After another almost sleepless night Harry dragged himself to the ward in which his son was lying. He sought out Hermione's office after he had seen him and found her with her head on a book and fast asleep at her desk. He gently woke her.

'Hermione...Hermione?'

She gave a sleepy grunt and raised her head.

'Is it morning already?'

'Jup. Have you spent all night here?'

'Well, I had things to do, didn't I?'

Harry felt bad for seeing how she wore herself out trying to help little Albus, while all he could do was to sit on a chair and stare at his lifeless form.

'Listen, don't you think you should go home and rest?'

'What? Nooo! No way. I think we might be onto something here.'

She had said that several times in the last few weeks but it had never amounted to anything.

'Hermione, when was the last time you spent an afternoon with Rose and Ron?'

She blushed slightly.

'It's alright. Rose understands. She wants me to help Albus. You know how fond she is of him. He is like a brother to her.'

He could see that he had hit a nerve in spite of what she was saying but she did not give him a chance to take advantage of that.

'But never mind that now. As I was saying, there is something here. I'm not quite sure yet what, but I will find out.'

'What do you mean?'

'That potion that Albus was brewing. I made it yesterday, remember? But I really don't know what it's supposed to do.'

'Albus said it was to reveal a magically caused infliction or illness.'

'Well, it doesn't. I have checked it, together with my old potions master from the healer training, and we are absolutely puzzled. I cannot even determine whether this potion is poisonous or not. All the ingredients are harmless enough, but even harmless ingredients can cause a lot of damage when mixed in certain ways. So we tried to mix an antidote, you know, just in case it should work on Albus. We followed the standard procedure, you know, according to Golpalott's Third Law…'

'Ahhh, I've heard of that. What was that again?' said Harry, glad there was something that Hermione said which seemed vaguely familiar for once.

Hermione merely looked exasperated.

'Honestly, Harry, how did you ever manage your NEWTs? Golpalott's Third Law states that the antidote to a blended poison will be equal to more than the sum of the antidotes for each ingredient used. So I tried to separate the different ingredients again. I mean, I knew what I had put in it, obviously, but it is just good practise to do when I used the Specialis revelio-spell the ingredients just wouldn't separate. That led me to thinking that maybe one or more of the components have, in the process, formed a new component, which is not distinguishable anymore... due to reasons I cannot understand...'

That last bit was added in a much more subdued way and with her eyes cast down to her book.

'What did your potions master say?'

'He was just as much at a loss as I was. Kept saying that the arts of potions making is an ever evolving science which one can never completely learn to understand. Fat lot of help that was.'

Harry had the feeling her potions master might have slipped a degree or two in Hermione's regard.

'So… is there anybody else we can ask?'

'Well, no. He is supposed to be one of the best potions master of our country and his speciality is unusual potions or potions gone wrong… so not much luck there.'

Harry was thinking hard. If it really had something to do with this potions surely there was going to be a way?

'What about that bloke that was here in the summer? The one whos wife was ill. Didn't you say he was the best potions master Britain has?'

'Well yes. Sam Ashworth. But he leads a very secluded life. Nobody knows where exactly he lives. Actually nobody has ever seen him before. Never came to any Award ceremonies, Never published in any potions magazines…'

'How do they make out he is so good then?'

'Well, it's simply the quality of his brews, isn't it? You can tell he really knows his stuff. Never a bad batch in all the time we ordered from him. Never heard of any mistakes or delivery's past the sell by date. Even the most difficult things he delivers within the minimum amount of time and in best quality. Nothing ever seems too hard for him. I don't know how he does it really.'

'Well, couldn't we ask him? I mean, surely he would help us? Especially since you helped his wife.'

'I don't know. We could try and ask him. Send an owl. But I don't think we'd be very lucky. As I said. He never answers letters that don't contain an order for a potion. And when he answers it is just to send the potion and ask a price in return. And if you fail to pay he will never deliver to you again. No matter if you need it badly or not. Heard that one or two people died because he refused to deliver to them.'

Harry looked down at his hands. He wouldn't let his son suffer just because some eccentric old fool was playing the diva.

Quietly, so that it was barely audible, he said 'We could send an owl and follow it.'

He heard Hermione's gasp. He knew what would follow now.

'Harry, it is illegal to follow a post owl. You know that. And apart from that it is almost impossible to follow them. The have their own magic.'

'Yes, but the Aurors have a tracing spell. We use it to trace communication of wanted criminals.'

'It would be even more illegal to use that! Harry, you could lose your job! Not to mention ending up in Azkaban.'

'I know, I know, but Hermione, this is about Albus! And if this bloke is only going to be convinced if I drag him here by the back of his robes, I'm going to do just that! I don't care what happens after that, as long as Albus lives.'

Hermione gave him a long lock until the door to her office opened and Ron came in.

'Hi,' noticing the atmosphere in the room he said with a little uncertainty '...everything OK?'

He received no answer. Instead Hermione resumed her thoughtful gazing at Harry.

'You will do it anyway, right? Whether I help you or not, you will do it.'

Harry just silently nodded.

'Oh Harry, you really haven't changed,' she said with some degree of exasperation.

'Do what?' asked Ron.

'Harry is planning to land himself in Azkaban. And I'm going to help him.' Hermione said as she purposefully walked around her room to compose a potions order.

'What? What d'you mean?'

Harry quickly explained their theory.

'Well, we should do it on Christmas Eve then. People generally leave the office by noon so we will have free reign of the charts and maps room.'

'No Ron.'

'What d'you mean "no"?'

'I can't drag you into this. If they find out I'm going to lose my job and if they realise Hermione helped me you two will be in enough trouble as it is.'

'Harry, we have been there before.'

'Yes, but this is different. You have a family now...and children to look after.'

'And you don't?'

'Well, yes, I do and that is one more reason I can't have you help. If they catch me you'll have to take care of Ginny and the kids.'

'Rubbish, Harry, and besides: there's lots more Weasleys who can take over. Don't be stupid, mate. We're in it with you and nobody would believe us anyway if we'd say we had nothing to do with it. We have a track record of ending up in trouble with you.'

'He is right, Harry. And you wouldn't know what to ask Ashworth anyway. So I will have to come along anyway.'

'I will just bring him here.'

'Maybe we can solve it just by asking him. I think we should try that before you kidnap him. What's the charts and maps room, anyway?'

'The spell on the owl doesn't work like a normal tracking spell. It doesn't take you to where the bird is. It's to do with the owls own magic. A normal tracking spell cannot attach itself to them. So you would have to put it on the letter, but lots of criminals check their mail for unfriendly spells as soon as they get them so they would find the tracking spell right away and either disappear or remove it which can cause serious problems if you try to apparate in that moment. The only option is this special tracking on the owl that does not create a lead but only shows the owls progress on the special charts and maps in the aurors' charts and maps room. You have to follow the owls journey until it turns around and heads back. Then you have found the place of delivery.'

'Sounds a bit like the Marauders' Map.'

'Yeah, that's where they took the idea from. And that's why all owls now have been given identity numbers. Still I think you should not be too involved.'

Harry knew he was not going to convince them. He did try for a little longer but gave up when Hermione stepped out of her office to check on some patient.

Christmas Eve would be a good time to try the spell. Ron was right. The other Aurors would be home early to prepare for Christmas and the emergency staff was going to be busy celebrating with some of the other departments' emergency staff. Nobody expected trouble, so they would beall rather relaxed. He discussed the detailed plans with Ron and then went home to Ginny to inform her of his plans and talk through what would happen if he got caught. In spite of his rising anxiety, Christmas Eve couldn't come soon enough for him.

Severus had finally finished decorating the house, something he never thought he would ever do, and returned to Sophie's parents house to have a shower before she came home from work. She would love what he'd done. He knew that.

He heard her coming through the front door upstairs and hurried to get back to his bedroom to change. He was just turning to his small wardrobe with his back to the door to take a fresh shirt out when the door to his room opened.

'Sam, guess…'

Sophie did not finish the sentence. He had whipped around at the sound of her voice and now looked into her face. She stood open mouthed in horror staring at his bare back.

He quickly pulled his shirt on turning away from her so he wouldn't have to see her reaction.

'What is it?' he tried to say as calmly as possible, though anger was threatening to rise like lava within him.

'Sam, what's happened to your back?'

'Nothing. What is it? What did you want me to guess?'

He finally turned around and his angry eyes met hers. He immediately regretted his reaction. She was staring back at him even more angrily.

'Nothing? NOTHING? Your back looks like somebody stripped the skin of it and left it to heal on its own and you just say nothing? I have never asked you about your past, Sam Ashworth, and always stuck to the promise I gave you but this is going too far. We are married! I want you to answer me now as I have a right to know as your wife: what happened to your back?'

He really did not want a fight with her. Not so shortly before all his dreams where due to come true. The fight left him and he sank down on his guest bed and looked solemnly up into her face.

'I ...I once crossed someone I shouldn't have crossed and he punished me.'

'How?'

'You really want all the bloody details?'

She took a long breath and let it out slowly as she sat down next to him.

'Somebody hurt you. Somebody hurt the man I love. Don't you think you would want to know if somebody had hurt me?'

'It's a long time ago, Sophie. I fell in with the wrong sort of people and got caught up in things which I then couldn't stop anymore. I left those people and I left everything that had to do with it. I wanted to get away as far as I could.'

'Are they after you?'

'No. They...most of them will be dead. Or imprisoned. I just don't want to think back to that time in my life. I'm not proud of what I've done. But I don't ever want to go back. Not even in my thoughts or memories. Do you understand that?'

She took a moment to gaze into his deep dark eyes and the nodded silently. They sat side by side in complete stillness until she wrapped her arms around him to hug him. It felt like a release to him. He gave into her hug letting it engulf him in her love and care while savouring the feeling of her warm body next to him.

'Does it hurt?' she whispered into his ear.

'No. No, it doesn't. As I said, it was a long time ago.'

'Has it anything to do with the scar on your neck?'

'No. That was a snake. I told you.'

She released him and looked into his eyes. 'I still can't believe there is a poisonous snake with fangs that size.'

He chuckled.'Yes, well, next time I meet one I will make sure to take a picture for you.'

'Don't you dare.' She said hitting his arm playfully.

He laughed and pulled her down with him on the bed.