Disclaimer: I don't owe this.

Chapter 1 – The Pensieve

It had taken him many years, to create it. But now it was finished, it was a work of art, flawless, sublime. The pensieve was protected with several spells. You could only escape if you had the permission of it's producer. The corners of his mouth curled. It wasn't a real smile, more like an evil grin. It was time to lure the bait.

He knew for sure this would work. He had known Lucius for many years. Long enough to ensure his middle name was 'Curious'. There was a gentle knock on the door of his office. Severus snorted, as if Lucius would wait for an answer.

"Come in," he said, as if he was already bored with the other man's presence.

"Severus, what a pleasure to see you," Malfoy almost managed to sound sincere.

No, Lucius. Today, the pleasure is all mine. "What is it, that you want from me?"

"Why would I want anything from you. Isn't it possible I just came here to have a normal conversation with you."

"Considering the fact, that none of us have any social skills, I would  rule that out. And even if that were the case, I do not have time to argue with you. As a matter of fact, you'll have to excuse me for a minute, I have to check up on a potion I'm working on."

He turned on his heels and made sure he was out of sight. He had put the pensieve on a shelf behind his desk. With him out of the way, that would be the first thing a Malfoy would notice. After only a few seconds he heard the familiar slurping sound that told him Lucius had entered.

His evil grin returned. He was in control now.

Lucius smiled. Did the greasy bat really think he would not notice the pensieve behind him. It was pretty much the first thing he saw. He tapped with his wand against the pensieve and entered.

His smile disappeared immediately. The git had fooled him. It wasn't a pensieve, but a portkey. Where the hell was he?  He looked around. The landscape was filled with mountains. He was standing in the snow and the wind made his hands freeze. He tried to breathe, but the air was so cold it almost turned his saliva into ice.

 He tried to apparate back. Of course, he couldn't apparate inside Hogwarts, but he had to get back before Severus noticed what he did. He realised he couldn't apparate. He tried to cast at least a warming spell, but even that failed. He performed several other spells, but all of them failed. He looked at his wand, although he knew it wasn't his wand that failed. It was his magic. He had been reduced to a muggle.

Staying cool wasn't very hard in this temperature, at least, physically. He screamed and thought of this problem rationally. It happened more often. To kids who just got their apparation license. They spliced themselves in two, with a lack of concentration. The apparation just went wrong and he was separated from his magical abilities. He hadn't known it was a portkey, therefore he didn't concentrate.

Severus would know by know what happened. He'd be furious all right, but Lucius didn't care. Why did he possess a portkey? And why would he keep it in his office? What would Severus be doing here?  He shivered and wished he hadn't taken his coat of. He looked around if he could find the answer to that last question. Perhaps it's just for ingredients. He said he was working on a potion. That seemed unlikely. The snow came almost to his knees, nothing would survive in this weather. Not even me.

Severus was holding the pensieve as if it was a crystal ball. With the difference that it didn't show him the future, but the present of one man. He had enjoyed the panic in his eyes when he realised he magic didn't work. Of course there was no spell that could strip a man from his magical abilities. The good thing was, you could let him think it. The only reason Lucius couldn't perform magic was the fact that he thought he couldn't perform magic. He couldn't feel the magic inside of him.

The pensieve didn't contain his normal memories. It contained the world. Of course, not the real world, but the subjective observation of the world as Severus saw it. He hadn't seen the whole world, then again, neither had Lucius. He had visited the most awful places he could think of, just to able to put it in his pensieve. The Himalayas was only one of them. When you had your magic, it was actually a wonderful place. Very quiet, very peaceful.

It wasn't his intention to let Lucius freeze to death. That would spoil all the fun. Not to mention that all of his work would be for nothing. It time to switch. Perhaps he would like some….company.

Lucius felt a subtle change. Perhaps that was just my  imagination. He heard voices, very distant, but at the same time very near. The temperature seemed to rise and he saw that the snow was melting. No, not melting; it was disappearing. I'm already losing my mind. He felt pressure against his body, but before he could look what it was, it was gone already. The snow was now completely gone. He could smell something too. Unpleasant, but gone before he could recognize it. Beneath it there was no grass as he'd expected, but some kind of metal. The mountains were gone. The voices were louder and he became aware of the vibrating of the floor beneath him. The pressure was back. It was everywhere around him. The voices were almost shouting in his ear. The people around didn't seem to notice him. Why were all those people so close together. Why didn't they just move. He found the answer to the last question. The didn't move because they couldn't. He appeared to be in a metal cage, which contained so many people it looked like matches in a matchbox. The people around him didn't look concerned. Apparently this was normal to muggles. Strange creatures, those muggles. If everybody would stop shouting at each other, it would be sufficient to whisper and it wouldn't make me deaf.

How did he get here? He couldn't have apparated, he knew that for sure. From one minute to the next he moved from the middle of nowhere, to the middle of somewhere and he didn't know which one he preferred. Sure it wasn't cold in here. But the smell of old sweat didn't appeal to him. He turned a little and located the source. A tall, fat man, was holding on to a some kind of handle that was connected to the ceiling. The man was sweating heavily and the place under his arm was as wet as his forehead. Lucius swallowed from nausea and turned back. He had the feeling a comment on the man wasn't going to improve his health. You shouldn't insult a dumb looking big muggle. Suddenly he fell to the right. We are moving. That explained the vibrating floor. He looked closer and saw pieces of plastic in the metal wall, that must have been windows. He couldn't see through it though. They appeared to be underground and even if they weren't, the windows were really dirty. The windows seemed to have lost their function.  The muggle-matchbox slowed down and stopped. It opened and the people walked out. He didn't have much of a choice but to go with the flow.

He didn't know how they did it. But the muggles around them seemed to be able to orientate and knew exactly where they were going. Lucius sighed deep and walked with the crowd. In some kind of hall everyone went in another direction. He was allowed to stand still now. Still nobody seemed to notice him. Strange, he thought. He was used to being recognized by everybody. Children always looked at him with fear in their eyes. Some adults too. Even his own son was often afraid of him. And they were all wizards, these muggles, had they known him, should have fled at the very moment they saw him. But those foolish people didn't recognize danger when it staring them in the face.

Shouldn't the clothes give away something?, he wondered. But when he looked around him, he saw the most bizarre clothes he had ever seen. Bright colours, in awful combinations and not only the clothes but the hair too. Natural colours seemed to be out of the question. He had always been very fashionably sensitive and this place gave him the creeps. Muggle clothing was repulsive to begin with, but this was ridiculous. They used it to make a fool of themselves, not even to cover up intimate places. He saw skirts so short, he wasn't certain it was a skirt or a scarf. Stupid girls, - he refused to see someone who couldn't dress herself properly as a woman - they didn't seem to realise that they weren't wearing much more than a bra. Sometimes the shoulders and arms were covered by a blouse, but that blouse looked as if it belonged to an eight year old

In a normal situation he wouldn't have mind about it. The clothes were awful, but the more skin a woman showed, the better. But he was out of luck. The beautiful long legs were covered by rainbowcoloured panties and boots with heels so high it was a miracle that they were capable of walking. The ones who were sensible enough to dress in black found it necessary to paint their face in black and white as well. Everywhere he looked the beauty of naked skin was polluted, by tattoos, not unlike his Dark Mark, or by silver pins through eyebrows, noses, ears and….bellybuttons. He had seen it before in the ears of mudbloods when they came to Hogwarts. He thought it was some kind of tag, with the intention that the parents can separate their own kids from others. None of them looked very happy. Perhaps it was an instrument to punish people, he thought with a wry smile and decided to walk on, before they did notice him because he had the strong feeling that in that case the unhappiness would be contagious.

Severus had known that this image would shock Lucius. He was always complaining about his looks and always telling Severus he should do something about his greasy hair. Severus had never been vain. He was a scientist, he didn't need to be handsome, not would he ever be, even if he cared. By the way, he was a young professor at a highschool. Being pretty would only get him into trouble. The same for being nice.

But even with his foul moods and crooky nose he had handled a few schoolgirl crushes. They were always mesmerized by his voice and found him mysterious. Why is mysterious so hot? His eyes were so dark that they drowned in it, but keeping his eyes closed during class would be a disaster for dungeons, with all those dunderheads. The stupidest thing was, it always seemed to be the brighter girls who 'fell in love with him' as they dared to put it. They found his interest in potions fascinating and were intrigued by all his knowledge. They would give anything in  the world to have a boyfriend with a mind as his own. He couldn't even punish those girls with detention, for they'd think it was a date.

Lucius would love the attention of a schoolgirl, even if it was his son's girlfriend. The poor girl would probably die in the adventure, but that would only turn him on even more

He decided that a little change would make Lucius's trip a lot more interesting. Not only had he put some memories in this pensieve, also added were his fantasies and dreams. Imagination is a very powerful tool. Reality is not as real as it may seem.

Lucius felt the change and foun himself back in Severus's office.

"Thank god, I don't know what it was, but that portkey or pensieve thingy brought in a very odd situation, Severus"

But Severus was not present. Lucius noticed that the office was empty, perhaps his observation of time had been different and Severus hadn't even discovered he was gone. He decided to check the lab. When he approached it, he heard sounds coming from the lab. Two voices talking. One voice was very obvious from Severus, but the other was unfamiliar. It was female.That's odd, Severus and talking to a female?

Perhaps he was just talking to student who had been given detention. That was the only reason he would like to teach. To hand out detentions.

He entered the lab silently. He ducked quickly under the workbench when he saw the two people. Isn't that the mudblood friend of that Potter boy? Severus was talking with –what was her name? He moved closer to hear what they were talking about. Why are they standing so close together? When he looked closer he saw she was holding his hands, very tender. Severus's face was more relaxed than he had ever seen. It made him look younger, he noticed absentmindedly.

"Please, Severus, give me chance"

Why is a student calling him by his first name?

"No, it's too dangerous"

"I don't' care. I'm willing to sacrifice everything for you. I love you, Severus"

Stupid woman, as if Severus would ever…

"I love you too, Hermione"

"W.." He stiffled his cry. He wanted to scream but he couldn't. He couldn't even move. Severus had a lover? Lucius smirked. He looked again and noticed that the two were passionately kissing each other. She moaned under his touch. She even dared to start unbutton his robes.He won't allow her to do that. But he moaned in return and embraced her even tighter. He put his hands under her robes.

"Oh Severus" she begged. She couldn't say much more, because Severus had captured her mouth again. Lucius didn't know what was worse: the fact that he thought he knew Severus and now he appears to be completely different, or his bad taste in girls. The girl wasn't exactly gorgeous and of course she was a mudblood.

He said he loves her? No, this can't be. Of course even Severus has to get laid. He put her under the Imperius-curse, uses this Mudblood and obliviates her afterwards. Easy enough. I should have tought about a carreer in teaching…

The student and her teacher were still in each others arms. Lucius could see the lust in their eyes.

This can't be Imperio. Lucius was more stunned than even Voldemorts magic could ever accomplish. When she started to undress Severus, Lucius decided to turn around and walk out again. This was wonderful information, but disgusting to watch. He was going to give 'blackmail' a whole new definition…

How did he get home? He couldn't remember. He must have been so caught up in his own thoughts that he didn't even realise that he had apparated home.

"Narcissa, my darling, how are you this afternoon?"

"Ohw, now I'm your darling again?"

This was bad, this was very bad. As far as he knew, he hadn't done anything wrong. They didn't fight that morning, did they? No, he would have remembered that. Good fights in the morning usually meant very enjoyable evenings. He smirked and looked at her.

"I'm sorry, love, but I don't know what you're talking about." He used his softest voice, only used to convince people of his good intentions. Of course his intentions were always good. For him.

"Of course you don't. Your mind seems to be perforated. Every problem you have that you can't solve, you simply ignore."

True, very true. She finally figured that out.

"But honey, honestly, I don't have a clue…"

"You never do. Which, in this case, is entirely your own problem. One that DOES exist and, unfortunately for you, is UNsolvable." She shouted, that alone was highly unusual, but the most frightening thing was that she looked him in the eyes and hadn't blinked the entire time. Lucius wished for a moment he could think faster. He knew what was coming, but didn't dare to ask it, but he had to, because if he didn't she would think he didn't pay attention to her speech, which would probably result in facial damage. He sighed

"What are you saying?"  the actual question was if he had asked the right question.

"I. Am. Leaving. You." Every word was emphasized by her indexfinger pointing at him.

"Fine" he said, but he felt anything but fine. A man in his position couldn't affort to be left by his wife. It was a disgrace for a Pureblood to get divorced, but this was worse, this would mean the end of his carreer, the end of his power, the end of his influence.

But there were solutions, even Narcissa would know that. A simple Imperio would do the trick, so that he could leave her, or, perhaps even file a divorce. Taking time was necessary, remaining cool was essential. And of course he could kill her and simply make the problem inexistent.

Without hesitation, following his usual routine, he drew his wand gracefully, expecting to find his wife surprised. She looked even more relaxed when he did so.

"Go ahead," she said, imitating his smirk, "try Imperio. I've been married to you long enough to know how you think."

Do you? He quickly changed his plans. She wanted to play? Go ahead, my love.

"Crucio."

He casted it with his usual coldness. Her smirk remained. She didn't blink once and simply continued staring in his eyes as the curse bounced off. How did she do that?  Protego wasn't strong enough. No potion would work, nobody could resist this curse, not even he could. Well, there was always one Unforgivable left, although he didn't want to use it now, she had left him no choice.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Damn it he had lost the control over his voice. She started laughing, the curse had no effect at all.

"You must have figured by now, that I'm under some kind of protection even you don't know about. Too bad. Perhaps you aren't as close to the Dark Lord as you thought you were. Have a nice life." With those words she left the room and him speechless.

A/N:

My muse and I had a discussion last evening. She refused to help me finish this story, unless I (or she as she puts it) have fans, who scream for more of this. I have already written half of the next chapter, but I really need my muse to help me with that, so please R&R

The theory isn't mine. I got it from my metaphysics teacher .The idea is from the philosopher Hillary Putnam – Brains in a vat. She thought that the world as we see it, could be not the real world, but a virtual world, created by an evil scientist. Yes, that story has many similarities with the matrix and I used some quotes from  in reloaded. However, I thought Severus would like the idea of being the evil scientist in this story. The spell that made Lucius think he was a muggle, although Severus couldn't strip him from his powers, is an idea I got from wizard's rules from Terry Goodkind.

Anything else you recognize  is either not mine, or a pure coincidence.

Q0BrA

Reality is not as real as it may seem, but fiction may be not so fictive….