Chapter Thirty-eight: Game, Set, And Match

Summary: Thirty-eighth chapter. Eleven to go. That about sums it up.

Snape stood over a cauldron in the peaceful solitude of his dungeon classroom, watching the contents simmer as he pondered the situation. There was really very little more he could do past what he had for Black. What would be the point in his standing about in the infirmary as well when Black had his loving 'family' standing vigil day and night? He'd likely only be viewed as a ghoul, waiting to see what happened next. But his curiosity was building as well as his nervous state. What if Black didn't recover? What would such a turn of events do to Potter? How much use to them would the boy be then? A sharp female voice suddenly broke into his thoughts.

"Honestly, Severus." The voice reprimanded him. "When I give someone a warning, the least I expect is to have them heed it. Even just a little."

Snape turned about to find Analisa Morton standing in the doorway staring at him. Though he usually only saw her in her Deatheater attire, he was pleasantly surprised to find her now wearing a bright blue robe that accented her blond hair, as well as her figure, quite nicely.

Snape quickly shook the thoughts out of his mind.

"Miss Morton." He answered formally. "I wasn't expecting to see you today. What brings you this far into the castle?"

"A good ass chewing usually does it for me." She replied. "I never could resisted a really good ass chewing."

"Anyone I know?"

"Quite well, as a matter of fact."

"Am I correct in assuming I am to be the recipient of this 'ass chewing' you're so eager to administer?"

"Right you are, Severus." She announced with a straight face. "Stand and present ass."

Snape crossed his arms in front of his chest as he stared back at her past two narrowed eyes.

"Is there a purpose for your visit, Miss Morton?" He stated irritably.

"What? No ass? Damn! Wasted trip."

"Miss Morton!" Snape stated again. "Your reason!"

"All right, Severus. Here is my 'reason'. I'm pissed. It wasn't exactly without risk to try and warn you about Voldemort watching you, you know. The least you could have done was paid attention."

Snape looked as stunned as if she had walked right up and slapped him.

"You!"

"Who else?"

Snape suddenly looked as though he had just given away his most secret potion receipt.

"I doubt the Dark Lord will be very pleased, Miss Morton, to know he has a traitor in his midst." Snape stated, reverting quickly to his best Deatheater voice.

"No, he wouldn't. And it'll go real bad for you the day he finds out, don't ya' think?" Analisa snapped back, looking like she had just laid down a winning poker hand.

"Me?"

"Me?" Analisa repeated, doing a fairly good impersonation of Snape. "Yeah, you, Severus." She stated, returning to her normal voice. "Ya' big, fat, phony Deatheater."

"So?" Snape questioned with a glint in his eye that would have reduced any first year to tears on the spot. "I'm a traitor? Tell me, Miss Morton? If you're the one who gave me that warning, what does that make you?"

"If I'm guessing wrong here, among other things, reaaallllllly embarrassed." She answered with a small, nervous smile. "Higher up on that list is just plain dead."

"Guessing wrong?"

Analisa suddenly got quite serious. "That you're not a Deatheater."

Snape gave her a small, tight lipped smile. "Yes. That would be most unfortunate for you, wouldn't it?"

Analisa did her best not to look overly nervous. "So? Am I wrong? Should I go and feed the fire now or wait for everyone else to show up so they can enjoy the screaming?"

Snape turned back to his caldron. He quickly sputtered off a few choice words. The fire had gone out under it, ruining hours of work.

"Language, Severus. There's a lady present."

"I rarely consider any Deatheater a 'lady'."

"Then I'm in luck."

Snape turned back to her.

"OK." She stated, the nervousness creeping back into her voice under his stare as she crossed her arms in front of her and rocked back and forth a bit on her feet. "Tell you what." She offered with an uneasy smile. "I'll show you mine of you show me yours. Fair?"

"What?"

"Secrets, Severus. Secrets. Honestly. What did you think I meant?"

Snape turned back to his ruined potion. "I haven't time for games, Miss Morton."

"Severus, I'm no more a Deatheater than you are." Analisa blurted out suddenly. "How's that?"

"'That' sounds suspiciously like a lie."

"Listen more carefully next time." She stated, walking slowly over to him. "Not. A. Deatheater." She repeated, enunciating each word.

"And why should I believe you?"

"Because what I just told you is a death sentence. Your turn."

"My turn?"

"Show me yours. That's only fair."

Snape studied the woman in front of him for a moment.

"What makes you think I won't go to Voldemort with this little 'confession' of yours?"

"Because I trust you?"

"You could simply deny it."

"Once suspicious, always suspicious, Severus. You know that. Once Voldemort gets it into his head your a traitor.... And personally I think he's already getting some ideas together about me. I'd bet it won't take much to give him that little shove over the edge where I'm concerned."

"And me?"

"Well, you were fine until this last botch up. And I did try to warn you, Severus. It's your own fault."

"And what, exactly, do you surmise I have done to make the dark lord doubt me?"

"The night we brought Black back here, you ran to Dumbledore like the castle was on fire, that's what. Voldemort wouldn't miss something like that."

"I was reporting a student...."

"Couldn't have waited till morning, Severus? It was that important to report Potter wandering the halls? Boy, you really do have a problem with that kid, don't you?"

"And Voldemort considers that suspicious?"

"By itself? Maybe not. But even you know, Severus, that the dark lord has been watching you."

"I proved my loyalty."

"By not killing Black? Oh, yeah," she added with a slight snort of laughter, "that'll help solidify his faith in you, old boy."

"Black is dead."

"Black is up in the infirmary being kissed on by his girlfriend."

"And where do you come by your information?"

"Walls have ears, Severus. Really big ones. And they also like to gossip."

"Meaning?"

"House elves. Sweet little things. But a couple of them around here can't keep their squeaky little mouths shut to save their lives. They don't say anything directly, mind you. But they say enough to put the pieces together. And I would guess right now Sirius Black is up in the infirmary...very much alive."

Severus eyed the woman again. She seemed sincere. But there was no way to be sure. Not entirely.

"Come on, Severus." Analisa prompted with renewed enthusiasm. "Haul 'em out and drop 'em on the table."

"Excuse me?"

"Our deal, remember. I showed you, now you show me."

"All right." Snape said slowly, a small smile growing across his lips. "But you answer a question first."

Analisa looked very serious suddenly. "All right."

"You say you're the one who warned me the night Black was brought to the castle."

"That's right."

"Very well, woman," Snape snapped at her suddenly. "What exactly was the warning?"

"Woman!" Analisa stated indignantly, not seeming to be thrown the least by Snape's tone of voice. "Woman?"

"Out with it. What was it? If you said it, you should remember it. And no one else would have heard it."

Analisa sighed quietly. She stared at the ceiling, thinking.

"Well?" Snape demanded impatiently.

"Don't rush me." Analisa replied. "It's been a while."

"I thought as much." Snape replied in his usual oily tone. "A traitor."

"Speak for yourself, you slimy git."

"You had your chance, Morton. Now....."

But Analisa cut him off quickly as she turned back to him, her crystal blue eyes resting on him. "You are being watched, Severus. Be careful what you do here."

Snape stopped abruptly.

"You're turn." Analisa said with a smile of satisfaction at the stunned look on Snape's face.

But still he said nothing.

"Oh, that's not fair, Severus. You agreed to play the game."

"I agreed to nothing." Snape hissed at her.

"Oh, I see. Just let me talk until I've spilled all my beans, then claim I tricked you?"

"Things are not that....simple for me, Analisa."

"All right. Tell you what. I'm a fair minded person. How about this. I'll guess, and you tell me if I'm right or not, OK?"

Snape started back at her, not agreeing or refusing.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'. OK. Let's see......you were a Deatheater once. Know that. So....where do we go from there?" Analisa seemed to ponder the question for a moment. "I know!" She stated suddenly as though inspiration had just hit her square in the face. "You decided Voldemort's fan club wasn't for you and now you're a spy for Dumbledore."

Snape looked thunderstruck.

"What? Wrong? Darn! That was my best guess too. OK. OK....don't tell me....ummmmm....you're secretly in love with one of the Deatheaters and you hang around in the hopes she'll go out with you?"

Snape turned back to his cauldron. He wasn't sure what to think. She knew the truth about him, but for how long? And why hadn't she said anything to Voldemort? Or maybe she had.

Or perhaps she wanted something else.

"All right," Snape stated slowly, "what is it you want?"

"Oooooh....that just positively reeked of desperation, Severus." She replied, taking in one deep draw of air and letting it out in a long, slow sigh. "I do like the smell of that."

Snape turned around suddenly, slamming his hand on the edge of the cauldron. "What do you want?"

Analisa jumped despite herself. "Nothing!" She stated a little too fast. "I...I'm sorry, Severus. I didn't mean to upset you. I...I just......I want to help."

Snape's characteristic sneer practically blossomed on his face. "Of course."

"It's the truth, Severus." She insisted. "Hear me out, at least."

Snape leaned against the edge of his desk as he turned back to her. "All right. Talk."

Analisa sat at one of the tables, her hands folded together on top of it. "I've known about you for a long while, Severus. But I've never told Voldemort about my suspicions, or anyone else. But I have been watching you and you've been making some pretty stupid mistakes lately. I don't know why you chose to become a Deatheater, but I think I know why you stopped. Or better, when. It was right after the Potter's funeral. Oh, you never cared much for James Potter, I know that. Everyone in school knew that. But you certainly harbored no such feelings for Lily." Analisa looked up at him from under her blond bangs. "You were in love with her."

Snape continued to stare at her with a fixed cold indifference on his face.

"I was so jealous of her I wanted to scream. You mooned over her like a love-sick idiot, and yet you wouldn't even give me the time of day. And all she could see was James. I could hardly stand the irony of it all.

But then we all graduated, left school, and started our lives. You started yours with the Deatheaters. And me...well, I didn't have any dinner plans, so......."

"You joined the Deatheaters because you had nothing better to do?"

"Good solid reason, huh? Well, that about sums it up. Nothing better to do with my life than join up with some crazy old wizard bent on destroying the muggle world." Analisa frowned as she seemed to ponder the statement for a moment, then shook her head. "Strange. Sounded a lot better fifteen years ago."

Snape almost smiled at the comment.

"Well, time goes by, and you get older, and you're suppose to get wiser. Thankfully, I managed both, not just the former."

"You hardly look like you managed the former at all." Snape commented before he could stop himself.

Analisa looked shocked, then smiled at him. "Realllllly, Severus. A compliment? My, my, but we will have to make today a holiday of some sort.

Anyway, I started to take a look at things around me and actually found myself a little frightened at where I had let life blindly lead me." Analisa lifted her eyes, fixing a genuinely frightened look on Snape. "I've watched him kill people, Severus, for next to no reason at all. And he enjoyed it. He laughed while he did it. The day he tried to kill James and Lily's son...a helpless little baby, for heavens sake....." Analisa paused in her tale before continuing in a very small voice. "I've been trying to leave ever since."

"For fourteen years?" Snape stated harshly. "You haven't been trying very hard."

"It's kind of like some of those muggle self-help groups, Severus. You need a sponsor. Somewhere else to go. You don't just leave the Deatheaters."

"Well don't look at me to be your 'sponsor'. I have enough troubles of my own."

Analisa gave him a small smile. "No. I would never expect that of you, Severus. Besides, I already have someone in mind."

"Who?"

"Well, if you want to leave the bully's gang, you better go join someone the bully's afraid of, hadn't you?"

"Dumbledore?"

Analisa turned her stare back to the desk top with a small, sad smile. "I'm afraid he wasn't much more receptive to me than you are."

"Analisa, you are a Deatheater! It's a wonder he even let's you in the castle."

"Well, that just goes to show he is somewhat open to the possibility."

"Possibility?"

"That people can change, Severus. Apparently he's run across it somewhere before." She said, giving him a small smile. "He's not willing to trust me completely. Not yet. He says I have to 'earn' that. However I'm suppose to do that."

"Showing up regularly at Deatheater gatherings isn't helping matters for you, Analisa."

"No. It's just keeping me alive. You stop going all of the sudden, and Voldemort tends to take offense. Haven't seen you missing a lot of them lately."

"I have a reason for being there."

"Oh, right. You're a spy." Analisa replied, sounding as though she wasn't quite convinced.

"Honestly, woman!" Snape stated, looking exacerbated with her. "If you want to leave, leave. Go to another city. Another country. Go to the Americas."

Analisa looked at him for a moment, seemingly unsure of her answer. "I have no where else to go, Severus."

"What do you mean?"

"Just that. I have no where else to go. I have no family to help me. I have little or no money. I could run, just not very far."

"So you stay because it's 'convenient'?"

"I stay because I'm scared!" She stated in a heated voice. "I have no where to go. I have no money, no family." She repeated, pulling up the sleeve of her robe as she shoved Voldemort's mark under his nose. "Anywhere I could go, he could find me. All my friends are Deatheaters. I don't have a nice, safe castle to live in, Severus. Or anyone who would protect me." She said softly as a tear rolled down her cheek. "Or anyone who cares."

Snape stared at her as she quickly wiped the rouge tear away. He was at a complete loss for words.

Analisa gave a small laugh. "But, I guess not wanting to desert even the slightest possibility of gaining another spy, Dumbledore said I had the right to prove myself to him. That I truly was not a follower of Voldemort's anymore."

"Good job so far."

"I warned you."

Snape seemed to concede to that one.

"And I haven't told Voldemort what I suspected. Even though I have enough proof to make you very uncomfortable, Severus."

"All right." Snape replied. "What is it you want?"

"I told you that." Analisa replied in an exasperated tone. "To help. To prove to Dumbledore that he can trust me."

"Dumbledore isn't easily convinced."

"Tell me about it. But he does let me stay at the castle from time to time, when I need a place to go....just...to feel safe for a little while."

"Doesn't Voldemort find it suspicious that you stay at the castle 'from time to time'?"

"He asked. I told him I'm taking a position here at the start of the school year and I have to learn my way around the castle and get comfortable with things."

"A position? What position?"

Analisa smiled at him, the good-natured teasing coming back into her eyes. "Guess."

Snape's sneer couldn't have been any longer. "Defense Against the Dark Arts."

Analisa gave him an approving smile. "And they always said you were all looks and no brains."

"So why tell me any of this?" Snape retorted. "Why even warn me? You took a great risk in doing so. What if I had been loyal to Voldemort?"

"Believe it or not, Severus, maybe it was because I like you still, hmmm? Can you work with that one?"

Snape gave a small laugh. "A Deatheater with a heart? I think not. I know what burns inside a Deatheater's heart, Analisa. The few that have them. It has very little to do with...'liking'."

"Really?" Analisa asked in a sudden, heavy, seductive voice as she stood and sauntered over to where Snape stood. She wrapped a hand about the back of his neck. "Then maybe you ought to look and see what burns in a woman's heart for change, Severus."

Snape suddenly found himself drawn into a deeply passionate kiss.

Seconds later Analisa let him go, staring solidly into his eyes.

"Use that to light the fire under your cauldron, Professor Snape." She whispered as she pulled back from him.

Snape was still standing stunned next to the cauldron when the door to the dungeon closed after her.