TURNING POINT

Remus sat down at the rounded table kitchen table. The sunlight streamed across the face of the drawn man opposite him, highlighting his firm bruises as he gently lifted the teapot from its stand and poured two cups.

"Hello."

There was a silence in which Remus nodded his thanks. Severus' dark eyes studied the features of his long awaited ally for a moment.

"How's your head, Remus?"

Remus grinned slyly. "As well as can be expected. And not as painful as your face by the looks of it."

"My face is fine, my back bloody hurts though. It seems I kept getting…thrown against things…"

Remus made a show of suppressing another grin. "Quite."

"Is the boy to be alright?"

Remus laid his elbows upon the table, considering the matter in a strangely detached manner. "Do you know, I think he will? Harry is…remarkably resilient. He seemed perfectly prepared to understand that Sirius was magically intoxicated; that he would never consciously behave the way he did-"

"Is…that the truth?"

Remus paused serenely, recalling Sirius' character. "I think it is, where Harry is concerned."

Severus' calm eyes watched the relaxed expression on Remus' face, and believingly, he nodded; unconscious of the illuminating effect that the early morning light had on his swollen his features. "The boy was not overly traumatised, I trust?"

"Less so than you might hope, in truth. It's almost sad…his loyalty to Sirius just makes everything worse somehow. It shows his own desperation to hang on to him; demonstrates how few people Harry feels he can trust unconditionally. If only it had been you or I that attacked him."

Severus arched an eyebrow in surprise, but Remus continued before he could be interrupted. "Harry doesn't deserve to have his relationship with Sirius tinted with violence. It's as much of a violation as he experienced with his muggle guardians."

"Children are most forgiving creatures. Rest assured, Potter will reconcile himself, Remus. What about Black?"

The unspoken foreboding was there. Sirius was not a man who would make such a discovery lightly. There could be serious repercussions.

"I don't know what he'll do. I don't know whether he'll remember what happened when he wakes up, and if he doesn't…I don't know that we should even tell him. This will tear him apart." Remus shook his head, staring at his fingers, stretched out on the table before him. "I keep asking myself…what if Sirius had killed Har- "

"Don't do that, Remus. Don't let your mind conjure such thoughts. That potential catastrophe was averted and is unlikely to arise again."

Remus stood in sudden agitation. "I cannot help but think what an unlucky coincidence it was that Harry collided with Sirius on his very arrival! I mean, in a mansion of this size -"

Severus leant forwards, cutting Remus off with conviction before the man's frustration could escalate further. "Certain things resonate within a house. When I walked in upon the scene, I almost believed that I had foreseen its eventuality. I cannot conceive of a more suitable way in which those ghosts could have manifested themselves. Harry and Sirius were perfectly positioned, to their own unsuspected misfortune."

Remus shook his head despairingly. "Thank God you intervened. At least you were able to draw Sirius away…"

Severus shifted in his seat, with a self-depreciative snort. "I assure you I was not thinking in such terms at the time."

Remus raised his eyes seriously. "Don't put yourself down. You handled yourself astonishingly well, Severus- "

"Remus, we both know that if you hadn't arrived I'd have succumb to my own panic. You overstate my strength."

"No I don't." Remus responded coolly, leaning heavily on the table as he bent low across it to address Severus. "Not for a minute. You're an impossible man to overestimate. And you demonstrated that once more last night; you cannot deny that something changed. You regained control last night, Severus. You were able to overcome your instincts and see to Sirius as I tended Harry, and I saw you sleep, I mean really sleep soundly last night. Amount it up to sheer exhaustion if you will, but do you really think your mind would have let you sleep if you were not feeling safer…feeling more confident in your emotional capabilities?"

Severus stared upwards from his furrowed, pensive brow, into Remus' fervent brown eyes, disquieted by the truth in his words.

Severus had successfully steeled himself to remain alone with the unconscious Black last night, as Remus had returned to Harry's aid, and stemmed the bleeding gashes to Sirius' left eye and nose that he himself had inflicted. Severus had then returned to the study in which Remus was still talking at great lengths with Minerva, having sent Harry back to Hogwart's in so terrible a physical state, and Severus had actually fallen asleep in an armchair behind Remus only to awaken hours later to find himself alone and snug beneath a heavy blanket.

Severus could not remember when he had last relaxed his guard in company to such a remarkable and compromising extent.

Severus lowered his eyes, tilting his head in silent acquiescence to Remus' words.

"You're a fighter, Severus... Voldemort himself hasn't gauged your strength."

Remus noticed in the long moments afterwards, that Severus did not raise his head, and wondered, in astonishment, whether the private man had not been overcome by some powerful emotion at his words.

He lowered himself back into his seat at the table, watching Severus' bent head.

When the dark eyes finally resurfaced, there was no trace of what Severus had sought to conceal in them. He was not unaware of Remus' attention.

"Did you sleep yourself, last night?"

Remus started slightly. "Uh…yes," He smiled, "I caught a few winks. I had a lot of explaining to do to Minerva, she'd apparently been trying to contact us for hours before Harry showed up here, she was panicked by something Poppy had said, but couldn't leave the school in Dumbledore's absence. She was horrified to discover that Harry had gained access to us via her office! "

Severus frowned once more. "Did he mention why he was trying to find us?"

Remus open his mouth, but then hesitated, unsure of exactly how to proceed. "Uh…y-es." He decided to be honest. "That is… Minerva was able to enlighten me. In light of Harry's injuries, I didn't ask him myself before sending him to Poppy."

Severus waited, increasingly aware of Remus' unease.

"And?"

Remus grimaced gently. "I…that is to say…it's really not my place to tell you, Severus."

Severus stared. His face blackened bitterly at the thought of his being mistrusted once more. "I see."

"I think you need to hear it from Harry directly."

Severus' expression changed sharply. "He came here to see me?"

"Indeed."

"Well. That is…unexpected." Severus understated softly.

"Indeed." Remus repeated quietly. "He has good reason though. I'd suggest you find him, once we return to Hogwart's."

Severus' head snapped upwards and Remus started. Severus lowered his eyes again, attempting to lessen the impact of his former reaction. "Do you mean… I will be allowed to return to the castle?"

There was a moment of stunned silence on Remus' part, before he exclaimed vehemently. "Of course! What had ever given you the impression otherwise?"

"I…I just thought that this might have been a convenient opportunity to have me removed."

"Who would want you removed?"

"I…I had thought perhaps….Dumbledore-"

"-Dumbledore?"

"He seems to think me unstable…he is always trying to convince me to give up my responsibilities within Hogwart's, to admit that I need help…"

"The Headmaster is deeply concerned for your well-being, Severus! He wants you to help yourself by releasing some of the unnecessary pressure steeped upon you! He only acts out of affection for you…not out of misgiving."

Severus wrapped his fingers around his hot teacup, steadying himself. He stared into it's depths. "I am not so sure. But…perhaps I have been reading too far into his actions. You see, this past year…I have been doubting my own ability to continue in this. There have been points at which-" He broke off. He shook his head, keeping his eyes shielded.

Remus did not need him to continue. He sighed almost imperceptibly with sadness. "Severus- "

"Where's Black? Did you return to see him last night?"

Remus was taken aback at this sudden change in tone and topic. Clearly Severus had decided he did not want to discuss his problems further.

"I just left him on the floor actually." Remus said simply, trying to raise a smile from Severus. "I was too tired to move him. I gave him a blanket, and a pillow. Still, he'll be a bit stiff when he wakes up. I…thought it would be best to let him sleep as long as possible, else I would have woken him earlier. We need to let the potion wear off. Plus it's not like he has anything but unpleasant recollections awaiting him when he wakes up."

"He is awake."

Severus and Remus leapt to their feet at the voice from the doorway. Neither of them moved, unsure of what to expect. Sirius gave a grim nod, and moved further into the room, his eyes roaming the walls, unable to quite meet their gazes. His left eye was very swollen, and slightly bloodied. His nose also seemed a little wider than usual.

"It's…okay. It's me an' everything-" He stopped, his eyes finally alighting on Severus' pale face, still bearing the vicious marks of last night's beating. "Shit." Sirius inclined his head imploringly at Severus, and ran a hand roughly through his hair in agitation. His face contorted and he gasped in sudden pain, clenching his fist as he inadvertently contacted his busted left eye.

Remus heard what was unmistakeably a sad snort of laughter from beside him. He turned, and a slight, incredulous smile crept welcome across his face. Severus' eyes were smiling at the spectacle of Sirius with a mixture of ironic mirth and sympathy, and as Sirius caught his expression, he raised his eyebrows in amazement, allowing a tentative smile to grow uncertainly across his face, disbelieving.

Severus walked from the table, heading for the door, and clapping a hand firmly on the shoulder of a stunned Sirius as he passed. "Have some tea." Sirius just gaped at him, then turned his astonishment upon Remus, who merely shrugged with an impish grin. Severus hesitated just outside the room, one splayed hand still grasping the doorframe. "Do you know, I think you were right, Remus? Something did change last night. Would either of you object to our leaving this place today?"

Sirius and Remus looked swiftly at one another, raising their eyebrows. Sirius' mouth was still slightly open. Then, simultaneously, they turned back to Severus, grinning.

"Nope."

"Remus!"

Sirius and Remus turned to look back down the corridor. Severus stood at it's end.

He shifted withperceptible concern. "Where are you going?"

Remus glanced uncertainly at Sirius, before stepping forwards slightly. "We were just going to get the campbeds that Dumbledore lent us. We didn't think we should return without them."

Severus nodded cagily; Remus felt himself frowning.

"Alright." Severus accepted at length. "I'm going to the downstairs library...there are some books there that I…" He lowered his head, embarrassed. "Well, I would never have returned for them otherwise, but as we're here…"

Remus hesitated, not understanding the problem. Then he forced an agreeable nod. "Okay..?"

"I just…wanted to ask..." Severus looked about him uncomfortably,"Will you not leave without me?"

"Oh," Remus grasped, relieved, and nodded, "Of course. We wouldn't do that."

Severus nodded, looking less tense. "Alright. It will only take me a moment, I know which books I'm looking for, so...I'll meet you upstairs?"

"Yep, sounds good." Sirius confirmed, turning away already, "Come on, Moony."

Remus turned hesitantly to follow, pulling his eyes from Severus, who watched as they walked away.

"Oh bloody hell, I can't do this!" Sirius groaned, wrenching at the unyielding campbed. "Blasted thing!" He kicked at it unhelpfully.

Remus sighed in amusement. "Sirius! I've got this, why don't you go and drag the other beds in here. We'll fold them all up together."

"Fine." Sirius sighed, striding next door and snatching his light campbed up from the floor, stowing it under his arm. Leaning back through the door of Remus' room, he tossed it carelessly inside. "One!"

Sirius heard Remus' outraged exclamation as he strode down the hall to where Severus had slept. "Oh, for crying out loud, Sirius!"

"You're welcome!" Sirius bellowed back over his shoulder with a grin.

He opened the door and crossed the darkened room. As he turned with the campbed beneath his arm, he froze, horrified, and let it slip from his grasp with a crash.

"REMUS!"

Along the hall, Remus looked up from dismantling Sirius' campbed as he heard the scream. "What?" He leapt over the tangle of metal and swung out into the hall. "Sirius?"

A blue flash burst from Severus' room, the magical surge knocking Remus back slightly.

"SIRIUS!" He yelled, terrified, but running towards the flash regardless.

As he hurtled into the room, he stopped short, coming face to face with a stocky, unshaven man with coarse, grey and black streaked hair and a thick, hooked nose.

Remus' eyes flitted to the corners of the room: Sirius was nowhere to be seen.

In Remus' moment of hesitation, the man flicked his wand silently, and with a blinding blue flash, and a sinking, tingling sensation, Remus felt himself becoming hopelessly immaterial. As Remus felt the spell's energy engulf him, Sirius suddenly appeared to him, and Remus watched, gaping, as the apparition of Sirius cast himself at the burly, smirking man again and again, with no consequence whatsoever.

Sirius' body simply accommodated the other's for a moment, before slipping fluidly through the solid. The look of fury and sheer frustration on Sirius' face, as he turned to reface the intruder each time, was a sight to behold.

All of a sudden, from the very corner of his eye, Sirius realised that Remus was staring at him, and turned, panting, towards him, stepping forwards cautiously.

"Can you hear me, Remus?"

Remus struggled to make his voice work. "Yes."

"Oh, thank Merlin, I thought I'd be lost like this forever! I tried to warn you…to stop you entering, but you couldn't hear…I'm so sorry, Remus…"

Remus' eyes fled fervently back to the man who stood flexing his wand arm with a smirk of glee on his face. His attention was on the door, waiting.

"My God." Remus breathed, inaudibly.

Sirius looked at Remus, his eyes wide and muscle taut in his cheek. "That's him. That's him, isn't it?"

Remus was unable to answer. He could not wrench his eyes from their mark.

"Remus." Sirius tried to regain his attention firmly, "Remus!" His hand flew out, but merely sank intangibly through Remus' shoulder.

"What?" Remus' voice sounded dead.

"Listen to me. We've got to do something! We can't let Severus walk in here. Can you hear me? Damn it, Remus, come on!"

"-Sirius," Remus did not even move to look at him. "Don't you understand? There is nothing we can do. We've been rendered non-existent. These are the darkest strands of magic.

We cannot help him. We cannot save Severus." An odd look possessed his features. "He always said we would be unable to…in the end."

Sirius at his long-time ally in sharp disbelief. Then he was overcome by a more desperate anger even than before, and strode past Remus, moving through the wall into the corridor without looking back.

Whizzing along to the end of the corridor, Sirius stood still, feeling horribly disoriented in his immaterial state, and listened desperately. He thought he heard footsteps to his left and hurriedly pursued the sound.

He found Severus walking up a small back flight of stairs towards their makeshift bedrooms. There were a number of ancient, well-read books in his arms, and he was hugging them close to his thin body, clearly demonstrating his deep affection for them.

There was an aura of control and a pride in the way Severus held himself that had not been exhibited since Sirius' first glimpse of Severus in Dumbledore's office. Sirius exhaled in desparation at the idea of Severus being forced to lose these cherished qualities again so soon.

"SNAPE!" Sirius hollered desperately, waving his hands in front of, and indeed inside Snape's face with frantic velocity. Snape just kept walking, deep in thought, his eyes lowered with peaceful composure. "SNAPE! Oi! Come on, you GIT! PLEASE!"

Sirius jogged along in front of Severus keeping up a constant pleading tirade, to provoke any sort of awareness of Severus' part. "I thought you were supposed to be hyper-sensitive to magic, or whateverCome on! Show some of that emotional awareness now - I'm trying to help you, Snape!"

Sirius stopped, dropping his arms and exhaling in disillusionment, "Oh, Severus, please.."

Severus walked through him.

Sirius shook his head in despair and turned to catch up, but was forced toleap backwards: Severus had stopped in his tracks and was staring at the spot where Sirius had passed through him, bracing his books protectively.

Sirius stood frozen in anticipation, his eyes were wide and a tentative smile of hope spread across his features as Severus' eyes studied the area, a look of great seriousness on his face.

"Yes…" Sirius breathed in excitement. "Listen! It's someone's here: he's here. I don't know how or why..or even how long he's been here, but he's here now and you must…"

Snape turned away and kept walking, giving no sign of response.

Sirius started, "Damn it!"

He ran through Snape's back to stand in front of him, and again Severus stopped, his features contorted in discomfort at the sudden influx of magical energy. Sirius clenched his fists in anxiety and held them out before him, waiting on Severus' next action.

Severus looked directly into his face, and Sirius' heart leapt. Severus' mouth fell open slightly and he murmured, "This is not good." His expression changed abruptly into one of fear. "Sirius…"

"YES! Thank Merlin!" Sirius exclaimed in ecstasy, . "Listen Sev-"

"Remus…" Severus whispered again, and Sirius broke off uncertainly, realising his hopes had been unfounded.

He closed his eyes in misery and hung his head as Severus rushed through him once more and hurried along the hall, grasping his books as he made for the sleeping rooms.

"Damn it, Remus. Why are you always right when I least want you to be." He stared over his shoulder as Severus disappeared into the next corridor, callinghis name,and Remus', opening and closing doors in succession as he searched.

"I can't help him."

AsSirius entered back into Severus' room through the wall, he met Remus hovering directly behind the dark intruder, who was leaning calculatingly against the wall, eyes stillfixed on the door. As Severus' calls grew increasingly frantic, and he could be heard nearing the room, a vicious leeroverpowered theman's thickfeatures.

Remus looked pale and sickened, disgusted by the other's obvious enjoyment of Severus' panic. He lowered his head slowlyas Sirius approached him, and a silence ensued.

Remusspoke, lifelessly, at last.

"You could not deter him?"

Even as he asked the question, Severus' searching cries could be heard through the door.

Sirius shook his head. His eyes now shared the deadened, crushed emotion that Remus' had exhibited from the moment he had first grasped the entirety of their situation.

"I'm sorry, Sirius. Please don't think that I did not want you to succeed."

Sirius did not turn his eyes from the door. "I can't believe what we're about to watch happen." He could feel his breathing fluctuating nauseatingly. "I don't know if I can do this, Remus…"

"It's all my fault." Remus' voice rang cold.

Sirius stared slowly at him.

"Look at his fingers, Sirius. He's holding my wand."

Sirius felt a dead weight plunge down upon his chest.

"Remus?"

The door clicked open, and Severus stood highlighted in the doorway, his thin twisted at the books in their clutches as his eyes searched the room anxiously. Sirius and Remus felt their hearts flutter in agony as they watched Severus step unsuspectingly into the room, unable to see the powerful man, standing as he was in his blind spot.

"Sirius?" Severus called hesitantly. Neither Remus nor Sirius could move to his aid; theymerely viewed him silently from beneath troubled brows, beseeching his immediate retreat..

There was a slight shift in energy and Severus suddenly spooked, backing away, before turning fast. As he stepped through the doorway a flame of fire erupted in his path, and he jerked backwards, tossing his body round to protect his face, and staggering almost to his knees. He turned in his crouching position, to look back at his precious books. They burned brightly, cracklingon the ground where they had fallen. Jets of dark smoke bled from their ancient covers.

Remus and Sirius had flinched backwards instinctively at the sudden burst of light and heat, and now as they recovered themselves, they saw the man approaching Severus' unaware, crouching formfrom behind.

They knew Severus had not seen him; his focus was still seized by the flames; the manwas moving closer and closer, his fingers clenching and flexing nastily.

Just as Sirius was about to close his eyes, there came a low voice from the man huddled at the ground.

"So you are here…father."

END OF CHAPTER

I'm so excited about the last two chapters, you guys are going to love'em :)I know how this is all gonna end now. -I can't wait!

Lucius, Harry, Minerva, and Albus will reappear before the end…