disclaimer: i own nothing but what i made up, yada yada yada... Excuse me while i sob.

The Simple Flame of a Candle

Chapter I

He paused, just for a moment, only long enough to catch his breath slightly, and then he was off again, running down the street like a madman. He knew not where to run, save for a single place just an alley and a turn away. He wasn't sure if his decision was even a good one, for he hadn't seen or heard from the resident of this newfound sanctuary for quite some time. But it was his only hope.

"Down that alley," a disturbingly smooth and confident voice ordered, followed by numerous pairs of feet splashing down the cold, damp street. "And remember, he's to be kept alive. Voldemort takes care of traitors on his own." The sinisterly silky and deep voice was recognizable as belong to a certain Lucius Malfoy.

He could sense them getting closer, closing in on him, just about finding him, but he was so close to his determined destination. He wasn't quite sure of what he would be put through once caught, but he was absolutely certain that he did not want to find out. But he also did not want to put the person to whom he was headed in any type of danger whatsoever. He summed up this predicament of his very nicely into a single word:

"Fuck," he hissed breathlessly.

But he couldn't stop now, he couldn't give up when he was so close to at least being safe. Making use of whatever energy he had left in him, he made a mad sprint to a seemingly inconspicuous Victorian house at the very end of the street. Without thought, he went straight to the back door and rapped on it urgently. No answer. Typical. He tried yet again, slightly harder and with far more urgency. Still he received no response.

"Damn it, deShey," he hissed to the door. And then it was opened.

A woman with long, wavy dark brown hair stood looking at him with rather surprised eyes.

"Severus?" she questioned in sheer disbelief, then, coming to her senses, opened the door for him to enter, and promptly shut and locked it.

"Chloe," he greeted, slightly more stiffly than he would have liked.

"Are you alright?" she asked, with genuine concern in her green eyes. What was he supposed to say, that he had just been chase half a mile by insane, bloodthirsty death eaters and was feeling positively peachy?

He just stared at the warm home, quite cozy really, but... was it getting darker?

"I was told you were in this area with the rather unscrupulous lot of characters who shall remain heartless..." Chloe said as she clicked of the only small table lamp and began blowing out various candles. "That's why I've been on edge all night, not quite prepared, but very much on alert for the Order."

"Why are you putting out the light?" Severus asked curiously.

"It's one in the morning," she told him. "If they come here looking for you, and I guarantee they will, I'll make like I was asleep."

Of course he thought, scolding himself for not thinking properly. And I should yell, "Hello, boys, I'm here!" He allowed the cold sarcasm to drip into his thoughts.

Before anything further could be said, there was a violent and continuous banging on the front door, causing both of them to jump slightly at the harsh sound. Oh, shit he thought.

"C'mon," she told him in a hushed, almost completely silent whisper as she led him slowly into the basement. Chloe brought him over to a far, empty wall underneath the cozy home. She took out her wand and whispered a simple spell, causing a hidden stone door to be cut out from the rest of the wall. Severus gave her a skeptical and questioning look.

"In there," she urged him, "unless you'd like to find out what they have in store for you." Still reluctant, Severus slipped behind the cold stone door. "Don't worry, there are over a dozen enchantments on this thing to prevent anyone but myself from opening it; the spells make it so they can't ever know it's there," Chloe reassured him before closing him up. "Hope you're not claustrophobic..."

He could hear everything going on upstairs, but had no idea if his own sounds could be heard. Wisely, he kept even his breathing quiet, and listened closely as Chloe deShey opened her door.

"DeShey," a cold voice stated harshly. The room was almost pitch black, but Chloe immediately knew who it was, knew the face that belonged to the distinctly silky yet sinister voice.

"Lucius," she returned, far more pleasantly. "To what do I owe this visit?"

"Where is he?" Malfoy demanded softly but coldly.

"Who?"

"Snape. Where is he?" A cold blue stare such as his sent shivers running up and down almost everyone's spine, but Chloe held her ground, staring back just as coldly, determined to ignored the sick feeling that begged her knees to give out. "You know very well what this is about, deShey," Malfoy challenged. "Don't play games with me."

"I don't think you understand me, Lucius," she spoke harshly, hoping to have her disgust with him come across in every word, "I have no idea where the man is; I have neither seen nor spoken to him on over seven years, and even before that, he was not exactly on my Christmas list." Lucius looked daggers in her direction, but was silent.

"Search the house," he ordered simply as he pushed his way in and sat in an armchair by the fireplace. With a wave of the hand, Chloe conjured up the crackling flames which proceeded to devour the logs, and with another flick of her nimble fingers, all the candles in the room were relit. Lucius glanced back at Chloe.

"So what took you so long to answer your door?"

"It is just past one o'clock in the bloody morning! Are you a bloody idiot? I was in bed, like most normal folk would be at this hour!" she rasped angrily. "And you come barging in here oh so elegantly with your cold-blooded crew of motley characters and tear through my home! I swear, if you had knocked any bloody harder, the damn door would have come down!" Malfoy smirked. He walked over to her desk, which was littered with various papers, notebooks and writing instruments. He picked up a wand.

"Do you always leave your wand lying around like this?" he asked with an icy smile.

"That's not my wand; it's a fake." Malfoy gave her an odd, questioning look. "It belonged to the Weasley twins; Remus confiscated it during a class when he taught at Hogwarts and must've left it here."

"Lupin?" Lucius questioned, still with a slight smile, but with pure hated in his eyes. "I can't believe that damn werewolf was ever allowed to teach there. Then again, what could one expect, with Dumbledore as headmaster... I'm sure many parents are quite relieved that I had the big bad wolf taken care of." Chloe wore a look of pure and utter hatred, a look that would strike him dead if it could. Before she could say anything to infuriate him, the heavy footsteps of the death eaters all reported back to Malfoy.

"Did you check everywhere?" he pushed furiously. Then he spotted the flight of stairs descending to the cold basement. "The basement, did you check the basement?"

"Yes, sir," was the reply "Nothing there but some stacks of books and empty walls... And a very nippy sheepdog upsatirs..." the dark wizard commented, rubbing his aching, bitten hand.

Not at all satisfied, Malfoy trudged down the stairs to have a look for himself. Indeed, there was nothing but books, a box or two, and loads of empty wall space. He took out his wand and hissed a revealing spell. Nothing.

Fuming, he retreated back upstairs with a simple "We're leaving," to his minions. As he and the black-robed band of dark wizards stalked out of the house, Chloe herded them from behind.

"Nice seeing you again, too," she called brightly with a smirk. "Perhaps next time we can have tea..."

"Go to hell, deShey."

Severus, inside the basement wall, released the tiniest of smiles as he heard this last sarcastic comment of Chloe's. Always with a witty comeback, basically her trademark... He was more than grateful as Chloe reopened the stone door.

"Are you alright?" was the first thing that came out of his mouth, expressing his genuine concern for her well-being.

"That went quite well, wouldn't you say," Chloe said with a slightly sarcastic undertone. "C'mon. I'll fix up a spare room for you."

Severus looked shocked.

"I didn't think I'd be staying the night..."

"Well you don't expect me to send you out on the street at two o'clock in the morning, do you?" she laughed. "Besides, they won't be back here tonight."

The spare room, like the rest of the house, was simple but cozy. The hardwood floors and adobe colored walls gave it somewhat of a warm feeling, and the heavy, navy blue comforter on the bed was indeed for warmth as well.

"It's simple, but it's home," Chloe said smiling, looking around the room. "I trust you're tired; it's been a long night."

Severus was rather speechless, to say the least. What should he say? Well, he should be polite. A small "Thank you," was all he could muster. She had done so much for him already, and now she was allowing him to rest in her home.

So as she turned to leave the room, he took a step closer and held her lightly back by the wrist.

"Thank you," he said more strongly this time. She smiled at him with her green eyes.

"Goodnight, Severus," she said softly as she exited, closing the door behind her.