Twenty-Four.

Three is Enough.

Thanks to Silver Sailor Ladybug for being such an awesome beta, and giving me all the encouragement I need to keep writing.

PLEASE READ THE A/N AT THE END!

()()()

"When something awful happens to you, the best you can do is pick yourself up and move on. You can't always heal from it. And sometimes you can't walk away. You might end up limping, or crawling. But distance - time - is the greatest healer. Better than anything Madam Pomfrey could ever do," Lupin said.

It sounded like he was talking about something else - something other than what had happened to Draco.

"And Dean… he will grow to understand. I speak from experience, my dear boy. Sometimes, it takes people a long, long time to understand that you aren't the monster they think you are."

Draco let the words sink down into his stomach, and roll around inside his gut.

Yes, he had broken down and told Lupin everything. Because he had been so kind, and he had made them tea and he had taught him defense spells without ever asking why he was really all alone without his partner, and without saying a word about what had happened to him, or about his death eater parentage. He didn't even look at him strangely, with pity or anger in his eyes. It was new. It was refreshing.

Lupin heaved a great sigh. "When I was young, I had three great friends. Wonderful friends. Back then, I believed that they were the best friends anyone could possibly have."

Draco took a sip of tea, meeting Lupin's eyes. He was smiling, but his eyes were sad. Deep and watery and sad.

"And now, they are gone," he said, simply, and his smile wavered slightly. Draco had the sense that Lupin wasn't looking at him at all, but was seeing someone else, someone far away. Was that how Dean felt? Would he never stop missing Seamus?

And it seemed impossible that he would ever stop hating Draco, when his best friend had been murdered by death eaters. Death eaters, just like Draco's father. It made Draco want to vomit, that anyone could ever think that he would do something like that.

"I'm sorry," Draco said to Lupin.

His smile returned. "Thank you. But things like this are just a part of life. Everyone will experience loss. You, me, Dean," he shrugged, and took a long, long drink of his tea.

And it was nice to sit there, in silence. In the DADA classroom, just together at a desk. The textbooks Lupin had brought lay forgotten beside their wands on the floor. Draco had a feeling that Lupin enjoyed talking to him just as much as Draco enjoyed talking to Lupin.

It was so nice.

()()()

Blaise took off at a run down the hallway without looking back.

And he heard nothing but his own breathing, loud in his ears, and Severus's voice. "Run!" He screamed into Blaise's head. "Don't stop!"

Blaise took a sharp left, hurtling down another hallway with the magic that was coursing through his veins making him run faster than should be possible, letting him go on and on without getting tired. And the adrenaline rush pounded itself into his arms and his legs and he forgot everything but running.

He reached a staircase and he was at the top before he remembered climbing. He ran past a group of death eaters without stopping. And he spun around a corner, almost falling, only to find another staircase instead of a door. He must have passed the exit. But that didn't matter - he would just keep going. He couldn't stop now.

They were running after him. He could hear their footsteps. And even though they couldn't see him, Blaise had no doubt they could still kill him. So he ran up the staircase and turned, only to find another and keep climbing, climbing, climbing. There was no time to stop and no time to think.

"Where are you going?"

Ha! As if he knew.

He just wanted to run.

And then he reached a window. It was high up in the middle of the wall, over his head. But that didn't matter. Blaise jumped, and he landed perched on the windowsill like a bird. And, just like before, oh so long ago, he flung the window open.

He was completely numb.

"What are you doing? Be careful!"

Careful? What was the point in being careful? People would die either way. It didn't fucking matter.

Their footsteps were behind him. Blaise didn't look to see who it was. He didn't care. He braced his hands against the window frame and hoisted himself up into the cold, frigid air outside. And stared down at the dizzying drop below into an ocean of dark green grass.

The sun was dropping down over the trees, making spiked shadows dance across the lawn. They looked like daggers, ready to slice him and cut him into pieces if he jumped. Perfect. He didn't want to feel numb anymore, he wanted to hurt.

More than that, he just wanted to do something. He needed a distraction. He didn't want to feel.

The footsteps grew louder, and then he saw them. Beneath him in the grey hallway with the checkerboard carpet. Lucius was jabbing his cane wildly in all directions, the other death eaters were feeling around stupidly with their hands. But Voldemort's eyes met his immediately. And they should have made Blaise tremble, he should have felt fear.

But he felt nothing.

He blinked, and the spell was gone, and he was visible again.

"What are you DOING?" Severus screamed.

Blaise clenched his fists, and the connection snapped shut. Severus's voice was gone.

They were all looking at him. They raised their wands. "Say your last words," Voldemort whispered, his voice icy.

Blaise smiled, and let go.

He fell.

And fell.

With the sun spinning around in a circle above his head, and the lawn rushing up to meet him. It was almost peaceful. Perhaps he could have seen Greengrass again, if he had only let himself fall for a few more moments.

Blaise closed his eyes while the wind whipped through his hair and made him feel alive again. It rushed into his lungs and forced him to live. It made sparks crackle through his body. And it whirled around him, dancing, making him spin.

A snap of his fingers, and it all stopped. Perfectly still. Blaise lay a few feet above the ground, staring at the sun, breathing quietly. And then he brought his feet to the ground and pushed himself up. His entire body was alive with magic. He could do anything.

Blaise walked closer and pressed his hand against the elegant white wall of Malfoy Manor. And around it, flames grew like snakes. And they snapped viciously in the wind and devoured everything they touched.

Blaise drew his hand away and wiped it on his shirt.

And then he ran, ran, ran to the edge of the Manor's wide, expensive lawns. He turned to take one last look at the mansion with the smoke billowing out of its windows, and the red and the orange and the yellow smeared across the it like ink on white parchment.

And then he Apparated away.

()()()

Severus stared at the fireplace. He was standing like a tall, too-thin shadow, with his chin cupped in his hand and his dark eyes reflecting the flames. His mind felt darker than normal. There was a cold place where the connection with Blaise had been.

Poppy stood behind him in her bright white robes, rubbing soothing circles into his shoulders. Severus wanted to tell her to go away, but he was too tired. Too exhausted to face the hurt that would be in her eyes, because she only wanted to help him.

And besides… it did sort of make his shoulders feel better. Only a little bit, of course. And he would have been just fine without her.

Just fine.

But the seconds stretched out into agony. Severus could do nothing but replay what had happened, over and over again, and wait. For some sign. For anything that would tell him that Blaise was okay. He hadn't expected to care so much but he did. And he knew that if Blaise was dead, the guilt would rip him into pieces.

Waiting, waiting, waiting.

"What was it that you were saying, earlier?" Poppy asked, neatly breaking the silence into pieces.

Severus didn't move, didn't look at her. "Killing Regulus," he said, in a voice that was unnaturally deep and even more solemn than usual. And quiet, so quiet that the crackling of the fire almost drowned him out.

Poppy pressed harder into his back, and it actually started to ache. "Well, what should we do?"

And it struck Severus that she was right. In the end, killing Regulus was much more important than saving Blaise. He sighed, and rubbed the bridge of his nose, even though he didn't have a headache. He should, but he had drank so much potion that it had finally gone away.

"I had considered having you or Minerva just… hit him with something," Severus admitted. "It would work. The dark lord doesn't know that you know that Regulus is here… and I could explain it away, somehow, say that Regulus was just a bad actor and you saw right through him. And perhaps we could fool the Ministry into thinking that…"

"I won't kill him," Poppy interrupted. "I'm a nurse. I heal, I don't hurt. Even death eaters."

Severus took a step forward and turned, to move her hands from his shoulders. And he glared at her. "He'll kill them, Poppy! He was sent here to kill the students you swore to protect! There must be a place where your duties end and your loyalties begin. Find it."

Poppy met his eyes without blinking. "You don't think I have? Albus employed me for a reason, Severus. Did you never think of the hundreds of other healers who were sent to St. Mungo's or other hospitals, and wonder why they are there, and I am here?" she took a step forward. "Because I play no favorites. Gryffindor or Slytherin, pureblood or muggleborn, it means nothing to me. All I see is a person who needs help."

Severus, too, took a step forward, so that he was looking down on her from above, and they were both outlined in the red of the flames, and shadowed in the darkness of his quarters. "And that is your greatest weakness," he whispered. "Poppy, if I cannot ask you to help me do this, then I will have to turn to Minerva, who will only do something rash and stupid. And there is no one else! No one else knows the truth. So help me decide what to do."

"What should I do?"

Severus turned immediately towards the fire, away from her prying eyes. And he was unable to keep the relief, or the urgency, out of his voice. "Blaise!" he called out, shutting his eyes, submerging himself in darkness, the better to hear.

Breathing. Heavy breathing, loud in his ears. Running. He was running. Severus could feel his legs moving, even though he was standing perfectly still. It was strange, it wasn't right. But he couldn't bring himself to pull away. Shapes formed on the edges of his vision and disappeared just as quickly, as everything vanished as he ran by. It was dark here. But he caught a glimpse of the pale crescent moon, high above, shining so brightly that it nearly burned his eyes.

Severus wanted to ask so many questions. How did he escape? Did they see him? But he chose the most important one, burning into the front of his mind. "Where are you going?"

"I don't know!" Blaise replied, in between heavy breaths. He sounded desperate and afraid. "I Apparated - somehow, but I've never done it before and I don't know where I am… I…"

Severus was forced out of his vision when something hit him, directly in the chest, with a force that brought him to his knees and pushed the air out of his lungs. The connection snapped shut. He gasped for air, wrapping his arms tightly around himself and bowing his head.

Poppy immediately wrapped her arms around him, but he pushed her away with a wave of his hand. "No," he managed to whispered, squeezing his eyes shut against the pain. "It's nothing wrong with me. Something happened to Blaise…"

"You found him?" she gasped, twisting a piece of her white apron in her hands, with the red of the fire reflecting strangely off her face.

Severus stood. Immediately, he lurched drunkenly to the right, and he leaned heavily against the wall to support himself. He leaned his head back against the wall, staring at the ceiling, waiting for the awful, collapsing feeling in his chest to lessen so that he could stand. It didn't.

So he pushed himself away from the wall and walked with his body folded slightly and his arms wrapped tightly around his middle, wobbling towards where Poppy was standing, in the middle of the room, staring at him with her mouth slightly open. She looked small all of a sudden, but that didn't stop Severus from grabbing her shoulders with both hands, and gripping them tightly. "Quickly - take the bracelet. And Apparate into the forest beyond Malfoy Manor. You should find him, he can't have gone far. And when you do, just…"

She interrupted him, pulling away with a horrified look on her face. "Severus! But the death eaters… I'm not trained for this! I…" and she looked at his face, at the grim look in his eyes, and realized how foolish she sounded. This was important, this mattered, and she knew that. Severus watched her eyes widen as she realized what she was about to do, and then she closed her mouth and nodded. "What do I do?"

Severus smiled grimly. "Find him. Quickly. And heal him. And bring him… take him to Hagrid's hut. I'll meet you there."

Poppy grabbed his wrist and removed the tiny bracelet, slipping it onto her own wrist. "This will let me Apparate?" she asked, as she picked her cloak up off the sofa and pulled it over her shoulders.

Severus nodded. "It will allow you to surpass any anti-Apparition spells. You'll be able to Apparate within the boundaries of Malfoy Manor, and directly into Hogwarts." And then a wave of fresh pain hit him, in his ribs. Blaise must have attempted to break free of whatever was holding him down. It was sickening, and if it was real, Severus felt certain that one of his ribs would have cracked. He fell carefully to the floor and leaned heavily against the wall, breathing heavily, sweating because of the ache.

Poppy glanced at him with eyes full of concern. "Do you want a potion for the…"

Severus interrupted her. "It won't do any good, I'm not feeling real pain! And there's no time, anyway! Go!" he snapped, waving his hand before grunting heavily as the pain overtook him again and he fell with a grunt to the ground, lying on his side with his knees to his chest, a small pile of black robes.

Poppy nodded grimly, flicked her wand, and disappeared.

And Severus lay in the silence, with nothing to focus on but the blinding, mind-numbing pain, and the faint ticking of the clock.

Until the door opened.

And Regulus walked in.

()()()

Blaise had been running.

He didn't know where he was, or where he had Apparated to. But it couldn't be far. For the woods that rushed past him were dark and cold, just like the ones around Malfoy Manor. And, for some reason, he continued to run just the same, almost as if his body knew that he was still in danger.

And then there were a quick flash of light from somewhere to his right. Blaise twisted around to see, and it hit him in the chest. He was thrown backwards, and the world flipped sickeningly. Suddenly his back hit against a tree, painfully, making his head snap backwards and slam against the trunk with a thud. And he couldn't move - something was holding him there, slowly squeezing against his chest. He gasped, and his voice was raw, and he tried to breathe through his crushed lungs.

Theodore Nott emerged from the trees, with his wand pointed at Blaise's forehead.

"What… the hell are you doing…?" Blaise whispered. Each word felt like it was being ripped out of his throat, but he said it anyway. And he groaned when the spell pushed deeper into his chest, and the horrible weight grew heavier on his chest. The pressure was unbearable. If Blaise was someone who cried, he would have been crying then.

Nott stepped closer. He looked the part of a wary wolf, stalking through the woods, silently. And his eyes darted back and forth, and he checked behind himself. "Is anyone else here?" he asked.

Blaise managed to smile mirthlessly, even though the pain was horrible. He forced it to the back of his mind. "There's no one else," he said, with a dry laugh. "I'm the only one left!" he cried, and then broke out into painful, heaving coughs. He convulsed helplessly when the pain returned in full, sickening force, terrible waves of it.

Nott didn't move, but waited patiently for the coughing to stop. "Where are you going?" he asked, with his wand still pointed to the spot right in between Blaise's eyes. Blaise focused on it, watched it shake.

Nott wouldn't do it. Surely, he wouldn't. They had been… acquaintances for years. Not quite friends, but they had tolerated each other. And he wouldn't do it.

"I'm not betraying him," Blaize hissed, with his voice cracked and hoarse. "I swear it. I wear the dark mark on my arm, just like the rest of you. How could I betray my destiny?"

Nott took a step forward. "Then tell me where you are going!" he snapped, glaring at Blaise. "And do it now, before I'm obliged to take you back. Or kill you," he added.

Blaise's face was an empty mask. But he let a smirk crawl its way over his lips, and he watched the way that Nott's eyes widened, and he took an unknowing step back. "I'd like to see you try," he whispered, as the magic burned its way into the air around him, crackling and sparking like flames. The grass sizzled beneath his fingers.

Nott took another step back. "They took your wand," he said, and it sounded like he was trying to convince himself. "You can't hurt me. If you move, I'll kill you."

Blaise closed his eyes, smiling as he lifted the weight off of his chest, and let it shatter silently into pieces. He remained crouched, with his face twisted as if he was in pain, but he couldn't keep the smile off of his face.

A twig snapped.

Nott whirled, and shot a jet of light into the air. At the same time, Blaise reached out a steady hand and Nott fell quietly to the ground. Dead, probably. Blaise wasn't exactly sure what he had done. It was like the magic had a mind of its own.

He stood, brushing dirt off of his robes. And he waited, with his hand outstretched, for something to move. He wasn't nervous, he was smiling. He felt like he could destroy anything and everything in his path, and that he held all the power in the world in his hand. It felt that way. The magic was coursing through his veins, making him feel so alive.

Something moved. Something bright, and white. Looking entirely out of place in the darkness of the forest. Blaise squinted, trying to make out their face. But he couldn't see.

"Don't worry," they said, and they held their arms out in a gesture of surrender. Blaise took a step forward, without lowering his hands. It was evidently a woman's voice, and a rather old woman, at that. Probably around forty, which was an unusual age for a death eater… And Blaise didn't remember seeing any middle-aged woman wearing ridiculously white robes. But he didn't lower his arms, for how could it be anything else? He would just outside of Malfoy Manor, who else could be here?

"I'm not the one who should be worried," Blaise replied, grimly, with bright sparks flying from his hands in clumps to land, sizzling, on the grass. "Tell me who you are, quickly. Don't lie," he added, and easily found his way into her mind, tasting the air, feeling her emotions.

Concern.

Disbelief.

Hurry, hurry, hurry.

And thoughts flew through the air like bats. Loud, standing out.

"That can't be the student. No student would kill someone, just like that!"

As if he wanted to kill Nott. No, Blaise hated death. And, if he had been in any state for rational thought, the fact that he had just murdered Theodore Nott would have made him want to vomit.

But he wasn't. Instead, he took another step forward. "Who are you?" He demanded, loudly. "Tell me!"

She took a step forward, into the pale moonlight that was filtering through the skeletal branches overhead. And she was Madam Pomfrey.

Immediately, Blaise was on his guard. That didn't make any sense. Pomfrey was a healer. If someone had been sent to find him, it would not be her. And besides, why would Snape send someone instead of coming himself?

"Poppy Pomfrey," she whispered, with her wand still in her pocket and her hands held up in front of her. "And Sev… Snape sent me to come get you. I swear, it's true. Use Legilimency all you like. But hurry. I need to get back, and make sure that he's alright."

Her words hung in the air, and then it was quiet. They watched each other. Blaise didn't move, didn't even blink. His face was a mask. But inside, his thoughts were whirling, and all jumbled up in their haste to be heard.

What's wrong with Snape?

And how did she find me, anyway?

Why Pomfrey? Why would he send her?

But he ignored that, and focused on the haste, concern, and disbelief that were running around inside her mind, without a lie to be found. She was telling the truth.

And Blaise felt fear, that he was wrong. And hope, that he wasn't. Anxiety, at the thought of putting his life in the hands of another. But Severus had sent her, and Severus would never lie.

Trust.

Blaise let his hands fall to his sides. "Okay," he whispered, stepping forward into the moonlight. And he hoped that he wasn't making a grave mistake.

()()()

"My boy, I do feel for you. I really do. But trust… is a difficult thing to obtain," Lupin said, as he deftly blocked Draco's stunning smell. It bounced away from his wand and crashed into the side of the wall, blasting a hole in it. They both turned to look, and then continued with their duel.

"But after all that's happened… I don't understand how they can still feel this way," Draco replied, as he neatly sidestepped a purple flash of light. Lupin nodded approvingly.

They were standing on opposite ends of the classroom, with all the chair folded against the wall. And Lupin had locked the doors so that they could practice uninterrupted, but they had ended up spending the whole time talking as they practiced.

It was the strangest thing, but Lupin seemed to understand Draco in a way that no one else did. Draco didn't know what had happened to him to make him feel this way, but whatever it was had brought them close together in a matter of minutes.

"People have preconceived notions about certain groups of people. Stereotypes. And perhaps they have never even met you, or perhaps they've known you for years, but if they know who your father is, they will buy into that stereotype. You must understand where they are coming from, my boy. All the other former Slytherins are the children of death eaters. Every last one. And nearly every last one of them fled to Voldemort as soon as they got the chance." Lupin spun dramatically, and flung a hissing, spitting black spell right at Draco's forehead. He ducked just in time, and it burned a hole in the wall behind him.

Draco stayed crouched low to the ground, breathing hard. He ran a hand through his hair, and rubbed the sweat off of his forehead with the back of his hand. "But I didn't!" he exclaimed, once he had caught his breath. "Pansy and I - we stayed! And I lost my family for that decision."

Lupin nodded solemnly, and leaned back against the wall as well, to catch his breath. He stuck his hands in the pockets of his shabby robes and smiled sadly. "They are too afraid to care. People have died because of death eaters, people who were very close to some of your classmates. But, Draco, the ones who matter will understand." He smiled at Draco from across the room. "Harry, Pansy, Hermione… they understand, don't they?"

"That's only three," Draco said, bitterly.

"In my experience, three is enough," Lupin said. And his voice didn't change, but Draco could see his eyes shining strangely, almost as if he was about to cry.

()()()

For those first five minutes, Severus could barely hold it together. He could hardly keep his mask on, and pretend that he was just sitting in the corner casually for no reason, and come up with a decent excuse as to why he was doing it, when every part of him wanted to scream. It hurt like hell.

But Severus gritted his teeth, and held it together.

"What are you doing on the floor?" Regulus asked, pretending not to sound suspicious. He had a ridiculous smile on his face, and he slammed the door behind himself with a swish of his robes. "Seems like a strange place to be."

Severus shifted painfully into a more natural position. He forced himself to lean back against the wall, and untwisted his face so that it looked like everything was just fine. "Don't talk like him, Regulus. It's frankly… degrading. As for where I'm sitting… it's my room, isn't it? But feel free to take a seat," Severus said, waving towards one of the chairs by the fire.

And Severus sent a silent prayer to Merlin that Poppy would remember what he had told her, and take the boy to Hagrid's hut instead of Apparating directly into Severus's quarters. If that happened… they might have no choice but to kill Regulus then and there.

But perhaps that wouldn't be a bad thing. Severus narrowed his eyes, watching Regulus sit down in the chair, looking completely at ease. He didn't expect a thing. Severus could simply raise his wand and kill him, right where he sat. But if that happened, was there any way to retain his connection with the dark lord? And without that connection, they would not know what he was planning.

They would lose the war.

If only he had more time. But he didn't. He only had two days.

"I just wanted to speak with you about the tournament," he began. Without even checking to make sure that no one was listening, or that there were no spells on the room. He really was too trusting, wasn't he? Severus narrowed his eyes even furthur, into slits. That could be his undoing.

"Of course," Severus replied. "He has already told me his plans, but go on. If there is more, I would like to hear of it."

Regulus nodded. "Of course he has told you. I did not doubt that. But I was told to give you this," and he pulled a big, black book out of his robes, and held it out for Severus to take. Above his head. So that he would have to stand.

Severus groaned inwardly. But he braced his back awkwardly against the wall, so that it supported most of his weight as he tried to stand. And he forced himself to get to his feet, even though his entire body was screaming. And then one of his knees gave out and he was falling sideways, pressed awkwardly and painfully against the wall. His body betrayed him and he curled in close to himself, with his hands around his middle. He fell with a grunt to the ground. He turned his face away from Regulus to hide the agony that must have shown there, and let his hair fall over his eyes. But it didn't help. Everything hurt.

If this was hard for him, how must Blaise feel?

But Severus couldn't dwell on that. For Regulus was staring at him openly, with his mouth hanging open. "Are you okay?" he asked, in a way that was rather strange for a death eater. It actually sounded as if he cared, however slightly.

Severus forced himself to nod, trying to pull himself back together. (It was a lost cause, but he had to try.) "I..." he tried, but his chest exploded into painful, horrible coughs. Aching, hollow coughs. And he buried his face in his knees, in such a humiliating, childish way. His mind screamed at him, not in front of Regulus!

But it hurt so much.

And then it was gone.

Just as quickly as it had arrived.

And it was replaced with a yawning emptiness, like a black pit in the middle of Severus's chest. He let his long legs unfold and fall to the ground, and he pulled his robes away from himself. And he leaned his head back against the wall and let out a long, long breath. Merlin, what had he done to deserve this?

"Must have been one of those potions I drank during my class," he said, hoarsely, without looking at Regulus. "Probably Longbottom's. Wouldn't be hard to imagine that he somehow turned a Headache potion into a delayed Dolore…" he broke off into a series of deep, rasping coughs.

"Dolore?" Regulus echoed, sounding obnoxiously comfortable. Severus looked, and saw that he was sitting smugly with his feet up and a mug of transfigured tea in his hand. Severus glared at him, but Regulus pretended not to notice.

"Dolore Poena. Causes extreme pain in the drinker," Severus replied, injecting as much blatant annoyance as possible into his voice.

Regulus smirked, and waved a hand towards the book, which was lying on the floor in front of Severus. "I was going to hand that to you, but in all the commotion, I decided to just drop it. The page is 394, the paragraph is seven. Canis Ortum, I was told. The dark lord has given me instructions, to be given to you."

Severus picked the book up off the floor and quickly turned to the page. He was immediately taken aback by a sinister looking picture of a man, with his face twisted in rage as he transformed into a werewolf. A broken bottle of potion lay on the ground beside him. And beneath the picture, was a paragraph entitled Canis Ortum.

"You are to make it tonight. Tomorrow, at breakfast, I will distract Lupin while you slip the potion into his drink. Don't let anyone see you, of course."

Immediately, Severus saw several problems with this plan, rooted in a fundamental lack of understanding of the complex brewing of potions. "No, that will not work. This potion is too complex to brew in one night. And I cannot delay its effects that long, because it is such a powerful potion."

"Well, how long will it take? And how long can you delay it?" Regulus demanded, impatiently, glaring at Severus from over the couch.

Severus smirked. A lack of understanding could come in handy here. "At least a day, most likely longer. And, only about two hours."

It wasn't much of a plan. But it would give him more time to come up with one.

(For the record, he could have made it in a few hours, and delayed it as long as he liked.)

But Regulus only nodded, with his eyes narrowed. "Very well, Severus. But the dark lord also sent me to tell you that if you do not accomplish the mission, he has other ways. Many other ways. You are not as precious as you think you are."

That was only a tactic meant to scare him. No one else could brew the potion. Severus would not be fooled by Regulus's, or the dark lord's, mind games. And so he replied, "You would do well to remember that, also," for good measure, and then leaned back against the wall, staring up at the ceiling, smiling vaguely at nothing.

He heard Regulus stand, heard him cross the room. And froze when he heard the door open, and Regulus's slimy voice, raised in surprise. "Poppy," he said, forgetting all together to sound like Dumbledore. His voice was too low, and Severus could hear the sneer in his voice.

She stuttered out something unintelligible, and then there were more footsteps, and the door closed.

"Severus? Are you there?" she asked.

Severus was already on his feet. "Wait," he warned, crossing the room in a few strides and putting his hand on her shoulder. "I'll make sure that he's gone."

He flung the door open and glanced down the hallway, both ways. Regulus was nowhere to be seen.

Severus closed the door again, and turned to face her. Her cheeks were bright pink, her teeth were still chattering. And her eyes were wide. But Severus ignored all that, and his entire world was focused on what she was about to say.

"He's here," she whispered. "He's in Hagrid's hut."

Severus let out a sigh of relief, and wrapped his arms around her.

()()()

"Thank you, professor," Draco said, when their duel was finished.

He looked as if he had just spent hours making himself look perfect, because he had cast a spell to remove all the sweat and fix his hair. But they had spent nearly an hour practicing, and Draco was thoroughly worn out.

Lupin looked tired as well. He was breathing heavily, and leaning against the wall. He waved his wand, and all the chairs floated back to their placed, settling down into neat rows. "No problem, no problem whatsoever. It's been my dream to be a Defense professor, you know. And even if that will never happen, I'm glad I got to teach you."

He held out his hand, and Draco shook it.

And he unlocked the door, and they stepped out into the hallway. Harry was there, waiting for him with Pansy and Hermione. They smiled brightly at Lupin, who smiled back tiredly. "Hello," he said. "I'm sorry I can't stay and chat, but I really must be going," he bowed slightly, and turned to walk away down the hallway.

They waited until he was gone.

And then Harry pounced on him, pulling him close and kissing him lightly on the cheek. Hermione gasped loudly, and Harry pulled away abruptly, going rather red. Draco had a hunch that he had forgotten that she was there.

Pansy whispered something into Hermione's ear, and she went even redder than Harry.

"Time to go!" Pansy sang, dancing away down the hallway with Hermione in tow. "We'll see you lovebirds later!"

Draco and Harry smiled at each other, and fell into a kiss.

()()()

Death eaters didn't usually plan funerals. Usually, they didn't give a damn about the dead. They would turn their bodies into dirt, or dust, or shattered pieces of glass. Or just leave them there, sometimes, for someone else to find, or to rot.

But not this time.

The dark lord was gone. He didn't know. Neither did Bellatrix. But the rest did. Nott, and Greengrass, and Lucius, and the rest. They gathered around a small plot of land at the outskirts of Lucius's long, sweeping lawn, and dug two graves with magic. And there they placed the bodies. Daphne Greengrass, Theodore Nott. Quiet and still.

It was dark. But a crescent moon hung still and silent overhead, watching. And trees waved in the wind, tall with their shadows painting the grass in long dark strokes.

Lucius waved his wand, and the graves were filled.

No one cried.

No one but a sixteen year old boy, hiding in the basement of Hagrid's hut, with his arms around his knees. Remembering her bright green eyes, and the night they spent together, and the things he should have said.

Lucius waved his wand again, and grass grew over the graves. There was no sign that anything was buried underneath. But they all knew. They would not forget.

()()()

Next: the Order, doubt, and poisonous ingredients.

PLEASE READ THIS (lol)

So, after Wednesday, I will no longer be posting twice a week. I don't have enough prewritten chapters to keep doing that for long.

BUT I would like to start writing more one shots! After writing only this story for so long, it's getting a bit boring and I'm losing my incentive to write... so I think that writing a few short stories will really help with that.

If you have ideas for something you would like to see me write, please PM me with your ideas!

And please review! Thanks for reading :)