As ever, standard disclaimers apply.
That evening saw another meeting of the Order of the Phoenix. Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Minerva McGonagall had arrived early partly to give Molly a hand with getting things organized. They knew she would insist on feeding everyone and at least Tonks felt a little bit guilty at all the extra preparation that would entail. The Transfiguration professor had no guilty feelings to bother with. She merely felt it was the right thing to do. Besides, she was set already with her class preparations, not having made any changes to her syllabus this year.
Arthur Weasley returned from the Ministry looking even more weary than usual. He went straight to his and Molly's bedroom to change out of his work robes and into more comfortable attire. Purely out of curiosity, he peeked into Snape's room. As usual, the door was ajar. The recuperating Potions Master was, for the moment, on his own, propped against some pillows so that he was very nearly sitting up. His face was turned slightly away, toward the single window in the room. Molly had used a cleaning spell to get it mostly clear.
Arthur slipped into the room and stood quietly, watching the other man who clearly had no idea that he was no longer alone. He edged further inside and then simply sat down on the plump wing back chair beside the bed. He cleared his throat but there was no response. "I say... Severus?" He reached out to gingerly lay a hand on the other's arm. More than likely it was this lingering but non-intrusive touch that finally reached through.
The head turned and the dark eyes were brought to bear on the red headed man's visage. Snape's face slowly developed a frown. The longer he gazed at the other man's short red hair, the deeper the frown became. It was a frown not borne of anger or fear, but rather quite clearly of befuddlement.
Arthur frowned back. "Have they left you alone long?" He asked.
"A-alone..." The weak raspy voice repeated carefully. "Other... W-where?"
"Dear me. I'm not quite sure I know what you are asking. Do you mean Molly? Are you wondering where Molly has got to? She's down in the kitchen." But that didn't seem to make any sense to Snape. Arthur sighed and patted his arm. "Sleep, Severus. That's what you need. It's only been four days, and I daresay you've got a bit of recovering to do yet."
The dark eyed wizard balked all of a sudden. "No," he rasped. "No."
"Are you thirsty then? Hungry?"
"P-please, stop..."
Arthur's frown deepened. "Stop what Severus? Tell me what you want stopped." He coaxed quietly.
The dark eyes became haunted. "Other. She."
Arthur's lips tightened against any expression at the futility of this lopsided conversation. "Severus, I--" Snape's expression was changing again! He was losing the haunted look, but not in favor of anything better. Rather, he was turning inward! Weasley yanked the covers away from the other man's left arm. As he expected and feared, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was summoning the Potions Master, and as before, the spy was removing himself from all awareness. "Snape!" He grabbed Snape's face, forcing him to meet his own lighter colored eyes. "Look at me! You do not want to do this! You are stronger than this! Severus Snape you are stronger than this!"
Awareness returned. Or something akin to awareness, anyway. "I am not Brandon," Snape gasped forcefully. "I... am not..." A frown carved lines into the disturbed face. "...not..." A deep groan overwhelmed any more the wizard might have said and he tried to curl around his arm.
Arthur released him then. It was awful to see another human being in such agony. But it was better than watching the man retreat into his own deeply troubled and unreachable mind.
Snape forcibly pulled himself out of the instinctively protective pose. He brought his legs over the side of the bed and pushed himself onto his feet, swaying dangerously. Arthur got to his feet in swift response. But held back from restraining the other wizard just yet. "Severus," he spoke softly, barely louder than a whisper, "Where are you going?"
The answer took a long time in coming, during which the ill wizard barely maintained his stance. "I do not know." He said at last.
"Who is calling you?"
Another long wait before the second, equally befuddled, "I do not know."
"Then perhaps you ought not go."
"Yes. Is it the Other? Is it... She?"
Arthur sighed morosely. "I'm afraid it is someone worse. Come now, sit down. Is your arm still hurting?" He could see the Dark Mark still black and inflamed all around and didn't really need the answering nod. A knock on the door startled him.
"Arthur?" Molly's voice wavered at the odd scene of her husband gently coaxing the much more frightening (some would swear Dark) wizard like some pliant child or elderly relation into the plush chair.
"He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is calling him again. One would think he'd get tired of receiving no response by now! D'you think he knows Snape's been recovered?"
Molly shrugged expressively as she moved into the room. "Albus might know that. I'll stay with him while you join the others, Love. Everyone's here. Don't let that Fletcher light up his pipe in the house." She looked over at Snape who was now bent over his left arm which he had held protectively against his chest.
"I've not put a binding spell on him but for the moment he seems willing to be convinced not to wander. Not that he's at all steady on his feet."
We will be fine, Love." Molly reassured almost convincingly. Arthur leaned in to give Molly a kiss on the cheek then went down to join the meeting in the kitchen.
He found the meeting in some slight disarray. Albus was speaking quietly with Ron and Harry and Ginny. The three children nodded and giving the merry-eyed old wizard a shared knowing look, left the kitchen without complaint. Arthur took a seat near his other sons, Bill and the Twins. Charlie, of course, was in Romania.
Tonks smiled briefly. Mad-Eye was scowling.
"We have several topics to cover, this evening." Dumbledore began in his usual calm smooth tones.
"Albus, Severus is being summoned again." Arthur didn't quite interrupt.
The Headmaster looked up thoughtfully at the head of the Weasley clan. "Now?"
"At this very moment. At first he almost did what it was he did before, but I spoke to him and that seemed to hold him here. Then he got up as if to answer the summons--"
"Ha!" Moody snorted knowingly. But Arthur spoke over him as if he'd not made any sound.
"... But he really had no idea what he was doing and when I asked and he couldn't answer, I was able to keep him from trying to leave."
"So he is aware of things?" Bill asked.
"He is aware of a direct question, at least."
"Exactly what did you ask him, Arthur?" came from Remus.
"I asked him where he was going. He stopped and said that he did not know. Albus, Molly worries that You-Know-Who knows that he's not quite missing any more."
The white bearded wizard shook his head. "I shouldn't think so. We haven't told anyone that he's been found and the only people who would have known that he'd been lost in the Muggle world in the first place would be Muggle-borns. I do not believe he would know any more than that Severus is in some Muggle establishment."
"If he thinks that, wouldn't he think that we'd be trying to get him back?" Remus offered.
"Indeed, I should think that quite likely."
"Then we should expect what? That he'll try to watch us?" Moody snarled. "We already assume he tries to do that and we have security measures established against it. Of course we can always improve them!"
"Constant Vigi-" Tonks whispered resisting the temptation to roll her eyes but broke off when Kingsley gave her a mostly gentle jab in the ribs. On her other side, and amused Mundungus Fletcher choked off a guffaw.
"So far he has not acted except to make his summons. But so far as I can discern, the summons have been general, not for Severus in particular."
"Which no doubt means that even as we sit here speaking ever so calmly, he's out there terrorizing someone." Bill huffed angrily.
Albus pinned him with a stricken look. "I fear it does that, Bill." He understood the angry frustration that flashed in the young wizard's face. A young man whose future might have been bright if not for a war that would no doubt tear the wizarding world apart before it was over.
"Without our spy, we've not had much in the way of warnings," Mundungus reminded everyone. "What did that Muggle blood business turn up?"
McGonagall shook her head and spoke up in answer. "Apparently Severus has been given strange experimental draughts clearly meant to confuse him. There is no telling why, of course. Nor why he was left at that Muggle hospital nor, of course, who left him there. It does seem, however, that a significant number of these concoctions are nothing remotely standard."
Mad-Eye made a harumphing sound. "Well, they either succeeding spectacularly or failed miserably. Can't tell the difference from here. We need inside information. Snape at least gave us some of that, even if I don't believe most of what he spouts. We can't afford to waste any more time on him."
Albus shot a disappointed glare at the old ex-Auror. "I do not consider anything we can do to help Severus as a waste of time. But we must," he looked pointedly at the Transfigurations professor, "indeed, focus on our present circumstances."
"The Dark Lord is making more and more ludicrous attacks, sir." Kingsley offered. "They don't seem well planned. They certainly aren't very effective--"
"Except people are still dying!" Bill shouted angrily and George, sitting next to him, reached out as if to restrain him from jumping up.
"We've managed to convince the Ministry to put Aurors on guard duty in areas where we think he might attack." Kingsley replied as if the outburst had been only the most mild of objections. "But we are stretched thin. Fudge wants most of us at the Ministry and at his home. Still, there's a decent sized contingent near and about Ottery St. Catchpole. Since there's still quite a number of his... detractors there."
"I myself don't think he'd attack there so soon." Arthur mused. "I think he'd rather expect us to expect it. You see."
"He's mad. There's no telling what a madman will do next." Mundungus offered simply. "I don't mind saying that I'm not comfortable with how things are going."
"What does that mean?" Bill snarled.
"It means nothing more nor less than what it is. Albus, have you heard anything from the giants?"
"Some will support us. Most will remain neutral. They trust none of us all that well."
"Well, given that You-Know-Who is undoubtedly up to something this evening, I think that unless there's anything productive to be said, we end this meeting and go out and see if we can't do someone some good somewhere."
"Very well, Alastor." Dumbledore acquiesced. "I rather think we've gone over everything we could have this evening."
--
He knew he wasn't alone anymore. He wasn't quite sure when this condition of his universe had changed but he was certain it had not been a sudden change. No, this change had crept up upon him like a raising sun warming slowly warming a cool morning after a long night. Nor had it been constant. Sometimes he was alone and sometimes he was not.
He had been alone and then he was not. He looked as hard at the Man as he could, taking in mainly the flame colored hair thinly distributed upon his scalp. Perhaps he wasn't real, though. If he disappeared he could not be real. Of course when he heard a Voice and saw that the man's lips moved, he was less convinced that all was imagination and more hopeful that he was not Alone. Especially because the Man said that word with him. He repeated it back just to make sure that it was not his own voice he was mistakenly hearing. "A-alone..."
It was not his own voice. Did this Man know where She was? Could he warn him? "Other," he gasped unable to form the words in his throat, unable to get them from thought to voice. "W-where?" he insisted.
But then came a sort of betrayal. Sleep, the Man ordered. But Sleep was Dreams and Death and he was afraid. "No." He said. And then because he felt he should insist, he said it again and firmly, "No." And then, because the Man's face did not frighten and he hoped for an ally, he asked him to stop the torture and the nightmares. But only two words did make it out. "Please, stop."
And then a miracle. The Man asked him what he should stop instead of merely abandoning him. He wanted to tell him, he tried. But words deserted him, she took them! "Other," he croaked, despairing of ever making the Man understand. "She..."
But then he did tempt her wrath for the Pain engulfed him. It began at his left in his arm and quickly, so quickly, tore all through him. He had to hide! He tried to hide!
The Man trapped him, yelling from so far away, insisting with words and desperate sounds. He sang of strength. I have no strength. The man called him and called him and...
He could not hide. "I am not Brandon," he ground out in defiance even as the agony wracked his entire soul with flame. "I am not... not..."
The pain bid him to rise. And so he did because it was better to obey than to ignore.
The pain told him to come. And so he...
"Severus, where are you going?" the gentle interrogator asked.
He felt the words flow now. He knew the answer to this question. "I do not know," he replied truthfully.
"Who is calling you?"
He thought about this. In truth he did not know. Was it not She? "I do not know," he said again.
"Then perhaps you ought not go."
"Yes," he agreed amicably. And then thought to ask, (for if the Man did not know, who did?) "Is it the Other? Is it... She?"
The response that returned was troubling. "I'm afraid it is someone worse." The Man said more words and then kindly asked if his arm still hurt. It did so he nodded. He was sitting now, in a large, plush comfortable chair that felt like the embrace of a warmth he'd not so much experienced but dreamt of. Another Voice joined the Man's and then he thought he was Alone again.
But then the Tea Lady moved into his vision and she smiled her warm comforting smile and he didn't mind that the Man had left. "I am not Brandon," he told her.
"I know," she said and then she took his arm and as she did he looked down and saw the horrible dark brand slowly fading. "Does it still hurt?"
It did so he nodded and tried to pull his arm away. She released him and he cradled it against his chest. "Who am I?" He finally thought to ask.
"You are Severus Snape," she told him.
It felt right so he nodded.