Severus sat at his desk, after Potions class. He was incredibly worried. He'd arrived nearly a week ago, and Jupiter hadn't shown for class. That was about as usual as him awarding points to Gryffindor. She would never miss Potions, not even if she was sick, something he was always chastising her for.
He'd looked for her, didn't know where she was. No one had heard from her, and he didn't even know where to look for her. He'd checked Hogsmeade and the surrounding area. He'd checked all of Hogwarts. He'd even owled her house (and got no reply). Still she eluded him.
He stood, and began pacing. It wasn't like her to disappear without a trace. Dumbledore had said he'd look into it, but Snape couldn't help but feel useless, sitting in his office or quarters, or teaching classes, acting as if life was normal, when he didn't know if Jupiter was even still alive.
"Professor Snape?" came a voice from the doorway. Severus's head snapped up and his eyes darted to the doorway. It was Chaos. "Professor, there is something."
"Something?" Snape asked, "What on earth are you talking about boy? Come on, spit it out!"
"It concerns the Lady."
"Good gods, man, what lady?"
"The Lady. She...Smells of mint..."
Snape stopped dead in his tracks. "Jupiter?" he said, shocked. Chaos nodded slowly.
"She needs you."
Snape's heart skipped a beat. "What happened to her? Is she hurt? Where can I find her?"
"You can't. You can't find her. Master wants you to be loyal, he wants you to spy on Hogwarts. If you disagree, he..." the boy choked, "He will...kill The Lady."
Severus froze. He stared at the boy in disbelief. "What can I do?"
Chaos began shaking. "You will go to the Castle of Shadow, in Mortein City. You will tell Master that you are loyal. He will torture you, and show you that forgiveness comes at a price. Then you will become his again, and The Lady will be set free."
Not bloody likely, thought Snape. Voldemort? Spare someone's life? The very idea was laughable. Perhaps he could find her, though.
"Where can I find Jupiter in the castle?" he asked Chaos. Chaos nodded.
"I thought so." Chaos extended a hand, and Snape saw that his fingers were bruised. Chaos dropped a piece of paper in Severus's hand and then bowed to him. With that, he left.
Severus opened the paper. "Lady -24 floor Castle of Shadow," it read.
Severus was very confused indeed. However, he had to find someone who knew Jupiter.
As he ran, he realized what little about Jupiter's life he knew. He didn't know who her friends were...But wait, he'd heard her speaking with the Malfoy boy...He'd find Draco.
***
Jupiter, tired and sore, skin still burning from the curse, looked up into the faceless darkness of the Death Eaters' hoods.
"Mum..." she said quietly, "Mum?"
There was no response.
"Mum...?" Jupiter said again, and Voldemort shook his head, and gave off an air of smugness.
"Your mum isn't here, Jupiter. She's dead. Your father killed her."
Jupiter found that she wasn't surprised, but felt worse. If there had been anyone available to keep her from this, it would be her mother. But if her mother was dead there wasn't a soul on Earth to save her now.
She sat up quietly, and saw that Voldemort's back was turned to her. She wondered why. She stood, shakily, and walked around the inside of The Circle stupidly, peering around. She spotted a gap in The Circle. She wondered if Severus stood there...? Then a light went off in her brain. A gap in The Circle. A way out. With Voldemort's back turned. Wait...it was too easy. Still...perhaps...She would take her chances. She sprinted out of the circle, and Voldemort spun around easily and shouted the Imperius Curse.
Jupiter stopped running, and walked back into The Circle sedately. She sat down obediently and The Circle closed. Voldemort stepped in front of her, and then she knew she had to stand. She did. She knew she had to turn in a circle. She did. She knew she had to bite her hand. She did. Harder. Harder. She had to draw blood. She did.
"You can almost out-stare the Dark Lord, you dared to run away from The Circle, you even took your mother's death with bravery and acceptance. All these strong points, with such a strong sense of self and an independent mind, yet you cannot resist the Imperius Curse? You are an enigma, Jupiter. Unfortunately, I cannot use you as a Death Eater. But perhaps there are other ways. Stupefy!"
And Jupiter fell to the ground, unconscious.
***
Chaos, walked out into the forest quietly, and then lay down. He knew he didn't have much more time, so he shut his eyes and lost consiousness.
Minutes later, he gave a forlorn moan and his eyelids flickered.
He was standing in the forest. Jupiter was lying on a stone in front of him, naked, bloody, and unconscious as he'd left her. Voldemort was standing off to the right, calling Chaos to him.
He turned to his Master and began walking towards him, and Voldemort held up a hand and pointed at Jupiter. Chaos wandered over to her, lifted her up. She was warm and soft and light, and Chaos wanted to keep her. But still Voldemort beckoned. Chaos came closer and closer to the Dark Lord, and then suddenly he stopped.
He heard a voice. It was like an angel, he thought, calling him. Instinctively, he looked up. There was a great light, and Chaos saw his mother above him, smiling. She called for him, and reached down a hand. He reached up to take it, but Voldemort snatched him away.
Chaos turned to his master angrily as the vision of his mother faded. And then, Voldemort spoke.
***
Draco was sitting in the Slytherin common room, reading the book Harry had loaned him, "Manners, a guide to finding and using them". He was, thus far, not amused.
"Draco!" a troubled-looking Snape appeared in the doorway. He ran into the room and grabbed Draco by the collar. "Where's Jupiter?"
"How the hell should I know?" Draco said, angrily. "Bitch disappeared after blowing me off. Probably off fooling around with that Chaos guy, if I've any mind. Will you put me down?"
"Fooling around with this Chaos guy? Does she do this often?" Snape hissed.
Draco shrugged. "I don't bloody well care. I'm not her keeper, you know."
"You're coming with me, Malfoy!" the older man growled, and Draco followed him out of the common room, complaining that he was supposed to be meeting someone. But Severus ignored him. When he was certain they were alone, he turned to Draco. "Listen, Draco...Jupiter's been captured by Voldemort. He's going to kill her if I don't return to him. Now stop being a prat and talk to me!"
Draco looked at Snape with shock and fear in his expression. "What?"
"Jupiter. You know who that is, don't you? She's been captured by Voldemort. Perhaps you've heard of him, too? He's this Dark Lord, who tortu-"
"Okay, okay, I know what you're talking about!" Draco snapped. Then he sighed. "What do you want me for?"
"Do you know anything about Voldemort? Or anyone who knows anything about him?"
"Yeah, you."
Snape rolled his eyes, "Malfoy, this is not the time for your 'witty' remarks. I'm not prepared to deal with this by myself, and I don't want to get the Ministry involved."
"Why not?" asled Draco. "I'm sure trained Aurors would be much better at this than anyone I'd know."
"Well," said Snape, "Cornelius Fudge is still in denial about Voldemort, and will refuse to let the Aurors come. We went through this last year, when that Gryffindor third year attacked you."
That seemed to hit home. "Well, okay," Draco agreed.
"Good. Now, is there anyone you can think of? Anything, anyone you know that could help?"
A light went off in Draco's head. He held up a finger and ran off.
When he returned, he was dragging Harry Potter, who was in his pajamas. "Let's go!" Draco shouted, and swept past Snape, who followed him swiftly.
"Draco," Snape hissed, "Why in Panagaea's name are we bringing Potter along?"
"Yeah? What do you guys need me for?" Harry agreed.
"Because," Draco said, glaring at Harry, "He's the hero, of course. He's tops at defeating Dark Lords, aren't you, Harry?" Draco said, and Harry blushed, shooting a dirty look at Draco.
***
Jupiter awoke groggily for the second time that night. She was in a dismal looking room, and there was nothing on the grey walls expect for a painting of a girl.
"Hello?" Jupiter called, feeling rather daft.
"Hello!" the girl said, "How are you?"
"I'm a little naked at the moment, how are you?"
"Oh, I'm just fine, thanks! My name is Kira! Would you like some sheets?" she asked, in a very chipper voice.
"Yes I would, thanks." Jupiter said, and some sheets fell from the ceiling. They were all white and pretty dirty. Jupiter wrapped herself up in one, and made herself a kind of a nest with the rest of them. "I don't suppose you could tell me the way out, too?"
Kira smiled good-naturedly. "I could, but if you try to use it, I'll have to alert Voldemort, and he'll get you."
"And there's no way around this?" Jupiter asked.
"Nope. I never sleep, and I never leave. And I never tire of watching prisoners, like you! Especially the ones who try to escape, those are my favorites! Do you think you'll try to escape?"
Jupiter sighed, "Probably not, in that case."
Kira looked sad. "Are you sure? All you need to do is say the password, and I open up, and you can climb through me, and then you're out! Then all you have to do is jump into the boat halfway down the underground river, and take it until you get to the waterfall! And then you go down the waterfall and you're home free! Doesn't that inspire you to break free?"
Jupiter groaned. Just what she needed. A sadistic watch-portrait.
***
The three boys stood in the clearing where the Death Eaters had just recently been assembled. There was blood on the ground in the middle of the clearing, and Snape was terribly frightened that he knew whose it was. Draco looked at Harry.
"'Kay, Potter, this is where you come in. Now what do we do?" he asked, and Harry glared at him.
"Look, Draco, I don't ruddy well know! I didn't ask to come along, you might remember. When I asked you if you wanted to do something tonight, I didn't mean defeat the Dark Lord!"
"Well, you haven't done it all year, you need to keep in practice!"
"Well, I don't normally do it until the end of the year, when I've finally gathered enough information to know what to do!"
"Stop it, both of you," Severus snapped, "Just shut up. We can't do anything tonight. Now hold on a moment while I collect some of this blood."
"B-blood?" Draco asked, swallowing hard. He hadn't noticed the crimson pool of blood and dirt until just now. "Whose?"
"Probably Jupiter's." Snape shuddered at the idea, but managed to put a decent amount of it into a vial.
Then the three of them went back to Hogwarts, to see what they could do.
***
Then Voldemort spoke.
"Chaos, wake up."
Chaos woke up groggily, looking up into his master's red eyes. His other eye - or the place where it used to be - was sore. He reached his hand over to adjust his eye patch, and his fingers touched flesh. He flinched in pain and pulled his fingers away. They were slick with blood. He wiped his fingers off on his pants and sat up slowly.
"Chaos, you did well. Severus will come for her soon."
Chaos nodded numbly, and shut his eye. "The Lady is all right?"
"The Lady," Voldemort said the phrase with distaste, "Will not be harmed."
Chaos seemed satisfied, and lay back down to sleep.
***
It had been many years ago, Hayredin knew. He had wanted only the best for his family. His wife, Pontia, had been very happy to side with the Dark Lord, as had his oldest son. Auryn had not wanted to, but had left home early for a gypsy's life. Jupiter had been quite ready to become a Death Eater, but had failed.
It had been a most embarrassing situation. He and Pontia and Jupiter had been waiting expectantly for Jupiter's judging. And Voldemort had turned her down. At that moment, he'd lost any hope for the rest of his children, and never asked them to turn to the Dark Arts. He'd given Jupiter to Voldemort, in the vain hope that she would become useful at some point, so that he could live down this shame. It worked, but Hayredin's sense of honor still bothered him about it. He began to loathe his daughter, the daughter that disgraced him. The daughter that had failed to be good enough for his Master. Only her mother still held affection for her, though she would not show it around Hayredin.
She had given Jupiter a necklace, upon which was written "E Moni Panton Elpis", which was their native tongue for "The only hope of anything." Since the day Hayredin had found out about that necklace, he'd doubted his wife's loyalty to the Dark Lord.
And now, recently, he'd found out that she wasn't faithful to her Master, and he'd told Voldemort. He'd been ordered to kill her, and had done so. She'd been looking at him defiantly when he'd shouted the Killing Curse, and it still bothered him, just a little.
Still, Jupiter was in the hands of his Master, and finally serving some purpose in her whole miserable life. He looked at her, wrapped in dirty sheets, talking to a portrait. She was sharp-tongued and sarcastic, and a lot like him, he realized. But she got her fiery temper and strong will from her mother. It's a shame she seemed to be more like her idiotic mother where it counted, instead of like Hayredin himself.
***
"Jupiter."
Jupiter looked up, through the cell's bars. A dark figure stood there, looking in at her. "Hello, Hayredin," she said, nonchalantly.
"You recognize me."
"You're my father."
"You haven't heard from me in many years."
"I'm not as big an idiot as you think I am. I'm not even as big an idiot as I think you are, Hayredin."
"You're very cocky for a prisoner of the Dark Lord."
"So are you."
Hayredin's temper flared, but he didn't let it show. "Impudence does not do you well."
"Well, neither does being locked in a cell with Mrs. Perky over here." She pointed to the painting spitefully.
"You have a quick temper."
"Gee, you're awfully good at pointing out the obvious, aren't you? Honestly, Hayredin, I'm locked in a cell, naked, with some dirty sheets and a stupid painting, being held hostage by the Dark Lord! I think I'm entitled to be a little irritable!"
Hayredin glared at his daughter for a while. Then turned and started to walk away.
"Hey, dad?"
Hayredin stopped. She'd never called him 'dad' before. It was an odd feeling. He tuned back, and she looked at him.
"You know, I haven't seen you since I was...what...six?" she said, and it was true. Hayredin had never spent any time at home since Voldemort had shown Jupiter to be a failure.
"What's your point?"
"Take off your hood."
Hayredin didn't see the harm in it. He lifted his hood away from his face. Jupiter took a long look at his gaunt face, his long black hair, his bright grey eyes. He looked tired and sick, and Jupiter knew exactly how he felt.
"Well?" Hayredin glared at his miserable wreck of a daughter.
"You look like shit."
He gave a tiny smile, and replaced his hood. Then he left.
***
"Well? What's going on? Is she all right?" Draco tried to peer over Snape's shoulder into his scrying well.
"She's alive, and from the looks of it as snappy as ever," Severus said, worriedly. Jupiter was the only person he knew who would be snotty to the Dark Lord. While it made him proud that she was so strong against absolute authority, she could also get herself killed that way. He could only hope she knew when to stop.
"Do you know where she is?" Draco asked, and Severus shook his head.
"I can put a tracking spell on her, but I need some of her blood, or hair..."
"Well, use the blood you got from the clearing," Draco suggested, and Snape rolled his eyes.
"You great git, Malfoy, what do you suppose I used for this?"
"Oh. Well...I guess we have to go back and get more."
Harry groaned, but Snape shook his head. "I collected all I could. I guess we have to check this..." He pulled the paper out of his robes.
"Who wrote that?" asked Draco, trying to peer at it.
"Jason, I assume. He gave it to me."
"Jason?"
"Tall boy, grey hair, eye patch," Snape said, turning the parchment over.
"Oh, Chaos," Draco said. Snape shrugged and then spoke.
"Well, it must mean the 24th floor of the castle. That's an awfully tall castle, considering."
"What's that dash there?"
"Obviously a slip of the hand, Draco," said Harry, "That boy doesn't seem too stable, Draco. You should know that."
"Well, it could mean the negative 24th floor, you don't know!" said Draco, nettled.
"Shush, both of you!" Snape snapped. They stopped arguing.
"Well," said Harry, "Now we know where to go. Let's get a move on!"
"Just a moment there, Potter," Snape said, "It may be all right for you and your friends to rush off unprepared, but I myself would feel better taking on the Dark Lord with some form of weaponry."
Harry turned red, as Snape swept up to a cabinet and unlocked it. He carefully chose a number of vials, wrapped them in cloth, and tucked them into various places in his robe.
"Now, we may go."
***
A great many Floo gates later, Draco, Harry, and Severus tumbled out into a small building with a small man behind the counter. He looked unsurprised to see them.
"Do you have reservations, sirs?" he asked.
"No," snapped Draco irritably, "We don't. But we're looking to have a mad orgy, so if-OW!"
Snape had clipped him in the back of the head. "Forgive him, he's a little rude. We're looking for the Castle of Shadow."
The little man looked askance at them. "It's midnight, sirs, and besides, it's closed to visitation. It closed to the public a few weeks ago."
Harry nodded. "We know. We're...umm..."
Draco stepped forward. "We're the help. We're volunteers, to help with the restoration of it."
The man looked suspicious, but he gave them rough directions on the back of a matchbook. The front of it read "The Flea's Lodge in the Hills! Visit anytime!"
They left, thanking the man, and walked out into the town. It was full of lights and traffic, and oddly-dressed witches and magically aware muggles walked past them.
"Hello, gorgeous..." came a mesmerizing voice from the alley the three males were walking past. A beautiful girl with long blonde hair and tight leather clothes on stepped out of the shadows. "Wanna party?"
Draco smiled, but Snape grabbed the two boys by the collars and dragged them off, glaring at the girl.
"Draco!" protested Harry as they were swept along, "I thought you were gay!"
Draco shrugged, "I'm not loyal to either side. I just root for whatever side's winning."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Spoken like a true Slytherin."
***
Eventually they made it to the outside of the castle, and they looked up at it. Standing there, in all its glory, was a hideously twisted mansion, straight out of a bad horror flick. There seemed to be a perpetual storm around it, which would have been creepy enough were it not all ready nighttime.
"Is it always this weird when you go to defeat the Dark Lord, Harry?"
"Draco?"
"Yes?"
"Shut up."
***
"Or you could try to saw through the bars, and turn down the small corridor until-"
Jupiter glared at Kira. "Don't you have anything better to do?"
"Nope!" she grinned cheerfully. "And turn down the small corridor until you reach a door. Now, ignore this door, and instead try to reach the-"
"You know what?" Jupiter shouted.
"What?" Kira leaned forwards on her hinges.
"Why don't you shut up, and maybe I'll escape!"
"Oooh, all right. My password is 'gutterf*ck', by the way!"
That would figure. It's not like the Dark Lord would have a password be 'fluffballs'. Jupiter wondered how on Earth you pronounced the *.
Oh well. The silence was nice, for a change. She peered out of the bars on her cell, there didn't seem to be anyone there. If she was going to escape, she'd have to do it now. She looked around, and thought fast. She looked down at her sheets, and up at Kira.
Aha!
***
Jupiter was crawling along the underground passageway, with Kira screaming behind her. She just had to find the boat, and the river. And she couldn't pause, not even for a moment. If she paused, they might head her off, or catch her.
It was hard going; the rough stone scraped at her knees, even through the sheet she'd wrapped around herself, and it was hard to see before her through her mass of tangled, dirty black hair.
She heard a rushing noise, the river! She peered around the corner of the opening of the tiny crawl space. There was a large cave around the river, that stretched either way into the darkness. Then Jupiter spotted the boat. Her heart skipped a beat until she noticed something. There was a group of Death Eaters clustered there. Damn! She backed up a little, and thought that she might have heard a scritching noise behind her. It could have been her imagination, Death Eaters don't use crawl spaces, do they? She couldn't afford to take the chance. There was only one option.
She crawled out of the passageway as quietly as she could, and managed to inch a few feet along the wall before one of the Death Eaters noticed her. Then she turned tail and fled. She could hear the shouts behind her, and the pounding footsteps, but she kept running. She couldn't let her asthma get her this time. She had to be quick, and not falter for a silly thing like not being able to breathe. She would stop when she was dead.
"Stairs?" Jupiter cried, as a thin, ugly staircase loomed up out of the darkness. But she didn't stop, just began taking them, three at a time.
***
"Wow, this place is spooky."
"Shhh!"
"Hey, what's this? Lumos!"
The two younger boys let out a yelp. There was an old, decrepit man standing before them, but his deformed eyes were not focused on anything in the mortal world. This could have something to do with the fact that they were nailed to the wall on either side of his head.
"That would be scary enough if he wasn't grinning..." Harry mumbled.
"I'm going to have nightmares for weeks!" Draco said, mournfully. Snape hushed them, and gestured them to the dingy staircase he'd found. They headed up it, and up until they reached a platform. There was a door there, and on the door were the words, "+1st Floor."
They kept going, and at the second platform they came to, the door read "+2nd Floor."
"Harry, Snape, wait. The note Chaos left, it read negative 24th Floor, didn't it?" Draco asked. The others nodded. "Well, since these are plus 1 and plus 2-"
"Perhaps the negative means that she's underground!" Harry finished.
"Which makes ME right, and YOU wrong!" Draco said with glee. Snape sighed harshly and began nudging the boys down the stairs. He was beginning to wonder why he couldn't have done this on his own.
They went down...and down...and down... As they got farther down, the walls disappeared, and there was only void to replace them. There was no handrail, and so the three were very careful. Well, mostly.
"Kay, bye Harry!" Draco shouted, and gave his lover a playful shove. But Harry wasn't balanced properly, and began to slip backwards. He might soon have been The Boy Who Died if Severus hadn't grabbed the boy at the last minute, and pulled him up into his arms to steady him.
Snape smacked Draco with the back of his hand.
"This isn't a joke. You could have killed him, you twit! No more horseplay on the staircase! (a/n: my mother always used to say that...)" Snape snapped sternly.
Draco rubbed his cheek reproachfully. Were he not so upset, he may have found it amusing that Snape protected Harry against Draco, a switch from the normal. They kept going.
***
Jupiter surely was going to die if she didn't get to the stop of these stairs soon. Her chest was heaving and her eyes were beginning to fuzz. She wished she had her wand, so that she could apply a relief charm. But Voldemort had confiscated it.
Suddenly, she saw something. Yes, she was sure she saw a glimmer of light in the distance! Could it be daylight? Was it day out? She didn't care, she had to get away from here. She realized that she didn't even know where she was. She could be miles from Hogwarts, and then where would she go? She couldn't run forever.
But she had to. The light was closer now, and moving. She looked over at the light, and now saw something she didn't before. It was a wand, carried by none other than Harry Potter! She didn't think she'd ever been so glad to see a Gryffindor in her life. And Draco and Severus were there, too! But they were on another staircase, one that didn't connect to hers. She wanted to call to them, but she was afraid she would alert the Death Eaters to them. And that light, too! Surely they'd see it!
Jupiter made up her mind. She would have to go back. She would have to do it, for her rescue team.
"Just my (gasp) luck. I have (gasp) to throw myself to (gasp) the Death Eaters to save (gasp) my rescue team. (gasp) Geez." She turned around on the staircase, wheezing, and began sprinting down it. Not too far down, she ran into a surprised black figure, who grabbed her unresisting form and began to backtrack down the stairs with his colleagues. Jupiter thought it might be decent to struggle a little, so it didn't seem too obvious. As a result of this, a rounder Death Eater went flying off the staircase into the blackness, and Jupiter was bound with ropes. Not too long after that, she passed out because of a lack of oxygen.
***
"Crucio."
Jupiter jerked into consciousness as pain ripped through her body, shuddering past nerves and causing spasms. She jerked around helplessly, screaming in pain, as the Dark Lord stood above, laughing.
"Jupiter, I underestimated you. But honestly, you thought you could really escape? Well, let's see how easily you escape these unmagickable ropes. In your cell, with Kira, and twenty-four hour surveillance, with eight guards. Good luck."
And Jupiter's cell door crashed shut. Dammit, if only she'd stayed in her cell! Now her rescue squad would have a hell of a time getting at her. She prayed to Panagaea that they would all be all right.
She struggled against the ropes a little, but it was only in token. She was firmly bound, true. She wouldn't be able to free herself. Kira chuckled a little.
"That was fun! Want to do it again?"
***
Snape reached the bottom of the staircase first. Or rather, he reached the -24th Floor first. He opened the door cautiously, and saw dark figures walking around alertly. He shut the door noiselessly, and turned to the younger boys.
"All right. There are quite a few Death Eaters in there, so the only way we're getting in is incognito. Draco, you and I can put our hoods up and fit in well enough, but Potter..."
Harry looked down at his blue pinstripe pajamas. He doubted even the dumbest Death Eater would believe that he was one of them.
"I could hide in one of your cloaks...?" he suggested, and Draco shook his head.
"Not mine, you wouldn't fit."
Snape rolled his eyes. "You really are more trouble than you're worth sometimes. Get in!" He held his cloak open, and Harry ducked under. "Watch it Potter, try not to touch anything."
"Yeah, you break it, you pay for it!" Draco whispered gleefully.
"Do all Slytherins have the same sense of humor?" Harry hissed harshly.
Snape and Draco put up their hoods and opened the door. They walked in, mostly unnoticed. It wasn't until a cowled figure turned to Draco that trouble began.
"Good evening, Draco, good evening, Severus. What brings you two here?"
***
Jupiter's ears perked up at the sound of Lucius Malfoy's voice. Severus? Draco? Dammit, they'd been caught! Some saving, she thought. They should have sent Ron, Hermione, and Harry. At least THEY wouldn't get caught. Well, it was up to her to save them, now. But how the hell could she? She was tied up in a cell with a buch of Death Eaters and a perky watch-portrait.
***
"Hey there, sweetheart. Care to untie me?" Jupiter had made her way to the bars of her cell and was trying to get herself untied. It was, thus far, unsuccessful. "Come on, untie me."
Silence.
"Hey, listen to me!"
Jupiter rolled her eyes. No Death Eater in their right mind would let her go, for fear of facing the Dark Lord's wrath. But then, what harm could it do? She was loathe to think of what could be happening to her beloved Severus while she herself did nothing. She had to try.
"Really, untie me. You don't even have to let me go, just untie me. Please? These ropes hurt. I'll...umm...sleep with you." she mumbled. She squinted her eyes, why did she say that? She'd sworn to Severus, sworn to her best friend, sworn to herself that she wouldn't sell herself to get what she wanted anymore. But then, this wasn't exactly something frivolous, either. She had to do it, for the greater good.
"You will." came the whispered reply, sounding slightly inquisitive and amused.
Jupiter shuddered, and nodded. She shut her eyes, and the bars creaked open. The other seven guards turned to look, but their colleague gestured to them that all was well. They seemed content just to stare.
"Just don't move. Don't make a sound." Jupiter closed her eyes as she felt herself being lifted up. She was thin naturally, sickly so, it was one of her shortcomings. And since she'd been starved for a few days, she guessed she couldn't have weighed more than a hundred pounds. Sheets were pulled away from a vital place, and...Jupiter tried to think of other things. She tried to ignore the hot breath on her chest and face. She thought of Severus. What were they doing to him? Gods, he could be in so much trouble, so much pain...Jupiter had to get to him. She had to get untied. She needed to save him. This was a necessary evil, something she had to do, for Severus.
It was over quickly, and Jupiter was dropped to the ground. She landed on her face.
"Untie me," she said, into the stone.
"No."
Jupiter wasn't surprised. She just lay there on the cold cobbles, listening to the Death Eaters laughing cruelly, as the cell door slammed shut.
He'd looked for her, didn't know where she was. No one had heard from her, and he didn't even know where to look for her. He'd checked Hogsmeade and the surrounding area. He'd checked all of Hogwarts. He'd even owled her house (and got no reply). Still she eluded him.
He stood, and began pacing. It wasn't like her to disappear without a trace. Dumbledore had said he'd look into it, but Snape couldn't help but feel useless, sitting in his office or quarters, or teaching classes, acting as if life was normal, when he didn't know if Jupiter was even still alive.
"Professor Snape?" came a voice from the doorway. Severus's head snapped up and his eyes darted to the doorway. It was Chaos. "Professor, there is something."
"Something?" Snape asked, "What on earth are you talking about boy? Come on, spit it out!"
"It concerns the Lady."
"Good gods, man, what lady?"
"The Lady. She...Smells of mint..."
Snape stopped dead in his tracks. "Jupiter?" he said, shocked. Chaos nodded slowly.
"She needs you."
Snape's heart skipped a beat. "What happened to her? Is she hurt? Where can I find her?"
"You can't. You can't find her. Master wants you to be loyal, he wants you to spy on Hogwarts. If you disagree, he..." the boy choked, "He will...kill The Lady."
Severus froze. He stared at the boy in disbelief. "What can I do?"
Chaos began shaking. "You will go to the Castle of Shadow, in Mortein City. You will tell Master that you are loyal. He will torture you, and show you that forgiveness comes at a price. Then you will become his again, and The Lady will be set free."
Not bloody likely, thought Snape. Voldemort? Spare someone's life? The very idea was laughable. Perhaps he could find her, though.
"Where can I find Jupiter in the castle?" he asked Chaos. Chaos nodded.
"I thought so." Chaos extended a hand, and Snape saw that his fingers were bruised. Chaos dropped a piece of paper in Severus's hand and then bowed to him. With that, he left.
Severus opened the paper. "Lady -24 floor Castle of Shadow," it read.
Severus was very confused indeed. However, he had to find someone who knew Jupiter.
As he ran, he realized what little about Jupiter's life he knew. He didn't know who her friends were...But wait, he'd heard her speaking with the Malfoy boy...He'd find Draco.
***
Jupiter, tired and sore, skin still burning from the curse, looked up into the faceless darkness of the Death Eaters' hoods.
"Mum..." she said quietly, "Mum?"
There was no response.
"Mum...?" Jupiter said again, and Voldemort shook his head, and gave off an air of smugness.
"Your mum isn't here, Jupiter. She's dead. Your father killed her."
Jupiter found that she wasn't surprised, but felt worse. If there had been anyone available to keep her from this, it would be her mother. But if her mother was dead there wasn't a soul on Earth to save her now.
She sat up quietly, and saw that Voldemort's back was turned to her. She wondered why. She stood, shakily, and walked around the inside of The Circle stupidly, peering around. She spotted a gap in The Circle. She wondered if Severus stood there...? Then a light went off in her brain. A gap in The Circle. A way out. With Voldemort's back turned. Wait...it was too easy. Still...perhaps...She would take her chances. She sprinted out of the circle, and Voldemort spun around easily and shouted the Imperius Curse.
Jupiter stopped running, and walked back into The Circle sedately. She sat down obediently and The Circle closed. Voldemort stepped in front of her, and then she knew she had to stand. She did. She knew she had to turn in a circle. She did. She knew she had to bite her hand. She did. Harder. Harder. She had to draw blood. She did.
"You can almost out-stare the Dark Lord, you dared to run away from The Circle, you even took your mother's death with bravery and acceptance. All these strong points, with such a strong sense of self and an independent mind, yet you cannot resist the Imperius Curse? You are an enigma, Jupiter. Unfortunately, I cannot use you as a Death Eater. But perhaps there are other ways. Stupefy!"
And Jupiter fell to the ground, unconscious.
***
Chaos, walked out into the forest quietly, and then lay down. He knew he didn't have much more time, so he shut his eyes and lost consiousness.
Minutes later, he gave a forlorn moan and his eyelids flickered.
He was standing in the forest. Jupiter was lying on a stone in front of him, naked, bloody, and unconscious as he'd left her. Voldemort was standing off to the right, calling Chaos to him.
He turned to his Master and began walking towards him, and Voldemort held up a hand and pointed at Jupiter. Chaos wandered over to her, lifted her up. She was warm and soft and light, and Chaos wanted to keep her. But still Voldemort beckoned. Chaos came closer and closer to the Dark Lord, and then suddenly he stopped.
He heard a voice. It was like an angel, he thought, calling him. Instinctively, he looked up. There was a great light, and Chaos saw his mother above him, smiling. She called for him, and reached down a hand. He reached up to take it, but Voldemort snatched him away.
Chaos turned to his master angrily as the vision of his mother faded. And then, Voldemort spoke.
***
Draco was sitting in the Slytherin common room, reading the book Harry had loaned him, "Manners, a guide to finding and using them". He was, thus far, not amused.
"Draco!" a troubled-looking Snape appeared in the doorway. He ran into the room and grabbed Draco by the collar. "Where's Jupiter?"
"How the hell should I know?" Draco said, angrily. "Bitch disappeared after blowing me off. Probably off fooling around with that Chaos guy, if I've any mind. Will you put me down?"
"Fooling around with this Chaos guy? Does she do this often?" Snape hissed.
Draco shrugged. "I don't bloody well care. I'm not her keeper, you know."
"You're coming with me, Malfoy!" the older man growled, and Draco followed him out of the common room, complaining that he was supposed to be meeting someone. But Severus ignored him. When he was certain they were alone, he turned to Draco. "Listen, Draco...Jupiter's been captured by Voldemort. He's going to kill her if I don't return to him. Now stop being a prat and talk to me!"
Draco looked at Snape with shock and fear in his expression. "What?"
"Jupiter. You know who that is, don't you? She's been captured by Voldemort. Perhaps you've heard of him, too? He's this Dark Lord, who tortu-"
"Okay, okay, I know what you're talking about!" Draco snapped. Then he sighed. "What do you want me for?"
"Do you know anything about Voldemort? Or anyone who knows anything about him?"
"Yeah, you."
Snape rolled his eyes, "Malfoy, this is not the time for your 'witty' remarks. I'm not prepared to deal with this by myself, and I don't want to get the Ministry involved."
"Why not?" asled Draco. "I'm sure trained Aurors would be much better at this than anyone I'd know."
"Well," said Snape, "Cornelius Fudge is still in denial about Voldemort, and will refuse to let the Aurors come. We went through this last year, when that Gryffindor third year attacked you."
That seemed to hit home. "Well, okay," Draco agreed.
"Good. Now, is there anyone you can think of? Anything, anyone you know that could help?"
A light went off in Draco's head. He held up a finger and ran off.
When he returned, he was dragging Harry Potter, who was in his pajamas. "Let's go!" Draco shouted, and swept past Snape, who followed him swiftly.
"Draco," Snape hissed, "Why in Panagaea's name are we bringing Potter along?"
"Yeah? What do you guys need me for?" Harry agreed.
"Because," Draco said, glaring at Harry, "He's the hero, of course. He's tops at defeating Dark Lords, aren't you, Harry?" Draco said, and Harry blushed, shooting a dirty look at Draco.
***
Jupiter awoke groggily for the second time that night. She was in a dismal looking room, and there was nothing on the grey walls expect for a painting of a girl.
"Hello?" Jupiter called, feeling rather daft.
"Hello!" the girl said, "How are you?"
"I'm a little naked at the moment, how are you?"
"Oh, I'm just fine, thanks! My name is Kira! Would you like some sheets?" she asked, in a very chipper voice.
"Yes I would, thanks." Jupiter said, and some sheets fell from the ceiling. They were all white and pretty dirty. Jupiter wrapped herself up in one, and made herself a kind of a nest with the rest of them. "I don't suppose you could tell me the way out, too?"
Kira smiled good-naturedly. "I could, but if you try to use it, I'll have to alert Voldemort, and he'll get you."
"And there's no way around this?" Jupiter asked.
"Nope. I never sleep, and I never leave. And I never tire of watching prisoners, like you! Especially the ones who try to escape, those are my favorites! Do you think you'll try to escape?"
Jupiter sighed, "Probably not, in that case."
Kira looked sad. "Are you sure? All you need to do is say the password, and I open up, and you can climb through me, and then you're out! Then all you have to do is jump into the boat halfway down the underground river, and take it until you get to the waterfall! And then you go down the waterfall and you're home free! Doesn't that inspire you to break free?"
Jupiter groaned. Just what she needed. A sadistic watch-portrait.
***
The three boys stood in the clearing where the Death Eaters had just recently been assembled. There was blood on the ground in the middle of the clearing, and Snape was terribly frightened that he knew whose it was. Draco looked at Harry.
"'Kay, Potter, this is where you come in. Now what do we do?" he asked, and Harry glared at him.
"Look, Draco, I don't ruddy well know! I didn't ask to come along, you might remember. When I asked you if you wanted to do something tonight, I didn't mean defeat the Dark Lord!"
"Well, you haven't done it all year, you need to keep in practice!"
"Well, I don't normally do it until the end of the year, when I've finally gathered enough information to know what to do!"
"Stop it, both of you," Severus snapped, "Just shut up. We can't do anything tonight. Now hold on a moment while I collect some of this blood."
"B-blood?" Draco asked, swallowing hard. He hadn't noticed the crimson pool of blood and dirt until just now. "Whose?"
"Probably Jupiter's." Snape shuddered at the idea, but managed to put a decent amount of it into a vial.
Then the three of them went back to Hogwarts, to see what they could do.
***
Then Voldemort spoke.
"Chaos, wake up."
Chaos woke up groggily, looking up into his master's red eyes. His other eye - or the place where it used to be - was sore. He reached his hand over to adjust his eye patch, and his fingers touched flesh. He flinched in pain and pulled his fingers away. They were slick with blood. He wiped his fingers off on his pants and sat up slowly.
"Chaos, you did well. Severus will come for her soon."
Chaos nodded numbly, and shut his eye. "The Lady is all right?"
"The Lady," Voldemort said the phrase with distaste, "Will not be harmed."
Chaos seemed satisfied, and lay back down to sleep.
***
It had been many years ago, Hayredin knew. He had wanted only the best for his family. His wife, Pontia, had been very happy to side with the Dark Lord, as had his oldest son. Auryn had not wanted to, but had left home early for a gypsy's life. Jupiter had been quite ready to become a Death Eater, but had failed.
It had been a most embarrassing situation. He and Pontia and Jupiter had been waiting expectantly for Jupiter's judging. And Voldemort had turned her down. At that moment, he'd lost any hope for the rest of his children, and never asked them to turn to the Dark Arts. He'd given Jupiter to Voldemort, in the vain hope that she would become useful at some point, so that he could live down this shame. It worked, but Hayredin's sense of honor still bothered him about it. He began to loathe his daughter, the daughter that disgraced him. The daughter that had failed to be good enough for his Master. Only her mother still held affection for her, though she would not show it around Hayredin.
She had given Jupiter a necklace, upon which was written "E Moni Panton Elpis", which was their native tongue for "The only hope of anything." Since the day Hayredin had found out about that necklace, he'd doubted his wife's loyalty to the Dark Lord.
And now, recently, he'd found out that she wasn't faithful to her Master, and he'd told Voldemort. He'd been ordered to kill her, and had done so. She'd been looking at him defiantly when he'd shouted the Killing Curse, and it still bothered him, just a little.
Still, Jupiter was in the hands of his Master, and finally serving some purpose in her whole miserable life. He looked at her, wrapped in dirty sheets, talking to a portrait. She was sharp-tongued and sarcastic, and a lot like him, he realized. But she got her fiery temper and strong will from her mother. It's a shame she seemed to be more like her idiotic mother where it counted, instead of like Hayredin himself.
***
"Jupiter."
Jupiter looked up, through the cell's bars. A dark figure stood there, looking in at her. "Hello, Hayredin," she said, nonchalantly.
"You recognize me."
"You're my father."
"You haven't heard from me in many years."
"I'm not as big an idiot as you think I am. I'm not even as big an idiot as I think you are, Hayredin."
"You're very cocky for a prisoner of the Dark Lord."
"So are you."
Hayredin's temper flared, but he didn't let it show. "Impudence does not do you well."
"Well, neither does being locked in a cell with Mrs. Perky over here." She pointed to the painting spitefully.
"You have a quick temper."
"Gee, you're awfully good at pointing out the obvious, aren't you? Honestly, Hayredin, I'm locked in a cell, naked, with some dirty sheets and a stupid painting, being held hostage by the Dark Lord! I think I'm entitled to be a little irritable!"
Hayredin glared at his daughter for a while. Then turned and started to walk away.
"Hey, dad?"
Hayredin stopped. She'd never called him 'dad' before. It was an odd feeling. He tuned back, and she looked at him.
"You know, I haven't seen you since I was...what...six?" she said, and it was true. Hayredin had never spent any time at home since Voldemort had shown Jupiter to be a failure.
"What's your point?"
"Take off your hood."
Hayredin didn't see the harm in it. He lifted his hood away from his face. Jupiter took a long look at his gaunt face, his long black hair, his bright grey eyes. He looked tired and sick, and Jupiter knew exactly how he felt.
"Well?" Hayredin glared at his miserable wreck of a daughter.
"You look like shit."
He gave a tiny smile, and replaced his hood. Then he left.
***
"Well? What's going on? Is she all right?" Draco tried to peer over Snape's shoulder into his scrying well.
"She's alive, and from the looks of it as snappy as ever," Severus said, worriedly. Jupiter was the only person he knew who would be snotty to the Dark Lord. While it made him proud that she was so strong against absolute authority, she could also get herself killed that way. He could only hope she knew when to stop.
"Do you know where she is?" Draco asked, and Severus shook his head.
"I can put a tracking spell on her, but I need some of her blood, or hair..."
"Well, use the blood you got from the clearing," Draco suggested, and Snape rolled his eyes.
"You great git, Malfoy, what do you suppose I used for this?"
"Oh. Well...I guess we have to go back and get more."
Harry groaned, but Snape shook his head. "I collected all I could. I guess we have to check this..." He pulled the paper out of his robes.
"Who wrote that?" asked Draco, trying to peer at it.
"Jason, I assume. He gave it to me."
"Jason?"
"Tall boy, grey hair, eye patch," Snape said, turning the parchment over.
"Oh, Chaos," Draco said. Snape shrugged and then spoke.
"Well, it must mean the 24th floor of the castle. That's an awfully tall castle, considering."
"What's that dash there?"
"Obviously a slip of the hand, Draco," said Harry, "That boy doesn't seem too stable, Draco. You should know that."
"Well, it could mean the negative 24th floor, you don't know!" said Draco, nettled.
"Shush, both of you!" Snape snapped. They stopped arguing.
"Well," said Harry, "Now we know where to go. Let's get a move on!"
"Just a moment there, Potter," Snape said, "It may be all right for you and your friends to rush off unprepared, but I myself would feel better taking on the Dark Lord with some form of weaponry."
Harry turned red, as Snape swept up to a cabinet and unlocked it. He carefully chose a number of vials, wrapped them in cloth, and tucked them into various places in his robe.
"Now, we may go."
***
A great many Floo gates later, Draco, Harry, and Severus tumbled out into a small building with a small man behind the counter. He looked unsurprised to see them.
"Do you have reservations, sirs?" he asked.
"No," snapped Draco irritably, "We don't. But we're looking to have a mad orgy, so if-OW!"
Snape had clipped him in the back of the head. "Forgive him, he's a little rude. We're looking for the Castle of Shadow."
The little man looked askance at them. "It's midnight, sirs, and besides, it's closed to visitation. It closed to the public a few weeks ago."
Harry nodded. "We know. We're...umm..."
Draco stepped forward. "We're the help. We're volunteers, to help with the restoration of it."
The man looked suspicious, but he gave them rough directions on the back of a matchbook. The front of it read "The Flea's Lodge in the Hills! Visit anytime!"
They left, thanking the man, and walked out into the town. It was full of lights and traffic, and oddly-dressed witches and magically aware muggles walked past them.
"Hello, gorgeous..." came a mesmerizing voice from the alley the three males were walking past. A beautiful girl with long blonde hair and tight leather clothes on stepped out of the shadows. "Wanna party?"
Draco smiled, but Snape grabbed the two boys by the collars and dragged them off, glaring at the girl.
"Draco!" protested Harry as they were swept along, "I thought you were gay!"
Draco shrugged, "I'm not loyal to either side. I just root for whatever side's winning."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Spoken like a true Slytherin."
***
Eventually they made it to the outside of the castle, and they looked up at it. Standing there, in all its glory, was a hideously twisted mansion, straight out of a bad horror flick. There seemed to be a perpetual storm around it, which would have been creepy enough were it not all ready nighttime.
"Is it always this weird when you go to defeat the Dark Lord, Harry?"
"Draco?"
"Yes?"
"Shut up."
***
"Or you could try to saw through the bars, and turn down the small corridor until-"
Jupiter glared at Kira. "Don't you have anything better to do?"
"Nope!" she grinned cheerfully. "And turn down the small corridor until you reach a door. Now, ignore this door, and instead try to reach the-"
"You know what?" Jupiter shouted.
"What?" Kira leaned forwards on her hinges.
"Why don't you shut up, and maybe I'll escape!"
"Oooh, all right. My password is 'gutterf*ck', by the way!"
That would figure. It's not like the Dark Lord would have a password be 'fluffballs'. Jupiter wondered how on Earth you pronounced the *.
Oh well. The silence was nice, for a change. She peered out of the bars on her cell, there didn't seem to be anyone there. If she was going to escape, she'd have to do it now. She looked around, and thought fast. She looked down at her sheets, and up at Kira.
Aha!
***
Jupiter was crawling along the underground passageway, with Kira screaming behind her. She just had to find the boat, and the river. And she couldn't pause, not even for a moment. If she paused, they might head her off, or catch her.
It was hard going; the rough stone scraped at her knees, even through the sheet she'd wrapped around herself, and it was hard to see before her through her mass of tangled, dirty black hair.
She heard a rushing noise, the river! She peered around the corner of the opening of the tiny crawl space. There was a large cave around the river, that stretched either way into the darkness. Then Jupiter spotted the boat. Her heart skipped a beat until she noticed something. There was a group of Death Eaters clustered there. Damn! She backed up a little, and thought that she might have heard a scritching noise behind her. It could have been her imagination, Death Eaters don't use crawl spaces, do they? She couldn't afford to take the chance. There was only one option.
She crawled out of the passageway as quietly as she could, and managed to inch a few feet along the wall before one of the Death Eaters noticed her. Then she turned tail and fled. She could hear the shouts behind her, and the pounding footsteps, but she kept running. She couldn't let her asthma get her this time. She had to be quick, and not falter for a silly thing like not being able to breathe. She would stop when she was dead.
"Stairs?" Jupiter cried, as a thin, ugly staircase loomed up out of the darkness. But she didn't stop, just began taking them, three at a time.
***
"Wow, this place is spooky."
"Shhh!"
"Hey, what's this? Lumos!"
The two younger boys let out a yelp. There was an old, decrepit man standing before them, but his deformed eyes were not focused on anything in the mortal world. This could have something to do with the fact that they were nailed to the wall on either side of his head.
"That would be scary enough if he wasn't grinning..." Harry mumbled.
"I'm going to have nightmares for weeks!" Draco said, mournfully. Snape hushed them, and gestured them to the dingy staircase he'd found. They headed up it, and up until they reached a platform. There was a door there, and on the door were the words, "+1st Floor."
They kept going, and at the second platform they came to, the door read "+2nd Floor."
"Harry, Snape, wait. The note Chaos left, it read negative 24th Floor, didn't it?" Draco asked. The others nodded. "Well, since these are plus 1 and plus 2-"
"Perhaps the negative means that she's underground!" Harry finished.
"Which makes ME right, and YOU wrong!" Draco said with glee. Snape sighed harshly and began nudging the boys down the stairs. He was beginning to wonder why he couldn't have done this on his own.
They went down...and down...and down... As they got farther down, the walls disappeared, and there was only void to replace them. There was no handrail, and so the three were very careful. Well, mostly.
"Kay, bye Harry!" Draco shouted, and gave his lover a playful shove. But Harry wasn't balanced properly, and began to slip backwards. He might soon have been The Boy Who Died if Severus hadn't grabbed the boy at the last minute, and pulled him up into his arms to steady him.
Snape smacked Draco with the back of his hand.
"This isn't a joke. You could have killed him, you twit! No more horseplay on the staircase! (a/n: my mother always used to say that...)" Snape snapped sternly.
Draco rubbed his cheek reproachfully. Were he not so upset, he may have found it amusing that Snape protected Harry against Draco, a switch from the normal. They kept going.
***
Jupiter surely was going to die if she didn't get to the stop of these stairs soon. Her chest was heaving and her eyes were beginning to fuzz. She wished she had her wand, so that she could apply a relief charm. But Voldemort had confiscated it.
Suddenly, she saw something. Yes, she was sure she saw a glimmer of light in the distance! Could it be daylight? Was it day out? She didn't care, she had to get away from here. She realized that she didn't even know where she was. She could be miles from Hogwarts, and then where would she go? She couldn't run forever.
But she had to. The light was closer now, and moving. She looked over at the light, and now saw something she didn't before. It was a wand, carried by none other than Harry Potter! She didn't think she'd ever been so glad to see a Gryffindor in her life. And Draco and Severus were there, too! But they were on another staircase, one that didn't connect to hers. She wanted to call to them, but she was afraid she would alert the Death Eaters to them. And that light, too! Surely they'd see it!
Jupiter made up her mind. She would have to go back. She would have to do it, for her rescue team.
"Just my (gasp) luck. I have (gasp) to throw myself to (gasp) the Death Eaters to save (gasp) my rescue team. (gasp) Geez." She turned around on the staircase, wheezing, and began sprinting down it. Not too far down, she ran into a surprised black figure, who grabbed her unresisting form and began to backtrack down the stairs with his colleagues. Jupiter thought it might be decent to struggle a little, so it didn't seem too obvious. As a result of this, a rounder Death Eater went flying off the staircase into the blackness, and Jupiter was bound with ropes. Not too long after that, she passed out because of a lack of oxygen.
***
"Crucio."
Jupiter jerked into consciousness as pain ripped through her body, shuddering past nerves and causing spasms. She jerked around helplessly, screaming in pain, as the Dark Lord stood above, laughing.
"Jupiter, I underestimated you. But honestly, you thought you could really escape? Well, let's see how easily you escape these unmagickable ropes. In your cell, with Kira, and twenty-four hour surveillance, with eight guards. Good luck."
And Jupiter's cell door crashed shut. Dammit, if only she'd stayed in her cell! Now her rescue squad would have a hell of a time getting at her. She prayed to Panagaea that they would all be all right.
She struggled against the ropes a little, but it was only in token. She was firmly bound, true. She wouldn't be able to free herself. Kira chuckled a little.
"That was fun! Want to do it again?"
***
Snape reached the bottom of the staircase first. Or rather, he reached the -24th Floor first. He opened the door cautiously, and saw dark figures walking around alertly. He shut the door noiselessly, and turned to the younger boys.
"All right. There are quite a few Death Eaters in there, so the only way we're getting in is incognito. Draco, you and I can put our hoods up and fit in well enough, but Potter..."
Harry looked down at his blue pinstripe pajamas. He doubted even the dumbest Death Eater would believe that he was one of them.
"I could hide in one of your cloaks...?" he suggested, and Draco shook his head.
"Not mine, you wouldn't fit."
Snape rolled his eyes. "You really are more trouble than you're worth sometimes. Get in!" He held his cloak open, and Harry ducked under. "Watch it Potter, try not to touch anything."
"Yeah, you break it, you pay for it!" Draco whispered gleefully.
"Do all Slytherins have the same sense of humor?" Harry hissed harshly.
Snape and Draco put up their hoods and opened the door. They walked in, mostly unnoticed. It wasn't until a cowled figure turned to Draco that trouble began.
"Good evening, Draco, good evening, Severus. What brings you two here?"
***
Jupiter's ears perked up at the sound of Lucius Malfoy's voice. Severus? Draco? Dammit, they'd been caught! Some saving, she thought. They should have sent Ron, Hermione, and Harry. At least THEY wouldn't get caught. Well, it was up to her to save them, now. But how the hell could she? She was tied up in a cell with a buch of Death Eaters and a perky watch-portrait.
***
"Hey there, sweetheart. Care to untie me?" Jupiter had made her way to the bars of her cell and was trying to get herself untied. It was, thus far, unsuccessful. "Come on, untie me."
Silence.
"Hey, listen to me!"
Jupiter rolled her eyes. No Death Eater in their right mind would let her go, for fear of facing the Dark Lord's wrath. But then, what harm could it do? She was loathe to think of what could be happening to her beloved Severus while she herself did nothing. She had to try.
"Really, untie me. You don't even have to let me go, just untie me. Please? These ropes hurt. I'll...umm...sleep with you." she mumbled. She squinted her eyes, why did she say that? She'd sworn to Severus, sworn to her best friend, sworn to herself that she wouldn't sell herself to get what she wanted anymore. But then, this wasn't exactly something frivolous, either. She had to do it, for the greater good.
"You will." came the whispered reply, sounding slightly inquisitive and amused.
Jupiter shuddered, and nodded. She shut her eyes, and the bars creaked open. The other seven guards turned to look, but their colleague gestured to them that all was well. They seemed content just to stare.
"Just don't move. Don't make a sound." Jupiter closed her eyes as she felt herself being lifted up. She was thin naturally, sickly so, it was one of her shortcomings. And since she'd been starved for a few days, she guessed she couldn't have weighed more than a hundred pounds. Sheets were pulled away from a vital place, and...Jupiter tried to think of other things. She tried to ignore the hot breath on her chest and face. She thought of Severus. What were they doing to him? Gods, he could be in so much trouble, so much pain...Jupiter had to get to him. She had to get untied. She needed to save him. This was a necessary evil, something she had to do, for Severus.
It was over quickly, and Jupiter was dropped to the ground. She landed on her face.
"Untie me," she said, into the stone.
"No."
Jupiter wasn't surprised. She just lay there on the cold cobbles, listening to the Death Eaters laughing cruelly, as the cell door slammed shut.