Severus was running through the halls and down to the

dungeons, whipping past corners and faculty members who barely had

time to say 'Hello.' He was inside the locked potions cabinet in

seconds, pulling out their Project Potion and pouring it into a

vial, then corking it for easy removal later. Armed only with his

wand and the Potion, he ran back upstairs quickly, heading out the

door when he heard Dumbledore's voice, "Severus, STOP!"

Severus turned back, gasping for breath, "No time. He

took her. He'll kill her. I have to go..." "Go where? Do you know

where he is, Severus? Do you know how to find him?" asked

Dumbledore. Severus inhaled deeply, "I think so." "Where? I can

send Aurors ahead of you," said Dumbledore. Severus shook his head,

"No, it has to be me. He's doing this to get to me." "Then at

least tell me so I know where to find you!" said Dumbledore.

Severus wiped sweat from his brow, "When he Apparated, the wand

pointed North. You know what that means." "He couldn't possibly

still be using the Riddle house," said Dumbledore incredulously.

"Well there's only one way to find out," said Severus, "goodbye,

Albus."

And with that, he was out the door, headed off grounds so he could

Apparate.

"Goodbye, Severus."

* * *

A few minutes later Severus was standing on old dusty

floorboards inside the Riddle house. He heard a laugh and turned to

see Voldemort standing there, Alexis bound to a chair in the corner.

"So the ingenious ex-Death Eater pulls it off yet again," said

Voldemort, "I wasn't sure if you'd pick up on my wand movement or

not." "Well I did, so here I am," said Severus, angry fire glowing

in his black eyes. "And I'm glad you did," said Voldemort, "the

whole point was to get you here. You see, as I lay on the verge of

death after that last little...incident, with the Potter boy, I

realized that the moment I came back I simply must dispose of all my

disloyal Death Eaters. I made a mistake the first time, allowing

you into my circle yet again. But now I'm disposing of all of you,

because this time, you won't disrupt all I've worked for."

He turned to Alexis, "And would you look at her? She's

so pretty, Snape; what's she doing with someone like you?" he asked,

looking at him indignantly. "Of course, you have changed a bit;

finally decided to wash your hair, did you, you greasy hook-nosed

over-bearing git?" Alexis spoke up, "Better a greasy hook-nosed

over-bearing git than an evil red-eyed no-nosed disgusting creep!"

she snarled. Voldemort's head snapped to her, "What did you say?"

"You heard me," she spat, "you disgust me." Voldemort took a deep

breath, "Very well.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

"NO!" screamed Severus, breaking out the Potion vial and throwing it

at him hard. The Potion splattered all over him as Severus

shrieked, "IMMOBULUS!" The Freezing Charm worked perfectly; at the

same time, however, the horrific green light of the Killing Curse

hit Alexis hard. She cried out in terror as it hit her, yelling

Severus's name.

The curse suddenly bounced back.

They both gasped as it returned to Voldemort, hitting

him full-throttle. "NO! NO!" he shouted, his body still being

Frozen ever so slowly by the Potion whilst the Curse hit him.

Suddenly he was immobile; he had reached Permanent Suspended

Animation, hanging in Limbo forever.

Severus turned to Alexis, who was almost crying, still

bound to the chair. He snapped his fingers and the ropes fell off;

she fell into his arms at once, sobbing, "Oh Jesus...oh God...I

almost died! Oh God!" 'Don't remind me,' he thought, never having

felt so afraid in his life. Suddenly there were three distinct pops

around him, and he looked up to see Dumbledore, Arthur Weasley, and

Remus Lupin. "Glad to see you three arrived on time as usual," said

Severus, helping Alexis to her feet. "Is he dead, Snape?" asked

Lupin, looking at Voldemort, an expression of horror permanently

frozen onto his face. "Not quite," said Severus, "the idea was to

not kill him. If you kill him he can still come back to life

somehow; instead this is Permanent Suspended Animation. He can't

move from that state. Ever. But he'll never die, either; it'll be

his punishment."

"I knew you would figure something out," said

Dumbledore, "with two brains like yours working together." Severus

looked at Alexis, who was seemingly hiding, burrowed in his chest,

"I think we'd both like to go home now." "Naturally," said Arthur

Weasley, examining Voldemort with interest. Suddenly Alexis looked

up at him, "Severus...why didn't I die?" Severus looked over at

Voldemort, eyes burning with hatred, "If there's one thing Voldemort

always forgets, it's that Love is much stronger than the Killing

Curse. Of course, he should have figured that out during his first

encounter with Potter. It was Lily Evans that saved the boy, not

luck." Alexis stared at Severus with realization; if it had not

been for him, she would have been killed instantly.

As Severus and Alexis walked by Voldemort's frozen

body, however, Severus stopped and looked him directly in the eye.

It was apparent that he could still see, for his eyes were burning

with their ceaseless red fire. Severus leaned in close, "Never,

ever, call me a greasy git."