Chapter Ten

Questionable Intent

"Someone's watching," Severus told Jennifer, dispelling the wisp light. Jennifer grabbed her wand out of her cuff, backing up away from the open clearing. "We need to find them quickly, and memory erase if we have to."

"It had better not be a student then," Jennifer muttered. Dumbledore did not like memory spells used on the students.

Severus moved into the trees looking for the source, and Jennifer moved in the opposite direction, wondering if perhaps it hadn't just been a centaur. After a few moments of searching, Jennifer thought she saw a flash of light from behind her.

"Severus?" she called out, quickly turning to look in that direction.

Just then a swirling ray of white light fell on her, sweeping her into a vortex of symbols floating in the air in a magic soup, squeezing in on her and attacking her senses. It closed in and engulfed her, the suffocating sensation causing her to fall to the ground, completely blinded by the light. At last the light faded and she tried to catch her breath as she waited for her eyesight to return, only vaguely aware she was still clutching her wand. She heard a groan of pain coming from ahead of her, and she crawled forward until she smashed into a tree. Jennifer used it to get to her feet, and then she again saw a flash of light and heard another angry, teeth-gritting groan. Jennifer sprinted, realizing it was back towards the clearing.

"Stay back, Jennifer Craw!" she heard a loud rasping voice say. "You need not witness the death of the one who enslaved you. Go back to the school. Now! He will trouble you no more."

She knew the voice was close, but couldn't see where the voice was coming from. Finally understanding what had happened to her, Jennifer ran forward to the fallen form of Severus, sliding to one knee beside and turning back towards where she heard the voice.

"Lumos! Monstre hostis!" she shouted the light and the reveal enemy spell, but nothing appeared in the direction that she had cast.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING? Imperio! LEAVE AT ONCE!" The whisper echoed so loud it hurt her ears, and she barely was able to keep herself from doing as the command spell had told her to do.

"I choose not to leave, I choose not to leave, there is no truth in me leaving! You leave!" she shouted in anger, turning the spell back towards the voice. Severus, released from the Cruciatus curse, sat up and called his wand from where it lay a few feet away. After a quick glance towards Jennifer, they raised their wands.

"Monstre hostis!" They shifted the direction in a circle around them, the spell sending out waves that seemed to ripple the air in an attempt to betray an invisible foe. Nothing appeared.

"Perhaps he took your counter suggestion," Severus whispered after a moment, listening.

"Well, he definitely had the advantage of eye contact," Jennifer muttered. "Are you all right?" Severus nodded quickly, although his face looked pale and drawn.

"You?" he asked.

"Fine now," she said softly. "He hit me with Enchantment Assault." Severus glanced at her thoughtfully. It was one of the strongest of disenchantment spells, aimed to disrupt any spells holding a person, as well as to take off charms on items they may have on them. It was normally reserved for extreme cases because it was so quick a person that may have been charmed for a long while could have trouble coping with their new reality.

"So whoever it was thought you were under my control," he whispered.

"I'm sure of it. He probably came out here expecting to find you alone so he could knock one more Death Eater off the list," Jennifer answered. "I think that was the person behind the ivory skulls."

Jennifer let Hermione in the next morning, still quite tired from the night before. Severus had volunteered to speak with Dumbledore about what happened and sent her to bed. Jennifer would probably have slept in had she not remembered her chat with the girl who had so annoyingly figured out what was going on.

"Actually, it was Ginny who gave me the final clue," Hermione admitted. Jennifer leaned across her desk with her hand beneath her chin. "Because she'd told me that Dumbledore had knocked before he went in to see you that night, and I don't think he would have waited to go in had he thought you were asleep."

"What made you so sure someone else had awoken me in the first place?" Jennifer asked.

"Well, first off, it was Cosmic Sleep, and it didn't make sense that someone could just go in and wake you easily when it has never been done in over a thousand years. And then, when Ginny had said that, everything else seemed to start to make sense. Like Snape dancing with you at the dance… I thought at first it was to get back at Sirius for something… and you are always sticking up for him when we complain about him…"

"Hey, I'd stick up for any teacher's decision, Hermione."

"Not to mention how many times he just 'happens' to pass by your classroom while you're teaching. Any time he doesn't have a class, he ends up standing in the doorway. You're always over at his office, and you never go anywhere without saying you have to tell him first. Even when you're bickering at one another, it doesn't sound like it's serious anymore." Jennifer sighed and shook her head. This wasn't working, Jennifer thought. Hermione was right; it was becoming too obvious.

"How many other students suspect any of this?"

"None that I know of. Well, they may have thought of it, but I'm sure they would have quickly discounted it. I mean, no offense, but nobody really likes Snape, except those in Slytherin. And they don't really like you, no offense, so they wouldn't see it either." Jennifer nodded thoughtfully, trying to figure out to do. It was going to be harder than ever, especially after last night, to keep this quiet. Not only that, but Jennifer was starting to get a little tired of it. She was quickly realizing it was getting to the point that keeping this a secret was ultimately going to do more harm than good.

"There is one thing I haven't figured out," Hermione added after she saw that the professor wasn't going to say anymore. "How is it that he always seems to know when you're in danger? Like the snakes last year?"

"Hm? Oh that. I gave him a watch last year that tells him where I'm at," Jennifer said thoughtfully. "Don't tell him I told you that. In fact, please don't tell him that you know about this. Let me handle it."

"Don't worry, Professor Craw. Telling Snape that I know he has a girlfriend is definitely not something I would do willingly." Hermione swore firmly. "Knowing him, he'd find a reason to flunk my next test for being nosy, or make me drink a memory potion."

"You are all so hard on him," Jennifer shook a finger at her. "He's not as bad as you guys make him out to be."

"You try sitting in on one of his classes, then." Hermione suggested. Jennifer couldn't help but to laugh. There was a knock and at Jennifer's call, Minerva opened it.

"Sorry to interrupt, but Dumbledore has some visitors coming in a few minutes and was wondering if you could meet them out front," Minerva said, looking curiously at Hermione.

"Uh, sure, on my way. I'll try to stop by and say hello at the game if I can, Hermione, please wish the team good luck for me," Jennifer winked getting up.

"They'll need it. Hagrid's letting the mascots come this game," Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

"Badgimeras and baby griffons on the Quidditch Pitch? Poor Madame Hooch," Jennifer chuckled, showing her out and then walking to the gate to meet the visitors.

Minerva should have warned her, Jennifer thought, as she found herself walking to meet the most unlikely trio of guests that she'd ever seen. First there was Arthur Weasley, offering her a warm smile. He was also glancing suspiciously over at Lucius Malfoy, who was in turn eyeing Jennifer warily. The third person, who was standing between them as if trying to keep quarreling children apart, was actually someone that was a welcome sight to see, if not a bit of a surprise.

"Audi Belle!" Jennifer said, rushing down the stairs to meet her friend. Malfoy frowned, glancing between them as they exchanged a hug. "Nice to see you again! Welcome back, Arthur. Hello, Mr. Malfoy," Jennifer said, nodding to the other two. "I'll be escorting you to the lower study today. Follow me, please?"

Jennifer's spine crawled as she turned her back on Lucius, reminding herself that Arthur and Audi were also back there. Besides, they were in Hogwarts now, and he'd be a fool to try anything here, she reassured herself. Audi made pleasant comments along the way, marveling over the stairs, having never been there before. As Jennifer opened the door to the room with the falcon painting, Malfoy stared at it, squinting suspiciously.

"We're not going upstairs?" he asked with a frown.

"This is Professor Dumbledore's guest study. We've been using it since last year, actually. Please come in," she smiled warmly.

As they stepped in the alcove, Arthur immediately took out his wand and laid it on a silver tray sitting on a small table, followed by Audacious. They both glanced at Lucius, who seemed to be locked in some sort of internal debate. Finally, he threw his wand down. Jennifer took the tray and gave it to the picture of a young serving girl hanging in the alcove. At last Jennifer let them in. Dumbledore was standing near his desk, passing a warm smile to Jennifer as she entered, then smiled warmly to the elder Auror.

"Welcome to Hogwarts, Audacious!" he greeted her and took her hand.

"Albus Dumbledore! It has been a long time indeed since I've seen you. Just a Transfiguration professor in those days, and now look at you," she said, pleased. "But I say, you could have invited me to your school. This is quite a set up!"

"I tried, but you were always off on some case or another. Please, have a seat. I gather that once again it is business that brings you here."

Dumbledore and the guests sat, and Jennifer moved to stand to the side of Dumbledore so that she had a good view of all their faces.

"I'm working for Mr. Malfoy, hoping for a break in the case I've been following for the last three years or so," Audi nodded.

"Yes, it appears that Madame Belle's case seems to be directly tied into the murder of Mr. Baylor," Arthur agreed. "There are too many similarities for it to be a coincidence."

"And as a result you asked her to assist, Lucius?" Dumbledore asked.

"No, I hired her after one of my overseas managers turned up missing over the summer. I had heard she was trying to track down the murderer who was doing this and offered to finance her investigation if she thought it would lead her to an arrest," Malfoy said. "Once the murders began to happen here, I thought it would be best if I asked her to come over, especially considering there are no licensed Truth Seekers over here."

Jennifer smiled gently at Malfoy, nodding politely as if no insult had been intended, but it had and she knew it. Arthur, for his part, was staring at him and thinking really hard about what he wanted to say to Lucius one day, and Audi was watching Jennifer carefully.

"We are very grateful to have such a world renowned Auror here. Are you going to be looking into the activities of the Death Eaters as well?" Dumbledore asked.

"Most assuredly, Albus," she nodded. "They are very much interconnected. But as I'm sure you've heard, the murderer's brand of justice doesn't seem very discriminating. Anyone in any way connected with what happened eighteen years ago, even those that were proven innocent of any wrongdoing are being victimized. We need to get this criminal or criminals as quickly as possible."

"I couldn't agree more, Audi. Perhaps at some point whoever is behind this thought their intentions were good… to destroy the Death Eaters, who would go against that? But to coldly and vengefully deal out his own version of punishment such as this makes them just as dangerous as Voldemort, and it should not be taken lightly," Dumbledore said with a nod.

Jennifer glanced over at him thoughtfully. Had Severus told Dumbledore what happened yet, she wondered? She was a bit curious to know what he would have thought about her being put in Enchantment Assault like that. Jennifer glanced back at the guests and noticed Audi studying her again.