Author's Note: Sorry for the delay! I've had a bit of trouble with this chapter. Writer's block, don't you just hate it? Thank you once again for your encouraging reviews. Enjoy this chapter and the fact that you guys are not as clueless as poor old Severus. ;-)

[12]

Snape stood next to McGonagall, his heart pounding, his face stony, snowflakes caught in his hair and robes. The night was quiet and cold as they stood, shoulder to shoulder, waiting for the door to open. His stomach was churning, his palms sweaty despite the merciless cold wind that made his cloak billow very slightly along with his headmistress's.

"I am sure everything will be alright, Severus," Minerva said in a low voice, her fingers brushing his arm lightly. Snape closed his eyes briefly as finally he could hear steps in the hallway behind the closed door. The images of the hearing he had just attended were already blurring in his mind as they seemed of so little importance compared to what had happened afterward.

His mind went back to the events on Christmas eve that seemed to have taken place years ago despite the fact that only seven weeks had passed since. After Sinistra had fled the faculty lounge, Snape had spent a restless night in his quarters, throwing himself from one side onto the other impatiently. Although he had been tired, his mind would not allow him to rest, so when he walked towards the Great Hall for the obligatory Christmas breakfast the morning after, he'd felt numb and exhausted but painfully on alert. His heart had sunk when he found Sinistra and the McGonagalls in the corridor, obviously already about to say goodbye. It seemed that they were eager on getting her out of the castle as soon as possible. Irrationally, Snape felt anger at them welling up inside him because of it.

Sinistra was cradling her old fluffy cat in her arms and tensed immediately when she noticed his presence. The faces of the others were unreadable as their gazes met his.

„Severus," Minerva sounded tired and a little exasperated when she addressed him. „Aurora and Aesculapius are about to leave for London."

„I gathered as much," Snape replied coolly, and with all the strength he could muster, kept his emotions from showing on his face.

Sinistra looked defiant once again when he glanced at her, coldly. She had obviously not got any more rest than he had the previous night and looked pale in her black traveling cloak.

„Be careful in the snow," McGonagall was telling Sinistra sternly. „I don't want you to slip and fall again." Snape could see from the look on Sinistra's face that this had to be just one of many admonitions she had just received from her headmistress.

Snape walked past them, unwilling to show how much her departure was throwing him off. When he stood directly behind Sinistra, he bent down very slightly.

„Be safe, Aurora," he said in a low voice.

Then he had walked into the Great Hall without a second glance.

The following weeks had dragged on maddeningly slowly and for the first time, Snape had begun to miss the times when he had been out and about, traveling to fulfill his duties for the Order of the Phoenix. Since he was forbidden to teach, there was nothing for him to do at Hogwarts at all. The winter was as heavy as had been predicted and the snow was piling up on every surface available, finding its way into the castle as a melting slush or puddles of dirty water in unnervingly regular intervals. The dungeons were a dreadful place in these weather conditions and his pride was the only thing that prevented Snape from asking Minerva for different quarters. Due to the weather, the grounds had become a dangerous trap for anyone who dared to go outside and Madame Pomfrey had her hands full with tending to broken limbs. In the seldom periods of time that did not bring new snow, the sky was bleak and gray and one could hear the wind howl in the corridors of the castle. Snape had tried spending time in the faculty lounge but found himself fixated on Sinistra's empty chair more often than not. Right then he would have given anything for her to be there and answer his questions with only one word respectively.

One day he caught Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger and Harry Potter – the heroic trio – in a hallway, huddled around a magical fire that he was sure was Granger's handiwork, talking. At first he decided to just sweep past and ignore them but then he heard his name being spoken.

"Really, Jenkins was not the only first year returning to the common room in tears. Snape took points from him for dropping a book in the corridor," Weasley announced and Snape only vaguely remembered the incident that had taken place a few days ago.

"At least he now takes points from Slytherin just as regularly as from the other houses," Potter said, rubbing his hands together against the cold.

Granger shook her head, her lips pressed together in outrage. "It is really a good thing he is not allowed to teach! If he was, he would have yet one more outlet for his foul mood!"

Snape gritted his teeth but hovered in the background, still unnoticed by the three students.

"I wonder what makes him so angry," Potter pondered and the sympathetic tone in his voice made Snape cringe. "He has never been pleasant but now he seems downright mad. I think that's his way of showing that he really hurts inside."

Snape was about to hex Potter but then stopped dead in his tracks at Weasley's next words.

"I am pretty sure something happened between him and Professor Sinistra. She has been just as distracted lately. Before she went away, I mean."

Granger huffed in a way slightly reminiscent of the headmistress and shrugged against the cold as her red-haired friend continued. "Of course she did not take points at random but you have seen how she practically sallied out of several lessons before Christmas. That was kind of weird."

He furrowed his brows at his girlfriend's rather obnoxious display of superiority.

"What is it Hermione? You are acting as if you knew something we don't."

"Well, Ron." Hermione gracefully waved her wand to rekindle the flames between them. She was an insufferable know-it-all but she was also a very talented witch, Snape had to grudgingly admit. "If you had paid a little more attention to her instead of trying to snog me whenever she turned away, you might have noticed what is wrong with her. Boys!"

"What?" Weasley and Potter both looked just as quizzical as Snape felt.

Granger smothered the fire and shook her head. "If you don't know already I don't want to be the one who spreads the news, however, I wonder whether Snape knows. That is probably why his behavior is beyond all bearing lately."

Snape decided that it was time to intervene.

"Well, Miss Granger," he said silkily, to which the three students turned around in shock. "Beyond all bearing, did I hear that right?"

Granger looked at him guiltily but remained silent.

"Would you like to repeat what you said about my not being allowed to teach?"

"I would prefer not to, sir," Granger said and Snape gave her a violent sneer. She had changed, he realized. The girl had always been respectful to teachers but since she now probably fancied herself a great heroine of the war, she seemed to feel herself above the rules.

"Well, you may be glad to hear that I might not be allowed to teach, but I am still allowed to take points. Which I will. Fifty of those from Gryffindor for your lack of respect, Miss Granger. And another ten each for your dumb stares," he hissed at Potter and Weasley and then stalked off, shocked and furious gasps behind him.

Both Sinistra's absence and the approaching hearing, set for January 29, made Snape restless and even more irritable than usual. McGonagall had admonished him several times since all four houses were on an all time low in points due to the fact that he now took them from the students for everything from talking in a corridor to looking at him. Although she was rightfully angry with him, she seemed to understand what he was going through and had him approach Horace Slughorn for something to do. The temporary potions master had been only too glad to hand down to Snape the meticulous task of taking stock in the potions cabinet. Counting ingredients and relabeling old containers had never been one of Snape's favorite pastimes, but this time he was thankful for anything productive he could do.

So one day he entered the stuffy potion's cabinet and climbed the ladder to go about his task. Only when he started inspecting little bottles and boxes full of ingredients, he noticed how much he had missed potion making and all the tasks that went along with it. Snape had always been an angry man who had to hide his fury behind a cold facade and the precision required to work in the field of potion making had allowed him to relax and focus on something else. While he stacked containers and wrote numbers onto a piece of parchment, he decided to refine the new potion he had been working on all year. At least that would give him something useful to do. Six hours after entering the potion's cabinet, he had found himself vividly reminded of another time when ingredients had gone missing. This time, however, he was not sure whether Horace had used them and forgotten to keep track of them or whether they had been stolen. Unbeknownst to Horace Slughorn, who had probably been too busy holding court with all of his favorite students to take care of the stock, a stunning amount of Lacewing Flies, Fluxweed and Boomslang Skin had vanished along with other ingredients that were typically used to create polyjuice potion. When confronted, Horace – of course – turned out to be completely oblivious and Snape found himself rolling his eyes and scowling. If somebody was brewing polyjuice potion, it could not be good.

The weather remained as it was and the hearing was postponed until February 14, so Snape found himself even more on edge. He made it a habit to walk the corridors in all his menacing glory and sneak up on unsuspecting students, making them jump with fear when they noticed his sinister presence. As he did not want to anger McGonagall any further, he stopped his groundless taking of points and settled for being scary and rude instead. He found that more often than not, he unconsciously wandered towards the astronomy tower where an ancient witch whose hearing seemed almost entirely gone, had taken up teaching. The students liked her as she seemed to be a pleasant old woman but Snape hated the fact that she was there so he felt unable to even talk to her.

After several weeks of not having heard from Sinistra, Snape had to admit to himself that he missed her sorely. Without his knowledge, she had become the single most important person at Hogwarts to him and without her there, his life seemed empty and pointless. One or two times he had found himself in the owlery with a piece of parchment and a quill, shivering against the cold air and about to write a note to the astronomy professor, but then had angrily turned on his heel. If she wanted to leave, he would not hold her back.

At Hogwarts there were no more incidents that could be suspected of being related to the attempt on Sinistra's life and he had begun to wonder whether it had been a cruel joke rather than a dangerous conspiracy. Why, if the danger seemed to be averted, did Sinistra not return to Hogwarts? Deep down, of course, he knew that the true reason for her absence was not the danger, whether it was perceived or real, but him, somehow. She had not wanted to leave at all but their close encounter in the faculty lounge had made her run. Snape's thoughts were on a loop and rotated around this particular problem time and again without him ever being even remotely closer finding a solution.

Finally, after weeks of self-loathing and the loathing of everyone - including, at times, Aurora Sinistra - he found himself in the ministry once again, listening to students giving accounts on his methods of teaching. Of course, his ruthless behavior during the previous weeks did not reflect well upon him. A small part of him had hoped that Sinistra would attend the hearing as she was already in London, but she was nowhere to be seen.

The cold had managed to creep into the courtroom as well and everyone, including the members of the Wizengamot were shivering slightly, their faces pale even in the dim light of the torches that were mounted on the walls. Minerva McGonagall did her best to present his case but Snape was about to lose all hope to ever teach again.

Especially Neville Longbottom's testimony was crushing. The young man had entirely lost the air of fear that had always been around him and Snape gritted his teeth as he gave his account of Snape's work as a professor.

"He was always dreadful. A cruel and violent teacher who tries to scare everyone. His classes are feared by the younger students and dreaded by the older as he is unfair and mean. I personally would not want him to ever teach again!"

Longbottom's gaze was angry and clear as his eyes bore into Snape's before he left the stand.

The day dragged on but finally the last witness of the day was called.

Horace Slughorn took the witness stand in green velvet robes and a cap that protected his bald head from the cold. His gooseberry-colored eyes rested on the prosecutor who limped closer. Obviously, he held a lot more respect for the potions master than for the astronomy professor as he spoke more quietly.

"Professor Slughorn, you have known Severus Snape since when?"

Slughorn seemed to be relieved that the question was as innocent as it was and smiled faintly.

"I have met him in his first year at Hogwarts. Severus was always on top of the class. There are very few wizards who have such formidable talent for the art of potion making."

His glasses reflected the torchlight when he turned his head towards Snape with a kind smile.

"You are here to give an account of Professor Snape's character, Professor Slughorn. Would you please try to explain to the Wizengamot what kind of person he is?"

Snape found himself tense when Slughorn spoke in a quiet voice, his words well chosen. "Severus Snape was an excellent student but he was a bit reclusive..."

Obviously, his testimony had been practiced several times so Slughorn looked horrified when the prosecutor interrupted him. "What do you think was the reason for that? If he was such a bright student, he had no reason to hide, had he?"

Snape clenched his fist under the table and Slughorn looked mildly shocked. The potions master always displayed grand behavior among his circle of bright students and admirers but put into the spotlight like this, he seemed to feel increasingly uneasy.

"I think he was being bullied by some fellow students," Slughorn said, sounding distressed.

Snape swallowed, feeling faintly sick. He did not want his personal history to be out in the open like this. If anything, Slughorn was known for his indiscretion.

"Bullied? By whom?"

"Objection! Why is this relevant?" McGonagall asked, fortunately.

"I would just like to establish Professor Snape's background," the prosecutor said silkily, so the objection was overruled by the minister.

"I think he was being bullied by James Potter, Harry Potter's father, and his friends."

"Why did you think that was?"

Slughorn looked suddenly nervous and his eyes darted from Snape to the prosecutor and back.

"I hope you are aware that you will be tried for obstruction of justice if you do not tell me everything you know." The prosecutor's voice sounded dangerous now. "That might hurt your formidable reputation, Professor Slughorn."

As scruffy as the prosecutor looked, he was sharp as a knife and had obviously detected Slughorn's weakness very quickly. The potions master sat up straight and Snape felt his stomach churn as he knew that he was now more than prepared to tell all.

"Severus Snape was very good friends with Lily Evans, Potter's later wife. I believe that it was a matter of jealousy on Potter's behalf."

Snape gritted his teeth so hard that his jaw hurt. He did not want Lily to be dragged into this.

"Lily Potter, I see." The prosecutor had got a whiff of blood and Snape knew that he would not stop until he was ruined.

"Can you tell me how Professor Snape treated Harry Potter?"

"He seemed to strongly dislike him but has never hurt him in any way." Slughorn sounded defiant now while McGonagall was frantically scribbling on a piece of parchment. This was not going well, Snape thought.

"And do you think Professor Snape is a good teacher?"

"He is very strict but he is quite effective. I found that almost all of his students possess a high level of skill. Except for poor Mr Longbottom of course." He smiled ruefully.

"Professor Snape joined the ranks of the death eaters after his graduation. What do you know about that?"

Slughorn opened his mouth to answer, when suddenly Neville Longbottom rose from his chair: "He is a filthy traitor!"

Shocked silence fell over the room and McGonagall looked scandalized. Longbottom's harsh words during his testimony had been uncharacteristic already, but this was outrageous and entirely inexplicable.

"Mr Longbottom?" The minister of magic said strictly. "Would you please...?"

But Longbottom interrupted him by drawing his wand. It was black and crooked which made Snape frown. He had repaired enough of the damage Longbottom's clumsiness had caused to know that he possessed a 13 inch cherry wood wand that had once belonged to his father. This one looked not at all like it. And suddenly Snape understood. Polyjuice potion! He leaped to his feet, wand drawn immediately but it was already too late. The person posing as Neville Longbottom had walked to the middle of the room and gave an eery laugh.

"Severus Snape is a traitor who abandoned the Dark Lord because he was and still is a coward! He will bleed for this just like all the other supporters of the Dark Lord who remained in secret and have easily given up their allegiance now that he has fallen!"

To Snape's horror, some of the members of the Wizengamot shifted uncomfortably and Dolores Umbridge, who seemed not to be a member any longer but was present nonetheless, shrieked as the impostor pointed his wand at her.

"You will die for your betrayal!" He shot a curse at her and Umbridge retreated backwards, screaming. Snape rose, as everyone else seemed too shocked to do so, and pointed his wand at the attacker.

"Do not move!" he commanded but the man just laughed.

"Severus Snape, our hero." He smiled again, the cruelty of it completely out of place among Longbottom's kind features. "I will not kill you right away. We will rather toy with you a little longer. Instant death is too good for you. First you will lose everyone you love." He sent an unexpected spell at Snape who blocked it a little too late and felt a searing pain in his side.

"Expelliarmus!" he yelled, but missed as the other man jumped aside with surprising agility and turned towards Dolores Umbridge again.

"Avada Kedavra," he said gleefully and green light shot from the tip of his want towards Umbridge who died with wide open, horrified eyes. The sickening noise her dead body made when it hit the stone floor snapped the other wizards out of their reverie and a dozen stunning spells flew towards the attacker at once. Neville Longbottom's body fell and everyone began to talk at the same time, some bending over Umbridge's dead body, some calling for additional aurors.

"Severus, are you alright?" McGonagall touched his arm with a worried look in her eyes. The old headmistress looked shaken and Snape found it his duty to grab her elbow to support her.

Fear surged through his body like electricity, the images of a dead Lily as vivid in his mind as if it had just happened.

"We need to leave at once!" he said urgently. "I need to make sure Aurora is safe."

McGonagall nodded, still confused.

They stood in front of the door now, the seconds painfully ticking away and Snape felt sick with concern. Someone had it out for him but they were vicious to know that killing him was not what would bring about the ultimate revenge for his perceived betrayal. They wanted to make him suffer on every level imaginable.

Finally the door opened and Aesculapius took a step back to allow them in.

"You should not be this careless," Snape snarled instead of greeting the other man.

"Careless?" Aesculapius asked, confusion written all over his face.

"Please close the door before we talk," Minerva said, her voice shaky.

Snape stepped into the well-lit hallway and could not help but notice that Aesculapius McGonagall obviously had the resources and the taste to afford a very stately home. The floors were dark polished wood and contrasted very nicely with the white walls. Even the obligatory family portraits that could be found in every magical family home did not look out of place as they were framed identically and hung on an otherwise empty wall. Wizard's homes had the tendency to look overcrowded but Dr McGonagall had managed to completely avoid that.

"What happened? Is something wrong?" Dr McGonagall led the way into a tastefully furnished sitting room and gestured towards a group of elegant armchairs. "Please sit."

Snape grudgingly sat down and left the talking to the headmistress while he nervously toyed with his sleeves.

"Someone at the hearing disguised himself as Neville Longbottom by means of polyjuice potion and attacked Severus before killing Dolores Umbridge."

"Merlin!" Dr McGonagall exclaimed. "How do I know it's you?"

"We told you this story for once," Snape snapped. "But how do we know you are who you pretend to be?"

Minerva gave Snape a warning look and turned towards her nephew: "What is it you took from my desk at Hogwarts when you were visiting as a little boy?" she asked calmly which made the formerly stricken-looking Aesculapius smile slightly. "A golden snitch, Aunt Minerva."

She nodded, satisfied. "We have come to warn you. The thought that they are disguising themselves is alarming, so I did not wish to take any chances in owling you about it, or using the floo network."

"Where is Aurora?" Snape finally burst out, unable to wait any longer.

"She's upstairs," Dr McGonagall said, sounding a little helpless, faced with Snape's display of fierce determination. Without as much as one more glance at the other wizard, Snape strode towards the stairs. Although there was no reason to believe that Sinistra was in any acute danger right now, he felt his fists clench and his mouth go dry as he remembered another time when he had walked through the long hallway of another man's house to look for a woman. He remembered Lily's empty eyes and his heart contracted painfully at the image of a dead Sinistra that his mind immediately conjured up. When he arrived upstairs, he found that he had no idea which Sinistra's room was, after all, so he immediately felt foolish because of his outburst and hurried departure. Snape stood in the hallway for a moment, faced with four closed doors, his breath labored, his body suddenly exhausted, his mind confused, a sharp pain like a thorn in his side.

"What the...?"

It seemed that his heavy steps on the stairs had alerted Sinistra to his presence and in his predicament, he had not noticed that one of the high white doors had opened. He turned around and found her standing in the doorway, wearing only a nightshirt. At second glance he realized that her hair was tousled from sleep and her eyes were slightly puffy.

"I am sorry I woke you," he said weakly and watched her eyes widen with recognition.

"Severus! What are you doing here?" It was not evident from her tone of voice how she felt about his presence.

"They are using polyjuice potion to disguise themselves, now and there has been an attack at the ministry," he reported, inexplicably breathless now. "I wanted to make sure you were safe."

The words just tumbled out of his mouth, his usual self-control almost completely gone, as he now realized how much he had missed her. The sound of her voice alone made him feel weak.

"Severus, you are hurt!"

Sinistra approached him quickly and grabbed his black-clad arm, throwing back his cloak in one swift motion. And indeed, there was blood all over his white sleeve. Snape had not noticed that he had been injured this badly and the sight of all the blood caused a jolt of panic followed by sudden weariness.

"Come with me, Severus!" Sinistra grabbed his arm and led him into her room. Under different circumstances, Snape might have made a snide remark on how distinctively female it looked in all white, the sheets adorned with roses and the scent of vanilla in the air but today he remained silent while Sinistra made him sit down on the bed. Despite the dark floors and tasteful art, the room had a vast, empty feel that was not entirely unpleasant as it gave the illusion of space and air. Snape wasn't sure why he was focusing on his surroundings so much but suspected that he needed to avert his attention from both his injury and the witch treating it.

"Take off the cloak. And your frock, too."

Snape did as he was told and found the white shirt he typically wore underneath his frock stained with blood.

"What happened to you?" Sinistra asked, grabbing her wand from the bedside table.

"I must have been hit without noticing when they attacked us," he murmured, a little too caught up in her appearance for his own good.

Sinistra pulled up his shirt and he could feel her hands on his bare skin. Quickly and efficiently, she ran her wand over the wound and made the blood disappear.

"Thank Merlin, it is just a flesh-wound. No vital organs were injured as far as I can see. You should have Aesculapius take a look at it, though," she stated and murmured a spell that made his side tickle slightly. "You lost quite a bit of blood, Severus. Would you like to lie down?" She moved to make room for him on the bed but he held her back, shaking his head slowly but insistently.

"No, I am alright, Aurora."

He drank in her appearance, well aware of the fact that he soon would have to leave again. She looked different from the way she had when he had last seen her. Obviously her time in London had done her good since her skin was not as pale as it had been on Christmas Eve and she didn't look as thin anymore. He still felt light-headed from the amount of blood he had lost and leaned against her, feeling dizzy. She willingly accommodated him, her hand in his hair somehow.

"I missed you so much," he murmured, his defenses suddenly non-existent – which was hopefully due to the blood-loss. "Damn you, Aurora, for just running away." He placed his hand on her hip and felt the warmth of her skin through the thin garment. Snape inevitably thought back to the night they had spent in the tower and how he had been laying behind her, resting his hand against her hip for a while then had moved it onto her flat stomach to pull her into him. Sinistra shifted slightly then pulled away from him.

"You should rest, Severus," she said a little too quickly.

He sat up straight again, taken aback by her withdrawal, then got up hurriedly.

"I should go downstairs and help the others cast protection charms. If they manage to get into the ministry undetected, they might also be able to get in here."

Sinistra rose from the bed to, wand in hand.

"I am coming with you."

She quickly retrieved an oversized dark blue cardigan and shrugged into it, wrapping the fabric securely around her upper body while she got into a pair of slippers that stood next to the bed. Still dizzy, Snape watched her gingerly walk towards the door.

Downstairs, Minerva and Dr McGonagall had begun to secure the house with spells and looked up when Snape and Sinistra approached them.

"Aurora!" Minerva squeezed the younger witch's hand and looked her up and down. "You look good, my dear."

"Thank you, Minerva. Are you alright?" Sinistra asked. "Severus is hurt and I was concerned that you might have been injured as well."

Minerva shook her head. "I am a bit shaken but I have not been injured. Still, I regret that I cannot return to Hogwarts tonight in this weather!"

Snape turned his head towards the window and found that snow had begun to fall again, obscuring sight.

"Have you been able to locate Mr Longbottom?" he asked.

"Yes! Mr Potter has found him locked in a broom closet. Thank Merlin he has not been hurt."

Snape curled his lip. Of course Potter would be the hero again. When they had finally finished securing the abnormally large house, Dr McGonagall insisted on treating Snape's injury while Minerva and Sinistra sat down in the group of chairs. Snape watched them over Dr McGonagall's shoulder and while he could not hear what they were saying, could see Minerva ask something to which Sinistra shook her head. Minerva reached out and placed her hand onto the younger witch's arm and spoke to her with visible urgency. Sinistra looked reluctant and avoided Minerva's gaze. Something was going on and Snape believed that he was the only one who did not know about it. Even Granger seemed to have figured it out by now although she had only been seeing Sinistra in class.

Finally giving in to his frustration he stalked towards her, his frock still unbuttoned and his hair a mess. He felt unhinged and light-headed when he approached them.

"I am not a fool," he opened the conversation very sharply. "And I will not allow everyone to make one of me. Could you please finally explain to me what is wrong?"

Sinistra's face was blank while McGonagall's eyes were filled with empathy. She gestured towards a chair for Snape to sit down in and turned towards Sinistra.

"My dear, I think it is time to tell him. Don't you think?"

Sinistra's breath had quickened and she gave Snape a fearful stare before turning back towards McGonagall.

"Minerva, please. Don't..."

"Aurora, Mr Longbottom's impostor told Severus today that they will try to hurt him by harming everyone he cares about." Minerva's voice was low and soothing but insistent nonetheless. "You are still in danger. I think it would be only fair for Severus to find out before they do. And they will, eventually."

Sinistra pressed her lips together and turned towards Snape who felt a jolt of fear at the stricken look in her eyes. Very slowly, he began to suspect something but before he could put the pieces of the puzzle together, she spoke in a quiet voice, audibly reluctant.

"I am pregnant, Severus."

- to be continued -