Kalliope realized very quickly that she had absolutely no idea where she was. She had left Nimue only a short while ago, deciding that she had probably traumatized the poor girl enough for one day, there would be time enough to teach her all that she needed to know later.

She smiled at the moving portraits on the wall; this certainly was an interesting place. She realized that any of the subjects of the portraits could probably tell her where she was and where she needed to go, but she was content to explore for now.

She headed farther down into the castle, approaching the dungeons. It was cooler down here and she rubbed her arms, thinking wryly that this damnable British weather might just be more than she could handle.

She barely noticed as several students hurried past her, giving her curious looks. Her thoughts were running rampant, she was still trying to come to terms with the fact that she was really here, that she had left the relative safety of her temple. But she was here with Remus...

A small sigh left her lips as she thought of Remus; she had learned to care for him all those years ago. And she realized that just maybe those sentiments that she had thought were love might have only been the hopeless crush of a girl who had suffered too much for one as young as she had been. Maybe she had just imagined that he had reciprocated those feelings, but part of her cried out, telling her those feelings had been real, and she hope that they had been, and that maybe, just maybe, she and Remus might now have the chance to pick up where they had left off.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she nearly ran into a dark figure coming from the opposite direction.

"A bit lost priestess?" Severus asked with a slight smirk as Kalliope nearly walked into him.

Kalliope was jerked out of her thoughts by his silky voice and she fervently hoped that she wasn't blushing, "I was merely doing a bit of wandering on my own," her voice was low and steady as she answered him, refusing to admit that she had indeed been lost. Her warm brown gaze took in Nimue's father, wondering if he would try to interfere with his daughter's training in any way. She had found him to be a bit cold and judgmental when she had met him a few hours earlier, she decided she might have to do a little research on her own to figure out exactly what she was dealing with here.

Severus raised an eyebrow at the assertion that she wasn't lost, he seriously doubted that, she did look rather lost wandering around down here, "I was heading back up to the staff room, since my help has run out on me, would you care to accompany me?"

Kalliope smiled at the lifeline he threw her, "yes, perhaps I can find Remus up there."

Morgan heard someone come in the staff room, but she didn't open her eyes. She had fallen asleep on the rather lumpy couch by the window and she didn't feel like getting up yet. The last few days had been incredibly stressful for her, and all she wanted was to escape for awhile.

She hadn't slept well the last few nights, and everything was beginning to catch up with her.

She squirmed slightly when someone lifted her feet up, and sat down on that end of the couch with her feet in their lap. She smiled when that person began to rub her feet.

"That feels wonderful," she purred.

"You need to relax more; the last few days have been really rough on you."

She smiled at the sound of that deep voice and kicked her feet slightly, only to have them slapped. "Hey, that hurt!" she frowned as she grudgingly opened her eyes, squinting in the light.

"Then don't kick me."

Morgan narrowed her eyes, "I'll kick you if I want to Professor."

"Now, I just need to try and remember whether or not your feet are ticklish..."

"Remus Lupin, don't you dare!" Morgan sat up and retreated to the other end of the couch, tucking her feet safely beneath her.

"I'll take that as a yes," Remus laughed as he moved toward Morgan.

Morgan tried to get up but Remus caught her and held her firmly with one arm as he reached for her feet, causing her to struggle frantically. Morgan was still trying to fight her way out of his grasp when the door to the staff room opened.

Serena made her way back towards the Gryffindor common room, Mark had offered to walk her back up but she had declined. She didn't want any of her other house members to give him a hard time. Plus she was feeling a bit sore, and she just wanted to lay down for awhile.

She slipped into the common room, hoping that she could get up to her bedroom without attracting any attention. Thankfully the boys were all busy tormenting a girl she had never seen before. She quickly headed up the stairs towards the girls' dormitory, and wasn't surprised when Dierna followed her.

Serena flopped down on her bed in the 6th year girls' room and waited while Dierna settled on her own bed.

"So..." Dierna looked at her sister expectantly.

"So...?" Serena echoed her.

Dierna rolled her eyes, "did you and Mark..."

Serena tossed a pillow at her sister, "yes."

"And?"

"And what? Come on Dierna, it happened, there's nothing else to talk about."

Dierna groaned as she flopped back on her bed, "I'm not asking for details Serena, I just want to make sure that you're ok with this."

"I'm fine," Serena gathered some clean clothes as she headed towards the bathroom, thinking that a shower would feel amazing right now.

Dierna somehow doubted that her sister was completely fine, but she let it go, "just remember I'm here if you need to talk."

Kalliope felt her heart plummet when she saw Remus practically on top of another woman. But she instantly relaxed again when she realized that it was Mrs. Snape. She glanced sideways at Severus to see how he would handle this situation and was a bit surprised at how dark his expression had become.

Severus crossed the room and lifted his wife off the couch and deposited her in a nearby chair before turning back to Remus, "I warned you about touching my wife," he growled.

"Sev, lay off, we were just having a bit of fun," Morgan rolled her eyes at how overprotective he was being. Most of the time it was flattering, but sometimes it was just ridiculous.

Severus scowled and turned back to his wife. He offered her his hand and pulled her back out of the chair, and with a curt nod to Kalliope he quickly propelled his wife out of the room.

"Severus, was that absolutely necessary?" Morgan frowned at him.

"You know I hate when you and Remus act like that," was his cold reply.

"Oh Sev..." Morgan sighed. Her husband was so different when there were people around. When they were alone he was playful and loving, never hesitating to kiss or hold her. But when they weren't alone he could be cold and appear very unfeeling. He had never approved of public displays of affection, and Morgan had been asked before if her marriage was in trouble. She sighed again, and he would make a huge thing out of nothing and be so damn overprotective of her sometimes...

"You're mad a me now."

"Sev, I'm not mad at you."

"I just can't stand to see anyone else touching you."

Morgan shook her head and leaned against her husband as they walked, "Sev, are you ever going to learn to ease up?"

"I'm not planning on it," he wrapped his arm around her waist. When they reached the door to their rooms he brushed a feather soft kiss across her temple, "I love you, and I know you think I'm overprotective, but that's something that I cannot help."

Serena tossed her wet hair over her shoulder as she moved back the bedroom she shared with the other girls; she wasn't at all surprised to see that Dierna was still sitting there.

"So, ready to talk about what's bothering you yet?" Dierna asked.

Serena sighed as she sat down next to Dierna on her bed, "I just don't know what happened."

Dierna raised an eyebrow, "well I could probably tell you want happened..."

Serena smacked her sister with a pillow, "that's not what I'm talking about." She pulled a small vile of a deep blue liquid out of her pocket, "I had this ready, and I completely forgot to take it. Dierna, what if..."

Dierna took the vile from her sister's hand and uncorked it, she held it to her nose and swirled the liquid, "well, first off this wouldn't have done you much good even if you had taken it, it's a very weak contraceptive. Second, it's highly unlikely you would end up pregnant from your first time. You probably have nothing to worry about."

"But what if..."

Dierna cut her sister off, "if

Serena sighed, "Thanks."

"No problem," Dierna recorked the small vile and tossed it on the bed, "and we are definitely going to get you a contraceptive that will work, I found a great one in the restricted section."

Severus winced slightly as Morgan's elbow connected with his stomach. Until he had married her he would never have thought that anyone could be this restless in their sleep, or such a heavy sleeper. It never failed to amaze him how his tiny wife could take up so much of their bed, at the moment she had him pushed precariously near the edge.

Glancing at the clock by his bed he realized it was little more than an hour before he had to get up anyways. Resigning himself to the fact that he wasn't going to get anymore sleep Severus gently lifted his wife and moved her back to the center of the bed, and then he wrapped his arms around her, hoping that it would keep her still for awhile.

He was surprised when she turned in his arms and opened her eyes; usually it took nothing short of an earthquake to wake her.

"Sev?"

"What is it darling?" Severus ran one hand through her hair while he kept an arm wrapped firmly around her waist.

"Are you really mad at me for playing around with Remus?"

Severus sighed as he buried his face in her hair, "I know you and Remus are good friends..."

"But..."

"But, I still can't stand to see another man touching my wife."

Morgan twined her legs around her husband, "even though it means nothing, and you are the only man I could ever love?"

Severus decided that since his wife was awake it might be best to change the subject and talk to her about a decision he had made during the night, "I'm leaving for Paris tomorrow morning."

"What?!" Morgan sat up, pushing herself away from her husband, "Sev, I don't want you to go, not now."

"I don't have much choice in the matter," he reached for a piece of parchment lying next to the bed, "Eric contacted me again."

Morgan looked at her husband for a long moment, realizing that he was completely serious about going before she took the letter from his hand. She scanned the short contents,

Time is short, we must meet now or it may be too late
O.G.

"Why he still insists on signing his letters like that is beyond me, its completely ridiculous," Severus spoke irritably, "sometimes I wonder if he actually thinks he's a spirit or ghost of some sort instead of a lonely old wizard."

Morgan handed the letter back to her husband, "are you really leaving tomorrow?"

"Yes."

"How long will you be gone?"

Severus pulled her onto his lap, holding her close, "as long as it takes to get the information we need out of Eric, hopefully only a day or two, a week at the most."

"That long?" Morgan pouted slightly. "What about your classes?"

Severus frowned, "I was going to ask Potter to take them, if he thinks he can manage without completely messing things up..."

Morgan leaned against her husband's chest and laughed softly, he still insisted on verbally cutting Harry whenever he had the chance, but he really had learned to have a certain degree of respect for the younger man. But he never showed it. Her husband was the most stubborn person she knew, and their children had inherited that trait. Some days it was enough to drive her over the edge, but sometimes, like now, it only amused her.

"What are you laughing at?" Severus frowned at his wife.

"At you dear," Morgan grinned impishly, only causing her husband's expression to become sterner.

"Why do you get so much pleasure out of teasing me?"

"Because you always rise to the occasion," Morgan gently kissed him. She was pleased when Severus pulled her against him in a crushing grip and kissed her deeply. She relaxed in his grip as his kiss and hands made her melt.

"Now Mrs. Snape, are you going to let me go to Paris to take care of this situation without anymore fuss?"

"Yes," Morgan was breathing heavily, and it took her a moment to realize what she had agreed to, "are you sure you don't want me to come with you?"

"Very sure, I have no intention of ever taking a woman into Eric's lair."

Harry gazed at the letter the familiar grey owl had dropped in his lap. The thin spidery script that he knew so well stared up at him, rendering him completely speechless.

"Anything wrong Harry?" Sirius asked from his spot next to him at the staff table in front of the Great Hall.

"I don't think so," Harry frowned slightly as he opened the letter, trying to figure out what this meant, he wasn't sure if he should be worried or relieved.

He read through the letter from his wife quickly, and then he read it a second time, and a third. The tone of this letter was so much more... congenial, than he had become accustomed to. He frowned, trying to figure out what had caused this change.

"You sure nothing is wrong?" Sirius pressed him, noticing his god- son's distressed expression.

Harry's voice held a note of wonder, "Ginny wanted to know if I would be coming home sometime this week..."

"So, that's a good thing, isn't it?"

Harry slowly shook his head, "yeah, it is, I just don't know what to do."

"Go home to your wife."

Harry sighed, "I can't," he held up two other notes, "Severus wants me to cover his classes while he goes to Paris for some reason this week, and Minerva has asked that all staff remain at the school next weekend, something about a new security measure we are bringing in."

"Minerva mentioned something to me about the additional security she's bringing in, but if you need to go home she'll understand." Sirius looked at his god-son with obvious concern in his eyes. He truly wanted Harry's marriage to work out; it looked like Ginny was taking a step in the right direction, he wondered if Harry would make the same effort.

Harry lay the letter next to his plate, his hand lingering over it for a moment, "no, I need to be here right now. We have to make sure the students are safe."

Sirius sighed; he thought that both Harry and Ginny were not trying as hard as they could to make this work, in his opinion the couple was in need of a serious attitude adjustment. He turned to Remus who was on his other side and currently engaged in a rather heated discussion with Kalliope.

"I don't want you running yourself ragged while you are here, you need to rest. Training Nimue is going to take enough out of you; you don't need to be calling up visions for Rheia on top of that."

Kalliope frowned at him, "how did you know about that?" she demanded to know.

Remus frowned right back at her, "Sophia told me you stayed up half the night calling up visions."

Kalliope shot an irritated look in the direction of her young ward and then turned back to Remus, "that is my concern Remus."

Remus didn't back down from the angry priestess, "just what is so important that you need to stay up all night when you have important work to do during the day?"

Kalliope was bristling, "I have been following the movements of a man through the visions for months now, and I have reason to believe that he may be a key figure in the events that are to come."

"And who is this man?"

"It is the man who lacks a face."