A scene of devastation greeted her eyes. Flames and smoke filled the sky , busted windows and fallen debri cluttered the sidewalks. Moaning and crying filled the air as people stumbled through the street. The dark wizards were gone – but the Dark Lord's followers had obviously had quite a Halloween celebration of their own. They had visited with violence seemingly every "mudblood" home or establishment in Hogsmeade, and mercilessly attacked those who had tried to defend their neighbors.

Marya knelt next to an old witch who was lying in the street, twitching and moaning. She recognized the results of the Cruciatus curse. Her training kicked in – she started administering counter spells, and potions from her bag. Speaking softly but firmly, she calmed and reassured the old woman. Once her patient was stabilized, she moved on to the next.

Snape had arrived at her heels. For a while putting out flames, carrying the injured to safety, and providing first aid required his undivided attention. Once the first panic was over, he looked for Dumbledore's god-daughter – he felt some vague sense of responsibility for her. Out of the corner of his eye, he kept observing her. What he saw astounded him.

Gone was the timid, insecure, awkward girl who had seemed to quake at his every approach. Instead he saw a competent, professional young woman. Self-assured and calm, it was clear that she knew what she was doing. As she approached someone hurt or spell-damaged, within seconds of her gentle touch they seemed to relax. Every inch of her was tuned to the task, as she and Madam Pomfrey triaged the patients, giving firm instructions to those trying to help who were lacking their skill. The more severe cases were stabilized and sent to St. Mungo's, while those whose injuries were minor were sent to the Hogwarts infirmary by makeshift gurney or levitation if necessary.

One by one, the injured were taken care of, and the task of mopping up the damage began, and for a while Snape was quite busy again.

Dumbledore approached him as he was muttering "Reparo" to put the last broken window at Zonko's Joke Shop back together.

"Severus, I am going back to Hogwarts to make sure everything is alright there. I think we have done about as much as we are going to accomplish tonight, the rest can wait until tomorrow. Before you turn in, could you please make a sweep of the village to make sure everything urgent is taken care of and we haven't missed anything important?" Severus nodded assent, and set off to do what he was told.

He found her leaned against the back wall of a hut that had half-burned in the fires. She sat looking straight ahead into emptiness, her body taut as a bow string, her hands white-knuckled, balled into fists, a clenched jaw etching hard lines on her face.

Puzzled, he knelt down before her. What was she doing here? "Are you alright?". Stupid question, he thought. It was obvious she wasn't. He gently touched her shoulder. "You did good work out there tonight." This is as much of an apology as you'll would ever get for my earlier behavior.

Whether it was the touch or the first kind word she had had from him - whatever it was, it broke the last bit of control she had been trying to hold onto. A deep sob wrenched from her, and she put her face in her hands and started crying, weeping, her body shaking.

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A/N: Thank you to the reviewer! xkuroxshinobix - thanks for coming back, and you may be right on the last chapter! Firestarter911, Blaze, Morwen 24, Krirobe, LadyD3ath, Susan D - thanks for your input and encouragement! So do you think Snape "works" in this story so far, or is he getting too far from his normal self?