Chapter Nine

Thanks to Dobby's help they established that, yes, Snape had indeed killed Dumbledore and taken over as head master at Hogworts and the members of the Order Of The Phoenix had escaped and regrouped. Dobby took messages to the Order to let them know she was alive and in hiding whilst she figured out what to do. Anastasia wished there was a way for her to go back to the school; she really wanted to talk to Snape and find out why he had done what he'd done. But as Fiona pointed out to her, if Anastasia did that, Snape would no doubt stitch her up and throw her back to Voldermort.

An unexpected visit from the Weasley family, Remus Lupin and Tonks made Anastasia's day. Fiona, with Dobby's help, got everyone settled in to their bedrooms. Fiona, rather than being upset with all these extra guests, loved it. She had grown rather fond of Luna Lovegood and Dobby and Griphook were making themselves useful around the house. Having more people arrive made Fiona even happier. She loved people, mainly due to not really having much contact with her family anymore.

Lupin had expressed an interest in wanting to see Anastasia, just so that he could see for himself that she was alive and well, hence the reason for the visit. But Anastasia hadn't expected to see Tonks and the Weasleys. What bothered her more was their safety.

"What if Voldermort finds out about me being here and kills you all for being associated with me?" Anastasia protested to Lupin that first evening they were at Fiona's home. She and Lupin were outside in the garden.

Lupin grinned. "He doesn't need an excuse to kill anyone, he'll just do it."

Anastasia frowned. "Well I'm glad you find it funny!" she turned away, folded her arms across her chest and looked out to sea. That was the nice thing about the location of Fiona's home, it was very close to the sea and was beautiful in the summer when the weather was good. Anastasia found the view relaxing and peaceful.

Feeling a hand resting on her shoulder, Lupin said, "look, I'm sorry if I made you mad at me. I was, perhaps, a little insensitive."

"A little?" Anastasia asked. It was hard enough trying to repair her marriage to Lucius without Lupin giving her a hard time.

Lupin turned her around to look at him. "Hey, look, this whole situation is tough on all of us. Probably you more than most what with Lucius leaving and now Severus murdering Dumledore. But the Dark Lord is the enemy here, we shouldn't be fighting each other. He would want us turning against each other, it would make his job easier."

Anastasia knew that, yet again, he was right as always. She sighed. When Anastasia had accepted the job at Hogworts, and signed over he shop to her friend to look after it whilst she was gone, she had never expected life to go and get even more complicated on her. She had taken the position to forget about her estranged husband and to move on with life; she certainly didn't expect to be hiding out at Fiona's with him and contemplating taking him back – again.

I must be an idiot, letting Lucius talk his way back into my life – but he did tell me about Voldermort and Snape, even if I didn't believe him at first and was trying to make me look stupid.

It was Draco that broke their conversation, informing them that Fiona and Dobby were preparing something to eat. Anastasia was grateful for the distraction; and she had to admit she was hungry. What with being kidnapped, nearly killed by Bellatrix during their escape, healing and now having to deal with the very real threat of Voldermort and his Deatheaters, Anastasia hadn't really felt like eating much – but now she felt famished and she couldn't explain why. Maybe it was having people around her that cared and her knowing they were safe and had escaped from the school relatively unscathed that was making her feel better.

Elsewhere, Voldermort was plotting. Oh yes, he knew what Lucius Malfoy had done and, as a consequence, Anastasia was gone and the Order had been better prepared for their attack. Rumour had it that Lucius had not only told Anastasia about their plan but also Dumbledore also. But Dumbledore was dead so either way it didn't matter that Lucius had apparently told him. Although there were escaped members of the Order out there, somewhere, and the Dark Lord figured he would deal with them at a later date. They posed no immediate threat. The Potter boy was the priority. Once he was gone then he would be deal with the traitors and the Order survivors.

At the school, Snape paced around the head master's office. Anastasia wasn't meant to have escaped. Damn that House Elf and his interfering! So much for the Dark Lord's plan to capture her and turn her to his side and make her a Deatheater. Everyone knew she wouldn't turn willingly. That hadn't bothered Voldermort. He said he would use force to turn her if need be and if she had to die then so be it. Voldermort wasn't one for morals or ethics and was quite happy to use force and curses to get what he wanted, even turning people to his side.

Snape didn't want Anastasia to come to any harm. Despite what she probably now thought of him, he still cared about her. She was his friend and she had been the only one who had really bothered with him when they were students at Hogworts. Now he was worried that Anastasia would hate him and that their friendship was beyond repair.

Snape had hated killing Dumbledore but it had been the old man's own idea. Dumbledore knew that it would happen eventually and he had told Snape to go through with it when the time came. It had been Dumbledore's idea that Snape being a double agents as it had proved very useful. Snape just hoped that, one day, Anastasia would find out the truth and forgive Snape for everything that he had been forced to do.

Bellatrix strolled into the head master's office, almost like she owned the place. Since their invasion of the school and Dumbledore's death, it wasn't unusual for Deatheaters to stroll around the school and in neighbouring Hogsmead like it was the most normal thing in the world. Voldermort was back and his Deatheaters felt like they were now untouchable.

Bellatrix took one look at Snape and seemed to know exactly what was going on in his head. An evil smile crossed her face. "I don't know why you still bother with that filthy half breed. You know full well what's going to happen to her and I hope I'm the one who gets the honour of finishing her off."

Snape responded by cracking her across the face. He hadn't intended to lose his temper with her – he knew she wasn't worth it – but he was in no mood to listen to her taunts as his loyalty to Anastasia was stronger than that to Voldermort and the Deatheaters.

Bellatrix stood there stunned for a few moments then the evil grin returned. "Oooh, are we ever touchy today? Anyone would think you were in love with her." With that she skipped off out of the room, cackling.