The letters arrived regularly, at least one every week. Sometimes two, if something important had happened. They were all meticulously written in code, taken from a copy the morning's Daily Prophet, in case someone intercepted them. Sev was especially careful when he was writing from Malfoy Manor. Hazel could always tell when he was there, since his letters were encoded a little differently for an added layer of security. As an extra precaution, they had agreed to burn them as soon as they read them no matter if they contained important information or not.

Draco Malfoy has been given a mission from the Dark Lord. I'm afraid I cannot tell you what it is, even in person. I've been sworn to secrecy on both sides, and sworn to help him along the way. Should he be unable to accomplish it, it will be left up to me. Let's not worry too much about it just yet.

I saw your latest publication deal announced in the Prophet. Congratulations. I would be careful about trying to publish the Dark Arts history compendium you've been working on any time soon, but I see no harm in your book on the history of the Wizengamot. I'm sure Dolores Umbridge would appreciate it.

I will only put this in writing because I know you will burn it as soon as you read it. I miss you. Even when we were incredibly busy, I could see you at nearly every meal. I miss it. I miss passing you in the hallway. I miss sending you notes between classes and pretending like it was something incredibly urgent in front of the students. I miss falling asleep next to you. Perhaps we can see each other a little more openly now that she's gone.

I'm going to be at Spinner's End for the rest of the summer unless I am needed at Malfoy Manor. Unfortunately we have a rather ratlike houseguest, but he can be dispatched elsewhere if you would like to stay for a few days. - Sev

Spinner's End was a dilapidated street in a dilapidated town. A stillness hung in the air, like half of the town had picked up and left when the factory jobs ran out and the mill fell silent. A permanent chill had since settled over the town, mist rolling off of the river as Hazel apparated to what she hoped was the right home. Dark water churned in the river as she looked around, a couple of children cycling by, calling out to each other.

Hazel knocked, a face peering out of the frosted glass at her. She had thought he was dead. Sev hadn't mentioned him by name in his letters, but he had told her enough that she knew Peter was alive and well, following Voldemort like a puppy. He had been assigned to the house, to help Sev in whatever he needed. Personally Hazel thought Voldemort was getting annoyed with him underfoot so he'd shipped him off to annoy Sev for a little while. A dark shadow appeared behind Pettigrew, who had decided to stare at her. Back in their school days, she had been a friend of a friend. Remus knew her, but the rest of the Marauders kept their distance. "It's alright, Wormtail, she is welcome here. Run along."

"Hi Sev," she smiled, giving him a quick kiss before stepping inside. "How are you?"

"Stop gawking, Wormtail, or the Dark Lord will have to craft you some replacement eyes to go with that hand." Peter scuttled away, lurking in the kitchen as Sev turned back to her. "Sorry about him, he can be a bit of a pest. Come on in."

Sev had redecorated since his parents died. Stepping directly into a sitting room absolutely filled to the brim with bookshelves, Hazel took it all in. The walls were covered in leather-bound books, copies of the ones he kept stored in his chambers at Hogwarts. All of them had been bewitched to mimic each other. What he wrote in a book at Hogwarts automatically copied itself into the same book in the house. A threadbare sofa and a matching armchair sat in front of the fireplace. A well-worn desk had its place in front of the only window, directly opposite a narrow staircase. She ran her finger down the spine of an ancient text, Sev about to apologize for the dilapidated air of the room as she turned to tell him, "It's beautiful. Charming, in a cozy-old-library kind of way."

If it had been anyone else, he would have assumed it was a lie. The room wasn't quite stuffy, but it was a lot more like an ancient library than any sitting room. But Hazel enjoyed spending her time in libraries, in cozy tea shops (though they both absolutely detested Madam Puddifoot's and refused to set foot in there), and places other people would have written off as too cold, too impersonal, too academic. "Wormtail, make yourself useful and fetch us some wine, since I know you're listening in." Wormtail appeared a moment later, two glasses and a new bottle of elf-made wine in his hands. "Very good. You have the rest of the evening off to… do as you please."

"If I may ask, sir, who's the beautiful lady, and to what do we owe the pleasure?"

"You don't remember me?" Hazel asked as Sev poured her a drink.

Peter's eyes widened as he realized that they did know each other. "The Ravenclaw?"

"The very same. Thank you, Sev." She accepted her glass gratefully, telling Pettigrew that, "I teach at the school now. The Ministry was tiring... and headed in the wrong direction." With a clever smile, she looked to Sev, adding, "I know where I belong now."

He gave an almost imperceptible nod. They had agreed not to mention the Order, or Dumbledore, or anything that would make Pettigrew question her loyalty, and by extension, his own. With Wormtail sent away, they were able to settle in a little more. But Sev grew wary, so the two of them moved upstairs. The stairway had been enchanted to keep Pettigrew from entering unless he was given a specific task on the second floor. Otherwise he would bounce off the forcefield, something that entertained Sev for the first few days after he had put up the charm.

"Sev, why do I get the feeling that you've done something terrible?"

"Very abrupt of you," he noted, the two of them barely in the upstairs hallway. He opened a door, pulling her inside before answering. "I've made an Unbreakable Vow, and I've promised Dumbledore that… I cannot tell you what it is, but if anything happens, anything out of place or... wrong, I need you to know that Dumbledore had it planned."

She set her glass down on the desk, hardly paying attention to the little office they were standing in. "'If anything happens'? Sev, what do you mean? He had what planned? Are you in danger?"

Sev set his glass down next to hers and took her hands in his own. "Promise that you'll believe me no matter what happens."

"Alright, I promise. I'll believe there was a plan behind the unbelievable. But what -"

"You asked me if I was in danger. I am always in danger, but this isn't about me right now, it's about you. You're in danger as well."

"You are not about to give me the 'it's too dangerous, you have to leave' speech," she warned, her face growing darker. "Severus, that's not how this works."

Shaking his head, he told her that, "Within the next year the Dark Lord is going to start hunting anyone who makes their Muggle sympathies known. Wormtail has seen you here. He thinks you can be trusted. You mustn't do anything to make anyone suspect otherwise."

"I've been careful," she reminded him. "I haven't done anything out in the open, anything even slightly questionable."

"Please." His voice caught in his throat, Hazel seeing through the cracks in the armor he usually wore. He was already catching himself, not about to say more. A second of weakness, that was all he allowed himself. "Please, be careful. Everything you say, everything you do, unless we're somewhere you know to be safe, assume someone is listening in."

They fell asleep peacefully that night, the two of them wrapped in each other's arms. It had been ages since they had shared a bed, even innocently. Not since they had drifted off after Sirius' memorial. Pettigrew scurried off to tell Voldemort, but he had only good things to say. He'd done some digging on his old classmate and found out that she came from a Pureblood family, one of the best. If Snape trusted her, they likely could trust her too.

Hazel woke to find that Sev had bolted up in bed, taking a moment to realize where he was. "Are you alright?" she yawned, reaching out for him in the dim light. The sun was just beginning to rise, starting to filter through the Cokeworth haze.

"Nightmare," he mumbled, laying back down. "It's nothing."

She didn't drop the subject, rolling over to look at him. "What was it?"

Trying in vain to conceal the fact that he had been close to tears, he stared at the ceiling as he explained. "Have you ever been hit with a Cruciatus Curse?"

Her stomach dropped. "Once. The same night Moody lost his eye. Was that it?" she asked, keeping her voice soft. She reached out, brushing a strand of hair out of his eyes. "You're cold."

"The Dark Lord has used it on me a couple of times. Effectively, and then less so. The last was the same night he killed the Potters. Do you know why?" Hazel shook her head, knowing how he must have wanted Voldemort to just kill him. "I was late. The years I spent loyal to him gave me enough bad memories to fuel a lifetime of nightmares. This one, though, he had gotten to you."

She was a little too quiet for a little too long. She'd promised herself she would never tell him, and yet here she was, the words halfway out of her mouth before she realized what she was saying. "Back when I was an Auror, they had me using it on the Death Eaters. Not just out in battle. There were three of us, who knew a lot of them, who were particularly good at asking questions. We… We tortured them for information."

It was Sev's turn to fall silent. "You… you tortured people?"

"Back then I would've said Crouch made us, but… I should've stopped earlier. I never should've agreed to do it in the first place," she told him. "But I was twenty and terrified and so angry at all of them for killing my friends and for hurting you and... there's no excuse for it. Which is why I'm kind of glad all I do for the Order is gather intelligence and train people in defensive magic."

"What made you stop?"

"You did," she confessed, finally turning to look at him. "I saw them bring you in, and… I could hear you screaming in my nightmares for months afterward. I knew we were hurting people, but I thought we were doing it for the greater good. We were saving lives, but none of us were innocent. I can still hear it sometimes."

Sev reached out for her, Hazel collapsing into his arms. Neither of them knew what to say. They'd both done terrible things during the First Wizarding War. If he was completely honest, it was some comfort that she had killed and tortured people too. At least he wasn't the lone person on their side who had done it. Plenty of them had, actually. All of the Aurors, at least. None of them were completely innocent. Then again, the Aurors had tortured and killed in the name of the Ministry, so they would always be looked at differently. "I can't say it's alright," he said slowly, "but I can tell you that you're not alone. We're both trying to make up for the things we've done. They're not forgivable, but a very wise woman once told me that we can still do our best to make the world a little more right."

That made her smile a little. "I hate this, Sev. I hate that it's all starting again. I hate that we're even in the position to make choices like that again. But I'm glad I have you this time."