"Severus, where are you? Come on, this isn't funny." Alex hurried down stone corridors and up endless flights of stairs. The damn stairs keep switching, she thought frantically. "Severus!" she called again. Panicking, she started to run. The oil portraits on the walls sneered at her as she went by. Alex started up yet another series of stone steps. Two flights...three... still she ran, her breath sobbing in her throat. The flight she was on began to rotate ponderously. Damn it, no! How will I find him if the stairs keep switching? She nearly lost her footing as the rotation sped up. Faster and faster the stairs spun, pitching wildly. Alex clung to the banister. It crumbled to dust under her hands. She screamed as she was thrown off the steps, spiraling helplessly down the endless stairwell.

Rough hands grabbed her arms, pulled her out of the nightmare. "Wake up. It's just a dream. Come on, wake up." Shaking, she managed to focus on Mad-Eye Moody. He released her. "There, that's better." It was morning. The curtains were pulled back, flooding the bedroom with light. Moody stumped out of the room. Stumbling, rubbing her eyes, Alex followed him into the sitting room. Moody's sneakoscope and several other Dark Arts detectors sat on the table. Lupin was seated in one of the upholstered antique chairs, staring intently into the pensieve. Moody tapped him on the shoulder, bringing him back to the present. "Sleeping Beauty's awake."

Alex slumped into a chair. Moody pressed a mug of coffee into her hands. "What's going on?" she asked worriedly. "Severus...he came back, didn't he?" She set the coffee aside, untouched.

Remus shook his head. "No. It's been about two hours. You haven't dreamed anything more?"

Intent on checking the emerald pendant, Alex didn't answer. She held the gem up. Even with the morning sunlight shining through it, it was nearly black. "Is that a life gem?" queried Moody. "Snape's still alive, then. They shatter when the life force they're keyed to ends."

"Where the hell is he?"

Lupin shook his head. "We don't think he disapparated. He would have been too weak from the Cruciatus curses to go completely out of range of your link with him."

"Thought he might have splinched himself," Mad-Eye said in his gruff voice. "He was in a bad way. But there've been no reports of splinchings."

"So where is he?" Alex repeated desperately. "Where was the meeting? Can the location be plotted?"

"It was a construction site," Remus told her. "That's all we know. I'm sorry-"

"Didn't he go outside?" Alex interrupted. "There must have been some light, something to give an idea where he was."

"Remus can't create details that weren't there," Moody snapped. "You're the one who had the vision, you ought to know it was too vague-"

"Watch it, asshole-"

"She doesn't remember," Remus explained, cutting them both off before an argument could erupt. "She's not a trained Seer, Mad-Eye. The visions are dream-like, they begin to fade from memory as soon as Alex awakens." He indicated the pensieve. "That's why we use this. Alex, you can take your memories back now, if you want to."

Stay calm. There's got to be something... "How about a real Seer? Could Professor Trelawney help?" Alex asked.

Moody snorted and Lupin shook his head. "But what about Hestia?" he asked Mad-Eye keenly.

"Hestia Jones? Her talent for divination is sporadic, at best. Besides, it's vital that she stay at her post." Moody narrowed his mismatched eyes at Alex suspiciously for a moment. Then he brightened. "Snape took a beating with those crucios," he told her. "Could be he's just passed out, face-down in the mud. What?" he asked defensively when Lupin shushed him. "I was just trying to give an encouraging word."

Alex glared at him, then turned away. She took several deep breaths, trying to calm the pounding of her heart. "Let's try again," she said.

For a long while, there was nothing but the same featureless blackness. They tried three times with no change. "At least try to eat a little breakfast," Remus insisted. Alex managed to choke down a slice of toast. It tasted like ashes in her mouth. The fourth time Remus put her into the trance state, there was light.

-----

"Wakey wakey, little sleepy-head," said a falsely sweet, babyish voice. The vision flickered, then focused. A partial view of a pale face. Snape cocked his head to one side and more features became evident. Dark hair with a streak of white. Full lips. High, gaunt cheekbones. Dark, heavy-lidded eyes, glinting madly.

"Bella." Snape's gaze roved past her to stone walls wreathed in cobwebs, ramshackle wooden steps, a clutter of tools and cast-off furniture. They were in a cellar, Alex realized. As he turned his head farther, she saw he was bound, tied to pipes that ran the length of the wall. "Really, Bella, if you'd wanted to see me, you could have just sent an owl." His voice was casual.

Bellatrix Lestrange laughed. "I'm glad you still have your sense of humor." She ran long-nailed fingers down the side of his face, letting out another throaty laugh as he winced involuntarily. "Traitor," she added, her voice suddenly cold.

"You're not going to keep on about that, are you? I made a mistake." Snape sounded bored. "Enough with the accusations."

"I haven't even begun." Bellatrix leaned closer, her dark eyes glittering. "I've been waiting to get you under my thumb again, Severus. Ever since the aurors blasted through our door to arrest us. I know it was you who betrayed us. You sold us to Dumbledore, in return for his protection. Admit it." Bellatrix glared at Snape, her face inches from his, as though she were trying to use legilimency on him. When he didn't respond, she went on, her low voice furious. "You've been spying for Dumbledore ever since. While my Dark Lord trusts that you are his own spy, reporting on Harry Potter and the goings on at Hogwarts." Spittle flew from her lips. "You traitor. How you've deceived the Dark Lord. Unworthy servant! And now, finally, I can prove it!"

"Azkaban unhinged you, Bella."

"You know nothing of Azkaban, do you, Severus? You became a spy for Dumbledore to escape that fate," she sneered. "Coward! Oh, but you've finally slipped up. It started with Dolohov's recruit, Nicholas Quid. He was captured by the aurors as he left a meeting. And Rookwood and his recruit and two others were captured the same way... the same night you lied to my Lord about McGonagall's murder."

"Try to think clearly, Bella. I was at both of those meetings. How could I have been responsible?"

Bellatrix laughed wildly. "How, indeed. I asked myself that question time and again. How could I blame you?" Her eyes glowed with fanaticism. "I knew you were a spy. I knew it! And finally, I found the answer."

She waved her wand, holding out her free hand. Several photographs flew through the air and stacked themselves neatly on her outstretched palm. The Dark witch held them up one by one for Severus to see. There were photographs of Alex shopping in Diagon Alley, sitting with Severus in the Leaky Cauldron, following Lupin and Kingsley from Nocturne Alley the night she and Lupin were kidnapped.

Merlin's beard, she's been spying on us for months, Alex thought.

Snape tipped his head again. He looked at Bellatrix. "Is there some new rule that Death Eaters have to remain celibate? I'm afraid I didn't get the memorandum."

"Your little girlfriend is a Seer, Severus," Bellatrix said triumphantly. "She's been helping you to spy on every meeting you attend."

"Impossible. Her expertise is in potions. Besides, she's American, not involved with the cause in any way," Severus told her reasonably. "Just as I am neither a spy nor a traitor." His voice became menacing. "You've made a very bad mistake."

"No, Severus. You made the mistake when you decided to betray the Dark Lord. And when your little Seer friend arrives, you'll both find that such mistakes are fatal.

"Poor Bella. Azkaban really did drive you insane. Or perhaps your incarceration just made you phenomenally stupid." Snape's voice was disdainful. "Miss Rose was hired at Hogwarts to help with Potions, not Divination. And even if she could find her way here, why on earth would you expect her to expose herself to danger on my behalf?"

"Because she loves you, Severus," crowed Bellatrix, using her mocking babyish voice. "Your little Seer will come to save you. You can believe that." She leaned close to him again, her eyes and voice suddenly cold once more. "If she doesn't, I admit I'll be disappointed. But either way, Severus, you'll be dead."

"If she does show up here, Bella, you can believe this: I'll kill her myself."