of it, but no one could see in- like a two way mirror.

Trang slumped in her seat, exhausted. Neither of us had gotten much sleep over the worry of the planning.

I hid in the beginning once again as the Trolley witch came around. Trang bought lots of milk chocolate frogs, licorice, and Sour Crawley animals (sour sugared coloured animals that moved!) along with four flasks of pumpkin juice.

When the witch had gone, I dug into the Crawley animals, unceremoniously decapitating an elephant as I bit the gummy in half. Trang meanwhile, snapped a chocolate frog in half and stuck a piece of it in her mouth to suck on it.

Halfway through the ride, Ginny came into the compartment. She was relieved to see us and we all hugged. I shared parts of the story of me being in the Death Eaters mansion, but I couldn't bring myself to tell them about the rapes, not even when I'd promised Lucius I would spread the story about him. I just couldn't.

Susan Bones and Ernie Macmillan found us soon too, though more near the end of the train ride.

"Look." I said as the train started to slow down and the others were starting to gather our luggage. "I'm not. . . here to attend school. I have some things I need to get and then I'm gone. I just need some help getting into the castle. And, well it would obviously be great if no one but the four of you know that I was ever here."

"Of course. Just tell us what we need to do." Ernie said seriously.

"Well, the first step is getting to the castle." I said. "I have a way of doing that. But we'll need the carriage to ourselves."

"Done." Ernie said, puffing his chest out with the Headboy badge on it. I bit my bottom lip so I didn't giggle.

"Let me carry Remus." Ginny offered, holding her arms out. She didn't have much luggage and since I would be an animal, she was the best person to do it. I carefully handed the basket over to her. She propped the lid up an inch, her fingers pressed against the back so it wouldn't slide off.

"Great." I murmured. "Ernie, you lead the way."

I shrunk down into a cat and allowed Trang to carry me.

Once we were safely in the carriage, I turned back to being human. Susan and Ernie both gave verbal exclamations at me being an Animagus.

All to soon, we were nearing the castle. My heart started to pound in my chest and I was shaking with nerves. This was ridiculously dangerous. But it was also the only way.

"Okay." Trang said, her voice shaking as the carriage rolled to a stop. "Let's go."

I slipped Remus into the basket once more and turned into a cat. They walked briskly up the steps and then stepped into the hallway. It was more crowded in here as the students walked in streams up towards the Great Hall to eat.

Trang put her luggage to the side with everyone else and then took the basket that contained Remus from Ginny's hands.

"Good luck." Susan whispered before the three of them hurried off to the Great Hall with the others.

It took Trang a good five minutes of rushing to the seventh floor, leaving the basket and me outside the door, and then rushed off again without a single word. I hoped that she made it to Great Hall without the Carrow siblings noticing that she was a little late getting in.

I paced back and forth three times, before the Room of Requirement became the art studio that I had asked for. Stepping into the room, I paused, taking in the new additions.

The art room had always been large and spacious. There were several desks and tables that were large enough for several students to occupy, four chairs around each table, regardless of the size.

Along one wall were metal carts that held tubs of art supplies, all of them neatly named. There was every colour of every art supplies imaginable as well. Art easels were propped up against the wall under the large windows that were filled with smooth glass stained art prints.

There was a ladder that led up to the second floor balcony, which held books about art and just books that I generally enjoyed. There were also famous art pieces up here, though I wasn't sure to much if they were just copies or the real deal.

Now, the room had extended even further back and along the bare wall, there was a new line of bookcases. They were filled with books that I had only seen in passing but had never touched: Dumbledore's private library.

I breathed in shakily, walking over to the bookcase, observing the books. Some of the texts were obviously very old, and probably rare. Perhaps even collectors' items. And he'd left them for me.

I smiled a little.

I went ahead, settling up in the loft, waiting. I knew that it would be nearly two hours if Trang could get Severus to talk to her without raising suspicions. And if she couldn't, then it would be some time before Severus even knew that I was here.

I was trembling in anticipation, my body seemed very cold all of a sudden, shivering in the air. I clenched my jaw as my teeth started to chatter, the sound grating on my already thin nerves.

Finally, the door to the art studio opened. Trang opened the door and Severus darted through. I quickly sprung to my feet, carefully climbing down the ladder. But the time my foot had hit the floor and I was turning around, Severus was there, wrapping his arms around me. My back pressed against the ladder and I received his kiss eagerly.

Remus let out a stifled cry, as he was being smushed between the two of us and Severus quickly pulled away, light filling his eyes. "He's gotten so big!"

I quickly handed Remus over to his father and Severus held our little boy close. "Hello buddy." He murmured softly against Remus' hair. Remus was already fast asleep and Trang was nowhere to be seen.

"Are you staying here?" Severus asked, motioning around the art studio.

I shook my head, "No. I came to stay with you."

Severus hesitated. "That's risky Elizabeth. And I'm not sure if I can risk it with you. . . especially with Remus here."

"Severus, I wouldn't have come here if I had any other choice." I murmured. "I have. . . plans I need to do. Like starting up the Felix Felicis potion. I'm here to save lives and I need your potions expertise. Believe me, Severus, if I didn't have to risk Remus, I wouldn't have."

Severus nodded, cupping my face and kissing the corner of my lip. "I know. I know. I missed you. I love you."

I smiled, taking his hand. "I love you too."

I turned into a cat and then Severus put Remus back into the basket. The two of us walked briskly back to the Headmasters headquarters, where he said the password, 'Dark Lord' and the Eagle sprung aside. If I had been human, I would have rolled my eyes.

The Headmasters office hadn't changed much, besides the private library being moved. Severus had put in his own library, which I'm sure contained hundreds of Dark Arts books. The portraits were mostly sleeping, though I'm sure one or two were awake. And as such, I waited until Severus headed past the desk and down the hall that I became human.

Severus opened the door to another room and I stepped inside, pausing to take a look at the room.

The floor was carpeted with a red and gold threaded carpet. It had been grand once, but had faded from the sun that clearly came in through the two large windows on either side of the bed. At the moment, the windows were covered with matching red drapes.

The bed was a king sized bed made of African Blackwood. The sheets were neatly white and made of cotton. The drapes that hung around were gold and black, along with the matching comforter. The rest of the furniture in the room from the dressers and wardrobe to the chairs were also made of African Blackwood.

"Not what you were expecting?" Severus asked, locking the door behind the two of us. He walked over, grabbing one of the chairs and tapped it, creating a crib out of it. He conjured blue blankets and a pillow for Remus.

"Here." I murmured, kneeling and rooting through the basket, taking out the Panda stuffed animal. "He can't sleep without it."

Severus tucked the Panda stuffy in with Remus, and then watched his son sleep, the small fingers curling around the body of the animal. He eventually pulled away, coming to sit down next to me.

"We're going to have to establish some rules." Severus murmured. "You cannot leave this room, Elizabeth. It's to dangerous for you to wander the castle, even as an animal. Please?"

I hesitated. I had plans that tomorrow I would show up in the forest by the Quidditch cup so that I could give Harry, Hermione, and Ron a parcel of food.

Severus read the hesitancy in my face and his eyes grew desperate.

"It's just. . . I can still see the future Severus." I murmured. "And I was going to leave tomorrow for a few hours to help out Harry and the others. Trang is going to help me. I'll be okay."

"Only been together for less than an hour and you're already pushing my rules." Severus sighed, tucking a curl of brown hair behind my ear. "I ought to punish you."

I blushed red and he sighed, shaking his head. But he had the smallest smile on his face. "You'll be safe?"

"Of course."

"Fine." Severus muttered.

I smiled, relaxing in his arms. "Hey Sev? How's Lucius? Is he alright? V- The Dark Lord didn't. . ."

"Lucius is perfectly fine." Severus assured me. "He's been taking his potion and he's completely cured. I've set up a timeline and a schedule along with several bottles for him to continue taking. I'll make more here and when I visit, I will bring them with me."

"Good. I feel absolutely terrible for him." I murmured. "To wake up and find that you've done a terrible thing that you didn't want to do. . . I can't even imagine."

Severus' arms tightened around me and I knew that it was a sign that I needed to change the subject.

"I love you." I murmured.

Severus relaxed against me, pulling me up more in his arms. He kissed the side of my temple. "I love you too."

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braveclementine · 3 days

Text

Chapter 6

Warnings: 18+ readers only, non-con, rape

I took me a day to figure it out. Nott had come down after Greyback and I was certain that I had passed out afterwards.

Lucius was the one who came down with a tray of food for me later. He was rather kind about it, even going as far as to spoon feed me. He also did a few charms that helped lessen the pain.

He still tried apologizing, which I pushed away. It wasn't his fault after all. It was the sort of equivalent to someone doing something terrible under the Imperius Curse. It wasn't something they could control. And I didn't blame him for it.

"I can try getting you new clothes." He murmured, putting the dishes on the tray. A house elf appeared immediately, took the tray, and disappeared.

That was when the idea flashed into my head. I pushed the idea to the side though, focusing on Lucius.

"No. Don't bother. I don't want them thinking you've got a soft spot for me."

"Don't try and protect me." He snapped. He hated this idea of me protecting him, especially when he also had his head wrapped around the idea that he didn't deserve an inch of kindness from me. I swear he was worse than Severus.

"You have a family to protect through yourself, Luc." I had picked up Severus' nickname for him much easier than either of us had expected.

He softened a little, letting out a sigh. "Fine." He paused and then looked at me, "I'm not going to touch you again. But, do me a favor. Tell everyone I raped you."

"Excuse me?" I asked, giving him a look.

Lucius shrugged, but didn't look at me, "You want me to take care of my family? You want my family safe? Than everyone gets to know what I did."

"I refuse." I said, crossing my arms over my chest. "I will not-"

Lucius shoved me against the wall, hissing under his breath. "Do this one thing for me Kane. Please."

He looked so sincere and I huffed, "Fine."

He let go of me, going and leaving the door. He didn't turn around as he said, "I'll make sure Severus is accounted for when you escape." And then he left completely.

That left me a little uncomfortable. How did he know that I planned to escape? And how was he so sure that I could escape?

No. Lucius was a smart man. He had let the house elf come down, reminding me that I had a house elf that could come and get me.

Kreacher was not the best, but he was under my orders. And as long as he was under my orders, I could get him to do whatever I needed. And in this case, it would be getting me out of here.

I saw that the same thing would happen to Harry and the others. Eventually ending up in the same place I was now. But using Dobby instead. . . and Dobby would die.

I flinched, sliding down to the floor, wrapping my arms around my body. Dobby was going to be the one death that I couldn't do anything to prevent. Not really. I supposed I could make some sort of body armor for him, give it to him ahead of time. But then I didn't know if he would show up to save them or not, if he knew he would die.

I thought he might anyways. His devotion to Harry was something I thought he might die for. But I was to afraid to screw up that future. They had to get out of the Malfoy Manor. It was a necessity.

But could I really sacrifice Dobby for that? I was going to try my hardest for Dad and Tonks and Severus. Dobby deserved that too. I was going to need another plan.

I focused on now. I could call Kreacher, that part would be easy. It was a direct order, there was no way for him to refuse it.

The problem was doing it now. I needed it to be staged so that there was uncertainties to how I would escape.

And what I needed to accomplish that. . . was a Death Eater

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It didn't take long for one to come down. It was Nott again. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised.

I didn't look up as he entered, staying in my fetal position of protection. Nott squatted down, throwing his robes off immediately. I heard the sound of wood hit the stone. Good, he had brought his wand.

He was completely naked underneath, which was going to make things more interesting. I was going to have fun with this.

"Malfoy did a number on you." Nott smirked, cupping my face so that I was forced to look at him. I whimpered.

"Beautiful little thing." Nott chuckled, running a finger down my cheek.

He straddled my chest and I felt along his clothes with my toes while I whimpered and groaned from his ministrations. I tried to stay focused on both tasks, as I felt the wood of his wand with my feet.

I had to be careful now. I couldn't afford for him to know what I was doing.

He leaned forward, the pressure released from my legs. I didn't waste time, getting his wand between my big toe and the little toe next to it. This felt stupid, but I was sure that it was going to work.

I let out a scream of real pain as he bit into my breast. What was it with these men and biting?

Nott chuckled.

Never mind. I knew what it was- the sounds of my pain.

I changed my plan.

"Crucio!"

Suddenly, Nott was off of me, his body twitching on the floor. I could feel my anger seeping into the spell and he screamed this time.

I let the spell go, snatching the wand up with my hand, "Stupefy!"

"Kreacher!" I demanded as I did a silent diffindo spell. I turned away, wondering if I would feel guilty for actually cutting his dick off later or not.

There was a crack of apparating. I waved the wand, letting cell doors fly open and I removed the bars at the side of the window. I technically couldn't fit through them, but they would assume that I did some sort of spell. I threw Nott's wand out the window. They could find it there later.

Kreacher was there, waiting. His eyes were narrowed in distrust, looking around. I yanked up the dress, hearing the door at the end of the hallway open. I didn't even bother zipping the dress up, kneeling.

"Andromeda and Ted Tonks house, now Kreacher." I ordered.

Kreacher grabbed me and disapparated. I was caught up in a wave of sickness, feeling like I was going to be squeezed to death.

I landed in the grass and Kreacher waited my next order. "You're dismissed to whatever you were doing before this Kreacher. Thank you, but do not tell anyone what happened."

Kreacher was gone. I barely noticed that he'd said not a word of hate towards me.

I stumbled up the stairs towards the house, knocking on the door.

The run was not over yet. They would discover I was gone in minutes, perhaps less time. They would search the premises first, but ultimately they would start searching places they knew I would go. This house was one of them. I needed Remus, my wand, and some clothes. That was it.

Dad was the one who opened the door. He had dark shadows under his eyes like he hadn't gotten sleep. His clothes were wrinkled and his hair was uncombed. He hadn't shaved either.

"Who did you have Remus with?" He demanded.

"Severus Snape." I whispered quietly.

His arms were around me before I could even finish his name. "Elizabeth. Oh, Elizabeth." He hugged me so tightly he didn't even feel it when I flinched.

'No.' I scolded myself. 'This is your dad. He would never hurt you, especially like that. He's been worried sick. You do not get to flinch away from him. He's your dad and he loves you.'

Once I had made that distinction, I sunk into his hug, wishing I could bawl in his arms like a child. But I couldn't.

I pulled back a little, squeezing him. "Dad, I have to go before they come searching here."

Dad nodded, stepping to the side so that I could walk into the house, before shutting the door behind me.

"Here." Andromeda said, hurrying forwards and giving me the wand. I took it, startled just a little, but jumped completely when Ted's voice came from behind me.

"S-sorry." I stuttered.

"It's fine." Tonks said softly, carefully approaching me with Remus in her arms. "Are you. . . going to be okay?"

"Eventually." I whispered, taking my son out of her arms. I wanted to bawl, hugging him. He was safe and perfect.

"Who did it?" Andromeda whispered.

I bristled at that.

"Mom!" Tonks snapped.

I waved my wand, letting everything that I owned fly neatly into my bag. I put it over my shoulder, keeping Remus safely in my arms. Then I turned to face Andromeda.

"I was in a Death Eaters hideout." I smiled bitterly. I paused, because I realized what I needed to say and I wasn't happy about it. I was going to leave it at that, but I had promised Lucius. . . even if I hated it. I sighed, "Lucius Malfoy, Greyback, Nott, a few nameless ones. It's not like it was a one time thing."

Dad had gone rigid, a wild look of anger in his eyes. I could see him mentally putting together a list of Death Eaters he was going to hunt down and kill.

I slowly walked over to him. He focused on me, but didn't move until I slowly hugged him. He wrapped his arms around me, clearly trying not to spook me. "I love you dad. I'll be okay."

"I love you too sweetheart." He whispered, his hand stroking my hair softly. I treasured it. It could be the last time I saw him before the battle.

I turned to Tonks. "Please tell Trang that I will wait for her at the last house we discussed."

Tonks nodded and I opened the door, hurrying outside. I disapparated immediately, leaving my family behind.

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2 notes · View notes

braveclementine · 4 days

Text

Chapter 2

Warnings: None. However, future chapters will contain sexual content so readers that are under the age of 18 may have to skip those chapters (Please keep note of the warnings).

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Trang and I did not leave right away. I admit, I actually snooped around the house for some time. Harry's bedroom was sparse, though I hadn't expected much. It wasn't like our Aunt and Uncle were people who would buy him anything to personalize the room.

Still, there was something about seeing the house that felt special. Like a tourist at Anne Franks' house, or something like that.

"Ready?" I asked Trang about twenty minutes after they had left.

"Are you okay?" Trang asked softly, not answering me. She was standing in the Dursleys' kitchen, looking at all of the pictures of my cousin, Dudley. Not a single photo of Harry anywhere. Not even acknowledging his presence.

I wondered, once again, if things would have been different if I had grown up here. If our Aunt would have favored me, treated me better than Harry. Of if because of me, she treated both of us well. She had seemed so sad everytime she saw me since I always reminded her of our mother.

Would she have treated me like Harry anyways just because she hated magic so much? Would Dudley have hit me just as much as he had Harry? How different would my personality be if I had grown up here? Would I be far more timid and less confident than I was growing up under dad?

"Sorry." I whispered, wiping my face, realizing tears were come down my cheeks. "I was just thinking about What ifs. If I had grown up here. If things would have been different for Harry. Or if I would have a completely different personality."

Trang squeezed my shoulder and I splashed some water on my face. "Alright, let's go. We both know the way to Uncle Moody's house in case we get separated. It shouldn't happen, but considering I can't see our futures. . ." I looked over at her. "Do you still want to do this? You're overage now. You could take Hedwig and apparate away and I'll continue the journey myself."

Trang scoffed, "Don't ask stupid questions. I'm with you to the end of the line Elizabeth and nothing changes that."

I smiled at that and nodded. "Let's go then."

Taking one last look around a house I would probably never step foot in again, I shouldered my broomstick, stepping into the backyard with Trang.

Night had fallen quickly and looking up into the clouds didn't show much. We started a walk, hopping over the fences of the neighbords, steathily treking through their backyards. We finally reached the town and headed for an alleyway without lights to kick off on our brooms.

Trang attached the cage to her cage while I spoke to Hedwig. "I need you to stay close to us. Preferably, either in the cage or you can sit on the end of my broom. This is very serious Hedwig."

Hedwig hooted softly and as we flew up into the air, Hedwig settled on the end of my broom.

Uncle Moody lived a decent ways away from Harry's house. We had about an hour to get there, which was twenty minutes more than what the others had. It would have to be a smooth flight though.

As we got closer to the Muggle city and their tall office buildings, we started to see flashes in the clouds. Faint bursts of green and red and Trang and I exchanged a nervous glance.

"We're to close to this." I muttered. "We're going to have to find a detour."

"Elizabeth, this entire plan relies on us getting to that portkey in time." Trang responded doubtfully. "They're still above the clouds and we're below them. We're on firebolts and they're not. Let's speed up a little."

We both put on extra speed, weaving in and out of the tall buildings. I was glad that we were in the city now, because no one would be working so late at night and no one would see us. Most of the people on the street would be drunk at this hour or looking down at the sidewalk, not up at the sky. And we were going by to fast now for them to really get a good look at us.

Besides, they'd probably just claim that we were a UFO. Which worked fine for me. And it's not like the Ministry would do anything about it at this point. Although it might give them an excuse to attempt to arrest me. . .

We started to hear shouts and Trang and I looked up simultaneously. But I saw nothing. I could hear the cries of the Thestrals now and the roaring of Sirius motorbike. I felt bad that it crashed and I hoped that Arthur Weasley would salvage it. Maybe after the war was over, I'd put it back together. Sirius had given me half of everything in his house and I'd always wanted a motorcycle.

Dad might kill me though.

"Look!" Trang gasped, and we saw a body falling down through the clouds. We swerved to avoid getting hit, but I saw it was just an unconscious Death Eater and felt a bit of relief.

"We're going to have to go lower." I muttered. "Maybe even continued some of this on foot. Do you think you could do Disillusionment charms on us?"

"Yeah." Trang nodded.

I hated that I couldn't rely on myself for magic. I knew I would use it if it came to an emergency, but since we were surrounded by Muggle buildings, it would probably set off a beacon for Death Eaters at the Ministry.

We continued without more problems for a little bit before I looked up again and said, "Cover! Cover now."

Trang and I landed on the top of one of the Muggle towers- no skyscraper, that's the word. We flattened ourselves down, glad that our black cloaks helped us blend in and that there weren't any lights up here.

A body crashed to the ground in a small park area in front of the tower. Trang and I peeked over the end to see four Death Eaters down there.

I put a hand over my mouth so that I kept silent, despite being probably hundreds of feet in the air above them. They were jeering and laughing and it was Uncle Moody's body that they stood over.

Trang reached out, grabbing my arm. She had tears running down her face and we watched as they took his eye, putting it in his pocket. I felt the anger burn in me. Then, they turned him into a park bench, to forever be sat on by Muggles.

They didn't take back off for the skies, disapparating on the spot instead, the crack of their disappearing echoing through the air for a second like a gunshot.

"Elizabeth?" Trang asked after I hadn't moved for a couple of seconds. Hedwig also seemed to sense my emotions, nuzzling under my arm, gently pulling at my robe with her beak. I took in a deep shuddering breath, remembering his words to me.

"I can't let him stay there." I said, looking at Trang. "Do you think you can untransfigure him?"

Trang hesitated and then nodded in determination. "What's the spell?"

"Reparifarge." I whispered. "It's simple enough wand movement. It's like you're making a wide 'u' shape." I showed her with my wand.

"Understood." Trang said. "What are we going to do when we get him back into. . . well human?"

I hesitated. It would be to much for Trang to try and transfigure him into something smaller, like a pocket watch or something like that. But at the same time, just trying to tie him under our brooms seemed inhumane.

"I. . . I don't know." I admitted, explaining the two scenarios.

"We'll figure it out when we get him back then." Trang whispered. "And we need to hurry. It seems like the fighting is tapering off."

And it was. We hopped on the brooms, flying down to the park bench. Trang was very nervous, but she managed to change Uncle Moody back.

It was disconcerting, looking at him dead. Like it was a lucid dream or something like that. His missing eye stuck out and I felt nauseated. I looked over at Trang who looked like she was going to faint.

"I don't think I can do another spell like that." Trang admitted. "I feel exhausted and your father explained about magical reserves."

"Another one of those spells and you'll be to burnt out." I agreed. "We'll just. . . have to do it the inhumane way and hope he forgives us."

Carefully, we fixed his body under Trang's broom, both of us feeling more uneasy about it by the second. This was never the way that I imagined we'd have to do this and I hated every bit of it and wished that I could use magic.

We took back to the skies and flew higher than we probably should have to prevent muggles from seeing us along with wizards. It would not be as good if they saw a dead body hanging from a broomstick.

The skies had gone silent and dark and it made my stomach turn. If the others had made it to safe houses, the Death Eaters were going to come down from the sky, and they would see us.

Of course, Uncle Moody's house was also in opposite directions of several of the other safe houses, but still. . .

We went another long, twenty minutes in silence and something like peace. We were starting to near the end of the city too, when five Death Eaters swept down from the clouds.

Trang and I turned sharply through the buildings, but someone gave a shout and we knew chase was about to happen.

"Protego!" I muttered, breaking my magical celibacy. We turned another corner and heard Death Eaters cry out as the smashed into my invisible shield.

"We need to find somewhere to hide." I shouted to Trang, throwing up more invisible shields all around us- except in front of us.

"There!" Trang pointed to a construction site. It was plenty dark and we could probably hunker down in there if it came to that.

We flew inside and landed, crouching down behind wooden boards and slabs of concrete. It was pitch black besides the moon and the shadows of the men on brooms sweeping by were mere shadows. It was good for us- we would be hidden. But it was also good for them.

I could hear them shouting to each other, but couldn't actually make out the words.

Suddenly, a pulsing light burst through the entire space and I was temporarily blind, lowering my head into my knees, pushing my knuckles into my eyes. Trang cried out, softly, but just enough to have them on us in seconds.

I barely got a shield up before the spells started flying, still trying to blink the sun out of my eyes. It burned and I could still see the imprint of the spell on the back of my eyelids. I was so stupid. I should've realized that was a spell they were going to use.

There was another spell that sent me flying off my feet, feeling like there was an Earthquake. I fell backwards, my arm scratching against something. I heard Trang give another cry, this time in pain.

Nails.

Of course. We were on an open construction site. It might've been a good place to hide, but it was detrimental to our health to fight in.

I sent a few stunning spells, the figure in front of me sending the stunning spells off to the side. . . strangely stunning his own side. Hope blossomed in my chest for the first time tonight, continuing to try and stun only him, while the spells continued to fly towards his friends. I couldn't see Trang, though I could hear her fighting too.

Finally, it was just that man and he slowly lowered his wand, taking his hood off. For once, I was not wrong in my hope.

I nearly shouted his name, but decided to look around me instead. Trang was sitting up against a concrete pillar, but the Death Eaters around her were all stunned. And one wasn't even moving like he might've been dead.

"Trang?" I asked gently as Severus started to tie the Death Eaters up and chuck their wands out of the building.

"I'm okay." Trang gasped. "I hit my head on something though. It might be bleeding."

"I'm bleeding somewhere too." I admitted. "Don't know where though."

"You've got glass shards in your face." Trang breathed a laugh.

I went to touch my face, but Severus was there, grabbing my hand before I could. He gently picked each of them out with care, before kissing them and then kissing me on the lips. I closed my eyes, sinking into the kiss.

"Sweet. Really sweet." Trang grunted, pushing herself to her feet and the two of us broke apart. "But we really have to go."

"I know." I whispered, unable to take my eyes off of Severus' warm black ones. "Remus is absolutely wonderful, just so you know. He's getting so big."

"Good." Severus whispered, brushing his lips against mine once more. "Stay safe."

He let his own wand roll under the table into the shadows like I hadn't seen it, sitting down against the Death Eaters, giving me a meaningful look. I nodded, binding him to them and then stunning him, tears mixing with blood on my face.

"Go." I said to Trang, looking around. Hedwig came fluttering down, landing on my shoulder.

Trang and I immediately took off for the skies.

We made it to Uncle Moody's house with no problem other than Trang was starting to feel light-headed with blood loss, I was also feeling faint and- we'd missed the Portkey by about fifteen minutes.

"Dad must be so worried." I whispered as we stepped into the house. "And the protections have to have dropped here if he's dead."

We laid Uncle Moody carefully on the couch. I didn't even really notice the interior of the house, which was kind've sad because I would never see the inside of the house ever again, probably.

"What now?" Trang asked. She'd grabbed a kitchen towel and was applying pressure to the wound, but I knew I needed to get her to the others quickly. She needed proper medical attention and I wasn't going to be able to provide it.

"Okay." I murmured. "I need an object that we can use for a portkey." I whirled around, looking for such an item. It was very hard to create a portkey and it was the first time that I felt doubtful ever performing a spell.

"Here." Trang murmured, pushing over a baseball bat of all things. I smiled a little at that. I had never known that he had liked baseball.

"Okay." I murmured. I focused on the Burrow, focused on the time, and focused on the object. "Portus."

It glowed blue and I nearly sank to my knees in relief. As it was, I nearly fell over as I approached Trang. This wasn't good. Both of us were to light-headed, we had to get to the Burrow now.

"Just hold on Trang." I whispered, sitting down with my back to the couch. I kept my grip around it firm. I pulled my broom in my other hand, placing Uncle Moody's dead hand on the broom as well. I nearly smiled as Hedwig put a small talon on it too.

Then we were pulled into nothingness which did nothing to help with me trying to not black out.

It was silent for a second and Dad's voice broke the air first. "ELIZABETH? TRANG? IS THAT YOU?"

"ELIZABETH?" Harry and Hermione's voice's joined in.

"TRANG?" Ginny shouted.

Trang stumbled, falling to her knees. The kitchen towel was still in her hand and was blood-soaked. I felt like crying, but I kept it together. I used my wand to levitate Uncle Moody's body, then got Trang to put an arm over my shoulder. With a purpose and destination in mind, my head seemed to clear some. Hedwig flew upwards and towards the Burrow. I dragged the two broomsticks in the same hand as my wand.

Dad and Bill came running and Bill caught Trang just as I stumbled, nearly dropping everything.

"You have Mad-Eye?" Bill asked in a hushed whisper.

I nodded. "Yeah. H- He fell right in front of us." I started to cry. The emotional stress of the trip had caught up to me. "And Death Eaters got to us near Uncle Moody's house and we fought them off. We wouldn't have made it, except Severus was with them and he helped me fight them off. And the portkey was gone and-"

Dad pulled me into a tight hug and murmured, "It's okay."

"I couldn't stop him." I sniffled, looking up at dad. "I begged him to take someone besides Mundungus. Or for him not to go himself. But he wouldn't listen."

"It's okay Elizabeth. C'mon." Dad murmured and shouted for Tonks and Mr. Weasley.

Inside the house, Mrs. Weasley and Dad tended to mine and dad's wounds. Neither were bad, it was just the loss of blood that had been detrimental.

Some of the others like Kingsley had already left and Dad was busy letting him know about Mad-Eye and what not.

"So?" Fleur asked in an impatient voice. "Who is the spy?"

"I don't know." I whispered, shaking my head, which hurt. I didn't think there was a spy. All I could really see was Severus talking to Mundungus, planting the idea of the seven Potters' in his head. But I didn't think that made Mundungus a traitor or a spy.

"Its' fine. Don't think about it right now." Dad instructed. Uncle Moody's body had been taken away. Trang was already fast asleep on the couch that was adjacent to Georges' couch. I couldn't look at him without feeling guilty.

"Go get some sleep." Dad kissed the top of my head.

I went upstairs to the bedroom, finding Remus was awake in his crib. I picked him up gently in my arms, cradling him as I looked out the window at the stars.

"There's a new star in the night sky." I whispered in his ear. "And soon, there will be more stars there. More than we will ever need."

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3 notes · View notes

braveclementine · 4 days

Text

Chapter 1

Warnings: None. However, future chapters will contain sexual content so readers that are under the age of 18 may have to skip those chapters (Please keep note of the warnings).

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

"𝕻𝖑𝖊𝖆𝖘𝖊, 𝕴 𝖆𝖒 begging you." I said desperately, Uncle Moody and I the only people in the small room at the Burrow. He didn't listen to me, continuing to repack the sacks that he would be taking to Harry's house tonight.

The night that my uncle would die.

"Kane, enough." Uncle Moody said gruffly, making sure that the pairs of clothes and glasses were all there. "I'll be fine."

"What part of, 'Voldemort kills you in the air while you're on a broomstick and you fall to your death' don't you understand?" I asked bitingly. "And why won't you let me tell the others? They should know that you're going to let yourself be killed!"

Mad-eye finally stopped, glaring at me with both eyes, before allowing his magical one to rotate around the house. Once he had confirmed that no one was listening in, he said, "Kane, this future of yours that plays out. It relies on them having no idea Death Eaters are in the sky. You won't be there, and I'll be the only one on alert. Or are you doubting my skill?"

"Of course not!" I protested as he started duplicating Hedwig's cage with stuffed snowy owls inside of it. "And make that seven, not six!"

Uncle Moody sighed but duplicated another cage so that there were seven instead of the original six that I had seen before, "And why did I do that?"

"Because Harry's owl Hedwig also dies tonight!" I snapped angrily, trying to get him to see it. "But Trang and I are going to take the owl to safety separately. And you are going to send someone else in your place!"

"And if I send someone else in my place than that person will die, and the others will wonder why I did so." Uncle Moody growled. "I love you, Elizabeth, but I will not back down from this fight."

A baby crying interrupted the air, and I closed my eyes, knowing I had to go and get my son. Uncle Moody clapped my shoulder, squeezing tightly, before stomping out of the room. Taking a deep breath so I didn't cry, I headed from the room.

Taking the staircase, I found that Trang already had Remus on her hip, trying to shush him softly. She looked up when the door opened and handed him off to me easily. "He just woke up."

"Thanks." I said softly, looking out the window. Bill and Dad were talking out in the garden, everyone getting ready for the last preparations. "You ready?"

"Sure." Trang nodded solemnly. Out of everyone else who was in the Order, only Trang and Uncle Moody knew what was happening tonight. Trang, because she kept all my secrets with her life. And Uncle Moody because I was trying to change his future.

"Are you?" She countered.

"He won't listen to me." I whispered softly, rocking back and forth. Remus had quieted down and was falling asleep again, but I didn't want to put him down. "He's repeating what Cedric told me. What Sirius told me. He knows the future, he'll be fine. I know he won't. But what can I do?"

Trang nodded, sitting down on the bed. "What you've done every other time Elizabeth. Pray."

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𝕴𝖙 𝖙𝖔𝖔𝖐 𝕳𝖆𝖗𝖗𝖞 only a few seconds to run out his backdoor, Hermione wrapping her arms under him first as we arrived at his house. The skies seemed clear enough for the arrival at the very least, but I knew it was just a ruse and my stomach was turning in my stomach.

"Change of plan." Uncle Moody grunted suddenly, "Let's get undercover before we talk you through it."

Harry pulled me into a side hug as I stepped into the kitchen and then Trang. I took refuge at the kitchen table, sitting on the edge of it with Trang coming to stand next to me.

Ron, Hermione, Bill, Fred, George, Mr. Weasley, Uncle Moody, Tonks, Dad, Fleur, Kingsley, Hagrid, and Mundungus all managed to fit into the small kitchen of the Dursley household.

"Kingsley, I thought you were looking after the Muggle Prime Minister?" Harry asked.

"He can get along without me for one night. You're more important." Kingsley answered in that slow, deep voice of his that I loved.

"Harry, guess what?" Tonks asked, perched on top of the washing machine. I smiled as she flaunted her hot pink rhinestone ring.

"You got married?" Harry asked.

"I'm sorry you couldn't be there, Harry, it was very quiet." Dad apologized sincerely.

"That's brilliant, congrat-"

"All right, all right, we'll have time for a cozy catch-up later!" Uncle Moody barked and I flinched. "As Dedalus probably told you, we had to abandon Plan A. Pius Thicknesse has gone over, which gives us a big problem. He's made it an imprisonable offense to connect this house to the Floo Network, place a Portkey here, or Apparate in or out. All done in the name of your protection, to prevent You-Know-Who getting in at you. Absolutely pointless, seeing as your mother's charm does that already. What he's really done is to stop you getting out of here safely."

Personally, I thought it was stupid. Why didn't Uncle Moody and Harry just walk a quarter of a mile to the public library or something and apparate from there?

"Second problem: You're underage, which means you've still got the Trace on you."

I zoned out after that. I had seen this conversation beforehand, and I thought it was stupid. I was more focused now on the route I would be taking with Trang.

"No!" Harry said loudly enough to jar me from my thoughts. "No way!"

"I told them you'd take it like this." Hermione said complacently.

"If you think I'm going to let six people risk their lives-!"

"-because its the first time for all of us." Ron said sarcastically.

"This is different, pretending to be me-"

"Well, none of us really fancy it, Harry. Imagine if something went wrong and we were stuck as specky, scrawny gits forever." Fred said in a horrified whisper. Trang and I giggled.

"You can't do it if I don't cooperate, you need me to give you some hair."

"Well, that's the plan scuppered." George rolled his eyes. "Obviously there's no chance of all of us getting a bit of your hair unless you cooperate."

"Yeah, fourteen of us against one bloke who's not allowed to use magic; we've got no chance," Fred said while I whispered, "Get him Trang! Sic!"

Trang giggled behind her hand and Harry glared, "Funny, really amusing."

"If it has to come to force, then it will." Uncle Moody growled dramatically. "Everyone here's overage, Potter, and they're all prepared to take the risk."

"Elizabeth's not." Harry said immediately, pointing at me like everyone didn't know who I was. "Our birthdays are on the same day."

"Trang and I aren't part of your rescue mission." I said in a bored voice. "We have a side job that has nothing to do with you guys. Real top-secret stuff."

Fred chuckled.

"Let's have no more arguments. Time's wearing on. I want a few of your hairs, boy, now." Uncle Moody growled.

"But this is mad, there's no need-"

"No need! With Voldemort out there and half the Ministry on his side? Potter, if we're lucky he'll have swallowed the fake bait and he'll be planning to ambush you on the thirtieth, but he'd be mad not to have a Death Eater or two keeping an eye out, it's what I'd do. They might not be able to get at you or this house while your mother's charm holds, but it's about to break and they know the rough position of the place. Our only chance is to use decoys. Even Voldemort can't split himself into seven."

Trang suddenly had a coughing fit and Dad handed her a glass of water which she took and ducked away with. I heard her start sniggering in the bathroom after that and it took everything in my power not to laugh as well. God, we were so immature during serious conversations.

"Good." Uncle Moody said and I watched the brown turn to gold. I nearly snorted.

"Ooh, you look much tastier than Crabbe and Goyle, Harry." Hermione squealed in delight, setting Trang off again in laughter. "Oh, you know what I mean- Goyle's potion looked like bogies." Hermione tacked on defensively as Ron gave her a strange look.

"Right then, fake Potters line up over here, please." Uncle Moody said.

I was frustrated that Moody had still taken Mundungus, when Mundungus was clearly the whole reason that Uncle Moody died. But I supposed there wasn't really anyone else to take his place. Most of the other people pretending to be Harry were all of the kids anyways. I supposed Trang could've, but I needed her.

"We're one short." Dad said, as Mundungus never joined Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, and Fleur in the line.

"Here." Hagrid said, lifting Mundungus up with what felt like three fingers and plopping him down next to Fleur.

"I've toldjer, I'd sooner be a protector." Mundungus complained.

"Shut it. As I've already told you, you spineless worm, any Death Eater we run into will be aiming to capture Potter, not kill him. Dumbledore always said Voldemort would want to finish Potter in person. It'll be the protectors who have got the most to worry about, the Death Eaters'll want to kill them."

My stomach turned. While knowing right now that it should only be Uncle Moody who would potentially die- besides Hedwig- I didn't know if anything would change. After all, it was clear to everyone that Uncle Moody and I had some sort of tension between the two of us. And it was probably strange that we wanted to take Hedwig on a separate journey.

I wondered if it would change anything. If I had to worry about Dad or Tonks or Kingsley. If I had to worry about George losing more than an ear. Or worry about Fred now instead of in the future at the Battle of Hogwarts.

I took a deep breath, once again trying to find where we were in the conversation. I noticed the others were all taking the drinks now.

It was disconcerting, watching.

Fred and George turned to each other and said, "Wow- We're identical!"

I was eased once again as I laughed.

"I dunno, though, I think I'm still better-looking." Fred said.

As the others got ready, I tugged at Harry's arm. "Where's Hedwig? Trang and I need her."

Harry went ahead and got her, and I nodded, "Uncle Moody has a stuffed one for you. What I want you to do is act like you really have Hedwig. Whatever you would do if it was truly Hedwig in the cage, do it."

Harry looked a little nervous, but I knew I had to tell him. If he didn't duck for the cage because he figured it was just a stuffed animal, he would be hit by a killing spell.

"Good." Uncle Moody said, once everything was set and ready to go. "The pairs will be as follows: Mundungus will be traveling with me, by broom-"

"Why'm I with you?"

"Because you're the one that needs watching." Uncle Moody growled while I felt my stomach sink once again. Uncle Moody didn't even look at me as he continued, "Arthur and Fred-"

"I'm George." The Harry that Uncle Moody was pointing at said, "Can't you even tell us apart when we're Harry?"

I covered my mouth with my hand as Uncle Moody sighed, "Sorry, George-"

"I'm only yanking your wand. I'm Fred really-"

"Enough messing around! The other one- George or Fred or whoever you are- you're with Remus. Miss Delacour-"

"I'm taking Fleur on a thestral. She's not that fond of brooms." Bill said. Trang might've cracked a rib from how hard she was laughing at the sappy face Fleur- as Harry- made at Bill.

"Miss Granger with Kingsley, again by thestral-"

"Which leaves you and me, Ron!" Tonks said excitedly.

"An' you're with me, Harry. That all righ'? We'll be on the bike, brooms an' thestrals can't take me weight, see. Not a lot o' room on the seat with me on it, though, so you'll be in the sidecar."

"That's great." Harry lied.

"We think the Death Eaters will expect you to be on a broom." Uncle Moody informed the dispassionate Harry, "Snape's had plenty of time to tell them everything about you he's never mentioned before, so if we do run into any Death Eaters, we're betting they'll choose one of the Potters who look at home on a broomstick. All right then. I make it three minutes until we're supposed to leave. No point locking the back door, it won't keep the Death Eaters out when they come looking. . . come on. . "

Uncle Moody waited as everyone filed out of the kitchen. Dad gave Trang and I a smile as he exited until it was just Trang and me.

Uncle Moody looked at me as tears started to pile up in my eyes. "Kane. . . just remember. I'm forewarned. But I can't sit this one out. Too much is at stake for that boy. And I know you'd die for him just the same as I."

"I know." I whispered.

Uncle Moody stomped over, and I hugged him. I knew it would be the last time. He would go out the way that he wanted to go out.

Uncle Moody then clapped Trang on the shoulder, "You're a good kid. Both of you."

Then he stomped out of the kitchen and Trang, and I sat in silence, watching the rest of them take off into the sky.

⬅️➡️

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braveclementine · 4 days

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Elizabeth Kane and the Deathly Hallows

Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Epilogue

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braveclementine · 5 days

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Chapter 21

Warnings: None. However, future chapters will contain sexual content so readers that are under the age of 18 may have to skip those chapters (Please keep note of the warnings).

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𝕴 𝖜𝖔𝖐𝖊 𝖚𝖕 early, fed Remus, changed his diaper and clothes and then left him with Severus while I hurried out of the room, dressing myself in the process and hurried down the stairs towards the Hufflepuff Common room.

Susan was just waking up as I entered the dorm and she quickly woke Hannah and they dressed at top speed.

Something kept twisting in my stomach, something I couldn't particularly pinpoint. Perhaps nerves was the right word.

I carried the drawing in my arms. It stuck out nearly eight feet in both directions, making it a great way to keep people away from me.

Most of the Hufflepuff house was already up and they made room for me so that we could get it out the door. We hurried up towards the Great Hall where breakfast was only just starting.

For some reason, I got pushed to the front of the line and so, holding the drawing in my arms, I walked through the door and found that the three House tables were already full. There wasn't a single Hufflepuff though, it seemed as though they were all behind me.

My cheeks were bright red as we walked up the two center tables. To my surprise, the other students- including the Slytherins- started to join us, adding to my embarrassment. The teacher's faces looked apprehensive except for Dumbledore's. He was smiling.

I was thinking random things including, 'Is this to weird of a gift' or 'perhaps they'll hate it'. But before I could even think of changing my mind, I was already walking up the steps and presenting the large rolled up drawing to Professor Dumbledore.

"This is a present, for. . . for all of you." I barely whispered. Dumbledore took it from my hands and unrolled it and then with a wave of his wand, it attached itself to the wall behind the teachers. All of the teachers turned to look at it.

I had been wrong. Even in my eyes, the drawing was perfect.

Dumbledore turned back to me and winked and said, "Thank you, everyone."

There were cheers and whooping and other noises of happiness (even from the Slytherins) and everyone went back to the tables and the strangest thing happened. Everyone sat at random tables with random people. It was disorienting. I went to a table I'd never sat at-the Slytherin table- with Harry and Hermione and Ron, my Hufflepuff friends, and Trang. Other Slytherins sat around us, some I knew like Pansy and others I didn't know.

Hermione leaned over and whispered to me, "I think you did it, Elizabeth, I think you might've achieved house unity."

Had I? Would that change the future? Would that make Draco call off the attack?

I glanced down the table where Draco was sitting alone, staring down at his breakfast bowl, seemingly unaware of the talk going on around him. He looked up and our eyes met and I gave the slightest nod and then turned back to the others.

I looked up at the table. Many of the Professors were out of their seats, trying to get a better look at the drawing that I had drew. It covered most of the length of the wall, though not all of it. The Professors were pointing and motioning. The only people who were not standing were Dumbledore, Severus, and Firenze.

Firenze lifted his glass to me before drinking. I wondered what he was drinking, and if he would have drunk it in the forest, and what he was drinking to. I smiled, regardless.

I would've loved to have stayed and chatted all day, but I wanted to get back to Remus. I stood, leaving with Trang because that way, others wouldn't follow. There were cheers and people stood up to congratulate me on something that I really didn't need congratulating on. I wondered for a moment, why people thought this was such a big deal, why people seemed to be acting as though this was the last day of school, why people seemed to think that today was a party day or something.

Perhaps it was because I knew what was going to happen in three days. Maybe, if I couldn't see the future, I would've been able to understand other peoples' attitudes. But I couldn't and maybe I never would.

"They're quite excited aren't they?" Trang asked once we reached the peace and quiet of Severus' office.

"Yes." I said. "I'm not sure I understand it."

"From what I understand." Trang said slowly, "There's never been a gift for the teachers before. You kind've made history which means that every name written on that drawing is history."

"I should put protection spells on it." I mumbled, "So it doesn't get ruined during the attack."

"Good idea." Trang said in a downcast voice. She didn't want to talk about the attack because I wasn't allowing her to participate in it which she thought was stupid.

She rocked Remus in her arms and I said, "I would let you fight, you know. I just don't think you've learned enough."

"No." Trang said, "I haven't, your right. I just wish I could do something."

"But you can." I said softly.

Trang looked at me, her arms going still.

"You can stay with Remus." I said softly. "In Madam Pomfrey's office because Hermione and Luna will be staking out Severus' office during the attack. I'll meet you in there after the attack."

"Okay." Trang said, swallowing hard, "It feels. . . it feels like the world is ending in a way."

"Yes." I said softly, "But it isn't. I mean, we're all going to go home in one piece. Physically anyway, though our hearts may be broken. But there'll be two weddings. Dad and Tonks and then Bill and Fleur. You'll be invited to both, mark my word."

Trang smiled, "That's good."

I smiled too. "Dad and Tonks are going to have a baby, you know?"

"Really?" Trang asked softly.

I nodded, "Teddy Lupin. They'll name him after Tonk's dad."

"That's nice." Trang said with a smile. I hadn't told her that Dad and Tonks died only a few months later. She didn't need to carry my worry and pain and secrets and so I smiled too and prayed that my plans were going to work.

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"𝕳𝖊𝖞 𝕳𝖊𝖗𝖒𝖎𝖔𝖓𝖊." 𝕴 said, joining her in the library though my talk was only going to be brief. She was sitting at a table going through a stack of old Daily Prophet articles.

"Elizabeth." Hermione said, sounding distracted, "What's up?"

"What are some good protection spells to put on the drawing in the Great Hall?" I asked in what I hoped was a causal voice, "Long lasting ones."

Hermione thought carefully for a moment and then grabbed a piece of parchment and started to speed write. I watched her apprehensively, not sure if the words were for her own lead on whatever she was researching, or for me. Then, she handed me the piece of parchment.

"Thanks." I said, pocketing the parchment and then hurried down the steps and around a few corners and entered the Great Hall. It was between lunch and dinner so there was next to no one in the room except for a pocket of four-year Ravenclaws discussing a Transfiguration assignment.

I stopped in front of the drawing and pulled out the list Hermione had written for me. There was the imperturbable charm and the Protego Maxima charm amongst some others but those were the only two I needed. I cast the spells nonverbally, feeling strange. Dumbledore was going to die tomorrow.

I looked at the drawing for a long time, looking mostly at Dumbledore's face and then my eyes moved to Uncle Moody. I should've made him smile. I would've liked to have seen him smile again. Maybe I could get him to smile before he died.

Tears fell down my face and I wiped them away quickly.

I went back to Severus, feeling sick with worry. I probably felt as sick as Draco did, lying in bed, eyes open, everyone else in the dorm (or in this case Severus and miraculously Remus), trying to foresee what was going to happen tomorrow.

I wondered how many students would show up to fight. I wondered if it would be only students from D.A. or if other students would overhear and try to fight.

But more importantly and the thing that sickened me most was wondering if I was going to have someone killed. I had gotten people involved that would not have been involved originally and just because they'd drank a little Felix Felicis didn't mean they couldn't get hurt.

I woke Severus up.

"Whaswong?" He mumbled sleepily and I bent down to kiss him. He woke up slowly, kissing me back and then asked more clearly, "What's wrong?"

I took a deep breath and said, "Tonight's our last night together for. . . for a while."

He understood what I meant immediately. Our clothes were off in seconds, our bodies tangled in minutes. We'd never moved so carelessly, so fast before. I wondered if maybe we'd have a second child, if we could have a second child before he died. I wondered if our son would ever retain memories of Severus and I wondered how I was going to be able to live with his death if I couldn't save him.

But I didn't share these thoughts tonight. Oh no, tonight was the two of us and our bodies and our love and all of the other emotions that fit in with marriage. We'd probably both be really sore tomorrow and it was going to be completely worth it.

I gripped him with some strength hidden inside of me and he did the same. There was a small pain in my head as his hands buried themselves into my hair, clutching. My nails dug into his back. Our lips clashed along with the movement of our bodies. It was different than any other time. Tonight was bittersweet.

The next morning, we were both subdued.

Severus hands shook as he held Remus, rocking back and forth and holding him in his arms. I watched, feeling depressed. I'd never seen Severus' hands shake. Not when he'd saved me in my fourth-year, or when I got brought back from the Ministry in my fifth-year. He was always so calm, making sure that I was the one that was alright. But now, his hands shook badly, trying to get a grip on himself so he didn't drop his son.

"I'll be back." I whispered as evening approached. Neither of us had left all day, taking turns holding Remus while the other ate. "I just have to find out when I need to bring Remus to Trang, okay?"

Severus simply nodded, taking Remus from my arms and kissing his forehead, bouncing him gently and rocking back and forth.

I left so I was determined not to cry and made my way to the Gryffindor common room. Trang was already there and I gave the password and we went in. Harry and Ron were sitting on a couch by the fireplace. Harry was staring out the window and Ron was working on his Herbology homework.

"Hey!" I said as brightly as could be managed in my state.

"Hey." Ron said without looking up, "You wouldn't happen to want to tell me how many properties Roses have?"

"30." I said, sitting down in an armchair nearby, "Would you like me to list out all the properties?"

"Umm. . ." Ron said, scratching his head with a quill. "Yes, at least until I stay stop that is."

I took a deep breath and said, "eye diseases, cataracts, burns, influenza, stomach problems, diarrhea, chronic finger sores, snow blindness, sore throats, nosebleeds, kidney stones, headaches, coughing, colds, dry skin, grief, stress and anxiety, scurvy, fevers, puffy skin, blood thinning, acne, muscle pain, depression, menstrual issues, inflammation, constipation, colic, insomnia, and viral and bacterial infections."

Ron stared at me, "Is there anything roses don't help with?"

"Cancer?"

Ron snorted.

I felt better, having recited something off the top of my head. Reciting facts had always calmed me down in the past.

Hermione came into the Gryffindor common room at that moment and made room between Harry and Ron and stared at Harry with a purposeful look on her face, "I want to talk to you, Harry."

"What about?" Harry asked, drawing his attention from the window.

"The so-called Half-Blood Prince." Hermione demanded and I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, not again. Will you please drop it?" Harry groaned.

"I'm no dropping it until you've heard me out. Now, I've been trying to find out a bit about who might make a hobby of inventing Dark spells-"

"He didn't make a hobby of it-"

"He, he- who says it's a he?"

"We've been through this. Prince, Hermione, Prince!" Harry said in a cross voice, starting to get annoyed.

Red patches appeared on Hermione's cheeks and she threw down a piece of newspaper from her pocket and slammed it down on the table, "Right! Look at that! Look at the picture!"

I saw that it was Eileen Prince, Severus mother, and I moved uncomfortably in my seat. The girl had long black skin and she had heavy brows and a pallid face. Her nose was long and she was no beauty. She looked quite unhappy. The caption of the newsprint read that she was the Captain of the Hogwarts Gobstones Team. I wondered if Severus ever liked playing with gobstones.

"So?" Harry asked, putting the newspaper clipping back down on the table.

"Her name was Eileen Prince. Prince, Harry."

Harry and Hermione stared at each other for a short minute and then Harry burst into laughter and said, "No way."

"What?"

"You think she was the Half-Blood. . .? Oh, come on." Harry said, grinning.

"Well, why not? Harry, there aren't any real princes in the Wizarding world! It's either a nickname, or made-up title somebody's given themselves, or it could be their actual name, couldn't it? No, listen!" Hermione said as Harry scoffed, "If, say, her father was a wizard whose surname was Prince, and her mother was a Muggle, then that would make her a 'half-blood Prince'!"

"Yeah, very ingenious, Hermione. . ." Harry said in a patronizing voice.

"But it would! Maybe she was proud of being half a Prince!"

"It would make sense." I interjected. "Pure-bloods consider themselves royalty, don't they? So maybe she considers a Half-blood as being a prince, a step down from being a King."

Hermione seemed to think I had a valid point but Harry said, "Listen, Hermione, Liz, I can tell it's not a girl. I can just tell."

"The truth is that you don't think a girl would have been clever enough." Hermione said in an angry voice.

Harry looked stunned and protested, "How can I have hung round with you two for five years and not think girls are clever? It's the way he writes, I just know the Prince was a bloke, I can tell. This girl hasn't got anything to do with it. Where did you get this anyway?"

"The library. There's a whole collection of old Prophets up there. Well, I'm going to find out more about Eileen Prince if I can."

"Enjoy yourself." Harry said, his irritability back.

Hermione stood up, "I will. And the first place I'll look is records of old Potions awards!" She stormed out of the portrait hole and Harry scowled after her before returning his gaze to the night sky.

"She's just never got over you outperforming her in Potions." Ron said unexpectedly.

"Liz has always outshone her in everything." Harry grumbled, "You don't think I'm mad, wanting that book back, do you?"

"First off," I interjected, "I am not better than her in everything! Though, admittedly, I will claim flying."

"Your O.W.L.s say otherwise." Ron pointed out and I glared at him. "Fine." Ron threw his hands up, "You're completely stupid, happy?"

I cracked a reluctant smile and Ron turned to Harry, "Nah, your not crazy wanting the book back. He was a genius, the Prince. Anyway. . . without his bezoar tip. . ." He drew a line across his throat imitating death. Trang moved anxiously beside me. "I wouldn't be here to discuss it, would I? I mean, I'm not saying that spell you used on Malfoy was great-"

"Nor am I." Harry said quickly, shooting me a look.

"But he healed all right, didn't he? Back on his feet in no time."

"Yeah, Thanks to Snape. . ."

"You still got detention with Snape this Saturday?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, and the Saturday after that, and the Saturday after that. And he's hinting now that if I don't get all the boxes done by the end of term, we'll carry on next year."

"Don't you think it's a bit unfair?" Trang interjected. "You get detention for almost killing Draco but Draco doesn't get detention for almost killing Lizzy?"

"Yeah." Ron said, "but since when has Snape ever been fair with Slytherins and Harry?"

But Trang, Harry, and I exchanged a glance. Severus had been furious with Draco for hurting me, yes, but he couldn't act on it.

"I think he would have." I said slowly. "If it wasn't for the Unbreakable vow that he had made with Draco's mother."

"Nah." Ron said, scratching out something on his homework. "Snape's evil, he wouldn't have done anything."

One of Harry's beaters from the Quidditch team came over, holding out a roll of parchment and both Trang and I stiffened as Harry took it, "Thanks, Jimmy. . . Hey, it's from Dumbledore!" Harry unrolled it and sped read it and looked up and said, "He wants me to go to his office as quick as I can!"

"Blimey." Ron whispered, "You don't reckon. . . he hasn't found. . .?"

"He has." I said, voice nearly choking in my throat.

Harry jumped to his feet and left the room. Trang stood too and I shook my head just the slightest and she sat back down.

Ron continued working on his homework, mostly in silence though he asked the occasional question. I had picked up a book to pretend to read though my stomach was now churning. Perhaps I was going to be sick. Trang looked sick.

The sun was starting to set. Hermione came back and asked where Harry was. Ron excitedly told her that Dumbledore might've found a horcrux but Hermione was paying attention to Trang's face. As the hours had passed, she was finding it harder to keep a stoic expression.

"Are you alright Trang?"

"Yes." Trang's whisper was barely loud enough for me to hear. "Fine."

A few minutes later, Harry came hurrying into the common room and the four of us looked up. "What does he want?" Hermione asked immediately, "Harry, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Harry said in a short voice, racing past us and up to the dorm. He came back downstairs shortly, breathing hard as though he had run a sprint. Perhaps he had. "I've got be quick. Dumbledore thinks I'm getting my Invisibility Cloak. Listen I'm going with Dumbledore to find a horcrux-"

"Where is it?" Ron asked.

"-and Malfoy was whooping in the Room of Requirement which means that he finished whatever he was supposed to have started. So you see what this-"

"But what does that have to do with us?" Hermione asked.

"-means? Dumbledore won't be here tonight, so Malfoy's going to have another clear shot at whatever he's up to. No, listen to me! I know it was Malfoy celebrating in the Room of Requirement. Here-" Harry shoved the Marauder's Map at me. Stunned, I took it. "You've got to watch him and you've got to watch Snape too. Use anyone else who you can rustle up from the D.A., Hermione, those contract Galleons will still work, right? Dumbledore says he's put extra protection in the school, but if Snape's involved, he'll know what Dumbledore's protection is, and how to avoid it- but he won't be expecting you lot to be on the watch, will he?"

Harry's eyes were searching mine, trying to figure out if I was going to betray his trust. I gave the tiniest of nods.

"Harry-" Hermione began.

"I haven't got time to argue." Harry said, thrusting Ron a pair of socks saying, "Take this as well."

"Thanks. Er- why do I need socks?"

"You need what's wrapped in them, it's the Felix Felicis. Share it between yourselves and Ginny too. Say good-bye to her for me. I'd better go, Dumbledore's waiting-"

"No!" Hermione said, "We don't want it, you take it, who knows what you're going to be facing?"

"I'll be fine, I'll be with Dumbledore. I want to know you lot are okay... Don't look at me like that, Hermione, I'll see you later..." Harry was gone, disappearing through the portrait hole.

I swallowed hard. "Get the D.A. coin. I will be back soon."

"You foresaw this?" Hermione whispered and I nodded.

"We should all be fine but I have. . . I have to do something first, alright." I handed over the map. "Keep on eye on Draco. I'll take care of Professor Snape."

Trang was on my heels as we dashed towards the Defense Against the Dark Arts office. Severus was inside, holding Remus tightly to his chest. Trang waited down in the classroom while I hurried towards him.

There were a few tears dripping down Severus' cheeks and I felt my heart wrench. "Don't. . ." I whispered softly, wiping them away, my own tears dropping down my cheeks, "Everything's going to be fine. . . alright?"

"I'm not going to see him in a long time." Severus whispered. "Perhaps not ever."

I didn't tell him that he was right.

"Of course you will." I said, nearly choking on the lie. "Just a few months." Never. We kissed, a long deep kiss, tears running down both of our faces.

"I love you." Severus said gruffly, pulling me into a hug.

"I love you too." I whispered, tears dripping down his back and then I pulled away, wiping the tears away. "You'll stay in the room until Professor Flitwick comes to get you." I cleared my throat. "Hermione and Luna will be waiting outside the door. Harry told them to keep an eye on you."

Severus smiled bitterly. "Of course. Potter's thorough."

"You'll stun Flitwick and tell them he collapsed and for them to take care of them. Then you'll be able to make your way to the tower. . ." I hesitated, gripping his hand.

Severus and I didn't say another word, just staring into each other's eyes and then I picked Remus up in my arms and walked quickly out the door, closing the door gently behind me. I handed Remus over to Trang.

"Take care of him Trang." I choked out.

"Of course I will." Trang said gently. "You take care Lizzy. I'll kill you if you die."

I laughed, hiccupped, and headed back up to the Gryffindor Tower. Ron and Hermione were up there. Ginny and Neville were with them too. Dean and Seamus were hurrying down from the boy's dorm.

"Eliza what do you suggest we do?" Hermione asked immediately. She had the D.A. coin in her hand. Parvati and Lavender came through the portrait hole joining us.

"From what I saw." I said slowly, taking careful command, "Ron, Neville, and Ginny went to the Room of Requirement to stake out Malfoy while Hermione and Luna went to watch guard over Professor Snape's room. I also think we should move this conversation somewhere else, where others like Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws can join in on the discussion."

We left the Gryffindor Tower, moving our way to the Great Hall. Ernie, Susan, Justin, and Hannah came tearing up the hallway. I was not terribly surprised, though disappointed, to see that Zacharias was not with them.

"Zacharias?" I asked out of the corner of my mouth to Ernie. He simply shook his head, looking a bit disgusted.

"Harry wanted us to divide this between the fighters." Hermione said, holding up the half-bottle of Felix Felicis, "But there's no way that we can all-"

"Don't worry." I said, "I took care of that." I motioned to the Ernie who took the two bottles out of his pocket. Katie Bell from Gryffindor joined us, her D.A. coin in her hand. Moments later, a group of Ravenclaws joined us.

"We already drank the luck potion." Padma said, going to stand next to Parvati. Anthony handed over the extra vials and I handed it to Dean who drank some, and it got passed around.

"I don't know whether we're all here or not." I said, taking a swig myself. "There's no point, considering there's so many of us, to all go and wait outside of Professor Snape's office or the Room of Requirement. I suggest the the groups I mentioned before go, each taking an extra member I didn't mention before, while the rest of us patrol the corridors around the Astronomy tower and Great hall."

"Alright." Hermione said nervously. "Luna and Hannah can come with me."

Ron looked between Neville and Ginny. "Er- Seamus, you want to come with us?"

Seamus nodded. The two groups went off in their respective directions while the rest of the Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs, and Gryffindors looked at me.

"Alright, we need two equal groups down here and around the astronomy tower." I said, thinking hard. "Ernie, Susan, you're definitely with me. Justin you stay here." I looked at the others, thinking, "The rest of you can divvy yourselves up between the two groups."

Ernie, Susan, and I stood to one side while the others divided themselves up as asked.

"Alright." I said, noticing that I had Anthony, Padma, Terry, Lavender, Katie, and Leanne- who I hadn't noticed- had joined us.

We took off to the astronomy tower, letting the others station themselves throughout the Great Hall and lower floor, waiting.

We waited too, pacing back and forth, keeping guard around the corners. The time ticked by, twenty minutes, thirty minutes, forty-five. Every minute that passed added more strain to our nerves. Our ears picked up every little sound. An hour passed. Then five minutes past an hour there were running footsteps.

Our wands were up immediately, everyone was near the middle of the hallway. Ernie was peering round the corner and hurried back towards us, "They're coming, quite a few of them too."

My stomach nerves were horrid but I raised my wand, trying to push all fear away. "Get ready then." I said as the footsteps grew nearer and nearer. There were shouts and then they turned the corner.

Some of them faltered, obviously not expecting us and we threw our spells immediately, not giving them the chance to attack first.

Some spells hit, throwing Death Eaters backwards. The others, on the other hand, drew their wands and started to attack too. Ernie was on one side of me and Katie was on the other. The Death Eaters drew nearer, our spells were thrown quicker and faster. A full on battle had engaged.

We got separated, sometimes fighting with a Death Eater next to us. There were more footsteps running down the hall and I jumped and rolled, dodging a killing spell out of nowhere. I supposed it could only be the potion.

Greyback took up fighting me, his smile easy, his pointed teeth gleaming. The footsteps I had heard could no longer be heard, and I wondered if I had made them up.

Then Dad, Bill, and Tonks came tearing around the corner. I dodged as Greyback lunged at me and started the duel up all over again as he tried over and over to stun me. Dad came tearing towards us, Bill on his heels.

I could hear Bellatrix laughing somewhere and I wondered who she was dueling. I saw one of the Death Eaters moving up the astronomy staircase, and I ducked another of Greyback's spells and then dove to the side, ducking behind Anthony, turning into a black cat, and hurried up the stairs after the Death Eater.

I crept into the shadows, watching as the Death Eater fired the Dark Mark into the sky. I knew he'd be killed upon exiting the room and so I let him go without killing him myself.

I stayed in the shadows, knowing that Harry and Dumbledore would arrive any moment now. One minute, three minutes, six minutes and here came two brooms, landing. Dumbledore dismounted first, a second broom with an invisible rider landed next to him. I drew further back into the shadows.

"What does it mean?" Harry asked, noticing there was no dead body in the tower. "Is it the real Mark? Has someone definitely been- Professor?"

Professor Dumbledore was clutching at his chest. In a weak voice, Dumbledore said, "Go and wake Severus. Tell him what has happened and bring him to me. Do nothing else, speak to nobody else, and do not remove your cloak. I shall wait here."

"But-"

"You swore to obey me, Harry- go!"

There were steps towards the door and then there were running steps on the other side, running up towards us.

"Expelliarmus!"

Dumbledore's wand flew from his hand. "Good evening, Draco."

"Who else is here?" Draco asked, looking around suspiciously. My hindquarters were pressed up as far back as I could go.

"A question I might ask you. Or are you acting alone?"

"No, I've got backup. There are Death Eaters here in your school tonight."

"Well, well, very good indeed. You found a way to let them in, did you?"

"Yeah, right under your nose and you never realized!" Malfoy panted.

"Well Miss Kane did alert me a few days prior, but I was inclined to disagree. But ingenious, yet, forgive me, where are they now? You seem unsupported."

"They met some of your guards and some kids. They're having a fight down below. They won't be long. . . I came on ahead. I- I've got a job to do."

"Well, then, you must get on and do it, my dear boy." Professor Dumbledore said calmly. It was like watching a horrible movie.

After a long moment where Draco did not attempt to kill Dumbledore, Dumbledore said, "Draco, Draco, you are not a killer."

"How do you know?" Malfoy asked childishly. "You don't know what I'm capable of, you don't know what I've done!"

"Oh yes, I do. You almost killed Katie Bell and Ronald Weasley. You have been trying, with increasing desperation, to kill me all year. Forgive me, Draco, but they have been feeble attempts. . . so feeble, to be honest, that I wonder whether you hear has really be in it."

"It has been in it! I've been working on it all year, and tonight-"

There was a loud yell, a man's yell. Who's was it? Terrys? Ernies? Rons? Nevilles? Seamus? Dads? Bills? Malfoy glanced over his shoulder.

"Somebody is putting up a good fight. But you were saying.. yes, you have managed to introduce Death Eaters into my school, which, I admit, I thought impossible, one of the reasons I did not believe Miss Kane. . . How did you do it?"

Malfoy did not answer.

"Perhaps you ought to get on with the job alone. What if your backup has been thwarted by my guard? As you have perhaps realized, there are members of the Order of the Phoenix here tonight too. And after all, you don't really need help. . . I have no wand at the moment. . . I cannot defend myself."

Malfoy did not answer, merely gazing at him.

"I see, you are afraid to act until they join you."

Was Dumbledore trying to goad him?

"I'm not afraid! It's you who would be scared!"

"But why? I don't think you will kill me, Draco. Killing is not nearly as easy as the innocent believe. . . So tell me, while we wait for you friends. . . how did you smuggle them in here? It seems to have taken you a long time to work out how to do it."

Malfoy looked like he might throw up. I figured he would not answer again but instead he replied, "I had to mend that broken Vanishing Cabinet that no one's used in years. The one Montague got lost in last year."

"Aaah." Dumbledore meant to sigh but it came out more like a groan. "that was clever. . . There is a pair, I take it?"

"In Borgin and Burkes and they make a kind of passage between them. Montague told me that when he was stuck in the Hogwarts one, he was trapped in limbo but sometimes he could hear what was going on at school, and sometimes what was going on in the shop, as if the cabinet was traveling between them, but he couldn't make anyone hear him. . . In the end, he managed to Apparate out, even though he'd never passed his test. He nearly died doing it. Everyone thought it was a really good story, but I was the only one who realized what it meant- even Borgin didn't know- I was the one who realized there could be a way into Hogwarts through the cabinets if I fixed the broken one."

"Very good. So the Death Eaters were able to pass from Borgin and Burkes into the school to help you. . . A clever plan, a very clever plan.. and, as you say, right under my nose." Dumbledore said.

"Yeah, yeah it was!" Malfoy said and I realized that he was drawing courage and comfort from Dumbledore's high praise.

"But there were times weren't there, when you were not sure you would succeed in mending the cabinet? And you restored to crude and badly judged measures such as sending me a cursed necklace that was bound to reach the wrong hands. . . poisoning mead there was only the slightest chance I might drink. . ."

"Yeah, well, you still didn't realize who was behind that stuff, did you?" Malfoy sneered. I watched as Dumbledore slid down the ramparts just slightly.

"As a matter of fact, I did." Dumbledore said. "I was sure it was you."

"Why didn't you stop me, then?" Malfoy demanded.

"I tried, Draco. Professor Snape has been keeping watch over you on my orders-"

"He hasn't been doing your orders, he promised my mother-"

"Of course that is what he would tell you, Draco, but-"

"He's a double agent, you stupid old man, he isn't working for you, you just think he is!"

No, I thought. You're the stupid one Draco.

"We must agree to differ on that Draco. It so happens that I trust Professor Snape-"

"Well, you're losing your grip, then! He's been offering me plenty of help- wanting all the glory for himself- wanting a bit of the action- 'What are you doing?' 'Did you do the necklace, that was stupid, it could have blown everything-' But I haven't told him what I've been doing in the Room of Requirement, he's going to wake up tomorrow and it'll all be over and he won't be the Dark Lord's favorite anymore, he'll be nothing compared to me, nothing!"

"Very gratifying, we all like appreciation for our own hard work, of course. But you must have had an accomplice, all the same. . . someone in Hogsmeade, someone who was able to slip Katie the- the- aaah. . . of course. . . Rosmerta. How long has she been under the Imperius Curse?"

"Got there at last, have you?" Malfoy taunted. I was ready to jump out and claw him up but kept my cool, my tail twitching against the stone.

There was another yell from below, a louder one. I could only imagine someone getting hurt, someone I'd led into battle. Malfoy looked nervously over his shoulder again and Dumbledore continued to speak saying, "So poor Rosmerta was forced to lurk in her own bathroom and pass that necklace to any Hogwarts student who entered the room unaccompanied? And the poisoned mead. . . well, naturally, Rosmerta was able to poison it for you before she sent the bottle to Slughorn, believing that it was to be my Christmas present. . . Yes, very neat. . . very neat. . . Poor Mr. Filch would not, of course, think to check a bottle of Rosmerta's. Tell me, how have you been communicating with Rosmerta? I thought we had all methods of communication in and out of the school monitored."

"Enchanted coins." Malfoy said. He sounded how Barty Crouch Jr. had been under the Veritaserum. Compelled to answer. Compelled to tell the truth. "I had one and she had the other and I could send her messages-"

"Isn't that the secret method of communication the group that called themselves Dumbledore's Army used last year?" Dumbledore asked, slipping an inch lower on the wall.

"Yeah, I got the idea from them." Malfoy said with a twisted smile. "Kane is to smart for her own good. I got the idea of poisoning the mead from the Mudblood Granger as well, I heard her talking in the library about Filch not recognizing potions."

"Please do not use that offensive word in front of me." Dumbledore said politely.

Malfoy gave a laugh that was harsher than Greyback's. "You care about me saying 'Mudblood' when I'm about to kill you?"

"Yes I do." Dumbledore said, "But as for being about to kill me, Draco, well first, Miss Kane alerted me that you would not be the one to kill me and I'm determined to take her word on that. And for a second, you have had several long minutes now, we are quite alone, I am more defenseless than you can have dreamed of finding me, and still you have not acted. . ."

Malfoy's smile contorted into one of a person who had bitten involuntarily into a lemon. I wondered why Dumbledore kept mentioning me telling him who would kill him.

"Now, about tonight. I am a little puzzled about how it happened. . . you knew that I had left the school? But of course, Rosmerta saw me leaving, she tipped you off using your ingenious coins, I'm sure."

"That's right." Malfoy said. "But she said you were just going for a drink, you'd be back. . ."

"Well, I certainly did have a drink. . . and I cam back. . . after a fashion. So you decided to spring a trap on me?" Dumbledore mumbled.

"We decided to put the Dark Mark over the tower and get you to hurry up here and see who'd been killed, and it worked!" Malfoy exclaimed.

"Well. . . yes and no. . .but am I to take it, then, that nobody has been murdered?"

My back was starting to ache from being in such a cramped position. I angled my body carefully and laid down, my tail twitching.

"Someone's dead. One of your people." Draco's voice went up an octave. "I don't know who, it was dark. . . I stepped over the body. . . I was supposed to be waiting up here when you got back, only your Phoenix lot go in the way. . . and Kane seemed to have pulled quite a few students to meet us."

"Yes, they do that." Dumbledore said with a slight smile.

People were fighting on the staircase now, the shouts were louder. I wondered who was dead. If it was any of the students. . . it was my fault.

"There is little time, one way or another. So let us discuss your options, Draco." Dumbledore said, pulling Draco's attention back from the staircase.

"My options! I'm standing here with a wand- I'm about to kill you-"

"My dear boy, let us have no more pretense about that. If you were going to kill me, you would have done it when you first disarmed me, you would not have stopped for this pleasant chat about ways and means. Miss Kane told me the future, you do not kill me."

"I haven't got any options!" Malfoy said, turning sheet white. I wish Dumbledore would stop bringing up my name. What was the point of it? "I've got to do it! He'll kill me! He'll kill my whole family!"

"I appreciate the difficulty of your position. Why else do you think I have not confronted you before now? Because I knew that you would have been murdered if Lord Voldemort realized that I suspected you."

Malfoy flinched at the sound of Voldemort's name.

"I did not dare speak to you of the mission with which I knew you had been entrusted, in case he used Legilimency against you. But now at last," Dumbledore continued, "we can speak plainly to each other. . . No harm has been done, you have hurt nobody, though you are very lucky that your unintentional victims survived. . . I can help you, Draco."

"No, you can't." Malfoy said, his wand hand shaking terribly. I watched it with my cat eyes, almost wanting to jump on it. "Nobody can. He told me to do it or he'll kill me. I've got no choice."

"He cannot kill you if you are already dead." Dumbledore said logically. "Come over to the right side, Draco, and we can hide you more completely than you can possibly imagine. What is more, I can send members of the Order to your mother tonight to hide her likewise. Nobody would be surprised that you had died in your attempt to kill me- forgive me, but Lord Voldemort probably expects it. Nor would the Death Eaters be surprised that we had captured and killed your mother- it is what they would do themselves, after all. Your father is safe at the moment in Azkaban. . . went he time comes, we can protect him too. Come over to the right side, Draco. . . you are not a killer. . ."

But it did not matter and Dumbledore knew it was an empty promise. Severus would show up any moment now and kill him.

"But I got this far, didn't I?" Draco asked slowly, but I knew he was sincerely considering it. "They thought I'd die in the attempt, but I'm here. . . and you're in my power. . . I'm the one with the wand. . . you're at my mercy. . ."

"No, Draco. It is my mercy, and not yours, that matters now." Dumbledore said quietly.

The wand that was being held at Dumbledore's heart was dropped a few inches. Then there were footsteps thundering up the stairs and all suspense was gone.

"Dumbledore cornered!" A lumpy man with a twisted smile exclaimed.

His sister was beside him and was grinning, though her features were slightly more perfect and exclaimed, "Dumbledore wandless, Dumbledore alone! Well done, Draco, well done."

"Good evening, Amycus. And you've brought Alecto too. . . Charming. . ." Dumbledore said calmly.

"Think your little jokes'll help you on your deathbed then?" Alecto jeered with an angry titter.

My wand was between my paws. I could transform, kill all of them, let Draco decide about hiding. I could change the future, couldn't I?

"Jokes? No, no, these are manners." Dumbledore replied.

"Do it." A raspy voice from the shadows said. My cat instincts shivered. Fucking dog.

"Is that you, Fenrir?" Dumbledore asked.

"That's right, pleased to see me, Dumbledore?"

"No, I cannot say that I am."

Greyback grinned, blood trickled down his chin and he licked his lips, probably for show. "but you know how much I like kids, Dumbledore. Especially Lupin's daughter. . . but I'll bite her under a full moon."

"If Remus lets you live first." Dumbledore said coldly. "Am I to take it that you are attacking even without a full moon now? This is most unusual. . . you have developed a taste for human flesh that cannot be satisfied once a month?"

"That's right. Shocks you that, does it, Dumbledore? Frightens you?" Greyback leered. My tail twitched, all instincts telling me to take off down the stairs.

"Well, I cannot pretend it does not disgust me a little. And yes, I am a little shocked that Draco here invited you, of all people, into the school where his friends live. . ."

"I didn't. I didn't know he was going to come-" Draco said.

"I wouldn't miss a trip to Hogwarts, Dumbledore. Not when there are throats to be ripped out. . . future-seers to kidnap and turn. . . delicious, delicious. . ."

My cat fur was standing up on end. Lavender's body flashed into my mind. I had to kill Greyback now. "I could do you for after's, Dumbledore."

"No." said the Death Eater that hadn't spoken yet. "We've got orders. Draco's got to do it. Now, Draco, and quickly."

Malfoy was looking more terrified than previously. Suspense was building up in the room. I couldn't even remember where Harry was standing.

"He's not long for this world anyway, if you ask me! Look at him- what's happened to you, then, Dumby?" Amycus said.

"Oh, weaker resistance, slower reflexes, Amycus." Dumbledore said. I wondered how he could stay so calm at a time like this. Was his heart pounding in his chest? Was there any fear in him at all? "Old age, in short. . . One day, perhaps, it will happen to you. . . if you are lucky. . ."

"What's that mean, then, what's that mean? Always the same, weren't yeh, Dumby, talking and doing nothing, nothing. I don't even know why the Dark Lord's bothering to kill yer! Come on, Draco, do it!"

"They've blocked the stairs-Reducto! REDUCTO!"

Was that dad's voice. One of my cat's ears twitched.

"Now, Draco, quickly!"

"I'll do it." Greyback said, moving toward Dumbledore with an outstretched hand. Dumbledore simply wrinkled his nose.

"I said no!" The fourth death eater whose name hadn't been revealed yet shouted, blasting Greyback into the ramparts. Greyback stood up, looking furious.

"Draco, do it or stand aside so one of us-" Alecto screeched but there were running footsteps up the stairs and Severus burst through the door.

Severus looked from the three Death Eaters, to the werewolf that was holding his arm, to Dumbledore leaning against the wall, and his eyes unwillingly flicked down, meeting my green ones and quickly snapped back to the Death Eaters before drawing notice to me.

"We've got a problem, Snape, the boy doesn't seem able-"

"Severus. . ."

I closed my eyes, tears spilling over somehow, matting into my black fur. It was a frightening sound, Dumbledore pleading.

Severus said nothing, walking forward, pushing Malfoy out of the way. The Death Eaters had fallen silent, even Greyback. Severus gazed at Dumbledore and I watched the silent conversation pass between their eyes. Severus still didn't want to do it.

"Severus. . . please. . ."

Severus raised his wand, his own eyes pleading, begging Dumbledore not to make him do this. Dumbledore shook his head the tiniest fraction, so tiny I bet I was the only one who picked it up. Severus seemed to pull in a big breath and said, "Avada Kedavra!"

Dumbledore fell backwards, over the battlements and out of sight.

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braveclementine · 6 days

Text

Chapter 19

Warnings: None. However, future chapters will contain sexual content so readers that are under the age of 18 may have to skip those chapters (Please keep note of the warnings).

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"𝕬𝖗𝖊 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖆𝖑𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙?" Harry asked as we hurried up the sloping lawn. He was under the invisibility cloak, but I was not as I would turn into a cat once we stepped over the threshold.

"The way your parents died. . ." I said, nearly choking on my words, "Was the way my parents died. When the dementors. . . I just. . . I can hear my mum screaming for my dad. They weren't prepared for the attack. Dad was hiding me in the basement. Said he loved me and everything was going to be okay, ya know?"

Tears were still falling down my face and I wiped them away.

"I'm sorry." Harry said, reaching out and taking my hand. He said nothing else and he didn't have to say anything else.

I cleared my throat and said more solidly. "Dumbledore's back. You can either take the long route back to the Gryffindor Tower and hear it from Nearly Headless Nick, or you can just go straight to his office."

"Thanks Elizabeth." Harry said and I turned into a cat and bounded up the marble steps to make my way towards Severus' office.

I turned human, opening the door. Severus was already in bed and I quickly undressed and slid into bed next to him. He was sound asleep.

I hadn't cried myself out yet and I did so now, quietly so I did not wake Severus.

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𝕾𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖚𝖘 𝖜𝖆𝖘 𝖚𝖕 when I woke up.

"Rough night?" He asked softly, crossing the room as I sat up to take my face in his hands and press his lips to mine.

"A bit." I said softly after we broke apart. I climbed out of the bed and put on school clothes and then started switching books out of the bag like I always did. "I'll see you after school." I said, slinging the bookbag over my shoulders, and wincing- Hagrid's arm might've left a bruise- pulled the door open.

"Wait." Severus said and I paused in the doorway. "Are you alright?"

I smiled at him but felt that if I didn't leave soon I'd start crying again. "Yeah, Sev. I'm alright." I shut the door behind me.

I headed to Charms because I was cutting very close to late and had no time to grab breakfast. I took my place with the Hufflepuffs and eavesdropped on the Harry's conversation with Hermione and Ron.

How Slughorn had told Tom Riddle about Horcruxes. How Tom had asked about the idea of splitting the soul into seven pieces. The six possible horcruxes- two definite ones and four less definite. And of course, there was more talk about the prophecy and how Harry was going to kill Voldemort and then there was a slight surprise: Dumbledore was going to let Harry come with him to destroy a horcrux.

"Wow. Wow. You're actually going to go with Dumbledore. . . and try and destroy. . . wow." Ron said, waving his wand in small circles absentmindedly.

"Ron, you're making it snow." Hermione said, reaching out and grabbing his wrist to redirect the wand from the ceiling.

I watched as Lavender Brown glared at Hermione with puffy red eyes. Hermione might've noticed too because she let go of Ron's arm very quickly.

"Oh yeah." Ron said, looking around them as the white flakes settled on their shoulders. "Sorry. . . looks like we've all got horrible dandruff now. . ." He brushed some snow off Hermione's shoulder and Lavender burst into tears. Ron turned his back on her.

I supposed they'd split up last night.

"Ah." I heard Harry reply to something that Ron had said, "Well- you don't mind it's over, do you?"

"No." Ron said, "It was pretty bad while she was yelling, but at least I didn't have to finish it."

"Coward." Hermione and I said together.

"Well, it was a bad night for romance all around. Ginny and Dean split up too, Harry." Hermione continued, smirking.

"How come?" Harry asked with to straight of a face to be innocent.

"Oh, something really silly. . . she said he was always trying to help her through the portrait hole, like she couldn't climb in herself. . . but they've been a bit rocky for ages." Hermione said with a simple shrug and a knowing smile.

I grinned too, taking a sneak peak at Dean from across the room. He also looked unhappy, though he didn't show any signs of crying like Lavender.

"Of course, this puts you in a bit of a dilemma, doesn't it?" Hermione asked.

"What d'you mean?" Harry asked in a quick voice.

"The Quidditch team." Hermione said, her smile growing bigger all of the time. "If Ginny and Dean aren't speaking. . ."

"Oh-oh yeah." Harry said. He almost sounded relieved. Hermione and I met each others eyes and quickly looked away, both of us grinning.

"Flitwick." Ron muttered under his breath.

"Now, now boys. A little less talk, a little more action. . . Let me see you try. . ." Professor Flitwick said. Hermione and I had already turned our vinegar into wine though I personally preferred the smell of the vinegar to the smell of the wine. I also preferred the taste but I wasn't sure if that was baby hormones or because I liked sour foods.

Susan, Ernie, and I ducked as Harry's vinegar turned to ice and Ron's flask exploded. Glass shards flew over our heads. Somewhere to my right I heard Ernie curse.

"Yes. . . for homework." Professor Flitwick said, emerging from under the table and pulling shards of glass out of his hat. "practice."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were going to go up to the Gryffindor Tower and I let them go, heading outside to sit under a nice tree instead because I had a free period. I would've liked to have gone to the Room of Requirement and entered the art studio, but I had promised myself I would only go in there on the weekends. So now instead, I worked on drawings outside.

Ever since I had done the Professor portrait fiasco, the influx of drawing requests had skyrocketed to the point that I had to keep a log for each person and what they wanted. Prices came after.

Dad's birthday came and though I knew it was probably better if I didn't, I created a drawing for him, and sent it off with Sadie along with some chocolate from Honeydukes.

The Ravenclaw vs. Gryffindor Quidditch match was the most exciting talk in the school. If Gryffindor won, they won the Championship. If Gryffindor lost by only a little bit, then Hufflepuff would play Ravenclaw for the final match. I wasn't sure which outcome I wanted yet.

There became loud chants and songs from both the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws, making fun of opposing players. This created either people who enjoyed the attention, or people who had to dash off to the loo to puke. But I much preferred this to Slytherin v. Gryffindor matches where you often had to carry a shield around to keep from being hit with wayward spells.

In my personal life, the large teacher portrait was nearly done. I had a few more teachers to draw in and Susan was helping me figure out what sort of scenery could be drawn behind them but other than that, it was nearly done. Oh, and we had to get the students signatures too.

Along with art problems, I was having difficulty with the stupid Runes homework and I wondered why I hadn't dropped the subject yet. Everything else was easy. Runes used to be easy, and now it was getting more difficult and I was frustrated easily.

But Severus and I were having lots of fun besides that. I kept toying with the idea of amusement parks over the summer. I wondered what his reaction would be or how he'd react on a roller coaster. It was an amusing idea and I kept thinking about it often.

The Felix Felicis potion was approaching finished, our child was going to be born completely healthy according to Madam Pomfrey, and to top it all off, I knew perfectly well that Harry and Ginny were going to kiss soon.

At the same time, I was trying to figure out whether or not to stop Harry from using the Sectumsempra curse on Draco. If he did use it, he wouldn't be able to use his potions book for the rest of the school year. But if he didn't use it, would that change the outcome of the Quidditch match and therefore, change the outcome of whether or not Ginny and Harry were going to kiss?

I still hadn't made up my mind for the time, when Harry was walking down to the bathroom to see why Draco was in there with Moaning Myrtle.

But I couldn't just do nothing and so, trying to push away the knowledge that I was breaking a promise I'd made with Trang, I hurried down to the bathroom, my wand in my pocket.

I heard shouting in the bathroom by the time I got to the door. It was Moaning Myrtle's voice shouting, "No! No! Stop it! Stop STOP!"

I wrenched the door open, grabbing Harry's arm to push him aside without thinking and blocking a hex from Draco.

"Stop both of you. Protego!" A shield popped up between the two of them.

Draco's next spell rebounded, hit himself, and he dropped. "Crap." I muttered, quickly reversing the spell for the shield and hurried over to where he was.

"Draco?" I asked uncertainly. There was watering dripping on the floor everywhere, a sink had been broken. "Dr-" He made a sudden movement.

I flew backwards, crashing into a stall. Pain shot through my back and I felt like I was hanging on something.

"Elizabeth!" Harry shouted. I was momentarily dazed, trying to figure out what had happened. I heard Draco shout, "Crucio!" But there were no screams, so maybe the spell hadn't hit Harry.

"SECTUMSEMPRA!" Harry shouted.

I would've shouted no if it had been possible but I felt like I couldn't move. There were spots dancing in front of my vision and the pain in my back was growing. Or was it fading?

Then I heard Harry said, "No- No- I didn't-" I heard the sound of knees hitting tile. My head felt kind've fuzzy. I tried opening my eyes but my lids were heavy.

"MURDER! MURDER IN THE BATHROOM! MURDER!"

I heard the door bang open. There were fast footsteps slapping against the wet floor. There was a strange buzzing noise in my ears. I didn't pass out, though the pain was great enough that I would've welcome it. There were strange things poking into my back, splintered wood around my body. I think they were wood chunks anyways... maybe?

There were heavy hands. There was sobbing and wailing. There was a snappish voice. There were uncomfortable jolting movements. And then eventually there was a soft bed, hectic voices, smooth bandages, loud noises, and something smooth like honey dropping down my throat. Only then, did I fall asleep.

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𝕴 𝖜𝖔𝖐𝖊 𝖚𝖕 in the hospital wing though at this point, I wasn't surprised that I was here.

I would've sat up by my waist didn't seem to want to bend and I closed my eyes in horror, assuming the worst: I'd been paralyzed again.

"Hey." a soft voice said and I turned my head and saw Severus sitting in a wooden chair next to me.

"Hi." I barely whispered.

"You're going to be fine." He said, taking my hand in his. "Madam Pomfrey gave you something to immobilize you. She said you shouldn't move but she didn't trust you to stay still on your own." Relief flooded through my veins, "The baby's fine too." More relief.

"What. . . what happened?" I croaked out.

Severus's hand tightened on mine. "I don't know exactly. I didn't get there until afterwards. But according to Potter, you flew back into the stall when Malfoy hexed you. The stall broke and some of the wood pierced your spine. You would've been paralyzed again if Madam Pomfrey hadn't gotten to you so quickly."

I would've shivered if I could've moved. "But the baby. . ."

"Baby is completely, totally, 100 percent fine." Severus said, rubbing circles on the back of my hand though I couldn't feel it.

"Good." I whispered. "Draco. . . used Cruciatus curse. . ."

Severus' face was hard. "I had to punish Potter-"

"I know." I whispered, "Even Professor McGonagall. . . agree. Every. . . Saturday till. . .break. . ."

"Yes, yes." Severus said quickly, probably to keep me from talking, "And you don't have to talk, alright?"

"Why does my throat. . . hurt?"

Severus was hesitant as he answered, "Madam Pomfrey found some wood shards in your throat, very small, but they created scratches inside. I don't know how you managed to swallow them but it was probably an accident. Or it could've been when Malfoy hexed you, perhaps he got you in the throat. A number of things." He paused and then said, "You're lucky you didn't die, Elizabeth."

Yes, lucky. That was something, wasn't it? But Draco could've died. And from the outside point of view, the fight wasn't supposed to be that dangerous. It hadn't been dangerous when I'd foreseen it.

"Wasn't supposed to be dangerous." I muttered. "I put up shield charm. Draco's spell bounced, hit him. I was going to help him, went over to him. Thought he was unconscious. That's when he hit me with spell."

Severus hand tightened on my own. Feeling was starting to flow back into my body and it wasn't a very comfortable feeling.

Madam Pomfrey came bustling over, a bottle of something in her hands. "Drink up, drink up." She said.

The liquid was tipped down my throat and I coughed and sputtered at the peppery taste. "Do you want an unhealthy baby?" She scolded me. "Drink up."

I drank obediently, eyes streaming from tears. Merlin's beard that stuff was awful!

"Where is Draco?" I asked, my throat feeling much better. The hospital wing was empty. I wondered what time it was.

"You've been in here for two days." Madam Pomfrey said. "Mr. Malfoy was discharged a day ago."

"Crap." I muttered, closing my eyes. "School work."

"It's fine." Severus said. "Miss Granger brought your work in for you every day." He pointed to a stack of parchment on the bedside table. "You can work on it when you feel better."

"I can work on it now." I said, reaching over and taking the first thing off the stack. It was about seventy-seven pages long on the correct way to translate runes that are found on ancient sites from the specific year of 900 BC. "On second thought, this can wait." I muttered, tossing it onto Severus' lap and picking up the next thing.

Severus read the title of the papers I'd thrown into his lap and smirked, "Yes, I can see why you wouldn't want to start with that."

I flew through the simple things: Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Herbology, Transfiguration, and Potions. There was nothing from Hagrid for Care of Magical Creatures and as Runes was my only other class, that was the last homework part I had to do.

I looked down glumly at the thick article that I had finally picked up. Severus had fallen into a doze, his head hanging down, giving the impression that he might be praying.

I threw the article aside. Stupid Ancient Runes.

I picked up the log and art pad and started on my drawings, working on specialty cases first before moving to the more mundane cases, working down the list in a methodic process.

Severus woke up near midnight and looked over my shoulder as I traced out abs on a naked Blaise Zabini.

"What are you drawing?" Severus asked, sounding repulsed. I looked over at him and grinned and pushed the log towards him. He traced his finger down and then snorted, "Pansy Parkinson ordered this?"

"Yes. . ." I said slowly, lifting the artpad so that I could blow shavings away and not smear the paper. "You'd be surprised how many times people want naked drawings of other people. I've even gotten offers of people who want to be used as muses. To be honest," I continued, ignoring Severus jerk reaction of a scowl, "-it's gotten to be redundant."

"Is that why you have a specialty list?" Severus asked, looking back at the log.

"Yes. . .that, is for people who don't order drawings of other people. Those are people who want mythical creatures or normal creatures or landscapes or anything that isn't a naked person." I carefully retracted the finished drawing for Pansy from the art pad and moved it to a safe spot on a chair so that nothing would smudge it or ruin it.

"You should draw me something." Severus said carelessly.

"Really?" I asked, starting on a couple portrait for Trang and Oliver. It had to start with a black metal bench in a park. . .

"Yes." Severus said, flipping the log closed, and placed it next to my knee.

"Anything in particular?" I asked curiously, tracing out the outline for a sidewalk.

"No." Severus said with a small smile. "Surprise me."

"What day is it tomorrow?" I asked.

"Saturday." Severus said.

"Good to know." I muttered.

Severus stood. "I'll check back in on you in a few hours, okay?"

"In the morning." I clarified, "Get some sleep."

"I will." he kissed my cheek and left the hospital wing.

A drawing for Severus? Many different ideas clouded my head as I worked steadily on Trang and Oliver's picture. But when I finally settled on something, I pushed it into the 'later' bin of my head and continued to work my way down the list of people.

I fell asleep sometime around three in the morning.

I could hear the commentary of the game the next day, but I blocked most of it out, not very interested in the outcome anymore.

Now that the game was here and would be over soon, it meant that very soon, Severus was going to have to kill Dumbledore.

So I worked quickly on the portrait for Severus. When I was discharged after the game, I hurried to the Defense Against the Dark Arts office, all my pictures in separated folders for their owners. I knocked and heard Severus say enter.

I entered, noticing that there were many things different with the room. It looked gloomier, more depressing than before. There were cobwebbed boxes sitting in the corner of the room. Severus had put up new containers of slimy things in jars that he had previously had in the dungeon.

I set the folders down on the desk, moving through them quickly and found the one I'd labelled with Severus name on it. I picked it out, moving all the folders together again and handed it over to him.

"You finished it already?" He asked, taking the folder from me.

I didn't answer, waiting for his reaction as he pulled out not one, but four sheets out of the folder. He spread them out.

The youngest was a baby girl, almost newborn, eyes closed but adorable nonetheless. Then there was the little girl version, anywhere between four and eight. She had the black hair I was imagining, the blue eyes, the red lips (though not colored, the drawing was left up to the imagination). There was a teenager version and also an adult version.

Severus said nothing. He simply stood, embracing me for a long time.

🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎

𝕲𝖗𝖞𝖋𝖋𝖎𝖓𝖉𝖔𝖗 𝖍𝖆𝖉 𝖜𝖔𝖓, meaning they had won the Cup (a slight disappointment). Also, there was quite the gossip about Ginny and Harry (not that I minded). It was great gossip and I enjoyed it immensely. I particularly enjoyed overhearing people who were stunned that Harry hadn't asked me out. (No, I sincerely found this funny, no sarcasm).

There were also rumors about Ginny and Harry sleeping together and what Harry might have tattooed on his abs or his back or his buttocks or his dick. Ginny couldn't actually answer as she didn't know, but her responses were quite colorful.

I had finished the teachers portrait and had left it in the art studio. Hermione was going to enlargen it with a spell this upcoming Saturday. Then I'd have people sign it in groups. Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, and Slytherins.

I had a hard time figuring out how I was going to get the Slytherins to sign though. The other houses would be easy. I could certainly get my own house to sign and Gryffindor would certainly join in with Harry and Hermione's persuasion. Trang could get the Ravenclaws on board, perhaps with some help from Luna even. But we had no on the inside for Slytherin and it was no secret that I didn't get along with Slytherins.

But I mean, did we really even need Slytherin signatures? Severus wasn't going to care if his house students signed or not. We could just have red, blue, and gold (yellow wasn't a good color to write with) signatures. Who needed green? Yet it might unify us, even if only for a moment.

The Felix Felicis potion had a few weeks left before completion.

The baby was kicking, strong and healthy. She had actually cracked a rib, something that had scared Severus more than it had scared me. I'd heard babies cracked ribs sometimes. Apparently, Severus had never heard that.

I had finally come up with a few solid names for our baby girl. Many involved versions where 'Lily' was either the first or second name. The other names varied. Many variations included Trang. Trang Lily. Lily Trang. Of course, there were other names. Eileen, after Severus' mother. Hope, after Dad's mother. Personally, I found the names Seraphina, Remi, and Kisa attractive.

Severus on the other hand, was quite sure that the baby was a boy and wanted me to come up with baby boy names but I wouldn't. It was a girl, I could feel it.

"You'd think people had better things to gossip about." Ginny said from the Gryffindor common room floor, leaning against Harry's legs and reading the Daily Prophet. "Three dementor attacks in a week, and all Romilda Vane does is ask me if it's true you've got a Hippogriff tattooed across your chest."

Ron, Hermione, Trang, and I roared with laughter. Ron and Hermione were sitting on the couch across from Harry's chair. Trang was sitting in an arm chair perpendicular to the two couches and I was sitting on a wooden stool in front of a small art easel, working on the Professors' drawing.

I'd snuck the art easel out of the Room of Requirement and had jinxed it to fit in my pocket. It was an pocket easel. Was it sneaking if it technically belonged to you?

"What did you tell her?" Harry asked, ignoring us.

"I told her it's a Hungarian Horntail, much more macho." Ginny said.

I snorted.

"Thanks, and what did you tell her Ron's got?" Harry asked, smiling.

"A Pygmy Puff, but I didn't say where."

Hermione, Trang, and I laughed while Ron scowled.

"Watch it." Ron said. "Just because I've given you my permission doesn't mean I can't withdraw it-"

"Your permission. Since when did you give me permission to do anything? Anyway, you said yourself you'd rather it was Harry than Michael or Dean." Ginny scoffed, glaring over the edge of the newspaper.

Ron said grudgingly, "Yeah, I would and just as long as you don't start snogging each other in public-"

"You filthy hypocrite! What about you and Lavender, thrashing around like a pair of eels all over the place?" Ginny demanded angrily.

"She has a point." I said lightly, putting the finishing details to Firenze's character.

"I don't see you with anyone." Ron snarked.

I smirked, "Because I don't let you see me with anyone."

This spiked Ron, Hermione, and Ginny's curiosity.

"You're seeing someone?" Ron asked with obvious surprise.

I rolled my eyes, setting the brush down, observing the drawing, "Of course I am."

"Fred?" Ron asked suspiciously.

"No, we're just friends." I said, picking up the pencil to fix a few details to Professor Burbage's person.

"Does he even go to this school?" Ginny asked.

"Of course he does." I said lightly.

"Why didn't you bring him to Slughorn's party then?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, he was there." I said with a smirk, "but we didn't go together. We're keeping it a secret."

"But why?" Hermione questioned, "Surely, you don't think we're going to judge you or anything?"

"Oh!" Ron shouted, pointing a finger, "It's a Slytherin, isn't it?"

I said nothing, fixing my eyes determinedly on Uncle Moody's character, adding microscopic details to the carved wooden leg and his magical eye.

"Oho! It is a Slytherin!" Ron said gleefully. "It's probably Zabini."

"He did kiss me once." I admitted, "But I'm not dating him."

"A Slytherin kissed you?" Hermione asked in amazement. Both Harry and Trang were determinedly keeping their mouths shut and looking in different directions of each other or me.

I looked up, smirking. "Sometimes, I think you guys forget that I'm not a Gryffindor and therefore have no serious animosity with a majority of the Slytherins."

"Except you know, the ones whose parents would love to hand you over to Voldemort." Harry finally interjected to which Ron and Trang laughed.

"Which, though we may want to object, isn't a majority of the Slytherins." I said lightly. "But we weren't talking about me, we were talking about how Ron finds he has to give you and Ginny permission to be in love."

And that started a whole new conversation that got the others off of who I was dating.

However, this didn't deter Ron. For some reason, he was quite determined to get to the bottom of whoever I was dating. Harry and Trang kept their mouths shut while Hermione and Ginny were the type of people who, though curious, believed I had a right to my own privacy.

The time came so that the fifth years were studying for O.W.L.s and the seventh years were studying N.E.W.T.s and the first through fourth years were getting ready to take their own exams. Sixth-years on the other hand, didn't have to take any exams. N.E.W.T.s covered years six and seven.

Trang and I wrote up a schedule so that we could get the four houses to sign the drawing. We had sent a letter to each house head, telling them where to show up on what day at what time and asking them to please participate.

I was quite pleased with how the drawing came out. I had finally gotten the drawing to where the Professors were grouped together but that everyone could see whatever item was in their hands or whatever animals were sitting upon their shoulders.

Dumbledore was in the middle, Fawkes on his shoulder, his arms behind his back.

Professor McGonagall had a cat upon her shoulders.

Severus had a potion bottle in his hands.

Professor Sprout was holding a plant- specifically a mandrake (any herbologist could see by the leaves).

Professor Flitwick had his wand in his hands, standing upon a couple of cushions so that he was just tall enough to reach Professor McGonagall's shoulder.

Professor Burbage still had the rotary telephone.

Firenze had a bow and arrow, looking quite handsome, his long hair tossed down his back. Like I usually did, his muscles seemed to stand out more and more compared to the other Professors who wore long-sleeved robes or shirts to cover anything. But I'd always preferred Firenze looking muscular than anything else.

Madam Hooch was exactly the same as the first draft, leaning on a broom with the other fist on her hip, a whistle about her neck.

Professor Trelawney was holding a crystal ball in her hands. The crystal ball showed a hippogriff flying into the moon.

Professor Vector (arithmancy) was holding a thick book with a black cover and white words that read: A new theory of Numerology. It was tucked under her arm, angled just the right way so that the words could be seen.

Professor Babbling (runes) had both hands out, and runes were drawn above her hands as though they were floating there.

Professor Sinistra was on the very far side of the paper, leaning on a telescope that was pointed up to the ceiling. (With the background behind them, it was pointed through the window).

Madam Pince had a stack of library books in her arms, the titles facing outwards and could be read if one wanted to. Each title was actually one of Gilderoy Lockhart's books, if one looked closely enough.

Mr. Filch was standing close next to her, his arms in the position that they'd have been in if he'd been holding a baby. As it was, he was holding Mrs. Norris. I made him grumpier than he'd been in the funny drawings, but still kinder than real life.

Professor Slughorn was on the other far end by Professor Sprout, holding a large box of crystalized pineapple. Tucked in his breast pocket, just poking out, was a small bottle of Felix Felicis.

Professor Binns floated above the other teachers, a book on goblin rebellions wide open and his mouth was open as though he was still reading aloud.

Professor Hagrid was near Firenze, though much taller and larger. He had dead polecats in one hand and his other hand looked as though it was hovering on air. I knew however that it was really resting on a Thestral. (I didn't draw the thestral, it was only supposed to look like it was hovering on air. But anyone who knew or had listened to Hagrid's lesson knew it was a thestral).

Then Professor Kettleburn was also nearby, half his body made of up of replacements- looking worse than Uncle Moody- and half his body just that- his body. One arm was behind his back and the other hand was lifted up, one finger up as though he'd just gotten an idea. It was a bit funny, I thought but he was one of the only Professors not holding anything. I had never met him and so had no idea of what I should have him hold.

Professor Grubby-Plank also held nothing in her hands and was one of the only Professors not standing. She was kneeling instead, petting the head of a baby unicorn.

Madam Pomfrey held a bottle of Skele-grow in her hands and her wand was just poking out of her apron pocket.

Then of course, there were the Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers. I had changed Quirrell, back to wearing the purple turban, a nervous look on his face. He also had nothing in his hands. His hands were clasped together, nervously.

Professor Lockhart looked quite boastful in my drawing, his blond hair swept to the side. If it was colored, the robes would've been a bright, beautiful turquoise. On hand was on his hip, the other hanging down his side, his wand between his fingers. In the crook of his elbow was his book Wandering with Werewolves. Sitting on his shoulder was a blue pixie.

And then there was Dad- Professor Lupin. His hair (if colored) would've been completely red-brown. He looked less tired in this drawing, less ill. His robes were still a shabby brown. Under one arm was his Grindylow tank, a black cat by his feet, and his wand in his pocket.

Professor Moody stood, leaning on his walking stick. His normal eye was focused out, towards the students or whoever else was looking at the drawing. Meanwhile, his magical eye was focused towards Dolores Umbridge.

Dolores Umbridge was as far away from Hagrid and Firenze as possible, looking completely evil- the way that I'd planned it. She looked like a short fat toad. In her hand was a black quill that anyone in detention would've recognized. Her short wand was in her other hand.

That was that, the drawing was done. The Professors were almost all nearly smiling (exceptions being Severus, Uncle Moody, and Filch). It really had come out wonderfully- more wonderfully than I'd hoped.

The Hufflepuffs were the first to show up at the Room of Requirement. Susan was in the front, leading and everyone else lined up after her. Hermione had enlargened the drawing and we'd put sixteen tables together so that it could be signed with no trouble. It would stretch as tall as the ceiling in the Great Hall and as wide as the teachers table.

Gold/Orange signatures soon covered the drawing.

The Ravenclaws came the next week, brought in by Luna and Trang. They were quite excited, more excited than the Hufflepuffs, because none of them had known that this was coming. All the Hufflepuffs on the other hand had known.

Soon there were Gold and Blue signatures covering the page.

The Gryffindors came on a Friday night. Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny were leading along with many of the other other Sixth-year Gryffindors. The seventh-year Gryffindors seemed more hesitant until they saw the drawings.

I was quite happy to see so many signatures on the paper and so did Susan and the rest of my Hufflepuff friends. I had forgotten I had a baby inside of me. I hadn't forgotten that in two weeks, Dumbledore was going to die.

There was a week between the Gryffindors signing and the day the Slytherins were supposed to sign. On Wednesday night, June 18th, I was drawing in Severus' office when suddenly, there was a peculiar sensation and then there was the sound of water splattering on the floor.

"Oh." I muttered, a bit dazed.

Severus was out of his chair so fast that it slammed against the opposite wall. Before I could even comprehend what was happening, he'd scooped me up into his arms and was dashing out of the classroom.

Madam Pomfrey had prepared a table for us in her office in case there was a student who came in and needed her during my procedure.

"Trang." I gasped as I laid on the table. The spell was starting to wear away. "I need Trang here Sev."

Sev's face was pale and he simply nodded, his jaw tight, and he rushed from the room.

"Breathe." Madam Pomfrey advised in a calm voice but I could tell underneath the calm façade that she was silently freaking out too. Or perhaps nervous was the correct word. She'd never delivered a baby before.

The contractions were painful. I'd felt different variations of pain, but these were different. Of course, they weren't painful like being thrown into some splinters of wood, but they were still painful. Pain often led to screams, something I thought was exaggerated in movies: they weren't. Madam Pomfrey had soundproofed the room.

Severus came back with Trang on his heels.

"Oh Elizabeth!" Trang said and for some reason, she was quite happy. How ridiculous. I was in pain! How could she be happy? This baby was going to be the death of me!

I screamed through gritted teeth in pain. Severus' face paled more and Trang turned to him, "Sometimes the men wait outside."

Severus kind've nodded his head as in a daze and stumbled towards the door. His hand caught on the door, but seemed unable to open it, and then he took a chair near the bed, his face in his hands.

I clenched my fists tight as though that would take the pain of the contractions away. Trang sat by my side, holding my hand, her eyes shining with happiness. Madam Pomfrey was saying stuff, but it didn't really seem all that clear to me. I think it was something about breathing and relaxing.

I was sweating. It was extremely hot in here. I couldn't wait for the baby to be out of me, for the pain to lapse.

I wasn't sure how long it took. A few minutes? An hour? Several hours? A few weeks? But finally Madam Pomfrey announced that the head was crowning.

Severus' head popped up from his hands. There was an unusual expression of his face, quite like the one on his face when we'd first found out that I was going to have a baby. Joy? I think that's what I'd thought it was before. Jubilation?

"It's a boy." Madam Pomfrey announced.

"What?" I asked as she took the baby in her arms, taking him over to the wash table, wiping the blood away. All the pain was gone and all there was now was confusion. "A boy?"

"Yes." Madam Pomfrey said, turning around, the baby boy in her arms. She handed him to me and I took him clumsily into my arms, leaning him against my breast, and looking down at him.

"Remus Sirius Snape." I said out of nowhere.

"What?" Severus asked, looking down at the baby too. He'd gotten out of his seat at some point, though I couldn't remember what that was.

I looked up at him. "His name. It kind've popped out so it must be right. Remus Sirius Snape."

Severus just nodded and then I handed the child up to him and though he seemed surprised, he picked the child up and held him, and then smiled, a real, true, genuine, smile.

Both Trang and Madam Pomfrey kind've just stared. Though Trang had known that Severus could smile, it was probably quite a shock to Madam Pomfrey who had never seen this side to Sev.

There was a knock on the door and Madam Pomfrey hurried over. Trang threw a blanket over my legs.

Dumbledore entered the room, a smile on his face. "Congratulations Severus."

"Thank you." Severus murmured, looking at Dumbledore. A silent conversation seemed to pass between the two of them and then Dumbledore turned to me.

"What is his name?"

"Remus Sirius Snape." Severus said for me.

Dumbledore chuckled, "I'm surprised you didn't try to change the name Severus."

Severus shook his head. "It's his name."

"Poppy, Miss Nyguen, perhaps let us leave the two of them alone for some time." Dumbledore said with a smile. Trang stood, bending to kiss my cheek, touched Severus shoulder quickly before leaving the room. Madam Pomfrey left and Dumbledore followed after, closing the door gently behind him.

"How long was that?" I asked curiously.

Severus used the clock as a reference. "Three hours and seven minutes."

I held my hands out and Severus handed Remus back to me.

"Are you disappointed?" Severus asked, "I know you thought it was going to be a girl the entire time."

I looked down into Remus' face. He had a small dimple and lovely brown eyes. His hair was blond, a complete anomaly but I heard that babies hair darkened over time so blond probably wasn't his real color yet.

"No." I whispered. "Surprises are good."

Severus chuckled, kissing my cheek. "By the way, the Felix Felicis potion finished yesterday. I already bottled a few jars. I knew you were going to want them."

"Thank you." I said.

Severus held my hand tightly. A few hours later, Madam Pomfrey came back. She probably wanted her office back. Severus and I made our way back to his- our- room. There was a crib set up in the corner that hadn't been there before we'd left.

"Dumbledore." Severus said simply.

But I couldn't put Remus down. I sat on the bed, my head on Severus' shoulder, and held him.

"You are okay with it, right?" I asked quietly.

"With what?" Severus asked.

"His name." I said. "I didn't really think, it popped out, it felt right, but I didn't consult you first."

Severus rubbed my arm. "Yes, I'm quite okay with his name. You didn't name him James and I have no problems with Lupin anymore."

I kissed him and finally got up and put Remus in the crib, watching him for a moment.

Father, brother, husband, son.

I climbed into bed, snuggling greatly against Severus chest. His arms were tight around me, holding me in a shell of comfort. I fell asleep, the happiest I'd been in a long time.

⬅️➡️

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braveclementine · 6 days

Text

Chapter 18

Warnings: 18+ readers only, mentions of nudity, smut

🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎

𝖂𝖊 𝖜𝖊𝖗𝖊 𝖘𝖎𝖙𝖙𝖎𝖓𝖌 in courtyard when the letter came. Hermione had been berating Harry about not concentrating on Slughorn and instead, concentrating on Malfoy. Meanwhile, Ron kept ducking behind Hermione as different girls came around the corner, always afraid that one of them would be Lavender.

"Harry Potter? I was asked to give you this." The girl said. She had straight black hair and pretty eyes. She handed a letter to Harry.

"Thanks. . ." Harry said, taking the small roll of parchment. When the girl had left he said, "Dumbledore said we wouldn't be having any more lessons until I got the memory!"

"It's not from Dumbledore." I said over Hermione's head.

"Look at this." Harry said to Hermione, handing her the letter.

I read over her shoulder:

Dear Harry, Ron, Elizabeth, and Hermione, Aragog died last night. Harry, Ron, and Elizabeth, you met him, and you know how special he was. Hermione, I know you'd have liked him. It would mean a lot to me if you'd dip down for the burial later this evening. I'm planning on doing it round dusk, that was his favorite time of day. I know you're not supposed to be out that late, but you can use the cloak. Wouldn't ask, but I can't face it alone. Hagrid.

"Oh, for heaven's sake!" Hermione said, passing it on to Ron who said, "He's mental! That thing told its mate to eat Harry, Eliza and me! Told them to help themselves! And now Hagrid expects us to go down there and cry over its horrible hairy body!"

"It's not just that." Hermione said. "He's asking us to leave the castle at night and he knows security's a million times tighter and how much trouble we'd be in if we were caught."

"We've been down to see him by night before." Harry pointed out.

"Yes, but for something like this?" Hermione asked skeptically. "We've risked a lot to help Hagrid out, but after all- Aragog's dead. If it were a question of saving him-"

"-I'd want to go even less. You didn't meet him, Hermione. Believe me, being dead will have improved him a lot." Ron said.

I privately agreed with Ron, though I hated the idea of Hagrid facing something terrible alone. Correction, something terrible for him alone. I could most definitely sneak down to see him.

"Harry!" Hermione said desperately, "You can't be thinking of going. It's such a pointless thing to get detention for!"

"Yeah, I know. I s'pose Hagrid'll have to bury Aragog without us."

"I'll go down." I said and the other three looked at me. I shrugged, "Look, I can turn into a cat. Cats are allowed past security, aren't they?"

"Ah. . ." Hermione said, looking worried.

"Nothing's going to happen Hermione." I said gently.

"Alright then." Ron said, "That sums that up."

Hermione turned to Harry. "Look, Potions will be almost empty this afternoon, with us all off doing our tests. . . Try and soften Slughorn up a bit then!"

"Fifty-seventh time lucky, you think?" Harry asked in a bitter voice.

"Lucky." Ron said. "Harry, that's it- get lucky!"

"What d'you mean?" Harry asked cautiously, knowing exactly what Ron meant.

Ron looked at him excitedly, "Use your lucky potion!"

Hermione looked at Ron in a new light, "Ron that's- that's it! Of course! Why didn't I think of it?"

"It'll work." I said confidently.

Harry looked at the three of us. "Felix Felicis? I dunno.. I was sort of saving it. . ."

"For what?" I asked, amused because I knew exactly who he was thinking about.

He didn't answer, having gone off into la la land and didn't come back until Hermione asked, "Harry? Are you still with us?"

"Wha-? Yeah, of course. Well. . . okay. If I can't get Slughorn to talk this afternoon, I'll take some Felix and have another go this evening."

"That's decided, then." Hermione said, getting to her feet and started to do pirouettes. I was quite jealous. Twycross hadn't gotten the Minister's approval for me to take the test early. "Destination. . . determination. . . deliberation. . ."

"Oh, stop that, I feel sick enough as it is- quick, hide me!" Ron cowered.

"It isn't Lavender." Hermione snapped.

"Cool. Blimey, they don't look happy, do they?"

I scoffed, "They're the Montgomery sisters, of course they aren't going to be looking happy! Didn't you hear about their brother?"

"I'm losing track of what's happening to everyone's relatives, to be honest." Ron said carelessly.

"Well, their brother was attacked by a werewolf. The rumor is that their mother refused to help the Death Eaters. Anyways, the boy was only five and he died in St. Mungo's, they couldn't save him." Hermione answered.

"He died?" Harry sounded shocked, "But surely werewolves don't kill, they just turn you into one of them?"

"It depends." I said sadly. "Sometimes they lose control. It's why dad always traveled so far during full moons. If he didn't turn me, he'd kill me, and I don't think he would've been able to keep living if he'd done either one."

"What was the werewolf's name?" Harry asked.

"Well, the rumor is that it was that Fenrir Greyback." Hermione said sadly.

"I knew it- the maniac who likes attacking kids, the one Lupin told me about!" Harry said angrily.

Hermione and I looked at him sadly. "Harry, you've got to get that memory. It's all about stopping Voldemort, isn't it? These dreadful things that are happening are all down to him. . ."

The bell rang, Ron jumping to his feet to join Hermione.

"You'll do fine." Harry said, getting to his feet as well. "Good luck."

"Hermione, you'll pass. Ron, you're going to leave half an eyebrow behind and they'll fail you if you're not careful. Remember the tips that'll keep you from splinching yourself." I said happily.

Harry and I headed to the potions dungeon and found that it was the two of us, Ernie, and Malfoy.

"All too young to Apparate just yet?" Slughorn asked, looking around, "Not turned seventeen yet?"

We all shook our heads.

"Ah well, as we're so few, we'll do something fun. I want you all to brew me up something amusing!"

"That sounds good, sir." Ernie said, rubbing his hands together, smiling.

"What do you mean, 'something amusing'?" Malfoy asked irritably.

"Oh, surprise me." Slughorn said.

I headed to the side room, pulling out a cauldron that already had ingredients in it. My Felix Felicis potion. I had started it with Severus after everyone had come back from break. I knew that we were going to need quite a bit.

But the potion needed work, only halfway done. Even with the headstart, the potion end time would be cutting close to the battle date.

Across from me, weird smells were emitting from Ernie's cauldron. It seemed he was trying to invent a potion. Draco didn't seem to be putting much work into his potion either, but Harry was working methodically on his. Occasionally, I caught brief smells of peppermint.

"Well, now, this looks absolutely wonderful," Slughorn said after an hour and a half of work, standing over Harry's potion. He clapped his hands together, staring down into Harry's cauldron. "Euphoria, I take it? And what's that I smell? Mmmm. . . you've added a sprig of peppermint, haven't you? Unorthodox, but what a stroke of inspiration, Harry, of course, that would tend to counterbalance the occasional side effects of excessive singing and nose-tweaking. . . I really don't know where you get these brain waves, my boy.. unless it's just your mother's genes coming out in you!"

"Oh. . . yeah, maybe." Harry said.

I had covered my nose discretely as the potion that Ernie had created was spewing horrid fumes.

The bell rang, Ernie and Draco left a once.

"Sir." Harry said but Slughorn was already leaving the dungeon. "Professor- Professor, don't you want to taste my po-?" Harry called desperately but the door closed.

I sighed, "No go Harry. But I'd certainly like to try some if you don't mind. You should try some too."

We both took a few sips and a familiar feeling flooded through me.

"Oh. My. God." Harry said, looking dazed. "That is amazing."

I picked up my cauldron and told Harry I'd see him later, and hurried up to Severus' office. Since class had let out, there were no students in the classroom and I passed through with no qualms.

I set the cauldron down in the corner. I noticed Severus had already labelled ingredients in different bottles and jars for me. I quickly finished adding the other ingredients and stirring. Severus came in a few minutes later.

"How was class?" He asked, taking a seat at his desk and picking up his quill.

"Wonderful. . ." I said, carefully counting the rotations as I stirred. Perfect, it had to be perfect.

There was a silence that contained scratching quills and momentary pauses where it was dipped in the pot of ink, bubbling from the cauldron, and soft breathing. But the potion Harry had made was making something weird happen to me.

I finally set everything aside. It was to sit and stew for about three and a half weeks and seven hours to the dot. I pulled out my potions calendar, marking the specific time. The good thing was my time-turner. If I didn't manage to get there the first time, I could most definitely get there the second time.

I stood up, getting ready to go down to dinner when Severus said unexpectedly, "It really was brilliant art, Elizabeth."

"Sorry?" I questioned.

Severus looked up momentarily, his black eyes boring into mine. "The portraits. They really were brilliant."

"You set yours on fire." I pointed out, my lips twitching to keep from smiling.

"Yes. . ." Severus said, turning back to his parchment. "You're going to ruin my image as a cold hearted person. People might actually think I'm soft."

I laughed, walking up behind him and hugging him from behind. "Your much softer than you let on." I kissed his cheek and then paused. Euphoria. I took the quill from his hand and turned the chair around, sitting on his lip, pressing my lips to his neck. He let out a small noise, perhaps a gasp, perhaps a moan, I wasn't sure.

Perhaps I shouldn't have taken the Euphoria potion because I seemed to have unlimited energy and didn't feel deterred by anything at all.

I slipped his robes from his shoulders, letting them fall. He pushed me off of him so that he could get out of the chair, and we stumbled through the door of the bedroom and onto the bed. I was on top of him, letting him slide into me easily. I moved with him quickly, my breasts bouncing carelessly and I barely noticed the pain. All I could think about was the enjoyment of him inside of me and my hands in his soft, silky hair. His hands reached up to cup my breasts, pulling me down slightly so his lips could kiss them. I buried my face in his neck.

He rolled over as I moaned softly, his hands clutching at my hips, moving gently now. Strange, usually we started slow and made our way up in speed. We seemed to be doing the opposite and it was lovely. He reached up with one hand to cover my breast, squeezing softly, while the other snaked around to the back of my head, bringing my head up to be closer to his.

Our lips reached the others skin at different spots, not necessarily each others lips. The small bursts of delightfulness was punctured with small bites of pain. But it was all lovely and in my current state, everything seemed heightened tenfold.

"What. . . what was that?" Severus asked, almost breathlessly as we laid there, the blankets curling around our legs, our clothes scattered on the floor.

"Harry gave me a potion of euphoria." I muttered, pent out of energy now that the effects of the potion had worn out. My cheek rested on his chest "I have no idea what just happened. . . I mean, I know what happened. . . I just don't know how it happened."

Severus chuckled, kissing my neck. I shivered slightly under his touch. Bloody hell.

"I should um- I should go down to dinner- yeah- dinner." I said, breathing normally again.

"As should I." Severus said. "Though I feel quite exhausted at the moment."

I too felt quite tired and would've liked to have laid there and fallen asleep. But I couldn't. So I giggled, moving away from the bed, and getting dressed again, before leaving the classroom to go down to dinner.

After dinner, I ducked into the bathroom and upon finding it empty, I turned into a cat and strode from the room.

I had to run from some Ravenclaw first-year girls who thought I was just a sweet little kitten, and after hiding on top of a suit of armor, finally made my way back to the entrance hall, and slipped out the door, sprinting across the lawn to get to Hagrid's house.

I transformed back outside the door- I didn't really want to face Fang as a cat.

"Yeh came!" Hagrid said, pulling me into a hug. He wasn't crying- at the moment- but his eyes were red and puffy.

"Harry'll be down soon." I said. "Ron and Hermione couldn't come though."

"Don' matter, don' matter." Hagrid said, sitting back down in a chair. I made a pot of tea and gave him a cup which he drank with trembling fingers. I waited, pacing the cabin, waiting for Harry. Fang followed me, looking for head scratches which I gave occasionally.

There was a knock on the door and Hagrid was up, opening the door. Harry stood there, his invisibility cloak held out in front of him.

"Yeh came." Hagrid repeated.

"Yeah-Ron and Hermione couldn't though, they're really sorry." Harry said smoothly. Perhaps it was my imagination, but there almost seemed a faint gold hue around Harry. But it was so slight that Hagrid had not noticed it. Perhaps it was my sight. I had noticed that my sight and hearing had changed slightly since becoming an Animagus (a side effect that wasn't mentioned anywhere in the books or manuscripts).

"Don'- don' matter. . . He'd've bin touched yeh're here, though, Harry. . ." Hagrid said with a loud sob. Harry patted his elbow gently.

"Where are we burying him? The Forest?" Harry asked.

"Blimey, no. The other spiders won' let me anywhere near their webs now! Aragog's gone. Turns out it was on'y on his orders they didn' eat me! Can yeh believe that, Harry?" Hagrid said while wiping his eyes on the bottom of his shirt.

"I think he mentioned something like that when we went to talk to him." I said casually, sitting down. Fang came over, setting his head on my knees and I grimaced at the slobber. I really had never been a dog person. And I liked the cute dogs, the little Pomeranians and huskies and retrievers and bichon frises and labs and beagles. Bulldogs, pitbulls, pugs, boarhounds, ugh.

I had gotten along with Fang in my second year, having lived in Hagrid's cabin for nearly two months because I figured living in Hagrid's cabin by myself was safer than staying in the castle with lots and lots of people. Fang could grow on you if you could get used to slobber.

"Never bin an are o' the forest I couldn' go before! It wasn' easy, gettin' Aragog's body out o' there, I can tell yeh- they usually eat their dead, see. . . But I wanted ter give 'im a nice burial. . . a proper send-off. . ." Hagrid said, not paying me any attention.

"I can't go near the centaurs anymore." I said randomly. What the hell were the side effects of the Euphoria potion?

"Professor Slughorn met me coming down here, Hagrid." Harry said, resuming the patting of the elbow.

"Not in trouble, are yeh?" Hagrid asked, so alarmed that Harry might be in trouble he stopped crying. "Yeh shouldn' be outta the castle in the evenin', I know it, it's my fault-"

"No, no, when he heard what I was doing he said he'd like to come and pay his last respects to Aragog too. He's gone to change into something more suitable, I think. . . and he said he'd bring some bottles so we can drink to Aragog's memory."

"Tha's- tha's righ' nice of him, that is, an' not turnin' yeh in either. I've never really had a lot ter do with Horace Slughorn before. . . Comin' ter see old Aragog off, though, eh? Well. . . he'd've liked that, Aragog would. . ." Hagrid muttered.

I snorted quietly and drank my tea. Then I sighed, putting my teacup down and pulled a piece of paper out of my back pocket. "Here, I drew this for you."

Hagrid took it in a shaking hand and unfolded it and started to sob. I quickly grabbed it from his hands so the charcoal wouldn't run.

"It's- it's beautiful." Hagrid sobbed and I put the drawing of Aragog up on his dresser so that he could see it. It was a horrible drawing- not because it was bad (if I may be so humble) but rather horrible in a gruesome way. The way I'd seen Aragog through my scared twelve-year old eyes. Strange, I felt so much older than sixteen now.

"Are we going to bury him here, Hagrid, in your garden?" Harry asked after a moment when Hagrid had stopped sobbing.

"Jus' beyond the pumpkin patch, I thought. I've already dug the- yeh know- grave. Jus' though we'd say a few nice things over him- happy memories, yeh know-"

There was a knock at the door and I stood, getting it and letting Professor Slughorn in. "Hagrid, so very sorry to hear of your loss."

"Tha's very nice of yeh. Thanks a lot. An' thanks fer not givin' Harry detention neither. . ." Hagrid said gruffly, all tears done and gone.

"Wouldn't have dreamed of it. Sad night, sad night. . . where is the poor creature?" Slughorn asked, his eyes roaming the cabin and settling on the drawing.

"Out here," Hagrid said, leaving the cabin. "Shall we- shall we do it, then?"

"Wonderful artwork Miss Kane." Professor Slughorn complimented, "You've got quite the eye for artistic beauty."

"Thank you Professor." I said quietly, briefly remembering that my drawing of him had him dressed in a pineapple suit, and I took up the rear of the party.

The moon was glistening on the grounds so that everything was in shadow. The moon rays mixed and intermingled with the light from Hagrid's windows just enough to make out the large boulder like shadow. There, before it, was a massive pit that was ten-feet-deep with a matching sized pile of dirt to go with it.

"Magnificent." Professor Slughorn said, striding to the front of the spider's face. I could only imagine it faking death and reaching out, snapping off a leg to feast on. I suddenly felt quite nauseous. I quickly put a hand on my stomach.

I could hear the tinkle of bottles and rolled my eyes. So the walrus had come for the Acromantula venom, was I surprised?

"It's not ev'ryone appreciates how beau'iful they are. I didn' know yeh were int'rested in creatures like Aragog, Horace."

"Interested? My dear Hagrid, I revere them." Slughorn said, taking a step back from the body. I could understand his point. It would be a horrible idea not to respect them. The same way you should revere Centaurs and Merpeople so they didn't kill you with a bow or a spear. There were a lot of rules to follow in the magical world. "Now. . . shall we proceed to the burial?"

Hagrid nodded and moved forward, pushing against the black spider's body and it fell into the pit with a crunch. I winced. Hagrid started to cry.

"Of course, it's difficult for you, who knew him best." Professor Slughorn said, patting Hagrid's elbow. "Why don't I say a few words?"

I came to stand next to Hagrid who wrapped a massive arm around my shoulders. My knees nearly buckled under the weight of the arm but I managed to keep standing though I felt as though I was carrying two bookbags with twenty textbooks in them.

"Farewell, Aragog, king of arachnids," Professor Slughorn said in an impressive voice, something like a preacher I'd heard at a church before. "whose long and faithful friendship those who knew you won't forget! Though your body will decay, your spirit lingers on in the quiet, web-spun places of your forest home. May your many-eyed descendants ever flourish and your human friends find solace for the loss they have sustained!"

"Tha' was. . . tha' was. . . beau'ful!" Hagrid sobbed and he collapsed onto the heap, crying harder than ever before. Even I had tears springing to my eyes, though I was sure that had to do more with the high emotions running around here than the actual sadness that Aragog was dead. But I hated it when Hagrid was upset.

"There, there." Slughorn said and with a wave of his wand, the earth crashed back into the grave, smoothing over the surface. "Let's get inside and have a drink. Get on his other side, Harry. . . That's it. . . Up you come, Hagrid. . . well done. . ."

Hagrid was deposited in a chair at the table. Fang came padding over and put his head on Harry's lap as usual. I think Fang liked Harry better than me and I was quite okay with that. Professor Slughorn uncorked one of the bottles he had brought.

"I have had it all tested for poison." He said in what he obviously thought a reassuring voice. "Had a house-elf taste every bottle after what happened to your poor friend Rupert."

I had many retorts for that comment, some of them about the cruelty for house-elves, and some of them about what 'Rupert's' real name was.

"One for Harry. . . one for me. . . and one for Elizabeth. . ." Slughorn said, diving the second bottle between the three of us. The first bottle had been fully deposited into Hagrid's tankard. "Well- to Aragog."

"Aragog." Harry, Hagrid, and I said together, also lifting our glasses.

Hagrid and Slughorn drank deeply. Harry didn't drink at all. I took a small sip and did not find the texture or taste to my taste. I'd never liked wine or alcoholic substances. I set the glass down on the table. I supposed I could hand it over if they wanted more drink.

"I had him from an egg, yeh know. Tiny little thing he was when he hatched. 'Bout the size of a Pekingese." Hagrid started down the tale.

"Sweet." Slughorn said.

"Used ter keep him in a cupboard up at the school until. . . well. . ." Hagrid's face darkened and a peculiar thought came over me.

If Slughorn had taught Tom Riddle, and Tom Riddle and Hagrid had gone to the school at the same time, then Slughorn had taught Hagrid as well. I found this much more fascinating than the story that was unfolding. I loved finding connections where none seemed to be. I always felt the need to share it too and on instinct, I looked over at Harry, but kept my mouth shut.

"That's never unicorn hair, Hagrid?" Slughorn asked, eyeing Hagrid's walls with interest. Hagrid collected things he found in forest- unicorn tail hair included. I'd helped him collect some. It got caught on bushes and ferns and was quite easy to pick up.

"Oh yeah," Hagrid said with indifference. "Gets pulled out of their tails, they catch it on branches an' stuff in the forest, yeh know. . ."

"But my dear chap, do you know how much that's worth?" Slughorn asked in awe.

"I use it fer bindin' on bandages an' stuff if a create gets injured. It's dead useful. . . very strong, see." Hagrid said with another shrug.

There was quite a difference between the educated and the uneducated, I noticed. Hagrid had only three years of schooling (at least at Hogwarts) and yet, he didn't see things for their monetary value. He'd even passed on some of his skills to me, using unicorn hair for bandages and other things. Slughorn on the other hand. . . Aragog's venom was rare, very expensive, very valuable. . . unicorn hair could be sold to wand makers. . .

They had ventured into tale about the Centaurs of the forest and I listened with vivid interest as Hagrid told recent stories of Ivagio, Ronan, Bane, and the others. I had missed some of them- Bane excluded- and hearing recent stories was quite nice. I thought about retelling some of the stories to Firenze, but I wasn't sure how he'd take it or if it would make him more upset.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Harry wave his wand slightly and the bottle on the table refilled. I said nothing, grabbing my own cup and turned the wine into pumpkin juice. Then I started to take small sips while listening to Hagrid and Slughorn trade stories about the illegal dragon trades they'd taken part of.

Harry continued to refill the bottle and they started to get drunker. They started to make random toasts to some random, some not random things. To Hogwarts, to Dumbledore, to elf-made wine, and to Harry.

"Harry Potter!" Hagrid bellowed, slopping another bucket of wine down his front. I felt how I had felt coming to Grimmauld 12 before Christmas and finding Sirius had been drinking as he had been alone for a long time. I was quite upset, watching him drink himself into oblivion, but I did nothing to interfere.

"Yes, indeed, Parry Otter, the Chosen Boy Who- well- something of that sort." Slughorn mumbled.

Parry Otter. I laughed aloud and neither seemed to notice. Harry's lips twitched for a millisecond.

Hagrid became tearful soon after, reaching up and pulling the whole band of unicorn hair off of the ceiling and gave it to Slughorn. Slughorn put it in his pocket saying, "To friendship! To generosity! To ten Galleons a hair!"

I watched the end of the unicorn hair slip into his pocket, more upset than was rational. Hagrid and I had spent classes searching for unicorn hair. While easy to take off, unicorns were usually quite careful and rarely caught their tails on bushes unless they were already loose. It was going to take ages to find more unicorn hair for bandages. What if a magical creature got hurt? We would have nothing to bind their wounds with. . . unless something else could be used? Maybe Firenze could teach me something.

They started to sing and I put my head on my arms, wondering when the night was going to end. I suppose I could've left, but I didn't want to. Something was keeping me here.

Some called him Odo the early and some called him Odo the late It's undoubtedly true he was often confused, but his deeds they were noble and great

Some name him born on a Wednesday, for he had his measure of woe. No he was born on a Thursday some say, for he'd always a long way to go.

"Aaargh, the good die young," Hagrid muttered after slumping into his chair. "Me dad was no age ter go... nor were yer mum an' dad, Harry..." More tears oozed from his eyes and he grabbed Harry's arm and shook it. I watched the scene with sadness. "Bes' wiz and witchard o' their age I never knew... terrible thing... terrible thing..."

And Odo the hero, they bore him back home To the place that he'd known as a lad, They laid him to rest with his hat inside out And his wand snapped in two, which was sad.

"...terrible." Hagrid grunted one last time before falling asleep.

"Sorry, can't carry a tune to save my life." Professor Slughorn said with a hiccup.

"Hagrid wasn't talking about your singing. He was talking about my mum and dad dying." Harry said in a soft voice, the first time he'd talked ever since coming back into the cabin.

I flinched. Mum and Dad. I felt a sudden wave of grief and longing.

"Oh. Oh dear. Yes, that was- was terrible indeed. Terrible. . . terrible. . ." Slughorn said with a horrible belch. He refilled the mugs, obviously having nothing else to say but said anyways, "I don't- don't suppose you remember it, Harry?"

"No- well, I was only one when they died." Harry said. I was looking at the floor because I was crying. "But I've found out pretty much what happened since. My dad died first. Did you know that?"

"I- I didn't." Slughorn said in a quiet voice.

"Yeah. . . Voldemort murdered him and then stepped over his body toward my mum. He told her to get out of the way. He told me she needn't have died. He only wanted me. She could have run."

I imagined for a moment, if she had stepped aside. Voldemort would have only of killed Dad and Harry. It would've been me and her. Sirius would've helped her raise me and Lupin would have too. I could've later avenged Harry's killer. Or maybe Dumbledore would have destroyed him before I was even eleven.

"Oh dear. She could have. . . she needn't. . . That's awful. . ." Slughorn murmured.

"It is, isn't it? But she didn't move. Dad was already dead, but she didn't want me to go too. She tried to plead with Voldemort. . . but he just laughed. . ."

"That's enough! Really, my dear boy, enough. . . I'm an old man. . . I don't need to hear. . . I don't want to hear. . ."

He didn't want to hear what he had done.

"I forgot, you liked her, didn't you?" Harry asked. I shot him a quick look. Slughorn doted on his mother everyday, surely Harry couldn't have forgotten that! Or perhaps he was faking it.

"Liked her? I don't imagine anyone who met her wouldn't have liked her. . . Very brave. . . Very funny. . . It was the most horrible thing. . ."

"But you won't help her son. She gave me her life, but you won't give me a memory." Harry said.

Hagrid's snoring was all that filled the room at that moment. Even Fang was silent.

"Don't say that. It isn't a question. . . If it were to help you, of course. . . but no purpose can be served. . ."

"It can. Dumbledore needs information. I need information." Harry said loudly and firmly. Harry leaned forward a little. "I am the Chosen One. I have to kill him. I need that memory."

"You are the Chosen one?"

"Of course I am."

"But then. . . my dear boy. . . you're asking a great deal. . . you're asking me, in fact, to aid you in your attempt to destroy-"

"You don't want to get rid of the wizard you killed Lily Evans?"

"Harry, Harry, of course I do, but-"

"You're scared he'll find out you helped me?"

Slughorn said nothing.

"Be brave like my mother, Professor. . ."

Slughorn lifted his fingers to his mouth as though he were trying to smoke an invisible cigar. "I am not proud. . . I am ashamed of what- of what that memory shows. . . I think I may have done great damage that day. . ."

He had.

"You'd cancel out anything you did by giving me the memory. It would be a very brave and noble thing to do." Harry said.

Would it though? Would it cancel out everything?

Hagrid twitched his sleep, his elbow nearly knocking over the tankard. I watched as though hypnotized. There was a long silence. They both waited, a type of staring contest seemed to be going on between the two of them.

Finally Slughorn touched the tip of his wand to his temple and withdrew it, a long silver thread of memory stretched until it broke. It swung from the end of the wand until Slughorn put it into a small bottle and passed it, with a trembling hand, to Harry. He had tears in his eyes, or maybe his face was just obscured by my tears.

"Thank you very much, Professor."

"You're a good boy, and you've got her eyes. . . Just don't think too badly of me once you've seen it. . ." And with that, he put his head down and with a deep sigh, fell asleep.

⬅️➡️

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braveclementine · 6 days

Text

Chapter 17

Warnings: None. However, future chapters will contain sexual content so readers that are under the age of 18 may have to skip those chapters (Please keep note of the warnings).

🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎

𝕴 𝖘𝖆𝖙 𝖉𝖔𝖜𝖓 at the Hufflepuff table the next day and unfolded the newspaper, skimming for the important things.

Mundungus had been arrested and placed in Azkaban. Reading the rest of the article, it seemed as though he had impersonated an Inferius while attempting to rob someone. I snorted before taking a bite into my muffin. Just lovely.

There were multiple disappearances though none of the names rang a bell.

A nine-year old had been arrested for trying to kill his grandparents. They'd put him in a ward in St. Mungo's with top security. Of course, it looked as though he was under the Imperius Curse so they couldn't blame him. Especially at nine! I mean, full adults had a hard time throwing off the Imperius Curse. I wished I was on the jury that was going to try him. I'd find him not guilty.

On top of all the bad news, it was Monday which meant using the time turner to get to Care of Magical Creatures class and Ancient Runes before Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

Hagrid talked about Nundus in class and all I could say was that I was glad that he hadn't found a real one to bring into class. They were terrifying creatures and the only thing I was glad about learning was that I should most definitely stay away from one if I ever came across one, which I wouldn't because I was never going to East Africa.

I hurried to Defense Against the Dark Arts after that, arriving on time, and sitting in my seat, quickly pulling out the dementor essay and my book. Harry entered the room, the last to come in and Severus said, "Late again, Potter. Ten points from Gryffindor."

I glared at Severus but he would not look at me. He probably knew the look I was giving him.

Severus waved his wand so that our essay floated from our desks to his in a neat pile and said, "Before we start, I want your dementor essays. And I hope for your sakes they are better than the tripe I had to endure on resisting the Imperius Curse. Now, if you will all open your books to page- what is it, Mr. Finnigan?"

Seamus had his hand in the air and he lowered it as he said, "Sir, I've been wondering, how do you tell the difference between an Inferius and a ghost? Because there was something in the paper about an Inferius-"

"No, there wasn't." Severus said in a bored voice.

"But sir," Seamus protested, "I heard people talking-"

"If you had actually read the article in question, Mr. Finnigan, you would have known that the so-called Inferius was nothing but a smelly sneak thief by the name of Mundungus Fletcher."

I rolled my eyes. Mundungus and Severus were on the same team and he certainly should act like it.

"But Potter seems to have a lot to say on the subject." Severus said, pointing towards the back of the room and I instinctively turned to see Harry's bright red cheeks. I faced forward again, glaring at Severus who was still not meeting my eyes. "Let us ask Potter how we would tell the difference between an Inferius and a ghost."

"Er- well- ghosts are transparent." Harry said awkwardly.

"Oh, very good. Yes it is easy to see that nearly six years of magical education have not been wasted on you, Potter. 'Ghosts are transparent'."

I sighed, leaning on my left hand while I drew absentmindedly with my right hand.

There was laughter, a shrill shriek from Pansy and the rest were scattered through the others.

"Yeah, ghosts are transparent, but Inferi are dead bodies, aren't they? So they'd be solid-" Harry said, sounding very much like he'd like to curse Professor Snape to oblivion.

"A five-year-old could have told us as much. The Inferius is a corpse that has been reanimated by a Dark Wizard's spells. It is not alive, it is merely used like a puppet do to the wizard's bidding. A ghost, as I trust that you are all aware by now, is the imprint of a departed soul left upon the earth. . . and of course, as Potter so wisely tells us, transparent." Professor Snape sneered.

"Well, what Harry said is most useful if we're trying to tell them apart!" Ron exclaimed, "When we come face-to-face with one down a dark alley, we're going to have a shufti to see if it's solid, aren't we, we're not going to be asking, 'Excuse me, are you the imprint of a departed soul?'"

I nearly laughed and quickly lowered my head so that I could laugh without Severus knowing that I was laughing.

"Another ten points from Gryffindor. I would expect nothing more sophisticated from you, Ronald Weasley, the boy so solid he cannot Apparate half an inch across a room." Severus snapped.

I looked up at him, exasperated.

"Now open your books to page two hundred and thirteen and read the first two paragraphs on the Cruciatus Curse." Severus said, his lip curling. His eyes met mine briefly and he went back up to his desk.

I sped-read the chapter on the Cruciatus Curse before pulling out an artpad and started to draw again. I was very carefully trying not act as though I wasn't doing my work, because people tend to notice when Professors favor students. If Severus simply walked past me drawing and not working, people would notice. After all, I wasn't a Slytherin.

But today, Severus didn't seem keen to walk through the class and I had a very nice outline done for my next painting. It was a farm scene, a place I'd like to live one day. Own horses and cows and sheep and chickens and rabbits. No pigs.

I also wondered about the apparition lessons that were going to be held in Hogsmeade. I was upset, mostly because they weren't open to those who weren't seventeen by the date in April. Of course, this had surprised Mr. Twycross because of my superb ability to apparate. He was talking to the Ministry about bending the rules for me. I'd told him good luck with that, but it wasn't going to happen. He was quite confident I was wrong.

There was no way that Scrimgeour was going to bend rules for me. Though of course, I would've liked to have seen Umbridge's face when told I apparated on the first try of the first day without any prior tries. It was probably carefully concealed fury. Kingsley would've been proud though.

I hadn't seen Kingsley in a long time and I missed him. I could always contact him on my two-way mirror though. . . maybe I would soon.

The bell rang and I slowly packed my things away, making sure that I was the last student in the classroom.

"You'll be late for your next class if you don't hurry along Miss Kane." Severus said indifferently, not looking up at me as he continued to write on the parchment.

"Really?" I snapped, "I told you to lay off Harry just a little bit." I swung my bag off the table and stomped out of the room.

He was a right pain in the ass, he was. My husband and yet the person who hated my brother, one of the people I loved most after him. Or maybe before him, I wasn't sure. Did siblings take preference over mates?

The rest of the day passed in a blur and I went to the art studio before dinner. I had all the teachers drawings in a manila folder, labelled and ready to be set out this weekend. I also had duplicates in a folder in my bag and the other duplicates for the message board were spread on the table. I planned on writing the names of the Professor's underneath in calligraphy or maybe a broad font inside a banner.

I took out the two-way mirror, propping it up on an art easel, completely uncertain if this was going to work.

"Er- Kingsley?"

I waited a few seconds and then there was some movement in the mirror and he pulled it out. I smiled, looking at his handsome, kind, intelligent face. A weight was lifted off my chest.

"Elizabeth!" He said in that slow, deep voice of his. It was quite a handsome voice. Sexy, almost. "Is everything alright?"

"Yes." I said, remembering that the last time I had seen him I'd been fighting four Death Eaters by myself. "I just. . .I wanted to see you for a bit. . . talk to you. . . I haven't seen you in a long time. This isn't a bad time, is it?"

"Not at all." Kingsley said. "I'm just working on a simple case. We're trying to track down Bellatrix Lestrange. The Ministry's furious that her and Greyback got into the Burrow. They don't know how they did it yet. The security at the Burrow's been upped triple."

I shivered, blushing a little. "That doesn't sound simple at all."

Kingsley smiled. "How's school?"

Ah, a subject change. Very well then. "It's alright." I said with a shrug of my shoulders. "Boring, actually."

He chuckled. "Where are you? I don't recognize that room."

I held the mirror up a little higher, showing him around the art studio, showing him most of my drawings (including the funny Professor ones) and also the drawings up on the walls and everything in between. I'd finished one of the windows (a middle one) for the stained glass project.

"Quite splendid." Kingsley said. "I think Tonks mentioned something about your art skills sometime after Christmas."

"Yes." I said. "She was at the Burrow. She said I should sell my artwork." I rolled my eyes. "But everyone knows that art doesn't sell until after the artist is dead."

Kingsley chuckled again. "Is that an unwritten rule?"

I grinned. "I can name a dozen artists who were penniless when they lived and rich after they died. Picasso, Van Gogh, Modigliani, Paul Cezanne-"

"Alright, alright, I take your point." Kingsley said. There was a sound behind him and another face popped into the mirror.

"Hello Elizabeth." Uncle Moody growled, his magical eye rolling, his normal eye focused in the mirror.

"Hi Uncle Moody, how's work?" I said genially.

"Better when not interrupted." He said, but he sounded amused rather than disapproving.

I grinned. "Blame Kingsley. Not me."

Kingsley chuckled again and shooed Uncle Moody away.

"Tell Tonks I said hi, alright?" I asked. "I'll let you get to work, I just really wanted to see someone."

"No problem." Kingsley said, picking up a quill now that the conversation was almost over. "You can call whenever you want."

I smiled, but said nothing else, and put the mirror upside down. It was like hanging up a phone call.

I went back to the Professor drawings, throwing myself into my work.

The door opened and I looked up in surprise. My friends were more accustomed to letting me know before they came and when I realized that it wasn't anyone I was expecting, I turned the folder with the Professors over and swept the papers that were laid out on the table into my arms.

"Sev." I said, shock lacing my voice. "What are you doing here?"

He didn't answer for a moment. He looked quite out of place, wearing all black and magical robes and all. He looked around at my paintings on the walls and the rest of the art studio. "Looking for you." He answered, tapping his knuckles against one of the desks, looking uncomfortable. Good.

I became aware that my bun was being held in place by a paintbrush and I quickly reached up, taking it out. My hair tumbled down my shoulders, reaching my knees in waves. "Oh." I left the papers on a chair, pushing it under the table and made my way to an art easel that was far away from the table.

I picked up a paint palette, moving my hair out of the way to work on the farm scene.

"Are you still mad at me?" He asked quietly.

I watched him out of the corner of my eye as he made his way towards me and I kicked a stool at him for him to sit on which he did.

"Not really." I said, slightly untruthfully.

"You know that I know that you're lying, right?" Severus asked.

I gritted my teeth, holding the paintbrush inches away from the canvas and then pulled away. I'd spent a lot of time replicating the drawing onto the canvas and I didn't want to have to start over because I painted something wrong.

I put the palette and brush aside and sat down on a stool across from him. "Look, I lost my temper, alright? It's really not that big of a deal."

"When you storm out of my classroom in anger, it's a big deal to me." Severus said, high voice rising an octave.

"Well when you insult my brother, I tend to get slightly defensive." I snapped.

We stared at each other for a moment and I put my face in my hands before running my fingers through my hair and looking away.

Part of me wanted to apologize, say I was sorry, that I didn't mean what I had said. At the same time, I figured it was time to set it straight with Severus. Couples had fights and still made it through. I shouldn't live in fear that I was going to lose Severus if I lost my temper with him occasionally or told him exactly what I thought.

"Sometimes I forget." Severus finally said softly.

I could've left it at that but I didn't. "You avoided my eyes the entire class! You knew exactly what you were doing!"

Severus stood up angrily. "Why can't you just let this go?"

"Why can't you just be nice to him?" I said and then said, "Forget nice, how about just plain decent? You target him on purpose and it's stupid."

"Fine!" He snapped, swinging his cloak behind me, moving to leave the art room and my heart screamed at me to say something, to stop him. I opened my mouth but he was sweeping from the room and I closed it. I sat back down on the stool, staring at the canvas on my easel.

"Hey!" A voice said some minutes later and I snapped my head up and saw Hermione and Ginny had entered the room.

"Oh, hey." I said rather unenthusiastically. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We wanted to see how the portraits were coming along." Ginny said, peering curiously at me. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." I muttered, standing up and striding over to the table, picking the portraits up again off the chair and spreading them out on the table. "I'm almost done with them."

"What happened Elizabeth?" Hermione asked kindly.

"It doesn't matter." I muttered. "Just forget it."

She dropped the topic, though I'm sure she wouldn't forget any time soon. "They are finished, aren't they?"

"Yes." I said, a bit more enthusiastically. "I was thinking either Sunday night or Monday morning."

"Sunday night." Hermione said. "We can use the cloak."

"I can pin them up on the board." Ginny said.

"And I'll put them in each Professors place." I said. "Just let me work on the ones that your going to put up on the board for a moment."

I placed them all out and started working on the banners and putting the names in calligraphy inside. It was a win-win situation. Now, we just needed it to be Sunday night.

"We can leave them in the room." I said. "That's what I've been doing."

"We'll just have to make sure that Malfoy won't be in here when we need to get the drawings." Hermione pointed out.

"Right." I said. I put the drawings in another sheaf and labelled them 'board' and then put them right next to the other package.

"What are you working on currently?" Ginny asked, looking around.

I motioned for them to follow me over to the art easel and showed them the farm scene I was working on.

"You're painting it?" Hermione asked, bending down and peering at the details.

"Yes." I said simply. I was still quite unhappy.

"Well, we'll leave you to your work." Hermione said, grabbing Ginny's arm.

I shrugged, "It's not just my studio you know. You guys are welcome to stay and do whatever you want, even study if you guys want."

"Sure!" Ginny said. "That sounds great."

"We'll have to go get our schoolbags." Hermione fretted.

"I'll be here." I said.

I briefly wondered if spending all my time in here was going to screw things up for Malfoy. I supposed it didn't matter. Perhaps I should really only be in here on weekends.

They left and I started to paint the canvas in small, light strokes. The night moved on. Ginny and Hermione came with their homework and left and still I painted. When I was done, it was one of the most beautiful things I had painted. I left it to dry.

I headed over to the desk and pulled out my Defense Against the Dark Arts homework and started writing an essay for the Cruciatus curse. Sometime in the middle of it, I fell asleep.

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"𝕰𝖑𝖎𝖟𝖆𝖇𝖊𝖙𝖍 𝖑𝖔𝖛𝖊." 𝕬 soft voice whispered in my ear.

I rustled uncomfortably.

"Elizabeth, come on, you have to wake up." the voice whispered, still soft and beautiful almost.

I tried opening my heavy lids but I didn't really want to surface. My dream had been nice. Severus and I had been spending a nice afternoon together. I think there was an amusement park even though I knew Severus had never set foot in such a place.

"Elizabeth!" The voice was more anxious now and I finally blinked my eyelids open.

I was on the floor, looking up at the ceiling of the art studio. Severus was leaning over me, his hands on either side of my face, his anxious face relaxed when he saw my eyes were open.

I looked around as I sat up quickly. Ink had spilled down off the table and I wondered if my Cruciatus Curse essay was ruined. I quickly stood up and looked down at the table. Much to my relief, the ink had missed the essay by a few inches.

I quickly picked the essay up, rolling it up and stuffing it into my bag. For the first time, I didn't have my homework done for tomorrow. Panic started to set in.

"I didn't do my homework." I muttered, pulling the bag onto my shoulder. With a wave of his wand, the ink was gone.

"It doesn't matter." Severus said, putting an arm around me, "Come on, let's go."

"Where?" I asked, feeling slightly dazed.

"Our room, of course." Severus said, sounding worried.

"Oh, right." I said, blushing though I was still dazed. So we were fine?

We didn't meet anyone on the way to his office and once we were inside, I checked the time. It was only eleven o'clock. I supposed that the amount of time I'd spent in the art room really had mixed up my sleep cycle.

I sat down on the bed, pulling out homework that Severus grabbed from my hands, "Go to sleep. I don't care if you have the essay done."

"You wouldn't let Harry get away with it." I said, clumsily grabbing for my homework. Severus moved it away from me.

"Yes, but I don't love him and wish his best health either." Severus said, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me into the bed. Once the covers were around me, I nestled into him, feeling quite warm and fuzzy. I fell asleep quickly.

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𝕴 𝖜𝖔𝖐𝖊 𝖚𝖕 in a dark room, tied to a chair in a circle of light. There were people standing in the shadows, wearing black and I could not see their faces.

"Hello Elizabeth Kane." A cold, shiver inducing voice said and from the shadows stepped Voldemort.

I kept my mouth shut, trying to figure out how I had gotten here.

Voldemort seemed to almost glide towards me, my heart pounding by my brain acting rationally. Surely, I couldn't actually be here, could I? After all, I had been at Hogwarts, I had been at school.

"Mr. Malfoy brought you to us." Voldemort continued, walking around the chair, one pale hand moved along the back of it. "He found you sleeping in the Room of Requirement when he went to work on what he was supposed to be doing. He could not get in. He had heard rumors of what you had turned the room into and he found you. Careless of you, really. . ."

Had I fallen asleep in the room? I could've sworn I'd woken up though. I could've sworn I'd left the room. . . with. . . with Severus, hadn't I? Unless that had been a dream while Draco was transporting me out of the castle. And if this was real. . . I couldn't think about Severus.

"Draco made up for part of his father's mistakes, enough to get Lucius out of Azkaban. You've met Lucius, haven't you, Elizabeth?" Voldemort said in the same, cold voice.

Lucius moved in the shadows, his pale blond hair should have been a dead giveaway from the beginning. His steel gray eyes met mine, but he did not smile the way I would have expected him to.

A snake hissed nearby and I felt something coil around my feet. I would not flinch. I would not say anything.

"I've wanted to meet you for a long time, Elizabeth Kane." Voldemort said softly. "The rumors that surround you. Harry Potter's long lost sister, the future-see-er, the brilliant one."

He circled me again. My fight or flight response was trying to kick in but I could not move. Voldemort took a step back, making a motion to Lucius. A small light appeared, revealing Severus laying on the ground. He was alive, barely, blood seeping from his stomach. His eyes were half open, meeting mine and he mouthed 'I'm sorry'. My heart started to beat double-time, throwing a panicked look at Voldemort.

"What do you want?" I choked out. Voldemort started to laugh. I started to cry.

"Elizabeth. . ."

That voice was different, that voice was far away, more like a voice on the breeze than anything else. And that meant that I wasn't actually here. That meant that I could make this my own.

I willed the ropes to fall off of me and they did and I stood, drawing my wand. Voldemort's eyes widened in shock but his wand was already in his hand.

I willed myself to find a way out of the room and I was outside, by the sea, somewhere I'd wanted to be in a long time.

"Elizabeth..."

I willed myself to wake up and I did so, sitting upright in bed with Severus, gasping, shivering, sweating, shaking. My face was wet with salt water. My voice was hoarse, it was possible I had been screaming.

"Elizabeth!" He said, trying to face me. "What happened? You were crying and screaming in your sleep. I couldn't get you to lay still. You were thrashing around."

"Voldemort." I choked out, wiping my face.

He bit back his usual retort and said, "What?"

I explained what had happened and Severus listened intently and then said, "It was just a dream."

"I know." I muttered, "I'm not stupid."

"I never said you were." Severus said patiently. "I was trying to reassure you."

"Right." I muttered, flopping back down on the bed, "Sorry."

"No." Severus said, laying back down next to me, "I'm sorry."

He didn't elaborate and he didn't have to. He held me in his arms as I sobbed into his chest, shaking, trying to get rid of the image of him bleeding on the ground. The story had been so real, but my imagination was horribly active, and many of my dreams were quite vivid. I was shaking, but he hugged me close and I managed to calm down, falling asleep with no more nightmares.

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𝕿𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝕾𝖆𝖙𝖚𝖗𝖉𝖆𝖞, 𝕳𝖊𝖗𝖒𝖎𝖔𝖓𝖊 and Ron went with other students to Hogsmeade to do apparition lessons while Harry and I stayed behind. Twycross hadn't gotten back to me yet about whether or not I was going to be able to apparate before the designated time.

Harry had gone off to the room of requirement, hoping to catch Malfoy in the act. Meanwhile, I went over the plan for tomorrow in my head.

About half an hour later, I headed up to the Room of Requirement and knew Harry was under his invisibility cloak.

I heard a loud "OUCH!" and watched as Harry appeared, the invisibility cloak having slipped off of him.

"Harry?" A different, unexpected voice came and I hurried to see that Tonks was coming up the corridor. Harry had spun around and toppled over onto his ass and quickly scrambled to his feet, his cheeks flushing.

"What're you doing here?" Harry asked.

"I came to see Dumbledore." Tonks said.

She looked absolutely horrible and I closed my eyes as though I could block out the unhappy image. I preferred her with her bubblegum pink hair and cheery appearance. Now, she was thin, even thinner than dad. Her hair was hanging lank and loose.

"His office isn't here, it's round the other side of the castle, behind the gargoyle-" Harry said as though Tonks was stupid.

"I know. He's not here. Apparently he's gone away again."

"Has he? Hey- you don't know where he goes, I suppose?" Harry asked curiously. I snorted.

"No." Tonks said.

"What did you want to see him about?"

"Nothing in particular, I just thought he might know what's going on. . . I've heard rumors. . . people getting hurt. . ." she sent another look my way. I shook my head slightly.

"Yeah, I know, it's all been in the papers. That little kid trying to kill his-"

"The Prophet's often behind the times. You haven't had any letters from anyone in the Order recently?" Tonks asked, sound slightly desperate.

"No one from the Order writes to me anymore, not since Sirius-" Harry started and stopped when he saw Tonks eyes were filling up with tears, "I'm sorry. . . I mean. . . I miss him, as well. . ." He glanced at me like I was going to help him.

"What?" Tonks asked blankly. "Well. . . I'll see you around, Harry. Elizabeth. . ."

She turned around and went back the way she had come. Harry stared at me, "What was that about?"

I shook my head, "It's not really my place to say. She's worried about someone, though. She was hoping you'd have a letter from that person, that's all. I wouldn't know if I didn't have my powers so I don't feel comfortable intruding into her personal life without her permission, make sense?"

"Yes." Harry said. "But doesn't she work with Mad-eye and Kingsley?"

I shrugged, "I don't know. Neither of them have written me either. Dad can't write either, he's underground. See ya around Harry."

I headed away from the Room of Requirement and made my way down to the Great Hall and found that Ron and Hermione were already sitting down to lunch. Halfway through it, Harry came down and sat with us.

"I did it- well, kind of! I was supposed to be Apparating to outside Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop and I overshot it a bit, ended up near Scrivenshatft's, but at least I moved!" Ron said enthusiastically before Harry even sat down.

"Good one, How'd you do, Hermione?"

"Oh, she was perfect, obviously." Ron interrupted before Hermione could speak for herself, "Perfect deliberation, divination, and desperation or whatever the hell it is- we all went for a quick drink in the Three Broomsticks after and you should've heard Twycross going on about her- I'll be surprised if he doesn't pop the question soon- if he doesn't ask Eliza first that is and-"

"And what about you? Have you been up at the Room of Requirement all this time?" Hermione asked though I wasn't sure if she was asking me or Harry.

"Yep and guess who I ran into up there?" Harry asked, ladling his bowl with soup. "Tonks!"

"Tonks?" Ron and Hermione repeated together.

Harry explained what had been said and included my thoughts at the end of it before Ron said, "If you ask me, she's cracking up a bit. Losing her nerve after what happened at the Ministry."

I glared at him angrily.

"It's a bit odd. She's supposed to be guarding the school, why's she suddenly abandoning her post to come and see Dumbledore when he's not even here?" Hermione asked.

"She didn't know that he was gone." I suggested.

"I had a thought." Harry said. His voice sounded strange, almost hesitant, "You don't think she can have been. . . you know. . . in love with Sirius?"

I nearly spit out my soup while Hermione stared at him and asked, "What on earth makes you say that?"

"I dunno but she was nearly crying when I mentioned his name. . . and her Patronus is a big four-legged thing now. . . I wondered whether it hadn't become. . . you know. . . him. . ." Harry said awkwardly.

"She wasn't crying from you saying his name, she was crying because you haven't received any information that can help her." I said. "And neither have I and that's what worries her even more."

"But who is she worried about?" Ron asked.

"It's not my place to say." I said quickly. "I try not to intrude into other people's personal lives unless I don't like them, if I'm allowed to, or if you guys find out eventually anyways."

"It's a thought, the love thing." Hermione said to Harry. "But I still don't know why she'd be bursting into the castle to see Dumbledore, if that's really why she was here. . . it was more likely what Elizabeth was saying. After all, Dumbledore would be the one who would know everything."

"Goes back to what I said, doesn't it?" Ron asked, shoveling mashed potatoes messily into his mouth and I was so glad that I was having a girl and not a boy. Boys were so messy. "She's gone a bit funny. Lost her nerve. Women, they're easily upset." Ron finished to Harry.

I rolled my eyes and Hermione said, "And yet, I doubt you'd find a woman who sulked for half an hour because Madam Rosmerta didn't laugh at their joke about the hag, the Healer, and the Mimbulus mimbletonia."

Ron scowled.

The rest of us laughed.

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𝕴 𝖕𝖚𝖑𝖑𝖊𝖉 𝖔𝖚𝖙 the mirror again in the art room and called Kingsley's name. He appeared much quicker than he had previously.

"Everything alright?" He asked, his voice much deeper than before. He looked tired. He must be working a lot of hours.

I paused, wanting to be careful with how I was going to word my question, "Is. . .have you seen Tonks recently?"

"No. . .not too recently." He said carefully. "Why?"

"I'm- I'm worried about her. She came to the school a few days ago and she. . .well she seemed really upset. I think she wants to hear from someone and she hasn't heard from them. . .I think she wants to hear from Dad. Is he okay? Do you know?"

Kingsley looked slightly uncomfortable and he said, "Well. . .no, I don't know. Your father hasn't made contact with us in some time, though it is possible that he is contacting Dumbledore directly rather than through us. And I haven't seen Tonks since around Christmas. She's been staying on guard in Hogsmeade and I'm here at the Ministry."

I sighed, downcast.

"I'm sure your father is fine." Kingsley said in a reassuring voice.

"Oh, I am too." I said lightly. "I just wish I could help Tonks, that's all." I sighed again and then said, "Well, I'll let you get back to work. I just wanted to know if you'd heard anything. I'm just worried about her."

"I'll ask Mad-Eye for you." Kingsley said. "And I'll see if I can contact Tonks and help her out, alright?"

"Thanks Kingsley, you're the best." I said with a tired smile.

He smiled back and then I put the mirror upside down in my pocket, 'hanging up' on him. Then I made my way back out of the art studio and to the Gryffindor Common room.

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"𝕬𝖑𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙, 𝖜𝖊 𝖓𝖊𝖊𝖉 to be careful." I whispered to Ginny as we made our way down the marble steps towards the Great Hall under the invisibility cloak.

"I know Eliza." Ginny said, sounding exasperated.

"You-"

"Stay under the cloak while you slip into the hall." Ginny said. "Elizabeth, I know."

"Right." I said, nervous. I wanted everything to go as planned, I wanted everything to be perfect. This surprise had to be just perfect.

We paused on the tenth stair as peeves glided by and then continued after he had passed. Ginny stopped near the doors to the Great Hall so that I could slip through the doors. Crouching down, I saw that no one was there and I hurried up to the teachers table and started laying out the portraits.

After that was done, I slipped back down the stairs and out of the Great Hall, leaving the doors closed behind me and hurried over to the notice board. Ginny had nearly posted all of the drawings. I helped her pin up the last couple of ones and then we headed back up the marble steps, retracing our path.

We split off, her under the invisibility cloak, and I as a cat. She went back to the Gryffindor Tower and I went back to Severus' room.

Severus was asleep when I arrived and I quickly climbed into bed, making sure I could be up early enough so that I could get to the Great Hall early.

The alarm went off and I quickly shut it off, rolling out of bed while Severus groaned. "Why are you up so early?" he muttered.

"Early day, lots of homework." I said cheerfully, grabbing new robes and my bag. "See you in class this afternoon." I kissed his cheek.

I ran out of the room and down the stairs before he could stop me, my heart pounding, and hurried into the Great Hall. No teachers were in there yet- breakfast didn't start for another seven minutes. I hurried up the stairs, double checking to make sure the portraits were still there. I also doubled checked to make sure that the portraits were the same one's I'd drawn and I hurried down to the Hufflepuff table, satisfied.

Ernie, Hannah, Susan, Justin, Zacharias, Rose and a few other Hufflepuff students were there. Trang sat at the Ravenclaw table and many Gryffindors were already sitting down.

Dumbledore entered first, striding to his spot. We all watched him as he stopped in front of his place. I quickly ducked my head, peeking up to see him pick up the drawing and laugh joyfully, his laugh filling the room.

His eyes flashed over to the Hufflepuff table and I flushed.

"This is great." Susan said, bouncing up and down on the bench.

Food appeared on the table and more students started to file in slowly. Some where chattering about the art, laughing, having spotted the notice board already. Others were confused, darting back out of the hall to take a look.

Other teachers came in and we watched as they picked the portraits up, either covering their faces in embarrassment or laughing. Severus stalked into the room and we all bent low over our breakfast, wondering how he'd react.

He held the portrait up to the light and then pulled out his wand and set the drawing on fire. Our table broke out laughing. Professor McGonagall started to scold Professor Snape.

"Think this was enough to throw them off for a bit?" I asked with a smile.

"Definitely." Susan said. "I can't wait for the real thing."

"I wonder which one they'll like better." Zacharias said.

"I think Professor Snape will like the other one better." Ernie said with a smirk. The entire Great Hall smelled like burnt parchment.

"Good thing we have extra copies." I said with a smile. "Hopefully he doesn't burn the one on the notice board too."

Professor Dumbledore was leaning over, showing Professor McGonagall his drawing. I was quite pleased with my doings.

"I should um go to Care of Magical Creatures Class." I said with a smile. I got up and quickly left the Great Hall. People started to clap as I dashed out the door. I blushed. There was a crowd of people standing outside the notice board, laughing and looking at the drawings.

I passed by quietly and quickly and felt liberated as I entered the fresh air. Hagrid joined me soon on the grounds. He had a piece of parchment in his hands and looked quite pleased.

"Yeh draw wonderfully Elizabeth." He complimented, opening his cabin door and putting the drawing on his table before exiting and coming over to where I was standing, "My favorite was Professor Dumbledore's."

I grinned. "That one did come out good, didn't it?"

Throughout the rest of the day, there were compliments from students and teachers alike. Professor McGonagall had put hers up on the wall. Of course, there were complaints that the drawings didn't move, but the complaints didn't bother me. They didn't seem to bother the Professors either.

The ones that drew the most laughs were Professor Flitwick's and Professor Dumbledore's because they were the most unusual.

What surprised me the most was when Filch came up to me and actually shook my hand before moving past. Any student that saw that thought they were dreaming, and the story spread around quickly, though never talked about in Filch's presence.

However, the most talked about drawing was Professor Snape's. Unbeknownst to him, there was a duplicate drawing on the notice board that he hadn't burned yet, and it was the drawing that people were secretly duplicating and stuffing into binders.

"The thing is," Luna chirped at lunch, sitting with us along with a few Gryffindors and Trang at the Hufflepuff table. "No one has ever seen Professor Snape smile but you make it look so natural."

"Yet!" Zacharias interjected, "It's disturbing at the same time because he never smiles."

"Did you all duplicate that drawing?" I asked, amused.

"Yes." Came about seven different voices.

I snorted.

I seemed to earn quite a few points for Hufflepuff that day too, just random things.

It was one of the best days of my life.

⬅️➡️

2 notes · View notes

braveclementine · 6 days

Text

Chapter 15

Warnings: 18+ readers only

🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎

"𝖂𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖉𝖎𝖉 𝖞𝖔𝖚 and Dumbledore argue about?" I demanded as I got ready for the day. Severus yawned, running a hand through his unkempt hair and waved his wand so that the shades opened, light streaming into the windows.

I slipped out of bed, stretching. Severus' shirt was very warm and I didn't feel like getting out of it.

"It was nothing." Severus said, throwing his nightgown into his wardrobe and pulling on his uniform black robes. My eyes flicked from his body to my bag where my secret drawing was being kept.

"Uh huh." I said, unconvinced.

"Don't you already know anyways?" Severus asked, disgruntled.

"No." I replied honestly. "Well, I know that you argued about Dumbledore taking too much for granted and also not wanting to do something anymore."

"I don't want to kill him." Severus said.

"You want Draco to kill him?" I asked in slight disbelief. "You know Dumbledore is trying to save Draco's soul."

"And what about my soul?" Severus asked fiercely. "Apparently it means nothing to Dumbledore!"

I sucked in my cheeks. I shouldn't have asked. I should've let it stay between Dumbledore and Severus. Why had I intervened?

I turned away, grabbing my bag, switching out Friday's books with Monday's books. I hated that it was going to be so cold during Care of Magical Creatures class. But I couldn't skip, not with me being the only student in the class.

I heard Severus grumbling behind me and I said, "I think all this business about souls is stupid."

He didn't answer,

"Your killing him out of mercy." I replied. "And to show your last act of loyalty. That you were always Dumbledore's and never Vol-"

"Don't say his name Elizabeth." Severus said sharply.

Now I said nothing.

Severus sighed, sounding frustrated and knelt behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist, "Sorry." he muttered.

"You should be used to it." I muttered, "Dumbledore uses his name."

"Dumbledore is a great wizard." Severus argued, "The only one the Dark Lord fears."

"Well what would you want me to call him?" I said, very close to snapping at him as I stood up, hoisting the bag onto my shoulder.

"Anything else." Severus said.

I tried not to grin as I turned around, picking up my quill and said, "Then the last act of loyalty is killing Dumbledore, showing that you were always Dumbledore's and never anything else's."

There was a bit of awkward silence and I figured I was going to leave now when Severus grabbed me by the shoulders, spinning me around, and kissing me fiercely, "Smartass." He whispered through our lips, moving one hand down to my ass to smack it lightly.

I laughed lightly, kissing him back hungrily. I'd always thought that being in love, you eventually got tired of each others' presence. Perhaps we just hadn't been together long enough. Either way, I was going to savor every moment I was with him. He pulled away and said, "Also, that's my shirt you're wearing."

"And you're not getting it back." I teased as I pulled it off so I could get dressed in my Hogwarts robes.

"Looks better on you anyways." He said, pulling me back towards the bed.

Needless to say, we were both running late.

We made our way down the stairs together, sneaking kisses until he set his book down on the desk, and I made my way out the door, grinning broadly.

The news that Ron had been poisoned had spread throughout the school quickly by noon, but there was no fear about the occurrence. Rather, most were regarding the incident as an accident because he had been in the potions office. He must've picked up the poison on accident. Plus, he'd been healed almost immediately, therefore, it wasn't that big of a deal.

What was a bigger deal with the Gryffindors animosity towards the Hufflepuffs. This was because of Zacharias' commentary during the Gryffindor vs. Slytherin match, something I wished had never happened.

I was actually quite excited with the idea of the Quidditch match since I had never played against Harry captain v captain. This would certainly be interesting, especially since we were both seekers as well.

However, we still had a week before that happened.

Over the next few days after attending classes I would spend time in the common room, helping with the first-years questions and such. I also upped Rose and Grace's private lessons with me from just Friday to Wednesday and Friday.

I also spent time in the common room in the corner, working on the mid-draft for the drawing, adding more details. I wanted there to be something that connected each Professor to their job. Now, instead of Trelawney having her hands clasped in front of her, she was now holding out a crystal ball. Professor McGonagall had a tabby cat by her feet. Firenze was holding a bow, a sling of arrows across his back.

But before the Quidditch match could approach in full, Severus cornered me one night into the discussion.

"Hufflepuff is playing Gryffindor this week?" Severus asked casually, dipping his quill into his ink and writing a 3 out of 10 on one of the papers.

"Yes." I replied casually, adding detail to Dumbledore's glasses. Severus did not know what I was working on but I would not let him see it and he was respecting my privacy.

"Zacharias is the captain, right?"

I thought maybe he was joking and I laughed casually, "Of course not. I am."

"You are?" Severus asked strangely and I looked up from the drawing.

Severus seemed mad, but he didn't look mad.

"Yes. . ." I said slowly, frowning, "You did know that, didn't you?"

Severus' face flushed and he said, "I thought you would have given it up!"

"Why would I do that?" I frowned, trying to figure out what I was missing here.

"Because you're pregnant!" Severus exploded and I felt the blood drain from my face when I realized what his problem was.

"Oh." I whispered, setting my drawing utensil down and quickly put the drawing away. "But Sev, I'll be fine. I'm a good flier, I'm not going to get hurt."

"You don't know that!" Severus said fiercely, shoving the homework aside, throwing the quill down. Ink splattered on the pages.

He shoved the chair back, standing up quickly and I looked at him in amazement and somewhat fearful. He was angry, extremely angry. I had to say something.

"Sev!" I stood up now, holding a hand out to touch his chest. "Breathe, alright?" I said this as lightly as possible. He closed his eyes, his hand reaching out and taking mine, keeping my hand against his chest.

"Look." I said softly, reaching up, touching his cheek softly with my other hand. "The match is going to be smooth. I foresee Hufflepuff winning."

Severus breathed in deeply and then said, "I don't want you to get hurt and even more, I don't want the child to be harmed either."

"You've watched me fly for five years Sev." I said gently. "I usually come out unscathed."

"Right." Severus said, "But there have been close calls."

"I'm playing against Gryffindor, remember, not Slytherin." I said this as gently as possible. "They're not going to be trying to seriously harm me."

Severus gritted his teeth, most likely because he had no way of defending the Slytherins and also me at the same time and he said, "If you get hurt-"

"I won't." I said firmly.

We stared at each other for a moment, almost like a staring contest and he relented, sitting back down in his chair.

I sat back down on the bed, pulling out the drawing and started to work on Hagrid's character.

"What are you working on?" Severus asked curiously and I lifted the paper slightly so that he couldn't see.

"You'll see when it's time for you to see." I said, methodically adding tiny bristles to Madam Hooch's broom.

Severus sighed in an exaggerated way before turning back to his work. I was worried that things were going to be bad between the two of us. I wasn't sure he'd completely let go of the idea of me not playing at the game this Saturday.

When we finally went to bed, there did seem to be space between the two of us that wasn't usually there at night. I didn't say anything though. It was my choice about whether or not I was going to play at the game this week. Nothing was going to happen and there was no reason for him to be upset with me.

I tried putting myself in his shoes. The baby was his child too and as such, he really should have a say in the child's safety. He had to try and get me to keep the baby safe.

I wondered what Trang would say if she knew that I was playing in the game this week. Would she agree with me? I had promised not to participate in any fights. But that had been with Death Eaters and students. Did Quidditch count?

If I did stop, what was my excuse? I certainly couldn't say an overload of homework, because the others were more overwhelmed than I was. There was nothing I could say that was an adequate excuse for giving the captain ship over to Zacharias.

I shifted uncomfortably onto my side, my back facing Severus, looking out at the dark room. I certainly couldn't tell the Quidditch team I was pregnant for goodness sake! Even Hermione didn't know.

Severus breathing turned into soft snoring and I slipped out of bed, unable to sleep. I went over, sitting by the window, looking out at the dark grounds. Then I shifted my eyes, turning my head so that I could look up at the sky.

The moon wasn't full yet, though it was getting to that point. I wished I could talk to dad, but that wasn't possible. The little girl in my stomach kicked me, though it felt like a feather kick. I put a hand on my stomach, wishing for the millionth time that I knew the countercharm to Dumbledore's spell. I would've liked to see the bump.

I fell asleep at the windowsill, looking up at the sky, but woke up in bed, Severus arm wrapped tightly around my shoulder, my cheek resting on his nightgown. His breathing was uneven, I wondered what he was dreaming about.

I rolled over, his arm flopping to the side so that I could check the time. It was a few hours till sunrise, but I no longer felt tired.

I pulled out a new piece of paper and a pencil and though there was almost no light, I started on a drawing that I had wanted to draw for a very long time.

Severus always looked quite peaceful when he slept and it was a good muse for the drawing. Of course, I didn't know how the drawing was going to turn out, considering there was no light. I halfway let my subconscious take control, and halfway not.

I couldn't see the finishing piece, but I finally felt that I could sleep properly and without putting the artwork away, I fell asleep, my head resting on Severus' legs.

"You were restless last night." Severus murmured after he had shaken me awake so that I wasn't late for class.

"Couldn't sleep." I murmured, rolling out of bed and grabbing my robes.

"What's that?" Severus asked, leaning down and picking up a piece of paper. It was the drawing I had drawn last night.

I blushed, wondering how it had come out. Severus' eyes scanned the paper and his mouth curled into a smirk.

"Give me that." I muttered, reaching to snatch the piece of paper out of his hand. He held it out of my reach and I glared at him.

"Great detail." Severus said, openly grinning now. "I hope you weren't planning on selling this one?"

I jumped, grabbing the paper, and turned the drawing to face me. It'd come out better than I had thought. He was right, there was great detail to this drawing, though no where close to the detail I'd give the mystery drawings or the Professor drawings.

I blushed deeper, folding the sexual drawing up, and handed it to him. "No, I wasn't going to sell it. You can keep it if you want."

I grabbed my bag, pulling it over my shoulder. I kissed him on the cheek and hurried out of the office so that I could grab breakfast before class.

Trang met me halfway to the Great Hall and I felt the impending doom of the Quidditch questions coming.

Indeed, the minute we sat down, refreshingly at the Ravenclaw table, she started with, "You're not playing the Quidditch game are you?"

"I've already discussed this with Severus and we feel that there is no danger if I play." I said as firmly as possible while pulling over chocolate muffins.

Trang dropped her mouth, her fork dangling carelessly from her fingers. I wondered if I was starting to see everything as art, each moment a pause in time, a drawing that could be captured. I wasn't so sure Trang would like if I drew her at this exact moment though.

"You're kidding, right?"

I sighed, peeling away the wrapper. I wasn't supposed to have chocolate or muffins or chocolate muffins but I was feeling rebellious this week, and I figured my little girl needed to taste sugar so she grew a sweet tooth anyways.

"No. Trang. I'm not kidding. Especially since we're playing Gryffindor, I'm in no danger and neither is the child." I bit into the sugary mess and was immediately satisfied. I should eat like this more often. Oh wait. . . no I couldn't.

"You promised-"

"I promised not to get into fights with Death Eaters and I extended that to duels in school." I replied, a bit sharper than intended. "I did not promise to stop flying or hand over my captainship. I kept my captain ship all last year despite Umbitches attempts to 'dethrone' me. I don't plan on just handing it over for no reason!"

"But the baby!" Trang complained.

"Trang!" I said sharply, putting my muffin down. "I've already told you that I've talked it over with Sev. If he's okay with it, then it's okay."

Trang hands were clenched into fists on the table, quivering. I got up abruptly from the table, storming off to potions where Harry was star boy and Hermione and I were second-hand for the first time in our lives. Bloody frustrating.

Saturday approached. Trang and I hadn't spoken since our spat at the Ravenclaw table. Severus seemed almost nervous this morning and eventually, his nerves became my nerves because I couldn't help it.

I went down to the Quidditch pitch early so that I could sit by myself in the Hufflepuff locker room. I closed my eyes, leaning my head back against the wall.

An hour later, the other teammates started to come in, chattering quickly and excitedly and I quickly started to get into my own robes.

The match time drew closer and I looked out the door. "Alright Anthony, James, you'll want to fly out of the sun." I commanded and I was glad my voice was sound and sure, "That way the other team won't see the bludgers coming. Of course, I wouldn't be surprised if Harry told his own beaters to do that so be on the lookout. Susan, up to your post."

Susan flew up to the Keeper's post on our end. I noticed McLaggen was already in his spot. I walked out with the rest of my team.

Harry and I stood opposite each other and shook hands cordially, grins on both of our faces. Madam Hooch blew her whistle and we all streaked upwards. My nerves turned into adrenaline and I shot up higher than any of the other players, looking down for the snitch.

Harry was looking for the snitch so that he could get back to the castle and find out what Draco was doing. That was the wrong mindset for the game.

"And that's Smith of Hufflepuff with the Quaffle. He did the commentary last time, of course, and Ginny Weasley flew into him, I think probably on purpose, it looked like it." A dreamy voice echoed through the stadium and I pulled up short in amazement, right next to Harry, and looked towards the commentator post. "Smith was being quite rude about Gryffindor, I expect he regrets it now he's playing them-oh look, he's lot the Quaffle, Ginny took it from him, I do like her, she's very nice. . ."

While I had foreseen Luna commentating Quidditch, I hadn't quite expected this. I noticed all the Quidditch players had frozen for a moment, looking at Luna before moving into motion again. Harry and I exchanged a glance, and we both shook our heads in amazement before we darted off in opposite directions.

Luke took the Quaffle from Ginny. It was a good play too. I ducked a bludger but it didn't come to close. I really needed to keep any eye on the bludgers as well as the snitch.

". . . now that big Hufflepuff player's got the Quaffle from her, I can't remember his name, it's something like Chaddle- no Clartin-"

"It's Cholderton!" Professor McGonagall shouted from behind Luna, loudly enough to be heard through the magical megaphone. The crowd laughed. It was an entertaining commentary.

A moment later, Luke scored. I looked over just long enough to see that McLaggen had been shouting at Ginny, rather than watching where the Quaffle was.

"And Harry Potter's now having an argument with his Keeper. I don't think that'll help him find the Snitch, but maybe it's a clever ruse."

Below, Hufflepuffs and Slytherins were jeering at the Gryffindors. Imagine Slytherins being on your side.

Both Ginny and the other girl chaser on the team whose name started with a D scored a goal and then Luke scored a second one. The game continued on though Luna was trying to draw attention to shapes in the clouds. Zacharias hadn't taken possession of the Quaffle once since his fumble in the beginning and Luna was starting to mention that he might have Loser's Lurgy.

While entertaining, I certainly couldn't have Zacharias with any condition and I zoomed over on my broom.

"What's going on?" I asked while McGonagall shouted that we were up thirty points after Rose scored a goal.

"I just can't seem to play." Zacharias said through gritted teeth. "That Luna-"

"It's all in your head." I snapped, "You're one of my best chasers. Now get out there and show me that you are."

"And now Elizabeth's yelling at Zacharias. Or maybe they're just talking, I'm not sure. I like Elizabeth, she's very popular. It's also rumored that she's working on a surprise for the Professors, but it might not be true."

I blushed. "Bloody hell Luna."

Zacharias grinned, "I think I can score some goals now."

We both sped off into different directions.

"Oh look! The Gryffindor Keeper's got hold of one of the Beat's bats." Luna announced dreamily.

I pulled up short and watched as Harry pelted towards McLaggen. Cormac took a swing, mishit, and the bludger collided with Harry who started to fall.

At that moment, I caught the sign of gold and I dropped, diving after the snitch. I no longer had to compete against anyone to catch this snitch (though I wasn't particularly glad about it). I just hoped that Harry's teammates had enough sense to catch him.

The Gryffindors were moaning and the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins were cheering. I reached out, grabbing the snitch. While originally, I'd seen us winning three hundred and twenty to sixty, the real score under my captainship was two hundred and forty to fifty.

I landed, the rest of the Hufflepuff team catching up to me and we headed off to the lockers amongst the cheers of the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins.

"Brilliant game everyone." I said cheerfully, wanting to find Trang and shake an apology from her but also wanting her to come herself and apologize herself.

"Loser's Lurgy." Rose chortled. "Zacharias has Loser's Lurgy."

"What a little brat." Zacharias muttered under his breath and Rose stuck her tongue out at him, skipping to the locker room.

"McLaggen is unbelievable." Susan said, shaking her head as the rest of us entered the locker room.

"He's in some of my classes." Luke said unexpectedly. He reminded me of Malcolm. He was usually very quiet- I'd only ever heard him say a few words. "Because he knows people in high places he automatically thinks he knows everything."

"Including how to play every Quidditch position apparently." James piped up, putting his beaters bat into the locker.

"You're coming to the party right?" Susan asked as we walked up the slop. Anthony and James were ahead. Rose and Zacharias walked on either side of her. Luke was somewhere behind us.

"Yes." I said. "But I'll be a few minutes late. I want to go and check on Harry on the hospital wing."

"Alright." Susan said as we entered the castle, "See you then."

We split off into opposite directions and I found my way to the hospital wing and stepped inside. Ginny was already there, sitting in a wooden chair between Harry and Ron's beds and was telling Ron what had happened.

"How is he?" I asked, pulling up a chair and sitting next to Harry.

"Cracked skull." Ginny said, looking worried. "I think the rest of the team is going to kill McLaggen. Well-" She sucked air up her nose and spat out, "except Dean."

I looked away, not wanting to get into the middle of everyone else's love business. "Dean laughed?"

"Yes!" Ginny said hotly. "Actually, I think I'm going to go kill McLaggen now!"

She got up, storming out of the hospital wing. I sighed, shaking my head.

"Did McLaggen really do that bad?" Ron asked, sounding hopeful.

"Yes." I said honestly. I would much rather play Gryffindor with McLaggen as Keeper than Ron at this moment. "He kept trying to act as captain and tell the others what they were doing wrong rather than paying attention to what he was supposed to be doing himself."

Ron looked happy about that and then said, "I hope Luna commentates from now on."

I chuckled. "So do I."

I got up, kissed Harry's cheek, and then left the room to go and join the party.

🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎

𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖓𝖊𝖝𝖙 𝖉𝖆𝖞, I joined Hermione, Harry, and Ron as they were walking down to the Great Hall for breakfast. I was quite glad that Hermione and Ron were friends again and this felt more normal- the four of us.

"Ginny and Dean rowed last night." Hermione mentioned as we walked down the marble staircase.

"What did they row about?" Harry asked casually. A small girl dropped heavy brass scales as we approached. I glared at her, keeping my mouth shut.

"It's all right! Here. . ." Hermione said, hurrying forward the repairing the brass scales.

"I swear they're getting smaller." Ron said after we'd passed the small girl.

"Never mind her, what did Ginny and Dean row about, Hermione?" Harry asked, sounding impatient.

"Oh, Dean was laughing about McLaggen hitting that Bludger at you." Hermione said.

"It must've looked funny." Ron consented.

"It didn't look funny at all! It looked terrible and if Coote and Peakes hadn't caught Harry he could have been very badly hurt!" Hermione replied hotly.

"Yeah, well, there was no need for Ginny and Dean to split up over it, or are they still together?" Harry asked, the casualness not so casual.

"Yes, they are- but why are you so interested?" Hermione asked sharply.

"I just don't want my Quidditch team messed up again!"

"Harry!" A dreamy voice called.

"Oh, hi, Luna." Harry said, turning to face her.

"I went to the hospital wing to find you but they said you'd left. . ." Luna said, thrusting a green onion, a spotted toadstool, and possibly cat litter into Ron's arms. "I've been told to give you this." She handed Harry a roll of parchment that was most likely from Dumbledore.

"Tonight." Harry said to Ron, Hermione, and I after he unrolled and skimmed through it.

"Nice commentary last match!" Ron said to Luna as he handed her stuff back over to her.

Luna smiled at him vaguely, "You're making fun of me, aren't you? Everyone says I was dreadful."

"I loved it." I said sincerely.

"No, I'm serious!" Ron agreed. "I can't remember enjoying commentary more! What is this, by the way?" he added, holding up the onion which wasn't an onion.

"Oh, it's a Gurdyroot. You can keep it if you like, I've got a few of them. They're really excellent for warding off Gulping Plimpies."

She walked off, leaving Ron behind to laugh contentedly.

"You know, she's grown on me, Luna. I know she's insane, but it's in a good-" Ron started happily before he was cut off by Lavender Brown. "Hi?"

"C'mon." Harry muttered to Hermione and I and we sped up.

I distinctly heard Lavender murderously question Ron, "Why didn't you tell me you were getting out today? And why was she with you?"

"Oh yeah," Hermione said as we sat down at the Gryffindor table. "What was Luna talking about during the match yesterday Elizabeth?"

"Which part?" I asked, grinning.

"The thing for the teachers." she clarified.

I moved uncomfortably in my seat, "Oh well, it was supposed to be a surprise. I suppose Luna didn't know about that part."

"What is it?" Harry asked curiously.

"I'll show you guys later." I said, slicing an apple into small pieces so I didn't have to bite into the apple.

"When?" Hermione asked.

"How about later today in the library. I'll be with a group of Hufflepuffs." I said.

"Sure." Harry said. "But it better be good considering all the suspense."

"It's not suspense." I said scornfully. "It's a secret. Students talk, you know? If we keep it amongst a few people, it'll stay quiet from the teachers. Not that Luna helped with that."

"Had you told Luna?" Hermione asked.

"No. It was only discussed amongst a few Hufflepuffs. Perhaps Ernie or Zacharias said something." I suggested, shrugging. "Or perhaps Rose told Grace and Grace spread it around."

"Rose plays well." Harry complimented.

"She does, doesn't she?" I smiled, sliding a piece of apple into the back of my mouth. "I was pleasantly surprised. She has a knack for dodging bludgers."

The rest of the conversation carried out onto the Quidditch matches and Hermione disappeared behind her newspaper. Gryffindor was most likely to win the cup this year, something I was both pleased and disappointed about. I wondered if the difference in the two scores would change things.

Around noon, I went to the library to partly work on my Herbology essay and partly to add some new details to the drawing before I showed it off the Hufflepuffs and Harry, Hermione, and Ron.

I was nowhere near finished, not even close. There were so many more details that needed to be done, especially with the Professors I either hadn't met like Kettleburn, Professors I didn't see any more like Quirrell, Lockhart, and Umbridge, or Professors I simply didn't have like Burbage from Muggle studies.

To top it all off, besides Hagrid, Severus, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Uncle Moody, Firenze, and Dad, I didn't really have the details memorized from all the other Professors which made things quite difficult when trying to call up specific details. Moles, wrinkles, stress lines, the lights of their eyes, the skin deformities, the shapes of their eyes, noses, mouths, ears, hair, their height, crooked shoulders, bent knees, etc.

I knew that the sketch would never be perfect. What I needed to do was to get it to a point of satisfaction for everyone except for me. Only the artist sees the flaws in their own work where others don't. (Except perhaps art critics).

I decided to work on the Herbology essay first because that didn't need to be as perfect as the drawing and would take less time.

Halfway through however, there was an interruption in the form of a person: Trang.

She sat down across from me, red eyed, and with a stuffy nose. I knew she'd been crying and though we'd fought, I immediately set aside my essay to talk to her. I reached out, taking her hand in mine. "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry." Trang whispered, "You were right. There was no danger after all."

I sighed. "Look, Trang, I'm sorry. In a way, you were right. Something could've gone wrong, something could've happened. At the same time, I don't want to live my life in a safety box, you know?"

Trang smiled hesitantly, "Yes, I know. You never could do that."

I smiled, pulling back the essay and finishing off the last paragraphs. Then I pulled out the art drawing.

"What more do you need to do on this?" Trang asked, frowning at the drawing.

"Lots and lots of details." I said, not taking my eyes off the drawing and pulling out my pencil. "I'm going to have to find and excuse to see some of these Professors. I've got a picture of Lockhart and Umbridge, but Quirrell is going to be harder. Plus I've never met Kettleburn and Grubby-Plank is hard to pull up as well. Not to mention the Professors I've only had for a year like Burbage. I have to do these people justice, and the details are quite difficult." I paused for a second and then said, "Plus, I'd like to add myself into the drawing."

"Like an artists mark." Trang stated in a matter-of-fact way.

"Exactly." I said, my voice rising in excitement. "I think I'm going to do it in cat form. No one will find that weird because McGonagall has a cat on her shoulder, Filch is holding Mrs. Norris, and Fang is by Hagrid's feet. I just don't know where I want myself to be, you know? I was thinking by Firenze's feet but I'm also Severus' wife, but I Severus doesn't exactly show his um. . . what do you call it. . . emotional side to anyone else and him holding a cat isn't as realistic as the drawing could be. So I'm not entirely sure where-"

"In your dad's arms." Trang said and it was such a simple suggestion and the obvious one that I kind've just stared at her for a moment. "What? It'll bind the love that you two have between the two of you in a symbolic and permanent way even after we're all dead."

"Your completely, totally right." I whispered. "Though of course, I'll have to take out the tank under his arm."

"Not necessarily." Trang suggested, tilting the paper slightly to the left instead of getting up and coming around the other side of the table to look at it. "The cat could be drawn by his feet. Or he could be holding you to his shoulder with one hand."

"Of course. . ." I whispered, picking up the paper and holding it up to the light. "Genius Trang! Genius!"

"What's genius?" A new voice said and I quickly rolled the paper automatically, feeling stupid when I saw that it was Ernie, Justin, and Zacharias.

"Is that the drawing?" Justin asked.

"Yes." I said. "I'm just waiting for the others to show so I can show all of you at once."

"Let's go over here." Zacharias said, jerking his head. I carried the drawing while Trang picked up my things and we headed to a corner of the library.

It was circular shaped, bookcases all around. I stayed with my back to the wall so that no one could appear from behind us. There were chairs that were angled around a small coffee table. Ernie, Justin, Zacharias, and Trang all took seats nearest to me. Very soon, Susan and Hannah entered and hurried over.

Rose followed by herself some moments later.

Hermione, Ron, and Harry came in last, settling around with us.

"So what is it?" Ron asked bluntly.

I gave the credit where it was due. "Susan came up with the idea, at least to the best of my knowledge, I wasn't paying attention to the conversation. Anyways, they said we should come up with a graduating present. A token of appreciation to our teachers. I took this a bit literally. . ." I carefully unrolled the drawing, facing it towards them on the coffee table.

"When you meant all of them. . ." Harry said slowly, observing Professor Moody's details.

"All of them." I said solidly. "None of us had Kettleburn, granted, but he was still an incredibly important teacher and he was technically here when we were here."

"This is amazing!" Rose declared. She'd left her seat, kneeling by the coffee table.

"Thanks Rose." I said gently.

"I can't believe you're done already." Zacharias said, his neck cinching a little as he turned his head to look at the drawing rather than stand up to look at it.

Trang snorted, "Done? You should've heard her earlier. Going on about details. She's apparently nowhere close to done."

Hannah's face was quite impressed. She came back after Christmas break with the rest of us. She'd been unusually quiet, but I didn't blame her in the least.

Ernie was also being unusually quiet, observing the drawing as though he had to take a test on it later. I was slightly amused.

"So?" I asked, "How's the rough draft?"

Ernie chuckled. "Rough draft."

"It's wonderful Elizabeth." Hermione said, practically glowing with happiness. "You've captured all of them so well."

"You should make Professor Snape grumpier." Ron pointed out. "He looks to kind in this drawing."

My eyes met Harry's for the briefest second and I said, "Well, I was trying to make them all look a bit nicer."

"Yes, I can tell with Mrs. Norris." Susan said, "Even Filch looks a bit happy in this one."

"That was inspirational." I said honestly. "After Mrs. Norris was unpetrified, I saw him holding her and he looked quite happy."

"I would definitely pay to see a drawing of Professor Snape smiling." Justin said with a laugh.

"Oh, one second." I said, giddy with pleasure. I was human after all and I did like compliments to my drawings. "I was doing some portraits. Pay me for this."

I handed him the artpad, page already up of Severus smiling, standing by the window, holding out his hand.

"Wow." Justin said, laughing and passing the artpad around. "That's. . . wow."

The drawing brought on laughs. After all, no one had ever seen Severus smile before. Harry met my eyes again and gave me a slight nod. I gave him a small smile before sticking the art pad into my bag. Trang gave me a smile as well.

"Well." I said. "I must admit that's all I had. I just wanted opinions, criticisms. I'll take into account of S- Professor Snape looking grumpier. I was also hoping you guys could give advice on what each Professor could be holding or wearing that might contribute to their subject. For instance, Professor Lupin was holding the Grindylow tank or Professor Burbage holding the rotary telephone- that's a Muggle thing. Anyways, I don't need suggestions now but if you guys write down a list or something I can utilize it in the final drawings, deal?"

"Deal." Came multiple responses.

"Great." I said with a broad grin and we all left the library at different times.

🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎

"𝕯𝖔 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖗 tell stories?" Severus asked sleepily late that night.

"Through my art, you mean?" I asked, rolling over so I could see part of his face in the moonlight.

"No, I mean physical stories. I know you wrote a couple before giving up the hobby." Severus said, putting an arm around me to pull my closer though he was looking up at the ceiling rather than at me.

"No." I said softly, looking at the wall. "I've never told an adequate story without artwork."

"So if you had a piece of artwork, you could tell a story." Severus said.

I got up on my elbows to get a better look at him, "Why?"

"Something I was simply curious about." Severus said smoothly, pulling me down to the bed again. I gave in, pressing my lips to his warm bare skin.

I looked at him for a moment and then rolled over out of bed.

"Where are you going?" Severus asked. I heard the bedsprings creak and knew he was probably sitting up.

"I'll be right back, I promise." I said gently, turning into a cat and padding out of the room.

I made my way to the Hufflepuff common room. I probably should've put clothes on, I realized too late. I morphed, quickly entered the password and turned back into a cat before anyone could see me. I slinked upstairs to the dorm.

The other girls were asleep and I padded over to where I'd locked the drawings. I morphed again, pulling the blanket off my bed and draping it over me while I unlocked the drawer, pulling out a specific drawing.

It was the drawing of a shop filled with keys. Keys in jars, keys hanging from the ceiling, keys hanging in the garden, keys under class cases and such. There was an old man, rearranging jars on a shelf, his face turned away so that only the back of him could be seen.

I locked the dresser again, turning back into a cat and, carrying the drawing in my small mouth, made my way back to the Defense Against the Dark Arts office.

After my long black tail slipped through the thin opening of the office door, I turned back into a human and closed the door behind me. Severus was grinning from where he was sitting on the bed and I rolled my eyes.

I lit a candle as I passed by, carrying it over near the bed. I handed Severus the drawing.

I touched the drawing too, wondering if this would work. But if I could believe Severus' hypothesis to be true, then if I reached into my subconscious, this could work.

I closed my eyes, the image of the drawing appearing into the back of my mind and I almost back out of the experiment. This was too weird, to much magic for a magical world. But was it? I took a deep breath and then started to speak in a voice that was my own and yet, also not my voice.

"Once there was a man who collected keys. Old keys and new keys and broken keys. Lost keys and stolen keys and skeleton keys. He carried them in his pockets and wore them on chains that clattered as he walked around the town. Everyone in the town knew the key collector. Some people though his habit strange but the key collector was a friendly sort and had a thoughtful air and a quick smile. If someone lost a key or broke a key they could ask the key collector and he would usually have a replacement that would suit their needs. It was often faster than having a new key made. The key collector kept the most common shapes and sizes of keys always at hand, in case someone was in need of a key for a door or a cupboard or a chest."

The man almost seemed to move, walking from the jars to the counter where the large tubs of keys were kept. His face was in view now.

"The key collector was not possessive about his keys. He gave them away when they were needed. (Though often people would have a new key made anyway and return the one they had borrowed). People gave him found keys or spare keys as gifts to add to his collection. When they traveled they would find keys to bring back with them, keys with unfamiliar shapes and strange teeth. (They called the man himself the key collector but a great many people aided with the collecting.)"

Severus fingers trailed up and down my spine, distracting me momentarily.

"Eventually the key collector had too many keys to carry and began displaying them around his house. He hung them in the windows on ribbons like curtains and arranged them on bookshelves and framed them on walls. The most delicate ones he kept under glass or in boxes meant for jewels. Others were piled together with similar keys, kept in buckets or baskets."

As I spoke, I saw each thing that was talked about. Keys hanging in windows though I'd never drawn that. Clearer details of the keys under the glass boxes then from the angle originally drawn. I finally knew what some people talked about drawings coming to life though I thought mine had more sustenance.

"After many years the entire house was filled near to bursting with keys. They hung on the outside as well, over the doors and the windows and draped from the eaves of the roof. The key collector's house was easily spotted from the road.

"One day there was a knock upon his door.

"The key collector opened the door to find a pretty woman in a long cloak on his doorstep. He had never seen her before, nor had he seem embroidery of the sort that trimmed her cloak: star-shaped flowers in gold thread on dark cloth, too fine for travel though she must have traveled far. He did not see a horse or a carriage and supposed she might have left them at the inn for no one passed through this town without staying at the inn and it was not far.

"'I have been told you collect keys,' the woman said to the key collector.

'"I do,' said the key collector, though this was obvious. There were keys hanging above the doorway where they stood, keys on the walls behind him, keys in jars and bowls and vases on the tables.

"'I am looking for something that has been locked away. I wonder if one of your keys might unlock it.'

'"You are welcome to look,' the key collector said and invited the woman inside.

"He considered asking the woman what manner of key she sought so he might help her look but he knew how difficult it was to describe a key. To find a key you had to understand the lock.

"So the key collector let the woman search the house. He showed her every room, every cabinet and bookshelf line with keys. The kitchen with its teacups and wineglasses filled with keys, save for the few that were used more frequently, empty and waiting for wine or for tea.

"The key collector offered the woman a cup of tea but she politely refused. He left her to her searching and sat in the front parlor where she could find him if she needed and he read a book.

"After many hours the woman returned to the key collector.

"'It is not here,' she said. 'Thank you for letting me look.'

"'There are more keys in the back garden,' the key collector said, and led the woman outside.

"The garden was festooned with keys, strung from ribbons in a rainbow of colors. Keys tied with bows hung from trees and bouquets of keys displayed in glazed pots and vases. Birdcages with keys hung on the tiny swings inside with no birds to be seen. Keys set into the paving stones along the garden paths. A bubbling fountain contained piles of keys beneath the water, sunken like wishes.

"The light was fading so the key collector lit the lanterns.

"'It is lovely here,' the woman said. She began to look through the garden keys, keys held by statues and keys wound around topiaries. She stopped in front of a tree that was just starting to blossom, reaching out to a key, one of many hanging from red ribbons.

"'Will that key suit your lock?' the key collector asked.

"'More than that,' the woman answered. 'This is my key. I lost it a very long time ago. I'm glad it found its way to you.'

"'I am glad to return it,' the key collector said. He reached up to untie the ribbon for her, leaving it hanging from the key in her hand.

"'I must find a way to repay you,' the woman said to the key collector.

"'No need for that' the key collector told her. 'It is my pleasure to help reunited you with your locked-away thing.'

"'Oh,' the woman said, 'It is not a thing. It is a place,'

"She held the key out in front of her at a height above her waist where keyhole might have been if there was a door and part of the key vanished. The woman turned the key and an invisible door unlocked in the middle of the key collector's garden. The woman pushed the door open.

"The key and its ribbon remained hanging in midair.

"The key collector looked through the door into a golden room with high arched windows..."

I drifted off and Severus looked at me sharply, bringing me back to reality. For a moment, seeing the images play inside my house, it felt real.

"What?" Severus asked.

"I drew the place that the man is describing." I said softly, mad at myself for breaking the spell. I wasn't even sure if I wanted to finish the story. But Severus prodded me and I closed my eyes again.

"Dozens of candles stood on tables laid for a great feast. He heard music playing and laughter coming from out of sight. Through the windows he could see waterfalls and mountains, a sky brightly lit by two moons and countless stars reflected in a shimmering sea. The woman walked through the door, her long cloak trailing over the golden tiles. The key collector stood in his garden, staring. The woman took the key

"on its ribbon from its lock.

"She turned back to the key collector. She raised a hand in invitation, beckoning him forward.

"The key collector followed.

"The door closed behind him.

"No one ever saw him again."

⬅️➡️

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