D e f e n d

(Victim defends the Captor)

It was three days later that Dumbledore called Severus in for a meeting. He'd come up to see me before he saw Dumbledore, knocking sharply on the door.

"Are you decent?" he demanded, and then muttered, "are you even awake?"

I opened the door and grinned at him, happy to see him. If I was a physical sort of person, I'd've hugged him, but I'm not, so I just beamed at him. "Yeah. And hi!"

"Ah, my faithful Muggle dog," he sneered at my happy expression, striding in as I stepped aside. But I knew him by now – that wasn't a real sneer. That was about as close to teasing as Severus could get. He pulled a chair out from under the desk and sat on it.

"Woof!" I said and grinned. "But I'm not a d-dog. I don't even know Black."

He snorted. "I should hope not. He's far too stupid for you to associate with."

I grinned at the rather poorly hidden complement, but couldn't stop the faint pang that I felt. One shouldn't insult the dead. Or the going-to-die, at least. I quickly made light of it.

"Really? I thought I'm al-already an imbecile."

"Yes. But he'd be a bad influence on you." Severus was almost smiling now. I'd missed him, I thought.

"It's far too l-late for that," I said seriously.

Now he did smile. But he was quiet for a moment, before, "They're treating you well, here?" His voice was a bit strained.

He misses me, I thought.

"Well enough," I answered, "Well enough. Although 's w-weird being alone all the time."

"You're not frightened?" he asked, giving me a hard look. "They give you enough food?"

"Sometimes at n-night," I answered truthfully, "but I'm just a coward. And I get plenty to eat. Mrs. Weasley's cooking – I'm assuming it's her? – is amazing."

"You're not a coward," Severus told me firmly. "You fooled the strongest wizard of our time. And I'll tell Dumbledore to do something for you to feel safer."

I beamed at him, but then I remembered the date, and why he must have been here. Warning bells went off in my head. December, I thought, Occulmency. I should warn him, I thought.

"What?" he was too observant for his own good. He must've seen the look on my face.

"You're—m-meeting with Dumbledore?" I asked hesitantly.

Severus rose an isn't-it-obvious eyebrow. I swallowed and shifted around in my seat. After a moment, he growled, "Out with it, girl."

"Don't—don't shoot the messenger," I started slowly, "b-but I think I should w-warn you," I stuttered nervously. Severus scowled.

"You know I'm not going to harm you, girl," he growled, in reference to my stuttering. I rolled my eyes.

"I c-can't help it," I said flatly. "Any-anyway. About why he w-wants to meet w-with you…"

"You know? Out with it!" he said, sitting forward. I swallowed.

"He w-wants you to teach h-Harry Potter Oc-Occlumency," I told him in a rush, "Don't g-get mad it me, it's not m-my idea! I-I-I—"

He glared at me and I wilted slightly.

"Will I end up teaching him Occlumency?" he asked softly.

There is no reason to be afraid of him, I told myself. He's you're friend. But that tone he used was very frightening.

I looked down. "Yes. You'll store the-the stuff you d-don't want him seeing in a Pensive."

"Pensieve. Emphasis on the second syllable." He said it like it was second nature, by now. "Will—"

"I-I-I-I c-can't—" I stuttered. I couldn't tell him about Harry breaking into Pensieve. I couldn't. It would not only upset him, but it would also prevent it from happening, because Severus is a very cautious man, and if he knew of the incident beforehand, he'd prevent it.

"Oh? Something important happens?" he asked softly.

I nodded. "I'm sorry," I whispered.

His voice, surprisingly, gentled. "I shall not ask," he told me quietly. I gave him a startled, grateful look. "It is not your fault. Thank you for telling me."

He thanked me? I gave him an even more grateful look. "You're welcome," I said, meaning it. "I just-just thought you might like a warning. I advise you to b-blow up at Dumbledore."

"I," he told me, standing, "will do just that." He walked to the door. "I shall see you later, Amanda."

I nodded and smiled at him. "You too, Severus."

The door closed, and I waited.

Three minutes later, I heard Severus shouting, and smiled faintly to myself. Mrs. Black awoke and added to the racket.

And I realized, then, that he, in forgiving me, in not getting angry with my about the message I relayed, was accepting me in a strange sort of way. Maybe the category was not only "Mine," maybe it was "Things To Be Protected."

It wasn't all that comforting that I shared a category with Draco Malfoy. Then again, it wasn't like the kid was evil, or anything – just something of a delinquent.

Severus' shouts were soon drowned out by Mrs. Black's, and then finally she stopped yelling, too. I'd picked up my Odyssey again, noting with dismay that I'd almost finished it.

Maybe I'd borrow Severus' copy of The Iliad next, I thought idly to myself, staring at the book's pages, not really seeing them.

I doodled a demented sock-puppet dragon on the corner of the page, and reflected on how pathetic my drawing was.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when Severus burst into the door, dragging an oldish woman behind him. I blinked stupidly at them.

"You look, Minerva!" Severus bellowed, and I stared. He'd never been this mad at me before, I thought. I wondered what she'd said. "You look! If you sentence her to death, I want you to look at her first!"

Sentence me to death? I stared at them, wide-eyed. What was going on? "D-death?" I squeaked.

McGonagall spoke over me. "It's not death, Severus – it leads to another world! It might send her back!"

"It might kill her," Severus spat. "You look on your guinea pig, Minerva, before you kill it." he turned to me. "Amanda, this is Minerva McGonagall, and she wants to push you through the Veil at the Department of Mysteries."

"She doesn't know what that is," Hissed McGonagall.

"It's not polite to talk about someone when they're in the room," Severus sneered, "Is it, Amanda?"

He'd put me on the spot. I stared at him, wide eyed. "Uh, uh, uh," I stuttered. I was scared. Severus was furious. I didn't want that wrath directed at me, but at the same time, I didn't really want to be killed.

"P-Porky Pig, I'd forgotten," he sneered at me.

Ouch. Okay, that one stung a bit. Shake it off, I thought to myself. He was really nice earlier; he doesn't mean it. Shake it off.

Thinking that made it a bit worse. Oh, you're impossible, I thought to myself. Relax, for crying out loud. Would he harm you?

No. No he would not. And he was just mean. His tongue had a barb on it, or something. But it wasn't poisonous. Relax.

That helped a bit.

"Pigs?" McGonagall demanded.

"I l-like Sylvester better, really," I muttered.

Severus shot me a look that was half irritated, half amused. McGonagall looked frustrated. "What are you two on about?" she demanded.

"Idiotic, puerile things," he sneered. "The more pressing issue is this: Amanda, do you know what the Veil is?"

"Severus," McGonagall hissed, and Dumbledore walked in.

"Severus, stop this this instant. You are acting like a fool," he said firmly.

"Amanda," Severus demanded.

"Yes," I said, loudly, careful so I wouldn't stutter, encouraged by the almost supportive, urgent look he gave me, "Yes, I know what the Veil at the Department of Mysteries is."

Dumbledore and McGonagall stared at me, shocked into silence.

"And—" I added, quietly, "and I'd rather not die, thanks."

Severus looked – proud. See? His body posture said, see, someone is on my side.

It was almost sad, how happy he was that I'd taken his side in front of other people. But I quashed that emotion. As I had told him earlier, he had little use and less desire for my pity.

"You will not die," Dumbledore said, firmly, "it will send you back. Don't you want to go back?"

I looked sadly at Severus, who deflated a little. He knew the answer to that as well as I did, and even for his sake this was one thing I would not lie about. Severus was my friend, but this world, while it was fun to read about, was terrible to live in, especially if I was helpless. "Y-yes," I said, "Yes, I do."

"Someone let something slip," McGonagall told me in her stern voice, "the Minister is getting suspicious. Umbridge," she sneered over the word, "Has checked Severus' and my rooms twice each. You are safe here, but you must leave. You-Know-Who's demands are getting more taxing as well, I understand," here she glanced at Severus. He nodded, shortly.

Here was something new. I looked at him, concerned. Severus'd said that he was rarely beaten up by Death Eaters, but rarely was more than never… had he lied?

He looked away.

"Tell them D-Dumbledore stole me," I said to Severus, softly.

"You think they would accept that?" he sneered. I gave a one shouldered shrug.

"W-worth a shot," I muttered, scowling at myself as I stuttered again.

"It's agreed, then," Dumbledore said, firmly. "The only way to get her back quickly is through the Veil. We do not have time to find anything else; she must leave before this year's end."

"Who ever said that?" Demanded Severus.

"Sybil gave another prediction," Dumbledore said darkly, "or, rather – a warning. It was yesterday. You were right, Severus – Amanda mustn't give away what is to come. According to Sybil's prophesy, it could prove disastrous."

"How so?" asked McGonagall.

"'Melding,' she called it," Dumbledore said softly, "Sybil said that, should something be given away here, the book would change and so would Amanda's memory. The human mind is a curious thing. Should the book change, it would change as her mind wills it, as she is the only one from the universe in which this is a book here in our universe. Her mind might weld this universe to another book she has read, not only causing problems with plagiarism in her time," he smiled, but it was hollow, "but also confusing us immensely."

My eyes widened. Severus and McGonagall looked at me in astonishment. I guess I wasn't just a Muggle to them any longer. I had the power to change this world – I could weld it with others if I messed up the book.

Well, it made sense. And I rather like crossovers – but, I thought, I would not want to live one. Plots are about bad things happening, and one bad thing was enough for me. With a crossover, there'd be two plots. That could get confusing and dangerous.

And I really, really did not want to die.

"Which means," Severus said almost reluctantly, "she must leave as soon as possible."

"Yes," Said Dumbledore, "through the Veil."

"Do we even know if it will take her home?" Severus demanded. "The Veil, I was lead to believe, is Death."

I shivered. I'd thought that, too.

McGonagall had a look on her face which said she'd been told that as well.

"Not death," Dumbledore murmured, "Somewhere Different."

"What, so she'll end up in Narnia?" Sneered Severus.

Dumbledore's eyes suddenly twinkled. "Wouldn't that be marvelous?"

"N-not really," I muttered, but it seemed that the only one who heard me was Severus.

"Really, Albus," McGonagall said chidingly.

This was a great experiment for them, I thought to myself uneasily. Let's test things on the Muggle from another world! I mean, not only was I a Muggle, but I wasn't even the right kind of Muggle. I was like lower than low to these people. A tool, an experiment.

I felt suddenly very miserable.

Severus was quietly fuming at my side. I glanced up at him, but a chill ran down my spine.

He doesn't want me to leave, I thought. He wants me to stay. Because everything he's ever liked, or – or enjoyed has been taken from him.

I think he might've had friends before me. And I mean real friends, not the manipulative, nasty kind. When he was a kid, I think. Young.

I think his mother would not let him associate with them.

And I don't think that, later, his friends at school – if he had any, which I somehow doubt (pensive scene, book five – no one but Lily comes to his defense) – were very kind to him.

So that made me unique to him, that I was nice to him and did not expect him to do anything for me, or change himself. And I think, I genuinely think, that he liked that.

Or maybe it was because I was submissive to him. Maybe he liked being in charge, for once.

Whatever the reason, he did not want to see me go. And I would miss him, after I'd left – but I really, really did wish to leave.

But McGonagall set a date, when she'd sneak me to the Department of Mysteries and let me walk through the Veil.

I was terrified.

Severus saw it in my face. He fought, tooth and nail, against the idea, in my defense. It was oddly comforting, that he cared whether I died, or that I was scared. In the end, he was overruled, but he stubbornly demanded to come with McGonagall and me, when I left.

I jumped on the idea. I wanted a familiar face with me.

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