AN: Same Blah blah blah blah. Not mine, don't have permisson, no money, don't sue.

Ch 6: Lost and Found

Belldani felt her heart rise into her throat. "What does he look like?"

"He is in a bad state, missus! They is keeping him alive… Squeaky don't like hearing his screams, they get so loud at night. Squeaky thinks that he is saying Missus' name now and then, when she is cleaning his wounds and feeding him." Belldani pulled the hood over the cloak again.

"Squeaky, take me to him," she commanded, and Squeaky nodded.

"Missus knows him, doesn't she?" Squeaky asked as she lead the human down into the dungeons.

"I married him, Squeaky," she told the elf, who began to weep.

"Squeaky didn't know! Squeaky would have snuck him extra food, healing things if she had known!" Squeaky's high-pitched voice echoed off the walls. She stopped at a cell in the middle of the hall, on the left side, and waved her hand, opening the door. A dim light came on from the ceiling, and Belldani spied Sev lying in a corner, propped against the wall.

"Sev," Belldani breathed in, checking his pulse. He was alive, but weak. Very weak.

"Bell?" he croaked, a hacking cough overcoming him. She nodded, kissing his cheek.

"Lean on me," she told him, spreading the cloak over them. That was part of the magic of invisibility cloaks - they were always big enough to cover however many people were under them.

Belldani staggered under his weight, but managed it as she helped him up and out of the cell.

"You're the best friend and elf I've ever known," she told Squeaky tearfully.

"How'd… your cloak… Draco… ripped…pieces…" Severus mumbled. Belldani was saddened by the loss of her cloak, but she could always find another one she figured.

"Borrowed one," she told him, and held him tightly. "Squeaky, we're leaving now. Thank you for everything." Belldani wanted to hug the one thing she would miss from this house, but her arms were full, supporting Severus' wounded form. She grabbed her wand, and they disappeared with a pop.

They Apparated on the corner of Privet Drive.

"It's a bit of a walk, can you manage?" Belldani asked softly, and Severus made an agreeing sound. Bearing his full weight, she slowly got them down the street, all the way up to the front door of 4 Privet Drive. Exhausted, she pounded on the door. Vernon opened it a moment later.

"Who's there?" he stared past them into the empty street.

"Out of the way," Belldani snapped, and Vernon stepped back, frightened. Belldani grunted as Severus started to fall. "Few steps further, love," she whispered.

She got him to the chair Vernon had made vacant in the parlor before her strength gave out and she set him in it. Harry's cloak fell to the floor, and Petunia gave a cry.

"What is that?" she pointed at Severus and dashed to close the curtains, lest the neighbors see such a thing.

Belldani ignored her and yelled for Harry who came running from upstairs, Lupin at his heels. Both stopped and stared at Snape while Vernon's mouth was still moving open and shut, in the hall. Belldani rolled her eyes and elbowed past him, grabbing a fresh dishcloth from the kitchen and wetting it with warm water. She knelt in front of Severus and began wiping the dried blood from his face.

"Remus," she turned, "Can you make a very, very, strong Healing potion?" Lupin nodded and trod off.

"What is that thing?" Petunia repeated, and this time Belldani addressed her.

"This is my husband," she answered, and smiled inside at Petunia's look of horror. Remus ran back down the stairs and out the front door.

"Getting one from Molly!" he called. Belldani pinched the bridge of her nose. "Fine…" Harry picked up his cloak from the floor.

"Your cloak?" he asked, seeing as there was only one, which was his.

"Draco destroyed it," Belldani muttered angrily. Remus was returning, Molly in tow.

"Merlin!" she yelped and whipped out her wand. "Where's a bed for him?"

"Upstairs," Belldani sighed as Molly levitated his body along, letting Harry lead her to the guest room. She followed, but only got halfway up the stairs before Remus had to support her.

"What you did was exceptional," he told her, "We didn't think he still was…"

"I hadn't hoped so much," Belldani admitted, "I was lucky. The house-elf mentioned that she was caring for a man in the dungeons…"

Molly had Severus propped up in bed already and was beginning to administer the first of the healing potions. There was room on the other side of the double bed where Belldani fell.

"I wish I could take him back to the Order," Molly pursed her lips, measuring out a dosage for bone-mending potion. "He can't be moved, I can't believe you got him here from… where was it?"

"Dover," Belldani said faintly, unable to pick up her head. "Molly… he'll make it, right?"

"As long as he takes all these… I'll be back with more later." Molly clucked and ordered Remus to give "the poor dear" some Sleeping Draught. Belldani sighed as she scooted back, letting her head fall against the pillow before accepting a cup from the werewolf.

"Take care of the Muggles, will you,?" she asked before the magically-induced sleep swept over her. Instinctively she turned towards Severus, her face on his shoulder.

Harry stayed back as Mrs. Weasley finished giving Snape the last of the first round of potions.

"Oh Harry dear," she noticed him as he turned off the light in the guest room shut the door. Lupin had already sat the Dursleys down in their own parlor, saying that he was very sorry they had to deal with all this, quite unexpected - poor fellow was thought dead, and in no state to be moved any more. Uncle Veron protested, of course, that he couldn't be expected to feed two extra mouths, this was no charity, and Molly had smiled coolly, saying she would be there every day to make sure the injured man got the right potions, and food as well.

Harry laughed from his seat on the stairs as Lupin set 5 Galleons in front of Uncle Vernon, whose eyes lit up at the sight of the gold.

"This is for your troubles," Remus was smiling, "I hope having our injured colleagues here while they recooperate won't be too much of a hassle for you, Dursley."

"Not at all," Uncle Vernon was sizing them up, try to see if he could weasel some more gold from them.

"Excellent." Remus stood, brushing his robes and walking into the hallway. He would have to send an owl to Albus once he got home - the older wizard should be informed immediately of these developments.

Molly was standing at the foot of the stairs.

"They're both asleep for now, I'll return in the morning for a check-up," she told him quietly. Remus nodded.

"You know enough to be a Healer, Molly," he said with a small smile. She chuckled.

"It comes with experience, having seven children. Someone was always getting hurt…" they were walking out the back door and preparing to Disappparate from the garden. Molly glanced up at the black-curtained guest room window.

"I don't know if they'll make it," she confided sorrowfully.

"They?" Remus raised his eyebrows. Hogwarts needed a Potions master, and he refused to believe that two of the best - Belldani was really quite superb, all she needed was more experience - were close to death.

"Severus is inches away from being in the same state as the Longbottoms," Molly continued, "And Belldani... I'm not sure how devoted she is, or what their relationship is, but she seemed so broken at seeing him like that."

With a 'pop' they were in the kitchen of the Order's base. Remus hoped he wouldn't regret this.

"When she first brought him in," he told Molly slowly, "He was a mess. Didn't look human anymore… The poor girl started cleaning him up like he was something delicate, a baby perhaps," Like how Lily treated James, he mused. "Petunia started screaming, of course, and the Muggles were just losing it. I had thought she was on a recon to get her cloak from her parents house, mind you. Then Belldani said, well…"

Molly leaned forward, hanging on his words.

"They got married, Molly," Remus felt a headache coming on. He'd been too disoriented for it to form earlier. "I don't know when, but she said that he was her husband, and Harry didn't seem too shocked, either, so he might have known…"

Molly sank into her chair beside the fire, shaking her head.

"No wonder," she sighed. "The poor child… God, Remus! She's only 18 years old… married to him? I honestly can't believe that he'll be back to teaching this fall."

"Severus has dealt with a lot, I wouldn't hold so little faith," Remus added, hoping he was right. Severus looked more like a walking corpse than he wanted to admit and, in the back of his mind, the animal in him said the Potions Master wasn't going to be with them much longer.

Poor child is right, he thought sadly, Widowed before she was really a wife…

Arthur walked sleepily into the kitchen to see Remus and his wife sitting near the fire.

"What is it?" he asked concerned, fearing what they could have to say.

"Belldani, the girl who was watching Percy?" Remus began tiredly as Molly started making Pepper-up Potion, "She rescued Snape last night, they're both with Harry right now."

"Unbelievable," Arthur breathed, "Wasn't he…?" Remus nodded.

"Good as there, according to Molly," Remus looked down. "He's in a really bad state… Belldani, that girl's a can of worms…" Arthur looked confused.

"She married him, Arthur," Molly said tiredly, "Don't know when, but she says that she's his wife…" Arthur sat at the table and stared at his tea.

"She went from being Voldemort's fiancée to Snape's wife," he said blankly, as if the words hadn't registered. "It explains a bit… Why she called him Severus or Sev all the time… She's as old as Fred and George!" He said suddenly, almost as if a Muggle lightbulb was lighting up. The Weasley children were stumbling into the kitchen of the former Black home, and Fred yawned.

"Who's as old as us?" George mumbled, tripping over his feet.

"That girl? The one with the long dark hair, Snape hung over her like a bat?" Molly said impatiently, waving her wand. Breakfast appeared on the table a few sparkles later.

"I was right! She was a 7th year!" Ron crowed and Hermione elbowed him in the ribs.

"Has something happened?" she asked, looking at Ginny meaningfully.

"She and Snape-" Molly began, but Percy, newly reconciled and accepting a place there as his apartment seemed unsafe, interrupted.

"Married, I know," he said matter-of-factly, and Molly stared. "She was hysterical, leaving that mansion place, Mum. Smacked me across the face when I said that he wasn't going to be missed." His siblings had looks of disbelief on their faces.

"Did she tell you anything else about it?" Molly asked, connivingly. Percy picked at his toast.

"Been married about a week and he left right after the ceremony," he said after a moment of thought, and Molly's expression softened.

"I suppose it's better that way," she murmured, pouring herself a glass of orange juice, "Snape's alive, she rescued him last night. They're both at Harry's, with the Muggles."

Remus spoke up now. "Barely alive, really, he has to stay there until he's well enough to move the rest of the way here. They really did a number on him…"

Ron made a face. "Poor Harry," he said glumly, "Chap's got Snape and Mrs. Snape for guests? That's got to be a good reason to use underage magic-"

"RONALD!" Mrs. Weasley used a silencing charm on her youngest son. "Don't talk about such things; Snape'll be lucky if he can walk again! I really don't think he'll be teaching you this fall. That poor girl has gone through so much in the past fortnight!" She dabbed at her eyes with a corner of the tablecloth. "She's as old as the twins, Arthur, and he's going to leave her widowed, mark my words! There can't be too many miracles left…"