To anyone who is (still) reading this: I am sorry for the constant revisions! I thought it was too long and so I've broken it up into smaller chapters. I'll hopefully write a bit more during the end of this lockdown period too, but no promises!

"You've been rather quiet, Severus."

Lucius had his back to him, pouring out a large glass of brandy. Snape was well practised in the art of hiding his emotions, but even so, he was grateful that he had a moment to compose himself. This whole new plan had left him feeling somewhat unsettled.

"No quieter than usual, Lucius. Merely thinking through things - thinking through the plan in particular. It must be foolproof, this is a massive gamble we are taking here."

"Yes," Lucius said absentmindedly, putting the bottle back on the glass. "Kidnapping a Hogwarts student, well, I suppose there's a first time for everything- would you like any brandy, Severus?"

"Not for me, thank you," Snape said, watching the aristocrat put the bottle away. Lucius wandered over and sat in the chair opposite Snape's, directly by the fireplace. The old manor needed some warmth, in Snape's opinion.

"Forgive me if I have this all wrong," Snape said smoothly, deciding to throw caution to the winds, "but would I be correct in saying that the selection of this girl has something to do with the scandal last year-?"

"The Dark Lord cares little for some silly school incident," Lucius said, cutting across Snape. A dull flush flared up across his pale features. "But nonetheless he was appalled, as you can imagine, by the idea of a Half-Blood trying to seduce a Pure-Blooded wizard. So perhaps it has somewhat. I rather think this is more about making an example of someone involved with Potter though, don't you agree?" He shot Snape a sharp look.

"I quite agree," Snape said carefully. "I just wondered if perhaps you'd put forward Cassandra's name because of what happened."

"Well, between you and I…" Lucius turned around, even though they were quite alone in the lounge. "I did mention her – not by name, of course – when this plan was in the early stages. I thought she seemed like an ideal candidate what with her blood status, her friendship with that trio of trouble…

"And of course, what she tried with Draco in the bathroom last Autumn."

Snape kept his face carefully emotionless. Oh yes, trust Lucius to never put any blame on his own son. Lucius had no clue about any of it, he wasn't even there. Not that Snape knew the full story either, but he had a more accurate view on things than the man sat across from him did.

Lucius sighed. "Little tart. Narcissa and Bellatrix are dying to sink their claws into her, and I can't say I will make a particular effort to stop them."

"What about Rodolphus? Should he be stopped?" Snape asked bluntly. His mind wandered back to the meetings they'd had, both informal and formal, and the comments which the Death Eater had made loudly without shame. Snape had done a lot of things wrong over the years, made many mistakes as a teacher, but he knew that what Rodolphus was planning for himself was too far.

Lucius considered for a second. Snape watched him hesitate; he could almost see the vengeful side of Lucius battling with the (admittedly small) moral side. They both knew as well as anyone else that Rodolphus was a predator, and dangerous, at least as dangerous as his so-called wife. They were dangerous in different ways, yet it would be difficult to pick which one was worse.

"Let's see how the events unfold, shall we?" Lucius said, taking a drink from the goblet. "I certainly want no 'funny' business under my roof, that is for certain."

"A thirty-nine year old man preying on a teenager most definitely counts as that," Snape pressed the issue.

"Mmm." There was the clear end to the discussion. Snape hadn't mean to keep talking for as long as he had lest he blew his cover, but this was by far one of the hardest things he was having to do. He almost liked Cassandra Hannett for heaven's sake, and Severus Snape never liked his students. In fact, he rarely enjoyed anybody's company. He was a self-confessed loner who was unafraid to tell people to bugger off when he wanted to be left alone, which was often. Only a few people were special in regards to this.

Minerva McGonagall (though he would never admit it to anybody). Albus Dumbledore. These were a couple of examples.

Lily Evans was another.

And her. The one whose name he still couldn't say aloud.

Snape could not let another young woman die because of him in these wars. He couldn't. It was going to take every ounce of cunning he had to make sure that no harm came to Cassie whatsoever.

As all of these thoughts ran through Snape's mind, Scabior came strolling in. At once, Lucius sat stiffer in his chair and clutched the glass of brandy harder, as if he wanted to throw it at the Snatcher. If Voldemort kept on allowing Scabior into Death Eater headquarters whenever he pleased, there was going to be a duel between the two men. It was inevitable.

Eyeing the Snatcher and recalling just how vulgar he could be, Snape was forced to come to another conclusion. He would have to make sure that Cassie was exposed to as little harm as possible.

~~~(O.O)~~~

In the early evening, all of the Death Eater's and Voldemort had left the Manor, leaving Lucius, Narcissa and Draco to have dinner alone. It was a fairly miserable affair, with little talking or warmth. The second that dessert was finished, Draco, who had touched none of his, sprang to his feet and strolled out. Lucius sighed.

"I am concerned about that boy," Lucius said, voicing his concerns for the first time. Despite Draco being much paler than the average person, recently his skin had taken on a tone that was rarely seen on healthy people. He also rarely smiled, nor did he show much interest in anything.

"As am I," Narcissa said with a sigh, rising gracefully. She levitated the plates without saying a word and walked towards the kitchen.

"Narcissa, wait." Lucius didn't want her to go too quickly. He had been rehearsing what to say to her for a while now. "Darling, can't you-?"

"No," Narcissa said bluntly, and Lucius sighed, feeling slightly hopeless. Whatever was a man to do when he was still so love with a wife who did not return his affections?

"We can't do anything, Narcissa, you understand this, yes?" Lucius said desperately. "If you think I'd rather have them around all the time, then you're-"

"Then I'm what, Lucius?" Narcissa snapped. There was a blazing fury in her eyes. "Do you think this – any of this – is what I wanted for my life? I never dreamed, back when we first became acquainted at Hogwarts, that our shared beliefs on blood purity would take us this far! This is too extreme now! When I married you, I thought that we'd have a peaceful life together, with our son. That's all I wanted. An escape from my turbulent childhood. Dear Merlin, whatever did I do to deserve this?"

The look of despair on his wife's face almost broke Lucius' heart. He knew that she was right; he had failed her. He had been dishonest about his intentions, fully knowing that Narcissa did not want a life based around a longing for power and obsessive ideas about blood purity. It had taken over five months for Lucius to admit to Narcissa that he had become a Death Eater. Oh, how she had cried that night.

What a fool he had been.

"Isn't there anything I can do to resolve this?" Lucius pleaded.

"No," Narcissa replied simply, turning away again. "And before you ask, I am not ready to share the marital bed again just yet."

Lucius let out the deepest sigh yet. It was going to be another lonely, cold night in the spare bedroom for him.

~~~(O.O)~~~

"So, ere's the plan," Scabior said patiently for the third time. "Listen up this time, 'cause I ain't gonna say it again. You two-" he pointed at Amycus and Alecto, "- are gonna take the Polyjuice Potion and turn into them red-headed twins-"

"What's 'appening to the real ones?" Amycus asked, his mouth hanging open slightly. Alecto rolled her eyes.

"I already said," Scabior repeated, feeling annoyance rise up inside him, "we're gonna 'ex them and stuff 'em in a cupboard somewhere. Just leave that to me, awright? So, once you've taken the Potion, I'm gonna Apparate to-"

"Are you sure we're gonna be able to stuff 'em in the cupboard?" Amycus interrupted, looking unnecessarily concerned about this. "They're awful tall, Scab, don't ya think?"

"If you interrupt once more, I'll be stuffing you into a bloody cupboard!" Scabior snarled; red sparks shot out of the end of the want that he was gripping so tightly. "We will all Apparate to Diagon Alley just as they're closing the shop, then I will walk in and 'ex the twins and deal with them. You two will take the potion and I'll 'ide out in that garden. It'll be your responsibility to lure her out then persuade her to take a nice, relaxing walk in the garden. I'll do the rest. Any questions?"

"Yes," Alecto said. She was by far the smarter of the Carrow twins, so Scabior was not nearly as irritated. "How the hell do we know when she's doing her shifts in the shop?"

"Aha," Scabior said with a broad grin. He reached into a pocket and produced a scrappy bit of parchment that had barely legible handwriting on it. "I 'ave been spying on that shop for a while now, ever since I 'eard her name brought up. I wrote down all the times when she was in the shop, and when they were likely to leave to go out food shopping."

"You crazy fucker," Alecto said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yep," Scabior said proudly, pocketing it. "I 'ave it memorised. We'll go Wednesday afternoon; she 'as the afternoon off and they usually go out shopping right after closing time."

"Ideal," Alecto agreed. "I have another question though; why can't we be the ones to take her straight to Malfoy Manor? Why are you so involved?"

Scabior had already planned an answer for this. "Because no-one's gonna believe that those dozy twins would kidnap 'er. Besides, when they wake up, they're gonna be spreading it far and wide that their precious friend 'as gone missing."

This wasn't the real reason at all. In reality, Scabior very much enjoyed his job of unofficially arresting people and taking them to meet their fate. He wanted his little game of Hide and Seek with this pretty young girl, and he was damn well going to make sure that he got it.

~~~(O.O)~~~

'Normally, when one's brother turns up to the house, they aren't there to fuck their dear brother's wife,' Rodolphus thought, watching Rabastan stroll up the path, checking anxiously behind him.

That bastard.

The affair didn't concern him. The marriage was one of convenience, a seemingly respectable, Pure-Blooded marriage. It certainly wasn't about love. At first, the marriage was absolutely fine. The shared values and membership to Voldemort's inner circle was one good thing about marriage. Bellatrix being a wild animal in the bedroom was another. At the beginning. The problem at this current moment wasn't that she had lost that kinky, wild side. It was the fact that she was presenting this side to basically any other man but her husband.

And Rabastan. His brother was a slimy one, alright. He had dishonest, darting eyes that looked shifty. This was the first clue to the affair that Rodolphus had noticed. The habit of breaking eye contact with him mysteriously grew worse whenever Bellatrix was nearby.

"Rabastan," he heard Bellatrix breathe downstairs after the door closed. "Rodolphus is asleep upstairs. Come into the sitting room…"

Rodolphus smiled bitterly. What did he need his wife for, anyway? Wasn't that girl being kidnapped soon? She'd be wandless, afraid, alone and vulnerable, without anyone to look out for her. He would have his way with her, and there was nothing she'd be able to do about it…

~~~(O.O)~~~

Two days later, Cassie heaved a sigh, staring out of the window in the kitchen. The tea she had in her hands was becoming steadily colder, but she barely noticed.

"Cheer up, Cass," Fred said, coming into the kitchen and stopping still at the melancholy sight of her. "Do you want to come and help us?"

"I'd rather not," Cassie replied, not even glancing at him. It was Fred's turn to sigh.

"Look, Cass-"

"Look at what? The kitchen? The bedroom? I've been cooped up in here for days, Fred!" Cassie said somewhat hysterically. "You two are basically keeping me a prisoner in here and I'm bloody sick of it." She stormed past him, knocking into him slightly, but she didn't care. Tipping the cold tea down the drain, she dumped the mug in the sink and strode into her bedroom, shutting the door behind her.

A little while later, there was a gentle knock on the door. Cassie was flicking through a cookbook and was not in the mood to be pestered.

"Bugger off," she called, not taking her eyes off the page. Spicy Moroccan carrot salad sounded interesting, far more interesting than anything those two could possibly say to her now.

"Let me in, Cass. It's my room too."

Cassie sighed loudly, plonking the book down beside her on the bed and got up to open the door. George was stood there, looking unusually solemn. She glared up at him, leaning against the doorway with her arms folded.

"Cassie, please don't be angry with us," George said pleadingly. "And we aren't 'keeping you a prisoner' here."

"Oh yeah?" Cassie challenged, raising her eyebrows. "Do most boyfriends keep their girlfriends in the house and guilt them into staying put?"

George sighed, in an instant annoyed. "For God's sake, you don't need to be so bloody difficult all the time. You go out there then, if you think it's safe."

"What if we all went out together?" Cassie pressed, desperate to leave the flat.

"And you think Fred and I are a match for a potentially dangerous stalker? We don't know what sort of magic he has. But like I said, you go out there if you want."

"No, it's alright. I'll stay." Tensions were high these days, and the rage was building up inside her yet again. She wanted to kick the doorframe like she was ten all over again, but resisted the urge. Instead, Cassie shut the door in his face and resumed the reading of her cookbook. She read and reread the recipes until the words blurred on the page and no longer made sense. This was not fair! They had no right to do this.

~~~(O.O)~~~

George smiled at the sight of the young boys running round his shop, chased by the Umbridge puppet, but even he could tell that it hadn't quite reached his eyes. Falling out with Cassie was a rare occurrence, and one that always put him in an uncharacteristically bad mood. It was taking everything within him to smile and put on a cheerful display for the customers' benefit when really, he just wanted to patch things up with his girlfriend.

"Excuse me?" A young voice jolted him from his thoughts. He looked down and saw a young girl with brown hair tied messily back into a ponytail and very dark eyes. She resembled Cassie as an eleven year old, getting on the train for the first time… Resisting the urge to sigh loudly, George instead took the Skiving Snackbox from the girl's hands and began to put it through the cash register. Perhaps he'd wait a while, until after he and Fred had closed the shop, then go and patch things up with her. He knew from experience that Cassie needed time to sulk.

~~~(O.O)~~~

At six o'clock, Diagon Alley was near deserted. It seemed that no one wanted to linger these days. There were still a few shoppers about, but they all had similar expressions of nervousness across their faces. The Alley had lost its magical feel and an aura of misery seemed to shroud it.

Three loud POPs were therefore obvious. Two of the three people stayed hidden in the shadows, but the tallest one stepped out and had to be yanked back by his companions.

"Amycus, you fool!" Alecto hissed at him. "Stay here."

"Awright, sorry," Amycus muttered sullenly. Scabior stepped forwards and squinted at the shop opposite. From what he could see, it was pretty much empty.

"Are those two in there?" Alecto breathed. Her small piggy eyes were darting from side to side as she peered out, looking out for any potential threats walking down the street.

"Yep," Scabior said, watching as one of the twins flipped the sign around to show that they were now closed. The twin flicked his wand and returned some merchandise to a brightly coloured box, and then the box to the shelf, and Scabior turned to the other two.

"Right, when I say so, we're all gonna 'ead in there and throw as many Stunning spells at the both of 'em as we can," Scabior said. The old thrill was returning to him in a surge of adrenaline. He loved the chase and he loved to catch his next victim, and this next victim of his was going to be a good one.

"I still don't know how we're gonna pull this off," Amycus said thickly. There was a loud yelp after the sound of a hard smack. "What did ya do that for, Scab?"

"If you ruin this entire plan, you won't need to fear the Dark Lord's reaction, cuz I'll get ya first, you mark my words," Scabior snarled. He knew he should have used one of the more intelligent Death Eaters. Hell, anyone was more intelligent than Amycus Carrow.

He watched closely, but neither twin went near the door again, meaning that they had left it unlocked. There was no better time.

"Remember, if one of us goes down, the other's gotta keep fighting," Scabior said in a low voice. "Ready…? Now!"

Amycus and Scabior sprinted over, with Alecto huffing and puffing in the background.

"Alecto, 'urry up!" Amycus said urgently, eyes wide, as Scabior tried the door carefully. It didn't open. One of those dratted twins must have locked it using magic from a distance.

"Right, time to do it the 'ard way," Scabior said, supressing a grin. Things were always more fun when done the 'hard way'. Raising his wand, he uttered, "Alohamora," before stepping inside.

"Shops closed now, I'm afraid," came the loud voice of one of the twins. Scabior had to grit his teeth. Was this the one who had her? A stab of unreasonable jealousy caused a wave of rage, and he suddenly couldn't wait to see the bastards and Stupefy them… In fact what he really wanted to do was to knock them out the Muggle way… with his fist…

"Is someone out there, Fred?" came another voice.

"I thought I heard the door open…" Fred's voice tailed off, and as if on cue, both twins entered the shop from two different doors.

"Hi, shop's closed now I'm afraid… Merlin's bloody beard, George." The twin called Fred stopped still to stare at both of them. His dark eyes were wide with fear, and he turned to look at his twin, who looked both fearful and angry.

"It's him." The other one, George (and Scabior somehow knew that it was him, the one who possessed such a lovely creature), was glaring at him with a look that could kill. He had recognised Scabior, and the Snatcher gripped his wand tighter as he stared at who he now considered to be his love rival.

"Stupefy!" Alecto snarled behind him, and Fred crumpled to the floor unconscious. Behind him, Amycus, slow on the uptake as ever, was beginning to utter the spell. Scabior wanted to get there first, know that the man in front of him would be Stunned because of him.

"Stupefy!" Scabior roared, and George joined his twin on the floor.