A/N: I know this is horribly late, and I left it off last chapter in a
cliffie, but I had to move to a different country, and classes started this
week. Anyway, here goes!!!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything owned by other people, I shouldn't have to say it again.
FAMILY MATTERS
PART XXVII: ACCUSATIONS FLY
"What the Hell is happening here?" asked Svetlana, almost dropping the two Vector babies in her surprise. The three figures in the corridor turned to her, surprised by her sudden presence, and for her words too. They were Harry Potter, half-hidden under his Invisibility Cloak, Severus Snape standing in the middle, foreboding and with burning eyes, and Draco Malfoy, flushed and with his ponytail loose; all three men were holding up their wands, almost about to duel. "What...?" repeated Svetlana faintly, too surprised to think of something wittier.
"Svetlana" acknowledged Severus, glaring at his two students "Put down that wand, Potter, or I'll take more points off Gryffindor than it has ever earned, will earn and could earn"
The young Gryffindor put down his wand reluctantly, giving a dark look to his Professor and Malfoy.
"Draco..." said Svetlana, quickly recovering her wits "You too, put down your wand, you don't need it..."
"No, I don't need it" answered the young Malfoy not taking his furious eyes off Harry "I can kill him with my bare hands.."
"Draco!" Svetlana advanced to stand in front of the furious blond wizard, still holding both of the Vector babies, who were looking at the scene wide- eyed "Please! Don't make a scene... it's the last thing we need"
Severus regarded them both for a moment before turning back to Harry.
"Potter, twenty points off Gryffindor for scurrying around the castle wrapped in that thing, and further twenty points for insulting my wife. Besides, a week of detentions with Filch for insulting *me*" A vindictive smirk crept over Snape's mouth, and Harry had to bite his lip to keep from talking back and losing yet more points. "Now, why don't you run along with your little slippery friends?"
"I'm not the one who had slippery friends, according to Voldemort." spat Harry "And I'm not the one who spoiled a potion to kill a man!"
"Potter, shut up! I have always know you are out of your mind, but this is too much! I did not spoil the Wolfsbane Potion to get Black dead! The sole suspicion is ludicrous!"
"Like you wouldn't want to get rid of the two people you hated the most." replied Harry, throwing all caution to the wind.
"Don't pretend to know me better than you do, Potter. I haven't handed you out to the Dark Lord." Severus was also a bit more excited that he should have been, and a part of Svetlana's brains registered that the Potions Master did feel slightly guilty.
"Because I'm protected, you said it yourself!" said Harry hotly.
"Ten more points off Gryffindor, Mr Potter." said Snape coldly "Now, close your mouth and go!"
While the two wizards were battling it out, Svetlana was trying desperately to keep Draco silent; the blond wizard was absolutely furious, and he would have surely throttled Harry if the Russian witch hadn't stopped him.
"Draco, do it for me!" she whispered in his ear, holding his wand arm "I have enough with him stalking me to add the shame of Severus knowing it on top of it all! Please, please, spare me, we'll think of something later!" Seven repetitions of this were enough to calm Draco down a bit.
"And you!" shouted Harry, who had absolutely nothing to lose anymore, turning to Svetlana after being stared down by her husband "You, who killed Mandy, who killed your own friend!"
"How do you dare?!" shrieked Svetlana, letting go of Draco in her attempt to face Harry. "Why do you suspect me, when it was me who could have been killed?!" Then, she added softly. "Stop it, Mr Potter. I know you're hurting, but there's no point in making everyone suffer too."
"Let us go." decreed Severus, taking his wife's arm, and missing completely the glare that Draco shot him "Mr Potter, twenty-five points off Gryffindor for disrespect to my wife."
The three Slytherins (or honorary Slytherins, in Svetlana's case) and the two Vector babies left the corridor, and a fuming Harry, behind. Severus stayed in his office, and Svetlana and Draco continued down to the Slytherin common room, or the teacher's quarters. They walked in silence until Draco firmly pulled Svetlana into the same dark corridor in which Harry had talked to her hours before.
"Svetlana, you can't go on like this!" said the young Malfoy "You have to *do* something!"
"What can I do?! I am not going to shame my family by telling somebody about this... this... this thing!" The witch looked away from Draco, and tried to look desperate.
"You don't have to tell the whole world... only Dumbledore..."
"Never! Not that man, and... what would Dumbledore do to Harry Potter? This is the Boy Who Lived we're talking about... they're not going to blame him for anything!" She shook her head sadly and looked to Draco with her blue eyes teary and her pale skin flushed. "There is really nothing I can do."
"There must be something! Just let *me* kill him, all right?" said Draco, fisting a wall in frustration; the wall complained and moved away.
"Draco... you're not going to get into trouble because I am incapable of looking after my honour." said Svetlana firmly //Just make him suffer, for suspecting me, for daring look past the clues and into the real heart of the matter... Harry will not die by Draco's hand, but to Hell if he lives beyond February// "I really thank you for your concern, but this is a very personal matter, and I'd rather... deal with it on my own" She smiled up to the young wizard and kissed him softly in the cheek. While he blinked once, and then twice, she left the corridor and went into her quarters with the babies.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^*^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^*^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^*^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^
Remus Lupin opened his eyes and groaned. Even the faint light that filtered from under the heavy metallic door of the cell he was in hurt his eyes, and the almost imperceptible sound of some machinery working far away pounded in his head. The werewolf had just awoken, some time (he couldn't tell how much) after his kidnap at the Werewolf Reserve.
After the 'interesting specimens' were taken away from the camp, they PortKeyed them into a building lit with white lights and full of shiny medical equipment, and they were put into individual cells, and used for experimentation. Remus didn't know how many times he had been subjected to the torture of silver bullets near, but not quite touching, his heart, or exams of his superior ability to smell and see in the dark, or the attempts to make him transform while the moon wasn't full, but his whole body hurt and trembled, and he couldn't even sit up.
He had seen a few of his ex-Reserve-companions while being taken to and from experimentation. The vampiric German girl had been completely covered in holy water and garlic, and doctors around her ignored her screams and focused on the state of her blistered skin, while Ahmadou was heard trying to curse someone, and by the state of his voice, Remus guessed the old wizard wouldn't last long. And neither would he, Remus Lupin, as he laid on a cell inside the building for Research Programmes for the Acme group. His body had been tortured beyond repair and his mind damaged by the exposure to too much pain, too much violence.
He didn't know that doctors were monitoring him even as he agonised. He didn't know that as he died, his body would be taken away and dissected and examined, and, when it held no more interest to the avid minds of scientists, it would be dumped on Dumbledore's doorstep, for all to see. He didn't know, and his last words were a quiet apology to the friend he had killed and failed to avenge.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^*^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^*^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^*^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^
The approach of Christmas did nothing to lighten up the atmosphere in Hogwarts. Students spent the last days of the winter term whispering in the corridors and looking fearfully behind every column. Hermione wouldn't answer in her lessons, she wouldn't do her homework and she would stay hours laying on her bed, looking absently at the ceiling. Ginny on the contrary was full of rage, and she snapped at everyone and everything, once even raising her voice in the Potions classroom, and losing fifty points because of it.
If Gryffindor's bad point-situation wasn't enough to depress the already- depressed friends of Ron Weasley, the attitude of Harry would have done it. The Boy Who Lived was now a living mass of nerves and unrestrained anger, of suspicions and guilt. Even Seamus had tried an 'entente cordiale' with the green-eyed wizard, but Harry was beyond that, beyond McGonagall's lectures and Dumbledore's endless cups of tea. He was avoiding Svetlana Snape, cutting Potions lessons and fighting off the Slytherin attacks, as if it would somehow help to ease the pain.
In the dungeons the situation was better, almost resembling normality, and that was strange enough for a family whose dictionary didn't hold the word 'normal'. Svetlana had insisted on decorating the quarters with a simple green-and-silver Christmas theme, Siena had taken to humming carols, who no- one knew where she had learnt, and Serguei was looking forward to finding a new batch of tropical fishes under the tree. Even Severus Snape went as far as reminding his daughter of a few lines of a carol she had forgotten, and he didn't complain when Svetlana charmed the grandfather's clock in the corner to sing every hour.
Svetlana was also fidgety and nervous, but her activities had ground to a standstill and Harry could be thankful for that, if it didn't resemble the calm before the storm, as it was proved when one night, while the Russian witch was asleep in her husband's arms and a voice awoke her.
"'Silent night, holy night...' Time to wake up, Svetlana!"
//Damn, Oleg, is this you?// groaned Svetlana inside her head, being very careful not to move or give any signal to awake her husband.
"So it is: you know I've always enjoyed the season... how are things going, Firefly?" Svetlana greatly admired Oleg's ability to be friendly and professional in the same sentence, but at the same time she wished that all powerful wizards weren't quite so eccentric.
//Things are fine... I think everything is going according to plan.//
"Anything you might need? The werewolf is out of the way, you might be receiving news of him very soon, and agents Delacour and Malfoy are standing-by... what will it be this time?"
//How about...? I mean, are the troops of the Dark Lord planning an attack on the family of Harry Potter anytime soon?//
"They might not be adverse to our suggestions. For when do you advise it to be?" asked Oleg, and Svetlana could feel his cold smile inside her head, making her shiver; unconsciously, Severus held her tighter and she tried to relax.
//Three days before Christmas.// decided Svetlana. //As cruel and gruesome as the Dark Lord feels it is necessary, with no restrictions.//
"Pulling out all your stops, aren't you, Firefly? Whatever you say... Is the Dark Mark necessary?"
//Essential//
"We'll bring agent Malfoy with us, then. If you have nothing more in mind, agent Firefly, I bid you a good night and pleasant dreams for your husband and your lovely children... and merry Christmas!"
//Whatever you say// mimicked Svetlana, knowing she could get away with it for the moment.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^*^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^*^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^*^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^
"The Aurors are now talking to Willow Vector." announced Severus one evening, entering his quarters with his usual stride and almost tripping upon a pile of mistletoe.
"Why? What did she do?" asked Svetlana, standing up suddenly and dropping on the carpet a handful of Christmas cards.
"Nothing, in theory... apparently the Ministry received a tip-off indicating sudden mood-swings by Mrs Vector in the days before the death of Mr Weasley, and she is being interrogated in that respect." said the Potions Master nonchalantly.
"You didn't tell them, did you?" asked Svetlana, her eyes wide open.
"They wouldn't have believed a word I said... someone else noticed, and thought it worth investigating" The wizard shrugged elegantly and summoned a pot of tea.
"You know she didn't do anything!" exclaimed the witch "She's just worried about her husband!"
"Tell that to the Aurors, then"
"I can't, she made me promise I wouldn't say anything!"
"Are you sure she has nothing to hide?" Severus' penetrating stare made Svetlana lower her eyes.
"I... I don't know." she admitted, looking at the carpet under her feet.
"Then let the Ministry do its job," concluded the Potions Master "and don't forget to write up the Christmas card for the Notts"
Disclaimer: I don't own anything owned by other people, I shouldn't have to say it again.
FAMILY MATTERS
PART XXVII: ACCUSATIONS FLY
"What the Hell is happening here?" asked Svetlana, almost dropping the two Vector babies in her surprise. The three figures in the corridor turned to her, surprised by her sudden presence, and for her words too. They were Harry Potter, half-hidden under his Invisibility Cloak, Severus Snape standing in the middle, foreboding and with burning eyes, and Draco Malfoy, flushed and with his ponytail loose; all three men were holding up their wands, almost about to duel. "What...?" repeated Svetlana faintly, too surprised to think of something wittier.
"Svetlana" acknowledged Severus, glaring at his two students "Put down that wand, Potter, or I'll take more points off Gryffindor than it has ever earned, will earn and could earn"
The young Gryffindor put down his wand reluctantly, giving a dark look to his Professor and Malfoy.
"Draco..." said Svetlana, quickly recovering her wits "You too, put down your wand, you don't need it..."
"No, I don't need it" answered the young Malfoy not taking his furious eyes off Harry "I can kill him with my bare hands.."
"Draco!" Svetlana advanced to stand in front of the furious blond wizard, still holding both of the Vector babies, who were looking at the scene wide- eyed "Please! Don't make a scene... it's the last thing we need"
Severus regarded them both for a moment before turning back to Harry.
"Potter, twenty points off Gryffindor for scurrying around the castle wrapped in that thing, and further twenty points for insulting my wife. Besides, a week of detentions with Filch for insulting *me*" A vindictive smirk crept over Snape's mouth, and Harry had to bite his lip to keep from talking back and losing yet more points. "Now, why don't you run along with your little slippery friends?"
"I'm not the one who had slippery friends, according to Voldemort." spat Harry "And I'm not the one who spoiled a potion to kill a man!"
"Potter, shut up! I have always know you are out of your mind, but this is too much! I did not spoil the Wolfsbane Potion to get Black dead! The sole suspicion is ludicrous!"
"Like you wouldn't want to get rid of the two people you hated the most." replied Harry, throwing all caution to the wind.
"Don't pretend to know me better than you do, Potter. I haven't handed you out to the Dark Lord." Severus was also a bit more excited that he should have been, and a part of Svetlana's brains registered that the Potions Master did feel slightly guilty.
"Because I'm protected, you said it yourself!" said Harry hotly.
"Ten more points off Gryffindor, Mr Potter." said Snape coldly "Now, close your mouth and go!"
While the two wizards were battling it out, Svetlana was trying desperately to keep Draco silent; the blond wizard was absolutely furious, and he would have surely throttled Harry if the Russian witch hadn't stopped him.
"Draco, do it for me!" she whispered in his ear, holding his wand arm "I have enough with him stalking me to add the shame of Severus knowing it on top of it all! Please, please, spare me, we'll think of something later!" Seven repetitions of this were enough to calm Draco down a bit.
"And you!" shouted Harry, who had absolutely nothing to lose anymore, turning to Svetlana after being stared down by her husband "You, who killed Mandy, who killed your own friend!"
"How do you dare?!" shrieked Svetlana, letting go of Draco in her attempt to face Harry. "Why do you suspect me, when it was me who could have been killed?!" Then, she added softly. "Stop it, Mr Potter. I know you're hurting, but there's no point in making everyone suffer too."
"Let us go." decreed Severus, taking his wife's arm, and missing completely the glare that Draco shot him "Mr Potter, twenty-five points off Gryffindor for disrespect to my wife."
The three Slytherins (or honorary Slytherins, in Svetlana's case) and the two Vector babies left the corridor, and a fuming Harry, behind. Severus stayed in his office, and Svetlana and Draco continued down to the Slytherin common room, or the teacher's quarters. They walked in silence until Draco firmly pulled Svetlana into the same dark corridor in which Harry had talked to her hours before.
"Svetlana, you can't go on like this!" said the young Malfoy "You have to *do* something!"
"What can I do?! I am not going to shame my family by telling somebody about this... this... this thing!" The witch looked away from Draco, and tried to look desperate.
"You don't have to tell the whole world... only Dumbledore..."
"Never! Not that man, and... what would Dumbledore do to Harry Potter? This is the Boy Who Lived we're talking about... they're not going to blame him for anything!" She shook her head sadly and looked to Draco with her blue eyes teary and her pale skin flushed. "There is really nothing I can do."
"There must be something! Just let *me* kill him, all right?" said Draco, fisting a wall in frustration; the wall complained and moved away.
"Draco... you're not going to get into trouble because I am incapable of looking after my honour." said Svetlana firmly //Just make him suffer, for suspecting me, for daring look past the clues and into the real heart of the matter... Harry will not die by Draco's hand, but to Hell if he lives beyond February// "I really thank you for your concern, but this is a very personal matter, and I'd rather... deal with it on my own" She smiled up to the young wizard and kissed him softly in the cheek. While he blinked once, and then twice, she left the corridor and went into her quarters with the babies.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^*^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^*^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^*^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^
Remus Lupin opened his eyes and groaned. Even the faint light that filtered from under the heavy metallic door of the cell he was in hurt his eyes, and the almost imperceptible sound of some machinery working far away pounded in his head. The werewolf had just awoken, some time (he couldn't tell how much) after his kidnap at the Werewolf Reserve.
After the 'interesting specimens' were taken away from the camp, they PortKeyed them into a building lit with white lights and full of shiny medical equipment, and they were put into individual cells, and used for experimentation. Remus didn't know how many times he had been subjected to the torture of silver bullets near, but not quite touching, his heart, or exams of his superior ability to smell and see in the dark, or the attempts to make him transform while the moon wasn't full, but his whole body hurt and trembled, and he couldn't even sit up.
He had seen a few of his ex-Reserve-companions while being taken to and from experimentation. The vampiric German girl had been completely covered in holy water and garlic, and doctors around her ignored her screams and focused on the state of her blistered skin, while Ahmadou was heard trying to curse someone, and by the state of his voice, Remus guessed the old wizard wouldn't last long. And neither would he, Remus Lupin, as he laid on a cell inside the building for Research Programmes for the Acme group. His body had been tortured beyond repair and his mind damaged by the exposure to too much pain, too much violence.
He didn't know that doctors were monitoring him even as he agonised. He didn't know that as he died, his body would be taken away and dissected and examined, and, when it held no more interest to the avid minds of scientists, it would be dumped on Dumbledore's doorstep, for all to see. He didn't know, and his last words were a quiet apology to the friend he had killed and failed to avenge.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^*^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^*^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^*^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^
The approach of Christmas did nothing to lighten up the atmosphere in Hogwarts. Students spent the last days of the winter term whispering in the corridors and looking fearfully behind every column. Hermione wouldn't answer in her lessons, she wouldn't do her homework and she would stay hours laying on her bed, looking absently at the ceiling. Ginny on the contrary was full of rage, and she snapped at everyone and everything, once even raising her voice in the Potions classroom, and losing fifty points because of it.
If Gryffindor's bad point-situation wasn't enough to depress the already- depressed friends of Ron Weasley, the attitude of Harry would have done it. The Boy Who Lived was now a living mass of nerves and unrestrained anger, of suspicions and guilt. Even Seamus had tried an 'entente cordiale' with the green-eyed wizard, but Harry was beyond that, beyond McGonagall's lectures and Dumbledore's endless cups of tea. He was avoiding Svetlana Snape, cutting Potions lessons and fighting off the Slytherin attacks, as if it would somehow help to ease the pain.
In the dungeons the situation was better, almost resembling normality, and that was strange enough for a family whose dictionary didn't hold the word 'normal'. Svetlana had insisted on decorating the quarters with a simple green-and-silver Christmas theme, Siena had taken to humming carols, who no- one knew where she had learnt, and Serguei was looking forward to finding a new batch of tropical fishes under the tree. Even Severus Snape went as far as reminding his daughter of a few lines of a carol she had forgotten, and he didn't complain when Svetlana charmed the grandfather's clock in the corner to sing every hour.
Svetlana was also fidgety and nervous, but her activities had ground to a standstill and Harry could be thankful for that, if it didn't resemble the calm before the storm, as it was proved when one night, while the Russian witch was asleep in her husband's arms and a voice awoke her.
"'Silent night, holy night...' Time to wake up, Svetlana!"
//Damn, Oleg, is this you?// groaned Svetlana inside her head, being very careful not to move or give any signal to awake her husband.
"So it is: you know I've always enjoyed the season... how are things going, Firefly?" Svetlana greatly admired Oleg's ability to be friendly and professional in the same sentence, but at the same time she wished that all powerful wizards weren't quite so eccentric.
//Things are fine... I think everything is going according to plan.//
"Anything you might need? The werewolf is out of the way, you might be receiving news of him very soon, and agents Delacour and Malfoy are standing-by... what will it be this time?"
//How about...? I mean, are the troops of the Dark Lord planning an attack on the family of Harry Potter anytime soon?//
"They might not be adverse to our suggestions. For when do you advise it to be?" asked Oleg, and Svetlana could feel his cold smile inside her head, making her shiver; unconsciously, Severus held her tighter and she tried to relax.
//Three days before Christmas.// decided Svetlana. //As cruel and gruesome as the Dark Lord feels it is necessary, with no restrictions.//
"Pulling out all your stops, aren't you, Firefly? Whatever you say... Is the Dark Mark necessary?"
//Essential//
"We'll bring agent Malfoy with us, then. If you have nothing more in mind, agent Firefly, I bid you a good night and pleasant dreams for your husband and your lovely children... and merry Christmas!"
//Whatever you say// mimicked Svetlana, knowing she could get away with it for the moment.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^*^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^*^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^*^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^
"The Aurors are now talking to Willow Vector." announced Severus one evening, entering his quarters with his usual stride and almost tripping upon a pile of mistletoe.
"Why? What did she do?" asked Svetlana, standing up suddenly and dropping on the carpet a handful of Christmas cards.
"Nothing, in theory... apparently the Ministry received a tip-off indicating sudden mood-swings by Mrs Vector in the days before the death of Mr Weasley, and she is being interrogated in that respect." said the Potions Master nonchalantly.
"You didn't tell them, did you?" asked Svetlana, her eyes wide open.
"They wouldn't have believed a word I said... someone else noticed, and thought it worth investigating" The wizard shrugged elegantly and summoned a pot of tea.
"You know she didn't do anything!" exclaimed the witch "She's just worried about her husband!"
"Tell that to the Aurors, then"
"I can't, she made me promise I wouldn't say anything!"
"Are you sure she has nothing to hide?" Severus' penetrating stare made Svetlana lower her eyes.
"I... I don't know." she admitted, looking at the carpet under her feet.
"Then let the Ministry do its job," concluded the Potions Master "and don't forget to write up the Christmas card for the Notts"