"What do you see little one?" Kalliope stood slightly behind Sophia, who was gazing intently at the still water in a large bronze basin. The girl was lost in a trance, trying to gain control of her visions.

"There is a heavy mist, it rolls over the land," Sophia's voice was detached. She could not yet always call the visions at will, and they still sometimes overpowered her.

"What do you see in the mist little one?" Kalliope prompted her gently.

"I think it is the Lady."

"In what form?"

"It is the maiden, she is crying, but I don't know why. Her eyes are so strange; no one in Greece has eyes that color purple." Sophia's detached voice held a note of wonder as she was drawn deeper into the vision.

"What else do you see child?"

"There are figures from the night; they serve the dark one, the enemy to the Lady. They move in slowly. No do not hurt her; the Lady will curse you if you harm one of her own!" Sophia's voice rose to a shrill scream at the contents of her vision.

Kalliope sucked in her breath, and closed her eyes.

"What is happening?" There was urgency in her voice now.

"No, no I cannot watch. They will hurt her, no they are hurting her. Oh what will her fate be? Will she fall as Kassandra did, a sworn virgin beloved of the goddess to be ravished by the invading hordes, or will someone save her before it is too late?" Sophia was shaking with tears streaming down her face; the vision was pulling her further in.

"Enough!" Kalliope murmured a charm under her breath which broke Sophia's vision. "That is enough for one day; you have seen more than one so young should."

Sophia was still shaking as she weakly stood up. "I wish I didn't have to remember what I saw."

"You've come too far in your training for that; you will see what the goddess gives you to see."

Sophia hung her head; she knew that she would do exactly as the elder priestess told her to. And that included being the oracle for visions such as the one she had just experienced.

"I'm sorry little one; I did not mean to snap at you like that. I am just worried about the contents of your vision. I fear that we are headed for dark times."

"Dark times?"

Kalliope nodded, "I have seen them before, and I had hoped that you would never have to experience them." Kalliope shuddered, she remembered all to well the experience she had suffered at the hands of the death eaters. She hoped that things would not get that bad again.

Sophia shivered. Despite the warm air she felt very cold. She had never had such a terrifying vision before.

Kalliope dragged herself out of the past as she noticed the distressed state of her young charge. "Go lay down, you need to rest after such an intense vision. You are released from the rest of your temple duties today. Try to relax and get some rest." She watched the girl leave and sighed. Things had a tendency to not go as smoothly as she wished they would.

Kalliope focused once again on what she could discern from her ward's vision. She could only think of one place that would have the heavy mist Sophia had described, Britain. Now she needed to contact several people there, it was her job as the senior oracle of the temple.

The lady of the lake must be contacted, her sister priestesses of Avalon needed to be made aware of the threat to their isle. And while she could connect to them through a vision she did not feel up to that strain right now. She would do this the more common way and write them a letter. Besides, she should write to Remus too. That way he could alert the wizarding world should the need arise. And, she longed for a reason, any reason, to contact him.

Kalliope moved from the inner sanctuary, where most visions were called, and moved to her own private chamber. The room was small, but she loved it because it was her own. That was one of the main benefits of being a senior priestess; she didn't have to share her room with any of the other women.

Her room was sparsely furnished. It only contained her bed, and a small bench. But she had fine linen hanging from her windows, which opened out onto the Mediterranean. The view from her room was spectacular.

She sank down on her bed and retrieved a few sheets of parchment and a smooth board that she wrote on. She wrote a short missive to the lady of the lake. She had only met the woman who was now in charge of Avalon once, but she genuinely liked her.

She started the letter to Remus, but she spent much more time writing to him. She smiled as she thought of the summer he had spent with her in Greece. She had been so young, only 17. Although most of the world would have considered her to be a child she had already been a fully initiated priestess for four years. And Remus had treated her as such.

She had fallen in love with him. In a world where women were not taught to rely on men Remus had been her shoulder to cry on. He was the only man she had ever fully trusted. She hadn't ever felt that kind of love for the father of her child. But that thought only brought about bad memories.

She tied up both of the finished letters with a length of blue ribbon then moved to the window and gave a long low whistle. After a moment there was a fluttering of wings and two grey seagulls flew in the window.

"Hello darlings," Kalliope crooned to the two seagulls as they perched on the low bench. She bent over and deftly attached one letter to the leg of the seagull on the right, "take that to the lady Sianna and wait for a response." The seagull spread its wings and flew out the window, winging its way towards Avalon.

"And you,"" she said as she tied the remaining letter to the other soft grey seagull, "take this to Remus Lupin at Hogwarts."

The seagull made a sharp cawing noise as it moved in a circle on the low bench. It turned toward the window then back towards Kalliope.

"I promise you won't freeze, it's not that cold there," she smiled as she picked up the bird and took it to the window, releasing it into the air.

Stefan doubled over in pain and fell to the floor. He had never known so much pain. He almost wished that they would get it over with and kill him, but the curse was finally lifted.

"Enough, he is still weak." Draco sneered as he glared down at Stefan.

"Few men can withstand crucio for that long sir..." Macnair dropped the curse as he looked to his leader.

"When I want your opinion I will ask for it," Draco yelled as he gave a sharp kick to Stefan's ribs.

Stefan groaned as he rolled over. He tried to focus on something other than the pain. He told himself to think of Dierna, he had to get through this so he could get back to her.

"Get up!" The look in Draco's eyes bridged on insanity.

Stefan slowly pulled himself to his feet, trying to ignore the sharp pain the shot through his body. He grimaced as he straightened himself up to look Malfoy in the eye.

"You are arrogant MacNeill, watch yourself, or you will end up facing pain on less then friendly terms." Malfoy's voice was hard and cold. "You can go."

Stefan nodded and stiffly walked out of the room. As soon as he was clear of the manor house he gripped the portkey in his pocket and was gone.

"How much longer are we going to let him continue to report back to the Ministry?" Macnair asked Draco.

"As long as it suits our purposes or until I get bored with him. Whichever comes first."

Dierna sat with her chin propped up by her hand as she stared into space. A slight smile played at her lips as she thought of Stefan. She closed her eyes as she envisioned him, she couldn't wait till they were together again.

"Dierna," Nick didn't get a response. He sighed as he poked her in the side and tried again, "Dierna."

"Hmmm?" Dierna turned to look at her friend.

"Just thought you might want to try paying attention," Nick whispered, "your Dad was watching you."

Dierna frowned and tried to turn her attention back to the lecture her Dad was giving on the use of unicorn horn in truth serums. She already knew most of the stuff he was telling them. She had raided his bookshelf on numerous occasions and had recently finished a book on this subject.

She sighed and began absently doodling on her notes. She tried to swallow but her throat felt so raw. When she coughed she felt like it was being torn apart. The only thing that made her feel somewhat better was when Nick gently rubbed her back while he continued to take notes. She knew that she would never find another friend like him.

Serena kicked her twin under the table and pushed her parchment closer to her. Dierna smiled when she saw that the corner of the parchment contained the beginnings of a game of tic-tac-toe. Dierna put an O in the upper right hand corner and waited for Serena to make her next move.

They kept playing, waiting for class to be over. They forgot about taking notes as they became absorbed in the game.

"Hey girls, we're supposed to be doing an assignment out of the book now, maybe you should try to look like your doing something productive."

Serena arched an eyebrow in Nick's direction, "I can't believe you're telling us to work in class."

"You're gonna wish you had listened to me in about five seconds." Nick shot back.

"Why?" Serena looked at him quizzically, "oh, never mind..." she muttered as she saw her father coming towards them.

Severus placed his hands on the table in the back of the room and leaned over his daughters menacingly, his voice was dangerously soft and silky, "I have told you two more times than I can count to pay attention in class. Anymore of this and you will be separated for the rest of the year. 20 points from Gryffindor and it will be detention the next time I have to tell you. Understood?"

"Yes sir," Serena muttered.

"Adelaide, is that clear?" Severus waited for his other daughter's response.

Dierna met her father's glare unflinchingly, "perfectly clear, professor."

"5 more points from Gryffindor for your cheek," Severus' tone dared her to say anything else. He turned on his heal and swept back to the front of the room.

"Bloody hell..." Dierna muttered as she tried to turn her attention back to school work.

"Real smooth girls," Nick whispered.

"Shut up," Dierna and Serena said together.

Morgan smiled at her group of third years as they bent over their assignment. The bright airy tower room that served as her classroom had all the windows thrown open, letting in the brilliant afternoon sunlight and a soft breeze.

The atmosphere of her classroom was far different from that of her husband's. The vivid colors and light room were a far cry from the stark drafty potions room in the dungeons. She also ran her classes much differently, though just as effectively.

Morgan had seen the way her husband taught, and she honestly didn't know how he did it. How the man who was so gentle and caring with her could be so hard and cold in his classroom was beyond her. In some ways he was still a mystery to her, even after so many years of marriage.

She shook off that thought as she continued to walk down the aisles of her classroom, watching her students work. She paused long enough to put a gentle hand on Nimue's shoulder and to smile at her daughter when she looked up.

When the bell rang there was a dash for the door, Morgan fought back a smile as she remembered her own school days, "one moment everyone!"

There was a chorus of groans.

Morgan smiled, "read the next chapter and I want a short essay on the material, nothing too long, but please put some effort into it. Now you can go."

"Dierna, I would like a word with you."

Dierna threw an icy glare at her father before turning to back to Serena and Nick, "don't wait for me; I'll see you guys at dinner." She sighed as she turned back around; she just really wanted to leave.

"Put your bag down and come here for a minute," Severus moved back to his desk and waited for Dierna to follow him.

Dierna dropped her bag on the ground and grudgingly followed her dad. She still didn't feel good and knew she was acting sulky but she didn't really care.

Severus looked at his daughter for a long moment. He took her chin in his hand forcing her to look him in the eye. "Are you feeling alright?"

"I'm fine," Dierna snapped back.

Severus raised an eyebrow, his expression clearly showing that he didn't believe her, but he didn't press the issue. "We had a conversation before about you helping me with a project, are you still interested?"

"Yes," she tried to pull away, but he only tightened his grip on her chin.

"So, why are you acting so sulky young lady?"

"No reason."

Severus let go of her, "you're lying."

"Am not," Dierna glowered at him.

A smile played at the corner of Severus' mouth, she was trying so hard. "Get out of my classroom, but I want to talk to you later about the project you'll be helping me with."

"Fine," Dierna turned on her heal and quickly left.

Severus let himself smile as his daughter left. Her attitude was so much like his own.

Morgan was straightening up her classroom with her back to the door. She picked up a stack of essays and started reading them; she tuned the rest of the world out. She was so absorbed in her work that she jumped and nearly screamed when someone laid a hand on her shoulder. She quickly spun around, "damn you Sev! Don't ever do that again!"

Severus smiled as he pushed a few wild strands of hair out of his wife's face, "I'm sorry."

"No you're not," she glared at him.

"You're right, will you forgive me anyways?"

"Maybe..."

"You're not even mad at me and you know it," Severus teased her as she continued to glower.

Morgan raised her chin, assuming a regal look as she turned away from her husband crossing her arms over her chest. But when he landed a sharp slap to her backside she instantly spun back around, an angry retort on her lips, "Severus, don't you dare..."

She was cut off when he covered her mouth with his own. "Don't what?" Severus spoke when he finally broke off the kiss.

"Don't do that again," Morgan sounded slightly breathless as she leaned into her husband.

"Why not?" Severus' tone was teasing again.

"Because, I'll get even," Morgan narrowed her eyes at him.

Severus chuckled softly as he leaned down to his wife's level, "I would probably enjoy that Mrs. Snape."

Morgan hit her husband in the shoulder, "you're horrible."

"And you love it."

Morgan laughed as her husband enfolded her in his embrace again. She loved him so much.