Disclaimer: I own only the obvious, the rest belongs to JK Rowling.

Authors Note: Sorry for the wait, people; but it's here at last. Hope you enjoy!

-Chapter Seven-

"Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way!"

Severus groaned as the noise penetrated his sleep-filled mind. He heard Potter shift on the other couch.

"Oh what fun it is to ride in an one-horse open sleigh!" Tiaret entered the room, annoyingly cheerful as ever. "Jingle bells, jingle be-"

"Ms Ade," the Potion Master cut her off. "First of all stop that inhuman screeching; and second, Christmas is still months away!"

"JINGLE BELLS! JINGLE BELLS! JINGLE ALL THE WAY!"

"Don't bother trying to shut her up, Sev- Snape," Potter said sitting up. "She always began celebrating Christmas earlier than normal people."

"Three months early?"

"OH WHAT FUN IT IS TO RIDE IN AN ONE-HORSE OPEN SLEIGH!"

Potter shrugged. "That's Tiaret for you."

"Your friends never cease to annoy me, Mr Potter."

"ALL TOGETHER NOW! JINGLE BELLS! JINGLE BELLS! JINGLE ALL THE WAY!"

-------------------------

Connor turned out to be worse than ten Mad-Eye Moody's put together. The man would jump up ready to fight every time someone got up from the table to go to the kitchen or the bathroom. He kept glaring suspiciously at the two mortals and completely ignored the Potion Master. Severus still hadn't made up his mind of it was a good thing or a bad thing.

Ignatus had returned right after sunset in the company of three other vampires. There was the paranoid Connor. Kiros who came from Africa. And Valda who had arrived from Norway. The other Ancients had spread out over the world trying to get information about Malfoy's supporters, the younger vampires and what the situation was in the Wizarding World right now.

Severus, Potter, Tiaret and the four Old Vampires were currently trying to come up with a plan to get to Dumbledore.

"So what I am saying is that even if we have the power to 'hide' you," beautifully pale and slender Valda was saying, "our powers can be stripped away by powerful magic. And the magic surrounding Hogwarts castle is some of the most powerful magic in existence today."

"So we cannot go too close to the school," Kiros continued. "We can go to the outskirts of the village called Hogsmeade; from there you will have to manage on your own."

"If we ever get that far." Connor mumbled as he glared around the room.

"How would we get to the school then?" Tiaret asked. "We can't exactly walk through the front gates."

"And brooms certainly won't work. You're easy enough target as it is, no need to turn you into sitting ducks." Ignatus shot in. "I say we ask the former Professor. Anything useful you can tell us about the school, Severus?"

"Yes, we can't take a Portkey in and none of the fireplaces are connected to the Floo Network." Severus told them. "The last time I was there – around a year ago – the owl post was checked by Aurors first and then handed over to their receivers."

Potter had been extremely quiet throughout the conversation, but now he spoke up. "There's a secret passage from the Shrieking Shack. It surfaces again right under the Whomping Willow. From there we could take a secret passage in to the school itself, and then just use the secret passages and rooms in the castle to avoid the Aurors."

'So the brat has some brains up there after all!'

"Yes, that sounds like a plan." Kiros said after thinking over it for a while. "Now we should have a plan of what to tell Dumbledore once you get there. You will not have the time of the world exactly as the Aurors will with no doubt notice that something is out of the ordinary."

"How about a shortened version of the truth?" Potter asked.

"What did you have in mind, Lencho?" Tiaret spoke up.

"Something like this: 'Got called on a mission, Malfoy knows something we don't, he's up to something, we're fugitives please help us out'."

"That sounded corny."

"Thank you for that assessment Ti. But it's the best-" Potter broke off as a beeping filled the room. He stuck his hand into his pocked and drew out a golden ball, then tapped it with his wand. "Yes?"

"Hi Harry!" it sounded like the Commanders voice, but he was never acting like a hyperactive, sugar-addicted moron. "Just wanted to call you up and tell you that everything's fine and that I trust you and Severus to do the right thing. Have a nice day wherever you are, don't kill each other and be happy! Bye!"

Severus and Potter shared a look. "Something's definitely wrong."

"Why do you say that?" the female Slayer asked while edging away from Connor who was bearing his fangs at her.

"In all the tales I've told about my work Ti, have I ever said that the Commander acts like a… a…"

"Like Fudge?" Severus suggested.

"Yeah, like Fudge. Well, did I?"

"No, you usually complain on how stern he is and how he should loosen up and how he never trusts you."

"Exactly."

"Oh."

"Not to worry," Valda said. "I'll send some of my fledglings over to try and find out what's wrong, you just worry about getting to Hogwarts in one piece."

"Perhaps we should take a break?" Ignatus said as Tiaret yawned, Potter followed her lead seconds later.

"I second that," the Boy Who Lived yawned once again. "I need a strong cup of coffee. Or maybe two, or three?"

"Make me one too!" Tiaret said from her place. She was leaning her head on Ignatus' shoulder, and the Old Vampire had his arm around her waist. She was on the brink of sleep.

"Right." Potter got up. "If I'm not back within the next thirty minutes, don't bother to wake me up."

-------------------------

Ignatus and Tiaret were occupying the couch, the Slayer fast asleep. Valda and Kiros had left to talk to other vampires and human contacts they had around the city. Connor had somehow managed to disappear – which was quite a feat in itself as the man was almost as tall as Hagrid.

Severus was checking out Ade's library. Most of the books there were either on vampire-slaying or they were Muggle fantasy books. He found the whole collection of Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings' series, even some biographies. 'The Complete Works' of William Shakespeare was there too, though it looked untouched. The most read books in the whole shelf – if he could judge by their condition – was Anne Rice's 'Vampire Chronicles'.

'Don't these idiotic teenagers read anything these days?' the Potion Master scoffed as he read the titles.

Humming from the kitchen distracted him, and cut off his tirade about teenagers.

Severus went to see who the hell had dared to interrupt him and stopped in the doorway to the kitchen, frozen to the spot.

Potter was walking around fixing something that smelled suspiciously like pancakes – what he wouldn't give to taste them again! – grabbing flour, milk and eggs as he needed them. The wild unruly black hair was spotted with white stripes of flour. How the Boy Who Lived to Annoy Snape had managed to get it there was beyond the vampire, but it looked good on him in an odd kind of way.

Potter was wearing a white short-sleeved button-down shirt and pants that were loose enough for fighting, yet did not conceal any of his curves.

He looked simply delicious.

The Potion Master shook his head, trying to get rid of those unbidden, forbidden, disgusting and completely idiotic thoughts. His attention went to what the Gryffindork was humming, and Severus recognised the song as 'A Thousand Years' by Sting.

'A thousand years, a thousand more

A thousand times, a million doors

To eternity

A million lived a thousand lives, a thousand times

An endless turning stairway climbs

To a Tower of Souls

It takes another thousand years, a thousand wars

The Towers rise to numberless floors

In space

Could share another million tears, a million breaths

A million names, but only one truth

To face

A million wars, a million fears

A million suns, turn a million years

Of uncertain turns

I could speak another million lies, a million songs

A million rights, a million wrongs

In this Battles of Times

But if there was a single truth, a single light

A single thought, a singular touch

Of grace

Following the single point, the single flame

The single haunted memory

Of your face

I still love you

I still want you

A thousand times, the mysteries

Will form themselves like galaxies

In my hand

I may be numberless

I may be innocent

I may know many things

I may be ignorant

Or I could ride with kings

Who conquer many lands

Or will this world of Gods

Let it slip my hand

I could be cannon food

Destroyed a thousand times

World born a fortunes child

To judge another's crimes

Or wear this pilgrims cloak

Or be a common thief

I've kept this single fate

I have but one belief

I still love you

I still want you

A thousand times, the mysteries

Will form themselves like galaxies

In my hands

And on and on, the mysteries

Will unwind themselves

Eternities untold

Till you love me'

Severus just stood there, mesmerised. He had heard the song many times before, it was one of his favourites; but the way Potter sang it so softly… there was just no words to explain the emotions that had welled up inside him. Potter's voice calmed him, yet drove him nuts at the same time. He felt as though he could just stand there in all eternity and just listen to that voice. It made him wonder what it sounded like in the throws of passion.

'Where the hell did that thought come from?' Snape asked himself as he retreated into the shadows by the door to the kitchen, never taking his eyes off the Boy Who Lived. The brat – boy; no man – was making the last pancake, and the vampire could hear Tiaret moving around in the living room.

"He's beautiful, isn't he?" the voice was so low that not even a Slayer with their fine tuned senses, could have heard it. It was meant for vampire-ears, and vampire-ears only.

Severus turned quickly – but quietly – and stared right into the face of Connor.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." He replied, but against his wish his eyes were drawn back to the black-haired man flipping a pancake onto a plate.

Connor smiled knowingly. "Who do you insist on fighting to Bond, fledgling? You know how it happened, and you know the consequences if it isn't fulfilled. Could it be that you're afraid?" the Potion Master didn't answer. "You are afraid." It was a quietly pointed-out fact; no scorn, no anger. "Of what?" the Old Vampire asked. "You two are perfect for each other; one's a Slytherin, the other a Gryffindor, with all the qualities that go with those two Houses and then some. Both of you have the makings of true immortals. Sure you were enemies, but that didn't stop Rome and Juliet, so why should it stop you?"

"Mortal and immortal."

"One of you will either turn immortal or mortal when you join fully in body, mind and soul."

"The age difference-"

"-shouldn't and won't matter."

Severus was growing desperate. Every argument he had Connor just blew out the window. It wouldn't work even if this Bond between himself and Potter was real. One would end up killing the other within the first five minutes. "The war." He pointed out, hoping that it would make the Old Vampire lay off his case. No such luck.

"It won't last forever." Connor looked at the fledglings expressionless face. "Think over it."

'Strange,' Severus noted when the vampire had disappeared. 'He didn't seem like on the edge of a nervous breakdown.'

-------------------------

There! What do you think?

Thanks to Hippy flower, Sandra Solaria Dees, Rae, Aquaria, Futon, izean, Hunter, tima, Katy999, Glasen Dauthi, crystal 56, Silver Earth Dragon, Tara-Chan, Deity and lilytiger20.