I've come to see my worth to others. You get what I give you.

"Alright," Moody sat back in the chair with his bloody arms crossed, "I'll wait."

Severus went into another coughing fit, blood coming up with each exhale. "What…"

Moody leaned back in his chair, not taking his eyes off Severus, "Won't be much longer now. Either you tell me or you die. Only one of those leads back to her."

"Or… the Veritaserum… kicks in?"

Moody's face gave no tell, "Or you die."

"What… kind of… potion master… would I be…?" Severus choked on a laugh, spitting blood onto the floor.

He growled in frustration, "Yer running out of time, and blood."

"And you need me alive."

Several minutes passed with neither speaking a word. The only sound in the room from the crackling fire and his wheezing breaths. Moody stared at him hard, he was sure Severus could feel it even though his eyes were closed.

"Yer really going to die with your eyes closed?"

"Better than spending my last moments looking at your ugly mug."

Another several minute passed, Severus' breathing got slower and his hands going limp at his side, "Tell her…"

"Shut up," Moody ordered and stood suddenly.

His vision went blurry; he felt colder than he'd ever had before. Moody was fishing in his jacket for something. When he finally found it, he pulled Severus' arm roughly. Setting it straight and ripping off his belt. He tied it around his bicep and pulled out an old looking muggle needle.

Severus didn't react at the small pinch of the needle, finding the vein. The needle was attached to a long yellowish rubber hose, which was being attached to a red bag that was suspended magically in the air above his head.

Moody leaned over his bed, staring down at his nearly lifeless form, "This doesn't mean I like you."

He removed the belt from his arm, and the blood transfusion began. To him, it felt like fire was being injected into his body. He could feel it travel up his arm and to the center of his chest. With each pump of his heart, the intensity got worse.

He cried out in pain and reached for Moody, who smacked his hand away, "Pain means yer alive. Use it."

The bleeding from his torso stopped, but his body was thrashing about the bed. A pulsing red glow started to form in the center of his chest.

"Shite!" Moody cursed and jumped up again.

He quickly grabbed Severus by the throat and pulled him from the bed, the blood bag floating behind them as he dragged him out of the room. Severus' body was still arching in pain, convulsing with each second that passed.

The order members in the house peeked out from their rooms, "What's going on?"

"Oi, should he be doing that?"

"Alastor! What are you doing to the poor boy?"

Calling out over his shoulder, "No time! I gotta get this thing out of here!"

He took the steps down two or three at a time. Severus started to fight back on the second floor, kicking and clawing at the hand around his throat. His eyes turned red and back to black, smoke coming from his nostrils and gaping mouth.

When he threw open the front door and crossed the threshold with Severus, he apparated them to an open field in the outskirts of Scotland, near the border. When they arrived, he threw Severus to the ground and started to back away.

He landed on his stomach, struggling to breathe and crawl to his knees. Moody held his hand open to the IV and blood bag that were now empty, letting them float into his grasp. His other held his wand, pointing it defensively at Severus.

Severus' body was fighting to transform. His arms and head changing to his dragon form and back again. The glow in the center of his chest getting brighter and brighter and he still struggled to breathe.

"Come on…" Moody growled impatiently as he watched on, "Let go!"

Severus tilted his head up, opening his mouth and exhaling a large flame. During this, his body transformed into his large black frame with clawed wings. His scream of pain changing into a thunderous roar.

The flame caught the grass as he thrashed around, the fire spreading down the hill in all directions. The large dragon rolling around in pain and anger. Clawing at the ground beneath him angrily.

Moody used his magic to control the fire, thus catching the attention of the large-scaled beast. Severus rounded on him, red eyes intent on their target as he reared back. Moody looked up to him with a smirk, "You don't want to do that…" he held his left arm high above his head, clutching Juliet's traveling cloak.

Severus roared loudly as he collapsed to the ground before him, changing back to his human form. "Give her back!"

Moody circled him, watching him still writing in pain and his body smoking, "We had an understanding, that to keep her safe is to keep her from you. Do you think she would want your bloody hands on her? To lay next to a different man than she married? You reek of dark magic. Unclean!"

"You said I could see her," Severus looked up at him, one arm supporting him while the other clutching his bandages, "I want to see her, show me she's safe."

"Aye, but I never said when."

"NOOOO!" Severus roared at him, his face growling scales and his eyes turning to the red slits they once were.

Moody spat on the ground, "When you can control your rage and your darkness, only then will I let you see her."

"I'll kill you!" Severus pushed off the ground, charging at the other man.

Moody sidestepped him easily, "You're not a man! Not anymore! Hardly a wizard either!"

Severus landed on the ground again, his face pressed against the grass. He was sweating, and smoke was coming from his mouth with each breath, "What… what did you do to me?"

His body convulsed again, the dragon inside of him fighting to escape.

"I saved you the only way I could. Magic was killing you, and muggle means wasn't enough." Moody pulled the blood bag back out and threw it on the ground near him, "Dragon's blood has healing properties."

He choked on his words, "But- deadly when consumed- direct contact-"

"Aye, if ye be a normal wizard." Moody looked smug, "But you didn't think to hide your mind well enough. You protected her at all bloody costs but left yerself open. If I saw it, I know damn well your new master did too."

"No…"

"You may not see it now, but this was for the best."

Severus ripped the bandages off, struggling not to get tangled in them. Looking down, he saw the stitches gone, the bright red scarring of the large incision still fresh but healed. The glow in his chest still pulsing with each beat of his heart.

"Pain…"

Moody cocked a brow, "Did ye think it would tickle?

Severus looked up at him, "All you've brought me is pain and grief…"

Moody brought his hand down quick, slapping him with the back of his hand hard. Sending him rolling down the hill as he followed angrily, "I'm sorry, does it hurt being alive? Does it hurt being apart from your LIVING wife?!"

Severus rolled onto his back, looking up at him and pointing to his face, "The scratches on your face… she didn't want to leave me."

Moody's hand went to his cheek and neck, running his fingers over where he pointed, "She's been gone for weeks now. That's how long you've been laying there on your death bed. These are from one of your brothers."

"You deceptive and lying thief!"

"Am I?" Moody barred his teeth, "Run back to your Master and ask him where Rookwood is!"

The crack of thunder rang through the air. Moody apparated, leaving Severus alone in the charred hills of Scotland.