A/N: I'm back! I own nothing but the characters I created. Enjoy!

It was in the early hours of a cold and misty October morning when Avril was awoken from her sleep by an owl tapping furiously at her window. The wind was blowing rather hard and the owl did not appear to be very happy that it had been made to fly in such conditions. She sat up and pulled on a robe over the t-shirt and underwear she was currently wearing. She was certain that her hair was probably all over the place and she unconsciously pushed it back before opening the window to let the angry little creature inside.

It launched itself into the room and kicked at its leg in an effort to try to get rid of the letter it was carrying. The tawny owl dropped it rather unceremoniously on the floor and was gone again. The cool night air gust into the room, bringing with it a slightly sweet smell indicative of a rather wild rainstorm coming and a slight chill that could be associated with the fact that fall had already arrived. It was the time of morning during which the sky had rid itself of its luminous companions, yet still retained its inky appearance.

Avril drew the window shut again and picked the letter up on the way back to the warmth of her bed. She sat down, not quite covering herself, before she opened the letter and read its contents:

Ms. de La Fontaine,

I write to inform you that your niece, my godfather, and I require asylum in your lovely country and home. Danger is in the air, and I would be most displeased were we to be caught in such danger in these most precarious times. We will arrive tonight between the hours of 7pm and 8pm. If we do not, and you have heard no word from me, I ask that you immediately Floo the home of Potter-Weasley and inform them. I am aware that you do not know me, but I know your niece, and it would be extremely prudent for her to be with her family as it were. I will explain when I arrive, but please understand that, for safety reasons, I will not be able to divulge everything.

Eternally grateful,

Draco Lucius Malfoy

Her eyes widened as she reread the letter. Her niece would be coming and would be bringing guests, one of which was the head of the Malfoy house. During her upbringing, she'd learned that many centuries ago, the Malfoys had been a most prestigious magical family in France, however, they'd left the country and decided to make a name for themselves in Britain. There had been no record of any member of the Malfoy family in France for over three hundred years. There was no way she could go back to sleep now.

She was down the hall and the grand staircase to Elena's room in record time, knocking quickly and loud enough that the light sleeping older woman would hear her. It was a slightly disgruntled Elena that answered the door, however, when she noticed Avril's slightly frazzled state, she was markedly more awake.

"What is it?" she asked.

"We are going to be having guests for the foreseeable future. One of them is Jolie's daughter. They will be here tonight. Alert Camille immediately and tell her that she cannot go to America with Evan yet. Tell her to be here this evening. Tell her nothing else." Avril spoke rapidly, her French accent becoming more apparent as she did so.

Elena nodded and began to get dressed. "I will do so at once. Is there anything else you need?"

"Nothing yet. Make up the guest rooms and tell the cooks to make a big dinner, I don't care what. I will return in a few hours. There are some things I must take care of." Avril returned upstairs to the second floor of the house and to her office.

There were a stack of letters from other houses detailing any number of dinner parties, births, weddings, and funerals coming up, none of which she would be in attendance for. For the most part, house de La Fontaine was of the heard and not seen variety. Avril made sure that a good bit of their virtually endless finances went toward hospitals (Muggle and magical), schools, and charities, but she could not recall the last time a ball had been attended by or thrown by a member of her family, at least, not since her parents and Julia had died. Still, she paid no attention to the letters, opting instead to throw them in the fireplace so she wouldn't have to look at them a moment longer.

No, what she was really looking for was hidden in a space inside the desk. She felt around inside for it and pulled it out. It was her grandmother's spell book. Apparently, it had been passed down to her by her grandmother and had been in the family's possession for many centuries now. Avril consulted it now, hoping to find some sort of spell for protective wards inside. She had wards around the house already, as most magical homes did. She knew not what they were as they'd been around the house since before she and her sisters were born. Eventually, she found what she was looking for, though it felt like a prayer more than anything. As she read it, she felt warm inside and felt comforted. She supposed that that must be the intent of the spell: to protect and comfort.

Satisfied with what she found, she went out to the grounds to walk around the perimeter of the family home to say the spell:

Protect this family from harm and danger

The earth declare it so

Remove all ailments and troubles

The earth declare it so

Give us love and light in such dark times

The earth declare it so

She repeated this spell many times as she walked around the grounds and inside the house. Elena barely gave her a glance as she did so. The process took nearly three hours, and by the time she finished, the sun was up in the sky behind dark gray rain clouds. She felt vaguely tired as she returned the spell book to its original place. Elena informed her that Camille would be arriving later in the day and that the house was ready for its guests. Avril gave Elena the rest of the day off.

Draco informed Potter and Weasley about Snape needing to be moved. He hadn't been able to tell them everything about why he was having to be moved and they'd understood. Harry got two from his team of Aurors to assist Draco in moving Snape as well as volunteering to go along himself. And that was how they found themselves sneaking through the currently dark halls of St. Mungo's Obliviation and Memory Loss Ward. The nurses were luckily doing rounds so there was no one about in the halls. Finally, they came upon the room Severus Snape had been in for the last nine months.

He was comatose, as to be expected, with fading bite marks on his neck. His shiny black hair was now dull and lifeless, kept relatively short out of obligation more than anything. He was marvelously paler than Draco and Harry could ever remember him being. He was a tall towering figure, yet he appeared so small in that hospital bed.

While the two Aurors were outside keeping watch, Draco and Harry quietly disabled the machines keeping Severus Snape alive. Draco immediately place a stasis spell on him to keep him comatose at the very least. He would be able to get the machines running again when they were safely in Paris. He'd not received a reply from Avril de La Fontaine, yet he hoped that she would still allow them into their home.

"Draco, it might be best to apparate instead of using the Floo. If Snape's life is indeed in danger once more, the networks can be tracked." Harry said, breathing sound into the soundless hospital room.

Draco nodded as he disabled the last machine and lifted an alarmingly thin Severus Snape into his arms. "You're probably right. I will need you to bring Jean to the location I told you of. We will have to leave at the same time."

Harry nodded. "Ron packed her clothes for her. She's not quite awake yet, but he was able to explain to her that we were taking her to her aunt in France."

"Good. I haven't taken a day off since I started working, so at the very least, I have two weeks' worth of vacation days to use."

Moments later, a nurse came in to check on Severus Snape and ran back to the nurses station to inform the other nurses that he'd vanished.

A/N: What'd you think? Shorter than the last one, but necessarily so. What happens in the next chapter is what I wanted to put in this one. Suffice it to say I wanted to break them up. Tell me what you think! Until next time…