"Wake up." Lena heard the words being spoken from above her and felt the gentle shaking that Snape was giving her but she smacked his and away and put her pillow over her face.

"Mwahrgighow."

"What was that?"

"Go away!" Lena pulled the pillow off her face long enough to yell those two words and replaced it, immediately regretting doing so. Her head was now throbbing and she whined into the pillow.

However, before she could fall back asleep or even quiet her throbbing head the pillow was lifted from her face and she protested with a long and nasal whine. "Whsonvighoweild."

"I can't hear you when your face is pressed into the mattress."

"I don't want to get up. Leave me alone to die."

"I don't think so. You promised to meet the Headmaster and Minerva and have lunch with them. If I show up without you it may damage my reputation. So get up."

"How is your reputation contingent on my showing up for lunch?"

"The company I choose is a reflection of me. So you're going. And you're going to be charming as well."

"Fuck that. I'm staying right here and I'm going to dash my head on these gloomy stone walls."

"No you aren't."

"Whyeeeeeeeee?" More whining.

"Because I don't feel like picking up little pieces of your brain and cranium off my new carpets. Now get up."

"Listen, Snape. I'm already in the hole for the test you made me miss yesterday. You're damn lucky it's Saturday and I'm not missing more classes right now. You drug me away from home to come and keep you company in your time of dire distress and I'll be damned if you're going to push me around.

"Mobilicorpus" With one quick flick of the wrist Snape had lifted Lena from the comfort of the bed and was sending her straight into the bathroom with his seldom used wand. When he had her directly over the bathtub, which resembled the one in the Prefect's bathroom, he dropped her in. She landed with a splash, her nightdress soaked and her hair clinging to her face.

She sputtered and hissed and had to practically swim to the edge of the tube to stay afloat. Once she had a firm grip on the edge of the tub she turned and cast a hateful look at her old friend. "It's fucking cold in here."

"Could you please watch your language? I really hate that American muggle slang you're always using. Now," he said as he turned and headed for the door. "Get bathed and get dressed, and when you're finished I'll have a hangover remedy brewed and we'll go and meet Minerva and Albus for lunch." With that he shut the door to the bathroom and left a very angry Lena Erikson with no other option but to follow his orders, now she was soaked through anyway.

It was a pleasant lunch. Snape had done well with his first potion in his brand new lab and Lena was able to thoroughly enjoy her afternoon at the castle. Of course he would have been much happier had he been given the Defense Against the Dark Arts position, but after much consolation from Lena and the suggestion that he petition for the job when it came back available, he had accepted his position of Potions Master.

Of course, the new title had earned him much ridicule from his old friend as soon as she had heard it, and she had been all evening telling jokes that seemed to get dirtier and dirtier the drunker she got, but which always involved the word Master in some form or another. When he had asked her to please desist with her juvenile games she asked, "Why? Are you going to give me a detention? Will I have to skin your tubeworm? Or maybe you'll have me dip my ladle in your cauldron. Or will it be the other way around?"

That evening she had settled herself down in front of his fire with one of her favorite books of all time, Fight Club. She was just getting to her favorite part, when Tyler starts recruiting Space Monkeys for Project Mayhem, when Snape sat down beside her and took the book from her hands.

"You have to go."

"What? Why?"

"I have something I have to do. And I may not be back until early in the morning."

"I don't care. I'll wait. I'll go up and see if Minerva needs any help preparing for start of term."

"No, Lena. You can't stay. What I have to do is between myself and the Headmaster, and I can't risk you or anyone finding about it."

"What is that crap? I've been your best friend - hell, Severus, your only real friend - since we started school here. And now you're kicking me out because you and Albus are having some secret boy scout meeting?"

Lena was becoming more and more furious as this conversation went on. It was no secret to most of the wizarding world that she had been enthralled with Snape since their first year at Hogwarts. In fact, Snape seemed to be the only one who didn't realize it. Miranda had known, that much was sure, and she had hated and resented Lena from the start of her relationship with Severus. In fact they had had to meet in secret since the fourth year, when the two had started dating. But nothing had ever happened between them and Lena sure as hell wasn't about to risk the rejection that she was sure she would face if she ever told Snape how she really felt. But this was ignorant. Whatever he and Albus had to do, surely she could hang around until they were finished. She had classes to get back to on Monday, so it certainly wasn't as if she was about to wear out her welcome.

"Lena, you've got to understand. I can't tell you about this. It's between myself and the Headmaster and -"

"Now, Severus, I don't think it's fair to keep your only friend out of the loop." Both of them turned to see the Headmaster who had let himself in through the slightly open door. "I think it's only fair to tell Lena everything. She cares about you, after all, and I couldn't bear the guilt if something - unfortunate - was to happen to you."

"Unfortunate? Just what the hell are the two of you up to?" Lena was now sitting bolt upright, and looking concernedly between Snape and Dumbledore, both of whom seemed to want the other to start. She obviously had caught on that something was amiss with this situation and it was obvious that now that her interest had been piqued she was not about to give the conversation up.

"Lena," the old man gave in and began, "Snape has accepted more than just a position as an educator at this institution. He has accepted a position that may lead him into danger. As you know -" the old man continued as he took a seat in a chair beside Lena, "Voldemort and his followers are growing in strength as well as in numbers. Those who fight against him find themselves in precarious situations to say the least."

"Well there's no doubt about that. But what does that have to do with you," she asked, turning her attention toward Severus and away from Dumbledore. Severus sighed heavily. This was the last conversation he wanted to have with Lena.

"I've accepted a position in the Order of the Phoenix."

"Order of the whatsits?"

"Phoenix. In this time of growing distress and disruption among the wizarding world I am sad to report that most witches and wizards will either choose one side or the other and fight for that side. Those of us who want to defeat the Dark Lord, to reclaim the wizarding world for ourselves and our children, and to eradicate the fear that Voldemort and his followers have been spreading throughout the country, have banded together. However, we cannot be effective only by participating in stopping present violence. We must discern and prevent future acts of violence as well. That's where Severus comes in."

"I'm going to be a spy. For Dumbledore. I'm going to infiltrate the Death Eaters and report back to him. I'm going to join the Death Eaters, Lena."

The room went suddenly and deadly silent. No one looked at anyone and everyone seemed to realize the seriousness of this business.

"Then I want to help too." Snape looked up at Lena as she said this and shook his head.

"No."

"Don't tell me what to do, Severus. You're not my father -"

"No, but I am old enough to be," Dumbledore interjected, "and I must insist that you stay out of it. This is dangerous business, Lena, very dangerous indeed. The Order currently only has a few straggling members and even they are fearful. I cannot allow you to join unless I can be quite sure that there is a place for you in the order out of harm's way."

Lena could feel tears rising in her eyes but she fought them back, along with the lump in her throat, as effectively as possible. When she spoke her voice was low and husky, but not wavering as it did just before a deluge of tears was let loose.

"Headmaster, may I please stay until he returns? I really -" she paused to hold back a sob, "I really would like to stay."

Dumbledore seemed to consider it and ignored Snape's vigorously shaking head. "Very well, Lena. You may stay and wait for him to return. I daresay we may need your calming presence when he does." With that Albus stood and saw himself out, turning at the door and regarding the pair with a heavy look.

"I shall be waiting in the entrance hall to see you off, Severus, whenever you are ready."

Severus nodded and then turned his attention back to the floor. When the door had clicked shut and they were safely alone in the room Lena abandoned all her senses and indulged in whatever impulses she happened to have. She leaned forward on the loveseat and threw her arms around him, holding him tight to her and sobbing with abandon into his shoulder.

"Don't do this, Severus. Please. Don't do this."

Severus, quite unaccustomed to physical displays of affection, particularly with Lena, who had never liked to be touched, sat still as a deer in the headlights for a moment before turning toward her and wrapping each of his strong arms around her.

"I have to go, Astrid. I have to go."

"Don't call me Astrid," she sobbed into his shoulder, soaking his robes with tears and snot. "And you don't have to. Tell him no. Tell him you can't do it. Tell him you won't."

He laughed despite himself, but no one could have discerned the laugh from a sob. Besides Lena.

"What are you laughing for? This isn't funny, Severus. You could die. You could be tortured. Voldemort isn't stupid. What if he knows what you're up to? What if he sees through you from the off and kills you right then and there?"

"He won't, Astr- Lena. He won't." The embrace lasted a few moments longer before Snape pulled her up to her feet by the biceps and looked her dead in the eyes. Her face was stained with tears and her nose was running. Her hair was clinging to the rivulets of tears running down her cheeks and her eyes were red and puffy.

"Don't go." She whispered.

"I must." And the conversation was over. Lena knew that tone. She knew that when he used it he would accept no dissention. And she knew that it was over.

She drew a shuddering breath and turned her attention to the fire, refusing to look him in the face. "Then I shall wait for you."

Snape nodded curtly before he turned and headed for the door. Lena did not watch him go, but drew her arms protectively around herself and watched the fire burn in the grate. When he reached the door Snape stopped, without turning, and seemed to be considering something. Then, with as much abandon as she had displayed he turned and swept back into the room, took her again around the biceps, and kissed her hard and purposefully on the lips. When he had finished he looked her in the eyes and said, "I shall come back for you." And then he was gone.