Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Just a fan who used to have free time.

A/N: It seems that I should have properly mapped this story out before starting to post this. But hopefully the next update won't take as long.

Chapter 3: The Beauty of Hope

Willem had chosen an old official building on the outskirts of Cokesworth. The apartment they occupied had previously belonged to an independent film studio before they had moved to Manchester. He had thought it would be a perfect place if such a situation ever arose, where they were being compromised and set if up as a position of defence if it ever came to that.

Ideally, he would have been half way across the county by now, but they needed the money from this sale. He had sent an encrypted fax to a local freelance buyer and was expecting him any minute now. The deal had to be swift. They couldn't afford their Superior from discerning their location.

The product lay outstretched, still unconscious from the chloroform, on a nearby work bench. The swelling disturbingly obvious. But it wasn't their problem now. The buyer would fix her up afterwards. Or perhaps he had customers that liked em that way…

000ooo00ooooo00

Severus felt a small gush if relief. He hadn't been wrong in his assumption of the cat being magical after all. No ordinary cat could run like this.

Had he not had a broom shrunk in one if his pockets, he never would have been able to keep up. The Dark Lord had taught him the fundamentals of unassisted flight before, but he wasn't keen on testing his application of those in a situation as urgent as this.

Using a version of the same cloaking magic of that if the midnight buss, so that only magical beings were aware if his presence, Severus sailed through the skies in hot pursuit. The cat arrived at an old and rundown office building, housing several low time law and advertising firms and the odd studio.

This would nor ease his work as he'd now have to be ever more vigilant as to avoid confrontation. Fights in a heavily crowded area never end well. Far too many people had died on his accord, albeit indirectly, he was not keen on adding to that list.

What was he to expect anyway? Were they magical? Death Eaters acting on their own accord? Actual muggles? It was impossible to ascertain. He would have to rely of the effectiveness of his disillusionment charm and hope on the lack of perception on his opponents part. God what he would have done for that invisibility cloak of Potter's right about now.

The cat, led him an apartment on the second floor. He would not be able to apparte into it as he would have wanted, having never been there before. He cast a quick detect life spell and found three living people inside the apartment. Had be been any less experienced, he would not have been able to dissertation the life force of the girl from the other too. Unlike theirs, her life force flickered much more innocently in his mind's eye. The gentle and magenta flames told him that she was probably unconscious, with the two others being a brighter shade of orange.

This was going to be tricky. Going by the uneven flicker of their flames, he could assume that they were tense. Could they possibly be waiting for someone? This was decision time now. Should Severus wait for the person they are waiting for to arrive and gain a safer entry to the apartment but risk potentially having to deal with another individual. Or does he simply knock and hope that his disillusionment charm is good enough…

The latter, he'd stick with the latter. With a swirling motion of his wand he summoned his corporal patronus, it's true form obviously shrouded in mist, and sent it to the aurors. At least if things got out of hand he would have backup, not long from now.

He then disillusioned himself and made to knock on the door. However, he never had the chance. Just he was about to, a figure rounded the corner and came into the lobby outside the apartment.

A better idea formed in his mind at the sight of this intruder. With a non verbal muffliatio, Severus removed his disillusionment. "Hey! Who the fuck are you?! Where did you come from?!" screeched the man, his hands drawing into his overcoat to retrieve what Severus assumed was his handgun.

"Stupify!"

The man dropped like a sack of bricks. Luckily, having survived a war had sharpened his reflexes. Up against ministry trained aurors for the earlier years of the war combined with the existing swift intricate movements of wizarding duels had made him unmatched to a street thug. Looking down on his fallen foe Severus wondered if he had ever had to use that gun, other than to threaten that is. Kneeling down beside him, put Severus plucked an auburn lock from his head. Taking out a poly juice potion from one of the several pockets in his robes, Severus dipped the single strand into his pre-prepared potion. The liquid bubbled to a dull orange before Severus downed it's contents. The familiar tingling sensation filled him as his body morphed into that of the unconscious man by his feet. Tucking the body away in a nearby storeroom, Severus finally knocked on the door.

He heard shuffling of feet that stopped at the door before he heard a raspy voice from the other side probe, "Darren Fletcher?"

"Affirmative," was Severus's response. After a couple of seconds, Severus heard a faint click from behind the door. 'Interesting,' he thought, 'that sounded an awful lot like the loading of a handgun… Fuck!'

Severus threw himself to his right as a volley of bullets tore through the wooden door and embedded into the wall on the far side.

Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Of course there had been a code. He should have used legilemence, to get it earlier. His thoughts were disturbed by a stinging pain coming from his left arm and a sensation of warm liquid trickling down his forearm. He'd been shot. Great!

Before he could inspect his wound, the door to the apartment flew open and two men rushed out. The lighter one of the duo demande, "Who the fuck are you and where's Danny?!" while levelling a gun at him. "How the hell the did The Supervisor know to get a double for Danny?!" said the heavier, much heavier of the two. Severus realized, to his dismay that while try to avoid being shot, he had lost grip of his wand, which had rolled to the far corner or the lobby. He'd have to rely of something else to get out of this one.

Maintaining eye contact with the one pointed the gun at him for a second, Severus's lip curled up in a smirk before he said, "Legilemence."

To Severus it appeared as if time had frozen as he nosedived strategic into the lanky man's mind. He could see it, glimpses that is, to the dozens of murders committed at the hands of this individual. Flashes of blood and hollow, glazed over eyes passed his through his mind as if he were scrolling through a file cabinet. But he wasn't here for an interrogation. Reaching out, as if to slightly lift a single file out, Severus concentrated to rip it in two.

The effect was instantaneous, an inhuman screech filled his consciousness as his action caused a chain reaction of memories being obliterated by the thousand. The sheer magnitude of the upheaval broke the mental connection between the two. But it was enough. The lighter man's eyes had glossed over, the tip of his tongue sticking out as a thick dollop of drool ran down from his mouth onto his chin. He fell down with an anti-climactic thud behind his companion, having surely said goodbye to his mind for good. There were some fates worse that death, and this time, Severus had the misfortune of invoking it.

His partner turned around in shock at the thud behind him, apparently stunned as to what had happened to his companion. Using this distraction, Severus rushed or his wand with his good hand on the other side of the lobby. "What the fuck did you do to him!" came the behemoth of a man charging at him.

"Sectumsempra!"

The side of the man's abdomen split open in a nasty gash if blood and gore. The adrenaline of the situation causing Severus to put in far too much into the slash than was necessary. But.. The man didn't stop.

CRUNCH!

The last thing Snape could remember was the familiar pain and sound of his nose breaking, but this time, it felt as if he was hit by a freak train instead of a fist.

ooooo000ooooo

Helen awoke to the sensation of something wet scraping against her cheeks. Next, was the sharp pain of her broken cheekbone. Seeing that she was awake, Feebus snuggled up against her collarbone, mewing contently at having had her madam back at his side.

"Kingsley, she's awake," came a voice not far from her. A stout woman probably in her mid to late forties came into view. Her stern expression would have intimidated even the most dangerous of thug on Spinners End. Her ashen gray eyes bore no semblance of emotion, whilst his sandy blond hair was kept in serviceable bun, albeit rather hastily, Helen thought.

Yet, her presence drew neither the fear nor the desperation those of her supposed adoptive parents had. She felt somehow safe, if that were to make sense, from a woman seemingly much more dangerous from the two men who had actually tried and succeeded in abducting her. Her feelings were validated as seemingly from no where, there was life in those features. Her dry lips curved into the slightest of smiles, forming creases or her wrinkled and worn cheeks. Her supposed, dead eyes bore an emotional that struck far closer to home than it should have. Something eerily familiar, something which she had feared to have lost. A feeling of genuine compassion? Yes, that's what is was. Compassion. A far cry from the disassociating looks of pity from her school nurses, bandaging her up. They felt sorry for her yes, the girl from the Hedge, but she wasn't their responsibility. She wasn't theirs. But here, now, lying semi conscious on a table after being abducted with the intention of being sold into slavery, did she feel as if she mattered again. That the compassion she was lucky to receive wasn't out of an obligation to someone's job, but an actual desire for her well being that she could only ever relate to one person. Gran Gran. Some how, even in the most absurd of horrific situations, Gran Gran had veen there for her, had brought her comfort. By teaching her how it felt to be loved. By teaching her, what it meant to have hope.

ooooo000ooooo

The girl was in bad shape. She was awake, yes, but the swelling on her cheek was turning an uncomfortable colour of deceased purple. And to going by the dazed stare she has giving her, and the unevenness of her breathing along with the sudden hitch gave her cause for concern. And to top it off, that annoying cat has at her neck, she's going to get a bloody infection from those dirty furs.

Trying to pull up her most reassuring smile, which going by her standards wasn't much, she inched closer. When she saw Shacklebolt draw closer from the peripheral from her vision, she gave him the slight hand signal to stop. After her recent experiences, the girl shouldn't be subjected to too many people at once.

"Hello girl, you are conscious," albeit the sentence was meant to be a friendly inquiry, it came out as more of a statement. Being said in her voice however, it sounded more like an accusation. What is wrong with her? Surprisingly enough, the girl seemed unperturbed by this 'accusation' and replied with a slight nod. Taking this as a cue to proceed, Savage continued by saying, " The swelling seems pretty bad," another statement, great. "Do not worry girl, you will be taken to St. Mungos, but first let me do something to lessen the pain in the meanwhile." She reached into a pocket of her Auror robes and pulled out a bottle of healing salve. She pored an ample dollop of the viscous liquid before putting the bottle away and grabbing the cat by the scruff of it's neck with her free hand, and dropping it to the floor. The cat gave her a threatening glare before strolling away. She then applied the salve to her injured cheek, cringing as the girl winched in pain ever so slightly.

"Feel any better?" Yes! There you go, she finally managed a personable question.

Another feeble nod was the reply as the focus in the girl's eyes started to fade with the pain slowly subsiding as she slowly drifted back to sleep.

She gently cradled the girl in her arm and started for the fireplace a floor below, not wanting to put someone in such a fragile state through the strain of apparating. As she exited the apartment, she felt somewhat relieved as she wouldn't have to shield the girl's eyes from the mess of blood and gore, further down the hall. Severus had done a number on these criminals.

They had arrived here by Floo, having established a link through the ministry beforehand. Once in front of the fireplace, she sprinkled floo powder into the fire, causing it to burst into an inferno of green. She was about to step through, show heard a thud, as a small weight jumped onto her right shoulder. The cat great. Inwardly sighing, she finally stepped through the green flames and into a world where the girl could discover the beauty of hope.

A/N: I really should have thought more of this story through. Although i am in no means abandoning this, think i'll take some time to pre-write some chapters and plan out story arks. Also, the i just cant seem to get those line breaks, so i guess ill just stick to ooooo000ooooo. Though it'll take me some time to recover from my chikungunya first. Please review. Lots of love and goodbye.