Chapter 1

A Slytherin Rescue

Silence was a gift in these moments. These moments where the unknowing was tortuous. He had no idea where he was. All he knew was that he couldn't move and that it was cold. His body felt like ice, and apart from the shackles holding his arms and legs apart he was wearing nothing. Still, the darkness in the room made him feel relaxed. It could have been worse, they could have left the lights on. But, optimism was a Gryffindor trait, and he certainly wasn't one of them. He was naked, and chained to a wall wondering why he wasn't dead yet. He was the one person now hated by both the dark and the light. Severus had worked hard to be hated by the students to protect his privacy, but this mistake had cost him dearly. He was not hoping for a rescue at this point, but death to relieve him from his suffering. How long had he been there, hours, days? He had long since stopped counting.

There was a small sound in the room that made him jump. For the first time, he felt the frustration of the shackles around his limbs. Someone groaned in the darkness. He wasn't alone. Choosing to remain silent, whoever it was would either reveal themselves or not. Severus was never a social person, and meeting someone for the first time in his state of weakness made him feel sick to his stomach. There was not even a sliver of light to allow his eyes to adjust to the dark. He wasn't sure if the other person in the room was awake or groggy from just waking into consciousness. He heard the metal against the wall. The other person must have been shackled too.

Severus was torn between never wanting to reveal himself to this other person and the curiousity that perhaps this person had people who worried enough to come looking for them. It was a sliver of a chance, but still a chance of escape. Severus had not eaten for days and his body was weakened. He did not have much of a chance if there was a fight, but something inside him made him try, "Hello?"

He regretted it immediately. The curiousity had won over his shame. If there was light in the room, the other person would clearly see his humiliation, "Professor"

Severus panicked again. It was a student. Now, Severus was forced to find the need to survive if only to rescue this other person. He recognized the voice, "Draco, what happened?"

"We were found out. Father and Mother are dead. The manor is burnt, and I don't know what happened next. The Dark Lord found out about you, but I wouldn't say anything. Now, everyone is dead." Draco's voice quivered, but there was no sob. He willed himself not to let tears fall. He couldn't even move to dry his eyes if he wanted to.

"Where were you when you were captured?" Severus asked, trying to avoid the conversation turning towards him. He felt guilty. It was his fault that the Malfoys were dead. He wondered that if Lucius knew about his true allegiance, would he be alive. Would he have switched sides as he had? The Malfoys were unpredictable, but Draco was only a child. It was an adult's duty to protect their children. Severus's role in the war depended on him being a strategist. Right now, despite the pain and humiliation he would feel if they were rescued, he needed to find a way for Draco to survive.

"I was asleep at the Manor. I woke briefly to the Dark Lord murdering my parents and the manor ablaze. The Dark Lord wouldn't kill me though. He said that he needed to use me to make a point to the other traitors. I woke up here." Draco spoke quietly as if he didn't want others to here. It was pointless though. There was nothing they could do to contact anyone, but perhaps Severus thought he could manipulate someone when they entered the chamber again.

"Why am I n..n..naked?" Draco paused, "Are you… you know, too?"

Severus was trying desperately to avoid this conversation. He didn't want Draco to know exactly how vulnerable he was, but this was unavoidable because at some point someone was going to come in and Draco would see him. Severus voice was even quieter than Draco's which was almost a whisper, "Yes, I'm naked too."

"Why?"

"To make sure we aren't hiding anything anywhere. We are wizards, we can transfigure anything to help us. This way we couldn't use anything without doing our bodies serious harm." Severus did everything he could to avoid any really humiliating conversations. It was difficult because aside from sounding confident, there wasn't anything he could really do. To Severus's relief, there was silence for a while.

Suddenly, there was a clicking noise, as if someone was unlocking a door. There was a door to this place, and then there was the light from the door opening. Severus and Draco both turned their heads from the source and closed their eyes to protect them from the sudden light.

"Well, Well, Well, what do you we have here?" Draco turned bright red and struggled against the shackles. Severus hated this too. He put on the scariest look on his fast that he could muster. The truth was he was terrified to see her, "My darling nephew and the conniving Professor who taught him to betray his family."

"He's your nephew and your only family. Let him go, Bella. I have nothing to bargain with, but I do know that you can make use of me." In his desperation, Severus decided to be honest.

"I am to take you both into my custody." She turned to two hooded Death Eaters, "Remove them from the wall, but keep them bound." The two hooded figures followed her orders strictly. For the first time Draco and Severus's arms were just loose enough so they could cover themselves. It wasn't for long because they were quickly placed into a body lock charm and hovered through the hall. They could see other Death Eaters snickering at them as they were floating down the hall. Draco tried to look at Severus to see if there was something he could do, but Severus avoided his eyes in embarrassment. In fact, Severus had his eyes closed.

They both saw large doors open towards the outdoors. It was raining. There were so many Death Eaters watching them. Draco did not recognize the castle or the grounds that they were in, but they reached the point just beyond the gate, and Bellatrix grabbed them both by their arms and disapparated. By the time, Severus and Draco opened their eyes again, it was warm. The were brought into a threshold of a house where there was a fire lit. Their shackles were quickly released, and their bodies unbound. The two Slytherins both bent forward and used their arms to cover as much of their bodies as they could. They didn't have to wait long before the two hooded figures took off their cloaks and each gave them to Severus and Draco who were grateful to be somewhat clothed again. They clutched the cloaks to their bodies staring nervously at their rescuers. A young man with red hair and freckles, and another man with black hair and a lightening bolt across his forehead.

"Here, this will work better." The brown-haired witch who had previously been Bellatrix waved her wand, and both Slytherins were suddenly dressed in full robes, "I'm sorry that we had to put you through that, but we could not have taken down so many Death Eaters without a way to leave."

"Thank you," Severus was the first to speak. He tried to step forward, but his body crumbled from being so weak, but strong arms caught him. He looked up and caught a pair of concerned green eyes, "Potter, let me go."

"Stand up first, Professor." Harry helped Severus into a standing position. Severus tried to walk again but failed. Harry slid his arm around Severus's waist to support him and brought Severus's other arm around his neck, "Its okay, you can lean on me."

It wasn't what Harry wanted to say. He wanted to tell Severus that it was okay to trust them, but he knew firsthand that trust was earned. Having been the only ones to rescue them, Harry hoped he earned a little.