A/N: All hail my bad luck!!! I was ready to post this chapter last week, and ff.net shut down….. I can't quite believe it myself….. to top it all off, I suffered a severe writer's block this week, after last week's dreadful chapter and….. I know, it was awful from me, but I can't help it!!!

In this week's chapter, we'll see the fallout of last week's happenings, and another subplot just waiting to be discovered…..

Disclaimer: I've done 18 different disclaimers for this story alone….. I think by this time you'll have noticed that I don't own the characters written by the talented Ms. Rowling and you don't need further clarification.

And big thanks to those who reviewed me but didn't leave their address so I could thank them personally:

Kazza: well, when you get to this point of the story, you'll see that's not only Snape who had to atone…

ASTY: you don't like Svetlana too much, do you? Maybe she'll pay for her actions, and then again, maybe she won't….. but I agree with you: poor Sev!

FAMILY MATTERS

PART XIX

"But he *knew* that sugar would interfere with the potion!" exclaimed Snape furiously, looking at Albus as if it was all his fault "I told him a thousand times, since the very beginning…..!"

"I know, Severus, I know," answered the Hogwarts Headmaster, his eyes not only completely devoid of twinkling, but also red-rimmed behind the half-moon glasses "but the fact remains that we found a half-eaten Chocolate Frog in his cloak-pocket, and the potion….. the potion didn't work"

That was an understatement. Alerted by the scream and the painful howl, some of the Hogwarts teachers, Albus and Severus included, had gone to investigate the Shrieking Shack, only to find the mangled body of Sirius Black in one of the rooms, which also contained Lupin's robes, the same ones in which the piece of candy apparently responsible for all the problem had been found.

"Remus would have never done something like that of his own accord" insisted Dumbledore.

"I'm not saying he killed his only friend," answered Snape cuttingly "but I still find it hard to believe that he risked his safety and the school's for a piece of candy"

"So what is your theory, Severus?"

"I haven't got one" spat Snape angrily "I only have ugly facts that refuse to add up"

"The Ministry won't wait for us to make the pieces fit. A werewolf, a mangled body, the fact that the beast was out of control: they won't look any further into it" Albus laid back into his chair.

"Where's Lupin, then?"

"Hidden in the Forbidden Forest" answered Dumbledore, looking out of the window "The centaurs told me they had sensed him running into the wildest part, where the Acromantulas are"

"I suppose you sent him a message telling him to take care" concluded Severus bitterly.

"I would have done the same for you, my boy" was all the answer Albus was willing to give. //To Hell you would! Just take care of those damn Gryffindors like you always have!"

A shuddering noise interrupted the conversation, and both wizards turned to the couch where Harry Potter was lying. Alerted by the werewolf's howl, and feeling a horrible premonition, Harry had grabbed his Invisibility Cloak and gone into the grounds just in time to see the arrival of the stretcher with the remains of his godfather. Albus had immediately taken the shell-shocked boy into his office, where he had been half-crying, half-muttering, for the better part of the night. A part of Snape's conscience told him the boy needed his comfort more than he had needed it when Mandy had been killed, but his rational part reminded him that this was the boy who, according to all evidence, was stalking his wife, and the Potions Master remained impassive.

"It's all my fault!" exclaimed Harry between tears "First, my parents, then, the Dursleys, then, Mandy, now, Sirius and Remus….." The Boy Who Lived broke down sobbing again, and the Headmaster stepped forward to sit by his side.

"Harry, stop blaming yourself" he said firmly "These deaths are not your fault; Voldemort is the only one who should be held responsible for them….."

"Are you saying that Voldemort himself stepped up to Remus and gave him the Chocolate Frog?" Harry gave a bitter, broken laugh "It wouldn't surprise me, after all 'Hogwarts is not safe anymore', don't you remember?"

The Gryffindor laughed again, if that could be called a laugh, and Albus gave him a worried look.

"Let's take you to Madam Pomfrey, Harry, you need to rest" The boy didn't resist the gentle pull to stand up and take the fire to the Infirmary, and Snape noticed that his green eyes were unfocused and apparently not registering his surroundings as he walked.

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Svetlana was rocking Siena to sleep in a gesture she seldom used: truth be said, she didn't love the little girl as much as she loved her older offspring, for Svetlana liked her children able to understand her, to talk to her and to depend on her as little as possible. Still, she held Siena in her arms and murmured a soft lullaby to set the frightened child into a dream-free slumber. Severus had talked to her on the fire a good half-an-hour after leaving summoned by the Headmaster. He had only said that there had been another death and that  there was a loose werewolf somewhere on the grounds, so Svetlana's reaction had been logical: she had hoarded the Slytherins into the common room, put Draco in charge of not letting anyone out, checked on Serguei and then barricaded herself in her quarters, awaiting for the return of her husband with news of how well her plan had worked.

The werewolf was out of the picture now, she thought with satisfaction; the Ministry was bound to send him to Azkaban if they caught him, and if they didn't, the man would anyway have to go into hiding, very, very far away. Someone knocked at the door, and Svetlana was startled out of her reverie.

"Severus, is it you?" she asked, using an Identifying Spell all the same. "Come in" The Potions Master did, practically collapsing into his armchair, without the energy to even grunt a response to his wife. Svetlana gave him an almost-pitying look and poured him a cup of mint tea with a shot of brandy. As Snape sipped on his drink, she went into her bedroom and took out the bottle of Concentrated Revival Draught, which she took outside and set by the side of the now-empty cup of tea. "Would you like something to eat, or would you rather have a bath now?" Snape gave his wife a surprised look, which she easily shrugged off "My father used to take a hot bath when he came back from a meeting, so I had the house-elves prepare one for you"

"Thank you" muttered Snape, brokenly getting up. He took three drops of the black potion and then entered his quarters; the door to the bathroom was open and he could see the bathtub filled with steaming water. Closing the door, he shed his muddied robes and gratefully sank into the water, which smelled of mint, citrus and….. athelas?! He sniffed softly and confirmed his appreciation for Svetlana when he saw a couple of elongated green leaves floating in the water. It was good to have a wife who knew exactly how to tend a man who has been subjected to Cruciatus for almost an hour, then forced to go out and recover the dead body of his childhood enemy and afterwards sent to look for a raging werewolf.

When Severus left the bath an hour later, he found a clean night-shirt spread out on the open bed, and a tray with a bowl of warm soup and some bread. The Hogwarts house-elves had never really taken this good care for the always-cruel Potions teacher, so he innerly thanked Svetlana again, before eating his dinner and going into a much-needed sleep.

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"Ron, we have to do something!" insisted Hermione, her puffy eyes telling just how much she had cried for Sirius's death.

"Go and look after him if you want." snapped the red-head angrily "Take care of him like he wouldn't take care of you if you needed it, but *I'm* not going" The angry outburst Ron had had towards Harry had now settled into a deep rancour, and none of Hermione's pleads or threats would convince the Weasley to go and visit his ex-best-friend in the hospital. The bird Svetlana had aimed at was truly dead, or at least, holding to life for a thread.

Still sniffing, and on her own, Hermione walked towards the Hospital Wing; she still hadn't got her head to accept the fact that it was the same dear old Professor Lupin who, converted into a wild beast, had *killed* Sirius. She didn't know how or why the Wolfsbane Potion hadn't done its job, but she already had a few good guesses on just how this would affect Harry.

"Sorry, dear, he's not seeing anyone" Madam Pomfrey informed her when she asked after her friend. "Professor Dumbledore brought him in a while ago, and Harry said he didn't want to be disturbed by anyone"

"How is he?" asked Hermione in a small voice, feeling even more tears pressing behind her eyelids.

"I don't know, dear" answered the matron heavily "I gave him a Sleeping Potion, the shock was too much for him; tomorrow we'll see how well he's coping, but I don't expect him to return to normal for a while….."

"…..if ever" completed Harry in a dark murmur from behind the curtains that hid his bed. He still hadn't taken the potion, and he felt a simmering rage boiling inside him, distracting him from the pain and the helplessness: anger towards himself, anger towards Remus, anger towards Dumbledore, anger towards Hermione and Ron, anger towards everyone he could think of; it was a seemingly clever strategy from his subconscious, but it was bound to play in Svetlana's favour, sooner or later.

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Svetlana laid in her bed, wide awake in the middle of the night. It wasn't fear for the lose werewolf that kept her from sleeping, but the haunting feeling that everything was going a bit *too* well. Svetlana, like most Russian wizards and witches, was highly superstitious and had an unwavering belief in Fate, but at the same time she couldn't help but be wary of a plan that worked much better than it was supposed to. And she wasn't foolish enough not to notice the way that the simplest of her ideas bloomed into bolt and lightning, how a stray word, a petty lie, turned into a huge avalanche of hatred and misunderstanding.

Angrily rearranging the pillows in her bed, the witch bit her lower lip in frustration: she was scared of the forces she had apparently unleashed upon Hogwarts. But they were just that, forces, supernatural forces that were using her and her mission to carry out their own design. That thought calmed Svetlana to a certain extent and, above all, assured her that her streak of good luck wouldn't run out in the middle of her plan.

Still, she wasn't all that comfortable with the star that day upon day appeared upon her shoulder for longer periods of time. Maybe it was the closest she would ever get to remorse.

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"I assure you, Mr Malfoy, that we have everything under control" Professor McGonagall could barely repress her anger at the sight of Lucius Malfoy strutting around the halls of Hogwarts as if he owned them.

"So you say, Professor, so you say" answered the blond man placidly "But the fact remains that there have been two murders in school grounds in, what, a month? I don't want facts to look uglier than they are, but people are starting to comment about the school's security policy, and my duty as a governor….."

"We all now your duties very well" interrupted the Transfiguration teacher, pale with rage "and they don't include making people more nervous than they are!"

"Thank you, Minerva, I'll take it on from here" said Dumbledore, cutting her rant short. With a small smile, he gently pushed the witch out of the way and prepared himself to face Lucius' visit. Just as McGonagall turned to leave, without acknowledging the eldest Malfoy, the blond man shot his last arrow.

"And pray, before you go, allow me to offer you my and my family's condolences on your mother's recent death….." Professor McGonagall slammed the door behind her with such a strength that the windows rattled, and Lucius nodded "Still sensitive, I see. So, Dumbledore, what have you got to say this time?"

The white-haired wizard paused to rearrange his thoughts before answering; with Lucius Malfoy, you never knew which of your words he would use against you later.

"Nothing much, I'm afraid. You know as much about this business as I do, and I assure you that all the security measures that could have been taken were at work the night before last, when the latest of that dreadful happenings took place….. Besides, the Shrieking Shack is *not* on school grounds" He was grasping at straws, he knew, but against Malfoy, every defence was useful.

"Both of the individuals involved came from the school and were there under your express authorisation." Malfoy's voice was at its silkiest now "I must warn you, Dumbledore, the board of governors may have to take some kind of action against you; after all, you already knew that Lupin was a werewolf, and yet you allowed him into Hogwarts without surveillance. It's a matter of irresponsibility, if not worse." Lucius was loving every minute of this conversation, and his satisfaction showed in the spark of his grey eyes.

With these words, and the threat they implied, the younger wizard left the Headmaster's office and walked into the Entrance Hall, whistling a cheery tune and tapping the stone pillars with his cane. As he hesitated on whether he should go down to the dungeons to find Draco, he spotted Svetlana walking slowly down a corridor, Siena in her arms. Feeling playful, Lucius glided noiselessly up to her and planted a butterfly-kiss in her neck.

"Lucius!" she whispered with a smile on her voice, guessing her attacker's identity thanks to his smell of cologne "Don't do that again! If you ever catch me unaware, I might drop Siena or even curse you" Her amused lecture was not taken seriously, as it was her original intention.

"The day I catch you unaware will be the day all is lost" He said this with the tone of a pleasant compliment, but there was an underlying truth behind it. Malfoy had his arm around Svetlana's waist, and was smiling warmly to Siena, and the witch had the presence of mind to think what would happen if a Slytherin (or any student, of the matter) stumbled upon them.

"Someone might have seen you, or might be watching us now;" she insisted half-heartedly "Severus is not too happy with our relationship, and this might make him even more suspicious."

"Suspicious? Jealous, more like" scoffed the eldest Malfoy, who knew his best friend even better than he suspected.

"You say that as if I meant anything to Severus." dismissed Svetlana, feeling internally flattered nonetheless "Our living together might have come down to a truce, but it hasn't changed his heart-warming feelings towards his family" The bitterness was there, but Lucius had learnt to overlook it long before.

"Anyway, what could he say about it? He *did* leave you, I just….. picked up the pieces" An elegant euphemism, if there was any, and Lucius loved euphemisms; he just didn't think Severus shared his love for them, and Svetlana apparently agreed-

"You explain that to him, if he finds out, while I hide in my Gringotts' vault for the duration of the argument and the subsequent duel" she joked, hiding a coy smile "Talking of which….. would you like to visit Severus now, or would you rather look for Draco in the common room?"

"Which one would result in the least danger for my bodily integrity? You know I value your advice, my dear" With one finger in her lips, Svetlana disentangled herself from his arms and waved him mutely towards the common room, signalling Severus was near and she would go to prepare him for the visit. While Lucius waited for someone to open the Slytherin common room, he wondered *why* he had cut short his liaison with Svetlana all those years ago, and where the playful friendship they had now would take them with her husband.

"Mr Malfoy!" exclaimed Blaise Zabini, the first one to open the door, looking at him with respect "Do come in, sir, I'll call Draco myself" The dark-haired boy disappeared into the common room, and Lucius took the seat in front of the fire that someone had quickly vacated for him.

"Father, what a nice surprise!" said Draco when he arrived from his dorm. He sat in a place in front of his father and waited silently for him to speak. Lucius examined his son with the knowledge that he looked exactly like that when he was his age. Draco, uncomfortable with the silence, started talking again "I'm sure Professor Snape will also be very glad to have you here: he sorely needs someone else to help him take care of the younger Slytherins, although Svetlana and I have been trying to help him as much as possible" Something in the younger Malfoy's voice caught his father's attention.

"You have been working along with Svetlana Snape a lot lately, have you not?" The question could be as innocent or malicious as the receiver wanted to interpret it, and Draco, blushing inside, took it as a simple request for information.

"As I have told you in my letters, she has asked for my help in various occasions in matters regarding her job with the Slytherin house" Draco gave a transparent look to his father, who replied with a satisfied smile.

"Very well. I'll go and see Severus now, to offer him my help with these little hellions….." Lucius gave a look around him, where everybody was pretending not to listen "Afterwards, I expect you to walk me to the carriage: I have a matter I need to discuss with you"

Lucius left the room in a flutter of blue robes, and Draco leaned back into his armchair to wonder what that important matter could be and why his father had mentioned Svetlana. He was interrupted by Pansy breaking down sobbing somewhere behind him.

"What is it, Parkinson?" he asked irritably, but also a bit worried: it wasn't like Pansy to display her feelings so blatantly for all to see. But the blonde girl didn't reply, and instead chose to run into her dorm, followed after a moment by a thoughtful Millicent "Girls!"

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A/N: Poor Pansy! She does know what Lucius wants to discuss, do you? Anyway, for all of you who want to know what is happening to Remus, you'll find out next chapter (I don't know yet if he's going to die, but if he is, I won't tell you yet) along with many more things, like: what will Severus say when Lucius makes his appearance? What will Draco say to Lucius' proposal? How is Harry doing down in the hospital wing? What will Svetlana do with all this? Will you review?