Part Seven:

After Remus left him, Severus went to the Infirmary. Poppy told him that Peter Pettigrew had come but was captured. "Would explain the loud noises coming from the dungeon. How is she?"

"She is still resting. In all honesty, I don't think she's going to come back to us." Poppy was gentle, she left him alone for a moment to check on another patient.

He nodded, then went to sit by her. "Of all the people to talk to, why Potter?" It was a soft question that went unanswered. After a while, he turned to the returning medi-witch. "Poppy, could I ask a favor of you?"

"You don't need to ask."

"If she is stable, may I remove her to my quarters?" There was a kind of pitiful desperation in his face.

Poppy was tempted to reject but the man looked terrible. She knew he hadn't slept since his sister had appeared. If she wasn't going to awaken, he'd want time alone with her without an audience. "Go right ahead."

"Thank you." With the gentlest of care, he picked her up and removed her.

"Professor Snape! I would have a word with you." A voice demanded, echoing unpleasantly loud in the empty hall.

"Not now, Potter." He made his way down to the dungeon, carrying his burden gently but firmly. The young man followed, keeping pace easily.

"Why do you hate me when I know that you enjoyed the friendship of my mother?" Harry demanded, ignoring the warning in his professor's voice. "I know she knew the truth, you trusted her. She trusted you. Talk to me!"

Severus stopped and turned around. "Potter, you are coming perilously close to an unhappy end." In his dark eyes, a fire burned that promised retribution if Harry didn't back off.

"So Voldemort continues to threaten me." He spat at him, not caring about anything anymore. "I want to talk to you. I want answers that only you seem to have. Is that so much to ask of you?"

"Ten points from Gryffindor. You will also serve a detention tomorrow night for your inappropriate behavior. Good night, Mr. Potter."

"As long as you give me answers, you can take the bloody cup!"

"And five more for language." He then disappeared, leaving Harry stunned.

Severus entered his room and put her on the bed, feeling the magic leave him. Getting out a cloth, he soaked it in lavender and rested it against her warm forehead. "I'm sorry about that. But you remember how the Potters can be. Almost as bad as Black with a bone."

"Don't you mean a dog?" It was a faint sound but he reared back as though slapped. "Or it is one and the same with him? I can't quite remember."

"Septina?" He asked, reaching out a shaking hand to touch her.

"Have I been gone so long that you no longer remember me?" It was amused.

"Where were you?"

"Trapped." She answered, moving the cloth to cover her eyes. "James Potter saved me. The fiend."

A ghostly form hovered over the headboard. "That's gratitude for you."

"You want gratitude, buy a card." She was bitter.