~*~Ghosts and Their Creators~*~

"I did wonder when you would come remove that drape." Albus Dumbledore had a smile on his face and a glint of mischief in his blue eyes. It was such an odd and familiar thing that it made Severus pause. It was like staring into a window of the past.

"I had no need to."

"Until now?"

Severus swallowed back the urge to bark at the man, instead he placed one hand behind his back and walked away with the aid of his cane.

"As soon as I have my answers, I will put the drape back."

"Ah, well, I suppose I can still wander about the thousands of portraits in the school and the ministry. Not a dull moment!"

"Stop." It came out broken and Severus clenched his fist, desperate to reclaim his composure. He was sure he would be able to do this without letting the emotion split him apart. The pain around his heart was proving him very wrong.

"My boy," Albus began, but he, too, could not speak for a moment.

"This was your design...the hunt for the horcruxes and the destruction of them. You never told me how to destroy them and the books on them are vague about definite ways. I do not wish for an attempt to signal the Dark Lord to our plans."

"How is Harry?" Albus asked and Severus breathed deeply as he sat down behind his desk.

"Awake."

"Did he...is he alright?"

"I have not seen him. As always I am beyond what shelter the Order's power provides. That was your design, also." Severus ran a hand over his weary face. "Tell me what to do."

"My boy, I cannot always be there to guide you."

"Not entirely true, now is it?" Severus sneered. "What else has a portrait got to do?"

Albus laced his fingers in front of his chest and sat there staring at him. The gaze quickly became uncomfortable.

"Don't even attempt to scold me, you great old bastard! The very circumstances that have led us to this present conversation are results of your meddling in everyone's affairs. It's your own fault you're paint and not flesh and blood."

Albus nodded, his cheer dampened somewhat. "Yes, it is my fault. I was foolish to put that ring on in the hopes I would see my long dead sister. I was foolish for letting my guard down for one small second. I was foolish because I let myself care. But, my dear boy, that is what makes me human in the whole of things. I make mistakes, I have regrets, I dwell when I should live." His sharp blue eyes stared pointedly at Severus. "Sound familiar?"

Severus narrowed his eyes at the painting and looked away. Of course, he never had the need for making eye contact for Albus to counsel him.

"Your state with the Order is not entirely my design. I recall you asked me once to tell no one of your hand in the matters surrounding Harry. I recall you had me swear just shy of an oath to keep that part of you-that beautiful, unselfish, rather Gryffindor side of you-a secret. You kept your guard up, let no one in, and have been rude and stubborn about the whole thing for so long that everyone simply moved away to spare themselves the hassle. No one forced you to be so distant."

"Camaraderie never benefited me while I was kneeling before the Dark Lord and reporting back to you. I did not need to further my own torment."

"You think everyone hates you when you have a small army ready to embrace you. I've watched you coil into yourself like a snail while whoever happened to reach out was met with a cold, sneering shell. Lily was not the only woman willing to love you."

Severus felt the words like a knife in his chest. He didn't confront his loneliness simply because when he realized the scope of his isolation, it gave fuel to his despair and he sunk further into the deep. Albus was gazing at him with that scalpel-like glow in his eyes and Severus laid his head on his crossed arms on his desk.

"Don't speak of her like she was nothing." His voice was muffled, but Albus heard anyway.

"No. She was everything, that's why it hurts so much. But she was gone long before Tom killed her and James. You knew that."

"I didn't...I couldn't accept..." He shut himself up before his voice decided to break.

"You know what I did with the stone. I can give you the incantation to open its case. Perhaps, I will request you speak to Lily before I give you information regarding how to destroy horcruxes. Perhaps, you don't argue with me about not needing closure. And perhaps, you admit you need this." Albus was sitting forward when he lifted his head from his arms.

"I don't want to face her. I don't want her to...I don't want myself to..."

"The only way to get through grief is to go through it. For far too long you've bottled up whatever you felt for fear of one thing or another. Talk to her, Severus." He closed his eyes at the sound of his name from the old man's mouth and the ache it brought around his heart. Albus spoke the incantation and he memorized it.

He left the portrait and went up the stairs to his quarters. After Scrimgeour's death, the will of Albus Dumbledore was left unread for half a year, until Severus got wind of it and salvaged what he could from the fires of the ministry. Sitting in his bedside drawer, covered up with a soft linen cloth, were three items. Severus slowly took them out and laid them on his bed.

First, a book of children's stories which he sat aside with a glance. Second, a small lighter he knew Albus had used on many occasions. And third, a golden Snitch with its wings curled around its body. Severus put the other two things back and lifted the Snitch. It came to life in his hand and he let it flap its wings gently for a moment before setting his wand against its surface and casting the incantation.

Almost immediately, the thing fell open in his palm. A small black stone, shaped like a prism, with a golden symbol etched in the center was waiting within. He knew that shape.

Severus set aside the stone in favor of the book, flipping through the pages haphazardly. The one he sought was easily found. Above the chapter title was the same symbol and the story beneath was a familiar one. The Deathly Hallows. Severus closed the book. Why would Dumbledore want to give Hermione a book with a symbol so clearly pointing to that one story? Why where the Hallows so important? The drive to use one of them had cursed Albus and the wand was either the greatest weapon to exist or the worst item to have ever been created. The cloak was lost if Potter did not still possess it.

He had listened to Albus' tale of the obession he and Gellert Grindelwald had had over the objects and he knew what draw they could have. Severus had reprimanded Albus for the foolish decision to use the ring regardless of any apparent danger. But there was something alluring about being able to talk through the veil and across whatever space separated the living from the dead. His hand found the Resurrection stone and he braced himself for this horrible, terrible, decision. With his eyes closed tight, Severus turned the stone three times in his palm.

At first, he wasn't sure it had worked. There was silence unbroken by anything but his breathing, but soon he could hear that breathing change, as though another was attempting to match his pattern but was just a beat behind. A huff of air danced across his face.

"You've gotten old." His heart skipped quite a few beats and he hung his head as the pain came back twentyfold. Her voice didn't sound any different than the last time he had heard it, but there was a warm humor in it. "When's the last time you cut your hair?"

A semi-solid hand ran through his hair and along his scalp. He shuddered, leaning into it. The stone was biting into his palm but he just gripped it tighter. He was afraid to open his eyes.

"Stop frowning, it'll give you wrinkles on your forehead." She poked him gently and he looked up out of shock.

Lily, still twenty and beautiful, with long red hair and brilliant green eyes, sat across from him with a sweet smirk. She was perched on the end of the bed, head tilted sideways to get a good look at him.

"Twenty years and you don't even say hello. I'm offended."

"Hello." He whispered and her smile faltered a little.

"Sev, don't do that." She scooted closer, laying her not-quite-solid-not-quite smoke-like hand on his shoulder. "Let's not go down that road, alright? Just, uh, let's just talk."

He nodded, meeting her eyes as she licked her lips and began to smile again.

"Hogwarts is still standing, I take it?"

"It will take more than a dark wizard to raze this place to the ground." He said, shifting so that he faced her.

"And you're headmaster now." She gestured to the rooms and he gave an empty smile.

"Not that I ever wanted to be. You know I always wanted..."

"Potions or Defense. You're adept at both. If they'd have let you, you'd probably try to do both!" A person's laughter shouldn't be so harmful to the soul, but Lily's was blundering through him without remorse. He pulled away even as his entire being begged him to draw near.

"I must..." What must be do? What was more important than the woman across from him, smiling encouragingly? "I must destroy these horcruxes. I must finish this very long tale."

"That's where my powers would end, Sev. I don't know anything about them." Lily scratched her head, but it was obvious she didn't really need to. She didn't have a body or skin to have itch. He could see the mantel and the fire beneath it through her chest. She was little more than a ghost.

"Are you happy?" He asked suddenly and he met her eyes to divine the answer if she decided not to speak. Lily curled her bottom lip inward and her teeth made light indentions on her see-through skin.

"More than I ever was alive." She closed her eyes and a silvery tear escaped, falling but not connecting to the physical furniture. She cleared her throat. "It's peaceful and beautiful and fulfilling over there. Like waking up to a dream and never coming down."

There was happiness in her tone and he sighed. "You never loved me."

Lily's hands went through his face in their haste to make him look at her and he shivered from the cold emptiness of her mostly smoke appearance. She made sure their eyes were locked before answering.

"That is a lie. I always loved you. I didn't always show it and sometimes I showed the exact opposite, but I was sixteen!" She seems frustrated. "I had judgmental friends, perfectionist professors and expectations I believed I had to live up to. I listened to people's opinions and I let them make up my mind. I was a kid and I was an idiot, but I never stopped loving you, Sev. Never."

"You married James."

"I loved James, too. Hearts aren't monopolies, Severus. Love isn't bound to one thing or another, it isn't bound by our laws. Voldemort found that out." Severus didn't flinch because he knew somewhere in his mind that the dead weren't slaves to the Taboo.

"But you chose James." He said, blinking slowly and letting his clenched fist relax. "You chose him over me, Gryffindor over Slytherin, them over us."

"You think that's how the world works?" She whispered so fiercely, he knew she was about to explode with indignation. "If the world was black and white there wouldn't be people like me or people like you. I would be for the light and hate everything about you while you would be for the dark and hate everything about me."

"I could never hate you."

"You had to have been angry when I married James."

"I hated him, not you."

"But I'm the one who never let you apologize for calling me-"

"Don't say it!" He lamented and she stopped. "I didn't deserve your forgiveness."

"Oh! You great, depressive, genius, idiot!" She said it so vehemently his brows drew together. "It's not like you killed me!"

For one long moment, he was struck absolutely breathless. He knew that she hadn't meant it as a jab at him, but his mind could only connect the dots.

"But I did." Severus forced himself to stand. "I listened at a keyhole. I relayed a message. I asked Dumbledore for aid which led to Pettigrew betraying you. I stood among the wreckage of my life and it was my own hand that caused it."

Lily was shaking her head and she was crying, but Severus couldn't comfort her, couldn't find the words to make up for everything he had done.

"And I tried so hard to convince myself he was to blame. I swore my soul away so I wouldn't have to confront the truth. I killed you, Lily. I killed you and James." It was hard to bring that man's name to his lips without hatred, but he couldn't lie anymore. "I took you away from your son and I hated him for it. I hated the fact that he was so much of James and so much of you and he reminded me of every mistake I had ever made."

"Harry needs you, Sev. He needs you more than I ever did." She stood and came up beside him. "I don't care what happened between us. I don't care how many times I'm called Mudblood." He flinched. "My son doesn't have a mother or a father anymore, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have family. You're his family, Sev. You always were."

"I don't love the boy." He told her flatly and she chuckled.

"But you care, which counts for something. You let me down," he swallowed at the seriousness in her voice. "But you can't let him down. You can't. If you want my forgiveness, all you have to do is help my son. I love you, Sev." She whispered, pressing her ghostly lips against his cheek.

He hesitated, felt it clog up his throat and then he spoke. "That's what I was going to say to you all those years ago."

"What?"

"When you asked why you were different, why it mattered that I had said that word to you. I was going to say because I love you." He stared at her, black eyes and green locked for what seemed like an eternity. "I loved you then and I love you now. I will always love you."

Lily's smile was wet with tears and her chin was quivering. "I'm sorry I never let you say it. But, then again, I'm not."

Severus frowned and crossed his arms over his chest.

"We were never meant to be, Severus. You know that as well as I. You've even admitted it to yourself, haven't you?" She stepped back. "I'm glad you didn't say it back then. You should be happy, Sev. But you'll never be happy with me."

"Why not? I have this stone." He held it up so she could see it.

"I'm dead, Sev. I've been dead for twenty years. You've got to let me go."

"How?"

"Like this." She placed her hand beside his and as she opened her palm to view, he did the same. The Resurrection stone tumbled to the floor and Lily's bright smile vanished with the rest of her.

The first thing she saw when she came to was the clean, asymmetrical designs on the ceiling of an even cleaner room. Her arms were tied down to her sides and she reeked of what smelled suspiciously of iodine. There was a soft, quiet hum of magic filling the room, and every once in a while a wash of warmth ran over her skin. Persephone shifted uncomfortably and used every bit of ingenuity she had to slip free from the braces over her arms.

It wasn't really pain that she felt as she moved, more like the discomfort of wearing too tight clothing. She realized quickly it was because she was wrapped from shoulder to elbow, neck to waist in thick gauze soaked in what seemed to be an herbal concoction. She couldn't identify the ingredients, but she didn't need to. It wasn't harmful.

The bedside table held a clock and a plate of food. She couldn't smell it and if she turned her head a little the air around it shimmered. Probably under stasis. Her bed was simple and to the point, like any other hospital bed she had seen. There were no windows and only one door, with the only sound being the hum of magic and her own breathing. A chair was set up in the corner with a cloth neatly folded atop it. Not a single thing looked remotely familiar.

Instinct kicked in the moment she didn't recognize her surroundings. With a very cautious set of movements, she slid to the floor and crawled as quickly as her wobbly legs could carry her over to the chair in the corner. On the chair was a soft, silk-like pair of trousers. They reminded her of a set of green robes with silver and gold accents. She slipped it on over her bare flesh. She didn't see her wand, but a vague thought reminded her it had been snapped in half, and the gold necklace was heavy over her bandages, so she nicked a knife from the food set out and made her way to the door.

Was she still in danger? She couldn't tell. Now that she was no longer in the bed, the wash of magic didn't heat up her skin and the chill of the room seeped stealthily into her bare feet. She could hear her heartbeat in the silence and it ratcheted up her already tense paranoia. Was this all a play at mental manipulation? Had she really been saved or was Rodolphus employing another type of torture? She really couldn't be sure.

She wished she could Disillusion herself before attempting to make her way out of the room, but she wasn't sure she could cast that wandless. Persephone cast a muffling charm with little effort, though. Slowly and far too conscious of her own body, she began to open the door. It was well taken care of and the hinges didn't give her away. The hall outside her room was rather homey for a medical facility.

She took in the wood panels and the rug and caught a movement in the corner of her eye that had her darting back into the room. She held her breath, her heart like thunder, as a man walked by with a bored expression on his face and his wand out. Once he was past the door and she had verified his obliviousness to her current position, she stepped out behind him. With a practiced air, she hit him hard with the butt of the knife right under his ear and behind his jaw and nicked his wand as he collapsed with a cry.

First, she Disillusioned herself, gritting her teeth through the chilly cascade. With her new invisibility, Persephone took the man's outer coat and levitated him into the room. He was unconscious and the bed seemed to register everything as normal. Persephone put on the man's coat, tying it tight at the waist, transfigured his shoes to fit her feet and left the room. She had tucked the wand into a pocket of the coat. The hall extended both directions, curving off to her left and going straight on to her right. She let her instincts guide her left and hurried to the corner.

She leaned against the wall, hesitated for a moment, then spun with her new wand pointed outward. It felt wrong in her hands, like an eel that would wriggle at any moment, but she was too desperate to be choosy. Thankfully, she didn't have to see if the wand would do more than disillusion and levitate. No one was there.

Persephone moved, staying close to the walls as she followed the curve of the floor to a set of stairs. At the base were twelve cloaked men and women, one giving orders. He looked up as she approached and narrowed his eyes. A shot of fear went through her body and Persephone dodged back, frantically searching the hall for any kind of cover. She found a dark alcove just as the twelve emerged from the small staircase.

"Fauna, go west. Bolton, Clark, Martis, go with her. The rest of you come with me." They split up and she held her breath as they rushed past her. She waited a beat, listening to their retreating steps, then ran down the stairs. Persephone nearly tripped when a roar sounded from down the hall and she heard a shout that she knew meant they had found her patrolling guard.

There was no doubt now that she was missing. Adrenaline flooded her system and she disregarded any kind of stealth, opting instead to find her exit and make use of it. She wasn't sure where she was. It looked like the king's manor, but how many variations could you make in one type of opulence?

Persephone closed her eyes and let that other self come forward. Almost immediately, she was shoved to the back of their mind and the other one began to eliminate every possible avenue until she had a set course. They set off at a sprint for the ballroom. She hoped by the angle of the light through the windows that this was the right way.

A giggle made its way to her ears from her left and it sounded like a small child's. The king's manor, then. Or at least she hoped so. Being invisible granted her some freedom and she moved without care, rushing across the polished wood floors as fast as she could.

Voldemort's own lair!, she shouted to herself, looking about in fear, Where is Severus?

He was nowhere as far as she was concerned, but she needed him now more than ever. A spy would know how best to flee the web of lies she had found herself in. Was Rodolphus working off of the king's orders when he snatched her off the street? She could vaguely remember the king's face as he pushed Severus out of the way. Had the king saved her?

Persephone's steps slowed even as her other self lost her grip on the controls. They halted in the hallway where the guests had come for the Yule Ball. Had the king saved her just as she had saved him?

"Consider the debt repaid." The cold, high-pitched voice came from her right. It was eerily reminiscent of their duel.

A coolness hit her that had nothing to do with her suddenly absent Disillusionment. She kept her mouth shut, unsure what would fly out. The king stepped out from the shadows slowly.

"But you cannot survive on your own, I see that now." He raised an imperious hand. "This will be your new home."

"I won't stay here with you." She said firmly, drawing her shoulders back in a show of regality and determination.

"You do not have a choice. I have sent Severus to Germany. You will need protection until he returns."

Persephone gaped at the king, trying to understand. "Why are you so interested in me?"

"You don't know how to die, despite the many occasions when death is inescapable. You accomplish my goal without trying and I cannot understand how. You will remain within my reach for as long as it takes to harness your talent for defying the very thing which threatens my rule. When I have isolated the only special thing about you, I will rip it out of your body and leave you to Severus." He tilted his head. "Let me show you to your room."

Voldemort turned, showing his back to her, and Persephone felt the sudden and vicious urge to curse him within an inch of his life. She raised her wand, trying not to think about anything but Harry's lifeless body, Percy's bloodless one, the scars on Bill's face, the scars on Ginny's soul, the look Molly got in her eyes when she made dinner...all those little ripples in the pond. Hatred and anger built up in her like a maelstrom and she opened her mouth.

"If you cast that wand aside this instant, I will have a new one made for you." The king hadn't stopped walking and he also hadn't raised his voice, but she felt the bribe tug on her until she let the stolen wand point to the floor.

"Promise?" Persephone asked and her other self bristled at the hope in her voice. She would not be hopeful when it came to this despotic snake!

"Cross my heart and hope to die." The king said, granting her a sly smirk with his lipless mouth. The wand clattered loudly on the wood floor.

The refuge, as the wizards escorting Wilbur had called it, was a sprawling, rambling village. The people moved about without once looking at him, like ants without any goal save the health of the colony. He was led in silence to the second biggest building at the end of the main road and traded off to a smiling Mediwitch. An Auror with their wand in plain sight escorted them to a room.

He was about ten minutes away from crumbling under the scrutiny. He had been a thief since his mother kicked him out for a month as punishment for running off her newest conquest. He knew the ups and the downs of street life, knew where to get the best haul and where best to fence said haul. He knew the hours of every business and every employee in Knockturn, even down to the drifters that came through at near annual intervals. He had stolen cursed items from Borgin and Burkes without more than a flinch at the loud alarm ward he accidentally set off. He was too used to the danger to be afraid. But if there was one thing that truly frightened him, it was the fuzz.

A cute Mediwitch in training came up to him with a tray of potions, but from the distinct ribbons on the top of each one, they were for other patients.

"Hello, sir!" The girl was lively but spoke softly as though she knew he was a jumpy sort. "Fate threw you a safety net." There was a deep-seated melancholy in her tone before she met his eyes again and smiled. "I'm going to examine you completely and as quick as I can. Auror Moody is going to want to speak with you about your capture. It will benefit you not to lie about anything. We are here to help."

"How often have you practiced that in a mirror?" He didn't mean to sound sarcastic, but stress brought out the git in him like nothing else. He hadn't seen Goldie and the king had never promised she was alive. He said he had her. Had what? Her body? What was he willing to kill to get back?

"I don't need to practice the truth to recite it, sir." The girl jabbed her wand into his side and his breath hitched for all of a moment, but she merely flicked her wand at the wall opposite and a muggle-influenced view of his body appeared.

The girl poked him in different areas until she nodded at the bunched up organ on her screen. "All good. They must have had good reason to keep you so healthy. Most times, even with advance warning, the state of the victims at the time of rescue is so critical they don't make it to us. I suppose I don't have to tell you about the ones before we cottoned on? Let's just say you're a head of them all." She gave him a rueful smile even as her joke registered and she spun away, taking her tray with her.

"Is he cleared?" The Auror that escorted him asked her as she passed and the girl patted the wizard gently.

"Tell Moody he is in relatively normal condition. Proceed with caution." He would have barely heard it, but he had been eavesdropping. The Auror nodded and the girl was gone.

"Am I considered a threat?" He inquired and the Auror led him back out of the room.

"That depends, sir."

"On what?"

"If you prove to be threatening."

"So if I jumped you right now, I'd be a threat?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"If you show any signs of becoming violent, I have orders to relieve you of consciousness in whatever way I see fit. If you attempted to surprise me, I would have to remind you that I trained under Alastor Moody. As a man of the streets, I am positive you understand what that means." The Auror continued walking as though he hadn't just told Wilbur to his face that he was screwed six ways to Sunday.

It sat about as gracefully as a mountain in his throat. Wilbur followed behind like a dog with its tail between its legs and didn't ask anymore questions.

The walk seemed to take an awfully long time and his feet weren't too happy about the situation. He was taken past wand shop and smiling residents, up the long main street to a two story building. The letters OAH were emblazoned on the door and he was guided through a plain hallway to a small room.

There was a girl with blonde hair at the big table and she was fighting a stubborn man to clear the stack of parchment scattered over its surface. In her hand, balanced delicately, was a steaming plate of food. Two house elves stood to the side curiously.

"I don't want to hear it, you ninny! You haven't eaten in twelve hours. How're you supposed to fight the king if you're too busy listening to the grumble of your belly?" She managed to clear a spot on the table and with an elbow to the man's ribs, set the plate gently on it. A fork and a knife came out of nothing as did a goblet of what smelled like pumpkin juice. A napkin fluttered to his lap.

"Miss Brown, I don't need to be babied."

"I wouldn't be here if you didn't. Now eat your food, Moody, and I'll make you some of my carrot cake." She seemed to be dangling the cake like a reward for service and he watched in rapt fascination as Head Auror Moody, the scourge of the criminal world, began to grudgingly eat his vegetable and meat filled plate.

"Hello, sir!" Miss Brown called out, waving him over. The Auror with him muttered something into Moody's ear and, at the man's nod, wandered off. "Come sit and I'll get you some food."

Wilbur made to decline, but a steaming plate was at his fingertips before he so much as sucked in a breath. Moody looked far too smug about it all.

"So," the Auror began, swallowing a bit of roast beef. "Wilbur, how did you manage to get caught up in the king's maw?"

Wilbur guessed humor wasn't going to cut it, so he just picked up his fork. The broccoli was just the right amount of squishy. It crunched marvelously in his mouth.

"Tried to kill the king, failed." He scooped up some roast beef and carrot. "Sat in his dungeon while he went about his business and then just today, he decided I was going to be an example. Next thing I know, your people come and save my bacon." He crunched another little tree and met the Auror's eyes.

His lies had to hold enough water to drown in or he and Goldie were dead. If she wasn't dead already. Moody's belief in his story needed to be absolute. He glanced at Miss Brown and she was listening intently.

"You attempted assassination, despite the many before you who have tried and failed?" Moody was examining him and his choices, like that counselor back in his elementary years, before anyone knew about his magic. Wilbur sighed.

"He took my wife. Supposedly she stole from him and he was going to punish her. The Slayer brought her in. I tried to get her back." He hated that he had failed so utterly when it came to a glorious rescue. Too many fairy tales about knights and shining armor.

"Why did your attempt fail?" Moody questioned and Miss Brown narrowed her eyes.

"Some girl knocked the king out of my way."

"Some girl?" Miss Brown asked softly.

"She was with the Slayer." Wilbur watched Miss Brown's face as she struggled to hold back a question. Moody narrowed his eyes at her and smacked the table lightly with his palm.

"Miss Brown, go and get a room for Mister Amalat." Moody kept his silence until the woman was gone, then he leaned forward. "Tell me everything you know."

A/N: Finally got this done! Had a bout of writer's block and then I had a crisis of what to do first, but I strong-armed myself into writing this. I don't like the first part, but I'm going to let it sit because I want to get this story done, despite my indecision. Hope you're still hanging with me and thank you to all those that have reviewed, alerted and favorited since my little hiatus. Keep on keeping on, you beautiful people! Tickle2Kill.