Silence made it's presence through out the dungeons. Severus sat in his chair in front of

the only window, looking at the beautiful sunset. He was alone. This had been the first time that

he had not had Sheyliegh to keep him company since the previous year. And it truthfully was not

as wonderful as he had hoped it to be. He was lonely and miserable. Especially since Albus had

decided not to let him see anyone unless it was absolutely nescesary.

An example of that moment would be any time that he felt his death eater urges coming on.

Albus had said to contact him, and he would be there instantly to help calm him. He hadn't had to

come yet. It had only been three days since Severus' last breakout. And he was on the verge of

another one. He felt it coming on all day, but hadn't contacted Albus yet.

Severus closed his eyes and laid his head on the back of the chair. He tried to think

of the order and everything that was associated with it. It had been a good month since he had

attended a meeting. After everything had happened with him attending the most recent death eater

meeting, he hadn't found it important that he be there. They in fact had a meeting tonight.



He opened his eyes and made his way across the room to the bathroom. Then he turned on

the sink and let it run a few minutes to let it get warm. The refletion that he saw in the mirror

in front of him looked strange. His face had become paler than usual, and he had bags under his

eyes. His eyes were red, and tired looking. Leaning over the sink he began to splash his face

with water. Turning off the sink he reached for a towel.

While drying off his face, he noticed something strange. His hands were shaking terribly.

He lifted up his sleeve to look at his fore arm. The dark mark was getting darker and darker by

the second. Dropping the towel on the floor, he walked to his fireplace in the living room.

Taking a pinch of floo powder he threw it into the fire saying 'Albus Dumbledore'.

Suddenly the fire turned to green, and within a few seconds Albus' head appeared there.

"Yes Severus?"

"It's started happening. You may want to come down here."

***

Albus reached the door to Severus' living quarters within minutes, with his wand handy

and Remus on the alert. For he may need his help again if it was as bad as the last time. His

old, delicate hand reached out and rapped on the door. There was no sound from within. This

began to worry him. Finally after a few minutes of waiting, and knocking a few more times, he

decided that he would need his wand. "Alohamora."

The door swung open on it's henges. The living room was empty. It had been trashed from

the lack of cleanliness that Severus felt at the moment. The evening sun made it's way through

the now closed curtains, bringing a stream of light over the couch. Rounding the corner into the

bedroom he found Severus lying on his bed muttering to himself and in a cold sweat.

"Severus," the older man made his way over to him. "Severus." His eyes were closed, but

he was no where near to being asleep. Images kept passing through his mind. The sight of muggles

being levitated and visions of them being tortured- them being killed.

His fore arm prickled. He held it with his right hand. Obviously he was oblivious to

Albus who was sitting right beside him on the bed. The older man out stretched his hand and

touched his face. Severus jumped at the touch but kept his eyes closed. "My lord, is that you?"

Albus let out a sigh and did what he could. "Yes Severus. It is me. Lay down now and get

some rest." Severus did as he was told and laid back on the bed. Albus got up to get a cold

wash cloth for his forehead.



He hated seeing his son-like, best friend like this. But there was nothing that he could

do but wait it out. And so that's what he did. He sat on the bed as Severus slept keeping the

cold wash cloth on his forehead.

After a good two hours Severus awoke and found Albus by his side. He sat up and looked

over to his only father figure. The one that had taken him in. And he had tried to kill him. He

was thankful to have no memory of that. But just the thought almost killed him.

"Albus."

"It's about time you awoke. How are you feeling now?"

"Truthfully? I feel like shit. But what can I do? How long have you been here? How long

have I been sleeping?"

"Somewhere near two hours."

"Oh my gosh, what time is it?"

"I'd say probably around eight."

"Eight? But then that means that you've missed-"

A steady hand was raised to stop his speaking. "It is okay. I have taken care of the

situation. Sheyliegh is taking my place at the meeting. You need someone right now- you need me.

Come into the living room with me and I'll whip us something up to eat. I'm starving."

The living room was a lot cozier and warmer do to the fireplace that Albus had started

over an hour ago. The two friends sat on the couch eating soup. "Wow, Severus it feels like

forever since you and I have done this. Remember when you were little, still in school, and you

and I would sit up eating and talking? Those were good times."

Severus only nodded and took another bite of his soup. He was feeling abnormal, and was

almost certain that he was about to pass out.

"Remember that one time when the two of us, we stayed up until almost four o'clock on

that one Friday night just talking about Quidditch, and your studies, and..."

Albus' voice drifted off. Severus had slumped over, passed out and was headed torwards

the floor. Before he could make it though, Albus pulled out his wand and cast a levitating

charm on him.

***

Sheyliegh sat in the cold wooden chair that was placed around the kitchen table at Number

12 Grimmauld Place. Around her sat her dear friends- Sirius, Tonks, Remus, Minerva, and many

others. It just seemed so empty without Albus and Severus there.

"...so, as most of us know already, Severus was unable to collect any new imformation

about the death eater's actions. It is still quite a mystery to us." Minerva had removed her

spactacals and was cleaning them as she spoke.



Sirius let out a sound that was somewhere between a snort and a chuckle. "I beg your

pardon Sirius, did you say something?"

"Oh, no Sheyliegh dear. I was just clearing my throat. That's all."

"Well then you must have something to say then, am I correct?"

"Erm- well..."

"Come on ole' Sirius. You must have your own opinion to what old Voldy's up to," urged

Tonks with her spiked pink hair.

"Well I just think that it's strange that Severus and Karkaroff both have claimed that Voldemort

has called them to a meeting, but we havn't heard anything about actions that he could be making. Is

it not possible that Severus and Karkaroff have both maybe made this whole thing up?"

"So, you think that my husband is lying then?"

"Well, it's not proved that their not, is it?"

"Sirius, I will tell you now that Severus is not lying. For Pete's sake, Albus saw Voldemort with

his followers with his own eyes."

Minerva, seeing that this was not going to end pretty, quickly changed the subject to the school.

***

When the meeting was over, everyone got up to leave. But as Sheyliegh was leaving, she heard

Sirius call her name from behind her. "Sheyliegh. There's something upstairs that I would like to show

you. I mean, if you don't mind."

"Okay. Mother I'm sure, won't care."

Sirius led the way up the stairs to his former bedroom. Sheyliegh took a seat in a chair that was

facing the window, with her back to Sirius. "So what's this that you want to show me?"

From behind her, she heard Sirius shut and lock the door. At first she wasn't sure what to think.

Sirius walked over to her side of the room, and sat down on his old bed. Sheyliegh turned to look at

him. "So, how are things between you and Severus?"

"Right now, things are messed up. With him getting hurt at that death eater meeting and now with

this all going on, I don't know."

"Does he uh- keep you happy? I mean... intimately?"

"Sirius. Honestly that is something that is between me and Severus. But as long as I know that I

can trust you, I guess I could talk to you about it. I mean, I have needed to talk to someone. With him

recently being in the hospital wing, and before that being sick, things between us have not been as great

as what it could be. And now with all this going on, things won't be back to how it was before, for a

while." She let out a long sigh, and got up to join Sirius on the side of the bed.

"You love him?"

"Sometimes, I'm not so sure about it. I mean, what married couple doesn't fight, right? But I just

miss the old Severus. He's changed recently and he hasn't been the romantic, sweet, Severus Snape

that I married. And sometimes he's a dick, and can really piss me off. But I think when it comes right

down to it, yes- I do love him."

Sirius took his hand and placed it on Sheyliegh's thigh. "Sheyliegh, you know that if you ever

need to talk about things, that you can come to me. Always. I love you."

"I love you too. You've always been such a wonderful brother and best friend to me. I guess

that I owe you a big thank you."

"But what if I told you.... I mean...."

"If you told me what?" Sheyliegh's heart was thumping. Ever since he had kissed her, she was

protective about what all happened between her and him. The fact that he had his hand on her thigh,

and the thought that he said 'I love you' made her a little nervous. What kind of love did he mean?

Surly the brotherly or best friend love... right?

"What if I told you that, I love you more than just a sister." He quickly began to explain.

"Everytime I see you, my heart skips. Everytime that I see Severus, all I can think is, 'You lucky son of

a bitch.' When we were younger we all thought that you would marry James. I mean, we knew that you

were madly in love with Severus, but I never thought that you would actually marry him."

"Sirius, please don't make this weird. Please. Things are so much different then when we were

students. We're grown up now. We have responsibilities. And you know that I'm married."

"No. I need to tell you. I love you Sheyliegh. And I want you- I need you." Sirius leaned forward

and kissed her. The lips upon hers felt so good. She missed the feeling of having someone there to

give their body to her. It had been so long since her and Severus had 'been together', that she just

wanted to fling herself on his bed.

She lost all thoughts of her husband, and let Sirius slip his toungue into her mouth. She kissed

him back, losing track of all the surroundings. They fell back onto the bed kissing each other so lightly

that it made it all the more magical. The night went on, with all thoughts of Severus gone.