Chapter 26 – S-Unit
"Hey guys, take a look.", called Marten, one of their old comrades in the SAS.
"How long haven't we seen you two? Five years or more?", asked Wildcat who stepped besides Marten and studied the group surrounding Severus and Lucius.
"And why didn't you bother to tell us, that you got a son, Panther?", inquired Wolf, the teamleader of the S-Unit.
"Who are those men, Lucius?", asked Narcissa, who held one hand near her wand, just in case it was needed.
"Er, those men are part of our old Military-unit, Cissy.", answered Lucius worriedly. Narcissa has never known that he and Severus had served in the Military and she never liked it, when you tried to omit anything from her.
"Interesting, Lucius. And it just slipped your mind to tell me anything about it. When did you decide to do something so utterly stupid. You could have been killed.", attacked Narcissa her husband openly.
"Sev, help me, please.", pleaded Lucius and looked at Severus and Neville.
"No chance, I've told you again and again, that you shouldn't try to keep any secrets from her, Peacock.", smirked Severus. He adjusted Neville better on his hips and faced his old comrades.
"Why are you here? As we have served in the S-Unit you were stationed in Wales, not in Scotland.", wanted Severus to know.
"We have been stationed her six months ago, Panther. Colonel Merryweather decided, we would better adjusted far away from Wales.", grinned Marten.
"You have overstepped the boundaries again. When will you ever grow up?", groaned Severus.
"We were pretty tame, after you and Lucy left, Panther. We didn't tease the Colonel so often, only twice per week.", added Wildcat jovial.
"And why are you here? You do have a kid. Never thought I see you with one.", interrupted Wolf curiously.
"Are those abrasions on your wrists, Sev? What have happened?", asked Marten who have take a closer look and recoiled back in shock.
"Nothing, just an unpleasant encounter with some thugs.", commented Severus coldly.
"Oh no, you won't slip out so easily again.", declared Wolf impulsively. "Let Doc take a closer look on those wounds. You always tends to ignore it."
"Good idea, Mr. Wolf", smiled Narcissa "He is always so stubborn and refuse to accept medical treatment."
"Just Wolf, Ma'am.", grinned Wolf. "You can follow us, our army base is nearby. He can check Panther over and maybe something to eat and drink for you, wouldn't go amiss."
"What, no. That isn't necessary.", protested Severus vehemently.
"I'll can always drag you with me and shop for some new outfits for your wardrobe, Severus.", threatened Narcissa. "You can't always wear black. And not to mention that you can accompany me to the next social gatherings during the Winter Season."
"You wouldn't, Cissy. Torture isn't legal any longer.", argued Severus.
"Who said something about tormenting you. I'm quite sure that Minerva and Poppy agree with me about my plans."
Severus looked horrified at the female trio, still clutching Neville to his side.
"And do not even consider to flee. I know your hiding places.", added Narcissa smiling.
"Instead of tormenting me, which is completely unnecessary, why do you not admonish those two youngsters, who have decided to accompany you, here.", replied Severus considering his options and when he can slip away unnoticed.
"He is right, Minerva. Neither Harry nor Hermione had gotten our permission to accompany us on this mission.", answered Poppy.
"Doesn't mean that he is off the hook. Your Slytherin tactics don't work, Severus.", stated Minerva calmly before focusing her attention on the hapless duo.
"Be my guest, Minerva.", smirked Severus he knew exactly what kind of potions he had in his shirtpocket. When he throw them into their direction, he got enough time to escape with Neville. And he had already planned to return with his son to Hogwarts to pack a few necessities and to look after his snakes. He only needed some time before they realised that he is missing again.
He didn't feel very well. His head hammered with a heavy headache and the duel with Bella and taking down Rabastan had tired him, too. Honestly, Severus only wanted to crawl into his bed and sleep. Instead of answering inane questions. He wasn't looking forward to answer any questions, why a stranger kissed him in public. And he wanted to avoid another check-up at any cost.
"Why have you both followed us?", asked Minerva sternly. "You could have been getting hurt. Did you never think anything at all?"
"But, we wanted to help", tried Hermione fruitlessly.
"We wanted to make sure that Neville and Snape were alright.", added Harry his two knuts.
"I have never, in all my years as a teacher, seen such an irresponsible behaviour. For this inane stunt you will serve detention under Madame Pomfrey and me until the end of term. You will help her in the infirmary with anything that she wishes you to do. And for me you will cleaning and rewriting the detention records of the last 50 years.", began Minerva.
"Additionally you will go to bed at the same time as the first years. Your Hogsmeade privilege will be revoked and I will personally inform your guardians about your shenanigans.", commented Poppy calmly.
Carefully, using his SAS-Training and his Hogwart's experience in dodging the Marauders, Severus and Neville crept back onto the shadowed path. He had already lifted slowly a finger to his lips, to show Neville that both have to be very silent. He had whispered softly into the ears of the toddler:
"We will play a bit hide and seek with them, little one. Hush now, they shouldn't see us too early."
"Okay, Daddy.", smiled Neville.
Luckily for Severus nobody knew that he owned a small house in Finistère/France. It was located in Roscoff, which shared a ferry port with Great Britain and Ireland. Normally he took the ferry from Plymouth to Portsmouth. It was one of the few occasions where he acted as a normal muggle. He usually spend his summer months there to recover in peace and quiet. He had even consider to take Draco with him one day, after he got a wizard's oath from his godson to keep the secret.
The locals knows him under his alias "Alain S. Lenoir" a secluded living research chemist, who has lost his partner in a tragic car accident. He liked it to draw and sketch pictures near the port and spend some evenings in the local restaurants.
His course of action was rather simple:
1.) Return to Hogwarts to fetch a few things for Neville and himself, including the bunny.
2.) A House meeting with his snakes, to ensure that they are all well and to give some
important instructions for his absence
3.) Appareting with Neville to Plymouth to catch the next ferry to Roscoff.
4.) Send a time-delayed letter via Gringotts to Lucius and Narcissa, that he has to spend some time alone with his son. And he will contact them soon.
5.) Contacting the French branch of Gringotts to ensure Nevilles safety and asking for help to remove at least the tedious geas.
"Be prepared, Neville. We have only one chance to vanish, before they notice it.", whispered Severus into Nevilles ear.
Slowly he took one of the potion vials from his shirt pocket. It contains a potion that works like a smoke grenade, when you throw it on the ground. And he had used it successfully in the past against nosy opponents and annoying students, when he wanted some time for himself. Even when it means at Hogwarts only a temporary refuge behind the battlements of the castle. Nobody had ever looked for him above ground. They all thought he would only hide in the dungeon area. And Severus has never really tried to change their opinions on him. It has served him well in the past and would help him now, too.
He didn't want to meet Colonel Merryweather, who looked like a double of the Austrian-German Actor Curd Jürgens and treated him always like a naughty teenager. It wasn't really fair either, during their military service Lucius was the vain one. He had to shorten his hair, so that it only reach his shoulders, but it didn't stopped him to re-grow it every evening and even wear a hairnet to protect it from splice.
Of course this was one of the reasons why the other members of the unit teased him shamelessly. It was no coincidence that the Beatles classic "Lucy in the Sky with Diamond" could be heard everytime, when Lucius had to step out for his guarding duties. That was one of the few songs, which every member of the S-Unit had learned by heart.
Picture yourself in a boat on a river
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes
Cellophane flowers of yellow and green
Towering over your head
Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes
And she's gone
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds, ahh
Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain
Where rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies
Everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers
That grow so incredibly high
Newspaper taxies appear on the shore
Waiting to take you away
Climb in the back with your head in the clouds
And you're gone
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds, ahh
Picture yourself on a train in a station
With plasticine porters with looking glass ties
Suddenly someone is there at the turnstile
The girl with kaleidoscope eyes
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds, ahh
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds, ahh
During his third year at Hogwarts Severus had eagerly worked to became a ventriloquist. He had been successful and used it often to get even with the Marauders. They have never worked out, how he managed it to throw his voice across the room or even sounded like one of the teacher.
"Time to depart. I'm sure we will see each other again someday.", smirked Severus and throw the vial into the crowd.
Narcissa was the first one to looked up and realized that he had slipped away again.
"Severus, come back at once. This isn't funny."
"No need for it, Cissy. I'm fine and more do you not need to know. And I definitively need no additional check-up. You want to mollycoddle someone. Limit it to your nieces. I'll be keeping in touch."
"Sev, come back. That isn't very smart to do now. Or have you already forgotten who has placed a bounty on your head?", pleaded Lucius, without success.
"Wait a second, Peacock.", cried Marten surprised. "What do you mean? Who has placed a bounty on Panthers head? Spill the beans."
"Marten is right, don't stay mum. We can help you, but you have to come clear.", agreed Wildcat agitated.
He and the other men of the S-Unit had always had a soft spot for Severus. He was the youngest of them and one of most devoted during their training and the drilling afterward. He was their secret mascot not that they would be idiotic enough to tell it him ever. They know only to well how deadly Severus could be, when someone provoked him too much. Even Colonel Merryweather treated him like his teenaged son and was proud of Severus' accomplishments. He was one of the best sniper the SAS has ever secured in their ranks and had a talent for gathering intel, without getting caught.
This was one of the reason, why the SAS wanted him as a link between the secret service and the army. And Lucius was his trusted companion who delivered the messages to the SAS-Board, should it be necessary, when Severus wasn't capable of doing it himself.
Both have easily climbed up the ranks after their basic training. Lucius has earned the rank of a major, whereas Severus has become one of the youngest Lieutenants of the S-Unit. And both have used the offer of the SAS to study at university after absolving basic training and have obliged to serve for 12 years in total. This allowed them after serving the first three years to choose their preferences.
Not very surprisingly Lucius decided to study law, politic science and economics in Oxford, while Severus chose Chemistry, Biology and Medicine. He even have been encouraged to study for a teaching degree and absolved it with distinction. Some years ago he have consider to go back to university to study Biochemistry, but he had neither the necessary financial means nor the time, with an old coot who wants to destroy any magic that doesn't suit into his worldview.
"What has happened?", asked a baritone behind them.
Lucius gulped heavily and looked into Colonel Merryweather's face.
"Good Day, Colonel. You do look well. Not a day over 50, am I right, Sir?", babbled Lucius anxiously.
"For Merlin's sake, Lucius.", grumbled Narcissa.
"Good Day, Colonel. My Name is Narcissa Euphrosyne Malfoy. I'm the wife of Lucius Malfoy and mother of his son Draconius Lucius Malfoy. We are very worried, then our good friend Severus Prince-Snape, practically a brother to Lucius and I, has vanished again with his son Neville. "
"Go on.", urged Colonel Merryweather after the S-Unit has escorted them to the army base and into Headquarters. They have seated into the Officers' Mess and have been served nutrition and drinks, before Narcissa explained more about the background of their latest problems.
"Unfortunately as Severus has been 15/16 years old, he had gotten into the focus of a very powerful man. You can compare him to one of the mob bosses which features so many movies and news nowadays. He became obsessed with Severus and even let him kidnapped from some of his minions on the 19th January 1977. And that's not all. This crazy megalomaniac hat the gall to use a ritual on Severus to bound him to himself.", told Narcissa morosely.
Lucius could see how his wife struggled and take over for her.
"Severus was heavily traumatized through those events. We can only count ourselves lucky that some vigilantes have interrupted the ritual, before he could rape him. As my father, Lord Abraxas Malfoy has attended the same boarding school as this man, he knew what to expect from him. Severus has lived with my family for years as we attended the same boarding school and the health of his mother declined more and more. She even granted my father legal custody over Severus, should she unexpectedly die."
He drank from his glass and added: "As my father was devastated what had happened to Severus. My friends and I, we wanted to help. He had tried at our old school recruit the next generation of followers and was rather successful. One reason was, that the headmaster tried to make our schoolhouse to the scapegoat of our society and Riddles' organization offered a better solution for those young men and women."
"We tried to infiltrate the group, as he had already marked Severus with his personal emblem, that he branded into the left forearm of his followers. He wouldn't be willing to let Severus live in peace and we wanted to protect him from the more deranged minions in his mob."
"How bad was it, Lucius?", inquired the Colonel hoarsely.
"Very bad, Sir. He had used a tracker to find Severus everywhere, embedded into his arm. He had planned to take Severus by force on Halloween 1980, after one of his more devoted followers, I am sad to say that it was my own sister-in-law Bellatrix Lestrange, had abducted him again and brought him back to the mob in chains. To celebrate the consummation he planned to killed the family of a famous Lord in our society – Lord James Charlus Potter, his wife Lily Potter and their infant son Harry James Potter. He wanted to return with bloodstained hands and take him by force, but Severus managed to flee before he could achieve his goals."
"He killed the parents, but the infant son couldn't be killed on time, Sir. And he damaged a gas line which caused a huge explosion in the house and it looked as if he has been killed in the house, too."
"But the worst were the letters which had been send in the last years. They claimed he would be back and Severus would be a fool to hide. He would find him everywhere and he should better submit to him, when he wants us to survive.", concluded Lucius his story.
"He came back and two of his minions really managed to abduct Severus and his infant son from our Family home, yesterday. We have only today manage to find them again as Severus and his son had been able to leave their prison cell. They would have expected the mob boss in the next days. And now Severus has vanished again with his son Neville. We do not know where they have gone, he could have been heavily injured as they rough handled both and have even threaten to kill the toddler, when Severus wouldn't comply to their wishes."
"Why didn't you getting rid of this tracking device, Peacock?", asked Wildcat annoyed.
"Believe me, I would have done it, when it would be possible. Unfortunately he had prevented it against removing. Only the mob boss himself can remove it. Anyone else who tried it would risk to kill Severus, he had hidden some very hideous traps in it. One of them would weaken his heart, when he strays too far from his side. There were rumors, that he want to collar Severus and imprison him on one of his properties, so that he can only leave when the mob boss accompany him personally.", growled Lucius tiredly.
"And why didn't you use magic to escape him, permanently?", shocked him Colonel Merryweather.
"W-Wh-What did you say, Sir?", croaked Lucius.
"Please, you never figure it out? S-Unit was always famous for his mixture of Muggle and Wizard soldiers. We are responsible for supporting the prime minister when he meet with those idiot Fudge.", smirked Merryweather.
"But, why didn't you tell us?", asked Lucius shocked.
"Simple, you do not need to know. Oh we knew too well, that your both are magical. And I guess this is the same for the rest of your group, am I right. What is the name of your mob boss?"
"Voldemort", replied Narcissa baffled.
"Fantastic! Don't worry we will do everything we can, to protect Panther and his son. He is really back?", wanted Marten to know.
"Yes, according to his minions that is the case. You will really help us. Severus was so depressed lately. I have feared he would try anything stupid, when I can't stop him before. As he abducted him on Samhain 1980 again, he had already worn him so out, that he was really considering to submit to the Dark Lord, when it would guarantee our safety and our lives.", told Lucius seriously.
"Then it would be better not to waste any time and develop some good contingency plans.", suggested Wolf. "Does he still works at Hogwarts?"
"Yes, he is the Potions Master and Head of Slytherin House.", confirmed Narcissa proudly.
"Good, Colonel. We should visit the school during the next weeks. Severus will definitely return back to teach. As I know him, he will be staying in some safe house, he never disclose to anyone and lick his wounds.", stated Wildcat.
"How can you be so sure?", inquired Minerva disbelievingly.
"Madame, I do know Severus for 15 years. It is his typical Modus Operandi. He detested medical attention and prefer to treat himself, when he gets away with it. He has a very high pain tolerance and is too stubborn for his own good.", answered Marten for his comrade.
"True, you have described him to a T.", acknowledged Poppy. "But how can we find him?"
"Er, I had an idea.", murmured Harry. He drew carefully the Marauders' map from his pocket and activated the password. "We used this for Hogwarts, as nobody can hide on it. And should someone try to activate it, without knowing the password, he will be heavily insulted by the makers of the map. I do hope, we can modify it, so that we will be able to find them easier."
A/N: Big surprise for Lucius & Co. - the S-Unit knows already about Magic and is willing to help them to protect Severus and Neville from Voldemort and his deranged minions.
Will Severus and Neville stay safe and unharmed, while they recover abroad? Will the Dark Lord accidentally reveal his identity to Severus? Are they really able to modify the Marauders' Map to find them again? How will Vlad react on their vanishing act?