Dumbledore made his way up to the third floor followed by Lupin and Flitwick, who carried a large mirror. They met Medea in the hallway where she had been pacing, waiting for him. She took his arm and allowed him to lead her back to her chambers.
"This is Remus Lupin, our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. And this is Filius Flitwick, our Charms professor. They will be helping to rescue Professor Snape. I want them here, since they will be involved."
She nodded. Remus pulled a chair into the middle of the room, and she sat. Filius was adjusting the mirror in front of her.
"Are you sure you want to do this, Medea?"
"I am," she said. "I saw him again. He is weak. We should hurry."
Dumbledore took a vial from his robes. The liquid was syrupy, and dark blue in color. "This is Revium. It will put you into a sort of sleep, a trance state, really. It will be as if you are dreaming. It is important that you relax during this. And you must concentrate on Severus. Otherwise, this is worthless. This mirror will allow us to see what you are seeing in your trance. Do you understand?"
"I understand." He placed two drops on her tongue, then watched as her eyelids drooped slowly, until she was asleep.
The three men gathered behind the mirror and watched her reflection. A fog rose and remained for several minutes.
"Filius, is this going to work?" Remus whispered.
"It just takes a few minutes." Flitwick assured him. "She must be in a deep sleep in order to dream."
Almost immediately after those words, the mirror cleared. Medea was standing in a dark room, a dungeon or basement. A black mass was at her feet. She knelt and carefully touched it. It moved slightly. They could hear its raspy breath. She stepped around it and knelt again. All three men gasped as she touched his face. It was Snape. His face was badly bruised. His cheekbone and forehead were scraped up; blood caked about his hair. A crimson trickle from his ear had dried on his neck. He opened his left eye at her touch. His right was swollen shut.
"Medea." He reached up with a shaking hand and touched her cheek. "You've come. Am I dying?" His voice was barely a whisper.
"Dear god," Remus said softly, "he's barely alive."
"No, Severus," she answered. "You're not dying. You have friends coming to get you. You need to stay strong."
"I knew it was you. All those times, I heard your voice in my head. Telling me to stay strong. When I saw you, I though for sure I was-"
"No. They're coming for you. Do you know where you are?"
"It's too late for me."
"No, Severus. I'll tell them. They'll come get you. Tell me where you are." Medea froze. The three men strained to hear the footsteps in the distance.
"They'll kill me now," Snape said, his eye closed.
They heard the latch of the door raised and three men entered the cell. Each wore a black cloak. The shortest man spoke up.
"Come on, Snape. The games are beginning."
The other two men grabbed him under his arms and dragged him from the room. His immaculate robes were no more that rags draped over his shoulders.
"Follow him," Flitwick said aloud. Whether or not she heard him, Medea followed up a dark staircase and through a large doorway into a room where a dozen people were gathered, each wearing the same black cloaks, their faces hidden. Snape was dropped, unceremoniously, in the middle of the room. A single cloak approached him.
"My children," he said aloud, "I propose a game for you, who have been craving blood on your hands. A hunt." Several cheers went up, silenced by the cloak's upraised arms. "The prize? You may kill Severus Snape." Snape barely raised his head at the announcement. The cloak lowered his face near to Snape's. "You wouldn't beg me for death, so you will die like an animal, hunted and slaughtered. You have one minute." The door just beyond opened without assistance. Medea was beside him.
"Come, Severus. This is your chance. You must be strong. If you stay here, they will kill you!"
"I am dead."
"Oh, come now, Severus," the cloak said, believing the words were for him. "At least give us a sporting chance."
"Get up, Severus. You must be strong. If they're going to kill you, don't make it this easy on them! Get up!"
He stood and stumbled toward the door. Though none in the room could see her, Medea took him by the arm and led him into the open night. She led him toward the forest, just a few feet from the manor door. They were just within the trees when Medea saw the cloaks flood into the courtyard. About half were running straight for them. She led him deeper into the trees, pushing him into deep grass so she could look up at the house.
"I know this place," Flitwick sighed.
Lupin spread a map on the table.
"It's here," Flitwick said, laying his finger on the map. "Little Hangleton. I have an aunt who lived there."
"He's still at his father's house," Dumbleodre said. "It's as Harry described." His eyes were back on the mirror. Medea had led Snape past the scattered graves of Tom Riddle and his family. He was lying with his back against a tree.
"I can do no spells, Severus. You must do them."
"I have no wand." He was leaning against a tree, gripping his left arm, which was bleeding profusely..
"An incantation." She began saying the words, which Snape repeated. Two Death Eaters flew across the ground and slammed hard into a tree.
Dumbledore, Flitwick, and Lupin disappeared, running down the hallway, then ducking into a passage Remus assured them would appear in the Shrieking Shack. They could disapparate from there.
Snape slid weakly down the tree. "I can go no further."
"Severus, don't give up." Medea was holding him in her arms. "You can't. Not yet. They're coming. You just have to be strong. Stay alive. They'll find you." Without even knowing what the words meant, she cried, "Please Severus, I can't lose you. Not again."
He pushed himself up, his balance wavering. He managed a few steps before he was knocked to the ground by a red blast. She heard him groan, saw his eyes roll back in his head. He lay very still, unable to respond to any of her pleas.
Had Snape been able to open his eyes, he would have seen three figures emerge from the woods around him, each with a wand in his hand and a curse on the tip of his tongue. While Lupin and Flitwick blasted anything that moved near them, Dumbledore knelt next to his Potions Master. He was unconscious, but still alive.
He lifted Snape to his feet with amazing strength for a man so old, and the four men disappeared from the forest.