Postatem obscuri lateris nescitis



Remus was sitting in his den, reading nervously, awaiting reply from Albus when a large owl flew in the open window. He removed the envelope tied to its leg, and it immediately sped back out the window. "Don't want a reply, then," he said, breaking through the familiar seal and unfolding the parchment.

He recognized Severus's thin, slanting scrawl, though it had been years since it had been directed at him. "By Merlin, of course! Sev would know what happened to the girl. I suppose I'll go, just to see if he can tell me anything about her. I'm not exactly in the mood for dealing with his bloody combustible potions ingredients."

He changed into a set of work robes and did the traditional triple apparition before arriving outside the gates of Snape Manor, to prevent tracing. He undid the latch and walked in, letting the gate lock itself behind him. At the front door, he let himself in, making his way down to Snape's labs unescorted. Severus was siphoning a thick purple potion from a size 5 cauldron into a row of bottles arranged on the desk below. "What did you call me for, Sev? I'm not sure I'm going to be able to help you much with it right now, as I've promised myself to Albus to help with recent disappearances." He pronounced the word slowly, so that Severus would be sure to understand what he meant.

Severus froze the liquid inside its tube and with a quick shake of his head indicating he intended Remus to follow, left the dungeon and walked briskly through a labyrinth of corridors and staircases. They stopped outside a large wooden door. "What is it, Severus?" Remus asked, the patience in his voice leaving. "I really don't have time for this."

"Just go in, Remus. It's just about time."

Remus opened the door, unprepared for what he found inside. There, on the guest bed he recognized, lay Virginia Weasley. She was asleep, but just beginning to stir. He went and sat on the side of her bed, by the head. Slowly, her eyes opened and focused on him. "Professor Lupin? What are you doing here? What happened?" she asked, her voice still fuzzy with sleep.

"Hush, Ginny. I'm here to help take care of you. Something happened at your house. That's all I'm allowed to tell you right now. Why don't you just sit up here," he paused to help her arrange the pillows so she could prop herself against the headboard, "and let me go get you something to eat. Are you hungry?" She nodded softly in reply.

"What would you like?"

"Just a bit of toast, thank you."

"All right. You wait here, and I'll get you some." He squeezed her hand gently, and went back into the hall, shutting the door quietly. He turned to Severus. "Is Kalea still here?" In response, a small house elf appeared in front of him.

"What does Mr. Remus need?" she squeaked.

"There is a girl in the guest room. Could you bring her two pieces of toast, and some juice?"

"Yes, sir. Kalea will do that, sir." She popped out of sight again and he turned back to Severus. "What in the name of Merlin is she doing in there? This is what you brought me here for, isn't it?"

"I had no choice, Remus. They would have killed-they would have killed both of us if they discovered she had gone free. And I presume you would rather me do this than what I was expected to do to her."

"No choice? No choice but to take her away from her home, her life? What did you think you were going to do with her, Sev? Just disguise her, make her a new life?"

"It's been done before."

"No, really. What did you intend to do with the girl once you had her here?"

"Just keep her safe, out of the way for a few years. She's not safe out there. None of them are. Just because the older ones weren't home....There are a lot of people who would love to get back at the Wealeys. People with long memories, Remus. The boys are all in danger. I couldn't just leave her, if you will excuse the metaphor, to the wolves."

"Just keep her safe. Sure. Like any of us are safe now. Like she's safer away from her family, and Albus. Like she's safe in the society of, well, you know," and Remus looked pointedly at Severus's left arm.

"How dare you! You, of all people. Of course she's not safe with her family, did you not understand me before? The remaining Weasleys have a mob of angry Death Eaters at their heels, just waiting for the opportunity to get rid of the lot of them. No one will ever suspect she's here."

"Including her grieving family, I am to understand?"

"What do they know?"

"'Virginia Weasley, missing, presumed dead.' Give me one good reason I shouldn't just take her straight to Dumbledore now."

"No! You can't. They'll kill her. They'll kill me. Albus would never understand this. You do not want the Death Eaters to know she's still alive. Let them think I just took her off and killed her somewhere, it's better than what will happen to her if they discover she's here."

"What do you mean?"

"Remus, are you being deliberately dense? How would you expect a pack of Death Eaters to get their revenge on the whole Weasley clan, when they have their fifteen year-old daughter captive?"

Remus shuddered. "You people sicken me."

"Now, for the sake of all involved, especially her, no one else can find out that Miss Weasley is here."

"And how do you expect to pull that off? Will you keep her locked away until the war is over? Let her education go to naught? What if, as is likely, something happens to you? Then what, Sev? Did you think this out at all?"

"Do you want to take her? Because you seem to think you are much more capable of taking care of her."

"Oh, and you know how to raise a child? A teenage daughter?"

Severus shrugged with a secretive air. "I know a lot of things that would surprise you, Remus."

"That's not likely. What do you mean by that? You don't seem exactly the fatherly type."

"I mean I've done this before."

"If you've done this before, why do you have no idea what you are doing?"

"It was easier the first time. It was a smaller child. It was my first raid, and I couldn't bring myself to do anything to her, not even just stun her. But I was scared, so I couldn't leave her there. I picked her up and brought her home with me. I told the rest of them that I had disposed of her."

"These aren't stray puppies, Severus, to be picked up and adopted at your leisure!"

"Leisure? I saved her life! There is no leisure involved when a nineteen year old boy brings home a five year old girl."

"What did you do with her?"

"A few spells, a few potions, to change her appearance. I convinced her she was my child, and raised her as such."

"What about school? You couldn't have sent her to Hogwarts as your child, surely, given that you were only fourteen years older."

"I sent her to the international school in Seville."

"You sent 'your child' to Spain?"

"And what of it? It's a good school, and the next best to Hogwarts."

"Where is she now?"

"She lives there. The schools farther west are much bigger on communal living. And their schools are arranged differently than ours. She teaches a few courses on properties for potion brewing, and mentors one of the younger students."

"That still doesn't explain what you're going to do with Virginia."

"I think it would be safest for all involved if I sent her to live with her sister."

"Her sister?"

"The girl."

Remus barely restrained himself from punching Severus. "I can't believe you. How could you do that to the poor family? And all these years? How could you possibly bring yourself to go back after that? How dare you presume to teach their children after doing that to them. Can you even comprehend what you did to them? It took Charles three years to be able to talk to someone outside of his family! How can you live with yourself after destroying people like this?"

"The things I live with, Remus, are keeping the rest of you alive so I suggest you hold your tongue. I mean to send Miss Weasley to live with Meg in Seville."

"And how do you plan to convince her of this?"

"I think I'm going to let you do that, Remus," he said, opening the door and pushing Remus back inside.





Disclaimer: I don't own anything previously disclaimed, or the Seville Academy. That was originally created by gaelicchick, one of my favorite authors.



A/N: Continued thanks goes to my 2 reviewers, who not only are reading this, but are checking it often enough to have their reviews already here by the time I am able to access the chapter, without being really notified. *Hugs reviewers* This is where we see (sort of) the rest of the connections to A Night To Remember. If there is anything you aren't sure about or need to tease me about, go right ahead. Or anything you want to recommend, or whatever.



Green Eyed Lady-Yeah, yeah, so I can't type. I meant Ms., really. Sevie had to write like that, though I wasn't sure if I had pulled of the character properly.. I'm glad you liked it though, and I thank you for the RL thought (which you probably recognized). And I didn't really mean Sev thinking of Ginny like that, he just couldn't tell in the letter in case it was intercepted. Here is most of the rest of the information on Meg, though at your *growls* suggestion, I have already gotten 2 ½ pages into the third fic of this branch. As always, thanks incredibly much for reading, writing, and giving birth to (and adopting) plot bunnies.



animegirl-mika-Thank you incredibly much for keeping up with this. I'm glad you liked that chapter, I know it was a shortie, but it sort of had to be there as a transition into this chapter. Thank you for your opinions, and your time and interest.