Alexis awoke an hour later in the hospital wing,

feeling exhausted, hungry for answers as well as food. Luckily,

Severus was there to straighten it out for her. "Someone released a

Dark Magic smoke bomb on the pitch, although no one knows how just

yet. Unfortunately, the entirety of the hospital wing is filled up

with students affected with massive smoke inhalation." Alexis felt

her face growing red with embarrassment, "I didn't realize I was so

weak." "You're not," said Severus, "because McGonagall and Vector

are in here for it too. Argus and I also had a bout of it, but

luckily we walked it off after a while." "Lucky you indeed," said

Alexis, "I wish I could leave here." "Just another hour or so and

you'll be out," said Severus, "Poppy needs the extra beds for the

other students hit by it."

They were both silent, then, "Severus...why did someone

release a smoke bomb in the Quidditch stadium? And who could

have...?" She trailed off, realizing the naivety of her statement,

"Voldemort." Severus held up a finger, pointing to the curtained

off area next to them. She nodded, "But why didn't he kill anyone?"

she whispered. "We'll discuss it later," he said, leaning forward

and giving her a kiss on the forehead, "now is not the time to

talk." She nodded, "I'll see you at dinner, then." He smiled

slightly, although it took effort for him to do something so many

years out of practice, "Alright."

As he left the hospital wing, he stopped at the front

door and turned back to see rows of students with smoke inhalation,

all of them either coughing or sleeping it off. He tried not to

grimace, thinking of Voldemort as he left.

* * *

After dinner Severus and Alexis met once again down in

the dungeons, although Alexis took it slow down the stairs. "I

still feel weak," she said, coughing once, "although I hate to admit

it." "I wouldn't worry about it too much," said Severus, "most of

the school will be feeling the same way for the next day or so."

They both sat down in his office, and Alexis said, "So what else

weren't you telling me?" "How did you know...?" said Severus. "Oh,

well, when you've been around as long as I have," said Alexis with a

joking wave of her hand, knowing full well that Severus was eight

years her senior. "Right," he said, "anyway, the part I neglected

to tell you due to student ears is something I hesitate to tell you

to begin with." "Just tell me," said Alexis, "I'll find out from

Dumbledore if you don't."

He sat back in his chair slowly, "There was a little

message burnt onto the Quidditch field." Alexis's eyes narrowed,

"What did it say?" "Just one word," said Severus. "Traitors."

Alexis was silent for a moment, then, "I see." Severus

said nothing, thinking silently of all the stupid mistakes he had

ever made as a Death Eater, cursing himself for each one. "At least

we know he hasn't forgotten about us," said Alexis finally. "Ah

yes, always a comfort," said Severus calmly, "just as we can never

forget him." Alexis peeled back her sleeve slowly, revealing her

Dark Mark; her eyes grew wide, "Severus...have you looked at your

Mark lately?" He said nothing, only ripped back his own sleeve to

reveal a startlingly clear Dark Mark, burning almost as angrily as

the day he had been Branded. "It's never been so clear so quickly,"

said Severus. "Someone's helping him," said Alexis, "someone must

be giving him a Strength Potion and a residence. He's still got

friends, wherever he is." Severus looked down at his arm again,

"Damn."

* * *

Security in the school grew much tighter after that;

Filch was seen barking at students if they so much as sneezed too

loud. The students were also encouraged to hustle to their classes

instead of larking about in the hall; a head count was immediately

taken in class upon arrival, and any tardy student was promptly

yelled at.

The smoke bomb incident also encouraged Severus and

Alexis to work much faster, and soon they were getting in twice the

amount of work in the same amount of time as before. Thankfully,

Dumbledore had called off the Quidditch matches, so they would no

longer have to worry about the practices anymore.

That Monday night, they were both diligently working in

the dungeons when they heard rapid footsteps on the stone stairs.

Dumbledore appeared, looking slightly aggravated, "Headmaster,

what's wrong?" said Alexis. "Miss Zarinsky, there's been

an...incident," said Dumbledore, "and I would like for you and

Severus to come with me." Dropping their tasks, they followed him

without question all the way to, strangely enough, Alexis's

quarters. She opened the door slowly to discover her room had been

destroyed; her four poster bed had been slashed, her belongings were

lying all over the floor, and pages from her books were ripped out.

The three of them entered the room in silence, Alexis

looking around with horror, "Who did this?" "That I do not know,"

said Dumbledore, "but whoever they are, they had access to your

room, somehow." "They were looking for something," said Alexis,

picking up a book off the floor and examining it with sadness. "No

they weren't," said Severus. The two of them turned to him, "How do

you know?" asked Alexis. Severus stared up at the ceiling, "Look."

The two looked up to see the Dark Mark painted across the ceiling in

black paint, the words, "Traitors are never forgotten," scrawled

hastily underneath it.

"How the hell is this happening?" said Alexis quietly,

"How are they doing this?" Dumbledore's eyes looked grim, "I do not

know. But until we find out, we are moving Severus to another room,

and Alexis, you will stay there with him. We'll post a guard

outside your room." "Oh that'll be great," said Severus

sarcastically, "while you're at it, why don't you put one of those

bright Muggle signs over our door that says, 'This room belongs to

two ex-Death Eaters?'" Dumbledore smiled, "Now that I think about

it, maybe a guard wouldn't be such a good idea..."

* * *

That night Severus and Alexis shared a room on top of

Gryffindor tower, the most unlikely place to find two Slytherins.

Luckily it had two beds so no awkward situations would be

encountered. "I don't like this," said Alexis, "the beast that tore

up my room could come in here and kill us both. There's no saying

he can't find us once he's moved." "True," said Severus, sitting

down in one of the large comfy chairs in front of the fire, "but

what else can we do?" "Nothing," she said quietly, "as usual."

This left Severus with the thought of getting murdered

while they both slept. Not liking the thought one bit, he made a

resolution to protect his life as well as Alexis's; stay up all

night and keep watch.

* * *

In the morning Alexis awoke to see Severus only

slightly awake; he was half snoring and half nodding his head trying

to stay up. "Oh Severus, you didn't stay up all night, did you?"

she asked, walking over to him and nudging him. "No, of course

not," he yawned, putting his wand back in his pocket when he

realized morning had mercifully come. "You shouldn't have," she

said, "now you'll be all worn out for your classes." "Oh well," he

said, standing up and stretching, "guess I'll just have to be grumpy

today." Alexis laughed, and even Severus smiled slightly at that.

The day dragged on slowly for both of them since they

were eager to work on the Project, but it dragged on even slower for

Severus, who accidentally fell asleep in his first class. The

students giggled a lot for the remaining amount of class time,

although Severus (upon awakening) chastised them by deducting twenty

points from Ravenclaw. The rest of the day went over fairly well

except for a warning from Dumbledore that they were to be moved to

the Hufflepuff dormitory tonight. "It'll be better if you move each

night, then they'll never know where you are," he said. He received

no argument, although neither of them were eager about having to

move after a long hard day.

That evening they were both working hard when Severus

finally decided to take a break, "If I keep this up I'll

accidentally add a Woad Leaf and blow up the whole potion," he said.

"Fine by me, you haven't slept in over twenty-four hours as it is,"

said Alexis. He nodded and sat down, watching her work vigorously.

After a moment, he spoke, "Wanna get married?" She laughed, "Now?"

"Sure, why not?" "What do you mean, 'Why not?' we're in the middle

of a bloody dungeon!" she said. "So?" he replied, "I was just

asking." "And I appreciate it, but we can't just skip off, get

married, and come right back to work."

"Well...why not?" he said. "Oh come now you're acting

silly," she said, although the idea was gaining appeal, "besides,

what made you suddenly decide to ask?" "Nothing much," he said

easily, "just felt like it." "Oh, I see, so since you felt like it

I'm supposed to say yes?" she said, turning to face him. He thought

about it for a moment, "Yes, that's how I see it." "It's lucky for

you that I like you so much," said Alexis, turning back to her

potion and casting a spell on it. "You still haven't answered me,"

he said after a long minute of silence. She slammed her wand down

on the table, "Oh for God's sake fine let's go to Hogsmeade and get

it over with so I can get back to work!"

* * *

The following morning Severus and Alexis sat down by

Dumbledore, who merely said, "Good morning," and continued to eat

his breakfast. He was, however, shocked to discovered that Alexis

was wearing a brand new diamond ring with 'A.S.' scratched into it.

"Acquire a new piece of jewelry?" said Dumbledore, "It's very

beautiful." "Oh yes, Severus gave this to me last night," said

Alexis, admiring it slightly. "For no reason in particular?" said

Dumbledore. "Oh of course he had a reason. We're married," said

Alexis. Dumbledore stopped eating and looked at the two of them

with mixed thoughts, then finally spoke, "Well! Congratulations!"

He in turn noticed that Severus was wearing a silver wedding band

with 'S.S.' scratched into the top of it. 'The students will love

this one,' thought Dumbledore, eyes sparkling.

Indeed the students did notice; at first it seemed that

Alexis Zarinsky had acquired a new ring sheerly through a whimsy of

her own. But then the students noticed that Snape was also wearing

one; "They'd never..." said Ron, "...they couldn't possibly be

together! Not her and...him!" "It's always possible Ron," said

Hermione, "you don't know what he's like when he's not around us."

"Bugger that, I'll bet he's that uptight all the time! No one would

ever...no...not possible. The two of them couldn't possibly be

engaged!" said Ron. Suddenly Harry and Hermione went pale white;

"What's the matter with you two?" said Ron, "Say something!"

"Look...behind...you..." said Harry through gritted teeth.

Ron spun about to see Snape leering down at him,

"Working hard on your potion, Mr. Weasley?" Ron's face turned

bright red, "I...yes sir! Of course!" "I doubt it," said Snape,

"considering you were just discussing my private life. Twenty-five

points from Gryffindor! And if I catch you at it again you can

expect three nights of detention!" Ron winced as Snape walked away;

"Thanks a lot you two," he said once he'd gone, "for giving me a

warning!" "There wasn't any time to warn you!" said Harry as he

added some leech juice to his potion. "Sure," said Ron, "one of

these days I hope he makes the wrong potion and blows himself up."

"Ron!" said Hermione, "It was your fault for talking about him

behind his back!" "Oh you go on then and stick up for him!" said

Ron, "After all, he's a real looker now, isn't he? You've been

sticking up for him ever since he changed his bloody appearance!"

"Ron you know that's not true! I'm just sticking up

for him because he's right and your wrong and for once you can't

admit it! You shouldn't be talking about him behind his back! It's

rude! And besides, I'd never be so shallow as to stick up for him

just because he's suddenly good-looking." "Yeah, that's Lavender's

job," joked Harry. They all laughed and went back to their potions,

albeit keeping themselves quiet when Snape swooped past once again.

* * *

The rest of the week proceeded without incident, which

Severus and Alexis both found unnerving. "I can't stand the idea

that at any minute something could happen," said Alexis as they sat

in the dungeon. "Well we're close to finishing the Project," said

Severus, "and once we've got that taken care of, we can set up a

trap for him." "But how do we know-" began Alexis. "Shush!" said

Severus. Alexis looked taken aback, "What?" "Let's just not think

about it," said Severus, "if we can just concentrate on the task at

hand without asking the 'if' questions we'll be alright." After a

moment Alexis nodded, "You're right."

"Of course I am."

"You mean you're always right?"

"Yes."

Silence. "I love you."

"I love you too."

"More than anything."

Silence again. "The feeling," he said finally, "is definitely mutual."