Memory Tainted

by Syra Saleh

When another mysterious Defense teacher comes to Hogwarts, Severus takes it upon himself to monitor her every move. Very soon, he finds this sarcastic and witty teacher to be something other than what he expected... an equal. AN.

8. Of Glass Hearts

Author's Note: SHH! Yes, I know this took me forever, but I had school, and exams, and I got sick, and… I've got more excuses, but this is not a ramblefest.

This chapter is…. PG-13/R. It has both R moments, but the whole thing is not R. Let's see, we've got a bit of language, adult scenes, violence and rambles! The next one is R-ish too, but not in the same way…. Anyway, if I end up corrupting you and you get angry, don't come crying to me, because you can stop right here… Still here? Yay!

I don't own anyone except Cassi, the late Simon, and Anya. Everyone else belongs to JK Rowling, along with the setting. Also, I'm not making money from this, or I'd be broke.

One last thing; no wait, two: 1) FF.net is being a little shaky at the moment, so at the very end of this story I put this sign [*~*~*] and a little note. If you can't see the bottom of my chapter (because I can't see the bottom of my other chapters), then please wait to read it. Hard, I know, but it's better to get the full thing. And 2) REVIEW! You crazy readers, you must review! ;) I'm serious about that hostage thing…. It could happen O.o REVIEW! I neeeeed to know what you thought, and what you think will happen next (which won't affect the outcome so don't worry, I just like hearing it to see what impression I sent), and if you liked it. Ok, I'm shushing now, go read.

Oh yeah, translations…

Privet- Hello

Vy ochen' krasivy- You are very pretty

Ok, now go read.

Chapter 8: Of Glass Hearts

Severus stared at his palm for sometime. Strewn delicately across his hand was a thin silver necklace, and on the chain was an all too familiar amulet of fine craftsmanship- his own family symbol. Only two existed, one was locked away in a box in his room, and now the other… the other had been found in the nightstand drawer of his lover's room. He thought the other one had been lost, disappeared with its owner. The other one belonged to a dead girl…

Startled, he dropped the necklace back into the drawer and out of sight, shutting it gently. He then took his wand and, pointing it at the window, whispered a simple spell which darkened the glass, turning the room from sunny to dimly lit in a few seconds. But it was at this moment, however, that the individual next to him stirred slightly and opened her eyes, looking pleased.

"You stayed," she whispered to him softly, reaching up and pushing the black hair that fell against his cheek away from his face and behind his ear. She propped herself up with her elbow and teased his lips with hers. Almost immediately he began to feel guilty, as if not knowing what this new revelation meant would violate her personal rights. There could be a million reasons why she has it. For all you know, it could be a fake, an imitation, a coincidence. You know exactly who this touch belongs to. It's not… because she's dead… exactly. But somehow this wasn't enough for him, and yet he managed to push it back in his mind, convincing himself that it wasn't worth worrying over at this moment. No, he was more concerned with feathery kisses that were being administered lovingly to his neck and shoulders.

"I was worried you'd leave," she whispered to him. She was tempting him again with her impossibly light kisses, and his worries were becoming distant with each one. He could only take so much of this before he had to pressing his lips firmly against hers, quickly pulling a moan from her throat.

"I wouldn't have left… you threw my clothes too far across the room for that," he replied simply, and he felt her smile.

"And of course the Summoning Spell never came to mind to fix that small dilemma if you did want to leave so badly."

"Saucy this morning, aren't we?" His kisses were growing fiercer and she shivered.

"Maybe, we'll have to see. I guess we're skipping breakfast, aren't we?" she asked with a smirk, allowing him to ease her back onto the bed.

"Congratulations, you guessed correctly," he replied smirking back before capturing her mouth in passionate kiss.

"I love it when I'm right."

~

He touched her cheek softly, then kissed her forehead. Both were standing in her classroom now, dressed and finally out of bed.

"I'll be in my dungeons," he said. "I have some things to sort out."

Cassi knew he liked to spend his weekends in his dungeons, shut up with some book or potion, just existing in silence. She nodded and stepped back from him.

"I'll come visit Hell Frozen Over if I have the desperate desire to become a human icicle," she said with a sigh. He just shook his head and tried to suppress a smile.

That's when it hit him like lightening from the sky: She made him happy. Unexplainably happy. And it frightened him. He enjoyed her company more than he had anyone else's in a very, very long time, and it occurred to him at that time that he might not only be in love with her, but also actually love her, a very scary thought indeed. It had always seemed to work out that he lost everyone he had ever loved, so he protected himself and everyone else by never becoming attached to anyone. Always had he looked down upon those captured in love's snarling net, but now that he found himself trapped beneath it… was it really so bad? One part of him mind shrieked that it was; this was the part that had always helped him through rough times. However, no other part of his mind was really listening to that little voice, because a very large part of him wanted to continue on with this, to see where he ended up. He had found his whole world turned around by one single being, and he had no objections to this sudden reversal of sky and land.

One single being, thought his mind darkly, who has YOUR family symbol in her drawer.

***

Time passed slowly that day for Severus as he agonized in his dungeons. To keep himself busy, he was powdering a store of things he had neglected for some time. He sat at his desk, a collection of bottled scattered about him, pouring miniscule glassy beads into the mortar, then grinding them finely with his stone pestle. It was a rather mindless act, so his thoughts tended to wander from his task that his hands had seemed to take over.

What did this mean? Severus tried to run over facts and scenarios in his mind to make sense of this startling revelation. There had been two pendants in his family, passed down for several years now. He had been given both just before his mother had died, and had kept them for several years. Then, when he was 21, he gave one to a girl whose face he had never seen.

The forest was dark with only a few stray weak moonbeams shining through the canopy. Severus stood before a dark cloaked figure that had her head bowed.

"Anya, come with me," he had begged her. "You don't have to do this anymore, we don't have to stay. Come back to the Light side with me."

"You know very well that Master will seek us out and kill us both," she replied quietly. "I can't change sides, it's too late for that. It would jeopardize your side."

"No one would suspect us. My family has been Dark too long for anyone to suspect me, and you..."

"I'm His pet, yes I know. It's all the more reason I shouldn't leave. Your leader, Dumbledore, he would not appreciate a converted assassin and toy of his archenemy on his side. Severus, I think He suspects us," she said in a defeated manner.

"Don't refer to yourself like that."

"There are more vulgar things I could use, if you so prefer."

"No, I do not prefer. Look what he's done to you! I want you to at least consider this, and I'll talk to Dumbledore. Please promise me at least that much."

"I promise," she said after a moment of silence. "Close your eyes. I trust you to keep them shut."

He shut his eyes and felt a sudden cold wind blow against his hair, letting him know that his hood had been let down. A second later, warm lips pressed against his softly and he reached up to discover her nearly shoulder length hair was exposed, meaning her hood was down as well. So rarely could they share moments like this that it always shocked him when it was actually happening. It felt so surreal that he never wanted to let her go.

She withdrew from him quickly and pulled her hood up, face hidden by the spell-induced shadows immediately. He pulled his hood up as well, then pulled something out of his pocket and pressed it into her hand. "I want you to have this, and remember what you promised me."

She opened her hand and looked down at it, then with shaking hands, placed the necklace around her neck then laced her fingers through his. She was about to say something when she jerked out of his hands and drew her wand.

"Someone's coming, go on," she said, tone now hardened and experienced, far beyond her years. He backed up a step and Apparated.

Severus shook his head hard, trying to dispense with this memory. She had died a week after that happened. Died because of him.

Or had she? With the discovery of the pendant, there was a possibility… no. Though the resemblance in stance and garb had made him wonder if it was her the very first time he had met her, it could not be. Simply because… because… it was just too strange. The amulet must have been an imitation (though why would they want to imitate it?), or perhaps a coincidence (though the details were too fine to recreate). He hated how he had a counter-situation for everything.

Logically, he really had only one solution, and that was to talk to Dumbledore. At this thought, he stood out of his chair and began to pace restlessly in front of his room, long strides causing his robes to flutter slightly behind him. He did not want to speak with anyone about this, not at all. First of all, it meant reliving something that was still quite painful for him. It also meant admitting he was in her quarters, which is something he would rather keep to himself. And thirdly, it could mean losing her all over again, and much pain and anguish for her.

At that moment, there was a light tap at his door. He called for the person to enter, and Cassi peered in.

"Sorry to bother you, but I wanted to ask you something for lessons," she said quietly, watching him stop pacing, so mesmerized in thought. His slight panic died in his heart at her humbleness, and he silently berated himself for thinking she could somehow read his mind and know what he was thinking. She walked to him slowly, trying to read him, but handing him the book as if she hadn't noticed his odd behavior.

"Is this a mistake in the book?" she asked, pointing out a paragraph on a type of defense spell.

He looked over it and nodded. "Yes, this particular spell is not capable of injuring the attacker. However," he said, and he flipped forward into the book about a hundred pages or so, "this one is."

Cassi skimmed over the page he had turned to. "Perfect, thank you," she said happily, and stood on her tiptoes to kiss his cheekbone while slipping the book out of his hand. It only took her two steps away from him to sense that something was off again and to turn around to look at him hard.

"Yes?" he asked, falsely sounding bored, hands behind his back, ready to resume pacing as soon as she left.

She tilted her head and continued to examine his face. "Are you alright?" she inquired.

"Yes yes, I'm perfectly fine, why?"

"Well, I could have sworn…" she started to say, but then stopped and shrugged slightly, still looking very troubled. Somewhat cautiously, Severus placed both his hands on her shoulders, his turn to examine her hard. Hopeless as it was, he searched her face, looking for something, but found nothing. The expression on his face was saddening her; his eyes were dark and set, looking for something in her own, smooth pale face twisted with concentration, and mouth set in a firm line. She straightened up and kissed him gently.

It was like a slap in the face to be kissed like that, because now he knew beyond a doubt that Cassi and Anya were both one and the same. It was the same type of kiss, meek as if expecting to be slapped across the face for such daring. Questions welled up inside of him, but he didn't have the courage to voice a single one of them, for he knew it would break her to share his knowledge.

"Don't worry so much," he whispered to her. Both heard the door of his classroom open and snapped apart, smoothing their robes and looking as if nothing had happened. It was Dumbledore that stood in the doorway, looking somewhat amused at their quick reflexes.

"Ah, I'm glad I found you both," he said, mercifully ignoring what he had encountered upon his entrance. "In light of what happened last week, we're moving the defense meeting to tonight to discuss Harper. I have a few people looking up things for me, and we'll all report back together tonight at 11. I expect I'll see you both there?"

"Indeed," said Cassi, casting her eyes to the floor. She then nodded once to Severus and left, head bowed in thought and her book enclosed in her arms. As soon as the door clicked shut, Snape turned his attention to Dumbledore. Dumbledore smiled at Severus, and he read his expression very well, which seemed to say 'she likes you very much, my boy'.

"Dumbledore, I believe I have something I need to discuss with you. Tonight though, after the meeting," said Severus finally, visibly tense. Dumbledore gave him a piercing glance.

"And the matter we're to speak of is… Professor Talin?" asked Dumbledore, and Severus nodded pensively, momentarily covering his eyes with his hand. "Then I shall see you after the meeting." With one more mind-reading glance, he left the room and Severus collapsed back in his chair, left alone to torture himself further.

Hours ticked away. Severus had long since finished grinding everything into fine powders and was now lying pensively on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. He had agonized himself through every point, matching up behaviors and habits, trying to find the holes in his theory, but only managing to seal his suspicions tighter.

If this was indeed the truth, then he wondered if he should tell her. Of course you'll tell her, she has every right to know. Furthermore, she needs to know why every Dark instance has happened to her this year. I wonder how much the other side knows…

Snape ran a hand through his hair. This whole situation was too much for him, it really was. It took him over a year after coming back to the Light side and after her death to finally pick up the broken shards of his life and try to make something of them. He had started at Hogwarts a little before the Dark Lord fell, staying stoically silent on the topic of his past, only rarely discussing it when forced to at point blank with Dumbledore. It was only Dumbledore that knew his full story. Even when speaking with Cassi briefly on the subject here and there he had been most vague.

He wished he had somehow coaxed her down to his dungeons last night. Then he would have never found that infernal necklace and be put through this hell on earth experience. Somehow he didn't think he could have gotten her to come down here though, and he obviously wasn't even thinking about that as soon as her lips touched his. Would he have taken it back to undo what he knew now? He didn't think he would; in fact, he would not have traded that night for anything.

He rolled off his bed and went to splash his face with cold water, then commenced pacing his floor, skipping dinner entirely to stay locked up in his room until the meeting.

~

Cassi graded quizzes with full concentration, trying desperately not to worry so much about Snape. He looked so lost and so hurt when she had seen him last that it had in turn hurt her. She felt connected to him somehow, as if there was an invisible bond between them and everything one felt the other shared. Very badly did she want to comfort him, but she knew he would never allow it, which in turn frustrated her. He hadn't even come to dinner.

When she looked up at her clock finally she wanted to scream and shut herself up in her room. It was in fact time for her to leave, and the last thing she really wanted to do was to be in a meeting talking about someone who had betrayed her (and she in turn had killed him, something she had still not recovered from). This time could very well be used to try to coax something out of Severus, if he would talk to her still.

Grumbling, she stacked her quizzes and pushed them aside, then left the room, locking the door behind her. She proceeded down the dark corridors, weaving expertly around now and coming to his office in very little time. With a deep breath, she pushed the heavy door open to find the room empty save Sirius Black, sitting darkly in a chair close to the corner.

"Privet," she said to him in clear Russian, and his head snapped up from his deep thoughts. With a sly grin, he beckoned her to come sit down next to him.

"Vy ochen' krasivy," he said, still grinning. She punched him lightly on the arm and smiled. Sirius, pretending to be offended, looked at her with sad blue eyes, offset by his shoulder length raven black hair. "Oh, it's well I suppose that Severus is neither here nor can he understand Russian. I do believe I would have been strung alive for that last statement." He grinned again.

"What makes you say that?" she asked, eyes not exactly meeting his. Sirius merely tapped the place where his shoulder meets his neck, and she clapped a hand over her corresponding place, knowing quite well that there was a deep reddish mark still left there from last night. He laughed, a deep echoing sound, yet pleasant sounding.

"I told you I was right. I told you on the note I sent with Remus, who said you were 'undressing Severus with your eyes'. I told you." He took an almost child-like interest in her situation, watching her blush and laughing all the more. "So, Slimy Snape has a girlfriend, how fun! And to think that you did not get along well with him, the irony is laughable. But it is a most tragic loss for myself; you aren't leaving me with many more people to flirt with. And to lose one of my favorites to him, it's most shameful. 'We fight more than anyone I know!' you had said. I don't think I want to know what you both fight about now, not with the end result being marks like th-"

"Sirius Black! Silence yourself!" she said, blushing wildly and covering his mouth with her hand, feeling his smirk beneath her hand. It was (unfortunately) in this position that Snape caught her in when he walked in the room. She withdrew her hand quickly, gave Sirius an exasperated look, and was about to say something when he sat down next to her silently, but found nothing to say.

Severus was sitting rather blankly, not showing any emotions at all, save a rather curious one when he had first walked into the room. Now he was just staring ahead of himself as if in deep thought, and Cassi dared not to interrupt him.

"What's that git's problem?" asked Sirius, but Cassi shook her head and shrugged. Dumbledore walked into the room as soon as her shoulders were raised, though, so the conversation was dropped immediately. Several people filed in after him and found their seats around the table. Cassi stole a side-glance at Severus, who was now transfixed in the table, a stone cold look on his face as if his dark features were chiseled out of rock. She resisted the impulse to reach out and touch his hands, which lay folded on the table, so instead she cast her eyes down to the table as well, for a headache was now forming in her right temple.

"Is everyone settled?" asked Dumbledore, standing authoritatively in front of his chair. "Good. I called you in early this month due to a severe increase in Dark activity lately. As most of you know, there was an attempt in the castle on Professor Talin by our Muggle Studies professor, Simon Harper and another attempt on Professor Snape outside the castle but in the same night. There have also been a few stories in the Muggle newspapers that you shall find interesting, but we'll deal with that at the end." Dumbledore let these words soak in slightly, then he continued on in a powerful aire. "I asked our fellow member Ither Hall if he would look up Simon Harper for me. Did you find anything?"

A tall, lanky man with gray hair stood up to address everyone at the table. "I found no one by the name of Simon Harper. I did however, find an interesting history with a suspected Death Eater named Simon Donavan. The report for him was made when he became the prime suspect in the murder of his entire family. It had come to our sources that killing one's family was a way of initiation into the Circle." The man looked disgusted very suddenly. Cassi stood.

"Then we might as well confirm that Simon Donovan is Simon Harper, and that both and one are deceased. He once told me that his family never moved or went anywhere, which I can assume is some twisted way of saying that they are all dead. Were they from Wales?" she asked, and the man nodded. "That's him then." She took her seat, looking icily resolute.

Dumbledore nodded. "That can safely be concluded then. Then what else did we know of Simon Donavan?" At this point, Dumbledore finally sat down, looking tired. The other man remained standing.

"Well, he was born in Britain, joined the ranks of You Know Who two years ago. He has never held a job that we can trace… so basically he was just a minion, I don't think we're looking at an Inner Circle fellow," said the man. "We also ran files on the two men that had a go at you," he said, now looking at Severus, "and found that they were nothing but minions as well, nothing notable."

"I guessed as much, I didn't recognize either of them, nor did they know much of me," he said rather quietly. Cassi began to run her temple, as it was throbbing in pain.

A little man on the other side of the table stood. "And the attacks begin… we're the last active force against the Dark Lord. Perhaps we should appeal to the Ministry for help, our numbers are too low to take on everyone if the Dark side has people to spare like this." This immediately sent five other people flying out of their seats, arguing with each other loudly.

"The Ministry is no help!"

"We'll use them for numbers and money, we don't have to include them!"

"They'll ruin everything, they can't keep a secret!"

"I wouldn't trust Fudge with a thimble, much less the entire wizarding world's fate!"

As the arguing commenced to a very loud squabble, Cassi saw her vision begin to blur out and a light-headed sensation took over. She was forced to set her head on the table, and her mind went slack for a moment.

She felt a hand on both shoulders and the room quiet down as Dumbledore said quickly, "Severus, please take her outside, to the nurse if she needs it." She perceived that both Sirius and Severus were helping her stand, and she struggled slightly away from them when she got to her feet, walking herself out of the room with Severus behind her. When the door shut, she continued to walk away from it until she was mid-hallway and out of earshot, where she staggered and dropped to her knees. Severus knelt on one knee in front of her, hand on her shoulder.

"Cassi, what-" he began to ask, but she quieted him by holding up her hand, her head bowed. In a few seconds she looked back up at him, paler than ever and shaking slightly. She tried to stand up but Severus gently pushed her back down.

"Would you mind telling me what happened?" he asked, looking concerned.

"I'd prefer not to," she replied.

"I'm afraid that answer will not suffice."

"You know, you really are a nosy git sometimes."

"Thank you, now please continue."

She remained motionless, staring off to the side in a dark, depressed sort of way, eyes flashing with pain. "I remembered something," she said finally.

"Something from your Death Eater days," he said, fairly sure he had guessed this correctly. She nodded and stated again that she didn't want to talk about this, but he wouldn't let her leave until she told him what it was.

"Blood. Blood and the most horrible sense of shame imaginable… laying on the ground and bleeding," she spat bitterly after a silence. She turned her head from Snape and stood. "I'm going back to the meeting, I assume you're coming."

"Yes, I am," he said, but he grasped her wrist before she could walk off. "Cassi, do you honestly think I judge you for these sort of things? You forget that I was a Death Eater as well. Don't fear me so much."

"Your words mean well now, but your actions to me have been like ice. What happened this morning that made you change your mind about me?" She still wouldn't look at him as she spoke bitterly, borderline defeat edging into her voice. She had endured his weird behavior since this morning and couldn't take it much longer. One second he was soft and warm, the other he was cold and heartless, acting as if she didn't exist.

"Nothing Cassi, because I haven't changed my mind at all," he said, still sounding concerned. She sighed and, after giving him a critical look to see if he was lying, hugged him.

"You blow as fickle as the wind. There are times when you make very little sense for a man of such supposed high intellect," she whispered to him, and he kissed the top of her head.

"I find it amusing to confuse the inferior," he whispered back, and she laughed and pushed his shoulder, then walked back to the meeting, apologizing and saying she had just gotten a bit lightheaded and dizzy. She got quite a few concerned looks from her fellow members, but she ignored them. The rest of the meeting went smoothly enough, because everyone was acting as if she was fragile, which was even more irritating. By the end, Cassi was both annoyed and hurt, so she said her good-byes as soon as the meeting was over and left.

Severus watched her go wistfully, then waited silently in his chair for the people in the room to clear out. When the last one was gone, Dumbledore asked Severus to move to a chair in front of his desk, which he did. Dumbledore himself settled in his chair behind his desk and gave Severus a quizzical look.

"You wished to discuss something about Talin?" he asked after awhile. "Something which has been bothering you for awhile."

Severus blinked and nodded, very suddenly feeling that he did not want to do this anymore, and that he would rather pretend nothing was wrong at all. He found it curious that the headmaster had known that this had been quietly wreaking havoc in a suppressed corner of his mind. Never misses a trick was the saying that came to mind when thinking of Dumbledore; he seemed to always know was going on, even if he did not indicate his knowledge.

Even though he had been devising a way to state his situation all morning, it occurred to him that he still had no idea how to express his concerns without sounding dramatic. Therefore, he resorted to his polished skill of bluntness. Without a word, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the metal emblem of his family and placed it on the headmaster's desk with a light tink. Dumbledore picked up the pendant and examined it for a moment, letting it twirl loosely on its short ribbon before his eyes.

"Ah. If I'm not much mistaken, this is the crest of the Snape family," he said, not taking his eyes off the pendent. "It has very fine detail." He sounded almost as if he was appraising it.

"Yes indeed. Detail so fine that it makes it hard to duplicate. I found the other one in Cassi's quarters." He averted his dark, brooding eyes to Dumbledore's desk now. A long silence followed, which was broken by a volley of questions.

"This exact replica?" You are certain? Did she say the pendant was hers or where she got it?" Dumbledore asked, in a quiet yet firm voice.

"Yes, the exact replica, the details are too fine to recreate, but… she does not know that I've seen her pendent." At this point, Severus turned his eyes back to Dumbledore's, both seeming distressfully thoughtful.

"Severus," started Dumbledore gently, "if I remember correctly, you gave the other to a female Death Eater who was killed shortly thereafter… if you're insinuating that Cassi is her… then how might she have survived? Are you sure this is not wishful thinking?"

"When has wishful thinking ever disturbed me this much and why would I wish these sort of things upon Cassi? I never insinuated anything at all, all I said was-"

"Your whole demeanor says that's what you believe! There is more evidence that you're withholding from me, connections you have yet to tell me that have brought you to this conclusion."

Severus remained silent. Everything in his mind whirred like a thousand wheels spinning at high speeds, spinning out of control. The Mark, the scars, her story of being found in the forest, her accent, the memory, the very way she conducted herself, it all seemed to scream at him that she was Anya. Even his own dreams, which he had written off as silly insecurities, had tried to tell him this fact. Severus closed his eyes and, taking a deep breath, stated his cold evidence clearly, never stumbling or becoming flustered, finally smothering the small voiced emotions that burned in his heart. Dumbledore listened wordlessly, then nodded in resignation.

"That's fairly conclusive then," he said. "The problem becomes whether or not she wants to know. Anya the Assassin was one of the most feared Death Eaters, and also one of the most proclaimed. We know the names of very few followers. And from what you told me several years ago, there are several things she nor anyone else would want to remember…"

"Yes, yes I know. But if she's remembering things, eventually she will know. She's been gaining memories, there will be more… and one day, she will remember me and know that I've been keeping her identity a secret from her," he said with a sigh.

"Then you don't have a choice. I was hoping you would come to that conclusion on your own. There's also the factor that if Voldemort truly knows she is here at Hogwarts, she needs to know why her life is being attempted. I think you should tell her, and preferably soon."

"She's not going to react well to this…" sighed Severus.

"No, no she isn't, but she has to know. She deserves to know," said Dumbledore. "I still stand by my appointment of her. She's an able teacher, as well as a clever person, well suited for the role of teacher. Don't let her believe anything outside of that."

"I will not."

"Severus… how do you feel about this?" Dumbledore asked inquisitively.

"I?" asked Severus, caught off his guard. Quite suddenly, he felt like he was in his seventh year, being interrogated as to why he had cursed Black yet again. Worried, concerned, anxious, amazed, disbelief, denial, pained… all these words fell short of his true emotions. He answered with silence. Conveying his feelings with words was something he had never been good at, but Dumbledore read the silence and knew. Both understood that this was the end of the interview, and Severus thanked Dumbledore and left his office, his mind ablaze with thoughts.

***

The next week passed fretfully fast. Severus knew what he had to do, but doing it was a different story. He couldn't bring himself to do it, he couldn't inflict that sort of pain on her, but at the same token, he felt horribly guilty touching her as if he was taking advantage of her. He knew she was sensing all this and becoming frustrated with him, but there was nothing to be done.

It was on the following Thursday that things began to cave in. Cassi had tried to carry a normal conversation with him in the staff room during break, but he seemed distracted. After five minutes of forced talking, she stood up and left. Severus growled and stared back into the fire, orange flames flickering gaily behind the grate. Great, now his inner thoughts were soaking into his outer character and outraging the wrong people. This just set his bad mood for the day.

He didn't see her much during that day. He glimpsed her once in the hallway and saw her at lunch and dinner. Her mood seemed to soften from ignoring him angrily to silently pensive as the day wore on, but he wouldn't press his luck with trying to talk to her until tomorrow. When he had finished with his dinner, he stood without a word to her and left.

Down he went into his dungeons, walking the cold, lonely, yet familiar steps while deep in thought. It had become an all-consuming thought; how to word it, how to break it to her, when, how she would react. Each scenario was played over and over in his head, and none of the reactions were good. In frustration, he slammed a book back into its place in his bookshelf and picked out another one, then stomped over to his desk and began taking notes from it. He worked like this for some time, listening only to the scratching of his quill across the page, filling scrolls with his neat and tidy handwriting

Just when he dipped his quill into the inkpot, he heard his door open and shut quietly. He didn't need to look up to know who it was; with her light step and familiar sound of her soft soled shoes, he knew it was Cassi. He flicked his eyes up to make sure he was right, and caught a most disturbing look on her face as she walked carefully over to him. Her face was totally blank, minus her violet-blue eyes, which glowed with hurt and frustration. Letting go of his quill, he prepared for a verbal lashing but was caught off his guard when both her hands arrested his shoulders and pushed him back in his chair. She then sat straddled on his lap and clapped her hands over his wrists on the arms of the chair, making it very difficult for him to move.

"I've got you now, Severus Snape. You can no longer hide, ignore me, skirt me in the halls, make weak conversation, or pretend like you're busy with something else," she hissed, "Tell me what's troubling you right now." She waited expectantly, eyes flashing and hair swept over one shoulder, a few strands falling in her eyes.

"Cassandra, what are you talking about?" he said, sounding surprisingly stern.

"You, sir, are pathetic at lying. You've been hiding something from me for a week and it's changed you. You won't even look at me for long anymore… if I've done something, then just tell me before it kills me," she said, her voice quavering slightly as the last few words tumbled out in despair.

"You haven't done anything," he said reassuringly, though still sounding coarse. "You worry yourself too much."

"I have good reason to this time, you won't even talk to me normally! Forgive me if I seem a bit disturbed," she retorted dryly. "Talk."

"Cassi, I really don't think-"

"Cut with the excuses."

"Cassandra-"

"Se-" she started angrily, but every negative emotion was swept away with the taste of his mouth, which she had not noticed had been inching closer to her own. It became acutely obvious exactly how provocative her position was when he groaned loudly and laid his hands on her thighs. She touched one hand to his face, while the other gently slid to the back of his neck, inching closer to him until her hips pressed into his, sending both minds reeling from electric shock. Both enjoyed the moment with mounting pleasure until he suddenly wretched away, breathless.

"No, I really can't do this to you," he gasped quietly.

"This is exactly what I'm talking about! Tell me what's going on or I'll leave, and I don't mean out the door," she said, voice dropping to a whisper. He seemed to study her face for awhile, and, with her threat of their relationship still hanging sourly in the air, he nodded.

"Alright, alright. But not here, not like this," he said, defeated. She slid off of him and stood back to let him stand, which he did almost begrudgingly. He then motioned for her to follow him, and he led her into his office, through a door, down a dimly lit passageway and into his room. She shut the door behind her and scanned his room over.

"Heads of Houses get bigger rooms," he answered for her, back to her.

"So I gather," she said, watching him pull a chair from his desk around to his bed and then, taking her by the hand, led her to sit on the edge of the bed while he sat on the chair, facing her.

"Cassandra, I know you have something, something that looks like this," he said, grasping her hand again and pressing his metal pendant into her hand, which he had picked up off the desk. She looked down at it in mild shock.

"Where did you get this?" she breathed, staring down at it.

"It's my family crest, I own one and you have the other." Silence.

"Your, your family crest? But then why do I have one (which I would like to add I've had since before I can remember)?"

"Because I…" He teetered. This was it. With this sentence, he would have to let her know his involvement in her past, and her own painful history. " I gave it to you before I can remember."

Cassi swallowed back a choke. "…W-what? Please explain."

~

Severus was eighteen when he joined the Dark side, but not for the reasons everyone assumed. Most thought he joined to avenge the death of his father, who died when he was 13 while out on mission for Lord Voldemort. But this was not true, for Severus did not care one way or the other for his father; he was in this for the power the job gave him, maybe even for the sense of belonging he had never felt before. Whatever his motive, he had climbed through the ranks of the Death Eater Order quickly in just three years, and his opinion was respected.

Just after he turned twenty-one and had set up camp in the heart of a large forest, he found himself being called to a council meeting to discuss a person who had come to them looking to join.

When Severus entered the tent and found himself in the familiar large, dark meeting room, he immediately noticed the figure which stood facing the tables filled with prestigious Death Eaters, the Dark Lord being the center. It was heavily cloaked with its hood up, and only ghostly white fingers were visible at the ends of the sleeves. There was something ominous about it, but he took his chair facing the person, though could not actually see the face, making him more suspicious.

"As I was saying, I've come before you to ask acceptance into your Order," said the person in a distinctly female voice, laden down with a thick Russian accent.

"How can we be sure you do not work for Dumbledore?" asked Voldemort abruptly.

"Whom? You mean the man I read about in the papers now? He has no connections with Russia, and I've traveled across this continent looking for this group. I've never met the man." Voldemort nodded, accepting this answer for the time being.

"How old are you?" asked Severus, his voice resonating slightly in the cold, stone room, leaning back in the chair and crossing his arms.

"I just turned eighteen," she replied with an icy tone.

"You're a bit young."

"What does age matter when I can do the jobs you require of me?" she responded quickly.

"Do you have any history of this sort of thing?"

"I'm good with a knife and wand, but if you mean to ask if I've killed anyone, then your answer is no. However, I'm sure in this company that will change."

"So you wish to be an assassin?" said Voldemort in his cruel, high pitched voice. "This does work out, for we are short… I've seen your knifework and it's quite impressive, but we'll need to test you…"

"My Lord, she is but a child with no experience, how can she be an assassin? We do not even know where her loyalties lie…" commented another member of the council.

"I shall test her, I said. Now, girl, take down your hood and come with me, I have an assignment for you," said Voldemort, now rising.

"With all due respect, sir, I'd rather keep my hood up and my identity to myself. I will, of course, share these things with only you, but only when I am certain I have the job," she said, tone cool.

"Why?"

"I have people looking for me that I'd rather not run into. It's easier this way."

"Indeed, well, come along… what do you call yourself?" he asked with a dark, sly smile.

"Anya."

"Come along Anya."

***

She had passed her test with great ease and was initiated after Voldemort determined she could be trusted. He seemed to take a special interest in her, for she showed devout loyalty and a special ability to complete her tasks quick and efficiently, while still leaving people with that uneasy fear that they could be next. Her popularity grew in the wizarding world, and soon newspapers were littered with stories about a faceless killer who horrifically murdered people in their sleep. After a few weeks, the newspapers obtained the name Anya when she left it on a slip of parchment at the scene of one of her slayings, just to put a name to their fear.

While she may have been a well-known murderess among the rest of the wizarding world, she was rarely seen in the Inner Circle unless Voldemort was present. Most knew that she was a busy girl with many missions, but it went unsaid that their master was keeping her for his own. Severus noticed that the Dark Lord would make comments about her that seemed a little warmer than his cold appraisals of his other members, and looked upon her with curiosity and amusement of a fearful sort. After a few months, it became a certainty to the Death Eaters.

All the while, Severus had forgotten about the girl and had continued on with his job. He created crucial potions for torture and also helped when the groups would go out to wreak terror on the world. However, after some meetings had passed, he had begun to wonder about the girl that everyone called Anya the Assassin. At one meeting, he managed to catch her eye, for she seemed to face him for some seconds, and at the next, he said hello to her. She spoke quietly at the meetings when she did speak, though her voice held ice. However, when she had returned his hello, it seemed a bit warmer. He thought that if he could make her voice warmer like that more often, life might not be so bad. They both kept peeking up at each other from across the circle during the rest of the meeting when they were supposed to be bowed at Voldemort's feet.

However, as weeks passed, she seemed to disappear. He would hear talk of her latest killing, but he never saw her around the camps. She had just vanished, until Fate took its toll.

One night, in the warmth of the summer nights and as Severus was walking back from his dinner to go home, he decided to take the long way, as he enjoyed the quiet of the forest. With only the moonlight to guide him, he walked around, thinking about life. Within twenty minutes of walking though, he tripped and fell onto the ground. Cursing his clumsiness, he looked to see what had tripped him, but found it to be a person lying on the ground, shoulders shaking.

"Are you alright?" he asked the person gruffly, now kneeling before it. He knew it was a Death Eater by the black of their robes, and shortly concluded that it was a woman.

"Yes," sobbed the girl, and he recognized it as the voice of Anya, though in much despair. Now came the internal struggle; to do what is humane (something he had lost a long time ago) or to do what he normally would do.

"You don't seem very alright," he ventured uneasily.

"That shows how little you know. I'm just fine, now go away," she answered in a harsh voice. Severus stood and turned to go, taking a few steps… yet something made him turn around. He looked back at the poor, broken figure on the ground and realized it was a personification of how he felt every day when he woke up and looked in the mirror. Somewhere, deep, deep, down inside of him, Severus felt a twang of understanding and sympathy beneath his callused exterior. He resolved that he would help the girl, but he wasn't going to be nice about it; that might give away too much.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, settling himself firmly down beside her.

"Didn't I tell you to leave?"

"Yes, but I don't listen very well and I'm horribly stubborn. What are you doing here?"

She sighed, finally calming down some. "Damn stubborn men, determined to weasel their way into everything, even if it is no concern to them. If you really must know, I'm waiting to die, now shove off so I can die in peace."

"Die? How do you propose this death shall come to you?" he asked, wondering if she was half out of her mind, which was reflected in his voice.

"Do not entertain my ideas as if I were a small child! For your information, I'm going to bleed to death," was the reply.

"Where are you hurt?" he said, his tone a little more commanding.

She lifted her head up to look at him, though all he saw was the outline of a face and shadows. "What does it matter to you? I'm just another Death Eater, I'm just another one of them. If you had any dignity at all you'd finish me off here and now, at least sparing me the torment, even if I do deserve it."

"I'm an incredibly dignified person-" he started, and she made a derisive sound. "but people like you bring out a little less dignity in me, now tell me where you're hurt before I have to find out myself." She studied his face, and though he could not see hers, he could sense the distrust. "Look, what's the worst that could happen?"

"…You're the Death Eater from across the Circle, aren't you?" She paused, studying him more while he nodded once. "Oh fine, I see you're bound and determined to rescue me, though I'm telling you now it's not worth it. My back and my side." And she went back to resting her head in her arms, mumbling something about nosy men.

Severus looked at her back and noticed it was soaked with blood, which left huge dark, shining patches on her cloak. "Dear God," he whispered. He stared for a second more, then regained composure. "Would I wound your pride so terribly if you let me go get something from my tent?"

"Help. Hurt. What's the difference?" she quietly. "Go ahead if it will make you feel better." So he stood and went back to his room to grab a few supplies, then found her again in the forest, exactly as she was, except a little woozier.

"Are you light-headed?" he asked her in a more business-like tone, and she nodded. "Anya, I'm going to take your cloak off of you, alright?" He dealt with wounded Death Eaters on the side of making potions. No one really knew how to heal their own wounds they received in battle, and some purposefully did not so they could show them off later. However, some of the more serious ones were brought to him to heal.

She nodded again, this time a little reluctantly. "That's another thing," she added, half her senses gone with the loss of blood. "They always want to get your cloak off and see how far they can get. Dirty lot, they all are."

"Yes, all of humanity is scum, but I can assure you that I'm not trying to get you into bed, I'm just fixing your back so you don't bleed all over the place. Besides, Voldemort wouldn't be too happy if he lost his assassin," Severus said quietly, trying to talk her into being a little more calm, but she stiffened as she heard His name.

Gently, and with a bit of her help, he removed her cloak and folded it, placing it next to him. He then asked her permission to at least undo the back of her robes, and she consented after some silence. What he saw there made him curse under his breath. There were horrible, deep, ragged scrapes dug out of her back, zigzagging like lighting bolts, each oozing blood and livid red. There were other healed scars too, but they were not deep; they were simply wide shining ribbons across her back.

Shaking his head, he soaked a towel with water from his wand, wrung it in the leaves next to them, and then pressed it to her back softly. She flinched, despite his gentleness. He withdrew it, then picked up his wand and whispered a spell to make her numb for some minutes. Visibly she relaxed and he continued about his task, stopping the blood flow after a few minutes. Then, when he was sure there was no more blood, he proceeded to heal the wounds with his wand, slowly moving it over the trenches in her back with the skin mending itself seamlessly along the way. Though these wounds had vanished without a trace, her other scars would not heal. He was puzzled at these wounds, but buttoned her robes back up and helped her to her feet without a word. She put her cloak on in a daze with her back turned to him so he still couldn't glimpse her face.

Almost immediately she stumbled, and he caught her. "You've lost a good deal of blood…" he explained to her as he would a small child, and she nodded that she knew and made a sound of exasperation.

"I've never really done this before, but… do you think you could take me back to my tent? I don't really know where I am," she managed to murmur with as much dignity as she could muster, and he agreed. Everyone knew where her tent was, directly next to the Master's. As Severus walked with her there, his mind begin to be taken over with curiosity and concern (not concern, no, no concern at all… just curiosity… maybe a little concern…) as to what had caused those ripped stripes in her back. When they had finally reached her tent, he was tempted to keep her outside and question her, but couldn't make any words come out of his mouth, so he bade her goodnight in his acidic way, and turned with a swoosh of his cloak, disappearing. He contemplated why he couldn't make words form, and scowled, utterly disgusted with himself for being so…caring.

Weeks passed once more before he saw her again at a meeting to discuss a stake out that had to take place in order to watch the patterned movement of the Light side. Conversation was serious and to the point, as usual, but Severus found his mind wandering and his eyes averting over to the figure kneeling next to Voldemort. He saw that she was looking up at him too, and quickly hung her head again. They played this sort of peeking game for the second time in their lives for the next ten minutes, bound and determined to catch the other looking at them. Severus found himself smiling in the shadows of his hood, but quickly snapped out of it when they announced who was going to the stake out. Anya was suggested for obvious reasons, and to his surprise, someone suggested that he go with her, along with four other Death Eaters. All agreed to go with murmured obedience to their Master.

What they did not know was that Severus had rejoined with the Light side in the past week. Disgusted with his actions, and so very weary of death, he found himself feeling trapped and cornered with the Dark side. He knew that in the end, the Light side would win, no matter how much the Dark side prospered. So, with the last few scraps of dignity he had, he appealed to Dumbledore in secret the previous week, who accepted him warmly back into the numbers. He knew he would never be able to lead a normal life in among the Light side, but he also knew one day he would quit the Dark side for good, and that thought alone was his comfort. Until then, he was instructed to act as he normally would, even if it meant killing (though he was to avoid actually killing whenever possible) and brewing potions. The information he passed them was valuable.

The following morning after the meeting, Severus arose early and, safely placing his wand in his belt and his dagger alongside it, left his tent to wait for the others in the clearing. Another figure joined him shortly, and it was undoubtedly Anya. He felt his heart jump slightly but quieted it with a scowl.

"Feeling better?" he asked quietly, though sounding nonchalant, taking a step towards her to keep the conversation just between them.

"Yes… I never got to thank you… you didn't have to do that," she replied, voice free of ice, but trying to retain her noble manner.

"Yes, I did. I did trip over you, after all," he started, but he never got to finish because three others came walking up. They waited for one other person, then Apparated to another forest and set up a small camp there (spelling the area to make them invisible). They all waited quietly in a circle, waiting and listening. After some hours, the other four men got tired of just sitting and went off to see if there were other places the people from the other side could rendezvous from, leaving her and Severus there until sometime that night. Severus had feared this; he had no idea what to say to her.

As soon as the other men had left, Anya made a sound of disgust and stood, kicking a few leaves off the ground. "I hate McCleland, he's trouble." She said this in reference to the leader of the four men, a large burly man with a red face and a hot temper. "I probably shouldn't have told you that, especially with this 'brotherhood among all Death Eaters' thing, but he's trouble. Watch him." And with that she paced around their former circle once and sat down a little closer to him, he noticed. He picked up a stick and poked the leaves around, but was really studying her out of the corner of his eye. She was elegant and fluid in motion, conveying with her hands what she could not with her face. He thought she had pretty hands, but nearly slapped himself when he found his mind wandering up her sleeve. No, thoughts must stay exterior to the clothing, Severus, he thought to himself. Severus wondered what she thought of him, and, being the insecure young man he was, knew that he wasn't much to look at. He was very tall and slender, with shoulder-length, lank black hair and large black eyes, yet pale skin. Severus turned his attention to the ground and his mind off his appearance, scrounging around in the leaves like he was trying to find the words to start a conversation.

Shockingly enough though, conversation came easily to the two after a few minutes. Later, she did confess that she usually did not speak to people on missions, but was intrigued in their conversation and how fast they seemed to connect. They talked about everything from the other members of the Circle to where they grew up, though she was very cautious about revealing too much to him. When he bluntly asked her why she did this, she hesitantly brought him into her confidence and told him that she had actually run away from home when she was 16, but then quickly changed the subject. This was alright with Severus, since he did not want to force anything from her; asking more would only hunger his insatiable curiosity more. He rather enjoyed her company (he did not let her in on this notion, but kept it to himself), but that funny nervous feeling never seemed to fully leave his stomach.

Both were startled when the group had come back, all four sure this was the only place the Light side could meet up. Anya stood and moved herself farther away from Snape, pacing restlessly across from him. The men were right, as about twenty minutes later, a group of people Apparated the path nearby, and another group soon appeared. The groups joined and passed documents back and forth, laughing and talking. The Death Eaters watched silently, almost hungrily. After a short amount of time, one of the other Death Eaters, McCleland, walked over to Anya and stood by her.

"I'm going for the tall one," he said, pointing to a tall man in the Light side group.

"We're under orders to merely observe," she said coolly. He stood his ground.

"If we come back with those documents, the Dark Lord won't care one way or the other. What, do the Mudblood-lovers mean something to you, slut?" he taunted. She withdrew her dagger in a flash and pinned him against a nearby tree, blade at his neck.

"I said we're observing. You do otherwise and it's mutiny, McCleland. Mutiny is punishable by instant death, but I'd be tempted to drag it out, long and painful," she hissed. The man grew several shades paler, but leered at her. She released him with a sound of disgust and turned to address the others, who had backed up slightly. "They're staying the night by the looks of it, so we're doing the same. One of us will stand guard while the others sleep. I'll go first."

The others silently found spots around the clearing and slept on the leafy forest floor, the warm night air as their blankets. Anya sat at the base of a tree and watched the other camp with interest. Figures stood laughing and sitting around a fire, some speaking in loud booming voices. Hours passed, and just as she felt her eyes grow heavy, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see Severus standing over her, then watched him kneel next to her.

"You've been here long enough, I'll take over," he said, acting as if this were normal conversation. She nodded, but didn't move.

"…Do you ever wonder what it's like? To be one of them, I mean," she asked, hazarding mutiny to the wind and sounding softer than usual. "They look happy."

Severus sighed. "Yes, sometimes I do." He was cautious, making sure his tone was just sheer curiosity. He really wanted to say that he hated the Dark side, that he hated himself more and more every day, and that his only redemption was coming back to the Light side, but this was dangerous to say to someone so close to the Master. Yet he wanted to tell her. It was the strangest thing, he'd met the girl only a few weeks before and only spent a few hours with her today, but he felt like he'd known her forever.

"You understand me very well," she said quietly, nearly echoing his thoughts. "It scares me a little. We shouldn't… get too close. It's just not good in our line of duty. We could end up saying things we regret."

"That's true," he replied.

"You shouldn't get yourself wrapped up in someone like me anyway. I'm a bad person."

"I don't think so." Not now Severus, now is not a good time to be all mushy and sentimental…damn it, too late.

"What?"

"I don't think you're a bad person."

She looked to him flatly, head tilted sideways. "I'm many things that are not good, including a killer."

"I still don't think you're a bad person, and you're going to have trouble convincing me otherwise. We're all killers though, in our own way," His voice dropped to an even lower whisper. He studied her a moment, and, in his usual intelligently gruff manner stated, "If you want to know what I think, I think you hate your position as much as I hate mine."

She turned her head away, a large, heavy silence falling over both young individuals. "I… don't…how did you know? How do you know any of this?" she said in a half-ashamed, half-astonished murmur.

"I know your type very well indeed." He readjusted himself to be sitting comfortably next to her, but accidentally brushed her hand in the process, leaving him with a hugely electric sensation in his hand. Her attention was brought back to his face, and she had almost recoiled when her hand touched his, but kept it near his. Both were waiting, watching, mistrusting, attempting to beat themselves down, and above all, hoping that something would happen, that the other would make the move, but exceedingly reluctant to make it themselves. Finally, she whispered half a word to him, and both snapped at the same time and caught the other in a gentle kiss. For one golden, perfect second, the world and its worries were washed away, and it was simply them. However, reality rushed back to them in a wavelike roar, and they both pulled back.

"Oh Merlin, we shouldn't have done that," she said breathily.

"I know, I know."

"Do you know the trouble we'd be in? It's wrong, it's so very wrong. Master would kill us both. I shouldn't have done that to you. I barely even know you," she said, fearful and quiet.

"And I barely know you."

"And what did I tell you, eh? All men want to do is get your cloak off," she said, torn between cockiness and nervousness.

"And women can never decide what they want…Do you want to do it again?" he asked her in a simple, yet somewhat cocky voice.

"Yes." And she kissed him. It was the most amazing thing he had ever felt. Explosions went off in his mind and a stunning wave of shock coursed through his veins, rendering him senseless. Her fingers crept to his hand, lightly stroking it absent-mindedly, which sent more electricity through his body, almost blinding his mind. The whole world could have opened up beneath his feet and he would have never noticed. She was reluctant in how she kissed, scared and shy, and he sensed that she knew this was forbidden. Somewhere deep in his mind it registered that someone had hurt her, hurt her so badly that her ability to be affectionate would always be coupled with fear. When he blindly reached up and touched her face though, her boundaries seemed to melt a bit, and the kissed deepened, plunging him headfirst into a world of sensation.

Eventually she pulled back, but not before stealing two more light kisses from his lips. "I think, uh I'll go sleep now," she said, dazed and shaking slightly. He nodded, trying to recapture his mind from its tumble so that he could process what just happened. Did I just do that?

Later that night, after Severus' shift was over and he was sleeping under a fir tree, he sat up quickly at the sound of a deep scream. Jumping to his feet, he saw Anya already running through the trees and then punching a Death Eater straight in the face, knocking him to the ground.

"You prat!" she screamed at the figure on the ground. "You pulled rank on me, you worthless git! Damn it, now they're coming for us." She looked to Severus. "Fight or run?"

"Run, we're outnumbered," he said decisively, and she nodded and called for everyone to Apparate. The man on the ground suddenly disappeared, as did the other three. However, one member of the Light side had already come around and was now attacking her, but she beat him over the head with the hilt of her sword and Apparated.

Severus walked over to the man, and after revealing his identity, helped the man stand up. He then told the man that the Dark side now knew that information was being exchanged here and to report to Dumbledore to change spots. The man nodded, a bit bewildered, but patted him on the shoulder. It was a feeling Severus wouldn't forget, and he knew he was on the right side again, the good side. He Apparated back to the Death Eater clearing, running into Anya. The danger was over and the silence rung in his ears.

However, the danger wasn't as over as he thought. Anya grabbed him by the sleeve of his robe and dragged him away from everyone else, into the forest's shadowy depth. When they were finally somewhere quiet, she stopped and let go of him, pacing around him. Finally, she came to a stop in front of him, posture looking quite firm. "You're one of them, aren't you? No one lags that much in Apparition." Her tone wasn't accusatory, but rather curious.

This was his ultimate decision. Was she just using him? Did Voldemort really suspect him and was he just using her to play spy? Yet there was something about the way she reacted when he had told her that she hates her position that made him think she was sincere. He couldn't risk discovery, but… something told him that she wouldn't rat him out. "Yes," he said finally. The word hung in the air.

"I envy you," she said finally, and turned to walk away. "I won't tell anyone, don't worry," she said in a small voice. "You can trust me." And she walked off, leaving him to his thoughts.

Weeks flew by, and for Severus they were some of the most confusing weeks he had ever experienced. For one thing, he was playing double spy, and that was tough to keep up with, yet no one suspected him. For another, he was now meeting with Anya in the forest when they could spare the time, just to see her. First she had dragged him out there to ask him questions about the Light side and what it was like, but after a few meetings like this, their conversation wandered. A deep bond had sprung up before them, and neither could ignore it nor deny it, though they tried. Somehow though, she always ended up in his arms before the night was over, listening to him talk or just staring at the stars.

Anya was very paranoid about anyone finding out, but Severus promised her that it would be alright. He seemed to have a calming effect on her, and she was more relaxed around him. She loved him very deeply, listening to his problems with being a double spy and identifying with his feelings about still being a Death Eater. He ached to save her from this life, to bring her back to the Light side, but knew she wouldn't go. A mysterious something tied her to the life of a Death Eater, and she could not let go. They loved each other strongly though, for no one else could understand them the way the other did, and no one else could complete them quite the same way. Often did they dream of when the fight was over, when the battlefields were vacant, and when they could live happily together on their own and away from all that is destructive. The love that developed between them was untouchable; nothing could taint it, nothing could harm it, what they had was beautiful, pure, and solid. While being callused, tough fighters on the battlefield and remaining a step away from death every day, a gentleness was extracted from the very core of their hearts for the other, and they treated their love as if made of hollow glass, for their hearts surely were without the other. Their only fear was losing the other.

Then, one fateful night, Severus waited up for her as he usually did, sitting at the base of a large tree, but she was late. When she finally did get there, she did not seem herself, and would not sit with him. He stood, and after a few analytical minutes, Severus asked what was wrong. When she turned away from him, he grabbed her wrist, only to see her flinch. He held up her hand to the moonlight and as her sleeve slipped back, it revealed large purple bruises around her wrists.

"Who did this to you?" he asked, anger mounting. He feared the answer, and when there came none, he knew and released her hand. "He made the wounds on your back too, didn't he?"

She leaned back against the tree, and Severus could tell she was struggling, even if he couldn't see her face.

"Yes," she replied hoarsely, seeming withdrawn. She cleared her throat of impending emotion. "Yes, he did." A profound silence settled in his ears, which suddenly rang with anger.

"How long has Voldemort been treating you like this?" he asked, stiffening slightly.

Her voice grew bitter and hard. "Everyone thought it was some sort of mutual relationship, like I was doing it to advance in rank and power. Like I wanted to be his toy, his toy he could do whatever he wanted with. How long, you ask? Since about three weeks after I was initiated. Lovely, isn't it? I never wanted to be with him, ever. I hate myself for letting him, but there's not much I can do. Don't hate me." Her voice had grown thick with emotion and she bowed her head, slowly collapsing to the ground in defeat.

"I don't. I never will." And he sunk to the dirt next to her, gently gathering her up in his arms and simply holding her silently for hours, both deep in thought. The next time he could manage to see her, some weeks later, Severus begged her to come away with him. He wanted to run away with her, let her escape all this and be free. She said and knew she couldn't, that it was already too late, so he gave her the pendant as a promise to her that he would get her away some day, and she had kissed him with one of her devastatingly emotional kisses. However, they had heard someone coming and he had Apparated off to a Light meeting he was having that night. They thought the incident had gone unnoticed by the intruder McCleland, as he had not seen anyone but her, but they were wrong.

Anya and McCleland got into a fight again after he had insulted her the next day, leaving him with a broken nose and half his hearing temporarily lost, along with a few cracked ribs. This was the final straw for him, so he went to Voldemort, telling him the story of how he had come across Anya talking in the forest with another man, one he suspected was a Light side recruiter. The Dark Lord had noticed a lack of loyalty in her lately, and used this story to bring her to trial before all the other Death Eaters.

Less than a week later, when Severus was out on mission for the Light side (though supposedly out on mission for the Dark side), Anya was brought before the Circle and brought up on accusations of disloyalty to him and to the cause. She denied being unfaithful to the cause, but never said a word about being innocent of wavering loyalty to her master. He threatened her with death, he beat her, but she was resolute in keeping the name of her lover a secret. Therefore, her throat was slit and she was left for dead, her secret taken with her to the grave.

No one knew that Severus had come back early until later, and stood at the back of the crowd, watching the only thing he loved and the only person that had understood him being taunted and tormented in front of a crowd. When Voldemort knocked her to the ground, she looked up and saw Severus there, and he felt her eyes connect with his before she quickly looked away. He silently screamed for them to let her go, but knew he could not say a word. Panic was invading him, along with a dreadful fear. His exterior showed the cold, stiff man he was, eyes set straight ahead on the figure kneeling on the ground, but inside, he was a wreck of fury, fear, guilt, and sadness. He nearly cried out when he swiftly cut her throat open and dropped her to the ground, but his eyes only reflected a grimace beneath the shadows of his hood. With that fateful stroke of the sword, everything good, everything emotional and everything confident was cut from Severus' heart with the steely blade of Irony and Death, leaving him pained, hardened and bitter. Unfixable for life, his soul dropped and shattered, and his glass heart was now solid ice. He wished to rush to her body and hold her, to tell her one last time that everything would be alright, but as luck would have it, someone spotted him and he was drug along to the continuation of the Circle meeting. He had no memory of what happened after he was wretched from his standing place, as the scene of his love being slashed was replayed in his mind a thousand times over that night. Anya's body was cold and alone now, something that broke him.

After the meeting, Severus Apparated to Hogwarts, stumbled up to the castle not really knowing why he was there, and found his way to Dumbledore's office, where Dumbledore waited patiently at his desk for Severus to report back to him. After a considerable silence, the whole story was retold in hard, harsh tones to the sweet-tempered and concerned old wizard, who had previously known nothing of the girl besides what was reported in the papers, and much less of her relations to Severus. Dumbledore listened and tried to console him, but nothing helped, for a part of himself was lost that night.

In the following months, Severus slipped into depression. He began taking the Anxiety Potion to wash away his sorrow, and soon found himself heavily addicted. Both sides knew that Severus had reached a low, but one side didn't know enough to care and the other didn't care enough to know. He didn't care who cared though, all he knew was that he was slowly dying, drowning in sorrow and being tortured every night with the sounds of her voice crying to him in his dreams. He felt he deserved it. She had been unswervingly loyal to him, even when faced with death, and when she was on the brink of death, who had come to rescue her? No one, yet he was right there. They may have both died in the attempt, but Severus thought it would have been better that way. Severus took to the Anxiety Potion hard, as he did to Sleeping Draughts.

Eventually the combination of the two began to take its toll on him. One night, when Dumbledore was set to rendezvous with Severus, he had come to the spot in the forest only to find Snape unconscious and half-alive, slung over a log. Dumbledore Apparated him back to Hogwarts and, having woken him up, helped him to Madame Pomfrey's. He was little help in the matter though, as he was struggling and fighting to escape from the nurse, being physically dragged all the way there. He didn't need anyone's help; he didn't deserve to be helped when he could not help others. Eventually they restrained him enough to keep him there, and began pouring antidotes down his throat. Dumbledore later told him that he had been rambling in fits of delirium, and that most his rambles were about how he was waiting for Anya.

Finally, Severus was able to come to terms with her death. For the rest of his stay in the hospital wing, he lay pondering his situation, and finally resolved to tuck her away in a safe place in his mind, and move ahead with life, but it took a long time for him to be pulled out of his depression. After that night in the hospital, Severus openly declared himself to belong to the Light side, but for months after he wondered about like a zombie, bereft of emotion.

He began teaching Potions part-time as a job offered to him by Dumbledore to get him back on his feet and safe within the confines of the ancient magical school. He grew to love his job, and in comparison it was like moving from hell to heaven. He was now in a place where he could be safe and respected, as opposed to fearing being killed in his sleep and the slave of a psychotic killer. Just as he was growing accustomed to his job, he heard the rumor that Lily and James Potter (his archenemy from school) were dead, and that their son had caused the downfall of Voldemort. This rumor proved to be true, and from that Halloween night forth, the wizarding world picked up the pieces of their lives and began rebuilding, always praising The Boy Who Lived. The next year, Severus began teaching full time as the prior professor quit to travel the world, now that You-Know-Who was defeated. Life progressed slowly as everyone tried to mold their lives back into something resembling happiness, and no one worked harder than Severus to build up this façade.

~

Severus relived a milder, facts-only based story to her so as not to startle her more than necessary. However, by the time he had finished his woeful tale, she was staring blankly through him, as if seeing something he could not. After he finished, he leaned back, his head in his hands, then looked back up at her. Silence ensued.

"You never saw her face or knew her last name?" she asked, voice barely above a whisper. He shook his head. "And you think I'm her?" More silence, which confirmed her answer.

She suddenly looked resolute, and stood, looking at him sharply. "Then there's only one logical thing to do… my papers of resignation will be on Dumbledore's desk in the morning." With that, she walked to the door, but, after a second of staring at her in shock, he stood and grabbed her by the wrist.

"That won't be necessary," he said.

"It is, I'm a dangerous person. I don't deserve to be here," she said stiffly, still not looking at him.

"No, you were never dangerous, you followed orders. I followed orders, but I'm still here, aren't I?"

"And Donovan followed orders and look what he did! I don't belong here, Severus," she said bitingly, her voice broke when she said his name, fighting back deep held emotions. Quickly, she regained her composure and her expressions turned icy.

"Cassandra, that's because he died AS a Death Eater. You WERE a Death Eater, and it wasn't even you. Eh, look at me, don't turn away from me. Look at me. Anya died that night; there is no more Anya. You are who you've become, not what you were," he said softly to her after she had finally returned her eyes to his. He placed a hand on her shoulder, and she looked up at him searchingly, as if lost in the world and only knowing the one person who stood before her. "Don't resign."

She continued to stare at him longingly. Finally, in a quiet, resigned voice, she said, "Alright… alright. I won't resign and I'll still teach, but I need some time to think this through. So… I'll tell you when I've got this sorted out." He nodded in understanding, but the next thing he knew, she was in his arms and he was holding her tight. He was never sure if he pulled her there or if she had thrown herself against him, but she hugged him, maybe for the last time in awhile, neither knew. Finally she let go, a little uncomfortable looking, and opened the door.

Just before she left she paused. "Virtov," she said. "Anya Virtov of the forests of Moscow." Nodding, she left the bedroom and left to go to her own room. With a sigh, Severus touched the door to shut it more, then walked over to his bed, stretching out and looking at the ceiling.

There. He had done it, he had explained it, it was off his chest. So why didn't he feel like the heavy burden was removed? Because he knew there was a good chance she'd fall into insecurities about him, and want to leave him. Rightfully so, he didn't think he deserved her in the first place. Already he was starting to become self-deprecating, and he knew the next few weeks would be hell.

~

And they were for both Cassi and Severus. February slipped into March, and the month of the changing seasons rolled on, though agonizingly painful. Cassi taught as normal, talked as normal, acted as normal, but was anything but normal on the inside. Ever since she had heard Severus' story, she had begun collecting huge chunks of her memory, and now her puzzle was nearly complete. It was killing her. Now she could relive the horrors of being a Death Eater and her less than happy childhood, and those alone were driving her insane. At night she paced her room, deep in thought, and rarely did she sleep. She began skipping meals too, just sitting in her classroom, staring off into space with a look of deep concentration on her face. Never had she thought that knowing her past would hurt her so much, but now she did know and all she could do was dwell, dwell and aimlessly saunter about in her memory, coming across horrifying things.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, there were hidden emotions forming that pride wouldn't let her reveal. Before she fell asleep at night, and when her mind totally wandered, she found herself wishing to go back to Severus, but not able to do it. She wanted to though, oh did she want to. More than once did she catch herself thinking that she was neither as brave or as strong as he was, that she could not weather this alone, but could not go back on her word until she sorted through all these emotions, something she just didn't think she could survive. It made her experience all the more anguished.

She couldn't explain how she felt though. There was confusion in her mind as to who she was and what her true nature was. Was she the natural born killer of bitter sorrows, or the simple, cynical girl with trust issues? Or was she some sort of intermediate, both and none at the same time? Severus' words that Anya had died that night drifted across her thoughts at times, and from there grew a slight sense of stability. But how was she to handle this, handle herself? She had taken lives, and many of them. Horrors that few people of this world had experienced were now part of her. Did she continue to go on about her life as if nothing had happened, or should she withdraw herself from her place, undeserving of the job and societal place's prestige in comparison to her own blackened history? How she wished he was horrible at keeping his word, and would come to her to demand that she make up her mind! He wouldn't, and she couldn't, so both did nothing. The roof over their heads was the closest they came to being near each other at times, but even then, very few words were said. It stung both to the point of agonizing, blinding pain.

~

Severus was grappling as well. He watched her suffer daily, though no one else saw it. The others would never understand, they had never lived through the Death Eater experience, but he had, as had she (miraculously enough). He cursed the moon by night, condemning it for being so bright and waxing and waning, as his luck did. Fate had never favored him, and now was no exception. Just as he had found some happiness in this life, something that made this world a little more bearable, it had been snatched from him, then twisted and gagged before his eyes.

He had given the situation thought, and kept coming back to one conclusion: He didn't care who she was, he loved her. There were times when he wondered if the thought of her being his former love made her more appealing, but he soon found that it did not matter one way or the other. He was not in love with the idea of Anya (for indeed, the 15 years had healed those wounds and acceptance was finally reached), but he was still yearning for Cassi. Who would not come back to him. More than convinced, he was certain that once thought through logically, she wouldn't want him anymore. He hadn't been able to protect her then, he didn't risk it all for her as he should have, he made everything about their relationship difficult… basically, he had degraded himself down to the point of not being worthy to look her in the eye. But how he wished to help her when he did perchance steal a glance! She meant more to him than even he was aware of, which he could be aware of had he let himself think so wishfully. But the old, callused Severus of years of isolation and pain told him not to think about it, for wishful thinking only means tortured, hopeless wanting of things unreachable. Moons appeared and disappeared over their heads, stars shone and dimmed, and clouds passed through their patch of sky… such was the procession of time.

By the end of March, the weather had turned to something springier and less wintry, but their frozen communications were unmelted. This week, clouds had stationed themselves over the castle like furious gray blankets, threatening to rain on their place of learning.

It had been dismal lately. Both Severus and Cassi were being driven over the edge by their silence to each other, though neither had the courage or the pride to break it. It saddened and broke them at the same time, and finally it was beginning to show. Severus was horrible to his students, snapping at them for any little thing. Cassandra was inattentive, tired, and high strung, though always maintaining the strict hand she held over her classroom, proving that she could be better than her most her predecessors. The untold icy tensions between the teachers was palpable, and the students were more than grateful when a Hogsmeade trip was announced, even more so when they found that only one of them would be escorting them.

Cassi stared out the window with dampened spirits. She didn't feel quite right, everything was a little… surreal. Convinced that she had, once again, overworked, undereaten, and underslept, she felt a slight worry being lifted once she had found the cause of her odd well being. Looking at he clock, she noted the time with some confusion and then continued to work at her desk, flipping through books to begin compilations of her complete history of Voldemort. She was determined to keep it confined to what she gathered from books and studies, and would not insert anything that could indicate her involvement in this period of history. However, the business was a depressing one, and quickly she found herself sunken and chilled. It was rather cold in there. She coughed, feeling bruised in her lungs, but thought nothing of it. Was it time to go? No… dinner was still an hour off.

Dazed, she decided to take a walk to clear her head. Her traveling cloak hung on a peg near her desk, so she swiftly grabbed it and her knife (placing it in the hems of her robes, for the habit of being armed with something more than a wand would not be broken), and left her classroom. Somewhere in the mists of her mind, she wondered where Severus was, but quickly cleared him out of her thoughts, for she immediately ached for him. Instead, she turned her mind to other school aspects, and sauntered out the big wooden doors of Hogwarts.

Once outside, the wind blew around her, unusually cold and foul. She pulled her cloak tight around her and walked off across the vast expanse of grounds. Hagrid's hut was to her left, so she went right, not wanting to bump into anyone. Her mind was indeed hazy, but the sharp wind was breathing alertness into her. Finally she reached the edge of the woods and began to walk when she heard cheerful whistling. Hagrid was coming from the other side of the bend and would wonder why she's out here, for he had not seen her in awhile. Quickly, and without thinking, she ducked into the forest, it's shadows immediately cast over her.

Forests were no problem, really. She had grown up in one, spent much of her youth in another, and had gone through a few in her travels. This one was no exception and the tall trees with their large roots weaving through the mossy soil like cloth actually comforted her some. At that moment, a crackle of lightening reached her ears, followed by the deep rumble of thunder. Rain began to pour from the sky, and she was immediately drenched, through cloak and robes. This did not stop her, so she trudged on through the forest, still pacing the grounds, but through a larger circumference. It was rather cold though. She coughed again.

A snap of a twig made her look up quickly, drawing her wand in front of her. To her complete surprise, the last person she expected to see walked out from behind the tree, and that was Severus Snape. Both froze and stared at each other hard, then she put her wand back into her sash and walked on, hoping to pass him wordlessly. However, this did not happen, for he stepped in front of her as she came closer to him. Her heart was pounding in her ears, and when she had first seen him, it had skipped a beat and her stomach had dropped. She was beginning to feel slightly weak, but did not show it.

"Cassandra," he said quietly, looking quickly up and down her sopping wet robes with curiosity.

"Severus," she replied.

"Cassandra… you don't look well at all."

"I'm just fine. Now, if you please, I ah…. " Everything was getting a little fuzzy and words weren't coming to her. She coughed, turning away from him slightly and hiding her face in her hands.

"Cassandra, are you ill?" he asked.

"I told you, I'm fine! Can't even cough without someone jumping all over me. I would like to finish my walk now."

"In the rain-"

"Yes, in the rain," she said hollowly, though her words sounded as they normally did. She spied the bag of random grasses and herbs that hung from his arm, and concluded that he had come here to pick potion ingredients. "I'll leave you to your ha- harvesting…" Things were getting blurrier. It was very cold. She coughed again. By this time, the concern was notable in Severus' eyes, so he made no move to unblock her path.

"You're being incredibly stubborn," she said, dazed. "Go back to being a professor, for you are not a very good barr…barri…barrier…". She had tried to go around him while she ended her sentence, but something happened and she buckled, her vision turning off and all sounds being drowned out. The forest floor rushed up to meet her, but then she felt it suspend in front of her a few feet off as warm arms cradled her. She slept.

~

Opening her eyes, Cassi looked around. She was in her bedroom, and things were as they normally were, with the exception of a chair being placed near her nightstand. Had it been a dream? No, for she did not move that chair there. Then why was she here? Wasn't she supposed to be escorting the kids back from Hogsmeade? Groaning, she tried to lift herself up, but failed miserably. That's when she realized that she was wearing her long sleeved, white nightgown, something she knew she had not worn the night before.

"Oh! Look who decided to wake up! You gave us all quite a start," said a clear, business-like female voice. Cassi looked blearily to the door, where an older lady in robes and a hospital apron walked up to her, placing a hand on her forehead, then checking her pulse. "Tsk tsk," said the lady, now recognizable to Cassi as Madame Pomfrey, the dreaded nurse who had bandaged her foot when she had gotten into that mess with the Acromantula. "You got yourself in a bad way, didn't you? It was very lucky the professor was out there to catch you like he did."

"Not to be unsociable," started Cassi, who quickly found that her voice was scratchy and sore, "but why are we in my room? And for how long?"

"Bless you child, rest yourself! Got yourself in a right state, you did. Pneumonia, and the worst case of it I'd seen in years. You've also managed to catch a few other things, like the flu. Yes dear, have a bit of water, there you go. You've been laid up for four days now," said the kindly nurse, now concocting a medicine from a slew of bottles on Cassi's nightstand, where there also stood a pitcher of water and a glass. "If you had come to me from the off, you would have had no trouble at all!"

Cassi had nearly spit out her water, if she hadn't been too weak to do so. "F-four days?! Who's been teaching my classes?"

The nurse eyed her. "A substitute," she said finally. "Hmm, yes… overwork too. Dear me, child, you've got it all! Alright, no more excitement for the present. Please take this, and I'll be back in a few hours… we'll see if you can eat then. My my, you've been on IVs and everything! Just this morning I took it out. No, don't get up, go to sleep." With that, the nurse promptly left the room, and Cassi drifted off.

When she came to again, it was evening, and there were two voices in her room, a man and a woman's. For a second, she thought the male voice was Severus, and opened her eyes, only to see Dumbledore and Madame Pomfrey conversing near her door.

"Honestly, with all these visitors it's a wonder she's woken up as soon as she has!" said the nurse, sounding extremely protective.

"Poppy my dear, I assure you that I have not come to bother her. I wanted to see if she was well, for there are things I wish to discuss with her," he said in his genial sort of way, disarming her immediately.

Madame Pomfrey spied her awake, then turned back to Dumbledore. "Well she's up now, at any rate. I'm giving you fifteen minutes, but not a second more, headmaster or not. She's got to get some rest if she wants to be teaching by next week, which I know she does. She nearly died when I told her she had already missed four days!" The nurse bustled out of the room, mumbling something to herself, then shutting the door behind her.

Dumbledore walked over to Cassi, and sat at the chair near her nightstand. She peered up at him, and was suddenly put at ease, for he seemed to have that effect on people. "We're glad to see you awake," he said, his voice soft and offset by a pair of gently twinkling blue eyes behind half moon, gold rimmed spectacles.

"Thank you, Headmaster. I'm sorry for-"

"Ah! No need to apologize. I think this vacation will greatly improve your health, for you've been quite dimmed for the past month and a half." She nodded at this. "You seem very dedicated to your work, but perhaps you've had too much of it lately, hmm yes. Oh! There was a Defense meeting last night, in which you were sorely missed. Sirius sends this, one of the other spies gave it to me," he continued kindly, and offered her a slip of paper. She grinned at it in a sad sort of way as she read it, then left it on the nightstand.

"If you see Sirius between now and then, tell him he's in trouble," she said, smiling. Dumbledore nodded and smiled.

"We were all very concerned for you… Severus was rather subdued. Well, more subdued than normal. He's ah, actually the reason I came here. I've noticed you've both been rather quiet in the other's presence, and believe I know the circumstances that caused this," he said, still being quite gentle in tone.

"Did he tell you?" she asked quietly, not looking up at him.

Dumbledore nodded slowly. "He consulted me before he told you, and I've known of your former self for a very long time, after the series of events took place several years ago."

"Then you know what I am. I tried to resign after he told me, but…"

"He wouldn't let you, yes. I told him not to let you, for I had a feeling you would try. There's no need for you to resign, you're an incredibly capable Defense teacher, the best we've had in years. You took the news rather harshly, I see."

"I'm a danger to the students, sir. I do not deserve the position."

"I haven't noticed you bringing any harm to my students, and I do think you deserve the position. Cassandra, you were given a second chance at life a long time ago, and look how much better you live! You have a stable job, food, shelter, dignity, respect, and a relationship. You may have not led a satisfying life the first time around, but when given another chance, you excelled, my dear," he stated kindly, much as a father would to a daughter, and patted her shoulder. She quickly wiped her eyes free of invading tears, for finally her feelings were made clear, and her path had been shown to her.

"Thank you, Dumbledore," she whispered.

"Your welcome, Ms. Talin. I still have to speak to you of a certain Potions Master who has locked himself in his dungeons and refused to come out for the past month or so. He seems to have been causing considerable stress upon the student population of late, and I believe I know the source of his silent anguish. His snowballing mood seems to have coincided with the time he told you his story, and has indeed worsened since you've been confined to your bed. I saw him the other night, walking about aimlessly just down the hall.

Actually, since you've fallen sick, it's the most I've seen him out of his dungeon; he's been pacing around here for awhile. Madame Pomfrey, bless her soul, has barred him from your room since he found you and put you here, saying he might cause you or himself distress. She might be a bit sore from the argument which followed; he wouldn't let you be taken to the Hospital Wing, and she wanted to put you there, but in the end he won, so she's been tending you here. At any rate, I think he wants to see you, but is reluctant to seem imposing. Do you think you would permit him to see you?" said Dumbledore, eyes shining somewhere between amusement, curiosity, and seriousness.

Cassi listened to him carefully, and thought for a moment, heart pounding hard. "Yes, I'd like to see him but… can we wait a day or two?"

"Whatever for?"

"…I don't want to get him sick as well," she replied.

Dumbledore laughed and stood, but not before leaning over and patting her head. "You're good for him, you really are." He smiled and stood, letting a very huffy Madame Pomfrey back into the room as he left.

She banged her potion bottles around a little harder than normal while mixing up some more medicine for Cassi. When she handed her the small cup of brew, she said to her, "I couldn't help overhearing the last part of that conversation, and I'd like to input that I agree with the Headmaster. I haven't seen the lad so happy since, well, ever. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen him happy, per say. Just grumpy. But less so since he's been around you."

"Ay," said Cassi, blushing furiously, "how aware is the whole school of my… relations to him?"

"Oh, you know how the kids are. They'll take anything and run with it, anything is worth gossiping about. There's no such thing as private affairs in this school, Ms. Talin. You've had your excitement for the day now, I want you to rest up and you'll be back to teaching by Monday. But if you overwork yourself, I'll take you kicking and screaming back to my Hospital Wing and keep you there, Severus bickering and growling the whole way," said Madame Pomfrey in conversational tones as she checked her fever, pulse, and breathing. Cassi hated being fussed over like this, but took her potion without complaining and watched the nurse head out of the room.

She sunk down into her pillow, still not feeling particularly well, but better all the same. Her mind was soaring at the conversation she had just had with Dumbledore, and she finally felt peace coming to her mind and heart. He was right, as always. Maybe she had just been looking at it all wrong, and her new viewpoint strengthened her. She knew it would still take time to get over the shock of learning her black past, but she also knew she'd get through it. The information about Severus gruffly pining away in his dungeons made her smile, and she fell asleep with the image of him trying to reorganize something that was already perfect

For the next two days, Cassi was subjected to Madame Pomfrey's over-protective care, taking her potions quietly and listening to her ramble on about how teachers are just as bad as kids about getting sick, working too hard, walking about in the rain, etc. Although Cassi deemed her a kind person, she was delighted when she was told that her fever had broken (though she was still very weak) on Saturday and that one more day of bed rest ought to put her well enough to teach the following day, along with taking it easy for the next few weeks.

After getting cleaned up and dressed dizzily (though still in a nightgown for fear of The Wrath of the Nurse reigning down on her if she chanced to check up on her patient) on Sunday, Cassi lay nervously in her bed, tossing and turning for some time. When the nurse did come to bring her food at lunchtime, she asked if she could send for Severus, if he would agree to come. Madame Pomfrey mumbled something about emotional wrecks, but agreed to ask for him. Cassi ate as much of her food as she could, then magicked the tray and food away. She waited tensely in her bed, suddenly feeling ill. When there was a knock at the door, she jumped, startled, and called for them to enter.

Severus appeared at the door, shutting it behind him with the sound of Madame Pomfrey barking orders at him being muffled in its shutting. He stood there for a minute, shifting somewhat nervously, until she gestured for him to come sit on the bed close to her headboard so he wasn't out of arms reach, for the chair had been moved somewhere else. He did so silently, and her tension mounted. Her eyes raked over him, for she had not seen him in so long it was almost dreamlike to be in his presence again. Indeed, she thought she caught him looking at her the same way, but dismissed it, for the little insecure voice in her heart shouted that he could have changed his mind about her.

"Dumbledore told me that he talked with you the other night," he said finally, breaking the silence.

"Yes, he's a wonderful man. Very understanding," she said, and he nodded. She sat up in bed, and he looked at her with concern furrowing his eyebrows.

"Must you always let yourself get so sick?" he asked sternly.

"I couldn't really tell that I was sick, I felt the same. Feeling sick, being sick, it was the same feeling," she admitted, and he looked away, folding his arms.

"I shouldn't have let you get so badly off. I shouldn't have put you through that," he said quietly, tone drowned in self-disgust.

"You know as well as I do that I always end up getting sick somehow. I get sick a lot, and it's my fault I got so badly off. As for telling me about Anya, you did what was right… I remember it all now."

He stared at her expectantly. "So you remember me?"

"Yes, I do."

He seemed to fidget slightly, still not looking at her. "Then you remember the night you were put on trial."

"Yes," she replied with a slight shiver, despite her long-sleeved sleeping gown. His face was blank, and his tone impossible to read.

"And?"

"And what?"

Severus finally lost his self-composure, and said in loud frustration, "Then you remember that I couldn't even save you when I was but three meters away, and that I let them torment you without saying a word! How is it that you can remember this and still manage to look at me?" His thoughts had come out now, something extremely uncommon, but he could not have held this inside any longer, for 15 years had been long enough. "Does it not seem logical to you that this is the end? You should go off, find a better job than this, find a better person than me, and just… agh, I don't know, be happy." He sprung up from his seat now, indignant. "I don't understand why you stay here and permit yourself this sort of torture when you could easily distance yourself from me and be better off. I wrecked your life then, and I'm doing it again! What is here that makes you stay?"

Cassi caught a handful of his robes and forced him to sit back down on the bed facing her, and keeping him there with both her hands on his shoulders and semi-kneeling on the bed before him. When she spoke, it was forceful and full of meaning, but quavered sometimes as a knot in her throat formed. "There was no way for me to be saved Severus, and what if they had killed you and the Light side never got the information that they received after my slaying? There was nothing you could have done, and nothing I would have wanted you to do, for I would have rather taken my own life than let them harm you. You did not wreck my life then; you took what was left of my life and made it bearable, why can't you let yourself see that? How can I stand to look at you, you ask? What do I have left here? All I have left is you, and I can look at you easily because I love you!" she said, shaking and scared. This all poured from her heart unfiltered, and she was now scared that he would laugh or scoff at her, for she had left herself vulnerable as he had been a few seconds before.

He looked at her hard, as if trying to process what was just said. No one had ever told him that they loved him so unconditionally, not even his own parents, and for her to say it was… peace to the war-torn soul, water to the thirsty, warmth to the frozen. He watched her drop her head after she finished this and pull her hands off him, bringing them in close to her as if shielding herself, and shutting her eyes tight so as not to see his reaction in case it was negative. He studied the woman before him who spoke of her love as if expecting to be hit for being so forward, and realized that how she looked was how he felt every time he opened himself to her. They were not different; both had insecurity scars that the other could heal, if they let them. Reaching out, he lifted her chin with a finger, and softly asked her to open her eyes, then looked into their cool depths.

"Y-you love me?" he asked, blinking and curious, almost in disbelief.

"Yes," she said, fighting back a wave of emotions. Gently, he pulled her into his lap (which was not hard for she was both light and sitting with her feet drawn up close to her), and ran his fingers down her cheek. She watched his eyes intently, but closed her own when he kissed her forehead, then felt him tilt her head up and kiss her lips tenderly. Slowly, she touched her hands to the back of his neck, leaving them there even after he had finished, both foreheads pressed to the other's gently and not daring to open their eyes. That was almost so right it was wrong he thought to himself. She loves me, ME. Severus Snape, the evil Potions Master. The foul, horrible tempered Potions professor. She loves me. Ah, I love her too. I want to say that to her, for she's as insecure as I am, but I… don't know how. I can't just say I love you. Somehow in his jumble of thoughts, his voice found itself and gave him away, verbalizing the last three words of his thoughts. "I love you" was whispered to her softly.

Cassi pulled back and looked at him, startled. He looked at her, curious. "Did you just say that you loved me?" she asked.

"Did I?"

"I believe so."

"Well… I do." She looked at him as he said this, and then kissed him, pressing her lips affectionately to his own, deeper than their last kiss. A second later, she was forced to wipe away the tears that were tumbling down her cheeks without permission, and then broke away from him, trying to control waves of sobs that welled up inside her. Never did she think she would hear that from him, she had never expected it from him because she knew that was his way, but hearing it brought peace to insecurities she held onto. She placed her head on his shoulder, now quietly crying, and he stroked her hair for a few minutes.

"I missed you," she managed, halfway composing herself, halfway still crying, then finally composing herself. She sat up straight and looked at him, smiling through her last tears, then hastily wiping them away. "I don't think breaks are good for us. Let's not do that again."

"I agree, that was not healthy for the either of us… rather like your eating habits." He smirked and she hit him lightly on the shoulder, then kissed him on the cheek, working her way down to his neck, hitting a particularly sensitive spot. "Actually," he started, "I think a few things need to be changed around, such as, ack! Not there! ...sleeping arrangements. Your room is impossibly bright; it's hardly a wonder you get insufficient sleep. Perhaps somewhere darker?" he said, his voice taking on a gruff, possessive manner.

"Such as your dungeon?" she asked, knowing the answer. She pushed him back on the bed seductively, barely hovering over him and taunting him with light kisses.

"Good suggestion."

"And you honestly think I'd get more sleep down there with you?"

"Not if I have my way, no."

She laughed. "Well, if it makes you happy, I'll go. I would start the arrangement now, but Madame Pomfrey would have my head." She kissed him passionately now, fingers deftly undoing the buttons down the front of his robes and taking his belt out of its loops, then kissing his chest.

"And you think she'd do any better to me? I believe I was threatened with boiling not to lay a hand on you before I even stepped into the classroom," he groaned.

"If she asks, we'll tell her it was the other way around," Cassi said with a smirk.

***

Later, both Cassi and Severus were under her covers, Cassi lying atop him with her head on his chest, and Severus supine on the pillow, stroking her hair with his eyes closed. He could feel her heart beating against him, and her breath on his skin. It was bliss.

"Oh Severus," she sighed, running her fingertips along his chest lightly, then pulling herself up so she was eye level to him. He opened his eyes and leaned up to kiss her.

"I like the way you say my name. Much better than that way you spat Snape at the beginning of the year," he said, resting back on the pillow and letting her prop herself up on her elbows, lips hovering over his.

She smiled. "If you had told me I would be sleeping with you by the end of the school year then, I probably would have slapped you and stomped off. Hmm," she looked amused now. "Who knew I'd be lucky enough to end up someone as handsome, clever, and sarcastic as you, eh?"

"Handsome? Now you cruelly jest."

"Hardly. I think you're very handsome," she said, and he snorted. "No, really!" She took her free hand that was not propping her head up and traced his features delicately with her fingertips, then kissing the place that coordinated with her speech. "You've got a noble forehead, which wrinkles cutely when you're angry," she started, and he made a face at the word 'cute' which made her giggle, but let her continue. "… And a distinguished nose… dark, mysterious eyes, which I find myself drowning in so very often… a mouth that's both cutting and ensnaring, with a tongue skilled in both sculpting words and… and…" she tried to finish her sentence, but was unable to as Severus pulled her down with his free hand and into a rough kiss, then turned over so she was the one looking up at him. "Kissing me senseless."

He smirked at her and was just about to kiss her again when someone banged on the door. Both sighed loudly, and Cassi muttered, "Three guesses who."

"Professor Talin, I've got to give you your medicines now, and check up on you one last time," squawked Madame Pomfrey through the door.

"Um, can you come back later, Madame Pomfrey?" called Cassi, fidgeting slightly as Severus ran his fingers down her neck and shoulders, then traced the path with kisses.

"I suppose so, after dinner then, but- …Is Professor Snape still in there?!"

"No," called Cassi, smiling. "He's gone back to his dungeons." Then, to Severus, she added in a low voice, "Grr, stop it! You're going to get us caught!"

"Then who are you talking to?" asked the nurse with suspicion.

Cassi grimaced. "My mirror," she said loudly, clapping a hand to her mouth to stifle a moan.

"Well, alright, but you ought not talk to magical items, they aren't good conversing partners," said the nurse one last time, then the clicking of her shoes could be heard going down the short passage.

Cassi laughed when she was gone. "Severus Snape, we're going to get caught one day and I'll let YOU do the talking. I'd be interested to see how you explain it off."

"Fine then, I'd blame it on you though," he replied, not relinquishing his reign of kisses.

~

Finally, all was well. Cassi recovered from her illness, and did in fact move down to his room, though it took a bit for both to grow accustomed to living with someone else. Though both were hopelessly organized, they arranged things in different manners and had lived alone for all of their adult lives, so they were constantly picking things up and moving them to where they thought it ought to belong, sometimes causing disputes. However, they could never stay mad at the other for any notable amount of time, because fighting always seemed to end in kisses and caresses.

In this period of love and consistency, Darkness grew. The silence of the Dark side was over, and now their evil spread like poisonous fumes through the country. Killings of a most vile kind were reported daily in the newspapers, of both Muggle and magical, along with several kidnappings. Mangled and disfigured bodies were found in ditches, people dying in pools of blood in their homes; with all of these, the Dark Mark hovered above the scene, glistening green and shining, the very symbol of fear and pain. People began to leave the land, moving both east and west to seek shelter for themselves and their families. Not many students had left the school to go with their family, maybe a handful, but their absence resonated in the student's eyes of what was to come. The teachers kept the student's from worrying though by continuing on as normal, giving the students the stability they needed. All were reassured by Hogwart's impermeable walls, protected by the strongest forces of magic.

Terror struck outside the school, but inside, all members of the Defense meetings were trying to prevent it. Several were sent on missions, while others gathered information at their place of employment. Indeed, even Cassi and Severus had a task, given to them by Dumbledore just after she recovered.

He wished for them to go out to former Death Eaters that had appealed to Dumbledore to help them, for they supposedly did not wish to return. There were only a few who had done this, for the Dark Lord's power was terrible, but his revenge was even worse. It was Severus and Cassi's job to find and interview these people; they knew what to look for in a repentant Death Eater. During their break or on weekends once every couple weeks, they would go to the homes of those who had asked for help and interview them. They would question him or her for some time, asking about what they did after the Dark Lord fell and what they have been doing since the Dark Mark has begun burning. If they felt the person was sincere, they brought the person to Dumbledore later in the week by night, and he or she would testify under Veritaserum that their intentions were true.

The first person they went for proved to be weak and unstable, still delegating about what to do. They told him to think it over, and they would return later. The second person was stronger and more outspoken against the Dark side, and had already dodged a few attacks lead by some followers of Voldemort. All this proved to be true when he took the truth serum. However, their third person was false, a spy of Voldemort. Severus sensed this about halfway through the conversation, and cut the meeting short, saying they would have to come back later. As soon as they had left the house, Cassi had told Severus that the man was not to be trusted, and he agreed. When they told Dumbledore of their instincts, he agreed that this man seemed most shady. Danger had been avoided that day, but there would be more to come.

This task was sometimes strenuous to both of them, for it was much like living through those hard times again and coming face to face with those decisions all over. Indeed, Severus could tell that after each time they went, Cassi would come back subdued and thoughtful, and wouldn't talk about the experience until a few days later. On such occasions, Severus would let her alone to think it out.

After their third visit and failure, Cassi was particularly quiet. She hardly said a word at dinner, and stayed late in her classroom grading essays. Severus knew she would be back soon, so he stayed at his desk and worked; he had a few tests to finish grading anyway. Soon he became absorbed in his work, and did not notice that a few hours had ticked by before she came down to him. She opened the door wearily and walked over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder and watching.

"Workaholic tendencies keeping you up?" he asked.

"It's the pot calling the cauldron black for you to say that," she smirked. He rolled up his last test and placed it in the neat pile of graded items, then stood.

"It's been a long day for both of us, let's go to sleep," he said, and she nodded and followed him to his room.

However, many hours later and in the early hours of the morning, Cassi awoke suddenly, clammy and breathing hard while sitting up in bed. She touched her gown to assure herself it was just a dream, and tried to calm down, running a hand through her hair and closing and reopening her eyes several times. Severus had woken up and sat up with her, looking at her knowingly.

"Nightmare?" he asked quietly.

"Yes… and no. It was both memory and nightmare… it was so real," she said bitterly.

"Of Death Eater days?"

"No… no, it was before then. Before all that."

"You rarely speak of such days."

"I know, and… and you ought to know, because you shared your story with me and yet I have told you nothing, though you haven't asked," she sighed, settling back under the covers and staring at the ceiling.

"I did not wish to impose…" he said, settling down next to her and leaning on his side. "However, I'm listening now." She kissed his arm and sighed, looking troubled.

"Alright, let's see… where to begin? Well, I was born and grew up in the forests near Moscow, away from the city but not particularly near anywhere else. My mother is from the area, but my father is British. Went to Hogwarts, actually. Anyway, there was a small village there, and we lived on the outskirts of it. I have four older sisters, and all four left the house as soon as they were eighteen. I also have a younger brother, and that's how this all started.

"Both my parents are magical, don't get me wrong, but my mother is Muggle born, and that somehow affected my sibling's magical ability, which normally doesn't happen, but can. My older sisters aren't very good with magic, but they can use it. They like to do things the Muggle way though; it seems easier to them. I was different though, because I had no problems with magic from a very early age, and proved to be quite skilled… but not my brother. He was born when I was eleven, and was a Squib, much to my parents' dismay. He, being the only male child, was supposed to stay with the house and land to keep it in the family name. Therefore, my parents made the decisions to ban magic from the house, so he could grow up without knowing of an easier life and knowing the Muggle ways.

"I despised my parents for doing this. They took my wand from me and hid it, convinced I could live like my sisters and brother, but I couldn't. I found my wand and practiced in secret. I learned from hidden spellbooks my dad had; he was a Ravenclaw, so many of his books were both Light and Dark. Light spells proved too easy to learn, but the Dark ones took time, time I was willing to spend. I lived like this for two years, until I was thirteen, and a stranger came to stay with us.

"He was a wanderer, on his way back to England but he needed a place to stay. I didn't care, for this happened often, so I worked in the forest as usual. I had never been caught practicing magic, but he found me in the forest that night, then revealed that he too was a wizard. He told me things of the wizarding world, and I knew that's where I wanted to be. He also spoke of a group he belonged to who was rising to power, and could use someone like me, for I was also skilled in knifework. He said all I would have to do was track the one they called He Who Must Not Be Named, and I would find them. Later that night, he Apparated off, and I never saw him again, but I had a goal then. Three years later, and totally sick of repression of my powers and endangered of being married off to a stupid Muggle boy, I ran away and searched for the Death Eaters and their Master for a year. You know my story from that point until I was executed…

After everyone had cleared, I woke up in the forest. An old hermit lady had snuck out and grabbed me, dragging me back to her house and saving me by casting a Blood Slowing spell on my wound. She was quite odd, I still don't think I've met anyone as bizarre as her. However, she insisted that she save me, for I reminded her of someone named Roberta that she loved to babble on about. When she saw my Mark, she knew what I was, and that I couldn't go back to either side, or either world… so she placed a Memory Charm on me, and then told me she found me in the forest with a nasty bump on my head. This was true, for Voldemort hit me with the scepter before he slashed my throat, so I believed her. She got me healthy again, and sent me to the nearest city. I worked odd jobs from then on, until I came here.

There's my story… I had a nightmare of it tonight. My parents had found me, they wanted me in Azkaban… everyone did." Cassi finished her story by looking away, but Severus pulled her close to him and kissed her cheek, then placed his arms around her.

"Why do you incessantly think I judge you for past experiences, when my past is as equally horrible as your own?" he whispered in her ear, and she shrugged. "I'm not that unspeakably dreadful."

"I know you're not, not at all, it's just… I don't know," she said quietly, but she looked less troubled. He held her silently until she fell asleep, then began to drift off, all the while thinking of her complex story. He had been born into a family where his Dark magic was approved, though his parents did not care for him; she had had the opposite problem. How strange it is that two people raised so differently came to be so much alike, he thought. He kissed her temple and surrendered to sleep.

When he awoke the next morning before dawn, a Wednesday morning, he found his bed empty, save himself. Sighing and shaking his head, he knew she was already in her classroom. He dressed quickly, only bothering with his appearance long enough to begrudgingly run a comb through his hair, then leaving his room with a swish of his robes.

Marching down the hallway as the first rays of light broke over the castle, he quickly found his way to her classroom. The halls were still cold with the morning chill, but they were no different than his dungeons in temperature, so he did not notice. He knocked once, then entered, finding Cassi at her desk, sorting through piles of paper.

"Oh, Severus!" she said, looking up at him brightly. Her mood seemed greatly improved from last night. He walked over to her, standing behind her chair with his hands on her shoulders and staring at her parchments. She looked up at him by tilting her head far back, staring playfully up at him.

"Perky this morning, aren't we? What happened to the downcast little girl?" he asked.

"Ha, she fell asleep in a wonderful man's arms and woke up there."

"I certainly hope he's me, lest I be very angry and disappointed," he said in his own playful manner; a serious sounding voice with a smirk floating on his lips. He stepped to the side of her chair, her eyes following him.

"Snape, you are a silly jealous man!"

"And you love every bit of my jealousy."

"Hm, you caught me. And of course he's you," she said, watching him as he bent over and kissed her, lips and tongue meeting his eagerly, soon feeling his fingertips lightly gliding over her neck. She let him stay like this for a second, then jerked away. "Ok ok ok, you're flustering me, now shove off so I can finish my work."

"Fine then," he said, trying to sound put off. "I suppose you'll be in my dungeons begging for more at break, then."

She did not look up from her work, but smiled and replied dryly, "You're so overconfident. Right, I'll meet you in Frozen Hell later during break, as I promised Hagrid I would walk with him around the grounds." She heard the door open and shut, then grinned broadly, hugged herself, and continued to work. Later she picked up and went to breakfast, catching him as she entered. They greeted each other in a formally cold manner, then walking past as if they hadn't seen the other; this was their way of things.

Breakfast was finished soon enough, and Cassi's first two classes ran smoothly and without notability, except one thing: Harry was absent from first period. When she asked Hermione and Ron where he was after class, they said he had gone to take a walk before breakfast, then to go see Dumbledore. She understood this to be a private matter between Potter and Dumbledore, so she nodded understandingly and let them go on to Potions class.

When break did finally come, Cassi went without her cloak (as the April sun had thawed Hogwarts out slightly, and the rains had cleared for that day) to the Entrance Hall, watching the stones that passed under her feet with interest, and finally arriving at the large Hall.

"'Ello there, ready ta go?" asked the large man, beetle black eyes twinkling kindly.

"Of course Hagrid," she said, taking up her place at his side. "Listen, I'm sorry about not visiting you lately, I've had a lot to think about and, while I know that's hardly an excuse, it just seemed to get to me." He pushed the door open for her, all the while nodding his wild haired head.

"Don' think 'bout it, I unerstan' how them things go. Sumtimes it's jus' easier ta be alone an' think 'bout things. Don' you worry yourself now," he said genially, watching her step back to shut the great wooden doors. However, she froze as the door creaked shut, for on the outside of the wood was an ornate, old dagger stabbed through the middle of a piece of parchment. Hagrid stared at it, as did she, before she grabbed the knife by the handle and pulled it out, then caught the parchment.

"Oh my God," she breathed. All color drained from her face, and she read the note over a few times. Suddenly, she looked up commandingly. "Hagrid, go get the Headmaster and Severus immediately, I'm going to fetch McGonagall away from her class."

"Was' 'appened?!" he asked, alarmed by her tone and composure.

"Harry has been kidnapped. Go get the others, tell them to meet us in the Entrance Hall at once," she said, placing the knife in her sash along with the rolled up parchment. Hagrid gaped for a split second, eyes full of worry, then flung open the doors and barreled down the hall. She followed him a few steps, then dashed off up the stairs and to the left, while he stayed on the main floor, going to get Severus first.

***

The five of them met in the Entrance Hall in less than five minutes, all out of breath. Cassi hurriedly pulled the scroll out of her sash and read it out loud.

"Dumbledore," she said, reading off the paper. "Have you lost one of your precious students? This shall never do; lucky for you he stumbled into our midst. We have a few things to discuss with the young Potter boy, so he has come with us. Don't count on seeing him again, alive that is. Hopefully this will teach you to keep your nose out of our business, and into your own, for you have two of our kind in your employment. They are next, for the Dark Lord finishes all business." She stopped and looked up at everyone. "It's signed with the Dark Mark," she said slowly.

Dumbledore looked around the group with a commanding power radiating from him, and all were immediately obedient. "Minerva, go to your Commons and search for the boy there, in case this is a bluff, though I doubt it. Then order the students to their Commons, Heads of Houses stationing themselves inside the Commons to watch their students. Have Sinistra take over for Severus. Filch is to stand guard over the doors. Hagrid, you're going with Severus and Cassandra to walk the grounds. Find something that will lead us in the right direction. I have to Apparate to the old crowd, where Sirius is hiding out. The spies will help us track him down, and Sirius needs to be told his godson in missing."

"Albus, who are the two in our school the note speaks of?" asked McGonagall quickly.

"Me," said Severus and Cassandra at the same time. She gave Severus a knowing look, but was slightly shocked at Cassi, though quickly masked it. She then turned around and ran off in the direction of the Gryffindor Commons. Dumbledore, Snape, Hagrid and Talin all ran out the front door, Albus splitting from the group to stay on the path that would lead him out of the grounds, and the rest turned to walk the edge of the forest, where he likely disappeared. The wind was chilly though not cold, and the sun gleamed brightly overhead. Suddenly the day's innocence seemed to be mocking them, taunting them.

They paced the edge of the forest, hoping and praying that there might be some sign of struggle, some sign of something. Hagrid combed inside the forest, while the other two walked outside of it, watching the grass and branches for something. When Cassi fell back a step, Hagrid asked her curiously, "Yer a Death Eater?"

"Was, Hagrid. I was a long time ago," she replied simply. He stopped and patted her shoulder, then moved ahead a few paces until he gave a whooping yell.

"Look 'ere," he said, and in his giant palm was the Hogwarts crest patch, torn off a student's robe. Cassi picked it up, looked at it, and handed it to Severus.

"Good boy, Harry, good boy," she whispered. "Alright, someone will need to go to the front gate and wait for Dumbledore to return, then show him the way here, while the other two look around for anything else. Hagrid, would you be wi-" As Cassi was finishing up her suggestion, she was pulled down to the ground by a man in black robes who had jumped from a tree. Likewise, Severus was pulled down as well by another man, but Hagrid would not fall so easily. Hagrid picked the man off his shoulders and threw him against a tree, killing the man instantly.

"Kill the big guy, bring the other two!" came a cry from another man, as about five more rushed into the battle. Cassi drew her wand and knife while still trapped beneath the man, and plunged the knife into his leg, sending him falling to the side, howling. Hagrid was fighting off two more men before they could draw their wands, while both Severus and Cassi fought to free themselves. Severus ended up cursing the man off of him, then stood and helped Cassi up from the grappling, bleeding man next to her. Almost immediately they were knocked backwards to the ground with curses, but she struggled to stand again, body aching with the force of the attack and hair falling out of her braid and into her face.

"Hagrid!" she screamed, turning to her friend as she spied a figure in black skulking towards him behind his back. "Hagrid, watch out behind you!"

Before Hagrid had the chance to turn and see his assailant, the man flicked his wand powerfully and screamed, "AVADA KEDAVRA!" Hagrid dropped where he stood in a second, body hitting the ground with a loud thud. Both Severus and Cassi gawked for a split second, then sprung back into the fight, now fending off six men. She struggled with one, threw him to the ground, but was slammed to the ground by another one when he struck her a blow to her back.

"Ablegare!" shouted Severus, sending the man who had felled Cassi flying backwards with a blue ball of light. It was too late though, for the remaining four men tackled him to the ground as soon as the spell left his wand, quickly binding his hands behind his back with rope and taking his wand, then spelling the rope to make it indestructible. He was then blindfolded and another enchanted rope was wound around his neck and tied, making a leash. He struggled with the ropes and the men, making it hard to bind him, but in the end he was taken, still pinned to the ground.

"Severus, so nice to see you again," said a voice above him. He turned his head as if to look at the person. "Would someone gag him please? There's something I want him to see." Immediately, he felt another piece of cloth wrapped around his mouth tightly, making it impossible to yell. His blindfold was taken off, and he saw three masked men standing around him, one hobbling back to the group, and two binding Cassi, who was already gagged but struggling and fighting the entire time. One of the men binding her slapped her hard, rendering her motionless for a few seconds while she tried to orient herself again. "Fiery girl, isn't she?" started the masked man above him again in a dangerous, slippery voice. "I would hate to see her end up like your rather large friend over there, because I do have permission to kill her, as long as I bring back her body. If you try and escape, she will be killed and we will execute her in front of your eyes. Got it?" Severus looked up at the man with pure hatred. "Same goes for you girl, we'll kill the professor if you try to run off too!" Cassi looked up blindly, unable to see anything, then looked away. Severus was blindfolded again.

"You there," said the man, now sounding authoritative. "Keep those wands away from them, though oughtn't pose a problem now. Wands will be of little help where they're going." The man chuckled malevolently into the cool breeze, then kicked Severus in the side hard, but he could do nothing, as the threat of harm to Cassi was ever present. They were forced to stand and walk, though they did not know where.

*~*~*

This is the end. This is also the part where you review ;)