Chapter 5

Severus gave a groan and wanted to curse, but the gag more than courtesy's sake prevented him from doing so.

"Uncomfortable, aren't we now?"

Severus opened his eyes to find himself in one of the finest rooms he had ever seen. It reeked of wealth. There was a good deal of large furniture and an impressive coat-of-arms hanging on one of the walls. There was something… strange about the room though. Severus could not put his finger on it. Maybe it had something to do with the room containing a damn fine array of torture instruments that would leave anyone with an imagination to wet himself in his trousers. Then, his eyes a little more focussed, he glared at the two men lounging on the sofas while he was lying flat on the carpeted floor. One of them, he had seen before. He was the bastard who did the fancy tricks in Daniel's. On closer inspection, Severus saw a scar running diagonally across his face. The other one seemed to be more at ease with his surroundings and was twirling a stick in his hand. He looked even more arrogant and Severus disliked him immediately.

"Dear me, I think he's trying to talk," the latter started saying.

"Not making a very good attempt."

"Perhaps we should relieve him of his inhibitions."

When the ropes that tied his limbs together and the gag were removed without both men even leaving their seats, the two captors were attacked with a barrage of impolite words.

"Yes," Stickman winced, "I forgot he was not born into a noble family like we were. Uncouth. But I thought the men reported him as being of an… amiable nature when he was a Muggle." Stickman received an incredulous look from Scarface, "Yes. Amicability doesn't suit him, does it? Again with the hidden depths Severus!"

"Amazing." Scarface commented, "I don't know half of what he's said."

"Believe me. You don't want to know what they mean. It seems he's learnt even more words from those Muggles." Stickman sighed, as if disappointed. "Severus, you really should stop."

"Who the hell are you people?" Severus demanded. He did not attempt to escape, knowing the futility of it and only stood up to face them down.

"You can't remember us?" But there was no hint of surprise in that voice.

"No! I've bloody lost my memory!" And I think I'm grateful for it.

"No. You have not." Stickman stood up and walked towards Severus. Severus could actually detect sympathy in his voice when Stickman next said, "My apologies for your predicament Severus. The memory has merely been suppressed. You can't have known that of course. Now we're going to let you suffer by returning your memory to you. You have wounded us very much and must pay the price."

Severus flinched when Stickman pointed his stick to his head. His eyes widened when Stickman muttered some words and sparks flew off the tip of the stick.

"Don't struggle Severus. It'll only give you a bigger headache."

What followed was confusion. Severus's mind spun too many rounds and Severus felt like vomiting. There was blackness and time did not exist. Then Severus remembered. He felt thoroughly sick because his mind instantly took on two different planes. Snape the greasy git with the memory of all that he was and Sev the pianist with the memory of only one year, but both equally real and part of Severus. The two parts clashed and Severus swayed under the collision. Both were trying to get the upper hand and were losing. As a result, Severus's first sentence after recovering his memory was something of a grudging compromise between the two. "Lucius. You bastard." Not as sarcastic as Snape, and not as coarse as Sev (or as Sev usually was), but it reflected both their sentiment.

"Welcome back Severus," his once-ally grinned.

He remembered everything, his life, the wizard he was, Death-Eaters, Hogwarts, war… Sev recoiled from it.

"This is not good…" Severus began but then he remembered something else and he smiled triumphantly. "We won, didn't we?"

"I beg your pardon?" But it was clear that Lucius knew what he meant.

"Potter destroyed the Dark Lord. We won. I saw Dumbledore. I saw…" Severus nearly bit his tongue as his mind grounded to a halt. Sev was currently beating Snape for being callous towards Hermione when she was a student.

Merlin, did I really want to… This time, Sev blushed and Snape glowered in annoyance.

"Quite so. Did you enjoy the company of Potter's Mudblood?"

"I don't have to take any ruddy cheek from you Lucius. We won, that's what matters." Severus smiled. He lifted his sleeve to see the unblemished skin on his arm. There was no hint that a Mark had once existed there. "He really is gone."

"But not, as you see, his servants." Lucius said testily.

"Where's my wand?"

"We kept it for old times' sake Severus. No, of course we destroyed it."

Severus shrugged. His head felt clearer now, and he realised what it was that was wrong with their surroundings. For such a beautiful room, it lacked windows.

"We are underground, aren't we?"

"Quite right. The Malfoy mansion above us is empty now and everyone believes I've deserted this place."

"The most dangerous spot is the safest spot, eh?" Severus asked blandly, "You're living well for a refugee."

He was pleased to see that he had hit a raw nerve. He turned to the third man in the room, "Hello Loviet."

Loviet scowled back. He was not a prominent figure among the Death-Eaters but he proved to be extremely talented in the torture department and the Dark Lord had made full use of him.

"And how are the others?" Severus asked conversationally.

"Many are in Azkaban." Lucius replied curtly.

"Then why this?" Severus asked, "Why the elaborate plan to seek me out…" He paused to recollect the facts. "I was fighting Pettigrew and I got blasted into some place. No doubt you found me and did the Memory Charm on me. Then you brought me to London and Dumbledore found me. As far as I'm concerned the arrangement did you no good. You let me live and I didn't suffer at all."

"You're right. It didn't turn out quite the way we had hoped. And now we've decided you were enjoying life too much." Lucius did not tell Severus about how they realised that with the intrusion of Granger, the wizarding world would soon catch up. This was the only chance they had left to get rid of Severus.

"Well, it's not the way I want to die, but it'll do." Severus said. Secretly, he knew he was bluffing. When he was Snape, life held no particular value. He only survived to work against the Dark Lord. During his year as Sev however, he had learnt in one year what he had missed in his entire life as Snape. Life was something to look forward to. Company was something warm and appreciated. Now he wished he could thank Dumbledore. He wished he could see what those dunderheads he had taught were up to these days.

Loviet interrupted his thoughts, "I told you we should have killed him long ago."

Lucius nodded, "Patience. It is not too late now." He bowed to Loviet, "Would you like to do the honours?"

First, it was long, shallow cuts across the body and Severus grimaced to see his blood flowing freely. Next came the punches. He both felt and heard a few bones break. Loviet watched as Severus staggered and cursed him with Crucio.

"You always had a mean hand with your blasted wand, Loviet." Severus murmured, trying not to scream, trying to face death with dignity.

He did not fight back. It was useless. It would aggravate Loviet further and Lucius was beside him, waiting for Severus to retaliate.

Hours ago, he had still been Sev the Muggle pianist, content with working in a restaurant everyday. Happy with a simple life. Hell, he was even looking forward to seeing Hermione, he would grant himself that.

This is how it's going to end? Just like that? I haven't even seen what the wizarding world has become.

But things took another turn when the doors opened and six familiar friends rushed in.

"Ah. The Calvary." Severus chuckled, as though he had expected them all along. He promptly fell backward and rested on the floor, too weak to move further.

Lucius and Loviet were no match against four opponents. Four, because Hermione had rushed to Severus's aid while Dumbledore had chosen to become fascinated with the paintings.

Seeing Severus covered in blood and motionless, Hermione whispered his name in fear.

Hearing his name called, Severus opened his eyes. "Hello kid."

Then he slipped into the dream realm.

~***~

When Hermione found out through Crookshanks's help that former Death-Eaters had something to do with Severus's disappearance, she rushed back to Hogwarts to look for Dumbledore. He was in his office with McGonagall at the time, sipping tea and brushing bread-crumbs from his beard.

"Ah, it's foe then." He said matter-of-factly when he saw Hermione's expression. "Minerva, be so kind as to inform Harry, Neville, Remus and Alastor that we require their assistance."

"Do they know too?" Hermione demanded as McGonagall walked out.

"Not yet." Dumbledore said. "But it is such a fortunate coincidence that I've invited them to stay for dinner don't you think?"

Hermione scowled but not wishing to waste time, she told Dumbledore of the attack in Daniel's.

"Really. It is not like Lucius Malfoy to be impulsive. He's slipping. But then, he has made some unwise decisions before."

When McGonagall came back with the four men, Dumbledore explained the situation to them. Surprisingly, they absorbed the information without much adverse reaction.

Even Dumbledore had to comment, "You are taking this very well I am heartened to see."

Harry was not surprised, knowing Hermione's feelings for Severus. Remus and Neville were always the stoical sort who understood what was important. But Alastor could not refrain from saying. "I'll see that that…" Seeing McGonagall's warning glance, he swallowed the profanity he wanted to say and substituted it with something less offensive with admirable swiftness. "… brainless twit is rescued. Then I'll settle scores with him."

"Thank you Alastor."

"But Headmaster," Neville quipped, "We don't know where they are."

"I do."

"How?"

"Why, by understanding the enemy. A Malfoy will not leave his house, no matter what. Family pride you know. There is a certain romanticism in that… Excuse my meandering thought… There were reports of vagabonds using the mansion as shelter. But no one bothers to check details. I had to ask Professor McGonagall to spy on the mansion as an Animagus."

"But we've searched his place before." Harry said. "And we made sure there was nothing left inside the house."

"Have you checked under it?"

There was a pause.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Moody growled in irritation.

Dumbledore shrugged. "I have my reasons." He stared at them. "One of them being that I am selfish."

He glanced at Hermione and she understood what he meant.

He knew. Or at least, he suspected Malfoy had something to do with Severus. Memory Charms always are tricky things. If Malfoy is imprisoned, who knows what will happen to his constitution in Azkaban. And his wand will be confiscated. Only the caster can safely lift a Memory spell he's cast. But Dumbledore doesn't want Severus to recover his memory. Not so soon anyway. Until now.

"All right all right Albus. We should be going." Moody gave in. "Never thought I'd have to save Snape's hide."

Dumbledore led the way and they found Malfoy's hide-away with ease.

~***~

Harry collected Loviet's and Malfoy's wands and was about to break them when Dumbledore stopped him. "We may need them Harry. We still don't know whether they've lifted the Memory Charm. And Professor Snape is not conscious to tell us."

Harry said, "But they must have Professor. They'll want Snape to know why they're killing him."

"Logical Harry, logical of course. But let us be careful." Dumbledore pressed his hand on the paintings one by one before he reached one that glided to the side under his touch. "Ah. Here's what we're looking for. The correspondence to those Death-Eaters who've escaped from the war. Do you remember Harry, that all of you were searching the mansion above and stumbled across a secret panel in the study but there was nothing in the hole behind it? The layout of this whole underground is similar to that above. My compliments, Mr. Malfoy. Your family had a wonderful architect."

Malfoy, having been Petrified, could not respond.

"Are we ready Hermione?" Harry turned to Hermione.

"Yes." Together with Lupin, Hermione placed Severus on a tablecloth that had been Transfigured into a stretcher.

Relieved that all had gone remarkably well, they went back to Hogwarts.

~***~

A/N

Many apologies for the long spell of lack of updates. I had exams and campus life turned out to be busier than I thought.