"~Parseltongue~"


Waking up was a very disorienting experience. There were no stone walls and stale blood scented air. There wasn't even the red canopy of the beds in the Gryffindor girls dormitory to let me know everything was just a bad nightmare.

Light snoring from behind me indicated Dave was still asleep. Out in the living room proved that Severus was already awake and watching some sitcom on the tv. I sat beside him in the couch and ripped the bandages from my arm and fingers to apply fresh ones, "Good morning."

Severus nodded, "I thought you'd never wake up."

I sighed, "It's been a while since I've slept in a bed. Who knows when Dave will wake up."

He sneered, "Pathetic muggle. Why did you bring him as well? All he did was slow us down and get caught by Regulus." Severus shook his head before I could say anything, "Either way the Dark Lord already suspects my treachery. I was the only follower not at the meeting, and leaving through the front door told him three people left instead of just two."

"Severus," my voice was only a whisper, "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have dragged you into this mess."

He raised a hand to silence me, "You did nothing. If I didn't want to help I wouldn't have."

I chuckled breathlessly, "You're something else, Snape."

"And you're irritating, Morrickson."

All I could do was shake my head in response as I pulled out the Elder wand to change my pajamas into a pair of black sweatpants and a baggy sweater.

"Where did you get that wand?" His question made me blink at him owlishly. "It's illegal to own more than one wand at a time, so how did you get that one?"

I cleared my throat, "I won it off of someone in a duel about three years ago."

He raised a doubtful brow, "It works rather well for you."

I smirked in response, "It decided to like me."

"How lucky for you. That wand is now your only one. There's no way for you to get your other one back."

The news made my heart sink, "I figured." That was my first wand. One of the first things I got when I was brought into the magical world.

"You might be able to get it back after you defeat the Dark Lord."

I laughed humorlessly, "Yeah sure, I'll get right on that."

"You have everything you need to get rid of him don't you?"

"I have the things that will make him defeatable. There's no way I can get rid of him myself, he's too powerful."

Severus ignored the tv in favor of looking at me, "He may be powerful magically, but you found a way to beat him during the summer."

"You're suggesting I do it the muggle way?" My eyebrows rose in surprise. "Wow."

"If you're going to kill him you need to use anything and everything to your advantage."

"Whoa, whoa, back up," I held up my hands, "I never said I was going to kill him."

"Oh? And what do you suggest? That we try and duel him into submission so incompetent Aurors can cart him off to Azkaban where dozens of his followers would ban together to help him escape?"

I growled, "Well when you put it that way…but how do you propose I kill him by muggle means? Am I supposed to choke him to death? Set a rabid dog on him?"

Severus shook his head disappointedly, "There are many other, more lethal things you could use. Muggles they may be, but they make useful things every now and then."

"What do you want her to do, shoot the guy?" We turned to see Dave hopping his way over to us. I immediately stood up to help but he gestured for me to sit back down. "I'm perfectly okay with that plan."

"You want me to get a gun?" I asked incredulously.

"It makes the most sense. Bullets are much quicker than spells, and you don't have to be so close to him if you use a gun."

I started pacing in front of the tv, "I'm not saying it's a bad plan, but how am I supposed to buy a gun? Don't I need to be a certain age or need some sort of license? I don't even know how to shoot."

"Theres something called magic that could let you steal one."

I groaned, "That's illegal."

Dave spoke up, "You could always just give it back once you're done with it."

"Danielle you do realize that we are being presented an opportunity to end the reign of the darkest wizard since Grindelwald and bring peace to the Wizarding World, and your hesitating because of how morally wrong it is."

"Well then maybe you should kill him. You seem to be perfectly okay with the idea of stealing and murdering."

"I will get the gun if it makes this easier for you, but I won't be the one to pull the trigger."

"Can't we–," I sighed, "Can we just go to Hogwarts?" Thoughts of Sirius came to the forefront of my mind and I wanted nothing more than to be wrapped in the safety of his arms.

"Do you need anything there?" He saw the look on my face, "Besides Black and the others."

"His horcruxes are in my trunk. Hopefully all of them are in there." It felt like decades since I gave Lily the pouch connected to my vault.

"Can't you just wave your wand and it'll appear here magically?"

Severus gave him a deadpan look, "No."

I sent him a glare, "Don't be mean about it Severus. It's not like he would know." I looked at Dave, "I don't know if there's any spell that can make an object go from one place to another in a split second. The only creature that can do that is a house elf." Saying the words house elf had me gasping, "Zip!"

Not two seconds later there as a pop, followed by a very excited house elf, "Mistress! Oh the Mistress is alright! We were all so very worried about you!"

Zip's appearance made Dave scream girlishly, "What is that?!"

Severus cracked a smile at the reaction, "He's known as a house elf in the Wizarding World. They're basically slaves of the household, owned mostly by purebloods. Unlike muggles they actually enjoy their work."

"He's a slave?" Dave looked horrified.

"No, sir!" Zip exclaimed. "Zip is not a slave at all! He loves the Morrickson family very much!" Zip suddenly grew somber, "It is the duty of a house elf to serve the family well, and we failed. Zip should have rescued Mistress Morrickson from the bad man."

"It's alright Zip, you don't have to be upset," I assured him. "I'm perfectly fine, and I'm not even hurt!" Dave coughed pointedly but I ignored him.

"Zip," the house elf turned to Severus, "I helped them get away from the Dark Lord, but now we need your help with something." He had a very neutral tone, but to me his words were kind.

"Oh yes," Zip nodded vigorously. "Zip will do whatever he can to help."

"Then can you go to my dormitory and grab my trunk?" Zip nodded again. "Grab Basil while you're there," I smiled softly, "I miss her."

He popped away for a few moments before returning with my trunk in one hand and a familiar coral snake around his shoulders, "~Filthy creature. I will eat you for this!~"

"~Don't be mean Basil~", my words were admonishing but the tone of my voice held only amusement.

Her head shot up at the same time Dave gasped, "Did you just talk to it?"

I smiled at him, "Yeah, that's Basil. She's my pet snake."

"~Mistress!~" I held out my hand so she could crawl up my arm and wrap around my neck. Dave watched her with worry but I knew she wouldn't hurt me. "~You're alright! You've been gone for a long time, causing much distress~".

"~I know. I'm sorry for that~". Stepping forward I took my trunk from Zip's hand, "Thank you, Zip." He nodded happily before popping away.

Hissing the password allowed me to open the trunk, and I tapped the bottom of the inside with the Elder wand. I lowered myself into the side that led down to the library, and I heard Dave gasp. "What?"

I was already in the trunk but I still laughed and shouted "Magic!" as an explanation.

Looking over at the table in the middle of the large room I saw four items sitting on the top. Three were the Diadem, diary, and locket, but the fourth was a familiar pouch that I handed to Lily. Reaching inside of it I felt around until I found the two horcruxes I'd shoved inside. It wasn't good that I kept them connected to Gringotts since I knew how much the dark objects affected Gezbek.

With my pouch tied to my belt I grabbed all of the horcruxes and left the trunk with little difficulty. The boys watched my reappearance with intrigue. "These are the horcruxes we need to destroy," I dropped them onto the couch. "Don't touch any of them because they will affect your emotions and/or curse you."

Dave was content to look at the objects from far away. His broken leg wouldn't have let him move very far anyway. Severus was able to move closer and he easily found the ring, "Why have you not destroyed them already?"

"I'm pretty sure he can feel it when one of them is destroyed. If we wait then he won't suspect anything is wrong." I sighed, "Hopefully Nagini isn't one."

Severus glared, "You choose now to bring that up?"

"Well it hadn't crossed my mind to mention it when we were running away, alright?"

Dave broke the growing tension, "So how are you planning on destroying these things?"

I hummed, "I was thinking of just using fiendfyre. Although we could use basilisk venom since there's a basilisk corpse in Hogwarts."

"A basilisk corpse?" Severus sounded intrigued. "Where in the castle is that?"

"The Chamber of Secrets."

His eyes widened noticeably, "Slytherins chamber? There's a basilisk down there?"

"A dead one, yes." I clapped my hands together, "All we need to do is get to Hogwarts and we're good."

Severus grew quiet, and when I asked why he explained, "I can't go there again. Not for a few years." My confusion made him explain further, "I'm in the Slytherin house. Practically everyone there is a follower of the Dark Lord. They don't take too kindly to traitors."

"Are you suggesting we don't go back to Hogwarts?"

Severus shrugged, "It will make things harder to plan if you were to go back there. The Dark Lord may have told some of his younger followers to watch out for us and to get us when we're alone."

A spark of worry shot down my spine, "You think his followers might do something the moment they have the chance?"

"I know they will. Especially if it's one of the Slytherins. We always know the best times to strike."

I laughed lightly, "It's because you're snakes."

"Wait," Dave sat up straighter, "if you guys go back to your school where am I gonna go?"

Severus sneered, "You have family I'm sure."

Dave sneered back, an action that surprised me, "Your Death Eater friends killed my parents and sister. Even if I go to my aunt and uncles or a friends house, they would ask me where I've been for the past three years." My eyes widened at the number. "What am I going to tell them? 'I've been held captive by a dark wizard bent on world domination!'," he snorted. "That'll send me right to the looney bin."

Severus glared, but he had nothing to say in response to his questions, "They are not my friends."

"You can stay here."

He looked at me in surprise, "Really? You'd let me stay here?"

"Yeah sure," I shrugged nonchalantly, "I don't use this place."

"Thats wonderful for you," Severus drawled sarcastically.

I placed my hands on my hips, careful not to bend my fingers, "Well you can stay here if you'd like, but actually have a home of your own."

He sneered, "I wouldn't call Spinners End a home."

"Isn't that the place that Voldemort guy wanted to attack?"

Severus looked over at Dave, "When did you hear about this?"

"It was a day or two before they brought Danielle. I was having a…session when they mentioned a raid in some place called Spinners End." From the way he said "session" I knew he meant more torture.

"Why do I not know about it then?"

"Maybe it's only for his older followers," I suggested. "If your in Hogwarts you can't be gone too long before a teacher will notice."

"So what are you guys going to do about it?"

Both Severus and I raised an incredulous brow, but Severus asked first, "What are you talking about?"

Dave looked agitated, "Don't tell me you're going to just let them attack. You just said you lived there! Shouldn't you do something about it?"

Severus snorted derisively, "I said that place was no home of mine."

I vividly remembered my brief visit to his house and couldn't help but agree, "What can we do about it? Were three teenagers. No offense but you're a muggle with a broken leg, they'd take you down in a heart beat."

"No offense taken. It's why I said you should do something about it."

Severus groaned, "He's a mouthy muggle. Just what we need."

Dave growled, "Look buddy I just want you to do something about it. That group of people you're not friends with are vile. Nobody else should have to go through what Danielle and I had to, and if you gave a bleeding shit about other people you would think the same."

The three of us descended into a tense silence. I wanted to do something about it, don't get me wrong, but what were we gonna do? Tell everybody to evacuate their home because people were coming to destroy them?

A sudden thought crossed my mind, "Doesn't the Evans family live near Spinners End?"

Severus nodded, "They aren't that far." His eyes widened, "You don't think the Daek Lord knows, do you?"

"It's a possibility. If he knows about you being friends with her since before Hogwarts then he would. Add on that I'm a friend of hers and he might target her family."

He stood up from the couch so quickly I thought he'd become dizzy, "When did they say this raid was?"

Dave was gaping at the sudden mood change, "They didn't say an exact day, just a general 'in few days' kind of deadline."

Severus looked at me, "Do you have any wards up?" I shook my head negatively and he held out his arm, "Would you prefer to come with me?"

I scoffed, "Is that even a question?" Grabbing onto his arm I made sure to stay perfectly still. My bones were fragile enough, splinching won't help me.

Before he apparated us away I gave Dave a stern "stay here". Once the words were out of my mouth I felt my body contort as if I were being sucked through a straw. The feeling lasted a few seconds before we hit stable ground with a crack. Luckily nobody was around to see our sudden appearance.

I looked up at the familiar house, "I'll get them, you get your mother."

Severus gripped my bicep to prevent me from moving to the front door, "What are you saying?"

"I know you care about your mother. Maybe not so much your father, but your mothers done nothing to deserve whatever punishment Voldemort might give her. Go get her, and then bring her back here so we can figure out a way to get back to the apartment."

He stared at me for a few hard moments before roughly letting me go. I watched him storm off in the direction of his house with a smirk. He loved his mother. He may not show it, but the feelings are there. Just buried beneath his mask of indifference.

With three firm knocks I waited by the Evans' front door until Nathaniel Evans opened it expectantly. When he saw me his look turned to one of surprise, "Danielle? What are you doing here, shouldn't you be in school?"

I internally snorted, You're telling me. "I've been, uh, taken out of school for the time being. I just came here to tell you that you and your family have to come with me."

Nathaniel grew confused, "What for?"

"I have reason to believe that Spinners End is going to be attacked by–" I lowered my voice, "–Voldemort." His eyes widened. "I wanted to warn you and your family that you might be in danger should He find you. I would be very grateful if you came with me to what I know to be a safe place. It would ease my mind."

"You think that dark lord of yours is going to attack our neighborhood?" Nathaniel asked worriedly.

"Yes," I nodded. "Or at least near here. If you come with me and they end up attacking then at least we'll have taken the correct measures to stay safe. If they don't attack then we'll know everything is fine and we worried for nothing."

Nathaniel gave me a searching look before gesturing for me to come inside. I followed him into the familiar living room where he told me to wait. I did as he asked and listened for the murmurs that started between him and whatever family member he was speaking with.

Footsteps could be heard coming towards me from down the hallway Nathaniel disappeared down. Nathaniel came through first, but disappeared up their stairs to the second floor. Daisy Evans, Lily's mother, entered the living room right after him and walked up to me. "It's wonderful to see you Danielle," she pulled me into a hug, "I only wish it was with better news."

I smiled as she pulled away, "Let's hope I'm worrying for nothing."

She smiled back, "I hope so as well, but I thank you for warning us." We sat on the couch to continue talking, "My husband mentioned something about you taking us to a safe place?"

I nodded, "Yes. I have an apartment well have to stop at first, then there's a place that I know will fit all of us."

"All of us?" Daisy sounded intrigued.

"Severus is going to get his mother and meet us here. Then all of us are going to travel to the apartment where my friend Dave is waiting."

"Dave? Is he one of your school friends? Lily never mentioned him."

"No, he's a muggle. I met him when I was taken out of Hogwarts." Saying this made me realize Lily also never mentioned to her family that Voldemort kidnapped me. It was a bit of a relief since that meant less people needed to worry about me.

A sudden yell came from upstairs, "I'm not leaving!"

Daisy sighed, "Please excuse me."

I was alone in their living room to awkwardly listen to the argument going on between the elder Evans' and their daughter. It went on for several minutes before silence finally descended. I heard two sets of footsteps coming down the stairs and saw Daisy smile apologetically, "We'll have to pack first."

I smiled back in understanding, "Go right ahead."

The two of them walked back to where there bedroom must have been located. Petunia must have been the owner of the upset voice upstairs. It was late enough in the evening for her to be home from school.

It took half an hour for the three family member to get ready and bring their luggage to the front door. Petunia was giving me the evil eye the entire time, but Basil was menacing enough to keep her from saying anything degrading. Another half hour later had Snape knocking on the door with a black eye.

"What happened?!" I tilted his head towards the light.

All he said was, "My father," and nothing more was said.

"I will be apparating you all one by one since Danielle is unable to." Severus held his arm out to Daisy first. "My mother is already waiting for us at the apartment."

She tentatively grabbed his elbow with one hand and her suitcase in the other. A moment later they disappeared with a loud crack.

Petunia gasped, "What did that freak do with mum?"

I looked at her calmly, a stark contrast to her anger, "They apparated to my apartment. She's in good hands."

Another loud crack had Severus appearing by himself, "Next."

This continued with both Petunia and Nathaniel, although it took quite a bit of coaxing for Petunia to agree. When it was my turn I grabbed onto his arm with a tired sigh, "I will be so happy when this is all over." Severus gave a hum of agreement before the two of us left the house with a crack.