"You want me to take a shift?" Remus asked Severus two hours later.

Severus shook his head. "Her chest isn't clearing up."

"It will."

"She's been having nightmares."

"I haven't heard her."

"She's been silencing her door," Severus felt her forehead again. "She's still warm."

"Why has she been hiding it?" Remus crossed his arms. "She knows she's supposed to come to us if we don't come to her."

"I don't know," Severus shook his head. "Some kind of teenage rebellion? She thinks she's too old to have me hold her in the middle of the night?"

"You don't think it's because of our new house guest, do you?"

"She didn't do this when you moved in."

"She knew me. We had a relationship before I was sleeping 20 feet from her."

"I thought she and the Mutt were getting along."

"They are. But I think she is kind of amused by him."

Severus shrugged. "She doesn't need another father figure, I suppose. I was hoping that we could all take jurisdictions, though. I was planning on assigning the Mutt to watch Romeo Weasley."

"You know that they are together, right? I mean, they may be pretending that they aren't dating, but Fred is spending an awful lot of time not kissing other people."

Elizabeth stirred, and opened her eyes. "Hi," she stretched.

"How do you feel?" Severus asked, looking at her with his 'you had better tell me the truth' look.

"My chest hurts," she said, pressing on it with her hand. "But my throat feels better."

Severus nodded, and handed her the two potions she'd taken earlier. "Drink those and I'll be right back." He disappeared out the door, leaving Remus sitting beside her bed. He leaned forward to put his hand on her hot forehead.

"What to fill me in on what's been disrupting your sleep lately? Or why you were hiding it?"

Elizabeth shrugged, and gave him a petulant look. "I'm sick."

Remus didn't smile. "We don't have to talk about it now. But we will need to at some point."

Elizabeth bit her lip. "If I tell you something, will you promise not to tell Dad?"

"No," Remus shook his head. "But I will promise to attempt to temper any reaction he might have."

Elizabeth grimaced. "I don't think they're nightmares."

Remus frowned. "Why do you think that?"

"I see Voldemort," she said quietly, ignoring Remus' wince. "But it's not things I've seen. It's not even how I've seen him…" She looked at the older wizard. "I think I'm seeing him. What he's doing. Right now." She bit her lip again. "They're to… mundane… to be nightmares. It's like watching a Muggle reality show. Just watching what he's doing."

Remus chose his words carefully. "What is he doing?"

"He's angry," Elizabeth said quietly. "He's weak, but he's angry. He needs Wormtail to… do something, I didn't really understand. He is calling for his escape."

"Peter isn't going anywhere," Remus soothed. "If You Know Who needs the rat, he'll be waiting a long time."

Severus reappeared. "What did I miss?" He looked from Remus' face to his daughter's. "Someone start talking."

"Elizabeth thinks… the nightmares are more like visions." He looked at her. "Right?"

Elizabeth nodded. "Or maybe not so much a vision as a live feed?"

Severus sat down in his chair. "What do you see?"

Elizabeth played with the edge of the blanket. "All I really see is a chair. But I hear his voice. He's got someone I don't recognize following his orders. And he's got this snake… Nagini? The wizard I didn't know… I think he was milking her. Can you milk a snake?"

Severus' face was tight. He nodded. "Here," he handed her the little pot he was carrying. "Rub that on your chest."

"Dad?"

Severus attempted to slow his rapidly beating heart. "I need to think about it, hatchling."

"Okay." Elizabeth had expected… screaming… or something when she informed him that she might be strangely linked to the Dark Lord. Perhaps Lupin had slipped something in his drink.

"Severus!" Sirius' voice sounded down the hall, his footsteps nearing her room. "Remus!"

"We're right here," Remus called. "What's wrong?"

Sirius arrived at the doorway, his hair disheveled. "He got out."

"Who?" Remus asked, even though he knew.

"The rat! He got out!"

"What the hell is wrong with Azkaban?" Severus stood up. "Stay here. Don't leave her alone," he started for the door. "I'm going to see Albus."

"Maybe I should—

"Stay here, Black," Severus said firmly. "Protect her."

Sirius nodded, sitting in Severus' vacated chair.

"Remus," Elizabeth looked at him. "He's not going to come here."

Remus nodded. "You can't tell where he is?"

She shook her head. Sirius looked at them strangely. "What are you talking about?"

"Elizabeth's been having… visions… for lack of a better word. We thought they were nightmares, but it seems… I don't know."

"Voldemort wants Peter back with him. He has a job for him."

Sirius flinched at the name. "Are you sure you're really seeing him?"

"Severus seems to think so," Remus said quietly.

"How can you tell?" Elizabeth looked at him. "He hardly said anything."

"That, my dear, was more terrified than I've ever seen your father," Remus said, nodding toward the open door.

Sirius and Remus looked at each other over the bed, locking eyes in a silent conversation Elizabeth couldn't understand.

"Do what your father said," Remus said finally, breaking the contact and gesturing to the pot of salve in her hand. "It'll help your chest."

"You shouldn't hide when you're sick," Sirius said, turning away as Elizabeth unbuttoned her pajama top.

"She hides a lot of things," Remus turned away as well. "Speaking of that, you never told me why you were silencing your door."

Elizabeth spread the mixture on her chest, feeling the minty sensation open her sinuses. She stayed quiet, taking advantage of the fact that Remus was turned away and couldn't give her his probing look.

"Elizabeth." He could, however, use his no-nonsense voice.

"I didn't want you to hear me."

"Well, that much I assumed."

Elizabeth put the lid back on the pot and put it on the table before returning her pajamas to their original state.

"Surely it wasn't to avoid disturbing us," Remus said, turning back toward her. "You know better than that."

"I…I didn't want you to wake me up."

Remus narrowed his eyes. "So, let me make sure I've got this right. You broke underage magic laws by putting a silencing charm on your door so you could stay in a nightmare longer? So we wouldn't hear you screaming and wake you?"

"I probably wasn't screaming. I wanted to see what he was doing."

"And in order to do that, you risked your mental and physical health?" Remus said tightly, his voice rising slightly.

"It wasn't hurting me," Elizabeth argued. "My scar burns a little, but other than that—

"Other than that!" Remus roared, crossing his arms over his chest. "You put yourself in a situation where we couldn't hear you and willfully put yourself in contact with the Darkest wizard in history! But other than that, you were fine!" Sarcasm leaked from his tongue.

"Moony, she's just a kid—" Sirius broke in.

"That's the point." Remus sat back down in his chair, leaned his elbows on the bed, and put his head in his hands.

"I know," Sirius said quietly. "But she's also a sick kid, so let's lay off for a minute, alright?"

Elizabeth looked at him gratefully.

Remus appeared to be calming himself before sitting up. "We'lll talk about it later," he said quietly. "How do your lungs feel?"

"They hurt," she said.

"Hopefully a few more doses of decongestant and they won't," Remus said, putting his hand on her forehead. "You're still warm. Did your dad give you a fever reducer?"

"Is it white?" Elizabeth asked, and Sirius snorted.

"Not a Potions kid?"

"I'm not good at it." Elizabeth shrugged.

Remus smirked. "Yes, it's white. He gave it to you?"

Elizabeth nodded.

"But you're still warm," Remus said. "I bet he'll give you something stronger when he gets back. I'll give it to you myself if he's not back in a couple of hours."

"Maybe I'm warm because you yelled at me, even though I'm sick," Elizabeth gave him her sad eyes.

"You're a brat," Remus shook his head and pulled her blankets back. "Come here."

Elizabeth climbed out of bed and into Remus' lap.

"I shouldn't have shouted," Remus said gently, pulling a throw off the end of the bed and wrapping it around her. "I'm sorry. But I still think the general sentiment of 'what the hell were you thinking?' was called for."

"I'm the only one who can see him, Remus. I need to keep an eye on what's going on."

"You need to be locked up in that dungeon your father is always promising," Remus shook his head.

"Don't worry, Bright Eyes," Sirius said. "If they lock you up, I'll come bust you out."

"Dad would never lock me up," Elizabeth grinned at him.

"Oh, I wouldn't?" Severus strode into the room. "I might stick you to the bed if you can't stay in it."

"Remus told me to," Elizabeth cuddled closer to her godfather.

"I don't doubt it." Severus patted the back of her head. "You need some more sleep."

"Okay," Elizabeth said agreeably, closing her eyes as her head lay against Remus' shoulder.

"Elizabeth," Severus started.

"It's okay," Remus said quietly. He held her, watching as several minutes went by, until her breath evened out and she slipped into sleep. "There," he said softly, tucking her into bed again.

"Isn't she too small for almost 14?" Sirius asked as Severus beckoned them out of the room.

"That's what years of being starved by Muggles will do to you," Severus said tersely. "Not that the fact that I can pick her up hasn't come in handy."

Severus led them into his study. "Albus has reason to believe that Peter is reuniting with the Dark Lord, and after talking to Elizabeth, I think he's right."

"You might want to tell her that you believe her, Sev," Remus said, sitting on the sofa along the study wall.

"I wish I didn't have to believe her," Severus sat behind his desk. "But there's no way that the pet snake is a dream. She might be able to invent the snake, but the name… there's no way for her to know that." He sighed. "He's rising."

"How does Dumbledore know for sure?" Sirius was still standing, pacing a little in front of the door.

"He doesn't," Severus said quietly. "I do." He rolled back his left shirtsleeve, exposing his forearm. The Mark that had been almost invisible for years had taken on a sort of grey quality.

"What the hell is that?" Sirius stepped forward. "How dare—

"Easy, Padfoot," Remus was on his feet, holding Sirius' arm. "You don't know the whole story."

"What story?" Sirius raged. "That sadistic murderer killed Lily and James! He tried to kill Elizabeth! And you were with him?"

"Sirius—" Remus started, only to be cut off by Severus.

"Let him yell, Remus. It's no more than I deserve." The Potions Master rolled his sleeve back down.

"I always knew you were Dark, Snape, but I guess I didn't know how low you were willing to go!"

"He didn't know that Lily wasn't really with James, Sirius. He was upset." Remus tried to calm his friend.

Sirius glared at Severus. "He knew he loved her! He knew he was supporting a mad man that wanted to kill a child!"

"Yes," Severus said quietly, letting the animagus run out his anger.

"Slytherin," Sirius spat the name of the House like it was a curse word, then left the study with a whirl of his new robes.

"That went well," Severus said dryly.

"He'll get over it," Remus said, sitting down. "You know how he is. I didn't take it very well either, to be honest. If you were speaking to me at the time, I would have come over and beat the hell out of you."

"Would have been better than what I was going through at the time," Severus shrugged. "The Dark Lord is free with his crucio."

"I might have used that myself," Remus sighed.

*S*S*

Sirius was angry. Of course he knew that Severus was no more responsible for Lily's death than he was himself. Which put them both in the negligent category, Sirius supposed.

He couldn't go storming around Spinner's End, too many Muggles. So he settled for stomping up the stairs and slamming things around in his room for a while.

"Sirius?" Elizabeth stood at the door of his room, looking concerned.

Sirius closed his eyes and attempted to calm himself. "It's okay, Bright Eyes. Go back to bed."

"I'm tired of resting."

"Elizabeth," Sirius rubbed his forehead. "Go back to bed."

Elizabeth flinched at his sharp tone, and left, but instead of returning to her room, she went downstairs.

"Why is Sirius stomping around upstairs?" She leaned against the doorframe of Severus' office.

"None of your concern," Severus said. "What are you doing out of bed?"

"None of your concern," Elizabeth sassed, crossing her arms.

Severus frowned. "Come here."

"I'm going back to bed," Elizabeth turned to go.

"Elizabeth Rose Evans." Severus' voice cracked across the room. "Come here."

Elizabeth huffed, but she went over to him anyway, finding herself leaning against his knees. He brushed her bangs out of the way and felt her head.

"You're still warm," he said, pressing his wand to the middle of her chest. "And still congested." He sighed and fussed with her hair. "You get sick like this to spite me, don't you?"

Elizabeth made a face.

"Come along," Severus stood and steered her out of the room with his hands on her shoulders. "Another round of potions for you, monster."

He propelled her into the living room, summoning her pillow and blanket from her room. "Lie down," he pointed to the sofa.

"I'm bored."

"Well aren't you lucky?" Severus tucked the blankets around her. "I have a plan to help you with that."

"What?"

"Starting next week, you're going to be starting your summer homework."

"Dad!"

"Two hours after breakfast every morning until it's finished. If you're bored now, I can always bring your History of Magic text to entertain you."

"You're mean to me."

"That I am," Severus smirked. "Now I'm going to go get a couple of potions to torture you with. Stay there." He strode back to the study where Remus was still sitting. "We need to relocate," he said, opening the medicine cabinet and extracting the two vials. "I don't think she'll stay put unless one of us is out there."

"You want her to be in on this conversation?" Remus stood up.

"I think we've established that hiding information from that child just makes everything worse," Severus sighed. "Do you think I could get my hands on a time turner? Go back to when she was five and it was easier to protect her?"

"Well, apparently Albus is handing them out willy-nilly," Remus shrugged. "Can you imagine giving a time turner to a 13-year-old?"

"I think it was Minerva," Severus closed the cabinet. "But you're right. No matter how bright that girl is… and overloading her on classes that way, it's almost criminal. She fell asleep more than once during her lab time. I had to send her to bed twice."

Severus frowned at the memory.

"Miss Granger, what do you think you're doing?"

Snape's sharp voice woke the sleeping girl, her head popping up from the lab table as if on a spring.

"I'm sorry, Professor."

Severus frowned and closed the door of the store room before coming over to her. "Do you not feel well?"

"I'm fine, sir. I swear. I'll get back to work."

"You aren't in detention, Miss Granger. Your time here isn't mandatory. If you are lacking adequate sleep—

"I'm not!"

Severus raised an eyebrow at her interruption. "There is certainly something wrong with you," he said, his voice low, "if you've forgotten yourself to the extent that you would raise your voice to me."

Hermione deflated a bit. "I'm sorry, sir."

Severus waved his wand and vanished the pile of ingredients she had been chopping. "I'm sure you are. Nevertheless, if you are so tired that you are falling asleep in the lab, then we are clearly finished for the evening."

Hermione looked distressed. "Please, Professor, it will never happen again, I swear it won't—

"Miss Granger," Severus prodded her off the stool and toward his office door, "I merely suggested that we finish for today. Not that you'd never brew again," he closed the door after them and gestured to one of the chairs before his desk. "Sit, and explain to me why, in addition to being dangerously exhausted, and not for the first time, you also seem to have lost all sense of manners and perspective."

That was when the time-turner story had poured out of the Gryffindor, and Severus had needed to bite his tongue to avoid cursing Minerva in front of one of her students. He sent her bed, making it clear that she was not to attempt any such schedule during her third year, if she wanted to remain in her apprenticeship to him.

"Teenage idiocy," he muttered under his breath, just thinking of it, before locking the cabinet and heading into the living room and administer the potions.

"I think you make these taste bad on purpose." Elizabeth scowled.

"Yes, because it addition to spending my life dealing with the delicate science that is potion making, I dedicate part of my day to making the potions taste as bad as possible."

"So you admit it," Elizabeth drank the vials quickly and handed them back to Severus.

"You must be feeling better if you're being so cheeky," Severus vanished the vials.

"Are you going to tell me what Sirius is mad about?"

"I think you'll find that the mutt needs very little provocation to throw a temper tantrum," Severus said quietly.

"Dad."

"Sirius didn't know that your Dad was a spy for Dumbledore," Remus said. "He found out today."

"And he was mad about that?" Elizabeth raised an eyebrow in a very Severus-like expression.

"He did not find out I was a spy, so much as he found out that I was a Death Eater."

"And he didn't let you explain?"

Remus snorted. "I'm sorry, do you remember what you did when you found out he was a Death Eater? Did you hang around for the explanation?"

Severus sat in his armchair. "Actually, his reaction was very similar to yours. However, since you were 11 at the time, yours made more sense."

"You should talk to him. You talked to me."

"Ah, so what we need to do," Severus said, leaning back in his chair, "Is devise a scenario in which Remus threatens him with dire consequences unless he talks to me, and then I end up holding him on my lap while he cries. An excellent plan."

Elizabeth blushed. "I was a kid."

"You are still a kid," Severus smirked. "And you can cry on my lap anytime you need to, hatchling. But I think my tact with your mutt of a godfather will have to be a bit different."

Elizabeth yawned.

"Go back to sleep," Severus said quietly, reaching over to smooth her hair.

"I've been sleeping all day."

"And your body needs more," Severus said firmly. "Being sick takes your energy away."

"I'm not tired."

"Would you like to tell your father the real reason why you were silencing your door?" Remus asked.

"Goodnight," Elizabeth shut her eyes and pulled the blanket over her head.

"There's a real reason?" Severus raised an eyebrow at Remus.

"Your daughter didn't want us to hear sounds of distress from her room, because she didn't want us to wake her up."

Elizabeth peeked out from under the blanket, then ducked back under when she saw the look Severus was giving her.

"She didn't want us to wake her up, even if she was screaming because her scar was burning, because she was keeping an eye on You Know Who." Remus glared at the blanket.

"You already yelled at me," Elizabeth's voice came through the cotton.

"And now I'm passing the information on so that your father can yell," Remus said matter-of-factly.

"He won't yell at me while I'm sick."

The room was silent. Elizabeth stared at the fibers of the blanket for a while before succumbing to her own curiosity and peeking back over the edge.

Severus was sitting quietly, looking at her with steady dark eyes. She gulped. "I would have told you if it got bad."

"And just what is the definition of 'bad'?" Severus said softly.

"I wasn't sure if I was seeing anything useful, and I wanted to see more."

"Did it every occur to you," Severus began, his voice still low, "that if you can see the Dark Lord that he might be able to see you?"

"No, sir."

Severus pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm going to save my lecture until you're in better health. It will give me time to craft exactly how irresponsible this was. I'm going to have to come up with additional synonyms so that I don't have to say dangerous, idiotic, irresponsible and disappointed over and over again. And that's not even mentioning the underage magic," he glared. "You're lucky you live in a wizarding household, or I would have had a Ministry letter on my desk right now."

"That doesn't sound like saving the lecture," Sirius came into the room and sat on the sofa, pulling Elizabeth's feet into his lap. "I'm sorry I snapped, Bright Eyes."

"It's okay."

"I've been sitting in the kitchen," Sirius said quietly. "And while I agree that I'd like to skip the crying on your lap thing, I suppose I need to hear the rest of the story."

"I found them asleep in his armchair," Remus said, chuckling.

"See? You love me," Elizabeth looked at Severus' still stern face.

"My irritation at your choices have nothing to do with loving you," he said firmly. "And I believe the mutt meant the rest of the Death Eater story."

Elizabeth yawned and snuggled down into the sofa. "I've heard this story, so I'm going to sleep."

"We'll be right here," Severus said, resting his elbows on his knees. "And when you wake up, that fever had better be gone, understand?"

"Yes, sir," Elizabeth grinned and closed her eyes.