Chapter 94

He could feel her steady breath against his chest when he carried her up the path to the castle. When they reached the oak front doors, he flicked his wand and they sprang open. Quickly he rushed up the marble staircase and hoped that he could avoid a confrontation with Black until the witch was back in her canvas. It was well past midnight already and a sickening thought crept into his mind.

Please don't let him sleep naked. I don't know if I can take this.

To make sure that Black would be awake, he kicked the door open and rushed into the room in his bat-like manner. To his surprise, Sirius was sitting bolt right on a chair next to the fireplace, fully dressed, a grim expression on his face and pointed his wand at him.

"What did you do to her" he yelled and rushed over to the bed, where Snape had placed the unconscious witch.

"She's exhausted and needs to rest in her painting; that's all" he said coolly.

"If you've done anything to her, I swear I blast you into pieces" the animagus growled and padded the witch's pale cheeks.

"Enervate" Snape commanded and Lady Tanya's eyes fluttered open.

"Hello Sirius" she whispered and propped herself up on her arms.

"Are you alright?" he asked her with concern edged in his voice.

"Yeah just really tired"

"Where did he take you?"

Snape snorted about the display of affection when Sirius kissed her lightly and lifted her off the bed. The fact that the dog was talking as if he wasn't even in the room was quite unnerving.

"I'm sure that you're alright now" he said curtly and rushed out of the room.

The day and night had been trying enough to say the least and he would have to face the Granger girl in the morning. He had just reached his chambers and had dropped his heavy deatheater cloak when he heard an explosion that obviously came from the classroom. His wand at the ready he carefully walked to the door when he heard someone screaming.

"Snape, you foul old bat"

Severus heaved a sigh and opened the door. His annoyance clearly visible in his face, he looked at the mess that once had been his classroom. The door had been blown out of its hinges and several desks were turned upside down; the blast of the curse had shattered the glass fronts of his storage cupboard and several vials were broken, the contents dripping on the cold stone floor.

Black was standing in the middle of it, his face flushed with anger and his hair one wild mess.

"You took her to Azkaban? Are you out of your mind?"

Snape glared at him with fury.

"No matter where I took her, Black, it doesn't give you the right to destroy my classroom"

"I give a damn about your classroom"

"Well, well... are you jealous? I can assure you that Lady Tanya enjoyed her time in Azkaban with ME very much. She's a wonderful dancer"

He knew that this would be enough to drive Sirius over the edge and he enjoyed the mix of emotion playing on the other wizards face thoroughly.

He was so easy to read.

"Azkaban now is a quite wonderful place to be at the moment, but it's more for the sophisticated witch and wizard and not the likes of you."

Then he walked up to the animagus, who was still standing in between the remains of the door, pointing his wand at him and shaking with rage.

"Are you afraid that Lady Tanya would rather spend her time with someone clever than with you?" he taunted. "She surely enjoyed our conversation and the other activities as well"

Making sure he appeared absentminded, he brushed his fingers over his lips, never leaving the wand hand of black out of sight. Well this had been too much for Sirius and his left hand connected painfully with Snape's jaw, his wand totally forgotten. The next moment he had straddled the potion master on the floor and sent blow after blow into the wizard's face.

"You evil bastard, you foul piece of scum. If you ever put your hand on her again I will cut them off."

Severus tried with all his might to push the animagus off him, but he couldn't position his hands properly on the wizard's chest.

"Get off me, Black" he growled when he finally had his left hand free from under Sirius body.

Just when he punched Black into his stomach, a sharp pain seared through his face and the sickening crack proved to him that his nose was broken. With fury boiling up inside him, he brought all his bodyweight into his next blow and his fist connected with Sirius' clavicle. However, it didn't seem to hinder Black one bit, his blows still came down on him like rain and Severus could feel his right eye swelling up. His vision blurred with tears he tried again to free himself from his attacker, but in vain.

Sirius was out of his mind.

When he had seen Snape carrying the limp form of Lady Tanya into his chambers, he had been sure she was dead and the potion master was responsible. A wave of relief had washed over him when she awoke and talked to him. As soon as he had made sure she was back in her painting, he had questioned her where they had spent the evening. The fact that they had been in Azkaban of all places had enflamed his anger once again.

Determined to give Snape some piece of his mind he had stormed to the dungeons. The cool way Snape had dismissed the fact that Lady Tanya had almost faded and the taunting of the wizard had been too much for his already strained nerves. The physical connection of his fist with Snape's face had been more satisfying than any hex could be.

"SIRIUS"

He felt a hand on his shoulder yanking him off the potion master

"What are you doing? Are you out of your mind?" he heard Kimberly calling next to him.

One of Snape's hits had split his eyebrow and the swelling and blood hindered his vision.

"Let me go, Kim. He deserved it"

The witch was more than upset about the childish behaviour the two wizards had displayed. She knew both of them well enough not to blame it on one of them alone.

"I want you both to see the mediwitch right away. These injuries have to be taken care of."

While she helped Severus up, she glared at both of them with utter disapproval.

"I can't believe the two of you were beating each other up and I don't want to know the 'obviously' good reasons for it. You should be ashamed of yourselves. Right now we need to stress our unity and not fight each other when we should fight Voldemort"

Snape flinched at the name of his former master and yanked his arm out of Kimberly's grip.

"Don't tell me I have to put you in a full body-bind and levitate you to the infirmary" she growled when none of the wizards was about to move.

When she raised her wand the wizards knew that she was serious and made their way out of the potions classroom, carefully avoiding looking at each other. Madam Pomfrey was less than pleased about the interruption of her night sleep, but grudgingly started to heal the several wounds of Severus and Sirius. Muttering under her breath about 'being worse than the children' and 'unbelievable behaviour' she stomped back and forth between her office and the infirmary in her white nightgown with flower pattern.

"I'm really considering taking points from Gryffindor and Slytherin, but unfortunately you are too old for that, boys. However, I'm going to give both of you detention"

Both Sirius and Severus glared at Kimberly after that comment in disbelief.

"Detention? I don't think so Professor" Snape drawled and winced when Poppy healed his broken nose.

"Well, I do, Professor Snape. Both of you are going to clean up the potions classroom tomorrow without magic."

"I'm not cleaning up Snape's classroom. No way in the world" Sirius barked and folded his arms in front of his chest, unconsciously taken a very Snape-like pose.

"Oh you will, but I'm not going to help you. You created all that mess in the first place" Severus spat and looked just a bit like Sirius darker mirror image, glaring at him in his regular pose.

"Dammit, I'm tired of your bantering. We have enough problems as it is and I'm not going to watch you fight over every little thing like toddlers. Poppy is right... you ARE worse than the children. Just grow up and start working together. Nobody is forcing you to like each other" Kimberly finally yelled.

A disapproving look from the mediwitch stopped her ranting for a moment before she continued in a lower voice.

"I will see you both before breakfast and I will supervise your detention. It would be best for you not to underestimate me. If you don't work together, you'll suffer together. I will make sure that you both wish Voldemort would be in my place"

This seemed to do the trick because both men finally looked at the witch with the same flabbergasted expression when they realized that she wasn't joking.

Sirius however tried one final time to change her mind.

"Please, Kimberly, I am the one responsible so I will clean up alone, right tomorrow morning" he purred and, maybe for the first time in his life, Severus nodded in agreement to what the other wizard had said.

"Coaxing won't work this time, Sirius" Kimberly said sternly and her McGonagall-manner made Sirius back away. "That's my final decision"

Severus shot Sirius a deadly glare before he rushed out of the infirmary with billowing robes.

"Wonderful, bloody wonderful. Cleaning with Snape... what comes next? Tea-time with Voldemort?" Sirius muttered when he shuffled back to his room.

The next morning, Kimberly and Tanya made sure that both wizards survived the cleaning session. To the surprise of the witches none of them tried hexing the other and Lady Tanya was deeply impressed with the abilities of Kimberly to put the two intractable wizards in their place.

After breakfast, Lily stopped shortly in the potions classroom to inform Severus that the next day she would take a trip to London's wizarding library to do some more researches on the spell. Grudgingly he agreed to cover her tutoring classes with Dudley and avoided every question about his fight with Black successfully. With a chuckle she left him to get ready for his first class. She had nothing to do at the moment and decided that a little bit of fresh air would do her good. She still had morning sickness quite badly and the fresh breeze outside always helped her.

Quickly she went upstairs, crossed the entrance hall and left the castle.

A little visit with Hagrid would be most enjoyable and she knew that the half-giant had no classes now.

She knocked at the cabin door but nobody opened. From inside she could hear the soft whimpering of Fang and that made her suspicious. Without further ado, she pushed the door open and scanned the room. On the bed was Hagrid with Fang by his side, who was licking the game keepers face with his long tongue.

She gasped and rushed over to check on Hagrid, but before she reached the bed, a gloved hand clutched over her mouth. Feeling the cold tip of a wand on her temple, she heard a low voice muttering a spell before the world around her went black.

Harry was sitting in the divination classroom, trying hard to tune out Professor Trelawney's presence. He had never thought that after tea leaves, crystal balls, palm reading and tarot cards, his dragonfly teacher could come up with something more idiotic.

But still he was sitting here trying to see a use in Metoposcopy.

"Well, my dear students. Metoposcopy is the high art of interpreting the character and foretelling the destiny of an individual by the facial wrinkles or lines, especially those of the forehead."

Harry could see all kind of emotions washing over the students faces while Trelawney swept through the aisle and back to her desk. There was confusion on Ron's face, annoyance on Seamus' and pure adoration on Lavender's and Pavarti's.

"Now please look at your partner's forehead and read the wrinkles with help of the book, page 394"

Ron opened his book and started to study Harry's forehead.

"Frown a bit, mate" Ron ordered. "I can't see any lines besides your scar"

"Well, I didn't expect you to see any; I'm just 15 after all, remember?"

They both snorted with laughter before Ron tried again.

"Well, there's a little one right above your left eyebrow"

Just then Harry frowned at the comment.

"Yeah keep it like that mate" Ron called and ran his index finger down the page, trying to find a resemblance with the wrinkles on Harry's forehead.

"Hurry up Ron!" Harry muttered through clenched teeth. "I don't know how long I can keep that up"

"Right here... a vertical line in this position..." his fingers ran over the page while he read the description. "means that something or somebody will be torn away from you during your life. Your life is unstable"

Harry's frown deepened while he wondered what that was supposed to mean. The professor had started pacing the room again and he sincerely hoped that she hadn't heard Ron's comment.

"This one here in the position of the ellipse" he heard Ron say and wondered what other geometric symbols were present on his forehead.

"In Metoposcopy the ellipse stands for the fact that many things look different at the second glance" Ron quoted the book and looked confused at Harry.

"What does that mean?"

Harry picked up his own copy and read the paragraph.

"Well to me this is all rubbish. Look a little closer, you haven't seen any sign of my horrible and premature death yet"

Ron had to stifle a laugh when he heard the rustling of robes behind them.

"Dear boy, you have a scar cutting through your lifeline, it's kinder not to say"

Harry had to suppress a groan when he heard Trelawney predicting his death again. He should've been used to it but it still annoyed him nonetheless. His mind wandered back to potions class earlier this morning.

It had been hard work for him to keep Ron and Hermione in check. Although his red-haired friend knew why his girlfriend acted so weird, it still pushed him to his limits. The prefect had hung on Snape's every word even more than usual and had also shown big interest on other parts of the teacher's anatomy. More than once he had heard a soft sigh from her direction and had even caught her scribbling little hearts on her parchment around the initials 'SS'

Before he could get rid of said parchment, Snape had recognized it and deducted 10 points from Gryffindor for wasting working material. Hermione however, had said nothing but still had that dreamy look on her face. Snape had to do something quickly before she got herself a tattoo.

He shuddered at the mental picture of red hearts around the face of Snape on Hermione's arm. Then his thoughts went to his date for tonight. Finally Ginny and he would be able to enjoy the Christmas present she had given him. A wistful smile crept on his face when he thought of the fiery redhead.

They didn't bother to read Ron's wrinkles and just did what they always did – they made up a nice dramatic horror story to please the dragon fly. Just at the end of the lesson, Ron's stomach growled loudly. This sound seemed to disturb the 'inner eye' of their teacher that much that she dismissed the class early.

Snape was on his way to the dungeons, fuming inwardly.

The day had been one big disaster.

First cleaning with bloody Black, then Potions with Gryffindors and to top it off another lesson with Dursley. The little know-it-all had actually dared to scribble his initials on a piece of parchment.

The insolent chit!

He had given her his deadliest glares and scowls but for some reason he couldn't get the dreamy expression off her face. Neither insults nor his nastiest sarcasm would work and that disturbed him very much. The potion was stronger then it seemed at first and he had to hurry if he didn't want to have her lusting over him until the end of time.

Another matter he had to fit in his already more than packed schedule.

Teaching and the position of deputy headmaster for time being took most of his time; then there was the deatheater meetings, his own researches as well as the tutoring of the muggle boy (he just couldn't refer to him as wizard), the assistance with Lily's researches and now the counter potion for Granger, not to mention the Wolfsbane potion for Lupin and covering his classes on full moon (like today)

He had delivered the potion to him last night before he left with the witch, hoping he would sleep in his office like a good wolf. Because of the incident two years before, he had started checking on him at night to make sure that it didn't happen again when the headmaster had brought the werewolf back last year. Unfortunately he didn't have the chance to do so last night so he had stopped by quickly after his lesson with Dursley. Gratefully he recognized that Lupin had taken his potion and was still resting.

The potion master had just returned to the dungeons after lunch and was about to get started with the counter potion once again when he felt the watcher growing warm around his neck once again. Angrily he fumbled for the chain and cursed the headmistress for making him responsible for the muggle boy. One look at the surveillance device proved to him that the boy was not where he was supposed to be.

He extinguished the fire and put the cauldron back on its shelf with a rather loud bang before he rushed out of his private lab. When he arrived in the entrance hall, he used a modified version of the Four-Point Spell.

Positioning his wand flat on his open palm he growled "Point me"

Immediately the wand turned towards the marble staircase.

Oh wonder he isn't stuffing his face in the Great Hall anymore, he wondered and rushed up the steps paying close attention to the position of his wand.

He repeated the spell several times until he was sure where to go.

When he reached the landing on the fifth floor, he heard the sound of metal on metal. All of his senses shifting immediately into spy-mode he grabbed his wand tightly and moved forward A wave of fury washed over him when he saw what had caused the noise.

"20 points from Gryffindor for damaging school property" he called and smirked satisfied when the stout boy jumped away from the suit of armour.

"Pray tell Mr Dursley why you find it necessary to hewing at a suit of armour and with its own sword to boot? Shouldn't you be in class? I'm sure Mrs Potter is already waiting for you"

At least the boy had a spark of decency and looked positively crestfallen when he slowly put the sword back in its place.

"Well, I'm sorry but I waited for Aunt Lily for 15 minutes but she didn't come, so I thought I could do a little sightseeing"

"You should reserve thinking for class time only. As you should know already, you're not in the position to decide how to spend your time during school hours"

The deep scowl on Snape's face and the low, dangerous voice caused Dudley to move backwards and he almost fell into the suit of armour this time.

"Why did you not tell a teacher that Mrs Potter did not arrive for the lesson?"

Dudley mumbled something intelligible under his breath.

"Speak up boy"

"I wanted to enjoy my free time"

"I will not accept laziness and that just lost you another 5 points "

Dudley's shoulders slumped and his gaze dropped on the floor.

Damn that watcher, he thought angrily and waited for Snape to dismiss him.

"You will go to your common room immediately and stay there until I say different"

Without giving the boy another glance, the potion master rushed down the steps once more; very disturbed about the fact that Lily had been neglecting her duties.

That was so unlike her.

Professor McGonagall seemed to share his worries and she sent out every available teacher along with Filch and the head boy and girl to search the castle for her. Two hours later they still hadn't found a single sign of the witch and Minerva was almost out of her mind.

"Albus, can you please come over for a minute?" she called into the fireplace in her office and just seconds later Dumbledore stepped out of the flames.

"What is it my dear? You're looking quite out of sorts"

Severus was standing in the shadows close to the door and just watched when the old wizard arrived. He had no idea what he would be able to do, but it was just natural for Minerva to request his assistance when she was at her wits end.

"Excuse me for bothering you, Albus, but Lily is missing. Nobody has seen her since after breakfast"

Thoughtfully the former headmaster bowed his head and started fidgeting with his long, white beard.

"Have you looked everywhere and does Harry know about it already?

"We have searched the castle from top to bottom" Minerva sighed and dropped rather ungracefully on the chair behind her desk.

"I'm quite sure that Potter is unaware of his mother's unexplainable absence. Otherwise I'm sure he would already be here, demanding answers" Snape said coolly, not leaving his spot in the shadows.

"Did she say she wanted to go anywhere today, Severus?"

"No unfortunately not, Albus. She didn't have lessons with Dursley until after lunch so I don't know where she could have spent her free time"

"She's not been in the library, Madam Pince is sure of that" the headmistress sighed and massaged the bridge of her nose.

"Has anybody seen her on the grounds?" Albus inquired and looked from Minerva to Severus.

"I didn't expect she would leave the castle, it's still quite cold outside" Severus said lowly.

"But maybe she has gone to see Hagrid"

With that thought in mind he left his very confused colleagues behind and made his way to the gamekeepers' cabin. The silence he recognized when he came closer to the hut was quite strange. Normally there was always that beast of a dog running around or the half-giant bustling about, playing with his monstrous pets. When he came closer, he recognized that the door was slightly ajar and a whimpering sound from inside.

The first thing he saw when the door opened, was the gamekeeper lying on his huge bed, his boarhound sitting next to him, licking his face frantically. He rushed over to the bed and checked Hagrid for signs of injuries, but his he couldn't see any. The shallow breathing calmed his fears about his state a little but it disturbed him how someone could take the half-giant out like that. The giant blood normally repelled most spells, but this was different.

Before he would call the mediwitch via floo, he decided to check his hut for signs of Lily's whereabouts. The fact that Hagrid had been attacked made him suspicious and it was quite clear to him that it had to be connected with Lily's absence. His eyes scanned the room and he recognized a little piece of parchment leaning against Hagrid's tankard.

Not daring to touch it with his own hands, he levitated the parchment in front of his face and read it.