Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own any of J.K. Rowling's charcters, places, or items.

Comments: Alright, I did it - I put Silver's point of view in! I thought it would help to understand her character a bit better, but if it didn't...oh well, consider it a mystery. Lol. Anyhow, enjoy & review!

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Chapter 20 – The Torch, Part 1

Silver's Point of View

Silver heard a small thump and inwardly groaned. It was too early in the morning to be woken up. She opened her eyes, prepared to scold Esperanza, but she froze as she saw what had woken her up. Snape was in the room, his back to her, looking intently through all the Potions books that lined the bookshelf of the room she was staying in. She didn't move a muscle, for some reason not wanting him to know she was awake.

"Good morning," he greeted, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

She frowned. How did he always do that? He seemed to know at any given time exactly what she was thinking and feeling. She supposed it came from being an Occlumens.

"Morning," she replied.

"Sleep well?" he asked, trying to sound as if it were some offhand question.

She grinned. Even if he could read her mind, he certainly didn't succeed when he attempted to act as if she weren't important to him.

"Yes," she replied, "No nightmares."

She watched as his figure relaxed visibly. His hand suddenly shot out toward a navy-colored book. He turned as he pulled it out, and she saw satisfaction in his eyes as he looked at it. She knew it wouldn't be long before he looked up at her, and waited a bit eagerly. Sure enough, his eyes traveled to hers, and she beamed at him. Although he tried to mask it, she could see that he clearly cared for her. It was something she was not used to seeing in anybody's eyes first thing in the morning...or any time of day, for that matter, and it was definitely something she could get used to. After a moment, he turned, shaking his head, and left the room, shutting the door behind him. She wished he wouldn't have left – but then, she knew he couldn't handle being open for very long.

"Esperanza!" she called to her owl, who was soundly sleeping at the foot of her bed, perched on the footboard.

The owl opened it's eyes and hooted sleepily.

"Oh, come on, it's a perfectly beautiful morning, you know you want to stretch your wings," she coaxed as she stepped down onto the hardwood floor. It felt cold against her bare feet, and she quickly rummaged through her things until she found some socks.

Esperanza stubbornly attempted to go back to sleep as she showered and dressed in the bathroom that was joined to her room. She ran a comb through her wet hair and left it to dry – she wasn't going for anything particularly fancy that morning.

"Come on, Esp, you need to get up!" she urged as she made her bed.

Esperanza immediately woke up from his feigned sleep and hooted indignantly.

"I can call you whatever I want," she said, "Especially if it wakes you up, Esp."

She grinned as her owl defiantly turned it's back to her.

"Alright, I'm sorry, Esperanza," she apologized, "I just wanted to get you up!"

She pulled the small bundle into her arms and he snuggled with her contentedly. She carried him to the window and opened it. He gave an excited hoot.

"I told you it was pretty out," she said, gazing out at the mansion's backyard, which was terribly overgrown but overwhelmingly beautiful at the same time.

Her owl flew out the window, and she felt a bit lonesome.

She sighed and walked over to her bedstand, where she picked up her locket and clasped it around her neck.

She opened the door and sighed as she tried to remember where to go. Turn right, she directed herself, And now...left, and then another left, and then...right? Or was it three lefts in a row? She heard whispers and looked up to see two very old men in a portrait looking pointedly at her.

"Could you tell me how to get downstairs from here?" she asked meekly.

"And why would you want to do that?" asked one of them, who was terribly wrinkly.

"Well, because I'm hungry, and the kitchen is downstairs," she explained.

"Oh, you think so, do you?" asked the other.

She nodded.

"She thinks so," the wrinkly one scoffed to the other.

She sighed. "Please, won't you tell me?" she pleaded.

"Under no circumstances do we give directions to the enemy!" the smoother- skinned one yelled down at her.

"No circumstances!" the wrinkly one echoed.

"Oh, shut your trap, you blasted idiots," came a very welcome voice from behind her.

She turned to see Snape walking up, looking at the two portrait-men in rather a frightful way. Immediately the two men straightened up and saluted him.

"As you say, captain!" the wrinkly one said at once.

"We will not argue with orders, sir!" the other one added.

Snape rolled his eyes, and turned to her, the menace suddenly gone.

"Hungry, are you?" he asked as he swept in front of her, showing her the way.

Okay, so it's three lefts in a row, Silver thought, And then another right, and there's the staircase!

"Yes," she admitted as she followed him downstairs.

"You let the owl out?" he asked.

She smiled. She hadn't let Esperanza out her first day there, and he had soared out of her room, his hoots echoing through the halls, and refused to be caught for an hour.

"Of course," she said innocently.

She couldn't see him, but she knew that he was grinning. When they arrived in the dining room, breakfast was on the table, still giving off steam. Snape stood for a moment by his chair, trying to look as if he wasn't expecting anything. She smiled as she walked up and wrapped her arms around him. He hugged her back only halfheartedly, and she glanced around to see who was watching. Only a house-elf. She didn't sigh outwardly, but she felt a bit saddened as she dropped into her chair. Was he really too embarrassed to hug her in front of a silly house-elf? It's not like the stupid elf was going to go out and announce it to the world. She met his eye as she looked up, and saw his silent apology. She smiled at him reassuringly and began to eat her breakfast.

Truthfully, she missed her friends, and the others in the Order whom she had befriended while they were there on 'guard duty'. She knew that she loved Snape, but it was so hard to get him to show the affection she knew he felt for her. She thrived on positive attention – she had ever since she had learned that it existed. True, when Dumbledore had come to tutor her, she had suspected he might be a bit friendly, but she had thought that he was merely a Light wizard – someone whose job was to defeat Death Eaters. When she had learned that he actually cared about her well-being, she had been both astounded and suspicious. But as time went on, and he continued to mentor her, she found herself unwillingly opening herself up more and more, and discovering that it was a relief to do so. Anyone who Dumbledore told her she could trust, she did – with the exception of most women. She blamed her mother for her prejudice against the female population, but with the exception of some younger girls, she simply didn't trust them. When Snape had first come to guard duty, he had intimidated her greatly, until he randomly informed her that he, too, was a victim of abuse. Ever since then, she had been able to ask him questions she couldn't ask anyone else – questions only he would understand. But it was a bit trying, sometimes, when he refused to surrender his public image as cold-hearted...even to his house-elves, for heaven's sake!

"What're you thinking about?" he grunted from across the table, eyeing her curiously.

"You," she answered, innocently and honestly.

"Hmph," he replied, trying not to look pleased.

She smiled as she cleared her plate of her eggs. Sometimes it was amusing to watch his reactions to her open show of affection.

"Harry's coming over tomorrow, right?" she asked suddenly as she remembered that it was Tuesday.

He gave her a glare which could only mean yes.

"Oh, come on, he's not so bad," she protested.

"Potter is an arrogant, selfish..." he began hotly.

"I think you're thinking of the wrong Potter," she interrupted coolly, "We're talking about Harry, not James. One of these days you're going to have to admit that Harry is a perfectly nice person."

"No I'm not," he answered stubbornly.

She smiled triumphantly, and it took him a moment to figure out why.

"I mean, no he's not," he corrected himself.

"You're supposed to be the cunning one, remember?" she teased, "Head of House for Slytherin?"

"Funny," he told her dryly, "Very."

She giggled as she finished her breakfast. He finished his, as well, and got up to walk away.

"You're leaving?" she asked disappointedly, sagging in her chair.

He turned to look at her with a mixture of amusement and annoyance.

"Don't get so excited, child. I never said you couldn't come."

She beamed at him as she jumped out of her seat and bounded to his side.

"Has anyone ever told you you're too emotional?" he asked curiously as she followed him to his study.

"No," she answered worriedly, "Am I?"

He merely shook his head.

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Harry's Point of View (back to normal!)

Harry awoke to the sound of a large bang. His room shook as if a small bomb had gone off downstairs. He quickly grabbed his glasses and hurried downstairs. He walked into the kitchen and suppressed a laugh with great difficulty. Lupin was pouring water over a frying pan that was on fire.

"You really should give it up," he told Lupin.

Lupin glared at him. "Fine, if you like having Frosted Flakes every morning..."

"Well, not really, but honestly – cooking isn't your thing," Harry said.

Lupin frowned down at the frying pan in front of him, which was now giving off thick gray steam.

"You could just get a girlfriend," Harry suggested.

Lupin glared at him again, much to his amusement.

"Just a suggestion!" he said defensively.

Lupin shook his head and got out two bowls, a box of cereal, and milk. Harry grinned as he poured himself some cereal. They had no sooner sat down for breakfast when they heard Tonks' voice from their living room.

"Remus! Harry! Hello?"

They exchanged glances and walked into the living room to see Tonks' head in their fireplace. Their Christmas tree began to shake all over at the sight of them, nearly bouncing out of it's pot.

"Hi," she greeted them.

Harry smiled his hello and Lupin gave a rather feeble, "Hi".

"Anyhow, Remus, Moody's got some very valuable information on You-Know- Who..."

"Voldemort," Harry interrupted, causing Tonks to take in a huge mouthful of ash, "Stop saying 'you-know-who', it's stupid."

Tonks merely looked at him in amazement, while Lupin chuckled.

"Anyway," she continued, "Moody says he's not a very happy camper now that he has no clue of Harry or Silver's whereabouts, and there's a good possibility he's going to summon Severus, so we wanted to make sure in advance that you'd be ready to take Silver if that should happen."

Harry had a feeling that if Voldemort summoned Snape, chances wouldn't be high on Snape having a very good Christmas.

"Sure I would," Lupin replied, "Has she been told the news yet?"

"Silver?" Tonks asked, "No. According to Severus she'd go 'emotional' if he told her, so he's just going to wait it out."

Lupin frowned. "I don't know if it's such a good idea to shock her when and if the news comes."

Harry could tell from the way Tonks' head bobbled that she had shrugged.

"Maybe he'll tell her," she replied, "Dumbledore says it's up to him. Say, what's up with your tree?"

Their tree was still trying frantically to get their attention.

"It's...erm...friendly," Lupin replied, looking at the shaking tree skeptically.

"Morning, tree," Harry greeted.

It quivered excitedly and then stood still. Tonks laughed.

"Leave it to you two to get a tree with a personality," she teased.

Lupin smiled, and looked about to say something when Tonks began to look worried.

"Shoot," she muttered, "They're here."

There was a small pop and her head disappeared.

Lupin and Harry exchanged glances.

"Who's there?" Harry asked.

"Death Eaters would be my guess," Lupin answered, "They're extremely intent on finding Silver. There has to be something she knows that she hasn't told Dumbledore yet – Voldemort's too panicky about her being gone."

Harry frowned. Why wouldn't Silver tell Dumbledore something so important?

"Come on, let's finish our breakfast," Lupin said, "I'm sure Tonks will come back to let us know that she's fine in a little while."

Harry reluctantly followed him.

"So, are we doing anything exciting today?" he questioned.

"Depends on if you call sitting around the house exciting," Lupin replied, "I have to go over some things in the study before we clean it out, so you have free reign in the house today."

"Alright," Harry said, "I suppose if I get lonely the tree will keep me company."

Lupin laughed. "Suppose so," he said, "And you're welcome to use the Floo Powder to talk to your friends, as long as it's only your head."

Harry didn't fancy the idea of kneeling down on the hard fireplace with his head in the fire just to talk to his friends.

"Uh, I think I'll just entertain myself around here," he replied.

Lupin smiled. "Good then. You know, Sirius mentioned something about 'secrets' in this house a few times – I bet they're worth finding."

Harry grinned. He fully intended to find them. "I'll look," he assured Lupin.

Lupin nodded and stood up as he finished his breakfast.

"Well, I'll be in the study if you need me," he said.

Harry nodded and wondered what to do first. Look for "secrets"? There really wasn't much else. But where to start – and what to look for?

He wandered upstairs to Sirius' room. The pictures of him waved at him and his broomstick picture did a very accurate impression of catching the Snitch, although there wasn't a Snitch in sight. His mother blew him kisses from her picture, and his father waved at him and then ran his hand through his hair, much in the same way Harry did. Sirius grinned at him and winked, as he always did. Harry smiled and began to search the walls for loose boards. He stepped into the closet and pressed against all the boards. Nothing happened. Frowning, Harry reached up to run his hand through his hair, and as he did, he hit a clothes hanger. The floor underneath him moved. He glanced upwards in surprise and turned the hanger sideways. Nothing happened. He gave it a tug, and the floor began to move again. He stepped off of the bit of moving floor and pulled hard on the hanger. Four of the floorboards began to slide back, and finally they clicked in place, revealing a long, dark stairway. I wonder if I should go down there without telling Lupin, Harry thought, looking down at the forbidding-looking tunnel. Wait a second, am I scared? Definitely not. With that in his head, he began to walk down the staircase, wishing that he was of age so that he could light the tip of his wand.

It felt very damp as he walked down, and he briefly wondered if he was walking down into a well. The little light that had penetrated the first few stairs faded away as the staircase spiraled, and Harry was left to feel his way down. Suddenly his hand hit something on the wall. Tentatively, he felt it. Could it be...a torch?

"Um, I can't use magic, because I'm not of age," he explained to the maybe- torch, "So could you just light up for me?"

At first, nothing happened, but suddenly the hallway burst into light. The torch lit up, but instead of fire at the top, it held a small ball of bright white light.

"Thanks," Harry said, wondering why he had been talking to non-human objects lately as he took the torch and continued to head down.

Finally, he came to a circular opening. The staircase that he had just come down was to his back, but there were many more going back up surrounding him. Suddenly, he heard two women's voices.

"I know that old fool Dumbledore has something to do with it!" one of them was saying.

"I don't doubt it. The old fool made his first mistake protecting that Potter boy...and now he's making another."

"Well, we'll find her for certain," the other one said confidently, "How far can a fifteen year old get with the help of a feeble old man?"

The first one began to laugh, and Harry's mind reeled. Where had he heard that second voice before?

Suddenly the laughing ceased. "Is that a light?" the familiar voice asked.

Harry looked at the brightly shining torch beside him and began to feel dread bubbling in his stomach.